Thanksgiving 2008

Betreuerabend Thanksgiving 2008

As a symbol of appreciation to the mentors who generously host the Bosch Fellows at their organizations, the Fellowship Foundation organized a Thanksgiving event dinner at the Victoria Restaurant in the Kreuzberg Berlin. These mentors come from the high echelons in their organizations and agreed to have a Bosch Fellow work in their office from October to December 2008.

This event was a huge success!

This unconventional evening consisted of Fellows first working alongside their mentors in cooking hand-picked traditional Thanksgiving dishes based on recipes the Fellows brought from home. Chopping celery for the stuffing, peeling sweet potatoes, grating cheese for the mac & cheese, and preparing drinks were just a few of the many things we did in the restaurant's kitchen. The entire restaurant was reserved for our group of about 30.

After our cooking, the dinner was incredibly delicious and fun - with Fellows, mentors, and Bosch Foundation staff feasting and enjoying the evening family-style. A great night to 'give thanks' to our mentors who have been so helpful in shaping our first Work Stage here in Berlin.

Fellows and mentors hard at work in the kitchen: cooking in a restaurant kitchen is lots of fun!


The gorgeous dinner setting: I took this right before we all sat down for dinner.

Business trip to Stuttgart

Stuttgart: the Global Connect Expo and Federal-State Committee on Foreign Commerce

From November 10 - 13, three co-workers and I traveled to Stuttgart (in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg) to attend the Global Connect Expo as well as a high-level committee meeting between the Federal Government, as represented by us, and representatives of the inward investment and location marketing units of all 16 German states.

Boarding the plane to Stuttgart.

The delegation I traveled with arriving at the Expo early in the morning.

Zuzana and I at the reception: she and I worked together at times and she is a Kolleg from a similar Bosch program for Eastern Europe. Zuzana comes from Bratislava, Slovak Republic and did her work Stage at the German Federal Inward Investment Promotion Agency called Invest in Germany.

Germany's Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Michael Glos, touring the Expo floor: Minister Glos gave the keynote speech that morning to start off the Expo.

Russia's Minister for Economic Development and Trade, Elvira Nabiullina, giving a the audience a very thorough report on Russia.

U.S. Presidential Election 2008

Celebrating the Election night in Berlin

On the evening of November 4, 2008 I watched my country vote for its 44th president at a special venue: the "Amerika Wählt" election party at the Bertelsmann Building at Unter den Linden 1. The event was co-hosted by the U.S. Embassy Berlin and the American Academy while the TV-stations - CNN, RTL, and n-tv - did live, on-premise reporting and interviews with some special guests. These included John Kornblum (chairman at Lazard, former US ambassador), Michael Naumann (German politician, publisher, and journalist) und Margarita Mathiopoulos (business leader and academic).

While waiting until poll results to come in, I spent time with some other Bosch Fellows and met some other guests while enjoying the atmosphere. Approximately 900 guests attended in all thoughout the evening, with many alternating between this and the other 2 large election parties in Berlin. I learned afterwards that the guest list was made up of what the news called "top figures in politics, business, and society". That explains why I felt like I was at the Grammys the whole night! I recognized some faces vaguely from TV.

As the night wound down around 3am, many guests started leaving. But us American Fellows and a small hardcore group did not want to be sleeping while the president of the world's greatest country was being chosen! Nibbling on American food served at the "American buffet", we kept ourselves busy watching the CNN coverage on the large screens as the results slowly started coming in. Cheering and jubilation followed as states turned blue. This was clearly a pro-Obama crowd. (In fact, a very informal poll taken of the guests showed that the percentage of Democrats at this party was in the high 90s.) By morning, the results were in and Barack Obama was the president-elect! The Stimmung (atmosphere) was exhilarating and high-fives and hugs were shared among friends and strangers. Some of us looked at each other and said that we still couldn't believe it that Barack Obama would become the 44th President of the United States of America!


The venue: the Bertelsmann building at Unter den Linden 1



Mike and I: Mike is another Fellow from DC

The Bosch Fellow group: me, Emily, Mike, Meghan, Geoff, Sumi, Catherine

The interior design: red, white, and blue decorations everywhere!

The studio: this area was used as a lounge after the interviews were complete.

Entrance: this is the entrance area at the end of the evening after most people left.

Watching the results: as the poll results started trickling in, we watched in anticipation.

Obama wins U.S. presidency!: happiness on both sides of the Atlantic.

Pleased with the turnout: From left: me, Geoff, Sumi, Mike, Catherine.

President elect Obama took time out of his busy schedule to pose for a photo with me. What a nice guy!