Mõtete Läbu - The party of thoughts

What is normal?

2009-12-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

Living in a different culture has made me to wonder around the word normal. There are things in our lives that we just consider normal and we are so used to things being according to the norm that we don’t even question if this is actually the way we like or enjoy things. We just live normal. According to the norm.

For the first two months I have being struggling of getting into the new normal. And this is something that I believe goes deeper from the cultural shocks. Its not any more understanding the cultural differences like eating, working, praying or living habits. It is about understanding the way of living and expressing emotions. Things that living in your own culture you just consider as part of human nature and would not necessarily attach a cultural factor to it. And even explaining them to people back home, they will try to convince you that you are just trying to justify things for your self: “ There s parts of human nature that is the same in every culture” is the sentence I have heard many times. But only living here and being challenge the norm of human behavior makes it possible to say “No, its not like that”.

The fascinating thing about that is the fact that after a while you reach to the stage of being between the two norms. Like the area between the borders of two countries where you have no rules but you can just decide which country to go to. That s exactly the stage I am at. I still remember very fresh the norms I have grown up with, but I am also starting to get the norms here. And I haven’t really moved out of one nor in to the other one yet.

It’s a strange situation that actually enables you to find out the real you. Your are released from the social norms and pressure and can just see what’s really you. Adjusting to behaviors that used to depress me so much at home. Behaviors that usually would be a source of a good depression. Because they were not normal! And after being able to see that this can actually be normal and not a big thing has made me even to enjoy things that would make me depressed in my norm. this has made me wonder if it ever was my norm or just a social standard. Now I am exploring what are the standards that I actually like and care about and what are not. Feeling the freedom of having no social norms.

At the end the only thing that should ground you are your values. That’s also part of the reason why I think you need some maturity to get maximum out of your cultural experience. And once you have it on the right time of your life it really grows you even more as a person. It grounds you to who you really, while shaping you more adaptable to changes and situations that challenge your norm.

Cultural experience vs Love

2009-11-15T02:47:00.000-08:00

Cultural experience is a wonderful journey. I can easily be compared to being in love.
You enter the relationship being so excited. Everything is perfect, even the mistakes you notice seem to be just part of the fun. They are just things that make the experience interesting and new. Also you will hear some people trying to warn you for the possible future risks, but you are so in love that you don’t really care. That’s what the experience so far has been. The honeymoon stage.
But, as it is in relationships, it is in the cultural experience, at one stage you get back to earth. You start noticing small things, that piss you off. You get tired of being nice. You get tired of trying to convince yourself that everything is perfect. You don’t want to change. You feel like you are doing so much but not getting back as much as you would like.
That’s when the reality hits. No matter how hard you try, you still make mistakes. You put on the nicest mode you have, but people still think that you are rude. You sacrifice your own conceptions by justifying them with cultural differences. But you never see other people trying to understand your view of things.
So you reach the stage you feel like you are trying too hard. In love there’s normally two paths to succeed from this point. You break up or you start building trust and compromises to enter to a long term relationship and from that point things can only get better. What’s the next step in cultural experience? Can it only get better now or is this the time to realize that you don’t fit in?
PS. Even if this post might sound depressive…I can ensure you I am not depressed …still enjoying the journey…just analyzing the feelings of the moment .

Leadership and democracy

2009-09-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

In last 2 weeks I have been visiting university lectures. I have heard 3 lectures about Middle-East history. Being around educated people and hearing eye opening stories from a lecturer, who is so into the subject, that she sometimes gets lost in story telling, has been wonderful.

And there is one specific thing that I liked about the lecturer, which I have seen only in one of my history teachers before. She is not describing the wars and the happenings, but the leadership styles, leadership strategies and mistakes of the rulers.
I found it funny and engaging how she stresses that some rulers were “strategical geniuses”. She described us Umar ( 2nd Kalif in Arab world, who ruled after Mohamed in 6st century), who so obviously was her favorite leader and was called strategically genius many times.
The brightest thing that Umar did: He set up the administration system to a democratic society, copying it from monarh ruled societies. Which at the end meant that it was not democratic any more. But people loved him and the leadership was working and in fact he was the last Kalif, who was not killed by people. And what made him genius? He ruled like a monarch, but never positioned himself like one. He never tried to show others that he has all the power nor he never showed off the better life he lived. Which left the impression that people have the power! The system worked. People were happy.
But after he died, the new Kalif Uthman was all about showing that he has the power(Lecturer words:biggest strategically mistake of his leadership), like many Monarchs did. And soon he was killed by the people.

In Youth leadership conference I attended also few weeks ago the similar topic was discussed. How much democracy should the leader allow?
Looking at the history it made me wonder. Is the best leader still the one that gives a lot of freedom or the one who just makes people feel like they have a lot of freedom?

In my few years of leadership I have learned one thing. As a leader you need to have very clear vision and opinion about how things need to be done (think like a monarch). But, the best tool that the leader has, to achieve this goal, is to make your team happy. Make them satisfied with them self, give them self confidence and they will bring you the highest results (act like democracy).

So is there really such a thing as democracy in leadership or is it just the mather of how well the leader can make people feel like they have democracy?

The Kite Runner

2009-09-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I found a book on my friend`s bookshelf. She told me that she just got it, haven’t had time to read it, but supposedly it should be a very good book.
Then for weeks I tried to move on with the book and it didn’t go at all. I already told my friend that I will bring it back, I cannot read it. The way of writing makes me irritated- I give you a bit till it gets interesting and then I change to another side of the story – style.
And then one day the book took me into it and I couldn’t put it down until it was finished!
And I am thinking of what to say about the book now. I liked it. It is probably one of these books that sucks in your head for a long time. But its hard to find ways to describe it. I will try.
It is so well written that it makes you sick, in love and disgusted at the same time

It is an incredible to write a book, where a main character is actually not the main character. Where the deepest fares of every person is built in with a childish story together with world politics and economics.

And this book made me wonder – doesn’t every one of us have the bad and ugly in us? Although the story was to an extreme I felt connected with the character. There are things in your life where you know which way would be right way to act, but something inside of you makes you do things the wrong way. And the worst thing about it is that for the rest of your life you know that you did it wrong and you live in guilt. But maybe that is normal. And maybe then the main thing that differentiates the good from bad is that one has the feeling of guilt and the other doesn’t. Which means that the good just suffer more.

The other side of the book was about terrorist and Taliban. And yesterday I saw a movie “Paradise now”, which was also about suicide terrorists and what they feel like. And every time I see these things I wonder – do these people really justify everything with God´s will to them self so well, that they really don’t have any feeling of guilt? Or do they actually also know what would be the good way, but consciously decide to take the other and live in guilt for the rest of the life?

When did the humans flip?

2009-09-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

Few weeks ago I saw a movie, that started some thought processes in my head. It´s 10 years old movie, shown in the middle of the night from TV, as something that wouldn’t sell on prime time. After seeing it, for a second I thought – how come I haven’t seen it earlier? But then I realized, that would I´d seen it 10 years ago, it probably wouldn’t start the thought process it did now. So things do come when they are meant to come.

The key point was, that the one thing that differs human behavior from gorillas and is causing most of the problems in today’s world is the attitude of TAKERS. Humans have become TAKERS. They believe they can take anything they want – animals, food, lives etc. But they don’t realize that the world has a limit and if we keep TAKING more than we need or should, we will be out of resources. And this meaning not only water, food etc, but also human values and development.
If we look at gorillas, then after centuries, they still live life, based on the nature values. Something that the humans seemed to have stepped over while developing. Gorillas grow food and other stuff for their own and their family needs. Owning stuff don’t give a right for one animal to rule over another. Actually anything dosent give the right for one animal to take away pride, dreams and illusions from others.
Humans, after discovering their skills to do almost anything in the world, started the waste. We started creating more than we needed, take over more than was necessary. And we decided that the ones who were the best in creating/taking as much as possible, where the ones who could rule over others and start taking even more.

Later on that night I went to my bedroom and discovered my cat sleeping in the middle of my bed, leaving no room for me to fit under the blanket anymore and making the face like he is not even considering that he should move.
Then, when I was almost to get mad at him: you are an animal you should sleep on the floor, it flipped in my head. Who am I to tell that I can sleep here, but you cant since you don’t decide here, but I am the owner of you. What gives me the right to be the TAKER?
Often people describe cats as the stupid animals who don’t understand the orders from the owner and don’t run in the way the owner says, as dogs do(and I am definitely the dag person myself!). I think this is the best example to show how people feel the need to rule over someone. And this ruling gives us pleasure and feeling of belonging to the society.
But where did things go wrong? Since when did we develop this need in ourselves? How much easier would it be to live when we wouldnt have the need? When we would understand our limits available for every single person in the planet world?
And there was one line in the movie that said: “You never had the power, you only thought you had!” So can we actually rule over someone or it is just our imagination, which is creating waste, over consumption and discrimination and nothing more.

It is a long story. And my point of view is probably the most mixed one capturing in one breath many different conclusions you can make from the movie. But that’s how my brain works :).

Mõtete Läbu – The Party of Thoughts

2009-09-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

Today this blog is getting a new look! I finally have had the time to figure out my way to the blogging world. From now I will have 2 blogs.
One (which will be public from next week) is about my everyday life and adventures, which this time is going to be a travel/living blog of Jordan. This blog will hopefully be in 2 languages with the help of Google translator.
The second blog is going to be this one. And as the heading says it, this is going to be the party place :). Meaning this blog is the most random place an organized person can have :). There is no key subject, no order, no logical flow, maybe even no meaning...it is just things that pop-up in my head once in a while. And if you know me, they can be very random, switching from "the meaning of life" to " a cow on the field". Feel free to state your opinions if you feel connected with any topic here.
There are already couple of post waiting in line to be written. Will try to make this blog active with new ideas in next couple of days!

Women´s World Banking

2009-05-14T00:55:00.000-07:00

Finishing off my MCP term in less than 2 months I have now started to identify my next step more clearly.
There are still couple of options that I am exploring, but one of them is working in microfinance area.

With doing my research on different opportunities around the world on this area I found organisation called Women´s World Banking. It is a network that connect different organizations around the world which aim for empowering women for enterpreneurship as a tool for fight against powerty.

If you are intersted in this issue see this: http://www.swwb.org/

Reisid Vabadusse

2009-03-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hea on näha AIESECist välja kasvamas noori ettevõtjaid! 3 andekat ja edukat inimest on just teinud ühe laheda ettevõtte: www.reisidvabadusse.ee

Tegu on ühe esimese ökoturismi ettevõttega Eestis, mis esimesel hooajal pakub unikaalseid reise Kazakhstani ja Horvaatiasse. Kui oled tüdinud tava turismist ja soovid tõeliselt arusaada ja tunda nende riikide olemus, soovitan kahe käega antud pakkumisest kinni võtta.

Edu ja jõudu Markole, Denissile ja Viljole!

Tõsta oma hinda tööturul

2009-02-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

Majanduslangus ja majanduskriis on igapäevased "buzz wordid"

Kahjuks kurtmine ja vingumine ei vii meid mitte kuskile!

Reaalsus on ka see, et kvaliteetsed ja talandikaid inimesi on vaja igal ettevõttel ja neid ei lase ka keegi lahti. Seega hetkel on oluline mitte niisama istuda, masendavaid uudiseid lugeda ja kurta kuidas maailm on hukas ja elu raske vaid pigem mõelda mida saaks ära teha.
Üheks parimaks lahenduseks on rahvusvahelise kogemuse saamine. Just praegu on see õige aeg, omandada oskuseid ja kogemusi mis eristaksid sind teistest. Midagi mis tõstaks su CV esile teiste 100 seast.

Seega mine välja! Täienda ennast nt 3 kuulise majandusalase praktikaga suvel Saksamaal või saa elu muutev kogemus aasta aega Columbias inglise keelt õpetades.

vaata lisa: http://aiesecestonia.net/

World Bank Young Professionals Program

2009-02-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

For some time now I have been wondering what will become my new goal in life after finishing with AIESEC in June this year.

Just today I have found something that just by reading got me really excited. When people have asked me “who you want to be” or “what kind of work you want to do”, I always say, “I dont know, but if I see the right place I will recognize it”.

This one is for sure one of the "right places".
I dont know yet whether it could be over ambitious, whether it still exists once I qualify to the criteria or whether I will ever make it, but for sure it is an exiting goal to work for! And the exciting goal is the thing that keeps me motivated and focused.

The Young Professionals Program is a starting point for an exciting career in the World Bank. It is a unique opportunity for young people with a passion for international development, who have the potential to become future leaders of our institution.
The Young Professionals Program is designed for highly qualified and motivated young people skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank's operations such as economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management. In order to be competitive for this highly selective Program you must have demonstrated a commitment to development, supported by academic success, professional achievement, and potential for leadership. We value diversity in our work place, and encourage qualified men and women, including those with disabilities, with diverse professional, academic, and cultural backgrounds, to apply to the Young Professionals Program.
Read more:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTHRJOBS/0,,contentMDK:20519640~pagePK:64262408~piPK:64262191~theSitePK:1058433~isCURL:Y~isCURL:Y~isCURL:Y~isCURL:Y~isCURL:Y~isCURL:Y,00.html

Come and join the best youth event in 2009 - Estonian Youth Forum

2009-01-06T04:34:00.000-08:00

Places of last 6 months

2008-12-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

2008 is coming to its end and since it is quite boring during the night in the Riga airport, I decided to count the places I have been to this year:

Jan to May: Lived in Australia, Sydney
February: 2 weeks in Macedonia for International President Meeting (IPM), traveling in Greece and France.
May: Traveling from Australia to Estonia. Long travel that took some few days and took me through Abu Dhabi, France, Lithuania.
July: CEE MCPs meeting in Czech Republic, Prague
August: Traveling through Netherlands, Amsterdam to Brazil, Sao Paulo for International Congress (IC).
November: fun road trip with half of the MC team to Energy in Latvia.
December: Global Steering Team meeting in Netherlands, Rotterdam
CEE MCPs meeting in Turkey, Istanbul, with a lovely night in the Riga airport.

Looking at that I can truly say that I feel like a global citizen and someone who has the coolest job in the world.

My mom keeps on telling that during my university times she knew the way to Tallinn bus station even in her sleep, because she use to take me to Tallinn bus station every week, so that I could catch a bus to Tartu.
Now she is starting to know the way to Tallinn airport inside out, because she is taking me there almost the same often. For her, I have grown from student to a successful business person.

Anyone thinks that this is a job or a position that I should talk someone into or convince to take it up, should be insane I think.
Can you name me any other job, which lets you in the age of 25 to be part of global strategy making for an international organization, lead a national organization of 150 people, travel to more than 10 countries and build a strong network amongst future leaders of the world?

I am happy and doing big things

2008-09-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is a sentence I heard on Friday night, in a bar in Tallinn old down while talking to an old friend. This sentence was his answer to a questions – so what are you up to these days?
Since that evening this sentence has been stuck in my mind. I started to like it. And now on I am going to start using it as well J. I believe that the ultimate goal for every person in this life should be happiness. What being happy means for a person can be very individual. For some happiness is earning millions while for others it could be helping starving children. Both are right, as long as they are happy.

This is a good way to restart and re-orientate this blog.

So what makes me happy currently?
Since June I have been working as a president of AIESEC in Estonia.

And why this is my happiness right now?
Everyday I feel that I am doing big things. Everyday my actions and work has a meaning and impact. I am developing young leaders in Estonia through international and leadership experiences. I am developing young people who are and will have a positive impact on Estonia and the world. I am making the world a better place!

This is what makes me happy and my life meaningful.

Unilife in Aussie

2008-04-22T01:26:00.000-07:00

One of the first impressive experiences I had in Australia was seeing the university life.

In Estonia universities are spread around the city – so different faculties are in different parts of the city. Which means there is no centralised place for the students to meat and mostly there is no unity between different faculties. So mainly you have close relationships within your faculty, but that’s about it.

In Australia universities have different campuses. One university campus is like a small city. If you are fulltime student then you sometimes don’t even leave the campus because everything is there.

Campus normally has all the faculties next to each other, big library, lot of pubs and clubs, shops, restaurants, parks, sports clubs etc. And all of that just 10 minutes walk from the CBD of Sydney City.

Which means that there is a place for university students to network and get to know people from all over the university.

I feel always so good when I am on my LC visits and between the meetings I just walk around in the campus and try to feel my self as student again. These moments always get me really empowered of going back to university to do my masters. I don’t know what it is but university just breaths of wisdom. But you need to be out of uni to evaluate and appreciate that.

So the university life shown in the US movies actually exists. This is also the reason why I enjoy walking around there – I just feel so cool as in American movies.

And as I mentioned the fully packed market and how marketing gets harder and harder here - Even the marketing and recruitment in the universities is getting harder for the LCs every year. For example in the University of Sydney there are 200+ student organizations and AIESEC is just one of them. So to make our messages to stand out and reach the right people is harder than it has ever been. It is definitely a totally new reality compared to the university life in Estonia.

Sky Marketing?

2008-04-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

A new area that I have discovered in Sydney is marketing in the sky.

So you have either the planes writing in the sky or some weir looking balloons flying around or just the adds behind planes.

Since Sydney is a big city and companies have to put a lot of creativity to their marketing messages and ways to address the right audiences. Probably this is why, very often you see things written in the sky. For the first time I was really impressed and took multiple pictures of it ….wow so cool. Now it is just part of everyday marketing and sometimes I don't even notice it anymore.

I wonder how far will the marketing go?

What is the next out of space marketing?

Reflecting brands from the moon?

Love is a nice word

2008-04-01T01:31:00.000-07:00

If you want news about my personal life, please e-mail my personal agent kaiti.redlich@gmail.com

Since she is really keen to know how many people actually read my blog and whetter people would react to this kind of messages :P.

Today is the day of total randomness.

Movember – The month of Moustache

2007-11-19T02:23:00.000-08:00

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in world :P. So November is the month of Moustache, called Movember. Each guy who wants to participate in Movember has to grow is moustache.

The Movember participants known as Mo Bros then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache and along the way raise as much money and awareness about male health issues, in particular prostate cancer as possible. So all the people around the man who grow moustache can donate money. I think it is such a cool way to earn money for charity.

Isnt this cool?

I am actually starting to like men with moustache :P. You just get use to it when everyone is wearing it. It seriously a lot of people do that – u see them in TV, on the streets, in the shops etc.

http://www.movember.com/

AIESEC in Australia

2007-11-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

AIESEC life is wired, it keeps you constantly thinking about your future. Every year you have to re look your goals and values to choose the right opportunity from the thousands that AIESEC offers.

It is not even half of my time in Australia, but the applications for the MC team 08/09 are opened now! Soon we will have babys J.

Being the only international in my team I sort of feel obligated to promote this opportunity to all the international people out there. Actually obligated is not a right word, I just really want to show the world how cool is AIESEC in Australia and how much you will be missing out if you don’t consider this as one of your opportunities. So I am going to write now some of my thought, why being part of AIESEC in Australia next year would be awesome opportunity

GROWTH! – We have just conducted updated version of our Long-Term plan, because we had already hit the 2010 goals set. According to our new plan, if we achieve the goals set for this year (170 exchanges) and we will keep growing by just 16% every year, then by 2010 we will be the TOP 10 Exchange country in AIESEC. How awesome would it be to be part of Australia exactly at the moment when it breaks all the barriers and mindsets – Australia being a low performing country? How awesome would it be to be part of the team who brings AIESEC Australia back to the AIESEC map?

Membership – The membership base has grown enormously over 2 year. We have already hit far away from the membership goal set for 2010 couple of years ago. But the growth is not only in numbers but also in quality. The members in Australia hardly ever get to go to international conference, but still they are able to get equal amount of passion and AIESEC knowledge. The members of Australia are extremely smart , which makes it easy to drive the success and growth and work with the members. AIESEC Australia is really well Internationally aligned country.

Potential Coming from the 2 first factors, the potential of Australia is huge! All the relevant factors for AIESEC have a lot of potential to development in Australia. For example, Australia has about 40 universities – AIESEC is only in 16 of them – You can calculate yourself how much more growth potential is there.

So yes, being part of AIESEC Australia this year has been excellent, exciting and challenging. This year has been focusing on setting up the ground for the shooting star, approving that we can grow, changing the mindset that 2 exchange per LC is good and 20 is impossible. All of that is what makes next year really exciting and I cant wait to see the talented, smart and passionate people of next MC team that are going to achieve great things!

Take a look ate the MC video and see how cool is our MC life – we have a cool office as well :P:

You know you have been too long in AIESEC, If...

2007-10-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

...so I would like to open a blog posting about this issue :). Being in MC you constantly find yourself living and breathing AIESEC, which sometimes can have quite funny outcomes. So Here are my top things:

1. You don’t go on dates anymore, but you have scheduled meetings with your boyfriend
2. Your personal weekly priority is follow up with friends and parents
3. You have been caught almost naked by uni security guard, from changing close in the middle of classroom, because you couldn’t leave the room, due to a global chat.

Some updates

2007-10-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

I am starting to enjoy more and more living in a big city. So many good artists, so many music festivals - if I would only have enough money to go to all of them! So my next target is festival in Sydney, January - Big Day Out (www.bigdayout.com). The lineup start with Range against the Machine and Björk. Jei cant wait for it!

So what else have I been up to so far:
Last week I was at a conference (and the weeks before that I have been living in the office - so nothing interesting). The conference took place at a suburb in Sydney. Very nice place in the nature that actually reminded Estonian summer camps places (pioneeri laagreid). 35 people in on room, nice nature around and you can make as much noise as you want. The conference was meant for all the LC president in Australia - incoming and outgoing. Yes, the LCP term in Australia is from December to November. It was nice and short conference - 4 pre conference days and 4 days of conference. As one of the really exciting thing - Long Term Plan for AIESEC Australia was created during the conference and it is very exciting, but I have to make another posting someday about it :). Shortly - AIESEC Australia is raising star and I am extremely happy that I am here at the moment and I can contribute to the development of country that will be in top 10 performing countries sooner than anyone is expecting ;).
Some more interesting things that are happening soon:
next week I will choose my own National Task Force - Expansion Task force that is going to develop Expansion Long Term plan. As part of my responsibilities is also expansion strategy.
week after that I will go for my 2nd LC visits - full week out of office and full of meetings - hard but exciting experience.

I have also received 2 hand written letters from Estonia - from my granny and my drunken friends :). It is so exciting no I know that love is a balloon and I should never drink for love with empty glass - thanks guys for educating me! But all the pictures and letters sent are on my wall and I am looking at them everyday. It is so inspiring and nice to receive real letter. Please write me more!

ok, enough of the random posting. Next one is going to be more structured and have more content.

PS somehow my photos web page has constant problems, so I have been uploading my pics to facebook - so everyone join facebook to see pics :P.

TORI AMOS, OPERA HOUSE

2007-09-17T03:32:00.000-07:00

… Probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me!

About a week ago I was watching TV at home and suddenly they announced that Tori Amos is going to perform in Sydney in one weeks time. Off course I though it was some kind of joke – it is not possible that some one who I have desired to see for 5 years is suddenly coming to the town were I live! But I guess I just have to get use to the fact that I leave in the big city now and I don’t have to see the second hand artist lives anymore.

So on Monday morning, I looked it up from the internet and there it was: Saturday 15th of September, Tori Amos, Sydney Opera House, ticket $120. …hmm that’s about the same as my weekly salary, but suddenly I realised that I don’t even care how much it costs – I had the money and I bought the ticket. I have been waiting this moment so so long. The moment were I can actually go to listen an artist who I truly love and enjoy. So far I have just seen the artists that I can see – because every year we get about 1-2 international starts to Estonia.

While walking to the concert I was a bit scared – maybe my expectations are do high, maybe I will walk out with disappointment. Luckily, the experience that I got was far from that.

Saturday at 8 o’ clock I walked into Sydney Opera House. I got a seat at the box which was just above the stage –the view was good. While walking in to the room, I realised why the Opera house is so famous – the acoustics were just amazing. So good that even a crappy Ozzy-rock warm-up band sounded quite good.

At 9 pm – the concert hall is filled with people who don’t fit to the place quite well –hippie people, lot of gey guys and girls who want to look like Tori.
9.05, room goes dark, band starts playing – Tori walks in. She is wearing Blond wing, smoking – she does here interesting looking poses on the piano. There is a piano and a electric piano on the stage and she sits in the middle of them. The concert is amazing, audients is almost in heaven – going crazy from the pleasure that Tori is giving us. If feel like going through journey of my life – feeling 10 different strong feeling in 2 hours. She is just amazing – at one stage she was standing in the middle of the pianos playing one with one hand, the other with other hand and singing at the same time. So who ever thinks that she is just a piano player who doesn’t do any shows, your perception is way wrong. Somewhere in the middle I started thinking what is so special about here. I started focusing on her piano notes – soon I realised, that her voice and the piano just go so well together that sometimes it is hard to tell them a difference. All of her songs are like small little stories that have begging, end and the culmination point. And off course not to mention the echo of the concert hall – I have never heard so good quality live!

So seriously – this was one of the best moments of my life so far! If I‘d had a change I would do it again – even if it costs way more than I can afford.
I praise the person who introduced me to Tori Amos music! Thank you!

Australia - the land of Vegemite

2007-08-17T01:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of some interesting and weird things that I have discovered in Australia so far:

They sing their national anthem in the bar while being drunk

They grill Mars (yes, the chocolate)!!!!
word Heaps(stands for a lot) is used all the time
Apart from driving on the other side, they also walk on the other side
And in the traffic light, instead of green light flashing for pedestrians, the red light is flashing.
They eat a thing called “vegemite” on sandwich, which for most of the Europeans would remained the Maggy soup base
Europe is a fashion – “You look so European”, means that you look cool.
Voting in government elections is obligatory and if you don’t do so, you will be fined
The TV has a time difference as well – ex. If Adelaide is 30 mins behind from Sydney, then they also see series in the TV 30 mins later. So if you get sleepy and cant wait to the end of the movie, you can call to the other state and ask how the movie ends
You can take cash out at the shop, while paying for your shoping. So if you pay with your card, then you can just add the amount of cash you would like to your bill and the shop assistant gives you cash.
The functions in AIESEC are called portfolios
The AIESEC Dances are called “Line dances” here

Probably the list will come longer with the time, but these are my main observations from first 2 months.

Melbourne

2007-06-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

Today at 15.00 the planed took off from Sydney and at 16.30 we arrived in Melbourne.
Either the flight or the pilot was the worst I have ever seen. Now I totally understand why people dont like domestic flights. In what ever plane I dont like take offs and landings - but this plane today was shaking and turning and shaking and shaking during the take off and landing. But we arrived safely!

We had a quick tour with a van in Melbourne city and the city looks really nice. The people here on the streets look more stylish and hipi than in the Sydney - but maybe I just havent seen these kind of suburbs in Sydney yet.
Then we went to this really cool hipi place for a dinner - you can eat as much as you want and you can pay as much as you want! You just go in, and you have this cool hipi looking waitresses, that give you the menu. the menu dosent have any prizes and includes only vegetarian food. The meal was excellent - good looking, nicely served etc. after you have eaten they bring you receipt without prize and you just write there how much you want to pay and then pay it. How cool is that! I payed 5.20 $ - the only cash that I had :).

The conference is coming closer and closer and it is getting busier and busier. In 3 days time we will start our 5 day pre-conference and on next Monday - the real show begins! We will be standing in front of 250 pair of eyes for 6 days!! Its scary but exciting!

PS. for all the people who think that I am having the best time here and dont miss you at all - this is not like that at all. I do have really great time here, but I miss you a lot!
Writing about the cool stuff is just my trick to make more of you to come here!! :)

But write me, sms me, call me, draw me etc - keep me updated whats happening in the other part of world as well!
my address - 2/28 Chandon st, St Leonards, 2065, NSW, Australia
phone: +61 420599759
skype: kristina.toms

birthday weekend

2007-06-21T21:46:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was a birthday weekend - Anne and Lucy from the new MC team and Kyle from the old MC team had a birthday.

We started the event at six o'clock, because then there was happy hour in the cocktails pub in the center - two cocktails for one prize. Which made them cheap even for Estonian standards.
Although the party started quite early because of the cocktails, it is quite common here to start the parties early - normally around 8-9 pm.
After the cocktails place we went to some place which was something in the middle of pub and nightclub. We stayed there for couple of hours. Then we tried to enter to some traditional Australian pub, but not all of us got in there, because some of us were to drunk already.
There is a rule in Australia that if the security guard lets in people that are drunk(they dont have to be really drunk) they can get a ticket. Also they same rule is for the bartenders who sell drinks to the people who are a bit drunk already.
So we went to other place - brand new nightclub(a lot of floors, good house music and nice atmosphere). But we had problems entering there as well. Because the nightclubs dont let in the men who are waring sport shoes and t-shirt. How ironic is this - A trendy nightclub in the big trendy city dosent let in people who ware trendy close -todays trend is t-shirt and sports shoes

Apart from parting there has been another interesting week. My transition is almost over and I am starting to actually work now :). We have one week till the conference in Melbourne and there is a lot of work to do before that. and we got 236 delegates registered!!! This is the biggest conference that AIESEC Australia has held since 5 years. It is really exciting and challenging for all of us. Non of us has facilitated so big conference before. But we are working hard and it is going to be amazing conference!! :).
more pictures: krissu.mypohtoalbum.com

My work

2007-06-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

A little bit about the work I am doing here:

My general role is to be the Finance Director of AIESEC Australia. But, what to I actually do:
1. Financial management - and only the fun part of it! I also have an accountant and a book-keeper - so no more shity work :)...no accounting anymore, just financial management! And this is exactly the fun part and this is what a enjoy the most!
For the first week I have mainly worked on transition(getting the knowledge and necessary skills for my position). But I have also started the budgeting process and during this week I have to prepare the budget for our team.
2. Conference and agenda management- I am the main responsible of the agenda management of all the national conferences in AIESEC Australia. Again - the task that I really enjoy - creating the conferences!
Right now we are working on the July National conference, which is going to happen at the 3 first weeks in july: 1 week for pre-conference with different external events, 1 week for AIESEC conference and 1 week for post conference (which is generally chill out :)).
3. General leadership of AIESEC Australia - all together with the MC team we are the national directors of AIESEC Australia and our responsibility is to coach the country, to set the direction for the country and to develop and work with the strategy's that help the country to develop.
For the past two weeks we have been working with the strategies and goals for the upcoming year. I have been responsible for the expansion strategy.

4. LCD (In human language: Local committee development). 4 of the MC team members are also responsible for the regional coaching. AIESEC Australia is divided into 5 regions which each have 2-3 LC. I am responsible of coaching the New South Wales (NSW) region. I will have weekly coaching chats with the state manager and every quarter I will have the LC visits in my region.
On friday, together with the current NSW coach, I will have the first meeting with the state manager from my region.

I hope the posting wasnt to serious :)! I just wanted to give everyone the overview of what I actually do here. I promise that the next posting will more fun!

First Weekend in Australia

2007-06-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Australia 5 am on 1 st of June (22.00 on 31th of may in Estonian time). 3 of my team (MC) members were waiting me at the airport – Kate, Anne and Lucy. And I got my first kangaroo. We took at taxi to our apartment, in a way I got the first view to Sydney Harbor bridge and Opera theater. Then we arrived to our apartment and I met the rest of my team – Chloe and Daz and after one day also Eloise arrived from Melbourne. They are all really great. Really opened and free minded people who know how to have fun. From the first moment I have really felt myself welcome and comfortable.

On Friday morning we went to have a breakfast in the coffee and we visited our office – which is huge compared to the Estonian one ;). In the evening we went out to a really nice live – music place called the Basement. It was just great – it was like a mixture of Hell Hunt and Von Krahl in Estonia, so I really liked the place. Also the music was great – rock and jazz.

On Saturday evening we had a house party at Mc house. And after wards we went to the club – were some guy was playing popular songs with the piano and every one were singing along.

Saturday we went to Manley beach, which is one beach in Sydney. All though the weather is too cold already and we couldnt go swimming it was really nice.

During these two days already I have found that Australians are in some ways really similar with Estonians. If the party starts – no one dances , when people get drunk, then they start dancing and then they cant stop anymore. So the parting style is really similar with Estonians.

The craziest thing for now is still the traffic, since it is the right side. All the time I look at the wrong way while crossing the street and while waiting the buss. Every one is just driving in a wrong side.

2007-06-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend in Estonia!

Last weekend in Estonia was incredible! A lot was done in 4 days and I met more people than I have met in past months!

It all started on Thursday, when we went out with My Mom and My childhood best-friend Kadri and her mom. We went to a really Estonian restaurant and I had the really Estonian like dinner.

Friday morning the last visit to meet Diana and cut my hear – so that it could last for a year.

On Friday after noon – visiting my Dad at his place to have the last barbeque and chat with him and his family. And to also see my new baby sister.

On Friday evening I met with my dear girlfriends from university years. It was a create fun...sharing about boys and other stuff as usual.

After that I went to a big over-town party “KUMU öö”. The party wasn’t the best – too many people and too less space. But still it was my last big party in Tallinn.

At Saturday daytime – family gathering – celebrating Kersitis birthday.

A small gathering and good-bye party with friends at “Hell Hunt”.

On Sunday morning we (Me, Karl, Raul and Wolly) went to the Tallinn sea days and enjoyed the beautiful whether of Tallinn. It was about 30 degrees outside. After the see days we also visited the famous “Patarei” prison. Which hasn’t been working for a couple of years already and has been made as a museum. The feeling inside there was pretty weird an depressing – Like you could really feel the anger in side the building.

On Monday afternoon the last meeting with another grandmom, then the last meeting with MC Estonia and the Placebo concert with Karl. And so the days ended and soon it was Wednesday and the time to leave Estonia.

Party

2007-05-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Just a short postage to the people in Estonia.

Everyone who wants to say good bye to me and take part of a small party, you are more than welcome:
Tomorrow 26.05 at 21.00 in the pub Hell Hunt.

My first blog

2007-05-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first virtual space!

Now everything is official-

I have a the Kangaroos in my passport, improving that I have Australian visa

I have the tickets from Tallinn to Sydney

...only the things are not packed yet.

Some clarifications for the ones who still don’t know – Since June 07 till July 08 I will be in Australia. I will be working in AIESEC Australia head office in Sydney as a Finance director.

And this is the place were you can be updated with my experience in Australia.

My journey will be the following:

I will leave Tallinn on 30th of May around 11.00 a.m. with a plane to London. Then I will have about 9 hours in London for traveling from Stansted airport to Heathrow. This journey will take about 1,5 hour. So I have plenty of time to waste in the airport.

Around 21.00 my plane will take off from London to Sydney. The journey will take 21 hours!

At around 5 a.m. on 1st of June I will arrive in Sydney.

Can you imagine – the traveling will take about 2 days and I will spend nearly one day in the airplane. But this doesn’t scare me the most at the moment…

Just few days ago I finally realized that soon I will be living everything I love! And I have only one week left to wrap up my work, complete the transition and say good bye to everyone here.

Today I started the good bye ceremony – I said good bye to my home city – Tallinn. Together with my successor Inna, we went sightseeing to Tallinn old town and for the first time ever I felt my self like a tourist – taking pictures of everything in Tallinn. And off course, classically – I got lost in Toompea J. But, the old town off Tallinn has never felt so beautiful and special yet.