Sunday, 26 February 2012

• Last Day at Work....

  Well, yesterday was my last day at work in University of Kent as a casual cleaner. Time really flies. I started this job on the 13th of June and I told myself that I aiming to get at least two thousand pounds out from this job. Well, after calculating the money, I am short of 30-40 pounds in order to make it two thousand. I should have work today but I decided not to. 

   

  Imagine, my last day of working, I was actually cleaning all the signboards in Parkwood. My team leader and the rest of the members (2 persons including me!) went round Parkwood to clean the signboards, telephone booth and post box which have not been cleaned for ages. They were mouldy!YUCKS! Nonetheless, we had fun doing that because we made fun of ourselves while cleaning those things. Also, whenever someone passed by us, they would look at us and try REALLY hard not to laugh but in the end they would definitely burst into laughter because we were looking silly cleaning those signs! 

   

  I brought doughnut in for Ray (my team leader) because he said it’s customary for people who is leaving to bring something in.. Initially I was thinking of getting Pauline and Ray some tobaccos but then I was running short of money and decided to think of other presents as a token of appreciation. So the other day, Ray jokingly told me that doughnut would be awesome. Then I thought why not just get them doughnuts then. Called Yusry to buy two packets of mini doughnuts from Tesco because his house is really near High Street. just across the road!=P

   

  During break time, I opened up the doughnut boxes and offered it to whoever is there and of course I offered the most to Ray because he was the one who wanted it.=) And here comes the interesting part of the day. One of our colleagues said to Ray in front of me... ‘Awww.. how nice is your casual! She bought you doughnuts! What did YOU get her Ray? HAHA’ *silence from Ray* then he said, ‘You’ve just embarrassed me.’

  She proudly took out a box of chocolate and a card and said, we have decided to give this to our casual!=) LOLS! I just smiled.

   

  So after break we resumed our work and start all the silly work again. We are just so dedicated cleaners!Even the signboards we CLEANED them!=P When it was almost 12.30pm, Ray called me, ‘Come here young lady, we are going to the shop now.’ 

  I was like, ‘For what?’

  Ray, ‘To get you something!Come faster’

  Me: no!no!no!no!no!no!No!*protesting*

  Robert (another colleague of ours): Shut up and just follow the order!

  Me: OK, fine...I can’t fight them can I?? Followed behind with a spade in a hand and some cloths in the other.

  *reached the shop - Parkwood essentials* 

  Ray: Find yourself a nice box of chocolate.

  Me: Walks around searching for one...

  AHA!found it....I took one bar like those really big bar of chocolate and passed it to him... 

  Ray: take somemore...I’m happy to pay them!

  Me: I’m HAPPY with this bar of chocolate!

  Ray: NO....take one more!choose!!

  Me: OK....looks around...hmmm...which one to buy???

  AHA!Maltesers!!!!grab them and give it to Ray

  Ray went all sentimental and emotional. You’ve been a really good helper and I (bloody - his favourite word)really appreciate it!

  I just smile and said thank you...It’s really awkward ok!

   

  So then when it’s time to clock out, I took a picture with Ray. This is the coolest man I’ve ever worked with!!! I can bargain work with him at any point of the time but sometimes when the work load is alot I will do my part to help him as much as I can as well...=) So we both make up a good team I must say and also with Hamid!my other team member!

   

  This is where I always have my tea break and he would make me tea! Tell me, how many leader would make you tea and serve you and later wash the cup for you after finishing tea! well, all I know is just this leader I used to work with!=)

  I admit I almost cried when I hugged Pauline and Phil when I was leaving...It was emotional then...Just for a while!=P

  On another note, stopping work means it’s time to head back home to Malaysia!WHOO HOO!!!I’m so excited!

  I am really really blessed from the time I first got this job to later meeting so many different people from different parts of the world and made friends with them!And having all the experience and memories built in Parkwood! They are a bunch of happy people I would say! They have definitely made my summer days in Parkwood (well, most of the time). Working as a cleaner is really really tiring, but with them around, you don’t feel as much because your days are filled with laughter! Even if you are tired, it’s because you laugh too much!

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• Blimey, you have not been to Whitstable before?!

  

  HAHA! The title says it all. Probably that should be under 10 random facts about Nancie. I think I have taken too much for granted the places nearby. You can say I am being unfair to the places near Canterbury. It is really simply because I am staying in Canterbury, that is the only reason why I have not visited Whitstable, Broadstairs, Chatham, and many more other places around Kent. It’s a shame really because I have been to more than 10 countries in Europe but I have not given a chance to places nearby Canterbury. I have stayed here for 2 years but never been anywhere outside Canterbury. 

  Just like what Ray (my team leader) said, ‘How long have you stayed in Canterbury?’ 

  I burst out laughing, ‘TWO??’

  ‘And you have not been to Whitstable? You should go and walk along the beach..It’s really nice especially when it’s sunny like today! Go during the weekend, Sunday is the best day to go...’ promoted Ray.

  ‘Probably I should put that into consideration!’I just laughed.

  It’s the same case with Malaysia. I’d rather go elsewhere than travelling in Malaysia. My justification was that, I can travel in Malaysia anytime I want since I’m living in Malaysia. So the same reason for Canterbury. I’ll be in Canterbury for three years. So I have all the time to travel around Canterbury. I guess I’m wrong. I’ve already been here for 2 years but I never bother to go to Whitstable despite having heard that it’s a really pleasant place to visit!

  

  I think I would love to make a trip to Whitstable now that it is so beautiful! Just a weekend to Whitstable would be fun and probably stay in one of these beach houses!!!=DDD Or probably bring my brother there when he comes over next year!!!=D Thank you Ray for making fun of me! That got me challenged a lil!!! *the KIASU spirit is out*

  Apparently, Whitstable is famous for it’s Oyster! Thus the Oyster Festival in Whitstable! Pardon my jakun-ness!!! Although I’m so near to Whitstable, I never know anything about it!

  Google Whitstable, Kent and find out more about the place for yourself!=D

   

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• Just not my day....

  It is just not my day today really. It all started of in the afternoon after I finished work. Today I decided to take the bus home because I needed to get some ‘room stuff’ for myself as everything has run out. While in the bus, we had conversations on our examination results which was a total mistake. The whole thing was a mistake really. I shouldn’t have talked to Ivon about it because it’s just opening up the wound which is in the process of healing. I’m just adding salt to my own wound. The day I asked for my results, I was already disappointed. It just wasn’t up to my expectation. I did badly for my examinations and it brought my overall percentage down. I just couldn’t believe myself. After all that conversation in the bus, we got down at the final stop which was the bus station and parted ways. She went back first and I headed to Poundland where everything is a pound!It is good for people like me! We need cheap stuff!=P 

   

  I bumped into Lip Vi in Poundland and that reminded me of the conversation I had with Ivon. Oh dear....I went and asked him regarding his results! I know...I’m such an idiot! BUT someone as ‘kiasu’ as I am can’t help but to ask and then fall into depression!ARGH!!!well, for his case, examination helped him push his marks up. However, in my case, the examination was a killer!!BIG TIME killer!!! Just wondering if I’d ever get my first class degree?!!

   

  So, that was the start of my day going wrong..When I reached back home, I unloaded the stuff I bought in the fridge and went to my room. As usual, my routine would be to on the laptop and check my Facebook, then Pinterest, then Webmail (my uni mail) to see if my lecturer did respond to my dissertation proposal...Well, he hasn’t got the time to do so yet I believe since there isn’t any new email. Stared at the laptop and my mind starts wondering off to my examination results!!!

   

  Not satisfied, and to make me feel worse, I went to recount my overall percentage. It never did any good to me though...Just got worse...It affected my mood from bad to worse...*blame yourself Nancie, you asked for it by talking about it..it’s over, nothing you can do about it...just work harder the next time* Well, that’s easier said than done!!! I can’t...=(

   

  Nevermind that, so I had my bath and went down to cook dinner. Ivon suggested Carbonara. Since we didn’t have chicken, we decided to use all the mushrooms we had instead. So there were like LOADS of mushrooms in my carbonara. The double cream which I wanted to use, it sort of become harden...like clotted cream instead of double cream...but still used it anyways...after stirring, i thought there was something missing still... I tried tasting the gravy to check what was missing and I found that the gravy was overwhelming with mushroom smell. I decided to put some salt and pepper...but there was still something missing...I added sugar...one teaspoon, 2, 3, and tasted again...still. not satisfied..more salt this time and MORE sugar...I really mean like aLOT of sugar...tasted after and *GASP* too sweet...added water to dilute the sweetness..but it’s not working....it was still as sweet as ever... There goes my carbonara...I though I should ask Ivon to taste it and give me her opinion...I shouted for her and she came to taste it...*waited for her respond*

   

  ‘Kenaper manis sangat??’

   

  *gulp* ‘sebab I letak gula...uhmm...ALOT of gula..OK, wait...let me put some salt....’ *poured alot of salt hoping that the sweetness of the gravy would be lessen*

   

  Tasted it again..still the same!!!

   

  Looked at Ivon and just give her the knowing smile...

  Being Ivon, she just said, ‘It’s OK, kawan...we still can eat it...jangan sedih...’

   

  We walked away from the stove and started clearing (while leaving the pot there boiling) , I turned to check on the pot and discovered that it was going to overflow...I quickly took it up from the hob and change it to another hob without realising that the other hob was also still burning hot from the spaghetti. Oh dear..again it spilled over and messed of the whole entire stove!!!!

   

  I just couldn’t take it anymore...and Ivon just laughed and said, ‘It’s just not our day today...’

   

  So both of us decided to have a rest and whoever’s hungry first will shout out so that we both can have dinner together.. And we went back to our rooms...Just when I wanted to sit down on my bed, the stupid smoke alarm went of!!!OH MY!!!!the blaring siren of the alarm was just deafening. I took a long stick and start poking the smoke alarm to make it stop but it wouldn’t. Apparently it was the kitchen alarm that went of..So went down and poked it. It finally quieten down. Phewww.....so much effort!!!

  ___________________________________________________________

   

  On a positive note, my spaghetti carbonara turn out to be OK-ish...=) After eating it with the spaghetti, it doesn’t taste that awful although it’s still a lil’ too sweet. 

  Dinner checked!

   

  For my examination result, there’s really nothing I can do about it but to continue my life...Although I am sad, but it’s no point crying over spilled milk. Besides, this is just the second year and I still have 2 more years to catch up if I really want my FIRST CLASS degree...So it’s not that bad after all. I just need to focus more and make sure I do well in my assignments AND exams!

   

  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

  Phillipians 4:13

  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

   

  2 Corinthians 9:8 

   

  After writing this entry, Noh came over to pass me his weighing scale. I needed it to weigh my luggage before going back to Malaysia. It’s three weeks more!!!=D I’m very very excited!!!!=) I’ll post up the pictures of what I did just now! I fixed a book shelf for Ivon!!!=D Almost all by myself.=) 

   

                                                                                 

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• The story behind my summer job...=)

  Ok, let me warn you guys first...It’s going to be a LOOOONNGGG story.

   

  First of all, HOW did I get to know this job?

   

  Well, last year, I was working as an au pair which I very much enjoyed it. (will tell you more in my next post) However, my friends got this cleaning job in University of Kent, Canterbury (UKC) whereby they needed like 200 casual workers every summer. The pay is quite attractive as well. We are paid £6.82 an hour. We are required to work 6 hours a day as stipulated on the advertisement as well as the contract and if we are lucky, we might even get more hours if they needed people to work overtime. Thus, since last year, I wanted to get this job badly (I mean it, you will see why in a short while...). I told my friends to tell me about it once it is out because with this job, I could earn a lot of money. A LOT of ££££ means more travelling! Everybody says YEAY!*echos* or perhaps more shopping. *BOOOOHHH* Thus, I was looking forward for this job. Every now and then, I would check with my friends when will the job advertisement be out. The replies I got were, When it’s out we will tell you...or Yea, in a few months time.. usually they will post it like 2 months before the summer which is in April. After awhile, I just left it as it is. I didn’t bother my friends with the same question anymore. April at that time was Spring break aka Easter holiday. We had one month off. *jumps for joy* I travelled to Italy for 10 days with my friends (My childhood friends, Su Yen and Suz). Well, of course that got me excited because I never imagined that we would be travelling together to ITALY!!! OK, back to the story, so I enjoyed my trip and when I got back..the whole nightmare started!

   

  Ivon (my housemate) casually asked me, ‘Eh Nancie, have you gotten any reply from UKC coz I haven’t got mine yet? Probably didn’t get selected kowt....’

  I paused for awhile and repeated her question in my head. I bombarded her with so many questions, ‘What do you mean?What UKC? HUH???You mean that cleaning job?I didn’t apply!!!OUT already???How come no one told me??When was it out??How to apply??When did you all apply??I thought I told you all to tell me when it’s out??How come no one told me about it???’ 

   

  As you can see...I went hysterical...=S

   

  Well, I was really frustrated..I was imagining my money flying away and my plans on travelling is now flying out of the window!!Seriously...I felt like crying...Nearly fell into depression..For the whole day I was down. My whole world felt like it’s crumbling...like biscuits..well, I’m not being dramatic here..It’s true..That is how I felt at that point of time...

   

  Ivon responded, ‘Err...it was out like one week ago and Haikal (our coursemate) posted it on Facebook in Malaysian Society page..We thought you saw it because it was posted there and you were able to go online in Italy...So we thought you saw it.’

   

  My reply in defense, ‘No, I didn’t...I have not been in to Malaysian Society for quite sometime already and in fact I stop going there because alot of the things posted there were not related to me..So I ‘malas’ want to go to that page!!’

   

  I know,serve me right, right??Oh well...I felt so upset and betrayed. Just because my friends did not tell me and assumed I knew about it...But it was my fault too because I should not have taken that page for granted. I eventually learnt my lesson and starting from then on, I will go to the page occasionally to check for updates.

   

  That whole incident distracted me for a couple of days (well, to be exact was weeks!!)I can’t help myself but to think of the job that I wanted so badly since last year and the opportunity just passed me by like that. I felt so down...

   

  I tried everything..like looking for other jobs and browsing through the sites for more jobs..I had a few but I was still very unhappy about not getting the cleaning job as that job provided me with the most money! I reminded myself of this verse, Jeramiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

   

  With this verse in mind, I keep convincing (psycho) myself that everything will be alright. If God closes this door, He will definitely open other doors for me or perhaps a tiny window.=) So don’t give up hope. He did give me a few job offers in between and I thought to myself, See, God will never forsake you..Keep trusting in Him and He will definitely provide you a job. There is only 3 ways He answers our prayers:

   

  1. to give us straight away what we want
  2. to wait for Him because it is not time yet for Him to give us
  3. if He doesn’t give what we want, that’s because He has something much better than what we wanted.

   

  Thus with that I waited...although I had a couple of job offers, my mind was still on the cleaning job. A few weeks passed and my housemates got their replies.. They were all positive replies. I would be lying if I’d say I was happy for them. Well, I felt terribly sour because I wanted that job soo badly. To avoid me from thinking about that job too much, I went for a nap. That could only stop me from thinking just for a few hours but at least when I got up, I felt better. 

   

  Deep down inside me, I still had not given up hope for this job! I emailed Lip Vi (my coursemate) to ask him if he has the lady’s email whom I can email and ask if there are still vacancy available. I emailed her saying that I am having financial difficulty and I need a job badly and etc. to just make it sound convincing hoping that I would get the job. I was that desperate! Seriously...After clicking the ‘Send’ button, I prayed to God, ‘PLEASEEEEE give me a reply tomorrow and make it a positive one!!!PLEASEEEE’

   

  The next morning, I woke up..the first thing I did was to check my email...no reply yet...afternoon, I checked my email again....no reply...evening..no reply...I didn’t feel down because I wasn’t putting high hopes on getting the job. The next day I saw in my inbox, an email from UKC! I quickly open the email just to disappoint me. 

  The reply was:

   

  I’m sorry but you applied after the closing date and it’s too late. I’m sorry I can’t help you.

   

  Regards,

  Kent Hospitality

   

  I was like...Oh well...that’s it!!No point putting hope on this cleaning job anymore. It’s like Survivor when Jeff say, ‘The tribe has spoken’, which means, it’s final...Basically I can give up and put an end to the hope I was putting all these while...

   

  Days passed, and weeks passed, I was still searching high and low for a proper job...everytime I fail to do that, I would think back to the cleaning job. I guess, I have not really got over that job.

  You readers, wait for the interesting part, the epic part of the story has yet to reveal itself! I’ve warned you this post is going to be LONGGG!!!!Don’t say I never warn you!

  SIT there! Don’t move! Continue reading!...

   

  A few weeks after all those drama, finally, ONE FINE AFTERNOON, out of nowhere, I got an email..Guess who?!!who?? *drum rolls*

  ..........

  ..............

  ...................

   

  You are right!!It’s from Kent Hospitality. This time they sent me an email saying that I’ve got the job!!!!!They found a vacancy for me!!!!OMG!!!FINALLY!!!all my effort of waiting and trusting Him has been paid off!!!!!!Well, from the beginning, you can see from what I’ve written, I have not fully trust God 100%..This is because I have been looking high and low for jobs and if I were to trust God, I would just let things be and let Him lead me..

   

  In any case, I was so excited that I jumped and screamed and immediately went over to my friend’s room to tell her (Seetal, friend, ex-roommate, housemate, ex-classmate, coursemate)!!!

   

  And that’s HOW I got my job!

   

  Lesson of the day: 

  1. Always trust God even when your heart refuse to..Just hang on tight and psycho yourself to trust Him...That’s what I did...LOLS! it worked didn’t it??=P
  2. Never give up and persevere in whatever you are doing.=)

   

  Sorry to bore you guys with my so ever dramatic story....=) Thanks for reading!

  
  

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• A visit to the Balchin =)

  P/S: This entry was written quite some time ago...possibly summer last year!=D

  So what made me start blogging again?

   

  Well, one day while I was working, we were in a conversation and out of the blue, she was telling me about this blog ‘Proud Duck’. She has been reading it because she claims that Proud Duck’s life was that sort of fairy tale ish life. At first I thought it was one of those blogs again... However, when she started telling me more about her stories, I got really interested to the extend I came back home, did everything I was supposed to do (bathe, eat and surf the net as per normal...=.=) and I decided to just try reading her blog.. MAN!!!Without me realising, 3 hours already passed.. And let me tell you, that three hours all I did was moving my eyes and my fingers....The rest of my body was as still as a dead body. Seriously...I could hardly believe myself. I must admit her blog is quite addictive. I like her style of writing. It has a bit of humour and I would say her life is interesting! So, after reading her blog, I got inspired to start writing again (despite my busy and tiring work)!

   

  What I did today?

   

  Today was the day I finally got to see Daniel. My lecturer's son! He is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!! He has chubby cheeks!!!I’ll upload the video here soon!!Benjamin, don’t get jealous alright!Your ‘che che’ will post an entry bout you soon!! When we went there after work, he was still fast asleep! Bless him, he was down with sore throat and slight cold. He couldn’t breathe thus lack of sleep..However, today he slept really well because according to his mum he was just tired. 

   

  I was a little disappointed at first because I didn’t get to play with him and we had to leave early because Lip Vi and Bond Bond will be working. So Wendy (Kevin’s wife) said perhaps we could go up the room and have a look at Daniel before leaving..So we tip toed upstairs to make sure we didn’t wake Daniel up...However, there were 5 of us tip toe-ing up the stairs, and obviously we are not good at doing that because we did woke Daniel up! (well, it was intended at least I wished and prayed while tip toeing up the stairs that he would by miracle wakes up and be in a very good mood so that I could play with him) So we reached the bed room and he did stir a little, but were still asleep...As we were admiring him, he did open his eyes a while and went back to sleep...For several times he did that, but he still managed to sleep, so we thought oh well, we’d better just let him sleep as he was under the weather. 

   

  We went down and I was all sad because I didn’t get to play with him, and all of a sudden, we heard some noises from the baby monitor machine, it was Daniel!! He finally woke up!!!!and Daddy Kevin went to pick him up from the bed! And came down...he was all quiet and eyes wide opened! So what some else, Kevin passed the baby to me and I start playing with him!!!Indeed, he smiled to me! Oh gosh, my heart melted!!!I was thinking to myself, wait till I see Benjamin next month!!!!I’m so going to play with him so much!!!And Daniel was learning how to smile!!When I made that ‘Baby sound’, he smiled sheepishly! How adorable!!!!=)

   

  Not to forget, both Kevin and Wendy were really good hosts! They kept us entertained with loads of food and pictures and videos of Daniel! and not to forget Kevin’s joke about having to put up with the whole baby photos session with Wendy and giving nice compliments...well, it’s totally not true that baby pictures are boring....I think they are the most interesting and innocent pictures to be seen as compared to us adults having to pose...Babies are natural! They will smile when they like and they are always natural and candid!!!Just the way they should be!=) CUTE! no matter how they look! Baby Daniel was really good just now, he was looking at the camera the whole time...Partly because he was too curious of Bond Bond’s camera which was small, slim, rectangular-ish shape....He frown and looked at the camera..LOLS!He’s just so cute! How I wish I could see him again! Hope to bump into them in high street soon!!! 

   

  Off to finish my book soon!!!=) I’m reading a book which was my birthday present entitled ‘Too Close to Home’ by Lindwood Barclay. It’s really awesome although my favourite writer is James Patterson and Lynda La Plante. Oh! I also found out that Kevin, my lecturer, shares the same interest as me. Just wondering if left handers love ‘Crime’ genre books??Hmm....

  Anyone out there??Leftist!! *high 5*

   

  • 12:50 PM
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