Impulsiveness

im·pul·sive  /adj/ 

1: having the power of or actually driving or impelling

2: actuated by or prone to act on impulse

3: acting momentarily

Last night, my impulsiveness struck again! I was just surfing the net like I always do every day. Then later on, I found myself checking out Ryan Air, one of the most renowned budget airlines in Europe. They were on sale! So I purchased a round-trip ticket to Milan, Italy from Brno, Czech Republic for the holidays on December!  

The one way ticket only cost 269 CZK. It was strange how the cost of the checked-in luggage was far more expensive than the actual ticket itself. One checked-in luggage for 15kg cost 390 CZK. Adding the cost of the taxes and everything else, the entire one way ticket cost 789 CZK or close to 2000 PHP. Still, not bad for an airplane ticket considering that I saw a bus agency offering the same route for 950 CZK. 

For my return flight, the cost was in euros. The entire flight only cost 26 EUR, already with taxes and everything else. In pesos, it is something like 1550 PHP. After I finished the online booking transaction, it dawned on me that I do not have any companion for this trip! Oh shit! 

$1 Billion House in India

I read on Time Magazine that India's richest man and Forbes's fourth richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has built the world's most expensive house in Mumbai, India estimated to be worth $1 billion. OMG. If I have a house this big with 27 stories and 37,000 square meters of floor space, I bet I no longer want to go out of my own house. Haha!

This mansion has lots of facilities such as a health club with a gym and dance studio, a swimming pool, a ballroom, several guestrooms, a variety of lounges and a 50-seater cinema. Plus, there are also three helicopter pads on the roof and a car park for 160 vehicles. Wow! I am in awe!

Slivovice: Home Made Plum Brandy

Last night, I felt like a college student again. My new roommate told me that a bunch of Czech guys at Room 212 were inviting everybody in the building for a little soiree at their place. I was at first hesitant because I had to go to work early the following day. But since I didn't want to be a killjoy, I decided to tag along.

We headed to the second floor around 9:00pm. There were only three guys and four girls in their huge room as we entered. One of the girls was Lenka, my former Czech flatmate. We didn't get the chance to talk a lot when we were still living a room away from each other. We just shared a few hi's and hello's when we bumped into each other in our shared kitchen. That night, we were finally able to know little details about each other.

I had a little difficulty conversing with other people in the party because they were all speaking Czech. It was a good thing that a petite girl entered the room speaking straight English. Her name was Eva and I learned that she is French. She is in the Czech Republic to learn Czech so I shared to her the news about the free Czech language classes I discovered in the city!

As the chatting progressed, the eating and drinking also began. One girl started offering shots of Slivovice, a drink which I later learned is famous all over Central and Eastern Europe. Most Czech people believe that a shot of Slivovice a day will drive all the bacterias in your body away. She proudly said that her dad made the drink at their home so it is a MUST for us to try it out!

After taking my shot, all I could blurt out was, "Wow this is strong!" I asked the other guys at the party how many percent was the alcohol content and they said it is 50%! I was starting to panic that I might not wake up in time for work the following day. Before my roommate and I left the party, some Czech guys assured me that the Slivovice will give no sort of hangover! I doubted it at first. But this morning, I realized that they were right. Indeed, I was hangover-free!

On Going Room Project

I just recently moved to my new flat and I am excited to spruce it up! It is still quite messy at the moment, but wait till you see this after I do my magic. I got these cute postcards from several hostels during my trips and decided to put them on my wall for inspiration. 

Moving Out and Moving In

Today, I have officially moved out from Room 107, my home for the past 43 days. I was lucky to have accidentally met a Ukrainian lady named Irina on the hallway a week ago. When I met her, she was already preparing to leave her room so she willingly helped me negotiate with the dorm director about my plans to move to her room. 

Irina's 27.3 square meter flat is just what I needed. At first I thought I could still hang out in my bigger room for the very last time this weekend. But this afternoon, one of the caretakers knocked on my door and told me that I have to move to the new room as soon as possible. So around 1:00pm, I began moving some of my stuff to my new room about 20 meters away from my old one.

The upper left photo clearly shows how my old place looked like when I was frantically moving my stuff. Meanwhile, the lower left photo was how my old place looked like after I finally cleared out all my stuff 4 hours later.

Below are photos of my new room. I prefer this room more because it is smaller so it is easier to clean. It also seems more homey. This evening, I have started designing my new room beginning with my table and wall. I hope I get this done soon.

My Adobo

Last month, I visited my friend, Trish, in Brno. While I was there, she offered to cook chicken adobo. I was never a fan of Filipino food before coming to the Czech Republic because my entire family has been a loyal lover of Chinese food. But when I tried Trish's chicken adobo, it blew my mind away! I instantly loved it, thus my fascination for Filipino cuisine began!

When I came back to Ostrava, I promised myself that I would emulate Trish's cooking skills. But as weeks passed, I never had the time to go buy the ingredients. This weekend, I forced myself to make time, so I went to Tesco to buy the necessary ingredients for my first attempt to make chicken adobo. I got some vinegar, soy sauce, pepper and garlic powder.

When I came home, I immediately started cooking. Oh boy I was so excited!  I felt like I was doing my first science experiment back in third grade! Haha! I began marinating the chicken.

Trish said that chicken adobo is best with rice! Again, I was never a fan of eating rice, but I think I am now! So I cooked rice for the very first time. I cooked it along with the steaming adobo. After I finished steaming the chicken, I placed it in a frying pan with butter. I know it's unhealthy but I couldn't help it because it smelled really good! Presenting my chicken adobo!

Guilty Shopper

I have been avoiding the shopping malls these days. But I guess it's always haunting me. Haha! Where do I shop while I am here in Czech Republic?

1. TESCO 

I have mentioned in my previous entry that I have fallen in love with TESCO because it has lots of cheap grocery items. But what I forgot to mention is that they also have lots of cheap clothes and bags! I can't imagine how many stuff I've bought here ranging from cute panda socks to trendy harem pants to polka-dotted bags and many many more. They carry the UK-based fashion brand F&F which is so affordable and is always on sale.

2. H&M

I can't explain my fascination for the Swedish fast-fashion brand, H&M. Every time I go inside any of their shops, I never go out empty-handed. Their designs are so trendy!

Stara Ves: Local Training Conference

One of the amazing things about this internship is the opportunity to get to know people from various parts of the world. I am amazed by how fast my network has grown through the years.

Last October 9 to 10, I got invited by my peers in AIESEC to take part in the Local Training Conference (LTC) jointly organized by two Local Committees---AIESEC Ostrava and AIESEC Karvina in Stara Ves, Czech Republic. They rented a cottage in a peaceful village in the suburbs of Stara Ves.

I was so excited to take part in this conference because not only was it my first in Czech Republic, but it was likewise my first ever as an AIESECer. It was also a good opportunity for me to get to know better the other AIESEC interns because I haven't met some of them ever since I've arrived.

That weekend, I had a lot of fun with the trainees namely: Makata from Poland, Angie and Diana from Romania, Taras from Ukraine, Elke and Heiner from Germany, Kecci from Nigeria, and Karly from Colombia. Since none of us speak Czech, we did all the modules and activities together in English.

The highlight of the conference was the Global Village, where all of us, interns, prepared something to eat or drink from our own countries to be shared with everybody. For my part, I made yema balls, which was actually my very first attempt. Luckily, I didn't burn anything and many people loved it. Apart from spending time with the interns, I likewise got to know more AIESECers from Czech Republic, mostly during the party at night. We were provided with free-flowing beer by our sponsor, Starobrno.

Tipid Meals

In order to keep on traveling around Europe, I have made a promise to myself that I would be practicing austerity measures in my daily life here in Czech Republic. Here are some of my tipid meals daily:

- Wheat bread with microwaved egg

- Lettuce with microwaved egg and some pepper

Undoubtedly Blessed

After coming home from the AIESEC conference last weekend, I received the news that I won Rookie of the Year for topping one of my company's sales competition. I just started working for this financial services company last June so I never expected that I would reach this far. Back then I experienced all sorts of emotions--excitement, anxiety and uncertainty. I was in a very complicated position because I knew that I would be leaving for the Czech Republic ever since the beginning. I am glad that I made the most out of my very short stint in the company.

  

My dear friend, Brian, shared this inspiring quote on his Facebook wall recently:

"Therein lies the best career advice I could possibly dispense: just do things. Chase after the things that interest you and make you happy. Stop acting like you have a set path, because you don’t. No one does. You shouldn’t be trying to check off the boxes of life; they aren’t real and they were created by other people, not you. There is no explicit path I’m following, and I’m not walking in anyone else’s footsteps. I’m making it up as I go."

Just do things. This is something that I would certainly keep in mind. As a fresh graduate, I was pressuring myself to come up with a fixed life plan. But I need to be more patient and to keep on doing a variety of things so that I could discover my true passion along the way. I am not yet 100% certain if I would work in this financial services company forever, but for now, I just feel so blessed for this recognition. This achievement is certainly more than what any 21-year-old could ask for! 

Czech Surnames

Do you know that Czech men and women do not have the exact same family name although they are married or they are siblings? I just knew about this recently.

I have some friends who are siblings and one time I asked them what are their complete names. To my surprise, they gave me similar-sounding, yet differently-spelled surnames. I later learned that the Czech language has seven grammatical cases and five of these are very particular with gender differences. The Czechs have specific gender-marked suffixes to differentiate whether one is male or female.

Thus, one can notice that most female surnames are basically spelled the same with males BUT with an additional -ová at the end. For instance, there's a guy whose surname is Jurke while his mother/sister is Jurkova.

I've traveled to many countries and this is my first time to hear about such rules regarding surnames. Interesting!