Patience is a virtue...

Tales and pictures from the weekend will follow, i promise.
But not tonight, i have to work.

Don't feel sorry for me (actually i know most of you won't anyway). I couldn't quite finish all of my MCP tasks in the standard 12 months, but the end is very much in sight!!!

Sweet dreams everyone x

Connecting with the past

This year i will be responsible for Alumni relations in AIESEC in Thailand. For those who don't know, this is something i have done for the past 2 years in Switzerland. I did some things well, i screwed up some things, so now i am really happy to be able to use these learning points and to try again.

Why did i start with this introduction? Because i think it is really cool that i get this 2nd chance. On the other hand, this is not something that just fell from the sky. When we were allocating our tasks for the year i could have waited, i could have sat back, but i found the courage to try again.

I'm not saying this to brag or because i want you to congratulate me. I want to make a challenge to you all. We often say that 2nd chances don't come along. They do. The question is, do you take them?

I had already been fortunate enough to meet the former President of AIESEC in Thailand from 2001-03, and she told me that she was starting to build a contact list of all former MCPs. 40 of them, stretching back to the time when my parents were just starting school!

So i took a chance, i asked her to meet me, to share ideas and thoughts. That one email led to the best meeting i have had since arriving in Thailand! I discovered someone passionate about alumni relations, someone determined not to let problems of the past keep her from this passion. And i discovered that there is a whole network of people out there - former AIESECers in Thailand - just looking for an opportunity to support their organisation in this difficult time.

For quite some time they have been knocking on the door. This year, it is up to me to give them the key. What a cool job :o)

With this i want to challenge you again. That meeting happened purely because i took the initiative to ask for it. Many times when i was growing up my Mum would say to me: "In this world, if you don't ask, you don't get."

What is it that you really want right now? When are you going to just ask for it?

After our very cool chats about alumni relations, we were taken to a very nice restaurant in a district of Bangkok called 'Aree'. It's so strange, you turn off the main street and suddenly you forget that you are in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world. So peaceful, so serene, so calm. And such DELICIOUS food! (ok, so that's not so strange in this city) :o)

And after all of that, we were invited to a wedding! On Sunday we will go to a Thai wedding. The dress-code is 'smart but yellow', as the couple want to dedicate their marriage to the King (yellow is his official colour).

Quote of the day, from Laura this time: " I find that quite strange. When i get married, the day will be all about me and my broom."

Good night!
Khap khun khrap, P'Pui

Moments to treasure

No serious ranting today, just want to share a few funny moments from yesterday...

Rob: (spoken with great excitement) "What a cool place, all of the tables look like pianos!"

Laura: "It's a piano shop"

On the way back from the cinema, having watched "The Lady in the Water" (don't go, just don't) our van suddenly stopped at the side of the road. Out climbed our driver (into a 3-lane Expressway!) and then came the smell of smoke. Yep, the radiator was empty and we were burning oil.

Laura began to feel uncomfortable stuck on the back seat: "I wanna get out, the van could explode!"

So 14 passengers spent 15 minutes huddling behind a steaming van and a tow-truck, in the narrow area between the Expressway itself and the entry slip road. Cars, trucks, buses whizzing past at over 100kph. And guess who was the only one trying to take pictures of the speeding traffic...? Yep, our very own Laura Croft :o)

What is happening on those Isles...?

Have you ever found yourself desperate to get somewhere to find out what is going on, but at the same time terrified of what you might find? Right now, that person is me; the place - just over the water from France...

I was supposed to go to bed 1hour ago. But then a news bulletin came over the radio, and pushed into my head again the terrible situation in Lebanon: 393 civilians dead in 2 weeks (375 in Lebanon, 18 in Israel), 100 Israeli air-strikes and 80 Hizbollah rockets in one day, $1Bn damage to infrastructure, 750,000 Lebanese displaced by the fighting (source: The Independent, 26th July)

This started a rapid chain-reaction in my head... how out of touch i am right now with news, how frustrated with the government back home for their response, even onto questioning how our political system could repeatedly allow a leader to be so out of touch with his public. So i am still here, still reading on the web, and still writing to you, trying to make sense of all the thoughts in my head.

So i stood by him through minimum wage, University tuition fees, Afghanistan, NHS reform, Section 28 repeal, civil partnership registration - many of which attracted criticism from left & right. But it seems that in the last few days Tony Blair has lost the plot.

In the face of continuing attacks, including the bombing of a UN post that killed 4 officials, and a potential humanitarian disaster Tony Blair has once more fallen into line behind George Bush in refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon. The reasoning, from what i can gather, that it is considered more important for one country to be given time to take steps to defend itself against potential attacks in the future, than for another to be able to help its cititens who are injured, starving, homeless, etc, right now.

Am i alone in finding this absolutely staggering?!! All the more so given that Blair has been so vocal in preaching the need for greater humanitarian work in the developing world. Why is he less concerned about that need now? For several years i have been irritated by the double-standards of the White House in relation to Israel, but believed until now (usually correctly) that the British government was willing and able to be more objective and more balanced. But in the wake of the current capitulation by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary - the 2 individuals seen to be representing the interests & views of the UK towards the rest of the world - i am shocked, embarassed, and deeply worried.

How can it be that the destiny of 60million people is now determined by - as one British journalist noted - an American evangelist cowboy and an Australian businessman? (Rupert Murdoch owns the main satellite tv company, as well as the most popular tabloid newspaper)

The reassuring thought in all of this is that the public does not seem willing - this time - to swallow the pro-Israel propaganda that is thrown at them. A petition has been sent to Downing Street signed by major charities, Muslim Councils and a large Trade Union. Will it have the desired effect - certainly not. Does it convince me that the whole world has not gone insane - possibly.

I have always somehow refrained from talking much about the situation/problem/crisis/injustice (i have heard all of these terms used many times) in the Middle East. During my time & travels in AIESEC I have been able to discuss - among other things- crime & punishment, role of education, marriage, homosexuality, drug & alcohol addiction, prostitution, conflict in Northern Ireland and the Balkans, reality of growing up in an Eastern Bloc country. Yet - and i find this pretty astounding - i cant recall one discussion about Israel/Palestine. Not only that, i just realised that in 11 years of compulsory and 5 years of optional education, one hour was devoted to this topic!

So i wonder, what is about this subject that makes it so taboo? Is there are a plot to try to cover up the mistakes of our previous foreign policy, is it deemed unimportant, or is it assumed that people are just not interested in learning about it. Have people in other countries also experienced this? Or is there another reason why we seem unable to talk about it?

And how can we bring the dialog out into the open, and discuss the actual problem and not just the latest bouts of fighting (i find any armed conflict a terrible situation, but surely only those caught up in it are short-sighted enough to believe that the current problems are the true problems) I found this article very interesting, also from The Independent

Enjoy, digest, reply... I have to go to bed now. The political system discussion will have to wait for another day. One final teaser though - if Tony Blair was a Federal Councillor of Switzerland, would he have sent the army into Iraq knowing that 50% of the public was against it...?

Good night ;o)

Settling in...

I´ve now been in Bangkok almost 3 weeks (can't believe how quickly that's gone!)

I guess now i should actually start to write about work, since i have had many people asking me what i have actually come all this way to do...

So, in a nutshell, myself and Rina (from Kenya) are here as an international envoy to work together with the Pui, the President of AIESEC in Thailand, to get AIESEC here back on its feet and living up to the potential of this fast-growing country. We have a clear plan from the AIESEC International office on what needs to be done - our job is to work out how to put that into action on the ground. And to give the existing members here the motivation, skills & confidence to move the organisation forward.

Sounds good so far. So, what does that mean for me...

Well those of you who know me from my time in Switzerland can just call me Zuzka - i am responsible for recruiting a new generation of members, giving them an intense induction to the organisation, ensuring that they have a challenging learning environment, and - get this - conferences! Yippeeeeee!!!

Oh yeah, and in my spare time i will also be building the alumni network, and raising corporate partnerships to bring us some money. And should all of that still leave me bored, i am also responsible for branding :o)

As you saw from the last posting, we already designed our 1st conference as a team. This really brought us closer together, and gave us a good feeling of achievement. Now we just need to put it into practice ;o) Later this week i will be giving my team-mates a workshop on how to create kick-ass conference sessions. Any input gratefully received...

Oh, and since Laura & i are determined to spread the blogging habit, we have helped to create not one but two blogs this week - one for Rina & one for our MC team (check out the links on the left...)

I feel quite comfortable here now, knowing where are the good places to get food, how to get around some districts of the city, where the cheapest markets are, etc. I am still NOT used to the noise of the traffic (i have never seen so many vehicles on the road!). I am still finding it quite difficult to cope with people's attitudes to appointments. Now some of you may smile at this, knowing that i am not always the most punctual person. But seriously, one person - who shall remain nameless - arrived 75 mins late for a meeting, said hello, and then preceded immediately to make a phone call! No explanation, no embarassment, no apology, nothing! This is going to take some patience from my side i believe. How appropriate is it to show someone you feel offended by their actions in such a position?

Also i don't know if it is due to the pollution, to the sweating, or to the lack of fresh vegetables in my diet, but my skin is terrible - i haven't had so much acne since i was 16! And those who have seen my school-leaving photo will know that this is NOT a pretty thought...

One thing i do wonder about, how is are the terrible events in Lebanon being portrayed back home? I often think that the British press is not-too-subtly pro-Israel - so i was pleasantly surprised to see the results of a poll showing that most British people think that the current attacks are unjustified. What is being said about all of this?

SPARK - Get fired-up!

After 5 hrs of blood, sweat & tears (well, mostly sweat actually...) our 1st conference has just been born. 2 days of motivation, connection, challenge & opportunity. Pictures to follow soon...

SPARK - Get fired-up!

Entering my 3rd cycle...

It's been a cool week since my last post. I already tried to write twice about my birthday, but both times i was thwarted by technology... Grrrr!!!

At the weekend i went for the first fitting of my suit. I am gonna ROCK the formal dinner at IC ;o) Then on Monday Laura arrived from Switzerland - our knight in shining armour to help us on this epic quest... We finished our team planning, and the Year of the Phoenix is now beginning!

Yesterday i spent the whole day in bed with a headache, fever, shivers etc. But now i am 95% fighting fit again! Still, at least my day of inertia allowed me to start reading a very cool book - The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (thanks, Dhruv, for the tip-off)

Oh yes and the small matter of my 24th birthday... :o) After working all afternoon in a cafe, we (Pui, Rina, Laura & me) were invited to dinner with some members of the AIESEC in Thailand Board of Advisors - senior managers from large companies who support AIESEC with advice, resources & contacts. It was pretty incredible to be discussing with them about the attitudes of Thai graduates, the expectations of Thai employers, and problems with the education system here - certainly much more than one could get from reading any book! And of course, being rich, powerful & older than us, they picked up the bill! Chris, i recommend you suggest this to Markus Mettler. Please forward me his response... :o)

The day finished in fabulous fashion with a trip to a karaoke bar! The very cool thing is that, unlike European karaoke bars - where you wait all night to sing one song, in the meantime being forced to listen to what seems like hundreds of drunken idiots wailing to Bohemian Rhapsody or Girls just wanna have fun - your group gets its own private booth! You choose all the songs, and the rest of the world is oblivious to the 'music' that you are creating! And of course this means you get to sing a lot, while having cocktails served to your booth!

Thanks to Dhruv, Regi, Cileia, Carissa, Sarah, Zuzi, Marcel, Steph & Rob for your messages. And special thanks to Bee for staying up late in Colombia to call me on the morning of my birthday :o)

Thank you Stefan for being the 1st person to call to wish me happy birthday (at 0:02!) I love you very much, and can't wait to see you in 6 weeks x

Wishing everyone an awesome weekend, will be back soon with pictures! (i have a promise to keep, Ms Renfer...)

The blond blog bounces into Bangkok!

Hi folks!

I’m not dead, not ignoring you, not forgetting about my buddies in Bern and elsewhere, not locked up in a Buddhist temple training to be a monk… In fact there is no real excuse for my silence. I had plenty of opportunities to write before now but couldn’t be arsed, quite frankly! So if you accept my sincerest apologies for this, I will (try to) amuse you with accounts of my first week in Bangkok…

The quick version:

- The weather is HOT
- The food is HOTTER
- It’s busy but not as chaotic as India (yes ok I only visited 3 cities while I was there, but they are in 2 different states, right, so that is a representative sample…)
It’s not as polluted as I was led to believe
- Thai hospitality is as welcoming as the stereotypes would have you believe
- When it rains it really rains – no mercy!
- I am currently staying in a double-room with air-con and a TV (I even receive 1 news channel in German!)
- There are bright pink taxis!!!
- I have only 3 mosquito bites (considerably less than on my recent short trip to Italy!)
- It took 72 hrs for me to get my first bout of diarrhea
- I had an interesting drink called ‘Bird’s nest beverage’ – reportedly good for the complexion – which I later discovered is made from bird’s saliva. Yum!
- I have a telephone in my room that allows me to receive but not make international calls (bad for you, good for my wallet!) Write to me if you want the number
- I found insurance for my body & my luggage, but not for my laptop – that unfortunately had to stay home :o(
- My catalogue of international team experiences has a new chapter – this year I will be working with a Thai & a Kenyan – and really looking forward to it!
- Thai is without doubt the most confusing language I have ever come across
- BUT, I can say the Thai words for “hello”, “thank you”, “tea”, “coffee”, “rice”, “beautiful” (which unfortunately sounds very similar in Thai to “bad luck”!) and count from 1-5
- Stefan rather meanly suggested that is already more than I am able to say in Swiss German…

Unfortunately I have to call it a night as I need to pass on the one laptop that we have between 3 of us (did AIESEC really exist before wireless internet connections…)

Hugs from the ‘City of Angels’ (as its Thai name means.)

And by the way, who was it who said way back in WEEK ONE that Italy would win the World Cup…? And who was too dumb to bother putting any money on it…?