Monthly Archive for August, 2007

Days 082-091 - International Congress 2007 in Turkey

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on August 30, 2007
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This was an event that is hard to describe. How do You describe a conference? A day by day, night by night, session by session…each different, with different thoughts in head and statutes of mind. As I didnt find time to write it ongoingly I am not much able to put it together now…

There is one thing very specific about IC, whatever You expect You get something different :)

I have met so many friends and familiar faces that I have not expected there, that feeling of “WTF are You doing here?!” was really fun :)

IC also gave me a lot of ideas and a more clear image on which way is AIESEC going… some of the things I am not sure about how they will work out, but it is one of the atributes of AIESEC that we try new things and are not (too) afraid to fail. I will do my part in reaching those goals…

I have been able to get there thanks to a few people: Nida, Taha and Sohaib and You, members of AIESEC Pakistan… Thank You.

If You ever have chance to go for an international conference, exchange, CEED or just trip DO WHATEVER IT TAKES and count on my support and help !!!

And to wrap up, these four things are the most important for me:
1. if You are committed to the organisation, You should be committed also to the goals of the orgasation, do Your part the best way possible
2. You try and might fail, but if You have not even tried… You have failed twice
3. the strongest learning is mostly not in the amazingly delivered”sessions”, but in those averagely or even badly delivered ones, its Your “taking-home” that makes them excellent
4. the four rules of our lifes should be:
a) PLAY - what is no fun, is not all You can get
b) MAKE THEIR DAY - making others feel fine/excellent is the best way for You to feel good
c) BE THERE - whatever You do, be there, by body, soul and mind
d) CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE - if You feel frustrated/happy/sad/demotivated/angry, its not the place or situation, its You who accepted (=chose) that feeling or attitude

Days 076-082 - Istanbul is most beautiful, these holidays were amazing!!

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on August 21, 2007
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I got visas at the last moment and flown for 6 hours to meet a beautiful city and beautiful friend:

How to start… maybe by timeline…

__Day ONE
I and Emad (exMCP Pakistan, faci IC) go by same plane Karachi-Istanbul, its 1 hour late by arrival. When I get out a promised pick up is not available so I put in my old Slovak SIM (that has roaming) to find out whatzup. I reach Lenka and she tells me that the CC of IC will pick me up…

Waiting, finding CC, CC has no idea:) Taking a bus to agreed meeting point. First impressions:
1. minarets and skyscrapers - they are like dandelions popping out of grass, everywhere, very few in Karachi
2. sky - it so blue, so bright and so BIG, maybe because of smog but Karachi sky looks to be much “lower”
3. sea - crystal clear and calm, unlike the dark restless Arabic sea in Karachi, open wide…

We visit the LC Istanbul office… That office wins the award for most beautiful view… You see the little houses, behind them the port and blue sea, and out of the sea rising up the peninsula of the oldest part of town with Hagia Sofia on top. Whole wall is a window, not at all surprising…

Meeting Akin, the best host EVER. He didnt just offer a helping hand, but also his flat, kitchen, money, time, computer, phone… I have a big dept to pay to You man!

We found out that Istanbul IS a HUGE city, not as big as Karachi, but close. It took us nearly two hours to get to Akins place… and than we fell asleep, literary fell.

__DAY TWO

Since morning we go and explore the old city of Istanbul. First coming to the office and checking routs, deciding not to join the official study-tour and walking out for the bus stop from where to take bus to Old city… We somehow miss the stop and finish walking to the Old city :)

Pure 6 hours of walking and enjoying… Hagia Sofia, blue mosque, grand bazaar, donner, turkish tea, parks, tiny streets and grant bulvaars. We came back to Akins place tired like dogs but with huge eyes…

__DAY THREE

We ask Akin about some special place, something that is not that often seen, as we have been sightseeing too much to be even MORE impressed and amazed… and he suggested Princes`s Islands, a chain of beautiful islands between Europe and Asia.

Me, Lenka and Akin took the boat (part of public transport like buses and minibuses) and went there. The islands look like out of time… The first impression I had was that this is how houses at the river Mississippi looked like, white, wooden, beautifuly decorated, only horses and bikes allowed (only police and ambulance has cars)… What a place…

We climbed a hill in the middle of the biggest island Büyükada with a church on the top… I can tell You, going up in the heat was a real deal. But the sight and bottle of beer on top was worth that.. The way back, nearly night was also worth a couple of pics :D

Only thing that was sad was that it was not possible to get to the sea and swim without paying terrible money (10 USD and more)…

__DAY FOUR

We woke up really late and missed all the botes :) But we had a great lunch with Akin and his friends (e.g. Bilgin)… Thats why we went for a walk around the port, waiting for the boat and after that we went again to Princess Islands. This time an another island (Heybeliada) and without Akin, but we didnt get lost and after a looooooooong walk found a place where I could go for a swim at the sunset.

….and than…

Lenka went to be a faci at YouCan and I joined the delegates group of IC….. but I can tell You, beautiful, amazing, relaxing time :)

Day 075 - beware of VISA OFFICE (or how to arrange visa in easy 27 steps?)

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on August 15, 2007
in Normal Karachi and Weird and random
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I had a culture shock today, a BIG one…

My visa are being arranged for the last two and half months. I got only single entry visas for 3 months and thus my trip to IC to Istanbul was in big jeopardy… So the last chance was to go personally to the visa office in Karachi and hunt it down on my own… Mostly when I wanted to fly the same day (15.9.)

That experience was really sick…

The visa office is actually a small village with maybe 20 houses in which are maybe 100 offices in which “work” maybe 150 people… To get one sticker=visa I had to:
1. ask a guy who tries to sell us visa (You give hime 5times more than normal fee and he does it not in three weeks but three hours, no bribing, just having good “friends” whom he gives gifts)
2. random guard, ask where is the office we look for
3. random guy, ask again where is the office
4. find first clerk who sends us to second clerk
5. second clerk, we ask if he got fax from Islamabad (my only chance to get visa now)
6. waiting outside
7. we ask second clerk again
8. waiting outside
9. second clerk gets fax
10. being send to third clerk who checks the docs and says it costs 600 Rupees (10 USD), I take wallet out to pay, he says that You have to pay in bank
11. running to bank (office closes in 10 minutes), go to window, bank guy says we need special paper from the visa office
12. approaching the same guard as at beginning, he sends us to fourth clerk
13. fourth clerk pissed of that people go into his office, after being able to be louder than him and making him realize that he is the only one who has the paper, he digs deep into some shelf, where is book, where is one crumpled paper that he gives us
14. bank again… pay 600 rupees
15. third clerk again, looks again an says that it takes three days to do the visa after some beging sais that one day…. I say I fly tonight… he says: “show me ticket”
16. calling Nida, to call the travel agent to book the ticket for tonight and fax it to first clerk
17. waiting outside office of second clerk for him to get a fax
18. asking second clerk if he got fax
19. waiting
20. second clerk gets fax…. wrong document… second clerk starting to be heavily pissed off
23. call travel agent to send right document
24. waiting, its after closing time, checking if third clerk is still here and if second clerk got the fax, second clerk heavily pissed off
25. second clerk gets right fax
26. we run to third clerk who looks at the docs, puts a sticker and sends us to
27. fifth clerk to give a stamp

(actual visa giving process took 15 minutes, including short interview about who am I, where do I work and where do I go)

And this was after we got confirmation from Islamabad, that I can actually have the visa…

…………………………. try to get people here to help build the country !!!!

PS: thank You Taha… Thank You for Your endless patience and high speed Urdu :)

PS 2: 12 hours after getting visa, I am flying to Istanbul :D

PS 3: I have NGO visa, making visa for “normal” workers is much easier

PS 4: I still love it here, just another chapter of the experience…

Day 070 (09.08.2007) - I AM here (in Pakistan)

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on August 9, 2007
in Daily life and Weird and random
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One of the best things about being in Pakistan is that You are in PAKISTAN. Often I just walk around the flat and see somewhere written “Pakistan” and it grabs my attention, just to in next moment realize that its nothing special because I AM IN PAKISTAN!

I guess only very few understand what I mean, but those who do know exactly what it means… It means that You think, what a nice dream, just to realize that You are living it :D

Day 068 - Biggest waves of my life…

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on August 7, 2007
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Story is simple.. offer is given to go for a trip to the sea, KLepo agrees… four guys playing in huge waves on three different parts of the beach… Comments are useless, pictures matter….

We also went for a swim, waves have been big, some of them two meters above sea level… And they teach You one thing very soon: You fight them without knowledge, You are sweaped away, You float with them You fall asleep, You go under and You dont even notice them, You swim with them and they take You far.

Day 065 - Islamabad, the city of peace… and crazy suicide bombers

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on August 5, 2007
in Daily life and Islamabad
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I have been to Islamabad for a week, an AIESEC conference, I had my concerns, but now I am where I am, Karachi, and want to talk to You about that :)

For me Islamabad is a city of green, city of peace, city of quiet life…

Islamabad was created by plan. Its a grid, G4, F6, E1… There is still a lot of space for trees and grass, it all looks to me, a Slovak guy used to free nature, like a big park, but still its a nice feeling. Seeing all the green and open space after brownish and crowded Karachi is relaxing. The hills, strange shaped, covered by jungle are an interesting sight. The jungle that I have seen looks like a common forest anywhere in Slovakia, but I have not seen its wild part, only the civilized part… I am so much looking forward to see the real one… and the Himalayas…. My Ithaca :) (those who read my posts, they know what I mean)

How anybody can do anything in the name of hatter in this place I can not understand…

We went to a restaurant high above the city, what a beautiful place. The Shah Faisal, the biggest mosque in the world, hills around the city covered by forests and I dont know what else…

Here are few pics…