Boldog Karacsonyt / Merry Christmas

Ezzel a par keppel kivannek innen a 30 fokos, de esos nyarbol Boldog Karacsonyt mindenkinek!

I wish a Merry Christmas to everybody with these pics from this 30-degree hot, but rainy summer.

A Vizek Volgye / The Valley of Waters

Ahogy azt mar korabban irtam, tervben volt, hogy visszamegyek meg egyszer a Kek Hegysegbe (Blue Mountains), de akkor mar egy egesz hetvegere. Hat 3 hete sort is keritettunk ra negyen (Paul, Emil, Luis meg En), jo kis satrazos, kocsikazos moka kereteben. Mintha ez ilyen egyszeruen menne J.

Az elso elmeny ismet a kocsihoz volt kotheto. Negykerek meghajtasu, 2 eves Nissan dzsip, 60 literes tankkal, mely elmeletileg a kolcsonzes pillanataban tele volt, igy nem is neztuk meg. Amugy is kesesben voltunk, mert a haveroknak nem volt annyi eszuk, hogy bereljenek egy GPSt is a kocsival, ezt a hibat mar tobbszor elkovettuk, sebaj majd egyszer, szoval 10 perc helyett 70 perc alatt talaltak meg hogy hol lakom :D Elejen nem volt gaz, az egyik benzinkutnal eszembe jutott, hogy mi lenne ha tankolnank, de aztan elhessegettem a gondolatot, hogy ah hulye vagyok tele a tank. Nem kellett volna. Felsavos, isten porckorongserve mogotti hegyi ut kellos kozepen kis piros lampa kigyullad es kedvesen aszondja “BIP”. Ekkor mar motoszkalt bennunk a kisordog, hogy valami nincsen rendjen, ra is pillantottunk a kijelzore es az csak megerositette a gyanunkat, hogy biza elkezdtuk hasznalni a tartalekbenzint, ami baratok kozt is csak 60 km-re eleg. Meg szerencse, hogy a Jenolan Barlangok, ahova mentunk mar csak kb. 10 km-re volt. (Akinek itt esetleg eszebe jutna, hogy majd ott biztos lehet tankolni az nezze meg hol fekszik Jenolan Caves J) Megerkezven felretettuk az aggodalmunkat a benzin miatt, es 2 dologra fokuszaltunk: tapanyagbeviteli igenyunk kis piros lampaja is bippegett mar rendesen, szoval megtamadtuk az egyetlen kifozde/ettermet, masreszt pedig ki kellett talalnunk, hogy a 150+ barlangon atvezeto (tobbsege meg mindig feltaratlan, ezert a “+”) 25+ tura kozul melyik lesz az az egy amit megtisztelunk jelenletunkkel. Figyelembeveve, hogy nem akartunk 1 orat varni, nem akartunk a legkonnyebb turakon menni, egyetlen valasztasunk maradt, szoval - meglepo modon - azt valasztottuk. Az idegenvezeto a klasszikus ausztral fajta volt – eletem legjobb idegenvezetese – tolta a jo poenokat ezerrel, laza, interaktiv stilus, volt ido nezelodni, nem volt leosztos stilusa, folyamatosan mosolygott, tolta a jobbnal jobb sztorikat (pl. hogy felevente egyszer kitakaritjak a barlangokat porszivoval meg slaggal vagy hogy az anyos nyelve nevu formacio nevet az anyos latogatok tiltakozasa miatt megvaltoztattak – persze nem emlekszem mire), szoval a 2 ora a cseppkobarlangban pikk-pakk elrepult, hat ide is jo lenne meg visszamenni egy csuszos-maszos turara.

Kierve a napfenyre ismet, szembejott a kellemes 30 fokos egeto napsutes (December – kora nyari idojaras) meg a teny, hogy benzin meg mindig nincs a tankban, ugyhogy gyors korbekerdezes utan kideritettuk, hogy a legkozelebbi benzinkut 35-40 km-re van a hegy masik oldalan. Gyors fejszamolas, ez eleg necc, de hat kalandvagyo a tarsasag meg amugysincs nagyon mas valasztasunk, hat majd toljuk a kocsit, ha elfogy a nafta. GPS hijan remenykedtunk, hogy a keves szamu kanyarnal jo dontest fogunk hozni, es nem kotunk ki a susnyasban. Szerencsere rendben eljutottunk a varosig, a kis piros lampa a bippel csak a varos latohataraban zavarta meg az utunkat, jelezve, hogy biza mar a tartalek tartalekanak utolso maradekat egetjuk. Beerve a varosba nagy nehezen talaltunk par sracot, akik –remeltuk – utbaigazitanak minket a legkozelebbi auto-itato fele. 2 opcioink is volt, a kozelebbi, meg a tavolabbi, ami joval olcsobb, amire gondolkodas nelkul, egyontetuen ravagtuk, hogy azt valasztjuk. Utana petrsze hangosan elkezdtunk rohogni, hogy 1. dunsztunk nem volt mi a kozel es a tavol, 2. a benzinszint-mero mutatoja mar az elso vonal alatti szintet mutatott, de mi azert harapunk az “olcso” kulcsszora rendesen. Elvegre jol idomitott fogyasztokent gazdagitjuk az ausztral tarsadalmat. Lenyeg a lenyeg becsorogtunk a kuthoz, megtankoltunk (hogy ez se legyen teljesen esemenytelen, nem tudtuk milyen fajta benzin megy a kocsiba, mert se a kezikonyvben, se a tankon nem volt rajta – meg szerencse, hogy a kutas bacsi egy fel oldalpillantasbol is vagta, hogy dizel). Azt meg mar csak egy kedves mosollyal tette hozza, hogy a dizel kocsiba nem megy bele a benzines-pisztoly, mert tul vastag a csove, csak forditva. Igy 2:0-s eredmenynel jobbnak lattuk tovabbindulni a kempingbe.

Utkozben beugrottunk Katoomba leghiresebb csoki-manufakturajaba, ahol bedobtunk egy forro csokit, hat roviden: nem kellett volna, viz+kakao volt. Meg vettem 6 db kezzel keszitett csoki krealmanyt: bekat, afonyasat, mangosat stb. 5 db meg mindig a hutoben van, hat igen, nem vagyok egy csokis alkat.

Mielott letaboroztunk volna, megneztunk 2 kilatot, az egyik egy vizesesre nezett, de a kilatas olyan volt, mint az Echo Pointrol. (ld. Korabbi iras). Aztan megneztunk meg egy ullo alaku sziklat, aminek a tetejen egy fem ullo volt es egy kanyon kanyarulatnal allt. Lenezve egy kanyargo folyo, kakaduk ropkodnek a fejunk folott, korulottunk buja erdo. Nezzetek meg a kepeket J


Maga a taborhely az erdo kozepen volt, kis tabla jelezte, hogy ez biza az, ha nem lett volna ott nem biztos, hogy raismerunk. Ejjel a szakacsmuveszetemet megcsillogtatva en foztem, gombas-paradicsomos csirket, amit izgalmassa az tett, hogy a son kivul egyedul sult csirke sonk volt, szoval mindent azzal fuszereztunk, el is neveztuk “Szent Fuszernek”. Meglepo modon vorosborral egesz finom kajat csaptam ossze nekik, utana otthon meg egyszer megfoztem magamnak, de hat akkor mar a taborozas hangulata nelkul nem volt az igazi ;)

Az osregi satorunk felallitasa volt meg programon utana, egy merevitovas torott volt, + hianyzott meg 1-2 dolog, de egy kis kreativitas, meg 3-4 fatorzs, ko mindent megoldott. Csak azt nem, hogy kicsi volt a sator, ugyhogy aznap Luis meg en a kocsiban aludtunk. A reggel nagyjabol esemenytelenul telt, leszamitva a pottyantos alatt, felett es a lyukban fityego 5-6 centis pokokat, amik izgalmassa tettek egy amugy unalmas tevekenyseget.

Napi program: Vizek Volgye. 3 folyo talalkozik a volgyben, van parszaz kisebb-nagyobb vizeses es ez a resz fel-tropusi esoerdo es a sivatag kevereke. (szoval a vizesestol 10 meterre egy sziklan, ahova odasutott a nap, mar kaktuszok eltek!) Roviden gyonyoru, hosszabban lenyugozoen gyonyoru volt! A turaut, amit valasztottunk vizesesek alatt, at es felett vezetett, szoval jo vizesek lettunk. Az egyik legnagyobb vizesesben megfurodtunk (es szuletett egy-ket, hozzam kepest, fotogen kep is J), kellemes 5 fokos viz, majd szaritkozas a napon. Felulrol nezve a vizpara teteje szivarvanyszinu volt, es ugy gomolygott, mintha fust lenne, persze a szivarvany meg felvette az alakjat, szoval “szivarvany-fustnek” nezett ki. Hat onnan eleg nehezen vonszoltak el 10 perc utan…




Utkozben hazafele meg lattunk egy masik vizesesben sziklamaszokat, szoval mar be is van tervezve ez a program kis canyoninggal osszekotve februarra J Mondanom sem kell, este nem igazan kellett altatni egy ilyen hetvege utan.





2 nap mulva pedig irany Uj Zeland. Az eddig tervezett programunk:
- delfinekkel uszas (mostmar vegre telleg)
- tandem ejtoernyozes 4500m-rol, 1 perc szabadesessel
- rafting
- kajakozas
- setarepules az egyik gleccser folott olyan 3-4000m magasan
- a Gyuruk Ura helyszineinek vegiglatogatasa
- ujevi party Queenstownban
- + lehet bungee jumping is… meg meglatjuk…

12 nap kocsival, erdokkel, hegyekkel, kempingezessel... Igerem sok kepet csinalok! J

As I wrote it earlier, we have planned to go back to the Blue Mountains once again, but for a whole weekend. Well, 3 weeks ago, the 4 of us did it (Paul, Emil, Luis and Me) in a camping-driving style. But things are not as easy as they seem J

The first memory is related to the car – again. Four-wheel, 2 years old Nissan Jeep, 60-litre tank which was supposedly full at the time of the rent, so we did not bother to check it. Anyway we were late, because the mates did not have enough brain to rent a GPS as well, we committed this mistake already a couple of times, nevermind sooner or later we will learn from it, so instead of 10 minutes, it took the 70 to find my place. In the beginning, we did not have any problems, at one of the petrol stations it popped into my mind that maybe we should get some more petrol, but then I thought I am stupid as the tank supposed to be full. I should not have done that.
On a half-lane road in the deepest depths of fucking mountain nowhere a small red lamp lit once and nicely said “bip”. As everybody was a genius there, we started to realize, that probably something is not perfectly okay, so we checked the petrol meter which confirmed our fear that we started to use the reserve petrol in the spare tank. Which is good if is enough for app. 60kms or so. We were lucky that the Jenolan Caves where we were heading for were only 10-km away. (If you smartass think that we could get petrol there, check where it is on the map).
Nevermind, we arrived safely and put aside our worries about the petrol situation and started to focus on 2 things: the red lamp of our hunger started to beep heavily so we attacked the only restaurant which was nearby. On the other hand, we had to decide that out of the 25+ tours which are going through the 150+ caves (most of them are still undiscovered, that’s why the “+”), which one will be honoured by our presence.
Taking into consideration that neither we wanted to wait an hour, nor choose an easy tour, we were left with one option and guess what, we chose that one! The tour guide was a classical Aussie type – best guidance in my life so far – shooting jokes all the time, easygoing, interactive style, we had time to look around, was not arrogant, smiled continuously, told us a lot of funny stories (eg. They vacuum clean and wash the caves once in every 6 months or that the name of a formation which was originally named as the tongue of the mother-in-law was changed due to the received negative feedbacks from the mother-in-laws – of course I don’t remember to what:D – Karuna, Cori don’t say anything pleaseJ), so the 2-hour long cave tour quickly passed, it would be great to go back later for a crawling tour…

Getting out to the sun, we faced again the nice 30-degree, burning hot (December - early summer weather) and the fact that we still do not have much petrol in the tank and the nearest station is a mere 35-40km away on the other side of the mountain. After a quick headcount we realized that it is quite narrow, but we are adventurous blokes and anyway, we do not really have any other choice, we pull the car if we run out of gas. Without a GPS we just hoped that we will not turn to the wrong direction at the limited number of crossings, however it increased the pressure on making the right decisions. :D

Luckily we arrived to the city without any issues; the small red lamp with the beep disturbed us only once along the way, at the border of the city, signalling that we started to use the last drops of the reserved reserve gas of the spare tank.
Upon arrival to the city we finally found some young guys who – we hoped – can give us some direction to the nearest station. We got 2 options, the closer and the further, which supposed to be a lot cheaper, so we chose that one instantly and unanimously. The moral of the story is, no matter how fucked you are – the petrol meter was below the last line J- , as a well educated person in a consumer society, you go for the cheaper option even when you have no idea what is close and far :D

Surprisingly, far meant 2 corners, so we arrived safely, got some petrol (although we had no idea whether we need diesel or normal gas as it was not in the manual, nor on the tank), luckily the older guy at the station knew it from half a sight and also explained it with a huge smile, that the a normal pistol is too wide to go into a diesel car, only a diesel fits into a normal one. Embarrassed by the 2:0 situation of the match, we quickly thanked and departed to the camp site.

Before that we popped into the most famous chocolate manufacturer in Katoomba, where we took a hot chocolate which was not the best idea, it was cocoa+water. I also purchased 6, hand-made choco-creations: frog shaped, blueberry, mango tasted etc. 5 is still sitting in my fridge; well I am not really a chocolate fan…

Before we settled down at the campsite, we checked 2 lookouts; one of them overseeing a waterfall, the view was almost the same as it was from Echo Point (check earlier post). Then we watched an anvil-shaped rock with a metal anvil on top which was right next to a curve in a canyon. Down a sneaky river, cacadus over your head, everywhere around a lush forest… Check the pictures… J

The campsite itself was in a middle of a forest and a small sign was there to mark it, otherwise I would not be that easy to recognize it. During the night I was the chef, cooking a mushroom-tomato chicken, which was interesting, because we had only roasted chicken spice, so everything was spiced with that, we named it cuz of that as “The Holy Spice”. Surprisingly with red wine it was quite a decent meal, I cooked it later on for myself as well at home – but without the camp feeling it was not the same J

The last program was to set up our ancient tent, one rod was broken, some stuff was missing, but with a little creativity and with a few logs and stones everything was solved. Beside that the tent was quite small, so Luis and I had to sleep in the car. The morning was quite uneventful, not counting the open-air toilets and the 5-6 cm spiders hanging over, around and in it which made the otherwise routine task a bit more interesting. J

The Day’s program was to go to the Valley of Waters. 3 rivers are crossing in the valley, there are some hundreds of waterfalls and the area is a mixture of semi-tropical rainforest and arid desert (so 10ms from the waterfall, where the sun was shining over the rocks, you could easily find some cactus). Briefly it was amazing; in a bit more detail it was breathtakingly amazing. The trekking path we chose leaded through, over and under waterfalls, so we became quite wet. We had a shower in one of the biggest falls (and there is a related controversial picture as wellJ), it was a “nice” 5 degree warm then drying under the sun. Looking from above the water looked like steam and the top of it was rainbow-coloured and it had the same exciting shapes as smoke from fire – all in rainbow colours! Well, it took a good 10 minutes to grab me from there…

On the way back, we saw another waterfall with some rock-climbers, so we already planned to do it spiced with some canyoning in February J I think I do not have to say I did not need many fairy tales to sleep in the evening.

2 days from now we are going to New Zealand. The planned program so far:
- swimming with dolphins (finally, really)
- tandem sky diving from 4500m (15000ft), 1 minute freefall
- rafting
- kayaking
- flying over a glacier on a plane around 3-4000 ms
- visiting the Lord of the Rings sights
- New Year’s party in Queenstown
+ maybe bungee jumping as well… we will see…

12 days with a car, forests, mountains, camping…I promise I will make a lot of pics! J

Goodbye 2008

Amazing year... sort of...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28192685

A honap neve / Name of the month

Hetfon interjuztattam valakit, akit Ezust Csillagnak hivtak. Es ferfi volt - amugy laza, jofej urge. (Ezust a keresztneve, ha esetleg nem lenne egyertelmu :)

On Monday I interviewed someone whose name was Silver Star. And he was a guy - laidback, cool guy. (Silver is his first name if that would not be obvious :)

Generation wh-Y

An interesting article from HR daily. I can absolutely identify myself with it :)


Connect with Gen Y - improve thinking, not processes

15 December 2008 8:26am


Managers should focus on solutions rather than problems when communicating with Gen-Y employees, according to executive coach Gaynor Lowndes.

Lowndes, who is also a trainer and director of The Recruitment Training Company, points out that unlike previous generations, Gen-Y employees are largely "knowledge workers" who are paid for what they know and how they use it.

The people leading and managing them, she says, need to know how to improve thinking, rather than processes.

"Gen Y need leaders who will help them shine at work, and who help them fulfil their potential rather than the old paradigm of management. They want leaders who improve their thinking. Most current leaders have been trained to improve processes, not thinking, which is where the communication problems occur."


More powerful communication
It's widely accepted that Gen Y are "loyal to themselves, not their employers (like baby boomers) or even their careers (like Gen Xers)", Lowndes says.

"They don't respond to authoritative and dictatorial communication methods, which is how the rest of the workforce was brought up. To get the best from Gen Y, you need to challenge them to think for themselves."

To achieve this, and improve the performance of Gen Y workers, Lowndes says, managers should focus on solutions rather than problems when communicating.

For example, rather than asking a Gen Y worker, "Why didn't you hit your targets?" a manager should ask, "What do you need to do next time to hit your targets?" she says.

"This slight change in the way the question is asked will make a huge difference to the response that you receive and the performance that will follow after the discussion.

"The first question keeps you in the problem, the second question moves you toward a solution. Rather than 'Why did something happen?' (problem), ask, 'What do you want to achieve here?' (solution). Many problem-type questions start with the word 'why."


Focus on the positive
Gen-Y workers respond well to acknowledgment, Lowndes says, but most people receive only a couple of minutes of positive feedback each year, as opposed to many hours of negative feedback.

"Learn the skill of acknowledgement and you will be amazed at the quality of your communication. Not only acknowledge those around you but acknowledge yourself as well."


Listen without an agenda
People only listen a small proportion of the time, with the rest of their attention on "judging, assessing, trying to sound smart, listening to distractions, trying to work other people out, or being self conscious to the extent that they are only listening to themselves," Lowndes says.

Gen Y, however, respond well to people who "listen for potential". To do this, try not to have an agenda when communicating with them, she advises.

Frissites / Update

Uj kepek feltoltve! / New pics are uploaded!

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/tamas.mihalovits

Imádom.../I love...

... ezt a szamot/ this song...

...mar vagy egy oraja ezt hallgatom/ ... I am listening to it for an hour now...

Santana - Into the night



Santana Lyrics
Into The Night Lyrics

Vissza az AIESEC-be / Back to AIESEC

Folytatom retrospektiv bejegyzeseimet, mert lassan mar elfelejtem miket csinaltam mostanaban :)

2 hete egy AIESEC-es konferencian voltam levezeto elnok, a jelenlegi vezetoseg adta at a tudasat a megvalasztott vezetosegnek. En pedig segitettem nekik, hangulatot csinaltam, tartottam par treninget (joval tobbet mint eredetileg akartam...). Sydney legdelebbi reszen voltunk - foldrajzilag, Bunawee-ban, ami mar resze a nemzeti parknak es komppal kellett Cronula-bol menni a varosreszbe, ami egy kisebb obol mellett fekszik. Roviden: gyonyoru volt, ide is vissza kell meg menni egyet bulizni. Leginkabb egy maradando emlekem van a hetvegerol, amellett, hogy sokat hulyultunk: a szombati karaokee! Playstationos programrol ment a cucc, a TV-n meg lattad, hogy ki mennyire pontosan enekel, szoval lehetett versenyezni ezerrel. Buszken jelentem, hogy egyszer dontetlent ertunk el a masik csapattal/parral szemben, amugy atlagosan 2-3-szor anny pontjuk volt mint nekunk :D Meg a fo kulonbseg, hogy a srac es a lany tudtak enekelni, masok altal is elvezhetoen, mi meg inkabb csak enekeltunk :D
Hajnal otig toltuk a bulit, aztan eltettuk magunkat aznapra, mert reggel 9-tol mar treninget kellett tartanom. Jol sikerult, nagyon elvezte mindenki es senki sem aludt el, ami a legjobb feedback egy ilyen este utan :D

Persze hetfon semmi hangom nem volt a munkaban, ami csak azert volt erdekes, mert egesz nap a ceg 60-ik szulinapjat kellett marketingelni - telefonon. Nagy meglepetesemre Darth Vader hangu emberekkel sokkal szivesebben talalkoznak a HR-esek, ugyanis 2 targyalast is le tudtam egyeztetni aznap :)


Let’s continue my retrospect writings until I forget everything what I’ve done in the past weeks.

2 weeks ago I was chairing an EB transition conference and I hold some trainings for the new team, plus helping the old team to prepare. Finally I did much more than I originally wanted/expected J We were on the most southern part of Sydney – geographically which is called Bunawee. This is part of the nearby national park and can be accessed from Cronulla by ferry. The town lies next to a bay, which is gorgeous, I have to go back once more to have a party there again with the interns. I have one very memorable thing from the weekend, besides the constant fun we had, which is the karaoke night we did on Saturday. We had a Plastation programme which put the lyrics and the tone on screen, and also measured how well the groups/people are singing. I am very proud that once we had a draw with the other group/couple, but on an average they beated us with 2-3 times more points. The main difference was that the guy and the girl could sing on a way which is enjoyable by others, well we rather just sang :D We had the party till 5AM, then had a short nap and started again from 9AM, because I had to deliver a session. It was quite successful, everybody enjoyed it and nobody has fallen asleep which is the best feedback after the night before :D

On Monday of course I did not have any voice, which was funny, because we had an international celebration of the company’s 60th birthday, so we had to do marketing – on phone. For my biggest surprise, HR people like it much more to meet with Darth Vader, because I could fix 2 meeting on that day J