Turn the world upside down

If my 6th grade teacher, Cora Leonardi, were to read this right now, she'd be happy. Of all the school subjects and lessons I've even studied in my life, one of my most memorable and enjoyable was the section on Astronomy in that 6th grade class - learning about the stars and planets, different constellations, etc. Each night I had to keep a log of the time I went outside to look at the sky and what I saw. Somewhere tucked away in my house, I think I still have those log books as well as my star chart, any tests or papers.

I don't remember a whole lot, but I still can recognize a few constellations - Orion the Hunter being the one I can pinpoint immediately. Orion is distinguishable by its "belt and dagger" and shows up clear over my house in Randolph in the winter sky. I recall looking up at it one night just before leaving for South Africa.

So... here I am in Port Edward last night and looking up, I saw probably the most stars and clearest sky I'd ever seen... so much that the Milky Way was entirely recognizable.

And there was Orion straight above me, but this time it was completely upside down. Whereas the dagger normally faces down, this time it was facing up. I just found this so intriguing, looking up at the sky in a totally different perspective, a moment where I realized I really am in the Southern Hempishpere on the other side of the world.

Off to Cape Town tonight for the weekend... with potential rugby match, trip down the Cape of Good Hope, and wine tasting in Stellenbosch in store. Once again... GO PATS!

Photos! Photos!

As many have been asking, I'm finally getting some more photos up. Here is a mixture of pics that take a quick look into my day to day and really capture my first week or so...

This is the view during sunset from the back porch of my villa - as you can see, the villa resort/hotel is aptly titled The Estuary - flowing into the Indian Ocean

What the traditional homes looks like - the circular hut with straw roof is called a rondeval - you see these all over the place

The Mtumvuna River emptying into the Indian, which we drive over daily - this river separates KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape

The road to Bizana... 40 km away... R61 is the road we drive everyday

Pretty standard view of hilly land and sparsely located homes along the way


Fields just go on and on into the distance

Driving through the main street in Bizana - this is across the street from the municipality building

Driving through Bizana...

Driving through Bizana...

Colleen's last day - with the team outside the municipality building - you can see a few Colleen in her "pondo lady" outfit as well as the Manager and a few of the LED officers

Colleen and I toasting to my successful transition

The Accenture team (minus Mike) and UNDP team out for dinner

Amapondo Backpackers Hostel

If you look close enough in the center of the photo, you can see two monkeys in the tree... we saw about 15 of them on our walk to the beach in Port St. Johns (and have spotted them around my villa as well)

Relaxing on the rocks in PSJ

Watching the waves come in

By the way...

You probably got tired of looking at my smiling close up. This new one, Mike caught of me this weekend in Port St. Johns at Amapondo. Relaxing, staring out at the sunset and the ocean (you can kinda see through the dip in the treeline). Not a bad spot.

Keep reading below about my day yesterday (with photos!).

Mpunzi Drift and Greenville Nursery

So the kids are back in school today (their holiday vacation is obv a bit longer), so the ride to work was even more interesting with students walking in packs all along R61.

Yesterday I had my most exciting/craziest day of work so far. This is how the morning started en route...

One of the big initiatives as I told in my blog is this massive vegetable production/nursery, etc. So yesterday I went and did two site visits at irrigation schemes - Mpunzi Drift and Greenville - with my client, who is the Mbizana Development and Planning Manager, and a few of her counterparts from the Dept of Agriculture. Last week we had a meeting about the project, but hearing about the "need for a better access road" in a meeting and then seeing it first hand, nothing really comes to life until you're on site. (One Up friends - consider this my agricultural equivalent of doing a site expo at a plant or a DC.)

Below, I am here at Mpunzi Drift talking about initial plans for growing the nursery and next steps (or as called here, "way forward") to execute.

Next it was off to Greenville. Below, is the team of workers at the Greenville Nursery welcoming us. As you can see, the women wear traditional Xhosa headbands and clothing when working with the crops. These are some of the strongest people I have ever met, you can see the labor in their hands and feet. We had a meeting with the Greenville group to talk about the vegetable project, and the Dept of Agriculture (DOA) Councillor and Managers talked about the growth plans. The meeting was held entirely in Xhosa, which the Manager translated for me. Then as is custom for a visitor, they asked me to say a few words (they show such appreciation of my presence and work hearing I am with UNDP). I introduced myself and spoke of my excitement and the honor to be there... really they just want the confidence, belief, and the upbeat motivation that they can be successful in the vegetable project, that we are there to help. The DOA Mgr translated my words into Xhosa and minus the language barrier, you could see a similar connection and understanding between us all. Here I am, the outsider and only white/American in a simple tiny room (4 cement walls and a tin roof) and I am so welcomed. It’s extremely humbling.

Lastly, we finished the day transporting 50 bags of potatoes from Mpunzi to another home closer to Bizana, which would eventually go to market in Bizana. As you can see, we're unloading the bags by throwing them to one another in assembly line fashion - here I am with the DOA Councillor. Pretty fun catching and tossing bags of potatoes.

Colleen’s Goodbye and Port St. Johns

Week 2. Go Pats! Brady and Co. amaze again. What a team.

I have pics to load, but my connection is so slow right now that the page just keeps erroring out. I will work on that. In the meantime… more writing…

Let me first start by saying that a week in, I just need to take a moment everyday to remind myself where I actually am… ground myself in the experiences I am having… and take in all the people I am meeting and where they are from throughout the globe.

Few funny “American” stories from the last few days.

I met the Chief Whip of the Municipality on Friday afternoon and when he asked where I was from, I told him America and he replied, “Ahhh. George Bush.” Exactly… Then our key client, Vuyo, came over to the villa on Friday night with her 7 yr old son to give Colleen a gift. When I said hello he perked up and said “Whoa! You sound like America!” It was pretty funny. Lastly the manager at the Amapondo Backpackers where we stayed this weekend went to BU and turned out to be born and raised in Denver (even though she sounded completely South African) and we proceeded to talk about Boston and her time there.

Colleen had a great sendoff by the team at the Municipality. They presented her with traditional Pondo attire and some of the team wore their traditional garb on Friday, as well as painted designs on their faces and Colleen’s. We went to lunch at the Makwande Guest House in Bizana and had a traditional feast which was incredible. My first truly cultural experience came during lunch when, after we had eaten, Vuyo started off singing “Farewell” songs in Xhosa and within a moment the entire team joined together, standing up, clapping and singing joyfully for about 15 minutes straight. It was a sign of their appreciation of us being there, and then people went around and said a few words, thanking Colleen and telling her how much they would miss her. And then offered their words of welcome and excitement of my arrival and how they looked forward to me continuing the momentum they have started. The words of the songs in Xhosa offered farewell, safe travels, importance of family, and telling Colleen that should their paths never meet again, may God bless her back in her home as she returns to her family. I know you probably had to be there, but it was honestly a moving experience.

Friday night I saw a new spot in KZN – Marina Beach – went to dinner at Mariner’s Seafood Restaurant, perfect little restaurant right on the beach. Our UN Volunteer (UNV) colleagues also joined us – project mgr Rodger from Uganda, Christina from Singapore, and Tanya (and husband Scott) from Arizona, and Yetbarek from Ethiopia. Enlightening and smart people with a lot of interesting experiences. Spent a significant portion of time talking to Rodger and learning about his life and family in Uganda and his work with UNDP.

Saturday the team headed to Port St. Johns, about 2.5 hr drive which was much like the road to Bizana - long, hilly, green, and winding. I was actually quite surprised how lush and green PSJ was. We met the Umtata Accenture team – Peter, Siobhain, and Lindsay from London, and Bryce from Chicago. Great people, we had a lot of fun and celebrated Pete’s birthday, and I look forward to more weekends with that crowd too. We stayed at this cool backpackers hostel called Amapondo – short walk to the beach, cool little bar, very laid back atmosphere of friendly people meeting each other and hanging out. Port St. Johns is a poor town but has happened to become a stop for travelers and people passing through. Spent some time at the beach, got a little sun, met a few locals, and thanks to the people at Wettern Hill and Wood ‘n Spoon for two incredible meals. That is one thing – so far I have been quite impressed with my meals in SA. Some great flavors.

I’m taking the reigns of the work on my own starting this morning… Have a good start to your week.