F
(Today, as per request from Jogi, it is time to reveal the secrets of beautifully spelled letter F. If the push comes to shove I might even have to use the F-word.)
Family. I already mentioned that I'm missing my family back home. As I don't have my own kids yet, my family consists of Paula, mom, dad, sister, brother and their kids and spouses. It's funny how I've come to think family in this extended sense, although it's not that common in Finland, I think. Even more weird is how I immediately started paying more emphasis on family as I realized I'm going further away from them. I didn't have family as part of my key values, although majority of people does. If I know did some sorts of values odyssey I might find family being in top 10.
Friendship. I've never had too many true friends... Before uni I didn't have even that many acquaintances. Still friendship is maybe the most valuable thing in my life. I've come to notice that those people who I regard as my true friends, do live up to the status. :) They don't seem to care that I'm on the other side of the globe: they are as close as ever. There was a time, that I lost one of my true friends (or I thought I lost him) for 10 years, but later realized that the friendship has not disappeared anywhere. You know who you are, and I miss you! Another true childhood friend is now getting married and becoming a father... I lost contact with him as we realized we are too different people. He still made an effort to re-become friends and told how much he would like to be in touch, but I was too stupid and busy to run the extra mile that keeping the friendship alive sometimes requires (Although I do agree, to some extent, with the fellow who said "True friendship doesn't require correspondence.")
Fat. Like I might have mentioned earlier, I started again playing football and basketball as minor steps towards the more loftier goal of physical and spiritual balance, that I have set for the internship. I also walked a lot just to sweat away a couple of layers of my formidable investment, the beer belly. Now, after five weeks in Sri Lanka, I finally got a chance to step on a scale. To my amazement the scale showed only 80 kilos, with full clothing. Although I have been quite active I cannot believe that during one month I could have anyhow lost 9-10 kilos! That's insane. Ok, I admit, it was one of these "Mister, 2 rupees!" scales, so I wouldn't count on its reliability. Still, this is a good start.
Fish. Usually when you go to a restaurant and look at the menu, you have an option to choose between many different kinds of fish (or at least a few of them)... herring, cod, salmon, perch etc. Nonetheless, this country seems to have only one fish, that's called... umm... FISH! When you order rice and curry, you get to choose between chicken and fish (sometimes also veggie, egg, beef or something else). How can they compare chicken with fish? With this analogy ordering chicken should not be possible, but instead it would be fish and... bird. By the way, one day I went to a restaurant and took away some string hoppers, gravy and chicken parts. Yes, you heard right... Chicken parts. And they were not any kind of chicken parts (like leg or breast) but actually more like liver, spleen, heart, kidney etc. Never, ever, ever order chicken parts!!! Yucky!
Football. I'm trying to figure out how to be able to see the qualifying games to European Championship, at least the games of Portugal and Finland (who by the way are playing in the same group). Maybe it's hopeless here. As hopeless as Finns to qualify. Well, if you have any good tips, let me know!
Fun. I heard that an average four-year old kiddo laughs 300 times a day, whereas an average grown-up laughs only 5-15 times. Where does all the fun disappear? How could we encourage societies, work places and communities to be more tolerant towards laughter and actually encouarge people to enjoy and laugh. Sometimes it feels that this natural way of energizing people is too often oppressed. Shit I miss my team... that was fun guys!
Fumes. It's not fair that a human being adapts so quickly to new environments... No one should be able to adapt to pollution. When I came here it was a shock and I wanted to do something about it, now I don't even notice that the air, streets and water is so polluted. What to do?
Facilitation. In October there would be an opportunity to facilitate in the National Leadership Development Seminar of AIESEC in Sri Lanka. I don't know if facilitation on my free time is anymore my thing, since I do it as my work. Chairing the conference, on the other hand, might be a good opportunity for deep learning... Well, maybe I should first be a facilitator and then see about chairing. Uh, I don't know. By the way, next Wednesday I'm going down south to Bentota for a fun Wild Drift program. We are staying in a luxurious hotel. I'm looking forward to that. Taking a dip in a swimming pool and having a hot bath would be something extraordinary (there's only cold water in the tap here!).
FCUK... is a quite cunningly named clothes brand. Go check the latest photos in August 2006 folder in Yahoo!
M
Mornings. I've got to get used to early-morning wake-ups, because traveling within Colombo takes a while and if we are going to meet a client it's usually far away from the city centre. This has forced me to go to bed quite early. At times I'm thinking if I really need that 7-8 hours of sleep, if I could actually prolong my waking hours and do something more than just wake up, go to work, come back, eat and go to sleep. But being a zombie the next day is not my cup of tea, so this is how my weeks go. Dull? Maybe. Work-oriented? Yes. Balanced life? Not at all.
Management consultancy. I'm still perplexed how good tools being in AIESEC gave me to excel in the area of management consultancy. All the things we did in AIESEC - from personal development planning to Balanced Scorecard implementation to leadership trainings - they all make sense now. People in the business sector haven't got these tools while they were studying, and now I'm guiding them on these although I'm much younger than them. Weird.
Moving. I have moved twice already. First time I moved about six metres from a hot-like-hell small room to a cooler and bigger one. This happened after just a few sleepless nights in my new flat. The second moving happened last week: This time I moved about 15 metres to another house, that we call ROME. K-house (the other trainee house) became AIESEC office, due to lack of trainees occupying it and hence being costly to AIESEC. I like being in ROME, with my new roomie Shek. Actually, even before moving in to ROME I felt it's more cozy than K-house. For instance, I had my dinner only once in K-house (the evening before I moved away) since ROME felt more like home. It was a bit weird to go and eat in someone else's house but now I can do it without having to feel awkward.
Mine. Please, don't become hysterical when I tell this! Three days ago the police found a claymore mine installed to a bicycle that was standing on a street that I take to go to work every morning. I was happily unaware of the fact until I read the news. I realized I had passed the spot just fifteen minutes before they found the mine. Luckily it didn't go off and luckily I wasn't there at that time. Detailed article about this can be read here. You might have heard about the explosions in Colombo, killing a few civilians too, but did you ever hear about Sri Lankan Airforce slaying 60 school girls up north?
Movies. Last weekend I saw altogether four movies. On Saturday we went to see Superman Returns in Majestic City Cinema and the whole rainy Sunday we spent watching movies from a laptop. I hope this weekend is more action-oriented. I'm actually planning to go to an event called Rock Saturday (organized in Women's Hall) where a local heavy metal band Stigmata is playing. I've heard Stigmata is the only proper heavy metal band in this country. We'll see. Actually I read their interview where they mentioned being fans of Sentenced. Cool! Go Oulu!
Mom... and dad. Being so far away of the people I love has made me appreciate them more. I even miss my mom and dad, although I haven't been living with my mom for 15 years, nor with my dad during the past 5 years. My dad finally sold the house where I spent my childhood and teenage years. That's good because it was stupidity to have two houses (the other one they called summer cottage, although it's quite luxurious house). Mom sent me a postcard and I've tried sending her a couple of SMSs but since she doesn't know how to use the phone she just replied with an empty SMS. :) Poor mom.
Money. I finally got my local bank account! Over three weeks ago I went to my local branch of Commercial Bank and asked if I could open a bank account. They were really helpful and everything went smoothly: I signed some papers, paid 250 LKR and made the first deposit of 1000 LKR. But the initially perceived smoothness was deceiving... According to the clerk, the next step was to wait 2,5-3 weeks to get the PIN number by mail. Right. I asked whether I could just pop by and get the PIN number from the same local office because I lived only 300 metres from it. No, they said their procedure is that they send it as registered mail and there has to be someone to receive it. I said there is no one at the house during day time. They replied that then the PIN number goes to the local post office where I can collect it. I asked where is the local post office, but they didn't know. Marvellous! After a couple of weeks I found my way to the closest post office, after several inquiries, and they said there is no such address that I had given. Splendid! I checked from the other interns and indeed I had a bit wrong address (then again, no one seemed to know what actually is the right address). So, all this took just a few minutes and I went back to the person I had talked with in the post office. He had gone away. I asked from another fellow and he said the person had gone to a cantine, but I wouldn't want to go in there because it's not the most hygienic place (indeed, there was a dead rat outside), so I just asked him to deliver a message to this guy, stating my corrected (or possibly correct) address. Cool. I return home just to find out that the Commercial Bank office has disappreared. Great! Well, later I found it had moved just to another location in Kirulapone (the same area). Finally this week, after well over three weeks I received the PIN number (still I have no idea how it found its way to our living room table!). This morning, I walzed in to the bank and collected my ATM card. Again, it went smoothly, required only a few minutes and a couple of signatures. But I gave up with them when I wanted them to make the correction in my address in their system and their answer was "You need to write us a small letter stating that your address has changed.". "Fuck that!" I thought, but just smiled at her and let it be wrong the wrong address...
Mentoring. I'm about to start again a mentoring process. Sifaan, a local AIESEC alumnus that I already met back in 2004 in Estonia, agreed to be my mentor. Once he gets back from global Sri Lankans reunion (gathering of former interns and MC members in Poland) we'll start the mentoring by setting clear goals to my internship and finding ways to get there. That's cool and I'm really looking forward to that. At this point I'd like to show my gratitude to my former mentor Janne Korpi who helped me to make the best out of last term in the leadership of AIESEC in Finland. Without those discussion sessions with him I might still be the same unbalanced emotional roller-coaster that I was a year ago. Thanks man!
Meditation. Although the mentoring is yet to start I've already taken steps towards some of my goals concerning my time in Sri Lanka. For example, last Monday I experienced my first meditation class. There was a Buddhist monk who was originally Dutch, I think. He was a really funny, laid-back fellow. For instance when we were discussing about the proper way to sit while meditating, he said that lotus position (your both feet locked over each other) is not recommended if you're not flexible enough. He referred to himself being unable to get to that position "because of my bodily structure, or just because I'm so fat". :) The whole thing took about 1,5 hours and consisted of four parts. First he explained what meditation is and how the process goes. Secondly we tried meditation while sitting down. It was a weird but pleasant experience. Being in the centre of Colombo in a temple without proper walls, cars tooting their horns, I was still able to reach a peaceful state of mind and concentrate only in being there my eyes closed. I don't know if it was solely a physical reaction of blocked circumvention or if there was something psychological about it, but when I opened my eyes a bit too early and quickly I couldn't move my left foot. I was a bit scared at that point, closed my eyes again and only when the monk clinged a bell and I opened my eyes reeeally slowly I regained the control of my foot. The last two parts - walking meditation and a shorter sitting session - were not that powerful but I still left the place being quite pleased, and decided to do it again soon.
Mosquitoes. I don't know if they don't like me anymore or if I have developed some kind of tolerance towards them, but the mosquito bites are not itchy and visible anymore. That's good, since the first few weeks were really annoying, having to scratch yourself all the time and in the back of your mind being a bit worried about catching malaria or dengue fever. Now mosquitoes are generally out of my to-be-worried-about list.
Maldives. I'm so much looking forward to my three-week christmas holiday. Paula is coming to Colombo and we head to the paradise islands of Maldives for a couple of weeks. After that I need to be at work for the 2 January for a common kick-off event of the year, and then we head to explore Sri Lanka together for one more week. I think it's a really cool thing from her to come all this far and spend as much time together as possible. I love her! More than ever.
Mediocracy. Last but definitely not least, I want to share with you my biggest feeling of success so far. There is this local company we are working with on a long-term strategic planning project. I've got to know their way-of-thinking quite closely already, and one thing bugged me big time: They were really humble and trying to find excuses to remain mediocre company. They were thinking they cannot control their destiny that much and they shouldn't make too much fuss about themselves. Their ambition level was low and they didn't want to rock the boat too much. Still, they were talking about striving for excellence being an important value for them. Now, when we were setting their four-year vision, I couldn't hold it inside me anymore but I stood up in front of everyone and criticized them openly about this. I said that if they continue the same way, there is no one to have these meetings anymore in 2010. As I sat down, there was a moment of silence during which I could hardly breath. I was thinking, what will my boss say, what will they say, and are they just going to walk out of the room in frustration. Suddenly, the CEO opened his mouth and had a heartfelt motivation speech for the room full of managers and employees, starting with words "I agree with Tomi...". Sigh! That was such a relief and paved a way towards a brilliant future for the company. Suddenly all of them stood behind the newly stated ambition level and now the arguments towards the bold vision were just grammatical. It was the most rewarding moment so far for me personally and seemingly for this company, too! Yeah, baby, yeah!
Mmmm-bobb! If you didn't notice yet, I decided to organize my thoughts (and blog postings) according to alphabets, starting logically with letter M. To make it a bit more interactive, you can request your favourite letter to be showcased in the future postings! :) Just give me a letter and one issue starting with that letter, and I'll deal with it. Thank you for reading this far!
Ani-ani-mals...
Hey, check this out to see what kind of animals we have lying around at our porch!
End of chapter one
If my time in Sri Lanka was a book, I feel like coming to an end of chapter one. Acknowledgements and introduction were handled already back in Finland and during the first ten days here. Chapter one has been basically about getting into the routine, having an overview of the job, tying basic relationships, getting over first culture shocks, buying two umbrellas, defining purpose for the whole period of 18 months (I don't call it an internship; it's damn hard work) and fixing mechanisms to keep myself motivated in a role that doesn't entail much leading other people.
"Could you be more specific?" - Janne Asmala
Although the topic of the internship - leadership and team development - is exactly my cup of tea, I was feeling a bit frustrated in the beginning. This was because I had done leadership in practice and theory so many years, and now I felt like stepping down to "new employee level" again. Then I confronted the brutal fact that if I want to be a successful leader in the private sector, my non-profit experience is just a good starting point. I need to start developing myself from the scratch and create the possibilities for development if my organization doesn't offer them. As you might know, I'm working in a company of three people (including me) so there's nothing much to lead... yet! As some of you also might know I'm not that much into working for someone else anymore, now that the entrepreneurial flame as lit inside me. So, due to these two facts I decided to work so hard - both in terms of my own development up to my potential and financially from the company's perspective - that in one year's time I will have my own team. Now that is something that keeps me motivated, a personal short-term vision of having my own team! I still don't know what the team will do or who it will consist of (although they will be AIESEC interns), but the vision drives me forward... It's just a stretch goal! At the same time it will be yet again my small contribution to the organization I love so much - AIESEC.
But it ain't going to be easy: Employing three more people in a company of three current employees means doubling the personnel costs. To make it possible, the results I bring in together with Ruky (my boss) need to be extraordinary. Yet again, with our drive and with our cutting edge products that's achievable. What I love the most about this company is that we are all the time aiming to be the number one provider of leadership development products in the Sri Lankan market. Currently I'm working on a couple of clients with whom we use Ruky's BLUE model for them to excel in strategic leadership. Meanwhile, we are developing yet another product that will sell like hell! That's pretty much all I can reveal as of now, but it sure is exciting! (Or what do you think as I'm writing this at the office 6:30 PM Friday evening?)
If you have any questions about this or other events that took place in chapter one, please comment and ask! I'd prefer dialogue in this blog, instead of just me writing every now and then. Finally, I want to thank my former team mates who have commented on my postings. I miss you guys, I really do!
Still alive
Hi! Yesterday I tried to post a long "what have I been up to, what's the political situation in this country etc" posting, but this damn blogger didn't work. Hope I have better luck now.
I just wanted to let you know I'm alive, enjoying the work and looking towards bigger and bigger responsibilities. Last weekend we went to Negombo, Sri Lanka's first tourist resort. Before that I attended Dan's wedding, a great cultural experience for me (and splendid food!). Pics from both of those events can be found in August 2006 folder in Yahoo.
July photos...
I added 54 more photos to the July 2006 folder in Yahoo. Today I'm supposed to go to Malu's party who is visiting Sri Lanka and who was working for AIESEC in Sri Lanka on term 2004-2005. Everyone are fuzzing about her so maybe I gotta meet her. Actually, on Thursday I'm going with Malu, her husband and some German girl to Dan's wedding. If you're wondering who the $#^@ is Dan, I met him last November in Finland when he was facilitating in same conference with me. Back then he slipped that Sri Lanka could be a good country to live in and now I'm going to his wedding. :)
Working like hell... and enjoying like heaven!
Hi! I just came back from a two-day training program in the semi-jungles of Belihuloya. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me, but I'm sure to take it the next time I go there. The place is breathtakingly beautiful! And the weather is amazing, just like Finnish summer (I don't mean the rainy part of it). I actually had a chance, finally, to take a dip in a lake. Although everyone had to wear a life-jacket (most people here cannot swim!) while swimming. This was during the second training day when our task was to build a raft for 17 people and take it to a certain destination in 1,5 hours (built a good raft but failed time-wise).
On first day we had a treasure hunt. We were divided in two groups of 17 people each and we were supposed to find five clues and a treasure from the so-called jungle (basically just a path along the river, through the forest and some paddy fields) in a limited time. First of all, I have to say that it was so cool to see the real nature of Sri Lanka and have some exercise while doing so. It was a day full of learning for me, not that much of the topic itself (teamwork and leadership) but the Sri Lankan way of behaviour. First I thought writing this in Finnish so that none of the locals would be offended but then I realized it would be quite Sri Lankan to do so. :) See, I'm already adapting local behavior. Anywho, here is my off-the-cuff analysis of Sri Lankan way of working:
+ These guys have a lot of drive, passion and commitment. Team spirit is high and everyone enjoys what they are doing. Already on our way to Belihuloya the guys were singing and chanting in the bus. This is something I haven't really seen in any Finnish company. When they get down to work, everyone takes responsibility and doesn't want to let the others down.
- Although there's drive, there's not really that much deep thinking behind decisions. Everyone wants to voice their opinion and still decisions are made rather quickly, without "wasting time" in unnecessary tings like agreeing on team principles, developing a strategy to complete the mission or agreeing what exactly we are supposed to do. No one wants to admit that they don't know something. At the start of the treasure hunt we faced the major problems already in the beginning when the first landmark to be found was a Damba tree. According to them we found dozens of Damba trees, though in reality no one had a slightest idea how a Damba tree looks like. :)
Don't take this too seriously, it's just some of the first cultural observations I've made. The next couple of days I will be co-facilitating an indoors training in Colombo about business leadership. Again, I'm looking forward to that, now from a bit more professional perspective. I'd actually like to take a bit more responsibility in this one. Last weekend I was just a participant in the program so I get the delegate's perspective.
Actually Wednesday is supposed to be a Poya day (national holiday) but I'm working. However, after that I have four days off since I'm going to Dan's wedding. I try to take pictures from there. ;)
PS. I'm still trying to match the Wild Drift internship TN-In-LK-CN-2006-1258. If you know anyone who has AIESEC background and who's into facilitation and adventure, drop me a note!
Exchange... of bullets and interns
In aiesec.net there was a discussion whether the current political situation has an impact on interns' willingness to come to Sri Lanka and whether AIESEC in Sri Lanka should be sending "propaganda" pictures to other AIESEC countries. I know that the people here always want to see (only) the positive side of things and I know some of the interns have been afraid to come to the country. Still I wanted to argue a bit. Here's my reply:
"I had to bear with the same question over and over again before coming here: "Aren't you afraid to go there?". I started to find out about the background of the conflict and it became quite everyday issue for me. All this I put in my blog (astikainen.myaiesec.net). However, now that I'm here, I don't really even think about the whole thing. I'm here to work and to prepare for my future, so the things going on in my head are quite work-related and there's not much room for worrying about the safety situation.
I know it's sad that even today people get killed throughout this island but those people made a conscious choice to bear arms, no matter which side they are in. It's even more sad if civilians get injured or killed as a side effect. I know that it's possible that something happens also in Colombo and it might be my ass on the line, but I feel it's highly unlikely.
As for sending nice pictures etc all over the communities, I consider it's a really bad idea. First of all, no one likes spamming. Second of all, it's telling only the one side of the story. I had this romantic image of Sri Lanka when I came here, because all the books and travel agent sites in internet provided only one side of the story.
Instead, take pictures of cows in the street eating trash. Take a video of a Tamil guy preparing Kottu and making the sound rhyme. Ask a boy in the orphanage to write a letter telling about his situation. Ask a trainee how annoying it can be when you are treated like a rich super-tourist in every corner of the road. These and many more are the experiences people are looking for in the internship, no matter how different or unpleasant they might sound.
That's the cultural side. When it comes to the professional side, I suggest you go and raise more and better internships. Obvious? No. Sometimes being in AIESEC makes you quite complacent and happy with the current situation (nice people around you, good parties, something reasonable to do). However, leadership and exchange are the backbone of this organization and one needs to work hard in order to get results for himself and for the organization. Lately it's been quite sad to listen the news from many interns' work places: nutty bosses, ridiculous behavior and really bad working climate. Something ain't right and for that we cannot blame LTTE or government.
Yours, Tomi"
First set of photos uploaded
Hey, I promised to upload the photos taken so far. Well, there was 450 of them so I just picked 44 best ones of them for you to see. So go and view my latest photos and select the July 2006 folder to get a brief glance at my adventures in Sri Lanka.
Happened so far... I was handling practicalities in Colombo for the first week: I got my health insurance just in case something happens and I need to go to hospital (something already happened, but didn't need to go... I'll tell ya later). I fixed myself a local bank account so that the salary could be paid there and I could use the local ATM card to withdraw money when necessary. Later I heard the salary is paid in cash and it seems pretty much everything here is handled in cash. Some restaurants and major stores accept a credit card (which I don't have), so there's a lot of cash moving around. Actually, they even have the old-fashioned account book where you mark all the withdrawals and deposits when visiting in the bank. That's just a one thing that makes me feel like traveling back in time. I also managed to get my residence visa and it took me only three visits to the immigration office. I knew that nothing would happen if I didn't demand quick delivery so I pushed, pushed and pushed and got it done within one day. As I was finally collecting my passport and visa at around 4 pm, I met one guy from UK who had been waiting there since 8 am and still didn't have his visa. Tourists, hah!
First weekend we - Sasha, Sam, Shek and I - went to Dambulla and Sigiriya. I didn't like Dambulla that much because in every corner people just tried to rip us off. Even the trishaw (tuk-tuk, three-wheeler... call it what you will) driver who at first seemed really helpful was actually just trying to make us visit shops and fruit stalls with whom he had "an arrangement" (getting money for bringing in customers). And I was so stupid that I even bought him an ice-cream because he was willing to wait for us while we were shopping for our groceries. Live and learn! Anywho, in Dambulla we saw the huge Buddha statue and the cave temples filled with Buddha statues and images (just check the pics). Sigiriya, on the other hand, was just amazing (even though there was a guide who just tagged along even though we didn't really want to use him). To climb the Lion Rock in Sigiriya takes 1200 steps, to get to the height of 350 meters. The views were just breathtaking! The story goes that back in the old days there was two palaces - one for winter and one for summer - and the king used to take turns living six months at a time in both... with 500 ladies. Not bad!
I have also tried to build up some kind of life in here... played football and basketball, shopped for some clothes (I have to wear long pants at work even though our company is not that strict on dresscode!!!) and strolled around the streets of Colombo to familiarize myself with the city.
Last weekend we hit the beach (maybe the best beach in this country, after Arugam Bay that's in the dangerous zone in the east) south of Sri Lanka, called Unawatuna. We arrived there late on Friday evening and around midnight we went from our hotel to the party place. We took the beach route although it was pitch-black. Everything went fine, the ocean was amazing under the star-filled sky... until the tidal waves came in and sloshed over us. Well, it was fun start for the weekend. Next day more trainees came there and we were basically trying to recover from last night's party. But the evening was so cool! Sifaan came there, we played two truths and a lie (some getting to know!) and just chilled at the beach. On Sunday morning I woke up early to go snorkeling with Rasmus. After 15 minutes of snorkeling I took a break and when I went back to water I hurt my foot on a sea-urgin (merisiili in Finnish). That kind of spoiled the rest of the trip but at least I experienced the local way of traditional healing (using herbs and burning the wound with a flame!). There are some pics of that too so you better check them out! Cool stuff! And it worked. On Monday it was much better and now it's completely healed!
That's all for now. Back to work! I'm meeting my first client today. I'll be an account manager for them. Cool!
Brief update
Hi guys. Finally it's my first day at work. There seems to be a whole lot to do and my boss's expectations towards me are huge. I hope I won't only meet those expectations but exceed them. I'll tell you more about cultural collisions and the trips we've done later once I get my own photos uploaded. Meanwhile, here are some shots from Sigiriya. Catch ya later!
