The Big Picture

I’m an hour past leaving my new friends and extended family, and only 30 minutes done bawling my eyes out. It’s hard to type with the tears welling now. I love these people (most of them anyways wink wink) and to have shared such an amazing amazing amazing experience with them makes me grateful for whatever forces got me here in the first place.

The program is over --- at least the formal, work deliverable project teamwork part of it. But the friendships are not and I will work my hardest to keep it that way.

This entire past week especially has been a blur, with lots of work, research and stress trying to get everything done, little personality traits that we have tried to ignore over the first three weeks coming to a head, but at the end of it all it was mostly lots of love. We finished our assignment, and I am proud to say that our client-peep Sam seemed very happy. Out of our research, presentation and recommendations she took 12 different action items and told us that we have no idea the difference that we have made and the impact our work will have for a long while into the future. She could have just been being nice, but I choose to believe her. But, whatever we have done for her, the local community or the people we have worked with has been returned 100 times over, so it seems like they got the short end of the stick…. No amount of work we could have done would be nearly enough to equal what I have gotten in return.

Scrambling on Tuesday night to pull three weeks of research, analysis and interviews into a final report and conclusions, I finally got it --- THE BIG PICTURE. Sitting in my bed with jammies it suddenly all made sense, and I understood why she had given us the assignment that she did, and why what we are doing here matters. It all came together for me all at once and I just GOT IT – why we are here, what we are trying do, what it means to the local community. And I realized that every day we struggle with finding time to get things done, deadlines, financial problems, health problems, work stress, family stress, relationship stress and in doing so we miss the LIFE BIG PICTURE, which is friends and family and people and relationships are a lot of work, and living, breathing and spending every single waking moment with 11 people for four weeks straight is a lot of work, but if we stress over it without stepping back we will miss it --- the people that touch you and the experiences you share together are all we have at the end of it all, and I can’t be more touched and moved by this wonderful new extended family that I welcome into my life.

I’ve been so busy here this past month without literally a single moment that is just for myself, and – to be honest – it’s been hard to find time to reflect on everything and everyone at home that I’ve missed. But I’m on my way back and can’t wait to see you all, because my heart is filled with love and my eyes are filled with tears of happiness and all I have is XXs and OOs for you all.

Much love.


The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

One Last One

To set the stage, you have to understand that it’s been a long week of imbibement and merriness. On Wednesday the five of us on my team went out for a celebratory dinner with our client peep Sam to the most beautiful restaurant in all of Nelspruit. Seriously, it could rival any restaurant in the NYC or anywhere. We sat at the highest point of the city, had amazing food (the calamari infused with lemon balsamic stuff is brilliant (check out my new Britiness coming through), experienced our first Nelspruit blackout, and had the most romantic evening that six platonic people could share. Oh yeah, the point --- some of us finished off entire bottles of wine each. Oopsies. They shall remain nameless.

Thursday was our final presentation, and those with the wine still in their system needed a nap in the morning to be able to get through the day. The presentation went fantabulous, and by 4:00 we headed to the funnest bar ever since college, the Jock and Java. I can say that it was the most fun that I’d had since the Friday before at the Jock, with the whole entire team – all 12 of us – there along with our clients, random friends and hangers-on and buckets and buckets and buckets of endless drinkies. For some of us the night went long long long…

It is with this background that I can share our last night together. With a collective 7 hours of sleep from the prior two nights, a four hour car ride to Johannesburg, and utter exhaustion from a month of complete craziness comes my favorite conversation of the month…

8:00 PM in the lobby
Jen: “We should all meet for one last drink”
Jessie: “I’m not sure, I think I’m kind of done.”
Jen: “Just one, though, and then we’re all going to crash”
Jessie: “Ok, one is cool”.

8:20 at the bar – Jen is holding the drink menu, which strangely only has bottles available
Jessie: “What are we splitting?”
Jen: “Don’t know, I was thinking champagne”
Jessie: “So, we’ll get a bottle for the two of us?”
Jen: “Ok”

8:25 at the bar – Jen doesn’t like the champagne
Jen: “I don’t like it”.
Jessie: “So get another bottle for yourself and I’ll keep this one”

8:50 at the bar – drinks are low so Jessie & Jen simultaneously reach under the table to grab their respective entire bottles of champagne
“So much for just one”

10:30 at the bar – after teaching the rules to the non-alcoholics, we play my first game of Asshole in about 8 years with 5 men left standing, and the waterfall social is widely embraced. Oooofa.

11:00 we get kicked out of the bar but order just one last bottle for the road, even though no one could function through the tiredness and alcohol any longer. It really was “the last one”.





The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Me again

So I hear there are a lot of skeptics out there that think this trip has been all play. Well, it has been lots of fun and amazing experiences, but I'm doing lots of work, too. I just didn't think that anyone wanted to hear about what I've learned about the world export market for oranges, agriculture subsidies, the availability of electricity or other fun and exciting topics...

Instead, I decided to post more pics of Kruger. Check out the two wildebeasts, the warthog and the impala all hanging out in one shot. There were some zebras in the background but I couldn't get them into the picture. As they say here, "shame".

Oh yeah, and one more thing. I'm working this afternoon from the lodge and I have it all to myself. It is nice and toasty before it turns absolutely frigid at night.

Cheers.


The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Here kitty kitty kitty

Hey peeps. Sorry for not writing for so long. I've been busy busy busy working working working. Our presentation is due on Wednesday and we are not at all done so there is lots of pressure and work being done. Except...

The home sickness has subsided after an excellent weekend. We went out on Friday and had way too much fun, and then spent Saturday and Sunday in Kruger. (I know what you are thinking --- when is the work going to get done? Not sure yet...) Anyways, we saw lots of excellent animals, but most imporantantly we saw kitty kitty kittiessssssss. We saw two pairs of mating lions --- one on a night drive and one on a sunrise drive. We were so close to both of them it was more than a little scary, especially when the male started roaring at us from 5 feet away.

I'm attaching a picture of one of the pairs from the morning drive. So cute and cuddly : )

Now back to work.....

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

You can take the girl out of the NY metro area....

...but you can't take the girl out of the game.

This blog otherwise known as: Play Ball!

Or, alternately known as: Jessie's Talents


I've been feeling a bit homesick lately (which never ever happens, so I'm not used to it). I'm thinking it's mostly because I've been fighting a cold and I miss my warm bed and furry kitty to make me feel better. ANYWAYS, home sickness partially subsided tonight while I listened to the game online. I tried watching it, but I was going to use up all of the juice in the 3G card if I watched it, and since I need the card for work for the next 2 weeks I thought that using it all up for the game probably wouldn't be such a good idea, so I listened to the FAN and really missed garykeithandron.

As I blog, Reyes just led off the 12th with a double off the wall that (Howie says) just barely missed going out to tie the game. But why was JOSEJOSEJOSE hotdogging it AGAIN going into second??!?!?! Grrrrrrrrr. Anyways, it's four hours of stress and happiness all mixed in together and it feels like home.

I also wanted to share something that I find hilarious --- one of my teammates blogged on our team blog how amazed she was about all of the hidden talents that we all have. We have some very good singers, very good amateur photographers and a few artists on our team. About me she writes "and Jessie loves baseball". Unfortunately no one here really cares -- the few Americans have no interest at all, but I did have a full conversation about (of all people) Bobby Valentine with my teammember from Japan.

CRAPPPPOLAAAAASSSS game over. sheff struck out with Reyes on 3rd. sonofa. i'm gonna have a cookie and milk to drown my sorrows and try to sleep it off. It'll be a long trip to SF for the team after giving this one away. Maybe I'll get up at 4AM start on Fri to see how they bounce back.

lata.





The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

A Case of the Ickies

Not feeling great today. I've felt run down all weekend and thought it was just lack of sleep but I think it's a cold coming on --- head hurts, ears are clogged, chest is congested. booooooo. but a night on the couch watching June (still great), meds and four layers of clothing should make it better.

It does feel a bit like a time warp, though -- I'm on the couch in my jammies eating gross soup from a can while my pseudo roommate is working --- feels like I should be in Amherst, only I'm missing the Antonios.


The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Missin my peeps

Just sitting here pondering my experience thus far (I can't believe we are halfway done). I'm having my first Jessie alone time while the rest of the team went to dinner (I'm still full from too much pizza and tiramasu and cookies at lunch) and am comfy in my jammies while I reflect.... Most of all I really wish that all of my wonderful friends and fam could have been with me today at the school. I wish I could have mini versions of all of you in my pocket and could have taken you out to be there with me. Kind of like they do in Star Wars --- where Yoda just kind of shows up when you need him --- that's what I wish --- that you could all be like Yoda and I could call on you to come experience all of this with me. Sigh.

Since that's not possible, I thought I'd post a favorite pick from the first weekend in Johannesburg. That's Shweta and I with our faces painted in the traditional manner to promote peace and love. XXOO









The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

More Than I Could Have Imagined

This morning was by far the most amazing day of the trip, and something I will always remember. After months of planning by me and my teammate Claire, we visited a local primary school in the rural village of Clau Clau, about an hour outside of Nelpruit. The entire region is a former "homeland" settlement, where natives were forced to during apartheid. Many of the people still remain here, where there is little opportunity for jobs (roughly 80% unemployment), poor land for farming, and many live in houses that are not much more than a room or two with a metal roof held down by bricks, and "facilities" are pits in an outhouse. HIV/AIDS, rampant drug use and a general communal hopelessness greet the children everyday, and most families cannot even afford the roughly $10/year of school fees.

Despite the challenges, the school principal, teachers and local officials are doing everything they can to provide the best education possible. In return, the children very clearly have the utmost respect of their elders, with "yes, ma'ams" and "thank yous" in unison whenever they are addressed.

Our day started at morning assembly, with roughly 700 children singing morning prayers and dancing. I will never forget the faces of the children singing to us, and of my teammates, all of whom were soaking in the amazing welcome that we were being given.

After assembly we met with two classes of about 100 kids each, 6th and 7th graders who were about 11 - 12 years old. We showed them a video that I had made of kids in New York asking questions of them, and the kids here asking questions back. The question from the New York kids asking "what are your favorite foods?" seemed to have the most overwhelming response --- at least 15 kids excitedly answered the question, and I can only guess that it is because food is probably something they appreciate given its scarcity in their daily lives (some rely only on the school for their daily meals).

The kids then asked us many questions, some of them very tough --- "What are your hopes and dreams?" "Do you want to have children?" and the awkward "Do you have money?" They also asked us to show off some of our talents --- Roland sang a verse of his church music, Shweta sang and showed a Bollywood dance, and Jen T hopped like a kangeroo across the front of the classroom! In between classes, a group of the girls dressed in traditional tribal dress and performed a song and dance in honor of the local king of their tribe. The singing and dancing were truly beautiful, although it did take us "westerners" some time to adjust to the revealing clothing of the tribal outfits.

It was an amazing experience to be around kids that have so many challenges ahead of them yet try their best as the teachers give every bit of energy to provide them with a quality education. We were all touched, and I know that I personally will go to bed tonight dreaming of ways to help make their lives just a little bit easier in the future.....





The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Ellies

Elephants!!!! While driving around Kruger, we decided to stop for a break to stretch our legs and go to the bathroom (you can't get out of your cars while driving around, but they do have sporadic rest areas every couple of hours that have some facilities). When we arrived at the rest area it was very crowded and there were no parking spaces, so our client's husband (who was driving) pulled very close next to a tree and brushed up against it. When he did so I noticed that the very top branches were moving, and I thought it was strange that the car could have swayed the branches at the top, but I shook it off and got out of the car. So the 7 of us are all just milling around the car, stretching, talking about what we had seen on the drive, when ---- helllloooooo?????? OMG there is an ellie (do you like the slang I picked up) right in the tree that we basically drove into. It was crazy -- we didn't even know he was there! It was a lone male, best guess by others smarter than me was 15 - 20 years old, but alone, and single males tend to be quite aggressive. We're all standing around taking pictures, when we realize that maybe it's not such a good idea to be so close. So everyone starts to back away and as we are moving back I'm talking with Mark (our client's husband) about the elephant, how amazing it is, etc., and I start filming him (the elephant, not Mark). You can see in the video if you watch to the end how very close we are, when suddenly the ellie starts moving towards us. I started to get a bit nervous and turned to Mark to say maybe we should move further back when ---- oopsies : ) it turns out that everyone else took "moving back" to mean waaaaaay back --- they were like 30 feet away, and only Mark and I were left less than 10 feet away basically holding hands with him. I was so busy filming and taking pictures I hadn't realized that everyone else had left. And, Mark is crouching behind the car watching it it while I'm just out in the open in my own world, in complete awe. You have to watch the video to see how close we are, and you start to see him moving towards us. Ooooopsies, got a little too close : ) The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

You take the good you take the bad

OMG it's been a rough few days...

First the good --- we went to Kruger last weekend!!!!!! What a wonderful day, starting at 6 in the morning, arriving at Kruger at 7 and driving all day through the park until 5:30 (barely getting out of the park before they shut the doors - we were one of the last cars to leave!). We saw everything but kitties - rhinos, hippos, baboons, giraffe, zebra, hyenas, wild dogs, impala, crazy birds, buffalo, crockodiles, warthogs (I think my favorite) and lots and lots of elephants (subject of a separate blog I'll post later). The five on my team went with our client and her husband who were wonderful guides and very patient as we kept asking the car to move up, back, up again until we could all get our pictures. So that's the good.

The bad was bad. On the way home, we were going through a tiny teeny town with no streetlights and our client's husband (who was driving) did not see the massive speed bump in the road and hit it going just a little too fast (insert sarcasm on "little"). I was in the back of the safari van with one of the other girls (Jen) on my team without seatbelts, and we both went flying and hit our heads on the metal grates on the top of the car. And not just a little bump --- I was really out of it in a lot of pain, and feared I might have a concussion (although I never lost consciousness) (I was very very scared). It turns out that I don't (no symptoms of a concussion and my deep, deep forehead bruise is now healing), but Jen ended up getting worse and worse and eventually went to the hospital the next day for pain meds, and we think she did have a concussion. It was an awful way to ruin an otherwise great day.

To top it all off, we were moving lodges on the evening of the head incident. I blogged earlier about how the larger team of 12 unfortunately had to be split into two lodges when we arrived due to some shady logistical problems. So, we have been staying for the first week at temporary accomodations until we could all be moved together to one place. The move happened about an hour after we hit our heads and we came back to a really terrible lodge. Granted that my team had been totally spoiled because of the great B&B we had stayed at during the first week. And maybe we wouldn't have been so disappointed had we come here from the beginning. But, even by my low standards the place is gross. One person got put in a room with dirty sheets (we all have inexplicable stains on all of our linens, shower curtains and towels), another person got bit by a flea in her bed, another person only has pipes in their bathroom (no showerhead), and it is generally just filthy. I know we are not supposed to be living in luxury, but "clean" sheets should be a minimum standard.

Not to be a crybaby, but my room was the worst. It was so horrible I actually slept with the lights on (I'm not sure why, somehow it made me feel better) and I felt dirty just walking into the room. The room is off of the lobby on the bottom floor of the lodge and I had a suspicion that it was being used as a public bathroom when not occupied. After talking with the team, one of the girls, Claire, was so excellent and let me move in with her (she has a bigger space with some common areas). So I moved in last night and am much more comfortable and actually feel clean now. One afternote: after I moved in with Claire, I realized I had left something in the first room and went in to get it to find that...someone had just taken a shower there! I think the room was used as a general sleeping / bathing / bathroom for the hotel staff which is why it is so nasty. ick ick ick ick

So that's the quick update for now. I'll spare you from the work updates for now, but we are all working very very hard and are all tired and feeling the pressure of looming deadlines (I worked almost long enough to catch the start of the Mets game last night --- with a six hour time difference!). I'll have more posting soon now that the head is recovering.

Lata : )


The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Working Holiday

Today is Friday May 1, and can you believe that it is another national holiday in South Africa? Today, this past Monday and last Wednesday were all holidays, and most of the schools were closed for two weeks around Easter. It’s no wonder things get done so slowly around here. But, I think this is the last holiday during our stay here.

Although the rest of the country has the day off, the IBM teams are working on each of our projects. Right now I am working from the deck of our lodge, looking over a lush, tropical backyard listening to the dozens of neighborhood dogs barking, birds singing songs I’ve never heard before and swatting away some funky red bee thing (they keep finding me). What’s amazing is how hot it is – and supposedly it’s the fall going into winter! I am in the shade and the thermometer says its 85 but I would bet its 95 in the sun. It’s the kind of hot that makes you not want to move, yet we see hundreds of people walking to work everyday because they don’t have cars and the buses are too crowded. Most have on layers of clothes nd full length pants or dresses and are carrying bags or supplies or kids. I don’t know how they do it.

Oh yeah, and the humidity is making me look like Monica from that episode of Friends when they go to Jamaica. One of my teammates is having her hair done tomorrow local-style, so maybe I should do the same??? : )

For your enjoyment I’ve posted the view of the sun setting from my room that I get to enjoy every night : )



The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.