random awakening

I somehow lost my motivation to blog and share about my travels recently. All the posts I want to share are piled up in my head, but somehow it is hard to allocate time for it. Just that there are things with much higher priority in my life recently. But here I decided to break the silence and put some random post about the stories that were published in our internal newsletters in DHL.

The first story/interview was in internal newsletter, under the section "Get to know your colleagues" (read it here);




And the second one was published in intranet (read it here);



p.s. I just came back from one month holiday back in Kyrgyzstan. I spent some time in Kazakhstan as well, and I had a brief stay in Ukraine, Kiev. By the way, Ukraine is the 2oth country that I visited. More posts to come soon, hopefully.

Stay healthy!
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Wiser, stronger, happier!

(Above was the wish from Triin on her SMS)

2007 Analysis

Thinking Big
It was the year of Thinking Big for me. Still not having lost the self-confidence and belief of achieving something more than ordinary, I was busy in my head with reading and getting inspired, thinking over all kind of ideas for business plan, investigating about how to start up the company, repeating it to myself thousand times...

Blogs
Secondly, it was all about the blogs... My approach and opinion about the blogs totally shifted from just being the travel blog and diary into the tool that could be used and benefited in hundreds of ways. As many others, I became regular reader of Shoemoney and JohnChow who make thousands of dollars monthly by just blogging and all the related topics like internet marketing, SEO and power of having high Google Pagerank, earning money from online advertising, offering quality content and the power of internet traffic. I experimented with this blog, and got useful lessons learnt. The biggest lesson was the basic lesson of offering quality content on certain topics and having your own niche of readers. Quality never lets you down. And another important lesson is to blog about the things that you are passionate about so that on a long journey you'll always want and have smth to write about.

Conquering Europe


Past year took me to 7 new countries (8 if we count Vatican as a separate country); Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Vatican. Living in Czech Republic more than a year and seeing other Central European countries, now I have good understanding about their history, traditions, food, culture, values, lifestyle and people's mentality (in some way). Even I was blessed to experience Christmas in local way in Hungary with Gitti's family.
Next year I am more to keen to explore other parts of Europe.


New People, New Friends



I am blessed to meet many new people and find many new friends among them. Some became already very special. Blogs and social networks proved to be very useful in this as well. And I already look forward to meet certain new and old friends in 2008! Past year brought together with some old friends as well; I met old Mafia friends (Michal, Gitti) , Triin, Vivian, highschool friends (Dastan, Izat), and some others after such long time.


New interests
Despite being in Czech, my interest in Japan hugely increased. I put in head to start for Kendo one day, had some attempt to learn Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, had been listening to podcasts, trying out origami foldings, and finally past year I met Miki. And this interest has nothing to do with japanese anime ;).


Another interest was the series and movies on YouTube and Google Video. I am getting seriosly addicted to them, I especially watched many different series there (to begin with I finished 99-serie "Kurtlar Vadisi", famous Turkish mafia series).

Blogging and reading blogs became another huge interest.


Also, Czech is famous with its ice hockey! I watched many live games with Czech national team, Slavia and Sparta Prague games. It is on a high level and a spectacular show over here!

Eating habits
It has been not the best one. Quick lunches, late dinners, skipped breakfasts... I didn't gain weight, if not lost some. It even came to that point that I forgot to eat lunch at work recently.
So this is another point for improvement. Though I don't like cooking. Marriage topic rings the bell again! :)

++++++++++++

Inspiration for 2008

Think Big, Plan Big, Act Big
Just dreaming about glory could be important initial ingredient for success, but action should follow it shortly. Past year I dreamed enough of having my own company and business in technology market. This year I am enough inspired to put those thoughts and ideas on the table and get to Planning part of the things, getting the know-how to them, getting in touch with people in these fields and probably finding my future partners in this journey. I believe in the power of sharing the knowledge, thus I am thinking of keeping new blog specifically for these topics.

Gym
I need it. I feel that otherwise I will have health problems as I become old as I spent too much time sitting in front of computer and not much physical activity in most of the days.

+1 Blog
1 New Blog about building electronic environment solutions; from eGovernment, eCommerce, eEducation projects to Technoparks and IT Infrastructure. Probably, by the time it will be more concentrated on specific topics in this niche. In this blog I am thinking of sharing about my research in these topics.

New countries to explore
On top of my list; France, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, Sweden, Estonia

Euro 2008
We already made plans of spending some days in Austria during Euro 2008 football championship. It is hard and expensive to get tickets for the games, yet I'll try to. If not, I'll just go there and enjoy the atmosphere.

More trainings (Prince2, Management Skills, Marketing Skills)
Still need to learn so many things... But I figured out that I need to get more management skills besides programming and analysis.


New destination?
I am planning to go for new challenge at the end of 2008 if I don't change my mind and stay here with current company longer. It may be private business or new job at technology company of a kind that I'd like to run in future myself. 2+ years of experience here will be good enough to move to the next stage. US or Asia Pacific are the most preferred destinations for me.

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Me - night owl!

Interesting article about the nature of our working habits. What seems to be related to our nature rather than laziness or smth. One thing I am pretty sure is that I am not a lazy person, I was never one, yet I've realized long-time ago that I am simply less efficient in the mornings. At university I missed lots of morning courses (damn morning Calculus lessons!) or I was a bit slower to digest what was being discussed in morning courses. At work I've spent my morning by reading news or blogs with my coffee or just pretend to be working because I didn't feel like working or couldn't do much even if I tried. And I always preferred to sleep well in the morning, have nice breakfast and then go to work. Thanks to flexible work hours here, I benefit a lot. I'd named it as "morning laziness".

VS

Yet I have been very efficient in the afternoon and in the evenings, thus I've always preferred to stay couple of hours more after work in the evening to "compensate" my morning laziness and benefit from my efficient time. At university I studied well in the evenings or late nights. And I've been going late to bed (after midnight around 1-2 am, I'd call it too early to go to bed before midnight). Alhtough I've been trying to switch to regular early-sleep-early-wakeup schedule to fit general work schedules, yet not have been fully successfull. I actually do whenever I don't have my computer with me. That's my nature.


(Monster Career Advice) Early birds and night owls don't choose to be the way they are and shouldn't blame themselves for their bodies' quirks. "It's a physiological characteristic that's genetically predetermined, like being tall or blond,"...
..."Try not to feel guilty or apologize all the time for the way you are," says Schur, who notes that up to 40 percent of the population may have early-bird or night-owl predispositions...
<full read here>

The article also suggests using email or voice mail with time and date stamps that document when you completed your early-morning or late-night work and other ways to make it evident when you were at the office. That's what I do sometimes as well, I send out email to my team-mates and boss after completing certain tasks and letting them know of the current status both to inform them and to show that I've stayed till late hours in the office. Once it happens regularly, they will recognize your working habits. You need to use such visual tools like emails for different kind of communication and always keep them in your archive. It may be of crucial use in future to protect yourself from all kind of office politics and false blamings. This was a good advice given by one good friend of mine few years ago.
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busy times

Trainings
Within past few weeks I had 2 trainings related to UML at Unicorn Education. And I have 2 more few-day-trainings within following few weeks. Our company is offering many trainings (both computer based and classroom trainings) to choose from, so it is good opportunity to take as much as possible while there's opportunity. Not all the companies give or even care about that.

Fancy glass-walled Unicorn Education building

Projects
Nowadays I am working on two projects, thus getting really busy. This is part of my "next 6-month high proactivity" plan. To put it simple; full concentration on work/trainings and learning few key skills that my position requires in the market and not even to think about new job or position somewhere else. Evaluation will be done after 6 months. Thus it quickly put me into "Busy" mode. So I've been terrible in replying to emails from friends, and even meeting up with the ones here in Prague. Some people were thinking that I even left Prague! Also, I haven't been posting here as well. Still pending stories from Vienna/Budapest, Karlstejn and Cesky Krumlov trips.
Well, after work I am staying at home in front of my computer; reading a lot of blogs, digging around different web-services, thinking of how to shape Jamboola (my experimental tech blog), and when my brain stopped functioning properly I've been watching the film series (finished Prison Break Season 1, currently watching new chinese-mongolian series "Chenghiz Khan"), or Facebooking.

Squash
We had DHL squash tournament last weekend. I asked Kamilya to come with me as well, so we had preparation game on Saturday, and we joined the tournament whole Sunday along. I never tried this game before, so it was fun to try and spend Sunday more actively. Could be an option for winter sports activity in winter when no football.

Halloween
Actually I am not excited about such things anymore, I guess everything has its own period in our life. Thus I didn't go to any of those costumes parties, and I was also very tired and sleepless recently. Yet The Park management amused us with their Halloween decoration by installing gravestones in front of our building and around The Park, baloons and Halloween booths.
We had expats Haloween Party yesterday, some of friends attended it with their costumes. I liked Jenny's costume; Facebook page (later I'll share the photo of me writing on her "Wall").

Here are just few shots taken during the lunch break.

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random things & thoughts

Yesterday on my way back home from work I saw a totally naked guy walking into metro station. He didn't seem to be drunk or smth. Neither I could see any signs or marks on his body, not some kind of protest. And it seemed liked nobody really gave much attention to him. Was it a common thing here or noone really noticed him in the rush hour. Outside the station I saw the jacket and the jeans lying on the ground, probably his.

I dropped by to Hypernova to buy puzzle. Recent interest. My initial view of the puzzles was that they are more of educational purposes for children. It seems in fact they have several constructive and developing effects for adults as well. Start with creativity, inspirational effect and that such things could help to expand your mind beyond everyday constraints. I got one with artistic painting to be re-collected from 1000 pieces. An activity for cold grey Prague weekends.

While in Hypernova I caught the old Soviet Cartoon "Nu pogodi" being displayed on the big monitor. Something that reminded me that this place used to be part of Communist empire. Actually Russian presence is still felt strongly here; many Russian tourists around, Russian menus at the restaurants, Russian books on sale, D. Bilan songs playing loudly from some shops, "Brigada" being broadcasted on Czech TV, advertisements translated in Russian, etc.
Karlovy Vary is already known as "Russian town" among Czechs due to high population of Russian tourists and properties owned by Russians there.

Have you ever thought what sort of blogger/blog reader you are?
Well, I did. Just this visual proof tells you what sort of blogs I read and subsrbied to, and which ones I read more often. It is captured from my Google Reader window. I don't think I need to explain what the Site Feed is about, thus if you are still reading blogs/news form their original sites, then you are way behind the current trends of Internet.:) Google Reader is fantastic single source to read all the blogs and news.

It clearly shows that I spent more time digging around my friend's blogs, then come news feeds, and finally technology blog. That summarizes my failure to get steady with tech blog last time (thus I need to put more effort on Jamboola).
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iStartUp

Интересная статья про "старт ап" компании. Для молодых ИТ предпринимателей! ;)

Вам нужны три вещи для успешного создания компании: начинать с подходящими людьми, делать действительно то, что хотят заказчики, и потратить как можно меньше денег. Большинство тех, кто начинают, не имеют успеха, потому что им не удается какая-либо из этих вещей. Молодая компания, которая делает все три вещи обычно преуспевает.

(полный текст -> http://defann.cyberflash.ru/2005/10/21/1)
--------------------------------------

I found this post about start up companies, it could be useful piece of info for young IT enterprenuer wanna-bes.

You need three things to create a successful startup: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it because they fail at one of these. A startup that does all three will probably succeed.

full text here -> http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html

Also, read it in Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Russian and French :)))
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need to get "certified"

One thing that is undoubtfully true for IT specialists is to get "certified" in whatever field they work. Like Cisco certifications for Networks & Telecom people, or Microsoft Certifications for Developers and System engineers, or ITIL for IT service managers. Your primary university education diploma's validity will be gone after 3-4 years, and unless you are attending some Masters degree, then you better think how to get extra needed-like-air trainings and certify them.

As a Business System Analyst, I already made the list of the trainings and certifications I'd chase for the next 1-2 years. The next logical step would be IT Project Manager or Consultant or System/Software Engineer. One interesting certification program that I found is A Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP™) offered by IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis).

On the other hand, these trainings cost bags of money. As a typical "corporate employee", my hope (for now only, oh believe me!) is our internal individual career development program. It only offers some days of training and not much hope that they will cover the expenses of certification education and exams. Anyway, I still think that it is all about convincing your managers how badly you need this training/certificate and how largely it will benefit to your work and company. It still comes to the same point - "do your own business, work for yourself, be your own boss". I have this feeling that these days are not too far for me. :)

Small checklist of trainings till the end of this year;

1. Prince2 Foundation

2. Applying UML and Advanced Use Case Modeling

3. Negotiation Skills

+ some more CBTs

It will eat up my 7 training days.

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happy 50th!

Mom is stepping into her 50th birthday today. I think I realize more that indeed time never stops ticking, and people age... even our parents... even us... It makes me more proud of her, and at this age she already has 4 grown-up sons already working (2 of them have studied and working abroad), the sweetest daughter already studying in a private university, and even a 2+ year old grandson! And she gave her everything to raise all of us with best possible education and conditions, she's still concerned only about us, our future. And I always tried to make her proud of me as well, and in every single thing I could achieve, I always saw her. She's my hero.

When it is about her, I can't stop being emotional :)

Happy 50th birthday, Mom!
I wish I could have spent more time with you in last 8 years...


Me, Mom, brother Altyn (~1987)
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lazy weekends

what tires you more? physical exhaustness or mental busyness?

I've been "getting horizontal" (Copyright 2007 - Fang) for past 2 weekends. Sleeping till the afternoon until my head starts buzzing as if protesting this lazyness. Then I wake up, go to bathroom. After refreshing myself, my next stop is the kitchen. I open the fridge, boil some water to make a coffee and get some milk to add to. After thorough search of what to eat, I just decide on smashing the eggs on the pot, either with tomatoes or potatoes. Easy, practical, quick, though not the healthiest option. I play music loud to totally wake myself up or just to tune up my weekend days. Weekends've been sunny, whole city ran to parks and riverside for sunbathing. Swimming pools should have been overcrowded. Outside is hot, so as if to totally kill the rest of the day, I switch back to watching favourite Turkish mafia series. Actually I finished it, all 97 series! Previous weekend started with meeting up some bloggers (Tolkun, Mirsulzhan, Asel') from Central Asia who were in Prague for week of trainings. What made my day was the gift from an already special blogger-friend. To whom it may concern; you are gorgeous!

That lazy weekend ended with some bone stretching beach volleyball game on the beach. For those in Prague, Zlute Lazne is the great place to spend the summer weekends (it used to be nudist beach previously); chill out on the riverside grass pitches, enjoy some beach volleyball or football, bars and restaurants around, some even try to swim in Vltava's dirty waters, otherwise there's swimming pool on the other side of the road. You can take tram 3, 16, 17, 21 and get out at Dvorce stop.

Past weekend was planned to be an active one, yet on Friday eve I went to airport to meet Lisheng, ex-flatmate from Singapore who came for AIESEC traineeship in Brno. Her flight from London was delayed due to heavy rain, so it reached Prague in 1 am! It turned out that I was not the only one waiting for her, another trainee Aaron (an Asian with several different nationalities) was there as well. By the time we reached home, and went out for food and back, it was 6 am when I went to bed. Saturday sleep till afternoon guaranteed! Saturday evening they toured Prague, and I joined for late drinks, then we went down to the island (yes, Prague even has islands!) to watch "Little Miss Sunshine "in the open-air cinema. Another late exploration; summer open-air cinema on the island in the center of Prague! Finally on Sunday I could go to Ikea to buy missing parts for my room. Housewarming party is scheduled for the next week.

Next weekend should be the healthy one; I am planning to hire a boat for a tour on the Vltava river, and maybe go for swimming pool. Seems like I will miss the canyoning trip in Austria due to this visa issue. In August, I'm planning to go up to Estonia to visit old good friend - Triin.

Beautiful evening in last weekend

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bonus+

The best feeling is that when your teammates vote for you as The Best Player of the Team... my best ever sportive trophy! :)

Cheers, lads! That's my honour to play alongside with you.

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iChange

Effective from June.

New position, new department - something that I've been looking forward to, now let's talk about challenge and motivation, time to polish old technical skills. This time I am more confident that this is the correct step in a so-called career path, and more prospects visible from there. That could stick me to Prague for couple of years. Hopefully I will get the project related to integration of our DHL ITS Europe systems with those in IT Center in Bonn, then I will be visiting Germany more often. Which means that I'd get long-term Schengen visa! That would make my weekends more interesting and busy again.

New home - finally moved to the new flat in one of the central areas of Prague (Vrsovicke Namesti, close to Namesti Miru). I'll be paying rent twice more expensive than for the one in Hostivar, but what comes in package worth it; old-style building in the center, fully furnished flat with spacy bedrooms, living room and big kitchen, tram stops in front of the house, shops, pubs and restaurants around, close to where most of my friends live. And it's Moskevska street! Will be sharing it with Blandine (colleague, France) and Linda( AIESEC friend, Netherlands). We have 2 couches in the living room, so book your place in advance if you are planning to visit Prague ;). I will need to buy some curtains for my room, need someone to go shopping with. Ladies? :) I will have internet connection at home finally. Internet is my power and my weakness.

New haircut - Ok, this is not about the new haircut saga of symbolizing the beginning of new chapter in my life, just that I felt like growing it a bit longer. Should be more noticeable in following weeks. Btw, for the foreigners in Prague who have some trouble in finding skillful and English-speaking hairdressers, I can recommend Chang (Korean guy) at Modry Slon. It is more expensive, but worths it.

New targets - So I will stay in Czech Republic for couple of years. Once I settled with this thought, it will be easier to concentrate on how to spend this time in a best way. First comes career planning. In the resource center, I will have the environment and projects that will put me into progress. Plenty of online courses still pending for my attention. In a long-term, I put as a goal to achieve wider understanding and knowledge in all the phases of software development cycle. And as well as understanding business side of the project.
In terms of social life, I have already planned few trips in upcoming months, one possible trip to either Switzerland or Poland in July. If I get long-term visa, then Vienna, Berlin, Munich is on the beginning of the list. Besides that still many places to see in Czech Rep. I've read of possible bike trips to Karlstejn Castle which I am intending to do sometime soon.
Also this puts me back into getting more involved with Czech language. I even bothered myself to buy a book "New Czech Step by Step" by Lida Hola, this one is suggested as the most useful book. Then I want be complete my attempt to learn Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, so far I did some of it, and actually it is more fun than boring.

Hands up for more new changes!
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end of year analysis

(Photo taken from gettyimages.com)

Blues lost the title race, but made it in a beautiful way. Unusual sad view of the conquerors of Premiership Mourinho, Terry and Lampard for past 2 years... Anyway, I hope they will come much stronger for the next season with new aditional players, especially, in defence. Injuries kept many key players out. I think we need few more good subs for up-front, central defence (Alex from PSV should be included) and right-back, and the wings. Again top performance in a league and Champions League, but this bad luck in Champs League is annoying; 3 lost semi-finals in past 4 years!!! Of course, you can not win the league with some key players injured and with players like Kalou, Obi Mikel, etc...

My ideal Chelsea for next year;
Keeper; Petr Cech, Carlo Cudicini
Defence; Daniel Alves, John Terry, Alex, R.Carvalho, Ashley Cole
Midfield; Robben, Ballack, Lamps, Florent Malouda, Deco, Scweinsteiger, Joe Cole, Franck Ribery
Forward; Drogba, Shevchenko, David Villa, Morientes
Manager; Jose Mourinho
Owner; Roman Abramovich ;)

As it was promised by Mourinho 2 years ago, Chelsea formed the "hall of honour" in Stamford Bridge in return to Manchester United similar gesture 2 years ago. That is what makes big clubs really big, that's what makes football beautiful!

-----------
As for Galatasaray, this season turned out to be another disappointment. I also think that it is time for Canaydin leave club presidency. Team was never same again since he became the president. Neither new stadium was built, nor the squad was not strengthened, and worse than that the talent such as Franck Ribery was lost because they didn't pay his salary on time! Big player transfers were promised every year, but instead only players like Ilic, Inamoto, Carrusca were transferred, definitely way below those like Hagi, Popescu, Jardel, Taffarel that built the legendary Galatasaray. And financial situation in the club doesn't seem to be significantly improved. So, I also wavy the white napkin to the club management. Though I hope Eric Gerets will stay as a coach.

-------

As from our DHL team; We have been training every week and play a gam on Saturdays. We showed some good performance against Newcastle Univercity team, DHL ITSC Bonn team, and not bad performace against FK Partizan. I still need to improve some areas in order to provide confident games, basicly more on commanding the area and getting the ball into hands in every possible case, otherwise I have this tendency to punch it...

For the DHL Euro Cup football tournament itself; groups are announced. We will be playing in group H. Looking forward to it.

Group H
DHL IT Services Europe (our team)
DHL Iceland
DHL Italy
DHL Romania
DHL Spain

Dates: May 25-28. Venue: Lommel Park, Belgium.

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Random shots from mobile phone (slide.com)

This online tool on www.slide.com looks really cool to share photos as a slideshow. Tested on my photos from mobile phone;

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those special times

Most of our days pass more in ordinary, routine and boring ways. School or work, things to do at home, daily or weekly activities, etc. And they never stay long in our memories. Maybe because they didn't have much impression, deep effect on us morally. But there are some days, periods that stays in our mind till the end, that later we always recall as "those happy days" which were deeply settled in our minds and hearts. It may be some short period, but then we may spend our whole life remembering and chasing ways to bring them or part of it back. And sometimes our current days will stay under the shadows of old days and we started to live with our past, with those special times. It somehow makes you bit of sad mood, maybe because we compare current days with those special days. Especially visits to those places, or seeing the people who were part of it brings all those feelings and emotions back. And there's always some melody, some song associated with those special times, and every time we hear it, we live those days in our thoughts again and again.

Today is tomorrow's yesterday, so we should make today as "special" to remember them tomorrow.
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the biggest point that I miss...

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.
He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you."
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.
But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.
He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,
"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.
Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."
By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.
"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"
He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.
I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."
I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway."
I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?
So what is behind the story?
---------------------------

I got it from friend's email, also read it somewhere on someone's blog before.
What really made me think about it is that the way I always keep ignoring giving more attention to my family. It is not this poem made me think about this now, it has been always in the corner of my mind. The fact that we are less caring and more ignorant about our families, or in general, about the people we love and who loves us.

When was the last time I called my parents or brothers/sister? How many emails/SMSs I sent them in past week/month? Although it just takes few minutes to call or email, although it is a matter of finding and dialing home number from your phone, I do it so rarely. Maybe the feeling that nothing new to tell/inform them, maybe it is the emails they sent me and update how the things are there, maybe my sister's regular SMSs/emails. But sadly, I realize that I forgot to express my feelings to them, at least give them more bit of attention and care, at least hear their voices more often and let them hear me as well. I love my family more than anyone, doubtless, I keep it warm in my feelings, but I just don't or can't express it. Is it because of the way I was brought up? Or because I spent so small time with them as I left to study when I was 11. Since then I was away from warm family environment, I couldn't see my sister and brothers growing up and my parents getting older. Maybe I show my love to them by supporting them financially, with my short visits once in a year or two? Does it mean I am turning more materialistic?!
Whatever it is, the only one thought of being unable to have this chance to express myself to them when it may be late is stinging my heart. They won't be always there...

Call them more often, visit them more regularly, write and ask them more.
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My 2nd month in Prague

New home
I moved into new place in Hostivar (another end district of Prague), calm and peaceful area, looks similar to our micro-districts in KG with typical Soviet-style panel block flats. Renting a room from Czech family, so far neither of us troubling each other, and so far I am glad with it. Major drawback is that it is a bit far from city centrum.

Work
I had some busy time still learning my work, at the same time it is non of difficulty, just loads of things to do. Although my expectations from the job and the company were different, I still see some possible career/knowledge/professional development route here, possibility of trainings and courses, and understanding core knowledge of IT systems in DHL. I will plan more organized work and course schedule for better development in 2007. I want to be more involved in bringing some new aspects to the way we do our work, also to keep programming knowledge fresh, I will need to involve myself into some programming/coding tasks. Main target for 2007 is to dive deeper into the world of Computer and Information Security.

Karlovy Vary
We had some trips, first it was to Karlovy Vary, as Czechs say it is Russian town in their land :). Touristic spot, full of Russians, and majority of real estate, as they say, is also owned by them. Btw, 007 - Casino Royale was pictured there as well. It is a spa town, usually popular among elderly people, and for its cheaper resorts. What I liked there was its picteristique view, nice place to spend a relaxing weekend with your girlfriend. I put some pictures provided from Murat and Piroska.


Prague gang on the tower on the hill above the town.


Lost in the woods...


(Click to enlarge) Superb view of the town, all credits for Murat.


Beautifull buildings along the street totally rock!


I know, silly one... :)


united colors of karlovy vary, thanks to digital photo techniques and Murat's camera ;)

Kotna Hora
Next destination was Kutna Hora, it used to be rich town with silver mines. It has silver mine tunnels for visitors, beautiful St. Barbara's cathedral and a famous Sedlec Ossuary . It contains approximately 40,000 human skeletons that are arranged and designed to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel like Bone pyramids, the chandelier, The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, etc. Pictures (credits to Alexandre);


Visitors need to wear these miner coats (looks more like KuKluxKlan outfit). Before going down the ground.


The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms made from the bones and Jacobo (one day he will look similar to those bones :))) )


Bone pyramid, there are 4 of them.

St.Nicolas Day
Angels and demons... and St.Nicolas in their company... all over the city... chasing the kids... or posing in front of cameras :))) It is one of the holidays celebrated here and in other Christian nations. What was interesting that Santa Claus originated from St.Nicolas. But St. Nicolas dressed white, whereas Santa Clause in red coat, and it was due to Coca-Cola! :)) I am waiting for Murat and Cedric to send me the photos, that's how it is when you don't have your own (why did I sell it?!!)

Christmas mood in Prague
Already the city is decorated for Christmas, of course, shop owners are putting the best effort.
Big Christmas tree is put in the middle of Namesti Staromestska (Old Town Square). I have Christmas tree lighting up vide in my mobile phone only, but it was nothing much fancy. Well, Christmas time has different atmosphere in Prague, pity that I will be at home and miss it this year. Photos later.

DHL Football
Got elected into company team for DHL Euro Cup in Belgium in May. Besides we joined tournament Ballet Cup VII last weekend, lost 3, won 2, and drew 1 game. Playing as a keeper, of course. Need to practice more this winter with indoor games. I realized that we have few high management guys in the team, actually I was shouting at and commanding them during the game last time :))). I like it because it is a good way to sit and have a talk with these managers on work or other topics without any formalities and get to know them closer. As a team we need to do more and get much better if we aim to make it for play-offs in May.

Ice hockey game Recently, I had a chance to see my first-ever hockey game, it is much more fun than on TV, and counting that Czechs are one of the best in the world and Slavia Praha is one of 2 best teams here, game was terrific - goals (Slavia thrashed its opponent - 8:1), fights, saves, etc. Next is the Sparta Praha's game. Sazka Arena is amazing!

Jiri
I met old friend here. I totally forgot that in 2004 I met Czech trainee in Turkey, at Turquoise-2004 AIESEC conference. We were in touch for some time. Then forgotten. But I was sending email about my contact info update to all emails in my address book, and got reply from him! Funny thing was that we were both working in The Park, in neigbouring buildings!


Books
As I was still waiting for my laptop from the company (I sold my ibm thinkpad just before coming here) and having no TV in my room, I gained back my reading habit and have been using any possible free time to dive into the books. I tried Murakami's "Kafka on the shore" first of all, as I said, it was different mythical story combined with fluent things happening in the story, its English was a bit heavy for me (I am more fluent with technical related books) and I think there were more things to absorb from his book, planning to read some of his other books to understand Murakami more.
Then it was "Angels & Demons" by D.Brown, no need to mention about it. "Deception point" is the next in the queue.
I truly enjoyed reading "the Google Story", inspiring book.
At the moment, started reading "World is flat" by Thomas Friedman. I mentioned about this and other books earlier, it is one of those books that big IT dudes read.
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my videos online

Elmo has put some of the videos he took/made online on YouTube. They were found by Asel', and when she sent me the link, it was a surprise for me. Here's the farewell video link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-iN3thmyOY

Also, another photo was found on the entry page of Taiwan youth Travel;



I love Taiwan! :)
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sign of life

...so I am alive. That's the main news. Also, I started working for DHL Europe ITSC in Prague. Back to yellow submarine.

Q: Where the hell have I been all these time (6 months or what)?
A: Is it already 6 months?!!!

Due to the lack of stable and fast internet connection, I lost my habit to blog regularly. I have been in Kyrgyzstan all these months watching both how apricot flowers are beautiful in spring, enjoying summer evenings and also 10-day trip to Yssyk-Kul, and witnessing of cool September weather. Mostly I was in Bishkek, renting a flat, doing diff. stuff on my computer, watching World Cup, hanging out mostly with Ainura, sleeping till late and basicly being of a little use for society and humankind. The reason was the slowness of the process of finding a job, work-permit, new passport and visa issues which took around 4 months.
I will upload some interesting photos about my time in Kyrgyzstan in following posts.

So, just tell me that you missed me! ;)


Not many photos from Prague as I sold my camera. But I got few to prove above comments;

DHL Induction Program



On the famous Charles Bridge, and St.Vitus Cathedral and Palace on the background. Yat was here for the weekend (waiting for more photos from her). Notice the soldier-style short haircut, the misunderstanding btw me and the hairdresser due to lack of common language.
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Hard to say "good-bye"

It's the thing i hate, to say good-bye to many good friends just after you found them and became good friends. it happened in Turkey, it happened in Singapore, it is happening here in Taiwan. You come to a place totally new to you, but after a while you leave this place with so many good friends and many nice memories. For some time you want to stay, but sometimes it is beyond our control. But I believe in one thing, that we leave the place and people we love to meet new people and new places that we are going to love. It's worth it. and every good thing is short, and should be short. Important thing is to keep these friends, to keep this warm feeling. By time some will be forgotten, some will become closer, sort of filtration over time. But world is getting smaller, and means of communication are growing, so more possible that our ways will be crossed again.

Today we are just trainees, or fresh graduates, or students. But tomorrow we will be the buisness owners, politicians, scientists, etc., leaders in our society. Today we are just friends, tomorrow we will be professional partners besides that. This AIESEC friendship network is very important for me, it's of highest value.

For all friends, thanks for great farewell party, for your nicest wishes, posts, gifts, for your warmth. I didn't think that this time I will feel sad to leave, but you guys made me sad. Truly Taiwan and taiwanese people touch the heart of any guest in their country, any guest that understands them.

One good friend told me that it's easier to leave the place alone and by not looking back. It's hard to say "good bye", so I'll just say "see you again somewhere sometime soon".

p.s.: I'll post photos from this evening later. Sooo busy these last days.
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25

Another birthday where I spend most of day with deep thoughts and my mood changing between happiness and sadness, joy and regret, plans of new coming year and analysis of the past one. I never saw this day as a very special day and that it should be celebrated in a special way. It's even left in the shadow of New Year's eve celebrations. Yet I am always grateful to all friends who don't forget to send couple of nice wishes. Another age, another long year is beginning and I have no idea where and how I am gonna be at the end of it..
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Jany jylynar menen! (happy new year!)

There's a tradition of wishing good things for the new year just before it knocks the door. here's my wish;
for my family, all my friends, for all people I love and respect, for all people who loves me and respects me, and for all nice people of our planet,
I wish...
- firstly, health, as nothing can replace it
- love, as we also love other people
- happiness, as all of us deserve to be happy
- wealth, as nothing worse than being in need
- luck, as life is harder without it
- thousands of smiles, as they make us younger
- motivation towards life, as not having it loses the meaning of life
- tolerance and patience, as better days are on the way
- forgiveness of others, as others forgive us too
- hope, as when it dies all die
- peace, and again peace
- blessings of God, the most Merciful...

---------

to summarize, for me 2005 was full of surprises. I greeted it in Singapore, first new year in tropics, then comes my life in Taiwan, I spent many amazing moments with Jane, and I am grateful for all the things she did for me, I met new good friends here, explored Taiwan more, went to Turkey to deliver my graduation project and get my degree of computer engineer. It was full of happy and stressful days, it made me grow more mature, it affected my view of life a lot, it taught me some bitter lessons. and here it is almost end of 2005, and hopefully end of many other things. 2006 promises me a lot, new country, new job, maybe new girlfriend, new friends - totally new life. but i am not that unhappy with 2005, I learnt a lot from it.
after 6 hours, it will be new year, at the same time I will be 25 years old (btw, my blog will be 1 year old :)). It's quarter of century, but no sad feelings of getting older, instead I feel I am very young and more ready for life, instead I feel that it is beginning of totally new life, a transition phase from student-minded boy to a life-minded man. in that terms, I am grateful to 2005, as it gave me a real taste of what life means.

so, again Happy Happy New Year! and please start it with a smile in your face :).

(damn! it is raining outside... what a new year's eve?! ;)))
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Holiday or what?

I am finishing my job here soon, maybe in 1 - 1,5 months. And after that before starting for new job, I want take 1 month break. I need it;
- to spend some time with my family as I have been away from them for too long

- to rest myself after this crazy 2 years with lots of things happenning in my life

- to recharge myself for the long working life

- to catch up with my old friends (many of whom getting married) and to meet all those new friends and get to know them closer

- to discuss about my marriage timing with my family as they started to bring up this issue everytime i call them (i am only 24!). also to check "the candidates" my parents found. yet i will find myself, sorry Mom n Dad!

- to research software industry market in Kyrgyzstan and to meet with people working in this area. I want to start my own software company in near future, soon or later, I will move this business to Bishkek.

- to visit all my favourite places in kyrgyzstan

- to visit relatives, friends,etc.

- to meet with group of students who want to start AIESEC in Kyrgyzstan (exactly!)

- possible visit to Almaty

- to attend to AIESEC in Taiwan national conference before leaving, if possible as an OC.

- to visit Seoul on the way home, or to travel through China if I will go home in spring.

- to sit and rethink my career path with more clear head
- etc.


Basicly, it seems like I am on the verge of my career path, and decision taken now will affect tomorrow in many ways. and I will be 25 soon which totally puts me in front of transition need from a young enthusiastic guy into more professional, practical and goal-oriented man, and get out of this student-trainee image.
maybe i should just put all these things aside and have some real holiday first, just a lot of eating n relaxing and some traveling, and then to grab these issues with both hands.
I just need a holiday...
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Going home!

Nothing can beat being back home with your family after long period of wandering around...
I had a honest talk with my boss regarding my willing about leaving Taiwan earlier than expected. I listed the reasons and it seems he could understand me in some of them. Most important thing was to avoid any misunderstandings and I told him that I'd finish all my current projects, prepare all necessary reports and if necessary to transfer it to someone new. Boss was not that happy, yet he understood some of my reasons. Now, soon we will reschedule the project, and then it will be clear when I will have my last day here. For me better-sooner as I am planning to be there before 15th of January for particular reasons. Planning to give myself whole month of rest, at the same time thinking about the next career step and researching IT/software business possibilities in Central Asia with Bishkek in particular. and of coz, to enjoy real high-protein Kyrgyz food (even the thought of it rings the bell in my stomach). Looking forward to meet many old and new friends.
Another things is that I left all my winter clothes at home last year when I was heading to Lion city (a.k.a. Singapore), so it will get extra coins from my pocket to buy some winter stuff.
need to book tickets, no direct flights so either transit at Seoul or Kuala Lumpur. Plan to go through China by train doesn't seem very attractive now, I will postpone it to warmer days.
Last weeks to enjoy in Taipei! ;) I will miss Taipei, but I don't mind to explore new countries, new places.
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thankful for God for everything I was given
many things I took for granted
more lucky I was than many others
I tried hard, studied hard, wanted a lot
I won a lot, I lost a lot, I won more
one door closes for more to be opened
for me it is just to knock on the next door
chase my chance, chase my luck, give a fight
those common values that cleaned my way
whenever I lost them, I was lost
whenever I held them, I reached the end
I have to say that I will try again
coz today is my day...
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change

"There are things that never change..." Morpheous (Matrix Reloaded).

Days change, years change, people change, friends change, feelings change, reasons change, characters change, players change, rules of the game change,.... sometimes you force the change, sometimes the change drags you.
There are moments when you want to stop the change, walk against it, but it will bend your back and throw to the flood of changes. Muddy flood water will make you blinder, it will be hard to see, you just keep struggling against the waves of this flood of changes...
One morning you will wake up and see the water calm again, flood is gone, water is pure clear, it is easier to see through. The stones are left behind, the rest is washed away. And if you survived the flood, it makes you as strong as stone (and maybe your heart), if you weren't strong as stone you'd be washed away too.
That will be new beginning, that will be new You. But it's only next phase of a spiral loop of life because there are things that never change...
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away from home

Being away from home in different countries for a long time, time to time I realize the fact that I don't belong to this place and that my place is there where my family, my people are. Then it takes me back to the memories of the best moments of my life spent with them although I couldn't realize that before. then I start to feel very lonely in this foreign land with foreign people, yes, there are many dear friends here too, but nothing can replace warmth and dearness of those in Kyrgyzstan, of my family. For them I have been their hero, their pride, their hope, their son, brother or friend. And I want to stay as it is in their eyes. knowing that there is always someone there for you makes life much easier and the difficulties much smaller. And whenever I have a bad mood, they are the one who come to my mind first, and they cheer me up, they motivate me back, they put me on my legs again. Then again I am full of hope, optimism and motivation as I was when I started this journey to be successful. Talking to them on the phone is the best psychological cure for me. simple talks, yet they mean a lot for me. Hearing their voices wakes me up from my current English-spoken life, somehow brings back Aibek that left home long time ago pursuing education and career, hearing them takes me back home.
I am planning to go home next spring, so far no chance for autumn and winters are very cold in Kyrgyzstan. By that time, my nephew Nurseyit will be 1 year old :).
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Next destination: Kiwi land???

Yesterday, I was talking to Tee on MSN, and I was asking about software companies in New Zealand. Once my traineeship in Taiwan is over, I will be looking for a permanent job this time, and at the same time I want to continue my exploring adventures. So, I thought, if there are some nice professional environment for computer engineers in New Zealand, then why not to go there and work for few years? It is an amazing place to explore, also near to Australia, Fiji and South Pole! Enough places to explore for 2-3 years. And I'd be going to the games of All Blacks. Time will show...
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It is a bit strange feeling, but I am an uncle now, my older brother Altyn has a son!!!!! He got married 4 years ago (attached is his photo and wife Venera, and me 2nd from right), and his son is the 1st grandchild for my parents! Such a different feeling, at the same time makes me feel older. I look forward to getting his photo asap. Now, I am officially Uncle Aibek.
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