Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Santa Maria
Santa Maria on Oranienstrasse 170. I have frequented this restaurant upwards of 7 times. The food is incredible. Yes, there are the occasional bad menu selections. Such as the chorizo in a black skillet covered in melted cheese. I know, the brief description makes it sound good. But it wasn't. It just was off. The flavor was boring. Anyways, other than that - the food is amazing.
The restaurant is set up that, when you walk in, on the left is the kitchen, to the front is the bar, and to the right are the tables. There is one chef who prepares all the meals. The meals are prepared according to who orders first - so normally I try to order as soon as I sit down... because I am hungry and hate to wait. Impatient for food.
My favorite favorite favorite thing on the whole menu comes free with almost every dish - pickled vegetables, specifically onions. To die for, to quote my aunt. Really, the onions are so sour and wonderful. They go great with all the meals, especially the spicy ones.
Every meal I start off with the guacamole. Then I normally order, sharing with M, a quesadilla, burrito, or a special for the night/week. I once ordered the salad - good but lacking dressing. Normally restaurants overload the dressing, but here they underloaded it. The salad was filled with yummy goodies such as pears, candied walnuts, and goat cheese.
Anyways, the downfall of Santa Maria... their service. They let me wait an hour before ordering last time I went there. They also have forgotten to bring me portions of my meal.
The food is incredible, the service not so good - but my love for Mexican-style cuisine reigns supreme over mediocre/bad service.
The restaurant is set up that, when you walk in, on the left is the kitchen, to the front is the bar, and to the right are the tables. There is one chef who prepares all the meals. The meals are prepared according to who orders first - so normally I try to order as soon as I sit down... because I am hungry and hate to wait. Impatient for food.
My favorite favorite favorite thing on the whole menu comes free with almost every dish - pickled vegetables, specifically onions. To die for, to quote my aunt. Really, the onions are so sour and wonderful. They go great with all the meals, especially the spicy ones.
Every meal I start off with the guacamole. Then I normally order, sharing with M, a quesadilla, burrito, or a special for the night/week. I once ordered the salad - good but lacking dressing. Normally restaurants overload the dressing, but here they underloaded it. The salad was filled with yummy goodies such as pears, candied walnuts, and goat cheese.
Anyways, the downfall of Santa Maria... their service. They let me wait an hour before ordering last time I went there. They also have forgotten to bring me portions of my meal.
The food is incredible, the service not so good - but my love for Mexican-style cuisine reigns supreme over mediocre/bad service.
Triad
I have been working at Triad for over a month now. It is about time that I tell you what I have been up to here.
I am an intern which means I do tons of research. I am researching almost the whole day. For example, Triad worked on the Shanghai World Expo - and recently I have been researching how that turned out. The amount of visitors, thoughts on it, changes that were brought on because of it... a whole array of ideas stemming from one project. I also research often on China and the Middle East. There is much going on in those regions, therefore there are many projects that Triad is working on in those areas.
Another HUGE responsibility of mine is proofreading. I find myself spending hours on end reading different reports from a variety of people in Triad to check for spelling mistakes, grammar errors and overall fluidity in their writing. I have come to this conclusion: there is German English and then there is English English. The way Germans write is very different than how English is written. German is a completely different language, verbs and nouns go in different orders. My most important job is to take German English texts and to translate them into English English texts. This is not the most exciting job but it certainly allows me to understand most of what is going on at Triad. I get to read a brief sample from many of the ongoing projects.
I go out for lunch daily with my coworkers. I have a variety of people I go out with - which is nice. Variety is the spice of life. I am super happy and appreciative for the opportunity to work with a German company. I am happy to have a job at all.
:)
I am an intern which means I do tons of research. I am researching almost the whole day. For example, Triad worked on the Shanghai World Expo - and recently I have been researching how that turned out. The amount of visitors, thoughts on it, changes that were brought on because of it... a whole array of ideas stemming from one project. I also research often on China and the Middle East. There is much going on in those regions, therefore there are many projects that Triad is working on in those areas.
Another HUGE responsibility of mine is proofreading. I find myself spending hours on end reading different reports from a variety of people in Triad to check for spelling mistakes, grammar errors and overall fluidity in their writing. I have come to this conclusion: there is German English and then there is English English. The way Germans write is very different than how English is written. German is a completely different language, verbs and nouns go in different orders. My most important job is to take German English texts and to translate them into English English texts. This is not the most exciting job but it certainly allows me to understand most of what is going on at Triad. I get to read a brief sample from many of the ongoing projects.
I go out for lunch daily with my coworkers. I have a variety of people I go out with - which is nice. Variety is the spice of life. I am super happy and appreciative for the opportunity to work with a German company. I am happy to have a job at all.
:)
Holocaust Memorial and Pariser Platz
I visited the following places around 2 weeks ago. Sorry about my laziness with blogging!!
I visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin - designed by Peter Eisenman, a U.S. architect. The memorial is of 2,711 concrete slabs put together in a grid-like pattern. The slabs are of varying height - some way shorter than I am while others are much taller. The design, says Eisenman, was created to induce a confusing feeling when walking through. Once inside, you do not know where you are - where the entrance is - and who else is in the memorial with you.
After visiting the Holocaust Memorial, we continued our walk to Pariser Platz. Pariser Platz is in the middle of Berlin and houses the U.S. Embassy, French Embassy, Kennedy Musuem, Brandenburg Gate and many more buildings. The Brandenburg Gate is the symbol of Berlin. While at Pariser Platz, I watched the most amazing hip-hop themed dance, yoga, body themed show. I am having trouble putting a name to it so I will explain. There was a group of around 10 boys who had a prerecorded sound track going. The soundtrack had voice clips, songs, and movie clips. The boys would manipulate their body to dance and move around to follow the soundtrack. They had incredible control over their body. I was so amazed at their abilities - and this has furthered my interest in yoga. I noticed many of the moves they were doing (in seconds flat) were moves I work on in yoga.
Anyways, Pariser Platz was very beautiful. There were many tourists in the area because of its strong historical meaning and central location in Berlin.
I visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin - designed by Peter Eisenman, a U.S. architect. The memorial is of 2,711 concrete slabs put together in a grid-like pattern. The slabs are of varying height - some way shorter than I am while others are much taller. The design, says Eisenman, was created to induce a confusing feeling when walking through. Once inside, you do not know where you are - where the entrance is - and who else is in the memorial with you.
After visiting the Holocaust Memorial, we continued our walk to Pariser Platz. Pariser Platz is in the middle of Berlin and houses the U.S. Embassy, French Embassy, Kennedy Musuem, Brandenburg Gate and many more buildings. The Brandenburg Gate is the symbol of Berlin. While at Pariser Platz, I watched the most amazing hip-hop themed dance, yoga, body themed show. I am having trouble putting a name to it so I will explain. There was a group of around 10 boys who had a prerecorded sound track going. The soundtrack had voice clips, songs, and movie clips. The boys would manipulate their body to dance and move around to follow the soundtrack. They had incredible control over their body. I was so amazed at their abilities - and this has furthered my interest in yoga. I noticed many of the moves they were doing (in seconds flat) were moves I work on in yoga.
Anyways, Pariser Platz was very beautiful. There were many tourists in the area because of its strong historical meaning and central location in Berlin.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Think About It...
I place $20 in a box.
So do you.
Now the box contains $40, and we both know it.
I sell the box to you for $30.
And we both walk away with a $10 profit.
Think about this and get back to me with your ideas, results, conclusions :)
So do you.
Now the box contains $40, and we both know it.
I sell the box to you for $30.
And we both walk away with a $10 profit.
Think about this and get back to me with your ideas, results, conclusions :)
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