on the road again

time is flying incredibly fast. Christmas week and time home have passed. I am on road again. Thanks to McDonalds in Vilnius now I am able to post my new blog post :) Spending some pit stop hours in Lithuania before my bus to Warsaw leaves.

to sum up the last 7 days, first of all was great time with meeting family and friends. really enjoed. with many surprises and adventures. meeting some of old classmates I have never met since primary school and much more. no time to tell you, but just can say I am happy that i went home and did what i did. my time in Latvia for this year is over.

Seems I am one crazy girl. few years ago i promised myself to not to travel alone with bus or train if it takes more than half a day. And now...I am again traveling alone for almost two days to reach the party place in Slovakia to meet BESTies and friends and to greet the 2012.

Have no idea how it will go with internet, but now as the battery is running low, i have to end the post and go now. 

if we don`t meet here this year then Happy New Year. And don`t wait the good things to happen, just start doing things and make your wishes happen.

Cheers,

S.

Christmas

Merry, merry Christmas! Let the Christmas magic let your dreams and wishes come true.

Riga @Christmas.

I am in Riga.

My gingerbread making process.

Yes, Riga it is. I am here now.

Hasta la vista Ljubljana...Riga for Christmas, here I come.

Tea? Maybe.
But maybe a wine?

what to say, Christmas time is almost here. unbelievable but year 2011 is almost finishing. time is passing indeed  very fast. after three weeks in december with crazy amount of work, many deadlines, fun times, now I say hasta la vista Ljubljana for few weeks and heading back home. bags finally packed, presents bought, bottles of Borovnička packed...Riga, here I come.

Will keep you posted, meanwhile enjoy holidays,

S.

deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

monday have started not only with snow in Ljubljana, but also, want it or not, but many deadlines are here. so i have nothing else how to deal with deadlines. and if you do not hear from me this week, then know, im down into dealing with deadlines. leaving everything last minute, yes yes, thats me. have an advice how to do other way maybe?

Winter morning 19.12.2011 Slovenia, Ljubljana a view of my window.

čevab cici - friday Part 1

yesterday was a fun day. loads of work, going for lunch, having a panic during the lunch and even more.

last week with C:F Team we were planning to make some great team building activity to have a chance to meet up with almost all C:F Team, that are here around Slovenia. we wanted to go to play bowling all together. as every company employees in Slovenia seems to be bowling just before Christmas, and every bowling place was booked for this Friday already...

no title day.

from one side this been a great day, had an amazing day at work, we were holding a meeting with bunch of people coming over. Got to know another colleague of mine, who is part of our team, however as she works from home and traveling then till now had no chance to meet her. but today it happen. Great.

Got to talk with a relatively old friend of mine, whom i`ve havent heard or spoken for ages. Was short, however great and miss the times of our talks.

and now getting back home and trying to solve these stupid and silly home issues, which would not happen if the owners would have more logical thinking, just got on my nerve and still have not let it go

and yes, a mixed feelings today. patience may be the answer, however it also have limits and once its overreached going back to normal is not easy.

cannot wait my holidays to come.

S.

temptations.

its all well known, that you are the cause of your problem, but you are also key to solve your problem. Nobody will care about you if you won`t do it about yourself.

so i decided, that its time to deal with my temptation of eating sweets. somehow last months living in Ljubljana, have caught myself of getting addicted to candy or getting lazy by ordering food instead of cooking myself. as it start to bother me, i had nothing else left than face reality and to deal with it. So for a week now I am coping with my two of temptations. So far so good. fast food happen only twice all this week and reduced the amount of sweets for half. so far so good....however by writing this here and now, i have to tell you that dealing with temptation is not easy, not easy...i want sweets so badly.

about what are you thinking NGOs?

# This post is not to make harm to anyone, these are my thoughts, that may make you think and look on life maybe now in other ways too.

To give you small background on my NGO experience, then since I was sixteen, i remember myself being socially active and enrolling in different projects and NGOs in Latvia and even European level. I could not just stay home and do nothing. this NGO life is part of me since first steps into it and i really enjoy it.

while doing research on how to better develop and which direction to go with my future NGO, i came across couple of facts that makes me feel how broke thinking may have some or more than some of NGOs in Europe, they have become like robots withing European Union grant System and Youth in Action projects. And I see it not because NGOs have developed the new inside language with all those thousands of numbers of different grants to remember nor because of abbreviations of the titles, but more on the way of the thinking in BOX.

Why do I think so?

the naked man aka having fun at work.

# this blog post is dedicated to Bistra, Dan and Ursula.

fun moments happen, when they happen and no explanations to be searched. 

The Naked Man, great episode of HIMYM

it happen today in C:F office. these last couple of weeks been super busy with deadlines approaching and passing, so almost all of days are spent hard working, sometimes overworking, and not that much of daily fun or communications in office as each of us are busy with our tasks and duties.

however, Friday 9th dec, turn out to be the most fun day in long time @office.

fear factor - I can do it too.

being sick when you are abroad, not the right thing to do. however there are just times you are left in the situation, just being sick. it took me two days and 6 pharmacies, and result was that i had to choose an alternative for the very small and proper pills, i got a powder instead. well, there would be no problems unless the very small and nice pills have made me already trouble in past, as they taste terrible. and now i have to eat powder...

one of my favorite tv shows in past was fear factor. i usually was amazed by the strengths and courage of people. i`ve seen many times eating unimaginable things. today i had my own home reality show, me getting to eat the powder... and i have to do it at least twice a day, preferably three times.

holding my nose, eating as fast as possible and it turn out to be doable. however, one more week to go. Challenge accepted. S.

veselji december, hot wine, skyscrapper, sex with barmen and more...

been lazy, i admit. however if you are happy on what you are doing, then can be also lazy. however i don`t like it much, me being actively moving forward and in process, that more likely describe me.

today spent working from home, as the sickness feeling is still around. however hopefully after tomorrow with some more right cure, i will be back on the track. and today after visiting four pharmacies, i was even able to find the right medicine, i needed. 

and here comes sharing about past week. i believe that two of these postcard pictures

a day when you feel sick.

a wintertime with +10C and rain seems done its thing and have made me sick. i feel bad about it, but nothing more to hear from me today. going to sleep to have a proper rest. hopefully with early cure, ill manage to not get completely sick.

friends over for dinner. BEST talks.

yesterday, i had friends over for dinner. first time in my whole current stay in LJ, I was actually organizing something. and it turn out for a good reason, as yesterday not only started the month of "Parties" in Ljubljana (At least thats how the locals name December here in LJ) but also three months have passed on me being here.

Thank you BEST experience.

in spite of thursday and the fact i do work on fridays too, the dinner was happening. Ieva, Jordi, and Tadej now are spotted here, as they were my guests last night. and i am happy that they all were able to find my apartment, as it has no number and i still believe this is the longest house in LJ.

negotiations with LPP controllers. only blonde can do it.

from very first days in Ljubljana i noticed a weird system of the public transportation. and for some time already was thinking to add something about LPP (public transport company in Ljubljana) and my experiences. after what happened this morning, i could not resist on sharing with everyone. i`ve been caught by controllers & still have no idea what are the fines for not having a bus ticket.

So here it goes...

people do not read

working in communications is awesome, however it is hard work, to make people READ and afterwards also hear what was said. i cannot tell you in percents, but we people are LAZY persons.

a BET to win - find out who was the winner.

My first try of making pancakes.

exactly two weeks ago it was, when i got myself into a bet. it was about predicting the date and time of when exactly would reach round number of 20 000 registered members in Challenge:Future. Did all i could by helping to make myself to win...asked my dear Facebook friends, posted a blog post...

learn from your own mistakes.

when you ask someone an advice, do you usually listen to it? well, you may listen, if you feel persuated that his or her opinion you consider acceptable. nevertheless, people are one strange kind, they do like to make the same mistakes more than once, and more over, don`t hear the other experiences, but to do their own, and sometimes get into the same shoes, with the same mistakes.

today i cannot say i made any such a mistakes...however, learning recipes from internet may be a huge mistake. what did I do? well, remember i as testing some time ago an avocado hair masque? Well, that experiment went amazingly well and the result, i was satisfied, however not completely... so that lead me to trying other type of home made / natural hair masks...

however this time i somehow failed...still pieces of bananas are stuck in my silky, blonde and lovely hair...tried washing...tried shaking them out...tried washing again....should try combing, but afraid that`s going to hurt....

Outcome - do not try the hair masque - 2 bananas, one yolk. bad outcome. well, at least i learn my lesson.

new day, new look...is the new always better?

yesterday started to use the new dashboard on writing my blog. but as here is brand new dashboard done by google, could not stand away and make some layout changes and put some other colors to my blog...wanted to make it feel like winter times, as winter is now in ljubljana...id i manage, still not sure. however the red colors i choose makes me think and feel Latvian part in my blog at least.

now i am off to enjoy a little bit of winter times in Ljubljana.

things its better not to know - small world it is.

there exists right time and place...the great things happen. People are happy, satisfied, life`s great. once you are thrown other side of the situation...being the wrong time in the wrong place? What happen then?

this cold feeling in the mornings from a window,
does not motivates to get out of bed and go to work.

this week in my work inbox a message from a BEST friend arrived, looking around for an internship. yes, world gets small, and this is not yet the first one still. And what is the maybe funniest, maybe not really, that friend was not aware I am working there. an interesting happening.

that was not all the fun, just a part...more over... since forever i`ve had this habit to be in the wrong time and place, to hear or to see things, that i better would not known. I like to think its all by accident than with a bad fortune. however...this week again it happen. now this will bother and make me think about it also during the weekend...what a "lucky" girl i am. how to deal with an information you do not need, but also there is no way to let it go, as it is just now stuck in your head and keeps up reminding that its there? maybe the weekend of keeping me busy will do the trick...will see, will see. Life`s not fair sometimes at all.

friends, networks, people, crowds.

i always liked philosophy. not much because of those "smart" people in past sharing "important" life visions, but because i can be one of the "smart" ones and leave my mind to play around, moreover if you have another mind the same and then the philosophy starts...

by being far from home and the life i have lived for more than 20 years, somehow have started to think of a meaning "friend".

with myself, i would say i am bad friend. yes i do have many networks and connections and people around me, but with all that there are times, that i am still alone. nothing sucks worse than feeling alone, no matter how many people are around. having a networks does not mean particularly to be friends, even more a close friends.

times changes, friends changes, true friends stays.

alucinante day.

Inspired from HIMYM, just
because saw the latest episode

I am sitting now front of computer with an avocado hair mask in my hair. want to point out the mask, as I just made if like an experiment of the self made masks, and feeling on having a pieces of avocado together with some other stuff in your hair, when you do not know whats going to be a result, is quite interesting. however now I am  wondering on the topic - can working be awesome and make your day awesome? 

besides that i spent most of the day "hand writing" postcards for C:F Community members,

feel myself.

there are many ups and downs in life. once you are down, at some point you are starting to go up again. And today i feel myself going up. somehow a bunch of motivation and positiveness is all around. I don`t want to look up for a reason, no need for that. Just going to enjoy my going up days. 

if you feel inspired and want to do something good, why not to visit my guestbook page and leave me some  nice note. 

Enjoy. 

S.

my very first TEDx event.

C:F Office @backstage after TEDxYouthDay@Ljubljana.

as you may heard then Ljubljana on weekends is boring and almost empty. however, if there are right people, the time and place you can find yourself in such a great events and places, that you will never feel Ljubljana is boring.

working in a youth organization such as Challenge:Future, its one of the best places to find out about what going on and what happening around Slovenia, especially if you are not local and do not speak local language.

missing part of last week AKA helping out a friend.

Ze and me @streets
of Ljubljana

with no notice, but sunday is here. time is never stopping. well, life in Ljubljana for me somehow do stops on weekends. But before i do talk about weekend, lets go back some days.

A week ago I received a message from Su, asking if I could help her out and host her friend, who is coming in couple of days because with couchsurf had no luck and is still with no place to stay. as Su and me we both are BESTies, then by a mutual trust and some friendship in past, could not say her no. and so I put myself into hosing a friend of friend for couple of days.

like episode from Dexters` cartoon - Life in Ljubljana.

more and more i have the feeling that something is wrong with this city. and today somehow a flashback came in my mind from a years ago when i was a fan of cartoon Dexter,

A BET to win.

couple of days i made a BET. seems I am going to loose it. Unless you can help me out and take two min to sign up: www.challengefuture.org/signup/ which is platform for the project I am currently working with - Global Student Competitions and Youth Think Tank.

The victory is very very close 76 more sign ups in platform. but I am running out of time, as the bet expires today at midnight CET time then everyone who reads this if he signs up, it will bring me the victory.

Whats the bet for? Well, in case I will win, I am going to tell you. But can spread that its a worth on winning. So please use your two min and help me out.

Soy de Letonia aka ESN Tandem learning.

A fog is covering Ljubljana already for the 3rd day,
even though it may be beautiful, now it also gets frustrating.

what is the best way on spending a late Tuesday evening? this week i decided to join ESN Ljubljana organized event named Tandem language learning. have to admit, in my erasmus Barcelona times, even though i did wanted to join at least one ESN event, somehow there were so many things going on that i did not made to join any. Here in Ljubljana this is my second ESN event for erasmus, and seems to be quite cool.

Yes, i did not expect anything much from tonight,

Ljubljana like Ezītis Miglā & Prince/Princess

If you were wondering where have I disappeared, then know that i am still here, nothing by this weekend have changed much. Weekend have passed with no big changes, besides its indeed getting more and more colder, and we can see more fog around, or to be precise nothing much more than fog in the morning and afternoons.

Today work was passing with no unusual surprises, although I made a bet today and looking forward to win it in couple of days. Hopefully with some secret talent and luck it will happen. hate loosing, so have to win.

After a work, as it was set some longer time ago, I went to reception organized by Latvian Embassy, opening of photo exhibition / celebrating 18th of November, as I like to call - Birthday of Latvia. I already told it, but have to say once again, being from a small country sometimes is a nice feeling.

falling in love happens.

it is 11.11.11 and clock almost reaching 11.11, many lonely numbers, but people use to think that its a magical day. Nobody likes loneliness, so i decided to share my magical story tonight in this magical date. Enjoy friday 11th of November.

it happened a time ago, longer or shorter time, that is irrelevant. but story goes like this...i met a guy. 

Latvia @ international dinner - S. story.

at it was set couple of days ago, then there was held a ERASMUS student gathering named international dinner. it is thirty minutes before a midnight and i just home from this, if i have the chance to say, very great gathering. most of all this was my first time meeting most of my dear other latvian erasmus students that have been here more or less the same period of time. you may feel,

meeting up with Latvian Ambassador day.

A Latvian flag from an Ambassadors very
own table now part of my table for awhile.

just now finished my Gmail clean up, and while going through most of old e-mails, its amazing what you can find there. Many great reminders of many parts of my life. but conclusion that i came up, is that I am one lucky girl or a little bit persistence is my friend. And i do believe than things happen with some reason, and best things happen when you least expect it.

Besides an very busy and challenging day at C:F office...

amazing things happened with me today.

being blonde and no knowledge of IT evening.

when i started my blog, i could not imagine, how interesting, sometimes time consuming and sometimes difficult it is to run it. so i am proud of myself, the blog is on for more than 2 months now, yes exactly I have been in Ljubljana already that long. happy to see its been a great time here and also that my blog is growing. Thank you each and everyone who sends me lovely or motivating feedback, as well just a nice words. it is great feeling. And surprises to receive comments from a friends i havent heard for ages. you are awesome.

for some time i was wondering why i do receive direct messages from friends and not comments in my blog. well blondie is not much in friends with IT, so thanks to some clicks here and there - comments option dissaperas with no notice, just gone. as it seems was gone for quite some time, but well - Changed. after more than hour looking and discovering whats wrong. comments feature is back in my blog.

I would love to see your comments also in my blog, even short notes, its really motivating.
Thank you.
S.

Flashbacks from Trieste.

A foggy morning, leaving LJ, reaching Trieste, going for free
in public bus and enjoying real Italian ice cream.

Italy trip and Trieste somehow feels like long in past,but then i realize, ohh, it was just yesterday. as it was lovely sunday and no chance to get any nice postcard to be sent home. as I was yesteday promising, here are some photo postcards of our yesterdays lovely adventures. Enjoy.

two blondes goes for coffee to Italy.

S. and Ieva @ Trieste suburbs

we have been talking about a common hitchhiking trip, i think since ever we got to know each other in Slovenia. sunday was the day, that S. and Ieva, went for hitchhiking trip together. After saturday discussions and finding out that Trieste is closer than Maribor, one, two three and girls are going for a coffee and picnic to Trieste. Sorry, the story took much longer than I was expecting, but well, the adventures were long enough. So enjoy.

sunday morning. 8.00, S. gives a desperate call to Ieva which goes something like this. Are we really going, its so cold and looks terrible outside, are we really going? Sure? Luckily Ieva have the right motivation.

8.30 and we almost meet up, takes couple of more minutes for blonde S. to find a faculty of Arts. 

where I come from.

Thank you for reminding me my roots and the beauty of Riga and Latvia. Its always fun to explain others that never heard about Latvia, but its way much better to hear people knowing about Riga and Latvia. Just have a peak sneak into beautiful Riga.

personal marketing.

when you are treated individually you appreciate it much more than receiving a mass message, that have been approved many times. as yesterday night i got enrolled in contest with a chance to win a paid weekend in Estonia, I had to work hard today to promote myself and my contest entry. decided to use personal approach and as i like to call it, personal marketing. And it worked very good, have to say awesome, i not only reached from zero votes to leading position there, but also spent an online day with getting in touch with my latvian facebook friends. as the contest is in Latvia currently ;)

A note to my dear Latvian readers:

marvelous autumn in Ljubljana

I could not imagine, that with a broken camera
I can shoot such an artistic photo. Ljubljana market it is.

been some days, since last time me being here. Life is still good in Ljubljana, yes, the weather is getting colder, all week long the temperature did not came more up than around +8C. /Yes, yes, I always use + and - signs, as we in Latvia have the - degrees for quite long time./ Luckily today was a surprise, a beautiful +16C outside. half of day was my working day, and half of day spent outside, enjoying the warm weather and having time with myself.

even though its friday, it was my work from home day, as still my C:F colleagues are out of Slovenia, and will be back finally by monday. Already looking forward on meeting them. Been some time since met all of them. Yesterday I was told to go to office, as there would be one of my colleagues, so I did. and thanks to coincidence, I did not had to wait or just go back home, met him directly in elevator, but was very funny, because he was not aware that there wont be anybody else. such a small organization, but already lack of communication and information flow. All in all thursday was great working day.

and yes, sometimes you just need to get yourself in the hands, to encourage yourself and motivate yourself. Nobody else can do it as good as you itself. So i did. that brought me some more peace and no helped to kill my curiosity, or i may say, i did everything to deal with it.

and today i received i think my most late birthday wishes ever. Thank you for that.

days in Serbia. Flashbacks.

today i feel quite lazy on writing something, nothing good comes in my mind, as i am deep in thoughts about my private life. these days being out of work and tough working hours, had too much time for thinking. luckily tomorrow will kill that with being back in office and completely focusing on works. Ok, enough talking. time to show you some "postcards" from Ada days and one of my favorite cities Belgrade. Enjoy.

Week full with sessions, presentations, group works, sharing and team activities.

motivating myself.

i sometimes hate getting back on track days...especially when you have to find yourself a motivation on doing things when its way much easier to just avoid and do all other stuff, but not the one that is really needed. So that`s how i spent first part of day, looking for motivation. When it finally appeared, then the evening was almost here. But well, thats how it happens with me, and not only now but also knowing myself, I prefer working during evening and nights, then i am way much efficient. Well, but now time to go to sleep, tomorrow luckily Ljubljana will be back on track, as the holidays are over and working week is here.

i am back in LJ. trip adventures & foggy day.

after being out of track with my posts, it is indeed really hard to get back on track. i am still trying to figure out where the rest of people gets the motivation. All in all I am back in Ljubljana. Arrived around 24 hours ago. did i said before that it takes 9 hours by train from Belgrade? Well, if you are me and choose the wrong train and time, then it takes you 12 hours, which includes a stop in Zagreb to grab coffee in McDonald`s and waiting for a connecting train to arrive. 

yesterday once more i made sure that not many people knows where is Latvia. this time it happened with Croatian border guard, who needed to put a stamp in my passport. as he also spoke no English, but as far as i understood after him staring couple of minutes on my passport and also asking his colleagues and then me...he was not sure if Latvia was part of EU. Even tried to ask me, and i tried to properly explain, yes, we are since 2004 already. luckily i got a stamp...but that was not it...in like 5 min he was back with a small book, and asked if i could share passport once more...then it took around 2 more min for him to really compare and make sure - YES, Latvia is part of EU.

Besides these couple of adventures, rest of trip was with no big surprises and went quite boring. Although while walking from train station and almost reaching house, a car stopped in middle of road, a guy inside asking me something, but as i was passing did not hear properly his question. As i crossed the street and he was still there and opening the other side window...and as i was guessing he is lost in city...but that was wrong...as he opened window and asked me: "Do you need a ride?". That made the last fun drop of my trip. People do not stop surprising.

31st of October...woke up quite late, but as it is national holiday in Slovenia, then monday - no work day. also no work day for others, meaning also no stores and shops opened. And if you arrive home and find your fridge totally empty, then that may be a problem. So it happened with me. Luckily after around 2 hour walk in city i managed to find one store opened and get some nice food. during the walk LJ amaze me...the autumn with yellow leaves is finally here. With a blue sky and sun shinning it was even more better. Great to be back. Now just have to get back on track.

P.S. there is a saying, things happen when you least expect. today received least expected mail in my inbox...this stupid curiosity keeps on asking to read it. Should I or should I not?

online again. @Belgrade

Latvia, Portugal, Serbia aka BEST random meets in Belgrade

Sunday greetings from sunny Belgrade. have to admit, that it is very hard to turn back on track with my blog posts once you have not been able to keep it up this last week due to almost no internet access.

How I am doing? Training Course ended on friday, and instead of directly going home, was lucky to have the chance to spend couple of great days in Belgrade. I am still amazed by the weather here, in end of October,

lost in days. world is small.

Greetings to Bistra :)

today is wednesday, right? oh, indeed. life without proper internet access and far in Serbian countryside are two things i have been up to these days. And as my internet at the moment is also limited then I really cannot keep up the long post, but just couple of small remarks.

Serbians are amazing :) Thank you for beeing such a cool and stay the same. And now i also know that Novi Sad s AWESOME, although i still feel that Belgrade is my city.

did i already told that Europe is small. how cool is to come to small Ada, to meet girl, sister of my colleagues best friend?

Ok, have to go offline now. 

happy people.

Greetings from Ada, it is exactly 3.49 AM, and finally all unreplied e-mails for C:F are answered, works covered and it is time to get ready for morning brain teaser activities here in Ada, Serbia. Good night, good morning.

i am ok.

you may be worried, that i havent done my daily posts, but i ve been strugling from lack of internet. everyone else see it and use it, but my computer here in Serbia do not recognize it and dont want to cooperate.

been really busy working on promotion, on activities and networking, that even now have to rush to present and represent my own country with some slovene candies and nice things. see you.

safely in Ada

did i say that it takes 2 hours and a bit to get from Belgrade to Ada? maybe for regular travelers, for me, it turn out to be 4 and half hour trip, on the way i managed to visit Novi Sad,  Bočaj and many other small villages till i finally reached Ada. how is it? it is around three times bigger as my home town, with very friendly and talented people and with great heart and big dreams. Life as in countryside, nothing changed or different, as sad as it in a way is, but positivism keeps and makes it better.

Participants in training? Yes, they are amazing too. As always i have the problem with names, but i will work hard to learn them asap :) My one of aims. all in all i like here, it is a great. Besides 25 participants, we have also thousands of trīsuļodi /have no idea on how to say in english, something like giant mosquitoes/ And yes, it was supposed to have wifi here, but as i am the lucky girl, then not for me, at least my computer do not want to see it :( pity.

What else. I think i have problems with cigarettes. Seriously. being part of EU and non smoking rule in public places, it is hard to get back in time to st in a bar where people smoke in your face, it feels like you are slowly dying. will see how these 7 days pass.

ok, time for some shower, socializing and sleep.

morning Belgrade.

yesterday snow appeared in Ljubljana, so i decided to go and look for warmer weather. ok, joking. the truth is that last minute and unexpected, but here i am, sitting in a nice restaurant with terrible morning coffee in rainy Belgrade. half way to my destination Ada. What is Ada? i guess its a village somewhere near Romania, got my bus ticket and still two hours or waiting for bus and then two more ahead to get there.

How did I get here? last friday an opportunity showed up and i took it. going for a training event, will see how it goes, a little bit worried that will get lost in Ada and nobody will pick me up, as the event already started yesterday and now they already start with sessions, and Im still stuck in Belgrade.

yesterday evening took train to come here. my longest train trip ever - 9 hours. when leaving in evening, you expect to have proper sleep, as 9 hours is the time to go, its also perfect for sleeping, but if you have 4 times passport control, 4 times ticket check and people coming in and out in most of stops in between, it is mission impossible. still tired, and still have more than 2 hour bus ride. my very first internal bus ride, hope the bus will be proper :)

and have to say, it is nice to be back in Belgrade, after two years, have to say, by first look nothing much have changed, its still the charmy ex Yugoslav city, the only good thing, now i was able to find a cafe with actual wifi internet and happy about it. ok, have to go now, to catch my bus. Ada, I am coming.

student fair - yes I was there too.

Za začetek je dovolj ideja. now i am home, outside is raining, but i don`t mind, it has been great day. instead of usual office hours, by midday we left for a student fair - event where many organizations comes together to make a promotion and tries to engage students in social/extra activities besides studies. I wish something like that would happen in more visible level in Riga. So...

a positive day.

Thanks Dan for pic, sorry, the sharpness is missing,
so next time ill ask Carl as he is our photo guru :)

morning 8.40, leaving to work by bike. it is quite smart idea, when outside temperature is barely 6-7C. a crazy way on how to wake up and be awake at work. so far have worked. how was my tuesday? busy l& crazy work day with an awesome monthly meeting, where we made follow ups on our targets and talked over things we are putting new focus. All in all two great hours of meeting. And with a part of Slovene BIG Donuts version. Besides meeting sending, answering e-mails, loud of e-mails. But i do like communication and its always fun to receive so different questions and opinions.

as it turn out, and it already have happened with me hundreds of times, then good things and opportunities comes when you least expect them. and again happen with me. What...well tell you in exaclty 2 days and some hours :) When it will be reality :)

All in all tomorrow will attend student NGO fare and Pillow fight, excited and will see how it turns out to be.

my old good truth.

today i realized how small is world, how fast time is passing, how cold autumn can be, and how many more dreams of me, i would like to make come true. life is short. enjoy the little things in life; for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things. 

Somehow have written down in my agenda - Life isn`t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself. 

weekend. part 2 - sunday

In a square very near my place, each day 

something happens, today flying  people.

a great free day. for a long time already i am planning to visit Zagreb in one of the weekends, not this one still. but im sure one or another but there will be time for me to go to Zagreb, all in all from Ljubjana its less than 2 hour drive. after yesterdays cold and freezing evening, i am finally recovered. hot tea and warm clothes, helps a lot, no cold caught. sundays in Ljubljana are the days when people relax, not much shopping, just sightseeing, go for a walk or find a nice place to enjoy your daily coffee. temperature outside not more than 14C, by night temperature goes down till 1C.

weekend. part 1 - Postojnska jama.

In train of Cave - me and
Andreja, Challenge:Future president ;)

weekend is almost over, some more hours left till i have to be back in office. yes. i am missing the entry yesterday. so today will try to wrap up also my adventures from yesterday. while reading my notes, why not to listen some music, i somehow started to listen THIS.

Yesterday was first day in a whole week, i was able to have proper sleep, more than usually, much more. Gave me bunch of energy, which was very useful during afternoon and evening...as we were going to Postojnska Jama also known as the famous slovene creature cave.

Had to make it very white, that you
can see the Cave. Me and Bistra

Thanks to a great youth organization in Slovenia Zavod Ypsilon, and as Challenge:Future being partners and friends, we went to celebrate their 2nd Anniversary. Never before had attended an event in Cave. Actually never been in a cave 5km deep and 600m low, and never seen caves where there are actual rocks instead of sand caves. Was great and amazing. ahh, and first time in life seeing real stone Stalactites and Stalagmites, they do exist and looks way much better than in photos i`ve seen. the touristic part of visiting the lake and creature in cave will happen another time, as we went there for event. How was event? For me, who is not even close of fully understanding slovene, i would say was good.

Portuguese cowards.

today i have nothing else to say, than today had to deal with cowardliness of portuguese. i believe in that everything you do in your life, gets to paid back one or another way. so just think on your actions and face them, not avoid. 

approximately 2850

that is the number of e-mails sent today. and the time in total spent on it not more than 5 hours in total, taking in account also answering on the incoming ones. how it is possible? well, today i was introduced with old and well known magical, and very easy technique called mail merge. thank you to creator of this stuff. amazing. internship is going very well, besides new things i am getting to know, the promotion have been great and interest about Challenge:Future have grown a lot. i am really happy to see that.

what else i am up to at the moment? well, besides work and being tired most of the times of this week, today also huge headache attacked me. but i tend to believe it will go away as it came soon enough, just have to have some proper sleep. goooooodnight.

nothing.

today i am finally exausted. A very busy and noisy day at work, finally our kitchen sink at home is fixed, so instead of dishwash we can also properly was our dishes by hand and save some water, not that uch because of extra costs, but just because in some places in world people die of lack of water, and here we are just over-wasting it.

nothing more in here from my side today. tired and need some rest. to be on the track tomorrow morning again.

game rules.

when living abroad i have experienced, learnt got to know other cultures, the differences. so far so good. but as new cultures appears, then new rules or characteristics comes up, and what is nice and acceptable for me, can be misunderstood for others. 

First of all, the old and great Southern tradition, a kiss on a cheek when meeting. after so many year experience of traveling around, i find it normal finally, after time in Spain, I actually start to like it. it is nice after all to have some body language involved while setting up the communication. How do we greet people and friends in Latvia usually? Well, we just say "Hi.", sometimes guys shake the hands. And when its official meeting, then everyone shake the hands. well, with some closer friends we also do some hugging, but its not that common, mostly just "Hi" is enough. So you understand why southern traditions are surprise for us.