First Week of Work

I have officially survived my first week of work at my new place of employment. Here are a couple of things I learned from my first week.

1. It is very rare that your computer is fully operational when you start at a new job. I spent the first few days going back and forth with IT to obtain access to the necessary systems. It took three days, but by Thursday I could really start playing around with the systems. And I am happy to report that I now have Microsoft Office 2007....no more Access 1997 for this kid!

2. I have joined a dynamic group of people that have been coined by others in the workplace as the 'Cake Section'. At my last workplace, I was always the first person to the tray of goodies when they arrived in the office, so I guess I will fit right in at the new job. On my first day of work, cake and flowers were waiting for me on my desk. I was told by a co-worker that it was customary as well for me to bring a cake during my first week...so I baked a banana bread. Some of the other reasons that people bring a cake into work include: going on vacation, coming back from vacation, birthdays, weddings, showers, babies...and the list goes on and on.

3. With all this cake I guess you would imagine that the section I joined is fairly lethargic....not true. In order to eat all this cake, they have developed a strong fitness regime where they go out running together on a regular basis. I have heard that they usually run about 10km at a pace of about 5min/km during their workouts. Unfortunately I will have to train for a month or so at least to be able to join in the group. But with all this cake around, running will be necessary.

4. My job offers a fantastic lunch program (which is of course another reason for running). For the price of about $65 Cdn, I have access to the wonderful breakfast and lunch buffets. In the morning I pick up fresh baked bread with jam and cheese...mmmmm. There is always something different to try at lunch, as well as an assortment of fresh salads, a couple of meat dishes, and all the fixings so you can make yourself smørresbord! There are also huge baskests of apples, pears, bananas and...carrots! The carrots are a little strange to me, in that they are peeled whole and put in a bowl. Danes eat the whole carrots just like an apple. Us Canadians tend to cut the carrots down into little sticks, so the full carrot is a little different.

5. My job is not located in Copenhagen. I have to take two buses to get to work. And it is quite an expensive bus pass from what I have been used to paying in Canada. The most expensive pass you can get in Vancouver costs $151 a month. I am currently paying $200 a month and I have much more limited access to the different zones. The Copenhagen bus area is divided into 9 zones. I live in zone 2 and have to travel to zone 7. I also added zone 1 to the pass as it is the downtown area. You would think that buying a pass of zones 1 - 7 would cover a lot of the area? The issue is that each of the zones starting at zone '3' are divided into 'sub' zones. It turns out that I am only allowed to travel in the sub zones that are connected to my place of work. This means that if I have to go to the airport, which is in zone 4, but the opposite direction from my house, I will have to use bus tickets because my pass does not include the subzone...even though I pay for zone 4 access. Does this make sense?

6. I currently work in the town of Hørsholm, in a place called Science Park. It is very remote and I will have absolutely no desire to spend money at all the fun shops and restaurants as was the case when I worked off Cambie St in Vancouver....there is nothing around! My co-workers tell me that I will be able to see deer and other wildlife from the office windows. We will not be in this location forever though. Sometime this summer, our office will be moving to an area called Gentofte, which happily lies within 5km of my house. This means I will be able to ride my bike every day...and save the high bus fares. Gentofte is a little more 'happening' then Science Park. Specifically, the Ikea is located in Gentofte and I am sure I will be spending many a afternoons there (sorry in advance Ben).

7. My workgroup is very international. There are Swedes, Danes, Germans, an American and myself. The business language is English but the social language seems to be Danish. Finally I will have a chance to put to use these Danish classes that I have been, and am still, taking. So far my limited vocabulary has not been very helpful. I can get a couple of words from sentences and can tell when people are talking about numbers.

8. One think that I think is very interesting is the internal smoking ventilation chamber. I will try to get a picture of this to add to the blog so you can see what I am walking about. Individuals are able to smoke inside the building as long as they are in this area. I think it is a highly ventilated area, but am confused because it is actually entirely open. I have seen a couple before in different bars around the city. In general, I find that Danes smoke a lot more than Canadians.

I look forward to having my second week at work. Everyone has been amazing so far and I cannot wait to become fully integrated with my new job.