There were a few new hires who started on Monday, and the new hire orientation was in English- which was appreciated. At the end of the orientation someone said, "I'm done speaking English for the day." Most people speak Spanish here when in conversation amongst each other, and English when interacting with coworkers or customers from the states. But, everyone on KC's team and the new hires have gone out of their way to speak English, and have been very welcoming. It has been great to speak English with people! :)
During the all day orientation class, some funny things happened since KC can't speak Spanish.
-One of the presenters came in, and asked, "Why are we were talking in English anyways? Who doesn't speak Spanish?" KC had to raise her hand... Then he said, "You should learn it. It's mandatory here."
-Another presenter came in and began speaking in Spanish. A few minutes in, someone let her know KC didn't speak Spanish. She looked at her and said, "You don't speak Spanish? You can leave, because most of the people here speak Spanish. I'll get together with you later, and go through this." After her presentation one of the guys told KC they were laughing because the slides on her PowerPoint presentation were all in English.
-Also, many times one of the presenters said, "Let me just explain this in Spanish."
This new job is quite different than teaching. There are many new things to learn, and the first week has been full of training. KC has never worked in a cubicle, or with so many adults nearby! Also, she can go the bathroom whenever she wants to, and twenty eight sets of eyeballs aren't watching her every move. ;)
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Congrats on your first week! I am surprised that some comments were made about speaking Spanish. There were only a few times when Spanish was spoken despite me not speaking it. Usually they would go out of their way to speak English for me. Mostly it was the non Honeywell presenters that presented in Spanish only. There were a few off site group team building activities that were in Spanish only but that was no big deal. In 7 years I picked up only a little Spanish since I still need to work on my English and spelling, LOL.
ReplyDeleteThanks! On Day 1 of week 2, I was actually learning and creating ECOs- lots of new information for me! Most of the presenters during the all day orientation spoke English very well. A few didn't... My coworkers and the new hires all speak English with me, it was just the presenters from that day. I agree about picking up Spanish, everyone tells me it'll come and it's easy to learn- but I'm not so sure! ;)
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