I Wanna Go To Narnia!

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (or 'The Chronicles of Narnia')is on in Fun Republic, anyone wanna go see it?
I love this story & really have to see it but of course as usual it has stupid timings...the only showing I could go see is at 10.35pm, anyone want to go along and see it some evening this week? (before that's it's 5.30pm, which could be a problem work-wise for me)

So if anyone is interested will they send me an SMS or reply to the post.

Posted by 'A very distraught Jean if she doesn't get to go & see it'

Gong hai fat choy! or if you speak Mandarin, then Gong xi fa cai!

Usher in the Year of the Dog

Happy Chinese New Year! Actually happy one-day belated Chinese New Year. (You'd think that as a Chinese person, I would have an internal genetic alarm for these kinds of holidays, but apparently not. Every year, some non-Chinese person is the first one to wish me a happy Chinese new year instead of the other way around.)

This was my favourite holiday as a kid because all the older married people have to give the younger unmarried people money in red lucky envelopes! And all you have to do to deserve this is go and visit your elders. Too bad they're a little far for me this year.

If you are born in the year of the dog, then here is a website with more information than you could ever want on your horoscope.

Something to distract you from work!

Wanna know what you did in your past life?
Find out here...

Apparently I was an East Australian male in my past life in 1775, where, “sometimes my environment considered me strange” and in my present life my “main task is to make the world more beautiful”...man, I'm failing miserably!

Anybody got any interesting past life 'diagnosis' ?

Goodbye Johanna & Ben!

You will be missed!

Pics are Available

I’m gonna pull a Ryan and use this blog to shamelessly self-promote my picture website, theek hai?  After sorting through about 3200 photos of everything from Nicholas and Mads golfing to Nicholas and Mads doing a walk-off, I’ve selected the best 675 for your viewing pleasure.  Just head on over to my blog or my picture website and take a gander.

Enjoy.

Who's who?! - Results and Poll

So, after some online collaboration with Jean, and detective work looking throught he photos of the party night to see what people were wearing, the stomachs have been matched to the people!

With the exception of Figure 4, I think we have the list correct!

Personally i think Figure 2 isn't as flattering as it could be to the current state of my new and improved slimline stomach!

Who's Who?! Three

Fig 7
Fig 8
Fig 9

Who's Who?! Two!

Fig 4
Fig 5
Fig 6

Who's who?!

Well, I was just about to update the abused poll, only to find that i had no idea who is in which picture that i was going to base the poll on...

So, please claim your stomach or guess who's who from the selection below, and then i'll create a new poll accordingly...

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Back in Serbia

Hello, my dear friends!

It’s been almost 10 days since I got back to Serbia. I haven’t experienced any “reversed cultural shock”, I just feel like I was on a long holiday – everything here is just like I left it... only colder. :)

Serbia in snow:

I hope you won’t mind me sharing a few pics of my month-long trip ‘round south.

Keralan adventures:

Mumbai snack:

Since I spent most of my time here (in Serbia) eating MEAT :) , I will be so kind to share my joy with you! :D

Serbian rehabilitation:

And... since I didn’t cut my beard and hair during my backpacking trip (real backpackers never do! :) ), here’s how I looked when I got home and... right after my father did the... tidying up. :)

Before and after:

Take care guys! I hope to see you again soon!

The end of the world!

Johanna has asked me to post this:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/endofworld.html

A nice little site with some interesting views on how the world can end. With some national stereotypes thrown in too!

Party!!!

I'm not sure what is happening this weekend with regards to Nina's leaving party... But Johanjimin has asked me to let everyone know that their leaving party will be on tuesday, probably in 38.

That's all the information i was given... keep your eye's peeled for more info, and keep that evening free in your busy social calendars!

Also, the link to Johanna's pictures has been updated if you fancy a distraction from work!

Scandalous

I can't believe certain individuals have resorted to rigging the famous blog poll (whether this is the first occurrence of such dishonesty is questionable) However, I feel the individuals should be punished or penalised in some way if for no other reason to uphold the high repute of this blog.

There's no way anyone was really voting for Nacho's horrible piece of crap [I don't think he even likes it!] & there's nothing special about Germain's bike (it certainly doesn't have any funky decoration..)

Last Chance

Guys!
You guys must be fed up with these travels to fancy places. Amritsar, Dharamsala, Delhi...
How about a little trip to the slum???

This might be your last chance to meet the people of the slums. I will be leaving in a weeks time and am offering to be a tour guide to the Slums Beautiful!

Also, if you have any clothes and stuff to donate... you could bring them along. Tomorrow Lucie is coming with me and on Friday Nacho and his cousin. Any day this week would work, it's up to you.

Otherwise, I'm thinking of fun plans for a good-bye party. Any suggestions?

Poll

I think a collective victory (is it a victory?!) for Johanjimin and Marty can be taken from the last poll.

Time for a new one...

Here's the banner

Or hopefully it will be there once i make some changes to the site code...

Kent's webspace hosting the picture expired, but maybe i can link to this picture...

Where's The Banner Gone?

Is it just me & my stupid computer or has the banner disappeared from this here blog?

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

A few of us are going to the Chatbir Zoo this Sunday. I've been there once and it's a pretty interesting place. It's not at all like North American zoos, in that there's a lot of open space, few cages and the habitats look like natural Indian wildlife (as opposed to spray-painted cement rocks, etc). It makes for a really nice walk.

Last time the Bengali tiger eluded me; they were doing some work on his pen. I hope to catch a glimpse this time. Something I really enjoyed last time were all the birds - I know that sounds lame, but they had some really big storks and stuff. One was in heat last time making a weird low growling/grunting sound. And it was cool to see how their knees bend the other way from ours.

The Chatbir Zoo and the lion safari park is 15 kms from Chandigarh city centre on the Chandigarh-Patiala Road. The Chatbir zoo has been developed into a zoological parkland and has royal Bengal tigers and Himalayan black bear as the main attraction. The zoo spreads over an extensive wooded area on the banks of the Ghaggar river. The Zoo has an interesting collection of more than 100 different mammals, birds and reptiles from all over the world are kept at the zoo in large natural enclosures. It houses a large variety of fauna and flora.

Visiting Hours : 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. on all days except Mondays and holidays.
Entry Fee : Rs. 5

There's supposed to be a city bus that goes directly there. If not, then we should be able to take an intercity bus and then an autorickshaw to get there, but I'm not sure of the details. Or if anyone knows of cheap transport we can rent, then let me know.

We could plan to meet up somewhere at noon on Sunday. Who wants to join us?

Another Reason Tonight Simply Has To Be A Horror Night...

Happy Lohri Everyone! Yes, another festival half the people don't seem to celebrate or know about...I looked into it and found it's very similar to Halloween so in my opinion it cements the idea of watching lots of creepy films tonight!!!



Here's a summary of what it's about -












“Lohri — the long-awaited bonfire festival — falls in mid-January. The earth, farthest from the sun at this point of time, starts its journey towards the sun, thus ending the coldest month of the year, Paush, [finally! Yipee] and announcing the start of the month of Magh and the auspicious period of Uttarayan - January 14 to July 14. On Lohri day, children go from door to door singing and demanding the Lohri 'loot' in the form of money and eatables like til (sesame) seeds, peanuts & jaggery [trick or treat!]. In the evening huge bonfires are lit in the harvested fields and in the front yards of houses. People gather around the rising flames and throw puffed rice, popcorn and other munchies into the fire, shouting "Aadar aye dilather jaye" (May honor come and poverty vanish!)" [just like a scene from The Wicker Man!]

So Happy Friday 13th to everyone too and about tonight the murder mystery didn't go as planned - you have to pay for it & we were to lazy too write one! So if anyone has any other games they'd like to play bring them along and see you all tonight...

Hindi Anyone?

Johanna, Ben and I are going to start our first Hindi lesson tonight. If anyone else is interested in learning Hindi, then let me know. Here are the details:

Teacher: Anita
Experience: Taught Roberta, a former trainee, for 8 months. Also has experience teaching in schools, I think.
Subject: Will teach both oral and written Hindi.
Lesson Times: Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 6:30pm. This will probably drop down to twice a week once Johanna and Ben leave.
Location: Teacher's house in Sector 20.
Cost: 1000Rs/mth/person (this will be confirmed tonight)

French Conversation Group

For anyone who knows a little french and would enjoy a chance to practice it:

CONNEXION FRANCAISE
(Groupe de Conversation)

Vous êtes cordialement invités à la prochaine réunion de "Connexion Française" le Samedi 28 janvier 2006 à 17 :30 heures au ‘Café Noir’ à Alliance Française, secteur 36, Chandigarh. Le thème du programme sera « La galette des rois», avec dégustation de cette spécialité gastronomique.

La participation est gratuite ainsi que pour les futurs rendez-vous. Le nombre de personnes de chaque rencontre sera limité à 25, dans l’ordre des inscriptions reçues par courriel électronique ou par téléphone. Merci de confirmer votre participation au plus tôt à Manmoman, par retour de mail ou au [supprimé].

Pour la séance du 28 janvier, il y aura un atelier cuisine le matin de 10 :00 à midi pour préparer la galette. Pour y participer, inscrivez-vous aussi auprès de Manmohan (8 personnes maximum).

If you would like to participate, then let me know and I'll RSVP for you. If I'm in town and there's still space left, then I will definitely go.

Congratulations!!!

I'm sure Marty won't mind me posting about this, but this afternoon he informed me that he had just been fired from his traineeship.

Whilst this may sound quite shocking, congratulations are actually in order!

Enjoy your extra time to travel and freedom from work!

P.S. I don't know about you, but this is the first time i've congratulated somebody upon hearing they have been fired!

Poll

So Nacho *apparently* has the best traineeship, but who has the worst?!...

Dinner Party - Details

So I talked to Samantha about the dinner...

We can have the dinner party on Friday at Samantha's house, starting any time after 1pm if people need extra preparation time...

We'll have to wait and see whether the Murder Mystery game can be done, but how about aiming to eat at 7.30ish... so i guess arrive in enough time to make your food and prepare for the game if we can do it.

As for food, since nobody really knows what they're cooking, the menu will be a suprise!

After the dinner/game we can then watch movies (Sam has a DVD player, so laptops need not be brought unless you really want to.) Sam is too wussy for the horror movies, but anyone brave enough to watch, and ends up too scared to go home after can stay the night if they like.

I think thats about all...

Friday The 13th!!!

Guess what everyone? Tomorrow is Friday 13th!!!
Almost as good as Halloween and a chance to make up for the lack of Halloween celebrations.
I don't think there's anyway we should let this glorious day pass (the next chance we'll get to mark such an event will be in October)– we need to watch really weird & creepy films to mark the occasion!
Only problem is I don't have a laptop to watch them.....

Is this dinner party gonna be on tomorrow or what?
If it is, who's up for some after dinner horror?

And on a side note- I know in Chile Tuesday 13th is tomorrow's equivalent. Do any other countries have a similar thing on a different weekday?

Dinner Party

Hello fellow trainees - and Samantha - and Marine (sorry, I'm not sure how to spell the name...)

The blog seems to be going through a bit of a drought, so I'll try my best and blog more. We've had an idea:

Anyone in the mood for a dinner party? A proper one. We could cook together and... dare I suggest it... have wine?

Would be nice to have a fancy evening and a three course meal?? (or... we could just get together and mash potatoes... doesn't matter).

Maybe we should do it this week, while Marine is still in the City Beautiful? That way the both genders would have a 50% share.
Theek hai! Looking forward to hearing from you.

Poll

So I guess Kent stays. Damn it!

And a new poll is up... It's all I could think of on the spot (all suggestions for different polls welcome...)

Sorry if I forgot somebody!

No more H&S media!

On behalf of Johanna:

simply put - "h&s-media doesn't allow it's trainees to get to know about social activities anymore and blocked blogspot.com"

strange how they waited until Kent left to block their access since he was the biggest blog user of all of us...

i guess we can do things the old fashioned way and talk to you about what is going on! and i think Nacho will be guaranteed the 400th post now that Johanna is out of the picture!

Something For The Weekend?

It's Friday already!
A full weekend to enjoy...but what is everybody doing? Sitting here at this crappy desk with the thought of having no plans is not helping my mood...

I'll die if I have to spend a boring weekend in Chandigarh....so if I die on your heads be it.

300th Post

Keeping up the Administrators job of celebrating the century marking posts on the blog, i must congratulate Johanna on making the 300th post, rather fittingly talking about Kent's passing.

Are they Gods?

I don't think so, they were rats, they were everywhere in that temple...Shoes were not allowed which means that they can reach you no matter what.

This question is insane!!!

ps: Maybe that's why in this country there is no Cheese...I mean, good cheese!!!

Mwuhahahahahaha!

You fool Kent!

Now listen up and listen good! Things are gonna change around here you little freaks!

First of all, i think we need to get rid of the dead weight! so if you direct your attention to the new poll, you'll see that first up is the leader of the old regime, Babin.

I'm not afraid of the delete button, so whatever the poll says, your glorious leader shall do!

Secondly, I think all members should show their appreciation to me, by writing a short paragraph praising me. Cash will also be an acceptable alternative!

Nice to see some good posting going on too. And as homework, I think all current members and alumni should make a nice post.

Yours sincerely,

Ry

PS i actually have no idea what i'm doing as administrator, and have no idea whether i managed to update the poll correctly! Don't tell anyone i'm a fraud!!!

And One More Thing....

I don't expect that commenting rights will only be given to members...unless Ryan has some crazy plan up his sleave. And nothing is being deleted either, so don't worry.

Official Announcement

I would just like to announce that Ryan has just been made the next blog administrator. Some of the recent comments have been troubling me. For one, I doubt the blog will die. It was christmas and new years, so most of you were not working. Also, isn't there only 10 or so people left?

Kush, the simple reason why I never invited you was because you were not doing a traineeship in chandigarh. It's fine that you commented, but you have to understand that we are foreigners living far away from home and this blog helps us create a community. As for Samantha being invited, she is also in our position. Yes, you have a point about her not doing a traineeship and there might be a bit of Canadian biased attached to it, but in the end, she is still a foreigner living away from home. I hope you understand. Any further queries can be directed at Ryan because I'll only be commenting from now on (unless nobody is doing anything).

Oh ya, I'm back in Canada and still awake after 50 hours of not sleeping...good times, eh?

She is so cool

She also was there!!!

I can't believe it Ryan, but you forgot Jean...she was there sharing with us a nice bottle of Irish National Drink and then an"amazing" Vinager Indian Style Wine...

Don't forget that....SHE WAS THERE, i don't remember but i have this picture.



Nacho.

What Did Everyone Do For New Year?

I can't believe it is actually a new year, it really doesn't feel like it!

So how did everyone ring in 2006?
There were no trainees in Chandigarh for the occasion, AIESEC tried to organise a party for the night – i got an SMS at 1pm to tell be there was a party in 6 hours...wonder was it successful?!

What about the travelers – Nick, Mads, Kent, Vladan, Benjamen, Johanna etc...? Can we see some pics? And what about the past trainees that have gone home Salvador, Emil etc, what did you all do? And does anybody know if the planned new year party in London (I think) go ahead....

I was in Mcloid Ganj, it was beautiful but here's what I had to share it with...




Somebody should teach those amateurs how to drink!

Save the Chandigarh Trainee Blog!

I've been saddened by the lack of posting on the blog and I've decided to act. Lets send a message to, umm, I'm not sure who, but someone, that this blog will not die.

Sign the petition to save the Chandigarh Trainee Blog and fight back against the MAN!

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savetraineeschdblog

A Kent style random post...

Did you know...

• Humans can be born suffering from a rare condition known as "sirenomelia" or "mermaid syndrome", in which the legs are fused together to resemble the tail of a fish.
• One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.
• Lionesses like their males to be deep brunettes.
• The Queen has never been on a computer, she told Bill Gates as she awarded him an honorary knighthood.
• In America it's possible to subpoena a dog.
• The 71m packets of biscuits sold annually by United Biscuits, owner of McVitie's, generate 127.8 tonnes of crumbs.
• When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.
• The average employee spends 14 working days a year on personal e-mails, phone calls and web browsing, outside official breaks, according to employment analysts Captor.
• Tactically, the best Monopoly properties to buy are the orange ones: Vine Street, Marlborough Street and Bow Street.
• It takes 75kg of raw materials to make a mobile phone.
• Deep Throat is reportedly the most profitable film ever. It was made for $25,000 (£13,700) and has grossed more than $600m.
• It takes less energy to import a tomato from Spain than to grow them in this country (UK) because of the artificial heat needed, according to Defra.
• First-born children are less creative but more stable, while last-born are more promiscuous, says US research.
• A towel doesn't legally reserve a sun lounger - and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats.
• One in six children think that broccoli is a baby tree.
• One in 18 people has a third nipple.
• Spanish Flu, the epidemic that killed 50 million people in 1918/9, was known as French Flu in Spain.
• Bill Gates does not have an iPod.
• Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognisable riff before they buy, thereby making a "public performance".

Just a sample from a list of things we didn't know this time last year from the BBC.

Thanks for the Insult!

OK, so I know i didn't look the best yesterday – 8 hours on a bus followed by no sleep due to the thunderstorm isn't the best beauty treatment, but you really don't expect the question

“Are you a drifter?”

on your way home from work...

C'mon, Thanks for making me feel like a wandering hobo!

P.S. I don't do resolutions – they interfere with my planned life of pure hedonism!

Oh and Happy New Year to Everyone!

Sam's New Year's Resolution

Okay, that was just the cartoonist's resolution, as evidenced by his sloppy colouring.

My new year's resolution is to wake up earlier than 10 minutes before I have to leave the house in the morning so that I don't have to eat my breakfast on the run.

What's your new year's resolution?