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Little Europe

There is a saying that Once you plant a tree, your life on this Earth has not been wasted.
I remember when being in my teen years, there was this little birch tree that needed to be re-planted. My uncle took it out of the earth and we digged the whole elsewhere. I helped very little but I kept on arguing in my mind that I actually did in a way planted the tree and thus have lived in accordance with the saying. I am afraid though, that this birch has not grown much, plus all the area was recently cleared of all the trees.

Quite some years later, in 2004, while being in Iceland I got the opportunity to actually fulfill my dream. My co-worker and friend took me with my friends to his ranch where we spent weekend while helping him plant new trees. We called this new forest Little Europe. I cannot describe the feeling I have knowing I actually did live up to this saying. And I am really thankfull to have had this opportunity. Takk!

Floods are back...

Floods are back again... but this time hopefully Prague is more prepared. There are barriers built along the banks of the river Vltava right now... but the water is still rising...

In the summer 2002, there were no barriers like that so the place on this picture, Kampa island, was flooded up to the 2nd floor of the buildings (some 4metres above the surface of the island). There are still marks on the walls of the buildings.

Now I started to wonder if I am actually the person that keeps promises... hmm

I feel really bad, so I really do promise big time I will start from tomorrow... But, please, Janičko sluníčko, be good to me and do not tell how bad I am with all this...

Hope that is enough as a public statement :o))).

Our badminton team

Case study - AIESEC is everywhere ;o).


This is our badminton team, truly international. There are species of Canadians, Scottish, English, German, Indian, Indonesian and me as a Czech citizen ;o)).

I met Imelda, Indonesian girl, over a year ago. She just moved in Prague with her Czech boyfriend. So I obviously showed interest in where did they meet. :o) Imelda tells me her bf was in Aussie for an exchange programme from his University as she was. He studied the same Uni as me. I asked what is his name (stupid question when there are over 10 000 students). She tells me his name and I am, hehe, I actually do know him... he is former aiesecer ;o)). So yes, @ really is everywhere...

Trip to Kutná hora...

The town of Kutná Hora owes its origin to the silver mines, the existence of which can be traced back to the first part of the 13th century. The city developed with great rapidity, and at the outbreak of the Hussite Wars, early in the 15th century, was next to Prague the most important in Bohemia, having become the favourite residence of several of the Czech kings.

In 1995 Kutná Hora was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.




Me with one of the locals :o).


If you ever wondered what happens to tourists that misbehave in the Czech republic... here is the answer... ;o).


Supposedly, there are bones of approx. 40 000 people to be found in Kostnice. [The chapel Kostnice was built at the end of the 14th century and its current appearance is the result of Baroque reconstruction carried out by Santini-Aichl in the early 18th century. Unique skeletal decorations of the interior are probably the work of woodcarver František Rint. Remarkable masterpieces include a massive chandelier, a cross, chalices, a monstrance or Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms creating this unique ossuary – a reminder of the transience of human life and the inevitability of death..]


There were also times of great sorrow... Farid has found the body of Turkish soldier (the skull in the right bottom corner).

Sentence of a century...

You cannot beat me cause I am the greatest mixture of Azeri Turkish Armenian, oups I meant American... [Farid, Monday 21st March].

Honestly, do I even have to try to win conversations over him??!!

Do you recognize me?

I think this is especially for Jana, to have a good laugh on my account.
Farid brought his sun signs book (the US MC bible) and so I read what it says about Libras. Hehe, I guess the book is quite right...

The author offers the idea of one man and 12 women discussing the subject of calling cards. Should people use them today, is it old-fashioned, and what should they look like? So the 12 women, each being born in different zodiac sing, answer to this question. And guess who is Libra!? :o)

Actually, I will not indicate any sign, so you (women) can as well try to find which answer fits you the most and then find out if the answer really applies to your zodiac sign or not :o).

# Do not need them. I use the telephone.
# It is rare that I go calling. People visit me.
# Calling cards! Who has time for calling cards?
# Well, if they were really wild, and impressive looking...
# I will have to check Emily Post and see exactly what she says.
# My gawd! You mean people still take time for that junk?
# If they are not home, they miss me. It is their loss, not mine.
# I wonder if it is raining outside? I thought I heard thunder.
# Cards are so impersonal. I would rather write a note.
# I always sense when people are not there, and I only call on them when I get a subliminal message they want to see me.
# The custom is perfectly proper. But there is no point in discussing the design. If it is not engraved, it is not a calling card.
# Well, it all depends. If you want to do the correct thing, you should have them. It is a charming gesture. On the other hand, using them might seem pretentious today, and the modern woman is too busy to bother with them. Of couse, you have to consider the reason behind the custom. Then again, there are people who cannot afford calling cards. If it is a strain on the budget, they are not really necessary. Looking at the other side of it, however, I cannot help feeling the beauty and grace of yesterday is missing in today's frantic pace, so it might be money well spent. I suppose they should be engraved. Yet, it is true that something different would reflect the individual personality. A creative person might be misunderstood by very social people, you know? I mean, the Rockefellers would think it was gauche. On reflection, who calls on the Rockefellers? Your own friends would love your being original, but plain engraving is probably more acceptable. At least I think it should be. But still, well...

And, please, do not say it is obvious and that it did take you some time to find out which is the Libra answer. On the other hand, if you find out straight away, it means you know me quite well. Then again, I do not really mind you guessing right away. I mean, it is kinda nice, right? But still, well... you know... ;o)

... and we were part of it... ;o)

Can one complain about blogger while blogging through blogger? :o)

AIESEC Czech Rep. is celebrating 40 years!!

This Friday, except for the beginning of the EuroXpro 2006 conference, was also the day when the first great official Alumni Party took place to celebrate 40 years of AIESEC in the Czech Rep.
Thought it shall be boring, but at the end it turned out to be fun... though we were missing the condons in our KPMG welcome packages ;o). First, I agreed it could have been inappropriate having some nice strawberry Durex present in the bag since all of us were getting the same bag, including the oldest aiesec generation, but then after having one of the senior aiesecers hitting on me... and he was like waaaaaaaay after his sixties... I guess it would have been useful (at least for him). And hopefully while he studies what the chewy thingie is for, I would manage to escape... I guess aiesecers were and will always be the same... :o)).

The first four National Committee Presidents of AIESEC Czech Republic (1966, 1967,1968,1969)

The last four Member Committee Presidents of AIESEC Czech Republic

Karlštejn castle

Tuesday trip was made to Karlštejn castle. The castle has been built in Gothic style in 1348 during the rule of the most famous Czech King and Roman Emperor Charles IV. The place was to store the royal treasures (coronation jewels and holy relics of Roman Empire, as well as Czech coronation jewels). One of the most famous parts of the castle is the Chapel of the Holy Cross whose walls are decorated by gemstones embeded in gold-plated parget.

Monday at school...

As we promised we took Farid to school on Monday. He sat patiently with us through the microeconomics class, doing his work, while as a matter of fact introducing us the place where the G-spot is (for those who still wonder).

After the delicious lunch when Farid had the great experience of tasting the Czech delicacy Fried Cheese and enjoying the great afternoon in one particularly interesting place, we settled for dinner at one shopping mall (Farid: Gee, I did not know there are shopping malls in Czech Republic!!).

To have some fun (I guess bit specific fun for some) we took out some paper and pen and started to write down the 50 states of US, timing it... to find out who knows more of them. As we were killing some time before the evening party, we also tried countries of Europe, Latin America and Africa. We both seem to enjoy geography, so it really was great :o)). (Oh, and I beat him in all!!)


I am quite pleased that at least he was able to tell me the 15 correct states which were part of the USSR. (I still can't get over the time when I was told by some young Azeri guy who just finished his BC. in International Affairs that among the 15 states belonged Poland, Bulgaria and Romania).

Hehe, and imagine Farid's rage when I beat him on the capitals of the 15 post-soviet capitals!! He missed three of them!!

Why can Czechs be rude...

Prague is so beautiful tourists will keep on coming, so no point of us being polite... :o)

And if you do not find Prague amazing from these pictures, then be sure that it is just my lack of photography skills ;o).
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Breaking news!

Some more photos from trips will come later on...

In the meanwhile... tonight there was this game of pool that I played with Farid... Who has ever seen me play knows I suck, hehe... Who ever has seen Farid play pool knows that he playes pretty well...

And I still managed to beat him 3:2!

Just to provide you with the "exclamation of the game"... After unconsciously hitting the black ball into the socket, Farid continues playing till all confused he cries: Where is the black ball?

We welcome tourists in Prague...

... let us pass the word of mouth... are you considering trip to Prague? Still deciding? Waiting for that final push? Hoping to hear some recommendations? Willing to believe fellow tourists rather than Czech tourist agencies commenting on how incredlible the country is? So here it goes, I bet you will not doubt a second if you come or not... ;o)

Czechs are really rude, food sucks and also girls are disappointing... [Farid, experienced traveller.]

I can only add, welcome, we will make your stay unforgetable! :o))

Saturday night...

During Saturday morning nothing happened as Farid was soundly (I assume :o)) asleep. We met for a lunch in one restaurant together with Jana. We had quite few cool discussions, straight after insulting each other -- I guess due to Farid's expectations that Czechs are rude. I definitely am not gonna be the one to dissapoint him :o)).

(btw, just now one Armenian friend of Jana joined us to help explain micro... I like Armenia, I am totally changing my orientation... -- two reasons, first he seems to understand micro, second he is actually nice and polite. :o)

We left the pub to scroll around Prague a little. It was freezing and snowing, so the walk was short.

Farid has finally found the car of his dreams... the trabant limo... (I think the colour played a big role as well!)

Later on we met up with some of our friends, mostly old AIESEC Alumni, in a pub. Soon after that we started playing fussball, we had two great teams -- the Lickers and the Suckers. The games were really passionate and it was hard to decide who licked or sucked better, as the result was pretty balanced... :o)

Ok, I admit it is bit too difficult to write meaningfull post when I am listening to Vita (Armenian) and Farid (Azeri etc.) talking about the "possible" genocide in Armenia that happened in the early 20th century.
Wow, now one Russian guy has joined in the disscussion... great :o)).

After we left the pub, we have had a great snow ball fight... fortunately managed to escape the cars once excitedly running over the streets. Imagine two centimeters of snow and two girls doing angels, hehe... both having white coat :o)).

The last place we went to was one bar called Zlate Casy... We danced some and Farid was extremely ejnoying the music from the 60s. I have never seen such passionate dancer as he was that night :o))))). I guess that is the reason he got bored and started to yawn ;o).

the first day...

The first day... although Azeri he actually flew in on time (I guess due to the great air company, CSA - obviously they are Czech.)

The first part of the day is without documentaion, as that was the time when Farid found out he most likely forgot his camera at his office in NYC. We agreed that details are not the strongest side of Capricons! :o))

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The first night, the first dinner... something yummy from the Czech cousine... Pizza Capriciosa?!? Hmm, whatever! At least the wine was Czech!
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A great game of bowling. I lost three times... I strongly believe it was due to my finger injury that happened early on the first game -- you can tell that I type much slowlier than usual... the finger still hurts :o((.
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We did look confident when starting to play fussball... began to play two, then two Germans joined us... it is better with four... hmm... they kicked our ASS big time! Though I scored twice (to my own goal :o(( )!
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And finally some aiesec work. He actually did work, no faking! :o))
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TO BE CONTINUED (unless I am too lazy, which is very much possible... :o)

Photo journalist :o)

I decided to make myself an official photo documentarist of Farid's stay in Prauge (as far as my reach goes... - wonder if I will be allowed in to the site of Expro - since being from the press, hehe).

When I first came up with that idea and told Farid, he did this face... hmm... very not satisfied face... I guess he really liked my idea. :o))

One should always look on things positively!

My first class...

Finally I made it to my own class of xxx. I met a friend there whom I always considered quite clever... he always seemed very much absorbed in books, studying for exams in advance and achieving great results...

Well, not everything is the way it seems. We met today, sit next to each other and somehow got into discussion about passing the xxx class. On that point he started to explain the brilliance of his cheating on exams together with a little group of his friends. I was quite stunned to be honest...

He even got fucking half a point for nothing in the class!! Teacher asked who did contribute to get a point and he says "well, I did comment to one question!" ... and she is like: "well maybe half a point for that then...". Seing her face I bet she was just too awkward to refuse him. Some people really do know how to sell themselves... I would learn from them -- if I did not find this skill totally disgusting...

I WON today... :o)...

The war is on... and I will pretend I do not know who is gonna be the winner ;o).

The Laugavegur walk in Iceland...

There is one very famous 4day walk in Iceland called the Laugavegurinn (hope I spelled it right). It starts in the beautiful area of Landmannalaugar and leads to Thorsmork. The nature is breathtaking but the weather can be very cruel. Month before we did the walk, some Israeli guy though warned about the worsening weather, decided to walk alone the first day walk (of some 10km), the weather changed suddenly and he never made it. He died some 100m away from the hutt.

For those who are not careful Iceland can be very cruel, but it is probably the most beautiful country I have seen. The nature differs in all aspects and each day of the walk brought totally new countryside. I travelled through whole Iceland with my friends, doing some short trips or the ring road trip around whole Iceland and would so recommend visiting this place!

It snows again...

The spring is still not coming... I have not enjoyed proper spring for the past three years, and after two cold summers in Iceland, I was only too hot in Azerbaijan last summer... :o)

The problem is that I love snow... rainy winters are horrible, but this year we have snow pretty much every other day now and it makes the city look so beautiful... And during the night the white snow reflects the organge lights of lamps and the view is really cozy...

Not really great picture, but it still describes the reality...

The same amount of pages as microeconomics ...

... but rather more enjoyable...

There is this one book that belongs among my most favourite ones. It is called the Gods, Graves and Scholars from C.W.Ceram.

Hearing names like Carter, Prescott, Botta, Schliemann never really rang a bell till I read this book. But all these names are inevitably connected with definately more famous names such as Copan, Babylon, Troy, the Pyramids etc. And I cannot but mention my favourite mummy Tutankhamen (straight after Imhotep of course ;o).

The book is simply a great skill of the author enabling an insight into archeology even to those that have never came accross this topic except for seeing few weird old-looking artefacts in some museum :P (or since you are Nomads then probably even some real stuff in Mexico, Egypt etc.).

The book tells a great story of adventure and discovery and I just love to get back to it (as I always forget what is in it, but I am quite sure the murderer is the gardener). :o)

... playing too much means that a lot of things will end up messed up ...

Akademický klub...

Today was the first officially unplanned meeting at Akademický klub. If we skip the unfortunate thing of the klub being closed today (due to the inauguration of our new Chancellor) which we did not know ;o), we met with several girls (I was quite convinced it will turn into female lunches, hehe, and it did).

I have sent some emails too, as the nomad is used by few guys only... the email did not reach some, so for the rest who wants to join us for the Monday lunches you are more than welcomed to come for a chat. :o))

What a great display! :o)

... hehe, and, please, no complaints to the pictures shown on the side. I picked those that I liked and I have a good taste :o)!!

for you...

I was thinking (shower always does that to me) about the following...

The past half a year was definitely the worst ever time of my life.
Series of the most shittiest things happened without me being able to have the slightest influence upon any of those; it left me stressed out, unfocused and feeling totally hopeless. But there were people around me that really helped me a lot, consciously or unconsciously... and I realized I do not even know if I thanked them enough for their support. The half a year is over and all will turn out well now. And I just wanted to say that I am really grateful to you all that helped me through those times... I am afraid sometimes I do not really find the time to acknowledge and appreciate all the good that happens around me...

We are walking with Jana in this shopping mall after a day full of study ;o)... suddenly we saw these 3 creapy looking guys just checking out some chick that passed by them with those hungry sly eyes ... since they were foreigners they even dropped some (most likely "insulting") comments on her address.

We look at each other with Jana and think, gross... I really dont like guys like that... Jana suddenly freezes and says: Damn, I hope they are not Armenians! We make few more steps and Jana hears their language... heheh... they ARE!!

... the first Armeninas Jana really really disliked, hehe...

hmm, today was not the most studyingly efficient day but... was definitely one of the most enjoyable ones. I do not remember talking about so many inappropriate topics with such enthusiasm and excitement as we did today... and the final outcome was very satisfactory!!

Today, Jiřinka joined us to study. Unfortunately we have not seen her for few months as she was busy with her studies and later on was visiting her fiance in Bolivia; so there were only too many topics to touch upon when you have us three together, all coming back from sweet little countries like Bolivia, Tajikistan or Azerbaijan; only too many cultural differences to our world to be told; only too many specific male details that need to be mentioned; only too many specific sensitive topics to discuss. ;o) I do not remember laughing so much for a long time!

And remember! If you talk about wolf, he is definitely gonna be behind the door!! ;o)

off to study again :o)... soon gonna be expert in all micro issues... so beware!!

Speaking of recent achievements of Azerbaijan in economic and military fields the president, Ilham Aliyev, said Azerbaijan has to return its territories (Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions) by any means: "We have been living in cease fire regime for 12 years, but we have not reached any positive result. There is a speedy and modern army building process in Azerbaijan and the opposite side must realize our army is capable to return our lands any time."

What a ridiculous statement! There were tons of useless meetings of both heads of states, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and they never reached any stupid agreement. Gosh, they should feel so ashamed of themselves... as they have the right to decide and they don't use it. And later on have bullshit comments as "we have not reached any positive result!" If not you, who can reach it??!! Use your damn power to make the difference! But use the power of diplomacy, the power of words, the power of compassion... !! -- Are you incapable person?? Use the power of weapons...

I would simply lock the two presidents in one room and would not release them before they reach the agreement. Because of some stupid politicians in charge (including the Minsk group who was supposed to come with some solution how to deal with it) there are people suffering. We have only one life and so many peoples' lives are being wasted! Not talking about all those who have already died! Both Azeris and Armenians.

I am pissed that some economic, political, strategical and whatever other bullshit issues are more important than welfare of people and their lives.

Article to be published in Students' newspapers! :o)

I am really pleased as it seems I will have one article about Azerbaijan published in our Students' newspapers. I am really excited cause of the people that the article describes. I also hope it will open some awarness among the students.

We only too soon forget about what is happening around us (noone to blame, there is just too much of sad things around us).

Caucasus countries all in AIESEC

I am really pleased that Georgia and Azerbaijan has joined AIESEC as extensions.

I hope that at least AIESEC will manage to unite both Armenians and Azeris that will be part of AIESEC (since the two countries are in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict).

Last spring I went for a non-aiesec conference to Baku. People from most of the post-soviet countries took part. I asked my friend who was helping to organize it, if some Armenians will come. In a way it was a joke, but I hoped that these young people that spend so much of their free time working on different issues with youth to help develop their country, will think differently. That they will be open-minded.

My friends reaction was... "would you believe that those Armenians had guts to apply for this conference? None of them was chosen. heheh"
This reaction really shocked me. I understand I come from different reality which makes me think differently about it but I was bit said to get this cold-hearted mockery of an answer (and truth is that when Czech was occupied during the WWII we also hated Germans and some of this feeling did stay in us till now... )
Later on I was told that Armenians were refused cause of the safety reasons. Yes, this could be truth, but definitely not the whole truth.

There is huge hatred among the youth towards Armenians. Adults remember the war in the early 90s and the youth follows the suit. I can imagine I would hate someone who would occupy 15% of my land. But I am convinced 12 years since the cease fire should be long enough to solve the conflict; if there are intentions to solve the conflict (which obviously are not).

There is some cooperation in the region, but if there is supposed to be all three countries to meet, it always happens in Tbilisi, Georgia. Plus, I understood that even if some Azeri youth is willing to start building new fresh good relationships with Armenians they are considered as traitors in their homeland.

What a situation to overcome... but the hope and will is there!

Which Norse God or Goddess are you most like?

Shame I am a girl, I would be such a gorgeous man!! (I look at it from a different perspective, Alma :o))).
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Which Norse God or Goddess are you most like?