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Looking back – way back – at a big adventure
It seems impossible to believe that it is 30 years ago to the week that I started a grand adventure. A scared 18 year old, I boarded a plane on my own, first to Frankfurt and then on to Istanbul, Turkey. I was headed off on a year-long Rotary Youth Exchange Program, preparing to live with another family and go to high school in a country I had only learned the location of some six months earlier. Nervous “Inbounds” in Istanbul: Sept. 1985 The process of being selected to be an exchange student was arduous. The application forms, multiple rounds of… Read more…
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Holiday and home again
I’m recently back from a wonderful trip to Turkey with my 15-year old daughter. We had a marvellous time and there’s so much to tell. I set out to tell that story today, but those aren’t the words that came out. That’s not what this post is about. We’ve been home for eight days now. And in that eight days, a lot changed. Just four days after we arrived home, an ISIS, suicide bomber blew up more than 30 young people – and injured over 100 more – in a town called Suruç, on the Turkish side of the border… Read more…
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On the road
I’m exhausted. Five days into a week-long business trip and approaching seven time zones from home, I marvel at the stamina of people who do this all the time. It’s been a productive trip so far. I’ve had good meetings with suppliers and partners and got to witness an important MOU signing in my industry. I’ve had the good fortune to be hosted by my country’s High Commission in London and am headed tomorrow to our Embassy in Bucharest tomorrow for more hospitality to close off another day of industry meetings Canada House is right at Trafalgar Square in England’s… Read more…
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The glamour of business travel
I don’t know who it is that spreads the wicked rumour that business travel is exotic, but if it’s supposed to be, I’m clearly doing something wrong. Admittedly, my travel is is usually little and too far from glamorous places. A night here or there in small-town Ontario, or if I’m lucky, to another province, all I get. So what could possibly go awry?Plenty, it seems. I don’t think I’ve had a single excursion out of the office without a story to come home with. One evening at a conference, I was woken by someone slipping a piece of paper… Read more…
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The call of Istanbul
Istanbul’s “Old City”, at sunset, from the Asian side of the city. On the eve of municipal elections in Turkey, and after international media coverage of Twitter and YouTube bans, my mind is occupied with thoughts of this country. Years and years ago (we won’t count how many), I spent my last high school year in Istanbul, on an exchange program through Rotary International. I lived with three lovely Turkish families – one on the Asian side of the city and two on the European side. With my school on the Asian side, that meant for more than half of the… Read more…
