Taco contest @ Garibaldi Queretaro

Ola que tal amigos,

Before I start enjoying my well deserved weekend I wanted to share some remarkable statements and of course pictures about the Taco contest which was held at yesterday at Giribaldi Queretaro amongst the IBM CSC particpants.

The main objective: eat as many Tacos as you can and you will get your dinner for free.
Rules: Taco = 1 point; Quesidillas, Gringa, Vulcano or Synchronizado = 2 points.

What is Garibaldi? --> Garibaldi is an outside taco place in Queretaro city place with a lot of small Mexican restaurants where they serve different kinds of tacos.The tacos are prepared instantly just in front of you on a hot grill plate.

What type of food do they serve at Garibaldi? --> As mentioned above they serve all kinds of taco variances ranging from a small taco with some chorizo (spicy pork sausage) and pickled red onions to a Gringa with lamb or pork meat, queso, pineapple, onions and coriander. Of course chili and lime to be added afterwards according to own preferences. Don´t ask me the exact details but the name Gringa means something as caucasian American female where the male variant is Gringo. Maybe a nice question, can somebody tell me how this taco got the name of Gringa?

So who won the contest? Unfortunately I did not win however I gave some good competition.

The end result:

Julio (Mexico) 19 points or equivalent of 19 tacos
Gustavo (Mexico) 18 Points or equivalent of 18 tacos
Kenji (Japan) 16 point or equivalent of 10 tacos and 3 gringas
Me 15 points having 9 tacos and 3 gringas

So as you can see the locals won. Julio eating his last Taco. Julio is the guy in the green shirt.

So what is the trick to win the taco contest? --> Only stick to tacos as they come without cheese. ;)

The final thing I would like to share is a short movie which gives a pretty good impression of Garibaldi.

ENJOY:

CU all during my next blog in which I will tell you something about my community service.
On Monday the water team has to give training to 200 school children with the age of 11-14 about water care and water convervation methods. So stay tuned as I will update about this event on Monday or Tuesday.

Adios,

Yuri

#ibmcsc Mexico 1

Enjoying the wonders of Queretaro state....

Dear friends and family,

I know that is has been a while since my last blog and I deeply apologize for that, but sometimes you just are being kept busy with work and other great activities then blogging…..

So in this blog I will try to recap only those experiences which I think are definitely worth mentioning.

Firstly I would like to mention that our strategic water planning project is well under way for 2 weeks now and we are making some good progress. During the past week our focus was primarily on interviews with the Water commission directors and managers. The outcome of the interviews will be taken into account when we will assess the current state of the “Agua cerca de todos” program via a so called SWOT analysis. (Nothing more than a framework in which the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threaths of a program or organization can be assessed).

The emphasis for this week will be on the consolidation of all the interview feedback and already start looking in potential improvement areas, or recommendations to make the program become more sustainable.

Enough about the project for now. I think some of you will be more interested in the things I have be doing besides working from 9-5 at the CEA office.

I will share of my highlights with you of the past week and weekend.

Last Saturday was quit a busy day for me as I had two great activities planned. One outdoor and one semi-indoor activity.

With the total team we went to see the Pena de Bernal, which is the 3^rd tallest monolith rock in the world after one in Gibraltar and an other one somewhere in Australia, I was told by the guide. So I was really anxious to have my first encounter with a monolith rock ;). What in gods name is a Monolith rock? At least I have never heard of it before. For those who are really interested in geology some more information about Porphyry Monolith can be found on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry_%28geology%29

To give you a bit of a feeling of this wonderful rock and its magic, I will just share some pictures with you.

Pena de Bernal

Halfway the route of my 2 hour during Monolith rock climbing experience with Kenj (Japan) and Paula and Marcella (Mexico).

Anybody can help me here with the translation on the "rock" sign board.

At the top of the world..... Nothing else to say here

A local dish, Gorditas a la Bernal. This is a famous dish for the region. Look at the color of the corn. They are using blue/black corn to create these delicious goridatas. Goriditas can be filled with almost anything you like from pollo to puerco, quesos and verduras. As long as you finish it with a lots of spicy chilly. You can imagine that i really like the food here..

At the back you can see Christian from New Zealand ordering my personal favorite goridita with pollo and quesos. And of course chili to be added.

After having stuffed myself with 3 gorditas, costing 50 euro cent each, I was ready for my second experience of the day.

Queretaro vs America 

Yes, soccer it is. The local team of Queretaro playing against one of the biggest clubs in Mexico for years. ,while Queretaro only recently joined the Primera liga Mexico. So you can consider this match as Ajax playing against PEC Zwolle for example. As not all of my fellow CSC mates share the same passion for football as I do, only a select group of 5 people went to see this match.

In the stadium with Chandru (India), Carlos (Mexico) and Christian again.

Don´t blame me for the quality as it was shot with my Iphone and I have no flash.

To give you the best impression of the atmosphere in the stadium have a look at this movie. Unfortunately you see the America fans singing and not those of Queretaro. The fans of Queretaro are called the Gallos Blancos (White roosters).  Don´t ask me why they are called like this, but now and then you can hear the rooster sound through the stadium speakers.

As I said before it was David against Goliath and indeed the Gallos Blancos had no chance this match and lost by 4-0. Anyway, it was a great experience and the beer size of 1 liter made the loss less painful.

The next day, Sunday, was quit a busy day as well as we had planned for city trips in the Queretaro states to the cities of San Miguel de allende and  Guanajuato. 

That was difficult to pronounce was it not. Now try again

Guan a juato. Don´t pronounce the j as as j but as an h. Very well.

As the cities do not have anything really special, besides the mummy museum in Guanajuato, the atmosphere is amazing with colorful colonial buildings and a very relaxing pace of living which just wants you to meander around a bit.

Enjoy some of the pictures I have selected for you.

Guanajuato

Picture taken from parking area near the Mummy museum

University building of Guanajuato and the Juarez theater, not bad

Guanajuato street view.

Father and daughter in front of the local church. Apparently the little girl has other interest than praying to god.....

Leaving Guanajuato behind and taking a 1,5 hours bus ride to San Miguel makes you tired...;)

Sleeping from left to right Avashaloum (Israel), Amy June (Hong Kong), Kenji (Japan), Chandru (India) and Anna from Russia.

Finally the cathedral of San Miguel in sight.

San Miguel street view:

And after a long, exhausting, but good fun day. A final group photo. I am sorry that I am the only person not laughing at this picture, I will do my best the next time.

So overall I had a great weekend and good two weeks, I hope you all enjoyed some of these pictures. Of course their is so much more to share with all of you, but I will save some of that when I come back mid September.

Adios amigos.

P.S. Apparently the comments section on my blog is not working properly and I have no idea how I can fix this. Really sorry for that. Of course you can always send me an email.

The correct answer to my previous question on how much water fits in a water tank is 10.000 liters.

So mum you were right and therefore I will bring you a local present from that area.

#ibmcsc Mexico 1

Distribution of water in the Queretaro Marginalized zones

Dear all,

Today I would like to share some pictures I have made during the past 2 days. The CEA (Comission Estatorial de Agua) van Queretaro took us on a trip to some of the marginalized zones in the Queretaro state. During these trips we were introduced to the locals living in these villages and we received an explanation from the Agency administration officers with regard to the process and distribution of the water delivery.

I will try to give a brief comment for each of the pictures so that it is understandable for you all ;)

Yesterday we went to a small village near the city of Tequisquiapan. The majority of the city receives their main water from a well. Via pipes the water is transported into the city. However some areas of the city can not be reached via the pipes due to the difference in height and making use of pumps is far too expensive as only a minority of the city lives on a higher part of the mountain.

In the below picture you can see how the water tank trucks take the water from the well and fill the water tank.

The second picture shows how the water is being pumped into the water tanks near the houses which are located higher on the mountain and can not make use of the pipe system.

The last picture in the process shows how the water is being tested on the chloride level.

As part of our assessment of the current program we are interviewing some of the citizens who are currently receiving the water services. The following two pictures give a brief indication of how these people still live.

Electricity meters placed just out in the open, hmmm.....

 The toilet and the dishwasher, not sure if you can call it that......

Today we went to a different place in the municipality of Halpin. This area is a so called semi-dessert. So this area has not a lot of rain and at some locations there are no wells either. These people totally rely on the service currently being provided by CEA. The next pictures I would like to share are some pictures I just liked myself and wanted to share with you all.

A water tank in the village of Agua Verde (named after a famous Mexican plant).

Watertank of the village with the CEA logo and text "Agua cerca de todos" The reason why they have built a small wall around is, is because of the wind as it can storm once and a while.

Question, how much water do you think this water tank can maximum contain? Please comment on my blog, the person who is the closest with his or her answer will get a small present from this area.

 Local children sitting in front of the watertank (above) and playing in front of a great car (below)

My last picture for today, shows to old ladies in the local meeting hall. As we were really high up in the mountains the temperature dropped dramatically. That is why they are wearing these warm clothes.

I hope that these pictures give a bit of an impression of what I have encountered so far. Overall all the people I have met in these villages are so friendly and really appreciate the work of the program. One great story mentioned by the village people was was that their children now have time to be a kid again and play outside, instead of walking for hours to find some contaminated water near the rio (river).

It seems that the "Agua cerca de todos" program has definitely paid of, but they still have a long way to go to provide full coverage in the Queretaro state.

More to come Amigos.

Adios.

Yuri

#ibmcsc Mexico team 1

 Tuesday, August 7^th Queretaro, Mexico

Ola familia y amigos, que tal?

As you can see from the date signature above I have finally arrived at my final destination of Queretaro, Mexico.

I am staying at Hostel2Patios in the old centro historico of Queretaro. It is a very nice hotel and has a colonial look and feel. The whole hotel has about 20 rooms of which as of now 15 rooms are being occupied by IBM CSC participants. You can imagine that that´s causing some remarkable moments ;) 

The view from my room:

Today I would like to inform you a bit more about my specific CSC assignment. As mentioned in my previous blog I will be part of the Strategic water plan team for the Queretaro Commission of Water. The Queretaro Water State Commission is the government institution in charge of planning, coordinating and operating projects related to potable (consumable) water and drainage in benefit of the whole population of the Queretaro state.

Their main mission for the coming years is to coordinate the development of supplying water to the population of the state, ensuring the service with quality.

You might ask yourself why supplying water is their main mission, but please take into account that some parts in Mexico are quit difficult to reach (desert areas and mountains) and hence supplying water to these so called marginalized zones is still a quit difficult task. With regard to the Queretaro state currently about 9% (approximately 90.000 people) of the population still do not have access to portable clean water. Most of these people still use water from rivers, rain tanks and wells. The problem is that the quality of this water can not be guaranteed by the Queretaro state and in some cases the water is even contaminated, causing sickness and quit recently resulted in the dead of young child.

To assure that these incidents will not happen anymore in the near future the Queretaro Commission of Water has launched in 2010 the program “Agua cerca do todos” or in English “Water for Everyone”. The main goal of this program is to provide (clear consumable) water to all the Queretaro citizens by 2015.

To get a bit of a feeling of the program and the situation in Queretaro, please have a look at this 3 minutes movie. It is in Spanish but I think the context can be understood quit well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O-HfWFLHS4

The project is currently well under way and the first improvements have been made. Basically the Queretaro Commission of water has defined several infrastructure relates strategies to provide water in these marginalized zones. In terms of infrastructure you should think of pipes, water trucks bringing water to the marginalized zones, portable self-filtering systems, etc.

Although the project has definitely paid off, the Water Commission of Queretaro government would like to review their existing program and in addition would like to gain some external insights in how this program can be made more sustainable towards the future. One of the contributing factors to the sustainability issue is the relatively fast growth of the state of Queretaro in terms of population. Every day about 40 new families arrive at Queretaro state, meaning that approximately about 100 new people who need clean and portable water arrive every day.

Therefore the Water Commission of Queretaro government has asked the IBM CSC team to embark on a status review of their existing services and infrastructure of their current program “Water for Everyone”. In addition providing recommendations on how to make this program more sustainable trough the time so that also in the future all Queretaro inhabitants can benefit from clean and portable water.

So this will be my task for the coming 4 weeks. Of course I will not be doing this by myself but I am having great support from my fellow team members Pratiba (India), Monica (Sweden), Laura (USA) and Sandeep (India).

Below you will find a picture showing the majority of the CSC Mexico 1 team (coming from 11 different countries) in front of the statue of Benito Juarez (former Mexican president and considered to be one of the biggest Mexican leaders of all times).

Yesterday the kick-off session for the whole project took place at the Queretaro Government. All teams were introduced to the respective counterparts from the Queretaro government. And the Queretaro Mayor welcomed all IBM particpants to his great city. Apparently the IBM CSC project gets a lot of attention from the Queretaro press. Interested about what was said during this kick-off meeting, practice your Spanish now:

http://www.queretaro.gob.mx/documentos_interna1.aspx?q=vUYGbsxLnlgFf7VYr0Z6fn7xIHaMiJIc  

More to come in my next blog in a couple of days so stay tuned ;)

Buenas noches

Yuri

#ibmcsc Mexico team 1

Dear friends, family and colleagues,

At the moment of writing this blog I am flying with United Airlines flight 125Y from Amsterdam to Washington Dulles airport at a height of about 30.000 feet. After I have landed in the USA, I will have a stop over and then continue my flight towards my final flight destination of Mexico City. ETA 9pm Mexican time.

If you don´t believe me, check out this picture:

Today August 3^rd 2012 my IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) assignment has finally kicked-off. After a 12 weeks pre-assignment period of conference calls and online training, the real fun is about to commence in the coming 4 weeks I will be in Queretaro, Mexico.

Before I start talking about my actual CSC assignment I would like to briefly tell you something about the IBM CSC program and the city I am located at during my assignment, Queretaro. The information with regard to the IBM CSC program I will provide you with in this blog is derived from the IBM Corporate Social Responsibility report 2009. This will save me some time and it’s probably better explained as well ;). With regard to Queretaro I will take the pencil myself.

So what is the IBM Corporate Service Corps?

The Corporate Service Corps (CSC), often called a “business version of the Peace Corps,” is a philanthropic program that deploys IBMers to help solve complex problems in developing countries. For host countries, it is a chance to benefit from IBM’s expertise in working on economic, social and environmental sustainability challenges. For IBMers, it is a leadership development opportunity like no other. Since the program launched in July 2008, the CSC has deployed more than 700 IBMers from 47 countries on 70 teams to Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Ghana, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey and Vietnam. The CSC experience spans six months: three months of preparatory work completed as a team, virtually, one month overseas and two months post-service. All projects work at the intersection of business, technology and society. “Clients” include entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and governmental agencies.

So how does a typical CSC engagement works?

Early 2009, six IBM executives set off for Vietnam with the intention of helping city planners, entrepreneurs, and NGOs develop a road map for a smarter city in Ho Chi Minh City. The IBM team came from varying geographical and professional backgrounds. Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, the team began a three-week, three-step process of gathering data, framing the problems and crafting recommendations. Under the direction of local leadership at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, the IBMers split into teams and focused on four critical areas of concern for the city: food safety; water management; transportation; and developing

a high-tech ecosystem..

During the first week, each team member spent time building relationships with key stakeholders, and traveling throughout the city and outlying areas to better understand the issues. “In my case, the city was interested in ensuring food quality and safety, and developing a plan for how to respond in the case of a food emergency,” says Michele Grieshaber. “So in that first week, I visited a vegetable farm, a vegetable processor, a seafood processor and exporter, a wholesale market at night, a clam farm, and a shrimp farm. We met the people that are part of the supply chain, we asked questions, and we tried to understand the process and the problems.”

Over the course of the next two weeks, team members spent time researching best practices in other countries, consulting IBM experts in each of their respective focus areas, and presenting recommendations for pilot programs with city experts and officials. They presented the city with specific guidance for how to collect, integrate and analyze information about the various urban systems, and how to view them as one, fully interdependent system of systems. “I think more than anything we were an impetus, a chance for different city departments to come together and view the problems in a new way,” says Grieshaber. “And for me, I came to understand that the problems in Ho Chi Minh City, or Vietnam, are not isolated or unique to this area. These are important parts of global systems. So if Vietnam has a problem, we all have a problem.”

For those who are interested a nice CSC alumni movie of about 3 minutes, follow the below Youtube link:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kPovnNR01I

Queretaro, Mexico

So, now about my CSC assignment in Queretaro, Mexico. Yes Mexico;) A country to which I have never traveled before and therefore I was quit excited when I heard that I was being selected for the IBM CSC Mexico 1 team.  My fellow CSC teammates and I are the first team ever assigned to Mexico. So far only Brazil and Chile were chosen as CSC countries in Latin America.

So when I was told that the city of my assignment would become Queretaro I was very curious to get to know a bit more about Queretaro As I had never heard of Queretaro. Of course we all know Mexico City, holiday places like Cancun, sunny Acapulco but Queretaro……

Let me give you a short update of Queretaro, to be even more precise Santiago de Querétaro (pronounce as K’eretarhu). It is the capital of the Mexican state Queretaro de Artega. This city, which lies at an altitude of about 1800 metres, inhabits approximately 600.000 people, while the whole Queretaro agglomeration accounts for about 1 million inhabitants.

Queretato is located about 200 kilometers NW from Mexico city:

A nice fact to mention as well for all Dutch people complaining about the weather, even during the summer period in Mexico heavy rain can occur on a regular basis. So this also accounts for Queretaro. Thus I will be staying during the wet season, however with an average temperature of about 20-25 degrees Celsius. So rain and shine through the day……

Ok, I think is is enough information for you all to absorb for one blog.

When I arrive at Mexico City I will stay in the ”Grand Prix hotel” and there I will meet my fellow CSC participants during a dinner for the first time. How exciting ;)

Tomorrow morning I will continue my trip towards Queretaro by bus with all CSC participants. Expected 3 hours drive.

From now on I will try to post something (of course only relevant topics..) on my blog every 2 or 3 days so that you all can follow me on this great journey through Mexico and Quererata in particular. 

During the course of this program and my blogging activities I will try to figure out why Corporate Social Responsibility really matters. More on this topic to come, so stay tuned.

In my next blog I will dive into my specific CSC assignment and share some more details with you all.

For now hasta la próxima

Yuri 

#ibmcsc Mexico team 1

My first blog post ever......

Dear all,

As of today I have created my first BLOG. ;)

In the coming 5 weeks I will start sharing my IBM Corporate Service Corps assignment (Queretaro, Mexico) experiences with all of you.

More information will follow soon.

Adios amigos.

Yuri


The Queretaro Aquaduct:














#ibmcsc Mexico team 1