Adventures of my life...

Where do I start? How should I capture magic of ITC 2007? Let me just put down my thoughts as they come to me….Sitting in my room in London, listening to the CD with traditional Romanian music I’m letting my mind fly back to ITC and I will try to listen to my naked heart and let it shine here for everyone….I wish this experience and this feeling to everybody…feeling of humanity, feeling of feeling so much that you cannot hold it anywhere anymore, feeling of unity, togetherness, feeling of impact, feeling of AIESEC, feeling of people, feeling of living….ITC was for me a lot about feelings. It started as a regular conference….roll calls, parties, sessions, home groups…but it finished as touching experience….
Why?...Well, why not?...But let me capture some of the moments of ITC 2007…

I hugged every member of my home group as a welcome to the team. Just a hug…I also hugged every member of my group as a goodbye. Just a hug? No, it was much more then…something has changed, something has grown inside us and between us, something that it’s hard to put into words….why was everyone by the end of the conference hugging everyone so much? We were all so connected; it was one unit, one big circle on the beach during a sunrise….

After the Training Day for the Romanian students, one student stood up and said: ‘Thank you, guys. You have changed my attitude. People in Romania believe that chances are not the same, that we here don’t have so many opportunities. You gave me the confidence, you showed me that the most important thing is, I can see that there are people like me in other countries and how many similarities we have’….Few minutes later I looked around the room and saw people exchanging emails with the facilitators and also between themselves, I saw people talking to each other, being genuinely interested in each other, standing in circles and not wanting to leave…all after 4 hours of training…I remember one member of the Home group saying: I want to scream….and we all said…then why not to scream? And he screamed! Screamed from happiness…and the whole Bucharest probably heard him…and then we all hugged and I could not say more then “I’m proud of you”…I’m proud of those people who came together as individuals and then few days later made such an impact on 40 students together, as a team….Later we were sitting on a bus and reading feedback from the Romanian students….suddenly we all start to share, how are we feeling, what happened during last couple of days…people smiled, people cried, people laughed….I felt that we were all shining….our heart were shining through our eyes and smiles….During one break on our journey back to the venue, I met other delegates with these powerful smiles and not present looks. One girl said: “One student gave me this bracelet. She said that she just wanted to give me something in return”…When meeting others I just smiled, they smiled back and we know….we smiled in silence…speechless from the experience…I guess I believe in magic…there was a magic on the bus from Bucharest to Mamaia on the evening of April 19th, 2007…There were too many shining naked hearts…

…During one evening plenary, one guy brought his guitar and started to sing…everyone sang along the song ONE from U2. And I have never felt more like ‘ONE’ with a group of 140 people from 30 different countries in one room. I wish I could transform the moment to as many people as possible. The connection, energy, passion that was in the room, the tears that were rolling down my cheeks as I enjoyed that very moment of integrity, humanity, moment of pure happiness of being right there at that time…..

My dearest faci team…the dialogues we have during our faci post meeting almost every evening are unforgettable…what is the power of circle? How do we influence each other? How can the mood, flow, energy, tears change so much from one round to the other? What is your impact on others? What is the circle impact on individual?.....those are my questions now….

Why not? That was the name of my home group and in context of powerful questions, dialogues, world cafes etc. I can not think of any name more fitting to this conference…”Should we go for a swim? - Why not?”..during one coffee break we holded hands, shouted: ‘Why? WHY NOT!” and ran into the freezing cold Black See….and screamed and screamed and screamed….what a crazy team experience…

Being authentic meditation…Authentic…What does it really mean? What does it mean to be authentic? What is the true essence in you?...Thanks to ITC, I’m closer to my authentic me…

Being present meditation….What does it mean being present? How to be fully present?...I’m asking if I’m really present in this room right now, in this city for last 2 days? …I don’t think so, I’m still in Romania, trying to come back…but somehow I want part of myself to stay there, to always remember the powerful moments of ITC 2007, to remember all the conversations, the hugs, the smiles, to bring back the honesty, the true myself, the humanity, the integrity, the power to make things happen, the team spirit, the connections, the love, the passion for education and development, the similarities between people and also differences…

just imagine…

What would happen if the world would be for 1 minute like we were at ITC?
What would happen if we were living our lives to be shining naked hearts?

I feel a responsibility…how to pay it forward? How to make ITC more then just an impactful conference…What can I do now? What can we do?...

I guess, I’m starting with myself...

Vim, ze uz jsem tu dlouho nic neprispela. Není to tim, ze by se tu nic nedelo, spise se toho delo tolik, ze zapisky uz tolik nestiham, nebo jsem trochu lina. Od unora bydlim s Urvi z Indie a z Anne Karine z Holandska. Obe dve jsou to AIESECarky, Urvi je od ledna clenkou naseho UK MC a Anne Karine je praktikantka v jedne londynske firme. Bydlime spolu v jednom apartmanu, kde ma kazda svuj vcelku velky pokoj a pak mame i spolecny obyvak, kuchyn a koupelnu. Na office uz ted tedy dojizdim kazdy den 30 min, ale za to bydlim nekde, kde je uplne super atmosfera. Internet tam nemame, resp. mame ilegalne pouze obcas, kdyz je pripojeny i soused, takze se po vecerech nevenuju internetu, ale spis nekam zajdeme, nebo jen tak kecame, ctu si...atd. Zkratka docela zmena oproti memu predchozimu bydleni s korejkama. Je to tam opravdu moc moc fajn....Jinak cas bezi jako sileny, uz je skoro konec dubna a me uz zbyvaji jen 3 mesice do konce meho pobytu tady....Od pristiho tydne navic na office budeme uz bez Laury nasi MCP, ktera se dostala do AIESEC International, takze ji tam od 1. kvetna zacina transition.

No a co se tedy udalo od meho posledniho prispevku? Meli jsme narodni konferenci AIESECu UK, kde byli zvoleni nasi nastupci. Taky od ledna koucuju tri londynske Lccka, coz me moc bavi a dava mi to vetsi kontakt s LC realitou a taky trochu treninku do budoucna S Ondrou jsme byli na tydenni lyzovacce v Dolomitech. Dobra parta lidi, dost snehu, proste paradni tyden! Ani jsem se moc v Londyne nezdrzela a uz jsem letela domu do Cech na Velikonoce. Ted sedim na letisti v Rumunsku, v Bukuresti. A protoze muj let byl o 7 hodin opozden, rada bych se trochu vice zminila o tom, co jsem tu posledni tyden zazila. Byla jsem tu totiz na tzv. International Trainers Congress.....

Vazeni a mily,
tak jsem se konecne dokopala k tomu napsat prvni prispevek roku 2007. No, poprejme si nejprve, jak se slusi a patri, vse nejlepsi do noveho roku, hlavne zdravi, to je nejdulezitejsi a pak pratelstvi a optimismus.
Musim se ve zkratce zminit o tom, jak moc krasne bylo onech 14 dni, ktere jsem stravila o Vanocich v Cechach a na Slovensku. Doma skvela vanocni pohoda provonena cukrovim, povidani se segrou do ctyr do rana, cas straveny s holkama od nas ze Zamberka, pak nadhernych par dni na chate v Tatrach s Ondrou a bezva prateli z AIESECu...no, priznam se, ze mi bylo tak moc dobre, ze se mi hrozne tezko odjizdelo...
Vsem moc dekuju, ty Vanoce a Silvestr byli super jedine diky Vam!

Po par dnech aklimatizace na pracovni prostredi a Londyn, vse zacalo zase bezet, tak jak ma. Do naseho MC tymu nam pribyla dalsi clenka, Urvi z Indie. Cerstvi vitr, nova energie a taky si moc dobre rozumime, takze je to moc fajn.

Pred chvili jsem se vratila z vikendoveho vyletu do Nottinghamu, mesta Robina Hooda. Rikala jsem se si, ze konecne uvidim pravy Sherwood, ne ten pred hlavnim nadrazim v Praze
Navstivili jsme mistni hrad, jeskyne a taky atrakci venovanou prave Robinu Hoodovi. Nakonec jsem se ale stejne nedozvedela, zda existoval nebo ne. V Lonely Planet pisou, ze je to jen legenda, ale na kazdem sprochu pravdy trochu, ne?

My jsme Robina Hooda potkali hned v patek vecer, kdyz jsme do Nottinghamu prijeli. Byla nas skupina asi 10 lidi a sli jsme smerem do bytu 2 mistnich praktikantu, u kterych jsme byli ubytovani. Nahle se vedle nas objevil muz stredniho veku se psem a retezem v ruce a zacal opakovat: "Give me some money, give me some money" (Dejte mi penize!). No, rikali jsme si, ze to asi bude nejaky mistni ozrala, preci jenom nas bylo deset a ten jeho pejsek vypadal docela pratelsky. Takze jsme se ho snazili ignorovat a pokracovat v chuzi. On si pak ale stoupnul pred nas, chrastil retezem a stale opakoval "Give me some money, give me the fucking money! I have a gun in my pocket (Mam v kapse pistoli)".Cela skupina se najednou zastavila. Vsichni stali a mlceli. Ma ji nebo nema? Co ted? No, nebudeme tam prece jen tak stat. Pomalu jsme se tedy posunuli a postupne lidi ze zadu presli dopredu, prosmykli se co nejdal od neho a pokracovali v chuzi, zatim co par kluku v predu "Robina" hypnotizovali pohledem. Z nasi strany nepadlo ani slovo. Uz to vypadalo, ze je vsechno v poradku, jenze kdyz uz kolem neho prochazel posledni kluk z Francie, ozval se zvuk retezu. Ohledla jsem se a videla jsem jak pes bezi pres silnici a "Robin" odchazi za nim. Uf, pomyslela jsem si a pockali jsme, az nas dojdou ty posledni dva kluci. Guillaume ale krvacel. Bohuzel ho ten Robin prastil retezem do ucha. Najednou jsme slyseli zvuk policejniho auta. Asi to nebyl Robinuv prvni pokus o kradez tento vecer, policie uz ho hledala. Nasmerovali jsme je spravnym smerem. Pozdeji se policicajti i vratili a Guillaume a Hakan stravili noc sepisovanim protokolu apod...

No..."bohatym" chtel brat, ale jestli by i chudym dal, kdo vi....Takovy je soucasny Robin Hood.

Opet jsem se ujistila v tom, ze Londyn neni zadna exotika, jako Costa Rica, Panama ci Taiwan, kde nekteri mi kamaradi vzpominaji s nostalgii na svou rodnou zem, ale vskutku kosmopolitni mesto. Dnesni duvod se jmenuje "Czechoslovak Club" (cti cesko-slovenska restaurace,vzdalena asi hodku jizdy metrem od AIESEC office, o niz jsem se dozvedela tento tyden). Trvalo mi necelych 24 hodin nez jsem zorganizovala vypravu hladovych krku plnych ocekavani po me propagaci ceske kuchyne. Vyrazili jsme. Mira meho nadseni: 90%. Po zhruba 60ti minutach vchazime dovnitr. Cisnik v cerne kosili a cernych kalhotech nas zdravi s jasnym ceskym prizvukem. Odpovidam cesky a prohodim par ceskych vet i s dalsimi Cechy a Slovaky v predsini. Mira nadseni:100%. Usedame ke stolu v restauraci. Cisnik prinasi typicke desky s napisem MENU. Oteviram a ctu....cely nas stul se naramne bavi, kdyz ja propukam v navaly radosti provazene vykriky jako: "Oh, they have SVICKOVA....Nakladany Hermelin....Bramborak....oh,my god...fruit dumplings...etc" Objednavam pro vsechny, vysvetluju, co vse znamana a rozplyvam se nad naramne dobre vychlazenym tocenym Budvarem v pravem ceskem tuplaku! Mira nadseni 150%. (ne, nejsem alkoholik, jen dokazu ocenit a representovat ceskou kulturu ...Prinaseji jidlo. Ochutnavame. Nadseni:350%. Vsem chutna a chvali a opravdu dojidaji sve porce do posledniho sousta! (=pocta ceske kuchyni od zastupcu Polska, Madarska, Brazilie, Indie, Anglie a Nemecka). Nadseni:400%. Prinesaji nam ucet. Nadseni: 70%...Nostalgicke prepocitani konecne sumy na koruny...Ale coz, bylo to dobre, temer jako od maminky. Odchazime typicky cesky prejedeni a planujeme dalsi navstevu! Je moc fajn, ze jsem zde nasla kousek Cech, o ktery se muzu hrde podelit s mymi mistnimi prateli!

I kdyz se to tak muze z toho prispevku zdat, tak to vse neni pouze o jidle...
Cim to je, ze kdyz jsme v zahranici nahle nam nase rodna zem tak nejak chybi a dokazeme ocenit kazdou malickost, ktera se nejak poji s Ceskoslovenskem, ale kdyz jsme doma, tak si stale na neco stezujeme?

Ke svym narozenim jsem sobe a mym spolubydlicim uvarila darek. Myslim, ze 1 obrazek je za 100 slov