in and out.

last weekend i had the awesome experience of not only participating in but also facilitating in sdl pacifico, one of the 2 biannual regional conferences they have here. sdl is basically the spanish version of lds, and there were 3 main tracks - a regionally-run outgoing prep seminar, a leadership track, and an intro to leadership track done in the form of an aiesec simulation. i was working in this last track, introducing the newies to ogx, why it's important, how we can do it in the best way, etc. at the same time, i had a fictional lc all to myself to help coach through all of the other activities. they ended up doing really great, but this point was a little difficult since not everyone knew english and my spanish was unintelligble sometimes, i think, ha ha :) overall though, very challenging and fun experience :) probably one of the coolest things was that i got to meet a lot of people that i'll be working with over the next year. here, relationships are very important for the working environment too, so i feel like i got a good start, at least :)

sdl took place from friday to sunday at a cabaña an hour away from concepción. by the time we arrived back in concepción after the conference and then boarded a bus back to santiago, we arrived here at 6:30 am. wow. exhausted, we each took an extra 3 hr nap to make up for lost sleep and began our day at 2 pm with general transition. we ended up working pretty late the first night, until 9 pm or so and covered lots of material. and the following days of the week followed suit. days flew by filled with SWOT analysis, presentations, discussion, strategy, notes, diagrams, mate, chocolate cookies, mandarinas, goodbyes, hellos, and everything in between. my predecessor, vika, left wednesday night for buenos aires and leaves tonight for russia - marina, the previous vp tm left yesterday morning for buenos aires and leaves next weekend for russia. tomorrow, marek, the new vp tm from poland will arrive at 7 am and the next day juli from buenos aires, the new vp er. everything's been happening so fast with people coming and going and planning and transition happening all the while. i can't believe that by tuesday i would've already been here for 3 weeks, a time that passed slower somehow in brazil.

i think it's because there's a whole group of people here in my exact position - foreigners, working on the new mc, living together, getting to know the city, etc. maybe i don't feel so singled-out. maybe it's because i've done this before (to a certain extent). either way, i'm feeling comfortable and excited about the position - just really missing some pieces back in the u.s. that's something i don't think will ever pass, just something i can't let debilitate me. i'm thinking that i'll be so busy that there won't be time anyway, ha ha :)

so to you guys in the u.s., i miss you all like crazy - and to everyone here, thanks so much for everything, it's going to be an awesome year :)