The previous fortnight's worth of work-related awesomeness.
1) Workload up (7th - 18th July)
My direct supervisor has been on holiday these past two weeks. This means that I had to cover for some of the things he usually does. It also happened to be the period for govt reviews, which means pulling together presentations from many different project teams. I have never had such a bad breakout of pimples in my LIFE. I think there were a total of 6 [to put things into perspective, I usually only get max 2 pimples during the exam periods]. Again, my body seems to know things (i.e. that I'm under stress) that I dun consciously feel.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it! The work is such that I have to contact many different ppl, and I get to sit into the reviews as well, which means FREE LUNCH. I also got to work more with the others in my team because my direct supervisor wasn't around. Usually, I get my tasks and help directly from him. It's almost like making friends with a new bunch of classmates who are really very nice. Not to mention that if he were around I wouldn't have had to do the things I was doing for the past 2 weeks. More work = busier = greater satisfaction due to accomplishment.
Just a little smth that made my day at one of the reviews. One of the project leads talked to me and said she understands the things that make being an intern tough (e.g. having to chase ppl and finding it hard to get responses) because she was once one herself. So yea, just a simple, nice encounter. :)
2) Fly By (Thurs, 17th July)
I rmb going to Changi Beach (always random family time) to stroll and watch the planes roar overhead otw to the airport. What I saw on this day was the Airbus A350 XWB flying just about slightly above that height, and what I heard was nth more than a purr. The Trent XWB engines were so silent!!! Not gonna go into technical detail here but it was Amazing.
It also looked like the pilot was having fun - the plane was like dipping and rising over us in the sky. Not so good for the passengers maybe xD And it seemed that the whole of RR emptied onto the street to watch the fly by. Worth it! And that was the nicest day (hot to the locals) we'd experienced at that time, which is great for the view.
3) A True Angmoh Dinner (Thurs, 17th July)
J's supervisor really kindly invited us to dinner for that night, or more like for tea. Tea and dinner in fact refer to the same thing (what we normally call dinner), but apparently, "dinner" is a posher term. Suits me fine yea hahaha~ Pre-dinner activities included exploring the house in awe - large kitchen, large dining room, 3 sitting rooms, garage, huge, beautiful garden - and ask about all the plants in the garden and pluck some runner beans for dinner.
So it was typical ang moh jiak for dinner that night! Starters was tomato and herb oil (? really dunno what the dish is called but it was awesome) with mozzarella and bread, where you have to slice the bread yourself. Fish pie for mains - fish baked under mashed potato. I actually asked if that was what they usually ate or if it was just for entertaining guests, and it turns out that what we ate was normal everyday fare. Oo. The food was good, a nice change to 1 veg 1 meat with rice/pasta. And I admire the amount of thought and thoroughness put into their cooking as compared to our normal meals. You know, veg and meat just boil or 炒 with some taste. Just different cooking styles and even though it's a normal dinner, there are courses! But it's not smth I'd eat on a normal basis. I suppose it's like a once in while family dinner at a nice (affordable) restaurant, which I wouldn't need/want all the time. Dessert was home made ice-cream and then, it was off to the next exciting thing of the day!
4) Sword Dance (Thurs, 17th July)
Ya this day v happening, coz this was part of J's sup's after-work package - dinner, then dance. Her sup is part of a dance troupe specialising in the rapper dance, which in layman is a kind of sword dance. Some background here: http://www.rapper.org.uk/intro/rapper.php They got silver for an international competition for this form of dance which I'd liken to a mash of folk dance and rhythmic foot-tapping with "swords". The "swords" aren't real obviously, more like wushu performance weapons - not sharp but can hurt if flicked at someone.
We were put into a group of 5 and we actually practiced some sequences, starting from easy to really complicated. There was a lot of scuffling and stretching around because the key is not to let go of the "swords" throughout the moves which usually involve weaving around the other group members. No mean feat due to the height difference throughout the group. Among the 3 of us we also shared a pint each of beer and cider, courtesy of J's sup. The troupe practices at a pub for free IIRC, and part of the deal is for each person to order at least 1 drink each time they are there.
So we had drinks and reached home at 11pm that night and it was only a Thurs! We'd actually left earlier coz I had to be at work by 7.30 on Fri. Maybe things here are more hapz than I've always thought hahaha.
5) Getting "lost" (Fri, 18th July)
The last thing to do on Fri was to get back home. I'd been attending a review at a research centre in the city of Coventry, about an hour south of Derby in good traffic. As usual, the end of work on a Fri means a hellish time on the road. [The previous time I was there, my sup and I were on the road for 3 hours coz of an accident on the motorway which caused 2 out of 3 lanes to be closed off and which happened at the far END of the motorway] And so, the colleague I was hitching a ride with decided to go another untried way.
We ended up meandering the roads for some time before we were sure of where we were again. But the atmosphere in the car was really ticklish and the 3 of us inside spent a lot of time giggling over the fact that no one (esp clueless me) really knew where we were going. In the end, instead of "boring old M1", I got treated to the scenery of winding country roads. We passed fields ready for harvest and crossed a stone bridge over marshy/flooded land. I must've seen thousands of cows and endless hills and wheat fields since I got here, but I think it takes a v jaded person to get bored of such beauty.
And I dun think I'll ever stop appreciating the view :)
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