A coffee habit

As said earlier, I have been traveling quite a bit this year and ever since I discovered my passion for coffee places, the first thing I would do when I got into a new city, was to roam for a nice coffee place I could do my work in.

So in my opinion a nice coffee place has to have at least the following characteristics:

-       Good coffee
-       Free Wi-fi
-       Plugs (!)
-       Capacious tables with an appropriate height to work on
-       Big windows for natural light + lamps for the evening
-       Character.

Screw all Starbucks Cafés – they suck.
Always filled with tourists, same NOT-cozy style everywhere and the coffee is not exceptionally great – in brief Starbucks does not have character.
Starbucks is like McDonald’s. It’s a chain, it’s convenient as you already know their stuff by heart and they are everywhere – but would you ever choose McDonald’s over a nice tasty restaurant if you had the choice?!
In most times you would not (except after partying I suppose). The same with Starbucks. At least for me I only choose Starbucks, if I really do not have better options, but individual coffee shops have grown like mushrooms these years, so I always end up going to a passionate coffee place
–and I am happy :)

So maybe if anyone is going to travel to any of these cities, this list of really awesome nice coffee shops, which fulfill all (or almost all) points above, might help:

Munich:
- Batty Baristas:

Just next to the Technical University of Munich, this was my favorite place to work and hang around back in the days, as it was so close to my university. Especially on sunny days, I can definitely recommend to go there at around 3pm – that’s when the sun shines directly into the coffee shop and when it’s the nicest to sit outside :). Their coffee is good and the atmosphere is cozy although I don't think the interior is that spectacular.

Berlin:
- Buchkantine:

In a quiet but very nice neighborhood in Moabit, Berlin, directly next to the Spree River, this coffee place is integrated in a bookstore, which makes it the perfect place for book and coffee lovers. They also have a terrace, which is nice to sit at during the summer time

-St. Oberholz:

This coffee place is very stylish and is the home of many freelancers and Mac lovers. When you step in, you have the feeling that you are in some high-tech world. You will meet blue-light reflecting "aliens" wearing big headphones, staring back from behind their big laptop screens...This coffee place has everything anyone can dream of of a perfect coffee work place - given that you like the "berlin style" of it and that at peak times you have to share your broad band with tons of other people.

Berlin is a great coffee city - they have a million other cool cafes! Check them out!

Paris:
- Malongo

If you want to taste a great coffee and do not want to feel like being in a parisien brasserie, Malongo is the place to be. The interior has a touch of South America and they sell their South American(?) coffee in the café as well. It is great to enjoy a sunny afternoon in Paris - that's when Malongo is bathed in golden sunlight...

Beijing:
- Sculping in Time Coffee

Copied or not, this time the Chinese did a very excellent work of establishing this coffee chain business. Each Scultping in Time Coffee in Beijing has a different interior but all of them are decorated with taste and love. And as Chinese people are indeed hardworking people, there is really no deficits to be observed. They have plugs, wifis, capacious tables, good coffee, good light and nice ambiance (okay maybe the coffee price was European standard, but that should not count!)

Geneva: 
- Boreal

By far one of the best coffee places I have been so far. Everything was done correctly here. Very good coffee, large tables, wifi, plugs, good lighting conditions. If only they didn't close this early (7pm!) - but this is a typical Suisse thing I guess. Definitely a super super cool place to be creative!

New York:
Sooooo, Big Apple. Unfortunately the Upper West Side does not offer much of really good coffee places and I have not made it to Brooklyn yet to really explore the coffee shop landscape over there, but at least I found a pastry/coffee place on the Upper West Side which is still a nice place to chill. Its called the "Hungarian Pastry Shop". Beside nice pastry and decent coffee, there are so many authors, writers, journalists who enjoy their creative moment there. So this place is pretty nice for people observing :)
They dont have plugs, nor Wifi (which is rare here in NY!) and they do not offer much light - but definitely a nice place to brainstorm and be all creative!

Unfortunately I have not had enough time to find a great coffee place in London (if someone knows of a good one feel free to tell me!), I forgot the name of the nice coffee place in Singapore. 
Bali, Torino, Frankfurt, Shanghai and other cities weren't that interesting coffee place wise (mostly only the starbucks experience...

Some pics of today in the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York...

Columbia Business School

As several people asked me how I was doing and how it is in New York, I thought I'd give some insights on some topics starting with this one:

Columbia Business School: (not actually this building)

Now I really understand why people pay a fortune to go back to school for an MBA. 

It is definitely for networking purposes and honestly the people at the Business School are great!

They are open-minded, come from various backgrounds and are very easy-going. They proof that the "student syndrome" does earn its name... people do the minimum amount of work at the latest point of time possible to hold the deadline and to maximize fun and social networking - awesome strategy! Every Thursday they have the MBA Happy Hour which is comparable to the HEC Paris POW (Party Of the Week) - although to a certain degree it might be a bit more sophisticated as they also serve free food....

Many people in Columbia Business School have a Finance and/or Consulting background, but compared to the German Business students a.k.a. "BWL"er, I do not think they are snobby, arrogant or overly competitive at all and that is what I like about the atmosphere here so far. I mean, of course they are ambitious, have high expectations and are perfectionists, but this actually creates a very positive effect why people feel motivated to be a part of.

Taught using case studies, my MBA courses so far have been interesting. For instance, in one of my classes we talked about a Happines Study, in which the professor conducted a huge survey in various countries to assess diverse factors (e.g. believe in god, having kids, employment, mariage, money) and their influence on our happiness. Apparently, we are the unhappiest between the age of 24-65, this might have something to do with the fact that people normally work during this life period. Having listened to this, it just strengthens my decision to NOT work for a company haha.

Unfortunately, I must admit that overall I have been a bad student so far. I just cannot leave my laptop in my bag and pay attention to someone talking in front of me. Not even the Harvard Professor on Social Organizations was able to catch my attention entirely... I just realize that maybe listening to someone for two hours is just not my cup of tea...

Oh yeah one observation I made during class which I would like to share:

So during the class where we were talking about the happiness study, the professor explicitly asked us to shut down all laptops (oh my...), so we all (kind of) ended up paying attention. At some point my neighbor slipped a little note to me and we kind of started talking using paper and pen, and the neighbors on my other side were playing hangman - wow that definitely brought me back to highschool memories and I had to smile because I was sitting in a class with top-class invest bankers from Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Goldman and consultants from McKinsey and BCG but I suppose in the end we are all but humans and enjoy some little paper mailing and hangman games :)

New York

In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
these streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
lets here it for New York, New York, New York

Only Day 5, but the city already feels close. 

In fact, after spending time in Berlin, Shanghai, Munich, London, Paris, Singapore and other bigger cities, the change and acclimatization to New York was not hard at all. Especially, as I have friends who live and work here, it gives a very familiar touch to the city - I feel good in New York! :)

Though, one remarkable distinction between New York City and any other metropolis is that New York operates on a totally different scale and magnitude. New York's streets are 5 times broader, the buildings 5 times higher, the lights 5 times brighter and the people's background 5 times more diverse and different... this is incredulous and I feel a certain feeling of timidness in this gigantic city, I have not felt in all the other cities - although they are big and vivid as well!!!

 

*

5 days ago...

When our plane took off the ground in Munich five days ago and while we were rising into the sky, I felt overwhelmed by emotions. In that instant I had the epiphany that I was about to realize one big dream I have worked hard and long for. 

Not the fact that I was going to one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. was paralyzing but the certitude that I was apparently able to reach whatever I had set into my mind was sensational and conjured a big big smile on to my face while some tear drops ran down my face :D

- Honestly, I think everyone can do and reach things they thought were impossible to get, if they really truly believe in it and in themselves...

In front of Columbia University

Some impressions of the night out with the girls from my Paris exchange semester :) It was great to see you all! I had a fun time!

Genève

One week in Geneva, time for a review i guess? ;-)

After finishing my studies in Berlin last week, I started my internship at P&G in Geneva last Monday.

The internship is AWESOME.
Oh my god, this is the first time I am actually saying this to a company.

This is the first time I feel passionate and enthusiastic with the work I am assigned to as I am responsible for more strategic things and can actually be creative and use some Design Thinking Approaches! Currently, I am doing some consumer research and they even encourage me to go out and experience –

„this is the best research – neither the Internet nor any presentations will have the answer to your questions“

They have a very open and innovative culture in the company.
The first day I wore a suit and met my (French!) boss who greeted me in an Abercrombie and Fitch Shirt and Converse Chucks – Yes, you can imagine, this was definately weird!

And: I have never seen sooooo many women working in one place. The ratio is 55% to 45% ( I suppose I was under too much consulting and IT influence over the last years...) and geee what kind of women they are: sophisticated, emancipated and elegant – and most of them are the heads of the departments. Wow. And how they are dressed up. Sometimes I feel like being in Sex and The City.


Working hours are not bad either, you will hardly find someone sitting at their table after 18h. And for the first time I can occupy myself with the work for the whole day (not like other jobs where I would sit at my desk for hours’ sake). I even developed the habit to say „we“ instead of „P&G and I“. They really got me, huh? :)


Some words about Geneva:


powered by flickr



Geneva is pretty (my pictures will follow soon!). It is calm indeed, but the lake and the mountains are breathtaking. The architecture reminds me a bit of Paris but you would always know that you are NOT in France- maybe it is due to the many watch shops and Suisse flags hanging around everywhere.




I did a bike tour at the lake and I have already found my favorite coffee house in Geneva. Of course this is the most important thing to me haha – for everyone who knows me.


http://www.borealcoffee.ch/

So guys, please come and visit me in Geneva - if you like nature, you will love Geneva :)

The joy of every moment

It was a sunny, but chilly day which was nonetheless appropriate for this time of the year. End of February – the end of winter.

My best friend and I sat in a lovely and cozy café. It was afternoon and he had come by after school. We were talking about his upcoming birthday and as usual with every new year in sight we habitually talked about the past and the things we had experienced and achieved so far.

We remarked that we had already known each other for 12 (!) years and that we had been friends ever since, although both of us had been really busy, hardly seeing each other. – wow what a lifelong friendship!, we thought.

As the pleasurable afternoon went on, we agreed to a pact: in 10 years –no matter where we both ended up – we would come back right to this specific café (given that the café would not have been closed down by then ;-) ), getting a nice cappuchino and chatting about our wonderful lives, we would have established by then. How we would currently live somewhere in South of France or Italy, happy, relaxed and seeing our dreams fulfilled.

This was five years ago.
He was about to celebrate his 18th birthday and we were both studying for the A-Level at that time.

Surprising, how fast time passes by, right?

According to our pact we have to come back to this café, back to our home town in only another five years. 10 years sounded sooooo long and now it is only in a wink of an eye that we will come back to this place again.
– Will we have already accomplished our dreams and wishes, we have once craved for in a small café in a little town somewhere in Germany?

Life is very fast-pacing.

A lot of things have changed since this encounter, we have commenced college life, we have spent time in Paris, Shanghai and Chile, we have met new interesting people and we have found new places we call our home now, - yet nothing has really changed.

We are still the same persons with the same dreams – some already fulfilled, some still for us to grasp for. Our reunion seemed like yesterday...

It is surprising how we do not perceive how fast time moves forward and before we realize this, time has already passed by...

The other day I had the shocking epiphany that my university time is soon coming to an end as well. A whole chapter of my life is ending..., I thought alarmingly.

To prevent this from happening too early, I decided to extend my studies another semester, as I really began to comprehend that I would never have this precious time as a student again.

One has to profit from the moment.

This year has been one of the most fast-pacing years in my life. I spent more time abroad than in Germany.

At the beginning of 2010 I completed the first half of my course "Design Thinking" at the Hasso-Plattner Institute near Berlin while commuting to Munich once a while. From March until Mai 2010 I was in Shanghai to work for a small start-up company. Now from June until July I will finish the second half of the "Design Thinking" course, only to find myself in Geneva from July until October 2010.
And from November 2010 onwards, I will be in New York...

Everything just goes by so fast!

I enjoy every moment I have, for I have realized that due to my very short stays at these various locations, I can only really profit from the stays if I fully plunge into my environment.



We need to live in the present from time to time, neither in the future by planning what we will do later, nor in the past by reminiscing over things we cannot change anymore.

Sometimes we need to forget what has happened and also what is waiting for us.
Sometimes we need to capture the time of the moment and consciously appreciate what we do in that very instance.

One has to profit from every moment.

Reminiscence

My time in Shanghai is over now. The time here felt short and yet at the same time really long as I have experienced many good and some bad things during my stay.

It is a mixed feeling to have left.

On one hand I am really glad to have stopped working. After a while, work just became a real pain in the ass, because we stayed in the office until very late.

– I realized that I did not get a real chance to actually live and experience Shanghai. If someone had come to visit me, I would have still needed to consult my good friend Google for good restaurants, clubs and cafés. I would have not been able to show around my favorite spots due to the lack of time to go out and find out cool places and eventually be able to call them my „favorites“.

The second thing I realized is that to me working in a start-up company is almost the same as working for a big company. I came to Shanghai with the expectation that after having worked for so many big companies, working in a start-up company would give me a more pleasing ambiance, more freedom and more responsibility.
In a certain way these points were given but nevertheless I have to admit that I just dislike to work for other people. Money is no real incentive for me to work either. Only if the work is a challenge, only if I can learn something for myself, improve myself in a way, I can align my inner motivation to the work.
In the end, I conclude that only starting an own company makes sense to me, as it is clear that only when you start your own thing, your heart and passion will be truly attached to it.

Besides this, Shanghai was really awesome and I am sad that I had to leave behind my family and friends.

Being in Asia is like being in a totally different world.

It is hard to imagine that a completely different life existed before my stay in Asia and will continue when I return.
I cannot express how influential it was to have met all these people during my stay.
To listen to their life stories, to share thoughts and perceptions. To see how they live, to hear what they want to do in the future, to understand their worries and to appreciate their dreams.
- It makes you reflect over your own life and rethink certain aspects of it.

During my time in Asia, I also visited old friends and I discovered something very important:

It is nice to discover that after all the time of not seeing each other, after all the experiences made, which shaped our lives in different ways, the old relationships have not changed at all.

This proves that my theory of getting to know the inner core is right (@t ):

If you succeed to penetrate to the inner core of a person, while getting to know him and appreciate what you see, if the other person succeeds in doing so as well, then you will always be able to establish the same good relationship.

The inner core of a person is one's basic character, meaning the way you are, when you were a kid, - the phase of life where you are not consciously able to disguise yourself, which as a adult, we master skillfully for reasons which only adults have, like protecting or shielding ourselves from bad things, fitting into social groups or attaining a certain goal.

The basic set of characeristics of a person never changes, - as you cannot change your genes, or the background you come from. So if you manage to establish a relationship upon this with someone, you will always get along with this person no matter what you both experience in life or kind of lifestyle you adapt over time.
In the end you will always find yourselves again - since the underlying fundament will not have changed.

People sometimes call this „soul mates“, I call them real friends.
– friends, that no matter how far you are apart from them, they will still know you and appreciate the way you are. Friends, you can always count on, friends who always see you, and only you, not a fascade, you established for the general public.

Discovering that nothing has changed, while everyhing has changed at the same time, gives me a feeling of freedom and joy. (@jsr: ;-) )

It is nice to see that meeting my old friends back in Asia after such a long time felt like as if we were apart for only a day or two.

Although contacts are not always maintained, although we live in different societies and although live goes on, I know that after only a short time it will be possible to recognize these friends again and to get along with them the same way like before...

and this discovery is very precious to me as it makes me understand that wherever those persons are, - who know me so well and who I know so well-, in whichever city or country they live...

...when I travel and visit them, I will always be home in the world.

Singapore - a clash of worlds

"So how?“
This was the first Singlish I learned from my Singaporean friend back in Paris. It means something like „So what are we going to do now?“ and she would use it in every fifth sentence – no im just kidding ;)

If you look up „Singlish“ on wikipedia, you will find even more „Singlish“ expressions like:
„Can lah“ – it can be done,
„Gimme can?“ - Can you please give that to me?
„The ticket seriously ex leh.“ – Argh, The tickets are really expensive.
"How come lidat one, arh? "– Why is it like that? / Why are you like that?

funny huh? ;)

Its Singlish (a combination of the words Singaporean/English) already reflects the many cultures that come together in Singapore and that have shaped this city significantly. Singlish is a mixture of English combined with elements and grammar structures from the Chinese, Malay and Indian languages. In public you will always find signs written in English, Chinese, Malay and Sanskrit and as the different languages exist next to each other so do the corresponding cultures as well.

A street sign in the four languages used in Singapore


What does this mean for every day life?

In Singapore you can find a Chinatown, a place called „Little India“ as well as a street called „Arab Street“ proving that Singapore is not only a multicultural city, but also permits its citizens to keep following their own traditions, food and especially their religion. This was one of the most striking thing in Singapore.

I went to China Town the other day and I could not believe my eyes when I was on a street where there was a Chinese Buddhism Temple some meters next to a Hindu Temple which again was next to a Islamic Mosque (only the Catholic Church was missing on the street :-)) in Chinatown.

Chinatown: modern building next to Chinese Temple, next to Hindu Temple, next to a Mosque on ONE street


I am impressed how the various religions can peacefully exist next to each other without any fight or dispute. How people live together on this tiny island, being tolerant and respectful to the person next to them. In fact, Singapore celebrates the most important holidays of all religions, so there is Christmas, Chinese New Year, the Buddhist holiday Vesak Day, the Muslim holiday Hari Raya Puasa and the Hindu holiday Deepavali.

Singapore is truly a multi-facetted city.

Welcome to a very modern and fast-pacing, high-tech metropolis with one mall next to the next mall in Orchard Road. You totally forget that you are in South of Asia.
How modern Singapore is? One example: They do have rain and day in Singapore, but you can go out and experience neither of those two things.

How so?

Everywhere there are tunnels, pathways with rooftops, even the malls have up to 4 stories underneath the earth, so it is easy to spend the entire day either underground or under rooftops. The question remaining is: do people like this artificial world?

But step out of Orchard Road and you will find yourself in - lets say Little India or Chinatown, which gives you the impression to be somewhere in India or China due to the many local people, the respective language as well as traditions around you. And then you remember that you are still in an Asian country
–but this is just so hard to believe at times.

Singapore sometimes reminds me of the United States...

It has residential areas which are connected by big avenues. People normally drive or at least use the public transportation. You will rarely find someone actually walking somewhere. In fact, I wanted to walk from city hall to a touristic spot at the bay, which was five minutes away. I asked a local girl in a coffee shop, if she knew how to walk to this spot. The first five seconds, she looked at me in disbelief

– Walk?! Is that even possible?!

She looked at me as if I was crazy. How can someone possibly consider walking through this kind of weather (33°C, sunny)?! Then she started to shake her head. She advised me to use the metro – the spot was toooo far away to walk (5minutes!) and besides she did not know the way.
In addition there are other details that reminded me of the US. For example, Singaporeans also have someone packing your stuff into bags in a grocery store (they do not do that in Germany at all!), or their traffics signs are also painted green, the gas is cheap, they have all the newest US TV shows including American Idol ;-) , the newest movies, the latest Club music Ne-Yo, Taylor Swift etc., my friend even had Skippy Peanut Butter and Hershey Chocolate at home – duuuuuude seeing all those things just lets you think you are somewhere in the US -with the only difference that you have black-haired people around you ;)

And on the other hand Singapore is also very British. I keep forgetting to look into the right direction since Singaporeans drive on the left side and they have a lot of British clothing stores.
Singapore is a very efficient and comfortable country ;)

Why opening the window of your car to get the ticket from the car parking lot machine, if you can just have a device attached on your front window which automatically charges the parking fee.
Why climbing stairs to get onto a bridge that connects two sides of a road, if you can just have an escalator getting you up to the bridge (sweating in this hot weather would be deadly...). SMU – one of their business schools even has escalators (and entrance gates like you find at metro stations oO) as well for its students. Wow.

...and then Singapore is very Asian at the same time.

In their hearts, Singaporeans remain Asians. They love good Asian food (and me too btw!;) ). They even come all the way to the Red District Area in order to have a tasty meal (supposedly it is one of the best places to eat good Asian food). Singaporean food consists of Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and Indian food. I think I have never eaten this much curry in one week – but it was very very good and really cheap!


Geylong Red Light District


Furthermoree, Singaporeans also want to be white and not tanned like a lot of people in Asia. They use whitening cream and have their sun-blocking umbrellas with them (they are tanned nevertheless!). And although eating is one of the preferred activities in Singapore, Singaporeans still manage to stay skinny and petite like most of the people in other Asian countries.

The thing that impressed me the most during my stay, was Singaporeans government (or Singlish: Gahmen).

The one-party government regulates a big part of every day life in Singapore. If expressed negatively this reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 with it’s harsh regulations, fines and control system. If expressed positively the Singaporean government takes it very seriously to care for its citizens, always trying to protect its people and to make a fair and secure life possible.
In any case, I suppose it is only possible to have this kind of system as Singapore is fairly small and has only 4,1 Million inhabitants.

Singapore is known for being a „fine“ city.

It is known to most of us that you cannot purchase chewing gums in Singapore (and to my inconvenience!!) and that you have to pay a „fine“ fine, if you litter. Well, here are some other rules which I find very amusing :-) :

I was wondering why I would not get bidden by mosquitos, especially in the tropics they naturally come to me as I have really sweet blood (no kidding ;)!). Well, the government also has a fine for that. Singaporeans may not have water puddles in the backyard or else they get fined for breeding mosquitos. The goverment even has people controlling houses and backyards from time to time. Funny, huh? But it is very effective at the time and I am thankful for this fine!

Another thing the government does and which I find interesting is that they encourage events where medicine students and law students are involved together and can meet each other.

Why?

Well the idea behind it is sort of letting smart people meet other smart people (that is the underlying presumption that medicine and law students are smart ;-) ) in order for them to get together and make smart Singaporean babys. Crazy huh? But in a way effective as well.

Some other government influenced impressions: Singapore has buildt a big casino over the time (and is currently building another one!). For foreigners it is free to enter, for Singaporeans: 100 Sing $. Well, locals should be protected from any gambling because it is baaaaaaad!

I wanted to make a poppy cake as a farewell gift for my friend. Poppy for all the Germans: it means Mohn, for every other person: it is a flower or seed, out of which you can make Marihuana. Of course I could not find it anywhere to buy :)

Besides these impressions, I also experienced a very individual Singapore, I really fell in love with.

My good friend took me to this Café, where they had jars decorating the ceiling. She told me that they bought these tomato sauce jars to make Spaghetti Napoli which they gave to poor children for free. Nice, huh? They also had other nice details in their store like messages from the Bible or a photo competition where they emphasized on environment issues/topics.





Another individual place my friend recommended to me was this bookstore which really was made out of love for details. See the pics for it!




Back in Paris I would make fun of my friend that she is from this boring little island – who wants to be here? (Of course I did not mean it seriously!)
But actually coming here has opened my eyes and gave me a whole different perspective on Singapore. I am still very impressed how it is possible to fit this much diversity into one small island. It is a very modern city but at the same time it succeeds to guard the respective traditions and cultures and to evenly pay attention to all of them.

I can see myself live and work here for 1 or 2 years, although I would not stay here for my life.
Unfortunately this island is nonetheless a bit too small for me ;-)

One last thought:

I suppose that a main reason for the strong Western influence in Singapore –besides its history with Britain, is English, which permits to communicate and connect to the rest of the world. That is the reason, why companies can easily come and settle down here without a language barrier.

In a way Singapore has proved to me how important it is to master in languages and the question I posed myself was:

If you learn a language, are you influenced by the country’s culture and tradition at the same time?

– Yes.

After this long entry I would like to thank Nic for this amazing trip –we have been through soo much –the good and the bad times.haha.
It was a wonderful time staying with you and your family.

I hope that I can welcome you in Germany soon!

Le rêve de mon coeur

incredible...

the sun is burning on your skin and the air is filled with salty water. Your eyes are fixed upon the board while your whole body is under tension...

only some seconds left...

you can hear the rush of the waves behind you coming closer... your heart starts to beat faster and you attempt to concentrate and to only focus on the board underneath you...

you can do it...

it is the quiet before the storm...

another breath...another heartbeat ... and then you accelerate...

NOW...

with one strong movement you push yourself up into the air, your feet finding the right balance on the board, the wind striking your cheeks, your body loosening up, your heart filling up with joy and happiness....

and just like that you succeeded to ride the wave....

this is freedom.
this is love.

this is life.

What would you have done?

Yesterday I was shocked to see that people do not stand up for others.

I was in the metro train heading to People's Square. We were standing in one station and the doors were already closing. Suddenly people in the metro train would stare outside of the windows.

What was going on?

Then I saw:
A man, maybe 40 years old had fallen to the ground straight with his chin onto the pavement. His glasses were screwed and his arms were at his sides. His whole body was shaking and really I suppose everyone around him thought he was going to die.
What really shocked me, was that all the people around him ignored him. They passed around him in a well defined circle, not even giving him a glance.
Others were merely standing (in a good distance away from him) and starring at him. But noone, not a single person came to him and helped him, noone called an ambulance. - it was none of their business.
They were probably afraid of him. Maybe he was sick and they could maybe infect themselves by touching him?

After a while he stopped shaking and stood up, still dizzy. He took his glasses, realized that they were twisted and... our train began to move.

I do not know what happened to the man after we left the station, but I felt infuriated to see that noone considered to help.
The people standing around him, were watching and waiting for the next thing that would happen to him. Will he be alright? Will he black out? Will he die? Why is he shaking? What kind of illnes does he have? Is it a heart attack? Can I get infected? Shall I help? Why should I help?

I can understand their worries. It is always a question of being selfish and being altruistic.

Every day we make the decision and choose one or the other side.

Especially in China this question is very prominent. There are sooooo many people in China, if you are not selfish how can you survive? What does it give you back if you are altruistic here? With its politic system, is it only possible to think for yourself in order to really exist?

What would you have done?

An honest post.

I feel bad for not having posted for so long.
These weeks have been pretty intense and I lived at the verge of life...

But the most important insight so far has been:

In Shanghai I am finding myself again.
Every day I meet someone and I talk to him about life, love and his view on the world. It surprises me how differently people can think about things and this helps me to reflect over my own principles and my perception of the world.

Here in Shanghai I get encouraged to pursue the things I truly love, and that those things do have a value. Before, I got convinced that drawing, painting, playing music and writing were not worth much.
It did not mean anything to the world I lived in. It did not get appreciated by the ones I loved. Instead other things like certain internships got highly valued and I was respected for these achievements, although their true inner value is only marginal to me and I am accepted and respected for the wrong reasons. I want to be respected for the talents I have and for the person I am and not for performing well in certain areas.

I think in our modern world with a redundant flow of information, we sometimes lose focus on the things we truly want, and pursue the goals which are generated by society. It becomes much harder to stay the person one is and not to try to be someone else.

Il faut toujours écouter de ce que le coeur dit...

Here in Shanghai I finally have the epiphany that some things of my past need to change and I am doing my best to do so.

Tu erst das Notwendige, dann das Mögliche und plötzlich schaffst du das Unmögliche

P.S.
I went to the wedding of my cousin (I've never met him before), here are some impressions.