Steppach correspondent - latest news

Here is Julia ... my sister in Germany. It's Saturday morning and we are exchanging the latest world news ;-)

Tackling new media

I've never actually posted anything about PR and communications, the field I'm working in. I just recently started this blog, and I've been scanning the 'blogosphere' (a horrible word by the way) with bloglines.com for quite a while now. Surprisingly, I'm slowly getting into it. If you know what you are looking for, it's a great way to get information, and most importantly different points of view from so called 'citizen journalists.'

Tom Foremski (siliconvalleywatcher.com) blogged on an interesting topic recently: the future of communications and PR agencies. It confirms what we have talked about in recent weeks. It's time to think about how to tackle the bloggers, podcasters, and other new media people. Exciting times ahead :-)

Wedding Celebrations

May I introduce: Wendy and Crystal.

Wendy is my lovely friend and manager, but most importantly, she just eloped! I still remember her sending me this text message while I was waiting to get on my flight to Germany: "Brian and I eloped." And I was totally confused since I had never heard this word before, and Navin (and Martina for verification purposes) had to clarify for me what it means... anyways, Crystal is getting married in a week from now and today we had this nice little wedding celebration for them.

More pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsolomon/sets/72057594054944232/

Picture Profile

Why you have to use an actual URL to have this pic as your profile, I don't know... but I'll actually have to post it here first in order to have one. So... here I am...

Kerala

And this is where Navin is right now - one of the most beautiful places on earth. Kerala - in the South of India.



Temple close to his family's house near Nedumangad



Greenery as far as your eyes can see ...

Isn't this fucking amazing? The backwaters are a fresh water canal system along the coast of Kerala. Allaphuza is a whole city that consists of tiny strips of lands along the water. What you see here is a little church, and next to it one of the famous houseboats. You can rent one of these boats over night. They have a proper bedroom and a toilet, and you can hang out in front in a sort of 'open air living room,' and they serve you food and drinks all day long. There are a cook and two drivers on board. It's really the most romantic thing you can do - especially when you are on a honeymoon or newly in love *sigh*!

But where he's really hanging out now, with his mum, sipping chai in the morning, petting our stray dogs, and wondering whether to have beef double fry, tomato curry with chapatis or chicken curry for lunch, is here: The silk farm estate, which now is a rubber tree farm. And when you climb on top of a hill, you can see all across the beautiful rainforest. Here's a pic at sunset:

Girl's night out in the Mission

I just came back from my weekly girl's night out in the Mission. I had a Bloody Mary, red wine, and beer. Not neccessarily the best combination - but then: beer just goes so much better with Chinese food ... Since I'll be a Strohwitwe for the next four weeks, I wanted to point out how glad I am to have my friend Martina. She'd kill me if she knew that I'm posting her picture here, but then: nobody knows about this blog anyways, and it's sort of in private beta, so she can still tell me to take it off. I think that pic is great though - and not because I took it - no, just because it's real.

Oh, btw: Navin will soon start posting from his trip. I promise: it's going to be a lot more exciting than what you've read so far. And I don't mean the fact that he's reporting from more exciting places - but his writing is just amazing! :-)

Back in SFO

We are back in San Francisco, the weather is GREAT (sunny, average temperature 15C), the people laid back as always, and I just watched a Netflix movie :-)

Christmas and New Year's in Germany

This should have been posted before our Las Vegas trip ... never mind. Here are some highlights from Germany.


We spent Christmas at home and it was the first time Navin celebrated Christmas. My mum always cooks trout and potato salad. Actually, my grandma makes the potato salad, my dad has to go buy the fish, and my mum ends up preparing the trout. This time she had an assistant :-) (see above).

Then we went to Bonn, to visit Sabriye & Paul at her family's house. We had a really fun time and even called some spirits :-) ... ask me if you'd like to know more. Oh, and please visit the BrailleWithoutBorders.org link on the link list and consider a donation. Small change can make a big difference in the life of people. Oh, and if you really want to get into making a difference, check out the company I work for: Omidyar Network (omidyar.net)

On the left: Navin, Sabriye, Paul (background), Kyla and Nyima

From Bonn we flew to Berlin, where we spent New Year's. It was super cold, wet, and dark, but we had a great shopping experience and Berlin was the perfect setting for a really cool New Year's party. We went to a Venetian mask party at Berlin's famous Sage Club and hung out in some student bars. The only backdraw: If you party late in winter, and you end up sleeping in, it'll soon be dark again outside! One thing is for sure: I appreciate San Francisco even more now :-)! No, seriously, Berlin is an awesome place, and it's probably the most culturally diverse and most dynamic city in Germany. Gooooo Berlin! Go German Soccer Team :-) !!!

Red sulfur footprint in the New Year's aftermath

Weekend in Las Vegas

We just spent a weekend in Vegas. I'd never been before and it's definitely worth a visit. Nevertheless, I think 2 days are more than enough.
Highlights: Cirque du Soleil's "Zunamity" show, the Hofbraeuhaus (ha, where can you get real Bavarian Bratwurst and Wiener Schnitzel outside of Bavaria?), and a night of dancing at the club in Hotel Paris :-).


And the girl in the car just wanted to say "hi," nothing else...