If you wanna move forward, first you have to move

Well, it's Sunday noon, my lovely flat is half empty. Today all the day was full of ppl who were helping us to bring stuff to other place. The funniest or the strangest thing- i am leaving in a week:) and simply cant stay like "normal" people, I am still in that moving action. But I am happy for girlz, they got really great appartment! I am looking forward visiting them already!!! well, but at the very begining i am living there too:)

It's very strange to know that in one week I am leaving the place, people who were "my home" here. I really enjoyed my life in Brussels which is so international, full of different and intersting people, it was great place to be a part of the crowd or be a single individual. I guess the hardest part of the traineeship is coming- reintegration. I guess many of you have seen that "cultural shock chart" . I was thinking a lot about it here, duering different parts of my staying here. Ha, and it's true! in may phases i found myself. I am coming back to my hometown- Alytus. And I am quite scared about that! It's great town but I guess after 5 month of Brussels pulse it will be quite a challenge for me. On the other hand- I like challenges:) we will see;) I cant wait to meet some people in Konradas, in Kaunas, or to check the Baltic sea and my beloved friend:)

I thought I am strong and not sentimental in saying good bye. Maybe i am getting old:) On the other had! THE WORLD is getting smaller! I am sure I am saying "see you" to many ppl here! lol today with my roomie we discovered that the guy form her team is the same who was chairing ENERGY 2003 ( aiesec conference), or Dina, my crazy Coratian friend, we spend last summer in the US, ha! what do you think?! we are meeting here quite often in BXL for a beer or tea and of course nice chat!;)

I guess I am right saying if you wanna move forward first you have to move:) well, i've started my moving procedure ( in many meanings), let's see ;)

still enjoying quality of life and siply lovin' it!

Christmas Markets tour in Germany: Aachen

Me and Shinta in Bonn
Kamila,Cecilia, Leon, me, Alex + Shinta taking the picture in Cologne

My last Belgium weekend was spent in Germany:) It was adventures trip with other trainees and my roomie Shinta, memoriable tour through Christmas markets in Aachen, Cologne and Bonn. Great end, great people, great weekend with wine, panckaces, diamonds ( night club in Cologne)...well, some disappontments as well.

Morning quote

Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like.-Will Rogers

That was the first email I got( read) on Sat morning..The day when the biggest shoppings happening and things like that. and what's strange- this quote is not just a quote, but there are quite many ppl who need shining/branded stuff even they can hardly buy all other neccessary sruff:) I am not talking about them buying a book or a ticket to the theater...it's kind of sad. I am happy that ppl who are around are not like that!
Well it was intersting thought to start satuday:)

Also, ich bin trainer!

I was faci/trainer at TWIN project about EU stuff, organized by AIESEC in Karlsruhe. There were delegations form 10 countries. It was very nice to meet LT delegation in there, unfortunately there were nobody from Kaunas.

It was sooooo much fun! I had opportunity to improve my German and teach some German phrases real germans;) Well, the top song and principle of the workshop we were running was SHOSHOLOZA…there were some other tunes like Hakuna Matata, Can’t live, etc. Other big learning part was- Lithuanian language lessons, translation to Swahili and lots of tears because of laughJ

Other outstanding learning point- I’ve learned how to dance my name!!! don’t even ask how we came up with that ideaJ I am sure this skill will be very useful in my futureJ

Global Village was bit interesting: I was kind of a part of Lithuanian, but I felt like representing BelgiumJ anyways global village was “very rich”. And next morning trip to the EU Parliament was quite a challenge for many of participantsJ

Well, Shosholoza and other amazing time…I don’t remember when I laughed so much…ich bin trainer experience

Well, one more story have happened…I was traveling by train from Brussels to Strasbourg and from Strasbourg to Karlsruhe. Sounds easyJ yeah….but apparently the train didn’t stop in Strasbourg and went all the way to Switzerland!!!! Lol….to say in simple words- I missed FranceJ Well, luckily the same evening I ended up safety, bit late in Karlsruhe. Ppl who were involved in that still making fun of meJ well…to miss buss stop, but France- not everybody;) it was funny adventure

Last few weeks nothing much happened, I got sick quite badly and spend all time in bed;(

Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.

It’s been a while since my last post USA,BABY!!! So, operation USA, BABY was great! Of course what traveling without adventures or “stories” for me. Well this time I didn’t have any knives or my other usual stuff in a hand luggage…but you know what!!! I had my perfume, cream, lip balsam…which was considered as a safety danger…I didn’t feel like leaving all my stuff in the bin, so I agreed to check in my backpack and was traveling with a transparent plastic bag! Plus thanks to Belgium strange way of organizing things I almost missed my plane: ) well, one more surprise at the end- nobody was meeting me in the airport…and I didn’t know that!!! That was a funny part to see my running all around the airport: ) after such a show I just took a taxi and was quite on time @ George Washington club for a dinner, I even didn’t miss any speechJ It was sooooooooooo nice to see some familiar faces, ppl I’ve met in other eventsJ Overall the event was high level, the biggest impression was Ian Brzezinski ( yeah, don’t mix him with his father)- clever, interesting, deep, simple BIG person. One day in Norfolk was smth interesting, different and amazing experience! All these “high military guys” were very simple and easy to communicate, and their presentations have much more sense of humor than my info-manager at work ;) anyways, the seminar was good. It was good in other sense, it made me understand and re-think what I am doing now? Am I happy about that? Is professional development and growth I am having now is what I wanted? Well, and questions like this. Some more ppl stayed afterwards, so we got nice discoveries, adventures and nice time together: ) first I was almost in panic…lol..they have sooo many and soo good museums in the DC, and I had just a few extra days..but I managed to see the most interesting things, enjoy beautiful golden autumn, go to really nice jazz club, 24/7 book store( we went there at 2 am..nerds hahaha), where you can stay in the party or look for the books you need! Lol..one embarrassing moment… there are few let’s say night or party streets in the DC after visiting some places I and Jacob ( the guy I was staying at) were about to leave home and walking down the street I saw Latvian flag at the entrance of one bar!!!! Then Jacob explained that it is a Latvian bar, and quite popular one…so I said to him…probably too loud” why do Latvians have a bar, there is nothing special in there”…so, I said it Jacob, that ppl form that bar even heard that….they had fun of me: ) well, but that was true!!!
Well, the last but not the least adventure was my trip home… first of all they confiscated my lip balsam…( yeah, it was very dangerous! Lol!! Afterwards the flight form Washington to NY was delayed and couldn’t afford to be late!!! Because I had only 50 min to change my flight to BXL and from airport- straight to work! And here we go! The flight is delayed! Good that not for too long. When we landed in the NY, so we were in the plane for about 15min, because couldn’t get the place “to park” the plane…and for me it wasn’t fun at all… i was sitting at the very last row in the plane and you know when plane stops everybody slowly star taking stuff and slowly move to the exit…oh, well!! I see that 15 min left till my bxl plane leaves and I am still stucked in that plane… you should see when I was shooting from my seat and shouting”im late, excuse me, im late” lol…well, then followed marathon through terminal…was running a bit against the traffic…and some security guy, when I asked where to go, he said “lady, no chance you gonna make it” well, but I didn’t give up, probably I looked a bit suspicious…but I DID IT! When I reached my gates they closed it in 2 min..i was the last who got into the plane!!! Ok, I am safe and almost on time in BXL, but of course in Belgium something should be different than normal… well, I was running around with my suitcase and finally, one hour late ran in my office with suitcase : ) It’s all about attitude: )

Last weekend AIESEC in Belgium had a NTMS seminar in the seaside. Well, of course I was in! well, at least I had very good intentions… soo, I put my alarm at 9 am on sat morning, but ..taip gavosi, kad ( I love this phrase, it makes things so much easier) I woke up at 2..p.m. it’s kid of late, uh? Well, but again taip gavosi,kad there were other trainees who was going there by car in the evening, so I joined them and we made it! Yeah, we made to get there straight to dinner and Global Village afterwards...the seaside was nice, very similar to Baltic seaside...to sum up, that was my aiesec conference last weekend: dinner and Global Village:) ok, then we decided on the way home to get lunch in Gent..but our “GPS lady” didn’t like as a lot, so…it took quite some time till we got our lunch: ) after almost and hour in Gent it just keep on saying “….please..” haha
Yeah, one more thing! I’ve noticed that man always call GPS “she” , even it’s not talking, but they call it “she”…strange. Doest it mean that woman know how to navigate better than man! and they are so naïve, they believe in everything “GPS lady” says! Sometimes event talking to “her”J)))) But “GPS lady” has a character..so relationship in the car can be very interesting!hahaha

On Wednesday I went to Kioln for one day. It was a nice, bit cold, but sunny day. It's nice city and I had nice time walking around there:)Tomorrow I am leaving to germany …again! This time I am going to Karlsruhe, to be faci in AIESEC TWIN project!!! Yeah! This yeah the topic is EU/Constitution/Identity. I am very excited about that!!! I’ve never been faci in international conference. I just have to take this chance. Well, I am leaving tomorrow! I am more than happy that I took challenge to be Chair in AIESEC OutgoingPreparationSeminar this summer. I’ve never Chaired any conference before that! It’s so nice when ppl meet me and still call me favorite chair: ) It was very good! I love my life here in Belgium with so many opportunities, adventures and possibilities! My last working day is 28th Nov..it’s a bit mixed feeling when I saw it. I knew it, but yesterday it was officially on the schedule. Oh, well, show must go on;)

I think I should make the list with I had never ever tired this…before Belgium;) intereting, huh?!!

Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.
Ieva