Dekabrinka's adventures

2008

2009-01-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Promised myself a lot of times to post, never really found motivation (first) and time (probably just an excuse) to do so.

A lot of time since my last update… Don’t want to be trendy, but it’s a good thing to do. Evaluation of the year that passed.

Each year during New Years Eve I try to imagine how the next year would go. I am usually bad with predictions – life brings so many new boxes of chocolates (rephrasing Forrest Gamp). 2008 was definitely not as I have imagined on January 1st but I was glad to sum it up on December 31st. This year had definitely 2 periods: you will laugh, but it’s simple as it is – first 6 months and second 6 months.

First. My last 5 month in Italy: craziness in the full meaning of it, events that brought me all kinds of emotions. A period of uncertainty, preparations, applications, final selection, can’t believe it all happened to me. That period and that life seem to be surreal now. I will probably remember the day when I was selected for internship for a long time, hopefully until the rest of my life (it went to my box of positive emotions that I keep for difficult times:)

Second. Moving to Germany – all stages of cultural shock again (no honeymoon stage though), hating German & Germans, hating Bonn, and rules of the company, being constantly sick in first 3 months. Gradually getting used, meeting people, finding balance, adjusting to a new life style. Glad to admit, that I like the way I live now.

Each year for me is made by PEOPLE, so as always I use this space to say thank you to people that had an influence (even if they don’t realize it :) in 2008: My family, Federica Rosi, Anabella Florea, Daniele de Lorenzo, Matteo Orsi, Dora Salemi, Alba Cauchi, Roberto Chiaravalotti, Sveta Muzychenko, Inna Kostyuk, Tanya Mykhailyuk, Ira Legka, Olka Urina, Anya Kovalchuk, Julka Khimchak, Olya Meniovich, Olya I Katya Semenyuk, Lera Yakushenko, Sveta Kroichyk, Nadya Lyubiva, Luigi Gallito, Mathang Sheshagiri, Douglas Eshitemi, Ioana Cretu, Leticia Chu, Federico Caliri, Sara Ramadoro, Dante Scogniamiglo (I am way too bad with your surname as always), Angela Palasciano, Giuliano de Marco, Giancarlo Tizzano, Alessandro Cestrone, Marcello Ciaramella, Claudio Casale, Danilo Borrello, Gaspar Ndabi, Dina Tuleova, Emma Zhang, Anna Radeva, Erdem Sephaneliologlu, Harshal Owalekar, Ketan Thakaria, Enrique Villalon, Jornt Depreter, Ali Sohail, Christian Murgia, Pretesh Soni, Schvonne Choo, Ana Lopez. Thank you for making my year!I do hope I didn’t miss anyone. In case, I did, shame on me!

Since I am a passionate traveller, I need to mention PLACES I have been to: my home city (of course:)) Dnepropetrovsk, Frankfurt, Milan, Palermo, Stockholm, Tallin, Riga, Cagliari, Oristano, Naples, Rome, Trieste, Prato, Pisa, Marina di Massa, Sora, Finale Ligure, Cassino, Salerno, Bonn, Rotterdam, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Dresden, Brussels, Leuven, Cologne, Paris, Hague, Strasbourg, Berlin, Duisburg, Luxembourg, Catania. Not bad as for 1 year :)

BOOKS that I liked: “Unbearable lightness of being” by Milan Kundera, “100 years of solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marques, “Long walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela, “Siddharta” by Herman Hesse

MOVIES that I liked: “Das Leben der Andern” (Life of the others), “The Bucket list”, The kite runner”, “A beautiful mind”.

MY LEARNINGS:
Cooking food: different kinds of pasta, insalata di riso, melanzane alla parmigiana.
Languages: I did learn some Italian. What’s more: I acquired Italian accent!!!!
Life: I can do very crazy things; I just need proper motivation and company:)
Question without answer: I tend to make same mistakes again and again. When will I finally learn on them?

Want to write so many more things about 2008, but it’s time to look ahead. 2009 is already here! Promise to find time to write about my commitments for 2009!

Proud to be your friend

2008-11-30T01:42:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, Tanechka!
AIESEC in Ukraine is lucky to have you as a new leader!

It's all about attitude, right?

2008-10-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

Long time no news. I don’t know why it always takes some time for me to post updates about my life. Probably it’s meant to be like that for my emotions to calm down (well, I always feel like blogging when I get emotional) and for me to re-evaluate my feelings, attitudes etc.

So now it’s about my recent trip to Italy….
From the very beginning everything was in Italian style which reminded me a lot my last year – a lot of things to finish the day before, packing in the last minute, sleepless night before travel, no space in the luggage.. I was flying from Dusseldorf to Naples. Guess what – my train Dusseldorf was delayed for 20 min. However, I was still quite relaxed since I was sure that they train will take me directly to the airport. It actually did – to the stop that was called Dusseldorf Flughafen (airport), but I had to take another train from there which took another 15 min of time, then of course I was smart enough to confuse my terminal, so I had to run for another 10 min to the right one. Anyways, I was on time for the flight, but the flight was not on time for me.. It was delayed for 1,5h which meant that I will not have enough time in Naples to get on the train. The funny thing was that I forgot my watches (2nd time in my life) at home, so I had difficulties to check time, especially during flight. I landed in Cappodichino 40 min before my train was supposed to leave from Central station. As always I had to wait for 20 min for my luggage, then Dante was “a bit late”:) and then we were driving in the way that I don’t want to remember to the station, but we made it in 11 min and I got in train just in time (well, also because you don't expect Italian train to be on time in such a day, ha?:)

I have no idea why but I slept so bad in train that I was already tired in the morning. I met Anabella in the train and we got off at Acireale – the small town where the hotel was. Italian breakfast – OMG, I missed so much a cup of cappuccino & brioche in a bar… I don’t know how and why, but in this small city in the middle of nowhere I felt more home then in Bonn.

We got to the venue and I had a slight feeling of déjà vu- people, venue and conference – the way I felt is inexpressable. We spent time around doing nothing which made me feel strange – in the last couple of years there were only ICs that I attended as a delegate. During all other conferences I was superbusy, superstressed, superinvolved and a lot of other « super » adjectives.
We went to meet Dany and Matteo in the airport and spent a lovely day in Catania eating arancini, cannolli, cassate, drinking coffee. You know, I felt I became completely Italian – food indeed means a lot for me. Needless to say that 2 days of conference passed like a second, even though I lost my voice and was not able to speak during MC report. I think it looked quite wierd to see me whispering to Dany answers for questions. A nice ppt made by Dany with position explanations for everyone. My favourites are : Pigna in culo (Matteo), Pigna in mano (Dany), Pigna Napoletana (Masha), Pigna in panza (Davide), Pigna terrona (Doretta), Pigna e basta (Alba). Haha, it was important to confess that I drink 4 cups of tea per day and that I had a rat in my bed!

On the way back to Catania, we were supposed to catch a bus at 4.00 pm. On the way to the stop at 3.45 we saw a bus arriving. I was puzzled – bus coming 15 min in advance is a miracle even in Germany. But it was not a miracle at all – it was just a bus that was supposed to arrive at 2.30 being «a bit » late:)P What else ? Unhealthy panini (pero buonissimi), pizza and pasta fueled me for another 3 months :) Beuatiful nature and great places (Rome, Naples – my favourite) definitely made my stay there.

There were definitely a lot of things that went wrong, or let’s say differently from the way I was expecting, added a fly in the ointment for my trip. I have actually experienced a strange feeling of empytness and sadness that I have never experienced before in the same city, in the same situation. But surpirsingly, after keeping me sad for a day it reinforced my feeling of gratitude for the great moments that I had before.
I can proudly state that I am not sad because some things, emotions and people left my life but I am grateful and I smile knowing that I was lucky to have them once in my life. In the end it’s all about attitude, right ?

Об отношениях

2008-09-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

Опять не мои мысли, но занимательно. Читала давно, сегодня опять наткнулась и думаю - правильно или не правильно? вот с такими мыслями иду учить немецкий..

Он сказал: «Мне нравятся многие женщины, Я не могу быть только с одной».
Она улыбнулась в ответ.
Он сказал: «Я сам по себе, Я свободен и никому ничего не должен».
Она закурила и опустила глаза.
Он сказал: «Мне нравятся женщины, которые понимают меня, и ценят мою свободу».
Она ухмыльнулась и выдохнула струйку дыма.
Он сказал: «Давай проведем хорошо время, ты мне нравишься».
Она затушила сигарету и посмотрела ему в глаза.
Он понял, что она не возражает.
Он спросил: «У тебя, наверное, было много мужчин?»
Она обняла его и сильнее прижалась к нему.
Он спросил: «Тебе хорошо со мной?»
Она закрыла глаза и поцеловала его.
Уходя утром, он сказал: «Все было здорово, только давай это останется между нами».
Она протянула руку и смахнула невидимую пылинку с его плеча.
Он сказал: «Я как-нибудь тебе позвоню».
Она кивнула и захлопнула дверь.
Он позвонил вечером того же дня.
Её не было дома.
Он дозвонился ей на сотовый только поздней ночью.
Она позволила приехать только через неделю.
Он спросил: «Ну, как ты развлекалась без меня?»
Она улыбнулась и предложила ему кофе.
Он звонил ей почти каждый день.
Она иногда просто не поднимала трубку.
Он приезжал к ней, когда она разрешала.
Она не объясняла, почему приглашения были такими редкими.
Он понял, что хочет быть только с ней.
Он нервничал, когда она не отвечала на звонки.
Он выходил из себя, когда узнавал, что её видели с другим.
Он хотел, чтобы об их связи знали все.
Она была против.
Он хотел, чтобы она была только его.
Он приехал к ней с огромным букетом алых роз.
Она приняла цветы, но попросила больше не приезжать без приглашения.
Он хотел попросить её стать его женой.
Она сказала: «Я сама по себе».
Он закурил, у него дрожали руки.
Она сказала: «Я свободна».
Ему вдруг стало холодно.
Она сказала: «Я никому ничего не должна».
Ему показалось, что сердце остановилось.
Она сказал: «И Я не собираюсь что-либо менять».

Sunny song

2008-09-09T14:22:00.001-07:00

Why do songs stuck in smb's head? No idea! This one doesn't want to leave me alone for couple of days already! It's older then I'm, it's in Italian, it's not the kind of music I like! But at least it's cheerful, sunny I would say:)

Listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLK4wOU1q6w

Words here

Vorrei sembrare per te
un bambino
e camminare
con te per mano
vorrei sedere
dietro quel banco
e tu maestra mi parlerai
insegna pure come si deve
come si deve una donna amare
regina tu comanda pure
c'e' già la musica
per sognare
sciolgo le trecce e i cavalli
corrono
e le tue gambe eleganti
ballano
balla per me
balla balla
tutta la notte sei bella
non ti fermare ma balla,
fina a che
non finiranno le stelle
l'alba dissolva in tramonto
io non completi il mio canto
e canto te
intono musica canti e poemi
mentre tu balli ti sciogli
di più
l'acqua si beve per dissetare
mentre ti guardo muoio per te
nella tua pelle migliaia
di stelle
lo spazio cosmico e ancora
di più
dammi la vita dammi l'amore
riprova ancora e non ti fermare
sciolgo le trecce e i cavalli
corrono
e le tue gambe eleganti
ballano
balla per me
balla balla
tutta la notte sei bella
non ti fermare ma balla,
fina a che
non finiranno le stelle
l'alba dissolva in tramonto
io non completi il mio canto
e canto te
balla per me
balla balla
tutta la notte sei bella
non ti fermare ma balla,
fina a che
non finiranno le stelle
l'alba dissolva in tramonto
io non completi il mio canto
e canto te
balla per me
balla balla
tutta la notte sei bella
non ti fermare ma balla,
fina a che
non finiranno le stelle
l'alba dissolva in tramonto
io non completi il mio canto
e canto te

Интересное сегодня

2008-09-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Читала сегодня заметки друзей, в одной из них прочла нижепреведенную статью. Очень заинтересовалась тем, кто же ее автор . Решила поискать в гугле. Нашла ее на блогах сотен людей, на десятках форумов и т.п. Статья хорошая, но что мне понравилось даже больше - это те дискуссии, которые она вызвала. Либо мне повезло и я нашла несколько сайтов не с комментариями на тему "бандеровец - москаль", и не с восторженно - партиотической романтикой, а хорошие, здоровые дискусии на тему развития страны. Много занимательных мыслей пришло в голову.
Я не подписалась бы под каждым словом этой статьи и даже подставила бы под вопрос некоторые пункты, но прочесть ее стоит это точно. Да и автора интересно было бы узнать.

"Я не люблю сало, не ношу вышиванку и не знаю слов украинского гимна. Я не переплывал Днепр и не умею танцевать гопак. На моем столе не лежит “Кобзарь”, а на стене не висят рушники. Моя кровь красная, а не желто-голубая. Я не склоняю “пальто” и “кино”, и три самых важных слова я сказал на русском языке. Я - украинец?

Я болею за “Динамо”, за Кличко и Клочкову. Я видел эту землю из иллюминатора Боинга, но я вернулся. Мне не нужны неоновые города и силиконовые женщины. Я не буду жить там, где улицы без имен, а люди без отчеств. Я останусь здесь. Здесь земля еще не остыла от огня, и еще не стерлись на плитах имена незабытых предков. Здесь девушки читают в метро и пишут стихи на парах по термодинамике. Здесь на деньгах поэты, а не президенты. Здесь шутят смешно и улыбаются честно. Из сердца не вычеркнуть пятую графу. Я - украинец.

Я люблю узкие улицы Львова и Харьковские проспекты. Мне стали родными беззаботная Одесса, деловитый Донецк и легендарная Полтава. Я не верю патриотам на трибунах, но верю патриотам в окопах. Я верю в эту страну: я доверяю этому воздуху - он держит купол, этим горам - они держат страховку, этим людям - они держат слово. Я люблю стук каблучков по плитке Крещатика, скрип снега в Карпатах и шуршание крымской гальки. Мне никогда не забыть украинской колыбельной и поцелуя на Андреевском.

А еще: мне часто снится необъятное небо и поле подсолнухов. И мой сын родится здесь. Я - украинец! "
(с) неизвестен:)

Books

2008-09-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

If you know me well, you should know that I'm very keen on reading! I try to read something useful each day, but I still have a big room for improvement - I read to slow! Anyways, that was not the topic, just an introduction!
I have noticed recently that I am bying the same kind books, which is absolutely normal, but I want to actually broaden my horizon and here comes the question! As easy as you can imagine - Which books do you like to read? Which pen/pencraft? And what would you recommend me to read?

To my friends

2008-08-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Read today in German, translation follows.

Freunde sind wie Sterne - Du kannst sie nicht immer sehen aber sie sind immer da!
Friends are like stars - you can't always see them, but they are always there!
Amici sono come le stelle - non puoi sempre vedere, pero sono sempre la!
Друзья как звезды - ты не всегда можешь их увидеть, но они всегда есть!

Notes of an overstressed girl

2008-08-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

My "Why's" and discoveries (nothing super deep though) of last couple of days...
1. Company give aways and presents that make delegates happy at conferences are the result of compromise between space in the luggage of coordinator. I just solved a dilemma between 3 T-shorts and couple more corporate gadgets.
2. Your manager has mood and time to talk only when you are in a hurry:)
3. I live in a small village now, which has advantages and disadvantages - I can make a tour to all shops in very short time, so I don't feel like missing something and during 15 min in the center you can meet a notable part of your colleagues from work:)
4. Italian is stuck in my head and I can't get rid of it... Instead of answering in German when I understand, I answer in Italian. I wonder whether it's good or bad..
5. Continuing the topic - I came to have my hair cutted yesterday to a salon. You have 1 attempt to guess country of origin of hairdresser, if I say that we spoke with him neither English, nor German, nor Russian...:)
6. I'm good in working under pressure, I like being positively stressed but not overstressed. I actually discovered what does overstress means - last week I had 4 meetings in the same day one after another. and then I had appointment with my German teacher before class - to be there on time I had to leave work 15 min in advance. I though that I did that, arrived to the center, went to a meeting place, but didn't find him there. Thought that he forgot, went directly for class, saw another group in classroom. Got confused. Discovered that not noticing it I left job 1h 15 min in advance instead of 15 min...
7. I'm re-discovering what does word 'freedom' mean. Freedom is to dress what you feel like this morning and not a suit as you should. Freedom is the opportunity to be nice to people because you want to be nice to them, not because your manager asked you to be nice with specific people.
8. The question that is stuck in my mind "why can I find time to post something on blog when I'm overstressed, 5 hours before the plane instead of doing it in other days?" any ideas?

P.S. Does the word 'overstressed' exist?
P.P.S. It's 23.08 and I'm eating smoked cheese with ham what I haven't done consciously for a long time. At least in my history of 'healthy life' in Italy! Yes, I eat vegetables and go to gym 2-3 times a week
P.P.P.S. I discovered one thing, I do miss Italy. But what makes this feeling even stronger is that I miss myself in Italy - my behaviours, attitudes and what is the most important I miss haptic feelings (тактильные ощущения) - not sure if it's right in English:) - people touching, hugging, kissing me. I only shake hands here..Mastering in that already:)
P.P.P.P.S. last one - didn't u get impression that I have tooo many questions in my head tonight?:)

I miss my Italy

2008-08-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

After 3 weeks

2008-08-04T15:06:00.001-07:00

3 weeks in Germany…
In these weeks people asked me how everything is going here. Officially - it goes ok!
Unfortunately, I’m not super excited; my cultural shock doesn’t follow the curve. I just missed the first step of excitement and complete happiness. But on the other hand, maybe it helps me to maintain objective opinion about things happening around.
My life now is all about:
My work. To make it very clear, I work in the Human Resource Marketing & Graduate Development Department of Corporate Center of Deutsche Post World Net. Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) is a group of companies that unites 3 brands: Deutsche Post, DHL and Postbank and I work in headquarters of the group. DPWN is the biggest logistical company in the world and one of the leading employers globally. If you are still interested reading more about the company, read it here www.dpwn.de My office looks impressive and cool. But working there somehow puts pressure on you in a lot of meanings – from the way you dress to the way you treat your work. Overall, I feel myself like I felt when I went to the school first time and got lost on the first official ceremony ( Первый звонок). Not everything is going good – I am trying to adjust, do my best, be attentive, and deliver what is expected. It feels like business world, where you are responsible for your work and all achievements and failures are explicit.
Nobody is really waiting for you to learn, you need to actually work right here and right now. Failures are not welcomed, it’s just a standard to do your job well and achieve what is expected.
Everything is as it’s supposed to be. I just need to adjust. I like and dislike the job at the same time. I like it because it opens doors for amazing network building. I need to learn how to leverage on that.

My home. Is going to be very good soon! I live in the very good location in the middle between center and my work, so it only takes me 3 stops to go to work and 3 stops to the center or just 15 minutes walking which is nice and as it seems quite safe in Bonn. I finally live in a clean flat, I have my personal space, a lot of food in the fridge, no line to the bathroom. And no talks with tea in the kitchen, nobody coming to my room to ask how am I or to wish me good night, nobody coming with a pillow saying that he/she will sleep in my bed tonight. And a lot of small things that made my life in the last couple of years, that I didn’t appreciate before. Though my flat mates are nice! Good news is that today my new wardrobe arrived! Now I only need to make sure somebody helps me to assembly this 1,9m giantJ I promise to post pictures as soon as my room looks the way I imagine it!

My personal life is a big question here. I don’t have friends here. Yet, I hope it’s temporary. I meet a lot of people, but they all seem to be so distant. There are quite a lot of interns here, I’m still to integrate into community. There are some people that I get connected to more, unfortunately all of them are leaving soon. Overall, life here is a big challenge for my social skills. Other good things: I have signed a contract with gym and have attended already it onceJ
I’m going to start my German classes soon and I’m trying to find other ways to keep myself busy after work. But of course I definitely still feel very connected to all people back in Ukraine and Italy (or other parts of the world) and I do appreciate receiving smses and chats in skype! I do miss craziness of my last months in Italy with its permesso di soggiorno issues, 20 people in the house, crazy trips to different places, doing things that I have never done before and staying with people that I love. But this is also part of the game, right? You have to lose it to start appreciating it.

Other: It’s not an easy time, but I’m glad that I’m able to face it and I will try to grow through it. Today at work I wrote myself a message, saying one of my favorite quotes, almost forgotten though: “Don’t limit your challenges, challenge your limits”. So this is what I’m trying to do now!

My new contacts

2008-07-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I have finally moved to a flat where I'm going to stay for one year:)
I'll be happy to receive your postcards, letters, money and other valuable gifts:) to this address

Maria Savranska
Kaiserstraße 235
53113, Bonn
Germany

If you want to send me a sms, mms, or just call me, use this number:

+49.163.6178240

My email is still the same (you don't need my working email, right?:):

masha.savranskaya@gmail.com

People that made my year in Italy!

2008-07-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you!!!

Never before...or my last months in Italy

2008-07-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a long – long time since I had time to write a post. Actually I was about to do it a lot of times since a lot of things happened in the last couple of months. I regret now not capturing all those things since now emotions are not that strong and pungent and I’m only capable of writing a summary of everything that is going to be long though...

May and June were perhaps one of the most intense months in Italy in terms of everything you can imagine! I have experienced very wide range of emotions – from feeling unlucky and desperate to being the happiest person in the world. But in the end, that is what makes our life diverse, right? Never before I could imagine myself doing and behaving in a way I did in these 2 months… You’ll see:)

May started with CN2 – my last Italian conference! It went well without any special emotions that I was expecting. I wasn’t very sorry or depressed. I was not swimming in the ocean of tears, even though I cried at closing plenary. Most probably enough is really enough sometimes. Or maybe it was just too far from the real end of the term, that I didn’t feel that it’s really a last-last one. I was glad to finally feel part of the plenary – that only happened to me only once before. The conference or rather trips after conference were moments of some unexpected discoveries that shaped a lot my next months. Just in 3 days I traveled to/from Sora-Rome-Naples-Rome-Naples-Milan. Never before I could imagine myself going up and down between Rome and Naples just to understand myself… In the end I didn’t understand anything of what or how I wanted. But the trips were worth the time I have spent for it, I guess:)and yes, Federico thanks a lot for being there and asking all those questions I hated to be asked:)

Apart from that other events happened:
I spent a lot of time preparing for interviews, looking for internships re-evaluating again my priorities (I was really considering going for a short term internship somewhere between Turkey and Egypt :)… never before I could even imagine thinking about that:)
I was not selected for the first position that I applied for. My reaction was simply surprising – after reading email, I just said ok and went on with my work. Never before I could imagine myself reacting like that. Normally, I’d cry, lock myself in the room and think that I’m worth nothing and I can only work as low qualified work forceJ! Svetulya and Inna, what was my “favorite profession” last year? Tram driver, seller at the market?:)
Federica got matched to Ghana – I could not believe that for many reasons. But in the end I feel very proud for my putanona!!!!!!:)
Giuliano came to Milan for couple of days. I didn’t expect myself to manage and find time for that, neither I expected him to really come to Via Andora. That’s another “never before” thing:)
We had team weekend in Finale Ligure – once again I understood that if there are some things that you miss in the beginning, it’s very difficult to gain them later.
I went to Naples again – something that I never before expected myself to do. First – no tickets available because of national holiday, 2 hours surfing Trenitalia website, got tickets, missed my train, got ticket for another one. On the way back almost lost my train again. Never knew, but discovered then that I can be brave sometimes:)

On June 10th I was supposed to get my residence permit, just in one year after I arrived...Italian timing… That’d enable me to stay longer in Italy because my visa was expiring on June 12th! On 8th I discovered that in May I was supposed to go for an appointment to police that they never invited me for. On 10th I discovered that my residence permit is not printed yet – there is a delay of 2 months. That was the first moment when I actually realized that I’m to leave Italy soon. Maybe sooner then I expected. Events of those days now seem to be like in movie – travels to questura (kind of immigration office), packing, bye-bye dinners, people asking how do I feel each couple of minutes, tears, calls to embassies, discussions with my parents, going back and forth to airport, confirmations, proofs etc. In the end I found the way to stay longer… I can’t even explain how important it was for me. Never before I valued more 18 days…
I was about to go for internship in Sicily and then just 1 conversation generated a lot of doubts – I started to think about applying for coordinator position at DHL. In the end after exhaustive decision making process, weighting all “pros” and “cons” I decided to go for it. Long preparation, interview, waiting and all stuff related to that. In the end, on Friday afternoon I got the call…. 2 bottles of water in the office, shower in garden, shower in bathroom, being hugged by a lot of people people. Just being happy..:)It was difficult to live that month of transition being sooo many people in Via Andora. However, I think we’ve managed to do it and stay alive! We lost in football match with alumni! Ai-ai-ai! Ate terrible food at alumni dinnerL Also in those days I ate the worst pizza in the whole year in Italy – never imagined pizza in the center of Milan to be sooo bad! Capodanno or AIESEC New Year party was very different this year! I enjoy it even though I didn’t get to talk to a lot of people! A very strange day on the 1st of July, it had to be like that from the house that’s became mine on July 1st 2007 to house that stopped being mine on July 1st 2008. Just this one day changed something in me. Then my visa application – that is worth another post, never before I imagined myself to be so persuasive! Hehe! After successful embassy adventure, 2 days in Naples, nice people delicious food (too much food sometimes:)), regionale from Naples to Rome (it seems to be standard route now:)). I got lost on in Rome on my way to dinner with Matteo and Anabella, nevertheless it was great to stay with them, I really enjoyed the dinner! Thank you, puppi! Then night in CC house and the first thing I saw in the morning when I opened my eyes was Luigi’s ass – don’t ask how beds were located in their flat! Then 1,5h of delay – Alitalia forever and a lot of Ukrainians in the plane. More then 1 hour to get out of the plane, take luggage, pass all controls and welcome back home...:)

Italian coffee addiction

2008-05-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

As a lot of you might know, I was used not to drink coffee at all before I came to Italy being absolute supporter of tea. Less then 1 month was needed for me to understand that Italians are blissfully ignorant of the delights of fine tea and a bit less then a year for me to start drinking at least some kind of coffee. My new addiciton is cappucino. and I was just about to post about it, but then changed my mind and decided to use this opportunity to share more about Italian coffee addiction!

When food is the heart of life in Italy, then coffee might easily be its soul. Coffee is the proper round-up for any proper meal, the centre of any proper breakfast. In the European countries that miss their own coffee culture the merry-go-round of different kinds of coffee is often reduced for reasons of simplicity, dividing coffee into "normal/black", "with milk" and "latte" (large milk with coffee), leaving the fancy titles of Turkish coffee, espresso, latte macchiato and other such for the few knowledgeable ones. Or the show-offs.

So the post is for those, who ever wondered what is the difference between espresso, latte macchiato, caffe macchiato, macchiatone and other fancy words and tastes...:)

Caffè normale - this is what you get when you walk into a bar and ask for a coffee. Also called caffè liscio (straight coffee) or espresso. You enter a bar, say: "Un caffè, per favore". The bar-keeper will ask: "Liscio?" ("Straight?"). This is your last way out of ordering a coffee with some quantity of milk, because you can either say: "Sì" (yes, I want an espresso) or specify any of the milk-coffee versions listed below.Espresso is not only a tiny cup of very strong coffee. It's made in a specific way: the water is heated up to the point of evapourating in the machine and pressed through the fine powder. Contact with cold air makes the vapour liquify again. This is espresso. All other Italian coffee types are based on espresso (unlike the French coffee that is based on strong filter coffee that has a different production process). Espresso is rarely good outside of Italy, but even in Italy the taste is not the same. It's simple: the quality of the espresso depends on the amount of coffees made each day. The more, the better. For this reason the best coffee is often found in railway station bars and not in isolated mountain restaurants.

Espresso is ok to order at any time of the day, though not too usual right before a meal. In the mornings most people order coffee with milk, such as:

Caffè macchiato is espresso with a little bit of milk. It's still a very tiny cup of coffee for those who don't have time to lose over their coffee but don't want to drink it black either. The added milk can either be cold (caffè macchiato freddo) or hot (caffè macchiato caldo or just macchiato caldo).

Macchiatone is a bigger version of caffè macchiato for those who want to enjoy some more milk foam, but don't want to get a full cappuccino.

Cappuccino (also called cappuccio for short) is served in a cup about the size of a "usual" (Nordic) coffee and is espresso buried in milk foam. This is the ideal morning coffee as it's easy on the stomach and very delicious together with a nice brioche. But - attention! - cappuccino is only a morning coffee. Having it at any time after 11:00 in the morning will automatically shout of being a foreigner who is not initiated into the Italian ways. The exception can be made if you happen to be an elderly lady and it's a very cold day. The worst that one can do is order cappuccino after a meal. This will make everyone from the waitress to the dish-washer snigger under their breath. Why? Well, having coffee after a meal has a stimulating effect on the digestion that doesn't really work if the coffee is served with a significant amount of milk. It doesn't make sense to add hot milk on top of a full stomach. Exceptions are made for caffè macchiato, however - that's a way out for those who don't like black coffee. However, I don't care and ask for cappucino at any point of time:

Latte macchiato is not the same as caffè macchiato. As the latter literally means "marked coffee", then latte macchiato is, obviously, "marked milk" - hot milk with a little (half a cup of) espresso. This is not a usual drink for Italians to have in a bar, though at home this can be quite common. A cup of hot milk is a morning classic**; variations include milk with cocoa powder and milk with coffee.

That's more or less it with the milk. Any of these can also be served with some cocoa on request (this produces even more different names). What comes to coffee itself, there are a number of variations:

Caffè americano - yes! this is it! That's what you need to ask for if you are a tourist in Italy and happen to have had enough of the world-class espresso and would just like to enjoy a cup of "normal" coffee like at home. Only that it will not be coffee like at home. As the only way of making coffee that the Italians recognise is the espresso-method, your caffè americano will just be espresso with added hot water. Sounds disgusting.

Caffè ristretto is a double-strength, half-size espresso for strong men who aren't afraid of a challenge.

Caffè lungo is a 1,5 size espresso. This is what the Portuguese should ask for while in Italy (an Italian espresso is about 2/3 the size of a usual Portuguese coffee).Caffè doppio is a double-size espresso and will most likely be served in a cappuccino-cup so that the espresso looks sad and lonely at the bottom.

Caffè shakerato is espresso with ice, well shaked. Perfect on a hot day.

Well, that's briefly the end of my experience with Italian coffee and what I found in internet, you don't think that I knew all that details myself, don't you?:)

Languages in Italy

2008-05-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

Wanted to post this long time ago. But maybe since I'm very nostalgic about leaving Italy soon, I finally found time for that:)

What always amazed me a lot about Italy are the differences between different cities and regions. One of the most explicit manifestations of it (of course after typical food):) are languages or dialects. Each region has its own dialect which sometimes is very different from standard Italian. My Italian is not yet (and most probably will never be) good enough to understand differences between all the dialects, but in a way I can distinguish couple of main ones. My lovely team mates keep on saying that I speak Italian with Napoletan accent, which I totally refuse to believe:)

Apart from 12 minority languages that are officially recognized (Albanian, Catalan, Croatian, Franco-Provencal, French, Friulian, German, Greek, Ladin, Occitan, Sardinian, and Slovene). Note that Catalan, Friulian, Ladin, Occitan and Sardinian are already officially recognized, there are are a lot of others that are not officially recognized by Italian government, but are recognized by other international organizations.... "Of these languages, many have been recognised by international bodies , most notably by UNESCO as reported in the Red Book of Endangered Languages. These are: Emiliano-Romagnolo, Ligurian, Lombard, Neapoletan, Piedmontese, Sicilian, and Venetian"

Anyways, have a look at the map below to see all variety of Italian dialects:)

So are you still sure that you want to learn Italian?:)

Food Mania

2008-05-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

A random observation, clearly noticed it only couple of days ago! Actually it's quite funny!

How do you think what is the first thing that Italians will ask you after you stayed at somebody's place (no matter whose - friend, boyfriend, randome mate)? It'll not be related to who lives in the house, where it's situated, how many rooms there are etc.

The question is "Ma si mangia bene a casa di...?" = Did you eat well in that house?

Apparently by this they can judge everything else what might have happened to you there:)

And it's very common here to hear after "how are you" question "what did you eat today?". Important thing is that people care about what you ate today not less then about how are you today! and they can spend even 5 minutes discussing kind of pasta or risotto that we ate today:)

The funny thing is that it doesn't surprise me so much anymore, I'm totally into the food based culture:)

Being 20.. or a bit more!

2008-05-02T01:04:00.001-07:00

Got it from Fede today! Liked it a lot and indeed I personally relate to it a lot....

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.You look at what you are studying or your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone! but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you are scared just to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

Things you wanted to know about Italians

2008-04-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Which are the things that come to your mind when you hear “Italy”???
Pizza, pasta, mafia, beautiful men, gestures, people speaking loud, fashion, people being late… this list could be continued, but let’s stop so far on these because that was more or less the list of the stereotypes that I had before coming to Italy 10 months ago (btw, today is exactly 10 months and 1 day since I arrived to Milan). I guess 10 months is sufficient time to make some conclusions and evaluations.

Allora, as Italians say, let’s start....

Food. To say that FOOD is important for Italians means to say nothing! Italians worship good food, but the case here is not only in eating process itself, but in the conversations and atmosphere they creating during meals. Spaghetti and pasta together with pizza are usually sacred. There are barely more things that are more important in the life of average Italian.You can not take away pasta from a normal Italian meal; otherwise it’ll not be Italian meal anymore. A typical Italian meal looks like following:
Antipasti (appetizers): usually includes some starters like ham, cheese, fried vegetables, mozzarella with tomatoes or something like that
Primi piatti (first course) usually pasta or risotto. Pasta in most of the cases… You can’t even imagine how many different ways of cooking pasta they know. The thing that for them makes difference is pasta is the sauceJ spaghetti or makaroni itself don’t have that big meaning. Normally you feel full already after this dish, but it’s just the middle of your lunch or dinner…
Secondi piatti (second course) meat or fish with vegetables or potatos
Dolce (sweets) or fruits. Cookies, pastry and all other sweet things is a different story because there are soooo many types of it that a foreigner can’t possibly remember all of that:)
and please don’t expect Italian to start working before drinking his COFFEE. Without coffee lunch is not a real lunch and life is not beautiful. There is no single coffee take away in this country. It will remain the only place in the world where Starbucks will never get any cent of income
The other thing about food that you have to know is timing. Breakfast is something that in terms of energy for the day has no importance here. What is important indeed is how you eat it… You usually go to the bar (you can find bars all around, especially in metro stations, shops and other random places) to take a cup of coffee (one can’t really call one sip of coffee as a cup, but anyways), eat still warm brioche, watch morning news and argue about elections or whatever (topic is not really important) with the owner of the bar and other random people coming in. Taking chairs and sitting at tables is not something you do in the morning, so people will just create crowds next to bar counter. At 1 – 3.30 pm you can expect to have lunch. Well, in companies they have it much shorter, let’s say they can be done in 1,5h. But what I find really irritating is that all shops are closed at this time, so you can’t buy anything before they finish siesta. In couple of hours the time of merenda comes. And then, closer to 9 – 10 pm people will think about dinner. And you better don’t invite Italian for dinner at 6 or 7pm! They’ll be simply embarrassed to eat dinner at that time, but even before that you’ll not find any restaurant open at that time. Well, unless you want to eat in McDonalds (which are places for immigrants mostly).
Sunday lunch in Italian families is a topic of a separate post. The only thing I can say now is that don’t expect it to be shorter then 3 hours with less then 5 courses:)

Godfather is a favorite movie of millions people in the world and the real headache of Italians. One of the first things a foreigner thinks of (and says obviously) if he hears that you are from Sicily or Naples is “ah, mafia, mafia”. Even my mom is used to ask me whenever I go there if I met some Mafiosi. It’s something that is totally not true. I only saw “mafia district” in Naples, it didn’t look very friendly, but that’s it. Most of Italians will feel offended and insulted if you use the term, even when if you use it as a joke.

Language, dialects and regional differences. If you’ve learned Italian in your country, forget it! There are around 20 regions in Italy and each of them has its own dialect or sometimes even separate language. Napoletan, Sicilian, Calabrian, Roman, Milanese, Triestino are the ones that I (being far from excellent in Italian) can recognize. But language is not the only thing that you may find different between the regions. North and South are as we say in Russian sky and ground (небо и земля). Inter-regional relations can be quite tense during election times, local football matches and even during conferences and especially during LC visits. As for now, I have to admit my strong addiction to the South:)

In the end, language doesn’t have that much value, if you want to speak to Italian, what matters much more and which actually unites people from all regions (well, apart from national football cup obviously:)) are the gestures: the way they move their hands, hold their heads, move shoulders, their facial expressions, as well as the way they use their eyes and mouths could be a topic of couple of dissertations for PhD. They simply can’t talk without their hands! What they actually can do is to talk without words, with hands onlyJ they usually speak very loud everywhere, it’s not because they are deaf, they are simply like that. Italians like to travel, but they don’t really know other languages. Why should they? If they can explain everything with their body language?:)

One more thing that you have to know that all Italians are very touchy people, not in the sense of being sensitive but in the sense of loving to TOUCH other people, everywhere… and yes, it’s normal for guys here to kiss when they meet, luckily it’s not a French kiss. Buuuut, if needed during the party, they can also do this. And don’t forget about famous Nutella kiss.

Family matters here a lot. Italians call themselves “mammony” (not sure about spelling tough) because they are used to stay with their parents until 30, and you don’t need to worry – mamma will cook the food, clean and iron T-shorts, remember all birthdays of relatives, will call you 3 times a day. Italian guys may not pick up the phone if their girlfriend is calling, but be sure that they’ll pick up, if mom is calling.

Beautiful men and women. I don’t know if it’s a matter of beauty or it’s simply their charm and warm attitude that they have which makes you feel special and think that everyone around is beautiful. I don’t find Italians guys more beautiful then Ukrainians, but they definitely care about their appearance much more then Ukrainians do, and that makes a difference.

If we got to speak about men and women, I can’t avoid speaking about relationships here which are very strange. People get married at 30 – 35, which is fine. But it takes them a long time to come to this decision. Most of the couples here are not dating; they are just friends, bed friends or friends with benefits as they might call it here.

Chaos determines Italian lifestyle. Nothing in Italy is well organized or easy-to-use. You have to fight to get the smallest scrap of information. Don't be surprised to see Italians fighting to get into the buses or jumping the queue to be served first at the coffee bar. I usually have a lot of fun (even tough sometimes it’s not fun at all) to see trains full of people because they buy tickets without seats reservation. I know, it happens everywhere in Europe. But surprisingly only in Italy, you can always find corridors full, completely full of people that you can even walk to bathroom. It’s simply impossible – you either get off the train and leave your seat for others or you stay at your place and don’t move:)

I’m finishing now even tough I have sooo many observations in mind. They are just popping up in my mind one by one, but I need to stop otherwise I’m going to spend whole night writing it here. Maybe this could be a topic for my PhD?:) The last but definitely not the least, is that some stereotypes are definitely right, some not, but Italians are generous, communicative, smiling and they are the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. They often use the word sunny to describe themselves, and I believe it’s the right word. Keep that in mind, when taking decision about where to go for your next holidays:)

Your Ukrainian explorer of Italy

P.S. some people, Italians especially, have the right to say they are different. But this is the way I see everything:)

Una bella notizia

2008-04-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Good news – I’ll be granted a residence permit soon! Just 12 months after my arrival to Italy and just 2 days before I leave the country:) Just on time!:))))

I would love to ..... if I had the dare

2008-03-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

Just 3 months left until the end of my Italian experience. I can’t believe it on the one hand. It still feels like it’s just the beginning, autumn or something around there. On the other hand, so many things have happened, so many places visited, so many new people, different emotions, feelings and thoughts. And so many things changed in my understanding of how things are and what am I.
Uncertainty is a key word describing my state of mind these days.
I have a deep inner discussion– a rational part of me says that it’s time to grow up, apply for a job and start bringing benefit and income to some giant corporation, get my salary, plan my life until 60s and draw a visualization board with big house, red car, happy family, parachute jump, travels during holidays and all other things people usually put there. And do everything as it’s supposed to be – slowly but surely, from manager to senior, step by step. Another part of me, let’s call it “nonconformist” says that I still have time and capacity to do something different, to do something more. I’m thinking about going to some strange place like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Africa, Venezuela…to some “middle of nowhere” to live intense cultural experience, to understand world better, to challenge my limits.
Watching, reading, thinking, I’m coming to a conclusion that I’m less rational then people think I am, less safe then people think I’m, and less predictable…
I know I can be successful in working for multinational and I can be well-off until 30, living in comfort wherever I want, having all attributes of modern life style. But I don’t know if that is something what would bring some meaning to my life and whether I can make a difference living like that. This is something that a lot of people, given right conditions, can do. But some dare to do more. But I still can’t understand if I dare or not.
Some say I’m thinking too much and sometimes it’s better to just let it go and see what happens, but I keep on thinking but on the other hand having my CV ready and EP form available.

The story of the stuff

2008-03-11T06:16:00.000-07:00

I might not necessarily agree with all points mentioned here, but this short movie is definitely worth watching.

"Annie Leonard, Story of Stuff. A new short film released today online takes viewers on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture — from resource extraction to iPod incineration — exposing the real costs of this use-it and lose-it approach to stuff. "
Full video is available here http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Men vs Women

2008-03-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

I randomly read today THIS. and I couldn't avoid posting it here:)

NICKNAMES

If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura,Kate and Sarah .

If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each otheras Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

EATING OUT

When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in £20, eventhough it's only for £32.50.None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit theywant change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY

A man will pay £2 for a £1 item he needs.

A woman will pay £1 for a £2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS

A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shavingcream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from M&S.

The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337.

A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

ARGUMENTS

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

CATS

Women love cats.

Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.

FUTURE

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DRESSING UP

A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the bins,answer the phone, read a book, and get the post.

A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL

Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING

Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children.She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favoritefoods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A married man should forget his mistakes.

There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

A bit of everything

2008-02-18T01:19:00.000-08:00

I didn’t post anything here for quite a long time! Time to update blog a bit!
In February I managed to visit 3 new countries: Sweden, Estonia and Latvia in one week!
I had to go to Sweden for work – related meeting for 4 days and then I took a day off to travel around Northern part of Europe a bit. Stockholm was really nice, however very expensive – a bus trip from the airport was around 20 euro, 3 days metro ticket – 23 euro, small postcards for 1,5 euro etc.
Everything else was just fine – good weather (actually it’s was very warm for Stockholm at those days), interesting people – I was glad to meet with Olya Buchenko that I haven’t seen for some years, I was happy to meet new people, especially Sandra, Inga and Michelle.
My trip to Estonia was complicated let’s say. Estonian customers didn’t want to let me in Estonia in the airport because my visa allows me to travel to 1 Schengen country (apart from Italy) at once, however they never checked it before (that’s why I had Netherlands – Belgium trips etc), but since Estonia join Schengen zone only this year, they are still checking visas and put stamps. So for 1,5 hour they were trying to persuade me that I’m not allowed to come. But I was quite stubborn because I wanted to see Inna and I didn’t want to waste money spent for tickets, so I kept on long discussions with them and they finally let me in without stamp that I arrived.
I enjoyed staying in Tallinn, a lot of things: architecture, buses and trolley busses, supermarkets and food are very similar to those in Ukraine; even 90% of people speak Russian, so it felt a lot like at home, especially after eating salads with mayonnaise and “syrkova massa":) Old Tallinn is a very nice place to walk and discover small gardena or houses hidden in narrow streets from eyes of tourists. And I was really glad to see my “martyshka” Innok againJ
I had my flight back from Riga, so on Saturday we went there. We spoke with Inna until 3.30 am so it’s needless to say that we almost missed our bus (at 6 am) - we had to come back twice for tickets and Inna’s passport J Riga was quite similar again – small and cozy town with old city center.
In new EU countries (I mean Baltic here) you better speak English instead of Russian. That makes people (guides, shop assistants, and waiters) much more polite to you apparently.
Coming back to Italy was a bit tricky again – I had difficulties leaving Latvia (remember that I can travel to only 1 Schengen country? and Latvia was 3rd already:) and moreover, I didn’t have any proof that I arrived to Estonia and even more, Latvia (we went to Riga by bus and there was no passport check). Again one hour, again no stamps BUT I got my boarding pass in the end.
After being successful in Riga I had to go through same procedure in Milan again since I only had stamp that I left Stockholm on 6th Feb and the fact that I arrived to Milan on 9th… I was lucky and good in communication enough, so it went ok in the end, even though I was the last one to leave customs control.
I hope my parents will never get to know that their smart daughter was crazy enough to travel like that:)
What else? Don’t expect me to be online soon:) My traveling schedule for coming months looks like this:
20 – 23rd February – Rome
24th February – Bergamo
25 – 29th February – Naples
5 – 7th March – Trieste
8-9th March- Belgium
14-19th March – Sardinia
21-24th March – Easter trip, don’t yet know where but will go for sure
I should be awarded by Trenitalia (national railway service) and different Italian airlines as frequent, VERY frequent traveler:)

Yesterday we had pancake lunch with interns at my home. That’s fun that nobody ever tried salty pancakes with filling. In Europe they only eat sweet ones, mostly with Nutella.
The evening itself was good and the movie we saw “Das Leben der Anderen” (The life of others) was definitely as some like saying “masterpiece”, even tough it was tough to watch it in German (I had to read subtitles 70% of time). In brief the film tells the story of a plot by the Stasi to discredit a famous playwright in 80th in Eastern Berlin. I reminded myself yesterday how interesting it’s to watch this kind of movies with people from other countries and even continents, how problems and historical issues that are extremely relevant for some, don’t bother others at all. For me movie’s added value is in not only in what you see in movie itself, but most importantly in what you feel, think and discuss after it. in that sense, this movie is definitely worth seeing.
I never plan to write such long posts, I know it might be boring to read, but surprisingly in the end the size is always like that. Dunno why!:)

Moments & feelings

2008-02-01T04:13:00.000-08:00

Вчера я поняла, что, несмотря на всю свои сильные стороны и характеристики, я большой мечтатель и наверно еще ребенок где-то глубоко в душе.
Мне всегда хочется чего-то нереального, какого-то большого сюрприза, который какой-то добрый волшебник (да, этот волшебник меняется в зависимости от желаний) принес бы, привез бы, отправил бы мне. Но волшебники и волшебницы никогда не догадываются о этих моих желаниях.
Другая моя большая мечта это шкатулка. Такая небольшая коробочка, в которой можно было бы хранить позитивные чувства и эмоции. Вот так чтобы там лежали все самые позитивные воспоминания: счастье, радость, влюбленность, гордость от достигнутого результата и еще много другого. И потом, когда тебе совсем плохо, чтобы можно было открыть шкаф, достать шкатулку, и смахнув пыль и снова, хотя бы на 5 минут вернуться туда…
Почему-то мне хочется хранить только какие-то внутренние чувства: ни визуальные, ни звуковые, ни тактильные, никакие другие ощущения.
Я никогда долго не храню смс, какими бы хорошими и добрыми они не были. Мне кажется, что если у вас сложились отношения, то если человек написал тебе однажды что-то хорошее, то обязательно напишет и второй, третий, четвертый и т.д. А если не напишет, значит не такие уж и все хорошо и не стоит ничего вспоминать.
Я удаляю фотографии, мейлы и телефоны людей с которыми прекращаю отношения, чтобы стереть из памяти все, чтобы не было этих визуальных контактов и ненужных воспоминаний.
Мне хочется сохранить только чувства и ощущения, но они почему-то долго не хранятся, выветриваются что ли… и остается только сегодняшний день и улыбки по- настоящему дорогих мне людей, которые смотрят с фотографий дома и в офисе, которые приходят в письмах, открытках и сообщениях.
Моя мама всегда говорит, что самый сильный тот, кто победит себя. Но мне почему-то кажется, что я чересчур в этом поверила и научилась побеждать не только себя, но часто и свои мечты. Вчера я победила себя, но убила очередную свою мечту, которая казалась уж чересчур нереалистичной, которую я не могла измерить, не смогла составить план по ее достижению. Наверно через время, как это всегда бывает, я буду этим гордится, буду очень довольна тем, что умею так хорошо управлять своими эмоциями, принимать рациональные решения и т.п. А сегодня, у меня просто какое-то паршивое настроение…
Хотя... ничего страшного, что паршивое настроение, это пройдет. я же себя знаю:)

Go one step further

2008-01-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

Do more than exist – Live!
Do more than touch – Feel!
Do more than look – Observe!
Do more than read – Absorb!
Do more than hear – Listen!
Do more than listen – Understand!
Do more than think – Reflect!
Do more than just talk – Say Something!
Go One Step Further… Live! Feel! Observe! Absorb! Listen! Understand! Reflect! Say Something!

Biggest weakness

2008-01-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

I know what is my biggest weakness - I perfectly know a lot of things : how it's supposed to be, work, how should I behave, what should I say etc., etc. Buuuuut, and here it starts, so often I don't know, I'm afraid, I'm shy, I don't care, I.... so in the end I don't do what is best to do...
and now..
my mom always said to me that "the strongest is the one who is able to overcome oneself (to win a battle over onesself).
I wonder now how do I win this battle? Actually sometimes I manage to win.. but not always

My 2007

2007-12-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

My 2007 passed extremely fast. Celebration of 2007 seems to be so far away, so many things happened, so many places, people, emotions changed in my life.
I was sharing a lot of things that happened to me during this year, so if you want to know more details just read some of the previous posts. I want to mention here few most important aspects of the year.
Events that shaped my life in 2007
EuroEXPRO in Serbia, Weekend in Ivano – Frankovsk in May, Visa application, EBC 2007, LC visit in Naples, weekend in Rome, Exchange meeting in Rotterdam, 2 flights from Brussels, IPM CCP election.
People I want to thank for different things (even tough they might not realize that they’ve done something important for me):
My parents, Juraj Zdinak, Sveta Muzychenko, Slavik Lysak, Marinka Malkina, Tanya Mikhailyuk, Ira Legka, Nadya Lyubivaya, Anya Kovalchuk, Il’ya Boshnyakov, Cornelia Raportaru, Kevin Groen, Federica Rosi, Federico Caliri, Julia Khimchak, Olka Urina, Inna Kostyuk, Viktor Kryvenko, Matteo Orsi, Anabella Florea, Dora Salemi, Irene Sianard, Daniele de Lorenzo, Alba Cauchi, Dante Scognamiglio and his family, Giuliano De Marco, Michelle Gallant, Andrey Bezemchuk, Olya Kuznetsova, Gaspar Ndabi, Olka Semenyuk
Books that I loved:
“The tipping point” and “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell
“The world is flat” by Thomas Friedman
Places I’ve been to
Ivano – Frankovsk, Kharkov, Kiev, Belgrade, Milan, Prague, Roznov pod Radhostem, Ostrava, Olomouc, Zlin, Brno, Istambul, Lignano Sabbiadoro, Venice, Naples, Rome, Catania, Trieste, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Brussels, Brugge, Leuven, Verona, Pisa, Como, Lisbon.
My dreams that came true
Visiting theme park (Gardaland)
Traveling around Europe
I graduated finally
Quotes of the year
Life is not the amount of breaths you take. It’s the moments that take your breath away. Alex Hitchins
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely. Karen Kaiser Clark
Some other learnings and observations:
I learned to value friendship and maybe learned how to care more about people:)
I learned that my experience is what I make out of it myself and nobody else can be held responsible for that
I learned how to cook pasta:)

Pictures of the year

My 2007 was different: it was happy and challenging, full of troubles and surprises; I took few difficult decisions that have shaped or will shape my life and life of other people. I got to know myself better. I’m thankful for everything that happened to me, everyone I’ve met and I’m looking forward new discoveries and opportunities that 2008 will bring me.

Today's news

2007-12-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of ways to express political will and promote your beliefs and views. A lot of them are illegal, and a lot are not very ethical. But there is one that is for sure not acceptable - killing your political opponents. Today world lost first female prime minister in and Islamic state - Benazir Bhutto. Not that I admired her or saw her as a panacea for Pakistan's problems , but she was definitely smart and brave woman. She did offer charismatic leadership at this crucial stage and she had the potential to provide Pakistan with the means of changing its ways.
It's sad to see such people being killed in other countries, but in our world...

Midnight thoughts

2007-12-25T15:32:00.000-08:00

It has been already 4 days since I came back home to Ukraine for holidays!
Time passes by, I enjoy staying with my family, meeting my friends, eating food I love, walking down the streets of my childhood, everything is good, just can’t get read of some thoughts.
Comparison is something that I do hundreds of times each day, I know it’s natural and it’s kind of reintegration element (even tough I came for 2 weeks only).
So, firstly about my observations:
People’s appearance. In Vienna airport waiting for boarding to my flight to Dnepropetrovsk I finally saw a lot of Ukrainians in one place. My attention was taken by a girl wearing 12 centimeters high spike hills, jacket made from the fur of unknown animal. She had mop of perhydrol blond hair, huge blue eyes and pink lips. She was not prostitute, of course one can never know, but just my snap judgment (God Bless Gladwell for introducing me to this nice termJ), she was just typical, quite typical representative of Ukrainian or even post soviet beauty standards. I was shamelessly examining her for around 3 minutes, slowly realizing that I haven’t seen this kind of outfit for around 6 months. Observation number one: even tough I’m still quite shocked when people don’t iron their clothes, don’t make manicure and things like that, but I definitely got used to it to European casualness.
Fools and roads.
Roads and runways. Dnepropetrovsk might be not the best Ukrainian airport, but for sure is not the worst one, but seeing holes and cracks on the runways is not contributing to raising pride for my country.
Fools and attitude. I’ve traveled quite a lot in past 2 months and I was never ever asked anything about my visa, reasons of my stay in Italy. Never ever before arriving home and talking to a custom officer in DP. I had to spend 5 minutes explaining him in details what I’m doing in Italy, what is AIESEC and why the f… I came back home for New Year. In past few days I took hopper buses (марштрутка) few times and drivers were literally starring at me after hearing “Thank you” 3 times. After buying some of the gifts for New Year I realized that you can only hear thanks (especially from female shop assistants) after you buy something which costs more then 20 euros (in the shop with average price of 10).
And the last, but not the least, you always need to have wet napkins to clean your boots, because they’ll always be dirty.
That all is quite negative and pessimistic, isn’t it?
Those are random observations that practically don’t tell you a lot about the city, country and mentality, people etc. These are some random (yes, that is in the list of my favorite wordsJ) thoughts of a girl, who stayed some 6 months in the other reality and thinks that she has the power to criticize and judge something that she is too young to understand and evaluate. And that’s true. On the one hand. But on the other hand, the funny thing is that this criticism is only raising my feeling of patriotism that is properly “fertilized” by ideas taken from books that I recently have read.
Actually these kinds of things provoke me to think about what are the changes that my country needs, who are the leaders that have capacity, strong will and, moreover, belief in changes. I’m quite sure that country needs leaders, I’m quite sure that there are people capable of becoming such leaders, and there are people who can follow them. The question is how many people there need to be to create this critical mass that can turn this passive desire and dreams into kind of social epidemics that can in fact start the change. And the last – what can be my own contribution into that… I’m frequently coming back to thoughts of Raskolnikov from “Crime and punishment” about people who “the high and mighty” (власть имущие) or “weak people” (there is no literal translation I guess for твари дрожащие). All that thoughts not in sense of committing crime, but in the sense of being able and having courage to drive transformational change in Ukrainian society. Just a curiosity now whether I can really do something or whether I will give up as many others for having family, children, nice house, car, 24 days of vacations etc. which is in fact nothing bad, just ordinary… it’s not about being Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa… It’s about few words: desire and courage to drive changes.
“Because people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who actually do”….. even tough I know that changes start from within.
So what is the change that you are able to make in yourself to change at least your local environment for better?

Creativity is out of the office

2007-12-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

The name of the post is rather random - my creativity has a day off today. It'll come back in the office tomorrow, so maybe next post will have a more meaningful name:)

I started to write this post several times, but then something happened and took my attention, time etc. so I never posted what I wrote.
In brief, in previous month I traveled a lot, maybe too much. To be very short and specific:)
9 days in Catania: LDS – national induction conference for newbies. It was great to spend some time with Innok:)Conclusions: now I’m not easily motivated by conferences even tough delivered on a good level.
4 days in Rotterdam: Exchange meeting in AI – good content wise and very intense. It was good to see how AI works and lives. Conclusions: the funny thing is that I finally decided not to apply for AI.
1 day in Amsterdam: my first birthday outside of Dnepropetrovsk. Woke up in Rotterdam, spent day in Amsterdam, spent night in Brussels:) a bit crazy as for one day, but I liked it:) Amsterdam especially – it’s worth seeing, but don’t waste time for Sex museumJ Madame Tussaud’s is worth seeing, I loved it:) Red light district – nothing special – dark, almost naked girls in windows, and kind of church in the middle of it. Worth seeing only once in life, unless you go there for something elseJConclusions: need to come back to see the rest of the Netherlands. Who wants to go?:)
3 days in Milan: plan review, good ideas, reviewed plans and a lot of work again:) ah-ah, new table, chairs, cutlery and Christmas tree in our house:) looks great!
2 days in Trieste: lovely city, much better then I expected! Interesting local committee:) Next time I come to spend more money there and they promised to take me for lunch to Slovenia:)
2 days in Brugge, Leuven and Brussels: I was happy to be there:) Friends will be friends….:)
and now back to Milan – cool pajama learning circoletto yesterday with my team mates:) and heading for hospital tomorrow morning. Well, you know, I can’t live without using my insurance, bothering doctors and creating random problems. Yes, and having very strange and funny health problems
and then.. Lisbon this weekend (unless something bad happens tomorrow in hospital). I’ll see the ocean:)
Dnepropetrovsk in 1 week.. can’t wait to be there. I missed everyone there so much. Will be happy to come back for those 10 days:)
Yes, you know where to find my pictures, as usual here

I don't understand

2007-11-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

That's a stange one, but really stuck in my head for 2 days already..

From my conversation with a somebody on msn: "now why would I talk to you and ask how are you. everything is great with you and you'll boost in any way with what you have done, what you've achieved and where you've traveled"... that's simply confusing...

I still can't understand what drives people to say such things. not in this particular case, but in general. Is that coming from the fact that we are used to answer that everything is cool with us in most of the cases excluding those when you feel really bad? Is it in the human nature to be interested only when something bad happens? Is it that time when they see the added value that they are brining to a person? Do they only want to symphatize in difficult moments. why people just can't be interested in what's good happening? or is it not so entertaining... I'm really confused and don't understand.

Love and madness

2007-11-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

Да, эту историю я тоже совершенно случайно нашла в старой папке с документами, пытаясь найти старую модель delivery Global Exchange Partnerships:) вот так иногда бывает..:)

Говорят, что однажды собрались в одном уголке земли вместе все человеческие чувства и качества. Когда СКУКА зевнула уже в третий раз, СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ предложило: А давайте играть в прятки!? ИНТРИГА приподняла бровь: Прятки? Что это за игра??, и СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ объяснило, что один из них, например, оно, водит, закрывает глаза и считает до миллиона, в то время как остальные прячутся. Тот, кто будет найден последним, станет водить в следующий раз и так далее. ЭНТУЗИАЗМ затанцевал с ЭЙФОРИЕЙ, РАДОСТЬ так прыгала, что убедила СОМНЕНИЕ,вот только АПАТИЯ, которую никогда ничего не интересовало, отказалась участвовать в игре. ПРАВДА предпочла не прятаться, потому что, в конце концов, ее всегда находят, ГОРДОСТЬ сказала, что это совершенно дурацкая игра (ее ничего кроме себя самой не волновало), ТРУСОСТИ очень не хотелось рисковать.Раз, два, три, - начало счет СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ. Первой спряталась ЛЕНЬ, она укрылась за ближайшем камнем на дороге, ВЕРА поднялась на небеса, а ЗАВИСТЬ спряталась в тени ТРИУМФА, который собственными силами умудрился взобраться на верхушку самого высокого дерева. БЛАГОРОДСТВО очень долго не могло спрятаться, так как каждое место, котороеоно находило, казалось идеальным для его друзей: Кристально чистое озеро для КРАСОТЫ; Расщелина дерева - так это для СТРАХА; Крыло бабочки - для СЛАДОСТРАСТИЯ; Дуновение ветерка - ведь это для СВОБОДЫ! Итак, оно замаскировалось в лучике солнца. ЭГОИЗМ, напротив, нашел только для себя теплое и уютное местечко. ЛОЖЬ спряталась на глубине океана (на самом деле она укрылась в радуге), а СТРАСТЬ и ЖЕЛАНИЕ затаились в жерле вулкана. ЗАБЫВЧИВОСТЬ, даже не помню где она спряталась, но это не важно. Когда СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ досчитало до 999999, ЛЮБОВЬ все еще искала, где бы ей спрятаться, но все уже было занято. Но вдруг она увидела дивный розовый куст и решила укрыться среди его цветов.
- Миллион, сосчитало СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ и принялось искать.Первой оно, конечно же, нашло лень. Потом услышало, как ВЕРА спорит с Богом, а о СТРАСТИ и ЖЕЛАНИИ оно узнало по тому, как дрожит вулкан, затем СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ увидело ЗАВИСТЬ и догадалось где прячется ТРИУМФ. ЭГОИЗМ и искать было не нужно, потому что местом, где он прятался оказался улей пчел, которые решили выгнать непрошеного гостя. В поисках СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ подошло напиться к ручью и увидело КРАСОТУ. СОМНЕНИЕ сидело у забора, решая, с какой же стороны ему спрятаться. Итак, все были найдены: ТАЛАНТ - в свежей и сочной траве, ПЕЧАЛЬ - в темной пещере, ЛОЖЬ - в радуге (если честно, то она пряталась на дне океана). Воттолько любовь найти не могли. СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ искало за каждым деревом, в каждом ручейке, на вершине каждой горы и, наконец, он решило посмотреть в розовых кустах, и когда раздвигало ветки, услышало крик. Острые шипы роз поранили ЛЮБВИ глаза. СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ не знало что и делать, принялось извиняться, плакало, молило, просило прощения и в искупление своей вины пообещало ЛЮБВИ стать ее поводырем. И вот с тех пор, когда впервые на земле играли в прятки...... ЛЮБОВЬ слепа и СУМАСШЕСТВИЕ водит её за руку...

Life in 100 words

2007-11-26T14:49:00.000-08:00

Обыденно и грустно как-то, но занимательно написано. Один раз прочитать стоит:)

Колыбель. Пеленки. Плач.
Шаг. Простуда. Врач.
Беготня. Игрушки. Брат .
Двор. Качели. Детский сад.

Школа. Двойка. Тройка. Пять.
Мяч. Подножка. Гипс. Кровать.
Драка. Кровь. Разбитый нос.
Двор. Друзья. Тусовка. Форс.

Институт. Весна. Кусты.
Лето. Сессия. Хвосты.
Пиво. Водка. Джин со льдом.
Кофе. Сессия. Диплом .

Романтизм. Любовь. Звезда.
Руки. Губы. Ночь без сна.
Свадьба. Теща. Тесть. Капкан.
Ссора. Клуб. Друзья. Стакан.

Дом. Работа.
Дом. Семья.
Солнце. Лето.
Снег. Зима.

Сын. Пеленки. Колыбель.
Стресс. Любовница. Постель.
Бизнес. Деньги. План. Аврал.
Телевизор. Сериал.

Дача. Вишни. Кабачки.
Седина. Мигрень. Очки.
Внук. Пеленки. Колыбель.
Стресс. Давление. Постель.

Сердце. Почки. Кости. Врач.
Речи. Гроб. Прощанье. Плач.

La Dolce vita

2007-11-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

I know I should write more often even when people are not reminding me about that:)

But the crazy life I live now doesn't give me any free minute to do it or should I again refer to my time management skills?

In brief - I'm busy these days and I actually love this feeling of being busy, needed, useful and good for something.

I'm happy these days because I saw and will see tomorrow people that I love and care so much about: Olka, Luka, Innok:)

I'm satisfied because my life now is more diverse: I'm getting to know a lot of new people, I travel a lot now (actually I've fulfilled my Italian travel plan for 70% already:)) and I have a chance to see some of the most beautiful places in the world:)

I'm glad to have mentor who is always there to support and guide me. And I see quite clearly what do I need to do to define my goals. Thank you, Juraj:)

I miss my family - but I talked with them in skype with webcam today:) and I'm going to be in Dnepropetrovsk on 22nd of December!

I'm intended to learn Italian better - even tough I see my progress, I know I should do more. I want to speak by the end of June.

I'm curious if Italian LCs could raise 107 X until 21st of December and I'll have to become blond as promised:)
I'm looking foraward my travels to Rotterdam (who doesn't want to see AI office at least once in their AIESEC life?:)), Belgium and Portugal.

I'm still not sure about what do I do next? But that's normal period of uncertanty, right?:)

Please don't think that I'm never depressed here and everything is just amazing. Sometimes I do have bad moments. But I'm practicing positive attitute here and try to focus only on good things. Am I good in it?:)

The definition of success

2007-10-27T14:28:00.001-07:00

Tonight I'm writing an essay for a scholarship that I might get for a business camp that I want to go. The topic of essay is connected to success and making the best out of yourself. While looking for some good quotes about success, I've found an article about success. It was totally nothing new for me and I bet will not be new for you - we all are very smart people, but how often do we really take some time to think how successful we are for ourselfs and not in somebody's opinion.Honestly saying, I don't do that often. Though I think I should...

Last night I had a telephone conversation with a friend, and while we were mulling over one subject after another, I mentioned how cool it would be if only I could win the lottery. I remember stating that I wouldn't even mind sharing the jackpot with a few other people, as long as a couple of millions were left hanging for me. My friend asked me what I would change about my life if I was wealthy, and that's when it hit me: Nothing really. The only difference would be that I would not have to be concerned about paying the monthly bills anymore, and maybe that I would purchase a nice house in the hills, but the actual contents of my life and the way I have furnished it so far would not undergo any significant transformation. This discovery intrigued me. In fact it got me mulling over it long after the conversation with my friend was over! I started wondering if the universal measure of success should not be: the degree to which a person manages to be satisfied with the general contents of his or her routine. Just think about it for a moment: there are many wealthy people who would give away half or all of their assets if only they could obtain contentment. And there are many people balancing on the edge of poverty, but with peace in their heart, faces that smile a lot, and a set of activities that they would not want to change for the world. Now, which category of these people is really successful? My conclusion is, that success has just as many faces as any other possible theme, depending on the society in which it is measured, and the character of the person who measures it. Wrongfully, many people confuse success with wealth: they assume that a person's triumph can be concluded from the expensiveness of his or her watch, car, or house. They envy those in their circle of acquaintances who can financially afford more than they can. They keep comparing themselves with the Joneses and allow their happiness to depend on the level to which they can equal these people's lifestyles. And they forget to just do the simplest thing in the world: turn inside and analyze what it is that they really like. I think success should be more synonymous with happiness than with affluence. For it's only when you find satisfaction with what you're doing and don't dread facing every new day when your task has to be embarked upon, that you are really successful. When you can move in an environment that pleases you, and when you feel at ease with the ones you deal with on a daily base; when you feel loved, cared for, understood, and valued in what you do, and you don't have to switch personalities from one location to another: that's when you've really attained success. When you see that you make a difference, if only in one person's life; when you are confronted with gratitude, not only from others toward you, but from your outer-self to your inner-self: that's when you are a real winner. Success, therefore, cannot be measured by what radiates from a person's purse or material cover, but from what exudes from his or her personality. You can feel it in one's touch, you can hear it in one's voice: in the way one speaks, and you can see it in one's eyes. Successful people are self-assured, know what they want, and go for it. And what they want, they simply determine with feeling, and not with what others dictate them. So, are you successful?

by Joan Marques

"Don't worry" city

2007-10-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, finally I have time for a short or a long (I never know actually:)post here about my adventures in Naples last week! If I try to sum it up in few words, I’ll have to say just 3: “It was amazing”. Despite the fact I was worried, scared, prejudiced and angry because of flight delay, so far it was one of the best experiences in Italy so far.
Naples is definitely is a place to visit not only because of long history and sightseeing opportunities but mostly because of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met!
I’ve done a lot of things, can’t remember now all of them, but will try to….
…. I’ve seen “Attenzione!Be aware” announcement with a picture of thief stealing wallets in a bus and in a split of a second I saw Dante turning from a chat with me to another side of the bus, shouting and kicking out of the bus a man that was trying to steal his mobile.
… I’ve seen office of Napoli Parthenope situated near the sea right next to old huge castle on the coast of Bay of Naples.
…. I thought it’s always difficult to come first time somewhere, especially to LC visit in foreign country when you almost don’t know anything about people! But after few time spent in the office I had a nice feeling of being in a very nice place, it didn’t feel like being at my home LC. Dnipropetrovs’k was always different. But there was something, cozy, you know in these environment, people, and attitude! It’s been quite challenging because of punctuality (imagine we were always late with sessions even tough I considered myself to be a person that is able to organize everything on time), a bit difficult with language (but, believe me, now I know what does it mean to speak slow:)), but everything else went almost the way I planned.
….All those days I felt like a Princess thanks to attention and care that was given to me there by everyone – AIESECers, their relatives and even random people on the streets. I could never imagine that somebody’s parents can take care of me so much, deeply caring of what I eat and drink, what I like, dislike, prefer etc. I tried best pizza and best mozzarella in Italy. Yaaamii! And also lots of other things which names I don’t remember!
…. I felt very smart:) when they were telling to everyone how cool I’m to have Masters at 21.
…. I’ve learned a new philosophy of not worrying and being relaxed
…. I saw LC who has great relations with University starting from cleaners and ending with headmaster, at recruitment event I saw alumni who founded AIESEC in Napoli Parthenope telling how exchange was made when there still was Berlin wall
….. I’ve waited to enter to a trattoria for 30 minutes in a line (imagine a cafe like that now in Ukraine. Not our first McD in 1995:)), where waiters ask people to eat faster and leave right after they finish because other people are waiting to get in (they do have great food there), I got used to eat pasta as appetizer (like salads in Ukraine) and then 3 courses after it.
…. I got to know what Sunday family lunch means:)
…. I didn’t do that much sightseeing because of terrible weather, but what I managed to see was great. I didn’t go to see The Pope, but I went to a big Museum to see huge cribs and a great view on Bay of Naples, Vesuvius (Europe’s largest active volcano) and Naples itself.
…. I had a ride on scooter first time in my life:)
…. I didn’t get to understand all the habits and traditions of Neapolitans, but some of it really made me learn and understand a lot about cultural differences and differences in people’s behaviors. Judemao, I still have in mind one story about paying coffee…
… I definitely felt in love with people, not somebody in particular unfortunately:) Thank you very much Angela, Giancarlo, Judemao, Dante and Alessandro for being great hosts! I really appreciated a lot your efforts and the time spent together:) Looking forward my next visit..:)

My pictures are at Facebook as usually! Link is here.

P.S. Don't worry !!!!!!!!:)

Bbbrrrrr....

2007-10-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Всем, кто считает меня организованным человеком с хорошими навыками тайм менеджмента посвящается...

Значит так, на часах 22.41, Маша прибежала с итальянского, сидит в офисе угрюмо листая туда - сюда 2 страницы ежедневника забитые списком дел, которые нужно сделать.

Какие уж тут недельные приоритеты, какие схемы "важно - не важно, срочно - не срочно" и т.п. все горит! и что самое интересное на это все у меня есть 1 ночь и около 2 часов рабочего дня завтра потому что послезавтра я лечу в Неаполь на ЛС визит, которым меня пугают уже целую неделю, и которого я в общем-то сама боюсь и без запугиваний...

Завтра у меня встреча на все утро, Айсек день в Милано Боккони, сбор вещей на 5 дней на все случаи жизни, подготовка к визиту из серии "хочу то, не знаю что. и расскажи про это, учитывая вот то и логично связывая с вот тем вот", десяток дел, которые надо доделать, около 10 (утром будет около 20 писем) на которые надо ответить. да, я еще чер ХКБ, и они тоже требуют внимания. Еще и пломба вылетела опять. Привет турецим стоматологам. И когда бы еще визит к дантисту вписать на завтра?

Теперь внимание вопрос.. Как это все называется? Стресс? Депрессия? Проблемы с тайм менеджментом? Или тот, кто не работает на выходных, работает по ночам?:)

Так это я все к чему написала в этой безумной спешке: во-первых, чтобы выплеснуть злость на саму себя. Выплеснула. Во-вторых, чтобы почувствовать, что я хоть что-то могу нормально структурировать. Почувствовала. В - третьих, чтобы доказать самой себе, что я еще способна писать на русском (не знаю, с ошибами ли, но смысл наверно понятен:)). Доказала. В - четвертых, чтобы хоть напротив одного дела в ежедневнике поставить галочку. Ставлю. Ну вот, вроде ничего не забыла, готова идти писать письмо турецкому султану ака Данте ака ЛСП Неаполя куда я еду через день:)

La bella figura

2007-10-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

I was about to write this post few days ago, exactly the second day I started to read the book, but managed today only. Well, in any case, you should read it.

So, few days ago I started a book by Beppe Severgnini, columnist for the Corriere della Sera - one of the biggest Italian newspapers. The book is called "La bella figura" meaning literally 'the beautiful figure', but really 'a good image' is hilarious guide into Italian mentality and mind. So I thought that there is no better way to share some of my observations about Italians then sharing some extracts from this book.

.... First of all, let's get one thing straight. Your Italy and our Italia are not the same thing.

....Yet Italy is far from hellish. It's got too much style. Neither is it heaven, of course, because it's too unruly. Let's just say Italy is an offbeat purgatory, full of proud, tormented souls each of whom is convinced he or she has a hotline to the boss.

....It takes an outstanding director to govern the Italians.

....Obedience is boring. We want to think about it. We want to decide whether a particular law applies to our specific case. In that place, at that time.

.... Do you see that red light? It looks the same as any other red light anywhere in the world, but it's an Italian invention. It's not an order, as you may naivly think. Nor is it a warming, as a superficial glance might suggest. It's actually an opportunity to reflect....In Italy, red lights come in many varieties. A rare few actually mean stop. Others, to the Italian driver, suggest different interpretations. At a pedestrian crossing at 7 a.m., with no pedestrians around, it is a “negotiable red,” more like a weak orange. At a traffic intersection, red could mean what the Florentines call rosso pieno, or full red, but it might, with no cars coming, be more of a suggestion than a command. It all depends.

... It's one in the afternoon. In Milan, this is time for la colazione which means breakfast in Rome but is the same thing as lunch in New York. The midday meal in Rome is il pranzo, which for many people in Milan means the evening meal that everyone in Naples calls la cena.

... Consider the humble cappuccino. After 10 o'clock ib the morning it's unethical and possibly even unlawful to order one. You wouldn't have one in the afternoon unless the weather was very cold. Needless to say, sipping a cappuccino after a meal is something only non-Italians do. Pizzas at midday are for schoolkids. Rice with meat is perfect, but pasta with meat is embarassing unless it's cooked in the sauce. Having a started after your pasta raises no eyebrows, but eating a main neat or fish dish instead of a starter looks greedy. Grating Parmesan over clams is an offense against religion...

.... You chose creamed vegetables, but the menu said vellutata di verdure di stagione al profumo di finocheietto selvatico, servita coi crostini e olio extravergine d'oliva d'Abruzzo, which is one way to charge extra 10 euros for it.

I hope you had fun:) I continue reading...:)

Queen of the Adriatic

2007-10-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Continuing stories about my Italian travels, I'm here to tell you about "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Bridges" and "City of Light" or simply about Venice - one of the most famous cities in the world.

As I wrote a bit before EBC conference was in Lignano - Sabbiadoro which is around 1 hour to go from Venice, so obviously I couldn't miss a chance to see the place I've heard so much about... and, I didn't regret it I must say:)

Venice is built on three hundred and seventeen small islands, and holds one hundred and fifty canals, connected by an amazing four hundred and nine bridges, of which only three cross the main canal. The area it covers is a mere 458 kilometres. Although the city appears small, it is really quite extensive for its size. While most tour guides don’t recommend getting lost in the majority of cities, Venice is the place to get hopelessly lost for a day which is actually a very easy thing to do. Venice is a labirint of the most narrow and short streets that I've ever seen, which all are so similar and diverse at the same time. I don't really know how much time on should live in Venice not to feel a complete idiot in city orientation:)

The population is roughly 63, 000 people, but there is belief that Venice will, over time, lose most of its population and become merely a large theme park, purely for the entertainment of tourists and I actually quite belive it since I obviously have seen more toursts then locals in Venice, don't ask me how do I distinguish them, but it's really easy to do.

What I got to know is that Venice is Venice is the world's only pedestrian city, is beautifully walkable, and the absence of cars makes it a particularly pleasant experience but very exausting indeed due to hundreds of bridges that you have to pass each 3 minutes:)

Venice today remains the same as centuries ago, but I'd never say that this is a place where you feel the pressure of history. And it's no wonder - apart from San Marco and Doge's Palace there are almost no huge buildings - it's not possible to imagine neither a huge gothic church nor a skyscraper among all these miniature bridges, small streest and 2 floor old houses.

You know, I'm a photo freak and I always take a lot of pictures, everywhere, but in Venice I simply couldn't help to stop myself from taking pictures of streets, channels and houses again and again even tough I know I already have many:) well, in the end I have around 200 pictures, some of them are available here.
My acquaintance with Venice this time was rather visual and haptic - I didn't get to know a lot of history, didn't visit any museum, didn't go inside San Marco or Doge's Palace. Venice is the city that you should discover step by step and I'm sure our acquaintance with this magic city is to be continued soon...

Going deeper into Italian culture

2007-10-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

That's going to be a long one since I have lots of news to share after this week! That was one of the most challenging and rewarding weeks in past months.

It was a week of creating and breaking stereotypes, week of bananas (this is how we call urgent problems in MC) and great successes. So what was that? My first Italian conference!!!!!!!!!

Firstly about the conference - executive board conference is quite a typical conference that is happening all around the world for EBs after IC. Apart from EB track we also had track for Project managers, who are leading PBoXes in LCs.

The conference was organized by LC Trieste in a very beautiful and peaceful place on Ardiatic sea Lignano - Sabbiadoro (golden sands) in quite good hotel with very good food (NO PASTA for 5 days!:))

During my transition in June I was constanly told that Italian conferences are challenge both in professional and personal aspects, few weeks ago in Pisa, I was speaking to Cisco and he kind of reminded me once again all the "horrors" that I should be prepared for. So, try to imagine my attitude before going there:)

The conference was a good time to understand better the culture, both Italian in general and AIESEC in Italy in particular. Some of the things seemed to be very good for me, some very absurd, some things were very difficult like language issue for example, some things were easier then I expected - the attitude and warmth that plenary showed to us. In any ways, I was definitely very well prepared for conference, so things like formal dress (guys taking off trousers and staying only in pants), baptizing, songs about putane and zoccole didn't shock me soo much:) Italians don't really have a lot of LC shouts - I only remember "Noi non siamo Napoletane. Vot non siete Napoletabe" (my favourite actually) and "Torino, Torino celano piccolino( not sure about spelling:)) and "Comitato Nazionale, Comitato Nazionale..." But what Italians indeed have are the songs that they have for almost each situation. I loved some, but definitely don't remember the words:)

I mostly have good memories about sessions. That was the first time for Italians to have evening plenaries, which were a success. Everything was quite good apart from timing (sometimes my fault) and reflection that totally didn't work. All the dances, videos, shouts and crazy plenary with underwear worked well:)

My biggest concern about this conference - half day session about PBoXes worked very well, I think even connection with Kill Bill was good!

My greatest satisfaction of conference - Exchange functional track! That was actually the first time I met my VPs and I was pleased and amazed by the day we spent together with them! Exchange rocks:)

And the official dinner was amazing - in a way official dinner at EBC was better then the one at IC this year:) Congratulations to my crazy Napoli Parthenope for winning PwC award:)

During this conference I actually realized that the facts that we were discussing with girls in Ukraine about how a year abroad in particular country may change us were so true.I feel like becoming integrated, moreover, I feel like becoming more open, more flexible a bit more crazy - becoming Italian. I know that my visit to Napoli in 1,5 week will definitely change me even more:) I already wrote some time before that I enjoyed being here, but now I came to a conclusion that this is the right place, the right time, the right position for me. You know, I feel like doing exactly what I'm meant to do at specific point of time! And that's an amazing feeling!

What else.. aaa, a thing that I've noticed - in Ukraine and in general in international conferences we pass trough a process of firstly getting first visual impression of people and then getting to know them better in other aspects. Here in Italy, I passed trough totally opposite process - I firstly got to know people virtually and only after 3,5 months in Italy I get the change to connect what I knew about people with their faces. At one point of time I was thinking about the way how our consciousness works - and that it's much easier to create stereotypes from first visual impression rather then from first impression that you got trough communicating with people virtually.

And the last, but not the least - it was great to meet LCs that I'm coaching - Roma che? Roma TRE! Trieste, Napoli Parthenope and Milano Bocconi! They all are so different, but so great!:) I'm going to visit them in October - November! Yoooohooo:)

So, coming to the end of thing looong post, there are few main conclusions that I'd like to share.

Italians are very much like we (foreigners) imagine them: totally crazy, emotional and extraverted, hospitable and warm. At the same time I must say that we have to many stereotypes about Italian men - they are not soo- soo hot as we imagine them abroad, actually the "hottest" guys that I've seen at conference were mostly not Italians. Hm, well maybe I still need to attend more conferences:)
There are quite a lot of differences between North and South in Italy and what I've noticed is that when a person is introducing himself he'll always say I'm .... (napoletan, sicilian, sardenian etc.) rather then I'm Italian:). There are even some names that are given to people from south and north (terrone and polentone) but they way they use it here never sound offensive like using similar names in Ukraine (москалі, кацапи, бандеровцы) between East and West and this respect to people from other regions is something that Ukrainians are still to learn. why not from Italians:)

That's the end of my report from EBC. stay tuned for another story about Venice...:)

P.S. my pictures from EBC are here

Persistence

2007-10-01T04:19:00.000-07:00

For already few days I go crazy preparing our national conference, brains boiling, eyes hurt, back and ass as well:) today I was finalizing one of my sessions with quite an experimental approach to explaning PBoXes:) I was looking for a picture illustrating persistence and the one I've found, literally made my day. Decided to share...

You chose your attitude

2007-10-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood.
When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply,“If I were any better, I would be twins!”Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs,so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant
Why?Because Jerry was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him“I don’t get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”
Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood.I always choose to be in a good mood.
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it.Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life.”“But it’s not always that easy,“ I protested.“Yes it is,” Jerry said.
“Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk every situation is a choice.
You choose how you react to situations.You choose how people will affect your mood.You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.It’s your choice how you live your life.”Several years later,
I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business.He left the back door of his restaurant open
And then ???In the morning, he was robbed by three armed men.
While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him.Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.…I saw Jerry about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was,he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Want to see my scars?”
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.“The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied.“Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die. I chose to live.”
“Weren’t you scared“ I asked?
Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.
In their eyes, I read ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”“What did you do?” I asked.
“Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything.”
‘Yes,’ I replied.
The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breathand yelled, ‘Bullets!’
Over their laughter, I told them,‘I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead’.“Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.
I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it.
The only thing that is truly yours — that no one can control or take from you-is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

My cooking success!

2007-09-26T13:53:00.001-07:00

Since I decided to reward myself for even small successes, I need to share my latest cooking success and receive a bit of appreciation:)

So, today I had a good mood that was supported by my responsibility to cook lunch for everyone, so I cooked potato pancakes (deruny, draniki in Russian). I spent about 1,5 hours but the result was quite good! Actually not even me, but also Italians liked it:) Yes, first Ukrainian dish that they liked. I consider it as a great breaktrough! I'm open to accept congratulations:))))

Pisa trip!

2007-09-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

Ciao tutti! Masha impara l'italiano ogni giorno (Masha learns Italian everyday) - I needed to share it in the begining since that is the phraze that is describing my life for already few weeks:)My progress is visible! Yuuuupiii!

Blogger Masha is back with couple of new stories! So, for those who is trying to follow my Italian discoveries, I have a new story to tell:) This weekend was amazing - I travelled to Pisa!

Initially we were planning to go to Florence, but on Thursday me and Annare were invited to Pisa by Tugce and Simo - 2 international EB members in Pisa!4,5 hours travel and we came to Pisa - one of the most beautiful cities in Tuscany (region in central Italy) near Ligurian sea. The city itself is very small, only 185 square kms, so you can cross it in maximum 1 hour. Population of pisa is not more then 100,000 people. But each year Pisa welcomes thousands of tourists that are coming to see Piazza dei Miracoli that is recognized as one of the main centers for medieval art in the world. Partly paved and partly grassed, it is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Duomo, the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery and the Camposanto. Piazza dei Miracoli with its Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre pendente di Pisa) stirs imagination of everyone from the old to the young!

The construction of this imposing mass was started in the year 1174 by Bonanno Pisano. When the tower had reached its third storey the works ceased because it had started sinking into the ground. The tower remained thus for 90 years. It was completed by Giovanni di Simone. The top of the Leaning Tower can be reached by mounting the 294 steps which rise in the form of a spiral on the inner side of the tower walls. The tower leans at an angle of 5.5 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is 4.5 meters from where it would stand if the tower was perfectly vertical. The total height of Tower is more then 55 meters. Amazing view on city of Pisa opens in front of you as soon as you are reaching the top. It's believed that Galileo Galilei to have dropped two cannon balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their descending speed was independent of their mass. In 1934 Benito Mussolini ordered that the tower be returned to a vertical position, so concrete was poured into its foundation. However, the result was that the tower actually sank further into the soil. You can learn more about Leaning Tower of Pisa here.

Even without statistics and history, Piazza dei Miracoli is just a fascinating place to see and to be. Lying on the grass in few meters from 800years old building that are believed to be one of the best places in the world brings you inexpressible emotions!

Apart from sightseeing we spent a lot of time together with Simo and Tugce, which was great! They are so nice and so caring! I felt like at home, having somebody cooking breafast for me and not making jokes about my attitude to pasta;) Thank you girls for being so hospitable and tacking care of us:) In the night (yes, in the night - at 23.30) we went to a cafe with quite a strange name "Pick a flower" to meet with LC Pisa. We actually didn't met so many people, but those we met were really nice! I was glad to see Cisco (MCP Italy 2006-07) there, it brought me a lot of memories of my first month in Italy, when we lived all together at Via Andora!

Walking for 7 hours of the first day and for 3 hours on the second day was kind of tiresome:) so on our way back to Milan we were almost dead. But travel in Italian train will never let u die, not even fall asleep. Since all the people in vagoon (and believe me, there are quite a lot of them:)) believe that speaking on the edge of their vocal potential is absolutely necessary:)
What else..Enjoy my pictures at Facebook here and come to visit me in Milan and maybe we can travel another day to Pisa;)

Lake Como trip

2007-09-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Today was very good! Almost my first trip outside Milan! Only in 40mins drive from Milan one can find beautiful and very romantic place - Lago di Como (lake of Como) surrounded by few small towns.

Como lake is third largest lake in Italy after lake Garda and lake Maggiore and one of the deepest in Europe!
Lake itself is quite big, shaped like letter "Y", which can only been seen from sky:) There are quite few towns around lake: Como, Lecco, Bellagio, Menaggio and Varena! These small towns are widely known for attractive and extermly expensive villas. It's widely known that a lot of celebreties have villas there, I haven't seen any, but actually I think it's quite true.

Como is a nice small town with beautiful Duomo di Como (Catherdral of Como) which suprised me, thousands of tourists, few museums, lovely narrow streets, expensive hotels and quite few book stores! The atmoshpere was so relaxing and peaceful, so I couldn't really believe that I'm just 30 mins away from Milan! There are actually not so many things you can do there, so we came back to Milan in the afternoon. Pictures of this trip you can find in Facebook album!

Few ideas that came to my mind were : I need to come back there one day with somebody very special for vacation or something like that, one need to work hard to be able to afford buying villa there. I wonder what is more difficult. But why not to try, right?:)

Being on my own

2007-09-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I read at Ira's blog about feeling safe and happy at UK. I didn't have any thoughts about at that moment. But just couple of hours later I was exposed to some thoughts around the topic.

I'll not tell the whole story how happened that I was in the middle of nowhere in Milan at 23.15 at night, not knowing where I am, not knowing how to get back home because the metro station was closed, being not able to ask for help of Italians around, not knowing any taxi number and being pretty confused in general.

I was walking along the street trying to find out solutions how to call taxi or get to city center and I saw a bus coming to the bus stop right next to me. Accidentally, that was the only bus number I knew in Milan and I knew that theoretically it's supposed to pass trough piazzale Lotto, which is relatively close to Via Andora. So I jumped in.

I was the only girl in the whole bus and the person one who had a ticket. I was never prejeduced towards people of any nationality or social status. But the way those men at the buswere staring at me, made me think that the way people behave is not influenced by nationality but by social environment and lifestyle. Basically, one exposed to certain environment will unconciously become a true reflection of the environment regardless his origin and most probably regardless his previous experiences. My thoughts on that subject should be a topic of a separate post.

30 mins in that I've spent in the bus trying not to put attention men winking to me, commenting me and trying to get to know me better etc., were the worst in few past months. On the other hand, maybe you've noticed already, I got used to practice "positive thinking" to most of situations happening and also taking some learnings from whatever happens to me. That helped:) I went out on my bus stop, one of those nice men went out with me, waited for few minutes near me and left since I was to staying close to people that still were on the steets. I run, yes, almost run back home. On my way back at Via Diomede, I saw some prostitues, typical view of night Milan:) Curiousity - they are alone on the street at night, waiting for I don't know how long, what are they thinking about while waiting for clients. They could have soo much time for thoughts and reflection, but do they ever do it..I guess it's rather a rhetorical question...

In any way, I was happy, really happy to come back home, close the door, see people, drink tea, eat cake and feel SECURE (well, opportunity to see big Wagner's polecat is not a big danger after all:)).

I shared my adventure with Fede and Anna. I didn't call them since I didn't want to bother them and didn't really believe that they will be willing to help. A good thing to know was that I was wrong:) they care! Then I talked to Alba, some of her words made me think again.

The bus I took is considered to be the most dangerous bus in Milan at night, it's called "immigrants bus" since it goes to North of Milan to disctricts where only were poor immigrants live (I never actually knew about this disctricts), that's why you can't see any Italians there at night. And I was kind of lucky to get out safe without anything stolen.

That all made me think about choices that people make - I could have went to Toastmasters instead of party, I could have went to night club, I could have stayed at home after all. But I've made a choice and got what I was supposed to get. Now I know what feeling unsecure really is, what does it mean that you are on your own and there is almost nobody in the whole city, who will be willing to go to help you. You'll be surprised, but yesterday I re-discovered what does it mean to take responsibility for your choices and actions. And actually confirmed to myself that life is a succession of lessons that must be lived to be understood. There is no other way.

P.S. if you think I'm depressed or sad, I'm not:) I know I still need to learn not only to think positive, but also to express myself positive! But I'm on the right way I'm sure:)

Random from today

2007-09-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

I had the intention to write a post few days ago, everything seemed to be sooo bad at work! I even wrote on a paper all that happened to me during Thursday and Friday, it was soo negative that I decided to trash it and forget it;)

Today was a better day, maybe because it's Saturday?:) I woke up quite late, cleaned some parts of house (unfortunately my room is still a huge mess:) hopefully I can solve it tomorrow), then went to meet Milano Bocconi EB. These guys have great potential:)
Then I came back home with again strong intention to work, but Federica persuaded me to go out with them for demonstration! I had no idea what was that about, but my curiosity made me go there. It actually didn't impress me a lot, just few snapshots are worth mentioning. It was not a demonstration in fact but an event to collect signatures to support initiative about passing new law to Parliament. The whole initiative was called "Vaffanculo day" which in English means "Fuck off day". Actually, they managed to gather 500,000 signatures and even more. So despite all Italian bureaucracy, democratic mechanisms seem to be working. Yes, more info about V-day here. After they got news that there are 500,00 signatures collected people went crazy- they were dancing, singing songs etc. Everything looked quite strange:)
Then walking down Via Dante we got go see few interesting things.
First was the Indian procession, I still have got no idea what exactly was that about, but we saw a lot of people in Indian clothes (not actually indians themselfs) pulling huge robe with kind of a platrom (like the ones you can see at carnivals with girls:)) with people and some Indian stuff on it! It looked quite surrealistic in the center of Milan:)
Later, we saw an Asian man doing different kinds of figures - flowers, parrots and something else. It was wonderful how a simple beetroot (barba bietola) can become a beautiful rose and a random carrot is turning into a parrot! Simply amazing!
Then another new books, tasty Italian gelato:) Delicious dinner!!!!!Thank you Alba!

Nice evening conversation, a quote stuck in my head "Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love" Albert Einstein.
Positive attitude matters! Life is beautiful!

Self discovery day

2007-09-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

As promised, I dedicated some time to personal discovery! Today I'm spending my day on getting to know myself better then before?! Sounds quite funny! Actually i'm passing trough a bit random (can you believe I don't have structure for the process?:)) But surely I'll for the next time). In any way, after I finish everything I'll share the output here if there are people interested in that!

But now I'd like to ask you to take 5 mins of your time and fill in Johari and Nohari window for me! Funny thing is that I've done that before, but when I opened my previous test (it was around 2,5 years ago) the characteristics I'm giving to myself changed!

So, even if you did it before for me, please do it again:) Links are here

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Dekabrinka

http://kevan.org/nohari?name=Dekabrinka

P.S. if you are interested in tests that I've taken for yourself, let me know, I can share:)

My latest Milan discoveries

2007-09-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

For those who is following my "Discover Milano" trips - museums, churches and other places of interest:)

Today me and Irene went to very nice place - Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli house museum. Actually, I planned to go to Santa Maria della Gracie church where "Last supper" is but only yesterday we found out that we need to book our visit 1 month! before! Then visit to Brera didn't work as well, so we decided to go to this small museum!

It's house museum and unless you are looking for it, you'll never put attention to it - just a random house, one of thousands you can find in Milan! Collections there are impressive - painitings, arms, caprets, jewellery, glass, clocks and watches, porcelain, furniture etc.

If you are interested to find out more, have a look here. Very good thing about it was free entrance with student ID (God bless that Saturday that I've spent to issue ISIC and Euro26. At least 4 hours and 55 grn are definitely not wasted:))

We were very close to Via Montenapoleone, the street I wanted to visit for a long time. It's believed (and actually is) the most expensive street in Milan - all brand boutique are there! You can find there more then 100 shops of the world most popular brands

Honestly saying I expected to be impressed by the outlook of the street - but in fact it's nothing more then a small, narrow street with lots of shops, expensive cars and celebrities. Prices also are not so high as I expected it to be, for sure comparable to prices in Mandarin Plaza in Kiev! The only one discovery was that on such streets you can find special boutique hotels:)

Then we had panzerotti on our favourite place in city center, had a lot of fun trying to order a monthly transportation ticket. You should know that system is different from what we have in Ukraine. I had to fill in application, go to make picture, have student ID, passport, copies of fiscal code and residence permit and now I have to wait for 15 days for ATM (Milan transportation agency) to issue me this monthly ticket (and actually they still have the right not to issue that). If I'm lucky, I'll be able to spend only 18 euros for metro each month (not comparable to 0,5o grn in Kiev, ha?:)).

Being at home (hm, I Via Andora home already?!) is cool. I missed it! Yes, Irene moved here, Alba is coming tomorrow! Hectic times of Autumn are coming...:)

Friends

2007-08-31T12:44:00.001-07:00

Today I received a “ C U soon” email email from Legka! I regret that I couldn’t answer her before she left, but anyways I started to write. By the time I finished tears were running down my cheeks, but I was smiling. Maybe it’s what is called tears of happiness.
I’m happy and sad at the same time – so many people whom I met last year or even longer time ago are now starting (or started recently) new stage of their lifes, moving to other places, cities and countries, continuing their AIESEC career, starting internships, studying, adjusting to new environments, meeting new people, establishing new friendships.
Verily, you can never imagine where life will send you and your friends and how will it change their lifes.
I remembered myself about all my lovely friends that are moving now and now I have a nice picture of them and places they go:)

My essence??!! confused!

2007-08-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

As you most probably know, right now I'm at IC. Everything goes cool so far, apart from my "identity crisis" connected to a simple question " where are you from?". Subconciously I'm answering that I'm from Ukraine, then realizing that most probably I have to say Italy and then get confused:) but anyways this post is not about it but about few things I've discovered(or just reminded myself about) about myself.

There were actually 2 "events" that exposed me to these kind of thoughts. First, is our chats with Federica that we have from time to time. 2 things I got to know about myself from her is that I'm a "chickie" cold girl. That actually made me think a lot as I've never considered myself to be chickie, not at all. Cold also no, maybe calm, but not cold.

The other thing is the Belbin test that we were doing today during DLD - I can remember at least 2 times I was doing it before. Today not so many things were changed - I definitely scored the most in "action oriented" types, in "Implementer" and "Shaper" particularly. That was not new. What was actually new is that I've noticed that I got scores below zero in "people oriented" types. Which made me quite disappointed - I don't know if it means that I'm totaly not a good person to work and communicate with...

Additionally to that I started to think about other characteristics of me that I've heard from other people, feedbacks that I've received - well organized, too structured, not sharing dreams and emotions.

So I the image of me that came to my mind was quite strange. Then the evening came and I talked to an old friend of mine, who told that it's not possible to catch me and talk during IC because I'm always busy with meetings, working groups and other chats.
Then night came and I came back after party to read email and accidentally found my favourite quote website, so I decided to have a look at "My quotes". What I've noticied there is that there only 3 of them related to love and relationship and other relate more to achievments, accomplishments, excellence and changes.

All of that created some sort of complications with conclusions:

1. I know what kind of value can I bring to work I'm doing (professionally). Without being shy I can say that I'm a good achiever. And that makes me confident of my career and my future.

2. But does that all mean that I'm not so good in intrapersonal relations and it's really very difficult to communicate with me? I didn't really find answer for this question, furthermore, I haven't come up with any kind of solution on how to improve that. Or is it something of my core, my essence that I don't realize? In fact it seems to me that I can be a good friend, and a good person to talk to and in general not so cold, structured and chickie. what is also funny is that it seems that being chickie and structured and cold totally contradicts to each other...

Should I use Johari window again or are there any better tools to evaluate yourself and see how otehrs see u?

In any way, I'm confused.. I'd be glad I guess to read some of your thoughts here?
I wonder if a person can realize himself fully in his life? or whether the life is continious self - discovery?

Would the life be fun if you could know everything about yourself and tell it to others? Would be live there in a perfect world of in a world of manipulators?

and the last question - why people are not as easy as 1,2,3?:) maybe our life wouldn't be so funny then?:)

I'm kind of feeling the need to have a meaningful conversation about that issue, maybe somebody knows the answer. I wonder who could that be...

P.S. I don't know why I reminded myself of Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevskiy and his Raskolnikov in "Crime and punishment". Maybe I should read it again since this is the book which I from time to time refer to in my discoveries:)

Czech Republic

2007-08-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

This is the first time for last 2 or 3 years when I officially have holidays:) It feels great to know that you have 10 days to rest, do nothing (or do something important but not connected to my work). So first thing I want to tell is that I FEEL GREAT:) Today in Sunday and I still have 4 days of holidays ahead, but now it's time to tell about first week that I spent in Czech.Rep with my parents!
I was looking for it a lot for this trip since I haven't seen my parents for a 1,5 already, well, I know that the more is to come later. So I was counting days till 4th of August:)

I had my plane quite early, at 9.35 which means I had to leave Via Andora at 6 am. Everything went fine in the begining - taxi arrived on time, I got to Malpensa bus station safely, got into the bus, but then adventures started:)
Bus arrived to Malpensa airport (biggest out of 3 airports in Milan) and people started to get off. So did I. I entered building of the airport and started to look for my check in desk, but I couldn't find it. Then I found a note that I'm in Terminal 2 and my flight is from Terminal 1. It wasn't mentioned anyhow in my ticket. I had no idea where to look for Terminal 1, I decided to walkt there but then I realized I got is that it's quite far from the one I was in. I was about to take a taxi, but then I saw bus going there. Driver was a nice old man and he agreed to take me there for free. Indeed it was quite far from T2 - about 10 mins by bus.
I saw a lot of airports in my life, but I've never seen such mess as I saw in Malpensa - there were thousands of people, huge lines for check in desks(check in desks were also quite strange - all operated by Alitalia (have got no idea why), with one huge line for 5 check ins. I regret that I don't have a picture, but I was in the line with I guess more then 300-400 people and I spent 65 mins in line for check in. I was almost sure that I'm going to miss my flight. During check in I cross checked whether everything is correct and I have my trip Milan-Prague, Prague-Brno, my luggage was sent to Brno, so everything seemed to be quite ok. In plane I met a guy from US and we had very nice conversation. So even that flight was delayed for 1 hour I wasn't angy with that.
Flight was good as well, it was first time I saw plane passing trough soo many clouds - it felt like dashing trough snow mountains, shaking a lot, but very nice! I don't know why I never noticed it during my previous flights:)
When I arrived to Prague I started to look for my second flight but I couldn't find it in schedule, so I started to look for help. It took me 20 mins to get info that in fact I have not a flight but a bus to Brno, and they made a mistake in Malpensa sending my luggage to Brno. I spent terrible hour trying to get my luggage and I must say that I succeded:) 30 mins more changing Terminals, checking in for bus, 2,5 hours trip and I was in Brno:)
On my way in bus I was thinking about this strange habit to have challenges during all my travels:)dunno why it happens. But in the end, I have soooo many funny stories to tell about my travels:)
Time in Czech needs additional post maybe. I visited almost all big cities in CZ - Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc, Prague:) We stayed at our place in Roznov pod Radhostem - amazing small (22,000 people) town with beautiful nature, amazing view from my window at home and the oldest in Central Europe museum in open air. Rožnov is a sort of miniature Wallachia, at least as far as it concerns the history of its settlement:)
So about the museum, it's called Valasske Museum v Prirode, it includes 3 big parts: Little wooden town, The water mill valley and the Wallachian village. The Little Wooden Town is the oldest part of the museum. The setting roughly imitates the Rožnov square which boasted a number of local burghers’ timbered houses up to the second half of the nineteenth century. The Water Mill Valley is an area composed of technical buildings that have been located on the piece of land around the original millrace since 1982 – the Water Mill, the Woollen Mill for making cloth out of the wool yarn, the Saw Mill for sawing planks, the Oil Crusher and the Hammer Mill. The Wallachian Village occupies the largest area of the museum which consists of a lot of dwelling-houses and farmhouses that are showing life of a lot of generations of Moravian people.
I wrote before maybe that I get this feeling of touching history in all museums, but in this one especially since you have the chance to see real houses, real way of life of people. By the way, the funniest thing I've noticed is the fact that Czechs were really short and small - beds in houses were very small (как диван-малютка):) Even I with being quite small would seem to be giant for that people:)
I didn't spend a lot of time in other cities so I don't have a lot of stories to tell. Maybe only about Olomouc. A lot of memories connected to this city - I wanted to enter Uni there, I was there for my first Presidents meeting during my CEED in CZ, I got lost thousands of times there! Beautiful city:)
One of the most important places I've visited this time was famous place of battle between Russian and Frech troops in 1805 - Austerliz. Honestly saying, I never knew that this famous place of battle of three Emperors is in CZ. In fact it's:) Since CZ territory was part of Austriab empire in that times. Now the place is called Slavkov and there is a momument called Mohyla miru and museum of famous Austerliz battle with multimedia exposition!

There are cities that makes you feel like staying there, Prague is one of such cities for me:)
I've been there 3 times already but never with good guide to get to know everything about the place. So I promised myself to come back next time for a real sightseeing! I wonder only when will it happen:)
Yesterday night I came back to Milan, of course with some challenges...:) But not very difficult - it's only about my luggage which was 34 kgs (shopping is not easy for me, you know:)) and since I didn't know how to call taxi and I didn't want to bother anyone on holidays I had to take metro.. On my way from Centrale to QT8(station near my home) I was cursing myself for being so shopoholic and so spoiled by taking taxis and using help of males with bags:) But nevertheless I arrived successfully to Via Andora, feeling extermly proud of being able to manage everything:)
Now I'm having completely lazy day, reading emails, unpacking and washing.. and planning the rest 3 days of my holidays... More will come soon!

Animal stories 2007-08

2007-08-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Today is a crazy day, definitely...:) It all started with the news about Matteo and by evening I found out that I have to share more stories about my team! Let's call it "Animal stories"...

Apparently, we found out that all members in our team have sisters and brothers from world of wild nature (not always wild in fact to be honest):)

Definitely all of you (especially VPXs 06-07) think that you know what kind of animal am I! But I have to disappoint you - I changed my image totally and now I'm (sorry, Lara, I know it'll hurt you:) what Italians call piccolo criceto (small hamster). It appeared after our nice adventure with furetto (polecat, хорек) that visited us one day! I'm too small and too nice to be furetto:) and this is the way how hamster assosiation was born:)you have the unique chance to compare:)

The next one would be our lovely TM girl Anabella or Annare how we call her! You can never imagine who this small blond nice girl can be...But the truth is that somewhere deep in the soul she is white (I'm not sure they are existing) monkey! See yourself...

Fedorka (no, sorry, Federica Rosi) apparently came our to be hyena! Till I went through couple of pictures while I was trying to find suitable for blog I found out that you can find some similarities:). But it's still unclear for me how this decision was taken about nominating Federica to be such a nice wild animal!

Dany is very nice, very soft and positive! Just not yet pink enough to be like his animal brother pig. We wind more connections with pork (but in Italy it has rather negative meaning, not connected to Dany).

The last but not the least of our lovely MCP. It took us quite some time to find out his essense:) The process was quite hard since he used to be grande furetto (big polecat), he himself wanted to be a bear once. But after long and tough discussion we found out his animal brother - skunk (скунс)

And I'm grateful to my team for these nice stories that we have together and experience that we pass trough:)

I'll be missing you during holidays, my lovely animal friends:)

My MCP Matteo Orsi:)

2007-08-03T02:28:00.001-07:00

Dear members of AIESEC in Italy and all others who are reading my blog. Morning in MC Italian MC office started today with shocking news about our MCP....But it's better to know the truth later then never....:))))
For those who still doesn't know, follow the link to see and read info about Matteo! But we love him anyway:))
Follow the link to find out more information
http://www.matteo.orsi.esgay.com/
P.S. If you can't get in touch with me during 1 week, it means that Matteo killed me... :D))))))

Вниз или вперед?

2007-08-01T08:15:00.001-07:00

Прочла сегодня. Очень понравилось, но видно я что-то пропустила в школе:)
Это старая история. Ее рассказывают детям еще в школе, если не раньше. Но взрослея, мы часто забываем об этом.
Чтобы человек мог идти или бежать вперед, он должен все время падать. Делая шаг, человек наклоняется и нарушает равновесие, и только следующий шаг другой ногой спасает от падения. И так во всем: движение вперед сопряжено с риском и потерей равновесия.

Blog moving!

2007-07-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

Please note that I'll not be using anymore http://www.dekabrina.net/!
My Blog will move to its old address www.dekabrinka.blogspot.com Please save this address for future:)

Непутевые заметки о Италии or Live from Pizza - Pasta land:)

2007-07-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Soo it has been already 5 weeks since I’m in Italy. I even can’t believe such a long time passed.
Today during the lunch I noticed the fact that I got used to being in Italy (and actually few people told me that I’m becoming Italian), to some typical behaviors, so I felt like sharing my observations here.

Italy. Italians. Italian way of life

People. Most probably the most difficult part to describe – they are so different and so far I haven’t seen any common qualities or values of Italians. They are definitely not like we think about them in Ukraine – not soo emotional, not sooo loud (apart from some cases). I almost got used to hear people (men) outside saying “Ciao, Bella” (hello, beauty) and they continuing with discussion of different parts of my body. It’s definitely not something what I don’t enjoy. Some of them are really helpful, even though a lot of people don’t speak Italian (when I’m usually trying to find my way after being lost somewhere), they try to help you:), sometimes by giving the wrong direction, but it’s fun anyways:)
Food. Italian food (or at least what I understand by now as Italian food = what we usually it in MC) is not so tasty as I expected. In fact food ingredients are more or less the same as in Ukraine, but the way they mix it is really strange. So the favorite dish is of course pasta – pasta with tomatoes, with tuna, with vegetables, with cheese, cold pasta…. Sometimes I think this is kind of obsession – to eat pasta each day for lunch:) And they think that putting ketchup into pasta is something like violation:) Salads are quite perverted here (those who know my addiction to salads with mayonnaise will understand:)). Pizza and ice cream are the only things that I really love here! Pizza is delicious and is quite different from what we eat in Eastern Europe! Here you can never find pizza with chicken meat! Ice cream is perfect also, very expensive I’d say – at least 1,5 euro, even 2,5 in city center. But it’s worth each cent you spend for it! The rest of the food I can eat:) aaaa, forgot my another addiction apart from pizza and ice cream – mozzarella and tomatos:)
Cars. Well, obviously you can see Ferrari on the street, but not so often, or at least not at places where I usually walk:) But biggest observation and surprise is that Italy is country of hatchback cars, I barely can see few sedans on the streets. Only hatchback (mainly hatchbacks:)) and family cars.
Milan. I broke quite a lot of my stereotypes here, especially about life in Western Europe;) So the city itself is very nice in center – I’m totally in love with Duomo, every time I pass by it I have a strange emotions - can’t believe that I live in city with such a beautiful building that is representation of history itself.

Every time I pass by, I have an amazing feeling of touching history! There are also few very beautiful places like Castello, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and others which names I don’t remember ;) In the area where we live, Milan isn’t much different from other cities I’ve seen, maybe it’s a bit cleaner. Milan is the city of foreigners - it’s something that is very unusual for me here. When you go to city centre, to shops during sales, in metro, you see more foreigners that Italians. They are everywhere – outside, on streets Africans are selling you D&G, Fendi, Gucci etc:), Arabs are cooking and serving in cafes, usually a lot of Asian people I see in metro, but I never noticed places where they work, a lot of Russians and rich Arabs in shops:) It’s something what makes you feel being citizen of the world and it in fact makes me personally feel not so alone, even tough I don’t know any of these people:)
Way of life. Italian way of life is quite an interesting storyJ Firsly, what was quite strange for me is their meals – they tend almost not to have breakfasts, then have pasta for lunch and then have late, very late (starting usually at 9 – 9.30 pm!!!!!!) and very heavy dinners! During the lunch time a lot of shops are closed, even markets are closed. Sunday is generally a “dead” day everywhere apart from city center, you can’t even to trade center or supermarket – it’s closed, it’s Sunday. Bars, caffess and restarautns work only during lunch time and then after 7. In between they usually are closed! Ordering pizza is quite the same – you can’t eat pizza when you want :) You have to want to eat pizza only when it’s the time for eating pizza:)
This is the end of “Live from Pasta land” report! Wait for more updates about “Life in Via Andora or Italian way of living AIESEC”
Your favorite journalist:)

New time waster:)

2007-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

Напишите мне коммент и по щучьему велению, по моему хотению...я
1. скажу, почему я вас добавила/не добавила в список блогов, которые я читаю
2. скажу, какая песня/фильм напоминает мне про Вас
3. расскажу случайный факт про Вас
4. расскажу про своё первое воспоминание о Вас
5. скажу, какое животное/фрукт Вы мне напоминаете
6. спрошу что-то, что всегда хотел знать о Вас
7. Если я это сделаю, Вы должны сделать такой же пост своем блоге

Gardaland - my dream came true

2007-07-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yestderday idiot's dream came true (сбылась мечта идиота, это именно так называется:))!!!!
I'll start with the begining - some time ago Matteo told us that we are going to have teambuilding day out of the office, even somewhere out of Milan. Buuut he was refusing to tell us where exactly. The day before yesterday we were even kind of betting on the places - we had so many different ideas - Florence, Venice, lake Como etc. We went out of MC house at 6.30 am, went to Cairoli (metro station in centre of city), had a breakfast there (cup of tea and croissant are called breakfast here!:)) and then we went to a our bus.. you can't even imagine how happy I was when I saw a final destination " Gardaland" (2nd big luna park in Europe after Disneyland). You know, a big child that lives in me:) I was jumping like 7 years old girl, I was even about to kiss everyone:)

Travel took almost 2 hours and finally we arrived! I can't even express all emotions that I had when I saw all those roller coasters, side shows etc.:) I continued being like 7 years old, but now taking pictures everywhere;) People from former USSR can definitely understand me - as our nice parks (парки культуры) have nice standard sets of attrations like Ромашка, Центрифуга и Цепи.. I was always sure that I'm not afraid of big roller coasters, but yesterday I found out that I can be. It's quite scary to fly 20m above ground being constantly turned upside down:))) But I was soooo happy to experience it! We spent amazing 6- 7 hours there, tried almost everying! Once we were travelling in kind of boat, of course we took first line, and of course we were competely wet after few minutes! I looked quite nice in wet white trousers which became completely transparent of course:) Food was very italian - painini and pizza:)

5 of us made dogtags with our names, positions and term dates in AIESEC Italia:) so now we are all connected in a way:)

We came back home in the evening completely exausted, but absolutely happy:)

P.S. if you want to see pictures from Gardaland go here. Aaa. one more thing, I didn't post anything about our museum visit on Saturday (it was Museum of Science and Technology of Milan, very nice and interesting place). and guess whom I met there? Yuriy Lutsenko (Ukranian ex-minister, now leader of a political party in Ukraine). Of course I took a picture with him:) That and all other pictures from museum you can also find it at Flickr.
P.P.S. Svetul'ka, I can imagine how "happy" you would be to get to one of those nice roller coasters:)))bu-ga-ga:)))

The end is where do we start from

2007-07-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

I’m a bit late with this post, to be precise exactly one day! Yesterday was a new AIESEC year, it was my last day of being officially member of MC Ukraine, being member of AIESEC in Ukraine! It was my first day of being part of AIESEC in Italy. And most probably the first day of my last year as active AIESEC member, Exchange would be something different for me definitely!
With this New Year came to the end of the whole era in my life – era of being student, era of being in AIESEC in Ukraine. Unique 4,5 years of discoveries, successes and failures, unique years of self development and learning.
I’d lie if I say that I don’t regret anything what happened to me during this time. I do regret a lot, but in the same time I’m thankful for everything what have happened, I’m thankful to each person I’ve met, I’m thankful for each learning that I got.
Reading blogs of Ukrainian AIESECers I got a feeling that a lot of people share the same feelings, a lot of people became alumni these days– even if that sounds exaggerated this is the end of certain era of AIESEC in Ukraine. Era of people that I joined AIESEC with, people that were together during all these years, people that’ve passed trough so many things together. It’s sad to realize that things for sure will never be the same again – that is the way how everything happens in the world - life will send us to different places of the world, will create a lot of challenges on our ways, most probably we’ll not see each other for a long time! But what is important that these people will stay in my heart! Right now I regret just one thing – that there are some words that I didn’t say, the words of gratitude to all people that I value and love so much! I’m sure that all those people who became part of my life during last years will continue being in my life even if our AIESEC path together is over. Because the end is where do we start from… Good luck and "may the wind always be at your back and the sun shine warm upon your face"

Better today!

2007-06-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

I feel much better today then yesterday! In all bad things you can find something good as well:) What was good about failure of Ukrainian food is the fact that there is a lot of food left and I had a chance to eat today for lunch borsch and salad Oliv'e (which I really like) and not pasta!:)))

Since I feel quite good today I feel like sharing what happened yesterday in the morning! We had a nice teambuilding game:) I had few concerns at the begining (well, of course u can say that I always have concerns), but yesterday I even had a background for it.

Teambuilding started with leaving at home all money, mobiles and other stuff, taking only 2 tickets for metro and camera! We received tasks in envelopes so it all seemed like teambuilding in metro last year... You can imagine what kind of ideas and thoughts I had.

But everything turned out to be very nice - we were doing tasks in team of 4 people - me, Martina (NST member), Cardillo (bookkeeper) and Matteo (MCP). Our task was to go to Cimitero Monumentale di Milano (a big Cementry). There we were supposed to get to know history of the place by interviewing people (we had to have 4 video proofs), then make pictures of us cleaning toilet in bar, gain 4 euros and get to know each other by answering some questions!

So Cementry looks completely not like Cementry but like a Castle (at least for me). You can see pictures here and the history here. Unfortunately it was closed, so there were almost no people there. And we really faced challanges with finidng people who'd know at least something! I need to admit that I was even successfull in interviewing even tough I don't know Italian (well, maybe the one whom I was interviewing was a nice young guy?:). Later on we went to Garribaldi train station to gain those 4 euros. I think in Ukraine I'd work better (at least based on experience of last year). Buut I must say that nevertheless I was quite successful and managed to raise myself and amount of 1 euro (2 people gave 50 cents each) which I consider to be a good result for me with nonexistent level of Italian:))) I was so proud of myself yesterday!

A complete disaster

2007-06-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Today was a long day! First part was soo good - we had a teambuilding, I saw a very nice place in Milan. The second part of the day was Ukrainian and Romanian party.

Sometime I'll tell you more about challenges with finding cucumbers, beetroot and cabbage in Milan, but that's another story.

The main point of the day is the Ukrainin party which I was waiting for was a complete disaster. I spent the whole day in supermarkets, markets trying to buy all the stuff, then maybe 3 hours challenging myself and cooking. And in the end nobody liked it at all... Of course nobody said it, but I've seen it...

Presentation part was better I guess, but only people were watching and listening. The only one thing that everyone liked was vodka and Consume game (Zoom or as we called it here Puppa).

That was most probably the best part of the dinner for people.

I was waiting so much for this Ukrainian culture presentation and I was soo bad in it.

I go to sleep, disappointed today

Historical transition

2007-06-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the event that we were looking for so much – historical part of transition started.
This part contains of few parts here – historical transition itself -MC members from MC teams from pervious 10 years (meaning from 1996 -97) are coming to tell about their year, achievements, problems, team experiences etc. The idea of this part is quite interesting, but the delivery seems to be not on the top. Most probably because people are experiencing difficulties with speaking English and that’s why sessions seem to be a bit boring (at least for me).
The other part of this historical block is historical football match that takes place each year between MC team current (previous, current and elect MC) with alumni of MC. That was a match that was expected, a match that was discussed. Quite a lot of people came to see it.
Despite the fact it was a football match I enjoyed watching it:) Of course MC team won with 5:4 score! I even started to think about the fact that we can once practice with girls to play football:) Of course we are (again at least I) tooo bad to compete with somebody else!
There is some kind of tradition for a team that looses the match to kiss the cup that is given to winners’ team, but I think I missed this moment yesterday! The other thing that is typical for Italian AIESEC culture is “formal dress” culture for boys – when they are happy (I think this word somehow unites all possible cases when it can happen), they take off their trousers and stay only in pants. I don’t really understand here, but it’s typical here.
After the match we went to very nice restaurant. I told you that I broke a lot of my stereotypes about Italians after I arrived. But this one got its confirmation yesterday – this party was exactly as I imagined Italians having meals – big – big table, a lot of people (of course speaking very loudly), a lot of food ( of course pasta or pizza) and vine! I tried pizza second time yesterday, it looked and tasted very – very nice:)
After that we went to city centre for drinks. Pubs here are quite strange – extremely crowded, people are standing on streets, inside there are huge queues, everything is of course very loud, and there is almost no chances to get menu. But anyways what I valued in this time were conversations that I had with MC members and alumni:)
As for my general impessions – I think I already pass the stage of being in love with everything. Language starts to be a major problem – they respect foreigners and try to speak English, but all the free time, during lunches and dinners, right after session ends they only speak Italian.
What I also noticed here is that there is no limit between saying something only to one person or saying something to everyone – whatever you say to somebody in few hours reaches the rest. I yet don’t know whether it’s good or bad – it’s just the reality;)
The next point is pasta – these people are really in love with pasta. Since I arrived here each day for lunch we have different types of pasta – it’s easy to be cooked for 20 people. But if it’s going to be the same till the end of the year I think I’ll not be able to fit into any of my clothes:))
Seems like these are all my emotions and news for today!

My Italian Contacts

2007-06-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Just in case you want to send me a postcard, call me or sms me:)

My address in Italy is
Via Andora, 4
20148, Milan, Italy

My mobile is
+393313421214

Good news!

2007-06-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Past two days were extremely successfull for me! Why? Because of 2 events(ok, let's call it events)

Yesterday I was elected as Chair of AI Exchange Quality Board 2007 -2008! The decision was delayed for 4 days, so all this time I was so nervous waiting for it. Thanks to everyone who supported me in application process and during this waiting period! We had a really nice celebration yesterday in MC house:)

Another good piece of news is that today was the first time when I tried Italian pizza! So many people were asking me if I tried it already! Yes, I spent 4 days in Italy, ate pasta 3 times and only today tasted real Italian pizza!!!!!!!!!!

You of course will ask whether it's really that tasty as people say. I'd take responsibility to tell you it is:) Pizzas are really big, I didn't even expect they are sooo big!

Ok, no more words, better have a look at it!

Discovering Italy

2007-06-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first full day in Milan! I woke up quite late in the morning - only me and Anabella were at Via Andora, all the rest went to WENA PM. So I was chatting whole morning (and actually whole day- all the time when I connected to internet) with people, telling about my first impressions, the team, etc.
Then we were cooking lunch for delegates - around 60 sandiches, we made a nice sandivch production line, I'd say! :) Then we had a lovely trip with Anabella in the centre of Milan - we saw Castello Sfozesco, Arca della Pace, Duomo. Everything was so beautiful! Especially I was amazed by Duomo, as it was written it served as a symbol of Milan since 1387.
The story of Duomo is Here , I'd say that this is one of the most gorgeous and majestic places I've ever seen! These are some pictures of Duomo

Piazza del Duomo (a square in front of Duomo) is really crowded, you can see lots of tourists there. It brings you this feeling of internationalism, it's something that I have a chance to experience only abroad, unfortunately it never happened in Ukraine.
In the center there are a lot of people, foreigners mainly, selling different stuff - bags and wallets from "Dolce Gabbana, Cavalli" and lots of other falsifications.
We came back home tired, but happy! It was my first Get to Know Milan and I liked it a lot;)))
Today was the first real transition day, by real transition I mean physical one - it was even better then the virtual one that we had with Federico before!:)
Then I volunteered to go to Bonolla (a big shopping centre where we do shopping for a week). I went there with Cisco (current MCP) and I think I looked quite strange, because I was staring like wild person to lots of things ;)) Of course I didn't remember everything what was new for me - my biggest impressions so far are: the whole line with different kinds of pasta ( we took at least 4 different ones and I'm going to try the rest till the end of the year!), different sauces to pasta, 4 or 5 types of salads etc. What amazed me apart from prices (prices are really - really high) was the thing that people use gloves when they take fruits and vegetables (they put on gloves because some other people were touching this bananas or whatever). So by the end of our shopping tour I decided that next time I go for it as well, because I'm sure that there are lots of other things to discover!:)
Then we had dinner.. at 9 pm, was quite strange for me to eat so late. but seems like I'll have to get used to meals here - Italians have very light breakfasts, normal lunches and heavy dinners that usually start at 8.30 - 9 pm. A big room for changing and weight gaining:)))
The last but for sure not the least what I'd like to mention are people. Of course 2 days are far not enough to draw any kind of colnlusions , but here a lot of my stereotypes about Italians are broken. So far they show really good professional approach to evertything we do connected to work. And the same with personal approach and relations that they have. I really started to feel like home here (Anabella, you were completely right), I love this friendly atmosphere that is created here. I really envy, in a good way, to current team Cisco, Stuart, Cinzia, Gege, Laura and Carolina Boromero (Matteo will forgive this wrong spelling of his nickname:)) to the relations that they have within the team, it really seems like they value each other a lot, they know each other a lot, the way they make fun from each other. They are really like brothers and sisters here and I really hope that we can have same realtions and attitude to each other next year in the new team:)
So, maybe it's how the honeymoon stage of cultural shock looks like but I fully enjoy it for now!
And I feel happy, really happy!

First day in Italy

2007-06-17T01:56:00.000-07:00

Finally it happened, yesterday I arrived to Malpensa Airport in Milan! And now I'm starting almost a new life, a new year in AIESEC Italy!

What was strange is that there were no surprises during my flight (usually I have lots of it).
The only one I had was connected to the fact that I was changing airport gates in Vienna from part for CIS countries to EU countries and I got a stamp in my passport there. So when I arrived to Milan I was expecting to pass lots of custom and passport controls. But it didn't happen, so I went out from there, nobody was waiting for me, so I had a strange feeling that I came to a wrong place:))) Everything was ok later, guys were waiting for me near arrivals of CIS countries.

Then a 30 min trip to home - I haven't seen a lot, was mainly talking then:) And finally arrived to Via Andora (Andora street) a place I'm going to live and work for next year!

Welcome from Via Andora was cool, and really unexpected - there was a big flip chart with Welcome Masha message on it, I loved it! Then Federica went out and told that she wants to take a picture of me and Ana entering the garden.. While we were posing for picture Eugeniu poured a whole wash basin of cold water on us!!!!!! This was the most original welcome I've ever had:)

After that I had a "house tour" - it has 3 floors, or 2,5 I'd say;) 1st is 2 office rooms, 2nd - living room and kitchen,3rd - 3 sleeping rooms! The house itself is really nice,well equipped comparing to what we had before:)

After some time at home , changing clothes at least, we went for Global village party at WENA Presidents meeting:) Guyes were going absolutely crazy:) I got a chance to talk to different people, dance andget to know WENA culture a bit. What is funny - I'm far not the best in drinking in Ukraine, but here I managed to be first I guess 3 times in "speed drinking competition". We are going to have Ukrainian night soon - and that would be definitely a place for people to try real Ukrainian vodka and get completely drunk:))he-he!:)

Then, completely tired and a bit dizzy we went back home to sleep! Before I felt asleep I was thinking about the whole day - I woke up in Dnepropetrovsk, managed to do a lot of things there, managed to see and say bye to a lot of people and move to other part of Europe and meet a lot of people here as well!

It was completely happy day for me!

Wait for more updates here and have a look at pictures at flickr!

Italy Tomorrow!

2007-06-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know how to express my feelings! I told to many of you that I didn't have feeling that I'm leaving for one year abroad. Now, just 12 hours before the flight, this understanding came to me! I feel scared, I feel unsecured, I feel uncertain, like coming from terra firm to terra incognita.

But this is the way how it's supposed to be, this is the way I've chosen. All people say that everything is going to be great, so maybe I should realy on collective wisdom?:)

I'm trying to remember all the positive moments but eventually I want to cry when it all comes to my head.

Ok, so this is my experience and I'm responsible for what I make out of it, so I'll try to do my best to make the best possible out of it!

But I'm afraid anyways.

P.S. tomorrow I'll go to sleep already in Milan.

Bye - bye party in Dnepropetrovsk

2007-06-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Nice people, nice evening, nice talks! Enjoyed it very much! Very Dnepropetrovsk culture:)

No more words, I'll be missing them a lot!

Journey to past

2007-06-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

I rarely walk alone, I almost never do it for reason, especially in Dnipropetrovsk, but still sometimes it happens. The same as today.. I had to go to a library (Tanya, I almost see your big eyes full of surprise now when you are reading that:))) On my way to library I was passing Kirova avenue – the avenue where all my EB 2005 – 06 lived, on each stop near smb’s house I was remembering us stories that we had in our flats – all our EB meetings, EB nights, drinking meetings etc.
While walking to library I passed by Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Authorities, and I couldn’t help memories coming to my mind - I had university practice there after my 3rd year. I was so proud to get there as that was a place where I was supposed to work after graduation. I remember being happy at the beginning of my first day, and completely disappointed after finishing the practice. Since that time I know what for sure I don’t want to do, and where for sure I don’t want to work. Fortunately, I found out it before graduation:)
Then city library - of course they didn’t have what I needed in this department (why wasn’t I surprised? :)) so I was asked to go to another one. It was too close to take marshrutka, so I decided to have a walk.
I had no urgent things in my head, so I just let memories come to my mind. Occasionally, I had so many memories connected to this street (apart from already mentioned). I was passing Yanka’s house – I clearly remember when I came there first – during lunch time at my practice, she cooked borcsh for me, I was afraid of her big parrot Gosha. But soon I felt in love with him – he was eating completely everything and enjoyed sitting on my shoulder or head:)) I remember the time when at her place we were cooking food for our LTS – I was cutting smoked sausages and cheese ( I guess around 5 kgs each), I wasn’t able to move my arm afterwards but that was fun:))
Then I passed the horror of my teenage years - children orthodontist clinic. But at least after all that it’s not possible to make me scared by any kind of dental units:)
Another stop was – old yard in soviet style, where we spent a lot of time with my LC when I was LCP. After walking in park (it is very close to our previous LC office) we usually went to this yard – it was always challenging because to get there you need almost to clime up to quite big hill, which was always not convenient for girls on high – heels because they usually were stuck in the mud of this hill:) Many times we were playing “bitches – bitches” in Ukrainian (yes, Ukrainian in Dnepropetrovsk) – «шльондри – шльондри», «з парасолькой» etc. these memories still make me smile;)
Almost near the library I was Pouline’s language school – most probably the best one I’ve ever attended. Sergey Ivanovich and Alena are heaven – born language teachers and I remember my time spent there as one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had. I haven’t skipped any class during one year:)
They my journey ended up with librarian asking about my library ticket….
I think this walk and memories were one the best things that happened to me during past few days! I never thought that 20 mins walk trough just 2 streets can evoke so many good and pleasant memories:)

Last 3 weeks

2007-06-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Казалось бы как мало осталось – всего каких – то 3 недели или и того меньше. И ведь понимаю, что и это пройдет, и будет у меня написанный диплом, защита, оценка.. и мой последний день в 9 корпусе на Научной 13. но так это все тошно, что противно становится.

Stuck in my head

2007-05-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Green Day " Time of your life".. stuck in my head since tomorrow, don't know why... no I know why, but I don't know why I don't want to accept the reason.. anyways..this is the lyrics:)

Another turning point

A fork stuck in the road

Time grabs you by the wrist

Directs you where to go

So make the best of this test

And don't ask why

It's not a question

But a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable

But in the end is right

I hope you had the time of your life

So take the photographs

And still frames in your mind

Hang it on a shelf of

Good health and good time

Tattoos of memories

And dead skin on trial

For what it's worth

It was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable

But in the end is right

I hope you had the time of your life

My inner Color

2007-05-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

Your Inner Color is Green

Your Personality: You are a high acheiver who is very competitive. You're bound to reach your goals, no matter how lofty.

You in Love: Picky with high standards, it's hard to find your match. You need someone as driven as you are!

Your Career: You need a high profile, challenging career to satisfy you. Consider finance, sales, or running your own company.

Italian Exchange Team

2007-05-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yes! I finally know their faces:) This are almost all my VPXs from Italy:) It was so great to receive their picture and their message to me yesterday:) Can't wait to see them!!!

A place where it feels like home

2007-05-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was sitting in train and thinking what makes person to "feel home", and I came up with 3 things: people, place, personal connection.
If somebody would tell me few years ago that I'll have such place, and,moreover, it'd be in Western Ukraine, I'd never believe that. But yesterday, after my 3rd time in Ivano - Frankivsk I realized that I feel like being home there.
I've been 3 times to this city and each time was completely amazing for me, like a fairy tale! First time I visited it accidently - instead of skiing in Carpathians we moved to spend few days together with girls from my LC and I guess I'll remember those emotions forever.
This time I had my 2nd LC visit there - we spent almost 10 hours working together with new EB team: discussing priorities, CSFs, initiatives and laughing about different pronunciation percularities of some people (q-uality:))

It was my first visit during Spring round of LC visits and it gave me a lot of cool ideas on how to organize planning process itself, on local and country level. I wish I wouldn't have chance to implement it and see this very idea in action.

Apart from working time finally I had time to rest and just spend time together with my friends - walking(I believe that I know all places of interest in Franik already), talking, lauging, eating(I know almost all best caffees there as well), boiling wine (first time in my life and quite successfuly), watching Eurovision and taking hundreds of pictures;)

It was the time that I enjoy and value the most, time when I was myself, time when I had a chance to be with people that I love.

And then there was a race to train station:) I guess I made a lot of fun for girls and taxi driver panicing before the train:)

And then I had to say bye, it was easy to say it. But so difficult in the end to realize that most probably (if they will not come to Kiev) I'll not see these people for a long-long time...

I tend not to make myself promises, because usually it relates to something that is difficult to realize and that I can never skip because you can never forget what you promised to yourself.

But I made myself a promise, that whatever happens one day I'll come to that city to meet that people. because it feels like home there!

My visual DNA

2007-05-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

A new month ahead

2007-05-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

0.53, I’m sitting at home and trying to create an action plan for coming month. May was never an easy month for me, but this one seems to be completely crazy.
My family – year in MC taught me to value time spent together with my family and I can’t imagine how will I say good bye to my mom and dad.. need to be mentally prepared for that. Moreover, need to prepare them for that.
My friends – almost as aboveJ but I have sooo many people I want to see and hug before I leave, and so limited time for thatL
My thesis – finally started, but moving to slowly. And I don’t have more then 1 week in a whole to complete it.
My visa – EU visas seem to be very difficult to get. That is something what actually scares me, but after all selection procedures I went trough this year I just can’t let any consul or whoever to stop me from achieving my goal
My transition – must be the easiest part to execute, but need to make myself do it, JFDIJ
My Italian – my daily lessons are just the beginning of a long story. It’s not easy to learn language alone, but I can do it, can do it, will do itJ I have 2 new books, hehe;)
My personal preparation and goal setting – something what I vitally need to do before I go to Italy, but why do I put it as the last priority always??? Does anybody have any idea how to make Masha Savranskaya do it before everything else.
My LC visits – dates set, tickets booked, excitedJ Can’t imagine saying good bye to some people in these LCs and one of the cities itself
My work – my last newsletter, digest, emails to community, forms audits, etc. Can’t believe I do it for the last time.
My personal space– no time for it this month, sorry…

But I’m supergirl and supergirls don’t cry…

SpringCo 2007

2007-05-04T15:21:00.001-07:00

It’s over when it’s over…
My last conference as active member, MC member, facilitator of AIESEC in Ukraine is over.
Emotions? Don’t know.
I spent it almost the way I wanted – I wasn’t overloaded with sessions, so I had quite a few time to talk to people, enjoy time with my friends, observing elect EBs and MC.
There are few “snapshots” from this conference that I’ll always have in my mind
Time spent with new EB of Dnipropetrovs’k . I almost lost connection with them during this year but I just now have realized how important these people are for me. There was a new EB, people who where recruited after I left LC, people who I barely know (of course apart from Yanka). I didn’t know what to expect, and honestly saying (well, I don’t know why) I had rather negative expectations. But the time we spent together completely changed my mind;) Yanka, Vovka, Nastya, Nastya, Anya and Dashka, thank you very much for taking this responsibility of leading LC that I really love and care about!
Exchange commission – old. There are a lot of things that I can remember, a lot of emotions that I’d like to share, and one word – “gratitude” ….
MC 2006-07 good bye… I expected it to be difficult. But I never expected it to be that difficult.. I had so much to say, so many messages to send. But 5 minutes before the plenary I realized that I can never share all my experience, feelings, learnings and everything what happened to me during 4 years in AIESEC in Ukraine. I was listening to my team mates, staring at people in plenary and then it was my turn to speak. I never experienced such emotion speaking in front of the plenary – I don’t really remember everything what I told. I only remember faces of people. People that were sitting in plenary, standing next to me, being on the other part of the globe or just in other city in Ukraine. People that I love and value more then anything else, people who will always be in my heart, my friends.. who were last 4 years together with me, who made my AIESEC experience so unique. And this is the best memory I could imagine having after my good bye to AIESEC Ukraine…

Blog! Almost a new face:)

2007-05-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

Girls can not use computers © Nestor
In fact I agree with Nestor, but there are small exceptions – in fact they can, but only sometimes!
I managed to give a new, better face to my blog – links to my friends’ blogs, new posts. The only thing left – my picture here:)

Updates about my future:)

2007-05-04T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well, Masha back to normal life - not really having time for the blog;)
But, hey, I'm having my holidays now, which means I can dedicate some time to writing what is going on.
It has been almost one month since I'm elected to MC Italy, but I still remember everything as if it happened yesterday. It was an amazing feeling when all current and elect team in Italy were screaming, singing and congratulating me. then my team - the same, but they also poured water on me and laptop! I had a feeling of complete happiness:) and satisfaction with the fact that I reached the goal. Positive changes are visible!
I really can't wait to see my new team, move to Italy etc,etc:) but that'd be a topic for my next post I guess;)
It was also great to read all greetings that I received from different people, especially those whom you don't know.
What is also great - my lovely Innok was elected to Estonia as MCVPF!! So now my team mates, and just great friends are clear about their next year - Svetulya in Argentina, Inna in Estonia, Masha in Italy! Luka, we are waiting only for you:)
Now it's time to go and have my daily Italian lessoon - learning new language alone is not easy, learning it in trains and buses is even harder. But I'll manage.. and it's another story..:)

My XPRO experience. forgot to add:)

2007-03-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

One more thing that I forgot to add.. I stoped crying, went for closing plenary and had one of the most inspirational closing plenaries ever... thanks to the people that were there together with me...

My XPRO experience

2007-03-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

Now I’m traveling from Kiev to Dnipropetrovsk and finally have some time to properly capture my everything that happened to me at XPRO:)
I guess it’ll be a long story to tell, but still very exiting (at least for me:)
All started with preparation which was quite hectic as I had plenty of things to do, and limited time (it often happens to me before conferences, who knows maybe I’m not guru of time management:))
I had loads of luggage as usual, but scales in MC flat were broken so only thing I had a chance to do was wondering whether I have overweight or notJ all MC members and Bogdan said that I for sure have more then 20 kilos so all my way to airport I was trying to figure out what will I do in airport. It came out to be only 15,5 kg, at that moment was about to kill somebody who told me that I for sure have not less then 25 kilos:)
I had a nice and safe trip to Munich, spent 2 or 3 hours in duty free shops thereJ then my flight was delayed for an hour and I was wondering who is that person who caused such delay. As it often happens in life it was the person I knew – one of facilitators:)
First day in Serbia was really nice – we spent all day for sightseeing and tasting traditional Serbian food. That was basically my first meeting with vast majority of facilitators and first challenge for my networking and communication skills. My key learning from that day – Belgrade is similar to Sevastopol, Serbians eat a lot of meat, boiled wine in cafe near the river is great, networking skills matter:)
We spent our transition (sleeping and teambuilding time) in nice and really funny flat. I guess it was kindergarten before. With lots of bright pictures on the walls, mattresses for sleeping and 1 bathroom with broken lockJ but those attempts of trying to guess whether somebody is in bathroom or not without knocking were good for sensing the team. Ha-ha-ha:)
Pre-meeting part was very interesting for me, completely different from what I used to in Ukraine. I wasn’t able to understand what was all that for before certain day of the conference, so in the beginning I had kind of feeling that we were wasting our time.
I’m really thankful to Coco for a conversation that we had one day on our way to dinner. Most probably it was exactly something that I needed to find answer for those questions that I had in my head.
I remember kind of football game with Kevins’ ball in pre-meeting room before meeting with CC. I found myself completely clumsy, but enjoyed it anyways:)
As I’m writing all of it so many thoughts, feelings and emotions are popping up in my head. I realize that it’s truth that in the end of the day, whatever happens people remember only good things what’ve happened to them.
4 or 5 hours trip to hotel, and meeting at 2 am with facis and sleepless night with session preparation ( I felt really stupid after the feedback that I received for session content on the one hand, but really determined to make it really good on the other hand. I don’t know how to describe it, most probably it’s a mix of ambition and dedication that I had ;) that I remember excitement that all facis shared few minutes before delegates came in. and a powerful beginning with different ppts, balloons and smiles, smiles, smiles:)
Me as a leader session – most probably one of the turning points in my conference experience, because of the feelings that I had before, during and after the session, because of the support that I felt from that short term session team, because of what people said to me after the session, because of the understanding what does it mean to speak not what was prepared and rehearsed in front of the mirror, but what comes from your heart. I still have got no idea why this session gave so much meaning to me… most probably that’d be the biggest secret of the whole conference for me;)
Then time started to move really fast, I was trying to capture each moment, each word, each conversation that I had. I guess I prepared myself for the conference with building expectations, defining people I need to talk to, skills that I need to develop but never prepared for what it really was and what it really gave me....
I believe I had failure with the session on the last day. There were some reasons that I was able to influence as well as those I wasn’t able to influence. But I again got a learning here.. after the conference my eyes were full of tears so I rushed to faci room to cry there alone, I decided not to go to closing plenary because I though that I don’t deserve being there as I didn’t bring any added value to the conference with such session. I was standing there along, watching snow, crying.. and I guess it was first time in my life when while having that type of emotions and blaming myself for all evil that exists in the world I managed to think logically…. Whatever happened has already happened and I can only take learning from that, I can capture my feelings and emotions to prepare myself next time better and prevent having this feelings again. I came there for 2 reasons – to make this conference an amazing experience for delegates and a powerful experience for myself. I thought about how many times during my work in AIESEC I had the same goals let’s say for the conference, and how much I was focusing on making conference a great experience for delegates completely forgetting about my own experience. I was thinking that I can’t even imagine what a negative impact I got blaming myself for everything bad that ever happened to me. All that always brought me a lot of disappointment and discouraged me a lot. And now I came to an understanding that my experience is only what I’m making out of it myself, and if I want to stand there and cry, I’ll do it and will fell alone and stupid forever or what would I feel if I go back to plenary where 200 delegates 14 facis, more then 25 CC members will share their emotions and experience.. what would be if I go there, listen to it and understand that maybe I was a part of positive experience that they had, what if time that we spent during sessions, working groups, home groups, conversations had a meaning for them, what if I was that part of their learning, what if this conference brought them at least part of that learning that it brought for me. If this is all truth, then I brought some added value.
Maybe that sound strange for person after 4 years in AIESEC to come to such “basic” conclusions, maybe I should have done it few years ago at my first conference, maybe it should have happen to me in some time, maybe after AIESEC… there is no right answer. it happens when it happens, whenever it happens is the right time for it to happen ( I know I violated a bit all those principles), but this is what is important for me now.
I have a nice feeling of being exhausted of writing all of these emotions here, but this is a pleasant feeling. I feel that it became more structured (ha-ha, structure is always important for me:)))). I feel happy that I have a chance to share it with those people that are reading this blog (have got no idea about all of them, only some are posting commentsJ), I feel happy that I’ll have a chance to get back to what is written here in hard times that I’ll for remind myself of those feelings that I had and find inspiration for continuing whatever I do next in my life. I feel happy that I don’t want to check what I wrote here just because it was exactly what I felt no matter I had grammar or other mistakes. I feel happy that I became more open and can share some of my feelings with others. I have so many ideas about why do I feel happy now and that makes me being even happier:)

Masha

P. S. as soon as I reached internet I wanted to read everything I wrote above to correct and make it less emotional, because rational part of me told me that I don’t have to share that all. But another part of me, which I still don’t know how to call, let’s call it new Masha persuaded just to post it without reading.. I’m not sure whether this is a right decision and normally I’d never do that. But most probably it’s good to challenge yourself and do something new, even if it’s blog posting:)

Back home

2007-03-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Finally:) I'm sitting in MC office in Kiev: my working place, our dirty flat, my bad and lots of tasks to do. Everything is the same and I don't know why I like it so much:)
I arrived 1 hour late yesterday - Slavik was sleeping, Nestor working, Innok woke up to meet me. we were talking till 4 a.m. I guess:) She said that she hasn't seen me so happy for a long time. and I feel that it's true
Today I need to take train again - to Dnipropetrovsk, my groupmates say that we had exam on Monday and will have few more this week. But hopefully I can manage it, because after exams I need to do a miracle - to manage to get to my lovely LC Franik for EB elections (one very-very important for me person is going to apply for LCP:)
I have so many emotions and thoughts after XPRO, I feel that I need to share it, so just can't wait for those 6 hours in train to DP today, to have time to post everything to blog:)
Happy pingvinchik:)

What is experience

2007-03-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

It's 1.48 am in Serbia, I'm sitting in faci room at EuroXPRO in Serbia. Trying to prepare quite some things for sessions but can't help stop thinking about ideas that are just popping up in my head. Most probably I need something to stuck to my brain to make a post here:)
Today is 3rd (already 4th) day of the conference and almost a week since I'm in Serbia with faci team.
It was not easy for me to make a decision and come here due to a number of reasons - university (still don't know what is happening to that conference for masters and my credits and exams), not successfull selection to MCs and just a fear maybe.
But now I'm completely happy with the decision made. because this conference exposed me to think a lot abt experience that I have. I was always thinking that I had a perfect experience in AIESEC - occcupying so many different positions, being 4 years here. but what I see now is how different it could have been. how much I was able to make out myself if I was not afraid (this idea that Mariha told me at winco.. what would I do now, if I wasn't afraid).. afraid to challenge myself and to go beyond limits. who told me that I know what is right, who told me that they way I do things is the right way,who told me that the way I behave is right, who told me that many things that made a stereotype person. firstly stereotyped about myself. most probably I did it myself..
I'm not person who takes a lot of time for self-reflection, but here I had some and amazing results came out:) yesterday when I was preparing for session I went trough number of quotes, saying and who knows what else. read one. in fact I guess I've read it once before but now it showed me a very powerful meaning. "Life is change. Growth is optional"...growth is optional.. so what is the option that I choose?

2007-02-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

My Blin eXPerience

Before getting to sleep last evening me and Inna decided that today we are going to have borsch and pankekes with some fillings for lunch:)

We agreed that she cooks borsch(need to mention that after those months I know how to cook it;) and I cook pancakes. Good idea if you know how to cook it

But I'm active learner, right?:)

Everything started with internet research about cooking pancakes. You can't even imagine what you can find when you are not looking for it. I saw about 50 different recepies. Gosh, I needed only to know how to cook normal pancakes but not something for super professional cooks.

Cooking process started with confusion - have you ever knew that you can put both salt and sugar at one time to a dish. I never knew it entangled the order That's why I got a strange liquid that didn't look like pastry for pancakes

Then I was fighting with frying pan. Of course if was too hot for my fingers:)
There is a proverb "Pervyi blin comom" (First pancake is always bad), in my case - first 5:) But I didn't have right to give up:)
Somewhere in the middle of the process I started to make bets - whether that pancake will be good or not:) After 2 hours I baked around 15 pancakes, created a blog.. and I'm finishing this post actually;0
Now I know that I'll not die from hunger - I can always cook some pancakes:)
And I know what is the real pancake eXPerience:)

2007-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Something has to happen in one's life to make person move, I mean do something, change something. Normally, changes are not really desirable.

People only change when something happens. This is exactly about me:)

I was standing at the kitchen today trying to bake pancakes, laughing about the process and me. I was exited about finishing and telling how funny was it to somebody.

This idea made me think about my blog to make my sharing easier. I'd never make myself create this blog unless I wanted to tell ubout those pancakes.

I hope the desire to share will occur often enough to make this blog active:)

Now move to my BlinXP or pancakes story:)