Second day at work

August 3, 2005
Writing from the Dow Jones bureau in Frankfurt:

My apartment is tiny and overpriced, but in a great location right around the corner from a bustling shopping boulevard called the Zeil. I was quickly able to find a cheap grocery store and a Woolworth’s to buy all of my settling-in necessities. (I bought what I thought was toilet paper and it turned out to be paper towels instead, but as a new friend pointed out, there’s not much difference between the two here). I can get CNN International and MTV on my television. There’s also a lovely gourmet food market nearby, resembling an indoor farmer’s market. And I’m right around the corner from the Ubahn (metro trains).

The office has been hospitable – the editors are letting me set my own agenda for what to work on. I’ve got plenty of Observer stories lined up and I busied myself during my first day yesterday on those. Today I discussed two new story ideas with a very friendly editor here, Adam, and we’re hoping one or the other can be a feature that would be picked up by the Wall Street Journal.

Last night I met Susanna, an alumna of the Burns program who’s now working for Bloomberg here in Frankfurt, for a light supper at a café outside the Opera House, which is beautiful. I tried a German noodle dish, spaetzle.

My biggest problem so far has been technology. My plan to call everyone in the U.S. using Skype from my wireless laptop hasn’t panned out because my T-mobile service isn’t working correctly. And I found out my U.S. mobile phone is not compatible with the German phone system, though I may be able to resolve it – I’ll let everyone know. I got a German mobile phone for 25 Euros to have a local number, but couldn’t dial it at first (I’ve since figured that out). At least my email works fine from the computers in the office.