Happy Valentine's Day!

I know that this post is a bit early, but since I'm in the airport with not a lot to do (apart from some bug-fixing, writing some postcards and shopping to while away my 7 hour layover), I thought I may as well also write a post and wish all of my readers a happy Valentine's Day! My Valentine's day is going to start off in Dubai Airport, which isn't so bad. So far, I've had a Valentine's Cupaccino, and it isn't even Valentine's Day yet - although it's getting closer and closer!

I have to say, the thing I'm looking forward to most this Valentine's Day is getting back to Cape Town and knowing that I'm home for a while and, most importantly, getting to give my fiancé (I'm still getting used to calling Frosty that!) a big Valentine's Day hug and celebrate 7 years of being together! I don't know what the rest of the day will hold once I'm back in Cape Town, but to be honest, as long as I'm with Frosty I'll be happy!

And so - happy Valentine's Day to all of you and I hope that you have a wonderful day celebrating with loved ones!

My Phone Is Gone...

Sho, it seems like I've spent my life in airports recently - in the last month I've spent 3 weekends in transit at airports all over and next weekend will be the 4th weekend in a row! It will also hopefully be the last weekend for a while where I spend the majority of my time travelling (yay!).  With all this travel, it's been a few busy weeks. So, last Friday when Frosty and I got home, we decided that we'd go to a movie at the Waterfront.

To cut a very long story short, somewhere between arriving at the Waterfront, watching a terrible movie (The Hateful Eight, for those who want to avoid watching a terrible movie), getting some delicious cinnabons and paying for parking at the Waterfront, I very strongly suspect that my phone got pick pocketed from right out my handbag! 

On any day, I would have been upset. Since this happened the day before I had to fly out to Italy, I was incredibly frustrated and upset. I have had a cell phone since the age of 12 and this is the FIRST TIME EVER that I have had my phone disappear on me. I don't remember taking my phone out of my handbag between arriving at the waterfront and getting back to the car after paying for parking. My suspicion that I was pick-pocketed was made stronger when we tried calling my cell and it was off. It was made even more stronger when we found a very helpful waterfront security guard who asked if we had called the phone, and when we said we had, but it was off, he mentioned that that was bad news.

And so - at 11:30 the night before I had to fly out to Italy, I was not a particularly happy chappy. Luckily, I was able to get a pay as you go sim from Vodacom at the airport and I am now using a spare phone of Frosty's which will do the job until I get back home next week and can sort out a sim swap back onto my current number. And until I can get back, the most I can do is make sure I enjoy Italy :)

The view from the plane as I was flying in to the Czech Republic almost 2 weeks ago.

Happy 2016!

Hello everyone and happy 2016 to you! I had such high hopes that I would maybe get time to blog a bit during the festive season, but as you can tell from my silence, that didn't happen. Instead, I had a fantastic holiday, celebrating Christmas with family and visiting Frosty's farm and hiking in the berg over New Year and spending some time at Hole in the Wall in the Transkei.

At Mpame in the Transkei.

While all of these things were fantastic, there was something even more exciting that happened the Saturday before our holiday came to an end. Most of you will have heard some version of the story, but here it is for those of you that haven’t.

I started the day off with a trip to Durban with my mum to go and celebrate the baby shower of one of my best friends from school. Since we live so far away from each other, it is always an extra special treat to see her and even more of a treat to see her as a mum-to-be*! While we were catching up, Jen asked me when I thought Frosty and I might be tying the knot and I replied that it was likely to be in the next year or two probably and we weren’t in a rush. With all the chatting and catching up with everyone at the baby shower, the time seemed to fly by and all too soon we started off on our way back home. I was so sad to have to say goodbye, especially since we were leaving before the end of the party, but mum was keen to get going back home and since she had mentioned that she wasn’t feeling so good earlier I didn’t put up too much of a fight.

The entire way home, mum kept on commenting on how she hopes we get back before the bad weather set in, so that I could go birding with Frosty that afternoon. She usually doesn't mind what the weather is like, but that day she was particularly concerned that we get back before the rain. I thought it was a little strange and thought that something must be up.

Now, to put you in the picture, while we had been at Hole in the Wall, the one morning Frosty and I went for an early morning swim with my folks. My dad got out of the water quite quickly after getting in and soon after that I saw Frosty heading out after him. “Ahhh, he’s gone to keep my dad company and be friendly, what a good guy”, I thought. Eventually mum and I returned to the beach and dad then asked me to take a walk back up to the cottage with him. I waited the whole walk for dad to say something profound and deep, as he’d sounded like he wanted to chat with me all by myself. By the time we had reached the cottage, dad still hadn't said anything. I started getting a bit suspicious at this point, as I guessed that if dad hadn't wanted to talk to me about anything, then that must mean that Frosty had wanted to talk to my mum (and dad) about something. I started having a few suspicions about what that something was, but decided to not get too hopeful.

Anyway, mum and I arrived back to Hilton safely and I organised for Frosty to come collect me so that we could go birding. He’d asked me the day before if I’d like to go birding at Hilton College, as there were lots of birds there and I might be able to tick off some new birds on my bird list. I started getting a bit more suspicious at this point, but again decided not to get my hopes up in case it really did turn out to be just a trip to go and see some new birds...

So, off we went to Hilton and Frosty chatted nicely the whole drive there. We had never gone birding at Hilton together before and so he pointed out all the places where he had crashed and where he had gone exploring and where Willie had beat him in a race uphill even though he (Willie) was using only one leg and Frosty was allowed to use both! We (Frosty) decided to go to Beacons lookout point as it was a place that Frosty used to visit often while he was at school and he went birding there quite often. Along with all the stories he told me during the drive, he also mentioned that his grandfather’s ashes had been scattered at Beacons. The entire drive there I was listening, and the important stories all stood out to me (I had heard a few before luckily), but in the back of my mind I was wondering if this was the time that Frosty was going to ask me something important. I decided to just take the afternoon as it came and made up my mind to not be too disappointed if all we ended up doing was going birding. 

View from Beacons Lookout Point

We got to Beacons and were treated to a view of overcast skies, cloudy and moody above Albert Falls Dam. It really was a beautiful sight and after admiring the view, we decided to try and get to the actual beacon - a few minutes and a sighting of a rather mean looking fence later, we decided to rather take a walk along one of the forest paths. We tried really hard to find some birds, but the incoming bad weather had ensured that all the birds were hiding...All this time I was enjoying the birding but also watching Frosty carefully to see if he was acting strangely. He seemed to be sighing every now and then but otherwise he was his usual self, so I still didn't want to get my hopes up that something was up.

After finding a few brave birds who had ventured out into the forest, we turned back and again spent some time standing on top of rocks, looking for birds at the Beacons viewpoint. It was while we were standing, just admiring the view, that Frosty went down on one knee and asked me to marry him and just like that, we were engaged!

As we sat chatting, overlooking the valley and just enjoying being together, I asked Frosty how long he'd been planning this whole thing and who was in on the plan. It turns out that while I was travelling in Rio he used the time to start looking into rings and talking to jewellers and for those few months, the only people other than him that knew his plan were his folks. It turns out my suspicions that Frosty has been asking my folks something at Hole in the Wall also turned out to be correct (my folks and his folks did such a good job at hiding their excitement over that time that I started to second guess myself at that point). 

Anyway, a glass or two of champagne and some snacks later, we made our way back to Hilton where as many of our family as possible had gathered to celebrate our engagement with us, which was just the best end to the day! Frosty and I were both so excited and thankful to have our family join us in celebrating our first evening as an engaged couple and it means so much that we were able to celebrate with them! Thank you family who were able to be there and those who weren't there were missed!

We're engaged!

The following day we had some more celebrations with family and friends who lived close by and one of the best treats of the day was getting to see my special friend Jen for the second day in a row! Since most of these friends live far away from us, it was again, an extra special time and one that I won't soon forget!

Special families! (Thanks Chezie for putting on your photographer hat!)

The jong-span (thanks mum for getting these pics!).

It's now been 3 weeks since we got engaged and in that time a lot has happened - we got to celebrate with my Cape Town family, work started off with a bang and I've just spent a week in the Czech Republic doing a workshop for a new project, which is really exciting! I have to say that I'm really looking forward to planning a little something to celebrate with our Cape Town contingent, who we haven't had much of a chance to see yet.

It really was the most fantastic way to end off the holiday and so, here's to a new year, a new adventure and a new fiancé - I think 2016 is going to be a good year!

*She and her husband recently welcomed a baby girl into the world, yippee!

'Tis the Season

It's less than a week until Christmas - can you believe it? At the beginning of last week, my manager mentioned to me that support was all under control and I didn't need to come in to work on Monday and Tuesday next week if I didn't want to and would I like to take those two days off as well. After thinking about it for a while, checking what is coming up and what I need to prepare for next year, I decided that since I had some extra days of leave saved up, I thought I might as well take them and I'll just work extra hard to get as much as possible done before I head off on Friday (best Christmas present ever - 2 days of extra holiday!).

I always love this time of the year, it's probably my favourite holiday and so, I thought I'd share some of my favourite things about Christmas:

• Decorating the Christmas tree (with Christmas Carols as background music).
• Finishing off Christmas shopping and then spending an afternoon or two wrapping presents (while listening to Chrismas Carols).
• Time spent catching up with family and friends - since we live so far away from home, any family time is extra-precious.
• Swimming costumes and long summers days spent at the pool or beach.
• Ice creams, watermelon, G&Ts.
• Christmas carols - the old stuff, the new stuff and Carols by Candlelight.
• Delicious food (my folks make the best Christmas ham you'll ever eat!)
• Having a bit of time to just chill and think and reflect.

What are some of your favourite things about Christmas?

Quote #13: It Is Better To Believe

Some of you may know that I've recently spent 2 weeks in Rio working on a project. Now, in my field, you don't often find yourself among other women and it's almost unheard of to work in a group that contains only women, but during my first week, this was my reality. Myself, our client technical lead and two of the engineers in Rio spent our first week finalising items for our project and tying up loose ends in preparation for the plant go-live. It was such a privilege to work almost exclusively with a group of ladies for the first week and it coincided with me reading a very interesting book on women's confidence (The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman). 

I really enjoyed this book for a number of reasons, but the main reason is that it has made me aware of differences between the way that men and women approach their jobs. I think the most important thing that it's made me aware of is that, women on the whole are much more risk averse and much less willing to jump into something that they have minimal skill/exposure/experience in. In other words, us ladies will only jump into the deep end when we've learnt how float and then how to swim, when we've learnt all the different swimming strokes and when we're sure that we need to be swimming free-style and not butterfly. On the opposite end of the scale, men on the whole are much more likely to jump into the deep end without any idea of how to swim, they'll somehow learn doggy paddle in order to keep their heads above water and then they'll improvise their style until they're swimming free-style with everyone else. 

At this stage of my career and for so many other young, professional women out there, I think it's really important to know that often, in order to move to the next position, we don't need to know exactly how to do the job. Instead we need to be willing to jump into the deep end without knowing how to swim. We need to remember that we're not the only ones in the pool/dam/sea and that there are people and things out there that will help us to swim as we go along. 

If you're interested in reading the Confidence Code, click here (it's worth the read, I promise!)

Finally, I hope that for the ladies out there who are wondering whether they're ready for that next role, this has inspired you to just go for it and dive into the deep end. And for the gents out there who are reading this - please keep in mind that you may need to give some extra encouragement to your girlfriends, wives, female friends or female colleagues to jump into that next role even though they don't feel quite ready for it.

The Reality of Work Travel

Reflection of cars in the building across from my hotel.
I thought this pertinent since we had a +- 1 hour commute from out hotel to the pant every day.
And the same on our way back.

So, you've been working for a while and you find out that you're going to need to do some travelling for work. You find out you're going to an awesome location and start getting exited, imagining sunning yourself on the beach after work or walking along snow-brushed cobblestone streets admiring the architecture and having time to sightsee. Your friends are all jealous and wish that they could come along in your suitcase to have fun with you.

This, my friends is a myth, reserved for holiday travel and is very definitely not what work travel is all about. I've been incredibly lucky to travel to some amazing places in the last little while for work and so I thought I'd share my experiences of what work travel is really all about - it's fun as long as your expectations are not the same as that of holiday travel!

• The probability of early mornings and late nights is high, especially if you're not the only one staying at the hotel.

• You're going to spend 70-90% of your time inside. Most likely the same office.

• You're going to spend 60-80% of your time in that same office, with the same people.

• You're going to eat a lot of restaurant food, which is delicious, but you will grow to miss a simple home-cooked meal.

• If you have people hosting you, they'll be able to advise you on some typical meals and drinks of the area - so you'll get to taste the "real" food of the place that you're visiting and not some tourist equivalent.

• If you're lucky, you will be able to squeeze in some sight-seeing between travelling to and from the office - an hour here and there to catch the main tourist attractions of the area, squished in between leaving the office and going out to dinner. 

• Most of your touristy photos will be from those squeezed-in-sightseeing-tours.

• If you're an introvert like me, you're going to get home and go into hibernation-mode and not want to socialise with anyone other than the people you live with for a few days.

• If you're working in a place that doesn't speak your language, you'll be excited to get back home to hear people speaking in your home language(s).

• You're going to, most probably, get to interact and chat with colleagues/clients that you've talked to over the phone a lot - so you will finally be able to put a face to a voice and name!

• Most of your pictures with colleagues will show you either in the office working, or at a restaurant eating.

• You'll get a chance to build relationships, make new friends and get to know people outside the office. It will be fun, just a different type of fun to holiday fun!

This is me, on the only completely sunny day we had in Rio.
Luckily, it also happened to be a Saturday - so this is me,
doing some fun touristy things in Rio.

Quote #12: Opportunities are Usually...

Years ago I was recommended a great book to read. It's called Outliers and is written by a chap called Malcolm Gladwell. I had high expectations for this book* and I wasn't disappointed when I finally got around to reading it. I think that one of the most important messages Outliers delivers is that success doesn't just come to people - success is a combination of circumstance, experience and hard work. People who grab those opportunities (and who have a bit of luck on their side by being born at the right time, in the right year, or having the right cultural background) and work hard at making the most of these opportunities (it's said that around 10,000 hours of practice makes you an expert at something) are the ones who become successful. If you get a chance to read this book, definitely give it a try!

* I have also read a book called The Tipping Point by the same author, which is also another interesting read!