Well, we finally got the company car this week. It was a nice relief to have this, but by Wednesday night I was so stressed out from driving that I took the bus to work on Thursday morning. I'm so used to the 1.5 hour commute, I guess getting there in a half an hour was just too much.
I saw three people on the ride to work and had some good conversations, so it was a nice day.
Wow, I remember so many emotions running through my mind as I spent my first day in the company's office here in Düsseldorf, Germany.
I was back in Germany, which we had waited so long to do. I was starting anew at the company I'd been working at for almost 10 years. And I was reminded of my first days on the job in Denver so many years before. I also recalled my first opportunity to live in Germany as an LDS Missionary just after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and during the first years of the German Reunification. The office building is to the west of Düsseldorf and overlooks the Rhine, reminding me of the great rivers I grew up with (the Missouri & Mississippi rivers). It was a beautiful day and wonderful to be back in Germany.
Wonderful, that is, until I had to enter my password to get on the network. I had entered the same password just days before in the U.S. But when I entered my password and got a failed response. I re-entered with the same result - failed. I quickly asked a colleague who to call as I knew I would be locked out on the third attempt. I hadn't forgotten that on the hop over the pond.
I Re-started the PC and tried again. Same result. The network support team then provided the following ingenious suggestion. They were talking with my colleague and said: have him type his "password" into a word document. The result was something like this:
Expected Password: ZhgPig#7 (i.e., what I thought I was typing)
What I actually typed: YhgPig§7
I was typing on the German keyboard, as if it were an American keyboard. I don't remember exactly what letters I swapped, but the above is a good example of differences in key location between the English and German keyboards.
I was back to reality and spent the next several hours battling the keyboard on my first assignment, updating my resume and skill set profile for the European office.
This first day has turned out to be typical of my experience in the international workplace over the last 18 months. I enjoy working in Germany in international business. I feel comfortable in the work environment and am glad we made the move. But, man I sure mess some things up because I don't always know the lay of the land. I don't always know the rules for handling certain situations. But I struggle through and learn and improve. I plan to continue sharing some of the experiences I've had. I hope others will enjoy.
literally translated hallo zusammen means hello together. In the northern states one might say hi everyone. In the south one might perhaps say hi ya'll.
I learned this valuable phrase on my first day in the office here in Germany. Me and another new colleague were taken around the office by the H.R. representative. We walked into a room there were several people in the room. She said simply: hi everyone (hallo zusammen).
I was thinking, what a practical phrase and making a mental note to myself to remember it, but was also a bit shocked, because bothering an entire room of workers might be deemed disruptive in the U.S.
I have since come to find out that it is normal and expected for a person entering a room to greet those already in the room. This makes the phrase even more practical than I first thought: Hallo zusammen, or Tschüß zusammen (goodbye everyone) can be used for groups. One can commonly say Guten Morgen (good morning) when entering the office in the morning.
To save money in the states I almost always brought lunch to work. And, for good or bad, I almost always ate lunch at my desk while I worked. So, in addition to saving money, I saved time and was able to leave the office earlier.
Fast forward to our lives in Germany. Tamara cooks a bit differently and the kids eat more (they are older) which means there are only occasionally leftovers I can take to work. Additionally, the choice and cost of "frozen meals", which I commonly took to work in America, here in Germany makes that option less viable.
Not to worry, there is a very good option in Germany to keep costs low - subsidized lunches. Companies subsidize the cost of lunch and so a warm lunch is generally available for around 4 €. At the cafeteria where I generally eat (client site) I can often eat for under 2 €, for noodles/rice/potatoes with a sauce and vegetables on the side.
Well, on Friday I was at my company's office and went to Subway for lunch. The restaurant was full, and I wanted to get home, so I took the sandwich back up to the office.
At the end of my sandwich I was done with one of the main tasks on my list for the day. And I got out on time with all major tasks completed. It was a nice feeling.
