Today at lunch I had a wonderful time. We embarked on what I anticipated to be a legitimate conversation regarding time-zones and how I managed to call people in the US when I was in Europe (I either call in my evening during US lunch break, or weekend nights when its the middle of the afternoon, or I wake up at 3/4am to call people after their work is over depending on East or West coast). Since one of the women I work with will be going to the US in October she was wondering how she’d be able to contact her family and friends here (it would be opposite- call in morning and get people at lunch or call during lunch, get people in evenings). But then the conversation took a 180 and the heated subject of “why the hell is Poland in the Central European Time (CET) zone instead of UTC +3 which would make much more sense especially in the winter”—the argument was essentially a combination of who the hell needs the sun to rise at 5am in the winter when the sun sets at 3:30pm? People would be much happier if the sun came up at 6am and there was sun until 5pm, and maybe less people would kill themselves because of it! . .. . and on and on. As there was only one person actually from Poland eating with us today, she was being grilled and told that she could solve the entire problem. Ha, it was utterly absurd, but just the break from reality and lab life that was needed. A lot of laughter always makes the second half of any day much much better :)
My den out in the hallway for 4am conference calls
That evening a large amount of our lab group went out to dinner to celebrate the completion of a four month internship by two Italian interns. So naturally, we went to Jeff’s American Bar and Grill- I swear I was not involved in determining the location for our dinner! But nonetheless, it was fun to actually have an excuse to go here when I walk by it daily as I walk home from work. As the only person from the US at the table, I was bombarded with questions about how this restaurant compared to the ones in the states. Ironically, very well. The ambiance was one much like Applebee’s (or Fuddruckers) with every inch of wall covered with signs, models, and sport artifacts—> including the ceiling having a driving range and clubs hanging from it! The food too was “American sized” and the burgers that people got looked impossible to actually eat with one’s hands…. But Jeff’s is in fact only a Polish branch in various locations in the country and there is no chain in the states yet. After all, all the menus were also in Polish!
Totally wasn't kidding about the green on the ceiling
Not my best picture, but if you've been to Applebee's, Chili's, Fuddruckers, etc. its similar
I learned an important phrase that night —> “its just a different color of the same shit.” This phrase is often used when multiple things go bad at the same time, or when someone is trying to choose the best course of action which instead turns into deciding between the less-bad option. Probably a great application for politics?? lol
Looks like you're able to help others learn, just as they are helping you. Full circle!
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