On arrival training in Flanders

Right now I am at the on arrival training for the Dutch and Flemish volunteers in Dilbeek, Belgium. We, my Flemish colleague Steven and I, have a really nice group of 12 participants, 5 on EVS in Flanders and 7 in The Netherlands. Today they are doing their own specific project in 4 Flemish cities so I have some time to write this. It is a very relaxed group and as a consequence also a very relaxed training. This does not mean they are not learning because they are! ;-) Tonight the people from the midterm and end evaluation will join us and then we will have a full EVS house! Fun garantueed! :-)
It is really strange for me to be a Dutch trainer in a Flemish EVS context! Why? Well first off all I am not Dutch but Flemish so representing the Dutch NA is kind of weird when you are in a Flemish environment. Second I use to work at the Flemish NA in 2006 and 2007 so I somehow (to my own big surprise) still feel connected to the Flemish EVS'ers and really have to remind myself at least 10 times a day that the Dutchies are my primary concern. It's really strange and funny at the same time! So I have now learned that I have a stronger Belgian/Flemish identity than I first thought and that I really like giving training in my own country but that I still need to find an (internal) balance between my personal identity which is clearly linked to Flanders and my professional identity which is primarily linked to and performed in the Netherlands. So a mix of orange and black, red and yellow needs to be found. Interesting! Just to show that not only participants learn something in trainings! Trainers do to! :-)

I am working on making the Trainstorm office a real nice office!

It is coming together slowly but surely! I have cleared and organised the desk area so I can really work there now and I have installed a physical inbox for my GTD strategy and mailboxes to deal with mail fast and easy. So lost mail should be something of the past! I also found a very handy post-it planner so I now can see what I am doing in the coming months (which is a lot!) and what still needs to find a place in my planning and implementing process. I now know officially where I am going! Isn’t that great???? I know I am an organisation horor but if I don’t laugh with my organisation disasters, who will? It is all part of the entrepreneurial learning curve!
Next thing is to sort out the printer situation (the printer is currenlty in the most inconvenient place ever but it is in the only spot where I can connect it with my laptop without sitting on the floor. Wifi printer would help tremendously so it is on my wish list!)and get rid of all the stuff of the past so I can focus on the future. I need one of those really handy useful box drawer/box cabinets so I really hope I can still find it somewhere and put all my training material nicely organised in it. Then that can go in the hall and I will not leave without markers or flipcharts anymore! Rome is not build in one day and the Trainstorm office isn’t either. Once I get it right, there is room to grow! For now I have to keep on struggling and running behind my tale untill I get it all done! Where there is a will there is a way and some form of resources doesn’t hurt either, so it is a work in progress! I will get there and then a partner can come and mess it up! :-D Partner to be, if you are out there, consider it an invitation! ;-)
See more progress on: organise my office

The beauty of Egmond aan zee

I am having a day off!

I know that sounds pretty normal since most people have the evenings and weekends free but I am as always an exception since I do most of my office work in the evenings and weekends because then I am not distracted by a full mailbox or ringing phones.
But today I just took a whole day off, just for me! I slept in, took my time getting up and then went shopping. Since I now have officially made money (yayyy!!!) I was able to buy stuff without thinking for 15 minutes about it and asking myself at least 10 times if I really needed the things I was buying. Of course I am still not in a position to throw money away so I am still thinking and asking the big 'need'-question but at leats I finally was able to buy some clothes and fun stuff. Nice! I appreciate it so much more now than I did before! I have really earned my own money and I am really proud of myself for doing so! My big plan and dive at the deep end is paying off! So it is totally worth working hard to build something that is totally mine in every sense of the word!
Now I am sitting in front of the TV in my PJ's watching a movie while typing this feeling totally relaxed and happy... I am very lucky to be able to have this luxury and I am totally aware of it!
So I will continue to enjoy it and restart the normal procedures of working hard tomorrow.
Hope you all have a great relaxing weekend with loads of sun! Enjoy and don't forget to be grateful for it! Makes all the difference in the world! If you don't have a clue what I am talking about read The Secret or google the law of attraction! It really works! I am the living example! :-)

Making huge waves!

Hi everyone,

I don't have much time to write but I just want to let you know I am in Egmond aan Zee (the Netherlands) right now, being a trainer in the training course on visibility and the dissemination and exploitation of results (DEOR). At first I was a bit nervous about this for me totally new topic, but it is really great! It's something you have to do anyway within Youth in Action so you can better make it fun and good! So that is the idea of this TC! I am learning at least as much as the participants so from now on I will be totally into DEOR instead of peace and Euromed! ;-) NO, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! I don't want to betray my first love, but it is a nice one, this TC! More details will follow when I am back home on Thursday but if you have ever the chance to organise it or participate in it, do it!
Take care and next post will follow soon! A lot is happening in june, so do not try to catch me at home because I am basically just not there till the last week of June! The life of a trainer is great! :-D