Sylvia's Journal

Although I had prepared a rough schedule for the three day training of trainers, about 10 minutes into the day it was clear I had to do something quite different from what I had planned. There were lots of questions and unknowns that needed to be addressed before we could move. And so we did.

We also didn’t fit in the hotel room reserved for us and moved when we realized we were too cramped. Luckily the hotel had another room, with capitonized doors that suggests secrets are revealed inside.

I went along with the stiff U-shape for the day but at the end of the day we took all the skirts off and tomorrow we will sit in a circle. Encouraged by my daughter, I am starting to do away with tables.

The work of our project here takes place within a decentralized context. This has implications for just about everything. We explored the adjustments that we had to make in order to fit the context. It is both a strength of our program and a headache for people like me – because it calls for some quick on your feet thinking.

Nevertheless, I think we had a good start. I returned to my room instead of having another chance at eating at a maquis. I am well aware that tomorrow’s program, as designed, is no longer valid and needs to be adjusted. So I order a ‘petit Flag’ a regional brand of session beer which was replaced here by a ‘Bock’ but not the dark brown variety and set out to revamp everything I had planned. It’s improv time!