Work was relatively uneventful today. Marilyn is back from Sweden; she brought euros and chocolates for the whole office. I forgot to mention last week that my desk was moved. I'm slightly sad about this. My old desk had a view of the entire office and the room next to us; now, my desk faces the wall. I have to turn around if I want to see any of the action. It's okay, though, because Cesar moved into my old desk. His office is being turned into the finance office. Working in a room with Cesar, Marilyn and Luis Diego is never dull. Cesar played Michael Jackson on his iTunes all day; he knew every word. I love him.
Office life here is so similar and yet so different from the United States. Everyone plays tricks on each other and gossips in low whispers. Ticans like to waste time, too. Technically, they work 8a.m. - 6p.m., but as we know, no one actually shows up at 8 a.m. And no one actually works all the time. It can be extremely frustrating sometimes.
Lunch time is observation hour for me, because everyone speaks too quickly for me to understand. Everyone here is obsessed with packed lunches. Luis Diego's mother still packs lunch for him. Todos en la oficina bring leftovers, perfectly portioned into their fancy tupperware. You'd think Gladware was all anyone ever ate out of; literally, the table is covered in plastic containers. It reminds me of elementary school, when your friends scope out each other's lunch boxes and make trades. My co-workers do the same thing. Sometimes, someone will pull out a whole avocado for everyone to share.
After lunch, I transcribed more of Marilyn's interviews from Sweden. She managed to get a one-on-one conversation with the new CEO. It really is fascinating. I've learned more about the future of Ericsson and broadband technology in the past week than I've ever learned about the computer age in a classroom.
Traffic update: In Costa Rica, the roads are backwards. I just realized that to make a left turn is easy; to make a right turn, you need an arrow. The streets are different. And green lights flash on and off as a signal to hurry up before they turn yellow. Que chiva!
When I got home, there was a power outage. It had stormed throughout the afternoon and the electricity on the whole street was out. It wasn't that much of an inconvenience, though, because there was daylight and it's not like we have air conditioning anyway. The power came back on soon enough.
Patri made noodles with vegetables and different kinds of meat. There was chicken, carne, pieces of ham and something else that looked like cut up hotdogs tossed in with the pasta. Needless to say, I avoided anything that wasn't chicken. Mixing meats is too weird for me.
Everyone in Costa Rica is talking about the current government situation in Honduras. From what I've deduced, there was a military coup that threw out the president of Honduras after he attempted to change a bill regarding the length of a presidential term. Apparently, he is a leftist. He was flown to Costa Rica and has since flown to meet with Hugo Chavez, who might as well be his brother, according to my co-workers. From what I understand, this is the first successful military coup since 1992 or 1993. Most of the "free world," the United States included, is refusing to recognize the replacement government and is insisting that the democratically elected president be put back in place. Despite his political preferences, he is still the popularly elected government official. All of the Ticans in my office are annoyed at the lack of cooperation on the part of the Hondurans. There is a certain level of anarchy in Central/South America that doesn't exist in the U.S., and most Ticans hate it (even though they like breaking rules and doing whatever they want to do). I like learning about current events here, but it has made me realize how little I know about the world. Sure, I skim the newspaper at home, but it's usually the school paper and contains more local news.
It's pouring rain outside my window, so I'm going to go catch up on world news. I like reading when it rains.
Ciao!
Lauren
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