New office

Now that I am coming to the end of my first week on the job after 5 months, I am starting to feel a little more settled. Even without the new country component, starting a new job is stressful, so this has been quite a week. My job is starting to seem more interesting now that I can actually understand what the point of it is, and I am settling in to the new routine.

Everything about the job experience is different though. I am on the 6th floor of an office building that houses several other branches of the company, plus a kitchen where lunch is made daily by a chef, resplendent in ice-flag trimmed coat. Everywhere you look it is white walls, company logos, and pale scandinavian wood, and the view outside goes for miles in both directions. From my desk I can see out to a hill that is mostly an equestrian subdivision- bright modular stables with their own individual paddocks. Maybe this is Iceland’s answer to urban sprawl- the horses have to head for the hills of Kópavogur, since they don’t do elevators well.

On the other side of the office is our floor kitchen, my new favorite room. It has a balcony offering a view of go-karts, Iceland’s biggest mall, and beyond it, the center of Reykjavík and the mountains. On very clear days Snæfellsnes and Snæfellsjökull are visible across the water. Said kitchen is also equipped with the latest in coffee-dispensing technology, with customizations for cup size, sugar preferences, and strength, plus chocolate add-in options. I’m told that the fridge also contains wine and beer, for when Friday seems extra long. The glass wall to the “fun room” beyond is scrawled with the office scores for darts, a popular office-break activity. I guess drinking coffee is such an assumed part of the daily routine, like going to the bathroom, that it doesn’t get a dedicated break of its own and people have to come up with a new Other Thing To Do.

Things are looking good- I am happy to have a variety of coworkers, work that is developing into something I will really enjoy doing, and a nice space to spend most of the hours of my weekdays.