I can't tell you much about my job yet, because I've only been working for three days. I don't even have an ID card to let me into the building without having to do the whole song-and-dance with the suspicious doorman yet.
What I can tell you is a little about the walk I take to get to work and the environment of my workplace.
I live in a "flat" (that's what they call it here) in the "Gardens" neighborhood of Cape Town. If you imagine downtown Cape Town as a big amphitheater where Table Mountain is the seating area leading down to the Table Bay's stage, my neighborhood would be like a back-row seat. So in order to get to work and to most of the action in the city, I have to walk downhill toward the water.
I am fortunate in that there is a beautiful city park called the Company Gardens (Company referring to the old Dutch East India Company, in this case) which basically stretches door-to-door between my apartment and my workplace.
It's a long walk, but I get to make the journey in the company of these unusual geese,
and these goose-sized birds which my guidebook identifies as ibises,
and in the shade of these oak trees which were imported by the European colonizers of yesteryear.
I arrive at work past this flower market where flower vendors shout at me, "DO YOU WANT SOME FLOWERS, LADY?"
And then I get to this plain-looking office building.
But inside it looks like this! Very colorful and modern.
There are so many similarities to an American workplace, but the differences are, of course, what makes it interesting. For example, I sit right be two women who gossip with each other speaking Xhosa all day. (For those of you who don't know, Xhosa is an indigenous language with a lot of "click" sounds.) And one desk over there is another group of employees who carry on in Afrikaans.
Another big difference is that, like a regular American workweek, I am looking forward to the weekend, but unlike an American weekend, I'll be spending this one on a safari trip...
What I can tell you is a little about the walk I take to get to work and the environment of my workplace.
I live in a "flat" (that's what they call it here) in the "Gardens" neighborhood of Cape Town. If you imagine downtown Cape Town as a big amphitheater where Table Mountain is the seating area leading down to the Table Bay's stage, my neighborhood would be like a back-row seat. So in order to get to work and to most of the action in the city, I have to walk downhill toward the water.
 |
| My building is the one in the center. |
It's a long walk, but I get to make the journey in the company of these unusual geese,
 |
| I saw two of these get into a squaky face-off this morning. |
and in the shade of these oak trees which were imported by the European colonizers of yesteryear.
I arrive at work past this flower market where flower vendors shout at me, "DO YOU WANT SOME FLOWERS, LADY?"
And then I get to this plain-looking office building.
But inside it looks like this! Very colorful and modern.
There are so many similarities to an American workplace, but the differences are, of course, what makes it interesting. For example, I sit right be two women who gossip with each other speaking Xhosa all day. (For those of you who don't know, Xhosa is an indigenous language with a lot of "click" sounds.) And one desk over there is another group of employees who carry on in Afrikaans.
Another big difference is that, like a regular American workweek, I am looking forward to the weekend, but unlike an American weekend, I'll be spending this one on a safari trip...
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