The Elite 8

So Friday was another day full of training. We started off the day with a session on how to plan sessions/programs. This will come in handy when we begin to prepare the activities for the camp this week. After this, we ate at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Coming from America and having studied in China, I know the difference between authentic Chinese food and fast-food take out. Jolin, from China, has never been outside China, so she doesn't really know what "Chinese food" is to the rest of the world. I'll never forget the look on her face when we went to this restaurant. It first started when we sat down, and there were no chopsticks on the table. In the rest of the world, a lot of people can't use chopsticks, but explaining this was easy, because Jolin understands other cultures are different than hers. Then when we were choosing our food, she was all content to order some fried rice. When she went to order her meal, she was a little shocked to find that you have to order your rice separately from your entree. And if that wasn't enough, the final straw was when she spoke in Chinese to the waitress and the waitress did not understand. After this, Jolin was so upset she couldn't contain it, "What kind of Chinese restaurant is this place!?" I couldn't help but laugh. It was a pretty crappy restaurant, even by American-Chinese standards. No fortune cookie or anything.

After lunch we had a session by Prague College. This was "Working with Students Part II." It was by the worst workshop we've had all week. We couldn't really figure out what the point of it was, but in the end we got some good advice about dealing with Czech students, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. We then moved on to our final session, "Team Dynamics" with Vieroslava (Vieros) for short. By this time we were so exhausted with training and sessions we were practically delusional. We've heard enough about the importance of teamwork, the importance of being a leader, blah blah blah, the only thing we wanted to do was enjoy a beer or go to bed. But, we stuck it out through the end and made the best of our session.

We ended up coming home for an hour before we headed out for another weekend on the town. Friday night was a "Welcome to Prague" party for Pierre, the French intern who arrived earlier in the week to work for Accenture. By the time we got to the other flat (not Ana and Jolin's) there were about 15 other interns. New Zealand, Croatia, Colombia, Argentina, Romania, Mexico, Russia, Tunisia, India, Sweden, France, Czech Republic, and a few other countries were all represented at the AIESEC party. This is exactly why I joined. We enjoyed a few drinks, brought from all around the world, and proceeded to go out for the night. The morning train home was quite a journey, highlighted by a late night/early morning stop to KFC.

We slept in, for the first time in ages, and woke up to Jenny making some delicious Czech food. Aysegul's boyfriend's brother lives in Prague, so she left in the afternoon to meet up with him. I updated my blog, added pictures, etc. and took a nice nap. I woke up just in time to get ready to go out for the night. We ate a quick dinner and took the last train into Prague. This time we went straight out and didn't stop at any apartments beforehand. I really enjoy going out in Prague. There are hundreds of places, each with a unique crowd and different atmosphere.

This morning (Sunday), I woke up at 10 AM to check the bus schedule to go pick up Harrison (Taiwanese) from the airport. I found the next bus to the airport left at 10:40 AM, so I didn't even get to shower before I had to leave. I caught the bus, just to find out that I had caught it in the wrong direction (who knew that there was one bus stop for both directions...) and I ended up getting kicked out in who-knows-where again. Luckily, I found some random wireless internet and was able to check the bus schedules. Good news was I only had to wait 30 minutes for the next bus, bad news was that Harrison was going to be waiting another hour for me at the airport. There was nothing I could do, so I got a coffee at the only place around and caught the next bus. When I got to the airport, I found Harrison right away. He had just called Jenny from a payphone wondering where I was. I took him back to his apartment and introduced him to Ana (Brazil) and Jolin (China)--they are his new flatmates.

When we arrived, the girls were just hanging out. They were supposed to do a cultural simulation this afternoon, but when I arrived, the other girls (Olessya, Ekta, and Aysegul) still hadn't left Roztoky and it was already 3 PM. Harrison was tired, so I decided to go grocery shopping with Ana and Jolin while he took a rest. We skyped the girls and told them to meet at Ana & Jolin's apartment so they could begin their cultural simulation. While they were doing that, I could do the makeup session with Harrison and Tete (Portuguese) to catch them up on all the information they missed the past week. Tete was on her way from the airport with Jenny by now.

Right when we had everything all figured out, Ana get's a call from Ekta, who was still at Jenny's house. They were all ready to leave, when they noticed one small problem. They were now locked inside the house. See, Jenny and I are the only one's with keys to Jenny's house. Jenny had left early Sunday morning, before me, but I didn't know. So when I left this morning, I locked the house and went on my way. Now the girls were stuck in the house. Poor Ekta...always getting locked into places. We went grocery shopping, and received a phone call from them a few minutes later saying they had figured out a way out. They still won't tell me how they did it. All they said was, "Regis, we are smart girls and we don't need you for everything." Fair enough. I still don't know how they did it.

When they finally arrived at the apartment, Jenny had dropped off Tete and I began to do the make up session with Harrison and Tete. Welcome to Prague--now straight to work!! The session ended up taking 3 hours (an hour longer than I had planned) because there was just so much material to cover. The girls worked on their simulation for a while in the apartment, but eventually had to leave to take pictures of a few statues and find a few things around Prague. When we finished, Pierre had made an apple crisp of some sort, so we had a bit of dessert and left to go watch the Brazil game in Old Town Square.

We met up with the girls at Old Town Square, but the weather was cloudy and cold and we decided to leave a bit early. Harrison and Tete were exhausted, Pierre has work tomorrow and I had to get home to finish the agenda for the upcoming week. We have a ton of work to do this week, so I had to plan when we're going to do what. We caught the train home and made it back, just in time for me to finish my work and get to bed before 2 AM. I'm really glad that the final two group leaders are in Prague. Now we can really form a cohesive group and make this camp the best. It'll be nice to see how having two new dynamic personalities in our group. I can't wait to see how it pans out. For now, there will be more to come, but I need to sleep. Tomorrow is a long day.

Go, Go, Go...Literally!

I'm going to start chronologically with this entry, beginning with Tuesday, and I will try and be concise, although a lot has happened the past few days. I promise, there is a great ending and you won't be disappointed. On Tuesday, we began the day by getting up early. The previous night we had sat around talking and drinking Turkish coffee and Jenny had to break the news to the girls that with one more leader arriving the next day (Tuesday), her apartment (although spacious) would be unable to accommodate all the people. So, Tuesday, Brasilian Ana and Chinese Lin had to pack their bags and move to a new apartment. The train and subway to their apartment was an unpleasant one, solely in the fact that it was depressing knowing that these people I had just met and got to know are now living on the opposite side of town from the rest of us. It was almost like burning a newly built bridge. Although it's clearly not the end of the world, I really enjoyed their company because Ana and I can make the best of any situation and Lin and I talk about China and speak in Chinese.

When we arrived at the apartment I felt even worse. It looked like a shabby, dingy place, with plaster crumbling from the sides and laundry hanging and fluttering like rags from the balconies of the upper level apartments. The apartment wasn't too terrible on the inside, but it was definitely not as plush as our country house. We left from there back to Prague to get Ayesgül her monthly bus pass and to exchange money. Since Jenny had previous engagements, I was once again leading the girls around the city. Running errands was pretty easy and we finished in the early afternoon and headed to Prague Castle.

Prague Castle was amazing. The ancient complex is huge. The main dining hall was used for multiple royal events. The inauguration of the king was celebrated by a huge feast where high officials and prominent city members were invite to pay homage to their new ruler. Afterwards they would move to the cathedral to finish the coronation. The huge main hall, called Vladislav Hall, was also used as a jousting arena, where horses were brought in and the performers jousted for royal entertainment. I thought that was awesome. It was also used as a marketplace where vendors from all over the world would sell luxury items like spices, jewels, fur, and gold.

The royal hapel inside holds bones of many saints and as our audio tour guide told us. You'd be surprised to find that one of the patron saints of Czech Republic is buried in the royal chapel, All Saints Chapel. After a fire in which most of its Romanesque details were destroyed in 1541, the church was rebuilt in Baroque style. Prague Castle has much history of law, politics and religion and is a fascinating place.  After touring the royal quarters, we made our way to Saint George's Basilica which was old and plain but held tombs of the royal family and the remains of St. Agnes, the Benedictine abess who started the first nunnery in Prague. She was actually a daughter of royalty and gave it up for a life of God. From St. George's we went to St. Vitus Cathedral, which was just as beautiful the second time around.The audio tour was an excellent choice while touring the many chapels within the cathedral. Come to find out they have a chapel for St. John Baptiste, the Virgin Mary, and the remains of St. Wenceslas are held here. The cathedral dates back to the 1300s.

By this time, we were all history and castle'd out so we made our way down to the Charles Bridge to cross and find something to eat. We were in a rush by now because we were supposed to meet Jenny and our newest trainee, Olessya from Kazakhstan, for the start of our official training as program leaders. We made it barely on time and continued to go over the agenda for the week and our upcoming plans. Rather then heading home after a long day of sightseeing and working, we decided to head to Old Town Square to watch the Brazil v North Korea soccer game.

Last time I was in Europe, it was FIFA World Cup 2006 in Munich, Germany. What an experience that was! I'm so glad to be back for another world cup where the people are so involved and so enthusiastic about the sport. We enjoyed a few beers and sat right next to a group of Brazilians (with Ana of course sporting her Brazilian shirt). Throughout the game, Portuguese cheers and curses were flowing from Ana and another Brazilian, Gil. During the commercial breaks, the other Brazilian group next to us got their drums out and played music to energize the crowd and get some dancing. I have a video to upload that is just fantastic. The Brazilian girls are dancing, their drums are shaking my legs with each beat, and the crowd is going wild. When Brazil scored (twice in fact), the uproar got even more uncontrollable. The best part was the fact that we were standing in one of the oldest and most historic parts of Prague.

The next day, Wednesday, we had a full day of education. We began with a Cultural Preparation session, which gave an overview of Czech culture and helped us understand cultural differences. We also prepared ourselves as ambassadors of our country and how to be conscience of the fact that some of the students have never met foreigners like ourselves and we must do our best to represent our countries. It is kind of funny to think that people that meet me will draw the conclusion that all Americans are just like me, but they will and they do.

For lunch, I actually met up with one of my really good friends from Fordham, Alexandra. Alexandra and I have been friends since freshman year, when she lived in the dorm building right across from mine. She is very good friends with Devon, one of the students I went to China with. She and her mother are doing a European tour, where they began in Budapest, Hungary, stopped in Prague from Tuesday night--Friday morning, and they'll continue on to Paris for a week or so before going back to the states (I think?). It was so nice to meet up with her and we enjoyed a relaxing lunch in Old Town Square, overlooking the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church. Although I was a half-hour late for the next meeting, it was worth it to see my college friend (and fellow graduate)!

The second half of the day was spent on giving and receiving feedback and we ended the night early to arrive home at 10 PM. The rest of the night was spent working. We had to prepare for the next morning when we had to do a workshop with high school students on "How to give a presentation." Not to mention I had to stay up even later doing things for the camp agenda. We're still missing two group leaders who will both arrive on Sunday. This means that every session they miss, I need to update them on what they missed. Work work work...

Waking up this morning, I was completely unprepared for the Presentation Skills Workshop that we had to deliver. Luckily, there were only 5 students in each group, and Ana and I gave a great presentation. It was really a lot of fun and since this is a long post, I'll go into detail later on about Czech youth and culture. After the workshop, we had a meeting with our first university partner for My Better Myself. We met with the University of Northern Virginia and discussed what they expect from the student presentations and what the project will be like. They're thinking of making the students design a website called "iSanta.com", with restrictions on budgeting, planning, and design. It was informative, especially for me since I have to plan the projects and how they will be structured.

After that meeting, we moved to another session where we learned how to facilitate groups and debrief. The facilitating and debriefing session was really good. I got put in the hot seat without even knowing it and had to facilitate our group leaders through a task, but little did I know they had been told beforehand to act a certain way (i.e. one person asks tons of questions, one is very quiet, one is very talkative/enthusiastic, etc). I didn't even realize why everyone was acting so weird until after the exercise was over, but I learned a lot about how I reacted to the situation and it will definitely help me with the students during the camp.

After the session, it was already 9:20 PM and we were exhausted. We'd been thinking all day, with no time to relax, and only eating while we moved from one session to the next. The good news is that between sessions we had the chance to stop at a grocery store and pick up 30 eggs and some breakfast foods for the next few days. We've been scraping for food in the mornings and only had one bag of cornflakes left. After the last session, when it was finally time to go, we were all pretty excited that we were going to catch a 9:41 train home and have a few hours to relax before bed. When we had finished cleaning up, I locked the inner office door and we made our way into the hallway, where I locked the hallway door as well. We made our way down the stairs and out of the building. When the door closed behind me and the fresh evening air was finally refreshing my face, Aysegul (from Turkey) asked where was our Indian leader, Ekta...well, that was a good question. She didn't leave with us...and we just left the building...

It took me about half a second to realize that I had probably locked her in the office upstairs. When we left the inner office room, I locked the door. In the mini-lobby area of the AIESEC offices, there is a break room and restrooms. She must has snuck away to the bathroom without anyone noticing because we left the lobby, where I then locked the second office door. OK, so she's in the office. Bad, but not too bad.

It then took me about another half second to realize that we were outside the building. I only had keys to the offices, which are inside the building. Now, we were standing on the street, with no key card to enter the building. Etka is still in the office. Our train leaves in 10 minutes. Great. Luckily, we had Jaro (the person who led the facilitating and debriefing session), who speaks Czech. He tried buzzing security, but no one answered. He calls Jenny, she has the key card to the building. No answer...by now we're in shock because poor Etka is probably up in the office, wondering why the hell we left without her. She can't even get into the offices to yell out the window or sit on the couches. She's trapped in the mini-lobby, with the bathroom and break room. Poor Etka. By now we've pretty much decided we're going to miss our train home, but I figured we'd ring security one more time. He picked up, Jaro told him the situation, and he let us in. I immediately gave my backpack to Aysegul and sprinted up the 4 flights of stairs. I unlocked the door to Etka, patiently waiting on the other side. All I could say was--"LET'S GO! We're going to miss our train!" We sprinted down the stairs as fast as we could. She was wearing high heels because of our presentation this morning, so it wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.

When we got to the bottom, it was a whirlwind of bags flying and feet running. We said bye to Jaro as we sprinted to the train station, which is only one block away from the offices. Of course, I would be running to a train station in a foreign country because this is what I do best. I missed my train in Paris because we went to the wrong train station, I've sprinted to the airport terminal because the bus passed my stop, I've sprinted to Grand Central to catch the last train to Fordham...the list goes on, and now I have Prague.

The four of us sprinted to the train station and ran to the lobby, just to see the red lights of the train pulling away from us. Heaving, panting, and completely out of breath, we gave it our best, but it wasn't enough. And then we laughed. "How did you guys forget me!?"--Etka asked. We were cracking up. She's the one that went to the bathroom without telling anyone! Etka said when she got out of the restroom, her stuff was by the door where she had left it. She could hear us in the hallway and she banged and yelled at the door, just to hear our voices fade away as we descended. She called Ana, who was already on her way to the subway, and Ana assured her that we were on our way back to get her. What Ekta didn't know was that we were locked out of the building...so she was ready for the worst--a long night. When we finally got Ekta, running to the train station, we must have looked like the oddest bunch of people. An Indian, an American, a Turk and a Kazakh, all with bags and backpacks, and one of them carrying a package of 30 eggs. I joked that now we don't have to scramble our eggs tomorrow for breakfast because the sprint was just enough.

So now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is another day full of stuff, but then we get to enjoy a weekend break. I have absolutely nothing to do on Saturday except for sleeping in and partying all night--yea! I'll be up to date as much as possible. I have tons more to tell everyone but no time to write it. Also, my pictures are still on my computer--ready to go, but I need to figure out a new way to upload them since my Picasa web albums are not working properly. Until next time...