Hi welcome to Frisch's

The first day as a server I met almost all my future colleagues. I was quite scared. They were shouting at each other about something. During the 5 hours I was at work, each and every them came to me and told me some bad things about all the others. I was pretty surprised, cause they met me for the first time only.

And even better was, that noone really wanted to train me. Because they do not get money for training AND they live from the TIPS!!! The dining room leader told me that about 3 times per hour. Well yes a wonderfull start of working relations:)

Thanks God there was the other server Cathy, who at least tried to behave as if she didn't mind training me:) Well yes, she still helps me. A lot:)

My second day as a trainee server was even worse. My dining room leader decided she wanted to go home, but our boss THE big red Joe didn't let her go, so she was pretty pissed. So she shouted. Trust me she can shout pretty loud:) And she was throwing empty glass boxes on the floor. She told me: I am sorry, but I will not train you anymore... /enter speech about money..../ and then she told me she was quitting Frisch's. Of course she is still there. Like she WOULD quit.

My other trainer was The Pregnant one / known for stealing tips, cheating, giving out free food, eating food and being lazy/ Well she gets good tips, cause she is pregnant. And tells everybody about it.

A little off topic news:) / she is having a baby shower - I mean WOW... A baby shower??? How COOL is that... or maybe not/

The day she was training me she was telling everyone how she lost her plug / Don't ask, I do not know:)/ when she was 5,5 months. She was doing it for about 2 hours I was with her, when suddenly one of her customers told her: "Why are you telling me this, it is disgusting." I almost burst out laughing:) She was looking like a fish:) She had her mouth open and wasn't able to say anything.

But even this hasn't discouradged her from telling everyone all over again:)

Welcome to Frisches:)

Well Frisches is an old company, that invented wonderfull burger type thing called BIG BOY. And every employee should be proud of it.
This is what we heard when we came to a frisches restaurant for the first time. It was a normal fast food restaurant with a few servers in a bad neigbourhood. We met a small confused supervisor, who knew nothing at all. We filled out a few forms, signed a few forms that we will be proud working for frishes and stuff:)
Then they introduced us to a server from Europe too. He was from Lithuania. We asked him to make us some salads. To this he answered that he would have to make the salads himself. We just smiled and thought: and??? :))))
After a few minutes he came back and told us, that they were out of salads:)))) We found out later, he was just too lazy to make them.
The first day at actual frisches North College hill was a day from hell. Frank/our supervisor, a big fish in a tank:)/ drove us there and the boss of the store/Joe the Red:)/ told us we would be training as drive thru. I almost fainted:)
At least he got me to watch some videos about how I should wash my hands often and should never EVER touch a slicer or steming machine and stupid stuff like that:)
After about two hours of that I finally started to do some work.. Trust me it was pretty hard... Grab a hamburger, put it into a box/not that one, the white one, not that white the smaller one.... and bla bla bla/ and again grab a burger and put it into a box/ hey you may think, just grab the same box and there you go, BUT NO!!! different burger different box:)/ Of course there is also onion rings and french fries and desserts, you have to make and chilli and soups and dinners and extra sauce and no lettuce. Would you believe that you can make about 10 different requests about one stupid burger??? I wouldn't:) But hey, I am in USA now:)
So when the boss told us, I do not know whom should I put as a server I immediatelly told him: Can I be the server please?...
I just didn't know what I have gotten myself into again....

Thrift stores, couches and more

When we saw our flat first time, it was almost empty... The girls living next door got at least an air bed and a table with 2 chairs.... We got nothing:)

But our wonderful landlord Kyle promised us some stuff. We got a TV, which is probably a 100 years old ... And we got a table with 2 chairs from next porch... well don't ask if somebody misses it...I honestly do not know:(
The positive thing is we came almost as the first students...So we got what we wanted from the kitchen stuff. Lets just say, we wanted almost everything:) Sorry people coming after us:))))

But what I missed the most was something to make our living room like a living room:) So I was bugging Kyle/our landlord/ to get us a couch. And when we were going to work we saw one:)

Ok I admit it was a couch left in a street... So what...It was still a couch. So when Kyle came to pick us up to go to thrift store/ a store that sales old and used stuff) we asked him if we could get it inside. After he inpected it with his trained eye:) for bed bugs, we carried it for like 100 meters. Thanks god there was a guy who helped us to carry it over the stairs and doors. They even got the couch legs down... Well but after all we have a livingroom looking living room:) It is tru we do not really have a table for the kitchen part, but hey we have to work with what we have:)

The thrift store visit was really great. After moving the couch we were up for lamp hunting:) The store was quite big, filled with crazy stuff... Let just put it mildly and say Kyle loved it. He found a lamp with 3 Jesuses on it, and one with a big eagle. He was really proud of himself... But he was really really happy when he got our lamp for only 99 cents:) That is what I call a DEAL:))))

Well we also saw radios from 50ties and used hair extentions and baby lawn movers or stuffed toys. I will probably go there to buy some presents for home. What do you say?:)

Welcome to USA

So here I am sitting in an almost empty apartment praying my internet connection will work a little more.

Today was my first day at my job.... Well it was pretty stressfull, instead of being a server I did drive through...which was hell... I do not like drive through at ALL...

Thanks god, I will be doinf server stuff for next week... At least I hope it is better...

I am a little worried about everything right now...from the job, through housing and money to how the hell am I going to manage to put up with all the people.

Lets take a look how the apartment looks like. It has 2 rooms. One little bedroom with only a bed and a tiny closet. Then we have hall/kitchen/living room, where is the kitchen stuff and apart from that TV, that has had better times long time ago and an armchair, which looks pretty but also pretty old and last but not least tiny table and two chairs... Looks like heaven to me...Or maybe not

At least the apartment is in one of the safer parts of the city... Gee thanks a lot.... makes me feel pretty happy... We get a lot of birds and squirells and stuff:)

Why I admire German teachers at Baltic college in Wismar

They say teachers should be patient. I have to agree with this:) They have to be super patient. At least they should be:)

There are many people visiting German courses at Hochschule Wismar. Most of them are people from Morocco, Tunisia, China or India. These folks can be pretty wild sometimes:)

I know what I am talking about, I have had a few parties with them.

And these wonderful women can take care of them. Surprisingly they do not shout, scream, curse. They do not threaten them. Can you imagine they are nice?

Usually I had the German lessons only with Anna:) You know privileged people:) Our teacher was Frau Schmidt/Hi Frau Schmidt:)/ She was an angel... She was supernice and always smiled:) We were preparing for a DSH prufung:) Do not ask me what it means I have no idea:)

We sometimes had other people in the class, but they usually stayed only for an hour or two, and we never saw them again:)

But on the day of our exam, they told us we would be joining other students. We were quite surprised, because we were supposed to be alone.

When we entered the class My first thought was: OH MY GOD!!! In that moment I felt really really exotic:) We were the only white people there... Both blondies:) Only girls:)

Everybody was staring at us, like what THOSE are doing here:) You probably know, that African people are usually pretty energetic and chatty. The room was filled with noise. Even after the teachers came.

But only one funny quote was enough and they were like little lambs. Quiet, nice and working hard:)

I was amazed. I will probably never know how the ladies did it. I am sure like hell I would like to:).

And just to brag a little. OK a lot, here is one of my more successful tests:)

Erazmus day in Bratislava

As an exerazmus student I was asked to participate on Erazmus day in Bratislava...It was organized because of the anniversary of the Erazmus...By the way 20th one:)

Because I am really really nice I accepted the invitation:)

The main purpose of the whole thing was to promote the Erazmus program, because many students don't know about it a lot and a lot don't know about it at all. We were supposed to give information on the country and university we have been studying at.

I was really surprised when I came there and there were about 40 students only/only maybe about 30 of the were exerasmus people, the rest was just stuff:)/

Not many people came because they didn't know about the day, but there were some who knew exactly university and country they want to visit.... Knew all the subjects and stuff, they just came to ask how was it in reality:)

But on the other hand there were people who asked the most simple questions like What do I do to go abroad, why should i go/ maybe because it is a great fun, silly:))))/ and where to go, what to write and when and bla bla bla....

But all this was ok...What made me sad was, that I saw the international class in Bratislava...

You might now think, that they were too bad or too I don't know..No it wasn't their fault at all....

The thing is when I saw them so happy,smiling and satisfied and having fun, I remembered my time in Wismar. I thought of all the people, many of whom I will never see again. I remembered the parties, and afterparies, the lessons, the coffees:) the trips and the gossips as well:)

So Erasmus international class 2006/2007 winter semester Hochschule Wismar I REALLY REALLY miss you :)

“Why exactly do you want to see it?”

We decided to go to Hamburg one day. We persuaded Tedi and Alex to go with us. You know the reduced-fare ticket. So early in the morning,/yes, waking up at 8:00 is early for me/ we caught a train to Hamburg. Ok not directly, we had to change trains once. Coming to Hamburg we had a long discussion how to do the sightseeing. In the end I and Anna decided to walk and the Bulgarians took a bus around.

I found a booklet with some sightseeing points you just must see and we planned the trip. I found a building called Chile house. It was in the booklet, so why not to find it. Well it is easier said than done. We got a map and started. Because I am not a friend of maps and I could say Anna is their enemy:), we got lost. Only a little. So I asked one nice older man, where the house is. He looked at me, I could see he was surprised a lot and after a few seconds he asked: “Why exactly do you want to see it?”

I started to laugh and showed him the booklet. He told us really importantly to follow him, because he was going the same way. So for the next 15 minutes he was waiving at us so that we wouldn’t get lost.

When we saw it, we started to laugh. We never found out, why it was so important, or why it was in the booklet. To be honest, we never tried to. After that we walked around town a little and found the church with the highest tower in Hamburg. I had a wonderful idea to go up to the top of the tower. It was more than 1200 of steps. And every time I thought we are done, I saw another couple of stairs. During the tower climbing I realized that I am awfully out of shape. It took us about 90 minutes to go up and down again. It was worth it though. The view was perfect. In the end I even forgot I almost died going up:).

The Rathaus was quite big and nice, we saw another war destroyed church. I especially liked the old harbour. I really loved the old houses and bridges and boats and stuff like that.
We even found some congress halls and old park and the oldest bridge in Hamburg. I spent 15 minutes watching swans, ducks and some other poor water birds. This was pretty funny for Anna, because she couldn’t understand why the birds are so interesting for me.
In the end we did a little/understand a looooot of shopping/ and went home totally tired.

Ulla even got a blanket

I really really appreciate the work of the international office at Hochschule Wismar. They did a pretty good job to entertain us. One of their tries was so called „TIKO thing“. I gave it the name thing,mostly because we couldn’t imagine what it is going to be like.

Only a few of us went there, perhaps the title of the activity wasn’t so good sounding. The title was interactive Wismar map. What was written there was, that they/we didn’t know who – we imagined some kind of Don Corleone:)/ would show us good places to go and bad places, we shouldn’t even see. So it was only me and Anna/as usually/, the finish guys and our Ulla and Russian girls. We came to a really really special house, which is called the alternative house. We met a few people, who started to talk with us in a mixture of german, english and russian.

After a few minutes/understand 45:)))))/ we finally got it. They want US to do the map. What a shock. We tried to explain them, that we only came to have a little fun, not to participate in an alternative project, but somehow the communication gap was too big. Better to say ultimate gap. So we ended with a task we didn’t want and didn’t quite understand…

Fortunately we had another meeting. And because we got an email about the meeting number 2, we actually knew about what we are going to do. We should have had a Kneippe night. That information persuaded the rest of the finish girls to go with us.

But as one of my best friends often says:”Shit happens :)” And indeed it does. Happen I mean. We met with our TIKO people, who told us, let’s do the shop round. And someone almost cried: “What about the pubs!!!!” And the girl/her name is unwriteable /my Microsoft word doesn’t like this word:)/ …some kind of cool alternative nickname told us a speech. A grand speech about responsibility and promises and bla bla bla…. What surprised us a little. After that Speech we told her really kindly / ok we weren’t that kind/,that if we had known about the responsibility, no one would have come to the meeting number one. Which didn’t make her angry / big surprise for me:)/ But it made her disappointed in us. Which in turn made us promise / again :)/ that we in fact would do it. After this heartbreaking promise we could go to a pub finally. This made everyone happy and we had a nice evening in Schlauch.

The meeting number 3 was a few days latter… We tried to persuade everyone to join the pub tour again, but they told us: “hey we remember the last Kneippe Tour.” It is good to remark, that THIS time we actually had a pub tour. But only me, Anna, Sami and Ulla remained from the team.

First we went to Bar Kai, which is a legend among students. It is a Mekka for designers. And what is even better, the waiters are pretty handsome. Just that you know. Like I said, the bar is pretty popular, so we didn’t have any seats inside. The terrace was still quite empty. In a few minutes we understood why. It was freezing outside. Well it is not a really wise idea to sit outside during October nights. I should say, that Kai is really nice place. I had my first beer in Germany there. And like Ulla said: “We have to give them many good points, they even got me a blanket:)”

The second bar was the posh:) bar New Orleans. New Orleans is good for eating and cocktails. It is pretty expensive, but still many people go there. Maybe because they have burgers :).
Only one thing made me a little nervous. They serve lobsters and stuff like that as well. The lobsters live in a nice aquarium. What I didn’t know is the lobsters in the aquarium are to be cooked. Ok I knew they had them, I just thought the ones in the tank were something like pets. So I was quite, well TOTALLY surprised when a man came to the tank and showed one of them, the poor things. In a few minutes/ I honestly have no idea how much it takes to cook that thing/ the waiter came with a nice and steaming lobster. And I asked horrified: “ They cooked it???” Sami told me: “I certainly hope so.” I hope he is happy somewhere in a lobster heaven.