I’ve had so much fun this year so far… With so many things happening, it’s hard to slow down and write about it. Today a client of mine, Paul, said to me; “You didn’t write any blog posts recently.” I did on my Croatian site, but haven’t had time to translate it. I felt it wasn’t nice to disappoint people who are loyal to me so here I am. Writing, in English. 😉
Since the last blog post, I attended a few super cool events. One was in Google European head office, and the other was in the stunning Mansion house in Dublin. I had the huge honor to be invited by the Croatian Ambassador in Ireland to the reception Celebrating 25 years of The Republic of Croatia’s International Recognition Day.
I won’t lie, it was very fancy. I was introduced to many other ambassadors, diplomats, and academics. It was a small and selected list of people invited to this reception. I didn’t feel intimidated by any of these successful people, simply because, for me really, every human being has the same value and the only thing that I judge people by is if they are decent human beings or not. At the same time, I felt very proud to be there. On this day 25 years ago I was a child living in Zagreb, and war was raging in my small country… Instead of playing and living like any kid deserves, I was scared most of the time and daily news replaced cartoons.
That was our reality for several years. So being able to stand there, as a free and happy human being, to me, didn’t go by default. I never took it for granted, and I never take being alive for granted. The fact that I do not live in Croatia anymore added to the nostalgic emotions, but also I was happy that this invite didn’t come simply because of my nationality.
It came because I’ve earned it through writing, which helped people decide to change their lives for the better. It just shows you that there are no excuses for standing still and not trying to change things. Everyone can make a difference, no matter how small. We should never stop fighting to make this world a little bit better.
Apart from the emotional side of this event, I was really enjoying the food and drinks there. Catering was provided by ‘Platform 61’, whose owners are Croatians from Dublin. The black risotto and amazing Teran red wine from Istria, Croatia, were my favorites. Plus crème brûlée for dessert.
As Ivan Mašina (the Croatian Ambassador) noticed, the only problem with crème brûlée was it was simply too small of a portion. I agreed. That’s why I had to eat a few of them. Ah, well, as I already said, I don’t take my life for granted and I’m not afraid to go and get the things that I really want. 😀
Kisses,
Ana-Marija Hota