moving on/out...

Well, my Shannon-door-sign, my world map and my quilt and I have moved on.
Just as soon as I sent Annegret off to New York (from where she made it back to Germany, did her own packing and from there apparently made it to Peru) I packed up my stuff and moved to a a nice big house off campus.
No. I did not move my stuff using my bike. Mainly because I have yet to mount a rack on the back of it ... hehehe. I had the common sense to call a friend and we tossed all my stuff in the back of her car and to her amazement we managed to move me out and back in within an hour. I'm that good.
And once I spread out my quilt and put my sign on the door: Home sweet home.

The EPIC train ride

In order to return home to Long Island we have decided to take the train. A 20 hour train ride is by definition an epic train ride. A legendary train ride. A train ride work documenting.
January 5th, 2010; 7:12 pm
We have arrived at Union Station in Chicago. We even managed to get our tickets. Interestingly enough, MY barcode worked instantly on the machine, it was Annegret’s that we had to go to the ticket people for.
January 5th, 2010; 7:28 pm
We found Gate C and the waiting lounge. We’re wondering why everybody is standing in line waiting to board an hour before boarding begins. We’re wondering why there is a “boarding time” – why can’t you just walk out on the track and get on the train? We’ve used train in countless regions and countries, me do not think using a train is a big deal (but yes, 20 hours IS epic, legendary even), and everywhere else we’ve been you just go to the track, wait for the train to come and get on.
January 5th, 2010; 8:45 pm
We’ve made it out the gate and onto the track. We’re confused why there’s a person telling everyone how to get onto the train. It’s NOT that difficult. Even if the train is splitting, you can just mark the wagons.
January 5th, 2010; 9:05 pm
We’re pulling out of the station. We tested how far back the seats go… satisfactory. But we are wondering how we’re supposed to put our feet up with this much leg space.
The guy in front of us has started talking to the young student from NYU next to us. He will be talking the entire ride.
January 5th, 2010; 10:32 pm
Somewhere between Illinois and Indiana. I have decided to use the bathroom before settling in, taking off my shoes and getting comfortable. There is snow in the part in between the wagons. It’s like its own mini-snowstorm in there.
I am glad to announce that the bathroom has two 120-volt outlets. Just in case I decide to blow-dry my hair. Or curl it. Or both. At the SAME time.
I am slightly amused by the fact that everything in the bathroom is labeled: FLUSH, TRASH, TOILETTE PAPER, WATER… and everything is labeled in Braille, too. I have thought about this before. How do blind people KNOW there is something to “read”? Even I had to look for some of the labels – do blind people REALLY pat down all the walls first thing when they use the bathroom? In my dorm all the door signs (even the one next to my door 207D) have Braille on them, but you kinda have to know they’re there…
January 5th, 2010; 10:49 pm
I know most of the guy in front of us’s life history: how many times he has been married, what his first wife thinks of him, how many kids he has from which marriage and how he ended up getting a really good deal on a vacation in Disneyland. I know some interesting stories about his cousins (and how many there are in total/how many per Aunt/Uncle), which baseball team he roots for (and that his wife knows nothing about sports) and plenty more.
He REALLY is going to be talking all night.
January 6th, 2010: 1:45 am
We’re guessing Ohio. I dozed off and was tossing and turning unable to find a truly relaxed position. Usually I am quite good at curling up in tight spaces and conking out for the night. Apparently, there is an in-between size of not large enough to completely stretch out (say, a bed or a couch or a large comfortable chair) and small enough to jam yourself in somewhat comfortably (a bus seat works pretty good).
I watched the last few lights of Indiana pass by in a winter wonderland of snow and dozed of somewhere in Ohio, my last thought being.
He is STILL talking! I now also know a lot about his and his wife’s eating habits and that microwaves zap all the nutrition out of the food.
January 6th, 2010; 2:45 am
Near Toledo, OH. I woke up. Probably because the sudden realization that it was silent in the wagon startled me.
The two of us finally figured out what the mysterious extra handle on our seat was (imagine me, hair standing up straight on one side standing, pulling the handle going – it’s gotta do something. It’s gotta led the seat slide down or something – and finally discovering that you could pull up something akin to a foot rest which solved the problem of that extra foot of space that was keeping me from sound sleep.
January 6th, 2010; 6:54 am
Eerie, PA. I woke up as the train stopped. And was struck by two facts:
a) The guy in front of us was talking again…
b) This is the town my father grew up in! This is his Schriesheim so to say. The place he spent most of his childhood and the left, and never went back to.
I was going to have a moment of silence for this momentous occasion, but was too distracted by a full report of how easy it is/or isn’t to shave in a train bathroom (and why one should do it, no matter how difficult).
January 6th 2010; 11:25 am
Syracruse, NY. Just as we pulled out I decided it was time to stretch me legs, relieve my intestines and combine these two necessities with a short expedition covering a few wagon lengths. It appears that that little snow storm I described earlier is not a problem. I do worry about the other end of our wagon, though and about who will dig a tunnel through the snow mountain in there to keep up connected to the other half of our train.
January 6th, 2010; 1:28pm
Somewhere past Syracuse, NY. While we found it quite amusing to “watch” the movies the guy in the seat across the aisle is watching without sound and guess what the movie is and what’s happening. We are not amused by the fact that Gary (the chatty guy in front of us) and Emma (the student from NYU) have decided to watch an odd movie (we have no clue but think it might be the horror version of Snow White if there is such a thing…) in front of us without using headphones (which I believe is the custom with portable devices…). It’s kinda nerve wracking. I also wonder if it’s legal. Because that movie certainly isn’t rated G and there’s a three year old (with severe food allergies and other issues as I have gathered from her mother’s loud phone conversation to various people in New York) sitting behind us who might accidently see some of it in addition to hearing most of it, which could potentially traumatize her for life.
January 6th, 2010; 2:40pm
Near Albany, NY. Quick stop de-couple a couple of wagons and send them on to Boston. Do not fear, we were in the right part of the train! We did get out to sniff some fresh air along with all the smokers. Well, I guess they didn’t get out to sniff fresh air, but they were the only other people who got off the train.
January 6th, 2010; 5:08pm
Amaaaaaaaaazing sunset. Beautiful. Taking a late afternoon snooze feels great when you’re dozing off to the patter-patter of train and have a breath-taking scene in front of your eyes every time you open them!
January 6th, 2010, 6:03
We enjoyed coming up on NYC’s night skyline and after being stuck in a tunnel because there was too much “traffic” an Penn Station we arrived 20 minutes early – just in time to run through the station, grab a station and hop on the LIRR to Stony Brook.
Home.

REALLY cold

So, after we covered about 10 States in 4 days we landed in Chicago via Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. We'd put up with sunshine, cold, rain, snow, wind (we nearly were blown right off the Jeffersonian Memorial) and any other imaginable weather. And yet, there is only one word to describe Chicago: COLD.

REALLY cold. Breath in and feel needles in your lungs cold. Step outside and instantly lose feeling in your nose and cheeks cold. Come back inside and even though you were wearing gloves it still hurts as your hands defrost cold.

So cold, when I got to Chicago and took my water bottle out of my pack there was solid ice and slushy stuff in there.

So cold, we had ice-cream for dinner to warm up.

So cold, I looked like Rudolph, except it was my ears, not my nose glowing.

So cold, we decided to watch the fireworks from INSIDE navy pier.

So cold, getting back to Stony Brook yesterday were the temperatures are around freezing feels nice comfy and warm.

I realize that on most pictures it looks like I am only wearing a sweatshirt. This isn’t true – it’s just the top layer. Just like onions and ogres have layers, when it gets cold, Shannon has layers.

The real reason I wear layers?

Well, on our last day in Park Ridge, we decided to go for a walk in the forest preserve. The river was frozen over and Annegret had that glint in her eye that made me say - dude, if you go out there and fall in, I'm not coming in after you...

She looked a bit disappointed, "you wouldn't?!", "Nope" - because honestly, wherein lies the sense of jumping into a freezing river after somebody?!

She still didn't look completely satisfied. Obviously, she thought that 12 years of friendship should be worth more. "Fine", I said, "I'd whip off all my top four layers of clothes, tie them together and that rope would be long enought that I'd be able to pull you out".

And THAT is the true reason why we layer up in winter.

Why we love the subway

There are just so many interesting people.
One of our favorite people was a little girl who got onto the subway with her family. This family had obviously just been to dunkin' donuts and had obtained various donuts, coffees etc. The sat down on various free spots around us. Our favorite character was this small girl about 11 or 12 who sat down right across from us clutching a cup of coffee.
We assume it was coffee. It could have been hot chocolate, but what we observed thereafter made us hope it was coffee.
She carefully pried off the top, precariously balanced it on her knees and then while clutching her cup in one hand, she dug into her coat pocket and pulled a little satchel of sugar out of her coat pocket -
At this point I nudged Annegret and said: "How long before it spills?" Subway drivers have a way of speeding into the stations and somehow managing to break just in time. And they take off in a similar fashion.
And so we watched as she opened the sugar with her teeth and poured it in. Then she pulled out another - and another. At about this point the waves in her cups got so high that it did spill over the top a bit. She kept going strong, now pulling sugar packets out by the double and kept pouring them in... now we were more fascinated by the amount of sugar she was putting in her cup (this is why we were almost hoping it was coffee despite her tender age...).
So fascinated matter of fact that when she finally put that lid back on her cup - we realized we had missed our stop.
This is also the story of why we love having a week – pass (we just got out at the next station and back on going downtown), and how we learned what the difference is between the B and the D line. Apparently, the D line doesn't stop at our stop during the day...
But it's all good, we just got off and back on going uptown.
We love the subway!

Skipping Christmas vs. Miracle on 34th Street

Well, not really. But we did opt for something completely different: The first White Christmas in Central Park since 2002. Ok, I admit when we planned this, we didn’t exactly KNOW that the biggest snow storm in 10 years was going to hit New York right before Christmas. But we did know that going to New York for the Holidays meant we were in for something utterly and completely different – and something VERY crazy.

But then, as you know, so are the two of us!

Yes, we saw the Tree at the Rockefeller Center (Annegret still insists that the Village Tree where she grew up is DEFINITELY bigger), we saw Macy’s, the Christmas Market at Grand Central Station, and all the other Christmas decorations and craziness. But I think next to the Midnight Service in St. Paul’s Chapel my “Christmas Moment” was on Christmas morning when we decided to go ice skating in Central Park. We went to the small rink near Harlem Meer – and for the first hour there were only two or three other people on the ice next to us and so we whizzed around in circles in time to the music, twirled, glided and enjoyed being out there.

For some reason, there was something very Christmassy about it. Much more Christmassy than a city full of lights blaring at you, signs flashing in your face, crowds crushing you from all side and being bombarded from all sides with people and things vying for your attention.

This was something very quiet and peaceful. Smack in the middle of the city a little island without noise, without distraction, without crowds, shops, lights. I’ve frequently thought that the song “Silent Night, Holy Night” kind of misses the point of what was really going on that night. A stall certainly isn’t a quiet place. A birth certainly isn’t a quiet event, either. A crowd of angels sounds pretty loud to me (even if it was a sweet sound). And I don’t really picture a bunch of dirty, smelly shepherds piling into a small stall as a very peaceful, holy thing either.

And yet, the Bible also tells us that Mary took everything in and pondered. She took time to take in the reality of what was happening and didn’t let those moments just pass her by. She gave it thought.  Contemplated – took the time to figure out the meaning and find a moment of peace and quiet to grasp the awesomeness of what was going on here.

I have always been a Christmas-person. I love this time of year that seems to have an extra portion of joyfulness, laughter, fun, songs, family and friends… And even though I never believed in Santa Claus I have always loved Christmas movies. The good ones, of course.

I’ve thought about why I like watching them, what it is that captures my attention and gives me that happy-feeling when they’re over. I think it’s the part that in the end, you have to believe in order to see. The fact that hopes prevails. Love wins. Having a little faith is worth it in the end. That whoever the “scrooge” of that movie is learns that there are things that go beyond what we can see. That there is something out there that is bigger than us.

I love celebrating the reality of Christmas. The gist of it: “Emmanuel” – God with us. Not just on Christmas, in real life, too. And for some reason twirling around on the ice to some of my favorite Christmas Songs brought just that to me. The comfort of knowing that God isn’t just out there – he’s here. To me, Christmas still is about celebrating that God stepped down into the craziness that is life.

I guess, sometimes believing IS seeing.

Can you feel the flames a-blazin’?!

All semester, I have been grading assignments for the class I TA. Usually, once I’m done I’ll bring them to class and everyone can pick them up and read my brilliant comments and notations and other observations I made. Interestingly enough, not everyone seems that interested in picking up their assignments – and ever since I finished grading the first assignments I have had a stack of papers that weren’t picked up.
Then, people would ask for them at the most random moments. In Germany we have an expression we use that goes somewhere to the effect of “yeah, what do you think I’m gonna do with them?! Wallpaper my room?!” So, out of habit I usually would say something to that effect.
Because I was still in the process of cramming information into my head while my friend had already come to visit from Germany we were kind of looking for something for her to do. At one point I mentioned how empty my suite looks and joked around that what it really was missing was a fireplace. Jokingly I said, “hey, we should draw a big fireplace on the wall…”.
We laughed.
Then we looked at each other.
Our eyes met.
Our brilliant minds synchronized.
And I said: “yes, we really should” and scampered of to my room and returned with a box of crayons and a stack of papers. No they weren’t really the left-over assignments. But these pieces of scrap paper had originated from assignments that were accidently printed twice, the instructions for them etc.
So yes. When I said I wasn’t going to wallpaper my wall with those assignments?!

Well, I sorta changed my mind.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

So. With finals week being more of a final one and a half weeks the campus was oddly empty after Friday with most people having gotten off the island (or at least off campus) as quickly as they could after their last final and those remaining on campus were some international students and a handful of poor souls needing to take a last exam Monday.

Me being among those poor souls I spent Friday diligently stuffing my head with various facts and figures regarding biological oceanography, while popping in and out of the kitchen a few times to prepare last supper with some of my team mates – most of them ended up having to leave early because a major blizzard was supposed to hi the entire East Coast and their parents decided they were coming to get their children while they still could.

Hm, I thought to myself… my best friend is coming in from Germany on Saturday (at least her last leg of the journey from the City to Stony Brook by train), what’s it with me and attraction natural catastrophes at the worst possible times to wherever I am?

Well, she arrived in time for the two of us to get our grocery shopping done and hole up before the storm hit that evening. And hit it did…  of course I welcomed several nightly breaks of “let’s see how bad it really is out there” to run away from my desk and out into the snow. The next morning we couldn’t go to church as planned because all church services etc. had been canceled – so instead we bundled up and decided to go explore.

It seems we were the only people enjoying a walk in two feet of fresh snow – most people were trying to dig out their cars, figure out which dining facility hadn’t shut down. But we had fun… and I got a new fireplace for my apartment, so after a few hours of trudging around we came back made hot chocolate and settled down in front of the fireplace (story to follow…)