Today is day three in Germany (my project got off to a bit of a late start due to a stomach bug) and it’s awesome. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to understand anything, and even though I have to ask everyone to speak slowly,it’s going pretty well. I am constantly surprised at how well everything works here. Everything is on time, and everything is in order, especially at the SSB workshop. There, they take subway cars (which come in pairs), strip them down, and rebuild them completely. Here’s a little bit of what I’m doing (they have me doing something different everyday):

Day 1:
tour, general repair, rebuilt a pneumatic suspension system with guy named Andy, who thought I was from England

Day 2:
milling, turning, drilling
they have huge CNC mills (awesome)
huge computer controlled lathes (also awesome)
and a drill press taller than I am
In the afternoon, we drove to a park where there is a miniature railroad for tourists, scoped out a rebuild for one of the engines.
They all think I’m from england!
in the car one guy asked me if it was weird driving on the wrong side

Day 3:
spent in the machine shop, where they build custom parts for the subway cars, because the company that built them (165! sets) went out of business

Heading to Paris tomorrow for the weekend!

More to Come,
Jack