Tina T's ADP Journey

January 11 - Thanks and I'm off again

2008-01-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's all over. This weekend I'll start the task of consolidating my experience and pulling together some presentations to share internally and externally. If any of you have a group that you think would like to hear about this program let me know. I'll probably send the presentation out to all you hard-core readers regardless.

I'm back in the swing of work and heading off to Toronto on Monday (yes I love my job!) for my next project as..you guessed it...Test Manager. Apparently my reputation preceeds me. Serves me right for doing such good work in the past. Doh! I will be in the T-dot Monday to Thursday so if anyone is around and hungry let me know. :-) No, I don't know how long I'll be there yet but at least through the summer.

On other news I have also found a flat in Ottawa which is great. I'll be a Glebe-ite as of Feb 1st living 1/2 a block from a Running Room and a Beer Store...ah Canadian Glory!

It's a crazy snowy day here and there's much to do to prepare for Monday so I'll wrap this up. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you learned a thing or two and laughed once or twice.

Take Care All!
me

January 2 - Back Home :-)

2008-01-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

So sorry this took me so long but guess what...I'm home!

I'm glad to be back in Canada and it honestly feels like I never left (aside from the subtle differences like the Golden Turtle being crap and a few zillion more potholes).

The journey home was bitter-sweet and the last couple of days in Woking lovely including home-made kitchen twister:

And many delightful meals (scrumptious breakies, amazing dinners and traditional yummy tea!)

The flight home was a long one when our tvs shorted and I realized the fellow beside me didn't even bring a book. He also ended up sitting next to me between Toronto and London, ON too. We chatted for hours about absolutely nothing...crazy.

It was so nice to see my whole family again and Christmas was delightful. I wish I could have stayed longer but headed to Toronto to see the gals (Sarena, Elena and Jess avec baby) and see Jess' new house (beautiful!). Breakfast with Phil, Sarena and Jacs and then off home with a quick stop in Belleville to meet Jen's new baby Catriona (beautiful!). I got to Ottawa to find Christie and Leslie waiting for me at Christies...yay!

This was the snow-insanity that greeted me Christmas morning when my jetlag woke me at 4am. It certainly was a winter wonderland! Dark and snowy :-)

I have been asked a few times what it feels like to be back. It's hard to describe. Somewhat anti-climactic and partially manic.

I am still trying to sort out work and where I am going to live but my fabulous friends have been amazing support. It has been so fabulous to see them all and find out what they have been up to (even though they claim 'nothing's new'). I've been snowshoeing and to my bike-run class so am getting back in the swing. Had a great New Years Eve (if you get a chance to try the game Rock Band DO IT!) and tomorrow will head into the office and the dentist. Not sure which one will be more painful.

I'll send an update on my transition back to non-ADP Accenture and contact details for my Ottawa life.

Thanks for reading all this time. I appreciate your support and care. It's been a great help in my sometimes very difficult path through the last 9 months.

Happy New Year to All!

December 14 - Last day at Plan :(

2007-12-14T06:16:00.000-08:00

Well this is it. My last day at Plan. Sad but happy...

The people here keep asking me one thing...are you sad to go? Sure I am. I'll miss the day to day interaction. The chatting at tea time in the kitchen, the jacket potatoe lunches and the mandatory 10 mins of social talk when you nip up to someone's desk with a question. The folks here are amazing (I believe I said that yesterday) and I'll miss them but I know they have made a contribution to my life and I theirs. Somewhat cliche again but true.

Having been in and out of the country I don't have a desk here so there's no box of acquired 'stuff' to lug home with me. There's no name plate to add to my collection and I don't even think I'll take a single extra piece of paper with me (trust me, when you are in Sierra Leone you learn quickly to print less).

I know this won't be the last I hear of these people. I've made some truly great friends here and have promised to visit again. I've also invited everyone to Canada...I think I have convinced Nana...just need to get rid of some of that snow!

Time to finish 'transitioning' then head off to the pub for a couple of Guinni. It's been a slice!

I'll be here for another week so expect one or two more updates and few more photos.

Cheers!

December 13 - No Go...Talk about anti-climactic

2007-12-13T02:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since the chaos of last Friday and all of the panic-ed preparation for the decision on whether or not the full ChildData system would go live in all 67 countries so I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the decision.

It was decided that due to:

> Several outstanding system stability issues

> Lack of readiness from several field and sponsorship offices and,

> Issues with support coverage over the holidays

that we would not add any new offices (we are live in 9 countries now) until January 7th and have an additional wave January 28th (anyone from STSI reading this and cringing?).

So, that's that. I have redone the deployment plan around those dates and the team is busy gathering readiness of the offices to see who can go on the 7th and who will get the extra three weeks.

It really is sad for me as I won't be around to see the system go truly global. It's also a resourcing nightmare as the two new folks replacing us will only start Jan 14th and so will be of little help with the additional work in January.

All in all I think it was the right decision. This was definitely the most interesting go/no-go decision I have ever been apart of as every single person in this organization feels they should have their individual say into the decision and it boggles my mind how all that input can be managed.

Susan did a fabulous job in wading through the politics and whinging and making a very smart recommendation.

I wish the team all the luck in the world and can't wait to get the email that the system is global. Tomorrow is my last day at Plan and it will be a sad one. So cliche to say but the people here are fabulous and I will miss them a lot. It really does feel good to work for an organization that is doing good and with people who sacrafice a lot to work here. Amazing folks!

I'll be in the UK for an extra week and look forward to touring about a bit and just relaxing. I am also super pumped for my journey home on the 22nd. I can't wait to jump in the snow and hug my family and friends and pat Franklin!

Here's a couple more shots of the folks around here from our Plan Christmas Party last week. Yes, it's actually called a Christmas party and not a Holiday party and, at last count there are 4 Christmas trees in the office...and one of them is real! woohoo!

(Me and Kate; Jon and Jamie (who were drinking rose...seriously); Milton, Mark and Jaime (the first person from Plan I ever met aside from Susan); Paul and Bruce (who's dog I am going to try to pack in my suitcase); David, Simon, Dave and me)

December 13 - Conor's Article

2007-12-13T02:52:00.000-08:00

Howdy! The following article came out today in the Accenture online journal. Those of you who are Accenturites can see the full thing here:
https://portal.accenture.com/News/operatinggroups/government/adp_sheehy.htm

For the rest of you lucky folks here's the cut and paste:

Conor Sheehy raises awareness of children rights through Accenture Development Partnerships program

Conor Sheehy, consultant - Public Service, applies his Accenture consulting skills far from his London office in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Sheehy, in partnership with Accenture Development Partnerships, is working with Plan International – a non-profit a humanitarian, development organization that works with families and their communities to meet the needs of children around the world.

“Plan International’s child sponsorship program aims to make global communities aware of and involved in the needs and rights of children,” Sheehy explained. “My role involves working from three continents to support the rollout of the initial release of the new, cost-effective solution for ChildData – a system and associated processes designed to manage global sponsorship information.”

Sheehy continued, “In early October (2007), I presented the training rollout for ChildData to 20 representatives from West Africa, with the help of a French interpreter, in Ghana. The system is currently scheduled to go live globally on December 10.”

“When Plan International’s operations were pioneered in Sierra Leone, a lack of trust among local communities existed,” Sheehy said. “Superstition permeated the minds of people who believed a legendary genie, Kasila, had appeared in human form to take their children away to the underworld.”

Sheehy continued, “Since my arrival in Freetown, I have heard tales of supernatural cats, human teleporting and witchdoctors controlling thunderbolts from the sky. I have witnessed only some of these firsthand but can confirm that suspicion has been eradicated and visitors are now greeted with open arms.”

After spending his time providing training sessions to the local people of Sierra Leone, Sheehy explained “it is perhaps I who should be saying 'tєnki' (the local Krio expression to give thanks) as I have learned how people can be so resilient in the face of abject poverty. I am optimistic about Sierra Leone’s bright future following the 10-year war.”

“Working with Accenture Development Partnerships and Plan International has been a great experience,” Sheehy said. “I am helping to make a difference for children’s rights and, in the process, I have traveled to three countries to do so—I spent two months in Sierra Leone, a month in Kenya and a month in Mumbai, India. I am now back in the United Kingdom where Plan’s International Headquarters is based and I will be wrapping up my project at the end of the year.”

December 3 - One year older and clearly no smarter!

2007-12-03T03:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! Only 9.5 more work days left. Can you believe it!??!? It seems like just yesterday I was weepy-Tina-nearly-missing-her-flight and now I am frantic-Tina-trying-to-finish-her-work-and-enjoy-the-rest-of-her-time-here.

Wanted to say thanks to everyone who sent birthday greetings and everyone who has sent messages that make me more and more excited about coming home. I hear there is snow so that's great! The sun is shining here in the UK!

One more week until we go live around the world so keep your fingers and toes crossed for me. I'll be happy to see it in place but sad that all the work is done.

I had a couple of folks aske me about supporting Plan so here's the link to the Canadian site in case you want to take a look. I would be happy to chat off-line with anyone who has questions about how the money is used and my opinions on the efficiency of this (and other) NGOs which I think is a smart thing to have an insite into before you invest your money.

http://plancanada.ca/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=194&srcid=265

I also wanted to post some photos from my shindig on Thursday so you can all see some more of my amazing colleagues so when I tell you stories you have faces to names:

(photos: the chilly feast, Nicki and Susan post Sangria, Me and Mike the chef, Nicki demonstrating the power of Bailey's cake, Super Lyn and I)

November 30 - Interesting Comparison

2007-11-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

So the other day when I got into the elevator in my flat the other day (I know, I usually take the stairs but I had a load of stuff for my party and wimped out) I noticed the max capacity sign and had a giggle.

In England the sign says:
Max Cap 8 persons/630kg

In India the sign said:
Max Cap 10 persons/630kg

Can someone check an American or Canadian elevator? I'm curious to see which country's lifts can hold the most folks.

Hosted a small but fab party last night. Many photos. Will post some on the weekend. Note: Sangria, although seeming like a great idea is WRONG.

Oh and we are now live in eight countries...wooohoooo! [UK, US, Australia, Spain, Ecuador, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and the Philippines!]

November 23 - Trip to Paris (oh and Pilot time)

2007-11-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

Me again.

Last weekend I headed off to Paris to 1) see Sarena who is working there right now and 2) to hang out with my bro (Chris) and his wife (Cat) who were on vacay there.

I think my head may still be spinning from all the stuff I did (or maybe from the stomach nasty that I picked up) but I LOVED Paris. So jealous of Sas for living there!

Highlights included:

- Napoleans Tomb

- The Musee D'Orsay - The Pantheon (particularly the pendulum) - The food (aside from the barfing :$)

Boo on the Metro workers for being on strike but all in all a great time.

Busy week here at work as we prepare to go live in 8 countries on monday. Things are going well and I think we have a Go! decision so that's great. Will probably be working on the weekend but at least this time I'll have company...I know...that's cruel...but what can I say.

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans!

November 10 - Woking Beer Festival?

2007-11-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Okay I know I am going back in time but bear with me. I need to give you all a couple of updates and catch up. I'll get back to the present soon enough promise.

On November 9th I witnessed quite a spectacle...the Woking Beer Festival. For those of you in the O-dot you may be thinking "that's like the Wine and Food Show isn't it?". Well, no.

Picture you local community centre gym filled along one side with scaffolding full of kegs of beer, on the other with a stage with a sad cover band, in the back with a man named Len playing the Whirlitzer Organ and filled with a sea of beer-bellied, greying men some in Hawaiian shirts. Seriously!
It was a totally stellar event! (my coat was the last one out of coat check)Tickets are sold out months in advance and the place was PACKED. I went with a bunch of folks from work who go every year so they showed me the ropes luckily. You enter and get a pint glass. You can go around to all the different stations and try 1/2 or full pints of beer for super cheap. I tried light and dark beers. Beers that tasted like banana bread and beers that tasted like beef jerky. Some great and some horrible.

Later on in the evening there was even a sing-song with the organ. There were even songsheets and tunes ranging from Abba to the Beatles and of course Rule Britannia.

I even met the mayor of Woking!

When asked if I would return next year ... I just giggled.

November 4 - Implementation...hmmm..

2007-11-04T05:29:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow the ChildData system goes 'live' in five countries. As I sit here alone in the office trying to improve the setup of the system I wonder...who cares? If this were an Accenture project either 1) no one would have left the office on Friday until it was ready or 2) I would have a lot of over-tired giddy friends with me right now...perhaps a few take-out cartons and many empty Starbucks cups.

The people around here think I work too hard/much. I think they don't work enough. Acutally that's not fair. I think they are very good at letting work go. I am not. (ya, you can all laugh now...cause you know it's true).

Someone asked me why I work so hard/much. Especially those who know that I am getting only 50% of my salary. It's not the big bucks, that's clear. The money has never been much of a motivator for me mostly because I don't really have a good sense of it. I am horrible with money. I don't realize what I need it for and what having a lot of it around could do for me.

It's not the appreciation from my team/colleagues (there's very little of that aside from my boss who herself deserves millions more accolades). I think I work really hard for two reasons;

I am a perfectionist. It's clearly a personality flaw. I am one of those people who think the only way to do something right is to do it yourself. baaaaaaaaaaaad news
I have this odd sense of pride in my reputation.

I know if everything here on this project goes to pot the finger will be pointed in my direction. Clearly it won't be my fault but it's easier for people to blame the consultant. I suppose I am overly sensitive when people slag consultants. It makes me want to work harder to prove them wrong. Hence a viscious circle.

They will also blame my boss who has worked so hard to get this project to where it is (in my opinion the most successful development project Plan has ever had). She doesn't deserve any of the blame but she'll get and take it personally. And so I sit here on Sunday afternoon...

I was out with a friend on Friday who left the crazy project management world a few years back for many reasons. As we walked by his old office building he said he really misses it. That was quite shocking for me to hear but makes total sense.

Some days all I want to do is walk away from this stress and chaos but I never do and wonder why. It makes me stressed, exhausted, sick and often a sobbing mess so why not leave? Clearly that's the correct response. I think, like him, I would miss it. Glutton for punishment? maybe.

Okay I am babbling and need to get back to finding lost users and posting random documents so I can go and enjoy the fall colours before dark. Just wanted to get that out of my system.

I should also mention that I had a bit of a reunion with friends I met in Sierra Leone on friday. It was great to see Anna, Laura and Quirien again. Just like old times we did ridiculous things. There were no random glass-eating men nor beverage distribution little people but it was fun none-the-less. :-)

Back to work for me. Just over 40 days left. Only 100 or so more countries to go live in...should be exciting times! Keep the Christmas Starbucks cups and Festive Specials warm for me!

Congrats to Tim and Shannon and welcome to their weee one Thatcher (great name btw) and a Happy Happy B-day to Xenia-on-a-top (you know who you are!)!!!! Oh and welcome home Ms Parks! I hear you do a wicked Johnny W...can't wait to see it! :P

cheers!

October 24 - Visits, UAT and a Countdown

2007-10-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!

Can you believe that in 59 days I will be back in good ol Canada!?!?!? I am both excited and sad about this adventure coming to an end but enough about that.

UAT went very well. I don't want to brag but I am positive that this is the best set of user testing this organization has ever been through. I'm proud of my team and the testers. Here's a pic:

(L-R: Front, Leonard (Ghana), Meike (Germany), Monica (Spain), Joan (Canada), Kabir (Bangladesh), Back, Helen (Ethiopia), Me, Nicki (ChildData Team) and Conor (doing the Blue Steel face as usual)

After my crazy visit from Sarena I was visited by Christie for nearly a week! It was amazing that everyone we saw (including the testers and the receptionist) all pointed out that we looked like sisters! We did the touristy thing up royally and I know feel satisfied that I could leave the UK satisfied with my site-seeing. Check out the photos:

Double-decker bus tour (seriously it was great!)

Haming it up at Buckingham Palace:

Nerds at the museum of Natural History:

What trip to London with Tina is complete without a musical?!?!?

And perhaps watching Rugby in a random pub?

And the addition of another 'world wonder' to my list for this trip...Stonehenge!

All with beautiful weather and great company! Thanks Christie!

October 16 - Sarena visit and GMT

2007-10-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update that I had a terrific visit from Sarena this weekend. I showed her nightlife in Woking (I'll let her post her own judgement on that one) and we shopped up a storm. It was FANTASTIC. I think she took one or two photos so maybe I'll post one of those.

I also learned a new international phrase this week. Feel free to borrow it: GMT, meaning Ghana Maybe Time. It's an indicator that something might get done eventually if someone feels like doing it...just like most things in Ghana. hee hee

I'm still at work at 9:30 so should just finish my stinkin work and go home but I had to be a bit distracted don't I?

October 9 - Let the User Acceptance Begin!

2007-10-09T00:24:00.000-07:00

Day two of User Acceptance Testing and so far so good. The team looks like they will do well and we have quite the international bunch including:
- Joan from Canada (clearly my favourite)
- Monica from Spain
- Meike from Germany
- Leonard from Ghana
- Hasinil from Bangladesh
- Helen from Ethiopia, and
- Amy from the UK
Looks like the system is ready to go so it should be a busy two weeks. Looking forward to Sarena's visit on the weekend to break it up.

A couple of congrats are due to Jen and Darren on wee baby Catriona and to Dave and Megan on their engagement. :-) So much happy news for my favourite Smiths!

October 6 - Everybody's workin for the weekend...nope just me

2007-10-06T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Just a quick hi from the office on this glorious Saturday morning. It's rugby-mania as England takes on the Aussies today in the World Cup but I am in the office with my Indian developers getting ready for User Acceptance Testing to start on Monday. YAY!

I wanted to post a couple more photos from India and the Taj trip as I have collected them from the others:

1) The team at the Taj (Paulina -Ecuador, Conor - ADP, Khalila - Kenya, Susan- Woking, Me and Marte - Norway)

2) The view of the Taj from the Red Fort in Agra

3) The train station in Mumbai

4) Conor on a camel...seriously!

Okay I should stop procrastinating now. I managed to get a replacement battery charger for my phone so more photos of my fun times to come.

Hope you all have a happy Turkey Day (for the Canadians of course). One of our testers is from the Canadian National Office. I can't wait to take her 'out and about' in Woking!

Go Australia!

September 27 - UK TV

2007-09-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day that these blogs won't be so super exciting anymore (pretend with me that they were exciting before) now that I am back in the boring UK but then I realized that there are so many differences between here and there (insert your location here) that I may be able to keep up the fun for at least a little while longer.

I was thinking of this as I watched TV the other night. Much like with my bunny ears at home I only get 5 channels here so there's limited selection but there always seems to be something interesting on.

They love their investigative journalism and the other day I watched a program that tested several different alternative diets and their effect on health. Boring you think. Well one of the diets involved ranchers and probiotics (I won't go into details but there was pooh involved) and the other was an 'ancestral diet' where folks ate like baboons for two weeks to see what it did. Very interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/

They also love real-estate shows. There's always something on about renos or finding your dream home/vacation home. It's a neat way to see how people live not only in the UK but all over europe. The prices are mostly shocking (the cheapest place around here is about 200,000 GBP = $400,000) but the places are always so full of character. There is a lot of original architecture around which makes for personality abound.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/tv_and_radio/tbontb_index.shtml

The third big one is talent competition. It seems they cast most of the West End musicals using TV shows with Danny and Sandy (Grease), Joseph (Joseph) and Maria (Sound of Music) all having been selected by the public (and of course Andrew Lloyd Weber) on tv. I'll have to check out one or two of them live I think.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/joseph/

As for me right now...work is hectic. We are training the 'super users' right now and they are a demanding bunch which is causing us to change all kinds of plans and we are getting ready for User Acceptance Testing so it's going to be a full couple of weeks which is fine with me. Work, gym, sleep, work. I think that will keep me busy until the visitors start. YAY!

Enjoying a cappacino and thinking of all my coffee buddies (Gege, Phil, Martin). Have a great weekend everyone!

September 24 - Photos from India!

2007-09-24T05:16:00.001-07:00

A day in Mumbai...

(sorry Mom!) Conor and the cobra (I was VERY far away at the time).
A typical Mumbai taxi...note: not a tuk tuk...

Trip to Agra...the team at the taj..

I'm not sure what was worse for traffic...cows everywhere or Conor driving a tuk tuk!

September 24 - Brushing my teeth with tap water!

2007-09-24T05:12:00.000-07:00

It's true...I am actually brushing my teeth with tap water again and if feels soooo good. In 6 more days I will stop taking anti-malarials and the world will be a happier place (those things make you c-r-a-z-y)!

My journey from Mumbai to Woking was an uneventful one and I spent yesterday getting sorted and relaxing.

I have cried on two runs during this trip. The first was the day Jay left to go home when we broke up and the second was yesterday. This time I was happy. I love fall runs and I was so happy to be out in the sunshine and free to run where I pleased. Perhaps that's why I ran 10km which I was clearly not ready to do as my quads are telling me today.

I am settled into my new flat which is super nice (no bugs or little men sleeping in my kitchen) and have an address so if anyone wants to write let me know.

I'll post some more India pics now. Enjoy!

September 21 - Last day at work in Mumbai

2007-09-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

So it is finally coming to the end of my 'round the world tour' as tomorrow I head back to the UK. I of course have mixed feelings. The adventure is slowing down (no doubt the european leg will still hold fun times) so I can settle and get comfortable again and into a routine. You all know that routine is my middle name and I think that's be the biggest stress for me these last few months.

India has been interesting. The culture and food are amazing. The infrastructure and poverty are shocking. There is such a dicodomy here it is truely in your face. Indian people are proud and humble at the same time. It's a delicately plesant balance that I'll miss.

One thing I won't miss is everyone hurrying to help me with everything. I know, that sounds harsh but I really can carry my own suitcase and pour my own waterglass. I don't need help from four people as I look around in a store either. I'll be happy when I am back in the UK where everyone ignores you. I am sure I'll miss the attentiveness eventually....or not.

I realized yesterday that I can use our countdown to the system go-live date to count my days until my return. We go live on December 10th and I return December 18th....89 days. I both want it to come fast and hope it never comes. Returning will be strange and wonderful all at the same time.

Okay no more philosophical stuff. We wrap up our first pass of testing today and I think the team is sick of me. It will be good for folks to get home and to move on to focusing on deploying this puppy. In contrast to other systems I have tested this has gone particularly well especially considering the quality/details of the design. I am very happy with my team's work these last two weeks.

Time to get to work. More reflections on India and photos on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend!

September 18 - Taj and a countdown

2007-09-17T19:34:00.001-07:00

Hello again.

After a peaceful night's rest back in the guest house (yes, the little man is again living in my kitchen and this time I get to share a bathroom with him) I am recovered enough to write a bit about our trip to the Taj. Here are the stats:

- departure 2pm Friday

- 17 hour train ride in second class where everyone stared at us but we managed to sleep and the food wasnt bad

- 5 hour car ride from Delhi to Agra

Total Travel time = 24 hours

Total Time in Agra = 12 hours (this included visits to the Taj and the Red Fort (both amazing) and lunch and dinner out)

Journey home = 24 more hours this time with super snore man on the train so no sleep.

It was definitely an adventure. My camera is hooped so I have to nik some photos from the others but here's a photo to show you how beautiful the place is:

The king built it for his dying wife and it took 22 years and 20,000 workers to complete. Needless to say she died long before it was done. This king was later arrested by his son and put under house arrest in the Red Fort (just down the river from the Taj so he could see it) because he was spending all his time and money building ridiculous things (he planned to build a black Taj on the other side of the river). Very cool story.

Everything at the Taj is symmetrical but the two graves inside. There are actually four graves; two upstairs for show and the two real graves downstairs that you can't see. The place is truely breath-taking. Check out the Wiki link on the right for more details.

I'll try to get some actual pics of us at the Taj and on the train today and post them.

Four more sleeps until I am back in the UK!!!!

September 13 - Some India Photos

2007-09-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

For your enjoyment! The living room of my thrid home here in the 'dumpster in paradise' which we now refer to as 'Palm Springs'. The 'Wave Pool' at Palm Springs.
The washing machine has a Saree setting!
View across the bay in Mumbai from Nairman point. That's the Indian ocean and a few weeks ago I was on the other side in Mombassa Kenya.
The Gateway of India. Sort of impressive but really just an empty structure our on a pier.
The Taj Hotel in Mumbai.
Our $6 lunch at Leopolds on Colaba.

Mumbai 'Idols' singing at the shopping mall in Malad.

September 11 - I am a BAD blogger

2007-09-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay I appologize as I have been the worst blogger ever! I also have one dead camera battery so I can't upload the photos. I know, I should know better.

Since last message I have:
- moved into a fancy hotel. It's amazing and shiney and I have a dvd player and flat screen tv in my room. No complainte here.
- started Integration testing which is the key process in our project. Everyone has arrive and we are getting into the action. Should be good
- hit the town with the team on Saturday. Basically did the same things as last weekend but with more shopping. We went to a place called 'Linking Road' which has a famous shoe market. If you like shoes this is the place to be. Stall after stall of sandals as far as the eye can see. Marte took snaps so I'll have to steal some. I didn't buy any shoes (as I had already bought four pairs and only have two suitcases) but we did a lot of trying on!
- found a chain coffee shop (Baristas) and had a latte...yum...and yes that's a big deal!
- ran away when Conor offered a man money to get his photo taken with a cobra...seriously. He looks pretty scared in the photos and is only touching the tip of the tail of the snake. I'll try to get that photo too.
- went to the spa in the hotel and had a pedicure, eyebrow threading and 90 minute massage all for about $40 after having room-service for breakie...ah the luxury!

These next two weeks will be quite crazy and the internet here is very limited (in scope not in bandwidth) so you may not hear much from me. Next weekend we are headed to the Taj on an overnight train so that should be fun and they'll be loads of things to report. Then I am headed back to the UK on Sept 22 to finish testing and deployment of this new system we have built. Fun fun fun!

have a great week!

September 3 - And the whole team arrived

2007-09-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hello from the office in Mumbai!

It's been an eventful weekend. Unfortunately I haven't downloaded the photos but will try to do that tonight. Since I last wrote I have moved homes twice, spent a ridiculously small amount of money on a ridiculously large amount of shoes and killed an enormous amount of cockroaches!

The whole team has arrived (except Susan and Nana who will arrive on Sunday) so we are a big group here in Mumbai. We are all living at the 'Royal Palms' which we like to call 'a dumpster in the middle of nowhere'. Seriously, I would send you the web link but it's so far from reality is funny. The place will be great when/if it's finished but right now it's half finised buildings with no amenities to speak of in the middle of nowhere. I am living in a roach infested 19th floor two bedroom apartment that they are apparently spraying as I type to kill the bugs. We'll see about that when I get home. Oh, I know I'll survive and it has become quite comical to be honest. I am staying with my teammate Khalila who is definitely more upset than I so I am focused on calming her down and killing bugs before she sees them....a little mission of mine.

Enough about that. Conor and I headed into the downtown core on Saturday to see the sights. We visited the Gates of India and were going to take a tourist walk that was noted in my Mumbai book but ended up making it to only one street Colaba, and spending most of our day there. I went into the most glorious shoe shop and after about an hour of trying on sparkly lovlies walked out with four gorgeous pairs of shoes for about $80. Later on I followed a vendor into his back alley shop and bought a few pashminas ranging from 3-7 dollars. Did I mention I love this city for it's prices?

We had lunch at a legendary cafe calle Leopolds and ate like kings for about $3 a piece. In the afternoon we went to Reid and Taylor and got measured up for tailor-made suits which we have to go back for a fitting for on the weekend...woohooo! I'll post photos of the events tomorrow.

Spent sunday moving into my now hopefully bug-free flat and doing work (oh yes, there is a lot of work to be done here!) and visited the luxury hotel on the top of the hill in our complex. It was lovely with three restaurants, gym, spa, two pools and general hotel loveliness. I just sat in the lobby and read until dinner. I think we'll have to head there for dinner one night to check it out.

Today we got down to work. The software developer has delivered the final pieces of code so the testing bonanza has begun. Those of you who know me from work know that this is where 'I'm a viking' so I am raring to go. Yay comfort zone!

Another fun note...today I had hand delivered a postcard from Christie's trip to Norway that has reached me via Kenya. Talk about world mail! So fun.

Okay it's time to head out to the mall for some more supplies (perhaps some bug spray?) and food. I'll do my best to post photos tomorrow.

I hope you all had a wicked long weekend and that all of you teacher-types enjoy your days back at school!

Somebody asked me what I miss most...today I thought about driving...I miss driving ...especially on the RIGHT side of the road. :-)

August 28 - Into the office...oh how familiar!

2007-08-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

Okay #1 I ate RICE for breakfast! That's a bit much even for a carb-avoire like me. Man I don't know how these people stay thin! The little man who sleeps in our kitchen apparently also makes all our meals and does our laundry which I find very un-nerving. Definitely wont' get used to that!

We made it into the office today in a tuk-tuk which was terribly exciting. For those of you who haven't had the joy of experiencing this mode of transport it's basically a vespa with a longer seat in the back and a cover. We only had to drive two blocks but it was certainly exciting.

The office is very familiar to me. It looks like like any office at home with modular cubes and big windows. There is even a little poster in my cube stating Ness's 'Values'. Feels like home!

Much test scripting to do today so I had better get down to it. Now that all of my North American friends are 10.5 hours behind me I should be too distracted with emails through the day. booo! Have a great one.

August 27 - At home in Mumbai!

2007-08-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

I made it to Mumbai in one piece. The flight was smooth aside from the fact that I was in the last row so was 1) squished due to lack of recline and 2) occasionally treated to the scent of airplane bathroom which was terribly unplesant. Despite all this I managed to sleep a fair bit and read a bit of my new book (the White Masi about a woman who marries a tribesman...it's up for borrowsies when I get back). The movie was 'the Guru' but since I couldn't really see the screen for the subtitles it was a write off.

Anyway, we arrived at the shiney Mombai/Bombay airport (everything here has two names a pre independence (British) and post independence (Indian) name) at 5 am and skuttled through immigration, baggage claim and customs. I don't want to stereotype so early but man are Indian people ever PUSHY! I may have to flick someone in the nose before I am done in this country. We found our driver and at the car were swamped by porters who, after helping us lift our bags into the trunk asked us for $$. Ah India.

We made our way to Malad, where we'll be living and working, in the dark of the morning. Even though it was black out we still caught a glimpse of the poverty that is set over many of Mumbai's 13 million people. My first impression was that these were not people content with their lives as the majority of folks in SLE and Kenya seemed to be but desolute, warn down and unhappy people. That will take some getting used to. More thoughts on that later. As per what everyone has warned me about the traffic was scary, even at 6:30 in the morning.

We made it to 'Whispering Heights' which will be our home and were ushered into a flat where it was obvious a man lived. He showed us to our rooms and we were off for some sleep. I was very confused about this place as it was clearly someone's home. I slept for a few hours interrupted by the occasional phone call and doorbell and thought 'my we are popular people'. I got up this morning and took a cold shower (I forgot that I had to turn the hot water on again. Instant hot water is something I definitely take for granted at home.) and headed out to the living room. I was greeted by our friend and told we had to change apartments. It all made sense to me now!

So I left Conor sleeping and headed to 1108 in tower B. This place is a nicely/corporately decorated two bedroom/two bathroom flat that I assume will be my home for the next nearly 6 weeks. It's nice and the view is of what looks like a river or jutty. The sad part is that it appears that there is a lot of rubbish floating near the shore. I'll have to check it out. A quick photo is posted.

I am glad things are starting to settle. You all know me well enough to know that I am not a fan of chaos and I can't wait to have a schedule set and head into the office. There are also still two indian men in my livingroom which I find rather strange but will leave for now until Conor gets here. I think we'll 'work from home' today since the UK office is on holiday (and I think Norway too) plus neither of us got much sleep last night. (Note: since Conor arrived we have become a one little man household...the man is currently sleeping on the kitchen floor though...strange)

This area looks a lot like harbourfront in Toronto down near the kayak rental place (for those of you who ever visited me when I lived down there) and I think I saw a 'Pizza Hut' sign from the other window. I'll bet Conor is ready for some US Chain food as he was in Africa for nearly 3 months. We'll have to explore today. Perhaps McDonalds is on tap...right after we find the gym in this place.

It's later in the day now and since I haven't got connected to the net yet and we've had a little adventure I thought I would add it. Conor and I went for a 'little' walk (which was nearly 2 hours) and sweated our way around the neighbourhood. The people were certainly busy and the traffic amazing. We managed to cross a few intersections alive. We played a rousing game of three-S...Staresies (when someone stares at you you stare back until someone gives up), Sweatsies (I am not going to describe the state of my clothes when we got home but it was like walking around in a sauna) and Swearsies (I'll let you figure that one out but it involves angry bus and tuk-tuk drivers). Glad to be back at 'home' and getting into work for the evening. We got ourselves a pop for a meer $0.50 which will save us plenty of money for our dinner!

Conor and I are here for a week then more of the team (Marte, Nicki, Khalila, Paulina and Hans) arrive on Sunday and will be staying in the same building (we think) and then Susan and Nana arrive the week after.Most people leave on September 22nd then I stay until October 2nd to finish some testing up. I think experiencing this country with the whole team will be fabulous and we even have a trip to the Taj planed (smile!).

August 25 - One more sleep until India

2007-08-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it either. Tomorrow is my last 'trip to a new place of work' for my ADP journey. We head out to Mumbai at 8pm tomorrow. I am super excited. It is interesting that I have become much less nervous about changing places. Heading to Woking was scary (away from home for 9 months...yikes), heading to SLE is terrifying (what the heck is Africa really like? why do people keep touching my arm in fear when I say I am going to Freetown?) and coming to Nairobi by myself was jittery but more exciting than scary. For India I am just excited. Perhaps I am starting to look forward to the end of this crazy assignment.

I was saying to someone yesterday that I am VERY excited to eventually be home (I know, stay in the moment and enjoy...trust me I am) and I think that by December my head may explode with excitement!

Anyway, my last week in Nairobi was great. Here are a few more safari photos (thanks Martha) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46865&l=40b9c&id=713560547and I promise a write up asap. I am swamped with work in preparation for our big test phase coming up in two weeks so have to dedicate myself to that for a bit but I'll get to it, I promise.

Wednesday night I returned to Carnivore (the famous Nairobi all-you-can-eat hotspot) for the second time this week with my team. I again enjoyed the Ostritch meat balls and we managed to dance the night away in the club next door until 2am. Man I had a hard time getting up the next morning. Not as spry as I used to be.

Thursday I met my friends Zoe and Chris at the Thorn Tree cafe (sorry, didn't have my camera so no photo). They have been traveling across africa from Zambia for three months camping and hiking their way through numerous countries and climbing africa's peaks. Their blog is AMAZING so check it out. http://www.zoechrisafricantravels.blogspot.com/

Today Conor, Khalila and I are off for one last market run in the sunshine. The weather here has significantly improved since I got back from vacation and I even got a bit of a burn on my arms during a meeting with my DBA in the garden yesterday. BTW if there is anyone out there with .NET skills who wants to move to Tanzania (which is stellar) let me know and I'll hook you up with Hans.

Okay, it's saturday and I have tonnes of work to get through before we leave tomorrow so must go. Have a fabulous weekend!

August 22 - Back from Safari!

2007-08-22T10:04:00.001-07:00

Hello again!

I have to say that my holiday was definitely the best ever. It was amazing to be out there with all the animals and some of my best friends. What an adventure, what a break, what memories!

Hippos...almost too close for comfort.

One angry looking buffalo.

I have posted my photos on Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/trainitl/TinaSSafariPhotos) and some on Facebook but wait for the ones we took with Jay's new SLR camera...amazing.

Highlights of the trip were:

- zebra bums...symetrical wonders
- 8 lions in one pride up close
- following 31 elephants along the road
- a massive crater full of animals...we even saw an elephant from the bathroom!
- amazing sunsets
- luxury tenting
and so much more.

We visited Amboseli, Masi Mara, Lake Navisha and Mombassa in Kenya and Ngorogo Crater and the Serengeti Plains in Tanzania. My passport is really shaping up.

Thanks to Jay, Sarena, Martha, Sadie and Kyle for dragging their butts all the way here. It was super nice to have old and new friends around.

Jay and the Masi children

I'll post more stories later but wanted to let you all know I was alive and kicking and post a couple of photos.

Tomorrow is my last day in the Nairobi office which is sad. Sunday we are off to Mumbai so that's pretty exciting!

Hope everyone is doing well.

August 8 - Off I go!

2007-08-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hello all...
Just a note to let you know that, as of 5:30am tomorrow, I am on holiday! Off to safari for me including so much excitement.

Hang on tight for loads of photos and stories! I am taking orders for safari animals but you'd better get them in soon cause I am off to bed.

I'm back on the 21st. If I get to a computer during the vacay I may post but I have to say...computers will be repulsive for me so don't expect much. Sorry!

Take care all of you!

August 6 - Weekend fun!

2007-08-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a bit of an adventure. I wanted to keep it low-key as I had 1) a lot of work to do and 2) was pretty tired because due to construction across the street I hadn't got much sleep lately.

Friday night I went to the next door hotel for some dinner and my first Tusker beer. It was deliscious! There's something about sitting next to a pool eating by candle-light. After a satisfying meal I headed off to bed.

I met up with Khalila at 1pm and we went off for a little shopping and a tour. We drove around and went to the market in downtown Nairobi. It was a lovely day and I think we both spent more money than we expected. I got some jewelry and gifts including something for my dad for his birthday. I am not sure who spent more me or Khalila. :-) Here are some photos of us in action!

We then toured all the malls in the area and had some lunch. I met a local hairdresser who has offered to cut my locks (and boy do they need cutting) and then we rented movies. We spent the evening eating snacks and watching movies. Perfect!

Conor returned on Saturday so we went for dinner on Sunday and he showed me some of his safari pics. To say I am excited about my holiday would be the understatement of the century. I can't wait to see all the animals and to relax for a few days! Horray!

August 3 - I left the hotel!!!!!

2007-08-03T02:53:00.000-07:00

Well folks...Khalila managed to drag me out last night for dinner and a movie. It was fabulous to get out of the office/hotel! We went to dinner at a very romantic, candle-lit and yummy restaurant called Talisman which is on the outskirts of Nairobi near the Bixen house (which I'll visit next Thursday). The restaurant had a fabulous courtyard and amazing food!

Then we went to see a flick (Die Hard 4..there wasn't much choice) at the mall. I stopped into the grocery store to get some water (it's $3 CAD for a litre at the hotel) and man was I shocked. It was like a giant Walmart with everything from wine to exercise equipment. Very different from Freetown! The mall (Nakumatt Junction) has a load of little shops, the supermarket, a Java house (http://nairobijavahouse.com/) and a bookstore (like a chapters). Very North American.

We drove around a bit too. One of the huge differences I see is the vegitation. The trees here are massive and beautiful. I promise photos soon. This city is busstling. I can't wait to explore on the weekend.

Must get back to work. Test Scripts await. The good news is that I have finished 3000 Test conditions....from those of you who that makes sense to I want to hear a wooohooo!

All you Canadians enjoy your long weekend and BIG GOOD LUCK to Elena and Josh who are tying the knot this weekend. Everyone enjoy the wedding and take a ridiculous amount of pics!

August 2 - Living and Eating

2007-08-01T23:33:00.001-07:00

Hello again!

Just wanted to post a few more pictures of 'life in Nairobi'. It's sunny today so I may go for a little walk at lunch and take a few more snaps. Still need to get a photo of the Plan sign for my collection to.

Here's some snaps of my room. It's pretty big and fancy compared to Freetown but there is a significant lack of turkeys, deer and lizards!

And lunch yesterday. They have some local girls come in with food. I just went to the kitchen (the land of deliscious coffee and tea...man is the tea here ever good!) and smiled and wham...amazing food in my hand. Don't ask me what it is...greens, stewed bananas (which I actually liked!) herbed rice and some sort of meat...yum!

Oh one more note. My new favourite differentiator between Freetown and Nairobi has to do with scaffolding...Sierra Leone used long poles of wood for scaffold on new buildings and here they have normal metal scaffold. I know sort of a silly observation but I think it shows the difference in development very simply.

p.s. If one more person comes close to ruining the new Harry Potter book for me I will SNAP! I am waiting to buy a copy in India (too much work now to be distracted and let's face it...an indian copy will be cool!) so DON'T TELL! I did see the last movie however which was fabulous!

August 1 - Settling in in Nairobi

2007-07-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

Jambo!

Well it's my thrid day in Nairobi and I am starting to feel at home. Maybe it's the rain reminding me of SLE and London or maybe it's the sense of familiarity I have with the office but the adjustement to Kenya has moved much faster then Freetown or even Woking.

It's my second day in the office and I have taken a few photos but forgot my download cord so they'll have to wait until tomorrow. The office is a huge house with full garden. It's lovely and homely and the people are terrific and super friendly (and not just because I brought them chocolate!). I am working in the Country Director's office (the big boss) as she is away for the month. Hopefully I'll get to meet her on the one day we are both here. The office is lovely with a huge table, desk and balcony that overlooks the garden. Nicer than any office I have ever worked in at home. .

Yesterday for lunch Khalila (my ChildData colleague) took me to the mall. Imagine my shock when it looked like something out of southern california! I didn't take photos but will when we go back which we will because we went to Nairobi Java House and I had the BEST coffee EVER! I will definitley grab some beans there when I leave. Hopefully I'll be able to find a coffee maker in Mumbai. We had a great lunch and a really good chat. I am glad I get to spend this week one on one with her. She's a super smart woman and her insight is fabulous!

Was up until 1am reviewing training documents so am super tired today. It's grey and rainy so that doesn't help. Perhaps another trip to the Java house will be in order! I am supposed to have lunch with the office staff today to experience their daily lunch ritual. I can't wait! I sort of miss Mosu's cooking! (dont tell Conor)

More from me...and photos later.

Happy Birthday to Martha! Can't wait to see you and the crew next week a the airport even if it will be 6am!!! Enjoy your day lady!

July 29 - Hello Kenya...I have arrived

2007-07-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

I have to say, that was the least eventful trip I have ever taken from check-in (they took my 28kg bag...need to figure that out for the rest of my trip) to my seat (three to myself) to immigration (she didn't even look at me and didn't put a random date in my visa like they did in SLE) to the cab (he was right there and took me to my door. It was AMAZING!!! I hope my friends who are coming on safari get the same treatment.

It was a dark ride through the city to the hotel but I have to say I can tell it is VERY different here from SLE. It actually reminds me of Kelowna (for those of you who have been there). Rural yet urban. The hotel is really nice and my room is adorable. Managed to get on the wireless so that's good too! Working from the hotel tomorrow so that should give me some time to get settled.

I'll post pics and more details tomorrow. Just wanted to let everyone know I am alive! Miss you all...

July 23 - Final Week in Woking

2007-07-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Not much new to report from Woking. A pretty quiet but terribly beautiful weather-filled weeked. I am not sure how many of you follow natural disasters in the UK but a great deal of this country is terribly flooded right now. We in and around London have been quite lucky. It's been pouring here since last night but I think we'll be okay.

The last couple of weeks nearly our entire team has been in Woking which has been amazing. There's something to be said about having actually met your teammates in person. I had the privledge this week of meeting Paulina from Equador and Marte from Norway. I'll try to remember to take my camera to work tomorrow to get photos before folks start going home. It's been a great couple of weeks work wise!

So I head out to Nairobi on Sunday. It's nearly a 9 hour direct flight which will be challenging. It's also during the day so that's going to be a bit annoying. I leave at 10am and arrive at 10pm. Fun times. I did however discover that I have a 2 (23kg) bag allowance on all my onward flights so that's good news. I was wondering how I would pack for work in two very different work environs and safari in one bag and keep it under the limit.

I hope you are all staying cool! Happy Birthday to Ms Whelan. Hope the weekend was 'sparkle hands' amazing!

July 19 - Chugging Along

2007-07-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hello folks.

I don't have much exciting to say. I am 'existing' here in Woking and trying desperately to get all my work done before SAFARI in Kenya in tree weeks.

Jay and I managed to tour London right well last week; Avenue Q, The Globe Theater, Tate Modern, Harrods, wicked hotel, meetings with friends, great bars, amazing food (and some not so amazing food)...etc. When I get photos of the trip I'll put a couple up here...

-----INSERT PHOTOS HERE------

Hopefully I'll do something exciting this weekend so I can put a good update up. If creating Test Scripts isn't exciting there may be a problem. :-(

Just wanted to let you all know I am alive. It has been a VERY rough week but I am surviving. Let's just say it's the first time I have really wanted to just go home since I left but you know me...I won't give up...I can't.

Here's a photo of the Cotton Tree in SLE for your amusement. The stories say that this is where slaves were bought and sold but also where they became free. Quite a breath-taking image.

Yay Test Scripts!

July 11 - NHS and a Visitor!

2007-07-11T04:08:00.001-07:00

Two quick notes. First, for all the horror I have heard about the NHS (National Health Service) I was a little worried to try to get to a walkin clinic but I was sort of worried that I had again contracted shingles so needed to get it checked out.

Long story short, great clinic, great people, in and out with medication in hand in 20 minutes. All in all a 'thumbs up' experience! (oh and it's not shingles but a result of a bad sunburn)

This morning I headed to the airport to pick up my special guest. It's been nearly three months since we last saw each other and I am super glad to say that Jay is finally here for a visit! WOOOOHOOOOOO! Now I just need to get my work done so I can head off for a four day weekend with the man-o-my-dreams!

Only 17 more tasks to go...Go Tina Go! :)

Also...a special birthday hi to Jess! The oldest and wisest...right? Love ya!

2007-07-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

Journey Home:
So my travels home were interesting. Unfortunately my camera battery died after my first pic of the hovercraft (see below) so I don't have pics of the rest of it. :-(

Hovercraft was fit with a set of airplane seats...2 - 3 - 2. It was weird because it was dark and the craft was humming so it was sort of like we were flying. We pulled up on the beach and hopped off and onto a bus. A dutch fellow (who would later be sat next to me on the plane) turned to me on the bus and said 'Are they bringing our luggage' to which I nervously answered 'yes' and then contemplated the process or reclaiming our bags.

We got to the airport and waited on the steps for our bags which showed up 15 minutes later. A man walked off with mine as I yelled 'hello, that's mine...wait' then when I finally caught him and got my bag he asked me for a tip! Can you believe it? No way!

Nana's friend Mohammed was supposed to meet me at the airport to guide me through immigration as we had heard that people were getting hassled for having expired entry stamps (mine was in fact expired as they only give you a month and you are supposed to go to immigration to renew but no one ever mentioned that to us and by the time I heard there was nothing I could do about it) but he never showed up.

I waited in the checkin line in the non-ac'd room and sweated my face off. Checked in and waited for my bag to go through x-ray and then they called me over so they could search it. (bag search #1) They wipped it open and went through all my stuff in front of the whole check in hall as I sweated my way through the 'what is this'? and 'where did you get that?' questions. All was find in the end and my bag went through. Then I was on to immigration. I am still a little weirded out by the idea of being checked to get OUT of a country. It just doesn't seem right that they may not let me leave. Well, this is Africa...TIA.

So, as expected the guy told me that my stamp was expired and that I would have to go to the immigration office in the morning. This of course was BS and I said, 'I am leaving tonight' and he said, 'okay then you can give me $50US.' hmmm...seems a little convenient for him. So, I asked him if I could get a reciept for the money. He gave me a strange look and that confirmed to me that the money was not for SLE but for his pocket. He told me I couldn't get a reciept and I told him I didn't have the money. We went back and forth and eventually he said that the guy who stamps the reciepts wasn't there that night and that $20 would do. I figured I would cut my losses and move on. I was quite proud of myself for negotiating as far as I did and headed to the airport bar (looked more like the basement of a church) for a beer to calm my nerves.

I had to get through a security check next that included what I am convinced was a fake metal detector, bag search #2 on my carry-on which had liquids and electronics in it but no one seemed to care and pat-down #1. Seemed a little over-kill-y but I went along with it. The beer tasted even better after that.

Eventually it was time to board. As we headed out to the bus that would drive us about 100feet to the plane I experienced bag search #3 (still full of liquids including insect repellant and electronics and food which, according to the sign at checkin wasn't allowed on board but no one said anything about any of it) and pat-down #2. Woo hoo.

On board we pilled into our seats. The plane was rather empty but they had us sitting in full rows. Apparently we were to be full from Dakar to London so we were squished in enroute to Dakar. The dutch fella beside me was more chatty than I had hoped but I gave him one of my smuggled cookies and that quieted him down quite a bit. Flight was uneventful but, after being sick for two days, the single meal over 8 hours left me super hungry. Oh and the plane actually left Freetown 15 minutes EARLY! I suppose that's what happens when your passengers have to take transport to the airport that leaves 4 hours before the flight.

Got to Heathrow and made it through immigration easily thanks to advice from Laura and knowing my address in Woking. I waited 50 minutes for my bag all the while thinking that my cab driver would have long since left and there was nothing I could do. At least my bag showed up!

On my way out I got pulled over by customs and underwent bag search #4 and a long line of questioning. I really had nothing with me so it was no biggy. Got out and called the cab company and my driver hadn't left...thank God! We headed back to Woking, picked up my other bags and made it 'home'. The driver was funny. He basically threw my bags out of the cab and drove off leaving me to lug bags up two flights of stairs. Regardless I made it back in one piece.

The apartment was a mess...I mean that as in it was obvious that my ADP friends had cleared out two weeks ago and no one had set foot inside since. Not their fault at all. I took some time to do a mad cleaning which made me quite happy, probably because I felt like I was taking care of myself again. I headed to the shop for toothpaste and some groceries, had a shower and headed into work grabbing a coffee on the way. YAY me!

Susan took me out to dinner then I headed home to do some laundry and get to bed. It was a long couple of days with very little sleep so I slept very well!

Weekend in Woking!
Saturday was a great day! Woke up early and went for a nice run. It was so good to be able to 'turn' while running (my beach run was VERY straight), to use my iPod (couldn't do that in SLE as I probably would have lost it) and not to hear 'go white girl' the whole time. The weather this weekend here has been gorgeous. Apparently I should visit more often as this is my second trip here with lovely weather!

After a big breakie with loads of dairy I grabbed a coffee and headed into London to watch the Tour de France!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, it sounds strange that the tour started this year in England but trust me, it's a normal occurance to start in another country and I was just lucky enough to be here for it. I spent the day in High Park on the bank of the Serpentine watching the first stage of the tour. It was AMAZING! There was a festival in the park with food and displays. I was so happy to be wandering around all on my own without even thinking of it.

I saw the 'caravane' which was a ridiculous parade of sponosors (including a tire car!) throwing out crap (hats, candy, body lotion) interspursed with riders warming up on the course. I stood right on the banner with a bunch of Aussies chatting about who we favoured for the race (go Kloden go!). It was so much fun. We were 2km from the end of the 9km individual time trial (the riders went off about 1 minute after each other) so I saw a lot of angry, gritted and spent faces on the riders. The PA systems on the team cars were booming cheering and screaming GO! in various languages right behind the riders. Man do they ever yell at their riders during a time trial. Their bikes were AMAZING and man is there ever not an ounce of fat on them and QUADS...my GOD! There was a couple of giant screens so you could hear Phil (the long-time tour announcer) and his cliches which are always worth a laugh. Too funny!
I have a LOAD of photos of nothing as I couldn't take pictures fast enough. Here is one of Zabriske (a Canadian) during the race and I have a couple of Hincapie (the only guy to have been a teammate of Lance Armstrong on all of the Tours he won...a legend!) warming up. Wish I had a better, faster camera. It was wicked to say the least.

Around 6 or so I realized I was EXHAUSTEd and decided to beat the crowd and head home. Grabbed a baguette at Waterloo station and rode the train back. On the way from the train I got more groceries and spoke to my parent's on the phone (yay) and then hung out while finishing my laundry. An amazing day!

Sunday I watched more tour and Wimbledon (while eating strawberries and creme of course), went for another great run and did a bit of work. Another beautiful day here in England which made for another nice one. Cooked myself some chicken and peppers and got to bed early.

Now I am back in the office and right back into the swing of things. I miss our 'office' in SLE but enjoy not having to go outside to visit the toilet. :P

July 5 - Later Salone!

2007-07-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

That's right ladies and gentlemen...today is my final day in Sierra Leone (affectionately called Salone here). It's a bright sunny day and I am starting to feel better after a rough night the details of which I will leave out. Let's just say I was ill.

The crew is headed to Paddy's for indian dinner (glad I am feeling better) and then I get the hovercraft across the bay to the airport at 9pm for my 12:45am flight. I can't wait until I am on that plane. I always find going through all that airport rigamaroll a bit stressful especially on my own.

It's been a phenominal 7 weeks. I can't say enough good things about this country. Keep your eyes on it because in 5 years time it will be the place to be for Europeans...and you can quote me on that! Just don't come in the rainy season!

I'll miss the people and the sights for sure. Loads more work and adventure to come though so this isn't the end of my blog by any stretch of the imagination.

Details of my departure adventure coming at ya early next week. Until then...happy sailing!

July 4 - Rain has gone!

2007-07-04T03:20:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!!!

Just wanted to give a quick update. It's been a trying couple of days here as rain started on Sunday afternoon and stopped last night. We ended up hibernating at the hotel without connection to the internet. We survived and managed to make it into the office today. All the staff is on a retreat until Friday which is somewhat sad for me as I will be gone when they return. Oh well, makes for less goodbyes!

Anyway, we are fine and back at it. I have about 1,000,000 emails to review so must get back to work.

take care!

July 1 – 60% Chance of a Great Last Weekend

2007-07-04T03:04:00.001-07:00

You are probably wondering about the 60%. First, it was definitely a great last weekend. The 60% is a bit of a joke. When they report the weather here on the radio the chance of rain is always 60%, even if it is actually raining. It’s quite funny. But I digress.

I tried to keep my expectations about my last weekend here low so as not to be disappointed and I was not. Nothing was really planned but everything worked out fabulously. For the benefit of my O-town gals…lunge-worthy!

Spent Friday night recovering from Thursday night’s ‘Goodbye Anna’ soiree [dinner at Roys then dancing at Paddy’s until 2] and working as I have to finish test conditions before I leave…it will be tight but I think I’ll make it.

Saturday morning after my last morning beach run we headed off to do some souvenir shopping. Nana, Quirien, Laura and I hit the Lumley Craft Market, some stalls at the Aberdeen round-about and the Big Covered Market downtown. Market shopping was quite intense to say the least. The Big Market had two levels and three sections; crafts and weaving, cloth and jewelry/artifacts. We spent a good hour bargaining and browsing. Many times we were surrounded by women trying to get us to look at there wares. At one point I was wrapped in a sarong with fabric draped all over me, none of which I had asked for. It got a bit scary at moments but we took out time and I think everyone got what they were looking for. My powers of negotiation were okay but I usually managed to get things down to ½ of their first asking price. Regardless, this stuff was CHEAP. Nothing I bought was over $5. I just hope it will all fit in my suitcase.

After the market we went for yummy lunch (including ice tea which I haven’t seen anywhere else here) then home for some more work and a nap. The plan for the night was dinner on the beach and then a visit to the casino in town. It didn’t quite turn out that way.

We had dinner at Bunker Bar, a two-floor beach bar. I made sure to take in all the surroundings as I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to dine on the sand again.

Laura said we needed to drop something off for her housemate at a party so we headed there. I won’t go into details but let’s just say that I spent my Canada Day drinking out of a coconut, watching an African drum troop and dancing at a nightclub until 5am. We never made it to the casino as it was closed by the time we get there. Ridiculous fun and a great way to spend my last Saturday! Sorry, no photos.

Sunday was lazy with a trip to the beach watching helicopters fly overhead and reviewing the wares of vendors. I gave the gals some tattoos and we had a moment of celebration:

Later we headed to Bliss for a dinner of tremendous amounts of food and even a maple crepe! I received a phone call from my parents in Canada which was marvelous. It’s always nice to hear a familiar voice or two. (Thanks for your call on Friday/Saturday Christie…you are truly outrageous.)

Maple Crepe...yum!

There is a party tonight but I am way too tired to party again and have a big week coming up. I do however know it will be great as I saw the cake at the top of this message at the bakery. No worries on the rest of my tattoos either… they are going to the party in my place. Hoping to have some photos of them later this week.

I know you all had a great Canada Day (those of you who are Canadian of course). Four more days here and one adventure to the airport which I am sure will be fabulous fun. I’ll be very sad to leave this place and these people behind but take with me some incredible memories, some new friends and some amazing experience. Oh, and photos of chimps and snakes too!

June 29 - Buh Bye Anna and Canal News

2007-06-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

Last night we said goodbye to our colleague Anna as she heads back to the UK today. Anna was a great friend to me here and the most independent person I think I have ever met. She was a taxi-taking, Krio-speaking machine. I'll miss her and hope to meet up with her in the UK to grab some Ghanain food and see all her photos from her 6 months in Africa that she took with a traditional camera...imagine that stack!

Here are a couple of photos of the legend that is Anna:

Lovin the Ghanain

Chillin at the beach!

I also managed to discover the following article yesterday:

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6c54a65e-99a1-4bd5-939f-99ecfa1e7a30&k=63784

Most of you know that the Rideau Canal is one of my favourite spots on EARTH and I was happy to see it make such status. The Africany part of this story is that I was actually looking for the news story about the Omanian parkland that had been reduced by 90% for oil cultivation because it was on the radio yesterday morning. Apparently the Ottawa piece of that story wasn't news here. Glad I was interested in the middle-east issue!

June 28 - City Compare

2007-06-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

Location
Woking - Suburb of London (south-west) in Surrey
Freetown - Capital of Sierra Leone, On the west coast

Time zone
Woking - BST = GMT + 1
Freetown - GMT

Currency
Woking - British Pound (1£=$2.50 CAD)
Freetown - Leone (3000Le = $1CAD)

Ranking in Human Development Index
Woking - #18 – 0.940 (high)
Freetown - #176 – 0.335 (low)
(Canada is 6th at 0.950)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

How I arrived
Woking - Air Canada to London Heathrow
Taxi to Woking

Freetown - British Airways to Lungi via Dakar, Senegal
Helicopter to Aberdeen
Plan vehicle to home

Where I lived
Woking -

1) Guest room in IT Director’s flat downtown Woking
2) The Arden Bed and Breakfast across the railway tracks from downtown
3) ADP Flat in the west end of downtown

Freetown -

1) Flat in the lower level of a house near the office
2) Family Kingdom Hotel on Aberdeen

Where I worked
Woking - International Headquarters in Chobham House building.
Sat in the library with the rest of the team.
Coffee and tea available in the kitchen.

Freetown - Plan Sierra Leone Country office. Gated grounds with loads of drivers, cleaners and security guards.
Our office was Twin Tower #1 (their name not mine), a shed in the parking lot with a metal roof. Two desks shared. AC. Coffee and tea via thermos on my desk.

Main tasks
Woking - Get to know the project and the team. High-level planning. Meetings, meetings and more meetings

Freetown - Detailed test and implementation planning

What I ate
Woking -

Breakfast – Cereal and/or Toast
Lunch – leftovers from the night before, sandwich from M&S or local shop
Dinner – Salad and chicken at home or pub food. Shopping at Sainsbury or M&S

Freetown -

Breakfast – Continental at the hotel included
Lunch – Traditional African dishes cooked by the Plan cook (Musu who was shockingly like an African version of my Aunt Audrey). Rice with meat and sauce daily.
Dinner – depends on the day. Restaurant or oatmeal packet.
Shopping at local supermarket for snacks, oatmeal and water

Costs
Woking - Super duper expensive. Same prices as at home but 2.5 times as much when you convert to dollars.

Freetown - Not that cheap. Imported goods (cereal, sweets) are expensive but local items (fish, mangoes, nuts, breads) are cheap. Drinks are cheap too.

Food
Woking - Same as home only not fresh for nearly as long as it is mostly imported. Expensive. Favs – Prêt yogurt bowls, anything from M&S, Hobnobs

Freetown - Rice with everything! Loads of fish and lobster. Fresh fruit but no veggies. Bottled water. Chapmans! (SLE drink)

Shelter
Woking -

Kelvin’s flat = free
B&B = 40GBP/night
ADP flat = ? (probably around 1000GBP/month)

Freetown -

Sketchy flat – $40/night for both
Family Kingdom - $3000US for 6 weeks for both of us. (one room)

How I travelled
Woking - Foot, Southwest Trains to London and the tube
Freetown - Rides from friends, Plan staff and the White Dragon (Nana’s car)

How I communicated
Woking - UK mobile (vodaphone), Skype and calling card
Freetown - SLE mobile (on loan from Nana – CellTell), Skype

What I did for exercise
Woking - Stretch cords, Peak Fitness gym, local pool, morning runs along the canal
Freetown - Run along the beach, Hashing, Yoga, balance ball and stretch cords.

What I did for fun
Woking - Hang out with Laura, had visitors in (Martha!), watched TV, worked out, went to the pub, shopping, coffee, theatre, went into London
Freetown - Hung out with friends, beach, runs, dinners, bars, read, ate, chilled on porch of our hotel room

Side-Trips
Woking - Newquay and the south/west region, London many times
Freetown - Banana Islands, River #2, Chimp sanctuary, Charlotte Falls, Private Beach

First Impressions
Woking - Simple and cute. Friendly and small. Just like home only more expensive.
Freetown - Busy and beautiful, more ‘developed’ than I thought. People are well put together.

If I came again what would I bring
Woking - Toiletries (so expensive), a proper day bag, more $$, dutyfree
Freetown - Better clothes for going out. Some jewelry, fake wedding ring, more $$, better workout videos

June 24 – 24 hours of our own beach!

2007-06-25T03:31:00.001-07:00

This weekend was a different one that’s for sure. It started with live music on Friday when an ex-pat band played at Sportsbar. It was a fun evening and I am starting to be able to recognize most of the folks at the events we go to. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing but I fell like part of a gang. Here’s the poster from the cover band. For those of you gals out there who will spot it…no Jem was not truly outrageous but a round-bellied man who was the lead singer.

Saturday morning I did my now regular long run up the beach. It has been raining every day so the beach was nicely packed down. I got my usual ‘hello Canadian girl’ due to me wearing my ‘not remotely fast enough for the Canadian Marathon Team’ t-shirt. It’s hard to think that that was my second last run. I have to remember to savour next weekend’s tour de beach.

Mid morning Laura and Manny (Emanuel her driver) came to get us and we headed off to a small beach near Tokeh that is owned and operated by the British High Commission in Freetown. As Laura is a BHC employee she was able to book the place for the weekend for our exclusive use. She mentioned that the High Commissioner had been up to the beach last weekend so we thought, how bad can it be? Well, it was interesting.

We spent 24 hours on a secluded beach just the five of us (L-R in photo: Quirien, Conor, me, Laura and Anna) and our three hosts (Simon, Frank and Ompah). We arrived about 1pm and were welcomed by a marvelous break in the rain. We had a clear blue day which resulted in a few sunburns, my first (and definitely last) on this trip. We sat on the beach and read, swam and chatted. Our hosts made us some fabulous fish, rice and sauce and we enjoyed it on the ‘patio’ of the concrete building. The building was a four room concrete shelter with a toilet and a shower hose. There was a fridge but no power so it was more of a well-sealed cupboard. We didn’t spend much time inside so we didn’t give it much thought.

BHC building on the beach

We had a fire on the beach that night and enjoyed the sky and the water. It was amazing to be on a beach all alone in this country and really reminded me of cottage country when you are lucky enough to have a lonely spot on a lake. We did manage to see a snake a couple of times. It was wicked! I won't put up the photo so my Mom doesn't get scared. If you want to see the snake video give me a shout!

Most of us slept outside on loungers under mosquito nets. It was not the most comfortable and a choir of frogs was more than happy to serenade us all night long but in the end, it was a fabulous experience! I think I may have slept for 30 minutes due to heat, sunburn and frogs but it was worth it.

Sunset on the BHC beach

Sunday was lazy and a bit wetter than Saturday. Having not thought about breakfast we finished off the cookies and water we brought and read our books until Manny came to gather us. The ride home was sleepy and silent. We went to our favourite restaurant ‘Bliss Bakery’ to celebrate Anna’s last weekend here as she leaves on Friday to go back to Plan UK in Camden. It was great and we were even given some of a family’s birthday cake to include us in their celebration. Yum!!

As of tomorrow Quirien and I are officially off cookies in an attempt to get back into shape for our journey’s home. Seeing as I have a little over a week left but at least it’s an effort to lose some of the weight I have gained here. 9 more days of work until my journey returns to the UK. J I’ll have to keep exploring this place. It will be hard to top this weekend that’s for sure.

Special hi to Matt (Jay’s brother) and Karen who celebrated their wedding this weekend! Congrats you two. Jay told me the wedding was a total blast. I had no doubt in my mind. Happy recovery!

June 21 – Going ‘Up-Country’

2007-06-22T03:42:00.001-07:00

I suppose I have to explain the term ‘up-country’. Around Freetown when folks talk about going out to the communities around the capital they call it going ‘up-country’. Technically it’s sort of ‘in-country’ or ‘side-country’ but you get the point.

Wednesday was a big day for our team as we got to go ‘up’ to Porto Lorko (pronounced without the ‘r’). It was about a 1.5 hour drive from the office on some rough roads and the 7 of us fit nice and tightly into the Plan vehicle and arrived safe and sound.
Our mission, to train the volunteers in the community who take photos of the sponsored children, their families, and the area to use digital cameras. This feeds into the new software tool we just released that will resize and digitally label the photos to feed into the Sponsorship packages. This is all part of an Implementation Dress Rehearsal (IDR) for the tool where groups in sponsorship countries all over the world try out the tool, the new processes and the training and give us feedback so that we can improve it before it gets distributed globally. Since three of us are here in Freetown, Sierra Leone was chosen as an IDR site and we were asked to do the training.

We spent the afternoon and evening with a class of about 30 volunteers teaching them about operating digital cameras and the dos and don’ts of photography for Plan. It was fun to watch the audience try to understand Conor’s Irish accent and then listen to Nana translate it into Krio. The class started out quite timid but in the end and after a few interactive activities they were more than enthusiastic. Nana told us that it is a badge of honor to volunteer for Plan and that these people are honest and trustworthy. They were pretty smart too and are now excellent digital photographers.

One of the things I found very amusing is that some of these folks arrived on Raleigh bikes that had been donated to Plan. The amusing part was that some of the bikes were still wrapped in bubble wrap! A funny sight as they rode off into the darkness when we were finished.
Our ride home was a lot less cramped and filled (as usual) with tall tales from Nana. Then another night of storm-filled sleeping!

June 17 – The Chimps, Charlotte Falls and a Rainy Father’s Day

2007-06-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

After spending a quiet night on Friday eating Chinese food (yes, they do have okay Chinese food in Freetown) and getting rested for the big ‘monkey’ day we met up at Laura’s so that her driver could take us to the Sanctuary. The first thing we learned was that chimps are not in fact monkeys but GREAT APES. This puts them in the same group as gorillas, orangutans and bonobos. The Sanctuary had all kinds of helpful boards to teach visitors about the chimps like this one:

And this one:
The sanctuary was started in when a chimp named Bruno was rescued from a family home. It is illegal not only to hunt chimps but also to keep them as pets. This place finds and recovers (either voluntarily or through the police) chimps in Sierra Leone and beyond. They are brought in, studied and treated for what ails them and then taught to live in groups in a HUGE forest setting. Because of their exposure to humans the group is unsure if they will ever be able to be truly wild ever again but it doing their best to try to re-integrate them in groups. They spend nights in shelters like this where they can be monitored:

And their days out in forest areas from 4-9 acres that are just breathtaking!
We got to watch them be fed and made friends with a few once they were done throwing rocks at us. (None hit me but I think Anna got one in the head, ouch!). We met the biggest chimp Phillip who made faces and even did backflips for us:

These guys were so adorable and incredibly human like in there movements. It was amazing to see them in this ‘wild’ environment!

After the chimps we headed across the road to Charlotte Falls. The falls were lovely although not exactly what I was expecting considering it has been raining so much.

We paid the 2000Le (less than $1) but as we walked through the village to the falls realized that our joint 10,000Le donation would have a significant impact on the villages supplies for the week. Our tour guide and three young child-friends walked us to the falls and giggled as we took photos and poked around the area.

We ended our journey with lunch at the Country Lodge which is the ‘posh’ hotel in Freetown. Yummy food and ice cream! What a great day!

That evening we headed out to a fun party and for another visit to the locale party club, Paddy’s which was a bit of a scary encounter with some pick-pockets and a purse slasher but everyone came out with everything they went in with. Just learned to watch our backs, a lesson I am sure will help me in Kenya.

Happy Father’s day to all the Dads at home (including you soon to be Dads like Darren and Tim). The weather helped us out here in town today as the rain kept our plans simple including lunch at my favourite bakery (including éclair for Conor and Macaroon for me) where we found many of the attendees from the night before recovering with great coffee.

Watched Pink Panther at Laura’s (which was surprisingly funny) and now am home catching up on some work and relaxing. Less than three weeks left for me here. I can’t believe I have been gone for two whole months and am past the half-way point of my time in SLE. Much to do with work before I leave and many new African experiences coming my way I am sure.

Everyone enjoy their week! Miss you. Eat your veggies!

June 15 – Special Court: How do you impose justice post-war

2007-06-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Previously I mentioned that many of the ex-pats I have met here in SLE work with the UN Special Court of Sierra Leone so I would like to let you know what this court is doing because I find it quite interesting.

At this point most of you know of the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia that took place in the 90s/early 00s. The purpose of this court is similar to Nuremberg trials after WWII and more recently, those held in the Hague regarding Kosovo. They are putting various war criminals on trial for atrocities that occurred in this country.

One of the biggest stories/trials is that of Charles Taylor the former president of Liberia. (1997 – 2003). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor there’s a good bit on this page about the SLE civil war too.)

The revolutionary campaign that started the war here was supported by both Muammar Qaddafi and Taylor. Among other roles it is said that these two men supplied the rebels with arms in exchange for diamonds and helped the leaders of the revolution to organize their armies. Basically he supported the war in SLE and later was became Liberia’s president.

On 7 March 2003, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) indicted Taylor, charging him with crimes against humanity, an indictment which still stands. The trial work began when he was captured and turned over to the UN in Sierra Leone in 2006. The actual trial started June 4th in the Hague and the legal teams are headed their next week to support the trial.

Many of the lawyers I have met here are working on the case including on both sides of the courtroom and all have their own opinion on the purpose/value of the Special Court and the prosecution of war criminals in general.

I would be lying to say that I have never thought through this concept before. I have always been interested in the aftermath of WWII and all of the effort over many years focused on bringing justice to the world. I’ll keep my opinion to myself and let you take a look at the following article:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/06/03/taylor.legacy.ap/index.html

Some of the things in this blow my mind and it all makes me remember (again) how lucky we are to live in the ‘free world’.

On a much lighter note, big plans for the weekend.  Look for loads of updates on Monday and enjoy yours!

June 11 – Babies and Another Hash!

2007-06-12T02:52:00.001-07:00

Another Monday….woohooo. Only three more before my departure which is bitter-sweet. Today Moosue brought the receptionist’s grandson to our shed to visit. Issac was a cutie pie but he definitely didn’t like Conor. In an attempt to change my flight home to a week and a bit earlier as requested, Nana and I headed to downtown Freetown to the BA office.

I wish I had brought my camera because downtown in the middle of the afternoon was chaos. So much to see. People selling everything from flip flops to stationary and car parts to Persian rugs. The streets were full of people going about their business to and fro. We managed to find a spot to park, well maybe not a spot but an area that wasn’t already in use and headed to the BA office. Let’s just say the visit wasn’t fruitful and we’ll have to visit again to get the ticket changed.

After work we headed to King Harmon and the old Railway for our third hash. The run was good and VERY hilly. We even got to cross a bridge I had only seen from the road high above. Hashing is a fabulous way to see a place. We ran through all kinds of yards and roads and even saw the cutest little puppy along the way. We even got free Freetown Hasher t-shirts. My first SLE souvenir!
Tired and sweaty we headed home. Quick stop at the supermarket for some instant oatmeal (which turned out to be pretty decent) and home to bed.

June 10 – Weekend of Bananas

2007-06-12T02:29:00.000-07:00

So, let me tell you a bit about the weekend. Friday I stayed in to try to kick the end of my ‘illness’. Watched a little TV, read my book and went to bed. I know, exciting.

Saturday morning I decided it was time for a ‘long run’ so I got up at 8am and headed to the beach. I ran from end to end and back in just under an hour. It was HOT and I was TIRED. I have never run on the beach like that and it was amazing to listen to the waves and feel the sand beneath my feet. With the added bonus of watching the locals haul in the fish nets all along the beach and of course the usual, ‘hello white girl’, ‘thank you Canada’ (my running shirt has a flag on it) and ‘how da bode?’ to which I responded with ‘tired!’ each time. All in all a great run and a fabulous way to start the day.

Spent a while lazing about and eating breakfast. Finally got the internet connection to work at the hotel and had a bizarre one-sided Skype with Jay. Is it ever weird to talk in response to MSN questions while sitting by yourself in a gazebo at a hotel.

Later that afternoon the gals (Laura, Anna, Quirien and I) headed off on the journey to Banana Island. The drive to the beach was amazing with some stunning sites and a paved highway that reminded me of northern Ontario. Manny (Laura’s driver) had some ‘mad skills’ in maneuvering on some harsh roads and delivered us to Kent beach to meet the Banana Island Guest House boat.

The highway to Waterloo, Kent and Bureh.

Manny told us the next day when he came to gather us that he stool on the shore for an hour watching us cross what was perhaps a 3km crossing. The weather was not calm and the sea matched. It was a rough ride to say the least and we were soaked when we arrived on the island.

The 'shuttle' to the island. That's the islands in the background.

The guest houses were right on the shore in Dublin. There were four huts each with two rooms. The rooms were quaint and well-equipped with nice furniture, showers and flush toilets. The guest house is powered by solar power so, since it was a dark day there was no power but we enjoyed our night anyway.

We ordered dinner and after some typical SLE delay we ate like kings. I ordered lobster and watched the guy pull it out of the trap, let it run for a bit on the beach and then carry it off to be bbq’d. Dinner, rose and UNO led to an early night under a mosquito net. I love sleeping under mosquito nets!

Catching our dinner. Man are lobsters ever dumb.

Sunday was a great breakfast! I ordered French toast which I didn’t have high hopes for but which turned out to be fabulous. We went on a walking tour of the island to see all the beaches, the old and new churches, the fishing port and the new well and hospital that are almost finished. We even encountered a SNAKE but luckily I was in the back of the tour line so it had slithered off before I got anywhere near. YIKES!

We spent the afternoon playing UNO, snoozing and eating and then took a much calmer ride back to the beach and a lovely drive home. I did some yoga and headed to bed. I think I’ll need another day to recover from my weekend.

My camera battery died in the middle of the weekend so for further photos see Quirien's photo album at: http://picasaweb.google.nl/quirienvanstraelen/BananaIslands

June 8 - Who is Nana Bampoe

2007-06-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone. Since yesterday was our dear Ghanain team-mate Nana's birthday and since I talk about him all the time on this blog I thought it appropriate to let you know more about him.

Nana Bampoe:

Nana Bampoe was born in Ghana many many years ago. (he claims he's 40 but I don't buy it)

He has had many jobs through his years all in IT including working with banks and software development firms.

Nana has 7 siblings and all of their names are Nana except his eldest brother who is named after his father. (Eugene I think) He says the family has no trouble telling each other apart as they use different intonations for each Nana but when someone called their house for a Nana it was often chaotic.

Nana is the Technical Implementation Coordinator for our ChildData team and works with all the global offices to make sure they are ready to roll out the new system. He really knows his stuff.

He is always ready with an analogy or a methaphor in any situation.

Nana cares A LOT about his friends and family and is always there to help.

This fellow can tell a story like you wouldn't believe. It will last hours and at the end will simply leave you scratching your head. Apparently his Grandpa teleports and he is descended from Royalty.

Here's a photo from his birthday party at Sierra Lighthouse last night.

Clockwise from nearest: Laura (British High Commission), Nana (Plan - ChildData), Kwame (Nana's friend), Roberto (Nana's Friend), Anna (Plan - Programs), Conor (Plan - ChildData)

June 6 – A bit more about Sierra Leone/Freetown

2007-06-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all you folks who have given me suggestions about what to write on my blog. I hope to get to all your great ideas but I think I’ll start BIG with a bit more about the country I am in, in general.

Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa close to the equator. The country has a population of just over 6 Million who suffer from extreme poverty. The most significant factor contributing to economic conditions was the long civil war, which lasted for a 10 years - only ending in 2001, when a UN peacekeeping mission was mandated. Since 2001 the country has been relatively stable and efforts to improve life here have been made, assisted most significantly by the international community with grants (like those from Plan) and debt reduction programs. Many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) pulled out of Sierra Leone during the conflicts but, from what I have seen driving around this city, they have all returned (CARE, Save the Children, ActionAid, etc)

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation, with economic conditions characterized by tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural and fishery resources, its economic and social infrastructure is not well developed. Serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity, such as the rehabilitation of bauxite mining.Some key comparative facts emphasize the current situation to give you a look at Africa-to-Africa and Sierra Leone-to-Canada.

All that ‘high-level’ stuff is great but what do I see here in Freetown. One has to remember that Freetown is the capital and by far the largest and most infrastructure-rich city in this country. The layout of the city is far from that of a normal city and even far from most capitals in Africa. There are some large buildings which are mostly UN, US or UK built. There is a football stadium and grocery stores, restaurants and bars but these are few and far between. Much of the trade occurs from small huts on the side of the road and hand to hand between the people. There is no mall, there are no stoplights, streetlights or sidewalks. None of the comforts of home really but this is developed SLE.

The people here (who I will talk about more in a subsequent post) seem happy. They are much better dressed and have much more style than I thought. They maintain clean appearances, they drive okay cars and they are very friendly. Not what you would expect from a country so ravaged by war so recently in the past. The soldiers of war live amongst the people now having dropped their weapons and re-assimilated. There are rarely violent incidents except when thievery is suspected. They take their possessions very seriously.

People ask me if it is dangerous in Sierra Leone. The plain answer is that there are dangers that are rather different than those in first world countries like Canada and great care and awareness are necessary. Health care in Sierra Leone is poor and social issues need to be understood. I have a very reasonable standard of living, clean water and have an opportunity for a healthy diet. I am very well taken care of by both Plan and my ex-pat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate) friends who are always willing to give you guidance and a lift home.

Living and working in the developing world, where conditions may be fairly basic, definitely demands a certain level of physical and psychological fitness and health is clearly of high importance. For those of you who witnessed my preparation for this trip I had 13 shots for everything from rabies to yellow fever and happily take a pill each day to prevent malaria (these pills have done crazy things to my dreams too!). After my illness on Sunday Nana has threatened several times to take me to the hospital for a malaria test and I know he is watching me closely for signs and will haul me there if I look to be at risk.Certainly personal safety is a concern but risks seem to be very manageable.

The people have been nothing but honest and I prepared well by not really bringing anything I worry about losing. I protect my passport, laptop and money well and follow my instinct always. In fact sometimes looking around I wonder why anyone would want to rob me considering how much more put-together the Sierra Leonians and some of my new friends seem. I appear simple and I think that helps me out.

I hope this helped you get a better idea of where I am and the social setting. Keep the questions coming!

June 5 - A weekend of nothing, an illness and a couple of flat tires.

2007-06-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well I appologize that it's been a while since I wrote.

Just to make up for the pause...here are some of the turkeys on site at Family Kingdom. Seriously and they are NOT afraid of anything...cars...people...

The Weekend -

Friday we went out for dinner. I'll save you the details but needless to say they don't make very good pizza around here and even the dogs at the restaurant wouldn't eat our 'scraps'. After dinner we headed to Atlantic which is the friday expat hangout. It's right on the beach and you can even walk out to the beach with your drinks. A pretty low key night.

Spent Saturday just hanging out in the sunshine. Reading and sitting on a patio. Very lazy. Here's the view from my book (top) and from the patio (bottom).

Saturday night we finally made it to dinner at the Sierra Lighthouse which is a hotel right on the edge of the beach. We had tried twice before with no luck so it was good to finally make it. Anna had introduced us to the 'Chapman' which is a local SLE drink (don't ask what's in it..I'll find out though so I can make them when I get home) We enjoyed a couple of special Chapmans then hit the casino. Actually I didn't hit the casino. I wasn't feeling well and wanted to watch the Sens game anyway.

That's right...I got the Sens game on tv in my room in Freetown! It was blurry, in french and in the middle of the night but it was on nonetheless. And they won...maybe I am good luck!

Sunday was rainy spoiling our beach plans so we slept in and then Nana brought us our 'wheels'. He has lent us his second car which is standard making Conor our new chauffeur. We now have a bit of freedom which is nice.

We wanted to take it for a practice spin so we headed to our friend Laura's place. I should call it Laura's castle. She works for the British High Commission here in Freetown and lives in the nicest apartment I have ever seen anywhere! Polished marble, chandelliers and a huge tv. We sat in the lap of luxury and watched Anchorman. How's that for a non-African afternoon.

Later, we went to find some dinner and discovered Bliss Bakery. It was Bliss! The food was great. The coffee was REAL (all I had had here until then was instant...blech) and the pastries look brilliant! Unfortunately this was the beginning of the sickness for me so I wasn't able to enjoy. I'll have to go back.

We popped over to the grocery store for some water. The store isn't all that different from those at home but they all have VERY varying prices and all contain houshold goods. Everything from lamps to towels to toys. Oh and liquor...tonnes of liquor. I'll do some scouting and let you all know about prices. Eating breakfast at the hotel and lunch at our desks has made for little need for supermarkets aside from water.

My first Illness - Sunday afternoon introduced my first illness in SLE. I'll spare you all the details but let's say I didn't eat much from Sunday lunch until Monday lunch. BLECH! Feeling much better now though. :)

Hash #2 - Monday night was our second Hash which we managed to be 20 minutes late for. If there's one thing harder than hashing it's hashing without the crowd of people to follow. Luckily Conor was nice enough to run with me until we found the crowd and the locals were more than willing to help us by pointing the direction that the other runners went in. We never once thought that maybe they were lying to us or tricking us. That's just an indication of how nice everyone is here in this city. We managed to make it home and I think I sweated out the sickness trying to keep up with 6'2" Conor. Can you say 'big dog, little dog'?

Crazy Tire Fun - Well we knew it would happen. The driving here is rough. The roads are quite pot-holey and there are always people all over the streets. Conor has done a great job driving so far. We were taken down this morning by a rock that totally destroyed our front right tire. :(

Conor managed to manouver off the road and before we were even out of the car a local had blocked our back tire and started to change the tire. It was amazing! He moved so fast and had the spare on in about 5 minutes. The problem then was that the spare was flat...seriously!

So, this man took the tire and got in a shared cab (more on cabs here later) and rode to the petrol station to fill the tire. We started to wonder at that point if he was going to come back but there wasn't much we could do but hang out on the side of the road with our three wheeled car.

At this point we realized again how safe this country was. If we had been in Nairobi or Jo-burg we probably would have been in some if not great danger but not Freetown. Someone from Plan stopped to see if we were okay and went on to tell the logistics crew of our problems.

Well the guy came back with the tire, put it on and had us on our way in minutes. We gave him some money (which we later found out we didn't have to do but come on...he saved our bacon and it was only 20,000 Le which is about $7CAD. Enough to feed his family for a while or buy 80 mangos!) and were on our way before the Plan crew made it to us.

We joke now that we solved our predicament by looking like foreigners and having a little cash. Puts things in perspective a bit.

Tonight is again movie night and we are actually going this time. MI: III. Yay Tom Cruise running! Thursday is Nana's birthday so that should be fun. I'll try to catch a photo of the ellusive man for you all and give you the details of his illustrious life.

I have also gathered some requests for topics from folks but if there is anything you particularly want to hear about from here just add a comment to this blog.

toodles..here's a lizard to keep you occupied until my next post!

June 1 - Weekend Plans

2007-06-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's friday again, what a fast week. Craziness. The week was busy but nothing amazing to report. Dinner party and some hockey (like three minutes) on Wednesday. Goodbye dinner for Ellen last night and tonight Atlantic. We shall see.

I am trying to get my butt to a hike on Saturday morning up by the American Embassy but it's early so we shall see. Definitely some working out, chillin and working this weekend.

I 'borrowed' this photo from Conor. I think it's great photography. This is one of the slums in Freetown. I promise to blog more about this place on the weekend.

Everyone enjoy. Happy Birthday to my EVIL brother Chris!

May 30 - What the heck is this?

2007-05-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

Okay this is a short one as I am off to dinner but this creature joined me at breakfast this morning. I have Christie McBiologist on duty to figure out what it is but does anyone else have any idea? It's nose was quite shiney...almost to the point of creepiness!

May 28 – My first Hash!

2007-05-29T02:52:00.000-07:00

No, this isn’t a blog about a new drug habit but my first experience with the Freetown Hash Harriers. We found out about the Hash from Kate and managed to hook up a ride with another Dubliner, Michelle. http://hhh.lumleybeach.com/index.html

The run was interesting. The group follows a ‘hare’ or in this case many ‘hares’ who set out a trail through the streets by marking with shreds of paper or ‘hash’. The trail went all through a neighbourhood as kids and adults shouted ‘keep it up’ and ‘go girls go’. We were in the middle of the pack so there wasn’t much ‘hunting’ to be done but more ‘following’. Today was a short run and I was certainly glad. I am still getting used to the heat here and haven’t sweated that much in ages.

After the run Conor and I were inducted into the Harriers and had a beer with the group. All in all a great event and I think it will be a Monday night tradition. The location changes every week so it will also be a great way to see the city.

After our run Conor and I headed down the beach to find food and ate barracuda on the beach with kittens and nearly a hundred crabs at our feet. Another great ending to a great day. Tomorrow is movie night so we’ll just have to see what that has in store!

May 27 – Trip to River #2

2007-05-29T02:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning after a good sleep in and some breakfast on the patio in front of our room we made our way by taxi (our first solo trip and some good negotiating by Conor) to the meeting point and off we went to River #2. Btw, I asked…there is no River #1. Who knows the story behind that.

The journey to the beach was about 1.5 hours and included some slick driving in a standard Range Rover with a slow leak in the rear tire on VERY bumpy roads. We passed the time chatting and singing along to Capital radio’s super cheesey tunes. As we drove past numerous villages we were greeted with smiling, waving people. Very friendly and the kids are so cute!

The beach itself was GORGEOUS! Apparently setting up the beach and the infrastructure was a Plan project to help the village to have gainful work and income. The beach has all the creature comforts (chairs, loungers, bathrooms and food/drinks). The water is warm and salty and the sun was shining. We had a great day and the group of ex-pats grew significantly including a couple of Americans who work on the defense team for one of the war criminals. I mention these guys because a student film-maker is making a documentary about them and the trial and the crew came to the beach to take film. They taped us through the afternoon including me throwing a disk around with one of the guys. I had some stellar moments including nailing the camera twice. It looks like I’ll need more practice before I try to find a team next year.

After the beach (during which I did NOT get sunburned!) we headed off to Franco’s a delightful restaurant near the beach and still on the river for dinner. I enjoyed my lobster and the company. A truly remarkable ending to a great day.
The ride home wasn’t nearly as harrowing as they managed to change the tire at the beach with the help of some locals. Then it was off early to bed for work on Monday. What an amazing weekend and from the way these folks talk there will never be a dull moment in Freetown!

May 26 – Ex-Pat Day. Conor and Tina meet the ‘crew’

2007-05-29T02:44:00.000-07:00

One of the ladies at work, Anna, is an ex-pat from Essex working in SLE for a few months. This gal is definitely in to experiencing the pure culture of the area and has the best Krio accent (from british to krio is impressive). She’s savy and we certainly lucky she’s here.

We met Anna in the pouring rain at 9:30 on Saturday morning to go and watch the ex-pat football team play a team from the British military training unit (IMATT – International Military Army Training Team I think). Once the rain stopped and we started to dry things became much more enjoyable. We went to the game with Anna, Laura (who works at the British High Commission and is from London) and Kate (who is an Aussie and works at the Special Court (note to self…write about the Special Court sometime this week) who were a hoot. Even the British High Commissioner was there to open the match and present the trophy. Met some of the fellas on the team and I think they convinced Conor to join!

After the game a bunch of us headed for lunch including Abdul (who works with Anna at Plan) and two dutch girls – Quirine (an intern at UNDP) and Emma (who was on vacation from Liberia, yes…people apparently vacation here, who works for Right to Play) We ate on a patio by the bay and chatted for hours.

The afternoon was napping and a quick workout before getting ready to hit the post-game party at IMATT. The party was great. The ‘Africa bar’ was full of players and their friends. There was a pig roast and buffet and they replayed the game on the big screen. After the party, Nana picked a few of us up and we headed to Paddy’s.

Paddy’s is a legendary bar in Freetown and much drinking and dancing was had. I won’t go into details but let’s just say we didn’t get home until 4:30 am and I didn’t even really notice the time.

(sorry no photos. I'll steal some from Conor and post in this post later)

May 25 - The big move

2007-05-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know a few of you were a little worried about out state of accommodations here in Freetown but wait no more. After a few hairy moments with our original landlord and a strange gas stop by our driver we made it safe and sound at our new home ‘Family Kingdom’.
This place is park amusement park (apparently the only playground in Freetown), park event centre (there was a HUGE wedding here on Saturday ) and park zoo (there are deer turkey and many birds around here just to name a few). . I promise more photos of the wildlife as soon as I catch it with my camera.
This place is way ahead of the old place. Our ‘flat’ is a one bedroom place with a bed in the sitting room. Chivalrous Conor has allowed me to have the bedroom but I think I will either offer to switch after two weeks or build him a little wall to separate him from the front door. It’s clean and comes with free laundry, internet (which I have yet to get to work) and breakfast. Brilliant!

There is a restaurant on site and it is walking distance to many places plus across the street from the beach. Heaven compared to our last abode. We slept well in A/C sanity, peaceful as babies!

May 25 - We are moving and weekend plans

2007-05-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it to friday evening. Whew!

1) I take back my comment about you guys having a good long weekend for my Canadian friends but the rest of you still enjoy!

2) It's official...we are moving to Family Fun Kingdom!! Seriously that's what it's called. More details on the new digs this weekend. One note: there is a zoo and a swimming pool and it's on the beach! Woooohooo!

3) Looks like a jam-packed weekend with a football game tomorrow and an ex-pat party and the beach and the move and sleeping in air conditioning!!!! wooohooo!

Take care of each other and a huge international HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jay for the big 3-0 on Monday!

May 25 - Attack of the GIANT Bug!

2007-05-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

So far on this journey I have seen no bugs to frighten me until this morning. Lizards everywhere and enough mosquitoes to sink a battleship (I was bitten to DEATH the first night!) . That all changed this morning.

When I returned from my shower in the grunge (the floor has yet to dry since we got here) I noticed a GIANT cockroach upside down beside my dresser. I convinced myself that he was dead and had been there the whole time (better than thinking about him crawling around) but just in case I sprayed him with the big ol bottle of bug repellant from the living room and….he MOVED!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! Eventually I stepped on him and used the ladles from ghetto kitchen to scoop him out the window. Game over. Now people keep telling me that his friends will come back for me in retribution.

Needless to say I am hoping we’ll move to our new home…FAMILY FUN KINGDOM!!

Now we are at work waiting for Nana and the key to our ‘tower’ (they call our shed Twin Tower #1…sort of creepy) which we left in the car last night. He also has our cookie supply for the day…hurry up Nana!!!

p.s. thanks to Christie, Martha and Jay for texting. It’s amazing what comfort technology can provide. I don’t feel so far away after all!

p.p.s. Enjoy your long weekend everyone! I unfortunately don’t get the holiday but will head to the beach on the weekend and celebrate a bit anyway!

May 24 - Dinners of Tall Tales!!

2007-05-25T03:29:00.001-07:00

Well we are settled in at work and even have our own fabulously disco cell phones (see photo)now (incoming calls only…talked to mom and dad from the restaurant on the bay last night!) and the folks around the office recognize us and are making amazing efforts to help us feel at home.

The last two nights have included ‘tall tale’ dinners with our Plan SLE team member Nana. Man can this fellow tell a story. He’s amazing! On Wednesday we learned all about leaves that make people bullet-proof and how his grandfather used to teleport to random locations when he was scared. Just wicked stuff. Last night his Ghanian friend Kwame joined us (which may or may not be his real name as Kwame means Saturday and people are often nick-named based on the day they were born), regardless Kwame was right in with the tales and the two of them told us all kinds of things about funeral rituals for Kings in Ghana and people who will ask for money so that you can try to cut them with a blade for this they have become impervious but that we should turn the knife around and smack them with it to hurt them. It was so funny and as they said, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’!

May 22 - (Yes, I know, again) The First Morning

2007-05-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

We’re here…oh my! The apartment, the office and the beachHoly crap I am in AFRICA!!! So it has finally set in. We are really in Africa. It’s super hard to believe but trust me the culture shock is apparent. Waking up in a new place is always strange but when you are awoken by roosters, dogs and really bad music it’s a whole new experience.

Since we have to turn the generator off when we got to bed we don’t have neither power at night (so no fans and stinkin hot sleeping) nor in the mornings (so no lights). It’s definitely strange and makes me appreciate home more and more each minute.

How do I describe the ‘flat’…ghetto! I have since confirmed with Nana (our host team-mate) that I am not just a white gal with snobby needs but that our flat is truly ghetto even for a developing country. His face was priceless especially when he checkout out the kitchen. The living room and bedrooms are fine aside from the lack of power when the noisy generator is off.

The sketchy part is the bathroom and kitchen. As Bryce would say, I have earned my ADP ‘stripes’ for this one. I don’t think we’ll even attempt to go into the kitchen for now. There isn’t much in there, no fridge and a tired looking stove, so no big loss. It would be nice to eventually cook for ourselves but we shall see.

The bathroom is tiny and grungy! The shower has two settings, on and off, and one temperature, cold, which let me tell you is amazing after a night of sweating away. I am actually quite proud of myself for managing to sleep. I suppose the heat during the day is enough to knock me out. All this to say I think we’ll be moving by the end of the week. Just need to find somewhere else.

The office is so super cool. We can walk from where we are living and that’s probably my favourite part of the day. The people are super friendly especially when they see where we are going. It’s HOT though and by the time we get to work we’re drenched. Our office is a portable in the parking lot of the gated compound. It’s just the three of us and has all the comforts of home, internet, A/C, hot water for tea and biscuits! It’s amazing how fast you can get directly to work when there is work to be done and it’s nice to have something familiar amongst all this change.

We set off after work to Family Fun Kingdom for dinner on the beach in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is really the tourist centre (if you could say they have one) and a hangout for most of the ex-pats. FFK has a lovely patio across the street from the beach where we enjoyed coke in glass bottles and I ate the tenderest and moist barracuda steak I have ever tasted! Delish! Don’t worry…I am remembering: Cook it, Peel it or Leave it! So far so good with the tummy too…knock on wood.

After dinner and the purchasing of some rather sketch DVDs we headed home to our castle. Tonight I used the mosquito net for the first time and it’s rather cool to be living in a tent. Makes me feel safe. One thing about this place I can say is that they take safety VERY seriously. Our flat is fully gated and complete with barbed wire. . It has two doors, one of steel with many locks. Trust me, no one is getting in here! Off to bed. Still taking calmness in remembering that it’s one moon we are all under. Even if I get to see it 4 hours early!

May 21 - Arrival in Freetown!

2007-05-25T03:26:00.000-07:00

After a weekend of avoiding packing (just ask Martha and Laura) I managed to shove everything I think I needed into one suitcase (same suitcase I took for a week in DR…odd). I managed to make it under the weight restriction @ 32kg. whew. So far the only thing I can see I forgot was a beach towel but I am sure I can get one here.

The flight was supposed to leave at 1:30 but we were delayed by the evacuation of a deportee who was saved at the last minute by his sister. Strange situation including a lot of yelling at the back of the plane. :-$ We left an hour late and were told we needed to stop in Malaga Spain to refuel to face strong headwinds in north Africa. So now if you could touchdowns I have been to Spain…it looked beautiful. I’ll have to go and actually get off the plane!

We made our way to Dakar but by then it was dark so I didn’t see much. The airport looked HUGE though (at least compared to SLE). I managed to sleep most of the way and watched Music and Lyrics which was cute. I can’t believe I was on a plane for nearly 10 hours and only saw one movie…BA…hum…

About 1 am we arrived at Lumley airport which is located on a peninsula just outside of Freetown. Immigration was a synch and I was already seeing that Plan was a respected name in this country as we were wisked through customs and our helper Mohammed arranged everything for the helicopter ride. There were probably 50 locals there to meet the plane and every single one was eager to help with each step of the journey which at that point of the night was nice to see.

We pilled onto the helicopter with 20 or so fellow passengers and our entire luggage collection. I have never been on a helicopter before but this one seemed HUGE. I think they are ex-military fliers. The unfortunate thing was that it was completely dark so we couldn’t see anything as we flew in. I also think my departing flight is in the middle of the night so I may lose the perspective from the chopper. Too bad.

We were greeting on the other side of the bay by Daniel, our driver. He looked fairly happy considering we had kept him up until 2am. We loaded up the luggage into the Plan truck and were off. He took us to our flat (more about that below) where we slumped off to sweaty sleep happy to have arrived but growing homesick already.

May 22 - I have arrived!

2007-05-22T05:32:00.001-07:00

More from me later but I wanted to let you know that I have arrived safe and sound in Freetown. It's an interesting experience and will definitely take some getting used to but I am ready for the challenge.

I miss you all and continue to sweat my way through the day so I am sure I will be about a size 2 when I return due to the water loss.

I promise pictures and stuf as soon as possible. I just wanted to say hi and let you all know I am alive and very well.

May 17 - What can I say...

2007-05-17T00:53:00.000-07:00

This is completely not ADP related but I have to say it...take those SWEEP comments and shove em! :-)

go SABRES go!

May 16 - Oh ya and...

2007-05-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Two additional comments:

1) Martha and I saw Mary Poppins in the West End last night. SPECTACULAR! The house set was amazing (the roof popped off and the top level floated down to the floor) and Mary flew off into the audience at the end...seriously! Plus Super-cali was nearly a hip hop number. Amazing!

2) I have my itinerary in stone now so anyone who's interested here's where I'll be:

21MAY Depart London Heathrow - Arrive Freetown (4 hours ahead of Ottawa)
13JUL Depart Freetown - Arrive London Heathrow (5 hours ahead of Ottawa)
29JUL Depart London Heathrow - Arrive Nairobi (7 hours ahead of Ottawa)
26AUG Depart Nairobi - Arrive Mumbai (9.5 hours ahead of Ottawa)
22SEP Depart Mumbai - Arrive London Heathrow (5 hours ahead of Ottawa)

So ... please come and visit! Off to the gym. (taking advantage while I can!)

May 16 - Wrapping it up

2007-05-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would throw a quick post up about my work space here at IH (international headquarters) in Woking before I head out. (and yes, I actually got my tickets today...my visas are another story).

My desk. Note the picture on the right...Franklin of course! There is a guy here who says he's ugly so I don't talk to him anymore. Plus his cat's name is rosepetal or something sissy like that so what does he know? Also note the Tim Horton's mug. A classy touch of home. Thanks Martha!

My fair team-mate (note: the American Express headset was staged and HIS idea). Check out the windows behind him. We have the best office in the building.

The new folks who moved into our space are great but I was sufficiently freaked out by this...
Seriously, how far away do I have to be to get away from Ottawa U??

All I have to say right now is GO SABRES GO simply because I will NOT be able to take the razzing should my team pull a 'Sens' in this series!

hugs to all of you...even the Sens fans.

May 15 - Ya...I know...don't say it...

2007-05-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

I realize that my Sabres are down 3-0. Suprisingly enough I get that news here. Canada may have blown up or seperated and I wouldn't know but I am aware that 1) Tony Blair has stepped down and 2) my Sabres are getting beaten badly by the chokers!!!

Oh well. Countdown to Africa = 6 days. Amazing. Now all I need is a plane ticket and a visa. That's right, ever prepared Tina is without travel documents and within a week of her tour d'Afrique. Trying not to freak out. Really.

Tonight I am heading into town to visit with Martha and see MARY POPPINS!!! I am so super excited that my whole day of Contingency Planning for the project isn't seeming dull at all!

Just for fun here's anothe pic of the adventures of Tina and Martha on Sunday...anyone know what 'Franked Mail' is?

May 14, 2007 – MarthaG and Hockey…what could be better?

2007-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

To say I was overcome with emotion when the coach containing my friend Martha pulled up at the Woking train station would be an understatement. The moment I saw the bus I realized just how much I miss home. It was so tremendous to welcome Martha to Woking!

We had a low-key day on Saturday just wandering the city and shopping for food goodies. I showed Marth the martian and the mall and…well there isn’t much else to see around here. She even got to meet the other ADPers, Laura and Houman and Laura’s bfd Bryce. We chatted and napped and made delicious dinner and watched my current favourite tv show (the search for the new Joseph on London’s West End complete with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber) and then sat through the sometimes painful Eurovision song contest. Some songs were tremendous…some were tremendously hideous. The countries perform and then the viewers vote. The trick is that you can’t vote for your own country. After hours of revealing the votes country by country Serbia took the crown. A very interesting experience and a perfect day if you ask me.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early to head into the rainy city and find Martha’s hotel. We checked her in and wandered around the city including Soho, Camden and Covent Garden. It was a lovely ‘agenda free’ day complete with fun purchases (polka dot Wellingtons for M). Our only plan was to get to the Maple Leaf bar to watch the hockey game from the night before.

The Maple Leaf was tremendous. A bar full of Canadians (Sens fans!), Canadian beers (Sleeman and Moosehead) and Canadian food (poutine and pancakes)! Carefully trying to avoid reading texts from Jay regarding the game’s outcome we cheered the Sabres on through the game and an OT period. Unfortunately I had to head back to Woking so we left after that knowing deep down that the Sens would win by one despite the first Sabres’ goal was called back (hmmm….can you say cheap?!!? and yes, I am just like Mr Ruff!).

Made it home and happily to bed. Dinner with Marth on Tuesday and then perhaps another hockey game on Saturday before I pack up for my journey to Africa…and yes, I am nervous!

May 13, 2007 – A week in reflection

2007-05-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

My apologies for a week without a post. It’s been a busy one that included a lot of recovery from a tremendous weekend. The Road Trip bus tour was a FABULOUS experience and a great way to see an area if you are okay with regressing a bit back to university days which I was more than happy with. We got to Newquay late on Friday night and settled into our hostel, Bellushi’s. I met Laura’s friends from Australia and a learned whole boat load of new words (flick, pash, aw yeh!, etc). Thanks for a wicked weekend gals!

I’ll keep this short but if you ever go to the South-West of England do the following:

Eat a Cornish Pasty or two, three or four: Yummy dinner in a pastry pocket pronounced Past-ty rhyming with nasty but they are far from.

Go to Eden Project: It’s difficult to describe but imagine an old clay mine that was converted to a thriving gardens depicting the relationship between humans and plants. Two HUGE biomes including a Humid Tropics and a Mediterranean dome. Wow!

Hike up to the Minack Theatre: No words of photos can describe this place. An amphitheatre chiseled out of a woman’s backyard right on the coast. Up about 200 cliff-side stairs, the site of this place was breath-taking!

Although not SW Eng specific…go to a Walkabout: We spent two nights dancing the night away at this bar full of young Aussies. Tree Tousand at least! It was wicked fun and really reminding me of the old Engineering conference days. (I have photos but you'll have to ask me directly!)

The work week was motivating as we prepare for next week’s trip. Interesting calls to get office to agree to be our Pilot offices including Burkina Fasso, Ethiopia, Australia, Spain, Sweden and the US. I love my job!

Friday was Conor’s good-bye party so the ADPers headed into the city. Good times were had by all. Not nearly as fun as my many parties (thanks guys!) but a good time none the less. Now I just need a nap! (photos of this event to come!)

May 4, 2007 - I'm Off!

2007-05-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

Well the good news is that I survived three weeks here and what do I get for it? A long weekend. :)

Laura (ADPer from Chicago also working at Plan and living in Woking who I met at our ADP training in Feb) and I have decided to play backpackers and hit the road with RoadTrip Overland Tours to the south-west coast of this jolly island.
Here's our itinerary:
Friday: Depart 18.30, Early morning Saturday(approx 1-1.30am) - arrive Newquay.
Saturday: Day of relaxation and time outOptional trip to the Eden project Optional surfing / sea fishing activity Evening BBQ and games Night on the town/sleep
Sunday: Breakfast Tour of Cornwall including;St Ives, Lands End, Penzance (St Michaels Mount)...I am the very model of a modern major general... and a finale of an open air theatre performance at the Minac (with a picnic tea provided). Late evening - Return to Newquay. Evening out/sleep.
Monday: late morning depart from accommodation - Trip to Tintagel castle, legendary birthplace of King Aurthur. Return home to London.

Sounds pretty neat and busy. Unfortunately it looks like the rain is on its way but I am sure we'll still have a ball. We've convinced Carolyn (of ACN and previous post fame) and some girls Laura met on a previous bus trip so it promises to be quite the romp.

Anyway, details on Monday with pics. Have a great weekend everyone! Miss you.

May 2 - The Plan ChildData Team

2007-05-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Just in case I get going on work stuff here's the break-down of my team. I'll get more photos eventually promise!

The overall team:
Susan (Woking) - Project Manager: Ex-ADPer who I worked with in Toronto. She's Canadian but has lost her 'outs' from all her time here.
Nicki (Woking) - Business Lead
Khalila (Nairobi, Kenya) - Technical Lead
Paulina (Equador) - Process/Functional Design Analyst
Nair/Ness (Mumbai, India) - Outsourced Development Team
My team:
Marte (Norway, need to figure out where) - Functional Change Co-ordinator
Nana (Freetown, SLE) - Technical Change Co-ordinator
Conor (ADPer, Woking) - Test and Training Analyst

L-R: Durba (who recently left the team but was WICKED), Susan, Nicki, Paulina, Khalila and Nair

There are other players in this crazy game including representatives from all our Sponsorship (i.e. fundraising) nations (NOs) and all of our support regions (ROs and COs) so this is truely a global team.

These folks really do rely on technology to do their jobs from Video Conference to Skype and MSN to Web-x. Sometimes connections are good and sometimes communications follow suit but they manage to get some amazing things done around here. More details on our work to come.

May 2 - Imagine being that dedicated

2007-05-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

First, a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MOM!!! Don't worry folks, I called her, emailed her and sent her flowers like the good daughter I am.

Second, there have been a couple of interesting things happen in this country this week. They have made me think a bit about my dedication to ... well ...anything. Take a look-see:

On the light side: The Kate Moss collection came out at Top Shop this week. Big deal...perhaps but it's still just RW&Co price-ranged clothes that are fit for a waif. Anyway, there were people lined up OVERNIGHT for this stuff. Seriously. That's some pretty high levels of dedication for clothes that they will make more of. Makes you wonder.

On the heavier side: Our office here is now adorned with a protestor who is on a hunger strike. He is disgruntled with the management here at Plan and has lost his job in a re-org. Anyway he is protesting the way Plan is handling something. Imagine being so dedicated to your work that you would go on a hunger strike. I can't. I love my work (why else would I do this crazy stuff) but if they let me go I am not sure I would think twice let alone starve myself. Makes you wonder.

April 29 - Extreme Weekend!

2007-04-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

So this weekend took a few turns and was definitely a way to experience polar opposite crowds in London.

Friday I moved back to the flat on Grovesnor. It’s so nice to have a home for three weeks and I have completely unpacked and bought groceries. Groceries are GLORIOUS! I will never take them for granted again. I home is a wonderful thing…even when it’s someone else’s.

So, Friday night Susan and I headed to the city to meet Zee and her parents to go to the symphony at Royal Albert Hall (which btw is across from the Albert Memorial…who knew). I was certainly looking forward to it as Mahler Symphony #5 on the programme and I, being a trombonist in my time, LOVE Mahler brass. Anyway, the concert was AMAZING and we were in a private box with sandwiches, water, juice and CHAMPAIGN! I have never felt so regal in all my life. Thanks Zee’s parents!

After the concert I was off to Chalk Farm to meet up with Keating (Jay’s housemate) to crash at his uncle’s house in a swanky neighbourhood up north. The next morning after meeting uncle Duncan and cousin Beth we were off to the Chelsea-Bolton game. What can I say about the atmosphere? It was FABULOUS! As soon as we got off the tube it was all jerseys and chanting and crazy energy. We had a couple of pints and were amazed by the volume of the chants coming from each pub. It was like a bus on the way to an eng conference.

The game was amazing! The crowds cheered from start to finish and there were some great plays. Thanks to Keatings ‘camera of destiny’ the game tied and that was pretty much the end of Chelsea’s bid for the championship. The crowds seemed saddened but the party went on. After a couple more pints we headed home and I made my way back to Woking to unpack and settle in.

Now I am watching old Grey’s Anatomys and doing some more work. I can’t believe I have been here for two weeks. Three more weeks and we are off to Sierra Leone. From what Nana has told us it should be an amazing place! For all of those who are worried I did learn that Plan is very well respected in SLE as many of the people in power now were once Plan children and so we will have diplomatic status when we are there. :) Also, our flat is across from the first response emergency station.

April 24 - Like a fish!

2007-04-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

So I finally found the pool and now have successfully cleared the fast lane out on four continents (North and South America, New Zealand and now Europe). It felt so good to just swim despite the slimey pool and co-ed changerooms with little pods. I have a couple of pictures by my battery is dead and the charger is in my other bag. Will add those later. (Le Voila!)On the work side, I am just starting to come to grips with just how truely global this project really is. I sat in a meeting today (discussing the future Operating Model for IT support) with folks from all across the world, Asia, South America, East and West Africa. It really blows my mind. I guess this is the logical next move. I started provincial and moved federal and now...the world! Good thing I am an international woman of mystery. :-)

April 23 - The Anniversary of Shakespeare's Death

2007-04-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Seriously...not sure how I figured that out but it's true (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare)

Back to work for me. Nothing too exciting. Just organizing for Visa applications which is a real pain. Off to the Indian High Commision tomorrow with Nana, our team-mate from Sierra Leone to see if we can't all get our Visas. We shall see.

Just wanted to point out the additions to the 'left nav' of this page. I added a few good links including other ADPers and info on Woking and Plan. I'll add to this as I go along.

Thanks to team Smiths for your comments. Let's me know someone is 'watching'.
Went for Bangers and Mash and a Guinness with Laura, another ADPer here in Woking, after work to share our stories of UK life. Too funny. Bad use of the word 'pants' count = 2... oh dear!

April 22 - Marathon Day - Go Alex, You're a Rockstar!

2007-04-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

If anyone ever tells you it's easy to watch a marathon they obviously have never done it! I have done it thrice now and man is it ever exhausting! I spent Sunday in London (a super easy train ride from Woking) with my friends Carolyn (who is staffed in Newcastle) and Zee (ex-Accenture who is here to visit Susan..my boss) watching the London Marathon (http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/site/). We had a blast cheering and yelling. The best was when people had their names on their shirts. "Go ...you're a Rockstar!" was one of our favourites. Man can those fast guys run! Here's the lead pack too fast to get a good photo!
Well, after three hours or so of cheering we finally saw our friend Alex and yelled our heads off to get his attention to no avail. Oh well. Apparently he had a good day and, despite walking the last 6 miles pulled out a 4:04 marathon. I am impressed! My marathon attempts pale in comparison. Congrats Alex!

Exhausted and a little sunburn we headed to the pub for nourishment and eventually took our seperate trains home. It was a great day of reunions and zippy runners. Incredible.

April 21 - Saturday Afternoon fun

2007-04-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Part of my fear about this adventure was having to spend a lot of time...how do I say this...by myself but so far it's not so bad. While I am in Africa and India I will have a travelling companion (Conor...must get photo of him) so it won't be so lonely but today I decided to treat myself to a night on the town.

After an afternoon of chilling and writing postcards at the coffee shop. (yes, they should be well on their way by now) I got myself a ticket to see Cole Porter's High Society at the Woking Ambassador Theatre. Apparently a lot of professional shows come through here on their way to London. This could prove to be helpful for amusement. The show was great and for 15GBP I couldn't exactly complain.

Thanks to Christie for being my first social call on my mobile and making dinner out with me dinner out with us!

Here's your skill testing question for today. My seat was H10...which door do you choose? I was confused too!

p.s. I forgot to mention that I went for a good long run this morning along the 'canal' in Woking. While it has some similar features to Ottawa (canards, bikers without helmets) it just isn't the same. It was nice to enjoy the sunshine and running is definitely my favourite way to get my bearings in a new town.

April 20 - TGIF!!! - Now I have to move AGAIN

2007-04-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

When will this packing insanity end!?!?!?!? Seriously, I'll be glad when I get to Freetown and can settle myself in for a good few weeks. I am going to be a little sick of living out of bags soon.

Weekend plans are a little lame but to be honest I think I can use the break. I tackled the washing machine last night and man was that ever tragic. After tapas and sangria with Laura and Bryce I decided to decline the movie (it's 7GBP which is like $18 for a movie I had already seen and we were late for anyway) and head home to do laundry. I have come to the conclusion that I can't drink here anymore because 1) I get homesick very quickly and 2) I can't work any of the appliances. Seriously...who was in charge of water-based appliances in this country...obviously someone who doesn't like North Americans that's who. Managed to figure it out but didn't finish my laundry until the morning...tough work.

So, come monday stories of the new pad at the Arden (http://www.film-tec.demon.co.uk/Bed-&-Breakfast/) and my adventures with Carolyn and Alex (and potentially Laura and Keating). toodles!

April 19 - My first Mobile call

2007-04-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this isn't super interesting but I got an actual call on my mobile today! Thanks to Chris Keating for being crafty enough for calling Jay to get my number.

My American ADP friends have returned from Oslo so we are off to see Blades of Glory in true North American fashion. Plans for next weekend are shaping up with a concert at Royal Albert Hall on Friday and then a 'footie' game with Keats on Saturday! Can't wait!

ta-rah..tomorrow's friday!

April 18 - The town of Woking

2007-04-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

One thing is for sure, this team is full of women with big personalities. I am not sure the two men were glad to see me arrive but at least Conor (my ADP colleague) is here to balance things out. One of the men is arriving from Sierra Leone on Tuesday to run a session. Conor and I will get to go to London with Nana and get our SLE visas while he gets his India visa for his visit in three weeks. Very exciting.

I took a few photos of town on my way home last night. The first is of the 'Martian' in the town centre. Woking was the original setting for HG Wells' War of the Worlds and they are very proud of it. The second is the gates that lead into the town centre. If you look closely you can see Comedy and Tragedy on the centre handles.

I also took a photo of the building that houses our office. One of the things you learn quickly here is that nothing has a street #. Everything just has a name. The office is called Chobham House and is right in the centre of the city and about a three minute walk from my current home which is great. All the shops in town close at 5 which is a bit annoying but the pubs seem to be open until midnight which is good.

On my run this morning I headed into the 'suburban' neighbourhood which was lovely. Tomorrow I am going to go and find my B&B so that I know where to go when I move on Saturday. It has definitely been nice to have a flat to come home too and I am sure the B&B will be interesting. Marte who is on our team and lives in Oslo warned me about the Woking B&Bs today. Oh joy!

Also planned today to go and watch the London Marathon on Sunday with my old friend Carolyn Hobbs. Turns out another friend is running it so we are going to cheer Alex Tanara (Rancourt) on. Total blast from the past and I can't wait. I also found out that Monique Bergeron is going to be doing a year of her clinical studies here in London starting in August so when I get back from my tour I should be able to meet up with her which is terrific.

Oh and on an unrelated note it appears that Subway here has nearly the same daily specials as at home so I headed there for a Turkey Tuesday for 1.99GBPs only to find the WORST service ever! And yes Tara...I am sure they were slower than you ever were. So much for that idea. Off to Sainsburys for me.

One more unrelated note: I have discovered the joy of Skype. If you don't have it and you want to make long distance calls to anyone I strongly suggest it. I spoke to Jay last night and a team member in Kenya today. I am going to Skype Mom and Dad in a few minutes too. It's all free and the sound quality is quite good even to Kenya!

Where am I the UK?

2007-04-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here's where I am in the UK:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=woking,+surrey,+uk&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.282455,59.238281&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=7&ll=51.345196,-0.558929&spn=3.177321,7.404785&om=1

And here's where I am in Woking:

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&msa=10&hl=en&z=17&t=k&om=1

My home is across from the big E shaped building on the right side and work is the big white building on the top of the 'U' at the top of the left hand side!

April 18 - Running with the big dogs

2007-04-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well, day two is nearly done and I think went well. Got up early and decided to run to see where the pool is and well, got totally lost. Perhaps it is a good idea I brought my GPS watch with me after all. (thanks Jay!)

Spent all day today with my boss Susan to sort out what I am supposed to be doing here and what the situation is like on the team. Susan and I worked together many moons ago in Toronto on the MCSS project and of course spent some time reminiscing. Looks like there is a lot on my plate which of course nerdy me is excited about.

We went out for lunch and got me a sim card for my cell phone and some phone cards so I can call home now. So, if email, MSN and this blog don't prove it now I can reach out and tell you I am alive.

I'll try to take more photos of the town tonight so you can all see the martian statue. Plus tomorrow we are going to hammer out our travel/meeting schedule so I can fill you in on where I will be when for real.

Off to Sainsbury's to get some more 'bits' and then to phone home.

April 17th, 2007: Arrival in the UK

2007-04-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

Leaving on a Jet Plane
I had no idea how hard it would be to leave on this journey…it was horrible. I have grown to love Ottawa and have made some amazing friends there which made leaving it all behind for 9 months very hard. After finishing packing my 100lbs of luggage (delicately under the weight restriction for Air Canada) Jay and I hit Tim Hortons (see photo) then dinner with the gals and off to the airport. Leaving only 15 minutes until boarding time because, let’s face it, it’s Ottawa Airport I was shocked to see that the lineup was almost out the parking garage exit! After some panic and a few more tears I was on the plane complete with Lulu hoodie and asleep on take-off in true Tina style. London here I come!

Arrival in Woking
My plane arrived on schedule at 6:30 to Heathrow airport. My two huge bags made it through and I found my cab driver after a few more minutes of panic when I didn’t see him on my way out. Straight to work to meet Jaime to take me to my temporary flat. This flat actually belongs to Plan’s CIO Kelvin but has a small spare room (see photo) that he lets people stay in when he is not here. I am in the flat for a week then to a B&B for a week and then back here for 3 weeks before we leave for Sierra Leone. The flat is small but perfect for my needs. I have a fridge and laundry and a lot of large windows. It was a great day in Woking with the temp over 20 degrees and the sun shining.

I managed to get a shower and make my way back to the office getting only a little lost. Luckily Woking has a large replica Martian from the novel War of the Worlds in town centre that is my new landmark and guided me to the office.

A Day in the Office and Some Killer Jetlag
I get signed into the office and am greeted by Conor Sheehy who will be my ADP colleague and travel companion for the next 5 months across three countries. He is a Consultant and will working directly with me on testing and implementation activities. Conor is Irish and quite a hit with the ladies in the office. I have a feeling there will be no lack of excitement on our journey with him around.

I managed to stay awake for a full day from 9-4 of meetings and reading. Tomorrow I will spend most of the day with my boss Susan Smandych who was an ADPer herself when she worked for Accenture. I am hoping to have enough insight at that point that I can really sink my teeth into things. So many people to meet who are all over the world and we have deliverables to complete this week. Time to get a work on.

On my way home from work I stopped to take a peak into the mall. Looks very much like ours at home including stores like La Senza and Claire’s both of which I thought were Canadian so that shocked me a bit. Went to M&S and bough some snacks, dinner and breakfast.

Just watching a bit of telly now. I only get 4 channels but I didn’t have much more than that at home so I am not really feeling at a loss. I think it is time to head to bed (6:50pm) so I can be all ready for tomorrow. Susan is going to help me get my phone set up and buy a phone card so I look forward to calling home later this week.

I must say goodnight and take care.

My Last Day on Canadian Soil

2007-04-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well this is it. I ship out to the UK at 18:35pm as our precious Air Canada flies me over the big pond Atlantic to my new home of Woking, Surrey. I am headed straight to the office from the airport which should be great! Word on the street is that the whole team is going to meet me to get me the keys to my new (and temporary) flat and walk me there in my jet-lagged daze.

'Induction' meeting (that's what they call it. Sounds like I am joining a cult.) is at 10:30 so I figure I'll just drink all the tea I can find and boot it back into the office.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I think I am ready to roll. Next post from jolly old England. :)

Plan Travel Timeline

2007-04-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the rough schedule for my journey. I'll update dates as I get more firm answers but if you are planning to visit (wink wink) you can use this as a guide.

April 14-May 20 - Spending all my cash in Woking UK (just outside of London)
May 21 - July 1 - Sierra Leone (shhh...don't tell my mom!)
July 2 - August 19 - Kenya (can you say safari?!!?)
August 20-September 23 - Mumbai India (how about 13,000,000 people in one place?)
September 24 - December 17: back to the terribly posh but money sucking UK
then...home to where...not sure yet...

ADP Prep and visit home

2007-04-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings all.
Well only 5 days to go and I think I am getting closer to being ready. Currently on an MSN meeting with people all over the world for my project while sitting in my parent's kitchen. It all seems kind of strange but I have a feeling this will be 'normal' compared to my adventures in the next 9 months.

I have had all my shots (13 to be exact) and taken a test round of Malaria pills which didn't make me any crazier than usual. Finished up my work on STSI and said goodbye too all those folks. Had a few 'Tina Traini International Send-Off' Parties (thanks ladies!) and emptied my apartment to add to the excitement. Now all I have to do is pack and enjoy my last weekend in Canada for 9 months. Crazy but true.

Next post will include my temporary timeline and details on my five weeks in Woking. Just need to get back on my own laptop with the wireless working to do that.

later skaters...