Learning English

Wow, in addition to commuter frustration (three different modes of transportation is a challenge, bus, commuter train, light rail), I have had struggles this week learning English. Let me explain. Here are some of the varieties of English I've been introduced to this week.

English spoken by . . .
An Irishman (german father, but speaks just like the Irish I've seen in the movies. Pretty cool to listen too)
Germans (accustomed to this one, but each person has a few nuances you have to get used to - discussion versus argument)
Spaniards (wow! most of these guys are difficult to understand)
Poles (the two I've met were pretty good)
British (one woman lived in Britain for 9 years, but calls herself German. She speaks both extremely well, but the German has a hint of british accent)
New Zealand (with a Dutch background)
Australia (goes pretty smoothly)
American (worked with him for past 18 months, that is a nice break, but still a switch)

Those are the people I've met thus far. There are a few others from even further nationalities that I haven't even spoken with yet.

Wow, my brain is tired. And I noticed that my German has gone down the drain this week. Learning the new language of the project, and the project management approach (Agile Development) and all of the various forms of English has worn the little engine that could down to the little engine needs a nap. This would be fairly fun and challenging, but I am actually expected to understand what these people are telling me. Also challenging is that I have to upgrade my English and use more proper forms of certain words and phrases.

I did understand from the Spanish guys enough to find out that they are rooting for the LA Lakers in the NBA finals. Pal Gasol, their fellow countrymen, plays for LA. It will make for some good conversation over the next few weeks. I don't like LA. I'm rooting for the Celtics. This is naturally fairly unimportant when compared to the NHL playoffs, which just finished - go Detroit, and the European Cup - Go Germany.

Man oh!

Man oh! is what I heard Emma saying this evening every time something went wrong. She was riding her "Laufrad" (walking bicycle) tonight in the yard. She kept falling off of the the training bicycle. While trying to get herself and the training bike back up, she and it wouldn't quite work out she would say - "Man Oh!" This is a common phrase used with children.

3 hour commute

Bah, I hate the three hour daily round trip commute. That's, for those non-math majors, 1.5 hours each way. This evening it was almost two hours. I am at a new location and I don't have the bus/tram schedule memorized and I chose the wrong bus tonight. It cost me another 45 minutes. And I'm carrying my laptop back and forth to work almost every day. Along the other reading materials I take along, my bag is quite heavy. And I used to have a half hour train ride with no transfers necessary. Now I have 15 min. street car, 20 min. train. It's not as relaxing a commute. I'm sure I'll adjust to the new environment over time, but today was frustrating.

Then on top of it I was reading a document for work on the bus/tram and train that I could barely understand. Turns out I was reading the technical specifications prior to the business specifications. This is like reading a new language as half the words are module, table, or system name references. Weeding that out is tough at first when you aren't familiar with the modules, tables, and systems in the system landscape.

I realized towards the end of my journey that there is a business (read human) version of the specifications. It just starts half-way through the document. Seems a bit backwards. At any rate. Enough venting for one night.

Speaking of new languages I'll have some updates on international business English over the next few days and weeks.

Ian's miracle

Ian continues to be beaming at almost all times. He is talking up a storm in sign language (we saw a bird outside yesterday and he made the sign for bird). He also said Emma's name on Friday Night.

Ian's new-found happiness all started when Emma started going to Kindergarten (pre-school). For Ian this was obviously a miracle. He finally has his mother. He has missed his mother perhaps more than any of our other children. Tamara has had anemia ever since his birth, and we moved to Germany when he was just 3 weeks old. We have had very little time to care for the little guy ever since.

Emma is very excited about pre-school as well. She is a big kid now and more like her older brother and sisters. She is generally so tired though from her new schedule with no nap and the extra excitement each day at Kindergarten that I don't see the excitement myself.

Now, flashback to two weeks ago. The two little ones - former friends who almost always adored one another - were starting to fight like cats and dogs. They were always screaming at each other and Emma was also screaming at her older brother and sisters a lot.

And now, flashback to a week and a half ago. The big kids started praying in our family prayers that Emma and Ian would stop screaming so much. When I noticed that they were all praying for this I said, mom and dad should follow their great example and we should pray for this in all of our family prayers. The kids and mom agreed and we continued praying for this help.

Then, on Tuesday, one the Kindergartens called us - Hannah's former Kindergarten. The director had heard through the grapevine that we were still looking for a place and one had just become available.

I told the kids that it was a miracle and a direct answer to their prayers. Now we should be grateful in our prayers for this miracle for our little ones.

Check out some pictures of the Emma & Ian from this spring. A few weeks ago when the cat fighting started I was worried. They are now back to their their former selves again and playing together very nicely for a 3 and almost 2 year old. It is a huge blessing:

Sweltering

I started on a new project today. It was a great start, except for one thing - the heat. I was so tired from the heat I was struggling in meetings in the afternoon. And, I had to dress up for the first day. It looks like every day is a bit dressier than at my last company. That is not great news. I think I need to buy some short sleeve dress shirts.

One piece of coffee information. This company does not have a machine in every kitchen. Of course, there are several thousand employees in several buildings. Our company provides a water cooler and a coffee machine. I'm not sure if the coffee is provided by the company, or not. But I think so. Here is a picture of the machine. It makes one or two cups at a time and you put little "pads" of coffee in the top and water in the bottom.



Someone brought some cakes today and they were placed at the edge of my desk for everyone to share. That made for a good day as I was able to meet several people who I otherwise wouldn't have met.

The heat is good for the kids, but man, oh man is it hot at work. There is one room with air conditioning. We had one meeting there and were soooo happy.

The other funny thing is that I am working with three of the same people from my last project. There was a hint of dejavu in the air as we met and discussed the project, strategy, how to work, etc. It was nice. All of us are on different teams, but still in the same project.