Vienna Fourth and Fifth Day

Vienna Fourth Day


Well, I was going to do some sight seeing today, but the weather was awful. Cold and rainy, I walked to the U1 line transit station at the VIC and turned around and came back to the hotel. Oh well. A nothing day.


There will be plenty of time to sight see on future Sundays. Most stores are closed on Sunday so shopping is impractical. Saturday is for shopping as most stores are only open till 19:00 (7:00 PM) during the week and I won't get home till after 18:00 once I start making the commute to Siebersdorf.


Vienna Fifth Day


First day on the job. It went well enough. Got my permanent badge. Had my entrance interview with the HR person.



Purchased a "handy" which is a Vienese term for mobile phone. If one wants the number, e-mail me but remember that international calls are expensive and also that Vienna is 7 hours ahead of Chicago, so that when it is 18:00 in Chicago it is 1 in the morning in Vienna. Also I am at work from 8 to 17:30 which is 1 in the morning to 10:30 in Chicago and shouoldn't take personal calls then except in emergencies.


I had two serindipitous encounters in the elevators today. First when riding up to SAL's office in the VIC (again SAL is the Safeguards Analytical Laboratory which is in Siebersdorf and when I say "office" I mean literally a room in a large office campus which is the Vienna International Center where the IAEA's world headquarters are located along with several other UN agencies) an old co-worker from NBL, Bruce Moran, got on the elevator. I worked with Bruce in the early 80's and I knew he had recently started (it turns out last week) at the IAEA as a section chief in the IAEA headquarters. I have his office number and I left him my handy number.


Then riding down the elevator to the housing office, I ran into a woman that runs the new employee orientation program. Since she saw that I had a permanent badge and that she didn't recognize me, she asked me if I was a new employee. So even though I am not in the system yet, I will be able to attend the new employee orientation program tomorrow instead of later in the month.


I still don't know if I got the house I want, of if I will have to settle for that apartment in the 2nd district. The housing department will let me know tomorrow.