September 02nd was Ingrid's Brithday. With a stroke of luck our friends Tesha and Jeremiah decided to have Tesha's birthday party on the 02nd and we were able to tag along, but not have the preparation or mess afterwards to deal with. They had a garden party with Mexican food which we both really enjoy - (I managed to avoid getting into a tequila session with Tesha this time round!)
As mentioned in my last update, I was in the process of changing jobs/roles within SAP and in order to close down the previous team we went off for a final 'session' together. We chose a really great French Hotel a few hours drive away in the Ribeauville wine area - Hotel Valet de Coer, had an excellent 7 course meal and stayed the night. Was a real pity to be breaking the team up, as we'd really formed a close group after 3 years together, but almost all have now successfully moved on to new and hopefully bigger and better things. I'm now looking after the largest of the BPO (Busines Process Outsourcing) providers called ADP. They are a US listed organisation, but operate globally with over 44 000 employees. My job is to look after them basically, keep SAP's interests in mind and make sure they get what they need to be successful. Their core business is called Employer Services and in short they offer to run your companies HR related processes for you in an outsourced mode. So they become your HR/payroll dept. This is the link to my HR background and the SAP link is that they are now using our HR product and technology platform as the backend solution to provide services to their end customers. They are pretty successful at this. As a measure it has taken us (SAP) 30 years to sell around 10 000 customers for HR and ADP already has 500 000 customers and over 40 million employees that they process monthly. So a nice big juicy global account to manage with the introduction of a new rental business model and channel sales approach for SAP, so will certainly keep me busy!
Because of the new job, not too much in the line of travels on our side Oct/Nov, other than 3 trips to the ADP Head Office in the US (Roseland) near New York and many to their European office in Paris and a couple of conferences in Brussels, London etc. But we did get a visit from Yvette & Ian, friends from South Africa. This is their second holiday in Germany, so looks like we have one couple convinced that Germany offers a wonderful summer holiday trip. After leaving us, they went to stay for a few nights in the Castle Hornberg on the Neckar river. We went to joint them for a dinner one evening as well as a tour of the castle. On arrival we found Yvette naturally in the winery (surprise surprise!). This castle is only 15 minutes away from our house, so it shows that you often need visiting foreigners to discover your own surroundings! www.burg-hotel-hornberg.de
My highlight for November though was getting to see France vs, South Africa in the rugby at Stadt de France in Paris. We drove through on the Friday afternoon with some other South Africans from or related to SAP. We also took one token Frenchman with us Eric, who was in my old team, and had lived and studied in Paris for years before moving to Germany, so knew where to party, eat and park (but more about that later...). Partied too hard on Friday night that we were all a little subdued before the rugby match (could not even really face a beer!), but once the first beer was down and a perfectly awful steak and chips roll (called an American!), was back in action.
Game was excellent, even if South Africa lost. The singing jubilant French crowd braved a freezing cold night and were in full song. Have to say our boys never looked like they thawed out, and maybe next time someone could knit them some warmer undies! It had been snowing all morning in Paris, and we were pretty concerned that the pitch might have frozen and match abandoned, but all worked out, even if most of the group went back to work Monday with a cold. I managed to get my Bokke Jersey over my overcoat, so looked even larger than normal, will have to work on that in 2006 since in the pick below where I don't have the jacket on, not too much difference! (who wants a six pack when you already have a barrel anyway!)
Sunday morning we went back to the perfect parking spot that Eric (yes French, lived in Paris for years Eric) had chosen for us. It was in a side street very close to the hotel, but was no longer.... . Obvious South African response - it's been stolen, or in Paris at the time, Oh la la - its been burnt - but the truth was even more traumatic - towed away! Car pound obviously closed on a Sunday too, and to cut a VERY long story short, after 4 hours and many faxes back to Germany for insurance letters etc, we had the car back. Police really gave us the run around with what was required to get the car back, but imagine how much longer it could have taken if South Africa had of won!
Also fitted in once more the now legendary 'boothotterfest' - a joint birthday celebration for Phillip, Thomas and Charlotte. Managed to get over 50 folks together once more for some pizza, goulasch and dancing. Since I'll be turning 20 twice next year, expect those of you abroad to start saving now for the compulsory attendance in Nov/Dec 2006!
Another few weeks of work and it was then soon time for a Christmas break. We went to Livigno (Italy) for a 10 day skiing package with Absolute Tours once more. Our niece Angela joined us for the first week before flying back to be with her folks Brett and Hilda for Christmas. Driving to Livigno was a little hairy. There was a really bad snow storm and the main passes into the resort were closed. Quite off putting as you drive down the only way you know into the resort and the sign simply says closed ! We stopped and asked some locals who suggested the only way in would be to take the train. I'd imagined unpacking the car into a train and then a taxi on the other end, but you simply drove your car into the train (busses too) and off through the mountain tunnel for 25 minutes at high speed.
There was still an hour or so of high adrenelin driving on the other side. I found myself at the front of a rather large traffic jam. Despite having an Audi Quatro, am still a ninny driving in the snow / ice, and the two Czechoslovakian families behind me in Subarus were really trying to get past. Eventually they took the gap and went blasting past me, but within 5 kms we saw them again - one was buried in the snowbank up to his windscreen and they were about to start digging the car out. I could have stopped to help, but remembered the lights racing up into my rear view mirror.... . Learnt another valuable lesson too to share with all of you : it is much easier putting snow chains on in the garage at home, than at the side of the road at -20C! Need some more practice at that so that I don't shred the side panels of the car with a spinning chain or freeze to death in the process!
One definite advantage of arriving in a near white-out was that we had excellent snow conditions for the rest of the week. We woke up on Sunday to find a beautiful sunny day and it remained basically that way for the rest of the week. A little 'fresh' at times (ranged from -8 to -23 for the week & that was during the day!). But all you need is many layers and a really good pair of gloves (thanks mom for the Christmas present last year - really came in useful this time round!). Ingrid and Angela were wearing mittens and inserting a tea bag with special muti in them each morning, so avoiding the cold by buring chemical holes in their skin - still seems to work to keep you hands warm, just worried about the hair falling out from the radiation later though! (but wait a minute, my hair is falling out and I never used any...)
Absolute skiing were fantastic once more and as always a certain recommendation for any of you still considering joining us for a ski trip. Luke Peters who runs their operation in Livigno has once again put a good team of youngsters together that look after you. He was also a good sport and wore Ingrid's Kangaroo suit, skiing down from the top of the kids slopes for us to video! Had to watch that the tail did not get stuck on the chair lift though!
This trip there were over 100 South Africans, and also over 25 children under 14, which gave Angela the chance to build snowmen and ski with people of her own ability and not like the slow coaches Ingrid and Phillip! What were the chances in our second week of skiing that we'd ski between the trees off-piste....? (by the way this was an excellent way to give aunt Ingrid a heart attack!)
This was only Angela's second week of skiing, but at eight year old & still minus the 'fear of speed' gene, she was soon zooming down the slopes faster than either of us. For catching up, I still have the benefit of gravity on my side, but I'm afraid Ingrid you have no chance anymore, Angela is too fast for us !
The Absolute program was the usual mix of evening entertainment - ice skating, bum boarding etc and optional dinners preceded with the infamous apre-ski parties. Italy is nowhere near as wild as Austria for their apre-ski parties (assume the Italians are a little more elegant / stylish in getting wasted as a concept), but with over 100 South Africans a good party was had by all.
Each evening the Absolute team arrange a different venue in the town, here Angela is sliding into a pub and playing an air guitar at the same time - these are the photos not for mom and dad or they'll not send her again - off to convent I'm afraid dear! (she really is going to convent next year! - was not us promise!). Was lovely to have her with us again, hope she enjoyed it as much as us... .
Despite most having been naughty, father Christmas did visit us all on Christmas eve for a 7 course dinner as well as Christmas morning for a champagne breakfast carrying in his sleigh 100 bottles of Uzzo, well done Santa!
Next trips planned - Jan 26-29 in Kaunertal (Austria); Feb 09-12 in St Anton (Austria), Feb 16-19 in Kitzbuehel (Austria) & a week in March somewhere, still to be booked / arranged - join us !
As sent Previously : January - August 2005
The new year started very work focused. Ingrid started a new job at the same organisation with much more responsibility and directly working on the SAP system (always a joy to have a customer at home!). I went off for a week to our sales kick-off meeting in Barcelona (all work and no play for poor Phillip). I got some new responsibilites and products to look after, but basically the HR program I'd been driving was over when PeopleSoft was bought by Oracle - Game Over.
Spent most of January in meetings, setting up new programs and integrating the team into a new organisation structure before it was suddenly time for some leave once again. We went off skiing in Austria for the first week of February with Colin and Carol. We all spoilt ourselves by going to a really nice hotel and ski resort called Bad Gastein. The town is famous for its hot spas and mineral water baths, so we made the most of the skiing and the afternoon 'wellness' facilities. This even included Colin and Carol in the sauna being attacked by a loonatic swinging / flicking a wet towel around (doesn't sound that serious until you remember that Austrian saunas are attended naked !). Anyway we later found out this is a very special part of the wellness program and they were very lucky to have got in and been there at the right time!
We had an excellent weeks skiing and Ingrid even did some ski flying ! Although the weather did not play along on all days, we had excellent snow and perfect conditions for easy skiing.
The next week friends Julian and Claudine came to visit with their 4 kids, Beth, Oliver, Emma and Abigale. Was really great to have a house full and see the raw excitement of kids that had not seen proper snow before. We took them on the first afternoon into the fields outside of our house while walking the dogs, but the snow was really only a light dusting and the snow balls were more mud than snowflake based!
Only 2 hours away though we went off to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Here there had been excellent snowfall and with bum-boarding and tabogganing, all had an excellent time. We were lucky that there was more snowfall and during the entire week were then able to stay pretty close to home. We messed around on the local hills toboganing and generally freezing the poor kids Beth, Oliver, Emma and Abigail (not to mention mom!). We were also able to build a very skinny snowman at the end of the week even though most of the snow was gone.Still think this is the only snowman I've seen with a chilli nose!
Apart from letting the kids have a ball in the snow, we also managed to fit in the compulsory Heidelberg Castle and old town tour. It looks much better in summer, but still a pretty town when covered in snow, and always a cold beer to enjoy in one of the many bars.
Got back to work again & immediately had a conference that we'd arranged with people from all over the world. Had a three day event near Frankfurt followed by a three day 'networking' event (which just happened to be at a ski resort in Austria). So as I said, all work and no fun for me in 2005! We hired a bus and a great bunch of people got together for a trip to Obertauern. There had been some concern expressed from my team members about this choice as it is seen as a pretty sleepy family resort, but all were suitably impressed afterwards. Seems that all resorts have cold beers and Jägermeister, and the rest seems to fall into place! Was good to have the opportunity to be hard pressed by the 'locals' in the mornings (skiing way beyond my capabilities), and then slink into the afternoon with the premise of looking after the beginners! Although my work team is in the process of being disbanded, we will try to keep up the Annual Ski Trip event, which over the last three years has become quite an institution.... .
In April I went over to the UK for my cousin Jason's wedding in Liverpool, and got to see the whole family and enjoy a good party into the night. Liverpudlians will always retain an excellent sense of humour and appetite for a good party and lots of warm beer... . We wish Jane and Jason all the best for the future.
Then again back to the grindstone for me... . Our bi-annual user group meeting. This time it was held in Palo Alto in California and it became mission critical for me to be there ! I'd never been to San Francisco and as one of the places that could offer career prospects (or at least jobs) at SAP in the future, had wanted to take a look. Luckily our friend Tesha who now lives in Germany is from there and was also the person organising the meeting. This meant that I had a built-in tour guide which was really great and I got to see a 'complete' tour in only one day ! I'm sure that locals would disagree, but I saw everything that I'd seen on TV, got to cross THE bridge with the Beach Boys California Girls playing (Tesha would have me believe that they are from further down south, but for a boy from Benoni, San Francisco was close enough!), tour of the harbour, bought the Alcatraz Triathlon T-Shirt (Dig, Swim, Sprint), drove/cruised the beach front, ate clam chowder for lunch... . Really enjoyed the city too, which is a surprise as neither Ingrid nor myself are big city people. Think that there is enough water around to keep me interested, enough good food and wine to satisfy even the fussiest appetite, and sailing everywhere. Even got to sit across from a 'She Male' disco for a few hours late at night to complete the Californian experience. For some reason my perception of what Silicon Valley should be about would look like a very big version of Mid-Rand in South Africa. A main road running through it, and all of the multi-storey tech companies lining the road. What I found was much more interesting, small towns, winding roads and forests and tucked away in small clusters the brand name companies that are now so well known. Definitely on the list as a maybe.... .
A friend from SAP in South Africa, Faheem, now works for SAP in Palo Alto and kindly took over the tourist duties once Tesha escaped home to see her folks. Faheem is a gadget freek and even got me to part with my hard earned money for an IPOD which once demonstrated became a 'have to have'. 4 Months later I should probably load some music on it, but at least I can say that I have one.... . Faheem you will be impressed to know though that I'm buying all of the accessories now so that it could work in Ingrid's new car... (could) .
From there I returned home for a few days and then was off on more urgent business in Johannesburg which happened to coincide with Blair and Terri's wedding. Was good to see all of the work colleagues from SAP in Joburg once more and to still see the familiar faces in the customer event we had. I stayed with Dave, Joshua & Ailsa who announced the evening before the wedding that they are expecting number two. Good luck and well done, Joshua needs a playmate anyway. This also means that despite a slow start, Dave will now lead 2:1 to the other brothers.... .(come on guys you are falling behind!).
The wedding was down in the Natal Midlands and the weather really played along. Lovely ceremony in a small remote church, lunch out in the gardens of a hotel nearby and then a small shower to push everyone into the bar at just the right moment. Weddings are an excellent opportunity to catch up with old friends, share emotions & tears (thanks Blair) and get plastered on your mates account. Well done to Blair on inviting Emma and husband from Ireland. As soon as the disco was fading, out came the piano and as all good Irish boys can, we had an excellent sing along evening. This was certainly helped along by the fact that the bride had drunk most of us under the table with tequilas by this stage, so everyone could suddenly sing! Congratulations to both of you on re-finding one another, you look like a fun and loving family.
Ingrid had a week in the UK in April attending an SAP Training course. Our office is right on the edge of Heathrow airport, so no great tourist destination but I'm sure that Rebecca showed her some sights... .While on that subject, Rebecca is getting married to Craig this November, so looking forward to that trip too - seems you passsed the Ingrid-once-over-test Craig, well done!
At the end of May I attended another internal meeting in the US, this time in Miami. I'd only ever been through Miami as a connection from South Africa on my way to Disney. We arrived on the weekend so got to fit in some 'industrial tourism' doing the Miami Beach tour and having some excellent sea food. Also got to see one of the 7 basketball finals between the Mimi Heat and the Pistons. Unfortuntely Miami lost this game as well as the series, despite our vocal support. Best was a tour of the harbour at sunset, doing the real tourist boat trip, staring into Shakira's place to see if she was taking a shower - also looked into Ricky Martin's place for Ingrid, but he was also not taking a shower (at the time we were there at least). The bay is really splendid and a real sailing paradise with the Carribean islands only a few hours sail away. In summary, all I can say is that Hummer sales men and plastic surgeons must do really well in this town, Miami Vice indeed... .
In June got to go to Krakow in Poland to attend one of our business partners events. Good to hear what our partners are up to and see that combining work and play is not only a South African concept. They had an excellent team building event in a castle. All the usual activities, archery, climbing up trees and ropes, throwing and carrying various things and then to end a medival castle challenge, hovercraft racing - great fun ! They also had quad bike racing through a river bed and being the only SAP employee there, felt it necessary to at least try and win. Ended up ramping the bike and nearly killing half their staff as I landed badly and twisted the hell out of my wrist. Serves me right for being an arsehole & showing off. After that tumble only managed second place... .
Krakow is often refered to as ‘The New Prague’, and is obviously on the budget airline route and now well established as a tourist destination. It is Poland’s fourth largest city, but maintains the small city feel. Especially spectacular was the city centre which is apprently one of the best preserved medieval city centres in Europe. I was there on a perfect summers day and was able to enjoy the stalls selling tourist crap amongst the many pavement cafés that covered the main square. There was also a big stage set up for live bands in the evenings, must be a great evening venue. I only had a few hours to walk around, but saw dozens of churches, monasteries and abbeys just walking through the Old Town streets. Definitely a possible location for a film set, picture perfect. May need to take Ingrid there for a long weekend I think (but best done in summer I'm sure!).
From there I flew home and left the next day for a week in Holland. We were sponsors of a conference, (something about e-learning) anyway was at a really nice hotel on the beach - 'Huis Ter Duin' in Noordwijk aan Zee. Beach & Holland don't really go together for me, but I've been there now and it really is a beach only 4 hours drive from our home in Germany. Complete with catermarans, sun unbrellas and ships. Was there with French friend Eric and had a really good time just walking on the beach and taking in the sights. Afterwards was upset that I'd not been more German and booked ahead for an extra night and gone sailing, but it is only 4 hours away. Again probably best in summer, but living proof that there is more to The Netherlands than tulips, windmills, red light districts and hash cafes!
During all of this hard labour on my side, Ingrid decided that she wants a new car. She decided what she wanted, and we even found one through the internet in a town not far from our house. I stupidly (in retrospect) suggested that we should not take the first one we find, but that she should shop around and see what else we could get for the same money (Phillip speak for "if the budget was to slip to double what else could we get", plus have an excuse to test drive a bunch of cars). Eventually Ingrid test drove a TT-Roadster for a weekend as the final verdict / selection, but thankfully she decided back to her original car which is the BMW Z3 M-Coupe like the one we had in SA, only in blue. Germany is the only country in the world where 320 HP & a top speed limited at 250kmh becomes useful, so great to have a toy to play with - I mean, great for Ingrid to have a toy to play with.... . If you know anyone who needs an Opel Corsa GSI with all of the extras, we have one spare.... . (so visit us now and we throw in a free hire car with the accomodation costs!)
In July EMBL (the organisation that Ingrid works for) had their annual summer party. This is a big event with people from the local villiages simply 'pulling in' illegally and making a real thrash of it. Free booze, fun fair, jumping castle and pony rides, a great combination! They also had a number of bands on during the night and apparently thrashed on till the wee small hours. So even scientists can 'shake their thang' ! Walking around this place though really does make you feel like school passed you by. All of the marketing posters are for events discussing not only topics that you have no opinion on, you can't pronouce the words, and in a sentence there just impossible - definitely a different world. There must be a reason why they keep them hidden in the forest above Heidelberg and not in town... .
Holly (one of our 2 boxers) had a knee operation earlier in the year. It was unsuccessful so the poor dog had to have the whole thing done again. Anyway this time we obviously want to make sure that it works and the added complexity now is that she is so good at getting around on three legs that even though she has had the op, refused to put the foot down. Vet suggested one of two options. 2-3 Trips per week to a specialist dog water-aerobics centre with underwater walking belts etc, or option 'B' go swimming in the Neckar river with her every day... . Since the specialist place was over an hour away, the river seemed like the most likely if not cold option. But then I had a cunning plan - buy a swimming pool. So yes we now have a swimming pool in Germany. Admitedly the water temperature has not even hit 15 degrees C since we installed it, but at least it got the dog (& me) swimming. She is now walking on the leg as long as she is on the lead, but immediately converts back to three legs when given the option. Will wait a few weeks and see if she improves, or may need to the doggie aqua-centre after all!.
Faith and Pierre also came to vist us for a month end July/August. They left their yacht Senta in a secure marina in Malaysia and first went to South Africa for a month and then came to Germany. They did a marathon route to get here from Joburg via Kuala Lampur to Frankfurt. Maybe someone in the airline industry out there can explain one day why that is cheaper than Joburg,Frankfurt, KL ? Anyway, was good to see both again after so long. When we asked Faith what she wanted to do while here, she responded 'have cold cokes and hot baths'. After 9 years on the boat, I can imagine these are good luxuries to get used to. That put a dent in our plans to have the bathroom re-done while we were on leave, but it is on the forthcoming projects list now and Faith could have her baths and cold cokes!
Since they were here for a month, we decided to go away for at least a week. We drove down to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) via Freiburg and stayed in Konstanz. Hired bicycles and rode around looking at the historical buildings, churches and most importantly boats! Was good to sit on the water and just watch the boats going back and forwards. One evening also took the tourist lake tour, but the weather was not great forcing us to hide under the covers, but at least I can say I was on the water!
Konstance is picture perfect with an old town, shopping district and hundreds of resturants. The lake covers 220 square miles, (apparently central Europe’s second largest freshwater lake). Was still fairly novel even for us to take a bike ride from Germany to Switzerland and then drive through Austria in the afternoon. All the way around the city were cycle paths and these mostly ran down the edge of the lake, so an excellent way to get around.
After a few days in Konstanz, we drove into the Alps and stayed near Obersdorf. Obersdorf is well known as a winter ski resort and specifically for ski jumping as it has a number of slopes and is part of the world cup circuit. We were able to take the gondola up to the top of the mountain and had an excellent view of the Alps from there while enjoying a Weizenbier!
We stayed in a beautiful hotel just out of town overlooking the whole valley and a small chapel. The chapel had just had its wooden roof redone, making it look like gold. As usual small town and hotel hospitality was excellent and we even ventured into the hotel pool. Hotel comes highly recomended if you like to be a little 'away from it all'. We will try to book in again to watch the ski jumping next season, but may be too late already.... .
While Pierre and Faith were still here, Colin and Carol drove over from the UK and stayed for a week as part of a three week camping tour of Europe with the two kids Sarah and Emily. We were able to avoid the Heidelberg Castle tour (one more time), because they had their own car and we sent them off to do that themselves. Colin bought them some good German hats and had the oriental tourist all taking pictures of them till they got quite self concious...! We also did a cycle ride along the Neckar with all 8 of us, until Emily took a tumble and grazed her knees and back, so that physical exercise ended in a resturant, having beers and lunch (so all's well that ends well....).
We did get to use the kids as an excuse though for me to go to the Fairytale Paradise on the hills overlooking Heidelberg and Charlotte brought her three to join us there. The 4 girls had an excellent time, and I was really impressed. I was expecting something quite educational, but it was more like a fun fair for 4-10 year olds. (& not bad for the nearly 40 year olds either!)
We spent most of the day there and then took Lilly and Daisy off Charlotte and went off back home for a slumber party. Having no experience in this, was good to have Carol there. We arranged so many activities (including painting, baking and even a disco) that we had them up till after midnight. The parents of course had to deal with the nuclear fallout the next day/s from grumpy kids, but at the time it seemed like a good idea!
On the last Sunday we did a canoe trip down the Neckar river. Seems like an easy enough task at the outset to glide down river, but after 5 hours of paddling, it was actually quite a strenuous day out. I was very surprised the next day that I was not seized up, so maybe I'll do that again. Was very enjoyable to see all of the properties and motor boats / campers from a river perspective. Despite the fact that we got rained on during the journey, think everyone really enjoyed that.
All too soon, Faith and Pierre returned to Malaysia to clean Senta's bottom and Colin, Carol, Sarah and Emily went off into the Black Forest and then on to France for another two weeks camping.
That's all for now, on the job front, I'm staying at SAP, but moving to a global role for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) providers.... will try to write more often so that the essay is not so much to get through!
September 02nd was Ingrid's Brithday. With a stroke of luck our friends Tesha and Jeremiah decided to have Tesha's birthday party on the 02nd and we were able to tag along, but not have the preparation or mess afterwards to deal with. They had a garden party with Mexican food which we both really enjoy - (I managed to avoid getting into a tequila session with Tesha this time round!) 
My highlight for November though was getting to see France vs, South Africa in the rugby at Stadt de France in Paris. We drove through on the Friday afternoon with some other South Africans from or related to SAP. We also took one token Frenchman with us Eric, who was in my old team, and had lived and studied in Paris for years before moving to Germany, so knew where to party, eat and park (but more about that later...). Partied too hard on Friday night that we were all a little subdued before the rugby match (could not even really face a beer!), but once the first beer was down and a perfectly awful steak and chips roll (called an American!), was back in action. 
Sunday morning we went back to the perfect parking spot that Eric (yes French, lived in Paris for years Eric) had chosen for us. It was in a side street very close to the hotel, but was no longer.... . Obvious South African response - it's been stolen, or in Paris at the time, Oh la la - its been burnt - but the truth was even more traumatic - towed away! Car pound obviously closed on a Sunday too, and to cut a VERY long story short, after 4 hours and many faxes back to Germany for insurance letters etc, we had the car back. Police really gave us the run around with what was required to get the car back, but imagine how much longer it could have taken if South Africa had of won!
Another few weeks of work and it was then soon time for a Christmas break. We went to Livigno (Italy) for a 10 day skiing package with Absolute Tours once more. Our niece Angela joined us for the first week before flying back to be with her folks Brett and Hilda for Christmas. Driving to Livigno was a little hairy. There was a really bad snow storm and the main passes into the resort were closed. Quite off putting as you drive down the only way you know into the resort and the sign simply says closed ! We stopped and asked some locals who suggested the only way in would be to take the train. I'd imagined unpacking the car into a train and then a taxi on the other end, but you simply drove your car into the train (busses too) and off through the mountain tunnel for 25 minutes at high speed. 
There was still an hour or so of high adrenelin driving on the other side. I found myself at the front of a rather large traffic jam. Despite having an Audi Quatro, am still a ninny driving in the snow / ice, and the two Czechoslovakian families behind me in Subarus were really trying to get past. Eventually they took the gap and went blasting past me, but within 5 kms we saw them again - one was buried in the snowbank up to his windscreen and they were about to start digging the car out. I could have stopped to help, but remembered the lights racing up into my rear view mirror.... . Learnt another valuable lesson too to share with all of you : it is much easier putting snow chains on in the garage at home, than at the side of the road at -20C! Need some more practice at that so that I don't shred the side panels of the car with a spinning chain or freeze to death in the process!
One definite advantage of arriving in a near white-out was that we had excellent snow conditions for the rest of the week. We woke up on Sunday to find a beautiful sunny day and it remained basically that way for the rest of the week. A little 'fresh' at times (ranged from -8 to -23 for the week & that was during the day!). But all you need is many layers and a really good pair of gloves (thanks mom for the Christmas present last year - really came in useful this time round!). Ingrid and Angela were wearing mittens and inserting a tea bag with special muti in them each morning, so avoiding the cold by buring chemical holes in their skin - still seems to work to keep you hands warm, just worried about the hair falling out from the radiation later though! (but wait a minute, my hair is falling out and I never used any...)
Absolute skiing were fantastic once more and as always a certain recommendation for any of you still considering joining us for a ski trip. Luke Peters who runs their operation in Livigno has once again put a good team of youngsters together that look after you. He was also a good sport and wore Ingrid's Kangaroo suit, skiing down from the top of the kids slopes for us to video! Had to watch that the tail did not get stuck on the chair lift though!
This trip there were over 100 South Africans, and also over 25 children under 14, which gave Angela the chance to build snowmen and ski with people of her own ability and not like the slow coaches Ingrid and Phillip! What were the chances in our second week of skiing that we'd ski between the trees off-piste....? (by the way this was an excellent way to give aunt Ingrid a heart attack!)
This was only Angela's second week of skiing, but at eight year old & still minus the 'fear of speed' gene, she was soon zooming down the slopes faster than either of us. For catching up, I still have the benefit of gravity on my side, but I'm afraid Ingrid you have no chance anymore, Angela is too fast for us ! 
The Absolute program was the usual mix of evening entertainment - ice skating, bum boarding etc and optional dinners preceded with the infamous apre-ski parties. Italy is nowhere near as wild as Austria for their apre-ski parties (assume the Italians are a little more elegant / stylish in getting wasted as a concept), but with over 100 South Africans a good party was had by all. 
Each evening the Absolute team arrange a different venue in the town, here Angela is sliding into a pub and playing an air guitar at the same time - these are the photos not for mom and dad or they'll not send her again - off to convent I'm afraid dear! (she really is going to convent next year! - was not us promise!). Was lovely to have her with us again, hope she enjoyed it as much as us... .
Despite most having been naughty, father Christmas did visit us all on Christmas eve for a 7 course dinner as well as Christmas morning for a champagne breakfast carrying in his sleigh 100 bottles of Uzzo, well done Santa!
Next trips planned - Jan 26-29 in Kaunertal (Austria); Feb 09-12 in St Anton (Austria), Feb 16-19 in Kitzbuehel (Austria) & a week in March somewhere, still to be booked / arranged - join us !
Spent most of January in meetings, setting up new programs and integrating the team into a new organisation structure before it was suddenly time for some leave once again. We went off skiing in Austria for the first week of February with Colin and Carol. We all spoilt ourselves by going to a really nice hotel and ski resort called Bad Gastein. The town is famous for its hot spas and mineral water baths, so we made the most of the skiing and the afternoon 'wellness' facilities. This even included Colin and Carol in the sauna being attacked by a loonatic swinging / flicking a wet towel around (doesn't sound that serious until you remember that Austrian saunas are attended naked !). Anyway we later found out this is a very special part of the wellness program and they were very lucky to have got in and been there at the right time! 
We had an excellent weeks skiing and Ingrid even did some ski flying ! Although the weather did not play along on all days, we had excellent snow and perfect conditions for easy skiing.
The next week friends Julian and Claudine came to visit with their 4 kids, Beth, Oliver, Emma and Abigale. Was really great to have a house full and see the raw excitement of kids that had not seen proper snow before. We took them on the first afternoon into the fields outside of our house while walking the dogs, but the snow was really only a light dusting and the snow balls were more mud than snowflake based!
Only 2 hours away though we went off to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Here there had been excellent snowfall and with bum-boarding and tabogganing, all had an excellent time. We were lucky that there was more snowfall and during the entire week were then able to stay pretty close to home. We messed around on the local hills toboganing and generally freezing the poor kids Beth, Oliver, Emma and Abigail (not to mention mom!). We were also able to build a very skinny snowman at the end of the week even though most of the snow was gone.Still think this is the only snowman I've seen with a chilli nose!
Got back to work again & immediately had a conference that we'd arranged with people from all over the world. Had a three day event near Frankfurt followed by a three day 'networking' event (which just happened to be at a ski resort in Austria). So as I said, all work and no fun for me in 2005! We hired a bus and a great bunch of people got together for a trip to Obertauern. There had been some concern expressed from my team members about this choice as it is seen as a pretty sleepy family resort, but all were suitably impressed afterwards. Seems that all resorts have cold beers and Jägermeister, and the rest seems to fall into place! Was good to have the opportunity to be hard pressed by the 'locals' in the mornings (skiing way beyond my capabilities), and then slink into the afternoon with the premise of looking after the beginners! Although my work team is in the process of being disbanded, we will try to keep up the Annual Ski Trip event, which over the last three years has become quite an institution.... .
Then again back to the grindstone for me... . Our bi-annual user group meeting. This time it was held in Palo Alto in California and it became mission critical for me to be there ! I'd never been to San Francisco and as one of the places that could offer career prospects (or at least jobs) at SAP in the future, had wanted to take a look. Luckily our friend Tesha who now lives in Germany is from there and was also the person organising the meeting. This meant that I had a built-in tour guide which was really great and I got to see a 'complete' tour in only one day ! I'm sure that locals would disagree, but I saw everything that I'd seen on TV, got to cross THE bridge with the Beach Boys California Girls playing (Tesha would have me believe that they are from further down south, but for a boy from Benoni, San Francisco was close enough!), tour of the harbour, bought the Alcatraz Triathlon T-Shirt (Dig, Swim, Sprint), drove/cruised the beach front, ate clam chowder for lunch... . Really enjoyed the city too, which is a surprise as neither Ingrid nor myself are big city people. Think that there is enough water around to keep me interested, enough good food and wine to satisfy even the fussiest appetite, and sailing everywhere. Even got to sit across from a 'She Male' disco for a few hours late at night to complete the Californian experience. For some reason my perception of what Silicon Valley should be about would look like a very big version of Mid-Rand in South Africa. A main road running through it, and all of the multi-storey tech companies lining the road. What I found was much more interesting, small towns, winding roads and forests and tucked away in small clusters the brand name companies that are now so well known. Definitely on the list as a maybe.... . 
A friend from SAP in South Africa, Faheem, now works for SAP in Palo Alto and kindly took over the tourist duties once Tesha escaped home to see her folks. Faheem is a gadget freek and even got me to part with my hard earned money for an IPOD which once demonstrated became a 'have to have'. 4 Months later I should probably load some music on it, but at least I can say that I have one.... . Faheem you will be impressed to know though that I'm buying all of the accessories now so that it could work in Ingrid's new car... (could) . 
From there I returned home for a few days and then was off on more urgent business in Johannesburg which happened to coincide with Blair and Terri's wedding. Was good to see all of the work colleagues from SAP in Joburg once more and to still see the familiar faces in the customer event we had. I stayed with Dave, Joshua & Ailsa who announced the evening before the wedding that they are expecting number two. Good luck and well done, Joshua needs a playmate anyway. This also means that despite a slow start, Dave will now lead 2:1 to the other brothers.... .(come on guys you are falling behind!).
The wedding was down in the Natal Midlands and the weather really played along. Lovely ceremony in a small remote church, lunch out in the gardens of a hotel nearby and then a small shower to push everyone into the bar at just the right moment. Weddings are an excellent opportunity to catch up with old friends, share emotions & tears (thanks Blair) and get plastered on your mates account. Well done to Blair on inviting Emma and husband from Ireland. As soon as the disco was fading, out came the piano and as all good Irish boys can, we had an excellent sing along evening. This was certainly helped along by the fact that the bride had drunk most of us under the table with tequilas by this stage, so everyone could suddenly sing! Congratulations to both of you on re-finding one another, you look like a fun and loving family. 
In June got to go to Krakow in Poland to attend one of our business partners events. Good to hear what our partners are up to and see that combining work and play is not only a South African concept. They had an excellent team building event in a castle. All the usual activities, archery, climbing up trees and ropes, throwing and carrying various things and then to end a medival castle challenge, hovercraft racing - great fun ! They also had quad bike racing through a river bed and being the only SAP employee there, felt it necessary to at least try and win. Ended up ramping the bike and nearly killing half their staff as I landed badly and twisted the hell out of my wrist. Serves me right for being an arsehole & showing off. After that tumble only managed second place... .
Krakow is often refered to as ‘The New Prague’, and is obviously on the budget airline route and now well established as a tourist destination. It is Poland’s fourth largest city, but maintains the small city feel. Especially spectacular was the city centre which is apprently one of the best preserved medieval city centres in Europe. I was there on a perfect summers day and was able to enjoy the stalls selling tourist crap amongst the many pavement cafés that covered the main square. There was also a big stage set up for live bands in the evenings, must be a great evening venue. I only had a few hours to walk around, but saw dozens of churches, monasteries and abbeys just walking through the Old Town streets. Definitely a possible location for a film set, picture perfect. May need to take Ingrid there for a long weekend I think (but best done in summer I'm sure!). 
From there I flew home and left the next day for a week in Holland. We were sponsors of a conference, (something about e-learning) anyway was at a really nice hotel on the beach - 'Huis Ter Duin' in Noordwijk aan Zee. Beach & Holland don't really go together for me, but I've been there now and it really is a beach only 4 hours drive from our home in Germany. Complete with catermarans, sun unbrellas and ships. Was there with French friend Eric and had a really good time just walking on the beach and taking in the sights. Afterwards was upset that I'd not been more German and booked ahead for an extra night and gone sailing, but it is only 4 hours away. Again probably best in summer, but living proof that there is more to The Netherlands than tulips, windmills, red light districts and hash cafes!
Holly (one of our 2 boxers) had a knee operation earlier in the year. It was unsuccessful so the poor dog had to have the whole thing done again. Anyway this time we obviously want to make sure that it works and the added complexity now is that she is so good at getting around on three legs that even though she has had the op, refused to put the foot down. Vet suggested one of two options. 2-3 Trips per week to a specialist dog water-aerobics centre with underwater walking belts etc, or option 'B' go swimming in the Neckar river with her every day... . Since the specialist place was over an hour away, the river seemed like the most likely if not cold option. But then I had a cunning plan - buy a swimming pool. So yes we now have a swimming pool in Germany. Admitedly the water temperature has not even hit 15 degrees C since we installed it, but at least it got the dog (& me) swimming. She is now walking on the leg as long as she is on the lead, but immediately converts back to three legs when given the option. Will wait a few weeks and see if she improves, or may need to the doggie aqua-centre after all!.
Since they were here for a month, we decided to go away for at least a week. We drove down to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) via Freiburg and stayed in Konstanz. Hired bicycles and rode around looking at the historical buildings, churches and most importantly boats! Was good to sit on the water and just watch the boats going back and forwards. One evening also took the tourist lake tour, but the weather was not great forcing us to hide under the covers, but at least I can say I was on the water! 
Konstance is picture perfect with an old town, shopping district and hundreds of resturants. The lake covers 220 square miles, (apparently central Europe’s second largest freshwater lake). Was still fairly novel even for us to take a bike ride from Germany to Switzerland and then drive through Austria in the afternoon. All the way around the city were cycle paths and these mostly ran down the edge of the lake, so an excellent way to get around. 
After a few days in Konstanz, we drove into the Alps and stayed near Obersdorf. Obersdorf is well known as a winter ski resort and specifically for ski jumping as it has a number of slopes and is part of the world cup circuit. We were able to take the gondola up to the top of the mountain and had an excellent view of the Alps from there while enjoying a Weizenbier!
We stayed in a beautiful hotel just out of town overlooking the whole valley and a small chapel. The chapel had just had its wooden roof redone, making it look like gold. As usual small town and hotel hospitality was excellent and we even ventured into the hotel pool. Hotel comes highly recomended if you like to be a little 'away from it all'. We will try to book in again to watch the ski jumping next season, but may be too late already.... .
While Pierre and Faith were still here, Colin and Carol drove over from the UK and stayed for a week as part of a three week camping tour of Europe with the two kids Sarah and Emily. We were able to avoid the Heidelberg Castle tour (one more time), because they had their own car and we sent them off to do that themselves. Colin bought them some good German hats and had the oriental tourist all taking pictures of them till they got quite self concious...! We also did a cycle ride along the Neckar with all 8 of us, until Emily took a tumble and grazed her knees and back, so that physical exercise ended in a resturant, having beers and lunch (so all's well that ends well....). 
We did get to use the kids as an excuse though for me to go to the Fairytale Paradise on the hills overlooking Heidelberg and Charlotte brought her three to join us there. The 4 girls had an excellent time, and I was really impressed. I was expecting something quite educational, but it was more like a fun fair for 4-10 year olds. (& not bad for the nearly 40 year olds either!)
We spent most of the day there and then took Lilly and Daisy off Charlotte and went off back home for a slumber party. Having no experience in this, was good to have Carol there. We arranged so many activities (including painting, baking and even a disco) that we had them up till after midnight. The parents of course had to deal with the nuclear fallout the next day/s from grumpy kids, but at the time it seemed like a good idea! 
On the last Sunday we did a canoe trip down the Neckar river. Seems like an easy enough task at the outset to glide down river, but after 5 hours of paddling, it was actually quite a strenuous day out. I was very surprised the next day that I was not seized up, so maybe I'll do that again. Was very enjoyable to see all of the properties and motor boats / campers from a river perspective. Despite the fact that we got rained on during the journey, think everyone really enjoyed that.
