Tomas Chleborad - Headhunter in Basel

Moments of nostalgy…

Tomas Chleborad — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 01:21:11 +0000

The interesting thing is that the recent moving does not feel as such a huge change as it used to feel years ago. Just another exciting and very different place – but still on the same old map of Europe.

In the past 7 years I moved 11 times… Once it was just 700 meters, once it was 2,200 kilometers. I was a 17-year old kid when leaving my parents back then, and I didn’t know anything useful about the world.

Now it’s 7 years later. I’ve learnt two more languages and I’ve started another two during that time. I’ve gone to the best high school and university I could imagine. I’ve started one of the most intercultural business career paths possible. I’ve lived by the sea, by a lake, by a river, by a brook, in a forest. From the windows of my room I’ve seen medieval roofs, 50’s roofs, spruces, lilac bushes, birches, smoothed rocks, giant chess game, calm street with a colorful wooden houses, the 6 bikes that I used to have (four of which got stolen, one got destroyed), a headquarters of an army hidden in a bunker-mountain, a brick chimney, a wooden sauna… …and the sun.

I was contemplating the sun from the windows of my consecutive homes. Sometimes it was glaring through branches of trees. Sometimes it was gleaming in a lake or in the snow. Sometimes glittering through a fresh morning or warming my soul during a long evening. And sometimes the sun even stayed on the sky, or somewhere behind the trees, during the whole night as well – and thus filling up my body with a limitless calmness, silence, belief in a bright future… and also with motivation, spring-clear energy and with euphoria… That was my sun there on all of those skies.

So that was my past 7 years. Ups and downs, but terrific after all.

So what’s next?

News 2009-2010

Tomas Chleborad — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 01:19:24 +0000

Hi. After a long long time, I am bringing some news. So what has been going on for almost 2 years?

January – June 2009

I returned back from Denmark to Finland and started looking for work in recruitment. I participated on recruitment project debates with political leaders, got invited and even hired into planning committees and helped to shape the design of regional labor attraction strategies by bringing my views of a person from outside of Finland.

Nevertheless, I did not have good luck with securing a full-time position within the recruitment business in the Nordics. The job that I had got before was cancelled due to the crisis, and so was the case with pretty much everything else.

So finally I accepted the idea that it’s probably necessary to leave the Nordics behind, at least temporarily, and go to Europe to start my career. Which what I successfully did.

June 2009 – October 2010

I left after a beautiful Juhannus (Midsummer) in Finland. I went to join the pharmaceutical division of a UK company NonStop Recruitment. I started my career in sales as a trainee resourcer. I successfully headhunted and recruited people in Switzerland, France, UK, Denmark and Sweden and developed my networks across the whole Europe.

I became the most successful trainee so far and was promoted into a Junior Consultant position. At that time, I volunteered to participate in a project of establishing a completely new division, which was recruitment to recruitment. Therefore, with a great colleague of mine, we started developing a brand new business within a business. We were headhunting headhunters all over UK and Europe within the sector of Renewable Energies and Environment.

November 2010 – present

It was, nevertheless, time to move on and get new experience in a new environment. At the end of 2010, I joined Stamford Consultants in Switzerland to recruit again for the pharmaceutical sector. So currently I live in the capital of the European pharma industry, Basel.

2009, what’s going on

Tomas Chleborad — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:19:26 +0000

Hei.

After another long period of time, I’m back here again to sum up briefly the past one year or so.

So after i’d finnished the last courses at HSE (the last one got the best grade, 97% in the “Demographic Analysis in the Intl. Business” course… me and my team focused on the labor availability in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, profession by profession, we projected everything for the next couple of years and we finally compared it to Finland :D ) i went to make a research financed by the Outokumpu Company. Expectably, the research was about skilled labor in the Eastern Europe, namely Latvia, Poland and Bulgaria. Visited those countries, spent weeks in buses, planes, trains, metros, etc. And with a quite a successful result, got a good appraisal :)

Then i went to Denmark, i spent there half a year at Aarhus School of Business. Took four subjects (B2B Marketing, Persuasion, Aspects of Denmark and Cultural Studies). As much as i could, i focused on… surprise surprise… labor mobility throughout Europe. Especially in the “Cultural Studies“, i researched about the Central&Eastern European labor migration to UK. And in the “Aspects of Denmark” course, i focused on the labor market features in Denmark, and compared it with Finland. Not surprisingly, i kept in mind the comparison between DK and FI from the point of view of the international labor attraction :) What else, right?…Well, apart of spending the whole time in Denmark, i also went to Poland and Bulgaria again, during autumn. To train my language skills in both of those countries… i was impressed by myself when i spent 20 minutes chatting in Bulgarian with a Bulgarian taxi driver :) For instance. Am i crazy? Yesss. A language freak :P

And then i went back to Finland, after an incredible New Year’s Eve in Berlin, and participated on the Venture Cup, a Finnish competition of innovative business ideas. After gathering together my team, we were working on… well, is it a secret that it was in the field of international labor mobility? So we were creating a business plan for that. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite manage to sort out all the technical issues, given we had only 5 weeks instead of 5 months, like the other teams. So we kinda didnt win ;) So our winning a prize (10 or 15 or 25.000 euros) is postponed for the next year’s round. We will be much better prepared :)

And finally I’ve started working on creating my first non-for-profit organization, called NordicFields. It will promote training and networking for future recruiters and other HR people specialized in the european mobility of professionals. (www.nordicfields.org) Well, now it’s progressing quite painfully, coz everyone is deliberately uninterested in the issues of labor availability, in the times of a worldwide unemployment increase… especially in Finland. Veeery shortsighted but reality. So at least i have time to prepare myself thoroughly, and be ready when the right time comes, in two years :)

Greetings from Helsinki,

Tomas.

France vs. Denmark (it’s sooo nordic)

Tomas Chleborad — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:49:53 +0000

Au royaume de l’insouciance

LE MONDE | 09.09.08

Est-il possible d’avoir 20 ans et de penser, contrairement à Paul Nizan, que c’est “le plus bel âge de la vie” ? Est-il pensable, le bac en poche, de se dire qu’on a tout le temps – cinq, huit, pourquoi pas dix ans – pour flâner, butiner, tâtonner, explorer, à la recherche de soi, et d’une voie idéale menant à l’épanouissement ? Est-il concevable, enfin, d’étendre cette période délectable de la “jeunesse” sans la moindre anxiété d’origine matérielle ou de recherche d’emploi ? Mieux : avec la quasi-certitude que les virages, secousses, et multiples expériences du parcours – fût-il vagabond et chaotique – éveilleront chez un employeur potentiel respect, admiration… et se monnaieront ?

Nous sommes décidément loin de Paris et des angoisses qui, d’après tous les sondages, plombent le moral des jeunes Français ainsi que celui de leurs parents. Ici, à Copenhague, la jeunesse à bicyclette se dit résolument “chanceuse et optimiste”. Et les Danois qui se confient rient de notre perplexité devant leur stupéfiante décontraction, leur aisance à se déclarer “en construction”, et leur formidable confiance dans l’avenir. “Bienvenue au royaume de l’insouciance !”, s’exclame un père de famille, universitaire, en couvant du regard deux grands adolescents, qu’il encourage à prendre le large et “partir explorer le monde”. Insouciance, c’est bien cela. Les jeunes le confirment qui précisent : “Délicieuse insouciance.”

Une étude comparative des jeunesses (16-29 ans) de 17 pays, publiée en 2006 par la Fondation pour l’innovation en politique et réalisée avec l’institut suédois Kairos, donnait des résultats spectaculaires. Seuls 26 % des Français estimaient par exemple leur avenir personnel “prometteur” contre… 60 % des Danois. 27 % des Français se disaient persuadés d’avoir “un bon travail dans l’avenir” contre… 60 % des Danois. 32 % des Français se disaient “satisfaits” de leur vie contre… 51 % des Danois. Et 22 % des Français affirmaient avoir une liberté et un contrôle total sur leur propre avenir contre… 45 % des Danois. Enfin, interrogés sur les qualités à développer chez l’enfant, les Français choisissaient “l’obéissance” tandis que les Danois plébiscitaient “l’indépendance”. Un paradoxe, quarante ans après le mouvement antiautoritaire des jeunes de Mai 68. Mais un choix de valeurs très significatif des différentes conceptions de l’apprentissage de la vie.

“C’est fascinant !, observe Cecile Van de Velde, auteur d’une thèse Devenir adulte, sociologie comparée de la jeunesse en Europe, publiée cette année chez PUF. Français et Danois se situent aux deux extrêmes d’un panel européen. Aux Français anxieux, pressés par le temps, cernés par le chômage, convaincus que leur destin se joue avant 25 ans et qu’un échec ou une erreur d’orientation se paient durant toute la vie, s’opposent les Danois confiants, financièrement autonomes grâce à des bourses, prêts et petits boulots, encouragés à l’exploration et à la mobilité, avec un horizon ascendant et un marché de l’emploi avide de leur apport.”

Le tableau est dressé, que l’on croirait caricatural. Mais la vingtaine de jeunes gens rencontrés à Copenhague, en ce début septembre, n’auront de cesse de l’accréditer. “La jeunesse est ici une époque bénie, explique Sven Morch, professeur de psychologie à l’université de Copenhague. Ce qu’elle évoque, véhicule, implique est d’ailleurs si populaire, si positif, que tout le monde voudrait en être et qu’elle tend à s’allonger à l’infini.” S’allonger ? “Les enfants piaffent d’aborder ce rivage et les parents précipitent le mouvement en basant l’éducation de leurs gamins sur l’autonomie et en les habillant très tôt en ados. Dans l’entreprise, les emplois doivent de plus en plus avoir l’attrait du “job”, être distrayants, permettre le développement individuel et même paraître sexy !” La société danoise a pour la jeunesse, dit-il, toutes les indulgences et toutes les attentions. “Et nos jeunes excellent à être jeunes !”

Cela fait sourire la bande de garçons, de 17 à 20 ans, réunis ce dimanche dans le jardin des parents de l’un d’eux. Oui, ils ont bien l’intention d’être “bons” dans la position de “jeunes”. Oui, la vie, ces prochaines années, promet d’être “vraiment cool”. Comme elle le fut déjà, reconnaissent-ils, pendant toute leur scolarité. Pas d’angoisses de carnets de notes ou de devoirs sur table ? “Jamais ! Toute idée de classement est inacceptable, assure Stefan, 20 ans. Elle irait à l’encontre de l’égalité sur laquelle est fondée notre social-démocratie. Les profs comme les parents tentent toujours de trouver du positif. Ce qui compte, c’est d’être soi-même et de se sentir bien.”

Pas de stress, de retenues, de sélection, encore moins de redoublements. Surtout, jamais de menaces associant une profession dévalorisée à un échec scolaire, du genre : “Si tu ne travailles pas, tu finiras…” L’échelle des revenus étant de toute façon très serrée, le diplôme ne garantira pas un salaire plus élevé, une meilleure qualité de vie, ou l’unique moyen de s’élever socialement. Alors, pas de chantage !

Entre collège et lycée, il arrive que des élèves fassent “une pause”, en s’inscrivant dans une “école du peuple”, un internat où, loin des programmes scolaires classiques, ils se consacreront à leurs passions : sports, art, environnement. Marcus, 17 ans, se souvient de cette année où il a développé un projet sur la musique cubaine et effectué un séjour à Paris et à Cuba comme d’un moment merveilleux et essentiel, où il a “grandi, rêvé, appris à vivre et composer avec les autres, et penser à la vie”. Encore deux ans de lycée, et il fera de nouveau une pause. Un an, dit-il. Pour aller sur les routes. “En Espagne, peut-être ; prendre un job de serveur ; bourlinguer ; avant d’entreprendre des études d’anthropologie.”

Ce projet d’une ou deux années “off” est partagé par la quasi-totalité des jeunes, qui vont jusqu’à trouver “dangereux”, voire “catastrophique”, le fait de foncer tête baissée dans les études. Adel, 19 ans, avoue avoir fait ce choix, mais c’est parce qu’il rêve d’être médecin et que, issus de parents ayant fui l’Irak de Saddam Hussein et ayant dû repasser des diplômes au Danemark, il sait que sa famille considérerait comme “un gaspillage de temps effarant” la pause d’un an après le bac. “C’est pourtant le moment de faire des expériences, de se tester, d’acquérir de la maturité hors du cadre familial”, assure Lars, 19 ans, expliquant qu’il lui faut d’ailleurs trouver d’urgence une location car sa mère le met à la porte : “Elle a raison, remarquez ! C’est le bon moment, et le meilleur moyen de rester bons amis !”

Ses amis éclatent de rire. Si l’initiative du départ de la maison n’est pas souvent le fait des parents, la nécessité de ce départ, à la fin de l’enseignement secondaire, s’impose à tous comme une évidence. Pas de rite, pas de larmes, le départ s’inscrit simplement dans une démarche d’autonomie amorcée dès 13-15 ans, par le recours à de petits boulots rémunérés (caissiers, vendeurs, plieurs de journaux), à des tâches ménagères payées, puis par la perception, dès l’âge de 18 ans, d’une aide financière étatique (environ 300 euros). L’Etat danois garantit ainsi l’indépendance des jeunes dès leur majorité.

Et, sur ce point, le consensus là encore est total. Dans ce pays de 5,4 millions d’habitants où le taux d’imposition peut atteindre 80 % des revenus, les études sont gratuites, et chacun a droit à six années de bourses d’Etat (à organiser comme bon lui semble), ainsi qu’à des prêts avantageux, quels que soient les revenus des parents. La combinaison des deux peut aboutir à près de 1 000 euros mensuels. “La plupart des étudiants exerçant un emploi à temps partiel, ils disposent ainsi de revenus leur permettant à la fois indépendance et tranquillité d’esprit, commente le sociologue Dominique Bouchet, qui enseigne et vit au Danemark. Les installations universitaires sont de qualité, le nombre de professeurs pour un groupe d’étudiants bien plus élevé qu’ailleurs.” Et surtout, insiste-t-il, “il y a droit à l’erreur de parcours, droit à l’hésitation et à l’errance. On peut changer de cap, faire une pause, recommencer plus tard dans une autre branche. Tout itinéraire est respectable, l’idée d’échec n’existe pas.”

Pourquoi ? Toujours l’idée, partagée par les employeurs, qu’il importe de “se trouver” et qu’un CV ne se résume pas à la liste des diplômes. “C’est la personnalité qui nous intéresse avant tout, affirme Vagn Sorensen, président de l’entreprise de télécommunications TDC. Quels petits boulots ? Quels voyages ? Quelles expériences de leadership ? De travail bénévole ?” Il faut dire que dans un pays où le taux de chômage est de 1,6 %, autant dire inexistant, le jeune diplômé est très courtisé et c’est lui qui pose ses exigences : horaires, lieu, salaire… “En ce moment, c’est un petit roi !”

Un petit roi qui se lance très tard sur le marché de l’emploi (25-28 ans) et que le gouvernement libéral, inquiet du manque de main-d’oeuvre, des conséquences de la baisse démographique sur le régime de retraite et d’une dégradation possible de l’économie (le Danemark vient de connaître deux trimestres consécutifs de baisse de son PIB) aimerait faire travailler plus tôt. Des incitations à renoncer aux fameuses années “off” sont même imaginées en jouant sur les bourses et le système de notation. Et les Danois sont horrifiés. Bousculer la jeunesse ? Contrarier ses rêves et ses fameux vagabondages ? Sa liberté à trouver doucement sa place ? Jamais !

Final Countdown

Tomas Chleborad — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Yeah, time for the final countdown. Just three more weeks and i will be done with my Bachelor degree in Finland. Then only to do the foreign exchange and that’s it folks.

So, some news? Oki doki:

I left the supermarvelous city of Joensuu, Eastern Eastern Finland, and moved back to school. I don’t needa say i’d love to stay more in Joensuu. Oh oh, Joensuu, i will missss you so so so so muuuch!! Hei people i miss you so much, you with whom i lived there!!! But yeah, we needa move on… :)

I went back to school and took the course of “Entrepreneurship in the Global Economy”, taught by Mr. Frank Hoy, University of Texas. Maaarvelous course, and i dont needa write more about how important it will be for me in the future. It will.

Then followed by Basics in Business Russian, untill now, for 6 weeks already. That, i guess, will be useful as well ;)

And what next? The demographic analysis for international business, oh, that one also is so much in relation with the HR…

Well the only thing i didn’t manage to obtain has was… ..attending the course of international HR management itself… but that is a different story… :(( Guess i manage without as well, one doesn’t needa take all the relevant courses, right?

And now i’ve been letterstorming around the continent. I’ve been bothering various people in various companies and institutions, trying to tell them: “Hei, guys, here i am, forget about those HR people who don’t even know how they happened to work for you and why… coz here i am… 22-yr-old (aaaah, old, nooope!!!) half-naive guy… but i’ve been working on my “denaivisation” so come on, let’s speak business now…”

Well surprisingly enough, that works for some companies, not for others. Too bad so far, the companies i focus on the most are basically those who don’t get the message at all. Hmm, needa work on this issue a bit.

So now i’ve got some ideas about the socalled “future of HR between Central and Nordic Europe”. And i’ll go to visit some people a bit around the continent to know more about how crazy my ideas are. Just hope they’re gonna be more than crazy:) So this means i’m soon going to visit Latvia, Poland and Bulgaria. Yeah, crazy countries, right:) We’re gonna like each other:) I’ll do a research there, and well enough, i’ve got some funding to do this from one company. So the thing is that i must be not as much crazy as people tell me i am :)

So briefly, my plan for the next couple of weeks: Demographic Analysis (untill 8th August) – then Latvia and Poland. Then a break and back hooome :) (Meaning Czech rep.) Then i continue with the research in Bulgaria for a couple of days. And then back home and, lalala, direction Århus, Denmark :)

Saaauuuu, all of you just wish me good luck:)

Cya.

BTW: Here the best way to learn Russian… well actually it’s not even Russian… well, nearly, blaaah… who’d care… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvrBL89ihAY

COMBO Project – newspaper article

Tomas Chleborad — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:39:09 +0000

Joo, finally i can be proud of my efforts to integrate in this unintegrable country;)

TRANSLATION:

Combo project at its final stage

Workforce shortage: The project to guarantee stable staff levels in Outokumpu

… )blaah blaah blaah, about Chamber of Commerce, Regional Council and reg. politicians…

Money the most important motivation

Researcher Tomas Chleborad puts forward that financial reasons are the most important drivers of work-related immigration: those who come to Finland are interested in how much money remains in their hands. The Czech-born student of Helsinki School of Economics has researched about recruitment in the metal industry.

Those who come to Finland from the Central Europe want above all earn more money; integration is only a pleasant bonus.

Chleborad invites others to end useless complaining. One can often hear that “Finland is a distant country in the middle of nowhere” or that “Finnish language is difficult or impossible to learn but necessary. A worker who welds together two peaces of metal – what language skills does he need?

Chleborad recommends using chain recruitment: Czech welders could help recruiting workers they already know in their home country. HRM Jaana Lyhykäinen of NewSteel Group shares this opinion; money is the most important motivation.

Well, but without the contexts it is more or less nonsense for people outside Finland… Well, we must wait for the next article, hihi, lol:)

Stereotypy, ted a stale…

Tomas Chleborad — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:01:45 +0000

Muj zivot se v mnohem toci okolo stereotypu. No konecne jsem nasel neco, co se hodi aj ke stereotypum o Cesich:) Ty mi chybeli. Narozdil od Finu, kteri vi naprosto dokonale v cem jsou pro cizince stereotypni (coz je btw taky jeden z finskych stereotypu), Cesi toho moc nevi o tom, co si o Cesich mysli zahranicni lide. No ja to vim. Ale jsem priliz busy to psat, takze tady je jeden paradni postreh z Reflexu. Zvlast dobry je zaver. Pac uz se tesim, az mi jednou budou Cesi rikat, abych “se odstehoval zpatky, kdyz se mi neco nelibi”… ;)))

No mne se nastesti na Cesich libi hodne veci, tak snad me tohle nepotka. No ale ted ten Reflex clanek od Ivy Skochove:

http://www.reflex.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=31887

Peknou reflexi preju. Z horke, sluncem zalite Karelie zdravi:

Ja. ;)

Sun

Tomas Chleborad — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:12:37 +0000

Hei kaikille.

The sun is lazily going down behind the trees. The day is already as long as long as a summer day in Europe. It is marvelous. It is motivating. It is enthousiasming.

What’s been going on? Määäny things. Guess that since my last article, i was first ill, then paid a short visit to my school. I also met there my friends… and we were the “typical Finnish family” again. They know what that means, don’t worry:)

Then the trip across the country continued, and in Helsinki I spent some time in the HSE library, researching for my thesis. And met friends.

I continued in London. That was basically so stuffed with places events and people that I’m not gonna speak about it here. Personal consultation concerning the trip is welcome, nonetheless:) It was also very important stage in my Bachelor Thesis research process. I’ve spent a significant time at the LSE and in it’s library. Attended a conference about migration challenges for Nordic countries. Gotta speak with the Finnish embassador to London. Met terrificly intelligent people as well. You can check my photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/world.meets.chleba

After coming back from London, i made a short visit of friend in Tampere. Visisted a media museum there, and the Finlayson’s industrial complex, nowadays transformed into a fashionable free-time center. Must be great in summer.

Then i spent couple of weeks just compiling and writing results of my research. Now my Bachelor Thesis exists as a very first draft, and i am pretty proud for the results. Now it really seems that it hasn’t been just a part of my life without any implications for future but it is likely to be a pretty success for my future career directions. Now i feel really confident about my interest in the issues of Human Resource Management and of recruitment business. And now i know there’s a future in that, yeaahhh:)

Now i’ve been starting my plans about this summer that i will largely spend in Mikkeli. I will be taking courses of

Global Enterpreneurship

Demographic Analysis

Russian Language.

All of these, as i hope and as i predict, will have a serious implications for my future as well. I am really looking forward to these things.

Slowly I’ve started to prepare my exchange studies in Denmark, at Århus School of Business. After having checked out photos, videos, 360-degree tours and courses descriptions, i must say: ULTRAMARVELOOOOUS:))

And, from the personal perspective, my life in Joensuu, until now, has really been a time of profound happiness. I love it here, I like the people here, no matter whether they are Finns, Europeans or others. It’s been really great here. And it will be veeeery difficult and emotionally demanding to leave. But, being here’s been worth it:)

My sincere guess is that 2008 may really go down in history as a red letter year :))))))) My suns are shining… ;)

What’s new

Tomas Chleborad — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:31:27 +0000

Hei. So there’s been nothing for a while on my blog, so let’s put there something now.

Last time i was writing about my moving out of mikkeli and moving to joensuu. well, this being said, there’s basically only funny stuff left to discuss:)

well. i moved into my flat here in joensuu. hopefully i will put some photo of it on facebook or somewhere, maybe not here, it takes too much time to upload. anyways, it’s nice here, i lik it. and when it’s cleaned and tidied then it’s more than cozy. more than before… there’s just some kinda scent prezent, left by the previous tenant. he was an it-person (God knows these are funny people)… well, kinda “lethal combination” of being a Finn and being an IT-guy… as result there is a totally silent never-speaking person… well, whatever:)

i live with two flatmates. one is a Finn who’s never here. the other one is a Russian who is kinda sad about his two other flatmates who are never at home… meaning i am never at home…

yep. usually i wake up at 6:30 am and i dash before 8. from 8 to late afternoon, or until the evening, i work on my bachelor thesis. three times a day i die (before the lunch, before the afternoon coffee break and before the dinner). the dinner i usually have them somewhere else, meaning another part of the city… i am very often invited somewhere for a dinner, a cakeparty, a party, or to a disco, just marvelous.

on the evenings, i usually go to swimming (including the swimming and sauna). or i attend courses of finnish in the local adults’ school or in the local cultural center. one aims to improving my speaking skills in finnish, which i swear is something i f* do need. the other one’s objective is to improve my finnish cultural skills and knowledge.

otherwise, i dont have time for much else… well, if i have evenings just for myself, then they are generally very short.

but generally speaking i am veeeery happy in my new city,. first, i got kinda lot of things to do about my bachelor thesis. it takes lot of time but i am glad i got that opportunity. coz this way i am getting more andmore familiar with the field i wanna work in soon (IHRM, recruiting, headhunting, stuff like that). and aso i get to know an incredible number of people… i mean… people who lead this region’s economy. exciting. wow:))

then the exciting thing is that i got an enormous number of new friends. they are basically various exchange students but i like them much. really. then of course i gotta know a load of finns, which, you guess, is for me a very pleasant thing… coz i like finns:) and they are of course not one-time friends like exchange students:) they’ll stay close… most of them…

and otherwise how i feel? happy. that’s the word i was using very often at the beginning of my stay here, as it was kinda different from what i lived through in mikkeli…

now i’ve been preparing for one of my crazy crazy trips… next week i jump into train and i go to mikkeli, then to helsinki, then to tampere, to london and then again to tampere and to joensuu. and i all of these cities i expect to meet some of my good friends, so that’s gonna be marvelous… and it’s gonna be my first time in tampere and in london, so so… great…

tomas:)

Ice swimming:)

Summaries

Tomas Chleborad — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:58:59 +0000

Hei everyone! :)

It seems that i haven’t been writing anything since the 23rd November, and even that wasn’t anything extremely interesting.

So, let’s sum it up. Maybe someone wants to know what’s going on in Finland and around.

So so, quickly swiftly.

The last several months at my school were just routine. One course after another passing, lot of work to do, lot of things to read, to write, to calculate, to think about. Intercultural Management, Finance, International Economics, Methods of Research in International Business. Such things. Very interesting, very time-demanding.

So i told myself that it cannot continue this way forever. Something had to be done.

Christmas came to Mikkeli as well. I spent a lot of time with my friends in Mikkeli, my neighbors actually. All of them are one of the nicest people i’ve ever known, and I am more than grateful of knowing them. So we made little Christmas together, and then i went to Helsinki and flew back to Europe. After one year.

Our Christmas Tree

I flew to Berlin, and then by train to Dresden where i saw my parents, after one year of just skyping. And everything went into the old normality. Things like “you are always like that” or “you leave everything always on me”. Well, i didn’t say that there is no more “you always”… There is gonna be no more “you always” at all… But that’s the way it must be allthe time… and even the parents need to understand that there is not gonna be “always” and that there is not gonna be their son as he used to be years and years ago… I’ve just been living for 4,5 years abroad… with different people… That’s just life and it’s as simple as that… …and as hard for all the parents as that…

Made in CZE (by my sister)

Materialist’s Dream Christmas Prezent:

Audi Q4 (or higher)

So i spent the Christmas with my family. I also travelled a lot. I was in Switzerland once, I was three times in Prague. I partcipated on two “post-Carnolingiens” meetings. And in both cases i was soooo happy to them again… It was actually very interesting to see how we differ from each other… We once used to live the same lives… and now we have only been diverging more and more. Funny.

And of course i spent hours and hours shopping (or trying to find something suitable for Christmas for my family, friends, and for myself… :)

I was also near Znojmo to visit the other half of family. Veery alcoholic, veery funny as well.

And i spent the Christmas day at our country house. For couple of days the family was just receiving visits. I personally received a short sickness. Two days short. So no real rest at all.

Then two more hectic days in Teplice and then hurraaaah back to Berlin and to Helsinki.

I spent the New Year’s Eve there, drank lots of booze, spent time with friends, got to know new ones.

And then hurraaah back to Mikkeli. Spent one day there, rented a van. Then i took the van, put all my stuff into it, and drove 200km away. Unloaded the stuff, got a little nap, heated the car again and drove back. On my way i was unfreezing the fuel tube for three times coz it was -20° and i stupid was pouring water onto in every time… So each time it got even more frozen that before… But funny anyway, hihi.

My Moving Van

And then driving back at midnight, thaaat was beautiful. I had the road just for myself. There was just me, and the road, and the forests with mooses all around. And the Orion above us… Miraculous. Yep.

My Stuff

And then the other day the train in Mikkeli was late. So the Train Company paid me a taxi. 200km in taxi, niiiice… :))

Take Me Hoooome, Country Rooooad

And than i came finally home, exactly one week ago now. And i do say “home”. Coz i am home now, and my new home is called

JOENSUU.

Aftersauna mode, Friday evening’s mood…

Tomas Chleborad — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:18:22 +0000

Co si budem povidat. Proste doma je doma…

A tak to tu v patek vecer chodi:

Do sauny, pak do snehu, a pak neco hrejiveho/chladiveho do sebe. Hlavne kdyz ma vse tu spravnou teplotu… :)))

Chleba:)

StrikeMe!

Tomas Chleborad — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:51:57 +0000

National catastrophe in FRANCE: railroad men (and women) are on strike. So that the rail traffic really works… à la française. And French people so much love travelling by TGV. Coz they have nothing else to travel with.

National catastrophe in GERMANY: railroad men (and women) are on strike. So that the rail cargo really works… à la française. And Germans so much love exporting their products. Coz they have nothing else to do about their products.

National catastrophe in FINLAND: employees of Alko are on strike. So that the shops entitled to sell alcohol are closed !! Oh my gosh! They are closed, just before the weekend! And Finns so much love drinking!! Coz theyhave nothing else to do during weekends…

Conclusion: each country developed its own way of suffering strikes. And that’s the way it shall be:)))

Vivelaneige, Tomas:)