Sounds from the office

Silence. Dead silence.

The cube I've been put in at my new job is on a floor with very little activity. In fact, there is only one guy close to me and he's not at his desk very often. When he is there, I feel very self-conscious thinking that I must be breathing too loudly or wondering if my clickity-clicking on the keyboard annoys him sometimes. I don't dare talk on the phone when he's around.

I am able, however, to visit other project floors with more activity and it's kind of strange for me. You see, this company for which I'm now working has their home office in Australia. And the project on which I'm currently working was started by one of their predominantly Australian offices, so many of the people who've come here to finish the project are Aussie. Plus, the project is to be built in Trinidad, so the client has a "Trini" accent. (very similar to Jamaican accent) I find myself listening to their accents instead of listening to what they're saying most of the time!

At my previous job, almost all of the projects on which I worked were for Saudi Arabian or Kuwaiti companies. And the people working at my old office are predominantly Texan, Indian, and the occasional Eastern-European. So, the sounds here seem much different than the sounds there.

But, this morning, I happened to be walking down the hallway and instantly felt at home. There were a couple of guys speaking Arabic. Funny, huh?