IBLAC

59th day in Shanghai (28/10/07)

Today was another long day of work supporting BQT for the event IBLAC (International Business Leaders’Advisory Council) for the Mayor of Shanghai

Work start at 7am, the earliest time ever since attachment started. Reported to Yee Hui and he asked us to look for one of the manager, Johnny at China Hall.

Saw Johnny and since he got nothing for us to do and we haven had our breakfast, he let us go for our breakfast break =)

Went back to China Hall to see the setup of the hall. The whole place look damn nice with classroom settings at the 2 ends of the hall and a circle set up in the center.

This event is very important as it involves all the big investors that contribute revenues to Shanghai. Most of the participants are either CEOs of big company or Chinese Governments.

And I think the coolest thing was that I saw Sun Zhong Shan’s granddaughter, Nora Sun. Wanted to take a photo with her but I think it’s quite weird and skipped that thought. In the end, I just said ‘Hi’ to her.

So the what we did for the morning was waiting for their coffee break time and lunch time and we will refresh the meeting hall by throwing away their used Evian bottles and replacing it with new ones.

It was then lunch time and Goh asked us if we want to have lunch together at Burger King in 正大广场.

So we went down to BQT office to wait for him and while waiting for him, we taught Tracy some Hokkien sentences (Almost all is vulgar one) and she taught us Shanghaiese (I leaned another language to sold people =)).

After quite some time, feeling freaking hungry already, we decided to walk around level 3 to see if he will be at the Ballrooms. But still, we didn’t see him.

Went back down to the office and gave him a call. He said that he is at Burger King already and asked us what meals we wanted. So since he asked that question, we assumed that he is going to buy back for us (Yu Hong asked Goh if he is going to buy back for us but I think he didn’t reply or whatever)

So we went to the back of the BQT office and help Niki and Dora to do up the menu for tonight’s dinner while waiting for our lunch.

After about 15 mins, Goh called Yu Hong and asked where we are. We were like ‘I though you are going to buy back for us?’

And apparently there was some miscommunication. Goh asked us what we wanted cox he was at the queue already and he bought our food first so that by the time we reached there, we don’t have to waste our time queuing up.

By the time we reached Burger King, our fries were cold and soft already =( and they have already finished theirs. Anyway, they waited for us to finish up and went back tgt.

Went back to BQT office coz Yu Hong bought egg tarts for some of them and we started slacking in there again.

Went back up to China Hall to see if they need any help there after walking awhile, we got tired and went back to BQT office. Nothing much to do there, we went to the back and started slping for at least 20mins.

Realized that BQT office was very quiet, went out to take a look and saw Cherry, Niki, Dora and Yu Hong changing the menu coz some of the words were keyed in wrongly.

Went up to Grand ballroom and they were having roll call; no one inform us about the roll call which means that we were not assign to anything to do =)

Helped Cherry to put the menus on the tables and arrange the chairs neatly, etc…

Reception starts shortly and we just walked around to see if they need help anywhere.

Went out to the cocktail garden to feel how cold the weather is already and the wind was so super strong that it blew down a glass of water. And with a very loud clash, the normal reaction for us was ‘OMG!!’ but to them, it seems to be very normal that a glass broke so loudly.

Dinner started and we started pouring red wine for the guest and at some point, helping the food server clear away dirty plates.

Time always past very quickly during serving time. After the whole dinner, we steal some food to eat; fruits, coffee cheesecake, etc.. (there is this secret place where the staffs will secretly eat the food) and there was this final roll call before everyone starts to clear away everything; the cutleries, table clothes and chair covers, etc…

By the time we end, it was near 9pm already… 14 hours of work!!! And some of the BQT staffs got to work more then that. Some of them ended work at 3.30am the previous day and started work at 9am today till they remove all the settings. And some of them didn’t even have their lunch and dinner. Poor thing!!

So super tired already, we still walked back home. Wanted to watch a DVD but was so tired that after watching 10 mins, I went off to lala land.

Until now, I have already got 2 days off from RSVN =) which means that I just got to support for another 2 more time and I can get 4 days off to accompany my parents when they are here this Dec =)

Singapore Evening

57th day in Shanghai (26/10/07)Today was a very long day. Worked from 9am till 11pm, the longest day I had ever since attachment started

Reported to work at 9am in reservation and started calling for arrival time. Wanted to tell our RSVN manager that we got to support BQT for the event Singapore Evening at 12pm but she said that she need to give us training first and we can only support at about 3-4pm.

But well, I think she is quite nice as she told us that every extra hour that we work, be it in BQT or in RSVN, we can claim back the day-off. So I plan to work a few more extra days so that when my parents come, I can take off and accompany them=)

So during lunch, we went to find Yee Hui and told him that we can only report at 4pm but he said that row call is at 2pm and asked June, one of the AM to call up to Nancy.

But in the end, we still can’t go down at 2pm coz Nancy said that if she can’t give us training today, she will have to wait for another week before she got the time for us.

So training today was all about the Global Distribution System (GDS) booking. And to handle all those booking, we got to apply what we learn in school into practical; using the OPERA system.
One of the leaders, Lily gave us the training and we recapped how to use the system (it was barely a few months since we learned it and we forgot some of the steps already)

So from Monday onwards, we will have extra jobs to do; make new reservation, edit changes and make cancellations.

After the training, it was near 5pm already and we got to report to Yee Hui straight to ask him for our roles for Singapore Evening. And at that time, both Kim and I were super hungry already but we can’t go for dinner cox dinner was starting soon.

Singapore Evening was an event to introduce Singapore into China. It shows Singapore’s culture, cuisine, etc during this whole event. The whole set up at the reception was super Singapore. Clean and green with a few lions around.

Before the event starts, I became a mini tour guide for Angela and Joanne. After touring Angela around, she needs to go back to work and Joanne came up to find me. So I toured her around too.

Then we saw Tay Pinghui and wanted to take photo with him but all of us don’t really dare to ask him coz he was rehearsing his MC speech with Dong Suhua.

Not long later, SM Goh came and he was surrounded with tons of reporters and security. Then I realized that it was a super VIP event where there were quite a number of ministers and big shot (rich ppl) that went to this event. The managers were making sure that nothing goes wrong during this whole event.

So Kim, Yu Hong and I were supposed to be in charge of the drinks for 3 different sections and I was in charge of the whole area where SM Goh was seating. Then I managed to talk to Mrs Goh as Cherry wanted me to ask her if she eats beef if not, she can have a choice of chicken or fish.

It was a super busy night and I think that my whole section lack of drink server. So for the whole night, time past very fast coz I was pouring drinks non-stop and helping the food server clearing the plates.

But well, I still manage to watch the performance; they got fashion shows, Malay dance and Sun Ho was here to sing some songs =)

After the whole event, we started taking photos with a lot of Singaporeans and make new friends around. We didn’t feel very comfortable taking photos at first cox we were working and if we take photos in front of the staffs, it feels really weird. But in the end, we can’t be bothered and took photos with a lot of people. . And most importantly, took some name cards from impt ppl =)

Photos are still with Yu Hong =(

And almost everyone said that the service in this hotel is so much better then the one in Beijing. Everyone was so glad to hear that.

Bought home some goodie bags (they gave real good stuff) and they gave us a lot of free Yeo’s water chestnut drinks. Singapore production=)

I think we are quite lucky to be involved in this event as we get to see a lot of Singaporeans working, having their internship or exchange programs here. And besides, we saw a lot of Singapore’s big shots (real rich people).

I can really see how much Singapore wants to be recognized in China.

Good Buys real near my house =)

55th day in Shanghai (24/10/07)

Since Sunday, we have been going to the street along 八佰伴 for night shopping.

It was on Sunday night when Joanne and Kim wanted to go window shopping. What happen was they told me that they wanted to go to the Beef Noodle store for dinner, repair their shoes and walk around at八佰伴.

But after 1 ½ hour, they came home with some shopping bags and their repaired shoes.

‘why you guys came back so early? Nothing to shop there?’

‘no lah, we just came back to put our stuffs and we are going out again. We only shopped at the road side stores outside the train station area and we bought 2 jackets and 2 bags.’

‘HUH!!! You guys buy so many things!!! I also wanna go!! But very lazy leh..’

‘Faster lah. Want to go a not? If you are not then we are going off already. Don’t get jealous when we bring back STUFFS!!! Hahaha’

‘okie fine. Wait for me. I go and change first.’ (Changed my clothes and went out. I think I didn’t even comb my hair. Hehe.

They have a lot of stores around that area selling all sorts of things. Went there for the past few days and I will buy at least something every time I shopped there.

It’s kind of weird actually. The area八佰伴have a lot of shopping malls and the things that they are selling are quite expensive and just outside all these shopping malls, there are a lot of road side stores that are selling real cheap stuffs.

So every time we go there, we will just shop outside all those shopping malls and every time, we will buy something.

Things I have bought from those road side stores; boots, bag, bracelet, earrings, fragrance pouch, hat/cap, leather watch, socks, etc…

Then on Monday, we went back to the street and we saw some police that came and all the sellers started running away from them. And in seconds, the whole street can be super quiet.

I think the next time I want to go shopping, I don’t have to go all the way down to Qipu already =). I can really find good buys there =)

Enough of all the shopping, back to work. Have been in reservation dept for a few days and besides filing, keying in data and be shoppers (calling competitor hotels on their rates), we started calling guests for their arrival time to the hotel and checking emails.

It was quite tough calling the guest at first coz most of the time; we got to speak in Chinese. And sometimes, when they use more difficult terms, I wouldn’t know what it means.

Some of the guest can talk real fast that I can’t catch a single word they say and when I asked them to repeat, they seems to get frustrated.

Well, I will got to do this for the next 3 months I think.. The only lucky thing is that I can still be involved in all big events with BQT=)

Opera Night

51st day in Shanghai (20/10/07)

Work start at 2pm in the afternoon and when we reach the locker room at about 1.45pm, we saw a lot of BQT staff helping one another putting on makeup (apparently some of them don’t know how to put on make up)

When we went up to the BQT office, Tracy asked us to go down to Grand Ballroom (GB) for roll call. When we reach GB, we saw a lot of staff there and the directors were checking on their grooming. Even the team leaders and managers are polishing their shoes.

Today was the first time I saw so many staff in a ballroom. I think there are more then 60 staffs including all the supports from other outlet. The most impressive thing was that the whole HR dept went to help out as support too.

I was quite shock when they told me that the HR staffs will be serving the guest as well. I knew that they will be helping out but didn’t know that they will be helping out as service staff. Even some of the managers have to be server. I just feel totally weird to see the HR managers doing waiter/waitress stuffs.

(I feel that if the hotel know that they dun have enough staffs, then don’t run 2 major events concurrently. And since Opera Night is an internal event, can’t they just change the date to some other days??? It’s so weird to ask people not from the F&B dept to come and help out. And worst still, asking managers and asst managers to be waiter and waitress. Maybe it’s the profit that they are looking at. )

All the staffs were deployed to different groups (5 staff per group) and they were suppose to have a rehearsal on how they are going to serve food to the guest

(it’s western style so each server will hold on to 2 plates and serve the guest individually. One group will serve 3 tables and there is a total of 50 tables plus another 70 tables from China Hall ballroom. So imagine the number of staff they need)

So after deploying all the staffs to food server, they still need staffs for drink server. So in the end, Kim, Yu Hong, I and some other BQT staff and HR staff became drink server.

Before dinner, everyone one was supposed to change to the BQT uniform and the whole laundry area was packed with most of the HR staff as they were all wearing their blue suit uniform.

Kim, Yu Hong and I got to change out uniform too. Somehow, it feels like being demoted coz from wearing a suit, we got to change and wear the BQT uniform. But when I realized that even the HR managers are wearing the BQT uniform, I know that I shouldn’t think that way. Everyone working in the hotel is a team trying to provide the best to its customer regardless of what uniform you are wearing.

The whole event runs quite smoothly and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was supposed to be drink server for 4 tables but in the end, there seems to be a lot of additional drink server and I didn’t serve a lot.

After the dinner, it was performance and since we got nothing to do already, we started listening to the performance. People spend thousand over RMB to listen to the opera and we listened for free (for exchange with our hard-work).

After the Opera was a chocolate buffet at the cocktail garden. At first, Kim, Yu Hong and I were attached to 3 other girls and they were supposed to walk around asking people if they want to drink cognacs. So the 3 of us were supposed to tell the guest what cognac it is when they ask.

In the end, we realized that no one asked and Kelvin told both Kim and I to go outside the cocktail garden and serve wine at the bar (which was suppose to be a display bar only)

When we went out, we realized that there weren’t any glasses for the wine and I went to find Kelvin. So one of the team leader, Ven together with Kelvin and I rush into the ballroom to look for clean glasses on the tables.

Brought those glasses out and started serving the wine at the bar. It was so freezing cold. The white wine bottles were placed between tons of ice and it was icing cold.

But it was quite fun cox we started crapping with the staffs there and some of the guest were quite fun to talk to as well.

At about 10.30pm, the event ended and when we went into the ballroom where all the other staffs were, forgetting that we were wearing our BQT uniform, I sat on the chair at the table where Yee Hui and some other managers were seating. OPPS!!

Went down to BQT office to help Kelvin and Yee Hui put some staff and went back to the ballroom. Reached there and all the other staff have went off already.

Yee Hui asked if we were going to walk home and I asked if he can to send us home since he is going to take a cab anyway. Cherry offered to send us home as well since she is driving =)

So after all the guest went off, we started eating those chocolate from the buffet and I think it was too sweet.

After that, we went to change our clothes and Yu Hong told us that Joanne was at the BATS, one of the bars in the hotel for Alan’s farewell party.

So in the end, Cherry didn’t send us home cox we went to the BATS but by the time we reached there, Alan went off already.

Stayed there for a while and try looking for Alan cox both Kim and I wanted to take a photo with him. But we can’t find him =(

We decided to walk home since the weather was quite cooling. It has been a long time since the 4 of us went home together.

And I think that we are quite lucky to be involved in this event ‘Opera Night’ cox it is considered a very big internal event to the hotel where it portray the image of the hotel to it’s guest. I really get to see the whole hotel coming together organizing and running the event. Even the GM and all the directors are involved.

Great experience from there and I can’t wait to be involved in other major events!!!

Change of job!!!!!

50th Day in Shanghai (19/10/07)

Have being transferred to Reservation department since Tuesday and all we did was just filing, keying data entry and sending emails to customers.

HOW BORING CAN OFFICE JOB BE!!!!!

It was never being one of my ambition to be an OL and now, I got to be one for the next 3 ½ months!!!

So what happen was on Monday, 15/10/07, there was an ‘Opera Night’ meeting and Yee Hui asked us to join in. So when the meeting started, almost all the seats were occupied (we were seating at the main table and there were some extra chairs behind us in case there wasn’t even seats for all).

Half way through, the GM came in and when he saw that all the seats were occupied, he sat behind us at those extra chairs. I wanted to give up my seat for him but I think I hesitated for a while.

So when I offer him my seat, he rejected it and said that he is fine seating behind. That that point of time, all 3 of us; Kim, Yu Hong and Josh, were super awkward. It’s like we are occupying his seat cox in actual fact, we are not needed in the meeting. We are just there to see how they plan the event and how they conduct a meeting.

So after the meeting, Yu Hong said that he hear GM asking my F&B EAM, Mr. Thomas ‘how many interns do we have? Singaporeans’

At that time, I can sense that something bad is going to happen to us.

Not long later, Yee Hui received a sms from big boss asking him to send the 2 girls’ (Kim and I) name to Mr. Thomas. He then received a reply saying that the 2 of us will be transferred to the Sales & Marketing dept after an interview.

When we told other staffs abt the news, they started saying how terrible it is to work in S&M esp under that boss. They told us that MICE and Events will be better compared to sales so during the interview, request to go to either Events or MICE.

So after hearing that, I felt quite relieved cox I am quite interested in Event and MICE.
At the end of the day, we still didn’t receive any news from the GM and when we were about to end work and go home, Yee Hui received a call asking Kim and I to go to the Reservation dept for an interview.

Went for the interview and it seems like we don’t have any other choice but Reservation dept. (They make it seems like an interview but in actual fact, we are suppose to work there no matter wat)

So we got to report to reservation dept next day. It was quite rush and Yee Hui said that he can’t really do anything coz it was the GM that want us to go there!!!

Reported to reservation on Tuesday and what we did was just doing filing of some overdue data and updating data entry. On Wednesday and Thursday, we started sending emails to the guest asking for their ETA to the hotel (a standard email is given and we edited the whole email cox it just sound so wrong. What we need to do is just to change the date and name of the guest=no brainer’s work)

We got so bored today that we asked Tracy to call Reservation Office and request us to go down to BQT for support.

But in the end, when we went down to BQT office, there wasn’t anything much for us to do. All we did was slacking and chatting with Tracy.

Then I realized that time past super fast in Reservation dept coz at least we got things to do; although it’s super boring and I think I will miss a lot of fun from BQT.

So in order not to miss out too much fun from BQT and not slacking too much for this attachment, we told Yee Hui that for all big events, we request to be support.

It’s like one stone killing 3 birds =)

Firstly, we see the whole event and learn something, Secondly, we will not miss out all the fun in BQT (still part of them), and lastly, we can still learn new and more things in Reservation dept and not slacking too much in BQT.

Hopefully Reservation dept is as fun (but I doubt so) and I can learn a lot of things from there… I wanna answer phone calls!!!

Went to H&M after work cox they have got summer sale!!!! Bought some clothes there and the quality is much better than those in Qipu. Maybe I should just spend more money in those proper shops than in Qipu…

Went to Lan Zhou Beef Noodle store for dinner again and I think that was the 3rd time I went there this week. We became regular customer there already; they can recognize us and know what we want to order.

But well, I think the food there is nice.. esp. with vinegar =)

Lu Jia Bang & outdoor catering along huangpu river

45th day in Shanghai (14/10/07)

The day passed quite fast today.

Reached the hotel, looked for Yee Hui and we did the daily routine again; walking around the function rooms to check that everything is going on well (routine check is 3 times a day)

Today wasn't a busy day and there wasn’t anything much to do as well. So Yee Hui decided to go and take his tailor made suit from Lu Jia Bang and asked if we want to go with him.

So after lunch, we went to look for him and headed to that place. It look like a tourist attraction cox there were alot of angmors. The whole place looks like some warehouse where i think there is place for bargaining. haha.

He took he suit, got his shirts and next time, I know where to make mine =) There were alot of tailor shops there and next time, i can try out the different shops to see which one is the best.

And apparently the quality of the clothes are quite good and they and do up the clothes in less then 2 days if you request.

SIS: bring more magazines here when u comes and we can go tailor make it. cheap and same

Today there was this site inspection. It's about some important potential client that comes to the hotel and look at what are the type of functions the hotel is able to provide them.

So one of the function room was prepared for this site inspection and they actually had this station in front of the main door that show case beautiful 'mouth bite' chocolates.

The whole thing look quite grand where it looks more like a jewelry show case than a chocolate show case. Too bad I forgot to take a photo of it..

Tracy told us that after the site inspection, we can try out the different chocolates. So, both Kim and I waited for the site inspection to end (it ends at 6pm when we ends work at 5pm so we waited for one hour for the Chocolates).

While waiting for them, we went to look for Joanne and she show us this very cute mix-blood baby. He is 5 months old but his features are a lot more matured.

When Yee Hui, Cherry came out of the room, we wanted to go in and eat but Yee Hui asked us to go to an outdoor catering to have a look.. BOO!!! which means we cant get to eat the chocolates (well, we only get to eat one passion fruit favor and it was NICE)

But well, Kim said that she heard Tracy asking one of the manager to put the chocolates into a container and put it in the freight. So we went to the outdoor catering which was just a 5 mins walk away from the hotel located at the bund.

The client actually booked one part of the pathway along the bund for the dinner for 200pax. (It's some Shanghai Stock Exchange event=Rich People) and Ms kim asked this question

'is it very expensive to book this place???'

Everyone was like

'DER!! This is like the main part of Shanghai and they are occupying this whole area (no one was allowed to walk pass it and the only was to cross over is to make a big turn from the back)!!!'

How cute can she be right? haha The whole set-up look grand with a big stage, lightings, cocktail area and buffet spread. Imagine the huge amt of space they are using!!

So the weather at 6pm was dark and cold already and those waiter and waitress got to standby their tables to serve the customers.. They were just wearing their simple BQT uniform.. I feel so COLD for them!!!

After a while, both Kim and I cant take it anymore and went back to the hotel. We went to find our chocolates but there wasn't anymore left. So both of us just sadly changed our clothes and went out.

For the first time in this 1 1/2 month in Shanghai, we went to the Pearl Tower cox heard from Jie Ying that they sell subway there. So we went over to look for it and YEA!!! we saw it.

Had subway and went back to the outdoor catering as we wanted to watch the performance until 8.30pm so that we can take the shuttle bus home.

But well, with 2 girls wearing their own casual clothes in that area (everyone else were in uniform or at least formal clothing), we left totally left out. So after watching one performance, we decided to leave the place and walk home.

Bought a few more DVDs =)

First dinner feast in China

44th day in Shanghai (13/10/07)

Work was kind of boring today. Reached the hotel at 8am, had our breakfast and went to find Cherry. Check the schedule of the day and there weren’t many events. All there was were some set-ups and a few small meetings.

Today was the first time out of this 2 ½ month that I feel that someone is showing authority towards us.

So, what happen was we got this new big boss, and he made both Kim and I do things that we thing is stupid. Firstly, he asked if we would want to be his secretary for the day. And since we got nothing to do, we agreed with him.

So, the first thing he asked us to do, was to ask us to go to the Banquet Office at B1, use his computer to print out this email draft that he wants to sent out as he wants to edit things from it (we were at lvl 3 at that time, quite far away from the office).

And after bringing the hardcopy of the draft to him, he edited it and asked us to edit it to his computer. So we went to B1, edited and printed it out, we went back to lvl 3 to show him the update draft. He edited again and asked us to go back to B1 to edit it again.

So after editing, we just stayed in the office. He came back a short while later and started saying that he has got tons of emails to reply. So what he did was he started telling us what emails he need to reply and tell us the details that need to be in the email and we are suppose to type it out for him using another manager’s computer and using that computer, sent an email to his account for him to check and sent out the email.

I mean I think that it’s totally weird and dumb. Can’t he just type it himself or wat??? (oh, his English sucks…and well, his Chinese suck too… opps)

So after helping him with all those email, we slacked in the office talking to Tracy and another BQT staff.

All of us were planning to leave at 5pm as there was this BQT dinner (the dept has got extra funds/incentives so they are using the money to treat the staffs) at 5.30pm for all staffs.

And apparently this Big Boss doesn’t want to go and since he doesn’t want to go, he has got tons time to waste.
So at 5pm, he walked out from his office

‘Let’s go.’

(Both Kim and I looked at each other) ‘Who let’s go? Us?’

(pissed off tone) ‘yes you. Let’s go’

We were like HUH!!! We are supposed to end work at 5pm coz we start at 8am!!

But well, we followed him and once we reached the ballroom, he like totally ignored us. And after awhile, he just asked us to go into the VIP room and take out 2 chairs coz there wasn’t enough chairs outside for a small meeting.

Then we went to find Cherry and told her what happen and she just ask us to go off. So we came all the way from B1 to level 3 just to bring out 2 chairs from the VIP room for him.

Well, and apparently he didn’t ask anyone about where were we after we left. We were just too insignificant!!

So it was then to the Dinner at this ‘Yue Ming’ restaurant’. Dinner was supposed to start at 6pm but it was extended to 8pm coz most of the staffs were being held up at work by Big Boss.. Hmmmm…..

Food there wasn’t too bad but too bad there wasn’t any photo coz when the food came, everyone was like hungry ghost eating up all the food.

The dinner was quite fine and it was quite an eye-opener. I see the way how the locals behave and everything. They smoke and drink like no body biz.

There was a total of 150 bottles of beer and all were cleared. Imagine how much each one of them (esp the guys) drink when there were 10 tables, one not occupied, one table didn’t drink at all and most of the girls didn’t drink.

It was very fun when you see how they behave and talk. I think all this hardly happen in Singapore. Normally after a dinner in Singapore, everyone will just leave and go home. But here, there will stay and make sure everyone drink with them. They will just go around drinking with anyone. It’s like those scenes in those HK shows.. Quite interesting..

But well, some people were quite a wet-blanket.. oh well, don’t wanna talk about it anymore.. In anyway, I think I enjoyed myself… quite an experience =)

The early wake up

42nd day in Shanghai (11/10/07)

For don’t know what reason, I woke up damn early today.

Work starts at 10am and I should wake up at 8.30am. But in the end, I woke up at 6.30am.
Washed up and put on my make up super slowly but I still got plenty of time. So I watched a DVD but in the end, it’s in French with chinese subtitle. Gave up and here I am, blogging on what happen yesterday.

Oh great. Time now is 8.54am and I think I start slowly started packing up for work. I am still wondering what I will be doing today cox both Cherry and Ehui is on left which means that I got no one to report for work today… Going to be another day of … learning nothing????

Work is becoming more and more boring!!! HELP!!!! I cant wait till next week where hopefully, we got more things to do.

Okie, so went to work and things wasnt that bad. Yee Hui worked today and what we did wat planning the Opera foyer layout (that was suppose to be Yu Hong jobs but since i was bored too, i did it with him)

So after a 'finally busy' day at work, we left the hotel at about 8.30pm and i accompanied Yu Hong to Lotus as he wanted to buy grocery.

And since it was 8.30pm already and Joanne ends work at 9pm, I called her and told her that I am going to meet her to go home together.

So I waited her from 8.40 to 9.10pm. There wasn’t any call from her.. then I continue waited for another 30 mins till 9.45pm. Got quite pissed already by that time as I gave her a few missed calls and she didn’t reply.

At 9.50pm, she finally called and when I asked her if she know what is the time, she totally forgot about it. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!

Waited another 20mins for her to come out and she told me what happen. Okie, so apparently there is this important guest (sort of old and popular celebrity) wanted to have his meal at Yi café. And since he is a celebrity, he would want to have his own private room and stuff (every time he patronize Yi Café, he will have his own private room).

This time, one of the hostess forgot to book a private room for him and when he reached the café, there wasn’t any private room for him. He was quite unhappy and since Joanne got some interaction with the guest before (by trying to sell Opera tickets to him) they asked her to try to calm him down.

She managed to calm him down and forgot all about the time.. so okie, well, and since she said that she will treat me to ‘Shao Kao’, I forgive her. Haha

So while walking home, we saw 2 YiCafe’s Indian chefs and their house were real near to ours. So we walked home tgt and when we were going to reach out house, we asked them if they wanted to eat Shao Kao too and they were fine with it.

Reached the store and we saw Jie Ying. So 5 of us started eating Shao Kao and that was the first time I ate so many sticks of it.. It was so crazy.. we drank quite a lot too. Quite a fun night out=)
By the time we reached home, it was near 12 already.. and OMG!! I am working at 8am tmr!!!

Another Qi-pu trip =)

41st day in Shanghai (10/10/07)

It’s the last day of my ‘4-days’ off and what I did the whole day was watched DVD, eat, shop, eat and watched DVD again.

Woke up in the morning at about 1030 to wash up and to get ready to go Qipu rd cox Kim wanted to buy some winter stuffs there.

So after washing up and while waiting for Joanne to get ready, we started watching Good Luck Cluck. Not too bad a show but I think some parts are quite porn..opps

After watching, we went to the Lan Zhou Beef Noodle shop for lunch and headed to Qipu rd.

On the way there, 2 things happen to me.

While walking across the overhead bridge (there wasn’t a lot of people at that time), I felt that there was someone behind me so I turned over and saw this guy suddenly turned away and behave very weirdly. So when I look at my handbag, I saw the last button on my bag open (but lucky I don’t put anything there). The man was still behind me at that time and I so feel like beating him up and send him to the police..

But then I realized that I shouldn’t do such thing cox it will be a waste of time and there wasn’t any evidence.. Besides, I believe that there are plenty of pickpockets around here and I don’t think the police will even bother.

Okie, so after I reached the wholesale mall that we frequent went (FREQUET?!?!?! Which mean that I have been here a few times spending a few hundred dollars each time already???? Okie doesn’t matter, that’s not the point), there was a motorcycle that was coming towards us and in order to give way, I step on a staircase slope.

And because my stupid slipper got no more friction already, I slipped and fell down. It was like SUPER EMBARRASS!!!! I was holding on to my papaya pineapple juice (left 1/10 of it) and when I fall, the drink splash on me.

So in the end, I got a few cuts on my leg and I got to shop with this papaya pineapple smell on my shirt. (SO YUCKY!!!!!)

But well, doesn’t matter coz in the end of the day, I bought what I wanted =) Bought my winter jacket, a leather jacket, a thick top, a red button shirt, a boot and a black shoe.

And I managed to exchange my spoiled top that I bought the other time with the same shop owner. What happen was while I was trying to find which shop it was, we went into this shop and look at the clothes, then the whole conversation was like this (in chinese)

‘Hey, I remember you guys. You all came the other time and bought some clothes from me. Remember? A jacket and 2 white top’

Then I got excited.

‘YES!!! Of course I remembered. The top that u gave me was a lousy one. There isn’t any button on it.. I want to exchange. Can i???’

‘okie, why not I cut out the button from another top coz I don’t have any more supply for the white one already.’

‘er.. so I have to sew it myself when I go home?'

‘Yes. We don’t have any needles and treads here.'

‘Well, then forget it. I will just exchange the whole shirt. I think this color isn’t that bad too’

‘Okie sure’

‘thanks’

I think I am just lucky. If the owner didn’t say that she recognized us, I wouldn’t know that that was the shop I am looking for.

So after shopping for quite some time until evening, we headed back home. Feeling hungry, we meet up with Jie Ying and went back to the Lan Zhou beef noodle shop to eat again. I think we are going to be regular customers there soon coz the food is nice and cheap =)

Went back home and Jie Ying came over and we show her what we have got. She can’t wait to go shopping with us haha. But I don’t think it will be any time soon coz I am super duper broke here!!!!

Watched The Game Plan and off to bed.

stupid computer

40th day in Shanghai (09/10/07)

Argh!!!!!!!!!! I feel so stupid now!!!!! The stupid laptop is irritating the shit out of me!!!!

Tried using Skype taking to my sister and she said that she can’t hear me… So I tried solving the problem by clinking around some of the system and software. And in the end, I stupidly deleted my audio system from the control panel… OMG!!! How stupid can I be.. So now, not only I cant talk to them, I cant hear them as well..

And I got no idea how to fix this stupid problem. I know I need to get a software but where the freaking hell am I going to get it!!! Damn it!!!

Okie, anyway, since I cant listen to my music or chat with sissy, I shall just continue blogging.
The whole day was just spent slacking.. Woke up in the morning and went to 正大广场 with Joanne., Wanted to accompany her to buy some hair accessories but in the end, she doesn’t have to use it.

Asked Kim and Yu Hong to meet us at Burger King for lunch and after that, I went to Lotus myself to buy some grocery.

Shopped there for quite some time and bought quite a number of heavy stuff. Wanted to take the shuttle bus back but I was think that since the weather is so cooling and I haven’t been exercising for quite some time, why not walk home (with I think a few KG of stuffs in both my hands)

So by the time I reached home, my hands were breaking off already. Reached home, do some laundry, watched Evan Almighty and I fell asleep on the bed. Woke up at 4+pm when Angela called me and started using my computer till now….

Had Maggie for dinner and I hardy finished it coz I am so sick of the taste already..

ARGH!!! The computer is irritating the shit out of me!!!!

A freezing day out

39th day in Shanghai (08/10/07)

Today is the 2nd day of my ‘4 days’ of offday and I practically stayed at home uploading all the photos and slack.

So after Joanne woke up at 6+pm, she said that she dun want to stay at home the whole day and wanted to go somewhere. At the same time, Jie Ying msged to say that she needs to buy a blazer so the initial plan was to meet her at八佰伴 after her work.

But until 7pm, she still didn’t called back and after a while, both Chang Fang and Jie Ying reached home. They looked sick after being drenched in the heavy rain in the morning and stayed in the air-con office for 8 hours.

The weather was really bad the whole day. It was raining and the wind was super cold. I was at home and Joanne was feeling cold.

Since the weather was still so bad at 7pm, we decided to just go down to one of the shop to eat and ‘da bao’ for Angela.

Even before reaching the first floor, we can feel the cold wind. And wat we were wearing were t-shirt and shorts plus a jacket. At that time, we were deciding if we want to continue gg out.
In the end, we still went to eat, after eating we plan to look for DVDs but couldn’t find any,. Then we went to the train station cox we wanted to buy egg tarts.

The whole trip was super fun. We kept laughing for the entire trip. Chang Fang said that the heavy rain was cause by the typhoon that might be coming again in these 2 days.

So throughout the trip, which was like there was a mini tyhoon, we saw people’s umbrella spoiled, holding on to their umbrella super tied and holding their umbrella right in front of them to block the wind (this was what we did too).

We keep taking photos of these shots and when we came out of the train station empty handed because the egg tart shop was closed, we walked pass a shop that sells ice-cream. I look at Joanna and asked if she wants to eat ice cream.

So the 2 crazy girls started licking their ice-cream in the middle of the street during this freaking freezing day and everyone along the street were staring at them like they were some abnormal creatures.

That was really crazy but it was fun. We went out for 1hour but it seems like 5 hours have passed. It was very tiring coz we were cold, we walked a lot and we laughed a lot. I think it was a good experience..

The Quiet Night

38th Day in shanghai (07/10/07)

The night was very quiet.

WHY?!?!

This is the 4th day the 2 little puppies stayed in our small little hse. And sad to say, it’s their last day.

The story goes like this. While walking down the street on Thursday night to 八佰伴，there were a lot of puppy sellers along the street. They sell puppies for a few hundred RMB and a lot of people were playing with those puppies.

Both Joanne and Kim loves the puppies a lot coz they were like super cute. They spend a freaking long time playing with them while both Angela and I went into the shopping mall to shop first.

Okie, so after walking for quite some time in the shopping mall, we went around the area to see what was for dinner. And when we went back to八佰伴, there was this female puppy seller just outside the main door. Both Kim and Joanne were attached to the puppies again, and this time, the lady was selling the puppies for super cheap.

So, the 2 girls got so excited over the puppies and they decided to buy it (cheap, cute, lovable.. who will reject right?? w/o realizing the after-effect and consequences of owning a puppy).

They were worried that I will reject it but well, I got soft-hearted and said ‘okie’ but state that I wouldn’t help them look after the puppies. (and I did asked them qn like what will happen to the dog after 5 months, etc…) and they seems to know what to do so yea, they bought back the puppies.

So, they named their puppies Sushi and Latte and had a fun time looking after the puppies for the first night. Cleaning up their waste dun seems to be a chore to them.

And then it was the 2nd day. Joanne had some Shanghai friend over here in Shanghai and when she told them that they bought a puppy, they were quite worried. And they asked her this qn (the same qn that I asked) ‘Didn’t u realize that no one in the street buy those puppies?’

And apparently these puppies got some illness. I dun think it’s illness(like they are gg to die after a few days. They were energetic because the sellers gave them some injection that can last for a few days) but these puppies are not well taken care of since birth.

All dogs need to have some injection when they were born after the first 2 weeks and I heard that there are a total of 7 injections.

Both of them were quite worried after knowing that but well, they were deciding if they should bring them to the vet or sth. Things were fine for the next 2 days. The puppies were energetic; they can play, run, make noise and everything. It was until today, when things get a bit wrong.

It was in the morning when I woke up and saw the shit on the floor and woke Kim up to clear up the mess. The shit was still solid at that time.

Then after awhile, I think they shitted and pee again and Latte vomited. Poor Kim got to clean up all the mess. Then the 2 puppies were making so much noise that I got damn pissed off and ask Kim to put the 2 puppies outside but they can still continue making noise and irritate me.

So I pushed it further away from the hse and all of us ignored them. After awhile, they kept quiet.

At that time, Kim screamed for me. It was the toilet. It got stuck!!! I was like OMGOMGOMG!!!! The whole hse is damn smelly coz of the puppies waste and their smell and now, the toilet is stuck.

Called for the landlord for help and went to check out the puppies. They seems to be very sick at that time and I tot that they were very cold. I think Latte vomited again.

So, I bring the 2 puppies in the hse again and Latte made some noise. Kim let her out from her cage and immediately, she ran into the room, seems to be searching for sth, and then stand at a corner and started shitting. And this time the shit was semi-solid.. I was like "OMGOMGOMG!!!!!! Get rid of the dog IMMEDIATELY!!!!"

Kim got to clean up her mess again and after putting Latte into her cage, Sushi starting pooing too. And she asked me if I wanna clean up for her (cox she was holding on to sushi) and I said a straight no. Okie, very evil but from the start I already said that I am not gg to look after the puppies.

So I hold on to sushi and she started clearing up the mess again. And after placing Sushi into his newly placed newspaper cage, he started pooing again.. At that time, I know that kim is gg mad already.

So, after the toilet was fit and the dogs were settle, Kim went to take her bath and asked me to help clean up if any of the puppies get dirty again. I was like.. ‘er.. I try…’

And lucky worst… When she was bathing, Latte shitted again, and this time, it got worst, it was liquid and super duper smelly. I couldn’t take it ad knocked on JieYing’s door for help.

The moment she saw it, she couldn’t take it too.. I was screaming at that time already.. I cant let myself near the shit at all. (and the next few days is my off day. And I was telling myself that I am so not gg to look after the puppies for them and not gg to clean up all the shits…)

I couldn’t take it anymore coz all the shits and everything is driving me crazy. The whole freaking hse is damn smelly. I went over to Jie Ying’s hse to stay for awhile, I almost vomit too. I got so angry with myself for not being firm enough of not allowing them keeping the puppies.

Kim couldn’t take it as well (she is worst coz she got to clean up) and wanted to get out of the hse so badly. Her puppy has been slping, shitting, vomiting, urining the whole day and she look super weak.. at that time, kim was deciding wat to do to her Latte.. She dun want it anymore…

And while we were abt to go out of our hse, Latte gave a very weird sound that freaks me off. Then she suddenly started vomiting.. and this time, I almost went crazy. In her vomit, there a worm that was crawling around. I was so totally freak out that I dun even dare to go near her.

This is like so DISGUSTING!!!! And I heard from Chang Fang that there might be a lot more, maybe hundreds in her stomach. That was so crazy.. And we were deciding if we should just bring her to the vet. But Kim said that if she is giving away the puppy, why waste the money to see the vet.

So, in the end, we just went out and left the 2 puppies with Angela.

Went to find YuHong and bought a lot of things from Carrefour. And finally, we ate subway =)

On the way back home, Kim called Joanne to ask her some stuffs and she said that Latte vomited again and this time, there were 4 worms.. I felt really disgusted… If they dun get rid of the puppies by today, I got no idea how I am gg to survive with them tmr.

Reached home and heard from changfang a lot of things. Things like illegal to buy puppies on the streets, some licensing and stuff.

So in the end, both Kim and Joanne decided to give away their puppies. And another problem appeared. Who are they suppose to give??? The puppies’ seller wouldn’t want them as they should know the condition of those puppies, they dun wanna just leave the puppies on the road side, etc…

In the end, they decided to just leave the puppies outside an animal hospital.
So at 11pm, we took a cab down to one animal hospital (Joanna friend gave her the address) and they just put them out the shop, hopping that they will look after the puppies.

In the cab, when I look back at the 2 puppies, they seem to know what is gg on. Latte eyes seem to be teary and the 2 normally very noisy puppies became very quiet. She just lied at the corner in her cage, keeping quiet, looking down. Sushi was under Joanne arms and he didn’t fidget at all.

When we reached the place, when Joanne wanted to put Sushi back into his cage, he kept on fidgeting, which seems like he know that if he get into the cage, his fate will be different again.

And imagine the whole scene. The 2 of them were very sad, it was raining quite heavily and the taxi driver was waiting for us (to drive us back home; he was staring at us). And when they placed the cage on the floor, I can feel the heart pain from the 2 girls.

The trip to and fro was super quiet.

Well, in the end, I can just say that dun do things impulsively. One impt thing abt making any decision is to be able to bare any consequences.

I believe that they haven gave enough thought abt having the puppies which lead to all these… unhappiness within themselves.

In any way, hope that it was a lesson learned. Be it to them or to me.

Sometimes humans can be just so selfish… I got no choice but to think this way…

Hangzhou Trip =)

31st - 34th day in Shanghai (30/09/07-03/10/07)

Went over to Hangzhou over the Golden Week and the places that we went wasnt that nice... but well, sometimes it's the company that counts =)

Dun feel like writing alot of words coz there were alot of things tat happen. and the highlight of the trip was that we quarreled with at least one person every day.

Anyway, photos seems to be more interesting =)

Day one.

Went over the train station to buy tixs and only 'no seats' tix are left available so we got to stand for 2 freaking hrs.

Waiting to board the train.. Tons of ppl

on the train

Got to stand for 2 hours and some of us cant take it, we decided to seat on the floor. And when we reached therem without booking any hotels, we started searching for hotels. From calling back to ask my manager to looking at the tourist guide book of hangzhou to asking help from Hangzhou Shangri-la lobby staffs. How great can we be!!!

Day 2.

Went over to Xihu and spend half the day there. Scenery wasn't as nice as the one I saw when I was there 2 years ago. Flowers were super limited.

I think these 3 photos are very nice!! all thanks to yuhong for his SLR cam =) We started climbing trees to remain energetic!!

Went on a boat ride to kill time=)

Some plants Yu Hong took..

Next, we went to Lei Feng Tar. Entrance fee was 40 RMB and we realised that people can just enter from he exit gate.. Argh!! Wasted money..

After that, we head to the bus station to get our return tixs. And the whole place was flooded with people!!!

Day 3

Initial plan was to go over to Long Tea plantation, xixi wet land and to watch sun set at Qian Tang Qiao. But in the end, we missed the sunset coz of the stupid xixi wet land.

Long Jing plantation

Saw this match maker and i think it's so cool. haa see the 'mei ren zhi'???

Went over to xixi went land and it was a total flop. The whole place wasn't fun and there wasnt any scenery at all. We bought students tix into the place which cost 40RMB and when we went in, the person recommend us to take the boat that stops at different stations which coxt 60 RMB coz if not, there is hardly any thing to see.


So, we got the tixs and took the boat in hope to see nice things. But in the end, we saw NOTHING!!! we practically took one round around the place and that's the end. We wanted to go to this botanical garden which was at one of the station and told the tour guide to inform us when the boat reached the station.


But in the end, she didnt tell us coz of the reason that there were too many tourist and she forgot abt it, and besides, the boat got into a little accident where it bang into another boat. Because of that, the speed adjustment of the boat spoiled and it got to bang into the shore in order to stop.

The stupid xixi wet land

Went to complain and demand for a refund and after much argument and quarrel, the person refunded us the money.


There was this sentence that the bitch made me pissed off. She told us to write in this piece of complain letter abt the whole situation and we got to write it in chinese. When we asked if we can write in English, she said this (in chinese) '你们不是华人不是中国人么？? 怎么不会写华语呢？' When we shot back that we are Singaporeans and not Chinese, she shut her stupid mouth immediately. that was then she refund us back the money..

In the end, we watch sunset at the entrance of xixi wet land...

After taking the money, we wanted to take a cab back to the city area but none of the cabs allow us to board coz we got 5 people.


So in the end, we boarded a '黑车' and it was actually quite cool..

'黑车'

Took a photo from one of the overhead bridge.And this is wat we ate for almost every night

Last day

Everyone woke up late and we got to check out by 12nn. Plan for today was just to go around Hangzhou looking for good food. In the end, we just came to this 'food court restaurant' for lunch. Heard from the cab driver that this place is quite famous but the only thing i like there was the Ja Jian Mian .

Lunch for the last day =) look at the crowd!!!

After lunch we got nowhere to go and decided to go Carrefour again (why again??? coz we went Hangzhou for 4 days and we were in Carrefour shopping for grocery for 3 days.. crazy huh!!)

Went to KFC and i felt asleep there..

And we had Singapore food there.. At last, after 1 month in china, i get to get Singapore food. Not very nice bit still acceptable.. And I didn't realised that Singapore food is so expensive.. =(

After dinner, headed to the bus station and waited for our coach. And that was how I spend my 4 days 3 night in Hangzhou..

Took some photos to entertain outselves while waiting for the coach.

PHOTOS!!!!!!

I realised that i haven upload any single photo ever since i was here.. so, here i am going to spend half my day at home uploading some of the photos =)

WE PASSED=)

What we did on the first day.. after so many things that happen. We were in one of the training room.. opps

Our attire for the first 3 weeks. BQT/in-room dining attire =) Part of the team in in-room dining

Some of the things that we should learn in In-room dining:

set up room service table

Ans calls for any in-room service (which we nv had a chance to do so)

Some of the things that we did

cutting lemons

clearning the dirty tables

Then we changed our department to Event Concierge

our new attire

Directors of BA and Sue Tan came over to find us =)

Introduce them to our job scope and our boss

See the view of the bund every day =)

We were told to read up mpre at the hotel and the banquet system (need more hotel knowledge before meeting clients)

Went to an event that was outdoor catered =) Took a bus and it was like an excusion.

Cherry briefing us on some things

And beside work, we got our FUN too!!!

Shopping was the best cure for any unhappiness. After the terrible day 1, we went to shop on day 2 and all of us were feeling so much better!!!

When we get too stress (okie, bored) we need to have some self entertainment...

This is wat we do to help Aaron quit smoking!!! And we got happy hours too =)

We get too bored of chinese food sometimes and we will just eat bread...

We went on some food searching too. NICY FOOD!!!

Jia Jia tang baoSheng Jian Bao
This 2 food is the better tasting one i have found. Wil continue searching =)