One down, five to go

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First Assessment Center Completed

While you were sleeping I was starting Day 2 of the first assessment center. Of course, that’s only fair since I had my weekend on Thursday and Friday.

This morning I had a conversation with Kim, who is the caterer. He’s there all day long serving food, cleaning up, etc. He’s from the Philippines and tells me that his dream is to live in the US. I hope he makes it. He’s a great guy, but the only thing is that I can’t get him to stop calling me “sir.”

Today I had a bit more time to talk to some of the Participants. One Saudi had lived in Calgary and liked hockey. I gave him points for that. Then he told me that the Wild was really bad, so he lost the points again.

Sami, another Saudi, is in the medical field and had been to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and told me that he loved Minnesota. I showed him and Kim a photo of our house that I took right before I left and they marveled at how much snow there was and what that might be like. Kim was amazed at how “big” our house was and wondered how many people lived there (two people plus one cat). He should see the houses in Minnetonka.

The day grew long and I think 12 plus hour days are getting to me. I felt like I hit a wall right at the end, but dinner (tonight is “Turkey Night” at The Dining Hall!) revived me. Some good old fashioned tryptophan actually helped. Unfortunately, I have to go to the consultants’ apartments in a few minutes to try to figure out how to map a drive on a Mac. I don’t speak Mac, so this was a stumper. However, a Google search taught me some things about “auto-mounting” which is the Mac equivalent of mapping a drive. I think. Who came up with that expression?

I’m loading some photos I took at the center today or the facilities and of some of the Participants, who graciously let me take there photos.

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Photos

Participants on break
They don't get much time between the tests.

Breakfast
Breakfast always includes Arabic Coffee (which tastes like tea to me) and dates that are grown locally. They are from a certain type of Palm tree.

Kim the Caterer
Kim, please don't call me "sir."

Room Monitors
From our office, we can watch each Participant and talk to them through the intercoms

Participant Offices
This is where they do all their testing and simulations. One per room.

Comments

[eve]

Ted--this blog is such a great idea! Sounds like you're having a great time (well, and getting work done too). I think that "weird bird" in one of your previous posts is a Hoopoe (Upupa epops). A Crested Something-or-other. I can't remember the last part! Lark--that's it--a Crested Lark.

[TedTravel]

Hoopoe Bird
eve, you are correct!! See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe That's what someone called it today when it was right outside of our window! According to Wikipedia, "The Hoopoe is widespread in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It migrates from all but the southernmost part of its range to the tropics in winter. Hoopoes were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt and symbols of virtue in Persia, but were thought of as thieves across much of Europe and harbingers of war in Scandinavia."