Attendorn Germany, Day 1
Posted on July 7, 2010 by Brian under Life, Travel.
Today is the first day of my trip to Attendorn Germany. This is my second time coming over here so I am a little more familiar with the surroundings. Plus, I have two of my coworkers with me this time, Chad Molen and Jordon Rose.
I am not a big fan of coming to Germany, the TV sucks, hardly anyone speaks English in this little town (the larger cities have more English speaking people) the food is not all that great (except the Turkish place, it’s always great), the hotels are not that good (it’s 80 degrees and the hotel we are in has no AC) and it’s difficult to get anywhere. Chad likes it here and this is Jordon’s first time so he is stoked no matter what.
There is not much to say about the flight, it was long and boring and because I didn’t have Ching to lay my head on, I could not sleep on the flight. I don’t think the burly Coast Guard guy sitting next to me would have liked me snuggling up to him on the flight. It could have gotten awkward. I just got up from a lengthy 5 hour nap. I think I’m going to regret that later.
We got off the plane and headed out to where we were supposed to meet the driver that Viega got for us. After an hour we decided to call Katrin (the lady here in Germany that made all of our arrangements) and find out what happened. We learned a few minutes later that the driver got into a car crash on the way over here, not sure how that happened or if the guy is OK but they said they were going to send another driver to pick us up. After about an hour we wandered outside to see our driver looking for us. We made our way over to his car and off we went.
Now things get interesting. We started our drive out of Frankfurt pretty normal. Then, about 30 to 45 minutes into the 2 hour drive, Jordon fell asleep and Chad and I talked about various things. I had been watching out the front window and I noticed that the driver kept swerving very close to the center line and a few times came very close to other cars as he passed. Remember this is on the Autobahn, so we are doing speeds close to if not more than 100 mph. I decide that I am going to watch our driver in the rear view mirror for a few minutes. At the angle the mirror is at and my position in the car, I can see his eyes perfectly. I start to notice that the guy has the cruise control on and he is falling asleep at the wheel. I immediately point this out to Chad and he said that he had noticed it as well. For the remainder of the drive we tried desperately to make as much noise as possible to keep this guy awake. At one point, we actually thought we were all going to die. We came so close to a semi truck that even Chad turned a little white at that point. Jordon was asleep and woke up to Chad and I screaming and wanted to know what was going on. Our driver spoke no English nor understood what we were saying so we told Jordon the brief horror story. He chuckled and I think tried to suppress his concern. A crash on the Autobahn is a serious thing and I kept telling Chad, “I do not want to die in a foreign country.” He chuckled and said, “I don’t want to die period.” It was then that we decided that we were going to talk to Katrin and ensure that we do not get that driver for the return trip. Hopefully, we won’t get the one that wrecked either. Maybe we can get one of our Viega friends to take us next Friday.
Anyway, thank goodness we made it to the hotel safe and sound and we got checked in. We put our luggage up and I had previously convinced the guys that we should go to the Turkish place and get grub. I got my douner and they got the same with Fries. After that I came back to my room and got my internet access set up (I insisted on having a room with wireless access, it’s a must for communication) and checked my email, Facebook and Twitter. Then I set out to take a short nap that turned into 5 hours.
That pretty much sums it all up. I am in my room now, blogging, which I rarely do. And waiting for the guys to wake up so we can get dinner, I think we are going to go to the Pub on the corner, they server burgers and there is a Big Screen for Jordon to watch soccer on. I guess Germany is playing tonight so we have to show our support for our company’s home team. I doubt I will stay for the whole game. I think my plans involve coming back to the room and going to bed. I have a long day ahead of me and a lot to learn, so I want to be on my game tomorrow, not thinking of sleeping.
I will write more tomorrow but I doubt it will be this lengthy or exciting. I miss my wife and family terribly.
Love you all, see you soon.
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At Least We Have Windows
Posted on July 5, 2010 by Ching under Travel.
I called the hotel right after our movie the other day, only to find out that all the “view” rooms were already taken. Booo! I guess I should be grateful. At least we have windows.
This is our “non-view” from our window.
And at least I got a king bed, just as I requested.
We’d stayed at a few different places in previous trips to Kansas City, but we’d never stayed at Courtyard Marriott before. I think ten years ago, when we used to go to the Country Club Plaza (we don’t go to the Plaza so much anymore because we’re usually at the North Kansas City Harrah’s when we’re in KC) a lot, there wasn’t a Courtyard Marriott in the area.
At first I thought we’d be staying at a new hotel. I had visions of the Courtyard Marriott at Fishermans Wharf where we stayed while we were in San Francisco in February. That place was fantastic. I really liked the modern decor.
Well, our hotel is the exact opposite of that. Brian and I guessed that this was probably a different hotel or maybe even an apartment building before Marriott took over. The hotel itself was nice, but the decor looked dated and ancient.
I’m sure Marriott redid the entire place when they took over, but they probably had to stay consistent with the building’s architecture in choosing furniture and decorations as well as carpet and wall colors.
Our room was surprisingly roomy for an oldish hotel. It’s definitely much bigger than other rooms we’d stayed at in other hotels at Country Club Plaza. The best thing that I liked about our hotel is the location. We were within a couple of minutes walk from PF Chang’s and The Cheesecake Factory.
The bathroom, which looks like it had been redone as well, was pretty spacious also. It wasn’t fancy, but it was sufficient.
Besides the great location, the in-room fridge and microwave were a nice bonus (most hotels have a mini fridge, but usually no microwave). Great for storing and reheating those leftovers, because most restaurants always give you so much food. Although, we didn’t really get to use the microwave because Brian didn’t want to take his leftovers at all the places we ate. We did use the fridge to store our leftover chocolate tower from The Cheesecake Factory, though. We ate it as an afternoon snack the next day.
I think our “ancient” hotel is a historic building because there were these tiny doors in between the regular room doors. I’m a curious person by nature so I tried to open the one that had our room number on it, but it was locked. I believe the doors don’t serve any function other than to preserve the historic feel of the hotel.
This wall plaque explains the purpose of the little doors, which were actually “Milk Closets” circa 1900s.
Brian, the observant guy that he is, noticed something else that was funny about our hotel room. He saw this strange warning sign right next to the fire sprinkler head.
Here’s what it says up close:
Brian and I were amused at the thought of someone actually doing that. I mean, someone had to have done it for there to be a warning sign. Think of the hot coffee warnings on coffee cups. Prior to people actually burning themselves with hot coffee, there weren’t really warning labels. Usually, people think of putting the warning after the fact.
I was like, “Why would you even do that? Why not use the closet that’s provided?” Brian replied, “Maybe someone had a long dress that wouldn’t fit in the closet?”
“Can you imagine someone’s wedding gown hanging on that and then the bride returning to the room to find her dress soaking wet? They probably would’ve been furious.” Brian, who has little faith in people, added “I’m sure they probably blamed the hotel too.”
LOL. That’s the story we concocted in our heads for the reason why a warning sign next to the sprinkler head was necessary. We like to make up stories for things. Who knows what really happened. Maybe the hotel is just being proactive and they’re foolproof-ing the hotel rooms, because most hotel guests are too stupid to figure out that you shouldn’t do that.
Anyway, you know what the problem is with things that are foolproof right? A better fool will always come along. =P
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Friends, Old and New
Posted on July 4, 2010 by Ching under Things to Do.
New Friends, Carol and Don
Brian’s coworker/friend Sergio
Jen and Armando and Armando’s brother Dennis
April and baby Gavin
Old Friends, Becca and Jay
Cory
Jay actually wanted us to bring our ladder golf to play on Thursday night. I’m glad we vetoed it and said no. We would have lugged it to our spot and not been able to play it. There were so many people at Bradley Fair that night. We were packed like sardines!
I had looked into getting a room at the Hilton Garden Inn so that we could avail of the hotel parking and the special section for hotel guests, which was far less crowded. However, at the cost of $150 for the night, it might not be worth it.
Brian and I think we’ll just have to drive by before work and stake out our spot with tent stakes and twine next year. That would be the cheap, smart way to go about it.
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Making New Memories
Posted on July 3, 2010 by Ching under Family, Things to Do.
We had a blast at the Bradley Fair jazz concert and fireworks night on Thursday. We didn’t get the spot we wanted, though. Apparently, getting there at 5:30 pm is not early enough. We’ll be more prepared next year.
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Brian is a Paranoid Nutcase
Posted on July 2, 2010 by Ching under Life.
So yesterday when Brian went home to change clothes before the Bradley Fair concert and fireworks, he stopped to check the mail. He found no mail and our mailbox wide open. He was livid. He was so freaked out by it that he ranted and raved at me and demanded that I call one of the leasing agents on her cellphone. This was after 6 pm, mind you.
Fortunately, I had enough sense to say no. I’m not going to bother her at home over this. I told Brian that if he really wanted to call her at home, then he should do it. He agreed that he would just wait and call the next day.
Today he called over there and asked about the situation. I just cringe at the thought. I told him that I hope that he didn’t rant and rave at them like he was doing yesterday. He was just so furious. He assured me that he was calm when he called.
He talked to Corey, the young college girl who started working at the leasing office a couple of months ago. She said that she would ask the mail carrier what happened when he came to deliver the mail.
Later in the day, I noticed that I had a missed call on my cellphone. My cellphone is always on silent at work. I don’t generally get to check it until the end of the day when I’m about to leave. I had sent a text message to Jennifer Teves while I was at lunch so I just happened to be checking for her reply. That’s how I discovered the missed call from the leasing office. They didn’t leave a message so I called Brian and asked him about it.
Apparently, the leasing office called Brian after they couldn’t reach me. He explained that Corey had talked to the mail carrier and the mail carrier said that he found our mailbox unlocked so he did not leave our mail in it. He just held on to our mail until today when the mailbox was locked up again. Brian was so furious at the sight of the unlocked mailbox and the thought of stolen mail and then it turns out that it was all his fault. He’s the one who has been checking our mail over the last few days (eagerly awaiting his Best Buy gift card) so no one else could have left the mailbox ajar but him. Oh, the irony!
I told him that I really hope that he didn’t get ugly toward Corey because that would have been so embarrassing. How humiliating to yell and scream at someone and then find out that you did the very thing you were angry about. =P
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