An amazing, complex and curious city where East meets West #ibmcsc turkey

Welcomed with Turkish Tea

I awoke to the melodious Adhān, the call to prayer, early this morning in this complex city of Istanbul. #ibmcsc turkey and DOT-Digital Opportunity Trust have outdone themselves in selecting comfortable accommodations for the team. Thanks @DOTTurkey!

We all arrived at various times yesterday greeted by a DOT representative and driven through chaotic traffic to our accommodations. Imagine seeing people selling beautiful roses, newspapers and other items between lanes of stalled traffic on the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto. They really could use a #smartertransport plan in this vast city of over around 14 million people. Even our poor drivers were exasperated.

Regardless – when I arrived at the airport yesterday, I miraculously found our contact in a sea of welcomers and met fellow teammate Kylie from Australia. We had a great introduction as we crawled our way to our accommodations through the traffic marvelling at the numerous mosques with their minarets reaching to the sky.

At our first team meeting, Seda, Ceyhun and Mehmet greeted us – we recognized voices before faces from our weekly prep calls. A welcoming Turkish tea was enjoyed by all.

I’m still pinching myself at my good fortune of being selected for this assignment. I’m looking forward to getting to know the team and working with TÜSİAD and especially participating in their upcoming STEM conference.

More anon…

Excitement builds as Corporate Service Corps Turkey Team 11 departure closes in

After 11 weeks of preparation, in just two nights I'll be at the airport boarding my flight to Istanbul, Turkey as part of IBM's Corporate Service Corps #ibmcsc turkey. The assignment:

Design a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) campaign in order to create strong awareness of STEM education and workforce opportunities throughout the country. The campaign will include doable recommendations and actions, which can be fulfilled by the business organization TÜSİAD, as well as the Ministry of Education and other public organizations. The strategic action plan will be in line with Turkey’s innovation agenda, knowledge society strategy, and national education vision. 

When I've told people I'm going to Turkey on assignment, they ask about safety given recent activity on the Syrian border but we've been assured by IBM security in Istanbul that "business is as usual" and the Syrian border is nearly 1000 km away. I'll continue to monitor the news and connect with Mr. Hüseyin Bayrak, our IBM Security Manager.

I can't wait to meet Deirdre, Prajyot and Frank -- my Turkey 11 Team 1 teammates with whom I've been working already on our workplan -- as well as all of my other Turkey 11 teammates from the three other teams.

I feel extremely fortunate to have been selected for this assignment, and hope that my skills and activities on the assignment will provide value to TÜSİAD and ultimately to students and the Turkish workforce.

We'll see how it goes!

Thanks to friends Mary Anne and Richard who shared the background image of the market from their voyage to Turkey!