Week 34: Munich and Statenberg
A sunny Friday exploring Munich on bikes, a whole day of travelling to Slovenia, where we spent a week filled with learning, encounters, slowing down and creating unforgettable memories.
Welcome to our weekly recap! This one's for August 22nd - 28th, which is week 34, 2014. And sorry for being late with it, we were having a digital detox! A weekly recap is not really a kind of thing we could have written beforehand and scheduled to be posted at the right time...
Tip of the week: Bikes are the way to move in Munich, it seems that everyone is riding one. And why not, since the use of them has been made so easy. There are allocated biking lanes on many streets, the traffic goes smoothly, and they have wonderful parks to take a more scenic way or just to exercise. Don't know how it will be in the winter though, but luckily also the public transportation system seems to be good.
Surprise of the week: My stereotype of Germany was that everything runs on time and is very punctual. Definitely not the case when it comes to traffic! I never seen such traffic jams in middle of nowhere... Our 4,5 hour bus trip from Munich to Ljubjana turned into 8+ hours, most of it spent inside Germany hardly moving. Luckily the views were nice.
Memorable moment: Our first morning at the Statenberg Manor, when we saw the place and the surroundings, and realised we will spend the week in this amazing setting. We arrived late on Saturday, so it was already dark, and we headed almost straight to bed. In the morning we walked downstairs, filled our breakfast plates and headed to the back yard. My breath was taken away. The surrounding green hills, mist hanging all over, small houses sprinkled here and there. Just simply beautiful. Then we were introduced to the rooms we were to use during our gathering: high ceilings decorated with paintings, antique furniture combined with a feeling of home. I couldn't think of a better place for the event to happen.
Food love: On Sunday night we made a huge pizza together. The work started already early in the day, with warming-up of the huge oven we used (it was built for a Guinness World Record attempt on making the world's heaviest bread - results are not out yet if it succeed). Later on we gathered together to slice and dice all the ingredients, and the young ones had good time putting it all together into a huge pizza. Then we waited, and waited, and finally after a few hours (and something that looked like a flame thrower at the end) we had our pizza! Bit burnt on some points, and bit raw on others, but made with so much love it just tasted good.
Workwise: This was a week for disconnecting from the web and our every day work. We managed to slow down, fill our heads with new ideas and get a clearer idea of the direction we are taking.
What I've learned: The whole week at Statenberg was based on Open Space methodology, where the participants bring in the content and there are no strict structures. When the space is open, a lot will emerge. Not all positive, but rather a roller-coaster ride of emotions. It's inspiring, tiring, lifting, confusing, overwhelming, and gratifying. But that's exactly it, learning often requires getting out of your comfort zone. It's just hard to accept that it feels, by definition, uncomfortable.
Random thought: I wonder how it would be to live in a big manor house for a longer time? Or maybe even own one, if I ever become a millionaire. What I do know, is that I would love to find a coworking office in a place like this to spend a month or two in. So anyone who owns a manor (I'm sure there are plenty of you amongst our readers...), please set up a coworking place and invite us in!
And that's it for our week. How was yours?
This week's photos can also be found in our photo albums in Flickr.
We are Mirje and Antti, a 30+ digital nomad couple, entrepreneurs with restless feet and passion for experiencing the world. more »