Thank God its Flyyyday!!!

Mini Tarts:
1) To all October Babies...HAPPY BIRTDHAY!
And specially to Al...HAPPY QUARTER of a CENTURY!!
Heaps of kisses...!

2) Been following the developments back home. Good to see Dr Mahathir using the blogosphere to spread his message! Sayyy...how ironic?! And my hero of the moment...Dr Lim Teck Ghee, check out his interview on http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=15882
Memorable quotes...

"Finding another job and leaving the country for me - like for many Malaysians presently abroad - is really the last option. We cherish our country, we are in for the long haul and want to contribute to a better society"

"There is a saying that 'truth and roses have thorns about them.' We must be prepared to be scratched and bloodied to arrive at the truth"

"You know how we like others to consider our country as a successful experiment in multi-racial living. I fear we are like the emperor walking around with no clothes, well, maybe with few clothes. For we are in reality really, really a deeply polarised country with cracks developing everywhere we look, and the situation is getting worse."



There are some cultural differences here that are similar to back home...or of similarities in people or way of life. For instance how some Germans (but mostly the immigrants from Turkey and North Africa) are similar to some Chinese in the sense that they take pride in the oral discharge of internal liquids, not to mention the acoustic accompanying of lungs + stomach air pressure!

But what i would like to highlight in this entry is the professional culture towards FRIDAYs in Germany! We all love Fridays...dont we! We even thank God for it!

For those not in the know, in Malaysia EVERYONE is used to the fact that Friday is nearly the same as working half day! As the majority of the population takes the necessary 3 hour lunch break (lunch,find parking,prayers,hang out,wait for other cars to leave as they re blocking yours,smoking, leaving the car park etc) on top of their morning coffee break and evening tea breaks, its definitely a free and easy day! Knowing full well that of course the nations productivity level still maintains as non malay companies or individuals are working their asses off...after all it is a normal working day to them nevertheless.

So its not unusual to see the city half dead by 4pm onwards, or theres less traffic...and offices empty or half full (being optimistic here) on Friday evenings. After several of this corporate cultures from my working experiences in KL, none ever had the "Friday is half day" mentality...for us its business as usual!

Well, imagine my surprise when this "Friday is half day mentality" is very much alive and well here!! The Tower's inhabitants are ALL gone by 3pm...lunch time you ll see half filled cafeterias, by 2pm if you walk at any of the floors you wont be surprised by eerily dead silence but just the deafening sound of your foot steps and your farts echo! Its as if God created Fridays so that we re able to take it easy after 4 HARDWORKING DAYS...then Saturday to party and Sunday to recupperate for the following week!

One of the many example of the Friday is half day mentality happened today, and its a classic! I was mailing a manager explaining i couldnt call her, hence the mail and its content. Her reply...and i quote, "Thanks for your feedback. It's Friday - sorry for not being reachable."

RESPEK! And heres my reply....
"... Cheers, and have a productive Friday!"

Well, as they say..."When in Rome, do what the Romans do!"
Oh by the way...i hate the fact that i couldnt get things done as many managers are "unreachable" during this day!

Enjoy the weekend!

Orang Cina Bukan Cina

Mini Tarts:
Going through youtube some time ago and imagine my surprise when you type "AIESEC"!
And the fact that AIESEC Malaysia is using this super cool way to promote their events...BRAVO GUYS!
All the best for NLDS 06 in Penang...and Nish, nice ad with the food! I was salivating a pool here in Bonn!


Ok, memandangkan yang saya tidak pernah blog dalam Bahasa Kebangsaan negara tercinta saya...dan setelah mendapati yang Bahasa Melayu saya sudah makin lama makin raput (akibat cuba berbahasa Melayu dengan rakan karib saya yang Cina, Alan...kerana nak meng-anjing betina-kan hal hal)...dan memandangkan yang subjek ini mungkin sensitif jika dibaca oleh orang yang tidak memahami perspektif saya, inilah petikan saya yang pertama dalam Bahasa Melayu!

Setelah beberapa bulan saya menginap di Bonn, saya telah menjalin beberapa hubungan dengan ramai kawan (bukan perempuan...itu cerita lain), ramai yang menjadi hubungan yang karib dan ada yang cuma sekadar "hi and bye". Komuniti pelatih di Bonn kini makin lama makin besar, dan ada juga segilintir yang datang dari negara yang sama, maka terciptalah komuniti mereka sendiri. Contohnya dari Brazil, Romania dan termasuk juga komuniti yang berbangsa Cina. Subjek saya adalah mengenai komuniti ini...yang mana saya juga terdiri daripada, walaupun cuma 50%, ataupun lebih tepat tiga suku! Oleh kerana tiga suku ini saya rasa perspektif ini lebih patut dilihat sebagai...dengan sedihnya,"memalukan".

Mengapa memalukan? Ia bukan kerana komuniti ini tidak menganggap saya sebagai member mereka, dengan Manderin saya yang begitu "hebat" dan Hokkien saya yang lagi "HEBAT"...tidak, bukan kerana itu. Mereka cuma tahu yang saya separuh Cina...itu saja. Walaupun saya cuba berbahasa Manderin dengan mereka, mereka masih seperti tidak menganggap saya seperti geng mereka. Ia bukan kerana juga yang mata saya tidak sepet...malah lebih tinggi berbanding purata 4 atau 5 kaki tinggi mereka...ataupun yang saya tidak makan dengan bunyi yang kuat! Saya tidak cemburu...tapi malu.

Malu kerana geng ini selalu dengan orang mereka sendiri! Malu kerana mereka tidak mahu mengambil kesempatan untuk mempelajari tradisi, adat resam ataupun hormati bangsa bangsa lain. Malu kerana nak jadi katak bawah tempurung! Malu kerana tidak berfikiran terbuka!Tetapi...bukankah tujuan program AIESEC ini adalah membawa pelbagai personaliti dari serata dunia untuk mempelajari antara satu sama lain, di samping mendapat peluang pembangunan profesional diri?? Nampaknya mereka cuma ingin berjumpa bangsa mereka sendiri, makan dengan bangsa mereka sendiri dan tidak mengendahkan orang lain. Beginikah bangsa Cina ingin memaparkan diri mereka, komuniti mereka? Sedihnya...itulah yang disimpulkan oleh komuniti pelatih di sini, dan saya sedih...dan juga malu.

Mengapa harus makan kuih bulan dengan geng sendiri dan SAYA harus menceritakan tradisi perayaan Kuih Bulan? Mengapa harus duduk dengan geng sendiri dan SAYA harus memberitahu yang mereka mungkin tidak memahami cerita kami atau mungkin ada perkara penting untuk berbincang? Tetapi jikalau setiap hari...saya tiada lagi penjelasan!

Mengapa saya menjadi referandum kepada komuniti pelatih ini? Kerana saya juga BANGSA CINA (dan bangga juga!)! Dan disebabkan situasi begini, saya dilihat seperti Orang Cina, Bukan Cina!

Dan sebagai referandum...inilah senarai soalan soalan yang telah ditanya...
- Mengapa mereka HIRUP pasta kuat kuat sampai 4 meja boleh dengar, di samping mulut dan bibir diselaputi sos merah atau putih??
- Mengapa mereka MINUM sup KUAT KUAT?
- Mengapa bau mereka begitu busuk? Mengapa bawa bahan bahan masak yang busuk (rempah) dan masak di BILIK TIDUR? (masak di bilik tidur boleh menjejaskan bau pakaian, maka mereka datang pejabat dengan bau...hangit!) Saya bau dengan hidung saya sendiri salah satu rumah pelatih, dengan seorang pelatih Cina, biliknya begitu busuk baunya seperti kedai runcit dan ubat Cina! Bagi saya ia perkara yang mungkin boleh ditahan, tapi hidung Brazil, Venezuela and Hungary memang tidak boleh tahan, dan saya kesian mereka.
- Mengapa mereka makan dengan bunyi KUAT dengan mulut tidak ditutup?

Dan sebagai Orang Cina Bukan Cina, mereka mengharapkan yang saya boleh tolong membangkitkan perkara ini. Aduhai...macam mana la babe!?

Apa yang saya dapati ialah komuniti pelatih bukan Cina telah mencuba sedaya upaya untuk memahami pelatih Cina...tetapi soalannya, adakan pelatih bangsa Cina telah mencuba untuk memahami budaya, adat istiadat ataupun cara hidup orang lain?

Daripada komuniti ini, saya mendapati salah seorang daripada mereka yang mencuba. Dan saya memang suka dia, dia agak lucu, sedikit berfikiran terbuka...dan bagi saya, kalau dia pandai berjenaka, saya memang sukanya! Ini bermula dengan namanya sendiri, dalam bahasa Inggeris boleh diterjemahkan terus kepada "SIAPA BAGAIMANA"!!
Dan si SIAPA ini pandai berjenaka dengan namanya...dan saya respek lah kalau begitu.
Antara pelbagai jenaka namanya..."SIAPA bapa kamu?", "SIAPA si lelaki!", "SIAPA, BAGAIMANA buat begitu?"...dan banyak lagi! (memang kena berbahasa Inggeris untuk mendapat jenaka ini)

Pelatih lain sekarang melihat saya sebagai orang Cina yang sepatutnya...tapi saya rasa ia silap. Tidak tahulah saya...tapi yang pastinya saya masih ingin menjadi rapat dengan komuniti Cina di Bonn.

Dengan itu, saya akhiri petikan saya dengan serangkap pantun.

Makan dengan mulut ternganga

Bau pun bukannya sempurna

Hirup sup kuat tak terhingga

Itulah alkisah Orang Cina Bukan Cina

Saya harap tiada Orang Cina akan terasa daripada petikan ini, tetapi boleh menasihati saya bagaimana saya boleh memperbaiki imej bangsa Cina di antara komuniti pelatih di Bonn.

Portuguese Tart - Business Trips

"Business trips"...the mere mention of it by friends always got me looking like Kermit the Frog (read: green with envy!).

Sometimes it was almost unbelievable hearing them COMPLAINING bout it...but hey, they ve achieved "frequent flyer" status...and me, just watching from the ground, planes taking off and landing!

I guess all that is gonna change soon!

What started as a personal review with my boss to discuss work and also future plans resulted in the nicest surprise ever!

Now for those not in the know, apparently my boss has this reputation amongst the trainee community for being quite a character! When i begun my traineeship i ve got numerous "congratulatory remarks" along the lines of...

"So you re the MBA Coordinator...good luck with your boss!"

"Oh your boss is so and so right...i heard so many things bout her..."

Well those were all nothing if you wanna compare to the fact that there is a little subtopic of "how to handle your boss" in my transition file!

All in all...her previous interns were all ladies, but i guess some (sexy...hahaha!) hormonal balance in the team in the form of me and Segala brought a little harmony to her! So i must say, we ve never seen her blow her top yet...but we did have a teaser here and there! And for me professionaly, having worked with 4 different lady bosses (i prefer them to men), one a highly successful career woman and wife, one a divorcee with a daughter, one that was your typical average ladylike mother of two boss...and now the current one being in the category of 'career first, steadfast, early 40s and single', its somehow a different ball game. But both me and Segala agree, its really good professionally working under her, we just need to anticipate when and how to handle her numerous moods!

So it wasnt long when i read the synopsis of the book "The Devil Wears Prada",

of which i havent watch the movie yet...but the first person that came to mind was none other than our boss! And Segala couldnt agree more!

Anyways (long digression), back to my review. One of my main tasks involves planning and organizing my boss's tour to all the major Business Schools to promote our company's MBA Internship Program. After finishing the Indian tour (she went to the Indian School of Mgmt in Ahmedabad and Bangalore) and now planning the US schools...the timing was opportune for me to see my value in terms of being there physically during the tours itself. Plus after a string of very good personal meets with Sandra and Segala...i hope to be the third recipient of the "good mood" period!

And so during the meeting;

"So Boss, what are the possibilities of me participating in this tours myself? I believe it ll be great for me to be on the field and seeing how the whole program works on the external marketing side."

And her reply..."Sure (shrugging her head), why not!? I already had you in mind to do it too."

Oh gosh...man everything after that during the meeting was a blur as i was already thinking of what to say to Segala!! Hearing that just brought this internship opportunity a few notches up from GOOD to EXCELLENT!!!

So looking at the UK and Europe Business Schools locations...I am gonna say HELLO to UK (several locations, London and Manchester included...hello Old Trafford!), CIAO to Milan, BONJOUR to Paris and OLA to Barcelona!!

Although not being sure about it till i see the tickets myself...knowing that the green light has been given just sums up an amazing feel to last weekend!

Nevertheless...i am soooo looking forward to my "Business Trips"! Well the Devil wears Prada has turned into an Angel wears Versace!

My one-third review (10th May - 11th Sept 2006)

Thats the tower of the company i work, juxtaposed by the summer end sunset.



I ve been wanting to do this post as a quarterly review of my one year here. Entering into my 5th month, there are heaps to review about. From my perspective of this country to my job, from my social life to living in Bonn...but nothing is to late to start anyways. So instead of doing a quarter review, lets just do a one third review (for every 4 months).

And thus, lets begin with Portuguese Tarts 1st third review, capturing moments and highlights from the moment he touched down in Germany (10th May 2006) to his 4th month, (Sept 11th 2006).

Portuguese Tart and Germany
- The people are ACTUALLY friendly, people do say "hello", or "hAllo" here despite being new.
- I ve met Germans who do have a sense of humor, but i ve met these people before anyways.
- The national unity behind their country was unprecedented during the World Cup, boosted of course by the ever present alcohol! But then flags are all brought down and not publicly shown, it indeed brought back memories of war time Germany for someone to be "so nationalistic", but i believe its just feelings within this country only. Totally didnt know it was deemed "sensitive" to be waving the German flag.
- Funny how you re able to drink so publicly, anyone could just bring a bottle of beer around anywhere! And then this brings to what i find totally despicable, bloody drunkards all around the streets!
- You would think that in China, or the Chinese in particular would flood your streets with phlegm and saliva! Well you ll be shocked to know that it seems the louder you cough up your phlegm here, the more manly you are! And spitting in style is supposedly in fashion! Gross...!
- Weather here has been really nice, i came at the right time of summer! As it has ended, it does get a little chilly but the sun is our most of the times. And i love the sun out with chilly winds...and its doing wonders to my breathing (i have sinus), so knock on wood, i have not had the flu or fever ever since! Hearing that its hazy once again in Boleh Land makes me really lucky to be breathing fresh, summer or autumn air!
- Bureaucracy is always a pain...and thus the "its so German" assurance! Or the mentality of not being flexible. Example; I asked the canteen operator for an extra bit of chicken on my lousy pasta and he says "only 1"! KNN!
- Now who say German girls are ALWAYS big...theres always really gorgeous ones around (surprising fact though), and they re as slim as the Chinese babe in Bukit Bintang! But when they re BIG...they re HUGE!!! They put the capital 'O' in Obesity!! I meant the men too ok...which explains the huge servings during meal time!























Portuguese Tart and Work
- Work is simply GREAT! You know it when you wake up eager to go to office, or staying late just to complete some errands! Not only am i responsible for the MBA Internship Program in general, i am part of a team of coordinators that work on Internship Programs of the company. Hence i am also in charge of the marketing materials of all programs plus touching a little on the induction itself. And if i am able to travel to the many Business schools we work with (think Milan, Barcelona, London, Paris...), that would just be very very SWEET!
- I ve got great colleagues, plus the two other trainees that are coordinators! Namely Sandra and Segala...and how me and Segala especially hit it off is really awesome! Not to mention Elias, the other Brazilian in Miami. Imagine working really well in a team of 3 in Bonn, plus 2 more in Miami and Singapore! No wonder the Boss commented on our team...the GIP (Groupwide Internship Program) Team.

- Every lunch time would be awesome as we ll meet other trainees and NEVER EVER fail to have a super time! Our group will always be the loudest, noisiest and coolest!

Portuguese Tart and Trainees
- Inevitably these will be the people that will form the crux of your social life here, and i have been lucky to be blessed with such an amazing group of internationals that really has provided 80% of the magic in my traineeship! Being a people oriented person, i thrive in this really wonderful group, soaking in their enthusiasm, learning everything i could from each and everyone of them and enjoying every others company while it lasts.
- What i didnt prepare while being abroad was the friendships that will be lost while in a traineeship! Totally unexpected...you re always preparing the logistics, for your job, how to settle in etc, but never how to cope with losing people you re dear with! Thats whats been happening over the past few weeks...indeed affecting me very deeply! Two people whom i am here for (Amit and Mon) has left, people whom you ve grown to be affectionate and like so much (where do i even begin...Eva, Dee, Piyush, Andrew, Claudia...) have all left.

Me and Natasha

Me and Andrew >

Me and Clau>Me with Mon and AmitMe and Piyush

Me and Dee

Me and Eva

- But not all people are perfect and you would expect a few black sheeps. These people who either dont appreciate the cultural differences, not respecting other individuals, lack of proactivity and personality or plain dumb and ignorant will forever be labelled the black sheep, despite our efforts of "understanding" them. Sad but true, most of them are of half the race i am.
- All in all...the ones that are close will forever be bonded and the friendships formed will never be duplicated. Surprisingly indeed, i have much guy friends that i am closer here than back home, ratio wise. :)

Portuguese Tart and Learning
- You ll be really stupid and dumbright ignorant not to learn anything new if presented with the opportunity such as what i am going through.
- As such, although rather ironic that i am picking it up in a non latin country, but yes...I know how to salsa!! My "dummies guide to Salsa" class went on for nearly 2 months! My partner in crime was Jennie Lee and we ve gone from "ouch my foot" to "look at us dance"! Our little meringue lesson also wiped out any imagination of us humping one another from the back as we re practically were HUMPING EACH OTHER FROM THE BACK! Grrowwwll...! And instead of being complimented for my dancing, the instructor said "he is good in bed" while pointing at me after a series of warm up humpings. Head blew up with ego juice as the whole class looked at me doing my humps...there were quite a few cun chicks there too!
- And of course, i ve been learning the language. Started a little late, but in Segala i ve got the best classmate ever, you know you ll be better than him in pronounciation! Ahahaha! So i consider flirting in German to be my ultimate goal... *winks*, now lets see how "du bis das bomben" would generate a reaction!
- Also, not to mention i ve learnt how to drive on the left...oh wait...right side of the road...at speeds of over 200kmph! Now, seatbelts are on the left, not the right!

Portuguese Tart and Travelling
- One of the biggest reason for being in Europe is that i am able to be a travel whore overnight! With the cheap rates and multiple ways to travel, not to mention heaps of places to go...being at home on a weekend in Bonn has become slightly rare!
- So read on be jealous...Berlin, Baltic Sea, Brussels, Brugge, Cologne, Gent, Munich, Rotterdam, Warsaw...nice! Money is scarce but i will need to budget them for this, apart from saving for family. So up next would be UK, Amsterdam...and am still hoping and praying that when people ask me where was I during Christmas and New Year... I am able to answer "Christmas in Lisbon and New Years in Madrid".

All my trips in a collage

So to sum it all up...here are the TOP 10 Portuguese Tart eXPeriences (not in order)
1) Being in Germany for the World Cup and soaking in the football mania!
2) Crying on the first weekend alone here.
3) Octoberfest in Munich (ok so its after 11th Sept, who cares!)
4) Berlin trip (parade, dancing, Snickers moment...)
5) Amazing work related trip to Warsaw for Intl Congress and meeting Malaysian friends there!
6) Doing a great...no make it really good job in the MBA Networking Event, organizing this one after only 1.5 months here for MBA Interns, Managers, HR and Board Members...and getting heaps of compliments. Still, wouldnt have done this without the help of predecessor Natasha.
7) Amazing friendships formed...and the more ;)
8) Emotional trauma with friends leaving
9) The sending off (I have to put this in...still play it in my mind soo much)
10) Knowing that you re being missed...

SAM Conference in Bielefeld, 6-7th Oct

One of the perks of being in the Coordinators Team is that i work closely with the other AIESEC coordinators, namely Sandra and Segala. Sandra being the German AIESEC Coordinator and Segala, the Global Coordinator. This means any AIESEC related events involving our company will involve my participation (the "could be less catatrophic launch" in IC, Poland was another example).

The Latin Coordinators (mininum 2%)

The HUGE cake


So with our company celebrating its 10th year of partnership with AIESEC in Germany, we re heading up north to Bielefeld for a national strategic conference called SAM (Strategic Alignment whatchaMacallit...dont really know what) where our company will once again celebrate the decade of cooperation, the key word being CELEBRATE. Like all great ideas, they would like to emulate our idea of a celebration held in Poland here too! So bring out the HUGE CAKE, balloons, party atmosphere and wait a minute...the confetti cannons wouldnt work here as they planned to have a chill out atmosphere with candles all around...and confettis might burn!

With Sandra helming this one now, i was merely the person in charge of music! It was way exciting than Segalas...he wasnt sure of his new role of Nothing To Do Executive! Oh yeah, i was in charge of navigation too...(thank God for Google maps!), whereas Segala would be driving! Wasnt that much to plan for this event, but did get into some unnecessary little debate of which sequence is better; Boss speech, cut huge birthday cake, birthday song (Sandra's) vs Boss speech, birthday song, cut huge birthday cake (could be anyone elses common sense idea). The debate went on till we re to confirm it during the dry run!

Cool thing bout events like this is that its considered a "businees trip"! So on with the company car (a sweet Audi wagon with a GPS). Turns out all my maps printed was a mere waste as we could make do with the GPS, even if its in German!

Trip was pleasant and it took us not more than 3 hours...we were put in a cute hotel (sigh...i cant complain) on some hills, akin to those cottage houses in Cameron Highlands! Short while later we had one of the OCs to transport us to the venue some 15minutes away.

After lunch and it was straight to the dry run, our session begins at 6. We ve decided not to go with Sandra's sequence (duhh!), plus also we could push the cake in...this time with sparklers and some fireworks! Awesome!! Although the cake didnt look that pleasing...it was rather plain. Huge yes...all yellow with our black logo on it. Hmmm...but well if its employer branding...that ll do the job!

As for the Nothing To Do Executive, i was introducing him the art of Corporate survival...a concept Sun Tzu wouldnt have thought of...the Art of LLB (Look Like Busy)! Well as we were there doing nothing, while the other people were arranging chairs and the plenary room, we decided to "help"...that is to just move around some chairs and act like its the most complicated thing to do. Note that if you do the facial expressions the wrong way...it might look as if you re constipating! So practise is all thats needed!

Dry runs over...where the heck is Boss? A few panicky moments later, she arrived half an hour before our start! A collective sigh of relief later...and it was our event.



Crowd with their yellow caps

Along with Segala, as we re both from the National Committee of our respective AIESEC countries, we were curious to see how conferences in Germany ran. Plus this was a strategic one...which means you ll have the executive boards of all local committees here. With that, let me just say how many local committees AIESEC in Germany has...over 30! Wasnt sure of the exact number...but this is heck a lot!


Venue of where the Celebration gonna take place and cake being rolled out

Anyways, our event went really well! Freebies like caps, notepads, memo pads and bags were given away, Sandras session went well (especially for the boys) plus I didnt screw up on the ppt clicks! On with the celebration, and you have to give it to German efficiency...they set the venue up in less than 30mins and when we came back, balloons were hung and candles were everywhere! The place was awesome! Had that pleasant, romantic feel to it as well...then the birthday cake rolled out after the short toast by the Boss, cake cutting, photo session...everyone loved it! Nice...!


Our "reserved" dinner table and one of the sessions we were observing.


Very cool AIESEC Promo materials

So...work was done! And its time for the "Red and Yellow" Party...which will happen close to midnight. We sent our boss back (shes got a MUST NOT MISSED appointment with her hairdresser in Koln the next morning!), we then headed back to the hotel for some shut eye before heading back to the venue again. In between my nap i got a disturbing call from a new trainee, who sounded exasperated on the phone. "....Bonnie, theres a spider in my house!"
'§$%§"!&!!!!

Its not like the spider is up there or what! Horny little spider!

Anyways the party started slowly...turned up a few notch when the super cool dj (I'm being sarcastic!) played AIESEC dance songs! Sooo...it is the same as parties in Asia Pacific conferences after all! Well although you wont be surprised to see a few hooking up and making out in any avaiable (read: WARM) corners, but the party always never fail to live up when there are AIESEC songs played! Gosh...its either they dont know what PARTY means or they only know how to dance to pre determined dance steps!! Sigh...so when mine and Segala's fav office Monday song came up ("I Cant Wait for the Weekend to Begin"), we were the only ones dancing in the dance floor! How fantastic!?


No prizes for guessing what they re doing...and i didnt know George Michael was an AIESECer!?


Hmmm...looks similar?? Well thats cuz they're sisters! Anna's loving Mace(donia) and Kate's asking me whats 2+2. Small world...the one on the left is the LCP while the one on the right is the "Snickers Girl".

Oh by the way...surprise of the night came in the form of one of the AIESEC dance songs. Now the bhangra dance song (Tunak Tun) have been one of Europes favourites...which started during the 2001 Natl Leadership Development Seminar, now another Malaysian creation is gaining popularity, and i am puzzled at how! It was the "Si Swah Swah" song from AIESEC in UTM...and i wanted to make sure if this was the exact same moves (not that i remembered all), but i do remember the Washing-window-with-a-sponge-move"...so this must be the same one! PRetty awesome...despite me not liking AIESEC dances, you re still proud how dances from your own country are becoming favourites elsewhere in the world!

Oh and funny...when i was in the toilet there was a huge flipchart with marker pens tied to it for you to cast your vote of Most Prettiest! Sandra confirmed there was something similar in the girls loo too!
Creative...!

Of course the party was complete with FREE alcohol...although i was fine with apple juice! Looks like beer...tastes even better!

Me and Segala noted this sad observation though...not that we were desperate for friends, but in our own countries, when we see 2 random trainees in an AIESEC conference, we talk to them and make them feel welcomed! Well, except for 2 or 3 people, that wasnt the case here. We didnt want to conclude, but it was inevitable, at the end we were questioning the same thing we question countries with lots of trainees...Do you see your Trainees as mere numbers, or their country's ambassadors to your country? Well...its up to them!

Anyways we re back only at 4am! We had to get up at 10 for our breakfast and head to Munster, some random place near Bielefeld which i wiki'ed and thought it was nice to visit. Well, what we didnt anticipate was shitty weather and that pretty much spoilt our plans. To conclude, Munster was cute...we had lunch and coffee there (plus deelicious apfelstrudel!) then left for home! I wished we could stay longer at the conference...to understand how the local AIESEC conferences ran and would love to also interact and get into a few discussion with them. I am sure this wont be the last German AIESEC conference for me.

Colors and sights of Münster

October Fest; 22nd - 24th September

Gorgeous Girls...


















Crazy, Thrilling Rides...!



And heaps of THIS!!!







Head on over to bonniearthur.blinklife.com for the Best of October Fest!!

It took a while to upload it as i was recovering from my hangover...and yes, i ll try to not make it looonnnggg (so iluvtina wont complain about too many words...!).