AidCom and the Dream Year subtly crept into my life. I say subtly. It may be more appropriate to say that I didn't really expect it to happen. And then it just sort of did, without any kind of planning. It all fell into place. Quickly. Sweepingly so.
Let's rewind. I remember sitting at my desk at my previous job, ready for the next step, slightly frustrated by the rigid nine-to-five, and daydreaming of (read: googling) gorgeously silly locations, thinking "I need to find a job that drives me, allows me to travel, something more flexible." And then: "not likely" came through loud and clear.
Fast-forward a few weeks. I first heard of the Dream Year through a common friend of a veteran 'Dreamer' that was posted here in Addis Ababa, where I was already living. The application deadline was on me, I quickly googled anything I could find on AidCom / Dream Year. Loved it. Applied. Crossed my fingers... and went back to my life. Next thing I knew I was booking a flight to AidCom HQ in Trondheim, Norway.
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| "Flower Bridge" in Trondheim, Norway at 1:00 a.m. in the morning |
As you may have already gathered from this blog, the job involves information/news monitoring in order to send AidCom clients timely security alerts. AidCom "information consultants" are posted in regional offices in Malaysia, Mexico and Ethiopia on a rotational basis. Yes. That means we get to work in all three locations during the year. *sigh* :) The different time zones mean that we send out AidCom clients security alerts twenty-four hours a day without anyone ever having to pull a night shift. And voilà - that's our job in a nutshell!
So I've landed this incredible position, and I quickly find myself on a one month training at AidCom HQ in Trondheim, Norway, along with the other four newly recruited "information consultants," more commonly referred to as Dreamers. 'Dreamers 2.0' we like to call this year's group, because... (I feel silly, do I really need to explain this?) :) ... because it's the second year AidCom is running this programme.
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| Intense Training: Dreamers 2.0 with some of the Dreamers 1.0: Trond, Kristine, Aline, Awat Ilu, Raggy, Radineh, Emma, Pepe |
AidCom was refreshing. A startup with lots of energy. A small company with lots of passion. No big-company bureucratic faff. My first take: I loved it. The training was interactive, and I feel that most importantly, it allowed us the time to really familiarise ourselves with the company and the HQ staff before going off into the field.
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| A Cozy AidCom Dinner: A chance to reminisce with the old dreamers and get to know the new ones... Marianne, Pepe, Trond, Harald, Peder, Torbjørn |
The training period was quite intense in the sense that it was a new country, new job, new colleagues, new skills to learn, new house, new house mates, new language, new foods... the list goes on. Oh, not to mention that the sun likes to play naughty games in that part of the world - rays at 1 in the morning anyone? Yeah, that can play games with your sleeping patterns... The whole thing was a roller coaster of excitement, change, learning, adaptation, wonder. So it's no surprise that although both the training and Trondheim were very enjoyable, and the days weren't fully packed, most of us new dreamers reached the end of our day on 0% battery. We did occasionally have play-time though ;)
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| A coffee break at the office... Radineh, Raggy |
Apart from the training, we dreamers spent evenings and weekends getting to know Trondheim and getting to know one another. Because we didn't have internet at home, lots of time was spent playing card games and chatting away. Although the "internet deficiency" (that was for you "big-bangers" out there :P) was frustrating to all of us at the start, by the end of the month we were all actually grateful for it. We figured if it had been there we would have all been in our rooms streaming stuff online. But we spent time together instead, and broke down barriers. By the end of the month we were comfortable enough around one another to bust out into tune or do silly dances. You get the picture. It was nice :)
One more thing I'd like to mention which for me was a highlight: During the month, we spent time learning more about everyone's different backgrounds. And by background I mean culture. And by culture I mean food. We took turns cooking respective national dishes in the evenings and introducing regional delicacies. Norwegian, Polish and Italian yuminess. Yum. Again: Yum. I left Norway with a few extra pounds. And an addiction to Freia's Walter Mandlers chocolate: milk chocolate with salted, caramelised almonds. Oh dear...
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| My Aunt Gry, who showed me to the Freia shop in Oslo ... and introduced me to another variety of Walters Mandler heavenliness |
AidCom, Trondheim, the start of my Dream Year - all thumbs up. More on my weekend in Oslo next time...
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