Teaching and learning in Kyrgyzstan

Have you ever heard of Kyrgyzstan? Two years ago I had no idea where exactly this country was. And this year it was already the second time I traveled to this amazing country in Central Asia.
Everything started when Gerrit Beine asked me to join him giving a workshop about agile software development in Bischkek (here some impressions from 2012).
This year I was offered the possibility to teach, inspire and learn again in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. This time Michel Löhr joined in as the main coach for the agile workshop at KSUCTA University. And it was amazing this time I was already used to the not so good things like infrastructure or air pollution (which has improved in a good way over the last two years) and then on the other side I saw all this beauty!
The nature is stunning and looking to those massive mountains just outside of Bishkek is amazing. Hiking in those mountains was even more rewarding and then you had the people of Kyrgyzstan: Awesome! So friendly, hospitable, open minded and curious people it was a wonderful experience. Every day at least two students took care of us by doing activities to explore nature, culture, people or food. Thank you all for making this possible.
The 5 days agile software development workshop was a lot of fun where we taught the basics of Scrum. With a lot of games and interactive exercises so that the students could experience the agile culture first hand and learn to work and improve as a team and excel with each iteration.
I’m already looking forward to inspire, teach and learn more in this wonderful country called Kyrgyzstan in the next years.
- mmmhhh how delicious
- Test driven development exercise
- Winner team of one of the many games we did to teach them real work life challanges
- Part of the 1st student company contact fair in Bischkek
- 1 € = 70 Som
- Our workshop participants
- Michel and Sven enjoying the hike
- Thank you for showing me around
- Teamwork
- Preparing the workshop agenda
- Winner of the Marshmallow challange. Awesome iterative approach!
- Bazar impressions
- Students playing the Marshmallow game
- Winner team of another game, so much fun 🙂
- Ok the space in this car is used well 🙂
- Alina
- Company fair
- Mounts outside of Bishkek
- Interesting experience and out of my comfort zone but it was fun 🙂
- Michel and Sven on their way to Bishkek
- Food was very delicous
- OK this is an interesting menu 10kg lamb (!!!)
- Delicous pizza I could have eaten each day
- SCRUM Flow Overview
- Traditional meal
- Cinema
- Our favorite restaurant with our favorite waiter (he did not speak english and we no russian but sign language and pictures are going a long way 🙂
- Madina our interpreter for the 10 days
- Our stand at the fair
- Awesome nature 🙂
- Thanks for the great day trip!
- Yeah with my new Kyrgyz cap
- With Turkish Airline to Bishkek
- street impression in Bishkek
- Madina our interpreter for the time in Kyrgyzstan
TED: Great leaders
I love watching TED videos and once in a while there are awesome new talks available like this one from Simon Sinek: “Why good leaders make you feel safe”.
He emphasizes how leaders can create an awesome organization in which people can thrive. Love the example at the end of the video how a great leader refused to lay of people instead found another solution for it.
Personal Mission
Have you ever thought about your personal mission here on earth? I was reading an inspiring book while traveling (actually a funny story on it’s own how this book came into m life …) and this was one of the questions:
What is YOUR personal Mission?
So what is your mission? Looking forward your comments 🙂 After some thoughts here is my version:
My personal mission is to inspire and support others in positive ways so they can make a positive change in their lives. To accomplish this personal mission on a regular base I …
- Travel often to meet new and inspiring people to see things with new eyes
- Do Sport often to stay physical and mentally fit (here Surfing in Costa Rica)
- Live healthy and in a balanced way (here Hawaii with Acai Bowl)
- Affirming others for positive things (here Surf lesson in Costa Rica)
- Stay curious and ask lots of questions
- Learn new things (here: video cutting)
- Spend at least two hours per day with physical, mental, spiritual or social activities (here Stand-up Paddling in Hawaii)
- Hug others and use physical touch to radiate positive feelings
- Have lots of quality time with my partner and friends (here in Finland with Johanna & Visa)
- Be emphatic towards others
- Radiate my optimism to the world (here Costa Rica)