Hi everyone,

It has only been three months since my first introduction but many changes happened around us.

Today in the US, we are still working from home. I, like many of my colleagues, miss working at the office, especially on Fridays.

This period of COVID-19 made me reflect and appreciate the many small things in my life. Hence in this blog post, I want to share some of my favorite elements of the Boston office.

1. Culture of eating together: We would almost always eat together at our standing kitchen table, regardless how busy we are. Sometimes on Fridays, the table would be too crowded that there would be multiple rounds of people. It is a great way for us to take a small break from our computer and to catch up with each other.

2. Culture of sharing home-made goods: we have many great bakers in the office, so we often see plenty of baked goods brought in to the office. Sometimes our partner would bring in a homemade cake for special celebrations, holidays or just Fridays!

3. Culture of community: The Boston office has many colleagues with international background. As a result, I find we are a close community that not only work together but also share fun events together outside of work. We sometimes get together afterwork on Fridays to eat at a restaurant and sometimes invited to each other's homes for special celebrations, sports game and more.

4. Culture of mentorship: since the first day I started, I always felt supported. Regardless of how busy we are, we always make some time for each other. Sometimes a colleague would volunteer to host a training for excel tricks, a recent project learning, or a new digital tool, and sometimes a colleague would spend 10-15 minutes helping me out with a question.

5. Culture of fun: Boston is a talent hub for many sports teams: football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and more. While I am not a die heart sport fan before moving to Boston, it has certain grown on me over time from listening to my colleagues talking about it animatedly and patiently explaining to me the rules of the games. In our office, we also have our own ping-pong table, football, soccer ball and plenty of puzzles for us to take a break after work.

Above are just five of the many elements that I appreciate of the Boston office. I am looking forward to sharing more of my learnings and experience in the blog posts to come.

Till next time!