1st week at work

3 July 2006 - 7 July 2006
First week at work @ PwC Sydney TICE-Financial Assurance Group. A daunting experience actually. A brand new fresh start for another phase of my young career. Have to know new pple, get use to a brand new system, adjust to work style of a new culture; basically starting afresh altogether!

Names are hard to remember especially with so many pple having the same first name; eg. Andrew, Sarah, etc... And the fact that some of their last names are sooo difficult to spell and pronounce.. But i believe that I would get the hang of it sooner or later.

Another difficulty i faced is mainly to guess the grades of the pple i meet.. Some of them look so young but they are actually managers or even directors (a grade before becoming partners). Unbelievable. The promotion structure over here is such that you can be promoted very quickly as there are fewer levels BUT promotion is not guaranteed from senior level. Even promotion to Senior needs lots of efforts and 'politic-ing'. Really need to adjust to the culture here... not blindly of coz as i do have my own principles... Hehe.. Actions speak louder than words (may not be applicable here.. you will need to be able to speak the right words at the right time to the right person and then follow up with good work). Hopefully it's for the better. =)

It was definitely not all work and no play over here. On Thursday, it was the TICE group End-Of-Year party. The theme was 'Jungle' and held at a restaurant at Tarango Zoo! Cool ya! Everyone was so onz! I'm glad that I did not go without dressed accordingly. Did some last min shopping at a costume shop in Glebe (bought a red scarf, hat and a toy gun) and da-dah....


Haha.. surprise surprise! Supposed to a hunter, if you can guess... Pass-able ya! For the last min dress-up.

Colleagues at the Sydney office are definitely very sporting and they really put in lots of efforts in dressing up. There are Winnie The Pooh, Scary gorilla, Robin Hood, Tree, Monkey, and army of soldiers. And even RAMBO! Haha.. Really an eye-opener and guessing this, how can i be a spoil-sport and go in smart casual? Lucky I dropped my inhibition and dress up.

It is a 'annual dinner' kind of event with us grouped in tables with staff of different grades from partners to accountant (A1 & A2). After which, there is the Best-Dressed contest and the giving away of TICE awards for the year! It is no normal award! 1 of the award is for the 'worse MC excuse of the year'; 'I couldn't go to work today becoz I pulled my shoulder muscles while pulling up my socks..' Can you believe it? All of us were laughing at the very 'innovative' MC excuse! Hahaha.. Here are some of the photos of the party.



(My buddy, Yin Yin, is on the left as the cat woman, Julie as the tree, Albert as Robin Hood)





(Ruswadi, on the extreme left, a great guy who is ever so helpful - dressed as a soldier.. and other TICE colleagues)







(Willy the Pooh!)






Great party overall. A good place to know more pple and I'm glad I was able to make it. But, frankly, it more of going for the sake of going lo.. coz in Australia, one has to take an active role to be known by others as you can actually go unnoticed in the office and basically nobody will know you exist unless you do something to get noticed. It's something I have to bear in mind and a constant advice from seniors who are/were on this secondment. Such is the Western culture. The survival of the fittest.


After-office hour activities for the week:

Pancake @ the rocks:
A 'must-visit' restaurant in Sydney which serves great pancakes. It is located very near to Sydney Opera House. Really impressed with the crepes & pancakes. But too much of it may be too fattening and sinful! Haha..






Game of pool:

No hourly pool charges. Instead, it is by per game basis. AUD$3 per game. Very steep price and thus we would not be able to play many games. But it's just for the experience of playing pool in Sydney.. HAha.. Next time it would be karaoke in Chinatown.



(Chris, Max's wonderful sis!)






Home cooked dinner at Chris' house in Bankstown:


It was Friday night (7th July) and Chris invited us all to her house for a home cooked feast! Really love her cosy 2 bedroom apartment unit in Bankstown! Lucky Max for having such a wonderful sister who really furnished his bedroom with all that he needs to live comfortably!

Chris cooked lamb chop, chilli beans, beef rendang and roasted chicken wings and a wonderfully brewed soup! REally missed such home cooked feast that we took for granted back at home in Singapore. Really missing the cooking at home and my family. But luckily, there are good frens here who really treat us very well.. and also the regular calls home to parents and siblings who really miss me as well.. Can't wait for them to visit me and hopefully I would have time to bring them around Sydney. Next week would let me hav a better idea of how heavy my workload will be as it would be work as usual then..

Before that, it is the weekend! Had activities planned! Look out for this space!