Destiny

Life is weird. I'm living my happy comfortable life, enjoying my job, having fun with my colleagues, choosing furniture for my new flat, seeing my best male-friend again, planning flights allover Europe ... overall looking forward to 2009. And then, quite unexpectedly, everything is changed by one sentence. As soon as Ovečka told me about it, I knew I had to apply. Too much coincidence occured. You cannot escape the destiny.Well, I actually turned the offer down unknowingly in October, but as you see, it found another way back to me :)
To make the long story short, on 5th of January I put all my plans for 2009 on hold and on 27th they were all discarted and replaced by others: in the second half of March I am moving for 1.5 years back to my beloved Yerevan. I'll be working as Regional finance manager for Caucasus in People in need where I will be responsible for Armenia and Georgia.

The reasons why I decided to leave consulting and go back to non-profit are following:
- career: in my current job there are no interesting projects due to the crisis. Being responsible for finance within the organization will enable me to learn new stuff, that I can find useful later on when I return to consulting.
- money: yes, I will earn more there in a non-profit than here in consulting. Believe it or not.
- friends: right now, I have more close friends in Yerevan than I have in Prague.
So, as you see, my reasons to accept the job are purely rational. I did not go mad :)

Trip to Brussels

It feels weird when you have to travel by plane if you want to go for a coffee with a friend :)



I had so much fun being with Jiřka and Jirka again. I didn't laugh that much for ages. It was a perfect weekend: just resting in cafes, a bit of sightseeing, tasting Belgian beers...

Anyway, the biggest learning point for me is that traveling really is easy. I know it sounds stupid but for me this was the first time flying within the EU. My experience so far was:
- being guarded by two soldiers with machine guns in Macedonia
- bribing immigration officers in Tajikistan to issue visa for more than 2 weeks
- not being allowed to step on the German ground before proving to be EU citizen, again uniforms and weapons present (flight from Tajikistan)
- landing at Prague airport on the day of the highest terrorist attack threat ever, policemen and heavy armoured cars present (flight from Egypt, full of Arabs)
Really, this was the first time I did not come with some kind of suspicious flight, first time literally nobody cared, first time nobody told me "welcome back home, miss". For a moment it made me nervous how easy it was this time because with all the previous experience I always expect a major fuck-up behind the corner :)

On hold

It has been already two weeks since I put all my plans for 2009 on hold. I hate keeping the secrets. I hate pretending that nothing is happening. And I hate waiting. It's all so tiring. I need to know the results soon.

Travel plans

I missed traveling last year. Sure, I did some trips: I was in Hungary twice (visiting Zuzana in Budapest and conference by Balaton lake), I spent 4 hours in Austria and 1 day in Germany (Dresden). Overall a poor result. Generally, I was too busy with my life in Prague (and Vsetín, Znojmo, Olomouc, Hranice, Ostrava and other Czech cities where my job brought me).

Anyway, this year is a promise to compensate my traveling deprivation :) What's on the list so far:
Brussels - January (the ticket booked)
London + Swindon - March (the ticket booked)
Kiev - summer
London + Swindon - once again sometimes in autumn
I also hope to go to Moscow, but that is rather a dream than a plan.

Happy new year 2009

(To live happier every day!)

Flat No. 28

As I promised to some of you, here are some pictures of my flat. And when I say "my" I mean that I own it, not that I live there (well, not yet). While looking at them, please bear in mind that:

- the flat is 25 years old with no reconstruction so far
- it is rented to two guys (therefore the "dorm style")
- a total reconstruction is planned before I move in

The plan

The entrance

Sleeping room

Living room

Kitchen

Christmas party

Innocent virgin ... that was my role in the performance that my department is annually preparing to amuse the rest of our company at the Christmas party. So, guess what is my newest nickname ;)

Me and my colleague Iva (two innocent virgins) are attacked by Dracula:

Caveman

So I went to the theater on Tuesday. It was not my idea indeed. My attitude towards theater is rather cold already since high school when we visited several performances (compulsory). Anyway, I decided to give it a try.
Well, the first two minutes I was like: "oh, fuck. It is too rude to leave. I knew that. Why didn't I find some good excuse?" But after that, I had so much fun! It was a one-man show called Defending The Caveman (In Czech it is only Caveman). Generally it describes the differences between men and women in a way that both are laughing.


Quote (for my girls only): Společnost se dělí na ženy a ... kretény.

Надеюсь

Надеюсь, что сейчас, после того, как я прочитала свою первую книгу на русском, я скоро начну и грамотно писать на нем. Говорить для меня уже почти не проблема (плохо, но понятно), к чтению привыкла, но писать - это пока сущий ужас :)

Невероятно что это уже мой второй русский „блог пост“ ... после этого :)))

A few milestones reached

I finished reading my first book in Russian ever. And it was quite a long book I must say: 667 pages. I chose the strategy to read a book that I already know so that I don't get lost in what is going on there but still interesting enough to read it for the second time. It was a smart move :) I didn't get bored by the book itself, I didn't get frustrated by not understanding and it was easy reading to metro or bus, nothing intellectual.

From other news, I bought an appartment yesterday. I am a young independent woman with a mortgage now. Unfortunately the place will be rented for a while because I need to get some money for reconstruction before moving in.