Roof Top #2

Yesterday one of the lab's old members came back to visit. She is currently doing her post-doc in Australia and stopped by Berlin on her way to a conference. Speaking of tea parties, there was a small coffee and dessert break in the afternoon in her honor. There was a chatter of German. Everyone laughed. The guest of honor motioned wildly and jerked while explaining some fascinating story about her adventures, I surmised, in the wilderness of the Outback. Everyone roared with laughter until tears were dripping down the corners of their eyes, and I, on the other hand, was intently munching on the dessert. My first victim was the cheesecake topped with mandarin oranges. Delicious! My love for cheesecake has no bounds, especially not continental ones. I waited for a bit to get my second piece: some sort of raspberry crumble cake. This I savored slowly because dessert was becoming scarce (though it was my only source of entertainment). When I was done, I stood politely and tried really hard to understand German. Needless to say, I did not have any miraculous epiphanies about German, instead I just guessed at the content of the conversation based on the cognate words I could pick up and the context clues. After a while, I got to fantasizing about being able to speak and understand German and how awesome it would be if I had a Babel Fish (like the one in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Then it was back to experiments, I walked out of the stuffy little lounge and realized that the last time I came up against the language barrier in a similar manner I was nine, small, and intimidated. Ten years later, I did not feel too inadequate --I knew somewhat about what was going on-- and I was certainly not intimidated. Languages can be barriers but they can be overcome with some guessing and laughter (my mentor asked if I spoke Italish the other day... I-ta-lish??? I was going through the possibilities. He assumed that in England they speak English, in Spain they speak Spanish, so in Italy they must speak Italish... sounds logical to me hahaha)

Later after work the lab met up at a roof top bar (!!!!!) to chat more with the visitor. I have been to a roof top bar once in Beijing and had loved it! The view is amazing and the atmosphere is, well, atmospheric (nice to be above the traffic and the city jungle). The bar we visited last night had a good view of the Berlin skyline (not as impressive as New York's but we took the time to point out the landmarks and the history associated with the city). Inside the bar, there were plenty of lounging decks and sand (did I mention it's a roof top beach bar?) with people busy working on their tans with drinks in their hands (a little piece of island life in Berlin).

When not admiring the view, I enjoyed conversations (in English) with my lab mates. These ranged from talking about drinks to "the big picture" of life. My PI also asked me about the North American perception of doing a Ph. D in Germany. In my opinion, I don't think many people even consider the option. They are simply not aware of the option and some major differences in the education system present compatibility problems. However, let me just note that he was proud to cite that the MDC is 25th in the world for impact in genetics. The top 24 institutes were much bigger in size.

LILY