snowy weeks in Bremerhaven

filed under germany living by Florian

The winter has Germany unter control – a friend just told me he had to spend the night in his car due to lots of trucks that were blocking the frosted highway…

And yes, even in Bremerhaven we have some white powder. Not enough for a snowman but enough to feel like in winter. Greetz to Tassy by the way – I heard you enjoy the summer with temperatures around 30 degrees? ;-)

Hello World from Bremerhaven!

filed under germany living by Florian

The last three weeks flew by – now I’m sitting at my desk at the AWI in Bremerhaven with a high speed internet connection and enjoy the Tassy pics from the last 4 months (of course only after work *gg).

What a great time! These four months were the best I’ve ever had – a compact adventure of incredible nature, great hospitality and just nice people.

Greetings to the Jane gang, the AAD crew and – of course – Mondo’s Pizza (-> Roberto) ;-) I just heard from the news that the new airbus A-380 will be used first by Singapore airlines next year – a perfect opportunity to visit Tassy again!

Till then I wish all the best to all of you out there...

[the american gang] Shazza, Kristen, Allison, Chris ‘n Keith and of course Sara, James and Paul from the USS Polarstar
[the tassy crew] Bridget, Mondo’s, Chris Keen, Paul Turner, Kelly, Grace, Katherine
[the jane community] Danni, Food-the-Dude, Justin, Pagey, Stewy/Martin/Suzanne, Matthew, Paul, Linda, Rachael, Noddy, Ulli, Virginia ‘n Bruce, Sue, Libby, Mary, ...
[the austrian tiger] Stefan
[the aad team] Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave erm I mean Meredith, Bec, Ursula, Angela, Ben, Henk, Michael, Kim, Kate, Lee, the warehouse staff, the cafeteria staff

...and all that I forgot, sorry for that – Take care!

Now one of the first items on my todo list is to find a haircutter to fight with the result of 4 1/2 months of wild growing hair…
Next plans then are finishing my practical internship, finding a company for my diploma thesis and start looking for a job for September ‘05 – oh my god, my studies are almost over ;-)

Stay tuned & cu, Flo

earthquake shakes hobart

filed under tasmania living by Florian

After the last quake near Bremen Jochen reported we had another one between Tassy and Antarctica on Friday 2am. I recognized it cause my screen was starting jiggling… First I thought someone was walking with very heavy steps in the room below, but that seemed to be a bit strange for that time and power.

Here’s what I found on volcanolive.com:
Great Earthquake (North of Macquarie Island) – Magnitude 8.1
Friday 24th December 2004
A great earthquake occurred 495 km north of Macquarie Island (Australia) on Friday, December 24, 2004 at 1:59 a.m. local time. It was located at 50.240° S, 160.133° E, at a depth of 10 km. The earthquake was felt in Hobart, Tasmania and parts of the south island of New Zealand. Macquarie Island is an Australian territory located 1500 km south-east of Tasmania. It is the only island in the world composed entirely of oceanic crust and rocks from the mantle. The island group, with mountains rising 400 m above sea level, became a World Heritage site in 1997. This was an intra plate earthquake. The last earthquake of similar magnitude in the Macquarie Rise region was in 1924. This was the largest earthquake in the world this year. Earthquakes of this magnitude can produce tsunamis.
And another article from The Mercury:
Hobart shakes as quake hits island
An earthquake that struck 700km southeast of Hobart early yesterday was the world’s biggest in four years.
The quake, which hit near remote Macquarie Island just before 2am, measured 8.1 on the Richter scale.
Macquarie Island, inhabited by 22 scientific expeditioners, is in the Southern Ocean, about halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica.
Macquarie Island station leader Graeme Beech said the expeditioners all slept through the quake and had not discovered any damage.
But many residents in the greater Hobart area and along Tasmania’s East Coast reported “feeling the earth move”, police said.
Tasmania Police received seven early-morning calls related to the quake but nobody reported any damage.
University of Tasmania geophysicist Michael Roach said the quake released several thousand times as much energy as the 5.6 quake in Newcastle in 1989.
The Newcastle quake left 14 dead, 165 injured and more than 10,000 buildings damaged.
“This sort of event occurs once a year worldwide,” Mr Roach said.
“It’s lucky this one was well away from a population centre because it would have been extremely devastating.”
It was comparable to the quake that flattened San Francisco in 1906 and to the 1985 Mexico City quake, which killed about 9500 people.
Geoscience Australia duty seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski said an 8.1 quake would “completely destroy man-made structures”.
“There’s no way a man-made structure could sustain an earthquake of this size,” Dr Sinadinovski said.
“If such a quake occured anywhere under any major human structure, the structure would not survive.”
Mr Roach said an 8.1 quake could be felt by residents as far as 2000km to 3000km from its epicentre. But damage usually occurred only within a 200km to 300km radius of the quake.
This is from ABC

From the USGS Earthquake Hazard Program

Time to say goodbye!

filed under germany living by Jochen

Everything is coming to an end! So I’ve reached the end of my time here in Bremerhaven. When I look back to this 3 months I have the feeling that there must be gap in the space ‘n time continuum. Where has this time gone?

One thing I found out in this period is, that Bremerhaven isn’t as worse as it’s reputation is, and in my humble opinion, everywhere you go is “night and light”.

But the most impressive thing here in northern germany were the people I’ve learned to know. They all where so kindly and so wonderful to me and gave me the feeling like being at home and I’m thankful for every minute I’ve spent with them.
“Hey you, girls and boys from the north. Thanks for everything! I love you and miss you all!
You know how you are!”

statement of the day IV

filed under living fun by Jochen

Jochen: “What the ….. means cacao bean massage?”
Tobias: ”... Immer kräftig auf die Nüsse klopfen!”

Sorry for the german words but statements must be orginal. Translated it means sth like “beat the devil out of the nuts” :)

I also added some Pictures when Tobias went shopping. I think he was a little bit thirsty.

spell winter please...

filed under tasmania living by Florian

...can’t remember the word. Greetings to Germany, did I tell you about the 26 degrees we had today? ;-)

Update: Here you can access the recent weather data from all over Tasmania.

good morning Hobart

filed under tasmania living by Florian

Now, as the spring is coming up slowly it’s even a pleasure to get up early every morning. After the sun fondled my face and I walked on my balkony having that awesome view over Hobart and Stormy Bay I often feel that need to shout: ‘GOOD MORNING HOBART!’
Let the day begin ;-)

And later on, when I arrive from work (totally exhausted) I can relax to the classical sound of one of the webber inhabitants. *g

Earthquake in northern Germany

filed under germany living by Jochen

Yes! It’s the truth! Yesterday at 9 AM it happend. I was sitting in front of my PC. Somehow I recognized little vibrations but I didn’t pay them much attention. But these vibrations got stronger and the lamp on my desk starts to shake. Then I looked over to Ronny who also recogniced it. It was an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 and it’s epicenter was 60km south-east of Bremerhaven. I can tell you, it’s a strange feeling when the ground starts to shake!
If you don’t believe me just read this article ! I’m sorry this article is only in german, but I think an earthquake with magnitude 4.5 in Germany isn’t that impressive for other countrys. But for Germany it is really impressive!

Thanks to Michael who found this english article .

new room claimed

filed under tasmania living by Florian

After my first four weeks in Jane I had to move to a new room – same building, second floor, incredible view over Hobart and the bay. Maybe one of the best or just THE best room in JFH ;-) One of the first events there was a relaxt poker night – I’ll put some more pics from the room online as soon as the upload has finished.

the JFH report I

filed under tasmania living by Florian

Starting with some pictures (waitin’ for the upload…) of the accommodation and the nice menu we have in Jane Franklin Hall (JFH) this week.