Cycling Pain

Pictures can be misleading, the smiling faces didn't really show how painful the journey was.

Survival of the fittest!!! What can you do when you are the weakest one? When I signed up for my department's cycling event, I had no idea how fit my colleagues are. It turns out, the partner (probably the oldest) is the fittest of all, and me (almost the youngest in the group) is one of the the most unfit ones. I am not kidding. The "energetic" group cycled for about 30 miles and went to the highest point of Kent; while I did 2/3 of the route and gave up repeatedly on the uphill slopes. I had no choice but to hop off the bike..... and PUSH! I am glad my team (in the picture) was very patient and supportive. They made no compliants about the endless waiting at the front. Oh well, at least, I learnt to use the gears (towards the end of the journey), I made some good friends and hopefully it is be a good start to train my unfit body.

Yet, I do enjoy the pain in every inch of my muscle, what a long lost feeling.......

York

York is much smaller than I expected. We kept on returning to the same spots over and over gain. Like most European cities, York is built near a river; there are bridges everywhere; it has a remarkable cathedral as its landmark; and unfortunately, there're the same chain stores!! It took some effort to find a local restaurant. At first, we insisted on "no chain", but in the end, we happily indulged ourselves with Baskin Roberts' ice-cream.

At night, we watched a drama about slavery trade. Interesting topic, but presentation is not straightforward, very puzzled and tiring.

Went on a free tour led by an 80 year old lady. She kindly offered us to put our bags in her car, so that we can pick it up at the end of the trip. We didn't realise the 2 hour tour could be THAT boring. The pace was very slow (as you can imagine) and her stories weren't that interesting. I should appreciate how much work she prepared for the tour, like showing us pictures of the people in her stories, but boredom was definitely shared among tourists in the tour.

The great thing about this trip was to spend time with my friend. I see some part of myself when I look at my friend. She is a supporter of "play hard work hard" even more than I do. We are like two hyperactive kids who love to play: you name it, we get excited about talking it. Yet, the city of York is not big enough for us, we went shopping in a nearby outlets in the end...........

Work incentive

There are justifiable reasons to work hard in London.

1. You work with really great people.
2. You get free meals when you work over time (you can treat yourself with a very good meal with anything below 18 pounds) (and a cab home which takes 10 min to walk)
3. There's less interesting activities outside work (don't get to meet any of you, so less of an incentive to finish work early)

So I don't mind to stay late in the office too much (yet). I might as well work hard now and gain some credit to leave earlier when all my visitors are in town later on. I hope it works that way.

Interesting colleagues

Chatting with my boss today, he said he felt guilty for not giving me anything to learn a few days ago, and today he felt guilty for making me work on three deals together. He may not mean much about the "guilt", but at least he is concerned about my presence. My trainee friend suggested that we should start an "appreciation club" for my boss, as we can talk non-stop about how great this person is.

Still at the "getting to know" stage in my department, I learnt that one colleague had been my hallmate (Hysan) when he went on exchange to HKU. More surprisingly, my other colleague, who is slightly younger than me, is a mother to a five-year old kid.

Apologies for not making myself clear. My relationship with my bf is very stable. It's my friend who is experiencing a bad break-up. She hasn't only lost him, but her targets, faith, interests and herself. When A doesn't love/treasure B anymore, does it always mean B has a problem? It's always easy for a third party to comment or to say how to act wisely. I hope she can find her happy self again soon.

What a coincidence, SKL and I are both adapting to a new environment. I am glad to see that she is settling well and is enjoying her adventure every day.

Thanks for introducing/giving me the great song. Whenever I feel blue walking alone on the street (especially on the way to work), singing the song out loud always cheers me up.

More homework to do.....

5 hour journey

To save 25 pounds, I decided to take a 5 hour journey home from York instead of 2 hours. At the time of making this decision, I didn't know that I need to change 3 times, including three train rides and one bus ride. On the first ride, I was puzzled about the change and asked the guy who sat across me. That's how we began to become each other's companion for the next 5 hours. I guess when you travel alone, it's easier to meet people.

He's a Russian grew up in Britain, an electronic engineering fresh graduate. Unexpectedly, I learnt quite a lot about York, Russia, electronic engineering, geography of Britain, complex family issues, how computer software plays a role in capital markets... Interesting!!!

It's an interesting encounter. He gave me an apple; in exchange, I shared my Macau peanut candies with him. The 5 hour journey was much more enjoyable than I have expected.

However, walking home at 1am was really scary. I was running all the way back. Glad my flatmate stayed up and talked to me on the phone until I closed the gate of my building.

Will tell you more about my trip to York later. Time for bed and start my week long challenge tomorrow.

Banana Bread

After reminded by my friend how much I love to bake, I took several tours to buy cheap kitchen ware, and then I was all set to bake.

The good things about baking Banana Bread are it's easy and the whole kitchen smells nice. I failed to get the right type of flour, but self-raising flour is good because it gives you the volume. The most enjoyable part of all is the fact that my flatmate LIKES it, and she showed it with action -- she ate more than half of it as her proper meal when I didn't try to burden her by inviting her to eat it. That's REAL support, especially when I didn't even put in any salt, a crucial ingredient. I guess the real explanations are: 1. she is nice, and 2. people's standards for food are generally lower when they come to UK.

Tonight, my flatmate and I struggled for an hour to make our curry dinner. In the end, we took every bite with great pleasure. As you can see, my blog is all about food. You are right to think that, "gosh, this girl needs to be on a diet very soon."

There is a small park on my way to work. It's mostly very quiet, few people would go in. I walked past it at lunch time today, and was amazed to find the whole place became a children's heaven. It's loaded with kindagarten kids screaming, laughing on a piece of grassland. Children are good at entertaining themselves -- some run around, some fight, some talk, some just follow, some wander away alone. They are creative in making up games. They get amused and excited by their surroundings easily. The world is so simple for them. Dressed in my suits, I wish I could join them......

Park Hopping Day

Such a bad friend, I stayed up late to watch Friends and missed the meeting with my friend. The worse part is he booked a tennis court in advance and we missed it!!!!

We decided to do park hopping, bought a picnic rug, a magazine and off we went to lie down in St James' park, which is a very London activity.

I was speechless when I was asked how Hu Jintao was appointed to be the President. As a Chinese, you don't think much about the process but take it as it is. At least, you won't think that the process is transparent at all. Yet, I was embarassed that I show less concern than my British-Indian friend.

At the same time, I was impressed how he saw through the flaws in the judges' appointment system in the UK and tried to make a change with his position in the relevant institution.

My new idol?

You do come across some nice people once in a while, but you don't often get to work closely with them. More than 17 people (honestly, I counted) came to me and told me how lucky I am to get to work with this most senior partner in the capital market group globally. He is commonly regarded as charming, knowledgeable, respectful, nice, fair, polite and down to earth. People here all LOVE to work for him, and would try hard to get the chance to do so. For me, I get a priority to get work from him, because I am his trainee.

My first proper conversation with him over lunch was exceptionally casual. We talked like old friends, from more common questions like why do law at uni, to why he decided to give up being the head of the group, our family lives...

When he finally gave me the first piece of assignment, he took 30 minutes to explain the background and task, advised me how the task can be done in the most rewarding way and allowed me time to digest. I feel like a student in Oxbridge, where you get one-to-one tutoring class with a reputable professor. Although he's on holiday tomorrow, I am excited about working on my assignment tomorrow. Haha, sis, you must say, trainee trainee, value your excitment now as you won't get it later on. Let's see, maybe it's not as fun as I perceived. Or maybe I am excited because it's Friday tomorrow!!!!

Hope you all have a lucky "Black Friday"!

Meeting with my Shanghai pal

Meeting with Esther again after 6 months was certainly enjoyable. When you are with your good friends, you just feel excited about seeing them, catching up with them, and they are interested to know everything about you, your family, your bf, your plans, your career....Physical distance does not always drive a relationship apart, sometimes it may make the next encounter more valuable and memorable. Agree?
The picture shows the first meal I had with my dear flatmate.

Had a disturbing dream, I played tennis in front of a big crowd, and I couldn't even hit the ball across the net!!

A great song to share: http://www.fotop.net/Esther/Q/01_p_G_A_R_at17

First time travelling alone

I can't sit still for four days without any travelling, especially when the weather was this nice and there was nothing more interesting to keep me in London. Rather spontaneously, after browsing the internet for a while, I was on my way to Brighton. Within 5 minutes walk from the station, I saw the shining waves in front of me. It's not ideal that it isn't a sandy beach, but that didn't matter too much, as my time was limited and I spent my afternoon in the Royal Pavillion, the summer palace of King George III(?). It was a combination of the west and the east, which made it extraordinary, both the outside and the inside. Like most other kings, this king spent extravagently, and he particularly liked to show off, thus he spent substantial amount of time and money in making the palace beautiful and amusing, of course at the expense of the poor.

Brighton is a lively little town, and its sunset is quite pretty. The place gets really cold at sunset. After taking loads of high calorie food (Fish and Chips/ Hot Chocolate), I bought myself a very warm jacket. Well, there are no warm hands to hold on to, I can only solve it with my money :P I am glad that my first trip alone went smooth and safe, as you all know, I don't take this for granted. ^_^

Easter Bunny

After being disappointed for not "celebrating" April's fool day or Children's Day -_-", I found a choco bunny for Easter on my desk at work. My first reaction was, "wow, this firm is so nice to give a bunny to everyone at Easter." Then I realised I was the exceptionally lucky one. At present, I still have no clue who gave that to me. Haha, I like surprises ^_^ Thanks to whoever that gave me the little surprise.

Met up with two friends from Masters. I realised I haven't made good use of my degree like them. One went on to do a PhD on "Eroticism and war". He becomes very philosophical like a real scholar. The other is a bit self-contradicting. On one hand, he has joined the army to fire bombs, which he found it really fun (I guess, it must be); and on the other hand, he was active in an NGO dealing with conflict resolution work in India. Meeting them reminds me of the (limited) international vision I once possessed. Is it HK or me which causes the difference? It's fun to meet up with these friends in London. They act/think very differently from my the people I know.

Heartbroken

Thanks to you all, I manage to recover from my break-up(s) and for everyone of you who was there for me when I was decomposed. Don't worry, I am fine.
My friend just broke up, a very shocking news just broke out all of a sudden. She's lost, confused, needless to say about feeling sad. I recalled the period when I cried every night, when my heart ached so much, when I lost direction and hope. Break-up is such a heart destructive weapon. It may arrive like a bomb with no pre-emption. Very scary. Thanks to you all again for showing me how to comfort and support an injured friend.
I need to thank those who have broken my heart as well. I grew a lot, although in a painful way. It's a life experience!!
Most important of all, I need to thank You for making me forget how it's like to be heartbroken and feel beloved all the time.

Ok, you may be very puzzled now. I should end this crazy talk.
I hope my friend can recover and be happy soon.....

Myth about London working hours?

People come to work in the London office because the hours are better, the work-life balance is being respected. For me, I have the luck to bill 30 hours in my first two days of work. I was asked to get familiarised with documentation of a complex "credit default swap" transaction (whatever that means) and process the documents before I knew where the toilet is located. There's no time to find answers from the introductory material, but to keep jumping from one definition to another. Glad it's almost over!
The good thing is my team is great, and surprisingly even the secretaries are mostly helpful. My little boss (who slept just a few hours over three days) did pause at one point and asked whether I was learning anything. Impressive attitude!!! Usually, the seniors only care about getting the deal done, and not whether the junior is finding the experience rewarding or not.
My flat is still being very supportive, went home at 4am last night which was about 2 degree celsius outside and the heater in my room was temporarily broken. Is it me, or the flat?

Settling in London

Settling in London is more difficult than I expected.

I guess it's mainly because of all sorts of problems arising from my flat. My bed is ridiculously soft (glad my flatmate allows me to share a bed with her), the microwave is broken, the batteries for all the remotes are flat, the DVD player doesn't play the Asian Non-pirated DVDs..... Then the connection card of my laptop was broken all of a sudden (It worked before a meal but not after that meal!)

I applied for a phone card, I got rejected by a phone company which offered the most desirable phone plan. Then when I got accepted by another phone company, I got asked to pay additional deposit after their secondary credit check. Fine. I was willing to pay that, and it took the store assistant more than 2 hours to connect to the relevant person of Orange to receive the deposit I was so willing to pay. At one point, the line was connected to a staff in India who had no clue what we wanted to do.

Walking alone at night in London is still a very scary thing. I definitely look more like a thief than anyone else on the street, looking back and forth constantly. I hope the evening won't get dark so soon...