29 September, 2002

It is the greatest thing in the world to be able to say that you have created something.  And the past three months here at work have been wonderful, because now I can say I have created many somethings! 

I’ve already written about my first creation, which was merely a game that I made when my boss asked me to demonstrate my skills at designing with a microprocessor.  But there are two others that I realize now that I forgot to write about last time.  One assignment was to build a test box for a window control module.  I had to make it respond to switch inputs and make a window go up and down using SCI message protocol.  The second project involved taking data from a capacitance sensor and translate it from SPE to SCI and then send it to a PC to display on the monitor with a special program.  I know, I know—lots of technical mumbo-jumbo and abbreviations that don’t seem to mean anything.  But that’s okay because I only wanted to mention these two tasks briefly because they are relatively minor compared to the projects that came next.

At this point you are probably all sitting on the edge of your seat asking “okay, so what came next?!”  Well, I’ll tell you…(takes a sip of coffee and pauses for effect).

The first project, one that is actually being designed for a customer, involves using a new type of ignition key for starting the vehicle.  Instead of a standard key that you would insert and then turn, this key just inserts and locks in place.  It pushes in and out using a toggle-type mechanism similar to that of a typical ball point pen.  When inserted, hall-effect sensors detect the exact position of the key to determine if it is merely inserted, or if it has been pushed into the “unlock” position.  A smart module determines if the key is valid, and the car is started using a start-button (I guess they got the idea from Microsoft Windows).  My job was to create a module that would demonstrate the functionality of this concept, including writing a program that would read the hall-sensor inputs, start button, valid key input, and perform the appropriate tasks.  Additionally, the module has to know if the clutch is engaged (or vehicle is in park for automatics), and should also recognize when the vehicle stalls so that the operator can start it again or remove the key.

The first thing I had to do was to get the specifications and the criteria for how to design the project.  As any engineer knows, one of the hardest parts of designing a project is making sure that it is communicated correctly.  In this case, it was extremely difficult, because not only was the concept extremely confusing by itself (even when all parties are speaking the same language) but I had to get the information from a man who speaks absolutely no English.  This meant that my boss had to be the middle man.  Making sure everything was communicated was no easy task.  First of all, while my boss can speak English relatively well, he still has considerable trouble at times.  Secondly, it is like playing that old game of Telephone, where what gets communicated at the end of the line might not be what it was at the beginning.  It was important for my boss to completely understand the concept himself before translating it to me, and then it was important for me to understand it in turn.  All in all, it was a rather lengthy meeting, but we managed to walk out of it with full understanding—I think.

The next step was for me to draw up a schematic, a state diagram, and a flow chart.  Not that anybody cared if I did this, but just try and finish a project like this without them!  I simulated the hall-effect inputs using ordinary switches, and the various output states with LEDs.  I also used switches to indicate “valid key,” “clutch/park,” and “motor stall.”  Additionally, I had to create some circuitry for a relay output and a high-side driver.  Once I had everything wired up, I created a test program to make sure that my switch inputs and all  of my outputs worked correctly.  Once I verified this, the last task was to program the microprocessor.

After about two days I finished the programming, but I still had to verify that my module would function on its own.  During the programming phase, instead of using the actual microprocessor, I have to use what is called an emulator.  This is an interface between the PC that I use to create the program and a circuit board with a simulated microprocessor.  Like a fetus in the womb still attached to its mother, my module could only function while attached to the computer.  I guess that would make me the father who made it all possible by impregnating the PC with my program as I typed away at the keyboard.  With the program finished, it was now time to cut the cord and see if my baby could function on its own as a viable entity.  I disconnected the module from the emulator and flashed the program onto the microprocessor which would hence forth be its brain.  And then, like a doctor smacking a new born baby on the bottom, I hooked it up to a power supply and threw the first switch.  The “invalid key” LED lit up just as it was supposed to!  My baby was alive!  But before I started passing out cigars, I had to run through all of the steps in the program to verify that it worked okay—essentially making sure he had all of his fingers and toes. 

As I threw each of the switches, I was able to verify that each LED output would light up or not as each was supposed to.  I was jumping with joy as I went on to test the last feature of my module.  By holding the start button for more than ten seconds, the simulated key should be ejected via a high-side driver (essentially a transistor device that will handle high current at 12 volts).  I threw the appropriate switches and counted to ten as I held my breath (which made all of my coworkers stare and wonder why I was grunting in such a funny way).  On the count of ten, I let out my breath and all of the appropriate LEDs, including those indicating output from the HS-driver let up.  But as quickly as they did they went out again.  OH NO!  My baby had a birth defect!  I tried again.  Same thing.  I quickly disconnected it from the power supply and began operating.  Eventually I was able to discover a small short circuit that resulted from pieces of scrap laying around on my desk, which was easy enough to correct.  My son was going to live after all, and have a long happy life.  What is more, he’s going to get to drive a BMW long before he is even 16.  At least I don’t have to put him through college (well, I guess that’s the eventual dead end of analogy for you).

As exciting as that project was, the next one—the one I am currently working on—is even better.  It is a long term research and development project that involves creating a multi-function switch using a small motor for tactile feedback.  An intern doing his work-study for college was working on a similar concept until he left just recently.  In his version, when the user would turn the shaft of the motor, the motion, direction, and absolute position would be determined by an array of optical sensors via mechanical gears passing in front of them.  Upon detecting the motion and the direction, a microprocessor would regulate how power was delivered to the motor to offer limited resistance to the turning motion.  And by knowing the absolute position, the microprocessor would turn off power to the motor at pre-determined steps giving tactile feedback to the user as if a switch were clicking into place.  The advantage of this is of course that one can program any number of switch positions across the 360 degrees of rotation of the motor.  And the microprocessor can then enact the appropriate function for that switch position (e.g., select radio tuning, enable power windows, etc.).

When Frank left, my boss asked me to redo the project from scratch using a faster microprocessor.  I determined that since I was starting from scratch it would be a good opportunity for me to enhance the concept with some of my own ideas and incorporate some improvements.  For instance, I determined that costs and packaging could be greatly improved if I could eliminate the gears and optical sensors and take advantage of the back EMF of the motor instead.  In theory this sounds like a great idea, but the design challenges imposed by this make it the most challenging design project I have ever attempted.  And I am proud to say that the variation on the initial concept was my own idea (the primary reason why the project is so exciting for me—that and all of the design challenges that I have conquered so far).

I began by obtaining a stepper motor with the idea that I could use the inherent stepping function of the motor to determine the position, motion, and direction.  However, I was not aware that stepper motors do not turn smoothly when rotated by hand.  Their steps have the side effect of providing a tactile feedback of their own making this an unlikely candidate for my design.  Therefore, I had to determine another way to implement my design.  At first I thought the situation was hopeless and I would just have to repeat Frank’s design with the faster micro.  After all, it was the concept of the stepper motor that had given me the idea for eliminating his gears in the first place.  But after surfing the net for other DC motors, I came across a specification sheet for a three phase brushless DC servo motor that showed the signals for each of the three phases of the motor for a full 360 degree rotation.  This made my brain start spinning and whirring again (just as I hoped the motor would too eventually!).

The particular motor I found has three phase-inputs for operating it, three sense lines for determining the current phase position, and an encoder for determining the direction and absolute position.  I ordered the motor and when it arrived the first thing I had to do was to get it to operate.  Normally, a servo motor such as this is used for industrial applications where precision is absolutely necessary.  In such applications, a large and expensive motor driver is required for operation.  Such a thing would be unacceptable for an automotive switch application (suddenly, instead of a small switch module, we offer the customer something the size of a VCR and costs three times as much).  This was the first obstacle that I had to overcome, and I did so by creating a program that would advance the motor (forward or reverse) based on feedback from the hall-sensors that were built into it.  The processor controls each of the three phase-inputs by turning them on or off based on the current electrical position of the motor.

The next obstacle for me to conquer was to determine the direction of the motor.  Remember, the motor is only turning on to offer resistance to the user when he turns the shaft.  Therefore, the micro must know whether to turn the motor forward or reverse to oppose movement.  This problem was easy enough to overcome using the digital encoder included with the motor, but the rest of the design issues are not as easily solved.

One problem that presents itself is: how does the microprocessor know that the motor is turning because of the user, or because of power delivered to it from the motor driver?  After turning the shaft of the motor, the user would let go only to watch helplessly as it began to spin of its own accord (continually reversing itself in the process).  The other problem is: if the user turns the shaft in one direction, but then turns it back again before reaching the next step point, how does the micro determine that the switch position has not been advanced?

The second question took a little bit of control logic to figure out, but I think I have the problem solved (I say “I think” because at this time I have been temporarily diverted from this project before having a chance to test my solution).  Basically, it involves comparing the previous and current step counters and toggling an index bit every time they are equal to each other.  (Update: I have since returned to this project and verified that it works.)

The first question was a little bit more formidable and involved doing some more hardware design.  However, the good thing about it was that it was a question that I already had an answer for since it was the very root of the concept I came up with at the beginning.  When the motor is turning, it draws a certain amount of current.  When there is resistance to the motion, the current increases due to back EMF (that is the Electro-Motive Force) from the motor.  By placing a current shunt between the power supply and the motor driver, I am able to detect the change in current via the voltage differential across the shunt.  Since this voltage drop is extremely small, I have to use an operational amplifier to make it into something measurable and useful.  The output of this is then sent to what is called a ‘Schmitt Trigger.’  This is a configurable device that one can design using yet another Op Amp.  The way it works is that the output turns on and off based on the level of the voltage fed into it.  I now have an on/off switch that toggles based on whether or not the motor is stalled.  Now if the motor starts to spin without any resistance, I can program the microprocessor to shut it off.  Viola!  (Update: I will have to use two Schmitt Triggers since spinning the motor without any resistance and having it sit dormant both have the same effect on the output—i.e., the current is lower than when the motor is stalled and therefore the output cannot differentiate.)

I can’t believe it!  I’m a real design engineer!  I’m actually designing stuff and it’s working!  Yowza!

Well, I can’t wait to see how this turns out.  Right now, I am back to working on my previous project because they wanted to make some design changes to it.  My baby is a boomerang child (oh no!  It’s the analogy that just won’t die!)  The last I saw of this project was when I handed it off to the mechanical engineering department so that they could rig up some adapters and whatnot for using it with the actual hall-sensors.  He was off to finishing school.  However, when it was returned to me it did not work because the kid they had working on it couldn’t solder a piece of wire to a hubcap to save his life.  Handing my project to this kid was like sending my boy off to college only to have him come back with his mind destroyed because of a progressive education system.  (Okay, I promise that is the end of that analogy now.)

Well, enough about work for the moment (I’ve probably put most of you to sleep with all of this technical talk).  Hey, let’s say we talk politics for a while!

It’s election day here in Germany (I am writing this on Sunday, September 22, 2002).  It is the war between the extreme and the moderate socialists.  I don’t know that much about the two main political parties, but I hope that Gehardt Schroeder (a.k.a. Nevil Chamberlain the second) loses.  At the moment, they are running very close (less the 1% difference) and one of the deciding factors has to do with the way the minor parties, such as the Greens, are aligned with the two major parties.  The Socialist Democrats (Schroeder’s party) are allies with the Green Party.  This should tell you something about the political mindset of the people in Germany.

As it turns out, the problem with routing against Schroeder is that the same reason I want him to lose is the same reason that he is hanging on in the popularity polls here in Germany.  The Krauts suffer from the same moral relativism as the rest of Europe and fail to differentiate between an evil dictator like Suddam Hussein and a nation that is acting in the interests of freedom.  The 30% unemployment rate has many people against him, but he makes up for this by taking a hard stance against any military action in Iraq. 

I can’t remember how many times I have been asked—for no other reason than because I am an American—what I think about the situation with Iraq.  And when I reply that bombing Iraq would be a good start, it invariably leads to an unbelievably irrational debate.

When I was talking with one individual, I asked him “why shouldn’t the USA bomb Iraq?”  The bastard answered me with the fact that Germany would have to lend money to support the effort.  I wanted to jump across the table and pick his pockets of every dime he had just to recoup a small portion of the foreign aid we have given his country since the aftermath of WWII.  I told him we don’t need their money and that I hope he will remember this the next time extreme flooding strikes their country and they are asking the world—in particular the US—for assistance.  Needles to say, the anti-American sentiments in Germany are at an all time high.  This is partly because of the anti-Semitic views that still exist (against our support of Israel), and partly because of me being here stirring up trouble (I’m an international incident waiting to happen).  Hmm…I wonder if I could get appointed to ambassador?

Since I arrived, I have been involved in political discussion on a variety of occasions.  One time I was actually talking to a couple of skin-heads (there’s a story in itself) about topics ranging from a war with Iraq, to environmentalism, to immigration and anti-Semitism.  Amazingly enough, they were actually able to hold an intelligent and civilized—albeit irrational—conversation.

Another time, I was discussing war with Iraq (and other countries) with a man and we needed an interpreter since he could speak hardly any English.  This was a very interesting experience, and I have since concluded that this is the BEST way to hold a political discussion with somebody if it would otherwise become heated.  I say this because, since we needed a middle man to interpret everything, each of us had no choice but to listen without interruption as the interpreter finished translating what was being said.  Jumping in to argue or interrupt just wasn’t possible.

Then there was the conversation I had with the most irrational person I have ever encountered.  I did not engage this person in discussion, nor would I have done so voluntarily.  This man just happened to overhear me talking with another friend concerning the topics of cloning and genetic engineering.  I was attempting to explain the life saving benefits of each when he interrupted to offer his esteemed opinion.  I have to say that this man’s arguments surprised even me. 

Quite often, when talking about the benefits of scientific advances, I will attempt to make a point by demonstrating how most peoples fears are not founded in reality, but result from irrational fears founded in science-fiction scare stories.  It is a very valid point considering the fact that most peoples objections to genetics, nuclear power, etc. are not because of anything that has actually happened, but what they believe might happen.  As an example, the fact that many people are against nuclear power plants because “nobody wants two-headed, three-eyed fish swimming in the rivers,” such as those depicted on The Simpsons.  Well, when talking about the alleged “consequences” of genetic engineering and such, you can imagine my surprise when this man beats me to it and asks “do you ever watch science fiction?”  I couldn’t believe it.  What I would normally use as an example of how unfounded these fears are, this man was actually going to use as evidence!  Everyone turned in our direction when they heard the loud BANG from my jaw dropping and hitting the table in front of me.

At this point I knew my discussion with him was over and it was just a matter of dismissing myself.  Before he could utter another word I leaned in close and exclaimed  “FICTION!  The key word is FICTION!”  But this did not deter him as he continued, “yes but there are…”

“FICTION!”

“Yes, but did you ever see…”

“FICTION!”

“I know but…”

“FICTION, FICTION, FICTION!  Do you not understand the meaning of this word???”

“But the ideas in these movies are based on…”

“FICTION!  I’m done talking with you.”  And so I dismissed myself.  I could now return to talking with the friends that I had come to visit in the first place.  They come from Hungary, a country with a very corrupt political system, and therefore don’t appear to be as easily duped into following blindly and collectively all of the socialist and environmental dogma that permeates Germany. 

Quick update:  I took a break from writing this for a couple of days and can now report that Schroeder has won the German election.  Looks like a few more years of Socialism and Green-ism.

Speaking of the Greens…

The weather here has been quite odd and makes one ponder just what kind of effect man must be having on the environment—if any.  On Tuesday it snowed here in Germany.  I left work to go to my class for German lessons and saw a car driving toward me covered with snow.  I was completely confused as to how this could be since there was no snow and the temperature was not so cold.  It was a slightly rainy day, but aside from that, there was nothing particularly unusual about the weather.  After class it was still drizzling as I drove back home.  Half way up the hill/mountain the rain turned from rain to snow and as I approached the top, the fields were completely covered.  The next morning the town was blanketed as was the bottom of the valley where I work.  I asked many of my colleagues if this was normal for the month of September and they informed me that it was very unusual.  In fact, one of my coworkers said he could never remember it snowing in September.  I told him “your Green Party must be slapping themselves silly trying to explain this one.”  “Why is that?” he asked.  “How do they explain all this global warming making it snow in September?”  I have no doubt that they will find a way to explain this, just like they accuse the oil companies for the flooding that occurred this summer.

Well, the snow is gone now and the days are bright and sunny, but it was a wonderful preview of scenes to come once winter gets underway.  From the window in my living room, the view of the small city was wonderful, as if looking at a Christmas card with the picture of a small European village blanketed with snow.  Since I had to hurry to work the next morning, I did not have time to get any pictures this time, so I eagerly await the next snowfall so I can take some.

It may be a small village, but I happen to be quite a big shot here.  How big of a big shot?  Well, not to drop names or anything, but I quite often have dinner with the mayor.  There is this small gasthause (restaurant, lit. guest house) here in my village where I often go to get something to eat when I do not feel like cooking and I want something nearby.  Similar to the dives back home, these places are often frequented by the same group of people every day.  Unlike the dives back home, they are not dives.  When I go to this particular place, I sit with the same 10 or 12 men that always come there.

I used to sit alone and read my books while eating my dinner, but eventually the local customs got the better of me.  It seems that people here get a little put off if you don’t join them.  In America, eating our meals is something of a private activity unless shared with the company of friends and family.  If we go to eat at a restaurant, either alone or with a group of friends, the only person we communicate with outside our sphere is usually the waitress.  Not so here in Germany.  When the waitress (usually the owner of the gasthause) brings someone a beer, there is always someone who feels obligated to raise his glass and say “prost” or “zumvoll,” which would be the equivalent of “cheers.”  And this is done every time a beer is set down in front of someone regardless of whether or not it is the first beer or the tenth.  Now if this sounds monotonous and perhaps a little bit intrusive, it is not nearly so intrusive in my opinion as when my meal is finally brought out to me and total strangers are telling me “guten appetite” and I am obligated to pause and say thank you.

After going there a couple of times and sitting there by myself, people started wanting to know everything about me.  The fact that I could not speak Deutsche, nor they English, did not stand in their way.  Eventually I was initiated into their small group and required to sit at their table whenever I come to eat.  I find this is a good way for me to try and learn the language despite the fact that people here speak a regional dialect know as Swebish (pronounced svay-bish).

As it turns out, one day a man came in who is a regular but who had been on vacation or something, and he was able to speak English fairly well.  I found that I enjoy his company, not only because he is a pleasant person, but because he can help me bridge the language barrier when conversing with these locals.  It was not until a few weeks later, when I had been there for maybe my tenth time (I go there once, sometimes twice, a week), that I learned that he was the burgermeister for Bottingen.  For those of you who don’t know, burgermeister is the equivalent of mayor in Germany.  (You were all probably wondering when I was going to get back to that bit about having dinner with the mayor weren’t you?)  When he told me this, I replied “wow!  I’m going to have to tell all my friends about how I had dinner with the mayor!”

Well, since I am stumped for lack of a better transition from one subject to the next, I am going to just change topics in a rather abrupt fashion and hope that you will all excuse me.

If you remember from my last letter, I was extremely inspired after reading Dr. Andrew Bernstein’s book, Heart of a Pagan, and started devoting a portion of my time to working out at one of the local fitness centers.  Well, not only am I still at it, I am already starting to see results.  I’m trying to go at least four times a week and I spend one to one and a half hours each time working out.  I’m already lifting more weight than when I started, I’m starting to see definition when I look in the mirror, and I feel better than ever.  I also find it very inspirational to see all of the other people who are there working out.  While they are probably many years ahead of me, I enjoy watching them thinking “that is what I too can achieve if I work hard.”  I see the men and think about how I can one day have a body like that, and I see the women and think the same thing but in a different context.  I am a one man Swoop Troop!  (For those of you who don’t know, buy and read the novel.  All of the proceeds from the purchase of the book go to a very good cause—filling the author’s, Andrew Bernstein’s, pocket.)

There is one man that I see every time I go to the fitness center.  The first time I saw him was in one of the departments at Marquardt where I work.  When I passed him at work while touring that department during my first month here, I thought to myself “what a mean looking dude that is!”  My second thought was “damn, he’s huge!”  I politely nodded whenever I walked passed him that day in the production machinery department, but I was not introduced to him.  He carried himself in a manner that suggested that he was always conscious of how big he is and would use every bit of the brute force available to him if you were to piss him off.

When I first saw him at the fitness center, I knew he looked familiar but I was not sure if he was the same man or not since it had been some time since I had visited that department at work.  After my second week of working out and seeing him at the fitness center everyday, I decided to approach him and ask if he worked at Marquardt.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he speaks English extremely well (especially after thinking that he probably only knows how to communicate with grunts and gestures).  More surprising was the fact that he remembered me walking through his department that day and wondered if I would ever say hello to him. 

I learned that his name is Helmut and, as it turns out, he is one of the nicest people I have ever met.  Now, every day when I go to the fitness center, I seek him out and say hello.  He has arms that are bigger than my legs, a square lantern jaw the likes of which you only hear described in novels that use such trite descriptions, and long hair like Samson.  He usually wears a baseball cap or bandanna over his head while working out.  Another trait he has is his sense of humor.  Quite often I will joke with him, usually about things related to our respective sizes, and try to time my delivery such that he starts laughing while straining against the effort of the weight he is lifting (however I only do this while he is working with the machines rather than the free weights—I wouldn’t want him to drop anything).

One day I noticed that he was engaged in a great deal of conversation with various other patrons and I walked over to interrupt.  I asked him if this was the day that he worked his jaw muscles and he laughed out loud and said “you are right!  I must get back to work!”  Another time, I saw him doing reps with weight that was equivalent to a small Buick and asked him “is that all you can lift?”  That was the first time I ever made him laugh while in mid-lift.  Now it has become a hobby of mine to catch him off guard like that, much the same way that Tim Conway would try to crack-up Harvey Korman on The Carroll Burnette Show.  One of the funniest times was when I first arrived one day and saw his little VW out in the parking lot.  I had just come out of the locker room and found Helmut working his calves on the machine closest to the entrance of the gym as I entered from the hallway.  He said “hello” to me, but I was too quick.  Without hesitation I said to him with a look of wonderment and confusion on my face “I’ll never be able to figure it out.”  He scrunched his eyebrows, fell for the bait, and asked “what’s that?”  I answered, “how a guy as big as you can fit into a car as small as that.”  He let his legs go forward, dropped the weight, and leaned forward in the chair laughing.

I remember the day shortly after I first approached him and  became acquainted.  He felt both free and obligated to approach me whenever he noticed me working on one of the various machines and doing so incorrectly.  This one day, every time I started working on a different machine, he would come walking over with a smile on his face and explain to me what I was doing wrong.  On the fifth machine, when I saw him striding toward me, yet again, with this grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear, I dropped everything and started laughing and asked “what could I possibly be doing wrong NOW?”  As it turned out, I was using both my arms and my back when I should be using only my arms to work on a machine that simulated the motion of rowing a canoe.  That day I thought about what a good thing it was that I broke the ice and introduced myself.  He has been very valuable to me by showing me the proper way to use the various machines—not to mention what a good friend he is.

I have to say that it is a good thing that I have been working out.  As I mentioned in my last letter, it was quite a challenge hiking up the mountain in New York.  Just a two or three weeks after returning to Germany, I had the opportunity to go biking with a lady who is one of the friends I have made in the local town of Muhlhiem (I hope I spelled that correctly).  Well, we started off easy enough going downhill most of the way.  I was enjoying the scenery and thinking about how my legs were in much better shape than they were just three weeks ago.  After biking for about 20 minutes on a trail that went mostly downhill, I started thinking about the return trip and how it would have to be necessarily uphill unless Germany was like an M.C Escher painting or unless I was living in a parallel universe to that of most people’s grandfathers who claimed to have walked to school up hill both ways.

Much like Katie hiking in New York, my friend Erika seemed to be immune to physical wear and tear.  We biked for over an hour going up hill and down hill—mostly down—while she demonstrated no signs of tiring.  At one point I protested by asking her “how far are we going?  Hamburg?!”  To understand why she laughed at this, you must understand that Hamburg is one of the northern most cities of Germany and we are in the South.  When we finally stopped at a Gasthause for something to drink, my legs felt like rubber and I wondered how I was going to make it back.  If I had not been training at the gym, I don’t think I could have made it back.  I was beginning to doubt my masculinity at this point.  Every time I attempted an extreme physical feat, I was being bested by a woman!  (Update: at this time I have been going to the gym on such a regular basis and lifting more weight with my legs, that I can now bike to school up hill both ways with my grandfather.)  At least I was able to impress her by demonstrating that I could ride a bike without using my hands.  I even took pictures while doing so.  On the return trip she was attempting to do this as well and was quite a quick learner.

When we arrived back in Muhlhiem at the gasthause where she works at, I described the journey to my other friends and made the story as humorous as possible.  This is when one of the ladies taught me a bit of German, which confirmed my masculine inadequacies.  She said I was a “weich Ei.”  I asked her for a translation and she said it means “soft egg” and it is something you say to a man to indicate he should be wearing a…(at this point she could not remember the English word so she made a motion with her hands indicating the point where something you wear would be cut off just between the waist and the knees).  “A skirt,” I offered.  “Yes!  A skirt!”  She told me that I should be wearing a skirt since I was a ‘soft egg.’  Well, since my backside was hurting like it never had before after riding on a bicycle seat for more than two hours, I replied “yeah, well let me tell you, I’m sitting on my weich Ei right now and I need a pillow!”  Amazingly enough, after laughing at my joke, they were actually able produce a pillow, which I gladly welcomed.

At this point I should probably tell you about these friends of mine here in Muhlheim.  Muhlheim is a local village that is very old and worthy of a lot of picture taking.  I discovered this place quite by accident—literally.  It was the weekend after I had fallen off of the mountain and hurt my leg that I was in need of some pain medication prescribed by my doctor.  However the local pharmacy in Bottingen was closed on Saturday and I did not know where to go.  A man told me that the nearest pharmacy that was open was in the town of Muhlheim.  I followed the signs and found the small town and was quite fascinated by it.  If you remember, in one of my previous chronicles I described driving through an arch.  This is the same village where the arch is.

I was so impressed by the town that I came back one day and stopped to eat at a gasthause near the arch.  It was here that I met many of the friends I refer to.  The place is run by a lady who comes from Hungary.  Her name is Ildie and she has a sister and her boyfriend who are also from Hungary—Erika and Tibbie.  She also has two cousins—brother and sister—who come from Romania.  The boy, Soltan, is not yet 17 years old and speaks four languages fluently—including English.  His sister, Timmi, is 24 but doesn’t look any older than he is and has a boyfriend who also worked at Marquardt until just recently.  His name is Ollie.

One day Erika was showing me some family pictures and I noticed two that must have been taken rather recently.  They were of her sister, Ildi, and she was lying on the floor with a pile of Euro dollars.  In one of the pictures she was tossing some of the money up into the air.  The pictures had to be recent because the Euro has only been official since March of last year or the year before.  There must have been thousands of dollars on the floor with her.  I was very impressed by the site of a beautiful, budding, young capitalist.  I don’t know the story behind the pictures, but I imagine it had something to do with money from her restaurant—either a small lone, or a great deal of savings.  It is her goal to one day buy the building that she runs her restaurant out of (and lives in upstairs).  I have also found that she has a slight interest in investing.  Between her and her boyfriend, I think she is the one who knows the most about handling money and she appears to be very independent and ambitious.

While a gasthause in Germany seemed like an unlikely place to run into aspiring capitalists, I found not just one but two.  Ollie, Timmi’s boyfriend is German, but he speaks English very well.  He recently left Marquardt to finish school.  He is studying factory automation and tells me that his goal in life is to own his own factory manufacturing automation products.  He told me, beaming with pride and aspiration, that when he does “the lights won’t go out until after ten o’clock” implying that he would work late hours enjoying is work.  I said, “you don’t belong in Germany my friend.  You are too much like an American.”  He laughed and said “you are right!”

Well, at the risk of leaving something out, I am going to close for now.  I think that it is best that I get this letter out before I get sidetracked again.  Usually I sit down and write these in a day and then review and add to them the day after.  However, I have been taking much too long this time with my busy schedule and all and fear that if I don’t finish soon everyone will wonder if I have fallen off the earth (like another former acquaintance who shall go unnamed).  So with that, I will say so long for now.

Best Premises,

Eric

Aw!  Isn’t he the cutest thing you ever saw?  He has troubles with the other kids in school though.  They all pick on him and call him spaghetti-face.