December 1, 2003: Discovering new gems
There are not too many things I can positively talk about after spending the past few months working near Frankfurt and it’s not because Germany doesn’t have anything to offer but rather because it’s depressing being somewhere with so much to do and not being able to take advantage of it.
While comments from friends, family, and even people I meet who ask what I do for a living have been pretty uniform (It must be awesome working abroad. I’m so jealous. At least you get to travel
.), the truth of the matter is that when you’re putting 80+ hours in 7-days there’s just not much time for anything else. It’s actually almost worse being abroad when you are hopelessly stuck in front of a monitor all day.
Still, as bad as it’s been, a few good things have been good: for one, we’ve gotten somewhat familiar with the food choices in the Langen area and have already built a list of favorites including Allerlei, a cozy German restaurant hidden on a friendly cobblestone road; Jume’s, a trendy Spanish-German bistro with some good tapas, Argentinian steaks, and fantastic drinks; and Brasserie Henriot in Dreieich, where the food, drinks, and music always makes us forget we’re actually there to work.
Aside from eating, some of us have gotten a chance to get the hell away from the office. In my case, I caught the ICE to Köln to visit my friend Nicole with whom I partied like there was no tomorrow (and when you work this much, that’s basically how it feels).
Finally, one night while stuck coding away at wee hours in the morning, my ears caught a glimpse of Flowmotion, a TV music show that runs from 2 to 4am on HR and have since been captivated by it. Two days before my last return home, I finally broke down and went online to order some CDs by artists I had heard on the show including Elektrolux’s Naoki Kenji and The Sushi Club and, in the process, discovering other gems like The Merkin Dream, The Dining Rooms, and getting a hold of Favela Chic’s Postnove 3 (thanks to Jack) and Jazzanova’s Remixed.
At least I’ve got music to keep me going.