Signs!

There are two amazing things that happened to me last week...

The first one:

Since I got this job I have been saying that is like a gift! You should know I do believe in signs, how is this for a sign: When I was given with the password to check our hosting services and I found out that they register the domain for the website and the system on the 11th of May (my birthday!)

The second one:

Throwing away old papers from my bag I found a paper I used to write some words when leaving Turkey at the border with Bulgaria in my way to Macedonia... Here is what I wrote:

At the border; reading about myself in pages of the past.

Rediscovering who I was, who I am.

Realizing I've changed - a lot - for a while.

Searching for words to express what my light thoughts are.

Thinking of heavy luggage; thinking of closing circles, of going in the quest for an unfinished one, an important one.

To say thanks, to move on.

Deep inside, I know there is a better me that already exists.

The curves of my life's road have carved new features and have also polished others.

I am a traveler, and in the way I keep on shaping myself.

There is no picture of the final me.

There is the intention of letting the complete power of every moment posses me, dig deep on me, and transform me constantly in a dance of joy with life, with the universe.

I am happy.

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So, I am in the right track! Signs are everywhere, and I believe on them.

Just for you to see my new working space, here you have some pics of my office... This is my new environment, really cool, creative and full of awesome and beautiful individuals :)

Cheers,

Dey

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In the right place at the right time...

Everyday, throughout the researches I am running for my new job, I find that I am in the right place at the right time...
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In the UK alone, a recent YouGov survey found that 67% of British holidaymakers intend to use the internet to conduct most or all of their travel planning next year. There are many other statistics to support the fact that online marketing - search and booking - now comprise a major part of travel sales.

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A post to read you!

This post is not for you to read any of my stories...







This post is for me to read your answers in the comments part of my blog :)

What three things you will do if you are asked to spice up your life?

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers and have a spicy life!

Dey

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My life as Alumni - contribution first steps...

During October I had the chance to attend the info sessions of AIESEC during the recruitment at LC Bellaterra and LC Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona - Spain.

It was an awesome experience to be there talking about what the AIESEC experience has meant to me and my life.

Once again I was bringing images of years of experiences in AIESEC to transform them into words and emotions and to put them there, out, expecting some of those young guys will give him/herself the chance to live such incredible moments as I did.

Now that I have finished my period of reflection and analysis it results quite simple to express how the past, the present and the future are linked together in my life.

It is also simple to identify the role that AIESEC has played on my story.

It is funny to see that Spanish people laughs and enjoy different messages and words that what I expected as Latino.

I thought our differences were simple and few, but definitely I had a wrong perception. They have their own particular way to see the world and I, once again, felt challenged. Awesome!

I want to thank Ali and Cris for inviting me and make me part!

I am now in Switzerland, I will be Chairing DO IT 07.

It will be my first AIESEC conference as alumni.

I do host many uncertainties about what my feelings will be and how I will accommodate them to serve the best the Swiss MC and the delegates.

I do believe my moments at the info sessions already gave me a first perspective of what it feels alumni involvement, however the big test it is about to start in few days.

As I arrived, I have had tons of conversations with Ivo, the MCP. Conversations that went from AIESEC talks (blah, blah, blah...) to deep insights into life and cultures.

I am truly amazed by this beautiful individual and his capacity to melt into the new culture to assimilate it and then be able to understand what is happening around him. I do definitely believe this will be an awesome year for AIESEC in Switzerland with such leader.

I am then looking forward first to the pre-meeting (there are some remarkable individuals in the team of facis that I want to have some chats with) and secondly to the conference...

I love AIESEC conferences!

...

In Switzerland I am also going to see Petroula and Amit, long time not seeing, Ha! and Carlos, one of my friends from Venezuela...

Carlos story is a funny one, I will write it here later on after I meet him and I have some new things to add to the tale of how we meet and how he became an AIESECer...

Well I think that's it. I need to go and rest, tomorrow will start the race with a pretty cool meeting with the Swiss MC.

Chaup!

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Something I said...

This is something I said in the official opening of IPM 2007 in Egypt and that was published in the Daily News Egypt...

A friend just forwarded me the link after reading my previous post, thanks!
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Before the debate, AIESEC International President Edyson Dos Santos related his childhood dreams of Egypt.

“The dust of the days starts to cover your dreams but they are still there. Dreams never get lost.”

Using the analogy of Michelangelo’s sculpting of David, Dos Santos said:

“The world we all want to live in is there. We just need to take away everything that is not that world.”

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Even if the second part is a very well known quote from Michelangelo, it makes me breathe deep the fact that my words seem to be generating future for myself and for others. I learned that from the friends I have had in life.

Cheers to all my friends.

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My new life, my new way to CHANGE THE WORLD!

This is the result of the month I took to put myself together, evaluate my AIESEC Experience and define my next steps in life.
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While finishing my term in AI, I was looking for my new path in life, something meaningful that drives that awesome purpose I believe makes me perform in a way that I cannot understand. That purpose of changing the world to become a better place feeds me with the energy I need to fully experience life.

Two things came into my mind...

The first one was my eternal vision of the Soul Spa...

The ‘Soul Spa’ is a recognized center for re-creating the connection with yourself, the purpose of your life and the world around you.

It is located near the beach and you can go to the sea by walking.

The house is on a hill, covering it like a crown. Five different environments emerge out of the five pointed star layout of the building, creating the perfect corners to re-create the environments that have been impacted my life the most.

There is a whole mentoring system in place since you arrive there for your stay of one week.

In the ‘Soul Spa’ you will need nothing, no mobile, no expensive clothes, neither complication. Rules are simple and you follow them with excitement.

The whole place is a sanctuary of peace and renaissance. The land around the ‘star’ house has plantations of diverse fruits and vegetables. You walk barefoot in the ground, feeling the power and the energy of the earth, collecting the fruits of someone else’s efforts. You walk into the big house, to the kitchen, a big room with a bar in the middle. You seat at the bar and put the tomatoes you collected on the table.

There are others at the bar; each one has brought something to the table. And there I am, instructing them how to wash the vegetables, how to cut them.

I tell them a beautiful story about Cote D’Ivoire (or any other of the countries I have had the pleasure to visit and experience) whilst we prepare one of the most traditional roasted chicken of that country. The process of cooking connects you with the basics in life, and the conversation turns into that…

(…)

…The last day you walk out of the house, we are meeting in front of a part of the land that is not planted, we will plant the tomatoes that a future groups will eat, and we feed the circle forward.

Five years alter the first Soul Spa has been opened, already some franchises are already working in other countries around the globe!

Thanks to my long years in AIESEC, today I have a network of people that want to work with me there. Potential customers, more and more contacts and more knowledge of how to turn my dream into bricks and plants, into cash and feelings.

AIESEC gave me the push I needed to get out of the circle of what my life was supposed to be. AIESEC challenged my paradigms and enabled me to set myself free of the expectation of others.

Throughout the day-to-day work in AIESEC I have developed part of my dream, and my dream has become a path, not a destination. Everything started the moment that I discovered that cooking is what I love doing the most. I discovered this at NALDS 1998 in Germany. The rest has been added after I have seen things thanks to the trip where AIESEC has been taking me in the last years.

I am in my highway to my dream.

Thanks to something that started as an opportunity to go on an AIESEC traineeship to Lisbon working in the development of a new enterprise, today I am the Project Manager of a Global Start Up in Social Tourism, I will be finding places around the world that have similar visions to my Soul Spa, I will be connecting them together and connecting them to people. I will be making sure they do contribute back to the local communities, I will be making sure visitors engage in local activities, visit the houses of local people and have the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate local life.

Today I know that my dream is getting closer.

The second thing that came to my mind when trying to change the world and finding purpose for my life was related to being gay...

Being gay has been a crucial part of who I am and who I have became.

The eternal fight to hide my way of loving from the world evolved into a point in which I started to feel proud of myself when I developed the courage to face the world and accept who I am and how I love without being ashamed for it.

The path have not been easy. As PAI I decided to keep my sexual orientation under low profile to respect those cultures present on the network that are definitely not open to the possibility.

Today I am free of that responsibility and I owe my time and efforts to myself and to those who I can serve and help. So, in parallel with my work in tourism I will be developing a new organization called "Gay People, Great People".

As you can see in the parallel column of my blog, gay teenagers lack the role models they need to believe they can become somebody great, somebody who can make a difference.

The purpose of GPGP is to collect those stories, the stories of great gay people and make them available for education. I want to give to young gay people access to the role models they can relate to in order to set their own expectations for life.

I am so excited about this initiative that I cannot believe it!

I have started the whole process of research and I will be meeting awesome people. There are tons of things to do, website, registration of brand, creation of the long term plan, membership into international organizations, funding, global networks of volunteers, global launch awards by the end of 2008 and so on...

As you can see AIESEC definitely gave me the platform to discover and develop my potential to make a positive impact on society.

Life goes on, and I feel more powerful to make a difference...

Everyday!

Dey

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