Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope all is going well.
Things are still moving along here in Cape Town. It's almost the end of my 5th week. Next week is the end of the road which I can't believe. I end my placement next Wednesday, the 20th and then Brian and I are heading on Safari to Kruger National Park. I can't wait--it should be pretty amazing to be at a private game reserve for 4 days.
On Tuesday night, we're having a going away dinner with the staff from Sibanye. Jo-lene and Sallie put a dinner party together at Spier in Stellenbosch--which is in the middle of wine country. Should be fantastic and i'm guessing we'll all have a little buzz (understatement) by the end of the night...
Today, I had a very romantic valentine's day with 5 of the ladies at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. We made reservations for high tea and had a fantastic time. It was a beautiful afternoon and the hotel is gorgeous. We ate ourselves silly...and we all drank with our little pinky's in the air! Very classy.
This week was a bit more challenging from a work perspective. It's the first week that frustration set in. I will no longer yell at the printer and photocopier at work in NYC, as it is much more coopertive and helpful than the one here in south africa. We also work on dial up internet (which hopefully will change as we get more funding) and I don't believe I've had to deal with that on a regular basis since 1998. Also, the work pace is very different here. It's definitely slower which I was expecting, but when you are up against deadlines, it's tough to be on an african's timeline for getting you information you need. For example, we needed 2 letters of reference for a funding proposal and I can't tell you how many reminders we needed to provide in the form of phone calls, emails, faxes, and sky writing. Being the intensely patient person that I am, this was not at all frustrating... :-) But as I'm trying to grow as a person here in africa, I took some deep breaths and all was well in the world!
Well, that's it for now. Brian gets here on Saturday night which is going to be great. We have four days in cape town, 4 days in kruger, and then one more day in cape town. Between showing him the city, trying to finish up work, and saying goodbye to the girls, it's going to be a bit crazy over the next week and a half.
For those who were intrigued by the ostrich riding, here's some fun video of all the girls (including myself)...
http://gallery.mac.com/stephaniebull#100240
Enjoy!
C
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4 comments:
Happy V-Day! With your trip actually winding down, I'm going to have to find another way to waste time at my new job!!
Well Carol, that's new ground for sure - I'm fairly certain the only way I'd jump off a bridge is if it was into a pile of naked women. BTW, I'm not impressed by any of this until I see you ride an ostrich down 2nd Avenue . . .
Only a few more weeks, can't believe that you're better than half way through your trip. Great pix, looks like you're having a blast. Want to continue to see more great stories!!
-Chris
Hi Carol!
I know we've been out of touch, but, when I got your email bounceback saying you were on extended leave, I was intrigued. You're not pregnant or at least not that I know about, so I did a quick Google search and found your blog. What a treat! You are such a great inspiration. Drop me a line when you get back to NYC so that we can catch up the next time we can get the stars to align so that we can be in the same city at once!
Alyson
Carol, I wanted to tell you that I love you so much. I am sitting here in my dorm room and I said, I wonder what Carol is blogging about. Rest well and I will email you soon!
regina
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