After having had a fairly relaxing weekend, I was ready again to get my week started. I am not sure if I was too excited to get started or if reality brought me back to earth when realizing that I actually had to do constantly something administrative. In addition to a vast amount of e-mails, calls, event registrations, and other secretarial tasks, I had a lunch meeting with the president of the Young Trade Professionals (YTPs; a sub-organization of WITA, in other words WITA for mid-20s).
The meeting showed me that the executive committee of the YTPs, of which I am also supposed to be part of, is actually not necessarily interested in incorporating the intern's personal inputs about newsletter graphic or event ideas. I was subtly told that I am good enough for copy pasting!! I thought I did not hear right!! Of course I smiled diplomatically, like I have to do it at first in the DC world (actually in every other world as well). My first executive meeting with them will be next week, and we'll see if I will still only smile and nod.
The afternoon was filled with preparation for the board meeting for Tuesday, and it was great to see that both the Program Coordinator and the Executive Director felt good about the achievements of WITA according to budget, membership increase and event planning.
In addition to this positive vibe, I was told that I can attend an embassy briefing about the Bali package, of the law firm that is giving office space to WITA Tuesday morning. After that I will attend right away the board meeting, and in the evening I planned to dedicate my attention to the State of the Union.
Tuesday morning I was full of energy for the day because I knew that I will make interesting observations both at the briefing and the board meeting.
Starting with the briefing I got the confirmation that law firms not only consist of lawyers, but also of lobbyists that represent the firms interest in receiving potential clients. Therefore, the actual intention of the briefing was not to make a detailed analysis about the Doha round, and the Bali package, with a specific focus on trade facilitation, but to network with the present ambassadors especially from developing Asian and African countries that might have issues with US companies. Consequently, these countries might become paying clients for the law firm. All in all the lobbyists did a good job on trying to persuade that trade facilitation is the only way for developing countries to get out of poverty (however, I still did not buy it, and also the ambassador of South Africa was not convinced).
Second event of this day was the board meeting which was not that interesting like I hoped it could have been. I was busy taking the minutes and did not grasp and comprehend too much of the content. Nevertheless, in the last five minutes was decided which board member is going to talk to which Congressman/-woman who might be a potential speaker for upcoming events, and who might be willing to reveal certain trading secrets that the U.S. intends to implement.
My Tuesday finished with watching the State of the Union. Being in D.C. right now gives it a complete different feeling because first of all, I am in the same city like the people present on TV, especially considering Obama!! Second, I understood better why people shake hands all the time, smile to each other, or give standing ovations, even when being from the opposite party.
That is diplomacy, the art of pretending to enjoy the company of those that are extremely annoying to you.
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