Joaquin Costa

LA HORMIGA SE VA DE ESPAÑA

2011-11-24T16:38:00.001+02:00

(Se recomienda encarecidamente leer las dos versiones!)

VERSIÓN CLÁSICA

La hormiga trabaja a brazo partido todo el verano bajo un calor aplastante.

Construye su casa y se aprovisiona de víveres para el invierno.

La cigarra piensa que la hormiga es tonta, y se pasa el verano haciendo turismo, bailando y de juerga.

Cuando llega el invierno, la hormiga se refugia en su casita donde tiene todo lo que le hace falta hasta la primavera.

La cigarra tiritando y sin comida, muere de frío.

FIN

________________________________

VERSIÓN ESPAÑOLA

1.- La hormiga trabaja a brazo partido todo el verano bajo un calor aplastante.

2.- Construye su casa y se aprovisiona de víveres para el invierno.

3.- La cigarra piensa que la hormiga es tonta... y se pasa el verano haciendo turismo, bailando y de juerga.

4.- Cuando llega el invierno, la hormiga se refugia en su casita donde tiene todo lo que le hace falta hasta la primavera.

5.- Un día, tiritando a la salida de un bar de copas, la cigarra organiza con La Sexta una rueda de prensa en la que se pregunta... ¿por qué la hormiga tiene derecho a vivienda y comida cuando quiere, mientras ella tiene frío y hambre?

6.- La Cuatro, las cadenas de TV estatales y la cadena SER , organizan un programa en vivo en el que la cigarra sale pasando frío y calamidades y, a la vez, muestran extractos del video de la hormiga calentita en su casa y con comida en la mesa.

7.- Los españoles se sorprenden de que en un país tan moderno como el suyo dejen sufrir a la pobre cigarra, mientras que hay otros que viven holgadamente. Las asociaciones contra la pobreza se manifiestan delante de la casa de la hormiga. TVE-1 transmite en directo la protesta.

8.- Los periodistas de El País y El Periódico escriben una serie de artículos en los que cuestionan cómo la hormiga se ha enriquecido a espaldas de la cigarra, e instan al Gobierno de Zapatero a que, en solidaridad, le aumente los impuestos a la hormiga.

9.- Rubalcaba, muy implicado con los animales, hace una rueda de prensa desde su casa, en el mismo Zoo de la Casa de Campo.

10.- Respondiendo a las encuestas de opinión, el Gobierno de Zapatero elabora una Ley sobre la Igualdad Económica , en la que califica a la hormiga como una rémora del franquismo y promueve, en el Congreso, una Ley Antidiscriminación Contra las Hormigas, con carácter retroactivo.

11.- Ian Gibson publica su libro: "Las hormigas y el franquismo", que el Gobierno incluye en la asignatura de Educación para la Ciudadanía.

12.- Los impuestos de la hormiga han sido aumentados, y además le llega una multa porque no contrató a la cigarra como ayudante en verano y eso, además, se tipifica como que... "produjo a la cigarra un maltrato psicológico".

13.- Garzón embarga la casa de la hormiga ya que ésta no tiene suficiente dinero para pagar la multa y los impuestos.

14.- Finalmente, la hormiga se va de España.

15.- La Noria hace un reportaje donde sale la cigarra con sobrepeso, pues ya se ha comido casi todo lo que había en la casa de la hormiga mucho antes de que llegue la época...

16.- La antigua casa de la hormiga se ha convertido ahora en un albergue social para cigarras, pero la casa se deteriora rápidamente porque nadie hace nada para mantenerla en buen estado.

17.- Al Gobierno se le reprocha no poner los medios necesarios, por lo que Rubalcaba y Garzón ponen en marcha una comisión de investigación que costará 10 millones de euros.

18.- Zerolo, se manifiesta por Chueca en solidaridad con las cigarras homosexuales, lesbianas y transexuales.

19.- Entretanto, la cigarra muere por una sobredosis de Cocaína.

20.- La Cope y Telemadrid comentan el fracaso del Gobierno para intentar corregir el problema de las desigualdades sociales.

21.- La cadena SER , EL PAÍS, Iñaki Gabilondo y la tribu catalana del PSOE (Carles Francino, Angels Barceló y Gemma Nierga) dicen que..- la culpa de todo es de Aznar, Irak, Franco y la Falange .

22.- La antigua casa de la hormiga ha sido ya ocupada por una banda de arañas marroquíes inmigrantes y el Gobierno de Zapatero se felicita en la TV por la..."pluralidad cultural de España, ejemplo del éxito de la Alianza de Civilizaciones".

...Y colorín colorado... otra vez nos la han colado!!!

Song from a Secret Garden

2011-05-04T15:39:00.000+03:00

Close your eyes and enjoy this beautiful song:

Why MC in Ukraine?

2010-12-07T00:55:00.006+02:00

As many of you know I had a work in P&G in Chile. I had really good conditions there and an interesting job in one of the 5 biggest companies worldwide. Why, then, I decided to quit this job, even though they offered me even better conditions to stay (higher salary, car, gym, meals, etc.), and come to Ukraine for MC term?

I did because, first of all, I deeply believe in the purpose of this organization. I deeply believe we develop change agents, leaders for a positive future, for a better society. I deeply believe through exchange we develop these leaders and through leading the organization we develop ourselves and inspire others to reach their potential!

So if being at MC you can do so, why Ukraine? Basically because I love challenges and stress myself to achieve higher goals and Ukraine is performing among the top countries in AIESEC network, so the challenge to lead this country is one of the biggest you can face in the AIESEC network. If you want a calm year, with no challenges, then don’t choose Ukraine to apply for MC!

Then, if I wanted a challenging MC, why not Turkey, Poland, China or India? The answer is quite simple, but not less logic: you have to choose where you want to make your contribution in this world, where you want to change things to develop a better society, and, as I deeply believe AIESEC develops leaders who change the world and are needed for the society, I see Ukraine needs these leaders to run the country, to contribute to their own homeland, so that’s why I chose this country to make my contribution!

Yes! I changed this office…

...For this amazing experience

Poema 20

2010-07-18T02:15:00.001+03:00

(English version below)
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Escribir, por ejemplo: -La noche esta estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos-.

El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.

En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.

Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.

Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.
Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.

Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.

Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos.
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.
Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.

La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.

Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.
Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.

De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.

Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.

Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.

English version
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, 'The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her so many times under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As before she was of my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms,
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer,
and these the last verses that I write for her.

Eurotrip June 2010

2010-07-04T23:33:00.018+03:00

Everything started on June 8^th when I left Chile to Madrid. First stop was Sao Paolo for 3 hours, and then I took another flight to Madrid. Once in Madrid I had to pass my first challenge: being able to enter Europe with no visa, just passport. As we, Chileans, do not need visa to enter Shengen zone, it was not going to be a problem, but still I’d heard many stories of people who were not allowed to enter Europe because they couldn't prove they were going just for vacations and not to work illegally. Police at migration was so impolite, I felt so discriminated talking with him, showing him my passport, my flight tickets, my visa to Ukraine, my credit cards, my bank account, and so on, and he, after asking many questions, just said: “OK, you can enter, go away”. I felt so pissed! Just after that I took my baggage and another police officer called me for check it, not just throw X ray machine, but also to open it! Among 10 people there, they called me…For some reason I didn’t want to spend time in Madrid, so I just booked another flight 4 hours later I landed there to Barcelona where I was going to visit my friend Sebastian Bustamante (MCP Southern Cone 0708), of course my flight was by Ryan Air, but they were damn delayed! More than 1 hour delayed, still don’t know why. So finally I landed at Girona (Ryan air doesn’t fly directly to Barcelona) and I had to take a bus to Barcelona.

Finally after taking some trains I got Sebas’ flat. Walking around Barcelona was quite great! Amazing city! Unbelievable beaches, beautiful Sagrada Familia. Randomly I met a really good friend of University in Barcelona, he recruited me in AIESEC and then he left the organization, but still was a great time partying with him and Natalia (a girl from Barcelona who did an internship in Phillips at Santiago, my home LC). What a great time in Barcelona! A city that is totally worth to visit!

After crazy time in Spain I took another Ryan Air flight to the old but beautiful Bratislava, I met such a beautiful girl while waiting for the bus to Girona. We talked a lot during the bus trip and then at the airport while waiting our flight. I must say she helped me a lot to understand a bit better Bratislava and which taxi drivers I should trust on and which I just shouldn't. She called a taxi driver for me because we didn’t agree with my friend Vaco (CC IC 2008) to pick me up at the airport and I went to a hostel, where after paid, Vaco picked me up and girl at desk gave me all my money back! Was awesome! My first impression of Bratislava was it was an old city, kind of soviet city, but really beautiful, small but cozy.

Vaco’s cat was a really nice little kitten, miawing all day and night! I still remember when I got lost there (actually I got lost in every city I was in Europe!), it was about 10.30 pm and forgot where Vaco’s flat was and my cell phone was not working there, so I had to manage somehow to find an internet center to get online and ask Vaco how to get his home from downtown. The only internet center I found (after asking like half an hour to people who didn’t speak English) was one in really old part of the city and the old guy there looked like army retired with a gun over the desk (scary, no?) and he didn’t speak English either! Was so funny! Finally my dear friend Dagmar (from Czech Republic) called Vaco to ask him how to get his flat. Again a really beautiful girl (yeah, Bratislava is full of beautiful girls!) helped me to get off in the right station.

Vaco and my dear Jitka (one of the most amazing girls I’ve ever met, later on this post I will talk more about her) told me I couldn’t miss going to Vienna, so one morning I woke up and took a train to Vienna with no maps, with no contacts in the city, just my laptop and cell phone. Was quite difficult to understand people and signals in German (or whatever language they speak there). So after some hours walking on the city, I decided to call AIESEC Vienna and meet them at their office, was funny that day they had some info session and I had to talk about my experience leading in AIESEC. Vienna is such a beautiful city, I understand now why all rankings say Vienna is the best city to live in the world, even though it is quite expensive city. I spent just one day in that amazing city and came back to Bratislava, where I was again lost, and, again, a beautiful girl helped me to go home. She told me to go with her in the same bus than her and she didn’t leave me until I took my bus to home, such a nice girl!

So after amazing 4 days at Bratislava I took a bus to Brno to meet Tina Pospisilova (MCVP Projects 0809 in Southern Cone), we went that night to a party, it was quite good, with Czech shots and kind of good music! Was good to remember partying with Tina in Chile, but now at her land! Day after that we went to downtown and I bought Chilean grapes! And we went to an amazing restaurant that was medieval style, with menu for king, queen, aristocracy and so on… and as always in my life I was late for my bus to Prague, hopefully we managed to catch it 1 minute before it left.

When I was about to get off the bus in Prague I saw one of the most wonderful girls I’ve met in my life. She was waiting for me to not get lost in Prague and we had waited almost 2 years to see each other again (I met her at Brazil, AIESEC IC 2008), cannot explain how happy I was to see her! Of course my dear Dagmarcita joined us at bus station and we went to trainees’ flat where I stayed. That night we went to party with other trainees, Dagmar, her friend Zuzana and Jitka, of course. Was a good night an even better when I saw Mexico defeating France! On Friday (I was at Prague on Thursday) I went to walk around the city and after Jitka’s work we met again and she showed me the city, what a wonderful city! Really loved Prague, I would like to live there! Then we went for dinner with nice wine (Chilean wine!). We really had nice time in Prague! On Saturday we went to some party with trainees and Zuzana (Dagmar’s friend), was really cool party even though we walked for about 1 hour in Prague looking for some different club with Latin music. Beer in Czech is just the best beer in the world! And damn cheap! Trainees there (Rucha, Zrinka, Omar, etc.) are really cool guys! And on Sunday I left Prague to go to Germany, over 10 hours in a bus!

At 2 am police stopped the bus to check our passports (yeah! You are right; they took longer to check my passport and made me wait for over 20 minutes!). I could see at 4 am Frankfurt, wuau! Again in that beautiful city that brings me tons of memories of when I was 16 and I went to play that world cup in Shanghai (we stopped at Frankfurt for one day)! When I got Dusseldorf, Sveta Kogut picked me up at bus station (LCVPICX Kyiv); she was doing a CEED there. Dusseldorf is really green city, everything is close, and university is great! We saw the match of Chile against Switzerland next to the river drinking beer and wearing Chilean shirts. At LC Meeting of Dusseldorf I could meet some other trainees and members; I even met an alumnus who was LCP several years ago! And I had to make a presentation about Chile, was quite nice. Talking on Skype with my friend Felix (MCP of Germany 1011) he told me why not to go to Bonn to see the match there, so, why not? Took a train and went to Bonn, just after I got off the train Felix gave me a German beer!

And we went to buy more German beers (amazing beer but still I prefer Czech one) and we went public to watch the match with other MC members (by the way, MC office is huge! 5 floors and one secretary! Unbelievable!), drank too much beer, met many amazing people (Germans who were watching the match too), MC members are quite cool people and randomly I saw Andres Alcayaga, one of the first EPs my LC sent to Germany and now he is living there! Was crazy! Then we went to a club, and after a while Felix and all MC team left so they wrote me the address on my BlackBerry to come back home somehow. Of course I stayed longer and I met nice people there. Then somehow being drunk I came back home just asking people on the street!

I was supposed to go to Kyiv directly from Dortmund, but I had to book another flight cause Chile was going to play at the same time of my flight, so I booked a flight to Lviv, where an AIESECer was supposed to pick me up but he forgot so I took a taxi to downtown and went to internet center and he picked me up there to watch the match. I met some friends of him and we drank beer and took some pictures there! After that I went to his house and met his grandparents! I could experience how hospitable Ukrainian people are! Really love the tea, bread and berries with sugar his grandma gave us, and enjoyed talking with them about many stuff! I could learn a lot in just a while about Ukraine. Then I had to take my train to Kyiv, this was a really huge cultural shock! What an old, slow and uncomfortable train! It took about 9 hours to go less than 500 km! But finally I reached Kyiv! 18 days later I left Chile. It was great to meet my team: Lara, Ira, Marta, Dasha, Maya, Rita, and Alla.

Now I’m here at Kyiv, I’m going to stay for one year and I’m starting to love the city, quite historical. Hope I can understand deeper Ukrainian culture soon and be able to speak both Ukrainian and Russian!

Earthquake in Chile

2010-03-02T05:16:00.011+02:00

It was Saturday 27^th of February, 3.34 am and I was sleeping on my bed. I had to wake up early next morning to study for my final exams to get my Business Administration Degree. Suddenly earth started to shake, and I woke up thinking it was another earthquake in Chile with no big consequences (in Chile we are used to have earthquakes of 4-5 Richter scale) and my family would start screaming to get out of the house, then I just closed my eyes again to try to sleep. But I couldn’t! It became stronger and stronger! Just jumped out of my bed trying to get the door of my room! I almost fell down, and hopefully I could stand on my feet waiting until it finished to get out of the house. I don’t want to feel it again! Feeling you cannot do anything to stop it and you just hope the roof of your house doesn’t fall on your head. Noisy earthquake and screams of my family in middle of the night, with no lights to see them, and the mirror in middle of the corridor almost falling down and being broken on the floor made me think I couldn’t have got out of the house. It lasted longer than 90 seconds and was 50 times stronger than Haiti’s.

When it ended I could get out of the house, waiting some minutes before getting in again to get some clothes, cell phones and my laptop. I could take some pictures of how my room was and living room. There were glasses, TVs and furniture on the floor. Then I went out to visit my relatives, some houses collapsed, bridges, water everywhere, people on the street, nobody wanted to get in their houses again. No electricity in the city, any water and first news about it: 8.8 Richter scale quake hits Concepcion (city located about 400 km away Santiago), Santiago’s airport collapsed, and bridges fell down, buildings collapsed as well and probably there was a tsunami in coast cities. Many deaths but still number was unknown. After some hours and many other smaller earthquakes I could go to sleep at 8 am, waking up every 20-30 minutes because of these smaller earthquakes, there have been more than 120 after first one!

The result is there are 723 official deaths in Chile, 19 people disappeared, 157 “smaller” earthquakes (over 5 Richter, Haiti was 6.2), Army is on the street to stop chaos, State of Catastrophe was decreed and still there is no electricity, any water, not even cell phones working in many places in Chile. Earthquake could have been felt in over 80% of the country, which is something similar than an earthquake could have been felt from London to Cairo!

I don’t want to experience this ever again in my life! But now it is no time for crying or thinking what it happened to Chile (it has happened always and will keep happening, Chile is the land of earthquakes), now it is time to get up, be strong and build a better country!

Fuerza Chile!

Breve ensayo sobre la superación de la pobreza

2009-11-07T04:32:00.005+02:00

(Sorry for not writing in English, I have written this essay a couple of years ago and I have had no time to translate it)

El presente trabajo no pretende dar una solución a los problemas de pobreza en Chile y el mundo, solo es una mirada crítica a la ayuda social y a su real aporte a la superación de este problema.

Muchos hemos visto como la ayuda social se ha esparcido por el país, apelando al espíritu solidario de los chilenos para combatir la pobreza al donar parte del vuelto en los supermercados o hacerse socio donando dinero a alguna organización que lucha por sacar a los pobres de su condición, la pregunta es si realmente estas medidas de donar dinero logran erradicar la pobreza del país, o es filantropía pura para que los donantes sientan que contribuyen al crecimiento de Chile.

Podemos hacer una analogía de Chile con respecto al mundo; mundialmente se han gastado más de 2.3 trillones de dólares en ayuda social a los países en condiciones de pobreza, sin tener el éxito que se esperaba. Muchos argumentan que para erradicar la pobreza definitivamente se debe hacer una gran inversión de una sola vez para que el capital acumulado no se deprecie y se caiga en la trampa de la pobreza (Jeffrey Sachs: The end of poverty) que impide a los países pobres salir de esa condición. 2.3 trillones de dólares en los últimos 50 años ha demostrado que esta gran inversión, Big Push, ha sido insuficiente para lograr la ansiada meta, erradicar la pobreza del mundo.

En Chile las donaciones han llegado a niveles altísimos, sin lograr el objetivo deseado, entonces ¿es necesario seguir regalando dinero para que este país supere la pobreza? La evidencia internacional claramente muestra lo contrario, pero las organizaciones de ayuda social siguen apelando al corazón solidario de todos los chilenos, esto debido a que muchas personas sienten que están haciendo un bien extraordinario al donar $2 de su vuelto en el supermercado, o mas aun, regalar una moneda de $100 a una pobre anciana en la escalera del metro es ya un acto digno de una estatua.

Quisiera apelar a otro libro para ejemplificar la sensación de bondad que siente una persona con dinero al donar parte de el a una persona pobre: Cuentos de cronopios y famas, de Julio Cortazar. Un cronopio (ser pobre y miserable del cuento) estaba bajo la lluvia mojándose sin un techo para protegerse, en eso un fama (ser con mucho dinero y muy bondadoso) pasa en su auto ultimo modelo y ve al pobre cronopio mojarse, el fama como es muy bondadoso detiene el auto y ofrece llevarlo. El cronopio sube y el fama maneja hasta que la lluvia cesa, luego detiene el auto y deja al cronopio en una esquina, el cronopio estaba muy feliz, había dejado de mojarse y la lluvia había pasado, el fama se sentía la mejor persona del mundo al haber ayudado a un pobre cronopio. Después de un rato en la esquina, la lluvia vuelve a caer y el cronopio se siguió mojando, mientras el fama se adulaba a si mismo por su buena acción del día. ¿Qué conclusión podemos obtener de todo esto? La gente que esta regalando su dinero, creyendo que esta superando la pobreza del país, realmente esta dando una medida parche que no supera el problema de fondo, pero si la hace sentirse una persona que merece ir al cielo por su buena acción.

La evidencia internacional muestra que algunos países han logrado mejoras gracias a la ayuda internacional de los países ricos, pero sigue siendo injustificable el excesivo gasto para la poca realización de la meta propuesta.

Al igual que a nivel internacional, en Chile el gran problema la falta de accountability de parte de aquellas organizaciones que brindan ayuda social, esto también se debe a que las personas que donan esta ayuda, no les interesa que se haga con su dinero, solo quieren sentir la conciencia tranquila de que hicieron “algo” por el resto. Dado esta falta de accountability, las personas que se ven beneficiadas por estas organizaciones no tienen a quien quejarse si la ayuda brindada es buena o mala, ¿a quien le reclamará una señora de la cuarta región que le fue entregada una mediagua por un grupo de estudiantes de alguna universidad, y ésta fue mal construida? ¿A quien le importa realmente si el vuelto que está donando en el supermercado será utilizado para regalar un desayuno o solo para pagar el sueldo de la persona que administra la organización de ayuda social, o incluso si ese vuelto realmente llego a la organización? ¿A quien le reclamara el niño de la foto, si el desayuno prometido realmente no le está siendo otorgado?

Si los beneficiados incurren en costos al adquirir los beneficios, se podrá dar un mayor grado de accountability, por ende de eficiencia. Es cosa de recordar las casas enanas provistas por el gobierno a personas pobres, las cuales tuvieron que pagar por ellas, pero pudieron reclamar cuando vieron que el beneficio entregado era insuficiente, esto produjo una mala imagen en el gobierno, por lo que se vieron obligados a ofrecer una nueva solución. En este caso si hubo un accountability efectivo, además los beneficiados podían reclamar a alguien, ya que estaban pagando por el servicio, y la gente común se preocupo de que pasaba con estas personas.

A nivel mundial, cada día mas y mas organizaciones están preocupadas de generar ayuda a los países más pobres para que se desarrollen y logren la tan ansiada meta, erradicar la pobreza. En Chile, cada día más y más organizaciones y personas están dedicadas a cumplir la misma meta, pero a escala local, cada vez podemos apreciar más trabajos voluntarios de universitarios, e incluso partidos políticos, en alguno de los cuales he participado para tratar de entender el sentimiento que se genera en esas instancias. La conclusión ha sido siempre la misma, creerme un fama ayudando a un cronopio, sin superar el problema de la pobreza realmente.

Libro base: The white man’s burden: why the west efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good, W. Easterly.

Joaquin Costa

Engaging with AIESEC again

2009-10-20T02:03:00.003+03:00

It’s Monday evening and I’m enjoying a cup of coffee at Starbucks in the Business Center at Santiago, Chile. It’s been a while since I posted last time and I was looking forward to do so again. Basically in this post I will tell you, dear reader, how I’m engaging again with this fantastic organization called AIESEC. Again means someday I left the organization and did something else, so I’ll give you a brief update about what has been going on in my life lately.
After I quit the consulting company I was working on, I focus completely on my studies. This is my last year at university so after an intense year as LCP I needed a rest and I didn’t do almost anything related to AIESEC. Just chairing a Local Induction Seminar and following up a TN already matched through Artemisia Business Ventures partnership. The semester was ending pretty well, quite relax actually.
I started to get bored with no much activity to do, so I started to think on entrepreneur and I got a great opportunity: I joined P&G at Market & Strategy Planning department (it’s a mix between Marketing and Commercial, Sales department. I was working on a couple of ideas to start a company and that kept me pretty busy, also P&G demanded a lot of my time and energy (but I’m enjoying this job as hell). I’m working with 3 brands: Gillette, Duracell and Oral-B. I took more courses for this semester, 2 of them are part of master on Finances, other one is part of master on Marketing and the last one is about entrepreneurship. I’m moving forward on my thesis, now it’s time to write business case study about small and medium sizes Chilean exporting companies, mostly based on international marketing. I can summarize my life in 4 main points: 1) University, 2) Thesis, 3) Entrepreneurship and 4) P&G.
So, after this brief update, you may be asking (hope so!) how I’m engaging with AIESEC again. I got a new NST (actually in Southern Cone we call it RST as we are a region and not a single country) position: Expansion Manager. I’m in charge to set up a new LC in Santiago and work with other Expansion Manager who will set up a new LC in Temuco (southern city of Chile). I’ve been Faci in the Local Induction Seminar in AIESEC Vina del Mar (what an amazing conference!) and I’ll be facilitating at National Conference within a couple of weeks (Activating Stars!). I had forgotten what working for AIESEC meant: working with no schedule (even after 10 pm on Fridays!), working with many people in foreign countries, English as most used language while working, having really tight agendas and the most important thing: enjoying the work every single moment.
Being away from AIESEC has been quite good. It has helped to capitalize the learning I got last 2 years: the achievements, failures, my leadership style, the changes I made in the LC, the impact the AIESEC XP had on me. These months away from AIESEC made me realize many changes I’ve had during last years. I’m ready for my next step in AIESEC!

PS: Thanks LC Vina del Mar for this amazing Learning Weekend with over 40 delegates

Farewell

2009-06-22T04:30:00.008+03:00

I
Desde el fondo de ti, y arrodillado,
Un niño triste, como yo, nos mira.
Por esa vida que ardera en sus venas
Tendrian que amarrarse nuestras venas.
Por esas manos, hijas de tus manos
Tendrian que matar las manos mías.
Por tus ojos abiertos en la tierra
Vere en los tuyos lagrimas un dia.

Yo no lo quiero, amada
Para que nada nos amarre
Que no nos una nada.
Ni la palabra que aromo tu boca,
Ni lo que dijieron las palabras.
Ni la fiesta de amor que tuvimos
Ni tus sollozos junto a la ventana.

III
(Amo el amor de los marineros
que besan y se van.
Dejan una promesa
No vuelven nunca más.
En cada puerto una mujer espera:
Los marineros besan y se van.
Un anoche se acuestan con la muerte
En el lecho de la mar).

Amo el amor que se reparte
En besos, lecho, y pan.
Amor que puede ser eterno
Y puede ser fugaz.
Amor que quiere libertarse
Para volver Amar.
Amor divinizado que se acerca
Amor divinizado que se va.

Ya no se encantaran mis ojos en tus ojos,
Ya no se endulzará junto a ti mi dolor.
Pero hacia donde vaya llevare tu mirada
Y hacia donde caminés llevaras mi dolor.
Fui tuyo, fuiste mia. Que mas? Juntos hicimos
Un recodo en la ruta donde el amor paso.
Fui tuyo, fuiste mia. Tu seras del que te ame,
Del que corte en tu huerto lo que he sembrado yo.
Yo me voy. Estoy triste: pero siempre estoy triste.
Vengo desde tus brazos. No se hacia donde voy.
...desde tu corazón me dice adios un niño.
Y yo le digo adíos.

Dear non spanish speaker reader: I strongly suggest you to learn spanish to really enjoy poetry. Spanish is the best language to write poetry and you can enjoy it the most!
Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (Pablo Neruda): Farewell

From deep inside you and kneeling
A sad child, like me, looks at us.
For that life that will burn in his veins
Should our lives be tied up.
For those hands, daughters of your hands,
Should my hands kill.
Through his open eyes on the earth
I will see tears on yours one day.

I don't want it, Beloved.

To avoid being tied up
Let nothing unite us.
Not the word which perfumed your mouth,
Nor what words said.
Not even the love feast that we did not have,
Or your sobs by the window.

III

(I love the love of sailors
Who kiss and go.
They leave a promise.
They never return.
A woman waits in every port:
Sailors kiss and go .
One night they lie with death
On the seabed).

I love the love that is shared
With kisses, bed and bread.
Love that can be eternal
And can also be brief
Love that wants to free itself
In order to love again.
Deified love that comes close
Deified love that leaves)

My eyes will not delight themselves in yours anymore,
My pain will not be sweetened by you anymore.
But wherever I go I will take with me your Gaze
And wherever you go you will take my pain.
I was yours, you were mine.
What else? Together we made
A bend on the route where love went past.
I was yours, you were mine.
You will belong to the one who loves you,
To the one who cuts in your orchard that which I have planted.
I am leaving now. I am sad: but I'm always sad.
I come from your arms. I don't know where I'm going.
...From your heart a child says farewell.
And I say farewell to him.

April ‘09 so far

2009-04-14T06:40:00.003+03:00

4 months of 2009 have passed, and many things have happened to me these 4 months. In this post I will update u, dear reader, about my life, my thoughts and my feelings during my 22 years of existence, but I will focus on the last 4 months.

First of all I have to say that I quit my job. Do you remember I was working for a consulting company, Makalu Consultores (www.makaluconsultores.cl)? Well, it was taking too much time so I had to quit. I need all that time for my studies. This is my last year at university and I’m starting to write my thesis, I will have final exam on October to get my degree, even though I will not have finished all my subjects and I won’t have written my thesis. And I’m taking an overload of subjects at University to get my degree this year. That’s why I needed to quit. I’m enjoying a “normal” life (as we talked with Riddhi: http://riddhikapoor.blogspot.com, read it, it’s worth!), with no that much AIESEC during this year (but anyway I’m working for it till June), doing sports again. I’m playing football on Saturdays and Sundays (http://theintocablesfc.blogspot.com), training again for University team, climbing and playing chess. It seems I’m having a lot of activity now.

Next weekend, 18^th and 19^th, I will be chair of the local induction conference, Learning Weekend, at my LC. It’s going to be a nice challenge. Next post I will write about this experience.

I’m becoming a fan of fishing. At Facebook you can check some pictures of my “adventures”, I will upload a bit more soon.

I have no much to write, my “normal” life is going calmly, hope next time I have more adventures to write, more experiences to share and more moments to remember.

Turning into 22

2009-03-25T05:07:00.002+02:00

Today, Thursday 26^th of March, it’s my birthday. I’m just turning into 22. But what these 22 years of life have meant for me so far? The idea of this post is to describe a bit my life, my achievements and failures, share my success and mistakes. Through this post I just want to share a bit about my life with you, my dear reader.

I was born at Santiago, Chile, my parents are divorced and I have an older brother (who seems and behaves younger than me). Half of my family is from Paraguay, and the other half is from Italy, so I’m kind of a mix of races. I studied at 3 different elementary schools; last one was the best school of Chile. I studied at the same place at high school. This school was founded in 1813, just 3 years after Chile’s independence from Spain and was the first Chilean school. During my childhood I joined a football team and played for it for a couple of years, and then I joined my school football team. I played a world football championship when I was 16, at Shanghai, China. How much I loved playing football. I played it almost everyday, it didn’t matter if I had to play at 1 am and next day I had to wake up at 6 am, I used to go anyway to play. I won several championships with different teams and I really enjoyed winning. After high school I joined the best school of business in Chile and probably one of the best in Latin America. University of Chile is considered within 400 best universities in the world (just in US there are more than 4,000 universities), it means University of Chile is within the best 3% of universities in the world. Again I joined the football team of the university, but parties starting to like me much more than playing football (anyway I wouldn’t play it professionally). I also joined the marketing and diffusion team of the Faculty, and I started to deliver info sessions about the university to high school students all across Chile. I joined young-run organization: AIESEC. I became quickly Vice President and then President; I made huge changes and achieved great results, not outstanding, but great. During my studies at university, I took an English course, pretty good, and went to work abroad, to US. I lived with a Colombian, had a lot of fun and discovered myself a lot. I kept playing football with friends in different leagues, we won again some of them and my studies at university were going smoothly.

This is my last year at university; I’m working on researching Chilean small and medium sizes exporting companies (for university), creating business case studies of those companies, working on AIESEC and at a consulting company. I’m enjoying my last year at University, and I’m enjoying my 22^nd year of life.

I’m sure my next 22 years of life will be even much better than the first 22.

Feb ’09 so far

2009-02-23T16:53:00.003+02:00

After quite long with no writing on my Blog I decided to do so. I didn’t have many things to say, to share, but I just wanted to write a while.

After being LCP (Local Committee President) I wanted to go further in my AIESEC Experience, but I didn’t find any challenging position in my local committee. I felt kind of alumni and I realized local level was not enough to me any longer; it was time for new generations of AIESECers. As I wanted to challenge myself I looked for a position which I would never thing about getting: Projects!

I joined Regional Project Strategy in a topic I didn’t know too much: Social Entrepreneurship. So I became director of a project, in charge also to deliver seminars, in a topic I didn’t know, and at national level. Just new things I did not ever think I could do. Let’s see how good I am doing this. I’m also account manager of a partner which wants 2 TNs and delivering them through another partnership with AIESEC Yale.

I joined a consulting company, specialized in HR, Makalu Consultores (www.makaluconsultores.cl), it was not just because of money, but I’m doing something I like: selling! But this time is different; it is the first time I’m selling consulting services. Let’s see if everything I learned in University and my Diploma can make a difference. Makalu is specialist in everything related to HR covering from Leadership to Healthy and Wellness (not food! But mentally and physically). Anyway I want to go further on this company and develop new marketing strategies, sign new alliances (I’m about sign 2), sell through different channels.

I already sold my first 2 courses, not big ones, but I sold them in a difficult month in

Chile

: February. February is a really “death” month in

Chile

. All people are on vacations, so it is so slow! Those courses were about healthy at work, Gym! 12-15 minutes of gym twice per week to reduce stress and improve life’s quality.

I’m feeling like my life is going smoothly now, after a crazy year as LCP, I got a nice job, my own office, flexible schedule, selling and I’m in charge of a national project in Southern Cone. Sounds good J

Let’s see what is going to happen in incoming months. I already agreed on to develop some case studies about Chilean small and medium size companies exporting and to organize another seminar about the same topic. I will work closely with Director of International Affairs of my university.

Let’s see how this year will be…

3 can change the world

2009-01-19T23:03:00.010+02:00

There are few people I like to talk with about relevant issues for me. Issues such as leadership, development, life experiences, tolerance, impact, AIESEC… Hopefully I’ve been able to meet all of them in Southern Cone. In this post I’m going to refer 3 of them. All of them are Europeans; all of them have had previous leadership experiences within AIESEC, all of them have definitively created an impact in their positions, have made changes, have faced challenges an overcome them. All of them have had frustration experiences, those experiences that may make another person just quit.

First one is a blond Ukrainian with weird name (for Latinos). First time we talked was so great. It was in an AIESEC Conference in Southern Cone, we talked about many and diverse topics, covering from Che Guevara legacy in Latin America to

Russia

and

Ukraine

gas conflicts, her tiredness at that moment and her legs hurting. Her experience was so impacting that I could tell her many things about me and my development so far. Her frustrating experience leading a country, how she overcome difficulties and looked for revenge. She got it! She worked so hard towards this and she got a completely different experience. It was just up to her. She probably doesn’t know, but I really feel a deep admiration for her inner strength. Her name is Svitlana Muzychenko.

Second one was a star in other CEE Country, has a lot of AIESEC knowledge, she is a brown Slovak and was my LC coach. She is always willing to take new challenges and that is so inspiring. If she makes mistakes, she rapidly tries to find out solutions and learn from the experience. In just 6 months being in Southern Cone she is delivering Spanish sessions in a regional conference and she has had meetings in Spanish to raise funds and get new partners, she is getting used to local reality implementing AIESEC projects, pretty hard job taking into consideration PBoXes in Southern Cone have bad reputation and they haven’t achieved great results in 3 years. I love to talk with her, hear her feedback towards me, even when we have kind of arguments and she tells me things being a bit mad. I’ve learned about her, about how she faced frustrating experiences in her AIESEC career and how she learned instead of blame. Probably she doesn’t know either, it seems I’m not too expressive, but I really admire her and try to learn as much as I can from her. Her name is Martina Pospisilova.

Third one came to

Chile

, but not through AIESEC, he came through University Exchange Program. I could meet him on AIESEC Conferences and pretty soon I felt a deep connection with his ideas, development, leadership and understanding of AIESEC. He is a blond German and was also LCP, has a lot of AIESEC, soft skills, personal development through AIESEC Experience knowledge. I’ve been able to learn a lot from him in 2 conferences we’ve spent together, first one both as delegates and second one both as TTT (Train the Traines) Faci’s. It is really great to discuss about lack of leadership in some “Leadership positions” at LC/MC Level, just because many elections are decided by how many EPs were matched during term instead of recognizing personal skills and forecast it as impact in organization. For sure it is important to achieve results in your term, but it is also important to understand and see personal and leadership skills in each applicant. He made a big change in his LC, also facing difficulties and probably frustrating experiences. I share a similar vision about AIESEC with him and it is so impressive to realize 2 different persons, in 2 completely different cultures share the same vision for a global organization. His name is Felix von Zittwitz

Probably it is just coincidence these 3 fantastic persons were LCPs, same position I hold last year. Sveta is former MC, Tina current MC and Felix is running for MC (I’m sure he will get it). I hope to be MC also, so I will run for a position next year.

Many coincidences, many connections and I feel a good friendship with them that, I hope, will remain for all my life.

These 3 persons can change the world…

My story in AIESEC Santiago

2009-01-05T01:07:00.011+02:00

Yesterday reading Aleja Laiton’s blog I got inspired to write about AIESEC. I haven’t written about it deeply, and how much it has influenced on my life so far. So here we go.

AIESEC is the world's largest student organization, is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society. In addition to providing over 7,500 leadership positions and delivering over 350 conferences to our membership of over 32,000 students, AIESEC also runs an exchange program that enables over 4,500 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in another country.

Yes, I know, that is nothing new for almost all of you, readers. But there are people who are not AIESECer and also read my blog, so that’s why.

First time I got in contact with AIESEC was at my Faculty, where was an stand with 2 AIESECers there. I asked what AIESEC was and they just told me: “go to info session”. So I asked again. Why couldn’t they tell me what AIESEC was at that time if I was asking them, and were trying to send me to an info session? Some time after I joined AIESEC I understood, they had NO idea about AIESEC, and of them was VP! AIESEC at my city was not developed, it was about to close and just LCP and MC could maintain it “alive”. I got interested about Multicultural Leadership skills development, and I received an email from a good friend of mine asking me for joining AIESEC (he was already selected couple of months ago). So I did it. Went to the office, told LCP (I didn’t know she was LCP) I wanted to join AIESEC so she asked for an interview (I thought that people should be crazy to ask me for an interview to join a student organization) and she also introduced me MCP 0607. I hardly agree to do that interview and I kept not understanding why they wanted me to be interviewed. Some days later I got an email confirming I was selected into AIESEC and I had to spend 2 days with other new members. I had to pay for food and the meeting would be in a flat! At that small conference I got to know better some members of MC Team, MCP (now working at DHL, Miami and boyfriend of MCVPX 0708, also a great friend of mine), MCVPER (Aleja’s sister and GPC Alcatel-Lucent, a very good friend of mine, i met her again at IC Brazil), an Ecuadorian Ceeder (what the hell was that weird word?) (MCP 0809

Ecuador

, and a pretty good friend of mine, I met her again at IC Brazil) and again this random EB Member who couldn’t explain me what AIESEC was. I got so disappointed, the world’s largest student organization was doing the Induction seminar in a flat and I had to pay for my own lunch! I didn’t understand anything at those 2 days, not even those weird dances. I asked how many members were at that moment in AIESEC (in my local city: Santiago), and they told me: “counting us, around 5” Yes! my face looked just like yours when they told me that. Anyway they selected around 15 new members; just 5 out of them remain in the organization.

I was supposed to start working in a project to support small and medium sizes companies to export, so I started to work on that. Results: 0! I just compiled info about some industries but didn’t know what to do with that. After one month doing nothing I went to a conference, my first AIESEC conference. I don’t know why I went to that conference, just knew there was something big to be developed in Santiago and I wanted to be part of that. I traveled about 10 hours to get Valdivia (LC located at the south of

Chile

) and again we danced those weird songs, we started to talk about organizational structure, Kolb’s learning cycle, self discovering, and so on. I couldn’t get many, many things related to AIESEC.

I went to a meeting to discuss with MC members and future LC leaders instead of going to the party with many other delegates. I wanted to lead my LC, develop it, and get better understanding of the organization, even though I was so disappointed at my first Induction conference. After that conference I applied to become LCVPF. Again I didn’t understand all those interviews, applications, Q&A (I didn’t understand how to use aiesec.net so I didn’t answer any question), speeches and so on. My friend became LCP and he, rest of EB Team and MC told me to be LCVPER instead of being LCVPF, just because there was no money in my LC, not even one single dollar!

I delayed my flight to US one week to be in transition, again discussing with MC Members about strategies, goals, etc. It was so funny, LCP, LCVPER went to US for about 4 months to live there. Hopefully Emil was there as OCP and after that LCP (LCPe quit after coming back to

Chile

), I joined the EB team by April, with no understanding of AIESEC and after 4 months living abroad with almost null communication with LC and EB Members. We needed to perform: we recruited new members, we fired some others, we run seminars, pocket recruitments, had selling meetings, raised and matched our first TNs, EPs, run again elections, and I run for LCP, against Emil… The best feeling in my life, water going through my body while I heard from Walter (GPM AI 0809, MCVPER SC 0708, OCP AXLDS 06): New LCP AIESEC Santiago: Joaquin Costa!

Again I needed to perform: I wanted to be the best. We still were the weakest LC in Southern Cone. We realized our first TNs, our first EPs, we got the 1^st place in Southern Cone just in one Quarter, we achieved a relative growth of 950%, and absolute growth of 19 Xs. LC Santiago realized 21 exchanges in 2008, previous year we did 2, 0 in 2006. Of course it was with MC help and support and I really appreciate MC0607, MC 0708 and MC 0809’s work to let us achieve this number. We paid a debt of USD 5000, and now we are the wealthiest LC in the region, with reserves and cash to pay our short term expenditures. We have about 50 members and around 14 Leadership positions.

I know this is not enough, that’s why Rodrigo (LCP 09 and VPOGX 08) has a lot of work to do. And we couldn’t achieve any results without Jimena (LCP 06, when I was recruited, now looking for an internship), Emil (LCP 07, MCVPF 0809, and hopefully MCP 0910, he was recruited with me and one of my best AIESEC friends) and now Rodrigo. Of course I want to thank my EB Team (I changed it 7 times): Anita (VPTM), Martin (VPER, Uruguayan), Conty (2^nd VPX), Adriana (1^st VPF, Bolivian), Camila (1^st VPX), Jean (2^nd VPF, French), Tere (VPICX), Rodrigo (VPOGX). EB 07: Emil (LCP), Franco (LCPe who quit), Anita (VPTM), Carla (VPX who also quit), Pau (2^nd VPX), Andrea (OCP CSR), we just missed a VPF.

We made a huge change of AIESEC in Santiago and for sure we learned a lot about ourselves, about multicultural leadership (my EB team was composed of people from 3 different countries). About how to follow a dream and make it true, without excuses, without blaming anyone else, being responsible for successful or failures of OUR organization.

I appreciate AIESEC for giving me this opportunity to challenge myself, to discover what I wanted in life, to let me LEAD. Now I’m looking for new challenges inside the organization, to keep growing.

Shanghai

2008-12-31T22:00:00.019+02:00

It is a Chinese city located at east coast of Mainland of

China

. With a population of over 20 million inhabitants, is the largest city in

China

in terms of population. Also is the world’s busiest cargo port and has one of the biggest and most wonderful buildings in the world: Oriental Pearl Tower. Doubtless Shanghai is worth to visit.

But, all the info above is not as important for me as my experience in such a beautiful city, a place where I could meet unforgettable friends who remain until today, unforgettable “business” experiences, “negotiating” with local sellers for small souvenirs, playing a football world championship with other 24 countries, having a life changing experience.

We were pretty famous in

Chile

, newspapers, radio, TV wanted to interview us, we were going to play a world championship and many people were interested on that. We took the plane with many, many of our friends going to the airport to say bye, bye. We spent one day in Frankfurt, where a German guider was waiting for us to show us around the city. What a beautiful city! Everything was clean, organized, and son on, completely different than Santiago(in terms of architecture). After that great day in Frankfurt, we took another flight to Shanghai, translators and organizers of the championship were waiting for us. What a deep impression I got there, what a big high ways, sophisticated. I still remember our first joke toward a friend, when he asked Haw much playstation tu, all of us started to laugh on him, even though we spoke less English than him. Of course we asked about girls, and one common answer was what we heard: Israel’s girls. It was damn true! We were thinking about Sweden, Finland, but no: Israel’s girls were the prettiest ones.

So many nice stories over there: jokes with other delegations, wars among ourselves (players from different rooms), wonderful goals, a lot of passion toward achieving the championship, making real friends…

Some of those stories: we used to punch our chest and say: “puro corazon”, that means something like “just heart”, that inspired us a lot to do our best when we played, run until you couldn’t anymore. It was our only world championship in our lives, we needed to do our best! It was funny, because many other teams started to do the same and try to speak Spanish, but they couldn’t. I remember other nice story: we used to punch our hands to say hello while we greet each other saying “bacilon”, something like “friend who has fun with me doing crazy stuff”. It was so great to see Polish players doing the same!

We also had our wars among ourselves, one room (where 4 players slept together) against another one. Clothes used to fly away through 2^nd floor window to the street and you needed to defend your room but also attack the others’. We used to do ball games when we were bored after eating, and other players came to see us doing that, as Latinos we loved to do games with the ball.

We were located at Oriental Green Boat, such a big sport city. There were many football fields, even indoor. There were houses for each delegation, a Hotel for managers and DT. We could go out just twice in 2 weeks, one with all other delegations, when we got a tourist ride, with translator, guards and so on. We saw beautiful places of the city, poorest and richest ones. We could visit Oriental Pearl Tower and his museum.

We ended up 8^th at that championship out of 25 teams, I still remember that match against

Finland

at quarters of final: 1-0 they won, but we played much better and they knew that. But when you play football it doesn’t matter how good you played, just matters who scores more times.

Around 40 hours took us to get

Chile

back, again we stopped at Frankfurt for a while. I still meet friends I made there: it's been more than 5 years since we were in Shanghai and a couple of weeks ago we made a barbecue and played Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (or something like that) with them.

I had the most 2 beautiful weeks in my life in

China

, for sure I will come back some day…

How to miss flights…

2008-12-23T20:31:00.011+02:00

Ops, I did it again…

I’m not going to talk about Britney’s songs, but I really did it again, again I missed my flight! It is surprising how easily I can get in problems every time I have to do anything related to an airport: missing flights, running out of money to pay taxes, getting lost in the airport, missing my baggage, and so on…

I was supposed to leave Buenos Aires yesterday 14.40 local time, so I woke up early to work in AIESEC related stuff and leave the flat 12.00 local time, take a bus, get the airport, pay my taxes, and take my flight back to

Chile

. It seems pretty easy, but it is not for me. After I finished my AIESEC related work I went downstairs to leave the flat, and I realized the door was locked, and I didn’t have keys. I started to knock a door in the base floor and after 10 minutes a woman went out to tell me she didn’t have keys either, I started to knock exit door (it was made of glass) and a girl looked at me and I asked her to call a police man in front of her, so she did.

Summarizing, I could go out, take a bus and get the airport after more than 2 hours since I wanted t leave the flat (many problems occurred while I was in the bus, but I’m not talking about them). There was a long line to drop my baggage so I just went to front line and asked an executive to help me because my flight was taking off within 25 minutes. So she told me to do the line and not to be worried, she would manage this to help me (I love LAN!). I went to pay my taxes and I realized I ran out of money, I tried to pay with my credit card, but I didn’t have credit enough. So I asked for money to other people in the airport and I went to pay, but the casher realized I did have enough money to pay the taxes. I took a delayed flight, and when I got

Chile

I realized one bag was missing: it was sent in another flight! Finally I got both bags…

As I said at the beginning of this post, I did it again. It is not the first time it happens to me. I miss my flight back to Chile when I was in US, so I had to spend 2 more days in US, the first night I had to sleep in the airport, then I had to buy another flight to Buenos Aires and from Buenos Aires to Santiago, I almost missed my second flight, again I got a delayed flight and I missed my baggage. I’m really thinking to write a best seller related to this topic.

At least each time I’ve had very good time talking with nice girls…

How much I've grown

2008-12-20T01:17:00.014+02:00

Once I created this blog and started to post on it, I realized how much I grew in a couple of years. Couple of years since I joined AIESEC, couple of years since I lived abroad, couple of years when I decided to grow. I didn’t imagine I could have a blog, I had a notebook instead. Now is time to share this growth with people around me, people who I look after them and who look after me. People who don’t even know me, but they influence on me somehow.

I can see I’m much more mature now than 2 years ago, I faced several life changing experiences that made me grow a LOT, and some of those experiences I want to share with you now. Are you ready to read some of these experiences?

The first one was when I was living in US, I needed money to pay back the grant my dad gave me, I don’t want to ask for money to my parents, that’s why I really needed to work and to save money. So, I had 3 jobs at the same time, I started working at 4.45 am at Dunkin Donuts (yes, I was the first one at the store) and finished working at 10 pm at Quiznos Sub (yes, I was the last one), I just used bike to move from one part of the city to another one, and sometimes I used buses, but they had an special schedule (of course they didn’t work at 4.00 am). Once I closed Subway store around 10.30 pm and when I closed it I realized I forgot my bike inside the store. I had to wake up and run next day to open Dunkin Donuts store, I run for about 30 minutes at 4.00 am! And I had slept 4 hours per day for last 3 weeks. Yes, it was so painful to run all that distance! But I wasn’t about money, later on I realized on that, it was about learning. Learning what you want to achieve in your life and what you are actually doing to achieve it. I realized I wanted to grow, I wanted that life, I wanted to buy my own things, I wanted to be independent, I wanted to learn life is not as easy as it may seem, so I worked hard for that, even though it meant painful and stress.

This experience taught to understand what I really wanted, and what was worth to fight for. I’m using that learning day as a powerful tool to keep me focus on what I do want to achieve in my life.

Tu eres el resultado de ti mismo

2008-12-16T03:41:00.004+02:00

No culpes a nadie, nunca te quejes de nada ni de nadie, porque fundamentalmente tu has hecho tu vida.

Acepta la responsabilidad de edificarte a ti mismo, y el valor de acusarte en el fracaso para volver a empezar corrigiéndote, el triunfo del verdadero hombre, surge de las cenizas del error.

Nunca te quejes del ambiente o de los que te rodean, hay quienes en tu mismo ambiente supieron vencer. Las circunstancias son buenas o malas según la voluntad y la fortaleza de tu corazón; aprende a convertir toda situación difícil en un arma para triunfar.

No te quejes por tu pobreza, por tu salud o por tu suerte, enfréntate con valor y acepta que de una u otra manera son el resultado de tus actos y la prueba que has de ganar.

No te amargues por tus fracasos, ni se los cargues a otros, acéptale ahora o siempre seguirás justificándote como un niño, recuerda que cualquier momento es bueno para comenzar, y que ninguno es tan terrible para claudicar.

Deja ya de engañarte, eres la causa de ti mismo, de tu tristeza, de tu necesidad, de tu dolor y de tu fracaso, si tu has sido el ignorante, el irresponsable, tú y solo tu, nadie pudo haberlo sido por ti, no olvides que la causa de tu presente es tu pasado, como la causa de tu futuro es tu presente.

Aprende de los fuertes, de los audaces, imita a los valientes, a los enérgicos, a los vencedores, a quienes no aceptan situaciones difíciles, a quienes vencieron a pesar de todo.

Piensa menos en tus problemas y más en tu trabajo y tus problemas sin aliento morirán; aprende a nacer desde el dolor y hacer mas grande que el mas grande de tus obstáculos.

Mírate en el espejo de ti mismo, comienza a ser sincero contigo mismo, reconócete por tu voluntad, por tu valor, y no por tu debilidad para justificarte.

Recuerda que dentro de ti mismo esta la fuerza que todo puede hacerlo, conociéndote a ti mismo serás libre y fuerte y dejaras de ser un títere de las circunstancias, tu mismo eres tu destino y nadie puede sustituirte en la construcción de tu propio destino.

Levántate, mira por la mañana y respira la luz del amanecer, tu eres parte de la fuerza de la vida, despierta, camina, muévete, lucha, decídete y triunfaras en la vida.

Nunca pienses en la suerte porque la suerte es: el pretexto de los fracasados.

Si caes; levántate, sacúdete el polvo y sigue avanzando.

Reflexiones de un LCP!

2008-12-05T19:32:00.005+02:00

No voy a desconocer que tenía muchas dudas de si es que podía lograrlo, muchas noches pensando si realmente seria capaz de llevar adelante las metas esperadas para Santiago y de superarlas, claro está.

Tuve que sentarme a conversar con varias personas, algunas me dijeron que no lo hiciera, otras todo lo contrario, algunas me conocían hace años, otras solo hace días, algunas conocían mucho de AIESEC, otras muy poco. Pero fue una conversación en especial la que me llevó a tomar la decisión, solo fueron 5 minutos, en medio de la bulla, en medio de un congreso, en medio de reflexiones.

Luego vino todo el trabajo para conseguirlo, aplicaciones, entrevistas, discursos y, por supuesto, el agua. Esa sensación que es tan difícil de describir pero que produce un cambio tan grande en tu vida, que tu máximo anhelo es que muchos otros puedan vivir ese momento. Entonces empiezas a tiritar, y todos te quieren felicitar pero no se acercan porque no quieren mojarse, y te exigen un discurso, y luego las palabras no salen.

Entonces empieza la fiesta de celebración, después de un día entero de elecciones, la fiesta empieza y continúa hasta la siguiente mañana, en la cual debes seguir trabajando para conformar tu equipo directivo. Así es como se vive la experiencia en AIESEC, trabajas mucho, pero las fiestas siempre están presentes, somos jóvenes, estamos preocupados por nuestro futuro, no somos apáticos, pero tampoco somos aburridos.

Una vez electo tu equipo, empiezas a plantearte metas para el siguiente año, y te preocupas de cómo conseguirlas, empiezas a hacer el calendario de actividades y forjar un compromiso con el resto de la junta directiva.

Liderar un comité local no es simplemente administrar, es traspasar esa pasión por la organización y el convencimiento de que nuestro trabajo cambiara muchas vidas, tal como ha cambiado la nuestra, causando un real impacto en la sociedad. Liderar un comité local, no es simplemente establecer metas y trabajar para conseguirlas, porque son números y querer que tu periodo sea el mejor de la historia, es establecer metas y trabajar por ellas estando conciente del impacto que causarán, estando conciente de los cambios que producirán en la vida de todos aquellos que componen y compondrán tu LC, de las familias y amigos que los rodean, del cambio que producirá en tu propia vida.

Ser LCP o EB, no es administrar una organización cualquiera, sin desmerecer otras ONG’s o grandes compañías, ser EB es la posibilidad de cambiar la vida de muchos jóvenes que integran AIESEC, es abrirle oportunidades y guiarlos en su desarrollo personal, permitirles que descubran su real potencial y lo exploten. Ser EB es una gran responsabilidad, el impacto que puedes causar no es algo fácil de comprender a menos que estés viviendo la experiencia, manejarla adecuadamente es el mayor de los desafíos que presenta el cargo.

Sin duda alguna, liderar una organización como AIESEC es una experiencia que da grandes giros a tu vida y a la forma en que ves las cosas.