Finally, some dates...

I start my new job in Freiburg June 1. The project wasn't supposed to start until 2009, so they had to extend funding back a bit for June to work. So, the defence is scheduled for May 1, and then I have to figure out if I am going to a conference in Toronto from May 2nd to May 9th. The most important pressing thing right now is getting the visas figured out, which can take a while to process. I guess we have a couple more weeks in Canada than we originally thought. Oops. More freeloading...

We also got an apartment lined up for April 1, although we aren't going to be there. It is in a student village complex (1300 students) on the 7th floor of a 1960s building. About 100 m away are two bars, one which gets really busy I guess, so there is lots of traffic on Wednesdays and the weekend. And of course, the usual stuff accompanies the student bar scene: stomach contents in hallways and outside, increased crime/violence, more drug trades, etc. Okay, so it probably isn't that bad considering Freiburg is a pretty safe place to live overall, but get 1300 students together (90% undergraduates), 50 cent shot night and zero responsibility = mess. If it was just me and Jodi, than ok, we wouldn't have that bad of a time with it. But I guess I just didn't picture having to raise kids in a seedy environment. Maybe I am overreacting. At any rate, we have to let the reservation go for April, and reschedule for June, and maybe there won't even be a place available then. German housing ads are still pretty tricky for me to figure out, and we don't know which areas in Freiburg are good or bad either.

We are in Red Deer for the rest of the week, and then on Monday I am back in Edmonton and next week we are going to High Prairie to visit (read: freeload from) Dallas and Kory.

Jeff