Saturday, April 28, 2007
Partying, helping out and exploring
Let's start this post with some parties. First of all InBev Business Services is now also working with the UK market, so we had a launch party with the new employees who will be working for this market. That was on 19th of April.
On 20th of April, Piros from Hungary, who is one of these new employees had her goodbye dinner as she was leaving for training in the UK. Of course we'll see her every 2 weeks but any excuse is good for a party, right?
On 21st of April there was the birthday party of Blanka from Canada. We went to a restaurant called Austria which was not really Austrian, and we were the only customers there all evening. We had good fun, but time will tell whether this restaurant will survive in the very competitive world of Prague party locations.
For those of you who only spend time inside reading people's blogs, here's some news: Spring has started and it's beautiful. To prove that I am getting out of the house I took a picture of my apartment from the outside.
Last Sunday I was helping out AIESEC CZU Prague with their assesment center. This is the selection for candidates that want to go abroad with AIESEC, just like I am doing. I was running an exercise related to world issues, which was to be completed entirely in english. To prove that all candidates survived the exercise and were still happy afterwards, I took a picture with them.
The last part of this post is about "Prague exploration". I have been here for a while now so it's time to explore the city more in-depth. I know all the touristy spots, so my current approach is to take a random tram till the end of the line and then see what is there.
This already brought me to some wonderful places you can see in the pictures here. Especially Baba was interesting. I discovered that a lot of locals don't know Baba if you tell them directly about it. However when you tell them that Podbaba (literally: Under Baba) is located at the bottom of Baba hill they know where it is. From this hill you can see Prague from a totally different side than when you are on one of the classic panorama places.
Also Modrany and Kamyk were worth a visit. This is the area all the way south along the Vltava river. I saw there that Czechs love to go biking, skating or rollerblading along the river.
My last walk was on the side of Petrin hill where the tourist don't really go. It is called Strahov. Some sights there are the Slavia Praha stadium, some university buildings, a military domain which you can't get into, but which looks very nice, etc.
See you,
Kevin
On 20th of April, Piros from Hungary, who is one of these new employees had her goodbye dinner as she was leaving for training in the UK. Of course we'll see her every 2 weeks but any excuse is good for a party, right?
On 21st of April there was the birthday party of Blanka from Canada. We went to a restaurant called Austria which was not really Austrian, and we were the only customers there all evening. We had good fun, but time will tell whether this restaurant will survive in the very competitive world of Prague party locations.
For those of you who only spend time inside reading people's blogs, here's some news: Spring has started and it's beautiful. To prove that I am getting out of the house I took a picture of my apartment from the outside.
Last Sunday I was helping out AIESEC CZU Prague with their assesment center. This is the selection for candidates that want to go abroad with AIESEC, just like I am doing. I was running an exercise related to world issues, which was to be completed entirely in english. To prove that all candidates survived the exercise and were still happy afterwards, I took a picture with them.
The last part of this post is about "Prague exploration". I have been here for a while now so it's time to explore the city more in-depth. I know all the touristy spots, so my current approach is to take a random tram till the end of the line and then see what is there.
This already brought me to some wonderful places you can see in the pictures here. Especially Baba was interesting. I discovered that a lot of locals don't know Baba if you tell them directly about it. However when you tell them that Podbaba (literally: Under Baba) is located at the bottom of Baba hill they know where it is. From this hill you can see Prague from a totally different side than when you are on one of the classic panorama places.
Also Modrany and Kamyk were worth a visit. This is the area all the way south along the Vltava river. I saw there that Czechs love to go biking, skating or rollerblading along the river.
My last walk was on the side of Petrin hill where the tourist don't really go. It is called Strahov. Some sights there are the Slavia Praha stadium, some university buildings, a military domain which you can't get into, but which looks very nice, etc.
See you,
Kevin
Monday, April 23, 2007
Learning more and challenging myself
That's what AIESEC has been about all along for me. However, at the conference NEXT 2007 I did not feel challenged. I was leading my group but I did not feel the passion that I had before when taking the role of facilitator. I shared this with Mena, Fabian and quite a few other experienced AIESECers here in Czech Republic. I told them that they should not expect me to train at their next conferences, because I didn't feel "it" anymore.
When I was returning from the Easter weekend with Fabian, he was telling me that for NatCo 2007 they were missing a chair. For those who are not members of AIESEC, a chair is not a piece of furniture, but the person who is leading the flow of the conference, animating the event and making sure everything runs smoothly.
A little voice inside me was saying "I can do this", but I was feeling quite uncomfortable with the idea, because chairing a conference is a bundle of all activities I don't consider myself so good in. In the end I told Fabian that I could do it, but only if they really wouldn't find anyone else. He promised me to tell me by Sunday if it was needed.
When on Monday evening I still hadn't heard anything, I was somehow happy that I did not have to face this challenge. But then on Tuesday I actually got a call to see if I could still be there on Wednesday and go for it anyway, I was scared, but I still wanted to give it my best shot and see how this would go.
This means that for the 42nd conference of my AIESEC career, I got the chance to chair an event with 250 delegates, 6 parallel agendas and some spectacular moments such as the National awards ceremony or the take-over of the new leadership team at 3 o'clock in the night. As a chair, you are the one who is requested to entertain 250 people with a dance when you actually want to bring a serious message, and you are the one to go first in the Topalki drinking competition, starting at 4 AM. This was my biggest AIESEC challenge ever, and I have never been so stressed for 4 days in a row, but it was definitely worth it.
Just when I thought AIESEC couldn't teach me a lot more, I got this wonderful present from AIESEC in the Czech Republic.
Thanks to all of you!
When I was returning from the Easter weekend with Fabian, he was telling me that for NatCo 2007 they were missing a chair. For those who are not members of AIESEC, a chair is not a piece of furniture, but the person who is leading the flow of the conference, animating the event and making sure everything runs smoothly.
A little voice inside me was saying "I can do this", but I was feeling quite uncomfortable with the idea, because chairing a conference is a bundle of all activities I don't consider myself so good in. In the end I told Fabian that I could do it, but only if they really wouldn't find anyone else. He promised me to tell me by Sunday if it was needed.
When on Monday evening I still hadn't heard anything, I was somehow happy that I did not have to face this challenge. But then on Tuesday I actually got a call to see if I could still be there on Wednesday and go for it anyway, I was scared, but I still wanted to give it my best shot and see how this would go.
This means that for the 42nd conference of my AIESEC career, I got the chance to chair an event with 250 delegates, 6 parallel agendas and some spectacular moments such as the National awards ceremony or the take-over of the new leadership team at 3 o'clock in the night. As a chair, you are the one who is requested to entertain 250 people with a dance when you actually want to bring a serious message, and you are the one to go first in the Topalki drinking competition, starting at 4 AM. This was my biggest AIESEC challenge ever, and I have never been so stressed for 4 days in a row, but it was definitely worth it.
Just when I thought AIESEC couldn't teach me a lot more, I got this wonderful present from AIESEC in the Czech Republic.
Thanks to all of you!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Easter Weekend
I just had a really nice weekend, and on Saturday morning I got a sign that I should update my blog again. Just look at this picture:
A familiar name, showing the signs of being neglected. I start with today, but I may add more posts into the "gap period" afterwards.
So here I go with the update... On Saturday and Sunday, Lukas invited me to visit his family in Horni Brusnice, in the countryside. He took me there by bus, together with Fabian. We spent the 2 hour bus ride sitting on the floor because the bus was full, but that did not matter any more once we arrived.
The area was very beautiful and we did many interesting activities. We started with a nice meal prepared by Lukas' mom. Then Lukas was teaching us how to shoot with an air gun. He managed to hit some bottles all the way at the back of the garden, but we unfortunately never hit anything. In the evening we went for a walk in the forest, together with Lukas' dog.
On Sunday we went for a biking trip in the area. I discovered that biking in Czech Republic is a much bigger challenge than in the Netherlands and Belgium, because of the large hills in the landscape. We saw the Castle of Pecka and we also were biking in interesting environments, like down a ski slope and between the trees in the forest. When we returned we planted a tree to mark Lukas' graduation. After a great Easter meal and one last family picture it was time to head back to Prague.
Today (Easter Monday) Kaca from AIESEC CZU was inviting me to join her at Matesjka Pout, the big amusement fair here in Prague. It is almost ending so this weekend was the last chance. I did not go on so many attractions as I am not such a roller coaster hero, but someone needs to take the pictures and hold the stuff as well, right? Still I experienced the Retizkovy Kolotoc (circle with chairs on chains), the bumper cars and the Wildwaterbaan. I also went on Czech Republic's only rollercoaster, called "Horska Draha" (the Czech word for rollercoaster). Many attactions were actually brought from the Netherlands, so that is why the Wildwaterbaan had a Dutch name. I had a great time with Kaca, Ofi, Lukas, Tomas and Vojta.
Thanks guys!
A familiar name, showing the signs of being neglected. I start with today, but I may add more posts into the "gap period" afterwards.
So here I go with the update... On Saturday and Sunday, Lukas invited me to visit his family in Horni Brusnice, in the countryside. He took me there by bus, together with Fabian. We spent the 2 hour bus ride sitting on the floor because the bus was full, but that did not matter any more once we arrived.
The area was very beautiful and we did many interesting activities. We started with a nice meal prepared by Lukas' mom. Then Lukas was teaching us how to shoot with an air gun. He managed to hit some bottles all the way at the back of the garden, but we unfortunately never hit anything. In the evening we went for a walk in the forest, together with Lukas' dog.
On Sunday we went for a biking trip in the area. I discovered that biking in Czech Republic is a much bigger challenge than in the Netherlands and Belgium, because of the large hills in the landscape. We saw the Castle of Pecka and we also were biking in interesting environments, like down a ski slope and between the trees in the forest. When we returned we planted a tree to mark Lukas' graduation. After a great Easter meal and one last family picture it was time to head back to Prague.
Today (Easter Monday) Kaca from AIESEC CZU was inviting me to join her at Matesjka Pout, the big amusement fair here in Prague. It is almost ending so this weekend was the last chance. I did not go on so many attractions as I am not such a roller coaster hero, but someone needs to take the pictures and hold the stuff as well, right? Still I experienced the Retizkovy Kolotoc (circle with chairs on chains), the bumper cars and the Wildwaterbaan. I also went on Czech Republic's only rollercoaster, called "Horska Draha" (the Czech word for rollercoaster). Many attactions were actually brought from the Netherlands, so that is why the Wildwaterbaan had a Dutch name. I had a great time with Kaca, Ofi, Lukas, Tomas and Vojta.
Thanks guys!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Closing the gap...
I decided to share some pictures from the long period of silence on this blog, as I want to keep it as complete as possible.
I'll shortly comment the different types of events the pictures are from.
First category: Drinking, eating, socialising, visiting bars, parties, etc.
Most of these photo's speak for themselves. As always you can point at the pics for detailed comments. The last picture is from "Rooseveltka Hleda Superstar", a local student version of the popular TV competition.
Second category: AIESEC involvement
I prepared half a day of team management training for AIESEC CZU members, hosted in my apartment. On the AIESEC side of Career Days I enjoyed helping with the preparation of about 2000 bags with marketing material to be handed out to Czech students. With over 25 people we still took more than 2 hours to fill the bags, but it was quite funny. For the rest I usually attend the Local Committee meetings and I also visited the Alumni evening.
Third category: InBev activities
On the InBev side of Career Days I got to represent the company for a full day, together with Simon. We were running seven 1 hour sessions where people could learn more about InBev. I was also regularly sampling our products, to see if they still tasted good :). In mid-March I attended my first full day InBev management meeting, as I am now in a team leader (or Supervisor as we call it in InBev) position. Finally I also enjoyed Flavia's birthday dinner at Potrefena Husa (I recently learned that these bars are an InBev franchise concept).
Fourth category: Relaxing and exploring Prague with friends
I went for a nice long walk in Troja, not too far from where I live. One night I went to see another part of Prague with Peta. Then last weekend I saw the classic places again with my visitors Eric and Bonnie from Malaysia and Segala from Brazil. However, as I had not experienced Prague in spring before it felt new enough to enjoy it a lot. Fernanda (from Brazil, previously intern in Belgium) and Tomi (from Finland, one of the facilitators at EuroLDS 2006) also stopped by.
I'll shortly comment the different types of events the pictures are from.
First category: Drinking, eating, socialising, visiting bars, parties, etc.
Most of these photo's speak for themselves. As always you can point at the pics for detailed comments. The last picture is from "Rooseveltka Hleda Superstar", a local student version of the popular TV competition.
Second category: AIESEC involvement
I prepared half a day of team management training for AIESEC CZU members, hosted in my apartment. On the AIESEC side of Career Days I enjoyed helping with the preparation of about 2000 bags with marketing material to be handed out to Czech students. With over 25 people we still took more than 2 hours to fill the bags, but it was quite funny. For the rest I usually attend the Local Committee meetings and I also visited the Alumni evening.
Third category: InBev activities
On the InBev side of Career Days I got to represent the company for a full day, together with Simon. We were running seven 1 hour sessions where people could learn more about InBev. I was also regularly sampling our products, to see if they still tasted good :). In mid-March I attended my first full day InBev management meeting, as I am now in a team leader (or Supervisor as we call it in InBev) position. Finally I also enjoyed Flavia's birthday dinner at Potrefena Husa (I recently learned that these bars are an InBev franchise concept).
Fourth category: Relaxing and exploring Prague with friends
I went for a nice long walk in Troja, not too far from where I live. One night I went to see another part of Prague with Peta. Then last weekend I saw the classic places again with my visitors Eric and Bonnie from Malaysia and Segala from Brazil. However, as I had not experienced Prague in spring before it felt new enough to enjoy it a lot. Fernanda (from Brazil, previously intern in Belgium) and Tomi (from Finland, one of the facilitators at EuroLDS 2006) also stopped by.
