The whole CSC thing started back in April, when I – more or less accidentally – came across an intranet homepage, introducing the program and showing that the application window was open. I had followed the program already for some years, but never actually taken the next step to apply – this year I did. I filled the profile information, added my mini essays and – after a quick chat with my manager – submitted my application.

In June – after I returned from a vacation in Asia – I had simple feedback on my application – simply saying that I had been accepted. I quickly got added to a virtual community (kinf of social network site) and had now access to all sorts of information about the program.

Towards the end of June – so just a few weeks after the acceptance message – I got the next email – welcoming me to the China 15 team and telling that we would be deployed to Wuhan.

Now it all went quickly; we were asked to provide our CVs, to allow our NGO partner to look for customers, a facilitator and a mentor got assigned and regular team meetings set up. Also a full education package was made available to us – looking into everything from items to prepare, cultural differences and adaptation, basic consulting skills to tools/ sources available to us. Also our NGO partner – the Digital Opportunity Trust – got going, taking care of all aspects of assignment – from basic logistics (flight bookings, hotel, visa invitations etc.) up to the initial Statement of Work. I also started learning some basic Chinese.

There are now three weeks to go until I leave for China … really getting excited now. I think, I never left for another country that well prepared, as this time … I must have been quiet naive, when I first went to China back in 2005 …