From Novosibirsk with Love!!

Hi AIESEC Singapore!!!

Greetings from Russia!

It has been quite long since I am able to access TraineeSG…
It has been quite long since I am able to post something too:D.
I miss Singapore sooo much:)!

As there are a lot of historical events happening in @ Singapore these weeks (E.g. National Planning), there have been a lot of things happened in my internship too!

Few highlights:

-Seeing SNOW for the first time in my life :D. In the summer season!!!!!
-My solo backpacking trip to the largest, deepest, and oldest freshwater lake in the world (Lake BAIKAL) which is 66-hours away by train from my city Novosibirsk.
-Having a 94 HOURS total of Trans-Siberian train trips
-Flying on a GLIDER! (http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Glider) My dream come true!!!
-Representing my company to do a SPEECH in the convocation dinner of a local university.
-Becoming a JUDGE for a business plan competition. (Conducted in Russian Language)
-Meeting an old friend ANDREY Kokulenko (NLDS 06 Faci) during my trip around 8 Russian cities
-Doing country presentations to local students for MORE than 16 times
-Etc

Those are just few, out of many experiences that I had in the past few weeks.
If I have to continue the list, it will be more than 50 more things :D.

Of course I can share those things above long-windedly, but I would save the time by sharing one thing that is relevant with what's happening in @ Singapore now:

"Conquering Natural Challenges with AIESEC Spirit"

*Natural Challenge #1: geography

Having lived in Indonesia and Singapore, it is not a rocket science to see one of the biggest differences between AIESEC in these two countries: The distance between LCs.

In Indonesia, it takes many many hours to travel between LCs that are located in different islands.
In Singapore, it takes less than 1 hour and 20 minutes to travel between LCs.

But in Russia…. EBs in many LCs need to travel for more than 60 HOURS (one way) to attend the national planning. Not to mention the duration of the planning itself and the return trip!Nevertheless, EB teams from all LCs attended the planning. Complete EB teams.

This fact has made me think a lot about the significant benefit that AIESEC Singapore has: shorter traveling distance and therefore, longer working time.

Then I started to think about myself in the past:
- I always complained about the time that I had to spend in attending national planning
- I always complained about the tiredness of going to AIESEC events in city area or other LCs

Surprisingly, AIESECers here don't perceive 60 hours traveling time as a reason of not going for national planning or to attend conferences in other cities.

AIESECers here conquer the natural challenges with AIESEC spirit.

*Natural challenge #2: weather

Winter in Siberia can be as cold as -43 degree Celcius.
Warm weather, which allows Siberian to live normally like in other places, only happens 3 months in a year. To cut it short, weather here are always shitty.

Moreover, traveling time from members' house to meeting venues can be as far as two hours. And of course, going out in such shitty weather equals to a lot of sufferings!

However, AIESEC members here are very very very eager to attend AIESEC events.
Somehow they don't see bad weather as a reason for not attending @ events such as weekly LC gathering, Insight XP training, or welcome parties.

(FYI, AIESECers here conducted InsightXP training with blackboard and chalk! They don't have the pleasure of using projectors like @ Singapore, therefore they have to spend a lot of time drawing the menus instead of using a "print screen")

Then I started to think again about myself in the past:
- I always complained about how uncomfortable it is to go out and attend @ meetings
- I always complained about how hot it is to go out and attend a company meeting

Despite of the natural challenges here in Siberia, LC NSU (my hosting LC) was crowned as the second top LC in the world in a TN-raising competition, just second after LC Bucharest.
Despite of the natural challenges here, LC NSU is one of the most aggressive LCs in the world.

AIESECers here conquer the natural challenges with AIESEC spirit.

After comparing my situation back then in @ Singapore with what @ers here face, I started to think:
- Was I really that lazy just due to the traveling time? (1 hour and 20 minutes in Singapore is nothing compare to 70 hours in Russia)
- Was I really that weak that I didn't want to go to many events just because of the bad weather? (sunny Singapore is not as bad as -43 degree celcius)
- Or was I just too lazy to realize that the real challenge lies in my head, not in the environment?

Now I have clearly seen that the challenges actually lie in my head.
And that is why I share these things with you. I believe that it is quite inspiring to see an extreme case from an LC in Siberia. A very very good LC from Siberia. And then to be grateful of the advantages & privileges that we have in Singapore.

Firstly I thought that these phenomenons happen due to the different educational culture in the two countries: Russians can skip more tutorials / classes than AIESECers in Singapore.

But, believe me!
Russians have the same pressure as us in Singapore to complete bachelor degrees with perfect grades!
As a growing market, it is impossible for Russian students to get jobs with average marks. They have to spend lots of time studying and hell a lot of time attending classes too.

The real challenges are not in the environment. It's in my head.

That is just one thing that has been circulating in my mind for the past few weeks.

Now I feel much better after sharing this with @ers in Singapore.

--

Having lived in a country where 1.5 litres of beer costs the same as 0.5 litre of coke, it is quite interesting to see many things that don't exist in any part of the world.
However, I would like to save these unique things for my next postings. :).

I'm sorry that I can't post any photos this time.
It is quite impossible for me to upload files, due to the slow internet connection.

Do wait for more updates from Siberia!
Have fun, everyone in Singapore!

All the best for the ongoing national planning!

Best Regards,
-dei-
23/06/07

From Dnepropetrovsk With Love

Privet Patsani!

Hope everyone is doing great in Singapore (or wherever you're now J). I am back to update my life here in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Warning: I am going to write in a casual style and this is going to be a LONG email.


Time flies…I am left with less than 3 weeks here in Ukraine and I am really glad I made the right choice to come here. I had a more than superb experience here, full of ups and downs (with more ups for sure), happiness and frustrations.

To summarize, some of my great experiences and encounters for the past 1.5 months:
- I drink more juices than water (tap water is not consumable and sometimes I can't find water without soda)
- I go to the beach more times than during my 4-year stay in Singapore. I am darker than when I first arrived in Ukraine *haha
- I eat potato just like I eat rice in Asia. Long live potato!
- My students range from 6-40 over years old. From students to businessman. Challenging yet fulfilling!
- Usually girls greet others (the ones they know) with a kiss on the cheek and thus I've kissed hundreds times within this period (much more than my whole life)
- I've got locked up outside my flat 3 times as of now. The main door closes at 11pm. So, I've had woken other people up to open the door for me. Great exercise and full of adrenaline -__-''
- My first Local Committee Congress just because we don't have this in Singapore. Ochin kruta! Freaking cool!
- There was once when I forgot to take out my purse from my laptop bag. I hopped onto a marshrutka and well…. I didn't pay for it when I realized that I couldn't locate my purse. Gosh..
- For AIESEC Night Walk, we went for my first boat ride around Dnepr river, picnic under the stars, Treasure Quest, stayed on the beach at dusk and looked at the sunset while freezing myself
- I don't like drinking but it's a normal scene and activity in Ukraine. So, I've tested Vodka with berry, Vodka and juice, champagne and red wine. Not bad… although all were in small quantity due to skin allergic.
- We played some crazy scary games that kinda freaked me out (for God's sake….I am crazy but at a standard Asian's level)
- I went for a 2-week Summer Camp. My first Summer Camp because we don't have any Summer Camp in Indonesia/Msia/ Singapore. It's at a summer cottage with swimming pool, tennis and football court, open stage and disco area, dining hall and dorm. My previous camp required me to share a tent with 8 more people and we had to cook our own water to drink, and it's in a mountain. So, it's different kind of Summer Camp (of course, this is an exception as it was organized by a private school).
- We visited Donetsk twice (4 hour/way). The second one was last weekend where we participated in @Donetsk public Global Village. Two thumbs up!
- My first rock-climbing experience at Donetsk and for ONLY 1USD. Scary at first but relieved and proud after that *yippie kaye..
- A surprise Birthday party for me from the AIESECers. I really had a great time. One of the best Bdae ever and it makes it more difficult to leave these people. I am gonna miss them for sure.
- As a girl, I've bought my first shirt, jacket, shorts and a pair of new shoes… more to come *hahaha
- …. Goes on and on

Here are some additional observations and info to add up the one that I posted previously:
- There are many undergraduates for Economics, Law and Foreign languages. Economics seem to be the most popular specialization due to the opportunities that it offers once they graduate ( e.g. salary and employment opps)
- The education system: 10 years of primary education (Grade 1 to 10) and continues with 6 years university education (Higher Diploma on the 4 th year and Master on the 6th. So, they have a Bachelor defence on their 4th year). However, as what I was informed, the primary education will be prolonged to 12 years.
- Majority of the boys like football and Shevchenko is definitely one of their idols. Meanwhile, the girls usually take dance classes or other types of sports like tennis. I learn that many of my students take hip hop or ballroom dancing and tennis classes. Volleyball is not really popular here *huhuhu
- Western bands and singers are quite popular here too, from Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake to Deep Purple. However, majority likes electro, minimalist, techno or house music kind. I can hear this almost in every shop, from cars, mobile phones and MP3.
- Generally, the youth looks older than Asians in my humble opinion. It may be due to their physical built, make-up, lifestyle and so on. The good thing is… I look younger here ^o^
- Gentleman acts like giving their hands to help the girls on the tram, stairs, etc and giving seats to the girls/elderly people, opening doors for girls, and so on is more common here than what I know in Asia. So guys… a lesson to learn here.
- Girls usually know how to cook. Eating out is expensive and thus it is important to be able to cook proper meals. Girls… our turn to learn here.
- As part of USSR influence, the streets' names are recognition to famous and influential people, such as politicians, poets and so on (Karl Marx, Lenin, Artem, Shevchenko, etc)
- ….

As a foreigner (even in the Lion City), one question that people never missed to ask is: "Do you like the country?" To be fair, I have to frankly reply: YES!! Of course there're times when I feel down and frustrated over things. For instance, in Ukraine I can't really find spicy food which I like (I'm from Indonesia anyway), there is not as much variety of fruits and vegetables compare to the tropical countries, it's hard to find English publications (except online), the movies on the TV and cinema are all dubbed, shoes are costly compare to Indonesia/Msia/ Spore *hohoho* and as a shoe-lover this is challenging, the staffs at the shops are less smiley compare to Asians, no Starbucks and thus I've been abstaining from my fave Frappucino and so on.

Aside from these, the fact that I don't speak Russian/Ukrainian makes it hard to go around at times, even with my own students and teachers at school. But of course, it's fun learning new words and sentences everyday. It's not an easy language with its complex pronunciation and grammar. They may laugh when I pronounce some words, but they were also patiently teaching me the language. In return, I taught some Chinese words and had fun laughing too. 1:1

However, I love Ukrainian food. From Borsch (soup with potato and veggie), Blinchiki (pancake) to Bublik ( Russia's traditional cookie). I like its songs and melodies (the only national channel that I watch is EmOne, a music channel). I like the comprehensive public transport. They have tram, bus, minibus, marshrutka, trolley bus, taxi, metro and so on. They serve even from cities to cities, making it easy to travel around. The fact that I stay near the city centre makes it easier for me to travel around. From European Square, MOCT shopping centre, Historical Museum, Globa Park, Shevchenko Park to the beach, all are within walking distance of 25-30 minutes. I also like the kiosk on the streets, making it easy to buy drinks and snacks. And the list continues….

Still, the one and most important reason why I love my stay here is… the FRIENDS that I met here. The students and teachers are friendly and fun to be with. Although many of them don't really speak English, they're trying their best to communicate. The children are so cute that they started to teach as many Russian words as possible, mess my hair, greet, hug and tickle me (sometimes they really clung onto and kiss me), ask me to play Tuki-tuki (hide and seek) and catch-and-run with them, hide my bag and many more.

Yet, my biggest salute goes to the AIESECers. They are simply incredible. Every weekend, I am rest assured that I'll have things to do or places to visit. During my free time, I'll have someone accompanying me and we'll have great time discussing and hanging out. I've had lotsa great times doing crazy things, discussing great topics, finding out about the people themselves and their views while sharing mine, testing new food and drinks, visiting places while observing how the country works. If one day I returned to Ukraine, the biggest reason would be to meet them again.

Time is running out very fast. I just have to make the most from what I have on my hands. So, I hope you all had a great life wherever, whoever and whenever you are! Be happy J

'Happiness comes from within'


p.s: Congratz to the @SIPO MC and the LCs EB team for 2007/2008 on their National Planning. Heard it was successful and the @spirits were splendid. I am so happy and proud for you all. Keep the spirit!


Hugz,
Dianochka ^.*

(Dee on 27/06/07)

Last Words...

AIESEC in NUS…

One year has come and gone, in a flash.

Before I realized my journey started, it had ended.

As your outgoing LCP, and your friend, I have to say that it has been my great pleasure, my honour, to have been considered your leader for the year 2006-2007. Without a doubt, I can say that it contributed so much, beyond words, to my development, my self-awareness, my goals. I also found myself at the end of this journey with a bunch of cool and great people to call my friends, and those that I already considered as friends, even closer.

To say that the experience was great, is a severe understatement.

And where I am standing right now, I find myself at the end of one journey, only to be at the beginning of another.

AIESEC in NUS, you will always have your place in my heart, and all the memories of this year will be in my heart and my soul.

Although I may sound so dramatic and final, I will actually still be very much around. And I definitely look forward to the next few years of phenomenal growth that I know will happen.

You guys, all of you, are a great bunch of people, and deserve success and greatness. Go and achieve it.

Cheers to 2006/2007…. Cheers to 2007/2008!

And cheers to AIESEC NUS!

Imran