silver linings

i feel very blessed today.

considering i was so worried yesterday about it (to the point that i hardly slept at all) i feel relieved and really thankful that i got through it without any huge hitches.

in lieu of this, i would like to dedicate this entry to God (cause i knew He's going to check it out, and also because i know that He definitely laughed with me on my funny moments today)

so here i go... the top 5 reasons why i feel very grateful today:

5: i was supposed to show up at work today, not really to get any work done but just so i can have a word with my line manager... since i still haven't got my own premises keys (cause im going to be having my own set, you see) i was really stressed how i'll get in (and not everybody knows me yet) when i got to the door my boss was just letting herself in which solved the problem, and made things really easy

on top of that, i was able to tell her that my National Insurance Number (which is a requisite for working in the UK) is still in process and i was worried i might get in default or might not be allowed to work... she assured me that as long as i have applied for it already there shouldn't be any problem...its just that my pay might be delayed (instead of getting my first pay by the end of january, i will wait till end of february) which will actually work better for me, because that way i won't get my hands on it and all of it spend on nonsense

my line manager also assured me that everything will be sorted out tomorrow so i shouldn't really worry.

sigh...i felt really light headed after i left (i just pray that my stint at work tomorrow would be as stress-free) at least i know quite well what to expect for tomorrow because i'll be spending the whole day in our Denbigh office.

4: so i headed straight to the station to catch my bus to school...at the waiting area, i was very thrilled to find my friend carol already waiting and that the bus is just about to leave. this really is something to be thankful about because the weather today IS (cause it still is) quite unbearable (its about 4c and the wind is really having a go at blowing everything away). so a need to wait another ten minutes for the bus could easily translate into more frost-bitten toes (i've got quite a lot already and doesn't fancy more, thank you very much)

3: on my first class back; 'Working and Living in the UK', i was happy to learn that the instructor will be helping us out with work in our courses (cause all international students are doing unique stuff) every monday and all we need to do is bring some work in and ask her about it. i just hope that when i go next week and show her my finance assignment she can enlighten me. because im still very much in the dark.

there's also a new guy from vietnam, he's called 'Huey' or something. he said he just arrived after new year's and i just feel very lucky that i didn't have to start in the middle of the year like he is doing because it's just harder to cope that way. im proud to say that we were all really nice to him and showed him around. i think he's still in shock because i later found him sitting alone in front on the reception area. i really hope he'll be fine though...

he reminded me of myself when i arrived back in october and the class has been going on for 3 weeks already (the release of my visa was late, not my own fault at all) and i'm just glad that i settled in really well (with school stuff and submitting work on time, meeting and befriending people and finding a job)

it's a wonder how noticing things can now make me realize how good life has been treating me. (thanks to the new vietnamese guy for making me think at all,because i've been feeling down since the new year started last week)

2: i'm supposed to hand in a paper on my 2nd class for the day which is called "World Cuisine". so the moment i had the chance i sat in front of the computer and tried to access my finished work from my flash drive (because i don't have a printer at home). i used a 2007 version of MS Word because i was able to download a trial pack online for free. imagine how my face drained with colour when i cannot open the document because it was not compatible with the word processor installed in the computer we have in that classroom (all classrooms in this school have at least 7 desktops). i tried to convert it but all i got were lots of tiny squares. i really didn't know what to do.

i tried to calm myself enough to take in some food for lunch. then i decided to just talk to my instructor and tell them the truth. so i went to the kitchens and it was stroke of luck that he was passing the corridor. and i told him about my dilemma.

he said that there isn't a problem because he was planning to use the class time to do a workshop on the assignment for everyone and that the deadline have been extended till friday. he said that if i want to take the day off, he'll excuse me from class since i have it done anyway and that i can hand it in on wednesday (see...not all chefs are grumpy and insufferable).

although he was really rather nice about it, i still feel a little bad because i spent time on it and it was really finished and i was looking forward to handing it in today. but carol said not to worry about it anymore, so i stopped (worrying, that is) and we went to Llandudno to while away the time and checked out the sale there

1: when we returned to the college, we met with sheena (who i was doing the 'World Cuisine' class with) and i told her im not coming to class because of the technical problem with my work. she proceeded on effectively convincing me to come. she said it really doesn't matter if i hand it in today anyway...so i ended up promising her that okay, i'll catch up with her in class just as long as i can take a few minutes to run to the HE (higher education) room, where they have better and faster computers to try to print it again.

so i went. when i got there, most of my world cuisine classmates where doing their work on the paper. and so i knew that its okay to be late for it for just this one time...
i tried to open it using yahoo mail (because i sent it as an email attachment to myself) and i was able to get a preview of it. so what i did was just copied it to a blank word document and printed it!

then i was running off again...this time to the kitchens with my paper, hot off the printer and ready to be handed in...(yipee, relief, sigh. sigh... it was really exhilarating)

and when Chef Hindley browsed through it he said it was actually pretty good...(yay!!!)

i did it.
another assignment out of the way
now, i can focus on the last 2 (work assignments) from last term that i have to hand in this month (that is, on top of tons of reading and training materials that i still have to finish for work)

but it's all good. one day have passed. a really fine day at that
... another 24 days and its half term break again
(there's 10 weeks to 1 term, and we get one week off after the first 5 weeks)

so, thank God for this day. i couldn't have survived without Him providing me with strokes of silver linings on this rain drenched day.