Happy holidays from Hamburg! Yes, we are alive and well and hope that this holiday season also finds everyone in good spirits with a sense of hope and excitement for 2004. For Kirsten and I, it seems that 2003 just whizzed by. In many ways, it is really hard to believe that we have been here for 3 years now and that we are committed until early 2005. If you asked us back in 2000 how long we anticipated staying abroad, neither of us would have said more than 3 years. I guess that means we like it here, even if it was an interesting year for us – as Americans – to live in Europe (more on that later).

2003 seems a blur primarily because both of us made significant individual commitments that have consumed much of our time but also have given us great personal and professional satisfaction. For Kirsten, it was a year of really investing in her newly acquired skills as a film critic and graphic/web designer. In February, she received official press credentials to attend the Berlin Film Festival (second only to Cannes in Europe) and dove into the world of cinema with great passion. Her reviews are regularly posted on this site (and are quite good), and for those of you who are really interested in the world of film festivals, check out her Berlinale Journal also posted on this site. In addition, her online graphic and web design classes taken throughout the year have allowed her to do layout and design work for many American Women’s Club publications as well as the new J&K Productions website you are reading now!!!

For me, most of my time was invested in opening a new office for ACNielsen BASES – my new company – in Hamburg. It has been a big challenge, and as of mid-December we have 9 people in the office and expect to double in size in 2004. It has been, admittedly, a lot of work. But, I traveled a bit more (which was fun), I negotiated our furniture contract in German (I was really proud of that), and am excited about building something that I can point to and say: “I did that.” I can honestly say this has been the most rewarding professional experience I have ever had.

We were also fortunate to continue our “European experience” in 2003. We attended our first German Bundesliga soccer match (Hamburg vs. Dortmund – quite exciting!) and continued to jaunt around the continent whenever possible. You can see the entire Photo Album of our travels on this site (Kirsten is quite the photographer now). The year was highlighted by trips to the Panama Canal (Kirsten only), the Scottish Highlands with our friends Rich and Lisa (from which the picture of Scottish Jim above and the picture to the right came), and our first extensive journey into Eastern Europe. We recommend Budapest – it’s awesome!

In addition to the travel, the cultural experience of Germany/Europe continues to broaden our horizons. 2003 was obviously a year of “strained” European-American relations, and while we never felt uncomfortable, our opinions were always sought out about Iraq and our “cowboy” President, Mr. Bush. Sometimes it was actually funny to see how interested people were in what WE thought about American policies; sometimes it was not so funny, because we heard what others thought whether we were interested in their opinion or not (but, at least they were unknowns that became known instead of remaining unknown unknowns. HA HA! A little political humor there). In classic Greco style, we maintained our position as unofficial diplomats of our nation and quoted a song from Venice – a popular rock band in Holland and Germany (who happen to be from California…weird).

“Most of us don’t have a gun,
don’t argue on TV.
Yeah, most of us like most of us,
and we’re not like what we see.”

It’s a GREAT song – just have a click if you want to hear the whole “diplomatic message.”

In closing, I know a popular question we are asked is: When are we coming home? Well, that’s a known unknown. Said differently, it is a good question we don’t know the answer to yet. The earliest will be Spring 2005 – but we can say that the probability is pretty good that we will return to Chicago (although I am not putting percentages on that yet).

We hope you spend some time poking around the new Greco Gazette – I promise there will be lots of nice pictures. And don’t just read about what we are up to – check out Weddings and Babies to find out what everyone else has been up to.

We would love to hear from you, even if it is a short email. Our attachments to home remain strong, and we wish all of you a very blessed 2004!

Love & Peace, Jim & Kirsten