To find an email of a guy I used to work with in Minsk, I decided to search through my old emails in yahoo (my first email!). And I discovered my Pandora box, but a good one :)
It's a mailbox of happiness.
I started reading through emails of people that were dear to me at the time, emails written at different times of my early growing up life, when I was discovering myself and my friends. People I have not remembered about but who meant so much to me at the time, words of encouragement that kept me going even in toughest of time, sad and happy news, it's all there.
It's like a dive to the past: 2000 - 2003, everything was so different back then...
I'm very reflective now, and very happy.
I need to keep in touch, I have so many great people in my life.
It's a mailbox of happiness.
I started reading through emails of people that were dear to me at the time, emails written at different times of my early growing up life, when I was discovering myself and my friends. People I have not remembered about but who meant so much to me at the time, words of encouragement that kept me going even in toughest of time, sad and happy news, it's all there.
It's like a dive to the past: 2000 - 2003, everything was so different back then...
I'm very reflective now, and very happy.
I need to keep in touch, I have so many great people in my life.
in a good way.
Reading 3 different blogs of my friends around the world has sparked my thinking about what's my inspiration in life.
One friend is married and much in love, living in Poland, waiting for the baby to be born. He works as an entrepreneur in a firm of his dad, making it an inspiring place. He travels around his own country, volunteers with an NGO, writes a blog about wine tasting and plays electric guitar with his brother as a a hobby (has evolved from a beginner's playing that I used to hear! :) Mike
Another friend is a journalist of Australian origin, just moved to Abu-Dhabi from Cairo, was headhunted to be a journalist in a new regional middle-east regional newspaper. Brilliant writer, observer, loves and makes great food, Apple fan, a bit of a geeky internet user, articulates his thoughts so uniquely...Tom.
The third friend is Brazilian, recently returned home from Australia. Joined sustainability team at a bank, is a very inspiring traveller, sustainability/life thinker. Challenges herself with travels, work, marathons. Reads books and watches videos, the kind that makes me feel an uneducated lazy kid :) Inspiration for nearly everyone who know her, highly intelligent and searching for meaning, self-confident, great friend. Gabi.
So I'm reading their updates, and thinking - i'm in a good way jealous. For the sense of direction I don't yet have myself, for talent, for desire to learn, for being in the right place at the right time.
And I'm catching myself on a thought - so cool i have such great friends as these 3 people... And there are more great stories of my friends out there, so many of them being best benchmarks and inspiration.
I'll keep watching and reading and thinking :)
Reading 3 different blogs of my friends around the world has sparked my thinking about what's my inspiration in life.
One friend is married and much in love, living in Poland, waiting for the baby to be born. He works as an entrepreneur in a firm of his dad, making it an inspiring place. He travels around his own country, volunteers with an NGO, writes a blog about wine tasting and plays electric guitar with his brother as a a hobby (has evolved from a beginner's playing that I used to hear! :) Mike
Another friend is a journalist of Australian origin, just moved to Abu-Dhabi from Cairo, was headhunted to be a journalist in a new regional middle-east regional newspaper. Brilliant writer, observer, loves and makes great food, Apple fan, a bit of a geeky internet user, articulates his thoughts so uniquely...Tom.
The third friend is Brazilian, recently returned home from Australia. Joined sustainability team at a bank, is a very inspiring traveller, sustainability/life thinker. Challenges herself with travels, work, marathons. Reads books and watches videos, the kind that makes me feel an uneducated lazy kid :) Inspiration for nearly everyone who know her, highly intelligent and searching for meaning, self-confident, great friend. Gabi.
So I'm reading their updates, and thinking - i'm in a good way jealous. For the sense of direction I don't yet have myself, for talent, for desire to learn, for being in the right place at the right time.
And I'm catching myself on a thought - so cool i have such great friends as these 3 people... And there are more great stories of my friends out there, so many of them being best benchmarks and inspiration.
I'll keep watching and reading and thinking :)
Labels: friends, inspiration, life
Yes, last Saturday was my birthday, and I am proud to say I'm 24 now! (well can't hide it with public profile anyways, can you?) Younger than some, older than some, and always happy with my current age :)
I was, am and will be living one of greatest life experiences.
So grateful for everything that happened in my life. For everyone whom I met on my way.
Life is awesome :)
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Well if you ask me how was actually my birthday here in Australia - it was great.
It was finally Saturday! So the whole day of doing anything I want...
The weather was perfect, and I had a picnic in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens with some of my friends.
One of highlights was definitely a poetry reading competition. Everyone had to come up with a short poem in their own language, and well, the creativty of some people was great - if you don't know the real poem, just tell a story about shoes! hehe was soooo funny - oh well, there are a couple of videos, here's to evidence!..
Marina, Darius, Gabi, Ana, Jem, Su, Sid, me
(well there were only a couple of actual poems - Ana, Chinny, Marina, Gabi - the rest were - hmm - improvisations :)
I "lost" voleyball game, and to make my birthday experience great, my friends made me running around the park and shouting "I'm crazy", "I love Australia". yeah. lot's of fun here, right... :)
pretty happy crowd and myself actually :)
Me and Su (my favorite picture of the day!..)
Me, Su, Jem - our Happy House of 3 (YES, this is how we call our home :)
The evening continued with a dinner (yes, I cooked it myself!) with some more people, and then we went - but of course - partying! At 3.30 me, Jem and Su were in Chine town eating peking duck, and at 4.30 we were finishing the night with some more champaigne at home...
Oh yes, that was a great day :)
I'll definitely remember my australian birthday, with the warmest feeling :)
I'm 24, I graduated 2 years ago, I'm working 4th year full time, I was leading one of biggest youth organizations, in Russia and internationally. I lived in Belarus, Russia, Netherlands, Australia; I travelled 24 countries on all continents. I loved, I was heart-broken, I was winning and was failing (however winning more often I believe :) I made many dear friends, I grew, I understood more about life and about myself.
I was, am and will be living one of greatest life experiences.
So grateful for everything that happened in my life. For everyone whom I met on my way.
Life is awesome :)
-----------------------
Well if you ask me how was actually my birthday here in Australia - it was great.
It was finally Saturday! So the whole day of doing anything I want...
The weather was perfect, and I had a picnic in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens with some of my friends.
One of highlights was definitely a poetry reading competition. Everyone had to come up with a short poem in their own language, and well, the creativty of some people was great - if you don't know the real poem, just tell a story about shoes! hehe was soooo funny - oh well, there are a couple of videos, here's to evidence!..
Marina, Darius, Gabi, Ana, Jem, Su, Sid, me
(well there were only a couple of actual poems - Ana, Chinny, Marina, Gabi - the rest were - hmm - improvisations :)
I "lost" voleyball game, and to make my birthday experience great, my friends made me running around the park and shouting "I'm crazy", "I love Australia". yeah. lot's of fun here, right... :)
pretty happy crowd and myself actually :)
Me and Su (my favorite picture of the day!..)
Me, Su, Jem - our Happy House of 3 (YES, this is how we call our home :)
The evening continued with a dinner (yes, I cooked it myself!) with some more people, and then we went - but of course - partying! At 3.30 me, Jem and Su were in Chine town eating peking duck, and at 4.30 we were finishing the night with some more champaigne at home...
Oh yes, that was a great day :)
I'll definitely remember my australian birthday, with the warmest feeling :)
These days in Moscow
2 Comments Published by Svetlana Zhukova on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 9:44 AM.
So to give you an idea, I'm now in Moscow, waiting for my Australian visa to be done. Fingers crossed I get it on time to be in Sydney this week.
What I'm doing? Reading marketing books, calling to the embassy, watching movies, meeting friends. Enjoying last days before starting working :)
Do you know this feeling, when you meet old friends - but things are different. People changed, you changed, and suddenly those ways are not as similar as you thought. Some people remained the same, and you feel that just the common past unites you. Some people grew and changed, and you find them even more interesting. Oh, those emotions, the greatest blessing of human beings! :)
I have more time now, and I talk to friends a bit more often. One guy went to the North Cap, it's one of most northern points, if not the most, in Europe. This is what he saw:
What I'm doing? Reading marketing books, calling to the embassy, watching movies, meeting friends. Enjoying last days before starting working :)
Do you know this feeling, when you meet old friends - but things are different. People changed, you changed, and suddenly those ways are not as similar as you thought. Some people remained the same, and you feel that just the common past unites you. Some people grew and changed, and you find them even more interesting. Oh, those emotions, the greatest blessing of human beings! :)
I have more time now, and I talk to friends a bit more often. One guy went to the North Cap, it's one of most northern points, if not the most, in Europe. This is what he saw:
Aurora aka nordic lights
Great, isn't it? I have some constant inspiration from him for travelling :)
Another close friend of mine became a great leader, I believe better than I was, and I'm so proud for her.
One more guy pursues his entrepreneurship career with Web 2.0, it's great to see people developing new ideas. We could talk in one language (me! talking IT stuff! he he I can do that after my AI term!) and we shared thoughts on web 2.0 and sustainability. Dream big is our everything :)
Another close friend of mine became a great leader, I believe better than I was, and I'm so proud for her.
One more guy pursues his entrepreneurship career with Web 2.0, it's great to see people developing new ideas. We could talk in one language (me! talking IT stuff! he he I can do that after my AI term!) and we shared thoughts on web 2.0 and sustainability. Dream big is our everything :)
Actually - I have great people around!!! Lucky me
Some picture story of recent days:
Some picture story of recent days:
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I went to Mitino, to MC flat. Great team, awesome guys, AIESEC rocks :)
If you didn't know, it's real winter in Moscow too.
This is something about our winter games :)
Don't you think life is just wonderful?!
P.S. one good quote I was told these days: "If you choose something - choose it, if you don't choose something - don't choose it" Think about it :)
