Day 2: Fish for breakfast & Clueless drumming

I have a few lessons obtained just today that are in BOLD.
I set three alarms to wake up and I continued my quest for the most unique foods.  However I am not eating strange foods all of the time.  I did have yogurt with granola for breakfast.  I am such an addict of yogurt.  I even stockpiled some in the fridge.

But to continue my adventures in eating
I did also have some fish on bread, yeah it was good.  The rest of the breakfast buffet was not unusual....sorry.

 Before lunch we met some people from IBM South Africa.  They were so gracious.
Below is a teach picture.  I brought my cashmere sweater as it was cold int he morning.  When I had the sweater on, I was too hot, when off I was too cold.  The moral of the story is not to bring cashmere to Africa.

 We also saw an IBM program that helped girls get an edge on science by having Saturday classes.  I could not help think of the educational example of my Mother and Grandmothers.  What an influence.  It was fun to see these young ladies, many women in our group talked with some great passion about learning.  All the engineers consultants and programmers spoke (this is IBM).  I was almost the last and simply talked about finding what you like doing, and that at times at University to aid in going to bed at night, I would open a Technology programming book.  It helped.  So science may not be your path.

For lunch we ate at a resort like area.
There were Zebras in the lower field

OK so I was not that close....

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 Notable Foods?

What is out of line in this picture?  How about Green colored Creme Soda?  It was Lime-ish

Edamame Beans with tons of Salt...Rachel this was your dream appetizer

Blow torch on the sushi?  Why not?

 Back to other activities....
We had an activity of playing the drums.  This picture captures me perfectly. 

Do I look confused?  Well I am

We were supposed to script something out in drumming, well it was abysmal.  We started doing an African Chant led by the IBMer Sydney from South Africa.  But I would not recall all of the words.  It was ugly. One Irish member did some Riverdance-esque Irish dancing.  I got stage fright and forgot the African words so I just danced around and then I could keep a rhythm.  The lesson here is do not include me in your band.

After playing for a while, my hands hurt and I thought I was doing it wrong.
When I spoke to the drummer after, I saw his hands, there were REALLY callous.

Scared with Money in my Shoe
In the evening I went to go do a foreign exchange at the local mall, the largest mall in Africa I am told.   Someone asked me to make change for them.
I found an exchange at the mall and did not think the amount of dollars would be too much, but it was.  Here I am walking with a fist full of South African Rand.  I became slightly paranoid (without cause, just being cautious) and held on to the money tightly.  I never put my hand out of my pants pocket.  So to say I looked obvious is an understatement.  This was about $7500 Rand in 100's. I large wad. When I found a quiet place, I stuffed the money in my shoe.  I just hated having it too accessible for others. Meanwhile the IBMer with me from India was a great sport with my paranoia as we walked together.  One should not walk alone on assignment.
When I arrived back at the Hotel, I presented the man his money from my shoe.  The envelope had been torn from my smelly sock but the currency was in tact.  It may not have been pretty but the currency was OK.  He learned a few things about me...one is maybe Jamon should not do your foreign exchange anymore.


For dinner, I and many others were not hungry (the buffet at lunch got me), we had so much food from previous meals (per my calorie counter I ate 4K in calories today)!  However I went out to eat at the Japanese restaurant and got a flaming Maki. They warmed the cheese on top of my Sushi.  See picture above for the flame.

At dinner Shioban paid on the card, and the rest gave her Rand.  This way she did not have to do a currency conversion.  She just got her portion without any currency conversion.  Pretty sweet and a way to beat the exchange fees.

I again worked out after dinner, there was a young man who was there for rugby training.  He looked bored and kept asking me about America.  So while I am trying to burn my 4K of calories, I asked him.  How do I understand Cricket?  I just do not get it.  He explained it in 3 minutes.
I then moved on to Rugby, he explained it as well.  It was amazing I finally get those two sports.
We were talking about favorite movies while I am breathing heavily, and he is just sprinting on the treadmill.  His favorite movie "Pursuit of Happyness"  I remarked how depressing it was.
His answer "Yes but I learned alot"

Touche, another lesson learned.

Have a great beginning of the week!
Jamon
#IBMCSC #CSCSA16