Saturday, July 7

Fun Times with Colleagues

Last Monday our employer got a little generous and gave its employees a very nice outing. We've got our own tour bus, took a cruise along the Rhine River, had lunch in a beautiful town called Bacharach along the Rhine River and finally had some Wine Tasting - all expenses free!!! According to my colleagues this is the very first time this ever happened. They usually paid for their own lunch and expenses which was for me quite weird the first few times I joined the so called company outings. Weird because not only company outings are supposed to be a way to motivate your employees (how can they be motivated when they have to pay for their own and even work longer on this particular day) but because our employer is also the Catholic Church which takes 9% from my montly salary. In Germany it is quite expensive to have a religion (for the Catholics and Protestants only), which automatically means they take that chunk of money away from you. Some people are wiser and declare that they don't have any religion at all. I wish I could do this but most Kindergardens are run by church so they prefer to have their own people work for them of course. The state owned Kindergardens don't care for such things but this way my I have more options when seeking employment. Our fun started with a few shots of "Erdbeerlimes", an alcoholic drink with pureed strawberry, sugar, lemon juice and lots of vodka. Tastes good actually. It can be addicting. Well since my other colleague forgot our shot glasses, we opted for coffee creamer cups.

Here are some more beautiful views along the Rhine River, castles, vineyards and small, beautiful towns. I've posted in my last Wordless Wednesday the timber houses in Bacharach.








And finally Wine Tasting, unfortunately I didn't find anything I like in all those wines I've tasted. I guess I'm not such a fan of Riesling.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello ate....
ganda naman dyan....kamusta n kayo....

Gattina said...

Oh my ! how many times I have done this trip ! It's very nice along the rhine. Yes the church is expensive, fortunately in Belgium they don't have church taxes (nor dog taxes) but if working for a catholic kindergarten is good for you then you have to stay with them.
Thanks for your birthday wishes, it was a nice day together with my son who came over from Amsterdam. Even the sun came out that day and we could sit in the garden. Of course today it rains again ! What a summer !!

maiylah said...

yeah, it would be real weird paying for yourself on a company outing! unless, of course, you brought someone along ... then you have to pay for that person's expenses! ;)
really ... they take 9% of your salary? parang yung INC dito, no?

Anonymous said...

Yup, I guess I have to bear paying extra 9% of my hard earned money to get employed :( but that's how it was, my colleagues paid for their own company outing the last 10-15 years their life there. Totally weird!
Gattina, regarding your comment on Rhine, you wouldn't believe as well how many guests we have brought here.. but it's such a beauty so everytime I enjoy it myself (except the Drösselgasse)