Here I thought I’d be able to keep updating this blog steadily once I got to California. Turns out… I was a little wrong 🙂 But then again, I can’t say I’m “fully” here either, since this last week (and this coming week) have been pretty much about learning the ropes, meeting with folks, getting our bearings, and trying to build a routine. Friday was pretty much the first day it actually felt “real” in the sense that everyone besides the main work team had left and we were installed in our temporary teams and got involved. It will be the same on Tuesday but after that we have more training on Wednesday and Thursday followed by a very short day on Friday when the majority of us fly home for the weekend.
On the personal side, I’ve actually gotten up quite a few times at 400am PST in order to spend 20 minutes or so chatting with Kyle and Charlize (and Chantale of course) while they had breakfast/ got ready for school/work. Considering how my schedule has been and the fact that my body isn’t fully acclimated to the Pacific Time, it wasn’t that difficult. Plus, after the call I would just go back to bed for 2 hours which was very nice 🙂
I have never used Skype before, but let me confirm that if it wasn’t for that wonderful bit of technology, this whole project trip abroad would be one *very* difficult ride. As it is, with the number of hours we were connected during the weekend, I got to feel as though I was actually AT home, sitting on the couch perhaps, chatting with my family and even watching the kids play. It gave us a virtual sense of being in the same house – so when I had to attend to something in my suite (like laundry) it was simply like walking into another room. We could always hear each other and talk.
I must admit to having spent a lot of time/money shopping these last couple of days 🙂 Couldn’t be helped in one sense as I didn’t bring along a full luggage when I fly here. So, I wanted some fresh work clothes to get me through these 2 weeks. I’ll be flying up more of my stuff when I come back on the 6th but it’s also nice to have new items :). The fact that our dollar is quite strong and the deals here are pretty good was also an incentive, I must admit 😉
Anyhow, at the moment, I still feel like there’s a lot to do to really be up to speed. But, it is coming so no worries there. As I said above, just have to get into a sustainable groove.
I have to dash now but had at least wanted to pop online to say “hello” 🙂