02 September 2003
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[from an email to friends and family]
Howdy Folks!
Well, time again for the �Dandlioneyes in Bonn� update -sorry for the group e-mail, once again. It is a bit of pain to dial in from the hotel on my laptop, so that is why the group e-mail thing has to happen.
Well, I�ve had two jam-packed and full days in Bonn. Yesterday was our first day at the AvH Stiftung - the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (the place that is financing me for my year over here!). An introduction from the Generalsekret�r (General secretary) was followed by a coffe break. Lots of coffee and cookies. Followed by a handing out of my stipend and plane reimbursement in cash. Followed by some bureaucratic things, and then time for lunch. We walked to the Rhein, and ate a massive meal at a restaurant called �Die Bastei� - huge salad (filling enough as a meal), a Bunte Nudeln mit H�hnersomethingorother (colorful noodles with chickensomethingorother), and Mixed Icecream - that is, THREE, count �em, THREE scoops of ice-cream. We were stuffed like geese. The rest of the afternoon was spent presenting our projects to the group. 20 projects, 10 Americans, 10 Russians, 4 hours... long German sentences. But it was pretty neat. The Russians are doing a lot of Law/Finance type things, and then there are quirks like me doing revisionist histories of German Folklore Studies. Yeeeeees, indeed! Actually, fascesiousness (sp?) aside, people are interesting, the projects sound cool, and the group of people is quite nice. Dinner was in the Wintergarten of the AvH, catered food, but tasty.
Today we met one of the B�rgermeister (mayors) of Bonn. There is social democrat female Oberb�rgermeisterin - but we met with the PR rep sub mayor, Wolfgang H�rter. Neet �audience� room where several European Kings and Queens, Kofi Annan, and other dignitaries had also been received. The Press (though I don�t know who) was there for a photo-opp (silly, but yes), and then we had a neat talk by Dr. Monika H�rig, the Press Secretary for the mayor, about Bonn�s position and status as a city after the federal government moved to Berlin. Sort of neat, and sort of bleak: though Bonn has the HQs of Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Welle (at least the radio part), and several other big businesses, including Deutsche Post, A.G., they are in debt in debt in debt, and - well, that isn�t a surprise, I guess, but things like the arts (Opera esp.) are suffering. Lunch at a little student place- Blaue somethingorother, near the university, and then to the Uni Club to meet Stephanie Wahl, a pretty right-wing economy expert. She told us all about the need to downsize and cut social programs, etc. Though some of the reasons were understandable -aging population, especially - her solutions were a bit frightening.
Then I ended up staying in town doing bureaucratic stuff for the rest of the day. I sat in a small cafe with Molly, a grad student from Princeton, and generally enjoyed myself. Got a book, a prepaid phone card (! yay !), and did other bureaucratic things - passport picture for my BahnKarte (train discount card), etc.... I got a bestseller french book (in German translation) called �Balzac und die kleine chinesische Schneiderin� - Balzac and the little chinese taylor. We�ll see how it is. Nice huge big bookstore in Bonn called Bouvier - very very pleasant!
So I am doing well. Busy, but well. Tomorrow we head to the art museum and then have a talk in the afternoon about the necessary reforms to the system of Higher Education....
Weather has warmed up, jet lag no longer exists, so things are good. A bit lonely, but that always happens. But I�m busy and that keeps me - well, busy! ;)
Miss you all. Write soon
Later gaters!
dandlioneyes at 10:55 pm