Payday!!!

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Finally got my first paycheck. Well, it is my first payday. I get paid in cash until I can secure my bank account. Fugro volunteered to hold on to my money for me because it is daunting to walk around with so much cash.

So, how do I spend it?? :) Don't worry - I'm being practical. I need a new laptop and "mobile" so I can send my fugro laptop and blackberry back to Ventura. That will take a good chunk of my money but they're necessary. And it will help me feel more connected to here now. I'll probably keep out a few hundred dollars worth of money and put the rest away and/or towards my few remaining bills and student loan. It looks like I will be going to Qatar for at least a couple of months (I'm sure Sunday I'll have yet a different story...), so while I am anxious to find a home, it will be nice to be able to save more money not having to pay a little rent and for my car.

I am so excited for the weekend. This week has been good but also pretty brutal. It feels like a week since I went on my short trip - the last two days at work have been very busy. I love it when it's busy - I feel like I accomplish something and there is nothing worse than sitting at a desk for 9 hours twiddling your thumbs. But the clients have been mean, the projects have been many, and my head was starting to hurt! I brought a little homework back with me so I can get caught up with some of the old projects and processes these reports go through. We'll see if I spend my weekend looking at them...

Since my last couple of days have been too boring for any good stories, I will share more of what I see with the culture here. Besides the staring problem and maniac car drivers, I've noticed the language. There is Arabic, Dutch, French, Tagalog, Hindi, and English spoken all around me, including in my office. It seems that even though most people know some English, there is like this unspoken language or accent I have not picked up on that everyone else appears to understand. It almost seems to be a mixture. And it cracks me up how they start talking in one language, ease into English, and then back into the original language. I've been asked more than once if I speak French - no, I do not. I would like to learn. I feel somewhat like an ignorant American; unfortunately, Spanish was my language and it is extremely useful in the Western Hemisphere. Very very few speak it here...

Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow I will have more photos and fun stories to tell you.

Until then.. Pbot out.

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