Extended Christmas Bingo Mulled Wine Beer Friday!

I know what you're thinking: “Extended Christmas Bingo Mulled Wine Beer Friday!? That sounds awesome! But how is that even possible?” :P

Well last week we had a special Beer Friday! We celebrated Saint Nicholas day. After getting some presents from DP we all had a traditional christmas dinner of pizza and sushi... We also had mulled wine in addition to our usual beer.

The special activity that evening was Bingo. Yes....Bingo. Most of us played it for the first time in our lives, foolishly mistaking it for just an old peoples game. The idea come from our beer-manager Martin, who definitely deserves credit for keeping 40 of our employees quiet, sat on their chairs, and paying attention (more or less :) ) while waiting for our numbers to come up.

Sure the prizes might also be a good motivation, but nonetheless a really fun time was had by all!

Product Management Team Event

Our team event started with us in the office eating pizza and salad to muster the energy to burn for our team event. It turned out to be a very prudent idea to do so as it was an intense evening, with lots of ducking, running adrenalin.
 

The chosen activity for our team event was Laser Tag. We were very excited for it with our hands itching to get a gun.

After a short intro to the rules and the safety everyone got their gear and chose their guns. The first game mode was "Free For All", in other words:  everyone against everyone. It was the hardest  and most chaotic game of all with people coming from all directions.

Then we formed teams. First, two teams played against each other, then we split up to form 3 teams and make it even more interesting. In the last game we tried to take control of "radioactive" boxes and defend them as long as possible from the other teams which ended up in a very fast-paced and intense game.

With a lot of „Laser Blood” spilled and a lot of energy used, we had tons of fun and brought home a lot of fun memories.

  

 

 

Admin Team Event: Christmas market

On Thursday, the 27th November the Administration Department of Digital Performance (Finance, HR, SysAdmins, Office) went to the beautiful Christmas market at the castle Charlottenburg.

First we went to the tent restaurant “Der Vierte Mann” where we had super delicious Austrian meals, like “Spätzle” and “Schupfnudeln”.

Afterwards we walked across the market and had a look at the nice shops. We ended up at a stand with a huge selection of mulled wine and other delicious drinks :)

Affiliate Team Event

 

Not only does the affiliate team consist of people who work hard behind their computers, but we also showed that we can create a whirl storm in the kitchen :) This we proved at our most recent team event, at the Ratatouille cooking workshop. 

Surprisingly everyone in the team turned into their own professional Souse chefs when creating their own 5* dish.

The team found the event outgoing, and creative and everyone gained some excellent experience when it comes to the French cuisine. 

The general feedback was that would indeed do it all over again by a thousand times as we all left the workshop that evening with the attitude that - Who knew cooking could be so much fun!

CRO Team Event - Türkisch für Feinschmecker

Berlin is the Döner capital of Germany with Döner shops at every corner.However, for the CRO Team the evening revealed that Turkish cuisine is more than just meat sliced from a rotating spit.

The first official CRO Team Event was set for Wednesday 8 October, where the entire CRO Team participated in an intensive evening course aiming at improving our Turkish language proficiency, while cooking traditional Turkish dishes. Mustafa and Jonathan had a slight advantage, since the former is from Cyprus and the latter grew up in Neukölln.

The evening started with language training, where we were introduced to typical Turkish words one would encounter in a Turkish kitchen. This time the French and the two undercover “Turks” had an advantage when it came to pronunciation and the polish guy was doing OK. At the other end of the scale, the two Germans and Dane was struggling with the softer Turkish pronunciation.

After the language course, we were split into several groups to cook the following menu:         

Appetizer  

* Sigara böreği ~ White Cigar-Börek with Sheep’s Cheese

* Kuru fasulye piyazı ~ White Bean Salad

* Kadınbudu köfte ~ «Women’s Thigh Köfte»

Main Course

* Zeytinyağlı İmam Bayıldı ~ Vegetarian Stuffed Eggplants with Pine Nuts in the Oven

* Narlı kuzu kavurması ~ Sliced Lamp with Pomegranate

* Zerdeli Pilav ~ Sweet Ottoman Saffron Rice

Dessert

* Ballı armut tatlısı ~ Hot Honey Pears

Drinks

* Turkish Tee

* Ayran

* Redwine Vinkara Boğazkere 2010  Vinkara Quattro Kırmızı

Cooking was a success. No one got injured and we managed not to burn anything. That the dishes were also tasty was just a bonus for most of us. But enough said already, click on the video below and follow our evening minute-by-minute.

Written by Martin (CRO)  

CRO Team Cooking Event 8.10.2014 from Digital Performance GmbH on Vimeo.

Video made by Bartosz (CRO)

Teamevent SEA

The day was the 2nd of September, and it was time for the SEA department to have a team event.

It was neither on a boat nor in the tree tops. We were positioned just a few centimeters off the ground, with what felt like, more power than a BMW!

Maybe you guessed it… We went to the Berlin Go Kart track and it was great fun. It is Berlin’s longest track with 752 meters of sharp corners, speed and occasionally some minor accidents. (Nothing serious!). When everybody wants to come first in the corners, it is bound to happen.

When we arrived, there were already some racers there, punishing the track and making skid marks, so obviously we had to wait for our turn. While waiting we received a quick introduction as to what the different flags mean and what was going to happen. Blue means someone behind you is going to overtake – yellow flag means you are to slow down and no overtaking in a particular area of the track (In case of an accident or if someone is stuck). Lastly off course the final lap flag, the checkered flag!

As the picture shows we looked like a gang of thugs, but we were just ready to use some gasoline. First 5 minutes was a qualification round, which would lead to who starts in what position for the real race. 45 minutes of intense racing, overtaking, spinouts and aggressive looking drivers. Everyone wants to win and no one wants to be last!

When the race ended after about 45 minutes, it was time to reveal the winner. Oliver won, but he is suspected to have a modified Go Kart. It may also be because he visited the track several times!

(I think Niek’s back is stuck in this position after the race?)

Go Kart racing is breathtakingly fun, but also quite hard. Therefore after the race, we all got some replenishing beverages. It’s important to stay hydrated! It was a great experience, and we all had a lot of fun. 

Written by Morten (SEA)

I’m on a Boat - I’m on a Roof top! – Sommerfest 2014

The Sommerfest 2014 started on the calm waves of the Spree and ended above the clouds. Everything in between was a crazy mix of fun, sun and awesome people.

The anticipations of the annual Sommerfest was sky-high. Digital performers had been tidying up their desks and were more-than-ready to welcome the colleagues from Bremen, Kiel, Lautern and Hamburg to Berlin. Dressed to impress *Berlin-style* and ready to mingle, everyone left the office in the Ritterstraße to kick off the evening on a boat!

The 1-hour boat trip was a cruise through Berlin’s history, starting at the former border between East and West Berlin and ending at the German Bundestag and Kanzleramt aka. Angela’s washing machine. From the calm waves of the Spree, the evening was continued at one of Berlin’s highest located roof top bars with an extraordinary view over Alexanderplatz and East Berlin.

Although, the 15^th floor is not entirely located above the clouds, it did not take long before the party plane took off with the help of delicious food and a free-bar. As the evening turned into night, people went inside to the dance floor, where electronic beats got everyone on the dance floor. Admittedly, some had difficulties sticking to the beats, but it did not ruin the fun of dancing the night away. 

The party continued until the last surviving ones were blessed with witnessing a sun rise over Berlin’s skyline from the 15^th floor, before they could drag themselves down to the U-Bahn and jump on the next train - everyone tired, but one great DP-experience richer.

Written by Martin (CRO)

SEO Team @ climbing park MountMitte

What a lovely Thursday evening! We went to the awesome climbing park MountMitte, a place where kids kick your butt due to their unguarded fearless attitude towards thrill seeking endeavors. Whilst adults like us consider the fear of falling… Plummeting to a slow and gruesome death. Ok a bit dramatic :)

Dressed with helmets that made us all look like little mushrooms and safety gear that was, well, keeping us safe… We made our way up to the top - jumping, hanging, swinging, sliding (screaming, crying, particularly Sabin and Martin), climbing and laughing.

Once we reached the top, we could place ourselves in little cars that were just casually hanging in wires over the ground. You know, just like your normal car driving/passenger experience ;)

When we had all reached the point of our limits - when our arms were aching and our fingers bleeding, we happily made our way down to the ground. Exhausted and in a good mood, we took our helmets off and kissed the ground.

Thank you DP for the great Team Event!

Written by Sabin (SEO)

DP BBQ Party

On Friday we had an extra special beer Friday planned.  A delicious BBQ Buffet was organized in our parking lot :)

A tent, table and benches and of course some fantastic food like bratwurst and steak transformed our normally boring parking area into a little tiny “Oktoberfest”.

 After our barbeque the fun didn’t stop. Later that evening an ice cream truck surprised us with a huge selection of free all-you-could-eat Ice cream.

After we were filled with steak and ice cream, we needed something to get our energy going again. Thus stepped forward the last and most fun surprise of the evening. PLASTIC GUNS!!! Everyone got one with ammunition made of soft styrofoam. We ended up in a little DP war- everyone against each other- and we felt like 10 year old children again.

It was an awesome night!