NEW CHALLENGES

The first half of the week didn’t look too bright.

I signed up for Japanese class Beginner II with the same teacher, Ota-san. Poor Ota-san. She had just recovered from dengue fever. Now, she has this little gadget hanging at her pants to ward off mosquitoes.

The new friends in the class – wah lao yeh… all quite fluent in Japanese that I doubt that they even need to come to class at the first place. Since Ann was not in my class this time, the teacher paired me up with a nerdy girl who thinks she is a Japanese.

She thought I was a fucking idiot when I told her; I had forgotten almost 90% of my hiragana. Hello? If you are such a genius, you wouldn’t be in Beginner II, would ya? You would have gone into advance class, Ms Einstein! Bencinya!

Now, with the katagana coming in, I would have no choice but to stay put at home this long weekend and do my revision. It was good that we put on hold our fei chai trip to Sitiawan this weekend, as our host, Hotbabe Sharon already had plans.

The new office – not everyone wear perfume. Heck! They don’t even wear lipstick! The drivers commented to one of the executive secretaries that, even the cleaners look better than the office workers as they have their lipsticks on.

In the HR department, no one could wear perfume as a fellow colleague has a super sensitive nose and would sneeze at the slightest smell of perfume. It was a good thing, I am not in the same floor as HR Department.

Perfumes to me are like clothes. My closest friends would know I douse them like they cost nothing. My sister said that she could smell me from the elevator the moment I step into her office. I might not wear make up all the time, but perfume is a must.

Too bad, my boss too has sensitive nose. That poor fella was sneezing the first few days when I was at work, so I decided to go easy on my perfume. I am not wearing anything pungent like Christian Dior Poison, just my all time favorite, Clinique Happy.

When I went to my Japanese class this Monday and Thursday, I saw female office workers dress to the nines – high heels, smart suit, hair all bun-up, face with full make up, etc, I kinda miss the KL working life. At least, if I myself don’t put on make up, I still get to see other pretty girls do it. Sigh.

This morning, we had our monthly assembly and it was quite fun. It was funny to see the HR Tai Kah Cher (Big sister) shoving some staff into the line and even taking some by the hand like little children. (Teacher, teacher – may I go to the toilet please?? – Sasha and Lok Lok made me say this whenever I want to go to the loo at home.) I haven’t sung Negaraku for awhile now but was glad I could still remember. I still prefer the slower beat like the originally State Anthem of Perak - Terang Bulan.

We sang the patriotic songs, there were some speeches, incentives for children of the staff who did well in exams, presents for the staffs whose birthdays fall in the month of April, incentive given to staff who had just completed their studies, welcoming new staffs to the company, etc. We even need to recite the company’s pledge. After half an hour, we would have big makan at the lobby. On today’s menu, nasi lemak and fried kueh teow and some sandwiches. The sambal was awesome!

There is hardly any company this patriotic in Malaysia. Some might think that this is the old school of management, but if this company could withstand test of time in the span of more than 30 years, I guess all in all, this is a solid company. I was glad to see welfare of the staff is well taken care of, and mingling of the staff and management were encouraged. I felt almost home.

*I am not saying this coz there is always a big makan after assembly – okay??