I am the Fermentician

Starting this journey three years ago, I knew that I was going on an adventure, but I could not have fathomed what then lay ahead of me. I had moved to Germany to make a personal brand. I had originally set out to find internships as a brewer and a cheesemaker, but found bread and sausage along the way.

On that journey, theatre, choir, and tap dance made their appearances. It was sporadic for theatre, but teaching tap in Erfurt has been once source of stability as I jumped from internship to internship. Regardless, the extreme effort started paying dividends this fall.

The trades organization in Erfurt reached out and proposed a written interview. The goal was to share with the state of Thuringia that an American had taken the effort to move to Erfurt with the goal of learning from the local tradespeople.

The questions were pretty straightforward, though at times oddly worded. For example, “when are you leaving?” carried a bit of an undertone; no, I do not know if that was intentional. This interview was given a half-page in the largely circulated state newspaper. A very humbling experience to have my story told in this way.

From this, the trades organization reprinted (and abridged) the interview in their own newspaper called “Deutsche Handwerkszeitung”. The trades organization in Magdeburg had also done an article about my adventure a couple months back; theirs was in a newsletter, but also published online.

Of course now that the ball was rolling, a local television station contacted me and wondered if I would be open to participating in a TV segment that they would produce and then lease out to the other sister stations. Although I was extremely excited about the possibility, they never reached out again after I returned from Thanksgiving.

On the other hand, another newspaper set up a photoshoot with me last week for their piece on my journey. I am told that this last newspaper is not known for hardcore journalistic work, but rather print anything to sell papers. Regardless, I chatted with the photographer about getting some of the pictures at a later point; one always needs some good headshots.

Having wrapped up my fourteenth internship in these three years, this was quite the way to sign off as I pack up all my accumulations and head further east; back to the academy where I earned my master baker title. Honestly, always searching for that next internship is exhausting. There were times where everything seemed to fall into place; but there were also many times where I struggled. I am glad that my constant searching is coming to an end.

Heading back to a 40-hour work-week job is also not terribly appealing, but the new adventures that that may entail is what sold me. Honing my teaching skills, preparing future seminars on butter and beer, and publicizing my brand are all huge selling points for me. And my future coworkers are fine people.

Three Years an Intern

The end of the year also brings the winter performances of the tap classes. At the beginning of the semester, I had picked out a song that I had always wanted to choreograph. It is the prelude to “Anything Goes”; it starts of slow and outdated before it transitions to upbeat and a bit modern. The beginner course worked on that number for almost two months before the topic of setting our performance date came up. Then, one dancer after the next refused to go on stage with ‘such difficult’ choreography. So, they mutinied.

I acquiesced and said that we could do a rather simple number instead; they agreed. As I had little ambition to start from scratch, I stole the choreography I put together last year. We simply performed a fun warm-up song. It was actually (and surprisingly) well-received.

On a side note, we worked and worked on arm placement on the lunges… “it’s a ‘T’ with your body; it’s two-dimensional.” Unsuccessful.

The advanced class also performed a somewhat tricky number. Near the end, you can see that I messed up. I accidentally skipped on part of the choreography, the instructor then followed my lead, but it was not until I looked to the back row that I noticed I was wrong. It was a good thing that the first row of heads blocked most of the evidence…

With my tap shoes put away, I headed off to the brewery where they were hosting a brew course. I had asked about sitting in on one to see how they handle the questions, how deep they go in the science, and what the structure of the class was.

As one would expect from people attending a brewing course, the atmosphere was extremely relaxed. The beer was flowing and someone brought a grill and meat. The questions were generally superficial. There were times where I felt their answers were overly simplified, but also acknowledge that going any deeper would open a whole can of worms on theory and practical implications.

It was a good evening, but felt rather like a group of buddies sitting around a large stock pot waiting for the water to boil. In essence, that is what brewing is (and should be). However, I had simply assumed that the structure would be more substantive. The participants were happy and ultimately that is what was important.

After three years and fourteen internships, I am now leaving Thuringia. I move to Dresden on Monday and will be reporting to work on Thursday. The following Tuesday I begin lecturing: baker math. I look forward to the adventure, I look forward to some consistency, and I look forward to the waves that I will be allowed to make at the school and in the profession.

I am a statistician that moved to Germany in order to learn to harness the power of microorganisms. I became a master baker, while also exploring the worlds of cheese, beer, and sausage. I now will be responsible for teaching the next group of master bakers as well as future journeymen. That is a damn cool story!