Walking fool

You might not believe this, but I'm in possession of a nearly normal-looking right leg. Well, the scars are still there, although they're no longer so grotesque but rather bad-ass.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Last week, my physical therapist taught me how to walk. Yes, after six weeks of sitting and awkward hopping about, one must be shown. It amazes me that while my body seems to know how to repair bones (!), my brain conveniently forgets how to put one foot in front of the other. 

And do you know what? I can do stairs too. I know: so many impressive tricks in such a short span of time. Give me a biscuit!  It takes a lot of energy to descend the stairs, "walk" to my doctor's office and back, then scale the stairs again, but it's taking less and less of a toll every day. 

Despite the slow-going of it all, I couldn't be happier or luckier to have such patient friends. They seem quite content to wade through the street at my 1 km per hour pace, deflecting unwitting tourists out of my path. I love it. The gratitude I feel casts a shadow on the small frustrations that come along with the hopeless expectation I put on myself to snap back to normal instantly.

Still, the prospect of getting on a bus (my main mode of transport around town and to work) still frightens me. And given the energy it takes to just get to the doctor, even if I did make it up to my office, I'd be too exhausted to do much once I was there. The may sound like an enormous cop-out, but if you knew the cabin fever that's set in, you'd know that it's far from the case.

The upside of extended couch time

Breaking my leg has forced me to be much more sedentary than I have ever been. I mean, even for your typical astronomer. After the surgery, I was told not to put any weight whatsoever on my leg for a minimum of six weeks, at which point I would get an x-ray to see if I could try walking again. In my fourth-floor flat (no lift), I have only breathed free air twice in that period, so I welcome this next painful stage happily. 

That's not to say this has been an entirely unfruitful six weeks. I am by nature quite a busy body, so I need something more stimulating than television to keep me from going crazy. Given my limitations, I think I did alright:

• I'm reading much, much more intensely, at levels normally only attainable while on holiday, rather than just half an hour before bed.
• I've learned to knit! I have never even tried it before, and if you want to start, I can heartily recommend this book (and a very patient friend who knits) to get you going.
• I've mastered giving myself injections! Ok, maybe less exciting for you... TMI?
• You may have also noticed, I'm blogging again!

Noticeably absent from this list is "getting lots of work/writing done," which has declined if anything. Something about having to be in a reclined position at all times basically makes research impossible. Trust me on that one.

Apart from this, this time has taught me a new level of patience with myself. Everything takes ten times longer than it normally does, and that's a bigger hurdle than I expected it to be. Not to mention how one can really begin to appreciate how little Europe has embraced disabled access to anything at all. 

Hopefully in the coming weeks I can venture out of the house a little more, though I will struggle to restrain myself from beating the life out of the very spatially unaware Germans that tend to wander down the Hauptstraße. Wish me luck.

Learning to walk at 31

Now begins my quest to walk again. My doctor assured me that my leg "would not explode" when I took my first step. Terribly reassuring. He also supplied me with a fashionable velcro ankle brace, which he made quite plain was only helpful for psychological purposes. Bedside manner is awesome in Germany, eh?

I have an appointment with the physical therapist on Monday, so we'll see how soon he'll have me in marathon form. Wish me luck!

2013 and I'm broken.

Can you believe this? Not a month into 2013 and this happens. Sigh. 

Yes, I am now the proud owner of bionic leg, complete with titanium rod, plate, and apparently several screws holding it all together. This lovely memento was snapped following emergency surgery conducted at the Leiden University hospital after a nasty spill on the icy pedestrian path last month. Nobody seems to believe that one can do this much damage by falling on the ice, but I'll tell you what, if any clumsy creature on this earth can do it, it's me. I have (at least) two more weeks completely off of the leg before I can even begin physical therapy. This sucks, guys. That's all I wanted to say. 

A lesson in gift-giving

My very clever boyfriend came up with an ingenious gift for my this Christmas: Green & Black's Ultimate: Chocolate Recipes: The New Collection, which has quickly revived one of my favorite pastimes: baking.  


My first undertaking was Allegra McEvedy's Not Millionaire's Shortbread, a delightful three-layer treat.  First a peanut-based crust, followed by a layer of creamy caramel, and finally topped with melted orange-infused chocolate (Green & Black's Maya Gold).  The result was divine. 

I call this a lesson in gift giving because, well, this was bought for me by the very person who would be enjoying the fruits of the experimentation and labor (or labour? Ack, my English!).  I'm on my fifth recipe already.  Clever guy I've got.

2010 in travel

As predicted, blogging has taken a backseat to just about everything going on here in Heidelberg, which is a lot. Before going into that, I will give a brief tour of all the places away from Heidelberg I visited in 2010.

June - Paris

Just three hours and change by train, Paris is a nice destination for a weekend away. My former supervisor spent the summer in Paris for his sabbatical, so I dropped in for a long weekend of "work" and tourism. 

It was a beautiful June weekend with perfect walking weather, which in my opinion is the best way to spend your time in Paris.  

July - Strasbourg

My lovely sister, Amanda, visited in July, and we took a quick day trip to Strasbourg, France, if only to get a whiff of decent beef and other culinary delights that are somehow verboten in Germany.

We somehow managed to pick the hottest day of the year to make this journey, so our day was spent strolling from shady spot to shady spot, with frequent stops for refreshment.  At this time the World Cup was really ramping up, and this was the day of Germany's quarter final, in which they shellacked Argentina 4-0. Though it would have been fun to to watch this match in Germany (the last match they would win in the World Cup), I have to admit it was a relief to have a peaceful atmosphere after a month of vuvuzela sounding down the streets of Heidelberg.

Copenhagen

Toward the end of July, Paul and I headed north for some relief from our un-airconditioned existence in Germany. We decided on Copenhagen because neither of us had been, and we both had always wanted to visit. I think we both assumed that it would be a major city, but Copenhagen has a small town feel (the city has a population of 500,000, 2 million including the surrounding area). Everywhere we went, we constantly overshot our destinations from our map; it took around 30 minutes to walk from end to end. This is not to say that there wasn't a ton to do in the city, and the atmosphere could not be beat. 

Our Favorite cafe. Glowing doll-heads as 

chandeliers. Yes. 

I think that photo captures the nightlife vibe in Copenhagen. Quirky, laid back, and good fun. Tip: drink imported beer.

August - St. Andrews, Scotland

In early August, I headed to Hawaii for an observing run (amazingly, I have no pictures to show you because time constraints allowed for no leisure time on the Big Island this time), then home for the most important holiday of the year, my birthday.  Following my big American trip (and almost a month away from my boyfriend!), I flew up to Edinburgh to see Paul and visit St. Andrews, his alma mater.  Due to harddrive failure, I've lost my original copies of the pictures from St. Andrews, but luckily, I posted them to flickr before that happened.  It was just lovely there.

September - Göteborg, Sweden

Conference season kicked off in Göteborg (or Gothenburg), Sweden with Herschel and the Formation of Stars and Planetary Systems.  A large group of people from my institute attended this conference. The participants were meant to stay at this all-inclusive "spa" getaway conference venue, which was beautiful, but horrifically over-priced.

The view from conference hotel. Not bad.

Instead, the MPIA attendees stayed in downtown Göteborg on a permanently-docked boat called the Barken Viking. Highly recommended.  The rooms were refurbished sleeping quarters for passengers, much more comfortable than I expected. Here it is in the background of our group photo.

The city is not what I'd call exciting. It's a student town (term starts in October probably), so I could see it livening up with some youth injected. Still, we were able to eat well. If I could eat shellfish, I probably would have eaten even better. 

Paris (again)

I headed once again to the land of foie gras for a weekend getaway with Paul, who had a conference the following week. The great thing about Paris is that there is never a shortage of new things to see and do. This time, I saw the Centre Pompmidou for the first time. Before the art, the view from the top level (3 stories is tall for Paris):

Not a bad way to start, huh?

I have a soft spot for modern art. I even saw babies on spikes. 

We also climbed up the Sacre Coeur.

... and we went to the Louvre, which Paul had never seen. 

November - Berlin

In need of another getaway, Paul and I ventured northward once again for the weekend. I selected this time in particular because a musical group we both like, Afrocubism, was stopping there on their rather sparse tour of Europe. As this was the very last weekend in November, all the Christmas markets were in full swing, so we enjoyed our fair share of glühwein and sausages. The pictures from this trip also fell victim to hard drive failure, but check out the selection I posted on flickr for a taste. (It was cold.)

Ok, that's it. I didn't promise content, just a tour! I hope 2011 holds some travels to warmer destinations (Italy tops that wish list) and more timely blog posting. Happy new year!

Holidays

May 1 - Maifeiertag

May 13 - Ascension

May 24 - Pentecost Monday

...

I like holidays as much as the next person, but in Germany, all shops close on holidays in addition to Sundays as usual.  This makes life annoying when you has next to no time to run errands as it is, and your only chance is to fight through the throngs of tourists on Saturdays.  Wah!

On the other hand, vacation days and national holidays are no joke here;  really, no one works.  I find this a welcome change from the American grind.  Perhaps it's not a fair comparison with my last years in the US were spent madly finishing graduate school, but even the busy/super-productive people here in Germany see holidays as an integral part of their year, no questions asked.  In the US, I often got the feeling that if I took a holiday, I was showing weakness or a lack of commitment to my job.  You almost feel like your job is at risk if you have to call in sick.  Not here.  It's a relief to know that your well-being is considered more important than being the cog in the work machine. 

Having seen both sides of it, I realize that I was close to being brainwashed into workaholism.  But now (even as I write my blog while at work) I feel motivated to work hard now, and enjoy the time off!