On Monday I had my first working day at the Open University. Since I already knew, or better say met, everyone at the campus and saw every office, I just immediately went in my office to start working. But before I could really start designing a website which is accessible for visual impaired people (that’s my task here), I removed Windows, moved the computer to another desk, where I had internet access and made it kind of ready to work. Now it’s working quite okey, but sometimes it’s still very hard to work with only 512 MB RAM and a cathode ray tube (right word? anyway, i mean a huuuuge screen which I will probably get replaced, yeiiihh :)) ). So, the work is really nice, I have a lot of freedom and everyone wants to learn from another. Really good working condition actually.
My working place
For breakfast (start work at 8, breakfast around 9) and lunch we often eat at the canteen in the university, where I usually only spend between 1000 and 1500 TSH (0,50 € – 0,75€) and then 500 TSH for fruits. The fruits are sooo excellent!! They taste completely different than in Austria. Really enjoy that. For breakfast I usually eat a cabatti (tastes like “Sterz” but looks like “Palatschinken”), maybe an egg, fruits and kahawa (Afri Cafe :)) ). For lunch we get rice with beans and beef and some vegetables (some of them look like grass, I think that’s the salad you can get here). Sometimes we also eat somewhere else to get something different, for example fish (sooo good!). The food you usually eat with your hands, but sometimes you get a spoon as well. At least, you always have the possibility to wash your hands before, so it’s not too bad.
Kahawa
Interesting in the beginning was also that the university doesn’t have access to ground water (like most of the places here). So, they have huge water tanks with around 5000 liters of water to fill the pipes. But sometimes, of course, the water ran out and then you don’t even have water for flushing at the toilet. Happens… 😉 I also always have my own toilet paper (also at home), just for case.
I normally finish work around 4-5, but I can always stay longer if I want. I have a key for the office, so I can feel free :)) Now, I also can use a headset after 4, but don’t have a webcam. So, if someone wants to skype, just text me, then I can stay a bit longer in the office and we can talk to each other at least :).