S.

It's been a while, but I'm back!

a quick update for the last couple of months:
- celebrated one year with Karan, time flies... still very much in love, still very happy :)
- got iPhone! it did change everything, I'm trying to touch-type everywhere now. the best part is definitely the very usable internet on the go
- just read a book Princess, about lives of women in Saudi Arabia, very touching, couldn't put down... I'm so lucky to have what I have, and to live this lifestyle of mine...
- work is still crazy, a bit better than earlier, but I can't wait for the beginning of December to start relaxing a bit... (hmm, I rmember I was saying the same a month ago about November :) Oh, and I'm going to Melbourne for a work meeting (it took only 1,5 years to get a work trip, yay!... not :) and I have our designated driver picking me up! I'm like, so much more grown up now... :)
- I've updated my 100 things to do in Sydney list! more details to follow

Labels: sveta, sydney, update

several thoughts, in no particular order, that occupied my mind recently

I've just finished a book, The Kite Runner - one of most powerful and moving books I've ever read. I could even sleep one night, after getting through the first third of the book, co-living those emotions. The book is about life of a family in Afghanistan, starting in 1970s and finishing in 2002. This is how I best take in the history and point of views - not through publicists' articles but through stories of people.
The thought is going through my mind after reading this book, which is about dramatic life of an Afghani boy - I'm so lucky, among may be several percent of the world's population. I was never starving (even there were times when the food was basic, oh those 1990s in post-USSR), I was living in a safe place (Belarus isn't the most exciting place but it's safe), i haven't had major tragedies around me. I have never experienced war, I have higher education, my parents are great support and I even have never even heard them swearing (but did my father keep the discipline, yes he did :) I can travel, don't have liabilities, not abused and I am not discriminated (if you don't count visa processes).
How much depends on the place you are born in, your skin colour, your sex, your parents. All the things you don't have control of...


I was thinking to write recently a blog post, about inspiration at my work. It is even saved as a draft in the blog. It was about how great my work is - I work in marketing communications, managing projects with suppliers and internal stakeholders, working with creative agencies. I design stands and invitations, release corporate brochures and multimedia promotions, manage online space of my company. I put together presentations and strategies and post-implementation reports (yes, i actually enjoy it :) I go to cultural events because my company sponsors many arts organizations and I manage events & promotions.
But then, when I was about to write that - my manager (great person, one of best and most positive people I've ever met) said she is going to the UK with her partner and is leaving. And later, when the new manager started, my boss, marketing director, announced he is also going to Europe with his partner and would be leaving in several months.
It made me very sad - the environment I enjoyed at work was one of main reasons I decided to stay with the company. It's like my family - I associate my life in Australia with my marketing team, as they were the people I spent most of my day (working 8hrs), and it's a good part of the day. So seeing them go is like seeing my life here changing to be something different... (which is philosophically isn't a bad thing). But fair enough, the main reason I stayed with the company is the experience I'm getting there - the new job role is great and gets me towards where I want to go in my marketing career, I'll be working on very exciting (and challenging, which is always good) projects.
And with the changing team, changing role - it's indeed a new start. It's a more mature attitude towards the job, when I want to develop particular skills while still being passionate about what I do, it's about getting out of the comfort zone to be a better professional and, well, person. Just need to keep this all in mind while getting my teeth into the business of tasks to do :)



I'm so lucky to live in Australia, this country rocks. It's not only well and has high living standards. It's safe, I feel more so than Europe; people are friendly - a surfer on the beach helped us to put a kayak on top of the car easily mastering the knots; when someone exits the lift you are entering, and your eyes cross - the person would usually smile. Australians are not only well-mannered (mostly) but are humourous (oh, famous Australian humor!), welcoming and enjoy their life and usually let others do the same (I found Europeans colder and more pessimistic - oh opposite chaotic if you think south of Europe :)
And the place itself - there is everything here, mountains with snow and beaches with great water and sand; palm trees and pines. In one day, you can go from the seaside into the wine hills. Sun is out most of days, the sky is blue, and it's great climate.
And Sydney... I travel across the bridge to work every day, and still can't get enough of the beautiful Sydney Harbour. There is something magical in those glowing with lights skyscrapers of city centre reflecting in the harbour waters. Sandstone historical buildings (well, architectural history goes like 100 years back at most), modern building, futuristic and classic street sculptures. Busy crossroads and parks, and quite alleyways. Music festivals and open air cinemas, endless cafes and restaurants, and great food. There is something for everyone here, and I must say, Sydney came the closest to my favorite place of all the cities I've been to.

Labels: australia, books, career, sydney, the kite runner, thoughts and feelings, work

Well, to keep it nice and short (and yes, this is a post about what's happening in my life recently)

- I turned 25 two weeks ago; first life crisis doesn't seem to happen - lived through it with my friends, most of whom are already beyond that line :) As one of them very wisely put - 25 is an age, when you know that you are still young and life has lots of great things in store in your future, but you also already have some past, and some things will never happen again.

- I'm staying in Australia for at least another year. Yes, I've planned initially to stay for year-year and a half, but falling in love changes plans so much :)

- Karan and I celebrated our half a year together, and all is great and wonderful. it's destiny i think

- I got a promotion at work, and while staying with the same position name (marketing executive), I'm taking on more responsibilities in managing brands and having end to end responsibility etc etc. satisfied :)

- going to Brussles-Amsterdam-home in 3 weeks' time, for a couple of weeks. To see the family and for the AI reunion and to see my friends. hate bureaucracy with visas and the expensiveness of tickets, but am getting excited about the trip! would be two years since i saw all my european friends, and my parents have 30th wedding anniversary. I'm so looking forward!

will be back on air soon...

Labels: australia, home, love, news, sydney, work

The exhibition is here in Sydney - which is always a great opportunity to get some inspiration and thinking.

www.worldpressphoto.org

As I like the photography, I was admiring once again how one visual can induce lots of emotions and remind about the state of the world we are living in. Several thoughts struck me:

- how lucky I am to be born and live in a safe country, where I wasn't forced to become a refugee because of the war (images of Darfur and Afghan people), I have education (pictures of girls in regional Turkey luckily getting into a school), I had a safe childhood (abused children in Spain), and many more...

- it was surreal being a visitor in a gallery in Sydney looking at pictures taken in Ukraine and Russia... I saw scenes photographed (teenagers in a little town, pensioners walking together), i saw that in real life and it was my life. I grew upin a little town and as much charm it had, like close to nature, walking everywhere, there is also a sense of desperation every time i come home, how far that life is from the kind of life i live now. And today I stand and look at that at the exhibition in Australia... (and feel quite happy to, it seems)

- turned around the corner and saw a giant portrait of Putin - it won the first prise for portraits, take for Times when Putin was on the cover as the person of the year. Quite a good portrait actually. Coincidence Russia got a new president last week, but with Putin continuing as prime minister. Bring on the change...

- another thought - I would never be able to be a war/news photographer. Imagine seeing a wounded man on the streets of Nairobi, and going around trying to capture better angle while he's bleeding... But i am grateful to photographers nevertheless for showing images to the world - how they say, one picture is worth a thousand words...

Go and visit the World Press Photo Exhibition if it's around your city
www.worldpressphoto.org/

Labels: lucky, sydney, world press photo exhibition

Just a couple of snapshots from recent weekends in the city:

Labels: glebe, newtown, sydney, weekend

Last weekend, Sunday 12th August, was one of my coolest so far experiences in Sydney!

The Sun Herald's City2Surf 2007 - 37th annual city-wide marathon, they say one of biggest runs in the world. Web page is worth checking, seriously

Very much true - this year there were over 60,000 people participating! Imagine that - Sydney's streets with a crowd of that many people running...Unforgettable!
Check the pictures below, and look at the very end of them - people are everywhere! The biggest event I've been a part of!..




City2Surf is a14 km run, going from Hyde Park to Bondi beach, up and down the hill. The weather on the day was great - about +23, sunny and nice; they say for many years it has always been good weather on the marathon day.

The run is often used for charity fundraising; this year teams got more than $900,000 raised! However, the very idea of City2Surf is to get Sydney people together in a community event - and that is truly happening. Families, old and young people, mothers with babies in prams - everyone gets to the streets!

There were 3 starts - for fastest people, according to last year's results (the winner got in in about 40 min!!); medium - for those who registered sooner; and Soul Back of the Pack (my group, YOHO!!!) - last 20,000 registrants; those that not much run but jug and walk. People get dressed in costumes - fairies, bees, pencils, gorillas, green and blue and red painted people - sydneysiders really have fun with this marathon :)

Usually you have to pay about $40 to enter the marathon; but my awesome company Adshel paid for the team; and there was I, at 7.30 (!!!) Sunday morning, registering to run...


I couldn't believe myself how many people were there, ready to start...How they say - you not only sign in to suffer for some hours of run, but you have to pay for that, which people willing to! true blue aussie spirit - go sporty, have fun, and support a good cause meanwhile.

My category start, the 3rd and the last - and there were we, moving in a speeding up crowd, surrounded by thousands of other people, flooding main streets of the city! (which were of course closed for the run period)


I LOVED IT, ever minute!!!
The day was great, the spirit was high, and the challenge was reasonable :)

There were bands playing along the way;


There were stands with free water and gatorade supply, messages of support posted all along the way, regular people living on the road that was run, giving water also, and giving suncreen to all those in need;
other kind citizens spraying passing by runners from their garden hoses - which came very handy when getting up the hill in the morning sun :) people were having parties on the road, cheering to crowds jogging by.

Such a great spirit, laughter and chatting everywhere, but with many runners determined to make it on whatever the goal they put for themselves.

My favorite picture of the run, kind of 'You Can Do It' type: an old man (he was slow but determined; may be in his 70s); years when he run the marathon on the shirt, and this written in the middle: 'push me to start me' hehehe, so cool :)



I have decided to run those 14 km in under 2 hours, and i did just about that; 122.42 min
VERY PROUD! :)
Try this link to see a video of me crossing the line
However the mistake was that i didn't practice at all for the run, and now my body pays for that; I feel now muscles I didn't know I have :)

It feels good however - my very authentic aussie experience, I was there, I made it!
Great initiative, great time, great country that is.
City2Surf 2007, I'm yours forever!

Labels: city2surf, sydney

Some images from my last couple of weekends in Sydney:




Where else I can take a picture lying on the cliff, with the city center in the background??

And these are from my walk across Harbour Bridge (finally :)






That last one was from my favorite park in Sydney, definitely the best park view in the city - small Clark Park in North Sydney, peaceful corner with nice little houses around, on the edge overlooking a part of Sydney Harbour, so cool...

Labels: sydney

One of previous weekends me, Jem and Su, and Su's friend Luka, went for the Aroma Festival in The Rocks.
Aroma Festival is the event that brings together dozens of coffee professionals - roasters, baristas, etc etc. True celebration for coffee lovers :) And there were tea, chocolate, spices places also, but coffee dominated the scene, with muscial groups also performing. You could buy a cup of coffee for 1 dollar - imagine how much of coffee was drunk that day!



Luka, Su's friend, is a professional barista, knows most people who came to work/exhibit at the event. One more time I was reminded, how diverse interests and professions of people are! Apparently there is even a world championship for baristas (oh sorry - barista is the professional coffee maker, but not just the one that does Starbucks cuppa coffee; barista will be able to extract the best out of the coffee beans for us to enjoy coffee :)
Imagine - having a friend, who is the best in the world in making latte!..

Some more snapshots are below;
Aroma Festival is a great example of an event in Sydney - easy-going, enjoying life, music and outdoors.




(does it look anyhow similar? I tried!! :)

Labels: aroma festival, coffee, sydney

firstly, I've finally signed in for Spanish language courses!!!
It took me 4 months to do that, but well, better later than never. One month of 1,5hr classes twice a week - and I'll be at Beginners 1 level (well this means I'd know basic words and can say things in present - I guess this is the trick of all those courses, to have 10 different language proficiency levels, so you sign up for more and more).
I start 23 July. VERY EXCITING! My Spanish-speaking friends, keep track of my progress please :)

And the second great thing - I've bought the ticket for Crowded House concert in Sydney in November, where they will be playing, with 'Augie March' as their support. The group is very popular here, considered Australian however half of the group is from NZ (well, love is blind :) Tickets were sold out in one day, and me and two of my other work friends are in the lucky ones!!!
I'm very-very much excited - Crowded House is the band that sings some of my all-time favorite songs (Weather with you, Don't dream it's over, Fall at your feet etc etc), and more to that - it's going to be the first big concert I've ever attended. Life is awesome :)

[and on the topic of music - one of my ever favorite songs+video is Bad Day by Daniel Powter, check out the clip here: http://www.danielpowter.com/ Love it, how some sydneysiders or generally aussies say :)]

Labels: crowded house, spanish, sydney

What do you do when you have a week-end or a long week-end in Sydney?

You go outdoors!

Some images from our (me, Jem, Su) spontaneous sunday picnic to Ku-Ring-Gai national park, right within Sydney borders - so amazing that there are places so close to the city that are so nature-filled! That park was like a piece of a wild forest, with creeks and bays - you forget that you are in Sydney...





Was so great to spend the day outdoors, in a such a great place - and it's so easy!! (well, if you have a car - but then so many people have cars in Australia..)

Another week-end was a long week-end because of English Queen's birthday (and as it is in The Netherlands, she doesn't actually have birthday on that day, but that doesn't influence the fact of the long holiday :))

It was raining very heavily (which even caused floods and storms in the north of the state), however I finally made it to the Fish Market!
Considered to be one of main Sydney's attractions, it is kind of a small dock with lots of shops that sell many-many-many different kinds of fish. The main idea is that you come there, buy the fish/prawns/whatever other sea creatures and have them cooked there for you, and have them fresh!..





Fish Markets - tick :)

The event that actually made up my long week-end was Sydney Jazz festival on a sunny Monday - it was an open for public event in Darling Harbour.




It saw many bands playing at several stages, and that was such a great day to relax in the sun, lie on the green grass, drink coffee in the morning, and watch good bands playing one of my favourite types of music in one of coolest places in Sydney!..


I love long week-ends :)

Labels: jazz festival, national park, nature, sydney

I was fortunate enough to experience a few cultural Sydney events recently.

Ying Tong performance of Sydney Theatre Company - very well played play about UK radio show quartet. It was my first event where I could meet the cast of the play at drinks afterwards!! very interesting, the leading actor reminded me of Dostoevsky heroes :)

Taming of the Shrew - classics by Shakespeare, however I left a bit confused by the adaptation.

Sydney Writers Festival - as my company sponsored the event, we got to attend an event - on stage interview in Sydney Opera house, of Richard E. Grant. To be frank, I haven't heard of him before, but he seems to be quite known, with interviews run on TV, appeared in a couple of movies I remember.
He is a UK actor, was born in Swaziland; check this

He wrote an autobiography book, Wah-Wah Diaries, and directed a movie afterwards, that seems to be quite a success (however it's more like "wide known in small circles" type). The event was great, Richard E. Grant is a very interesting person! I really enjoyed the way the evening was organized (and so did other more than 2000 people who were there).


Me and my work mates (yes, I get used to the slang here :)


This is the image of Sydney Opera House big hall from inside - that was my first exposure to the 'sails' hall :)


And more to that, we had a special small event prior to the main show - we had cocktail that Richard has attended, and talking to him in real life conversation is not less interesting than his stage conversation :)

This last week there was another event - as my company sponsors Sydney Theatre Company, we were invited to meet the cast of one of their biggest productions of the year Spelling Bee musical. And guess what, in that room of 20 people I saw Cate Blanchett at the event!.. Yes, that same Cate Blanchett :) She is taking on the role of the art director of STC, and well, that was my first big celebrity spotting :)

Not bad of a list huh?
I think I'll continue with Sydney Jazz Festival that is in the city for today-tomorrow; more reports are to follow!..

Labels: celebrity, culture, sydney

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'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 :)

Labels: birthday, friends, picnic, sydney

A spontaneous visit to the Art Gallery of NSW happened to be a great time out.

Every year there are entries to Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes (paintings - portrait, subject, landscape and sculpture), and this event is considered one of most prestigious in Australia (it is being run for more than 80 years already)

The best thing of this exibition is that all entrties are so wonderfully different in style! You see classic, cubic, cartoonistic, graphic, impressionist and many other paintings in one room, and it never gets boring.



The winner for Archibald prize this year - one on the left on the picture below


An old woman is a russian-origin balerina, Irina Baronova


My favorite portrait was however this one, a man with a dog

...

Isn't Sydney a beautiful city?..

Labels: archibald prizes, art gallery nsw, sydney

There is nothing better on sunny Sunday than to head out of home and enjoy the open air and great views.

Coogee - Bondi walk is one of featured Sydney attractions, it's a walk along the coast from one beach to another, passing through many wonderful places on South-East of Sydney.
It for sure deserves its fame, as some views are simply breathtaking





this is the sandstone most of Sydney coast consists of:


and this is how it looks after being carved with win and salt:


Amazingly, at some moment the cloud in the sky looked like Australia itself!..


This is a pool at Bronte beach, I stayed there for some time - it's just too cool, there are open air pools just by the water itself, and most importantly, with free access :) feels so relaxing swimming there, in shimmering little waves...


Some more great views, and me on those views (yes, this is how I look sometimes now :)
Check the water - it changes its color from deep blue to white, i love it, nature is great and magic...






Interestingly enough, few Sydney people do the walk - they miss so much, taking their place for granted...

One more star for Sydney - where else you can enjoy nature like that in just a bus ride? the beauty is just a drive away :)

Labels: bondi-coogee, coast, ocean, sydney, walk

Some recent happenings in my life, in the country down under:

Chairing AIESEC NSW State Conference for new members
(and being a part of the team that won 10th annual skolling competition!)



Bowling Night with my marketing team at work:
It was Disco bowling - "Summer of 69..."


(well, here I have to admit I was the second from the end...)

Museum Day with Su, and ANZAC day celebrations in Sydney:






Celebrating a big business achievement with my company - imagine the perfect evening, cruising in Sydney Harbour for 2 hours, continuing celebration on the land afterwards... just awesome :)



Going out with friends - nothing better than to sit in a quiet cafe facing Sydney Opera house after a day's work...
I even joined a gym! Me! Gym! but that indeed happened, I attend yoga classes every week, and like it so far.

Life is great after all :) and almost complete...
watch this space for more good time highlights :)

Labels: life, sydney

It began as an idea that would be great to see the sunrise in the ocean. And then, on Easter Monday early morning, we (me, Su and Jem) woke up at 4.30 and drove through the night Sydney to Watsons Bay cliffs to see the sunrise...

It was great - to witness how slowly colors change, and everything wakes up.
However the ocean never sleeps, its waves were like magic sound to my ears, I would sit there for ages and just looked at the ocean, I was leaning over the edge, couldn't stop looking at the ocean. It's incredible, how much power it has, the ocean is great, moving, endless, of a wonderful perfect sea color - marine-marine, changing from dark green-blue far away and becoming white as its waves are crushing the rocks...

It was incredible, i loved that morning - one of my Sydney experience highlights for sure.
One fo my dreams came true already :)

Labels: sunrise, sydney

All right, if I said I update blog more often than I write emails, I should do so.

Well, was anything exciting happening in the last couple of weeks with me?

Certainly yes :)

There was a long (4 days) easter break a couple of weeks ago, actually this was my first break longer that usual week-end since I arrived. What I did? Slept :)

And read the whole 6th book of Harry Potter in 1,5 days

And chilled, went to the seaside, and saw the sunrise in the ocean, but this story deserves a separate post :)

The biggest event that happened was exactly that Royal Easter Show. It's happening every year, and is one of biggest public celebrations. The show was on in Sydney Olympic park (so you get the scale) for 2 weeks. Hmm, how to describe…

Imagine a big open area which is Sydney Olympic park - with different pavilions, staduims, walkways etc. So at the Royal Easter Show it's all filled with different stands where you can buy anything and everything. There are stalls with food, with toys, there are pavilions with animals, mostly bulls and horses (initially royal easter show was a show-room and market place) - imagine cows beauty competition hehe (yes I saw it!). Food, music, rollercoasters, car races, circus performances, exhibitions of food and goods, shows (like this one - Diving Show, gorgeous people!)

Well, of course I couldn't just stand there, so I went to the most extreme rollercoaster! Imagine, it's an arm of 42 meters high, you sit in a kind of open capsule, and it spins you around, so at times I found that the sky is under my feet, or I'm falling, facing the ground, on a speed of approx 60 km/h. Was great :)))

Another signature thing of the Royal Easter Show is Showbags. It is actually a plastic bag filled with all crazy things kids like: lollypops, chweing gum, toys etc etc. There are literaklly hundreds of types of showbags - Princess for girls, M&M showbag, Original Idiot with all those things to scare people, Magic Tricks, Looney Tunes bag, Family Guy bag, Cadbury Schweppes bag and more and more and more…

Obviously you end up spending hips of money as everything is for sale, and almost nothing si free - but well, no one forces anyone, free market is here hehe :)

Actually the Royal Easter Show is THE thing for kids, all Sydney families take their children there, and people even come from other cities! All Sydney Australians I asked have been at the Royal Easter Show, and so did I, even though I am well out of being a kid (well, at times I doubt it :)

Labels: royal easter show, sydney

Labels: moon, night, sydney

yes, finally I'm writing about my work!..

Can't believe it is already a month and several days as I'm here. Time flies too fast!

What I'm actually doing here: my internship is for one year in an Australian company called ADSHEL. They are the biggest operator of street furniture advertising (media space provider) in Australia and New Zealand. Basic idea is that the company tenders for agreements with councils, under which Adshel supplies free bus shelters and get in return the right to sell advertising space in side panels of shelters. Coverage is really impressive, they have even panels in Tasmania! In addition, the company has panels in shopping centres across the country, and operates advertising sites in Sydney International airport.

I am the marketing executive in the company, and there are 6 other people working in the marketing department with me. Overall there are about 50 people in our Sydney office. My job includes:

• working on organizing marketing events and promotions (lots of it is corporate entertainment),
  
• marketing communications (for example we'll be launching a new kind of product line soon, and I will be working on marcomm materials for that)
• I do internal marketing too, like producing internal newsletter and other stuff;
• participating in a web re-launch project (sounds familiar, isn't it :)
• managing charity advertising campaigns with Adshel
• organizing professional photo shots of our special advertising campaigns (where there is some special creative execution)
• organizing an annual national sales and marketing conference in October
  

I think I will be asking for more work soon :) Need to continue stretching and challenging my capabilities!
Overall - my experience in Adshel is AMAZING.
It's most of all because of the company culture. It is totally is the one as we envision in AIESEC company culture should be - flat enough structure, feeling of belonging, openness, focus on achievement rather than competition, striving for excellence combined with great fun spirit and human approach. I can so easily relate myself to company's values (which are very much related to those we have in AIESEC), it makes the whole integration process much easier. Plus the company is keen on green initiatives (to stabilize the impact we do by producing shelters). Examples are introducing bus shelters with solar power, reducing water usage in cleaning of shelters' procedures, paper recycling in the office etc. I'm so glad I can work in a company and be true to my sustainable living principles!

In addition, my integration process is great. I had 2 weeks induction plan (!), with meetings with all departments, role clarifications etc. I was given lots of trust and responsibility for my work since the first week, and I really appreciate it, and do my best to stand up to the standard set :)

A couple of quotes from my company:
CEO, Steve McCarthy:

"My main job here as CEO is to recruit good people and to create environment where they can perform and develop" (culture of excellence, anyone?)

On that line - Adshel was featured in 2006 in one of studies on cultural transformation as a great example. Actually the story is, after the speech the CEO of Adshel had about company's transformation, at one of conferences - a girl from MC Australia who was at that conference also, approached him and said, we have to talk with you about a partnership. This is how I appeared here :) (I'm the first trainee Adshel has, so bear a responsibility!)

Marketing director, Anthony Xydis:

"I believe that all good things you do return to you at the end; now we took you for an internship, you being the right person in the right place, to give you a possibility you wouldn't have had otherwise; and who knows, when in the future you are the director of the company, you take trainees also"

I think it's great, this is why all companies should take trainees :) mind the piece about right person with right skills in the right place!
In general my marketing director is a cool guy, for what he has as best part of him - it's a combination of Brodie and Dey - mega mix :)

And this is my marketing team (left to right):

• Leanne, marketing coordinator, Chinese origin
• Anthony, mark director, Greek origin
• Nick, New Zealand mark manager, New Zealand origin
• Edwina, research manager, Australian origin (however may be something else..)
• Marc (on the front), mark executive, half-Croatian origin
• me, Russian origin :)
• Marie, marketing manager, Italian origin (my direct manager - mostly due to her and her patience I have the opportunity to do all the things I do in Adshel :)
• Aaron, technology and innovation manager, New Zealand origin

This is after our team building training - familiar theory but what a great execution by all participants! Without all our AIESEC tricks, games etc - and still a great team building and discussions. I was very well impressed.

Well, this is my work, this is my life, and I enjoy it.
Watch this space for more insights :)

Labels: AIESEC, culture, internship, sydney, work

Yes, I'm in Sydney!!!
14.500 km away from home, half of the world down here :)

Still taking time to believe that's happened, too good…
Typing these words, sitting in my room in a bay district, with palm trees just outside of my window, flowers everywhere, and night ocean breeze flowing into my room…
Australia? Australia! My country for the next year...

Labels: australia, internship, sydney