(The best kind of) tired.
“Team Cielo” (the name this cohort of 12 selected for ourselves) has successfully completed our first week of SAP Social Sabbatical work in Montevideo, Uruguay….and what a week it’s been!
We officially kicked off our experience on Sunday, October 15 with a day-long team building and orientation event (though we did have an optional group dinner the night before which helped break the ice).
Monday morning, we met our client organizations and interpreters for another more official “kick off” event, and then that afternoon we were off to the races.
I blinked and somehow it’s Sunday night, on the eve of Week 2. As I watch my beloved Philadelphia Eagles play Sunday Night Football on tv (with Spanish broadcasting of course), I wanted to reflect on the last 8 days.
Some takeaways:
- Montevideo is absolutely beautiful. I admittedly didn’t know much at all about Uruguay before this assignment; a nice Saturday afternoon walking tour taught me so much about this country and capital city’s rich history and unique culture.
- We’ve been blessed to work with some truly inspiring client organizations. In my case, my sub-team of 3 has been assigned to work with Anima, an incredible organization focused on positioning teenagers and young adults for educational and professional success. Since they are a school, we’ve been working on-site each day surrounded by passionate teachers and super impressive students from diverse backgrounds. Their smiles, warm welcomes and excitement to practice their English with us evokes a feeling that I can’t properly describe with words.
- This group of colleagues I’m blessed to embark on this journey with are amazing. I always say that I work with geniuses at SAP, and that sentiment is only further reinforced here. We span many corners of the world — Germany, India, Czech Republic, Canada, US, Philippines — and while our backgrounds are diverse and our areas of expertise are vast, we’ve formed a wonderful bond in just a short amount of time. Everyone is open, kind and genuinely curious to learn about each other. None of us knew each other before this experience, but it feels like we’ve been connected for ages.
- And yes, having said all of the above, another theme from week 1 has to be “tired”. It has been an exhausting whirlwind. Lots of introductions, lots of learning, so much to absorb and more questions than answers at this point. I consider myself an extrovert, but the combination of the post-pandemic world (less in-person interaction overall) and the constant need to be “on” in an intense new environment like this is draining. As I say in the title of this blog, it’s the best kind of tired because it’s the tired that comes from learning, growing and pushing the limits of your comfort zone in an enriching way. That said, it’s important to find balance and ensure I’m giving myself opportunities to rest and recharge (the 4 hour nap I took today was a good start :-)).
Now that introductions have been made and Scopes of Work have been finalized, we will now work as teams on building the deliverables that will help elevate the success stories of our host organizations. I can’t wait to see the outcomes that this SAP cohort will create. My hope is we can forever change these organizations to the same level that they will forever change each of us.
Stay tuned for more “musings from Montevideo”! #lifeatsap, #SAP, #SocialSabbatical, #Montevideo, #Uruguay
