With all of the chaos and problems our world has endured this past year, I hope there is some time for all of us to reflect on peace and that all of us are grateful for the wonderful friends and family we have.

With that said, time to go ski!  I had a really bad fall on a run last weekend and if it were not for my goggles and helmet, I surely would have had a broken nose and loss of consciousness.   I am dying to get back on that run tomorrow and own it.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all.  May you find peace and calm with family and friends.

It may still be 2015, but I am already planning my adventures for 2016.  I already went ahead and booked my flights to Oregon and California for early next year.

During the last week in January I will reunite with an old friend in Portland and then come back to Colorado to go ice climbing for the first time ever.  Should be fun.

In early March I will see as much of California as I can see in one and a half weeks and catch the Atlanta Hawks play a couple of games in Los Angeles.  Hopefully, they’ll be doing better than they are right now.

2015 is not over yet, and I still want to climb and ski as much as possible and hope to continue to get better at these things each week.

With every horrible thing happening in the world today such as wars, mass shootings in the U.S., and just everyday events, it is sometimes easy to forget those poorest among us who are usually the ones who are most affected by catastrophes.

Chennai, a city in Tamil Nadu, India, is the home town of my father and an important part of my childhood.  The city has been devastated by floods recently and approximately 200 people have perished in the floods with the death toll likely to rise.  These past days I have been thinking about my many family members who are there during this difficult time.

The people of Chennai are a wonderful, generous, and strong group of people, and I hope that they can recover from this.  I’ll try to help with whatever I can give, but I am also hoping to make a long awaited trip to Chennai sometime next year.  My last visit to India was over five years ago, and Chennai has and will remain to be my favorite place to visit in India.

Just as the people of Chennai reacted with kindness and generosity after the 2004 tsunami (as evidenced by the picture above of a kind gentleman feeding a stray dog), they will once again arise from these devastating events– but not without our help.

 

I told myself, I would never post anything about college football, let alone Georgia football, but I felt like I had to share my own Mark Richt story.  I have never met Mark Richt, but I clearly remember the first time I saw him on campus at the University of Georgia.

It was back in early 2001, and I was waiting in line at a blood drive to donate blood.  And suddenly I heard a couple of guys say, “There’s the new football coach.” I’ll never forget what he was wearing: a sweat suit with Nike sneakers.  This young 40 year old dude looked more like a college athlete instead of a coach.

Mark Richt had not even coached a game yet but was showing up already at events like this to show how much he cares about people.  I don’t know if he actually donated blood, but that moment was really poignant especially given the impact he had on the University and and the city of Athens.

It’s hard to believe how fast fifteen years can pass.  In the middle of Mark Richt’s tenure at Georgia, I managed to fit a European language in my head, travel the world, and become a doctor.  And in the middle of all of this and all the places I have seen, I never forgot that Athens, Georgia was my home.

I’m glad that Mark Richt was the coach of our football team all these years and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.  At the same time, I’m looking forward to seeing who the new UGA football coach will be.  He’s going to have some pretty big shoes to fill.

I almost didn’t want to write anything about the horrible attacks that took place in Paris, because I didn’t think I could write anything that hasn’t been said already.  However, this attack really affected me on many different levels: as a world traveler, as a rock music fan, but, moreover, as a global citizen.

I spent two years living in Europe (in Germany as a student and in Czech Republic as a businessman), and these attacks really hit me as the news was coming into my smartphone starting with the bomb explosions outside the football stadium and the horrible massacre that took place at the Eagles of Death Metal show.

I was lucky to see the Eagles of Death Metal this past summer in Germany. They are fun loving group of guys who play fun, dancing, rock and roll music.  I am really sorry that over a hundred of their fans and friends were murdered so brutally in front of them.  They and the victims are great people who didn’t deserve this.

The one thing about this is that Julian from the Whigs was touring with them as well.  The Whigs are an Athens, Georgia band I absolutely love, and one of my good friends, who works as a photographer, has taken many pictures of them.  While I don’t know any of these musicians personally, Athens Georgia is my hometown and everyone there is like family to me.  I’m really saddened that something like this hits so close to home.

All of this kind of reminded me of what it was like to be a student in Germany in 2001.  I was in Heidelberg when the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of 11th September 2001 happened.  Social media, smartphones, and digital news media didn’t exist back then, so I only saw the images and video the next day, and it was only the next day when I was able to talk with my mother using a prepaid telephone card in a telephone booth.  Times certainly have changed since then.  Since I was speaking only German at the time, I didn’t hear the term “9/11” until 2002 when I landed back in the United States expecting my parents to greet me at the terminal.  They were not at the terminal. I had to walk to baggage claim where they were waiting for me as my dad explained to me, “Ever since “9/11″ they don’t let any non-passengers go to the terminal anymore.”  To this day, I still can’t bring myself to describe those attacks openly as “9/11.”

With the current refugee crisis, the rise of right wing radicals, and now this horrible attack, I really fear for the stabilization of Europe as a whole.  I know the world is mourning the victims together and showing strength and solidarity, but at the same time I know that terrorists are planning more attacks, and right wing radicals and Neo-Nazis are using this as fuel for their hate filled messages.  As an avid world traveler and as a person who has brown skin, I honestly don’t know how I am going to be viewed and whether I will have to look over my shoulder the next time I explore a foreign land.  Furthermore,  there were so many young, innocent lives taken away, and all that remains are pain and sorrow for their families.  I honestly don’t see anything good coming from this.

Through social media, I’ve been in contact with my friends in Germany and the rest of Europe.  I found out that two of my friends in Paris are safe and accounted for.  I am a born U.S. citizen and Coloradan, but, moreover, I am a global citizen.   I have watched German news, British news, and American news coverage of these events just to remind myself of that.

If anything, I hope that we as a whole remember that we have a lot more in common with France than we actually realize.

 

 

 

Well, maybe not yet, but the weather has gotten cooler and ski resorts are opening up.  I have a ski pass for this season and plan on learning the fine arts of this sport and doing it on a regular basis in the coming weeks.

A lot of snow has already hit the mountains and there will be more to come.  I’m pretty excited to take up all the winter activities of my fellow Colorado people and explores some new adventures along the way.

The hours of sunshine have become shorter and the darkness has become longer. Yes, winter is coming and I can’t wait to see all the pretty scenery in the snow.

Yep, that picture pretty much sums up the week long trip to Peru.  Seeing Machu Picchu was always a life long dream of mine.  My time for this trip was very short, but I am glad I did this.  You only live once.

There were some unexpected troubles with the trip.  A trainworkers’ strike and local protests forced me to forgo an extra day in the town of Machu Picchu.  Long story short, I had to take a late night train to some remote mountain town/village and then quasi-hitchhike my way back to Cusco, the nearest town with an airport.  After a full day at Machu Picchu, I reached Cusco in a rather chaotic manner at 2 in the morning.  If I wouldn’t have done this, I could very well be stuck in Machu Picchu even today.

While I was in Cusco for the next day, I saw the protests and police brigades in their riot gear.  It was pretty crazy but a bit fun to witness up close.  I have pics, but I’m too lazy to sort through them and post them.  Maybe later (probably not).

And if that wasn’t enough, the stupid TSA and customs control slowly searched randomly selected luggage when I arrived back in the U.S.  My luggage was not selected but waiting in the long line forced me to miss a connecting flight, and I had to spend an extra seven hours in Newark.  Past travel experiences allowed me to remain calm and diligent throughout this, but I do have to admit, I was pretty exhausted from an already rather hectic trip.

Nevertheless,  I am so grateful that I was able to see Machu Picchu and get to know Peru and its people a little better.  I definitely do want to come back and do the Inca Trail properly to reach Machu Picchu and explore Peru more.

However, it’s probably going to be a while before my next (hectic) trip to South America.

Just a few little things to pack and we will be good to go.  Country number 27  is just 24 hours away and Machu Picchu awaits.   Like always there is a bit of anxiety and trepidation that goes with traveling to the unknown, but, hey, that’s what makes it even more fun!

Footsteps lead to places, but the journey never ends.

Everyone knows that I’m all about cool T-shirts, but recently it’s come to my attention that what I once thought was a cool T-shirt is probably not so cool anymore.  The above pic is of a T-shirt I bought in 2000 in Nuernberg, Germany while studying abroad.  It cost 5 Deutsch Mark (approximately $2.50 in today’s standards).  I thought to myself at the time, “hey, this is a cool European T-shirt and it’s cheap which makes it even more cool.”  To me it represented a uni-sex bathroom symbol, which I, being the 20 year old student back in the day, thought was really neat.

I’ve worn this shirt dozens of times over the past 15 years and I’m sure there are many pics in my collection of me in this T-shirt.  Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m gonna’ be able to wear the shirt anymore, thanks to a lot of homophobic bigots in my country.  I wore this shirt recently while rock climbing with some younger friends of mine (25ish) and they just kinda’ stared at me and asked me, “bro, what do you mean with that T-shirt? Are you trying to make a statement about marriage equality?”  It kinda’ shocked me that someone could think I’m homophobic just because of a simple T-shirt, but the reality is that that CAN happen.  When I was confronted by these questions, I stated, “It’s a unisex bathroom symbol.  I totally support marriage equality and have gay friends, etc.”

However,  I think we kind of have to come to terms that certain symbols can be interpreted as bigotry.  The Swastika used to be a holy symbol for Hinduism and Buddhism and then some stupid idiot from Austria with one testicle and a fucked up moustache ruined that for everyone around the 1930s (look it up).  Also anyone who carries the confederate flag (which i believe has always been a racist symbol) has to be prepared to be labeled a racist.  Likewise, if I continue to wear above pictured T-shirt, I will have to be prepared to be labeled as someone who believes marriage should only be between a man and woman. (And of course I don’t believe that!)

Hence, I’m no longer going to wear this T-shirt, which has been one my favorite shirts to wear for a long time.  In fact, the next time I go camping, I may even burn it.  Sometimes, we have to change our patterns of behavior as a reaction to the times we live in (and apparently this applies to our fashion choices).  However, there is no need to fear.  There are plenty of other cool T-shirts out there that represent being cool and supporting equality of ALL beings.

 

Peru.  This will be the 27th country I will have visited outside the United States.  This trip will come some time next month, and I’m totally looking forward to it.

It has been a dream of mine to see Machu Picchu for quite some time now.  Thankfully (and barring unforeseen circumstances), this will become a reality.  The most important thing, of course, will be the people and getting a glimpse into their culture.  I’m going to need to brush up on my Espanol a bit.

After not doing any travels at all last year,  I feel extremely fortunate to have already had a Germany trip and a New York trip this summer (yes, I kinda’ consider New York a pseudo-country in itself).  I hope every year for the rest of my life can reflect this past year with travels and hiking and rock climbing and overall adventures.

Plus, I saw some really kick-ass concerts this past summer including Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl on ALL four legs), Slash, Neil Young, U2 with Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen, and Faith No More.  As Autumn weather comes and a snowy winter awaits I look forward to more adventures including becoming a better skier (I already am not very good at skiing, so there is only room for me to get better).

Number 27. Peru.  Hopefully, I’ll get to 50 in time.