Things that make me smile or finding animal shapes in pink shugar cotton

I think it is normal time after time to get upset with things. Today I got work for Saturday. Taking in spite that I have to pay my gasoline and my cute red button eats it according to its size, I have bills as a normal person, I have to work.  Well, moreover, Friday I have classes and a late night examination... Because of the schedule, second time I skip the birthday of a very good person, my friend.

Taking in spite I have mice at my new place... Last time I was investigating, one bachelor student chewed off the eraser off of my pencil... I did not go for a proper vacation during 3 or 4 years... I got kind of upset in general with my lack of time for social life... However, I have no time for negative emotions, anyways I don`t like sadness. The most important thing is that my friends understand that I am in the stage of rapid development in my life.

So when the thickly feeling of "oh vey" visits me I just close my eyes to remember the list of things/events that made me happy:

1. Green toy frog brought by my grandfather from Canada when I was 5 years old.

2. Gathering wild blackberries in a Russian forest with Feodor. Playing with our friends dog Pharamon.

3. Mom knighting me a sweater, I think I will keep it forever.

5. Dad reading me The Jungle Book in English before bed.

6. My first polonez  dance and my first dance partner.

7. Cracking the first ice on puddles, I still do it sometimes. 

8. Becoming a Kitty Wow of the week in an Elementary School in Florida. 

9. Sitting near the fire with my friends, playing "Yes/No" with our camp director.

10. Listening to the stories, how my grandmother had to go away from Poland during the WWII and how she met my grandfather. Watching the small cancer pedant, that she brought me from Israel, sparkling in the light. . 

11. My Russian grandmother`s borsch.

12. Walking around the Drachonschloss in Germany, singing Lorelei Song.

13. Discovering Morcheeba band through the soundtracks to La Femme  Nikita.

14. Getting in love with Red Pandas.

15. When my parrot Jazz started to close the cage after returning back.

16. Being given deep body and foot massages at the end of a hard day. Having my shirts ironed before school and work during cold winter days.

17. Leading my first training seminar. That was exciting!
18. Throwing up the hats during the bachelors convocation ceremony.

19. Sitting on the branch of Ontario, drinking red wine, watching the sunset and chatting about silly things.
20. When fairy tales come true.

PS.

Good stress management tip: drink a lot of water. And a link http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_00.htm

Summer with the scent of Un Jardin Sur Le Toit by Hermes

Three weeks of vacation passed incredibly fast. I just had time to wright two exams on Business Analysis at the University of Toronto, hop on a plain and land in Moscow.

Just to say I missed home is to say nothing. Some things I have to sacrifice for a better future and a better career right now. However, I do not regret, I gained new knowledge, ideas, experience and inspiration.

The Brock University MBA program is really demanding, there were days we were sitting in the Graduate Laboratory after midnight while completing our projects. Currently I am searching for a part time job and I clearly see that I have chosen the right program. Business Informatics Degree was more focused on IT, while the courses of the MBA fill in the gaps for a better BA specialization. Being focused more on writing technical specifications, I can start from now on looking into Business Process Re-Engineering, Training, User needs elicitation through marketing concepts, financial analysis, etc.  However, a  grate obstacle is my work experience (under 3 years) for those opportunities that I am really interested in.

Enough about career!

Some really warm pictures from home. I did not do a lot of useful things, I was just hanging out with friends, relatives and mostly spending time with my parents, grandma and Captain Jazz. Love them all!

And of course - aromas. Perfumes are pieces of art as music and paintings. You can express everything with them. A warm and a close to skin scent that is hardly to be recognized by other people. The one that is to be recognized by the only one. Or a bright sunny aroma with a spicy touch to attract people and make them turn their heads and ask: "Hey Darling, what was that perfume?". August smelled like ripe apples in my grandparents garden and Un Jardin Sur Le Toit by Hermes...

New Skills

Picture of St.Catharines. Ontario. June 2011

• 1st July 2011. Learned how to create surveys through Google Docs. 

Here is the HOW TO

Here is my RESULT. You may help by participating. 

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en&hl=en&formkey=dGFYUzVybmdUY1hBTVhVSG85ZkNRV0E6MQ#gid=0

To be continued... 

Landing on the maple leafs carpet...

We were sitting with our parents in our cosy kitchen, it was my 22^nd birthday. Sleepless night… only 2 luggage places, 24 kg each appeared not enough for a 2 years journey to Canada… I could not stick in my favourite saucepan in fact I love to cook for me and my friends!

Next morning I flew 9,5 hours and I landed in Toronto Pearson International. A while later I was surrounded with some friends and people I have already known from my previous trip to Canada. Happy moments and a perfect Birthday gift – a blow-dryer. Why? Different plugs.

Then I had a long period of adaptation. It took about half a year to settle down properly and adapt to the local educational and cultural norms.

Further are some tips I found useful.

Wireless. Very expensive in comparison to Russia and India. Just after the arrival I had no local phone number. And it was a pretty issue to get a good deal, while at that time I did not work and did not have a SIN or a local credit card. My domestic card did not actually work. Thus, first it is better to get a local credit card. First I had a 3 years contract and a white BB, however it was too pricy. I have switched to a phone that was working with Skype that really reduced my expenses.  

Next, clothes – young ladies need dresses, shoes, purses

… endless list. I bet I have not less than 15 different neck scarves. Cargo was the saviour transportation method. My parents have sent me around 7 boxes of essential home supplies and my winter coats. The positive aspect – no import taxes on personal items for students at that moment.

Food. Highly nutritious, mostly sweeter than I was used to and higher in energy value. The lightest milk is almost twice higher in calories than my home product.   

School. Well, I was “otlichnitsa” meaning a 98% GPA student in Russia. The marks were from 1 to 5. In Canada it is totally different, from 1 to 100 %. And the amount of homework and tests is incomparably higher. You should constantly work hard. All marks are based on what you actually submit or what quality answers you give in class. In the middle of the term – midterm exams, in the end – finals. And usually a couple of tests, teamwork projects and/or reports in between the exams. Graduate students are given private study rooms, we have laboratories. Sometimes people sleep at university on a sofa downstairs. Your batch becomes your family. We go out to movies together, go for swimming or golf together, and make soup when somebody is sick. Once a month it is possible to go to a bigger city to have fun, but usually there is no time. High expectations from MBA student, thought studies, high quality education and good employment opportunities after. Students know what they are fighting for.

5 courses per term… 5 books… Nonstop..) Life is my drive)

Leaving on a jet plane...

You ask me – “How is it?”

First I will answer – “Why…”

This is going to be my third summer in Canada. More than 7,600 km from Moscow. The city I immensely love and miss. It never sleeps, does not believe to tears and has a beautiful atmosphere of dynamic, highly intelligent and involved in art and fashion people.

My life was unpredictable and hectic, I have seen both: poverty a great wealth. I was born in a regular family of bio-chemistry scientists in USSR. I clearly remember the crisis of 1998, when people were losing everything. But the life gave me a great lesson. Even if you have screwed up everything in your life, or the circumstances were against you… eventually there would be a moment when you feel that you have reached the bottom of that grave, the game is over. Stand up; it is over, new life. No time for sorrow and pain, move on. Enjoy every single moment of your new life; never stop dreaming of new perspectives, generate ideas.

Talking of traveling, I had a previous experience of leaving abroad. Two years in Florida. Russian was my first spoken language, English - first written.  Bilingual childhood gave the ability to absorb languages pretty fast; I am a great oral learner.  One month in Germany gave me another language to speak. These days I try to study Hebrew, the language of my Father`s ancestors. So I always felt myself a global child.

It is impossible to put in three paragraphs all my past, the sound of the Pacific Ocean and the Hurricane Augusta, my seven transatlantic flights, the variety of bread at a supermarket that amazed me in the USA, Mardi Grass beads, sitting on the floor in public places, Kitty Wow of The Week, “I want to go to bathroom” – on a little note card, first friend Daniel, shuttle flying in the sky above my school, learning Russian letters again, communal apartment, my Mother`s charlotte cinnamon apple pie and Russian food, once again 1^st grade, summer scout camps, friends forever, horseback riding, waltzing, school theatre,  biology, first kiss, programming, my publicized translation of a poem by Tarkovsky…

Well, computer science appeared in my life in a pretty random way. I was a 6^th grade student and wanted to improve my user skills. I was attending after class circle of English language and acting, in the same building there was a prestigious lyceum. One of the teachers of that lyceum had a meeting where any child could sign up for free classes in computer science. But that day my Grandmother was returning to Israel and I had no opportunity to sign up. The thing I like about living in Moscow that very often you become good friends with your neighbours. In my case, they were and still are really great people. They went there and signed me up.

It went fast; I was recognized to have potential and passion to be one of the best in the group. I entered the lyceum through the competition. Then were conferences, competitions, awards, bright social life. I had 2 main interesting projects: The 3d reconstruction of the pyramids of Sumerian and a web site on the evolution on books.

Where I was born, teenagers usually go to university after school. I was not an exception, but the “bachelor degree” and “business informatics” just appeared those years in Russia. Well, I liked innovations; I have seen logic in the major and a great application in business. I wanted to enjoy the school and be sure that I would be able to get into good money after graduating. At the same time I worked and volunteered, took during one summer an ESL course in Toronto.

Closer to graduation I looked around. I see the sense of my life in having a strong loving family in the future. Strong means to me, that whatever will happen I would be able to support my children and give them everything that is necessary. Love… is in the air)

Well, frankly speaking… the competition in Moscow is really high. Imagine about 13 million people, thousands of bachelors. You need a university degree to work as a mobile phone sales manager… The concurrence is really high.

Moreover, while writing my diploma project, I understood that I cannot properly estimate the cost and the benefits of implementation of a CRM system in an organization. I saw a lack of education that was requiring a higher master’s level. I felt that really strong while I was working as a Business Analyst.

Next, I am from a regular middle-class family, I could not inherit a whole business… I was leaving with my parents and did not inherit any apartments to start my own family. I want to achieve on my own a better future. Still I have some support, that I am really greatful for.

I could not find a program with the courses I wanted in Russia. As well, I found it challenging to obtain an international degree, which would definitely make me more competitive.

20^th of July 2010 I turned 22 years old…

21^st July 2010 I was at Brock University looking forward to my MBA Marketing studies.

PS. If you ask me, what tattoo I would have made. It would be a very thin line along my middle finger with a jet closer to the tip... saying "Leaving on a jet plane...". 

Miracles of air traveling: breakfast Toronto, lunch in Frankfurt, 20 hours in Frankfurt airport, dinner in Moscow - luggage somewhere in Thailand or Peru.

Wishes of safe flights to my dear friends!