Week 1

It has been a wild first week in Santiago and a great one. Everything has gone relatively smoothly so far...no big culture shocks or big problems thus far. 

I reported to work on Monday morning and attended new employee orientation with 14 other new hires.  It was pretty similar to New Hire Orientations at home...but en espanol of course. After Monday most of the work week was filled with meetings (reuniones), meeting people, and salary planning...and it will continue into next week.  My co-workers are awesome...very welcoming and are helping me improve my spanish.  They have also helped me with the most challenging part of living here thus far...dialing the phone!  I had to make a chart on how to dial...because it is different if you are call from a cell phone or a land line...and then it depends if you are dialing to a cell phone or land line.  Hopefully I will learn soon.

Here are some pics of the Fluor Santiago main building and my coworkers:

I have had a dinner party every night to attend. 

Wednesday night, I met Susana (Mexico HR) and Elvia (Greenville, SC HR) for dinner at Zanzibar. We were so lucky to realized that we were in Santiago at the same time. Unfortunately Susana was flying back to Mexico the next day, but Elvia and I have been hanging out ever since. We went to a place called Zanzibar en Barriorio...nice place with lots of restaurants. Zanzibar had food from all over the world. We had ceviche, chicken satay, empanadas, and salmon.  

Thursday night Barbara and her boyfriend took us to Peluqueria Francesa (http://www.boulevardlavaud.cl/english/history.html)...an old barber shop turned into a restaurant.  Men can still get haircuts there until 5pm.   I only have one pic of the moment...and it is of our appetizer. Cheese, meet, olives and nuts. I also ate Beef Bourgonion (spell check). 

On Friday, I met up with Francisco the realtor who took me to see apartments. I ended up selecting the first one I saw that previously was used by a Fluor employee that was sent to the field. We think it will be ready on Wednesday for me to move it.  This is the pic of the outside of the building. It is a 3 minute walk to work, near Parque Peru, the W hotel and the Ritz....best location ever!