Bad News TV

I recently realized I had a problem: I cannot give bad news. Because of my job I have to inform lots of people about delays and other problems that can appear in a project. And trust me, that makes for a lot of bad news. Production delays, parts not delivered on time, parts blocked by customs, tools not ready. It's not glamorous but this is how it is and every day I have to explain the why and the how and the who and the when, to several people, all pushing to solve the issues.

To make things worse, it's not always my fault but I still can't help but blame myself although I know this will not help: they will blame me either way. The bearer of the bad news is always hit by the wave of anger. And so I try to protect myself, but sugar coating everything is not a solution in this business,. People look for the hard candy which is the truth and more so, they look for the answers and solutions. And sometimes I just don't have them. Or I don't have what they expect me to say. And then I have to give bad news again, to someone who is already pissed off and missing hope and confidence.

I try to be sympathetic and explain as best as I can, give solutions, make proposals and the result is people shouting and being angry. And so I change strategy and I'm being mean but that only makes people even angrier. Is there a way out of it? Avoiding to break the news doesn't help either, trust me. It's like people ask for it, they want to know so they chase you around by mail and phone. Some days I feel like they all hate me!

How do you solve this? How do you break the news and how do you react to the aftermath?

PS. Click on the pic, the article is quite interesting. I think I need more help than that, though.

France, in Plzen

A while ago we had Czech friends over and the common language was...French. For a change, because usually all is in English, at work, with the Czechs, etc. As one of our friends noticed, we felt like in France.

Why? Well the menu for one thing. Galettes bretonnes and Crepes, accompanied by fine Alsatian wine and prepared by a French cook. And because the setting was there, we also put on some French music and watched some funny French movies such as La cite de la peur or Kamelot. So naturally we wanted the whiskey before the finger, that's not false. Good jokes don't sound as good in English as they do in French and that's why French, Czechs and Romanians, all made jokes with the flavour of good Munster cheese and felt transported to another place.

Budapest City Break

The weekend passed like a dream again, a very nice one, such a good dream that this girl was very sorry to wake up to the reality of office work, this morning. For you see, weekends have always been a pleasant escape from day to day, real and cruel life. And now, even more so than ever because I have to keep my dreaming and wandering only for weekend getaways. That's why I wanted to take advantage of the Bank Holiday we had here last Thursday. And so I managed to transform an ordinary Wednesday in a Friday, turn the Thursday into a lazy Saturday as for the rest of the weekend, I lost track of time.

Well now, let's not get melodramatic. Here is my little guide for a romantic weekend discovering Budapest on a low budget. Since I live in the Czech Republic, I have easy access to almost all corners of our continent, thus, I took the bus, Orangeways, excellent coaches, very comfy, wifi and hot beverages included, toilet, all services for just 80 euros both ways for 2. But you can also come to Budapest by plane, there are many cheap flights and the airport is well connected to the city.

I was staying at a friend's flat. But if you don't have the pleasure of having a Hungarian friend, you can make one on couch surfing or  try one of the many hostels. I recommend visiting with a local: this is my advice for any travel of course. Our friend lives in Paris but she was arriving in Budapest on Friday. We came first, about an hour and a half before, her so we sat down in a park, near the rendez-vous spot, munching on a sandwich and enjoying the good weather by making plans for another weekend. I told you: weekends are big for me.

Our friend came and she dropped us off at a flat in Buda. You should know that Budapest is basically 2 towns: Buda on the West of the Danube and Pest on the East side. In Buda you will also find the Castle Hill neighborhood, the oldest settled part of the city.  Pest is the flat side of town, the financial center, the party spot and the place to shop.

From our flat, we took a hike up the hill to the Citadel. It's quite a long winding way up but you get to see Art Nouveau mansions on the way and the view on top is wonderful, especially at sunset.  Somewhere in the area, the Hungarians put all the statues of the communist era, a funny view of the system. I had forgotten my camera, sorry, but no pictures were taken.

On Friday night we went out, partying with our friend and her friends. Hungarians are great party people, there are many pubs and clubs, quite cheap and I found them to be rather safe. There are many expats, either just passing by or living in the Budapest, we got to meet a colorful crowd and had a great time. There is a night service bus but be careful, you must have tickets in advance, or else you have to buy them on the bus and they are more expensive. And it's full of guards checking for your ticket: you cannot escape the power of the Revizor.

The next day, we woke up late of course, we had a brunch made up of local products such as croissants (yes, Hungarians claim this invention), some local bread specialties and sausages, another famous local brand. There are many supermarkets around town so you can get what you need for a cheap meal and some souvenirs such as wines and sausages. By the way, I had this great Merlot that made me take a closer look at Hungarian wines, they are so diverse, don't be fooled by the Tokaj, there are red's as well.

The best way to explore Budapest, and any city, is to take a map, mark all the places of interest and just set your itinerary from there. You'll find that Budapest has a good transport network. For the tickets it's a bit more difficult: you can have about 10 tickets from any newspaper stand, but they are valid only for one bus/tram ride or one day passes. We took the 10 tickets and it was a good deal, there were no stands to buy one day passes around anyway. I am a map lover, I took out  my map of Budapest, checked the itinerary of buses and trams and made my own itinerary based on these and our personal POI.

And so we started our visit by taking a tram along the Danube to Adam Clarke sq. which is right at the base of the Chain Bridge (or Lanchid). From there, I was planning to go up to the castle on foot but that's only because I had forgotten all about the funicular which runs fup to the Castle. The queue is long and the price quite high, 840 forint for a one way, but I always wanted a ride on a funicular so I indulged but I have to warn you, the view is not as awesome as I would have thought. From up the Castle though, you can see the whole of Pest, and the bridges on the Danube. We walked around a bit but if you want, there are other options such as taking the public transportation buses and exploring the grounds and the neighborhood this way.

Next, we took the Chain Bridge and crossed the Danube. I found Pest to be busier and more posh, lots of brand shops everywhere. We stopped for a coffee on Andrassy utca, it felt a bit like being on the Champs Elysee. In fact the streets in the area seemed to me to be like a mix between Paris and London, I quite liked it.

We visited the St Stephan Basilica and then took some pictures of the Opera House, before strolling around the streets towards the Parliament. Budapest has large avenues lined with trees, it resembles the grandeur of Vienna in some way but there are also smaller streets, with shops and cafes, it was a very pleasant walk on an autumn day. 

Unfortunately I did not visit the Parliament either; it was closed by the time we got there, be warned, it closes quite early, we were not the only disappointed tourists. 

 

Next we took a bus ride across town (we saw Vaci utca, the shopping street, on our way) and arrived at Keleti pu, which is a very beautiful train station in my opinion. What do you think? We walked a bit more in Pest before catching a bus back to Buda.

Dinner was had in a pirate ship. Well, a restaurant decorated as a pirate ship. I had these ribs in sauce with home made potatoes and a glass of good but not exceptional wine. The bill for two, including drinks was around 20 euros, quite reasonable I'd say. We spent about 100 euros each for this trip, without accommodation, just transportation, food, going out and some mementos.

I didn't have a lot of time and also because of some unexpected issues I couldn't visit as much as would have wanted. But I'll be back.I know I've missed some spots, such as the Gellert spas or the Margit Island. Please give me some more tips, I want to come back, that's for sure. Because you know me to be a freak, I searched for information and I found this guide to be very helpful, I forgot my notes, of course, so I had to rely on memories and a map. But you can also ask locals on the street, they are very friendly.  

All in all I spent only one full day in Budapest, wandering the streets, looking at shop windows, taking pictures of quiet streets, taking in the beautiful sights of the city. But what a great day it was. At the end of it I was happy and exhausted and happily exhausted. 

Scones, not cones

Am multa faina in casa, ba chiar as putea spune foarte multa si inca de mai multe feluri. Asa ca periodic caut idei ca sa o termin. Unele imi ies mai bine, altele mai putin. Din seria reusitelor, va prezint astazi scones. Inspiratia mi-a venit de aici, de la Mazilique. Nu sunt mare fan dar retele ei mi se par mereu destul de simple si de bun simt asa ca vroiam de mult sa incerc una. Ceva tipic englezesc: scones.

Si cum asta seara am fost singura acasa (si nu-mi place), am decis sa fac lucruri "rele". Reteta este foarte simpla si dureaza aproape la fel de mult pe cat spune Mazilique, doar ca eu m-am complicat si am facut  mai multe lucruri in acelasi timp. 

Ca tot imi place sa ma complic, nu am urmat intocmai reteta. Am pastrat cantitatile dar pentru ca nu-mi plac stafidele si pentru ca aveam chef de ceva sarat, nu am pus zahar si am facut o umplutura sarata. Am calit ceapa taiata foarte fin, ciuperci, sunculita, am amestecat la sfarsit branza (cu mucegai si cascaval).

Si am mai modificat vreo doua trei lucruri la reteta. Am facut coca mai subtire, cam jumate fata de cat spune reteta originala. Am pus umplutura mea intre doua felii de coca si  am apasat frumos marginile cu degetul. Dupa ce am pus prajiturelele pe tava, le-am uns cu ou si cam asta ar fi.

Au iesit delicioase. Se prepara repede, se coc foarte repede si sunt atat de bune. Plus ca exista o mie si una de posibilitati si de combinatii, sarate, dulci, ca mic dejun sau ca aperitiv, la ceai sau cu lapte, stiau ei ce stiau englezii, pardon, scotienii, cand au inventat aceasta reteta.

Super chouette

I don't mean to brag, but I spent a very nice weekend. For once I stayed home, well I didn't go out of town and I didn't have any visitors either. So I enjoyed the silence and did some shopping, relaxed watching sit coms and went out to dine.

Saturday, I took advantage of a very nice offer, a tasting menu based on venison meat. You can find the menu here. I was sorry I didn't take the camera with me, so I don't have pictures, but take my word for it: it was great. Good service, ultra-central, nice location, I think I will go again to El Cid Corso. They have a second venue, as well down town, where they serve tapas, I might go there pretty soon.

The starter was the game liver pate. The piece was huge and went very well with the cranberries. Next, we had the main course, wild boar. For once the pasta was cooked right (they tend to over cook them here) while the meat was tender and finely spiced. I enjoyed every bite. Unfortunately they did not have the pheasant, I would have liked to try it. The wine was excellent as well. While I was not surprised by the quality of the Sauvignon Blanc served with the pate, I was very pleasantly surprised by the delicious Shiraz that was served with the main course. A good red wine is quite hard to get here and this one was good. For desert we decided to go with the pie and it was a good choice (as far as French cheeses go, we have a pretty good selection at home). It came with home made cream. The menu did not include a last glass of water for the desert but other than that, it was a pleasure.

Sunday we stayed in. We made lunch ourselves, kiwi and curry chicken with rice and watched Inglorius Basterds (no comments on that, typically Tarantino). For dinner we had a treat: a Sushi heart.It looks exactly like in the picture and we bought the box from Tesco for about 300 cK or 12 euros.

It was very good, I am not a big fan of Sushi and usually there are some I don't like, but this time I liked all of them so It was a good choice.

How about your weekend? Mine was "super chouette"!

Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows

I have a new flat, and with it come new DIY ideas and opportunities. A new flat is like a canvas, this gave me the opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for a long time. We've both wanted it actually. Without further ado, please be amazed by my map of Europe. These are all the places I've been to and I cannot wait to get out of Europe.

The blue and green pins represent places where I've been or lived. The white are places I'd like to visit and I will or might go in the foreseeable future.

I'll also list them here when I have time, so you can ask me about them. Because yes, I remember them all. There are still some pins to be put on the map; I ran out of green and blue ones, but I still have plenty of white pins left.

Office talk

I work in a plant but because I'm not an engineer I rarely get to go inside. Instead, I spend my time in the main office: an open space packed with engineers, designers, HR and Finance people, Purchasing and the likes. And my desk is near the printer so I get to see half the open space when they come to collect their documents.

We have here, working together Czehs, Slovaks, many French and me. The common working language for all is English and engineering. And although from very different backgrounds we all use certain phrases and words that are very specific not just to the industry but as well to the company. You have your QRQC, FTA, PPAP that are so specific for the entire automotive industry that they are the basis of ISO TS 16494. And then you throw around VPS, V5000, SQM, VRF and you are a real member of one of the biggest players on the market.

Acronyms. They are the founding stone of our work and everyone throws them around easily. But does everyone know what is behind them? It's not sure. Mostly these are procedures, names of documents to fill, milestones to achieve. If someone is not concerned by more than one phase of the project, he or she will most likely not be familiar with all the terms. I don't think everyone knows what all the letters stand for, but most know the document they refer to. I'm not an engineer but I try to know the name behind the abbreviation. Trust me, it's hard to make an engineer out of an economist.

The other language of this Babylon is the working language, which is of course English. You can hear different accents, and different specific words used by speakers from different linguistic backgrounds. The French are of course the easiest to spot, while Czechs and Slovaks speaking English have a similar accent.

All this intermixing of languages and cultures rubs off on one another. For example I hear a lot of specific expressions or words that come from French (similar structure), that logically should be mistakes made by French speakers, but that are used by the others as well. For example the plural of "month" is "months" but since "th" is difficult to pronounce in French, the singular becomes "monts" thus the plural becomes "montses". And this is being used indiscriminately by French and non French.

In other cases, French expressions are translated literally into English. Such is the case of "Merci de + verbe" which becomes " Thank you to+ verb". When wanting to ask someone to do something, in English, please use : "Please write an email to X. Thank you" and NOT "Thank you to write an email to X". I don't think the expression " to give the TOP" exists in English, maybe it does, but for me it's very French, because it comes from French. False friends are widely used such as "actually" used instead of "currently". I cannot blame this one on the French: Czechs, Slovaks and even Chinese make the same mistake. Past tenses : "I didn't know" becomes "I didn't knew", this is WRONG. I don't know enough Czech to give examples related to this language but I can name some typical things, like the tendency to pronounce every letter, especially stressing the last letters.

School was a long time ago for all of us and I think that for many, the language learned in school is not enough to function in such an environment. Working closely with other people means that inadvertently you take some of the expressions used by the others. Working all day in a different language than your own is very difficult, I can tell you this for sure. Avoiding misunderstandings is hard enough without grammar mistakes and on top of that you have a specific vocabulary. Somehow the specific English and the abbreviations become part of the company's culture and history so that a newcomer will eventually have to get used to this and then things become easier.

As for me, I don't judge but maybe I pay a little too much attention, I admit.. I just like to notice and understand where these come from. as I am being influenced by the way people talk around me; I am being told I'm getting a nice French accent (and I was aiming for Scottish, darn) and sometimes I wonder if what I want to say is really correct English.

Capital of Culture, Capital of Beer

Plzen, or Pilsen, as you may know, is the town where I live. And last week the news were great for this town of 170.000 people: Plzen has won the contest to become European Capital of Culture in 2015. The title is to be shared with the Belgian town of Mons. Congratulations to the team behind this success: they defeated the excellent candidature of Ostrava and this was no easy task as the North Eastern town has worked hard to rebuilt itself from it's mining past into a fun place. But Plzen's passion and the effort put into creating it's future, paid off.

Ever since I first came to Plzen I felt the town prepare itself for the big party that took place on Thursday last week, the day the winner was announced. All year long there were cultural activities such as several national and international film festivals, the international festival of folklore (with a decade of history behind it), historical festivities, open air theater and so on.

Plzen had projects that go beyond this candidature as it prides itself in being a place for good food, good music, quality entertainment, a stage for modern and classical. It's all about bon vivre a la Czech.

The plans for the following year include a new museum and cultural center in an old Brewery, exhibitions, and more activities. Besides being the capital of beer, Plzen is also a fun town to leave in. And it's not afraid of controversies: the Techmania museum will host David Cerny's very peculiar art work on the European Union: Entropa.

There are a lot of things to look forward to in the next period, so come have a beer in the big square in Plzen, or have a goulash for lunch at one of the big Hospoda or Czech style restaurants. You can enjoy a  concert in the Sinagogue or see the new additions of the Zoo. There is really something for everyone in this town.

The Wine Country

We've spent this week in the Czeh Republic's wine country, Moravia. I know, I know, Czechs and beer and all that, but Moravians, well they love wine. This is for another story, because this weekend reminded me of another one, in a place generally acknoledged as the Wine Country: France. And more specifically Colmar, the Alsatian Wine Capital. Or is the Wine capital of Alsace, or the Capital of Alsatian wine? Oh I'm confused, but you get the point, right?

About Colmar. It's the 3rd largest city in Alsace and trust me, you'll love it. Timber framed houses with flowers at their windows, cobble-stoned streets and the canals of little Venice are enough to make you want to spend a day here. You'll find plenty of things to do. When we were there there was a cheese market and some festivities. Also worth mentioning is the quaint Christmas market that takes place in the streets of down town Colmar: it's one of the best in the Region.

But wait, there's more. Colmar is the home town of a certain Mr Bartholdi, of the Statue of Liberty fame. In fact, when you enter the town you are greeted by his famous statue. The town remembers it's famous offspring with a Museum and several dedicated landmarks.

One of my favorite places in Colmar is La maison des têtes an ancient guild house that bears the heads of five important figures in the town's history. I especially like the interior court yard with trompe l'oeil decorations and chairs under the vine.

Once you've taken a stroll on the nice pedestrian streets admiring the gingerbread houses and of course after you've taken a boat ride on the canals, you must, I repeat, you must go to visit the nearby vineyards. Alsace is the home to some of the best wines in France. They are still mostly unknown so it can be a chance for you to impress your friends with some special wines. Check here for a list of wines from the region. There are some special ones such as the late harvest wines, very sweet and perfumed, a real delight.

In July we went to visit the Stentz family in Wettolsheim, close to Colmar, on the wine route. Oh yes, the names of places here will make you forget you are in France. The vineyard region is just so beautiful with hills on all sides and pretty villages nested between the endless rows of grapevines. You can walk around the villages or take a bike ride in the hills, or you can attend the wine festivals, you'll get to meet lots of interesting people, and taste the delicious wines and cheeses of the region.

The Stentz, as most of the Vignerons Independants, independant winemakers, have a family business that stretches back a few generations. You can imagine the passion and knowledge they put in their wines. Madame Stentz took us inside, showed us the wines we were going to taste and explained a little bit about each one with a vivid passion in her eyes that made me wonder about what it was like to be a winemaker's wife. Here the bottles are arranged in order to give a better tasting experience. The ones in front are the special collections of late harvest and Grand Cru, the best of the best.

We also visited the cellar where they make and preserve the wine. You can see the way the technology evolved, yet the process stayed pretty much the same.Three generations at work here, making the best wines.

We left from Madame Stentz's with some of our favorite bottles, some Gewurztraminer and some Pinot, a bottle of the most surprisingly sweet Riesling and continued our evening in Alsace, in another town with ginger bread houses and colorful window panes.

This past weekend we visited the wine region of the Czech republic, around the town of Mikulov, close to the Austrian border. But this is a story for next time. I have to make a parallel between these two regions because I find there are quite interesting links between the two: people's passion, the love for wine, especially white and the troublesome history, it goes to show that good wine is not just a story of palate. Good wine is all about the heart you put into it.

French is the language of fine dining

So she loves to cook. As a new page of the cook book is turned over, your mouth is left watering, it says : Recette du jour : chanterelle et magret de canard. She also loves to invent and so the tender duck breast will have two sorts of mushrooms and mashed potatoes to accompany it on it's journey to the stomach.

Here's how it's done. You take some potatoes, you boil them in their nice shirt. After a while, you'll know when the time has come, your fork sinks easily in the potatoes, you take them out of the water and start peeling, being careful not to burn your delicate fingers. You mash the potatoes with a little bit of butter, milk and cream and add some salt, pepper and some nutmeg mace (or noix de muscade or nucsoara), for taste.

While the potatoes are boiling you can already start on the mushroom sauce. Or rather sauces because as I told you the girl likes to invent and so does her boy who prepared the sauces. First things first, chop some onions and cook them until they are almost translucent and then add the ingredients of the first sauce : the pleurotus mushroom. Prepare a sauce out of some cream and some moutarde a l'ancienne, which is mustard with grains and pour it over the mushrooms and onions. Then prepare the second sauce by putting chanterelles on the hot pan, adding cream and stirring. Pepper and salt for the taste. These mushrooms are from the agaricus family so quite common, even in Romania.

Now for the "magret de canard". This is a duck's file, cut from a fat duck's chest, more info here (don't you just love Wikipedia?) Just take the tender pieces of meat, put them on a hot frying pan, turn them on the other side when the first one is slightly cooked, you don't want to overcook these babies. And that's it! Add a nice red wine, full of tannins, arrange it all on a nice plate, light some candles and you have yourself a romantic dinner. Bon appetit!

PS. More of my culinary journeys will follow soon.