Nodding, Nicknames and Nerves

I'm still settling the flat issue so let me take this time to tell you a little about my first day at the office. 

As I walked to the office the first day, I wondered what my new colleagues would be like. I haven't had a first day in nearly 10 years! After having spent four days in unfriendly London and having a bit of a hard time understanding our fellow English speakers, I feared a lot of uncomfortable moments. I perfected my knowing head nod and friendly smile hoping both could get me through the moments of "What the hell did she/he say?"  

Once in the office I saw the open seating plan (AKA no offices except four senior management fishbowls) and I cringed just a tiny bit but then reminded myself not to be a spoiled American. I was greeted by the friendly creative teams and was introduced to my "buddy" Lucretia, a lovely British woman who works in the account services department. After being introduced to many, whose names I'm only beginning to remember, I was ushered to my office -- yes, an office! I would be sharing a fishbowl with the Creative Director himself(!) and we would be facing one another. Glorious. I hadn't met the bloke yet and I could only hope he was kind, talked slowly and would like me.

In the distance, I heard an American accent and I had hope that there was someone I could bond with. Her name is Laurel and she originally hails from San Francisco and I love her in a way that you can only appreciate when you've been away from Americans for a long enough amount of time to realize that you love America and Americans, no matter all our bad manners and historical faux pas. Insert the tune to "God Bless America" here and take a moment to pause and love the Pilgrims despite all their nasty burning of witches and banning of dancing. 

As I sat in the fishbowl waiting for the Creative Director to arrive, I tried to look busy and interesting; hard to achieve at the same time. A few folks popped in and said hello and asked questions -- the knowing head nod and friendly smile were applied successfully -- and I hoped I could soon master the English language. Hey, I'm a Doctor of the English language, right? Well, actually I'm a Doctor of letters so I just have to be fluent in English writing.  While pondering the history of the English language, Laurel came in with another colleague and after we were introduced Laurel asks, "Do you want to know our nickname for you?" I thought, "Do I?" But I said, "Sure..." Imagine my surprise and relief when in unison they said, "JRo!"  I was so relieved it wasn't something like Exchange Girl or Writer Girl. I told them I was used to that one and they seemed disappointed they hadn't come up with it on their own. The whole exchange made me feel more at home and I knew at the least, these people were fun and humorous. I know, I know, this is the home of Benny Hill but there were no women in their underwear being chased in the halls by an old man so how could I know straight away?

And then finally, Adrian arrived. He seemed surprised to see me in his office and said something like, "'Ello Jennifer. So you're here.  Right. I'm bloody late today and have a lot of fucking meetings. I'll see you later then?" All I could do was nod and smile as I thought, "Oh good God! What have I gotten myself into?"

Stiff upper lip my friends, stiff upper lip... To see how my relationship with Adrian has developed, check back in soon.  It's only fair that you experience the same anticipation that I felt on those first few days... so, until we meet again. 

Forever yours,

The Temporary European