CIL Training in Toronto

I just got back from the CIL training in Toronto this weekend. Going in I didn't really know what to expect. My goal for the weekend was to participate as much as I could and to talk to all the other CEEDers, not just my Brazil buddies. Here's the results:

I flew out on Thursday evening and arrived Friday morning. I met up with Vannarady (SFU) who is going to South Africa and we headed downtown for some shopping. After spending too much money we took the subway to one of the CEEDers from AIESEC York's house, Llorene. Angela was there too from AIESEC Windsor. They were India buddies. We had some lunch and talked about our CEEDs and what we were doing to prepare, then we headed back downtown for our first session.

We met up at the MC office, which was really cool to see! Not fancy, but interesting. Karolina talked to us about logistical stuff: visas... plane ticket.... reimbursment... etc. and then we had to past CEEDers share their experiences. It was really cool.

Being with all the other CEEDers was a little overwhelming at first. I admit to being kinda shy in big groups. At first, I felt that even though they were all AIESECers, they were not MY AIESECers. I didn't know them. I though about how when I arrive in Sao Paulo I will have the same feeling.

But then the second day came. We introduced ourselves again and talked about what it means to live in a different country. We talked about the stages of culture shock and played a really cool game that demostrated how frusterating it can be when you don't understand and you can't communicate clearly. The best part of the sessions was actually the debreif. We talked about our expereinces and how we felt, and this allowed us to learn about each other.

In the afternoon, we we matched up with a person from our destination country to ask questions and get insght from them. Rita, Susan and I talked with Antonio, originally from Sao Paulo. He was great! He told us a lot about Brazil and about each of our cities. He gave us recomendations on places to visit and address each of our concerns. It was also a really good chance to get to know Rita and Sue better, since they are my Brazil Buddies! They are both really awesome people and I'm really looking forward to doing some travelling with them and keeping in touch while we are in Brazil.

By the end of that second day, the other CEEDers no longer felt like strangers, they felt like friends. I have never made friends so fast! I loved it. I spoke to each and everyone of them and as a group we are a great team! I learned so much from them, both in the sessions and talking to them during the breaks and afterwards.

Back (L-R): Vannarady (South Africa), Joey (China), Rita (Brazil), Ryan (Dominican Republic), Jen (Kenya), Puneet (Pakistan)
Middle (L-R): Erika (Togo), Me (Brazil!), Veronica (China), Pam (Kenya), Llorene (India), Susan (Brazil), Angela (India)
Front (L-R): Benoit (Togo), Karolina (MC), Vincent (Togo)

The hardest part was... I totally lost my voice! I was really raspy on Friday and Sunday but on Saturday I could only speak in whispers. It was really frsuetrating because I couldn't talk to people as much as I wanted to and ouldn't give as much imput. But I suppose that in itself is an exercise in not being able to communicate. :P By Saturday night I was having to write everything down because nobody could hear me!

Sunday was also good. We did a lot of group work, so I got to work with a lot of different people. We talked about adaptation strategies and looked at case studies of cultural misunderstandng and tried to figure out why they had happened and which values were being challenged on both sides. By the end we were all very sad to leave!!

I headed back to the airport with most of the other westerners and eventually caught my very late plane. After a rough ride home, I went to my classes and now I'm writing this!

Overall it was a really good weekend. I made some awesome new friends and I am soooo excited about going to Brazil!!

Left: Me (Victoria) Middle: Rita (Toronto) Right: Susan (Edmonton)

Today I also talked to an SN from AIESEC USP named Renato. It was really nice to talk on MSN with someone down there. I also got another e-mail from the LCP. I will e-mail him back soon with a whole bunch of questions! I have to decide soon when I am going and coming back, so that I can fill out my visa applcacation and look into booking flights. It seems like May is a long time away, but it really isn't! 6 weeks and I'll be in Brazil! There's a lot of prep work still to be done. I want to be well prepared!