Submerging in unreality

I finally made it to one of Cirque du Soleil’s shows. Last night I witnessed “Quidam”, a story about a little girl who created an imaginary world to escape from the sadness induced by the isolation from her parents.

The show is complexly a perfect combination of different types of arts: live music, elegant stunts, choreographed dance, dramatic acting, customs & stage design, and off course lighting technology.

It is on tour in South America right now. Will be going to Peru and Colombia after August 11th when they finish their performances in Chile. If you got the chance to see it, I strongly recommend it.

It is a perfect space to submerge yourself in a fantasy world for a few hours. Take a look at the trailer:

Quidam. Cirque du Soleil

DID WE STOP GROWING UP OR WHAT?

Recently I was asked to invite other young people to share their dreams on how they wanted to see AIESEC in 5 years.

Today, I suddenly had the inspiration to write that invitation and in the previous post you can find what I came up with. The reason to share it in this blog, is because I realized that it also applies for personal paths.

When we are children we are constantly asked "Who do you want to be when you grow up"? The answers are used by Teachers and Parents to guide us in our educational path to "success".

And today I wonder: when do we stop asking ourselves this question? and why? Doesn’t the answer changes according to our age and experiences? Or is it that we stop growing up after we finish school? I mean... Hello? Isn't extra fat, wrinkles and backache a sign that we are getting older?

Then… don't we have the right to keep on asking ourselves "Who the hell do we want to be when we grow up?"

It personally annoys me people leaving themselves to be driven by general or others understanding of “personal success”, and start a non-sense competition against nobody no get first nowhere. When the truth is that personal success should only have a meaning on each individual’s dictionary.

From today I would ask myself more often “Who do I want to be when I grow up”?

As a Child I just wanted to travel

See the change first

There is a very famous and often used quote from Mahatma Gandhi that says "Be the change you want to see in the world”.

It is with no doubt a sentence that makes you feel important and relevant for the world. It makes you feel like you have the power to make positive changes. That your actions also count. It is so influential that it is repeated every day by thousands (or millions of people), up to the edge of sometimes losing its meaning. Even within AIESEC environment.

Today I coincidentally read in the website from an alumnus’ consultancy company the difference between Creativity and Innovation:

Creativity is having a good idea to do something or solve a punctual problem.

Innovation is having the individual or group capacity to work after the creation of a future.

Now, you must be wondering: what’s the relation between Mahatma Gandhi and an alumnus business website?. Well, my fully understanding of the innovation concept made me comprehend that in order to BECOME the change I want to see in the world, I need to SEE it first!

In AIESEC we are lucky enough to count on an organizational vision that pushes us every day to be innovative. The way I see it if AIESEC looks to contribute to “Peace and Fulfillment of Humankind’s Potential” then every generation of young people has the opportunity to challenge the concepts of PEACE, FULFILLMENT and specially POTENTIAL.

Five years ago I was asked to dream on how I wanted to see AIESEC in 2010. Today I’m happily amazed to see that many of my thoughts came true and that, somehow, I contributed to make them happen. Now, it is your turn to also dream and speak up your voice to make changes a reality.

Every voice counts. Your academic background, your cultural perspective, your experience or non-experience in AIESEC, your age, just YOU. Each element makes your voice unique and WE want to listen it. Then I ask you again:

HOW DO YOU SEE AIESEC CONTRIBUITING TO PEACE AND FULFILLMENT OF HUMANKIND’S POTENTIAL IN 2015?

If you dare to D.R.E.A.M. with us just go to the AIESEC 2015 website and share your story with the network.

Hoping to see all your dreams soon!

Snowboarding rocks!

God knows that we “the born and raised in the Equatorian line” don’t think on freezing cold as a desirable weather, much less on snow sports as a weekend plan. Except for having the chance to wear a nice jacket and boots (and maybe a nice hat). But that only applies for shopaholics (and fashionistas… and unfortunately wannabes). Me, a graceful lady who grew up between 10°C and 30°C, I bare and even enjoy cold temperatures. But the frosted windows and the gray days are really a turndown for any party activity I intend to do.

The landscape

Well, let’s say I was wrong. I wasn’t aware that one of the benefits of living in a city with 4 seasons and located next to the world’s longest continental mountain range “Los Andes”, is that winter sports are part of the enjoyment of its population (and its visitors, in my case). Now, the coldest season of the year has an appealing: SNOWBOARDING!!!

I decided to go for snowboarding ‘cause that was my favorite game on Play Station. Plus, I like speed and trying new things (And well, I guess the fact that my company has a snowboarding group also helped). But yes, I joined the group and today was my FIRST DAY practicing a winter sport!!!

At the ski park

Snowboarding is the COOLEST SPORT IN THE WORLD. Is like surfing on ice or skateboarding surrounded by white hills instead of high columns of concrete. And in case you’re wondering if I’m an extreme sports freak, the answer is NO. I’ve never done surfing, neither skating, nor gotten even close to a board before. Don’t even like playing sports (that’s because I hate sweating). My parents know I’ve tried them all: tennis, basketball, skating, BMX, volleyball… and didn’t become a fan of any of them. What can I say? Sports don’t like me!

Me ON the board

With all of my sports history against my real intentions I still decided to give it a try. For my own surprise, I have a natural (and until now hidden) gift for snowboarding: I’M BALANCED. It means I can stand on the board without falling down (at least, not too many times). If it wasn’t good enough, I found out I DON’T SWEAT while doing snowboarding. And if I do… I can’t tell! (How cool is that?). Besides, compared to water sports, winter ones don’t dry your heard down. And you get a beautiful sight of the landscape while practicing them. That’s what I call “perfection”.

My first day with a board on a ski park was for sure one I would never forget. I can’t describe you how it was like, ‘cause there’s nothing I can think of to compare it (and I’m kind of good with comparisons). To begin with it, you need a few tons of clothes to go there: a special jacket, special pants, special glasses, special boots, special everything! Then, try to get yourself down from an ice hill with a slippery board on your feet (no problem, pretty cool until now). And then, try to go back up with the damn board on your feet again (not so easy, uh?).

I did this about 15 times. And though I made it down many occasions without falling down, the “going up” part is still my martyrdom. But it was all worth it. The mixed feeling of freedom and control is totally worth it for the pain my ass is feeling right now.

So, summing up all the benefits I’ve decided: snowboarding is my favorite sport to play. Who would have thought my preferences were so far away from the equator? J.

Farellones on the back

The last 2 months

Can’t believe it has been more than 2 months since I left Bangladesh. Can’t believe that we’re halfway into 2010 and that my birthday is getting so close! Can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post in this blog. Many people has complained about it, which is why I promise to post many of the things I wrote off-line and couldn’t post before because of my limited internet connection during the last few weeks.

SO, what have I been doing that kept me so busy? Well, as you already read, I left Bangladesh by the end of March. On my way back to Colombia I visited my brother in Washington after some very short vacations in Dubai. Spent 2 weeks in Colombia sharing time with my family and some of my old (very old) friends and prepared myself for a new chapter of my life: CHILE. On April moved to Santiago, looked for a new place to live, got a new circle of friends, started a new job and got my DMAIC certification. Oh!, and I forgot to mention that I also went to Argentina: spent 3 lovely days eating beef and drinking wine in Mendoza (but that’s a whole different post to be).

Yes, I’ve been living in Santiago since April 12^th and will be here for a year. I’m working for DHL Express as First Choice Analyst, and I couldn’t be happier about it (look what First Choice is on the internet). That’s all I’m gonna say about my work as I rather to keep personal separated from professional. But I could tell you that I’m really happy with my colleagues, my boss and my new working place.

View of Santiago

I’m living with another Colombian girl, Carolina - who arrived two weeks before me to work in Novartis, and the owner of the apartment, Jaime - a Chilean guy who happens to be the friend of another Chilean guy who hosts other 2 Colombian friends (forgot to mention this country is full of Colombians?? Seriously, every Chilean has a Colombian friend!). I was very lucky I found a place so close to work. I love the fact that I only walk during 10 mins to to get to my office in the morning, instead of a 50 mins ride in the crowded and smelly city subway.

The circle of AIESEC trainees in Santiago is large and close to each other. We have social activities (not to call them “parties”) for each day of the week – the agenda literally goes from Monday to Sunday-, but I off course skip most of them and participate only on those held during the weekends J. The group consist of around 30 young, hot, smart, and apparently “immune to alcohol” people from Poland, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Greece and (how did you guess?) Colombia. We are 12 Colombian trainees already, and there are more to come. Is not like AIESEC Santiago planned it this way (Even I feel invaded or… invading?), but it is a clear fact: CHILEAN COMPANIES LIKE COLOMBIAN HUMAN TALENT.

Group of trainees, when we went to see Lions in Rancagua

As a closing line for this post, I could say that my life in Chile so far is pretty good. On one side is good to be back in South-america and feel closer to my country, and on the other it feels like everything was meant to be. I’ve been so lucky that everything clicked so fast (my job, my apartment, my new friends). And I’m even luckier to have some of you by my side, taking care of me though the distance and always there when needed.

Now that everything is more settled I hope to be posting more often.

KISSES FROM CHILE!!!