One of those days...
Do you also have these days when you feel like an observer of your own life? Time goes by so quickly and you know you have done nothing...
That's my today.
I just got up, went jogging, took a shower, ate small breakfast, looked at my watch and got shocked: it was already 12:30!
Then, I went up to the MC office to meet up with Peter, just to go for a little walk and do some shopping for today's MC welcome party (I am soooo much looking forward!).
We chatted, checked out all the little shops in Berne that sell all kinds of crap/things that would make great gifts/things that you don't know exactly what they are supposed to be used for and are pretty expensive/all things that contain some kind of Swissness, such as cows or a white cross on a red background. After having a lunch in
Tibits (the best cooking vegetarian restaurant/cafe in Berne, do check it out!) we did some shopping for the party, and suddenly it was 16:30. Nothing really done... Even my transition with Caro got postponed as her exams were quite tiring and she deserves a day off.
Well, at least I managed to properly start up my post-GA life: I got my half-price & After7 ticket today (at least one thing to be cross out from my to-do list). We are going hiking up to the Alps (a glacier wit the highest & newest hanging bridge in Europe called
Trift) on Sunday with friends of ours, so making the whole traveling cheaper is quite useful. Another opportunity where it will serve well as well is next Tuesday for the "girls jazz night out" in Fribourg (thanks
Jo for organizing it!)
The rest of
my To-Do list before the MC Welcome Party starts:
- finish off
support letters for the US people intending to come to WENA conferences (expect more details soon!)
- my
German homework (it's going to be a busy weekend, so I should do it today)
-
ironing (yep, I promised to do it... After all, in my long-stay permit it still says that the purpose of me being in Switzerland is to be a wife of a Swiss citizen..)
-
come to the party in time to prepare my contribution to it
I'd rather get started now!
life after GA
oh my Goodness!
already for 45 minutes I have no GA anymore!!!
how am I going to survive in Switerland?
My freedom of movement just got very restricted...
well, well...
uff, luckily, I am still young enough to get an After 7 ticket, that brings the feeling of liberty partially back. You can use trains & boats after 7p.m. for free. It means that you are quite mobile if you have friends all over Switzerland to stay over.
But how is the life AFTER GA when people are too old for an After 7?
family all around the globe - thank God for skype!
Hm, have you ever had not only your (best) friends but also each of your family member currently being in another country?
My situation at the moment:
my
Mum is in Slovakia guarding our family nest
my
Dad is in Cuba rebuilding a nikel production company
my
older brother Janko is in Ireland trying out his luck, as you would say in Slovak
my
little brother Martinko is in Austria, just starting his internship with Siemens in Vienna
even my lovliest
Sami is not with me these last days, he went to Germany
and
I am in Switzeralnd (actually, quite lonely at the moment as everyone already moved out but nobody moved in yet...)
This leads to a lot of phone calls and SMS to be able to keep up with everybody, especially if ALL of my family members are MSN chatting resistent
our solution:
skype!for us, it is not rare having everyone in a different country or at least city in a family call and my Mum having my Dad on her mobile on one ear (skype is forbidden in Cuba) and her kids on skype on the other ear repeating everything so that everyone hears everything;)
it feels like a family evening when all the personal news get discussed and after our hm, disappointing (to not use any stronger words) elections for parliament, even Slovak politics and future feature in our conversations. Hot topic: who would like to come back to a country lead by a populist, a dictator and an ultra-nationalist?
soo, skype is being heavily used in our family. Living all around the world has had some positive impact on the computer literacy of my parents ;)
The downside of this is trying to coordinate my travelling to meet maximum people in minimum time. Finally knowing the arrival & unfortunatelly departure dates of my Dad makes me re-arrange my summer. As I need to go to Slovakia before IC to pick up Bee's computer and especially to not miss my Dad during his one-month-long stay at home, I need to go to Slovakia already at the end of July, not mid-August, as originaly planned. Luckily, the connections are pretty good.
Well, that's how we feel the impact of globalisation on our family...
It just stroke me, how omnipresent and influential it became (or is?). I bet you also know the feeling...
So again,
thank God for skype that helps us keeping our family feeling and closeness going. I don't want to forget where I come from, my roots and basic reference group as this is a big part of who I actually am.
Summer weekend as it should be...
Making some use of the last weekend of my GA...
(General Abonement - the most useful Swiss invention that for a lot of money gives you a lot of freedom: you can use all the public transport - trains, buses and even ships - as much as you want for one year. There is a life BEFORE and AFTER having a GA)Saturday: Berne-Biel/Bienne-Délémont-St.Ursanne & back
(I told you that I wanted to make USE of my GA ;))
a day full of "i am a tourist" mood, chats with Nadja & Sarah, sleeping at the river Doub, seeing an old monastery, taking the Path of Sculptors full of wild strawberries back to the train station and even more chatting over a glass of Bailey's (imported directly from Ireland when visiting my brother Janko)
Sunday:long sleep, going down to the Aare river with an intention to swim, chatting with Nadja about all the girly topics from relationships to our future, making a test "Bist du eine Klette" and discussing it in details, enjoying unhealthy life, finally going for a swim in the 18 Degrees Celsius water, refreshed walking home, saying bye to Nadja, going online and being caught by Aida, Cileia and Bee, going jogging with Cileia and
"pushing her limits", coming back, chatting to Verena about professional stuff, chatting to my family for almost 2 hours (currently every single person in a different country, blogging again
...can there be a better start of my summer?
hmmm, it feels strange that you can allow yourself to just chat and to not necessarily come to a conclusion and agree on next steps
No output or follow-up needed, just a couple of sms arranging another weekend. Is this how people live? ;) I guess I need to learn to let go...
Swiss MC team 2005/2006 and our year & our future
the Little Blond Rob: "What keeps people motivated for AIESEC is the people they get to be involved with. Thank you for helping to make the last 2 years the most intense and enjoyable time of my @XP so far. If you can inspire just one person everyday, then AIESEC - and the world - will be that little bit brighter."Becoming member of the Country Leverage Team 2006/2007, he will work on developing AIESEC in Thailand. See you at IC in Poland, Robster!
Bee, My Favourite Radio Ever!: "AIESEC is never easy. Sometimes it feels like there is just too much to do, there is never enough time. Sometimes it feels like there is no solution to whichever problem you are contemplating. Sometimes the responsibility you feel seems too much.
But - and this is the important but - there is nothing else that will develop your leadership. Taking yourself and others through these challenges is exactly what gives you the opportunity to grow, day by day. The individual steps are small and tough, but when you look back after a year, you realise the incredible distance you have traveled. And that is what counts.
I am embarking on another series of tiny steps within AIESEC, and I can only wish for all of you to do the same.
Switzerland (like a loved friend told me) has been "planted" right on that path, like a flag pole, and that will never change. I have felt all the above. I am grateful for the challenges, the deep friendships, and I am now forever marked by Switzerland."Being Vice-President Learning Programmes & Projects 2006/2007, she will spend next year in Colombia. Also planning to come back to Europe for IC. I will bring you all your stuff, don't worry! I already started an IC Bee-box:)
Sabi, the Until-The-End Fighter:"I ha's gseh!"Having Successfully passed the Student Review Board & intern preparation, he is prepared to push up our outgoing exchange numbers again ;) He is ready to leave for an internship experience somewhere in Asia. Follow your dreams!
Dhruvli, the Swindian:"Thank you for having the opportunity to live through one of the most challenging and rewarding roles one can hope to have in AIESEC. I truly got the perfect balance of learning and value-addition to 2 phenomenal global organizations: UNFPA and AIESEC."Dhruvli went back to India and found himself a dream job as a business analyst in a company encouraging American investments in India. It seems like he has started the real life... When do I see you next time?
and
me, well, me:
"Definitely one of the most intense years of my life: full of friendship, ambition, happiness, challenges, failures and successes... All the necessary ingredients to make you grow on personal and professional level, to make you realise who you actually are and to give you an idea whom you would like to be. Inspiring and disappointing moments followed each other. I somehow still can't believe, that it is over.
Looking back, I don't yet know what my contribution to AIESEC in Switzerland was. Your success is measured by the success of your successors, wise people say. So, it's up to you to grow the seeds we planted together. Take good care of them, shape them, let them grow stronger. Remember, the more you put in, the more you will get out.
Every big journey starts with a little step forward, it's just about having the courage to set off!"The only one of us staying involved in WENA however working from CEE. As WENA Conference Coordinator 2006/2007, I will try to make sure that WENA conferences will be THE place to be next year. I am going back to Slovakia to finally graduate. See you at IC!
For everyone: THANK YOU
everything is hidden behind these words and most of it written in our team feedback.
Miss you, people!
One before last for tonight: post-MC feeling
get ready for a bit nostalgic full of emotions posting, get some handkerchiefs and enjoy reading...
these few lines are dedicated to the LAST DAY...
Unlike the others, for Sabi & me, the guardians of the office, this day felt like the last one. Having done all the cleaning yesterday, today was just finishing off some bits and pieces of transition with
Cileia, Sabi and her watching Argentina-Germany on the green sofa behind my back while I was chatting to Bee about all kinds of things and to Rob about SOGA. Cleaning MY e-mail meant overloading e-mail accounts of the
new MC, sorry guys! Later on Sabi leaving or the Brainstore party and Cileia first time sitting at Sabi's
clean desk (yes, I finally saw it today, Sabi ;)). Suddenly Aida & Stefan coming for the final celebration of the generation change...
The end is the begining is the end...
Suddenly I found myself in the middle of toasting to the old term, then to the new term and then filming the new MC role call. Uff, sometimes things go soo fast!
Just got a couple of comments on my vocabulary spreading over AIESEC in Switzerland (meaning a lot of people telling Cileia and Aida that they speak like me & my MC team having fun one evening during our team days), what an honour!
Basically,
the deal is to master following expressions:
seeeeeeeeriously?!?
excuuuuuuuuuse me?
ooooooooukeeeeey
what a bullshit!on a more serious note:
Sabi and I were discussing how proud we are to be the last ones to leave the office and switch the ligth off... well, there is no need. Tonight, I will leave the MC office, but I won't switch the light off. Cileia is going to do that as Eigerstrasse 55 became her temporary home for next month (She is joining the famous club of Dhruvli&Rob and equalising a bit the gender balance...). Transition to the new and capable hands seems to be smooth.
I wish you the best of luck. Enjoy what will become one of the most intense years of your life so far.
another thing of last days: Football
this was a week ago:
Martin, me, Sami & Caro celebrating after Switzerland's wonderful match with South Corea. Even such a non-futball fan as me was enjoying herself, completely seduced by the atmosphere....
you could easily see scenes like this downtown Berne
however... each dream comes once to an end, this time by penalty shooting. Ukrainians just shoot better, such is life. I bet that for next 2 years, the Swiss will concentrate on that as they don't need to worry about qualifying for the European Championship they are hosting
Don't worry! Take it easy, my friends (especially
Caro)
Show them how you play football in 2 years! I be difinitely cheering up for you...
