sultanahmet diaries

I'm back

Came back this afternoon from Abant, Turkey and the 6th WSI National Convention (my 2nd one). It was OK. No horsebackriding, no paintballing.... just a lot of crazy "teambuilding" activities. I've never been a fan of those types of activities (example: Write a phrase about teamwork using 5-12 words. Finished? OK! Great! Now, take this pen and some ropes and write the phrase.... without touching the pen! You have to be a team! See how fun TEAMWORK is!??!). Yargh.

Definitely better than last year (for MANY reasons) but mainly because I knew a lot more people. I knew the Bakirkoy, Sisli, and Taksim people, as well as all the managers from every branch. Despite the forced teamwork, I managed to have fun (see my Flickr photos). Abant is gorgeous. I saw ducklings and horses. The lake was lovely. The air was fresh and crisp. There were frogs on lilypads.

The last night, I drank wine. Enough to dance. After I sat down, I got one of the best compliments EVER! Asli, the daughter of Dundar Bey (the founder of WSI Turkey and thus my ultimate boss) came and sat down next to me. I don't know her well, but she said "I just had to come tell you, you dance just like a Turkish woman! It's so nice!" I dance like a Turkish woman! Wow. For those of you who don't know, Turkish women (and MEN!) can DANCE. I think it's one of the nicest things anyone has told me for quite some time.

posted by camille @ 10:29 PM