Photos from my most recent San Francisco trip

Tonight I finally managed to upload about three dozen photos from my most recent trip to San Francisco in October to catch up with friends and attend the OLPC SF Community Summit 2012 and Sugarcamp++.    

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge on our morning commute (foggy)

TechnikBasteln – Technology Tinkering

Thanks to sponsorship via the 6th NetIdee call of the Internet Foundation Austria (IPA) we at OLPC (Austria) were able to launch a new project in November 2011 - TechnikBasteln (which half-decently translates into Technology Tinkering):

“TechnikBasteln is an innovative and interdisciplinary project which is focused on children. They are accompanied by us in experiencing, learning about, and understanding information and communication technologies (ICT) in workshops. Among other topics, these workshops address how computers and mobile phones work, the structure of the Internet, and how to safely use these tools and technologies.”

Since November 2011 Tanja and me have spent a lot of time planning and preparing these workshops, researching about other projects and content related to what we want to achieve, contacting teachers, schools, and other organizations to let them know what we’re doing, etc.

Now this week we launched the second phase of our project as we held the first two workshops in primary schools here in Vienna. The first one was focused on some of the basic technologies of the Internet and the second one was all about the building blocks of modern computers. We had a great time in both classes, the children also seemed to like what we were doing, we got good feedback from the teachers, and while there is room for improvements overall the concepts we had developed over the past few months worked really well.

So even though the past few days were really busy and intense (and I’m now in dire need of a relaxing weekend!) I’m also very happy with the progress we’ve made with TechnikBasteln and am already very much looking forward to our next workshops.

A List of Countries I've Been To

I can't remember who I was talking to but several months ago I got the idea of writing up a list of countries I've been to. I put it on my to-do list and promptly forgot about it. That is until I boarded my plane from Boston to Washington, D.C. on my latest trip (the 7th 8th as it turns out) to the United States earlier today.

So here's the full list with all the countries where I've spent at least one night:

1. Argentina
2. Belgium
3. Bolivia
4. Canada
5. Cambodia
6. Chile
7. China
8. Croatia
9. Czech Republic
10. Cyprus
11. Denmark
12. Egypt
13. England
14. France
15. Germany
16. Greece
17. Hungary
18. India
19. Ireland
20. Italy
21. Japan
22. Laos
23. Malaysia
24. Morocco
25. Mongolia
26. Nepal
27. Netherlands
28. Norway
29. Paraguay
30. Peru
31. Poland
32. Portugal
33. Russia
34. Saudi Arabia
35. Slovakia
36. Slovenia
37. South Korea
38. Spain
39. Sri Lanka
40. Sweden
41. Switzerland
42. United Arab Emirates
43. United States
44. Uruguay
45. Taiwan
46. Thailand
47. Turkey
48. Zambia

Brazil also got close to being included in the list, after all my passport has three Brazilian entrance stamp in it. However since the only night I spent there was a long ~8 hour layover at the aiport in Sao Paolo it didn't quite qualify, despite that one afternoon I spent exploring Sao Paolo during another layover and my visit to the Brazilian side of the Iguazu waterfalls.

Other countries I've been to but didn't spend a night in are:

• Denmark done!
• Luxembourg
• Portugal

Additionally I've flown through the following airports but unfortunately didn't get a chance to visit the respective countries:

• Abu Dhabi (UAE) done!
• Amsterdam (Netherlands) done!
• Doha (Qatar)
• Dubai (UAE)done!
• Panama City (Panama)

It's certainly quite a trip down memory lane to think of all these travel experiences. Needless to say I can't wait to add more countries to the first list above and if things go as planned then the Philippines should make an appearance there sooner rather than later.

Edit: My father just pointed out to me that as per my criterion I would also have to add Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand to the list of countries I’ve been to. However given that I was less than 3 years-old at that time I don’t think these countries really count – which of course gives me all the more reason to try and visit them soon! ;-)

Update (2013-01-07): I just realized that for some reason I had totally forgotten to include Turkey in the list. I've now corrected this omission.
Update (2013-03-04): After my most recent trips I was able to add Cambodia, Laos, Zambia, and Thailand to the list.
Update (2013-05-17): Added Denmark to the list.
Update (2013-12-30): Added Malaysia to the list.
Update (2014-10-12): Added Cyprus to the list.
Update (2014-10-27): Just realized that I had totally forgotten about a work trip from earlier in the year which brought me to Bratislava for a night. Which means I was able to add Slovakia to the list.
Update (2015-01-24): Added United Arab Emirates to the list.
Update (2015-08-29): Added Portugal to the list.
Update (2015-12-07): Added Chile to the list.
Update (2016-01-10): Added Egypt - which I had visited in October but had forgotten to add then - to the list. Thanks for the reminder L.!
Update (2017-04-05): Added Sri Lanka to the list.
Update (2017-08-26): Added India and Saudi Arabia to the list.
Update (2018-03-30): Added Ireland to the list.
Update (2018-05-02): Added Norway to the list.
Update (2019-09-06): Added Japan to the list.

Update (2024-08-11): Added South Korea to the list.