Weekend in Köln

Had a great weekend with Caroline in Köln… every weekend with her is great. After a long flight from Hong Kong, I was so pleased to be in her arms again. The Saturday was spent with her girl friends as it was Katja’s Birthday. We had a really good brunch together and then went for a walk along the bank of the Rhine. I like them all very much and even though I know they are a little sad that I’m sort of taking their Caro away from them, they are very warm and caring girls. I’m looking forward to them all coming to visit us in Sweden in the summer. We had a pub evening with Katja and her friends.
I left on Monday morning to catch a train to Frankfurt and then my plane to Rome. I will be there until Thursday for another rail event. Hmmm… two weeks away from home, now my heavy case is getting boring to move around.

Hong Kong part2

It’s been an interesting and fun week in Hong Kong and a whole heap of late nights. In addition to attending the rail conference here in HK, I have a lot of work on in other parts of the world, which requires my attention despite the time difference. The conference ended at around 5 or 6 most days and after this, Olle and I generally returned to our hotel first to get some work done. I spent a few hours answering e-mails, calling the office and partners etc. Then we took a sauna up at the top of the hotel and had a few beers. There was also a small pool, but the water wasn’t warm, so we used this as a cooling down dip between the sauna and a beer. Then out to eat at restaurant and taste some more Chinese food. Back to the hotel and time for the last batch of e-mails as the rest of the world wakes up. I chat with Caroline is she’s in and a Hotmail message for her…then to bed… getting pretty tired after 4 days of this. I did manage to fit in a little additional shopping, getting some things for Caroline and a shirt, a pair of shoes and some DVD’s for me. Which trip to the East is complete without some low priced copies (sorry film industry, I just can’t resist it).
Finally its Friday and a few extra hours sleep. We catch the airport express from Central on Hong Kong Island, which goes direct to the airport. Now there’s only a 12 hour flight from HK to Frankfurt between me and my girl.

Hong Kong

This is the first of two weeks away from home. I’m in Hong Kong working all this week with some customer meetings, a rail conference and spending time with Olle, our guy based in Singapore who’s also with me here this week. Were staying on Hong Kong Island and the hotel has a good view out over the water and the Kowloon Peninsula. I like visiting Hong Kong… it has an interesting mixture of old and new and a crazy fast pace. I have just bought a small digital Camera. I’ve been meaning to do this for ages as I’ve been borrowing Emma’s for ages on trips like this… so I finally did some haggling here in HK and here are some of the results. Typical views of HK with its impressive skyline.

Sunny Weekend

Caroline’s plane landed on time on Friday evening and I was there to meet her… and waiting to see her, I was so much looking forward to seeing her smile and getting that “I need you” kiss. She had an enormous package with her… big surprise… she had the new painting with her, all wrapped in plastic.
At home we unpacked it and I’m proud to say she’s produced another great two piece painting, which is already on the wall in the living room.
We had a great weekend together and spent lots of time talking and catching up with each other after 3 weeks apart. The weather was also good, so on Saturday we went for a long walk around Djurgåden and ended with a “fika” in Rosendals Trädgård (garden).
Another first for Caroline… a Semla, which is a traditional Swedish cake with a cream and marzipan filling.
In the evening we went to cook and eat dinner together with friends Aaron and Ann. They are an American/Swedish couple I know and they have 2 very sweet children. Caro was enjoying this evening and seeing their wonderful little bilingual daughter, who’s mastered speaking English and Swedish at an early age, just like Hannah and Emma did.
Sunday was also a sunny day and we drove over to Drottningholm and walked in the gardens of the royal palace. In the afternoon we had an early dinner with Hannah and Emma, who had been away most of the weekend. As usual, we had our cosy sofa moment at the airport and we were both happy to know its only 2 weeks before we will see each other again.

Almost Friday

Now it’s almost Friday and only a short time before Caroline will be arriving. We haven’t seen each other for 3 weeks now and this is too long… I miss her loads and can’t wait to collect her from the Airport tomorrow evening. I spoke to her this evening and she’s longing too, so I’m looking forward to a cosy weekend together.

Hannah’s Birthday

Today was Hannah’s 18th Birthday. She’s already a very grownup and a very responsible girl already. Here in Sweden its very official and celebrated at 18, you can buy a drink and no doubt do all sorts of other things legally. She had a good selection of cards and e-mails and quite a sum of money, which she had been requesting to help finance her plans to take driving lesions this year. We’ve already been doing some driving in my car and she is progressing quite well. We went out to a really good Lebanese Restaurant in the evening in Stockholm, which was a big success as she’s vegetarian at the moment and we ate an enormous meza meal with 23 different small dishes.

Survived IKEA!

Hannah and I found what we wanted at IKEA, and managed to come away without spending much more than we needed. Our bag included candles, a must in Sweden; we burn them almost every evening in the winter, and a new ceiling lamp for my room. Hannah got a picture frame, candles and a wall clock. At last we seem to have found a system for going to IKEA which allows us to remain calm and collected and exit within an hour!

Saturday morning

Hannah and Emma came home from their skiing trip on Thursday and seemed to have had a really good time. Hannah’s knee (she had an operation on it last year) had held up and she was able to ski all week. Emma was very tired and slept all the following day. We had a good family dinner together on Friday evening and caught up on all that’s been happening with us all. It’s not so often we’re all in at the same time these days.
Caroline is away this weekend with her girlfriends. She just called to say hi, it’s good to hear her voice…this 3 week break from each other is defiantly too long… we’re both missing each other. They’re staying in a cottage in Niederbreitbach, which I just checked out on Google Earth, looks like a nice village in the countryside.
I’m planning to go to IKEA today with the girls… I must be mad... but we need some candles and other stuff…we shall see if I survive!

BLOG NEWS

NEWS! Now I have done some serious entry tidying on this blog and made it readable for everyone. All my more intimate entries have been moved to my private diary blog for me and Caro only. This means family and friends can now read it and get an idea of what I’m up to in my life, enjoy!

A long week

It’s been a long week at work and very busy. Still very frustrated with all the organisational changes going on at work and the stress this creates for everyone, not least me. My key projects and customers are all pushing for products, information and assistance and with everything else, some serious prioritising is needed to even keep slightly ahead at the moment.
I had a good evening out with Josip on Friday and although I lost the snooker match, it was great to play again after a long break following my trip to India. I need the practice.
Hannah and Emma left for their Skiing trip up to Idre in Sweden. There off for the week with their Church group and all their friends… hope Hannah’s knee lasts the week!

I spent all morning in bed talking to Caro on Skype. It’s just a great way to spend the morning and we can talk as long as we like about what’s happening in our life, and for free, good for Skype. Had a log discussion about what to move and where some of her things will fit in my flat… its fun to plan for this move. As usual I’m longing for her and thinking it’s going to be a long 2 weeks before we see each other again. At least we can chat as much as we like and when we want to. Love this girl so much.

More Carnival weekend

It’s Sunday and we get up quite late, fix a little stuff at home and then go for a long walk across Cologne to the cinema. There are more carnival processions going on and we have to take a lot of diversions to avoid the crowds and closed streets. We decide to see a film based on the true story of the original superman actor and the uncertainty surrounding his death. Quite a good film, but the story was a little unclear in places and the ending was disappointing. We take the tram home and Caroline fixes us some dinner and we relax on the sofa and watch some TV. Later on I get a stomach cramp and I have the feeling I’m not 100%, so I go to bed early alone! Another first! Caro joins me in bed and we very quickly fall asleep, both tired and in need of a good nights sleep.
On Monday we decide to go and join in with the continuing Carnival. We watch part of the procession along the streets where Caroline lives. Again in our pirate outfits, we mix with the celebrating crowds, catching the sweets and flowers that the precession is throwing to the people lining the streets. We meet up with another friend of Caro’s Marko, and have a few beers before his friend joins us and we all go on to the bar. Again were quickly into the ongoing party in the bar with more dancing and singing. We leave the others when we’ve had enough for the night, happy we can go home and enjoy the rest of the evening on our own. Caro’s a bit sad when I actually check when my flight is due to leave on Tuesday and we realise we don’t have as much time as we’d both thought.
I get up to make coffee on Tuesday morning and at the same time get on the phone to check if there’s a later flight. My agent manages to re-book me on a later flight in the evening and when I tell Caro she’s so happy. We decide to go for the Health Spa which Caro had suggested at the start of the weekend. It’s in Cologne in the North part of town. The Spa is in a Japanese style with loads of saunas, pools and steam rooms. We have a great time and its very relaxing, although it takes a little concentration as it’s mixed and everyone is very nude… quite typical for Germany.
When we get home we have just a short time before I need to leave. We take a taxi to the station and said our goodbyes on the platform… no airport sofa this time… but hugs and kisses and a wave as the train left the station. Two and a half weeks till we meet again… in Stockholm next time… can’t wait.

Carnival in Köln, another first!

After a long flight and not much sleep, I arrive in Frankfurt at 7:00 on Saturday morning. I got right on the ICE high-speed train, which takes just under an hour to get to Köln central station. As agreed, I had sent a text to Caroline from the airport and on the train I call her as she was coming to meet me at the station. She had to go to the last day of her course but was coming to see me on her way. I got off the train and just as I looked around to see which way to go she was there, all smiles and immediately big hugs and kisses. It suddenly felt like ages since we’d last met and I was overwhelmed with love and longing for this lovely girl with her beautiful eyes. We made our way to the Starbucks cafe where we had met months ago the first time I came to Köln… great memories from that day. We had a coffee, chatted, hugged and kissed like kids and after half an hour she had to go. I took a taxi to her flat, where I met her friend Markus, who was staying for the Carnival. He was very friendly and very easy to get on with. We chatted for a bit and then he went out to meet a friend. I unpacked a bit and went to bed to try and catch up some lost sleep. I left the flat and took a short walk, found one of the cafe’s Caro and I have been to and had a snack, then I met up with Markus to buy bread and return to the flat in time to meet Caro coming home.
We had a passionate “rest” on her bed and we both really needed to get some close body contact after a few weeks apart. But with Markus in the flat we behave and come out soon to eat the good food he’s been cooking for us.
We planned to go out for my first Carnival night, which is something special in Köln. First its compulsory to dress-up, so we all busied with clothes and makeup while Markus’s sister arrived and then Friederike and her boy friend arrived. Caro and I are both pirates and what a very sexy pirate she made.
We all set off to a bar not far from where Caro lives called the Mexican. The place was all decorated for the Carnival and packed with partying people all in fancy dress (as is every bar and kiosk we walk by). There’s special traditional German music being played which everybody knows and sings along to, while dancing and downing the local beer, all at the same time. The atmosphere is really very friendly and I’m soon getting into the party mood and trying to sing along (well humming along to most of them as my German is still non-existent) with the others. I’m having a good time. Caro and me get to have some good sexy pirate dances together and the evening turns out to be a great success. She seems very happy I seem to fit well into all this madness :) and it’s a great first evening to this stay in Carnival Köln.

India Part 3

There are many things in India that make it very unique and quite different from the every day life we know. You see all sorts of differences in everything, from the buildings, the traditions and most of all the people. They are a very special people and have special ways of talking and doing things. From my experience so far they are very friendly and honest and I have felt quite safe, even in some quite dark and dirty areas. It’s very common that their spoken English is quite poor, even with seemingly educated people. I suppose this comes from their constant mixture of English and Indian languages, so they never actually perfect their English. They often speak in shortened sentences, missing out words, which can sometimes make them difficult to understand.It’s also very common that they don’t seem to listen properly to what you say, so you have to repeat things all the time, or they repeat everything you say just to be sure, and these conversations get quite absurd sometimes…like this one I had in a restaurant:

“I’d like this mixed curry please” I say, pointing to one on the menu under the heading Vegetable Curry’s
“You want the mixed curry sir?” says the waiter
“Yes the mixed curry please”
“Yes sir, please sir, this is vegetable curry sir!”
“Yes, I know its vegetable curry, that’s the one I want”
“Yes sir, the vegetable curry sir, you want the vegetable curry?”
“Yes, I want the vegetable curry!”
“Very good sir, the vegetable curry sir!”

At this point I’m not sure the conversation should continue or if it will ever end happily, so I change the subject and try to order a beer, but have much the same sort of exchange with the beer. By this time, Magnus and I are laughing so much, it seems the only thing left to do with a conversation like this.Having these sorts of conversations means everything takes so much more time to get done. I think one of the problems is that Indian people do this to each other all the time as well. Their combination of poor English and a tendency to contradict each other results in the receiver of the instructions being confused, resulting in them having to ask again what’s needed to be sure. Add to this the superior-inferior class relationships that arise, as between guests and waiters for example, and you see that they are visibly worried about doing the wrong thing, and so this makes them unable to make a decision them selves and hence the continuous questions… well that’s my theory anyway.

With the exception of the 5star hotels and some government offices, many of the buildings in India are in a very poor state of repair. It seems odd to me, but apparently the concept of looking after a building or repainting it on the outside is either unpopular or considered unimportant in India. Even the new shopping centre we visited, which was only a few years old, was already looking tatty and the paintwork streaked with dirt. The apparently expensive private apartment we visited was also looking quite run down on the outside. The owner was renovating the inside, but the initial impression was not good.

So after a week and a half in India, I can say I have learnt a lot more about the way they do business, the people and how they live and eat. It’s a fascinating country and I look forward to returning again, and to continue my business in India. Now I’m looking forward to flying home and my stopover in Köln to stay with Caroline for a long weekend and a few days holiday for the Köln Carnival.

India part 2

Magnus and I catch another early flight back to New Delhi on Monday morning. Were getting used to the choice of omelette or curry for breakfast on the Indian planes, and I’m taking the omelette again. Curry at this time in the morning seems out of the question. The air hostesses seem to have to learn our names, and are confused as Magnus is sitting in my seat today... so I’m Mr Rehn and he’s Mr Smith for a few hours, on the plane anyway.
Its cloudy and cooler and around 18 degC in Delhi when we land. The hotel has sent a driver in an expensive Mercedes to collect us. We’re treated to our first drive in India when the driver does not appear to have a death wish and is not tooting the horn every 2 minutes, which all the others do continuously. The hotel is extravagant and very comfortable, which after a week away ion India, feels like a good compensation for all this travelling and chaos. I’m not a snob and don’t insist on such hotels, but our partners expect us to live in this sort of expensive hotel, so they can bring the railway official and customers to meet us here. Its all part of the game we have to play to do business here, where its defiantly who you know that counts.

Now it’s Tuesday evening and I’ve just got back from a trip into town to shop and eat dinner. I managed to get a bargain jumper and we found a good restaurant and ate some great curry. Back at the hotel I got online and Skyped with Caroline for ages. Great to hear her voice and chat about all that going on in our life, both here and there… and I long to have her here, by my side, in my bed with me. And now its already after midnight, so it’s Valentines Day here already, and again another first…I wish Caroline a Happy Valentines Day. I Love You.

India without sleep

I was on the morning flight to Frankfurt, then a quick plane change to get on my way to India. A busy schedule ahead and a 2 week trip away. Flying with Magnus on a business trip to promote TagMaster meet partners and attend an exhibition. The flight was comfy as were flying business for a change, so we have time to eat and discuss the plans for the coming weeks ahead. We’ve had to make some last minute changes to our schedule due to a water-right strike being threatened in Bangalore. We land in New Delhi later than planned and don’t get to the airport hotel until 3 in the morning… then up again at 7 to catch an early flight to Hyderabad. By the end of the day I’m so tired I can hardly stay awake in our meeting. The landscape in Hyderabad is interesting with a mixture of round boulder outcrops and small hills. The lake next to their office has a heard of water buffalo taking a dip…the farmers stand and watch them, and the cars and workers rush by in some strange contrast to the relaxing heard, this is India… with its constant mixture of life styles.
We have another early start with a 7:40 flight to Bangalore. This is a very busy city with smaller streets and the usual mixture of cars and cattle, poor people and rich, all massing around in a constant horn tooting chaos. We get collected at the airport and go straight to our first meeting, then on to IBM for another meeting before going back to the hotel. Get just a short time for catching up on mail and then off to dinner with our partners. Another early flight to Ahmadabad and I’m beginning to get very tired of this week already. First meeting with our partner, Rajesh, who’s a very friendly guy, and we also have dinner in the hotel that evening with all his family and parents. In the evening I finally get round to re-organising my various blog stuff and start my new private diary blog. Post a new list for Caro, who’s very happy with its content. We haven’t had much contact so far with the time difference and work. On the Sunday I finally get a break and sleep in till 11. Go for a swim in the pool and sit in the sun until 1, when we meet Rajesh again and he and his wife take us to lunch with two friends of theirs. It’s a very traditional Indian vegetarian curry and the food is excellent. Then we visit a Muslim Mosque from the 13 centaury and a fantastic Hindi Temple with its incredibly intricate stone carvings and shrines.
I manage to talk a bit on the Sunday with Caro, as were ending a quick tour to the place where Gandhi lived and worked by the river. Its very tranquil here and you can imagine how he managed to write his thoughts here. It’s good to hear Caro’s voice and I wish I could get right on a plane to Köln… hmm still a week to go before we will meet again.