A nice way to start Day 8

Woke up. Checked my MSN messages. A message from an old friend (not yet an aiesecer):

"I just received an email about AIESEC in my university account. I am going to bring my friends and support the information session. Enjoy the conference."

Just made my day. Gracias po.

Canadians making some noise in IC

WENA GN Party (Western European and North America Growth Network). Canadians present making some noise around our stand in the beautiful Turkish Summer rain, in a tennis court of over 100 nationalities. Enjoy, eh?

María Luisa Fernanda de Corazón Espinando

The naming and welcoming of María Luisa Fernanda de Corazón Espinando to the Southern Cone Family. =)

AIESEC Quork Represents in IC =)

Representating the QUORK (QUEEN'S-YORK) delegation of IC 2007:
LC Queen's (my original LC) - Me!
LC York (our sister LC) - Marina!
Canada MC Regional VP Ontario 0607 - Carolyn!

Marina and I orginally met in ORC 2004 Guelph
And now some 3 years later, we finally see each other again in Istanbul, IC 2007
QUEEN´s YORK! QUEEN´s YORK! QUORK QUORK QUORK!

IC - Day 5

Working Hard.

Playing Hard.

Cheers in Plenary

The Asian Pacific cheer happening in the plenary

Some Roll Calls by countries in the morning plenary.

Güney Cone

The "Güney Cone" Delegation in the Global Village

From left to right: Sveta, Sebas, Walter, me, Max

we miss you David!!!

Pre-meeting in SSGN

Here is a clip of what we do in the Spanish-Speaking Growth Network pre-meeting during breaks. Enjoy!

A nice way to start my IC.

After an intense 3 day premeeting. An email checking, and seeing how the recruitment campaign is going in Southern Cone while I am away...just puts that extra smile to my face. My Talent Management team is at work, and recruitment is HOT!! Gotta love you guys Nico, Laru, Anita, Darío, Max!!!

"This World Needs MORE Southern Cone AIESECers!!!! Recruit Responsibly."

a happy day.

I think I am finally grasping what the IC experience really means for AIESECers. It was so hyped up, and it has been a dream of mine ever since I found out what the acronym "IC" meant.

The fact that we are still in the premeeting part (day 2 of 3 today), and the official conference haven`t even started yet is a beauty by nature. The rush of euphoria, the sense of contribution, connection with the delegation of the premeeting has been a bliss. The past few two days, we have spent the entire days only with one region of the world - the SSGN, basically Latin America, USA, and Spain. Connecting with around 40 people of our region, sharing our realities of AIESEC, and all collaborating towards our results as One. The connection, the talent individuals of our region. And that is only one region we are spending time with, during breaks, meals, parties, we are able to now connect with around 100 nationalities present in the premeeting.

Opening ceremony is to begin in 1 day. I'm happy. And an overwhelmed by the so-called IC experience.

Above: Some familiar faces, and picture of party at courtyard

Istanbul!!!

After some 30 hours of travelling through Santiago, Buenos Aires, Roma, I'm in Istanbul. In the Asian part of the city. Feels good to be in Asia again!

jetlagged, lost my luggage, sweaty and smelly...I'm just happy I'm in one piece. International Congress baby!!!

Got to see some familiar faces at check-in today. And familiar names with whom I have been in contact with, whose faces became familiar for the first time. =)

Highlights of the day:

• The entire flight clapping upon landing in Rome safely. Apparently it's a tradition when landing safely.
• Luggage was lost when I arrived in Istanbul, but I was surprisingly calm about it (or maybe too tired!).
• Meeting at least 10 people I have been in contact with in the past, and finally putting the face to them!
• Meeting Hong Kong AIESEC members for the first time in my life.
• Interacting with Hong Kongers (12 of them!) speaking Cantonese with them after more than a year and a half of non-Cantonese!
• Being invited to join the HK roll call that I have not seen live before, yet teaching every single member I know in Canada, CAS, and Southern Cone! =)
• AAOOWWing to some Canadians: Hajar, Shirley, Carolyn, Jean-Nic...=) and then being told there will be around 20 Canadians out of 650 delegates. Some 3% of delegation!
• Seeing Franklin and Mariano from CAS once more!
• Meeting my first 2 people from Malta in my life, hearing them speak Maltese, and sharing a room with one of them!
• Speaking English again!!!

La "once"

la "once" - eleven

Traditionally a light meal of bread, tea, and coffee taken at 11pm. But nowadays, it's eaten around 8pm. Lunches are the heaviest meals in Chile.

Gotta love that "once" when it has:
sopaipillas (fried piece of dough) - center of pic
palta (Chilean for guacamole) - on the left
and calzones (literally means: boxers, but here it is sweet pastry) - on the right

A travelling MC...

Finally arrived. In Concepción. Or as I have been calling it since transition: Conception. =)

Couldn´t really sleep on the 7 hour overnight bus ride. There was just a lot of things going through my head. I am quite tired from travelling...

When I left Valdivia, Carlos passed me a CD for Diego in Córdoba, Argentina. I paused for a second, and throught of how I was going to give Diego his CD.... Got it.... I will be reuniting with my team in Istanbul, Turkey (YES! International Congress!!!!!) next week, where I will see Sebas. He is the coach of Córdoba and will be back there in September while I will be back in Chile. Interesting way of passing through things, eh?

Through travelling for the past 10 days through numerious cities in the Southern Cone, now I realize what it all meant when we were going to be a "mobile MC" as we are doing our first coaching visits, right now...

...David is in Montevideo, Uruguay
Sebas is in Córdoba, Argentina
Svitlana is in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Walter is in Santiago, Chile
I just came from Valdivia, and am now in Concepcíon, Chile.

And the idea is that we will be reunited back in Istanbul, before we directly return to our second coaching visits in our cities in September.

Our members definately have made the travelling much more smoother for me. By picking me up at the bus stations at weird hours of the day (6.45 am this morning! Grazie Giulia!!!!) hosting me and lending me their beds (Claudio, Carlos and Margarita!), cooking, bringing me out, and most importantly, making me feel at home!

3 more days in Conception, 1 day in Santiago, and a 22 hours trip to Istanbul, Turkey. IC! IC! IC!

Just got the news that Svitlana and Sebas also got their tickets to Turkey, so just waiting for David to have the full team there. Can't wait to reunite with them again - literally on the other side of the world this time!

Something to make the all travelling worthwhile:

The view of the Andes from the flight of Buenos Aires - Santiago

My first Valdivia visit

I'm right now doing my coaching visit in a committee from Valdivia, Chile. They say it is the most southern aiesec committee in the world, and if it's true, something to celebrate about, no?

I tend to enjoy celebrating at trivial things such as this =) Love facts, and trivias!

Well, I have been here for some 4 days now, eventhough most of the stay has been intensely packed with work. Last night some members took me out. It was very nice as until last night I haven't been able to see much of Valdivia apart from Carlos's (LCP)cabaña! (It's so cozy and warm that I preferred working from his home!).

We first went to Olvaldo's place, he has a family business on sandwiches, and are they ever huge and yummy!!! In Chile, their main meal is lunch time, and at night they usually eat something called an "once" (eleven) which is something light like bread, and coffee or tea. Something like a "tea-time" in some countries. Being in this cold weather again (around 0-5 degrees), I was used to the Canadian style of eating heavy dinners. And so last night, I said to them: I want to eat!!! Mind you: the sandwiches are huge that you have to use knife and fork! And so while Carlos and Noelia shared one sandwich among themselves, I had one entire one on my own - typical as well - Palta (guacamole), Mayo, cerdo (pork) as the main ingredients!

Afterwards they brought me to meet more members in a local Karaoki called "Strike". There, they introduced me to what Valdivia is well known for in Chile - Beer! The brewery is called Kunstmann (I hope I spelt is right!), ordered the Bock (dark beer)...and it was darn goood!!! I never liked dark beer much before arriving to Southern Cone, and this one was very smoooth, and sweet! My drink of choice so far in Chile is still the Pisco Sour!!! They are saying I have my new Chilean love now : Capelita (Capel is a brand of pisco here)! Something tells me I'm going to be quite happy in these coaching visits in Chile!

Later, we continued our night to salsa place called La Rumba...and the familiar rhythm of salsa, merengue was played...since my arrival 2 months ago, that was probably the first time I heard those music in a "boliche" (discoteque). And well, I felt comfortable with the familiar beats, familiar rhythm...and started moving my body to the music. It was natural. Got me to think that my recent Central American experience has become an integral part of who Martin is now.

un mae en cono sur, la experiencia sigue...

Typical "challenges" of a conference

AIESEC conferences are full of "challenges" (as we tend to use in AIESEC instead of words such as "problems"). And this EBs meeting was not an exception.

For me personally, it was probably the most challenging conference we have had. Due to various unexpected visa and passport issues, 3 of the 5 MC members arrived from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to our site near Concepción, Chile at the same time as all the delegates at 9am (when the opening plenary was due to start). The travelling takes all together around 20 plane from Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile, and 7 - hour bus to Concepción, and 1.5 hours to the conference site Quillon!

The exhausted faces of our MC family after the conference.

I was one of the lucky MC member who was on site with Walter, and our Chair, Rafael from Brazil... It was a big learning experience for all of us under the conditions. It was our first regional conference as an MC, a PLANNING conference, only Walter and I were on site before hand, we didn't have a pre-meeting, and David, Svitlana, and Sebas started the conference immediately after hours of travel!!! We were put to the challenge to manage this conference, and I think we can all agree that in the end, we have accomplished our goals of the conference! =) Sessions were delivered, plans were done, delegation was happy, parties were great, and most importantly of all ,as the entire Southern Cone leadership team that was present in the conference - we feel we are Leading One Southern Cone.

A simple act of kindness.

On my first day in Concepción, Chile. Something happened that I will always remember.

I was on a "micro" (minibus) towards the university in the city. When all the bus was full, an older lady came on. Naturally, I offered her my seat. She gladly accepted the offer with a smile. As I got up, I felt someone touching my laptop bag that I was carrying on my hand. I turned around, and it was a middle-aged man who was offering to put my bag on his lap so I can hang on to the pole of the bus. I looked at the man. Smiled. And accepted his offer.

Since then, I couldn´t stop thinking on how simple that act was, yet, has left me such an impact. Maybe because something like that is priceless, yet I don't get to experience it everyday.

Chillin´ out...

What we do at home on a Friday night...=P