Yes, I am starting my blog posts from Israel with Day 2. I will go back and post more on Day 1 (which was more eventful, since I wasn't at work!) when I am more awake.
So far things are going very smoothly. The jet lag isn't too bad, I'm just tired earlier in the evening than I normally am. I'm sure that will work itself out over the next couple of days. I did actually get some solid sleep on the flight over, and then took a midday nap once I got here, so that helped a lot. I know they say that you should stay up as long as you can in the new time zone to avoid jet lag, but that just doesn't work for me. There is not much of a language barrier here, certainly not as bad as my previous work trips to France. Most of the hotel staff speaks excellent English, as do the office staff at work. And our waiter tonight was from Dublin!
We started our training class today - as typical in this industry, I'm the only woman. I'm also the only one who is not training as a field service engineer. Everyone else actually needs to know how to fix the machines as part of their jobs; I just need to know as much as I can to help the customer. Still, I want to pass the course (yes, we get tested) and learn as much as I can.
There are 9 of us total in the class, with a variety of Israeli instructors from the home office. 3 of us from the US, 2 young (and kind of cute!) guys from the UK, 2 from China, and one each from Sweden and Mexico. This is a pretty big class, I think usually their basic field training is around 5-6 people. But we are going to get lots of hands-on experience with the machines, which is great. After 2 years of doing nothing but marketing, I'm ready to get back into the problem-solving world of engineering, even if it is just troubleshooting large electronics!
So far the food has been pretty standard - breakfast is included at the hotel, where it is a buffet. Oddly, they serve salads on the breakfast buffet! That works in my favor though, since I don't like the standard melon/cantaloupe offerings that usually go with breakfast. I also had odd scrambled eggs this morning - had a texture like cottage cheese. They do have an omelette station, so if I get there in time tomorrow, I'll try that. There were some delicious looking pastries at breakfast, but of course some of them had nuts, so I stayed away from all. Lunch we have as a group at the office cafeteria. For dinner tonight, we were all on our own, so the 2 US guys and I took a walk down the beach to an al fresco restaurant where we all ordered the cheeseburger. Honestly, I was a little surprised to actually get a cheeseburger in Israel, so I wasn't about to turn it down! Very very good, but I think tomorrow it is time to venture out for something a little less American.
The weather has been great; sunny, breezy, and in the 70s (F). Everyone is here this weekend, and the US guys are also here the following weekend, but it looks like I may be on my own for doing tours - they were all talking today about finding surfboard rentals, but honestly, I can surf in the US. I am definitely going to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, even if it costs me a pretty penny!
And on that note, I will post one picture I took on the way to dinner, and go to bed.
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| Sunset on the beach at Tel Aviv |
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