ohhhh markus ….

Had to get up quite early (5:00am) to catch the flight at 7:30am. Otto, the dog was going back to New York, so he had to get up, too. As you can see, he wasn’t THAT happy about this.

At the airport was already a long queue to get off the car, wondering how it was later. BUT we were greeted in a very nicely way; by a small classical orchestra, playing one tune after another.

Later when we landed I got “touristed” at the airport. A guy approached me, saying “do you need a cab?” and I agreed and followed him, but it wasn’t a cab, it was a private car and I asked him about the rate and he said $40 (which is a little bit pricier¬†than a cab). Since I was already standing next to his car I thought what the heck and got into the car. He left to get his parking ticket paid and after 10 minutes, before I was very close to leaving the car he suddenly approached with two more passengers.

WTF? When I am paying more¬†than using a cab, I want at least to be the only passenger,¬†going directly to my destination. So my first reaction was wanting to leave.¬†¬†But he stoped me and¬†said, no problem, we are going to my location first. which, of course, we¬†didn’t, and I was rather pissed. so¬†hint for you, always use official cabs.

most funny thing today: the orchestra.

BIG hello in the morning when the kids gathered their presents. the laughter and joy I heard through the door at 7.15am. all that noise and sensations! and me doing the only thing I could think of right at that moment. turning around and getting some more sleep (this bed was just too cozy).

Later than Heidi brought her dog which stayed at here parents for the last two months to the dogwash (her brother runs a HUGE petrol station with an attached dogwash). Her dog is the black one on the right, the one on the left is his brother (with amazing eyes) and both are half-wolve.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to join “operation dogwash”¬†because I had no disposable¬† clothes with me (to wash dogs CAN be messy, believe me, Heidi got well prepared as you can see on the picture).

To my big surprise we could watch it from home, since the petrol station has many surveillance cams installed, accessible via a very good (restricted) web front end. Quite interesting system, very well done. You can drag&drop cameras, listen to the microphone and see up to 20 cams at once. quite convincing technology.

After the (amusing to watch) dogwash we moved over to her brothers house, to have some lunch there and another get to together (also a very charming house, I guess my future flat (which I am still searching for) will be as big as the closet there ).

A friend of the family showed me the area, quite interesting.¬†She was especially proud of an 150 year old church, which is a big thing in the states, but if you are from Europe, well, what can I say, the church in my hometown is 900 years old and its no big deal at all.¬†But in a “brandnew” country like this (compared to Europe) I can understand her pride and of course¬†didn’t mention my hometown.

Although the state is almost flat they have a tiny ski area with artificial snow but it was too warm to ski so it was closed. Which is a pity, because in winter it gets really cold, perfect for skiing.

(This picture is just a shot of a farm  I took on the way)

On the way back I saw some really unusual warning signs, two of them remembering quite well:

• a bobsled warning sign
• a children teeter-totter warning sign
  (are they supposed to jump on the road suddenly?)

In the evening we played the board game “Life” and although I started as a police officer with a decent salary, I soon got a midlife crisis and my¬†career changed to¬†”Artist” with the lowest salary of all. During the game I got the most children, my house got destroyed by a thunderstorm, I lost all my stock options¬†and I ended up with by far the least money. Quite depressing, I can tell. But luckily its not a fortune telling, its just a game, isn’t it. ISN’T IT?

most funny thing today: getting money when catching other speeding (Police Officer / “Life”)

In the morning there was a nice welcome, and I brought some chocolate bananas with me as a gift. what I didn’t know was that everyone in this family loves bananas, so perfect gift, I guess.

I really loved this xmas statue, one of the most nice and modern I have seen for quite a time.

Later we had a terrific Christmas lunch, and I was totally surprised that the prayer before was a German one (”Komm Herr Jesus sei unser Gast und segne was du uns bescheret hast“).

In the afternoon everyone got a present, to my surprise even myself . Later then we sang some Christmas carols (well, I was just listening ), some of them in German and all sang to my total surprise accent free and I got introduced to the socks (at the chimney) and how this stuff “works” .

I also had my very first Eggnog, a special xmas drink (see left for picture of proof ).

In the night when the kids were asleep the adults were putting the toys together for them. It really looked like the toys are gifts for the parents, not the children .

And I had the chance to be Santa’s little helper, since I had to write the name tags (the little orange signs on each present) because the children knew the handwriting of all adults, except mine.

After everything was finished, Heidi made a very nice sign for the children, reminding them not to show up before 7:15, because she was sleeping next to the presents. (”I’m sleeping. If you come up before 7:15 I will break your face. Love, Tante Heidi.”)

most funny thing today: the children, arguing for every minute to get up earlier (to get to their presents).

Terrific Heidi kindly invited me over to her hometown, to celebrate xmas with her family since I am alone and don’t know anyone.

The trip started quite interesting. I told the guy at the front desk that I need a cab at around 3pm and when I got down there was this huge black limousine, waiting for me to pick up, so I had a quite nice (and expensive) ride to the airport and arrived 2.5 hours before departure. To my big surprise I got through check in and security in less than 30minutes, leaving me 2hours to wait. In the one of the shops, I saw the most hilarious xmas animatronic on LaGuardia and was VERY tempted to buy it (see video below).

In Cincinnati the connecting flight to Milwaukee (in a very tiny plane, almost feeling like a VIP ) was delayed by about 40 minutes and when we were finally allowed to enter the plane, the captain apologized for the delay. “I am sorry for the delay. The lavatory got overserviced.” I have to remember that as an excuse when I am late again, sounds kind reasonable .

The flight itself was really nice, for a couple of reasons.

• - the plane itself was really really small, height of the cabin as high as my shoulders
• - it was very warm inside (sitting there in my t-shirt). I freeze really easily but finally met someone who is even more a wuss than me. the guys next to me were sitting with their sunglasses on and had thick coats with hoods, snuggling on each other.
• - we were flying in the night above very thick clouds with the lights of the cities beneath shining through. when looking outside you had the feeling you are sitting in a submarine and outside are some kind of undersea volcanoes with shimmering and moving magma.
• - and the end of the trip when were descending we were flying through heavy rain which looked like streaks of silver due to the high speed. they formed some kind of pattern which was some kind of really beautiful and relaxing, could have watched this for hours, I guess.

Heidi picked me up and we went to an Irish pub, to just say hello to couple of friends of her but left after about 30 minutes and got to the house of her sister, a really terrific and huge one, on 8 acres of land, see picture I took next day in the morning.

most funny thing today: a sign in the public bathroom on the airport under the automatic faucet: “black clothing does not operate faucet”. bad news for architects, I guess.

New York is wild. each and every block can be a totally different experience. stumbled today through Korean town by accident and of course had to enter a big store due to curiosity. browsed the shelf’s with rather fast techno music playing in the background. after a while I recognized them as Xmas tunes, sang by a German!

guess browsing a Korean store with German dubbed Xmas techno songs can only be happening in New York….

most funny thing today: my face when the singer started

met some people to have a nice chitchat about a craigslist-flat and stumbled over this absolutely marvelous HUGE store in the 7th avenue (Westside Market). Super clean & awesome and broad range of very fresh goods. At 22:30!

That’s just great about Manhattan. Where else can you get this kind of high quality food at that time? (which makes me a little bit sad, too, ’cause they must throw away an incredible amount of food each day.)

Shopped a little bit and discovered a furniture store when leaving Westside market, called Jensen-Lewis, which sells absolutely fabulous furniture (check out the picture of the bar stools). but it was closed (thank god).

most funny thing today: my spellchecker, correcting M?ºsli to Muslim.

Saw something quite interesting on my way to the office today. The huge billboard next to Madison Square Garden was being changed and as you can see on the picture its a rather thin foil and they have some kind of special equipment to change it.

although in my opinion the blank aluminium surface looks much more stylish, maybe there should be some kind of transparent one, just with some letters on it or a (masked) image of a person.

Anyhow, when I arrived at the office, had a package at my desk from the viennese FCBi office where I had been Creative Head before. A special farewell present, a huge Manner-Box with farewell wishes of all my former collegues (and a box of chocolate-bananas, not on the picture). Was really affected, will get a special place at my desk! Thanks guys!

Today I have been assigned my first really official job and it’s a nice one for Motorola (and no, its no banner ), for a new cellphone showed at the CES, you gonna see it in january

Later this day my picture was taken for my ID card to enter the building any time and without front desk fight (as you may remember my “arrival” here. well, I do for sure ).

Had to go down to the lowest floor, where the sun never shines and where its always cold, to take this kind of picture nobody is ever satisfied with. like a dante’s inferno for IDs ;).

but at least I am now an official member of the “family”!

most funny thing today: the word “boink”

forced myself out of bed on Friday to get my social security number since there is a wait time after application of about 2 weeks.

because no social security number, no cell phone, no salary, no nothing.

ok, got there by cab since I was sill feeling rather groggy. on the way there (its near Times Square) was freaked out for a moment by an incredible HUGE billboard showing one of the two m&ms.

after some searching found the office, got a waiting number A37 and a seat. I had been warned in the office that it could take a while, but I thought since I am going there around 2pm the waiting queue is much shorter. and had no book with me.

The first number called was A06. and after 10 minutes A07. and after further 8 minutes B192 (A is for Manhattan, B for Brooklyn) and I thought ooohhh myyy god, this will take ages. 

But about 80 minutes after I draw my number there was some kind of number calling frenzy since A10-A19 and A21-A29 were not present, so I thought, cool, its my turn in the next 10 minutes. BUT after calling A35 there was a loooong period were they were just calling Bs and people arriving much later than me had their turn before me. So about 50 minutes after calling A35 my number was called and I finally had my turn (note: the Asian lady next to me who I had a lovely chat with had number A24 but she missed it when called due to her conversation with me and others and had to get a new one. A52. shit.)

When I approached the counter I saw a notes book on the front desk and it seemed it was laying  there for ages. WTF? Would have been a perfect fit for an office in Austria, maybe Salzburg

After processing my application she printed out a form and asked me if everything is correct. After a quick check I said no, my location of birth is wrong, it is NOT Saught Poelten and corrected it on the printout and wanted a new one, but she resisted and said, no,¬†she couldn’t read my handwriting and she will not¬†change it since its common that handwritings can’t be read and that’s the way it is. WTF? is this woman mad? but I didn’t want to argue after 2.5 hours of waiting I was just glad I could leave and get back to bed.

On my way back I stumbled over famous Times Square. OH MY GOD. Although I have seen it before this place just blows you away, the billboards are just amazing.

 

most funny thing today: that I was born in Sauhgt Poelten

this morning couldn’t barely speak cause my throat hurt that much. decided to seek for a doctor. unfortunately my medicare coverage starts after one month of employment, so I was warned by the office that I have to pay everything myself. which I thought can’t be THAT big deal, hey I just wanted a prescription. so after some running up and down the 34th I finally found the address the office gave me and waited for the doctor after filling out the form. which was rather intrusive.

the most intrusive (beside other ones, 4 pages with multiple choice questions, NOT all medical) was “have you ever been violated in your family physically or mentally?” - hmm, everyone with brothers and sisters HAS to say yes to this, I assume

well, after about 20 minutes of waiting, I was seen by a doctor who was very friendly and told me after a short examination, that my throat is very swollen and angry but luckily my lungs sounds perfect, so it will be perfectly fine with antibiotics. the whole thing took about 10 minutes including getting the prescription.

the bill for it was $225 for examination and $53 for the antibiotics. if something that minor costs THATS much, I can imagine why medical is that big kind of issue in the states.

also very interesting was the fact that the secretary was highly surprised that I wanted to pay the whole amount at once and she asked twice if I want any payment plan instead and after paying said to me that next time “we can work out a payment plan for sure”. mhm, seems like I have maybe looked a little bit fucked up (and tired).

btw, the packaging of the antibiotics is much more foolproof than the ones in Austria, as you can see on the picture, with VERY clear instructions and markers when to take them.

on my way back to my apartment got a couple of supplies and took this short video at whole foods.

I was really fascinated by the highly efficient waiting queue system. there are three waiting queues, with a big screen on top (which can’t be read on the video, but it has 3 differently colored areas with the numbers appearing on them as they are called). every couple of seconds the number of a free cashier is announced (there are 24!) and you can move ahead if its your turn (order is always from left to right, if the person in front of you is called you advance and two calls later its your turn, sounds more complicated than it is).

right now its about 2:00 in the morning, my throat hurts like mad and I can’t sleep. ohhh what a life.

most funny thing today: my face when I saw the bill of the doctor

first of all, yes, I arrived. with 6 suitcases and a trolley and without major problems. minors were there, though. and right now I am sick. not of New York, no, physically. my old nemesis, mr. throat infection, got me again, grounding me somehow.

but lets start right from the beginning …

saturday, high life

ok, you know how it ended, but lets have a quick story about how it started ;). got up, decided “I need another big suitcase” and headed for “Kofferzentrale”, where I have been already known. Funny thing was, when I bought my first one there, I really thought long about it, which color to take, since the really huge ones are available in four colors. could have cut that, because in the end I had all four of them ;).

On the way there, I have been lucky, ‘ cause I just stumbled over Ewa from hotkultur (3 minutes earlier and I would have missed her). we talked a little bit about the coming party and I got party snacks and 12 bottles of welcome sparkling wine. so this issue had been solved. next step, getting catering. since I expected about 40-60 people (40 people said they come for sure, about 10 wanted to try, and some of them bringing friends) I ordered 120 high quality rolls from Tauber, issue solved, too (whats another story is, that just about 20 people showed up, but I guess thats the way it is with parties like that).

anyhow, in the evening I went there with the rolls and when I arrived at 8pm everything was closed. 10 minutes later Ewa arrived with apologies and we could get started. Luckily Sigrid, a friend of mine, arrived way to early, so I had a helping hand decorating the place.

Next step: panic. At around 9pm just 5 people had arrived and I thought I have to die since the invitation said 8.30pm. Now I am laughing about it, but in this particular situation it wasn’t that funny since I really wanted to see everyone and had invested quite some effort in this. but I guess thats the mandatory host stress.

The DJ arrived at about 9pm and he REALLY rocked the house. incredibly well music. totally digged it! funny thing about this is, I never heard from him before, Ewa told me she had booked this DJ by accident, so I can have him for free if I want to. and luckily, I wanted to … The rest of the evening was very very smooth, more people arrived and at midnight I opened my farewell gifts (thanks to everyone!!) and decided I have to go home since I need to have my suitcases ready by 1pm. but this decision was overruled by my friends and the fabulous music, leaving by 3am.

so here are the pictures, if anyone else took some, send them to me!

(oh, and I really have to install some kind of gallery, every pictures deserves a comment! btw, yes, the third and fourth picture are me and my brother)

 

sunday, the packing frenzy

ok, woke up around 10am, had a very short breakfast and started to pack three of the 5 suitcases before my uncle picks me up at 1pm. Background story: I called Austrian Airlines last week how to handle more than 2 suitcases and they told me I can send them ahead with air cargo. so this one solved (I thought) and quite cheap, too (about €400, the moving service I called would have charged €3500 for the same service, they are crazy, no wonder they have offices in 80 countries).

but there are two new issues, first I have to send them ahead and it takes 24hours, second, I have to claim them from the air cargo in NY, there is no delivery. so, if I send them too late, I have to get to the airport again. thats where the 1pm deadline kicks in. my uncle offered me to give me a helping hand and drive me to the airport by 1pm, so I really was in a hurry, deciding what to send ahead and what to take with me in the plane and getting all together. of course I wasn’t ready by 1pm but by 2pm.

I called ahead to make sure someone is there to take it and got someone on the phone, rather unwilling to accept the suitcases, with a dialogue like this: “It isn’t cheap - Thats fine - You need a packing list - I have it ready - It will not be delivered - Thats fine - *sigh* ok, come“.

When we arrived he again was really surprised to see me and that I don’t want to send it as extra weight with my flight instead. Told him the guys from the info line told me, thats not possible. long story short, well, it is possible. which is good. next thing I tried is to check in my luggage at the airport passenger check in since I was already there, but after searching about 30minutes for the supervisor I was told that luggage can’t be checked in one day ahead if its going to the states due to tightened security. so I returned home again with my three huge suitcases *sigh*.

The rest of the day I started to collect and encrypt all my project files to be ready for New York, which I thought will be a rather short one.

big mistake. copying and collecting data took me until next morning at around 8am, my only pause being a short nap of 30 minutes.

 

monday, fighting the staff

at around 8am, David arrived to assist me with my luggage. ohhh David! best friend ever! had some farewell snacks for me but I was just to fucked up and nervous to eat any food.

The taxi arrived at around 8:45, but I was still copying data, and the suitcases hadn’t been locked and checked. so I did everything in a frenzy almost reaching lightspeed, while David was carrying down one suitcase after another. then we jumped into the taxi and here we go!

on the picture you can see 5 suitcases and the trolley. but hey, wait a moment! didn’t I say before I arrived with six?

ok, so here is the legend of the sixth suitcase, featuring a brave young (*cough*) beautiful (*cough* *cough*) man who just wants to go to New York. with his luggage.

- fight 1 -

So we approached the checkin and after some waiting got a checkin with a trainee and supervisor. and now it gets kind of funny.

The sign of the trainee said “Microslave Winkler” - WTF? (note: Winkler is my surname).

When I put my suitcases on the belt I was told that there are too heavy, I am just allowed 23kg/piece. only business class has higher allowance of 32kg/piece. sooo I had to go to the next shop buying a sixth suitcase and repack my stuff.

fine.

when the trainee wanted to label the extra suitcase the supervisor mentioned to her “why do you want to send this suitcase to Munich?” because she had entered the wrong destination, luckily it got discovered. so I was ready to go. I thought.

“May I weigh your cabin luggage?” - “it’s fine” - “no sir, I have to weigh it” - “but there is sensitive electronic equipment in there” - “sir, you can’t take you cabin luggage to the plane without me checking it”. *sigh*. ok, it had 15kg instead of 8kg (and I knew it). so after several repacking cycles to the sixth suitcase (”is it now light enough” - “no” - *repack* - “is it now light enough” - “no” - *repack* - ….) I got it approved.

BUT I made a big mistake during repacking. I was so pissed that I had to repack my trolley I accidentally put my medical bag into the suitcase. with my beloved halcion. what is halcion you ask? well, a really really powerful sleeping pill, you can only get it on prescription, lasting for exactly 6 hours and you wake up extremely refreshed. no lag, no dizziness, no aches and pains, the perfect flight assistant, converting every economy class flight into business class.

you can imagine that I was mhm lets say disappointed to discover that I hadn’t access to it, but luckily (again!) I got three empty seats, so I could lay down on three seats, sleeping more or less comfortable. I was so fucked up, that I fall asleep immediately, missing lunch. later on, I got hungry obviously but the crew was very very kind to me and I got a brand new lunch and didn’t have to starve

btw, a note for you guys going on an international flight: if you are going to the states you CAN take your bottle of water (1 liter) with you despite the new security regulations (100ml max), IF you buy it on the airport and get it sealed by the clerk.

finally the plane landed and I approached the immigration officer, very happily and prepared for everything. the guy at the desk was rather bored, filled out my form, controlled nothing else and I got my stamp. at the luggage belt I asked one of the waiting guys for assistance and he put everything on his trolley, and I got WITHOUT control through customs. I mean, hey, I had six HUGE suitcases with me and filled out nothing to declare. even I would have controlled me. not that there would have been anything to be found, its just, you know, you take so much care to be on the safe side and check everything twice and then it was a complete waste of time. but honestly I am far away from complaining, its much better this way ;).

but lets continue with my story. the luggage assistant got me a limousine because a normal cab couldn’t carry that much luggage and after some traffic jam I finally arrived at my new home.

  note, on this picture you can see the typical American watertower. Just loved the setting and took a picture.

In the following video you can see a small tour through my studio apartment at the Marriott. quite cozy, I say.

And in the middle of it all. just 8 minutes to the agency and everything near.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IqwZBmeD93E

So after unpacking some stuff I decided to go the agency right away and visit some friends and spend maybe the evening with them (although my throat was going to start hurting really badly).

I would have loved to see me on my way there. I was so excited, that I almost flew to the agency, with a really big smile on my face. I had such a good charisma that even the New Yorkers reacted to me, smiling back (and beautiful ones, too ). But when I arrived at the office I had fight No. 2.

- fight 2 -

The agency is on the floor 5-7 and you have to get through the front desk at the lobby with ID check. So I approached the front desk and said I want to see Danna Gleich, he called her, but she wasn’t there (voicebox). - “sorry, can’t let you in” - “ok, I want to see Luke Bailey” - “(dialing) sorry, there is just the voice box” - “ok, I want to see Niland Mortimer” - “(dialing) sorry, there is just the voice box” - ….

After trying about 10 different names (it was just 17:30) I was rather angry and devastated. I mean, come on, I traveled that much and can’t get to guys I know, just because they are in meetings. luckily a guy from FCB passed by and asked what its about, and said, he knows someone from HR who is there for sure. after calling her I finally got the permission to enter the office. *shish*!

when I entered the office I was quite surprised that really none was there, all out for vacation or shopping (if you don’t use your vacation by the end of the year it gets invalid). But I had a lovely chitchat with some guys from the HR department and got back my apartment.

My throat started to hurt really badly so I got some medication which promised to cure everything (”Tylenol”) and got to bed and tried to get some sleep.

 

tuesday, sick in bed and my first supermarket

In the morning I felt so terrible that after long consideration I decided to write Danna an email and tell her that I won’t start today due to throat infection. and stayed in bed the whole day, sleeping all the time and getting (a little bit) better.

in the evening I went to the supermarket across of the apartment and it was absolutely amazing! “Whole Foods”, which can be best described as an highly polished US version of the Viennese Maran (ecological high quality high price food). First thing I noticed, everything is very very beautifully decorated. Second thing was a little bit disturbing. ALL the customers were white guys and ALL clerks Afro-Americans. hello capitalism.

oh and btw, the receipt was really sophisticated, it wasn’t just a linear list but grouped into categories (”Grocery”, “Produce”, “Whole Body”, “Specialty”, “Bakery”, “Prepared Foods”) and with the name of the cashier on it.

wednesday, the big hello

In the morning I started to write on this blog entry, still feeling sick, and got ready for the office. This time the front desk was no problem at all and I finally met Danna Gleich who was my contact at FCB for the whole Visa process.

And then the greeting sessions started. Everyone totally freaked out, when they saw me (”MARKUS! IT’S SOOO GREAT TO HAVE YOUR FINALLY HERE!”) which honestly kind of freaked me out since its not easy to start in a new job when everyone is treating you like you are the best since the invention of sliced bread.

But of course its much better this way than the other way around.

And I was totally glad to see all these people again after that long time. Unfortunately some guys weren’t there anymore (PELE! I miss you so much! and Mat is also gone. And Daniela will go in three weeks. :( ).

Here you can see my new work place.

 

spent almost the whole afternoon to get my email working and got my first job assignment by accident. before I transfered over here, I swore to myself, if I am just doing banners here, I will get into the next plane right back home. and now my first job is …. a banner. but I am just helping out, the real work starts next week so its fine, I guess ;).

after work went over to a nice dinner with daniela, terrific heidi and friends and had a truly splendid time, although my throat is killing me. shit.