I made it through my first week of work just fine. In the morning, a lot of us come in on the shuttle buses at about 8:15. We all drop our stuff in our offices and make a beeline for the coffee room, where we sit around, chat, drink coffee and maybe share whatever snack someone brought in (once was cookies, once was fresh bread and kielbasa-type sausage) for 15 minutes or so. Then it's off to work. I was only actually in my office about half of the week: I spent one day at HQ for "Orientation", a half-day getting a crown cemented back on, and another half-day receiving my volcano-delayed air shipment. I have clothes! And shoes! :-)
The work itself will be interesting, a mix of actual science and a lot of project management/organisation. The first project I am being involved in is a "small" one, only 14 Latin-American countries involved. Should be fun; the only slight problem is that I know next to nothing about the subject matter, so I am spending some time reading a reference book (but I am skipping past the calculus-looking pages, no need to make my brain melt).
I have now moved into the gorgeous apartment. It is very quiet, which is mildly surprising given the location. The only downside at the moment is that the brand new Internet connection is not working, and the cable company can only send a repairperson next Wednesday. So I have to go to an Internet Cafe to do things like write this blog, check email, check the transit system website, etc. Conveniently, there is an Internet Cafe just around the block, open long hours and cheap, even set up for Skype etc.
I went out with some new people yesterday evening. Basically, I heard a bunch of them were going out for drinks, and managed to get myself invited along. I ended up at an Australian (!) bar, complete with kangaroo and crocodile on the menu. It was really a nice place actually, not over-crowded as they limit the number of clients downstairs, and not too loud music. Plus it's 2 blocks from home! I found my group of expats, about half of them Aussies, and only one of whom I knew even the name. They are a lot of fun, we ended up separating only around midnight.
Funny little event happened too: we were walking towards home (myself and 6 guys at this point), when a group of women came to talk to us. They were out for one of the girls' bridal shower. They were asking men for small change to pay for the girl's taxi home; in exchange they offered small gifts. Tony was happily drunk, and was the first to step forward. They gave him a dirty magazine from 1971. Turns out this made his day: Tony remarked that this was perfect, as the only thing covering the girl on the front page was the plush toy monkey in her lap, and he collects monkeys, so this was a two-for-one. As the ladies in the group only had a rudimentary grasp of English, they were a bit confused by his long-winded and slightly garbled comment, so Tony started pulling out of his pockets the various things he had with him that had monkeys on them (key chain, ID card, etc), and comparing them to the monkey in the picture.
