Germany, Cham

I keep thinking about this stay. It never was that much fun for me to “have to” go back to Germany. It’s not “home” anymore and I never felt really home in Germany either. This time was different though. I spent a lot of time with my sister Michaela, her husband Gerard and her kids Sara-Mia and Helena. They are amazing. And exhausting. The talking is most exhaustin. For me at least, but it is also looks exhausting to me what they are doing the whole day. They talk the whole day and run around all day and try to move all day. Sara-Mia will be two in June; Elisa will be one a month later. Last time I saw them, Sara-Mia was about 2 months old. Sara-Mia got to know me from pictures as the famous Aunti Marion from Honolulu and she indeed recognized me when I arrived. I thought this is impressive. She is in fact scarily smart. Elisa has an insane deep look. She just looks at you and you can tell that she is thinking something seriously. Her hair is so thin and about 1 inch long and sticks towards the sky like she’d got stroke by lightening. I cracked up because of laughing so many times. I think that is the main reason why I enjoyed my stay so much! My sister and her husband are finishing building her house and they saw me as a welcomed guest for the reason that I would be the baby sitter to give my sister a time out so that she can do more outdoor work on the property. I always liked kids and I seem to be able to easily connect to kids; but I really feel more for Sara-Mia and Elisa. They are mine, kind of. Just looking at them during the day was fun and did not seem wasteful, although really nothing got done (in terms of studying and working). And at the end of the day, I was so out of energy that I had to drag myself to the gym to get on the spinning bike to do my interval workout. Respect to all the mothers out there that have the drive to do triathlons while having kids.

Another thing that I always enjoy while being in Cham is that I am known. People know me on the streets, they know what I do, they know my name. Physiotherapists call me up to ask if they can work on me and if I can leave an autograph. This time some of them even called my mum prior to my arrival. When I go to the local pool, they close up a lane specially for me. If I go to the gym, I can have the entire spinning room for myself and I can train for free on the machines.
Again I was reminded that I am so blessed for what I have. I have an awesome family, including the most goofy cat there is and most snoopy dog there is. Basically one bunch of ‘amusingly genius individuals’. I have a home that will always be home even if I am the exotic one of the family. I am blessed for being able to live out my talents, that my parents pushed me to do sports when I was younger and that they have let me make my own decisions and let me go to Hawaii. Hawaii is the place where I have my home, that’s ‘where I am’. I will go back to Germany in 2010 and look forward to it.

Tripping

The last 3 weeks my body felt mixed around like a 'Zusatzzahl in einer Lottoziehung in dieser durchsichtigen Mixkugel'. (I know most of you don't have a clue what that means, but I don't know an english explaination). I flew to Germany for 10 days, just got acclimatized to the 12 hour time difference, then heading back to Hawaii for 6 days and then flying to New York for 5 days. I already wrote a little bit about my Germany visit, but will write some more about it and about Hawaii and New York.

Today I received an email from my mom. Apparently my neith Sara-Mia, a 2 year old found a picture of me in my mom’s car. It is now her “comfort-item” in the BMW. She holds it in her hands and says, “ Mati – Honolulu”. That would be me then. Sara-Mia calls me “Mati”. My sister tried to teach her ‘Tante Marion aus Honolulu’ (Aunti Marion from Honolulu -in English), but even if she is able to toss in whole sentences in the middle of a conversation, she kind of refuses to pick up ‘Tante Marion’. This is a good thing. Being called “Tante” in Germany has something negative on it. We call fat slow people Tante. We call old fat slow people Tante. Not sure why Germans do that.
Today, I spend time thinking about Sara-Mia on my long Pali-Loop ride. Long rides are always dangerous for getting into some serious thinking. So here is the second good reason, why ‘Mati’ is preferred to ‘Tante Marion’. Obviously “Mati” is shorter than saying “Tante Marion”. About 50% shorter. Lets say we would condense 2 or 3 words into just 1 word. Lets think further: if my professor cut his blablabla-privat-stuff by 50% during a usually 3 hour lasting lecture, I would save 1.5 hours. Figure that out, I could go for a nice run or swim or bike ride or just sleep longer!! It would be of high interest to me which language actually uses the least amount of words. I would love to learn it!! Time for googling it out.

Travel to Germany

I flew to Germany today for a 10 day vacation with my family. It’s a long trip. Honolulu to SanFran was 4.5 hours, I had a 4 hour stop over and the flight from SanFran to Frankfurt is 10:30 hours. During the trip I live on Ginger Oatmeal Cakes from Kokua Market. The fights were ok, except that on the SanFran-Frankfurt flight, my TV did not work. 11 hours without TV is a tough thought to accept. An old Czech man was sitting next to me and although he did neither speak German nor English he understood what dilemma I was in. Half way into James Bond he took back in his teeth braces, poplen out his earplug, turned towards me with a big smile and hold the earplugs into my face. I guess that was the intention to kindly invite me to share his TV experience. I chose to decline. Even if I had my own earplugs.
My dad picked me up at the airport.The drive from the airport to my home is about 4 hours going on Autobahn. Driving on the Autobahn can be frustrating often. If there is truck traffic (TUE - SAT), you go 60 km/h for HOURS because one truck is trying to pass another truck, blocking the flow of traffic. Like this one guy in the picture, trying to get ahead of Dixi Toilletts. Ego Problem, most likely.


We were lucky this time, no traffic jam, except one 10 minute of slower driving. We were at 180 average, hitting the 200 once in a while.


I would have been great to have driven a black Ferrari Spider 360 Convertible (Mike!).


It does not really feel fast driving fast on the autobahn. I get a better rush driving my about-to-die-Ford Escort down Pali Hwy. Anyways, my butt was sore from sitting, so I decided to let my dad drop me off 5 miles to our house and I ran the rest home. That was nice. The sun set and the fresh air was crispy. I like how the air smells back home. I am glad I decided for the family-visit trip and not for Canada on my own.

Manoa Room for rent

I have room for rent:
Bright room with private bath and large (private) balcony available April 1st. The house is vegetarian and girls only. Included in the $790 is internet, cleaning and utilities. It is a very quiet living environment. The picture is taken from the balcony. Friday's Waikiki fireworks included, as well!

Free wireless locations on Oahu

Today has been a day that I'd rather delete from my history. I slept 11 hours waking up tired and covered in cold sweat. Not sure what was going on during the night. I got up, changed into my biking cloths, made coffee and spilled it over my laptop. That is the 2nd time that happens. I could kill myself right now. Being in a little financial crisis, that really sucks. I brought it CyberLife at Liliha and fortunately it still works and don't need to get a new one. Now I am waiting to hear the diagnosis and how much its treatment will cost. That hurts. Whenever things like that happen (when I can't stand myself for being so stupid) I get really negative about all sorts of things. And angry. blaaeh. Cut. It will be good for something. At least that's what they said last Saturday at New Hope Church. I have been there 3 times in my life so far and their way to communicate that everything happens for a reason always sounds so simple. We'll see what happens.
I am at Kahala Mac store writing this and figured it would be good to get to know free wireless locations on Oahu. If you are reading this and know of a free hotspot, please let me know! Locations I have used are:
Morning Brew, Kailua
Muddy Waters, Kailua
Starmarket, Kapahulu
WholeFoods, Kahala
Down To Earth, University Ave
Costco, Hawaii Kai (the parking spots behind the entrance on Mauka side)
Blaisdell Center, Ward

Cheers.

Mokuleia TT

Aerodynamics in Biking

Lets take two athletes. They are doing a 20 km Time Trial. Without being aero, Rider A takes 30 minutes, Rider B takes 40’. With an aerodynamic bike set up including body positioning, aerowheels, aerohelmet and aerodynamic bike set up, Rider A would be 1:26 minutes faster, Rider B would be 1:47 minutes faster. This is interesting: The SLOWER rider gains more than the faster rider!!
Further interesting to see was how body positioning, wheels, helmet and bike set up contribute to time savings during a 40 km TT:
Aerodynamic disc wheels save 40-60 seconds
Aerodynamic helmet saves 1.5 minutes
Aerodynamic body position saves 2.5 minutes

I conclude the following:
1. Slow riders gain more being aerodynamic than fast riders and deserve high-end TT products.
2. Buy an aero-helmet. Rudy Project has a excellent variety at different prices.
3. Get a Bike Positioning. Considering that a bike positioning not only makes you that much faster but also lets you push hard while being comfortable, it is worth getting one.