Its always a bit daunting meeting a large group of people you are going to work with for the first time, but with the added complication of the language barrier, you just end up with a jumble of names that you have no chance of remembering and feel like a bug under a microscope...especially as your probably the only 'white man' in the country with long hair. The Emerson boys are all young, smartly turned out, keen and largely inexperienced. I work with Henrique Ficker, a name that a I have to be careful writing down or things could get a bit embarrassing! He’s a big lad, doesn't say anymore than he has to, likes his beer and food, but has a ‘dark sense of humor and is into heavy rock on the quite, so we get on well. Chris works with Felipe, pretty serious most of the time but he’s coming out of his shell and is very good at his job. Sean is with Rhuan (pron Juan), the joker, never shuts up and has a never ending supply of stories and tales – he will actually be very useful when the plant starts up as his English is very good.
There is a girl working on the system too, called Tami, who is lively to say the least, with a quick and wicked sense of humor. She keeps all the lads in there place as she’s quite senior and she’s the only who’s put us on to places to go to eat - see below.
Progress has been generally slow, as things were not completed before our arrival, and the plan has been too ambitious. But things have picked up at work recently, and we are now maybe only 3 or 4 days behind plan. It is demanding a lot of the Emerson people, who are working 6 and 7 day weeks, and 10-12 hour days during the week. Their continued good humor is a credit to them.