Alumni Conference 2013

I got up this morning and the first thing I did was smell the jacket and clothes that I wore yesterday. Since I could not stand the smell of smoke that was stuck on my clothes and jacket, last night I proceeded to spray perfume and then used the hair dryer to blow hot hair all over my clothes. At that point, I was desperate enough to try out anything, even if it did not make any sense. But surprisingly, when I went to smell my jacket and clothes, the smoke smell was GONE! Lol! 

Anyway, today was the reason why I made the long trip from Malaysia: the Alumni Conference. I was told that around 30 people would be attending but there were more. And to my pleasant surprise, the majority of the people were of my generation or even younger!! Back in my organisation, most of our partners are of the older generation, so any meetings or conferences or workshops would see me as one of the youngest. It was a pleasant change this time round. 

At first it was a bit awkward for me as everybody seemed to know everyone; but once the ice was broken, we could all mingle like we were old friends. I don't think I met every single person but the group of people I was with were a nice bunch. Unfortunately (or not), there were no cute guys! LOL! 

As this was an Alumni Conference, the participants were of course former interns or volunteers or trainees that had been with ECCHR at some point or another. Interestingly or rather intimidating-ly, whoever I spoke to either had a Masters or double Masters Degree, or were in the process of doing their PhD. At times I actually felt like I somehow lacked the "experience" or qualification to be in the group. But then, I told myself that instead of a Masters or Phd, I have 6 years of on the ground work experience that they may not have. So in a way, we're equals; and in another way, we're not. Get what I mean?

The day was long in that there were 3 sessions; after which we had a small reception, then had a good buffet dinner. I finally met Qiao Qiao, the 3rd Global Exchanger, whom I've only communicated with so far. 4 of the 5 Global Exchangers are here in Berlin. 

The official Alumni Conference is over. But there is a 4-hour workshop tomorrow organised by some of the Alumni. This is outside of the Conference and only a small group is expected. Later that night, it's the Annual Office Party, where around 200 people are expected, so that's going to be BIG! 

After today, my trip seems so quick. I can't believe that I will be leaving the day after tomorrow, returning to the same routine once again. I have not taken much photos this trip, though I hope to take a few tomorrow. 

Smoke!!

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That is all that I smell now as I sit on my bed typing this entry. I just got back from a round of drinks at Porx - the famous hangout place of the ECCHR staff. Although I was only there for about 2 hours, my laptop bag, jacket, sweater, top, jeans, underwear and whole body reek of smoke!

The worst thing is, I have no laundry facility, which means, I'll have to wear my smoke-filled jacket for the next 2 days!!! Oh God!! I've sprayed perfume on ALL the clothes that I wore, including my laptop bag! I took a shower and washed my hair twice - I hope I got the smell out.

Anyway, now that I've ranted, let me go back to the start of the day. So I slept REAL early last night - 8pm - that's as "late" asI could stay awake. I was up at 3am, 4am and 5am. Finally, I decided to get out of bed at about 7ish, took a bathe and then went to have breakfast.

I went to the office around 1030am and went out with Carolijn to catch up on things. After that, I had another round of coffee with Sankar, the lawyer from India who is the current Exchange Fellow. We were joined by Carolijn and Isidore, an intern from Cameroon.

After lunch, we had a very productive meeting on pesticides litigation which lasted until nearly 7pm. We all then adjourned to Porx, where my predicament occurred.

Tomorrow is the Alumni Conference which will last the entire morning and afternoon; after which there will be a buffet dinner.

I really hope my spraying of the perfume works, else I'll choke to death with the smoke smell. 

I'm back.....in Berlin!

So...after 7 months, I'm back in Berlin! As in my previous entry, who would have thought that I'd be in Europe twice this year?

Anyway, my travel did not start well at all. My 9.45pm flight from PG to KL was delayed to 10pm. Then it got delayed to 10.30pm. During the wait, I made a friend from Shanghai, Grace who was on her way back after a 3 day work trip. I somehow must have looked like I know everything coz a well dressed lady who was on her way to Dubai came and asked me why the delay! After waiting for 45 minutes while worrying about my connecting flight, MAS decided to combine 2 delayed flights and we were all flown to KLIA on an AirBus plane!

As the plane was taking off, I was almost certain that I was going to miss my connecting flight. Upon landing, there were a few people from the delay crew waiting for some of us, me included. We were all bundled up into a buggy and were F1-ed to the immigration. After passing the immigration, I was escorted, running to my departure gate. I boarded my 11.45pm flight at 11.40pm. Of course, I was the last one to board.

Luckily, on my row, there were only 2 of us - me occupying the window seat and a guy in the aisle seat. Right after take off though, he decided to move seats and for the whole 12 hours, I had 3 seats to myself! I stretched myself and slept for almost 9 hours. My aim of watching at least one movie did not work out. Maybe on the way back.

This time when I landed in Amsterdam, I could take my time as I had a two hour transit. I decided to track my luggage as I was told back in KL that my luggage may not reach on time as they did not have the time to search for my bag and put it on the plane. A check with the KLM ground staff told me that my bag was not in the system. I braced myself for the inevitable and decided that I'll just have to accept it and get new clothes, toiletries etc. I was still hoping for a miracle though.

Upon reaching Berlin, I decided to wait at the luggage carousel and see if the miracle happened. Guess what? It did!! After about 5 luggages let through, I saw a bag that's familiar and my heart jumped. I looked properly and WOOHOO...it was my bag!!! I grabbed it and headed out of the airport with renewed energy.

I took a taxi to the hotel. The driver was an African migrant who has been in Germany for more than 30 years. He thought I was 25!! Haha! Passing through all the familiar landmarks, it was such a nice feeling knowing that I've seen that or been there. We even passed a placed where there were people preparing for the Xmas market. Unfortunately, it will only open in two weeks' time.

Once I reached the hotel, I rested while watching TV, then had a bath and then headed to the office to say hello. Not many people were there so I left and went to get a hot chocolate (back to that again!) and some food.

I don't think I'll go anywhere else today as my body feels sluggish. But tomorrow onwards, it'll be busy and I know then that my time will FLY!!

It's going to be hard to say goodbye to Berlin again!