I made it safely into Wuhan, met my first team colleague at the arrival gate … super-friendly welcome by the local team at the airport. I am now in my hotel room, just showered some of that jetlag away … now of to some first explorations around the hotel.
By the way: sunshine, 22 degrees Celsius 😉
The preparation time is over, the CSC experience about to start. Most of us are either already in China, in the air right now or getting ready – it is less than two hours for me now before I head out to the airport … my feelings (and I guess the same is true for the others) are somewhere between anticipation, excitement and a slight bit of nervousness.
What’s ahead of us – we will only know when we get there … let’s go!
It is now ten days to go until I leave for China. The formalities are in all in place: flights and hotel booked since months, visa issued; first thoughts spent on what to take and what to still organize.At first glance it does not sound much different than preparing for a normal trip – though only at first glance …
On normal trips one has a relatively clear expectation on what places will be visited and what activities to follow – and what to take to accommodate those expectations. On this trip we may have a clear picture on where we go – but there is not more than a rough idea on what to expect … e.g.
Suddenly packing becomes more complicated … should I take a suit? … what tools should I take to be prepared? … are there any books or documents that could be helpful? … are there are any fallback plans, I can/ have to prepare (e.g. Facebook access in China)?
10 days to go now … 10 more days to prepare and think about those questions … and I will only learn if I was right with my answers, once I get there.
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 …
Purpose of this section of the blog (category: Wuhan with the CSC) is to share my impressions and experiences around my assignment in Wuhan, China – as part of the IBM Corporate Service Corps Program – with you.
Expect the first entries to show up during the preparation phase; those will also include some introduction of the program, the team and the expected tasks. The blog should take up full speed by 14th of October, after my arrival in China.
This gallery contains 28 photos.
Singapore had been on my bucket list for quiet a while now. So I used the opportunity and added a short stopover on my way back. Having only a full day, I decided to give it an early start first … Continue reading
My plane (and most others either) left Lombok only in the late afternoon/ evening; so I had a last walk around town – saying farewell to Lombok and the beach.
It was time to say good-bye to Gili Air.
We left the island in the early afternoon, after a lazy morning and a last bit of relaxation in paradise. We made it back to Lombok an hour later, where we changed back to our van.
We were now heading for Senggigi – Lombok’s most developed tourist resort town (though far from the scale of Denpasar on Bali).
On the way to there we had a further stop at a view point to get a last glimpse of the Gilis.
For dinner the group did meet up again – our last evening as group – and went to a local restaurant. The (live) music was quiet questionable; their version of Sweet Child of Mine was the worst interpretation, I ever heard … so I took the decision to head back to the hotel – and was surprised to see half the group following me for similar reasons 😉 .
Today saw me going underwater once more – though only snorkeling this time.
We left Gili Air on a boat heading close to Gili Trawangan, the biggest Gili. We jumped into the water and could already see the damage done by decades of dynamite fishing. Even with the reef far from being intact, there was plenty of fish and other sea creatures to watch.
For our lunch break we stopped at Gili Meno, the middle of the three Gili islands … and in the late afternoon though we were back to Gili Air … for yet another walk around the island and another nice sunset and dinner.
We made it to Gili Air in the afternoon; I had a look around town and then followed the beach all the way around the island (approx. 1.5 hours walking) – including a fabulous sunset on the way. The group met again later on for an included seafood BBQ.
