Thursday, October 11, 2007 . 11:45 PM
This week had been a really busy week at work. Tues i had the whole day of departmental meeting and training, which was really draining.
Wed, whole day of training for a particular system that all employees muz eventually learn to use. Singapore is the headquarter for whole of Asia. So all the new colleagues are sent to Singapore for training. We have 7 of us. 3 from Singapore including me. One from Bangkok, one from India and 2 from Seoul. And out of the 3 Singapore representatives, i'm M'sian, one is Filipino and another is Turkish. My trainer is singapore -based. She's from Australia. The assistant trainer is Filipino. OUT of all of us, there's only one guy and he's that Turkish i mentioned. SO what does that say about my company? That Singapore representatives are not actually Singaporeans hahaa.... IN that trainer room of ours, none of us are actually local. So that's kinda weird. But the colleagues from other countries are really so gd, bcos they got to travel. Whereas we get to go NOWHERE, still stuck in our office.
I was somehow arranged to sit in b/w the two korean gals. EVentually, without much efforts, we started bonding. 1st it started off with the topic of Korean dramas. Even in Philippines and Bangkok, korean dramas are so popular. So the whole group of us gals discussing, yakking about which dramas are nice, which actors has the gosh the nicest bod, how sexy, how cute, how pretty the actresses...was really fun. It's really hard to recommend Singapore to tourists, especially difficult to describe what pple can do in Singapore. I mean for us locals (ok i'm not local..but anyway i've stayed here for so long...let's juz pretend that I AM LOCAL), we usually do the mundane stuffs like shopping, u know...nothing much. In fact, i think i'm sometimes like a tourist in a country that i've long regarded my home. I don't know alot of interesting places in Singapore. I'm not adventurous. There's no point being adventurous right? We only become adventurous when we go overseas wat...... Anyway, after suggesting some places like oh.. the so unexciting Sentosa, so predictable zoo and night Safari...and the shoppings, ended up bringing them to City Hall to see some of the supposedly 'famous' buildings. Why are they famous? Cos they are recommended in the tourist brouchure. Places like Parliament house? Like Fullerton hotel, Raffles Hotel, Merlion, Esplanade etc.. Don't get me wrong. I don't find them boring. In fact i love the colonial heritage and buildings that we've got in the City Hall area. Brought them to City link Mall, Raffles shopping centre, CHIJMES. Then took a bus to Clarke Quay area.
According to some forum they read from some korean sites, Jumbo restaurant is largely recommended for seafood. They especially wanna try the chilli crab. So we went n had a sumptuous meal at the branch near Clarke Quay. I didn't know they had a branch there, i juz happened to see the shop from the bus before we alighted. Our bill totaled up to $131. They treated me, cos they could claim the dinner from my company when they go back to Korea. SO nice of them!!! hahaa...
Then brought them to Clarke Quay. Apparently in Korea, they are still very conservative. Going to clubs is seen as indecent and it's quite unsafe there. SO they were like so excited to see all these places. They were so excited, they are a joy to watch. They were so fun to be with, i really enjoyed the times we spent together.
There are juz some pple that u strangely click so easily with, even when communication is sometimes alittle difficult. They can speak english, but sometimes we need to get our ideas across to each other, it takes a while. ANd they like to speak to each other in Korean and still talk to me in Korean. Strangely, i feel like i can understand them. Mainly it's body language and a small part is haha partly cos i picked up some simple words from their conversations (from all the korean dramas that i watched.). So i know things like, Yes, no, nice, not nice, beautiful, and things like it's ok..and 'really'....listen to them chat is like liken to listening to some korean drama playing on the tv haha.
They were supposed to stay till Sat nite but today they changed their flight schedule bcos of some complications. WE had another half day of training today. The gal from bangkok is with her mom so she didn't join us, the Indian gal preferred to go Mustafa actually so end up didn't go to Clarke Quay with us.
I exchanged msn address with the gals. THey were so fun to be with. I wish i can go to Seoul. I'll see them again i think. 6 mths down the road, when we are all required to go for training again. And they will come down to Singapore again! It's so strange, that we bond together so much. WHen they left the office, i was so sad. We were all so sad. Its weird huh. They said i really make a very good guide and they were very happy that i brought them around.
Wish i can go work in Seoul :P HOpe to see them soon again.
OH no... photo turned out blur!!!!!!!!! But anyway......tht's my laptop infront of me......
Koreans right? We muz act cute. That's their suggestion lor by the way. Not mine. Min Sun at the back and Autumn by my side. That's my training room in my office. A better picture would be posted. We had some group photos taken officially by the office staff, i'll post them when i get them. These were taken by my O2 handphone. Oh did i ever mention that i'm using O2 now?
