Thursday 28 February 2008

Muchas cosas que contar

Lo sé, hace mucho que no escribo. Y la verdad es que tengo muchas cosas que contar, pero nunca tengo tiempo. Así que voy a intentar hacer un resumen.

Las clases se han ido intensificando poco a poco hasta el punto de que el miércoles que viene tengo el primer examen del Lent Term (el segundo trimestre), de Innovation.

Ya os conté algo sobre Peter Nolan. También me lo estoy pasando muy bien en Global Marketing con Eden Yin. Es un auténtico crack. La verdad es que está un poco loco, o más bien se lo hace. Nos provoca, bromea con nosotros, hasta se ríe de nosotros, pero sobre todo nos hace pensar.

Esta asignatura va mucho de ver las cosas desde otro punto de vista, de darse cuenta de cuánto influye la cultura en la percepción de la realidad. Y Eden usa cualquier cosa para hacernos ver eso. Por ejemplo puede poner una foto de unos perros en una jaula y un puesto de perros fritos, de verdad, en no sé qué país asiático donde los perros se comen, y punto. En España me imagino que matas un perro para comértelo y te meten en la carcel, ¿no?

Y entonces y se pone a darle caña a los japoneses por cargarse ballenas, a los americanos porque en no sé qué estado hay una ley que prohibe tener sexo con un puerco espín, a los cataríes porque allí se puede tener sexo con una oveja, siempre que sea hembra, etc.

Esta semana hemos tenido que escribir un pequeño ensayo sobre cómo ve el mundo un conejo, un pez o una paloma. Una paranoia. Se ve que el tío disfruta con lo que hace, y te manda correos electrónicos cada día con videos de youtube y presentaciones en power point cachondas.

Cambiando de tema, el fin de semana pasado estuve en Sevilla con Diego. Fui al dentista y a reunirme con gente de Talentia para ver qué voy a hacer cuando acabe el MBA. Estuvo bien viajar con Diego los dos solos. Se portó super bien. Me di cuenta de lo rápido que está creciendo y de la cantidad de cosas que aprende cada día.

También los abuelos disfrutaron mucho con él y le enseñaron algunas palabras en español. Ahora ya sabe decir "jamón" y "pan", que luego lo complementa con un "I like" y queda super cachondo. Por ahora sigue mezclando las palabras. Hay cosas que prefiere decirlas en inglés y otras en español.

Esta semana tuvimos una sorpresa en clase. Estábamos haciendo un caso sobre Cobra Beer, una cerveza que está pegando muy fuerte en el Reino Unido, y resulta que en la clase estaba Lord Bilimoria, el fundador y jefe de la empresa. Nos dio una conferencia sobre el tema y fue una de esas clases que valen la pena. El tío llegó a Inglaterra hace treinta años con 5 libras en el bolsillo y ahora es multimillonario.

Y no es el único Lord que ha estado por aquí esta semana. Otro día tuvimos la presentación de las optativas para el Easter Term, el tercer trimestre, y una de ellas las imparte Lord Eatwell. Su asignatura, Financial Regulation, parece interesante, pero creo que no la voy a escoger. Tenemos que elegir 4 de 20, y la verdad es que todavía no lo tengo claro. Podéis ver el listado aquí.

Esta semana nos han dado la nota de Marketing del primer trimestre y a mi me ha ido bastante bien. Creo que ya le he vuelto a cojer el tranquillo a esto de estudiar y hacer exámenes. Lo que pasa es que las notas de Organisational Behaviour no nos la darán hasta mediados de marzo, y las de Corporate Finance y Accounting a finales.

Se me olvidaba. Este es el trimestre de las consultoras y la semana pasada estuvieron en la escuela McKinsey, Bain y Accenture. Se venden muy bien y el trabajo parece interesante, pero por lo que cuentan no hay una semana que eches menos de 60 horas.

En general todo va bien. El tiempo pasa volando y ya tengo que empezar a pensar en el retorno. Diego y Leo están creciendo rápido. Miriam está bien, contenta, totalmente adaptada con su grupo de amigas. El tiempo está mejorando. Yo estoy intentando salir a correr tres veces por semana.
Por último mañana nos vamos a Italia, hasta el domingo, para el 60 cumpleaños de mi suegro. Nos juntaremos mis suegros, los 12 cuñados y cuñadas, y los 17 sobrinos y sobrinas. Una locura. Ya veréis las fotos.

Friday 22 February 2008

Just mummy and Leonardo... and the pool!

This week-end will be an unusual one for me since Daddy and Diego left yesterday afternoon to go to Spain: Paco to deal with some business there and Diego visiting his grandparents.

That leaves Leo and me and I decided we should spend this time doing something nice. Yesterday afternoon was spent happily browsing a couple of bookshops.
This morning I took Leo to the swimming pool for the first time! for obvious reasons there are no photos of the event but it was a very successful expedition. The pool is very well organized for kids, with family changing rooms and changing tables all over so you can put baby down a moment if you need to (never unattended!) and the water is really warm... I don't know what the exact temperature was but it was rather like stepping into a bath and Leo loved it... and let's hope he'll sleep better for it tonight!!

Saturday 16 February 2008

A trip to Ely

This week we decided we should make the most of the little free time we have as a family so seeing it was a lovely sunny day - even though freezing cold - we took a train to Ely to have a look at the famous Cathedral and walk around a bit.

Diego obviously enjoyed the train bit! He's really into anything that moves now: buses, trains, lorries (or lollies!!), cars, bikes... you name it! And we also have to mention that he's become quite a walker, he only needs a bit of encouragement and he'll go quite a long way on his own two little legs.

Paco and I admired the Cathedral: it's quite amazing especially if you consider that it's practically in the middle of nowhere! It was also nice to have time to chat over a meal.

And Leo... well, I think what he enjoyed the most was sleeping all wrapped up in his buggy!



Interior of Ely Cathedral



The stained glass windows reflected on the columns




Diego running to catch up with us!





















Tuesday 12 February 2008

The cascade effect

Today we have finished Professor Peter Nolan's International Business course. And it's a pity, because he is no doubt the most singular lecturer we have had in the course so far. He really says interesting things and make you think about the global economy.

Peter Nolan is original not only for what he says, but also for how he says it. For instance, he doesn't use slides. And when he talks, he doesn't dictate, he just talk. It's very difficult to take notes of what he says, but it doesn't matter. I gave up the first day and since then I just tried to enjoy the lectures and capture the message.

Professor Nolan has a vast bibliography. One of his favourite concepts is "the global business revolution". I've found this abstract of one of his papers in the Cambridge Journal of Economics: "The global business revolution since the 1980s has witnessed an unprecedented degree of industrial consolidation and concentration of business power at a global level. Firms with powerful, globally recognised technologies and/or brands constitute the ‘systems integrators’ at the apex of extended supply chains. This paper examines the supply chains in four different sectors: aerospace, telecommunications, automobiles and beverages. It finds that these sectors have striking similarities in the way in which the core systems integrators have stimulated industrial concentration across the whole supply chain. This ‘cascade effect’ has profound implications for firms from developing countries in catching up at the firm level."

But, why do I entitle this post the "cascade effect"? Well, because I have noticed that the MBA is also acting as a system integrator and by continously trying to rise its standards, it demands each of us, as elements of the system, to improve our performance. The good thing is that this happens without too much pressure, not as an obligation, but as a motivation.

Finally, today I've also found out that Peter Nolan regularly visits the Universitá degli Studi di Pavia, in Italy, where most of my brothers and sisters in law live.

Monday 11 February 2008

Happy family Pérez-Allen!

Yesterday we had a photographic session with the kids and once more we had to give up without one decent photo of both of them laughing! Here is a selection:



Saturday 9 February 2008

JBS football team win again

Today 2-6 against Robinson College.


And guess who scored five goals...

Yes, me!. Unbelievable. Today it was one of those days when you just kick the ball and it goes in. Specially if you are in a difficult position. I missed two or three easy chances, but surprisingly, I scored three goals with my left leg.

To be honest I scored four and a half goals. The last one was after very good play from Amane, who could have scored had I not kicked it first.

And what makes it more amazing is that I was feeling so bad today before the match. I almost didn't go. I went to the pub night yesterday and I was hangover. I couldn't run for the first half an hour and we even started 1-0 down.

But the team did a very good job and we played much more in their side of the field than in ours. Also, as in our first victory, this rival played less phisical than others. They let us play and we let them play. Less tackles and as a consequence better football.

Marvin -Janine's husband-played as a keeper. Roupen, Haru, Ahmed and Andrey played defense. Andy, Sina, Ken and Amane midfield. And Dihan and me up front.

Sina scored the othe goal, the fifth, in a very good kick after a clear goal chance I missed.

We all finished the match with cramps and couldnt' run anymore. We really need some phisical training. I definitely need it. I could play much better if I were able to go running twice a week. I'm going to try.

In April we play against "the other place", and in May against other MBA teams near Paris during the MBAT. I still don't know if I could go, but I'd like to. There is also a cross country race. And I definitely need to train for this.

Saturday 2 February 2008

The Gibbons

This weekend we had a swift visit from the Gibbons: David, Rachel, Daniela, Laura, Thomas and Amy. It was lovely to see them.

David spent here thee years (?) reading for his Phd at St. John's College and keeps very good memories from the city. We even went to visit his tutor, a Professor of Italian now almost retired but that irradiates energy and is in extraordinary good shape for his age.




























Dani and Laura have grown a lot, and also Thomas. I didn't know Amy. She looks like David (and Dani) and seems to be a very good girl. I can't believe I already have... how many? 17 nieces? Something like that...

Nuevos viejos posts

Estoy actualizando el blog con algunos posts antiguos. Os dejo los enlaces.

Actualizado el 2 de Febrero

Actualizado el 23 de Enero

Friday 1 February 2008

Pictures of Diego and Leonardo

People keep asking us to upload more pictures of the kids. Here they are.




























Yes, they are growing very fast. Leonardo is already 6kg and Diego who knows.

Time is flying. We are almost halfway through the course.