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I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock blasting at 5 AM, I turned it off and then I realized that it's my first day at the museum. So I did my morning routine shower, shave and wardrobe routine. In the process I usually place my hair in a ponytail, but I thought that since I am starting a new job, I should place my hair in a bun.
I went to the kitchen, poured myself a bowl of cereal, sat in front of the TV and just watched the news for a bit. At 6:45, I began to gather my things which included the bag with my laptop, lab notebooks and papers in it. I also grabbed a brown paper bag and placed a turkey sandwich and a small container of salad in there for my lunch because I don't know how much the food costs and I cannot afford to take that risk at the moment. So I left my apartment and walked to the Blue Line stop and got on the train towards Forest Park. After getting on the train, I just tried to look out the window to see if the passing light could help me calm down. I then got off the Blue Line and transferred to the Red Line stop at Jackson, and that is when I saw her again. It was that woman I saw after my interview with the black hair and strands of indigo. She just seemed to be talking to the person next to her, and I took my phone out so just in case if she notices me, she would think I was just scrolling through my phone instead intentionally trying to catch a glimpse of her. After only five minutes I hear the CTA intercoms blare out
This is Roosevelt, doors open on the left at Roosevelt
This was my stop, so I got off from my seat and exited the train. When I reached street level, the weather was warm but not hot, with a gentle breeze from the lake to help cool me down on occasion. As I was walking in the direction of the museum, I noticed that the woman from the train fifty feet in front of me and since I saw her at the museum that one time, I suppose she just also works there and this is her same route to work.
After around ten minutes, I got to the museum and after the woman in front of me entered, I entered through the glass doors and there were two or three long desks which were for visitors to check in and a separate desk for employees to sign in. So I got in the line, I checked the time on my phone, and I was relieved to find out that it was 7:30 because I usually like to arrive to work early. While I was checking my phone screen, I then heard a voice call out
"Hey Edwin! Over here!"
So I got my eyes off the screen and I saw that it was Beshte who called me from the desk, who was calling me because I was next in line to check in. I walked up to the desk and I took my temporary ID out of my pocket.
"Hey Beshte, just in case you didn't figure it out already, I got the job! Oh, and here is my temporary ID for this week." After he placed my ID on the counter and reached for a high-five
"Congrats! I can't wait to get to know you more!" He replied
"Thanks, I wish I could have told you during my orientation Saturday, but some other guard was in front of the lab."
With a little bit of realization, he replied, "Oh yeah, I think you're talking about Kion, he sometimes works on Saturdays, did he had long red hair?"
"Oh yes, he did!" I replied.
"Okay, that was definitely Kion you saw." Beshte stated, while he was checking my ID through the scanner, eventually giving the ID back to me.
"Okay, have a good first day." He said
"You too!" I replied
After only five or six steps, I heard one of the other security guards raise their voice.
"Bunga! For the fifth time, stop throwing paper airplanes onto my desk, it is driving me crazy," a female voice said.
"Oh come on Fuli, what am I supposed to do before eight?" A male voice next to her said.
"Well I don't know, maybe actually do some work, that's why we come here in the first place." Fuli replied sarcastically.
I snickered a little bit from hearing this banter. I eventually reached the staircase with the white tarp covering something the center. I went to the entrance to the genetics lab and I gave my ID to the security guard by the entrance. After he scanned and gave back my ID, I entered through the doors into the lab and I decided to swing by Ma Tembo's office to let her know I'm here. So I went to her office door and it was slightly ajar, but I decided to knock on it anyway just out of respect.
"Come in" she said. I walked into the office and I noticed that she was just looking at some stuff on her laptop. She then looked towards me and started to smile.
"Oh hi Edwin, it's a pleasure to see you! I almost forgot that you start working with us today. Let me just finish this email so I can introduce you to the rest of our team."
"Okay, no problem." I replied. I waited for only a minute or two, again browsing at the painting with the strange rock formation again. I kept wondering why the artists painted the rock formation that particular way. Was it based off a real location or was it something from their imagination. I then heard Ma Tembo's door open and she walked out with her lab coat on, she seems to notice that I was looking at the painting.
"Ah I see you noticed one of Rafiki's paintings." Ma Tembo said.
"Wait? The human resources director painted this? I remembered him telling me that he was into painting portraits and such but I didn't realize he actually did art for the museum."
"Actually he does not usually do art for the museum, it was more of a personal gift to try to make us feel more at home ever since the...oh there's no need to go into detail about why he did it, he paints during his free time along with a bunch of other stuff. The only thing he is not that fond of is technology for some reason."
"Oh yeah, I noticed that he was struggling with his camera and laptop when he was taking my ID photo." I recalled
"Yeah, he has been good at so many things but for some reason he just doesn't seem to adapt well to technology, but anyway let's head to your station and introduce you to the team." She said.
She then lead me a few steps to a small empty room which just contains a desk, a computer, a small black cabinet and a half full bookshelf that has a few books and scientific journals on topics in biochemistry, genetics and evolutionary science. Ma Tembo then tapped my shoulder while presenting a ring with four keys. One key is a larger brass key while the other three are smaller steel keys.
"So this will be the office that you can do any of your non-lab work in, such as publication of research, typing reports or even consulting with either other scientists or museum researchers. The larger key of this ring is the key to this office, while the other keys are for your office cabinet, lab equipment cabinets and chemical storeroom access." Ma Tembo said while going through the keys before giving them to me.
"Okay, thank you, is it okay if I just put some of my stuff away before we head to the lab?" I asked
"Sure, knock yourself out." She gently replied.
I then place my bag that contains both my personal items and lunch underneath my new desk and then proceeded to follow Ma Tembo out of the office.
Ma Tembo led me down the hallway, to the lab in which some people were either preparing their stations or were just getting here. I also saw a few people in lab coats who looked as if they were still in high school or college, I'm assuming that those are interns for the summer. I began to look at some of the other people that were present in the lab. For example, I noticed one guy who was around his forties or early fifties with dark brown-almost black hair with white framed glasses, while there was also a woman who looked about my age and she had brown hair that reached to the bottom of her cheeks, blue framed glasses, and she seemed to be focused on organizing her desk in an eager manner. Another was a woman with dark brown hair and has her hair in a braided ponytail.
Ma Tembo then led me to a station that has a computer, a box of micropipette tips of varying sizes, some micropipettes on a standee, a cabinet with some additional glassware and a cleared table to the right of the station for which I assume is for any lab work I might want to do near my desk. In the chair in front of it, there was a lab coat on it and checked it to see if there was a name on it. The lab coat was blank so I put it on and it was a little big, but it will do for now.
"Okay Edwin, here is your station for when you do the laboratory portion of any research endeavors with a glassware cabinet to your left and as I told you in orientation, the chemical store room is through that door in the far right." She said while pointing towards the door.
She then face the group of younger people and raised her voice.
"Excuse me but any interns or summer help, please report to the back lab to discuss today's agenda; I'll join you in five minutes."
With that the group of interns emptied into the back section of the lab, which was actually in the room next door to the main lab. After all the interns cleared out, it was just Ma Tembo, four other people and myself were left in the main Tembo then approached me and then faced the group.
"As for the rest of you, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our team. This is Dr. Edwin Mariani, he previously done research for Genico Pharmaceuticals and Graduate Research at the University of Chicago. He has a strong background in researching environmental impacts on genome, which is why I think that he is a perfect fit for our research into the evolutionary genetics of lichen native to northern Illinois over the past five decades."
I then started to feel nervous, wanting to make a good first impression, so I just said.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to start working with you, I hope that we will get along well and I can't wait to work on further scientific endeavors." After that there was just a course of smiles and nodding. Ma Tembo then walked me towards the guy with the dark hair and white-framed glasses.
"So Edwin, this is Dr. Bupu Palahala, or research associate, you actually spoke to him on the phone a while ago. He conducted your phone interview a while back." She said.
"Oh yeah, now I remember, it a pleasure to finally meet you in person and I'm looking forward to working with you." I said.
"Likewise, though initially, I was not expecting someone with long-hair," Bupu said, Ma Tembo started to glare at Bupu, as if she was worried he offended me in some way.
"Yeah I get that a lot, you won't believe how many times I get confused for a yoga instructor." I lightly joked and there was some light laughter in the room.
Ma Tembo then gestured towards the woman with the braided ponytail, "This is Dr. Vuruga Nyati, one of our senior researchers."
"Nice to meet you Vuruga" I said.
"You too," She replied in an easygoing tone. Then Ma Tembo gestured towards a guy with short, black curly hair and a goatee.
"This is Dr. Peter Jones, he is a researcher that is working on a separate project that is in collaboration with the Field Museum and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in Berkeley."
I reached my handout and shook his hand as I did for Bupu and Vuruga.
"Hello Peter, I hope you have adapted well to Chicago weather during your stay," I said
"Oh it was tough at first but I got used to it, after like six or seven months," He replied.
"You should have heard him when he first got ...Oww!" Bupu said before Vuruga punched him in the arm.
Ma Tembo then directed me towards the younger woman with the blue framed glasses.
"Now Edwin I would like to introduce you to.." But before Ma Tembo could finish, the other woman interrupted, eagerly shook my hand and began to talk.
"Hi Edwin, I'm Makini! Well, my full name is Dr. Makini Mwanafunzi, but I'm not that into those stuffy titles. Anyway, I can't wait to work with you, well.. along with our other colleagues to be specific. Oh and I love your hair, if it wasn't in a bun, then you might look like a lion. Who knows we might even become best friends and hangout after work or something.." Makini said in a fast and speedy manner.
After she finished, I was still trying to catch up on what she said while gently shaking her hand.
"I'm looking forward to working with you too." I said in a slower pace, still in recovery from the speed conversation that just happened 30 seconds ago. Ma Tembo then began to walk away from the group.
"Well, I hope you get along well, I have to give the interns their agendas now." Ma Tembo said while walking towards the back lab. I then turned to the rest of the group.
"So, I heard that you guys plan to research the environmental impacts on lichen genomes, have you guys collected any samples or have any control samples yet?" I asked.
"Well yes, the museum actually has archived samples of approximately six different genuses of lichen from each decade beginning from the 1960's and we have recently collected new samples of those lichen, with six species of each genus, over the past week or two" Bupu replied.
"Okay, do you want to conduct a gel electrophoresis, or are you guys on the sequencing phase right now?" I asked.
"Oh we just collected the samples last week, and we plan to separate the DNA of specific proteins through gel electrophoresis, and this week we are focusing on the punctelia genus of lichen." Vuruga added.
"Okay, I have experience in gel electrophoresis so I would be happy to help you guys with it, including making the agarose gel." I replied.
"Okay, let's get started then, better now than never at all." Makini added.
With that, I put on some gloves and I gathered the materials for the gels. So far nothing seemed to go wrong, a few minutes later, a few of the interns came over to help us with our preparations, while Ma Tembo and the rest of the interns went to work on a separate research inquiry that she has been working on.
After about three or four hours, I finished preparing the agar gel casting trays and placed them in a lab fridge for an hour or two, so that they can solidify.
I just put away the hot plate I was using to make the agarose gel, and before I got back to my station, Makini suddenly approached me.
"Hi Edwin, I'm just wondering, after the work we did on the agar gels, Bupu, Vuruga and I are heading to the lower floor dining hall for lunch, and since it's your first day I was wondering if you want to join us?"
I was a little surprised that someone offered me to join them for lunch. This practically never happened to me, not since I dated my ex-girlfriend in college. I thought that it wouldn't hurt to get to know my colleagues better.
"Sure, I actually brought a lunch from home, so I'll be with you guys in two minutes." I replied
"No problem, just meet us by the door to the hallway." Makini replied while heading towards the door.
I began to organize my station so that everything is put away in a safe manner and took one of my notebooks with me. I went in the hallway that lead to my office, and once I arrived at my office; I placed the lab notebook in the black cabinet, closed the drawer, went to my bag under the desk and grabbed the paper bag that contains my lunch and I left to meet the group by the exit.