President Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize?

President Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize? I must admit – I was almost dumbfounded.

Announcing the award, the Nobel committee said: “For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and (Obama) “created a new climate in international politics.”

Frankly speaking I do really believe that Obama was pretty perplexed by the announcement and I am sure he didn’t lobby for the award. He said - he is "deeply humbled."

I am of the opinion that this decision was a bit premature. What has Obama done to earn a Nobel Peace Prize within his nine month of office? He has no concrete achievements. What’s more, there are facts speaking against the vision of peace in the world - what with a strong military presence of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Quite confusing isn’t it?

Is it enough to explain the Norwegian Nobel Committee treats this prize based only on good intentions as a kind of encouragement?

During a press conference Obama said that he felt he did not deserve to be among past Nobel Peace Prize winners. It doesn’t surprise me. Among others there were two other American presidents who were given the award: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, for negotiating an end to a war between Russia and Japan, and Woodrow Wilson in 1919, for the Treaty of Versailles. Additionally we should mention other world leaders like Michail Gorbachev, who won for helping end the cold war, and Nelson Mandela, who sought an end to apartheid. As a Pole I am sorry I could not resist to drop a line about Lech Wałęsa (a Nobel Prize Awarded in 1983) an electrician at the shipyard in Gdansk in Poland. The Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people of the past century. Let me cite them: “Lech Walesa's courage helped bring about the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War”.

I must admit - an impressive list. But how you can explain that Joseph Stalin, the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 and 1948 for his efforts to end World War II? Well, The Norwegian Nobel Committee is not the United Nations. They are representatives of the estate of Alfred Nobel. They follow their own rules, which ones? I think it is a big secret.

Honeste speaking after the Obama nomination my first thought was – “poor guy”. This puts so much pressure on him. Now the whole world expects something extraordinary.
He has to struggle with the internal problems like the nation’s health care system in the US. As for the foreign affairs – Afghanistan, peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians then the extremely fragile situation in Iraq, North Korea with missile tests; Iran continues to enrich uranium... ufff long long list. I wouldn’t like to be on his place. How to cope with it? I do understand why he didn't look particularly happy during his press conference ;)

Then I was wondering for a moment if it might have been better for the president not to accept the prize. He couldn’t. He is bold enough and I think likes challenges, he sounds all the right notes for the future.

Show must go on. Let’s wait. I keep my fingers crossed.

My holiday

My 09’ holiday

After the birth of my kids everything changed - the style of spending my holiday as well. Diving, climbing in the mountains, visiting remote places - forget it! Now it is easier to adjust my holidays to my kids - it makes them happy and for me and my husband it means relaxing a little bit.

This year I discovered something brilliant – villages for the whole families. In this kind of places each member of the family can find something for himself - and the most fantastic thing-babysitting of your child (3-4 hours per day) is included in the price!

On the internet I found and chose a great place - Grimaud – Les Restanques Village du Golfe de Saint-Tropez in France (Cote d’Azur). And it was exactly what I was looking for!

The complex was beautiful. The view amazing – our villa had a lovely garden and a view of the mountains (the village is built on the hillside). The village is located close to Grimaund with a great choice of white sandy beaches within a 5-minute drive and nice restaurants.

For families with children it is an ideal place with a lot of space for them to explore. There were three swimming pools; my twins just loved the wave pool with the wave machine, one jacuzzi, artificial beach with the sun beds, tennis and a lake with all kinds of water sports. Additionally there was a nice, well maintained playground shaded by trees. We cannot forget about the activities for tired mothers - like yoga, pilates, and for exhausted fathers: a bar with nice drinks?:)

During our stay we made a nice trip to Saint-Tropez, my husband insisted on making some pictures (illegally) in front of the local police station - well known from the comedies with his favourite actor - Louis de Funes (“Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez”). And - of course we couldn’t resist having a nice trip along the coast to admire the beautiful residences of famous people.

The weather was perfect. Can you imagine 14 days of cloudless skies with temperature in the 30’s?

The whole stay was really big fun. My favourite part was an evening romantic dinner in Grimaund, my least favourite part was having to leave;(