Coming to a close.....

Well, my time here in Mexico is quickly coming to a close.  I can’t believe that 5 months has come and gone.  Seems like only yesterday we were arriving at Casa de la Condesa, getting acquainted with this wonderful country.  Everything was so new back then.  I felt like a little kid on Christmas.  Each turn brought something exciting and new.  It is a very bitter sweet feeling to be almost done.  I have had an amazing experience; learned a lot, met tons of cool people, saw some cool stuff, but it is time to get back to “real life”.  Which now kind of makes me think what life is really about.  Not to get all deep on everyone, but this experience has changed me for the better.  I have grown both professional and personally.  I have a new perspective on life, of Mexico, of the US, of the world.  I will never complain about traffic in Boston again…..  I want to continue to travel and experience everything the world has to offer; to go to new countries and emerce myself in the culture, to meet new people, learn new languages (let’s not get ahead of yourself Ramon, Spanish first….), discover new things and new things about myself.  I don’t want to be a tourist, but a traveler.  I was going to save some of these thoughts for my last entry but now I am kind of rambling.  Although I was here for work, this journey was not about work for me.  Granted we worked our asses off but it was really so much more.  I went back to re-read my blog entries and remembered the way I felt during each experience.  It was like a little trip back in time.  I initially started this blog for work but it turned into something different, something better.  It turned into a documentation on my thoughts and feelings.  It’s like an insight into what being in Mexico meant to me.  I really couldn’t be more grateful to have had this opportunity.  It is definitely something I will always remember.  I’d like to take a minute to thank anyone that has been following, thanks to Mike, Christine, and Brian for allowing me this adventure, also Michael Barger and Juan Muldoon, to Mr. Tom Scheafer for stepping up to the plate while I was gone, to Grupo Bimbo for really living what they preach; the person is the most important part of our company, to all the people I have met in Mexico and made my time here awesome, to mis compañeros; Lalo (you can’t dance, also, hold my coffee), Joe (eff your tacos brah), Chico (anything I want to write here is way too inappropriate, but I love ya big guy), Corrin (wish we got to spend more time together, you’re a great person and enjoyed the little time we did spend together).  In closing, I will leave you with this: Never be complacent.  Always continue to grow, to learn, to meet new people.  Don’t judge a book by its cover.  Everyone you meet is going through something and has a story.  Don’t be afraid to try new things.  Life begins where your comfort level ends.  Lastly, tell the people you love that you love them, and tell them often…….  Adios!             

Curso del Divisionales

So the last week and a half was probably the toughest I have had since arriving in Mexico.  We were shipped off to a new hotel to attend a course for Divisionals.  It started Thursday 6/21 and went until the following Friday.  8 days of 10 hour meetings......  There were associates from all other North, Central, and South America that attended.  We had people from Uruguay, Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, and the US.  Another one of those privileged opportunities I was able to be a part of.

The first three days weren't all that bad to be perfectly honest.  It started off with a personal development course (Desarrollo Potencial Personal).  In this course, our teacher, Jesus, taught us about work/life/family balance, motivation, being a leader, and the necessities pyramid, among other things.  It was a very personal course (hence the name).  Throughout the three days we did several activities that made you think about your life; past, present, and future.  We would brake off into small groups to discuss different aspects of our lives with our other co-workers and reflect.  We discussed the importance of personal and family growth, and making sure we made enough time for both.  I know this is probably true for a lot of you, but we spend  most of our time and energy at work.  This is because it provides us with our basic physiological needs; food, shelter, clothing, etc.  Beyond work however, we need to make sure we take care of our psychological and spiritual needs as well.  I learned about this stuff in my freshman Psychology class.  It was interesting to re-visit it to see where I am at in life.  One day for class we watched "Good Will Hunting" (which is a great movie btw.  If you have never seen it I highly recommend doing so) and another day watched "Patch Adams".  We discussed these movies and how they applied to the lecture.  Over all I enjoyed the DPP course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Sunday was a free day so a bunch of us went back to the Pyramids in Teotihuacan.  They were just as amazing the second time around.  It is still tough to beleive that they built those giant structures with no modern technology.  Touche my Aztecan friends *soft golf clap*!!

 Some of the group out to dinner.

 Not sure what we are all looking at???

 Edward from Columbia.  I had to put this pic up!!  Cracks me up every time!

 Candid of yours truly.  This picture is sick.

 Templo de Sol behind me.

 On top of the Templo de Sol, Templo de la Lune behind me.

 Some of us at the top.

 

And the rest made it.

 Monday the real hard part started.  From 8am to 6pm we were in the same room listening to presenter after presenter after presenter.  We had people come in and chat with us about everything from the different distribution channels to the responsibilities of a divisional to Trade Marketing, and everything in between.  They were loooooonnnnnnggggg days.  To top it off, we had to complete a Sales Simulator and take a test in order to pass the course.  I was very stressed out to say the least.  Not that passing this course would make or break me for my job, but it is a personal pride thing.  I want to do my best in everything I do and this was no exception.

On Wednesday we were presented with the sales simulator.  The task is to simulate an entire year of sales, adjusting your orders, space, and man power each week.  In the end, you want your final sales above your forecasted goal.  Some weeks will pop up with information that you have a sale or that some of your vendors quit and you have to adjust accordingly.  This represented 40% of our grade.  The top 5 people got full points, the next 5 for two points off, next 5 got four off, and so on.  So we started this at 5pm on Wednesday and had to finish it before mid-night.  I set off and got the hang of it pretty quick.  I felt I was doing pretty well based on how others were doing around me.  Around 9pm I completed the entire year.  I wanted to make sure I had completed it correctly, so I asked the course organizer what to do next.  He told me I had to hit the simulate button once more, so I did....... this deleted the entire years data I had just spent 4 hours generating and started me back at week one.   I was beside myself.  I didn't even know what to do.  The instructor told me to go grab some food and a drink and to start over.  I seriously haven't been that mad in a long time.  I went back to my room to calm myself down for a bit.  Eventually I calmed down and started back at it.  Joe wanted to re-do his because his first go round didn't end so well.  We linked up, got some dinner, and finally finishing the simulator around 1am.  I guess it was a blessing in disguise because I did better than my first run and ended coming in second.  The top three performers all came from BBU associates; Joe was first, following in close second was me, then Jose.  We dominated the rest of the class.  It was a pretty proud moment, especially for how upset I was.

I was not out of the clear yet.  We still had a test coming up on Friday that I was pretty worried about.  All the information came out of an instruction book that we had not covered at all.  It was our job to go through the book on our own time.  Needless to say the entire book is in Spanish which makes learning the material twice as hard.  Not only do I have to learn the content of the book, but I have to translate a lot of it, and memorize the answers in Spanish.  I went through the entire 90 page book and took my notes.  Joe and I linked up once more for a serious study session.  We went through all our notes, put acronyms to the information and quizzed each other till about mid-night.  When we were handed the test the next day, we both looked at it, and agreed that we were going to kill it.  Coincidentally, we both scored 55/65 (we didn't cheat, we both got different questions wrong).  In the end, I passed the class with a 93% which was in the top 3!!  I was super pumped!!  I had worried and stressed myself out so much for that course.  All the hard work paid off and the outcome was well worth it!!     

  Divisional Class survives!!!

 

Diploma time with my BBU homies!!  Holla!!

 The second diploma I have received in Mexico!!  I went from a Vendor to Divisional in 4 months hahaha!!

It is always kind of sad at the end of a course like this to have to say your good byes.  Over the course of a week and half you get to know so many new people and share an experience with them.  Then, all of a sudden, it's over.  Beyond the grade and diploma, the most important part for me is meeting new people.  I hope someday we will be able to meet up again.