Sunday, May 13, 2007

4:45 PM

I'm Finally Home!

Hey guys, after a grueling week, I've finally come back home. OMG. It was an extremely stressful week. My boss was actually quite nice, but being away from home with someone little more than a stranger and with no actual friends to talk to can be extremely lonely. It really made me miss everyone so much. Haiz.

I kept hearing everyone tell me "why u so lucky one, boss bring you go overseas during ur internship". Well, it isn't all its cut out to be. It isn't as exciting as it sounds. It just means you get another stamp on your passport, while doing work overseas with no friends aroung at the same time.

Maybe it was pms, but I really had quite a miserable time there. I'm also not exactly sure which part was so horrible, maybe its just my hormones. lol.

I guess I should go in order of sequence - easier for me to relate my time there. Warning: long, possibly boring description about my life this entire week.

Sunday:
Had to take the bus at 2pm. So early had to leave home already. Guess one of the reasons why I didn't want to go on the trip was cos it really really ate into my weekends. Pui. The ride there was great. Cos my boss booked Nice++, which was really nice. Haha. The seats were very comfy, and there were food and drinks. So I had quite a pleasant journey there. When we reached, we had to go meet our colleagues in the KL branch cos the boss there wanted to treat us to dinner. She's quite a scary person, and I already heard alot of things about her. But the dinner was really not bad. They really have nice food in KL. LOL.

After the very late dinner, we finally went back to the hotel. It looks very presentable from the outside, but is pathetically small. There's only 1 small convenience store, 1 small kopitiam, and 1 room containing 5 computers with internet access. The room was also very small, with the bed taking up most of the space. No table, no phone, only 1 small ledge above the bed to put our things. Sad right? At least the shower was good, with hot water and all, and the bed was comfortable, but a little small.

Monday:
First day of the conference, basically went there and sat through the talks and took notes of relevant points. Unlike many of my friends who dose off during lectures, I enjoy them if the topic is interesting. And the topics did pique my interest, so I paid attention throughout.

But I wasn't able to listen to the entire thing, cos my boss kept making me get up and take pictures of the speakers and stuff. First day was ok, since I mainly just followed her around. But we had another late dinner, cos stupid KL boss wanted us to have dinner together, since big boss arrived in KL also. Pui. Damn tiring lah.

After dinner, we thought we could finally go back and sleep. But NO. Who lets you off that easily lah. We had to wait for another colleague to travel up from Muar to get our namecards, cos we had used up all of ours already. Waited till 1045pm, and all of us were dead tired after that. But i did get to go browse in a bookstore, and bought 2 books. So at least the waiting was not in vain. :)

Tuesday:
Boss did not let me stay in the conference hall and listen. Instead she pushed me outside and made me go around ambushing people to talk to them and do a survey. Hated it. The reason why I hate sales jobs is because I have to be proactive and keep approaching random people. Had to deal with unfriendly people and was quite stressed by my boss, who kept telling me to go and get more cards. I know why she's doing that, and I do know that I get to learn alot through this, but it doesn't make the job easier and more appealing. Nonetheless, I tried, and I was feeling so miserable when my mom called me that I nearly cried. Hai.

But then, my pacing about the place the whole morning did have some results. When my boss walked around with me in the afternoon, people approached me on their own and said that they had seen me working the entire morning. So nice loh! And that showed my boss that I was really doing my work. Haha. :D

We finally had a chance to siam back to the hotel for an early dinner, and we even watched 2 episodes of Hana Kimi. LOL.

Wednesday:
This was the start of the 2nd conference. My boss let me sit in the talks for the morning, and there was even lunch provided for everyone. Damn nice food. And the mini cheesecakes they had were really divine.

But I had to go approach people after lunch again :( Had to do the usual loh. Its really quite sian, doing the same thing over and over again. But I was getting better lah, managed to collect quite alot of cards.

After work, the 2 of us and our msian colleagues (minus scary boss) went out for dinner. Had Japanese buffet. There was so much food to choose from lah, and I really enjoyed myself at dinner. It was fun, and after work, so I was finally able to relax. Its really quite tiring, cos I share a room with my boss, so its like you are constantly worrying if she's assessing you, even when its out of the workplace. She's very nice, but she's still the boss, and no one wants to be with the boss 24/7. Which was my case for 6 full days.

Thursday:
Had to run around the exhibition the entire day, talking to strangers. At least it wasn't that bad, cos the exhibition was quite interesting, and I could wander around looking at the different stalls while doing work. Hahah. So I did not dread it that much. I must say that when I found a fellow Singaporean, I was damn happy, cos its hard to find Singaporeans there, plus some Msians become a little hostile when they find out I'm from Singapore. Haiz.

I met these 2 Singaporeans in the afternoon, and one of them said that he had seen me walking around and talking to everyone. I nearly teared lah. Haha. Was abit emotional already, plus there was someone who finally recognized that I was working hard. My boss always just took the cards I had collected at the end of the day and said I had to collect more the next day. Hai. So it was nice to be acknowledged, especially when its by another Singaporean. This really gave me the motivation to push on and I became more enthusiastic in my job. Recognition rocks!

Friday:
Woke up feeling sick. Had to go downstairs to the counter for something, and my legs were so wobbly lah. Told my boss, and she was rather concerned, but she couldn't leave me there by in the hotel by myself also, so we still went to the conference. I was originally supposed to run around like the previous day, but she let me sit through all the talks, which lasted till afternoon.

Felt slightly better, but after the talks she made me run around again. I wasn't feeling that great, so I did not do much talking to people. I had to literally wear a smile on my face when I was approaching people loh, the rest of the time I was expressionless. Felt quite miserable that day.

When we went back to the hotel, I went online, and saw ALOT of emails awaiting me. Most of them were emails from Aries, Jer and Alan, who were bored at work during the week. All their jokes made me laugh out loud, and I was hit with a huge bout of homesickness. Wini also sent me a long email, which reminded me so much of home. Plus my mom also called at that time, and we talked for awhile. I had been literally cut off from everyone the whole week, other then the calls to home everyday, so it was really a comfort to read stuff from you guys. They made me feel so much better all of a sudden. Thanks guys.

After that, when we were back in the hotel room watching hana kimi, aries, jer and alan called! Was so shocked to see Aries's number on my phone lah, and I was damn touched to know that they still thought of me when they were out. Couldn't stop smiling after that, and couldn't wait to get home.

Saturday:
Finally, the day when I could go home. But wasn't feeling well again. Woke up with cramps that were damn bad. Went into the office for a meeting, then kl boss took us for ba kut teh somewhere ulu. Had to drive for like 20 min at top speed to get there, and during the entire ride i was really feeling very unwell. Had cramps, and was feeling nauseous. Went to the toilet when we arrived and stayed there for very long.

I finally emerged and was feeling better, only to let kl boss pile food on my plate. Cmon lah, I just felt nauseous and you are stuffing me with oily ba kut teh? At least it was delicious. lol. And she only stopped giving me food when I turned to her with a very serious look and asked "If I eat too much and puke in ur car, how?" That shut her up.

Anyway, I dont know if it was cos I finally had food in my stomach or the excitement of going home, but I felt so much better after lunch. We finally boarded the bus home! Damn happy to be back.

But sian, have to go work tomorrow. But I'm still a little sick, and I really feel like staying home tomorrow. How?