@ Wedding...

Rainy weekend on the approach. Heading up north to pay respects in Eau Claire and enjoy yet another @ wedding, Ami/French Kelly/Rodolphe and well of course pick up a case of Leinenkugels. Lets see which nomads are up yonder...

Hola Dudes and Dudettes

Have had some trouble publishing lately... had a coffee attack on my laptop recently which caused some short-term bleeps and groans but in the mid-term my laptop seems to have taken advantage of the caffeine and is actually running better than before the latte shower... keep your fingers crossed.

?! ?!!? ?!!!!!!

Quick Change. Emphasis on "Quick"

World Cup Futbol

So its just under 14 hours before the beautiful event kicks off in the 66,000 capacity stadium chosen to host the German national team in the opening match in beerstadt München.

I have tipped the USA into the final eight as they achieved in 2004. And the world is SOOOO unfair. Joe - Gery has a ticket for the Czech vs. USA in Schalke. And Roland - Scwheiz has a ticket for the same match. As well as a ticket for Switzerland vs. Togo in Dortmund and Switzerland vs. Republic of Korea in Hannover. Never mind all the test matches, training sessions and friendly's he has recently experienced...

...But at least I have a killer seat for the opener tomorrow... Guess where?

In Milwaukee steht ein Hofbräuhaus,
Eins, zwei, g'suffa !!
Da läuft so manches Fäßchen aus,
Eins, zwei, g'suffa !!
Da trinkt man Bier nicht aus dem Glas,
Eins, zwei, g'suffa !!
Da gibt's nur "die große Maß!"
Eins, zwei, g'suffa !!

Restaurateur Hans Weissgerber III of the Weissgerber Group recently opened the Old German Beer Hall, located at 1009 N. Old World 3rd St. re-introducing Milwaukeeans to an authentic Bavarian beer hall experience...

and if you have not filled your brackets yet; get it done!!
here's the wallchart

Eins, zwei, g'suffa !!

the way I see it...

yeah, that's me...
Scott Lehmann shares his philosophy on enjoying life

apparently I'm also living several years a head of where I currently am so the way I see it, I should have life figured out pretty damn soon!

all about Scott

May Dispatch

I've been slacking in May with regularizing dispatches so this one is a bit of an update before May abruptly turns into June...

Da Job: The semester has ended at Stritch and that has meant lots of program preparation for small groups of students (10-15) who have all been readying themselves for short-term excitement abroad via three-week excursions: Art in Italy, Spanish in Mexico, Culture & History in South Korea and Service Learning in Tanzania. All the groups are out the door except Italy and the institution is rather quiet now that summer vacation has started up. And there is something satisfactory about helping students prepare themselves (in many cases) for their first major travels abroad. Fri. was great driving the van of Tanzania travelers to the coach bus station for the ride to Ohare airport. And now I'm looking fwd to making my office into an inspiring place, getting some much needed systems into place and doing a bit of reseach...

Da Grooves: Middle of May, I managed to catch Eddie Vedder with his signatire bottle of wine in hand at the United Center in Chi-town with the Hoe (Pat Roe) from Mad-town. Excellent seats, great view, we pre-partied with the rest of the fans in the only place (the Billy Goat) within miles of the arena after enduring a downpour that had the pressure of a fire-hydrant erupting. As always Pearl Jam chose some random no-name band to open up, but their no-frills sets rocked out with a couple great encores and lots of the Ten album along with a few new grooves.

Da House: So my doorbell has been ringing more frequently as of late and I go to the door and sometimes no one is there. What the muck?! Last Sat. I wake up at 5:30 am to my doorbell ringing... and after a few minutes of rolling over in la-la-land I hear lots of pounding on the house and yelling... and more doorbells. Poking my head out the window, I realize that the MPD are pounding on the door of the neighboring house and generally making a ruckus! And that's when I made the connection seeing the police punching the doorbell and hearing mine ringing that my doorbell frequency must be the same as the neighbors. Later in the day the washing machine rebelled and bust a belt. Fixing the doorbell was a ten minute job (after telling the MPD to refrain from pushing the bell) Wash Machine took a few days for the fix.

Da People News: Claude is gonne be MCP in Bahrain. Kelly is doing the classic American-French wedding sometime in 06. Oliver & Nina were just in NYC interupting their nine-month around-the-world gig for interviews. Great stuff, they will be teaching and getting shot at in NYC starting in August. And I just heard they both kicked Digs out of his place in Shanghai after resuming their worldly travels. Sara (SIT) also dropped in for a Sat. from Mad-town to visit and chat about solving the world's problems through Intl Education...

Da Weekend: This weekend was a three-dayer given the National Memorial Holiday on Monday. Found myself Sat. aftenoon in the Nomad to watch the France-Mexico friendly game. World Cup is 11 days out!!! And I'm naturally in the process of converting my garage to a futball arena and in the market for a good grafiti artist to get the fans up on the wall before June 9th.

Within five minutes of being at the Nomad, the guy next to me is asking the waitress if she knows anyone who wants tickets for Milwaukee's own Violent Femmes for the evening debut of the newly-remodeled Miller Oasis stage at the Milwaukee Summerfest grounds. Hell-yeah! The Miller Oasis Stage has been rebuilt on a site facing east from under the Hoan Bridge and will has almost double the seating capacity of the old stage. New landscaping and improved sight lines contribute to the improvements.

Next to surprise-directing Kazu and Hisako (SIT) through downtown construction (Kazu is on his way cross-country from Seattle to Brattleboro and Hisako is wrapping up nearly a year internship in the Intl Programs Office at Beloit College in Wi.) and finally meeting Telemaco (Milwaukee-Madison trainee/travel-audit-stud at Johnson Controls) and finding dinner at the Greek place on Brady st. I managed to get to the Lakefront in time for the opener Ben Folds Five.

Miller stage is looking nice with a lot of VIP spaces (Miller Corporate) and a couple of big screens in case you are standing on the last picnic table this summer. Milwaukee's own Femmes played a great gig to the pre-summerfest crowd and my surprise of the night was an approx. eight piece horn section on stage for a few grooves with Dale Bigus (trumpet player my highschool jazz teacher!)

Some traditional sheepshead card gaming with the family in New Berlin the other day and the first aerobie session on Bradford beach today with Kevin, Amanda (is in town) and Justin (Red) - overnite beardless and 10 years younger - whilest observing the MPD and local television-news scene unfold.

So that about does the May Dispatch...

Da Next Weeks: hoping to meet up with Claude and BG at some point in the near future...

and oh yeah, my cousin Barry is getting married soon (destination wedding) in Maui, so I put ten days on the calendar for vacation on the West Shore of the island and am excitingly pouring over Lonely Planet and an extensive map of the the Hawaiian Islands trying to figure out the game plan as the family will be enjoying some quality time together in the Pacific. Need to find a snorkel and some fins!

cheers!
-Milwaukee Area Dude (M.A.D.)

Breaking Newz !!

The one and only NFL 3X MVP Brett Favre
returns for his 243rd consecutive start
and final Green Bay season in 2006!

There will be NO other news in Wisconsin tomorrow ;-)

Because you never climbed the Eiffel Tower...

Bonjour! So Thur. Mar. 16th its off to the city of Viennoiserie, Claude Monet, Moulin Rouge and of course the Eiffel Tower. Stritch has offered a student-faculty-staff program abroad in the traditional spring break period over the last years to places like London and Guatemala. I'm departing from Chitown at ORD and flying thru NYC over LGA and JFK and into the north-east situated CDG in Paris. Were staying in the Hôtel André Latin accross from the Luxembourg Gardens and at the same named metro stop.



The last time I was in Paris for an extended weekeend was with Amy Weatherhead and Mark Muirhead around Spring '95. And I seem to recall sneaking a couple big bottles of champagne up on to the Eiffel Tower. One bottle we finished with the help of another foreign couple whilest overlooking gay Paree and the second bottle blew its cork due to all the travel-pressure on the return to the hostel in the metro train and smacked a Parisian in the head!

Looking fwd to visiting the Crêperie and re-discovering the cultural diversity in Paris. Hopefully I will run into CCERster Conny who is currently studying on the South-East side of the fashion capital. I'm also looking fwd to experiencing the chunnel train from Paris to London. I will be in London for two weekends (25.03 and again on 31.03) with a brief stop near Liverpool for two days in Chester and Lancaster to visit institutional exchange partners at Chester University and St. Martin's University.

And of course there is a horde of global nomads presently living and working in London and this will likely require the consumption of a number of pints! And one of the coolest SNs ever brought to Eau Claire resides these days nearby in Kent so for old-time's sake, Praveen and I will have a raquetball match and I will kick his ass again ;-)

The travel-itch has hit, but I think I will wait to pack until a couple hours before driving to Chitown (for old-time's sake!)

cheerio!

5 Loth Affair

It will be my first 5-Loth Affair tonight. 3 floors open, arcade, billiards, movie theater, grill, full bar, white-elephant drawing, secret six bucket, twister, and my favorite; the Party Quote Board. Who said what and in which context. I'm even contributing the flipchart paper! Kreuzberg will also debut his 2942A mix. In case you want to crash the gig tonite here are the coordinates. Look for my car parked in the VIP spot on the front lawn and don't forget entry costs you a secret six-pack. Over N' Out!

That Band Next Door...

So after 2.5 months in my Pierce St. upper its quite clear that Pearl Jam has an established residence, uh maybe basement studio next door. Basement shows are alive and well in Riverwest Milwaukee. I regularly see the band unloading from a large grocery-getter and more often than not am masqueraded with the sounds of a heavy grunge which migrate up to my bathroom. (yeah, the houses are built rather close to each other) And I thought I needed a radio near the tub!

The last I actually saw of Pearl Jam was in June and October of 2000. The Seattle grungers headlined one night of the 4-day annual Rock am Ring festival in Germany. Oasis could not even finish their set before Pearl Jam played due to the 60,000+ crowd demanding Peral Jam appear and assaulting the stage with toilet paper rolls, bottles etc.. from the camping sites. Rock am Ring was pretty brutal in terms of the AV supply on hand and the killer sunburn I received on the 3rd day. After the festival on the return to Giessen the exhaust fell off Joe's old shitty Ford and was dragging on the autobahn while we were playing asshole and trying to finish the AV supply in car.

Two days after returning to Wisconsin for the first time in 2.5 years in October 2000, I found myself with the Reverend Tapper Hoe at the coldest ever outside PJ concert at Alpine Valley Music Theater in Wisconsin. It was so cold, the band was wearing winter jackets and stocking hats while on stage and of course they made reference to the weather throughout the show. And some drunk-ass nearby to us in the parking lot tried to warm up by sticking his hand on my cooking grill prior to the show.

Both shows rocked out in 2000!!

One of these nights I think I will buy a 12 pack, wet my palette with a few, don my 8th-grade-too-tight Pearl Jam concert T and some ripped jeans, stumble next door with the remnants of the 12 pack and check out what the noise is all about. I'll let you know how it goes...

Insult the Prez ;-)

OK, here's your chance to insult the president. Your colorful words are posted to the website, a real letter is post-mailed to the nation's chief idiot and you receive a copy of your letter with a certificate of authenticity per post mail for framing on your fridge. All this for the rock-bottom bargain-basement price of $20.00! And you Intls can also enjoy this exciting new service. Wanna a great laugh? Read the FAQ first. Hahaha, hehe, chuckle, grin, haha

Year of Study Abroad

Yeah, Congress is just Brilliant!!

A resolution terming 2006 "The Year of Study Abroad": It only took the War on Terror to realize the resolution despite the age-old annual statistics of less than 1% of the US student population studying abroad. Now where's the money to support the resolution Lebowski ?!?!, uh I mean Congress.

Maybe we need a Study Abroad Program for members of Congress in 2006 to really support the resolution. We could send Bush to Afghanistan for a semester for starters... We'd even let him take his Mt. Bike.

Always opportunistic! At least there is a small resolution.

(The text of the resolution (S.Res.308) is available through http://thomas.loc.gov/ by using the keyword search “Year of Study Abroad.”)

Wisconsin AV Inventory

So this ultimate online AV training should be mandatory for all Faci, MC, and your OCP who will anyway end up asking some random techy geek from LC X to put out the fire in the plenary. All these years and I finally find the OC's best friend in one simple training! I would also highly reccommend this training as a stress-buster for all AI members on the second day of any IC ;-)

(turn on your speakers and let it completely download before you play it or it may be choppy)


And I had a good laugh when I got this e-mail at work recently;

To: Wisconsin region Faculty and Staff
From: AV/Media Services Coordinator

The Media Services department is currently doing audio visual equipment
inventory in the Wisconsin region. Your assistance is vital in our efforts
to address the expanding equipment and technology needs at our institutions.

If you have any equipment (including LCD Projectors), please either:
1) Return the equipment to the AV/Media Services department or
2) E-mail a brief description of what you currently have to me

Example:
Item Make Model Number Serial Number
LCD Projector NEC VT660 11110000XXX42

Thank you,
AV/Media Services Coordinator


Reading this, I initially got hallucigenic reflecting back on countless AV meetings particularly in Milwaukee, Phoenix and Detroit ;-) Specific mention goes out to a lengthy AV meeting involving several rounds of Margarita-slamming in the Hotel-Bar in Phoenix. I recall fitful moments amongst this particular OC concerning why the muck the MC required three LCDs (beamers for you Euro kids) at the same time in three different places in the agenda and why they only gave us about two minutes advance notice.

Haha, the above moments were just the beginning. Fast Forward 4 years later. Have you ever had AI ask you in a sincere manner to raise 22 LCDs/beamers two weeks before the biggest annual conference is supposed to start?! Result; Hardcore AV meeting in the MC Kitchen in Bonn, (size of 3 bathroom stalls) with 30 plus members, support people, CC, MC etc... until there was no more A (alcohol) left to make a V (violation) ;-) at some undetermined early morning hour.

Given the above memo, my reflection also led me to imagine the Rowdy Region may have left a few countless AV items around at earlier YES conferences or even lost an LCD/beamer to God knows what. The reason I can say this is as I have seen LCs get their University rights to an LCD revoked on both sides of the Great Atlantic pond within a couple year's time. No comments on which LCs those were...

So it does make sense that Wisconsin's University's are finally retrieving their AV items and calling for a state-wide inventory. Shit, at least it was only the lawn chair and not the beamer that sky-dived off the 3rd floor into the hotel pool in Phoenix! But I do recall someone from Penn spilling beer on the beamer, dammit. And the internal emotion while transporting a University LCD through the Grand Canyon or through the main train station past the drug sales on the University front lawn in a shopping cart at 2am are priceless @ experiences!

Concluding this AV reflection, I would suggest a region-wide AV meeting of any National OC members out there at a bar near me in Milwaukee. Don't forget to bring the LCD lens cover and the 50 foot DJ snake cable. I'm sure those are still in Detroit and Phoenix (respectively) too!

Hmmm....

At a zoo in Lipetsk, south of Moscow, director Alexander Osipov said monkeys would be given wine three times a day "to protect against colds," the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. Rossiya television said a circus sea lion was being treated for pneumonia with brandy body rubs.

So I'm imagining Russian visitors to the zoo throwing vodka flasks at the monkeys instead of bread or bananas. I mean is it really a good idea for the animals to be fighting colds with the bottle?! Before we know it we'll see headlines like "Intoxicated tree monkey with BAC of .25 runs over three-year-old-child-zoo-visitor after stealing employee bicycle"...


And now they've named a car after U2's The Edge...

"The Edge look is much more in vogue," said Bell. Sharing the same Mazda6 engineering underpinnings as the Ford Fusion sedan, the Edge should drive and handle well.
The Edge will also be available in Lincoln trim as the Lincoln MKX.

(photo from the show with Yesi in Toronto, Sept. 05)

What next? Ford cars with integrated ipod-stereos and U2's best of collection?!

Score!! 10,000 Points for US-GERY Match in the Oral Office!!!

Recently seen on German TV; N24, a news channel belonging to the Sat.1 Pro7-Media Group:

Bush was quoted about his relationship with the first woman chancellor Merkel of
Germany: "Wir waren 45 Minuten allein im Oval Office. Das war eine tolle Erfahrung."

Given the known distaste Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, and Bush had for each other,
this is positive news as it previously got to the point that Bush refused to telephone Schroeder with congratulations on winning the chancellorship in 2002 and even would not take a call a week later when Schroeder tried to get in touch. Yet, given the direct quote about the "awesome experience for 45 minutes alone with Merkel" I'm not entirely sure its good news and I don't wanna know what really went down this time in the oral office ;-)

And having a quick look at the Onion headliner today I REALLY don't want to know what items from the Oral office will end up on discount on Ebay! I mean the U.S. is clearly going out of business regardless of any new warm international realtionships...

Stars Out There!!

I don't even remember so many cloudy days in a row in recent times. I think they started before Christmas. But tonight returning from De Pere, Wisconsin on the highway, stars were out there!! Woohoo!! Sun is on the forecast tomorrow.

Speaking of stars and being within ten miles of the NFL's one and only true Mecca, I instinctively took the opportunity, after visiting St. Norbert's very posh International Education department today, to pay my humble respects to Lambeau Field in the city of Green and Gold.

Despite an ugly season, I gave some minutes this evening under the clouds in front of the reflective massive statues of Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi who guard the entrance near the atrium and reflected myself on the spine-tingling feeling of the 96-97 Packer seasons. I reminded myself that Green Bay still has won three more championships/superbowls in the history of the NFL than any other NFL team to date. And that I am due for season tickets in about 30 years having recently smashed the 20,000 barrier on the almost 60,000 person season-ticket-waiting-list.

The atrium was strangely quiet as I went in today and as I recalled the last game I attended in late 2001 before leaving for Africa. I wandered into Curly's pub which was as quiet as ever with only a small business meeting going on in the back. Upon leaving, I was further silenced by the great legend and tradition that is owned by none other than the fans themselves. And I cannot help but wonder what is in store for Title-Town in the upcoming 2006-07 season ??

GO PACK!!!

Emotional Start

Willy's show at Shank rocked last nite! His stage humor, musical creativity and modest personality all combined as usual for a memorable show. And there were more than a handful of Eau Claire alumni in the house including the opener. I almost felt like I was back in the Northwoods, however I was drinking Sprecher so I was certainly in Milwaukee.

And the Green & Gold concluded a not-so-exciting season today winning at the holy Lambeau Field against former GB Head Coach Mike Holmgren's impressive Seattle Seahawks and amidst the question of the month: Will quarterback and three-time MVP Brett Favre return in 2006 for another season???

Haha, and I like this one...
http://www.globalcommunity.org/flash/wombat.shtml

Life's Junctures...

Some last thoughts for 2005:

I've started to realize that I'm truly experiencing a juncture in my life. There was a good sized juncture last September when I went from hardcore AIESEC 24-7 to hardcore Master's degree 24-7, but this new juncture is like the Grand Canyon in comparison to last September's crossing the creek. And I'm very excited to experience what is in store in 2006. Perhaps I can explain this more in the new year. In the meantime I'll leave with you with my latest local hide-outs for searching out creative epiphany...

Alterra Coffee
2211 N. Prospect Ave

This joint roasts their fair trade coffee on the spot so you have a great view of the final production side of your coffee as you sit in the cafe. My colleague and boss in International Programming and I will be piecing together a short-term program for students to learn about Fair Trade whilest visiting one of Alterra's suppliers in Mexico for Winter Break 2006-07

Nomad World Pub
1401 E. Brady St.

Two reasons its great to be back in this heavanly establishment:
1) Paulaner on tap
2) Intl football news, updates and games all day long!

can I move my work-office to 1401 E. Brady?!


I'm off for a fat musical voyage with local legend Willy Porter at Shank Hall to usher in the New Year with much Brewcity tradition. Wishing you an inspiring start in your 2006.

Re-Integration Part II

what re-integration to Milwaukee would be complete without a visit to Shank Hall?! Check out inside photos under "specs" on the homepage. Shank Hall is a kinda cozy place with a good-sized stage, great sound inside, hundreds of black-white promo photos of the artists who have performed there over time littering the walls and great drinks!

So I'm listening to WMSE early in the week and learn that Mad-Town legend, LBCT (Little Blue Crunchy Things), is doing a show together for the first time in likely six years! MSE had invited the undescribable insanity into their live studio for the radio show and I knew right away I would be at the LBCT show two nites later.

Thursday nite rolls around and Shank Hall attracted a couple hundred people. I'm not in the club for more than two minutes and I bump into a former highschool colleague, Jon, who was in Symphony Band class with me. He's recording the show (with permission) and it seems like yesterday talking about cool bands we enjoyed earlier like the Pacers and MU330. And then deja vu; "Do you have any live recorded Wild Kingdom?". Today I realized that the last time I talked to Jon, probably 8+ years ago he was asking me the exact same question. haha!

I had a chance to chat with some of LBCT and their booking agent and recalled booking them for a Midwest ska show during undergrad up at Eau Claire when I worked in the concerts division of student development. Good times at Eau Claire with the UAC crowd.

LBCT produced a marathon gig of at least three hours not including the opening group. I think they covered nearly 90% of their musical repertoire. And they have matured musically given that the whole band has pursued various individual musical opportunities such as "The Kissers" (a very odd mix of celtic and punk) in various cities from Chicago to New York. Noah Tabakin is still as hyper as ever on vocals/sax and he never shuts up. He has the vocal versatility of the Jazzkantine

I started thinking mid-way thru the show, I should get a second gig bartending a couple nites a week at Shank. And I made sure to secure my ticket for the New Year's Eve show at Shank featuring local Milwaukee native and accoustic genius Willy Porter and band. Willy has been on the road or shall I say rail? lately playing abbreviated sets with a number of Canadian musicians three times a day from a boxcar-converted stage on the Canadian Pacific Railway while collecting food donations for local food pantrys along the way. A New Year's Eve show with Willy live at Shank will be just what the Dr. ordered to usher in some cheer and good tunes to fast approaching 2006!

Merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays!!

Milwaukeean German

Always funny the German words floating around in the vocabulary of Milwaukeeans...

yesterday, I'm paying for my gasoline inside instead of by credit card outside because its too cold to locate my credit card in my wallet outside so I'm waiting in line with at least four people in front of me at the counter inside where a cashier of Indian appearance and accent is chatting with customers as they pay and the conversation repeats itself nearly EXACTLY for every customer...

cashier: "hello! how are you doing today my friend?"
customer: "oh, pretty good, just fine and you?"
cashier: "wunderbar buddy!!" (irregardless of whether a male or female customer)

this made me almost bust out laughing when he proudly exclaimed "wunderbar buddy!!" to the girl in front of me who clearly thought it was as funny as I did and tried to stifle a laugh...

so next my conversation went:

cashier: "hello! how are you doing today my friend?"
me: "all good, all good, and I bet your doing wonderful today..."
cashier: "wunderbar buddy!! have a good day!"

Re-Integration Part I

yeah, I know I am back in Wisconsin and that it's winter time...

the favorite casual greeting be it at the gas station while one is filling the tank, amongst work colleagues over lunch or even calling the freight shipping agent up in Minnesota is still the same:

"cold 'nuff foya yet?!"

I've started thinking up alternative responses to this traditional Wisconsinian winter greeting beyond my standards, "awe yeah" and "you bet!" Stuff like "Yeah, I bought my car a parka jacket yesterday." or "are you kidding buddy? this is nothing! I did semester abroad in an igloo school in the arctic last year".

But, I am living up to the re-integration. I braved the cold the other nite just to go out and buy a bucket of sharp cheddar cheese for a midnite snack ;-)

Voice Of God Revealed To Be Cheney On Intercom

As usual, I'm staying on top of the Nation via the highly respected and deliriously funny Onion. And this Dec. 7th article is clearly the most logical explanation I have yet to happen upon...

Second Thoughts...

Or as the former A. Kirschner (AKA D.R.A.M.A. Queen and Head OC A.V. Meeting Initiator) recently put it... "You have a degree in AIESEC"

I had the opportunity to catch up with the whip-snapping-margarita-chugging-too-many-time-ex-national OCP a few weeks back in Burlington, Vermont over some hot coffee on a cold, windy day...

And You should see the incredible rocking office she now commands (with full-sized conference table) at the U of V. as well as the hundreds of "city dollars" she has tucked away in a desk drawer and for which she currently has sole access to spend at numerous finer Burlington establishments!!

Master's degree to do what?!

So given my second week in International Programming at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin I started to wonder about my "specialized training", nevermind the upcoming 50 years of student loans which need to be paid back and whether I had been prepared adequately for my current job!?...

The first day at work I could be found allocating 200 Pointsettias around the institution (international programming fundraiser) and last nite I was producing hundreds of flapjacks and waffles in the university cafeteria together with staff/administration under the umbrella of student development (middle of final exams student midnite pancake feed) Clearly, these are skills I picked up through $20,000+ worth of SIT classes last year ;-)

Yet seriously, I have some rocking work on my plate including an upcoming Alternative Spring Break program to Paris, meeting study abroad partners in England, supporting an academic intensive Fair Trade program with Alterra Coffee in Mexico, and enough study abroad development issues and local Wisconsin consortium research/partnering that I actually wonder where exactly to start...!

And it continues to be a small world... today I met with a colleague who works at a local institution and who is the father of an undergraduate classmate from UW Eau Claire with whom I previously enjoyed a semester abroad in Rosenheim, Germany together.

Further Brewcity Adventures await...

Get My Blog On

Yo-yo-yo!!

Greetingz from Brattleboro, VT. Based on the fact that I re-started this blog in January 2005 and did not get too far, (I lay the blame on my Master's degree work - and well a bit of laziness too) I thought I would make another more dynamic effort to create something cool here. And as I am aiming this at family, friends and people I have both recently been in touch with as well as those who I have had a lack of connection with in the past several years, I'll provide you with a short review of what I have been up to in more recent years as it will illustrate quite well the path I have followed to my latest job. (This is my condensed version of the last almost 7 years.)

In 1998 while completing my degree at UW Wisconsin Eau Claire, I accepted a US Fulbright opportunity as a teaching assistant in a "gesamtschule" in the heart of Germany in the city of Giessen about 40 minutes north from Frankfurt. The Fulbright program is now currently administered by the Council for International Exchange (CIE) Please see www.fulbright.com for more.

While in Giessen, initially from August of 98 until August of 99 teaching English and computer topics to students ranging from the 5th to the 13th classes, and working as a teaching assistant in the TEFL department at the University of Giessen, I further continued my international exchange activities with the local committee of AIESEC in Giessen (you may recall I had been active with AIESEC in Eau Claire, Wisconsin previously.)

AIESEC (www.aiesec.org) also provided me the unique experience to attend and facilitate a diverse assortment of regional, national and European-wide conferences in this timeframe. And I lived together with three of the best roommates I have ever had. (non-AIESECers) Eventually, and because I was thoroughly enjoying what I was doing and as I found myself improving my German, I re-applied to Fulbright for a second year and was granted a rare opportunity to stay at the same local school and university through October 2000.

By Oct. 2000, I was ready, somewhat reluctantly, to head back to the US and after a damn chilly re-integration concert with Pearl Jam live outdoors at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin, I found myself relocated back to Eau Claire, WI. at my undergraduate University for a short period. While continuing my activities with AIESEC locally in Eau Claire as well as nationally in organizing several semi-annual national conferences in Milwaukee, Phoenix and Detroit, I picked up some Spanish classes and decided I would be a product of AIESEC and apply for an internship abroad and hopefully, in Southern Africa.

Within weeks I was placed for 6 months to an NGO called LINK based in the middle of Maputo, Mozambique. LINK ONG basically worked in capacity building and as a link to all NGOs throughout Mozambique. I lived with a Mozambican and a Lithuanian together in a place called Baixa (meaning low place) as it was situated just blocks from the coast of the Indian ocean. Before leaving for my internship, I had also decided to pursue working for AIESEC full time on a national basis in Switzerland. After writing an application and attending the national election conference in Switzerland in January 2002, I was selected for a position focusing on outgoing exchange and membership learning activities.

After completing my African internship at the end of June 2002, I started working in Berne, Switzerland with four colleagues from India, Slovakia, Turkey and Switzerland. We collectively worked closely with nine local AIESEC committees based from nine Universities throughout the French, German and Italian areas of Switzerland. This one year position was with out a doubt the highlight of nearly eight years, mostly voluntary, of my AIESEC work. It brought me through a new level of cultural immersion, intercultural understanding and of course all over Europe and as far as away as the World Earth Summit 2002 in South Africa as well as an annual International Congress in Calgary Canada, which brings the global association of 85 plus countries together to plan the future of the organization.

In 2003 while still working for AIESEC in Switzerland I started an additional role chairing the Global Development Traineeship Taskforce which focused on the further expansion of the Development sector of traineeships AIESEC facilitates globally. This opportunity offered me the chance to facilitate and lead AIESEC's annual International Development Congress hosted in India in November 2003 after I had finished my work with AIESEC in Switzerland. After the Development Congress I was able to enjoy traveling and playing tourist for some weeks and visiting several cities in India. In this timeframe and based upon my earlier desire to pursue a Masters degree in International Education, I confirmed my plans to attend the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont which I had applied for earlier in 2001 and deferred until this point.

As I had nine months before my Master's degree academics would start, I decided to live in Zürich for a month before beginning one final role within the AIESEC organization. Starting 2004, I shifted to the former German capital, Bonn and accepted a Vice President Logistics position within a core team of nine to organize the annual AIESEC International Congress to be hosted by AIESEC in Germany in the World Trade Center in Hannover. I was based in Bonn until nearly mid July 2004 when we shifted our office to Hannover. There we expanded our organization team to include nearly 60 people and in order to implement the ten day Congress together with AIESEC International as we brought the global organization to Hannover.

Immediately after the Congress in Hannover, I returned to the States and started my Academic Year at SIT (www.sit.edu) in the profound town of Brattleboro located in the South-East corner of Vermont right on the border of New Hampshire and not-so-far-away Massachusetts. There I joined a variety of global nomads who all had their own story to tell, some having been involved in Peace Corp and others with as unique stories, international work and experiences abroad and a desire to pursue a very different kind of experiental degree as I myself had. My SIT academic experience proved to be just what the Doctor ordered and has helped me start to digest my recent year's experiences. My SIT academic term which lasted through the end of May 2005 provided me with a specialized content in International Education which fit well with the initial direction I had started to take at UW Eau Claire in 1997.

That brings this "condensed" blog to the near present. After an enjoyable summer RAing on "the hill" as it is known amongst SITers and supporting various on-campus-based-short-term exchange programs I took a short trip to French Canada and to Europe to explore some opportunities for the second phase of my degree, a required practicum or job which leads to the third phase, my thesis. I briefly visited Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Poland from September to nearly November before returning to Brattleboro.

And after some interviews and reflection I accepted an International Coordinator position. Thus as of Dec. 5th, 2005 this dude can no longer drink white Russians all day long and say "F*ck it! let's go bowling". :-( Yes, I am a "Big Lebowski" fan ;-)

I will now be leaving the recent enjoyable night life in the new Flat Street pub in Brattleboro behind in order to start a full-time position in the International Programming Office at Cardinal Stritch University (http://www.stritch.edu) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm rather excited about this opportunity as it will also prove a personal re-integration adventure being back in the Brewcity! In 2006 I expect to be focusing on my thesis given my eventual, positive discovery of a concrete rocking topic I can devote nearly 9 months towards.

For those of you who have had the grand experience of living working or traveling in the great cheese state or who may already know Milwaukee, I expect to be living in the Riverwest area close to downtown and will welcome your visit any time in the next 1.5 years! Please don't forget to bring good local beer from where-ever you are coming from ;-)

E-Mail: scott.lehmann@mail.sit.edu
E-Mail: scottmeister@gmail.com

If you use MSN Messenger you can find/add me as: chaiesecer@hotmail.com or if you are one of the 60 million regular worldwide Skype users you may also find/add me as: chaiesecer as well.

Additionally, you can link to me on either of these two networking platforms:
LinkedIn; www.linkedin.com (an International Social Networking/Job Finding Tool)
OpenBC; https://www.openbc.com/ (Europe's foremost online networking platform)

I have also re-started my personal blog at: http://scott.nomadlife.org/ (what you have likely started to read and then already fallen asleep) and will make every effort to keep it current as my Brewcity re-integration-adventure unfolds.