German Grandmas Bake Cake

(i'm skipping a lot here, but this weekend is fresher in my mind)

The last three (four) days each will likely remain unforgettable. Friday remains something I have to get used to. I haven't had obligations on Fridays, basically, for the last three years (since fall of my freshman year, when I wised up to avoid having classes on Friday--ever). After 13-hour days Tues & Wednesday and an unaccustomed obligation on Friday, I seemed to seethe discontent. I left at 4:00 to ride to 4 hours to a city near Basel called Steinen, where Philipp--a great friend from Freiburg--lives.

The summary, it was extremely comforting to spend time with a good friend. Being around Minneapolis with great roommates, friends down the hall, and a small college (the business one at least), friends are always close. But I'm new in Stuttgart, and Germans are slow to befriend, so it was such a great weekend to hang out with Philipp. (Plus, I hadn't seen him for almost 2 years, so that added to the anticipation.)
First, you'll note the amazing view in the picture. It's the view out one of Philipp's balcony's. You know, it just happens to look right into the rolling hills of the black forest with (just off to the SW) a castle clear on the hillside--happenstance.

This picture also shows half of the village Philipp lives and grew up in. Awesome it's still called a village. The little white house is where his Grandmother lives.

Here's Philipp's Oma (Grandma). I was hoping she'd be the cute grandma stereotype--conversational, busy-bee, bakes a lot, proud of her family, her garden, and her cakes. She certainly was!

She's from Cologne, so she speaks her dialect Koelsch. I understood a 1/3 (at best) of what she said. Philipp can understand, no problem (despite the fact that many of the words are actually different.) But I was unable to tell that a Buggle Broden was a Tuette Broetchens. (Something to such an extent. Like I mentioned, I don't what she said.)

She was great. She was pitting cherries (very German) for a cake. And, as Philipp informed me, there will always be cake when you visit his grandma. We had 2 pieces and somehow ended up with 1/2 a cake to take home!

She was a lot of fun. (I just hope I didn't offend her when I'd screw up the formal and informal address.)

As the first photos show, I finally visited the village of Steinen, where Here lives Philipp=Hier wohnt Philipp hangs. And, as must be expected, we enjoyed a few chilled Rathaus biers simply relaxing and chatting on the balcony.

Despite my desire to adapt to Germany, to become eingedeutsched (this is the adjective used to describe english words in the German language, like Managen, and Hedge Fond). Anyway, note the food. I didn't even think about it, but Philipp called it and and laughed "ha, it's true that Americans do eat like that!" For me, these little differences are always amusing.

Philipp was a tourguide through the village of Steinen, the town of Loerrrach, and the city of Basel (in Switzerland.) I think the UofM is bigger than Steinen and Loerrach (definitely) and, with as many commuters as we have, almost as big as Basel. I grasped the size concept quite quickly and the tours were brief. Anyone remember touring the UofM as a prospective student and they tell you to plan for nearly 2 hours?

Philipp works at UBS as a trainee (i.e. on-the-job training before being a full-time employee.) Germans are great at creating new forms of education. It's actually what helped them become a leading economy--honestly, it's one of their strong points--education and Rothaus.
I basically mandated this photo. Like I said, I take no real tourist photos, but I'm always stoked to see businesses I know.

In essence, it was a relaxed weekend--visit a great friend, sit on the balcony, make some breakfast, walk around town, have some dinner, fall asleep in front of the TV as a bad French (stupid French) movie drags along, sleep in (until the church bells ring for an hour without stop), eat some more, have a beer. Yep, simple, but unforgettable.

Today still counts in the "last 4 days I won't forget". Well, it's the latest I've ever worked in the office. Granted there was the all-nighter while at E&Y, but that was at home and for other reasons. But I officially left the office on the next day. (Surbhi and other I-bankers, you're free to attack and call me out for almost whining.) It wasn't bad, but it does remind me that working late is one thing, typically very tolerable. But working late and going home when everything is closed, I mean almost EVERYTHING. Typically you could leave late and still get groceries or pick up paper towels from Target. In Germany, I feel I have to leave early just so I can beat the stores from closing before I leave work. We'll see how long I can go on 1/3 container of milk and some almonds...

Until next time (maybe I'll get around to the drag show in Konstanz where I was pulled on stage, the first days in Stuttgart, the irritation that is the Foreigner's office, or the hobos that get to listen to classical music in all the places the city doesn't want hobos hanging out. Until then.

Later Days,
Rick

Finally what $3,000 bought for me.

To come to Germany, I applied to this Transatlantic program; it's sponsored by the German American Chamber of Commerce. They help us with the work permit and host this 10-day seminar in Berlin and we pay them, basically $2900.

First problem with this number is that here was what my personal balance sheet before I had to pay the fee:


(it's like any American college student's balance sheet. We're broke, we know it. I'm no different.)

(4 years of business school and now this is how my brain works. I could have just said "I'm a college student and seldom have $3000 just sitting around. Nope, I need the balance sheet.)


I figure out the fee. Done. What did I just pay for? The company I'm working at, I actually applied to last year on my own. The program doesn't help with housing search or the residency permits (pain in the rear. There's more about that later.)

However, after having to leave Minnesota 2 days after graduating, and after shelling out 3K for something I'm uncertain of, I started the program in Berlin. Cozy hotel, so much food, and a couple of day trips for show. 3K for a broke college graduate. Alright, alright, alright. Now it's clearer.

From May 23-June 1, 20 students from across the U.S. met at the Hotel Ambassador to practice our German in speech courses, meet with German business men and women, take tours, and travel to nearby cities.

Let me first start with meeting my roommate. He's a jazz studies major from So. California who wears a beanie to hold his 3 foot long hair. Chill guy, aside from snoring he was totally fine. But the contrast is certainly funny

My side of the tiny (European) hotel room (Left): (as you know, I'm a strong Type A personality)
His side of the room (right)


From 4:00 p.m. that Saturday that we first met to June 1st, we were basically together all waking hours of the day. From breakfast around 7:30 to last moments of dinner's dessert at 9:00 p.m. we were one pleasant group. It wore on us so much that basically half the group was ill or falling asleep constantly by the end of the week. Side note: The coffee is not as strong here. Largely unpleasant.

What else did we do, I'll summarize with some photos:

We toured ALL of Berlin. (...right after lunch where we had our own bus and comfy seats for the 1 1/2 hour long tour. Even the speech instructor was nodding off! That made me feel better when I napped for 15 minutes of the tour)










We practiced how to talk to our German bosses. Be very formal. Remind them who the heck you are and why you're bothering them. Be patient. Be prepared to hear no.

Turns out, my boss/supervisor the first time I met her interrupted me to say "we are all informal around here. It's all on a first name basis." ...don't know how realistic this practice was.


We learned about green roofs. Literally, roofs that are green because they have plants growing in them. It's a way to prevent rainwater runoff and to increase insulation.

Note that our guide, the one to whom we're supposed to dress (i.e. if she's in a suit, so should we, if she's in business casual, so should we). She's there in jeans and a t-shirt and we're in suits. Always we had to be in suits--it was a bit overdone and looked so awkward, like in this photo.



Here are the green roofs. This is at Postdamer Platz, which was built around 1994, shortly after the reunification of West and East Germany. Hence, the modern technology in an old city.










We saw German news being reported. It's almost like a photo from a zoo. They're working, we're dripping over the rails oogling at what they're doing.

On the right is the chief editor (in the tie) talking with a colleague who's writing the front page headlines.
This was the Berlin Tagesspiegel--one of the most distributed newspapers in Germany.



We went to the Federal Ministry of Economics (and Technology) and spoke to the director of policy for middle market companies, which represent about 97% of all German companies.
(under 500 employees and under 500 Mill Euros per year)

This was my favorite, since it was all about the current economic state.
The guy we met is way in the middle (hard to see). The others were bored, but I had a blast.



We went to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The speaker was really fun and animated. He spent the time going through how the German parliament is set up, which was news to most of us.
















I had the joy of presenting this man from the Office of Foreign Affairs (the equivalent of our State Department) with my Minnesota gift. I opened my bag in Berlin to find that Chicago security had ripped the gift open only to cover the thing with their wonderful "INSPECTED" tape.






We traveled to Dresden and toured the Volkswagen manufacturing plant where they make the Phaeton, their luxury $80,000 car.

Like no other factory I imagined; it's all glass, completely clean, extremely quiet, and very modern. It was clearly designed to bring car purchasers in so they could see their car being made.






We listened (dozed) through a presenter speaking in Sachsisch. Dresden is in the state of Sachsen. They, like Bavaria, have a certain dialect that gets hard to understand. Imagine either a far north Minnesotan or a deep south Alabaman. +the foreign language, + dimmed room, + after lunch = nap.






We walked around Dresden. Here's just the city center. It's a wall mural depicting the 16 kings of the city (I think.)
There's nothing like this in the U.S. and here it's just something the local residents pass by every day.











We toured Airbus in Hamburg.
The guide was ridiculous. He was a Brit that married a German. He spoke half the time in German, but he'd assume we didn't understand him, so he repeated the majority in English. There were two German students along with our group who barely spoke English. They were not happy.





We took public transportation in Hamburg--a boat. It runs like the light rail, but is a much cooler form of transport.


(Behind me are the cranes that unload the boat shipments that come in through Hamburg's famous harbor)







We toured Hamburg with a real estate developer.

This was about day 9. We were exhausted. We had no free time. The topic was great and interesting, but we were just done.








We took part in the local culture. This was more on our own time.
(We bought a pitcher at a Biergarten and each had to take a photo like this.)











We had a cultural training seminar. (This was a bit outdated. From my experience at the firm I work, it's so laid back. This trainer warned us it would be way different than what I perceive it is.)














10 days, each full of meetings and different experiences. We went out a few nights, but were exhausted to try anything else in the city. From June 1st I rode the train to Stuttgart where I've been for almost one week. I'll add more about the pains of German bureaucracy and how the redeeming factor is constantly my great workplace.

Later Days,
Rick

No, I do not Have the Swine Flu.

I finally made it to Stuttgart, the city where I'll work. It's been almost two weeks in the land of bier, punctuality, and bureaucracy. Hence, I'll focus on the better parts. (p.s. This is Germany. The red dot/arrow is Stuttgart)

I flew out on May 20th with the pleasant Air India. Well, first it was a 5:30 a.m. ride to the airport to arrive in Chicago as early as possible, because Air India kept changing the flight to Frankfurt. So what once was a 3 hour layover with time to get lunch and change airlines became a 20 minute impossibility.

While en route, I ran into Alex Moss in the airport and this guy, Kevin Daly, in Chicago. Listen up graduates, it must be true when the Carlson School tells us our network of alums is worldwide. (It might be a cheap plug, I realize.)




The flight was amusing. Here's my attempted photoshop recreation of the experience:
My window seat (with no window, just wall) placed me next to a priest and a hygenically challenged swear-to-goodness IT Indian male. (I figure I'd avoid using someone's name in vain because of that priest.)

The swine flu:
I arrived in Frankfurt and spent the night in a hostel in the red light district. As soon as I got to the hostel they, fortunately, let me check in to my room where I woke up this french girl. She takes a moment to become coherent and we converse briefly. In which she asks, "Do you have the swine flu?" Apparently all Americans probably have swine flu, because we had the most cases of it. You know how I feel about the French...add this illogic to my list of things about the French.

(note the room number--same as my home town area code. Woot woot for Southern Minnesota. It's not really that awesome, but it was small things like that and finding soap that was named "Sticky Ricky" that made me laugh--it made me not want to use the soap--but it made me laugh.)

So while in Frankfurt, I found the Houlihan Lokey office. Houlihan Lokey is where a good friend, Surbhi, is working full time (for those of you who might not know her.) And what do I without fail do when I find a cool office that I recognize, I become a tourist. Old castles, museums, sculptures, street artists don't motivate the photo, sweet offices do. It's slightly embarrasing to report, but I definitely have more photos like this.


After spotting all this, I stumbled into a market square where these stands were each selling a variety of foods. I ended up with currywurst and a beer; it made it official that I was in Germany.

Funnier yet were the stands selling Bowle. Bowle is the German form of Whop. Whop/Bowle is fruit soaked overnight in alcohol (vodka for calmer events; everclear for parties) and then mixed with a variety of juices and other alcohol. The fruit is so laden with the vodka, it is nearly the equivalent of a shot. The mix becomes fruit punch (uh, so I've read...). I've only seen Americans try this at parties, Germans are just selling this stuff on the street like it's an option equal to a coca cola. Yep, welcome to Europe, Rick.

So was the trip from Minneapolis to Berlin where I completed a 10-day program. That I can describe in the next post, which will certainly be sooner. A 10-day whirlwind with us busied between 7:30a.m.-9:00p.m. Following is the joy of German bureaucrocy and settling in to Stuttgart.

Until then,
Later Days!