Sommerfest at the Tower

One of the most anticipated events of the summer amongst the employees have always been the annual Sommerfest (Summer Fest). Held within the vicinity of the Tower, the event is highlighted by lots of free food, games, live performances and the disco (sounds 70’s but its typical clubbing music).

It has always been the highlight of trainees past and present (the ones that stayed longer) and one never fails to hear of this persons experience or that persons experience during SOMMERFEST.

Well, the publicity of this years event had begun nearly a month ago…and finally it has arrived!

Held last Thursday (14th Sept) from 3pm…offices were already empty from lunch time onwards. But as the coordinators need to prepare a VERY IMPORTANT PRESENTATION to the new Head of Dept the very next day at 10am, we know we had to finish heaps of work plus not staying till reaaalllyy late!

As the promotion went;
- breaking of the keg by the CEO at 3.45pm
- drinks and food at very low price (1 euro for all)
- live performances
- 8pm, mega disco by DJ Bjorn

The moment they saw that they had to pay…everyone went up in arms! “It has been FREE all the while, so doesn’t mean if the company is on a major budget cut across all depts., doesn’t mean Sommerfest had to be spoilt!!”…echoed all employees.

Well I think if you would want to know the effectiveness of a “workers council”…this was one thing you wouldn’t want them to go on strike for! So after about 3 weeks of promotions, they had to do a whole lot of new posters to promote the fact that…

“Food and drink for FREE”

Well we were a bit skeptical over the singular usage rather than the plural of “drink”, but anyways we were all happy nevertheless.

Party was in full swing from 3pm onwards…but before I left the Tower I saw a spot where they were giving FREE haircuts and styling! Being the Asian (or Malaysian) that I am…I quickly rushed and lined up for my free hair do! To complete the Asian lineup and proof that the event would be an Asian haven (since everything is FREE), Amit, Jennie Lee, a few Chinese as well as a UK born Chinese was lining up as well!

The result was a funky hairdo that is so unPortuguese Tart, plus a 45° angle Mohawk on Amit that’s not even on top of his head!
We nevertheless had fun watching our gay hair dresser cutting our hair. It was sure as thrilling as it was for us as it was for him to creatively redesign our tresses!

New hairdo, a few touchups for vanity sake in front of the mirror, more photoshoots and more free stuffs (shampoos and wax) later…we were ready to go out! Oh yeah…apparently we both agreed (and the others who had their hair cut) that getting a new look was far more important than seeing the event being officially opened by our CEO! And already people were calling me “AstroBoy”!!

There were heaps of tents, serving traditional German food, alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages, game booths and many more!! Its not that I savored all the really nice food…but I was savoring the fact that it was all FREE!! Yummy…

Really cool event, plus the fact that all trainees were there hanging out, we even brought some illegal ones in (read: Dee)!

The guys and me were literally stunned with the huge amount of gorgeous looking things which we never have met before! Even the canteen girl looked uber hot!! She actually had her hair made plus went for the free make up as well… a real life Cinderella!

The “mega disco” which followed during the night wasn’t a disappointment either, although the music choice was a little too lousy! I guess for some it was a bit weird seeing colleagues whom you ve never seen away from the office really partying like mad! Some was still in their suits on the dance floor!! You know when the alcohol and wine is FREE you’d expect this to happen! We were busy spotting if the CEO would be on the dance floor though! Super awesome time…but it had to end before midnight as me and the coordinators got some presentations the next day.

Cool thing about having events like this on a Thursday, it just compliments the Friday Feeling…where there is no mood to work, come in with a hangover, or leaving before lunch!

What about the presentation...it was POSTPONED to the following week! KNNCCB!!


Sommerfest at the Tower


Me and Amit with our new "do", the Astro Boy look and the "tilted Mohawk"!
The Sommerfest poster of 2005 The Sommerfest poster of 2006


Mega disco...

And speaking of Fest’s…

It is known as the LARGEST PEOPLE’S FAIR IN THE WORLD, with over 6 million people visiting it!

30% of the year's production of beer by Munich breweries will be consumed in the two weeks of celebration.

12,000 People are employed, of these, 1600 are waitresses (75% are C cups and above)

There is available seating for 100,000 people.
6 million mugs of beer was sold in 2005 (5.5 million in 2004) alone…

Roasted oxen: 88
Sausages: 219,443 pairs
Roast chickens: 459,279

Yup…after work today, along with 20other trainees, we re heading to Munich for OCTOBERFEST!!! Well, to celebrate the occasion, I would actually DRINK THE BEER there! A once in a lifetime opportunity and much to the envy of my beer drinking Malaysian friends…I would be there!
Come what may…sober or drunk, you ll be posted!

"You ll love it in Poland i tell you..."

“You ll love it in Poland I tell you! The girls will go crazy especially since you re a foreigner! There are soo many beautiful girls in Poland and the guys are all ugly…”. Those words from a Polish trainee was ringing in my head the whole time as I prepared for to leave Bonn with Segala and Sandra.



That apart, I was really excited over this trip for the reasons below;

- Being in International Congress (the BIGGEST AIESEC international conference for national committee members and presidents in their local chapters) for the 3rd time playing a third different role. Back in 04 in Hanover, I was a delegate. 05 in Agra I was part of the facilitator team (plus the mission of wanting to see what opportunities I could grab my hands on in terms of working abroad - that resulted in my being in Bonn now) and now in Warsaw, Poland…I am representing the external partners, seeing that my company is one of AIESEC’s biggest and long running partners.

- Coming back to an AIESEC conference once again. You have to trust me on this, nothing ever beats the energy and enthusiasm of young, dynamic people congregating in a huge plenary! The vibe really makes the hair on your back stand…the feeling is electric!!

- Meeting fellow Malaysians, this years delegation consist of good friend and country president Anisha (whose mum always want to talk to me about the powerful teachings of Amah), Sandy as the external relations (continuing the trend I started where we were Local committee president rejects but having 2nd chances in the National Committee), my mentee Yoke Yen (also my suc-successor) in charge of People Development and 3 local committee presidents, Kah Heng (of which I remember us having a chat on his future in AIESEC once in a bus in Penang), Ethan (very promising talent from UTM) and Shavonne from UKM (one of the many bright talents that have emerged from the local committee that I mentored).

- Meeting old AIESEC friends. These could be less than 20…or it could be over 100! I am not sure, but I know for sure I ll be seeing familiar faces around! And for that I d rather not expect too much…

- Representing the company I work for and showcasing it to a global plenary! Now this one I used to remember vividly how I envy those interns who was priviledged to wear the “yellow shirt from the yellow company”, simply because it has positioned itself as one of the leading companies to work for after your AIESEC experience. Now I got to play this role, something which I know I ll cherish and I would be proud off…and moreover I am responsible for the Partnership Re-launch, of which I promised that it would be the BOMB! A launch which no one has ever witnessed before!

Read all about this exciting journey to Warsaw, the fun times I had there and the people I met, a different virginity lost, the hectic traveling and much more…!

Its gonna be a looonnngggg one....but its worth it! Its all at bonniearthur.blinklife.com