Anatolia Congress
Thursday set in like normal Thursdays do for Istanbul trainees: evening nargile night. These weekly traditions have been growing in population ever since we officially established our weekly presence at Mirra nargile. This last Thursday played host to some of the early Anatolia congress delegates, more specifically, 10 or so delegates from Holland.
Up until Thursday, I had not bothered to learn Backgammon. This game is insanely popular in Turkey, and despite having put it off for quite some time, I was pretty sure I'd learn it before I went home. Well, I learned Thursday, and much to my surprise, I learned from a Dutch guy. So, ladies and gentlemen, all those backgammon players beware, although I suck at the game, I loved it. Practice makes perfect.
I stayed in Thursday night (another surprise), and woke up late with all the other trainees to make opening ceremonies at a theater near Taksim. 13 American trainees met all the delegates at opening cermonies, and it was cool to see some faces I recognize from past conferences, pictures, and name drops. The biggest delegations were Greece and Holland, boasting 33 and more or less 15, respectfully.
We arrived at the actual conference site (on the beach, although a shitty one, but hell I haven't really been to a quality beach in 4 years, so a beach is a beach) a little late on Friday afternoon. Basia, current MC VP PD of AIESEC in Turkey opened the conference well, quickly splitting us off into World Cafe small groups. I had been asked to facilitate one of these groups, and without too much preparation, was a little nervous moving into the session. In efforts to help me, I pulled in Saurabh and Igor, two other Istanbul trainees. What happened over the course of that session was probably the most important thing I took away from the conference...
Our first conversation started with perspectives of Western lifestyles, and our opinions of where the world is going with such lifestyles. We moved into talking about poverty, and each of our own experiences hearing about, seeing, or experiencing it firsthand. Quite suddenly, government budgets came up, and not surprisingly, the US's military budget. As I was going to veer the conversation in a different direction, Igor made a pretty bold statement in defending our government's budget, igniting a semi-intense debate among the 9 of us from Holland, India, Czech Republic, Greece, the UK, and Serbia. Saurabh came back at Igor with some very convincing arguments, and they began to exchange debate. It was at that point that I became sad. I became sad because I've spent 2 months with these two trainees (among others), and we haven't yet had these types of conversations. It was evident to me how many differences of opinion and perspective we had; unfortunately, we hadn't spent enough time together talking about real issues, real life experiences, and the real things that "plague" our minds.
Up until Thursday, I had not bothered to learn Backgammon. This game is insanely popular in Turkey, and despite having put it off for quite some time, I was pretty sure I'd learn it before I went home. Well, I learned Thursday, and much to my surprise, I learned from a Dutch guy. So, ladies and gentlemen, all those backgammon players beware, although I suck at the game, I loved it. Practice makes perfect.
I stayed in Thursday night (another surprise), and woke up late with all the other trainees to make opening ceremonies at a theater near Taksim. 13 American trainees met all the delegates at opening cermonies, and it was cool to see some faces I recognize from past conferences, pictures, and name drops. The biggest delegations were Greece and Holland, boasting 33 and more or less 15, respectfully.
We arrived at the actual conference site (on the beach, although a shitty one, but hell I haven't really been to a quality beach in 4 years, so a beach is a beach) a little late on Friday afternoon. Basia, current MC VP PD of AIESEC in Turkey opened the conference well, quickly splitting us off into World Cafe small groups. I had been asked to facilitate one of these groups, and without too much preparation, was a little nervous moving into the session. In efforts to help me, I pulled in Saurabh and Igor, two other Istanbul trainees. What happened over the course of that session was probably the most important thing I took away from the conference...
Our first conversation started with perspectives of Western lifestyles, and our opinions of where the world is going with such lifestyles. We moved into talking about poverty, and each of our own experiences hearing about, seeing, or experiencing it firsthand. Quite suddenly, government budgets came up, and not surprisingly, the US's military budget. As I was going to veer the conversation in a different direction, Igor made a pretty bold statement in defending our government's budget, igniting a semi-intense debate among the 9 of us from Holland, India, Czech Republic, Greece, the UK, and Serbia. Saurabh came back at Igor with some very convincing arguments, and they began to exchange debate. It was at that point that I became sad. I became sad because I've spent 2 months with these two trainees (among others), and we haven't yet had these types of conversations. It was evident to me how many differences of opinion and perspective we had; unfortunately, we hadn't spent enough time together talking about real issues, real life experiences, and the real things that "plague" our minds.
posted by amartin4 at 5:25 AM
1 Comments:
that`s why you always come late and fall asleep immediately! :)
no, really, we (well, couple of us) had some discussions and have been sharing experiences among eachother... not too much since people usuall prefer to stay nice and don`t open completely (as in - they know that we all have quite different opinions about serious topics and they don`t want to destroy what they have now - 2-3 months of a great life with 15 people), and we should have more, but you have to agree that you also can`t do it with anyone, especially when it comes to such serious topics like wars, military budgets etc. it`s just a waste of time and energy to discuss whatever with people that are so plain and have no clue what they are talking about (not talking about you, of course).
so stop whining and invite us to beer and let`s talk about whatever you want (you`re "rich american", you can afford that) hehe
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