Dia de los Muertos

Yes, it's Halloween today, but I have the chance to see the Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico on November 2. It's really so cool to finally be here for this day after so many years of hearing about it in my middle and high school spanish classes, pretending to understand the meaning of such an old tradition. I'm going to a reception this weekend being organized by the LC Politecnico because they have an entire day of activities planned around the Dia de los Muertos. I'm quite excited and looking forward to it.

It was great to be back in the office after a week and half. We got to drink our coffee, eat in the office, listen to music. All really relaxing. But of course it will turn to boring quite soon after a few days of the same old thing. We're never quite satisfied, are we?

Just for fun here's a picture from the Mardi Gras party at the conference. Sorry it's small...

NY, Cordoba, and la vida loca

I know you all must have been dying to find out what has been going on my life since I haven't posted for the past week, so let me tell you why...

After my quick trip to NY I went to Cordoba (Mexico) for our first huge national conference. We had three agendas and more than 200 delegates. Even though the MC had to organize and facilitate the last conference in July, this was a totally different experience. Part of the difference is because of how we as the MC worked together and the other was the preparation we had for the conference. Everything was put together with more time and care and we saw wonderful results. The international facilitators that came to run the second agenda with the new members were deeply impacted and I was so glad to see Izaz (from AIESEC US) participate and live a little bit of my reality. I think he had a good time ;-)

The campus where the conference was held was absolutely gorgeous. Shortly I will upload photos so you can see what I mean. And after a week of intense preparation and the conference, I was so glad to have today as a free day to rest and do laundry. I woke up at 1pm, went out for Tortas with Ahmet and Walter and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry. What a life :-)

50th Anniversary of AIESEC US

What can I possibly say about this weekend. Everything was even better than I expected. I loved seeing so many friends from my AIESEC from over the years. Here's a little overview of my weekend:

Check out my photos by clicking on "50th Anniversary Photos" in the links section on the right -->

Friday
9-11:00am - in the AIESEC Mexico office organizing for the next week
1:30pm - checking in for my flight to NY and fighting with security about letting me keep the bottle of Tequila I had bought as a gift for Natalie and Chris for housing me. Surprisingly they let me through with the bottle.
3:00pm - Boarding and there is another security check on the luggage. This time they absolutely would not let me get on with the tequila in my bag and they took my TOOTHPASTE too! What the f*@&? Anyway, I convince them to let me keep the bag but it would have to be checked underneath and they still didn't let me keep the toothpaste. I HATE US CUSTOMS LAWS!
10:00pm - Finally got my tiny 3-day duffle from baggage claim and took the Airtrain from JFK to the subway. Getting on the subway a nice man to my left starts talking with me and we ended up having just the most relaxed conversation all the way into Manhattan. Just before I get off the man pulls out a book that he wants to give me. He also writes a note on the inside cover. AWESOME experience :-)
11:30pm - I arrive to Flannery's bar, the place AIESEC rented out for the Friday night party. It was jam packed with AIESECers from every generation. I couldn't move 5 feet with screaming and hugging another friend. It was extremely overwhelming after having just decided the same week to be in NY by the weekend.

Saturday
We woke up late to have breakfast in Natalie and Chris' apartment with ex-trainees that dropped by with eggs, bacon and pancakes. A wonderfully typical American breakfast.
I've gotta get back to work, but I'll write the rest soon :-P

Crazy travel schedule

Have you ever decided to take a trip within 5 days of leaving? That's what happened to me this week. It was crazy and intense but I finally got all my ducks in a row to be able to go to New York this weekend for the 50th Anniversary event of AIESEC US. There's a gala dinner on Saturday night and a get together at Flannery's bar on Friday night.

But that's not all. I get back from NY on Sunday afternoon and then we leave for Veracruz on Monday for the national conference that will be all next week. THEN we come back to D.F. and just three days later I leave for Culiacan to have my coaching visit and participate in a preparation seminar the the local committee is organizing for their members who are about to go abroad for internships.

Life is great but things sure are crazy some times. When am I suppose to sleep?

LC Visits and conference planning

I spent all weekend with LC Politecnico and tomorrow (Wed) I go to Puebla for a coaching visit with LC UDLA. It's going to be tons of fun but a lot of work. The LC is having elections on Friday night for which I will have the honor of being secretary, because I am the MC representative overlooking the proceedings. Despite having an agenda already made, I've needed to totally review the situation in Puebla and create new sessions based on their peculiar situation.

The only big meat on my plate are the sessions that we have to prepare for the eXecution Meeting with the Executive Boards of all the local committees. I only have until Friday to finish the session outlines but it's going to be quite difficult considering I'll be in Puebla after tomorrow :-S The conference should be a blast though. We have more 250 delegates registered from around the country!!!! Yay!