Time to say goodbye...

Dear friends from CEE

It´s time to say goodbye... the crazy and amazing year I had in CEE is now over...

...so I just wanted to THANK YOU!

First of all, thank you CEE for the opportunity of working with you... in a GN that Im not from, but that now makes me feel so much at home and became so "mine" :) Thank you for accepting and trusting me... thank you for each support/encouraging word regarding my work... thank you also for challenging me and thank you for teaching me your working style

Thank you Mo, Juanca and Juli for being the greatest team I can imagine for CEE in 08-09!! Thank you for the chats, the crazy ideas about our GN, for the work together, for making me laugh, for recognizing my work, for encouraging me... and for sharing so many similar values and dreams with me... Im sure we will aork together again in the future! :D

Thank you MCPs for the strategic discussions about CEE, for all the fun and work at MCPs meetings, for the work of the sub-committees, and for leading your countries towards the great results that now we can see! :D You were my role models during my term!!!

Thank you VPXs for the conversations about numbers, analysis, pools... for constantly sending your opportunities and for seeking for cooperations... thank you for the great fun at the X Meeting and for our greatest idea that was implemented: the X track at CEEMOS ;)
And more than that: thank you and congratulations for the 57% growth over the last term!!! :D
You showed me what hard and smart work together can achieve!! And you made me really proud to be from CEE, the best GN in exchanges in our term :D

Thank you people from Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Serbia, Armenia and Romania for the country visits!!
Thank you for hosting me, for sharing your strategies, challenges, theories... for seeking together for solutions and for implementing the ideas we created... thank you also for sharing your personal time with me, for going around with me in your countries, for sharing your culture, your history, your dreams and ambitions for the future! I learnt a lot from you ;) and you inspired me a lot!! :D

Some more thanks:

To all the people that worked with me at conferences... as facis, chairs, conference managers... thank you for making imposible things possible, for making stressful situations lighter and for all the fun we had together!

To all the people that worked with me virtually... either creating some new strategy or having a chat to discuss some hot topic... you thought me a lot about CEE reality! and you brought life to the days I spent in the office and smiles to my face everytime you came to talk to me!

To all people I interacted with during my term... to all delegates at conferences I attended, to all LC members I talked to... thank you for your smiles, for your questions, for your hugs... thank you for sharing your ideas with me and for believing so much in AIESEC and in CEE... you are the ones that bring all the success to CEE!!

To each of my sisters and brothers that I have around this GN: the people that hosted me at their homes, that shared their beds, their families, their food and their lives with me... you are GREAT!!! Without you guys my year wouldnt have been so lively, so crazy and so amazing as it was... I was never alone in any of the 27 countries I´ve been to this year, because in each and every city, I had someone to care about me... and that´s why now I have a home in so may places around this GN! (and you all have a home wherever I will be in the globe!)

THANK YOU!!! :D

I had an incredible year in CEE GN Board... I learnt so much... I grew so much... I made so many new friends... I became much bigger and my world became much smaller...

Now Im taking some vacations to travel around with my mom (Im now in Bulgaria, at the black sea coast... Im also going to Turkey, Croatia and Portugal... to visit places I´ve been to this year and I want to go back and to visit some friends that invited me to their places :D)

On the 12th of august Im going back to Brazil... and very soon after that, Im starting my internship in Uruguay! (yes, Im matched!! :D) I´m gonna work with education in an NGO... and hopefully start my career in the 3rd sector - that is where I want to work!

I hope we will keep in touch in the following days, months and years... and I hope our paths will still cross many times in the future...

Thank you, my dear CEE friends...

Barbara

Bulgaria... and the incredible feeling of being at home

I love Bulgaria!!

It's not the most beautiful country I've ever visited... nor the one with the most amazing history... nor the one that impressed me the most... but it is, for sure, the one where I feel most at home!

I arrived to Sofia and found my way to the MC flat... had a shower and walked the 20min to the office, as if I were walking in my hometown... I arrived to the office and was welcomed with warm hugs from a "family" that hosts me so well...

(view from the window of the office)

...I participated in a conference where I discussed interesting topics with people that are very inteligent and willing to change the world... I shared my learnings, my trips and brazilian culture with people that are preparing for their exchange and were asking me inteligent questions about Brazil (not the stereotypes smaba-naked-women-soccer-and-carnaval)... many members came to thank me and appreciate my work... and, talking about work, I had the most productive country visit of my term!

(with the people from the conference)

(working with the new MC team - creating the planning model for the LCs)

...how could I not like it?

Besides that, I learnt a lot about Bulgaria, the culture... I can already read cyrilic, I understand some words... I learnt how to dance "xopo", typical bulgarian dance... they took me to a typical bulgarian restaurante to eat typical food...

(dancing xopo)

(with the guys from LC Sofia UNWE, in the bulgarian restaurant)

And it was not only this!

The guys there spoiled me a lot! :) They would carry my luggage/backpack, cook for me, take me for a walk around the city, invited me to visit their cities (and therefore I visited Veliko Tarnovo and Varna), hosted me in their houses, didnt leave me alone not even for a minute (there was always someone taking care of me... and when one person couldnt be with me anymore, he would call someone else to come to be with me), they were awesome touristic guides, were very happy every time I read cyrilic or said some words in bulgarian... and one of them even took my clothes to wash in his washing machine...

(dinner with the MC - the guys cooked for us!! :D)

...very good to have people thinking about me, taking care of me, making me feel safe and comfortable...

I love Bulgaria!!

(it's not even 12hs since I left the country and I already miss it)

(Barbara Basso - april 2009)

Falling in love with Ukraine... Falling in love with CEE...

… and I left. The road is my driver and my guide, and within this amidst of things, the only constant thing is my yellow bag where my life fits just perfect. What an illusion that we need things and that those things, many things, will make us happy.

Upon my departure, Ivan wished me to re-discover CEE. Instead, I ended up [re]discovering myself. I believe that so far, this is the most self-revealing experience I have lived. Sometimes, especially in the airports and especially if my flights have delays, I sit down and try to capture the magic of this experience, I try to figure out why is it so intense, so rewarding, why it gives me so much, what catalyzes the learning, where the points of awareness reside.

I guess a part of it is given by being on my own, by the absence of any context. I move, every week in another context, another people, another culture, another language, another manner in which people express themselves. There are no stable elements of environment that I can turn to as points of reference. Except myself. I am the only point of reference, the only source of questions and answers in the same time. And I guess that this keeps me connected a lot with who I am. To those things that are basic, the foundation of being me.

I begin to think that exchange experience must be similar, but more difficult and in that sense more transformative. The environment is different, that's for sure, but you don't get the chance to reset the system every week. At the end of the day, it is a battle of will, at the end of which you transform, by adapting to the other culture, for sure different. Your core stays the same, the emotions, affects, but the cultural pattern in which one is born is massively challenged. Ergo, this is where the personal transformation comes from.

I fell in love with Ukraine, more precisely with Kyiv. Funny enough I haven't visited anything particular. However, something unexplainable, that you can't exactly put your finger on – precisely similar to falling in love – makes me float when thinking about it. Could be the people – there's a special kind of passion and a spark in their eyes, in the way they talk, in the human relations. It snowed! I felt again that kind of childhood happiness, which instantly puts a big kinder smile on your face. Again, after such a long absence, I felt a kid again. I never want to loose this feeling – how could I have lived without it so long?

Maybe it's the ukrainian-russian language that exerts a kind of fatal attraction on the visitors. A special kind of magic. Could be the music, the people and the spirit. Could be a mix of the above. Suddenly, I felt that the otherwise heavy feeling of communist architecture was totally neutralized. On the contrary, there was a weird feeling of home that those grey, wet buildings were inflicting on me.

Maybe I am rediscovering CEE in the end, maybe it's about the fact that we will double our results, maybe indeed I will double the level of awareness that I have about myself, and what I can do with it. Maybe in the end, CEE is me!

(Monica Costea - november 2008)

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I have arrived in the MC of Ukraine - a gorgeous spring came over Ukraine in the meantime, while I was away - the place where I fell in love with CEE some months ago! Everything is green, a swift breeze is washing through the trees, smell of flowers and a lot of youth all around!

I feel jalous. Why?

I was standing at the door with Ilar, NST Finance, when a fancy-nice dressed up chick jumps from a cab - she holds with both hands a huge buquet of roses, and a big bag with red-fruit cakes. Her light bue eyes shine with excitement, she smiles a lot and talks aloud with the taxi driver. Hugs me and greets us - Anna, she has just finished a 1 year project in LC Kiev as OCP, a huge one - with interns coming and working with kids in orphanages, for which she raised more than the entire Ukraine MC budget for a year - she told me this story in one breath, while we were making the 3 steps that were separating the courtyard door from the front door of the house - the closing of the project just happened and she is completely thrilled - we enter the house and she calls everyone in the kitchen to jump on the cake! Me included.

One by one, the MC ppl - current, elects, NST come around - we shake shands, we greet, we hug, we eat cake and drink water from colourful ceramic mugs and you can hear all around, from that bunch of almost 20 ppl, all sorts of conversation about the Kiev project, 100 indians getting ready to get on the plane to come to Ukraine, Lyubov going to Norway on 15 June, Tanea calling her elects for the session... the MC Current is undisturbably working in the lounge while the elects are talking about MC - NST roles in 09'10 in the room just near. They all bunk in 1 house, flat and office in the same time, that has witnessed this year huge amounts of energy put into an ambition to "Grow Unlimited". The currents must be 2 weeks away from the end of their terms, yet they work harder than in the 1st. They have just changed the financial model with the current LCPs, they will have a team of 7 and NST of 8 ppl next year, 1 brazilian in the team and an ambition on growth to 1100X...

Something really beautiful is happening in a far off neighborhood of Kiev - 15 electric kids are cooking something great for a country that is the biggest in Europe in size! Not many know this, but they want to spread a lot of peace and meaning around Ukraine. They are a generation of change, they have the energy of a virtuoso team, they have determination and will to never stop. And they will do so and more!

I want to be part of a story like this! Wait a second, ... I am!

(Monica Costea - may 2009)

I am CEE GN Board

Do you want to do the same as we do? Do not miss your chance: APPLY!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!

Where do you live?

I have to answer this question several times per week...

In this exact moment, I live in a sofa in the kitchen of the MC flat in Slovenia, in Ljubljana... but last week I was living in a bungalow in a park-natural reserve in Lisbon... 2 weeks ago, I lived in Skopje in an apartment with 2 guys from Hing Kong and a girl from Macedonia, with whom I was sharing the room... the week before, I was sharing the room with 3 guys from Bulgaria, in a flat where there were 2 more bulgarians and 1 polish living...

Since june, I've lived with an indian girl in Norway, with a german girl in a building of a train station that was transformed in a students house... I lived in the flat I used to live in Prague; I shared a sofa with a girl from the US in Rotterdam; I lived in Sao Leopoldo, with my parents; I lived in my sister's flat in Porto Alegre; I lived in Salvador, with a friend from AIESEC there; I lived in Holliday Inn, in Sao Paulo, with other 600 people; I lived in the students dorm in Zagreb, where I could speak portugues with a friend from Madeira; in Croatia I also lived in a primary school in Rijeka and in a small village near Zadar - both in the Adriatic coast...

And in between all this traveling, I live in Budapest, in Hungary... sharing a flat with a colombian guy and a polish girl. I've already paid 5 months of rent... and in total I spent 52 days actually there - and this is around 7 weeks!!

During my traveling around CEE I don't even know anymore what is "to live"... in 6 months I've slept in 30 different beds, in 20 cities, in 13 countries... I've shared room with people from the most diverse countries, I've shared bed, I've slept on the sofa, in sleeping bag, on the floor...

...and I arrived to the conclusion that, wherever I am for more than 3 days sleeping in the same bed, I "live" there...

But then I started to think about the question "Where do you live"... and where I actually LIVE, I can tell...

...I live in the streets that I walk, in the cities I explore, in the countries I visit...
...I live in the leaves of the autumn that break under my feet, in the soft snow where I leave my footprint, in the sand of the beaches I've stepped...
...I live in the historical buildings, in the stones of the streets dated from past centuries, in the bells that ring in the gothic churches...
...I live in the landscape I see from the top of a hill, in the mountains seen from the window of the plane...
...I live in the flow of the Danube, in the sunset in the Tejo, in the snow that covers Ljubljana...
...I live in the trains, in the airports, in the bus stations, in the borders, in the stamps in my passport...
...I live in the dinners I cook to my friends and in the food from their countries that they share with me...
...I live in the "mate" that we drink together, in the hot tea after a cold day...
...I live in the talks that I have with all these people I meet, in the wonderful stories of their lives, in their plans for the future, in their opinions about the world...
...I live in the laugh shared with friends, in the smiles of the people that cross my way in the streets, in the hugs of "good to see you again"...
...I live in the party nights and in the lazy sundays...

...I live in every moment, doesn't matter the country, the city... doesn't matter the bed where I sleep, the shelter under which I protect myself or who are the people that see my "I've just woken up" face... I LIVE my adventure, my trips... I live my CEE and my year around here... I live all this because I am exactly where I wanted to be in every moment... :)

Experiencing the Balkans

I had been told that the people in the balkans are warm and welcoming… going there for country visits made me experience that!

In Croatia, I met people that were happy to teach me their language, that were patient enough to repeat several times till I got the words… I met people that love to party – and that go crazy when the croatian music starts to play (and I even learnt some parts of songs)… I met people that are very aware of their past, that feel the weight of the years of war – but that are happy with the improvements and positive about the changes that are happening in the country… I met people that are proud of their country, that wanted to show me the beauties of Croatia… people that were interested in talking to me, that came and approached me during their conference to ask more about my country, to share their ideas, to ask for opinions, ideas, feedback…

There, I lived for 2 weeks with 2 amazing girls from the MC that made me feel at home and became some kind of “sisters” with whom we were sharing gossips, stories, ideas and plans for the future… :) Also, I went for 1 weekend to the coast with one girl from the LC… that took me to her house, to her family… showed me her village, shared her life… and took me to some of the most amazing landscapes I’ve seen in Europe…

And I met AIESECers that know what they want to achieve and what they have to do… and have very good ideas on how to do it! I met OCPs that really want to make changes, OCPs that wanted to learn the most that they could during the conference and that are still in touch with me to tell me about the progress of their projects! I left Croatia happy to have met those people, amazed with the beauty of their nature and positive about the future of AIESEC in Croatia… Guys, you just need to do the things you know you have to do! ;)

In Bulgaria, when I arrived to the MC Office, I saw:

Sweet, no? :)

There, the MC boys took very good care of me, cooked for me and shared chimarrão (in spanish: “mate”) with me! In Bulgaria I also felt like at home – I was already saying “I’m going home, now”… ;)

In Bulgaria I had night city-tour with 2 crazy and funny friends ;) – and what was supposed to be a 1h walk, became also a typical bulgarian dinner (with the most delicious food I’ve tried in Europe! I really like bulgarian food!!) and end up in a retro-party in a disco! I was also taken to the mountains, to see some of the beauties of the country – and in 1 day, I visited 3 of the 100 places that have-to-be-seen in Bulgaria!

In Bulgaria I heard stories of people that overcame obstacles and succeded, I got to know more about their ambition – for this term and also for their future – and I realized that my role there was just to share some ideas and work with them to make their great plans happen!

Then, I took the bus to Macedonia… and at halft past midnight, in the bus station of Skopje, I met 6 happy AIESECers, holding the AIESEC banner and waiting for me. Even if that was the first time they had ever seen me, they jumped around me, hugged me and gave me a brazilian “tchu-tchu”! Cute!! :)

In Macedonia, I was on a tv show talking about AIESEC, I gained a mom and an uncle ;), I went to a Kafana and saw how party looks like with the people from LC Skopje

And what about AIESEC in Macedonia? I was really impressed by the clarity that they have about their ambition for AIESEC in Macedonia… those people really want AIESEC to Make Sense in their country… they really see the relevance of AIESEC in their country and they want to work hard for the things to happen!

The MC team in Macedonia has people that are very new in AIESEC, that don’t have so much experience, but that have all the willingness to make changes… they also have people with very good working experience in their area and that are bringing the knowledge to AIESEC… they have a very tough current situation, but they have people that are committed to make changes! With them, we talked about AIESEC in 3 different GNs (that are represented in their diverse MC team), we discussed the possibilities they have, the tools they can use… and we created an Exchange Growth Innitiative that will Let the Sunshine In :)

There, I also met with a very intelligent LCP, that has a very clear plan and very clear means to achieve it. She leads an EB team of only boys and an LC that currently has more than 90 people! They want to do more exchanges in this term than AIESEC in Macedonia has ever done in the past 7 years… and from what I saw there, I’m sure they can do it!

I’m right now on my way back to Budapest… with Slovenia and Bosnia still in front of me… If the visits there will bring me similar warmth and positive energy, I’ll be sure that the balkans are the best countries to work with!! :)

Thank you, guys! You will rock the house!

Barbara