Tournai

I spent the holidays in Monster (NL) this year. I'm flying back to Rome tomorrow. However for once that I stayed more than 2 days I took the chance to travel to Belgium. It was the first time I really came back to Belgium since my graduation in Nov 2008. I felt kind of "at home" :) In fact my network is mainly splitted between 2 countries: Belgium and Italy.

I went to visit a couple of friends in Tournai. Tournai is south of Belgium, close to the french border (Lille) meaning I had to cross the whole country but it was easy. It is just 3h20 from The Hague and you only have to change trains once, in Bruxelles. Yes, Belgium is quite small crossing it from North to South will take you about 2h only! If you are between 12-25 years old you can take a Joung Benelux ticket, what is about 40% discount on the regular price. I used to travel between Belgium and the Netherlands every week-end when I was studying... and nothing really changed.

It was my second time in Tournai (I had slept once there in a young hostel for the wedding of the same friends I was visiting). Tournai is one of the oldest town in Belgium and I think it is worth the visit. Have a look!

- Une rue piétonne du centre -

- Le Beffroi-

- L'ancien Hôtel des Postes -

- La Cathédrale -

- La Halle aux Grains -
désolée pour le camion, je ne pouvais pas attendre qu'il parte pour prendre la photo...

- L'Escaut passant à Tournai -

ce canal part de Cambrai, traverse la Belgique dont Tournai/Gand/Anvers pour se jetter dans la mer du Nord aux Pays-Bas

Agrandir le plan
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G'art

G'art is wordplay between GARE (station) and ART (art).
These pictures were taken at the Bruxelles-Midi station the "international" station.

- Voies 6 & 7 -

- Les horaires -

- Réparation expresse d'essuie-glace (et le train est parti à l'heure) -

- Indications de sortie en quatre langues -
(la Belgique est un pays trilingue)

- Voyageurs sur un quai -

- le Thalys en gare -

La Belgique

Stéréotypes belges....

Les Frites



Les Gaufres





La Pluie Bruine



manque le chocolat :)

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White Xmas

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2,11

Dec 26, 2009.

My brother took the plane early this morning for the Alps. He is going skiing. I'm staying for one more week. The sun is back and the snow is melting after a white Christmas. (see the picture of my parents garden a few days ago). We will most probably go to the beach today! :)

If there is one thing I wish everyone could record about Christmas it is that this is the celebration of the birth of God. However Jesus didn't stay an helpless child all his life ("le petit Jésus"), He is a God that lived a humanly life and finally died on this cross because it was the only way to save me and you.

It is much more than eating, giving presents to your loved ones or family gathering. It is all nice but won't give a purpose to your life. Believe me! (and it is not religion either)

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This morning a little one from the first grade made a drawing on my notebook. So cute! And she just writes in a phonetic way: stupenBa instead of stupenda or belline shortcut for bellissime.

- Sei stupenba. Lo sai le tue scarpe sono belline. -

ps for non-italians: the message was just about beauty and .... shoes :)

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Micah 6,8

I like the following verse I read this morning. Summary of life principles in one sentence!

Il t'a fait connaître, ô humain ce qui est bon;
et qu'est ce que le Seigneur réclame de toi, si ce n'est que tu agisses selon l'équité, que tu aimes la fidelité, et que tu marches modestement avec ton Dieu?
-Michée 6,8-

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
-Micah 6,8-

PS/Micah is the name of a prophet and the name of a book in the Bible (old testament).

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I pinguini a Roma

The question is....

Have you seen the pinguins (in Rome)?

" Cavoli se fa freddo a Roma....De piu. Tant'e che ho visto i pinguini stamattina davanti al portone di casa....Non vedo l'ora di concederermi una bella oretta di Hammam e un the' verde fumante....Non voglio altro!"

It's a way to say the weather is becoming freezing cold... even though the thermometer shows 10°c, ok maybe 5°c in the morning?

:D love u my dear

ps: I couldn't find the red fishes
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Great Jon!

Jonathan Dumont is WFP's Emmy award-winning head of television communications. He can be found chatting to Hollywood types on the set of WFP's latest PSA or begging reluctant embassy officials for a visa but is most at home peeling leeches off his legs in waist-deep mud. :) presentation by himself, I guess...

On the road is a video blog from the field showing daily life and sometimes amusing adventures:

http://www.wfp.org/on-the-road/myanmar

I dedicate the first one of the myanmar serie to Jeremy "change takes a long time: Russia is still named as USSR in the Myanmar system, 18 years later!"


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Roman blog by Anne-Claire

Link to a friends travel blog in Rome (in french)

http://anne-clairelaromaine.blogspot.com/

Among others, I like this post: http://anne-clairelaromaine.blogspot.com/2009/09/saturday-night-fever.html it confirms my observations about cultural differences:

-------
Trois choses très importantes sont à savoir lorsqu'on sort avec des romains:

1) Ils sont toujours en retard d'en moyenne une heure alors soyez patients!

2) Ils ne savent pas tellement se repérer dans les rues de Rome. Prévoyez quelques détours avant d'arriver à destination! Le preuve en image:

3) Les romains sont très gentlemen et considèrent les filles comme des petites choses fragiles: ils vous accompagneront toujours!

------

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IT- Perugia in winter

View Larger Map

For the last italian week-end of a friend we decided to visit Perugia. Perugia is the main city of the Umbrian region (central Italy). By train it takes 2h30 to 4h depending on the type of service and connections. We decided to go by car as our third friend brought his car from Belgium. It was actually a bad idea because instead of arriving at 12pm as initially planned we arrived at 3pm. It was in deed a long week-end for italians as the 8th of December, a public holiday was on Tuesday.

- The white spot in the background of the above picture is Assissi as seen from Perugia -
Perugia is an old etruscan city and is build on a hill, the most ancient parts of the city on the top the newest ones in the plain. Small winding streets where not even a Smart can drive.



Perugia is one of the prettiest city in Italy and it is my italian first love. It was my first contact with Italy given that I learnt italian at the University in Perugia. (It is the city of my first times: where I had my first coffee, my first aperitivo, my first italian GBU, my first italian friends & where I lived the last world championship final between France and Italy, open air and then the victory of italians!) Coming back after two years during the Season Holidays was as nice as in my memories.

Perugia is famous for its chocolate and a small shop where I used to live in July 2006 and I said was selling the best mousse au chocolat ice cream is actually the best chocolate craftsman of Italy! However no icecream is sold in the winter period so we had to compensate with hot chocolate.

Season lightning.


What I like in Italy and especially in Perugia is that at night streets are crowded. At midnight, 1am, people are strolling along the corso, the main street of the old town.

- The mythic fountain (Fontana Maggiore)-

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The sartorialist

The Sartorialist is a street fashion - picture blog. I found the link on the facebook profile of a friend. But it is not the first time I hear about it. This guy (sorry he didn't write his name in his biography) started shooting normal people on the street and publish the pictures on the web through a blog with the purpose of giving inspiration to fashion designers.

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

I don't know why fashion, dresses, fabrics have always been one of my passions. Not for me but just for the beauty of it! I am not a fashion victim and I'm not looking forward working in that environment because it is not the place where I feel right. But I'm still lucky enough to make my living with my other passion that is quite the opposite... supply chain, logistics, moving and tracking food around the world!

°<>< good night guyzzz!

Soirée Foie Gras (de canard)

Amateur de foie gras, écoute la critique qui te fera passer toute envie "Mais ça sent le whiskas ce truc... je te jure... ça ressemble à du pâté pour chats ... et ça a le même goût!" Bon, perso je n'ai pas de chat et je n'ai jamais essayé de manger des boîtes de conserve pour chats mais je sais que ça se fait.

Vendredi dernier nous nous sommes autorisés un petit dîner "de luxe" avec foie gras. Deux de nos amis n'avaient jamais goûté et n'étaient pas très motivés...

Mais ce fût tout de même une soirée super réussie!

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IT - Palais Farnese

Le palais Farnese est le siège de l'Ambassade de France à Rome. Une des plus belles au monde dit-on. Et un samedi je suis finalement tombée dessus par hasard.

- le palais farnese -

- sur la place -

- la vue arrière -

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Applied Logistics series

I have some material to start a new series on logistics applied to daily life (commuter trains, traffic jam, airport queue) with the real life examples I recently experienced on bad flow management, not to say lack of common sense...

The basic law in workflow management is

I = R.T
Inventory in the system = Throughput rate x Flow Time

An inventory can be a products in a warehouse but also a queue, a pile of documents waiting to be processed, etc. If I take the example of a individuals queuing in front of a check-in desk in the airport, the waiting time for one person (mins) (T) equals number of people in the queue (pers) (I) divided by the processing rate at the counter (mins/pers) (R).

The other major rule in dynamic systems is that an inventory is building up when the arrival rate is greater than the output rate and vice versa, inventory is decreasing when the arrival rate is smaller than the output rate.

For more details check http://web.mit.edu/sgraves/www/papers/Little's%20Law-Published.pdf

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Fara Sabina

As we experience a really nice and hot autumn, on Saturday I went out.

Fara Sabina is nothing romantic but has some green to offer to the eyes. It was an easy choice as it is 40 mins away from Rome and I just had to take the train on the opposite direction than I usually do every morning. I arrived there around noon following my instinct that the town was uphill. I had bought my pizza biancha in Rome before leaving so I complemented with peach juice and clementines bought at the local supermarket.

- The church -

I walked around to find a quiet green spot but the city is rather small and as I said nothing particular. I just liked the atmosphere, italian countryside, relaxed, sunny and green. I should do that more often, it's just so good to take a few hours break from daily life! Maybe I will try to see olive's harvest next Saturday...

- A Fara Sabina cat -

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Pizza Biancha

Questo si chiama la pizza biancha...
This is the "white" pizza...
Cette chose s'appelle la pizza blanche. Blanche par opposition à rouge lorsqu'il y a de la sauce tomate. Et c'est trop bon! Il s'agit de pâte à pizza badigeonnée à l'huile d'olive salée. On peut l'utiliser pour faire des sandwiches. Tout juste sortie du four c'est encore meilleur :) mmmmmmmmmmmh


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Mais où est ce qu'ils vont trouver qqn répondant à ces critères?

Formation/Qualité requise : Titulaire d’un bac + 4 minimum ou équivalent, le ou la candidat(e) devra être

un bon communiquant Il/elle devra rendre compte régulièrement (par écrit et par oral) de ses actions auprès du chef de station dont il dépend ainsi qu’auprès de l’Ipev.

et un bon manuel: Il/elle assure la maintenance courante des moyens de déplacement affectés à l’AWIPEV (1 zodiac, 2 embarcations coque rigide, 10 vélos et 6 motos neige), les grosses réparations étant prises en charge par le garage local.

Permis côtier, expérience de conduite en mer : Durant l’été, il/elle peut être le guide-sécurité et l’accompagnateur des scientifiques lors des sorties hors de la base dans les fjords et vers les glaciers.

Expérience montagne: Le candidat ou la candidate participera à un hivernage d’une durée minimale de douze mois, au sein d’une équipe de recherche. Ny-Ålesund est le lieu habité le plus au nord du monde (79°N).

Anglais parlé écrit couramment
Allemand apprécié
Pratique des outils bureautiques (excel, word)

Bonne sociabilité indispensable: la base internationale de Ny Ålesund se compose de 10 stations scientifiques de plusieurs pays. La population en hiver (de novembre à février) est d’environ 30 personnes, en été (mars octobre) de 130 personnes (composée à 80 % de scientifiques de toutes nationalités).

Titulaire du titre de Sauveteur Secouriste
Ce poste exige une très bonne condition physique


et type de poste:
POSTE LOGISTICIEN EN REGION POLAIRE
Il/elle supervise et participe au bon déroulement du transport du matériel logistique et scientifique (établissement des différents documents de douane tel que colisage, etc…).

Il/elle a en charge l’inventaire du matériel logistique et scientifique, le suivi de l’état des stocks et doit proposer et justifier les achats complémentaires au responsable basé au siège de l’IPEV.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Josette and the color of the walls...

I'm working on the 6th floor, blue tower. Josette is having her headquarters 6th floor, green tower. Josette is our Executive Director and uses the elevator like everyone else. So it happened that Friday night I got on the same lift. She was accompagnied by a lady but a few second later she hold out her hand at me "Hi I'm Josette!" (not sure she did have this pandemic awareness training...) -"Nice to meet you, I'm L" I answered politely. Then she asks "Where are you from?" "How long have you been working with us?" "Where are you working?" Logisitics/Shipping blabla.

Ok, that's fair enough and pretty usual for every employee that happen to be on the same elevator. Now is the funny part.... She keeps on going "You have really nice color" me: "Yes, they're blue with waves, like the sea" (speaking about our office walls) ......
!?!! ....... "No, I was not speaking about the walls but your hair and eyes, you have a pretty color" ..........

No comment on this misunderstanding :X

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Why do italians...

wear sunglasses
- in the tube (underground)
- at night (7pm)
- in winter (nov)?

Yes, I saw the combination of all factors yesterday....

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Fièvre - Fever

I was about to write a new post in my italian series. Fever. However documenting myself I found out that maybe I was about to write something wrong...

My office looks like an atomic bomb has exploded. Day after day they are less people. Some come at work in the morning but go back home after 30 mins, 2 hours, 1/2 day... It starts to be scary. All suffer from fever. And 37,2°c is considered as an abnormal body temperature. This was the point I was questioning, isn't it exaggerated to say that 37,2°c is a fever? I was always told that up to 37,5°c it's fine.

L.Girard and A. Le Strat from Université de Rennes give the following definition:

La température centrale normale du corps humain est de :- 37C° le matin- 37,5C° le soir La fièvre est définie par l'élévation de la température centrale au dessus de :- 37,5C° le matin- 38C° le soir En fait, cette définition est variable, car il existe des variations individuelles et des facteurs physiologiques influençant la température :- nycthémère : pic physiologique vers 18 heures, augmentant la température de 0,5C°- activité musculaire, digestion peuvent augmenter la température de 1C°- cycle menstruel : la température augmente au cours de la deuxième partie, de 0,5C° à 1C°

CARACTERISTIQUES DE LA FIEVRE

2 - Intensité - peu élevée 37,5 à 38C° (fébricule) - modérée 38 à 39C°- élevée > 39C°

and you also have a nice description of the underlying diseases as the fever is only a symptom... if you are interested check:

http://www.med.univ-rennes1.fr/resped/cmg/lafievre.html

However wikipédia, is telling us:

When a patient has or is suspected of having a fever, that person's body temperature is measured using a thermometer. At a first glance, fever is present if:
Temperature in the anus (rectum/rectal) is at or over 37.8 °C (100.0 °F)
Temperature in the mouth (oral) is at or over 37.5 °C (99.5 °F)
Temperature under the arm (axillary) is at or over 37.2 °C (99.0 °F)
Temperature in the ear (otic) is at or over 37.2 ºC (99.0 ºF)

So it depends on the measurement method, and you see that 37,2°c can be considered as fever if the temperature was taken under the arm or in the ear.

Conclusion, is this a real epidemia or somatic signals of discontent?

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le fer ne m'aime pas

Je dois raconter l'histoire d'une demie catastrophe. Alors hier soir nous étions dimanche soir. Et le dimanche soir c'est l'heure du repassage surtout quand une nouvelle semaine commence et que les chemisiers sont propres mais un tantinet froissés... Donc j'ai cherché un podcast de france inter et j'ai choisi les feuilletons de nuit: nuit blanche, nuit noire. Le premier était un peu bizarre mais le deuxième drôle. Mais je n'ai pas eu le temps d'arriver jusqu'au repassage technique des chemisiers parce qu'une seconde et une mauvaise décision ont produit un résultat pour lequel il va me falloir toute ma créativité pour le réparer... bon heureusement, heureusement, heureusement que l'article en question provient de mon magasin favori à Budapest. Donc j'avais la moitié de ma semelle engluée de ce polymère fondu. Et ce soir je me suis retrouvée à essayer de récupérer mon malheur avec de l'eau chaude et du savon. Je suis assez contente de moi :) parce qu'on dirait un fer tout neuf maintenant!

Demain arrivent les photos, vous allez bien rire :') --- ce soir la connexion est trop trop lente ---

ps: red.impala écrit ce message en écoutant Rostropovitch jouer Haydn concerto pour violoncelle en do M. Parce que CJ Lavoire en est devenu un fan... allez savoir pourquoi un "je ne veux pas travailler" fredonné dans l'ascenceur à 13h48 a déclenché cette crise :)

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Sweet temptation is just temptation

I especially like the first signs of surrender. I am not allowed to eat it but let's smell it, lick it and?

Can't you give me a kiss? just a kiss! come on... why not?!

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Igniter Videos

In this popular test, several kids wrestle with waiting to eat a marshmallow in hopes of a bigger prize. This video is a good illustration of temptation and the hope in future rewards. This experiment is based on many previous and similar scientific tests. Special thanks to Watermark Comunity Church for sharing their video with us.

original link: http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/14675/The-Marshmallow-Test

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The kitchen Company

Bravissimi attori, divertente, appassionante e c'è anche da riflettere...

A voir!
Je conseille vivement!!!



a Roma, teatro italia (via bari 18) fino al 1 Nov 2009

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Today...

Took my morning bus with an Erithrean.
Went for lunch with a Cuban/Russian and a Belgian.
Discussed Business with an Irish.
Was teased by a Spanish.
Got a massage from a Chinese.
Received a present from a French.
Shared a cup of tea with an Italian.
Made a German smoke two cigarets.
Spoke french with a Portuguese.
Had a Swedish/Chilian and a Korean drop by my desk.
And finally met an American in the stairs while leaving.

but I honestly asked myself, couldn't we repatriate India in Italy?

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CEMS MIM RANKED N°1 IN THE WORLD BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES

:D ---

This is a resounding endorsement of the originality and excellence of the CEMS degree and of the outstanding achievement by the CEMS Community. 28 schools on four continents, 56 multinational corporate partners, over 5,000 alumni bearing the CEMS flag globally and over 800 students of 57 different nationalities currently enrolled in the CEMS MIM can legitimately celebrate their success today.

Please look at all details on www.cems.org and spread the news! In the FT special report today, you will also read interviews of CEMS Corporate Partners and CEMS Corporate Relations Managers.

The ranking confirms once more the multinational and multicultural essence of the CEMS programme, with first place finish for combined international criteria for the fifth consecutive year. Of special note is the sustained high rate of international mobility of graduates. All criteria connected to the professional dynamism and success of alumni contributed to bringing CEMS to the first place overall.

We are also especially pleased that the MIM has been rated as the number 1 programme in General Management and the number 2 in International Business by our very own alumni. This accurately reflects their level of satisfaction with the programme itself, as well as underlining the importance of our continued quality assurance policy.

Let’s celebrate the collective success of our broad community and congratulate our alumni for their impressive achievements. We would like to congratulate and thank as well all professors and coordinators who have made the CEMS MIM the Number One programme, and the corporate partners for their on-going support and commitment.

We hope that as many of us as possible will be present at the Budapest Career Forum (13-14 November) and at the Cologne Annual Events (3-5 December) to prepare CEMS for on-going leadership in the years to come!

Warm regards to all,

François Collin

CEMS Executive Director

The full rankings table: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/masters-in-management


Read the press release: http://www.cems.org/cems/upload/document/930_CEMS_FT09_UK[1].pdf
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Crazy parisians

Paris. Saturday morning. 45 mins queue at the till. Outside queue at least 100 meters. Successful marketing launch or crazy parisians?





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Paris le Marais 'love it!

- no comment: a fried pan/béret??? -

- I'm always taking pictures of shop windows, I think it's forbidden but I do it anyway... -

- Hotel carnavalet, Musée de la Ville de Paris, - l'expo: bof!

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Paris Autumn Pose

Waiting for the results we had a little chat and I tried to capture the instant, but didn't really get it :D

- nice garden @school :) -

- first trial-

- second trial -

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