First Weekday - From Cindy

Today was the first workday for me and first day as a stay-at-home-dad for John. From my perspective, everything went pretty well! I met the relocation consultant at the local immigration office to get my work Visa processed and then went into the office. The family dropped me off for the appointment, so we were all up earlier than we have been, but we all slept a little better last night, so I think it worked out okay.

When I got to the office, I was about 1.5 hours earlier than I thought, so no one was really ready for me yet, but I found my office and started to get settled. I spent most of the day meeting the people I'll be working closely with and it was really fun to put faces with people I have emailed on-and-off for the last 10 years.

Everyone here so far has been very friendly and more than eager to help. It's been a very nice transition so far.

I did eat lunch in the cafeteria and although I've heard they serve beer there, I didn't see it. I did get a fountain Coke Zero, and noticed after I picked up my glass that there isn't any ice. Whoops. I also didn't see any to-go cups for the fountain drinks either. I think I've about decided that's one of the more difficult things to get used to - the drinks. There is the obvious lack of ice that we had heard about before we moved, but I really don't understand why they don't drink tap water in restaurants. The tap water here is quite good, so I don't understand drinking bottled water. I guess that's just the American in me coming out. Everything else seems to have reason to the rhyme, but the drinks! I'll get used to it.

After work, we did go to dinner with a couple of people I work with. One is in town for a few days and the other is a fellow American here on an expat. We had a great dinner at the oldest brewery in the world. The food (and beer!) were great! We did eat outside and it was a bit on the warm side for us, but that's another thing that I think we're getting used to. As John mentioned, the meal was very slow, we sat and talked for some time after it was over.

Since the kids & John dropped me off and picked me up today, I think I could really get used to not having to drive!!