Very worried about my beloved Ecuador!

The last couple of days made me realise once more how little information we get on countries other than US or Europe in Swiss newspapers...

If you really read a newspaper you might have picked up that there were some heavy rainfalls in Ecuador but more than a few lines? I hardly doubt it. But there is more to that actually. Over 23 people died and damages reach up to 1 million USD. Pictures and German story
http://www.n-tv.de/927005.html

Due to these rainfalls, a pipe burst and a lot of oil entered a swamp in the Amazonas region and finally reached a river people used to drink from and fish in. Also other rivers robbed several families of their houses and therefore their whole existence. Like this family with 6 children, the father earning USD 40 (!) every week to feed 8 people (I would like seeing us all living on that amount of money..I know Ecuador is cheap, I have lived there, but that, believe me, is little money especially for 8 mouths
http://www2.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=174554&id_seccion=10

But most of all I am scared because of the recent incident with Colombia. Colombian forces shot 16 members of the Farc rebels, including number 2 (senior commander) Raul Reyes. Even though some people claim that his death is a drawback for the liberation of the hostages, including the former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, this is not the big problem. The Colombian forces however had to shoot those Farc members on Ecuadorian ground and that is where all the trouble originates. Here is a small BBC video about it http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7270000/newsid_7276200/7276291.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&ms3=54&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

The Ecuadorian president ordered already some 6000 men to the Columbian border, with a back up of Chavez, sending his troops to the Colombian border on the North of the country. Although the other Southamerican nations like Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Chile as well as Mexico and the UN are trying to step in and find a peaceful solution, this is a highly dangerous situation. The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that South-America is not prepared for such a conflict and that no one wants a war because the region needs peace in order to develop further. http://www.lahora.com.ec/frontEnd/main.php?idSeccion=689884

Well I really hope that there will be no fighting and that they can get back to being neighbours again. I really believe that Ecuador has other problems and does not need to follow some crazy ideas of the northern neighbour of Colombia...

With that little research I just wanted to point out that even if we claim our newspapers to be covering every part of the world, they hardly really do it. Just bits and pieces but not all.

Soundtrack of my last weekend: I'll be there for you

So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even
your year, but

{Chorus}

I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too

You're still in bed at ten and work began at eight
You've burned your breakfast so far, things are going great
Your mama warned you there'd be days like these
But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees, and

{Chorus}

No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Since you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me
Someone to face the day with
Make it through all the best with
Someone who always laughs at
Even when I'm at my worst, I'm best with you
Yeah!

{Chorus}

I'll be there for you
I'll be there for you
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too

LOVE YOU ALL; MY FRIENDS!!!!!

Zendagi migzara (Life goes on)

Zendagi migzara is a saying from Afghanistan which means life goes on. I took it from the book "The Kite Runner" which I read a couple of weeks ago and which is now shown in the cinema (if you have the chance to read it, do so. No matter how good the movie is-it is supposed to be not bad- the book is better!). But the reason I chose this saying for the title is that it fits so very well. Life goes on. Life went on, but I didn’t blog about it. I am really sorry for that. I am trying to make it up a little with this post but I won’t be able to cover everything that happened or no one would make it to the end of the post before they fell asleep.

So to fill you in on what you missed out in my life:

I went back to Dublin in November to meet up with some of the girls. It was an hilarious trip although we kind of got off to a bad start by missing our plane due to the delayed Deutsche Bahn (yes you are right, we were really pleased about that…) but once we got there it was well worth all the trouble, time and money spent (or in some cases: wasted). The weather was really nice and it just felt TOO good to be back. It really felt like coming home in a weird way. To illustrate this I have to remind you that they drive on the “wrong” side of the road (at least for everybody not living in the UK or any previously owned country of the Kingdom including Ireland..). Anyway, to close a long story short, you normally have to watch out in order not to get run over by a car. The very same happened to us when we first got there, at the beginning of last year. However, being back after almost 6 months and not having spent one single day since then in one of those “wrong-sided” countries, we did NOT have to watch out now. We didn’t even notice that we weren’t paying attention. There was no need too. We all turned our heads unconsciously to the right side. It felt so natural. So I am curious to see how it will be the next time I will be back in Dublin, which is going to happen soon, at the end of March :-). I am really looking forward to that already.

Christmas and New Years Eve were a quiet time so I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends and really enjoyed it. It was good to catch up with friends, to talk to friends having returned from Singapore (for sure), Germany and France (temporarily) or heading off to the wrong-side of the road country UK. Those gatherings made me realise once more that neither time nor distance can destroy a good friendship once those bonds are strong. And I feel very privileged to experience those kinds of friendships. It is so nice to have you around guys, even if it is just for our annual New Years gathering. We may get older, but some things never change and I am so happy about it, love you heaps!

The new year brought the exam period (I got my results today and I passed all of my 11 exams except one and I didn’t need that one anyway so yeah!)and the necessity to start thinking of “the time after”. The time after means what am I going to do after having finished with my Bachelor. Do I go back to work or enjoy some more time being a student while doing my Master of Law at university? What about becoming a tax-expert? Or taking off to a new part of the world for an AIESEC internship (I developed an interest in both Pakistan/Afghanistan and Colombia very much to the dislike of my mother)? And what about those international PWC possibilities, Spain sounds not too bad neither…so yes, there are many options and that makes it even more difficult because I am not 22. So the answer can’t be which one first. It will have to be “either/or”. Which I don’t mind, but it keeps you thinking. And being me, I keep on changing “decisions”. I might be sure about one option and completely dislike it the other day, which makes it even harder. I tell you, sometimes it’s not easy being myself :-).

I am getting nearer to a “final” decision but nothing is sure so I won’t spill the beans yet.

So now my last semester started and with it my Bachelor thesis. I can’t believe it. It feels like yesterday when I joined the ZHW (now know as ZHAW) and AIESEC but that was now already 2.5 years ago. Time IS running. Faster than I do sometimes. But I am still hoping that I can catch up with it I promise, I will try!