The Lunch Club

In our office in the castle, there are mostly young professional women. There are a few men, but they somehow never seem to be in the office (except George, who hails from Issaquah, Washington but has lived in Germany for 20+ years and is our resident IT man, and even he isn't in the office but once or twice a week).

Upon my arrival, I was shown the white board where people sign up to cook for our lunch. As the closest grocery store is a mile and a half away (I know it doesn't seem like much, but when you live and work at a castle high upon a hill, the way back is llllloooonnnnngggg...) and there is only one restaurant in Klein Ingersheim (some kind of schnitzel place....hey, I thought I wasn't in Vienna anymore...?), and most of the girls in the office live farther away, they created this "Lunch Club". It is actually quite good, because that is one less meal you have to think about cooking. Downside: you don't always like what the person has cooked. Yes we have a list of the things people don't eat (for me: bacon. Eeeewww.), but it doesn't guarantee that what the person makes is something you actually want to eat (Right David and Caitriona??!!).

On today's menu: Schwäbische Maultaschen. 

They are like ravioli, but filled with things like spinach, onions, ground meat, ground bratwurst and spices. People around here rave about them, and people just go nuts for them. I, on the other hand, do not. Not my cup of tea, but it is good to try new things and to experience new cultures through trying different foods. At least now I can say that I have eaten the specialty dish from this region. However, once was enough. :)

 Guten Appetit!

On tomorrow's menu (a.k.a. my day to cook!): Tacos!!!!

Backtracking: My First Evening in Ingersheim

In all of this blog-posting-madness, I forgot to share some pictures of my first evening in Ingersheim. After meeting some of my colleagues and room mates, we decided to go for pizza at this new restaurant in Gross Ingersheim (I forgot to mention, Gross = big, and Klein = small). My room mate Christine, her friend and I walked from our place in to town through the wine fields.

A fun view while at dinner was this hot air balloon flying over us, here in this picture with the Gross Ingersheim City Hall in the background.

My colleagues/room mates: Silke, room mate Myriam, Myriam's sister, room mate Christine, her friend and front right-Isabel, who picked me up from the train station. Nice, friendly faces! Welcome to Ingersheim!

Adventures in Ingersheim/Ludwigsburg

There are some beautiful wine fields all around the castle and between Klein Ingersheim and Gross Ingersheim. The other day, the other American girl, Anni, and I walked to the grocery store in Gross Ingersheim. The way to get there is through the wine fields on the path that I go running on. It takes about a half an hour to walk to the store, and believe me, the way there is much much nicer. It's practically all down hill! The dreaded part is the way back when you have the groceries you bought, and the walk back up the hill is pretty brutal. That is a workout in itself!

Here's a little peek at the grapes that are going to be turned in to wine:

On Saturday I made the trek to IKEA in Ludwigsburg. I needed a pillow, a clothes drying rack and wanted to get my own duvet cover and blanket. There is a duvet here I can use, but it is super thick. And with this hot weather, I would roast if I had to use that thing! Plus, the duvet isn't the most inspiring, so I wanted to just get my own. I would feel more comfortable anyway. So, off to IKEA I went.

I walked up to the bus stop, got on and took a ride through Gross Ingersheim to the train station in Freiberg am Neckar (not to be confused with the other famous Freiberg...). I got on the train and one stop later got off, walked to another bus stop, and got on the bus to IKEA. It wasn't so bad really. The coolest thing though is that there is a huge mall right next to IKEA. I went in and had a look, and it is seriously huge. There were so many people inside it was crazy. At least now I know how to get to the mall if I need anything!

The shopping trip to IKEA was a success. There was only one thing I wanted to get that I didn't, and it isn't crucial (ice cube trays). I came home with a super cute duvet cover, two pillows, a clothes drying rack just like my one at home, a new duvet and some postcard flowers to put on the walls to make this place a little more "homey". All the comfort things to help stave off homesickness (which is inevitable).

 Hello, IKEA!

Hello, big shopping mall! I'll be back!

My IKEA haul...

At least I know where the mall is and where IKEA is. It cost me 7 euros there and back, and three transfers on public transportation, which isn't so bad and all of the things I bought cost 33 euros. Not to mention that I've successfully found my way all by myself. I'm glad I did it!

Welcome To My Office!

How about that! I survived my first three days on the job. It wasn't without a little stress, naturally, but all-in-all it was quite a good three days. My colleagues all speak English, but because of my German language skills, all of my training and work is done in German. This is the slightly stressful part, as I don't know every single word, and a lot of the specific terms for the copy machine, telephone, database system I don't know (but I sure do now!), make my brain tired after 8 hours. I do know that if I didn't understand something, I could always ask or say it in English. So far, things have gone smoothly.

I feel that the following pictures will be able to say more about my new office than I ever could, so here is a little tour!

The laundry room and kitchen (the washer and dryer are shared between about 10 people...)

Stairs leading up to the office (after this year, I'll surely have buns of steel!)

Welcome to my office! I sit across from Antje, and we are the marketing department!

Antje's desk, and another desk that is not in use, and...

 

My desk! (Already piled with work, haha!)

 

This is the view from my office window. Not bad!

Soon I will do pictures of my room, the house I live in, and my walk to/from work. I hope to do a video of it as well. Stay tuned!

Destination: Ingersheim

It has been a very warm two weeks in Germany. I would say it has been in the 80's or higher most days, and the humidity is outrageous. These temperatures made for a quite hot trip from Mainz to Ingersheim.

Upon arrival at the train station in Mainz (which Eva took me and my million pounds of luggage to, and even helped put me on the train--thank you, Eva!), there was already a 10 minute delay for my train. We went to the counter and asked what the next train was so Bietigheim-Bissingen. The attendant offered to call ahead and ask if they would wait for my train to arrive in Vaihingen (where I had to change to a regional train).

As we were nearing my stop, I got all my stuff together, got to the doorway (in Germany, you practically have to get up one stop before you actually need to get off, otherwise people start lining up and you'll never get off in time...). Once the train stopped, I pushed the button to open the door. Nothing happened. I pushed it again, nothing happened. By that time I had seen the other doors open at the other end of the carriage. Great, now with all my stuff, two huge suitcases etc., the door won't open! Luckily I moved relatively quickly to the other door, and a nice man who was also getting off helped me with my other suitcase, and I was able to get off the train. Whew. That was difficult!

Then a train came in on the track across from where I had just gotten off the train, that was a regional train. Ok, is that my train or not? I didn't hear what the conductor said (she said she'd make an announcement if the train was going to wait or not, which she never did). I didn't want to risk getting on the wrong train, and knew that in about 20 minutes another train would come, so I didn't get on. In reality it probably was my train, but there was no way I was going to get on and end up in who-knows-where Germany.

Finally, after a minor delay, I arrived to a smiling Isabel (one of my new colleagues) at the Bietigheim-Bissingen train station. Since there is no train station in my town (or a grocery store, or a bakery! GASP!), I got off in the next biggest town and we drove to (Klein) Ingersheim. **Side note** There is "Gross Ingersheim" and "Klein Ingersheim". The two are separated by about a mile and a half to two miles. Gross Ingersheim is where the grocery store is, where a bakery is, and a pharmacy. Outside of that, not a whole lot else....

We arrived in Klein Ingersheim, and to the castle at around 4:30pm. I met Frau Leibrecht, who is my boss' mother-in-law, who lives on the third floor of the castle. She was quite complimentary about my German, and was very very friendly. **Side note** The Leibrecht Family (who I work for) owns the castle that I work in, a Chateau is Strasbourg, France where we have another office, a castle in Heidelberg where in September our company is opening the European Study Center among other buildings across Europe.

Isabel took me to the top floor (4th floor) where our offices are, and I was able to meet some of my colleagues, see where my desk would be and where other people within the company work. On the ground floor of the castle is who-knows-what. There are so many hidden doors, rooms, etc that you don't know what is behind them (and have no right to look, really). On the second floor is the laundry room, a kitchen and dining room. The third floor is where Frau Leibrecht lives, and the fourth floor are our offices.

The other young women in the office have set up what is called the "Lunch Club". The Lunch Club is for anyone who wants to participate, and cook lunch for the others in the office. There is a sign up, and depending on who is in the office, who is on vacation, etc... you end up cooking about once every two weeks, for about 5-10 people. It is really nice because it is one less meal you have to worry about cooking, and you get to spend time with your colleagues not talking about work. This past week we've been able to sit outside on the terrace and enjoy the beautiful sunshine, rose garden and view over the Neckar River.

I'll leave you with some shots of the castle grounds. Enjoy!

From the terrace, looking out over the wine fields and Neckar River

Schloss Ingersheim

View towards the terrace

The Best Things Are Home Made

It is summer. Summer is berry season. Berry season; in particular, strawberry season. And boy, do I love strawberries! Strawberry shortcake, strawberry lemonade, strawberry ice cream and most of all, strawberry jam! Home made of course, by the hard work (ok, not really that hard!) of two good friends. So, here are the preparations and final result:

Prep

Stir

Final Result! 

The Great Strawberry Jam of 2012 went perfectly with some of Caitriona's home made scones. It doesn't get much better than this! Yum! 

Last but not least, we also made some home made pizza last Sunday to cap off a perfect weekend hanging out with friends.

I am blessed by the friendship of some pretty great people, and am glad to be in the same time zone (and in some cases, the same country) again! Here's to more adventures!

Party in the Park- By The Rhein

Who doesn't love a party? I know that one of the most fun places to get together with friends and hang out is along the Rhein River.

A dear friend of mine from Spain was also visiting Mainz at the same time that I was, so it was a perfect time to get together with old friends and reconnect! The fun part is also meeting new friends, and getting to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Throw in some food, a guitar and some singing and you've got a fun night!

Over the next few days David and I got to hang out, Eva and David finally met (two of my best friends had never met up until this point, though probably knew more about each other anyway!), and I got to enjoy Mainz before heading to Ingersheim. Here are some pics! Enjoy!

Sunset by the Rhein- looking towards the Theodor-Heuss Bridge

Guitar and singing by the Rhein

 

Good friends and the Mainzer Dom