Germany Week 2

Well, hello everyone. Week 2 is complete and all is well. My sleep patterns are back to normal and I feel more rested. Our work at the plant is a little different from last time. Some of us are working in building 16 while others are in building 7. Last time we were all in building 7. I am assigned to building 16 which is about a 20 minute walk from where we have our morning startup meeting. It has been cold each morning and we are wide awake by the time we make the walk. About 5 or 6 of our group have been sick with colds, etc. so far I have been feeling good. I am building the heckwagon or rear floor in Z1 which has about 1200 welds. We finished our second floor on Friday. The weather has been cloudy and rainy and snowy this week. We had about 2 hours of sunshine all week. We had about 1 more inch of snow last night. Saturday we went to Hohenzollern Castle which was about a 1 hour drive from the hotel. When we arrived at the castle there was about 8 inches of snow on the ground. It was very cloudy so the view from the castle grounds was limited. From the parking lot to the castle it was about a 1 mile walk up the hill on a walking trail. It was very cold outside and inside the castle as well. My feet felt like a block of ice before we got back to the car. Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Prussian Kings and German Emperors. It ranks among Europes most famous and popular castles. It was built during the 15th century and the present owner is a direct descendant of the royal family 32 years of age. One of the activities that is very popular here is faushing. Faushing parades and parties are held in most of the small towns around here. This is the same as mardi gra back home. Even the children dress up in faushing costumes simular to halloween costumes. I hope everyone is doing ok. Tell all the grands I love them and will see them soon.

1st Week in Germany

I Rodney having been proded by my daughter Caroline do hereby record my comings and goings here in Dueschland. We arrived on Tuesday morning @ 8:50 a.m. The plane had some turbulance during the descent into Stuttgart. But all is well. Wednesday and Thursday we had a plant tour and training and orientation meetings. Friday we met our German collegues that we will be working with. I will be working in building 16 with Bojrn. A young fellow about 28 years old. He has lots of energy and his English is getting better. He said I could teach him some English and he could teach me some German. Should be very interesting. The plant tour was very interesting. The plant is huge and employs about 36,000 people. We got 3 inches of snow on Wednesday night and it snowed off and on Thursday - Saturday. Today the sun is shining brightly. Yesterday we went to Stuttgart by train and had a bus and foot tour of the city. 95% of Stuttgart was destroyed in WWII a few of the castles and churchs survived the attacks but most of the city had to be rebuilt. The first concrete TV tower in the world was built there in 1956. It has a high speed elevator taking you to the top of the tower in just a few seconds. It was cold and snowy and we were glad to get back to the warmth of the Marriott. I called Martin and Betina on Saturday and he gave me some phone numbers for Thomas and Jenzs who were also trainers in Tuscaloosa. I called Thomas and we plan to get together soon for a meal and maybe go to a soccer game in Stuttgart. Jenzs and I plan to go to see Martin at the end of March in Bremin. It is a 7 hour drive to the north. Our first week here has been very good and the German people have gone out of their way to make us feel at home.