Plants, lab and Deutsch

In lieu of becoming a crazy lady with lots of cats, I have recently purchased a bunch of herbs to keep me company. You can see my new friends below: Thyme #1, Lemon Thingy, Chives, Furry Oregano, Thyme #2, and all on his own is Slightly-Dead Parsley.





I mentioned to Manuela that I was thinking of getting some herbs, because I kept seeing really cheap little pots at the supermarket, and it turned out that she's a keen gardener. So we went to a nursery to get some plants and a long pot with a pro water-drainage system to put them in, then we planted them at her place because she had special herb dirt (it's technical, I know), and voila! Thyme #2 is from her garden, as is Slightly-Dead Parsley. I'm going to revive him for her, because she will be inheriting my plants when I leave. It ended up not being at all cheaper than buying packets, but still, it's surely healthier and it gives me something to do (for five minutes a day).

In other news, both Katherine and Michael have asked me about the lab in the last couple of days so I will now tell you about it. So you know, Michael interpreted from its lack of mention that things must be going well in the lab, whilst Kath decided I mustn't have entered the lab at all since I arrived! Rude ;) For those in the know, the lab here is more Bancroft than CBCRC, and unfortunately, the Germans do not seem to be overflowing with funding like I had hoped. BUT they do freeze cells in 90% FCS, so they can't be that badly off, right? As an aside, Helen Leonard would have a heart attack over here.

Below you can see Dani (my teacher) at the hood, and I usually sit where the pink rack is. The incubator is to the right, and the microscope behind Dani, so I don’t ever really have to move from my chair. The centrifuge is under the desk a bit further back – also an easy rolling distance away. The corridors are always cold, but the lab is always hot because it gets full sun on the windows, and a few of the blinds are broken, so it shines on through! To prevent us from getting melanoma whilst trying to cure it, I stuck some large sheets of paper to the windows yesterday afternoon, which helps the tiniest amount. They do have air-con apparently, but to minimise the risk of contamination, it’s hardly ever used. This shot was taken in the morning, before it got warm, which is why Dani is still wearing her scarf.





In this photo, you can see the rest of the lab, including the windows where the blinds don’t work (on the right). This end of the lab is home to Sandra, Serena and Martina.





Another view of the other end of the lab, including Sandra’s hood. Sandra and I have long discussions about the differences between German and English, and she finds great joy in remembering the correct English word to use in a sentence. Highly amusing.





This is the -80 room, which also contains some liquid nitrogen tanks (although our tank is across the hall). I hacked away at all the ice in our -80 the other day, because there was powder snow and ice taking up 70% of the space. Something to do with being close to the windows, they tell me.





Lastly, this is the new office, which they managed to get because of me (yay, useful), but which they will probably lose when I leave. In front of that computer is where I am sitting right now, typing this entry. Again, no blinds, so it’s safest in here in the afternoon.





For those who are interested (probably nobody), I am currently growing melanoma cell lines and LCLs, testing them for mycoplasma and freezing them down in large quantities. Apart from that, I’m “assisting” with minipreps, maxipreps, ELISPOTs and lab maintenance (ie. cleaning, building makeshift blinds, defrosting freezers).

On the language front, I finally made contact with people from Evolanguage, a language school, and I attended a German lesson last night. Unfortunately, the class (5 other people) already spoke German, and the teacher mostly spoke in German. We had a sheet with sentences like ‘Someone who wants to drink is ___’, and we wrote in ‘thirsty’ – all in German, obviously – and then we changed the adjectives to nouns eg. Thirsty --> thirst (durstig --> der Durst). I think the course is aimed at people who have lived in Germany for a few years, and need to improve their grammar and broaden their vocabulary. (Haha, someone should tell the QIMR powers-that-be that I am finally taking some grammar lessons!)

The highlight of the class for me was trying to communicate with a guy from Croatia, Tommo, whom I had to work with to fill in the sheet. I would point at words in the sentences and make a ‘?’ sound, then he would use hand gestures and grunts to explain what the word meant. Good times. Anyhoo, I have found another place, which might have more suitable German lessons – the Volkhochschule (kind of like TAFE, methinks). I am taking a test next week to determine my level of German knowledge, then hopefully I can start an evening class in the next round, which will run from May to August.

I'll keep you updated!