Good Morning, Tourism Malaysia, Sunny Speaking, How Can I Help You?

I won't be saying that phrase up there (tittle) for at least the foreseable future now... today (wednesday) was my last day working at the Tourism Malaysia Sydney office...

For the past month, I've been doing so many new things and have gained very useful experiences...working as an 'office boy' - to simply put it, had provided me many many meaningful things: something to spend my holiday time on, knowledge i wont get from uni, money i need to buy my plane ticket back to msia and some other essentials ...

How's a working day for me?

Wake up early - iron clothes - take the bus before 8a.m. down to the city - arrive at QVB - buy sushi for quick snack/breakfast - get into office (near Grace Hotel) at 9a.m. - talk to kak wati about things to be done - set the tasks i want/have to achieve for the day - work work work with intervals of breaks (make coffee, grab some snacks from the office pantry, chat online) - lunch n break for 1 hour - work work work - finish work at 5p.m. - either lepak a bit or straight to QVB to catch the bus back to macquarie - reach home by near 7p.m. - rest rest rest rest rest - sleep early... zzzz....

The after office hour rush

So....what kinda work have i done this past month?

Well, I issue cheques for payments and handle all the necessary documentations for each single transaction. Believe me, the process of making a payment is reaaaaaaly tedious (especially for government agencies)....

So is this considered as promotion or advertising?

you have an invoice with all necessary attachments, then you have to fill a voucher form for that invoice with information that can be very tricky and time consuming, write the cheque, stamp various official stamps on the invoice and voucher, get them signed by the bosses, make a letter for each receipient, copy the letter and cheque for record, and mail the cheque plus ori letter to receipient (which involves preparing envelope)...

at the end of the month, i made a summary of all those invoices paid, counter checked it with the bank statement to identify cleared and unpresented cheques....and made a bank reconciliation to ensure the summary money balance reconciles to the balance as per bank statement...

My month long work and desk

plus, the ever so leceh process of making a whole copy set of all the vouchers, invoices, attachments, for the office's record, while the original set is sent to HQ at KL. phew...as leceh as all this may seem, now i look back at it, it was really an interesting process to experience...

Sungguh tekun posing nampaknya...

hmm...i also attend the front desk, meaning: i answer phone calls and direct them or attend to the caller's request, and i entertain the customers that come in for information on various things, from cost of taxi from batu feringghi to georgetown, to what's there to do in selangor (this is reaaaaaaaaaly difficult for me to answer...conflict of interest u c...like, selangor?nahhh)

"yes...yes...no no...we don't sell DVD 9s here.."

it really is a great practice for communication skills...and it gives me great satisfaction when i am able to solve an enquiry and help the tourists with their trip...another important thing is that its also great to practice the high level of customer service that's expected in a country like australia...its the kind of culture malaysian service sector has to embrace...

"well, in Selangor...you can go...err...sight seeing.."

aside from my main jobs as described above, i do letter typings, photocopyings, help out staffs with what they need, update website, install printers, analyse datas, bank in money...you know, all those kinda things...

Well.....Thank you very the very much to kak wati who helped me with the many things that i didnt know and for helping me adapt....thanks to uncle nanang n cik rosnah who really look after me and always ask me to take a break or grab some snacks or coffee from the pantry, thanks guys - i've taken my break...hehe...thanks zek for the company during working and off working hours...thank you to anne, wendy, and balljid for the belanja, the advices, the assistance in handling customers...thank you mr shahrin for giving me the opportunity to work at tourism and the many things i learnt from you...korang suma mantap ah!

Hence, i close yet another exciting chapter of my life...I leave for Malaysia on Saturday 20th January, 4pm flight to KLIA from Sydney...this has been a meaning ful summer holiday - one that i'm glad of how i spent it...

Uncle Nanang and Me

Kak Wati and Me

Anne and Me

Wendy and Me

Cik Rosnah and Me

En. Shahrin and Me

Let's get this straight...

Is Chinese New Year a cultural celebration or religious celebration?

If you are still unsure, let someone who actually celebrates it suggest an answer now: Its plain cultural.

I read something one thestar.com.my today, about an issue that shouldn't be an issue to begin with....it was something about Pesta Ang Pows organized in some uni in malaysia to celebrate chinese new year being (i quote) misconstrued as 'religious' festivals...

Anyway, lets see...chinese new year is just a celebration to usher in the new year of the chinese lunar calendar...its to celebrate another 'safe year'...people gather and celebrate when, as legend has it, a man-eating beast called 'Nian' that comes out every new year's eve is scared and driven away by the sounds of firecrackers people light and the red colour everywhere (it fears red)...

so...thats just some background info on d origins of the celebration...but, how is it usually celebrated?

for any simple normal chinese family...chinese new year is about gathering...meeting up for the grand dinner on new year's eve...visiting relatives and friends...then its the firecrackers to spice up the nights and let the younger ones have some fun...ang pows given by the married to the unmarried ones as a gesture to wish good luck (the angpows are actually important for the colour - red, and not the money...money inside is just as a lil something to add happiness)...

maybe chinese new year involves prayers in many chinese families, but its just thanking God for a blessed year and praying for a good year ahead...its nothing about chinese new year being a religious celebration, its just like how muslims have end of year doa and beginning of year doa...and praying on chinese new year can really be suited to your belief...

like the article on the star online said, chinese people of different faith celebrates it without qualms (lets keep in mind that chinese people don't by default belief in any single religion just because they are chinese)...and muslim chinese is one HUGE community, which celebrates it too...

so, if you are not chinese but your chinese friends invite you to join in and care enough to make available halal food etc, if you could, do join in...if you are muslim, please dont let religion be a reason why you can't join...join to foster better friendship and greater understanding...

but then i sense that sometimes, its not that people dont know that it's okay...its probably people just couldnt be bothered or dont care...and in the process of subconcious denial, subconciously makes excuses for themselves saying its not okay...what a pity...

Hate to say I told you so =P

I remember commenting about the websites of some English Premier League clubs...and I mentioned that manutd.com was the best...and chelsea sucks...and I implied that arsenal's ain't bad too...

Well...i read on manchester united's website that manutd.com has received an award for the best website among premiership clubs...and i unbiasedly think they deserved it =)

this was awarded by an internet research panel that 'rated the 20 Premiership club websites on criteria including content, performance, ease of use and traffic'. 'They also studied how the sites sell tickets, merchandise, mobile content and video clips'.

Phil Buxton, editor of digital marketing magazine Revolution, said: "United's site is packed with great content and is by far the easiest to use of any of the sites we looked at."

I have to agree on that...hehe...here's the top 5 list :

(note: chelsea who thinks they are cool didnt even make it...probably they failed badly on ease of use)

1. Manchester United
2. Arsenal
3. Aston Villa
4. West Ham
5. Liverpool / Newcastle

tell the truth, i'm surprised Liverpool made it...but...hey, don't just listen to what i say and accept it as truth (you should never listen to ANYONE and straight away accept what that person says as TOTAL TRUTH just because it sounds good, believable, or holy)....

anyway, as i was saying...judge for yourself! here's where you can find links to all premiership club's website ---> click here

I feel the need...the need for speed!

hahaha...isn't that line just corny? ahahaha...well, you probably can tell that i have just watched Top Gun (again) and it was fun... =)

On friday, a few days ago, me and zek decided to go catch a movie at the "nissan moonlight cinema" (yes, i must include the sponsor name 'nissan'....they friggin put money in it ma)...its an open air cinema that runs a couple of months is summer...we thought it would be a cool experience and hey, its Top Gun - classic!

I was kinda weird for me actually, coz i went there wearing my work clothes (coz i forgot to bring extra clothes that morning to work)....gosh....but it doesnt matter laa...

I had the assumption that we would be sitting on d grass blablabla...but when we got there...we found out that they provide BEAN BAGS for hire! and considering almost everyone in the whole park had one, and looks like we would be lying down...me and zek decided to grab one each...6 dollars + 10 dollars deposit for each...but its a fair price to pay for the comfort - i guess =P

pandai gila ar supply bean bag...they really exploit all possible room to cash in...how clever...

so our spot is relatively near the center-back side...just next to the place where they put the projector, under a huge tree ( that i tot would be cool if i could climb)...when it was dark...we could see bats flying over us all...and some were hanging at the tree above us...hohoho...freaky!

but bats are nice creatures....very misunderstood...they all didnt kacau us at all...except that maybe they were responsible for the things that once in awhile dropped on us from the tree...taik kelawar? tapi dia kering...mungkin taik kelawar kering? tapi mungkin wood chips...well...who knows...we'll never find out...

we didnt have food or drinks...coz we both forgot...yes, they were sold on the spot....but err...mahal ar...maleh la....everyone else was having picnic...eating...drinking....ah well...

the movie was great...hehehe...oh so 80's with the lines and corny scenes...and the songs...ahh...classic....what's fun about it all is the atmosphere...how people go 'uuuuu' or 'aaa'...or 'kiss!kiss!kiss!kiss!...yeaay!!' (during the scene when maverick first kisses charlie)...and then when they said that famous line "i feel the need..." everyone at the park joined in and said "...the need for speed!"...hahaha...and in the end...when they were singing the songs in the movie...the crowd sang along ( i didnt know the lyrics)...

all in all, it was a great experience...we noticed that there weren't many asians there, in fact, the only asians were those that was with their non-asian friends...we couldnt really give a reason to that...mayb its not an asian thingy...mayb its just the L word...maybe sbb waktu maghrib? (movie starts when it's dark...thats wayyy after maghrib)...

check out the website for the list of movies on at the moonlight cinema this summer -> http://www.moonlight.com.au