Graduation and beyond

Six years passed since I enrolled at Omsk State Technical University, hard to believe looking back now... and yet it's an amazing feeling of accomplishment - I HAVE FINALLY GRADUATED!! Masters of Environmental Engineering and 
Bachelor (Honours) of Interpretation and 
Translation. Uni has given me a solid knowledge base, and through AIESEC I learned 
unbelievably 
much about myself, people and world in general, gaining heaps of skills and attitudes - so I feel ready and extremely excited to embark on my professional journey in the environmental field!

And before I start working in Australia in August I'm gonna take up a two-weeks extreme vacation in Russian wilderness, one of the most beautiful places of this country - Altai. AIESEC in Novosibirsk organises the annual project (Siberian Outbreaking Summer) which gathers about 50 people, mostly AIESECers and alumni from all over the world, and includes cultural activities aka global village, socialising with the main emphasis put on hiking and rafting! 
Check out http://www.sos6.org/ to see what this is. 

The next step of my life path!!

Just before heading back to Russia I realised that after I'd get my degree I wanted to step firmly
on the path of working with what I feel the most passionate about - the environment. 
And taking up the opportunity of an AIESEC Internship for this 
seemed like a great way, especially considering that in this field it'd take me quite awhile to get
to the level I want in Russia. More than two months of extensive search which actually helped me
to specify what exactly I wanted, a few close-to-what-I-need-but-not-quite positions, selection for the most suitable oneand now I am extremely excited to announce finally there's clarity about my next professional and @XP step - 

Environmental Engineering Internship in Water Corporation of Western Australia!!

                                                

In a nutshell I am going to work on water related engineering projects, most probably based in Bunbury 2 hrs drive from Perth, Western Australia. The job description sounds fantastic and I'm so excited to finally devote myself to environment, using all that I'd learned before at Uni and
during my AIESEC Experience!!

A few people had asked me what was so important in Australia that I wanted to go there again. And the point is it's not Australia or some other 
specific country that I seek, 
it is not outside-of-Russia where I want to be - it is the professional experience that is the key for me. It is the opportunity to do what I want most, which would enble me to accelerate the most to make the most tangible impact on society. I've been trying to find
something that would also enable me to experience the unexplored culture, but these opportunities weren't meeting the professional requirements of mine and so I'd take up the opportunity even in Ukraine (where I'd spent a fair bit of my life) if it was what I needed professionally.

And so if it happened that I found this opportunity in Australia  - well, I am happy about that as I love this country! 
As for the other cultures - well the whole world is our playground, it's a matter of wanting ;) I think it's not where you are situated physically
that matters the most, but whether you're living in full doing what you are most passionate about, whether you are learning and developing yourself and others around you, whether you are making 
the positive impact. 

I will surely keep on posting about the internship and
for now I am very happy to share the excitement with you! Good luck with choices to whoever else is on the road fork with their endeavours!

Mind maps + BSC (Balanced Scorecard) + PDP (Personal Development Plan) = ASDT (Awesome Self Development Tool) :)

When I was creating the blog I thought sharing personal findings would be a good way to use it
as well, so here's a good chance.

While carrying out a business seminar on strategic planning and revealing the secrets of balanced scorecard to Omsk CEOs (thank you AIESEC XP ;)  it downed upon me that a simplified version of it could be used for 
personal planning. I put 
this idea into the mindmaps (see below) format and got an amazingly simple and effective tool
that I am happily using now. From BSC point of view it's pretty simple - there's an indivdual vision that is broken down into short term, 
medium term, long term, 
longer term. Each then has KSFs (Key Success Factors) and goals all balanced and
structured in the BSC style and it's all looked at from three 'search engines' or points of view: personal, professional and financial. Not a new idea but what really 
kicked it off was the mindmaps.

I've been using them for a while as brainstorming and notetaking tool, but it's just recently that I realised their potential to be used on a more complicated level. Generally a mind map is a diagram
used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in
study, organization, problem solving, and decision making.  The coolest thing about it as I
discovered is that a mindmap can be used in whatever way you want it, whatever makes sense to
you, according to the way your brain works. That plus all the practical advantages of a mindmapping software and you have a great tool completely adjusted for you. It totally rocks - strongly recommend for working, studying and self development purposes :)


List of mindmapping software.

On the verge of summer

At dacha: NO it's not always snowing in Siberia! :) 

 Blossoming apples glorified in many Russian folk songs

Sunset through the dunnie (WC) door :)

Dusk over the Irtysh river (one that Omsk stands on)

Me and a mate of mine, Monika (also known as Little Proud Pole ;)

 Twilights over the Irtysh river

One of the main cultural streets of Omsk

 

Hi all,

haven't been posting for a while which is a reflection of a workload...but I actually realised that updating blog at least once a fortnight should be amongst the 'tight' things as otherwise there's not much point. It's like having time for reflection (or anything else actually) - 
by definition you almost 
never have time for it, but it's up to you to make time up if you decide that reflection is important.
Simple :)

So anyway, in a nutshell things are great, my focus had shifted towards thesis finalisation as I have my uphold in 
some 2 weeks - can't wait! Today I decided to put the change agent in action and started to 
gather signatures to support 
the official request to allow us to use the multimedia projector at the thesis uphold...can you imagine, people have been using AO or A1 paper charts all that time! It's just an outrageous
waste of time, money, paper and practical advantages for the modern-environmental-engineers-to-be in a bloody TECHNICAL Uni of the XXI century...

Things have calmed down at work a bit due to my priorities and I am focusing on finishing little things and performing transition - my contract is due in one month and though I am strongly wanted to stay I'll most probably put the dots on i to have some time to rest a bit and prepare for the 
internship properly. 

As for the internship, I am really hoping to clarify the situation within next few weeks. Have an interview with the major-priority-company this Friday, fingers crossed ;) Will definitely update when it is all clarified.

Spare time is spent for Judo, dacha (Russian town house) where parents had built a new sauna ('banya') and where there's heaps of work left, reading (currently it's "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay and a book on dreams management), random fun going out (watched "The Pirates of the Caribbean 3" recently - man they couldn't have made it longer! good to see Depp playing though).

Stay tuned, pictures and more updates to come soon! 

What is common between Love and surfing?

A recent conversation with Marina Bovykina (a great Friend, one of the most wonderful and brightest people I know, currently a happy intern of AIESEC Sydney), fulfilling as usually, about the 'golden middle' between getting attached and not caring in a relationship had inspired me to write the following idea of mine down in my "Book of thoughts":

"There's no really such thing as 'golden middle' between getting attached to a person and not caring (or anyway that's not the point). When two are together and when this togetherness is what both want the most, enriching and winging them, such question wouldn't even pop up. And in this togethernes, limitating Love, holding this immense energy back won't do any good, LOVING IN FULL, unconditioned, is the only way. And it is when
it comes to the 'side effects' of Love such as missing someone desperately, demanding more attention or time from the other than he or she is comfortable with giving, not being able to move on when physically separated from the loved one,
feeling offended, feeling CHAINED or SUFFOCATED by the feeling anyhow or making your loved one feel this way - it is when these things happen that one has to make a conscious effort to change the attitude, break the chains and 'align' with the energy of Love just as surfers do with waves..

And what is common between Love and surfing? Love itself by definition is a totally positive energy, immensely powerful and almighty but completely positive. And the amount of damage it causes in people is an inverse proportion to their level of awareness, maturity, insight, spiritual and mental strength. The higher this level is , the more likely is one to generate great outcomes, internal and external, even out of the strongest turbulences caused by Love. And vice versa, when Love with all its might smashes into people's limitations, stereotypes, ghosts of the past and weaknesses, here go personal disasters, broken hearts and screwed lives, "Love-is-so-cruel"s and so on. And that's why Love is like surfing. If you are not skilled enough, don't put yourself and your partner in the 'big water'. The biggest waves give incredible rides for those who are ready, and can kill amateurs. And so if you don't want your loved one and yourself to be hurt badly you can either stay in the shallow water, safe and jealous of those who ride big, or you can take it on and get yourself ready for washouts and litres of bitter salty water swallowed and learn to surf properly, together, to catch the wave of your life one day..."

Judo: the gentle way

Quite a few mates have asked me what exactly Judo was and why was it so important to me, 
so I decided to shed some light on this question ;) Judo is the martial art that originally came from Japan, and Judoka (people who practice Judo) often refer to it as "the art, the sport, the way". This definiton is very close to me, for it really is an art and you have to be artistic to excell, it is one of the biggest sports nowadays and is included in the Olympics program, and finally it may be the way of life if you choose it to be. 

In translation from Japanese Judo literally means "gentle way", and the main principle of Judo is the rational use of energy - yours, your enemy's and the one of surround. 

Practicing Judo has strongly affected my views on life, through it I have become much more balanced, self confident, determined, I have sharpened my sense of excellence (for in any martial arts the fact of an absolute excellence being unachiveable is very explicit) and insight into the rational use of energy, whatever type of it. Following Judo principles in daily life is the strategy I've been following for quite a while, with results exceeding expectations.

Having achieved 1st Dan Black Belt, I am now 
practicing Judo for myself and really enjoy it a lot! I'd also like to mention Morgan Endicott-Davies, 
Australian Olympian, Zenbu Judo club founder and a just a great person 
who I consider my major coach. He taught me more about Judo in 1,5 years than I had learned 
in 7 years  before that, and it's thanks to him that I realised how important is human approach and
personality based attitude in any type of coaching. Thank you mate!  

In a nutshell about work and studies 

Work 

It's been over three weeks on the new position for me, I currently work in the consultancy group called "XXI Century" as a strategic development consultant and external business trainer. It's a small company which just turned 5, provides complex consultancy services (including HR/processes assessment, training programs, marketing research etc) to businesses. My role is quite interesting and is comprised of the internal strategic and HR development 
responsibilities +  executing the whole spectrum of the company's service to the externals, no need to mention that it is almost purely based on the competencies 
I have developed through my AIESEC Experience :) The role itself gives me a good opportunity to sharpen my management, team development, strategic, training and facilitating skills... was a funny feeling to carry out my first management seminar for fifteen 40ish years old CEOs while being used to the AIESECers-alike audience, but it turned out quite well according to the feedback...guess what, they even got to play 
"Dwarfs, Houses, Earthquakes" as an icebreaker, and laughed like kids while doing so :)  And what is even more exciting, I am starting to talk about CSR on my seminars and trainings, the topic which is only beginning to be known in Russia! To sum up, this is not the type of job I would devote my life to, but is a good experience and a chance to develop the competencies 'supplementary' to my key ones.

And my bloody Australian accent in Russian became an inseparable part of my professional and social image, who could guess... ;) 

Studies

Oh yeah, studies...my Environmental Engineering Masters degree thesis is due in a month and so I merely spend few days a week doing research.  People often ask me what the topic is so I guess it would be a good idea to post it up here so I don't have to spend minutes typing it every time :p "Research on the development of greenhouse gas detectors based on the diamond-alike thin layered ZnSe-CdTe semiconductor systems' surface conductivity dependence on the selective adsorbtion" is the name of it. The funniest part is that about 50% of the work is not the research itself, but getting stuff to work using all you can find in the lab...well, a good chance to further develop creativity I guess, it's not by chance Russians have always been 
known for solving very complex technological problems using the simplest ways. It's only left to find out where's the right payoff in such approach :)  

These things are currently taking up most of my time, but there's heaps of other things happening, thoughts being generated as well so I will keep on sharing it all in the next posts.  


Stay tuned and have a great week there!