25 April 2010

My Internship - "Picture Perfect!"

My work at PGS is always interesting. Wait. I take that back. It's not always interesting; like any job, it has it's low or boring points. So I'll revise that statement. My work at PGS is always full of variety. I am never quite sure what they give me next. For one thing, I am basically their office Jane-of-all-trades. That alone means I have a flexible job description. For another thing, there is still many tasks that I haven't done yet, so there is always something new to learn. The more I learn, the more I am able to assist the people in my office. Which, not surprisingly, is how I have found myself in the position of amateur photographer. Not quite the first thing I would think of when I hear the word "civil engineering intern" but, hey......When you are the foreign civil engineering intern, you take what you can get.

I can't really complain too much After all, the camera provides me a an easy excuse to be on the construction site. Without it, a random girl with a construction hat just watching the work might look a little out of place. With the camera, the workers don't give me much pause, except when they see me focusing on them, in which case, they usually give me a big grin and try to pose with the equipment. It makes me chuckle sometimes. But in all truth, I view the camera as my pass to free observation of the work around me.

It all began back in February. When I first started work, they had me take over the task of daily documenting the construction progress This means going out twice a day with the camera and walking around to the same 9 places to take panorama photos of the site. After a while, I began to be asked if I had photos of one thing or another, so they could use them in presentations and such. So I began to not just make the normal photos of the site, but also take more snapshots of individual workers and machines. Then, one day the assistant project manager, Herr Eder, had the idea to have a "photo wall" along the mail office hallway so visitors could have a glimpse of the construction work over the past few months. Then came the photo-of-the-week idea "Blick hinter den Bauzaun" (glimpse behind the fences) for our website.... The result being I spend part of my days learning the intricacies of a fancy Nikon camera and discovering the new joy and double reward in photography. Not only do I get to do something I enjoy - taking pictures - but I get to take photographs of something I love - civil engineering.

The fortunate side-advantage of this part of my job is that you, my dear readers, are able to take a peak into my work world, something that would otherwise be less possible. As for me, the next time I get bored at work, I'll be picking up the camera and hard hat and heading outside!
~E.

"Blick hinter den Bauzaun" (check back for a new one each week!):

My recent just-for-my-own-fun albums:
"Texture, Shadow, City"
"Construction Snapshots"
"Flowers and Rooftops"

04 April 2010

Easter



daffodils on the Chapel lawn at Valpo, early morning
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After Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day, it was not so strange anymore to not be with family for Easter. I have discovered a sort of quiet enjoyment with celebrating the holidays alone. Besides, I am never really alone - I have the comapany and fellowship of other people. In that way, I especially love the church I have found here. From the beginning the people have been welcoming and friendly, so despite the language differences sometimes, I have experienced comfort of being in the presence of another kind of family. And the holidays - well, some family has invited me over for each one of them, so I am never left alone in my room to pass the day away as if it is any other.

Unlike previous Easters, I had no chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, dying of eggs, and all the usual things that accompany the holiday - though I did buy myself a large bouquet of pink and white tulips, which lasted through the holy week. Instead, this Easter gave me the opportunity to celebrate it not as merely a holiday, but a true time of remembrance and joy. Here Germany (and especially down south here with the large Catholic population) you get all the major (and many of the minor) religious holidays off from work, which meant I had both Good Friday and Easter Monday free. My first true break from work since beginning. Ahhhh....it was relaxing!

Easter Sunday I went to church and then afterwards, Jon Larson (the other VIEP person here) and I went over to Julie Sheetz' house for a late lunch. Julie participated in both the Reutlingen and Tuebingen program while an adult scholar at Valpo in the 90's and lived in the German House (where I'll live next year), during its first year. She now lives permanently in German and works for Reutlingen Hochschule. It was really nice eat a nice hot meal and just sit and talk with another Valpo person. Plus we got to learn all about how pear schnapps are made, ha. Apparently they really do tie bottles on trees to get the pears to grow inside of the bottles.

We spent Easter Monday with the Nehring family, the same family I spent Christmas Eve with. Michael and Lydia have a beautiful 2nd floor house in a small village outside of Reutlingen, in the Swabian Alps, and two great children, Hannah and Daniel, who are always fun to play games with. Last time we were with them, we also got to meet John Pearson, who is from the US, and his wife and children. Michael plays guitar and John Pearson the mountain dulcimer, which he brought over. With Jon Larson on the djembe, we spent half of that evening just singing songs together. It was so refreshing and wonderful!

We didn't get to play songs this time. Instead, Guenther and Elizabeth (more friends from church) went with us to the Nehrings, where we first had lunch and then took a hike up to a local cave. Lunch was oh-so-typical-but-delicious German Swabian - green salad, homemade maultaschen and potato salad, and wiener wuerstchen. Yum Yum Yum. I'll give you an idea of what it all looks like:

Wuerstchen:
http://www.germanfoodguide.com/Images/wurst/bruhwurst.jpg

Maultaschen (I call it the German ravioli):
http://z.about.com/d/germanfood/1/0/Z/7/-/-/maultaschen2500.JPG

Potato Salad (Lydia makes the best!):
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/449537990_d781e34607.jpg

Dessert, Mohnkuchen (poppyseed cake made by Elizabeth):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/3488932452_9d728c64b7.jpg

...and Sauer kirschkuchen (sour cherry cake, made by Hannah):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3440/3724476322_7e526c5eac.jpg

The day was full - lunch, hiking, trecking through the cave, stopping at the Kinderfest (children's festival), coffee and dessert, playing many rounds of UNO, talking about various things.... I go to work again tomorrow rested, relaxed, and thankful for the many friends who have welcomed me into their home so many times over the past months!

Jesus truly binds all nations and peoples with his love!

~E.

My Internship - Surveying Class All Over Again

Look! It's grey and cloudy, there's snow on the ground, a bunch of people hunched over papers.....it must be the freshman surveying class at Valpo, trying to find the benchmark near the ARC!!!


....oh wait.....nope, guess I'm wrong. Let's try a better photo:



Yes, there *is* a brick building like the ARC in the background, but trust me, the photos are from the construction site here in Germany and the people in the photos are well-trained professionals, as opposed to the struggling beginners. I think my camera is the closest I get to surveying now. I suppose that's a good thing. Not that my lab partner and I did too badly back three years ago; between my awesome drawing abilities and his sweet skills with turning angles, we managed to yield quite accurate results. But I don't miss being exposed for three hours to the ever-changing pre-spring Valpo weather...snow, rain, ice, mud, puddles, slush, slop.....And we always had to lower the tripod for me, only to raise it again for him. Eventually one of us got tired of doing that, which meant either he was stooping down or I was on my tippytoes. Guess that's the price to pay for picking lab partners with large size differential.
Size seems to be a reoccuring theme here for me....ahh, the sad amusing realities of the short person. I suppose I should stick to my dirt. It's not as far away from me as say, the top of the tripod.
~E.

My Internship - Yay Dirt! *ahem* sorry "Soil"



The borer on site...
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It has been really exciting for me to watch the soil borer in action here for the last few weeks. No matter the weather, it is out there, making massive anteater holes and plugging them up with concrete. Concrete, dirt, and big machines....can a girl like me be any happier?!

But wait - just when you thought it was cool already. Prepare to be amazed.

We now have not one, but yes, TWO soil borers on the site! Yes, I know; you can hardly control yourself, I know. It was like: look at one end of the site - soil borer....look at other end of the site - soil borer again! Yay!

As you will now agree, I am officially crazy about dirt. I looked at the soil and couldn't help wondering what the moisture content was and decided I would have to perform an in-field visual test of the soil....basically an excuse to pick up a clump of what-I-determined-to-be poorly graded gravel with clay fines, rub it around in my hands, and call it sophisticated geotechnical analysis. At least it cooperated and yielded better results than my German skills do for me sometimes...

Yup. I love dirt and dirt loves me :-D

~E.

My Internship - The Big and the Bright



Advertisement banners on fences along Konrad-Adenauerstrasse
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So the title might be a bit odd, but as you can see from the picture, the advertisement banners are indeed big and bright....and did I mention incredibly annoying to put up? I always knew I was short, which most of the time I have no problem with and actually find pretty amusing at times too. But somehow my height seems much more of an obvious disadvantage as opposed merely a humorous sidejoke when it comes to putting up these massive banners on the higher-than-a-small-person fences that surround the construction site.

Background story behind these brilliant but massive nuisances:

The entire construction site is enclosed by the usual barrier fences (a very safety-conscious invention) which someone decided would be perfect to double over as an advertisement medium for firms. Not only do local companies get to tell you how great their sasuages, paints, tire services, etc. are, but we get to make money by renting them places along the fence and printing off the aforementioned banners, which are basically glorified heavyduty screens. They think they're cool because they've had paint laser-printed on them to make a pretty picture. It's a brilliant idea, but massively annoying for me, who has to help put them up. It's really tricky for a short person like me to carry those things, let alone put them up, especially when the wind makes them into large sails....Let me say, I much prefer my job as it relates to them in the OFFICE as opposed to outside.

As far as work with the advertisement banners "inside" is concerned, I have learned a computer program, CorelDraw, which I use to edit the plans when the fence gets changed. I take the plan and up-date it and a list in Excel so anyone at a glance can see the different firms we have advertised around the site. I also help Frau Mittnacht, the woman in charge of publicity and organizatin, return e-mails for her, and follow up on phone calls requesting information on the banners, how much they cost per quarter, positions open on the fence, etc. On the finance side of things, I write up the billing statements for the firms who have already signed up for a banner and quarter (s) and then give them to Herr Neukamm, the bookkeeper (among other thing), who looks them over before getting the obligatory signatures and letting me mail them off.

Hanging banners outside, playing with computer programs, editing tables, writing bills.....All in a day's work!

~E.

End of Winter!!



I find it hard to believe
Someone like You cares for me
You put this love in my heart
I tried but could not refuse
You gave me no time to choose
You put this love in my heart

I want to know where the bad feelings go
When I'm depressed and I get down so low
And then I see You coming to me and it's alright
I want to tell You right now
I'm not afraid to say how
You put this love in my heart
There are sometimes when I doubt
But You always find me out
You put this love in my heart
Cause when I see all that You've done for me
It's hard to doubt, I just have to believe
Cause You followed and proved it all of Your life

Well I know the loneliness I had before
Is gone now
I'll never feel it anymore

Cause Your love has released me
From all that's in my past
And I know I can believe You
When You say I'll never be forsaken
Your love is gonna last
There's so much more I should say
If I could just find a way
You put this love in my heart!!

My Internship - The Beginning



The old Krankenhaeusle, the project group office
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To those of you who do not know, dear readers, I am working as Bauingenieur Praktikantin for the Projektgruppe - Neue Stadthalle Reutlingen.....*ahem* sorry, English translation: Civil Engineering intern with the project management group for the new city concert hall construction project in Reutlingen. The first few months have been an interesting mix of challenges and rewards, especially regarding my German skills, but as with any other job, it has given me the chance to grow and expand my understanding of not only engineering and German, but of myself.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started. Other than my interview back in December, I had only been in contact with the secretary, and it was basically "give us a date and show up"...not very informative. The first week ended up being spent with general orientation - more reading than actually work. At the time, it made me extremely impatient. I'm one of those people who hates reading instructions and perfers to jump headlong into something...leaving the overanalysing, thinking, etc to *after* the fact. Yup. I love reading too, but I wasn't very happy sitting still - where was the work, the action!? Ahhh.....very typical Erin. Looking back, however, the first few weeks, although slightly "boring" and "unexciting" sometimes , were invaluable. The reading I did - presentations, brochures, proposals, reports, general information, etc. - gave me a chance to transition into the language while familiarizing me with the project on all different levels. In turn, the small workload of minor tasks gave me the time to adjust to the all-German working environment and get to know my co-workers. Considering we are a relatively small group, the latter was not very hard to do. Everyone was friendly and patient with my language skills, which I appreciated especially the first few weeks, when the German was a bit
overwhelming and it made me stressed.
The German aside, learning about the project has been absolutely fascinating. From an engineering perspective, the project is modern, innovative, and well...interesting! The construction idea is a classical-inspired modern concerthall-multifunction building. This will be surrounded by a community park extending along towards the river; an underground car garage is also planned to be constructed under the hall, which will increase the parking availability downtown. The location itself is quite ideal too - in old town, right across from the bus station and a close walk from the train station, so it will attract people from Reutlingen, as well as from the surrounding region. Regarding the Stadthalle itself, it will utilize many new technologies, like photovoltaic solar cells and cutting edge energy-efficient windows. Materials like the stone and wood come from the region and from local firms, so the project promotes the local companies and industry. The plot of land is also large enough that even after the hall is finished, there are room for plans in the future for a possible cafe and/or small hotel. It is exciting to see a project such as this; one that provides for the current needs of the city and stimulates the local economy, but also has a vision for the future and how to attract and encourage the growth of the city!

This is just a sneak peak into the first few weeks of the job...I promise there will be more to come, both about what I am currently doing and have done!

~E.
Pictures, My Internship at Projektgruppe Stadthalle - Part 1: