Work Days...

Let me start with, we don’t leave the house until around 0800 to go to the office…which is heaven compared to 0530 wake ups at home! It’s like the weekend every day! :)

The Puma Building on Botswana Road, (where we work)

We work in medium sized building in downtown Gaborone.

It’s right across the street from “Main Mall” where you can find lots of local delights at lunch time, a hardware store (for our never ending need of adaptor plugs), the grocery store (for our chocolate needs), etc.  Have you read the novel, The No.1Ladies Detective Agency? The tea shop the main character frequents is also located in Main Mall.

A square in Main Mall

I must admit, I’ve yet to try real local delights at lunch. In fact those who know me will be surprised to hear that I’ve brought my lunch to work EVERY day this week! Truly it’s because I’ve been bringing dinner leftovers (that one of my housemates has cooked)!

But next week I’ve got three places lined up to try –

Pie City – which sells meat patty type pies in many different varieties

Chesa Nayama – a chicken and chips like fast food place

Melodie’s – a place for curry chicken and fun local sides, including one that looks just like mac and cheese but isn’t...

And…Much to everyone’s dismay – I will totally work my gastro system to be ready for local street food…

Now work…

Remember in biz school when they made us work in groups

And we hated it?

Especially when they picked groups for us?

This is LIFE

Our shady grouping of adapters and plugs

And this is definitely life in Botswana.

With every team there are regular challenges and as all my biz school friends know, the regular progression of a team.

And on this project we have four workstreams, therefore, four teams, not to mention there are three houses so three “other” teams. And of course there’s the overall team dynamics!

That’s a lot of “forming, storming, norming, performing” (a la Bruce Tuckman).

But after one week – we’re doing well.

First deliverables are being sent to the client and we’re good!

Tomorrow we’re all headed off to South Africa for our first Safari.

Interested in seeing where we’re staying?

Check out Tau Game Lodge!

Have a great weekend friends!

Botswana's 1Gov project...the one we're working on!

FINALLY here!

(Sorry about the sideways views of some of the photos - I am still trying to workout how to rotate them!)

After hours in transit…I am home, well, at least home for the next while.

I’ve tried to write this entry numerous times since I arrived 48 hours ago – but have been interrupted by things like, sunshine, the pool, going out for dinner, drinks…so far, life in Botswana has been awesome.

Now to complete the story of my 40 hours, 4 planes, 3 calendar days journey here –

After another amazing flight on Qatar Airways, once again filled with champagne, delicious food, and a good amount of sleep in their fully horizontal seats, we arrive in Johannesburg/Jo-Burg. 

Landing in South Africa

We meet this sweet couple (wife is Canadian, husband is British) who are on their way home to Swaziland. We chat in the immigration line about travels around Africa and they invite us to their home, giving us all their contact information.

Now the hard part. After about what feels like an hour in low to no air conditioning, we make it through immigration, find our bags and look for the departures level. We successfully check ourselves in using one of those “self check-in” kiosks, then on to drop our bags. We are met by a woman who weighs our bags. I am, of course, overweight…well, my bags are...

Oh and there was also their strange thing about South African airways wanting to wrap everyone’s bags in plastic wrap…Odd…

So anyway, I leave my travel partner at the desk and go to pay the charge. There are only two people in line in front of me and two people helping them. Still, the entire process takes close to half an hour.  This is Africa I remind myself, all the efficiencies of North America no longer exist. Deep yogic cleansing breaths in and out…But truly – you cannot get upset. The woman who helped me was sweet and friendly. She wanted to know where in Canada I was from and what the weather was like. She wanted to know what I thought of Africa and she wholeheartedly welcomed me. Paying the fine at this point was negligible.

After a quick picture with a beaded Mandela, we are finally on our last plane of the trip to Gaborone. This flight is quick, literally in the air for forty minutes. Of course, the process of going through security, queuing to get on the bus, waiting on the tarmac to board the plane and settling in takes longer, but hey, we got to Gaborone, Botswana!

The landscape is flat and green. And as we flew in, I half expected to see herds of animals across the plains. To my dismay, I didn’t. Where are all these safari animals that people speak of?! (I cannot wait to see giraffes and hippos!)

After a quick pass through immigration and picking up our bags, we are met by our colleagues. We are happy, tired and yet somewhat energized.

I am only all too eager for my life in Botswana to begin! 

Life in Transit...

It’s almost 11pm in Doha.
Just where is Doha you ask? In the state of Qatar.
Where?
Admittedly I had no idea where Doha was either, until I learned I had a 7 hour layover here. Doha is the capital city of the State of Qatar, a sovereign Arab state, located in between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, a tiny offshoot of land attached to Saudi Arabia.

landing in Doha

As some of you know, I am here because I’m headed to Africa on a work assignment…(more on that next time),  for now, here’s a little bit of life in transit…
My colleague and I are flying Qatar Airways for our two long-haul flights. Montreal to Doha and then Doha to Johannesburg. And long flights they are – the first was over 10,000km to Doha and from here we flight another 6500km! We left home on Wednesday evening and we will arrive at our final destination on Friday afternoon!

Flying business class is a complete luxury, especially on QA. The seats are very roomy, tons of leg room (not that I need it) and service extraordinaire. The flight attendant assigned to us “Shri” was absolutely sweet and literally tended to our every need. We were welcomed with champagne, had two huge meals (with white table cloths!), and Shri even offered to make our beds for us! It was luxury…wait - did I mention the seats vibrated? They were massage chairs too!

Instructions on how to operate your seat!

 

The business class cabin not even close to being full

Once in Doha, we realized we had SO much time, we decided to explore. Getting visas on the spot is a piece of cake (at least for Canadians it was), approximately $20 USD, a look into their camera and our passports were stamped! Once outside of the terminal we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us for a ride all over the city. We got to see the new and the old and a whole lot of construction. Google “Qatar” and learn that it is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Al Thani family. Qatar was a British protectorate until 1971 and has the world’s third largest natural gas reserves…AND as we saw with all the high end shopping malls, Qatar is the world’s richest country per capita! There’s a lot of money in Qatar. Doha is the capital city and will be home to the 2022 FIFA World Cup (there are ads EVERYWHERE already!).

"New Doha" skyline

Doha Museum

Hanging out at the “Premium Terminal” – no seriously, they have an airport terminal dedicated to their First and Business Class passengers! (my kinda airport!) There is a ton of food here, two buffets, a deli counter and dessert and drink stations sprinkled throughout. So far I’ve managed to only have one meal of foods including: seafood thermador, butter chicken, mulligatawny soup, and a delicious dessert of chocolate mousse and baklava.

  

There are lounge-y type chairs and tables but no beds…There are, however, showers with L’Occitane products! And this is just on the Business Class side! Apparently there is a spa for the first class passengers…maybe next time! :) Apparently the duty free is pretty good here, but I’ve yet to check that out (I know…that’s SO not me!). I still have another hour or so before boarding for our next flight.
This is just the beginning of what I’m sure will be an experience of a lifetime…stay tuned and enjoy it with me!

Travel is on the radar...

Guess who's on the move?!
Well - it's temporary...
I'm headed to Botswana (Africa) for work for 9.5 weeks. (Hey, that's the title of a movie, isn't it?!)

9.5 weeks.
A little over two months.
A little less than three months.
66 days.

Botswana is a long way from home.
So long it takes about 2 days...or in my case 3 calendar days to get there...

It's a long way from my family, my puppy and my friends.
But it's the chance of a lifetime to...
...see another part of the world
...immerse myself in a new culture
...try new foods
...try new things
...drive on the other side of the road
...go on safari!!! (lions and tigers and...GIRAFFES!)

When you look at it that way, 9.5 weeks isn't nearly enough time...
 But of course, I will take this time and embrace it!

Looking forward to all that Botswana brings me.
 The adventure begins shortly...stay tuned!