Awesome times, I am back in Cologne. Last night I had a long nice talk with Christine – my former flatmate. I am Staying in the same flat as I was during my study here – just in Oli’s room. It’s so weird to be back. Seeing all these places bring up so many great memories.

2009-08-20 Thursday

Got up early to be at the Convention in Time.
Was at the Business Area – quite interesting. All full of locked up meeting rooms.
The “Public” entertainment area is great fun. Today is a special day only for Business people but it is already crowded.

I sneaked in the Game Developers Congress and watched a Speech of Victor Antonov, who I knew from the FMX in 2005.

Also I checked out some Game Developer Company’s and Picked the one I want to apply at. Used the rest of the time to try out some new games I am curious about.
In the evening I had a long and good conversation with my former Flatmate Christine.
2009-08-21 Friday
Today are some “Jobs and Career” talkes. Very interesting talks from some Human resource Staff. Gave me the Chance to introduce myself and speak to them face to face.
Also I go to one Job Interview I have in Düsseldorf.
In the Evening I catch up with Oliver and go for a Movie.
2009-08-22 Saturday
The “Jobs and Career” talkes continue and I use the opportunity and apply for Game Design and 3D Modeling jobs at different Companys.
2009-08-23 Sunday
The last day of the Convention. I use it to wander around and speak to several people from different Organizations that are concerned about Youth Protection, Education and also Parents and Teacher information. Presenting my Diploma Spot with my Phone and Networking for later.
Was a great Time. Have big hope to get a Job in the Game Industry soon. Already got two dates for Job interviews.

Today I got up very early to take the train to Leipzig. There is a big Game Convention at the exhibition Center. On the Train I had a very nice and long conversation with a cafe owner who runs his business in Arabia.
Got a bed in a four share room in a Youth hostel close to the Train station in Leipzig. It’s located between a sex store and a store for pot smokers. Will be staying in a German Youth hostel be interesting to stay in a German Hostel this time. The place costs about twice as much as in Australia.
Leipzig looks very nice from my first glance. Just a shame that so many of the beautiful old brick buildings are empty and careless in a bad shape.
The games convention itself is rather empty. I am aware of a bigger Convention in about two three weeks in Cologne. Still It’s quite a disappointment. It semed that the organisation tried to fill huge spaces with activities like human bowling or indoor cart racing. I spoke to some Games Publisher and Developers. They told me to apply online or to go to the recruiting panel on the exhibition in Cologne.
Still I had the chance to show some of my work to interested people from the youth protection organizations and press.

In the last Days I was driving to South Germany. Set up a exhibition of my mother in Wangen and meet my relatives in Scheer. Also I drove to Zürich, Swiss to meed a great friend of mine. It is so much fun to drive on the Autobahn again. Didnt know how much I missed that.

Today I took a time laps video of our weather going crazy. Storm, Sunshine, Storm, Sunshine – Sunset.

This weekend I rock at the festival rock-am-ring.de . It is located on the famouse racetrack Nürburgring. So fare I listend to the Bands Juliette Levis, Razorlight, Animal Farm. Next is Placebo. The Weather is getting quite cold. I am not used to this tempratures anymore but glad that it does not rain so far.
More later…
Watched 2raumwohnung and love it. Next will be Marilyn Manson followed by Korn. ROOOCK!
Did’t know it can be that cold in June.

2009-06-06 This morning it started to rain. Not heavy but constantly and cold. Makes me miss Australia. Even in Wintertime it does not get so cold as here in Summertime. 5C (night) and rain in June is very cold.
2009-06-07
The Weather changes quite radical between sunshine and stormy rain.
After another lonly cold night on the car, the first band O watch today is Tomte.
Now I have to decide between Kettcar and Guano Apes.

Billy Talent followed after the Guano Apes and he rocked the place!
Next was Linkin Park.
Now I’m home and enjoyed a long hot shower.
Good Night.

2009-05-12 Hangzhou
After getting up, we walk along the oldest street in Hangzhou – Hefang street. We also try pineapple rice an d chicken on stick in the Snack Street. We also discover that they have a 85c bakery in the area. At night, we go up to the Chenghuang Temple to get a night view of Hangzhou. It is nice and it begins to rain while we are there, so we did not stay long.

2009-05-13 Hangzhou
After the rain on the day before, it is pretty warm today. We rent a bike of deposit 200rmb and rental 100rmb – the first hour is for free and every hour after would cost 1rmb. We ride the bike for just more than an hour and in the end it only costs us 1rmb each. Some views along the West Lake are beautiful with Chinese style pavilions and bridges. There are also some newly-wed couples taking romantic pictures. We leave our bikes and decide to walk along the path. There is one funny sign with “Don’t disturb the growing grass” written. After a not so delicious dinner at a Hong Kong style restaurant, we enjoy some delicious dessert from 85c.

2009-05-07 Shanghai
Today we go to the 1933. It’s a former slaughter House which is now used as a big Art exhibition / Gallery function sort of thing. The Architecture is very interesting. It’s a four floor building with heaps of different stairways and bridges. Looks like the cattle had to go this way before becoming meat. In the night we go to have a look at the skyline of Shanghai. It seems to be quite common that people walk around in Pyjamas.

2009-05-08 Shanghai
We discover 85C – a Coffee and Bakery chain. The food is delicious and the Tea is great. We go here every morning to get breakfast and Evening to get a dessert. The only bad thing is the way from our hostel to that place. There’s a noticeable difference in the Air between Beijing and Shanghai. The air is very dusty and dry. It stinks and feels heavy to breathe. Today I decide to wear a mask.
In the Evening we go to Yu Garden. There’s a restaurant with fabulous Dumplings “Xiaolungbao” with pork and soup inside. The area is crowded with Tourists.

2009-05-09 Shanghai
We enjoy our late full breakfast at 85c. Later in the afternoon, we visit the world first Barbie flag store. Yeah Barbie – but more interesting than I thought. For sunset we go up the Jin Mao Tower. The view over the City by sunset is astonishing but not so far. The city is covered in dust and pollution. We spend some time to see the city at night. Inside the Tower is the Grand Hyatt Shanghai. You can look into the Hotel atrium from above. It’s impressive to see 31 Floors down below. After dinner, we enjoy some nice dessert from 85c again.

2009-05-10 Shanghai
We have our full breakfast at 85c before Sin Sze’s friend Wenjie (former KISD student) pick us up and drive us to Moganshan Road where there are plenty of galleries like 798 in Beijing. In the evening, a table of 4 is reserved at People Cuisine Creative Shanghai, which is a design/fun based restaurant with a cool entrance of metal gate. With such cool design ambiance, I thought the dishes would be very expensive but turn out not. We order ice cold vegetables, salad sticks, test tube drinks among other dishes. It is a pleasant fun dinner though not very full.

2009-05-01 Beijing
Today we walked around in Beijing. Had a look at the New Modern Style Library.

2009-05-02 Beijing
We entered the Forbidden City through the Meridian Gate. The dimensions are huge. It’s a real wide open space between the different Buildings and Gates. Each Place and Building has a funny name. Like “Gate of Heavenly Purity” or “Hall of Mental Cultivation” – which is the Sleeping room and not a Library or School. Later we went to a local food Market. Here You can buy Scorpions, Seahorses, Seastars, Huge Maggots and Grashoppers on a stick. The Scorpions are still alive on the stick. They’ll be short grilled before You can eat them.

2009-05-03 Beijing
Today we got up early to go to the Great wall. It is the sunniest Day during our stay so far. We know that we have to take the Bus 919 to the Great wall. What we didn’t know is that there are many different 919 Buses and most of them do not go to the Great Wall. So it took us a long time to find the right Bus. The good thing is, if You use a Beijing IC Card then the one hour bus ride costs only 4 Chinese Yuan (CNY) which is equivalent to about 50 euro cent. The Buses go in a frequency of every 5 Minutes from Beijing to the Wall. Caused by the Holiday and the good weather many people have the same plan for today. It is quite crowded. It’s amazing to see this massive long Building on the mountain range. On the way back down we take a roller coaster like ride down to the Bear zoo in front of the Bus station.

2009-05-04 Beijing
Today we go to the Summer palace. It’s located in the north west of Beijing. There’s a big lake at the Palace. We walked around the Lake. Manny old bridges are to cross on the way. In the evening we watched X-Men Wolverine.

Landed savely in Hong Kong

Update:
I got a reply. They’ll have more applications. Will know in about a week. So I changed my flight to Hong Kong and extended my stay in the hostel.