stopover

building career in ever growing metropolises? it might lead to the island…

My short stopover in Bangkok became a success. Fresh awarded with a close to top-grade result of the language exam back in Germany I arrived in the City of Angels with the intention to meet our team and management as well as some friends from the industry. Both parties have contributed to a clearer idea of several options for future career development in this line of business. I am satisfied with the talks. For now, there won’t be too many alterations in the job, which is good, as private change management has to be handled as a priority. Nevertheless I got a future outlook – the purpose of this visit.

shopping malls and McDonald’s – the new temples of urban life …I had a nice Cheeseburger set during the run for new shirts

I also met Moji and her friend. But this time, we went to shopping malls instead of pagodas. I got a Levi’s jeans and some nice t-shirts. I met Wolfgang and we had a dinner and drink out in one of Bangkok’s bars. This time Bangkok was brief and result-oriented. A short mission. No sightseeing, no entertainment, no hanging around with people. I even rebooked my flight so that I would arrive one day earlier back at our second house at my second home Saigon.

sculptured elephants luckier than their real counterparts - amazing Thailand

Deutschland ist toll

Neuwied Schlosstrasse – perceiving in contradictions: a city which is said not to be very safe seems to me like peace on earth

memories – the gravel pit lake in the Engerser Feld … we had a good and luxury youth

Ich wäre so gern noch was da geblieben. Die zwei Wochen waren viel zu kurz. Vietnamesisch Diplomprüfung und Uni-Erledigungen, Mama’s Geburtstag, Freunde treffen, Qualitätswaren einkaufen und alles mögliche organisatorische musste unter einen Hut gebracht werden. Entsprechend der Utopie dass man Uni, Beruf und Familie einfach mal so zusammen schaffen kann, kam ich auch hier nicht zu allem was ich machen wollte. Aber da muss ich nun durch – muss man eben Abstriche an der Zeit machen und es alles was länger dauern lassen. Effizient ist das nicht, aber effektiv auch – eben auf Dauer.

cult-location celebrating mom’s birthday – Gasthaus zur Erholung in Verscheid „die Tischdecke darf nicht mehr zu sehen sein“

the “global model” – as if we had never been abroad (Swiss Alps in the background!)

Ein Highlight war der Besuch beim Rich in der Schweiz mit zwei chilligen Abenden und einen tollen Tag im Kletterpark. Das „globale Freundschaftsmodell“ – es hat funktioniert. Leider nur kurz. Beim nächsten mal mehr! Die Diskussion um den Sinn des modernen Lebens und des Kosten-Nutzen Faktors von Karriere geht weiter. Irgendwie muss alles funktionieren.

the rope-park on the Weissen Stein or however the mountain’s name was …

Was mir im Vergleich noch mal bewusst geworden ist, dass wir doch Lebensqualität haben in Deutschland. Das haben wir unseren Vorgängergenerationen zu verdanken. Wir sind sozialistischer als Vietnam, man hat alles, vor allem eine saubere Umwelt, viel Gesundheit und Rechtssicherheit. Dinge die mir zuvor fast Angst gemacht haben, werden nun zu Beruhigungsfaktoren. Eine Orientierung zurück in die Heimat läge da auf mittel- bis längerfristige Sicht gar nicht mehr so fern wie einmal gedacht. Alles ist offen. Die vorgegaukelte Lebensqualität in Entwicklungsländern schwindet. Das günstige Essen ist nicht vergleichbar mit der vielseitigen Mensa, dem guten Essen von der Mama oder der Frische und Auswahl im heimischen Supermarkt. Und jenes „bessere“ essen in Vietnam ist teuerer als bei uns. Mehr geben weniger nehmen war nicht der Plan.

sufficient and good food at the mensa of the University of Bonn – I have never understood people complaining about the food … those were probably the ones with worse food at home. Dr. Scharfsinn and me shared this view for years...

Aus diesem Grund gilt es nun, neue berufliche Perspektiven zu eröffnen. Aber erst mal die Geburt abwarten, alles formale Regeln, Job, Familie und Uni weitermachen und dann sehen wo hin die nächsten Flugtickets gehen werden nach dem bevorstehenden Stopover in Bangkok und Rückkunft nach Vietnam.*

* as an exception and homage to Germany this post today in German

intellectual talk, rumours and ideas how to get rich between Vietnam and Germany

Deutschland ist schön! (der Park in Sayn)

transition

high rise – an exception becoming the norm

Life is characterized by transition, as people, relationships, places and our environment are. After almost one year in Vietnam and in Ho Chi Minh City I am reflecting much on life in recent days, on the past, the present and the future. Of my life, the people I met, the way I met them and the way we have each time lived together, my family, friends, partners, everybody one meets in life. I am flying through the streets, see all the people, think about this city, how everything around is changing, so fast, so furious. And I am not sure whether it is a normal perception, whether I have been too stressed to think in the past and for this reason do now make up for it, or whether I am too small for this big world, too ignorant to understand life - so life seems like a movie sometimes. I feel like on drugs. Those which I hate. Living a modern and post-modern global life, is that really better then the village life that our grandparents had lived? Are real, life-long and close relationships not better than the corporate rush of today’s urban realities? Realities that become lifestyles, a word which our ancestors may not even have used, become pictures, pictures in motion.

last green spaces being “developed” - trees will make space for shopping centres

People tell me that 10 years ago Vietnam’s cities were quiet. Today the soaring of the motorbikes never stops. High rise is being erected in every quarter. The skyline of this big but still contained metropolis will change. Give Saigon which has still some old day’s traits a decade or two more and it will look like Bangkok or Jakarta. The dilemma for somebody preferring tranquil beaches and fresh air to noisy traffic and polluted atmosphere might be that most job opportunities and opportunities for personal development securing at least a retirement at the world’s most wanted shores are located in the cities.

rushing past – sometimes without sight

When paying attention to the details which too often rush past, one often realizes that it is oneself is rushing. Sometimes it needs a friend’s hint to slow down. Sometimes it is not an easy job to find the right balance to understand life as the movie it is, in order not to surrender, in order not to become demotivated by the circumstances of this venue and between taking responsibility and creating the most favourable conditions for the future. The remedy is not to get lost. Probably. it is just to follow one’s dreams. Becoming father will be a big transition in my life. It will mean giving up some freedom which was always so important. But it will probably also mean receiving so much back and developing my personality. Now it will be about giving somebody all the great warmth and opportunities that my parents have given me until now and on and on. At the moment, just starting into professional career, still having to finish university, and living in a city which is not easy, this will be a great challenge - and I love the challenge. There will be a way which is just about to be found. The great day will be in September, and honestly I am nervous already.

Pham Ngu Lao ward – where the “now” had begun

And so life will go on, in transition, in this everlasting flow of another world, of this holy circus, of this organic environment in the concrete city, the sometimes hostile spaceship…until we break the circle and escape into nirvana, into paradise, a better place, live there in peace and do better than these people on the District 1 stage who are in need for fake perfection and wrong values.