A Different Drummer

I've definitely never been this busy before anytime in my working life. This is just crazy.

This weekend should be a sweet release, although I have to come into work on Sunday. On Saturday I am planning on heading to Amsterdam for some Dam'time with Mazzy, which should be good.

The Moroccan shopkeepers in Rotterdam are always happily surprised when I greet them and say my order in Arabic. Its good fun, and a nice way to keep up the spoken Arabic.

Have had a pretty great day in Brussels today, following a potentially trip-ruining incident last night. I was walking around in the downtown area after our meetings had finished, when I tripped on a paving stone that was sticking out from the ground. Somehow, the force of this collision between shoe and stone was strong enough to completely rip the sole of my shoe away from the rest of the shoe. It was a completely devastating experience. One moment, I was walking along a blissful litte Brussels avenue, the next moment, my shoe was divided into two pieces of leather that, if somehow stitched together, would make a brilliant shoe.

I was supposed to be showing up at a swishy business cocktail function in two hours, and I only had one shoe. This was some messed up business. It was 6 o'clock in Brussels, meaning that if you were looking for beer in wine glasses, outdoor eating, waffles or prostitutes, the market was ripe. But if you were looking for a store that sold anything close to shoes, or shoe repairs, you were screwed. As seems to be the trend in this part of the world, anything with even a marginal degree of utility in life closes well before the average office.

So, Brussels was shut and I only had one shoe. What to do? I managed to make it home, organise for someone else to be at the cocktail function, and rest myself for the night, in preparation for the long, one-shoed day ahead.

Today, my fortunes reversed dramatically. I walked (hopped) out the front door of the house, and practically smacked head first into a shoe repair store. How convenient. The guy miraculously managed to totally repair my shoes in about three minutes, and charged a fairly reasonable 2 euro for the service. That was honourable - I know that if I was a shoe repair man, and a guy came hopping into my store with a massive shoe crisis, I'd thank the gods of supply and demand for the cash cow that they have delivered me. He could have charged me ten times as much and I still would have happily paid.

So, with full shoe justice returned, I have had a power day in Brussels. Me and Geta rained fiery justie at the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) Annual Conference today, and finished the day off with a beer and power-walk in the Grand Place - the most beautiful sight in Brussels and probably one of the nicest in Europe. Photographic evidence below:



From a happy, two shoed Tom in Brussels.

Thea's blogging from Ethiopia has been consistently great, especially since things started to heat up there post-election.

Her latest post is no different. If you aren't regularly checking Thea's blog, then start now:

"Last Saturday, the Ethiopians decided they have had enough of the Merkato
area and decided to attack the area I live in, not because it’s a nice quiet
area, but because it housed of the office of the opposition (which I was not
aware of) and they decided to lock the opposition leaders in their office.
Consequently the roads surrounding my guesthouse were blocked, with violence in
the streets, army police all over the place."

I've reverted to my old-timey email updates for the time being, as blogging is a bit tricky when we are in constant transition meetings. I'll try to improve my performance, but in the mean time, check out my email update here, which I have reposted online. If you would like to be added to my email list and recieve these updates, just drop me a line in comments.

First Rotterdam email update - check it out!

The AIESEC International group blog is up and running, and it kicks ass. Check it out.