Luggage lost and found

I arrived back on Thursday in South Africa, without my luggage. Luckily, I was re-united with the luggage on Saturday. Judging from all the labels on the suitcase, it did a lot of traveling before arriving in Cape Town.

Bible in Afrikaans

I read the Gideon's Bible in my hotel room this morning and was surprised to see that they had one of the verses in Afrikaans. The intention was to show that the Bible has been translated into so many languages so they started off with: Afrikaans, Arabic and then Chinese.

Just arrived in Albuqueque

I just arrived at Albuquerque International after a 34 hour journey. I will be attending a Payments Summit in Sante Fe. I found out that I left my drivers license at home (so I could not rent a car) . I also forgot my toiletries, so had to buy toothbrush, razor etc. Not a good start. I found New Mexico very interesting - does remind me of the Karoo back home. It would have been nice to have Annelie with me, but maybe next time.

The guru of Pinotage

We had a most amazing tasting tonight on the farm of Beyers Truter. (Amongst others he was the Mondavi International Winemaker of the year in 1991). We listened to an extremely entertaining presentation, while tasting ten of South Africa's best wines. Afterwards we sat down for a snack-dinner and an informal chat.

My birthday

I celebrated my birthday yesterday with friends and Champagne at home. At work, I was surprised with an announcement at reception and found that two of the new employees share a birthday date with me. I brought four chocolate cakes for the staff and Sanna organised every-one to sing to me. It is so special to work in an environment where you are not treated as a "boss". I was humbled and honoured to work with such great people.

Vineyards Cycle

I went for a cycle through the vineyards close to our home this morning. I left at the break of dawn and cycled for about 90 minutes. The air was crisp and fresh and I had the most beautiful views of the clouds on the Helderberg and the sun turning it red before breaking through the clouds. Almost everywhere the grapes have been harvested and the leafs started turning yellow and red. It was such a special experience. I took this photo with the timer functionality on the K800i.