Members of my EET team: Tobias, Timo, me, Andrej, Ralph, and Marcel
Serving the great salad and dressing that I made!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
E.ON Team Christmas Party
My work team (both the EET and E.ON Corporate teams) had its Christmas party on Monday night. We went to a cooking school, similar to the Chopping Block in Chicago, and made Spanish tapas. It was a fun event, and the man who owned the place kept picking on me because I was from the US. He was so funny. He kept yelling "Miss Chicago, come here", for me to come stir a pot or slice some potatoes. After finishing all of our cooking and eating, we had a white elephant gift exchange, with lots of very random presents. Here are a few pictures from the event:
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Weekend Trip to Baden-Baden
This weekend, I took a short trip to the town of Baden-Baden, which is located in southwest Germany, on the edge of the Black Forest and near the French border. It was about 4 hours by train. On the train, I saw a man in a Green Bay Packers hat! But, he was clearly not American and had on an FC Cologne soccer jersey. There was a large number of people on the train in FC Cologne apparel, so I'm assuming they were headed to a match in Freiburg.
When I arrived in Baden-Baden, I took the bus into the center of town and walked through the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) there. I ate my lunch there, too, which consisted of zweibel speck (a fresh bread pizza with bacon and onions), Gluhwein (which finally tasted good because it was cold outside), and then a crepe for dessert. It is finally starting to feel like winter, as it is now in the 30s (Fahrenheit) here, and I finally saw some snow from the train (only a dusting though). Thus why the hot mulled wine finally tasted good. See my pictures (link at top right) from Baden-Baden for photos of my wonderful lunch and the Christmas market.
Baden-Baden is a really cute town, surrounded by hills/mountains. It used to be a resort town for royals in the 1800s, so all the buildings are very pretty. Most streets are cobblestone and only for pedestrians, and since the town is built on a hill, there a lots of steps and steep streets. But, the best part of Baden-Baden is the thermal spas. There are 2 main spas, Friederichsbad and Caracella. I went to Friederichsbad, which is the more traditional spa. Here is the description of Friederichsbad from Rick Steves - Baden-Baden . It is true that you follow a series of rooms where you take a shower, lay in a hot sauna and then an even hotter sauna, get a soap brush massage, sit in another sauna, swim in 3 thermal pools of varying degrees, take a cold water plunge, liberly apply creamy lotion, then get wrapped up in a warm blanket like a cocoon to take a 30 minute relaxing nap (the attendant comes to wake you after the amount of time that you request - and I did fall asleep). And, the kicker, you do this all completely naked! Thankfully, there are separate identical sides for men and women, but for the bolder folks, there are 3 days per week that are "mixed". I was a little self-conscious at first, but since I had done my research, I was prepared to bare it all. Also, after seeing old, wrinkly ladies, I wasn't so self-conscious anymore! The spa was very relaxing and a great place to treat myself for my birthday. I felt so clean afterwards, and I would certainly recommend this to anyone. For those who aren't so excited about being nude, the Caracella spa is more modern and people wear swimsuits.
After visiting the spa, I got dressed and went to find dinner. I ended up at Lowenbrau, which is the original restaurant location before the famous brauerei in Munich. I had a wonderful dinner of wild game gulash. The restaurant was all decorated for Christmas, especially the outside beer garden which had a full size nativity and millions of lights. I tried to take a picture, but this was when the batteries in my camera died :( Good thing that my mother bought me a new camera for Christmas! I'm looking forward to having a new camera so I can take better (and more) pictures.
After dinner, I went to the casino that Baden-Baden is also famous for. It was built for the royals who used to vacation there, so it looks like a French chateau on the interior, very fancy. You are required to "dress appropriately" for the fancy casino, which means that men have to wear a jacket and tie (you can rent these if you didn't bring it with you). The casino is small, and only has roulette, poker, and blackjack. But, it's a fun experience, and different than casinos in the US. I played Blackjack for a little while, since I am familiar with this game, and it's universal in any language. Unfortunately, all the Blackjack tables were in the smoking area of the casino, but I am starting to get used to people smoking everyone here in Europe. I was slighly intimidated because there were some serious gamblers there, and there aren't many tables, so you basically have to play with the real gamblers. Also, there are always people watching you play (and can bet on your hand). A couple people were betting on my hand, so I felt a litte bit of pressure not to screw up, haha. One guy even tried to tell me (in German) how I should have played the previous hand. I knew I had "hit" one too many times, but he felt the need to tell me that even though he hadn't bet on my hand. Oh well! I was up about 50 Euro at one point, but of course I kept playing, and ended up losing just 10 Euro when I walked away. I thought about playing some more, but decided it would be best to just go back to the hotel and go to sleep.
When I got back to the hotel, I turned on the TV and one of my favorite movies was on - Love Actually. It was dubbed in German, and since I know this movie well (and love it), I thought it would be good to watch to help my German skills. A great end to the day!
My accomplishment this weekend was speaking (or at least hearing) a lot of German spoken to me, and somewhat understanding it! The waiter at dinner spoke all German to me, and so did the woman at my hotel (both at check-in and breakfast). I have found that I can understand what people are saying, but not exactly what they are saying. So, I can definitely get by, but have a long way to go before I am confident with speaking it on a day-to-day basis.
Another thing this week - my new hair dryer and hair straightner came in the mail (you have to have the correct voltage and plug in for Europe). I am very happy to have "normal" hair again (many of you know how important my hair is to me, haha).
One last story to leave with you this week: Here is a picture of something I saw both at the Dusseldorf Christmas market and then again at a store in Baden-Baden:
When I arrived in Baden-Baden, I took the bus into the center of town and walked through the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) there. I ate my lunch there, too, which consisted of zweibel speck (a fresh bread pizza with bacon and onions), Gluhwein (which finally tasted good because it was cold outside), and then a crepe for dessert. It is finally starting to feel like winter, as it is now in the 30s (Fahrenheit) here, and I finally saw some snow from the train (only a dusting though). Thus why the hot mulled wine finally tasted good. See my pictures (link at top right) from Baden-Baden for photos of my wonderful lunch and the Christmas market.
Baden-Baden is a really cute town, surrounded by hills/mountains. It used to be a resort town for royals in the 1800s, so all the buildings are very pretty. Most streets are cobblestone and only for pedestrians, and since the town is built on a hill, there a lots of steps and steep streets. But, the best part of Baden-Baden is the thermal spas. There are 2 main spas, Friederichsbad and Caracella. I went to Friederichsbad, which is the more traditional spa. Here is the description of Friederichsbad from Rick Steves - Baden-Baden . It is true that you follow a series of rooms where you take a shower, lay in a hot sauna and then an even hotter sauna, get a soap brush massage, sit in another sauna, swim in 3 thermal pools of varying degrees, take a cold water plunge, liberly apply creamy lotion, then get wrapped up in a warm blanket like a cocoon to take a 30 minute relaxing nap (the attendant comes to wake you after the amount of time that you request - and I did fall asleep). And, the kicker, you do this all completely naked! Thankfully, there are separate identical sides for men and women, but for the bolder folks, there are 3 days per week that are "mixed". I was a little self-conscious at first, but since I had done my research, I was prepared to bare it all. Also, after seeing old, wrinkly ladies, I wasn't so self-conscious anymore! The spa was very relaxing and a great place to treat myself for my birthday. I felt so clean afterwards, and I would certainly recommend this to anyone. For those who aren't so excited about being nude, the Caracella spa is more modern and people wear swimsuits.
After visiting the spa, I got dressed and went to find dinner. I ended up at Lowenbrau, which is the original restaurant location before the famous brauerei in Munich. I had a wonderful dinner of wild game gulash. The restaurant was all decorated for Christmas, especially the outside beer garden which had a full size nativity and millions of lights. I tried to take a picture, but this was when the batteries in my camera died :( Good thing that my mother bought me a new camera for Christmas! I'm looking forward to having a new camera so I can take better (and more) pictures.
After dinner, I went to the casino that Baden-Baden is also famous for. It was built for the royals who used to vacation there, so it looks like a French chateau on the interior, very fancy. You are required to "dress appropriately" for the fancy casino, which means that men have to wear a jacket and tie (you can rent these if you didn't bring it with you). The casino is small, and only has roulette, poker, and blackjack. But, it's a fun experience, and different than casinos in the US. I played Blackjack for a little while, since I am familiar with this game, and it's universal in any language. Unfortunately, all the Blackjack tables were in the smoking area of the casino, but I am starting to get used to people smoking everyone here in Europe. I was slighly intimidated because there were some serious gamblers there, and there aren't many tables, so you basically have to play with the real gamblers. Also, there are always people watching you play (and can bet on your hand). A couple people were betting on my hand, so I felt a litte bit of pressure not to screw up, haha. One guy even tried to tell me (in German) how I should have played the previous hand. I knew I had "hit" one too many times, but he felt the need to tell me that even though he hadn't bet on my hand. Oh well! I was up about 50 Euro at one point, but of course I kept playing, and ended up losing just 10 Euro when I walked away. I thought about playing some more, but decided it would be best to just go back to the hotel and go to sleep.
When I got back to the hotel, I turned on the TV and one of my favorite movies was on - Love Actually. It was dubbed in German, and since I know this movie well (and love it), I thought it would be good to watch to help my German skills. A great end to the day!
My accomplishment this weekend was speaking (or at least hearing) a lot of German spoken to me, and somewhat understanding it! The waiter at dinner spoke all German to me, and so did the woman at my hotel (both at check-in and breakfast). I have found that I can understand what people are saying, but not exactly what they are saying. So, I can definitely get by, but have a long way to go before I am confident with speaking it on a day-to-day basis.
Another thing this week - my new hair dryer and hair straightner came in the mail (you have to have the correct voltage and plug in for Europe). I am very happy to have "normal" hair again (many of you know how important my hair is to me, haha).
One last story to leave with you this week: Here is a picture of something I saw both at the Dusseldorf Christmas market and then again at a store in Baden-Baden:
Yes, you can even buy a Snuggie in Germany!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Photos! (sorry for the delay)
I was informed that people have not been able to view my photos on this blog. I apologize for that, and have now changed my blog setup so there is a link at the top of the right column to my photos on Picasa. Enjoy!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Fun things of the week
Here's a list of fun/funny/interesting things that happened this week:
- When I was at the gym on Tuesday night, there was a program on one of the TVs about indoor waterparks, and of course, they visited Wisconsin Dells which is known for its waterparks. I had to laugh that I am 4,000 miles from home and I see a program that is filmed at a place 15 miles from where I grew up.
- At the Christmas market today, I saw a guy wearing a Sidney Crosby jersey (the light blue Pittsburgh Penguins NHL jersey). Another thing that made me laugh... thought Ryan would appreciate that one!
- I had a very German lunch today at the Christmas market - rostbratwurst with mustard, white Gluhwein (hot mulled wine), and then later a pretzel! Yum!
- I took my bottles to the grocery store to return for the first time. There is a 15 cent deposit on plastic bottles and 8 cents on glass bottles. There is a machine in the grocery store where you put in your bottles, and then it prints a receipt with the refund amount that you redeem at checkout.
- The cross country skiing world cup was held in downton Dusseldorf this weekend, so there were many people of different nationalities wandering around the Christmas market. Now, you're probably wondering how they can have cross country skiing when there is no snow and it's 45-50 degrees here. Well, there is an indoor downhill skiing place in the next town, so they made some fake snow and shipped it into Dusseldorf to make the race route. It was kind of funny to see. They also made a little hill that kids could sled down, too.
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