Saturday 24 October 2009
Hoooooooome
After a lovely last night out in Cape Town, I flew home yesterday. Thursday night we spent at the patio of the mozambiquan resto on Kloof Street where we'd been before. Amazing calamari heads, chicken piri piri and a dirt cheap very decent pinotage. Colleague David and I decided to finish things off with a wee drink by the pool of my hotel. A good end to the first tour. I have never been so excited to go home from anywhere. Southafrican Airways business class was fab. Nice wine (a blend I'd never heard of before and have forgotten the name of), very nice port, a lovely stewart and the best of all....a big mug of tea when you wake up in the morning. 6.20 am I landed, and by 8am I was home. Drowsy from lack of sleep (note to self: take those sleeping pills I have next time). Yucky from sleeping in clothes. And happy to see London wake up, to drive past all the sights, and to realise how lucky I am to live here. A whole week of Londenness before my second tour starts. Nice nice.
Sunday 18 October 2009
Food heaven
A three course lunch menu at one of the 50 best resto's in the world, for 20 quid. Or so I thought. But there must have been some sort of small print that I missed. Had I read it, it would have informed me of the fact that the deal is Mon-Thu only. Luckily, my company consisted of four foodies and an easy going guy happy to discover the finer things in life with us.
So off the normal menu we ate. And we ate well. We ate ridiculously well. We ate the best food any of us had had in a long time. Half my starter was rabbit with some chicken liver and other stuff, wrapped in black something ham (forgive me my lack of details, we also had some wine). The other half was scallop wrapped in said ham. The joys of sharing (gosh I wonder why we fall ill one after another). As a main I had lamb with some tomato chickpea courgette type ratatouille and a beautiful potatoey dish. The food porn is on the other girls' cameras so I can't show any dishes, but trust me... they looked to die for and so they were. Choosing deserts turned out to be almost impossible so we ordered the whole menu (four of them) to share. Lemoncake, chocolate ganache, an eton mess type dish and cashew creme. All with little bits and bobs that kept us very quiet for quite a while.
Needless to say the expense allowance the client gave us doesn't cover these type of lunches so it'll probably be the Cape Town equivalent of beans on toast the rest of the week. But it was so worth it.
The photo at the top left I took on the way to the wine shop on the estate. Bought a bottle or port that I am dying to open in London. The last time I had saffa port was in 1997. I won't easily forget Madelon and I, sitting by the fire a friendly Zimbabwean made for us, dining on raw carrots and beautiful port. Not many drinks bring up fonder memories.
So off the normal menu we ate. And we ate well. We ate ridiculously well. We ate the best food any of us had had in a long time. Half my starter was rabbit with some chicken liver and other stuff, wrapped in black something ham (forgive me my lack of details, we also had some wine). The other half was scallop wrapped in said ham. The joys of sharing (gosh I wonder why we fall ill one after another). As a main I had lamb with some tomato chickpea courgette type ratatouille and a beautiful potatoey dish. The food porn is on the other girls' cameras so I can't show any dishes, but trust me... they looked to die for and so they were. Choosing deserts turned out to be almost impossible so we ordered the whole menu (four of them) to share. Lemoncake, chocolate ganache, an eton mess type dish and cashew creme. All with little bits and bobs that kept us very quiet for quite a while.
Needless to say the expense allowance the client gave us doesn't cover these type of lunches so it'll probably be the Cape Town equivalent of beans on toast the rest of the week. But it was so worth it.
The photo at the top left I took on the way to the wine shop on the estate. Bought a bottle or port that I am dying to open in London. The last time I had saffa port was in 1997. I won't easily forget Madelon and I, sitting by the fire a friendly Zimbabwean made for us, dining on raw carrots and beautiful port. Not many drinks bring up fonder memories.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Cape Town update
Time for an update. Between sleeping, working and eating, there is very little time for anything else. Not that we work ridiculous hours, 10 a day on average, but eating out every day is a time consuming activity. Waistline would be at serious risk if it weren't for all the seafood here. I pretty much eat it every night, staying clear of pasta's, chips and steaks and the likes. Southafricans don't seem keen on their veg, but the Kauai (a health food chain) on client's site does good salads to contribute to our five a day. Hopefully it won't be long until we can move into our apartments (key requests: NO sharing, internet and gym or pool) and can start cooking healthy meals ourselves.
European team is still great. We get along really well, which is pretty key when spending so much time together! We share meals, spa visits and frustrations after hours and buy each other lunch and coffees during the day. The floor we have at the client is huge and old but functional. One of the meeting rooms is our control centre. Two walls have been turned into massive grids of months and work flows and post it notes in all colours specify what team is doing what and when. Our morning prayers are held there too, just to make sure we will never lose sight of our deliverables! For relo's who worry I have gone all religous within a week: morning prayers are 30 minute team catch ups where we share issues and tasks of the day to be able to supplement each other as much as possible.
Friday a week I will fly back to old blighty for a week, before heading back to Cape Town. Three weeks later, I will do that again. Two twelve hour flights a month. That's a lot of airmiles!
European team is still great. We get along really well, which is pretty key when spending so much time together! We share meals, spa visits and frustrations after hours and buy each other lunch and coffees during the day. The floor we have at the client is huge and old but functional. One of the meeting rooms is our control centre. Two walls have been turned into massive grids of months and work flows and post it notes in all colours specify what team is doing what and when. Our morning prayers are held there too, just to make sure we will never lose sight of our deliverables! For relo's who worry I have gone all religous within a week: morning prayers are 30 minute team catch ups where we share issues and tasks of the day to be able to supplement each other as much as possible.
Friday a week I will fly back to old blighty for a week, before heading back to Cape Town. Three weeks later, I will do that again. Two twelve hour flights a month. That's a lot of airmiles!
Sunday 11 October 2009
And another hard day....
....in the life of a consultant. This Lighthouse was our view during lunch. A lovely Greek place along the ocean in Green Point. In between a long walk and a longer walk. After the longer walk, Patricia and I saw it fit to book ourselves a spa session. Pedi/mani for me, scrub massage for her. A place to come back to. Half asleep we took a cab home for dinner in the hotel. After all that walking and relaxing there is nothing more for me to do today than sleep. Zzzzzz
Saturday 10 October 2009
Cape Town day 4
From the moment we met in the BA lounge, we were a team. Over the past three days we looked after each other, car pooled together, had dinner together and developed in-jokes. Last night a Dutch colleague joined and from today, the team will include her. Regardless of what we work on, we're in it together. It's good. Today we plan to go up Table Mountain and do sundowners on Camps Bay. Good food and good cocktails are the main goal I believe.
It's nice to wake up to blue sky every morning and see the big flat mountain from the brekkie room. It's utterly confusing to read dutchish all the time, and I am starting to mix up my languages big time. I also wonder if I never took the lift last time I was here. It's called a hijser, and I'm sure I didn't know that. Few things to get used to as well: condoms in the ladies at work. Being served by black people wherever you go (just when I'd started to get used to being served by Eastern European girls in London). And a cheerfullness around me I am not used to. This will be a good few weeks.
It's nice to wake up to blue sky every morning and see the big flat mountain from the brekkie room. It's utterly confusing to read dutchish all the time, and I am starting to mix up my languages big time. I also wonder if I never took the lift last time I was here. It's called a hijser, and I'm sure I didn't know that. Few things to get used to as well: condoms in the ladies at work. Being served by black people wherever you go (just when I'd started to get used to being served by Eastern European girls in London). And a cheerfullness around me I am not used to. This will be a good few weeks.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Cape Town
My job can be a weird one. On Monday morning I interviewed with our Southafrican client (from Mary's place in the Dam, on 5 hours sleep and no coffee) and on Tuesday night I was on a plane to Cape Town. After having effed up the dry run interview, my directors were really worried but the one that counted went well. Maybe I should deprive myself of coffee more often....
So.... BA business class. Nice. My own little pod with loads of privacy and a flat bed. Two of us weren't so lucky: they were bumped down to Economy. Thank god I wasn't as we got in at 8am and were in the office by nine. At least I had rested well.
In the office, I introduced myself to a Southafrican colleague by first name only. A lady standing next to me turns around and says "Saskia? I believe you know my husband". I gave her a puzzled stare. She was right though, I do know her husband, who I met when working in Amsterdam. How on earth she put one and one together that quickly this morning? Beats me. Very funny though.
We had a solid day of work both in the office and on site. Good team, good energy. I ended up being team leader despite being the most junior on the team. Feel flattered, but it will be challenging. Irish sr mngr and I instantly bonded at Heathrow over a mutual love of gin tonic (that wasn't available in the lounge) and quickly polished off a bottle of Syrah over dinner just now. Oh, the Irish...
More updates soon. Time for a decent sleep first!
So.... BA business class. Nice. My own little pod with loads of privacy and a flat bed. Two of us weren't so lucky: they were bumped down to Economy. Thank god I wasn't as we got in at 8am and were in the office by nine. At least I had rested well.
In the office, I introduced myself to a Southafrican colleague by first name only. A lady standing next to me turns around and says "Saskia? I believe you know my husband". I gave her a puzzled stare. She was right though, I do know her husband, who I met when working in Amsterdam. How on earth she put one and one together that quickly this morning? Beats me. Very funny though.
We had a solid day of work both in the office and on site. Good team, good energy. I ended up being team leader despite being the most junior on the team. Feel flattered, but it will be challenging. Irish sr mngr and I instantly bonded at Heathrow over a mutual love of gin tonic (that wasn't available in the lounge) and quickly polished off a bottle of Syrah over dinner just now. Oh, the Irish...
More updates soon. Time for a decent sleep first!
Friday 2 October 2009
London life
Well, was I too busy working to have a life at first, the last two weeks I was too busy having a life to blog.
Kaat visited me for a weekend, and we did loads of relaxed walking around East London and Angel. The church on the photo is the largest surviving church in the City. Great Fire and Blitz haven't brought this baby down, though the IRA managed to do almost just that in the early nineties. This is next to one of my clients and one of my fav places in the city. Old churches and the modern Gherkin (in background) and glass office buildings are an inspiring combination.
Last weekend Zoe and I visited a Comedy Club on Leicester Square. Great way to spend a Fri nite after a busy work week. In a few hours I will be off to the Dam again for a fun filled weekend of friends and relo's. If only I could bring the gorgeous London sun!
Kaat visited me for a weekend, and we did loads of relaxed walking around East London and Angel. The church on the photo is the largest surviving church in the City. Great Fire and Blitz haven't brought this baby down, though the IRA managed to do almost just that in the early nineties. This is next to one of my clients and one of my fav places in the city. Old churches and the modern Gherkin (in background) and glass office buildings are an inspiring combination.
Last weekend Zoe and I visited a Comedy Club on Leicester Square. Great way to spend a Fri nite after a busy work week. In a few hours I will be off to the Dam again for a fun filled weekend of friends and relo's. If only I could bring the gorgeous London sun!
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