Where No Man Has Gone Before...

Captain's Blog Stardate: 01072008
I am sorry about my disappearance. It seems that I became a slave to my internship, searching for a new job, and the Borg in the meantime. Well...I am almost at the end of my time here and this begs the question "What next for Reggie?". Well here is the breakdown:

I am flying to New York on the 16th of July (two weeks from now).
I will meet Jackie there on the 17th, then we are going to Michigan on the 20th.
Then we are going on a week-long Tour de Force around the state to say hi to friends.
Here comes the hammer folks, we are moving to Phoenix, AZ and will need to be there by the 30th.

So, you must be wondering what's the deal with Phoenix what am I going to do there? First moving things, after that preparing for the wholesale domination of a large Southwestern city. As of yet I haven't secured a position around there but Jackie starts work in August. I really want to see as many of you as possible in the meantime so I will try to keep you all posted on how I'm going to make my rounds.

Lovin' it and Livin' it

Mamma's Busy Boy

Captains Blog Stardate: 26042008
A couple weeks ago I was privileged enough to have familiar American company here to visit me. My friend, and ex-coworker, Katie from the Johnson Center came by to visit while on her whirlwind tour of Europe. My mother also came to visit and we had a grand old time. So this is going to have to be a multi post. The first is going to be an excerpt from my mother's impression of her time here. Without delaying any more...My mom:

My experience of traveling to Germany was indeed most heart warming.  From the moment I left Detroit Metro and, even when I transferred in Frankfurt, I was a little apprehensive just wondering if I would
be able to find my way to the connecting gate to Leipzig. 

I must say once entering the airport in Frankfurt
I was comforted people were nicer than what I have experienced with other airports. I especially enjoyed the quiet atomosphere. I felt as though my entire spirit was awoken once again and I was no longer a sleeping beauty.
My first impression once I arrived at Angelo's was as though I had already been there sort of home sweet home.  The friends that came over the first evening was definitely heart warming even eating the German meat served "raw" interesting and thanks to Katie she finished it off for me I the night was absolutely delightful.  Actually, I never thought about a language barrier until now I don't think there was one (smile).  I can't say enough about the "silence" it truly is golden.  I felt very safe  especially since we were out walking the streets at all times of the late night.  
I was taken with the history of the churches, parks and museums...what a rich heritage and to think it's only been 18 years since the Berlin Wall came down. Awesome.  Oh to add on I seriously loved dining in the museum like restaurants. American's may think just because you have dinner at such beautiful restaurants it must be for a super special occasion when in fact everyday is a special occasion.

My experience in Leipzig, Erfurt and Dresden has caused me to seriously think about my next international adventure. 
The one thought that stands out would be now I can understand why the entertainers particularly the older ones would want to settle there. I would guess the serenity of "beauty, peacefulness and safety" must be it.

The end for now.

And Then There Was You....

Captain's Blog Stardate: 31032008
In response to the many questions I get about the subject, I am writing this blog entry is about...you guessed it... the US primary cycle and the fact that Germans pretend to care. It has been my experience that even when I'm not involved in the conversation (even when no one knows that I'm American) Germans still talk about the US primaries. Particularly, they talk about who they think is going to win the Democratic nomination (which many people confuse with being a direct ticket to the presidency). This conversation, however, has very little to do with politics, actual knowledge of the American situation, or and real knowledge of what candidates offer. Really, the conversation is much like one you would hear people have about America's Next Top Model , Flava of Love or American Idol (by the way a lot of people actually watch Flava of Love here). The question is really "Who's going to win?" and the statement is "Last week, I was sure that she was going to be off the show...but she's still there".

What's more is that the negative campaigning, meaningless glory-grabbing, and direct/tacit accusations go without coverage here. There is really no story here about the former-first lady who touts her exaggerated first-hand experience up against a bright-eyed populist whose agenda consists entirely of "hope" and "change" who will say exactly what you want him to...but better than you can say it. There is even less attention that is paid to that old guy on the other side who beat a formerly obese minister and a horrible actor for his party's nomination.

In summary, yes Germans seem to care about the election cycle, but not in the same way that we care. There is a lot of blind idealism involved, combined with pulitzer winning CNN reports, and exaggerated by the fact that German politics is actually pretty boring.

Arbeit als Praktikant

Captain's Blog 04032008
So I started my internship yesterday at the German-American Chamber of California, the Leipzig office. Right now I'm going to answer many of the questions that I know everyone wants to know. I was supposed to start an internship last month technically, and I actually would have started it if not for my boss being in the states for the entire month. Due to the fact that he wasn't in the office, he said that it would be best if I started at the beginning of March. I'm working on two major projects, one of which gets temporary work visas to non-Americans who would like to do job training or an internship. Besides that there is work for the members of the Chamber, who are looking to expand their business to America (specifically California). Other than these two loads of fun there is a lot of small projects, like promotional videos and I have done some translation/editing for some of our services. This week, I'm pretty much in training and everything will start picking up as time goes on. Also, everyone is exceptionally nice in the office (and I hope it stays that way). Oh yeah, its all German, all the time, at the job. Thankfully I feel comfortable with that.

This month I will start my work toward finding an American job when i return. The good thing is that I'm not really restricting my search to any specific region. That is about all for now.

They say its my birthday!

Captains blog birthday edition: stardate 26022008
My birthday was amazing. The first half of the day I made my grand return to Sachsen Therma (the water park/sauna) with Stewart, Angelo, and his friend Manuela. I tried out about five saunas, including an ultra cool oxygen sauna. Before and after all of the sauna experience I made many trips with Angelo down the water slides.
After all of the water slides, swimming, saunas, and sweat we had a couple of hours of down time and we just relaxed and had great food. When the night fell it was time to have the Karaoke party of the Century. I had about 10 friends come to the Karaoke bar that is in my building and we sang the night away. Personally, I sang three songs (Mr. Bojangles, Silly Love Songs, and Proud Mary), and in my classic fashion I lost my voice by the end of the night. Everyone knows my love affair with loud celebrations, so this should not come as a surprise. Well after the Karaoke broke up at about 2:30 I went to this interesting Reggae club on the other end of town enjoyed myself thoroughly and came back home around 4:45 AM. My birthday can be classified as: Mission Accomplished.

Deutsche Bahn!!!

Captain's Blog 18022008

I am currently in celebration because I do not have to start my internship for another couple of weeks. Therefore I have been making a couple trips around the country. One of those trips (this past weekend) was to Cologne (again) and Heidelberg (first time). I made this trip with a couple of friends of mine Barbara (from Spain/Peru) and her friend Maria-Jose (Peru). Heidelberg was completely beautiful, and I must say that it was a refreshing change of pace from Leipzig, Cologne, and many of the other cities I've visited. This week, as everyone should know, my 25th birthday happens to occur. Friday I am planning to have Karaoke (with some classic photos), and I cannot wait to discuss the birthday fun with you all.

Long Time No See

Captain's Blog 28012008
At the urging of my conscience (and Lacey) I have decided to write this blog. Since the holidays, I have enjoyed explosions, gotten an internship, and continued to rock.

Let us get down to the fun stuff. Christmas was really interested because it seemed to last for about three days with food being the only real goal. We attended a circus and I rocked out a tune with Ernie (I will show more pictures in the next couple of days) and Stew. During the New Year's week Angelo and Will went north and I hung out in Leipzig. During this time I observed the Leipzig new years. Evidently everyone floods out of the bars at midnight and starts lighting off fireworks for about an hour. The city smelled like sparklers and was coated in a gun-powder fog for about an hour. Just so everyone is clear, as far as I know, no such activity on New Year's occurs in the state of Michigan. A couple of days later, I met some guys playing at an Irish pub and they invited me to rock a set with them on mandolin (so I did).

My internship is through the German-American Chamber of Commerce here in Leipzig. The main focus of my particular office is dealing with the affairs between the German east and American west coast. They have two major projects that they work on throughout the year. One is a visa program for those willing to do work in the states, and the other is an overview of doing business in particular western US locations (this is primarily through an internet database). The internship is paid...but it doesn't pay much (oh well).

Lastly, I was privileged to attend a meeting in an abandoned Leipzig building a couple of days ago...email for details.