The little green man/woman that leads your way

In any city around the world with streets and roads, they will be there. They work non-stop day and night telling pedestrians when to walk and when to stop. I'm talking about the little persons that appears on the traffic lights for pedestrians.

For cars the traffic lights are just plain circles filled with red, yellow or green. But for pedestrians they are often little silhouettes of actual human beings. This by itself is pretty interesting. But more interestingly, this iconic shaping of a red person standing straight for stop and a green person in a walking pose for walk has been universal. No one really notices or asks why they are illustrated that way.

However, apart from those "generic" icons, here in Germany there is an entirely different set of pedestrian lights:

These little fellows are called Ampelmann (English: traffic light man) and are commonly found in east Germany. They are designed in Berlin and were quite sensational when they were first introduced. People treated it as a mascot and merchandises were made. Recently they even have a souvenir shop in Berlin dedicated to it.

But the most interesting this, at a certain point of time, someone designed a set of pedestrian lights which uses little girls as the icons, and called them, naturally, Ampelfrau (English: traffic light woman). Only a few of them are being used in Dresden, and one being used in Magdeburg (according to Wikipedia). So today I set off to locate this unique traffic light and I found it at the junction of Ernst-Reuter-Allee and Breiter Weg, and they look like this:

Essentially they are Ameplmann with dress and pony tails. I think they are pretty cute.

I don't know why no one has mentioned that but I think it's a very interesting point of interest for anyone who visits Germany, and in particular Magdeburg. A little gem I'd say.

Epic one day trip in Berlin

It was only a few weeks left of my research internship in Germany, and I wanted to do something cool before I returned to Canada. Over the years I've come across with the design term "Bauhaus" and have always wanted to know more about it. Turned out there was a Bauhaus museum in Berlin so I decided to go there and learn something about the exhibitions.

A few spots I stopped by in Berlin: Bauhaus-Archive Museum, and Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

During my stay I realized that taking a train is pretty fun and lay-back, as long as it doesn't get delayed. With a regular ticket you can get on any train of the same route and type throughout the day, and can drop off at any station the train stops at. This is what happened on my way to the Bauhaus museum.

Originally I planned to get off at the famous Berlin Hauptbahnhof. But it's not that close to the museum, and I had to take 2 subways to get there. Turned out that the train was going to stop at a zoo before it gets to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, which was much closer to the museum. And I decided to get off there instead. It was a good decision except that I almost got lost while trying to walk to the museum. Fortunately my Nokia Drive app saved me again.

The Bauhaus museum was actually a pretty small exhibition of various things designed with the Bauhaus concept, which focused on the nature of the object and used simple geometric shapes to create practical and economical things. The size of the showroom was no bigger than a football field. Even after listening to almost all the audio guide it took me only 2 hours to finish with all the exhibits.

After that I took the subway and headed towards the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. My friend Melissa and her family was there not so long ago and told me that it was great -- and they were absolutely correct. It's a complex infrastructure made of concrete, steel and lots of glasses. It also had a lower ground inside. It didn't seem to be the biggest main station I've seen in Germany but was the most modern one. I spent about 40mins just walking inside and marveled at the architectural design of it.

Just like any other main stations there was a souvenir shop. I was hoping to look for something very German but small so it won't occupy much space. I ended up buying myself a "Ampelmann" keychain. It's pretty nice except for the price: 4.95euro for a plastic keychain. I'm pretty sure the cost of making one of these might be less than 5cents, such a rip off. Nevertheless, it's a nice token of my Berlin trip (and Germany as well), so I'm happy with what I have.

If I am asked to use one word to describe Berlin, I'd say it's chaotic. The buildings felt like they were randomly placed, and some looked really under-maintained. Having old and new buildings side by side is not uncommon in Germany, and they usually are equally treated. But in Berlin, the old stuff is filled with an old and decaying vibe, which nobody cares.

And this concludes my awesome trips within Germany. It was fun and I enjoyed all of them, except perhaps the long train rides. 

Discovering Magdeburg

Some people like to hop from place to place to see as many places as possible. I on the other hand prefer staying in one place and explore within.

Having been staying in Magdeburg for a bit over 4 months, I'm getting used to the city. But apart from the last time Jens showing me along the River Elbe, I haven't done much exploration. Knowing that my friends are coming to visit me I decided to explore the city a bit and scout the place around.

It was a Sunday and the weather was gorgeous. My first stop was the town hall (Rathaus). It's at a plaza and was basically empty. Because of that I got a chance to take a really awesome panorama with my phone app: Photosynth.

Panorama taken in the plaza in front of the Rathaus (the building with statue in its front).

After that I walked towards the river and checked out a number of churches. It's amazing that there were quite a few churches just within a 500m radius.

St. John's Church, the oldest parish church in Magdeburg (first mentioned in 941).
Typical twin tower design with one used as a clock.

St. Petri Parish Church, built in around 1150, need to go north a bit and towards the river to find it.

The famous Magdeburg Cathedral, locals call it "the Dom".  Destroyed in a city fire in 1207,  reconstructed in 1209. Used to be a palatine and residence of the governor as well.

To conclude this wonderful little exploration, I went back to the plaza and ordered a coffee at a coffee house right next to it. It's a place I was planning to go for a long time. The coffee was great and relatively cheap for a place at the city centre (1.5 euro).

Not complete without a good cup of coffee at the cafe named after the town hall.

 I was very glad that I had this chance to discover the city a bit more. It's peaceful and enjoyable.

Epic one day trip in Dresden

Before I went for Germany, the owner of my favorite coffee place in Waterloo told me I should have a look at the city Dresden, where her mother was from. She also told me about a building called "Frauenkirche", which means "Church of Our Lady".

Incidentally, the professor I'm working with has just got a professorship in Dresden, and has part of his lab moved there.

So I knew I was going to Dresden sometime during my stay in Germany, and yesterday was the time.

It was kind of a last minute decision and I was planning to just get a train ticket at the station. Interestingly the ticketing machine refused to take my cash, and I had to use another machine. This delay almost costed me missing the train...

But once I was on the train things were pretty smooth, and I got to Dresden in 2hr33min. Before that I had no idea how far Dresden was from Magdeburg. My colleagues here commute there from time to time so I assumed it was like an hour of train... and I was wrong.

The Dresden city. Top left is the central station, lower right is the Frauenkirche.

The city was quite nice. And as a capital city it had the vibe of modernism and well-planning. Right outside the central station was a long street (Prager Strasse) of shops, and a tram station. I could have taken the tram but 1)it charges 2euro for each ride, and 2)I preferred walking around the city on foot. It was quite a joyful walk.

It took me 20mins to get to the Frauenkirche, which is north of the central station. It was pretty easy to find, and along my way there were a few nice historical buildings (and a lot of tourists). I like the fact that there was a wide main street and a mixture of old (very old) and modern buildings, and all were only 4-5 stories high so I could see the sky.

The Frauenkirche was a landmark of the city. It was almost destroyed during a bomb attack during WW2, and was rebuilt around 10 years ago. It was a standalone building with 7 exits on the sides. From what I heard people tried really hard to rebuild this church as there was quite a sentimental value to it. They even catalogued the pieces of the original church and tried to use them back for the rebuild.

If you like having souvenirs, you should stop by the Frauenkirche-shop which is one block away from the exit G of the church. They have some really cool stuff and take full advantage of the rich history of the church, including selling stones that they claim to be the actual pieces from the original.

My next stop was the new academic building of my colleagues. This time I took the tram because it was 20mins of walk south of the central station.

It seems that buildings nowadays are following a similar pattern in having an open space all the way to the roof at the foyer, using a lot of glasses in the exterior, and not painting most part of the interior and instead exposing the concrete blocks. I quite like this design except the exposure of concrete blocks, giving out an unfinished feeling to the building.

The new academic building some of my colleagues are in.

Another reason of picking this day was there was a demo session of the faculty in the building. So I had a chance to see what the students were doing. It wasn't impressive but it's fun to see how many students are using Kinect as the main component of their projects.

The campus itself was really big, and the interesting thing was, like the city, it was itself a good mixture of old and new buildings. On my way I saw one that looked like it was built at least 50 years ago, and right around the corner one that was just built 5 years ago.

Overall I quite like Dresden, more than Munich I'd say. 

Haarschnitt

When you are in a place for sometime, sooner or later you'll have to deal with the haircut (Haarschnitt) problem.

I have mine cut really short before I left for Germany, but after about 3 months it had grown to a point that I couldn't stand it anymore. My hair was poking my eyes and ears, and it was especially uncomfortable during summer time. But the problem was it's very hard to find a hairdresser who are willing to speak English.

For guys like me I didn't have to describe a lot on what I want, but I certainly didn't want to have it shaved or dyed. So Martin kindly agreed to take me to his usual spot and help me describing what I want. To our surprise, however, the place was full, and even we tried another 4 places nearby they were all full.

On the next day, I decided to go on an adventure without Martin. With some help from Ricardo I got this piece of paper:

Cheat sheet for "Short haircut", with illustrative figure.

I went to the place Martin took me to, and waited in line. When my turn came, I thought I'd simply walk up and show the lady the cheat sheet. But she told me something that I'm pretty sure wasn't "please go over there" in German. The only word I understood was "moment", which means "wait".

So I waited for something I didn't really know for another 10 minutes. Turns out it was for an available spot so my hair can be washed. 

Then the rest was pretty easy, I just showed her the cheat sheet, she looked at it and grinned.

Eventually, only two words were used for the whole cutting process:

Hairdresser: OK?

Me: Perfect.

And this is how I look:

Me after haircut, with Photo Booth's effect.

It's really not bad, and with 11euro you get a hair wash and cut. So I'm happy.

O, in case you want to know, the place is called "Cutman".

Awesome PhD defense in U of Magdeburg

26 June was Mathias' PhD defense. And I can tell you this was the most awesome defense I've ever attended.

The first round was just like any other defense would look like: candidate gave a presentation, followed by comments from the defense committee. Then the Q&A and closed door discussion.

But the best part, which my colleagues told me as the unique tradition here in U of Magdeburg, began shortly after that.

To begin with, the now PhD was presented with a number of items symbolizing his responsibility. This included a gown, a heavy medal on a necklace made of heavy chains, and a custom-made hat related to his thesis topic.

Then he was put onto a barrel, which was dragged backwards all the way to the city centre. During this 20min trip, he was accompanied by the guests of his defense, his thesis committee (who were crazy enough to follow), and a few of us dressed in medieval costumes. To ensure a "smooth ride", we actually blocked the traffic for the barrel to be dragged non-stop.

Another announcement was made in the city centre in front of the Otto-von-Guerick statue, in public.

Then the PhD had to drink a special drink made by us.

And we all drank beer and champagne to congratulate him.

The new PhD, his custom-made hat had a pen and a pen on it, as he was doing pen and touch interaction research.

But that wasn't it.

In the evening Mathias invited us to a restaurant to celebrate, and we had games staring him and his supervisor. We called this "the real PhD defense".

Overall a very great experience, and thanks Mathais for graduating this time so I could get a taste of the tradition (right after a paper deadline).

From what I heard, the custom-made hat tradition has been adopted by the U of Calgary guys. We'll see what we U of Waterloo people can do.  

Your best camera is the camera you can use when you need one

I like taking photos and I have spent quite some money on equipment. To me taking photos is capturing the moment and share that with others, or some other times you see something/someone that you really want to retain on a canvas.

I was having a hard time packing for my Munich trip even though it was a rather short one. Mainly because I wanted to squeeze in all my photo-taking gears so I wouldn't miss the chance of taking that snapshot. Here is what I eventually brought:

Left: awesome DSLR - Middle: Smartphone - Right: compact DC 

Here is a little statistics:

Awesome DSLR: 8M pixels, 2 photos taken

Smartphone: 5M pixels, 67 photos taken

Compact DC: 5M pixels, 14 photos taken

The DSLR takes the highest quality of photos, supports RAW format (so I can do more post-processing without losing too much image quality), and switches on instantly. But turns out I only used it twice. Why? Simply because it's too troublesome to take it out and put it back into my bag.

In comparison, my smartphone has very few settings and has the lowest quality. But it's in arm's distance.

I did look pretty stupid and amateurish when I used my smartphone to take photos of art pieces and even food. Some people even gave me that look that I'm one of those crazy tourists that takes snapshots of everything (which I didn't). But it's "stealthy" and I can easily show my friends what I took by putting it on the table or handing it out. I can even transfer some of the photos without a single cable or card reader.

I will still take photos using my DSLR and sometimes my compact DC. But I realized most of the time a smartphone is more than enough. Who takes a DSLR when one just hangs out with some friends or does routine work? Plus the quality of the photos taken by smartphones are reasonably good if depth-of-view and amazing saturation are not required (most of the photos in this blog are from my smartphone!).

I believe my next camera will be a smartphone, really.