China | Why is so good to be in AIESEC MoChina?

Friday, September 15, 2006

05:00 Wake up due to the Jet Lack of last week meetings in Europe

07:00 Finish the Job Descriptions of 2 new team members from Canada and Serbia

09:00 Find an American guy to come here an organize a Conference for a company about Clean Energy Implementation Challenges in China

10:00 Write a mail to a girl in Poland as she is accepted to run a project on HIV/AIDS for Global Business Coalition and AIESEC

11:00 Take a shower a go to the office... Yes! All this happened from my living room :)

12:00 Lunch

13:00 Meet with a member who is organizing an Entrepreneurship Event in February

14:00 Receive a request for a journalist for the European Chamber

15:00 Go and extend my visa

16:00 Still extending my visa

17:00 Having coffee

18:00 Attend a banquette at Hyatt Hotel

19:00 Have a chat with some key personalities, including the first Global Chair of the Earth Council Summit!

20:00 Receive a request from a CSR News agency that needs a News Editor

21:00 Eating caviar or something similar... not so good though... :)

22:00 Passing by taxi in front of Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Mao Zedong Memorial

22:10 Receive a phone call from Lagos, Nigeria from a candidate that just summit his application to Bayer China

23:00 Lying on bed, reading 100 años de Soledad and wishing that tomorrow I will not have the Jet Lag any more :)

BLOG CHANGE

Hi!

I had a lot of problems with my blog, so I moved to: http://juan-cajiao.blogspot.com

That blog is actualized :)

Hugs!

Juan


Available only in Spanish... :)

World | Here we go again :)

Tomorrow another journey starts

I will go to London to meet my team and review our performance in the last months.

It is amazing for a Costa Rican to leave Beijing with London as destination...

But there is more..., most likely I will be visiting Rotterdam...

An important meeting will happen in the AIESEC HQ and it could be interesting to have a member of our team there...

China..., UK..., NL... ...

I can feel that I will miss my little chinese girls :) and my team...

By the way..., travelling for London to Rotterdam most likely will be in one of this

La Paqureña... :)

China | My responsibility

Do you want to find out more about what I am doing in China?

Well, check this video.

It was made to present our Program to AIESEC stakeholders (Companies, NGOs and Government)

Enjoy

My Family :)

Early this week, I talked for the first time with my family since I arrived to China almost five months ago.

I realized how much I miss them and how lucky I am.

My family is where everything started and where everything will finish.

Costa Rica! is my country, I love it, there is nothing I can do about it :)

I wish I have some pictures here to post them in my blog.

I wish you could see and feel all those nice things my family and my country have given me.

One day I will make my family a little bigger :)

I hope I managed to do it as good as my mum and dad did :)

Los extraño a todos..., hasta a Miguelito y Betico :)

Besos y abrazos

China | Celebrities that look like me, chinese version

Before going to that part I just want to share that I succesfully raise the first internship for an African person in China :)

It is so cool. It is a chance for an African person to come to China, to work on Corporate Responsibility and to be involved on HIV/AIDS topics...

Three tabues in one :)

Can't wait to go to the airport and pick her/him up :)

So, back to the issue of this mail... here is the chinese (actually japanese) celebrity that looks like me...

"Ichughuy (something like Issue-Guy)"

China | My Happiest Working Day!!!

Today is four months and ten days since I arrived to China.

From my perspective my responsibility was very clear:

Get the Local Committees involved in projects (create teams, plan and execute) that generate exchange and learning around Sustainable Development topics using the external platform left by the last term.

I found many challenges that I don't even want to remember right now.

But I found a team willing to do crazy stuff: Dex, Natalie, Dan, Birtan, Susan, Yuan, Nick. And also two great CEEDers: Lucy and Regula.

Today I was reviewing the survey where LCs were supposed to commit to run topic based projects...

Honestly, I was not even expecting answers since it is hard for LCs to access AIESEC.net due to Government restrictions at Uni to external servers...

My surprize:

• 7 LCs interested!!!
• 12 Projects with responsible assigned!!!

Besides that:

• 2 Project Managers applying for Heroes Conference Grant in Malaysia!!!

I am so happy!

China | RIC Beijing

Beijing and Shanghai are so different.

At least, that is my conclusion after the Induction period.

I believe that Shanghai people are more exposed to Western cultures.

So, while in Shangahi it is easier to communicate, in Beijing you find more traditional chinese behaviors.

"In the similarities we come together

and in the differences... we grow!"

China is amazing!

I wonder what will come in the next quarte of my term...

China | HIV/AIDS, Energy/Environment and Poverty

China | Your turn!

It is time for you to be part of this story!

If you are an experienced AIESECer, passionate about China and Sustainable Development... This opportunity is what you have being looking for:

MC CEED

Issue Based Implementation Team!

Dowload the application: Here!

Dead line: Nov 1st, 16:00 GMT (24:00 PR China)

Send to: juan.cajiao@aiesec.net

Are you reading Chinese stories

or

are you writing your own?

China | Shanghai Induction Conference

On the 14th floor of a Hotel in Shanghai, a group of young people came together to share about the things they care...

In front of one of the most busiest ports of the Asian giant, 150 students, share their passions and hopes...

Under a dark coal sky, I realize that China has a future!

Thank you guys!

Random! | Celebreties that look like me!

A break from the Conferences preparation leaded me to: http://www.myheritage.com

After, signing in you can upload a picture of your face and they will match your looks with celebrities' looks.

So, here are my results:

Looking good ah? :)

IC | Faci Life

How does it feel to be in IC?

How does it feel to be a Faci in your first IC?

Hmmm...

Imagine that one day you wake up and you are standing in the middle of the Santiago Bernabeu, the ball is at your feet, there is noise all around and you only see the flashes left behind by your teammates and contraries when they passed you by...

And you are thinking:

"I have to do it right, I have to do it right, I have to do it right... BUT... what should I do?!?!?!?"

And all of a sudden, one of the flashes next to you make sense and you just feel like leting the ball flow, with no reason, just instinct...

That's how I felt.

Part of something much bigger than me, so big that nobody was above or below it, so big that it makes sense only by itself.


When I read the application, I realized I had a few chances, mostly because I had a delegate profile.

But I really wanted to be there.

I decided that If I was not going to be selected, it will others decision, not mine.

I have some of the best memories from IC, those memories that keep a person going in the tough moments.

The memories I will tell my grandchildren.

Future | Entrepreneurial or Corporate life

Every year the time to make decisions comes.

And every year, the decisions become more impactful in our lifes.

I have been thinking about my future for sometime now.

And I find myself in a junction: Entrepreneurial or Corporate life.

Why is this importan right now?

Well, the entrepreneurial life find no better ground than China and the Corporate is a bit more flexible.

Whatever decision I make for next year has to reflect my final thoughts about this dilema...

The price of opportunities :)

This month I will be meeting Costa Rican business people from the China Ya Program. I guess the outcome of this meeting may help to concrete to which side the balance is.

With friedns in IC - Poland

Colombia | Memories - Hips don't lie Role Call

I was going up and own on the internet and I found a very interesting AIESEC video.

It was filmed in Barranquilla, Colombia, during the last LDS.

The Role Call later an AIESEC Colombia icon.

Enjoy!




Ps: guess who is the Chair :)

China | X-treme feelings

During the last days I notice that my mood is becoming extreme.

At some moments things are great and all of a sudden things turn and seem bad.

In Gabiza's words, things are black or white, very moody.

It is the hard period of the adaptation process but it is also one of the best in terms of learning. I am questioning somethings I thought I deeply believe. I reviewing my "escala de valores".

Besides the moody moment, thing seem stable.



We just finished the Energy Seminars which was a very good experience in terms of Event Management in China. This month we have the Induction Conference and I have 2 External days to organize. One in Beijing and one in Shanghai..., a city I have never visit :)


Enjoy the pictures!

Yuan, Regula and Yifan, Some of my flatmates

China | "Soft defeats hard"

Today, two different Chinese sources refered to Latin Americans are too direct and aggressive in the approach...

This makes me think.

Maybe, Chinese people are playing a different game.

One think I remember from Dey and Brodie was there hard approach when the moments were tense...

Maybe, there are different games...

Here in China, as my brother discovered soft defeats hard

PDU Rocks!

PDU stands for People Development Unit and It is the Global Support Team of the PD Area (Talent Managing and Talent Development)

The team is made of 12 amaxing individuals from all over the world: Basia (Poland), Miha (Romania), Fawzy (Egypt), Rubayat (Bangladesh), Carolyn (Canada), Fabian (Mexico), Maria (Sweden), Davo (Peru), Nadya (Ukraine), Matthias (Germany), Juliana (Colombia) and me :)

We mainly do 2 things:

• Review PD Systems for improvements
• Support countries implementation processes
• Support any other crazy initiative from Gabiza :) - AI VP PD

This year we had several meetings in Poland to discuss about the plan and the strategy to support the Competency Model implementation.

Right now, we are communicating virtually, mostly through the aiesec platform.

What is so great about PDU?

1. The quality of the People
2. The common willing to give back
3. The Chair :) Just kidding!!!

Our next meeting will be in Rotterdam, sponsored by Unilever, by the end of the year to review the Competency Model Implementation.

I am so looking forward to meet the team again! :)

China | Adjusting the lens

Wow! What a week!

To avoid randomness I came to an agreement with my team on which are my goals for NOV 1st.

Hot Goals!

• Get the LCPs engaged in IBE
• Organize the "Activating Youth Leadership for Sustainability" Day
• Get into our Bank Account 5 of the 20 MC monthly salaries companies owe us from this term

Important Goals

• Train Project Managers at the Regional Induction Conference
• Organize the CSR Board of Advisors Meeting
• Follow up the UK Embassy Sustainability Fund

Interesting

While I was in Poland, one of the members contacted one of our National CSR Partners without authorization.

Then the member used their well kmown brand and the name of the person to promote one of their events...

Big mess!!!

The good thing is that at the end, it was the passion towards youth and a more sustainable world what save the day.

Just do it!

China | Too fast to capture in a snap shot

You really want to know how my experience goes in China?

Well, it goes fast...

I arrived to Beijing this day at 4pm, took my lagguage to a PwC to a meeting and then again to another meeting with IBM at 9pm and then to my welcome party at 12mn.

That's how my experience looks like.

Faci at IC?
The same, one day I was in the airport in Warsaw waiting for the Bus to the Conference Site. Next day I was rushing out of the shower, saying good bye to be the next day arranging my Board of Advisors meeting. Happy that morning plenaries are gone :)

It goes fast, too fast to be capture...

I am sitting here in front of my computer and all these opportunities pop up in random motion:

- IBE in China
- International Association of Public Transport Conference in Bilbao
- Business as an Agent of World Benefit in Michigan
- World Water Conference in Beijing
- PDU Management in Virtual World
- Top Human
- Golder Associates
- Partners Group - Nike, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Bayer, Novertis, Lucent-Alcatel, Brittish Embassy
- China Ya!
- Activating Youth Leadership for Sustainability
- Outland - All the needs have a road to China

I need an army to capture all this crazy stuff...

One day, I will be sitting in a hamac chair (mecedora), wearing sandals and wet shorts in Playa Avellanas thinking about these days and this post.

I wonder who else will be there.

I wonder who wide my smile will be.

I guess not many have this chances but less have such good memories to find moments of rest and peace.

Made in China!