Last post

We have uploaded (almost) all of our photos and updated the map one last time. I hope you have enjoyed the not-so-live coverage of our trip.

Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

Japan Pictures and Maps

Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

Enjoy.

All is well in Kyoto

Dan danced the night away with some Italian teachers and Spanish women (and their mother). Hopefully more pictures soon.

Pictures from Hong Kong and Beijing

Get them while they are hot:

Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

Leaving Beijing

Our contribution to the USA Badminton Team:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMPnaJbMavE

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgPxkve7zSw

Filmed and photographed by Dan and I, respectively. Starring Tiffanie and Celine. Edited by Celine.

Beijing was amazing. Off to Japan (after a brief visit to Hong Kong).

Sorry to disappoint...

but I'm just here to say that we are fine. I'm posting from the Science Museum, Computer Laboratory, Communication's Corner in Hong Kong. It is the only place where we have managed to find internet here.

More maps and photos

Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

I've more or less given up writing about what happens.

New map and picture updates

Check it out.

Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

All is well

Dan and I are in India now and everything is going really well. Hopefully I'll get more updates up soon, but time and internet access is limited.

Two Days in Warsaw

I woke to a quiet house the next morning. The poured concrete stairs made for a silent journey down to the living room. I was uploading photos for probably about an hour before David’s mother came down and greeted me. "You are not tired?" "Not as tired as everyone else, I guess." It was then that I remembered the discussion Dan and I had about the "food clock". To make a long story short, Dan had heard about a technique for overcoming jet lag that involved not eating for 8 hours before you were supposed to wake up in the new time zone. Then, when it is time to wake up in the new time zone, you are supposed eat breakfast to fool your body into thinking it is a new day. This technique may have worked, had Dan not slept for 12 hours. A few hours after I woke up, David and Bess came down the stairs. Dan joined us after about another hour or so and made some comment about the time that indicated clearly he had confused the short hand and the long hand of clock. However, Dan had showered while Bess and David had not. David was debating whether or not to shower when he remembered that the plan was to visit his grandmother. "We are visiting my grandmother, Bess. So you could shower, but my grandmother’s love is not contingent upon being showered." It was then that Dan interjected, "In that case, can I unshower?" It was about noon, and David’s mom was fixing us breakfast. It felt like vacation.
After breakfast, David indicated that we might be going to the opera that night, so, if we felt so inclined, we could change our clothes so that we didn’t feel out of place. I changed into my shirt and pants, but Dan declined, saying that "David and I can sit at the back of the theater." David was in a t-shirt, but took this opportunity to throw on his jacket and ask Dan not to lump him in with those of us wearing "badminton shirts". It wasn’t until later in the day that I found out David had not worn this jacket for about a year following a comment I had made about how it made him look like a first year medical student. He revealed this information after I unwittingly made the same comment, unleashing a purported flood of self-consciousness on his part. I do apologize, David.
We drove into the heart of Warsaw to the old city. The traffic was dense, but the weather was beautiful and I almost forgot that we were idling, bumper-to-bumper, in a country where gas is 8 dollars per gallon. The old city is a quaint tourist trap. Carriage rides, children performing on accordions, acres of patio covered with restaurant tables shaded by umbrellas. We passed a statue of a mermaid (the mythical founder of Warsaw) and made for the post office. Dan had to return his copy of "Contract Killers" he was borrowing from Netflix, lest he be charged a $20 fee. It had to arrive in Massachusetts in the next four days to avoid the fine. David estimated that it would arrive in about 3 or 4 weeks, if at all.
On the way to David’s grandmother’s house, we stopped by a shop so that David could get some flowers. The unhappy woman who sold David the flowers had a sign in her shop that read "Commodity serves the vendor". Unsure of the message, I asked David what it meant. By reading the Polish text, he was able to determine that, in fact, it meant that "Vendor serves the commodity". In other words, "Don’t serve yourself".
We passed the schools that David’s father attended while growing up. Not long after we had arrived at his grandmother’s building. We walked up the stairs to her apartment where she has lived since the building was built. My expectations were blown away. She was as warm and welcoming as anyone I’ve met. She and her husband were the first tenants, and now she continues to live there alone after the passing of her husband. She was anxious to try her English out on us, and her choice of topic was telling. She interrupted a discussion to ask, "Are you an optimist?" She asked us all before adding, "Good, because I am." She attends English classes at a local continuing education program where the students enjoy poking fun at each other during the oral presentations.
The five of us sat crowded around her table and enjoyed the food she had prepared. The topic of conversation came to her experiences during the war. She had been sent for forced labor in Germany. She made a follow up comment in Polish. One of David’s best qualities as a translator is his liberal use of commentary. "Now she gets to ride the bus for free, because of all that [forced labor]. So that seems worth it." She asked us what we thought of the food. Dan suggested that some Americans might have salted the potatoes more. David translated his comment and his grandmother looked down at Dan’s empty plate. "She says that it is going to be hard to salt the potatoes in this stage of the digestive cycle."
We said goodbye to David’s family and went back into the streets of Warsaw. We wandered through a park and played in a fountain. We saw Marie Curie’s museum, dedicated to one of the most famous women scientist of all time, regardless of nationality. We ended the night at a deserted pizzeria, being serenaded by street musicians.

On the morning of June 25th, it was decision time in Poland. Dan and I had decided that the next day we would be departing for somewhere on our own. We had two suggestions from David: north or south. To the south was Krakow, the most popular tourist destination, and to the North was Gdansk, which is on the Baltic Sea. I was leaning towards Krakow, but when Dan found out that there was a place called Hel that could be reached by ferry from Gdansk, the decision was made. Based on a series of bad jokes that were subsequently made about "going to Hel" and "taking the ferry to Hel" and "being in Hel" and "hot as Hel" and so on and so forth, I suspect that Dan’s basis for this decision was something less than entirely sound, but I have to admit that it was a great decision. Alas, that is story is for another day.
David’s mother drove us in towards Warsaw to a Summer Palace of some former Polish royalty. We walked around the grounds and then went inside to view the family’s collection of art and artifacts. Taking pictures inside the building was forbidden, but I couldn’t resist snapping a few of the sleeping guard. The place was just filled with paintings of famous old Polish people, most of which displeased Bess because she said they were painted too perfectly. Eventually we found some that were "frumpy" enough for her liking, but not before I got in trouble for trying to walk the wrong way through a completely empty exhibit of writing utensils. I made the mistake of stepping into the exhibit past the elderly guard on duty. I stood there for a moment and glanced around as the tension began to build. I knew that I didn’t want to see the rest of the exhibit and, I think, so did she. I glanced over my shoulder. It felt like slow motion. She was there, watching, waiting. I turned back around and without looking at her took one step towards the door. That’s when it happened. Polish remonstrations rained down on me like Mumbai monsoon. I ran for the exit, not another museum visitor in sight, past the 18th century pens and pencils back to the group, back to safety.
From the Summer Palace we went to the Palace of Culture and Science. Specifically, we visited the engineering museum. Inside were descriptions of electrolytic cells, various types of engines, typesetting machines, mining techniques and the food chain. It was actually quite entertaining, despite how it sounds. We were still in the museum as it was closing, and if it weren’t for the guards escorting us to the exit, I would have had my picture taken with the Marie Curie statue that we passed on the way out.
Across the street from the Palace of Culture and Science is a large mall. We went in with the intent of buying Dan sunglasses. Anyone who has gone sunglasses shopping with Dan knows that finding the right pair is no simple feat. Unless you are in a gas station somewhere along the interstate in the Midwest, you are unlikely to be successful. We saw many pairs, but they all cost more than a meal at Applebee’s and were therefore disqualified. Defeat was accepted and we moved onto a more manageable task: finding something to eat. Five or six escalators above the ground floor is a food court, much like you might find anywhere in the United States. I went for Yaki Soba; Dan got something Polish.
The last stop of the night was the Opera, where "The Magic Flute" was playing. We took the subway to get there. We arrived on the scene on time and underdressed. David bought tickets as Dan, Bess and I stood in the corner, carefully avoiding eye contact lest anyone try speaking Polish to us. I tried and failed to buy a program (this was not uncommon for me in Poland, as the ATM regularly dispensed bills that were too large for anyone to cash). Without a program, I had to do my best to discern the plot from my knowledge of German (i.e. none) and what I could see on stage. As far as I can tell, it is about a guy who befriends a court jester. He has a lot of problems with various demons, who tend to come in threes, and gods. All he really wants is to be with his sweetheart, but first he has to fight his way past a choir of head-trauma patients dressed in matching gunny sacks. In the end everything turns out fine; even the jester finds love with a character who, for most of the show, was wearing a Cousin-It-from-the-Addams-family costume.
Following the opera, we walked to the Jewish theater to catch a ride with Raymond, David’s mother’s boyfriend, who was working a sold out show of "The Fiddler on the Roof". For reasons that still aren’t very clear, Raymond offered to let Dan drive home. The only reason that fits with my experience during the ride home is that the vehicle was in such bad condition that Raymond was sick of making the 20 kilometer drive himself. Left to its own devices, the vehicle made a constant and sharp left turn. Alas, an alignment may have cost more than the vehicle was actually worth. Before we departed, Raymond put some soothing Buddhist chanting music on the radio, presumably to distract the passengers from the imminent danger. David explained Polish traffic laws to Dan as we went, such as "There are no stop signs, only yield signs." Some cars in Poland run on natural gas, which may sound nice but Bess and I agreed that the tank in the trunk looked more like a small bomb than a solution to our oil addiction. It was more or less smooth sailing after we went through the roundabout and passed the sign indicating how many traffic deaths had occurred during the last year at that spot.
Back at home, Dan gave Raymond a half hour presentation on Future Truck as David translated. Raymond decided to reciprocate by putting on a rock concert in a bedroom on the second floor. Little did we know that Raymond is the real life Guitar Hero. In my opinion, anyone with that much talent should be performing regularly, but as far as I can tell he plays mostly by himself along with audio tracks on his computer. He played everything from Polish rock to classical music. My personal favorite was his rendition of Pink Floyd.

Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

Dan has started trying to caption our photos. It is going to take some time. Also, I will not be held responsible for his spelling.

Other types of updates

Other than the blog, we are continuing to update our map and photos. They can be found here:
Map: Google Map
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/
We are hoping to get some more text out soon.

Dublin to Warsaw

When I woke up during our descent into Dublin, I was greeted by a light tinkling of Irish music from nearby headphones. On the TV was the type of dancing that involves folding your arms and jumping up and down in boots. It felt like Ireland. Our late takeoff made for a tight transfer schedule. Being a lowly American, I had to stand in line to get my passport stamped while Dan waltzed through the EU citizen line, stopping only briefly to flash the outside of his French passport. The idea was that Dan would go and make sure that the plane didn’t take off without us. He was already through security when I arrived at the start of the line, where one of the employees informed me that I couldn’t get through security with those “tennis rackets” I was holding. I put up a rather weak fight and soon I was marching back down the stairs to check the rackets. Fortunately, the connection was not as tight as we originally thought and by the time I did get through security, we had time to stop at the Guinness store to pick up a gift for our Polish hosts. As it turns out, Dan had already picked up breakfast while he was waiting for me, and we sat down at our gate to enjoy a smoked salmon bagel. Dan ended up finishing mine; fish and cream cheese that early in the morning turned out to be too much for me. The flight to Warsaw went off without a hitch and we found ourselves trading Dollars for Zloty while waiting for our bags. Dan’s bag came and so did all the others, but our rackets did not. There were no Aer Lingus employees in sight so we sent the reconnaissance team (Dan) out to survey the area. I have no idea where he went, but he came back with the location of the oversized baggage area, where our rackets were waiting for us, all 140 ounces of them cowering next to some more appropriately categorized luggage.
Outside of the baggage claim, David, David’s mom and Bess were waiting for us. We sat briefly and drank some tea and soda before David’s mom drove us through Warsaw to the restaurant above the Jewish theater. On our way in we passed a painting of a Jewish money counter hung above the entrance; David’s mother pointed out that this was considered good luck and, indeed, during the rest of our stay in Poland we saw several more examples of this tradition. Many of David’s family members are involved in the Jewish theater of Warsaw. The food was delicious. After lunch, we made our way down through the theater to meet David’s grandfather. Along the way we passed throngs of young actors and actresses who were singing, dancing and, I’m sure, wondering what we were doing there. Eventually we made it to the back where David’s grandfather was about to sit down for lunch. When asked why he wasn’t going to eat in the restaurant, he said that he had eaten there a week ago and was still trying to digest the food. As it turns out, David is an excellent translator and having him around in Poland was invaluable. He was translating for us while he was discussing current events in the United States with his grandfather. Apparently there was some kind of ant invasion in Texas that made it into the international news. It is really a shame, David’s grandfather told us, not that ants are invading the United States, but that it isn’t possible to somehow steer them in the direction of the White House. We all had a good laugh.
From the restaurant, we drove towards a large park where David’s mother was going to drop us off. During the ride, David described the buildings around us. Warsaw was heavily damaged during World War II. As a result, it is very open but there is construction going on everywhere. We passed by the Central Anti-Corruption Office as David and Dan were discussing Poland’s political system. Irony prevailed in the case of Stock Exchange building, which, as it turns out, is in the same building as the former Communist Party headquarters. The discussion shifted to the difference between two-stroke and four-stroke engines and, thankfully, we arrived at the park only a few minutes later.
The Royal Gardens in Warsaw is an expansive park that is home to many monuments, fountains and little critters. The highlights of the park included Bess being courted by a particularly aggressive (and loud) peacock, Dan trying to negotiate the rental of a guided-tour tricycle, Bess being attacked by a red squirrel, Dan sneaking up on a deer, ridiculing Dan for suggesting that we were witnessing an Asian wedding and subsequently finding out that we were witnessing an Asian wedding. My favorite monument in the park was Chopin’s. We ended our visit with some apple pie at a nearby outdoor café where Bess tried and (inevitably) failed to explain her inexplicable dislike for fruit. David’s mother came and picked us up and took us to her house, which is about 20 kilometers south of Warsaw. It is a tall house with a brightly colored interior that is covered with family photos and paintings. Dan and I were given the fourth floor. Bess and David prepared some spaghetti and that was the end of a very long day. I was asleep for about two hours before I felt a large hand come down over my covers and all of the sudden I was losing a tug-of-war match to an unconscious Dan. He had fallen asleep on top of his own blanket, but I was in no position to reason with him. Dan was making a noise that was something like a squirrel call. I managed to yank my blanket away from him and he let go with a loud “Hey!” I was too tired to worry about what animal Dan might summon next, so I just went back to sleep.

Not what you wanted, but...

Good news: I just finished giving my presentation in Venice. Dan and I are uploading our pictures right now and I will be updating the text portion of our blog very soon.

Itinerary

Here is a link to our itinerary: Itinerary

Another quick update

For anyone who might be sending worried e-mails to their son: everything is fine. We have been so busy that updates have become difficult. All is well and we will be catching up with the pictures and text soon. I've been working on my presentation (still not done) that I have to give in Italy in a few days rather than typing updates in my free time. We are leaving Warsaw for Milan tomorrow morning.

Omaha to Dublin

A brief introduction is in order. My name is Nick Schafer and I am traveling with my good friend Dan Mehr. Dan and I met at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where we were (essentially) housemates for 5 years. While we were at the UW, Dan and I met many amazing people, and the trip we are about to embark on is, in many ways, because of them. We have been planning a trip like this, an after-graduation-round-the-world trip, for some time now. The itinerary, in short, is the following: US, Poland, Italy, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Thailand. After this, I will be going to Denmark and Dan will be returning to the US through Korea.

I woke up early in the morning having spent the previous night (a late one) with my friends from Omaha, NE. I finished up packing, said goodbye to my dad and headed to the airport with my mom. I arrived several hours before my flight and so I was not too concerned when I saw the infamous “SSSSSSS” mark all over my ticket, indicating that I had been chosen for an extra security check. In passing through security, I was placed in a large box and made aware of my right to request a private search area. I declined politely, thinking that if I had to be groped by a large man in blue plastic gloves, I would rather not first be transported to a dark room outside of the public eye. By the time he had determined that I was not a threat to society, the other TSA employees had completely unpacked my backpack and duffle bag and begun repacking all the items in the incorrect bags. Needless to say, they were not able to get everything back in the bags. I told them I’d take care of it, at which point one of them turned to me and asked, “Did you check any bags, sir?” “Actually, I didn’t; why?” “Obviously not.” If it was so obvious, I’m not sure why he asked. TSA’s aim might be to piss everyone off, but they are doing to have to try harder on me; I’m on vacation.

I slept most of the way through my flight to Chicago. When I arrived, right around lunch time, I found that all of the food vendors were backed up with long lines. I decided to walk towards my gate and take my chances. I found a small hotdog stand where there was a very loud man screaming, “No hotdogs!” In so doing, he was successfully scaring away most of his clientèle, so I thought I’d give it a try. I was able to get some Italian Beef, which was not Italian but probably beef. After only one gate change, I was off to Boston.

As I was boarding my plane to Boston, a woman sitting behind me actually recognized my badminton racket. “Are you going to badminton camp?” “Kind of, after a few other stops.”

The flight to Boston went very smoothly and Dan’s family picked me up from the airport. On our way to dinner, we stopped by Toscanini’s to pick up Sam, Dan’s brother. We then made our way to Les Zygomates, a French restaurant. As Sam put it, the food was “expensive and very delicious”. I had Steak Frites, i.e. Steak and French Fries. During dinner we discussed many things including the utility of an iPhone and the Nebraska Unicameral system, as well as some Molecular Dynamics. We decided after dinner to look for an Apple store so that we could access the internet and find the contact information for a person who Sam was supposed to pick up a free piece of kitchen equipment from. After a rather hilarious failure to find said Apple store, we returned to the Mehr/Epstein residence. Dan and I spent most of the rest of the night doing last minutes planning and packing. Between the two of us, we have one large roller suitcase, one duffel bag and one backpack. Sam returned home later that night with a free grittle and 27 inch television.

The next morning, Dan and I went to the MIT badminton club to get in a little practice before we left. On the way, we stopped by a CVS to print pictures and purchase some over the counter medication. While I was waiting for my pictures to print, Dan approached me and asked me if 100 hours worth of PeptoBismol was enough, or if he should go for 200 hours. I told him that if he was experiencing that much gastrointestinal distress then we would seek medical attention. When I arrived at MIT, I realized that I had left my badminton shoes. Many thanks to Patrick Mehr for stopping by MIT to drop off my shoes. With my shoes, I was able to play several entertaining games with some of the local Boston players. Though technically not attending the MIT badminton, there was a group of several familiar faces on the other side of the gym, including Daphne Chang, Niel Davies and Arthur Zhu. Arthur was in town hosting a camp for the Maugus club before he heads out to his faculty position at the Univesity of Wyoming. It was certainly good to talk to him and to see him playing again.

After we were done at MIT, we stopped by to get brunch at Toscanini’s; brunch somehow turned out to be just ice cream. After a quick stop to buy Dan a quick-dry towel, we headed back to Dan’s place to make the final preparations and print some documents. Dan’s dad then took us to the airport and our Irish experience started immediately as we entered the international terminal. Aer Lingus, an Irish airline, was our carrier from Boston to Dublin and Dublin to Warsaw. Everyone behind the desk was wearing green scarves and spoke in an adorable Irish accent. I had a brief scare when one of the employees was unable to scan my passport, but soon enough she had simply typed in my number and we were off to our gate.

Our flight was a little late taking off, which gave Dan plenty of time to dispense automotive advice to Mr. Joseph Kapper and gave me some time to work on my presentation that I’m supposed to give in Venice. Once on the plane, Dan and I made preparations for sleep. I was lucky enough to have an empty seat to my right. The passenger to the right of that seat was using the empty seat’s tray table for storage space. On the table were two empty cans of Coke , one empty coffee cup, one full can of Coke and one deck of “Healing with the Faeries Oracle Cards” authored by Doreen Virtue, PhD. As I was drifting asleep I made eye contact with the man, who was staring at my rather intensely. I imagined he was divining my fortune, and hoping that it was a good one.

Our Camera's Better Half

If you want to see more photos from Poland from a different perspective, check out Bess's Photostream: http://picasaweb.google.com/elizhambt/

Our Google Map

Google Map

Hopefully this will continue to be updated as we make our way across the globe.

Our Flickr Photostream

Our photos will be uploaded to this website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehrschafer/

Just a quick update

For anyone who is going to wake up this morning and check this blog... we are doing fine. Dan and I arrived in Poland and David Dynerman and company were already waiting for us at the airport. A more thorough update will follow.

Test

Testing 1...2....3...