December 2011

Last interview in 2011 is an honor of Tereza Černigoj, one of our project managers waiting for her time to come…and her time is just around the corner. Tereza is a great fan of sustainable local and regional planning and has a unique sense to start a party at the right time. This interview was done from Štip to Kamnik, while we were both working on GIZ RED project for the Capacity building on national and regional level in Macedonia.

Her project office at Lopar

What makes you angry?

Whining and complaining! I recently read an article about it, where one Slovenian blogger is writing that sometimes it seems whining is national sport in Slovenia. He also tried to find out form where this results and he gives a very interesting explanation. “The Slovene people were slaves for the centuries and whining was the tool that the people used to seem preoccupied in order to master not uploaded them more with work.” Hmm – what if this is all true ?

What is your best excuse when you do a mistake?

The best excuse? – No excuse! When I do a mistake I play, I’m blond . No, I actually don’t play, because I’m blond – natural, he-he .

What is your worse party you have been to (and you are not allowed to vote for the ones I have been organizing)?

I haven’t seen what is written in the brackets, so… OK, no – I will choose another one . Once we had 80’s party and all the girls dressed in hot 80’s costumes and used hours to do their make-ups and hairstyles and then when we came to the party, we realized that someone forgot the speakers!!! So we left there only with laptop, without speakers and without music, not funny at all… I think we should repeat that party one day !

It is time of winter holidays is it true you are going to Hong Kong for a vacation?

Oh no – no way! I would never go to that concrete and steel jungle! I grew up with bears on my backyard, so when I go to vacations I want to go back to the nature . If it is winter I love to run down the white snow slopes and after that relax in the outdoor thermal pools… Pure pleasure !

What would be your advice for the development of the country you live in?

Country are people – so I would try to change the people’s minds thinking that we cannot change anything – Yes we can! Every individual, regardless of his position, has to put as much effort as he can to change the world and together we are stronger!

Her bike

July 2011

June and July were too hot to do two interviews so here is one more intense, ha ha. Our next employee is Klemen Strmšnik, one of our youngest project managers. Klemen has answered his line of questions from Ljubljana, where he lives. Let’s see what he has to tell.

What makes you angry?

When somebody tries to enforce his opinion or will without any real arguments. “Because I said so…” doesn’t work even with small children, so I guess adults should know better.

What is your best excuse for something you did but was wrong?

I made a decision based on information I had at that moment. But you know… A bad decision is still better than no decision at all!

What is your worse party you have been to?

My parents wedding!

Party was great, but I had to swim and listen to it all in a dark pool of water. I was present, everybody talked about me, but nobody even tried to talk with me. And I can tell you that still having no legs didn’t help my solo dancing performance at all. At that moment, being an embryo really sucked! Food was great though, and I didn’t even have to chew!

But the worst thing of all was that nobody invited my favorite aunt… Just because she met my uncle a few lousy months later is no excuse!

I am really scared

It is time of holidays why don’t you go to Manhattan for a nice vacation and relax?

I guess I have a long list of places I would like to see and somehow Manhattan is not on it. Maybe I should change the list… No, the reality is that I prefer smaller and less crowded places for my vacation. I try to spend my free time outside. Even when I’m traveling I try to get out of large cities as soon as possible. Being away from all electronic devices is the best stress relief. At least for me…

What would be your advice for the development of the region you live in?

People have an enormous amount of ideas that just need someone to listen to them and support them. Sometimes it takes unbelievably small amount of effort and good will to make those ideas come true. So maybe we could stop listening to different lobbies, politics and biro crates and try to use some common sense for a change.

May 2011

May will be dedicated to our colleague Mojca Hrabar Director of Oikos, Serbia and team leader of Strategic Assessment and Evaluation projects. The 5 questions interview was developed from Kamnik (SLO) to Belgrade (Serbia).

What makes you angry?

Keeping a low profile and being clever about it later.

What is your best excuse for something you didn’t do?

Simply admitting that I did not do it for no particular reason. It is so unexpected that people are simply surprised. But it takes guts and energy; since it is better to use them elsewhere, it is easier to blame Word crashing all the time…to the extent that nobody believes me when it happens for real hihihi

What is your best party you have been to but left early?

I never leave parties early unless I have a plane to catch! There are at least 3 advantages of such approach: you are probably going to a new adventure, so you do not feel sorry for leaving early (like going straight from Oikos Christmas Party to Stockholm for a mini-reunion partying weekend with my classmates Kathryn, Stefan and Kristjan); you are escorted by friends and acquaintances and everyone has a burst of the miss-you feelings (occasionally); friends help cleaning up on time for the morning flight if the party is at your place (like at Oxford when leaving for fieldtrips). So… I simply can’t remember the best party where I left early. Wait a minute, now I realized that when I leave a party early I hugely increase my greenhouse gas emissions! So I should try to reduce that bit of my impact on climate change… not just by partying on until the end…

Why don’t you live in Minnesota?

I’ve heard it is beautiful, especially Minneapolis and Minnehaha Falls, and I could probably easily live there and even cope with the snow and the cold, but… The countries without sea do not qualify. Sorry, the Great Lakes are simply not enough. I must have been a mermaid in my previous life.

What would be your advice for the development of the region you live in?

Improve quality of life by giving power to the people trough accessibility of public services and information. People live well when they feel powerful and in control of their lives, and that motivates them and stimulates creativity. Simply improving and enhancing the accessibility is not enough; people should be shown, motivated and taught how to exploit this improved access. I think we are simply unaware of the opportunities that would open with this, from job flexibility, sharing costly machinery and software, croudsourcing and synergies of ideas to social support among “familiar strangers”.

You can read more about Mojca at her personal Facebook site and in her Curriculum Vitae.

Mojca in her Oxford days.

April 2011

Last month we presented Barbara Gašperlin in 5 questions interview which was developed on-line from Sarajevo (BIH) to Kamnik (SLO).

Barbara is a physicist involved in Environmental Impact Assessments, Noise Studies and short expert studies on environmental impacts. Lately she is getting involved in Local Energy Concepts for Local Communities.

What makes you angry?
I don’t like this: I would like to have something, just do not know what. And then I need a lot of time to find out what that person would like to have. That kills my creativity. If you don’t know what you want? Decide!

What is your best excuse for something you didn’t do?
My excuses are very bad, but I’m very good in story telling. Usually “recipe I tested” is used to shift the debate.

What is your best book and when did you read it?
Albert Einstein’s biography cold E=m*c2. I read it again last summer.

Why don’t you live in Brazil?
For me Brazil is a country for fun and holidays. Is Brazil potential country for development my activities? I will think about that.
I would like to live in Berlin or in one of Scandinavian countries.

What would be your advice for the development of the region you live in?
Step out from the clouds and be realistic. Be realistic and enable people to achieve their goals.

Barbara has her own business where she finds herself and her innovation. If you would like to learn more about Barbara’s afternoon activities visit her personal business site.