What's the best thing?

After studying so much I would of course love to do something to use those things for the best of the world. But it starts to look like the most needed innovations don't come out of bioengineering. I wrote my bachelor thesis about microbial fuel cells, which was the most meaningful bioengineering research topic I could find in my university. Microbial fuel cell can basically make electricity out of anything, e.g. sewage. But putting end to sewage as we know it is what should be done rather than using expensive chemicals and infrastructure to take a little bit energy out of it before landfill.

I heard that a lot of this same discussion happened when putting together Finland's national waste plan until 2016. Burning everything would sound so good because it would solve landfill and energy problems at the same time. But if we want to use resources sustainably, in 2016 there should be no more non-recyclable waste to supply for the power plants so why invest on them? I guess this is best to see in a way that there are just endless possibilities to do something good. Even designing technology to take energy out of waste does something, though it would not be the best thing.

What's on top of the hill and behind snowflakes?

I didn't expect I could learn so much about life by cycling:

This week I started to lift my head up when cycling up the hill. I pick some object like a lamppost or tree that is up there and look at it instead of looking at the inclining ground. When focusing on where I want to get instead of the challenges on the way, I'm faster and enjoy the ride more.

Yesterday I did somehting similar when it started to snow quite heavily. I hated the snowflakes hitting my face in the wind and I wanted to change the situation so that I could enjoy it more. So I started to look at everything I could see between the snowflakes instead of the snowflakes themselves.

That's it! I'm gaining more faith that I'll never have to leave my fascination with snow. I used to be afraid that when I pass some certain age, a winter comes when I don't like snow anymore. Luckily year after year is showing that it doesn't have to be so. I challenge you, too, to enjoy to the fullest every single snowy day this winter!

Teamwork thoughts from ACCESS 2009

I just had the best team experience of my life in ACCESS 2009 facilitator team. We were 15 people from 7 nationalities, not just supporting and helping each other but 100% committed to making the conference great. And plus that, we had a perfectly diverse skill and habit compilation so that there was always somebody to provide ideas, somebody to make them better, somebody to keep the time, somebody to encourage, somebody to make us laugh, somebody to give hugs etc. We had also a very honest and respectful way of communicating and giving feedback.

Although some of us just met each other first time two days before the conference, the team got so well built that during the weekend a lot of things just worked out. Even though there were a lot of sudden changes, the new solution usually just was there right away.

The best thing was to learn that it's not so difficult to build a team. All it takes is to select the right people (commitment and diverse skills sets being the most important factors), allocate responsibilities (based on what people want to do and what needs to be done), set team principles (based on expectations towards the team), work together and stop sometimes to do some team-building exercise and give each other feedback. Meaning: not talking that these six things should be done but doing them. It's not that hard and doesn't take that much time.

Actually, I have a feeling that the whole term with the 10-member national team (MC+NST+NTT) of AIESEC in Finland might turn out even better than this. The setting is the same: 100% committed, uniquely talented individuals and a (mostly) effective way to work. The extra factor is that it's going on for a whole year, which means that there's time to get further in the team process. Now I'm already loving it and from now on I also want them to hear from me more about it.


Picture by Ivana Janikova (that's why she's missing from the picture, too..)

Get out of the way, tree, or come to the way, way?

I go to school by bike and at one point there's a small shortcut I can take. At the end of the shortcut I need to turn right and at the same spot there are birch branches hanging down on the level of my face. It's not very pleasant to ride through those branches, but I can skip them if I take a sharp turn right when approaching them.

I used to pay close attention to the branches and carefully try not to hit them. But no matter how hard I tried, I always used to hit them. One morning I came up with turning my head to the right already when approaching the branches. After starting to do that, I've never hit them again.

Focusing my eyes on the way where I want to go - instead of focusing on the branches I don't want to hit - makes me automatically steer a sharp turn to the right direction. Noticing this made me quite grateful for living in a world that operates with the principle that you steer yourself to whatever you focus on.

Summary of my internship

This is what I thought about the whole internship right after it:

Things I miss from Finland and things I will miss from Malaysia

1) Things I miss from Finland

Family and friends

Looking similar as everybody else = possibility to do things unnoticed

Second hand stores

Sorting garbage made easy

Selection of bread (not only whole wheat or wheat core but oat, rye, barley, spelt, etc. etc.)


Bicycle


Beautiful home


Human indoor temperature (what makes Malaysians so excited about air-conditioning that it's freezing in most places although the country is blessed with a tropical climate?)


Drinking from any tap


Toilet paper and soap provided in toilets


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2) Things I will miss from Malaysia

Friends and substitute family


Cheap prices


Asian toilets (yes, I'm serious, they feel so much more hygienic and ergonomic and are on average cleaner than western ones)


View over UKM campus from KIZ hill


Animals


Public places where shoes have to be left out


Cute people who end their sentences with "lah"


Flower and Islamic decorations


That you can get wet and it doesn't matter because you will be dry in 10 minutes by sun or fan

That you can ask anybody about their age or religion freely without being impolite

Cold shower after a hot day

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3) Things I don't need to miss in either place

Green


Good coffee


Hygiene

Physical distance between people

Hectic and individualistic life-style

Things that have made me smile recently

I'm currently on my way to Penang as we are going to conduct a workshop there. On the way I stopped for one day in Ipoh. Ipoh is famous for its old town so I of course went there. The funny thing is that it looks to me exactly the same as the new town in Ipoh. Guess which ones of the following pictures are from old town and which ones from new town:






Right answer: first two are from old, last two from new town. Maybe you have to be more used to Malaysian architecture to see the difference. And I'm just learning to distinguish Asian people's faces... Maybe distinguishing old and new buildings is the next step...

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I made a donation to a buddhist-chinese temple just because they have a donation bell that they ring every time somebody makes a donation. Every charity should learn something about this :)



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One day in Kuala Lumpur I didn't have enough cash for train ticket so I jumped on the back of the train and held tight:


NO, NO, of course this is not true! Please don't believe and get worried :)
I was at the last wagon and took the video through the window...

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One evening we took the most social taxi I've ever seen. It can fit 6 people and the chairs in the middle can be turned so that everybody can sit in a half circle.



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Now that I get to visit a lot of schools as part of my job, I have also a chance to enjoy motivational quotes that they seem to love to put up to inspire students: