C'est LA viE

what a big surprise after i entered the company!

I saw my name printed in A4 size paper with colors letter by letter through the transparent glass door, for sure, is Sergey's fault!

Yes, tomorrow will be my last day at work, but my colleagues had organized a farewell morning tea for me this morning.

I was so touched today, and had cried so many times at work. Yes, i just lose all my rational today, and totally 'ruined' my image in one morning! =P

Initially they were trying to hide the event, i only received the invitation like in very last minute.

However, i guess they given up the surprise, but i did still receive many surprise!

When Sergey showed the HUGE farewell card, my tears just bursted!

It is a very very touching card, with humour and love, for sure i can guess is from Aaron and Sergey~

Alastair also gave a speech, again, with so many acknowledgements, to be honest, i sincerely think they over-acknowledged me

anyways, perhaps is like what nicole said, i just had no confident to myself

At the end, i gave a speech as well, with tears....

well, i do think i must use this special time to thank for everything that i had received in these 2 yrs

regardless how much i dislike my job, i enjoyed working with Sergey and Aaron, and also really grateful that my job is easy and very relaxing!

i dont think i am able to find such a job after i left, no matter where i will be

that's why i really appreciated the time i being at Fonterra Palmy though it was dull, but the lovely colleagues around always made my day

I guess i was very emotional, perhaps my speech wasnt clear, but i think i had delivered my main msg to everyone.

Again, thanks for giving me this opportunity, i really had gained a lot~

The farewell did not end with just the short but memorable morning tea

thanks to fonterra, our small team gone for a decent dinner at Nero restaurant

I had a very well cooked lamb!....

we had very good chat during the night, and also surprise Alison, my previous manager who hired me attended too!

it was so awkward but interesting to see both ex- and new manager at the same table....

and honestly, my new manager really looked pathetic when sitting beside Alison.

Alison is always so charming! =)

Oh well, i am very sorry for Lesley too, though i dont like her but still hope she will be alright from the company restructure then.

I also had a very big dessert! warm and sweet hot sticky pudding, best match for winter!

I ate like a pig tonight, cant believe my stomach fit in so many stuffs...

and guess what i had received from my lovely colleagues? There's a kiwi bird and koru (NZ maori fern)

and Sergey said they actually raised fund for my farewell gift! omg, i never expected this....

They said the fund was more than they expected, they bought another bracelet with NZ silver fern for me

From just the boxes I could tell, they never cheap!

Is so hard to express my feeling, it's just unexpected, and i do think i had received a lot from them and they didnt have to give me these

i really thankful for what they have done, and Sergey not once telling me to believe myself is good!

He taught me so much about life, about working skill and the self improvement which i can learn and use for the whole life!

A very grateful and thankful night! I wonder if i could stand calmly tomorrow for my last day =)

A very symbolic and charming necklaces reminding me the time i in NZ

the farewell events are coming one by one, I had attended 2 in the weekend

well, the time come so close, and yes, I am ready for the leaving

Firstly i must thanks Paya for purposely come to Palmy for meeting me for perhaps the last time in NZ.

Never know when will be the next time we meet each other, but i real had a wonderful time with her yesterday.

We had quite pleasant brunch at Marbecks, though i am a bit unsatisfied with the service

the waitress thought i ordered the same vegan breakfast as Paya, and completely left out my angus beef sausage and bacon

Luckily i got them back on extra plate after i asked for it.

this is one of a thing i learnt recently from Halie, realized that i must try to fight for the thing I want or else ppl will just thought we are satisfied

well of cause being grateful is wise, but never forget the right which we deserved to own

oh yea, we also ordered this special 'Wellington slice', very yummy and chrunchy! =)

then the farewell of cause nt finished just after brunch, after some rest, we gone for the second round

at the French cafe at square, i saw this and was so tempted

very good, and i was so happy!

And today, i continued the farewell with Tali, Ping and Antony at the chinatown restaurant for dim sum

then i continued having an afternoon high tea with Nicole at Barista cafe

This high tea seems more proper and up to standard, at least we were given a refreshment juice before we started

Plus also have selections of tea to choose!

The high tea was good, well high tea is never cheap. But giving the very comfy environment, the well singing lady accompanied

i acknowledged Barista cafe hold a very good high tea in Palmy~

Food was ok, well, it couldnt go wrong anyways...

however, i did think they missed out some treats for us though the waitress was telling us they had finished serving all the plates

it was because their high tea set dint come in a goal, they serve one after another

We were counting the items we had, and assumed 8-9 treats shud be the standard and dint really border to ask again

oh well, i was full and time was late then

so the last high tea in NZ....hmmmm, really will miss Nicole a lot!

note: i actually 'collapsed' after gone home, in front of nicole....I was so headache about my packing, i never take packing as a hard job, but this time to pack back nearly 6 yrs- stuffs gone home indeed is not easy...

Thanks nicole, i really learnt to let go =)

well, is just around 1 wk left for me in Palmerston North, honestly i am not that tough saying I am ready to leave

but, i do understand that i have to let go and move on...

so i also started some catch-up with frens in Palmy, and said goodbye.

On the previous Tuesday, I just met Xin, who I dint see her for almost half a year since my birthday last year

Glad to know she is doing well, and also graduating end of this year (finger cross)

She was very lovely, and gave me this:

I am going to use this for my travel journal from now on, hehe, which means it will start from Dunedin!

then continued with Oamaru, Christchurch, Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Queenstown, then Melbourne...hehe

will aslo included trip already planned: Penang, and Goldcoast! Haha, well if everything gone smoothly, i will include the Japan trip next year too, YIPPIE!!

and thanks to xin's encouragement, I think I am going to apply for the JET programme this year after I back home

will try my luck! If failed then, i will just continue my job search and find a job and settled down and also learn Japanese and try again? hehe

oh yes, i will still learn to drive tho! I think that's essential!

by the way, All the best to Xin tho, hopefully she able to find a job in NZ/Aussie.

she's a lovely pretty girl =D I rarely acknowledged frens around me being pretty, but sincerely I think Xin is a girl who not just having a lovely face, but her beautiful also rise from the inside of her =)

And yesterday afternoon, I had a nice lunch at La Patio cafe, Hotel Coachman with my Palmy circle of friends. Haha, I guess they are the only frens (except colleagues) who I known in Palmy. (badly Xin and Yen were not able to join us)

I had the cafe famous burger, but i think the bun was too thick and the egg was fried beautifully, i just not dare enough to eat it as a burger

so i eaten layer by layer, perhaps that's loss a burger essential flavor? well, but it was a nice lunch

Kylie and Shirley were very nice, they both gifted me a card

I actually cried when I was reading Shirley's DIY card, she described me really well.

Really appreciate that! Thanks my dear fren~

She actually described me pretty well, pretty shocked when she described i complains/talk about/release her emotions when things happen with only frequency 4/10! I would rate myself 10/10! haha

but i shouldnt be relieved about that, i still need improvement~

Then today farewell also continued with my most closest colleagues: Ping and Halie

We forgotton to take a group photo!

Oh well, but we actually still meeting each other in next week, which is my last full working week (i am leaving on Thursday of the next following week)

We gone to bridge cafe at Woodville for a nice lunch

the caught of the day was nice. =)

Though Halie had to leave earlier, i had good time talking with Ping, and we also gone to coffee club and she shouted me a tea =)

Oh Halie actually also bought me a drink at bridge cafe ^^

they are lovely, i think not seeing them daily 2 weeks later will be real awkward to me

i guess they would miss me too TT

Just gone back from my first Quiz night! I never thought quiz night could be fun!

Ok let me explain if u wonder what's quiz night.

Actually quiz nights is pub-quiz held by the pubs, these events are very common in NZ pubs and attract certain group of people.

Basically they are organized by the pub staffs, and they prepared all questions according to different categories and also arranged prizes etc

well, of cz they boosted up their sale for beer or food if the event had a success!

I knew quiz nights not long ago, perhaps 2 yrs ago when i was hanging out with some French interns at certain Irish pup, but that was a real boring night...

I guess I wasnt enjoying that much especially I felt awkward with ppl around me.

However, tonight was different. I think my prior leaving mood did motivate me to take part in every available activities.

Quiz night for tonight was hold by my company's social club committee, at Rosie O'Grady's Irish Pub which located just opposite my hse.

So it was convenient for me, and we actually just formed our team 2 wks ago!

We (Ping, Me, Mary, Uma and Antony) are the 'Big Head' team! Hmmm, that's why we were wearing all sorts of big fancy hat~

and Mary actually won one of the prize because of her outstanding Speight Brewery Big Hat! Bravo!

Mine was quite simple, and not even considered big, because Ping actually forgot to bring hers (which including one for me), so she actually bought some from the 2 dollars shop.

There were 8 categories, and 10 questions in every categories. From reality shows, crime and punishment, to sport, geography etc

And i guess we were just confused, we picked crime and punishment for our team 'bonus double scores', which mean for every correct answer we scored from that particular category, we got double the score...Dumb us, ended up we even not understood the questions given

Guess what, (i even guilty to say this), we cheated!

Yea, we were browsing google with our phone for anwser, and I actually cheated on around 5 questions! Oh my

Luckily, we dint win, and actually we got the last place, along with other team. Haha, which means in fact we were the loser~

Wow, there are so many smart ppl in my company!

well, never mind, i admitted I SUCKS in quiz, because I never read newspaper, not paying attention to sport, crime news etc.

But, i did play good in reality show categories (just like the others =P), and also geography~

I guess because most question were based on a Western society, as in no any Asian common sense (they are different!), i can excuse myself? lol nah...it was just a fun social event! Why so serious?

But good job for social committee, they organized the event perfectly with getting like 9 teams of ppl

and the food fingers platter provided for free were YUM!

Well, i guess paying NZD10 each month for joining social club indeed is worthy! And we actually got 2 free drinks (including alcoholic or non-alcoholic) for each person!

Ping also 'gifted' me a 'ring' tonight:

This will be the friendship ring my dear~ oh another event which i will miss for~