The Work Ethics Conundrum...

I have always thought that being a South African was bottom of the barrel. Being from a third world country,  I had the idea that somehow my education, or my work experience,  or my life in general was less acceptable across the board than in first world countries.  I forever put the likes of the Americas, and Europe and Australia on a pedestal believing them to be superior beings for the mere fact that they have had access to better services and systems than I had.

Drawing on this belief I entered into my first job in Ireland a nervous wreck.  I had this inflated title which oozed self-importance and thought to myself that these people are going to be sorry that they hired me because this African girl has more bark than bite.  Was I ever wrong! The job was just that... an inflated title with very little substance behind it.  It was fraught with ineptitude from the beginning.  Every person involved in the project had been tossed in head first and made to swim. There were no life buoys in play,  and the strongest swimmer would ultimately prevail in such conditions.There was no process or procedures in place from administrators to team leaders and each had to play by ear as systems and work processes changed on a day to day basis.  It was a disaster.  I have never in my life worked in such a disorganized state. I clearly survived the initial confusion as I was given more responsibilities after just 2 weeks in the job.  However, such chaos taught me much about the South African and the work ethic of our people in general.

Because of our natural survival instincts and our petrified state of loosing our jobs either due to economic hardships or BEE quotas, we are a very hard working nation.  Workaholics we are. We have finely tuned our skills in such a way that we can optimize our performance in the least amount of time. We get things done.  As a result we appear to work twice as fast as any one else.  This is a mere illusion, but it is impressive to those who don't know the fear driving these actions. In stark contrast we have those who don't sit in perpetual fear of job insecurity and for these individuals,  it is just another day at the office.  Work is done slowly and with the attitude that tomorrow is another day and sometime work is done in complete dissaray.  It is such individuals who drive these disorganized projects.  It is such individuals who drive me mad. It is such individuals that are causing the graying of my once glossy black mane.

Coming into my second job,  I was less nervous,  but still felt because it was another pumped up position, more money, more responsibility etc that they would likely question their hiring choice.  Again,  I am sitting completely in chaos trying to figure out systems and procedures because the last person left without even a how do you do!! I'm stuck with no mentor,  in an Industry I have never worked in,  and been thrown in head first to a bunch of disorganized files and not a single system or procedure to guide me.  It is again a sink or swim situation.  The boss tells me not to stress as next week I will have a more defined role.  Geez!! Next week!!  Do me a favour.  The office label maker has been going crazy since yesterday with my obsessive compulsive self trying to create some sort of order,  how does he think I will live for a whole week without a defined role.

The point I am trying to make here is,  we as South Africans need to forget our preconceived ideas that we have about first world countries. Clearly perception is evil.  This was made blatantly clear by the the sweet little ignorami who actually asked me if I knew what a prawn was. South Africa has a massive seafood and fishing industry.  He clearly was unaware of this believing I did not ever have the pleasure of experiencing shellfish.  I had to actually hide my face in my jumper to prevent myself from laughing at the poor guy.  People have dangerous preconceived notions about Africa and what Africans can and cant do and what Africans do and don't know and what is available to Africans from an infrastructural point of view. If I actually was what I was perceived to be I would be a pig skin wearing, deer hunting, rain dancing, gun and spear toting menace to society racist who has a lion on a leash, no access to electricity, running water, a working sewerage system, a functioning education system, shopping malls and trade produce. In fact If I were to be whom I was perceived to be,  its a damn miracle I am even alive.

First world,  does not necessarily mean better in every aspect.  What we believe as third worlders' does not necessarily translate to the reality of it all.  I have met many a South African who is intelligent beyond belief and they would outwit, outsmart and outplay (yes,  I'm quoting Survivor,  yes we have television in South Africa that we can watch Survivor on, in case one wonders) some of the people I have met here.  We also appear to be on par with regards to processes and procedures in the work place.  The clear difference lies in the amount of money that is available to bandy about.

In conclusion if you are coming into a first world market, I would not be too worried about how well you are going to fare.  Your strong African work ethic and ability to multi task along with your multi-cultural background will lay a wonderful groundwork for you to prosper.

the madness continues...

So as has become the norm lately I sit down on a Monday evening and write my post for the week, this week was no different, except that I was suddenly chin slapped with an enormous case of writers block, I sat there for quite some time but came up with nothing, so I decided to just ramble on about the last weekend and hope none of you would notice.

Many times over the last five months the weather has come up in conversations with various people, one of the questions I always ask is whether or not they have a decent summer and I’ve been assured that Ireland does in fact have a summer. It’s illusive like the "tokoloshe", is illusive, but it does exist. Now For those wondering, the tokoloshe is South Africa's very own version of the Yeti, but more sexually deviant, and more like a midget zombie with a bad attitude. One of the more witty chaps id asked said that last year’s summer was great; it was on a Wednesday afternoon, in July.

All jokes aside we have been told that when the sun does shine and it is warm all the people suddenly come out of hibernation, eat ice-cream and go to the beach or barbecue at home, I truly thought this was an overstatement, it wasn't, because low and behold on Sunday the sun stopped being busy elsewhere and made an appearance in Ireland, the population instantly doubled, our sleepy village became a city in a matter of  minutes, you'd think these people have "go" bags ready for this type of thing. Several ice-cream trucks with the accompanying throngs of beach-goers invaded the foreshore.  It was like Durban north beach on Boxing Day.

It was such a big thing, Mondays headlines read “Yellow object spotted in the sky"

The happiness was infectious, people were out walking, cycling doing all sorts of normal outdoor activities, one of our neighbors threw caution to the wind and had an impromptu barbecue that carried on well into Sunday night, another neighbor took it upon himself to single handedly mow all the grass in the estate, cowboy hat and all. Utter madness I tell you.

We would have been silly not to take the opportunity of a sunny day and squeeze every single thing we could from it, and you would be right, we did and loved every minute of it. fortunately for us our local is an award winning restaurant called the Lime kiln,  it’s an eclectic mix of old Irish cooking with modern techniques and flavors, they also stock a wide range of ciders and craft beer, this ensures a few visits at the very least. it was only once the sun had gone down that things started to calm down and the throng of people returned home, So in preparation for the next warm days I’ve purchased a proper Weber charcoal braai, I decided it would be criminal to go with gas it’s just not South African,

What I found amazing is how a bit of sun can be cathartic, it can wake up the soul from its winter slumber, and takes the freeze out of the bones, it puts a jump in your step and a smile on your face although I think that it might just be, because of me. I was driving home on the motorway the other day and as I do on a nice afternoon, plug in my iPod, open the sunroof and sing at full volume to the tunes that come on, now on the aforementioned afternoon myself and Alanis Morissette were full tilt into a duet of her song Ironic, what I hadn't noticed in my reverie was the car load of young girls id sent into a state of absolute hysteria when the traffic had come to a stop, fortunately REM came on next and that seemed to recover a shred of my dignity, not my manliest moment I’ll admit, but at the very least I had brought sunshine to someone else's  day

     GT                

 

Its Beginning to Feel a Wee bit like Home away from Home

I have found that you get two types of people you encounter when you announce that you are immigrating. You get the nay-sayers who love to tell you that the grass is in no way greener on the other side. They prophesy how terrible life is going to be when you get there as a result of being so far away from your loved ones and the life you know and are used to. They bitch about the horrible weather abroad, the unfamiliar architecture and lack of modern design and about missing the creature comforts we have become accustomed to. They are the lot who believe you have taken the easy way out and that you are a coward for abandoning your country in its time of need. The type who beat their chest and sing Nkosi Sikeleli and wear the flag with pride on national holidays, then pray for the best when economic and political situations present themselves resulting in massive upheavel. On the other hand you have those individuals who are more enthusiastic than you are about the prospects of a new life. They are the ones who would love to get out of their current situation, but unfortunately their circumstances are hindering or preventing them from doing so. They are the ones who believe life on the other side is going to be a magical adventure, a beautiful fairy tale involving world travel, glamorous jobs, eating foreign cuisine and drinking exotic liquors while stroking your pet unicorn in your secret garden on the yellow brick road. They wish you the best and constantly tell you how lucky and priveleged you are. 

The reality in actuality is a good mixture of both. At first the excitement and sense of adventure is intoxicating. I needed to pinch myself on a daily basis to remind myself that this is now my new reality. Mixed in with the excitement is the nauseating stress of ensuring all your ducks are in a row such as organizing bank accounts, social security numbers, tax credits, getting your employment contract signed and your lease in order. Getting the kids into school, licensing and taxing your car, furnishing your home and finding doctors, hairdressers, hospitals and the like are just a few of the mountain of tasks you are faced with and they take up hours and hours of time. It feels as though you will never get through the endless to do list.  After you have sorted your life out to a manageable extent, an eerie calmness overcomes your situation and you are plunged back into the mundane routine of everyday life. The honeymoon period officially comes to an end. Once the party is over, you get to thinking , and you ultimately end up at the heart stopping“ now what” phase.

This "now what" is when the alternative reality really sets in and hits home hard. It is at this phase where you start to realize that you are indeed missing home and you need to constantly remind yourself why you have done what you have done. Amidst the sadness and depravity of it all it helps to hear that someone has been broken into, or that someone has been mugged in a park, because in a twisted sort of way it reaffirms your decision on a daily basis that you have done the right thing. (Don’t judge me… this is simply human nature). 

For myself and the husband, we are mainly finding our issues to lie in the small things that we took for granted on a day to day basis. The fact that we cannot just call over to our friends house to have a cup of coffee and talk rubbish for hours on end, or go for a beer or glass of wine to the pub down the road while leaving the kids with the sitter when you have had a stressful day. Not being able to pop in and visit your mom, or your aunty, or your granny, or attend a funeral when a loved one dies, or a wedding when there’s a marriage celebration, or even go in and meet your friends baby who has just been born. It is these small things that add up and weigh on your mind. It dawns on you that as much as your friends or family miss you, life does not stop without you, it goes on regardless of your absence. It kind of takes your breath away.

 Date night has also been completely thrown out of the window for the foreseeable future. The lack of close friends and family in your immediate vicinity as well as the impossibility of finding a babysitter you would trust with your dog let alone your kids kills any and all chances of a prospective social life. These are the troubles of which you are faced with daily, they sound trivial, but they are very real and can have a serious impact on your well being.

 So, After four months of attending endless hours of work, expat lunches, childrens parties, communion do's, and various events with cousins, and neighbors and the likes thereof, I think we are finally getting into the swing of things and carving out a niche for ourselves. I have met a lovely group of ladies at work. The laughs and conversation I have shared with them on a day to day basis have actually kept me sane through this entire process. They will probably never know it, but they have really helped a foreign girl out by being such a welcome lot. They have made the arduous task of attending prison everyday quite an enjoyable experience and opened my eyes to many aspects of Ireland I would have been oblivious to had I never met them. I also have my Aunty and Cousins whom I have reconnected with. This has made me very happy indeed. I did not ever expect to have a real relationship with these woman again, circumstance would predict otherwise and they have been loving and kind, as if we had never lost contact over the years. I have spent hours in long conversations with my cousin on a weekly basis and even my children will get to know their Irish cousins as their cousins too. A true sense of family being forged with the unlikeliest of individuals. We have also met a couple of South Africans (about 8 of them) who live down the road in the next town. Lunch last week with these hooligans resulted in an epic pub crawl ending in our whole family chasing the last train back to Bettystown in the dark of night. It felt just like home. What a wonderful bunch. They appear to be in the same social situation as ourselves and experiencing the same highs and lows. Because of this we can relate to each other on a level that not many would understand. Also a bunch we would never had come across had we not made our move. I am certain that this meeting has laid the ground for many late night get together's to come, and to this I look forward.

 As Paolo Coehlo once said: 

“Important encounters are planned by the soul long before the bodies see each other”. 

Clearly my soul had mapped out this journey for me long before my consciousness had become aware. So thank you unconscious spirit. You have allowed me to encounter some magnificent individuals. I don't know where our relationships will be in the years to come,  but for now,  they have taught me lessons that no amount of money or privelege could buy. As Irish luck would go, the encountering a leprechaun on Saturday has sealed my fate. My luck should now be turning for the better.

Love and Light

C