a cup of tea

A seemingly simple beverage embodied by so much meaning. Refreshing, comforting, traditional, cultural, scientific, methodical, symbolic. Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. We all take our tea differently, based on individual preference and taste, and we all experience some sort of feeling or emotion from drinking tea, whether that’s routine, comfort, happiness, relief or calmness.

Nevertheless, a good cup of tea is a careful science that takes time and patience to brew and perfect before it can be enjoyed in its fullest essence. And in a country that grows so much tea, this is one of those things that has to be done right.

They say patience is a virtue and it takes perseverance to master an art. As such, I’m learning a new kind of patience and perseverance.

Earlier this year when I was asked to go to Sri Lanka for three months, I never actually thought this assignment would materialize. Work changes so much and we constantly reassess, adapt and move forward. I’d been told before that I would be sent to Sri Lanka for work. This time it’s more important than it has been in the past, and if I haven’t already woken up and realized it’s actually happening, then it’s about time – I’ve been here for nine weeks already..!

From the car that took me the airport, to the Emirates business class lounge at Heathrow, and the first glass of champagne at my seat on the plane, it all feels surreal. If you’ve never flown business class, take my word for it, it’s the only way to fly if you’re on a long haul flight. The 13 hour journey is tough enough traveling through time zones and navigating different airports, if you have a layover, and waking up on the other side of the world. Having already moved across the world once before, I consider myself an expert at this, but it’s still frightening and exciting all at the same time. From west coast California, to East Midlands of England, then to London, and now west coast Sri Lanka in Colombo – here I am. Three months of a new country, people, language, food, cultures, traditions, work environments, challenges, traveling, experiences and memories to last me a lifetime.

The first thing you notice when you walk out of the airport is the heat. It’s like walking into a sauna fully clothed, and the 80-90% humidity is for real, all day, every day. Ladies, don’t bother straightening your hair; you’ll soon become accustomed to the frizzy look and everyone will still think you look great. No one can come close to looking like Monica from Friends in that one where they went to Hawaii. Gents, I feel for you having to wear a shirt to work; as if it wasn’t hot enough, it’s still business professional out here. At least the constant air conditioning indoors will bring you come comfort, unless you’re in some offices where the temperature is so variable, I’ve sometimes wished I had a sweater with me – yes, a sweater, said no one ever in hot and humid Sri Lanka.

I arrive at my hotel, Jetwing Colombo Seven, which is going to be my home for the next three months. Everyone is so friendly and helpful showing me around the hotel and it’s facilities. It’s located in Colombo 7, which is a well-to-do residential area. It’s a short drive away from the Galle Face, which is Colombo’s coastline. If you’re visiting Sri Lanka for a holiday, stay in a hotel on the Galle Face. There’s some really lovely hotels and restaurants in that area. One of the nicest things about my hotel is the rooftop. There’s an infinity pool and a bar up here, and the views are lovely. You can see the sea and Colombo’s skyline, which is a mixture of skyscrapers both new and under construction. There’s a lot of construction projects in Colombo; everywhere you go you’ll see something being built or renovated, or even abandoned.

Having a driver in Sri Lanka is a funny thing and never short of interesting. No matter what anyone says, they don’t want to drive you around 24/7, and you’ll probably have a better sense of direction than they will after a few days. Being a generally friendly and chatty person, it feels awkward at first sitting in silence with the same person day in and day out, but it’s actually not weird, and the sooner you just get past the weird feeling, it’s not so bad. You quickly learn that Google Maps is everyone’s best friend, and it’s much easier to Google it for your driver and leave them to the trickier task of navigating traffic for you. The traffic in Colombo, let alone Sri Lanka, is horrendous and full of haphazard drivers and driving. If the odds are against you, which most days they will be, you’ll find yourself sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on Baseline Road debating whether to walk the rest of the journey, which should’ve only taken 15 minutes and so far has taken 40 minutes. Did I mention the office is still just a stones throw away from where you’re stuck?

Patience – it starts here.

On the bright side, you can read a lot in the 80 minutes a day that you spend sitting with your driver. I bought two travel books before I left London, and whilst practicing patience, I have planned a few trips and marveled at the places I probably won’t get to visit during my time here. It’s my form of escapism. And hey, it’s not all that bad. When I wish I could be getting there quicker on the tube (never did I ever think I’d miss the tube), I quickly remember that I could be wedged between a hoard of commuters on the Central Line. So really, sitting in traffic is no big deal.

Working out here is another experience. Some of my team work the local Sri Lankan hours, and some work the UK hours. The mornings are generally quiet, as there’s only of a few of the team in the office at 9:00am, and it’s the best time to catch up on anything I missed yesterday evening. Around 11:30am, the rest of the team begin to arrive ahead of their shift that starts at 12:30pm. You might think that’s a nice time to start your day, but they have to work into the night and finish at 9:30pm (5:00pm UK time). I respect them for that. It’s hard working unsociable hours, as I’ve learnt here, and their previous office space was far from what you’re used to; poor ergonomics, dim lighting, small desks and monitors, and no windows. Imagine working throughout the day not knowing whether the sun was up or down. Since they’ve moved to our new offices, I feel so happy that they have a better office space. We all know how much it matters. I remember how happy the team was when the London office got their own kitchen with tea and coffee making facilities and a fridge..! It’s the little things that make a difference; a sizable desk, a comfortable chair, ample lighting and space, and most important of all, windows!! And whilst I sound overly excited about windows, I’ve learnt you can’t always have it all. Unfortunately, the wifi in the the office is below par. If you’re using a Company laptop, you’re laughing, but if you’re using your own laptop (which most of us do), then good luck trying to work. Given that we’re largely a Tech company, I’ve found it impossible to understand and largely frustrating on most days, however make friends with the right people, and all of your problems are solved. My IT issues have allowed me to network and build on my existing rapport with our IT help desk. They are always there, ready to go above and beyond to help, and they’re a great team. I think by the time I leave here, they’ll be converted Mac lovers as well.

Perseverance – you need a lot of it.

The nice thing about working somewhere other than London is you get to see how your colleagues work in their global locations. It’s so easy to forget how spread out we are as a global team, and it’s made me really think about what working in a global team means. To some extent, you’re the newbie, you have to make friends, and you have to show people who you are, which is slightly strange when you think about how long we’ve worked together from wherever we are. But when you think about it from this perspective, people only know who you are from the e-mails you send or the telephone or video conference calls you attend. Getting to know the real you is completely different, and what I’d hoped for was that our team here would give me a chance to show them who I am.

It goes without saying, but working somewhere else gives you perspective. You understand from someone else’s shoes, and you reconsider your thoughts and actions with what you’ve learnt. It makes your mind work in different ways, more open and more sophisticated. Sitting on the other side of a video conference brings so much clarity to what you didn’t understand before, and you realize a video conference is not always a solution to bringing worlds together. Try not to rely on it so much, or maybe think about how you can use it better. Training our team is much easier face-to-face, and spending quality time one-on-one and getting to know their personalities has been priceless. And they’re all keen to hear about my crazy driver stories; something we can all laugh about.

Days fly by in what feels like five minutes, and weeks disappear before you’ve even had a chance to realize that Wednesday was two days ago. I’ve made sure that I do something or go somewhere almost every weekend that I’ve been here so far. It’s the only time I’ll get to travel around before the end of my assignment, and day trips are easily done here. In my first weekend here, I explored some of Colombo in some places that were recommended to me by seasoned colleagues in our team. The Barefoot Cafe is a cool and unsuspecting hang out spot that has great jazz music on Sundays. When you arrive, it doesn’t look like much, and when you go in, you might think you’re in the wrong place because you step into a shop. Room after room is filled with colorful textiles, souvenirs, books, music, art and more; you almost forget you came here for the cafe. The cafe is down and out the back of the shop in an open courtyard. Out back there’s a lady working on a loom creating some beautifully colored and textured fabric. She works methodically and carefully as her bare feet push the mechanisms in the loom back and forth weaving together more and more lengths. In the pond next to her, coy swim amongst turtles who are hiding just beneath the cool water away from the heat. The cafe is open and there’s a lovely courtyard through which people are passing every now and again. The walls are filled with vintage art, which gives the place a unique character. I could easily spend many Sunday afternoons here enjoying the food and the jazz.

I was told to visit The Cricket Club, so on my way to a food festival, I stopped by to check it out. It’s a pub dedicated to the sport itself, and the walls are filled with cricket memorabilia. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about cricket to fully appreciate the place, but it seems like a cool place to catch the game if you can’t get to the stadium itself. There’s sometimes a food festival behind the Dutch Hospital on the weekends. You’ll find both local and international food stalls, music, clowns (random) and good company. Kottu is a local specialty, which is made up of roti and either meat, chicken, fish or vegetarian filling all sliced and diced up. Someone told me it’s poor man’s food that’s become so popular they charge rich man’s prices for it. It’s very tasty!

An important visit for me was seeing my colleague, Grace, who’s in recovery after a car accident in February that left him blind. Grace is such a lovely person to be around; he’s so happy and content with life, and his positivity is so overwhelming that you can’t help but embrace it. He’s such an integral part of our team here as well, and his presence in the office is definitely being missed. Personally, Grace is such an inspiration to me. He is so brave, positive and happy to be alive, and it feels like his blindness is just a minor set back. When I met him, he was the same old Grace; laughing, smiling, cracking jokes. I was so happy to see him. Whilst he’s in recovery, he spends a lot of his time at church playing music with his church group. Hopefully, he will recover soon and return to work. We miss him so much!

Oh and I graduated! Although in absentia, I graduated from Warwick Business School with a merit in MSc HR Management and Employment Relations. Hurray! Two years later, I finally have my CIPD!

So as I sit here on the rooftop of my hotel reflecting back on my assignment, so far, I can sum it up in this cup of tea that I’m enjoying. Watching the upwelling of billows of milk creating a mini universe in my perfectly brewed cup, the patience and perseverance of getting this right, and the awe of the possibilities, outcomes and experiences are captivating. It’s taken a lot of cups of tea to get me through this far, and the rest is yet to come.

Oh the places you’ll go… (Dr Seuss was right!)