A way of living

Easter Brunch

2008-03-24T14:57:00.002+01:00

Happy Easter!

Being not with my or Fabian´s family yesterday was something we only did once so far - when my sisters visited me for Easter in Bern/Zurich.

To still have a bit of Easter flavor, we invited friends of us for an Easter Brunch, which basically turned into eating all day yesterday :) .. even after our guest were gone...

*note to myself: should do some sports later today therefore..*

Iglust - Chilling Out at 2600 metres

2008-03-24T14:20:00.004+01:00

To fullfil my Christmas wish "a lot of snow", Fabian´s X-Mas present was a night in an iglu. So we booked a night in the Romantik Plus Iglu in the Iglu Village in Davos at 2600 metres high.

Arriving with the cablecar at around 16.00 we did a short walk to the Iglu village with our guide and about 12 other Iglu guests. The evening consisted of some Swiss Fondue, a night snowshoe walk and also going to the Sauna (yes! there was a Sauna in two old small road vehicles).

Everything was pretty exiting and it was fascinating how your body adapts quickly. Entering the main Iglu everything seems to be deep dark. All Iglus are lit with candles though and after a little while your eyes adapted and you could easily see everything and even read inside. The temperature in the iglus was between -2 and 0 degrees. Keeping yourself warm with a lot of tea and Glühwein and of course with lots of warm ski clothes you could easily sit, stand and eat in there. You were not freezing.

In the Romatink Iglu Plus you not only had an iglu for your own and a huge double sleepbag on a snow podest as well as loads of snow hearts and all around you, no you also had your own toilet ;)

A bottle of champage and a small Apero were waiting to be eaten by us in our iglu as well as some small pieces of toblerone, cookies, a tiny bottle of wodka, fishermen friends and a condom (hmmm what do the iglu owners think you go to an Iglu for ;) .... - we of course did not even consider about his before *grins* ).

The Swiss Fondue was nice and then the Snowshoe walk was even better. It had cleared up and you could see the stars and moon above you. Quietness surrounding you and the sounds of the snow under your shoes..

The best however definitly was the Sauna. After a great "Aufguss" you just walk outside into the snow - naked of course - it does not feel cold. And there are you on 2600 metres, at nearly midnight, the dark Alps Panorama in front of you, the stars and moon above you and you just feel real. What an experience!!!

Warmed up we then climbed in your sleeping bags in our pyjamas.. (you need to go in with as few cothes as possible, as otherwise you just sweat and shiver..) and enjoyed a good sleep in the iglu.

The not so exciting part of the night was that I somehow got the stomach bug in the middle of the night, which seems to go around everywhere at the moment... well let´s say I was glad about our own toilet ...

The next morning we got some hot tea served in our sleeping bags and then left to the mountain restaurant for breakfast. The view on this gorgous day was stunning!

See yourself now...

(ps. if you think in the iglu the snow was a bit black sometimes, you are right. It was definitly the end of the season for the iglu and lighting an iglu village with only candles leaves its marks -> therefore the black spots. You could not see this in candle light only when you use the flash in the camera).

Ski Holidays

2008-03-24T13:44:00.004+01:00

In February Fabian and I spent a week in the Zillertal (Tyrol) in a mountain hut skiing and enjoying the calmness of the woods and Alps

a successful day

2008-02-26T21:24:00.003+01:00

today, I consider a successful day at work

I ran a successful presentation and participated in two meetings in which I was very happy with my performance, securing my lead of a workstream for the next months and showing the "guys" that this is my territory, my approach and that I am leading this and the new guy can work for me but not taking over ;)

I also had a telephone call with my mentor - a former boss who now works in industry - about the opportunities which are coming up for me at the moment. This call really inspired me. He just asks the right questions, knows me and is really helpful.

I experienced what it means to talk to the two people at the same time who wants to keep you and wants that you work for them. Just watching their body language was fun.. like two little boys trying to mark their territory.

Tomorrow morning I have two presentation spots on the mgmt meeting... so at the moment work wise I riding the right wave. I enjoy it. It is fun.

for the girls

2008-02-24T17:26:00.004+01:00

Girls! If you haver get your hands on this book "Das Führungsbuch für freche Frauen" - read it! I am normally not a big fan of all this special things for women trara in work context, as I believe if somebody really wants it gets where he/she wants and I am not at all the opinion that all women should act like men in business... I have really seen examples of this men like women leaders in work and I do not like it at all.

But this book is a good read, just because it has the same opinion! It does not tell you do act like a men, but explains like men act and how a lot of women react on this behavior and it gives loads of practical advise how to use a women´s strenghts to deal with the situations without acting like a men.

It opens your eyes on a lot of aspects and makes you aware on your behavior, what you already do and what you could take on in some situations.

And it is a good laugh as well... you will see ;) Some of the situations described just make you grin as we all for sure have seen this before..

Dares will be rewarded

2008-02-24T02:50:00.003+01:00

Sometimes you need to dare something...

Today I had a Blind-Salsa-Dancing-Date and it was excellent!

Last autumn, when I was just about to start Salsa lessons again, I put an add for a dancing partner on the uni zurich dancing partner search board. Two weeks ago, a guy dropped me a note asking if I want to go out to dance. So we fixed to go to the Salsa Festival in Zurich today. I just had his name, email and telephone number, no picture nothing. Thus I was quite excited who this guy is... could be a weirdo as well, you never know with these blind date things ;)

But my expectations were more than met! It was such a nice guy, one of those people you immediatly connect to, no strange silence, you just click from the beginning, can talk normally and the most important you can dance together! Karo - if you read this you would love this guy!!! Just finishing Physothereapist school, used to play in a band, good looking, well mannered...

We will definitly go dancing again.. lets see if we manage a dance course together.. as he lives an hour outside of Zurich it might be tricky..

So back from a great night of dancing salsa, watching salsa shows I am about to go to bed... to continue salsaing in my dreams

putting a stamp on it

2008-02-22T20:30:00.004+01:00

Work is fun at the moment. I am really busy and work more overtime than usual, but I am really passionate about what I do. I am managing the knowlede transfer between a current and new project team, which will take over to lead another phase of the project.

I designed this program from the beginning, defined the approach and strategy, sold the idea to the mgmt team, mobilized a team of persons who coordinate these activities in their teams, do status meetings, communicate the next steps etc. Part of the program are two 2 week long training programs (a bit like AIESEC conferences) which I am totally responsible for. I scoped the program, developed a course curriculum, an agenda, worked on logistics and parts of the material. I can really put my own stamp on this program, introducing a learning log, review exercises and an agenda dry run session.

It starts Monday in a week... so I am really busy ;) also as this is only part of my job... still managing training and change management as well ;)

but I am happy, loads of fun, loads to learn and definitely something which I had not set up from scratch without my years in AIESEC... so one good example how to use this experience

New Hairstyle :)

2008-01-26T19:15:00.000+01:00

Subtitles

2008-01-20T20:50:00.000+01:00

It is one of those times which have a subtitle. A subtitle of anticipating change, which causes inner rumbles, excitement, anxiety, disquietness. A whole armada of feelings even though nothing is decided yet, just the thought of a change which might come.

Probably the waiting is the worst, waiting if it happens, if that job offer comes or not. If I have to be more proactive to make it happen, playing my political cards, when is the right time to do so as I am somehow sitting between the chairs.

The whole situation also stired a lot of thoughts and reflection about the future, wishes, desires, visions, hopes and fears.

Being patient here is not easy, but I probably have to still for a couple of weeks. Next milestone is therefore my skiing holidays in 2 weeks.

think, look, feel

2007-12-17T21:53:00.001+01:00

The last months have been quite busy. Work wise and private wise.

I not only was promoted, but also could extend my position on the project I am working on and moved into a mangement position. From typing minutes in the mgmt meeting to being on the mgmt team in less than two years... something for sure to celebrate.

There was not much room for free days or holidays in the last months.. however I tried to balance everything, take time outs for myself, make weekend breaks away and I also started more sports and salsa lessons again.
There were ups and downs emotions wise, good and not so good moments which just come with life and you have to accept.

Now I am looking forward to seeing my family again, spending some calm days with lots of skiing and being able to breath for a couple of days, fill up my batteries for the next mountain to climp early 2008.

Looking at the next year... hmmm what will it bring? Hopefully a few weeks holidays in India, exciting perspectives workwise and time together - with my partner, my family, but also with myself to think, look, feel.

10% rain probability :)

2007-08-25T19:06:00.000+02:00

The hike last Sunday turned into an un-voluntary adventure!

The four of us, drove to Elm in canton Glarus. A beautiful setting - high mountains, blue sky loads of sun. We took the cable car up to Unteres Älmpächli and hiked up to the Gelbkopf peek / pass which is on ove 2000 meter above sea level.

The way up first was on a rather "Alpine highway" - which means a nice broad path. The last part then led us up an alpine meadow over stones, bushes and just by the cows.

The further up we went the more fog came up. Up at the pass we walked down a bit to the Chuenbodensee where we intended to make our lunch break. But... once down thunder started and we decided to rather continue our walk down. Within minutes then strong winds started, clouds came, more fog and it started to hail. Autsch!

There were some abondend huts were we climbed into and some other hikers joined. We waited until most of the thunderstorm and the heavy rain and hail was over. But the rain itself never stopped. So we had to go down in the rain. The small trail which led steep down a meadow was more like a river now and so we had to walk slow and watch every step very carefully.

About 1 hour down, we went into another hut, where other hikers made a fire and we could warm up a bit and ate a bite. All of us quite soaked - especially as we only had 2 rain jackets between the four of us. So we shared around any extra dry cloths....

Finally then down at the cable car again after 4.30 hours of nearly non-stopp walking, we warmed ourselves up with some tea and once at the car we heated it up o 27 degrees..

So far about te 10% rain probability for the hike, the weather forecast suggested ;)

Egypt

2007-08-25T18:49:00.000+02:00

My holidays are over... already since two weeks. After one "free" week in Zurich, Fabian and me spent a week in Egypt close to Sham-el-Sheik.

As most guest were either Russian or from an Arabic Background and went for the pool rather than for the beach, the beach was close to empty an we could enjoy the silence there.

I loved the huge hamocks there, reading my book in the sunset.

The house reef was already really beautiful with loads of coloful fish. Fabian did two days of diving, one day I joined him on the boot. As the only snorchler on board I could snorchel around on my own, how and where I want.

The corals were stunning! I saw a huge sea turtle, napoleon fish, loads of others including trigger fish etc and my favorite the puffy fish :) so fluffly, you just want to take it home.

Feeling

2007-07-22T20:19:00.000+02:00

David Gray yesterday was just amazing! Awesome!
It was unplugged with songs across all albums and also new ones. Piano, guitars, base, drums and traditional Irish instruments. His voice just gives you shivers down the spine. The songs are so emotional, the music, the lyrics... it just gets under you skin.
I was sitting there like in anoter world. A world of emotions, thoughts, just taken on this wave of feeling. Feeling myself.

Lately, I try more often to get these moments where I feel myself.
Feel who I am, how I feel, what I feel in this special moment. Be it jumping in the cold river, where you feel every muscle getting tense and your breath accelerating and you need to swim very fast to keep warm. Be it turning on loud music in the flat when I am alone and just dancing around while cooking. Feeling the warm sun on your skin and how cosy it makes you feel. Feeling a smile on my lips, the chilly wind blowig through my hair.
Feeling myself from toe to head.

Just me.

Words of the Day

2007-07-14T23:35:00.000+02:00

Sometimes it is just nice to do a whole day what you just feel like.

I started today with 2 hours at Oberer Letten (from 9 - 11). Enjoying the morning sun and a refreshing swim, I sipped on my cappucino while listening to chilling music in the caffee at the river. I then pampared myself with a visit at the hairdresser and some shopping in the afternoon. It is always funny what you end up with buying when you are "only" looking for a bikini. You can say, I enjoyed the summer sale ;)

Back home I relaxed, surfing in the Internet and made myself some nice dinner.

Later I met with a good colleague who I know from work for a beer at Oberer Letten, where they had a DJ today. We then decided to drive to the driving range and hit some balls (at 9pm I have to say...). When we arrived there it was obviously already dark but it was still good fun.

After some fries at burger king I am now back home. I just had to open this box of Haegen Daz icecream...mhhh cookies and cream .. and watching some comedy in TV I let this day come to an end. Enjoying myself, feeling myself and being happy.

bought those David Gray tickets...

2007-07-13T23:14:00.001+02:00

read about the blue ball festival yesterday by chance

Damien Rice and David Gray are playing...

Damien Rice sold out...

but still tickets left for David Gray who reminds me of ...

my time in Ireland

sitting in the car on the cliffs

looking outside onto the Irish sea and

watching the sun setting

Ordered 2 tickets... for me and ? still open. anybody interested?

Speaker List

2007-07-05T22:04:00.000+02:00

European Health & Life Science Lead and our Project Lead

Clien Partner

Global Products Lead

talking about the success of our project team, the award we won where I initiated the application and lead the applcation team.

Motivational, inspiring...

a clap on the shoulder from the Global Lead for my speech

Me speechless.

Song favorite...

2007-07-01T22:35:00.000+02:00

Last Request
by Paolo Nutini.

"Slow down, lie down
Remember it's just you and me
Don't sell out, bow out
Remember how this used to be

I just want you to know something, is that alright?
Baby let's get closer, tonight

Grant my last request and just let me hold you, don't shrug your shoulders
Lay down beside me
Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere
But one last time let's go there
Lay down beside me, ohhh... "

An awesome party weekend

2007-06-30T13:04:00.000+02:00

It was the most amazing weekend!
7 great individuals, an awesome city and loads of partying, talking and sharing.
We met in Amsterdam for the reunion of the WENA Newie faci team (from 2005).
It is amazing to see 7 out of 11 again, see how they are doing, how everybodß´s life changed and of course to party.

I did not party that much in a long time! I felt so much alive, full of live just being me and having fun.

Thanks guys for an awesome weeknd!

May in retrospect

2007-06-03T17:32:00.000+02:00

May was a quite busy month work wise. I have been twice to Mannheim to deliver a train the trainer seminar, finishing the role mapping for the two countries that go live tomorrow (!) and was interacting between the sites and the authorization team on any role changes,request etc while managing the logistics and schedule for another huge training wave in July (up to 7 training seminars in parallel...).
I was working yesterday as it is the cut-over weekend and we are all excited to have the system going live tomorrow for the first two countries.

On the another hand May was also a very pleasurable month with a lot of public holidays and some time to relax, think and discuss.
Our plants are growing except the water melon, who did not make it (RIP...).
So we are grewing now some more plants and herbs (thanks to Peter for the presents...).

June is coming up... a weekend home in Tyrol in two weeks, a weekend in Amsterdam in three for the WENA Newie faci reunion...

Also two babies are due in the next weeks with two of my friends. Quite exciting and a good reason to buy some baby presents :) Another colleague just announced that they are having baby.

On a reflection side.. I am still waiting for some more inspiration. I know that I want to set up something in the future, but in which area? Who knows.. But the desire is growing especially as I am really sick of this hours crunching at work, begging if you can leave once earlier at 5 or 6 even though you come in at 7 and did already over time... I find this sometimes so ridiculous. We are all grown-ups and can manage our work. Sometimes it seems you don´t have enough to do if you can manage in 8 hours and that this is a reason to load you with more.
I know - I should not complain - with 45 - 48 hours I am still working less than the ususl consultant and I have also picked this job. But I find that I need to be my own boss soon and decide myself how many hours I need to work to do my job and not just work more to be seen and because it is expected as you are a consultant.

Now, today I am feeling a bit like having a cold. Headache, loads of sniezing, running nose, my body is tired, although I slept 12 hours. So I am drinking loads of tea, chilling and not working a lot (although I planned to be more active today as this is my only day off in two weeks of working...).
Well all to be fit tomorrow to go to work again as another week with workshops and presentations is coming up.
So I will relax a bit more now :)

Zuwachs

2007-05-06T20:03:00.000+02:00

There are two things which Fabian and I cannot resist:

a) when we go through a kitchen department of a store we nearly never come out without buying a new cool device for our kitchen

b) when we visit a DIY store we never come home without some new plants

So welcome our new babies:

a) a water melon seedling with a big yellowish pot

b) two tomato seelings with a big orange pot

c) an eggplant seedling with a greenish pot

d) a curry herb (small tree that smells and taste like mild curry)

e) seeds for sunflowers

So today we planted all of them and decorated an ugly flower balcony tray with red foil and a nice whit bow.

We also bought two kids chairs from ikea to put the big pots on it.

Let's see if all of this grows.. ;)

Flow Moments...

2007-05-01T14:45:00.000+02:00

After looking back at what I enjoyed doing as a kid / teenager, I thought about what it is I enjoy doing now, in my job, past jobs and freetime. I try to find moments where I have a "flow" - "nach dem gelungenen Moment" (the successful moment). This flow moment is defined as a time where somebody is totally taken up with time and engages in an activitry which challenges him/her enough to need full concentration and attention. The person is totally in agreement with his skills that a feeling of deep satisfaction is evoked.

So... let´s have a try on this. My flow moments in the past / now:

When I was sittting in "my" LC Office - the feeling of of this is mine and I can work with it change something

Working with people who stimulate your thoughts and challenge you

Being a trainer / presenting something in front of an audience

"Eine Sache im Griff haben" - to have control over something / know how to do it etc

To multitask

To put my own ideas into practice

To create sth, to find out,to fiddle about, to puzzle

To work on sth on my own, create my own concept ad then go through it with someone else

Seeing that things are running

To organise, plan, structure

To care about sth (flowers, people having enough to eat..)

To make sth more beautiful /comfi (e.g. a flat, office...)

To proove myself and get praise for it

To realize that I have influence on somebody / something in a positive sense and to see how a thing / piece of work or person develops / grows

Small chunks of work, not hour long pieces or days to work on the same thing

To see something evolve

To take conscious time for myself - ME TIME

Cooking

Loads of things.... I guess.

The missing step is now to think about where I see myself in the future.. what are my dreams etc.
To make this easier, I bought myself a pinboard which will be my "Vision Board". This is a board where I can put up texts, articles, pictures etc which express my dreams and future.

Interesting to see what will hang up there in a few weeks :)

The art to find your calling

2007-04-15T21:08:00.000+02:00

Since a short while an inner uncalmness forced me back to self-reflection and more thinking on my future and what it is that I am passionate about. I always felt a certain jealousy when I heard people talking about their passions and about the moment when they knew what they want to do in life... stories like... I was sitting on a hill in South Africa and I knew I want to found a university once.
I never had a moment like this, I am interested into a very broad range of things and topics and there is not one thing as far I can tell that I am extremley passionate about. Something I know this is it what I want to spend my life on.

So back in self-reflection mood I was spending 2 hours in a bookshop looking for food for thought. One of the books I bought - and which I already read - is called "Die Kunst seine Berufung zu finden" by Petra Bock (The art to find your callin). The book is written by a woman who had a successful career in business, but always felt that business is not the only thing she wanted to spend her life with. The book goes through history and describes how since a long time people try to find out what their calling is and also gives guidance on how to work on it yourself.

The approach she promotes is to first think back to your children days and to the activities you liked back then. Then to think about the now and about the activities / topics you enjoy. You should combine this with what your dreams for your future and then go through a time of "incubation" where you free your mind and through intuition and inspiration the calling will (slower or faster) come to you. The book then goes into detail about the phases after the initial calling - trial and error, planning, fears and inner criticism and how to make your calling a reality.

I started with the first step and wrote on a piece of paper all the activities I enjoyed while I was a kid / teenager. Here it comes:

doing puzzles
drawing and painting
baking cakes and especially cookies
crochet (häkeln)
playing theatre ( I was part of a group and also did performances)
fotography (I had a special camara with filters etc..)
music ( I played the piano and also took part in jazz workshops, been to a record studio etc)
writing poems and short stories (published in newspapers) and also I was chief editor of the graduation newspaper of my graduation year
horse riding
reading books - favorite ones where rather philisophical ones
playing chess ( I was Tyrolan chess champion)

So looking back I was rather on the creative / arts side doing all kind of activities; mostly it was about creating something new but within certain boundaries e.g. I was not so good a free drawing but rather at copyng something (nature, a person, another picture..) Sometimes I wonder where this side of me has gone? I am doing nothing of these things at the moment? Why? Did priorities simply shift? Do I just not take time? Is this just a part of my past, a different chapter of my life that is closed?

Do I miss it? I don´t know...

Then I also sometimes think about what are my dreams? I admire people with dreams and often think I have lost my capability to dream? I don´t normally say... my dream is... I rather sometimes see pictures... mainly two picutres.

the first is about me on the front page of a magazine with the title under my fotossaying "young entrepreneur of the year". the second is me standing on a window looking outside into a beautiful garden with a baby in my arms.

Dreams? Just some pictures in my head? How do they link to what I used to spend my time on in kid´s days?

Open questions..

Birthday Celebrations...

2007-04-01T23:18:00.000+02:00

So, I turned 26. A weird age in a way, more than 25 but still (luckily) far away from the magic 30.

I celebrated more than I did last year. Birthday celebrations started last Saturday. We had 10 friends over at our flat for some food and drinks. Thank you all for coming, the really sweet presents, the excellent home made Schwarzwälderkirschtorte and the really great evening!

I then continued on Monday. I stayed in Basel and went out for Dinner with my team from work. Great time as well! Wednesday I went out with a few other work colleagues and my former boss from the project. Excellent dinner at restaurant La Salle in Schiffsbau in Zurich.

Then Thursday, Fabian and I celebrated! Sushi, some champagne....

And then we spent the last weekend in Bregenz and went to see a ballet at the Bregenzer Frühling with my whole family and Fabian's parents and grannie. Birthday celebrations with my family and twin sister...

Now back in Zurich. Looking forward to a whole week off work.

Enjoying. Relaxing. Recharging my batteries.

120...

2007-03-11T17:00:00.000+01:00

Golf balls, which I was playing today at the driving range.

Two hours in the sun, me, myself and the golf clubs.

It went surprisingly well.

My goal:

finally to do the practical golf exam this spring so I can go an play on the course.

How to reach it:

Practicing, Practicing, Practicing

So if you wonder where you can find me on the next weekends. At the driving range.... yes!

Next Generation

2007-03-11T16:48:00.000+01:00

Coming home from an evening in St. Gallen at Peter's around midnight I was crossing the hall of the main station in Zurich. I have to say I was shocked. Loads of teenagers are hanging around there, most of them looking like 13/14. The majority drunk or drinking, sitting on the floor in the train station or standing around in groups. Shouting, torkeling around...

Is there no better Saturday Evening entertainment than this for teenagers today?
Is getting drunk in a group, shouting and destroying things so great?
Do their parents know where they are at midnight and what their Saturday evening look like?
Do their parents care at all?

Is this the influence of a big city or is the same happening in the villages?

It is not that I never was going out to get drunk in my teenage years. But it was not that excessive and did not have the violent flavor than these scenes at the main station.

This is our next generation. Worrying...