Time is just moving

I haven’t logged into the blog in about a week here, so a warning before you start reading... this will be a longer posting! Busy last week and time is just moving so quickly. I’ve been meaning to write the last couple of days, but I arrive at the Municipality in the morning and through the chaos of the day, it’s over before I know it. Taking me a minute or two to jog my memory to remember everything to capture as much as possible…

We’re down to two of us in Port Edward/Bizana with just me and Heather (and Team Tata is still at the full 4). Mike and Cathy said their farewells, and I’ve already corresponded with Mike back in the US, who is having is own culture shock adjusting to being back in NYC.

At the end of last week, Team Bizana traveled to Umtata to join the team there for work. Last week our Chief Executive of Global Consulting went on a week long tour of ADP projects in Africa, accompanied by the Director and Founder of the Accenture Development Partnerships program. Our UNDP project was one of them that made the list… so they came on Thursday to meet our team, see the work that we are doing, meet some of our government clients as well as UNDP counterparts. Such a privilege to meet one of the highest executive leaders of Accenture in such a relaxed fashion – and the whole trip was geared to give him an insight into ADP, a chance to gain executive support, bring the publicity of ADP into the business, and make it part of our larger global consulting model. We met with them in the morning for a few hours, and then also had the chance to have a few drinks and enjoy dinner that evening. It was really a great opportunity to explain each of our backgrounds within Accenture, why we chose to pursue ADP, what we were learning, challenges we were facing, our opinions about the program and how it could grow within Accenture.

From Umtata, we drove 2.5 hrs to East London on Friday and hopped on a plane to Cape Town for the weekend. It was Heather’s birthday weekend, and it turned out to be a classic – one of the best that I’ve had in South Africa so far.

Cape Town is clearly one of the gems of South Africa. The views leading into the city, and the views from the city are simply breathtaking. The city is literally on the tip of the continent of Africa, where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet, and the backdrop on the other end of the city is Table Mountain. Honestly, it doesn’t feel anything like the rest of Africa I’ve seen and experienced, but it was also nice to get some of the 1st world amenities for a weekend.

We made our way to V&A Waterfront (like Faneuil Hall or Navy Pier back home… touristy) and found a Mexican restaurant (hard to come by in Africa) as Heather was craving it. Actually turned out to be pretty good and they even had Corona… Heather and I checked out the Camps Bay area for lunch on Saturday, sat at a café overlooking the ocean and the beach, and we walked along the beach for a little bit after. It was a cloudy day, but I decided to dip my feet in… and I had heard the water in Cape Town was frigid (currents coming up from Antarctica). Now growing up in New England and heading to Maine every summer, the water is freezing up there but I still jump in, no problem. This water was colder than anything else I’d ever felt – with just my feet in, the first moment I felt nothing, then both my legs went entirely numb… Ended up walking around Cape Town and checking out some of the markets and sights of the city… and Saturday night, Pete, Heather, and I went to Long Street, which is the big “party” street, where there was a street music festival going on. Long Street has the feel of Bourbon Street, narrow, with bars and restaurants lining it, and balconies filled with onlookers drinking and socializing away.

Sunday was Heather’s official birthday – and the 6 of us went out and celebrated properly with a great dinner – had some seafood and sushi – and even found a spot with martinis. Heather was certainly happy. As most of you know, I am not a very big birthday/celebration person myself… but I can imagine for those who are that are used to spending birthdays with close family and friends (like Heather), it might be a little tough to be so far away from home. I think we celebrated well and she certainly felt the comforts of good friends and celebration. We spend so much time together that we’ve all gotten to know each other so well in such short time. The experience brings together a special bond, I think.

Side note - one of the funny things of the weekend was that the Semester at Sea abroad program was docked in Cape Town that weekend as well. There were tons of American college kids running around the bars at V&A and Long Street - and as I said to a few people at home, that's probably the most Americans I'd seen at once since I left Logan. I think for me it was just amusing to see them all together, out partying, exploring the city - and it made me think a bit about when I was a junior in college or the trips I went on. I did feel a bit old watching them all... and there were moments it felt more like MTV cameras were going to pop out and be filming a TV show.

And then it was back to the Eastern Cape for Week 9… which I am about to finish. Like I said, the days are chaotic and there is so much to do in such little time. There are still many frustrations that I feel everyday... some challenges my colleagues/the Municipality cannot control, but more frustrating are the ones that they can and choose not to change or improve upon. Work with what I have, I guess. But I have seen some progress! Little things - them using the Meeting Minutes template we created, creating folders on their computers to save their files, seeing their confidence to present or lead part of a meeting.

I only have 3 weeks left of work – which is crazy! I feel like I just got here. Just have to make the most of it, accomplish as much as possible in the initiatives and opportunities we’ve started.