Day 46

22 February 2008

Sorry Dad, I leave on the Monday and arrive in Cape Town on Tuesday 5:45 am. And I think the flight number is SA263 from Frankfurt. And I think it’s International Arrivals because we fly directly from Frankfurt to Cape Town.

Didn’t do much today. Hung around the apartment till lunch then we went to my bosses place. We went to a place called Egger. It’s a brewery. They brew beer all week and then sell it straight from the brewery. I tried some. It’s actually quite nice.

After that we went back to my bosses place for supper. A braai. That was quite nice too.

At about 20:30 we went to a place called  Media Mart. Which is right across from the biggest single shop I have ever seen. It was an IKEA shop too. It was 3 stories high. We didn’t go in because we went to Media Mart and everything closes at 21:00.

Media Mart is so cool. They have so much cool stuff. All kinds of gadgets and electronics and games and computer stuff and TV’s and Movies. There was this one Samsung TV that was so cool. It was huge. And the picture was amazing.

Another thing that I’ve noticed is how big a variety all the shops have. And I mean ALL the shops. From the giant department stores to the tiniest Kiosk. All of them have a huge variety of what they sell. Coffee machines seem to be quite a prominent product here.

So Dad remember, I leave on Monday and arrive on Tuesday 26 February 5:45 am. I forgot that it’s a 12 hour flight and that we only arrive the next day.

Day 45

21 February 2008

Went to work this morning. Most of today was spent tying up loose ends. Like the apartment, retrenchment package, train ride to Zurich.

We finished at about 12:30 so we decided to go have lunch in town because we have to go through town in order to get back home. I suggested we go to Burger King because you guys said I should. It was quite good actually. Better than MacDonalds, which was right across the street, but I still think Steers is better.

After lunch we wondered around town for a bit until we got tired and went back home. Tomorrow we want to go to Einsteins House, maybe the Bear Pits, then maybe the Rose garden.

We’re eating at my bosses house tomorrow night. He says we’re having a braai. I’m starting to get a little excited and anxious to get home again. Back to where everything makes sense. Back to normality. I hope that this whole trip and experience has matured me a little. I wonder if I’ve changed at all. It’s only been a month and a half but still. It was a really long and trying month and a half. I guess only you guys will see any difference in me.

Day 44

20 February 2008

Today started out just like yesterday. We still haven’t been put onto the next project. I’m starting to think that we never will.

And speak of the devil, we get called to a meeting with our CEO. Walking up the stairs I dreaded that they were going to say “Ok guys we are now going to put you onto the next project and we need it done by the end of March”.

But then something else happened. We got fired. Yes fired. We are out of a job and are coming home on Monday. You could see that the CEO was quite upset that things came to this even though I’m pretty sure everybody knew it was coming. He’s not very good at hiding his feelings especially in his voice. But I think thats one of the things that I like about him. You can really hear in his voice that he is telling you the truth. Anyway they offered us a retrenchment package. Quite a good one I think. Apparently by law they only need to give us 1 weeks pay for every year that we have been with the company. That makes it 2 years but they said that in addition to the 2 weeks they are gonna give us an entire months pay. The CEO said that he appreciates us coming all the way to Bern to fast track the project and even though it did eventually get cancelled, it wasn’t because we didn’t get the work done. In fact, and I know this to be true, we did deliver to spec and on time. But for some reason the client pulled out saying that we didn’t deliver. Which seems strange to me because the letter of complaint came about a week before the delivery date of the software. So how could we have not delivered on time if there was still a week till the deadline. They were also threatening legal action but I think that fell through seeing as we did actually deliver to spec and on time.

Anyway, so we are coming home on Monday 25th February, 5:45 am in the morning. Dad could you please come fetch me. It’s kinda hard to read the ticket but I think the flight number is SA 0263 but I will confirm tomorrow.

So we got a few days off. About blady time. Tomorrow we gotta go to the office to finish up some admin and figure out how to actually get to Zurich.

We will probably go sight seeing on friday morning because then we gonna go have supper at my SA bosses house. We gonna have a braai. As for the sights we’re gonna see, we’ll probably go see Einsteins house and museum, maybe the rose garden, clock tower, church, bear pits. All the sort of typical tourist destinations.

Saturday hopefully I’ll be able to finish up any shopping I still need to do.

Thats about it. Sunday will be spent packing and cleaning the apartment. We gotta clean it before we leave.

Lisa I have found Tuc biscuits but there weren’t any cheese ones. They had paprika, salt and vinegar, sesame, bacon. No cheese.

This is what ur talking about right?

Everybody email me as soon as possible if theres something specific that you want. If you don’t send me an email before Saturday then ur getting chocolate or something.

Dad could you please order something from Victor Ah Soek? Could you please order a 750watt power supply and a 500gb SATA hard drive please? That way I don’t have to wait who knows how long for the stuff to arrive at Ah soeks place. Because my new graphics card which I haven’t even tested yet needs a 750 watt power supply and I want to test it as soon as possible because if there is something wrong with it then I can take it back to take2 as soon as possible.

So see you guys soon. I can’t wait to get home and see Sasha.

And all you guys too.

Day 43

19 February 2008

Today was much like yesterday. We still haven’t been put onto the new project. I think they’re still ironing out the specs. But if they wait any longer theres not gonna be any time left for us to actually program the thing.

I hear the Mun yut was really nice. And the chocolate fountain was a big hit. I’m so upset that I missed it.

We’re about halfway now. Man it seems so long just to get to this point. Think ‘ll do some sightseeing this weekend. Go see where Einstein lived and the Rosegarden, although there won’t be any roses but may as well go look anyway.

Then try and find something for you guys. I’m just looking for anything at this point.

Day 42

18 February 2008

Today started out as any normal working day that I’ve had here so far. It wasn’t quite as cold this morning as it was in previous days.

Again we haven’t been put onto the new project. I’m not complaining though. I hope this will go on for a good while longer if not the rest of this trip.

My boss, the one who oversees the SA branch, sent me a regular email just reminding me to fill in my timesheet. But this time around it was a little different. He said “This will probably be the last time I say this …” . This is kinda strange. I spoke to Ivan about it because he gets the same email as I do. He says that he thinks Andre, my boss, has resigned and will leave the company at the end of February.

This doesn’t sit well with me. I am unsure where this puts Ivan and me. Technically we are employed by the SA office and Andre is the Director. So I’m not sure whats gonna happen next.

This is all assuming that Andre is resigning. It could also mean that we’ll be returning to SA at the end of February but I doubt it. I’m sure they would have told us by now, I hope they would have told us by now, also I’m not that lucky.

I still don’t know what to get you guys. I’ve been shopping but I can’t find anything that is nice as well as easy to bring back.

Hope you guys will be happy with chocolate.