New developments in Guatemala
Door: Pieter
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Pieter
22 Augustus 2009 | Guatemala, Guatemala-stad
@Paul: ja, het is nogal stroperig, dus het stroomt redelijk langzaam (.5 km/h of zo). Ik probeerde het te scheppen met m'n stok, maar daarvoor was het toch nog te vast
New developments in Guatemala
It has been a while since the last time I wrote, because I haven't had a lot of time lately, but that's a good sign. But now it's really time for an update, so here it is!
New housemates/colleagues
Two weeks ago my new housemate Alberto (from Italy) arrived and one week later Ömer (Holland) and Louis (Belgium) arrived to live in the apartment next to us. It's good to have some company now, because at times it was pretty boring to live on my own and now we do things together like going out, to the movies and have breakfast and dinner together. Thanks to them I'm also meeting some other colleagues, so that's good.
Last week on Saturday AIESEC organised a welcome party for us in our garden. Although I was a bit afraid that they would be tough on us (in terms of forcing us to drink a lot), we had a really good time. We played some drinking games (not really my style, but I still won both of them, I guess the trick is to turn the glass upside down as quickly as possible and spill as much as possible) and they had arranged piñatas for us (you know those carton board dolls filled with candy you know from Mexican movies, only this time in the shape of beer bottles). I uploaded a few pictures of the party to my new album on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9812&id=226700492&l=418bd15192
But in those days Louis told us he was not sure if he was going to stay. His expectations were very different from reality and he didn't have the feeling that he would be happy to stay here for one year and after 3 days of work and some conversations with us and AIESEC he decided to quit the job and go back to Belgium. So he has just left (Saturday 22nd of August).. It's a pity to see him leaving so soon, but I guess he has made the right decision considering the circumstances. So now we're just three "Exxon boys", but Louis will probably be replaced soon and then we'll have see again how it will turn out.
The job
Also on the job a lot has changed. Two weeks ago the plans for the migration of EROSC to AROSC were confirmed. AROSC is the office where I work right now and it supports all Exxon gas stations in North and South America. EROSC is the same, but it is in Manchester and for all European gas stations. In an effort to reduce costs, most of the jobs in Manchester will be migrated to Guatemala and one of those jobs will be my future job. To prepare for that job I left my old team (US accounting) yesterday to start my training. The training will take 2 months, of which the second month will take place in Manchester. So after one month of preparations in Guatemala, we'll leave with a group of 29 people to work with the people in Manchester and after another month we'll be completely responsible ourselves. The weird thing is that the people in Manchester that will teach us the job, will loose that job to us, so it's most likely gonna be an awkward situation, both for us and for them.. Anyway, it's gonna be very interesting for us to learn so many new things in the coming months and to experience such a big change process from the inside, so I'm looking forward to it.
Expect another blog from me after our trip to El Salvador in the weekend of 5 and 6 September!
Pieter
New developments in Guatemala
It has been a while since the last time I wrote, because I haven't had a lot of time lately, but that's a good sign. But now it's really time for an update, so here it is!
New housemates/colleagues
Two weeks ago my new housemate Alberto (from Italy) arrived and one week later Ömer (Holland) and Louis (Belgium) arrived to live in the apartment next to us. It's good to have some company now, because at times it was pretty boring to live on my own and now we do things together like going out, to the movies and have breakfast and dinner together. Thanks to them I'm also meeting some other colleagues, so that's good.
Last week on Saturday AIESEC organised a welcome party for us in our garden. Although I was a bit afraid that they would be tough on us (in terms of forcing us to drink a lot), we had a really good time. We played some drinking games (not really my style, but I still won both of them, I guess the trick is to turn the glass upside down as quickly as possible and spill as much as possible) and they had arranged piñatas for us (you know those carton board dolls filled with candy you know from Mexican movies, only this time in the shape of beer bottles). I uploaded a few pictures of the party to my new album on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9812&id=226700492&l=418bd15192
But in those days Louis told us he was not sure if he was going to stay. His expectations were very different from reality and he didn't have the feeling that he would be happy to stay here for one year and after 3 days of work and some conversations with us and AIESEC he decided to quit the job and go back to Belgium. So he has just left (Saturday 22nd of August).. It's a pity to see him leaving so soon, but I guess he has made the right decision considering the circumstances. So now we're just three "Exxon boys", but Louis will probably be replaced soon and then we'll have see again how it will turn out.
The job
Also on the job a lot has changed. Two weeks ago the plans for the migration of EROSC to AROSC were confirmed. AROSC is the office where I work right now and it supports all Exxon gas stations in North and South America. EROSC is the same, but it is in Manchester and for all European gas stations. In an effort to reduce costs, most of the jobs in Manchester will be migrated to Guatemala and one of those jobs will be my future job. To prepare for that job I left my old team (US accounting) yesterday to start my training. The training will take 2 months, of which the second month will take place in Manchester. So after one month of preparations in Guatemala, we'll leave with a group of 29 people to work with the people in Manchester and after another month we'll be completely responsible ourselves. The weird thing is that the people in Manchester that will teach us the job, will loose that job to us, so it's most likely gonna be an awkward situation, both for us and for them.. Anyway, it's gonna be very interesting for us to learn so many new things in the coming months and to experience such a big change process from the inside, so I'm looking forward to it.
Expect another blog from me after our trip to El Salvador in the weekend of 5 and 6 September!
Pieter
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23 Augustus 2009 - 19:25
Mirjam:
Exxon wil je straks vast niet meer kwijt...
Meer gezelligheid thuis is toch wel erg leuk voor je.
En wat Manchester betreft: I'm looking forward to it too! -
24 Augustus 2009 - 07:57
Krista:
Ik heb net Exxon even opgezocht in onze database en ze doen het niet slecht op CSR gebied :p Wel een verschil zeg, Guatemala en Manchester! Nouja je voetbalhart zal zich in ieder geval wel thuisvoelen daar ;) Succes met je aanpassen aan alle veranderingen, maar dat lukt vast wel! x -
02 September 2009 - 11:22
Paul:
Ben benieuwd naar een nieuwe update, met nog meer nieuws over huisvesting en een andere wijk met weer een andere sfeer.
Kun je eens iets vertellen over Exxon en hun postie op CSR-gebied (vraag van Krista). Exxon heeft natuurlijk nog altijd een oud vuiltje uit de (pere-) historie met het vergaan van de Exxon-Valdez -
04 September 2009 - 10:01
Paul:
ik zie nu mijn typefout: pere-historie. heeft niets met appels te maken, ook niet met peren; was dat maar zo. Dedoelde natuurlijk PRE-historie
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