20 - Week 3 4ieme: Parles-tu franglais? - Geneve
Thursday, March 13
Today I might have spoken too much English, my French wasn't coming as smoothly as usual but I suppose it's nice to oblige the people who'd like to practice with an American. I'll highlight three conversations:
1) I asked my coworker and friend his opinion about how the teams in R&D are structure on site. He visited my site last year and know about the differences between here and there, but I was curious about his perspective on how we as engineers interact with chemists or other engineers. I think the jump in team size necessitates some of these differences but I suppose this is an important question to understand my place in the company, it's players, and the system it all comprises.
2) an operator in the control room was saying he wanted to improve his English but it was hard cause his work environment was all French. He'd spent many years working for other French/Swiss pharma or agrochem companies. We didn't talk long but I thought it was super cool someone wanted to practice even if he wasn't super confident in his English yet.
3) the youngest engineer on my team here is from Madagascar, so she gave me a 5 minute spiel about vanilla: it's an orchid transplanted from central America to La Réunion and Madagascar. Being non-native, the vanilla flowers have to be hand-pollinated and hand picked. Processing involves blanching and then drying to varying levels of moisture: too much moisture and the bean pod might spoil, too little and you don't get that attractive glossy sheen. Locally, it often features as an additive for rhum agra, a rum drink made by infusing fruits for long periods of time.
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