Well, last weekend we had IRW (International Reception Weekend) in parallel with the National Conference of AIESEC in Portugal.
The place: Alcobaça!
This city is full of history and legend, with that mythic veil all over it... But I am not posting about the city, but about my time with the interns. Post about the city will come later - promise.
I total we were eleven people. Diversity was on the table (Brazil, Slovakia, India, Lithuania, China, Peru and of course Venezuela)
Being there as a delegate of the Reception Weekend and not as part of the conference was great. Interns really tend to care for each other; of course there is a fight for leadership sometimes, but there is also a tacit agreement that lays out a common ground for behavior:
We are all here to learn, to challenge our limits, that is why everything can happen!
We took a Brazilian's outgoing interns tradition and added our own spice to it and created a new tradition for incoming interns in Portugal.
Of course it involves alcohol, of course is funny, of course is silly, all of that comes in the same package with these AIESEC traditions, isn't?
Some of us will see each other again for Christmas, I am very much looking to it. These people are great!
I am happy to be an AIESEC intern, doing the job that I love and having the freedom not to attend morning plenaries.
Signs are all over the place. I open my eyes and see... I open my heart and follow... I open my mind and listen... I open my will and achieve!
Just in the moment when I was starting to question my expectations about my work and my life, the following quote from Michelangelo showed up randomly in front of me. __________________________
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim to low and achieving our mark.”
Call me ignorant, but I have never heard about Cole Porter before. Neither I remember hearing his songs. Everyday I realize how big the world is even if we continue saying the world is small and it is becoming smaller. It is maybe because of that I got to finally hear about Cole Porter, listen to his music and watch the movie of his life.
I just saw the movie "De-Lovely" and I have been shocked by the quality of it. I am not a big fan of musicals, even if I loved screen versions of "Moulin Rouge" and "Cabaret"; both of them in the list of my favorite movies.
One thing is for sure, I have seen a lot of movies, but still the number one in my list is Amelie.
I haven't found so much magic, innocence and belief at the same time with such rich photography and colors usage.
The story, it really touches me, even if it is very surreal and childish in a way, it is maybe that what captivates me from Amelie.
Amelie captures so many basic humans feelings and hopes in the movie, and describes them in such a tender manner that is hard not to fall in love with the characters (not just the character of Amelie) and with the script.
And what to say about my favorite sound track ever. How dislikes this amazing music? It is just irresistible!
Definitely Amelie has become an icon for many people; I will say that out there there is an Amelie generation. People who still believes in magic, with a different way of taking a look at good and bad. With the strong belief in signs and love.
Thanks Jean-Pierre Jeunet for Amelie!
Enjoy the trailer, and if you haven't seen Amelie yet, it is a good movie to watch with your loved one at your side in this close holidays.
De-Lovely is completely different, but in a weird way I found them similar. Maybe the way in which both of this movies connect with me and my life is what makes them similar to my eyes.
I am not pretending to be a cinema critic or anything like that, I just wanted to share what has been spinning in my head since I saw this movie two days ago.
I loved the music, I wanted to sing the songs, I cried twice, I discover a lot about myself watching the movie.
I want to make clear that is not just about Cole Porter's life, it is the way in which the movie was done and the story was told what made me fall, how powerful the way in which we tell a story can be! It is also about the great people in the movie; performances by Alanis Morisette, Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Cole, and more. Listen to their performances online here.
I definitely recommend you to watch the movie. It is a MUST!
Here you have Alanis Morrisette performance at the movie...
Let me know what you think of the movie after you watch it.
I am glad I am having these opportunities and friends with whom to explore these new movie adventures. I am glad live is giving me chances to discover new ways of having fun...
"The minority is always right". Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People, act IV (1832) _____________________________________________________________________
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject: the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to the enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual.
Cultures are diverse, different... and that's soooo cool!
When last week we picked up the papers for Secret Santa at the office I thought of the traditional Secret Santa where you have to gift little things and offer little details to the person you got in your paper until the day of the exchange of gifts, when everybody's identities are revealed.
In The Netherlands you actually have to write a poem. In the day of the exchange of gifts all presents are in a table with the name of the person that will receive that gift in an envelop. Inside the envelop there is a poem, the gift receiver read the poem and has to guess who his/her Secret Santa was. In AIESEC International team's 2005 2006 and 2006 2007 we played it that way to honor the traditions of our host country.
If you are from a non-Christmas culture, you can read more about Secret Santa here.
Here in Portugal they also have the traditional Secret Santa. But there are also some variations like the one we are playing at the office.
The Secret Enemy!
You have to make the life of the person you got in your paper a complete mess... Funny?
I don't really know how funny, but it works and keeps everybody excited to see what's going to happen next. I tend to believe it decreases productivity, but for sure increases spirit and a nice environment to work. Everybody is ok with it and nobody gets pissed, it si all part of a small family that the people of the office become during Christmas time.
As an example, today in the morning when we arrived to the office, all PC mouses where in a box in one of the managers desk inside a box with a big poster that read: Mouse Thief! In each desk there was a post it saying "Claim your mouse from the mouses thief".
Other friend in the office got all his pens and pencils and even his bottle of water completely covered with glue stick, you can imagine the laughs of everybody when he actually got to use the pen and tried to drink some water...
I am a little scared of what will happen to me, I am also a little bit hesitant to do something to my Secret Enemy, I don't want to be rude neither foolish... Any ideas you wanna share with me?
You can read more about Secret Enemy in Portuguesehere. Read the translation to English of the previous article about Secret Enemy here.
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So, in the mist of my first real Christmas on few years, new discoveries and practices emerge. I am feeling so full of life, I surprise myself by how much these little new things intrigue me and trigger my curiosity to ask and enjoy...
The last four years Christmas has been kind of weird for me.
In Macedonia they have a different way of celebration since Christmas is in January as per the Orthodox Catholic Religion. And it is not a big deal of presents, decorations and celebrations.
During my first year in AI, I spend my Christmas in Morocco doing country visits. They do not really celebrate Christmas, after all is a Muslim country. So I missed it again.
Last year I was in Rotterdam but feeling homie and staying in my room with Martis, but we really didn't have any special big thing. I tried my best by preparing a Christmas dinner for everybody in AI and at least that was awesome. But the overall feeling was still missing.
This year in Portugal things are going to be different.
I can feel Christmas already at the streets, the malls, shopping centers and of course in the office.
For one hour and so, everybody stopped working and dedicated time to build together the Christmas tree, plan the dinner and give away the little papers for the Secret Santa.
It was awesome!
And it was a lot of fun. We even put some of the company customer samples on the three :) I assume that in a way is about hoping for a better new year with more accounts and customers...
I was not aware of how much I link Christmas with home. I thought I had 'overcame' Christmas, ha! not true...
Here I am, happy! Knowing that this year I will definitely have 'real' Christmas...
In the meanwhile I am listening to the most fluffy/cheesy song ever: "All I want for Christmas is YOU!"
Hoping that love will knock at my door before the end of the year, who knows.
Here you can see some of my colleagues from work, all together working on the not really stylish but highly lovely Christmas Tree...
Take a look at last year's lightening of the Lisbon Christmas Tree...
Awesome...
I remember last year's Rotterdam's Christmas Tree lightening in front of the city hall, they had the major of Oslo as guest since the tree came from Oslo, but it was such a poor show, or better to say, no show at all... I remember being there with my team-mates from AI...
Now I cannot wait for the lightening of the Christmas Tree in Lisbon this year, it promises to be better than last year, WOW!
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Some cool links to discover Christmas in Lisbon: Ultimate Christmas Kitsch in Lisbon at Jon Worth Blog Lisbon Christmas Street Cams at Delaranja Blog Christmas in Lisbon | Video #2 at GoLisbon
Doing my research for the new venture I am working on I am definitely becoming a kind of an expert on new trends in tourism and traveling...
I just happen to find some very interesting articles on what's going on and this one really caught my attention... ___________________________________________
Authenticity is the latest buzzword in tourism. Fed up with mock European resorts; increasingly embarrassed by theatrical performances staged especially for tourists; and curious about different cultures and ways of life tourists want 'real' and authentic experiences – and they are prepared to pay for it.
Excerpts from an article by Justing Francis | responsibletravel.com
It is finally happen, ClubMed generations are 'out'... People are looking for 'real' things, real experiences, real life... Maybe we are getting fed up with so much surreal stuff around us and we are starting to turn to one another to find sparkles in our eyes and our way of living life...
Maybe we are just exploring the world in deep and we are just not anymore interested in going global, but into discovering the real essence of life at local level, in our communities, neighborhoods and small towns... Trying to discover new ways of being and doing...
I don't hope anymore, I am participant of this new trend. Life is exciting.
