"Do you remember when we asked for volunteers to be seconded to the Americas and you put your name down? Well how would you like to go?" asked Vanessa, the EMEA Regional Audit Manager one cold Wednesday morning towards the end of January. "Brilliant, of course I'll go," I replied, "when are we looking at?" fully expecting the answer to be Summer 2007. "Well, we don't have much going on Feb to April in EMEA, so how about then?" she answered.
After that my memory is little hazy, though I do remember various phone calls and text messages to family and friends telling them that in a couple of weeks I would in the US!!! As it happened, I had about 3 weeks to get everything ready, but amazingly I didn't feel panicked - I think my Mum did more than enough worrying for the both of us.......
So now, here I am at the end of my first week on audit in Mexico City and despite a massive 23 hour trip to get here and some "misplaced luggage" (in the words of the airline) I'm really, really enjoying myself. I was slightly apprehensive about how I would fit in, but the team out here have been very welcoming and the Mexicans are every bit as friendly as I'd imagined..........Oh and of course, the sunshine and warm temperatures really do give you an instant lift!
It's very different to working in EMEA - for a start the team is much smaller, and resources are strained but it's a good challenge and is really pushing me to look for more efficient ways to do things. There are also different risks and factors to take into account in a country such as Mexico, which aren't really applicable in the UK or Europe.
I've got 2 more weeks here to understand the way things work here (and brush up my Spanish too!), then it's on to Irving, Dallas and a beverages audit - a completely new area for me......just as well I love a challenge!!!!
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