Before I take off

So, home in a few hours :)

Mountains' view from a plane, a sleepy Almaty, rising sun, familiar Kazakh and Russian conversations, my blue passport, the best brother, calls and non stop talks about how I feel and if I changed, and many more...

I have not been home for almost a year.

I have a slight idea of what my home is now- I believe my home is where my heart is.

I am amused and pleased to hear my old friends' calls and emails about my return. They are incredible! Yesterday, for instance, I got 2 fantastic gifts from 2 people: a book that I wanted to read long time ago, that projects my favourite field of work I see myself in the future; and a massive external storage for my e-docs/books/etc. Funny to say about these gifts but they are just on time :) Thank you, guys!

Moscow... Indescribable for me at this moment. It is not my first time here though. Is something missing to make a Moscow trip memorable? I have everything here I wish to: my close friend, the sun and beautiful parks, fountains, pancakes with a strawberry jam. There is only one thing that makes me shiver: Moscow subways. First of all, they are the most confusing in comparison to others I've been to ( even St Petersburg metros are simple!). Second and the most overwhelming are images from recent video news on terrorist attacks. It may sound silly but I am having these images in my mind every time I take a metro to go somewhere in Moscow. Lastly, Moscow traffic makes me tremble too! Living for a long time in a quiet small Riga taught me that I can "enjoy" ( so to say ) getting a public transport: when drivers and pedestrians obey the rules, when people do not push each other, and you barely hear a very bad language.

Here I feel as if I am on another planet. I felt it straight away when I arrived a few days ago. But now I am thinking: have I really felt that way or I have just exaggerated a situation? Maybe these emotions come because I did not want to return to my local reality so fast?

I still do not know what I will see in Almaty; however, I know what to expect, and I would be more than happy if I am wrong.

A few additions I would like to document for 2009-2010:

- Best songs for me this year

Muse Undisclosed Desires

David Guetta Delirious

The Fray How To Save A Life , You Found Me

Natalie Imbruglia Counting Down The Days

Snow Patrol Just Say Yes

Nelly Furtado Manos Al Aire

Iron and Wine Cinders and Smoke

Jason Mraz I'm Yours , Lucky

Maroon 5 Nothing Lasts Forever

BEP Bebot

Natasha Bedingfield Pocket Full of Sunshine

John Lennon Love

The String Quartet Tribute- all tunes

Shakira- all songs

Alicia Keys- all songs

Coldplay - all songs

Madonna- all songs

The Beatles - all songs

Spice Girls Viva Forever - a song for all times

( Do not look for a meaning; the tunes are just beautiful, that's why I admire these artists )

The Best Books for me this year

Jim Collins Good To Great

The McKinsey Way

Muhammad Yunus Creating a World Without Poverty. Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

What Matters Now

Claude Hopkins My Life in Advertising

The Best Videos for me this year

How great leaders inspire actions

How to Live before you Die

How to Start a Movement

Al Gore on Averting Climate Crisis

What Adults Can Learn from Kids

Why I'm Rowing Across the Pacific

How Art Gives Shape to Cultural Change

Innovating to Zero

The Fringe Benefits of Failure

Success is a continious journey

The Best Discovery for me this year

Say NO to say YES!

The Best Weakness this year

Sleeping hours :)

The Best Strength this year

"Can Do" Attitude

The Best Moment this year

Every Single Moment I live

The Best Feature I love

An inner smile

Here I am closing my 1st life chapter of adventures, happiness, surprises, A-ha! moments, trips, friends, love, care, LIFE before entering a big nomadic country Kazakhstan. I am not planning to blog later for some time. There are some personal reasons and www.blogpost.com is banned in the country.

With love,

Assel

A vegetarian

Recently an inner voice told me, Hey, what about reducing meat in your nutrition and becoming more heathier? What about stop eating meat at all? 
Why not, I thought. 

So this is my plan: practice being a veg in the next 6 months. I am still eating meat - beef, lamb, chicken, pork, ( horse meat at home I believe ). However, I am thinking of trying another life- lighter, greener and healthier.

Coincidentally, I have watched this video today Graham Hill: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Video on TED.com and got more curious :) 

There are a couple of more things I desperately want to do this year. 

Excited! Dream planning starts and shall be accomplished in 2010! Woohoo! 

V-Log: My last year students

Last year when I was finishing my job at Kazakhstan International School, my 4th graders and I were preparing for their spring project "Home Journey. Migration" 

We studied different topics at our classes - Programme of Inquiry - and in the end were supposed to demonstrate what we discovered within  every 4 weeks of studies.

Do not judge this brief video- after all, these are 8 year old students, and this video means a lot for all of us. 

:)

V-Log: A few words from my MC team

Here is a a video of my team filmed in the Riga airport and in our MC flat before I left it. 

Just a few capturing moments, a few smiles and a few memories. 

xxx

May 20, 2010

Time to say Good Bye and Thank You

* AIESEC in Latvija: members, alumni, partners

* My Team: Jake and Liza

* My Baltic Colleagues

* Latvija as a country

* Lina

and many more people, places, things

We will stay in touch virtually of course.

Hopefully, we will see each other very soon!

Do What You Believe In. Believe In What You Do. { My Philospohy}

I'm Yours - Loving it!

Remedy

Most of you have probably experienced a situation when you are trying to catch time and do things you have not done before.

Last weekend I had spent exactly the way I like: not knowing what comes next and appreciating every single moment.

Here are a few of them:

Tallinn, Estonia

- Hitch-hike to Tallinn, Estonia to see a Nordic-Baltic country and spend some time with my dear Julian. Result: stereotypes about a beautifully warm country have been broken to pieces , have "travelled" for a short time to Latin America, danced bachata and salsa, sang karaoke in a Finnish bar in the Estonian language, met a great man that reminded me one of my best friends, stopped by in Parnu, South Estonia, and had a reliable partner to hitch-hike next time !

- For 1st time was not seeing and hearing news and celebration of 9th May. I was in Tallinn and was feeling strange.

- Celebrated a Bday of an AIESEC Estonia member in an Irish bar, I met a whole bunch of fantastic people. Among them were "old members" of AIESEC Estonia/Canada/Colombia/Turkey. After party was over, I realised that it was most likely to my home LC way: crazy, energetic, loud, lots of dances and songs, love and affection, emotions and feelings! Thank you, AIESEC Tallinn!

- Admired a member from Parnu town for his ideas and methods in running his own NGO. That's what happens when you gain soft and hard leadership skills, and implement them straight ahead.

- Loved Estonia!

Present Future

Today, going to the city centre, I had a new look out of a bus window. Last few days I've been a "vegetable" - this label I have put on myself due to being lazy/sleepy/wondering around about sometning and nothing in particular. A shame, I know.

However, when today I as usual spent about 30mins on the bus I had two questions on my mind. First, what is the future of leadership? Second, why people, being aware of high effectiveness in self management and practising good habits, stay ineffective and procrastination becomes their first choice on some days? To be more precise, 2nd question is more personal.

Before typing your thoughts I would like to share with you one interesting podcast "Democracy in the Workplace"

Now, let's put our thoughts on:

- Future of Leadership in private sector/ public sector/ personal lives/ education/etc ( choose your topic )

- How Procrastination can be beneficial to your individual growth?

Waiting to hear your thoughts ( either here or in inbox )

Assel

Yes

Modern Kazakhstan: how does it look like?

Annualy, May 1st is celebrated as a Day of Peoples Unanimity in Kazakhstan. It is a beginning of long May holidays bringing happiness, commemoration to Motherland protectors - USSR - May 9th, and time to highlight once again multi-ethnic harmony in the Republic.

A few days ago, the Kazakhstani Government has declared a new Doctrine of National Unity. When I heard about it my initial reaction was , Oh, The Assembly of People of Kazakhstan fosters their actions to strengthen their presence and continue uniting the nations and nationalities in the Republic. Obviously, this Body is now gaining its significance in the region of Central Asia and should represent ALL voices of people living in the country not only to prove its status and trust it has earned throughout the years, but also to influence the stabilization of solving regional questions.

However, my understanding of the Official Document has been re-considered today.

Let me give you a few insights.

Firstly, as I am now collecting a picture of a modern Kazakhstan I have been asking myself: What are the values of a present Kazakhstani person? What are they comprised of? What local youth today is interested in in the world, in their own community that leads to development and harmony? How has local population been affected with recent disturbances, riots and murders in Kyrgyzstan? What actions do people in general take towards eliminating natural disasters that have increased this year in the state?

My thoughts have echoed in one of the articles I have come across today. The article published in Russian called Modern Kazakhs: consciousness, values, installations ( I doubt in linguistical correctness of the latter ) discusses today's Kazakh persons and their differences. The difference is not only in geographical aspect, but also in cultural, information, language, social, economic fields. The questions raised are also about long term development of Kazakhstan: who are these people that will lead the country to its sustainable development? What role do they play in a society today?

Apparently, the article has surprised me a lot!!! It also correlates with a recent Doctrine I mentioned above. I am surprised to hear that the Document is interpreted as as an attack on ethnic Kazakh identity, language and culture (click on a link, and read another article EURASIA INSIGHT

KAZAKHSTAN: ASTANA FOLLOWS THORNY PATH TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY )

As it is mentioned in both sources, Kazakhs represent about 60% of population ( Population is about 15m people ), and that they, as a core ethnic group, are the ones that will lead the country to its prosperity, the ones that will keep forming national identity as well as activate and implement temporary technologies. Besides, there is a debate about Kazakhs living in the cities that are perceived as more literate, more civilised as opposed to country Kazakhs that do not possess a strong understanding of the world reality, and are not that much "civilised" as the city Kazakhs. Apart from that, there is another group of Kazakhs should be mentioned. One is internal migration of Kazakhs that look for better conditions to fulfill their basic needs, and another is external migration, Kazakhs in past and mixed Kazakh-Chinese-Mongolian people in present. What about them? And why Kazakhs as "the core ethnic group" should lead the country? What about other ethnic groups - Belorussians, Russians, Koreans, Caucasus, etc - aren't they an equal part of population that has the right and responsibility to a creation of an innovative personality in the Kazakhstani society? Don't they belong to ( qouting ) "the state-forming nation"

I tend to disagree that only Kazakhs as ethnic majority have a right and appropriate understanding of Patriotism for Kazakhstan. We,Kazakhs, have assimilated with other nations that we are a mishmash of cultural diversity today. Of course, there are still present pure Kazakh, Russian, German, Polish etc families with their views on life; but how can one call himself a 100% _______ nationality living in a multicultural world?

Patriotism is not only about your true national identity that gives you a "cultural" right to belong to this or that country. It is also about how you as an individual associate yourself with a place you live in and what you are committed to do wholeheartedly to make a difference, to shape a history and stay proud of the work you have done together with others.

I am proud I am from Kazakhstan; but I am also proud I am an international person.