Category Archives: Travel

CSC assignment to Nigeria – now it feels more real (Week 1)…

Travel, Work, , ,

Yesterday we had our first kick-off call as a team of people who are going to Nigeria as part of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC). All of the team members were present as well as the operations and support team who will be helping us with the logistics. We are Nigeria Team 6, meaning we will be the 6th IBM team to do a project in Nigeria. We spent a good part of the call making some introductions to each other, but I suspect we will have a lot more opportunity to get to know each other. We spent the other part of the call getting an overview of the programme, what we will need to do, and some more initial information with the promise of more to come. We also got to ask questions. We asked about the logistics of travel, security, types of projects, etc. I left the call feeling satisfied that we are on our way – and in some way wanting to quicken the pace 🙂

I awoke this morning to find several administrative and logistical e-mails in my inbox, including forms for travel, pre-work assignments, and more overview information. It somehow now feels real. Like there is no turning back (like I would want to). It’s hard not to feel excited for what is about to happen: the opportunity to serve, a new adventure, a new experience. I can already tell that this will not be about “kissing babies and shaking hands.” We will get some real work done, and I am confident that we will have real results to show for it.

Bring it on 😀

#ibmcsc nigeria

Nigeria Corporate Service Corp (CSC) assignment one step closer

Travel, Work,

So this week I got an e-mail from the CSC coordinator asking us to put together a cover letters and CV (aka resumé) so that our team could be matched to one or more projects. I worked on putting the material together over the weekend and send it in on Monday. I have to say that I spent a lot of time on my cover letter and CV (my CV was already done, but needed some touch ups), making sure both were simple enough to be understood by people who don’t have English as their first language.

nigeria_map

I am really excited to begin the pre-work and to find out more about what I am going to do. From the communications I have received so far, I know that I am going to be working with a pretty diverse international team and I think that those strengths are going to play to our advantage. Right now it is a little over 4½ months away and that feels like a long time. I know however how quickly time flies so I know that this adventure will begin soon.

I am already now beginning to blog about this CSC experience in Nigeria so that I get into the habit and then hopefully will also keep everyone updated on this latest and greatest adventure 🙂

#ibmcsc nigeria

 

Towards Vienna we go!

Travel, Work

On the way to Vienna for a company education event. I am pretty excited about it. I do really like Vienna as a city with it's imperial elegant architecture. The education events ends on Thursday afternoon but I will stay there some extra days to see home more of the city. It is my secpnd trip there in 4 months.

The education event is centered around the things we sell and how to sell more of it. Even though I am managing our delivery in the region, the session will also be valuable for me as well.

I could have done a better job of booking my flights, so I ended up having to take a flight with a connection. However, the flights are with lufthansa and that means that the flights are generally enjoyable. The flight from Stockholm to Dusseldorf was no different. And the connection to Vienna is no different. I do also have to confess that it was nice to be in the air again after several weeks on the ground.

Anyway…just a random update to get back into the habit of journaling. Write more later! For now, a picture from the air…you start to realise how small we are when you look at the ground below when you are screaming through the sky in a metal tube.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.