Getting paid without working

This morning I was a bit late because I can't seem to find my lip gloss anywhere in my room after the last time I used it. I gotta search into every bag for it. At last I found it hiding in the small pink bag of mine, Then I thought of it, the last time I used it was during my graduation day.**forgetful**.

I was supposed to meet mindy and Jack at Piccadilly's bus stop at 10am but when they message me saying they had arrived there but I was still waiting for bus at the bus station outside my house. So I replied them telling them to just go on and take the bus 250 (to Trafford Centre) without me. I predicted maybe we can meet in the same bus because I am planning to get down at one of the bus station which bus 250 will be passing by.

So,I waited for the bus, hoping that I can see both of them in the same bus. HA!soon as the bus arrived the station, I saw them waving their hands at me while I am going up the bus. See, is this fate or good timing **konon**. Lucky me, managed to take the same bus with them.**muhahaha**.

I learned that 3 of our colleagues were actually in the same bus as us just now , which was told to me by Jack and Mindy. Many people arrived at 10.30am even though we were all called to meet at 11am. At soon as we reached the meeting place, Chris (a hyperactive guy who will be the bar tender in the restaurant in the future), Conella (a lady who have a fierce face but a "sexy" voice, came from Bulgaria) and Andy (a guy who work at the same restaurant as our restaurant manager, gonna be our head waiter in the future) were already there.

Since we arrived there a bit early, Hussein (restaurant manager) brought us to visit our future working place which is still under construction. Joe (guy who was at the same bus as us just now) spoke to Jack he thinks that the restaurant will not be opening on the 3rd September 2007 as so many things were still under construction. Mindy and I overheard their conversation and laugh out loudly. Why? because next week we will still be paid full time even though we haven't start working yet.**just like money falling down from the sky**

**This is the restaurant which I am going to work in the future, it is still under construction now.

Then we are appointed to the room where the training was suppose to be held. The room was like this... ...

I snapped this picture while we were being given a 10 minutes break. It is just a small sized room where 16 of us squeezed in, including the general manager who does the talking in front. I wonder why the dashboard is just a few piece of papers instead of a white board? This dash board was like those facility people used in the olden days (my kindergarten days). My thinking is that flipping papers by papers as the person was writing and explaining stuffs there was kinda lame.

Ah, that blue shirt guy there, guess who is he? he is our future bar tender,Chris. He is hyper active, talking with fast speed, friendly and very easy to get along with. That girl over there, her name is Katrina. She used to work for Costa coffee but now had decided to join our team **maybe our pay here is higher**See, she is still buying coffee from Costa Coffee, did she miss her old working place? I didn't see her laughing much as we joke about funny stuff, I wonder what's bothering her??

We were being given 30 minutes brunch break at 12.30pm. Jack, Mindy and I went to the food court downstairs and not surprise, the food court was full of people. 30 minutes, we had to queue to buy for food, eat fast and finish everything within 30 minutes. I didn't take any lunch as I was on diet, plus I had eaten quite a heavy breakfast this morning.

**See, how pack is The Trafford Shopping Centre?McDonald had the longest queue among all.

During the training we were briefed on about serving etiquette, items in the menu together with alcoholic beverage, etc, etc. It was totally fun as I was there listening to Hussein telling his stories about places that he went to eat and spotted a lousy service, situation which he faced during working in the past and alcoholic beverage that he likes most. He gave us the idea of how to do both the suggestive selling and up selling.

Before the end of the meeting, he want us to tell him what is our favourite beverage, when it is my turn, I said TEQUILA as I only know this other than VODKA. I was planning to say VODKA at first but someone before me had mentioned VODKA, so I though it was better for me not to copy her. Hussein said that he can imagine me drinking TEQUILA one shot. **of course la, last time I go clubbing I used to order this**By the way, that was years ago... ...Form Six memory begins to conquer my mind as I think about TEQUILA, those were the days... ...but I manage to get hold of myself from day dreaming during the training as I don't wanna be the second day dreamer. ** the first day dreamer was a gal, seems to be day dreaming all the time as she can't answer what Hussein asked her.

Hussein made the group of us a bit nervous before he ends the training as he wanted us to describe our self with a certain favourite drink that we love. When it was my turn, I go for TEQUILA. This was how I spoke***eh hem eh hem***, TEQUILA may look plan outside but when you drink it in at once after you pop it, the taste is great and it is not plan at all. **How does it sound??**Then he add on, ya, just like you, you may look quiet on the outside but actually you are quite talkative!!**of course la, wanna make more friends ma, how to be friendly if you chose to be quiet,izzit?!?!**

The meeting ends at 3pm. He said that our uniform will be black in colour instead of grey as grey one had runs out of stock. We shall be starting on the 10th September 2007. He will call us again when he wants us to go for the real training in the restaurant, to taste some new dish, to learn opening a wine bottle, taste a bit of them and so on.

I cant wait till that day arrive. I wanna try their dishes. I wanna taste some wine. I wanna know how the situation working there as a waitress is. I wanna see couples dinning happily as I serve serving them. Most of all, I wanna work happily and get paid lavishly. $$$$$ is on my mind now.

Choices and "surprises"

Just now me, wern and gah tee went to visit Dan, Shi Yong, Jacyln and Kevin. Why suddenly had such a mood to visit them?Because we need to get our bus ticket from Dan since he is the one who helped us to get the next month bus ticket. I found that Manchester is such a small city when I met mindy and Jack who is on their way to make their NI number. Their bus was just behind us and I can even smile to them. **funny**All of us had a nice chat at his home, we talked about people, gay festival, gossips etc...etc...

We found out that the design of their house is almost the same as ours,the only difference is that our stingy landlord had divided the master bedroom into 2 small bedrooms, that's why our house has FIVE bedrooms while their house has only 4 bedrooms. This also explain why I am now staying in a smaller room.**angry**can or not?!?! 3 of us had been expecting Dan to prepare us a nice dinner today but he said that he had not prepared anything to cook, plus he didn't know that we will be expecting a dinner from him. **disappointed**

Our stomach was growling by the time it reached 5.30pm, 3 of us had skipped our lunch today. **again**. We said bye to them and headed to Rushholme (a street where Indians and Pakistani sells their food and business) to have our dinner. We had to decide on our choice whether to eat kebab, fried chicken or to visit CHICKEN COTTAGE (a shop which Dan and Kevin always had their meal) We decided to go there and have a try,why not?after all Dan and Kevin had been eating it all these while.

We called Dan and Kevin to join us along for our dinner since they haven't had their dinner yet. As usual, 3 of us look though all the items together with their prices before ordering. We compared the price and the food to see which meal is more worth. After a few minutes, we decide to order 1 whole chicken (3.99 pound) and another meal with half chicken,fries and a drink (3.49 pound). Wern spotted a label on the wall which says that 30p for EXTRA large fries and drink, we add that 30p to our meal as well since 3 of us were sharing the fries and drink.

**Each person half a chicken,this is my share.OH, forgot to mention that it was grilled.

After the meal, greedy me went to have a look on their dessert and I spotted this.

** WOW,Those ice creamssss were just too tempting!!!But I dint get any of it as I am on DIET. **I wanna order chocolate milkshake or mint ice cream but strawberry one taste nice too...how if I go for vanilla milkshake?huh~just forget it!**

I went to Superdrug store after the meal (a drugstore like Watson) to buy my conditioner. I had run out of it. I was looking for a large one so that it can last longer, so I chose this.

** Loreal ELVIVE, I heard gah tee said that it was OK as she is using now. So, I bought it for a try. But then... ...

**Dan introduced me this one, he said that he is using now and it is very good for the hair

Now I am stuck in dilemma, which one to buy?this also good but that one seems nice too...So I start to compare the price **poor me**. The grey one cost 3.98 pound while the Loreal is cheaper which is only 2.98 pound. All right, problem sorted, I'll get the yellow one.

**Life is full of choices, don't you think so?Even toiletries... ...different type,different smell,different price,different size...Is this a good or bad sign? I don't know,it depends.

After a long day, We decided to go home since it was already 8.30pm. Have our shower and sleep. I don't know that there was another surprise waiting for me at home. Guess what? I met my worse nightmare, SPIDER UNDER THE TOILET SINK.

**SEE SEE!!did you all see the bloody and hateful spider there?Sorry that the picture is a bit too small as I dare not go closer to snap it's look, this is already my EXTREME! See and count it's leg, 8 legged insect,what else, it is a SPIDER!! Don't doubt that. What is it doing down there anyway? &*%#$&*$

I didn't know it was under there till Wern told me "Cindy, I spotted a spider in the toilet!!" After she told me this, she shout for gah tee to see if they can both get rid of it. Meaning that they are going to let the hateful spider R.I.P. I am not in their activity as i have the phobia towards SPIDERS, my leg can feel numb once I saw one. Brave gah tee was like going in the toilet without any hesitation and the next moment I heard PAP!!PAP!!PAP!! She beaten the spider with a rolled up newspaper which reminds me of my dad using the same way to beat a fly. I asked you all now, does spiders have BRAINS?? It quickly run into the hold behind the sink when gah tee tried to hit it. So, at last, it run away for his life, we didn't actually manage to let it R.I.P.

Tonight I was showering with an eerie feeling. I scared that the spider will suddenly jump in front of me, drop from the ceiling or maybe craw out from it's home sweet home again. Showering suppose to be a relaxing moment but now? Blame that bloody spider!!Even stepping out from the tub I need to make sure the floor was clear. It's totally eerie I tell you!!I hate,I hate SPIDERS. How I wish they will just ALL perish from this world one day!!

Tomorrow will be another busy day. I will be going to my restaurant training tomorrow at 11am. What will it be? fun? tense? enjoy? scary? I don't know, I better sleep now so that I won't wake up late tomorrow. Good night! and what is your phobia? do you have one? your lucky if you dont have one.

To be or not to be friendly

This morning our landlord had come to visit us,gah tee,wern discussed among our self about the dryer thingy.It is an issue since we moved in here,we had always requested for a dryer but she had always got her excuses to reject us.The lame excuses were like "you 3 can dry your clothes along the stairways of the corridor,hang your washed clothes on your dryer...all sorts of stupid and lame excusesssss....I feel so frustrated and explained to her that we cant manage to do that as we wash our clothes together to save electric,water and washing powder.She was shocked to hear that and asked us why do we have to wash together like that?I said that since we are living outside,of course we do this in order to cut down the cost of the utility bills.

After she heard that,she gave us another lame excuse by saying that there will be no place to put your dryer(because people usual;y put the dryer in the kitchen)Gah Tee said that the dryer will fit in the living room, for sure there will be enough space in there.After all kinds of reasonable explanation that we gave her,at last she said that she will figure it out for us soon.I really hope that we can get the dryer before winter falls.Clothes will be damp and smelly if they don't dry well.I really don't hope to wear such clothes outside the street,if you are unlucky,people will be like**euwwwwww**when was the last time this girl had her shower?**Innocent me**I have my shower and wash my hair everyday~~Blame the stingy landlord,I am innocent.

I arrived Job Centre Plus 30 minutes earlier to the time they appointed for this interview. As usual,there were people inquiring for information at the desk,clicking on the "job searching machine" and the phone booth there were fully occupied by people as well.

**Not just people who looks for job are busy,the officer there were pretty busy too.

**This is the "Job Searching Machine"which I mentioned.Honestly,I've been clicking it for months in order to find a job

I was interviewed by an old lady who is about the age of 50++.I thought that the feeling would be tense,formal but it was not,I had fun chatting with that old lady all the way as she "interviewed"me.She asked me several questions like where did I studied,graduated,what course and so on,she even mentioned to me that she like the weather in Malaysia as she had ever been to Singapore before.She even asked me if I enjoyed my stay here,I said YES,I do love the weather here compare to Malaysia.After I signed all the documents, she said that I will be receiving my NI number in about 2 to 3 weeks time.**yippy**At last I got my NI number.

Spot a pharmacy on the way to the bus stop and head in to buy Differin, name of a pimple cream which was introduced by my sis,she said that it can really make all the pimples disappear in just one day!!My face had grown some pimples maybe due to stress and thus, I am going to get this magical cream.The pharmacist said that they are not selling Differin as it is only available on prescription,she introduced me another kind of pimpel gel,Freederm.She said that it is almost the same as Differin.After second thought,I decided to give it a try as I can't stand to see those pimple on my face anymore.

**This tube of thing had cost me 8.95 pound,it better work out or else I will sue the pharmacist against fraud.**joking**

After that I headed towards ALDI supermarket in city centre to buy some breads and strawberries. It took me a few minutes to choose the right bread as there are variety of choices there.**See what I meant?I gotta check on the price and type of bread before I buy one,that's for sure!!

**At last, I chose this,WHOLEMEAL BREAD!!its healthy and yet it only cost me 49p

After shopping, its time for me to go back home.Clumsy me!!I forgot to put on my earpiece to listen to Mp3 which had caused me "to meet a new BLACK friend".I was on my way back home and suddenly 2 black guys sitting inside the car approached me,one of them said that he would like to know me.As I am the friendly kind of person, I think that there is nothing wrong for me to know new friend,**hey** I am trying to be Miss friendly here!!He asked me for my number and I refused to give him mine as we had just met the first time,which gal will give out her phone number to such a guy la?**frustrated**He still said that he had been noticing me for quite a long time**what?!?!**Has this guy been stalking after me these while?!?!(in silence)OK,after such words came out from his mouth,I thought that I should end my conversation with him IMMEDIATELY!!Then I said,is nice to meet you and I will see you around.Bye~He was like,ya,nice to meet you too,my name is R** and offered me a handshake,I shook his hand back(cause that's manners,right?)and he said that,your hand is so soft...man!!I almost puke out that time!!**disgusting**.I walked straight back home after that and arrived safe and sound.

To be or not to be,that's a question,should I be friendly or not?**confused**From today onwards,I swear to god that I will put on my earpiece and listen to songs from my Mp3,especially in this area so that I will not talk to such a guy in the future!! Even I heard him calling my name,I will just ignore him assuming that I am listening to my songs.**can't hear you,can't hear you**As what we always says,better to be safe than sorry!!

**Once again,Gah tee brighten up my day by giving me some of her biscuit which was in her collection ages ago,Thanks Gah tee,you bright up my day!!

Trouble Dieting

I woke up this morning and found out that the weather was fine outside.Without any hesitation,I plan to go swimming with my new bought bikini.After sometime,I feel that it is time for me to burn off some fat which I gained during my holiday.Moreover,I still can get a student price for the ticket till the 31st of August,how sad...I am no more a student from that day on.**hish hish**

I arrived Manchester Aquatic Centre around 1pm something.As usual,the pool is full of people,mostly children.I swim in the adult pool which is 2m deep till 4pm.I am so happy thinking that this 3 hours I must have burn of lots of calorie.**yeepy**

**This is the adult pool which I am talking about

**Well,that's the children's pool,I wish I can ride that if only I am smaller size

I suddenly miss the individual shower room of the swimming pool back in Kota Kinabalu badly when I need to share the shower area with other people.The shower station is kinda like a public area situated right beside the pool which has totally 6 showers for adult and 2 for kids.The shower area is ALWAYS fully used by kids which is uncivil minded,running under the shower for so long time,will never leave till the life guard told them to.**wtf wtf**I was like standing there queueing waiting for my turn with the cold wind blowing to me~**shivering nicely**.Ya,I know,the water is in lukewarm temperature and it feel comfortable to shower but please!!this is not your home,be considerate!!There is so many time I wanna shout out and ask them to f*** off!!Forgive the rude me but can you just imagine?people is queueing there and there was like talking and showering without noticing us!!%$#*&$@#

After coming out from the centre,I received mindy's call,she invite me over her place to have a dinner with her,Jack and their housemate(lennon)did i spell correctly?They told me that they are cooking "bah kut teh" tonight.Why not??I love "bah kut teh"!!This also reminds me of my elder brother who loves to eat "bah kut teh" very much.See,see see!!,even here in Manchester,cece also got the chance to eat home made"bah kut teh"lerr!!So,stop showing off in front of the web cam next time!!**wakakaka**

The "bah kut teh" was so tasty that I eat lots of it,I got a feeling that the calories which I had just burned off just now is accumulating inside my body again.**arghhh**II mean what to do?I just can't resist the temptation!!After the meal,mindy made us Honeydew Sagu.Oh my god,I eat the dessert again,my stomach was so full just now.Thanks guys!!I really enjoy the meal tonight.

**Home Made "bah kut teh"

**These are dumplings made by mindy,tell you what,she is really good at this

**Lastly,The dessert,Honeydew Sago,Brilliant!!see how prince of sago(Jack)cook the sago nicely while mindy made the soup,great combination.Now I realize why they are mean to be together,just like the Honeydew Sago,sweet and lovely~

That's all for today,I need to go to bed now,tomorrow will be another busy day**konon**.Need to have my NI number done in order to start my job.Good night~~

CiNdY's utopia

After wondering for sometime,I have decided to open myself a blog to write about the bits which happened to me everyday in my life at UK here.I have been here for about a year,it was on the 12th of September 2006 I arrived here at Manchester.To be honest,I really love the weather here,i get to see the flowers bloom during spring,wearing singlets and skirts like I used to wear back in Malaysia during summer,watch the leafs falling during autumn and not forget to experience the snowy day when winter falls.

Autumn 2006


Winter 2006

Life in Manchester is totally fun and exciting.I get to know people from different type of country,study in a different kind of environment and so on... ...I learned that umbrella is useless here when it is raining coz the strong wind kinda blew my umbrella upside down,now that I had experienced those embarrassing moment I had while I am holding an upside down umbrella standing in the pouring rain in the middle of the street,believe me man,I bet you would rather wet yourself in the rain.

I had just graduated from my studies on the 16th of July 2007**yay**Now I am finally a graduate with loads of confidence to step into the working society.I had just received a confirmation of my new job as a waitress in an Italian-French Restaurant this month and I am still so happy till now.Just imagine,after applying for jobs by posting your CV on the website,distributing CV everywhere just to hope for a job,I finally get it!!the pay is not bad and most important thing is that i gotta chance to experience a fabulous serving environment,learning new food,meeting different kinda customers,oh,not forget to mention that learning about new food is my interest and serving people as a waitress is my passion.

Before my job starts,I gotta get myself an National Insurance number,I am going for the interview to get my NI number done on Wednesday.Hope it wont be that tough,but I told myself no worries,I'm a tough gal!!

Recently,I had addicted in editing photos of my friends and family,because editing them brings back those happy moment when we are together.This is how it comes out... ...

*Picture of us 3,Joanne,me and Stephanie we known each other since we were in Secondary One.They are both my best and understanding friends,miss them very muchie!!

**My dearest family,they had always been there to support me!!This what makes me a strong gal,miss them very muchie!!

***I knew them since I was studying at my college back in KL,we graduated together in Nilai International College in the year 2006 and also in the same university at Manchester,year 2007.Cheers!!WE DID IT!!**Hoorai**

****Lausai aka duckduck,I miss the moment when we go around travelling,sight-seeing and lots more.He is doing IT customer service job right now in KL,his shift change quite often,if he is not busy,we can both still chat online.

*****These are the friends which I used to hang out when I was still at KL.We known each other since we were studying in secondary school.Window shopping are our passion and I miss the moment we hang out together.

******Those are my colleagues,I used to help dad in his shop on my holiday.I've been quite well getting along with them.At first they are so scared to be friends with me as I am the "anak bos",but after a few months,we go karaoke and tanjung aru beach together,what can I say?I am totally friendly to everyone.**hee hee**

Till now,they are still working at my dad's shop hoping for my return back to KK as we promise to go sing K when I back KK.See... ...How I motivates them??**hoho**feeling wanna give myself a pat on my back as I reduced the staff's turnover.

Oh my gosh,start to miss everyone more and more right now,sometime how I wish I can get one of the Doraemon's door which can teleport you from one place to another,I really like this stuff the most among all of other Doraemon's stuffs...Dont know when I will be going back to meet them so that we can have our reunion dinner...hmm...I tend to stay here in Manchester another year,guess I will give you all a message when I intend to go back to Malaysia,allright?