Adventures in Eastern Europe Part 2: Krakow

I arrived in Krakow Saturday night. Because my hotel was about a 60 minute walk from the train station, and I was now on the University's dime, I splurged and took a taxi to my hotel. It cost me a whopping $15.

The next day, Sunday, I went to church. I hadn't figured out public transportation yet, and my hotel was located about a 45 minute walk from church. Fortunately, my hotel had a free shuttle that went to old town 3 times a day, and the timing of the first shuttle was perfect. That put me about a 10 minute walk from church. The branch in Krakow was really, really small and met on the third floor of some office building. Only 9 people were there, including the missionaries and me. The branch was an interesting mix of people. It was just....individual people. There were no families, no couples, and no children. (Although I think 2 people behind me were sitting next to each other, maybe they were together?) People were friendly, and one of the elders translated the meetings for me. Because the branch is so small, they only have Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. No Priesthood/Relief Society meetings.

Because church was very close to old town, I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around old town. Unfortunately, the battery in my phone/camera had died (probably because I was using the scriptures on my phone during church?), so I don't have any pictures. It was also raining, though it did let up after an hour or two. Eventually I decided to head back. The hotel's return shuttle wasn't leaving for over an hour, and so I just ended up walking back to my hotel.

The conference started on Monday and went through Friday. It was nice to catch up with friends and colleagues and hear about what people in our research community are working on. I gave a talk Wednesday morning, which I think went pretty well. Especially given how much I was still working on the data processing right up to the last minute! (Yikes!)

One of the excursions that the conference organizers took us on was to the nearby Wieliczka salt mines. These mines were in operation for hundreds of years, but aren't active anymore. It sounds kind of random, but this place was totally cool. The man made tunnel system is deep underground (over 100 m) and very extensive. We went on a tour of some of it, and were able to see many of the salt carvings that have been done.

To descend into the mine, we had to climb down 400 steps. (Don't worry, they let us take the elevator back up.) This is a view looking up the stairway.

Copernicus statue, made of salt:

They call these "cauliflowers," but they are clusters of salt growing on the ceiling.

There are several chapels in the mine. This is the largest one. It was amazing! There are salt carvings all along the wall that depict different scenes in the life of Jesus. They look three dimensional, but the dept is at most a couple inches. And all made of salt! So cool.

In this chapel, this is me in front of a carving of the Last Supper.

At the far end of the chapel, a carving of Pope John Paul II. They love him here in Poland (as you might imagine).

A close up of one of the chandeliers in the mine. The crystals are made from rock salt.

We had our conference dinner in a room in the salt mine, over 100 meters below the ground. Again, the chandeliers have rock salt for crystals.

We had plenty of time to check out the old town. Here's me in the main market square.

A church we passed (there are so many churches here), with statues of the original 12 apostles.

Yet another statue of Copernicus.

That week there was a Pierogi festival happening. (Pierogi = Polish dumpling.) They had all sorts of flavors and varieties to try. Here I am with a few. (Including a chocolate one with a strawberry inside!)

The castle not far from the main square, and so we walked down to see it. First we saw it at night, and then during the day. The coolest part was this fire-breathing dragon statue. Very impressive at night, albeit hard to photograph.

And during the day. (I have a picture of me in front of it, but the look on this kid's face was too great.)

Relaxing in Old Town with friends/colleagues from the conference. I don't know what I'm saying here, but it looks like it must have been really interesting.



On my last day, I had made plans to go to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp from WWII, where approximately 1.1 million people were killed (mostly Jews). While I had originally just planned to go alone, since I didn't know who would still be around and/or interested, there ended up being a group of five of us that went. It was a very, very sobering and powerful experience.

The sign leading into the camp. The sign reads "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" which is German for "Work Makes You Free." (I got chills the first time I read that, just from the sheer evil of it.) The original sign was made by prisoners of the camp and was stolen in late 2009 (how someone stole it is beyond me...it's not small), and found a few days later in northern Poland, broken in pieces. This sign now there is a replica.

Bit closer up.

Pictures from the camp.



The part of the camp that was the most difficult and moving for me was the barrack in which they kept some of the personal belongings that were found after the camp was liberated. There are items that the prisoners had brought with them, but were taken upon arrival (with the lie that they would be returned.) This included suitcases (with names written on them, as they were instructed to do so, in order for them to be "returned"), shoes (including a separate display of children's shoes), eyeglasses, artificial limbs, and personal items such as shaving brushes and combs. The sheer VOLUME of stuff was overwhelming. For the bigger items , the display cases literally took up a whole wall (probably at least 60 feet long), being probably 5-10 feet deep with a mountain of stuff. Also found when the camp was liberated was large amounts of human hair, as the prisoners heads were usually shaved upon arrival and their hair sold. (It was a valuable commodity back then in making various synthetic materials.) Over 2 tons of hair was found, and you can now see it all. It was at this point that the message becomes extremely personal as you reflect on the PEOPLE that lost their lives and you realize that there is no way to possibly understand the scale of the atrocities that happened here.

We were also taken to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which is a nearby extension of the camp. This is where the prisoners would usually arrive. This is the main rail line into the camp.

An original cattle car used while the camp was in operation during WWII.

Site just behind the main crematorium where most prisoners were sent upon arrival. While I was in Israel two years ago, I learned that it is common Jewish practice to leave rocks on graves.

Right before the camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945, the Nazis knew they were coming, and so they used dynamite to destroy many of the buildings in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in an effort to hide their crimes. The remains of some of these demolished buildings are still there.





A memorial at the far end of the camp, that included plaques written in multiple languages.

This is the English version of the plaque.


Visiting Auschwitz was definitely a sobering experience, and not one I'll soon forget. The tour and museum were extremely well done and respectful, telling the story that needs to be told, but not in an in-your-face, overly-graphic, depressing kind of way. It was extremely moving. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go, as I feel like it's something that should be seen. Being so close to it (it's about an hour from Krakow), I felt like it was my human responsibility to go.


Once we returned from Krakow, we spent some more time walking around the old town. Then back to the hotel where I gathered my bags and took a taxi to the train station to begin the next, and last leg of my adventure! Onto Prague via an overnight train!

Lately

I was surprised when I realized I haven't blogged in like a month and a half. I hope I still have readers out there.

There have been lots of things I've thought about blogging about, some I even started, but never got around to it.

But let me catch you up on the last two weeks, as it's been the most eventful. There's just a lot that happened.

First. This summer I've been working on research. My main goal is to finish a project I started working on while I was at STScI. I worked a lot on it back then, but it wasn't publishable yet, as we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting...) for STScI to come out with better calibration files for the relatively new instrument. ("Why would we get decent flats out for WFC3 when it's only been up for 18 months?") They came out with them literally 2 weeks before I moved to Virginia. Then teaching started, and I had no time. But I still worked on this project on all my school breaks, trying to make progress. But in reality, not moving fast enough. During that time, the data went into the public archive. When school ended, I attacked it full time. I'd made some good progress in the last month.

My former supervisor at STScI was at a conference last week. The first day of the conference, he ran into a member of a competing group. This guy informed him that they had a paper coming out very soon with our data. My supervisor sent me an email to that effect. The subject of the email (appropriately so) was: "Scooped!"

My life over the next week was a lot like this:

Only with more crying.

I still haven't seen their paper, so I don't know if anything I've done is still publishable, or if it's all in vain now. We'll see soon, I suppose.

Second. This happened a week later (so this past Monday). Around 9:45am, I got a call from my department chair on my cell phone. (I was still at home.) He told me that, while he didn't have details yet, he had learned that the professor in our department who was teaching the non-calc intro physics class during the second summer term (which started last week), didn't show up for class that morning, and was in the ER. He wanted to know if I would be able to cover the class, starting the next day. (Or, he said, if I needed time to get my wits about me, we could wait until Wednesday.) I agreed. (Hey, I suddenly had a lot more time, right?)

He called me again 30 minutes later with more details. Professor had been in a bad car accident, and was being flown to the hospital at UVa in Charlottesville. It looked like they'd need me to take over the remainder of the class. I agreed. I said I would be ready to start the next day. (Tuesday.)

I was worried about Professor. He occupies the office next to mine, and he and I would talk often. He gave me a lot of help and advice as I attempted to navigate my first experience teaching physics. Sometimes he would just come by to say hi, or tell me a joke. Often when he would leave at the end of the day, and I was still working busily, he'd stop in my doorway and say, "It's time to go home." He was probably the oldest non-emeritus professor in the department, and his health had degraded somewhat in recent years. Any injuries could be serious.

While all this uncertainty was happening, I had to turn on teacher mode. Summer term at JMU is intense. The term is only four weeks long. Class meets for 3 hours everyday. Exams every Friday. One day of class is like a week during the regular semester. Missing Monday was going to be tough to make up. And this class, second semester non-calc physics (E&M, optics, and modern), is a TOUGH one for the students. Fortunately I just taught it last semester, so the material was fresh and I had everything ready to go. However, there were tons of logistical things, like getting me access to blackboard, the online homework system, and re-configuring my powerpoints for 3 hour lectures, rather than hour-long lectures. (Honestly, I think anyone who takes this class during the summer is certifiably insane.) And what about all the work they did last week? Their exam from Friday, and quizzes during the week? (I didn't know where they were.) Lots to sort out and figure out, and not much time. But the good news is, since this is the second summer term, and the second half of the class, the students I have are those that passed the first half. (There are 14...whittled down from the term last month.) So my students are good and know what they're in for. (But let's be honest...no one REALLY knows what they're getting into when they start studying E&M.)

I survived the first week. We got back on schedule. The students are being great about it and helpful. We're going to get through the next few weeks together. Honestly, despite the extra stress, I'm just so glad to be able to help the department in this way. This week it seemed like every time I walked down the hallway, the other faculty would say to me, "Thank you so much for taking this class."(And you know they were also relieved that they didn't have to.)

As I was leaving Tuesday, we got another email from the chair. Professor wasn't going to make it. He never regained consciousness. He passed away on Wednesday.

I don't know what to say. I still don't really. Professor had one of the most brilliant minds in the department. Or maybe of any other department anywhere. He'd taught here for over 30 years. He was an amazing teacher, and had so much knowledge and wisdom that he was willing to share when asked. (I certainly took advantage of being his office neighbor on more than one occasion.) And all of it was gone. Just like that. It didn't seem possible. This is a huge loss for our department.

This is one of the comics he had hanging outside his office door. It was appropriate because this was totally him. Anytime during faculty meetings, whenever I'd look over, he was almost ALWAYS sketching diagrams and writing equations out.

In the meantime, I've got to keep focused on keeping the class running. Just over two weeks left. Still lots of things to figure out. (Like how to incorporate the stuff they did last week -- which I finally got Thursday morning -- with the stuff they'll do here on out, etc.)

The second exam went as scheduled for yesterday morning. (I used and revised one of my own exams; I don't have his exams.) Professor's funeral was scheduled for the same time. I wanted to attend the funeral, and sent an email to the entire department seeing if anyone was not going (or had a trusted student) who could proctor my exam. Seemed like no one was available, most people were going. Then I found out the chair had forwarded my email to the chair of the chemistry department, and one of their profs is covered it for me. I was very grateful. So I was able to attend the funeral yesterday. It was the first time I'd ever attended a Jewish funeral. It was beautiful and moving, and at times heart rending. Just such sad circumstances. My heart really goes out to his family, especially his wife.

While it's been a stressful time, and will continue to be as I work to finish up the term and then get back on track with research. But I'm sure everything will go fine with the class and me. And who knows, my career will probably even survive the setback from being scooped too, and maybe I'll actually figure out some answers in my soul searching. I certainly have some renewed perspective. But I know that the department at JMU will never be the same. We've truly lost a giant, and he will be greatly missed.


Here's a local news story about it, including some comments from other professors in the department. There was supposed to be video with it; I saw the reporter, and asked her if the video would be online. She said it would be, but I can't find it. :( Anyway, it's worth a read:

http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/JMU_Professors_Remember_Don_Chodrow_159967725.html

Knickknack paddy whack

This might be one of the most embarrassing posts I've ever done about myself.

Confession: I'm a packrat. I keep some things that probably don't need to be kept. (I always think, "I don't need this NOW, but I might need/want it someday!") I like knickknacks. I'll admit it. I mean, not when the knickknacks that decorate a house are overwhelming.* Just the kind strategically placed on the edge of a shelf or on a computer monitor. Whenever I think about the knickknacks I have that are useless, I tend to think of this:

Yes, you're seeing this correctly. This is a toy I got in a kids meal, either my first or second year of college. I mean, who doesn't want a miniature Plucky Duck sitting on a giant inner tube? He looks so relaxed, doesn't he? I like being relaxed. Back then I put him on the top of my computer monitor to remind me of being relaxed.

Whenever I think of de-junking my stuff in general, I almost always think of Plucky. For some reason, this symbolizes all my useless stuff to me, even though most of my useless stuff isn't quite as useless and/or silly as this. But I haven't had Plucky out and displayed in years. YEARS! Why am I still carting him around? He's spent years and several moves in some box labeled "SORT." Honestly, I have no idea why, except that I feel a little bit sentimental about him.

As I'm preparing for my 13th move in the past 8 years, I'm trying to get rid of more stuff to make my load lighter. My packrattedness actually gets better every move. (Mostly because I see things and think: "Do I love this enough to carry it up three flights of stairs?") I've actually gotten rid of a lot of stuff over time. I particularly like remembering about this time that my friend/then-roommate Shaleen (who is a master de-junker) helped me. When I brought things to her and explained why I didn't need it, but didn't think I could get rid of it, she'd say, "Here, let me take that." Ha! Anyway, but I still have a bunch of useless stuff.

So this time as I'm preparing to pack (and actually trying to give myself more than a couple days or less), I'm asking myself three questions: (1) Have I used this in the last 2 years? (2) If this is useful, would I remember I have it/be able to find it if I ever needed it? (3) Is there any actual legitimate reason as to why I would keep this? If the answer to all three is no, then I'm thinking long and hard about getting rid of it. (Such non-committedness still gives me final say as I evaluate things on a case-by-case basis.)

Anyway, enough of that. Time to get back to sorting.


* Always reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons where Moe turns his bar into a family restaurant: "If you like good fun, good food, and a whole lot of crazy crap on the wall..."

Cereal for big kids

My favorite cereal is Cocoa Krispies. Although these days I usually at least classify it as what I* like to call dessert cereal.

Tonight I had to pick up a few things at the store, and splurged and bought a box of it. As I was riding the elevator up to my 5th floor apartment, I was looking at the box poking out of the grocery sack, and saw that on the entire back of the box was devoted to the description of a contest to "win a kitchen makeover." Picture:

My first thought was about how lame cereal is compared to when I was a kid. (Seriously. What ever happened to the free toy?!) The progression of the thoughts in my head that followed went like this (I'm being completely serious):

* Why would a kid care about this?
* Maybe it's for the adults....
* Why would an adult would buy this cereal?
* Oh...wait...

I guess I answered my own question.**


* And when I say "I," I actually mean that I stole this phrase from Auburn, one of my college roommates. It's a brilliant description. She explained it on her blog.
** This being despite the fact that I have much improved from my college days of a steady diet of (award-winning Western Family) mac and cheese and Banquet fried chicken dinners. "There's no food in your food!" as my roommates would say. Ah yes, I've much improved.***
*** I can hear those same roommates having the same reaction they did when I came home from the grocery store and told them how the checker had asked me if I was "feeding a lot of kids," based on the food I was buying.

Commentary on Ezekiel 47

I know this post is a little different from the theme of my normal posts, but I couldn't let this go by without jotting down some of my thoughts. And I think some of my readers will enjoy reading this. It was too cool to pass over.

In my church, we don't have a paid clergy, so each member of the ward (local congregation) has a specific job (or more than one job). One of my jobs is to periodically teach the adult Sunday School class. This year we're studying the Old Testament. I taught today's lesson which covered Ezekiel 43-44 and 47. It was an interesting coincidence because as I was celebrating Thanksgiving with one of my good friends and her family up on Long Island, it was discovered that she had taught the same lesson in her ward last Sunday, that her brother was teaching it there that Sunday, and I was also teaching it down in Baltimore.

I'm pretty sure that I've read these passages in Ezekiel before, but I don't remember them. Nor do I remember them being so awesome.

The premise is that Ezekiel, who was a prophet in ancient Israel, had a vision of the temple in Jerusalem. By reading a variety of verses in Chapters 43 and 44, we gain insight into various aspects of the temple. (Including it being the house of the Lord, its holy nature, the very grounds being holy, worthiness requirements to enter, etc.) The really meaty stuff is in Chapter 47. This vision blows my mind.

First though, it's important to understand the geography of the region of this part of the world. Here's a basic map of the area:

The Sea of Galilee (the top, smaller lake) is a fresh water lake. The Jordan River flows out of it, and into the Dead Sea (the bottom, larger lake). The Dead Sea is the lowest point of dry land on the planet earth, about 1300 feet below sea level. Water does not flow out of the Dead Sea, and as water from it evaporates, it leaves the salt and other minerals behind, so it just gets saltier with time. It's a crazy cool place, and geologically very interesting. In fact, due to the high salt content of the water, it is much more dense than fresh water, and so people can actually float in it. I can attest to that! (And it's really, really fun.)

Because the Dead Sea is so salty, it cannot sustain life. There are no fish or bugs anywhere around, not even those brine shrimp that seem so abundant in the Great Salt Lake. There are no macro organisms of any kind. This is why it's called the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is located to the east of Jerusalem. In between the two is an area known as the Judean wilderness. It is among the most barren places in the world. (I took this picture on our drive to the Dead Sea this past summer.)

Ezekiel's vision, as recorded in the first 12 verses of Chapter 47 (specifically 47:1, 6-12) goes something like this: He sees the temple in Jerusalem, with its doors facing toward the east. (This eastward facing is symbolic for other reasons, but note that this also means the doors are facing toward the Judaen wilderness and the Dead Sea.) In verse 1 he sees a river rushing out the eastward-facing door of the temple.

The results of this are astonishing. I love the imagery. Specifically parts of verse 8 (emphasis added):

These waters issue out toward the east country,
and go down into the desert, and go into the sea:
which being brought forth into the sea,
the waters shall be healed.

Amazing! What beautiful symbolism. Because of the water that is flowing from the temple, the waters of this barren sea are healed. What a beautiful choice of words!

The verses continue to talk about the multitudes of life that are brought forth as a result, including trees, and specifically the tree of life. (Although it doesn't call it that here; however, John sees something similar in vision, recorded in Revelation 22:1-3, and does refer to it as the Tree of Life.) We know from other scripture (including from Lehi's vision in the Book of Mormon) that the Tree of Life is representative of the love of God, is most desirable of all things, and will bring joy to our souls.

The symbolism of this vision is so rich. The imagery is so beautiful. Our discussion of it in Sunday School today led to many thoughtful possible interpretations of it. I believe the overarching symbolism is this:

• The water from the temple: Pure doctrine; Christ as the living water; etc.
  
• The Dead Sea/Barren Wilderness: Personal suffering; consequences of sin; etc.

In other words, the doctrines of the Gospel are healing. Specifically, the power and spirit that are available from the temple are healing. We can be healed. Everything that the Savior touches will be healed, whether it's a broken heart, a broken relationship, a broken home, or a broken society. I believe the answer to life's ills lie in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and like the waters from the temple in Ezekiel's vision healed the barren wilderness and the Dead Sea, so can the Gospel (and especially the power available from the temple) heal us and cleanse our hearts and homes if we allow it.

Goodbye Austin.

There are times when we have so much to say about something that any attempt to do so will be inadequate. But you have to say something, else you would do it a disservice. That's how I feel about leaving Austin right now.

My first Sunday in Austin, the bishop of my ward welcomed those of us that were new and told us that Austin did something to people. He said that people moved here for one reason or another and then after awhile they didn't want to leave. I didn't really believe him. Especially because I had just left my family and friends, I missed my life at BYU, and starting over isn't the easiest thing for me to do.

But, he was right. After 5 1/2 years, Austin has done something to me. Austin has changed me in every good way. Austin has made me better. I've met some of the greatest people I've known and have made some amazing and lasting friends. I found an Elizabeth inside me in the process that I didn't even know existed. If it was possible, I would live in Austin forever and I would be happy.

In the time I've been in Austin, I've lived in nine different places, and had twelve roommates. I've traveled. I've learned things. Not just in school, but about life. Particularly that everyone I meet has something to teach me.

Well, I don't want to say much more except that I'll miss you Austin. Thank you for being so good to me. Thank you to all the wonderful people I've met, thank you for being my friends. I'll miss all of you. I won't forget you or my time there.

But seeing as I'm not falling off the face of the earth, I'll try to stop this from sounding any more like a eulogy than it already does. But I will miss you Austin in more ways than I have words to describe.

The last 5 1/2 years have been full of adventures. Here are some pictures of some of them. This list is in no way exhaustive (and in absolutely no particular order). That's just impossible. But some include:

Meeting fellow Heisman winner, Ty Detmer.

Being on the championship bowling team for the interdisciplinary bowling smackdown. Go Team Astro!

Eating a lot of sausage at Wurstfest.

Running a 10K.

Biking around Town Lake.

Going to UT football games!

Playing games like Nertz and Speed Scrabble.


Surviving one particularly big ice storm. (I sent my pictures to KSL news in Utah and they showed them!)

Remembering the Alamo.

Taking some friends to McDonald Observatory.

Lots of late nights observing around the world.

Being on a team to run a marathon relay.

Kami getting married.

Climbing the highest mountain in Texas.

Hiking into and out of the Grand Canyon.

Getting hot chocolate with extra whipped cream at Kerby Lane.

Making a flux cake-pacitor.

Seeing the world.



Using lots of telescopes.



Observing in the Chilean Andes (twice).

Having a random Polish astronomer take this picture of me at Las Campanas.

Going on a cruise, and seeing Tulum.

Rebecca and William getting married.


Seeing the Texas Capitol.

Having awesome birthday parties.

Angela's wedding.

Enjoying blue bonnets (and wild flower season in general).

Hosting a housewarming party and almost burning my arm off.

No one being able to break the pinata at said housewarming party.

The speed limit on I-10 changing to 80 mph. (That was a beautiful day.)

Going to McDonald Observatory...a lot.

Seeing the top of the UT tower.

Running 5Ks.

Julia visiting a couple times; us and the tower.

My first trip to McDonald Observatory....this was December!

Hiking around McDonald.

My roommate Mariah working at Amys and bringing home free ice cream for Sarah and I to enjoy.

Running a triathlon.


And of course....the people are what really made Austin great. I'll miss you all!!
































Thanks again Austin. I'll miss you.