New This Week, Part 12

1. Bar/Café: kwadratcafé
Photo courtesy of the kwadratgmbh website
Friends of mine opened a bar/café in my neighborhood, yay! Actually, for those of you who are interested to know, one of them used to own a sex club here in Düsseldorf until about a year ago. It was called "Depot" and featured a variety of sex parties that I sometimes tell friends about. The "Fickstutenmarkt" ("mare-fucking market") was one of the parties that regularly made people's jaws drop. Anyway, the previous owner retreated from the whole sex club thing apparently, and decided to open a very nice neighborhood café/bar combination, together with two other friends of mine whom I actually met online. All gay but the place itself is not exclusively gay, and it's not meant to be either.

Anyway, the grand opening was last Friday night, and Amalia, some friends of ours, my "good" ex-boss, his sister and I went. It was very cool to be part of it, and I feel that the place has a lot of energy and potential. On top, one of the bartenders probably makes the best milk foam in town. You mustn't miss it! And what's maybe even more, I'm happy that I now have a place to go to when I want to read a book in the afternoon by myself.

Good luck and much success, guys!

2. Employer Declares Insolvency
Photo courtesy of Ed Yourdon
With all the crap happening at the office before, we probably all saw it coming but my employer has now officially declared insolvency to the authorities. On Thursday we handed in the paperwork. We will go out of business by the end of this month. I might be able to take over a remaining client but that will have to be determined in the next weeks.

Employment market, here I go, and actually, I might have met my future boss at the kwadrat opening on Friday. :)

3. Job Search: Tailor-Made Letter of Recommendation
Photo courtesy of joeltelling
Speaking of employment search, for the first time I have actually handed in a letter of recommendation tailor-made for a job. In this case it was a job for an extremely suitable position at a large software corporation in the Bay Area in the license management.

For my American friends who might go, "Well, duh, that's what you do, dumb-ass!", let me tell you that in Germany, letters of recommendation are handled differently. They are much more standardized documents that by law have to sound benevolent, even if they basically state that you were lazy and stupid. That's why an actual "job reference code" has been developed. Writing a US-style letter of reference is actually something different.

4. Bar/Café: Breakfast at Ugly Deluxe
Photo courtesy of the Ugly Deluxe website
WeI had actually already been there once, with Kermit after a gym session, but I had never had breakfast there. So when a friend asked me to join him and another friend for breakfast there, I was glad to do so. The sandwiches are actually very nice, and the yoghurt with fresh fruit and caramelized walnuts is a delight! Ironically enough, the friend who asked me to join them was one of the three kwadrat owners. Seems like breakfast has yet to be established there, and actually, I overheard him and another kwadrat owner talking about making breakfast big there from next weekend on. So there you go. :)

5. Drink: Terva Snapsi
Photo courtesy of alko.fi
I tried this last night when I went over to some friends' place to have dinner. I truly have no idea where they got this Finnish drink but if you can, you need to try it. I'm serious. I still can't tell whether it's very cool or just plain disgusting. The taste is undefinable to me but part of it might actually be street tarp. It is truly an adventure. Fins have been known to have very odd drinks but this one is crazy.

As I said, try it! :)






6. Restaurant: La Castagna
I have lived in this house for almost four years now but have never been to this Italian restaurant. Tonight, Amalia, a friend of hers from university and I went. The food was nice although my risotto was bland and far from exciting, and prices are okay.