It was over a meal of crabs with Pastor S and wife at Hau Kee that I suddenly blurted out the question:
"Do we need a visa to go to Australia?"
Imagine how stunned we were when Pastor S replied, "Yes, you do."
I never imagined that a visa was needed for a trip to Australia. This was because when Tim and I booked the tickets online there was no pop-up message on the Airasia website that a visa was needed. I became queasy in the stomach and could not enjoy the meal of fish, vegetables, taufoo, salted egg crabs and marmite prawns.
2 weeks to go and we had no visa in hand! I can imagine my family and I stuck in the Gold Coast airport unable to get clearance to enter Australia because we had no visa!
How could we have overlooked this? "That's because most of the time the tour agents apply the visa for you" came the comment from Pastor S.
We hurriedly refused the offer for durians after the meal and rushed home to access the Australian High Comm website. What documents do we need? How much do we have to pay? Do we need photos? How long will they take to process 4 visas?
We really prayed for help otherwise that's RM7,700 being airfares down the drain.
God answered our prayers! We could apply for the visa online and it only cost us AUD 20! Guess what approval was on the spot! And the amazing thing was the timing....visa application had to make at least 14 days before the date of travel. At the date of the online application we were exactly 14 days away.....!
Thank you Jesus. Thank you Pastor S & SH. Thank you Pastor K and CN for praying for us.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Fascinating English Work Culture
As written by our eldest daughter who is an intern with a multi-billion dollar business in Nottingham, England....absolutely fascinating....
Updates on my job at RR:
1. I have also become a part time overdue debt collector on behalf of the company. I know which airlines owe how much and how much has not been paid. Which airlines are doing well, and which are not.
2. I got kudos from one of the staff for doing what he thought was a 'good job' on my extraction of the late payment options for Gulf Air.
3. I am working with the other interns on a Serviceable Used Material Project. Seeking ways to maximise RR's use of these SUM. I volunteered to be in charge of sorting the contractual wording and in my team are 3 white guys from stellar UK unis. One is from Cambridge. All think highly about themselves. They are intelligent but lack humility.
4. So I am the 'voluntary leader' because what they do in the meeting is go off on a tangent talking bout unrelated things. if I don't provide structure, meeting will be unfruitful.
5. Interns are extremely competitive and desperate to get a job offer.
6. Next week I have something called 'Home Week' which is basically 'don't do any real work in the name of team bonding' week. On Monday we're going to have team bonding activities at a nearby canteen. On Tuesday, we'll be visiting a factory for 3 hours and I have to come in casual clothes. These activities take priority over work, haha. I like Home Week.
7. I had a team lunch at an Indian restaurant yesterday. It was organised by one of my colleagues. Interesting to observe this side of British life. These people are doing well so they can afford things like hiring cleaners, buying houses etc.
8. Colleagues told me what they enjoy about travelling to see clients is the food as food is at company's expense. So can eat good food overseas.
9. Since I am intern with not very many things to do, I finish work quite fast. Plus point and makes me look good but then again, it is mundane work.
10. Western working culture is very different Eastern Working culture. Asking good questions here is a sign of intelligence, so people are encouraged to ask questions. It is better to ask questions and be heard than to be quiet and not be noticed. Also English people are sports crazy. Everyone is into a sport. So if people ask me what sport do I play? I say 'Badminton' although it's been years since I last picked up a racquet. Holidays take precedence over work here. Everyone is always going off on holiday. No one will penalise you for it.
11. It is also very important to take initiative. If you wait around waiting to be told what to do, then RR would not have hired you in the first place. I find myself taking initiative more than I ever have. I arrange meetings with strangers and people I don't know really well just to ask questions bout what they do. It is also very important to speak up. In the East, we tend to defer to others. Not so in the West, they have never heard of deference. People are happy to give you their time, all you have to do is ask nicely.
12. You can even talk to the Commercial Director. She likes holding sessions with us interns and talking to us about our experience so far. She reports directly to the head of Civil Aerospace and holds a lot of sway, being the head of everything. You can always arrange lunch breaks with her etc just to gain influential connections. There aren't a lot of barriers between you and the executives in RR.
More to come....
Updates on my job at RR:
1. I have also become a part time overdue debt collector on behalf of the company. I know which airlines owe how much and how much has not been paid. Which airlines are doing well, and which are not.
2. I got kudos from one of the staff for doing what he thought was a 'good job' on my extraction of the late payment options for Gulf Air.
3. I am working with the other interns on a Serviceable Used Material Project. Seeking ways to maximise RR's use of these SUM. I volunteered to be in charge of sorting the contractual wording and in my team are 3 white guys from stellar UK unis. One is from Cambridge. All think highly about themselves. They are intelligent but lack humility.
4. So I am the 'voluntary leader' because what they do in the meeting is go off on a tangent talking bout unrelated things. if I don't provide structure, meeting will be unfruitful.
5. Interns are extremely competitive and desperate to get a job offer.
6. Next week I have something called 'Home Week' which is basically 'don't do any real work in the name of team bonding' week. On Monday we're going to have team bonding activities at a nearby canteen. On Tuesday, we'll be visiting a factory for 3 hours and I have to come in casual clothes. These activities take priority over work, haha. I like Home Week.
7. I had a team lunch at an Indian restaurant yesterday. It was organised by one of my colleagues. Interesting to observe this side of British life. These people are doing well so they can afford things like hiring cleaners, buying houses etc.
8. Colleagues told me what they enjoy about travelling to see clients is the food as food is at company's expense. So can eat good food overseas.
9. Since I am intern with not very many things to do, I finish work quite fast. Plus point and makes me look good but then again, it is mundane work.
10. Western working culture is very different Eastern Working culture. Asking good questions here is a sign of intelligence, so people are encouraged to ask questions. It is better to ask questions and be heard than to be quiet and not be noticed. Also English people are sports crazy. Everyone is into a sport. So if people ask me what sport do I play? I say 'Badminton' although it's been years since I last picked up a racquet. Holidays take precedence over work here. Everyone is always going off on holiday. No one will penalise you for it.
11. It is also very important to take initiative. If you wait around waiting to be told what to do, then RR would not have hired you in the first place. I find myself taking initiative more than I ever have. I arrange meetings with strangers and people I don't know really well just to ask questions bout what they do. It is also very important to speak up. In the East, we tend to defer to others. Not so in the West, they have never heard of deference. People are happy to give you their time, all you have to do is ask nicely.
12. You can even talk to the Commercial Director. She likes holding sessions with us interns and talking to us about our experience so far. She reports directly to the head of Civil Aerospace and holds a lot of sway, being the head of everything. You can always arrange lunch breaks with her etc just to gain influential connections. There aren't a lot of barriers between you and the executives in RR.
More to come....
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Those were the days, my friend
Taken from an email sent to me by a good friend....though I did not do half the things stated in the email...I certainly played some of the games mentioned....:)
Hopefully this will help our grandchildren understand our life before high tech!
NOSTALGIA!
Hopefully this will help our grandchildren understand our life before high tech!
NOSTALGIA!
Ah......those were the days.
Rose Chan was our favourite performer.
Wong Peng Soon was our favorite badminton player.
Because we reared fishes, the seller was our idol.
Driving license renewal was by pasting an additional slip at the back
Of a small booklet
Susu lembu was house delivered by our big friendly and strong Bahiii
............. on his bicycle
Kacang puteh man came a peddling , walking and balancing his head top
Of 6 compartments o of different type of murukus ...
F&N orange was served in wooden crates and displayed on table during
Chinese New Year
M&M 's was called Treets ..
My addition on the good old days,
We bought bangkali bread from the Indian roti man who paddled his
Bicycle around the neighbourhood with the familiar ringing sound.
Sometimes we bought cold storage bread wrapped in wax paper. Spread
The bread with butter and kaya wrap with the wax paper and take to
School.
Crop crew cut by the travelling Hockchew barber; 30 sen a haircut; all
The way to the top. Reason easy to dry when curi swimming.
During weekends went swimming in the river, no swimming trucks, only
Birthday suit. No one laugh at you whether your "kuku" is small,
Crooked, etc.
On Sunday morning listen to "Kee Huat" radio facts and fancies and
Saturday night "top of the pops" DJ was Patrick Teoh.
Saturday go for cheap matinee usually cowboy shows or Greek mythology
Like Hercules.
Father gave 50 sen; 25 sen for ticket, 10 sen for return bus fare,
5 sen for kacang putih and 10 sen for ice "angtau". Sometimes ice ball
Only 5 sen "pau angtau" and half red sugar the other half black sugar
Or sarsee.
Never, never, never talk or mixed with girls until Form 5.
Learned the waltz, cha-cha, rhumba, foxtrot and offbeat cha cha from a
Classmate sister.
First time dancing with a girl nearly freezed; heart went "botobom, botobom"...
Do add some more >>>> surely you can ! Those were the days , my friends !!!
Subject: Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's...by Patrick Teoh
Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's (me included)
The article below was written by Patrick Teoh
Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's
First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked /cleaned
While taking care of us at the same time.
They took aspirin, candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups
And diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for
Fever.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and
When we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles/ motorcycles
For 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat.
We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle.
We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our
Kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect
Us.
We went to the jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.
With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball
(tennis ball best) we boys would run like crazy for hours.
We caught guppies in drains / canals and when it rained, we swam there.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
Actually worried about being unhygienic.
We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies, bread and real butter
And drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang, but we
Weren't overweight because.......
WE WERE OFTEN OUT PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day.WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONE TO BUG
US. And we were O.K. AND WE WERE SAFE.
We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters
Out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot
The brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to
Solve the problem .
We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels
On cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal
Computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found
Them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still
Continued the stunts.
We never had birthdays parties till we were 21
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them!
We don't know what is "Bumiputra"......
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard
Of. They actually sided with the law ! Nobody knew about child
Psychology !
Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
Solvers and inventors ever!
The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned ......!!
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!
|
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Gold Coast here we come!
Well she did it again with God's help!
I am talking about my youngest daughter. Her second term exams showed sterling results (better than her first term).
She studied hard because she did not want to repeat her papers. Repeat would mean having to re-sit them in August and missing the family holiday in Gold Coast, Australia. Yup...this year we will be visiting Pastor Sim and Siew Yong in August and we had all our tickets booked already.
Mummy decided that we have had enough of ships and cruises...and casinos and on-board parties! Let us do something wholesome and outdoorsy as a family. Flying to Australia would also fulfil our children's dream of taking a plane. Except for a short flight to Langkawi our youngest two have not flown anywhere.
Ai Ai worked very hard to qualify for the holidays and also a big angpow from mummy (of course). She deserved it with a CPGA of 3.67 or so.
She was brimming with happiness the day she got her results.
However what was exceptionally touching was a testimony she shared with us concerning how God woke her up during one of her exam days. She said that she had overslept and for some reason did not hear the alarm. In a dream-like state, she heard the God said to her "Don't you think you have slept enough?"
Suddenly she was jolted awake and realized that she had only one hour before the exam started! God was truly really gracious to her.
We learned something from Amanda's sharing....God does hear our prayers for our children especially the prayers we pray everyday for them to do well in their studies!
Gold Coast, Australia...here we come...!
More news to share later....
I am talking about my youngest daughter. Her second term exams showed sterling results (better than her first term).
She studied hard because she did not want to repeat her papers. Repeat would mean having to re-sit them in August and missing the family holiday in Gold Coast, Australia. Yup...this year we will be visiting Pastor Sim and Siew Yong in August and we had all our tickets booked already.
Mummy decided that we have had enough of ships and cruises...and casinos and on-board parties! Let us do something wholesome and outdoorsy as a family. Flying to Australia would also fulfil our children's dream of taking a plane. Except for a short flight to Langkawi our youngest two have not flown anywhere.
Ai Ai worked very hard to qualify for the holidays and also a big angpow from mummy (of course). She deserved it with a CPGA of 3.67 or so.
She was brimming with happiness the day she got her results.
However what was exceptionally touching was a testimony she shared with us concerning how God woke her up during one of her exam days. She said that she had overslept and for some reason did not hear the alarm. In a dream-like state, she heard the God said to her "Don't you think you have slept enough?"
Suddenly she was jolted awake and realized that she had only one hour before the exam started! God was truly really gracious to her.
We learned something from Amanda's sharing....God does hear our prayers for our children especially the prayers we pray everyday for them to do well in their studies!
Gold Coast, Australia...here we come...!
More news to share later....
Working in England
Our eldest daughter has started working in England....read her stories....fascinating...
"Working with Rolls Royce is very eye opening. Everyone is very competent. Nobody is a slacker. And Rolls Royce is very short handed at the moment.
I've been placed in the Customer Business Team-Serve and Support of the Commercial Division. The Rolls Royce site is incredibly large, and the Civil Airlines department has a large building all to itself.l I travel to work for free by walking to the railway station and taking the Rolls Royce shuttle bus.
What my team does is, it liaises with the smaller airlines, from offer, to negotiations, to signing of the contract. Then it manages the accounts, trying to minimise risk throughout the way. In the three days I've been working, I've sat in on two 3 hour conference calls negotiating contracts for Xia Men Airlines (China) and Transaero (Russian). I've been able to witness the negotiation process first hand.
I've also sat in on numerous meetings of all kinds, ranging from meetings about internal organisation, to meetings about kickstarting campaigns to win tenders from an airline in Nepal.
My line manager is a woman named Jo and she's been bringing me around with her. She's quite an expert at this negotiation thing. She also travels a lot because negotiation requires face to face time.
My colleagues are all very hardworking people. Did you know that in the three days I've been there, I've never had a proper lunch break? I've been just too busy so often, I've been forced to just grabbed a sandwich and eat at my desk while working. Jo never has a lunch break either. And neither do my colleagues.
I start work at 8 am, as do many of my colleagues. If I come in early, I can leave at 4:30.
Anyway, they are all so busy, they really need more people but I guess it's a cost question. Rolls Royce's order book stands at GBP 1.8 billion I think, and the business is set to double in the next decade. This is based on the actual orders already in the order book, not speculation.
I've been assigned quite a heavy task seeing as I've just begun. I have to do this thing called a Commercial Order Instruction which requires me to read a contract (super thick contract) and extract the deviations from the precedent. The contract is a Product Agreement with Cebu Airlines which Jo concluded a few days ago. It's normally Jo's job but she gave it to me. So interns here don't just do office boy work.
I've visited the Repair and Overhaul centre and seen lots of engines. And was given a tour of the Heritage Centre which is like a museum with all the engines RR ever made. They are particularly proud of their Merlin which was the engine of the P-51 Mustang, a superb fighter plane during WWII.
RR has tons of employees so Derby is like RR town. I think it really feeds the economy.
The main competition right now is General Electric.
As for my office, it's open plan. Even the VPs and Senior VPS sit in the cubicles in this open plan office. It's designed to be accessible. The Sr VP gave the whole office a pep talk yesterday and he did it in a very humble way. Can see why he's a Sr VP.
Anyway, at my job, I'm not bound to my desk. Always running around for meetings and conference calls so it's not boring. Only feel like sleeping in the meetings which I don't understand"
I've been placed in the Customer Business Team-Serve and Support of the Commercial Division. The Rolls Royce site is incredibly large, and the Civil Airlines department has a large building all to itself.l I travel to work for free by walking to the railway station and taking the Rolls Royce shuttle bus.
What my team does is, it liaises with the smaller airlines, from offer, to negotiations, to signing of the contract. Then it manages the accounts, trying to minimise risk throughout the way. In the three days I've been working, I've sat in on two 3 hour conference calls negotiating contracts for Xia Men Airlines (China) and Transaero (Russian). I've been able to witness the negotiation process first hand.
I've also sat in on numerous meetings of all kinds, ranging from meetings about internal organisation, to meetings about kickstarting campaigns to win tenders from an airline in Nepal.
My line manager is a woman named Jo and she's been bringing me around with her. She's quite an expert at this negotiation thing. She also travels a lot because negotiation requires face to face time.
My colleagues are all very hardworking people. Did you know that in the three days I've been there, I've never had a proper lunch break? I've been just too busy so often, I've been forced to just grabbed a sandwich and eat at my desk while working. Jo never has a lunch break either. And neither do my colleagues.
I start work at 8 am, as do many of my colleagues. If I come in early, I can leave at 4:30.
Anyway, they are all so busy, they really need more people but I guess it's a cost question. Rolls Royce's order book stands at GBP 1.8 billion I think, and the business is set to double in the next decade. This is based on the actual orders already in the order book, not speculation.
I've been assigned quite a heavy task seeing as I've just begun. I have to do this thing called a Commercial Order Instruction which requires me to read a contract (super thick contract) and extract the deviations from the precedent. The contract is a Product Agreement with Cebu Airlines which Jo concluded a few days ago. It's normally Jo's job but she gave it to me. So interns here don't just do office boy work.
I've visited the Repair and Overhaul centre and seen lots of engines. And was given a tour of the Heritage Centre which is like a museum with all the engines RR ever made. They are particularly proud of their Merlin which was the engine of the P-51 Mustang, a superb fighter plane during WWII.
RR has tons of employees so Derby is like RR town. I think it really feeds the economy.
The main competition right now is General Electric.
As for my office, it's open plan. Even the VPs and Senior VPS sit in the cubicles in this open plan office. It's designed to be accessible. The Sr VP gave the whole office a pep talk yesterday and he did it in a very humble way. Can see why he's a Sr VP.
Anyway, at my job, I'm not bound to my desk. Always running around for meetings and conference calls so it's not boring. Only feel like sleeping in the meetings which I don't understand"
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