Two intense weeks...

After 2 weeks of graduate induction/annual training that included 5 days in Dunedin, 3 days in Christchurch and yet another 3 days in Methven (yes, including a Saturday), i'm all trained out! Subsequently, however, I have a far greater appreciation for having signed on with such a great company (and no, they aren't paying me to say that). Hehe!

Trip to Dunners, 31st March - 4th April

4 grads from Christchurch (including me) flew down to Dunedin early Monday morning to join the other 6 grads from the Dunedin office for graduate induction. I was lucky enough to have started almost 2 months prior to this training so the experience was not as daunting as it probably was for my fellow colleagues who started on that very day itself.

The working hours for the week spent in Dunedin isn't really worth mentioning as I suspect that it will possibly bore you to sleep - you know, work work work. Nah, it was all pretty sweet - late morning starts, slow paced, information overload, and all that jazz. All of that coupled with hang overs or lack of sleep from the previous night and that pretty much sums up the week. Nah, i'm kidding. That only happened on the Thursday night which I shall mention more about later.

The Christchurch grads stayed at 97 Motel which is located less than 5 minutes away from the office. Surprisingly, the rooms were extremely spacious (perhaps because I so happened to have been allocated the biggest room among the 4 of us... Hehe!) and had adequate facilities. The bed was comfortable too! Thank goodness for that. The breakfast on the otherhand was disappointing to say the least - lack of variety but all paid for, along with lunches and dinners. So it was absolutely wondering eating our hearts out! Hehe...

One thing (among the many other things) i've learned since starting work is learning how to drink wine which I encountered on the Tuesday night while having dinner with the buddies! I still insist on riesling because it is one of the sweeter wines out there but I may choose to endeavour onto other types of wines in due course. :þ~ Such an alcoholic! Keke. It's hard not to pick up this habit when socialising is such a strong focus in the company culture and naturally, comes wine and beer. Wahahaha!

Thursday night... Most of us grads came over to the motel, specifically my room (being the biggest) to have a few beers and some wine before hitting the town. We ended up bar hopping. Can't remember the name of the first bar we went to but us girls were given free drinks. Hehe! Then we headed to South Bar - Monkey Bar - Ra Cafe & Bar. By the time I got back to the motel, it was 2:30am. I didn't sleep until 4:30am and struggled to wake up 3 hours later to pack, check-out and get to work on time.

Surprisingly, I didn't suffer a hang over unlike the rest of them thanks to the litre of water I drank before sleeping. Now that's what we call smart drinking! :þ~ So you could say that, we all pretty much suffered through the Friday, struggled onto the partner shout (which included more alcohol) and was relieved when we finally left for the airport at 6:00pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we arrived back in Christchurch at 8:00pm that night.

Having said that, I had a fantastic time down there - at work and out of work.

Meet my fellow colleagues...

Just the 4 of us...


From left to right: Me, Andrew, Ben & Amy

Grads '08 with the HR manager...


From left to right: Andrew, Ben, Amy, Ginny, Calvin, Shelley, James, Casey, Me, Kong Ja & Ian

Outside of work...

I was ordered to place Lewis as high priority on the list of people to meet up with during my stay in Dunedin. So on Monday night, I walked (in heels! *aHeM* *aHeM*!) to meet dear Lewis and Emu outside the Dunedin Hospital. Surprisingly, I had forgotten my way around Dunedin although I knew roughly where it was. Seeing as I was walking, I decided to depend on the trusty map. Lesson: Don't trust a map! I overshot it by 1 street because that's where the stupid cross (that indicates where the hospital is) was! Damn it! Gr!

I had forgotten the immense amount of energy Lewis has which is very infectious. It's the sort of persona that someone could feed off! I shake my head but it is more in awe than anything else because of how envious I am of his vibrant personality. Honestly don't know how he does it. I will admit though, that for a stranger he could come off as being a little too intense but i've known this guy for years! Really miss having someone like him around.

We dined at Table Seven. The food was delicious but a little expensive. The company was great though! :)

Me and the guys... Lewis & Emu



The food and US!

Lewis had to rush back to the library to study so Emu and I went to South Bar for a drink. It was interesting catching up with him as it's been ages since we last talked. Through our conversation, I realised how time has determined our success or our failure, how it has nurtured or stunted our growth, how our paths have been so obviously affected by our choices. At a point, it truly saddened me...

On a lighter note, had another fantastic dinner with friends on the Thursday night at Little India. It ended up being somewhat of a reunion for the summer of 2002 (with the addition of Emu) but a couple of people were missing. Hehe! We've all grown up so much - some of us working and the rest, nearing the end of their studies. What a long way we've all come and in this instance, it was comforting to know that some things just really never change...

From left to right: Emu, Me, Jenny, Brendan, Casey, Lewis & Rafik

A random shot...



Miss all of you so much!

I had to rush back to the motel after dinner for the Thursday night drinking session with colleagues as mentioned above. I won't go into any further details but, it was a pretty good night.

Unfortunately, I missed Tzin Wei's graduation ceremony so, a special shout out goes to him...

Congratulations

L-L-L-Lai Tzin Wei!
(Kekeke!)

Trip to Methven, 10th April - 12th April

Staff from both offices (Christchurch and Dunedin) met in Methven for the annual training, staying at Brinkley Lodge. The schedule was jammed-pack which was a good thing considering we were in a small town with only 2 pubs - Blue pub & Brown pub. Funnily enough, they are painted their respective colours. Hmmm!
Courses ran from 8:30am - 5:30pm on the first two days, followed by dinners that started from 6:30pm 'til the wee hours of the morning. As some of them would learn, those who stayed 'til the end paid for it the following day. I was somewhat smarter this time round calling it quits near midnight. Just didn't want a repeat of the Dunners trip. Hehe...

Friday night was the big night! We had a buffet dinner at the Brinkley conference hall, followed by dancing with a band from Christchurch. Not sure what the name of the band is but they rawked! Considering it was late notice (due to a last minute cancellation by the other band) and they could only come up with 2/4 of the band members, they did a superb job catering music for such a wide audience! Huge thumbs up to them...

I was only staying opposite from the bar and restaurant and could hear everything until 3:30am. I don't know what time the party ended but yet, they could all manage the team challenge the following morning. Although, there were tales of vomiting by some of the grads along the way sighted by the CEO... Haha! Not cool guys... :þ~

Anyway, here are just some of the photos taken that night...

Altogether now...

My buddy... Kate

The team challenge on the Saturday morning was held at the A & P Showgrounds in Methven in groups of 8 or 9. Our ultimate task was to build a chariot that could carry a person as we raced around a 400m course and carry out 2 tasks (changing riders and singing a song) along the way without the chariot touching the ground at any time during the race. The building materials (i.e. wooden poles, net, string, etc.) for the chariot could only be purchased once we had earned money equivalents by solving given riddles that were scattered around Methven town.

Pictures taken while walking around Methven...

It ended up being a very successful challenge. We ended up being 3rd when we could have come 1st! Why? Those who had less than 4 guys in their team were given a 25m head start which didn't help our situation at all because although we had 4 guys, 2 of them were terribly hung over. Then the group that ended up coming 2nd cheated by singing in chorus with us when they clearly arrived after us. Eesh! But it's all in good fun. Hehe!

Team: Night & Day

From left to right: Matt, Me, Grant, Calvin, Ian, Su, Kate, Kay & Ginny

We had a BBQ lunch before saying our goodbyes and parting ways. And that my friends, ended my 2 weeks graduate induction/annual training for 2008.