Encourage Diversity

Dear friends,

I really think people should be taught, ever since they are little, that DIVERSITY is something they need in their life. We should never limit ourself to any race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics. We should always stay open minded and make friends by looking at peoples heart not at their wallet/houses/possesion/color of skin/religion and such.

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This is one of the things I love working for a corporation: THE DIVERSITY ! When I am walking down the stairs or having lunch in the cafeteria or when I am just sitting at my cubicle I am blessed to hear a multitude of voices in (almost) all the tongues of this world. Working with a multilingual group is truly something that tests ones limits but I have to admit I very much like it. It helps me remember the words/phrases that I know and it allows me to learn new things. Each country has their own way of acting and writing and walking and expressing themselves.

The corporation I am part of had this week the Diversity Week and I am proud to say I was part of it! We had - me and one of my Romanian friends from here, in Poland - Krakow - a 2 hours presentation about Romania - traditions, customs and places to see. Daniela, my friend, had the inspiration of calling her mum and asking her to ship ASAP some martisoare in order for us to tell about the month of March and its traditions. She also was very upbeat and personal and she made these awesome traditional sweets - we call them placinte and they are usually made with sweet cheese or with apple and cinnamon. The company was also kind enough to bring sweets that were made by one of my fav cupcake place - yes, you got that right! We had cupcakes! And not just any cupcakes, but cupcakes from the wonderfully magical Cupcake Corner Bakery!!!

Of course I was evil enough to snatch 2 away, after the presentation was over, for me and my adorable sweet husband waiting for me at home. I had the velvety strawberry cupcake that I knew very well and the lemon cupcake split in 2 and we each had our share when I got home, after work. We both agreed that the lemony one has quite a kick and the savour/flavour stays with you way longer than the velvety one ;) But either way you should try both of them!

We had a lovely moderator who asked me and Daniela questions about why we came to Poland, why we stayed and what were the differences we could see between the cultures. I was pleasently surprised to see that from the amount of 20 participants at our workshop - yup, that was the max and we had the max! :) - more than half of them passed through Romania or even visited several cities inside it! We spoke about traditions and the martisor and that it is a symbol of spring conquering winter. They were really attracted to our traditions and our stories and the athmosphere was very relaxed and friendly.

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We did not know when the time went by... We had around 3 short movies about Romania - statistics and also achievements of Romania as a country - and also a very nicely done PowerPoint with top places to visit in Romania. I must say the meeting was quite a success. At the end, the personal assistant of the head of the center also brought us flowers :) A huge bouquet that really made me smile, even though I am very much against cut flowers - yes, please, I will only have flowers in a pot! It was very nice of the corporation to spent some time in preparing the room, the sweets, the drinks and the flowers for us - we also, each of us, got a very nice thank you card as well ;)

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It is nice to have a open space where you can express yourself freely and other people can come and listen/ask questions. It was refreshing to see that people actually care and want to know more of my country. It is nice to see that there are still people who are open minded and think not that Romanian people = Gypsies. People who think that Romania is a country worth visiting. People who visit Romania and think it worthwhile and tell other people about it. This indeed makes my day! :)

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I dunno about you lads/lasses but I encourage diversity! I encourage having friends from different countries and talking to them frequently. I encourage knowing different languages and speaking freely with people when you travel. I encourage you to travel, travel on all continents and immerse yourself in the local culture - try new things and live like a local, it will open your eyes! 

Yours truly,
A LadyBug Who Encourages Diversity :)