Germany with Analeise (click here for more...)

I went to Germany with Analeise in early Deceber 2010.  We visited my old host brother from Belgrade and his family in Leipzig, and the University of Applied Sciences in Giessen.

Analeise in the Frankfurt train staton.

Ivan my old host brother from Belgrade, Serbia (in 1987, Yugoslavia).  Here he is making us an all-American breakfast of bacon and pancakes.

 

Ivan has a beautiful daughter, Anna.  about 8 months old in the picture.

Ivan is a teacher and researcher for some sort of microbiology or someting at the Universit of Leipzig.

Ivan and Analeise at the Leipzig Christmas Market (Weinachtsmarkt)

Ivan's beautiful wife Dana.  She grew up in East Germany until the wall fell and told stories about waiting in line at Christmas for the family's yearly 1 kg allotment of oranges. 
Ivan and I also took Analeise to the DDR museum.  I think it was fascinating and I hope it really opened up Analeise's eyes about what life was like in Europe after WW II between the east and west.

As you can see in the photos, Dana had decked out the house for Christmas.



Ivan and Dana's living room.  THey also have a son, Kiki (AKA Alexander) who is seven.  He was too busy skiing and being fast to take a picture of.



Ivan took us to the tallest building in Leipzig for a view of the city.  It was grand, but flippin cold!  They sold hot chocolate and gluhwien at a stand there.






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We took a break from the Leipzig Weinachtsmarkt to have some coffee and hot chocolate.

They are a super-cute couple.  Dana is really nice.  Their family may also be able to visit us in Finland this spring!

Later on, I visited the Giessen University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule).  They have a BS and MS program for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health.  Here is the director of International Education, Silke Wehmer and Professor Steffens.

The initial meeting, here is also Professor Platten in the red shirt.

Here we are joined by Professor Weigand on the left.  Analeise was busy during this time taking pictures and reading a book I bought her in Frankfurt - 'Shades of Grey'

Giessen Weinachtsmarkt.

Before dinner with the OEHS faculty.  Dr. Platten's arms are angelic.

Analeise's hear is angelic.  Damned retroreflective stickers!

Getting ready for my talk to the Civil Engineering and Architecture students about Risk Control.  I showed them, among other things, some of my pictures of Venezuelan Construction sites.

The student I asked to take pictures of me lecturing got one of me looking at him.

I had a most excellent conversation with the dean of the Construction program (might have been civil engineering?), Professor Diaz.  We had an excellent conversation and I learned a lot about health and safety in construction in Germany and about their school system.

This is a building exclusively for the Construction students.  They can do whatever they want to it and can use it for what ever purposes they want.  Here, the students are just hanging out before class.