Feeling comfortable (in London).

Fear not, dear readers, we have not dropped off the face of Denmark.  We have just momentarily dropped out of the blogging world.  Sorry about that.  So many things to do, but so little time to write about them.  (What a horrible problem, I know.)

If you go to London and don't take a picture,
with Big Ben, were you really there?

For instance, the day after we moved into our new apartment, (and this is where I make all you readers in the USA jealous) we took a quick little weekend trip to London.  Mike and Courtney, some friends from Colorado, were visiting London for a week, and we couldn't not meet up with them (it's so close!).

London is a HUGE city.  Normally, I like walking around a city because I think it helps you get to know a place.  But if we had walked everywhere in London, we wouldn't have had time to do anything else.  (And we wouldn't have had the entertaining but slightly unnerving experience of sitting in the front row on the top of a double decker bus where it seriously looks like the bus is about to hit pedestrians/bikers/other cars/anything in its way the entire time.)

Since we were only there for 2 days, of course, we couldn't see everything.  We mostly skipped the royalty-centric part of London in favor of free museums (the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Tate Modern were the ones we visited) and sunny walks/boat rides along the River Thames.

We were all big fans of the Egyptian exhibit at the British Museum.  There's an actual human body still wrapped inside that box!

 

London's public transit system includes boats that run up and down the river which double as a cheap river cruise.  And the Thames river walk takes you past Shakespeare's Globe, the Tate Modern, the Millenium Bridge, and places to enjoy a Pimm's cup while watching the sun set.

Sunset over the Thames

Tower of London seen from the boat

Millenium Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

Millenium Bridge

We also saw a funny little play, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, which happens to be the longest running play in London (we realized after that's why the tickets were so cheap...everyone else has already seen it!).

Besides all of the fun London tourist-y things, one highlight of visiting London...everything is in English!  This was something that I didn't think bothered me too much about Denmark.  I mean...it's Denmark...of course everything is in Danish.  Why wouldn't it be?  It takes a little while, but the official-looking things we get in the mail we can usually translate online.  The random billboards, advertisements, and signs around town we can mostly just ignore.  Grocery shopping took a little getting used to, but even there, lots of things are obvious and there are usually pictures on the boxes.  And being surrounded by Danish advertisements and Danish signs and Danish everything has actually helped me learn a lot of words.  When, after staring at it for entirely too long, I finally understand what some bus stop billboard actually says ("Start training today at Fresh Fitness!  Just 149 kroner per month!"), it kinda encourages me that I'm making progress in my language learning.  When I moved here, I expected to be surrounded by Danish and figured that I would just deal with it as best as I could.  But then in London... "New phone only 1 pound with 6 month subscription!" ... "This week only!  All sandals 20% off!" ... "Try our new chicken sandwich!" ...it didn't matter that I didn't want any of those things, I could understand what was being offered and decide what I thought about it in a matter of milliseconds.  Every billboard didn't have to be opportunity to practice my language skills.  Literacy is amazing!  Like I said, I didn't think I was that bothered about being surrounded by Danish especially because English is very widely spoken so I can easily find someone to help me if I need it.  But I'll admit that I do often feel embarrassed, self-conscious, and sometimes just plain dumb when someone talks to me and I have to put a pitiful look on my face and apologize for not speaking Danish.  So I guess that I'm not surprised that after being in London just two days, it somehow felt quite comfortable to me.  And I think a big reason for that was the language.

Well, the language and the fact that we spent our two days there with two really awesome people who we've known for more than three months and who already know us and like us!  It's easy being with old friends.  It's comfortable; it's relaxing.  They already know your story and have already lived some of life with you.  And I look forward to getting to that place with people we've met in Aalborg (some of who read this blog...Hi Friends!).  But in the meantime, I am very thankful that we got to talk about nerdy engineering things over some beers with Mike while Courtney rolled her eyes and drank Diet Coke.  Thanks for a great weekend guys!

I believe this was when David and Mike were discussing
the construction of the Millenium Bridge while Courtney
and I tried to talk them into finding somewhere to eat.

A house of our own.

Ok, I guess I'm being a little lazy with words in the title because it's an apartment not a house and we don't own it, we're renting.  BUT I'm so thankful that we now have a place to call ours here in Aalborg.

Before moving here, I was hoping that we would find an apartment to move into by the beginning of April.  Hah!  That was before I talked to anyone else who has had the non-enviable task of finding an apartment in Aalborg.  It ended up taking about 2 months to find a place, and apparently that amount of searching time is the norm.

Meanwhile, we spent those 2 months living in a temporary place that was completely adequate and functional, and we were very thankful to have a furnished place to live in as soon as we moved here.  But, probably because we knew it was temporary, it never really felt like our space.

Our Building

However, after spending my days refreshing the apartment search website every 5 minutes and contacting non-responsive landlord after non-responsive landlord, I am SO happy to report that we found a place we actually want to live in, successfully translated a Danish lease (ok, some very helpful friends translated the lease for us, I'm not that good at Danish yet), paid a security deposit that we've been told not to expect back, and have established the home of the Gerhardts in Denmark complete with fully functioning dishwasher and a shower that doesn't spray water over the entire bathroom every time you use it.  Yay!

Kitchen

As we walked through the house for the first time on moving day, David remarked, "Wow, you're really happy about moving here."  And I was!  And still am!  But why was it that renting an apartment was such a big deal anyway?  I mean home is where ever I'm with you, right David?  And many times home isn't necessarily the building where you live, often people or a place or a time can be home.  And I certainly didn't expect Denmark to feel like home anytime soon.  But the thing was, even after being here for about two months, it didn't really feel like I was even living in Denmark.  It felt more like I was just staying here for a while.  

Living Room

You see, most things had gradually fallen into place.  We had Danish mobile phone numbers and local bus passes.  We'd made some friends.  We'd even found a church (in English!) to go to.  But without a place of our own, it still felt like I would be hopping on a plane back to Colorado at some point.  Having a place of our own filled with our stuff (which conveniently arrived in a big shipping crate on the same day we moved) went a long way in helping me feel like I actually lived here and I wasn't just on some really long vacation.  (Probably wouldn't seem like a vacation if I had a job...haha.)

Bedroom

The permanence of our move to Denmark is more real now...in a good way...in a way that makes me want to really become friends with the people that I've met here and discover my favorite places in Aalborg and explore this country that I now live in.  I don't want it to feel like I'm going back to the US any day now.  I want to figure out what it means to have a life here.  That's why I moved to Denmark.  I want to learn what it's like to live somewhere different than what I'm used to.

So I'm thankful for our apartment.  I'm thankful that we now have the space to invite people over for dinner, like our friend Karl who, after reading in this very blog that I had been unable to find canned black beans in Aalborg, found canned black beans for me!  (So it was practically required that we invite him over to show him the deliciousness of black bean burritos.)  I'm thankful that I have an oven so that I can bake a dessert to bring over a friend's house.  I'm thankful that, once again, we have instruments to play together.  And I'm thankful for a space that makes it a little easier to do the kinds of things that help me feel like I actually have a life here.

Work

A selective timeline of David's life:

• 8665 days ago: begin schooling
• 124 days ago: finish schooling
• 59 days ago: begin first industry job in Denmark

You could say that I've been preparing for a job for 83.9% of my life. But then you'd be ignoring weekends, evenings, holidays, etc. Let's assume that schooling occurs for 40 hrs/week over 9 months/year; that brings it down to 15% of my life.

I've invested this 15% in things that interest me, and it has been very rewarding. My education has taken me from the coast to the mountains to the Jutland, and has provided experiences I'll never forget. This one time, some friends and I got together and built a satellite!

All that to say, it feels like I don't know a thing. I don't know if it's is a moving-to-another-country thing or a first-real-job thing, but there is so much to learn.

I look around my office, and I see engineers that have been engineering while I have been schooling. They've been building while I've been theorizing. I find myself envying their experience.

It's frustrating - after being in school for so long, I almost thought I knew what I was doing. Yet time and time again I am surprised by the gaps in my knowledge. Oh, and that one time, with the satellite? I'm continually realizing that our team was even more capable than I thought. It's happened a few times at work already: Wait, who did this on CSSWE? Oh, somebody (Ian/Nate/Lauren/Quintin/Chris/etc.) must have done that without telling me. Chalk another one on the "to-learn" column.

So I'm learning. Don't get me wrong - I'm excited to be at a job where I will grow as an engineer. I've just been surprised at how much there is to learn.

At the end of my first week, I was mulling over thoughts like these when my friend Karl tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It's beer friday now". Then I turned around and saw this:

The image shows my coworkers celebrating the end of a work week by grabbing a beer and eating peanuts & chips while talking about anything but work. Most Danish companies do this every week! Once beer friday begins, people will usually stick around long enough to enjoy a beer and some snacks before they head home for the weekend. Americans (like me) could learn a lot about work/life balance from traditions like this.

Enjoying Danish holidays (in Berlin).

What's this?  Another blog post less than a week after the last one?

Well, I'm not sure I can keep up this posting frequency (my days aren't all that exciting, and I can't seem to convince David to write a post of his own yet), but I did say that I would write about the second half of our Easter holiday in Berlin.  And I didn't want to get too far behind because there will be other things to write about soon (like maybe a new apartment...maybe...I hope).

Anyway...

Berlin was really cool!  Now that I've actually been there, I'm surprised that I hadn't visited the city during any earlier trips to Europe.  I was definitely missing out.  Remnants of the Berlin wall overlook an exhibit on the Gestapo that's next door to a building that formerly housed the Prussian parliament, and it's all next to a conveniently located currywurst stand.  There is so much in this city.  Just during my lifetime, some world-changing things have happened here.  I don't really consider myself a big history nerd/buff/enthusiast/whatever, but walking through these sites of major historical significance
was fascinating.

However, even with all it's historical places, it struck me that Berlin didn't look very "old".  The city was basically destroyed during World War 2 so extensive re-building was required, but the Cold War hampered that to some degree with the restoration of many areas being completed only in the past 20 years.  And the building continues with construction cranes appearing in every photo I took overlooking Berlin.

As we explored, it was interesting to see how the city has chosen to mark/remember the different places and events, especially the ones where really horrible things were happening.  For instance, the site of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide right before the end of the war is now a parking lot with a sign that explains the significance of what happened there 70 years ago.  This seems appropriate.  It doesn't deserve a museum, but it is important to remember.  The remnants of the Berlin wall that remain around the city are interesting too.  I'm sure some people wanted to destroy all traces of the wall in the city, but enough people recognized that it would be important to remember this part of their history.  So an area that was formerly the "death strip" between the two sections of the wall is now a park with a memorial to the people that died trying to cross that death strip to escape to West Berlin, and a huge section of the remaining wall is now the East Side Gallery where artists from all over the world were invited to paint murals on the wall.

Berlin Wall Memorial

East Side Gallery

One of the most thought-provoking and well put together exhibits was on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters.  The building itself has been demolished, but on top of the rubble, there is an exhibit describing the political, economic, and cultural atmosphere in which Hitler and the Nazis came to power, the atrocities that were committed against various people groups by that regime, and the German society in which all this took place.  David and I planned a quick visit to this site before having lunch one day but ended up staying for 3 hours.  (Because we stayed so long, I ended up buying a delicious butter-filled pretzel from the on-site cafe.  Not a bad decision.)

I was also very impressed with the way that the different museums and memorials sought to go beyond just the numbers and statistics and tell the stories of actual people.  The Holocaust Memorial (or its official title "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe") is a 5 acre site honoring the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.  Underneath the memorial, the information center has collected an impressive number of cards, letters, photos, and other items from which they've been able to tell the stories of victims and their families.  We can read about the sheer numbers of people killed during the Holocaust (numbers so big that they're hard to comprehend), but hearing some of their stories gives a much better perspective.


In addition to all the historical places, we spent a lot of
time just walking around some of Berlin's different neighborhoods: Mitte, Prenslauer Berg, Schoneburg, Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz, etc.  Each neighborhood seemed to have a unique vibe, and in between the history lessons, we relaxed in the neighborhood cafes, gelato shops, and parks.  (You can't beat 1 euro for a scoop of gelato in waffle cone!)


We also found a fun place to go dancing (but unfortunately missed swing dance night).  Clärchens Ballhaus is a 100 year old dance hall, and on the Saturday night that we were there, it featured a live German cover band and was packed with people from 20 to 80 years old (no kidding).  It was here that I realized just how pervasive American pop culture can be.  Almost every song the band played was in English, and the audience was singing right along with them.

On Easter Sunday, we even found a church to go to.  The Berliner Dom is a huge cathedral in central Berlin, and we celebrated the resurrection (in German!) with the amazing choir and organ.  After the Easter service, we climbed the 270 steps to the top of the dome (ya know because we hadn't done enough walking already).




















One of my favorite parts about Berlin was the food.  There were so many different types of food, and compared to Denmark, it was all SO cheap!  (It's really impractical to eat out in Aalborg.)  We had German food, Chinese food, Korean food, burritos, gelato, fries, doner kebabs, and of course, the ubiquitous currywurst.  Basically, anytime we passed a place that looked good, we stopped to get a snack.  (Such a great way to spend a vacation.)

After 4 days in this city, Berlin is a place I would definitely go back to.  There are still more neighborhoods to explore, a couple palaces to visit, a whole island full of museums that we didn't see, and of course, more food to eat.  Throughout this post, I've linked to the places that I'd recommend if you're planning a visit to Berlin anytime soon.  And if you are, let us know!  We'll totally meet you there!

First taste of currywurst

Hanging out with the Ampelmännchen

Enjoying Danish holidays (in Amsterdam).

Although President's Day, Memorial Day, and (my favorite) Thanksgiving are nowhere to be found on the Danish calendar, since moving here, we have discovered that Denmark has no shortage of national holidays.  And it only took us one month of living in Denmark before we decided to put some of those Danish holidays to good use.  Unlike the US (where you don't usually get any special time off for Easter since it's already on a Sunday), Denmark gets not 1, not 2, but 3 (yes 3!) Easter-associated days off every year (Thursday and Friday before Easter and Monday after Easter).  So it didn't take long for David and I to decide that this was the perfect time to take advantage of the short distance between us and new European adventures.

After a quick flight to Copenhagen, we flew another an hour and a half and soon found ourselves in the land of tulips and canals...the Netherlands.  And (how's this for good timing?) our good friend Matt was able to meet up with us in Amsterdam before flying back to the US.

First impressions..."wow, it's really pretty here".  Every other street had a canal running through the middle of it, and the layout of the canals basically determined the layout of Amsterdam.  Along the canals, trees cast their branches over the water, and the cobblestone streets were lined with old canal houses.  (And that reminds me, roll-y suitcases and cobblestones are not friends.  There's nothing like your suitcase wheels going click-click-click-click-click along those old streets to announce "hello everyone, I am a tourist".  At least, we weren't the only ones.)

Second impression...whoa, watch out for that cyclist!  Like our friends the Danes, the Dutch are very comfortable on bicycles.  And it's a good thing they are because I did not envy anyone I saw trying to drive a car through the streets of central Amsterdam.  In addition to the narrow streets and throngs of cyclists and pedestrians, cars had to park along the canals, and I don't know how drivers got out of their cars without falling into the water.  

We spent two and a half days walking our way through Amsterdam with stops at the Rijksmuseum (ruled by Dutch master painter Rembrandt), the Anne Frank House (still decorated with pictures of celebrities and royalty put up by Anne herself), and the Heineken Brewery (where they not-so-subtly proclaimed Heineken the perfect beer) with breaks for pommes frites as often as possible.  Seriously, the frequency of places selling fries was kinda a dream come true for me.  The popular mayo topping that they put on the fries, not so much.  I tried it once then stuck to ketchup.   

Rijksmuseum

Rembrandt's The Night Watch

Anne Frank statue outside her house
(pictures weren't allowed inside)

Heineken Brewery

In addition to the ubiquitous fries, we were also constantly surrounded by...other tourists.  I guess this is expected since we wanted to see the same things that other tourists wanted to see.  But there were just so many, and so many speaking English.  And on that note, I want to express my sincere gratefulness that somehow the rest of the world decided to learn English as a second language.  Ok, that's probably an exaggeration, but the point behind it sure has made European travel a lot easier for two English-only-speaking Americans.

Since we didn't venture outside the city, we didn't get to see some of the quintessentially Dutch things like windmills and rows and rows (and rows and rows) of tulip fields. But we did pass by the bloemenmarkt which has been bringing flowers and bulbs to central Amsterdam since 1862.

The Flag of Amsterdam

Besides its canals, Amsterdam is usually known for its more...uh...seedier side.  Even the Amsterdam flag has XXX on it (which apparently comes from the city's coat of arms, but what an amusing coincidence).  What surprised me most about the red light district was how normal, even pretty, it looked with its canals and canal houses just like the rest of they city.  I would show a picture, but I didn't take any photos there for, uh, obvious reasons. 

Anyway... 

I was gonna write one big blog post about our entire Easter travel week, but this seems like enough for now (and after 4 days in Berlin, I have even more to write about that city).  I'll end with a few recommendations in case anyone reading this happens to be planning a trip to Amsterdam anytime soon.

Amsterdam is FULL of art from the Renaissance to the present.  We only visited the Rijksmuseum (and didn't even have time to go through that entire building) because it had the most in one place and we were only in the city a couple days, but art fans would not be bored in this city.

Anne Frank House was thought- and conversation-provoking, as expected.  You actually walk through the small spaces where she and 7 other people lived in hiding for 2 years.  They also have the original copies of her diaries.  Because this museum is so popular, there's usually a 2 hour long line snaking around the block.  We went at 7:30pm on a Tuesday and only waited an hour but almost didn't get in because they close the doors at 8:30pm.  It's definitely worth the wait.

We enjoyed some delicious Thai food, falafels, beers, pancakes (the Dutch kind), and of course, fries.  Amsterdam is loaded with restaurants, but I can vouch for these as being good and not too pricey.  Oh and there are these delicious caramel-syrup-waffle-cookie things that are often served with coffee.  (Just looked it up; they're called stroopwafels.)  We liked them so much we bought our own pack from the grocery store.

I guess that about sums it up.  Overall, I'd say I really enjoyed Amsterdam.  I'm not sure that I'd plan another trip there because, even with only 2 days, I feel like we did everything we wanted to do in the city.  But the trip was totally worth it.  And it was definitely worth it to see one of my favorite people from back in the US here in our part of the world.  We miss you, Matt!  And to the rest of you, come visit us any time!  (And I'll write about it in the blog!)

One month in.

Yes, you read that title correctly.  We have been living in Aalborg for one month!

"What have you been doing this whole month?" I hear you asking.  Where are all the pictures of you guys gallivanting to one European city after another?  (We'll get there.)  How do you feel?  Are you adjusting?  Do you speak Danish yet?  What's the food like?  Have you been hit by a cyclist?  Do you have any friends?  David, how is it working for a Danish company?  Alana, what do you do all day while David is at work?  Do you sit around crying while looking at pictures of your friends back in Boulder?  (No, but I love you all and think of you often.)  Do you eat danishes everyday for breakfast?  (Also, no.)

David will have to speak for himself about working in Denmark (and hopefully, I'll get a job one day and experience that for myself), but here's what I've been up to for the past month:

FINALLY!

1)  Finishing grad school stuff.
Yes, I defended back in January, but it's pretty common to have to make some revisions to your dissertation after you defend and to prepare papers to submit to scientific journals.  But, of course, right after defending, the last thing I wanted to do was more work.  Then, shortly after defending, David was offered the job, and planning to move to Denmark was much more exciting that finishing my dissertation.  Fortunately for me, the deadline to turn in the final copy of my dissertation isn't until April 18, and I can do that electronically, and last Thursday, I did!  So most of what I've been doing here has been putting the finishing touches on my dissertation, and now I am officially done with grad school!

2)  Looking for an apartment.
This has been harder than I expected.  There is no equivalent to Craigslist (at least that I've found), and Craigslist has always been my go-to for finding apartments.  Instead, there are several different websites that have listings of available apartments.  But most of the listings have no pictures, and many have only generic (read "useless") descriptions of the apartments, and every listing has to be translated into English by my new best friend Google Translate which can lead to some funny descriptions (like "the apartment can house no livestock" which I assume means "no pets").  Most surprising to me was that all of these housing websites require that you buy a subscription in order to have access to the landlord's contact information, and the subscriptions are only valid for a set amount of time.  Also, for several weeks, neither one of us had a phone.  So I didn't want to buy a subscription and then not be able to contact any landlords because we didn't have a phone.  Fortunately, one of David's co-workers let us use his subscription because he found a place (Thanks Daniel and Bailey!).  So the search is on.  But now, for every 5 landlords I contact, maybe one will respond.  We have our temporary place until May 15 so I'm not too worried yet, but this process has already taken longer than I expected.

3)  Figuring out what to cook and then cooking lots of it.
I like to cook, and I really like to eat, and Denmark isn't that different from the US regarding food so there haven't been too many surprises in this area.  But cooking here has taken a bit more time than I'm used to.  First, our kitchen is TINY.  We don't have a lot of space to store food, and we'll be moving anyway so the less we have to move the better.  Therefore, I don't have the usual stock of ingredients to work with.  Second, we don't have an oven so anything baked is not an option.  Third, and the thing that requires the most planning, I'm not always sure what ingredients the Danish grocery store will or will not have.  Canned black beans have been quite elusive in Denmark, and these were a staple of our diets back in CO (I miss you burritos!).  However, avocados are all over the place.  So I scour the internet looking for recipes that have minimal ingredients and don't require baking and have ingredients that I know I can find here and, ya know, taste good.  Then, I head to the grocery store and walk up and down every aisle because I still don't know where things are (and I'm embarrassed to ask anyone).  Once I find a winning recipe, I make ton of it because our kitchen is so small that cooking in it is more of a chore than it used to be.  So now we have a ton of food, and it is at this point that I realize that I've always taken microwaves for granted.  Of course, Denmark has microwaves; it's this little apartment that doesn't.  It also doesn't have another thing I've taken for granted, a dishwasher.  :(

4)  Facebook-ing, Skype-ing, and trying to stay in touch with people around the world.
Can you imagine that just 100 years ago when people moved from Europe to the US their only way of communicating with people back home was writing a letter that would float on a ship across the ocean?  They would maybe get a reply in a month.  (And forget about visiting back home.)  Technology is something I'm not taking for granted.  I think I would feel a lot more alone in this new country adventure if we didn't have an internet connection.  So post all the pictures you can on Facebook...I'm the person commenting on them at 4am (when it's already noon here).

5)  Planning adventures.
The most exciting benefit of living in Denmark is the entire new continent that we get to explore.  Yes, most of the past month has been spent getting settled in Aalborg.  (And I don't even feel that we're really settled yet.)  But the traveling starts this week!  David gets off work on the Thursday and Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter so we are headed to Amsterdam and Berlin!  Pictures to come next time!

Springtime in Aalborg.

I wasn't expecting the weather in Denmark to be all that great especially because I'm a big fan of sun and heat.  But since we've been here, I haven't had too much to complain about, and in fact, this weekend in Aalborg brought us sunny days and temperatures around 10-12 C (50-55 F).

So, of course, I took the opportunity to be outside as much as possible, and it was outside that I kept thinking "oh that kinda reminds me of Boulder".

Most obvious Boulder similarity... BIKES!

BIKES EVERYWHERE!
This should surprise no one because Denmark is known for its bike-friendly culture, and it has not disappointed.  The only thing I'm disappointed about is that my bike is still on a boat floating somewhere in the Atlantic, but one day soon, I can join the hordes of cyclists speeding around town.  Most of the residential streets around us look like the picture here with bike after bike parked outside the buildings.  But (this surprised me) these bikes aren't locked to anything!  At best, they may have a small locking mechanism on the back tire which I've read can be easily popped off with a screwdriver.  That's not to say that bike theft is uncommon in Denmark; apparently, it happens all the time.

Next Boulder similarity... runners everywhere.  Every time I go outside, I see people running.  On my street, at the waterfront, in the parks.  I've even started running again (it's a great way to get to know a city).  Maybe it's all the endorphins from running that makes the Danes so happy.

Well, it's the endorphins and probably the dogs.  Aalborg, like Boulder, loves dogs.  Just like I always see runners, I always see people walking their dogs.  However, I have noticed that Aalborg residents aren't as good about picking up their dogs' poop as Boulder residents are.

And, like Boulder, all of this biking and running and walking dogs preferably happens outside in the sunshine, of course.  Everybody and their mother (and their baby and their dog...) was just out taking a stroll this weekend.  It reminded me of a spring day on Pearl St.  Well, minus the Flatirons and the street performers and, ya know, people speaking English.

And one big difference from Boulder...there's water here!