the rest of the week
I can't believe that the conference finished yesterday. it was an incredibly busy week and it felt much longer because of all that was crammed in it. Plus the late nights. I really love nights where it is really light outside until late-ish hours.
Working backwards again
Yesterday I crashed at about half past nine at night without a shower in a nice place called the Traveller's Hostel. I am especially inclined to like them because they accepted me as a walk-in and they have decent facilities and their setup makes me feel safe. They have big airy rooms huge lockers and security coded doors :) and it is clean. Had walked in about 1430 in the afternoon because it was a bit of a walk from our drop pff point and the buses from the conference venue arrived a half hour plus late and there was various issues involved in getting everyone and their luggage on to the buses. had had an emotional crash while we were waiting because i didn't want the conference to be over. Had hardly had hardly had a chance to talk to many of the participants at all due to the pace of the conference and because i don't drink. Some people had taken the low prices of alcohol here to get absolutely sloshed a couple of times. i pity them. they did not have good mornings. anyway back to the story
Friday morning was all about scrambling to finish our warm fuzzy pages for the other group members, scrambling even more to pack and some frantic last minute photos (and i had a light panic about finding accom for fri night, only to end up booking the wrong day - for saturday night at this hostel- it was all ok in the end though). there was a light feeling of desparation because none of us wanted to be parted from the others. such is life.
i spent my afternoon after getting checked in, walking around prague between here, which is just on the other side of the Old town square, and Wenceslas square, where i had found out on thursday afternoon there was an electronics store which ought to have been able to help me with my video camera-pc problems. i did get the stuff i thought i needed there, but it turns out that it seems to speak slightly the wrong type of firewire code or something to talk to the canera which is incredibly frustrating. there was also a bit of aggrevation in that i had fun trying to change the combination on my ensington lock for the laptop. i was going by the diagrams, which did not exactly match the instructions. so much for pictures being worth a thousand words.
thursday was *busy*. we had a final lobbying session in the morning for the model EU Parliament then headed off to Prague again and lunch at the crowne plaza where we had the model EUP afterwards. I thought my food tasted fine but most of the members of my group we less than impressed that we oly got one free drink and then had to pay 90 crowns for the next little mouthful of coke :(
it was quite a swanky location for the EUP and quite fitting. I had the joy of being the speaker which was a lot of fun after the initial mess up of the first vote (for my party's amendment, which held the chairmanship). Fatima was good with offering lots of advice as was Matt. Helped a lot, though I still didn't really know what I was doing. Could have done with more detailed rules and regs for being speaker in the guidebook or even if i had done the research myself. Our amendment ended up being the only one that didn't pass :( but hey it was an experience. When the 6th (2nd to last group) party was up - Greens EFA - half the parliament walked out. then it turned into a bad mockery of parliamentary question time with the sound levels and general chaos. i wouldn't let the vote proceed until everyone sat down again and then nobody did, people were calling me on my decisions etc. I eventually got voted out of office and Jonathan was voted in. He was still looking the worse for wear after his partying the night before but he was truly stoic about the whole thing, which was good on him. The directive ended up being passed and then we all went out to sightsee. we ended up up walking with Matt's and Vicki's groups to the old town square and then Sumaya, Chisato, Prue and myself went off to wenceslas square fro shopping after we had seen the astronomical clock mark the hour. Lots of good shopping. I found the right computer shop two minutes after it had closed for the day. Grump. But it was all good. Ran into Liis and Diego at Charles Bridge and ran part way up the tower for the view and then headed back to the meeting place. Got back to CMC just after 8 pm and had a debrief- finished the evaluation forms and started the warm fuzzy sheets for everyone. Gave out my gifties - the cards and fans/chopsticks (Sumaya took two fans! She could steal the crown jewels an no-one would object!) then quick change (the third of the day) to clothes for the Gala Dinner. That was ok a little teary again but Irma was a sweetie with the way she felt everything. The Facilitators said nice things about us and we got our certificates and credits. Then we closed and changed again for the DJ party. Didn't agree with his choice of music for the most part at the beginning but he got better as the night went on. I started dancing 2330? 0000? after heading back to the hall at about 11 pm i think. Anyway chatted to Tim the stand up comedian for a little while about Japan before heading in. There were not many people dancing at the beginning and I was kind of disappointed but we seemed to come and go in waves. Sumaya tugged me on to the dance floor and Binefsha's attitude kept me there. Liis was wonderful and so was Irma. So I danced for myself for once. I don't think that I really have danced in public since the yr 12 formal. Not outside of cultural events at least and i don't think that they count. So I had fun. Ended up finishing off with Kingsley cause there were only half a dozen of us left at the end and the DJ played music that I liked (round 3:30? 4? am). The upbeat singalong stuff. All you need is love, always look on the bright side of life, etc. Had a little trouble getting rid of Kingsley cause he was being a little forward and misreading signals i think. Ended up on the 5th flr trying to exchange photos with my group but my pc was refusing to cooperate on accepting periperals etc so i will be getting them off of Facebook i think. Showered and crashed at 530 woke up again at 8-830 for brekkie and to see Prue off on the 9 am bus to the airport.
Wednesday was interesting again.
We started the prep for the EUP on Thursday today. We held the party hearings for the amendments in the evening and unfortunately not everyone was obliged to be involved with this. I ended up changing jobs with jonathan - I started out being an amendment writer and then Fatima asked me to be speaker of one of the hearings. I was rude and abrupt and buted in when Fatima was trying to tell Jonathan about the change in plans. I can't say i got along well with the brit members of our groups it always felt like i was on the wrong wave length and i couldn't be humourous about anything or even have a decent conversation because i was saying something that got the wrong reaction. Anyway. I had helped writing the first draft of the amendment and part of the second draft but i wasn't fully participating in the lobbying because frankly, i think that i suck at that. So in the afternoon we had lobbying. In the morning we had presentations from Simon Panek, talking about People In Need, and some people from the gov't and EU to talk about the Directive. It was all very interesting. In the early afternoon we went to a sponsors reception at PriceWaterhouseCoopers which was all about everyone talking to each other and taking photos and I think that in the end very few of us actually talked to the sponosors. Well I didn't talk to the sponsors at least, i know that. It was nice. After the hearing I went out to the tavern for a few non-alcoholic drinks and ended up watching the amateur dance classes and the dancing that the more outgoing of us got involved in, until almost two in the morning. I ended up helping Deepak get home again because he was well into his cups and feeling the effects of it. Some of his team members (i think) tried to help him too but they were also slightly inebriated so I ended up walking him back. We woke up Peter by turning on the lights and Peter ended up looking after him. Apparently Deepak sacrificed his stomach contents to the pocelain god and felt better later, though I don't think he was really wit it until after lunch on thursday.
Tuesday was a very long day. We finished with the culture night that went from a little after ten in the evening until 2 am. Everyone produced really interesting presentations even though there were some difficulties with tech compatibilities through out the night. Just after 12 they got me and Sorheib up front and sang Happy Birthday for us. I got some nice congratulations, but there wasn't the presents and cake that the Caux people organised for me last year- it was a different situation and that is only to be expected i guess. I stayed til the end of culture night and helped clean up a little at the end. The Puerto Ricans were popular because they gave us pressies and I ended up teaching everyone how to make origami cranes, or at least tried to teach them, while explaining the significance of them. Lots of people thought that it was a nice idea even if they couldn't make them themselves. It is hard to do after a long day at half past twelve. We had had the mock ICC trials before that. I was a corrupt judge, a witness for the prosecution in the pre-trial hearing for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the DRC. My evidence was thrown out though because apparently it wasn't enough to show that the whole justice syste of DRC was corrupt. We still got the go ahead on the trial because of Iram's evidence. She was a distraught mother whose son had been abducted at gun point from her where he was ten. The defence had really not organised their questions well and so botched that opportunity. Their evidence wasn't fantastic either. They tried to have a mother whose child volunteered because the mum couldn't support him at just under 14 and a psychiatrist wearing a nurse's hat to say that kids don't know right from wrong before 15. Didn't help their case at all. But it was fun al the same and I got exposure to something that i have been avoiding strenuously for the past three years. International law.
Monday i think that i have already talked about.
Working backwards again
Yesterday I crashed at about half past nine at night without a shower in a nice place called the Traveller's Hostel. I am especially inclined to like them because they accepted me as a walk-in and they have decent facilities and their setup makes me feel safe. They have big airy rooms huge lockers and security coded doors :) and it is clean. Had walked in about 1430 in the afternoon because it was a bit of a walk from our drop pff point and the buses from the conference venue arrived a half hour plus late and there was various issues involved in getting everyone and their luggage on to the buses. had had an emotional crash while we were waiting because i didn't want the conference to be over. Had hardly had hardly had a chance to talk to many of the participants at all due to the pace of the conference and because i don't drink. Some people had taken the low prices of alcohol here to get absolutely sloshed a couple of times. i pity them. they did not have good mornings. anyway back to the story
Friday morning was all about scrambling to finish our warm fuzzy pages for the other group members, scrambling even more to pack and some frantic last minute photos (and i had a light panic about finding accom for fri night, only to end up booking the wrong day - for saturday night at this hostel- it was all ok in the end though). there was a light feeling of desparation because none of us wanted to be parted from the others. such is life.
i spent my afternoon after getting checked in, walking around prague between here, which is just on the other side of the Old town square, and Wenceslas square, where i had found out on thursday afternoon there was an electronics store which ought to have been able to help me with my video camera-pc problems. i did get the stuff i thought i needed there, but it turns out that it seems to speak slightly the wrong type of firewire code or something to talk to the canera which is incredibly frustrating. there was also a bit of aggrevation in that i had fun trying to change the combination on my ensington lock for the laptop. i was going by the diagrams, which did not exactly match the instructions. so much for pictures being worth a thousand words.
thursday was *busy*. we had a final lobbying session in the morning for the model EU Parliament then headed off to Prague again and lunch at the crowne plaza where we had the model EUP afterwards. I thought my food tasted fine but most of the members of my group we less than impressed that we oly got one free drink and then had to pay 90 crowns for the next little mouthful of coke :(
it was quite a swanky location for the EUP and quite fitting. I had the joy of being the speaker which was a lot of fun after the initial mess up of the first vote (for my party's amendment, which held the chairmanship). Fatima was good with offering lots of advice as was Matt. Helped a lot, though I still didn't really know what I was doing. Could have done with more detailed rules and regs for being speaker in the guidebook or even if i had done the research myself. Our amendment ended up being the only one that didn't pass :( but hey it was an experience. When the 6th (2nd to last group) party was up - Greens EFA - half the parliament walked out. then it turned into a bad mockery of parliamentary question time with the sound levels and general chaos. i wouldn't let the vote proceed until everyone sat down again and then nobody did, people were calling me on my decisions etc. I eventually got voted out of office and Jonathan was voted in. He was still looking the worse for wear after his partying the night before but he was truly stoic about the whole thing, which was good on him. The directive ended up being passed and then we all went out to sightsee. we ended up up walking with Matt's and Vicki's groups to the old town square and then Sumaya, Chisato, Prue and myself went off to wenceslas square fro shopping after we had seen the astronomical clock mark the hour. Lots of good shopping. I found the right computer shop two minutes after it had closed for the day. Grump. But it was all good. Ran into Liis and Diego at Charles Bridge and ran part way up the tower for the view and then headed back to the meeting place. Got back to CMC just after 8 pm and had a debrief- finished the evaluation forms and started the warm fuzzy sheets for everyone. Gave out my gifties - the cards and fans/chopsticks (Sumaya took two fans! She could steal the crown jewels an no-one would object!) then quick change (the third of the day) to clothes for the Gala Dinner. That was ok a little teary again but Irma was a sweetie with the way she felt everything. The Facilitators said nice things about us and we got our certificates and credits. Then we closed and changed again for the DJ party. Didn't agree with his choice of music for the most part at the beginning but he got better as the night went on. I started dancing 2330? 0000? after heading back to the hall at about 11 pm i think. Anyway chatted to Tim the stand up comedian for a little while about Japan before heading in. There were not many people dancing at the beginning and I was kind of disappointed but we seemed to come and go in waves. Sumaya tugged me on to the dance floor and Binefsha's attitude kept me there. Liis was wonderful and so was Irma. So I danced for myself for once. I don't think that I really have danced in public since the yr 12 formal. Not outside of cultural events at least and i don't think that they count. So I had fun. Ended up finishing off with Kingsley cause there were only half a dozen of us left at the end and the DJ played music that I liked (round 3:30? 4? am). The upbeat singalong stuff. All you need is love, always look on the bright side of life, etc. Had a little trouble getting rid of Kingsley cause he was being a little forward and misreading signals i think. Ended up on the 5th flr trying to exchange photos with my group but my pc was refusing to cooperate on accepting periperals etc so i will be getting them off of Facebook i think. Showered and crashed at 530 woke up again at 8-830 for brekkie and to see Prue off on the 9 am bus to the airport.
Wednesday was interesting again.
We started the prep for the EUP on Thursday today. We held the party hearings for the amendments in the evening and unfortunately not everyone was obliged to be involved with this. I ended up changing jobs with jonathan - I started out being an amendment writer and then Fatima asked me to be speaker of one of the hearings. I was rude and abrupt and buted in when Fatima was trying to tell Jonathan about the change in plans. I can't say i got along well with the brit members of our groups it always felt like i was on the wrong wave length and i couldn't be humourous about anything or even have a decent conversation because i was saying something that got the wrong reaction. Anyway. I had helped writing the first draft of the amendment and part of the second draft but i wasn't fully participating in the lobbying because frankly, i think that i suck at that. So in the afternoon we had lobbying. In the morning we had presentations from Simon Panek, talking about People In Need, and some people from the gov't and EU to talk about the Directive. It was all very interesting. In the early afternoon we went to a sponsors reception at PriceWaterhouseCoopers which was all about everyone talking to each other and taking photos and I think that in the end very few of us actually talked to the sponosors. Well I didn't talk to the sponsors at least, i know that. It was nice. After the hearing I went out to the tavern for a few non-alcoholic drinks and ended up watching the amateur dance classes and the dancing that the more outgoing of us got involved in, until almost two in the morning. I ended up helping Deepak get home again because he was well into his cups and feeling the effects of it. Some of his team members (i think) tried to help him too but they were also slightly inebriated so I ended up walking him back. We woke up Peter by turning on the lights and Peter ended up looking after him. Apparently Deepak sacrificed his stomach contents to the pocelain god and felt better later, though I don't think he was really wit it until after lunch on thursday.
Tuesday was a very long day. We finished with the culture night that went from a little after ten in the evening until 2 am. Everyone produced really interesting presentations even though there were some difficulties with tech compatibilities through out the night. Just after 12 they got me and Sorheib up front and sang Happy Birthday for us. I got some nice congratulations, but there wasn't the presents and cake that the Caux people organised for me last year- it was a different situation and that is only to be expected i guess. I stayed til the end of culture night and helped clean up a little at the end. The Puerto Ricans were popular because they gave us pressies and I ended up teaching everyone how to make origami cranes, or at least tried to teach them, while explaining the significance of them. Lots of people thought that it was a nice idea even if they couldn't make them themselves. It is hard to do after a long day at half past twelve. We had had the mock ICC trials before that. I was a corrupt judge, a witness for the prosecution in the pre-trial hearing for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the DRC. My evidence was thrown out though because apparently it wasn't enough to show that the whole justice syste of DRC was corrupt. We still got the go ahead on the trial because of Iram's evidence. She was a distraught mother whose son had been abducted at gun point from her where he was ten. The defence had really not organised their questions well and so botched that opportunity. Their evidence wasn't fantastic either. They tried to have a mother whose child volunteered because the mum couldn't support him at just under 14 and a psychiatrist wearing a nurse's hat to say that kids don't know right from wrong before 15. Didn't help their case at all. But it was fun al the same and I got exposure to something that i have been avoiding strenuously for the past three years. International law.
Monday i think that i have already talked about.