Malaysia, 19 March 2011

My thoughts this morning wandered back to the same stage of the proceedings two years ago, in Washington DC. How stressed I was, running about getting things copied at a nearby copying shop (because it was too expensive to copy in the hotel), finding batteries for the voice recorder, being so tired from sitting up until one o´clock going over the agenda for the umpteenth time. How different the world outside the hotel, with the clean air and vast spaces of downtown Washington, just a few blocks away from the White House. When I got to the conference room today, B., my successor, seemed very calm and looked great in her smart teal knit suit.


Lessons were learned from the previous AGM in Washington. All chapter presidents had been given designated seats and some light notes were introduced. However, the formality can not be altered and we were all grateful the proceedings were brief. Just a few items left after lunch. Our International President is an absolute marvel. How long has she been going? is it six year, longer? Always in a good mood, with boundless energy. Finding a worthy successor is going to be hard!

For me, the most interesting parts of these AGM:s are when the recipients of the scholarships are announced, and the Swedish Woman of the Year. This year she is Christina Lampe-Önnerud, a pioneer in the field of environmentally friendly batteries. She now lives in Boston. See http://www.swea.org/ for further details.

photo: Fredrik Nilsson

The food served for lunch and at break-time was delicious and most appetisingly displayed.

There was a Q&A session after the AGM. I thought it went well. The atmosphere was different from two years ago; interested and enquiring. Some good questions were asked - and some good answers given. I know this sounds trite, but it is true that it is so easy to complain; much harder to achieve improvements. A session of "Laughter Yoga" ended the afternoon!

Believe it or not, we now had several hours of free time before the evening's grand dinner. R and I decided to take a walk; after a slightly zig-zag-y walk we finally found a "real" shopping centre - where normal people shop, i.e. not one where Prada and Louis Vuitton have huge shiny boutiques, like the one opposite the hotel, and actually in the hotel. It was a maze of hundreds of little shops; I think mostly run by Chinese. We hadn´t got far when R decided to have her hair done. Being manically afraid of losing my bearings I only ventured out onto two of the many floor, thinking "left at the beauty parlour with the red umbrellas, left again at the shoe shop with black trainers in the window, right at the juice bar with the girl in a purple track suit serving (fervently hoping she wouldn´t finish her shift before I got back)". I t all looked the same, you see. I bought a watch which cost me about three pounds, blue plastic strap. It still works today, so quite a good buy, wouldn´t you say?

I am now worried that this is beginning to resemble War and Peace - in quantity, not quality. So, since I really want to write about my experiences in Borneo, I will be very brief about the last evening. It was, however, very nice. Two years ago, when I had worked like a Trojan for months before the World Meeting and worked 18-hour days while actually in Washington, I was seated at the worst possible table at the Grand Dinner - we were in a corner, next to the door everyone went in & out through with this ice cold draught entering every time it was opened. We had to beg for food to be served and ended up sharing the crumbs they threw at us. Wine was not served at all until it was practically time to leave. We could not hear what went on on the stage. The humiliation was complete a couple of days afterwards when a person who had put in about a hundredth of the work I had,  sent an e-mail to the Board saying how pleased she was to have been seated at the VIP table. Oooooh, that was good to get off my chest! I was at a nice table this time. There was a splendid master (mistress?) of ceremonies, there was dancing, a fashion show, good food, lovely people....