Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

While I temporarily halted my weekly video productions on both of my YouTube channels, Karl Trail Adventures and Karl FPV Drone Adventures in Japan, I didn’t stop thinking about them. I’m currently visiting the Netherlands, and although there are no new videos going out right now, my mind never really…

Lately, something feels different on Japanese social media. Words like “too many foreigners,” “jobs being stolen,” and “crime is increasing” appear more often. Not shouted, but repeated. Not always angry, but tense. Fear has a quiet way of spreading. I do not want to argue with that fear. I want…

I don’t think bad habits are the enemy. Most of mine once kept me safe. But what protects us for a while can eventually slow us down. Looking back at 2025, I see patterns that helped me explore and stay grounded. I also see how some of them now hold…

Every year I notice the same thing. Big decisions rarely happen in December. Not the ones that quietly change direction. Not the decisions that shift how we live, work, or see ourselves. They tend to appear after the new year. Sometimes immediately. Sometimes a few weeks later. But almost never…

The first bite of raclette did not just taste familiar. It quietly erased decades. We revisited the Royal Christmas Market in The Hague on a dry, cold winter day. It was crowded, lively, full of movement. We walked past beautifully decorated stalls, but I already knew what I was looking…

December in the Netherlands can feel heavy. The rain seems endless, the sky stays low and grey, and days pass without much light. People retreat indoors. Curtains close earlier. Energy drops. It is hard not to notice how the lack of sunlight affects mood. Winter depression is not some abstract…

My mother has always had a creative knack for Christmas decorations. This year, there is no Christmas tree in her home. Instead, there is a flower. An Amaryllis stands quietly in her living room. A thick green stem, two red buds, slowly opening. She showed it to me with pride…

I have been wondering about that lately because music has always been a steady presence in my life. I listen to it often, and I listen to it intentionally. I never played random radio channels in the background. I have always been an album listener. In Switzerland it was cassette…

I think I should have been a professional demolisher. Why? Because I seem to be really good at destroying things and cleaning up. Not the glamorous kind of destruction either. More the everyday demolition jobs that no one volunteers for but somehow always fall into my hands. At home, for…