I get up around 5:15 though if I am honest it is closer to 5:33 after I let myself hit snooze twice.
I usually walk out the door between 6:00-6:10. Yes, AM.
Dave, the guy driving me to work the first week, told me that this Shell Gas Station near my apartment has really lovely coffee so I typically stop there in the morning and get an Americano coffee. I am not a "I MUST HAVE CAFFEINE!" person, but I like the ritual of drinking a cup each morning. After 15 visits to the cafe within a gas station the guy I see every morning FINALLY asked me "Double Americano?" I teased him and said "I wondered how many blonde Americans you have that come in and order a double americano every day".
I am usually at my desk around 6:30 logging into my computer and enjoying my coffee and my Wooly's gluten free blueberry muffin. I am currently devastated because I have been to two Wooly's this week and they are both out of all of the gluten free baked goods. I have really cleaned up my eating since I arrived and have basically eliminated food out of a package. My one treat is my GF muffin each day.
I have peace and quiet from 6:30 to about 9am. I spend this time working on the emails I have received from the US since I shut down my computer from the night before and working on different projects.
9am is when the meetings start in South Africa.
Meeting
Meeting
Meeting
Oh my gosh, the meeting ended 15 minutes early, let me check my email before the next meeting
Meeting
Meeting
Oh, crap, I missed lunch. Good thing I have this bag of almonds with me
Meeting
Meeting
Did I go to the bathroom yet today? I should drink more water!
Meeting
Meeting
I leave the office anywhere between 4:30 and 6pm.
3 days a week I try to go to yoga - Saturday, Thursday and one other day. As much as I joked about having to walk past the gym in my apartment to get to the elevator, I find it very hard to drag myself down to the elliptical machine after spending almost 12 hours at the office. I am giving myself the rest of the week, then I am really going to commit to going even if its just to do 20 minutes. I want to get into the habit of working out before I head back to the US where the gym isn't just steps away.
I usually watch a couple of hours of TV just to decompress. On a good day I have the options of BBC Earth, Discovery Earth, National Geographic and CNN. On Monday, BBC, Discovery and Nat Geo had disappeared and instead I had the Disney Channel. This is a bad day. I did learn that Descendants 2 is coming out. Kadie will be very excited. The highlight of my week is Tuesday when Expedition Galapagos comes on BBC Earth
Then I go to bed to start the whole thing over the next day.
I didn't realize how much socializing I did after work in NY until I moved here and had absolutely nothing to do. I found the yoga studio because the I was bored to death of the elliptical and bored to death of my own company (as an introvert, I don't say that too often!). I needed to get out of the apartment for something other than work.
Saturdays I go to the grocery store and stock up for the week. In Park Avenue, we have a cafeteria so I was spoiled by having easy access to food. South Africa has a small restaurant in the office park but my experience my first couple of days here is it takes forever to order and get your food. Since I usually have meetings through lunch, I typically pack a lunch from home. I am also cooking in the apartment or snacking for dinner. I have been to the grocery store more times in South Africa in 1 month than I think I have in all of 2017 in New York! I did find a local Italian restaurant that delivers and and has gluten free options. I've had their pasta and will try their pizza next time. There is no Delivery.com or Seamless here. How did I find the restaurant you may wonder? I see a delivery moped almost every day on the way home from work so I repeated the name to myself over and over (Andaccio24) until I could get my phone out and google it. (#resourceful) The best thing is they have a location in the same building as the yoga studio so I may be having that pizza tomorrow night!
So yes, I am working a whole lot but I have been learning quite a bit and I hope that I am helping bring more process to the team and a different perspective on how to look at the business.
One of the amusing things about driving in South Africa is the random things you see laying in the middle of the road. I mentioned the mini-buses in one of my previous blog posts but in South Africa if you have a Brat truck/car hybrid (yes, the same one from the 70s), you can also operate a taxi service.
I imagine when you are crammed into the back of a pick up truck, things may fly out onto the highway. I see random shoes, hats, lunchboxes, etc.
Yesterday it was rather cool post our monsoon storms on Sunday and Monday. Sunday there was baseball sized hail. Everyone at the office was talking about the beating their cars took. I saw some CRAZY photos. Said storm led to a delay in my flight back from Cape Town and thus the delay in blog posting. Anyway, yesterday on my drive to work I saw an exhaust pipe laying in the middle of my lane. It was still smoking - whether from remnant exhaust or due to cold weather, I am not sure, but there is definitely a mini-bus driving about sans exhaust pipe right now!
Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!
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