Week 1!

It's almost midnight in Cape Town, marking exactly one week since I have left my San Franciscan home. And, not surprisingly, I’m still thrilled to be here. The jetlag caught up with me on Wednesday (my second day) and I was challenged (to say the least) to stay alert at some afternoon meetings. We were offsite for the client’s leadership meetings and my biggest takeaway was their emphasis on social responsibility. To conclude the afternoon session for their top 150 roles in the company, they showed An Inconvenient Truth. Prior to the movie, they reflected on their 4 major priorities right now, being to:
· Accelerate transformation (transformation refers to changes post-apartheid to promote equality)
· Drive social development
· Enhance environmental focus
· Address climate change
I’m so impressed with their effort to be aware and place such an emphasis on sustainability.

The evenings last week were filled with nightly team dinners exploring the different parts of Cape Town. The team is fantastic with great personalities and idiosyncrasies that I’m sure will keep us all entertained. We will be a complete team of 6 when another woman from the States arrives on Wednesday.

Friday morning, I decided that I may be looking forward to my weekends here even more than back at home because every weekend holds so much opportunity for new adventures and experiences. My first weekend was support of my theory.

Although the hotel I’m staying in is fantastic, I’m planning on moving into a bungalow or apartment on the Atlantic just outside the city (a 15 minute drive to work instead of the 5 minute walk) to take advantage of the beautiful coastline. So moving from the purple star to the green star… I set up an appointment for Saturday morning to look at a couple places in the Camps Bay and Clifton areas…

Neil from the accommodation shop picked me up Saturday morning and drove me along the scenic route to Camps Bay. He showed me the areas over there and a couple of apartments, including a cute little bungalow that was leading the charge until I saw a coworker's place. I'm now looking into finding an apartment in the same building or near a coworkers - the search will continue this week. I'm taking this picture from Tom's apartment building looking back towards the bungalow (which is above the last beach in the picture) Anyway, after the two apartments, I found a coffee shop and took in the sights (both the people and the surf) and read my book. Tom, a coworker, gave me a call and I went to go see his apartment (and read more on his balcony with the waves crashing in the background, of course). Friday night was another great dinner with South African red wine - quickly becoming a favorite evening drink of mine...

Saturday morning started out with a lazy 11am breakfast back in Camps Bay and a conversation about whether or not today would be appropriate for the hike up Table Mountain, which I'd been told would take anywhere from 1 hour to all day depending on who was asked. A few of us concluded that we'd hike up and take the cable car down, saving our knees and making sure we were off the mountain by dark and the incoming rain. We also had been told that one shouldn't go at it alone - perhaps in a group no smaller than 6 for safety in numbers. We park and hear that the cable car is closed due to high winds but that it may open back up. So Mike and I start up... It's beautiful! And also like climbing 40cm steps constantly for 2.5 hours. While hiking, the phone rings; it's one of our friends who chose to drive up Lion's Head (another Cape Town beauty) warning us of the incoming cold front that he sees from the vista overlooking the ocean. We decide to continue and worst case, we can always turn around early. More and more, I was encouraged each time I notice someone behind us because then we won't be the last people on the mountain. Success is ours and we close on the peak. We're happy to make it to the top with the gorgeous views of Cape Town, the Atlantic, and the 12 Apostles (12 peaks hugging the coast southward). However, it is then confirmed by other hikers there not only is there no cable ride down - but there's also no beer to re-energize us as the restuarant has closed as well. Long story short - and 4 sore knees later - we made it back down with only the wind reminding us of the incoming weather.

We cleaned up for the evening and went to the Water Front for dinner (which was incredible - curried banana and potato soup and kingclip fish for me - interesting and delicious!) I'm now back at my hotel, sipping jasmine green tea and listening to the thunder and lightening outside. Even though I've always found thunderstorms calming, tonight I'm particularly happy that I'm home instead of lost somewhere on Table Mountain :)

Okay, bedtime for me; another week to look forward to! And I get to read the last 30 pages of Get the Edge tonight! My best to everyone! Thanks for the fun emails!