The Viennese lovingly call it UNO City. We call it the VIC. Most Viennese don’t even know what V.I.C. stands for. It is the Vienna International Centre. And that is the third United Nations Headquarters, after New York and Geneva, Vienna.
What a week! From welcoming the Austrian Federal President to the United Nations in Vienna, to the Toastmasters Social Event, how can I sum it up?
Best is, I think just share the videos. No, the president did not come to my Toastmasters social event. I was just referring to all the things that happened to ME this week! This blog is all about me. It is all an expression of my varied, exciting, interesting, challenging life.
This is my talk as the President of the V.I.C. Toastmasters Club at Thursday’s social event. It was a wine tasting. Josef and I got back from the Conference in Brno, Czech Republic on Sunday night. Shortly afterwards, our third son arrived home with his bride from Italy. We welcomed them warmly with an extension to the single bed in the former children’s room and a double blanket to keep them warm.
I held an executive committee meeting for the Toastmasters Club at lunchtime on Monday.
The Federal President, Alexander Van der Bellen, came to the Vienna International Centre on Wednesday. I went to the Rotunda to hear Mr Fedotov, the Director of the VIC UN in Vienna welcome Pres. Van der Bellen in German. Then Pres. Van der Bellen responded in English. The whole thing took five minutes and I filmed it all. Of course I was not alone. Right beside me was the ORF team, led by Claudia Lind, who was eager to give me her business card and asked for mine when she heard that I write a blog. She confirmed to me that it was the current Austrian President’s first visit to the United Nations in Vienna. She assured me that it would not be the last. I asked her whether this would have any affect on the Austrian public’s attitude to nuclear energy. Mr Fedotov only outlined the projects of the UN and UNODC, without any mention of the activities of the IAEA. So I was a bit surprised later to find photographs together with the Director General of the IAEA in the welcoming photos with the President. I guess, somehow I did not have a clear sight of all those in front of me while filming the speech. This report from APA.
On Thursday night we held the Toastmasters Club event and I gave a Technical Presentation to a non-technical audience. I introduced the new Pathways programme to our members and explained the traditional educational programme for members and guests. Then there was a wine-tasting presentation by Aldo, a sommelier from Commissary. The whole video is only available to members of the VIC Toastmasters club. But you haven’t really missed anything, because, when you look at the video of my presentation, the filming is awful! Well, we are a club about learning by doing. I should have asked somebody to take responsibility for the filming. Instead, I set it up myself and then left the field of view while filming. So, that’s what this blog is all about. Learning by doing. There really is much worse you waste your time on in the internet. And this is all only going to get much better. Promise.