Off to Work We WENT.

Work, that thing in life that lets you be able to do more things in your life.

Last week, our work experience started. Claudia and I were working at the New Kuta Condotel at Pecatu (Dreamland).

The hotel itself.

At first I felt slightly nervous but also very excited about work experience. That probably would be a very average reaction. I actually had to wear office-y clothing, and I probably looked a bit weird in them.

The "work" was mostly taking notes and translating slides to Indonesian, and for the first few days it was VERY repetitive. We went through each hall at least 3 times.The translating was also quite difficult.Most of the words we hadn't even learned in English, let alone in Indonesian.

There were some odd little happenings here and there during our experience. For example, Claudia getting squished by the elevator doors.She thought that it was the wrong floor (thanks to a little boy running down the stairs), and scared me into laughter. Is that even possible; scaring into laughter?

The finger scanner also gave us a difficult time. They use it to record their employees attendance. The machine has trouble scanning my thumb as we arrived, which probably has something to do with me being "cold blooded" in the mornings.

We had the the most hilarious supervisor while we were there. She was really cool, and ends up making us / herself laugh. How many people can swat flies with a magazine and still sound business-like over the phone at the same time? (She has quite the hatred towards flies.)

At work we went around the different departments in the hospitality / hotel business. The one I enjoyed most would have to be the Food and Beverage Product department, as it was more hands on, plus hoping into the freezer was actually kind of cool. We took notes about the departments and the hotel itself and compiled it to a report. It was quite repetitive and monotonous; but in the end, it will help future trainees with their work experiences.

Overall this experience was interesting and a real eye opener about the inner workings of a hotel. The people there were very welcoming (and the food at the canteen was awesome). Although, I don't think working under the Human Resources department would be my first choice of future career. It was interesting, yes, but I prefer a more interactive, hands on job (I wouldn't mind being the pastry chef though).

A quick photo with Ms. Devi (Right) and Ms. Desi (Left)

Holidays Abroad

First week back from the holidays, we have to start blogging. I gotta say, this is the first time I'm using a blogging website other than Tumblr, where I mostly re-blog instead of blog. But hey, there are always firsts.

Which brings me back to my holidays. So what DID I do? I did many things during my holidays, and most of those things happened in Texas, where I spent my first Texan summer.

In Texas, summer is very dry and heaps more hotter than Bali. The sun also sets later, around 9:30 - 10 pm.

In Fort Worth, we stayed at my Uncle's house with his family. Our activities included shopping, science museums, and... SIX FLAGS! My favorite ride there was the roller coaster in pitch black darkness. I think I may have turned into a roller coaster fan.

The outside of my favorite ride.

This ride was actually built in 1966, and was the first of many mine themed coasters.

Then we went up to the 'Panhandle'. First to Spearman to see my Grandparents (and my Grandpa's half track), then to Amarillo where my Sister lived. We got to see the 4th of July parade in Canyon, which I thought was pretty cool, and also went to a history museum with my nephews. Then my Dad and I went to see a musical about the history of Texas. He watched it as a child, and they used a real canyon as a backdrop and also real horses.

"In the Panhandle, you can see so far yet see so less."

Historical planes during the parade.

Granny and Pa's house and Half Track

After going back to Fort Worth, we went to Roscoe. On the way we sampled chicken fried steak, and other Texan foods such as elk burgers. At Roscoe, my Dad's friend let me drive his tractor around. Apparently I'd make a good tractor hand in an hour.

On our last day we hung out at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. It was, to put it in one word, epic. Got 13th place out of 56 in the laser race, not too bad. There was also a mirror maze; in which we were asked time and time again; "Are you real?"

It was a cool experience that included lots of shopping, great adventures and tons of Tex Mex (no, seriously, we ate it almost everyday). Hope to spend another summer there, even if it was oven heat.

Maybe I might ride that Batman coaster at Six Flags next time.