Hamburg III: The Cool Display

Most of the exhibition visitors either operated commercial kitchens (i.e. restaurants, hotels, hospitals, etc.), or were dealers and planners for the industry. Although the vast majority were from Germany, I was recruited into action when foreign visitors showed up, all of whom spoke English to some degree or another. I did need to take care of a few German visitors myself, and that was a bit nerve-wracking.
The company I work for was up against some stiff competition from the other displays, but was up for the challenge. Not to be outdone by the smells and tastes coming from other kitchens, we had our own professional chef along with some assistants showcasing the usefulness of our commercial refrigeration appliances.
There are two things which easily attract the attention of passersby, the first of which is offering a delicious snack free of charge. Not too much; something you can hold in your hand but which looks haute-cuisine. Our chef whipped up a selection of canapés early in the day using a variety of fresh breads, cheeses, smoked meats and salmon, and topped them with colourful vegetable garnishes. He then put them in our shock-freezer where they plunged down to -30°. Throughout the day he would take them out, let them unthaw for 5-10 minutes, and hand them out to groups of people while enthusiastically explaining to them through his wireless headset microphone that they were actually prepared many hours earlier and had in fact been frozen solid for much of the day. He spoke passionately about the technology we use to pull this off, and proceded to also extoll the merits of our quick-cooler by showing how he was storing fresh baguette, smoked fish and 3-day old pasta and potatoes together with no transer of aroma or flavour. Most people were quite impressed by the canapés, as was I. Just to be sure, I continually tested them throughout my three days there.
The other way to get people to spend time at your display of course is to offer free beverages. All you had to do was wander in and one of our hostesses would appear before you asking if you would like something to drink. From our chilled beverage counter we offered spring water, cola, juice, and white wine. Although many visitors requested something from our espresso/cappucino machine, the biggest draw was the fact that we had the Black Forest's most famous pilsner and wheat beers available from our bar - on tap.
Welcome to Germany.

                                          
Six o'clock was happy hour. After 9 hours of stress without a break, weary sales teams would desert their dry displays and gather at the displays of business partners who had liquid refreshment to offer... i.e., ours. Men loosened their ties, women kicked off their heels, and everyone chatted about the highs and lows of the day.
Suddenly everyone was a friend.
Even the competition.

Hamburg II: The Exhibition

The reason I was in Hamburg of course, was to attend the biggest commercial gastronomy exhibition in Germany with my new employer. Although the primary purpose was to get to know our regional sales reps and dealers as well as see how things are done from a marketing perspective, I was free to periodically roam around to familiarize myself with the industry in general and our business partners and competition in particular.

The exhibition basically consists of multiple enormous halls containing the newest, the biggest, the most high-tech and of course most expensive commercial kitchen appliances, tools and gadgets (many of which I didn't even know existed) in the world. A good percentage of the exhibitors had professional chefs (some of them famous TV chefs) working fully functioning commercial kitchens, demonstrating their wares by creating every imaginable gourmet delight in record time and dishing it out free of charge to whomever happened to be standing in front of them. You can begin to imagine my enthusiasm. Every now and then I thought "And they're paying me to do this?!"

I actually only made it though a few of the halls, so I can't tell you what was in the other ones. But from what I saw, I can tell you that there is no kitchen task so small, that some company somewhere hasn't made a machine to assist you in that operation. Case in point - I'm not making this up - there was a company proudly displaying a large, fully automated cutlery sorter: pile your various-sized spoons, knives and forks in one end, and it will dispense them in the appropriate holder at the other end. I suppose you would have to have an extremely high-volume dining hall to justify such a purchase, but items like that made the exhibition a fascinating experience.

Close to our display was a company proudly showcasing a huge kitchen island I think any of us could live with. This stainless steel beauty features two convection ranges and one gas range, three various sized frying stations, a built-in barbecue grill, a pressable griddle, several sinks and overhead faucets, all controlled either manually or with three touch-screen LCD displays.

My favourite two items were a little simpler, and conveniently displayed side by side. Just think, you too can have your very own mongolian grill on the patio, composed entirely of stainless steel with a marble ledge. 

Or, if you're a little more old-fashioned, you can spring for the partitioned frying pan the size of your entire stovetop. Breakfast for the whole family couldn't be easier.

"Who wants bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes and apple fritters?"

Hamburg I: The City

While Elena had Saturday through Monday off of work, I was in Hamburg beginning my new job at an exhibition. I arrived back home from Hamburg late last evening with a lot of experiences packed into three days, and a few photos to boot. I thought it would be convenient to write three seperate entries over the next few days, and this is the first one: my impressions of the city.
Hamburg is a port city in the north of Germany, and I found it to be very different from southern Germany in a number of ways. For one, the architecture is closer to that Denmark, their neighbour not far to the north. Although there is what I would call a general style, there is not uniformity among the buildings, with many of them managing to stand out from the crowd as far as colour, facade, or general design.







This is true of the culture as well: it is an edgy university town with a strong artistic flare and a huge music scene. Everywhere I looked there were ads for musicals or concerts.
It also has an abundance of great restaurants featuring international and new cuisine. We travelling across town with some business associates to eat at a very authentic Argentinian steakhouse with a large charcoal grill.
This is where the difference between northern and southern Germans became pronounced. While the artsy, well-dressed locals were trying to enjoy a quiet evening in Latin style, the Swabians and Bavarians in our party were howling with laughter at jokes being told in turn, and ordering more beer. Southern Germans are known for a number of things, but subtlety is not one of them.

On the Move

As I wrote in the last entry, things are changing fast for us.
For one, we've finally found an apartment which suits us, and plan to move in on May 15th. I say "finally" because we've been looking for several months. It's not that our expectations were so high, it's just that the Balingen rental and real estate market is so hot that most of the good properties and units are gone before they even get on the open market. It's one of those things where you have to be well-connected to hear about who's going to be selling or moving out soon, and then swoop in before they get a chance to put an ad in the paper. Elena was fortunate enough to have a colleague who is planning to move out of an apartment which she owns, and it happens to be in a very good location for us: within walking distance of Elena's work (and the church), and very close to the highway. We'll do another post when we move in to show you around our new digs.
Another big change concerns my work. The story goes like this: About a month ago I began to develop rashes on my hands. I assumed it had to do with the unusually cold weather we were experiencing, but thought it odd that I had never had anything like that during a Canadian winter. Then it began to get worse even as the weather was getting better, spreading up my arms almost to my shoulders. At that point Elena booked me a doctor's appointment. Our doctor took one look at it and asked if I wear a watch. I don't, but he said he asked because it looks exactly like a nickel allergy. I told him I work with nickel-containing parts every day. He looked at me with a half-smile, nodding his head as the career implications sunk in. My only formal training and experience is in trades dealing with metals. He delicately explained that it would be quite difficult for me to continue in my current position without taking measures to ensure that my skin does not come into contact with nickel - a component in almost all steels, and especially metal coatings. Wearing gloves and long sleeves all day along with other precautions would be necessary, but I would not be a very effective or happy worker.
Around the same time I found a job posting for a sales rep at a commercial refrigeration applicance company very close to Balingen. I have never done anything of that sort, but I had two things going for me: they wanted someone with a technical trade or experience to be able to deal with technical issues and questions, and they wanted someone fluent in spoken and written English because the position concerns product dealers outside of Germany. Check and check. Although they were also hoping for someone with sales experience, I decided to take a shot at it anyway. I sent a resume hoping that the job wasn't taken yet and Elena and I prayed about it because we didn't see much else for me in the way of career options. Amazingly, I got the job. I may do a post about that experience, it's quite miraculous. I gave my two-weeks notice, and yesterday was my last day working in Gosheim after nearly four months. I left on good terms and was even told they would try to find another job for me in the company if my new job didn't work out.
I took today off to do some errands and relax a bit, because my first day of work with the new company is actually tomorrow: I'm flying to an exhibition in Hamburg with my new boss! We're scheduled to leave tomorrow morning and come back Monday evening. They said my only job at the exhibition is to be curious. I can do that. Get to know my new colleagues and even check out the competition. I've never been to Hamburg, but I'm told it's a beautiful city. I don't know how much I will see of the city, but I'll let you know how things went.
One other thing that's (sort of) new is that we plan to be in Canada for the first few weeks in April! The flights were booked about a month ago and we haven't kept it a secret, but it came to my attention that not everyone has heard about this through the grapevine. So I thought I would mention it here. We need to do our Canadian taxes for last year and pack up a container of what's left to ship here. It also works out that the Easter holidays mean we'll get to spend a bit more time with family.
So, we hope to see a lot of you in a few weeks! But before that I'll try to let you know how my new job is working out.  

A Look Back

We've been up to our eyeballs in things to do the past few weeks, and things are changing fast. I'll have a few more updates for you (hopefully) soon, but for now I thought it would be nice to reminisce a bit about my late father-in-law and share some photos which have turned up since his passing nearly two months ago.


Here is a photo taken in the days leading up to our wedding. This is my favourite picture of the three of us, mainly because this was typical Tata: always ready for a warm embrace and a huge smile. My family stayed with my soon-to-be-inlaws for the wedding, and my brother Luke wrote me recently that what he will remember about Tata is that he always seemed to be the happiest guy on earth. I have to think that it was more than just the fact that his last daughter was finally getting married off.









My father-in-law had 14 children, and by the time he passed away, 62 grand-children and several great-grandchildren. There must be a lot of joy that comes with having so much progeny, but a fair amount of sorrow as well. Not long after his oldest grandchild died of complications from leukemia, his oldest son was killed in a car accident in Romania, leaving behind a wife and several young children. He was named Cornel after his father, and the two of them had a close relationship. Elena said that Tata was absolutely devastated, and was never quite the same afterward. I imagine that spending time with the children from his son Cornel was a comfort to him. They are now grown up, and have begun to have children of their own. This is a photo taken this past fall of Tata playing with his oldest great-grandchild, the grandson of his son Cornel.

This is the last picture of my father-in-law, taken two weeks before his passing. I don't think there could be a more fitting final portrait of him: at home with his beloved wife of more than fifty years, a grandchild in his lap and a dear long-time family friend who came to visit.




                                                                                                                                              

The Big Freeze

 One of the things Elena and I were looking forward to was a nice, mild southern German winter. We thought we had escaped the terrible Canadian winter, but it seems that it has followed us.
If you've followed the news recently, you're already aware that Europe is experiencing temperatures far below the norm, often accompanied by huge dumpings of snow. Unfortunately, Germany has also been affected. Balingen winter temperatures usually hover just above the freezing mark, which means that when it does snow, it doesn't stay on the ground long. The mercury has stayed well below the freezing mark for the last while though, even dipping down to -22 C (-8 F). As I write this, it is -15 C (5 F) outside. Having grown up in Canada, I can deal with it of course... it all feels so disappointingly familiar. I'm pretty sure I can hear my family and friends in Canada laughing.
I must admit though, that all this snow along with the prolonged freezing temperatures in this beautiful part of Germany makes for a scenic drive. The photo above is the view from the road as I leave work in Gosheim at 4:30. My commute meanders through towns tucked into the valleys, such as Wehingen:

If you look above the car in the foreground, you can see a little white sign on the side of the building. That is the bakery I stop at every morning on my way to work. They open at 6 AM with a huge selection of fresh-baked goods, and give me good reason to look forward to my morning break and lunch. Definitely worth getting out of a warm car for.

Farewell, Tata

I will begin by apologizing for going an entire month without writing a post. Things have been overwhelmingly busy for us since Christmas, and although I had intended to write a post or two about how we spent our holidays, it seems somewhat trivial now.
As many of you already know, three weeks ago Elena's father passed away. It was not at all expected. He seemed to be doing well, and spent his last day driving Elena around on errands while I was at work. In the evening, several of his children came by for a visit with their families. After they all left, we wished each other a good night, and went to bed. He slipped away in the early hours so peacefully that his wife of 52 years was not awakened.  
He is of course dearly missed by his wife and many children and grandchildren as well as those in the church and community who knew him. In the inital shock and grief, I wanted to write about it; to write about him in a way which would be a tribute to him. But after a few days I began to wonder what I could possibly write which would do justice to his life's story, or to give those of you who never had the priviledge of knowing him an appreciation of what he was like. So instead of one very long post, I've decided to write several smaller ones. Maybe not in close succession, but periodically as things come to mind or old photos are discovered I will try to give you insights into the man we called 'Tata'.
For now, here is my translation of the overview of his life which was read at his funeral:

Bro. Cornel Vartaci was born the sixth of seven children to Maria and Johan Vartaci on the third of March, 1935 in Pecica near Arad in Romania.
At 24 he married Ana Rehorek, and God blessed their marriage with 14 children: seven boys and seven girls; such is the true promise spoken in the Word of God: "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
Finding his Saviour in the Lord Jesus Christ in his early years, that is, 1961, it followed that he was baptized and welcomed into the church. There he gave himself with body and soul into the service of God. He was called into the ministry, and later to be a deacon, a capacity in which he served until the end of his life.
In the years 1989/1990 when the opportunity to leave Eastern Europe arose, four of his children left for Germany and began a new life. In 1992 he also left with his wife and six children, finding in Balingen his second homeland. Other children who had already married followed in the same year. The oldest son and his family remained behind in Romania.
In Germany he drew his pension, and for a long time continued to work for nominal wages in order to keep busy and supplement his income.
He fought the good fight, and yet he was not spared from enduring several blows. In the year 2000 his oldest grandson Robert passed away at only 18 years of age due to leukemia, and at the close of 2002 his oldest son Cornel was killed in a tragic car accident. All of his siblings preceded him in death.
In 2003 he suffered a heart attack, but was saved thanks to the able response of a medic from the neighbourhood. A difficult heart operation followed, yet he was able to recover almost entirely and lead a normal private and public life.
As he was not bed-ridden, his death came as a complete surprise to us all. The previous evening he was even visited by some of his children. He fell asleep peacefully in the night on the third of January 2012, insomuch that not even his wife was able to notice that he had gone on to live in the eternal homeland.