Stuck in Australia for more than 1 month!!!

I was in a train, sitting opposite an old Chinese lady and next to a young Chinese boy. No, I am not going back to China, probably not until next August when I finish my AI term. And I don’t feel like I am in China, not even Asia, this is Australia! Here we go!

It is not that I don’t like it. If you know me, you definitely know how passionate I am about Australia, Aussies and anything Aussie. So you might also know that I don’t like Europe much compared to Asia. And right now, I am in a very European city and guess where it is - Sydney.

So here we start the story, I found myself landed in a very European place and my last stop was Jakarta - one of the craziest places in the world when it concerns pollution, traffic jam, dirty toilets without toilet paper and shower heads, and of course, inefficiency. But it is still sweet enough and chaotic enough as an Asian city where pedicure plus hair cut is only 5 euro. (Trust me, it was a very nice place. And you know how much I care about how I look.)

Sydney is extremely expensive - it could be that I just came from South East Asia where money worth nothing and daily life costs nothing with my Rotterdam salary. I spent 115 Aussie dollars on my first day here even without buying myself a dinner. For a minute, I thought I dropped from heaven to hell. ;p

Of course Australia is not that bad. It is a very lovely country with lovely people as long as you can afford to live here. ;-) The only thing is that it reminds me too much of The Netherlands as I’ve spent about 3 months there before I came here for country visits. And working in the MC team feels like working in the AI office. It is 9 to 6. It is a spaceful office. We go for fast food lunches. And the surrounding just made me feel I am back to my office already. Hell no! I so much want to be away for a bit longer.

I couldn’t go to New Zealand because the VISA is gonna take longer than I expected. I have tried in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Sydney. It just doesn’t work out with my travel schedule in different countries. I backed out at the last minute which made me feel extremely awful. It is also the first time that I get stuck with VISA procedure longer than 1 day.

I do feel very bad for I did to Kiwi’s. At the other side, this extra one week does provide me more time to catch up with my work. And all I can do right now is to deliver a good visit to Australia. I have 3 working weeks here - no excuse for a bad visit then. Cheers!

My dramatic Indian XP

I had 3 trips to India so far. They’ve all turned out to be rich experiences.

Highlights of this recent trip:
My VISA expired on the 3rd day when I was in India. I was leaving for Bombay from Colombo on Nov 2nd. When I was checking in, the lady at the counter found out that my VISA expires on Nov 5th. I couldn’t believe that since I’ve always got 3 months VISA to India. Since I rushed the VISA officer in The Hague before I left The Netherlands, this dodgy Indian man made such a mistake. ;-(

Then I need to extend my VISA and the only thing I found out from the F.R.O office in Bombay was that they don’t ‘entertain’ Chinese. Thanks to the great relationship China has established with important countries!!! For a minute I was thinking of flying to Delhi to extend my VISA. The 2nd moment I saw 2 Chinese men whose VISA expired ages ago but still chilling in Bombay. The very next minute they bribed 100 USD/each to 2 different officers and got a VISA extension which allows them to leave the country in the next 4 days.

I was inspired. But I don’t get a receipt if I bribe. ;-( Luckily, apart from money, relationship rocks as much as it is in China. I got information from the lady working in the F.R.O in Bombay office that I can get the same thing done in Hyderabad office. And LC Hyderabad has a member who has a powerful dad.

Chairing an Indian conference wasn’t that easy. The level of energy and quality of membership were very impressive. The sense of timing challenged the concept of agenda. Change management has been embodied throughout the conference because the conference flows naturally even not aligned with the ‘flow’ of the agenda. The day I left the conference for my VISA extension and came back to find out that the agenda was delayed for a good 8 hours!!!

But I did enjoy this trip very much. There are a lot of positive things happening in AIESEC India. I had so many interesting discussions with the members. We even challenged the theories of @XP to its core. Some of them shared their future plans with me. All those little conversations have made my visits very interesting.

Again, I wasn’t able to see anything in Hyderabad. I stayed one night in Kolkota and met some members there. I was taken to Southern Indian breakfast and special sweets in Kolkota. I have briefly seen 6 cities in India now and Bombay has been the first and my favorite. You know what I mean if you’ve been there.

A random post

I would like to apologize for my comments on my countries in my blog. I think it is very improper. It will not happen any more.

AIESEC International hasn’t been an easy journey and doesn’t seem going to be one. I really love the experiences of country visits, the things I got to see here - how theories are translated in practice, how AIESEC experiences are for individuals who are living and delivering them day in and day out. There have been so many touching stories and respectful individuals which give me more faith on this organization as well as inspirations.

I really feel lucky as one of the 5 get to see how things are on the ground. I really appreciate how much countries are open to me, the trust they gave me, and the cooperation they offer to work on the solutions. I got to understand and realize the differences in cultures which lead to the differences in the approaches I should take to work with countries. Consultancy is an art. I love the fun and challenge to gain trust and commitment.

Sometimes I fail and make mistakes which hit me hard, probably hit the countries as well. Mistake is a gift only if you learn from it. It doesn’t mean I can make as many mistakes as I want but it does mean I shouldn’t make the same mistakes. I feel my entire AI experience has been a gift for someone who has only been in AIESEC for 3.5 years.