By Ralf, Germany. For me, curiosity can begin with a smell, a beautifully made object or one clever piece of engineering. Then the picture starts forming in my head — and after that, it can be very difficult to leave the idea alone. I have really done this. I am standing at the supermarket cashier,…
A Fruitloop University Thingy, created by Fruitloop and made weirder by The Mayor. Fairy tales with software problems, a dragon with a defective toaster, Dom Pérignon at the customer-service desk, and Fruitloop asking the sort of questions that make a perfectly serviceable brain wander off without permission. Fruitloop had warm South African winter weather. I…
By Alexander, Germany. Sometimes the easiest way into another world is to arrive without much of a plan and see what happens. For once, I did not really prepare. We were going to Croatia for a week with about fifteen people. Somebody else had organised the house. I knew some of the group well, some…
By Ralf The Grillmeister, Germany. I like new ideas in the kitchen. But sometimes the best technology is still a sharp knife, a little spoon, and knowing when to leave a good thing alone. I love cooking. It is a great part of my life. I like recipes, I like new ideas, and I like…
Learned at a Stefan Hensler cooking school in Hamburg (taught by Tobias Fjergs), cooked for Ralf’s 50th birthday. Ingredients (serves ~2–4): Ponzu sauce (homemade): 120ml sake, 120ml mirin, 220ml soy sauce, 220ml lemon juice — combined. Method: Arrange sliced fillets skin-side up in a deep plate. Add cherry tomato wedges. Mix lime juice/zest with salt…
By Babette, Germany. Before Babette’s family reaches Egypt, there are visas to check, trains to choose, snorkelling masks to buy and one very old underwater camera to test. Sometimes the adventure begins long before the plane leaves the ground. “I have one day and one hour, and then I’m on vacation.” That was how the…
With Monica, currently in Germany; Rosii, in Sao Paulo; Fruitloop, in sunny South Africa; and The Mayor at home. Curiosity begins with delayed trains and Sunday traffic, wanders through secret boxes, forbidden buttons and mysterious doors, and somehow ends up somewhere between Narnia, a five-course dinner and a very well-guarded bar of chocolate. Curiosity was…
By Sylvie, France Sometimes discovering another world does not mean travelling anywhere. Sometimes it arrives in your garden, turns up the music, jumps into the pool and politely tells you that it is time to leave your own party. When we started talking about “discovering other worlds,” I wasn’t completely sure what that meant. Another…
THE PINEAPPLE PARTNERSHIP Give your people a chair at an international table. One professionally hosted conversation every week. Different people from your organisation can rotate through the chair—bringing their own experience, meeting people outside their usual world and encountering questions they would not normally hear. English is the common language. Humans are the point. You…
By Manfred, Germany. For Manfred, travelling starts long before the caravan moves. Planning is part of the pleasure—but what keeps pulling him back is the possibility that somewhere new will still surprise him. The first seeds of my next holiday are usually sown while I am still on the current one. I begin asking myself…
