First Day Blues

I stared working for Spain yesterday. I spent most of the morning poring over forms, guidelines and work instructions and being introduced to people, 2/3's of which I can't remember anymore. There's a pantry with the usual stuff: microwave oven, refrigerator, table, water dispenser. By mid-morning, I was parched. But I didn't have my own mug. And rather than risking embarrassment in asking for spare mug, I decided to find out what it felt like to be dehydrated. I got my first drop of water around 12:10 p.m., nearly four hours since my previous sip of water at home.

In the afternoon I attended my first departmental meeting, which was one half update meeting, one half open forum/confessional. I had never experienced anything like that in my previous job before, and by anything, I mean the open forum. Words, terms, acronyms were all lost on me. So I wrote down words I didn't understand, spelling them only the way they sounded. I figure it'll take me a few months to get a hang of everything.

By 4:00 p.m., I was developing a major major MAJOR migraine. I was pinching the bridge of nose and my forehead to stop the pain. I smile and laugh at the appropriate times but I could already hear my own pulse - not a good sign. At 6:00 p.m., I was released from work, bid to enjoy these moments of going home early as this will be a rare occurrence in the future - a warning I've also heard from working at my old place of work.

I stumbled into the car, ate a quick dinner and by 7:30 p.m., I was in bed, feeling nauseous and my head wanting to burst into flames. And didn't wake up until 12 midnight, only to sleep again and wake up at 7 a.m.... for my second day of work.