One World!

An experience we’ll share now and forever…………. One World brought together by One Ocean.

What an incredible day, our apartment decided that it was time for us as a “family” to go on an outing. So we decided on Sea World Orlando.

At Sea World we got to experience a multi-sensory celebration of life under the sea that entertains educates and inspires. Majestic killer whales joined us on a journey into a world that drenched our senses in the vivid colours, vitality and global rhythms of the ocean.

Dancing fountains set the stage as we realize we are part of one world, one ocean.

Then off to be entertained by BLUE HORIZONS, an incredible dolphin theatrical performance with a spirit all its own, featuring acrobatic dancing dolphins, soaring birds and leaping water.

Now time to fly, glide and soar headfirst like a ray, on the ride of our life aboard the Manta flying roller coaster, next was fierce, floorless and may I add one of the fastest steel coasters in Orlando the KRAKEN. But that is not all there was still the journey to Atlantis, water coaster full of twists, turns and falls and yes soaked we were.

To end off our day we went off to Down Town Disney, walking the streets we got to go down memory lane with Walt Disney. Emotions gripping through the pictures and events of Disney World, remembering it all started with just a mouse.

We got to enjoy a delicious dinner and drinks at Hard Rock Café before heading home.

Closing thought:
It’s time to celebrate the power we all have to make a difference.

Author: Lucille Earle

New Year...New Beginnings...New Things!

Well, the crazy busy festive season has come and gone with work starting to settle down into a groove now.

Americans sure know how to do Christmas... Decorations in the malls, on their houses and even their cars. I do love Christmas here as everyone gets into the spirit of the Holiday and you’re surrounded by Christmas music where ever you go, just to remind you what time of the year it is.

Being away from home during the Holidays can be difficult, but as a group we collectively held a Christmas party inviting all us South Africans, Irish, Romanian and those Americans who didn’t have family with them. Being such a big group we hosted it at the pool of our apartment complex with my housemate, Sam doing all the cooking. Everyone had to buy a gift for another person, which created much excitement and gave everyone the opportunity to find out more about our group. It was a lot of fun and helped everyone forget about being away from home.

I was fortunate not having to work on Christmas Eve, which is generally when the Americans celebrate family time. This allowed me to spend time with my “adoptive” American family whom I get to spend each Christmas with for the past couple of years.

After we rolled through Christmas, along came the New Year. The club hosted a huge NYE event with a street carnival for the earlier part of the evening outside. It had everything from ferris wheels, a band and food stations from all around the world.

The later part of the evening was for those that wanted to see in the New Year with a dinner dance party in the main clubhouse. Although we all had to work, we all got to spend time together and be a part of the celebrations welcoming in the New Year.

Having worked so much over the past couple of weeks, we all made lots of $$$. So shopping was on everyones agenda for the next week to feel some validation for what we had worked for.

The favorite place for me to hang out is the Apple Store at the Boca Town Center Mall. No matter what time of day or night you go there, it is the most popular place to be. It’s ALWAYS busy.

So the day came to upgrade my MacBook Pro and off I went to the Apple Store, believe it or not, there was a queue of people waiting outside the store for it to open. After a short wait my shopping gratification was satisfied with my purchase of a new MacBook Air. I LOVE IT!

Another new beginning for me this year, was after having worm reading glasses for over 10 years, I decided to “upgrade” that too to contact lenses. WOW! What have I been missing out on. It still takes me some time to get used to putting them in and taking them out at night, but I’m so glad I made the switch. For those of you that have worn glasses and then contacts will know what I am talking about.
So whats next on my agenda... It is planing some time way to either go to New Orleans or Las Vegas, definitely need to get some sight-seeing in. Watch this space.

Author: Andre Smith

A new years to remember!

As the New Year rang in 98% of the staff at Boca West was hard at work. All of the restaurants were full, we had great musicians playing in the Onyx Bar and the members were partying the night away in a fashion that belied their age.

As the time neared the t.v's were set to Times Square so that we could watch the count down and the ball drop. For a South African, and this being the first time I had ever seen this spectacle I can totally see why it is such an amazing thing here in the US.

10...9...8...7....and the count down began, the excitement in the air was pallatable as everyone found a loved one with whom they could share this wonderful occasion. One of my favorite members was kept up way past his bed time by his 5 year old daughter Emma, who just wanted to be awake for this New Year as it would be the first one that she could remember.

3...2...1...Happy New Year!!!!!

Oh my goodness it was amazing. People were laughing, crying, hugging, smiling....hugs all around the bar as The Onyx Crew and the My Pi staff celebrated the New year with 300 Boca Members.

The music after that went crazy, it was just like a night club. Champagne and smiles all around as the members partied away until 2 am on the first day of the year.

From there we cleaned up the streamers, the vague remnants and reminders that just hours before it had been a year ago...the bus on the way home was a-buzz with plans and plans for where we would go and what we would do.

The parties were amazing, and as my friends and I watched the first sunrise of 2012 we were all unbelievably grateful that we could spend it not only together - with our new family - but that we could spend it in an amazing place like America.
Even if resolutions and New years goals are forgotten we will never forget our first New Years in the United states, our first New Years with our new family.

Author: Melissa Rauch

What a Great team!

It has been a busy busy season at Addison Reserve. We had our opening of the new club house and is it beautiful! It has been an adjustment for me, coming from a really small club to a larger one. But I really have enjoyed the challenge.

I have been placed to work in the Steak house “TASTE” and have the privilege to work with Andre from the Cape Town office. The staff at Addison are really great and it’s been an incredible season thus far. There is a large group of us from South Africa as well as the odd one from Romania and Ireland, yet we all seem to get along really well and many great friendships have developed between everyone.

Christmas was great, We decided to do Secret Santa and we all got together on Christmas day for a Dinner to exchange gifts. Surprised at how so many people put so much effort into buying a gift for someone that they might not have known well at all. I have always enjoyed this tradition as it allows people to take time out to find out what someone likes allowing them to get to know each other better and that is how friendships start.

As for New Years Addison held a street fair and then we had dinner at the club, so guess you know what I did for New Year , Yip worked! We had a great band that played live music and Ice sculptures with caviar and we served over 400 people for dinner. Amazing , how everyone just got stuck in to get the job done! I believe we have a great team at Addison Reserve this year and very proud to be a part of the team.

I would like to wish everyone the wings to fly
The vision to dream
The heart to love
And the spirit to embrace all the beauty in life.
May you have a wonderful and prosperous 2012 Happy New Year.

Author: Lucille Earle

Back in the US of A!

The time had finally come to head on back to the USA… bags were packed and it was finally sinking in that I was going to be back in Florida in about 24 hours

After an extremely long flight from Johannesburg to New York, I knew the worst was over.. after a 4 hour lay over it was time for another 3 hour flight to Ft Lauderdale but I Knew it was almost over… which just made it that much more exciting!!

Finally after the 24 hours of travelling I finally made it to my final destination in Jensen Beach. It was a real relief, to just sit down and relax for a few hours until all my friends came home from work. WOW… it was getting close to everybody getting home from work…Finally they arrived and I was so excited to see them all and catch up on all their experiences from up north and they were so interested to hear how South Africa was…

Being back at work was great… Seeing my American friend and all the members was very exciting. A few things changed over the summer but it felt like never left… There was no time to settle in it was straight back to where I left off last year, atleast it has not been too busy as of yet but it will soon be crazy with all families coming down for Christmas.

The Workaway party a few weeks was outstanding, seeing all the people from South Africa enjoying and having a good time in the USA..the past week we had our Christmas party its always such a good event because you get too really dress up and see all the people you work with and you get to have a good time with them, which does not happen very often!!!

MIAMI… yay…This is my first real fun adventure since I have been back, I cant wait for Monday as myself and a few friends will be taking a drive to have a nice party before work gets crazy in the weeks to come.

ITS really so amazing being back, I hope everybody is having a good time too.

Author: Tyrone Havenga

From SA to USA!

The time came for me to start packing and deciding what would I really need to take with me to the USA. I spent two day sorting through my clothes packing for summer weather even though it is winter in Florida; the weather is very much like the humid heat of Durban.

The day finally arrived to take the long 30-hour journey to Florida. First leg was from Cape Town to Johannesburg with a 6-hour layover. I then met up with a group of participants from Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. The excitement was brewing amongst us, but having done this trip many time before I knew that there still was a grueling 17-hour flight to New York.

After arriving at a very busy JFK, we made our way through immigration and customs to board the next flight to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a very chilly morning in New York with the skyline of Manhattan visible in the distance. Upon our flight to Florida we flew over Manhattan with the Statue of Liberty welcoming all to her shores.

After the long trip we finally arrived at our final destination and made our way to the apartments. What a relief to finally put my suitcases down and settle in.

The jet lag was a killer for the first few day with being exhausted by 9pm and wide awake at 5am. Getting up early gave me a chance to catch up on the news; well American news as there is very little focus on what is going on in the rest of the world unless it involves America.

The first 3 weeks at Addison Reserve have been hard work, but amazing at the same time. The club has just completed a $17 million dollar expansion and renovation with almost everything being replaced for new. A lot of time has been spent getting the club setup and training done for the restaurants. We’ve had a few soft opening allowing us all to go through the motions and fine-tune the details before opening the doors to the membership last week.

This past weekend we had the Opening Gala on both Friday and Saturday night. This involved a major setup and breakdown with us all working very hard. It was well worth the hard work after the positive response from all the membership.

I haven’t had much time to explore my new surrounding, but will definitely be making time in the New Year once we are in the swing of things.

Returning to the US and embarking on this new venture at Addison Reserve has been a great experience. I think I may have found a new home.

Author: Andre Smith

Having fun!!!

Having fun means so many different things to me, as it does to a lot of people.

To me it means the simple things in life - being with my friends, having a chat with family back home, even being on the phone with your "China" friend and still playing our "low blow game" and as usual she wins :)

Meeting new people in the oddest ways, picking something up off the floor, throwing it away only to realise the next day what it was and what you needed it for... Sitting by the pool with a friend, or even on the bus with all your mates laughing and joking... Simply things = having fun :)

There is always a bright side to life, you just have to find it. When you do, not only does life become more fun, but you learn to laugh at the simple things. You learn to take what life throws at you (Lemon = Tequila and Salt!!!) and you learn to smile. Here at Boca West, where I am working, they call it the "Boca Smile" and it has to be worn every day and is our most important work tool, and I agree, it really is, and when you learn that a smile never hurt anyone, you learn that life is more happy and fun :)

I was about to through away a stale box of cereal the other day, and as I lifted it I heard a "different" kind of noise when I shook the box. I opened it to reveal my friends had put a bunch of bottle caps in my stale cereal box. I burst out laughing and sent them the picture. As it goes it was even funnier as they had forgotten all about it.

Just another small thing making life fun :)

Author: Michelle Lowe