First Week At Work

I think I've just thrown myself into a triple threat challenge. I'm in a company where only one person speaks English. I'm learning Spanish but I'm in the Catalunya region where people speak Catalan so that doesn't help me at all. And of course, Spain uses the European Union Standards which I've never seen before. And finally, all the technical terms used are in Catalan. People must think I'm crazy to have done such internship.

Two translation books which I have to read about the translation of the Engineering terms

But who cares!! I think I have made the best choice. No regrets. It's the first day of work and I already liked the company.

The office building for Aglomerats Girona. There're also factories which I haven't seen yet

There's even petrol tank for the trucks

The people here are very friendly. Well, for the company I work with at least. I feel accepted in the company. It's not like in Kuching where a trainee will be a trainee. In this company, ranking is not that important. Everyone tries to speak English to me, using whatever words they know. I on the other hand tries to speak in Spanish, using all the words I know. We had to use the primitive method of communication (using actions and drawings). It´s really funny though but it works. And luckily there´s google translation. The way we communicate is like MSN chatting. The only difference is that we´re next to each other.

This is how we communicate on site.. Drawing on the ground

I think I´ve got two advisors, Gabriel and Albert. They´re both engineers I think but in different departments. And they were really good. Although we have language problems, they´ll try their best to explain everything. Of course I have to be fast too. I make an effort to not let them explain the second time.

I started going to the site already on the first day in order to get to know how the people in Catalunya work. The first one was to the hills where there's road construction. And the second one was one of the old buildings for an old town which needs rehabilitation.

I don't know why the tree is not cut. Probably because it has two trunks

The excavation is so steep...but it works

The width did not reach the acceptable limit, so this is how they extend the existing lane width

The second site which I visited. This one is a nursery

I live in Girona but I work in Santa Cristina d' Aro which is a 25 minutes drive. Don´t know why I live in a different town but it was arranged for me like that. So, I have different colleagues driving me to and from work every day. I felt like a burden sometimes but I had no choice. And in the car, there´s always a long awkward moment of silence because there´s no internet in the car. I couldn´t stop grinning because it was so awkward and besides, that´s all I could do in the car. I don´t know if my colleague thinks I´m crazy. There´re so many topics in my head but I can´t express them in Spanish.

And I kept using the wrong words which I would only realise after I finish the conversation.

It's funny my name over here changed to JiUi... and they kept on pronouncing fast making it sound like Chui (Water).

Nevertheless, I feel so lucky to have been chosen by this company. This is exactly what I have imagined. Even more I think. There are so many girls working in the company and none of them are old women. And even better, the company pays for my lunch wherever I eat. Awesome.