Saturday, July 26, 2008

Mein Geburtstag und Sommerfest!

So this week has pretty much been a week of celebration.  This week I turned 23 years old, and to answer the big question, no, I do not feel any older!  The first notion of my birthday was on Tuesday night, before going to sleep I heard a few whispers outside of my bedroom door, and in came my roommates and some friends singing Happy Birthday to me (yes, they sing the english happy birthday song here) with a candy bar on a plate with a candle in it!  They wished me a happy birthday, and we all drank some wine together to celebrate.

On Wednesday, I still had to go into work on my birthday.  When I walked in I opened my mouth to say my usual "Morgen!" when everyone in the office began to sing to me again!  Everyone, even from the other offices of the company came in to shake my hand, and wish me "Alles Gute zum Geburtstag".  They also had on my desk a HUGE muffin and candy for me to enjoy.  In addition, a good friend of mine, Georgia, at work, who is an intern from England, had also placed an awesomely creative card on my desk.  You can see this cool birthday card (Outside and Inside) in the picture to the right.  Click to make it bigger!  Sorry, Georgia, to make your card so public!  It was great how everyone at work helped to make it a more enjoyable day . . .

That night, I also went with some friends in the park, and we played a nice civilized game of beer pong.  It is not a common game in Germany, so we of course got many looks, and even quite a few people who wanted to try to throw the ping pong ball into the cups!  It was a lot of fun and a relaxing way to spend my evening.  Don't worry, Mom, we didn't drink much.  We needed to keep our energy up for the next day . . . Sommerfest!

The atmosphere at work is definitely a work hard, play hard one.  I gave an example earlier of the Internet Marketing Conference that was really just a great party, but to top it off, on Thursday evening after work, all of us at Hitflip geared up to enjoy the annual Sommerfest party.  

We all left the office together and walked a few meters down the street to find the "Party Bus" waiting for us.  We all boarded this big blue remodeled school bus which had a bathroom, dance floor, and of course a keg of Koelsch.  The bus also had roll up windows, so we could cruise down the road with the breeze rolling in.  We were probably on the bus for about an hour, and made it to our first destination, a typical Koelsch (the word that describes the Cologne culture, the beer in Cologne, and also the dialect, but in this case, I am talking about the culture) restaurant.  It was a beautiful restaurant with open ceilings, and even a tree growing out of the middle.  It had typical German, and Cologne items on the menu, and the company picked up the tab.  

After the restaurant, we took a short walk over to an asian themed Karaoke bar.  The bar was completely empty until the 30 or so of us waltzed in, and we made it a party.  Co-workers sang everything from good ol' American classics to traditional German tunes.  We also had plenty of beverages to go around!

The last stop of the evening was at a club called the Cent Club.  The club is located on Zulpicher Strasse, the street that I wrote about before, and is a typical young dance club.  There really isn't a lot to say about this stop of the night, but that it was a blast.  Lots of dancing, socializing, and again, the company picked up the tab.  I left the club at about 3am, with only about a five minute walk home, but from what I heard some co-workers were there until almost 6am.  And, yes, I had to be at work the next morning.  Yes, I made it in.  No, some people did not.  

That's about all I've got for this one!  I look forward to hearing from all of you readers!  

Also, check out the music player that I added at the bottom of this post.  I am going to keep updating it with popular songs from here in Germany, and also here in Cologne so you can get a taste of the music here!  Enjoy!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kid Rock is big in Germany? That blows me mind.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Kid Rock is BIG in Germany, or at least this song is! I actually cringe every time I hear this song being played, which is often. I can see why it's not popular in the US though, because it is a complete insult to "Sweet Home Alabama".

Anonymous said...

sounds like an awesome birthday! especially compared to mine haha

Anonymous said...

Glad you had a great birthday - beer pong is an excellent way to celebrate! That bus sounds awesome - lets see if we can get one for UNCW when you get back!!!