New kid on the block

It was raining last night when I came back to Delft, loaded down with clothes and a sundry of other items from my stay in Leeuwarden. Wouldn't you know that I would have picked a paper bag to stuff most of my clothes in. Yes, the bag was soaked through and fell apart on me halfway to the apartment. I had to stop and squash everything that would fit into my bookbag and hold the rest the best I could tucked under my jacket. I arrived at the apartment doing my best impersonation of a drowned rat, took a shower and almost immediately after collapsed into bed. I had to get up early the next morning, after all...

Being the new kid on the block is always somewhat scary and somewhat exciting. At least, that's how I look at things. I was so nervous about oversleeping on my first day that I woke up for the first time around 0300 to check my alarm clock. Then at 0500, 0530, and so on, until around 0630 I finally decided the extra 15 minutes until the alarm was set to go off just weren't worth it, and I rolled out of bed.

Then it was just the mundane stuff of getting to work. I was advised to buy a weekly ticket as it was cheaper than buying a ticket every day, and I was happy to see there was actually someone from the rail company in the little booth at the Delft Zuid station. They only accept cash (*grumble*) so I was told to go outside and buy my ticket from the machine. I stared at it for a good 5 minutes, even attempted to read the instructions, but for the life of me couldn't figure out how to buy more than a one-day ticket. Enter my simple yet somewhat functional Dutch! I asked the man who was buying a ticket at the ticket machine next to me for help and he pushed a button clearly marked "5-return". *sigh* I thanked him, apologized for my stupidity and paid for the ticket with my bank pass. Think my troubles were over? Alas, good friend, that was not the case. I didn't realize the 5-return ticket was actually 5 separate tickets! I walked away from the machine having only retrieved one of said five. Doh! Luckily the man waiting behind me was kind enough to call me and give me the rest of my tickets. Phew! Thank goodness for kindness of strangers. :) Aside from that, nothing too spectacular: no overly long train delays, I even managed to beat my boss to work, if only just barely. Then it was setting up my work area. Signing into my computer, resetting my password, getting my phone hooked up and my email working. Nothing too exciting, right? :)

The office is incredibly international. I was about to starve just before noon, and Philip showed me downstairs to the cafeteria (which I guess I would rate at 2 out of 4 stars - edible, but not someplace I'm looking forward to visiting again). And at our little lunch table was a rather large showing of nationalities: Korean, French, Swedish, Dutch, British, Danish and of course, American. And that doesn't even go into the people I met earlier! Everyone is friendly and so far the company seems nice. I really like the mixing of cultures/nationalities, but I'm afraid it's not going to do much for my Dutch. *chuckle* (yes, yes, I still make halfhearted attempts to use it)

My first day at the office was rather uneventful, and thankfully so. I spent most of my time reading through the intranet site, trying to get a better idea of just what "localization" entails. I learned a few things, including, for example, that localization is often shortened to "l10n" because there are 10 letters between the l and the n. Aren't you impressed? *smirk* Oh, and somehow, I managed to blow up my computer screen. I swear I didn't do anything! The screen just went... crazy, and then went out completely. I turned and left it off for a bit before trying again, but then there was this disturbing odor coming from it so I went to see if I could find someone who could officially announce my screen dead. I got another screen right away - let's see how long this one lasts. *Chuckle*

And now? Well, let's see. It's not even 2200, I've eaten, showered, and I'm thinking about going to bed soon. I'm one tired danger girl! Chat at you later! *wave*