Great to have friends like that
This was a few days ago, and it was right on time. I received an e-card saying:
Hey honey,Just wanted to send you this because I know yesterday was a bad day for you - but I wanted to let you know that I think you are wonderful, and that it is all part of your journey.The good and the bad moments define us!Big hugsMazzyMazzy, you are also wonderful! Thanks for being there for me in the good times and the bad!
Labels: Diary, Friends
from the supermarket phenomenon
This is what my flatmate at that time Mona found once in AH To Go Supermarket...
Water on a sunny day in autumn! Where is it from? From the supermarket. In small letters it says "buy it and it`s yours!" and, indeed, it`s true!! :D I bought it and it`s mine (duh).
But the fun has just begun. Reading on, the instructions of using it:
Water comes from a tap, but also from a supermarket. (...)Drink it preferably chilled and take 8 swigs an hour.Keep your bottle at hand for unexpected moments of thirst.Why does it make me laugh, do you know?
Should I tell the story about
Yodoshimaro, who is in the water and makes it so good?
And should I disclose the secret, that there will be new products
from the supermarket in stock soon...
Now me, Mona and Adina are competing on who will find the next products -
juice and
milk from.. yes, you got it right-
from the supermarket . Unexpected moments of thirst are definitely the crucial moments in our lives :)
And products like this are crucial to keep a healthy level of insanity at home or in the office :D
Labels: Amsterdam, Friends, Fun, Netherlands
here there and everywhere
I am just so good with updates! Another week in A`dam..
Last weekend we went out with other interns to De Pijp, very Dutch area with nice places for drink or dance. Very very nice crowd, apart from the awesome intern gang, including some of the people whos presence was a pleasant surprise.
On Sunday I took a trip to Brussels, to see the Flower Carpet 2006 in Grand Place, meet some people, pick up some of my luggage, sort out my membership at
Fitness Passage, which is the service I am not happy about. One advice guys - check for terms and conditions before signing anything in Belgium. But it`s ok, you live you learn. I learned not to go to Fitness Passage anymore, it`s just too much trouble. Also it ws cool to catch up aith Rasa, the MC team, experiencing extreme rain conditions and Belgian sarcasm which makes me paranoid.
The whole past week went faster than lightning, IC is next week and there was just a lot to prepare, ship, communicate. It seems like most fo the stuff is ready though, yey!
By facing the distance from my place to teh centre of Amsterdam, I realized that bike is just necesarry to live here:) As in the evening when I get back home it`s so difficult to motivate myself to go somewhere :) Like now, I know there is a huge festival happening in the centre, but I am just too lazy :)
And I think it`s nothing wrong that I sleep a lot, don`t go out every night and just take it easy :) I like sleeping!! I love lazying around :) But I promise I will get involved into social life a bit more from now on.
BTW, last Friday we had a first go-out with my teammaes from ING. We went to one cool tapas bar, then continued chtatting over a glass of wine. I work with amazing people I tell you!
I am finally not living in a suitcase, my room is nice and cosy now, just missing some artistic touches. The room is only for two months, I am looking for a place to move in in October, but still nice to have a good living environment.
Today I met Rita for a coffee and ended up chatting about life and work for the whole afternoon. Nice to meet great people.
I realized that I haven`t been taking pictures of me in The Netherlands so far! I have to improve this!
The only thing that is bothering me now, is my wisdom teeth, they sometimes turn into nothing else but plain pain in my mouth. Not so good.
And to make this post one of the most random ones, I would recommend you to check out the
TO-DO list blog. You can submit your own to-do list which will be published in a book! Deadline is on Sept 15, I think I will submit something, as I have some sophisticated TO-DOs :)
Labels: Belgium, Brussels, Diary, Friends, Fun
Fast forward - new country, new life
I was about to sit back and do a proper reflection on my past year in Belgium, but a lot of things m already in a different train now.So reflection will come later tonight, now nothing else, but update...
Let`s start with the last mentioned but not explained event -
MC transition party. Explanation in human language: this is the moment when the new team of AIESEC National Committee takes over the positions of the outgoing team. For that, there is a huge fiesta being organised, in order to see the outgoing team for the last time, as well as meet the lads from the new team, also a bunch of aiesecers from the country and beyond, have fun together.
The party was nothing but awesome. Soo many people - around 60, all nice people I got to work with or just meet up, interns or former interns(one even with tequila :)), other MCs (guess from three times... French MC again!), some old and new friends... a lot of talking, waterpipe, some people getting wasted, then saying official speeches, takeover presents, partying at the brazilian bar till very late night with teh best caipirinha I`ve ever had, having some team time with the 5 of us last time together, getting back home and finding an intensive sharing and drinking circle happening. being tired, going to bed and sleeping until teh sun came through my window.
Saturday after that was showing Francois and Martina from French MC the best of Brussels, having a beer in Delirium, and then almost expecting them to miss rtheir train. Unfortunatelym tehy made it to it, so they were not staying longer... :(
Moving on... week after that was finishing uo some stuff, like Annual Report! It was designed and sent for printing, and i hope it`s gonna turn out good :)
On Wednesday I was in shock. Bad news about Ondra reached us... I still cannot believe it, it feels like he`s still somewhere in Prague, where I`m going to visit him... He was one of the most outgoing and life-loving people I ever knew. He is missed by many, you can
see it. So sad that his life was so short..
Thursday - my last
intern drink. It was raining, also there was yesterday`s shock in the air, but it was nice to see all those people, especially Jaders, I ahvent seen them for ages, also have some very nice conversations with Charmaine and Boris, then coming back packed in Celine`s car.
I was packing throughout the week,however, my room was a disaster until saturday,my actual leaving day. All morning I was holding my head with a thought `how the F#$% I have got so much stuff in one year??` But actually, I managed well to separate amd throiw out most fo teh unneeded stuff.. funny how things that were memorable in teh beginning dont mean anything to you after a while... That doesn`t mean memories go... You just find other way to have them in your heart! Beofre leaving I met up with Ingrida, another long time not seen friend, who moved to Paris recently! I tell you, paris is just becoming the coolest place to go to :D
Then I took a train to Amsterdam... Regular train ride to The Netherlands, like other previous 5 times in past year.. No Way! My room is not mine anymore, I possess no keys that open any doors in brussels, I will never be the same again... I cried a bit, that`s true, a lot of things ahve happened there. However, every change brings something new, and something good - In Aasterdam I was met by Veds, who also picked up his friend Anna from the station. We dropped our stuff and, of course, went out for a first drink. Great time, amazing people and amazing talks, then joining other interns for a party, I really got introduced to social life fast :)
Sunday mornings are always lovely - we slept until late afternoon. veds provided us with breakfas almost to bed. Then met up with Bieke, another friend of theirs, went for a beer, for dinner and then I moved to my place in Amsterdam - an awesome house with all facilities, even terace! I will upload pics at some point, it`s lovely! And the roommates are very nice - it`s Sigis (another Lithuanian! very sweet guy, helped me with everything here), Alicia (Spanish girl, ex-aiesecer as well) and Fernanda, a Brazillian girl. Also on teh same night there were another 4 Lithuanians staying over in teh house, was a nice evening in native language :)
Monday-Tuesday I had nothing much more than work. So far it has been very great - the team is awesome, we have meetings and I`m getting more and more into my role. The atmosphere is very supporting and positive, it`s so nice! Seems like it will be a great challenge, but also a very exciting 6 months ahead!
I`ve been relaxing for pas evenings, as my head is boomimg with new information, but I will keep you updated :)
Labels: AIESEC, Diary, Friends
Happy Birthday to ME!
it's still 7 minutes left until midnight, so I am sttill in my birthday mood.
Yes, today is my birthday.
Yes, i'm officially one year older. And also, what is even more important, one year WISER! :D
I didn't have a party until the very morning, but yes, I did have great fun and a great day. And also some cute presents. We had chocolate cake. We had drinks. Fun. And A LOT of nicest greetings in I think 11 languages in total (thanks to Johnathan from LLN, he has covered 7 of them:) ).
Amritha, Jen, Kevin, Elie, Chrisi, Pedro, Makis, Tijs, Dan, Mitja, Ieva, Oxana, Elena, Matthias, Arnas, Vilma, my whole family with their families (miss you much!), Robin, Johnathan, Jornt, Paula, Bee, Rahul, Romas, Henrique, Gijs, Robin from Lugano, Goda, Vaida, Gutte, Kaste, Simone... i hope I didn't forget anyone, thank you guys so much for all those greetings!
happy happy =)
Labels: Diary, Friends
Rotterdam and Luxembourg in one weekend
It was not planned to be that busy.
But it was.
And it turned out to be very very good!
My dear friend
Piret was in Rotterdam for SSGN board transition and planning, and it was the only spot when I could actually meet her before she goes all the way back to Brazil. So I had to make i
t! It was soo fascinating, I met her in Baltic Synergy in 2005, when we both applied for international MCs, and now we got to see each other after a whole year!! We had lots of things to talk about, to catch up with our experiences and news.
Apart from that, was also nice to come to the AI office and catch up with other people, with Lithuanian gang, with other long-time-not-seen ones. And get inspired again, I think AI office has something special in the air. There is about 60 AIESEC people in Rotterdam now, including task forces, regional boards and new AI team. Meeting the people that inspire - absolutely amazing, what else I can say! By the way, the African restaurant that Araz and Abhinav took us to, was excellent! Itw as in Dutch, I dont excaly remember the name, but it means 'Taste from Africa' ('Smaak van Africa'??, strongly reccomended.
I have spent way more time there than I've planned, but got to catch my last train to Brussels and still see Michal in his farewell party.
Next morning - sleep in, get up, shower, pack and back to the station. Luxembourg this time, and taht was a
Rock-A-Field festival. And yes, it was totally in a field somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Luxembourg. Get off in a city, take a train to some village, walk for &.รจ km to parking lot, get picked up by bus, go to the festival site, walk another 500 m, get your bag checked, ticket, enter.
I was early, not too many people. Extremely hot. Everyone is baking and intensively consuming beer and other beverages. Bands start to play. First one - i don't know it, was average. It was cool observing the moves of the vocalist though. I should try to sketch something like this some time. Second band - some german one, also don't know, but I liked them very much!! That girl has a super good voice! Rocks! For sure i have to find out more about them.
Then we had an interruption of rain... then interruption of 2-3cm pieces of ice falling from the sky... man, it hurt! It went totally out of control, everybody started hiding anywhere they could, and there was not too much of a choice, as it was a grass field... well after the storm it became a mud field :) And all people had mud all over themselves :) Luckily i got around just with old jeans and shoes.
At any case, I didn't pay money for the rain, same as others, so we got to see the other bands as well :) Mando Diao. I didn't know them, but they rock!! The crowd went crazy, and their music is worth it! Raphael - French siple guy, very lyric and sentimental. Nice and soothing. Franz Ferdinand - frickin awesome!!! Since I love every single song of this band, it was more than great to see them rocking the field live - with Take Me Out, Matinee and Walk Away... ah, yeah! And finally, Placebo - the top of the concert. They were good. However, my expectations were higher than that. I was hoping to see that black-dressed mystic guy that i see in pics and videos, but I saw a guy in a suit! Mystery revealed. However, that didn't spoil the show itself - music was great, stage effects also great, and crowd also went crazy. By the way, crowd was surprisingly young - I even got to run into 16-year old Lithuanian girls and around 20 of their schoolmates. Quite funny :)
After the concert my adventures didn't end, as still I had to get back somehow. The transortation by bus from the field to the city was terrible, so luckily i got to meet a local family who kindly took me by their car to the station of Luxembourg. Where I also found out that there are no night trains to Brussels! However, it was more of a nice adventure, as Luxembourg was quiet, and I met two exchange students from the US who have missed their train to France, so having some conversations was a good way to kill some time before our first trains.
Monday morning I was happy to find my bed in place:)
Labels: Diary, Friends, Luxembourg, Musicroom, Traveling
Short break in London
I liked London the first time I went there, and the second time last weekend I fell in love with it!
Me and Rasa took the Eurostar train, which was almost like an airplane - luggage check in with metal detector, then going really fast with my ears almost closed and passing through the tunnel very fast. We were easily falling asleep until... Suddenly there comes an announcement, which states mainly 'Ladies and gentlemen, due to technical problems, now the passengers going to Paris change with the ones going to London!' Yey, let's run, see who wants to get to their destination faster!! The arrival got delayed by half an hour, then we made it to Vilija's place in a cool section of the city.
...the weather was incredibly awesome - not a single drop of rain, +24 degrees all the time.
...it's nice to understand the language people speak in the streets
...catching up with the news in friends' lives
...girls night out in a cool Rumi lounge bad
...forgetting about everything and everyone that was giving me a hard time recently. At least for a bit.
...shopping!! Portobello Market, Primark, NEXT and everywhere else. My MC salary budget cannot hold expensivo brands, but it's about the shopping experience anyway ;)
...seeing the variety, the mixture, the liveliness of the city!!
...visiting Salvador Dali experience and realizing even more that this guy was a sick genius. I love his works, probably because they are so disturbing
...visiting Sherlock Holmes' house, which was missed the first time
...sitting on the bank of Thames with a beer and philosophies about the purpose of life.
...realizing, that I am not a tourist in London anymore, and this is a city I could live in.
Hey, Brussels is sunny today as well!
Labels: Diary, Friends, London, Traveling
Bonn and Cologne
Guten Abend...
I love to go to teh countries where I understand the language :) More or less, at least.
After 10 months of planning we finally found a spot in our agendas to go to Bonn and visit
Eva!
Me, Amritha and Eric met up with Eva and Bonnie, another DHL/DWPN intern in Bonn, Eric's former teammate (as we joke 'boyfriend') in Malaysian MC.
Firstly, I would like to ruin your perceptions of German punctuality - almost all trains and buses there are LATE! So, Eric's train got delayed, out train got delayed and then we managed to get the wrong connection from Koeln, luckily, the conductor was nice and let us come back with no extra fee. First night we went to one of the cool restaurants in Bonn, then joined other interns for a drink. We got a chance to compare Belgian beer with German one, glass of which had a weird twisted shape.
To summarize the whole weekend, it was chilled out, a lot if socializing with local trainee community, former AI members included (seeing Amit always brightens my day :) ), got to visit two most famous things in Bonn (well, there is only two of them actually) - Post Tower and HARIBO store. First one was high, and it had a collection of post boxes from all over the world (I found the one from Lithuania!!), second one was big, like a wonderland of Gummy Bears and other sweet stuff. Eva was so nice to show us around and host us during our stay, it was super! Then we hung out in
Starbucks (yey!) and Irish Pub, just chilling out.
BTW, about
Starbucks. So strange, that Germany, as country which ahs it's own coffee culture, still has Starbucks chain there, while in Belgium coffee culture is not that strong, and there is not a single store here! And people still drink coffee, and still many internationals are here, I just wonder...
Cologne (Koeln) was way bigger and lively city comparing to Bonn. We met up with Chrisi's (my MC successor!!) friends, Adrien, Jana and Alexa, very nice people. We went out with Jana and her friends to have some Happy Hour Cocktails (they had everything there!). And their house looks like a lounge bar. And thanks to them and the football table in their flat me and Amach started liking football! (10:8 I win, 5:3 Amach wins). It was so in line with all teh FIFA fever that is all over Germany!
Monday Morning, Adrien took us to the station, we had some time for another
Starbucks caffeine infusion, got the train and wents straiht to the office. Week flew liek crazy.
Labels: Diary, Friends, Germany, Traveling
Oli's farewell party
Uf, a lot of things happened since the last update. Just after I got back to Belgium I got to go to Leuven to say bye to Oli, an intern in InBev and a good friend as well. Leuven is one of those lovely small cities in Belgium, where you always find people to go with you for a beer.
It was nice to see all the people I haven't seen for ages - Oli himself, Dy, Ondra, Tom, Geta, Robin and all the others. We got Oli-style-classy surprise - a tour up the bellfry of the university library. Everybody was amazed. Then dinner, chit chat and giving the best present ever - Voodoo knife set. You have to see this. My blogspace picture upload function doesn't work so you will have to wait for me to flickr them ;)
Oli, we are already missing you!
Labels: Diary, Friends
Musicroom: Brussels Jazz Marathon
Prepare for a million of posts to catch up with my life :)
Lithuania has 4 jazz festivals per year which is A LOT for country of this size. Since I'm in Belgium now, I have to look for my annual dose of live jazz in my life. And actually this is something that is not that difficult to find - lots of bars or clubs that play jazz are all over Brussels. And on 19-21 of May Brussels was hosting an annual
Jazz Marathon, which, of course, wouldn't be complete without my presence :)
It was awesome :) Seems like all interns in Brussels accidentally gathered in the center and did a bar-hopping from one place to another, hearing everything from classical to funk or latino jazz, ending up four of us - Leon,
Volodja, Boban, me and Osku, by this guy we were kindly invited to end the party at his place.
Jazz heals my soul
;)! Belgium does have a good jazz, that's a fact. My discovery of the year is
Larry, a singer with an incredible voice and super happy songs. And in her band there is a cute saxophonist ;) Even rain and cold didn't stop people from coming to to the square to listen for them, it made my festival.
Pictures will be
flickring in my
flickr in a couple of days... pls be patient;)
Labels: Diary, Friends, Musicroom
