Down To Business

Today I got to speak to the team here for the first time.  That it to say I was presenting in a training session.  I have gained a lot of confidence since I last did live training in Cordoba 4 years ago.  Tomorrow most of the day I will be speaking / training / answering questions.  Tomorrow is the reason why I was invited to come on this trip so I hope I can perform well.

I have blogged before about my habits of ordering food at a restaurant.  Typically I let the wife order 2 things that sound good to her and after she has tasted them both, she decides what she will have (and by elimination, what I will have).  I discovered this week that I have lost the ability to order for myself.  Couple the language barrier with this fact and you will see that I simply had to allow Alex (a worker here) to pick something for me while I was going through the line at the cafeteria here…

 

I think this was some sort of cabbage wrapped around some kind of meat.  The yellow piles is some sort of corn thingy.  It was good and I ate it all.  The one thing I did choose for myself was my drink and the Schweppes Bitter Lemon that I selected was something that I do not think I will try again.

After a long afternoon session, some of the team met us at a local place and (once again) I has someone to order for me.  The lady who did this was not with us at lunch and looked confused as to why she was asked to do this strange thing (I did not ask this but rather it was the person who ordered my lunch).  I think they were having fun with me…

This is ribs with potatoes and pickles / pickled red peppers.  The meat was a little tough but it hit the spot.  Eventually she ordered dessert as well (some sort of flan).  Most of the team was drinking plenty of beer and some were smoking.  I just sat back and enjoyed the conversation and tried to answer questions about America (including a few about The Young And The Restless).  It is always funny to hear what interests people about my country.  After a quick taxi trip back to the hotel we all agreed to meet for breakfast at a certain time tomorrow morning.

I am having a good time and trying to take it all in.  Today is my wedding anniversary (and I think the first one that the wife and I have been apart).  I was able to call her twice today (using Skype) and we will be together in a little over 3 days.  I miss the kids as well and they are both ready for me to be home already.

Jon