26°3′5″S 28°3′47″E

26°14′5.27″S 27°58′56.47″E

The latest styles in tiling and walling have been used in refitting the entrance. The bathrooms have the latest look in basins and facilities for the disabled. Large light coloured tiles, with a blend of browns and beiges, complete the modern, sophisticated new look. The renovations have not disturbed the wild gardens or trees surrounding the Knowledge Network offices. It’s beautifully done.

The new look fits in with our wireless networking, hot desking, VPN, virtual offices, recycling, no wastage, green Knowledge Network environment.

A new, high tech, high security entrance to the office park is being built, with electric fences and a parkade disguised as a normal office block. The renovations have left places a little dusty, there is some water damage from burst pipes and holes in walls where new cables needed to be installed.

During the next few months, we shall be hard at work getting our offices back to normal. Staff members have been assigned an area to look after so soon our our offices will be spotlessly clean and “perfect” again. And serving you the best coffee, decaf coffee, Twinings, Rooibos and other teas, cold water, biscuits, muffins, lunches and other delights during our various learning programmes in and out of town.

We have also been hard at work getting ourselves ready for 2010. People from countries around the globe support many of the Knowledge Network projects. In addition to supporting host team South Africa during the Soccer World Cup, Knowledge Network staff members at the Rivonia Admin Office have each selected two countries to support. The best way we know how to support our supporting countries at this time is to get to know about them, support their 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer teams, wear fashion and FIFA official licensed product T-shirts with their names boldly displayed, offer their citizens the best possible service and eat some of their delicious foods.

Here are the countries that have been selected so far:

South Africa, Spain, Cameroon, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, France, England, Australia, USA, Germany, New Zealand, Chile, Ghana, Japan

On Fridays, you shall see the Knowledge Network Rivonia Admin and Project staff wearing South Africa T-shirts or those of the countries they are supporting. Yellow is the South African home colour, so all those working at Knowledge Network or on Knowledge Network projects from now until the end of the 2010 Soccer World Cup (11 July 2010) may wear yellow with our corporate uniform and corporate colours.

We have also been out shopping – for other cool 2010 World Cup Soccer South Africa FIFA official licensed products such as the “CELEBRATE. Football is Life.” pins and danglers to add to our other mobile phone bling.

Eating, shopping, travelling and researching on- and offline. That’s what we have been doing since January 2010, between trying to be the best we can be.

Our research adventure has taken us to all the soccer venues via Google Earth, travelling to take pics for the photo trips on the Knowledge Network web site and visiting local and national shopping malls and restaurants for refreshments and stocks for our “stress cupboards” back the office. Thank you to the Knowledge Network remote staff for assisting with the picture captions and other local intelligence gathering. We also thank those who participated in the creation of the fun graphics for the Knowledge Network Year Planners for 2010 – the Soccer Year.

We have met celebs, locals and foreigners and can say that what is said about South Africans is true – “South Africans are friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, efficient, professional, fun, organized, respectful, intelligent and go the extra mile to provide an outstanding service to locals, foreign visitors, customers, sports professionals and friends.”

The following foods have been eaten and enjoyed (some not enjoyed!) by people at Knowledge Network and those working on Knowledge Network projects. Definitions and comments are from online encyclopaedias, corporate web sites, as a result of calls to overseas companies in and out of our time zone, dictionaries (m-w.com) and from locals and foreigners.

• Biltong (South African) - spiced dried meat

• Koeksisters (South African) - dessert

• Pap and stew, rice and stew (South African)

• Swiss Chard (blette in France), originally from Sicily, Mediterranean area

• Cos Lettuce (Greece), named after Kos, the Aegean island of its origin

• Chocolate éclairs (French) – pastry

• Profiteroles (French) – pastry

• Macaroons (French) - meringue-like cookies, different colours and flavours

• Pasta (Italian)

• Polenta (Italian) - Polenta is often cooked in a huge copper pot known in Italian as paiolo. It is still classified as a peasant food. It is made with yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize). Polenta is served in many of South Africa's top restaurants and hotels. In northern Italy there are many different ways to cook polenta.

• Balsamic vinegar (from Modena, Italy)

• Wafer roll sticks (Italy)

• Hazelnut filling - Hazelnuts grow wild in the Northern Hemisphere. A number of the soccer teams that we are supporting come from the Northern Hemisphere.

• Cocoa filling – Cacao / cocoa tree is a small (4–8 m or 15–26 ft tall) evergreen tree native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. Its seeds are used to make cocoa powder and chocolate. All chocolate products start with the cocoa tree, which originated in the upper Amazon basin (40% in Brazil). Cocoa trees can grow only in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, South America and Central America.

• Fox's Biscuits Millionaire's Shortcake (United Kingdom) - Fox's Biscuits is a biscuit manufacturer based in Batley, West Yorkshire, UK with two further sites in Uttoxeter and Kirkham. Their biscuits are also exported to Europe, North America and the Far East. They were purchased by Northern Foods in 1977 and their vision is "To be famous for the most innovative, imaginative and indulgent biscuits". The business is known for mass-market biscuits and chocolate-covered biscuit bars such as Rocky, Classic, Echo, Crunch Creams and children's favourite Party Rings. They are also known for their Sports Biscuits.

• Lindor Balls (Switzerland)  - Lindt & Sprüngli AG, more commonly known as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolate and confectionery company. The origins of the company date back to 1845. David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son, Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann owned a small confectionery shop in the old town of Zurich, to which two years later a small factory was added in order to produce chocolate in solid form. The LINDOR ball – the smoothest chocolate ever created by LINDT's Maîtres Chocolatiers – a perfectly round ball made of the finest. Most of the US Lindor truffles are manufactured in Stratham, New Hampshire in the United States. In Switzerland, the chocolates are referred to as "Lindor Kugeln" which translates to "Lindor Balls" or "Lindor Spheres. Lindt also produces the Gold Bunny, a hollow milk chocolate rabbit in a variety of sizes available every Easter since 1952. Each bunny wears a small ribbon bow around its neck. See the bunny at Woolworths this Easter. A huge Lindt bunny was seen at Hype Park Shopping Centre in Sandton, Gauteng. Lindt has opened four chocolate cafes in Sydney, Australia.

• Chocolate truffles - A chocolate truffle is a type of chocolate confectionery, traditionally made with a chocolate ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder, usually in a spherical, conical, or curved shape. Other fillings may replace the ganache: cream, melted chocolate, caramel, nuts, almonds, berries, or other assorted sweet fruits, nougat, fudge, or toffee, mint, chocolate chips, marshmallow, and, popularly, liquor. They are named for their resemblance to the truffle fungus.

• There are now three main types of chocolate truffles: American, European, and Swiss:

The "American truffle" is a half-egg shaped chocolate-coated truffle, a mixture of dark or milk chocolates with butterfat and, in some cases, hardened coconut oil. Joseph Schmidt, a San Francisco chocolatier, and founder of Joseph Schmidt Confections, is credited with its creation in the mid-1980s.

A "Canadian variation" of the American truffle, known as the Harvey truffle, includes the addition of graham cracker crumbs and peanut butter. Other American companies may shape their truffles similar to that of peanut butter cups.

The "European truffle" is made with syrup and a base made up of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other such ingredients to create an oil-in-water type emulsion.

The "Swiss truffle" is made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter, which is poured into molds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder. Unlike the previous two kinds of truffles, these have a very short shelf-life and must be consumed within a few days of making. This was no problem for us as we ate them immediately.

• Butter biscuits (Denmark)

• Potatoes (Netherlands) - The Netherlands is a potato-growing country par excellence, where potatoes have been a major crop for many centuries. Buyers of Dutch potatoes are offered only the very best quality. Every year, the Netherlands produces some eight million tons of potatoes. The Netherlands is one of the largest ware potato exporters in the world. Ware potatoes are considered all potatoes in the human food chain both for fresh consumption and processed products. Growing potatoes is a Dutch specialty, rooted in a long tradition and based on sound scientific research. Dutch cuisine is somewhat limited in its diversity of dishes (like many Northern European cuisines) and includes a high consumption of vegetables compared to the consumption of meat. The Netherlands is also famous for a variety of different cheeses. China is now the world's largest potato-producing country, and nearly a third of the world's potatoes are harvested in China and India. Wild potato species occur from the United States to Uruguay and Chile.)

• Fruits - Figs - The fig tree, which is of the mulberry family, belonged originally in Asia Minor, but it has been naturalized in all the countries around the Mediterranean. Figs are now widely cultivated and exported from France, Greece, Turkey, and Brazil.

• Fruits – Kiwifruit - The kiwifruit is native to the Yangtze River valley of northern China and Zhejiang Province on the coast of eastern China. The first seeds were brought out of China by missionaries to New Zealand. In addition to New Zealand and California, kiwifruit is also grown commercially in such areas as Italy, South Africa and Chile.)

• Fruits - Cherries - the sweet cherry - (Europe and western Asia)

Ficksburg, South Africa hosts the annual Cherry Festival every November. The cherry festival has grown over the last 4 decades to become the regions biggest tourism event. The picturesque town of Ficksburg is situated between the banks of the Caledon River and the foot of the Imperani Mountain in the Free State region of South Africa. As the largest cherry producing area in South Africa, Ficksburg is aptly known throughout the country as the Cherry Town. The Ficksburg Cherry Festival is the oldest crop festival in South Africa and celebrated its 40th anniversary in Nov 2007.

We wish all Knowledge Network staff and those working on Knowledge Network projects a special South African and International World Cup Soccer Experience in 2010.