25 Random Things About Me
0 Comments Published by Svetlana Zhukova on Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 7:42 AM.
If you are tagged in this note, it's your turn to write 25 things about yourself!
(I admit I got inspiration from the random things of other friends, well, the consolation is that the content is different :)
1. I was born in USSR, in Lithuania, and I call myself Russian from Belarus. (my parents are from Russia and all their families are in Russia, but we ended up in Belarus after USSR collapsed, and so I have a magic (not!) Belarusian passport. I call both countries my home, but I'm not sure I belong to either.
2. I have set my foot in 25 countries by the age of 24, some of them for half a day (Moldova), some of them for 2 days (Paris), some of them I lived in.
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, England, Norway, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, Serbia, Italy, India, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Egypt, Australia, USA, Brazil. Most of the places I've been to are due to my work in AIESEC.
3. I'm very bad at replying to personal email and messages, and every year I make a New Year resolution to improve it.
4. When I was 16, I participated in a beauty contest. No, I didn't make it past the 1st round :)
5. I shared apartments (for at least a year) and rooms with 21 different people, including my parents and my brother. They were from Belarus, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, India, Australia, Colombia, Canada. Two of them were old ladies I rented a room from when I was 15 and 16. Maximum number of people I shared one room with was 3 - in my times at uni, when everyone in our building lived in 4 people shared rooms.
6. I haven't watched many famous (from western culture) movies - I haven't seen Godfather, or Grease, or Star Wars etc. I equally at times confuse Queen's songs with Scorpions, and I'm not afraid to admit I like ABBA.
7. My paternal grandfather was in KGB, and my father and my brother are military officers. No, I don't think it influenced me, but I wish I could use a threat of KGB connections at times.
8. If I have to choose between cooking and washing the dishes, I opt for cooking. My dishes of choice are pasta and tuna salad.
9. The worst fashion disaster in my life was when I wore a pink cardigan, black mini-skirt, red stockings and red shoes with a purple backpack to school. I was 12 and I don't know what my mom was thinking when she let me out of the house. I also have an addiction to having pigtails till now, but I think it's time let it go.
10. The most personally and professionally challenging moment of my life was to deliver a candidate election speech at an international conference for a global leadership team of AIESEC, in front of 100 people. I got the voting approval, but wasn't selected to the position, and it was the most rewarding learning process for me. At the end I did make it to that team, but in a different role. And that year was one of best years in my life.
11. I would love to work for some time as a movie director, art gallery manager, travelling photographer and Olympic Games coordinator. My dream job would be working as Earth Hour manager, TED organiser or Flickr creative team.
12. I have a fear of spiders and snakes. Quite unfortunate considering I live in Australia that has 8 out of 10 most poisonous species in the world...
13. My dream travel destinations are the moon (or at least a space station) and Antarctic. Perhaps it has to do with the amount of science fiction I read when I was growing up.
14. Things I miss about Belarus - family, friends, our family home, my dog, calm nature, change of seasons. Things I don't miss about Belarus - closed-ness of the country, lack of national spirit, grim entrepreneurial and democratic conditions, bureaucracy, lack of cafe culture and dark freezing rainy winter mornings. Things I miss about Moscow - speaking my language, summer evenings in the city, feeling of cultural belonging, endless possibilities. What I don't miss about Moscow - snobbishness, focus on money, ultra-competitiveness, overcrowded streets, over-smoked cafes and clubs.
15. Things I miss about Netherlands - being in the middle of Europe, developed infrastructure, 2-min walk to the office, afternoons and evenings in Amsterdam, Haas kebab house, apple tart at Dudok, and historical heritage. Things I don't miss about Netherlands - too many rules and procedures, tax system, too logical (not very emotional? not expressing much of emotions?) behaviour, winter without snow.
16. Things I love about Australia - pretty much everything.
17. I do not drive (at all) and do not know where the brake or accelerator are in the car, I'm probably the only female at 25 who doesn't drive, among my friends. But I have a great sense of direction.
18. I prefer Hungry Jack's (Burger King) over McDonald's. My latest addiction is strawberry smoothie.
19. When I watch TV, I get quite absorbed, so I am trying to watch very little of it.
20. I became quite an extremist with recycling after coming to Australia, and do not buy take-away coffee because cups are not recyclable. For the same reason I'd rather stack grocery into my handbag than taking a plastic one.
21. I don't like small talk and especially don't like this morning ' hi, how are you' greeting, which doesn't really imply other than 'fine, thanks' answer. I attempt small talk at networking functions - this is how it all starts, anyways - but get bored when people get to the question 'so, where are you from' and 'oh, I've always wanted to travel the moscow-bejing train'
22. A lot of self-awareness and ambitions I have surfaced because of AIESEC, and I think the decision to join this organisation was by far the most important choice I've made.
23. I'm an atheist, but I've been to churches, catholic and orthodox, to mosques, synagogues, hindu and buddist temples. I find mosques the most inspiring and peaceful, the one that made the most lasting impression is a closed for restoration mosque in downtown Cairo.
24. I don't have a distinct hobby, the closest I came to collecting is getting fridge magnets from the places I visited, most of them are on my parents' fridge.
25. I think the solution to many of our problems lies in re-inventing the lifestyle that is not based on consumption as a source of satisfaction. I'm still searching where my contribution lies.
---
I got inspiration from Tom.
I'm tagging: Jem, Su, Masha, Darius, Anthony, Marc, Karan, Selina, Marie, Katya, Marius, Gabi, Geta, Paul, Zhenia, Gosha, Helena, Jim, Shantanu, Liz, Rhonda, Katya L, Marina, Westy, Jingwei
Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
(I admit I got inspiration from the random things of other friends, well, the consolation is that the content is different :)
1. I was born in USSR, in Lithuania, and I call myself Russian from Belarus. (my parents are from Russia and all their families are in Russia, but we ended up in Belarus after USSR collapsed, and so I have a magic (not!) Belarusian passport. I call both countries my home, but I'm not sure I belong to either.
2. I have set my foot in 25 countries by the age of 24, some of them for half a day (Moldova), some of them for 2 days (Paris), some of them I lived in.
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, England, Norway, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, Serbia, Italy, India, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Egypt, Australia, USA, Brazil. Most of the places I've been to are due to my work in AIESEC.
3. I'm very bad at replying to personal email and messages, and every year I make a New Year resolution to improve it.
4. When I was 16, I participated in a beauty contest. No, I didn't make it past the 1st round :)
5. I shared apartments (for at least a year) and rooms with 21 different people, including my parents and my brother. They were from Belarus, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, India, Australia, Colombia, Canada. Two of them were old ladies I rented a room from when I was 15 and 16. Maximum number of people I shared one room with was 3 - in my times at uni, when everyone in our building lived in 4 people shared rooms.
6. I haven't watched many famous (from western culture) movies - I haven't seen Godfather, or Grease, or Star Wars etc. I equally at times confuse Queen's songs with Scorpions, and I'm not afraid to admit I like ABBA.
7. My paternal grandfather was in KGB, and my father and my brother are military officers. No, I don't think it influenced me, but I wish I could use a threat of KGB connections at times.
8. If I have to choose between cooking and washing the dishes, I opt for cooking. My dishes of choice are pasta and tuna salad.
9. The worst fashion disaster in my life was when I wore a pink cardigan, black mini-skirt, red stockings and red shoes with a purple backpack to school. I was 12 and I don't know what my mom was thinking when she let me out of the house. I also have an addiction to having pigtails till now, but I think it's time let it go.
10. The most personally and professionally challenging moment of my life was to deliver a candidate election speech at an international conference for a global leadership team of AIESEC, in front of 100 people. I got the voting approval, but wasn't selected to the position, and it was the most rewarding learning process for me. At the end I did make it to that team, but in a different role. And that year was one of best years in my life.
11. I would love to work for some time as a movie director, art gallery manager, travelling photographer and Olympic Games coordinator. My dream job would be working as Earth Hour manager, TED organiser or Flickr creative team.
12. I have a fear of spiders and snakes. Quite unfortunate considering I live in Australia that has 8 out of 10 most poisonous species in the world...
13. My dream travel destinations are the moon (or at least a space station) and Antarctic. Perhaps it has to do with the amount of science fiction I read when I was growing up.
14. Things I miss about Belarus - family, friends, our family home, my dog, calm nature, change of seasons. Things I don't miss about Belarus - closed-ness of the country, lack of national spirit, grim entrepreneurial and democratic conditions, bureaucracy, lack of cafe culture and dark freezing rainy winter mornings. Things I miss about Moscow - speaking my language, summer evenings in the city, feeling of cultural belonging, endless possibilities. What I don't miss about Moscow - snobbishness, focus on money, ultra-competitiveness, overcrowded streets, over-smoked cafes and clubs.
15. Things I miss about Netherlands - being in the middle of Europe, developed infrastructure, 2-min walk to the office, afternoons and evenings in Amsterdam, Haas kebab house, apple tart at Dudok, and historical heritage. Things I don't miss about Netherlands - too many rules and procedures, tax system, too logical (not very emotional? not expressing much of emotions?) behaviour, winter without snow.
16. Things I love about Australia - pretty much everything.
17. I do not drive (at all) and do not know where the brake or accelerator are in the car, I'm probably the only female at 25 who doesn't drive, among my friends. But I have a great sense of direction.
18. I prefer Hungry Jack's (Burger King) over McDonald's. My latest addiction is strawberry smoothie.
19. When I watch TV, I get quite absorbed, so I am trying to watch very little of it.
20. I became quite an extremist with recycling after coming to Australia, and do not buy take-away coffee because cups are not recyclable. For the same reason I'd rather stack grocery into my handbag than taking a plastic one.
21. I don't like small talk and especially don't like this morning ' hi, how are you' greeting, which doesn't really imply other than 'fine, thanks' answer. I attempt small talk at networking functions - this is how it all starts, anyways - but get bored when people get to the question 'so, where are you from' and 'oh, I've always wanted to travel the moscow-bejing train'
22. A lot of self-awareness and ambitions I have surfaced because of AIESEC, and I think the decision to join this organisation was by far the most important choice I've made.
23. I'm an atheist, but I've been to churches, catholic and orthodox, to mosques, synagogues, hindu and buddist temples. I find mosques the most inspiring and peaceful, the one that made the most lasting impression is a closed for restoration mosque in downtown Cairo.
24. I don't have a distinct hobby, the closest I came to collecting is getting fridge magnets from the places I visited, most of them are on my parents' fridge.
25. I think the solution to many of our problems lies in re-inventing the lifestyle that is not based on consumption as a source of satisfaction. I'm still searching where my contribution lies.
---
I got inspiration from Tom.
I'm tagging: Jem, Su, Masha, Darius, Anthony, Marc, Karan, Selina, Marie, Katya, Marius, Gabi, Geta, Paul, Zhenia, Gosha, Helena, Jim, Shantanu, Liz, Rhonda, Katya L, Marina, Westy, Jingwei
Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
Labels: 25 things
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