First day at work in the Netherlands

How was my first day at work today? Well, one word - uneventful.

The morning started with me running late as the tram was late from Rotterdam and in the Hague *aargghh* so this caused me to miss the train and it was a whole domino effect. In the end, I was LATE about 7 mins on my first day! After reporting myself at the reception and went thru the security, I was told to wait at the lobby for someone to get me...finally the HR lady came 20-25 mins later. To my utter surprise, I was apparently early! I was supposed to arrive in the office at 9:30am instead which nobody told me about it *DUH*. So off I went and along the way, 2 other 'newbies' like me came and joined us for the signing of our employment contracts session with the HR lady hmmmm...ok. The session also consisted of signing so many other forms other than our own respective contracts, collected our security passes and the Q&A session. By the time we were 'delivered' to our respective rooms, it was already 11am plus!

And with my rotten luck today, my colleagues did not expect my arrival today so nothing has been arranged for me (a deja vu for me as this happened to me in my previous employment as well *sigh*). This means, I'd only a chair and a table which I shared with a big noisy printer and a fax machine. No computer, phones and stationary were arranged for me. The remaining day, it was sort of an informal and speedy 'orientation' with one of my colleague, filling up more forms and following my colleague around to get familiarised with my surroundings and reading documents = boring.

Mind you, this organisation is very bureaucratic, they absolutely adores their paperwork. Everything has to be done via paper. Basically, nothing moves until you have a signed and approved forms in hand. On the other side, I was pretty impressed that in the building, we have a nice big staff cafeteria, a little ABN Amro office with a ATM machine!, a duty-free shop, a library and a small gym with classes during lunch time! Unfortunately the coffee machines in the office came with a coin slot on the side. Only tea and water are free :P

All in, it was quite an 'interesting' day. So far my colleagues were pretty nice and I still do not know what's my actual work will be but will know more after the meeting with my supervisor tomorrow *rolling my eyes*. After all, it was my first day only :P

Designer's Sale!!!

It was a glorious day to go shopping today with another girlfriend of mine; sunny and the whole street of designers' shops were on SALE! We went at P.C Hoofdstraat, the designer's street of Amsterdam. Actually we were kinda of late considering the sale has started 3 weeks ago! Therefore, we only got the leftovers :P Nevertheless, it's nice to check out some of the items here and compare the prices in Malaysia and other countries. If anyone wants to buy designer items, Europe is cheaper depending on the item! My girlfriend wanted to buy this sling Gucci bag which is going for EUR315 and it was on 50% sale but unfortunately it was all sold out! :( Tempting eh ;)

Guiness Chocolate Cake - A Success

I'd a full busy day today. Early in the morning, I was at the Medical centre for my blood test which my Hubs and I waited for almost 40mins then we went back home and I'd made salad for lunch. Later on, I was off to the city to catch-up with a girlfriend of mine ;). Came back and started baking the cake :) :) Thereafter, ironed my working clothes and then back to the kitchen again to make dinner. Tonight's theme was Thai - green curry chicken with aubergine and potatoes, tom yum soup and fried sambal kangkung :)

At least finally, I've baked the 'perfect' (in my humble opinion) chocolate cake as how I always like it - moist. It's a recipe from Nigella Lawson :) As mentioned earlier, I seriously think I do not have any talent in baking but I didn't give up :P but today was one of my lucky day ;) The guiness chocolate cake turned out to be so nice, moist and tasty :) Even my Hubs likes it and mind you, he's not a big fan of dessert except for ice-cream and chocolates :)

Summer weather is coming...

I thought we're going to have some pretty bad weather as lately, it's been rainy and gloomy and then came the weather forecast prediction that we're going to experience some sunny weather the whole of next week! ;) Temperature ranging from 26 degrees and above (that's already a 'summer-ly' weather)!

This is definitely good news. However, now both my Hubs and I are feeling a bit hot at home with the temperature rising gradually. We slept with the windows open as my poor Hubs are practically perspiring the whole night, tossing and turning :P He's definitely pro to colder climate habitant unlike me. What's with us people, when it's too hot, we complain and when it's too cold, we complain too :P :P

But then again, this will be my first summer in the Netherlands. Last year I've missed most of the summer as I was back in Malaysia for our wedding. Plus I was told that we had a bad summer weather :P Let's hope this year will be better....

Michael Jackson - RIP

I was woken up by this tragic news of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop has passed away from a cardiac arrest at the age of 50!!

Despite all the child molestation allegations against him, nobody can deny that we grew up with his songs, 'Beat It', Billie Jeans, Thriller, Bad, his dance moves; the legendary "moon-walk" dance, etc, he was the legendary King of Pop. I loved his music videos and his songs. I remembered when I was still in school, I used to watch his music videos and trying to imitate his dance moves (if that is possible). He was also one of the great artist that I would want to watch him perform on stage. It was my biggest regret that I'd missed his concert in Malaysia many years ago and I heard he was in his best form. And now I'll never see him on stage again....:(

While his career and wealth had waned greatly but this never stop his comeback last curtain call concert in London been sold out; 11 tickets were sold per second to be precise.

Since I woke up this morning, I was hogging CNN as they are doing a full coverage on Michael Jackson. As fans around the world mourn it is likely Michael Jackson will be remembered as a musical hero -- but also a man with human flaws. RIP Jacko.

PAP Smear Test in Holland

I've yearly Pap Smear Test back in Malaysia but when I came to Holland, this was definitely not in my to-do list. However, I just found out that over here, a routine screening for a PAP Smear does not commence until the age of 35. An invitation will be sent from our own 'huisarts' @ General Practitioner (GP) here for a free PAP Smear test every 5 years. Every 5 years people!!! And for those who wants to take this test anytime before or after the invitation, the cost has to be paid by ourselves! What the hell......freaking strange isn't it?

Trust me, I have bee plagued by this question, why every 5 years. Finally I've my answer when I went for a blood test today. While I was there, I've asked this question to the GP. I was then told that it was proven in research and tests that PAP Smear test done every 5 years is sufficient to detect any abnormalities in the cervical cells. Cervical cancer cells grow very slow. And also the cost issue, it is not effective for the government to pay for a yearly test for every woman in the country. It is almost a redundant cost when results has proven otherwise that once every 5 years for a PAP Smear test is more than sufficient.

The Longest Day of the Year

Sunday, 21 June 2009 - The longest day of the year without us realising it :P The sun was shinning brightly throughout the day ;) The sun was still out at 10pm yesterday and by 11pm, it looked like it was only 7pm in the evening.

How does this work : Like a giant timepiece, Earth and sun are configured for the summer solstice once again. This year it happens June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun will be up a fraction of a second longer than the day prior or the day after. (The length of the full day, including night, does not change, of course.)

To grasp how it works, one must understand Earth's cockeyed leanings and some celestial configurations that even the ancients knew something about..... well, for obvious reasons, I won't go into that kind of details :P We did enjoy our relaxing Sunday, both my Hubs and I :)

Stig in Top Gear revealed!!

My Hubs and I are both a fan of this top British's program, 'Top Gear' an International Emmy Award winning BBC television series about cars. The show has received acclaim for its visual style and presentation, as well as considerable criticism for its content and comments made by the infamous trio presenters; Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammon. We watch it every week on Sunday at 9pm on BBC channel here.

Yesterday night, we were in for a surprise treat from Top Gear. The 'Stig', Top Gear's mysterious masked racing test driver for all the high performance cars takes off his lid and shows his face to the world for the first time ever....This will end years of speculation on the identity of The Stig :) Boy, all of us were stunned and shocked when The Stig was unmasked! He is no other than.....Michael Schumacher!!! The ex-Formula 1 drive and 7th time Formula One world drivers' champion, and current advisor and occasional test driver for Ferrari.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8111984.stm

I love this programme!! I know it's a dude's program, but trust me, it was done so wittily and the British humour can be quite entertaining that even we, women will enjoy it ;)