after getting over a pretty bad hump of homesickness a few days ago, i'm back on track, enjoying my stay in this crazy place.

i stayed out late on friday night, having dinner and visiting a discotech to celebrate the birthday of my coworker's fiance. it was a unique opportunity, getting to party it up with some locals.

since i got in late the night before, i slept in and got a late start on saturday. after figuring out how to get gas, i made my way to cologne. i visited the kolnerdom and climbed to the top, wandered through the crazy busy shopping streets and down to see the rhine river.

today, i was off to essen, which is one of the 2010 european capitals of culture. i visited the brand new museum folkwang (only reopened for a few weeks!) and then spent quite a bit of time wandering around the zollverein world heritage site, a former coal mine that is being transformed into a destination for art and entertainment. the photo above was one i took while cruising through the complex.

one thing that i have to say i'm not enjoying out here is having to eat by myself in restaurants. i hate eating in restaurants by myself when i'm in the US, so being in a foreign country is particularly annoying. a few days into my visit, i went to the market to pick up some tasty cheeses and crackers. i've been able to hide out in my room and fill up in private a few times this week, which has been really nice.

jeff finally has landed in lyon, france, after a long delay in munich. we caught up on skype just now, which is really, really nice. being in the same time zone is a lot more conducive to internet communications, and we only have 5 more nights of being apart before we are back together. that said...it's hard to believe i'm just getting to the halfway point of this trip.

camilles (8:20pm CET , 2.7.10)

not quite the experience i was hoping for at the famous nurburgring today, but thanks to the unusually cold weather and large amount of snow, my dreams of getting a ride around were crushed. oh well.

instead, i had the opportunity to see the attempt at turning this racetrack into a holiday destination, complete with ridiculously expensive car-themed shopping mall (aston martin race suit for the toddler in your life? anyone? anyone?) and indoor adventure climbing contraption.

the trip to the factory was immensely interesting. i learned a lot about the mass production of the stuff that pays my salary, and gained a much greater appreciation for the fact that i don't work in a factory.

it has nothing to do with unsafe conditions, because the factory is actually very nice, and it seems like most of the people in there were pretty content. but to think that they all spend an entire day doing the same little task over and over and over and over again...i just can't even comprehend how mind numbing that would be.

it's a stark image that will be burned into my memory for a long, long time.

camilles (9:01pm CET , 2.4.10)

• lots of people wear converse
• everything is very tightly packed together
• no doughnut shops, but a ton of bakeries
• every other restaurant seems to be an italian restaurant
• parking up on the sidewalk is a weird, but necessary requirement
• every restroom i've been in has a toilet brush next to the toilet
• nobody drinks tap water, and almost all of the bottled water you can get is sparkling
• portions of food and drink are huge
• the people are a lot friendlier than i was expecting

camilles (10:36pm CET , 2.3.10)

after close to 24 hours of travel by car, plane, plane, plane, and car, i made it to my hotel in the city of schwelm. it definitely isn't a big city, but i wouldn't really be able to tell you if it's a normal city or small city.

christuskirche woke me up at 7am with its bells ringing. good thing, because that wakeup call i had requested on my way in after dinner last night never came! (actually, i had set my phone to ring at 7:10am, just in case.) i showed up armed for my 19-day stay with warm clothes and snacks. my suitcase was packed to the max, and i shed magazines as i read them all along the way. i've got an empty dufflebag stuffed into my suitcase for any snacks or souveniers i decide to bring home, so i'm hopeful that i'll be in good shape by the time my trips come to a close.

so far, i'm managing ok. i drove 101mph on the autobahn and have only been honked at once, while trying to enter a traffic circle. the traffic signals are really a trick to figure out. on my way back to the hotel after work, i stopped at a light that had a stop sign and FIVE lights. a red light, a yellow alert light, a green go straight light, a green turn right light, and a green turn left light! driving in the snow hasn't been so bad, either.

work was interesting, but foreign. i got a few tours and a lot of introductions and ate in the factory canteen. hopefully tomorrow will be a little better as i adjust to the time change.

i miss my hub and i miss my dog, but i'm only here for about 2 more weeks. there will be adventures between now and then, for sure.

camilles (9:36pm CET , 2.1.10)