Friends visit meee!!! :)) (100th posts...)

Not that end of October, beginning of November wouldn't be busy enough... ;) (year-end closing, new year start up, quota setting, quota deployment, closing preparation for december payment...)
BUT, also 5 of my best friends visited me!!!

Sysy, Kristóf, én, Móni, Isti, SüTi

I am sooo happy they were here, however, I was not the best host actually...
I had to work several times...
But, I managed to take them to my favorite restaurant ... despite my very good advertisement skills (i.e. kind-of illegal restaurant, 2 kind of food: with or without meat! ;)

After the 70's party at CERN:



we managed to go to Gruyeres!!


I missed them soo much!!!
And still..
I think I have homesick... :(
They wanted to bring me home...
And you know how it is, the more you hear sth, you start believing yourself too...
Soo... who knows? :)

Big boss in Geneva

Well, October is the busiest month for me.. I would say...

We have the year-end closing, H2 closing, the new fiscal year quota setting, quota load, deployment guidelines, training to the countries, etc. Really interesting, but tough period. However, I don't want to complain, because this is how I like working.
Under stress.
I know that as I am so lazy, I don't do anything till it is not burning..
Than I am working on 200%...
Ok, some may say the key is time management.
I agree... I do...
But it doesn't work for me.
I tried several methods, DO-IT lists, prioritizing, rating methods, still... my best performance is under pressure! :)

That's why I was happy - ok a little bit threatened too - when my new boss arrived to Geneva for a 2-days training.

IT WAS AMAZING!!!

You know, when there is a really good manager in the team, a teamleader... he might not understand anything at all what u are doing... but he has always key questions:
- Who is accountable for that? (RACI questions...)
- What is the aim of this...?
- What is the process/the flow?
- Who and how will control it?

You can always apply those questions.
And it was so great to see our team working together, really working together, in one conference room for 2 days, having real face-to-face meetings.
I totally understand the aim of HALO room (a great product of HP), I get it that we have travel freeze, but still... u can not compare the efficiency of a f2f meeting with a netmeeting or a virtual classroom training... :) Not to mention the evening team dinner ;)
Matching the voice to the face..getting to know some gossips about your team leader ;)

back to serious again:
At the end basically we are all analysts.
At yes, we do things by heart...
And we forgot to stop and THINK OUT OF THE BOX!

And yes, here we are again... aiesec...
;)

And basically Sales Compensation EMEA is the same as aiesec.
(We are going to have a great inner meeting in Germany... and for that we have to prepare our communication and marketing strategy... to reach out for the sales force... very very familiar tasks to what we did in aiesec... ;))

Anyways, so coming back to the big boss...
Amazing, how he can turn things up side down... just with asking those basic questions...
Than with that motivation speech he delivered at the end of the 2 days training...
Well yes, that's why he is the manager, and we are the analysts.

And.. also really amazing, that 3 days passed, and the motivation is back again to normal, our way of thinking is back again to normal. Why???
I want him back! :)

Ok, I think it will help when we get our own direct manager... and we won't be anymore a headless team... :)))

And also about the economic crisis that we are all facing now...
Well, in Switzerland you can also feel it... ;)
Ok, not at all in the same level as in Hungary for example, but definitely impacts our work as well. Who wants to buy a new printer now?? When the growth of countries are slowing down? China for example as well...
Or in the Middle East and Africa... the fastest growing region was dropped by 20%...
shocking...

Or when the political situation is not that stable in a country... how can you set a terget for your sales force knowing all those facts?
How can u implement new compensation schemes?

Don't even mention the exchange rates... $ against €...
Hmm... nice... work is great! ;)

Going out in Geneva 2

Hmm... long time I haven't written anything...
well.. it was because every weekend basically was the same
What's more, not just the weekends but party from Thursday till Saturday... 3 days in a row... with a Friday working day in the middle...
hmm...

Where to go on a Thursday night?

- Well, first choice would be: Mulligans
Nice, charming, irish pub, with an old friend behind the bar...

Live music, good music... roll and rock :) Beatles as well as other older hits...

It was soo funny, somehow I always wanted to go there... I know Anthony's favorite place was this pub, but somehow the timing was never good for me...
So, the first time when I went there, I bumped into one of my old schoolmate from the french course.
Thanks to my great face memory, (not that it was so difficult to remember an old guy, around 45, gray hairs, deep, deep cigarette and alcohol voice...yes, my type indeed...) I immediately recognized him...
So, I was like: "Helloooo.... what a surprise!!"
Yes, he didn't have a clue.. who am I...
So, i continued... "You don't remember me, do you? French class.. Migros.. 2 months ago??"

And than he realized... i am that Hungarian who was always talking about the famous paprika pálinka, that he almost has to taste on the very last class... :)

So we started talking, and it turned out that he works there... hahaha
Cool! :)
hmm in the meantime i got to know that he went back to Holland, sth happened to the girl he lived with... anyways, i got to know the other guy behind the bar..we played paintball together :)

- Other option would be: Lady G - Lady Godiva, the English pub...

And now, as the beer of the months is Becks... and the price is also good... the pub is getting better and better :)
With good, more nowadays hits music! :)
The pub usually comes up with an idea or a theme for the night: "End of the world party"(=CERN), "Russian night" (=yes, cheap vodka...), "UN party night"(=it was more a usual party...) etc.

- For more than just a beer... visit Shakers.

Actually, I like this place, even if the entrance costs 20 CHF... The entrance fee covers 1 drink (you should choose either Kamikaze or Sex in the sky cocktail...) but this club remained smoking free.... even if now the clubs can decide on their own whether smoking is allowed or not in thier venue...
However, last Saturday the DJ was crap... probably he was drunk too... don't know.. but terrible...

During weekdays they are throwing partys like: Erasmus/Student party, with student friendly prizes of course...

- Krazy party in Crystal

Hmm.. Julia's graduation party... on 2 October...

Sarah (she also graduated on that day), me, Julia, Sylvie, Zuzana in the HEI parc...(i lived in this parc... :P)

yes..then we went for dinner THAN definitely a great party...
free champagne for the girls before midnight... :)

Sylvie, me, Rachna, Julia, Ravaka, Kenza

Than the others went to Java.. but that was on a Thursday... hm Friday workday.. i am not that cool.. yet.. oh boy... ;)

- Sometimes on Fridays, there is Lady's night in Bypass.

That means whole night = free champagne... OR.. any cocktail or other drink for 1 CHF!!!
OH MY GOD!! 1 CHF!!!

Ok, the place is not really my taste.. neither the music..
but for 1 CHF a cocktail... ;) (ok, they didn't have gin nor vodka when we were there... so had to survive the night with "bakeszkokesz"... :D)

- This Saturday we tried MOA... but... there was such a huge queue... amazing...
And it is more out of Geneva... so even if the music is good, we didn't wait.. rather went to La SIP...
3 girls, normal clothes, nothing fancy, and still we got in.. :)
Yes, u should pretend as if u are always going there and getting in... ;)


And my favorite Monday-quote:

"Oh, boy... what a weekend again!" ;)

Autumn - TV shows are here

From which TV show is it? ;)

The end of the world...

No, it is not again because I feel really depressed, or it won't be again complaining about the miserable and pathetic life in general...
(By the way, I don't think I was ever so negative...anyways...)

So, now I would like to write sth about CERN , the world's largest particle physics laboratory.
Anyways, CERN is located in Geneva, actually just a few minutes away from HP... ;)

I have some good friends working there... and that's why i know a lot about it...
hehehe...ok, not exactly...But at least I've already heard about those experiments that is happening right now among the walls... or underground...

Actually, in April we had the Open Day, when people, average people like us could visit the uilding, and see how the protons will meet, etc. :)


I think I wrote a post about it... but now I couldn't find it, anyways, to cut the long story short, the Opening Day was on a sunny Sunday. We met at 7 (!) on a Sunday morning, and went to CERN, the door supposed to open at 8... and at 7:30 there was already a huge crowd in front of the gates... CRAZY PEOPLE!


Seriously... who cares what a proton is doing???
Ok, at the end it was really, really interesting... Specially, because we had our own guide, Nikolai was explaining us all the small details about it... ;)


And, we could also win a piece of history... (I really think I've already wrote about that...)

And anyways, if after the first beam injection they could create sth similar what could have happened after the Big Bang... that would be really something...
So, but, why is tomorrow the end of the world?

Yesterday at 9, the LHC, the Large Hardon Collider will be started...


The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the largest and most complex scientific instrument ever built and the highest energy particle accelerator in the world. The accelerator is located 100 m underground and runs through both French and Swiss territory.

And yesterday was a very big DAY...A first beam of protons circulated in the LHC.

Even Google went for this event...

So, on Tuesday night we went out for celebrating the End of the world.
We went to Lady Godiva, which is quiet ok place, and it is an English-friendly place...

It was so funny, there was an older cool guy, with a sticker in his T-shirt:
"This is your last chance for sex!"
Last chance in general or with him? ;)

I really thought it is going to be a Cern-party, with all the cern nerdies... no offense... ;)
But it turned out that not all phisysist or computer engineer is an idiot :)

And, actually, we were afraid of LHC.. Large Hangover Coming... ;))

kisses

Sushi, Maki sushi, sashimi

I am not a sushi-virgin anymore. :)
Yes, I ate row fish, with rice and alga yesterday!! ;)

The place was called "No sushi", hahaha, and the atmosphere in the restaurant was amazing :)
There was music, TV, high bar chairs, and the food was moving on a conveyor belt like in a factor on an assembly line, the different type of food was on different color of plate, and you could take whatever you wanted, than at the end, the waiter came and counted according to the color of the plates...
It was very cool!!!

First, Swati and Julia was really patient and nice to me... they were staring at me only once... if I can handle the chopsticks... (come on, I do knit...) ;)


We made the soy sauce with wasabi... I got to know that it is rude if you waste the sauce, and the sauce is more fore the fish part, not the rice...
Of course, I was using the sauce with everything...

So, here are some more tips I got to know about sushi etiquette...

http://sushinow.com/etiquette.htm

Of course, the first rule says: Do not "whittle" your chopsticks... ;)
Hahaha... you could guess what Swati had to do to my chopsticks...

I also got to know the different types of sushi:
Maki sushi are rolls of sushi;
Temaki is a hand roll of sushi;
Sashimi is raw fish with no rice;



I tried salmon, tune, caviar and chicken as well :)
Traditional one and really spciy one.. I liked the California roll as well - which is definitly not for 1 bite... ;)


And of course, just to be traditional Japanese.. we drunk beer.... no comment :)

To sum up, I liked the sushi, but definitely can not compete with the Hungarian cuisine...
hehehe... I know I have to cook finally for my friends here!
And I do it, no more excuses... promise! :)

Things I always wanted to tell, but than kept them as drafts... :)

Aug 6 2008
Geneva as a station to everybody …

I am just thinking, thinking and thinking.
Can not sleep.
I cleaned already. Everything. I studied French. Listened to the Mozart musical again and again. (Yes, I am listening to the CD over and over...theater and musicals... I am really missing it from Geneva...

Apr 11 2008
Grown - up things :D
I can't believe it... on of my friend is going to get married... :)))

And we are planing her "bachelorette"party... :)))
That's so exciting!!!

15 girls... i don't want to tell more about the plan.. but I am sure it is gonne be gorgeous!!!!

So, of course I will attend this party.. i can not miss it :)
So, I am leaving to Hungary for 5 weeks... ok... 4... 1 week . working form Budapest, than 1 week in Geneva.. with my parents, and my brother :)
I am excited about that too...
Hope they will like my new studio :)
With my fantastic brand new sofa :)

Than I go home... exams... well that's not gonna be so much fun, but I have to finsih university...
Seriously, this is my last chance, otherwise i will end up without adegree.. so yes, now i am a bit scared... But...I will survive!!! Hope so..

About the wedding:
I am gonne be a bridemate... :)
Isn't it great??? :)
Seriuosly, I am sooo excited :)

March 3 2008
A little bit of everything
Finally I got a small studio and I moved in.
So, I promise (ok, I hope) I won't write anymore about the accommodation/real estate situation in Geneva. That is boring.

Just to give you an idea about my place: It is small, 25 m2, however I have a bathroom with a BATH!!! So, now I can go to lush :)

On Saturday I was cleaning and packing and moving and all this stuff.

December 13 2007
What's going on here?

It is kind of funny that I will get all my information about my family from the newspaper...

:(

- My brother organized a huge Football cup in my city! :)
- My father was also in the newspaper.
- Maybe my cousin's husband will go to Austria... and work there! :)
- My aunt...don't even talk about him.

Nice.... I should go home and catch up with them...seems that I have lots to do...Shame on me...but on them too... :(

I've never realized how famous my family is...I am proud of them!!! :)