Last Friday all German interns in Malaysia were invited to a informal gathering at the Ambassadors house. At first it sounded a bit like a mystery – the ambassador invites! But luckily everything wouldn’t end up in a formal reception. The announced dress code was “casual”, and so I decided on a outfit, that would be comfortable and suitable to enter one of KL’s clubs afterwards (still remember the problems I got with sandals before..).
Arriving at the residence we were personally greeted by the ambassador and his wife. So I finally made it to visit an ambassador in person. Usually you would see an ambassador only in some spy thrillers, where the secret agent needs to steal some information out of the office, but in real life the ambassador is no mysterious guy – but a person like you and me, who is just especially qualified to represent his home country abroad. Mr. Jess and his wife were very friendly hosts. After a warm welcome we had our get together with other interns, and there were not only people who work in KL or PJ; but also from Penang or the Malaysian East Coast. About fifty interns made it to the party and Mr. Jess spoke very highly about the overwhelming resonance of the invitation. The “Gartenfest” was a decent get together at first we all had a friendly meet and greet while standing and sipping some beer, wine or alcohol free drinks, later we enjoyed a dinner with a few German specialties, we probably all already missed (like mashed potatoes or the classic sauerkraut). The time passed really too fast, and unluckily not all of our new friends where up to go for some party at downtown KL, after the Gartenfest was over at around 11pm.
After this visit at a real ambassadors house I can say, that the profession of an ambassador has nothing lost of it’s magic taste you see in the movies. He is a very important person supporting all kind of relations. It feels good to see, that an ambassador is a person like you and me, who is open for things like a casual party and a informal chat.

We are now about to set up a mailing list and/or a message board for the German Intern in Malaysia. I’m currently a little busy at work, but I’m sure there will be a concept within the next few days.

This entry was posted by Jürgen Hösch on Wednesday, August 17. 2005 at 13:37. and is filed under Daily Life. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own blog.