The beauty of Yum Cha

Ahhhh I love it...

Went to Yum Cha today with Heidi and Apple at Shark Fin House and it begged the question, why don't I do this more often? Last time was with the MC team in Perth in January!

But seriously, how awesome is Yum Cha? You sit at a table and have waiters bring you food on trolleys (there's also the one where you tick boxes for the food you want but that's not as fun). If you want something specific you can order it but generally, the food just comes to you.

Also, it isn't called "yum cha" for nothing... the three of us went through 3 pots of tea! That's one teapot each! And the "cha" was most certainly "yum" ;-)

I think the thing I like best about yum cha though is the social lubricacy that it promotes. Usually when you go out for a meal with your friends then you talk before the meal and after the meal but often during the meal you are too busy munching because you are probably starving (maybe it's just me... heh). During yum cha though, for some reason, conversation flows as freely as the tea... it's great! I think this is because the food comes in sporadic bursts and often it is in bite-sized chunks so this allows for conversation to flow more freely.

Of all the things the Chinese have brought us (including like... paper) I think yum cha is definitely one of the greatest. As I contemplate spending a year in Europe next year on an MC somewhere, I wonder how I will live through a year without yum cha...

Alex

State Conference

Oh My God I am dead tired. I've been to probably coming up to 20 conferences now and yet for some reason I'm still dead tired! Shouldn't I be used to this shit? Clearly I'm getting old...

Yes, I just got back from our State Conference for 2006, my fourth State Conference overall, my second on the faci team and my first as LCP. Firstly, I'd like to note that this conference was a reunion of sorts for some of us old bastards who were at State Conference 2003. Namely: Luke, Huy, Ee Lin, Chena, Luyen, Mishie, Shaz, Tilly, Doogs, Daz and myself were all at that confernece. 11 people ain't bad... too bad 7 of those are alumni!

This conference also saw some interesting things happen, notable moments and milestones:
- Ippei's fuckover
- Biggest delegation at a Victorian State Con since at least 2000 (but probably even further back)... 93 (including the biggest Melbourne delegation since the LC's most recent inception)
- Ee's first AIESEC conference since 2003... welcome back!
- 7 Ippeis.... Ippei Chin Chin... Ippei Chin Chin!
- RMIT won the skolling trophy... congrats!
- The realisation of Luke's dream to be a conference chair

I'm gonna post some reflections and thoughts I had about this conference and where the LC has to head in its aftermath...

The opening day was a bit of a disaster. There were several important sessions that didn't go to well, notably the "Challenge Your Worldview" session and the "AIESEC Identity/2010" session could've been better. The day also started late due to a variety of site mishaps including seating capacity, acoustics, ravenous little children and the heavens opening up with a torrent of rain and hail that beat on the corrugated iron roofs with a ferocity decimating the acoustics of many rooms.

Day 2 and Day 3 went reasonably well, the vibe picked up and so did the session quality. Linedances were a hit, particularly the conference line dance to Heartsdale's "Candy Pop" and "Tunuk Tunuk Tun" (which is probably still in Luke's head, big up!)

Overall I think the Expros (older members) had a pretty good conference. The L+M and VICLT sessions proved to be a hit and most of the expros skills flows went well also. I'm really happy about this because I think we have a very talented pool of expros in our region and we should make the most of these guys!

The LDS (newbies) flow was a bit more hit-miss I think. The guys seemed to enjoy getting their teeth into exchange sims and skills flows but I think we failed in terms of delivering the overall bigger picture of AIESEC, what it strives to achieve. I also think we failed to deliver that "challenge your worldview" punch that we strive for as part of the @XP Principles.

I guess comparing it to the conference last year, I was kind of disappointed. I felt that last year's conference was probably the best State Con I'd ever been to, despite all these question marks hanging over the performance of the RB team both before and after StateCon, you can't fault the execution of the conference (with a little help from Huy, Jacqui, Chena and myself of course).

In contrast, I feel that this years RB team is doing better and can really have a good impact this year, but why couldn't we deliver an even bigger and better conference? We had 93 delegates man... thats huge!

I think part of the reason is that we took individual session preparation for granted. Some people prepared well and others didn't, and there was no individual faci management. Also, we misallocated sessions. We allocated sessions based on "who wants it", which is really a primitive form of resource management. Sessions should've been allocated on the basis of people's strengths so as to make the most of the faci team! Thus, the MC and former NST guys that were at the conference (that's Tilly, Ruth, Chena, Nick and myself... 5!) should've been utilised better to balance out facis in the LDS flow. But I guess these are all learning points.

I dont' want to dwell on the negatives though because it really isn't appropriate in this case. The conference was, overall, a success. It was a good conference, maybe even very good... it just wasn't amazing and that's what I'm disappointed about because I felt we could really deliver something amazing.

On a personal note, I found the sessions quite challenging to deliver! The reason is that the Expros are damn hardcore and expect a great deal of quality from the facilitator, and will knock you down and not participate if they ain't gettin' it! Damn!

A major regret of mine is that I didn't have enough time to really get to know my delegation. I was so busy running around doing stuff that I didn't have a chance to really connect with all the new guys, despite making some strong connections with a few.


So here are the memorable moments of conference for me:
- 7 Ippeis
- RMIT winning the cup
- Mel and Luyen's speeches during Regional Pride
- seeing my delegation all together during LC time
- Alice's sessions, delivered confidently and very well... she has really grown as a faci and as an @er!
- Joyce and how well-bonded she already is with her team... they are a great team and will go so damn far!
- Luke and Mel's closing speeches
- chatting to Lu + Ee about the LC's past
- ruling the decks with Hip Hop for most of the Casino party :D
- converting Tamara's short-stack of chips to something formidable in Hold 'Em
- The performance of the OC... they were all so awesome and all from Melbourne
- The performance of my EB... they all stepped up and took on very active roles in the conference, so proud of you guys!!!
- Emma vs. Shu skolling...
- Nick aka. Site Manager vs. Luke aka. Chairman Koji skolling... Luke lost very very marginally but that's the first time I've ever seen a Site Manager participate!

And that's it from me... if I think of some other crap then I'll edit this post...

Toodles!
Alex

PS. Here are some pics but I encourage you to check out all the pics I took on my flickr account (by clicking on these pics... hehe)

Selection

This'll be my first AIESEC-related introspective post... wooo.

Anyway those of you that have been LCP will know that there are times when you get worried about shit. That's happened to me a few times this term, I've just refrained from writing about it, nothing major has hit me yet and I'm thankful for that. This is no exception, not a major issue, but I still wanted to record my thoughts on it.

We selected the LC on Friday and... tada... there are a total of 47 members, check em out on the LC Blog. First thing I wanted to mention is I had a ball on Friday. Pretty much most of the current AIESECers from Melbourne were there, not just the EB, and we had a long-ass meeting at Heidi's place where we laughed about lotsa stuff, munched on coronary-inducing amounts of junk food, called the selected and not-selected members and then packed it down to the nearest HK restaurant for some coronary-exacerbating food. Great day. Made me really feel how much the culture of our LC has changed since back in the day and it made me see how much I was responsible for that cultural shift, it felt good!

Also, the opportunity to develop the lives of all these new people definitely made me feel good. What made me feel bad was that feeling in my gut like "shit, if we have this many members, we better do a shitload of exchange". It was that old school feeling, y'know... cos I'm an old school AIESECer... 4 years in this biz-ness. I remember back in the day we used to slam LCs like UNSW for having dozens of seemingly "random" members who did fuck-all. I was one of those haters! I always used to say that I would not compromise a quality experience for each and every member and I would not compromise strong results for the LC just because I was scared to turn people away from AIESEC.

Then again, the members we have selected are all quality. We rejected around half of our applicants and we talked through the ones we selected at reasonable length. Also, the fact that there are a lot of members does not necessarily mean they have to be "random", nor does it mean that they won't get a quality experience or contribute to results. It all comes down to management at the end of the day and if our EB is not capable of managing this kind of expansion then, excuse me for bragging, no EB in the country is.

The other major factor in my decision to allow expansion is the fact that our deliverable in AIESEC is quality and quantity of AIESEC Experiences... and how can we increase the quantity of AIESEC Experiences if we are forever rooted at LC numbers of 15? We don't do random SNs any more, they all take responsibility... so how can we increase SN numbers without taking a large bitchslap in capacity if we don't increase the size of the LC?

Then there's the Project structure. Our decision to increase PBoXes from 1 to 2 is important if we are to ever transition to a viable LC structure based on PBoXes. But... the first PBoX is far from off-the-ground status... is it wise to introduce a second so soon? Does the country even have the capacity to support PBoXes at all when we have not really seen any success at LC or MC level?

So yes... there are issues, but it all comes down to the challenge. I mean... fuck all that motivational bullshit, I aint one for leadership cliches... but I think that it does apply reasonably well in this case. If we never try to do something big then we'll probably fall short of mediocre. If we don't try to achieve 2 PBoXes, a shitload of exchanges and 47 amazing AIESEC Experiences then why bother at all really. Pushin' the limits is what AIESEC should be doin'.

Besides, the realist in me is satisfied with the fact that proper management can see us through this year with success. They say prior planning prevents piss poor performance... which I have to agree with... and if you add performance management to that overly alliterative cliche then you have a decent-looking cocktail for success.

So yeah... if you see me stressed out this year its because I have 47 people to take care of. Word up on that.

Alex

Saddam Hussein's Trial

I was wondering... what are people's thoughts on Saddam Hussein's trial?

I've been reading the news about his recent cross-examination and I'm of mixed opinion on the overall trial. The first charges laid against him accused him of putting 148 people to death, and countless others through torture, as part of a repraisal in Dujail against what was perceived as an attempt on his life. Subsequent charges have recently been laid accusing Saddam of attempting genocide against the Kurds.

Although everything seems to point to there being substantial evidence that Saddam Hussein did indeed commit these acts and was indeed a tyrannical and murderous President... the man does have a point when he accuses the court trying him of being "illegitimate". What exactly is "an international court of justice" anyway? Perhaps some law students would like to comment? I mean Saddam (and also his co-accused) faces death by hanging as a maximum penalty... and given that I am against the death penalty and believe it to be a violation of human rights in itself, how is this international court upholding human rights? Is it possible to use this court as a poilitical tool? Is the world ready for a non-state-affiliated international court of justice or is the world still too preoccupied with state sovereignty as being the only legitimate form of power.

Now I know most of the people who read my blog don't comment (because y'all tell me!) but I really hope people do because then I will... feel less lonely... and because I'm interested to hear what you think!

Alex

Jana Pittman

My return to relevant blogging after a long hiatus (I am lazy)... and what better topic than our Australian athletes? After all, Melbourne is completely sports-mad and will cheer on anything even slightly resembling a sporting event, like two cockroaches racing up a pub wall... or in similarly ridiculous fashion, a sporting competiton that does not include China, Russia or the United States, let alone most of the rest of the world and seems to be a bizarre celebration of our colonial and murderous heritage. Now that I've got that extremely thinly veiled swipe at the Commonwealth Games out of my system... onto the specific subject matter.

Jana Pittman. I previously turned a blind eye to her bizarre squabble with Tamsyn Lewis and her other various outbursts in the Australian media, thinking that it was just a silly flurry of activity that I best avoid. A recent event did catch my attention though.

It seems that during one of the female relay events at the Commonwealth Games, the English team crossed the line first but they were stripped of their gold medals on a technicality. Apparently the Aussie team (Pittman alleges it was specifically Tamsyn lewis) complained that the English order had changed and that affected the result of the race. This drew outraged cries from many who believed that England should've won because they were the fastest (well Jamaica was actually the fastest, but they dropped the baton), irrespective of their running order. Others agreed that, although a technicality, it was still a rule and, in all fairness, they should've been disqualified.

I didn't much care for this until recently when I found out that Jana Pittman has actually offered to renounce her gold medal and give it to the English because she was embarassed about the actions of Tamsyn Lewis and wanted to distance herself from them. Lewis is obviously pissed off because she believes Pittman is trying to distance herself from something she was previously, clearly (on photographic evidence) associated with. There are many photos of Pittman standing behind Lewis talking to the official and Pittman happily smiling clutching her gold medal. The idea being thrown around is that Pittman simply wants some "good PR" following the absolute battering she got in the press as a result of all the "drama" between her and Lewis.

I think what Pittman has done in this instance is completely and utterly ridiculous. Firstly, Pittman could not have expected that the English would take her up on her offer, even she is not that crazy. Therefore, it seems to me that it's just one big fat publicity stunt, and a silly one at that. Does Pittman really think she will get good PR in Australia for backing away from her team and causing an unnecessary controversy when the Games are well and truly over? Let alone giving the English aka "those Pommy bastards" aka our most despised nemesis a gold medal... Is that really going to win over the Australian public? Hell no!

Pittman should set herself a goal. Stay out of the press unless it's to do with a sporting achievement.

Alex