The Soundtrack from our trip to the Philippines

I'm back home in good ol' (cold) Switzerland since Friday evening! A proper recap from my almost five weeks in the Philippines will follow shortly (when I recover from this flu...yes, I already managed to get sick, oh brother). Until then, here the songs that played over and over again on MTV Philippines and other Pinoy Music channels, and on the radio. Enjoy !! The Filipino artists are marked in yellow.
And BTW (to be pronounced as bee tee double u, as heard and seen in the Disney channel movie Camp Rock ("It so can't compete with High School Musical!", according to Sara Jane and Yves), which we watched twice at different hotels...Yves would call this "Shocking!!", haha. Yes, I have degenerated into a twenty-seven year old watching movies and listening to music for fifteen-year olds - ah but it's too much fun).

When I grow up (Pussycat Dolls)
* This is real (Camp Rock OST) - also in Bonus section
Spotlight (Jennifer Hudson)
Daylight (Kelly Rowland)
7 things (Miley Cirus)
One step at a time (Jordin Sparks)
That's not my name (The Ting Tings)
Shake it (Metrostation)
That's what you get (Paramore)
Miracle/Last night (Fragma vs. P Diddy & Keisha Cole)
Forever (Chris Brown)
Leavin' (Jesse Mc Cartney)
Always be my baby (David Cook)
Yugto (Rico Blanco)
I kissed a girl (Katy Perry)
Penge naman ako nyan (Itchyworms)
Disturbia (Rihanna)
We rock (Camp Rock OST) - we mainly laughed at it ;-)
Akala ko (Parokya ni Edgar)
Here I am (Nikki Gil)
Greenlight (John Legend)
Viva la vida (Coldplay)


Bonus Material:

You're so gay (Katy Perry), hehehehehe
Sana/I wish (Nikki Gil - Coke commercial in the Philippines)
Home (Aiza Seguerra covering Michael Buble)
Vic & Acoustic Chicks - Yet another proof of the musical talent in the Philippines


Various cover versions of *This is real (who would have thought !! :-))

This is real (Filipino version - Julianne and Miguel Escueta)
Suki Siapaku (Malaysian version)
Etre moi (French version - Sheryne)
Sono io (Italian version - Ariel and Stefano Centomo)
Oto ja (Polish version of This is real (Ewa Farna & Jakub Moleda)

In the Philippines No. 1 !!!

Apologies for the overdue update.....here in a nutshell: I have arrived in Manila on Sunday, 7 September, at 4.00am (!!!) and was picked up by my Mom and sister at 6.00am. Flew via Doha and killed my almost nine hours layover time in the Oryx Lounge, even took a shower, pretty cool. Spent the day and the day after in Manila, met up with two of Mom's cousins (but I was so tired, basically sleepwalking...the inflight entertainment system of Qatar Airways is too tempting, didn't wanna sleep with so many new movies available! I totally recommend the movie Smart People with Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page and Sarah Jessica Parker. Also watched two chickflicks, haha. Maid of honor with Patrick Dempsey aka Mr. HAIR and What happens in Vegas. I gotta have me some Ashton, you know) and had loads of great food. All you can eat buffet at the MegaMall, baby. Luckily we're walking and swimming a lot here, we don't want to come home looking like the Michelin man, right?

Last Tuesday we (my Mom, my sister and her best friend) flew to Boracay, a beautiful tiny island, where we will stay until 19 September...at first we weren't lucky with the weather, it's Typhoon season after all. We killed the time by watching loads of Filipino MTV and other music channels (they have some great artists here!) but now, we're having gorgeous weather! We rented a boat just for us yesterday, did some island hopping, some snorkeling, had a meal cooked for us at the beach, and discovered paradise: Puka Beach, on Boracay. White Beach is too commercialized already. Puka Beach has gorgeous sand and crystal clear water, and we were there almost alone. Today we rented a Filipino style sailboat for a hour, it was so much fun. Taking lots of photos, but it's taking forever to upload them to our travel blog....fingers crossed we can do so soon. We can't download a plugin that would make it faster.

What songs are on rerun on the music channels that we L-O-V-E?

• Disturbia (Rihanna)
• Spotlight (Jennifer Hudson)
• Kissed a girl (Katy Perry)
• Daylight (Kelly Rowland)
• Shake it (Metro Station)
• That's what you get (Paramore)
• Everything by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz of course
  

Check out some pretty cool Filipino music here, and Rihanna's Umbrella song in Tagalog here, haha.

Will post again soon, tootles! Am having a great time....

See you later !

Here I come, Philippiness ... am ready for a fresh start, and for loads of relaxing and chilling! And not worrying about my future every day.

A pity I will be missing THIS though ...

Why ...

... have I hardly been blogging the past few months. That's an easy one to answer: all I do is work and commute and sleep. And since I am not supposed to blog about work, I am not left with a whole lot to blog, am I. Hm, actually, that's not entirely true. But you know what it's like once you enter the professional jungle. Gotta be prudent. 

Anyways, next to working like a normal person (I am trying really hard right now to ignore my neighbors having the hugest fight ever - this couple has been yelling at each other for the past forty minutes. She's been throwing extremely bad words at him and been trying to kick him out. Oh geez)  - I spend lots of hours in trains, trams and b

uses commuting every day.  Ah but who doesn't, right? So I am usually quite tired by the time I get home. 

Luckily, there were some highlights as well the last couple of weeks (which consisted in a lot of discovery of my own country, and other roadtripping): 

• Bernina Express Train Ride with my Dad, the entire route - totally recommendable
• Train ride from Geneva to Locarno, including a scenic trainride through the Centovalli , a drive up the Vallemaggia and Val Bavona to take the the cable car from S. Carlo up to the Robiei, and hike back down again. Stunningly beautiful landscape. Spent a weekend in Locarno with my baby and his best friend plus girlfriend, and went to the Lenny Kravitz concert at the Moon & Stars Festival on the famous Piazza Grande
• Roadtrip in a minibus to Bosnia, to attend Sue's wedding! Sixteen or eighteen hours ride down on a Friday evening, arriving Saturday morning, then the wedding celebrations from 3pm until 1am or 2am, sleep for four hours, and take the minibus back again at 6am on a Sunday. Back to Geneva. Mamma mia !! But totally worth every second of it :-)) And seeing Nadja and Peter again there too ...
• Meeting up with mi Sarita again in Solothurn, haha. Again, travelled by train!
• Small roadtrip with my Dad and sister from our place across the Sattel to Reichenburg (SZ) and back to see my Godfather and his wife, after too many years of not seeing each other
• Rock Oz Arènes Festival last Friday with my little sister! Line-Up: DJ's Yves Larock, Axwell, Martin Solveig and Fedde le Grand !!! A trip to heaven that lasted from 9pm until 4am. But the travelling back home was hell, especially waiting in the cold at Avenches trainstation for 1.5 hours. Ah well, but then some random guy claiming to be a house DJ entertained us by blabbering about his ex-girlfriend and his many clubbing trips to Ibiza, so the time did go by rather fast after all

My internship is ending on 29 August. And I have booked my ticket to the Philippines!! My well-deserved vacation, a year overdue. Leaving on 5 September, I am ecstatic about it :-) Would be much better if my man could join too though, sigh. But that moment shall come too, someday :-) I am a proud holder of the Filipino passport since January, travelling there and within the Philippines will be a breeze. Going with my mom, my sister and my sister's best guy friend. So it's FOUR girls on the road ;-) Or island hopping, rather. Which island I especially look forward to ? This one. And I cannot wait to visit my mother's hometown. 

Reality check part 67.385984 1/3

Just letting you know (in one of the various Carissa-ish ways ... ) that I am still alive. Sharing is caring. I need to sort some things these days, and the coming weeks. And think about this. You know. Next steps and all that jazz....

"Well Played, The Smiths

WILL: God DAMN, we are hot.

JADA: Hell yeah, baby.

WILL: We are the wickedest couple in the history of badassitude.

JADA: Not to mention dappertasticness.

WILL: And slickocity.

JADA: Sexification!

WILL: Jiggyificence!

JADA: Brangelina WHO?

WILL: TomKat WHAT?

JADA: Asslete? NICE TRY.

WILL: Davitoria Spiceham? I THINK NOT.

JADA: DAMN RIGHT.

WILL: Get back to me when THEY own July 4.

JADA: They would have to buy it off you for $100 million.

WILL: This town is OURS.

JADA: We are FINE.

WILL: Drink it in, Hollywood, because you are about to go on the 21-Day Smith Cleanse!

JADA: Next up: taking over the Hollywood Bowl with my band!

WILL: ... Okay, let's not talk crazy, now. Maybe let's just keep looking fly.

JADA: Oh yeah? Well, just remember who classes up your plaid ass.

WILL: Brad Pitt wears vests that match his suit.

JADA: And how did THAT go for him?

WILL: Point taken. Game, set, and match to my lady.

JADA: Damn skippy."

(Source: Gofugyourself . You gotta love it)

Very short update. FINALLY.

I know I haven't been blogging much at all lately, mainly because work fills up most of my weekdays, and my weekends are filled with travelling through the country by train to get treatment for my stomache (I will spare you the details - you should be grateful, trust me. The reason for these problems are most likely stress related. Something has to change) and trying to relax. This weekend, I FINALLY met up with Cileia in Berne, and it was lovely. It was great to finally catch up, girl, and if I shouldn't see you before Sue's wedding, then at least we'll take the bus down there together to attend THE wedding, like we discussed today :-) Ah, the life of post-AIESEC alumnae in their mid-twenties, or soon late twenties, eek. Haha. Enjoy the Springtime !


Some few impressions of the past weeks:

• Christian helping me out with FINALLY getting rid of pigeonshit on my windowsills and installing those spikes to keep those flying rats away from me !!! Hallelujah. Plus, that same weekend we went to get a new closet for my room, all by public transportation (Geneva - Crissier and back. So you can guess: tramways, trains, buses, going on foot next to the highway, and back again). My man rocks ...
  
• Being a "guinea-pig" for upcoming make-up artists (at work). In this pic, you unfortunately cannot see how strong the make-up actually was and how RED my lips were after being made up. The red color lasted until the morning after...
• Enjoying some sun (FINALLY) in the garden at my parents' place....ah, my kittiecats

Important three days at work ahead of me, so off to bed I go...see you soon!

Quick updates

T like tendinitis? Still have it (right arm), and it sucks. Working at a computer like this is a pain in the neck. Or the elbow. You know what I mean.

I had two birthday dinners in one weekend: Saturday with my family, and Sunday evening with great friends! Ate too much of course, but alas, it was delicious :-) Thanks again!!

Slowly settling in at work, still need to get used to using Outlook and MS Office in French though, yuck.

My new team kind of feels like my old EB :-) Three other ladies (five, but one of them is leaving in two and a half months) and myself. That's just the core team of course. They're great!

I went to a goodbye apéro of an old friend of mine on Saturday. He's about to leave on a trip around the world (well, almost: Switzerland to India, maybe adding SE-Asia) with his girlfriend, on huge motorbikes (each has their own). What an adventure!

And again, no editing, because I'm drop dead tired...speak soon folks! And thank you once again very much for all the heartfelt birthday wishes :-)

Recent stats

Colors and shades (I know these aren't colors, but you get the point) mostly worn since October:
- Black
- Grey
- Silver
- White
- More black (I haven't worn so much black EVER. Not even when I was sixteen, arrived in the US for my exchange year and was told by my host-family to "Wear some color, girl!")
- And all the above paired with shades of yellow, pink, blue and green

Money spent three weeks ago on a haircut/color: CHF 170.- And this in a "Cut & Go", i.e. where it's supposed to be cheaper! Seriously, the scenario was hilarious. The guy who cut my hair was wearing those trance/techno-dancers' shoes (aka Buffalo's), had veeeerry looooong black hair, and his clothes were mainly gothic, very hard to explain. You could basically say he looked (and sounded and smelled) like a nicotine addicted male member of the Kelly Family, goth' version, with cigarette burns on his arms. Oh, and he accidentally smeared hair color on my face every now and then. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. But hallelujah, the haircut turned out okay.

Since there haven't been any new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty since what, November?, I have resorted to watching the following "series":

• My so-called life (Ah, the good ol' grungy mid-nineties)
  
• Germany's Next Top Model, Season 2 (who would have thought I'd watch this. But you know what? I LOVED it!)
• Secret Diary of a Call Girl
  

Last booK read (in October 2007. Yes, not much time or energy for reading these days):

• "The Yacoubian Building"(excellent read)
  
• I still haven't finished reading "The Life of Pi" .... I think the book became too religious after page 100, haha. See, I first thought the book was about science! Anyways, I WILL finish it, hopefully soon
  

Last movies watched:

• Seeing other people (Fantastic!)
• The Virgin Suicides
• Walk the line
  
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004 version)
  
• Mrs. Henderson presents (with a superb Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins)
  
• Kill Bill 1 & 2 (finally!)
• Eight Below (Don't laugh, it's a Disney film, but with yummy Paul Walker. He acts quite well in this flic, I must say. And I'm just a total sucker for animal movies)

Good day, bad day ?

I am sick again. For the third time in three months. That's an average of once a month. This ISN'T NORMAL!! What the hell is wrong with me? Completely healthy on Monday morning, then oh! a sneeze. A day later an itching sensation in my throat. And downhill from then on. It's almost as if I was able to see the germs, and watch the progression of myself getting sick from the outside. Not even prevention helped. I had taken Panadol and Pretuval C on Tuesday already, feeling that I could maybe get sick. It all didn't help. I don't know. I think I am working too hard. Always in front of the computer. Rah rah rah. No but seriously, I think something is wrong with me.

All that could ruin my day, but I should see the bright side of it, because there were lots of positive aspects to my day:

- My baby sent me flowers to work!! I didn't know who they were from, it just said Je t'aime on a blank card. It took me entire morning to make him admit it was he who sent them! How can you lie to me about that? Grrrrr. But thanks a lot darling :-) Love you

- I have received my FILIPINO PASSPORT today !!!! I'm offiziell Doppelbürgerin, baby ;-) Two passports are just better than one, don't you think? Hehehehe.

- I received a letter from LA POSTE today (customer service department), following up on my complaint from 28 December. Who would have thought! You see, for weeks, the idiotic postman/postwoman (I am quite sure it's a woman who delivers the mail to the people in my building, I have seen her before) has been putting letters of someone else in my mailbox!!! Someone with the last name of Saleh. Now how can you be so stupid and blind! Does Mohamed Ali Saleh look anything like my name? Thank you. Let's hope now that this isn't just a random letter, but that they will really do something about my situation. Because just two days ago, I had yet another letter for Mr. Saleh in my mailbox. What if he's been getting important mail of mine, but didn't put it in my mailbox?

Busy, and sick, times

I think this has never happened to me before....getting sick twice in three weeks. I need to take better care of myself. The past few weeks have been very intense to say the least, but it was all very well worth it. I love my friends :-) And work is good too....

Going home this weekend for my dear Daddy's birthday. Oh and congratulations to my brother too, he successfully finished his studies! It's in times like these that you realize how fast, uh, time flies. When I can say "I finished high school seven and a half years ago", or I joined AIESEC in October 2002, I definetely feel like I'm getting older. At the same time, no matter how much time passes by, certain things will just never change, and that is very comforting. To me it feels like this is the time I know which people I will be friends with for the rest of my life. No matter how far away they are or will be :-p

Probably the longest update post ever. Can you handle it? :-)

How do you start a post that should recap the past seven weeks...maybe by saying that I have had a great social life! Haha. Busy at work, and busy seeing friends, which is why I haven't posted in so long. I think this busy life isn't sustainable though, because I am sick now, bummer. I shouldn't be blogging in my state, but I know exactly that if I don't blog now, then it'll take another seven weeks before I update this thing correctly. So here goes, in an reverse chronological order (note that between all this, I started to work again on 22 OCT). Btw: Madrid is at the very end, incase that's all you want to read, hehe...

• DO-IT 2007

• 

My 4th DO-IT (this is AIESEC in Switzerland's largest national conference). What shall I say, it was rather strange for me, since I went as an alumna. I didn't feel like being in any track, just wanted to party, spend time with friends, let go of some stress and celebrate the end of my studies and my new job. At the same time, I felt forced to participate in sessions, and couldn't say no because I knew the facis and know that it's not cool to have no delegates. Also, we had some Geneva alumnae at the conference, and since I used to be part of the National Support Team for alumni relations, it would have looked like I don't give a shit about what happens with our alumni now, if I don't participate in the track. I felt like I'd loose my credibility. But you could see it in my face, I am sure, that I just didn't give a damn at that moment. I was a delegate in sessions that I have delivered before myself. This is nothing against the facis or the other alumni, it was entirely personal. I wasn't doing well, and you could tell, I am sure. I had a very hard time motivating myself for anything else but sleeping, chatting, partying. However, it WAS cool to see those alumni (the older ones) again, and hear their ideas. It was just two years too late for me.
This conference was truly a collective of "first times": First time I didn't attend a closing plenary, first time I didn't see a faci dance, first time I forgot my shoes in the party room (my second pair I dragged along, mind you, not the ones I was wearing for dancing, haha. I retrieved them the next day in the lost-and-found box), first time I didn't dance on a table in ages, first time I was the only part of the Sue-Rico-Carissa dancing sandwich (I wa s a lonely piece of bread, haha), first time I didn't sleep in a room with regular delegates, first time I never had breakfast, first time having a new dance partner, and first time I went to the conference by CAR !!! That was fun, right Chiara, Aïda and Lukas? Hahaha. "Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme more...". Poor Lukas, I think he was kind of scared being in the car with us girls. By the way, another first timer: I felt really sick on the w ay home, as in sick from alcohol (I didn't even have that much, as usual. Must have been the fact that I didn't eat much, and drank beer after that cheap Tequila, eow).

• Reunion time (2-4 NOV) with former AIESEC interns in Geneva

• 

Ah, my cutiepies. From left to right: Jörg aka Yorkito, Mike, Jaspal and Eric. I had a great weekend seeing my former AIESEC interns again (the girl in the pic is a different story, haha, she wasn't one of my interns), the ones I was a coordinator for in 2004/2005. We went dancing, had fun flashbacks, had dinner and went bowling. And had a couple of drinks. Good times, good times, remembering the old times! Bowling was very memorable, because I was listed as "Honka", and nobody knows why! They spelled my name to the girl behind the counter, who first wrote "Karissa" apparently. I guess that "Honka" was the result of telling her sans K (without a K). That's pretty hilarious. And you know what? I played rather well for a change! Came in third, even beat Eric and Jörg, haha. As usual, Jörg had to kick something, because he's a bad loser, hehe, we were waiting for that all weekend! That weekend was also my first time at the Bypass Club in Geneva. What shall I say, it's okay I guess, and we were lucky not to pay anything to get in. The girls, that is. Thanks to Leila ("Leila, who the f... is Leila?" was the running joke of the evening. None of the former interns knew her, but it was thanks to her birthday that we got in to the club I'd say, hahaha) and Julia and Chiara too!

• Friends Friends Friends (OCT 10 - present)

Loads of catching up with friends: With Joëlle and Vincent over a lovely dinner at their place (yummie! and congratulations on the finished doctorat!), with Vero over a drink at Café Jules Verne (she's my married friend from University, haha), with Jaspal over a drink at Deco Café, with Nicole over the phone (another friend and partner in crime from University. Girl nailed a great job already! With her first ever CV, her first ever letter of motivation and first ever real job interview. And she's already driving a company car, a BMW as a matter of fact, and has her company laptop. You go girl! Simply incredible, really), with Ravaka at my place (she spent the night), with Aïda all the time, haha (phone, eating, over coffee...), with Julia at Starbucks, with Sanja at Starbucks, and with Nadine in Fribourg over dinner at some local Amnesty International event (and running into a random AIESECer from LC Fribourg there). Plus, bumping into Yemi at the laundromat next door, for the second time! Moreover, I even met friends of friends, right Natasha? Haha, thank you facebook I guess. I met up with Natasha's friend Jawad from Cairo, who was visiting Geneva for a couple of days for a conference. Jawad, de son tour, brought along a friend of a friend, Omar, also from Cairo, who has been living in Geneva for five years now. Interesting discussions we had, and it brought back nice memories from my two months in Egypt earlier this year...

• Bob Sinclar concert in Lausanne with Aïda & Kenza (18 OCT)

• 

In order to celebrate Aïda's successful soutenance de mémoire de licence, we three ladies headed to Lausanne to the Bob Sinclar concert. From now I shall remember to bring ID with me when attending a concert in that city! Do I look like under age???? Okay, no, it's just some strange rule they have there. EVERYONE has to show ID for concerts, even if you bought your ticket online with your own credit card. Pfff. Anyways, it was a really fun night, even though we all pretty much agreed that he's only a good DJ for his own songs. Otherwise, we would have preferred to see David Guetta instead.

• Quality time at home, and removing my last two wisdom teeth (okay, this last point might be oversharing...)

• 

I don't think this needs explanation really...It was just wonderful to be at home with my family (everyone there, for a change), and Christian came to Weggis too again. Been ages that we've all been under the same roof at the same time. We also had nice guests that weekend, and I got to hold a baby, after so long (after emphasizing married friend further up, here I am emphasizing baby. Probably just because I still feel so far away from that, haha, yet somehow can't wait either...).

• Weekend in Friedrichshafen (D) with Christian (13/14 OCT)

• 

Christian and I decided that we needed to get out a bit again, the last time having been at the end of June already. Given our limited budget, we just "hopped" across the liquid border, i.e. across the Lake of Constance to visit Friedrichshafen in Germany. I thought he might like that, since Friedrichshafen is home to the Zeppelinmuseum, and Christian loves anything that can fly, haha. We had a cute little hotel, walked around the city a bit (even though it feels more than a village), had dinner at a place called Trulli (which reminded me of one of my favorite pizzerias in Geneva that carries the same name), which was very good, if not only I had gotten sick literally thirty seconds after finishing my salad! Isn't that just so wrong, getting sick from salad in GERMANY, not in India or Egypt or wherever I've been abroad. We also found their version of the jet d'eau (see picture), which is quite pitiful, haha. Since we didn't know what to do besides being outside in the cold, we went to watch a movie, thining of going for a drink afterwards. But don't expect a nightlife in Friedrichshafen, Jesus, we had a very very hard time finding anything that was open at 10.30pm on a Saturday night! Just an ice-cream parlor and coffee shop weren't closed yet, and they were frowning when we asked if they were still open! Goodness gracious, haha. We of course visited the Zeppelinmuseum the day after, and found one superb coffee place right by the port, before heading home again.

• Madrid with my girls !!! (4-8 OCT)

• 

Oh boy, that particular weekend almost deserves its own post! Hahaha, it was awesome to say the least! Rrrrrrrrr viva España! Julia and I flew to Madrid with EasyJet on an early Thursday morning, were picked up by our dear Sarita (3/4 of the AIESEC EB Geneva 04-05 reunited right there!), and first strolled around Madrid, me basically sleepwalking. Oops. I was so incredibly tired, you should have seen it. Poor Julia, she had to endure me that afternoon, sitting next to me on a bench in front of El Retiro park for like thirty minutes, because I fell asleep on the spot! Hahaha. Afterwards, we picked up Sarah at the AIESEC in Spain MC office (holaaa! I got to meet some Mexicans again, how cool. Uh, yes, there are two Mexican girls on the Spanish MC), and also met Regi there!! And who would have thought, Ira was there too! We were like, um, we know each other! "Didn't we work together once?" goes Ira (she's not in AIESEC). I go "Oh yeah, we distributed Denner Energy Drinks for like nine hours at the Geneva train station a while back!" HAHAHAHA. The world is such a small place. Did we party that evening? I can't even remember. I just know that we checked out Madrid quite a bit, athough we didnd't even go INTO the palace (...ladies ladies, next time, I will drag you in there...), went to a great Erasmus party one night, hung out at the El Retiro park one evening (on the way back home Ira goes "Eow, what's that smell....oh wait I know...." and I go "Oh yeah, I know what that smells like, it smells like warm fresh....hehe, I can't write that here!), watched Fanta4 videos, Gad Elmalek and Goodness Gracious Me videos on YouTube together, travelled to Toledo together and almost died laughing at Julia speaking Swiss-German (where is the video???), had great tapas and tinto de verano together, went shopping together and just had such a great time !!! Girls, we need to repeat this sometime, I love you! :-D

- THE END -

(pat yourself on your shoulder if you got this far, haha. I sure am proud of myself for this, because it's like three hours later!)

Life is what happens while you're making plans...

As Sheryl Crow sings wisely in ther song Diamond Road (from the alumb C'mon C'mon) :

"Don't miss the diamonds along the way
Every road has led us here today
Life is what happens while you're making plans
All that you need is right here in your hands"

Why am I using this quote? Because once again I have witnessed that you can make plans in life, be it a one, five or even a ten year plan, but in the end, nothing turns out quite the way you've planned. And you know what? It's great. For months I've been thinking about changing my blog description under my profile pic, but actually, most things are still the same. My life is full of unpredictability, and it strangely feels good, because I'm so used to it. It's funny, isn't it? The stability of unstability. I am quite sure it's not going to be so much fun in say six months when my temporary contract will end once again, but this new job position is a true blessing! It wasn't planned, not even the job position I had before, but I wouldn't want it any other way right now. It "happened" while I was making plans. So, I guess the lesson for me is: It's nice to have a direction, but most likely, your detailed ten-year plan is a waste of time and can even close doors for you. I am not saying that you shouldn't plan anything in life (if you know me very well, you know that I am not just a day-dreamer who lives in the present, but tend to overplan things myself, and take the issue of "thinking in avance" a tad bit too seriously. Or isn't thinking of writing your will at 26 when you are perfectly healthy a bit exaggerated?), but that overfocusing and clutching to your plan could make you blind to opportunities and wonderful moments along the way. Diamonds on the road in my life? AIESEC and friends, my relationship, my current job and industry I'm working in, the city I'm living in. Nothing went according to plan, but everything is perfect right now.

So here's to going through life with your eves wide open and chances are high that it's going to be a diamond road :-)

Just quickly....

I still haven't come around to post about my new job, even though it's just a temporary one, again, for the time being (am signing my contract next week). Plus, I have spent one of the funnest weekends ever with my girls in Madrid, and haven't blogged about it yet either. Love you ladies! Today, finally chatted on msn with my dear friend Hadia from Egypt, and finally also with Annalein! I also just got back from having dinner at Jo and Vincent's place, it was soooo nice! Next week, reconnecting with old friends! (Maybe the weekend after this one too, depending on how much I will be in pain or not from pulling my last two wisdom teeth). Oh, and I am going to spend this weekend in Friedrichshafen and the Bodensee region with my honey! Ah, life.....I will tell you more soon, I promise :-)

P.S. Now, how will I get rid of those ugly critters (aka "Kellerasseln") in my apartment?

Somebody pinch me

I will post a thorough entry in about a week, when things will be 100% clear what's happening with my life. But I guess you could say it's going rather well at the moment, at least job-wise :-) I am really looking forward to my new position in the marketing department!


Talk to you soon....

Ode to silence

As very often these past three months, I don't really feel like blogging, because I am little bit sick of my usual fast-written, non-edited posts with poor vocabulary. I can do better than that, but when it comes to blogging, I just become lazy. Another reason why I am not blogging is because I am quite sick of certain people running to my parents after reading things I posted. They can read it too if they want, you know! Luckily, my parents are not like those strange people out there who read my posts, thinking they can interpret them and know me very well just because they read my blog (do you really think I reveal my entire self here?), and then draw the conclusion that I don't take life seriously. What I have to answer back? Seriously, get a life.

Four days

As I am very tired (obviously because I am still awake), I wish I could just write four words to summarize these past four days, or post four pictures to try to recap everything. I don't think it will work, but I will try the first:

1. Reunions
2. Family
3. Frustrations
4. Sleep
   

Note that none of the above are related at all! Well, okay, I might as well explain myself:

Reunions: Technically, it started last Wednesday, seeing Aïda again, having dinner together ;-) Then, on Thursday, I met up with Natasha in Basel, and also saw Anne again there, my "oldest" friend (not agewise, I mean that we've known each other since we were nine years old and are still in touch. What's the proper way to say that?). It was a really really great day, with two wonderful people. Today, on my way back to Geneva (I went home to Lucerne over the long weekend, the office was closed on THU and FRI), I bumped into m elementary school sweetheart, on the ship (yes, I also travel by ship. Or is it called motorboat?) ! It was so amazing to talk with him, I think it's the first time in, what, ten, twelve years that we actually really spoke? Or maybe the first time ever? Don't laugh, because yes, that's possible. I was extremely shy in elementary school, we never talked then, all we did was exchange little love letters, hihi. Afterwards, in high school, we never spoke I think, just said hi in the hallways. Isn't that a coincidental encounter of the extremely cute kind? We then even took the same train together, and continued talking, about all kinds of things. Every time we mentioned other "exes" we really had to smile :-) Looking back, I count myself grateful once again, for such fond childhood memories! All those Summer camps together with pillow dances at the parties, dance classes, holding hands, the shy kisses and such innocent puppy love, haha. If you're reading this: Good luck with the thesis, and hope we'll keep in touch!

Family: Food, food and more food. My Dad the grillmaster, the yummy meat, the great laughs, the gorgeous weather, the kitty-cats running around, the delicious and heavy chocolate cake for dessert, my little sister and her boyfriend (awwww, so cute), my brother who just had his last exams, my Mom enjoying the beauty products I brought her.....truly a fab weekend.

Frustrations: Had a job interview on Thursday morning in Lausanne, got the job (just a random job for ten days, to get some extra money), but was frustrated that I'm still being treated as a student and that I have to deal with BEEP (I cannot write this here right now). After that, I was sitting at a café at the trainstation in Lausanne and my wallet was almost stolen. Two random drunk or stoned guys, in their late twenties (this was at 10am) came to my table, talking crap, wanting to sit down with me at my table. I ignored them, continued to read my newspaper, with my handbag was on the chair next to me, which yeah, is stupid, but that's the way it was. I've learned my lesson now, trust me. A few seconds later I noticed that one of them was holding my wallet in his hands, trying to hide it under his jacket! All the people directly next to me must have seen this before me, because before that those two guys were standing in front of my table for some time, being quite loud, which must have caught their attention. But did these people react or yell or something? Nope. Thank God I noticed myself, so I jumped up, grabbed my wallet and cussed at him, saying something really bad in French. I was SO ANGRY!! Angry at him, angry at myself - also because afterwards, I didn't have the immediate reflex of calling the police, I was just shocked and glad I still had my wallet - but also angry at the people around me. Here I was, a young woman alone, in a business suit, wearing high heels, with my laptop next to me, TWO GUYS harrassing me, and nobody gives a shit! Instead of maybe thinking of helping me, all they can do is BLAME ME and ignore the situation! All this very Swiss lady in her fourties managed to do once those idiots were gone was to bend down to me, ask me in a teacherly voice if I was okay, telling me it was dangerous to leave my handbag on the chair right next to me! Lady, I know that myself, it was silly, but it happened! I really wonder how people around me would have reacted if I had looked "more Swiss", according to the usual definition. Would they have jumped out of their seats right away, or are they all jellyfish in general?

Sleep: Lots of healthy, relaxing sleep this weekend. And cute cats sleeping next to me as well...

Updates

These past few days (it feels more like weeks actually) were all about introspection and catching up with friends. Introspection because I met again with my mentor (we had delicious dinner in a great restaurant in Geneva called "Lawrence d'Arabie". The setting of the place, Arabian Nights style, was so right for a person like me: candles, big pillows, nice oriental music, loads of nice colors and patterns, great smell in the air...) and it was so great!! I have a rather concrete action plan for the next two weeks. What exactly I won't tell you yet. Let me just say that now, it's all about being assertive, going for what I want, showing what I can do, trusting the process, envisioning my next steps. Oh, and using my network of contacts.

Catching up with friends because:

- Mi Sarita surprised me with a phone call on Friday at midnight, from Zurich airport, on the way to Olten! :-D Gracias!

- My dear friend Wiebke from Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) came to visit me for a few days! Mi bibkosita ;-) We were hostsisters in Costa Rica in Summer 2004. We checked out the Fêtes de Genève (rather, the Village Tropical. Got hit on by very strange guys, eow), she checked out Geneva while I was working, we went to Zurich to check out the after-math of the Streetparade (Bibko's summary of the weekend was: Men in Switzerland aren't handsome...haha), and we drove to Lausanne by train, checked out the city a bit, then took a steamboat from Lausanne to Vevey, and then the train back to Geneva. Lovely weather, a great friend, great catching-up, couldn't have been better! Ya me faltas!

- This past weekend, I went to St. Gallen (St. Gallen Fest) together with Murielle, Mathias and Röbi. Why? To celebrate the 10-year-anniversary of our Exchange Year in the USA!!! 1997/1998 baby! I can't believe it's been that long already, but it's a blessing that we're still such great friends and kept in touch over all these years! We're already planning our 20-year-anniversary, haha. Of course we had to eat American Food, i.e. huge Burgers with fries, onion rings and nachos as entrée, and cheesecakes and waffles with berries and ice-cream for dessert. Wowawewa, right? Plus some beer :-) The topic was "heavens no vitamins please!", you know, an hommage to the US, hehe. We were positively surprised by St. Gallen, they actually do have some pretty cool cafés and places there, who would have thought! And it didn't rain! Now that's a first, haha. And to top that all off, we had real American style pancakes for breakfast, along with bacon, scrambled eggs, butter, maple sirup....hahaha, my stomache hurts even remembering all that food! We made an exception that time though: We had orange juice and cantaloupe pieces with that, because we do like vitamins ;-) I love those three people to death! Para siempre, okay?

A music festivals recap

Before I start blabbering about how tired I am because of working even harder these past two weeks (you can now call me the Powerpoint guardian - yes, that was my nickname at work recently, haha - 450 slides in three days), I will share some videos with you of the fantastic concerts I have been to in July (I unfortunately couldn't find anything from The Roots and Kelis at Gurtenfestival) !!! The one from Plüsch isn't from the Gurtenfestival but from an earlier concert of theirs this year, couldn't find anything on YouTube. However, I loooooved that song when they played it at the Gurtenfestival. I repeat that I find the lead singer soooo cute, and very talented ;-) Did I already mention that we saw him in the festival crowd the day after they played? He was there with his girlfriend. How groovy...On another note, Joss Stone rocks my world (and Christian's too I think, hehe). She's got so much self-confidence for her age, it's incredible. Watching her always makes me think "Girl knows exactly who she is and what she wants in life", which I find extremely impressive.

Anyways, here some videos (India.Arie, Tori Amos, John Legend, Joss Stone, Plüsch, Cypress Hill). Enjoy!

India.Arie (Ready for love, live at Montreux Jazz Festival)

Looooong overdue update

I am really sorry (and surprised!) that I've hardly updated my blog lately. I used to be such a blog addict, remember? Anyways, work is keeping me busy, and tired. I am quite sure I'm doing a good job, which is cool. Fingers crossed for me my boss won't find someone for the permanent position too fast, so I could at least stay until the end of September or maybe October. For the time being, they told me at least until the end of August. What I do all day? Well, just imagine all the things an executive assistant to a Senior Vice President does, plus some HR related things (answer people on their applications, in general negative or potential), pick up candidates for interviews, and some office admin work.

I also (finally!) bought some new clothes and shoes, was really necessary for work. Haircut is still due though. Any good hairdresser (cheap) in Geneva? Thanks ladies ;-)

Other than that, I've been to a lot of concerts. Last weekend, to the Gurtenfestival in Berne with Christian. The concerts rocked!! The Roots, Cypress Hill (oh man, that was da bomb), Kelis (she needed some time to get going, maybe she was tired, it was very late), Plüsch (I had no clue that guy sings SO well! Fantastic stage presence, interaction with the crowd, and he's cute too, hehe. And it's a Swiss group! Man, that was my big surprise moment....Anna, you would have loved it!), Patent Ochsner, Freundeskreis, and my darling Joss Stone (I love her!!!).

Right now, I'm off to the Paléo Festival in Nyon, doing AIDS prevention work as a volunteer. I'll get to see (from a far) P!NK, yeah :-)

Tootles, I promise to update again soon. Peace out

Updates, long overdue

This blog post is long overdue, and actually I had in mind to postpone getting back to blogging again until I found a job and presented my thesis ... or until I see things more clearly again. Yes, there you go: I haven't presented it yet. I'll get to that point shortly. It's finished, my thesis assistant liked it, she just wants me to make some small adjustments. Plus, around this time of the year, you don't get a date that quickly, so I'm guessing it could take another, what, two, three weeks until they let me defend the darn thing. But one thing after another: I was quite sick in May, due to a complication of my hayfever, didn't know that was possible. I was panicking, not only because of my health, but also because of my thesis deadline. Once I presented my doctor's certificate though, everything was fine, and they gave me some time to get well and de-stress (this job searching thing for Summer because I need the money so badly has been wearing me out so much). So, the thesis thing took me longer than I thought, and believe me I am not very proud of it, but I am so over beating myself up about it, and answering questions about it. It happened, voilà. My life, my studies, my situation, my bad. I know things will be fine. It was a love-hate relationship: I am very interested in my thesis topic, and in some way felt like dedicating my all to working on my thesis, but somehow, just neither had the energy nor the nerve for it. There you go.

Other than that, I've been in touch with Adecco and Manpower for the past six or more weeks, hoping they could find me a suitable Summer job that's not related to product promotion or student jobs I've done so far. Next to that, I've been applying for jobs via online ads and websites, and also applied for some internships. Am still waiting for answers. So many applications, cover letters, interviews, phone calls, but no success yet. Damn, how hard can it be to just find a temporary job!? Am I too ambitious, are my expectations set too hight? And am I being arrogant if I just don't accept Fr. 20.- per hour anymore because that's the salary I earned six or seven years ago? Lord, I just want a regular office job, don't really care if it's a bit brainless, as long as it pays decently. And sure, it would be nice if it wasn't a typical "female" office position (reception, secretary). But alas, what else can you hope for if you only want a job for say three or four months in order to pay your bills, some debts, and your flight and first month abroad of your AIESEC internship (fingers crossed). Because that's the plan, to finally do my AIESEC internship abroad, if possible in the Asia-Pacific region. And this is another point that's been on my mind lately, a big dilemma: Will it really help me professionally? Wouldn't it be better, at my age, to just try to join a graduate internship program at a big company, and be "safe" for a little while? Would I regret it if I didn't do my AIESEC internship after all? After all, I've been abrad with AIESEC twice for seven or eight weeks, even though not in a real professional setting. How long will it take me to find something? So many question marks in my head. Ah, I don't know. I usually don't care much about asking for advice, because after all, it's my life, and I've always done things my way, even though to many people my choices may have seemed odd and void of any logic. However, lately, I would have been grateful for some decision making help.
And dammit, what do I really want right now? I have made a long list of things I need to take of in the "personal management" department, like email accounts, my flat, activities, mentoring program, self assessment and analysis, me-time, exercise and diet, etc. etc. etc. The problem is that I haven't had the time to take care of those things yet, but I really do think it would be good for me to just take a week in order to think about what I want right now. I don't know if I would call it something like a five-year-plan (I never know if I like those kinds of plans or not ... sometimes they just seem more random than not planning at all, but maybe that's just me, or maybe I just don't have a clue of what I want yet. All I know is that someday, I want to be my own boss, that's the big goal. How I get there, pffffff, it doesn't really matter to me right now. And I want to live a happy, fulfilled, interesting and healthy life).

I am either very positive, or very dramatic. Extremely cheerful and giddy, or a total cry-baby. Right now, I am an emotional ship wreck. It can pass tomorrow morning, or not. I am just exhausted of the past few weeks, folks, but I know that I am by far not the only one, and that I shouldn't be so dramatic. Unfortunately, the little drama queen in me is prevailing at the moment, and I'm not into fighting her right now. So, I will go to sleep now, and leave you with some bullet points of other things I've been doing lately (yes, som of them kept me from concentrating on my thesis work. But aren't we all like that at one point? I have found out that I am by far not the only one) :

• Today, right after landing in Geneva again, I had a job interview that went very well, but I don't think that I have the job because with my luck, they found the ideal candidate for the permanent position (I would have filled in temporarily until they find the perfect person) yesterday. Can you believe that? She had the interview right after me! From a company's point of view it's totally understandable that they didn't cancel on me, incase they didn't like the other person after all. From my point of view, however, really not so cool ...
  
• Also today, got back from a long overdue but much too short vacation with Christian, in Valencia/Spain. It was wonderful! Yes, on a scale from 1-10 Barcelona is a 10 and Valencia would be something between a 4 and a 6 (depending on the criteria), but we had time for each other!! We watched Race 3 of the America's Cup (on a big screen), watched the boats of Team Emirates New Zealand and Team Alinghi enter the port after the race, checked out the city and the beaches (El Saler was the nicest one, a real gem. Thank God we had some sun that day! The only bad part was the dead algae ... haha). And our hostel was perfectly located in the city center (Pension Levante, formerly a "house of sins", haha, very interesting place). We ate Paella Valenciana, got sunburned, and went to the Oceanografic. Cool place, biggest "fish tank" in Europe, but we both preferred the one in Lissabon ... strangely, Christian remembers names of metro stations of Lissabon so well while in Valencia! One of them became one of our most used expressions the past few days: Marquês de Pombal. It's our new word for everything. Like, if we think the other one is behaving like an idiot, we'd say "Oh stop being such a Marquês de Pombal!", haha. We also have new names for us: Christian calls himself a Pirelli, I call myself the female version of the Michelin man (you know, who looks like he's full of Pirellis). I still think Christian didn't gain weight at all, but oh well. LY baby
  
• Went to the doctor too many times, took antibiotics for too long, was sick. But you know that already
• Am psychologically stressed and worn out
  
• I had cool visitors in May (Sveta, Danny) and saw old friends again (Wiebke, saw her in Hamburg/Germany for a weekend. Visited Kiel, Schleswig, Flensburg and a Viking Museum called Haithabu)
• Spent too much time on facebook
• Said goodbye to dear friends
  
• Didn't see my friends all that much actually
• Updated my CV
• Did self-reflection (again, oh brother)
• Asked myself way too many questions
• Went to see Shrek 3 with Julia (won tickets for the avant-première)
• Watched my weight go up up up, and down a bit, then up up up, and down a bit
• Totally messing up my sleeping rhythm again
• Watched Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy & Season 1 of Ugly Betty online

Yes. Still.

On blogging hiatus. I have quite a few things I could and want to blog about (thoughts, visitors I've had in Geneva the past months, fears, next steps etc.), but the time isn't quite right yet. I need some space right now. Here's where I'm going on vacation with Christian next week. We will see parts of this. And maybe make a short trip here. Our first vacation together since December 2004 (!!!). Some people ask me how we do it. Sometimes I even ask myself the same question. It just seems to work. And I am so happy about that...


P.S. Still have no temporary job until September/October, and it's pissing me off big time.

Updates

Well folks, what can I say. You're all asking about my thesis. Let's say right now my situation is quite "complicated". Hoping this is just another administrative thing (just need to make important corrections), and not the beginning of another nightmare.

Other than that, my life is actually going really well. Ironic, isn't it?

- I got pretty fantastic work certificates from here and here

- I most likely got a job at the Gurtenfestival again. Hardly pays, but I get a backstage pass again

- I am visiting my dear friend Wiebke in Hamburg/Flensburg at the beginning of June (she was my German hostsister during my language home stay program in Costa Rica in 2004)

- My black MacBook finally arrived

- I am seeing one mentor (you know who you are) on 1st of May, and another one (my former boss from here ) soon after that

- My tax declaration for 2006 was done on time for a change (yes, in my life, this is a point worth mentioning :-))

- I have a new great friend who goes with me through thick and thin with this thesis thing. We've been supporting each other for the past weeks, getting to know each other better etc. I don't know what I would have done without her...

- My vacation with Christian is booked, for the last week of June. The first time since December 2004 that we're going on vacation together! Where are we going? To Valencia, Spain. We'll even see parts of the America's Cup

- I got a ticket for the India.Arie & John Legend concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival

- My little sister got a great internship at this hotel. So happy for her! (her happiness is my happiness, which is why I am posting this here)

- Am finding old friends again thanks to procrastination tools that you're very familiar with