About last week

Due to the hotel poor network, I can't upload my blog until now!

Last week was a busy week. We worked hard in our project. Lucky that we find have some leisure time. We had Italian and India food night. Olivia and Vinayak are the main chef to cook for us. I helped olive cream and sun rise tomato toasting. Dino posted very good pictures while we are in kitchen. Visit team blog: http://csckenya.blogspot.hk/

Friday, we visited a Nyumbani, Children of God Relief Institute as Corporate Social Responsibility activities.

 

To prepare the visit, I twisted some colorful balloon. Here was what I twisted on Thurs night. It took me about 3 hours.

Kids were lovely. Unfortunately, I could not give those twisted balloon to them directly. All donated gifts were placed in one place and let  thesisters distribute to the kids. 

Busy Day start from Monday

A busy Monday & Tuesday after wildlife tour in Masai Mara and Amboseli. Although it is tough, we make good progress. We had 8 interviews in these two days. We collected many information. That help us moving to the Synthesis Stage.
Our clients are very nice, they are not only provide lunch for us but also tea break in morning and afternoon. I can't stand any more. If I keep eating it, I believe I will put on more weight. It is opposite to what I am thinking before I arrive Kenya.

This is traditional Kenya tea, 'Have a cup of tea' means let's have a meeting.

Again, the traffic is terrible! I got serious carsick yesterday. Today, feel better so I snapshot  some possible selling on the road.  What would you like to buy?

Clothes?

 Corns?

 Or how about a stick of sugar cane?

I did a big shopping before we back to hotel. Guess what I buy?



A pack of rice growth in Kenya. My family can taste together. Three pack of Mashmellow but made is Portugal. It is ok cause I believe Loewe like it. A bottle of sunflower seed, dry fruit, nuts and many small pack of chips (easy carry to home). And more important .... cup noodles .... . Eating too much western food lately, so have a cup of Indo mie noodle is nice.  Yum!

Wildlife tour in Amboseli National Park

We had a long weekend Fri-Sun. We split into two groups travel two safaris. Ulla, Mary, Patrick, Scott and me travel to Amboseli. Another group travel to Masai Mara.
This van with us for 3 days driving us to search wild animals.

After 6 hours drive, we arrived  Amboseli National Park. We stay in Ol Tukai Lodge.  It is amazing beautiful lodge reside in safari.

In the entrance, there were Massai people selling their art craft and jewerlly. It's beautiful but we did not buy any cause it is not much usage.

We saw over lots of elephants, zebras, wildebeests, thomson's gazelle, buffalos, impala, monkeys and different type of birds. We could only see a few cheetah, lions, spotted hyena and giraffe. Mary, Patrick and Ulla took lots of good pictures. I would recommend you explore our team blog to see all those beautiful pictures. I only use small camera and iphone so it is not so good.

It was an excellent trip. We all enjoy the exploration so much.

Client Interview start

Thursday, we went to KICD office and review SOW with client. We had two interviews with Maths, Physics and Biology curriculum developers. We have better understanding the clients.

We had lunch at KICD. I am tasting Kenya chicken, beans and vegetable.

 

Our client's office is big. We had meeting and interview directly in his office.

Work at hotel

Our sub-team do not need to go client site so we work at hotel. We went quite well in preparing questionnaire for interview. We decided go out for lunch. There is a Mexican restaurant nearby the hotel. Stay in Nairobi for 5 days, finally see the sun come out.  We have ~10 mins Kenyan walk. It means we walk like Kenyan, we walk along the road with muddy, dusty and bumpy road. I made the name.

CountryHouse Inn Karen is the hotel where I stay. This is a beautiful rose in main entrance.  

We went to a Mexico restaurant. Jen and I had 'Couscous chicken'. The dish in the middle. Dino has a big American burger. Olivia has a chicken salad. Yummy lunch.

Client Meeting

Our sub-team is first team to meet with client KICD and present work plan. Each member was well prepared. I have not work on client projects for so long. It is good to re-connect. The KICD have invited more than 20 people to join the meeting.  I say Jambo & Karibu to welcome them. Then I use Chinese 'ni hao 你好' & 'huan ying ni 歡迎您' to ice-break which is quite good.  

Overall, the presentation went pretty well. We have the Sr. Deputy Director of Research and Curriculum as a sponsor. They seat down with us to clarify objectives and provide guidance who to interview. We will meet them again on Thurs mid-day. The clients are very nice, kind and helpful.

 Afternoon, we join the MOYAS team to meet their client. It is good to have chance to learn from other team and meet with their client. I find CSC is a program that helps us gain client experience. This is what we need an environment that really just focuses on client but not selling or solutions.

Again, traffic is a big problem. It took us 1.5 hours back to the hotel. I almost have carsick everyday with long drive. :  (

First Monday

It was our first Monday in Nairobi and first visit IBM office. Traffic becomes an issue. It took 1.5 hours drive from hotel to IBM office.
 

The team arrived and ready to visit IBM East Africa (EA) Innovation Center. The STG BUE came to welcome us and introduce IBM EA office.

 

A nice IBM East Africa (EA) Innovation Center.

 

We then travel to Ministry of Information & Communication Technology to meet the Minister of ICT. The Minister is very kind and friendly. After meeting, we went for lunch near the office. This is our first African lunch. A big dish and I try to control myself. Otherwise, my body become big.

We then had a meeting with Muriuki to further understand the project. The meeting went well and we had much better understanding. We finalized work plan and ready for client meeting next day.