#ATaleOfTwoMarathons

Where to start?  I’ve been in the office a week now, diving into marathon number one: the marathon of meeting as many colleagues as I can.  I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many fantastic people already, through coffee, lunch, after work borrels, and even working through some security issues which have arisen.  (Hey, work happens, right?  It is why I’m here, after all).

The home office is a great place to be.  There are so many interesting people from all over the company (AAM, AGT, Corporate Center, and NL) converging in one place, and I’m doing my best to meet them all in two short months.  In fact, on the train to work this morning, I actually introduced one of my Corporate Center colleagues to an AAM colleague.  It truly is a small world.

And then this week there was the real marathon.  For those of you who didn’t know, I was lucky enough to run the Amsterdam marathon on Sunday.  By the way, I’ll warn you right now, this part of the blog will most likely get a bit long (and crazy runner guy-ish), so if running isn’t your thing, you may just want to jump to the end of the blog right now.  It’s okay, I won’t judge.

Still with me, faithful readers?  Cool.  In a word, the Amsterdam marathon was amazing.  As a person who loves running as much as he loves language and culture, it made for the perfect day.  I met and ran with people from over 50 countries.  Talk about a small world.  It took me over 5 hours to complete, so I had *plenty* of time to meet people.

I ran with all kinds of people: a couple from Belgium working for NATO, a huge group of hilarious Russians, an awesome guy from Ireland, tons of fantastic Dutch people (of course), two ladies from Scotland (who were highly impressed that I knew so much about their wonderful country thanks to all of our awesome colleagues in Edinburgh), a teacher from France, an Italian who worked for Mizuno (one of the marathon sponsors), and a Finnish man celebrating his 75^th birthday by running his 25^th marathon with his family.  Wow, what an inspiration.  I only hope I’m still running at his age.

So even though I ran the marathon by myself, I certainly wasn’t lonely.  After all, I had 14,000 friends to make.  Plus there was the incredible scenery.  We started and finished in the Olympic Stadium.  The.  Olympic.  Stadium.  At 4km, we ran through the beautiful Rijksmuseum.  Kilometers 14-25 were along the Amstel Canal, complete with quaint farms, lots of boats, men wearing jetpacks, and of course the windmills!  (You know I stopped to take a marathon windmill selfie!)  And since this was the 40^th anniversary of the marathon, there was music at nearly every other kilometer.  All in all, it was just mindblowing!

But… I’m trying to keep this blog as honest as possible, so it’s confession time.  Truth be told, as far as the run itself, it wasn’t my greatest.  My legs started cramping at the halfway mark, so I had to run/walk the last 22k (13 miles).  It was hard.  Ridiculously hard.  Your mind can really mess with you if you allow it.  There are a million reasons to stop, but only one reason to keep going.  However, just because I had a difficult run doesn’t mean I couldn’t still make it an amazing experience.  Running the Amsterdam marathon was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I wasn’t about to waste it.

I find life (and work) are a lot like marathoning.  Sometimes you have great days, and sometimes you have not so great days.  But you look for the good things, you work hard, and you keep going.  Sometimes you need to ask for help.  Sometimes help is already there, and you just need to accept it.  And sometimes, you just need a little pep talk.  That’s why I love this video by Kid President.  If you haven’t seen it, take the three minutes out of your life.  You’ll be glad you did.  Because we all need a reminder sometimes that we were made to be AWESOME.

What will you do to make the world more awesome?

And yes, rest assured that I’ll probably sign up for another marathon.  At least once my poor legs are back to normal.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be running one on my 75^th birthday!

#ATaleOfTwoCities

Wow, it’s been a big week.  My flight was flawless, my apartment is awesome, and I came into the office to the warmest welcome I’ve ever experienced (which is good, because the weather is quite chilly at the moment).  I’ve mostly spent the last five days getting settled into my neighborhood, my new home, and the office.  I even had a crash course in Dutch by spending Sunday with a good friend and her adorable three year old twins.  All in all, I’m finding it’s amazing how quickly a person can adapt to new surroundings.  In many respects, I already feel like I’m “home”.

It’s weird to think that just a week ago, I was getting ready to leave on this adventure and waiting until the very last minute to frantically pack everything I own.  On one hand, it feels like ages since I departed, but on the other hand, it feels like I’ve barely left.  I’m finding the world is becoming an increasingly small place every day.  With every new technology we introduce, we have an opportunity to use it to connect to others.  So far, I’ve video chatted with friends, family, and coworkers back home every day.  (Speaking of, can someone PLEASE help my mother get setup on Skype)?  *Sigh*

But enough about home.  You signed up to hear about life in the Netherlands, right?  Well, the office here is fantastic.  AGT is now all in one location, so it’s really great for collaboration.  It’s a big, open floor plan with lots of windows and natural light.  Even the meeting rooms are made mostly of glass, encouraging openness and interaction.  I’ve already had the opportunity to meet a ton of colleagues from NL, Corporate Center, and AAM… but more on that in future blogs, faithful readers.  Stay tuned.

I’m quickly learning that the best way to get to know someone in the office is through coffee (delicious, delicious coffee) and lunch.  It’s awesome how people take lunch together here.  You can tell it’s important.  For the midday break, work is temporarily set aside, and you take time to eat together, talk to each other, and really get to know one another.  For an extrovert like me who thrives on interaction with others, this is music to my (foreign) ears.

So what have I learned this week?

1. I learned (the hard way) that Dutch supermarkets don’t accept credit cards.

2. I learned the best way to learn a language is to spend a day surrounded by three year olds.  (Well, at least you learn the words for lot of animals).

3. And I’ve learned that there’s no replacement for face to face communication.  There never will be.  I get that.  But since we can’t all be lucky enough to be together, video and phone make a nice replacement.

Oh, I learned that I didn’t pack enough sweaters.  Seriously.  It’s *really* chilly.

#FirstDayOfSchool

So the big day is here.  It’s the pilot of the AGT Voluntary Employee Exchange Program, and I’m off to live and work in the Netherlands for two months.  I can’t believe it.  Sure, I traveled a lot when I was younger, but I never imagined I’d have such an amazing opportunity as an adult.

Speaking of my younger years, in many respects, heading to the Netherlands reminds me a lot like heading off to my first day of elementary school.

          Will the other kids like me?  (Hopefully)

          Will I get lost?  (Probably)

          Will I make a fool of myself?  (Occasionally)

          Will I survive?  (Most likely)

I am so excited for this opportunity.  It’s going to be awesome.  But I have a confession.  I’m also a bit scared.  I’m not talking 100% paralyzed by fear, but maybe 3.14% scared.  (For those of you out there who are math nerds like me, I call that “pi percent”).  So yeah, I admit it.  I’m a little scared, and I think that’s pretty cool.

Fear is an interesting construct.  Fear keeps us safe.  It’s that little voice which tells us to not run into traffic, to not fist fight a grizzly bear, and to not open the door for ax-wielding crazy people.  (Note to self: stop watching scary movies).  But while fear keeps us safe, it can also keep us from trying new things, going new places, and meeting new people.

Eleanor Roosevelt said you should do one thing every day which scares you.  This is not surprising advice from a woman who helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and flew a plane with Amelia Earhart.  I personally don’t know that you have to scare yourself on a daily basis, but occasionally, I do think we need to push ourselves.  It’s when we push ourselves that we find out just how far we can go.  It helps us change and grow.

I guess that’s why I keep signing up to run marathons, why I love camping in the middle of nowhere, and it’s probably why I’m getting on a plane right now.  All these things help me learn more about who I am and what I’m capable of achieving.  What all will I learn in the next two months?  I’m not entirely sure, but I’m excited to find out, and I’m excited to have you along for the ride.  Let’s try new things.  Let’s push ourselves.  Let’s live a little scared.

What’s something that you’ve done that scared you?  How did it change you?