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!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Notes of an overstressed girl
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?:)
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?:)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
After 3 weeks
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!
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!
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