We started out quite seriously today, accompanying Vince to his MessyBessy working life to experience the morning value session they have with their learners every day. It was really impressive: their office reminded me of a café, with small tables and neat lamps, everything nicely arranged. And only a huge glass window separates the computer folks from the production line, everything is very open and transparent. They formed a half circle and one of them gave an interactive lesson on "faith", the motto of this week, including a song about "God is at your side" (which Simon would hum for half the morning...) and a "Touching Video" (that was the actual desciption on Youtube) about carrying your load and overcoming hurdles.
The owner, Kree, was very welcoming and friendly and didn't mind answering all of our questions (and lending us her driver to give us a ride over to Jim's place ("No one walks in the Philippines"), which turned out to be great as the "5 min" walk was rather a 5 min drive.
After that, we feverishly worked on our handover presentation, which we grouped into the 4 categories Standard Operating Procedures, Knowledge Management and File Management Tool, Analytics/KPIs, and Training/Handover. In our handover meeting from 2:00-6:30, we managed to go through Number 1 (in combination with 2+3). So there will be more handover tomorrow!
Today's culinary highlights were still a bit impacted by my sore throat, unfortunately, but here they are: Tried some star apples Bambi and Dolma had brought back from the school in Apia - delicious. Plus, the drink at Dolma's place after work turned out to be a full-blown dinner, with a barkeeper awaiting us in their lovely garden next to the pool, on which Sri Lankan wooden ships (built by Tsunami refugees) were slowly moving back and forth. Very idyllic! The whole team was present, even Missy joined us later. Lots of delicious food too - Pomelo salad, rice with lamb, fried fish, Indian yoghurt sauce and - celebrating our get-together - Satinder Bindra, Dolma's husband, opened a bottle of Mango rum. Learnt a lot about CNN spokespeople and about how he had organized a live satellite connection with Larry King and the Dalai Lama, which ended up the following way: Larry asked the Dalai Lama to tell him how Muslims celebrate the New year. His holiness just laughed for 40 seconds, pointed out that this was a really good joke, and told Larry, how Buddhists celebrate the new year.
Quite an interesting evening, just wondering how much more interesting Sat could have been without Dolma's gag order, which he alluded to every once in a while.;-)
Also learnt a lot about boxing, Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao is up on May 2 in Las Vegas, which is supposed to be the last big fight in boxing, 400 million USD business. Manny is a Filipino legend, and we eventually drove by his house (allegedly 8 mio USD worth, now being sold for 10) in Forbes Park, 2 min away. He seems to be moving out as some of the neighbours, probably ambassors and this kind of people, complained about tourists and "Thrilla in Manila" like people visiting him. Different values. Overall, kind of funny to sit at a table with Filipinos and an American to talk about boxing (and here, I had at least heared of Thrilla and Rumble in the Jungle), while the Indian and the Irish chatted about Rugby (or Cricket, can't really distinguish the two, to be honest). And the Indian and Filipino calling out a Mango contest (allegedly this is something to cause war over: who has the best Mangos?!) This evening, the ones from Cebu won by technical K.O. (Indian Mangos didn't show up), along with the Mango Rum Liquor. Hmmm! But not helpful against throat ache, I must admit.
The owner, Kree, was very welcoming and friendly and didn't mind answering all of our questions (and lending us her driver to give us a ride over to Jim's place ("No one walks in the Philippines"), which turned out to be great as the "5 min" walk was rather a 5 min drive.
After that, we feverishly worked on our handover presentation, which we grouped into the 4 categories Standard Operating Procedures, Knowledge Management and File Management Tool, Analytics/KPIs, and Training/Handover. In our handover meeting from 2:00-6:30, we managed to go through Number 1 (in combination with 2+3). So there will be more handover tomorrow!
Today's culinary highlights were still a bit impacted by my sore throat, unfortunately, but here they are: Tried some star apples Bambi and Dolma had brought back from the school in Apia - delicious. Plus, the drink at Dolma's place after work turned out to be a full-blown dinner, with a barkeeper awaiting us in their lovely garden next to the pool, on which Sri Lankan wooden ships (built by Tsunami refugees) were slowly moving back and forth. Very idyllic! The whole team was present, even Missy joined us later. Lots of delicious food too - Pomelo salad, rice with lamb, fried fish, Indian yoghurt sauce and - celebrating our get-together - Satinder Bindra, Dolma's husband, opened a bottle of Mango rum. Learnt a lot about CNN spokespeople and about how he had organized a live satellite connection with Larry King and the Dalai Lama, which ended up the following way: Larry asked the Dalai Lama to tell him how Muslims celebrate the New year. His holiness just laughed for 40 seconds, pointed out that this was a really good joke, and told Larry, how Buddhists celebrate the new year.
Quite an interesting evening, just wondering how much more interesting Sat could have been without Dolma's gag order, which he alluded to every once in a while.;-)
Also learnt a lot about boxing, Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao is up on May 2 in Las Vegas, which is supposed to be the last big fight in boxing, 400 million USD business. Manny is a Filipino legend, and we eventually drove by his house (allegedly 8 mio USD worth, now being sold for 10) in Forbes Park, 2 min away. He seems to be moving out as some of the neighbours, probably ambassors and this kind of people, complained about tourists and "Thrilla in Manila" like people visiting him. Different values. Overall, kind of funny to sit at a table with Filipinos and an American to talk about boxing (and here, I had at least heared of Thrilla and Rumble in the Jungle), while the Indian and the Irish chatted about Rugby (or Cricket, can't really distinguish the two, to be honest). And the Indian and Filipino calling out a Mango contest (allegedly this is something to cause war over: who has the best Mangos?!) This evening, the ones from Cebu won by technical K.O. (Indian Mangos didn't show up), along with the Mango Rum Liquor. Hmmm! But not helpful against throat ache, I must admit.