Sunday, November 05, 2006

Work

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I've been working at Stefan Zins Associates (http://www.szal.co.uk/) since June this year and I find myself still enjoy working for them. Although work can seem tedious at times (e.g. you can work on a certain part of the project for a whole week and then find yourself fixing everything back to the way it was because the client had a "change of mind"), the staff and the whole work environment actually makes up for it all. Our office consists of a vast number of nationalities and if you actually had a chance to sit at my desk you would've found that at one stage, apart from the wall on my left, directly in front of me (which let's say is the North direction) sits a South African guy and beyond him sits a South American guy, North East of me sits a Japanese guy, North East East sits a Spanish lady (my Associate), East sits an American lady (my highly regarded mentor), South East East sits an Indian lady, South East sits a Greek lady and to my South which is directly behind me sits a German guy (beyond him sits a Scottish guy). Isn't that interesting? It's a very good thing also that everyone comes from around the world because they seem to travel occasionally and they usually bring back some sweets or treats for the office! I think I can gain a lot of weight if I ended up working here longer!! However, I'm still quite the quiet character that I am and no difference to the uni days, I'm still completely immersed in my work and don't talk much. Fortunately I get to listen to my Ipod at work which helps get me through the looooong days of constantly punching the keyboard with my left hand and clicking away at my mouse with the right hand. I've recently tuned myself into 2dayfm and mix106.5 online which makes me feel slightly closer to home again... oh what a feeling that is.

With all the different nationalities in the workplace we've planned to have cultural dinners on an occasional basis so we can all go out together and try a new national cuisine that we've either never tried before or not used to eating. Several weeks back we went to Parsons Green down South West of London on the district line to try a Bolivian cuisine as introduced by our South American workmate Luis. We all had a lovely time with the very filling and delicious foods served whilst we all got a chance to mingle with one another out of the office scene. I invited my two friends Abraham and Suzy to come along and they also had an interesting time with my workmates. The next one up is German food and since I'm still single as ever, Stella will be accompanying me to this dinner which is happening next Wednesday.

About 2 weeks ago one of our team member named Marcella decided to leave the company and prior to her leaving, most people in the office got together and had lunch at a Thai restaurant called Addies down the road as a sort of farewell tradition that happens in the office. It followed by some farewell cakes and drinks towards the end of the day with a farewell present given to Marcella as contributed by everyone in the office. Honestly, the people in my office are all really nice people and they're all very enjoyable to work with in particular is Marcella who I have high regards for and had considered her as my Mentor during her time in the office. Because it was my first ever proper architectural work in an office Marcella had guided me through everything since day 1 and she actually made everything that little bit easier for me. She would always have the time not only to answer my questions but also to go over things or explain things if ever I'm unsure. I always found it difficult to open up to strangers but Marcella seemed to break that barrier as I started to open up and talked to her about certain situations regarding my travelling, family, friends and studying again. I really didn't want her to leave!
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-Marcella, I surely miss your company at work.
Good luck with your studies & may the best ALWAYS be with you! xxx

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