Well, I am very behind in my blog so in November Greg’s Mom and Dad came to visit us for 3 weeks. We went to Istanbul and Alanya in Turkey for a week and then we ventured to Salzburg, Nurneburg, Ragensburg, to visit all the Christmas Markets in Germany and Austria. We had many adventures in Turkey as we went with a German Tour Company so to the dismay of Pam, Gordon and I everything was in German. Greg got to be the translator and I think we got about 20% of the story. We visited all the attractions- many mosques, cistern, markets, leather shops, rug factories and were good little tourists and bought a lot of stuff we didn’t need. We saw many ruins and the vast amounts of history was the most amazing part of the trip. Turkey was a great visit and glad we went but that was enough bartering for me for a few years- I felt like I was in Mexico. A couple pictures of the trip there are more on my facebook page. We enjoyed visiting all the Christmas markets with the family and Germany during the holidays is a very magical time. I think I will miss the Christmas markets the most when we head back to the states.
Hi-Po Training in London
So I feel very lucky to have spent the last three days with some brilliant folks across Europe in Microsoft’s High Potential Program. It is an interesting program where Microsoft selects a certain number of individuals across the company world-wide that they think are the future leaders of the company. Then these folks go through some leadership training, peer coaching, networking and on the job experiential leadership training. All in all it has been one of the best trainings I have attended. As part of the training we did 360 reviews where your manager, co-workers and direct reports rate you in five major leadership areas: Modeling the way, Inspring a Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others and Encouraging the Heart. It is always humbling to read how other perceive you and to understand the areas in which you need to develop more. One of the best areas of this training is the learning circle we created in which 6 other future leaders help coach you through challenges you are currently facing. It was a very intense three days, jammed packing and in the end quite draining but invigorating.
We did get to have some fun in the evenings (of-course we were in London with Brits!) and enjoy some British pubs and a few good laughs. I do love that British dry humor. I look forward to my future meetings with my new British, Irish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch and Middle Eastern/African friends. A few photos below and in the album to the right.
Not all work there is play
So its not all work, I do love to play. When I was working in Barcelona my husband did join me for a nice weekend. We had the opportunity to catch up with our dear friend Fela and learn to eat at 11pm and have drinks and good times at the late hours for us Americans. We then got to attend a futbol match except Barcelona killed there competition 6-0. Was great to be with 120,000 of our closest friends. Some pictures below of one of our favorite cities in Europe. maybe someday we can live there!
Encouraging the Minimalist Life 