A (work)day in the life

25 July 2012

Today is a day at work worth recounting.

The excitement started last week, when my boss came to me with an important assignment - certainly more pressing than the line-by-line document translation I had assigned myself. As it turned out, a far more intriguing assignment as well.

Overseas representatives from our organization were visiting Chile, and they needed to learn about our newly developed Sustainability Code - my bread and butter. As they were all English speaking (Canadian, British, Australian, American), the presentation would have to be in English. My boss, busy with other things, asked me to craft a powerpoint presentation and write a script which she could follow to present the Code - a decent amount of responsibility which I appreciated. She did not have much confidence in her English, and also figured (correctly) that by this point I knew the program fairly well.

I put the presentation together over a few days and sent it to her at the end of the week, waiting for some feedback on the first draft. This Monday she came to my desk, excitedly explaining in a mix of English and Spanish that the powerpoint was very good, but that she would be unable to give the presentation on the scheduled time Wednesday. She had a conflicting meeting - would I mind doing the entire presentation on my own? I agreed, as it made sense and I felt up to the task, and I relished the opportunity to do something quite important. Then, as though she needed to sweeten the deal, my boss explained that the presentation would be integrated into a day-long visit to a local winery in which the representatives would be toured around, wined and dined - literally. I would just have to accompany them on the visit.

Believe it or not, I agreed.

Any minor butterflies in my stomach from having to give this big presentation were swarmed by an even larger buzz of excitement about actually getting to spend a day of work on a winery - my first all summer/winter. Fortunately for me, my presentation would occur early in the day, right upon arrival, and I was able to relax and enjoy myself afterwards. After stiffly guiding the audience through the basics of our Sustainability Code and fielding a few questions - on the whole I'd give my presentation a B+ - my assignment was done.

Once another hour or so transpired with the important folks discussing dull things like market share and export trends, the work was done and play could begin. Our hosts at the winery invited us into the palatial main estate quarters for a wine tasting specifically tailored to our expert guests. I must admit I was somewhat intimidated by all the professional wine-tasting practices - swirling glass vigorously held by the base, inhaling deeply, sucking the wine through the teeth, and spitting it out into custom-made receptacles which sat alongside a cheese plate. It was like eating an oyster for the first time amidst residents of Martha's Vineyard. Nonetheless, I was able to enjoy myself - even if I couldn't bring myself to spit out any of this fine wine I was taking in (I did manage to leave some drops left in the glasses, like everyone else).

Mixing things up, our hosts then invited us outside into the glorious midday sun - for sparkling wine. They served us flutes of a pleasant bubbly wine that they continued to refill as we sipped, and then provided appetizers of freshly baked empanadas (a Chilean specialty). After lazily sipping and soaking up some rays on the front porch, we were invited back into the manor - for a full lunch accompanied by more wine.

This meal consisted of several fresh vegetable / salad plates, and a choice of premium meats that had just been grilled in front of our eyes (and noses) on the patio. The chicken and beef were particularly delicious, and I had several helpings. To wash it down, the winery kept our glasses full with their Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - my favorite of the wines we had sampled. Oh yes, and dessert a la mode followed.

By the time we made our way back outside, the sun was on its way down. There was no use trying to add on to an already perfect day, and so we climbed back into the van and said our goodbye's to our hosts (to give due credit, the winery was Vina Tarapaca). I dozed pleasantly on the drive back to the office, where the workday was wrapping up by the time I sat at my desk.

A hard day's work indeed.