… a good Christmas season so far.
When I saw that video for the first time I was just left speechless. First, I could not find the words to say because I was simply stunned and overwhelmed. I’ve been thinking about all the feelings it ignited in me and want to state this: It reminds me of so much, touches something deep inside of me. However, this video barely even scratches the surface of the sheer beauty and all the nasty things I’ve seen during my stay in Tokyo! All the good and all the bad memories I have from that time have changed the way I think, no, the way I am in a very profound way and everyone who knows me knew that the original plan was to return to Japan for a few years – maybe even for good. Well, things turned out a little different and I admit that I was being resentful for not getting what I wanted most for quite some time…
However: I know my constant babbling about Japan annoys many people – especially those around me who would have missed me if I had left Germany. And I’m sorry about that, seriously. I don’t want to point out that living in Germany (or especially in Munich) sucks – not at all! Germany is great, Munich is even greater and I enjoy being here to the fullest.
I do, however, want to embrace this moment to point out that I’m really grateful for all the things I have here: Living in a city that’s (in my opinion) the best place to be in whole Germany (aside from Hamburg, maybe). Having a great job where I can actually do the stuff I enjoy doing while decently getting paid for it. Tons of good friends who’ve been with me through all my ups and downs and who still stick with me even though I sometimes step on their toes by taking them for a little too granted and by not acknowledging their friendship in a more appropriate way. And most importantly: my family is here, my roots are here, the very essence that I came from is here. Even though I sometimes enjoy pointing out how not-German or how not-Bavarian I am, I still am and ever will be!
As much as I’m thankful for my time in Japan, I’m even more thankful for the time here! And that’s because of all of you crazy people in my life 
Always keep in mind that no one ever ends up where he or she expected to end up – it’s all about what we make of the chances that are given to us and how we overcome all difficulties and how we deal with all the setbacks that life throws at us.
And again, I have to point out that time flies when you’re happy and when you’re having a good time… Because I had a good time this weekend and it went by so damn fast! On Saturday, Mark and me went to the beach and enjoyed the sun. In fact, there were clouds coming up and hiding the sun the very moment we arrived at the beach so almost everybody else packed their belongings and left. Hence the beach was ours! 😎 We basically ignored the wannabe-bad weather and that the sun wasn’t shining. It came out again, eventually, and we even ditched into the ocean for a short while. Right there on the beach there was a cool hut selling drinks and food and they also played finest electronic tunes – to Mark’s and my pleasure 🙂
When after a while the clouds were closing in again (and we were getting hungry) we decided to have “lunch” there and that decision was rewarded with the best bocadillos ever. The very moment we started devouring those, rain started pouring down. Well, we did what we can best and just ignored the bad weather while we were enjoying the bocadillos under the hut’s roof. Just as we finished our awesome meal, the sun was back
In the evening we returned home for the big birthday party. It was big fun (and we had tons of great food) and I wanna thank Ela for hosting and having us there! Unfortunately, we all forgot to take more pictures…
Not having had a big load of sleep, we were all kinda lazy in the “morning” on Sunday. And because Mark had to leave for the airport anyways, we decided to just stay at Ela’s place, clean up the typical after-party-mess and relax a little. The weather was unbelievably beautiful, by the way, so Mark and me barely left the balcony where we tried to absorb as much sunshine as possible. But all good things have come to an end, eventually, and so Mark had to leave in the afternoon 🙁 Ela and me left the house with him, but instead of going to the airport, we went to the beach and met with a group of her colleagues and played beach volleyball for the rest of the day. 😎 Side note: I’m the world’s worst beach volleyball player, seriously. And I did my best to defend that title 😀
In the evening, we gathered a group and had dinner at a great pizza place in Barceloneta. And after that, we decided to retreat to Ela’s place and have the birthday party 2.0 … Unfortunately, I had to get up at 5:30 today in order to get my flight back to Munich. Too bad the volcano ash cloud wasn’t there when I needed it most 😉
Thanks again to Ela for hosting and to all the funny people I met in Barcelona! I’ll be back, promised!
Woke up at 11. Scrambled eggs, Mousse and Nespresso. Relaxed at Ela’s place while rain was pouring down outside. Went out at 2 when the sun came out, eventually. Strolled down the Passeig de Gràcia. Bought my first Ray Ban. Bought a new Kukuxumusu shirt in the store next to the Santa Maria del Mar church. Took the metro to Ela’s workplace and said ‘hi’ to the beach. Took a long walk to and up the Rambla de Santa Monica. Had a little rest after returning home. Had extremely delicious Tapas at the Nou Candanchú. Had extremely delicious ice cream in the heart of Gràcia. Had a drink in the Raïm Bar… Now this is what I call a nice day!
… It’s so good to be back in town. I LOVE BARCELONA.
Last weekend, we officially launched the barbecue season. It was a very warm and sunny day and we were enjoying sitting in the beautiful garden 🙂
Thanks to Marc for the great pictures!
And once again I just have to point out that time flies when you’re really busy! In my case, it seems to be flying a secret military super-jet The past week’s been filled with work, work-related travel, more work, reading technical literature (for work), eating, sleeping and … well, that’s about it. My back is back to normal, at last! It still tends to hurt a little sometimes but it seems to be alright altogether.
Alright! And because I’ve been too lazy to upload pics for a while, here are some 😀
Whoa, time flies when you’re busy, right? I am quite busy, actually 😉
So what has happened since my last post? Ah right, a new year started! Unfortunately, I could not attend the cool party I was invited to due to feeling sick for three days… But fortunately, I was invited to another party at my hometown so I decided to fill myself up with Aspirin and go there to meet lots of friends – of whom I’ve known some for almost 18 years already – at 11 p.m.
The following days were very calm and peaceful: Just stayed at home, had great food and slept a lot. That’s always a good thing to do when you have the chance to! But on January 5th, I finally emerged from my laziness and hopped over to England where I rejoined the coding team of Booka. Ever since then, I barely left the house because I basically do nothing but working here 😎
England… It’s so funny! We got a little bit of snow here and the whole country descends into pure mayhem… Seriously – in many parts of Germany these amounts of snow are just normal and the same procedure as every year! But because the snow clearing services are not that good (or, seem not to be existing) here, it takes days or even weeks until several roads are clear again. Combined with the fact that snow tires are almost unknown here… Well, you can imagine what’s going on! 😉 All airports face severe problems, too! So I can call myself lucky that I came home on December 24th without bigger delays… But the view I get to see is great:
Alright, back to my topic-checklist: climbing! Yes, climbing! Even though my skin has not yet recovered from my first attempts in December, I couldn’t resist going bouldering together with the other guys 😀 and now my hands are wrecked again… But it’s fun and I’ll just continue until my skin turns into leather
Next topic? Ah yes, solitude. Solitude? You ask? Well, it seems we’re having some kind of epidemic here: Adrian’s sick, Booka’s sick, Miri doesn’t feel so well… So therefore I’m sitting at my desk all alone 🙁
Hello, world! I’ve been quite busy working here in England at a 14/6 pace and just didn’t find the time for blogging… Ok, that sounds worse than it actually is:
To be honest, it’s really cool here. I like working together with Bookie in this environment where everything’s tuned for maximum efficiency and creativity at the same time. The only problem is: We have three four-hour slots of work per day which drives your feeling of time totally bananas. At the end of one day, events from the very same day’s morning feel like as if they’ve happened two or three days in the past because one’s usually not adjusted to three half work days per day 🙂
But because it’s the Booka and he’s the biggest climbing-nerd I know, we often go bouldering or climbing and it’s awesome! Finally, I get to train that crap properly 😀 My very personal problem is: I’m too heavy for my forearms! Damn, gotta slim…
Alright, gotta start working. Here are two random pics:
After having come back to Germany (and having dealt with the enormous jet-lag bwahahaa), I had to experience how awesome the Munich airport is and how not-at-all awesome its connection to the city is! From the moment the plane touched the runway in Munich until the moment I stepped out of the security area (including baggage retrieval by the way) it took less than 20 minutes! But to travel from the airport to Heufeld (distance: approx. 80 km) where I was picked up by my mom, it took more than 2 hours…
Anyways, my mom and me went hiking today! And it was legen… (wait for it) …dary! We ran up to the peak of the Breitenstein and ate 850 meters of height in just 90 minutes – lovely! Sunny weather, maybe the very last warm day this year. Having returned home, my first action was to start the sauna 😉 But even if this day has been so beautiful (or maybe because of that!?), I can’t wait for spring to come.
