Flummi - Kamikitty - who else?

Herbsttour V - Stempeljoch: Käsefondue, Rotwein & Sternschnuppen

2011-10-31T13:38:00.005+01:00

Herbsttour IV: Ahornboden

2011-10-15T13:59:00.000+02:00

Und, weil der Quatsch mal sein musste:

Herbsttour III: Erlspitze

2011-10-04T13:54:00.002+02:00

Herbsttour II: Alpspitze

2011-09-12T14:04:00.002+02:00

Herbsttour? Sommer! Brecherspitze

2011-09-11T13:53:00.000+02:00

Survived the 30

2011-09-10T14:11:00.002+02:00

Alps criss-crossed - thank you!!

2011-09-05T16:44:00.001+02:00

Writing time...

2011-07-20T15:31:00.003+02:00

Did I start last time with "Yes, people do envy me for my job"?
Not this month.
This month is working until the middle of the night, sleeping too little, getting up early again to continue working.
Proposal and paper deadlines to be caught, exams to be held and graded, projects to be finished and kicked off, teaching to be performed and organized, etc.
Never mind, I'm kind of thriving content-wise.
Still, stuck behind my desk too much of the time.
Looking forward to hiking the Alps in August... even if it rains cats & dogs like today.
[Pic by Henrik]

June? Conference time again

2011-07-07T14:03:00.003+02:00

Yes, people do envy me for my job - first a conference in Hawaii, meeting old friends, building up new contacts, working, and seeing a bit of these wonderful islands - Mauna Kea (4200m) is the highest mountain in the world, and really worth the headache of the big hike, if you count from the ocean ground that is :)
The only thing that kept me from flying on a rose-colored cloud: freshly singled a vacation is just not very relaxing.
Never mind. The heart always wins, one way or the other.
Souvenir from Hawaii: a beautiful Plumeria (Frangipani) tattoo by Mike Hatfield from Sacred Art Tattoo.

In London I met the UK part of the family during the weekend - that was great! Some of them I had seen 2 years ago, some others 5 years ago, and some of them 15 years ago - imagine the good times we had catching up. As always, time was too short.
We had a wonderful picnic on the river bench of the Thamse where captain Rob anchored in his self-constructed, beautiful boat.
Considering the work-party-sleep statistics of the week, my cousin Rik simply commented "yeah, I remember, you are not 30 yet" :)

May - Weekend in the wild, wild east

2011-05-05T12:14:00.006+02:00

Birthday bash at Kerstin's in Schönborn (which is right in the middle of nowhere about an hour's drive behind Dresden) - fun with the old university gang, talking, eating and dancing until 4 a.m. Her mum took lots of photos, still waiting for them :)

Visited my brother Simon together with Iris and Moe in his "exile" between Großbreitenbach and Möhrenbach, where he is supervising the construction of a big ICE-tunnel - how cool is that!

April - early spring, more conferences

2011-04-30T12:07:00.000+02:00

My colleagues reward me with more conferences than I want to go to...
So I end up in Durham, England, by mid-april for two days.
Since April 1, cycling to work again is good to wake up in the morning!

And I moved into my new flat next to Münchner Freiheit, which is still close to the center, but more convenient to get to work. Best part of it is my flatmate, Nina, who I enjoy very much to spend more time with (e.g. cooking, see pic).

Spent Easter at Attersee, my favourite childhood place (apart from my parents' home) and hiked a couple of mountains with Moe, ending up in snow up to the thighs at one point :)

March - Trabajando como un mono

2011-03-31T10:35:00.000+02:00

How did I come up with the strange idea I was going to take it easier after finishing the Dr.?
Felt quite motivated after the rigorosum for new research, plus the should injury at the beginning of February kept (and partly still keeps) me from doing as much sports as I want.

One week of fasting cure, which worked quite well, as I did it in pair, with Moe. On the other hand, I was working a lot and not really taking my time to do the "internal cleansing" at the same time. And as I was to quick with getting back into normal/old habits after that week, the good effects reverted themselves...

First conference of my year - REFSQ in Essen, four more planned this year.
It was a good start, though - managed to find more people who would like to collaborate on sustainability.
We're setting up a wiki now for that http://sustainability.wiki.tum.de

February - The Experiment

2011-02-01T09:03:00.007+01:00

28 days - marathon training - sufficient sleep - vegan to "thrive", no stimulants (sugar, caffeine, alcohol).
I will do this, I just definitely need good substitutes for the sweet part, long afternoons in the office and so on ;-)
Reason: I feel that vegan does me good and dairy and stimulants do not!
(And I did a great week of magic soup diet with Iris in mid January but got the three kilos back on thanks to my dissertation parties the week after...)

Plan:
Morning - Smoothie with rice milk, chia seeds, spirulina, berries, and some grains
Midday - Veggie dish or big salad with grains, legumes, or seeds
Snack - Fruit
Evening - Veggie dish or soup and (plant) protein shake

Lots of raw stuff for maximum nutrients AND enough liquids.
At least a little bit of food or smoothie before and after training is better for recovery.
Dried fruits as blood sugar increasing snack during the long marathon runs.

2011 - here I come :)

2011-01-24T14:07:00.002+01:00

New plans for 2011:
- Spend plenty of time outdoors in the mountains (alps crossing planned in August)
- Do a Vipassana meditation seminar, presumably in March.
- 7th marathon in April: Freiburg's live music marathon (42 live bands on 42km).
- Improve my vegan cooking until I get everybody convinced by creativity ;-)
- Learn body percussion (clap, stomp, snap, ...)
- Get back into singing practice
- Enjoy and continue Yoga and Karate
- Sketch my research master plan

Rigorosum - check!

2011-01-24T13:49:00.005+01:00

After finishing my dissertation last week with a presentation and a defense (oral exam of 90 minutes) I received a wonderful Doctor's hat (see pic) with a funny accompanying speech by my colleagues Daniel and Sabine. Yes, I am laughing my head off, but that's no surprise - you should've heard them ;-)
My parents were there, my godfather was there, Moe was there, a bunch of very good friends was there (Bini, Iris, Micha, Jo, Martin, Amel, Marion & Klein Julius, Chrissi, Mark), my colleagues were there, we had a great time and I am very grateful for having had such a wonderful day. It is still sinking in, but at least I am relaxed by now :)

Barcelona

2011-01-24T09:35:00.003+01:00

Nach dem letzten Eintrag: Relaxte Weihnachten mit der Familie zu Hause, ganz wunderbar.
Nach Weihnachten: Wunderbarer Urlaub mit Moe in Barcelona, wir durften uns bei Leo einquartieren und haben viel Zeit mit Kerstin und Sidi und den Kids Yasin und Elias (auch bekannt als Krümel und Pünktchen) genossen. Silvester in Spanien ist eine Herausforderung: Es gibt zwar kein Feuerwerk und keine Kracher, denen man aus dem Weg hüpfen müsste, dafür muss man innerhalb der 12 Glockenschläge 12 Weintrauben in seinen Mund schieben, denn das bringt Glück für's nächste Jahr, ist allerdings echt eine Herausforderung ;-) Jedenfalls hat es tierisch Spaß gemacht, bis 5 Uhr morgens bei Kerstin und Sidi im Wohnzimmer mit Ulrike und Thomas zu tanzen :)

Wir waren ausgiebigst spazieren überall in Barcelona, waren beim Shoppen (u.A. ein paar supercoole blaue Cowboystiefel für mich, und ein Kostümchen für mein Rigorosum), bei Dalí im Museum in Figueres (der mich zum Postkarten malen inspiriert hat), beim Silvesterlauf (siehe MPC-Blog), auf dem Hausberg und beim Kloster Montserrat zum Wandern.

Dazu hab ich ein echt tolles Weihnachtsgeschenk von Moe bekommen: Wir waren an Neujahr beim Dinner im Dunkeln (ein Erlebnis für alle Sinne außer den Augen) und zwei Tage später noch beim Floating!

Last but not least: Geniale Jam Sessions mit Fede als Schlagzeuger und dem Dude an der Gitarre im JazzSí :)

Night flight

2010-12-16T16:51:00.002+01:00

Flying with a dream
lost in space
lost in a race
running hot on steam.

Far away a mystic gleam
softly lighting your face
with gentle grace
bringing up an old theme.

Hide in the night
wrap into the dark
caress my heart
recharge my light.

Autumn mountain tour Benediktenwand

2010-11-22T09:09:00.002+01:00

One destroyed shoe, a big pot of spaghetti, a huge bowl of salad, four bottles of wine, and a mountain cabin with a wood stove - 8 friends enjoying the sunshine in the alps - perfect weekend!

Sydney, Uluru, Whitsundays and back again - no worries, mate!

2010-10-26T22:36:00.003+02:00

10 years, 10 long years since my time in Sydney... and as in good old times, Nuno picks me up from the airport! Grrreat!
Conference in Sydney where I meet more friends from the past two years.
Then tour around the red center, the Whitsundays and Brisbane with Walid, David and Yasmin. Wonderful moments, cherished memories.

Back in Germany, hand in the dissertation - can't believe it.

On the way home

2010-09-12T11:20:00.003+02:00

Friday, 10th of September

Another short night, a last sunny morning, and I decide that it is best to get my packing done early. I pass by at all the offices at university to say goodbye and give some chocolates to Gabriela to thank her for taking care of me.

Last dance class with Alejandra, the Venezolana, at noon – she has a surprise for me: Not only has she grabbed the CD for me, but she also takes a couple of short video sequences that she wants to send me per email as memory. After class, we talk for more than half an hour and exchange contact information.

In the afternoon, Javi and I go to San José and pick up Nati from her work. After an hour of window-shopping in a big and fancy mall nearby, we have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I get veggie burritos in “mole” (yummy!), the typical salsa from Puebla, where my friends Kira and Pedro live. We go out to a nice little night club called Tao that is held in red light with a couple of Buddha statues and has a nice patio with big trees and outside bar, nice place to relax in between the dancing.

Saturday, 11th of September

Four o’clock in the morning, pick up time. Marco delivers me to the airport and I sleep next to that gate for nearly an hour. The flight is beautiful – I take many photos from clouds ☺ In Newark, I get down to the baggage reclaim area to pick up my bag pack in order to drop it off again for the transfer. I can hardly believe it, but I see exactly the same police officer, who had already questioned me last year when Julia and I came back from Costa Rica. And yes, he approaches me again, and asks a couple of questions. We end up chatting in Spanish after I tell him what I’ve been doing the past weeks, because he is fro Ecuador.

I meet Nordin from Continental Airlines who I got to know when I arrived I San José. We have a coffee together and he gives me a small Eiffel tower as a present. Although I’m pretty tired and haven’t slept more than two hours in either of the past three nights, I can’t really sleep on the plane.

Birthday

2010-09-12T11:15:00.002+02:00

Thursday, 9th of September

Dance class – Alejandra heats up the gym with us, we shake it! She promises me to grab a music CD for me to take back home. Alba blurts out that it is my birthday and I get my second birthday song from the ladies ☺ At 8 o’clock, Edwin and I have the meeting with Giannina and she explicitly supports our plans. She sends us the contract with the Saarland University as template or example and we agree to stay in touch.
Then I treat myself with a visit at the beauty saloon, where I get my nails done for the first time in my life. I ask Marcee to shorten them more and more so I could handle them, but in the end they still result quite long for what I’m used to. We give them a tropical design of light sky blue with blue glitter tips and a few small butterflies in black. The whole nails procedure takes more than one and a half hours. Cutting my hair makes it only half an hour more, including a complete ironing of my hair in advance to guarantee that the cut results more exact.

All styled I’m in shopping mood and look out for a new pair of sandals as the ones I brought finally had to go into the garbage bin. It results not as easy as I thought because 39 is already a big size here and not all shoes are available in that size. In the third shop I’m lucky – I see my sandals: completely fabricated of clear plastic, heels and small plateaus of plexi glass, straps of clear plastic. It’s like they have my name written on me, as my friend Iris would put it ☺

Grocery shopping and I pass by at José and Cris’ house to drop the food and drinks for the party. I prepare the guacamole for the night and we have milk coffee with Café Britt liqueur while Cris is skyping with her parents in Spain. Back at university, Gabriela drops by my office to take me with her to the school of computation to celebrate the kids’ day (día de niños) with the other staff. There is a wall with children’s photos set up and we have to guess which one of the colleagues is who. After another birthday song for me, we share an incredibly sweet but coolly designed Spiderman cake. Finally, José and I talk about our next steps for the collaboration and say goodbye.

At five, I meet Alba and her daughter Sofía for a tea. I got to know Alba at the gym and because her daughter is going to Germany on an exchange program, Alba wanted us to meet so they could ask me a heap of questions. Sofía is sweet and looking forward a lot to her stay. Subsequently, I go to dance class with José and Cristina and learn two dances that I didn’t know before: Bolero and Cumbia.
Still in dancing mood, we return to their house and the party can begin. Javi, Nati, and Monse are the first ones to arrive, later on follow Octavio, Amparo and Esteban, Daniel, and two more nice guys who study construction with Javi. We celebrate until late and dance quite a lot. I’m intrigued by the fact that it takes a lot of convincing until we get the latino guys to dance, but when they finally are on the task, they obviously enjoy it.

Last talk and goodbye lunch

2010-09-11T00:16:00.002+02:00

Wednesday, 8th of September

Good morning with Pilates is all right, but I prefer the dance classes ☺ I meet with Don Edwin again to make a plan for the reunion with the vice directorate Doña Giannina and we talk to the DAAD to find out about the different options for financial support.
My colleagues invite me for lunch at a wonderful restaurant between Paraíso and Orosí, called Sanchiri. Yummy casado vegetariano and for desert tres leches – and they give me a nice souvenir, a rustic wooden pen holder for my desk, beautiful!

If I had known that the students were about to surprise me with a huge birthday cake the same afternoon, I would have skipped desert. How lovely! They even sing for me! In Germany, it is already midnight, so in fact it is already my birthday ;-)
In the evening, I give my final presentation, on the research of our faculty, and the auditorium is quite full. The talk has been strongly advertised for, as it is the week of computation at the ITCR. I get many questions by the students about the exchange possibilities and take my time until they are all satisfied.

Connections and contacts

2010-09-09T00:49:00.002+02:00

Monday, 6th of September
Another talk at university, this time about how to do a PhD in Germany, mainly for the professors here, because they are beginning to set up a PhD program here at the ITCR as well. Then we worked on establishing more contacts between TUM and the CIC (Centro de Investigaciones en Computación). At night, I finally get around to making a small photo collage for my personal postcard.

Tuesday, 7th of September
Back on the thesis for polishing… and many emails, trying to work out the best contact persons in Munich for my ITCR colleagues. At night, a small retreat, just me and Sara Avant Stover on the MP3 player, making me think and reason, and I manage to go to bed early because my last three days here will be full as always. Only the mosquitoes manage to wake me up again at 1:30 a.m. So I put repellent again and go back to sleep.

Tortuguero and Guápiles

2010-09-08T19:48:00.001+02:00

Saturday, 4th of September

Beach time – first we dimple on the waves for ages and I feel like a little lazy fish cruising along the shore. Later on, I discover the national park with Alex and we see white face monkeys. A snake makes us jump, because neither of us knows which snakes are poisonous here and which are not. The mosquitoes are eating me alive – all people around me make fun of my sweet blood, as I’m the only one that gets bitten that often. I can only say that I haven’t had chocolate in days, I’m clueless why they like me so much.

In the afternoon, we do a canoe tour with guide Alejandro Monge. We see a lot of monkeys, spiders, lizards, birds, and a caiman, and the jungle around us is impressing. Afterwards, I go for a run on the beach. Although I enjoy the company of the Spanish guys a lot throughout the weekend, it is very relaxing to run completely alone on the deserted beach for an hour. In the evening, we have a BBQ with the whole hostel, including the staff and a few people from the village, which is a lot of fun. On Saturday night, going to the Culebra for dancing is a must in Tortuguero – so that’s where we end up. I dance with a lot of guys and get nice compliments, Salsa, Merengue, Reaggeaton, everything, and it is so much fun that I can hardly drag myself out of the place at 3 a.m.

Sunday, 5th of September

After the shower, at 3:30, I was my clothes because the stink so much that I rather wear them wet than still sweaty. Not even 5 a.m. and I walk back down to the beach where I have the luck to see another big green turtle make her way back into the ocean after laying her eggs. Completely wasted, the Barcelona people take off with me on the boat at 6 a.m. and Alex, Ivan, and Vanessa depart to San José while I stop again in Guápiles to spend the day with Betty and Vanessa.

Cuba libre out of the can, jumping into a refreshing river with all our clothes, delicious patacones (fried plaintain), and lots of laughter. In the afternoon, dance session on Betty’s veranda with friends – finally, I get to dance Bachata, I feel like I’m flying. Bachata is very emotional, melancholic music and after a while, you easily get fed up with it, but for an hour, you can just love and suffer along with it while swaying your hips and floating across the dance floor in somebody’s arm.
Betty and Vanessa give me a lift to the bus station and hopefully we’ll see each other again soon. For the first time during all my stays in América Latina, I fall asleep on the bus at once – I only wake up when we reach San José. What a wonderful weekend this has been.

Tortuguero

2010-09-08T02:46:00.003+02:00

Wednesday, 1st of September

Guess what, 4:30 a.m. – time to get up for the ride back to Cartago. The day passes by quickly with working on the thesis and going to the gym – and off to bed early.

Thursday, 2nd of September

Morning dance class with Alejandra, I will miss that back home. Shake it, baby! ☺
I work until mid afternoon, and then take off to Guápiles to visit Betty, my mama Tica, who I got to know in the bus two weeks earlier, on the way to Tortuguero. A small bag is enough for the long weekend. Betty picks me up from the bus station, shows me around her house, and introduces me to part of the family. We go out with two friends and dance Merengue until midnight.

Friday, 3rd of September

Betty wanted to come with me to Tortuguero but she wakes up with inflamed tonsils and a light fever, so she stays in bed, poor darling. On the bus, I sit next to a gentleman who first makes some small talk, then turns to more profound topics, in fact, he talks of the love of God for all of us, but on that day, especially of his love for me. Asdrubal writes down a verse I should look up in the bible (Proverbios, 4:23 “Sobre toda cosa guardada, guarda tu corazón; Porque de él mana la vida.”), and wishes me all the best. It is a touching experience, because he talks from all his heart, deeply convinced of what he is telling me and I feel God’s love that very instance.

In Cariari, I have to wait for a couple of hours until the next boat (and the preceding bus) leaves. People keep starting to talk to me, either to sell me things I don’t want, or just to chat me up; it is a little difficult to submerge myself into the book I would like to read. Just before the bus leaves, I chat up a sympathetic Spanish guy from Barcelona, Alex, who is travelling with two friends, Ivan and Vanessa. They “adopt” me for the weekend as we get along really well from the first minute and I enjoy their company. The avalanche captain has fun cruising swiftly in sharp curves until we squeal, and we check into a nice hostel right at the beach. Tortuguero is surrounded by water, on one side is the river, or rather, a closely-knit net of rivers, on the other side is the Caribbean Sea. After a late lunch, we set out to discover the village and the beach.

At night, we go on a turtle tour – it is the green turtle at this time of the year, which measures about one metre from head to tail. She is beautiful and so is the act of her laying the eggs, but the tour is very rushed and the guide doesn’t know more details about the turtles than the limited facts he learned for giving the tour. We chill out at the Taverna with a beer and I dance a salsa with a local rasta.

Fortuna or not?

2010-09-01T18:28:00.002+02:00

Tuesday, 31st of August

Mmm, fresh mango and papaya for breakfast at the university cafeteria – could I get this every day, please? The master students are very interested in my talk about how to do a PhD in Germany and I tell them about my experiences from research projects in cooperation with the industry, my students in Germany, and my experiences with conferences abroad. After class, their professor Abel tells me about his student projects with augmented reality and applications for mobile phones. Some of the students recently went to their first conference and start thinking about doing a PhD.

In the afternoon, there is a surprise cake for Edgardo’s 50th birthday. In the evening, I meet Alberto, who has returned home to La Fortuna after completing his recent 15-day nature tour with his clients. We do a volcano tour with two tourists from Uruguay – never met somebody from Uruguay before, and we even see the volcano clearly and without clouds, but El Arenal has been sleeping for five weeks and there is no eruption. Later on we dive into the thermal springs, a really hot natural river. I lie down in there and let myself float across the stones; now I can imagine what it feels like to be a river.

San Carlos - Iguanas y lluvia

2010-09-01T18:26:00.001+02:00

Monday, 30th of August

Another early morning, pick up at 5 a.m. to drive to Santa Clara with the colleagues to get to know the other campus of the university. They are delighted that I can already follow most of their Tico jokes, e. g., as we are driving on a very windy road, “llamar a Hugo” = vomit.
In the class of software design, I give the talk on our research group projects and on my PhD thesis to the BSc students. Later on, I meet most of the professors who teach computer science in Santa Clara, and we talk about the possibilities for cooperation and exchange between our universities. They show me around the campus and present SIR-ZEE, a database system for small and medium enterprises. Edgardo makes quite an effort in showing me everything that could be of interest for me and introduces me to many people until my head is spinning with new ideas.

At night, Edgardo invites Santiago (young professor from Cartago) and me to drive to La Fortuna and have dinner there, hoping to catch a few eruption views of the active volcano El Arenál. No, we only get soaked – as we step out of the car to catch a view of the lagoon while it is raining a little, the rain decides to throw a big bucket of water at us within three seconds. I never before got soaked within three seconds; it was more water than what comes out of any shower tab in the bathroom. We are still laughing when we arrive at the Montaña de Fuego, where dinner is delicious, and Santiago and I share a bottle of tasty Australian Shiraz. The volcano stays hidden behind the clouds while we exchange funny experiences from travelling.

Orosi thermal springs and Cartago soccer

2010-09-01T18:07:00.003+02:00

Sunday, 29th of August

Sun in the morning, I head to Orosi in bus, and visit the oldest church in Costa Rica that is still in use. Orosi is a nice small colonial town, with thermal springs. I swim in one of the little public baths for half an hour, but then arrive five big busses full of people, which makes me run – no way to relax here.

Wasn’t there a soccer game in Cartago on Sunday? Yes, I hop onto the next bus, envying the sporty guys on their cool mountain bikes – sweating a lot on the steep road – how I wish I had my bike here now, but on Sunday, all the shops that rent bikes are closed.
Instead, “passive sports”, watching the soccer against Heredia, but what is that? This is not a cultural experience, rather one of un-culture. Lots of police, fans fist fighting even before the match starts, and the worst game I’ve seen in a long time. More fouls that proper passes and not a single goal in 90 minutes. Even Cartago fans tell me that theirs is the worst team in the entire league.

Skype call with Germany – although I don’t think that Moe should be working that late on Sunday evening, I’m happy to catch him online. Afternoon run until the rain ushers me back home, and later on a relaxed salad preparation session with Jose for dinner. Cristina, his flatmate, returns home quite crashed after a party weekend ☺ Rica Costa Rica…

Tucan and Jaguar

2010-09-01T17:43:00.003+02:00

Saturday, 28th of August

The students perform the second part of the workshop without me, because my flatmate Javier and his girlfriend Natty take me on a tour to the volcano Poas where an uncle of hers has a restaurant and works as tour guide. Arriving at the rustically decorated restaurant, we get yummy “fresco de fresa” (strawberry smoothie) a typical breakfast of rice and beans, fried banana, and sour cream. We drive to the close by gardens of the Catarata de la Paz (Peace Waterfall) with uncle Marco as rain is pouring down and we hope for better views of the volcano later during the day. I’m so excited with all the animals in there – they have big houses for all their famous frogs, snakes, butterflies, parrots, and cats. I even get to touch a living jaguar’s paw! No worries, not really, but there were only a few millimetres of glass between us ☺ And I have a Tucan sitting on my shoulder for a few seconds, until he finds out that I don’t have any fruit for him, so he loses interest in me. I never saw a Tucan before in real life, and this one even sat on my shoulder and gave me curious looks – I buy Marco a big bag of the best Britt coffee beans covered in chocolate for taking us there.

At the butterfly house, you can even watch the morphos hatch and they keep dancing around us in the air. At a reconstruction of a small rural cottage, we get “aguadulce” (hot water with soaked raw sugar cane, very sweet) and a typical home made cake to taste. The waterfall is impressing as well, but the rain is still pouring down – as if it hadn’t rained in months… No way to see anything at the volcano, so we drive back to the restaurant while Marco tells us details about the earthquake a few months earlier that killed 40 people and destroyed a lot of buildings and roads. After a very late and heavy lunch of “tortilla arreglada” (corn tortilla topped with onion, paprika, and cheese, baked in the oven) and a lot of hugging with the baby niece of Natty, we drive back home under the still drowning rain.
At night, we have a BBQ with Natty’s family on the luxurious wooden balcony of their beautiful house a little above Cartago with view of all the city lights. Mum, Dad, two brothers, one girlfriend, and the three of us have a relaxing evening with lots of laughter – the Ticos are great hosts and I enjoy every minute I spend with them.

LuTec Workshop - Embedded System Toys

2010-09-01T17:29:00.001+02:00

Friday, 27th of August

Is it insane to go the gym at 5 a.m.? Don’t know, but there are already quite a few people at that hour working out – in this country, the day starts pretty early. I meet with Milton and we drive to Alajuela where he gives a talk at a conference about “Lutec”. This is the “toy lab” and the workshops with the children at the schools, where they make toys from recycled materials with tiny embedded systems to make them move, or blink, or shake, or whatever the children imagine. In the afternoon, we perform exactly such a workshop at a school in a socially difficult quarter of the city, and within that particular school, with the class of children that have been put together because they have problems at school. In short, this makes it more challenging to get through to the children, but the students perform quite well in motivating them to imagine their future toys and getting into the play mood. After about an hour, all of them work excitedly on their projects and within three hours the first toys come into shape. We work with tetra packs, cardboard, plastic bottles, foam, and small sensors and motors that the students brazed together from even more basic parts.
After five hours, the first toys are nearly finished, but most of the projects need a couple more hours of work, which will be continued on Saturday. Unfinished but already quite advanced are: two or three cars, three trains, a house with an elevator, a dancing clown, a shaking cow, a flashing bracelet, a crawling cat, a paddling fish, and a few others. The students, Milton and I are exhausted but satisfied with the work so far. We wrap up the workshop with an internal feedback session and a discussion of possible didactic improvements and tasks still to be performed. I’m thrilled by this idea of embedded system toys and as there is a lot of traffic on the way back to Cartago, I have two hours to reflect the experience.

First 90min lecture in Spanish, sin electricity

2010-08-31T17:22:00.002+02:00

Wednesday, 25th of August

Morning at the gym, late morning I gave my talk to Lilliana to practice my Spanish vocabulary and in the afternoon I meet with Edwin to work on the possibilities of establishing an exchange program for professors and PhD candidates. In this case, it is more important for Edwin Aguilar, the master of the master’s careers, that professors or PhD candidates come to Costa Rica (and Panama, Nicaragua, …) to give classes than that their professors come to visit us. He wants to improve education by inviting teachers from abroad.
In the evening I buy a new digital camera, a cheap one, but it will do for the travel memories and snapshots. After that, I meet Jose and Cristina, two of the Spanish exchange students, for one beer at the Marita, a bar close to the TEC that is also known as the “cueva”. The one beer turns into a few and we meet a guy named Tomas, who is actor, and his cousin Pable, and end up drinking a shot of Guaro (spirit of caña) with them and later on dance Salsa in another bar and return home at 3a.m.

Thursday, 26th of August

Getting out of bed costs me, no wonder, after three hours of sleep, but I have my first appointment at 7:30. Ignacio and I talk about education here and in Germany and he explains the history of his company CenfoTec. After that, I give my first full lecture of 90 minutes in Spanish, and, without electricity. Fortunately, we already knew one day before that it was likely that there would be no electricity, so we printed handouts from the slides for the students. Nevertheless, I draw about one hundred quick sketches on the whiteboard. As the 60 students are quite interested, time flies by and we have a good discussion.
Working on the thesis for a while… as long as the battery of my laptop lasts, then I get 30 minutes for a nap before, at four thirty, we meet in the International Office for a get together of all people participating in the exchange of COOPEN. We drive to the nearby house of one colleague working in that office – a house particularly suitable for parties, with a wonderful big living room, including a pool table, a bar, and various comfortable armchairs, plus a nice patio. Drinks and BBQ until late, a lot of chatting and laughing, and finally we move on to a bar with good live rock music above the city lights of Cartago.

Work and work out, enjoying both!

2010-08-25T18:00:00.002+02:00

Monday, 23rd of August

With a voice that sounds like two packets of cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey, I give my first talk to a group of professors about the work at our chair and my research. The voice comes along for free with the coughing and the sneezing, well, I got a little cold and a few stripes on sunburn on my backside from the surfing. We identify a couple of other people, professors as well as students, who might be interested in collaboration.
Struggling with my thesis, got to finish this, but today is not a good day. I work until eight but not very efficiently, not even the good Costa Rican coffee can improve my performance significantly. At least, I get the third presentation prepared for my talks on Wednesday and Thursday. An early night will hopefully get me rid of that cold.

Tuesday, 24th of August

Working out at the gym is a good way to start the day, after a dancing class and a yoga class I feel quite energized and I look forward to my dinner with my colleague Jose Helo. Both of these reasons help me to fight back the still sore throat and I put myself to work on the thesis.
Before I have a quick lunch at home, I met one of the gym trainers right in front of my door as he just lives across the street. My head is pretty full of formulas and I end up not remembering which day it is – that makes him laugh quite hard. Well, on the other hand, the afternoon continues productively, and at 6 o’clock I’m done with the formulas, can’t think any more. The colleagues pick me up at 6:30 and we go out for dinner, me and the three Joses, which is quite a lot of fun.
At night, I finally give in to the thought that the camera is destroyed, but at least the memory card does still work... so you get a few pictures from Cahuita :)

The Caribbean: Cahuita

2010-08-24T00:18:00.002+02:00

Friday, 20th of August

Four o’clock in the morning, too early to get up, but nevertheless I crawl out of bed a little disoriented to hurry to the bus stop and catch the first bus to San José in order to subsequently catch the first bus at 6 a.m. to Cahuita, a laid back little beach town on the Caribbean Coast. At 10 a.m. I arrive there and go for a run in the national park, along the beach, then along the trails, until I’m quite dehydrated because I forgot to take water, stupid me. After a little nap on the trunk of a palm tree facing the sea, I walk back and enjoy the blue morpho butterflies flattering around me.
In the evening I have Caribbean food with Corinna, a German traveler, at a local restaurant and the Daiquiri is so strong that one certainly is enough. Watching the ocean from the porch on the backside of our hostel, I fall asleep in an old wooden rocking chair.

Saturday, 21st of August

Prepared with lots of water and some fruit for the day, I hike most of the national park, admire the plants and watch the animals until I find the perfect spot for setting up my traveling hammock. I spend hours in there watching the waves roll in and reading “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. The book is about India, not about Costa Rica, and very recommendable. After a day in beach paradise, I walk back to town with the monkeys playing and tagging along in the trees.
At the Cocos Bar, I have a drink of coconut water right out of the shell and a dinner of patacones (fried starchy banana) con guacamole, and the cook sits down to talk to me for a while. Back at the hostel, I get to know King, who guides the snorkelling tours, and we spend the evening chatting on the porch.

Sunday, 22nd of August

During my morning run, Kenri, a guide from the national park who works as surf instructor in his free time, chats me up and convinces me to take a lesson with him during the afternoon. In between, I enjoy my snorkeling tour with King and the others. Only sad thing is that my waterproof camera decides not to be waterproof any more… that’s it with the photos… However, the coral reef is wonderful and we see a lot of beautiful fish.
In the afternoon, I wrestle with the waves, or rather, with the board, trying to stay on top of the wave. After not having practiced at all for quite a while, I’m happy that I manage to stand on a few small waves. Exhausted but smiling I climb onto the last bus to San José where I sit in the front row next to a lovely lady named Betty. She has a daughter of my age who is married to a German guy and lives in Munich. We talk most of the way back about this and that and as we get along so well, we exchange email addresses. I hope to stay in touch with her until she is going to visit Munich in October so I can show her around and invite her to meet my mum.

The right researchers, finally :)

2010-08-20T00:31:00.006+02:00

Biggi @ Volcano Irazú

Milton @ ITCR "Toy" Embedded Systems Laboratory

18th of August

Julia’s birthday! I call her on Skype in the morning and we chat a couple of minutes before she has to leave her office. It’s nice that the time zones at least overlap a bit. I work on my thesis and in late afternoon I get to meet Ignacio Trejos, a professor in software engineering who is an inspiring interlocutor and would like to still be able to spend more time on research. As his students are waiting for the class to begin after half an hour, we reschedule to meet again a few days later for a working session. Brimming with new motivation, I set out for an after work beer with a new Spanish friend (José) I met going out last weekend.

19th of August

In the morning, I meet Lilliana Sanchez, a professor for software engineering who is also running a software development company. Talking about research in general and cooperation with industrial partners in Germany, time flies by, and we arrange the dates for my talks in the following weeks. I will be giving talks about how to do a doctorate in Germany, about research at my research group, and about my own research in the doctorate.

Later on, I coordinate my stay at the San Carlos campus for two weeks later and offer them the same talks. As I don't like the food in the cafeteria here – the food is not really bad, I’m just very picky when it comes to my beloved vegetables - I check out the supermarket (15min walk... :( ) which scares me with US-like supersize everything. However, I also find alfalfa sprouts and ripe avocado to make a yummy salad :)
In the afternoon, I explore a couple of ideas I had discussed about with Ignacio the night before and prepare the talk about research in our group of “Software and Systems Engineering”.

Volcán Irazú and "Toy Lab"

2010-08-18T19:37:00.001+02:00

17th of August: There is a strike because of the public education funds, so I take advantage of the morning to visit the Irazú volcano, which is the highest volcano in Costa Rica on about 3400m. Unfortunately, it gets cloudy quite soon, but I do get a nice view of the crater for a minute or two within the following two hours – better than nothing. In the meantime I chat with a Spanish guy named Alvaro who was on the same bus and when it starts pouring down again at 12 sharp we rescue ourselves into the café up there and drink a hot chocolate.
In the afternoon I get a short tour around a wonderful little lab at TEC, where Milton and his students work on school projects to let children take a first constructive approach to learning about small, embedded systems. They use recycling materials to build small toys like boats, Ferris wheels, buttons for signs, and other ideas that the children come up with. Then they add an electric contact, a minimalistic version of a motor, or whatever else is needed to get the toy to work. Milton and his students regularly visit elementary schools and to perform weekend projects with the older children there. I think this is a wonderful idea and take a few photos to spread the idea at TUM.
At night, I work out at the gym again, because sore muscles usually get better with (moderate) exercise and the spinning class is fun - mental note to self: Take a water bottle next time. As we don’t have a washing machine and there are no laundries around, I spend the last hour of my day with washing my cloths by hand and hope that they will dry within three days (less would be a surprise).

First CR weekend was good :)

2010-08-16T23:29:00.001+02:00

13th of August

On Friday, there was a celebration of the official acknowledgement of the Bachelor’s degree in Ingenería de Computación. For this celebration, some of the professors of the San Carlos campus also came and I got introduced to them. We agreed on me staying a couple of days in San Carlos in two or three weeks and that I should give some talks there as well.
The TEC has a gym for students and employees, which I wanted to try, so I used my lunch break to get a deal settled and they even gave me a nice discount because I stayed only a little less than one month.
In the afternoon I talked to Santiago Nuñez, a young professor who works on grid computing, clouds, eScience for bioinformatics and geological simulations. He was interested in collaboration with the supercomputer of TUM, so I sent an email to a friend in that department in Munich asking for the right contacts.
At late afternoon, José Helo asked if I wanted to come out for a coffee with a few of the colleagues. It turned out to be a very nice way to end the working week as we sat together with the director of the computer science institute, Freddy Ramirez, his girlfriend, his secretary and her son, and a few others and I enjoyed chatting along.
At night, I went out with my flatmate Javier and a couple of exchange students – fun party night with dancing in San José, I even got to dance Salsa ☺

14th of August

Saturday morning after three hours of sleep the sun was shining into my room and that made me jump out of bed although I should have slept some more. I had a sweaty but great fun morning working out at the gym with spinning and latino dancing – shake it! Later I went for a long walk around the centre of Cartago, thanks to Mother’s day the next day everybody was shopping there like crazy. And every single one got soaked in the heavy rain during the afternoon. I thought of going to bed early although I didn’t like the thought of missing out on Saturday night. However, Javier and his girlfriend Natalia took me out to celebrate the birthday of one of Natalia’s friends – so it was again late until I crashed into bed.

15th of August

Sleeping in, wonderful, so drop dead that I didn’t even realize the mosquito stings until later. The sports ground at the university is occupied at any time during any day of the week, so it seems. A bit of reading under a tree in the shade, a bit of running in the sun and jumping over soaked patches of grass in the lawn. Music? Fiesta? Oh, Cartago is celebrating its 470 years with a festival – so I go and listen to some live cumbia in front of the basilica until the rain tries to wash us all away again. I walk down to the bus terminal to see the biggest queue ever in front of a bus – this one must have been 300m and I’m not exaggerating. Luckily enough there are plenty of buses that take us to San José. I get to talk with a nice guy standing next to me, Edy, and it turns out he is a computer science student. He imitates a lot of Latino accents to teach me the differences and I have a big smile on my face when my taxi driver in San José turns out to be Colombian, because that had been my guess. I still sound German-Spanish, but I get better in guessing accents.
Later I meet Alberto and Eric, friends I got to know last year in La Fortuna during vacation with my wonderful flatmate (in Germany) friend Julia. The dinner at “Nuestra Tierra” is yummy, even better than last year, a typical Costa Rican dish, rice and beans, salad, fried veggies, egg and cheese. Guess what, chatting away the night deprives me of sleep again, but it was well worth it.

16th of August

Kickbox workout before a meeting is not a good idea if your head takes on the colour of a tomato for two hours… but it was fun.
In the meeting, I again get to know some professors, this time from different faculties (mathematics, electrical engineering) who are working on a joint research proposal for the FP7 program that hopefully will help them to set up some partnerships with Europe. One of them, Johann, shows us results from collaboration with the university of Virginia on sensors in bridges.
The afternoon, I work up some stuff that keeps coming in from Germany, and a little bit on my thesis…

Stay as academic staff in Costa Rica 2010

2010-08-13T15:19:00.003+02:00

I happened to learn about the COOPEN project via the newsletter of the international office of TUM in March and although I was quite busy with industrial research projects, educational tasks (giving tutorials, supervising master theses, etc.), and working on my own research and doctoral thesis, I could not pass by the chance of spending a month as academic staff in Central America. So I contacted the TUM international office and the TEC international office and applied for the scholarship. After a few weeks, I received the notification that my application was successful and I could come to Costa Rica.

In the following weeks, I exchanged a couple of emails with the professor responsible with regard to contents, the coordinators from the TEC international office and the coordinator from UPV. We agreed on the dates and the contents, and my stay was scheduled for August/September 2010. The first suggestion for my accommodation was a nice hotel, but that would have taken the major part of my allowance for the whole month, so I asked for a more economic option and the very helpful TEC staff found a room in a shared apartment for me. They also organized for me to get picked up at the airport, which is a very comforting gesture for a late evening arrival in San José.

10th of August 2010

Early morning, half past five, the alarm clock ends a sleep that was way too short. However, I always end up sleeping very little on the night before a long trip because I want to catch up with friends for a last time, need to finish some last minute work, and last but not least need to do my luggage at some point. Check-in, last phone call to check on my grandmas and tell them not to celebrate any oversized parties while I’m out of country, because it had already been too late to call them the evening before. Then a very last try to reach a good friend who was highly pregnant, and finally I reach her husband – the baby arrived three days earlier! After hearty congratulations and the promise to visit them first thing when I come back to Germany, I board my plane and off we take to Newark, and from there to San José.

After nearly 24 hours of travelling, I stand in front of San José airport, but nobody is there to pick me up. Well, we arrived early, so maybe they still come. I don’t have a contact number and at 9 o’clock in the evening, nobody answers the phone at the university office. One hour later, still nobody there… and a thought crawls up into the back of my head: Did I really give them the right dates? I check my email and – there we are – stupid me! The flight had been changed a couple of days after we had agreed on the initial dates and I forgot to notify the TEC international office. The driver would be there one day later at the same time. Feeling very stupid, over-excited and quite tired at the same time, I organized myself a hotel for the night in San Pedro, about half way to Cartago, so my transfer the next day wouldn’t take too long. One hour later, at the hotel, I emailed TEC about my mistake and promised to call them in the morning before I finally fell asleep.

11th of August 2010

Computer scientist that I am, it is not unusual for me to grab my laptop first thing in the morning after opening my eyes to check my email and see what the world has been up to while I was asleep. Thirty emails from TUM and twenty more private emails, yes of course, sleeping time in Costa Rice is two thirds of the regular office day in Germany. I call Esteban from TEC who was responsible for the transfer and, luckily, he tells me that he already contacted the driver and they were able to pick me up an hour later in San Pedro. I get a nice pancake and fruit breakfast and a cup of wonderful Costa Rican coffee, and get some work done before Leo, the driver, picks me up and takes me to Cartago. Like most Ticos (as Costa Rican people call themselves), he likes to chat and I’m curious, so I get to know a lot about the surroundings on our way.
At TEC, I meet Esteban and Paula from the international office, and they take me to my apartment, which is in walking distance to the campus. After a short tour of the campus, I get to meet José, my contact with regard to contents, a professor of the computer science faculty. I have a little trouble understanding him but with a lot of concentration, I manage and I was sure I could get used to the Tico way of speaking again. During lunch break I happened to meet my flatmate Javier, a sympathetic Spanish exchange student.

José and I meet again in the afternoon and he takes me to meet the head of faculty, where we shortly discuss our plans for the following weeks. These are a couple of talks at the Cartago campus, participation in the research meetings, and a visit to the other TEC campus in San Carlos, which is a couple of hours north. Then José showed me around the campus and introduced me to a couple of colleagues. Later on I got internet access and the promise to get my own office already the next day. That evening I was drop dead tired and went to bed at 8 o’clock for 11 hours of sleep, which really did me good.

12th of August

I started the day with buying a prepaid phone card, which is really cheap here compared to any other country I’ve been to. It was a funny insight that having a cell phone made me feel more in place only because of being able to make phone calls whenever I wanted. I guess we’re just too used to mobile phones by now. The church in the picture below is the famous Basílica de los Angeles.
After a morning run and buying fruits at the market I went to university where José’s assistant helped me to get a table, a chair and a printer for the literally empty office that was assigned to me. She also showed me the small coffee kitchen, a very important feature for computer scientists ;-) No, I’m not very much into coffee, but I already realized during my first stay in Costa Rica one year earlier that the coffee here is most exquisite.
During the afternoon, some of my new colleagues passed by my office and stopped for a couple of minutes to introduce themselves. In between, I was working on my presentation for the first talk, the one about how to do a PhD in Munich. As I had taken my time during the morning doing shopping I felt like staying a little longer at the office and soon it was past 7pm. At that time, one of the colleagues who had introduced himself a little earlier came around again and asked me if I still wanted to continue working or if he could invite me for dinner or at least give me a lift home. Even if I had wanted to continue working, such a nice offer could not be declined. We went to a local restaurant run be a Norwegian and had wonderful homemade pasta, talked for nearly three hours more and laughed a lot. When I asked him whether all colleagues were friends like this, he said yes, they all got along very well. What a nice day!

July - up and down and up and down

2010-08-05T10:20:00.003+02:00

Couple of weeks in between working on my thesis until midnight and spending time with friends just before crashing. I really need to get this thesis done before it drives me nuts... but I think I have found the middle path again after a few weeks of more than full power - balance will continue to be my topic for this year I guess...

The pics are from the Dolomiti Superbike where I finally had to admit that trails are a hell lot of fun :)

And I went to a fun little rock festival with Julia and part of the old Passau gang, to see Revolverheld, Madsen (grrreat), HIM, Reamonn and a few others. Thanks guys, great time!

HAPPY in balance

2010-06-23T11:22:00.004+02:00

This pic was taken by Mark Lyner last weekend during another GREAT karate-news event.

We had a funtastic party weekend with a lot of training, but the reason for putting it here is that it shows some characteristics that I identify as pretty important for me right now:

Action - always moving forward.
Focus - on what matters right at that moment.
Passion - for what I'm doing.
Balance - within myself.

And although I might not be wearing my nearly ever-present smile on my face on the photo, it's right in my heart and I feel it.
I had a day of very diverse social interaction yesterday, I feel grateful for having wonderful friends and HAPPY in balance - life is a miracle!

Ask yourself what you really, really, really want (Elizabeth Gilbert)

be the change that you wish to see in the world

2010-05-19T22:13:00.002+02:00

how was your day?

1) a rainy day and you didn't get very far in your struggle with the case study for the phd thesis?
2) or you enjoyed riding your bike to work, bought a new pair of running shoes that seem to shout "run with me", you had a nice chat with your cute physical therapist and two phone calls from good friends?

guess what, it was both :)

PS: Kashmir is a beautiful place, and I'm already safely back home with lots of impressions, feelings, and experiences.

108 times India - Dharamsala and Delhi

2010-04-14T14:49:00.004+02:00

A mala chain has 108 pearls - these are mine.
Some are in other languages, but the original is important.

* Dabei: Sensei Sascha & Johanna, Elli, Olli, Jenny & Janina, Natalia, Jürgen & Yvonne, Edelgard, Marco
* Endless Jeep drive to Dharamsala with Tsering from Windhorse travels
* Qi Gong on roof terrace before breakfast
* Tekki karate course with all levels playfully integrated
* Karate travel blog (i backed out)

* Hatha yoga class with training teachers
* Carpe Diem - wonderful restaurant with Nepalese (Raju)
* Morning prayer in the Gompa with Edelgard
* Sorgis-tea and home-made lunch from Kunga
* Good, emphatic massage plus hug by Kunga

* Tenzin Norzin, my new Tibetan name, a gift by the Dalai Lama
* Thumbs up - Indian softdrink that keeps you going
* Monk drinks some of our Thumbs up out of an orange peel "cup"
* learning how to wear an Indian sari from Elli
* Indian shopkeepers like to chat a lot all day long

* Conversation classes @ LHA office with Tibetan refugees and monks
* Rooftop yoga class @ LHA with Jenny and Yvonne and audience
* 2 weeks breakfast: rice with peanut butter and honey
* "Bergziege" von Triund runter gehüpft: downhill running
* 6 day Tibetan massage course with Elli & Olli

* Saschas two talks about Budo and Tibetan history
* Run back up mountain to get Bos for Bo fighting classes
* Bo fighting is a lot of fun
* Best Momos @ Gakyi: Spinach and cheese momos in soup
* Anti-rape-move from Jiu Jitsu taught by Jochen

* Scorpion in the shower with me
* Free-Tibet-Button by Janina and Jenny
* Biggest ever spider in my sleeping room with male underneath
* Camera doesn't work anymore
* walk to Dal lake, small villages, and TCV

* my big Tibetan shawl made from yak wool and cotton
* Clown pants, black with violet shapes, or with stars
* Shooting star during roof terrace chill-out
* Good night massage for Janina so she can sleep
* Almond paste chocolate with Jenny

* Kashmiri Kofta in tomato sauce @ Carpe Diem
* Yedi + Yeti => Yogi
* Masala tea is great (energy & relaxation)
* hand-knitted wollen Panda cap from street stall
* meet cook Serjung, look at restaurant, drink tea, take moonlight walk

* Indian guys want photos in "girlfriend" style
* Himalayan lip balm heals all girls' lips
* everybody likes to get massages, even more with oil
* Mantra music everywhere: Om mani padme um
* constant double input from two cultures

* Gebetsmühlen an den Tempeln im Uhrzeigersinn
* the spontaneous gift from my travel group (Kashmiri silk shawl) brings me to tears
* meeting Dr. Pawan Kumar & family on the market place
* Japaneses restaurant with Okonomiyaki
* Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga classes

* Tibetan opera festival at art schools
* Momo-party and Himalaya movie @ LIT
* Ex-political prisoner talk @ LIT
* Rudraksha-Malakette for 108 cherished memories
* Ayurvedic massage - you are strong so I have to work hard and take longer

* Hindi: Namaste (Hello) and Shukriyaa (Thank you)
* Final fight against everybody in big circle
* Small bakery with nice baker - best chocolate cake in town
* 100 year old monk always like a hug
* Only 3 streets, but Dharamsala is full of energetic vibes

* Back up Triund to snowline alone (3500m)
* Enjoy sights of the beginning Himalaya
* Photo session with friendly elderly couple
* Buttertee hat ca. 2 Millionen Kalorien
* Tibetan words: Tashi Delek (Saying hello) and Thukcheche (Thank you)

* Beer in Tibetan Bar with Elli & funny Tibetans
* Tsampa (Gerstenbrei) as traditional Tibetan breakfast
* Tattoo appointment - electrical power blackout - no template print
* Photo session and playing around with the tattoo artist
* Heavenly chocolate mousse @ Moonpeak Café

* We will rock you performance @ LIT conversation class
* Tibetan museum - history of the refugees
* new Tattoo by Tamding (www.tamdingarts.wordpress.com)
* Whiskey with Mountain Dew (Indian energy drink)
* live traditional Tibetan music by Tamding (skyping with his brother)

* long talk with Elli - don't want sleep to make the night last
* Tibetan wish for good travels: White shawl
* Indian traffic I: Gut gehupt ist halb gefahren
* Indian traffic II: needs faith, and a lot of it.
* Indian traffic III: Agency "Lucky travel" - arrive alive?

* Head massage with Himalayan Cold balm relieves sickness
* Indian traffic IV: Horn^2 * Pi = Ziel erreicht
* Elli: "Kommt ein Schwein, ist die Ecke weg."
* Great song "Jai ho" - driver calls friends to find out for us
* Colorful hand-painted trucks

* Family Kumar in Gurgaon & friends: guest presents - cloth, later on book
* Indian Scotch as appetizer before dinner at 2 a.m.
* sitting in the garden - mosquitos love Europeans
* Diarrhea is "the beauty of India"
* Family photo session, cotton shawl as another present

* Walk Old Delhi bazaars with Jenny and back to hotel in the night
* Red fort light show with a million mosquitos and a nice Indian family
* Walking in Delhi turns you into a dust monster
* Lodi Garden (Streifenhörnchen!), Ghandi Smriti (non-violent protest), Crafts Museum (beautiful!), Banana Leaf (yummy south Indian food), over 40°C all day
* Kashmiri tea with Samir & friends in carpet shop: green tea, cardamom and cinnamon

* Go out by car to Urban Pind with Samir & Ato, dance on roof terrace
* Samir: "Life is like icecream - you gotta taste it before it melts."
* Hot day at beautiful Humayan tomb ("Mini Taj Mahal") with Tota, Jenny and Samir
* Listen to your mind and your heart - what do they say? Then decide.
* Indians also have to argue with riksha drivers.

* All buddhists and muslims that I met were open minded about religion.
* "I'm gonna die in your eyes. I will wait for you and I will show you paradise."
* "Sondri", my new Kashmiri name.
* Kashmiri words: Salam aleikum (saying hello) - waleikum salek (answering hello).

* Meet Alex & Steffi from Munich at the airport, invite them for cake with last rupies.
* Visit Blue Mosque in Istanbul with them, meet cuddly def 5 year old boy in metro, drink fresh granate juice.
* Hug sympathetic guy named John in the middle of the street simply because he asked for it.
* Inspiring book: "Eat, love, pray" by Elizabeth Gilbert

Your name

2010-03-15T13:36:00.000+01:00

You smiled at me,
smelling like spring sunshine,
making me dream - can't you see?
maybe heard it through the grapevine.

Butterflies in my head,
thinking of you
when i lie in my bed,
hoping you feel it, too.

You got many faces,
floating and dancing around,
sometimes eights, more often aces,
lifting my feet off the ground.

Will you make me happy?
or break my heart?
Your name is love,
and this is where we start.

Flowing

2010-02-16T08:31:00.002+01:00

a "doctor" is not designated by submitting a dissertation but forms in a person throughout the years.
La Salsa está parte de mi vida otra vez - qué bueno!
I'll be travelling again - Karate@Dharamsala in India.
Plus connecting people all over the world in summer@Tampere, Finland.
Year of the tiger.

New year - new plans :)

2010-01-07T14:09:00.002+01:00

Costa Rica sun tan is already history :(

But I had a few great days of skiing and partying with friends in the mountains and in Munich - and a wonderful New Year's Morning hiking up a mountain through the snow (see pics) with Martin und racing down on sledges while all others were still "out of order" (sleeping).

2010 is filling with plans already - Karate in the Himalaya in March, marathon in Vienna in April, ... and hopefully a finished PhD sometime soon! Mental note to self: Back 2 work!

Costa Rica: Pura Vida III

2009-12-04T15:12:00.003+01:00

Freitag, 13.11.: Morgenspaziergang um halb sechs, geziert von vielen bunten Blumen und Pflanzen, zum Aussichtspunkt über die wunderbare Bucht mit der Walschwanzflosse bei Ebbe und danach zum beeindruckenden Bambuswald. Nach dem Frühstück holt uns Surflehrer Tito (uvitasurfschool@hotmail.com) mit seiner Freundin zusammen ab und wir werden nochmal ganz anders und wiederum recht gut ins Wellenreiten eingewiesen. Man lernt ziemlich viel dazu, wenn man sich das nicht nur von einer Person erklären lässt, sondern bei verschiedenen Lehrern Stunden nimmt. Wir lernen die Schildkrötenrolle, die zwar immer für gehörig Salzwasserspülung sorgt, aber einen davor bewahrt, von zu groß geratenen Wellen hoffnungslos untergebuttert und geschlagen zu werden. Wir stehen ziemlich viele Wellen und sind richtig stolz auf uns - großes Erfolgserlebnis - und sind zufrieden, dass wir uns dpch dafür entschieden haben, nochmal eine Stunde zu nehmen, statt es nur selbst mit geliehenen Boards zu versuchen, denn wir haben nochmal einiges dazugelernt. Titos Freundin macht fleißig Fotos von uns und verspricht, sie uns zu emailen, aber leider kommt in den darauf folgenden Wochen nichts bei uns an.
Zurück im Hostel haben wir gerade genug Zeit, um uns kurz den Sand herunter zu waschen und uns umzuziehen und flitzen auch schon zum Bus nach Quepos und Manuel Antonio. Auf Empfehlung von Dan und Peter versuchen wir das Hostal "Vista Serena" (http://www.vistaserena.com) mit unglaublich schönem Meerblick, und da die Mehrbettzimmer tatsächlich ausgebucht sind, gönnen wir uns ein Doppelzimmer im zugehörigen Appartment, das wir uns mit zwei netten und attraktiven, doch sehr ruhigen Schweden teilen. Abends gehen Julia und ich ins "Bambó Jam", wo es Livemusik in Form von Salsa und Merengue gibt, danach mit 15 Leuten aus dem Hostel im Kleinbus ab in die Disco in Quepos "Arco Iris" bis in den Morgen. Dort lerne ich einen Tico names Jimy kennen, den eigentlich Julia verdient hätte, weil es einer von vielleicht zwei oder drei Ticos ist, die wir gesehen haben die groß sind :) Er kann toll tanzen, da genieße ich den Rest der Nacht tierisch.

Samstag, 14.11.: Ohne Schlaf geht es weiter in den Nationalpark, und Julia und ich lachen herzlich, als wir in einem der offiziellen Tourguides ein bekanntes Gesicht von der Nacht vorher wiedersehen. Mike erkennt uns auch und macht uns einen Spezialpreis für eine Tour und lädt uns darüber hinaus zum Abendessen ein, selbstgekocht, wenn wir möchten. Na, da fügt sich ja mal wieder eines zum Anderen - die Tour ist jedenfalls superwitzig, auch wenn wir vielleicht nur halb so viel über die Tiere erfahren wie von Alberto, dafür bringt Mike uns noch mehr zum Lachen und ist sichtlich voll in seinem Element, vor allem weil die anderen Guides neidisch gucken. Mit einem Teleskop, das er auf dem Stativ mit sich herumträgt, zeigt er uns alle möglichen Tiere, die wir sonst teils im Leben nicht gesehen hätten, weil sie entweder versteckt oder relativ schwer zu entdecken, weil weiter weg waren: Faultiere, 3 Sorten Fledermäuse, eine Grille, einen (schlafenden) Rotaugenfrosch, eine Krabbe, Schlangen (eine Viper und eine Boa), einen Kaiman, Basilisken (die auch Jesus-Christ-Echsen genannt werden, weil die über’s Wasser laufen können), einen schwarzen Specht mit roter Haube, ein Riesenmeerschwein (so sieht es aus, den Namen wissen wir nicht), Schmetterlinge, Pelikane, und... einen Tucan! Die sieht man selten, weil sie scheue Einzelgänger sind.

Am Strand will uns mittags ein Waschbär unser Picknick streitig machen will und wir es erfolgreich verteidigen, bis er sich für eine Packung Kekse von einer Amerikanerin umentscheidet, die kreischend das Weite sucht. Später erforschen Julia und ich noch die abgelegeneren Pfade im restlichen Nationalpark und sind froh, dass wir den Hauptteil schon um 7 Uhr morgens gemacht haben, denn mittlerweile sind die Hauptwege hoffnungslos überlaufen.
Spätnachmittags, nach dem üblichen Wolkenbruch, landen wir wieder im Hostel, schlafen halb über unseren Postkarten ein und werden schließlich von Mike aus einem kleinen Powernap geweckt, als er uns wie versprochen zum Abendessen abholt. Eigentlich ist er schon furchtbar aufgeregt wegen des World Cup Qualifikationsspiels an diesem Abend zwischen Costa Rica und Uruguay, darum muss dann sein guter Freund Kanutto, der ebenfalls Tourguide ist und dazukommt, das Kochen übernehmen, während Mike vor dem Fernseher klebt und mit Hingabe das Spiel kommentiert. Kanutto interessiert das herzlich wenig, er hat Spaß am Kochen und unterhält sich mit uns. Zwei deutsche Mädels, von denen eine mexikanisches Spanisch und die andere spanisches Spanisch sprechen, findet er außerordentlich. Nach einem wirklich leckeren Abendessen bekommen wir sogar noch gebratene Bananen zum Nachtisch, mmmmmm, wir werden verwöhnt. Der Billiardsalon, wo wir danach landen, und erst recht die Karaokebar finden wir dann nicht mehr so spannend, war wohl nix mit nochmal Tanzen gehen. Wir verabschieden uns irgendwann nach Mitternacht, um vielleicht doch mal wieder ein paar Stunden zu schlafen :)

Sonntag, 15.11.: Julia und ich haben beide etwas an unserer Idee gezweifelt, mit dem aktuellen Schlafdefizit einen Morgenlauf zum Strand hinunter zu machen, aber wir sind gut! Wir rennen runter, am Strand entlang, nehmen ein ausgiebiges Bad in der ziemlich wilden Brandung (den Sand finden wir in der Dusche hinterher wirklich *überall*), und laufen den Berg wieder hinauf. Oben macht uns dann leider die Dehydrierung in der bereits um neun Uhr sehr starken Sonne ziemlich zu schaffen, aber nach ausreichend Wasser geht es wieder.
Noch schnell ein paar Quesadillas in unserer Luxusappartementküche gezaubert und schon sind wir auf dem Weg nach Quepos, um unseren Bus zurück nach San José zu erwischen. Einige Stunden später holt uns Alberto tatsächlich vom Busbahnhof ab - wie lieb! Wir checken zusammen im Hostel Pangea (http://www.hostelpangea.com) ein und überlegen erst noch, was wir jetzt bis zum Abendessen in frühestens 3 Stunden machen, aber dann ratschen wir einfach so nett vor uns hin, dass die 3 Stunden schneller vorbei sind, als wir gucken können. Alberto kann ziemlich gut Geschichten erzählen und hat während seinen Touren auch tolle Fotos von der ganzen Fauna in Costa Rica gemacht, von denen er uns einige zeigt. Wir speisen sehr lecker im Restaurant "Nuestra Tierra" und besuchen später die Discos im "Centro Comercial del Pueblo". Macht Spaß wieder zu tanzen, auch wenn etwas viel Brasileño gespielt wird, mit dem wir nicht so viel anfangen können, vor allem Alberto nicht. Und dann gibt es doch noch Salsa :)

Montag, 16.11.: Wir frühstücken gemeinsam leckere Banana Pancakes und dann verabschiedet sich Alberto. Doch zuerst legt uns noch die Tour "Café Britt" im nahen Heredia ans Herz, da wir für die alternativ angedachte Vulkantour über 6h im Bus sitzen müssten und noch dazu die Sicht schlecht ist. Die Kaffeetour ist superlustig und bietet uns Gelegenheit, noch ein paar Mitbringsel zu kaufen. Nachmittags versuchen wir, auf dem Mercado Borbón noch etwas zu shoppen, aber irgendwie können wir das nicht, nichts schreit so richtig "Nimm mich mit!". Dann eben nicht, auch okay. Unsere geniale Idee auf dem Heimweg, uns mit einer Rumcola in den Pool zu legen und noch etwas zu chillen, bevor wir packen, weil wir es den ganzen Urlaub nicht geschafft haben, tatsächlich mal mit einem Cocktailchen am Strand zu liegen, erweist sich als unpraktikabel, denn der Pool ist ziemlich kalt und die Sonne längst weg. Als es zu regnen beginnt, geben wir lachend auf und packen unsere Rucksäcke für den Rückflug. Nach einem mittelmäßigen Abendessen im Restaurant "La Vasconia" bringt uns ein richtig netter Taxifahrer (der am liebsten gleich mitgekommen wäre) in die Bar "El Cuartel de la Boca del Monte", wo montags immer eine Liveband spielt. Wir probieren in einer etwas überdrehten gönnen-wir-uns-was Laune ein paar Cocktails die wir nicht kennen. Der Barkeeper kennt sie auch nicht, muss sie im Buch nachgucken und nach Rezept mixen :) So gegen halb elf kämpfen wir furchtbar mit der Müdigkeit, aber die Band erlöst uns erst um kurz vor elf. Dann allerdings ist es wirklich spitze - wir tanzen und hüpfen und strahlen um die Wette. Schweren Herzens verschwinden wir so gegen ein Uhr, um eine halbwegs realistische Chance zu haben, vier Stunden später wieder aus den Betten zu krabbeln und zum Flughafen zu eiern. Ein sehr gelungener Abschlussabend!

Dienstag, 17.11.: Mal wieder um 5 Uhr auf den Beinen, ab zum Airport, Ausreisesteuer, Gepäck aufgeben, erster Flug, Immigration in USA - diesmal gehen mir die Jungs auf die Nerven, was es nicht schneller macht... Julia und ich machen noch eine gute Stunde Flughafen-Powerwalking, um die Beine zu strecken und den Kreislauf etwas anzuregen.
Wie genial! Der Flug ist nur halb ausgebucht und ich kann eine komplette Dreiersitzreihe für mich ergattern - direkt nach dem Abendessen geht es in die Horizontale und ich verschlafe sogar das Frühstück. Schlafen ist sooo toll!
Und was für eine geniale Reise - Costa Rica, pura vida :)

Costa Rica: Pura Vida II

2009-12-03T10:49:00.004+01:00

Donnerstag, 5.11.: Auf die Mountainbikes - oder für Julia eher Mountainbikechen, denn so ganz ihre Größe ist das nicht. Dafür funktionieren bei meinem die Bremsen kaum. Was soll's, hochmotiviert strampeln wir wie die Wilden zwei Stunden mit üppig Höhenmetern die gut 20 km zu den Puentes Colgantes. Erstaunlicherweise hat uns keiner der Höllenfahrer von der engen Straße geschubst, obwohl es ein paar Mal schon etwas eng wurde, und wir umrunden im Schweiße unseres Angesichts in der Morgensonne Hügel um Hügel den Anstieg um den Vulkan, der sich weiter beharrlich in Wolken hüllt.
Die hängenden Brücken führen auf einer Länge von etwa 4 km in Höhen zwischen 3 und 40 Metern durch den Regenwald - wir haben Spaß dabei, uns Geschichten zu den verschiedenen Pflanzen und Tieren auszudenken, von Murmelpalmen und Sambavögeln, die Vielfalt ist groß - unsere Phantasie auch ;-) Vor allem die Vogelvielfalt in Costa Rica bringt uns zum Staunen, auch wenn die Racker gerne Spielchen machen, weil sie immer nur so weit weg hüpfen, dass man sich doch wieder ganz vorsichtig ein paar Schritte näher schleicht, und so bald man wieder so nah ist wie gerade eben, aber noch bevor man sie richtig gut sehen oder gar ein Foto machen kann, hüpfen sie wieder ein paar Meter weiter. Da schleicht man schon mal schnell eine Viertelstunde einem Vögelchen nach, bis es Vogel oder Späher zu langweilig wird. Auch die Flora ist großartig, Bäume bis zu 60m Höhe, wilde Orchideen, dazu ein toller Wasserfall, ein Märchenwald!
Etwas dehydriert erleichtern wir den Straßenverkäufer zwei Stunden später um 2 Liter Wasser, einen halben Liter Eistee und eine Kokosnuss und laben uns am Ufer der Laguna de Arenal. Der Rückweg ist ziemlich locker zu pedalieren, wir genießen es, uns den Wind um die Ohren sausen zu lassen, nur trau ich mich nicht recht, es laufen zu lassen, weil meine Bremsen nur geschätzte 10% ihrer Soll-Bremskraft haben. Hungrig wie wir sind, fallen wir bei einem kleinen Obst- und Gemüsehändler und statten uns mit Kochbananen, Yucca, Tomaten, Gurke, Zwiebeln, Knoblauch, Wassermelone, Papaya, Grenadillas und Bananen aus, so dass wir mit den ganzen Einkäufen kaum noch Fahrrad fahren können.
Abends schlemmen wir Kochbananen mit Tomatensalsa (zubereitet mit Tomaten, Zwiebeln, Knoblauch und Salsa Lizano, einer relativ salzigen Soße, die hier viel als Würzmittel verwendet wird) und Gurkensalat und trinken einen leckeren, chilenischen Chardonnay. In Costa Rica wird kaum Wein angebaut und wenn, dann ist er eher süß und kommt oft im Tetrapack. Guter Wein wird hier normalerweise aus Chile importiert. Auch heute fallen wir nochmal ziemlich früh ins Bett, aber immerhin "erst" gegen halb zehn oder zehn.

Freitag, 6.11.: Um fünf Uhr morgens hüpfen wir aus den Federn, das ist lustigerweise hier relativ normal, denn um circa Viertel nach fünf geht die Sonne auf und um Viertel nach fünf Uhr abends geht sie wieder unter, wir sind ja nahe am Äquator. Wir haben uns auch eine große Wanderung vorgenommen, nämlich auf den Cerro Chato, einen erloschenen Vulkan in dessen ehemaligem Krater nun ein wunderschöner, türkisfarbener See liegt. Hinauf Richtung Vulkan, erstmal sieben Kilometer bis zum eigentlichen Ausgangspunkt der Wanderung am Eingang des Nationalparks, dann den Weg entlang den steilen Berg hinauf, zuerst umrahmt von wunderschönen Blumen, dann an einer Herde Bullen vorbei, dann durch einen verwunschenen Riesenwald und dann ab durch den Regenwald. Viel Wasser auf unserer Haut - Regen? Nein, Schweiß. Es ist schwül, der Weg steil und teils sehr matschig, da es ja am Tag vorher stark geregnet hat. Wir sehen viele Vögel und Eidechsen, ein paar Kröten und schließlich, nachdem wir uns schon oft genug "Ya casi estamos" (Wir sind schon fast da) gesagt haben, erreichen wir den oberen Rand des Kraters.
Wow, tolle Aussicht auf den großen Vulkan El Arenal, der uns endlich tatsächlich einen wolkenfreie Blick auf immerhin den halben Krater gewährt, aber hm, kein See in Sicht - ah, da, ein Schild, 60m zum See.
Das waren wohl Höhenmeter, denn ab da geht es für durchaus etwas mehr als 60m sehr steil bergab, Julia bedenkt schon wie es wohl sein wird, da wieder zurück nach oben zu krabbeln. Oh, da vorne sind ein paar bunt gewandete... Affen? Ach nein, ein paar Menschen, genauer gesagt ein Tico Guide mit seinen Klienten, die genau eben diese Krabbelaktion vom See zurück hinauf machen. Bester Laune tauschen wir ein paar Kommentare mit dem Tico, der uns erzählt, dass es auch einen kürzeren Weg von der anderen Seite gegeben hätte. Das macht nichts, die Wanderung ist genial, sonst hätten wir auch nicht so viel tolle Natur bestaunen können.
Am See trinken wir unser letztes, mühsam gespartes Wasser, denn wir haben etwas zu wenig mitgenommen und essen ein Stück Gurke und eine Banane zu Mittag. Nach ein paar Minuten der Stille hebt auf einmal ein richtiges Konzert von Tierstimmen an, das die Gruppe vor uns offenbar zum Verstummen gebracht hat. Quaken und zwitschern und trillern und pfeifen, wir gucken uns an und können mal wieder nur fröhlich grinsen. Ein erfrischendes Bad im überraschend kühlen See, wenn auch der Untergrund beim Hineingehen ziemlich schleimig-algig von den ganzen verrottenden Pflanzen ist, gibt uns wieder viel Energie und wir machen uns auf zum Krabbeln zurück an den Kraterrand. Das geht doch einfacher als gedacht und wir treffen eine weitere Wandergruppe mit Tico-Führern. Wir wundern uns ein klein wenig, denn so anspruchsvoll ist die Wanderung eigentlich nicht, dass man sie unbedingt mit Guide machen müsste, werden aber später von Alberto, einem Tico-Guide, den wir später abends in der Disco kennenlernen werden, gerügt, dass wir den Cerro Chatto ohne Guide gemacht hätten, denn wir hätten bestimmt ganz viel Tierleben übersehen. Möglich, aber wir haben tatsächlich viel gesehen und es sehr genossen.
Einige Stunden später kommen wir ziemlich dehydriert gegen 16 Uhr im Hostel an. Ein Wurzelzwerg hat Julia vor's Schienbein getreten, aber wir haben sogar einen Morpho, den großen metallicblauen Schmetterling, der eines der Wahrzeichen von Costa Rica ist, gesehen. Der Vulkan hat auf dem Rückweg seine Wolkenmütze wieder aufgesetzt. Was ist die beste Medizin gegen schwere Beine? Eine lockere Runde laufen gehen, und das mache ich auch. Julia hat offene Zehen von den Blasen und zieht daher verständlicherweise das Internetcafé vor. Danach kochen wir lecker Yucca zum Abendessen und erfahren, dass an dem Abend ordentlich was los sein soll in der örtlichen Disco namens "Volcán", zu der sogar ein extra Shuttlebus fährt. Super, die Nacht gehört uns!
Nach einem kleinen Nickerchen, dass uns eher desorientiert als erholt um 22 Uhr wieder aufstehen lässt, zwitschern wir uns noch eine gute Tasse Kaffee rein und stylen uns. Ready to party! Wo dieser Bus fährt? Keine Ahnung, aber wenn zwei Mädels in Costa Rica Richtung Marktplatz laufen, werden sie bestimmt oft genug angequatscht, um mal danach fragen zu können, zum Beispiel von einem Typ namens Cocho, der nicht nur aussieht als er hätte er zuviel "The Fast and the Furious" geguckt, sondern sich auch so verhält und nebenbei, wie wir später erfahren, der örtliche Drogendealer ist.
Im Bus werden wir von allen angeguckt, nun gut, wir stechen etwas raus, vor allem meine schöne, große, blonde Begleitung, und wir sind auch die einzigen Touris im Bus. Das "Volcán" ist die größte Disco Costa Ricas außerhalb der Hauptstadt San José. Zur Hauptsaison scheint der Laden auch brechend voll zu werden, aber da wir noch in der absoluten Nebensaison sind, wir nur der obere Balkon geöffnet, der geschätzt 200 Leute fasst und damit für heute genug Platz zum Tanzen und nicht zu viel Freifläche für trotzdem super Partystimmung bietet. Ziemlich bald kommt Erik des Weges und fordert Julia zum Tanzen auf, sie sträubt sich zuerst etwas. Aber so schnell gibt er nicht auf, er verwickelt uns beide in ein Gespräch, tanzt dann mit mir eine Runde und als ich mit dem nächsten Tanzpartner - Cocho, der natürlich auch am Start ist - ein paar Runden drehe, lässt sich Julia doch von Erik erweichen und erntet jede Menge bewundernde Blicke. Etwas später treffe ich Julia und Erik an der Bar, wo ich Alberto vorgestellt bekomme, der heute seinen Geburtstag nachfeiert. Der ehemalige Turniertänzer lässt mir dank seines bereits etwas angeschickterten Zustandes auch ein paar kleine Schrittfehler beim Tanzen durchgehen (eine gute Woche später war er nicht mehr so gnädig ;-) und wir haben alle einen Riesenspaß.
Pünktlich um 3 Uhr morgens gehen die Lichter an - ja, und nun? Ich bin total überdreht und bin leicht davon zu überzeugen, mit den Jungs noch Richtung Vulkan zu fahren, in der (vergeblichen) Hoffnung auf etwas Lava-Aussichten bei Nacht, und dann zu den öffentlichen heißen Quellen. Wow, die haben Badewannentemperatur - da lässt es sich gut aushalten, und der Mond zwinkert uns zu, als wir gemütlich im heißen Pool rumliegen. Lisa vom Hostel ereifert sich erst fröhlich als wir um sieben Uhr morgens ins Hostel getapst kommen "A ha, de fiesta toda la noche, eh?" und schickt uns dann naserümpfend zum Duschen - ja, Rauch aus der Disco und Schweiß vom stundenlangen Tanzen in den Klamotten, plus Schwefel in der Haut von den heißen Quellen, ein olfaktorischer Hochgenuss :D

Samstag, 7.11.: Dieser Tag musste nun logischerweise etwas ruhiger ausfallen, nach einer kompletten Nacht ohne Schlaf... Ein leckeres Frühstück von der Panadería gleich um die Ecke, deren Backdüfte 24h täglich an der Hostel-Terrasse vorbeizogen, eine Runde laufen, ein bisschen Organisation für den nächsten anstehenden Teil der Reise. Wir stellen fest, dass wir die Reservierung für die Besteigung des großen Cerro Chirripó mit zugehöriger Berghütte total vergessen haben und hoffen einfach auf Glück und freie Plätze wegen Nebensaison.
Abends treffen wir uns nochmal mit Alberto und Erik, und Julia genießt ein beeindruckendes Meeresfrüchteensemble, serviert in einer im Ganzen gerösteten Kokosnuss. Ich schlafe nicht, bin zu erschöpft, schrecke immer wieder aus verworrenen Traumbildern hoch und falle total ferngesteuert wieder aus dem Bett.

Sonntag, 8.11.: Zur total unchristlichen Zeit von Viertel nach vier Uhr morgens müssen wir irgendwie in die Senkrechte kommen und zum Busbahnhof tapsen, um den ersten Bus um Viertel nach fünf Richtung Süden zu erwischen. Vier lange Busfahrten, die sich erstaunlich glatt aneinanderreihen, zwei hilfsbereite Busfahrer, drei hilfsbereite Mitfahrer, einen schlitzohrigen Taxifahrer, 37 Niesanfälle meinerseits, zwei Bankomaten, eine Packung Kekse und Tausende Schlaglöcher später kommen wir in San Gerardo de Rivas am Fuße des Nationalparks Chirripó an. Unser erster Weg führt zur Ranger Station und wir haben Glück - wir kriegen noch Betten in der Berghütte für den darauffolgenden Tag. Nachdem wir im früher wohl mal wunderbar urig-gemütlichen, mittlerweile leider heruntergekommenen Hostal "Roca dura" das Laken kaum unter dem Dreck finden konnten, gehen wir erst für teures Geld im Mini-Super Proviant für die kommenden zwei Tage Bergtour kaufen und laufen dann den Berg nochmal hinunter bis zum Hostal "El Descanso".
Ich bin fix und alle von meiner mittlerweile voll ausgebrochenen Erkältung inklusive nicht Halt machender Dauertriefnase, alles kratzt und juckt und ich schlafe fast mit dem Kopf im Abendessen ein - aber unsere Duena hat sehr lecker für uns gekocht - Bohnen, gebratene Bananen und Salat, mjamm!

Montag, 9.11.: Um fünf Uhr morgens hat Senor Elizondo bereits Kaffee für Julia gekocht und ich bekomme einen Papayasmootie - energiegeladen machen wir uns an den Aufstieg, nachdem uns Senor Elizondo, der bereits über 20 Mal den lokalen Berglauf auf den Cerro gemacht hat, mit dem Jeep noch kurz die zwei Kilometer zum Startpunkt des markierten Weges fährt. Ja, die Schnellsten dieser Bergläufer rennen eben in gut drei Stunden rauf und wieder runter, was wir in über sieben Stunden aufsteigen werden... Der Morgen ist wunderschön, Julia und ich strahlen um die Wette, gehen in gemäßigtem Tempo, um das auch in ein paar Stunden und in 2000m Höhe mehr noch genießen zu können - ich quietsche vor Vergnügen und schwebe vor mich hin. Ja, auch "Schweben" lässt den Schweiß bald fließen, aber unsere Umgebung ist toll, der Nebelwald (so heißt die höher gelegene Version des Regenwaldes) lässt uns immer wieder Neues entdecken, und wir hüpfen von Wurzel zu Wurzel über rot-gelben Matsch vom Regenguss am Tag vorher.
Wir treffen eine nette Gruppe Ticos, die ebenfalls auf der Hütte bleiben werden, aber richten uns lieber nach unserem eigenen Tempo. Die Vegetation verändert sich immer weiter und nach ein paar Stunden kommen wir über die Baumgrenze, ab da knallt die Sonne herunter und wir fühlen uns wie ein paar Wüstenschildkröten - die großen Rucksäcke sind unsere Panzer und schnell ist frau auf 3000m Höhe auch nicht mehr, vor allem nicht, wenn es so steil ist wie hier. Doch das Lächeln bleibt und ich habe das Gefühl, ich zerspringe vor Leben.
Nach siebeneinhalb Stunden inklusive aller Pausen kommen wir bei der Hütte an, wo wir von Ranger Freddy empfangen werden. Aber, wie, Ihr habt keine Küche dabei? Äh, nein? Na gut, falls wir mal ein Tässchen Kaffee brauchen, dürfen wir uns an ihn wenden. Er wirkt etwas brummig, aber taut ob unserer offensichtlichen Begeisterung über den Nationalpark und die Hütte recht schnell auf und kocht uns eine schöne Tasse Kaffee.
Später erklimmen wir noch mit Erik den nahe gelegenen Cerro Crestones, weil es für den Chirripó heute bereits zu spät ist. Er ist Lehrer und mit zwei amerikanischen Internatsschützlingen unterwegs, die ein Austauschjahr für kriminalitätsgefährdete Jugendliche absolvieren - und die beiden sind nach dem Aufstieg so platt, dass sie gerade lieber eine Runde schlafen gehen.
Abends leihen wir uns noch vier Decken aus, Freddy bittet uns, die unauffällig in unseren Schlafraum zu schaffen, weil er nicht genug für alle hat, und Julia und ich frieren trotz gemeinsamem Kuscheln unter all den Decken und Wollmützen auf dem Kopf. Meine Husterei trägt auch nicht gerade zu einer erholsamen Nachtruhe bei, aber immerhin haben wir die Tour wohlbehalten geschafft.

Dienstag, 10.11.: Ist das süüüß - Erik hat bereits für uns Kaffee gekocht, als wir noch etwas schlaftrunken gegen halb sechs in den Frühstücksraum tapsen!
Heute ist uns der Wettergott nicht so gnädig gesonnen, wir warten einen fulminanten Wolkenbruch ab, bevor wir uns auf den Weg zum großen Chirripó machen. Es wird zum Schluss eine ganz schöne Kletterei - wenn es nicht so saukalt wäre, dann würde es mir sicher riesig Spaß machen. Am Gipfel haben wir eine wunderbare Aussicht - herrlich dichte graue Wolken auf allen Seiten, eiskalter Wind und peitschender Regen - naja, da kann man nichts machen. Julia meint, es ist ein unglaublich aufbauender Gedanke, dass wir bereits in 24 Stunden wieder am warmen Meeresstrand sind.
Wir laufen zurück zur Hütte und, siehe da, beim Mittagessen traut sich zwischendurch mal ein paar Minuten kurz die Sonne raus und grinst um Verzeihung heischend. Eigentlich glaube ich hat sie uns nur spöttisch angelacht, denn bald nachdem wir unsere Rucksäcke geschultert, Erik und Freddy und die beiden Jungs verabschiedet, und uns auf den Weg ins Tal gemacht haben, zieht es wieder zu und beginnt zu regnen, immer heftiger. Weiter unten gab es anscheinend kurz bevor wir vorbeikommen einige kleinere Erdrutsche, neue große Felsbrocken versperren einige Male den Weg. Wir gehen schnell weiter, bloß nicht nachdenken, Augen offenhalten und auf Überraschungen gefasst sein.
Dank des Matsches kommen wir langsamer voran als gedacht und rutschen den Berg trotz Bergstiefeln eher runter als dass wir gehen. Die letzten eineinhalb Stunden müssen wir tatsächlich auf unsere Stirnlampen zurückgreifen. Völlig verdreckt und geschafft, aber glücklich, kommen wir um halb sieben wieder bei unserem Hostel an, wo wir nach dem Duschen in die von Señora Elizondo frisch gewaschenen Klamotten schlüpfen dürfen und uns Senor Elizondo noch ein Abendessen zaubert.

Mittwoch, 11.11.: Um sechs Uhr sind wir erstaunlich frisch schon wieder auf den Beinen und fahren mit dem Schüttelbus über zwei Stunden Feldweg zurück nach San Isidro, und von dort aus weiter nach Uvita. Im Bus sitze ich neben einer kleinen Mami (wirklich klein, da sie mir nur bis etwa zur Nase geht), die mit einem Baby und einem Töchterchen von circa 10 Jahren unterwegs ist. Der Kleinste im Bunde hat gerade Spaßdefizite und quengelt ziemlich rum, auch das von Mami gereichte Stückchen Tortilla mag er nicht. Ich biete ihr eine Banane an, und die verspeist er mit sichtlichem Genuss ziemlich vollständig, na denn, kein Gequengel mehr.
Nach einigem Geschaukel und Gekurve fühlt sich die Mami sichtlich gar nicht wohl und möchte der Tochter das Baby geben, die sich darüber wiederum gar nicht freut, weil sie eine offenbar schmerzende Gipshand hat. Also biete ich ihr an, den Kleinen zu nehmen und sich nach vorne nahe der offenen Tür zu setzen, um etwas frische Luft zu bekommen. Dort schläft sie nach etwa 15 Minuten friedlich ein und ich hab die nächste Stunde den kleinen Prinzen auf dem Schoß, der allerdings wirklich brav ist und schließlich auch einpennt.
In Uvita angekommen, quartieren wir uns im Hotel "Tucan" ein, einem Bilderbuchhostel mit Hängematten, Muschelmobiles, einem weiteren etwas verschrobenen Besitzer und komplett mit Comics tapezierten Zimmern. Nachdem wir uns für den folgenden Tag eine Delphintour im Nationalpark organisiert haben, machen wir uns auf den Weg zum Strand zum Schnorcheln an der Walfischschwanzspitze des Parks, die nur bei Ebbe sichtbar ist. Da gibt es erstmal vor allem ein unglaublich fies steiniges Ufer, an dem Julia mit ihren offenen Füßen fast verzweifelt. Die Sicht zum Schnorcheln ist auch nicht so umwerfend und das Paddeln ist dank des geringen Wasserstandes eher ein sich auf den Händen im Wasser liegend von Stein zu Stein bewegen, aber ich könnte quietschen vor Freude, als ich tatsächlich kleine Zebrafische und wunderschön dunkelblau-metallic-schillernde Fischchen finde.
Auf dem langen Spaziergang zurück ins Hostelmüssen wir durch ein paar Matschlöcher und da macht es plötzlich Ratsch - und Julias drittes Paar Schuhe, die Flipflops, segnen das Zeitliche. Unglaublich. Ich bestehe darauf, dass sie mit ihren zerschundenen Füßen meine anzieht und hüpfe barfuß nach Hause. (Interessant, was man beim Reisen schnell so alles als "zu Hause" bezeichnet...)
Abends, nach einem kleinen Lauf in der Dunkelheit, bei einem Fläschchen Wein, lassen wir die bisherige Reise genüsslich Revue passieren. Wir versuchen, in den Hängematten im Innenhof zu schlafen, was die ersten paar Stunden auch wunderbar geht, aber gegen halb drei Uhr morgens werden wir beide immer wieder dadurch wach, dass uns die zwischenzeitlich beigebrachten Moskitostiche unglaublich jucken, also verziehen wir uns doch noch in die normalen Betten, wo eine unglaublich große Spinne (12cm mit extrem haarigen Beinen) über uns wacht.

Donnerstag, 12.11.: Auf zur Delphintour! Dieses Museumsstück von einem Jeep schafft es tatsächlich, das große Boot bis zum Strand zu ziehen - nach Behebung einer Panne - und wir rauschen oder eher hüpfen über die Wellen Richtung Delphinsichtungsplätze, ui, is' mir übel, und das wird sich auch bis zum Ende der Tour gut drei Stunden später nicht legen. Segeln ist wunderbar, aber Motorboote in Dissonanz zum Wellengang sind einfach nichts für mich.
Doch immerhin bekommen wir tatsächlich Delphine zu sehen, eine ganze Delphinschule! Außerdem jede Menge Pelikane, eine hochgiftige Wasserschlange, nochmal Zebrafische beim Schnorcheln, und ein Faultier in der Baumkrone, als wir zurück an Land sind.
Mittags gucke ich doch tatsächlich zum zweiten Mal in fast zwei Wochen in meine Emails - es tat sooo gut, einfach mal frei davon zu sein, aber dann war ich doch neugierig auf... siehe da, Email von Alberto! Ein Wiedersehen? Aber gerne doch - Biggi schwebt den Rest des Tages... und zwar als nächstes mit Julia Richtung Wasserfall, wo wir die beiden Jungs aus dem Hostel wiedertreffen, Dan aus England und Peter aus Kanada, kein Wunder, Uvita ist auch nicht gerade groß und so viel zu sehen und unternehmen gibt es nun auch wieder nicht. Wir toben im Pool herum und springen neben dem Wasserfall in den Strudel, es ist klasse! Im beginnenden Regen machen wir noch ein paar MPC-Bäh-Fotos und flüchten dann, als sich der Regen zum Wolkenbruch ausweitet (nun ist quasi überall Wasserfall ;-)), unter das Dach der etwas oberhalb gelegenen Bar. Dort meditieren wir bei einem Bierchen (Cerveza Imperial, was sonst?) in den Regen hinaus, bis es dunkel ist. Als sich nach einer guten Stunde der Wolkenbruch zu normalem Regen reduziert, stapfen wir durch den Matsch zurück zum Hostel. Mal wieder nass bis auf die Haut, egal, es ist warm genug und wir haben schon gelernt, haben jetzt immer eine kleine Plastiktüte mit Clip für Kamera und Geld dabei.
Wir köcheln ein Süppchen und schaffen es an diesem Abend tatsächlich mal, bis etwa halb elf zu lesen ohne mit dem Buch im Gesicht einzuschlafen - na gut, in dem Fall wären wir auch von den Bacrhockern gefallen, aber mein Buch "Das Ende der Armut" von Jeffrey D. Sachs ist genial, mir gehen ganze Lichterketten auf.

Costa Rica: Pura Vida I

2009-12-01T08:22:00.003+01:00

Samstag, 31.10.: Der perfekte Start in den Urlaub, um auf einem langen Flug wenigstens etwas schlafen zu können? Vorher Party machen und die Nacht durchfeiern. Wir bleiben also in diesem Sinne bis etwa halb vier Uhr morgens auf Flo Deißenböcks Doktor- und Geburtstagsparty, nehmen dann die Nachttram, gehen duschen und ab zur U-Bahn. Am Hauptbahnhof die ersten kleinen Hindernisse - Personen auf dem Gleis und unbestimmte Verspätung der S-Bahn. Julia und ich rechnen schon durch, wann wir nach oben rennen und ein Taxi nehmen müssten, doch dann geht es relativ schnell weiter. Beim Einchecken in München macht der Angestellte große Augen, weil wir in Heathrow nur eine Stunde zum Umsteigen haben von Terminal 2 auf 4: "Das schaffen Sie nie - und wenn Sie es schaffen, dann schafft es Ihr Gepäck nicht."
Puh, das fängt ja gut an. Wir machen uns im Flugzeug bei der Landung bereit und rennen mit unserem Handgepäck durch den Flughafen Heathrow, hüpfen in den Transferbus und rennen durch das zweite Terminal - nach 35 Minuten haben wir es geschafft. Nein, das Gepäck ist nicht da, aber als wir direkt vor dem Start die Stewardess noch mal fragen, ist es sicher verstaut. Es dauert nochmal etwas, weil es sich zwei Schwäne auf der Startbahn gemütlich gemacht haben, doch nachdem sie von ein paar Rettungskräften verscheut worden sind, geht es weiter.
Unvermeidlicher Zwischenstopp in den USA, Newark in New Jersey, einmal Gepäck einsammeln, durch die Immigration und den Zoll, Gepäck wieder aufgeben und nach unnötigen weiteren Stunden des Wartens geht es wieder weiter.
Einige Spielfilme, relativ leckeres veganes Flugzeugessen und viele Buchseiten später kommen wir in San Jose an. Die wartende Taxifahrerhorde wehren wir mit Verweis auf unseren bereits organisierten Transfer ab und kommen eine gute halbe Stunde später endlich im Hostel "Tranquilo Backpackers" an.

Sonntag, 1.11.: Pfannkuchenfrühstück mit frischem Obst - lecker!
Danach Abmarsch zum Busbahnhof, wo gerade ein paar Kokaindealer verhaftet werden, kuschelige Gegend, aber wir landen unbehelligt in unserem Bus nach Tamarindo. Die 5 Stunden Fahrt vergehen einigermaßen flott, die Landschaft ist schön, und wir landen im urgemütlichen Hostel "La Botella de Leche" von Mariana.
Julia und ich machen ein kleines Picknick am Strand und dösen wenig später in unseren Hängematten am Hostel weg. Und die Moskitos haben ihre Freude.
Montag, 2.11.: Eine Runde laufen am Strand, Früchtefrühstück und lecker Kaffee – und es ist sooo niedlich, den ganzen Urlaub lang geht auf Julias Gesicht so richtig die Sonne auf, wenn sie eine Tasse Kaffee bekommt. Sie lacht auch sonst viel und wir haben ja auch allen Grund dazu, aber das Kaffeelächeln muss hier trotzdem erwöhnt werden. Wir machen einen langen Spaziergang entlang des Strandes des Nationalparks, und dann geht es endlich zur Surfstunde mit Wes, dem Sohn der Hostelbesitzerin - juhu, Wellenreiten! Julia und ich machen beide gute Fortschritte und stehen einige Wellen, klasse. Am Ende sind wir fix und fertig aber glücklich. Leider verbrennen wir uns trotz Eincremens mit 30er Sonnenschutz etwas...
Abends kochen wir Frijoles mit Guacamole, Tomaten und Tortillas - lecker!
Wir singen uns immer wieder gegenseitig unsere aktuellen Ohrwürmer vor, am Ende des Urlaubes sammeln wir eine Liste unserer Lieblingsohrwürmer für eine Erinnerungs-CD, die wird spitze werden.
Gegen 23 Uhr werden wir zur Schildkrötentour abgeholt. Wir stapfen den Strand entlang, setzen uns auf die Wartebank und stellen uns auf eine lange Nacht ein, denn manchmal kommt gar keine Schildkröte und manchmal eben um 3 Uhr morgens. Doch es dauert keine halbe Stunde und wir werden wieder den Strand entlang gescheucht. Wir dürfen die Schildkröte von hinten beim Loch graben, Eier legen, und Loch wieder zuschaufeln beobachten, nur leider nicht mal beim ins Wasser zurückgehen.

Dienstag, 3.11.: Wie schön, bereits am frühen Morgen von Wes mit einem "Hola linda" begrüßt zu werden - ja, klar, guapa ("Hübsche") wirst Du in Lateinamerika von jedem genannt, aber linda ("Schöne") ist mal um einiges liebevoller und Komplimente muss man einfach ein bisschen genießen können. Wir gehen noch eine Runde surfen am Strand - die Wellen sind einiges schneller und schwieriger zu kriegen als am Tag vorher, aber wir stehen trotzdem einiges. "Remas, remas, y... arriba!" (Paddeln, paddeln, und... auf!) ist die immer wieder kehrende Anleitung unseres Surflehrers, der bis zur Brust im Wasser steht, zur Not mal das Brett im Falle einer zu großen Welle festhält - und davon gibt es heute einige - und versucht, uns das richtige Timing beizubringen.
Danach lassen wir uns in der Mittagshitze einen Batido (Smoothie) schmecken und beobachten dann noch ein bisschen die richtig guten Surfer. Nachmittags chillt Julia ein bisschen in der Hängematte und ich gehe eine Runde laufen. Und es beginnt zu regnen, und ich genieße es... Ein lustiger Streunerhund beschließt, mir Gesellschaft zu leisten, und läuft etwa 10 km mit mir. Der Regen wird mehr und als Julia und ich zum Geldautomaten laufen, gießt es so richtig und wir sind bis auf die Unterwäsche triefendnass.
Egal, wir sind bester Laune, köpfen zum Abendessen - Bohnen mit Tortillas, Tomaten und Guacamole, welch Überraschung, aber es schmeckt einfach lecker - eine Flasche Wein, und gehen hinterher noch in eine Bar mit Livemusik, wo wir uns ein bisschen auf dem Präsentierteller fühlen. Doch der Laden ist witzig und wir lernen ein paar Rennradfahrer kennen "Excuse me, my friend wants to get to know you." "Bueno, entonces tendrá que hablar conmigo." "Aaaaah, español!" und da sind sie schon mal begeistert, Andrey aus Costa Rica und seine beiden Freunde Sergio und Martín aus Spanien. Die drei sind Profirennradfahrer (ja, wir haben das später mal aus Neugier im Internet nachrecherchiert, ob es nicht doch nur Aufschneiderei war) und ziemlich gut drauf. Nachdem die Live-Musik endet, gehen wir mit den Jungs noch eine Runde an den Strand zum Mitternachtsschwimmen.

Mittwoch, 4.11.: Nach einer extrem kurzen Nacht und einer spontanen Abschiedsumarmung von Wes packen wir uns in den Interbus (Shuttlebus, der Touristen schneller, wenn auch etwas teurer durch das Land befördert) nach La Fortuna, wo der große Vulkan El Arenal bereits in Wolken gehüllt auf uns wartet. Wir steigen dort im Gringo Pete's ab (gringopetes2003@yahoo.com), ziemlich bunt und urgemütlich, mit dem etwas verschrobenen Hostelbesitzer Pete und seiner superulkigen Tica-Mitarbeiterin Lisa und ganz vielen bunten Vögeln im Garten, unter anderem vielen Kolibris, die sich an der Futterstelle gütlich tun.
Wir gehen in einem kleinen Soda Mittagessen, wo ich Chan probiere, ein lokaler Wellnessdrink mit eingeweichten Samen, der bestimmt sehr verdauungsfördernd ist, mit seiner schleimigen Konsistenz aber eher gewöhnungsbedürftig. Das Essen, Spoa Negra (schwarze Bohnensuppe) und Casado (Teller mit Reis, Bohnen, etwas Fleisch, gebratener Banane, Yucca und verschiedenen Salaten) ist sehr lecker und als Nachtisch bekommen wir auf Kosten des Hauses noch eine Probierportion Arroz con leche (Milchreis). Beim Spazierengehen werden wir mal wieder klatschnass, es ist eben noch Ende der Regenzeit, und Julia muss sich vom ersten Paar Schuhe verabschieden, der Sandalenriemen reisst ab, und sie holt sich ziemlich fiese Blasen unter den Zehen. Außerdem wird ihre Kamera leider so getauft, dass sie anschließend den Dienst verweigert und wir ab da auf meine alte Canon Ixus Krücke zurückgreifen müssen. Im Hostel treffen wir auf ein paar Frankokanadier - richtige Surferdudes, auch dementsprechend gebaut respektive trainiert - und das Lustigste ist, dass ihnen das auch sehr bewusst ist und sie nur zu gerne ohne T-Shirts auf und ab durch die Küche stolzieren, diese Herren haben das Posen zur Kunst erhoben.
Abends pennen wir nach einer kleinen Obstsession bereits um sieben zum ersten Mal mit unseren Büchern auf der Couch ein, naja, die Nacht war eben kurz... gegen halb neun geben wir auf und gehen Zähne putzen. Mich schüttelt schon den ganzen Tag ein fieser Husten und plagt das Halsweh, vielleicht lässt sich das durch Schlaf besänftigen? Nein, der Husten und zwei Tage später auch Bruder Schnupfen werden mir bis ziemlich zum Ende der Reise Gesellschaft leisten, aber das weiß ich glücklicherweise noch nicht. Da schau an, wir sind nicht mal die ersten, die sich in die Betten verkrümeln! Leider gibt es genügend Moskitos für alle...

Pink bubbles in the dark

2009-10-20T10:42:00.003+02:00

I met a really sweet guy on the street, he just chatted me up and gave me his number - first date and I had a crush, second date and I got a tiny kiss, third date and he disappeared. Interesting! Well, the last big pink bubble burst but I still enjoyed it :)

Friends and mountains still make me happy, we had a great weekend in Wagrein, but if running (Münchenmarathon in 3:54h) and karate (3h yesterday) can't really recharge my batteries any more it's definitely time to go on vacation. I'm running on reserve while the sun is fading away and the days become darker and shorter - Costa Rica is waiting, here I come.

Summer - final spurt!

2009-09-18T16:25:00.004+02:00

Some people are already trying to tell me that summer is over - nope, sorry, it's gonna be summer until 18th of November at least, because that's when Julia and I will come back from Costa Rica - qué rico ;-) I'm very much looking forward to that trip!

However, I can't complain about the past weeks either, various trips to my beloved mountains, karate seminars, and one week of conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where I had a great time visiting Danie (photo), meeting her brother Matt, and spending time with the friends I made at the last conference, David, Yasmin, and Krzys. The pic is from the aquarium there.

And I had a wonderful birthday party last week - more than 50 friends came to celebrate with me! Just reminded me once more that friends are the best thing in life, thank you guys.

Sternschnuppenbiwak - Shooting Star Bivouak

2009-08-17T10:47:00.002+02:00

Catching the train at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon - 'Runaway'? - Nope, just 'One wild night' out in the mountains: Bivouak on top of the mountain 'Wild Miss' (Wildes Fräulein) close to Spitzingsee to see the Shooting Stars of the August summer night.

Kamikitty

2009-07-20T16:04:00.002+02:00

Fighting dwarf and salsa girl,
fairy tale princess and lonely wolf,
mountain conqueror and party queen,
who is the one that you've seen?

Funny bunnie and tiny philosopher,
caring friend and playful kitten,
marathon runner and karate black belt,
who is she? what have you felt?

Still a child or nearly mother?
Always just friends or secret lover?
Sunny heart or smiling cover?
Live your dream - you're like no other.

Hang loose and loose your mind in Toulouse

2009-06-25T12:04:00.003+02:00

Toulouse is wonderful - I can understand now why Ruth well in love with that town. Nice French people, international culture, not too big, good food, a lot of party, and many possibilities for sports. Yep, that's a place to be :)

Arrived on Friday night and had to go online once more to submit the work I had been hacking into my laptop at the airport and during the flight - phew, now come down, weekend has begun. A stroll through town took us to a nice little restaurant with great salads and crêpe, before we went to the Rio Loco music festival and listened to some jazz music from Marocco and then ended up dancing Salsa and Reaggeaton until 4am at a club nearby.

Next morning I learned that although France is the land of Café au lait, it doesn't neccessarily mean that it tastes good at every café. But the fruits and bread were wonderful and French chocolate cake is just taste-bud-blasting!
We stumbled across a "desigual" store, brand from Barcelona known for their very colourful, mixed clothes - and I couldn't help buying the most colourful of them all :)

Going to bed early doesn't really work out in a 10-person shared flat full with foreign students, people on working experience, and half of them having guests - but it is a great place to hang around and it leaves you wondering how it could have become so late again. Avocado-Orange-Smoothies and Nutella crêpe is a good combination, that way it doesn't get too healthy ;-) (btw: going raw is something you can do for a few days, but it doesn't leave you satisfied at all - I do encourage you to eat a little more raw veggies, but no more - for my part, I'll stick to the 80% vegan)

Yeti-proof sun cream - that's what you need when you go to the Pyrenees. Hiking in the mountains without sun cream is not a good idea, and the fact that the small flask we bought had cost us 16€, because it was "high mountain tested" lead us to the conclusion that it must surely keep away yetis as well. Luckily enough, no Yetis all day long (although the wind was quite cold), so nothing to worry about. Pampered German hikers as we are, we did get lost due to the absence of signs, but we got a little lift from a friendly French lady and another French couple jumpstarted the cute '92 Renault Clio when we got back to Ax les Thermes in the evening.

That enabled us to get back in time for the fête de la musique, which is celebrated all over France by the end of June - live bands and music groups on every street corner, all styles and cultures, party all night long.
I guess most French people wisely took Monday off work, but I crawled into the plane after two hours of sleep and made my way to the Munich office. Lost my mind in Toulouse I guess. I can tell you, I did sleep well on Monday night.

PS: My hand is slowly getting back to normal - my physician gave me a very sophisticated training equipment: a household rubber band :P

Raw Week

2009-06-19T08:22:00.002+02:00

Trying something new this week - going "raw". Sounds strange - is not!
I'm gonna dive into the wonderful sun-kissed strawberries and tomatos and all that other yummie fruit and veggie stuff that has season right now.

I don't think going completely raw is something you should do for your whole life, but this week I want to do a detox cure. I've read a lot of articles about it and I'm curious what effects it will have on my body, mind, and digestive system.

Monday: a carot, 8 tomatos, champignons, an apple, and cherries.
Hmpf, stumbled across some whole-grain bread and dark chocolate...
Only water at night after karate training, sitting in the Lizard Lounge with the others.
Effects: Hungry and unsatisfied during the afternoon, that's why I fell for the bread and choc. So if I try to get some seeds or nuts or other richer raw stuff, I guess I should be alright. Karate was great and I felt so good cycling home.

Tuesday: 2 apricots, a sharon, fennel, cucumber, rucola, seeds, apple, tomatos, olives.
Hmpf, cheese at night 'cause Jette brought good Parmesam from Lago di Garda.
Effects: Feeling good.

Wednesday: 2 bananas, 2 oranges, rucola, peas
Hmpf, ice cream dive during afternoon, 2 colleagues celebrated birthdays.
Effects: Feeling good (except after the ice cream, too much sugar...)

Thursday: Water melon, strawberries, carots, mango, nuts and dried fruits
Effects: Good, but hungry at night, especially after running... but going slacklining with Joe and friends kept me busy until I fell into bed ;)

Friday: Carots, slice of whole grain bread, choc milk (needed it *shrug*)
will have carot-fennel salad for lunch
Effects: I', still craving for sweet stuff and I need some good essential oils, but in general a lot of raw food gets your digestion system going, you feel energized. Going to Toulouse now for the weekends, let's see where that get's me - good old friends and party people in a new location is always a dangerouos combination ;-)

Strawberries, Canooing, Running and Beauty Session

2009-06-16T12:15:00.003+02:00

What a wonderful weekend: Thursday was public holiday and Iris, Tarik and I went to pick strawberries - 4 kilogram each and about 1 more in our stomachs :) Crêpe session at night with Thea and Martin. Friday night a good run (after a long day at work) and cooking session with Milo, going canooing with Jens & friends on Saturday, topped by a BBQ at the isar and hanging out at SELF, going running on Sunday with Micha, followed by a nice lunch, hot chocolate and cake, a slacklining session, biking through town to meet Bini & the girls, beauty session with face masks, pedi- and manicure and more, including wonderful pasta and freshly baked swedish rasberry pie for dessert, I fell into bed talking to Jasmin on the phone before finally going to dream-country.

Amsterdam

2009-06-09T09:24:00.005+02:00

Cool breeze, fresh air, sunshine,
bicycle ride on the shore,
appletart, mint tea, just fine,
watching people passing by.

Stroll over the market,
beer at the old windmill,
cycling through white smoke in the park,
watching people getting high.

House boats with flowers under good care,
cultural melting pot on cobble stone streets,
cup of tea in a worn-out leather armchair,
watching people waving byebye.

Wild Kaiser

2009-05-28T16:47:00.007+02:00

4 friends, 4 days, about 4*4 peaks, GREAT time

kamicat got salvation for her feet :)

2009-05-19T11:48:00.002+02:00

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrun on!

AND we celebrated marion & ollos wedding last weekend - wonderful! guess, i'm gonna get stuck with the organization thing (once you do that well, everybody asks you, but i like it) - photos soon!

Free Willy

2009-05-08T10:40:00.002+02:00

thanks to you all for cheering me up! Found out that such an injury is very communicative - got to know maaaaany guys in Praha on our fantastic girl's weekend with Biene, Anja, Inga and Clari ;-)

Shit! happens...

2009-04-28T13:59:00.002+02:00

Easterweekend

2009-04-14T11:50:00.004+02:00

May the rest of the year be like this weekend!
Running, party, mountain climbing (Brauneck with Jo, Mario, Hannah, Marieke and Alex), good time with friends, picknick (25 friends!), slacklining (3 lines at a time plus the new trend white-beer-on-the-slackline), hen's night (or rather bunny-night - Marion and the Würzburg-Girls) - grrrreat!

Rome, Nuno, the first picknick, and a pink scarf

2009-03-30T18:20:00.005+02:00

No, sorry, they don't have anything to do with each other - except ME!

The marathon and the weekend in Rome were great, take a lot at the other blog for that.

The MPC-Marathon-Party was really great, Veit wrote about it.

Now we're supposed to slow down a bit, to let the bodies fully recover, but at the same time, we're already planning the next races... the next big challenge will be the Munich marathon on 11th of October.

A small one will be the business run with about 15 of my colleagues who I was able to motivate :)

Nuno is my best friend from the time I lived in Sydney in 2000 - and after we had lost contact due to not-working email accounts and lazy, not-caring postmen... he found me on Facebook! Yes, Facebook is double-edged, but in this case I'm really happy about using it! Now we're back together and have a lot to catch up on - he was even in Munich for the World Cup in 2006, kind of weird looking at photos of him drinking a Mass Augustiner beer without having met him here, but there will be another chance, I'm sure.

It's definitely spring again - had my first picknick this year in the English garden with Jens on Saturday morning and we got back onto the slackline. A little wobbly at the beginning, but after half an hour, you're back into it, great!

Roman sent me a pink scarf - the ladies version of the Bayern München fan scarf - my colleagues were laughing their heads off. We had seen that one after the 7:1 match against Lissabon and found it so funny. Thank you again, Roman!

Hm, many friends are planning their holidays at the moment... what about me? Where are we gonna go on vacation this year?
Thailand? To a monastery and practise yoga... sounds great!

On the other hand I've been debating half of the world with Iris - favourites in Latin America - surprise, surprise ;)
Already planned for 2010 is the trip to Himalaya, because Andi has been booked out for all of 2009 since december (!)

Goooooood

2009-03-16T16:10:00.002+01:00

Spring is finally approaching, I'm full with endorphines!

Great weekend with bodyprinting at my Mum's studio, skiing with Iris and friends, dancing and running with the MPC, Sabrina's (photo) birthday party - until 4 a.m. - after 4 hours of sleep the night before I enjoyed sleeping in until noon, it was wonderful, I love my bed, and even I can enjoy staying in bed that long when it's raining outside ;-)

Nice Sunday walk including stumbling across St. Patrick's Day at Odeonsplatz with Marion and climbing with Jo - after mastering a new climbing route yesterday night I was so full of endorphines that I lay in my bed and couldn't sleep!

Looking forward a lot to the Rome marathon which is due next Sunday - my only problem is cutting back on activities during the last week, telling myself to relax and instead sleep a lot ...

27,5 ;-P

2009-03-09T09:25:00.004+01:00

Half a year older, still no wiser, the realization of the day being that my life is M *grinning at your puzzled looks*
Mentoring - am I already experienced enough to be a mentor? Guess I'll find out soon enough, took the seminar this weekend and I'm looking forward to getting to know my mentee :)
MPC & Marathon - Rome is approaching, we're eager to run and at the moment, everything is going well. Keep your fingers crossed! :D
México - se extraña alguna gente... :(
Montezuma's revenge - my bode claimed for a little more rest again via a revolting digestion system after a weekend of too much climbing/karate/running/party in combination with very little sleep... after a few days of bland diet we're friends again :)
Munich friends - enjoying time with them, going climbing with Martin, running with Michael, going to the sauna with Iris and Jo, out for a drink with Chrissi - thanks guys for always being there.

MPC goes nuts

2009-02-27T11:53:00.001+01:00

Hey ho, I'm having the best time with the MPC crew - I love those guys :)
Going crazy over funny pics and laughing our heads off - those muscles will be trained as well as the ones you need for running...

Survived the Mexican bronchitis and I'm looking forward to the next adventures to come!
Like blind dates for a coffee on Tuesday morning, that's what your friends get you into if you don't pay attention ;-)

Maravilloso México

2009-02-18T17:00:00.003+01:00

When life gives you a treat, like when you're kissing somebody you love, or hugging a good friend, or climbing an awesome mountain, or enjoying a few rays of warm sunlight, you're sometimes sad when the moment has passed. Instead, savour it as much as you can when it is happening!

This time in México, I tried the hardest I could to fill my heart up to its very limit with purely enjoying those moments and letting them be soaked deeply into memory as to cherish them best I could.

It already felt a little like coming home, going back to Cholula to Kira and Pedro. Suitcase stacked with good German chocolate, whole-grain flour and soy-milk, small but important things that Kira misses a lot, Estrella Roja bus to Puebla and Kira waiting at the bus station with Tuk (their car).
During the next days, we prepared the last things for their wedding, got the dress, the rings, the horse cartridge, and went to karate training together, where Sensei Jorge challenged me even more that last time as he already knew me ;)
I went running a lot, see the MPC-Blog, 4 days in a row, 3 times little more than an hour and once for 3 hours, obeying to the plan and enjoying it, although I had to swallow a lot of dust. But bright sunlight and cheering Méxicans make up for a lot...

Then Kampa came to Cholula for the wedding. Having known him for only 24h during my last time in Monterrey, then only emails, I was nervous, luckily completely unnecessarily, as I found out, we had the best time ever. I was honored to do Kira's make-up and go to the splendid wedding with her and her sister in the beautiful cartridge and even be one of the witnesses for the marriage. We celebrated at a beautiful finca just outside Cholula and Kira and Pedro were such a lovely couple, pardonme, threesome already, but you could only see that if you already knew. The music was great and we danced like crazy, my never-forgiving toe hurt for the next two days...

Kampa told me that the food in South México was quite different from the food in North México, but the quesadillas from the market stalls delighted him nevertheless. And I found it very relaxing to stroll across the market with him hand-in-hand and not being talked to all the time about my "ojos claros", my bright eyes.
In Monterrey, Kampa's sympathetic parents picked us up from the airport and brought us to his house, cute little house with a matching cute little cat named Wanda.

We took a stroll through town, celebrated Monday night (there is always something to celebrate) with Nancy, and went to do some AWESOME rockclimbing with Paulo en Potrero Chico! I had a strange strong cough that I couldn't get a grip on, but tried to ignore it as good as I could. At night, we went to a Salsa class with Nancy and then to the Lucha Libre (apparently the Méxicans were the ones who invented Wrestling) which was really funny, we laughed our heads off, can't take that serious, what a great day!

At about 3am in the morning I had to wake up Kampa because I was freezing like hell although already wearing my favourite wool jumper and warm socks. He gave me a wondering look and handed me his winter outdoor sleeping bag. I started freezing again when I tried to leave the bed in the morning, my body was ice-cold and shaking, but my head was on fire. No wonderful hike in Esmeralda, cariño, te quedas en la cama para descansar. No quiero! Kampa took care of me really well, warm showers, ice bags, hot soup, ... Next morning, the high temperature was better, although not gone, but with that cough I could have worked as demon in a fantasy park.
Promised Kampa to take it easy and refused to spend another day lying around, so we went to set up a climbing wall with Adriane for a convention. At night, we went to the Far West Rodeo, yes, indead, it was what it sounded like, a plcae with música norteña, lots of canned beer and cowboy boots, and, at midnight, live Rodeo! Kampa, thanks so much for the great time!

I'd like to apologize to the people who had to sit next to me on the planes back to Munich. Does it help if I say that I'm still coughing like an old hound and that I'm sick from the antibiotika they gave me? (Micha, nevertheless thanks for pushing me to the doctor's.)

What do you do once days like that have passed? Look forward to the next to come, write an SMS a la gente que se extrañe, talk to a good friend and smile to the sun.

Cool shirt!

2009-01-27T08:54:00.003+01:00

After a challenging training on Sunday - see Munich Performa Crew Blog, sorry it's in German but really fun - and a deserved chill-out session with massage afterwards, I got such a cool shirt from Evi, who just arrived back home from London. Gee, thanks Evi!!
A smile sneaks into my face every time I see it :)

After chatting about good books with Veit for another 19 minutes at the subway station (guess what, the intervall for subways past midnight is 20 minutes), I finally made it into my bed at 1:15am, but at 5:30 was wide awake again :) Overtraining? As I have also gotten back into karate (seminar on Saturday in Kissing), but have already found out that a black belt doesn't prevent you from 90 kilo elfs jumping on your foot from behind if you don't have your eyes everywhere ... No, I guess just lots of endorphins ;)

Sleeping like a baby

2009-01-20T10:30:00.006+01:00

The most wonderful thing happened yesterday: I bought myself a bed!
After 2 years on a meanwhile worn-through couch my back muscles ached so much that they literally cried for a bed - after spending nearly 2 hours on setting it up I slept like a baby and this morning my back felt a lot better! Michael said he would get me some plush handcuffs for the metal bars ;-)

But the BEST present is the one he already gave me on Sunday: my black belt! Thank you so much again. My first black belt - with my whole name in Japanese Katakana, looks like a whole biography on the belt ;-) I can't wait to finally get back into training karate!! After learning the beautiful Kata Kushanku from Andi, the toe hurt so much that I decided to give it a few more days... However, I've been practising slow motion kata to keep the feeling - better than nothing.

Lucas Rockwood - remember, the yoga teacher - said: "We have to look inside for answers and outside for inspiration." I like that, seems to apply to nearly every aspect of life... Hm, now, how do I relate the snowflakes outside to the thesis I'm supposed to be working on right now? Guess I'll have to figure that out myself. Mental note to self: Get back to work :)

I'm back on track!!

2009-01-15T15:44:00.004+01:00

Yep, I can run again and I've taken up my running plan for the marathon training - not even 10 weeks to go until Rome! The toe still hurts when I try to flex or otherwise move it and it is still swollen, but a lot less than it used to be.

Been dancing hiphop the past weekend two nights in a row (@Metropolis on Saturday, see pic) and went running very slowly on Sunday for the first time, Tuesday for the second time, when I let the boys exhaust me, stupid me, no wonder after taking a forced break for 6 weeks...

Yeah, and for the New Year's resolutions, I know you're desparate to hear about them ;-)
Apart from a few minor slips with a little milk in the tea (I don't store soy milk in the office) eating vegan is easy, I really like it and I want to stick to it, makes me feel good. I'm tempted to say I can feel my karma getting better, but that sounds too esoteric although it is not ;-) It's true that it does make me feel better, but I was taken aback that my decision to go vegan was perceived to being a means of loosing weight. It's about the animals!! (Getting off the sugar is harder for me, I can tell you ;-) But I'm making slow progress, at least :)

However, the best thing is that I can MOVE again and I'm surely taking advantage of that - tonight will be my first try to get back into karate training *yippieh* Keep your fingers crossed that the toe doesn't complain!

2009-01-09T14:44:00.000+01:00

Free the toe!!

After nearly 6 weeks in adhesive bandage my little one is finally free - first day of pure socks and sneakers without any sticky tape ;-)

I have never done as much Yoga as in the past weeks, but obviously it has done me good, 'cause friends have stated that I was less unsupportable than when I broke my ribs :-P

2008-12-15T14:58:00.001+01:00

Self test ... next generation

Especially women tend to complain about being overweight quite frequently, but this time I'll do it very publicly: It drives me nuts that I've gained nearly 5 kilos this year, and all in all about 8 or 9 since moving to Munich a few months more than two years ago. And now I'm going to take serious measures against that. And by proclaiming that on the web, where everybody can read it, I hope to motivate myself even more.

Sports is not the problem, most of you know that I'm addicted to sports anyways. So how can somebody still be overweight when doing so much sports? Guess what, I have an eating problem. Five letters: S U G A R. Apart from eating irregularly and slowing down my metabolism very effectively, I just keep eating too many sweets. Either when my thesis drives me nuts (which happens quite frequently), when I feel bad / lonely / ..., or when socializing and being offered sweets, which also happens quite frequently. Gotta stop this!

Sugar addiction has finally even been proven scientifically by Bart Hoebel from Princeton University.
What does an alcoholic have to do to get rid of his problem?
Stop drinking alcohol completely. This sounds hard, but as you know about the blood sugar circle, I need to get rid of that vicious circle without falling back into old habits after a week. So, no more sugar. Yes, it is tough to start this right before Christmas, but if you don't start immediately nothing's gonna happen.

Apart from that, I've had a few observations and insights from small experiments throughout the year, for example that my body still doesn't cope with the majority of dairy products. Milk is for calves anyway and I wouldn't want to change lives with one of the milk cows in the big stables. So - the next step after 15 years of vegetarianism:
Veganism - Wanna try? Take at least a look at the picture further down on the left hand side for some more reasons.
My experiences so far: Giving up eggs is no problem, I hardly ever ate them, dairy products are a little harder, but it does me good. (Same for white flowr products, especially wheat, although this has nothing to do with veganism.)
And no, there is no problem with all of my sports - take a look at http://www.vegan-sport.de/ or simply believe that if Dennis Rodman can be vegan and play basketball so amazingly, so can I (and continue marathons and other stuff - I would be surprised if I suddenly knew how to play basketball).

Socializing? I don't like being considered as "complicated" when it comes to being invited. Cooking is not a problem - but I prefer not to call veggies the "side dish". How good does it feel to hear: "Oh - you are vegetarian? Well, you can eat the side dish." Thanks! I don't mind the side dish, I love veggies and potatoes and all that, please just don't call it side dish, it's just the psychological effect of the word making it inferior. Say: "Well, then you'll love my delicious broccoli!"
Just another small note on the side: We tend to complain about unhealthy food, but still nearly everybody offers either sweets or crisps when receiving visitors... I'm not the ever-brave exception, and I don't want to convince all of my friends to nibble on veggie sticks, but they did and do like being offered nuts and fruits instead of fatty potatoe crisps.

Thanks to Lucas from Yogabodynaturals I've given up coffee again and I don't miss it, it was just another bad habit. Although he's mainly promoting his dietary supplement of Algea (which I did not buy), he's a good yoga teacher and I've improved my flexibility by following his advice. Remember, it is still one of my goals to get back to sitting comfortably in the lotus pose.

2008-12-14T14:54:00.000+01:00

Got the Shodan - now I'm a crane

Good news first: I succeded in my black belt exam and am now allowed to wear the black belt!
Bad news follow: Broke my toe during the next training right the following morning - now I can practice the karate crane pose for the next three weeks, wonderful! :-(

After a tiny odyssee with delayed trains and missed connections on Friday afternoon to get to Erfurt, I arrived late for the first training session (always leaves a good impression, no matter if it's your fault...) and could still train for an hour before we transformed the gym into a big matress camp for the night, where I slept surprisingly well, thanks to Oropax.

Saturday we trained all day long and repeated the sequences with HG and Katharina, who also took the exam. We learned a very cool crane-version of the Kata Meikyo with Sensei Fritz and the Ren-Shu-Ho version of the Kata Heian Sandan with Sensei Lothar and did lots more interesting stuff, but some of it didn't really get absorbed this time, surprise, surprise...

Of course I was excited before the exam, but in a positive way, not the bad knees-shaking-don't-remember-anything-excitedness that I had silently feared. Delighted energetic over-excited exhaustedness after receiving the congratulations. I haven't yet realized that I have the black belt, that's at least gonna take a few more days, but I do have realized that the exam is over and the pressure has gone.

Totally motivated jumped into my Gi on Sunday morning and was looking forward to three more hours of training before spending the afternoon on road and tracks to get back home, but: After three minutes of warm-up kicks my left little toe made friends with the knee of my sparring partner and took a 90° left turn without caring about the rest of the foot. That looked quite interesting, and as it did not hurt yet, thanks to the shock, I really considered putting it back into the right direction myself for a moment, but fortunately didn't do it. I just bowed to Sensei Fritz and said "Sumimasen, I think, I'll have to take a break."

Olaf became my hero of the day, taking me to hospital and entertaining me for 2 hours with many interesting thoughts and topics about martial arts, buddhism, and life in every aspect. We joked about me taking that imitate-the-crane-session too seriously. Feet should obviously not be spread like wings ;-) After two sessions of the doctor trying to bend the toe back into a straight position and checking the result on the x-ray, I was released with a few stripes of sticky tape on my foot.

The way back to Munich was awful, but Michael and Evi made the very best of my evening, with Michael picking me up (although he was exhausted himself from his weekend seminar), yummie Japanese food for dinner, and a wonderful present that... Thank you!

2008-12-10T15:33:00.000+01:00

Meikyo - Kranichversion - special thanks to Fritz Sensei

N: beidseitig Kakuto
NW: Nekoashi-Dachi mit Teisho li, Zenkutsu-Dachi vorwärts mit Kakuto re
NO: Nekoashi-Dachi mit Teisho re, Zenkutsu-Dachi vorwärts mit Kakuto li
N: "Schlangenangriff" mit Jodan Nihon-Nukite und Chudan Nukite, Gegner greifen und wegdrehen in ZK
S: Haisoku-Dachi mit Morote-Teisho nach unten, Morote-Kakuto nach oben
SO: Nekoashi-Dachi mit Keito li, Zenkutsu-Dachi vorwärts mit Ippon-Nukite re
SW: Nekoashi-Dachi mit Keito re, Zenkutsu-Dachi vorwärts mit Ippon-Nukite li
S: ZK Shuto-Uchi links, ZK vorwärts mit Haito rechts
N: Haisoku-Dachi mit Morote-Teisho nach unten, Morote-Kakuto nach oben
NW: Nekoashi-Dachi mit schräg Kakuto re, Zenkutsu-Dachi verlängern mit Washide li, ZK vorwärts mit Washide re
NO: Nekoashi-Dachi mit schräg Kakuto li, Zenkutsu-Dachi verlängern mit Washide re, ZK vorwärts mit Washide li
N: KB Teisho links, Tsumasaki-Maegeri rechts, Nekoashi-Dachi mit Morote-Gedan- Sukui-Uke (Schaufelabwehr nach außen, wie Flügel)
N: Kokutsu-Dachi re mit Morote-Keito-Uke, KK li mit Morote-Keito-Uke, ZK mit Morote-Gedan-Sukui-Uke
N: Nekoashi-D. mit Morote-Keito-Uchi-Uke, Suriashi mit Angriff (stechen)
S: KK li mit Age-Uke, Drehsprung mit Hizageri und Enpi rechts in die linke Hand
N: Kamae links, Yame.

For those of you to whom this is all Greek: It's a special version of the karate kata Meikyo, that interpretes the moves in a crane style. I learned it with Sensei Fritz Oblinger last weekend at the seminar in Erfurt and thought it was pretty cool.

2008-12-04T11:18:00.000+01:00

Got the most joyous present on Monday night - a lucky charm for my big karate exam which is due on Saturday - thank you so much Elli, that was soo sweet!

After incidentally getting to know Clemens, one of the cellists of Gärtnerplatztheater, in the subway last week, I got to see a wonderful ballet yesterday: Romeo & Juliet (photo © Ida Zenna) - and each time I hope for them to survive... :)

2008-11-26T14:02:00.001+01:00

Genome Biology 2008, 9:107 (doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-7-107)

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http://genomebiology.com/2008/9/7/107 (C) 2008 BioMed Central Ltd

The time: Some time in the not-too-distant future.

The place: The entrance to The Pearly Gates. There are fluffy clouds everywhere. In the center is a podium with an enormous open book. A tall figure in white robes with white hair and beard stands at the podium. Approaching is a thin, middle-aged man with glasses and a bewildered expression. He is the soul of a recently deceased genome biologist.

GB: My gosh is this...? Are you...? Am I really...?

St Peter: Yes, I'm St Peter. And yes, this is where souls such as yours enter heaven.

GB: Wow. I mean, I didn't expect to live forever, but still, this is something of a shock. … OK, I guess I can live with it. Uh, I mean …

St Peter: I know.

GB: Well, at least I'm here. I'm not thrilled to be dead, but it's a relief to know I'm going to heaven.

St Peter: I'm afraid it's not that simple. We have to check.

GB: Check what?

St Peter: Your life history. (He leafs through the enormous book.) It’s all here, you know.

GB: I'm sure it is. I can imagine you guys keep records that make PubMed seem like a stack of index cards. I'm a little surprised you don't use something more up-to-date, though.

St Peter: If you mean a personal computer, no - we don't. After all, they were invented elsewhere.

GB: You mean on earth?

St Peter: No, somewhere a lot warmer. (He stops at a page.) Here you are.

GB: Hey, I'm not worried. I was a good scientist, a good citizen, a good family man, I think, too. I never...

St Peter: Yes, yes, I'm sure, but you see, none of that matters. The only thing that matters is your IF.

GB: IF?

St Peter: Your impact factor. That's all we use now. If your IF is above 10, then you enter here. If it's lower, well...

GB: My impact factor? What the hell - oops, sorry - is that?

St Peter: It's something we borrowed from you science chaps on earth. Oh, we used to do it the hard way: send a fledgling angel down to check on your deeds; look at how your life affected your friends and family, consider your intentions versus your actions. All that sort of thing. It was tedious and required huge numbers of new angels, who have become somewhat scarce since free-market capitalism became all the rage down there. Then we noticed that you scientists never bothered to do anything like that. If you had to evaluate someone, all you did was look at this number called the impact factor. So we did the same thing. Now when anyone comes here, all we do is look up their number.

GB: A single number? Are you nuts? You can't sum up someone's whole life in a single number!

St Peter: You do. At least, you sum up their career that way, when you decide if they've published in the best journals or done the best work. It's how you work out who gets promoted and who's a star and who gets funded and...

GB: Yes, but it's a terrible idea! We should never have done it. It ruined European science in a matter of a few years, and then it spread to Australia, China and Japan, and finally to Canada and the US; and before too long, science was totally controlled by unimaginative bureaucrats who just used that number for everything. It was a disaster!

St Peter: That's not what St Garfield thinks.

GB: St who?

St Peter: St Eugene Garfield, PhD. He invented citation analysis, remember? He thought using the IF was a great idea - really, a logical extension of his own work creating the Citation Index. So we set it up: for example, I see here that you contributed regularly to several local charities.

GB: Of course. They do good work. I never did it because I thought it would get me into heaven, but...

St Peter: Just as well, because it won't. Local charities, you know. Small impact factor. Doesn't really add much to your total. Besides, how bad could the idea be? Why, the journal Genome Biology advertises its impact factor right at the top of their website. Didn't you use to write a column for them? (He looks at the ledger again.) Oh my, I see that won't add much to your total either.

GB: But that's all ridiculous! It's the whole problem I was trying to explain to you. That's like saying that a paper only has significant impact if it's published in Nature, Science, or Cell. Once you do that, then the impact factor of where you publish becomes a surrogate for the use of your own judgment. No one bothers to read anyone's papers when they're up for a fellowship or being considered for a job or for a promotion or having their grant proposal evaluated; all you do is look to see how many papers they've published in high-impact journals. No one considers whether the work was better suited to a more specialized journal or a journal where other work that puts it in context was published previously; no one considers whether those handful of high impact-factor journals have the best referees or whether they in fact may have a disproportionate number of incorrect papers because of the pressure to publish there. And look, over reliance on one stupid number gave a small bunch of editors enormous power over the careers of people who, for the most part, they never met or heard speak, and whose body of work they never read. It was probably the worst idea since General Custer thought he could surround the whole Sioux Nation with a couple of hundred troops.

St Peter: Ah, yes. St Sitting Bull still talks about that.

GB: Huh? (Shakes himself.) Look, once the impact factor dominated scientific judgments, creative people were doomed. Bureaucrats didn't need to know anything or have any wisdom; all they had to do was rely on arbitrary numbers. And now you're telling me you're doing that to determine who gets into heaven?

St Peter: Yes; it's a lot simpler. It doesn't matter if you were kind or tried hard or did good work or were pious or modest or generous. The only thing that matters is how big an impact we calculate you had.

GB: But that's just wrong! Look, maybe I could talk to the people who thought up that idea and pushed for its use. If I can just get in for a minute...

St Peter: Oh, they're not here. (He waves his hand and an image appears on a cloud. It shows a huge pit of boiling sulfur and brimstone. In it, up almost to their necks, are a bunch of men in business suits.) As you can see, they're in a warmer climate.

GB: Well, at least, that seems fair somehow. Wait a minute - is that George W Bush?

St Peter: Yes.

GB: But his impact factor should have been huge.

St Peter: Oh, the absolute value was off the charts. But we do take the sign into consideration...

GB: Then why is he only in brimstone up to his knees?

St Peter: Oh. He's standing on Dick Cheney's shoulders. (The image vanishes.) Now let's get back to you …

GB: But don't you see, the idea that you can determine someone's impact in the future from where they publish today is totally absurd. On that basis, God would have an impact factor of zero. I mean, He did his best work a long time ago; it has never been repeated by anyone; and all His ideas were published in a book, not in a peer-reviewed journal!

St Peter: Very funny. Go to hell.

2008-11-17T14:06:00.000+01:00

La Via Ferrata de la Huasteca... muy padre!!

The only Via Ferrata of whole México - and I did it two times, because I made friends with the guides (Erick and Campana) on the booked trip during the day, so they invited me to do it again at night when they wanted to climb it with some friends to enjoy the full moon.

See, I'm not the only crazy one - birds of a feather flock together - even if German and Mexican ;-) We had such a good time! After doing the climbing twice in 18 hours, Erick and Campana took me out to a bar with local live music, because initially we had agreed on going out to dance Salsa afterwards, but Salsa places are usually not open any more at 5am...

By the end of the night, I had also learned a bit more of Mexican slang (por ejemplo "muy padre"), after the had been teasing me all day long about my very Spanish Spanish ;)

A night without sleeping at all was kind of perfect to make me crash in the plane the next evening on the 20-hour-way back home. I love México!

2008-11-13T23:06:00.000+01:00

Alright, purpose fulfilled - I just gave my talk at the conference, everything fine so far. The rest of the week with Kira and Pedro was pretty cool, after that Monterrey was not so exciting, but here's what happened during the more interesting part of the trip when I was still on vacation:
Wednesday afternoon I conquered another volcano, but that was not too hard - after a 10km bikeride the volcano had astonishing 8m of altitude and 13m diameter... and in earlier times the people who lived around that place were known as children of the devil's navel *grin*

Later on, Kira and I hit Puebla market and had rich quesadillas prepared freshly by a lovely Mexican lady (pic) and at night, we went Salsa dancing. Thursday was lazy (apart from karate training at night) - I read a lot and visited Kira's university campus (so American you wouldn't believe it!). On Friday we went to Atlixco, a beautiful small town with colorful houses, pottery and flowers. At night, we went out in Puebla and Cholula, lots of cool bars round there.

Saturday we hit the road and conquered a number of pyramids in Teotihuacan - so impressive!! Even one thousand souvenir sellers couldn't rid the place of its atmosphere - Kira and I took turns in inventing stories about the former civilization there after Pedro had run out of historical data ;-)
Pedro's family hosted us in Mexico City for the night (they're so nice!) and Sunday morning we did the city race 10km run. Pedro's brother Miguel was very upset about his time of 38min (after partying at a wedding until 3am), but I was okay with my 53min (at 2200m altitude).
After a nice breakfast we were ready for a little power walk around the center to fit that in before rushing to the airport, in time for my flight to Monterrey, where Kevin (we studied together in Passau, he's now with Siemens) picked me up.

Monday morning, back to work, even if the "mobile office" is in Mexico - preparing the talk and reading a diploma thesis. The conference - new faces, many talks,... not too exciting this time, sorry.
Monterrey is very American, too much for my taste. But tomorrow I'll get back into nature and climb a Via Ferrata in the natural parc La Huasteca - looking forward to that!

2008-11-05T17:58:00.000+01:00

Mexico - after only four days here there is already a lot to tell ;-)
And as my email account is on strike right now and I have a few minutes left before heading offto see the miniature volcano of Puebla (only ten meters high), I use the time to let you know a bit about what's going on here.
I arrived on Saturday and Kira and Pedro served a wonderful traditional Mexican breakfast - well, the vegetarian version, because fortunately Kira is vegetarian as well. Then we went to climb the pyramid of Cholula - and went underneath as well - and went running because we have to train for the 10k-race of Mexico City next Sunday.

On Sunday we climbed the Malinche (volcano of 4460m) which gave me a bad headache, but it was wonderful landscape and a great trip! Monday was sightseeing in Puebla, shopping Talavera (traditional pottery), riding the bikes through Mexican city traffic (I survived!!), eating at the "Zanahoria" (carrot, a smal vegetarian restaurant in Puebla). At night, the most impressing: Karate training with Kira's Sensei Jorge (4th Dan). That was really tough, but very good! When he found out I was going to Monterrey next week, he immediately told me with whom I had to train there and even gave me Sensei Benito's telephone number. Wow - he's taking it serious to guide all his students, I will do as he wished. Only I have to find a Gi before or see if I can borrow one from Kira and send it back to her...

On Tuesday I did a mountainbike trip to another mountain, with very nice villages and farms on the way. People here are very nice, I chatted with some of them in the countryside and whenever I buy things or anything else. At night, Kira and I bough beautiful Alpaka pullovers - that's gonna get me through the winter! I love it!
Today, Wednesday, we already went riding horses - I don't really know how to do it but I managed without falling ;-)
Well, you see, I'm good so far, enjoying life, and sunshine, and looking forward to what is to come!

2008-10-24T10:24:00.000+02:00

Tiger auf Mallorca?

In den Himmel wachsen, den Mond anschauen. Der Kranich steht am Ufer und streckt seinen Hals, er wird zum Drachen und wedelt mit dem Schweif, verwandelt sich erneut und wird zum Tiger, der seine Krallen zeigt, seine Augen funkeln. Er holt ein weiteres Mal tief Luft und schlüpft zurück in seine menschliche Gestalt. Doch ein kleines bisschen vom Körpergefühl des Kranichs, des Drachen, und des Tigers konnten wir hoffentlich aus den Qi Gong Übungen festhalten, dort am Strand auf Mallorca. Da tasten sich die ersten Strahlen der Morgensonne glitzernd Welle für Welle vom Horizont bis zum Ufer vor und tauchen die sich im Rhythmus der alten Chuan Fa Kata wiegenden Zweierpaare in warmes Gold.
Nach der Morgensession ein kurzer Sprung in die Wellen, ein paar Züge auf dem goldenen Streif im Meer der aufgehenden Sonne entgegen schwimmen... Ohayo gosaimasu! Oder: Buenos días en Ca'n Picafort. Eine Woche Lehrgang mit den Sensei Lothar Ratschke und Fritz Oblinger.

Gleich neben den Dojo Kun und dem Spruch des Tages zum Nachdenken hängt auch eine Wunschliste, die schnell gut gefüllt ist, also los geht's!
Im Kihon-Training werden wichtige Grundsätze wiederholt – das Verhältnis von Anspannung und Entspannung, der Merksatz „Der 2. Fuß schließt oder fixiert die Stellung“ plus der Empfehlung sich Notizen zu machen über das Gelernte, um es zu festigen.
Der Dreiklang des Tempels aus Jion („Liebe und Gnade“, aber auch „Tempelboden“), Ji'in („Tempelklang“) und Jitte („Tempelhand“) bringt das Dojo zum Dampfen. Die Kata Chinte holt alle 5 Tiere ins Dojo – Tiger, Leopard, Schlange, Kranich und Drache, in den Techniken ist von allen etwas zu finden. Die Sensei halten uns an, genau hinzusehen, wenn andere eine Kata laufen und Fehler oder Ungenauigkeiten, die wir bei ihnen feststellen, erstmal bei uns selbst zu überprüfen. Interessanterweise stören einen die Fehler, die man selbst macht, bei anderen oft am meisten.
Am Strand wird fleißig Partnertraining gemacht, wir hebeln, werfen und fliegen. Hinterher hat man den Sand zwar auch überall da, wo man ihn lieber nicht hätte, aber das ist den Spaß am Ausprobieren wert, und schließlich ist da ja auch noch das Meer, in das man hinterher hüpfen kann, um den Sand wieder los zu werden.

Ein leises Knurren lässt sich vernehmen... Ist der Tiger zurück? Jein, der hat uns nie wirklich verlassen, aber das Training macht hungrig, also ab unter die Dusche und zum Essen. Gestärkt für die Nacht nun auf den Weg nach Jamaika, der sich als erstaunlich kurz herausstellt. Da sieh an! Nach nur 250m steht da bereits ein fröhlich grinsendes Rastagirl mit Reggaemütze und lädt zu tropisch-exotischen Cocktails in die „Jamaica-Bar“ ein.
Und falls man feststellen sollte, dass z.B. der Cocktail „Testamento“ seinem Namen alle Ehre macht und etwas zu viel des Guten war, so empfiehlt Johannes eine ganze frisch ausgepresste Zitrone zu trinken, das hilft.

Überhaupt lernt man nicht nur von den Sensei, ohne den beiden etwas absprechen zu wollen, im Gegenteil. Sondern man lernt auch sehr viel von seinen Trainingskollegen. So gab Gerd den Tipp weiter, sich zum Katas und Bunkai notieren die Kompassrose oben ins Eck zu zeichnen, um die Richtungen einfacher anzugeben (wie ich später erfahren habe, ist das sogar die traditionelle Technik). Sogar der verwegen aussehende Sandburgenbaumeister, der die ganze Woche über mit seinen Kumpels Delphinschulen, Hexenküchen und ähnliches aus dem Sand schuf, gab mir ein paar Ratschläge für den Straßenkampf und zeigte mir, wie man jemandem eine Zigarette hinter dem Ohr hervor zaubert – darüber, welche der Lektionen nun wichtiger war, kann man unterschiedlicher Meinung sein.

Als Abschlusstraining am Strand die Kata Oya Tomari No Passai, die alte Form der Bassai Dai, wieder mit einer beachtlichen Anzahl Zuschauer. Zuvor hatten sich bereits einige Zuschauer animiert gefühlt, mitzumachen und versuchten, das Aufwärmtraining mit Zukis und UchiUkes nachzuahmen. Das fand Sensei Oblinger gut und ermunterte sie, weiter mit zu machen.
Am Ende der Woche bestanden eine ganze Reihe Schüler erfolgreich ihre Prüfung und tragen nun höhere Kyu- und Dan-Grade. Herzlichen Glückwunsch nochmal, danke für den klasse Lehrgang und ¡Hasta luego!

2008-10-08T22:28:00.000+02:00

My back is trying to teach me... maybe...
probably telling me to relax a little more and let go.

The back muscles are hard as wood and neither stretching nor a hot bath tub did really help. Part of it is due to intensive karate training - but only because I clench to much, and I'll have to work on this for the Dan. Oh no, she's talking about karate AGAIN. Hm, yes, it does fill a significant part of my life at the moment, and I'm still really enjoying it, feeling that I'm focussed on the exam in december.

But it's not all about karate.
Doing a PhD means for many (including me) going in waves from "this is an interesting topic of work and I enjoy doing research stuff on my own" to "this is complete crap and nobody cares about it" in half a day, reminds me of teenage days... and as a professor said "You need a damn good reason to do that PhD to keep yourself motivated." On the other hand, when my brain starts cramping completely with whether I'm capable of doing a PhD, I remember what Heike (a former work mate during university) said when we talked about jobs and what they mean for your life: "Always have a second plan up your sleeve, because it enables you to see things a little relaxter as you know it is not the end of the world if the first plan doesn't work out as calculated." My reason for doing a PhD is that I want to give something back to the people who made it possible for me to get such a good education (this is definitely a priviledge), but on the other hand I have to admit that of course I guess I also do it for myself, although at times I can figure out the motivation.

Reserve plan? Probably at the same time the plan for the time after the PhD: Sign up with a non-profit organization and try to integrate sports. After all, you live only once (maybe that's not true, but I wouldn't want to bet on it) and so we should try to fit in everything that seems desirable for us. Buddhism teaches us that we are responsible for our happiness and that the prerequisites for that lie within ourselves. One of the things that makes me really happy every time is when I can make somebody else happy - so go out there, surprise a friend, call your grandma, or simply smile at the next person you see until they smile back!

2008-09-29T16:12:00.000+02:00

Run, Drilly P, run!

Got the most hilarious birthday present from Iris and Marco: An adidas running shirt with a big print on the back saying

PENZENSTADLER
DRILL INSTRUCTOR

With that shirt Iris will succeed in pinning that nickname on me forever... apart from that I love her!! :)

To live up to my reputation, I ran around in Berlin (business trip plus visiting Jasmin and Felix), Ulm (project meeting) and Haar. The latter is a small place nearby Munich where I pushed my limits to my best half marathon time: 1:54h - my body thanked me by giving me the worst headache in a looooong time, I only managed to fight it with a magic mineral potion mixed by Michael, the sorcerer (who was kept prisioner from winning his first half marathon by a vicious cold) and 14 hours of sleep - yes, believe it or not, I did go to bed before 5pm. In the pictures you see my two pace makers (the second one is the image I saw most of the time :) - without them I wouldn't have made that time!

The two days before the Haarathon I trained at karate seminars at my old club in Erding with Peter Heigl and at the special event of the Bavarian Karate Association in Ingolstadt with Shihan Funasako and many others. Looking forward to the holidays: 2 weeks to go - Mallorca Karate Seminar!

But the most unexpected, astonishing sportive action happened to me on Saturday night - when a Cuban Salsa dancer (not the gentleman on the photo, he is Swiss) asked me to dance with him, twirled me around so much that I could hardly stay on my feet and suddenly - without any warning - lifted me up, spun me vertically around 360° and put me back onto my feet! I couldn't believe what was happening... After that he asked me if I was afraid now. I said "No, I'm only worried that I might accidently hurt you by not reacting correctly to your guidance." I really got to take some lessons!

2008-09-16T18:35:00.000+02:00

Barca - de puta madre

Just came back from the best conference I've ever attended (although I haven't been to very many yet, I still consider it outstanding): the International Requirements Engineering Conference in Barcelona, organized by Xavier Franch.
I arrived a little early and spent a wonderful weekend with Kerstin, Sidi and Yasin, their 6 months old baby. We went to the market, had a coffee with ex-work-mate Ulrike, Sidi cooked a great dish from Senegal with rice, veggies, yuca and fish, and at midnight, I went to dance Salsa with Sidi in my favourite club Antilla. On Sunday we had picknick close to the beach including a long slackline-session and at night I went for a long walk with Kerstin passing by the most beautiful church in the world: Sagrada Familia.

Monday I switched into conference mode after 2h sight-running (Montjüic, MNAC, castillo), moved to the hotel Barcelo Sants and practised my presentation. At night, we had the first conference reception at the Sala Maremagnum, where I started chatting up people and made interesting new contacts.

Tuesday I held my presentation at the RELAW workshop, had a lively discussion about it, and got a lot of lovely SMS and emails for my birthday. At night, Marlena, Yasmin, Mike, Martin and I went out to the Champagnería, which is THE place to be during early evening for Tapas and Cava, and then headed out for dancing at the Shoko right at the beach area Barceloneta.

My plan to go to bed early on Wednesday after long sessions of talks and a conference reception at MNAC was simply declared as not acceptable by a few conference fellows, so we went to another area of the harbour for Salsa. More long sessions of still quite interesting talks and good dicussions, interaction and networking with other researchers on Thursday that were crowned by a beautiful conference dinner at Restaurant Can Cortada where finally half of the researchers joined into dancing Rumba Catalana. When the bus dropped us of at the hotel, Xavier held some of us back, telling us he intended to take us downtown and party on - well, can't say no when the conference chair asks you out, right? Good excuse at least ;-) and we went to Jamboree at Plaza Real. Amidst a fun party crew of fellow reseachers from all over the world, with one of them, who has written a lot of impressing work you've read, trying to wear your high heel strap sandals, you suddenly realize that this science job is really worth all the effort :)

On Friday, the bad air conditioning in the hotel and the persistent lack of sleep already claimed their debts and caused voiceless hoarse coughing, but I still attended all the talks before at noon it was time to say goodbye to most of the others. In the afternoon, I went to Parque Güell with Steve, Eva and Marlena, and again to the Champagnería with also Yasmin, David and Krysz joining in, and after a long walk along the beach we nearly fell asleep at a cocktail bar at the harbour, before we crowned the week with worshipping at the temple of Salsa Antilla;-)

Switching back to meeting-old-friends-mode on Saturday, I met Sara and Féde, good friends of Iris who I had taken out in Munich when poor Iris was sick, and after a bit of shopping we had a delicious typical Catalán dinner at the Orígens, topped by Cuban live Salsa at Harlem Jazz Club. The "closing session" of a wonderful week in Barcelona was the Sunday picknick at Parque Güell with Kerstin, Yasin, Sara and Féde.
Coming back drop-dead and with a cold late at night, moving from 30°C in Barca to 8°C in Munich, Steff gave me a lift home where we enjoyed funny photos and a cup of Spanish Chocolate a la taza. Hasta luego!

2008-09-05T09:00:00.000+02:00

Watch your mouth! Go running with a friend you've just met a few weeks before and talked him into running 10k for the first time in his life and if he likes it, just say "I guess you'll be up for your first marathon pretty soon" - could happen, that you find yourself signing up with it together sooner than you'd imagine :)

This is where project "Maratona di Roma - you're not running alone" enters the game - Michael has even designed a logo already! We're setting up a team, even with fans accompanying us - who would like to join us?

Some friendships just inspire and you suddenly find out that you have a never ending source of energy within yourself - just dare to use it and enjoy the million new experiences! I signed up for an introductory session to Shiatsu as well - there's so much to learn!

But first I have to fill you in on how we got so euphoric about running (for me: another) marathon: Last sunday in Munich - charity run plus big concert: "Couldn't do it any faster, because I still felt yesterday's triathlon in my legs" said the female winner at the Human Race - well, our excuse was that we still felt the afternoon session of slacklining AND the Zugspitze from the day before in our legs ;) But we had a great run, Martin, our fastest team member (43'49''), got on rank 6564 of the world - with one million competing runners - you know that this is within the first percent! And after running like crazy for 10k including cheering for the other runners and the audience (you have to appreciate their cheering if they do OR make them cheer if they don't ;) we jumped in front of the stage with Blumentopf, Sportfreunde Stiller and Fanta4 performing GREAT!!

Zugspitze? Yeah, that was on Saturday - my brother Simon made it on top of the Zugspitze with me, across the glacier and with a lot of rock climbing, I'm really proud of him! And we had such a great weather - it was unbelievable!

La Salsa has got me back! Yesterday we went to the party at 2rooms, where the big Salsa Festival started which will be all over town this weekend - but I'm going to Barcelona today... no, I'm certainly not complaining about that ;)
I was so lucky yesterday to get to dance with a cute Spanish guy who taught me a few new turns (never done New York style before) - I couldn't believe that I can do 10 (in words: TEN) fast turns in a row! Oh my God, I gotta get back into dancing, I just love it and I miss it so much - has anyone of you one day left in his weekly schedule that he never uses? I'd love to have it, please, 'cause otherwise it will be hard to find a slot where I can squeeze that in...

2008-08-24T20:11:00.000+02:00

Starlight twinkling in my eyes... - words can warm your heart so much... dreams come true when you find the courage to be happy and enjoy life! Thank you.

This week has taught me again how unbelievably important friends are, and that I'm a darling of fortune because I have wonderful friends.

Catching up with old friends is good - met Danny (good old friend from school, we shared the teenager years intensively, first flirts and all the odds and ends) and Mattias, who taught me a lot in rockclimbing and is finally back from his year in Madrid. Jasmin and I are having long talks on the phone, I'd love to be able to better support her in finishing her wonderful novel "Helden von heute".

Not-yet-so-old friends bounce along with me having a good time running, slacklining, or just enjoying a few rays of sunlight. And in some quiet moment (sometimes when you wouldn't expect it at all) or not so quiet minute (maybe hearing the song "Ich bin ein Gummibär" for the umpteenth time ;-) you share little gestures of friendship, understanding,... that put a smile on your face and, even better, in your heart!

2008-08-21T10:09:00.000+02:00

The dark knight... robbed me of my sleep.
Creepy, dark Batman movie in the late show... Heath Ledger was great, and today I look a little like the joker, with the dark circles around my eyes...

The weekend at Attersee before though was wonderfully relaxing, and I found out about the fascination of mountain runs - only on the forest track not single trail, but still challenging, did more than 500m of altitude in one hour three days in a row. On the third day I had to give in after the run and throw my beloved Adidas Supernova into the trash can. Where the relaxing part was? Believe it or not, it was unbelievably relaxing to run up a not too steep mountain in the rain :) but I started with Zazen again and it feels good... I hope I can stick to doing it most mornings.

2008-08-12T13:48:00.001+02:00

Challenging my limits... again.

This summer is wonderful - I'm going completely nuts, I'm in the best mood ever, I have wonderful friends, meet fascinating people, I'm doing karate training like crazy, bike-riding, climbing, running and too much partying and going out. I'm having such a great time right now, I've had it for weeks and I'd really like to give every single one of you a share of that feeling! Big hug!

Last weekend there was another karate seminar in Neuötting, the first one since december that was held by Sensei Lothar Ratschke who shall conduct my black belt exam within a few months. I had a good time meeting Hasan again and practised my currently favourite kata Kanku Dai.

On Sunday, Jens, Jo, Basti and I did a great tour to the Scheffauer - first 800m of altitude on the MTB and then 7 hours of rock climbing - the climbing part was supposed to take us 3,5h which is why we had a tough time getting back down the mountain (downhill MTB in the dark, I was nearly shitting my pants) in time to catch the last train back to Munich... we came home little before midnight :) The climbing was really great, got a few bruises and I would have preferred a more secured path with more hooks, but Jo did a very good job in leading me - thanks!

On Monday I thought of having an early night after lasting surprisingly well during karate training - all of us were sweating like hell in the damp oxygen-lacking gym with wet 28°C outside. But I ended up mixing cocktails and dancing behind the bar in Simon's student residence until 4 a.m. which is why I'm a little tired today ;)

2008-07-29T23:09:00.000+02:00

Die Flügel des Phönix streicheln die Nacht,
der rotgold'ne Schein der glühenden Wurzeln
fließt aus dem ehernen Käfig, dem Nest,
und wärmt behutsam die Füße und Zeh'n,
wie die klingenden Wölkchen der Worte mein Herz.

Die Trauben des Shiraz drehen und gleiten
im langsamen Walzer entlang der Kristallkugel.
Eine weiche Decke wachsenden Vertrauens
schenkt innere Ruhe und verleiht mir Flügel.

Glucksendes Lachen kullert durch den Garten,
Balance halten im Tanz - lebe den Traum,
schon blinzelt Aurora vergnügt in Rosé,
die schläfrigen Äuglein des Phönix glitzern.

2008-07-29T22:50:00.000+02:00

Der Berg ruft - mountain is calling - and I hurry to get up there. Had a wonderful mountain hiking weekend at Martin's Haus Wagrain from where we (Martin, Andi, Micha and me, see photo) conquered the Mosermandl on Saturday.
The weather was quite challenging, uhm, changing all the time, got burnt and soaked, but it was a wonderful path with a chimney to climb through below the peak.

On Friday I was at another Karate Seminar, Efti (national trainer) and his students, and I did my referee seminar - 7 hours of tough training and then the train broke down so I had to cycle like crazy to get home more or less not too delayed, because the boys were waiting for me to drive to Austria for the mountain trip - completely exhausted that night... but it was so worth it!

2008-07-21T16:55:00.000+02:00

Those weekends... no, I'm not gonna complain ;-)
I went to a prom with Martin on Friday night, dancing Foxtrott, Waltz and Tango until we were both sweating like crazy, but he really knows how to dance - felt like flying!

On Saturday I went running with Thea and she introduced me to Katie Melua (Shy boy, beautiful song) before checking out the city festival (850 years of Munich) with lots of live acts like Munich Hiphop by Blumentopf and alot of performance - did a Parkour Running Workshop on Sunday, my muscles are aching really badly today :)

Sunday early morning at 5am went to the Kocherlball - a traditional event in the English garden where everybody dresses up in Dirndl and Lederhosen to do Bavarian folk dancing. Even King Ludwig (see picture) joined us!

2008-07-16T21:30:00.000+02:00

Three days awake ...

... is a description that seems to fit for all my weekends at the moment. Struggling during the week to get some rest - tonight I came home at quarter past nine, for the first and only time this week, so the plants want water, the laundry wants to be done, and my body is crying for sleep. But I'm having a great time - might regret it when I look like 40 by the time I turn 30 :)

Three days awake ... is in fact the title of a German song that's in the charts right now and the text is as sophisticated as your brains are after three days without sleep ;) and we've been making fun about that ever since the karate-event in Bad Abbach. Started the weekend again on Thursday with a fun night out - dancing in a posh Munich see-and-be-seen nightclub (Pacha) where you have the most fun if you just don't care but dance like crazy with somebody who's in the same mood! Wonderful!

Have you ever ... received a poem as a present? I was completely speechless after opening my inbox on Friday morning! I thought that was so sweet - kept me smiling for the rest of the day (in fact, I'm still smiling)...

Friday night BBQ with Biene and friends, including Texas hold'em 'till 3am, until I crashed onto a sofa for three hours of sleep before rushing off again, because i
got a little karate-fever at the moment, so I went to another seminar last weekend in Traunreut, with Gilbert Gruss, see picture by Melanie Müller, a 9th grade dan!! (There's only few of them guys 'round the world) and it was great, again. Afterwards went to Martin's summer party in Passau, volleyball, midsummer bonfire, pool and lots of good company.

Monday had virtually everything up it's sleeve - up and down a few times from a flat tyre to wonderful poetry to Conny cancelling Cuba - instead, I might go to, guess what, yes, a karate seminar in Mallorca :) held by the two Sensei with whom I wanna do my exam in December, perfect bootcamp.

Sounds like I'm not working at all, right? BUT in fact I've written the first chapter of my dissertation, pretty proud of myself although there's still an awful lot of work to be done... Looking forward to dancing on through my life - love you all!

2008-07-06T22:29:00.000+02:00

How stupid is it to get up at 5a.m. to prepare the meeting with the professor at 7:30 for your dissertation?
Well, let's not detail on that - he was satisfied with my results and further plans and told me to start writing the first chapter!
After such a good start I dived into a karate-event weekend in Bad Abbach, still working on the next research paper on the train - deadline on Monday, bad luck ;-)

The karate-event was awesome - training with Ishikawa Sensei, Marié Niino, Michael Schölz, Andreas Ginger - with the latter two went clubbing through Saturday night as well - we were still jumping around on house beats Sunday morning 5 minutes before the training started ;) Now I got a (not really) new nickname: bouncy ball.

Thanks to Melli, Volker, Murcks, Dennis and the others for a great weekend!! Apart from being drop-dead tired from way too little sleep and much work-out I have to finish a paper now... you remember? The deadline is pending...

2008-07-03T14:00:00.000+02:00

Toni said ...

... that I should go for the black belt! It really motivates to hear that from a well respected Sensei - thanks Toni!
Last weekend I had a seminar with Sensei Toni Dietl with Conny at SV 1880 in Munich and now she gave him the nickname "the black belt whisperer", because he had said it to her the year before - she got her Dan 4 weeks ago. We worked on the Kankudai *big imaginative hug for Toni* - the kata I want to do in my exam in december. Only after the training my knee finally went into strike and hurt badly, because it still hasn't recovered from the downhill drop on Watzmann last week.
Spent a great afternoon and night with Conny and Thilo at the Langwieder lake.

Sunday was lazy due to the hurting knee and on Monday I even went to the doctor's. So this week I ended up looking at the wonderful weather outside whishing I could run, bike, skate or climb out there - instead, I'll put ointment on the knee for the umpteenth time...

2008-06-23T20:33:00.000+02:00

Getting over the jetlag...
... took me longer than I thought it would. Although staying up late, I would still wake up at 4 a.m. for the first 5 nights. Work had me in a harsh grip, but on the other hand I'm fully motivated and I can see progress.
Being back on my beloved bike for the way to work is good, but if I try to go running directly after coming home from work, I really suck! Those two just don't go together. Took up Karate again and already got the first big bruise again from trying to block a leg with my forearm, bad idea... ;-)

European Championship is taking up the rest of the free time, the Germans are doing pretty well.
I watched the quarter final Germany - Portugal with Alejandro (Argentinian guy I met last year at the summerschool in Marktoberdorf, see picture) and his colleagues from Sweden at the Chinese Tower Beergarden in the English Garden. After that, we went partying on Leopoldstraße - big crowd there celebrating like crazy, which is not a good idea if you have to catch a train at 6 a.m. to go to a workshop the next day... (that would be me).

This weekend we went to conquer the Watzmann with the old Passau gang, well, part of them, and other friends, all in all there were 19 of us and I had a great time catching up with Alex, Horst, and all the others - photos coming soon, the only one I can show you so far is the route we did (copyright by Katharina ;-))

2008-06-10T19:42:00.001+02:00

Well, still haven't quite gotten over the jetlag, but sooner or later I will... hopefully!
The trip was awesome though really demanding. Coming to Beijing without any knowledge of the Chinese language is somewhat adventurous, but I was lucky to be picked up by Jia (friend from Munich) and Klaudia and I could even stay with Jia's sister Wei and her husband for the first two days. So I had two days of Sightseeing with a Chinese guide and stay in a Chinese family to get used to this country, which was really good.

We saw the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Tian Man Square, a bit of Beijing nightlife, and had wonderful food cooked by Jia and Wei.
Then the girls left for Germany and I went to the conference hotel for the ICSR. The conference was great, got to know some very interesting people there, from the point of view of research as well as from a personal sympathy point of view. Apart from many interesting presentations we did a little more sightseeing, e.g. the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, Beijing Nightshow and some more nightlife.

Met Pamina (works and lives in Beijing now, with her I went to my very first Spanish class in Passau a few years ago) for one evening, and then I fled the big city to get to know a more remote part of the country with less smog but more nature. Stayed in Kunming for two days to see the Stoneforest Shilin and the Westmountains and then took the nighttrain to Dali. There I spent five wonderful days full of activity and meeting other travellers. Went to Sha Ping market, did a big bike trip along Lake Erhai to Butterfly Springs, went hiking in the Cangshan mountains along the Jade belt walk, another bike & hiking trip to see monastery Wu Wei Si, and finally climbed the big Mount Zhong He (4100m).

Then finally two days of travelling home, with a big back(pack) basket I bought at a local market - people kept looking at me (those westerners are strange anough, but if they start using local market equipment, even more strange...). In Beijing the last stopover, I taught Wei how to bake German cake - I had brought all the necessary stuff from Germany, and when I first met her, she didn't even have an oven. So she bought one during my week in Yunnan (province of Kunming and Dali) and on the last evening we had a cake baking session :-)

All the pictures from the trip (200) are on facebook with restricted access, got only a small selection right here.

2008-06-09T14:56:00.000+02:00

Trip to China

Größere Kartenansicht

Just came back yesterday from my trip to China. Still jetlagged and still have to sort out the photos, but just to give you a first impression: This map roughly shows which parts of China I have visited :)

2008-05-08T21:13:00.000+02:00

Ever heard of a rock opera? There is one in Munich right now called "ChristO" and I invited my mum for her birthday - we had such a great night! Wonderful emotional rock music and a heart-breaking story...

Next day I went to the mountains with Markus and Barbara and now I do believe that may is a little early for hiking as we were in the snow up to the knees for half the time. But we still enjoyed it a lot and took a look at the only Bavarian Whiskey Distillery Slyrs.

At night, I went to Stefan's birthday party in Pretzen where I met all the people from my time in Erding, not having seen some of them in quite a long time. I had intended to stay for only two hours because I was tired but in the end I left around half past two in the morning... and only to manage to get up at 7 again to visit my grandmothers as promised - they were lovely as always but by evening I was drop dead.

Went to a hiphop concert by Fettes Brot group from Hamburg - they have songs like "Bettina - please put on some clothes" (all in German) and you can laugh your head off listening to their lines.

There was a middle age festival in Munich, I felt like Alice in Wonderland and watched and walked around with Chrissi all afternoon on the first of May. We made baskets! And I learned how to play a few middle age board games. And you could bathe in the middle of the market place, but I skipped that :)

On Saturday I saw little Tristan (son of Franz and Yvonne) for the first time and he is sooo cute. By that time I had already done a few kilometers on my wonderful bike - yeah, still riding like crazy, every day to work and back ('bout 18km one way).
Then went to the Isar to have a BBQ with Björn and friends and on Sunday we went climbing - first time since the rib contusion, but it was alright.

The last two days we had a research project meeting here in Munich and we taught the partners from the other parts of Germany (Essen, Ulm, Stuttgart) a little about the Bavarian Beergarden Culture, took them to Seehaus in the English Garden and brought some home-made Obatzda which they loved ;-)

2008-04-21T15:30:00.000+02:00

After the marathon... is before the marathon!
Felix said he could hardly believe standing there with me at the marathon starting position 5 months after we had spontaneously decided to run his first marathon together.
The weather wasn't too good but at least it was not raining.
Iris, Sandra and Karsten accompanied me from Munich to Leipzig an we stayed at Enrico's (Karsten's friend) and Thomas' flat, visited the Stasi museum, did an Indian cook-up and played Illuminati which was a lot of fun!

2008-04-11T08:53:00.000+02:00

Just gotta show you this: my new bike - it's so cool, and it is so much fun riding it!!

2008-04-10T13:53:00.000+02:00

Had a wonderful family reunion just few days after my mum's b'day - finally all five of us around one table after about one and a half years - unbelievable! It was really fun!

Guess where that bruise comes from! Yesterday I had a flat tyre (again) and when fixing it and pumping it up, I somehow managed to squeeze a bit of my leg in the pump... very good. And later on I went to Kuhstall to the Karaokenight. There we (Micha, Eva, Mandy and me) celebrated Micha's birthday and he didn't only make cakes for his colleagues but also a small one for me - see picture.

Got my first cake somebody ever made especially for me, well, of course apart from the cakes my mum made for me during my childhood birthdays :)

Aaaand both of my lovely friends called Chrissi have been looking for jobs during the past months - and now both of them got one!! Chrissi from Passau moved to Munich and is now living close by, and Chrissi from Moosinning is moving to Regensburg for joining the hospital there.

2008-04-04T18:35:00.000+02:00

Can you find me on the picture? I'm really there somewhere ;-)

Well, great Karate-Seminar where I met many nice people (instead of lazy easter), funny brunch with Daniel, Sara and Gema at Biene's place, five days of wonderful hiking with Biene at Attersee in Austria, finally a family reunion with ALL 5 of us there - who wants more?

2008-03-11T22:11:00.001+01:00

Without words - imagine a story yourself ;-)