October the 1st, First CSC team in Canada

Weekend went by very quickly with delayed flights, late arrivals, one team member still awaiting for her visa approval and a lot of emotions while matching persons we saw for 3 months through a camera to a real person.

Halifax welcomed us with excellent weather, a beautiful landscape and the best that this city has: kind and charming Haligonians that received us with a smile everywhere we went.

October the first, was our first official day on duty. If I told you our arrival was full of emotions, I cannot find words to describe the excitement this morning.

The kick off ceremony took place at COVE (https://goo.gl/maps/7tkzYp3Kw4B2) and we were honored to have Chris MacIntoch (IBM Innovation center Manager), the Premier, the Mayor and the 4 Organizations as speakers to receive our team.

After the ceremony, each sub-team started their mission with their host organization.

We, sub-team 4, headed to the Department of Education with our hosts and immediately got involved in deep conversations to understand their current situation. First week will be mostly of Deep Discovery, understanding where we are and where we want to be. One step at the time.

We also had the time to baptize our team as VUDA. I would love to tell you how we used the wisdom of Budda and mixed it with the constantly changing VUCA environment we live on, but sorry, I’d lie to you! We simply put our initials on the wall and made it our own brand: Val, Uma, Danish and Ana >>> Here we come!

Perfect closing for a perfect day. October the 1st is Treaty Day in Nova Scotia. A day to celebrate and reflect on the time when the Mi’kmaw and the Crown signed treaties of peace and friendship.

We were invited to the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Center to share a dinner with the First Nations community, see their traditions and experience once more, how this community received us with open arms.

“A Journey of a Thousand miles begins with a single step”