Another eventful week has passed. More work, a little more admin resolved, badminton, an offer submitted for a flat and some language humour.
Spent long hours at work with little to show. If I thought it was hard getting people to do work on my projects at Cat, it is even harder when you just have to get one person to do stuff and he doesn't want to. He got pissed off with me (for being on his back all the time) and I got pissed off with him (for not doing anything and walking out on me - in his office!) It all culminated in us having it out on Thursday and the most productive 2 hours of the week. Hopefully, we have cleared the air and we can get things done more quickly from now on.
Finally got to talk to my Development Manager to get my leave approved (and talk about other things like training, development, admin etc but my main concern was to get my Sept leave in the system). She sounds very nice and we hope to meet each other soon.
Played badminton with a couple of the girls working on other projects in Aberdeen. One is my 'buddy' (assigned person to be available to answer any questions - she just happens to be working in the same city as me at the moment, coincidence!). She is incredibly tall & blonde (Swedish mother and Scottish father) and is a sports nut (was a triathlete but now just works out in the gym, runs and plays volleyball). I restrained myself admirably during the session and was happy to feel no lingering effects the next day.
Taffy and I went looking for flats again on Saturday. We finally made up our minds and put in an offer on a 2 bed flat in Woolwich Arsenal. It is a lovely flat with views of the Thames. The paperwork is going to be an interesting process as I'm not sure that we have everything exactly as they want it.
Taffy got a job during the week and starts on Monday. Well done, Taffy! We had a laugh about the both of us doing 2 of the most stressful things in life at the same time (starting a new job and moving house). We concluded that we are both idiots. : )
As we were putting together a list of things that we would need to buy for our new flat, we discovered that we have the same problem - we don't know the English words for some household items. The problem is that most objects inside the house have always been referred to by their names in Cantonese at home and never in English. This makes things difficult when you are trying to make a list and can't write the words in Chinese. English spellings of the Cantonese words will have to do. I think this is the real definition of Chinglish.
Will be up in Aberdeen from Mon to Wed and then down in Surrey for Thurs & Fri for a networking/training conference with some of the other people at work.
I'm planning to stay up in Scotland one weekend and take a drive down to Stirling to see 'my' castle.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Afternoon Tea At A Mansion
I attended the PLC Old Collegians afternoon tea yesterday down in Weybridge, Surrey. The youngest person there after me graduated from PLC in 1960. The oldest was the host who graduated in 1940 (I guessed her age to be ~84). She would have to be one of the most tremendously eccentric people I have met. All of the attendees met on the train at Waterloo and then took a couple of taxis to Shirley's place. The house just had a name (Beech Hill House), no number, so I was expecting a mansion. And it was. Sweeping drive up to a fountain in front of the house with beautiful gardens. I heard later that a couple of the others found a wood on the property. A wood?! Shirley was married to the president of Shell. He passed away a couple of years ago and she has been spending her time in Surrey (3 months of the year) and Geneva (9 months of the year) since. She spends much of her time managing their estates and money.
When we arrived, she came down the stairs to greet us in red high heels and a Singapore Girl outfit. It later transpired that she had talked to a Singapore Girl during one of her trips in Asia and had been given the name of the tailor who makes the uniforms. She had a couple made for herself (aside: there is no way any normal person would fit into one of the actual uniforms of the Singapore Girls - average size 2). She was heavily made up with black eyeliner, aqua eyeshadow and red lipstick. To complete the picture, she had on a red headband.
She showed us some videos of her skiing, hang-gliding and parasetting (spelling? Same as hang-gliding but with a parachute). The videos were of her in her late 70s. Phenomenal.
The other ladies were not quite so glamorous. All had worked through their lives but only the youngest was still working part-time. Some pioneering women as you would expect from PLC Old Collegians, even such a small sample.
They had incredible memories. Put me to shame. They reminisced about teachers they had for geography, gym and the like from 50+ years ago! I can't even remember 12 years back. : (
I found out that Kalika (what is pork from?) is in the UK. Must catch up with her.
More on work. I was called on Monday evening to get in contact with the Senior Project Manager on a project in Aberdeen. Went up on Tuesday morning and will be travelling back and forth until the end of July. Have been pulled in to the end of the project to help get tasks completed. This apparently means that I will be babysitting one of the module leaders to make sure he gets things done. Things are better now that I know what I am doing for the next 5 weeks but very tired because of a cold, the long hours and the travel.
Still looking for a house. Taffy and I went to see a place in East Acton. We almost made an offer but it was too expensive. If we had got it, all three of the Yiu kids would have been living near a prison, which I thought would have been quite amusing. Went down to see Woolwich Arsenal, which is looking like a good option at this stage. Cheap but beautiful and new and not too far from central London.
Back to Aberdeen tomorrow morning. May get a chance to play some badminton on Thursday or they may decide to go drinking instead. I know which option I would prefer but it is probably the minority opinion...
When we arrived, she came down the stairs to greet us in red high heels and a Singapore Girl outfit. It later transpired that she had talked to a Singapore Girl during one of her trips in Asia and had been given the name of the tailor who makes the uniforms. She had a couple made for herself (aside: there is no way any normal person would fit into one of the actual uniforms of the Singapore Girls - average size 2). She was heavily made up with black eyeliner, aqua eyeshadow and red lipstick. To complete the picture, she had on a red headband.
She showed us some videos of her skiing, hang-gliding and parasetting (spelling? Same as hang-gliding but with a parachute). The videos were of her in her late 70s. Phenomenal.
The other ladies were not quite so glamorous. All had worked through their lives but only the youngest was still working part-time. Some pioneering women as you would expect from PLC Old Collegians, even such a small sample.
They had incredible memories. Put me to shame. They reminisced about teachers they had for geography, gym and the like from 50+ years ago! I can't even remember 12 years back. : (
I found out that Kalika (what is pork from?) is in the UK. Must catch up with her.
More on work. I was called on Monday evening to get in contact with the Senior Project Manager on a project in Aberdeen. Went up on Tuesday morning and will be travelling back and forth until the end of July. Have been pulled in to the end of the project to help get tasks completed. This apparently means that I will be babysitting one of the module leaders to make sure he gets things done. Things are better now that I know what I am doing for the next 5 weeks but very tired because of a cold, the long hours and the travel.
Still looking for a house. Taffy and I went to see a place in East Acton. We almost made an offer but it was too expensive. If we had got it, all three of the Yiu kids would have been living near a prison, which I thought would have been quite amusing. Went down to see Woolwich Arsenal, which is looking like a good option at this stage. Cheap but beautiful and new and not too far from central London.
Back to Aberdeen tomorrow morning. May get a chance to play some badminton on Thursday or they may decide to go drinking instead. I know which option I would prefer but it is probably the minority opinion...
Sunday, June 10, 2007
First Week At Work
The first week at work was very traumatic for me and I handled it disappointingly poorly. The actual work sounds very interesting and challenging when I finally get to do it but the admin left a lot to be desired. Perhaps it was because there were so many of us starting at the same time. Perhaps not.
I feel, as I head into my second week, that I should be more appreciative of the admin at Cat, especially the induction week. I distinctly recall Don giving us all mobile phones and packs of forms to fill out for credit cards, frequent flyers, rental car etc etc. Once we returned the forms, the cards came quite quickly. Here, no forms, no mobile, no credit card (they are in transition between cards but the new one will be Amex, which is not recognised everywhere). Pay using your own credit card and we reimburse you. Use your own mobile phone, print out your bill and charge back the relevant bits. This is all well and good if you have a credit card and a contracted mobile phone, which I don't. As I said during the week, I don't like the idea of having to pay for the pleasure of working.
The other area of disappointment was the lack of organisation of projects. We were all to go on project visits on Thursday but most did not find out where to go until late Tuesday afternoon. Then there was a mad rush to book tickets & hotels. There were no breaks in the program and people were told off for not being present at the forums because they were busy organising their trips. We were told during the week that we would know where we were going in our second week by Thursday or Friday. On Friday morning, we were told that we didn't have projects assigned yet so we were to wait for a call on Monday to tell us what training we were to attend for the rest of the week. On Friday afternoon, we were told, no, we were going to be assigned projects but we would be told where on Monday so show up at the office with our bags packed for the rest of the week. Could be anywhere in Western Europe. What the...?!
Anyway, I ended up going to Dublin with my colleague, Rolf (like the 17 going on 18 kid in Sound of Music), who is Norwegian, going to be based in Sweden and speaks English, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Spanish and a bit of Italian. Used to speak French but has forgotten most of it. :) The content of the trip was great. We visited a project at a pharmaceutical company. Things started to fall into place and make sense. It was a long day, though, waking up at 4am and getting to bed at 11.30 that night.
I am not a 'fly by the seat of your pants' type of person (unlike Michael). I am naturally organised and like things controlled so that I don't get stressed. Perhaps this has made me less able to cope with others being completely disorganised. I can see that there will be lots of deep breaths at least in the next week or two.
Met up with Taffy on Saturday for a house-hunting expedition. We wandered through neighbourhoods that ranged from lovely all the way to downright dodgy. We ended up at the burnt out shell of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. The house-hunting will continue...
Bought a phone on contract today online. Will have to switch my number over to it when it comes.
Going to a PLC Old Collegians afternoon tea next Saturday down in Surrey. The house of the lady who is hosting it has no number, just a name and has 'ample parking space' out front. Looking forward to seeing whether it is a mansion. :)
Grandma had brain surgery on Thursday to remove the tumour. It went well but she got a lung infection yesterday. My aunt and cousin from the US were visiting last week and my aunt is still there.
I feel, as I head into my second week, that I should be more appreciative of the admin at Cat, especially the induction week. I distinctly recall Don giving us all mobile phones and packs of forms to fill out for credit cards, frequent flyers, rental car etc etc. Once we returned the forms, the cards came quite quickly. Here, no forms, no mobile, no credit card (they are in transition between cards but the new one will be Amex, which is not recognised everywhere). Pay using your own credit card and we reimburse you. Use your own mobile phone, print out your bill and charge back the relevant bits. This is all well and good if you have a credit card and a contracted mobile phone, which I don't. As I said during the week, I don't like the idea of having to pay for the pleasure of working.
The other area of disappointment was the lack of organisation of projects. We were all to go on project visits on Thursday but most did not find out where to go until late Tuesday afternoon. Then there was a mad rush to book tickets & hotels. There were no breaks in the program and people were told off for not being present at the forums because they were busy organising their trips. We were told during the week that we would know where we were going in our second week by Thursday or Friday. On Friday morning, we were told that we didn't have projects assigned yet so we were to wait for a call on Monday to tell us what training we were to attend for the rest of the week. On Friday afternoon, we were told, no, we were going to be assigned projects but we would be told where on Monday so show up at the office with our bags packed for the rest of the week. Could be anywhere in Western Europe. What the...?!
Anyway, I ended up going to Dublin with my colleague, Rolf (like the 17 going on 18 kid in Sound of Music), who is Norwegian, going to be based in Sweden and speaks English, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Spanish and a bit of Italian. Used to speak French but has forgotten most of it. :) The content of the trip was great. We visited a project at a pharmaceutical company. Things started to fall into place and make sense. It was a long day, though, waking up at 4am and getting to bed at 11.30 that night.
I am not a 'fly by the seat of your pants' type of person (unlike Michael). I am naturally organised and like things controlled so that I don't get stressed. Perhaps this has made me less able to cope with others being completely disorganised. I can see that there will be lots of deep breaths at least in the next week or two.
Met up with Taffy on Saturday for a house-hunting expedition. We wandered through neighbourhoods that ranged from lovely all the way to downright dodgy. We ended up at the burnt out shell of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. The house-hunting will continue...
Bought a phone on contract today online. Will have to switch my number over to it when it comes.
Going to a PLC Old Collegians afternoon tea next Saturday down in Surrey. The house of the lady who is hosting it has no number, just a name and has 'ample parking space' out front. Looking forward to seeing whether it is a mansion. :)
Grandma had brain surgery on Thursday to remove the tumour. It went well but she got a lung infection yesterday. My aunt and cousin from the US were visiting last week and my aunt is still there.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Languages & Palaces
A peculiar thing happened to me when I was in France. Well, not so peculiar as it has happened before but not to such an extent. When I was trying to remember my French, I just kept coming up with Japanese phrases. There was an almost overwhelming desire to spout out Japanese, which is not all that useful in France. I believe that this problem arises when you learn languages in your teenage years or later. Your brain gets confused, can only deal with one language and so produces the one that you are most familiar with. Not that I'm all that familiar with Japanese as I have forgotten a lot since I stopped learning it 12 years ago. I remember a lot more now, though! : ) This doesn't happen with the languages I learnt when I was little. It is quite strange and requires a lot of concentration not to use the wrong language.
Went to play badminton again on Friday night. The people there were of varying ability. I was surprised at how bad some of them were. Played only 3 games spread over 75 minutes so was in much better condition on Saturday morning. : )
On Saturday, I followed Jean's advice and caught a bus from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace. It dates back to Tudor times. I prefer the French palaces to the small red/brown brickwork of Hampton Court. The brickwork is somehow not as majestic and grand. The Great Vine was oddly disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting but the oldest surviving grape vine in the world looked a little small and boring. A couple got married in the Chapel Royal and then drifted out into the garden with their guests for photos. When I later visited the Chapel, I overheard a little girl saying that she wanted to get married there (it is very lovely) and a lady telling her that it cost £5000 just for the Chapel and grounds before the reception. Little girls don't care about the money! They just dream about the fairytale. [I've posted photos of Hampton Court.]
Have heard bad news about my grandma. She had numbness and loss of power in her hand so they performed an MRI. The cancer has apparently spread to her brain.
Went to play badminton again on Friday night. The people there were of varying ability. I was surprised at how bad some of them were. Played only 3 games spread over 75 minutes so was in much better condition on Saturday morning. : )
On Saturday, I followed Jean's advice and caught a bus from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace. It dates back to Tudor times. I prefer the French palaces to the small red/brown brickwork of Hampton Court. The brickwork is somehow not as majestic and grand. The Great Vine was oddly disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting but the oldest surviving grape vine in the world looked a little small and boring. A couple got married in the Chapel Royal and then drifted out into the garden with their guests for photos. When I later visited the Chapel, I overheard a little girl saying that she wanted to get married there (it is very lovely) and a lady telling her that it cost £5000 just for the Chapel and grounds before the reception. Little girls don't care about the money! They just dream about the fairytale. [I've posted photos of Hampton Court.]
Have heard bad news about my grandma. She had numbness and loss of power in her hand so they performed an MRI. The cancer has apparently spread to her brain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)