Well I've been working now three weeks and I've already learned a lot! There are some things that are really different about working here. Some things are different than the experiences I've had before but I think they stem from working for such a huge international corporation. Some things I think are different because of cultural differences.
People brush their teeth. A lot. Twice during the work day! It's a little weird to me to see so many people always brushing their teeth. Especially after lunch - you can't wash your hands in the bathroom because the sinks are all being used by people brushing their teeth! And lots of people with braces. Dental hygiene is obviously very important. But it's interesting that I can only get dental insurance for myself and not for Davie and the kids. Which is unfortunate as its Davie and Eduardo who really need it!!
We have lots and lots of meetings and everyone and their supervisor are copied on every email there is. I'm not sure when my boss gets work done as she's normally going from one meeting to the next with very little time to sit down in between!! My schedule has started looking a little like that as well. There are a lot of things to do!
The wheels move slow - it took a week and a half to get my employee ID number, another week to get my badge (although it still isn't activated so even though I do have a parking spot, I can't get to it 😝), and I don't have a computer yet. The response I keep getting is oh yeah, that's normal. There's definitely a lack of a sense of urgency. Drives my impatient self nuts!!
The language can be frustrating. My immediate team tries to mostly speak English for me, but somethings they'll slip into Spanish and I get completely lost. 😖 I need to learn though, so I try to follow along as best I can and ask questions later. There are so many accents and everyone has a different way of speaking, it can be hard to keep up. I'm very thankful they all speak such good English!
Traffic in Costa Rica is ridiculous and the one hour commute one way I thought I would have turns out to regularly be two hours one way!! I'm spending upwards of four hours a day in the car. It's too much.
So we are leaving the mountain. 😢😢😢😢 I'm so sad, but ultimately it's the best thing and we've already found our new place. It's literally in the backyard of my office complex!!! Two minutes gate to gate. It will be so much better in the long run to be close. And we aren't having to give up everything that we have now - the new house is actually HUGE. I thought our mountain home was big, but the new place is even bigger. Still four bedroom, like we have now, but four full bath and two living areas. The yard is really good size as well, although the pictures below are old as there's no longer much grass. But Davie can fix that. 😊 There isn't a bathtub, which the kids will miss, but I hope that overall this house will work well for us long term. There are around 20 houses in the complex and it's safe for Eduardo to get to run around again outside. I think he's been pretty shut up on the mountain. There's a pool and a trampoline and some play equipment. It's also nice as it here are a lot of green areas in the complex, so we're right in the middle of the city, but in our own little oasis, away from it all. I think we'll like it a lot.
We move Dec 15, to let Eduardo finish the school year. He's on the Costa Rican calendar now. I don't like changing his school, again, but hopefully this will be the last time for a long time!!
