I report to Floor Negative 1?

It's hard to begin to describe the last two days, and I can't possibly describe all of it, but I'll try to keep it brief for today and throw out some highlights since I don't have a lot of time. I'll elaborate more in the next couple of days over a series of posts:

1) Walking into the UN each morning? Yep, it's as yippee cool as you would imagine. I'm a damn lucky girl and I'm trying not to take it for granted.

2) Defining cultural barrier moment of Day One: I ask one of the people I share an office with (who is French) if is there is a water fountain or water cooler nearby. He turns to me and says, "No, but the water in the toilets is a nice temperature. You can drink that."

I stare at him wide-eyed for a moment, wondering if this is some cute joke or if is he just insulting little monolingual me. Then I realize that when he says toilets, he means the restroom, and that I could drink water from the faucet. International crisis averted.

3) While the UN is incredible, it doesn't come equipped with a Bat Cave full of nifty technology to save the world. In fact, they use the same e-mail and database system I used at ACS, and they put most of their docs on a massive shared drive. And you can't find a stack of post-it notes or file folders in there to save your life. Kofi Annan must have taken them with him when he left.

4) I'm beginning to have a seasonal love affair with Vienna. I know I'll be cursing when it gets bloody hot in a couple of months, and I was cursing when it was snowing in November, but honestly right now it is some of the most beautiful weather I've ever been in. It makes the city even more breathtaking, and the fact that it is incredibly walkable makes it even better.

Gotta run for now, but I hope to put a big long post on here in the next day or so.