Spent the day at a national conference of the International Association of Volunteer Efforts. Sign-in was scheduled 7:00 - 8:30. I woke up at 5:50, showered & hit the road at 6:20. And by hit the road, I mean I went to the road, trying to flag a taxi. Took me 15 minutes to get one - the rest were full. I arrived at 7:05. I had to wait out in the courtyard for like 20 minutes, as the event company that was organizing logistics was not even there until 7:05.
I seemed to be the only foreigner save for the President of IAVE, who is South Korean. None of the people that I knew were going (2 people in total) were there yet, so I just sat down, and was befriended by an 80-ish-year-old Colombian woman who was super cute & sweet. She even introduced me to a boy at lunch time (at the end of the day that same boy kissed my cheek farewell and said we would see each other in the morning....) Before the sessions began (an hour late of course), they played a safety video like those that you see on planes, but this was for the auditorium. I couldn't stop giggling. (Nerves.)
Before lunch I ran into the director of partnerships from Partners (the org I am interning for kind of), and he introduced me to Anthony, a Partners volunteer in Baranquilla and General Coordinator of a youth volunteer organization. I also met up with Jennifer, the Colombian girl from Ibague who I had met before, and we spent the rest of the day together. Tomorrow I am sure to have someone to sit with when I arrive :)
A minimum of 15 cell phones went off during people's professional presentations.... I guess it is not just Heller....
Mostly the first day of the conference was very inspiring & interesting, and should be useful for the task of designing the volunteer element of A Ganar, which I have taken on! :)
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