I have been back in Cleveland over a week and am having a blast. I got straight into work and am enjoy that - knowing we have a tight deadline helps me focus and get things done- nothing like waiting to the last moments. I have reconnected with John and Roy. When I was here last, they had desks outside our project room so I would often have a chat with them during the day and generally we went out for lunch on Fridays. Roy has moved on from EY and John has moved into an Advisory role (the OTHER division). I don't hold that against him and we are doing drinks next Thursday. Should be fun. (Oh, by the way Roy, I have stolen your chair. No use in it going to waste).
Without them there, and the room so empty now (especially without Lyudmila), it seems like we are the only people on the floor at times. It makes me talk to complete strangers in the office just to have conversation. I think the level 16ers think I have a screw loose. I am Aussie so they can't be too wrong. I think part of it is they cannot understand me.
The Cav's are the number one basketball team in the NBA (by a decent margin as well) and I again had the chance to witness why on Tuesday night when I went to a game. LeBron was the crowd favourite as always, Z was a man giant that was unable to move more than 3 steps without tiring, and the whole team are sporting gods. I was able to perfect my Z impression during the game which was fun. It is very similar to Yoda actually.
Without them there, and the room so empty now (especially without Lyudmila), it seems like we are the only people on the floor at times. It makes me talk to complete strangers in the office just to have conversation. I think the level 16ers think I have a screw loose. I am Aussie so they can't be too wrong. I think part of it is they cannot understand me.
The extended team went out for dinner and drinks on Friday night at the House of Blues for some gold ol' New Orleans food. Don't listen to the name, it was actually a house of fun. They have a decent cocktail menu so we enjoyed fancy drinks on E4th, the cool street in Cleveland. It has the best restaurants in town, including one owned by one of America's Iron Chef's. It was good Friday and I had been working all day (the crazy Yanks don't all have public holidays for Good Friday and Easter Monday. Someone suggested it was the separate of Church and state). In protest, I ate ribs for dinner. Take that congress. During dinner, Mario (he is in the GASMI team he he), being the astute Italian he is, stated that Aussies were harder to understand than Scots. Now I know Italians are eccentric, but seriously thinking anyone knows what Scots say when they talk - I think he has had one too many meatballs.
The Cav's are the number one basketball team in the NBA (by a decent margin as well) and I again had the chance to witness why on Tuesday night when I went to a game. LeBron was the crowd favourite as always, Z was a man giant that was unable to move more than 3 steps without tiring, and the whole team are sporting gods. I was able to perfect my Z impression during the game which was fun. It is very similar to Yoda actually.
Another achievement over the last week is a continual improvement of my Spanish. Luis will teach me various words and I am using them whenever I can. I would not say I am fluent, but I conversational Spanish skills now - as long as the conversation consists of "crazy cold hi what why brother thank-you meat yum burp little beer lemon". I don't mean the conversation has to be about those words, it can ONLY be those words. It will be a short conversation and will not mean anything. It has sparked my interest in learning Spanish for real so I will keep chipping away.
Tomorrow is Friday (woo woo) which brings us Saturday. We will be heading out on the bike trail on Sat afternoon for a spot of cycling, ice cream and beer (I am hoping that each of these activities is going to be separated as I can't see how I am going to steer with an each hand occupied). It will be good to make the most of the fantastic weather. I still cannot believe my luck coming back during such an incredible season. I loved winter because it was so novel and I really REALLY wanted to see snow. I would accuse locals of being dead on the inside if they said anything negative about winter in Cleveland (basically, the same reaction as speaking badly of GAMx) but coming here in spring is a whole new experience. I will share it with you next week after the cycling adventure.
Also this week Luis and I went out for dinner to a place that specialised in Martinis. Now I walk around saying I love the original and everything else is pig swill but I did enjoy the pear martini and the apple martini (although it was nothing on the Apple Martini I had in Melbourne during the great Vanessa Carlton weekend of 2005- surprisingly good).
Watch this space for details of the injuries suffered on the biking adventure with the team which are nearly a certainty on Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment