As part of my university program, I was required to take a six-month internship at a tech company to complete my third year. Most of my fellow students choose some German company close to home. I, however, was invited to work in Panama for the website of an online friend that I met through IRC. When I first arrived at my new workplace, straight from the airport, I was stunned to see that the office was inside a huge mansion at the top of a hill. Not your typical tech office, but a peach coloured bunker, with a sky observatory on the roof. Later I learned that it was built by a former NASA employee obsessed with earthquakes, explaining those thick walls. The construction was still ongoing at the time and has probably never been finished.
The boss and my friend had their living quarters at the top floor, my guest room was at the ground level, right next to the main entry. However the first couple months I was mostly alone outside of office hours, together with Charlie the three-legged guard dog, the laundry lady who exclusively used bleach for every housekeeping problem and a small army of construction workers all named Jesus. We didn’t talk much, just casual hola’ every now and then… since my Spanish was spotty at best and they didn’t speak any English at all. Often it was lonely to be honest, as I was a bit starved for meaningful interaction. Charlie understood.