2 Sept 2008

The first day at the office was interesting. The taxi dropped me off with all of my luggage at the office, just not the front of the office. So after about 10 minutes of searching with seeing literally no one, I finally ran into a nice supervisor who showed me the correct office to go to. Once arriving I was given the grand tour (lasted about 20 minutes). It ends up we have almost no dedicated equipment and I am the second dedicated person to sand control (this should be fun, I knew it was bad, but not that bad), although since winning the contracts, we have been guarenteed some equipment and personnel by the geomarket (I just hope I am not the promised personnel). Everyone at the office was very nice and most spoke english (after laughing at my attempts to speak Italian). Once the tour was over and I had been given the basic rundown of plans, I got to set up my computer and start to work, but I first I needed some coffee. I went to the coffee machine downstairs (it ends up Italian coffee machines are better than their American counterparts) and ordered a caffe since that was the first item listed and I assumed it was a plain cup of coffee. Well, to that machine, caffe was actually pronounced espresso (about 1 ounce of bitter coffee like syrup). So I ordered 3, since it was so small, and just so you know, these things pack a serious punch, and I did not have any further problems staying awake the rest of the day. For lunch we went to a restaurant in the neighboring town. The first course (there were 4) was Bruschetta (one with a tomato, one with a goat cheese, and one with a garlic spread) and it was very good. The next course was a ricotta and spinach ravioli, which was the best I have ever had. The third course was between a salad, tomatos, or french fries (HUH?!). I chose the salad and it was also excellent. The last course was desert which was a nice small pastry cup with a banana cream and a grape on top, also very good and luckily small and of course more caffe. The afternoon was fairly uneventful and I pretty much just worked on my italian and talked to a few people around the office. I ended up getting back to the hotel (I was supposed to stay in the staff house, but it was not prepared yet) about 7:45 pm. Once I got back, I walked down the street to an outdoor café and of course started with the “Parla inglese?” to which I get a “No.” (ok this is going to be a challenge). I begin to look in the glass to see what I can say. I see he has what looks like some good salami and some good looking cheese so I ask for a panani with salami and, since the word for cheese lost me, just point at the cheese. I also order due birre (beer). After an attempt at some small talk between myself and the cook (wasn’t that bad, I think we had an understanding, I at least got bella donna), he finishes my panini and wraps it and my beers up and I head back to the hotel. Overall, it was a good first day, and I figured out that I must learn Italian quickly, because this whole difficulty communicating thing is getting old.