A new chapter

Starting from next week, everything will be different. Yesterday I finally found a proper place to live for at least the next 3 months. I'll be moving in tonight after work. It's a single room in a condo near the MRT line (Aljunied, for those of you who are familiar with Singapore). It's not far from my workplace.... I can take the MRT (only 3 stops away) or the bus, which is more convenient because I can go down straight in front of the office building :)

There are 3 rooms there. The master bedroom is taken by a Shanghainese girl. She has a Taiwanese boyfriend who sometimes stay there, and a cute little white dog. The other room is taken by a Singaporean man, whom I haven't met because he also haven't move in.

And this weekend my parents are gonna be coming over and bring me some of my stuff that I left in Indo. So..... finally I'll be getting my bedsheet, phone, shirts etc etc.

Next Monday will be the orientation day here in DHL. So I'll be meeting lots of new people, and hopefully some lunch partner, cos lately it's been kinda lonely during lunch hour. Well, first of all, there's not a lot of people in my office. Then most of them are travelling most of the time. Plus my boss and immediate colleague RARELY eats lunch.

So, starting next week, I feel like I'm entering a new chapter.... new job, new place, new flatmates (come to think about it, I've never lived with non-indon in Singapore). Hope it's for the better :)

All soaked up....

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, I got myself something new and red...... an umbrella! Well I got it because on Friday, right when I stepped out of the office, it started raining a little. So i took out my trusty black umbrella and started walking towards the MRT station, which takes about 5 minutes walk. But then suddenly the rain just poured like there's no tomorrow.... plus strong winds. So my umbrella became parabolic, and I got all soaked up from top to toe. Plus.... that day I was wearing my moccasins (sole-less shoes), so bye2 to that too, cos it got drowned and now it's kinda wrinkled after i dried it.

Anyways..... I've officially been 'working' for 3 days now.... enjoying it so far..... nothing much to do in the first 3 days, because I only got my official email on the 3rd day. So for the past 3 days I've only read through A LOT of materials, try to understand it and try to familiarize myself with the system. I don't want to confuse you guys with work stuff here, so I'll just leave it at that.

Oh, and today is Chinese New Year's Eve. So..... 新年快乐！恭喜发财！年年有余，万事如意！For the benefit of you who don't read chinese, it means : Happy New Year, Congratulations and Prosperity, May You Have Surplus/Abundance every year, May Every Problem be Solved!

DHL - All The Way

Yes, it's confirmed..... ladies and gentleman, say hello to the newest Operations Analyst in DHL Exel Supply Chain Asia Pacific..... ME!!!

Haha..... I have been in a very happy mood since I heard the news yesterday..... yes, yesterday was Sunday, but my boss (Lily) called me around 9.30pm and deliver the good news. She said that the 2nd interview is actually just a formality, because her superior wanted to have a chat with me. However, the big man is out of the country (again), and won't be back till after chinese new year. Since she wanted me to start ASAP, so there's no need for another interview.

I will be signing the contract tomorrow, and officially start work on Wednesday.

Oooo.... so excited... it will be a whole new experience for me.... I mean, when I was doing my Industrial Attachement, it was manufacturing environment. My last job was in a small office next to the warehouse. But now it's gonna be a corporate world, where I will be working in an actual office.... and the location could not be better.... not exactly in the CBD, but you can still consider it the business district :) The view is amazing.... you can see the City Hall area from there..... maybe the ocean too.

So now I have to rearrange my priorities.... no more looking at job advertisement, but now the no.1 prority is to find a proper place to stay. Hopefully I can get a place nearer to the office by the end of the month.

Okie then...... gonna take a shower now.

Quite an interesting 24 hours

It started yesterday.... my roommate Edward took a leave (just because he's sick of working..... imagine that!) and so we went swimming in the morning, then got back and laze around, watch DVD ("She's The Man", starring Amanda Bynes..... not too bad). Afterwards I accompany him to get some gym fashion, cos he doesn't really have any sports shorts. Then for dinner he had an idea to have dinner at Esplanade.... he said there's a decent japanese restaurant there. So I contacted some people I know that also have nothing to do (they are also looking for a job), and so in the end 4 of us went for dinner. The restaurant is called Ichiban Boshi.... not too bad, but not nearly as good as Sushi Tei. Anyway, after dinner we decided to walk from the Esplanade to the Fullerton Hotel cos the weather was good (not too hot), and the view is amazing.




--Nighttime view of Singapore CBD--


And then, when I got back, I got a call from one of my friends back in Beijing who is currently in Singapore... this time it's Joaquin Chou.... we almost became flatmates (with Laura Fernandez) last semester, but the plan was cancelled. Anyways, he's only here for a couple of days, and so we met up today. He came here with another guy named Norman (also from BLCU.... seen him before, didn't really know him), but Norman also met up with his Singaporean friend, so we split up, and it was just the 2 of us. And he wanted to see the Merlion, so I took him through the same path that I walked last night. Hahaha..... So here are some day-time shots :)



--Daytime view of Singapore CBD--

We continued to walk down the path and ended up getting some beer at Brewerkz in Clarke Quay..... it was so nice to catch up with him. Or maybe it's just me.... I don't know.... sometimes I'm amazed myself at how I can connect with different people with different background and personalities.

Another interesting story.... just now I decided to take the bus back from Orchard Rd cos I figured that the MRT would be crowded. So I was sitting in the bus, and somewhere along the road, there was a loud "BOOM".... kinda like the bus hit something. Then the bus stopped on the side of the road, the driver got out and checked out what was going on, but there was nothing and we continue the journey. But 2 stops down the road, it started to smell like burning rubber. So all the passengers got out, and left rear wheel was literally smoking.... so I decided to walk the remaining 2 stops back home.

OK then now my roommate's gonna use the internet connection, so till next time....

the countdown continues......

There's so many things that I want to write these days, but I was lazy, eventhough it's only a matter of writing down my thoughts..... this is bad..... must.... try.... harder..... resist.... the..... laziness.... haha

Anyway, first news : job-hunting. So after one week of torment and agony waiting for the result of the interview, and since I haven't heard any news by last Tuesday, I decided to write a follow up email, and it's a good thing I did. Well, when I first send the email, immediately there was a auto-reply saying that she (Lily) was on a business trip to South Africa until the 9th. So I was a bit bummed and thought that surely there had been someone who had taken the job. Then that day, my roommate Edward took a "medical leave" (notice the quote?) and so we went to Orchard Rd cos he wanted to buy a Valentine's Day present for someone he fancies (a 19 yrs old girl... can u believe him???). Anyway, since I was feeling a bit down, I bought S$11 worth of Famous Amos cookies and ice-blended coffee from Coffee Bean. But.... when I got home and check my email again, there was a reply from Lily, and she invite me for a 2nd interview with her supervisors, but I have to wait till they get back, so tentatively the interview will be on Feb 12. And so, the countdown continues..... 8 more days from now...... I am so excited about this and so I have been brushing up on my data analysis skills, just in case they ask me some technical questions.
Other than that, the guy from the recruitment agency called me again, offering me the Sales position again, and I totally bluffed him again (on the phone), saying that I would love to go to sales. But truthfully, I'm not really excited about that.... I mean, even if they offer me the job, I don't know if I will take it.

On other news..... I managed to catch up with 2 Beijing friends..... first was William.... he was here because his mom had an operation in Gleneagles Hospital. And the other one was Caroline..... we met up yesterday and hang out in a coffee shop. Gosh, I've kinda forgotten how bubbly she really is. She really made my day yesterday.



So, I'll write more later when I'm not lazy haha. Just be patient, people....