Monday, December 29, 2008

Heidelberg, South Germany


I was staying at my school friend Parthiban's place in Stuttgart during Christmas holidays.... so decided to roam near by areas of Stuttgart...Heidelberg came to our mind... Heidelberg is a scenic city in South Germany situated on the banks of river Neckar...Heidelberg castle is worth visiting...we went to the top of Heidelberg by the mountain train which is called the Koenigstuhl...gives a panaromic view of the city of Heidelberg...sun was shining but it was freezing to the core....It was a great day with typical South Indian flavour of jokes and surcasms with our gang ;)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Scenic Salzburg, Austria

Two weeks of holidays.... what to do.... where to go... Salzburg in Austria came to my mind...decided to celebrate my Christmas holidays in Salzburg, Austria..took a flight from Hamburg to Sazburg by TUI fly airlines...my school friend Parthiban joined me in Salzburg directly from Stuttgart.....the weather was shit for the first day....sun god appeared on the second day....Salzburg is a picturesque city situated on the banks of the Salzach river, at the northern boundary of the Alps...birth place of Mozart...

Old city, Hohensalzburg which gives panoromic view of the city, Mozart's geburtshaus, Hellgrun garden are some of the important spots to cover...the important place to see in Salzburg is Untersberg which is around 30 kms from Salzburg...around 1880 m high...cable car takes you to the top...this ride in cable car is simply awesome....ofcourse all cable car rides to the top of the mountain is always fascinating...had a lovely time playing with the snow...this place gives an amazing view of the city of Salzburg....Salzburger Weihnachtsmarkt is worth mentioning....if one wants to taste the European culture...Salzburg is the place...amazing architectural buildings... Salzburg worth going once... :)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Christmas evening with Merkel family

Time goes really fast... this is almost my fourth Christmas in Germany.... What could be a better place to celebrate Christmas evening in Hamburg...its none other than at my mentor's place... his son and daughter-in-law came from London for the Christmas evening...with candles burning on the Christmas tree at the corner..with gifts and lovely wishes being exchanged...lovely awesome delicious dinner...what an ambience...typical German Christmas evening...

Herald gifted me a Wurst which is one of my favourite dishes in Germany ;) and more importantly gifted me a "Steurerklarung Software" (Tax Clearance) which I very badly needed in the recent times being a IT guy ;)... Germans always say their tax regulations are one of the complicated in the world...Herald's duty is to do mentoring during my studies to show German culture and make me feel integrated in to the society...What I can always says is...he has done exceedingly well than what he is supposed to do...a man who imbibed lot of confidence in me to lead a life in German society...our bond of love, affection and respect have grown in proportions in the recent years...I owe you a lot Herald... Well ask any German how special it is to invite a person for a Christmas evening...The answer says it all... :)

Hats off to Merkel family!!
Sathish Kumar S


Friday, December 19, 2008

Magnificient 2008

The year which gave me lot of joy, happiness, success and peace was none other than 2008 mainly because of the fact 2007 was really hard…. One really knows what happiness is after a stint of real tough times…that’s the case with me too…. Let’s have a short recap of how the year turned out…

January:
Came from Berlin after really tough times during my Thesis and job hunting…defended my Thesis for my Master of Science under Prof. Killat… a big relief after stressful days..

February:
Attended my spring school classes of my MBA…with lectures from one of the best Professors in the field of Strategy and Business Planning…. Thoroughly enjoyed the Blah Blah stuffs of MBA…

March:
Applied for my work permit…had some relaxing days before I started my work…Backpacked to Eastern Europe to countries like Hungary, Austria, Bratislava and also to Barcelona…. It was a great time with my friends (Andreas, Veera, Juan)

April:
Started my full time work as a Software Developer in Werum Software Systems… had lot of doubts, speculations about the work, colleagues…it was certainly an inquisitive start to the work…

May:
Went to Denmark with Bernd, Vijay, Hemant, Rushi…explored Denmark by renting a car…BBQ in Denmark coastline…fun in the beach and in the countryside of Denmark…memorable time

June:
Summer was its peak…Enjoyed playing Cricket in the weekends…had tussle and enjoyment in the game…Had a class trip to CuxhavenPlayed Beach volleyball with our friends along the coastline…great experience…

July:
Programmed our Process Automation Execution Software (PAS-X) in PDA….thoroughly had the job satisfaction after a long time in my career…guided by great analytical thinkers….

August:
Finished my MBA studies by giving the final propositions and shifted from Hamburg to Lüneburg mainly for the fact that I want to sleep more in the morning… Was making all preparations for my mom’s arrival in Germany

September:
Was counting my days for mom’s arrival in Germany… it was a great moment when I picked her up in Frankfurt….celebrated my 26th birthday with her and my good friends….

October:
The most important moment of the year 2008… mom’s presence for my MBA graduation ceremony…. The moment which I cherished to the core in the year 2008… had a great fun with her…cooked different kinds of food… had a great Diwali time with her and my good friends…

November:
Had to say good bye to my mom…It wasn’t certainly easy for me after her presence with me….but life has to go on…got used to the lonely way of life….

December:
Had a Christmas celebrations in my office… I was the Santa Claus… had a relaxed month in the work…no big deadlines and tasks…

All in all, it was a year where I enjoyed success, happiness, peace through out the year…It was quite opposite to what I experienced in 2007… I thank all my friends and well-wishers who were part of my happiness in 2008.. I don’t expect 2009 to be same as 2008… because lightening always strikes once ;)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Christmas Celebrations.. Who is the Santa Claus ?

Obama as President in USA, Sathish as Santa Claus in Germany..;) this was the caption suggested for this article by one of my colleague ;) Recently we had Weihnachtsfest (Christmas celebrations) in my office...there was a mail to all the members in the office for the voluntary representation of Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus) during the Christmas celebrations...Just had a glimpse of my Annual Day celebrations in school days...Then I thought why not and thanks to the motivation from Jan ;) Covered my face with a mask so that the kids don't have to be frightened and they don't have to say "Mummy Mummy...Weihnachtsmann spricht mit einem accent!! Er sieht sehr schwarz aus"...It was a hard time wearing the mask for one and half hours...I was sweating to the core when the temeparatue was around -3 outside hheeheee but thoroughly enjoyed the experience...I should say the German kids were very introvert..well thats a typical German culture...;) Followed by nice dinner and drinks...Day to remember!!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S