It's a Small World After All, #PandaEye & Cider

Front desk at Awethu

“Corporate culture” is a very important aspect of life at Awethu. Over the past 2 weeks, my team and I have been interviewing each department at the company. Consistently within each line of business, everyone has shared that their drive for working for Awethu is rooted in passion for social change in South Africa, team work, camaraderie, and the opportunity to work with like-minded, incredibly talented individuals.

Every Tuesday and Friday the company gathers together for team building and socializing, respectively. This past Friday, we invited the entire SAP team to join us for Friday night drinks. Now I need to set the stage for you. My colleagues and I all work for the same company whose talent pool is largely made up of middle aged white men. Awethu, on the other hand, is a very young, vibrant organization made up of 54 ~28 year old well-educated, beautiful people from all over the world. That is naturally why SAP selected Vivek, Soichiro and I to work on this project. They knew we’d fit in perfectly. After a cold beer/grapetizer (fizzy grape juice drink), we moved the socializing from the office and headed downtown for happy hour.

The best part about socializing with your new/old colleagues outside of work, is that you find out all sorts of fun stuff. So here goes in no particular order:

1)      Turns out, there is a guy who went to UVA named JC who works at Awethu. His ex-girlfriend  went to HRA in Virginia where my Aunt Karen and Uncle Max teach! He is also friends with 2 of my friends from Williamsburg. You can say it because I was singing it, it’s a small world after all.

 

2)      The best fries (or chips) in Joburg are at Great Dane in Braamfontein.  

3)      Laura from Ireland is still a fabulous dancer. I am not. BUT – I did find out that Laura has taken so many salsa classes that she can teach one and is going to give me a salsa lesson. Check that off of my #31before31 list.

4)      If you look tired, Gang from China will tell you that you have Panda Eye. That basically means that you have dark bags under your eyes and he is calling you a cute big bear so that it doesn’t sting when he is really trying to tell you that you look like crap and need concealer under your eyes. In Japan, they call it kuma, which as I understand it is the makeup the traditional dancers wear. In other words, all of my colleagues have been telling me that I look tired lately, but in various ways.

5)      Americans frequently say, “I have no accent.” And this phrase isn’t use by other cultures. Well of course we have an accent no matter where we’re from the States – we have an American accent.

6)   At lunch today, my colleague ordered a Cider thinking it was "Apple Cider" like we have in the states. He didn't realize he was drinking an alcoholic cider beverage until he was already tipsy. Note to self - don't assume, always ask.

7)   Iced coffee is not the same in the States as it is here. If you ask for an Iced coffee here, you're likely to get a coffee milkshake. While it's not a terrible outcome, for a lactose intolerant girl who longs for a caffeine pick-me-up, it's not exactly what you had in mind.

 Something new every day…