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Germany Day 5
Posted on March 5, 2009 by Brian under Life, Travel.
Today was a great day. I got a lot accomplished at work and we are making great progress in getting the new system up and running for the US. I got access to the new and permanent test bed today. This will be the system that is copied over to the Integration side in a few weeks so the testing of this system is crucial to the success of the US. I have to spend all day Friday running through the check list that I created and ran on the previous days. I need to see if the errors that occurred before come up now or did the development team fix them (they will not be back until Monday). I think it will be good to see the system with the copy of the Live data that is loaded. I can test response times and determine what areas I will need to train and what areas will be issues when it comes to the users. For the most part the new system is not that different from the old, with one major exception, Its far easier to use and follows a logical process. The previous system did not follow this process and was very scattered in how you entered and retrieved data. All-in-all, I think this new system will be a great success in the US and will assist in limiting the amount of issues that will occur.
Now to the reason I am really happy. I FOUND FRIED CHICKEN!!!!
I was taken to a little food shop on the corner next to the Viega building. It has chicken halves (that’s right, Halves not pieces, HALVES). and they are roasted. If you want it fried, they take the half and drop it into a deep fryer. They you have a crispy chicken. I got that and french fries for lunch and could not have been more pleased. The people around me kept looking at me because I was eating like I had not had a meal in days. Which is not far from the truth. I think I may go there again for lunch. I need to take a picture of the meal, its quite large. Its the first time that I ate a meal and was nit the slightest bit hungry a few hours later.
I don’t know what I am going to do tonight. They have a bar down stairs so I have a feeling that it will be very noisy later in the evening. I found a site I can watch movies from so I may just watch a few films until I pass out.
9 days left then i am back home ot family, friends and a familure surrounding. I think I am going to demand to be taken to Freddy’s after I land. I miss good-ol American burgers. Enjoy the photos and I should have more this weekend if the weather holds out. It rained yesterday and we were advised of more rain so I will hope that it passes quickly like it has since I arrived.
More later.
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Germany Day 4
Posted on March 4, 2009 by Brian under Travel.
Today was a little better. I got a new room with a solid internet connection. Its not as big as the one I was in but the bed is much softer and the window actually has a curtain to block out the light from outside. For breakfast I actually had Scrambled Eggs that were not too bad. I had to put salt and pepper on them to give them flavor but they were edible. Unlike the eggs I got yesterday. I had 2 bananas and 2 glasses of OJ. So far I have eaten far healthier than I ever did in the states. For lunch I had a big box of French Fries. They use the French term pommes frites here (dammed French), but they were not bad. The Turkish place is being very patient with me. i eat there a lot because its close and they have decent food. Tomorrow I plan to go to a Hamburger place. I was told that it was pretty good. Maybe for dinner I will go to the Turkish place and branch out and try something new. I took a to-go menu and used Lio to translate some of the stuff so I would know what I was eating.
Tonight I went to dinner ate at really nice hotel just on the outside of town. It was a thank you dinner thrown by the SAP team to the IT people in Germany. I am considered the adopted bastard child of the German IT department so I was invited as well. I had a strip steak, cheesy potatoes and European green beans, they are skinnier and tougher then normal green beans, kind of like the Germans, lol.
Everyone but me and one other person had beer. Its the staple in Germany. The dinner was elaborate and heavy which I am finding out is very typical in Germany, but it was good. The best thing I have had since I have been here. I took some pictures of the food which got some laughs form the people I was with. I didn’t let it get to me though. These will be the first real pics of foreign food that we will have on the Foodies site I am sure.
I got into my new room, there will be pictures of that as well. Its OK, its older and smaller than the other one I was in and its noisier then the other one as well. But it has a constant internet connection that I don’t have to steal from the neighbor. I think the guy next to me is snoring, it sounds like someone running a vacuum cleaner. I hope the earplugs I brought will tune that out. I am really sleepy though, maybe I will just pass out and not know the difference (that’s my hope). I knew I would have a trade off. But I needed internet, I could not work without it. And with me waking up at odd hours of the night I figured I could use the connection to get some of the reports done. I want to stay on top of things so I don’t have to do them all back home.
Well I am going to go to bed know after I send an e-mail to my wife. I will detail more of my trip later.
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Germany Day 3
Posted on March 3, 2009 by Brian under Travel.
Well today was a little better.
I got a lot done on the testing, got some data entered and found some errors that needed to be corrected. I went to lunch today and it was a Chinese place that had a buffet. I stuffed myself with sweet and sour pork and chicken. It was wonderful. This morning I had a Banana, man I never thought a Banana could taste so good. They asked me if I wanted eggs. I said yes and they asked if I wanted hard or Scrambled. I told then fried hard. It came out sunny side up with minced garlic and onions on it. I didnt realise that you could screw up eggs, but yep. Had pizza again for dinner but thats only because I am about to drop. I was invited to join a small poker tourney this evening with the CRm deam but I was just too tired to do it. I would have fallen over on them. Only 10 more days left. I am counting them down. Maybe tomorrow I will get a burger.
More tomorrow, at the moment I can barely keep my eyes open. I am hoping to sleep through th night this time.
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Germany; Day 1 and 2.
Posted on March 2, 2009 by Brian under Family, Life, Travel.
I have come to the realization that as Americans we take a lot for granted. I was one of those people. I took everything that I had available to me for granted. You hear so many people that say that other countries have it better. This is not true.
I was recently asked to go to Germany by my company. I was a little Leary at first because it was going to be a 2 week stay. I don’t like being away from my wife and family and if I travel in the states, its a little easier to jump on a plane and get home if something bad were to happen. But not going was not and option. It was going to cost far less and be much easier to go to Germany than it was going to be to have the team come here. I got myself psyched up and decided that this was going to be a good thing. I had talked to a few people that told me that everything was going to be OK that there was not much of a difference between Germany and America. They said that English was like a second language and that pretty much everyone spoke it. Well this was not true.
Day 1: After a rather long and boring flight I landed in Frankfurt. I needed to buy a prepaid phone because I did not have one that I could use in Germany that would not cost me a dollar a minute to make a call. I found one right away and bought it. Got the card put it in and was on my way. I needed to find a meeting point. In German Airports they actually have places that everyone gather to get picked up by various modes of transportation. I asked some guy that worked for the airport (he spoke English) and he pointed me in the right direction. Good thing too because I would not have found it other wise. When I got there I just stood for a moment and sure enough the guy with the Viega sign showed up. First thing he asks me is if I speak German. I responded No. He then told me he spoke no English and pointed my butt out the door. I followed him to his car and then we were off. 2 hours of silence to Attendorn.
There is the first thing we take for granted. Communication, you have no idea the impact it has on a person that has never been to a non-English speaking country to be thrust into a situation where he can not speak to anyone. It only got worse from there. The nice lady at the hotel spoke enough English to get by but not much. When I got in I was told that there was nothing to eat. the Diner was closed. This sucked because I was starving. I found a little shop that was open late so i decided to jump in there. Wouldn’t you know it, they don’t speak any English at all. it took me 15 min to get a cheese pizza ordered. The ability to communicate is very important to a person. You loose that ability and you loose the ability to control the situation. I finally got my pizza and went to my room. I turned the TV on and everything was in German (of course). I found “High Stakes Poker” and decided that it was going to have to do. It was in English but had German announcers and interviews. I decided to get on the internet and see if I could chat with my wife. This at first did not work. The internet that was supposed to be in the hotel was not and the only thing I could find was a week connection from some place relatively close (this is what I am on now).
I learned before I left that I would need a power converter as Germany uses a different power set up. I got one from Wal-mart (first mistake) and plugged it in. I realized after a few hours that I smelled plastic burning. Wouldn’t you know it the dammed converter is melting. I pulled it out then decided to just shut everything down and go to bed. It was about 4 in the afternoon German time and I thought I could sleep until at least 4 or 5 am. Nope. I woke up at about 10. turned the TV on and decided to chat with my wife. I did so for a few moments then she had to leave. I turned everything off then watched some more tv. Around midnight the breaker in the room blew out. Maybe because of the converter. I tried to call the office and there was no answer. I figured they might be busy. I got dressed and walked to the office and it was locked up tight. I then realized that Germany does not have the same hotels as America. There desk people close up shop after a specific time. This is just great. i am sitting in a room with no power and I can not do anything. I use the last of my battery to chat with my wife. Then in a moment of desperation at about 3 in the morning I call her and just unload. I was so emotional that I just could not hold it in. Once i got it out of me I was able to sleep a little longer.
Day 2: I woke up at about 6:30 local time and showered in the dark. That’s a real trick let me tell you. I went to the office and told them about what happened. They looked at my room and told me that they would get the maintenance guy to look and maybe have to move me. I told them whatever worked and thanked them for there assistance. I went to the Viega office and got checked in. Spent most of the morning with Mattias and got introduced to everyone that I would be communicating with in the next two weeks. Luckily all of them speak decent English. There are a few things they have a hard time understanding but for the most part they got a firm grasp of the language. I got schooled real quick about Germany from everyone. They advised me of some real interesting points to remember for the future.
First, Most Germans do not speak English, especially in small towns like this. Second, Small towns like this tend to close up tighter than a ducks butt after a specific time and almost always on Sunday. Then I learned that the food is far different. I got up for breakfast and was served Rolls, OJ and some meats that I could not recognize and Poached Eggs if I wanted them and some very bland cereal. I ate a roll, drank two glasses of OJ then bounced. Lunch was actually good. But Matthias took me to a place that served Lasagna. Dinner was chicken because I asked Matthias and he thought that anything chicken would be good. This is not true. I got a Chicken dinner and there was so much wine in it that I had an allergy flash. I stopped eating after about 3 bites and just ate these little potato things. They were not bad. I bought some snacks earlier from a grocery store thanks to Matthias. I just went back to the room and munched on this stuff.
Here is another example of things we take for granted. We have the ability to get up and go anywhere at any time and have a meal. Most places are open late, others are open 24 hours. When you go to another country you do not have these options. I was told that the larger cities had McDonald’s and what not but most were like here.
I am now sitting in this room and blogging. I am using the weak connection that is holding up pretty good. I will have to go to the diner or te bar this weekend if I want ot use the web cam I think. I plan on doing that simply because I have to see my wife. Other than that I am doing my job and counting the days. I have 11 days left and then its back to the warm loving arms of my wife. I can not wait.
I will detail more of my trip later. I think know I am going to crash.
Everyone enjoy and have a good day/night.
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And she says I have nothing to worry about.
Posted on February 22, 2009 by Brian under Life.
For those of you that have been reading, you will remember that Ching called me a credit card Nazi a few days ago. She tells me that she is not going to go crazy with the credit card and she tells me repeatedly that she is reformed. Yet, she was showing me the perks of our new card, one of which was a chart that shows you what you spend the most money on. According to this wonderful new tool that I will be looking at regularly now Clothing and Shoes is the largest purchase item that we have done this year. I usually use the card for food and gas. So I guess this new card will be better than the other.
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