Hablas espanol?

Today was the moment of truth; how well have I learned to speak and understand Spanish??  I thought I was doing pretty well with my Spanish by studying with Rosetta Stone.  The real test is when you can't fall back on English as a crutch.  Needless to say, I have a ways to go before I am fluent at Spanish.

Today, we went to the corporate office of Groupo Bimbo for our introductions.  Our meeting time was at 10:00am so we were told to leave at 8:45am.  From our hotel to HQ it is only 18 miles.  We did not arrive at the office until five after ten.  Traffic in Mexico City is intense!!  Picture NYC on steroids with lax traffic laws.  The streets are absolutely packed.  In order to make it anywhere in this city you better be an aggressive driver or you might as well stay home. 

When we arrived at Groupo Bimbo we met with Elena Carrillo.  She is one of the associates in charge with organizing our training while here in Mexico.  I believe she is in her mid-twenties.  Very nice young woman.  She took us on the grand tour of the building.  It is a 4 story building with a large open corridor from the first floor to the 4th floor.  It is complete with a cafeteria, convenience store, gym, bank, and its own doctor.  They are in the process of moving some of the departments around so a lot of the building is under construction.  Overall, it is a pretty impressive office building.  

At HQ, they have tons of displays that show all the different brands that fall under Groupo Bimbo.  It is crazy impressive.  One thing that keeps getting me is that we distribute Wonder Bread in Mexico!  In the North, they are our sworn enemies!!

  View from outside the 4th floor.

After the tour, we sat down with Alicia, our language teacher so she could determine what level we are at Spanish.  She briefly chatted with each of us where she quickly found out that my Spanish needs some work (I agree).  It was decided that I will be taking Spanish lessons twice a week, Thursday and Friday, for 2 hours, from 7:00 to 9:00pm.  I am very much looking forward to these classes. 

Next we met with Ruben Guerrero, another associate that is helping out with our training.  He took us through our program and what is expected of us while we are training in Mexico.  Oh, by the way, everything that has been explained to us is in Spanish (which is a good thing).  I can understand the general concept of most conversations but sometimes have difficulty with details.  Our instructors are very patient and do not mind explaining things in English.  Plus, Jose speaks very good Spanish so I look to him when I do not fully understand something.  He has been tremendously helpful.

Ruben covered top line business at Groupo Bimbo, expectations, code of conduct, and dress code with us.  They hold their employees to a very high standard weather is be how they act or their appearance and dress code.  While on the market, the salesmen have very strict dress codes.  They are told what to wear down to the color of their sox and belt!  Also, you must be clean shaven at all times (Bill, I hope you are reading this).  On Thursday, when I begin my market tours, I will be given a uniform to wear.  I definitely over packed.....

We took lunch around 2:00pm in the corporate cafeteria.  Lunch seems like a very communal activity.  The whole place was packed with people eating and socializing.  It was very interesting.

After lunch, Ruben gave us a quick de-brief of what we will be doing the next couple days.  Tomorrow, Joe, Jose, Chico and I will be participating in a cultural introduction course.  This is an all day course taught by a 3rd party.  I am looking forward to getting some more insight into the Mexican culture.