Learning Curve

The first week at a new job is always a bit awkward. For me it usually involves reading lots of documentation, attending meetings about things I don't understand, having no idea what any of the processes are and inevitably forgetting everyone's name. So my first few days at work have been pretty much the same but on top of all that I have been struggling a little with french work culture and the language.

I have spent most of the last few days with a constant feeling of uncertainty, never really sure what I am supposed to be doing. I have no idea when to use "tu" and when to use "vous", when to use someone's first name and when to use "monsieur", when to kiss or when to shake hands (alot more often than you would think), whether to use salut, au revoir, bonsoir or ciao (which are not as interchangable as I had thought), and a million other little things that i never think twice about at home which are just different here. But in spite of all this I actually quite like it so far. I wanted to have a genuine french experience while I was here and despite that fact that I was told the company had a very "international" amosphere, I am the only person who is not french, so it is very french. And although I feel a bit uncomfortable everyone has been very nice to me, either repeating instructions or explaining them in english when it is clear I have no idea what is going on.

Two other people started the same time as me so we are doing the training together. The documentation is all in english but the training sessions have been mostly in french. I am actually surprised how much I do understand and my boss is very nice (and very funny) and has gotten to know that blank look on my face when I am not following and tries to explain in english or in easier french (he has a tendancy to use alot of slang).

So far I quite like the french attitude to work. It seems it is not necessary to get to work until 9.30-10.00am and, in true french style, lunch involves going to one of the nearby restaurants for 1.5 hours for a two course meal followed by coffee (and accompanied by several cigarettes). Everyone tends to go to lunch in groups, which is nice, and everyone has tried to include me in the conversation, although so far the main topics of conversation have been the relative advantages and draw backs of C++ over Java, and under what circumstances it is or is not morally appropriate to have a strike as opposed to a demonstration, both of which were a little heavy going for my limited vocab.

But despite all this we still do have to do our 40 hours a week, which means that everyone stays in office quite late. Which isn't too bad as everything here is shifted an hour or more later anyway, everyone eats dinner late and stays out late, shops are open until 8pm, and, at the moment at least, it is light until 10pm. Also to compensate for the arduous task of working a forty hour week we get 2 days off per month (on top of our 25 days annual leave). I think I am going to like this system.