life of MC apartment's inhabitants.
Dear readers,
Welcome to the interesting side of our lives... living in the MC flat!!
Currently, there are three inhabitants in the MC Flat, all the international members of the national team:
Ravin from India,
Maja from Poland and
Titel from Romania.
Honestly, words can not express what it is like to live here.
For starters...
Maja has learnt to keep herself from being a cleaning freak. Also, she has learnt to pronounce '3' as
th-ree and not
f-ree and 'with' as
wi-th and not
wi-f.
Titel has had the opportunity to challenge his world-view(read
culinary) and to discover & develop his immense cooking potential. Right now, he is working on nurturing and retaining his top talent. In simplar words, the boy has finally started cooking and over the last two weeks we have been relishing some romanion delicacies.
Ravin has gradually learnt cooking over the last 6 months or so. Today, the MC team can handle(almost) as much spice as him. He is especially enjoying
improvizing, in simplar words, using his
masala mixes to spice up the food and make it yummy ... slurp! :P
Apart from this, we, the inhabitants have invented a really cool drinking game... 'Puke' (I know that the name ain't that cool)
Latest NEWS: While I have been busy writing this post, titel was up with the customary Saturday cleaning. To keep the long story short, If you happen to visit our apartment and it smells like
'shit' don't worry it is wood-polish (A very old one from the pre-stone age times)
Everyday... memorries from International Congress 2006
24 August Day -1
Yes, this was IC 2006 day -1, but it is very misleading, because this is the day when International Congress 2006 was officially opened!
In the evening the Opening Ceremony took place, with huge applause, speeches of externals, as well as Congress Committee President (Bartosz Wegrowski) and President of AIESEC International (Edyson David dos Santos Gamez also known as Dey).
We could see the performances- dances and songs of polish origin (but not only). Maybe it was slightly too long, but people enjoyed it very much anyway.
25 August Day 0
OK, now, before we will describe the day, there will be a few words about the venue.
IC 2006 was held in the student campus. This means that we were living in the dorms, but plenaries, parties and meals we had in different buildings (or tents =) To get to the plenary building we needed around 10- 15 minutes walking. This also means, that we didn’t have time to go back to our rooms between the sessions. Once we left the dorm, we were back to change for the party…
So Day 0 was a real opening of the conference. Why this day? Because 24th August was really official, with no AIESEC roll calls; not too much of AIESEC spirit. In this case we started with Opening Plenary. Just imagine- over 90 countries doing 1,5 minute roll call… Ah!
Also CC presented their dance and… AIESEC International 06/07 Dance was launched! Every year people all over the world people are waiting for this moment to hear and see new AI dance. This year it is “I’m so excited” song. Just wait for Mace delegation to be back in Macedonia. Dancing AI dance will be one points of the IC 2006 Bring Back!
After Opening Plenary we moved to the city center to take part in the Global Village. It was open for people, so not only AIESECers, but also Warsaw inhabitants were approaching our stands and asking questions. Unfortunately, 3 hours was too little time to visit the stands of all the countries. After this time we had to go to the venue, to start the real agenda.
The first session was ‘AIESEC Rocket without Science’. We had amazing opportunity to listen to conversation of Dey with past 7 Presidents of AIESEC International! Can you imagine this feeling? We could actually tract the evolution of AIESEC strategies for the last 10 years. Ah… and after this CEE party. It was very exciting day!
26 August Day 1
This day was really interesting, especially for people interested in organizational processes, cultures and structures. We had a great workshop about “Freedom Centered Organizations”. Want to know more what does it mean? Just follow the link: www.worldblu.com or approach Maja, Ravin or Toni abort this!
Day 1 was also the first day when AIESEC Partners had their company presentations. We learned about DHL and Alcatell. In the evening AIESEC dialogues were introduced. We were talking about AIESEC and non AIESEC related topics.
27 August Day 2
Again, some non agenda- related information.
The chair of IC 2006 in Poland was David Pollay. Maybe there would be nothing interesting about this guy, when not the fact that he is the fan of Positive Psychology and every time he was talking to us, he was delivering some knowledge about this topic between the lines. Just learn more about this amazing person: http://www.themomentumproject.com/pollay.html
This day was devoted to AIESEC 2010 and Issue Based Experiences.
In the evening we had an official gathering- Alumni Hall of Fame. We had a pleasure to see great individuals, who- despite of the fact that they are not AIESEC members any more- they still live AIESEC values and support our organization. Their speeches were very powerful and inspiring, but the most amazing thing was that they are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
28 August Day 3
This day was devoted to the issues of Initiative Groups. Among all the topics were also those that we chose as the most important for Macedonia: Education, CSR and Finance. Each of us was participating in workshops, working groups, panel discussions and learning circles around those topics. And I guess that no specialists would contribute to what we have learned as much as just conversations among delegates. We challenged ourselves a lot and we understood the problems that other countries are facing.
But before all this- in the morning we had a few speeches connected with the topic of IC- Solidarity for the Future. One of the guests was Lech Walesa- ex President of Poland.
In the evening, though everybody was really tired, we went to bowling club! Sorry to say this, but your delegation lost L But the good news is that the contest was never finished because out busses were waiting for us after the first round! Next IC we will be ore prepared, right?
Aha! I forgot to mention, that more companies were introducing their services and products. Microsoft and Electrolux the day before, day 3 was a presentation of UBS. If you want to discover more- just go to their websites!
29 August Day 4
After PWC launch we started talking about making Issue Based Experience a reality.
The session that we attended was around Education Initiative Group, run by Juraj- (Education Drive Team Member).
We also had a chance to see the external point of view, during Sessions delivered by our partners- Partners Workshop.
In the meantime Cadbury Schweppes had the company launch and in the evening we experiences the wildest party- WENA party!
30 August Day 5
Yes, today we also got to know 2 more companies. ABN AMRO and InBev told us about the copany but also about how they cooperate with AIESEC.
But the main point in Day’s 5 agenda was the launch of… AIESEC University Live! This year a great innovation was introduced to @Uni sessions: we were working on real case studies from AIESEC countries, not just speaking about theories.
This day was also very important for extensions, as they were officially introduced to the Global Plenary. This was really powerful session when MCs from extensions were sharing they good times and challenges they face everyday, starting AIESEC up in the new territories.
Before the Dinner we met new 16 facilitators. Can you imagine how many facis we had at that point of time?!? It was because the next day Developing Leaders Day was about to start. Facilitators were from ABN AMRO and Cadbury Schweppes- a pair per group. We spent the dinner chatting and getting to know each other better.
No… if you think that it was all than you are wrong! We also had another opportunity to learn more about positive psychology by David. Ufff, good that the evening was chill out party!
31 August Day 6
This day was very interesting. Unfortunately the wake up was very sharp, and we started the agenda earlier than everyday, but DLD was for sure worth! With external facis we covered interesting topics like drivers (if you want to learn more- just ask Maja, Toni or Ravin).
After DLD wrap up we had some time to get to the place where Polish Night was organized. It was one of the best parties- maybe we didn’t dance so much, but the discussions we had were great! It’s a pity that we had to stay in the queue to get some barbecue, but even this was interesting. You cannot imagine how much networking you can have when waiting for your food!
1 September Day 7
We were already introduced to all the companies, and we could focus on the work and AIESEC sessions. And there is nothing more like AIESEC session than session about exchange! We had an interactive lesson of that was happening in the history with exchange processes, but also we experienced projection of what’s going to happen text with the core of our work.
The main changes that are planned for the future are connected with exchange pools. The direction is to categorize exchanges around issues, not MT/ TT/ DT/ ET pool, where we face so many issues about job description that does not fit to any poll…
In the evening, after the second block of AIESEC Uni Live! Sessions with the round of applause we invited on the stage Broddie, PAI 05/06 to present the AI Rapport. He summarized his (and his AI team) term, sharing their successes and failures. When we saw the achievements of last AI and we looked at AI 06/07 work, we immediately understood the meaning on value ‘Acting Sustain ably’.
Before the party we split info different tracks. Maja went to the session about Competency Model (by Unilever), Ravin was at ‘Blind Dates’ (if you want to know with whom he had a date with, don’t forget to ask him), and Toni spend half of a night on global legislation.
The main decisions that were made are the following:
- we have another GN introduced to AIESEC Globally: MENA GN (Middle East and North Africa)
- International Congress 2008 will be hosted by AIESEC in Brasil!
Congratulations!
2 September Day 8
I believe that the event that everybody was waiting for entire congress was that evening. Awards.
They were delivered to the following countries:
- Africa GN - Cameroon
- Asia Pacific GN - Hong Kong
- Western Europe North America GN - United Kingdom
- Spanish Speaking GN - Brazil
And… the most important and valuable award - Global Excellence Award went to Romania!!!!!
If you have AIESEC friends In any of those countries, don’t forget to congratulate them! They really deserved it.
3 September Day 9
You will not believe it. International Congress 2006 in Poland, after 10 days (plus premeeting!), 4 hours of sleep per day, little time, little food and loads of meetings… came to an end.
Actually nobody realized this- till the last day.
The time of capturing our IC experience came; we were writing sugar cubes, planning when we will visit our new friends and preparing for Closing Plenary.
This was the time to thank AIESEC in Poland, Congress Committee, Aiesec International, Facilitators, Externals, and delegates for making this conference so special.
Yours,
Avant Garde Team
EuExpro
update: made error in company mention. it was LoginSystems, not InfosysAnother great weekend! Kire and I went to Struga this weekend to participate in the EuExpro conference for their potential SNs. We facilitated sessions for AIESEC University, and for the rest of the time, we listened to CEOs and Ambassadors speak about the EU and Macedonia’s path towards it. It was very educational and very relaxing. To be in a conference in my own country and not be conference manager! Hehe, very interesting experience.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The conference was held in Hotel Biser, the same site that Expros was held last year. Wonderful hotel at the edge of Lake Ohrid. Needless to say, we had a great time on the balcony basking in the sun when we weren’t in sessions. So much fun that we have come back to Skopje nice and red (ouch! Silly sun burns).
Fouere, the Ambassador for Macedonia in the EU, was speaking in the conference, and this is the second time that I have seen him speak. I always enjoy hearing him speak and listening to his viewpoint of the politics of the country as well as his international viewpoint of the Macedonians. I can definitely connect with the words he says as I am experiencing quite a bit of it here. And he has such an open policy to reaching out into the Macedonian public. He arrived without body guards, without red tape, without a heavy agenda. He arrived simply to speak to AIESEC. During the day, apart from his session, he had a tour of the area around the hotel. At night, he watched as we partied and spoke to the other externals who also stayed to see the young’ns party. Interesting seeing the externals grouped together (ambassador, representatives from government ministries and director of LoginSystems), sipping on their beer and watching the AIESEC dances on the dance floor.
Kara also facilitated a session, her first faci experience in a conference. Congratulations!! We had loads of fun on the drive there and back with Kara and Bib. Those two are simply too crazy. And there are loads of pictures, and I believe videos, to prove this.
So, back to Skopje, where it is just as hot. This Canadian Filipina just doesn’t do heat. And with the temperature increasing everyday, I foresee myself dying of heat. Need to buy more summer wear. Skirts galore!
