Polish Mafia in Dresden

A recipe for a good party: invite a critical mass of Polish people (depending on their characters it can be as little as 2), give them some alcohol (though it is not absolutely necessary) and ask them to sing any song they like.

Ewa, a newly hired Polish-French PI, was convinced by Tomek that it is her moral obligation to host a party for all Polish people working at the MPI. I think that she herself was a bit shocked with a direction that the party took...

On this video Agnieszka tries to "translate" one of the Polish cult songs ("Autobiography" by Perfect) to Jochen (one of very few not-Polish people attending the party):


Another cult song ("To be always where you are" by Lady Pank):

BTW: here is an original video clip of this song from the 80's..., shot in Chicago, I believe

And if this song is not sung then a party was clearly a failure ("Hey, Hawks!"):


As you could hear this song gives an excellent opportunity to join in singing even to non-Polish speakers. It is enough that you will occasionally shout "hey, hey" and you will not feel left out. This song is also a great song to sing on the streets of your city when you walk back home with your friends (or alone) as it is very dynamic and has a good, fast rhythm ideal to accompany your walk, but also because it will surely wake up everybody in the range of 500 meters letting them know how great time you just had.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention. This is Polish patriotic song about love to Ukraine... (We have also another very famous Polish epic poem that starts with words: "Lithuania, my country! You are as good health: how much one should prize you, he only can tell who has lost you". Moreover, action of this poem takes place in Soplicowo, which lies in contemporary Belarus...)
O, Yalta, o, Curzon.

Europe travel plans

Dear Friends in old good Europe! I'm coming soon!
Here is my when and where:

Dresden - arrival on Friday, 16th of November at 13:00
Depending on how many people wish to see me and if somebody will be that kind to provide me with a place to sleep, I was thinking to stay in Dresden till Sunday morning.
Dear ex-lab mates, if my flight is not delayed I shall come to MPI promptly, hope you will be there! And would be great if we could go to Il giardinio or Triangle...

Warsaw - arrival on Sunday (18th) evening

Pila - arrival on Tuesday (20th)
Does anybody still live there? Ela? Emilka will you be there? Please, please!!!

Poznan - arrival on Saturday (24th) afternoon
I am kind of hoping that Anut and Moli will adopt me for few days. On Saturday evening I was thinking to go for drinks somewhere (place to be established) with anybody who wants to see me that I do not have to say the same stories all the time. Individual appointments are possible for Sunday and Monday (please apply via email ;-)).

San Francisco - arrival on Tuesday (27th) evening

Please notice that I am not coming to Europe for Christmas. But I will be back in April 2008 for Ola's wedding:

Poznan - arrival at 17:55 on Thursday, 24th of April 2008

Pila - arrival on Saturday morning

No further plans yet... Open to suggestions. Would anybody feel like going to Moscow/Saint Petersburg for a few days? (There will be long May weekend, so holidays should not be an issue.)

See you all soon. I already can not wait...

mind works in strange ways

Sebastian, Anne, Imke, Thomas and I played taboo tonight after dinner. Sometimes I found it very surprising what kind of connotations people were making.
Few examples that I remember:

S: Nowadays it's everywhere, mass...
I: Destruction!

(proper answer: media)


T: If there is constructions on the road...
We: Traffic jam...
T: then you need it...
We: Detour...
T: You need it more when it is cold...
We: Wheel chains...
T: It's kind of protection...
We: ?
T: You can also eat it...
We: ???

Time is out and Thomas reveals that he tried to explain "ear muffins".


I: I guess we all are it.
We: Scientists!
I: And how others would call us?
We: Nerd! Geek!

(answer: geek)


T: It's something that will grow soon in our garden...
We: Apples, plums, carrots, salad....
T: But it will not grow very well.
We: Pineapple, watermelon, grapes (and 1000 other things)

Time is out and we find out that it was "pepper".

communication issues

Recent discovery that I decided to share:
"maybe" in Italian means "yes".
It's funny to learn that in the country in which when people say: "Yeap, let's do it sometime", they actually mean: "No, we will only do that when I am bored to death".

PS Alessio and Mareike are "maybe" moving to San Francisco!

Brian and Dana

Elena and Fede have two kids: a girl called Dana and a boy called Brian. They are the nicest children in the world (I mean it!). Actually, they are so well raised, that I would consider giving my own children to Elena and Fede for lets say first half a year of their lives hoping that that would be enough to make them as nice as Brian and Dana are.
Here are two movies with Dana and Brian that illustrate how Italian education works:

Here, Fede is teaching Brian and Kitaro how to make a salto:

Casa Calegari, Dana's birthday party 2006

When Dana was younger she never hesitated before jumping, but it seems as she grew older she must have started to feel fear:

MPI-CBG, PhD party 2006

Max Planckers in San Francisco

Visit of Alessio and Mareike provided an excellent excuse to organize yet another reunion of ex-Max Planckers who work and live in SF. There are seven of us living here by now: me, Sebastian, Assen, Martin, Anne, Ganka and Denis, and around summer three more should arrive (Anne, Imke and Thomas). I was impressed that everybody showed up for the meeting, even though I had sent an invitation only a day before. It also made me feel very happy (and proud) that nobody could say anything bad about living in San Francisco, even though Mareike and Alession were asking about it many times. I also realized that we stopped comparing our institute in Dresden to our new institutes in San Francisco. It seems that by now we all got acclimatized well in our new working environments, and we do not miss our "lost paradise" that much anymore...

Here are some photos taken during the meeting in Casanova bar on 13th of March, 2007:

Guest stars:


Group picture:


Not everybody likes to get flash into the eyes...


Ganka and Denis:


Alessio and Sebastian:


Anne and Martin:


Ganka, Mareike and me:


Professor Atassio:


Where are you from?


Classical beauty:


Mareike:


I usually look stupid after two beers...


Sebastian, serious as always:

Alessio and Mareike

One of the greatest things about living in SF is that sooner or later your friends will come here either for holidays, conference or job interview (especially if most of your friends are biologists or computer scientists). Today I picked up from the airport Alessio and Mareike and we had very enjoyable time together. I always find it amazing that even though you do not see your friends for several months, once you meet them again, you can just continue the conversation at exactly the same place where you left it.


3rd of June 2006: Alessio and Mareike at Jochen's leaving party


16th of November 2006: Alessio and I at my Dresden leaving party

Those were the days...

Predocs of 2001


proudly present:

War dance!


Sebastian as Wieland in the emergency plan (notice the shoes!):


The games: PI's


contra predoc candidates


The loosers lie on the floor...


The winners get the chicken:


Mad Max Awards


Francis - the "enlightenment*" Mad Max Award winner!


Marino's Award speech...


Le grand finale: We want it all...


And we will get it!


enlightenment* - I completely forgot why we gave the award to Francis and only last week Sebastian reminded it to me. Apparently during his predoc course lecture Francis had problems adjusting light levels in the auditorium, and after being done with pressing all the buttons and not achieving expected result, he rose his hands to the heaven and said: "Light!" However, that also did not help... heavens must have been busy with the more important issues...

Alti, look what I found!

We want it all by Aga & Monika

We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!
We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!

Life secrets seekers in Petri dish
Just PhD students with open minds
Scientists sreaming, with no time for doubt
With the pain and anger, can't see the results
It ain't much we're asking, you hear us say
We'll find the solution, move troubles away!

We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!
We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!

Listen all you people gathered around
We'll find all the answers
Gotta shake you to the ground
Just give us free hand and some time
People do you hear us?
Just give us the time!
It ain't much we're asking, if you want results
Here's to the future for the dreams of youth!

We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!
We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!

So much answers we have to find
So much to do in one life time
(people do you hear us?)
It's not the time for the compromise
We can get all we had planned!

guitar solo without (I' m giving it all, I'm leaving it all)

It ain't much we're asking, if you want the truth
Here's to the future, hear the voice of youth!
We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!
We want it all! We want it all! We want it all! We want it now!!!

second guitar solo

We will get it all! Yes, we will get it all!
We will get it all! Yes, we will get it all!
(melody like during I'm giving it all, I'm leaving it all )