International Congress officially started

Yesterday the pre meetings have ended. The Austrian delegation had a country meeting with India at dinner.Today the official start came.

You enter the big plenary for the first time… you are being slowly pushed in with the crowd, already inside people shouting the different growth networks shouts… it is hard to describe, but I am sure there will be soon videos on you tube.In the opening plenary we went through the roll calls of all present countries, you must imagine that means almost 100 countries presenting itself in 1 minute… 2 hours only roll calls… and in that big crowd, guess what. Guess who had the best roll call in the last 2 years of ICs? You guessed it right. Austria. And it was not “Once an Austrian…” roll call ;-D Presentations upon request available…

Some emotional moments occurred, especially when official extensions presented themselves, like Qatar, Bahrain, Rwanda, Kazakhstan… How proud people were to be for the first time present at IC as official member, with full membership status.

After that we went by bus to the European part of Istanbul for global village, which we had together with You Can delegates.I do not know if you have ever been to Istanbul, but to “walk” through that city, which I would almost call a small state, you will need weeks.

I must admit, I do not know what was the last time I have put so much strange stuff into my mouth like I did today. Not knowing what to expect. Things that looked like candy, in the end I figured out were lakritze with salt. SALT! Then candy, on the outside full with crystal sugar, were spicy. SPICY! And I could go on like that.. Eating fish from Iceland, right next to swiss chocolate, and some sweet “caramel like stuff” from Ecuador.You could see African people running around with german flags on their cheeks, or having their hair sprayed by Belgian in the Belgian colours of their national flag.

Many speeches were said and heard today. ”One for all, all for the Future”, is the main slogan for IC 2007. Words you got do hear today way too often. I hope we can cope with that for the next 10 days. We already started using the time here for intense discussions, pushing things forward, outside of the agenda, using our free time to discuss topics that need improvement, things we are stuck in, and look for a different perspective.You walk through the halls and see people sitting outside the cafeteria, on the floor, working. Running delegates from one meeting with an country, or MC to another, for sharing knowledge. Everyday we are setting up meetings and soaking up new thoughts. This is the one time in a year where you get the chance to compare, improve, have a “wow” moment, but most of all work, instead of only talking, doing instead of sitting there and absorbing input.

Martina

Ps. I love this one: AP, hot to go, H O T TO GO! A uh hot to go! A uh hot to go!