The forever Connections!

Connect Live 2018 Selected Attendees meeting in a foreign land!

We live in a global village and we sure are global citizens!

When I was selected for Connect Live 2018 - @NirajBhusal was one of the first few people that I knew was selected alongside me. I was super excited to meet him alongside others but unfortunately, we both couldn’t make it CL 18 because of visa issues. But I always had the feeling that I’ll meet Niraj one way or another because he was from Nepal and I alwayssss wanted to explore Nepal. Little did I knew that I’ll meet Niraj super soon (not in Nepal tho :stuck_out_tongue: ) but in Bangkok, Thailand and that too on a Google event.

Both me and Niraj are a part of Google Developers Group (GDG) in our respective hometowns and we were invited by Google DevRel Team on South Asian Summit in Thailand. It was so wonderful meeting Niraj and introducing him to friends of mine.

Even though we met for a small duration of time but it felt so good. The bond that I have for my fellow local guide is so different that I can’t even explain. I haven’t met most of LG’s but I feel like I’m their best buddy :blush:(don’t know about others but this is what I think :smiley: ) No, but it is true. I’ve made so many awesome friends through connect, Niraj being one of them.

Then @KashifMisidia , @OmerAli , @KarenVChin , @AdrianLunsong , @NunungAfuah , @KimberlyAnnG , @vvbellur and manyyyy moreeeee! I feel so blessed to be a part of this community which is making such long-lasting friendships! :heart:

Talking about communities - recently my GDG/DevRel Community Manager Saad Hamid; a Googler, was in Bay Area for Google Annual Leadership Summit and given I was following him I saw he is attending the same summit which @TraciC was also attending. I got so excited and I randomly commented under Saad’s Facebook post and to my surprise - he met traci there :smiley:Oh and he mentioned that there was some surprise for me. Saad knew about my selection for CL 2018 and he now also contributes to Google Maps so that he can beat my score one day :stuck_out_tongue:

I waited for about 20 days for Saad to come back to the country so that he can share the surprise with me and guessss whatttttttt :open_mouth: traci gave him 2 t-shirts from Connect Live 2018 OMG! I took one and I’m going to parcel 1 to Kashif bhai now :')

I was SO HAPPPPPPY ON THIS DAY THAT I FEEL LIKE DANCING INSIDE OUT

This was literally the state of my heart :') - btw this is me and fellow GDG leads + Googlers dancing on Punjabi Songs at the summit :D

Like I said earlier, I feel super blessed to be a part of this amazing community - it helped me connect with 200+ dynamic individuals from all across the world. It is such a big deal for me, my father always used to say that you learn more when you exchange ideas and meet people from different nations and cultures. For me, being a part of Local Guides Family is more than an education. I feel educated by reading awesome connect posts and whatnot. I also feel the need that I want to educate my fellow local guides too - I remember meeting a guy on an event and I told him you need to not only make good use of Google Maps + write good reviews with all your heart and soul and also join Connect Platform to share your experiences - two days later I read his post and I WAS SO HAPPY :')**Kudos @eam_aay_pee **

& besides that, I also get challenged by my friends on beating my scores :joy:a friend of mine from Dubai takes great pride in beating my score

Little things like these make me super happy and more connected to Local Guides Program :slight_smile:

Now, with every passing day - I’m more and more excited to meet my 200+ friends in person at Connect Live 2019. Can’t hold my excitement anymore :smiley:

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What a story, @AIMAN_SAEED

First of all, make sure to wear your Connect Live '18 t-shirt on the opening day, like I will do. You deserve it.

I am so happy that you have another one for my brother @KashifMisidia , that’s super.

And I am so happy that you met @NirajBhusal in Bangkok.

I have been so fortunate to meet another great Local Guide from Nepal, @SovitaD , early this year in Paris, and @vvbellur one year ago in Venice, plus many others.

This is the beautiful part of being Local Guides, worldwide friends, forever

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Thank you for mentioning me @AIMAN_SAEED and @ErmesT , I m really thankful to Local Guides Team and Saad Hamid for Gift of Tshirt. I will post a photo here when I will get and wear this t-shirt.

And thanks for sharing beautiful story of your journey Aiman. You are the best and passionate Local guide from Pakistan, and I hope you and my bro @OmerAli will represent our country in CL 2019 very well.

Best of luck for your future tasks.

Shukriya :pray:

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Hello @AIMAN_SAEED ,

This really a beautiful story of friendship. I liked so much reading your nice post. It’s so good to see the power of this Community, creating important connections with other Local Guides living in other countries.

I like to say that this community is really a big family where you will find always a good friend. I am happy to meet you in November :blush::+1::pray::smiling_face:

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@AIMAN_SAEED wow, this is amazing, thanks for share with us

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Dear @ AIMAN SAHEED. Thanks for Your valuable experiences with photos and new new posts, comments sharing with us into the Local Guides. Your selection of themes and topics are peculiar. The photography is so… trendy and amazing. I really appreciate Your performances. Congratulations.:tada:

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Que gusto es poder leer tu historia @AIMAN_SAEED , tan llena de emoción, con encuentros y otros que no pudieron ser como poder ir al CL18. Y luego sorpresas, esas son las mejores.

Me gustaría mucho poder conocerlos a los dos, este programa tiene la virtud de cumplir muchos sueños :slightly_smiling_face::four_leaf_clover: .

Saludos Farid

:raised_hand::point_down::uk::ok_hand:

For the case that has difficulty, in reading my answer, in the upper left part of the screen, in the drop-down menu of languages, you can select the language, in which you want to read the post.

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Wonderful post, looks everybody smile faces @AIMAN_SAEED

Thank you for sharing with us.

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How exciting to attend Connect Live 2018. Maybe I can be at Connect Live 2020. That should be a great experience.

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Great Story! @AIMAN_SAEED

Greetings from the Bangladesh Local Guides!

Well said @ErmesT “This is the beautiful part of being Local Guides, worldwide friends, forever”

Welcome to Bangladesh!

#LetsGuide

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I really enjoyed reading your post @AIMAN_SAEED and totally agree with you that we live in a global village!

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Yaaasssssss @AIMAN_SAEED !!! Local Guides is like a huge extended family for sure! It’s great to be able to travel the world and bump into folks that are equally passionate about the world around us! And I’m also super excited to see you soon!

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@ErmesT - Definitely keeping it safe to wear on the opening day ^^ We’ll take a selfie or a nice photo then :smiley: And Indeed, the beautiful part of Local Guides is that you are connected - you have friends worldwide >, in short, you have a global Family ^^

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Saad for sure is a gem of a person :slight_smile:
And t-shirt is on you way :slight_smile: Rest, I’m thankful to you and Omer for pushing me to apply for CL19 - the credits goes to you guys :slight_smile:

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I don’t make friends easily but with Local Guides, it feels like a deep bond :slight_smile: And yes, the community is really like a big family.
Looking fwd to meeting you in November :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Premsekar , glad you liked it :slight_smile:

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Thanks a bunch, @FaridTDF :slight_smile: Well the surprise hit me pretty hard and I’m overjoyed :slight_smile:

I look forward to meeting you in November - exciteddd already :smiley:

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Yes, indeed super exciting. I pray for your selection for CL 2020 @360mkt :slight_smile:

Hope to meet you one day

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Thanks, @MdAtikuzzamanLimon - I met a couple of Bangladeshi in Bangkok :slight_smile: Loved interacting with them.
And for sure - Local Guides is a like a BIG FAMILY OF FRIENDS :slight_smile:

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I’m sure I can easily bump into you while you are busy organising a meetup in Manchester :smiley:

As for San Francisco - I’ll catch you soon and looking forward to taking a cool selfie with you :sunglasses:

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