Author Archives: Björn

Whining or Wining?

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It was a rainy day … what to do on a rainy day? Originally I wanted to go for a good hike up the mountain … but maybe not in the rain … – – so what to do? Easy – stop whining, go wining … – a wine tour – already worked back in Argentina …

So around lunch time Sue (Sussy-Sue – not tourleader-Sue) and myself found ourselves on a wine tour bus heading out for the Gibbston Valley winery – followed by three further wineries.

For me the tour was pretty interesting as the climatic conditions down on the South Island are not too much different from my home country – and the grape varieties are more or less the same as my favorites from home … pinot gris, pinot blanc and riesling for the whites – pinot noir for the reds. It was amazing for me to see what quality those wineries down here manage to produce.

First Evening in Queenstown

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We made it into QT in the late afternoon and moved into our home for the next couple of days. And that home was amazing – we had a whole house just for us … felt a bit like being back to school on a class trip … we even had some teachers with us 😉 – and as we did discover over the next days, it made a good base for everything – up to building shelters.

Today Sue was nice to us – no cooking – instead we made our way to downtown for the World Bar for reduced price drinks (how does Long Island Iced Tea straight out of teapot sound?) and pizza … later on we could experience a playful Arie and live music.

Final Entry

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I made it back home, back to my normal life – and this will be the final entry for this China trip.

It is somehow an odd feeling being back home again. Over the past weeks the full team (including the interns and Lesley) had become like a family – and that group is now split up again … let’s see when (or how quick) we will get together and see again.

It is also a good feeling being home again – back to familiar surroundings with access to all those little things from whole-grain bread, cheese, access to uncensored and speedy internet to being back to friends and family.

Overall it was a good experience being in China on the CSC program, a good opportunity to get an insight into Chinese (business) culture, the cultures of teammates, an introduction to a different way of working and the topics different from normal work – plus all the fun we had – be it on weekends, the evenings or during work or while trying out odd food etc.

Leaves me to say a big 谢谢 to everyone who made the stay possible, to the team, DOT China and – last, but not least – our interns.