Networking

Maybe you already realized the new "feature" on my blog: In the green box on the right it says "What's next..." I think it is designed to become a mess soon;-) It is a place where I want to note down some topics I intent to write about (at some point) but also to let you know where I am when I'm not in Siegen (so you'll know where/if we can meet).

The first point I mentioned there was the trainee workshop in Henningsdorf (close to Berlin). You have to know that Bombardier Transportation is divided into several divisions like "Light Rail Vehicles", "Propulsion and Controls", "Bogies" (that's where I work) etc. The PPC (Propulsion and Controls) trainees wanted to have an inter-divisional workshop so they invited us, the Bogies trainees, from Siegen and Derby to Henningsdorf.

All together we were 8 trainees and you can see it in different ways;-)

• 4 from PPC and 4 from Bogies or
• 7 guys and 1 girl or
• 2 from England, 2 from Sweden, 4 from Germany

As networking was the aim of the workshop, we already met Sunday evening at the "Brandenburger Tor" (see picture). After a short sightseeing tour we went to the "Biergarten" to get that networking started. And it was successfully continued on Monday night...


Monday morning we started at the company at 9:00 with the agenda and a short introduction to the PPC division. After that we visited the plants of PPC and "Mainline and Metros". The training session started after lunch and was on Cultural Awareness. To be honest I had expected something like a lot of ridiculous role plays and a boring presentation but it wasn't at all like that. The trainer was really good and I think I learned a lot from his examples and exercises (which weren't ridiculous at all). On Tuesday the training lasted from 9:00 to 17:00.

Besides of the training, I found it really interesting to get to know those other trainees. Before I had not even know there were trainees at Bogies in the UK... And I was surprised to find out that the trainee programs are quite different: at PPC it lasts a year and includes two stays abroad, the poor Bogies trainees stay for 2 years at the same site.

In brief: I enjoyed the very useful training session and the networking with 8 really nice people.

Frustration

Thanks Vane and Michael to help me out with the last Paper Boat Challenge although it was only an unsatisfying solution.

I have to say I could do the frog puzzle...


And also managed 20 seconds on that after some trials...


But your puzzle, Michael, keeps me thinking and after 4 days really hard thinking I'm frustrated. I tried to apply logic to it but in my opinion there can be no solution. Argh... well, congratulations again, it means you win again.

Cooking and sunrise

At least some of you know that I’m member of a very special „club“: a group of 5 people that meet once a year to watch the sunrise. You definitely have reason to wonder because we don’t even know ourselves how that crazy idea started. What we know is that it came up about one year before we finished school. On Nadja’s birthday we all agreed to meet for a sunrise at the Wasserkuppe (the highest mountain in our region) if we all passed our Abitur. Since then we (try to) meet every year.

This year we even met in London because two of us were there anyway. You can read about it on Nadja’s blog. Somehow I didn’t manage to write about it here.

As I was in Mexico last year I couldn’t join the others when they met. You should know that in this case the rules of our club are very strict: who misses a meeting has to cook for the rest of the group. That’s what I did last Thursday. Here is a picture…



I thought about something originally Mexican and what I came up with was chicken and potatoes with “mole poblano” and “flan” as dessert. Vanessa (she missed one meeting, too)’s part was the first course which was salad wrapped in ham with olives and I guess some more ingredients (sorry, I concentrated too hard on preparing my part).

My friends at least said they liked what I prepared and asked for the recipe. So here is also for the rest of you:

Mole Poblano:
about 400g chilis (depends on the chilis and your taste)
about the same amount of onions
4 tomatoes
10 cloves of garlic
150g of almonds (ground)
8 pinks
10 pepper kernels
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 bars of chocolate
juice of 1 lime
oil and butter
1l chicken broth

Cut the chilis (best: using rubber cloves otherwise even your fingers will hurt afterwards). Fry them slightly in a pan. Then add water and let them soak some minutes.

Cut the onions, tomatoes and garlic and fry them, too. Mash everything (including the chilis without water) in a mixer.

Stew almonds, pinks, pepper, cinnamon and coriander and mash them as well.

Put all that in a high pot and add the lemon juice. Cook it slightly during 10 minutes while constantly stirring. Break the chocolate bars into little pieces and add them to the sauce. Fill up with chicken broth and let it cook about 20 to 30 minutes. If it thickens too much add more of the broth. Don’t forget to stir it constantly!


Chicken and potatoes:
If you don’t know how to prepare that, you better don’t try the mole.


Flan:
2 cups of whipped cream
1 cup of milk
1 pinch of salt
½ teaspoon of natural vanilla
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
7 teaspoons of sugar

Mix the whipped cream, milk, salt and vanilla in a pot. Heat it until it starts to cook. Withdraw it from the cooker and let it cool at least 30 minutes.

Put the cup of sugar in a small pan and stir it until the sugar is completely melted. Rapidly put the sugar in 6 fire-proof dishes.

Stir the eggs, egg yolk and sugar. Bit by bit add it to the cream. Put everything in the dishes with the sugar.

Put the dishes in a baking pan (or something similar). Add water until the dishes are half way in the water. Put it in the oven at 180°C for about 40 to 50 minutes (until the mass hardens).

Let it cool for at least 2 hours afterwards. Put the dishes upside down on a plate and remove the flan.

Enjoy you meal!

Paper Boat Challenge (June)

I'm already late with the new Challenge (and some other topics I planned) because my computer at home doesn't work. Really annoying! Therefore I cannot publish the puzzle I prepared but that's your chance. You can send me a puzzle and you win (i.e. you can give me a topic for a post) if I cannot solve it in 2 weeks (I won't be able to check what you send me until next weekend). I hope that's a deal...