Invisible Paths
30 June 2005
Ausl�nderausweis
Livret pour �trangers
Libretto per stranieri
Legitimaziun d'esters
...these wonderful words adorn the cover of the lilac coloured bookled containing that which makes me perfectly legal in Switzerland!!! After some back and forth, and time spent waiting in some public office with a ticket obtained from a machine after pushing the "Ausl�nder" button (of course the Swiss queue moves quicker than the one for foreigners) I got my permission to stay and work for 364 days :-)
Very cool.
Not so cool are the IT problems I am facing at the moment... It is no secret that our server in the office is slowly dying, but now my own computer is going a bit crazy. I spent 2 hours on the Apple helpline, and now the guy I spoke to told me to call back in the morning so that I can talk to some "specialists" who can apparently sort out whatever may be wrong with my beloved ibook... It (no, actually, she) does not want to connect with the printer, and then all kinds of programmes crash... not really mac-like. I hope I do not have to spend all day tomorrow wiping off and re-installing everything, which the guy I spoke to vaguely insinuated. Ahhhhh the joys of IT.
Also I discovered that the Safari browser does not display the tool on aiesec.net properly which I will have to use to update our aiesec.ch website. All it shows is crazy html code, which is not even sorted, but in a big block, making it hard to distinguish and read it. Great.
Well. Tomorrow we are taking over!! Wow. So I really am going to be MCVPER tomorrow. Will I be able to live up to my own expectations? Maybe this is not the right question to ask? Maybe I should rather ask about all the things I will learn and figure out on the way. The learning curve is not going to flatten any time soon, that is for sure!
What an opportunity, what a life!
And like Sabi and I were saying just now, the most important thing that the four of us (Rob, Zuzka, Sabi and I) pull it through. And we will.
Libretto per stranieri
Legitimaziun d'esters
...these wonderful words adorn the cover of the lilac coloured bookled containing that which makes me perfectly legal in Switzerland!!! After some back and forth, and time spent waiting in some public office with a ticket obtained from a machine after pushing the "Ausl�nder" button (of course the Swiss queue moves quicker than the one for foreigners) I got my permission to stay and work for 364 days :-)
Very cool.
Not so cool are the IT problems I am facing at the moment... It is no secret that our server in the office is slowly dying, but now my own computer is going a bit crazy. I spent 2 hours on the Apple helpline, and now the guy I spoke to told me to call back in the morning so that I can talk to some "specialists" who can apparently sort out whatever may be wrong with my beloved ibook... It (no, actually, she) does not want to connect with the printer, and then all kinds of programmes crash... not really mac-like. I hope I do not have to spend all day tomorrow wiping off and re-installing everything, which the guy I spoke to vaguely insinuated. Ahhhhh the joys of IT.
Also I discovered that the Safari browser does not display the tool on aiesec.net properly which I will have to use to update our aiesec.ch website. All it shows is crazy html code, which is not even sorted, but in a big block, making it hard to distinguish and read it. Great.
Well. Tomorrow we are taking over!! Wow. So I really am going to be MCVPER tomorrow. Will I be able to live up to my own expectations? Maybe this is not the right question to ask? Maybe I should rather ask about all the things I will learn and figure out on the way. The learning curve is not going to flatten any time soon, that is for sure!
What an opportunity, what a life!
And like Sabi and I were saying just now, the most important thing that the four of us (Rob, Zuzka, Sabi and I) pull it through. And we will.
26 June 2005
belli
I miss you, Joana and Riccardo... what I would give to come over to Rosebery now to hang out a bit... maybe some ice cream... hehe, and free lemonades thanks to Joana's negotiation skills!
Joana, Riccardo, and I.
Joana, Riccardo, and I.
legendary BBQ on the roof in London
Before I left London, we had another legendary BBQ on our famous roof... this time without melting it! The pictures say more than a thousand words...
24 June 2005
green trees under long bridge...
... between my new home, and the MC office. And warm air greeting me when I stepped out of the small airplane in Basel some two weeks (that seem like eternity) ago. Since then I have had the fast track overview of global and Swiss (AIESEC) reality, zoomed in on the various subsystems, discussed everything from the fax machine to the various objectives of each stage in the people system. A list of topics with the urgent need for discussion, and an ever growing list of cool ideas in the back of my notebook. And now meeting most of our National Support Group Companies with Lukas.
Also, yesterday, the transition party, on a day which started with coffee in the warm office with Sabi and Peter, looking for presents for the outgoing MC with Sabi (a travel hammock for Caro, a comic that makes fun of the Swiss for Gudrun, a book about writing movie scripts for Lukas, and finally a Swiss diary 05-06 for Rob, who is staying with us!! May he use it wisely ;-)
Then more coffee and watermelon to fight fatigue and heat, while preparing the "side" dishes for a BBQ at Eichholz on the banks of the Aare... Sabi and I ventured bravely to reserve a place down there, sandwiched between other groups getting ready to BBQ. A fantastic Swiss German word for BBQing: "grillieren"... Nadja and I (as being part of an unofficial German club) thought this word to be highly amusing, while the Swiss viewed us with bewilderment.
Before most of our guests from the LCs arrived, I had my "virgin voyage" floating down the Aare: a great Bernese tradition to cool off. On warm days half the citizens of the city of Bern can be found walking upstream, then jumping into the fast flowing brilliantly blue and cold stream, the strong current carrying them quickly away. The river is dotted with heads, some people clinging on to dingies or floaties, but most just enjoying the trip all the way down to Marzili. Along the river various escape stairs wait for the floaters... and have to be quickly gripped, or the jouney continues. Highlight of my trip: jumping off a small bridge... rushing memories of the Falls Bridge in Blue Hill Falls, Maine.
The evening continued with the aforementioned BBQ, beer, wine etc. until heavy summer rain forced all of us to take refugee in the MC office. Catching up with all the people I knew already from KICK-OFF, getting to know others, a sentimental Caro addressing all of us, speaking of her love to our organisation. The passion in her eyes I will never forget.
Thank you to all who came, and made this transition night so special.
Also, yesterday, the transition party, on a day which started with coffee in the warm office with Sabi and Peter, looking for presents for the outgoing MC with Sabi (a travel hammock for Caro, a comic that makes fun of the Swiss for Gudrun, a book about writing movie scripts for Lukas, and finally a Swiss diary 05-06 for Rob, who is staying with us!! May he use it wisely ;-)
Then more coffee and watermelon to fight fatigue and heat, while preparing the "side" dishes for a BBQ at Eichholz on the banks of the Aare... Sabi and I ventured bravely to reserve a place down there, sandwiched between other groups getting ready to BBQ. A fantastic Swiss German word for BBQing: "grillieren"... Nadja and I (as being part of an unofficial German club) thought this word to be highly amusing, while the Swiss viewed us with bewilderment.
Before most of our guests from the LCs arrived, I had my "virgin voyage" floating down the Aare: a great Bernese tradition to cool off. On warm days half the citizens of the city of Bern can be found walking upstream, then jumping into the fast flowing brilliantly blue and cold stream, the strong current carrying them quickly away. The river is dotted with heads, some people clinging on to dingies or floaties, but most just enjoying the trip all the way down to Marzili. Along the river various escape stairs wait for the floaters... and have to be quickly gripped, or the jouney continues. Highlight of my trip: jumping off a small bridge... rushing memories of the Falls Bridge in Blue Hill Falls, Maine.
The evening continued with the aforementioned BBQ, beer, wine etc. until heavy summer rain forced all of us to take refugee in the MC office. Catching up with all the people I knew already from KICK-OFF, getting to know others, a sentimental Caro addressing all of us, speaking of her love to our organisation. The passion in her eyes I will never forget.
Thank you to all who came, and made this transition night so special.
20 June 2005
N-A-T-A-L-I-A (about time to post this!)
Some people become friends, some because they are so different from each other's personality, some because they are so similar. Like Natalia and I. Amazing to meet someone from such a different background, culture, reality, and to figure out that we have so much in common. hehe, attitudes, ideas, ideals, dreams.... and so on.
Roadtrip through Cornwall
Runs along the Thames
Trips to the gym
Lunch in the student lounge (with Dama and Michael!!)
Dinners at Natalia's house
Frisbee in Hyde Park (or Greenwich Park)
Study sessions....
Cooking, baking, eating ;)
Caring for each other whenever, wherever, unconditionally.
Roadtrip through Cornwall
Runs along the Thames
Trips to the gym
Lunch in the student lounge (with Dama and Michael!!)
Dinners at Natalia's house
Frisbee in Hyde Park (or Greenwich Park)
Study sessions....
Cooking, baking, eating ;)
Caring for each other whenever, wherever, unconditionally.
11 June 2005
this one is for Damaris
Sharing a house with other people can often provide "challenges", stories about bad flatmate relationships are abundant.
Not with Dama... two perfect years of sharing our home: cooking chatting studying chatting crying chatting laughing dreaming chatting making dinners breakfasts teas coffees chatting reading. Few people are as compassionate, intelligent, beautiful, reliable, and funny like Damaris.
Dama, thank you for being the friend that you are, for the great times we had in 3a Britannia Street, London WC1X 9JT.
LSE would have not been half as great without you and the home we made for ourselves.
I love you. And started missing you as you walked out of the door a few minutes ago. At least our lives as nomads are taking us both to Switzerland. Coffees will be shared.
Damaris on our roof yesterday at breakfast.
Not with Dama... two perfect years of sharing our home: cooking chatting studying chatting crying chatting laughing dreaming chatting making dinners breakfasts teas coffees chatting reading. Few people are as compassionate, intelligent, beautiful, reliable, and funny like Damaris.
Dama, thank you for being the friend that you are, for the great times we had in 3a Britannia Street, London WC1X 9JT.
LSE would have not been half as great without you and the home we made for ourselves.
I love you. And started missing you as you walked out of the door a few minutes ago. At least our lives as nomads are taking us both to Switzerland. Coffees will be shared.
Damaris on our roof yesterday at breakfast.
