Back from whence I came

Time to head back to our respective cities. It has been an excellent couple days, filled with learning and great times. However I have one mission before leaving Berlin. I have heard that the Aldi supermarket chain offers a USB device with which one can access the internet on a laptop, on pre-paid/pay-as-you-go basis. I buy the device and find that it functions with a SIM card (cellular card). Hmmm… I put it in my iPhone… eventually I have data on it! DOMINATE. Thought I was gonna be stuck on that subject…

All of us TREF participants give each other cheery farewells and head our own ways. I down yet  another kebab and get on the train back

Berlin train station

 to Ludwigsburg, via Stuttgart. An uneventful 6.5 hours later, I’m back at my apartment. Finally time for a full night’s rest.

More politiking and great sights

Holy shit, it’s 9/9/9. So the news exclaims. I was definitely expecting some sulfurous stench on 6/6/6. Perhaps today, the inverse, will have great things in store.

We start the morning with a talk from Jan Knaack of the German Solar Industry Association. He cover the pros+cons of centralized and decentralized PV systems in Germany, and the growing implementation of solar heat systems. Mr. Knaack believes that PV will reach grid parity (price equality with traditional energy generation) in the 2012-2015 range. His talk is followed by one from Tajo Friedemann of the German Sustainable Building Council. Interestingly, according to him, 75-80% of sustainable housing costs are not energy-related. So improving housing involves efforts in many areas, especially “access-to-life” improvements, such as more intelligent transit systems.

For lunch, we are taken to the Gendarmenmarkt plaza.

Arriving early, we have time to stroll the plaza and see some beautiful historic buildings. Lunch is held at the restaurant Brasserie. We are treated to lunch with the financiers of our great program, representatives of the German Federal Foreign Office.

I am lucky to be seated near Dr. Robert Klinke, the Head of the International Energy Policy Division. He provides us with some very enlightening information on Germany’s efforts to diversify its natural gas supply from Central Asia and on the Europe’s recently launched effort to import massive amounts of solar energy from North Africa. Great guy, great info.

Emily, Ryan, Gloria, Rickie and me – Gendarmenmarkt plaza

Emily, Ryan, Gloria, Rickie and me – Gendarmenmarkt plaza

Dr. Klinke and me

our hydrogen bus

entrance to the Energie Forum

center of Energie Forum

solar panels on the Energie Forum

Americans have McDonalds, Germans have McFit

in front of the Bundestag

Check Point Charlie as it was meant to be

today, from the Eastern side

today, from the Western side

до свидания

Capitalism wins! We passed this $1.5M Bugatti. A mere 1200+ horsepower

After lunch, we pile onto a specially-reserved hydrogen-powered bus for a tour of Berlin. Our first stop is the Energie Forum – an office space for energy small-businesses. It boasts 70% lower energy consumption than buildings of comparable size. We also see a hydrogen fueling station under construction. Although our trip is cut short by some city-wide public transport snafu, we do get to see some great sights. We return to HQ for a presentation on German administrative procedures by our fearless leader, Maren Verfürth. At first blush, it seems that the Germans can give the Chileans some stiff competition for the masters-of-triplicate title.

The evening arrives and it’s time for our farewell dinner. We enjoy some fine wood-oven pizza and pasta at 12 Aposteln in Berlin Mitte.

On the way back, we pass the famous Check Point Charlie. There are interesting illuminated pictures of a Russian and an American soldiers, as well as some other markers. We mosey down to a small bar, have a couple friendly battles over some pool, and sample some beers. I make friendly with the weathered, lady bartender. She clearly thinks my attempts at German somewhere between endearing and riotously hilarious. She further advances transatlantic relations by bringing the remaining five of us free shots of some Sambuca-like liquor.

Emboldened by our beers and complementary syrupy spirits, Rickie, Matt, Ryan, Emily and I commence a search for a German disco. The louder the techno, the better. We get word of a huge place called Appoggio just blocks away. We find a massive, garish entrance. Unfortunately… closed. Fortunately… a casino next door! We enter and learn that there is a cover charge and the blackjack minimums are high. The other four quickly exit… I feel a magnetic pull toward the poker table. As the devil and angel on my shoulders battle it out, the angel reminds me of my internship stipend. Poker can wait.

Most of the group heads to bed, but Emily and I are in for a little more. We grab a beer and chat in the nearby park. Great getting to know one another’s stances on social and political issues. Good times.

I can see Poland from here

We begin the morning with talk by Claudia Grotz, Head of the Department for Politics and Public Affairs, of the German Wind Energy Association. Her organization is the largest renewable energy organization in the world. She gives some great insight into the growth prospects for wind over the next 20 years. She is followed by Mark Richard Paterson of the Agency for Renewable Resources. He provides good info on biogas in Germany. Interesting claim of his: the food price spike in ’07-’08 was not due to an actual food-for-fuel substitution effect, but rather due to the actions of speculators who assumed that the food-for-fuel issue would drive up prices.

The afternoon arrives and it’s time for the tour-de-force of the seminar: a trip to a wind park operated by Notus Energy. We hop on a bus for a 1.5 hour ride out to Hohenwalde, Germany (about 10 km west of the Poland border).  I believe we all feel a bit of anticipation as tensions are high: we have been told that about four of us (out of fifteen) will have the opportunity to go to the top of the wind tower. We arrive at the field and find a variety of gear-driven and direct drive turbines. The Notus people greet us and ask who’s heading up the tower. The moment of truth… a name is drawn…. Evan wins the golden ticket and gets to head up with the guide. We watch him throw on the overalls, harness, and helmet. He and the guide go into the base of the tower and head up in a small elevator. Soon the elevator returns… time for a draw of two more names. Our wonderful InWent hostess, Maren, draws a piece of paper and announces… “Peeden!”

Not yet realizing that there was an elevator and thinking that the ladder was the only option, my heart rate jumps a notch, thinking I should have been careful what I wish for. Fortunately we have the elevator. The other winner, Bridget, and I quite literally climb into the 2×6 elevator and start a slow and shaky crawl to the top. Fairly long ride… we discuss politics and her fear of shaky elevators on the way up. 105 meters later we arrive at the top. The guide meets us and shows us around the gearbox and various electrical devices. We arrive at the hatch to the top and stick ourselves out to the waist.

About to head up well over a football field..

art

a view up the elevator shaft

Bridget and me at top

long way to the ground

the blades are a mere half-football-field long

the base of the tower

a direct drive turbine, a gear-drive trubine, and new tower under construction

a biogas plant located next to the wind turbine

The view is quite impressive. Looking down the length of the 45 meter blades creates a surreal effect, a massive object in the foreground with a distant background. Miles of open land and other wind turbines. We see a Polish town to the east. All in all, a great experience.

At the bottom, I walk over to another turbine (actually spinning, the one we escalated was braked) to hear the sound. Apparently some people fear wind farm development for noise reasons. There is barely a whisper. Same deal at another turbine. See these videos:

Kristen C. suggests a Vietnamese restaurant, Monsieur Voung, for dinner. Almost all of us head over to the Scheunenviertel neighborhood to the restaurant. They keep things simple here…  a couple appetizers on the menu and only two entrees. I chose the chicken-pad-thai-esque dish. Despite putting enough hot sauce on it to make my eyes water profusely, I quite enjoy it.

Post dinner, Rickie busts out her Berlin book and suggests Cinema Café around the corner. We all enjoy discussion of one another’s past exploits and histories over drinks. I’m please to find and down Glenfiddich at €3.50.

Politics and music

business class bus

Monday and a gas tank relatively full of energy. We start the morning with a presentation by two research fellows from the Wuppertal Institute, Sascha Samadi and Sarina Keller. They give a general overview of the potential future of renewable energy in Germany. Germany has mandated that 30% of its electricity be generated by renewable sources by 2020. They’re already above 15%. Very impressive. They also note that Germans pay about €0.15-0.20 (~ $0.21-0.28) per kilowatt-hour. In Virginia, we pay about $0.10. Maybe a stronger price signal to the good people of the USA would make us more frequently unplug the Foreman grills and Awesome Augers.

outside a Deutscher Bundestag building

Thereafter we took a bus to the Deutscher Bundestag, the German parliament (Reichstag). The bus makes your basic Greyhound look like a disaster relief shelter (oh wait…). This Mercedes bus merely has wood-paneled, leather seats. We tour the Jakob Kaiser Haus (parliamentary office building) and then have lunch there with executive assistants to German MP Hermann Scheer, Nina Alsen and Heiko Stubner.

former path of the Berlin Wall (outside Deutscher Bundestag)

Mr. Scheer is Europe’s political leader in the renewable energy movement. Also joining us is Dr. Hartmut Grewe, Head of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation’s “Environment and Energy Policy Division.”

us with Grewe, Stubner, and Alsen

Had a great discussion with Nina Alsen regarding the role of the nuclear energy debate in the upcoming federal elections. The population seems quite divided on the issue.

After the lunch, we took another bus (sadly a different one) to visit the Clearingstelle, the organization appointed to settle disputes in Germany’s different renewable energy licensing schemes. We received a thorough overview of the organization and its work from Dipl. Sönke Dibbern and Dr. Sebastian Lovens.

In the evening, InWent (the fellowship organizers) takes us to the Berlin Philharmonic. I’m impressed with the interior of the building. Lots of asymmetrical angles for the walls and seating areas. I’ve heard this is optimal for the acoustics. And the acoustics certainly stand up. We hear pieces Béla Bartók and Dmitri Schostakowitsch. Conductor Marek Janowski does a superb job of marshalling his troops. The music is pretty dark, heavy, and dare I say, German. The first piece includes singer Otto Sander. The second  has Petra Lang and Albert Dohmen. The opera/classical combo is surprisingly pleasing. Glad I had the experience. The following audio clips may or may not be from the performance:

CLIP 1

CLIP 2

Getting cultured

Sunday begins with a meeting on “intercultural training.” Despite the name, the content was actually revealing. Dr. Hans-Jörg Keller of Factory International Training not only confirmed the obvious (Germans are reserved, structured, and analytical), but also taught me some new tidbits about the masters of engineering and philosophy. Among them were: a) in introductions, academic titles and profession are mentioned first to establish status; b) being on time is a sign of reliability; and c) the host speaks last during introductions.

In the evening, Anand, Rickie, Matt, Kristen, and I decided to go out for some spirits. We go to the neighborhood of Kreuzberg. We saddle up to a bar called Morena. A few tasty drinks, a stop by the pizza place, and we’re back like responsible people for bedtime.

Ich bin ein Berliner

My damn alarm is quacking duck (about the only thing my iPhone is good for at the moment).  Good thing I put it over on the desk. I amble out of bed… 6:45. I throw the suitcase on the bed, pack up some clothes, hop in the shower, and soon begin the walk to the station. As planned , I arrive with time to figure things out (“a cushion” as my father is fond of saying). I want to know if I need to check my suitcase and find out how to not end up in Poland. After several stuttering conversations, all is under control. Yours truly noticed that our train got switched from one track to another at the last moment, saving my bacon and that of two of my interpretors. After a connection in Stuttgart, I’m off to Berlin for the 5-day seminar with the other 14 fellows.

yes, he speaks all the languages represented by those flags

The train is predictably great: on-time, clean, and spacious. I zone out to some podcasts and Economist articles on Germany along the way. After about an hour, my eyes open to see a pair of large wind turbines. Well done Germany, that’s more than you’re likely to see in the US outside of Texas and Oklahoma. But there were more, many more. I saw maybe 5 farms along the way. The last one (about an hour before Berlin. Would have been great to GPS it if my iPhone data worked) had about 100 turbines. Assuming they’re 1.5 MW turbines, that’s 150 MW of generation. None too shabby.

would you get tear-gassed for trying this in DC?

Outside the Berlin train station I find a quin-lingual ricksaw driver.

German German Shepherds

Sold and sold. Our trip has quite a detour as we have to bypass a huge anti-nuclear power protest. Some things are universal: hippies love their drums and dreads. One large street was completely blocked by a convoy of tractors, apparently from a region of a proposed nuclear waste site.

Arriving at the hotel, the driver begs for 3 euro extra because of the extra driving time (€14 up from €11). Maybe I’m a pushover, but I gave it to him. After all, he was panting while pointing out attractions.

At the hotel, I meet my to-be roommate, Anand Gopal.

view from our hotel, Hotel Bel Ahr

Good guy, a grad student at UC Berkeley’s energy program. We have a good laugh over our apparent sleeping situation (read: intimate)

we fellows and our leaders Maren and Theo

We meet up with the other program fellows and stroll down the Potsdammer Platz to the Sony Center for a group dinner at Lindenbräu Rundschau. Think Friday’s.

the wall

Nonetheless, some good house-made beer and sausages.

One of our comrades, Alison, offers an enticing night prospect: a party at her sister’s house in the neighborhood of Neuköln.

Michael and I take her up on it. Alison’s sister Helen has been set up in Berlin as a director of an art museum. She has put on a great party. Good mix of Germans, Americans and other expats. I proudly bring a bottle of wine from Chilito, but am embarrassed to find it to be rubbing-alcohol-esque swill. Fortunately the beer flows like water and an American named Steven is generous with his Black Label.

I find myself talking with Steven, an Estonian guy and two Romanian women. I realize that I’m speaking with spitting images of four familiar figures: from my left, Wonder Woman (the Romanian beauty), Michael Ballack (German soccer star, represented by Steven), Diego (Chilean party machine, played by the Estonian), and Madame Sibony (my elementary school French teacher, portrayed by the 2nd Romanian lass). Bizarre.

Almost 3 am, time to head back to the hotel. Alison, Michael and I find ourselves at the metro station with almost an hour wait. We’re cheerily greeted by representatives of the local heroin addiction league. The man and the woman, after finding that we have no cigarettes, walk to the far end of the platform. On the next glance down, I see that the man has jumped down on the tracks, presumably looking for the elusive cigarette (just maybe change too). His girlfriend remains on the platform, looking down the tunnel. I’ve never seen the movie Trainspotting, but it surely must refer to this phenomenon. I’m not confident that I’d trust a woman with scabs all over her face as my spotter.

Wireless mayhem

Today’s mission: get a cell phone and perhaps a bank account. As for the phone, I must have data service (mainly so that I can stick it to the man and make calls via VoIP). I head down to Telecom Alley (my name. Literally an alley with offices of all 4 German telecoms). The walk is great. Most of the way is down a pedestrian walking mall. Lots of clothing stores, restaurants, and people milling about. My first stop is T-Mobile. The service is curt and straightforward: would love to help, but no data without a two-year contract. Unlike in the US and Chile, contracts can’t be broken with a penalty fee (they just keep leeching the funds out of your account for two years. Somewhere Bernie Madoff is smiling).  I find the same restrictions at E-Plus and O2. Last stop: Vodafone. The young lad, with the best English of them all, smiles and says that data can be had without a contract. In 15 minutes, I’m out of there with a new SIM in my iPhone for voice and data. Only catch: data service needs two-hours to activate. No problem, time for lunch.

I wander around and saddle up in small kebab place. Great shaven lamb (more appetizing than it sounds) in pita. I pass the time by watching the Turkish gossip program on the TV. At this point, sounds just like German to me. I explore a couple banks for account options. Most banks have closed for the weekend by now. However at the national credit union (Sparkenkeienflugdenstrasse, or something) I find a very friendly and attractive account exec, Frau Stroebel. I decline her account offer (women love the hard-to-get game), saying that I’d think about it. May go back sometime. Back home, I bust out a P90X plyometrics session. The travel (and long periods lacking thereof) yesterday put a modest winter coat on me. Upon completion, I look at my iPhone… still no data service. It’s only been, like, 6 hours. I spend the next 2 hours searching the web (and certainly not on my phone) for solutions. Change the APN this, patch that,… nothing works. Shit, time for dinner, and it’s only 11 pm. I run out and the only thing I find open (on a Friday night… doesn’t bode well) is my lunch’s kebab shop. Time for more of the same. I head home, research my f@*%ing data problem more. Bed at 1:30, gotta be up at 6:30 to prepare for the train to Berlin.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step…

My journey starts off swimmingly as Mom and Dad help me arrive at Dulles with plenty of time to spare. The Lufthansa lady doesn’t inspect my ski bag (which looks more like a human-trafficking pod) for non-ski items and saves me a lot of money and/or hassle. I enjoy a surprisingly good airport lunch with my folks before I head to my gate.

The flight from Dulles to Frankfurt is every bit as long as advertised. I can’t sleep on planes. On the other hand, I sit next to a lady from Stuttgart who has been living in Woodbridge, VA for 15ish years, Trouta (she says, “like trout, the fish”). She gives me the inside intel on what to do and where to go.

I find the Frankfurt airport to be a giant hall of mirrors. Be careful if you’re ever there. I swear you can walk in circles and grow more confused with each step. I also find that the Germans are really serious about saving energy. A walk of several loops reveals no electrical outlets with which to charge my laptop/iPhone. I finally find an extension cord hanging from the ceiling, next to a large column squarely in the middle of a vast space. I pop a squat on the ground and give my laptop some juice. A quick 5 and half hours later, it’s time to board my connecting flight to Stuttgart.

Finally made it to Stuttgart!! I’m greeted with… a seven hour wait. My landlord-to-be can’t meet me at the house until 6 pm local. I pass the time staring at my computer screen thinking how great it would be to have internet access. Eventually I get a cab to Ludwigsburg, the town to the north of Stuttgart where I’ll be living.

Upon arrival at the house (and after a brief wait in the rain),

mein Straße

I meet my landlord’s wife and one son. Frau Blaschke speaks about as much English as I do German. In any language, it is certainly entertaining when one’s only option is to continue speaking to another in one’s own mother tongue, in the hopes that the other person will suddenly understand. Nonetheless Frau Blaschke is quite nice. Soon Herr Blaschke arrives with their other son and we review the accommodations.

My room and two others are on the first floor of the Blaschke house (they occupy the floor(s) above).

mein Haus

I have one roommate, David, a German grad student. I soon meet him and find him quite agreeable. The third room is unoccupied. David and I share a bathroom and small kitchen. On the whole, somewhat spartan, but will certainly do the trick. I sign the rental contract (which may or may not commit me to indentured servitude… not sure about the content) and I’m officially rooted.

I decide to head out for some food before crashing for the night. I’m surprised to find immediately an apothecary (not sure what that is) and a head shop. But the neighborhood is quite lovely. Clean, German-esque architecture, and a manageable size. Despite being only 10ish pm, there are almost no people out. I walk down the aptly named “Solitudestraße” when I find Konak Adana Urfa Grill Kebab House. I point at the picture of the Kusbasi Sis Kebab (teller version). I’m served with a cup of tea first (apparently a Turkish tradition). The plate is excellent: plenty of lamb, large couscous, shredded lettuce, tomato, green onion, tahini, and roasted small bell peppers. Time for bed.

Update: apparently an apothecary is a pharmacy. Something new..

The Gist

So I have intrepidly decided to establish this blog for my 6-month stint in Germany. For those who don’t know, I’ll be in the country participating in the Transatlantic Renewable Energy Fellowship (http://www.cdsintl.org/fellowshipsabroad/tref.php). My workdays will be spent working for a renewable energy developer, Enolcon Gmbh (http://www.enolcon.eu/). My nights and weekends… hoping for things that can only be partially revealed in this forum. In any event, I hope to relate cultural learnings, professional  progress, and other escapades. Keep in touch and feel free to leave feedback.