Here is a link to Gloria’s book online, for you to browse. // Hier ist ein Link, um Glorias Buch online zu lesen.

Here is a link to Gloria's book online, for you to browse.  As there are plenty pictures inside, it is well worth checking out even if you do not read Chinese.  <grin>  Scroll to the bottom third of the page where you see the book cover with red rectangles below it.  If you click on the big blue circle, it will open the book.  Clicking on the right of a page, will give you the next one, the left – obviously – will bring you back to the previous one.  Have fun! 

 

http://news.readmoo.com/2014/11/07/home-on-the-ocean 

 

Hier ist ein Link, um Glorias Buch online zu lesen.  Es sind sehr viele Bilder enthalten, weswegen es sich auch lohnt darin herumzublättern, wenn man kein Chinesisch lesen kann <Grins>.  Scrolle auf der Seite bis ins untere Drittel, wo die Titelseite des Buches zu sehen ist.  Darunter müssten lauter rechteckige rote Kästchen zu sehen sein.  Wenn man auf den großen blauen Punkt in der Mitte des Buches klickt, dann öffnet es sich.  Wenn man auf den rechten Rand einer Seite klickt, blättert man um.  Wenn man auf den linken Rand klickt, geht es eine Seite zurück.  Viel Spaß beim Stöbern! 

 

http://news.readmoo.com/2014/11/07/home-on-the-ocean

---

This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.

Autumn is here again

Hi guys!

 

Wow, I didn't realize that is was Easter the last time I posted something here.  : – )))  Time sure flies like an arrow!  Needless to say, that I always looks forward to YOUR eMail and comments.  I really would like to stay in touch! 

 

First, we are fine here, all three of us.  While I can still feel the aftereffects of the operation to remove the brain tumor, it is nothing more than a nuisance.  Still don't want to climb ladders or scaffolding, but I think that is not really a problem although I am told that it will stay like that for the rest of my life. 

 

We have settled in nicely into our new home and even bought a little house with the money we got for the boat.  It is in the heart of Anglia, a truly beautiful place.  It is being renovated right now.  Business is more like a joke, being all work and trouble, with very little to show for it.  Still haven't found an alternative.  No serious problem, though. 

 

I had just started to do a bit of programming again, but it took only four days for something to seriously go wrong with my left hand.  Been seeing four different docs about it, but it looks as if programming is definitely out of the picture for me.  I was never any good at it in any case <grin>.

 

Gloria is still teaching Mandarin-Chinese at the local school and that is going well.  The kids absolutely love it.  She was supposed to teach for the State of Schleswig-Holstein too, but that fell through twice.  Aurora – she really doesn't want to be called Ulani any more – is now at a Gymnasium, the German equivalent of high school.  She continues to do well and has made many new friends.  She is learning to play the viola there and insists to go to ballet lessons on Tuesdays although that is by far her longest day at school.  She is a very happy and carefree young girl with many traits of a teenager.  She really only has one problem:  Her horrible parents!  ; – ) 

 

The amazing story this year was about Gloria's book "Guten Tag！你好，我家住在大海上！".  It truly turned into a bestseller in the categories travel literature and child rearing.  This was only made possible by the enthusiastic support of her publisher "聯合文學".  She and Aurora spent the whole summer vacation in Taiwan doing numerous interviews, book signings and other events at TV stations, radio stations, magazines, newspapers and so on.  Sometimes up to five a day and even while sitting in a taxi!  It was all very exhausting – but also exhilarating.  In Taiwan about 10,000 books have been sold up to day and China paid an advance for another 20,000.  While the money is nothing to write home about, we are still very pleased by these developments.  There might even be a movie deal in the works in China, but this is still very unsure and will take years anyway.  The book was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year and several publishers from other countries showed interest, but nothing definite has happened yet. 

 

A side effect of all this was that more and more attention fell on Aurora, who didn't really welcome this part.  Still, she went and practiced for a TED Talk in Hamburg, which took place on 8 November.  In the beginning stage fright seemed to overwhelm her and we all feared that she might simply not do the talk after all.  About 300 to 400 people were standing in front of the door, though.  So she screwed up her courage and plowed right ahead.  After all, she had spent about two months preparing for the whole thing.  Although a technical glitch (not her fault) at the very end of her speech caused the slide show and prompts to stop, the talk was a great success.  As the only speaker she got prolonged rhythmic applause after her talk, so that she had to go back on stage to bow to the audience.  Very cool, that!  We now have to wait for a month or so until the video comes out.  I will share it as soon as it is available. 

 

At the moment we are rather busy with the company, as Christmas shopping has started in earnest.  Very noticeable!  When there is spare time, Gloria is working on various projects.  She has been offered to write another book on child rearing as well as a cookbook.  She will go back to Taiwan in the next summer vacation, but at the moment we are not really sure whether Aurora will accompany her or not.  Aurora and I might take off for six weeks of adventure travel on our own.  Might be hiking, might be by kayak, bicycle, motorcycle or something else not completely boring.  The arctic in Europe is a tentative goal, but there are so many options available that we simply can't make up our minds.  We'll see. 

 

Anyway, I am greatly looking forward to your eMails, phone calls, posts and comments.  And if it is only a one-liner. 

 

Cheers!

 

H/U/G

Bingos-Tonstudio.de - Holger Jacobsen - Quellenweg 2, 24988 Oeversee, Germany
Tel: +4946388991220, +4915122583542, +4915224956687

---

This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.

Gloria's book about our circumnavigation “Guten Tag！你好，我家住在大海上！” at the Frankfurt Book Fair. : – )

Monthly Bestseller List Travel Literature Number 5

Monthly Bestseller List Child Rearing Number 8

More TV footage and magazines

Taiwan MomBaby Magazine

Taiwan Parenting Magazine

Taiwan OneCentimetre Magazine

Taiwan UDN TV Interview

Taiwan UDN TV Interview Part 1

Taiwan UDN TV Interview Part 2

Live TV Interview (Voice of America Mandarin Chinese TV) VOA连线：我家住在大海上：台德夫妇海上育儿的故事

台灣媽媽●德國爸爸 ─ Guten Tag! 我家住在大海上！

This short promotional video will be shown at the press conference in Taipei when Yeh Liping’s book about our eight-year-circumnavigation comes out end of July or beginning of August. 

https://vimeo.com/100294754   大海 - The Sea - Das Meer

 

http://youtu.be/saKWtyq8z6g  大海 - The Sea - Das Meer

Happy Easter!

Hi guys,

 

How is it going?  Any special plans for the not too distant future? 

 

Life in Frörup/Oeversee is OK so far.  Still have a screwed up right eye from the brain tumor operation and have to take artificial tears every two hours and sleep with a watchglass bandage at night.  Doc says that might be over in a year while my speech therapist is of the opinion that it might stay for good.  Right ear is deaf for good and the sense of balance, too.  Still, after the operation they told me that 2/3 of people never walk again. 

 

Here at home we have renovated the basement, where Aurora's room and my study are located.  We even got some furniture now, so that we can eat at a proper table and so on.  Except for the usual Jacobsen-chaos it looks almost normal here now.  The new company is a different story.  The software I am renting is so complex that I am completely at a loss.  I've had to hire programmers twice already and the user manual is about 6000 pages and worked on by a team continuously.  Because of competition at eBay we can't set the prices we would like so that the profit margin is minimal.  We don't have the same problem at Amazon, but there the financial barriers of entry were quite a bit steeper and the commissions are a lot higher, too.  Dunno how all that will play our in the long run.   Also, I haven't quite decided whether I prefer to scrape barnacles of my boat every two weeks or mow the lawn.  <grin>

 

Gloria is teaching Mandarin Chinese at a local school and her book will be published this summer with major to do, press conference and all.  The publisher is one of the biggest in Taiwan and most of Gloria's favorite authors are published there, too.  The book will be a large format hard-cover with hundreds of photographs in it.  Should work out pretty well although we don't hold our breath as to the advance and royalties.  

 

Aurora is now the best in her class in almost every subject.  In August she will go to high-school and fortunately she got accepted in the one of our choice.  There she'll be able to learn Spanish as her "official" second foreign language the year after and also she'll be in the violin workgroup, although violin is not her instrument of first choice.  Shortly before or after the summer vacation she will be invited to go to Berlin to a TV studio, where they will record a session in "Klein gegen Groß", where kids have to compete against adults in a previously agreed field.  This wasn't our idea at all, but that of the director who had seen her in a video made by camerawoman Christine Schmitthenner in order to apply for a job.  At first I seriously thought this was only an April Fools' joke. 

 

Our two purebred cats continue to give us lots of joy.  Schnurri is a "blue" British Shorthair tom who will turn one year old in June.  Puschel is a two year old Maine Coon, which is nothing short of amazing.  Had I known what these Coonies are like, I would have had one a lot earlier.  She follows me absolutely everywhere trying to show her affection.  These big cats can walk on snow without sinking in because of the fur between their toes, were used as hunting cats in North America, love to swim and can survive in up to -22°F.  Usually both of these breeds carry a steep price, but it was not so in our case.  We only paid a nominal fee, because Schnurri was desperately shy and people didn't want that.  So the breeder couldn't sell him.  Puschel was originally used for breeding, but as the only remaining tom was her father and the breeder didn't want another one, she decided to sell her.  But almost everybody only wants a cute little kitten.  Their loss was our luck.  Recently Puschel gave us a lot of excitement with a false pregnancy.  It was really hard to believe how many people wanted one of the kittens. 

 

As you can see, even on land boredom is not one of our problems.  We even got used to the cold and the climate in general in no time. 

 

So, now your are again reasonably up to date on us.  : – )

 

Cheers!

 

Aurora, Liping & Holger

 

Bingos-Tonstudio.de - Holger Jacobsen - Quellenweg 2, 24988 Oeversee, Germany

 

Tel: +4946388991220, +4915732493522