World Cup Day 1

... and we're hosting people from the office for a bbq which was to mark Rick's leaving next week after 4 months on the project, and also (this was a surprise) a welcome to Blantyre for me.  This is a team picture taken on our verandah - all a bit indistinct I'm afraid, but a larger version is available on my Flickr page.

The morning was taken up with a weekly team meeting with the apprentice consultants where we review any issues that may have arisen over the week, and also get any feedback from them on how things are going.

After that I had a financial review meeting looking at the financial analysis that has been done on the project I'm taking over from Rick.  I then got my mobile phone to use whilst in Malawi, and my laptop was finally connected to the shared drive so that I can now access all the project files and the teaching materials for the apprentices' training programme.  Peter Moar, our Programme Manager also arrived back from the UK today, so I've been able to catch up with him this afternoon.

It was then back to the house and set up for the barbecue - chicken, sausages, salads - and there was then a presentation for Rick followed by cake.  In fact there were two cakes - one for Rick's departure and one for my arrival.  They were home cooked and very good indeed.  The barbecue ended at around 3.30 and we then went into town to a bar in the KPMG office building to watch the South Africa v Mexico game.  Great atmosphere in the bar, but a bit weird because they had two TVs tuned into different broadcasts of the match, and there was about a 5 second difference between them - so there was a big shout when SA scored from the people looking at one screen, and the goal went in shortly afterwards on the TV we were watching.  I also met several ex pats that Rick and Sharife have made friends with over the past few months, and many of them are coming to the house for tomorrow's England v US match.

I decided not to stay in town to see the second game tonight, so I'm back here doing this blog and a little bit of work.

Well - today I had to go to work!

This was my first day at work.  We left the house at around 07.45 to drive to the office.  I was immediately plunged in to a whirlwind of introductions to the Business Consult Africa team, as well as the other guys in the office (such as the apprentice consultants, Henry the owner of BCA, and many many others), before I attended a 3 hour progress review meeting with the client on a project I'll be taking over from Rick who is leaving for the UK next week.  It's a really interesting project, but there's a lot to get my teeth into.

We went for lunch at a local shopping mall where I had the highly-recommended chicken kebab - it came with rice and chips and a few token veg, but was huge, so I couldn't eat it all.  Rick, Sharife and I then went to the supermarket to stock up on beverages for the World Cup weekend ahead.  Then it was back to the office for a meeting with a prospective client to outline the scope of the project and to provide him with the information necessary to allow him to commit or otherwise.  Again, this might turn out to be another project that I'll be taking on, so we'll wait to hear back in a week or so.  Tomorrow I'll get my phone, and access to the shared drive so I'll be able to go through the templates and documentation.

I'll be having a more extensive handover with Rick over the weekend (in between football matches), and we picked up a load of flesh for a BBQ to hail the World Cup that starts tomorrow.  There'll be around 16 people here for that.

But first there's a team meeting in the office at 8am in the morning, so no rest for the wicked.

I'll try and grab some pictures of the office tomorrow and will post them as soon as I can.

This is where I'm living...

Today was my first day at work, but I'll blog about that a bit later.  This morning I awoke after a very good and comfortable sleep, and thought I'd grab a few shots of the accommodation.  You can find larger versions of these images and more on Flickr.

This is my bedroom. I've got two single beds, a double built-in wardrobe, a large fan and a mosquito net - everything a boy needs (apart from one of the single beds, of course).

This is a view from my window.  It's very nice!

This is looking out from the lounge area onto the verandah and garden beyond.  The grass is the golf course.

This is the pool from the verandah.

And finally, here's a view of the lounge from the verandah, with the dining area in the background. The pool is down to the left.






So it's pretty self-evident that one has to make sacrifices to be able to handle this!

Another day, another road trip

After breakfast, Lawrence picked me up and we set off en route to the Lake.  He was insistent that I needed to see it, and who am I to argue?  It was great just to drive through the countryside and see the different sights along the way.

Apologies if the pics are a bit blurred due to the motion of the car.

The roads are "interesting" from a driving viewpoint - the quality of the surface is good, but the obstacles along the way are something to behold - cattle, goats, people, ramshackle mini-buses, overladen lorries, and more all contributing to the experience always being an interesting one.  It's not like Sawbridgeworth, that's for sure.

Anyway, we eventually arrived at the Sunbird Livingstonia Hotel on the lake.  Wow.  The lake was so beautiful, with extraordinarily clear water, a nice sandy beach, and breathtaking views across the water towards Mozambique.

In the end it was all too much for me, so I had to sit down on the terrace by the pool and drink a cold beer!

We then headed back towards Lilongwe so I could catch my flight south to Blantyre.

Alas along the way, a young goat decided to commit heavy-duty suicide by leaping out in front of the car.  This apparently happens quite a lot, but unfortunately it damaged the car so that we had to complete the journey slowly - stopping at every opportunity to replenish the water in the radiator.  Never a dull moment.

In the end I caught the flight without any problems, and am now ensconced in my new home for the next 3 months having enjoyed  an excellent roast chicken dinner, courtesy of Abraham the cook. I also found out that I will be attending a meeting in the morning with a client about a project that I'll be taking over from Rick, who will be returning to the UK next week.  So it's hitting the ground running for me, but I suspect there aren't too many people feeling all that sorry for me right now.  So it's off to bed and ready to be up bright and breezy in the morning.

For those of you interested in where I'm staying, it's very nice, but I'll be doing a post on the house and area tomorrow, all being well.

Oh yes, and I'm so chuffed that Jan got Skype working at home, so we had a lovely chat this evening.

By the way, a full set of pictures from the day are available on Flickr - select "Show Info" to see what each image is depicting.

I'm Actually Blogging from Malawi!

Yep - it's Tuesday 8 June 2010 and here I am in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.  I arrived this afternoon after a journey that began when my beloved Jan dropped me at Terminal 4, Heathrow Airport in London yesterday.  After dropping off my check-in bag, I made my way to the lounge where I chilled out watching the world go by until I went to the boarding gate for the Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi, and then on to Lilongwe.

The flight was very good (although the ambient temperature was a bit on the warm side), and despite a slightly delayed departure, we reached Nairobi not too late.  A quick stroll round to Gate 9 let me check in to my next flight to Lilongwe in good time.

The flight to Lilongwe included a brief stop at Lusaka International Airport in Zambia.

Immigration in Lilongwe was excellent, and I was met by Lawrence, an extremely nice guy working with Cecilia, the Challenges Worldwide Programme Manager in Lilongwe.  Lawrence drove me to my overnight accommodation at the Heughlins lodge which is absolutely brilliant - a lovely room, delightful lounge, beautiful grounds and swimming pool - one suspects one is being spoiled!

After a couple of hours R&R, Lawrence picked me up to give me a quick tour of Lilongwe, the capital/ political/government centre of the country and a fine job he did. I've seen the new Parliament building, the major Ministries, embassies, areas of upper-class housing compounds, the old town, and the areas where the "average" Malawians live.  This is just a proto-typical insight into life in Africa - good, bad and indifferent, but my initial impressions are of a country of truly kind and open people.  For example, Lawrence has already started to teach me rudimentary Chichewa, so that in the morning I will be able to amaze the locals with my fluency in saying "Good morning".

I'm now in my room preparing to go to dinner, so watch this space for more news and pics.