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Happy Food in Bulgaria!

Food can be sometimes a problem if you stay in other countries for a long time, but I  really enjoyed food in Bulgaria. Everyday my customer Dimitar took us to new restaurants for lunch (our office was located at the center of the city) and our twelve CSC members hang out for dinner together as much as possible. I now realized it was so valuable time because we could not just try new food but we could also learn cultures of 8 countries at the same time through food. If you travel abroad, it’s still not easy to have this experience. I tried many Bulgarian local and other ethnic foods and loved them. Let me introduce some today!

Bulgarian local foods

① My favorite Bulgarian food “Kyufte(meatball)” !! Especially these two restaurants serve very good meatball. Q-FTETARIA Thirsty Dragon

② Kavarma : tomato based pork stew in cray pot. It’s one of the most Bulgarian traditional food.

③I don’t remember name… It’s like tomato based cold salad with eggplant:)

④Chicken soup: This is very tasty! I tried several chicken soup in different restaurants!

⑤Musaka : I tried it in Tokyo as well!! In restaurant in Sofia, it was served with yogurt:)

⑥Bulgarian pastries were also very good. I’m sure Japanese people will like them!

Ethnic foods in Sofia

In Sofia, you can try many ethnic foods as well. Especially they have many good Middle East restaurants.

①Kebab It’s my another favorite dish!! I tried at least three different kebab restaurants😆

②Syrian barbecues

③Turkish stew? with rice

④Moroccan couscous

⑤Israeli dishes

⑥Japanese ramen noodles! It was unexpected that I could eat authentic Japanese ramen with Asahi beer!

Bulgarian Yogurt

The most question I was asked from Japanese friend and colleagues after coming back to Japan was “Was Bulgarian yogurt good?”😆 You know Bulgaria is so famous for yogurt in Japan! Of course I answered “Yes!” and I should add “ Now I can’t live without yogurt anymore!” I ate it everyday and it seems that I become half Bulgarian😋

Drink in Bulgaria

① and ②: I should mention my heaviest thing in my luggage…(I payed 70 Euros because of overweight 😂) It’s RAKIA. Rakia(ракия) is Bulgarian (and other Balkan countries) alcohol. It’s made of fruit like grape, apricot, peach… etc. Be careful. It’s very good but it’s like 40 degrees!(Look, the bottles in the photo are empty😱)

③Bulgarian coca-cola(кока-кола)

④Bulgarian beer is good!! I don’t have picture but Bulgarian wine is also very good.

Now are you interested more in Bulgaria? You must plan for next vacation!

Bulgarian grill show in Plovdiv

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CSC Bulgaria 1 team members

I'd like to introduce my CSC Bulgaria 1 team members with photos😊 One of my personal goal of CSC was to take "best shot" of each member and I took more than 2600 photos in total. I'm so thankful to the team who helped me and encouraged me a lot. I wish I could have more vocabulary in English to express my feeling!! I will continue studying English till a reunion in Tokyo 2020!

Janani from US🇺🇸 (and from India🇮🇳)

She is the mother of CSC Bul1 team❤️ She is always energetic and cares about other members. She started to call me "Japanese doll" (It's a compliment!!) and everyone followed it...😃 She helped me for rehearsal of workshop and she came to our office to join our final presentation. Thank  you Janani for your kindness, lovely smile and warmth❤️

Neha from India🇮🇳 She is my shopping friend🛍 It was always fun to hang out with her!! She really values her family and prepared a lot of gift for them... So sweet😊 She's good at introducing Indian culture such as music, dance and food😉 I'm now very interested in India🇮🇳 Thank you for wonderful moment❤️ "Where's Neha?😃"

Naveen from India🇮🇳 He is one of my rakia friend🤗🥃 (Rakia is Bulgarian strong spirit) He always encouraged me to speak more and to be confident. He could know my condition just a glance at my face😂 I'll never forget your warm and kind word at the breakfast of the final presentation day. Thank you for your kindness and your generosity🤗

Ricardo from Brazil🇧🇷 He is always calm and smart... and very creative designer😊 I was so impressed by your work seeing your presentation on the closing event. I wanted to learn design from you if we had more time🎨 He is good at joking and I took them seriously many times😂 Thank you for your kindness and smile🤗

Gilberto from Brazil🇧🇷 He is the most generous member in CSC Bul1 team!! He is always smiling and listening to others... I'm sure he stayed for the longest time in the Hilton restaurant for breakfast 🍴 Thank you for sharing Brazilian dance, music and alcohol (cachaça), and being always kind💃🕺

Caro from Argentina🇦🇷 "My favorite!!" I hear your voice even now...  She loves to communicate with people and is considerate of people around her. She never stops talking😄Caro encouraged me every time and made me cry again and again!! I love you so much❤️

Alex from US🇺🇸 He is the youngest in our team... and is the No.1 coolest party guy!!😆 He was always seeking a chance to go to bar and playing with Snapchat 😄 On the other hand, he is so skilled technical consultant to help other CSC team! Great job on your work. It was fun to hang out with you to try new restaurants🍴Thank you for the great moment🍻

Josephine from NewZealand 🇳🇿 She is expert in marketing 😊 She helped our team a lot to develop marketing plan and to prepare for the workshop which we had with customer. She is so energetic and never know to be tired!! It was amazing🤣 I love your openness and an attitude of positiveness toward everything😊❤️ Cute kiwi girl🥝🐨💕

Tao from China🇨🇳 Tao is always calm and steady🙂 He listen to people very well and is willing to learn new culture. He is good at self management... I was so surprised that he started going gym from the second day in Sofia🚴🏻 I must follow your example!! Thank you for always helping me a lot. We must see very soon in Japan🤗

Amit from India🇮🇳 He is expert in marketing and lead our team for first two weeks😊 He is so trusted by our customer since he sounded very convincing and very logical. It was great honor for me to work with him. He is also our teacher of Indian dance😃 When we meet next time, I have to learn dance from him💃 Thank you for the great moment. I was so lucky to be the same team with you😆

Jason from China🇨🇳 He is so energetic and has a lot of ideas in various perspectives. He surprised our customer again and again with his new ideas. I know how much effort and time he spent for the project... He is so passionate guy!! He loves meat and tried different types of meatball and "slowly cooked pork" as much as he could😂 I gain weight  because I followed him for every lunch😱 It was a lot of fun to spend one month with you. Thanks a lot😊

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IBM Corporate Service Corps Bulgaria 1 team Closing Event

This is the final of final... The closing event of CSC Bulgaria1 was held on Nov 10th. All customers, IBM executives and all CSC members got together to close this assignment. 

The first and the last time to listen to other 4 team presentations. It was great to know how teams worked to solve issues for 4 weeks. Everyone was very confident and gave great presentations.

Green Sofia team

BEAT team

Air BG team

Our CIE team was the last turn of 4 teams. Iva, Dimitar and Dobrin joined us to listen to our presentation. 

Jason attracted people and made them laugh with wonderful presentation skill!!

I was nervous but my feeling totally different from the kick-off day. I'm still not confident but could handle with myself to look confident. While I was talking, I saw my CSC members and CIE team was encouraging me.  Thanks everyone!!!

After 3 months of the pre-work and the assignment in Sofia, our CSC journey is approaching to the end. I'll continue this blog for a while because there are a lot of things to record.

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Final Presentation

On Nov 9th, we gave the final presentation to our customer.

Jason and I introduced our proposal about CIE plan. Most of CIE members attended to listen our presentation. All the 4 week work such as interview with CIE team, schools, stakeholders and discussion is assembled into this presentation.

Group photo with CIE team

In the middle of the assignment, our team member Amit had to leave Sofia to take care of his family in India with unexpected reason. It was so unfortunate that we couldn't finish this assignment together. Amit is an expert in marketing and has strong leadership. He was trusted by our customer. But of course his family is the most important. Hope everything is going well.

After Amit left, Jason and I discussed a lot everyday even after dinner and prepared for the final presentation. Amit also helped us from India and joined our final presentation via Zoom. Thank you Amit!!

Amit on Zoom!!

Jason is very creative and has a lot of ideas which I can't come up with. He encouraged me everyday. Jason, I'm sure that you worked the most in CSC Bul1 team!! I'm so proud of you and I'm happy to work with you. Very confident presentation

I hope our work helps CIE and education in Bulgaria. I came here to give them a consultation but I've learned so many things from CIE team. I've been always so impressed by your dedication to the education. Thank you everyone for welcoming us with smile everyday. I was so happy and comfortable in CIE office!

With Iva, CEO of Centre for Inclusive Education

With Dimitar and Eli from CIE

After the presentation. I was so relieved!!

In front of the office:)

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IBM Design Thinking Workshop

IBM Design Thinking is a methodology to develop a user journey by understanding who are the users and what are their real needs. We held a Design Thinking Workshop with our client to develop marketing plan.

I spent almost a whole week to prepare for the workshop. IBM Design Thinking is well designed and you can find good toolkit for workshop on intranet, but it takes time to being facilitator since you need to completely understand how to manage workshop as a facilitator.

I gathered information in IBM as much as possible and asked to my colleague in Japan to share his knowledge. My CSC team members also helped me for rehearsal. I could be ready for the workshop thanks to you guys!!

The workshop went well! We had 15 people including a school teacher and principals. Everyone was very participative and created a lot of ideas. It was hard to manage time because every discussion became very hot. The entire wall of CIE office was covered with hundreds of stickies!!! Thank you everyone for spending a whole day and creating so many ideas.

After the workshop, some people came to me and told it was very useful. I'm so glad to hear that!

IBM Design Thinking is not only process or workshop methodology but also a way of working and culture of team working. Hope that this workshop helps CIE and that they will be able to have a workshop themselves next time.

IBM Design Thinking とは誰がユーザーで、ユーザーが何を求めているのかを理解することで顧客体験を可視化し、営業活動やマーケティング活動の計画を立てる一連のプロセスです。お客様のマーケティングプラン作成のため、お客様を巻き込んでDesign Thinking ワークショップを行いました。

インタビューの合間に、一週間かけて準備をしました。IBM Design Thinking は体系化されており社内のイントラネットにファシリテーター向けのツールキットも用���されているのですが、ファシリテーターとして中身をきっちり理解するには時間がかかります。日本にいるメンバーにも情報をもらったり、CSCのチームメンバーにも夜遅くまでリハーサルに付き合ってもらってなんとか当日を迎えることができました。練習に練習を重ねたら、あとは自信を持って明るく1日乗り切るのみ！

ワークショップは大成功。お客様に加え、お客様が招待してくださった現役の校長先生や先生を含めて15名。みなさん積極的に参加してくださって、新しいアイデアが次々出ました。ディスカッションが毎回盛り上がりすぎて時間管理が大変でしたが、終わってみればお客様のオフィスの壁一面がポストイットだらけに！みなさん写真を撮ってましたよ。貴重な一日を費やして参加してくださり本当にありがとうございました。

ワークショップのあと、有用だったとか、いい経験になったと何名かの方に声をかけていただきとても嬉しかったです。

IBM Design Thinkingは単なるプロセスやワークショップの方法論ではなく、働き方やチームワークの文化そのものを体現する機会だと思います。この文化が根付き、次回はお客様自身でワークショップを実施されることを願っています(^^)

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Visited IBM Bulgaria office in Business Park

IBM Bulgaria has three offices in Sofia. Janani, Naveen and I visited Finance Center in Business Park last week.

Bulgaria is becoming one of the emerging market because of the large variety of spoken languages. Many people can multiple languages... I want to see some Japanese speaking Bulgarians:)

There were about 30 IBMers who are thinking to apply CSC. We got a lot of questions about CSC projects, application, things to do before applications, and impression about Bulgaria. It was great time to see local IBMers and talking about my experience. It reminded me of the time of my applications and two year waiting time after being accepted. 

We also met a IBMer who has just been accepted as 2018-2019 CSC member among participants. Congratulations! He is the first CSC selected in IBM Bulgaria!! I hope his journey will be a great one and many IBMer will follow him.

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Vitosha Mountain!!

Every morning, I see the VItosha mountain from the window of hotel. After the very cold week, it has beautifully snowcapped.

Vitosha mountain reminds me of Yatsugatake, which is a beautiful mountain in Yamanashi, Japan.

After taking two ski lifts, the view was totally different from city of Sofia! It’s like the world of “Frozen”!!

Let it go~

Jump!! Photo by Jason

Hot soup, hot chocolate, and rakia (Bulgarian strong riquor) at the hut... I didn’t want to go out!!

Center of Sofia from the lift.

After descending the mountain. It was freeeeezing, but wonderful moment with team:)

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Community Service Event

CSC gives a great opportunity to get to know with people who are trying to make world better in Bulgaria.

Last Saturday, we got a chance to join a whole day brainstorming session hosted by Reach for Change. Reach for Change is a global non-profit that improves the lives of children and youth by empowering and developing social entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. Reach for Change works with social entrepreneurs after a rigorous selection process, and then develops them through accelerators and incubators.

We had 4 “Power Brainstorming” with different organizations.

1. Geograf BG

2. Vratsa Software Community Association (VSC) + Inveitix Ltd.

3. Listen Up Foundation & TotalK Ltd.

4. LoveGuide

For each session, we had only one hour. In this short time, we needed to understand about  the organizations and their challenges, and to give some new ideas from an objective perspectives. Jason and I used a lot of stickies and flip charts for the discussion. It’s our style :) Marketing knowledge which we learned from Amit was very useful. It’s easy to explain and customers.

Through this session, I was impressed by people I met who are trying to resolve the issues around children and youth. 

It was not just a brainstorm session to give some new ideas to the organization, but also I learned a lot about Bulgaria and the world.  Thank you for giving such a great opportunity. 

IBM team and Yuri from Reach for Change

With members from organizations

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School Interviews

We’ve done a lot of interviews with school principals and teachers in Sofia and cities outside Sofia. Even in Japan, you can’t have this experience. Our team definitely traveled the most among 4 CSC Bulgaria 1 team :)

Our main goal of visiting school is to know what are the real needs and thoughts of principals and teachers in Bulgaria. All schools we visited have been working with Centre for Inclusive Education. We tried to understand what they do and think in their daily job to give good classes to kids, to take care of kids with special educational needs, to manage a school, and have good relationships with parents. We learned a lot. I’m sure that these activities will help us to develop our deliverables.

I’d like to thank you to school principals and teachers who spend time for as and answering a lot of questions. Also, I’m really thankful to Dimitar from CIE who coordinated and supported all interviews.

In Teteven

In Teteven

In Bategrad

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Already half passed

Almost two weeks have passed since I came to Bulgaria. It means already the first half passed.

Bulgaria became one of my favorite place. I’m already feeling sad about that we only have two weeks here.

Actually, I was so nervous at the first few days here. I thought my heart would break off. This is the first time for me to be in the environment without Japanese. Even when I lived in France, I had some Japanese friends. This is a big difference for me. I applied CSC because not only I wanted to make an impact on the world and to work with people from all over the world, but also I wanted to change my biggest weakness. It is that I am not that outgoing and that I can not step forward because of fear of failure. I regret over and over again because of my character.

When I arrived at Sofia, I was totally overwhelmed by other members. They are energetic and became friends so quickly. I couldn’t keep up with the conversation. I couldn’t say less than half of what I was thinking although I took English lessons everyday before coming. I thought I shouldn’t have come here.

On the kick-off day, I was so nervous and my mind went black while introduction! I totally forgot what I wanted say the most (I wanted say I was so excited to be in this project because I have strong passion about education). I was so depressed.

After the kick-off, Caro, IBM member from Argentina came to me and said “I’m really proud of you.” I couldn’t help tearing up for joy. Other members came to me one after another and . I’ll never forget this moment. Thank you so much everyone.

A week had passed, I started to be able to say what I wanted to say. In the second week, I’m still not a good speaker, but I’m trying to keep up because I want to be helpful for others, I want to know about my customer and Bulgaria, and I want to become good friends with everyone.

CSC is special experience for everyone. I again realized that I should make the most of this once in a life-time experience and bring back to Japan!

ブルガリアに来て2週間。つまり、もう折り返しの時が来てしまいました。

ブルガリアは大好きな場所になり、もうあと半分なんだと思うとすでに寂しくなります。こう思えるのも、ここで出会った人たちのおかげです。

実は、到着から数日間は、自分の心が折れて1ヶ月もたないんじゃないかと不安で仕方ありませんでした。日本語が全く話せない環境になるのは人生初めて。こちらに来て日本人には一人も会っていないし、留学した時でさえすぐに会って話せる日本人の友達がいたのでこれは大きな違いです。 CSCは、もちろん人の役に立ちたいとか、世界中の人と働いてみたいという気持ちで応募したのですが、それ以外に自分に決定的に足りないものをなんとかしたいという気持ちがありました。それは、人見知りで怖がりなところと、いつも一歩前に踏み出せないことです。（そうでもないよと突っ込まれそうですが。笑）何度となくそれで後悔してきて、実を言うと今でも留学は私にとって苦い経験なのです。

とにかく、ブルガリアに到着してみたらみんなの勢いに飲まれました。みんなよくしゃべるしあっという間に仲良くなっていきます。焦ります。気軽な会話についていけません。あんなに毎日英会話やってたはずなのに、言いたいことは半分も言えなくて、あーほんと全然ダメだって思いました。来るべきじゃなかったのかもしれないって。

とどめにキックオフの自己紹介では、いちばん言いたかった台詞が緊張のあまりに飛んでしまい(教育への強い思いがあるからこのプロジェクトに入れたことが本当に嬉しいと言いたかったのです)、真っ白に。なんとか取り繕ったものの気分は最悪でした。

そんなとき、アルゼンチン人のCaroが声をかけてくれました。みんなの前で堂々と話して、Shioriを誇りに思うよって。嬉しくてほっとして、涙が出ました。だめじゃないって。そしたらみんなが駆け寄って来てくれて次々に声をかけてくれました。本当にあの時のことは一生忘れないと思います。本当にありがとう。

1週間経って、少し自分の意見が言えるようになって、2週間経って、今でも英語は下手くそだけど、それでもとにかく役に立ちたいし、お客様のこともブルガリアのことももっと知りたいし、みんなと仲良くなりたくてがんばっています。最初の半分はみんなに助けてもらうばっかりだったので、後半はもっと貢献したいです。

みんなそれぞれいろんな思いを持ってCSCに来てると思います。一度しかできないこの経験、最後までしっかりやり遂げて日本に持ち帰りたいと思います。

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Beautiful Ancient City, Plovdiv

The beautiful, second biggest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv- we visited as one-day tour on the next day of the 5 hour hiking!

The city of Plovdiv was ranked 6th amongst the oldest living cities in the world. I was so fascinated by the beauty of the architecture and the atmosphere of the city. If you visit Bulgaria, you should definitely include Plovdiv in your itinerary!!

Regional Ethnographic Museum

Lovely color... It is like a house in a fairy-tale:)

The Ancient Roman Theatre. It was the first time for me to see this typical outside theatre！

Together… We are the best team!!

 ブルガリア第二の都市、プロウディフ。5時間のハイキングの翌日に全身筋肉痛の体を引きずって行ってきまし��よ！（笑）

プロウディフは世界で6番目に古い都市だそうです。美しい建築物に、街の雰囲気。すっかり魅了されてしまいました。ブルガリア人に聞いてもプロウディフはいちばんお勧めだと言っていたので、ブルガリアに旅行の際は絶対外せない場所です。この赤い屋根、東欧っぽいですよね。

その魅力を少しだけご紹介しますね。2日ぐらいかけて回りたかったな〜。

民族博物館

可愛い美術館とおうち。童話の中から出てきたみたいですよね。

街中で見つけたTogetherのモニュメント。2人具合が悪くて不参加だったのがとても残念ですが、ベストチームです！！

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Rila seven lakes

Weekend excursion to Rila seven lakes.

Amazing view and beautiful blue color of water at 2500m elevation. I’m sure I couldn't make it without your help. Thank you everyone.

週末日帰りでリラ7つの湖へ。こんな青色があるんだ…っていうぐらい濃い空と湖の青色。いちばん高い湖は標高2500m！登山の経験ほぼゼロの私にとっては人生いちばん高いところでした。朝から貧血���味な上にどんくさい私をいっぱい助けてくれたチームのみんな、本当にありがとう。

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Bulgarian cooking class!

I took a cooking class of Bulgarian cuisine!

Our teacher Bobby is very busy person and hold many classes everyday. We were very lucky!

Yogurt plays a starring role in Bulgarian cuisine. Everything we made was delicious and went well with Bulgarian wine!

Now I can cook them in Japan:)

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Visited the principal of 97 school in Sofia

We visited 97 schools in Sofia to have an interview with the principal. This school is one of the big school in Bulgaria and has just started implementing "the Model" of Centre for Inclusive education from September. 

The poster of the “Model” was on the wall of the school entrance.

The principal, Emilia welcomed us and told us many about what she thinks about the Model and inclusive education. It was fruitful time for us because it’s very important to see what’s happening in the field.

This splendid art is donated to the school by an alumni. Owl is the symbol of wisdom in Bulgaria.

And our interviews continue next week...

(Japanese Version)

ソフィア郊外にある第97小学校を訪問しました。ブルガリアの中でも大きな学校で、私たちのお客様である Centre for Inclusive Education のプログラム、"Model"を使った指導を9月からスタートしています。

“Model”のポスターが学校のエントランスの壁に貼ってありました！

エミリア校長先生にお時間をいただき、ModelやInclusive Educationについてどのように考えているかインタビューしました。とても実りの多い時間でした。やはり現場を見て何が起こっているのかを感じ取るのはとても大事なことです。

この素晴らしい絵は、97小学校の卒業生から寄贈されたものだそうです。ふくろうはブルガリアでは英知の象徴だそうです。

来週もインタビューが続きます！

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It’s time for consulting

We started working with our customer. This week we have had a lot of interviews with several roles of Centre for Inclusive Education and we finalized our SOW(Scope of Work) and project plan. All members of CIE are very friendly, open-minded and are working with great fervor. They are the pioneer of the inclusive education in Bulgaria and they have given a great impact on the quality of education.

I’m not a consultant, I don’t have experience of marketing, but I started to work as a consultant to develop marketing plan. A lot of challenges but a lot of fun. My teammate, Amit and Jason have a plenty of knowledge and very good at posing effective questions. It’s time for me to fully utilize my experience in transformation, agile  and KAIZEN for the project.

お客様先での仕事が始まりました。今週はとにかくインタビューとプロジェクトのプランニング。Centre for Inclusive Educationのスタッフやエグゼクティブの方々に、組織の活動内容やこれまでの成果、課題と感じていることなどをヒアリングし、議論を重ねてSOWを最終化し、プロジェクトプランを完成させました。SOWの修正に時間がかかることが多いと聞いていたので、早めに終えられてほっとしています。CIEの皆さんはとてもフレンドリーでオープンで、ブルガリアではInclusive Education(直訳？すると総合教育-つまり誰にでも開かれた教育、誰でも受け入れる教育といったところでしょうか）のパイオニアで、ブルガリアの教育の質の向上に大きな役割を担っている組織です。

私はコンサルタントでもマーケティング出身でもありませんが、お客様のマーケティングプランを作成するためにここにいます。もちろん難しさもたくさんありますが、普段の仕事にはない面白さがあります。チームメンバーのAmitもJasonも豊富なスキルを持っていて、お客様に効果的な質問をするのがとても上手です。私もこれまでのTransformationやAgile、改善活動の経験を活かさねばです！

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Kick-off of CSC Bulgaria 1 and the first meeting with the customer

Today is the real start day! We had kick-off event for the first CSC in Bulgaria. The representatives of customers, IBM executives, PIXERA Global team, and all team members got together at the same place.

After the welcome message from Angelov Nikolay from COO IBM South East Europe/ Bulgaria, Mackenzie Knowling from PIXERA Global explained their role in CSC.  Then 4 customers gave us presentations about their organizations and expectations to us. We also shortly introduced ourselves. It became a fascinating and unforgettable moment for me.

Dimitar Lazarov, Strategies, Policies and Programmes Director from Centre for Inclusive Education introduced their organization.

IBM team

With CIE team

After the kick-off, we moved to the customer office. The office of Centre for Inclusive Education is located near Cerdika station. We can go there on foot and take metro from the hotel we stay.

We had the first meeting face-to-face with CIE in their office. It’s much more better than Zoom(Web meeting)! We could get a good start of discussion about SOW (Scope of Work) and what we should focus on in 4 weeks.

Lunch with CIE team. Iva, Dimitar and Dobrin from CIE, Jason, Amit, myself from IBM.

Team photo!

いよいよスタートです！今日は、ブルガリアで初となるCSCのキックオフ。お客様と、IBMのエグゼクティブ、PIXERA GlobalチームとIBMのメンバーが一堂に会しました。

IBM 南東ヨーロッパ/ブルガリアのCOO Angel NIkolayさんからの歓迎メッセージのあと、プロジェクトのアサインから日々のサポートまでお世話になっている、PIXERA GlobalのMackenzieからCSCでのPIXERA Globalの位置づけやミッションについての説明がありました。そして4つのお客様からそれぞれ、組織の紹介と私たちへの期待についてプレゼンテーションしていただきました。最後に私たちも少しだけ自己紹介。忘れられない瞬間になりました。

私が担当するお客様、Centre for Inclusive Educationの戦略・方針・プログラムディレクターのDimitar Lazarovさんによるプレゼンテーション

IBMチーム

CIEのみなさんと

キックオフのあとはお客様のオフィスへ。オフィスはセルディ��駅からすぐのところにあります。滞在先のホテルからは徒歩でもメトロでも行くことができます。

初めて顔を合わせてのミーティング。Zoom（Webミーティング）よりずっとずっといいです！SOW（Scope of Work)についてや、4週間という短い期間で何にフォーカスすべきか良いディスカッションができました。たくさん質問をさせていただいたのですが、自分たちにはない視点をもらったとコメントをいただくことができました。明日からも続きます！

CIEのみなさんとランチ。CIEからはIvaさん、Dimitarさん、Dobrinさん。IBMからはJasonとAmitと私です。

初ミーティングを終えてちょっとほっとした瞬間のチーム写真！

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City walking tour in Sofia

Yesterday we had a walking tour in Sofia!I was very impressed by the long history of Sofia, architectures and fortresses. They still keep not only the legacy of socialism but also the ancient Roman city! 
 1. The most famous place of Sofia "Alexander Nevski Memorial Church"

2. Ancient fortress Serdika(Сердика)

3. Square of religious tolerance A Muslim mosque, a Catholic cathedral, an orthodox church and a Jewish synagogue, all four within few minutes walk of each other in the very center of Sofia.

4. Sofia is the city of hot spring! We can drink from tap in the middle of the city!

昨日、ソフィア市内を徒歩で回る3時間のツアーに参加してきました！ソフィアの長い歴史や建築、残された遺産に感動しました。ソフィアには共産党自体の遺産だけでなく、古代ローマの町が残っているんです。すごい！


1. The most famous place of Sofia "Alexander Nevski Memorial Church" ソフィアといえばここ、アレクサンダーネフスキー寺院。


2. セルディカの遺跡（2〜14世紀の城壁や門が残っています）


3. 宗教的寛容の広場 イスラム教のモスクに、ロシア正教会の教会、それにユダヤ教の教会が徒歩数分のところに集まっています。これを”Square of religious tolerance”というそうです。


4. 大使館でも聞いた通り、ソフィアは温泉の出る町！広場にある蛇口から温泉が飲めます。フランスのVichyで飲んだものとは違って、甘くて飲みやすい！（ペットボトルに入れて持ち帰りました）

5. 旧共産党本部

時間がなくて詳細を書けませんが、追って歴史的背景とともに少しずつご紹介していきたいと思います！