* Merili *

Climbing Mt Kota Kinabalu

2007-10-25T09:15:00.000+02:00

Here is a very short and quick update on my latest activities in Asia Pacific.

Work is going well, I like what I am doing, life is moving fast (that’s what happens when you are having fun) and I have already been in Singapore for more than 5 months.
During this time, I have done several trips to Malaysia and am preparing for an upcoming trip to Thailand, this time to Bangkok.
Also I have a trip to Mexico coming up for Xmas, let’s see how that goes, not exactly Asia but nevertheless very very exciting.
This Monday I came back from climbing the highest peak in South East Asia called Mt Kota Kinabalu. It was physically, the most challenging experience of my life.
Day 1:

07:00am-Going from hostel in Kota Kinabalu towards Kinabalu Park, 2 hours from KK, home of the 1st UNESCO protected site in Malaysia. There was a land slide on the way, we were quite late waiting for over an hour for the police to open the road.

11:30am-Started the trekking of 8.5 Km from the base of the Mount Kinabalu towards the Base Camp, the point at Km 6 where people sleep.

16:40pm-Arriving to the Camp after almost 5 hours of climbing. Breathless. 99% of the path is VERY steep. Temperature 12 degrees C.

17:40 pm-Getting something to eat, quick hot shower (thank goodness there was hot water) and off to bed, needed to wake up at 2 am and fight my way to the top of the mountain – another 3 km to go.

19:20 pm – Sound asleep in the hostel room with my 4 roommates.

DAY 2

02:00am - Wake up!!!!!! Quick breakfast. Get the layers and layers of clothes on you, torchlight on your head and mentally prepare for the ride of your life. Temperature 7.8 degrees C at base came.

02:42am - Start the second climbing towards the LOW’s PEAK (4,095.2 m) to see sunrise.

05:45 am - A thin line of sunlight in the horizon appears as we climb up the tip of the LOW PEAK. Temperature: 2C.

06:00 am - The sun is up, warming our face and hands. We reach the peak after lots of sweat, doubts and energy spent. The boots are heavier than ever but you feel sense of achievement and power. Taking lots of pictures.

07:00 am - Descending back to base camp starts.

08:30 am – More food and packing for the way down

09:00 am – Start of the descend down Mt. K. – additional 6 Km back. All downwards – painful on the legs

2:00 pm Reaching Final Destination where a van awaits us to take us back to Kota Kinabalu – the city at the bottom of the mountain.

An incredible experience!!! After this you feel you can do anything.

B-day in Singapore

2007-08-01T11:30:00.000+02:00

I have been officially 24 (years young) for the past 3 days. Yes, my b-day has passed and, even though I was sceptical, it was a complete success. I entered my b-day in a night club, drinking champagne and eating chocolate cake with lots of friends while a latino band sang happy b-day to me in the background.
The evening of the same day I spent in a spa, soaking in milk and wine Jacuzzi after which I experienced the most astonishing body scrub and massage with strawberry and wine extracts. Yummy. A gift from my significant other. :)

24 doesn’t feel different, the same amount the work, the same house chores and the same old habits. The only difference is that this year I didn’t celebrate my birthday with my parents and my friends in Bosnia and I have to admit, the home-sickness kicked in a little bit. But only a little bit.
I especially felt this when I got a gift box from my family with all sorts of little things like a plane model and jewellery, PJs and business shirts… it was a day full of suprises.

Life in Singapore is still fun. I got used to the Asian way of working by now and weekends fly by faster than even before. Time is moving quicker than I would want it to but I have accepted it to be the one thing I cannot change. I can only adjust and try using my time the best way possible.
Next week is the National Day of Singapore, its 42nd b-day and a holiday, so I am looking forward to the plane parade organised by the government for the event. They have been testing fireworks for the last 2 months for this day so I am expecting something

Finding peace

2007-07-27T14:53:00.001+02:00

Tranquile
Originally uploaded by *Merili*

Update from Singapore/Malaysia

2007-07-24T11:21:00.000+02:00

And so my tropical life continues in the land of palm trees, skyscrapers and exotic food.
I am very happy with my job, working for the CEO of DHL Express in Asia Pacific and learning new, interesting things every day. I have to admit it is very different from anything I have ever done before and very exciting since I get to meet brilliant people and work with some of the main brains of the business.
Life wise, I am very happy. Finally found my peace I suppose. I feel complete and fulfilled even thought every time I think about the fact that I am so far away from the rest of my family I get this sickening, scary feeling in my stomach.

At home, the wedding season is blooming, one of my best friends got married last weekend, my uncle is getting married in 2 weeks, another great friend in Turkey at the end of August and a university friend in September… and guess what! I won’t be at any of the weddings. Sad.

Right now I am preoccupied with my job, my personal life and having a time to focus on myself and what I want in life. Several new ideas have been crossing my mind but I still need to decide on them before writing them down or doing something about it.

Life in Singapore is fun. Work, go to drinks with friend, gala romantic dinners and huge shopping sprees over the weekends. Theatres, cinemas… Still in the tourist-mood, sipping margaritas by the river coast or spending a lovely weekend in Malaysia.

Dipping my feet in the turquoise sea, feeling white-power-like-soft sand between my toes and covered by the shadows of huge palm trees sipping fresh coconut water. Hearing nothing but the sound of wind and waves. Feeling only the heat of the sun reflecting from the waters under my feet.

Life is treating me good and I am very happy.

It has been ages

2007-07-20T03:06:00.000+02:00

I know I have been away for about a month and this wouldn't usually happen unless i had a good reason and I have one..
For some reason all my posts in the last month have not been shown and it is frustrating that i have so much to write and cannot post it, so i hope at least this does.
I'll try without pictures first let's see if it want to behave today...

Mini-update: I am working, happy with my job, happy with my life. I have been to one new country this month: Malaysia, to a wonderful tiny island called Rawa to chill out with 15+ friends and it was wonderful. Singapore is easy to get used to, so life is faily easy.. it is always easier to get used to a more comfortable life style and it is just so convenient here (everything, eating, going out, travelling, talking to people...) that there is no adjustment period or cultural shock for that matter...

I ahve to admit it is strange being somewhere where there is no chaos (the biggest chaos being the rush hour :P)

More stories are on the way...

Crazy weather forecasts

2007-07-05T12:32:00.000+02:00

One thing that amazes me about Singapore is the climate itself. I thought I would have a much harder time getting used to but I suppose once you set your mind and accept the fact it is something you cannot change it starts being tolerable.

The funny thing about tropical weather is that you never know what to carry, an umbrella or sunglasses, so you carry around both!
And also the fact that you can never depend on the weather forecast (like I could in Europe) is crazy. I just stopped counting on the weather reports and started watching the sky, trying to guess when it will rain.

It usually happens during lunch time, the classical Murphy’s Law, everyone goes out and it pours.

Speaking of weather forecasts, it’s very funny because they have different weather forecasts for each part of the city/country and you can cross the whole country on foot in half day. Can you believe it?!

“Today, Singapore will experience rain in the North part of the country, later on the rain will go to the South and eventually to the East part”…

…hmmm that ‘later on’ means in 6 minutes :P

Hahaha the country is the size of my city and forecast means that: IT WILL RAIN, full stop!

Hilarious,

Anyways, just a thought…

I am alive, having a blast and as you can imagine have about a zillion things to write about but lack of time…

For some photos check my flickr link

2007-06-16T04:13:00.000+02:00

It is Saturday morning and I am sitting drinking Bosnian coffee in Singapore. It still tastes the same.

It is raining (even though this is not supposed to be the rainy season).

The rain is not like the rain you would see in Europe…
When it rains it seems that someone just pours water on you from a bucket. You have to close all the windows otherwise the floors would get totally wet.
It is doesn’t actually rain, there are not droplets, it just pours…

At this particular moment I am thinking about what shoes to wear when the water is ankle high but then again I will just have to wait until it passes and hopefully that will be soon.

I have made it an every day routine to take an umbrella and sunglasses to work. You never know. One minute it is raining the next it is sunny. The temperature, nevertheless, never varies… it is always hot and humid.

Let me give you a short update from Singapore:
- Rain
- Great Singapore Sale (ouch!) – will take an opportunity to buy some business clothes
- Weekend alone in Singapore since Luis is running a marathon in Thailand
- Work transition has been going well; I have been absorbing massive amounts of information from my predecessor, trying to learn as much as possible in this 2-3 week period, I officially take over soon, iacks!
- Have I mentioned Rain?

Welcome to Singapore

2007-06-09T12:43:00.000+02:00

I am washing the dishes in my new apartment, overlooking the great skyline of Singapore.
The water is cold but not half as cold as it should be. The weather is incredibly humid and hot, the sun is burning the outside pavement and the only thing saving me from utter despair is the air conditioning blowing in the back room.

I wash the plates, the forks, spoons and the pans and I dry the glasses, placing them gently side by side on the right hand side of the sink together with the other dishes.

As my grandma taught me I wash the sink as well as clean the entire kitchen after cooking and in order to dry the sink I grab one of the rugs hanging by the window above the sink.

I see a (not so small) creature with 4 feet hiding behind the rug and suddenly disappearing out through the window crawling against the walls.

I scream..

A second later, my boyfriend comes into the kitchen laughing asking if I saw my first lizard in Singapore. I look at him stunned, half terrified, half puzzled.

Then he says the famous quote: welcome to Singapore my dear!

Congratulations...

2007-05-19T13:24:00.000+02:00

The countdown to Singapore is slowly coming to a single digit number... time is passing fast...my family is slowly getting used to the fact that I am leaving and that they won't be seeing me for the next year.

I got my ticket today, said goodbye to one set of grandparents in Bosnia and Herzegovina and now I am off to the Croatian coast to say goodbye to the others.

There is one person I probably won't be seeing and saying goodbye to, that is my uncle. He is 15 years older than me and has been living in the UK for as long as I remember. Since I don't have any family (other than my grandparents, my mum has no siblings and my dad has only 1 bro in the UK), I stopped hoping I would ever have cousins...

...until one day... my uncle announces his engagement and tells the rest of he family he is getting married in the next few months.

This post is for Almir and Mela, who are my last chance for cousins :P

Just kidding...

I wish them all the best, may they be happy and in love forever.

After trying and trying...

2007-05-05T12:02:00.000+02:00

... I finally got a traineeship in DHL Regional office in Singapore!!!!

(...yes the yellow company for me too...)

I am the happiest personal alive for a great number of reasons at this point in my life. :)

I am sure this will be an amazing experience and a year I will never forget.
From June onwards I will be working as a Management Assistant to CEO in DHL Express.

After trying so many times...

...this is proof that Persistance does pay off!!!

Hooked

2007-05-01T19:55:00.001+02:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Back to nature...

2007-04-26T10:39:00.000+02:00

Bosnian Coffee

2007-04-22T11:26:00.000+02:00

Coffee is a national drink of Bosnians and Herzegovinians. The drink was introduced to Bosnia with the arrival of Ottomans. Traditional Bosnian coffee (kahva, kafa or kava), to the world outside of Bosnia also known as Turkish coffee, is made by boiling finely ground coffee beans with water. It is traditionally prepared in copper, coffee pots – džezva – or in other small cooking pots and served special minature coffee cups or fildžan.

The fact that Bosnians have a name for each coffee depending on the time of the day it is served, attests to the importance of this drink in Bosninan culture.

Some types of coffees served during the day are:

The first morning coffee is called razgalica. It is traditionally strong and thick and it intends to wake people up and cheer them up for the new day.

Razgovoruša (razgovarati – to talk) is the coffee that Bosnians drink later in the morning and usually with friends and work colleagues.

The afternoon coffee, called šutkuša (šutiti – to keep quite), is taken after lunch between 5 and 7 pm and it is supposed to be relaxing and calming.

Sikteruša (sikter – go away) coffee is served after a party or a gathering and it is a polite way of telling the guests that it is time to leave.

2007-04-21T18:05:00.000+02:00

In 5 days I will be in Istanbul presenting the work of Youth Voices of Bosnia and Herzegovina to other YV from all over the ECA (Europe and Central Asia) region.

I spend my days doing presentations for health, civil engagement, youth policies and general activities the group has done for the past 3 years.

I have been a member of this group at the World Bank since July 2004 and have been through ups and downs with these 15 members. We are like a big family now, representing the Youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina, various NGOs, associations, minorities etc.

We are very diverse yet respect the gender balance, and come from different religious, national, educational backgrounds, representing both urban and rural parts of B&H and are all very active in our community lives.

So what do we do that’s so great?

We channel information from the field to the WB and try make them put the youth issues into their agendas and integrate tackling those issues into their projects and programs.

We basically promote the problems young people face on three levels: youth policy (including health), education and employment.

We are (apparently) the best case practice amongst all the YV groups in the region and are supposed to present our work and ideas, action plans, prior activities as well as future plans to the other groups in 5 days.

YVG is a cool activity I have been engaged in ever since my MCP term. After AIESEC I am settling for this kind of community work, consulting the people who can really make a difference on where the difference has to be made.

It’s a cool job.

PS I am still officially looking for a traineeship in AP.

10 THINGS WE CAN DO TO HELP OUR PLANET

2007-04-08T09:10:00.000+02:00

I have been thinking a lot about what my parents taught me concerning environment protection. So, here are some things I felt like sharing.

Save energy by always turning off the lights in each room when we leave it. This also goes for turning off our laptops when we go to sleep and not leaving our chargers plugged when the phone is fully charged.
Save water by turning the tap off while we brush our teeth. Do not let the water run while you keep brushing your teeth or in the shower. Think of the people in the world who don’t have access to fresh water at all.
Control emissions. Do not use hairsprays, spray deodorants, pain in pressured cans they all contain the CFCs which damage our O-zone no matter how much the label states they don’t.
Save gas. Limit our car usage and save ourselves a trip to the gym by taking a walk instead of taking the car. Ride the bike or roller-blade instead!
Adopt an orphan. The same can go for animal orphans. By contributing to organisations such as Oxfam or UNICEF you can donate an insignificant amount to feed a child anywhere in the world.
Plant a tree. So many trees are taken down every single day, the least you can do is plant one. There is a saying that every person should leave behind them a child and a tree.
Re-use your plastic bags. Every time you go to the shop, make sure you bring your own bag so that you don’t have to take a new one each time. In some places in UK, you even get 1 penny for it.
Recycle paper/plastic/glass if possible. If you have the chance to separate old garbage to be recycled, do it! Some recycling companies even pay per pound of paper/plastic/copper.
Limit your usage of chemicals. At least when it comes down to cleaning detergents with a big X on them. Maybe they unclog the pipes but have you thought about what they do to the environment?
Do not litter your environment! This is one thing I kindly ask you to teach your children – not to littler the environment!

By doing the above you won’t stop global warming on the climate change but you will make your contribution and that is a start.

Third time lucky?

2007-03-27T15:06:00.000+02:00

Strange things have been happening to me lately… things I am not used to. Not necessarily bad things, just simply strange…

I have been having a lot on my mind.

First of all, I signed a contract with WB office in Sarajevo to work while a mission from Washington is here on a self-governance and utility financing study, which will be done as project prep. The work is fun, dynamic, fast paced, challenging and I haven’t been bored for 1 minute since I started to work.

The contract though, is finishing soon and I will be left with my travelling money, which I earned for my Singapore trip, but still no job to go to.

Deep down, I am not that adventurous (or crazy as my parents would call it) type and I’m not really prepared to pack my bags and take off with nothing secure (in economic terms), waiting for me. After all, you cannot feed yourself from love and air (I wish I could).

I applied for several jobs and am waiting for replies but after applying for a traineeship through AIESEC I got disappointed again and again. I applied three times and got three rejections.

Is there point in applying further? How persistent to I have to be in order to get an internship I have been so often selling to various students from Bosnia for many many years.

That is the irony…

I finally get an opportunity to apply for one myself, wait until I graduate, until I get some work experience (which I thought would get me more chances of applying for something good) and get 3 rejections in a row.

In fact, maybe it is for the best. I believe all things happen for a reason. But then again, I had it all mapped inside of my mind and now my thoughts are tumbling down and I’m left searching for new options…

The worse things though, are the various temptations I am faced with every day. Temptations in terms of job offers, with fantastic companies and organisations, which would be like a catapult for my professional future…

I don’t want to sacrifice anything but get everything, is that possible at all?

… as I said, a lot on my mind…

I suppose this weekend trip to the seas side will do me some good. Maybe the fresh air clears my thoughts.

2007-03-04T22:01:00.000+01:00

As a kid watching W. Disney films was one of my favorite hobbies. Watching the prince on a white horse, swiftly ride off into the sunset with his princess and living happily ever after was my favorite moment.

But, I was never the sucker kid who believed in that stuff. I was far more realistic for my age, thinking I’d probably get a horse without the prince and ride it into the sunset…

I had never believed in love at first sight, long distance relationships or mythological creatures either.

As I grew older, I learned not to trust men, weather forecasts and old women telling me what to wear.

I also never thought that I, of all the people in the world would be willing to have a long distance relationship and eventually to move half way across the world to be with someone I care about (no horse included - thank godness).

Looks like times are changing… for the better. And I couldn’t be happier.

I just hope unicorns and UFOs won’t be flying around soon.

I am very superstitious, and since this year is the year of the Pig (Chinese lunar calendar) I was told it was one of the lucky ones. I was born in the year of the Pig and those people are considered to be fortunate. I am willing to wait and see if these predictions are true.

So far so good… :)

In the mean time, I will trash the horoscopes and search for my fate online with a little help of airline ticketing and job searching websites.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.

No more countdowns

2007-02-23T12:47:00.000+01:00

The countdown has finished but, now comes the waiting part. Waiting for job openings and interviews, waiting for the next time we see each other. Hopefully soon...

Only when you are far from the ones you care about can you learn to appriciate closeness...

I'll have Jagermaister on the rocks

2007-02-04T20:31:00.000+01:00

Thank you Rhd for tagging me. It was fun to read your list.

5 things you didn’t know about me..

I changed 10 primary and secondary schools in 4 different countries by the age of 16
My teeth are my best asset, I take extra special care of them
I can eat as much as I want and I won’t get fat (it is true, please don’t hate me)
My favorite drink in the world in Jagermaister
I dream of having 4 kids and a dog one day, and me and my husband retiring to a house in the suburbs at a late age, to grow vegetables and flowers.

Her name is Una...

2007-01-29T20:24:00.000+01:00

... like the most beautiful river in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She was born on Tuesday, January the 23rd and she is my boss's (but before everything my friend's) firstborn baby girl.
Bojana, I am so proud of you and Una!

The white season

2007-01-25T11:49:00.000+01:00

Muslims all over the world have 2 major holidays: Ramadan Bayram and Kurban Bayram they are exactly 2 months and 10 days apart and it is believed that organizing weddings in the middle of those two is bad luck.

Since we have a lot of superstitious people in Sarajevo who are mostly Muslim, the agency (event management agency) I work for has not been doing a lot of weddings at the end of the last year.

The Kurban Bayram passed at the end of December and everything changed.

Last weekend we had two enormous weddings and more are on the way. I was the coordinator and wedding planner for one of those.

The custom here is to get married on Wednesdays (if you don’t want a big party) or Saturdays (if you want to have a huge celebration and for the whole city to know you are getting hitched).

Anyways, most of the weddings we organize are on Saturdays. I was in charge of everything from flowers, decoration, wedding cake, to music and making sure everything goes according to the agenda.

A day after this wedding, I get great news that my best friend from Turkey (she is Bosnian but lives in Turkey) is getting married to a Turkish guy who was here last summer but since I was in Singapore we missed each other and I didn’t get to meet him. Now, I am supposed to be the maid of honor at her wedding.

Then I have my first trainee (an Indian girl in London) getting married to her long-term love in April (I am supposed to visit them as well). Another uni friend is getting married in a matter of months in Sarajevo and not to mention 2 of my close friends got married last year…

What is up with the wedding seasons?? Is it just me or all of my friends all getting hitched at the age of 22-24. Ouch!

The season looks white, and it’s not cause of the snow.

January the 4th 2007.

2007-01-04T16:38:00.000+01:00

Today I am officially: Merima Baralić dipl. ecc.
:)

A perfect start to 2007!!!

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T21:01:00.000+01:00

What would one wish for 2007?

Hmmm…

Lots of health, love, luck, success, amazing experiences, travels, smiles and tears of joy, less stress, less sleepless nights, less worrying, more walks by the river, more sunny days, joy and laughter, more friends, more spring showers and blossoming trees, more received roses and kisses from the ones we love. I wish you all more moments with your families, more home cooked meals, more relaxing baths and more romantic dinners in two. I wish you all less moments of waiting, more moments of enjoying, more dancing, more music.

I wish you all what I would wish for myself, because this is the year that will change our lives.

May your most wonderful dreams come true in year 2007.

Mine are coming true while you are reading this post :)

First snow

2006-12-19T19:54:00.000+01:00

Today was the first proper snowy day in Sarajevo.

Generally I love snow. Winter is my favorite season and I just adore the cold, the woolly jumpers, the cooked wine and skiing…

Somehow, it’s all very romantic and dazzling to me.

When the white covers the streets, it all looks so pure, so clean and innocent. And when you leave the house very early in the morning, it’s still night time, it’s silent, there is no one around, just you and the snow flakes, the street light glowing and the clean, white road ahead of you.

For me who grew up on the sea side, the mountains are the most amazing place on earth.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the beaches, sand, sea, sun… but winter is more romantic. Layers and layers of warm clothes, scarves, gloves, hats, socks… warm fires, watching snow fall through a window.. all these things bring out the child in me and all I want to do is go outside and play.

This morning was idyllic, the snow had been falling all night and the entire city was white.

I crawled out of bed early, too early even for my taste, had my morning coffee and realized the entire city lights were out even though it was still night.

Even more romantic, the glow of the pink sky and the large snow flakes on my window, falling in bundles.

I wear my warm clothes and step outside the clean my car. There is no one around, just half a meter of snow and a bunch of cars all covered.

Which one is mine?!

I desperately try to remember where I parked the small thing on a big parking lot… nothing.

I put on my gloves and start digging to try and find a small bright yellow car.

I step into half a meter of snow, in a matter of seconds, my trousers are wet, hands are cold, I am on my fifth car. Found it!

Now, already late for work, I get the engine running, the windows heated. I go back to the garage and take the shovel I had not used for the last 9 months (I was not prepared obviously).

I dig around the car, try to get rid of all the snow, wipe the windshields, wait the windows to defrost and then slowly try and get out of the spot the car was in for the past 7 hours.

I drive to work grumpy, cold, wet, frustrated and wishing I walked.

Isn’t winter romantic?

2006-12-15T23:19:00.000+01:00

I just felt like posting this...
It's my sister (Senka, on the right)and yours truly.
The picture is taken in our birth town called Pula in Croatia.
The shot was taken in 1988.