One of the things I've found unique to Austria is that most companies have one day per year where the employees get together outside of work and do something fun together.
The day is called, "Betriebsausflug" and it's all payed for by your employer. Because my wife Simone and I work in the same department, we got to spend the day together. For our "Betriebsausflug," we went to a climbing park with ropes and pulleys and ladders and nets, and get this, not only was it all payed for but it counted as a work day!
The day is called, "Betriebsausflug" and it's all payed for by your employer. Because my wife Simone and I work in the same department, we got to spend the day together. For our "Betriebsausflug," we went to a climbing park with ropes and pulleys and ladders and nets, and get this, not only was it all payed for but it counted as a work day!
After we received a little bit of instruction, Simone got started.
I focused my energy on pretending to be good at what we were doing.
Simone was doing great, moving with the skill of a cat, as she walked across a rope with ease, all while being about 25 feet up in the air.
When we were done making our way through the course, there was a really fun challenge. Our task was to stack plastic soda crates on top of each other, one at a time and then stand on top of them. The goal was to keep repeating this to see how high we could get without losing our balance before we would inevitably tumble over. It was like a giant game of human Jenga.
A determined Simone found her balance and got started quickly.
Her goal was to stack at least 10 crates on each other before toppling over and it looked like she was going to be able to make it happen.
She quickly passed her goal of 10 but at 12, she began to tire and felt it would be best to rest.
However, as soon as she resumed, she lost her balance and laughed as the soda crates came crashing down.
Next, it was my turn and I took my time to figure out the best way to climb on these awkward plastic structures.
One of my co-workers who also acted as my hype man for this task passed me one box at a time as I set out to build a ladder of plastic soda crates to the heavens and beyond.
I was moving quickly and made it to 16 cases without much difficulty.
However, shortly after I stacked my 17th case, it was clear that heaven was not ready for me and I tumbled down. Humans are not meant to be Jenga pieces.
It was so much fun getting to do this! Work is just as hard over here in Austria as it is in the States and of course there are a billion stressors, but activities like this are a really cool way to recharge and getting to them with my best friend is even better.
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