Part of our team after Topalki (the Boat-racing)

By the way, I am tall!

Being Alumnus - entitled to "fogging"!

So another conference is over.
We left on Friday night, three Czech girls and two Canadian @ newies in one car.
First stop was 12km away from the site where we had few drinks and came already quite tipsy to the conference. Interesting start...

Few drinks, fogging starts. :o)))
We come, we get a key to our room, we ask for our badges and we get none... sorry, they are not yet ready, ask about them later... wtf!!!???
We go to our room and start bitching... way way coool! We even brainstormed how to improve the work of the OC!! ;o)

First night party... well... looked bit sleepy to me... seems to me there are bit too many @ dances now... name a song - I bet someone made up the @ dance to it already... punch with one arm, kick with left foot and new @ dance is born... come on guys, bit of creativity here!!
So us, the triples, went to sleep quite early; past 3 I guess.

Saturday... we get up ... slowly... we are Alumni and thus the age is showing ... ;o). We get ready for our training ...
I ask for our badges, the answer goes: do you need them now?... I say the conference is nearly over ;o)... we got the badges on Saturday night...

The Saturday afternoon - MCP elections start... we listen to the initial speeches... they are both very good... the triplets (us) grab one guy with a car... drive to the closest pub to get few drinks, discuss the future of @ ;o), remember our past @ life, do some more bitching and fogging... get drunk and come back to see the new MCP to be elected.

After tuning our mood some more in our room, we go for a party. Topalki (boat-racing) starts past 12. 16 teams, all hell good ones, beer for free. Those who play for more teams get wasted very fast. We lost by tiny second in semifinals... damn...

The rest of the night and the morning we spend talking, dancing, being silly... At 6,30am we leave in order to avoid helping the OC to clean the party room... fogging continues...

After waking up, we pack, say good bye and go home... nice!

fogging = mlžení = bitching = doing nothing = distracting = confusing = favourite @ work of mine

Good ride...

I got to drive a car again!!
So cool!
It was sunny, freezing, the plains were white with snow... the music was playing...
I love driving a car!

Naked butts...

Finally some male parts appeared on the front page of nomadlife... I think girls should post there more often, for other girls to have some enjoyment too. (On the other hand I have nothing against Hantuchová, she is Slovakian, so I cheer for her too - unless she plays against Czech :o).

But I felt like I want to talk about one thing here. I have read the comments to what Farid wrote. I pretty much agree with all points of view, it is not that difficult to see where all you, guys, are coming from - no matter what my opinion is.

Sometimes though I felt that you say "if you do not like it, deal with it", "everyone might have been or will be offended by something that was/is posted", "I have the right to write what I want" etc. I have nothing against it, post anything you feel like; I do it too... but...

During my years in AIESEC I spoke to a lot of SNs (students who went for a traineeship abroad) before they left and after they returned. I talked a lot about open-mindedness, cultural sensitivity... many times I stressed that going to some forgotten country might mean that you will be the first Czech those people will meet and according to how you behave, the people will create their opinions about Czech republic. And I see that as a great responsibility and I am willing to take it and act accordingly, as I see it as a challenge!

Furthermore, I thought that one of the things we claim, as aiesecers, is that we are culturally sensitive... and those comments sometimes made me think that a lot of us, do not really care that we might offend others who come from different culture, background etc. and find things like that unacceptable/ uncomprehensible...

You might say, I want to express my opinions freely... and I say please, do so; you have the right... But, please, then do not claim you are culturally sensitive as you do not take into account feelings of others... that is simply inevitable... no matter if you like it or not...
I guess this is the burden that comes with freedom of speech and human rights - we are the ones who decide who we are, what we say, how we act - and I think this is correct thing to do ... BUT it is also up to us to decide if we want to challenge ourselves, take the responsibility, be open-minded, culturally sensitive and care about others and thus adjust how we are, what we say and how we act...

Simple as that...

Censorship

As if everything is only black and white.
I really dislike the recent trends in our society that we either love something or condemn something.... without actually giving a second thought to it.
And this includes the word censorship.
In my opinion, there is something good about it...

Hats and coats...

I do not like women in furry coats... I think they represent the female version of men who drive cars while having a hat on their head... no offense...

Praising grandmother...

It must be the thruth... wisdom comes with age :o).

Part of my molar tooth broke on Monday... :o( ... and so I had this sharp edge there that kept on scratching my tongue. Quite unfortunately, I met up with one Azeri girl on Monday afternoon, we talked a lot (we have one common "male friend", who does not know he is our common friend :o)) and so I managed to scratch my tongue so much, that I could hardly talk in the evening and today is not much better. I rather avoided talking... thank god for chat.

My mum always feels with me and so as I come home tonight, she gives me a message from my grandma... I should take a file (the one for nails should be ok) and smooth down the sharp edge... she shrugges uncontrollable as she imagines me doing so... hehe... I guess she also does not enjoy visits to dentist :o).

Well, what the heck I think... there are three possibilities: 1) I won´t try which means I won´t be able to talk (and since I have that session this Saturday during our conference, it would be a shame not to be able to :o) , 2) I will puke while in attempt of smooting or 3) I will succeed with smoothing...

Yeah, yeah, grandmothers are wise... it actually is not that bad to use a file on ones tooth... maybe I could straighten the front tooth too... hehehe

(I did call the dentist and he is free on Monday, too late :o)

... an afternoon stroll in Prague...

... becoming a loser too?

I noticed that recently, every single time before I enter a restaurant the following happens.

1) My first thought... damn, do I have money on me?
2) I check my wallet and I find few coins there...
3) I look at Jana and I say, do you have money?
4) Jana nods, pays the bill for me...
5) When we leave I go to the closest ATM machine to get money...
6) I feel stupid, as always :o))

(today I did not pay her back yet :o(. )

The DOTS treatment

I had a chance to take part on one conference where there was a session about Tuberculosis (TB) and the possibility of its treatment. I must admit I still thought that the disease is uncurable and suddenly I was told about something called the DOTS treatment (Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course).

The conference was held in Azerbaijan and the lady (I am afraid I do not remember her name) was a nurse working in other post-soviet countries in Central Asia and Caucasus. She told us that post-soviet countries recorded a great increase in the amount of people suffering from TB, a disease of poverty. Another quite horrifying truth was, that over 20% of people suffering from TB in these countries acquired the drug-resistant form of it.

There are several reasons why is this so.
Firstly, the treatment requires to take a handfull of pills everyday for 6-8 months to successfully treat it. Thus it is essential to have a nurse observing your progress as some people might give up on the treatment.
Second reason is the short supply of medicine in this region. The interruption of the treatment causes the development of the drug-resistant form of TB which could infect other people.
Third reason that I was told is, that many people in post-soviet countries already have resistance towards some medicines (there is no necessity of medicine prescriptions for pharmacies so you can easily get antibiotics for anything, even if you do not need them).

The treatment of the regular form of TB can be cured with medicine that costs $10, whilst the drug-resistant form may cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. The treatment of the drug-resistant form takes 3times more than the regular, cca 20 months. Thus with the available financial resources there might be no possibility of treating the people with the drug-resistant form.

The Aral Sea

I have learnt about Aral sea a long time ago and I have always found the names of the two rivers that fead the lake really cool - Amu Dariya and Syrdariya. :o) All this though stayed in the back of my mind till I was older and started to understand what is going on in that part of the world.

The saline lake is slowly dissappearing and the area is becoming disastrous.

Aral Sea is situated on the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and used to be the 4th largest lake in the world. The two rivers, Amu Dariya and Syrdariya, run through a desert basin where cotton has been growing since 1960s. The irrigation has very much used up the water from the two rivers and thus the lake started to dissappear.


The quality of the water in the Aral sea is very bad. It has a high concentration of salts but is also contaminated by fertilizers and pesticides from the agricultural fields. The rich fishing industry had to be stopped altogether and the contamination has further led towards creation and enlargment of salty deserts and swamps around the lake.

This disaster has huge effect upon the people that live in the area. The lake and the soil nearby is impossible to use, the fresh water is also not healthy and contaminated. The unhealthy environment is cause of a lot of diseases, especially tuberculosis.


There are some plans for saving the lake; number of NGOs work in that area. I guess the time will show us if they succeed.

AIESEC extensions...

I am out of AIESEC. I think for quite some time, though you all know it is not that easy to say what exactly was the moment that one got out :o).

But now Solnitchka and me will have some small session about possibilities with AIESEC Extensions during our January National Conference. As Solnitchka has helped during this summer in Tajikistan and I had a chance to meet with some guys that are establishing the extension in Azerbaijan. So I got again really excited about AIESEC. :o))

And to be honest, as I like geography and maps, and together with being former VPSN, I was always curious in which countries AIESEC is and where are the new extensions being established.

Finally I know. Here is the list if anyone else wonders :o).

Applicants for extension:
Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova,
Georgia,
Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan,
(which means only Turkmenistan is left from former Soviet Union!! :o)
Bahrain,
Qatar,
Vietnam

Existing extensions:
Afghanistan,
Pakistan,
Tanzania

Gosh, imagine to go for a traineeship to some of these countries!! Isn´t that simply incredible?!?! :o))

AIESEC as a destiny

Thinking about my past I reckon I was very much destined to once work for AIESEC. Already since my early childhood I was exposed to people of different ethnic origins and thus grew up culturally sensitive :o))). If I recall well my best friend when I was 2yo was Pepa.

Oh, and of course I was always ready for hard work. I never ran away from it. So another important asset that a good AIESECer has to have! ;)

The Jana´s Weekend :o)

It is new year, fresh start :o)... so let´s be positive... January sucks big time!
I have an exam next week, I studied a lot for it; though the past few days I very much lost motivation and along with some other problems, my focus is all gone.

Yesterday I decided to go to school library. I simply can´t study at home. It was 11am by the time I reached the Uni building when I realized that the library is closed on Saturdays... great... I was so convinced the 13th was yesterday. So I chose to go to the city library where I kept reading one magazine and sent loads of smses to my friend Jana. She as a very true friend, decided to kick my ass and came to join me in the library to convince me to study :P. So suddenly I found myself explaining her microeconomics´ graphs. Good. Some graphs aren´t that bad. Have you ever heard of the "snob effect" graph?

The evening turned out great. I was to stay the night at my second friend Jana. I cooked us dinner, we spent hours talking about how guys make our lives miserable and then we watched Love Actually. Even after that movie I am still convinced guys make our life miserable. Hmm, I said I will be positive, ha? .... so let me take my previous words back and say: most of the guys make our lifes misearable. :P

After another sleepless night, I left Jana to go to see Jana. ;) And I spent the whole day at her place. We did a lot of usefull things during the afternoon. The list would be too exhausting if I should write all of it down... so let´s mention the most important stuff, which is eating lunch and later on having a great snack.

And since the day is not yet over and since it is January, a month that sucks, I am quite sure I will not like the night tonight. So good that I wrote my positive post now, in order to avoid writing a negative one later. ;)

What A Day...

I just realized what an extraordinary day it is today...
Not only it is Friday, the 13th; it is also the full moon!
I had some expectations, hopes for today and at one
part of the day I thought they have come true.
They did not... but maybe I still got more than I
thought I will... I thought there will be silence only.

One slip and everything is gone...

One slip and everything is gone... I wonder how often that happens to us during our life.
One wrong answer and you are kicked out of exam, one wrong word and you hurt your friend, one missunderstanding and you destroy a relationship.

Sometimes everything seems so black and white and the longer I live the more I like gray. Everything should not be either this or that. I think there should always be a chance to improve/correct what one did wrong. If the one who slipped is willing to admit a mistake, I believe he should always get a chance.

I think it is hard enough to come front and admit "I did that wrong" and I think the other person should not make him/her suffer for that. I would never want to see my enemy humiliated, how can I want to cause humiliation to person I respect, love. None of us are perfect and we should not only search for mistakes in other people, as every conflict, in my opinion, has base in the behaviour of both of us.

Life is short and there should not be a space for missunderstandings... you do not get something now? Go and ask. Make things clear, make sure you know where you stand... as that is the only state of mind that you can go further from. One should not be confused and feel hurt.

I can get mad, I really do... but I get also very soon sorry for that and I wish I could take it back... but it is too late... and that is why we need to understand each other and forgive one another. As that is what counts. I prefer to love people to hate them. I prefer to treat people with dignity and I always hoped to be treated back the same way.

Bit unusual post but I am tired and so the thoughts might have gotten bit confused.

New year, new look...

I decided I don´t like the old look of my blog so here is the new look... I am tired and I like it just for the sake that I can go to bed now :o). I even tried the Mike look (Monsters inc.), the Sunflower Look and rejected all the other blog templates as not nice ones...

Jani, thanks for all the advice as that has made all the difference... ;). I was sitting here only few hours and not days as I expected.

Sleepy time now...

Sudden decisions are the best decisions :o)

It´s been a while since I have posted something here... but I guess another travelling adventure thus gives me an opportunity to continue some writing :o)).

More then a month ago my dad asked me .... "so where are you gonna be for New Year´s Eve?" I said honestly "I don´t know yet." The next day I agreed to go to Rome :o), two days later had my air ticket. I like these sudden decisions the most, as one can´t think too much and there is suddenly something new ahead :o).

I left a day after xmas Eve, on the 25th (for those who don´t know, in Czech republic we do not celebrate the 25th at all, our important day is the 24th Eve - I explain this as I was accused of not being nice to my family if I want to leave them on the 25th :o)).

I came to the airport at 10,30, with the flight planned on the 12. The sun was shining, I was excited and the 11 hour approached... the screen with departures suddenly showed DELAYED to my flight... (only to my flight!). Hmm.. I thought, I did good to worry to fly with Smartwings :o)... since then it was announced each hour "wait for more news next hour". I love such announcements, they really say everything.
Later I learnt the plane was broken and they were repairing it. Nice. I always dreamt to fly in just repaired plane.

I was not bored at all at the airport, it was sunny, I had good book and I finally got to relax, without hearing "come and wash the dishes", "what about dusting", "could you mop the floor, please". And at 3pm we were boarding, we were boarding a plane of Czech Airlines (hurraaayyy!) who rented the aircraft to Smartwings. :o)

You might thing I talk bit too much about leaving Prague, but the weather in Italy was so bad, that I hardly visited anything, so I have to prolong the post this way. ;)

We have landed safely, with a stop-over in Milano ;). And by 7pm I was in a flat of my friend, happy to be there. (I am not sure, but I think my flight to New Zealand took shorter time than this one to Italy :o).

Rome is really beautiful city. I was not thinking I will say this about some other city really, as I always have this unfortunate thing to compare everything with Prague. Can´t help it. And I must admit that I did not really like Paris, suprisingly.
But Rome was really charming city. Especially in the evening, with all the organge lightning, old buildings, ruins... very nice :o).



I visited only few places and I have not been on time for most of others... as in the morning it rained hard and thus I did not feel like going and in the afternoon (after lunch) when we came to buy an entry ticket, the offices were already closed (Italians!)...

But anyway, I spent there 10 days, I relaxed a lot there, got to sleep till 11am pretty much every day and I will never forget the way I celebrated the New Year´s Eve . :o)