Achievement (Or lack thereof)

Reflecting back on the last 8 months, I do not remember doing much apart from the usual super-exhausting WORK.  When I joined this new job, I spent the first few days learning about the system, I wasn't given much responsibility and it gave me a bit of time for myself. I was on my own in a new country and has some spare time everyday! I made some exciting plans about sports, cooking experiments, hobbies.. GIRLS! ;)  and even started working on them...

...but then the workload hit me real hard and all my spare time was gone. Suddenly I was spending almost 12 hours at work everyday and pretty much all other activities stopped. A few team mates left and work became even more stressful.

Finally in the last month or so, workload has started reducing and today, after a really long time, I managed to get away at 5PM. I reached home and suddenly realised that I do not know what to do with all this time :P I spent literally 20 minutes thinking what to do and something reminded me of this blog that I have. I haven't touched it for a long time.. not that many people read it anyway, but thought I'd write down a few things.. and surely it feels good.

Coming back to the point, in the last 8 months I have learnt a lot regarding work, gained some valuable experience.. it's definitely beneficial for my career no doubt..  but I haven't really had a social life as such. Sure, I have made some really good friends at work but outside of it there is hardly a soul in this city that I know well. Up till now this kind of thing had never bothered me but now I have started to think that there is this flaw in me that I need to overcome. I need to make an effort to meet new people and get to know them. Never thought I'd say such a thing but this lack of social interaction has started to get me worried...

Had to try

Four months into my independent life, I'm enjoying it immensely.. But sometimes it gets a bit lonely. I keep myself busy with squash, tv, cooking, driving and other random stuff but still once in a while it is boring.

There's this girl I know, she works nearby my workplace. Quite good looking and friendly. I've been thinking about asking her out for days..  It's funny, I almost knew what was going to happen but I had to try anyway. So I did it this evening. I just asked if she'd go out with me for a coffee; she seemed kinda shocked to hear that from me.. and then declined..

Oh well... what can I say.. Had to try... ;)

First few weeks in Oz

Here I am, all by myself trying to find my way through this city! It is just as exciting as I had thought before. 

It has been a pretty smooth move till now. Didn't have any problems bringing my stuff over. Accomodation for the first month and a half was already sorted out. So the initial acclimatisation period has been alright.

It's a shame that I had to come over while my parents were still in Welly and they were there specifically to visit me and my brother. I couldn't help it, work is work. And I doubt if I would have got such a great opportunity again anytime soon.

The new team is nice. This job is a bit more customer facing so everyone is usually on their toes to get the job done as quickly as possible. Quite different from the laid back attitude I'm used to for the last 2 years. I'll get used to it I'm sure. 

Team mates are a bit quiet and reserved. Very very different from the crazy ones I had beforehand. I'm going to miss all the crazy talk and laugh. Another difference is here is that most of the guys have been here for quite some time. They are used to the work culture, the people and everything. In my old team there was only one local guy and the rest of them immigrants from various places, pretty new in the country. It was that common thing that helped us all to bond and become quite close friends. I have a nagging feeling that it is not going to happen here. Mind you, this team is also muticultural and they are all friendly, but you can see that they are not close friends. They don't go out for coffee together, don't have lunches together... Spending time outside of work seems like a distant idea. I take a bit more time to make friends as it is. But seems like here it is going to take even longer. But I'm not complaining, I will manage. :)

Very recently I found an apartment and I'll be moving there in the next week. I think I'll spend my next weekend buying stuff for the apartment. Some furniture, whiteware, TV, appliances and stuff. I'll unpack my desktop after going there itself. Should keep me busy for some time.

I also need to start cooking once I move. I haven't been able to do that in this hotel but I will definitely start with my experiments from next week. It's going to b fun! :D

I'll try to keep posting regularly from now on. I don't think many people read it but I like posting here (whenever I do)..

That's all for today. Hopefully I'll drop by again soon..

Anticipating the change

Posting after a long time, I have a lot of things to share...

Finally, after 10 long months of wait, I have secured a move away from this city. It is going to be a huge change for me and a good one too. I am getting the opportunity to live in the city which they say is one of the best in the world.. Sydney..

I must say I am lucky to get this switch. Everything lined up for me at the right time. I found the vacancy, one of my teammates also informed me about it and said I should try, it looks good. I applied and within 3 weeks I had an interview and got an offer. In this whole process I received tremendous help from my team. I got valuable tips about negotiating the salary, I was given really good reference when the new employer called to check on me and my manager made all this possible.. She allowed them to talk to me about the position, she reviewed my new contract and made suggestions and told me how I should protect my own rights when I ran into a small glitch in this whole process...

I owe my team for this.. Honestly, I could never have asked for a better team and I doubt if I will ever get to work with such fantastic individuals again.. But I have to move on, I have my own goals and it is inevitable to move away from these people. Sooner or later it was going to happen and I am glad that I am doing it on a high note.

Apart from feeling sad about leaving my team, I am excited about the new role. It's a new city, new country and hopefully a lot of new and interesting work. I need to learn how to cook as well.. hehe.. :P

It won't be long before I move. I guess my next post will come from Sydney.. Till then, goodbye :)