I’m having fun and meeting a lot of very interesting and friendly people.  I worked for 10 days in our site in Puchheim, near Munich, and a week so far in our site in Pluvigner, in Brittany, France.

I was received warmly by the my German colleagues with whom I work most closely, but once we got through the first day of meetings, they left me largely to myself.  They set me up in a very nice office facing the rising sun and looking over a stream, some trees, and farmland beyond.  It was quite pleasant, but I felt a bit isolated.

I knew the experience in France would be different very soon after being welcomed by the local staff on the same project on which I am working.  Thomas, the local Project Manager, came out to meet me on arrival and shook my hand, smiled warmly, and welcomed me.  Then, he proceeded to shake the hand, smile, and say, “Bonjour!” to every man he met before introducing me.  And then they all shook my hands as well.  The standard greeting for the women is an air kiss on each cheek where you’re just touching cheeks.  No handshake with the women.  It was the same kiss kiss greeting woman to woman as well.  I found myself reaching out to shake women’s hands as I would at home and in Germany only to find them already leaning in for the double air kiss.  I like it, but it takes some getting used to.

Everyone was super friendly.  They showed me to a cube to work in, and it was a steady flow of people coming to meet and greet me after that.  Everyone has been super patient and supportive whenever I try to speak a bit of French.  When you introduce yourself, French people really do say, “Enchante!” which means, “I’m enchanted”.  It’s kind of a stereotype of French people in the movies, but it’s the real deal and it apparently never got too old-fashioned for them.

I’m driving to work in France.  We are staying in Vannes, a small city about 30 kilometers away from the plant in Pluvigner.  The roads are good, but the signs are pretty confusing sometimes.  The French really like their roundabouts.  Just about every intersection has a roundabout, even out on the highways.  Their freeways are much like ours.  Drivers take the “keep right except to pass” very seriously.  When you’re done passing, everyone gets right over, even if they have to cut into your lane with just a car length of open space.  Getting cut off is a normal part of driving here.  Most drivers are pretty good here, but there seems to be a relatively high percentage of poor drivers wandering across their lanes, not paying attention and going far below the posted speed limits.  There are not many drivers going much above the speed limit, probably because it costs $60 Euros (about $70) to fill up a relatively small tank of gas and they seem to have automated speed radar everywhere.

I’m loving France.  The food is good, the towns are incredibly charming, the countryside and coastline is lovely, and the people are all super nice.  We also love our apartment.  It’s quiet and really pretty nice.  Life is good.  We feel lucky.

That’s enough about work life.  I’ll get back to reporting about all the fun stuff we are doing, great people we’re meeting, and beautiful places we are seeing on the next post.

Adam

Ali and I just got back from our lovely bike ride up through the English Garden and around to the other side of the Isar River to return.  The English Garden is the largest park in Munich and one of the largest urban parks in Europe.  I think it’s my favorite urban park in the world.  What I love about it is that it not only has lovely paths for walking and biking, lovely woods broken by expansive, lush meadows full of sunbathers, poets, and cricket matches, sculpted ponds with families in paddle boats, but it also has the Eisbach and biergartens.

There are at least three biergartens in the English Garden.  Biergartens are simple.  Green picnic tables filled with people talking and drinking great local bier and eating pretzels or whatever.  You go and pick up your own bier or pretzel and then send your glass mug through the washing service.  The lines can be long, but it always goes fast because everything works.  Everyone knows what to do, and even if you don’t, it’s not hard to figure out.  They have a simple system and it works.

Eisbach means, “Ice Creek”.  The park designers diverted enough water from the Isar River for a small river plus a couple of smaller streams through the park.  The Eisbach current is strong in many places.  In at least two places the current is strong enough for standing waves to form.  Surfers in wet suits stand in orderly lines waiting for their turn to jump on their boards from the shore and surf the standing wave to the delight of watching spectators.  Each surfer steps in, practices their tricks for less than a minute, then exits the wave and floats downstream to pull out and rejoin the lines of waiting surfers, one line on each side.  Of course, the lines alternate and no one takes too long because this is Germany.  The surfers all know the rules of sharing the wave, and no one stays in longer than their share.  If you love order and respecting the system, it’s beautiful.  Just google, “Eisbach Surfing” and you’ll see what is so exciting about it.

There is order and beauty everywhere you look in Munich.  The streets are clean, the pedestrians, bikers and drivers all know their lanes and their rights, and they are mostly patient with the tourists that don’t know any better and walk into the bike lanes.

The subway is clean and cool (unlike New York, where it felt like you were walking into an oven), and the trains are always, always on time and perfect.  If the schedule says that your train arrives at 5:17 AM, it arrives at 5:17 AM and delivers you to your destination right on time, not a minute late.  The trains are unblemished and smooth on the outside and built for speed, efficiency and a quiet ride.  The tracks are flat and smooth, so the ride is smooth and quiet.  It’s not like everywhere else where you can’t understand what they are saying about the next stop coming up or the arriving trains.  The public address speakers both inside the train and on the train platform are somehow tuned so that you can actually hear and understand what they are saying.  The trains are perfect.  If you a guy like me who craves order and efficiency in the world, the German commuter trains will give you a h*rd on.

Ich liebe Munchen.

Bavarians like to party.  On our way back on our bike ride, we rode on the opposite side of the river and then crossed back over by the Deutsches Museum.  We had passed by biergartens and restaurants along the ride that were filled with people out partying.  Across from the Deutsches Museum there was a festival going on with live music and lots of people.  After dropping off the bikes, we circled back to the festival.  Ali was excited when she found a vendor that had 4 or 5 kinds of Turkish Delight, including Rose Pomegranate, which she says is her best friends Kirsten’s favorite.  We checked out some of the food vendors and eventually picked out what we wanted, then sat back and watched the action while we ate.

Ali just asked me, “Are you still writing?”  That means its time to stop.

Stand by for more adventures.  Tomorrow we hike in the Alps.  Next week I’ll post some thoughts about working in Germany.  Next weekend, Ali and I are registered for the Munich Lindy Exchange.  Good times!

Stay tuned.