Dear world: Help wanted. Plz send a rowboat and a few paddles.
It’s no secret by now that a volcano in Iceland with an
unpronounceable name decided to get cranky this week and stranded
hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.
With that out of the way, Did you know… that half the Wikimedia
Foundation staff and a lot of volunteers who were in Berlin for the
Wikimedia Developers and Chapters conferences (since renamed,
collectively, “Ashcon”), were among those who were stuck?
We’re making the best of it… we’ve got it better than a lot of
people. We’re in a very nice hotel in downtown Berlin, and we’ve got
food and drink. We’re missing our families and really want to be
home, but the whole trip has a very “summer camp” feeling to it now.
We’ve done laundry, and “the boys” (as Danese affectionately calls
them) are whacking some Mediawiki bugs from our makeshift office in
the lobby. The kind people at Wikimedia-Germany have been wonderful
hosts, arranging outings, giving tours of their office, and connecting
us with local Wikimedians for sight-seeing tours.
We’re getting pretty good at ordering curry-wurst, and we’ve found the
local Ka-De-We department store (which Danese affectionately labeled
“heaven”). On the whole, we’re doing okay. Some of us are even
optimistic about making it home someday soon. Others are practicing
their German. But Iceland, you’re on notice: we’re holding a grudge.
____________________
Philippe Beaudette
Facilitator, Strategy Project
Wikimedia Foundation
philippe(a)wikimedia.org
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