Sewell Done Gone Global

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Mannheim, Germany
My first view as I leave my apartment building in the morning for a run

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Yep, you read it. Sewell done gone global! Haha...I just had to say it -- it rhymes in a funny way. Well, folks I am out here in Mannheim, Germany. "Mannheim, Germany!" You say, "What's there?!" Me! And Ivan, my colleague from IU. And the University of Mannheim, where I am teaching a graduate-level seminar in quantitative methods to assess the social construction of race, the social causes of racial inequality, and the societal consequences of racial diversity.

So, that's the boring stuff. The interesting stuff is that body is in such haywire that I have taken to napping in the middle of the day, usually early evening but sometimes late afternoon. I am getting up from one of those naps right now, so I will be up for a bit more before I settle into a work rhythm. Now, those who know me are raising an eyebrow here because Abigail never naps in the day. Crap, Abigail rarely sleeps. Well, Mannheim is changing all that. My sleep patterns have been arrested by the traveling gods, and I feel like a 15 year old again. Haha!

Tomorrow, at 8am, will mark my first month in Mannheim, so I wanted to put some words out there in cyberspace that would commemorate this moment. For this first month, I will throw out the words, "make it simple". Yes, a professor-friend of mine is infamous for saying this to me. But Abigail, stuck in her esoteric mind, just never fully got it.

Well, now, my entire life is making it simple. From teaching to an international audience that has a very non-American framework for processing issues of race. To figuring out how to carry 24 Liters of mineral water (without bubbles) and apfelschorle (apple juice with bubbles) home in a bookbag designed to carry a notebook computer and some leaflets. To talking slow, inserting exaggerated pauses in my speech, and refraining from slang, humor, and mumbling (which are all classic Abigail linguistic styles) because the Germans were taught British English, not American English. And lastly, to saying the phrase, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" [Do you speak English?] a lot, so that I do not get a migraine at the end of the day from trying to share my broken German to the world.

So, this month has been a lot about just making my life simple. I now have:

*** a simple way of waking up in the morning (i.e., drawing the curtains from all my windows, so that the bright sun (or gray clouds) greets me cheeringly in the morning; no more alarm clocks);

*** a simple routine in the morning (i.e., eat a banana, exercise, shower, sift through some work, rush to lunch before a hunger headache sets in);

*** a simple way of gauging how many layers to put on (i.e., stick head out the window; no more news, can barely understand it anyways, not because of the language, but because converting Celsius to Fahrenheit doesn't come naturally for me yet)

*** and a simple way to meet new people (i.e., "Hallo, Ich komme aus Bloomington. Wie heiss du?" = Hello, I come from Bloomington. What's your name? = well, this only works with the university folks. for the rest of the Mannheimers, I just tell them I am an American. that tends to get things rolling)

So, basically my life has become a lot more simple and a lot more complicated all at the same moment. So is living!

For those of you who are interested, please follow my blogging about my travels at Sewell Done Gone Global (http:\\sewelldonegoneglobal.blogspot.com). So as not to bombard people, I will not be uploading those automatically to facebook or any other social networking site. You've just got to be there to experience. Bookmark me!

Until next time!

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