Jeremy's First Day of Work in Germany

Well, first of all, thanks to those of you who have been praying for me (Jeremy) to find work. I had a second interview with a company late last week, and they wanted me to start as soon as possible! So, with my last remaining ounce of strength I will attempt to tell you a bit about my first day of work in Germany.

It's at a precision manufacturing company in Gosheim, about a half hour's drive south and up. I say "up", because it's at a noticably higher altitude than Balingen. While Balingen is at the base of the 'Schwäbische Alb' as it's called (a raised geographical formation in south-western Germany extending to Switzerland), Gosheim is well up into it. Today the clouds were below in the valley and it was sunny all day. It makes for a scenic commute, but one which I'm told can take a lot longer in winter.

The company where I am now working seems like a pleasant place to work, and they're expanding at a ridiculous pace. In the last year and a half they have grown by more than 50% to over 300 employees, and I was one of six new ones starting today. It's very clean and organized, and thankfully everyone (including the boss) is friendly and has a good attitude.

In a nutshell, my job is to program, maintain and trouble-shoot automated part-checking machines. Considering it was my first day, I had the opportunity to see and do a lot, and was relieved to overhear my immediate supervisor giving a positive report about me on the phone at the end of the day.

Although there's a lot to learn in any new job, I find having to re-learn all the technical terms in German is adding another level of challenge. My brain is stuffed and weary from trying to retain everything... basically, I was learning the terms as my supervisor was speaking them. I could usually discern what he was talking about from the context of the conversation or because he was pointing at something, and would think "So that's what you call that in German!"

All part of the fun though; I did sign up for all this after all by moving here!