Global Village Week 1: STATUS REPORT

"Nosotros no nos reimos porque estamos felices, nosotros estamos felices porque nos reimos"

- We don't laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh

The first week of the Global Village has been an absolute blast - I now remember why this was probably the best thing I had ever done in my life, and why it was so the right decision to come be part of this again. And being a guide is even better!

Why? Because you're part of a well-oiled machine that just works on a different level of smooth, we have a fantastic guide group team, the interns are a brilliant bunch of people and the Village experience has changed in a few very good ways since I was last year. All in all, very priviliged.

But let me start with my mates - I'm very fortunate to have made great friends already- Nancy is our tall willowy beauty from Canada, she has a sensationally musical tilt to her voice, remembers EVERYTHING and can party it up with the best. Fico is our Peruvian creative muse - the guy works on Peruvian time and gets away with it like clockwork - haha - but between him and Scott, our techie and local lad, they are driving us to having a fantastic time. Agniezska is our resident cutie from Poland, she is this tiny classy lady who brings a completely different style to her teams - I'm learning so much from all of them! We've gone on the bender a few times over the last couple of weeks, I haven't laughed this much in ages and all the permanent staff have been commenting that this guide team has really bonded like never before. We're getting Chuck Norris staff t-shirts printed up...

The interns are also a wonderfully talented bunch, I have a very gregarious Italian in my guide group who has already organized the mother of all Italian pasta parties, my project team consisting of 4 tiny Asian girls, an Indian lady, an Israeli scientist and a 6 foot 4 Portugese accountant are going like a boeing at finding a market entry strategy for an external company who manufactures heat transfer fluids. It's great to be involved with the social dynamic, and they are smart people, which means you have to be on your a-game all the time.

The interns are really bonding as a group as well, we have had loads of cultural diversity exercises including a ropes course at a friend of the program's house on Saturday, we ended that one off with a great big picnic and it was a relaxing day all round. I nipped off with a colleague to catch Superman Returns after that, so it was just a beautiful day!

We also did Def Leppard on the weekend - YEAH! Dr Bill stocked up the van with beers and tequila, and all 7 of us including Peter, our big Danish mate from Village 2004 and one of the project team clients, drove up to Scranton to watch the concert with the 10,000 rednecks present. No normal car in sight - just SUVs. It was pretty funny...

I'm also in charge of Sunday afternoon optional sports - we had a soccer game yesterday and I'm sitting with a swollen shin for my trouble - that's what you get when you collide headlong into Stanislav, stoic Chzechoslakian and as tough as he looks!

So all in all, having a swimming time - this week things start settling in at the Village, we have our first country panels to look forward to, where different countries compete for Foreign Investment from a potential client. This a big job and I have interns that are less comfortable with public speaking than others, to this end I have the confident young Aussie bloke help the more inhibited girl from the Dominican Republic with her pitch - that should be fun to watch!

My interns from Spain's English is improving by leaps and bounds every day, people are starting to have WOW moments all round, and man - it's just awesome to be a part of it again! This weekend we'll be going on an Amish trip and I'll be play-acting Simon Cowell as a judge for the Dancing with the Villagers contest. I've had some practice at being the bad guy as I had to kill the party this week - people were just getting way too pissed and in my new role I guess I also have to function as the fun police! I also had to lecture them on the fact that you can have fun without drinking too much this morning - those of you who know me might find this hilarious...

What else can I tell ya? Last night we had the cultural night where 11 different countries presented items, food and entertainment from their neck of the woods - this ranged from Abdullah UAE presenting a total production - he had shipped 12 crates over and had brochures, clothes, etc - he basically created a total Arabic display - to the Americans showing us a video of Brokeback mountain and feeding us Apple Pie. The Mexicans gave Nachos and Margheritas, the Italians made pasta, etc etc... good fun, too much good food, wine women and song! I made it an early night - 11h00 mind you!

So firing on all systems for this week - I've invited Chuck Norris to come speak to the Village, but he's not replying to my mails to his website...

CHUCK FACT: Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits...