Cape Town - Boo Kaap

Bo-Kaap

Awakening to the sound of the mujadin a beautiful and sunny day began. After another  hour or two of sleep and a great breakfast the Bo-Kaap Museum and an authentic Bo-Kaap cooking class were the activities of the day. Bo-Kaap is one of the many quarters of Cape Town. Cape Town was established by the Portuguese as a replenishment station for their ship sailing from Europe to Asia and back. Lacking skilled workers the Portuguese imported slaves from South East Asia. Bo-Kaap is the former and still current home of this diverse in large part Muslim community. After an initial visit at the Museum we joined a tour through the colorful quarter listening to stories from the Bo-Kaap and learning about its history, which is very much intertwined with racism and the latest recovery from the Apartheid system.    

At the end of the tour we went on to a cooking class – Curry Chicken Masala – More on the cooking class soon in a separate blog when I have better internet connectivity

Cape Town - Arrival

UpperBloem Guesthouse is a beautiful place to rest after a long night flying. It is beautifully located in the hills above Bo-Kaap. Here we spent the first day, resting and than exploring the city, walking along the waterfront and water promenade to the South.
More to come soon

Day +5

Jumping off into a mini retirement (to avoid saying unemployment) gets you actually pretty busy.

Packing up and leaving a country is one thing - actually arriving in your old,old place and establishing yourself another, even so only temporarily is a complete other thing.
Some of my first steps were going from office to office,

In the order in which I tackled these tasks:
- setting up new phone and internet access.
- registering for unemployment,
- checking for health insurance,
- arranging bank affairs and freeing money to be able to live during this mini retirement.

Phone Adventures
Getting a SIM card was easy and $50 later together with the USB Stick Internet Modem I was on my own again. Setting up your phone isn't that easy when you have an AT&T I-phone. Actually nearly impossible -
first I unfortunately had updated my i-phone to the latest software 4.1 and thus this task has become much more difficult. Still need to Jailbreak the phone - but this may become a blog on its own.
Just to mention that the USB Stick Internet forced me to Reboot my new netbook from disc and reinstall the OS. - looks like its working now decently.

Unemployment
This was a small task and didn't cost much time as I wasn't much interested in the monetary benefits as I knew that I wouldn't get any anyway. I therefore set-up an appointment with one of the advisers for sometime in December to hear about workshops and job training possibilities they may offer.

Health Insurance
Lots of paperwork to document my time away from home is necessary to get back into the German Health Care System. Though worthwhile, as much cheaper than what I may have to pay in the US.

Banking
Well everything costs money and I am lucky that over the years I set aside a few cents for such a situation. While I regularly paid I figured out that the investment fond I used didn't provide me with much benefit. I not even get back what I paid, still I not have to sit at the street corner and beg.

So having accomplished most of these things, I am happy and relaxed.

Everything is good.
Especially the food. Good German Cuisine - Herzhafte Schmanckerls and lots of goodies cooked by Mum.

Trust all of you are well and I will report shortly again from more southern latitudes.
Off to South Africa on Monday.

0 - Flying the friendly skies

The day finally arrived. As yesterday was my last day of employment I have to leave today.
The involuntary end of my employment is likely the best thing which ever happened to me. The end of my employment and circumstances of the termination have forced me to review carefully my life. Take up the opportunities every change brings and leap of into my new life.
Today I am very very grateful

Off to my new adventures
Love you all

2-1-0

I spent the past days organizing and packing up. The count as off today 25 boxes with a total weight of about 900 lbs.
One day to go

Good Memories of a Trip to Vancouver

I recently did a trip to Vancouver visiting my girlfriend and trekking to Elfin Lake.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0

The last day in my Alameda office.
putting on the finishing touches on my Solidworks Model for the Porewater Profiler
surfacing the workbenches for the workshop container and getting all other small bits and pieces together, aside from emptying my desk.














The work benches dry ing in the sun














The counter and the cabinets on which the two bench tops will be mounted. On top of them a mill and lathe will be installed.












One of the three components of the Unisense Porewater Profiler

12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 adventures

Despite certain circumstances I had a beautiful summer and enjoyed every single Nano second of it.
High lights were
a conference in Oslo
a work trip to Cape Cod
lots of hiking in the SF Bay area,
A ten day backpacking trip in the Sierra's,
Burning Man
more hiking and a backing trip to Point Reyes,
backpacking to Elfin Lake British Columbia
and a Zombie Party in Kenosha

Now I am counting down the days until the end of my workdays at NIU and looking forward to exciting times ahead.

I will update these pages on a regular basis as I will start my travels and upcoming adventures.
Start of this trip of a lifetime is Nov 1

To entice you I will say this much

three continents, lots of activities and lots of scenery

See you soon

Antarctica Fall 2006

ObHill
-
high above McMurdo Station
a view over the Ross Ice Shelf,
feelings as high as heavens
Jump High
Reach Far
Do Good
A Penguin trootles ahead
over the ice, apparently going nowhere
yet always making its destination.
one day in Fall of 2006 high above McMurdo Station