All Our Bags are Packed...

In just a matter of hours Kathy and Kalenne will be jetting off to Italy for the biggest CISV meetings around. In fact we'll be going to three: ARMM, IJBC and AIM. What do all these acronyms stand for? Here's the rundown.

ARMM: The America's Regional Members' Meeting. This is the first place we'll be heading off to. It's a meeting/ training/ CISV good time for everyone from the America's Region, which includes North, Central and South America. Even though it's a meeting focused on the America's Region, it's so darn convenient there's sure to be some guests from other regions (like Europe and Asia Pacific). It's facilitated by the ARM team, which is sort of like JB Canada's executive and some Home Staff.

IJBC: The International Junior Branch Conference. This is a conference/ training/ CISV mutual learning experience for all Juniors from around the world. Wow. It's facilitated by the IJRs (sort of like the NJRs, but for the world) and previously nominated IJR candidates as well as some lovely Home Staff. This year's theme is 'Reflect and Act'.

AIM: This is the Annual International Meeting. This is the 'adult' meeting. It's a time for reports, motion voting and hopefully lots of funny antics. It's for CISVers from all over the world so this= lots of CISV in one place. Nice. This year's theme is 'Peace Education in a Multicultural City'.

As your NJRs Kathy and Kalenne will be representing Canada at the ARMM and IJBC and taking a bit more of an observer role at AIM, where CISV Canada's trusty trustee Rick Uy will be taking over as the front man. We know what you're thinking and don't worry, we're keeping our eyes on Rick and making sure he stays in line.

As NJRs we'll be soaking up anything we can to bring back to JB Canada, evaluating the past year as well as doing some strategic planning for next year and lots of other good stuff. If you want us to talk about something, ask around about how other countries are doing things or help you out with anything drop us an email at njr@ca.cisv.org or leave a note on this blog. Check back often for updates, as you can imagine these meetings are pretty busy places and cool stuff happens fast.

Ciao for now. Kathy and Kalenne