If you don't already know. I will be in Basel, Switzerland for the next 6 months. Six months at least..(as I heard today). The project I am working on then moves to Singapore where it will be built. I am not sure I will go there, but there is a chance I might. I think I'd like to go once or twice and only once or twice, if I could. I hear it's a fabulous place and I've never been anywhere but Europe and Mexico. A new culture, especially one as melded and fused and modern as Singapore's is tempting to me.I spent my break at Christmas at home with family and family-like friends (watching Arrested Development, Playing Guitar Hero, going to WU basketball games, waiting in line at the Cheesecake Factory). My brother lives in my house now, so any of you planning to rob me while I am away will now have to deal with that gun show. I like having him in my house. He is a happy guy and makes me laugh. He is a peach for helping out by staying there and taking care of things while I am gone.
I also spent my time working from home and catching up with things. Basement things, dentist things, prescription things, haircut things, laundry/dry cleaning things, life things. If I did NOT get to see you or catch up with you when I was home... by all means, send me an email while I am out here. It's very strange being away from your life like I will be over the coming months and familiar people dropping a line, or even just a facebook or blog comment are very succulent little morsels of joy for me. Only know that my time except for typical weekends, is really booked solid, I can't email at work, cant usually email on workdays due to the packed schedule we keep and just know that if I haven't responded to notes you have sent that I am dizzyingly greatful for getting them and love you for sending them. It means so much.
I arrived uneventfully in London last week and ran into the English contingent of folks who work for the new Engineering Firm we are dealing with and they are 'lovely' not 'wankers' at all. Except they woke up minutes earlier and I woke up an ocean earlier, so I was less than cordial and less than showered. So with a slight nod to the project manager, and a switch of the ipod, I was fast asleep for the whole flight, mouth gaping open. As usual. Slept pretty much the whole way to Basel like this, interupted only by the jolly stewardess asking me in her almost Cockney accent, 'Dear, would you like a bacon and mushroom biscuit? Or a Vegetarian?" In my semi-awake state, I didn't know how to explain why I replied with an emphatic "NO" to the Vegetarian version of what was just set down in front of me...when I meant to really say "NO" to any sort of snack at all. This thing was hideous. A cold roll with unidentified green flecks in it, slathered in something dressing-like topped with a few mushrooms hidden under a blanket of a few pieces of cold, strange-looking bacon. I couldn't even open it, I didn't want the smell to be as awful as the visual presentation. I didn't however want to seem ungrateful and give it back unopened... so I asked the gentleman next to me if he would like mine as well, since he POUNDED his with ease. He declined. So I had no choice to give it back unopened, thankfully to the other steward and not the jolly other one.
The arrival in Basel was a little sad, given the last time I was here everything was a warm, sparkling, twinkling, gorgeous, winter wonderland decorated up in neat Swiss fashion for Christmas. Now, by comparison, everything was drab and grey. Since I didn't post these yet, here are some belated pics of said loveliness.
Nevertheless, the dreariness of Basel constrasts with the warmth and energy of the team I am working with now. We have, as a multi-national team (17 nationalities to be exact) moved into "our" space now. The project moved last trip to a new office building that is on the seventh floor and overlooks the Rhine. Of course in true Euro fashion the entire floor has windows all around and you can see the sun come up and go down which absolutely helps a person deal with the 7 to 7 day which is becoming more typical as the project goes on. It is in a train yard, as opposed to a park like the old one, but it's brand new and we dont sit in our comfort zones, we sit intermingled with the others grouped by dicipline areas, which has been a total change in the general workings of the team. The team is gelling with both the client and with the new firm and our CRB team is complete. Only a couple more new faces to welcome and get to know next week and then we will be living, breathing, eating, skiing, biting heads off, and accomplishing things together over the next few months. This is the 'fun part'.
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