The Dominican Republic

A group of us ventured down to LGO to escape the Boston cold during our time off in January.  It was a pretty uneventful vacation (on purpose) with a lot of relaxing by the pool and football in the ocean.

We took a van from the airport to our resort, caught the sunset, and enjoyed tasty beverages.

A couple of nights we cooked out dinner on a grill and I tapped into my inner chef as Jeremy Stewart and I became the Grill Masters.

We did take one day trip on a boat that took us snorkeling and to a remote island for eating and drinking.

• Bottom right: The boys decided to swim to the deserted island instead of waiting for the transport boat.  Some of us were not yet in triathlon shape and had to resort to doggy paddle.
• Top right: The DR is my kind of place...they've never heard of sustainability!

Four of us took another day trip to a cave while everyone else sat around the pool.  The day was awesome.  We rode horses to the rain forest, hiked through the rain forest, repelled into a cave, trekked through the cave (having to swim through part of it), and twice we were fed authentic food from the farm (which had some friendly animals on it).

The resort made the mistake of hosting a karaoke night in the clubhouse.  Since we were the only people on the resort during the week, we took over the event.  We just had them put the 4 English CD's in and went through every song...twice...then we switched to Spanish music and turned it into a dance club.

On the last day we went into the major city (and former capital of the Spanish Caribbean empire) Santo Domingo.

I've also included some panoramic pictures I took.  I've started using Microsoft ICE to patch together my panoramic pictures and the results were very impressive (see below).

Long Time No Blog

It has been a long time since I blogged so I am going to try to catch up on some of the important things that have happened since I last blogged.  Like I do, I'll just post-date everything so that the blog occurs near the day of the event.

Winter Classic

This New Year's Day my wife and I had the privilege of attending the Winter Classic which is an outdoor hockey game that the NHL started a couple of years ago.  This year my team, the Philadelphia Flyers, played the Boston Bruins in Boston's famous baseball park, Fenway Park.  We were not lucky enough to win the drawing for tickets so we had to purchase tickets on the internet for an incredible markup.  It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity, so it was worth every penny.

We headed down to Fenway the day before (New Year's Eve) to get official hats and to check out the festivities.  We had a couple of inches of snow (during the team practices) which is awesome.

• There was no line at the Flyers players statue since we were in Boston

On New Year's Day we got up and checked the weather and it said it would be all clear.  I was actually hoping that it would snow, but in the end it was a clear day (which is better than the predicted rain) and about 36 °F.  The positive from the lack of precipitation was that I got to wear my orange pants (instead of my snowboarding pants) which made me incredibly happy.

• Top left: The inner layers of clothing
• Bottom left: The outer layer of clothing

We made it down to the stadium after a relatively painless ride on the T (Bruins fans don't hate the way Philly fans do...god help an opposing fan in Philly when the Philly fans are armed with snowballs packed around batteries...I mean, Philly fans boo Santa...Santa for gods sake).

Our seats were not the best (the lower you get, the harder it is to see over the boards...be fair, it is a baseball stadium) as you can see from the following pictures but the atmosphere was awesome and we could see enough when we stood (which we did the whole game).

• Top left: Got to have a Fenway Frank
• Top middle: A Bruins shot cracked the glass an none of the officials noticed for about ten minutes
• Top right: Eventually they saw and replaced the glass
• Bottom left: Shaking hands after a game is a hockey tradition
• Bottom right: Final score

In the end, the Bruins won in overtime bu the fact that it went to overtime tells you how close and exciting the game was.  Outdoor hockey is awesome!

Last day in Marburg

Well, my count down calendar finally reads "1 day" before I leave Germany for the good old USA.  That means it is time to go home and I could not be happier.  I've had a great time in Germany but I am ready to be back on my home soil.  In a fun turn of events it has turned bitter cold and started snowing, so naturally Johanna and I left work early to snap some pretty pictures of the town.

After taking pictures outside and understanding how cold it really was, we decided we needed more layers before we ventured out for the night.  I had already shipped my long underwear home, so I borrowed a pair of Jo's nylons.  The were control top and I have never felt so in control.

• A little cross-dressing never hurt anyone.

Next, we met some of the remaining English speakers for some outdoor ice skating (there was a roof, but it was open to the outdoors).

Finally we went to bed and after an uneventful flight (with a couple hours of delay) we made it back to the good old USA.

• Internship done!  Woo Hoo!

Now it's time to put the finishing touches on that thesis.

Frankfurt for Fußball (soccer) and the Christmas Market

Only two weekends left in Germany and Jo and I just had to get to a fußball match before we left.  Our fellow German LGO recommended the Eintracht Frankfurt vs. FSV Mainz match as one worth seeing.  Before the game got started, we decided to check out the Christmas markets in Frankfurt.  I was quite surprised by how many people were out shopping at these booths.  Like every other event in Germany, there was an alcoholic beverage of choice (this time it is a warm wine called glühwein).

After the markets, we headed to the arena.

It was no different from a large American sporting event as far as the atmosphere outside, but there were some surprising differences inside the stadium.  First of all, I am pretty sure that everyone in the arena has a team scarf.  Now it was cold enough for a scarf (Jo and I each bought one) but I would bet they have them even when it is not cold.  One of the cheers that everyone in the crowd did at the beginning of the game required you to hold up your scarf with the team name facing the field.  Another fun difference was all of the flags.  you can tell from the upcoming picture how many people had flags (and not just little 3 foot flags...enormous flags on poles).

Something that surprised me was that the announcer for the game led the home team in cheers throughout the entire game, regardless of whether the game was in play or not.  In America, stadium announcers and bands typically do not make noise during game play.  Finally, the biggest surprise was that the home and opposing fans lit pyrotechnics in the stands during the game...and security did nothing about it, which implies that this is normal.

• Notice the amount of security around the opposing fan section.

Leaving the arena also reiterated how much security was needed to control soccer fans.  While living here, I may see a cop every couple of days which is not very often compared to Boston or anywhere else in the US that I have lived.  Outside of the stadium must have been more than 100 cops to control the crowd between the 2-3 block walk from the train to the arena...not to mention all of the security inside and posted at other locations.  Silly soccer hooligans.

• Jo and I figured buying a home team scarf gave us a 50/50 chance of not getting beat up by hooligans.