Hong Kong - I've been in the E&Y Metro North office doing tax returns. [Luckily, I got out of doing an audit with a certain senior manager.] And this has been quite an experience... I feel like I'm working in Hong Kong again.

My four other co-workers are from HK... so all day they speak Cantonese and listen to Chinese songs... even when the manager is around. Listening to them speak Chinese all day (especially the very rapid-fire "dissing" type of conversations characteristic of Cantonese) makes me feel like I'm in Hong Kong all over again. And going out for lunch (and dinner) is like in Hong Kong too... going as a group to a Chinese restaurant, ordering the standard drinks [lemon tea, lemon iced tea, HK-style tea]. Furthermore, the girl-guy ratio was 7:1... also typical of the HK office. =p

Too bad the office isn't business dress. =p

And even the attitude of the staff is like HK... anyway, it's all too funny.

The best was on Monday night when we stayed late... the manager put the Hockey game on, but right after he left, my coworkers changed the channel to the Chinese drama, and we all worked and watched until the show was over.

And today we went to the Chinese grocery store to buy lots of Chinese/Japanese snacks and candies! Hey, did anyone notice that the Frutips blackcurrant candy changed...?

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.

Sunrises... - Admittedly, I pulled a number of all-nighters this busy season for work, albeit some more self-inflicted than others. =p Driving home from the office one night/morning (whichever you prefer) during the sunrise made me think about the last time I actually watched a sunrise... it would have been during Masters studying for finals.

... and can you believe how time has flown by over the year?? Even though it doesn't feel very long ago, it's incredible how much stuff has happened over the year... term 5A... vacationing in the Dominican Republic... moving in with Joyce [I only lived with her for one term although it feels pretty long]... term 5B... hardcore (and other more lax days) of UFE studying... UFE... cruise... and then all of a sudden work hit, and it's April again! Crazy!

Along with that, it's interesting to see where God has put me over the year, where he has placed my ministries and my communities... change... and learning how to embrace it is important, I think... because you never know what God is going to throw in your path (in amazing ways).

And I am quite pleased to say that despite going through crazy work schedules (and experiencing school sleeping schedules all over again), I still look forward to the challenges of work... I refer to my reflection in October. I still look forward to developing my soft skills like project management and communication, learning how to senior, and learning how to positively impact those at the workplace. And note the last line there: again, I praise God for answering my prayer regarding church... =)

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On a side note, I watched "The Producers" today... the characters in the musical are funny (kind of like Will and Grace =p), although I wouldn't say the humour was my type of humour... Nonetheless, it's funny how a whole scene was devoted to a bunch of disgruntled accountants ["Unhappy... very unhappy... unhappy... very unhappy..."] (I think all of us accountants who went appreciated that scene the most =p) And I can say that ALL I could think about was you, Bullpen Larry!! haha.... =p

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.