This weekend was Oktober Fest weekend. Unbelievable that I that do not even like beer, get to go to a party where the only point is to drink and enjoy liters of beer... But the girls said it was our first reunion so I took it as a given that I had to go :-) and made an effort to replace 1 liter beers with half liter mugs of wine and all worked out. The funny part is we start in the morning... At 11.15 we were at the door of a tent which name i can hardly spell and even less pronounce no matter how much german i learn. And if you think that once you are in you take it easy you are mistaken, you stsrt immediatelly with tbe mass of beer and many people will already be having their schweinhaxe (pork's knee, perhaps not spellt the right way). You "only" have until 4.35 pm so you better start going fast. And then you just chat drink and have fun. And you let the surroundings deepen in you, as people from all ages dressed in bavarian customes will loudly sing "ai prosti" each 15 minutes and cheer with you. B was convinced they were going to start singing "The hills are alive..." from the Sound of Music at any point in time. And no we were not done at 4.35pm. After that you bravely move on to a beergarten and if you still survive (with or without an hour nap) you go and queue at the door of a fancy club probably way to late to be able to get in and spend an hour trying to figure out if your networking skills are also valid in Munchen! We eventually made it but truth is there is a point you have to stop! Well perhaps not if you are german! Prost!
I heard what is likely to become one of my top 3 favourite quotes on a podcast on Friday. "Time is the only real democratic asset. We are all awarded the same time, it is what we do with it that distinguishes us". Now, I recognise that most of us need to work with survive and that is not democratic throughout. But on an equal opportunity basis, this is an interesting way of putting it. For many years I did not understand why MS thought my resume was so interesting. In fact, they chased me during the entire recruitment process, even though I had no idea of moving to London or Finance. I wanted to be a consultant and stay in Lisbon forever. But traditional consultants in Portugal saw nothing in me, and MS did not let me go. When I started screening resumes and hiring people a couple of years later is when I understood why I was different. TIME. I was truly different about what I did with my time. Not necessarily the basics - choice of degree or anything. But really ...
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