OK.
Because we had to be at the airport at like 5:30am, I didn't get that much sleep Thursday (December 6th) night. I spent the prior night putting the finishing touches on the presentation I was to give in Lisbon (aka Lisboa) and packing for the trip. Which is funny because, as I would find out once I got there, I spent about 1 hour too much packing about 10lbs. more of clothes that I didn't need. In other words, the weather was like high 60's/low 70's the whole time.
Because we had to be at the airport at like 5:30am, I didn't get that much sleep Thursday (December 6th) night. I spent the prior night putting the finishing touches on the presentation I was to give in Lisbon (aka Lisboa) and packing for the trip. Which is funny because, as I would find out once I got there, I spent about 1 hour too much packing about 10lbs. more of clothes that I didn't need. In other words, the weather was like high 60's/low 70's the whole time.
On the way to the hotel from the airport, I got off a couple interesting shots.
But once we got to the hotel, I knew things were really going to get interesting when I saw this...
Where do I start? Maybe with the in-room Bulgari toilettries...
No, maybe the view...
The bidet...?
No...I got it. Well, it's better if I just show you...
Yes, there was a glass wall between the bedroom and the bathroom. And of all the people on the trip, I was the only one with my own room.
Oh yeah, I haven't even told you all who the "we" is and why "we" are here. Well, valuation in Frankfurt (serving all of Germany, Austria and Switzerland), had a blockuster 2007. So the higher-ups decided to treat the entire in the department to a well deserved trip for literally working their "arsh"-es off the entire year. This trip was to coincide with their annual Valuation Conference (don't let the title fool you, the only attendees are those in Frankfurt valuation...and the head of valuation for our office in Portugal). Anyways, for this conference, the company got one of the conference rooms at the hotel (the mango during the breaks was excellent) as a number of people were to present, including...
- Martin (the head of valuation in Frankfurt),
- Marco (the head of valuation in Portugal),
- Janette & Anna, Norbert and Steffie (the newest asistants to the valuation team); and...(last but not least)
- Geertje (pronounced "Gya-tia") and I
Now, Geertje is the valuer from the Frankfurt office that did the exact same thing in Chicago I'm doing now in Frankfurt...only she started one month prior. So her stay in Chicago ended at the beginning of December--just in time for the trip to Lisbon. In fact, she even had time enough (or was nice enough) to make it to the office Thursday evening so we could go over our presentation the night before as opposed to Friday morning (the day of the presentation). This is even more monumental considering that she broke her wrist like her last or second to last day in Chicago.
Yes, the girl on the left is Geertje. Yes the girl on the right is her twin sister Berit. Yes, they both work in valuation in the Frankfurt office. And, just in case you noticed, yes they are both holding 4 leaf clovers...that I found while walking around between the time we checked in the hotel (around 11am) and the start of our conference (1pm). Go figure, the one time I find a 4-leaf clover (much less two), is when I wasn't even looking for it, I just liked the way the sun was hitting the ground.
Anyways, I won't bore you with the details of the conference (mainly because I don't know half of what was said cause it was in German), but the important points are that Julia doodled some masterpieces...
and that Geertje and I killed it! Basically, we talked about the differences in valuation in Germany and the States (regulations, compensation structure, valuation methodology, etc.), but we made for an entertaining, yet informative, presentation experience.
Skipping ahead to dinner, I could rant about how AT A FIVE STAR HOTEL, we couldn't have arranged for any taxis to pick us up and take us to the restaurant. Or how when the dust finally settled, neither Geertje, myself or the taxi cab driver knew where the restaurant was. Or how, even after passing the language barrier and the person you're asking directions to understands what you're asking...no one, and I mean NO ONE knew the names of streets. Or how we finally got to the restaurant 30 to 45 minutes late, we missed appetizers...but I won't.
On the positive side, I had a great conversation with Marco about numerous real estate/valuation topics, as well as some advice ("find out what you're good at, and if you're not doing it, get out of what you're doing immediately"). Afterwards, a small group of us went out on the town (i.e. Bairro Alto).
Eventually we found ourselves at a Kareoke bar.
We were all pretty toasted by this point. And yes, I got up there (after waiting upwards of an hour or so, and getting the crowd to chant "Freddie, Freddie..." until I was called). The song you ask...? "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix. And if you don't know, you betta ask somebody. After this, we all went back to the hotel and I collapsed on my luxurious bed (I honestly don't think I even got under the covers).
To be continued in Lisboa Part 2...
Cheers.
P.S. I have no idea why the picture quality is coming out so low. Hopefully, if you click on the picture(s), they will show in their true image quality.
Yes, the girl on the left is Geertje. Yes the girl on the right is her twin sister Berit. Yes, they both work in valuation in the Frankfurt office. And, just in case you noticed, yes they are both holding 4 leaf clovers...that I found while walking around between the time we checked in the hotel (around 11am) and the start of our conference (1pm). Go figure, the one time I find a 4-leaf clover (much less two), is when I wasn't even looking for it, I just liked the way the sun was hitting the ground.
Anyways, I won't bore you with the details of the conference (mainly because I don't know half of what was said cause it was in German), but the important points are that Julia doodled some masterpieces...
and that Geertje and I killed it! Basically, we talked about the differences in valuation in Germany and the States (regulations, compensation structure, valuation methodology, etc.), but we made for an entertaining, yet informative, presentation experience.
Skipping ahead to dinner, I could rant about how AT A FIVE STAR HOTEL, we couldn't have arranged for any taxis to pick us up and take us to the restaurant. Or how when the dust finally settled, neither Geertje, myself or the taxi cab driver knew where the restaurant was. Or how, even after passing the language barrier and the person you're asking directions to understands what you're asking...no one, and I mean NO ONE knew the names of streets. Or how we finally got to the restaurant 30 to 45 minutes late, we missed appetizers...but I won't.
On the positive side, I had a great conversation with Marco about numerous real estate/valuation topics, as well as some advice ("find out what you're good at, and if you're not doing it, get out of what you're doing immediately"). Afterwards, a small group of us went out on the town (i.e. Bairro Alto).
Eventually we found ourselves at a Kareoke bar.
We were all pretty toasted by this point. And yes, I got up there (after waiting upwards of an hour or so, and getting the crowd to chant "Freddie, Freddie..." until I was called). The song you ask...? "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix. And if you don't know, you betta ask somebody. After this, we all went back to the hotel and I collapsed on my luxurious bed (I honestly don't think I even got under the covers).To be continued in Lisboa Part 2...
Cheers.
P.S. I have no idea why the picture quality is coming out so low. Hopefully, if you click on the picture(s), they will show in their true image quality.
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment