World Peace Day / Día Mundial de la Paz

It is the 21st of September again. It is the World Peace Day!

This year this day has a very special meaning for me: I will be having a stand at the Peace Day celebrations in Vienna! (check the link - in German - http://peaceoneday.at/ ). This is the first time i will be presenting my project, A Postcard for World Peace, to such a big audience! I'm very exited about it, as there will be representatives of organizations such as the UN and Amnesty International.

It is a great opportunity to promote my project to the world, and hopefully I will end up getting many postcards and perhaps soon interesting cooperations!

SO, i would like to invite you all to send a Postcard for World Peace and celebrate this day with the rest of the world!

http://postcardworldpeace.blogspot.com

PEACE ONE DAY!

 Hoy es el 21 de Septiembre. Es el Día Mundial de la Paz!

Este año este día tiene un significado muy especial para mi: Voy a presentar mi proyecto en las festividades del día de la Paz en Viena! (el link al evento - en Alemán - http://peaceoneday.at/ ). Esta es la primera vez que voy a presentar mi proyecto ante una audiencia tan grande! Estoy super contento con esto, ya que en el evento habrá representantes de las Naciones Unidas y Amnistía Internacional.

Es una gran oportunidad para promover mi proyecto, y espero que gracias a este día lleguen muchas mas postales y tal vez conseguir algunas cooperaciones interesantes!

Ahora me gustaría invitarte a que envíes una Postal por la Paz y te unas a las celebraciones de este dia junto al resto del mundo!

http://postcardworldpeace.blogspot.com

PEACE ONE DAY!

Mein Traum

My company (IBM) has an internal magazine (The IBMer) that comes every six months. I got this article published in the last edition about my project “A Postcard for World Peace”. Here the initial English version of the article... Did you send your postcard already?


My Dream – Mein Traum

We all have dreams. Some utopic, some realistic ones.

And so it happens that once, a night of January 2007, few weeks before leaving Estonia after almost 4 years living there and moving to Austria, I dreamed about a way to contribute to a major utopic dream that many have: World Peace.

That night in my flat in Tallinn I dreamed about the project. I remembering waking up in the middle of the night and thinking that it was a cool idea, so I went back to sleep and kept dreaming about the same for the rest of the night. So I woke up in the morning and decided to put that dream into action and the first couple of hours at work that day were dedicated to it. And that’s how I started my project: A Postcard for World Peace.

A Postcard for World Peace is a collection of postcards from all over the World; in which people from all around the Globe share their thoughts and wishes to peace and fulfilment to the human kind.

So far there are more than 1000 postcard from over 160 countries and territories, from Greenland to Antarctica, from Fiji to Ghana and Guatemala. People from all the continents expressing their wishes for peace.

And that’s the beauty of the project: to show that no matter how different we are, which language we speak, which religion we profess, we all have an ultimate dream of having a World in which we can leave in Peace and Unity.

I know that with this project most probably World peace wont be achieved, but at least, I want to believe that it makes a difference for that person who took the time and the effort to get a postcard, think about what peace means for him/herself, go to the post office, get a stamp and send the card. And for those who read the messages online and feel inspired by it. At the end of the day, peace is more than the absence of war, but also that inner state of mind, in which we are at easy with ourselves.

All the postcards are displayed online in the project site: http://postcardworldpeace.blogspot.com and the idea is soon to have exhibitions made and get a book published with the nicest postcards and messages. When you go to the link you can find all the postcards and the list of all the countries participating in the project.

So I would like to invite you all that if you are going on a trip, business or private, or even from your home place here in Austria, to contribute and send a postcard for World peace to:

A Postcard for World Peace
Gumpendorferstrasse 8/9a
Wien 1060

Peace to all of you!

Aprendiendo a vivir en los países Bálticos

AIESEC en Colombia está recogiendo historias de sus Alumnus para contarle al país. Y esta es mi historia para ello:

Aprendiendo a vivir en los países Bálticos

Era el primer semestre del año 2002, me encontraba terminando mis estudios universitarios y con deseos de vivir por mi mismo esa filosofía por la que había trabajado por 5 años en AIESEC Uninorte.

Tratando de encontrar mi camino, fui seleccionado para trabajar en la Junta Directiva de un capítulo de AIESEC en una pequeña ciudad de Lituania: Siauliai. Así fue que a la semana de presentar mi proyecto de grado, un 27 de Julio me fui con una maleta llena de expectativas a este país tan desconocido para nosotros en Colombia. ¿Por qué Lituania? Simplemente porque sonaba lejos, sonaba diferente, y quería irme a un país diferente, que la gente no conociera, y Lituania cumplía estos requisitos totalmente.

Lo que encontré fue una ciudad pequeña, de solo 150 mil habitantes, pero que me recibió con los brazos abiertos y me hizo sentir especial, único. Durante muchos meses fui la persona de piel más oscura en la ciudad. Todo el mundo sentía curiosidad por quien era este colombiano y por mi país. Me encontré con un país con gente amable y una naturaleza impresionante; un país que lucha por el desarrollo, mientras que sigue con las sombras de la antigua Unión Soviética. Fue un año de arduo trabajo, con muchos choques culturales, pero a la vez de satisfacciones inmensas.

Al terminar mi año me mudé a Tallin, la capital de Estonia, a trabajar en la Junta Directiva de AIESEC en este país. Otro año de mucho esfuerzo y dedicación, pero igualmente otro año de alegrías y auto descubrimiento. Un año en el que trabajé en un equipo conformado por 5 estonios, un joven de Sri Lanka y yo. Finalmente terminé viviendo en Estonia por casi 4 años, trabajando y estudiando una maestría, gracias a una beca que me ofreció una universidad local por haber trabajado en la Junta Directiva de la Asociación en este país.

La vida en los países Bálticos fue dura, con inviernos con temperaturas que bajaban a los -35°C, con nieve desde finales de Octubre hasta Abril y a veces Mayo. Con días en los que sale el sol después de 8 de la mañana, pero antes de 5 de la tarde ya es de noche nuevamente. Donde la gente es muy fría y distante en un principio, donde cuesta mucho trabajo y toma tiempo hacer verdaderos amigos y ganarse la confianza de la gente. Sin embargo, una vez son tus amigos, lo son para toda la vida. Hoy vivo en Austria; me fui de Estonia hace ya casi 5 años, y sin embargo entre mis mejores amistades cuento a varios Lituanos y Estonios.

Siauliai y Tallin siguen siendo un segundo hogar para mi, ciudades a las cuales siempre querré volver, así como siempre quiero volver a mi Barranquilla y mi Colombia.

I saw the death dress like a woman and driving a black car.

Last night I had a near-to-death experience. I saw the face of Death. It was dressed like a woman, and it was driving a black car. A small one, didn’t notice which type it was.

So I was just walking back home, was just one block away when I tried to cross the street at the corner. When I was almost at the other side a car came out of nowhere and almost hit me. Literally, no exaggeration intended. It was so fast I didn’t have time to react. Thanks God this woman did notice me and was able to break in the last second, stopping just couple of centimetres in front of me.

My reaction was trying to stop the car with my hands (Superman complex?), or maybe I was just trying to catch her attention. Somehow it worked (the stopping the car with my hands part, of course), but I kind of hurt my right thumb, the nice cakes I have bought for dessert got a bit smashed, and later during the night my arm was hurting a bit as well, but it was all fine, I'm alive and nothing hurts today.

You know, I have always believed that God has some angels protecting me, and they proved once more they know very well how to do their work. I survived and I am all fine today. But I saw it so close…

When the car stopped, the driver got out and started apologizing. I was quite upset as you can imagine, but once I saw her face, almost crying for what she did (and could have done), I couldn’t be angry anymore and was just assuring her I was Ok and that she should be more careful when driving. I hope she did learn that she should not speed up in small streets and open her eyes when turning right or left in a corner.

The rest of the evening I was kind of in shock, my nerves a bit altered. But after a delicious dinner (sponsored by Tom) and hot herbs tea (sponsored by Jaan), I slowly fell asleep in front of the TV and could calm down.

Of course the events from last night (as usually all the near-death experiences do) have made me think a lot about life. About my life. It is not a 30’s crisis or anything like that, is just that seeing that I could be right now at the hospital badly injured, or even dead, made me realise it is time to take back control of things. Take back control of my life.

I think I have done a lot in my life so far, achieved things not many people from my background have achieved, travelled a lot (37 countries and counting!) and lived many valuable experiences. But still I have fallen asleep on the Vienna's blue sky clouds.

It is time to put myself out my very cosy comfort zone and take control of my life again, challenge myself once more, do the things I want to do, go to the places I want to visit, achieve the goals I have set for myself. (Zusammen, natürlich!).

One of them is retaking this blog I have forgotten so long time ago.

So, today I tell to myself: Myself, don’t wait for the next car to wake you up. The time is now.

I just need to remind myself constantly of this, so I won’t stay behind again. And if I’m staying behind without me noticing it, please Do remind me of this post today.

Teaspoon & King

Every Monday i get a "Monday Learning" mailing from Ankur Malik (RealAcad founder). Today it included this nice story. I have heard it before, but still now im thinking about which are my 3 precious drops of oil.

‘Teaspoon & King’ strategy:

Remember the ambitious boy who asked the King for the secret to success and happiness? So the King suggested that the boy first tour his lovely palace. He handed the boy a teaspoon with 3 drops of oil and said, "Return without spilling a drop."

When he returned, the boy had not seen anything; his eyes were focused on keeping teaspoon straight. The King roared: “Go back." The scared boy ran back. He returned, describing with great joy all the amazing things he had seen.

"Where are the drops of oil I entrusted you?" asked the King. Looking down, the boy realized that the drops of oil were spilt from his teaspoon. The King said: "The secret is to enjoy the world without taking your eye off the 3 all-important drops of oil on your teaspoon."

Do you know what your 3 precious oil drops are?

My new world map

2 new countries visited: Switzerland and Liechtenstein! With these 2 i catch up with my goal of having visited as many countries as years i have (at least) - so im 28 (still) and have visited 28 countries :-)

My World

Map Legend: 10%, 28 of 263 Territories

Where i have lived

Where i have been

Your map description © worldmapmaker.com | Travel Insurance

The colour of my soul

What color is your soul painted? Blue Your soul is painted the color blue, which embodies the characteristics of peace, patience, understanding, health, tranquility, protection, spiritual awareness, unity, harmony, calmness, coolness, confidence, dependability, loyalty, idealism, tackiness, and wisdom. Blue is the color of the element Water, and is symbolic of the ocean, sleep, twilight, and the sky. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests