ICME-13 Day -3, Day -2, Day -1 (Thursday through Saturday July 21-23)
Thursday, July 21.
This week I'm traveling from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Hamburg, Germany for the 13th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME). Because Lincoln is a small town, there are limited flights, so for the first time in a while I will have more than one layover -- first a 7 hour layover in Minneapolis, then after a 12 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 2 hour layover before heading to Hamburg where I am meeting my close friend Brandy from grad school.
I'm slightly anxious about the long travel time and the red-eye flight. It's been about 4 year -- since the last ICME conference, in South Korea, in fact-- that I've taken one. But I'm prepared with 7 hours of podcasts and music to create white noise that's white-noisier than airplane chatter and an eye mask.
==
During the gigantic layover in Minneapolis, I mostly worked, and even had a conference call with a fabulous group of graduate students I am working with this summer. Although we were all in the same time zone, we were also all in different places, and I was delighted that we got some good work done. I'm looking forward to next week's conference call even though it will be in the evening for me thanks to the time difference as I will still be in Hamburg.
The Delta Sky Club at the Minneapolis airport features a "balela" salad which I have been very much enjoying recently. It's the first time I've had airport food that I actually wanted to try reproducing at home! My best guess, confirmed by the internet, is that it's a chickpea salad with an olive oil based dressing that is similar in flavor profile to dolmas.
==
In the interstices of July 21 and July 22
On the plane ride to Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam), I sat next to a person from the Netherlands who frequently visits Germany for business and whose job has a site in Minneapolis. On my request, he gave me tips about how to approach people for directions and other things. He was very nice and we had an interesting conversation about how German culture is very unforgiving to its own people while being quite forgiving of foreigners (basically, for bumbling around the formalisms). And that because he speaks German just well enough to sometimes pass for German, that he sometimes is treated harshly and other times with more tolerance for his faux pas. I got the impression that it's very, very easy to make faux pas in German culture because there are simply that many rules. Then we had this exchange:
Him: "If you like shopping, Hamburg is great for that."
Me: "Shopping? As in, for books? or electronics? ... "
[at this point, he's looking at me as if to say, 'where did you come from?']
Me: "Oh, for clothing."
Him: [looking relieved] "Yes, clothing. It's a harbor city."
Maybe it was anticipating jetlag that caused the confusion in my head.
As I attempted to sleep and was clearly cold, he offered me his blanket, even though I was already using my blanket and one that I had brought with me. Airplane window seats are cold! Meanwhile he appeared to sleep comfortably without any fuss.
When it was "morning", that is, the end of the flight, I asked if he's taken this particular flight a lot, and he sighed as if to communicate, yes, too many times.
Then I was at Schiphol! Where their hot chocolate is steamed milk that comes with a chocolate cube on a stick that you stir around.
And it's now Friday, July 22, where I have landed.
And soon I was in the terminal waiting for my flight to Hamburg.
===
Afternoon, Friday, July 22
Brandy had already arrived the night before from Berlin and was settled in to our apartment where we were staying.
Jetlag is now truly settling in, but so is adrenaline. My body has no idea when or where it is. We walked around Hamburg, which mostly consisted of my following Brandy blindly.
I craved salad, which if you know me, is a good sign. We stumbled onto a restaurant called Bullerei, where I had a delightful burratina salad with arugula and cherry tomatoes. And where they had salt on the table in two kinds, including flakes!
Then we walked back home and went to sleep.
====
Saturday, July 23
A day off before the Early Career Researcher Day which kicks off ICME for Brandy, me, and about 200 other young researchers from around the world.
This day is mostly a haze, but we began the day at Cafe Leonar for coffee, then wandered over to the Sternschanze district where we had dinner the night before at Bullerei.
On the way to Sternschanze, we found a kite store! Seriously, a store devoted entirely to wind-driven cloth-made things, called Wolkensturmer (there should be an umlaut over the u but I don't know how to do that in this interface).
Then to Elbgold Coffee where we worked for a while before heading back and working closer to home. See if you can spot the drawing of a mountain and clouds on the coffee canister!
On the way over we passed by a pub and its back storage. Yes, this is all beer.
Here I ordered caffeine-free cappuccino successfully, in German, and where the waitstaff actually talked to me in German. I am proud of this admittedly modest achievement. Keep in mind I know approximately 20 German words, including the numbers zero through ten.
And then time to call it a night so we're fresh for Early Career Researcher Day, which will have talks and seminars from 8:30am to 6pm, tomorrow.
This week I'm traveling from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Hamburg, Germany for the 13th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME). Because Lincoln is a small town, there are limited flights, so for the first time in a while I will have more than one layover -- first a 7 hour layover in Minneapolis, then after a 12 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 2 hour layover before heading to Hamburg where I am meeting my close friend Brandy from grad school.
I'm slightly anxious about the long travel time and the red-eye flight. It's been about 4 year -- since the last ICME conference, in South Korea, in fact-- that I've taken one. But I'm prepared with 7 hours of podcasts and music to create white noise that's white-noisier than airplane chatter and an eye mask.
==
During the gigantic layover in Minneapolis, I mostly worked, and even had a conference call with a fabulous group of graduate students I am working with this summer. Although we were all in the same time zone, we were also all in different places, and I was delighted that we got some good work done. I'm looking forward to next week's conference call even though it will be in the evening for me thanks to the time difference as I will still be in Hamburg.
The Delta Sky Club at the Minneapolis airport features a "balela" salad which I have been very much enjoying recently. It's the first time I've had airport food that I actually wanted to try reproducing at home! My best guess, confirmed by the internet, is that it's a chickpea salad with an olive oil based dressing that is similar in flavor profile to dolmas.
==
In the interstices of July 21 and July 22
On the plane ride to Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam), I sat next to a person from the Netherlands who frequently visits Germany for business and whose job has a site in Minneapolis. On my request, he gave me tips about how to approach people for directions and other things. He was very nice and we had an interesting conversation about how German culture is very unforgiving to its own people while being quite forgiving of foreigners (basically, for bumbling around the formalisms). And that because he speaks German just well enough to sometimes pass for German, that he sometimes is treated harshly and other times with more tolerance for his faux pas. I got the impression that it's very, very easy to make faux pas in German culture because there are simply that many rules. Then we had this exchange:
Him: "If you like shopping, Hamburg is great for that."
Me: "Shopping? As in, for books? or electronics? ... "
[at this point, he's looking at me as if to say, 'where did you come from?']
Me: "Oh, for clothing."
Him: [looking relieved] "Yes, clothing. It's a harbor city."
Maybe it was anticipating jetlag that caused the confusion in my head.
As I attempted to sleep and was clearly cold, he offered me his blanket, even though I was already using my blanket and one that I had brought with me. Airplane window seats are cold! Meanwhile he appeared to sleep comfortably without any fuss.
When it was "morning", that is, the end of the flight, I asked if he's taken this particular flight a lot, and he sighed as if to communicate, yes, too many times.
Then I was at Schiphol! Where their hot chocolate is steamed milk that comes with a chocolate cube on a stick that you stir around.
And it's now Friday, July 22, where I have landed.
And soon I was in the terminal waiting for my flight to Hamburg.
===
Afternoon, Friday, July 22
Brandy had already arrived the night before from Berlin and was settled in to our apartment where we were staying.
Jetlag is now truly settling in, but so is adrenaline. My body has no idea when or where it is. We walked around Hamburg, which mostly consisted of my following Brandy blindly.
I craved salad, which if you know me, is a good sign. We stumbled onto a restaurant called Bullerei, where I had a delightful burratina salad with arugula and cherry tomatoes. And where they had salt on the table in two kinds, including flakes!
Then we walked back home and went to sleep.
====
Saturday, July 23
A day off before the Early Career Researcher Day which kicks off ICME for Brandy, me, and about 200 other young researchers from around the world.
This day is mostly a haze, but we began the day at Cafe Leonar for coffee, then wandered over to the Sternschanze district where we had dinner the night before at Bullerei.
On the way to Sternschanze, we found a kite store! Seriously, a store devoted entirely to wind-driven cloth-made things, called Wolkensturmer (there should be an umlaut over the u but I don't know how to do that in this interface).
Then to Elbgold Coffee where we worked for a while before heading back and working closer to home. See if you can spot the drawing of a mountain and clouds on the coffee canister!
On the way over we passed by a pub and its back storage. Yes, this is all beer.
Here I ordered caffeine-free cappuccino successfully, in German, and where the waitstaff actually talked to me in German. I am proud of this admittedly modest achievement. Keep in mind I know approximately 20 German words, including the numbers zero through ten.
And then time to call it a night so we're fresh for Early Career Researcher Day, which will have talks and seminars from 8:30am to 6pm, tomorrow.