Chai is Good for Networking

Off I went, in search of chai, only to find great connections!

Here’s how it happened:

Our first day here, we went to the first café we saw, which happened to be Uptown Café, owned by a very nice lady named Jan. She enthusiastically welcomed us to town and sold us delicious sandwiches and hot chocolates. Unfortunately, there was no chai on the menu. For those of you who don’t know, the only thing I like better than cute little cafés (and this one was cute) are chai lattes.  Based on my instant affinity with Jan, I wanted Uptown to be my new Radina’s (my Manhattan café), but how could it be without chai? Then I discovered that many places here have lots of things that are available, but not on the menu. So this morning I decided to go and ask. Turns out, Jan has chai!!

Not only does Jan have chai, she also has a friend who has a daughter-in-law who runs an early learning centre, as well as a friend who just opened a new one! Plus (and this is the really impressive part), she had already talked to her friend about me! I couldn’t believe that she even remembered my name, and here she was networking for me. As if that wasn’t enough, she said, “Hang on a minute, and we’ll just pop over and see if I can’t introduce you.” So she takes me to the shop next door and introduces me to Karen, who closes up her shop to come over to Uptown and chat with me about early learning centres in Whanganui and how I should go about getting connected. Goodness! Jan and Karen agree that in a small town it’s all about who you know, and I am increasingly convinced that who I should know is Jan and Karen! I came away with contact information for several specific people to talk to, as well as insider information on which centres had good reputations around town, which is so important.

It makes me so happy to have a bit of a window into ECE in Whanganui, but I confess that it makes me even happier to have connected with two such nice people. They were so ready and eager to help me, and had so much positive energy. The whole experience was energizing and exciting, and I think that I will have to spend the majority of my time in Whanganui at Uptown Café. Drinking chai, of course.