Fishspa

Dear readers,

after a tiring day walking long streets in the heat of the monsoon season in KL, we went to a massage store for the relaxing part of the evening. After some 30 minutes of foot massage our shoulders, backs and buttox were knit for another 3o minutes before we walked over to the other spa where they had a warm water bassin full of hungry pyranias. Upon first encounter I was pleased how warm the water was, but less so that the fish were tickling me to where I had to swiftly withdraw my bones. Susan suffered the same tickles.

Tickling regards,

Mat

Stopover in KL

Dear family and friends,

I hope once again my lines may find you smiling and well off. After some wonderful Christmas days at home surrounded by my folks, I find the time to post some pictures from my pre-Christmas trip to visit Susan in Singapore. A couple of days into my stay Susan and I decided to visit Malaysia for some days. Originally we both wanted to take a break at one of the beautiful islands' beaches, but the monsoon season somehow escaped our planning process and brought us back to harsh reality with the sad news that most islands were already shut down until Spring next year. So in order to escape Sinagpore we started out in Kuala Lumpur where these pictures were taken. They show the buildings and fountains surrounding the independance square, the giant pitcher plant fountain and the candy coulor houses in little India. Enjoying our little getaway, we only thought about the next step on the next day. Soon I will share where we went.

Have a fabulous day,

Mat

Visiting Susan & Andi in Singapore

Liebe Freunde und Familie,

nach längerer Schreibtischphase, in der vornehmlich weniger spannungsreiche Momente in den theoretischen Sphären der Managementlehre erleben durfte, konnte ich am 15. Dezember der Kälte Kanada's entfliehen und mich mit meinen guten Freunden in Singapur treffen. Liebevoll bekocht wurde ich schon am ersten Abend von Susan. Am Folgemorgen hatte ich dann die Freude mit Andi und Susan frühstücken gehen zu dürfen. Dann gab es endlich wieder Kaya-Toast und halbgekochte Eier... hmmm lecker. Aber mit Weihnachtsessen daheim konkurriert das nicht.

Liebe Grüße aus dem schneeregnerischen Solingen,

Euer Matti

Abby and Grayson

Dear friends and family,

the newest babysitter method has just been invented in the midwest of the US. This advanced combination of Abby and Blackberry allows for constant and effective supervision of our belowed little pooper.

Do not copy, as not all dogs are so maternal and instinctively protecting.

Cheers,

Mat

Grayson & Scarlett

Liebe Freunde und Verwandte,

der Ausflug zum US-amerikanischen Erntedankfest war dieses Jahr etwas ganz besonderes, da ich zum ersten Mal die neuesten Familienzugänge zu sehen bekam. Grayson Edward und seine Cousine Scarlett Rose hielten uns ganz schön auf Trap. Aber das hat uns den Spass nicht verdorben, wie ich gerne in meinem nächsten Eintrag berichte.

Es grüßt Euch ganz herzlich,

Euer Matti

Thanksgiving with the newly extended Jones Family

Dear readers,

I hope my lines find you well. My apologies for not posting lately, I guess my life needed some travels again :-) So for the Thanksgiving weekend I enjoyed the company of the Jones and their unmatched hospitality once more. The house was full of food and babies, good times and laughter. I really enjoyed every minute of our Thanksgiving get together.

Thank you so much,

Matti

Where we study and work out

Dear friends and family,

I hope my lines find you smiling and you are doing very well. I have not shared many pictures about our office-life on campus I was lately told. So maybe I should. On the left side you can see where I usually go on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The ground level of this side is our office area. On the right side you can see the Thompson Recreational Center, our gym. It is there, where you could have found me on average every second day since I received my free membership. Today, though, I had to kindly ask for a change in the TV channels, because out of 7 different ones, 3 were on the same boring old sports review from the 1960s (two in mute), one was in Chinese, one was WWF Wrestling, one was showing an old Portuguese soap opera and the last one was featuring some "we remodel you backyard for you" show. Not quite my usual comedy intake that not only keeps me happily smiling on the cross trainer but also the minutes flying by.

I hope you are enjoying some recreation as well,

Cheers,

Mat

Duncle Mat

Liebe Freunde und Verwandte,

die Familie hat zuwachs bekommen! Ich bin seit Donnerstag zweifacher Onkel (double uncle=duncle) und freue mich sehr, dass der kleine Grayson (9. Nov) von Jessie und die kleine Scarlet (12. Nov) von Tim und Rachel in Missouri gesund und munter das Licht der Welt erblickt haben. Das gemeinsame Geburtstagsfeiern bietet sich an. Ich freue mich darauf an Thanksgiving die beiden neuen Gesichter persönlich zu sehen.

Freut euch mit mir und meiner Gastfamilie in den USA!

Liebe Grüße,

Euer Matti

Fog over Ivey

Dear friends,

I wish my lines may find you very well. My apologies for not posting a lot lately. I believe my life is going a much more regular path with lots of reading and quite a bit of structure due to classes and gym schedules.
However, when I was coming home walking on campus towards my little place I took these two pictures about 2 minutes apart from each other. Its getting dark earlier and quicker, maybe I have not spend Winter in the Northern hemisphere for a while. What you see hardly does the thick fog we had that day any justice.
I hope to some of you soon walk through it together with me!

Have a nice day,

Mat

pictureframe II

Dear readers,

I hope my lines find you well and healthy and you already got your flu-shot. Luckily I did not need a refresher for my tetanus shot just yet, because despite the highest probability, my fingers remain in tact and my Cambodia photo still made it up the wall. It was quite a hassle until I finally found some nails and put them into the right places, so the pictureframe would at least look square from a distance. Whenever I looked at the first of many attempts from the front, I was heavily disappointed to see my efforts slope strongly to the downward right corner. Only after measuring the angles of my frame again, was I sure that the artist did not paint his picture very symmetrically. Well, I could have checked as well, before putting in all the nail, I know now. In the end, some rearrangement and a heavy dose of back tape around the corners made the effort worthwhile to adorn my sparsely decorated walls. Let's hope that tomorrow the sun shines as nicely as it does in the picture and its wonderful memories.

Have a nice day,

Mat

Dinner at Home

Dear friends and family,

I hope my lines find you well and Halloween has been enjoyable for you.
Tonight I report with an everyday picture from our regular dinner table, for which Ekrem and I jointly prepared some drumsticks, rice and salad. Could have been worse, I guess.
If you are nearby and hungry, do not hesitate to be our guest.

All the best until soon,

Mat

What kids get for Halloween

Liebe Freunde,

ich nehme an, es geht euch allen gut, denn ich habe ja nichts gegenteiliges gehört :-) Happy Halloween an dieser Stelle.
Wenn ihr heute bei mir geklingelt hättet, hättet ihr nicht viel erreicht, denn die Klingel ist kaputt. Hättet ihr aber geklopft und währt ihr nicht so gruselig verkleidet gewesen, dass ich sofort reissaus genommen hätte, so könntet ihr euch jetzt über einen Früchtebeutel in eurer "Trick-or-Treat" Tasche freuen. Es gibt immerhin genug Kariesbomben bei den Nachbarn zu holen.

Also, Obst ist gesund und hilft auch gegen Schweinegrippe!

Gesunde Grüße,

Euer Matti

Icehockey

Dear friends on and off the ice,

I hope my lines find you well and satisfied with what you are currently doing :-), i.e. reading my blog. I did not have much to report lately, apart from reports that I have to write myself and they are boring enough for one person, so absolutely not a fit for a bigger audience.
But today (yes, I am really current again) I went to a Hockey match (the ice is just a given) and saw our University's team win 5:1 against Guelph. We saw quite a bit of action while the game was paused, up until 8 players (out of 12) had to leave the ice and cool off in a separate ice-cube. Sadly, whenever an equal number of players gets a 2 minute penalty, the teams are allowed to replenish until full capacity is reached, otherwise, we would have seen a nice two against two for two minutes. Just three minutes before the end, we had to duck collectively as the puck came flying over the glass walls directly into the ranks. We found it first and now Micheal's little boy has a trophy to brag about at school on Monday. Life could be much worse. Apart from that, life is pretty full of literature these days. I still enjoy it.

All the best until soon,

good night,

Mat

Canadian Thanksgiving

Dear friends near and far,

I hope my lines may find you smiling. I certainly was when we received the wonderful invitation by Sonja, Marion's housemate, to join her and her dad for their Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. So we headed out to a wonderful farm in the countryside of Ontario, where we not only had the pleasure of eating an authentic, delicious, long-lasting, conversation-rich, home-made multi-course Thanksginving dinner, but also enjoyed the great farmlands via an extensive walk. This was the best impression of the wonderful colors of the Indian Summer I had yet seen.
And of course, we were not alone... but the cold winds made this little field snake hardly more active than the surrounding grass. So we parted in peace until our next encounter...

So do I now with my best wishes,

Mat

Halloween preparation

Liebe Freunde,

ich hoffe es geht euch allen wunderbar und ihr geniesst den goldenen Oktober wo auch immer ihr gerade seid. Nach unserem Bootsausflug zu den 1000 Inseln im See Ontario haben meine Kollegin Marion und ich am folgenden Tag frische Kürbissuppe gekocht. Hat auch geschmeckt. Viel interessanter war allerdings meine Beschäftigung während die Suppe vor sich hinköchelte... denn ich habe mir Mühe gegeben dem Kürbis ein verschmitztes Lächeln zu geben. Aber wahrscheinlich bleibt das menschliche Lachen dem Kürbis doch weit überlegen.

Alles Liebe und bis bald,

Matthias

1000 Island Boat Tour

Dear friends and family,

I mentioned in my last post that we were about to head out to our Kayaking trip on Sunday morning, when the pictures of Kingston were taken. So I continue my story there, where Marion and I met the team for the day, consisting of one Italian, one Dutch and what else did I expect, two Germans.
As the Germans (what a coincidence) had offered to organize this "kayaking trip", we went first to the rental place, where we learnt that the season was already over. Inquiries at a nearby Hotel came to the conclusion that the wakes were a little too choppy and thus we ended up doing the 1000 Island Boat Tour instead. Luckily I did not need my passport, even though we crossed into the United States to admire Boldt's Castle, a billionaire's project with quite a bit of history.
If it had been a little less windy, we might have enjoyed the trip even more. I was certainly glad that we did not go out in Kayaks.

All the best and warm wishes through the wild winds,

Mat

Kingston, ON

Liebe Leser,

ich hoffe der goldene Oktober beschehrt auch Euch ein paar Sonnenstrahlen. Die Queen's Universität in Kingston präsentierte ihre Sandsteingebäude jedenfalls sehr angenehm kurz vor Aufbruch zu unserer vermeintlichen Kayaktour auf dem Lake Ontario. Neben der Aussenfassade einer der Gebäude seht ihr auch den "Harry Potter Room", einen großen Lesesaal in der Library. Leider kommen die schönen Fenster auf dem Bild kaum zur Geltung.
Dafür könnt ihr euch diesen Saal bei Kerzenlicht sicherlich sehr schön denken.

Liebe Grüße,

Euer Matti

London, Ontario

Dear friends and family,

I hope my lines find you well. On my Canadian Thanksgiving tour, I visited my friend Marion in Kingston.
Before mounting the bus that would take me to Toronto, I took those nice pictures of my study town: London, ON. In the meantime the color of the sky has changed back and forth, so it is sunny and cold right now. More on my Kingston trip in a little bit...

Cheers,

Mat

Football match: Mustangs vs. Laurier

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

die Zeit der herbstlichen Sonnenstrahlen neigt sich dem Ende und der Statistikprofessor verlangt wieder meine Aufmerksamkeit. Daher teile ich nur kurz mit Euch dieses sonnige I-phone-Photo aus dem Stadium. Von links nach rechts seht ihr meine Studienkollegen Pouya und Ryan und noch so einen komischen Typen.

Liebe Grüße aus der Kälte,

Matti

Creating a pictureframe

Dear friends and family,

I hope my lines find you well. Since I bought this most wonderful oil painting a couple of month ago in Cambodia's Ankor Wat, I have been wanting to enjoy it as well. Now I finally got to terms with the framing and will hopefully soon have it up hanging on the wall, making my room more liveable... all for the visitors...

Have a nice day,

Mat

Human Development Index

Liebe Leser,

um Euch bei der Plannung Eures nächsten Urlaubs behilflich zu sein, teile ich die gestern präsentierte Studie des UN-Entwicklungsprogramms mit euch. Zwar liegt Norwegen noch etwas näher für die meisten Mitteleuropäer, aber als Wohlfahrtsstaat mit Mehrwerststeuern von 25% und unverschämt teuren flüssigen Rauschmitteln, hat es zuletzt nicht nur positiv von sich reden gemacht. Da Australien und Island auch nur bedingt gut erreichbar sind, rückt der Direktflug der Lufthansa von Düsseldorf nach Toronto wieder in ein helleres Licht. Ab und an gibt es diesen sogar mit 40% Rabatt :-)
Ich freute mich sehr über Euren Besuch!

Alles Liebe,

Euer Matti

Hans is coming! Yippi!!

Dear friends and family,

as it made my day today, I would like to share my great happiness with you that my friend Hans will come to visit me in London, ON in the first week of January. As many of you know my point of view, there are many people that talk, but too few that actually do! I am so happy Hans belongs to group number two!
I might as well look as genuinely happy as he does in that picture :-)

With that thought and a big smile,

Your Matti