Head Office moved to Serbia

Due to summer circumstances, the Comite Directeur decided to open a new office in Nis, Serbia for the first weeks of July. The Brussels' office is now closed until next week when the Financial Director will return from Armenia. The President, Network/Human Resources Director and VP/External Relations have settled in a Nis sky skraper with laptops, AEGEE-stamp and IT support staff.

With an intense programme of family visits, kavana with AEGEE-Beograd and of course the intranet training this week we are unfortunately currently not available for daily business, but for urgent matters you can always contact us by mobile.

Introducing Headoffice Lounge Area

It was Robin's idea already in August, that AEGEE Europe office should get a nice sitting area. But as we learned in our term - change is a tough thing :-) But it was again thanks to our miracle-maker Thijs Hjubers that the CD received 2 beautiful leather sofas (for which we are ashamed of course and beg Environmental Working Group and the Sustaining our Future to forgive us). Check out the AEGEE babes and the new furniture below ;-)

When nothing works

No matter how much I enjoy teamwork, and how much more rewarding a result achieved together with your dear friends and colleagues is, and how much bigger these results usually are when accomplished together,

I chose independence over interdependence.

Today anyway.

The most important elements on my to-do list are all directly related to files stored on our server (Robert) which was hacked and thus down. Files to be sent to the printing house, all files for the telegram, all my other FR and PR files.

All other jobs waiting to be done depend on answers, help, clarifications, input and documents from other people/systems. Even sending an e-mail on boardinf-l is impossible.

Also the post office doesn't want to cooperate today. Percin and I carry 35 kilo of Y Vote materials to the post office. The people with financial power are not around, so we scratch all the money we can find together to pay for the stamps. The lady in the post office wants to make everything complicated and I have to fill in lots of forms. Her French is bitchy and unpolite, and when at the end of the whole process, I am 7 euro short on cash, she almost explodes. I tell her I'll run home to get more money. "Dépêchez-vous!" she shouts, while I run home to find 7 more euros underneath people's desks. Just before closing time I'm back, and the packages are sent to Greece, the Netherlands, and the UK. Pfffff.

Instead of opting for an ulcer, I chose to calmly continue to work on all those smaller matters equally important. Also Tena takes a deep breath and tells the computer that she can do this. She can stay calm. She can keep working all night long. She has a bottle of vodka on her desk for support.

As anyway most other CD members are out, I dedicate myself to assisting Philipp with fixing Dragan's phone and solving the mysterie of the annoyingly beeping fax. I play a little bit with photoshop to create a flashy button for the European Voice website. Luckily YOUrope Needs YOU! won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, and a quick press release, twit and blog-update assured already some media coverage. And I finally did my laundry.

After preparing a nice salad for Tena and myself, we now continue our quiet night in the Head Office. Still e-mails to answer, Sparks of Future things to prepare, tickets to staple on papers, articles to write, my oh my oh my, maybe we should just ignore it all and go to bed?

11.05 PM. We are not going to bed.

Mexican times

Yesterday I was quite convinced to be the first case in Belgium with the Swine Flu (aka H1N1). With all other CD members out on meetings or traveling, Ivonne and I took a recovery day which consisted basically of shopping for fruits etc. She did some gardening, I sent out the website poll. Dragan came back from Paris and tried to relax and watch some TV, until I came to bother him about a workshop to be given at the EU Russia conference. Bedtime: 1.00 am. 

Today we were supposed to have CD meeting at 10.00 am, but somehow most of the CD was now infected with Swine Flu and in coma. Percin was up on time and went to the conference to help them out. Dragan and I also joined for a few hours to give a workshop on advocacy methods for youth. Me mostly as background decoration, but OK. 

Coming back to the house, I cooked dinner, something Mexican, to celebrate the fact that I probably don't have Swine Flu but a normal one, and am feeling much better now. 

Ivonne said several times that she particularly liked the tortilla chips, which I didn't make, but came straight out of a bag. She still has something to learn about appreciation. 

Now it's almost 10 pm. Everybody is still in the office. CD-elect Denis came by to say hi and deal with some visa issues. We are listening to eurovision songs. Norway is particularly popular, though Percin keeps cheering for the Turkish entry which is in fact a Belgian girl. 

One more calm day tomorrow (though with a LOT of work, uffff) and then again a crazy weekend with way too many visitors.

House of hell, where did the shower cabin go?

Day 1:

Thijs Huijbers arrives.
Last time to shower.
Last and only one to shower: Robin
Shower cabin removed.
End of day: 1 o'clock.

Day 2:

Removing floor and shower cabin.
Sanding starts.
Cleaning shower cabin on the balcony.
Ivonne goes to French class, dusty because of the sanding.
Dragan, Evren and Tena leave us to go to places where there are such things as showers.
End of day: 2 o'clock.

Day 3:

Still no shower.
Sanding the walls.
Started painting.
Wrong paint used.
The people in the house are almost not able to stand each others smell.
Percin leaves the house to help Ana moving. Leaving Robin to paint alone after giving the people in the house uncooked pizza. Bastard!
Ivonne is sick, sanding, taking minutes at the CD meeting, painting and working on the travel overview.
Anita is sanding, painting and working on final report of SUPS Beograd. All night long.
End of day: 3 o'clock (except for Anita).

Day 4:

Still no shower.
Anita missed her French class and is high on cafeïne, not able to sleep.
Ivonne is still sick and working on travel overview.
The people in the house are disliking Thijs more and more. When is this hell going to be over?
Robin went to pick up publications and was stared at in the tram with white paint in her hair.
Cry for help!
External associations offered their showers, but the CD members already have a far developed case of agoraphobia (fear of open space) and are unable to leave the house.
End of day: still ongoing.

Our Great European Bodies in Brussels

Strategic Planning Meeting - the final stage in 5 months long consultations for the drafting of the Strategic Plan 2009 - 2011 - brought together members of the old and new CD, and representatives of the Academy, IPWG, HRWG, PRWG, Netcom, SUCT, EnWG, LO, LA, SuFu... 22 in total! During three long days (August 15 - 17) they discussed the history and organization of AEGEE, current developments in the world, revised vision, mission and values statements for organization's identity and started defining new focus areas for next three years. The nights were as much exiting with floral carpet exhibition at Grand Place (showcased only once every 2 years) and Miljan's and Tena's marvelous guitar concerts ;-) Big thanks to everybody!