2014 − The year without Christmas

“If you want to make the Gods laugh, tell them your plans.”

And so they don’t spend to much laughing and maybe find some time to help children who mine the minerals for your new mobile phone I’ll only present a few plans:
2014 will be the year without christmas. I have been to a few countries where christmas isn’t really celebrated but this year I’ll be in Ethiopia where they do celebrate christmas but−according to the orthodox calendar−on the 6th of january.

I also hope that the Scots vote for their independence on 18th september so that there will be one more country. On one hand I find nationalism an equally wierd idea as Gods but on the other hand I like nations’ symbols like flags and coats of arms.
And cutting up present nation states is a form of anti-nationalism I guess.
But I degress: my first backpacking trip was in Scotland 19 years ago. With Scottish independence I’d gain another check on my list of countries I’ve been to and what could be more important to a backpacker?!
However if I look at South Sudan I see some disturbing parallels: Scotland has oil too and who knows what the clans will do when they are left to govern themselves?! 😉
Actually I would love to visit Scotland again. In the last couple of weeks I’ve felt drawn to it. Scotland is a unique country in europe with its (or is it her or his??) Clans, Kilts, Haggis, Bagpipes, Highland Games, Gaelic and when I hear a scottish accent I’m like Jamie Lee Curtis hearing John Cleese’s Russian. 😀
However I’ll probably won’t go there soon as I’ll spend the summer diving in Kaş, Turkey. And winter in Scotland? Eas-aonta, tapadh leat!

2014 will be the year I certify my first divers! First here on the Philippines and then in Turkey.

Somehow I feel like saying something about Mandela and Kalashnikov, as they both died last year and they became famous in very contrary ways (although they were both agains racism) but I realised I don’t know enough about them. That’s something to change in 2014.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Voice Recognition in Scotland:

Jamie Lee Curtis und Russisch:

Scotland the Brave (funny):