This past week I ventured to the West Coast of the USA. In fact, this is the farthest west I have ever been, beating my previous record of Dallas, TX by 2 time zones! My new company flew me into San Francisco on Monday to attend training at the legendary Google headquarters, better known as the Googleplex! Google, in my humble opinion, far exceeded my expectations and showed me why they have been regularly voted as employer of the year! This place is simply amazing, and I will try and sum up why everyone wants to work there!
Firstly, there are amazing cafeterias dotted around the numerous Google buildings in Mountain View. Now the word cafeteria, does not do these establishments any justice, as the dishes they offer is restaurant quality! Each cafeteria has a variety of different stations catering to different tastes. For example I saw Asian, Indian, American, Vegetarian stations, as well as Salad bars and dessert stations! Employees, get a tray, a plate and then pickup the food that they fancy. The one night we had dinner there, and I ate a delicious Thai Chicken Dish, and Sushi! For the various lunches, I had steak, spaghetti and meatballs, General Tso's chicken on brown rice,hamburgers and fish burgers. But now. the most difficult thing to swallow, is that Google offers this all to its thousands of employees for FREE!!! This includes access to hundreds of cold drink fridges, stocked with all the popular soft drinks, fruit juices and various iced teas. In the rest areas, coffee machines with various flavoring syrups, snacks, chips, candy, chocolate were all available to us to consume, whenever we wished! I guess I am grateful that I don't work for Google, as I would be 22lbs (10kg) heavier!
Next, due to the relatively large distances between buildings, Google thoughtfully provides numerous bicycles outside each building that is considered part of the Google community! This means that you can pick up any bicycle outside a building and ride it to another building and park it outside. That bicycle is then again free to be used by any other Google employee, and if you need to return, you pick up any other bicycle that is available outside that building! In addition to bicycles, Google also offers electric scooters and electric cars, but they aren't as common as the healthiest alternative, bicycle.
In addition to the free food, Google also offers its employees free laundry and free postage for any letters or parcels! A special mention also needs to be made of the fitness centers, with laps pools, and the beach volleyball court in the center of the main campus - guarded by the now famous T-Rex!
It was an honor to attend the training course at the Googleplex, and I learned so much, both technical and how a successful company can keep its employees morale continuously high! It was an eye-opening experience that I will never forget!
The remainder of my time in California was limited, and therefore carefully planned. I visited some beaches in the Half Moon Bay Region and can now say that I have been in each of the the world's major oceans: Indian, Atlantic, Mediterranean and now Pacific!
I also made two trips up to San Francisco. San Francisco has a very similar look and feel to that of Cape Town, although I feel that SF has a lot more to offer its visitors! The first time I got there at the end of a beautiful day, and managed to observe the amazing Golden gate Bridge illuminated by the final rays of the setting sun! The Bridge is truly magnificent and I understand why it makes so many guest appearances in numerous movies!
The next time I headed into San Francisco was on my final day in California. It was drizzling and overcast, yet the city still was vibrant and displayed the California spirit! I spent most of my time walking along the wharf, admiring a gigantic cruise liner and the architecture of the other bridges spanning the bay! Pier 39 offered crystal clear views of the infamous Alcatraz. Unfortunately, due to my tight schedule, I could not do any tours of San Francisco or Alcatraz. But I have told Liesel, that this is definitely one of my new holiday destinations! I would love to take my family back there to explore all the unique experiences that only California and San Francisco can offer!
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