Where Has GrrlScientist Been Recently?

I heard that the Wank cable car is so popular that everybody has to stand upright the whole way, before they all flop out at the top.

Will you change your handle to FrrauleinWissenschaftlerin?

(Or, if the present trend continues, to FrrauleinWissenschaftlerinnuendo?)

no impending name change (my german is nonexistent outside of the words you see above, afterall, and this situation is not easily remedied in a short period of time). however, other changes are coming. :)

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

So when do your birds fly out to join you? They'll be missing you.

Have a nice time in Germany.

my german is nonexistent outside of the words you see above, afterall, and this situation is not easily remedied in a short period of time

Your biggest obstacle will be that everyone speaks better English than you do and are all more than happy to "help."

What worked for me was making a deal with my co-workers: they spoke nothing but Deutsch to me unless I specifically asked for clarification. Taking away the crutches is a great accelerator.

Enjoy! It's a lovely country.

Enjoy your Wanking and Fucking expeditions! So how soon will you be leaving?

Why are you relocating to Germany? Or is that something you are not at liberty to discuss yet?

Very, very cool Grrl! New York, from all that you have told us over the years, was clearly a poisonous place for you. Let's hope this new turn in your live proves healthy, fruitful and rewarding! You certainly deserve it.

Best wishes!

I wish you success on this latest adventure in your interesting life!!

So do you have a job? A post-doc? A sugar-daddy? Are you going into the Witness Protection Program?

Inquiring minds want to know!

She's been a CIA agent for years, and they've finally caught up with her. The spy trips to Europe were the mistake.

i probably should just write a blog entry instead of a comment, but here goes: my birds are the bottleneck. i need to obtain the proper permits to (1) export them from the USA and to (2) import them into Germany. exporting legally from the USA looks to be an arduous, expensive and time-consuming process, which makes me wonder if i can accomplish this at all. sigh.

anyway, that said, if i didn't have birds to think about, i would leave the country ten days from now, but since i have birds, i guess i might as well stick around and figure out how to move my (rather large) ornithology library, too. so between the birds and the books, i think i am going to lose my mind.

which brings me to the other point. relocating to the EU to live as a foreign national (or whatever we are formally called) involves a LOT of challenges, even when i am moving in with someone who has a job there. after meeting with the german consulate last week, it became obvious that one solution made life immeasurably easier for me at least: tying the knot.

i know, i know, i have serious philosophical reservations about marriage and have been quite vocal about them at times on my blog, but i do think marriage is essential when kids are involved (someone has to protect the kids from their parents when domestic war sets in). and now, i realize that marriage is important when two people relocate overseas, especially when these two people are of different nationalities.

so my guy and i are going to be at city hall on tuesday morning, on what promises to be a horrifically humid, hot and disgusting NYC day, signing a piece of paper that makes us legal, and then we will start the process necessary to get an apostelle. and i am starting the process necessary to get the CITES (and other) permits necessary to bring all my birdums with me.

Oh My Dog!!! Wow Grrl! Fan-bloody-tastic! Wow, life sure does seem to have made a change for the better. I am truly, delightedly happy for you. After seeing you go through the nightmare you have had to deal with over the past few years, it sure is wonderful to see you actually seeing some happiness. However your guy is, he is a very, very lucky guy indeed.

Cheers!!!!

However your guy is, he is a very, very lucky guy indeed.

Not really. She's just threatened me with a fitness programme.

Congratulations, GrrlScientist!!!!! I'm so very happy for you.

I agree with Jeff. Your guy is very, very lucky - even with the threat of a fitness program. :)

Uh-oh. The fitness program threat. Run! Run for the hills as fast as you can!!! For the record, my fitness program consists of fork-lifting and power mouse-pushing (all those pixels I push around all day carry a lot of mass you know).

Mr. (to be) GrrlScientist - in all seriousness - take good care of her. She's been through lot. She needs someone to be kind, supportive and loving to her. All of us out here in the blogosphere have seen here through much of it and it made hour hearts ache. She needs happiness. Give her some, she deserves it.

And, a great big congrats to both of you!

Given how much you have liked Old Tallinn, the amount of history and architecture available in Germany should keep you ecstatic (ex-static) for a considerable time.
One feature of Germany that I found striking was how differentiated the regions still are. Not sure if this is readily apparent for someone with a larger culture gap, but to this Finn it was delectable.

This evening, I'll raise a glass in congratulations to you both. Have a fantastic future.

Is that anywhere near the town of F...ng in Germany?

One of the US military bases in Asia was near a town called "Sexmoan"; the locals complained that the spelling wasn't right, but none could give me a reasonable story of what the original name was and what it meant (if anything), although they did change the name to "Sasmoan".

Congratulations. :) And be careful with the birdies; make sure the people looking after them in transport know what they're doing. Pet mortality rate on planes is very high; too many incompetent people handling animals but claiming they know what they're doing.

AWESOME!!!

Congratulations! And, were you listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me this week too? ;)

Oh, *wow*! Congratulations! And best of luck in relocating both birds and books!

PS: I'd tend to suggest bulk shipping for the books, but I've never tried that internationally.

Congratulations every whichaway! Smooth sailing. rb

HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!! I love pretty much every part of this post. Congrats on probably not dying alone. :)

Welcome to the family.

Congratulations! And good luck moving your library.

Congratulations to you both, and best wishes for many, many happy years together!

Hope the move goes smoothly too.

cath - Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is one of my primary news sources. i have no idea what i'll do in germany for news. probably stream the beebs and WNYC (NPR) since my german skills are going to be at the same level as someone wearing diapers for quite some time.

juuro - thanks for telling me a little about frankfurt. i am excited (and i have a beautiful new nikon camera to help me share this with all of you!). i do wish i was joining all my fellow finns in finlandia (i was even learning finnish) but alas, things didn't work out that way. but i promise to visit and make you tell me stories of finnish culture and legend while i snap pictures and make mp3 files of your narratives so i can share those with all my readers.

gini - oh, so you've read some of the stories i've told about NYCers dying alone and their bodies rotting for months or years in their apartments?

bob's big brother - many thanks! i'll try not to tell too many stories about rotting corpses when we finally meet.

thanks everyone for your good wishes. i have not and will not forget who my friends are.

WOW.

Congratulations, and good luck. And the only useful thing I can think of to add is that for transportation of your birds, try http://www.airanimal.com/contact.html. I know they handle parrots on international trips, they will help with paperwork, and they have a decent reputation.

Podcasts are your friend - that's how I listen to all the NPR shows, plus BBC and CBC new music shows and various others!

This is fantastic news Grrl. So so happy for you. Wish you all the happiness in the world (that has been evading you in spite of your deserving it so richly) and then some.

Don't worry about the stories. If I can survive him learning the viola, I can survive anything

I've voted for you.
I've also asked my friends on Facebook and on a message board to vote for you.

Fingers are crossed!!

Hugs

If I can survive him learning the viola, I can survive anything

Oh thanks. Reveal all my secrets then.

Is that a challenge?

VIOLA??? he told me he plays saxophone! i want a refund!

I mis-spoke. It was meant to be a sousaphone (well, actually a tuba, but I had to allow for cultural differences).

It was definitely a viola - a saxophone would have been better as you can stick socks in those. Or possibly it was all a cover for torturing cats.

PS Got the photos. You both look great. However you still have to do something where you wear a mrning suit. I had too.

Oh GrrlScientist!!! That is awesome news! Congratulations to you and your sweetie--you richly deserve happiness and new adventures. Yay!

Yeah, like the photos.
And as you've shown us yours, once the scanner is up then I'll show you ours (which will include pictures of a *young* Mr. GrrlScientist!!!

young? does this mean that he once had hair on his head instead of his back?

I know, scary isn't it!!!

Of course, you might not recognise him as they were taken nearly 20 years ago!!

Will try to get the photos scanned, if not, can always show you the photo album when we meet.

Check your emails as I sent one about Facebook last week (am using my real name, which might have thrown you.)