There are Two Things I Can’t Stand in This World: People Who are Intolerant of Other People’s Culture, and the Dutch.

Just kidding…

Last week (February 12-15) was spent in a strange, underwater nation known as “The Netherlands.” We spent one day in Rotterdam, and three in Amsterdam. It was a grand time filled with classless days, freezing cold outdoor tours, and a language that no one in their right mind still considers useful. This is beneficial to us, because everyone speaks English.

*sidenote*

We were told before we came “Oh, everyone in Europe speaks English!” This is lies. Except for in The Netherlands.

I digress… We spent some good time in Rotterdam, which is considered the architectural center of The Netherlands, is the birthplace of Rem Koolhaas, founder of OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), and is home to the Dutch Architecture Institute. We saw a sweet cable stay bridge, and some cool modern stuff from OMA, Renzo Piano, and some Dutch people whose names I cannot pronounce. We also visited West 8, an urban design firm that just won the competition to redesign Governor’s Island in New York.

Rotterdam:

We then moved on to Amsterdam. It was full of bicycles, and older(IE boring) architecture, but we had a good time taking a boat tour, visiting the Van Gogh and Anne Frank museums, shopping and eating. Most of you know I have a soft spot for accessories (that sounds really gay) including shoes, ties, and watches. To pacify myself I bought a awesome new Swatch, as well as the standard jersey to add to my collection.

My Swatch (and my arm):

We also visited the amazing new Amsterdam public library. It is an awesome modern building that was full of computers, books, media, a restaurant, and most importantly… PEOPLE. It is a sad condition in the States that our libraries are old, ugly and empty. Is this an area where we have dropped the public works ball? Yes, but unfortunately, until people get out of their suburban rut, we will not see significant improvement. *end rant before it gets out of control* Long story short, it was beautiful, modern, and functional; all of my favorite things. See facebook for pictures.

All said and done, The Netherlands was cool. Not the coolest, but cool. The end.

‘I reject your reality and substitute my own.’ – Adam Savage

Two weeks ago we presented our first studio project. I’m not much for ‘abstract design,’ but apparently the Germans are. We had a big tank of water, and our assignment was to create a ’system’ that had a function both on the surface of the water and below the surface. The projects ranged from little underwater vehicles that swam around, to crazy clouds of ink, to exploding cabbage juice. Whatever. I chose to take a semi-scientific approach and work with the relationship between light and various media (in this case air, water, and our prism-like tank).

Begin crash course in color theory:

Light is really just electromagnetic waves that our eyes can perceive. Different wavelengths are seen as different colors ranging from red (around 380 nanometers) to violet (around 750 nanometers). You should have learned this in high school, ROY G BIV, etc. However, your deranged, middle aged physics teacher probably lied to you and told you “Indigo” was the “I” in ROY G BIV. Indigo is not a color, nor is it part of the spectrum, it was made up because English teachers demand there be a vowel in all words found in the English language, and that fool Isaac Newton wanted 7 colors instead of 6. Hooray, public education. That rant having passed, the standard colors are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet.

There are two basic color creating principles. RGB (additive color), and CMYK (subtractive color). RGB is “Red, Green, and Blue” which are the primary colors of LIGHT (not yellow, don’t argue with me). The theory is that black is the void of color, and you can add these (R, G, and B) in different quantities to create any hue until finally all three are completely saturated and it becomes white. CMYK is “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black” (yes I know ‘black’ doesn’t begin with ‘k’ I didn’t come up with it.) This method is used for ink, which is why your HP deskjet has three funny color cartridges, plus black. It is the opposite, stating that white is the absence of color, and C, M, and Y can be added until you finally reach black.

Here’s a Visual. I love Visuals:

I also did some talking about prisms and other fun physics things, but this is getting boring. Basically what I did was build these crazy floating flashlight buoys with colored film, and shot light all over the tank.

Ooooo…. Ahhhh….

That’s really it. This has nothing to do with architecture, but I love physics… and color. The end.

‘…they’ve never gone this long without a kill before.’

The man:

Watch him use all 10 fingers to play; the sign of true genius.

Jeez, I miss music.

“Uhh…You make sport?”

I walked into the house this afternoon around 3:30, red in the face, cold, and breathing like a chain smoking asthmatic. My host dad happened to be walking from the living room to the kitchen, and the following conversation ensued:

Note: Please read all lines marked ‘Uwe’ in a thick German accent.

Uwe: Hallo!
Me: *pant* Hey. *pant*
Uwe: *confused look* Uhh… You make sport?
Me: Yes, I was jogging.
Uwe: OH! GOOOOD! How much?
Me: *haphazard mental conversion to metric system* 7 kilometers.
Uwe: Very gooood! You look very…uhh…bad. NO! Tired. You look very tired.

I laughed and made my way upstairs to shower and recover from my weak minded physical pursuits. I have been itching for several weeks to do SOMETHING athletic. Last semester was certainly the most healthy of my college experience. I made myself run around 20 miles a week, a far cry from years past, but improvement for sure. I was surprised by the exponential returns of three dedicated hours a week of serious conditioning. It was the first semester I made it all the way through without even a cold. I slept better, worked better, found myself wanting to eat better, and just FELT GOOD. The last six weeks of sitting around and eating bread and bratwurst has done nothing for me. Sure, I walk a lot, but that only goes so far. I made the mistake of leaving my good running shoes at home, and have been unable to liberate myself from fatty foods bondage. I investigated having them shipped to me, but at $90 US, I just couldn’t justify it. So after two weeks of debating, I decided last night that I would give in and buy some shoes to last me the next two and a half months. This morning I woke up and went to Kaufhof with the burden of knowing I was about to grossly overpay for a pair of ill-fitting, uncomfortable, imported running shoes. For years I have been buying the best shoes on the market from Run-On, the best shoe store in the world. The first time you go, they develop a profile for you, so on subsequent visits they can pull up your profile, see what you have run in in the past, and choose the best shoe for you. For an extremely high-arched under-pronator like me, this is of utmost importance to prevent foot pain and shin splints (the #2 most painful experience, coming right after “Burning alive” on the ‘Worst pains ever’ list.) I found the shoes I run in at home for a mere €159, and decided to go a bit cheaper, and get these:

 

All that having been said, I have decided to start triathlon training. I have toyed with the idea for a few years, and am now officially dedicated. BEFORE THE END OF 2008, I WILL COMPLETE A SPRINT DISTANCE TRIATHLON. Sprint distance includes a .5 mile swim, 12.4 mile ride, and 3.125 mile run. This is my realistic goal, however if I can get to this point by the end of the summer, I will move on to a ‘half-tri’ which is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile ride, and 13.1 mile run. THIS IS INSANE.

I know for a fact that, at this moment, I could ride 12.4 miles (20k), and run 3.125 miles (5k). I also know for a fact that I am a terrible swimmer. Herein lies the challenge. Don’t let me cop-out.

Now that I have committed myself to insanity, here’s the point of this post:

People here aren’t fat. They do not eat overly healthy, but their portions are moderate, AND THEY GO OUTSIDE AND DO STUFF. When I was running in the park on a sunny (yet freezing cold) Saturday afternoon, I had to employ my ninja skills to successfully dodge the hundreds of people walking dogs, jogging, ect. This was frustrating at first, being that I am used to having the whole sidewalk to myself, but after a moment of enlightenment I realized… these people care about themselves too. How refreshing.

So friends, lay down your saturated fats, and your high fructose corn syrup. Get off of your second hand floral print sofa, and enjoy some fresh air.

This post has nothing to do with Germany, I apologize. I will update about the Netherlands soon.

Bratwurst, Lederhosen, Accordians, and Sick Air. (updated)

This past weekend Gavin, Sierra, Rachel and I took an 11 hour train ride East toward the Alps and the most amazing (and only) former Olympic competition site/Bavarian ski bum town I have ever seen: Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We spent two full days snowboarding (Sierra skied, but we don’t hold that against her), one of which was spent on a glacier at the highest point in Germany, the Zugspitze, which is also the Austrian border, an invisible line I crossed on my snowboard. Sweet. I am pretty sure I pulled something in my shoulder being that I can’t lift my left arm above chest height without crying like a baby, but that, and more stories to come later. For now, I am exhausted and have to be at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) at 8:45 am to go the The Netherlands for four days. Haha, sometimes life is just hard. To pacify you, enjoy pictures:

The Crew.

A common thread of the weekend.

‘…are we seriously about to do this?’

The glacier we boarded. Yes, those tiny things are lifts, and the big thing is the gondola down.

Looking into Austria from the Zugspizte.

‘It’s go time.’

The three boarders after a long day 2.

I said I would add stories, and I am no liar, so here we go:

Commence Story #1: Dinner

At the end of our first day, we decided to have a hardcore Bavarian dinner. We went to some crazy German restaurant where I ordered a Currywurst and Pommes. For desert I ordered the ‘Hot Love’ which was a phantasm of ice cream with raspberry goodness on top. The food was great, but the entertainment was better. The whole time there was a man and woman playing traditional music on an accordion and guitar, respectively. They were wearing lederhosen, and drinking beer from huge steins. Good times. After we got our food, a well-fed looking, older woman (who I assume was the owner) came by our table and said something in German to the effect of ‘how is it?’ We just smiled and said ‘güt.’ She laughed at us, and went on with her rounds laughing and rubbing elbows with the locals. Germans rock.

Commence Story #2: Pain

On day two, we chose to board the glacier on top of the mountain (see pictures). This was great fun, but I was already pretty beat up from falling… A LOT. About halfway through the day I was minding my own business, and was boarding across a run on my ‘toe-side’ meaning i was facing the mountain. Some schmuck on Snow blades ran over the end of my board, made me do a back flip, and end up on my back 20-ish feet downhill. Thanks for nothing. I landed hard on my left shoulder, which in turn has hurt for 10 days now. It’s almost healed up, and only bothers me if I sleep on it. Note to self *don’t sleep on bum shoulder*. Some people are jerks, but a little pain is part of the deal when snowboarding. It is just your body telling you that you are stupid for having so much fun in single digit temperatures.

All in all, Alpine boarding = success. That is all.