Living the dream (Part I)

After years of existence, I have learnt one thing. I'm a creature of habit. I crave structure and routine. I need to be productive and to be doing something. Of course with this new sense of freedom, only afforded by redundancy I've realised that you really need hobbies in life at the very least something that keeps you occupied and busy. This becomes more evident when you find an additional 9 hours a day. Let this be a precursor to retirement, make sure you have hobbies and cash to fund them.

So, what have I been doing to keep myself busy? It's been an interesting couple of months. The first month I was preoccupied with Dave in town and it was good having company especially during the initial period. Since then, I've picked up Cantonese Lessons, hit the yoga, picked up my Uke, re-committed myself to getting this blog up to date and course priming myself for the stark reality that I might actually be better off finding a rich mainland wife and living out every man's dream of becoming a Stay-at-home-Dad.

To better prepare myself should this actually happen I've become obsessed with two things. Yoga and celebrity chefs. Jamie Oliver, Downward Dog, Heston Blumenthal, Warrior one, Gordon Ramsey, 30 minute meals, Shivasana, 15 minute meals! It's with this extra time spent in the kitchen, I've managed to cultivate my culinary skills. More cooking, kitchen experimentation and trying new foods.

Here's the seeds of a fresh pomegranate not very interesting, but it took me a whole 30 minutes to extract them without staining my kitchen. Never again...

Shanghai New Years

It had been decided that New Years would not be spent in Hong Kong. This decision was on the back of last year's somewhat lacklustre end to 2011. Our eyes heavy and bloodshot around the outdoor coffee table on the patio of Caine Building as the sun rose for the first time in 2012. It was a tired and yet familiar sight, however we decided that we would make an effort to be somewhere else in 365 days.

That somewhere else would be Shanghai. It had been over 6 years since I had last been to Shanghai and I remember it being a city that I had loved. I was excited to be going back to see how the city had changed. Not surprisingly, the city has changed over the course of 6 years. One thing for sure, I would love to live here for a stint, if only language weren't such a barrier.

Interesting incident with the taxi driver re-emphasising how the lack of communication can get you into trouble. This ended up in commotion and fisty cuffs with the driver. I should really brush up the Mandarin.

Vietnam

Sometime, throughout the course of the year my then, (ex) Employer changed the the Annual Leave policy. The new rules stated that come December 31st the maximum number of days that could be rolled over into the new year could not exceed 5 days. All days in excess of this number would be forfeit, without any compensation. This new mandate saw the Q4 period become a pseudo holiday period with employees scheduling leave for the sake of reducing their total leave. This new policy was of course two-fold. To prevent employee burnout but more importantly, reduce the overhead of employee payouts should employment termination ever come into the fray.

I had pencilled in leave immediately after the work Christmas Party and had planned to join some friends in Vietnam for a few days. In hindsight, I wish I had booked a longer trip...

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City early Saturday night. Hong Kong had only this week dropped below the 20 degrees Celsius mark and the warm South-East Asian Saigon climate was unexpected. My friends were asleep, it was 6 pm. They had experienced their first night in Ho Chi Minh, namely Apocalypse Now, a local haunt that catered to expats and local revellers until the early hours. The recount of Rooftop bars, Magnums of Belvedere and foreigner-filled bars corresponded with zeal of their greetings, or lack thereof. That night we indulged in a steaming bowl of Pho (30,000 VND ~1.50 AUD) and headed to Lush, a cigarette fumed club. So it began, the following four days we literally ate and snoozed our way around Vietnam.

A short flight to Da Nang, and we arrived at base camp, the Hyatt Regency (we squeezed them for a free upgrade). Here we stole naps by the pool, in the car, in the hotel, anywhere we could really. We lazed by the pool, participated in daily yoga, sat in the sauna and made the occasional day trip to Hoi An and Hue. We consumed cakes, donuts, all-you-can-eat breakfasts, Hoi An Chicken Rice, Pho, Bun Bo Hue, Cafe Su Da, until our pours oozed fish sauce and mint.

Excellent trip - four days of not having to worry about being an unemployed 30 year old. I wonder if I can work in Vietnam?

Currently reading: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Redundancy

Surreal, yet so vivid. That's how I would go about describing my last day of work. I remember coming into the office just before 8 am. At the time it felt like any other ordinary day, it was early, so majority of the office were still making their way out of bed or mid-commute. I logged onto my PC and opened Outlook looking through my inbox while I prepared my usual breakfast at my desk: Oatmeal.

I scanned my email and noticed a new message, with subject "Last day". It was sent from a personal email address from a colleague in Sydney not 2 hours earlier. As I read the email, I was tapped on the shoulder. It was my Managing Director. "Can I speak with you in the boardroom?". I grabbed my pen and pad and entered the boardroom only to find the COO and HR already seated. At that moment, I knew something was up to which I said "This looks ominous".

The rest, is history. Bid farewell to my colleagues and was home before 9 am. First thing that I did was call up all my friends who had been recently made redundant. My mind was racing through all the options and contingents. The aftermath of the global cuts, saw our team reduced by 50%, with other key personnel being cut along the way.

"Today is going to be the day, that they're going to throw it back to you" - Oasis

Hong Kong 101: The Basics

Welcome to Hong Kong.

Tsing Yi

This year my employer has launched a new imaging initiative. It includes a name changes and complete rebranding of the firm. Part of this image make over is a new global volunteer program. It's a little bit of a popularity contest with all the MDs in the firm trying to get the most number of volunteers for their planned programs. So far our Hong Kong office has had: Packing freight containers for Africa, Cleaning South Bay and more recently spending a day with the elderly. I helped with the freight containers and decided I would also mingle with the elderly.

The residents here spend their time in shared dorms, some have family, some exhibiting mild senility, a lot however are quite old and too frail to walk. The morning was spent meeting the residents and learning the intricacies of manning a wheelchair. We took them through the Tsing Yi Park and for a sumptuous Yum Cha lunch. Funnily enough, communication wasn't the biggest issue here. My Cantonese is shocking but the hardest challenge was that my lady didn't seem to be in the mood for socialising or eating. The other caretakers explained to me that she was in a grumpy mood and even their attempts to strike up conversation with her were met with the silent treatment. Thankfully I managed to squeeze a smile out of her towards the end and I knew then my efforts weren't completely fruitless.

Australia

It's safe to say that weddings usually dictate my Australian visits. Given that this is the period in our lives where people are tying the knot, you can almost always expect a handful of invites throughout the course of the year. The hard part is deciding which to attend, obviously you want to attend them all, but this isn't feasible. The upside of these ceremonies is that it makes it easier to catch up with people. Lots of people in one place always makes reacquainting easier.

The groom, a close friend from University, who now when I think back has been through a lot with me. He was kind enough to let me stay with his family in Vietnam during our "End of University" South East Asia trip,  during this trip we discussed our interests to move to Europe and surely enough a few years later we were both living in London. He moved back after his Working Holiday expired to be with his now wife. It was a no-brainer that I would return for his Wedding. It was my first "Westie" wedding, held in Crystal Palace which was a massive affair. With over 500 attendees and with enough food and alcohol to host an awards night it was a spectacular night.

It had been a good six months since I was back and decided to make a trip out of it. Headed up to Queensland's Great Barrier Reef where I spent a few days unwinding and taking my mind off the mess of living in Hong Kong. Introduced to my first Scuba Diving experience (Loved it, will have to get my open water some time). This trip also coincided with my 30th Birthday, secretly I was happy to be escaping the craziness of Hong Kong, as I know how a birthday party ends up in LKF. Albert kindly arranged a surprised birthday down in the city. I was suspicious but the turn out genuinely shocked me. Uni friends, family friends, cousins, parents, couldn't have asked for a better 30th!

Great trip, really enjoyed my time back home. Home cooked food, familiar faces, great weather and fresh air. The house is so quiet without Sam kind of eerie in a sense. This was one of the first times I thought about returning back home to Sydney.