Oh shit, this is being recorded isn't it?

Today was the first day of the session. The buzz words so far is standardise. It's interesting to see some stats comparing different plants and the way they do things.

We have a group of 19, mostly Asia Pacific based but two from the USA, Brian & Jennifer. Nicole and I end up at a table with them for lunch. During this, I started taking down what we decided to call Jennifer quotes. Today's was from when she was presenting on MP&L global strategy.

"Oh shit, this is being recorded isn't it?"

(To clarify, we are recording the sessions via a USB camera.)

Brian & Jennifer are both suffering from the time zone difference between the United States & Bangkok. (Given their massive time zone change, clearly Nicole and I have no right to whinge about our 3 hour change!) Jennifer is living on Diet Coke – which constitutes a suitable lunch apparently!- Brian the Pepsi equivalent. Jennifer makes a coke run during lunchtime. Aluminium cans are 300ml here ilo 375ml as is the norm in Australia. The meals are also - based on evidence so far - smaller. No bad thing in my opinion. It certainly seems a less overweight society than ours. The heat I’m sure is a contributing factor – our first 3 days are forecast with maximums of 38 degrees, with the lowest minimum being 25 degrees.

Yesterday Nicole & I embarked on an epic mission to buy a power adaptor. Lesson for next time – buy in Australia! It is of course miles cheaper to buy here, but finding the right one was a mission. Such goals are a good way to do some sightseeing if time is plentiful. Neither Nicole nor I can say much more than hello in the local tongue and that is only if we have a phrase book handy!  Overall the locals –based on our interactions so far- have a pretty good grasp on English. We both feel a degree of embarrassment that they speak our language far better than we theirs.

Tonight we are going to attempt to find the Sky Bar at the state Tower. Will involve a short subway trip and a sky rail trip. If there are no posts for a few days, we are probably lost looking for it!