Thursday, January 22, 2009 @2:26 am
dubai doesn't let me use facebook properly :(
so i shall update my status here
Liesel is in dubai and all her friends at home are ignoring her :(
Sunday, January 18, 2009 @11:32 pm
January in Singapore has thus far been very pleasant due to the weather. It's been extremely windy with average temperatures of about 25-26degC. The mornings and evenings are very cold, but survivable and much more pleasant than biting cold winds overseas. The sun comes out in the day, but there's always a nice breeze, making it all very nice :)
I've also had very nice birthday celebrations with my friends and family.
My friends studying overseas have come back and gone again. Can't wait for the next time they're back! :)
Going off for my Dubai-Istanbul flight tomorrow. Hopefully I get to go for a desert tour :)
till next time :)
Sunday, January 04, 2009 @2:20 pm
And so, my first day in Paris.
Went down to see this modern art place, Pompidou, had lunch in the area, watched various artistes sell their craft.
Shopped around a bit in HnM.
Climbed up a hill to Sacre Couer, the most beautiful church I've ever seen. The crypt and dark little corners of it was rather scary though.
Climbed 300 steps through eerie and ominous stairwells to the top of the church, saw the most beautiful parisian sunset.
Came down to a talented duo of fellows basking with their guitars. Sat and listened to them for a good half hour.
Had this weird Asian fellow give me weird hopeful looks, humming, and trailing me for a while.
Had a french artist draw his 'vision' of moi...
Had this other french guy randomly talking to me and inviting me for dinner
Came back to the hotel, went out to buy groceries, and crashed.
@3:09 am
This post shall be in two parts: One dedicated to the ever so cliche 'reflections of the past year and targets for the new' and another about my day in la belle Paris.
So, I'm sitting here in my warm hotel room in paris after a day of running about in the cold outside and shall attempt to put down in words what I've been thinking about the past couple of days.
After my A levels, the aim was to play to our hearts content. Ceci and I had this whole list of things we were supposed to 'do after exams', and I'm glad to say that we did accomplish a good many of them :)
Then came the airport guide job. Days and nights of irregular hours, sleeping when the world was working and working when the world was sleeping. The job exposed me to people I would never otherwise have had any interaction with. All my life I had only ever made friends with those 'from my league', i.e. those from above average schools with similar academic priorities and abilities. Making friends with everyone else introduced me to a world I knew theoretically but not personally.
Getting through the interviews to be a SIA girl opened the door to the next chapter of my life. I had always been allowed to make my own decisions regarding matters of my life and I'm glad I chose signing the contract versus any scholarship interviews or university places. Of one thing I am very sure: I would not want to fly after I have a degree. Should that have happened, I would have lost out on numerous learning opportunities and moments.
In training school, we were transformed from ugly ungainly ducklings to refined swans ready to soar the skies. The change in lifestyle took some getting used to; getting up on time to 'doll up' for school and making sure that you're not even a minute late. Once again, I met people from all walks of life and learnt various things from each of them. Planning our graduation taught me alot about people management, there're alot of things I'd have done differently. But me still being me, I'll have to work on those soft skills before they 'come naturally'.
Actually starting to fly has given me wonderful travel opportunities. I've been to more places than most of my peers and also to places I'd have never thought of going to.
[at this point, i fell asleep till now (6.30am the next day)]
Vancouvre, Copenhagen, Athens...beautiful places.
Istandul, Dubai, Nagoya...full of local culture.
It has been quite an experience dealing with people from so many cultures, learning how differently they react in different situations, getting a peep into their mindset of life and observing how they behave.
Working with a different set of crew all the time has allowed me to quickly adapt to people's different working styles, learn to better manage my leaders and adapt my own working style to have better outcomes as a team.
I enjoy travelling around the world and having a good deal of time to myself when I'm not working. And unarguably, the money is good. I've had the time and money to pick up figure skating, buy my own skates and take a cab down to leisure park when I'm feeling lazy.
The first half of this year has been a period of lots of quality time with my friends. The time before everyone started school and flying off, when everyone had all the time on their hands just to hang out and chill...lovely :)
I might be having loads of fun flying around, but it has it's disadvantages too.
Working with different people all the time means you don't really get the chance to make real friends. Lots and lots of casual aqquaintances yes, but thats all they are. And old friends have their new lives to add into the equation as well, so ya...
It's been a fantastic experience, but I'm quite ready to start school already!
Speaking of which, I need to start getting down to proper research on schools and what they offer, preparing my applications etc etc etc.
2009, I'll see what you bring and what I'll make of you :)