Here's Looking at You #30

It’s raining hard tonight as I sit here reflecting on my time in South Africa so far. I don’t know about you, but I find listening to the rain very comforting. In fact, when I’m at home in Chicago I sit and listen to the city rain mode on an ipad app. That basically means it has the sound of rain and an occasional fake car driving by with a honk every now and then. What can I say? I’m a city girl now. But tonight as I listen to the rain, there are no familiar sounds. The wind is blowing through the huge purple Jacaranda tree in my back yard. The Go Away birds have stopped singing (Go away birds are the birds here that literally sound like they are telling you to go away) and the Indian couple downstairs have gone to bed. 

Seeing that I’m halfway through my first work week in Johannesburg and I’m less than an hour away from my 30^th birthday, #sigh, I thought I’d take some time to catch you up on the crazy things that have happened over the past few days. So here goes nothing in no particular order…

10 Things you Should Know About My Past Week in South Africa

1)      You never know what you’ll find in your room when you come home

I arrived home from my first day of work on Monday exhausted. Talk about drinking from a fire hose, try jumping into a business plan for an emerging MGO with only 3 weeks to deliver a successful, sustainable, and implementable business model for geographic expansion. Just another day at the office here for those of you who think I’m on a vacation! As I turned the corner into my office where I keep my work clothes, I was surprised to find a man’s suit hanging on the closet door. Next to the suit was a cute dress. Next the dress on my desk was a pile of clothes including men’s socks and underwear and children’s pajamas. Last time I checked I lived in my apartment alone – or did I get married and procreate in the past 24 hrs? Turns out the missing items belonged to a lovely Indian couple who lives below me with their little boy. I knocked on her door to return the missing items and nearly scared the pants off of the woman who lives there. To Vivenda’s surprise, I was also able to deliver a 2^nd pile of clothes to her this morning that I must have missed yesterday. Hoping to go for round 3 and that she has sent something good to the cleaners tomorrow ;)

2)      Love is in the air

I’m not sure if all of you know, but I got ENGAGED just before embarking on my adventure in South Africa! The love of my life and my longtime honey, John, proposed to me at our favorite restaurant in Chicago before I departed. Although the wedding planning is on a temporary hold, my friend’s love lives are not. My very best friend called me in the middle of the night last night not realizing the time different to inform me she was engaged!!! Can’t wait to start double wedding planning with her. Although I am very happy for her engagement, I was not happy about the 3 a.m. call. Friendly reminder, I’m 7 hours ahead of CT.

And while you may think this is exciting enough, there has actually been some very interesting conversations as it relates to love with my international team here in South Africa. On Monday, our cab driver drove us to the University of Johannesburg. I asked him to turn on music he usually listens to. As he turned on the radio, there was an amazing African dance song playing. But apparently that is not the type of music he listens to, because he turned on the radio to bad early 90's R&B love songs. I guess that's one way to start a work day.

This morning my Indian teammate Vivek was walking me to the ATM and I asked him how he met his wife. Is is 29 like me and I was not prepared for his answer. He began by saying, “Jenny – I actually think you are going to find this very interesting. My wife and I had an arranged marriage.” Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Of course India still has arranged marriages, but I’ve never actually met anyone who has had one. I was very curious as to how one actually gets paired and you probably wont believe it. There is a marriage bureau in India where parents go to register their children who aren’t yet married. I can only imagine what my brothers would do if my parents put their names on a registry at the marriage bureau. Ha!

He continued explaining that they didn’t hit it off the first time they met and in fact didn’t really care for one another the first time, but their parents made them get together a 2^nd time and the rest is history. He had 7 days to accept the marriage arrangement and they were engaged and married within 6 months. What’s more, they actually select their wedding date based on their stars! Something I have jotted down to speak to John about upon my arrival.

3)      Men like reading wedding magazines as much as women do

I bought 3 South African wedding magazines tonight for our team pizza party. My man friends loved the mags as much as the ladies (perhaps more!).

4)     I like Indian food

       I celebrated a Hindu holiday yesterday called EID. Nor sure what the purpose was, but the day came complete with a homemade Indian meal from my new friend Rohit. I think I like Indian food. I still don’t have a tolerance for spices though which negates the fact that I like Indian food.

 

5)     Indians eat silver candy

In addition to having 2 colleagues from India participating on sabbatical with me, South Africa has a very strong Indian culture. More on this to come later. However, the one thing I did want to share with you is that they put silver leafing on their candy!! It’s sparkly, beautiful and delicious. Come on America, get with the program.

 

 

6)     The Jacaranda tree is the most beautiful tree I’ve ever seen

 

During the 6 weeks prior to departing for South Africa, the SAP team requires us to do 6 weeks of pre-work. Each week the prework programming focuses on a different topic (eg getting to know your team, all about SA, education & entrepreneurship in SA, etc.). The last lesson before I left the states was focused on SAP in South Africa. Our speaker pulled up the most beautiful picture of a lovely white cottage on a pond with a big purple tree out front. He explained that the purple tree was the Jacaranda tree and that it would be in bloom when we arrived. I have never seen anything like this tree in my life.  Think cherry blossoms in DC or Japan, but with purple flowers that are absolutely striking. Unfortunately, they are also very tricky because I haven’t been able to capture a good picture of the tree since I got here. As I mentioned above, there is a Jacaranda tree out my back door that I attempt to take a picture of every day, and every day the tree eludes my camera. It must be gods little trick so that they trees stay here in South Africa and remain a special treasure for locals and visitors alike.

 

7)      I met the SAP Africa CEO, Pfungwa Serima
 

Speaking of the SAP campus in Johannesburg, our new friend Sunil Geness (far right), head of CSR and Government Relations in Africa arranged for the social sabbatical team to travel to the local SAP office and meet the CEO of SAP Africa, Pfungwa Serima (4th from the left). In his role as CEO of SAP Africa - Pfungwa Serima oversees SAP’s business interests in the African Continent which is made up of 4 Regions namely; Southern Africa Region, West Africa Region, East Africa Region and Francophone Africa Region. Prior to joining SAP Africa, Pfungwa worked for other leading ICT companies such as Microsoft and Accenture and he has more than 18 years of experience that cuts across both public and private sector organizations

 

After only meeting him for an hour and if asked to describe Pfungwa in one word, the word I would use to call him is authentic. He entered the board room where we were working just past noon wearing a crisp white shirt. He has a welcome smile and commanding presence, yet makes you feel instantly at ease. Each of the sabbatical teams discussed our current local projects as well as his overall opinion on the growth of the African market. It was a fantastic afternoon.

 

And not to diminish the excitement of spending time with our African CEO, but the thing that impressed me most was actually the SAP office – it’s incredible. First of all they have internet. Now you might not think this is a big deal, but connectivity for both phone and internet has been an issue since we arrived and definitely something I take for granted back home. To describe the campus aesthetically, think about a group of perfect white cottages with huge porches, extensive landscaping, ponds and bridges, and jacaranda trees. The doors open from both sides like in star trek and you have a choice of 2 kids of water, sparking or still! Hey, it’s the little things.

 

8)     Don’t buy train tickets from any place except the kiosk machine. Why? Because that would be dumb.

I take the underground train to and from work each day. I live in the suburbs and work in the city, just the opposite of my commute back home but without the traffic. The train station is about a 10 minute walk from our apartments. On Sunday, George our local consultant, took us to buy train tickets (pics in previous blog). As he was explaining the route to us, an announcement came over the intercom. “Do not buy tickets from any persons or locations outside of the ticket window or kiosk. Why? Because that would be dumb.” End of message. I wish more American messages could be that blunt.

 

9. The Awethu Project is a remarkable organization with remarkable employees

I am absolutely thrilled to be working with The Awethu Project with Vivek and Soichiro. Not only are my colleagues incredible, but the employees and the mission of Awethu is awe-inspiring. The executive team is made up of young professionals with impressive resumes, but it’s not their resumes that impress me, it’s their willingness to accept outside feedback that I think is so incredible. I take criticism very hard, so I can’t imagine what it is like to invite 3 professionals from across the world into your organization and have them make recommendations for improvements to your operational plan. A huge thanks goes out to Dale and Kate for putting up with the 3 of us J

 

Awethu has 51 employees, has more than 500 entrepreneurs in their incubator, and are hoping to expand to reach another 1500 entrepreneurs in Johannesburg over the next year. They truly want to make an impact on their community and it shows. Their passion, dedication, and willingness to accept constructive feedback is going to get them there. I can’t wait to see where their dream will take the future of South Africa.

 

 

10. 30 is going to be a great year

It’s now 12:15 a.m. on October 17 and I’m officially 30 years old. I am lucky enough to share this special day with my Auntie Jan who I’m thinking of from afar right now. If you’re reading this, Happy Birthday Auntie J!

 

I’m not sure where the year will take me, but I’m confident that this trip is giving me the life and leadership skills to be more successful than I ever imagined. Although I don’t want this trip to end, I’m looking forward to getting home to John and ‘cheers’ing to 30 and to the rest of our lives together.

 

As you can see, the adventure continues. Something new every day...