Not CSC, but Italy

CSC project is over but now I'm in holiday and I woul like to tell you about it. I am at Rome and I think there is no easy way to describe it is amazing; there is art and history everywhere. If I go to one place I say wow if I go to a different side still wow, no wonder why they call it the ethernal city, I've been walkink for 2 days and the wow factor continues. And, guess what I hit my head again and my right foot is killing me (damn new shoes) I'll upload photos later on (I will not upload them to facebook)

One week left

For this blog post I'll divide it into 3 separate parts,  the first one to talk about work, the second one what I have learned so far  and at last our group activities for fun.

Work:

In case you were wondering what do you need to work in a foreign country with 14 people from different countries, different ways to approach work, different ways to live and so many different interests?... well my answer would be Patience, empathy and communication (and no, I'm not talking about marriage). Sometimes it's frustrating when things don't go the way you are expecting them to be, when the message you are intending to deliver is not understood or people react in different ways others than you are used to. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this type of collaboration is a huge challenge and an opportunity as well.
For the last couple of weeks we have interviewed people, measured satisfaction levels, assess potential, also tried to figure it out the best way to provide good recommendations for our client, discuss about alternatives to approach work, about meetings, and so many other things like looking at each other like this ¬_¬   :)

What I have learned. 
If things don't go the way you like, take a deep breath and try to get it done as you want it, if not possible talk about it (Good thing is if talking is not enough, you can always move your arms, hands and body to say I don't understand but the Chai is so good, can I have one more please?). I learned to say thanks often, in might seem nonsense but a small word makes a huge difference; the opinion of each individual is different and their point of view should be listened carefully and respected, but sometimes you need to take the lead in order to others follow and do what you want if that option will benefit the group.
In addition you need to gain the trust and respect of a group before actually being part of the group.
I also have learned so many things about Turkey, but that is reserved for another blog post.

Group activities for fun

One of the activities that is really fun to watch (at least for me) is asking for food, it's amazing, it's like trying to make reverse engineering on food.
Waitress:  Merhaba,
Me:  Merhaba, do you speak English? 
Waitress: Üzgünüm, yemek ister misin? 
Me: I'm not Turkish, I don't speak Turkish sorry
Waitress: İngilizce konuşan bir yabancının, Tanrım!. Sonra bir Avustralyalı olanlar, bir Japon, bir Meksikalı sonra artık bir Amerikan ve. Ne bir gün.
Me:  I just want to see the menu please (Making as many hand gestures I'm capable of, like that would be any difference)
Waitress: Points with her finger the salads and food available. 
Me:  What is that green and red thing over there?  
Waitress:  meat (at this point she realizes she can make fun of me)
Me: (showing the nicest smile my face is capable of)... do you serve it with with rice? (reverse engineering starts, and still trying to get her understand English...)
Waitress: Yes
Me: (ohhh she understands! I think to myself, I'm about to discover how silly I am) ohh does it have peanuts? 
Waitress: Yes
Me: wonderful, is that red thing strawberries?
Waitress: Yes
Me: do you have it to take away?
Waitress: yes
Me: What else do you serve on it?
Waitress: Yes (trying not to to laugh)
Me: You don't understand a word of what I'm saying right?
Waitress: Yes
Me: You are just making fun out of me right?
Waitress: Yes, 10 Turkish lira please.  
Me: hahaha

So as you can see things that may appear to be a simple task, can turn out to be a very difficult task  in other country =D

Other activity we had as a group was a dinner with IYTE and IZTEKGEB director,  Dr. Guden, he is a very smart person with a great vision to transform the university and its technopark into a smart city.  We eat and laugh about many things specially fortune telling using coffee, Dr. Guden told us that every mom in Turkey knows how to read the fortune using coffee which was very funny specially because I thought it was some kind of secret only a few know about.  Mental note:  There was a cake on flames which was really amazing, I'm wondering if it survived the trip to the table with it was supposed to go.

Before the dinner we had another dinner with Dr. Emrah and his team, it was a beautiful place they are really nice people, and are always willing to have a good conversation.

And before that dinner we had our CSC community service day, which consisted of helping kids realize the importance of continue studying and hard work, I must say that I was really inspired and honored to be part of such event, is not that we were some kind of peace corp or anything like it, but we were doing something for other people good and that is really inspiring, everyone participated and for me was a experience that will change my life for ever.

What else, umm... ahh Ephesus, what a terrific place, just imagine to be on the same place were one of the 7 wonders was built, surrounded by history. The library and the theaters were incredible, they were really smart people, I mean it's like a modern city from the past, bathrooms that recycled water,  tunnels, libraries, theaters, a port, they even had a way to indicate where young women with a broken heart could be located and the level of detail for the constructions simple amazing. 

As usual here are some photos and a video hope you enjoy. 

 
 

CSC is challenging and our first weekend

Ok so long time without adding a single entry, now I have to keep it going.  We have been very busy at work during the week and we are trying to figure it out the best way to help our clients. I have to say that my colleagues at work are making the whole process a terrific experience, we are teasing everyone about many things, you wouldn't believe it. Viv is giving me a hard time specially, but it's really good fun and everyone is good sport so no hard feelings. Vijay has officially been named our camera man and I'm surprised how many pictures he can take in a single day.  Anyway, going back to the topic at hand I would like to tell you that our project is really really challenging, I mean, bringing so many people with this variety of skills is not an easy task and putting them together to find a solution that would be beneficial for an entire region is amazing.  We will have to overcome many difficulties to do so, but at the end I think we will succeed.
We had a great weekend and we shared many things, we laugh and talked about ourselfs, there are so many things to share, 24 hours per day is not enough. We went to Cesme beach, it reminds me of Cancun somehow. We swam (some of us just tried not to drown) we played some beach games Bharat suggested (by the way seeing Bharat falling over the beach sand was priceless) he is a nice person always telling very interesting stories. After swiming we didn't know there were showers and we returned to the hotel covered with sea salt; I have to tell you that two of my team mates Zoran and Subra are  good men and hilarious, they are always making fun of many things, they make me laugh so hard. Sanjay has explained me many things I didn't know about IBM, he has opened my eyes, sort of speak, in terms of what I can do to continue growing. Sara is great fun, she likes Mexican food which I think is amazing; arriba arriba, andale andale she said and I couldn't help but laugh haha. Frank and Bich Ha are a dynamic duo, Frank says something and Bich Ha  says just the opposite, they are really good people and make feel at ease when they are around. Rosana and Iliana are adventurers, I can not believe they went all the way to Cappadocia, that requires some guts, and they did it, they are lots of fun too. Oh Kazufumi-san showed me some taido moves, he is a great man he is always laughing and willing to talk, he is very respectful and I admire him for that.  My room neighbor Tsubasa-san won the race we had at the beach, he is incredible fast, he is married and loves his wife, I always wanted to learn more about Japan's culture and he is briefing me, for which I'm very grateful. Serina is briefing me on Indian culture, she is very polite and considerate when I don't understand something she clarifies.
All of them are fantastic, I appreciate and respect them all.  I'm learning so many things out of them that I just want to say thanks in everyway I can.

And now my thoughts are now focusing on my beloved ones, I would like to thank my parents for their amazing and continuous support during so many years for encouraging me to do things others do not even dare so I could achieve my goals, to my brothers who believe in me, to my girlfriend for being honest and be the voice that reminds me to follow my dreams whatever it takes.

Time to sleep, here are some photos

Meeting the customer

Day 4

Today was a productive day, we met the customer and presented our workplans, they have high expectations and are willing to help us in every way they can. I'm afraid communication will be a lot more difficult than what I expected to be, so we have to make sure there are no misunderstandings and define the scope. We are On the forming stage and it will be very interesting when we get to the storming stage with so Many people with such many different ideas.

We didn't have lunch because the Meeting was held at 1 but we had an early dinner: Turkish pizza.

Second day working

I'm happy we had this Meeting with the client they have the vision and we have to enable them to achive it, everyone had questions because we are trying to achive something the client can use and it's valuable. They took us On a trip to Urla a very nice town. We ate traditional Turkish food and it was fantastic


Then we head back for the university to continue working

Izmir arrival

Day 4

It was a very busy day, early in the morning we have a team briefing by Seda and Sirri, they were very nice and explained somethings about DOT and our hosts, we had such a lovely time, after the briefing we had lunch and headed to the airport. I'm still amazed by the beauty of this great country.

 The picture above was taken on a street near our hotel in Izmir. You can see the beauty of the

 We are now on location and we are going to stay here one moth I hope is a productive one,  so I'll start everyday with an early run by the sea (except on Sundays), to be fresh and prepared for each day.

Day 3 Final

Here are some picutres of what we did today.

 Ok, here is the explanation, The first photo is from the other room they gave me, they changed my fron the street view to the sea view.  The second photo is from the Cisterna,  it's an acient place where many columns were placed underground to store water,  2 columns in this place have a Medusa head as the base.

 Third photo Medusa Head upside down. 

 After visiting the Cisterna we went to the blue mosque, a holy place for Turks, it's a beautiful place, it has a main square which is depicted on the next photograph and there are towers surrounding it.

 Unfortunately the entrance to the mosque was closed and we decided to take lunch and then head on boat to meet the European and Asian side of Turkey.

 In th picture above you can see from left to right: Tom, Sunjay, Serina and Viv. 

 Still at lunch, here are from left to right:  Bich Ha, Kazufumi-san and Tsubasa-san.

 And at last but not least:  Subra and Vijay.

 The picture above is traditional Turkish food, Kebab with mushroom (Kebab is meat with spices) the food is delicious, similar to Mexican food but it's flavor is a lot stronger and spice.

 There are mosques everywhere in turkey, I was amazed by the number of towers that you can see by looking on all directions. 

When we were on the boat there were a castle and more mosques, which to me shows the respect the Turkish pay to the Islam religion. There were also Turkish flags anywhere on sight and I think that shows they are very proud of their country.

The castle

 Group photo

 Inside the Blue mosque, wear shoes is not allowed so we have to take out our shoes.

 The columns holding the structure are incredible big the design is very elaborated.

 Me posing

 Another team gathering before dinner

And finally Seda joined us at the dinner, a traditional Turkish meal. I want to thank Seda in particular for the supreme job she did with the logistics. We are heading for a terrific project start.

Tune in for #IBMCSC news

Meeting the team

Day 3 continued

Well it has been a long day,we traveled a lot and i met some companions, others will arrive today. Istanbul is beautiful and we visited the blue mosque and the surroundings. There are tourists everywhere, and I noticed Many differences between our cultures. Anyway it has been a terrific start and o can't wait for tomorrow.
iyi geceler everyone
I'll add pictures later.

Long long trip

Day 3

Finally made it after 24 hours, I'm looking forward to meet all the team tomorrow.

Here is a picture of Taxim square. 

Day 1: Flight day.

Today I'll be leaving Mexico, I'm on my way to Turkey. It's very exciting and I hope you'll enjoy the post about what we will be doing for IBM Corporate Service Corps program.

Here is a picture of the people I'll be working with.

Here is an explanation of what is Corporate Service Corps, written by Sara Willet:

1) What is the IBM Corporate Service Corps?

The IBM Corporate Service Corps was formed in 2008 to provide IBMers with international leadership opportunities while solving problems for communities in emerging markets.  Think of it as the Peace Corps for business.  IBM sends its employees to volunteer for 4 weeks in an emerging market country.  The participants get an incredible experience working in a foreign country.  The host organization gets highly skilled volunteers. And IBM gets leaders trained in working with international teams and emerging markets as well as an enhanced reputation in those growth markets.

The CSC application process happens once per year and includes basic information about your performance ratings at IBM as well as 3 essays.  Each year there are thousands of applicants and only 500 people are admitted to the program.

Before departing

Just 3 days, left.