Last night Tim and I had the opportunity to hang out with Dirk, one of Grenzebach's German interns who has been here in the US for the last 5 months, and Hendrick a friend of his. We met them at the North Bank McMenamin's for dinner, and had a great time talking with them about where we all grew up, what it was like etc. Dirk is 27, and is studying to be a Mechanical Engineer - which is what he has been doing with Grenzebach (the company I work for) for the last few months in Newnan, Georgia.
At one point during dinner I mentioned that for Valentine's Day Tim had gotten me a longboard and skate shoes (see pictures below) so that we can go longboarding together! I know, we kinda jumped the gun, but we got the board and shoes yesterday rather than waiting for Thursday.
I'm pretty excited about being able to go boarding with Tim now that the weather is getting a bit warmer and more sunny. I also love how stylish my board is, and how the shoes go back to my Scottish roots with the red tartan accents that match my board. :)
Anyway, I mentioned the long board and Dirk told us that he does street luge in Germany, which is somewhat similar to longboarding, except you're laying down. This is him doing what he does:
Pretty fun, eh? He invited us to come to Germany and street luge with him. Sounded like fun to me!
After dinner we were walking out of McMenamin's and Tim and I both stopped at the basket of mints to snag a few. We offered them to Dirk and Hendrick, but they declined. Dirk said: "I don't understand why you guys have those all over the place here." I replied: "Well, it's for after dinner - it settles the stomach." He immediately and very mater-of-factly said: "Oh, we have Schnapps for that." Tim and I both laughed so hard we nearly cried!
We decided to take the longboards out for a spin with the boys, so we headed to Autzen Stadium and boarded around for a while. Then ended up in our living room learning all sorts of interesting facts from Dirk and Hendrick.
We learned:
-That in Germany Dirk and Hendrick were required to either go into the Army for 10 months or do a year of civil service. They both chose the Army, but were quick to explain that it was not like our army - their army is like a "fun army". There are a few drills at the beginning, but that's all. Besides, after WWII Germany can only have a defensive army; they cannot attack another country. Dirk found it odd that some US leaders have wanted Germany to help attack Afghanistan, even though we were the ones who helped restrict them to begin with.
- That German news is different from American news. Each German has to pay a fee per TV or radio they own, and that money funds public news channels and stations. One of those TV news stations is Germany's most-watched news because there is no one telling the newscasters what to say or report - the news is not tampered with. Dirk and Hendrick said they felt like the US news is more like a movie, and German news is more like a documentary.
- How glass is made. One part of what Grenzebach does is makes the machinery that makes glass. Dirk told us all about the process - how it is mixed, melted, shaped, scanned for imperfections, cut, stacked etc. It was really quite interesting to learn what that part of the business does.
At the end of the night, Dirk, Hendrick, and I set up our cameras on the bar, set the timers and each took a picture by which to remember the enjoyable evening we had spent together. Dirk hopes to come back to Oregon when he finishes his studies - I certainly hope we will be able to hang out with him again in the future.
Dirk, Hendrick, Me and Tim
A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that more than 40% of Americans are willing to, or have already, switched away from their childhood faith. Furthermore, Americans are showing less and less affiliation with Protestant and Catholic churches altogether. Oregon is being called the "most secular state in the union" because of a significant rise in those "unaffiliated" with a church or religious traditinon altogether. The percentage of Oregonians who are "unaffiliated" is recorded as 27% compared to a national average of 16%.
