More Recurring Sights

As I have been in Chicago for six weeks (as of yesterday), my life is growing into a routine more and more. Hence, the title I choosed seemed most proximate to me for this entry. More and more sights are becoming familiar, and I would like to share them with you. On the top left you see the house of my landlords. My two flatmates and I occupy the basement, with a separate entrance to the right of the front patio. The center left picture shows you one of the squirrels I sometimes encounter on the way to the L. Actually squirrels have a special meaning for me: when I was about to leave Kaiserslautern, where I obtained the degree of Diplomchemiker (i.e., the German equivalent of an M.Sc. in Chemistry), I told my mom that the only potential disadvantage of Berlin is that I would not have the chance to see cute squirrels in such an urban area. It turned out, however, that my office at the Fritz Haber Institute was facing a vast garden area with quite many a squirrel around. Very entertaining and very helpful in the art of procratination! Now, after leavin Berlin for good, I still encounter some squirrels on the way to work. I am aware of the fact that they have the potential of becoming a scourge, as they are quite smart and adoptive to urban lifestyle, just like rats. Yet I still consider seeing them as an enlightment. But I assume soon enough the squirrels will begin their hibernation and be seen only now and then for a while ... actually for quite a while! As you will see from the top right picture, the temperature has dropped dramatically! While we were enjoying mid-seventies (almost 20°C) on the day of the election, Chicago has been recently infested by the winter. And a winter here is a real one! Temperatures considered extreme in Germany (i.e., occuring only every fifteen years or so) are seen here on a regular basis. Today it was as cold as -14°C! That was quite some experience when I was waiting at the L station in Chinatown for the arrival of my friend and former colleague Junling, and his wife, Guifang. Junling was a collaborator of mine in Berlin, and by coincidence he is also in Chicago (he is actually at Northwestern University, on the Evanston campus, which is slightly outside the strict city limits of Chicago). He has been here for about 1.5 years, which means he was a bit faster with finishing his doctorate ... Recently his wife has come here also. They had been a couple before Junling had come to Berlin (where he stayed for two years), and they got married right after he got back. After his departure for Chicago they had been separated for another one year. Still they seem happier than ever together, which gives me hope that "long distance relationships" are not alsways doomed to fail ... But I meant to tell you about our afternoon in Chinatown, depicted in the three remaining photos. I was of course very happy to meet Junling again, and also to finally get introduced to his wife, who is a bit shy, but obviously a very gentle person. We then had lunch together in a very nice Chinese restaurant. We feasted on beef, duck, fish and beans for about two hours. (I was thinking I had decent skills with the chopsticks, but still people felt like they should provide me with tips and suggestions. But I managed to eat myself full.) Then we left that place for a short walk, inlcuding some sightseeing, but it was really cold and going home soon appeared as an attractive choice. But I have fallen for the area already, and once the weather becomes milder again, I will return there for more sightseeing. I plan on posting the best pictures here of course.
Since I have not posted anything for a few weeks, I would like to add my experience of the recent Thanksgiving holidays. Thanksgiving is always on the last thursday in November, which happened to be 11/27 this year. The tradition goes back to the earliest colonialization in the New World, when the settlers could not grow the local crops in the first place, but finally succeeded after some assistance by the natives. As you all certainly know, the principal dish is Turkey, a bird unbeknownst to the colonialists, and hence named after the islamic country Turkey, as it was custom in the occident in those days for anything unfamiliar. Now, that day I had the pleasure of being invited not only once, but twice, for a Thanksgiving meal. I spent a few hours in the afternoon with my landlords and their host of guests (get it?), but certainly long enough to get my share of the turkey and the side dishes, including my new favorite, sweet potatoes. Later I was invited for dinner at the house of my boss, Mike. So I had more Turkey and more sweet potatoes, and now even a share of the dessert, pumpkin pie and apple pie, à la mode (i.e., with ice cream). I also learned that apple pie is a genuine American dish, as can be derived from the expression, "as American as apple pie" (which I learned from Mike that night). - Yet I hope I will never be called "as German as brat". All in all I had two very enjoyable Thanksgivings on one day, which allowed me to gain insight into the American way of Life ... even though Mike and his family do not seem to cling to that canon very strictly. Most members of his family appear to be quite fluent in Japanese, as Mike returns to Japan on a regular basis, in order to maintain a fruitful collaboration with the very renowned RIKEN institute in Tokyo. His family often joins him; in fact, they will be there for Christmas.
That is it for today. The posts might become less frequent from now on, as my occupation here is growing into a real work. But I will try to be as good as possible, as I have learned that I have more readers than the few people who dare to leave a comment. The latter is still more than welcome, but if you would just like to catch up with my most recent undertakings, then you are also wholeheartily invited to do so!