School trip!

On Wednesday we had our team event, a trip to the warehouse followed by a meal out. It was very surreal because it was just like being on a school trip. At 3.30pm we all packed up our bags and shut down our computers, and got on the coach. I could tell my boss was excited as he started singing 'Woah! We're going to the warehouse!' to the tune of the Vengaboys' 'We're going to Ibiza'!

I was keeping an open mind about the warehouse, I thought it might be interesting to see what goes on there. However, when we pulled up at one of those big collections of warehouses that you see at the side of the motorway, it suddenly occured to me that it would probably be really boring. My suspicions weren't exactly quashed when we arrived and the woman meeting us asked us to leave all our coats and jackets on the coach, so that we couldn't use them to steal anything!

It was impressive to see so many boxes of shoes and racks of clothes all at once -shelving 4 stories high across 3 halls, each the size of a football pitch- but once you had said 'Oh wow, that's a lot of shoes' then that was pretty much all the excitement the warehouse had to offer... Even in the kitchen, where we were sent to wait whilst the other half of the group had their tour, all there was to entertain us was an out of order drinks machine and an empty vending machine. It was such a bleak room. Someone (cynically?) suggested that the idea behind sending us to the warehouse was to motivate us in our jobs by making us think 'Well, at least I don't work there'...

The event picked up a bit once we were at the meal, especially as all the food and drink were being paid for! It was nice to chat to a few other people from the UK team, and then at the end of the meal we all piled back on to the coach to be taken back to Berlin.

The school theme continued the next day, when we had the 'Quarterly International Marketing Meeting', which was basically fancy business speak for an assembly, where they told us what had happened in each of the countries in the last few months, and what was planned for the future. There were awards for particularly good workers, and some of us even sat cross legged on the floor!

There were drinks on offer after the meeting though, which would have made school assemblies more bearable I think...

The Fridge Saga

When I saw Leo, my flatmate-landlord, on Friday, he announced that he had got me a fridge, he just needed to bring it round and put it in the kitchen. He said he might do it on Saturday, but I didn't see any sign of him all weekend. Then finally, just as I was getting ready for bed on Sunday evening, I heard people coming into the flat and it sounded like they were carrying something heavy and having the usual 'Careful now, this way, put it down here' type of conversation that people have when carrying heavy things. I had my fingers crossed that it might be a fridge, but when I had a look in the corridor I couldn't see anything. When I went into the bathroom the next morning though, there was a fridge sat on top of the washing machine. I was really excited all day that I would finally have a working fridge! I rushed home, and saw that it was all ready and installed in my room. I opened it and my first thought was 'Hmm, seems pretty warm for a fridge'. About five minutes later my flatmate-landlord wandered in to tell me that he'd got me a fridge, but it didn't work. I couldn't help thinking that's kind of what you get for buying a fridge that only costed 15 euros...

I was slightly worried, as he'd previously mentioned that he would be going to Switzerland for a month the next day, but luckily that evening he went to collect another fridge. I heard him come back in, so I opened my door to see if he needed any help transporting it, but he came out of the bathroom holding some cleaning products and a sponge, and said 'I'm just going to a gas station to clean it' 'Err...okay' was the best response I could come up with (whilst also thinking 'Why a gas station?!') and then I heard him bring the fridge in at around midnight.

Finally, the next day, I came home to find a fridge in my kitchen that actually works! It even has a freezer section, which the 15 euro one was missing. It is a lot taller than the gap under the work top really allows, but he cunningly solved that issue by just removing the work surface and placing it on top of the fridge, so it now towers over the rest of the surface space, but I don't really care, I have a working fridge, I am going to go celebrate by buying some milk and yoghurt!

Park Life

It was so sunny today, I spent the whole day in the park with the other Leeds people and one of their German flatmates. It was amazing the variety of activities the people around us had brought with them to do. From where I was sitting I could see people riding their bikes, rollerskating, climbing on the climbing wall, practicing tightrope walking on tightropes tied between trees, hula-hooping (I assume that is the verb...), playing catch, doing yoga, playing volleyball, having a barbecue, juggling, playing the clarinet and the accordian, reading, skateboarding, playing with their dogs, and just generally chilling out with their friends and a beer. There were even a few people who were practising swinging around something that looked like socks with a tennis ball stuffed at the end.

The German guy who was with us had bought a tight rope himself, so we all had a go. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that I am a natural, but who knows, maybe with a bit more practice...

Part time tourist

My friend who is currently working near Frankfurt had some time off so she came to visit me in Berlin. She had to do the touristy stuff by herself during the day as I was at work, but it was nice to hang out in the evening and pretend I was a tourist too. We went to 'the best burger bar in Berlin', which was themed exactly like an American burger bar, except without the friendly service. We also went to a wine bar, where you pay for a glass, help yourself to whichever wine you fancy, and then pay 'what you think you owe' at the end of the evening. My advice would be to bring change with you, even though we had only had two small glasses, we ended up paying 5 euros each, as the man stood over us as we placed the money in the bowl and neither of us felt like rummaging for change whilst he was watching. The bar itself was quite nice though. We were there for the leaving party of another intern, who is returning to England for final year (good luck to him...). It's a shame that we had just got to know all the other interns before half of them left, but they always seem to be recruiting new people so hopefully there will be some replacements arriving soon.

On Friday evening we went out for drinks with the other Leeds people here. It was good, we set out to a general area that has a lot of bars and restaurants and generally seems quite cool, but obviously didn't know exactly where to go as we have only been in Berlin a few weeks. We just picked one and luckily enough it was not only a nice place with a good atmosphere, but was also doing all cocktails for 4 euros!

Having a visitor here also gave me the perfect excuse to go for a Frühstück on Sunday, it was delicious!

Who the hell is Maxime?

On Monday, I got home from work and thought it was very strange that the flat smelt of cooking, when my kitchen is the only kitchen in the flat. I got into the kitchen, and there was a pan of food sat on the hob, which was a bit weird, but I assumed that my landlord must have made it and that he would be back later to explain. I waited till about 11pm, and he still wasn't back yet, so I text him to say I was going to sleep, as the only way into the kitchen is through my room, and I didn't want him bursting in during the night. The food stayed there on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I got a text from my landlord saying 'That was Maxime with the food, I forgot to tell him you rent the room now'.

I couldn't help feeling that the reply raised more questions then it answered. On Thursday I saw that the light was on in my landlord's room, so I went to ask him what was going on, but when I knocked, I realised it was someone completely different. I didn't quite know how to react, so I went with 'You're not Leo' and he replied 'No, I'm Maxime'. That still didn't really answer any questions about who he was and why he was in the flat, but I didn't really know how to phrase that. And although the food had gone, and the pan was no longer on the hob, it had just been deposited in the sink. Finally at the weekend I started getting some answers, Leo explained that Maxime used to live here and has moved out, but that he was just collecting some of his stuff. He also found it a bit weird that he had come in and cooked, especially as my room is full of dresses and make-up, so it would be a bit hard to confuse that with Leo's belongings. I hope that he has properly moved out now, although he has left a 5kg bag of potatoes in the kitchen, so I am not entirely sure what to do with them.

In other news, I asked Leo when I would be getting a fridge, and he replied 'these days', so I am not really sure what to make of that. Also, someone keeps removing my name from the post box- I checked with Leo and he says it wasn't him, so unless it was the mysterious Maxime, I don't know who else it could be, unless someone has jut taken offense at my name. I have put my name back on there (third time lucky) and I am hoping it will stay there this time, at least until I get all my official documents and so on posted to me!