The last post ... :o(

Monday was my last day in the U.S. ... In the morning I picked our glazed pottery pieces up. Sadly, it turned out that it wasn´t possible to fix the fracture in the plate. However, all other pieces look really nice ... especially if you consider that it was the first time for me to make pottery. ;o) At noon I had a really delicious and funny last lunch together with Shiya, Kathleen (our landlady) and her daughter Grace. However, early afternoon was the time to go to the airport. Margaret and Shiya joined me to the airport which was really nice, but it was hard to say goodby.
I really enjoyed the two months in Madison ... it was a time with wonderful people (which I´ll miss) and full of great experiences. I hope I can come back soon!!! :o)
Anyway: I have to say that it is not that bad to be back in Germany ... I´m happy that I can see all my friends here in Germany after two months. 

the plate with the fracture ... otherwise, the plate would be really nice

my 2nd self-made bowl

my 1st self-made bowl

pottery tags for necklaces

haha ... one of my first acts in Germany: buy a rye bread!! ... yummy

The next to last post ...

My last week here in Madison is over and in about 14 hours I have to fly back to good ol´ Germany. I really enjoyed the last week: I met some Ecology professors and I made progress with the analysis of the elm genetics data set, I finished the pottery pieces together with Margaret, I went with Margaret to the theatre at Union South to watch "The Descendants", I had good Sushi together with my coorperation partners, I helped at the Cranberry station during the Science expeditions and I was brave enough to touch a huge cockroach, I enjoyed a last dinner together with my friends (Margaret, Shiya, Emily, Matt and Eric) at the "Natt Spil" (by the way: Pizza with apple and Brie cheese is really tasty ... yummy) ... after the dinner we went to the Majestic to see the concert of "The naked and famous" (after we left the Majestic, we had to recognize that it started to rain pitchforks ... but nevertheless we enjoyed our walk of more than a mile to the bus stop ... @Eric: thank you so much for recovering my rain jacket ... I was really happy to have it in that situation) ... today I went with Margaret and two of her friends to the Belly dance show at the Memorial Union.

Sushi time (of course, I had vegetarian Sushi)

Cranberry station at the Science expedition

Hawk moth caterpillars

Madagascar hissing cockroach

Me and the cockroach :o)

at the concert of "The naked and famous"

finally at home ... completely soaked after a long walk in the driving rain

Happy Easter / Frohe Ostern / Felices Pascuas

Happy things, sad things ...

Beside the work, the past week was characterized by happy things, but also by sad things:
Happy things: Monday: I met Kathy ... she works in the Goodman Community Center and I really enjoyed the Lunch with her and to hear a bit about her life and her work. Monday night, we had our last Margarita night together ... it was a really funny evening. Tuesday night: We invited Brandon and Margaret to come over for a last dinner together in our house. After the dinner we played Pictionary, again. :o) Wednesday after work: We went with Brandon and Margaret to the Department of Dairy Science to see how they milk the cows. After the milking adventure we had delicious Burritors at Fuzzy´s. 1st sad thing: After our Burrito dinner, we had to say goodby to Brandon, because he had to go back to Nebraska. 2nd sad thing: Thursday morging: We had to say goodby to Hardi, because he had to fly back to Germany. In both cases it was not easy to say goodby ... now, the elm research group is pretty uncomplete, but we had a really nice time together here in Madison. However, after these two sad things the week continued with happy things: Friday evening: I went with Margaret and one of her friends to a South-Indian Carnatic Classical Music concert. The concert reminded me that I always wanted to travel to India. Saturday afternoon: Margaret came over to show me how to make pottery. It was a funny afternoon which started with the fact that we suprisingly have to organize some clay because we didn´t find some clay among the pottery stuff at the back porch. ;o) Anyway, after we fixed the clay problem we started to make pottery. I think we can be really proud of our results (each of us made a bowl). Thank you Margaret for teaching me ... I really enjoyed it.

with Kathy in the Goodman Community Center

 this guy was the singer at the Indian concert

 

lets start the pottery afternoon

Margaret in action

Margaret´s bowl

my turn

here we are

How to spend a great day ...

Introduction:
To be honest, when Hardi was speaking all the time that we have to visit Chicago, I wasn´t that enthusiastic. I´ve seen a lot of big cities like London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Seattle, Portland, Buenos Aires, Roma, Praque, Berlin, etc. and I thought "Why should I visit Chicago? .. I´m sure it is just one among all the other U.S. cities.". However, about 1 1/2 weeks ago it turned out that our friends Margaret and Brandon will join us and we started to plan our trip ... with the result that I started to think more and more positive about a visit of Chicago. And yesterday finally was the big day: Our 1 day trip to Chicago!

Materials and Methods:
We enjoyed the day in Chicago according to the following protocol: 
1) Departure in Madison: 4.50 am
2) Play "Who are you?" and make plans about a world journey together.
2) Arrival in Chicago: 7.30 am
3) Walk to the Millenium Park.
4) Enjoy the legendary and fascinating metal bean ;o) and have breakfast in the park.
5) Walk to the Museum Campus.
6) Spend two hours in the Field museum and find out that you could spend at least a whole day in this great museum.
7) Walk to the Navy Pier.
8) Have lunch at the Navy Pier and enjoy a skyline boat tour on Lake Michigan.
9) Have a nice two hours gangster tour to see the old gangster hot spots.
10) Walk to the Willis Tower (tallest building in the western hemisphere ... height: roof 442 m / antenna spire 527 m).
11) Line up for more than a hour to go up to the Skydeck (located on the 103 floor, 412 m).
12) Enjoy the spectacular view of Chicago and step out on the glass ledges.
13) Have a famous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza for dinner.
14) Departure in Chicago: about 11.30 pm
15) Decide which songs should be used for the soundtrack of your life.
16) Arrival in Madison: 2 am

Results:

cow + boy

The magic bean ;o)

reflections

breakfast time

reflections²

The Field museum

Navy Pier

boat tour

gangster tour

it´s a real sea gull!

height: 412 m

Chicago deep dish pizza

Discussion:
A GREAT DAY!!

Conclusion:
I would do it again ... same people ... same place or each other place of the world. :o)


Acknowledgements:
@Hardi: Thank you for the persistence regarding the Chicago trip.
@Margaret: Thank you for beeing our tour guide.
@Brandon: Thank you for driving.
@Hardi, Margaret & Brandon: Thank you for the day ... I really enjoyed the time with you guys!