My knees still hurt from my nine hour flight on Tuesday, but the jet lag has been better than anticipated, I guess.
On my first day I was walked around the office and introduced to the approximate 130 employees that work at Kleeberg. After enduring the tall jokes (tall in German is ‘gross’, so imagine being told you are gross on your first day of work. It’s a confidence booster) and making mental notes about where the kitchen and bathrooms were, I had about a three minute break until they put me to work. Wilkommen zu Deutschland!
I am probably the worst dressed male in the office here in Germany. Everyone has a suit on. One thing I have tried to start in America is my Tie-Friday initiative. The premise being that when everyone dresses casual on Friday, join me and dress up! Sometimes back home I feel like Will Farrell in Old School (feel free to bring your green hat) but over here, everyone is doing it! Everyone, everyday has on their tie… my poor neck.
My apartment is a 25 minute walk from the office, which is just far enough to help me walk off the beer I’ve been drinking, yet not far enough to be sweating by the time I get to the office. Kleeberg has provided me with a pass to take public transportation, but I haven’t used it yet out of fear of breaking something.
I was able to skype with some coworkers on Thursday evening while they were at work. My new goal while here in Germany is to receive a letter from our HR department for language usage in the office in America over the phone. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.
One of the biggest transitions for me has been using the German keyboard. They have additional letters in their language that we do not have. I have attached a picture of a German keyboard, and you will notice that the ‘y’ and the ‘z’ are switched. Honestlz, zou have no idea how difficult it is, it drives me crayz.
One of the bigger sporting events every year in Europe is Champions League playoffs. They happen to be in the semifinal round right now, where they play a home and home series with teams with the most aggregate goals in the 2 games. Bäyern München, Munich’s hometown team lost the first match in their series with Real Madrid. The next game is Tuesday. Hopefully my Cub’s fandom doesn’t rub off on them.
Bier .5L Count- IIIII II
Alex Krog, CPA is an Audit Associate and participant of Mueller’s Global Employee Exchange Program.
