This weekend I did some local sightseeing and ate at some neat restaurants.  One of the restaurants is called Waffle Brothers, a relatively small place where you can customize your own waffle or milkshake.  This was a great place to go on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  I continue to eat lunch with my coworkers on a daily basis.  This makes the work days fly by much quicker.  Some of the work I do involves looking at a computer for an extended period of time.  Interacting with everyone during lunch is a great break from my computer.  We often grab food and eat in the park on nice days, which is a warm welcome after sitting in an office for the majority of the day.  Lunch is a great time because the office is surrounded by great restaurants and cafes.  Eating outside in a park is a luxury that I really enjoy taking advantage of on a daily basis.  In an office filled with mostly Germans, I feared I would be sort of an outsider.  This fear quickly diminished due to the welcoming atmosphere in the workplace.  Groups go out together for lunch, and get together on the weekends.

I received valuable feedback during my midpoint evaluation.  Prior to this, I often found myself wondering if my work was meeting expectations.  Now that my supervisors have assured me they’re happy with what I’ve been doing, I feel much more confident in my work.  The need for reassurance is engrained into American culture, but is certainly not in Germany.  I’m happy for the midpoint evaluation form, because it gave me confirmation I was doing well.  The significant progress in my work has also given me confidence.