it’s been exactly 9 hours and 53 minutes since i am fully employed by my newspaper. may day must be a coincidence, the pure joy of working under a CBA… i believe.
Read morethe best job in the world
i am working the nightshift – for the second time by my own. the day was pretty easy-going, just had to change a couple of things, but it was really about details. just had a second to breathe through and once again figure that i probably have the best job in the world. creating those…
Read moreabout goodbyes
today someone that used to be very close to me said good bye, in a very unusal way but a goodybe nevertheless. it was a harsh, an unfriendly goodbye. but then in a way i chose to accept it. because i had to, because in this case i felt there was no way out either….
Read morefreedom
there is a song by david gray called freedom, to me life seems to be a series of recurring events. not that they wouldn’t evolve in some way or another, but recurring nevertheless. explaining what freedom means really is diffcult. probably to be free to decide, what i want to do. there’s a beautiful story…
Read moresometimes we all are cubans
imagine you are a bank. not any bank but the bank managing all your little country’s monetary transfers. imagine that after – let’s call it a little crisis in your owner’s organization – a big investment fonds takes over. not just any investment fonts but one of the largest in the world. an investment fonds…
Read morealone in the dark
this year easter was different. for the first time in a long time, easter felt like it should feel. it all came together in a single moment, when the easter fire was lit around a friend’s place where astrid and i went. sometimes feelings last only for a split-second but during that short moment, i…
Read moreAnd Volvo calls..
Heute der lange ersehnte Anruf von Denzel Klagenfurt, ab kommenden Montag (also knapp zwei Wochen nach meinem ersten Anruf) könnte ich den Volvo C30 probefahren. Dazwischen liegt eine Messe, da würde das Auto gebraucht. Natürlich werde ich mir das Auto trotzdem anschauen. Ob ich ihn dann allerdings bei Denzel kaufe (als Konkurrent hat sich ein…
Read moreThe Volvo C30 story continues…
Es ist faszinierend: Mittlerweile habe ich wirklich einige Mails zu untenstehender Geschichte über meinen Doch-Nicht-Probefahrt mit dem neuen Volvo C30 und deren Umstände bekommen. Wahnsinn: Bei Google wurde das Blogpost gestern an erster (!!!) Stelle (siehe Screenshot) bei einer Suche nach den Keywords “Volvo, C30, Verkauf” gefunden. Kein Wunder, dass die Zugriffe explodiert sind. Zu…
Read moreWarum ich keinen Volvo kaufe
Es lebe das Web, mein Blog-Eintrag zum Thema Volvo ist erst genau einen tag alt und schon wurde ich von drei Leuten darauf angesprochen(-gemailt). Ich bin gespannt wohin die Sache führt, aber noch einmal zur Erklärung. Zu Wochenbeginn habe ich bei Volvo Denzel in Klagenfurt angerufen – nicht irgendjemanden, sondern den Verkaufsleiter, Herrn K. Simple…
Read moreWhy I won’t buy a Volvo
I hardly ever blog about what I consider “trivial” things, but this one is just too perfect: As my tough little Skoda is running near the end of its lifecycle I’m slowly starting to think about working on a replacement. So the new Volvo C30 (I’ve always been fond of Scandinavian cars..) seemed to perfectly…
Read moremy world, your world
“ihre geschichte und meine geschichte, das ist etwas völlig anderes. wenn sie ihre familienfotos ansehen, dann sagen sie, dass ist der onkel soundso, der hat immer bonbons mitgebracht und das ist die tante, die zu weihnachten immer bei uns war. bei uns heißt das, ausschwitz, treblinka, ausgewandert nach caracas, verschollen” aus: “ein ganz gewöhnlicher jude”…
Read morenorth korea in pictures
it took me some time, but then again i wasn’t so sure if i should put my pictures from pyongyang oline (for simple copyright reasons) – but then again here they are. enjoy. i believe.
Read morethe wasteland of your mind
sitting on my kitchen table in the evening, writing an article for a magazine. the year passed so quickly and what a year it has been. a year ago i was getting ready to fly to new york. and then i moved to belgium, travelled to the netherlands, england, saw canterbury, waterloo and last but…
Read moreus, longing to be heard
it’s been some time since i was in a live concert (söhne mannheims in brussels to be precise) but it was well worth the wait: naked lunch were back in their hometown (my hometown, our hometown!) klagenfurt yesterday, small smelly smoky location but then great great great music. little more than 90 minutes of great…
Read moredeine hände sind schon taub
it was a stressy day yesterday and i fell asleep watching television with astrid. in a way i feel exhausted, but it’s a good way of feeling exhausted. went back to university classes after coming back from north korea and i have to keep pinching myself to actually pay attention. in some ways i get…
Read morewhere i want to be
first day at work after returning from pyongyang. i’ve been asked hundreds of questions, everybody was so crious about the trip, the people, the surroundings just everything. now back at my desk, i still can’t believe i went there and saw what i saw. after all i am happy to be here, where i belong….
Read moreback in the real world
we made it out of north korea fine. the impression i got there are still fresh, so i try to jot down everything that comes to my mind right now. first of all: control is total, foreigners are monitored 24/7 or somewhat close to that. being a journalist i got the impression that we got…
Read morelast days
more or less live from pyongyang, north korea it’s my last day today and overally i can say that it has been a huge experience, personally and professionally. and yes i have to add that given the circumstances the organizing comittee has tried almost everything, a fact that i keep in mind when i complain…
Read morelet the games begin
live from pyongyang, north korea we had the usual course of the day today, wake up, have breakfast and then tour around with our two guides and translators who are constantly around us. some things just are so different, and taking into account i am on the other side of my world this shouldn’t surprise…
Read morepyongyang
a blog-post from north korea, probably one of the first in the world :-) i am fine and this is, by every which mean an extraordinary country. i will try to continue my blog from pyongyang – but i can assure you that the peopler here are doing everything to make my stay a memorable…
Read morenearly there
just a brief note from our stop-over in peking, china, enroute to pyongyang, dprk: everybody is set and ready & looking forward to take the 1-1,5 hour trip from peking to oyongyang tomorrow. the city itself lay under a thick clog of smog today as we went down to experience the center a bit more….
Read morenorth korea calling
it’s been such an exciting past week with me preparing my departure to the DPRK (or north korea as we call it). i’ve been reading as much as i could about the country and still it feel surreal that i am actually heading off to a place very few people will ever have the chance…
Read morecolors to paint your days
some days are better than others. and some are worse than others. but then again i decided to do what i did, i took the freedom to decide upon my own well-being, in some way my own career. as in the past taking this decision was neither easy nor am i 100 percent sure it…
Read moreat home. finally.
i moved back into my flat, the place where i feel safe and sound. the place i made my home. Das Dorf hat einen fremden Klang Der Kontinent am äussersten Rand Der Grosse lacht genau wie er Ihre Sicht hat sich verkehrt Aber auch den Jüngsten geht es gut Sie fragen ihr Löcher in den…
Read moreto discover
As a scientist, and a super curious one at that I’m always trying to discover new things. This week I have discovered that: – I can run 5km in under 30mins for the first time in years, and enjoy it – buying a new toothbrush is not as simple as I thought it would be….
Read moredeus ex machina
i passed my grandmother’s place today, the first time after my return from bxl, chatted a little, showed her some of the pictures i took on my notebook. then i figured it’d be great to call to my uncle in manila, so i put it my umts-card and fired up skype. within seconds martina, my…
Read morewe are all made up of our dreams
Paraguayan filmmaker MartÃn Crespo shot his whole movie (to which this is the trailer) with a Nikon D50 digital still camera, the same I use. Wow, great work. I believe.
Read moresimple happiness
i’m home & and i’m happy. unbelievably happy. i believe.
Read more26
weird, after 2002 and 2003 (in finland) i once again celebrated a birthday away from home. even if i am 26 now, i still feel like a kid watching the world with eyes wide open. i dearly missed seeing everbody i care for today, but then again i am going home in just a few…
Read moreheimat
Wer zieht zuerst am gleichen Strang, wer glaubt an die gleiche Idee, wer lebt den halben Traum vom Ziel, wer traut sich zuerst übern See? Heimat ist kein Ort, Heimat ist ein Gefühl. Heimat ist kein Ort, Heimat ist ein Gefühl. (for Tommy, wherever he may be) I believe.
Read moreon life and art
The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means, and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again, since it is life. – William Faulkner
Read morea confession to make
it is one of those perfect days. sunshine in brussels, just had dinner with a friend of mine. even if i feel down sometimes (for various reasons) i look at my life and it has been a good one so far. i haven’t down everything i set for. yet. but i am on the road….
Read morecoward in a big city life
i left the office shortly before 10 pm yesterday, it’s short walk to the metro station but on the way i have to change trains once. so while i was waiting for my connection i sat down on a bench next to an older couple, a young lady and another guy about my age. so…
Read moreclarity
After weeks of fuzziness and cloudiness, tonight it is suddenly all clear; where I am going and to some extent, even how I will get there. It has been a difficult few weeks in which I have periodically condsidered giving away my job for the first time ever, starting all over again and meeting the…
Read moreof days, good and bad
one of my friends got really hurt by her ex-boyfriend. and i remembered myself in a situation like this, when you expect, that the hurt the other person has caused for you is enough already and then still more of it pours in. i do not know what advice to give other than the fact,…
Read moremeet me at wicker park
at some times it almost inevitable how we are reminded of our past, the people we loved, the life we lived and the things remained unsaid. i can not change what i did years ago, i just hope that at some point in my life they will all make sense. i will go home in…
Read moreyou are welcomed
i sent an email home to the newspaper that it’d be back for work on 25th of february. i just got a one-liner back from my boss. a one-line that in a world were people have no work and are daily struggling to survive meant the world to me. “you are welcomed”. and honestly, in…
Read morewhy in his name?
Warum in seinem Namen? Wir heißen selber auch. Wann stehen wir für unsre Dramen? Er wird viel zu oft gebraucht. Alles unendlich, unendlich. Welche Armee ist heilig? Du glaubst nicht besser als ich! Bibel ist nicht zum einigeln, die Erde ist unsere Pflicht! Sie ist freundlich, freundlich – wir eher nicht. Ein Stück vom Himmel,…
Read morecountdowns covered in snow
last but not least it has started snowing in brussels. i should have left the office at 6 but i am still at my desk. hockey practice starts at 9, two hours to go – nowhere to go in between. home? home is a thousand kilometers from here. itfeels unreal still to be here and…
Read moreamsterdam
tommy, one of my oldest friends came to brussels for the weekend, and we went through the whole male-bonding-experience-ordeal. really nice, plus i totallz fell in love with amsterdam. well that could also be related to the fact that if you are travelling anywhere from brussels falling in love with another city suddenly seems a…
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