172016Apr
We! Have! To! Blog! This!

We! Have! To! Blog! This!

Dirk,

having worked for and with you over these last four or five years, I have come to appreciate quite a few of your personal qualities, of which integrity, honesty and a deep empathy for other people’s needs are only examples. I have also come to learn that you would embrace a challenge just for its own sake, and that you would rather gnaw yourself through any obstacle than avoid it. Also, we shared the odd lunch hour exchanging views about our mutual fondness for spending long hours running through the countryside. (Although I cannot in the least compete in distance nor time.)

But even given all this I was completely surprised, if not stunned when I first heard about your Bhutan project. Three thoughts came to my mind immediately, in that exact order. First, the question: Would I ever dare to even consider such an endeavour for myself? Simple answer: Never. Second thought: How will your family handle this? The answer that we can also read here in this blog, is not far from what I had expected: loving and supportive. Third thought, you may call it ‪déformation professionnelle, if you like: We! Have! To! Blog! This!

But I have also experienced quite a few times how hard it can be to convince you of something you do not immediately approve of. Especially something which interferes which your natural sense of modesty and your natural restistance to putting yourself into the spotlight. (Speaking of quite a few projects in the past, I am still not really sure how I succeeded: Was it your stubbornness, that made it so hard for me? Or was it your kindness that made you finally surrender to my stubbornness and let me carry out what I had planned for your marketing, or PR, or whatever project we’ve had?)

This time it is not a job, but voluntary. It is not about marketing. It is not about branding. It is about giving other people the opportunity to really share a challenge so daring and so exceptional that only a few people ever live to see first hand. An experience so thrilling that I feel very, very honoured for having the chance to play a small part in it; although just on the safe and cosy content side of it, while you will be out there in the mountains.

So thank you very much for, despite your limited time, setting up this blog and for already having filled it with fascinating content of first hand experience during the preparations. I wish you all the very best for that adventure. I will keep my fingers crossed from the end of May till your safe return, and I will look forward to any message or photo you send me to upload while you are away.

Take care,
Kerstin Hoffmann

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