was something I repeated over and over again this morning as I could not open the door to our new office. I am not exaggerating when I say that I waited outside of the door for 2 hours. I’m usually the first to arrive in the morning at 7:50am and my boss didn’t get there until 9:40. I simply could not get one of the keys to turn in the lock. The keys here are very different from what I’m used to in the U.S.: antique-looking with slots cut in on the sides. There’s nothing quite so humbling as when you are unable to do a simple mechanical task you do multiple times a day. At least I wasn’t alone in failing- the building’s doorman couldn’t open the door with my key either.

Of course my boss arrived and opened the door on the first try with his key.