Stepping off the ledge

We are driving down to New York…seven in a mini van….plus enough luggage for all.  Purposefully a little crowded so that it can make the plane ride feel luxurious!

Ah the plane – we are taking Emirates – a 380 to Dubai and then one of those tiny 777 on to Lahore!  (Flight EK 202 into Dubai and EK 622 onwards) In Dubai, we split into two groups.  Most of us were able to get the direct connection, 2 hours layover in Dubai and then on to Lahore arriving at 2am (4pm EST).  The rest of the group has a more generous layover and arrives into Lahore at noon (BTW – we are leaving tonight, Saturday @11pm and get in on Monday (2am or noon).  The plan is for us to sneak out of the airport and stay with Satwat until a more respectable time in the morning, then go visit our hosts.  At noon, we will all go back to the airport for the grand welcome – our whole party and the entire Lahore Garrison Rotary.

The morning ought to allow us to change some money and get some local sims.  Monday will be a light day.  Once we have the reception and luncheon, we get to hang and rest with our hosts.  We are staying with Shezhad – last years district governor who has threatened to induct me into the Lahore Garrison, just to keep everything on the up and up.  Shezhad has a number of enterprises, one of them is management consulting.  It ought to be interesting to compare notes.

Beyond Monday, our schedule becomes much more crowded.

Tuesday: We visit a couple of schools, Shalimar Gardens, and then on to the Indian border at Wahga to watch the change of the guards and the flag ceremony with a formal Rotary reception for dinner.

Wednesday: Again the team splits: Tom and I go off to the University for a full day of training – Intro to Agile in a lecture format (max. capacity 500) followed by Advanced topics for the IT community where we will incorporate the Agile Game as well as what ever else the crowd (limited to 50) would like to cover.  The sessions are hosted I2C and the National University and sponsored by the Lahore Garrison Rotary.  We are going to ask for donations to fight Polio, but otherwise the sessions are free.

The rest of the team is going to either go to the library and the University of Veterinary Science followed by shopping.  We will get back together for dinner with Amina and Itraza.

Thursday: Here we get a change of scenery.  In the morning we head off to Islamabad.  On the way, we get to visit the salt mines and have a picnic lunch, then off to our hosts in Islamabad and a reception with the Rotary there.  We are going to stay with the District Governor, who is an agricultural consultant, so I am bringing my Transforum stuff!

Friday, there is a chance that Tom and I will get to do a training class at the Islamabad university, but it has not been solidified yet…stay tuned!

Saturday is sightseeing and a dinner meeting with the rotary, with Sunday being the reverse travel day.

Once we get back to Lahore, we will spend the afternoon and evening at the Eden Avenue Spring Carnival.  We will man the Polio Awareness booth since we were not able to be there on the Immunization Day.  Not quite the same, but we can at least push the cause forward.

Monday again, there will be more school visits and Lunch at the DreamLounge!

Tuesday is another Agile day for Tom and I  The rest of the team will get to go on several hospital visits (4).

Wednesday we are going to Head Balloki Resort (and play cricket) and then visit the Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque followed by dinner at the street market.

Thursday is the true highlight.  I am going to facilitate the rotaracters (with Julie and Tom) through a social change lab.  We have invited several notable lahorians – from the climate change and microcredit arenas, but we have not gotten any confirmations from them…yet.

The rest of the team will go off to the Lahore Museum and then we will have a late tea at the Park Plaza hotel to debrief, followed by a farewell rotary meeting.

Friday, our last day, will be free in the morning and then off to an early afternoon flight back to Dubai.  We get to spend the evening (and night, and part of the next morning) in Dubai – we may go out of the airport and see some sights, though it will be dark by the time we will have gotten out to the city.