First Day at Work

Date: 20 Dec 2004, Monday
Time: 11:00am
Venue: Melbourne Office

So here I am - at the office where I'll be reporting for work the next 3 months! Quite a nice environment - they are almost done with the renovation of the office area & I'm seated at this new work desk/area where there is still no phone line & network cable set up yet - while the rest have more or less settled down & functioning already.

Was introduced to all the people around - but really, how many names can I remember?! Perhaps only 10% (i.e. putting a name to a face)... Well, got to give me some time - like 3 months? Ha!

With the long holidays ahead (i.e. 24th half day & 25th - 28th for Christmas & Boxing Day; 31st half day & 1st - 3rd Jan for New Year), I was told that it is going to be a quiet & slow working weeks for me - especially when 2 of the department staff will be leaving us by end December & they won't have time for me... You might asked: "then why on earth did they asked me to report for work in mid December??" Well, I have the same in mind... Anyway, other than having to spend Christmas & New Year alone, the brighter side of things is: I get to enjoy the extra holidays in Melbourne where you don't have in Singapore! How cool can that be?!

Until the IT guy comes to set up my network connection so I can start to access internet & email, I'm practically seated here alone (again!), typing my blog drafts... not that I'm skiving or what, but there is really nothing for me to do...

Might as well do a quick recap of yesterday (19 Dec, Sunday)... The weather was chilling @ 19-23 DC with shower forecast but in actual fact it didn't rain... Attend the 1030am service at St. Paul's Cathedral (located in the City area about 10min walk from my apartment). Very traditional Anglican service which also means very boring Anglican service... It's 1.5hr but sure feels like a 3hr for me!

Went to Federation Square (across the Church) where the Melbourne Visitor Centre is & took with me some sightseeing brochures - gotta plan what to do during the long holidays mah... Ordered Fish of the Day & Lime Soda at this restaurant in Federation Square and sat there enjoying the outdoor sun & breeze... Then came the most horrendous pest - the Flies! They are common during Summer season, so big they are not afraid of people! Initially, there were like 3-4 of them pestering me, flying here & there right in front of your face even. When my food came, their relatives came along side & there were like 10-15 of them? That's where the skill of multitasking comes in handy - you've to fork your food with right hand, the eyes to see where the flies are, the left hand to fan off the pests & the mouth to eat the food & not the flies!

After some 5min of struggles, the waitress came serving the next table with a plate of food & I heard myself telling the flies to go over to the other table but none of them understood me... Perhaps the Fish of the Day is their kind of food... Soon, running out of patience, I asked to be seated indoor & finished my lunch - free from the flies.

The Flinders Street Train Station is just across the Federation Square where I crossed over to take a train to their suburbs - one of those lonely ride thingy... The purpose is to check out the travel time from Flinders Street Station to Essendon Station (where it is the nearest station to the office). Well, the ride took me 20min but heard from a colleague that there is no bus from Essendon to the office - only solution is to see if I can catch a ride from someone...

Transportation to work is really a problem or so it seems. Was told there is a tram from where I stay to Westfield & the travel time is approx. 1hr. On top of that, need to catch a bus from Westfield to office which is another 10min! Meanwhile, I have a French colleague who will pick me up from the apartment to office for the next couple of days until Wednesday where I'll collect a rental car for the long weekend. Will have to work out the cost & see if it is cheaper to rent a car for 3 months or buy a really OLD & "lok" manual small car (which cost approx. AUD1800) & later sell it off before I leave...

Most of the interns who work here for 6 months actually bought a small manual car - condition is like 20yrs old with no air-con - and when they finish their internship, they will drive the car round whole of Australia for another few months before returning back to their home town to complete their studies. Works for them but not necessary for me - unless I buy & drive the car from Melbourne to Sydney so I have a complete 6 months use of the car!

Just came back from lunch with 2 German Intern colleagues who have been here for almost 3 months now... We drove to Westfield Shopping Centre which is 10min from office. It's a single storey shopping mall with food court, restaurants, fast foods, supermarkets & many other shops. Lunch at the food court cost me AUD5.80 for a small plate of 2 dishes (i.e. fried rice & chilli beef). The portion is really small & for that price (equivalent to SGD7.40) we can go for lots of variety & quantity in our hawker centre! Must consider to pack my lunch box to work liao...

It's quarter past 2pm & I'm still waiting for the IT guy to come connect my laptop... waiting... waiting... waiting... *yawn!*