Karin's Adventures

Mother's Day - second edition

noreply@blogspirit.com (Karin Brenig) — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:03:34 -0500

Tom's family is a lot bigger than mine, with six mothers (two of them grand-mothers and one great-grand-mother) living in and around Fort Wayne. Becky has the biggest house, so she hosted the family's Mother's Day brunch again.

We enjoyed delicious food, exchanged presents and flowers - and planned our next family get-together for Father's Day. My contribution to the buffet was homemade German bread and Bavarian cheese spread.

Mother's Day - first edition

noreply@blogspirit.com (Karin Brenig) — Sun, 4 May 2008 11:25:00 -0500

Germans in general aren't as actively practicing religion, as people in the Midwest. But Catholic and Lutheran Holidays are strictly observed. This year Whitsunday (the first day of Catholic Pentecost in Germany) would be on the same day as Mother's Day (which is always the second Sunday in May).

Since Catholic Holidays were scheduled long before Mother's Day was even invented, whenever Pentecost falls on the second Sunday in May, Mother's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in May - at least in Germany.

So I ordered a pretty bouquet of flowers, and a heart-shaped box of chocolate to go with it, for my mom.

Dinner at Eddie Merlot's

noreply@blogspirit.com (Karin Brenig) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:00:00 -0500

Today we used the $100 gift card that came with my Team Spirit Award and went to dine out at Eddie Merlot's.

We ordered *Steak Diane for Two*. Tom had a glass of Rioja with it -since I volunteered to be the designated driver. We enjoyed excellent service, a delicious meal, a stylish atmosphere - and bought a dozen lemon filled doughnuts at Krispy Kreme, right next door, on our way home.

Steak Diane for Two
Filet Mignon prepared to your request, flamed tableside with Cognac, mushrooms and herbed mustard demi-glace served with Eddie's potatoes.

Team Spirit Award 2008

noreply@blogspirit.com (Karin Brenig) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:15:00 -0500

One very nice detail of American workplace culture, something I haven't seen in over 27 years of employment in Germany, is the recognition that you get for working hard.

Today Indiana Tech celebrated the annual employee awards ceremony, where individuals and teams are honored for their outstanding contributions to the success of our institution.

The surprise at the very end of this ceremony was this year's winner of our *Team Spirit Award* - the Information Technology department. We each received a nice plaque and a $100 gift certificate for Eddie Merlot's - a fancy local restaurant.