Stereotypes

We always tend to categorise and stereotype anything new we see/experience. After spending the last two days on site, I have today come to a conclusion that a certain stereotype regarding genders is true. Essentially in the sugar mill, you can sort of separate the plant into 3 different areas: engineering, the actual operation of the plant and laboratory testing of samples from various parts of the process and to make sure that the farmers are being paid what they should be. 

I've spent half the day in the engineering office actually working - female-wise, there is only myself as an engineer on this site. I've spent majority of yesterday and today in the plant itself and have met at least half of the operators - all of which are males, I've also only seen perhaps 2-3 female operators so far. Having just been introduced to the lab this afternoon, it is fairly safe to say that everyone in there are female.

From my observations, my conclusion was that the stereotype of males do the hard labour and thinking jobs while females do the soft, nothing too brain-consuming jobs is true. I may or may not have offended some people here and I know for a fact that this is NOT always true. It just so happens that on this site, I feel that this stereotype holds.

***

I wish coffee worked, or something does. Every morning at 8am we have a meeting and every time I am struggling to stay focused.

Settling In

Work hours: 7am to 3:50pm. (So early!)
Project: collecting mud samples from various points of the process and determining their purity. (Meh)
Housemates: one really cute guy and one rather nerdy and super quiet guy.
Town: might as well be nothing, at least I don't have to try and decide whether to "explore" the town or not.
People in general: very very nice and extremely knowledgeable in the sugar industry.
Connection to the outside world: phone has no reception but the housemates do have wifi here. (Hence why I'm here.)

Verdict: I don't really see myself staying here in the long term scheme of things. Actually I'm kinda glad this is only for 3 weeks and not 3 months so I dunno how I would've handled it if I actually took their grad offer and stayed here for 3 years.

Ready? Maybe

I have officially been finished with exams for 10 days now! And incredulously I've been out and about for all 10 days. This is definitely the most productive holiday (in terms of socialising) I've had since... well since probably year 10. I'm glad I decided to take advantage of everyone wanting to go out because I'll be working for the next 3 weeks up in whoop whoop. By whoop whoop, I really mean Pioneer/Brandon. That is a whole 14 hour drive away from my home! There's no internet but I certainly hope there is air con.

I'll be working on a sugar mill (in case you don't know what that does, it's the whole process whereby sugar canes grown on farms are converted into edible sugar we see in our supermarkets). Sugar milling is a seasonal process so I think I'll be doing a lot of maintenance work Sugar milling is definitely not an industry I even gave half a thought about throughout my 4 years of study. It's probably not something I'll be thinking of much after I finish my vac work either. Alas, such is life. My path is destined to cross with the history of Queensland sugar milling. This is probably not the ideal start but it's definitely a start. I hope all goes well.

** I think I'll have a lot of spare time once I start working so I can finally start blogging about the last 2 years of my life in more detail... (yes I know I've been slack).