February 2012
2 posts
my top 8: ideas for relaxing in dusseldorf
i have just come back from a short and sweet holiday in dusseldorf, germany. for me, this was a slightly different holiday, in a sense that i did not rush around to see historic sites, but rather, just did whatever my friends did and just chilled in coffee shops, stores, bookstores. my impression of the city is that it is so classy and elegant, and orderly! i really needed this, after a chaotic...
January 2012
1 post
point of view
this story reminded me of my PR career and how the same story can have a different tone and meaning depending on who tells it.
this morning, a colleague was telling me how another colleague went skiing and kept falling, in particular, he could not stop at the time he saw that he was going to bump into a small girl, and therefore, fell to the side in order to avoid the crash.
later that day, the...
McDonald's breakfast in Belgrade
Last september, McDonald’s launched its breakfast in Serbia. Yup, this service was not available before last year. It’s strange, eating hamburgers for breakfast, but somehow the usual McD’s breakkies was not available. In fact, this offer is only at selected McD’s in Belgrade, for a trial!
Shortly before the launch, I met a geek friend, who informed me of this offer....
December 2010
3 posts
what's up with dec 16?
at the moment, i have FOUR post-work events lined up for this date! wow, seems like it’s an auspicious date, as my chinese friend would say. or just that people want to reunite before end of the year. and there is also a bunch of corporate events on that date too that i know of (which leads to thinking that there’s budgets left over hehe). here’s the list of tentative activities...
Serbia version of The Onion - site for alternate...
A colleague referred me to this funny website - njuz.net. It’s Serbian version of The Onion, sort of. It’s slogan is “news in mirror”, and the stories are very black humor-y. Some of the titles include “New research results - practicing sports leads to hair loss” (in view of recent Davis Cup win, where the boys shaved off their hair to celebrate), “Serbia...
November 2010
1 post
conversation with another repat, in the rain
standing in front of arena, waiting for gotan project concert, it’s raining. bumped into a friend who also lived and studied in china. after the usual catching up, here’s an excerpt from the conversation.
me: “will you be going to china again?”
he: “hm, not likely.”
me: “so you sticking around here?”
he: “not sure, probably not. brazil!...
October 2010
3 posts
visit to the royal palace in belgrade
few weeks ago, i joined a tour to the royal palace in belgrade. it is organized by tourist organization of belgrade, and the tours are held every weekend in sept & oct. when i reserved six seats for my friends and family (it was sort of a take-your-mom-along, mother-daughter bonding idea), we were the only visitors on the list. but on the date of visit, the group was full! mostly visitors from...
currently in my mp3 - podcast list
coffee break french - easy to understand french, situational french, useful and nice “warm up”. the show finished at 80 episodes, the ones after 60 are more interesting.
louis from daily french pod - nice “stretch”, louis is great and fun, always has some funny and current situational french, for example, a couple running a wine cellar, discussing the world cup, going on...
street talk, or another soundbyte why belgrade's...
yesterday i went out to lunch with a colleague. as we were walking along the very crowded street, she inquired about my life and romance. i told her: “rest assured, from now on i will only take advice from my happily married friends like yourself”. at that moment, a guy in front of us turned around, hands still in his pockets, and said: “great idea, those women should...
September 2010
4 posts
aroma du jour in belgrade: roasted peppers
this past weekend, like everyone else around me, i headed over to grandma’s to roast some peppers. this is a traditional custom to get ready for winter. the peppers are grilled, skinned of the black skin, then can be eaten as a salad with lot of garlic or used to make ajvar or other dishes, during the winter. the whole city had the smell of peppers these last few days. whenever i sms-ed...
grrrrr....or, an opportunity for early-rise hair...
i miss the convenience of living in china. and i am fed up by the lack of initiative and the passive state entrepreneurs are here in serbia sometimes!
there is no hair-dresser or salon working before 9a.m!!! how stupid is that?!?! i can’t do or style my hair before an important meeting at work (which also starts at 9am) in the morning! i miss china’s convenience- there, hair-dressers...
new friends i met in belgrade
i’ve recently met some new friends. though i know them for a short time, they’ve inspired me in many ways, therefore, here they are:
v. is….a repat from canada (returning expat to serbia, like myself). she is a journalist (one of my favorite professions!). very quirky and unusual - collects all the branded pens from corporate press conferences in a jar on her work desk! very...
Old and new impressions of the Danube
I love living back in a city that has a river. Somehow, rivers (and any body of water) have soothing effect on me. Just strolling by the banks or sitting and watching the ripples and waves can calm me.
When I was young, I used to join my cousins on their boat and cross the Danube to an island in the middle of the river, and then we would jump in and swim. Since the currents were very strong,...
August 2010
10 posts
small victories
i improved my tennis serve today!
muji vs. ikea
zed- totally agree!!
thesemanticzed:
Muji Rushi, the Japanese version of IKEA, kicks IKEA’s butt any time of day. That’s just the way it is. #muji
a few sms messages from my phone
“i will be in sarajevo wed-sun. feel free to join.”
“see you at 11h” (from my hairdresser)
“hi ivana, thanks for everything, i start there in october”
“we on for tennis on sunday? court is booked.”
“no, dear, am in pub still!” (hehe, from my silly sister)
“packed and ready! see you after my holidays!”
“can you...
July 2010
3 posts
40 and 50 in july
last month (it’s august already!) i went to two birthday parties for my cousins. one turned 40, another turned 50.
and i must confess, it was fun joining them and celebrating the anniversaries. to me, those years look a bit scary, no woman likes aging… but somehow, the parties they organized and the way they approached aging was super.
at the 40 party, it was a garden party. another...
April 2010
5 posts
another reason why it's cool to be in serbia...
last weekend my book club invited a famous writer miomir petrovic to discuss his book for our book club. basically, i found him on facebook, explained about the club and invited him, and he said yes. ah, the magic of facebook and living in a small, compact country like serbia! :)
the talk was so fresh and inspirational! the author is a great speaker, talks very frankly and openly with lots of...
elevator blog!
this was put up in our office tower elevator recently- a paper/blog where users can write messages for each other! i think it’s a marketing idea by our colleagues in the building. but it’s a great idea, i hope that it can spread, and hopefully, be implemented in residential towers - people here still have a tendency to write on walls and make the elevators very ugly and dirty, so maybe...
every day at 5pm at the city center of belgrade...
… you can see this scene:
can you guess what they are doing? they are exchanging panini football cards for the fifa sticker album! yes, it’s a celebration of football, the games, and also a social activity! i love this idea, and the enthusiasm, am even thinking to start collecting, bet you can hear a lot of funny stories at these kinds of gatherings.
(sheena, if you are reading...
Easter in Belgrade
I thoroughly enjoyed this Easter break. Here are my reasons and activities:
1. Easter is my favorite holiday, it has a feeling of happiness and joy around it, and also a lot of cultural activities: for example, egg decorating. Our traditional egg coloring can be done with onion peels, with cheap colors bought at the market, or the very, very traditional skill of using wax for designs! My auntie...
March 2010
5 posts
A view from the top
All the news recently are abuzz with a new member of Jagodina Zoo - a lovely baby giraffe! The giraffe is called Jovanča, a name given by the journalists and based on a character from a novel “Around the world” by a famous domestic satiric playwright, Branislav Nušić. I find the news very interesting, since Jagodina is a small city with about 35000 inhabitants. The fact that it even...
the anti-bridezilla →
and i am not doing anything yet…
haven’t picked my dress (haven’t even tried to find a store to even start browsing), flowers (can i get beautiful tulips in china?), and everything else, including ‘official wedding invitation cards’. i’ve done verbal and IM invitations, does that count? and…
a nice tumblr post by a friend →
This is the beginning of the series of the people that inspire me. Very inspiring people, from bosses, friend, enemies, family and even those people that I see on TV, surround me. They do impact certain aspects of my life. I would explain who they are and what they do and what they have done that…
one year in serbia. most asked q&a
it’s been over a year since i moved back and it’s been an adventurous year, to say the least. here are the questions i get asked the most, to give you a pulse of the things in belgrade and what people i meet here are curious about.
Q1: “why did you come back to serbia?”
A1: why not? i learned a lot in china, and now it’s time to apply my skills in europe. i needed...
February 2010
1 post
January 2010
2 posts
December 2009
6 posts
sweet dreams are made of... nouvelle vague
my most recent impulse buy was a pair of tickets to last sunday’s NOUVELLE VAGUE concert. the band is utterly amazing, they do cover songs of 80s songs in a very fresh, jazzy, bossa nova, sensual french style.
they were great in concert, in particular thanks to one of the singers (think she’s called nadeah) who had such great dance moves, she really hypontized the audience!
had loads...
Few links on Augmented Reality
First time I heard about augmented reality was when watching a video of a presentation and the guy demonstrated by having a monster appearing on his stomach out of his sweater! Well, virtual monster, it was a video of how to use augmented reality technologies in presentations (sorry, cannot find that video now).
Instead, found these great ones, of augmented reality helping people:
be informed
...
November 2009
8 posts
