My close friends know that I love tulips.

Before leaving to Austria one of my Dutch friends brought me 111 tulips. In the end it came to my mother and sister to plant them.

Now those tulips are starting to grow. Still they are quitle small and you can barely see some 6 centimeters of their leaves. I will not get to see them flowered.

My mother is trying to comfort me saying that 'You will get 'notice' of how do they look like once they are flowered'.

I will get notice of them the same how I can get notice of the current change in AIESEC Linz, how I will get notice of the results of the task force's work, of the interviews...
I will be 'noticed'.
I guess in the end what it should comfort me is that the change happened.
I will be 'noticed'.

About concessions

Which of these scenarios would make you happier?
Scenario A:
While walking down the street, you find a $20 bill.

Scenario B:
While walking down the street, you find a $10 bill. The next day, on a different street, you find another $10 bill.


The total amount of money found is the same in each scenario—yet the vast majority of people report that Scenario B would make them happier. More generally, extensive research (beginning with the work of the late Stanford University professor Amos Tversky and the Princeton University professor and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman in the 1970s) demonstrates that while most of us prefer to get bad news all at once, we prefer to get good news in installments.

Installments may also lead you to discover that you don't have to make as large a concession as you thought. When you give away a little at a time, you might get everything you want in return before using up your entire concession-making capacity. Whatever is left over is yours to keep—or to use to induce further reciprocity.

Finally, making multiple, small concessions tells the other party that you are flexible and willing to listen to his needs. Each time you make a concession, you have the opportunity to label it and extract goodwill in return.

This surely is a conclusion that can be used in any filed : may that be economics, relationships, psychology, etc.

Read more about it here.

Tales of discoverings about Japan

Recently I found out that:

1. until the year 400 a.c. Japanese was just a spoken language;
2. Japan is made of 3500 islands
3. 75 % of it's surface is covered by mountains, of which 265 are volcanoes and 20 of these volcanoes are still active
4. 16% of the surface is covered by fields.

The numbers are stunning. This means that 120 million people live on less than 9 % of Japan's surface. (approximately 31.500 square meters)

Yesterday I learned the kanjis for the days of the week. It was surprising to find out that the symbols for the days of the week have the same 'element' as the ones in all the other languages that I know. For example the name for Monday is guetsuyo:bi. where the kanji guetsu means moon (yobi means 'day of the week') ; and it goes the same for all the other days.

What I find again surprisingly is that even if they have a totally different culture and a totally different alphabet, a different religion they still have the same symbols for the days of the week as the rest of us. I wonder where does it come from. After all they did not have the Roman and Greek gods. Either an anthropologist can give me the appropriate answer, either they named their days of the week differently before the Portuguese influence.

Stunned and happy that I can finally read the banners of Toyota and Honda. :)

Reports for international woman's day

I was reading this report to find ou that:

• gender gap still persits when it comes to entrepreneurship activity and surprisingly the gender gap is bigger in high-income countries, regardless the activity.
• men can recognize a business opportunity better than women;
• a woman becomes an entrepreneur more of necessity compared to men in middle-income countries. In the high-income countries the gap does not exist.

See the report for yourself.

Cultural sensitivity

One of these nights I was talking with a friend about how can you make somebody more culturally sensitive?

Is it enough to just pass that person through a cultural sensitivity program?

Together with the girls from the Cultural Sensitivity Task Force we launched a new blog: Cultural Sensitivity, as part of the program. We offer information. From now on it's your turn to reflect a bit about how things are interrlated.

The conclusion of the talk: no, a program like that is not enough it has to do a lot with skills, apptitudes, brain power and non-ignorance
There is again a fantastic trio: social skills, interest and general knowledge. but the blog should tell more, as the information starts to be uploaded.

Yesterday afternoon I was a facillitator for a team-building. The last teambuilding that I've had to keep for Cluj made me remember of the first teambuilding that I've been to, when I was a fresh 'newie'. Somehow the ends make me remember of the starts and not the moments in between.

I remember that, childlishly and stupidly I said that 'I think I will feel fullfield after I would have been to Japan and Switzerland'. I have been dreaming to get to both countries since I ... learned how to read and we had cable. So I think I was 8. First I saw the movie Shogun (as we had cable and I could read the subtitles :)), then I read James Clavell's 'Shogun'. After that I kept watching EUROSPORT and they kept showing ski contests that were taking place in Switzerland. Not long before that I had to give up skiing. You can imagine what wish has formed itself at the core of my soul.

Besides that I realized the abominal thing thatI've said and that I formaly admit I need more than to live in 2 countries to feel fullfield,I washed away a superstition. Since I was young I had the superstition that if I would tell my dreams/wishes they will not come true.

It seemd impossible. That's why I probably had the courge to say it. I wished for it but I would never could have thought that life will take me to both of these countries. Who could think that after two years of making my wish heard I would see them coming to life.

Yes, I deeply appreciate the chances of seeing two wishes granted, but if they were granted because I was easy to be made happy, well... I am sorry that I have been so hasty in my wish. ;)

I do not know if 'only you need is love', but what I do know is that in the moments when I thought that the man that I loved, loved me back nothing else mattered. Even if I (thought I) was having a minus of 500 euros in my budget, even if I was going to loose everything that I worked for.

It seems that there is a general trend of people who are falling in love. I do not know how is it in the other countries but in Romania this year rate of marriages grew 500% compared to last year's.

Now I am through the others that have to forget...
There comes a time when you have to remember just the bad part.

Memories

Jon, Cora and Andrea
Originally uploaded by claire_psi.

Jon thanks for the pictures ;).

When I meant memories I was refering to the thoughts that I was passing through on New Year's Eve.

Having friends scattered all over Romania and now all over the globe made me realize how much I would have liked to at least give them a strong warm hug at the begining of the year.

It was the moment when I realized what implies the kind of life that I want to live.

Hidden value

Every time when I reflected upon my values I never stated this one.

A week ago I realiezed that I have a lot of symptoms of diabetes.

I never thought a disease could 'hit' me. You know... you always think that 'this' cannot happen to you. Especially when in 20 years the only diseases that you had were: a cerebral bleeding and paralysys on the whole right side at birth, othithys at 2 or 3 and a few flus, that were cured in less than 3 days.

While I was waiting to receive the results of my analisys I realiezed how much I actually treasure my health, though when I always reflected upon the things that I treasure I thought of luck, freedom, intelligence, action, creativity, love, true friendships, wealth, etc... anything BUT health.

The whole situation was jumbuling big inside my head . I realiezed that I uncounciously always thought that health is preciuos. Now that I come to think about it is so evident!
Maybe I always knew it, but I never actually admitted it so bluntly. I mean to myself.

The first time I drank alchool was when I was ... actually I don't remember exactly :D... I think it was when I was over 17 anyway. And I never drank it because I read somewhere that if you drink benevontly you kill your neurons (without using them for something else) * I just realized this connects with one of other values ;)

... and I still seldomly drink alchool and when I drink I try to drink wine. Of course, isn't it? Wine is good for your health :D.

Tea vs coffee, because coffee atacks the calcium.

Sleep. During AIESEC conferences I was between the ones that went to sleep the firsts. :) Again I read somewhere that if you sleep one hour less than what you need, you loose one point of your IQ. Don't worry if you use to do that a lot, you can undamage the whole situation by oversleeping as soon as possible.

I realized how easiliy I remember all the things that are about health. I was uncounciosuly memorizing everything about health. No effort implied.

Luckily the analysis were OK. But they came with a surprise :). As I never knew my blood type I requested such a test also.

I was expecting a B3-. It turned out that I am a 01+ :D. I was expecting a B3 as I read a book that made some links between the personality type and the blood type. Though I might have taken it from the wrong start :). I started from my personality and then went to the blood type directly. I never checked the characteristics associated with the other blood types:D.