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I want to start this letter describing the
probably most interesting as well as intensive intercultural experience
I had this year (Mr. Paul and Mr. Simon - i can see you smile!). Anshul
and Rakhis' wedding took place in Anshul's hometown - Indore. I was
greatly welcomed and taken care of in a most fascinating way. Let
just put it this way - by the time i have left i felt like being part
of the family. I spent 4 days observing/ participating in family traditions,
ceremonies, prayers and meetings. As being the only "western"
person i always had somebody helping me out understanding the meaning
of those preparations for the big day, translating and interpreting
for me all the rituals. The actual wedding day started at 9am and
didn't finish before pretty much the same time the next day. It was
huge with, i guess, around 1800-2000 people attending the wedding
reception and the close family circle participating in the actual
wedding ceremony at around 3am. The food was fantastic, spicy as you
imagine, and rich in taste. I liked pretty much everything other than
the mouthfreshner. I think i tried all the 110 (i think that was the
number *hehe*) differently prepared dishes at the wedding dinner,
but please don't ask me what i liked the most, as i wouldn't be able
to make a definite decision on this one.
Illustration 1: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Anshul's
Mandy (on hands)
Illustration 2: Anshul & Rakhi's Wedding - getting my
mandy done
Illustration 3: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - looks great!
Illustration 4: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - looks great one more time!
Illustration 5: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - the traffic is
extraordinary organised in India!
Illustration
6: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - typical set-up for the wedding -
open air and football field size venues (this is a small version of
where
Anshul's wedding reception took place)
Illustration
7: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Anshul's Brother and cousin
Illustration 8: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - the Father, his two sons and I.
Anshul's the second from the right on his engagement evening
Illustration 9: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Dhruvi's on the right, Anshul
and her friend
Illustration
10: Anshul's mom in Orange
Illustration 11: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - the engagement reception
Illustration 12: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - dancing party after the engagement
Illustration
13: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - praying for good luck and success
Illustration 14: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - now officially part of the family
Illustration
15: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - a white, female horse carries the
groom to his wedding, pit-stopping at the local chapel to pray once
more
Illustration 16: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Anshul and his brother
Illustration 17: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - what do you think of my Shirvani?
Illustration 18: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - dancing on the streets towards
the wedding venue
Illustration 19: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - dancing
on the streets towards
the wedding venue (2)
Illustration 20: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - dancing
on the streets towards
the wedding venue (3)
Illustration 21: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - the wedding reception and the stage
Illustration 22: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - fantastic colors...
Illustration 231: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - they look like King and
Queen in this picture, don't they?!
Illustration 24: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - the actual marriage ceremony
Before
the wedding i spend 2 days in Mumbai where a very lovely lady took
care of me showing me around and making me stay ouf of trouble. Thanks
Dhruvi!!! I really appreciated your help and good care.
Illustration 30: my first
party in India - Dhruvi's (red), her friends and I
Illustration
31: Dhruvi is showing me around Mumbai
Illustration
32: Service and Sea Food in Mumbai is equally fantastic
Illustration 33: The Marriott Hotel in Bombay
After
the weeding I flew over to Goa, which is a holiday resort sort of
place - i think it must be the Mallorca of India - tons of clubs,
beautiful beaches and sunsets and great food - what else to expect
taking into account the Portuguese history.
Illustration 25: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Goa's Water sports
Illustration 26: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - what a great jet-ski ride
Illustration 27: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - beautiful and breathtaking
sunsets in Goa
Illustration 28: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Rakhi, Anshul and I in Goa
Illustration
29: Anshul
& Rakhi's Wedding - Goa is relaxing
Coming back to Australia
my team had its quarterly meeting in Sydney where we took the time
to have a great walk over the Sydney bridge, to the opera. The obvious
entertainment program was quite extensive bringing us together at
the Basement (beautiful live music btw) and the Establishment on George
Street - geez that was good fun.
Illustration 34: Vic
in Sydney
Illustration 35: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - Max,
Greg
and Simon (from left to right)
Illustration
36: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - Max, Greg
and Simon (from left to right)
Illustration
37: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - Vic, Paul and
Pierre-Francis (from left to right)
Illustration
38: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - Mr. Christoph
Illustration
39: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - The Sydney Opera
Illustration
40: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - The Sydney Opera (2)
Illustration
41: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - The Sydney Bridge
Illustration
42: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - The Sydney Skyline
Illustration
43: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - The Sydney Opera (3)
Illustration
44: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - Indu, Greg, Vic and
Dave
Illustration
45: Q2 Business Consulting Team Meet - Aren't they lovely
*smile*
Illustration 46: The Business Consulting Team
As i mentioned
work got so busy that the time is just flying by me lately. It's great
fun and i'm learning alot in a very short timeframe lately really
getting my head around quantifying benefits of our beautiful software.
The clients are demanding but feedback is excellent so far both from
our clients as well as internally. My work brought me to New Zealand
for the first time three weeks in a row i was traveling for 3 days
per week to Wellington - the capitol of New Zealand. It was great
fun to work with the New Zealand team and I tell you - they know how
to hold a work-party-life balance *lol* - Thanks for the good times
guys.
Illustration 47: Wellington - The SAP New Zealand Team
Illustration 48: Wellington
- The SAP New Zealand Team
Illustration 49: Wellington
- The SAP New Zealand Team and Permenthri
from Canberra
Illustration 50: Wellington - Courtney Place - The party
street
Illustration
51: Wellington - Michi from Neumarkt (Germany)
Illustration
53: Wellington - Germany vs Argentina - what a Soccer match
it was
Illustration
54: Wellington
Illustration
55: Wellington -The old parliament building
Illustration
56: Wellington -The new parliament building (The Bee Hive)
Illustration
57: Wellington -The new parliament building
Illustration
58: Wellington
Illustration
59: Wellington
Illustration
60: Wellington
Illustration
61: Wellington
Illustration
62: Wellington
Illustration
63: Wellington
Illustration
64: Wellington
Illustration
65: Wellington
Illustration
66: Wellington
Illustration
67: Wellington
Back
in Melbourne I'm on a big project to quantify the benefits to replace
a legacy ERP system with our SAP product equivalent. The project surrounding
facilities gave me the chance to make a couple nice shots of melbourne
- enjoy.
Illustration 68: Victor at Work
Illustration 69: Melbourne at night (Yarra River in the city)
Illustration 70: Melbourne from the 21st Floor
For
the last two weeks I had friends visiting me from Germany and Poland,
but hehe - living both in Sydney at the moment. Together with Martin
i took the great Ocean Road ride. It was beautiful and definitely
worthwhile. The weather was nothing better than passable - yes Melbourne's
winters are rainy! :) Bartek came over for the weekend. We used to
study together in Poland between 2000 and 2004.
Illustration 71: Party at the Icon Bar in Melbourne
Illustration 72: Martin's visit in Melbourne - The Great
Ocean Road Trip
Illustration 73: Martin's
visit in Melbourne - The Great Ocean Road Trip
Illustration 74: Martin's
visit in Melbourne - The Great Ocean Road Trip -
The Twelve Apostles
Illustration
75: Martin's
visit in Melbourne - The Great Ocean Road Trip -
The Twelve Apostles (2)
Illustration 76: Party at Icon Bar
Illustration 77: Party at the Icon Bar
Illustration 78: Party at the Icon Bar
Illustration 79: Party at the Icon Bar
Illustration 79: Bartek and Kamila at the Longroom
I've
also attached a couple shots from my stay in Perth my 2-Year Anniversary
of my stay in Australia and Marcin & Magdas'/ Henrik & Ioannis'/
Dasha's/ Jane's and Andreas' visit in Melbourne:
Illustration
80: 2-Year Anniversary of my stay in Australia - Zoe and
Christoph
Illustration 81: 2-Year Anniversary of my stay in Australia - Kamila
and Tal
Illustration
82: 2-Year Anniversary of my stay in Australia - Kamila and I
Illustration 83: Perth from the 27th floor
Illustration 84: Perth's kangaroos
Illustration 85: Perth
Illustration 86: Perth's Skyscrapers
Illustration 87: Victor in Perth
Illustration 88: Victor in Perth (2)
Illustration 89: Melbourne - The Hilton Hotel
Illustration 90: Marcin and Magdas' visit to Melbourne -
incl. Stephen
Illustration 91: Marcin
and Magdas' visit to Melbourne
Illustration 92: my one month-long house mate: Andreas from
Germany
Illustration 93: Jane's visit to Melbourne (Business Consultant
from Singapore)
Illustration 94: Dasha and Nawid - Dasha's visited Melbourne
coming
from Moscow
Illustration
95: Henrik and Ioannis' visit: Henrik and I at the Longroom
 I
llustration 96: Henrik and Ioannis' visit: Ioannis and I
at the Longroom
Illustration 97: Christoph and I at the Swedish Mid-Summer
Party of Joanna's
Illustration 98: Henrik and Ioannis' visit: Henrik (front),
Andreas (left),
Victor (back) and Joanna (right)
Illustration 99: Henrik and Ioannis' visit - warm-up at my
house in St. Kilda
Illustration 100: Kamila and I
Illustration 101: Kamila, Sasha and I
That
was it again. For now I'm busy till the end of this year but hope
to make a trip to china and Japan by the end/ beginning of the year
to visit friends over there. I guess the next newsletter will have
an Asian touch to it more than the others. I'll keep you posted and
hope you have enjoyed reading my newsletter. Be good and all the best
to you...
Live your
dreams,
Victor |
