Today was a wonderful day in Johannesburg and not only because of the beautiful weather. You couldn’t tell that it is actually winter over here with the blue sky and the warm sunshine. After settling in to the very nice hotel three of us explored the shopping mall across the street. By the look this mall could have been anywhere in the world but best guess would be in the US with all traditional South-African restaurants like KFC, Burger King, etc. present. 🙂 We avoided these chains and got an excellent lunch in one of the other restaurants.
In the evening we finally got to meet each other in person and although some of us should probably update our intranet picture (myself included) we quickly got the names right and enthousiastically exchanged sincere greetings. Fourteen colleagues from eight different countries meeting here for a one month project, wow, that is not something you see every day. Only Savi is still missing because some visa strangeness has delayed him a bit. He is coming on Sunday so only then will the team really be complete. Hurrry up Savi, we need you here to help out with our project plan!
We also met Muriuki who we all knew from so many conference calls. In person he radiates passion for the CSC program. He was excellent at conveying his excitement and brought home the point that not only do we get the chance to change SA a little, SA will surely change us as well. I am really looking forward to it.
In the evening we went out for a group dinner, although some were too jetlagged to come along. I am very lucky since SA in wintertime has the same time as in Belgium. We had an even better meal time and laughed like crazy. We will work hard but surely will have a lot of fun too! Now to sleep because tomorrow the official program starts…
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