Wellington, Christmas Day 2012

I read on the internet that lists are a popular way to structure blog posts. Well then.
Here are mine for the year 2012.

New things I started in 2012

1. Running and racing
2. Winning awards
3. Agile training
4. Digital reading

(1) I already wrote about this in my last post in March, and I kept at it. All in all I ran 5 races this year, and a total of 950 km. I narrowly missed my goal of running 1,000 km by the end of the year due to several injuries (see also “Lessons I learned” below) but I’m back into it and currently training for my first half marathon in February.

(2) Since the ribbon with the brass oak leaf (“For your victory”) I was given at a 1976 kids’ sports event I haven’t really won anything. That changed in November 2012 when the Soup Hub (more about that my last post) won an NZ Open Source Award for Open Source in Social Services (video of my acceptance speech is here.) Just a few weeks later, my major work project, the relaunch of the South China Morning Post, won Best Online Newspaper at the Asian Digital Media Awards. This is the project for which I travelled to Hong Kong quite a bit, and we were at the conference in Kuala Lumpur when the award ceremony took place. Nice.

(3) Not quite as long ago as 1976 but still all the way back in the last century, 1996 was the last time I received any formal qualifications. After 15 years of practicing web project management I took a training class for Scrum Masters (Scrum being a framework for running agile projects) and subsequently went to get the Professional Scrum Master certification. A bit surprising how motivating it is to receive external recognition!

(4) If the publishing industry is indeed dying (which I don’t believe – it’s just in transition, again) then it’s no fault of mine as I’ve become a trusty subscriber and reader of newspapers and magazines on the tablet. For the first time since leaving Germany 16 years ago I can read German publications such as Die Zeit right when they are released and in a beautiful format, and I’m loving it. And while I still read lots of printed books I also enjoy the easy access to ebooks, especially work-related and non-fiction titles.

Things I stopped doing in 2012

1. Adding milk to my coffee
2. Buying the local newspaper or reading the corresponding website
3. Using Twitter and Instagram
4. Taking a camera with me when go on a trip

(1) Which makes for a more consistent experience and saves heaps of money, which I then can spend on digital content (see above.) And of course black coffee is all French existentialist.

(2) If you only knew New Zealand from our press, you’d think it’s the most awful violent despicable place on earth. No more of that. Shudder. Back to my tablet.

(3) Here’s why for the former. The latter: Too bad about Facebook.

(4) Kind of sad. But so much less weight to carry. And it frees up the mind to be in the moment (see below) instead of chasing a shot.

Places that made an impression

1. Copenhagen
2. Hong Kong
3. Christchurch
4. Our deck on Christmas Day

(1) Where we spent a brilliant week during (the northern) summer. And can’t wait to go back.

(2) No need splain. Still love it.

(3) Went there for a conference in October for the first time since the quakes. It’s utterly heartbreaking and hopeful and encouraging at the same time. Everyone should see this documentary about Christchurch. And come visit.

(4) 30 degrees and no wind. First time ever. Seriously. I didn’t want it to end. (It ended the next day.)

Lessons I learned

1. Be patient
2. Keep going
3. Enjoy the ride
4. Be here now

(1) As mentioned above, I had several injuries over the course of the year as my body got used to regular running. Nothing serious, but enough to force me to slow down and take breaks. I’m not very good at slowing down and taking breaks. Which is probably why it had to be this way.

(2) Related, none of these injuries stopped me completely or made me lose sight of my bigger goals. Winston “always good for pithy quotes” Churchill once said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” And while my forced slowdown was nowhere near hell, but merely annoying, I’m still proud to say that I never gave up, stayed focused, and continued on with what was possible at the time. As an aside, this attitude also helps during races when invariably about 2/3 of the way the doubts creep in. Just keep going until it’s awesome again.

(3) And related still, and even though this will make me sound like an old hippie, it’s not about the destination, but the journey. Enjoy the ride even when it’s bumpy, or maybe exactly because it’s bumpy. Better than boring, anyway. Damn, there are a lot of lessons in this running stuff.

(4) Because in the end all we can do anything about is right here and now. Not the past, which is all said and done, and not the future, which is always out of our reach. I’m great at planning and reflecting and tend to forget the present moment over all the planning and reflecting. Amanda Palmer said it like this: I still have a tattoo to get that says “I’m living in the moment.” It’s slowly starting to make sense.

Here’s to another year of trying new things, removing unhelpful things, and learning along the way!

On January 7 2012,  it was 15 years that I left Germany. If my status as an expat was a Kiwi, she would already be allowed to drive a car! How fast they grow up.

I’ll spare you all the deep reflections this time around. What I wrote at the 7-year mark and the 10-year mark is still quite valid, except that I’m a lot wiser now and it’s clear that everything is constantly changing and evolving and this whole re-inventing yourself thing really never stops.

Phew.

And no, I’m still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. Meanwhile, I’m trying a few things on for size and having much fun with it. One of them is

Running

Early on in Wellington…

Which proves my point about reinvention quite nicely. When my actual self was 15 years old, I spent a disproportionate amount of energy on avoiding any kind of prescribed physical exercise. Oh sure, I’d play the occasional game of volleyball and ride my bike everywhere (unlike Kiwis, 15 year olds in Germany don’t get to drive cars, and that’s a very good thing.) But as soon as something appeared to be sport for sport’s sake, I’d fake injuries, claim lady problems (at least fortnightly), or find any number of other excuses to get out of it. Running, I hated the most.

Fast forward a number of decades, and welcome to my new bestest hobby! Bored with the same old gym routine, I decided to give running a try for a change, and I haven’t stopped since. Well, not literally of course. I’m not Forrest Gump. But I’ve been running five times a week for three months now, have heaps more energy, and on the days I don’t run I find myself missing the buzz it gives me.

Another thing I really hated about sports as a teenager was anything to do with competition. As I did my best to avoid sports in the first place, I wasn’t particularly good at it, and the idea of have to compare myself with others, who enjoyed that kind of stuff and therefore did it well, filled me with disgust. You know what’s coming, right? Yep, I already participated in two races this year and am preparing for a third later in April.

First up was the annual Round the Bays 7k run in Wellington, which I actually did once before, in 2008, although then without any prep or ambition. This time I took it a bit more seriously and came in at a respectable 34:43 – five and a half minutes better than three years ago. While I do most of my training at the gym, I had done a few runs along the waterfront, fighting gale force winds so strong that at times it was hard to move at all, let alone run. Race day, however, was calm with blue skies and sun, and simply perfect. It was a joy running along the beautiful harbour, and when Brian picked me up at the finish line, we decided to walk the whole way back to town because it was such a gorgeous day.

…and at the finish line in Hong Kong

But then, 7k on flat surface isn’t exactly a challenge. Not that I was looking for a challenge, but it found me anyway when I happened to read an article about the rising popularity of trail running in Hong Kong. In the article, they mentioned an upcoming race on Lantau Island in March, and it just so happened that I would be in Hong Kong during that time for work. I quickly signed up before reason, caution or doubt could kick in.

Lantau is Hong Kong’s biggest island, and while it is host to both the international airport and Disneyland, most of it is green, rugged mountains with parks and trails. Easily accessible by ferry, it’s perfect for outdoor pursuits, which led to the creation of the inaugural Lantau 50. The main race was a 51k ultra marathon, with an option of a shorter 15k version, which is what I did.  (Afterwards they told us it was actually almost 18k – I’m glad I didn’t know that earlier!) Based on my estimate my time was spent about half running, half climbing very steep hills, including the first ascent to Tiger Head from 0 to 450m elevation over 3km. After that, I knew I could do anything. Following Tiger Head we were rewarded with a few kilometers of beautiful rolling hills and then a gradual descent down to a fishing village back at sea level, only to climb back up again and finally finishing coming down a felt million steep steps between the highrises to the finish line. I managed to complete the whole thing in 3 hours, which isn’t bad given that I was already too old for the women’s category and therefore was classified a “lady.” More importantly though I had a blast, being out in the stunningly beautiful nature of Lantau and proving that anything’s possible if you set your mind to it.

On a more sober note, meanwhile, in Wellington,

Blanket Man

a homeless man named Ben Hana, known to most Wellingtonians by his moniker, passed away at Wellington Hospital. He was only 54 years old. Everyone who works, lives, or plays in the central city knew who he was, and would have  passed him on the street many times.

Makeshift memorial for Blanket Man on Courtenay Place

Usually he’d just sit on a street corner, legs dangling dangerously into the bus lane, wearing nothing but a loin cloth and, on colder days, the eponymous blanket. Sometimes he’d shout at you, or maybe at no one in particular. Sometimes he wasn’t there, and you’d know he’d been arrested again, usually for drug abuse, with the occasional  public nudity thrown in. In fact, once he was released on bail only under the condition that he wear underpants in the future. That didn’t last.

Blanket Man was eccentric to say the least, and people’s reactions to his presence in our midst ranged from support to mild amusement to annoyance. Regardless of all the controversy, however, one thing is clear: You couldn’t help noticing him. When news of his death broke, the public reaction was equally strong and diverse, many coming to the realisation that Ben Hana was far from an entertaining mascot but a broken human being who needed but refused help.

And, as unique a character as he was, Blanket Man was just one of the many more people here in Wellington who are homeless or poor – and none of them are considered to be an icon or have their own Wikipedia entry. At best, they are invisible to the rest of us as we go about our business. While it was moving to see the outpouring of compassion for Ben Hana’s hard life, one can only hope that his death helps raise awareness of homelessness and poverty, and that it helps those living under these difficult circumstances improve their situation and live with dignity.

Hope is nice but doesn’t really affect change though. In my last post, I mentioned the

Soup Hub

The hub

project, which set out to put a computer hub into a local soup kitchen to provide people in need with access to the internet, information, and communication tools.

The motivation for the project was the belief that poverty is not just inadequate food, clothing, or shelter, but also lack of access to information, tools, and a safe environment to communicate, learn, and create – and today, much of this is online. I certainly take the internet for granted, and rely on it to be there for me whenever I need it. Those who don’t have access to the net, on the other hand, are increasingly excluded from participation and opportunities for work, social contacts, learning, information, or engaging with others.

With the Soup Hub, we wanted to help empower those in our communities who need it the most, and we wanted to bring the internet to where people already are – thus the soup kitchen.

At the launch event

After more than six months planning and setting up, this idea is now a reality: On March 2, Celia Wade-Brown, the mayor of Wellington officially opened our small computer lab. We are open two afternoons a week to soup kitchen clients and migrant students of English who use the facility in the morning. All our hardware has been donated, and we’re running open source software on the machines. The hub is supported by volunteers who also provide mentoring and training to the users as needed. We share and document everything we do and thereby create a model that can also be replicated by others. It’s still early days but it’s wonderful and humbling to see that we’re already making a difference.

More background on the project, some press and latest updates can be found on the Soup Hub website.

And now for a few stories that moved the nation in those past three months. First up:

Megaupload

We Germans have a reputation for not always being the most subtle when in foreign countries. The latest story involving a fellow countryman here in New Zealand however goes well beyond the obsessive reserving of beach chairs or preferring schnitzel over local cuisine. Indeed, ”subtle” is probably the last adjective that comes to mind when it comes to Kim Schmitz aka Kim Dotcom aka a number of other aliases. The larger-than-life German expat, multi-millionaire and founder of file hosting service Megaupload.com was arrested in Auckland in January 2012 on copyright infringement charges. At the request of the FBI and other international agencies, armed New Zealand police raided his mansion, and Megaupload was shut down. Megakim was put in jail but has since been released on bail, awaiting his extradition hearing.

TwentyTHREE degrees! The HEAT!

Much has been written about this story, which is strangely fascinating in a train wreck sort of way. There is the Hollywood-worthy life story of the man himself (and I’m sure we’ll hear about a movie being made before the year is over.) There is the piracy angle which I really don’t want to get into, other than saying that it seems quite a coincidence that this arrest happened exactly the day after the world-wide protests against SOPA. Whatever one’s opinion on copyright and intellectual property may be, this particular mess is not going to help find a more reasonable way to deal with the issues but will further harden the fronts. Then there’s the political and legal angle of the affair, such as why the FBI is directing the New Zealand police, or how they could have gained access to Skype logs and emails from Megaupload’s top managers up to five years back when the investigation only started in 2011.  No matter how sleazy and unpleasant Kim Dotcom may be, the way this was handled may very well set a precedence for more surveillance and lead to further undermining of legal rights and data protection and privacy.

And as if all this wasn’t enough, the story also sparked a bit of a debate why New Zealand would have granted residency to a convicted criminal – albeit a very wealthy one – when they make that same process quite hard for less well-off, but quite possibly more deserving people. It’s a good question. At least Mr Dotcom provided ample entertainment to the neighbours of his $30million Auckland mansion, complete with panic room and a fleet of luxury cars with license plates such as HACKER, MAFIA, GUILTY and GOD. And they say Germans don’t have a sense of humour!

Kiwis, on the other hand, don’t think it’s funny that we’re facing what was quickly dubbed

Marmageddon

Don’t freak!

As an immigrant, it’s a good idea to embrace and adapt to local customs and culture – after all, why else move to another country? There are, however, a few things where I draw the line. One is costume parties. Another one is Marmite.

If come across Marmite for the first time you might easily confuse it with, say, dark shoe polish, at least, that is, until the smell hits. According to Wikipedia, Marmite is “a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour, which is extremely salty and savoury”, made from yeast extract. It was first produced in Britain and since 1919 there’s a special New Zealand version.

Kiwis love it. People who haven’t been fed this stuff since early childhood usually consider it vile.

Australians, by the way, have something similar called Vegemite. Of course Marmite fans swear it’s completely different but to the uninitiated it’s hard to tell the difference. Amanda Palmer (who, on an unrelated note, we saw in concert with the Dresden Dolls, which was fantastic) wrote a song about Vegemite for last year’s Australian tour, in which she calls it “that foul death paste.”

Vegemite and lettuce a childhood favourite? Sounds seriously messed up.

As they say, there’s no accounting for taste. So when the makers of Marmite announced that “a shortage was unavoidable” because their Christchurch manufacturing plant was deemed unsafe after the earthquakes and needed to be closed for repairs, panic-buys set in immediately. Overpriced auctions started appearing on TradeMe and some supermarkets have already run out of stock.  Reassuring posters from the manufacturer appeared around town.

The same people who show amazing courage and can-do spirit in the wake of devastating natural disasters apparently are not prepared to cope without sticky yeast paste for a few months.

And on that strange note, that was the first quarter of 2012. I’m writing this over the Easter weekend which turns out to be sunny and warmish, which is only fair after summer failed to materialise. Although we had a few nice days, there was not a single hot day in Wellington this year.

In fact, this is what it looked like on the 3rd of March, officially the third day of autumn. Watch it and shudder:

But then, we hardly noticed the weather as our time was filled with so much good stuff – conferences, concerts, theatre, the aforementioned trip to Hong Kong etc. And that’s not going to change anytime soon either.

Phew.

Pictures from Hong Kong, March 2012

Where were we?

Same procedure as every year: New Year's Eve weather

Right – I quit my job, we saw some monkeys, I was about to start at a new company. Something something, end of 2011. It’s all a bit of a blur. In early November, we celebrated our 7-year anniversary of coming to New Zealand. Seven years! What a ride. And this past year has been one of the most intense.

I’m writing this between the years, on a break, aiming to recharge my metaphorical and not so metaphorical batteries and get ready for what comes next. We’re not going anywhere this New Year’s, but staying right here in the mostly deserted city and enjoying the suspended time. This is what Wellington looked like on December 27:

Retake the Net

One of my proudest accomplishments this year (if I may say so myself) is starting an initiative called Retake the Net.

Brian addressing the barcamp crowd

This past year we’ve seen how the power of the internet can bring people together, foster and instigate real change. The Arab Spring is only the most prominent example here; the Occupy movement (about which I have mixed feelings – but that’s a different topic) is probably another one. At the same time, we’re seeing increasing threats to the free and open net from both government and corporate interests, with the SOPA bill in the US being just the latest and possibly most egregious example coming from a democratic country.

Because we are passionate about the possibilities that technology provides us and we believe that it’s everyone’s responsibility to use its power for good, Brian and I, together with a few others founded Retake the Net as a way to bring together people and projects to help keep the internet free and open. Starting in June, we held a number of public meetings for people to get together with others and start a number of projects. One that is currently underway is to put a computer hub into a local soup kitchen to provide people in need with access to the internet, information, and communication tools, and I’m excited to see it come together for real very soon.

At an internet conference in Auckland

In addition to individual projects, we also organised a barcamp at the end of October. We had 70 people attend and passionately exchange ideas. We even had the mayor of Wellington stop by and give the opening speech, and just before the event, Brian was on National Radio for a long interview. It was a fantastic day, and a great experience to bring together people and make something happen, and I’m looking forward to continuing the initiative in the new year.

The other half of my life

…in the past seven months was unsurprisingly dominated by the new job. As with every new beginning, there’s a lot to learn and find your place but, the normal challenges notwithstanding, here are a few things I love about it:

• 

  Our printer at work tells us helpfully if it's beer o'clock yet

  I work with a bunch of really great people

• Instead of being spread thin between many different things, I get to focus on a single project
• Said project is with a client in Hong Kong, so I get to travel regularly to one of my favourite cities
• The company cares deeply about open source and internet freedom
• I have a stand-up desk which is absolutely fantastic – instead of getting tired from sitting a computer all day I feel full of energy at the end of the day

I spent a lot of time here in 2011: Hong Kong Airport

One benefit of travelling to Hong Kong for work is that you’re literally halfway back in Germany: Auckland -> Hong Kong is 5,697 miles (9,168 km); Hong Kong -> Frankfurt 5,686 miles (9,151 km). After last year’s month-long trip I hadn’t planned on visiting this year, but for family reasons I needed to go after all.

It worked out great to “hop on over” following the Hong Kong business trips, and it was great being able to spend time with family.

The second trip was in late November – the first time I had visited Germany in winter since 1999! Although here in NZ my felt body temperature is usually set to permafrost, I had forgotten how cold it feels in “real” winter! On the plus side, I got to visit Christmas markets and drink mulled wine; a treat I hadn’t experienced in 12 years either.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand

Hong Kong light show

There was a Rugby World Cup. We won. I could possibly write quite a bit more about this so highly anticipated event that was such a big deal to our small country and brought 85,000 visitors here. However, the tournament was not something that affected our lives in any way, even as inner-city dwellers of one of the host cities.

Those who do enjoy rugby seem to have had a great time, and for that I’m glad and thankful, because otherwise it’s been a rough year for New Zealand.

At the races at Happy Valley

Unsurprisingly, the situation in Christchurch after the earthquakes continued to dominate the news. It’s heartbreaking to follow as the city just doesn’t seem to catch a break. The cleanup after the big quake in February had just started to show some positive effects when on June 13, two 6.4 and 5.9 quakes rocked the city in the early afternoon. In fact, the bigger of the two turned out to be even larger than the so destructive February quake, and it was felt strongly even here in Wellington. Imagine the frustration of cleaning up your property from liquefaction and damage, only to have to start over again – and remember, June is the beginning of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Damage again was extensive (the June quakes alone added NZ$6 billion to the bill,), phone and power went out again – the whole circle of horror, replaying once again.

Apparently, NZ has a problem with people burning down their house while cooking drunk. This official campaign is everywhere!

Between the first major quake in September 2010 and now (end of December 2011), there were almost 9,500 earthquakes in the Canterbury region. Just last week, on 23 December, within a good hour’s time, a particularly violent triple shock measuring 5.8, 5.3 and 6.0 interrupted Christmas shoppers, caused major liquefaction yet again, led to mall and airport closures, and reminded everyone that this could – and quite possibly will – continue for a while to come yet. Heartbreaking.

Aside from those two major events, the issues in New Zealand were dominated by events around the globe – be it the continued financial crisis, worldwide protests (Occupy Dunedin – really? Ok ok, still another topic), or the usual depressing mix of consumerism and celebrity gossip.

Did this sound cynical? Have you seen Google Zeitgeist lately? My quest this year has been to stay away from this kind of stuff as much as possible (which I think I managed quite well, seeing that I don’t recognise the names of the majority of “trending” people on said Zeitgeist.) Life’s too short, and I’d rather focus on meaningful things. I even gave up Twitter. It’s liberating!

Having said that, here are a few more stories that mattered ’round here this past year:

‘snow joke!

Wellington snow on August 14 (seen from the plane to Auckland)

Extreme weather is  the rule here in New Zealand, but just when you think you’ve seen it all there’s something that takes it just a little further, as it was with our mid-August “once in a lifetime polar blast.”

I could write about the power outages, public transportation cancellations, and road closures. I could remind you how the extreme cold added more pain to the people in Christchurch in their freezing, quake-damaged houses. I could go on about how much I hate winter (because you’ve never heard that one before), but that would be a bit disingenuous, as I left Wellington on one of the last flights before they shut down the airport and spent the second half of August in the summer heat of Germany and Hong Kong. I could quote more statistics of how the blizzards were the heaviest in 50 years, etc.

Instead, I’ll simply share something beautiful: They joy of Wellingtonians at being caught in a snowstorm in the middle of Cuba Mall. Enjoy!

Lost and found (and lost again)

I'm wearing shorts! Online poll on the same day

And another creature probably enjoyed the sudden frosty temperatures: Happy Feet, the lost penguin. There are, of course, penguins which are native to New Zealand, but this one was an emperor penguin, a resident of Antarctica. How he ended up on a beach on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington sometime in June is anyone’s guess. The poor thing wasn’t in good shape when he was found: dehydrated, exhausted from heat (all is relative!) and with a stomach full of sand he had eaten in lack of more appropriate foods. When his health started declining further, he was taken to the Wellington Zoo and underwent surgery to remove the sticks he had swallowed and to flush out the sand from his stomach and throat.

At that point, it wasn’t clear if he would survive, but true to his given name, he recovered well. It was even less clear what to do with the unexpected guest. Taking him back to Antarctica in winter wasn’t an option (no one goes there during that time) and no zoo in New Zealand had facilities to keep him. Eventually, NIWA, a science research institute, took him on board one of their vessels to release him in the subantarctic ocean four days south of New Zealand. During the journey, he was kept in a custom crate designed “to keep him cold and comfortable.” Hearing that, I wondered why we didn’t  just let him spend the winter in any average Kiwi student flat? Surely that would have fit the bill.

Comfortably cold: custom pengu-crate

Fancy travels aside, from here, the story becomes less happy. Two months after he was found, on September 4, Happy Feet was released back into the wild down a “purpose-made hydro-slide”, not before he was outfitted with a GPS transmitter. A website was set up to “share his journey with the world”, there was a competition for school children, and his progress could be tracked on a map. Unfortunately, only five days into the journey, the signal was lost, and while this could certainly be due to some technical failure or simply because it fell off, many speculate that our visitor may have ended up as a Happy Meal.

Elections and other disasters

Somewhat luckier were several hundred little blue penguins from the Bay of Plenty who were caught in the oil spill from the container ship Rena.

Precarious Rena (photo from NZHistory.net.nz)

The Rena ran aground the Astrolabe Reef outside Tauranga on October 5. It’s still not completely clear why this happened, as the reef was well known and was clearly marked in all maps. Several crew members have since been arrested and are facing criminal charges.

About 350 tons of oil from the Rena spilled into the sea, making this New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster ever. Since then, the badly damaged, listing ship has been perched precariously on the reef, with new cracks appearing all the time and always in danger of breaking in half. Containers fell over board and to this day all kinds of freight, including food items and meat, is washing ashore and polluting the beaches in addition to the oil. Under extremely dangerous circumstances and repeatedly interrupted by bad weather, workers tried to remove the remaining oil from the ship. This almost succeeded but there’s some oil remaining on the ship and just yesterday we heard of a new oil film leaking from the damaged ship. The salvage of the 1,368 containers is also going slowly and is expected to take until March to complete.

For about 2,000 seabirds caught up in the oil spill, all help came too late. Hundreds more however could be rescued and nursed back to health in wildlife recovery centers. In late November, the first batch of little blue penguins was released back into the sea (video). Before they could go, they had to pass a fitness test, where they had to swim for six hours to ensure their feathers are waterproof again, and they will be monitored long-term through microchips to make sure their recovery goes well.

If you sit on the fence, the zebra will eat you: If only our politicians were as honest as this warning sign at Wellington Zoo.

The timing of the Rena disaster couldn’t have been worse for the government. The country was still crowded with tens of thousands of rugby tourists who saw headlines and pictures of the oil spill on a daily basis. New Zealand’s general election was scheduled for the end of November, and instead of an easy ride based on a glorious win of the All Blacks, the government now had to deal with “clean green New Zealand” beaches black with oil and dead birds.

And yet, neither the Rena, nor Christchurch; neither the announcement of  the controversial plan to partially sell off state-owned assets nor a mini-scandal made any difference: The conservative National Party won almost enough seats to govern alone (47%, +2.3%), Labour continued its free fall (27%, -6.5%), the Green party improved significantly (11%, +4.3%) and then there were the usual miscellaneous who tend to get a lot of attention but in my opinion don’t affect much in reality. If I had believed that there’s a real, viable opposition in this country, I’d be a lot more upset about this result.

Occupy Samoa

The last time we talked about Samoa on this blog, 7000 angry people had just marched to the capital to protest the switch to driving on the left side of the road. The outrage has continued to, well rage. There is even an action group called “People Against Switching Sides” (PASS) who -  screw safety! – advocated to simply not observe the new rule and keep driving on the right. Nevertheless, the change eventually came into effect in September 2009 although some of the finer details (location of street signs, bus doors, etc.) seem to still be worked out to this day.

Not a Samoan road sign but a LOTR filming location marker on Mt Vic

Now the Samoan government has come up with yet another scheme to bring the country more in line with its neighbours and biggest trading partners, Australia and New Zealand: a jump across the date line. Up until yesterday, Samoa was the last place on earth to see the sun set, a fact that used to be a major element of their tourism marketing campaigns. Now, in order to be the first, and thereby on the same weekday as we are here, they skipped a day and went straight from the 29th to the 31st of December. With half of Samoa’s population living in Australia and New Zealand, that seems sensible. Aside from employers who aren’t too thrilled that they have to pay their workers for a day that didn’t happen, I haven’t read of any large protests this time (they are probably a still having a go at the driving side.)

Too bad only that American Samoa which, as the name indicates, is a US Territory, is not going along with the change. But the crafty prime minister has even thought of that – he promotes island hopping between the two Samoas: ”You can have two birthdays, two weddings and two wedding anniversaries on the same date on separate days without leaving the Samoan chain.”

Having a blast

“Is the Capital really that windy?“, asked the local tabloid earlier this month, and the answer seems to be, why yes, it is. Not only is Wellington the most southern and most remote (as in, farthest away from any other capital city) capital in the world, it’s also the windiest city. Looking back at the entries in this journal, every spring seems to be one of the windiest in years and I’m starting to suspect that the less-windy years are just a story that’s told to newcomers to make them stay. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it, but I have to admit that on the rare quiet day, something seems slightly off.

The winning design, slightly less ironic

According to this map and the five degrees of windiness, our apartment is in zone 3, or high. At the airport, which isn’t all that different from the rest of the city, the average wind speed is 29 km/h – that’s average, mind you, and nothing compared to the 104 km/h gust that was measured there in November, or the fact that there are gusts exceeding gale force on 175 days a year. (Gale force is 75 km/h.)

Some city streets are downright wind tunnels. There have been efforts over the past decades to construct buildings to ameliorate the situation, with mixed success. Meanwhile, the weather we love to hate has inspired the new design of the cringeworthy former WELLYWOOD sign I mentioned briefly in my last post. After continued protests, the airport backed down and started a public competition for people to submit, and later, vote on designs. Finally, in November, a sign spelling out WELLINGTON with the last few letters blown away was announced the winner. To be honest, I find this only marginally better than the original – “green hill with  no sign at all” unfortunately wasn’t an option. What would the Samoans do? Maybe this.

Now what?

The other day, I discovered that my name is an anagram of “be silly.”

I think the universe may be trying to tell me something.

So this is my plan for the new year: Listen to the universe. Be good and bold and kind and silly.

Or, in the words of Neil Gaiman:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art – write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. May your coming year be a wonderful thing in which you dream both dangerously and outrageously.

I hope you will make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and you will be liked and you will have people to love and to like in return. And most importantly, because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now – I hope that you will, when you need to, be wise and that you will always be kind. And I hope that somewhere in the next year you surprise yourself.

The end-of year post for 2010 closed with the words, “as the Chinese say, may you live in interesting times.” As it turns out, the Chinese don’t actually say that. Still, it’s a good line. And the past few months have been nothing if not interesting.

Well, Bob…

KL from Menara Tower

Let’s start at the end: Next Monday, I’m starting a new job. You didn’t see that coming, did you? Neither did I. Here was a chance to live up to my claim that I “embrace uncertainty and change.”

The trigger for this unexpected turn of events was that Brian resigned. From the company blog: “Brian and the Board have been discussing the company’s future, and in the course of those discussions decided that now was a good time to pursue different directions.” Not surprisingly, his decision caused a loyalty conflict for me, both personally and professionally. I’m sure I don’t have to explain the personal one. On the professional side, working with your spouse is always a challenging situation. We both knew this going in, and when I joined three years ago, it was despite the fact that we’re married, and because we simply work together really well and I strongly believe in Brian’s vision and leadership. With him moving on, it became obvious to me very quickly that it was time for me to move on as well.

One of the effects of my career path over the past years was that my job search experience was quite different from previous times. As soon as I knew I was out in the market, I started thinking about what I wanted to do, the types of work I’m interested in, and the companies I thought I’d like to work for. I also put out very short “I’m looking” status updates on Twitter and LinkedIn – and that was it for the time being. What I didn’t do was search or apply for jobs listed on the usual job websites. I did contact a recruiter, but sadly this avenue turned out to be useless, and I didn’t pursue it very hard.

Busy KL intersection with monorail

The lead, and eventually, job, came through my network – people I know, a company I respect and that had been on top of my “I could work here” list. Moreover, I’m not even going to fill an advertised position, but will join the team based on the mutual recognition that there’s a good fit, which could play out in a number of different ways. Initially, I’ll be doing some combination of business analysis, user experience, and project management. More importantly, I’ll be staying in the open source space – something that’s been very important to me. Needless to say, I’m thrilled (and sufficiently respectful to be slightly scared) and look forward to my first day!

Garden City of Lights

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

The last time we went on holiday spontaneously was in 19never. So, even though we’re now back in Wellington after the successful completion of such holiday, I’m still slightly stunned we managed to pull this off. Embrace uncertainty, baby!

The (very logical) thinking was that we had just been through some intense stuff, and it would only become more so. Also, there’s no better time than between jobs to take a break and unwind, as you don’t have to take leave, and you need it the most. Lastly, it’s really starting to get winter here, and being somewhere warm for a week sounded so very good.

Petronas Towers

At first, we looked into Australia, but somehow we couldn’t really get excited about it (sorry Oz – it’s not you, it’s me.) Then I started looking through some of the travel agencies’ websites for ideas, and there it was: Kuala Lumpur. The capital of Malaysia ticked all the boxes: large (population of 1.7m), dense (6,500 people/km²), tropical (just 3 degrees north of the equator), and incredibly diverse in all respects. Malaysia is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnical, multi-religious etc country, and the mix of people and cultures is one of the many things that make KL so attractive. We saw mosques, Taoist and Hindu temples, mixed with highly modern skyscrapers and the ubiquitous shopping malls. On our first night, as we were sitting outside in a restaurant, we happened to see the Wesak Day Parade pass by, celebrating Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death, with candles, ornate floats, and chants, while passing billboards for ultrafast, cheap 4g mobile internet.

Drinking problem

Royal Brunei Airline doesn't just show location and altitude, but also the distance to Mecca

We flew to KL with Royal Brunei Airlines, which meant a one-night stopover in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the tiny Sultanate. Brunei is located at the top of Borneo, split into two separate parts and surrounded by Malaysia, which itself is located in two different regions separated by the South China Sea. There are only 400,000 people in Brunei (fewer than in the Wellington Region), who enjoy a very high standard of living thanks to vast amounts of oil and gas. On the way in from the airport, our driver pointed out that a liter of premium gasoline sells for 50c (that’s US$1.50/gallon) – although that’s only for residents; foreigners pay more than double for the non-subsidised version.

Brunei is a strange place. For one, as a country based on the Sharia, you cannot buy alcohol anywhere – there are no bars, not even in the hotels, and barely any restaurants. Despite the country’s great wealth, walking around town along wide, mostly deserted streets, had a distinct East Germany in the 1970s feel to it, and the dinner (with fruit juice) in the hotel restaurant, accompanied by costumed local dancers, was one of the more depressing things I’ve experienced in a while (even though everyone was very friendly.)

Typical Brunei souvenir: a brass oil rig

We still had an interesting half-day in Bandar Seri, which allowed us to cover the main tourist attractions: The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque (very pretty with fake lagoon) and the Royal Regalia Museum (partially a re-enactment of the Sultan’s coronation day, partially a collection of gifts given to the Sultan by other governments. Tip: Avoid Korea, their presents suck!) The highlight though was a 1.5-hour ride on a water taxi on the river into the Borneo Jungle with its endemic Proboscis monkeys (unfortunately too far up in the trees to see their giant noses…) and to Kampong Ayer, a large water village on the Brunei River, housing almost 40,000 residents and complete common services such as police, fire brigade, and a mosque, all built on stilts.

Monkeys!

Batu Caves with golden giant

And then, KL. We loved it. In fact, it’s serious competition for Hong Kong as my favourite city. As I’ve said above, the diversity is what really stands out. The other thing that struck us was just how modern the city is – as an example, the options for cheap, fast broadband alone are enough to make a grown Kiwi cry. We saw construction everywhere (as a taxi driver pointed out, “we can’t stand to see any empty spaces”), and what we read about business and technology in the local newspaper was impressive (yes, the paper is probably quite pro-government, but still.)

Cheap mobile broadband everywhere

Oh, and the food. I wished I could have just eaten non-stop the entire week. We had some of the best meals of our lifetimes in KL. There’s an abundance of tropical fruits, and the best of South East Asian cuisine one can imagine. I especially loved being able to dine outside, as the temperatures never went below a balmy 25 degrees, even at night. We did encounter quite a bit of tropical rain – every evening around 6pm a thunderstorm would come over the city and drench everything for a couple of hours, and then stop again as quickly as it had started. We spent several of these rainstorms sitting under cover, enjoying the warm air and a glass of wine, looking over the city. Bliss.

Aside from a trip out to Batu Caves, a Hindu temple high up in a cave with a very Indiana-Jones quality and lots of monkeys running up and down the 272 steps leading up to the temple, we stayed in the city and explored. Some of the highlights were the view from Menara Kuala Lumpur, the 4th highest telecommunication tower in the world, having little fish nibble away at our feet at a Fish Spa, and the beautiful Bird Park, a huge aviary where you can wander amongst peacocks, storks, parakeets, and 200 other species of birds, amidst a lush tropical garden.

We can’t wait to return!

Kuala Lumpur photo album.

This is not a topic

Malaysian monkey, waiting to steal ur bananas

There’s other things I could write about, such as the very heated debate over the Wellington Airport’s rather embarrassing decision to erect a Hollywood-style “Wellywood” sign, a plan that was received by massive outrage for all the obvious reasons. There’s political stuff that’s not much better and probably going to get worse, since it’s an election year. The Rugby World Cup won’t even start until September but it’s already annoying (am I allowed to say that?) And such and such.

Instead, I’ll close this post with another Western misinterpretation of the Chinese language: that the word “crisis” is composed of the characters for danger and opportunity (or crisitunity, as Homer Simpson points out.) As with the famous curse I mentioned in the intro, this one, too, is more myth than reality. As a concept, however, it’s helpful, and it’s true.

I’m stoked about the opportunities lying ahead of me, and can’t wait to tell you all about them. Till then: Turn and face the strange!

P.S. If you’re wondering what’s been happening in Christchurch, three months after the earthquake, the answer is: not much, sadly. Read this heartbreaking account from a resident.

Canterbury earthquake, 22 February 2011

This was supposed to be a happy post. The year started so well. This was supposed to be about the wonderfully inspiring Webstock conference, the mind-expanding weekend that was Kiwifoo, the concerts we were lucky enough to attend (Sufjan Stevens, Tricky, Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley – all in the span of 3 weeks), the exciting things that are happening at work.

But then, the world started to crumble. Not for us, not directly, anyway. But in our country, and for our friends. And suddenly, everything took on a new perspective.

At 12:51 pm on February 22, during lunchtime on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch. Unlike the big 7.1 quake in September 2010, this one was shallower and closer, and it occured in the middle of the day. Because of that, it caused significant damage and loss of lives. It hit just when the people of Canterbury, who have been enduring thousands of aftershocks over the past six months, were slowly starting to get back to normal life. There are no words to describe how deeply this quake is cutting right to the heart of this nation.

As usual, Wikipedia is doing a good job of summarising the facts and providing links to further sources, so in the interest of getting this post up quickly, I won’t try and recap all the details. A week later, we’re barely grasping just how big the impact is. A national state of emergency has been declared, and search and rescue operations continue – as I’m writing this, there are still more than 200 people missing. There are still entire neighbourhoods without electricity, water, or working sewerage systems, living amongst the ruins of their homes, surrounded by liquefaction. Thousands have fled the city – will they come back? What happens after the cleanup – can we even rebuild on such unstable ground? What will be the impact on the economy? (Current cost estimates are at $16 billion – but who knows?) Not to mention the national psyche – will we ever feel safe in our own homes again? (Last night, a 4.5 quake rattled Wellington, which made everyone very jumpy – yet Christchurch had 20 aftershocks bigger than 4.5 within just 24 hours of the big one.)

As horrifying this all has been, the disaster has also brought out the best in people. Everywhere, local communities are sharing what they have and support each other. Within an hour of the quake, dedicated people in the New Zealand IT community put out eq.org.nz, an open-source based site with maps, links to services and other essential, crowd-sourced information, and they have worked tirelessly since then to keep it up to date. Words cannot describe the respect and admiration I have for everyone who has contributed to this effort.

Kia kaha, Christchurch.

How you can help

The earthquake may have disappeared from the international media already. However, the people of Christchurch will struggle with its consequences for a long time to come. Here are some ways to help:

• Donate to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal or the New Zealand Goverment’s Christchurch Earthquake Appeal – they provide much-needed support and services to those affected by the quake.
• Volunteer to help updated the open-source, community-driven Christchurch Recovery Map.
• Send a message of support through amos.org.nz – messages will be printed and put on walls for everyone to see.

More info

• Christchurch Recovery Map – a community project providing information and services.
• “There are THREE cities in Christchurch right now, not one.” – very moving blog post by Peter Hyde, a Christchurch resident about the affect of the quake of different parts of the cities, and a call for help for those forgotten by the authorities and the media.
• Pictures of Christchurch before and after the quake (link to stuff.co.nz)
• Image gallery of the aftermath of the quake (link to nzherald.co.nz)
• Press photos on The Atlantic and The Big Picture