Alright, before starting, I need to say some things first. If you don’t want to hear my story and want to know about the the places I went in Kanchanaburi only, skip to third para. And if you specifically want to know about the waterfall, then you may skip to sixth para directly.
Hello all. It’s been a while. I’m taking break from blogging, coz I’ve got tons of work – final reports + A daily journal by college which has to be completed no matter what + last experiments + last sightseeings in Thailand. I’ve got 15 days left and now I want to cover as much Thailand (and work too) as possible. I haven’t visited any of the mainstream places nor have time for that now – Pattaya, Phuket, Krabi etc. etc. Last trip for me in Thailand would be Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, if we are…
So, I managed to grab an e-copy of Genki Integrated Elementary Japanese I and II from a friend and I’m glad I did. I probably haven’t given any time to a textbook like I’m giving to this one in my four years. It is a good practice for me. The workbook covers everything taught in the book extensively apart from the exercises in the book itself. I am printing and practicing everyday. Thus my reading, writing and listening skills are getting better.
The best thing is, it is providing a definite shape to my Japanese studies. I had always been clueless as to where to start from, after Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji has always been an obstacle for me. But now I’m finally starting to grasp the things. Loving the book totally!
I wish to get a Korean book like this too. Although I do own a lot of e-books and I’m doing what I can from Basic Korean – A Grammar and Workbook, I don’t have much to practice my writing with. I need some workbooks for that but I’m broke nowadays to buy any book. Ah! I need some money or some source of free e-books.
Now, the time management thingie. I’m pretty much satisfied with the pace my Korean and Japanese are going on. I’m at least giving time to them daily (excluding Sundays since very less time is left for me to give to Thailand). Now that my mentor has gone to Japan and I don’t have many projects at hand, I have a lot more time. But sometimes, I feel that the time is just flowing by and I’m not able to do much productive work. I’ve been neglecting my blog too.
Only one month more to go and I’ll be in India. My stay in Thailand is coming to an end and I think I am getting depressed about that. If only I had the books, my new phone for awesome apps and GoGo Korean Beginners course from Pegasus Society and very inspiring fellow bloggers who are learning languages themselves earlier, I would’ve been one level up by now in both the languages. But I don’t want to regret and fret over the things, hence I’m trying to accomplish more in the given time. But even then, the time is flying too fast. In a blink of an eye, it is lunch time!
***After Lunch***
Ah! Why do we need to eat food? Why was this thing called stomach given to us? If only, we had the power to make food from sunlight like plants. Wastes a lot of time! This is going to happen again – I’ll become sleepy – then sleep for probably half an hour and it will be 3! Then in last two hours, I’ll study some Korean and waste some more time considering the body becomes so sluggish. I don’t have concept like Power Nap – a big tragedy in my life. Better chug down some coffee again and not sleep at all. I wonder, what I will do in my college if I get addicted again here…….
Side Story 1 – Day before yesterday, we went to the Platinum Fashion mall (This particular mall in Bangkok is just full of clothes and anything you name. I call it heaven for girls) again for probably 5th-6th time. There was a shop with traditional Chinese dresses that I saw for the first time yesterday. Those red and black beautiful dresses! I wanted to buy but I was running low on cash, so I had to postpone it. ㅠ_ㅠ
Side Story 2 – I’m sure, from my talks about money in this or other posts, you may think I’m stingy. I admit to the fact, I am. I tend to be very careful while spending money. But my friend here managed to convince me that, this whole trip of mine is being sponsored by me myself (credits to the company of course). Hence I should not think much. Moreover the clothes and accessories have far greater variety here than in India and are cheaper too. I have collected a lot now.
Side Story 3 – Now that I’ve mentioned in above story, clothes and accessories, I feel like writing about the fact that I’ve completely changed with regards to shopping attitude. I was never even interested in accessories, let alone buying them. But my friend has made me such a shopaholic that I want to take whatever I like including bags, earrings, lockets etc. etc. I shouldn’t become that spendthrift but when she says – In India, these are very expensive and you’ll need them when you start your office, even if you can’t use them in the deserted isolated college – BITS Pilani, of yours – I get allured by it.
Today’s song – Since, in my last post I said, I was listening to OSTs, I’ll post one again. In my school related dramas post I mentioned this anime and I just love such a peppy song. Again there are TV size and full size versions. Hope you enjoy this one –
Finally, the audit has ended. And I got a compensatory leave today because I had been working hard and even spent last sunday at office as I told in this post. So, I’m enjoying and I’ve slept for whole day till now.
In India, a 10 day festival called ‘Navratri’ has started. During this time, people worship different ‘avatars’ of Goddess Durga and young girls in real life. The diet becomes strict too – no onions, garlic etc. Many people keep fast ranging from one day to all nine days. The tenth day is celebrated as Dussehra.
But since I’m in Thailand, leave food for fast, I can’t have onionless food too. And thus I learn of one more compromising situation. Well I should be thankful that I’m at least getting Indian veg food.
But I’m happy that I can start with my studies now.
Today’s song –
After one of the workers at company told me she went to Big Bang’s concert yesterday, only this song is coming to my mind. I’m not a big Big Bang fan. I have never liked their songs but both the recent singles by GD and Seungri were catchy. Added them to my playlist.
Sometimes, it becomes inevitable but very difficult to control your emotions. I still don’t know, how I’m holding myself back. I was asked to shift my belongings for the fourth time in last three months. Earlier, I thought “Oh! They are providing for my accommodation for free in the foreign land, that’s enough. I’m obliged to assist them.” But today my limit of patience was crossed. How much can one endure?
I got late in obtaining my visa this time and hence my stay in India increased from ten days to two weeks. I was so afraid and regretful. I thought, “They are paying me and treating me just like their employees. This shouldn’t have happened.” Then my father told me to quit worrying coz that was a thing not in my hands. And now those emotions are completely gone!
But I’m a person who won’t say anything. I told my mentor though that this is not fair. But this time, it is for my company only. I had thought in my head, I’ll say this and that but I still couldn’t say anything. When I was told later that I have to shift today itself, I just broke down. Thank God, I was at the room provided to me as abode. I cried for half an hour, this time loudly. At what? At my nature. Why can’t I say anything? If there had been any other person, would have they complied this easily?
I have come to realize, people like me are made use of like that only. If we can’t stand for ourselves, we have to face the consequences. Although, I have known the fact from long before, I still can’t do anything about it. Because people like me think that if I am good to others, others should be too. I always forget that this is what my parents taught me and the world has taken 180 deg turn in the years.
One thing I’m worried about the most is, how I will convince my parents this time. Last time I said the same thing about being thankful and what not. At first they were furious, but then my father accepted it and I was satisfied. This time, they are going to be very upset and one thing I can’t bear is seeing them sad, especially because of others. I just pray for the strength to tell them.
In the end, I can only be angry at myself and my helplessness.
Today’s song –
Although not related this time. Somehow earlier songs fitted with the situations well……..
Feels bad right? I thought so too when I came to know that the meeting was always going on when it seemed (or was made like that? Who knows?) the work was to start tomorrow. I so badly wanted to do that one project. But when the other person was establishing new connections with this new party, did I miss out anything which could’ve been beneficial for me in the future? May be or may be not?
Whereas, I did lose the potential new good connections, I did a lot of other things. So what did I do in the meantime? I made more connections in this company itself. And I learnt what I couldn’t see properly or things I couldn’t ask about during my induction, at the starting.
Oh! And I already have two big projects with me. You think I’m greedy? Certainly not. When you know, you are gaining, like, heaps of experience and it’ll look good on your resume, you don’t have to care (at least I don’t). I progressed there and I’m very happy with that.
When sometimes, mind starts to follow someone else’s mentality blindly, it affects how you work too. It could’ve happened to me but I seriously don’t like to do things that has already been done. I mean, what’s the point doing the whole experiment again in exactly the same way provided, when you already have the results? And this sometimes calls for a small push, may be silently. I try to make the person understand my ideas and if one doesn’t, other gets it. That happens most of the time, but when I really get upset with the way the work is done, I demand ask, if it can be done again, the next day, by right method or putting variations to get more reliable and different results. And you know what, it doesn’t look rude since the person thinks that it’s already being done, so one day more, no problem.
That just makes me realize that yes, I’m learning a lot – being patient with people I’m not comfortable with and am never going to, opening up with people (at which I “used to” be very bad), seeing good things in everything (the example is before you) and what not. Ah! You say I could’ve asked my mentor to put me on the team when I wanted it so badly? I seriously don’t know why I didn’t do that. Was I too much hurt when I saw people sitting in some other office of the company, about which I had no idea or is it just my pride (ego? Nah!)? But I decided, if my mentor thinks the project is not suitable for me (not the other way round, mind it!), then it’s alright. I know, she believes in me and that’s why, when during an enquiry to some company, I was asked about my position, she outrightly asked me to write “Process Engineer” when I’m just an intern. These small little things make me very happy and proud. And may be that is the reason that the trust is mutual and I don’t fret over these kind of things.
Has this happened to you? Would you like to share your experience, not just in some company but school or some other place too?
Oh! Should I post some song too? Here, my new fav –
I realized today that I haven’t updated my fandrawings section after it’s first post. Today, I’ll post the first character I made with Photoshop when I was trying my hands on 2-D animation. It’s not that I’ve left it, but it’s been a while since I drew any human characters. I have been designing posters though (mainly for the company I’m interning at).
I know, I know. I’m not good at it, yet. But this was made without any help of Wacom or any other tablet. In fact, I didn’t have any mouse either (I still don’t own one 😛). Oh, now I think about it, it’s easier to just use photoshop tools rather than draw because I have been trying with tablet and it took me a long time to be able to draw straight lines.
Meet Kang Jin Ae…… That’s the name I gave her although she looks nothing like Koreans. But I was obsessed about it, I guess and I searched and searched for a good name. And this is what I found came up with. More about her, she is a recent graduate from an art college and has changed very much from her school days. Her crush was stunned to see her! In school, she was a hardworker and excelled in academics (only). And she was a nerd, so nobody took notice of her (or so she thought) Now she is working in her dream company which she joined not too long ago.
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Sigh! If only I could draw better. I’m practising hard though. I hope, in future, I’m able to post some good character sketches (with full body and all). Till then, Keep practising Ms. EastAsianLover……. (Lol! What am I doing? Actually, that did cheer me up a little. ㅋㅋㅋ)
I, recently came across this blogger (whose name I forgot), whose all entries about his/her internship had headlines as “Hopeless Internship Day #”, something like that until it got over (or it may be going on till now). I laughed to myself. The headline seemed appealing and you indeed are tempted to read what he/she may be going through to give such a name to his/her posts until I came across such situations where I wanted to say that too.
We, interns, sometimes, are looked down upon by the bosses of our bosses, who don’t know our value. We are working for you for much less than we are worth of, often times, doing same jobs as many of the employees do and many a times, better work than them. I’m not degrading the employees nor talking against the bosses. I know it takes time to see the actual effects of the projects we undertake. Moreover, there is a lot of under the surface work, which goes unnoticed. Actually, they won’t even consider that as work but we did it. We put time in it. And it is more apparent in those conditions, where, the bosses are new and unaware of the process of taking interns and their work. Something like this happened to me a while ago, when the company head came for a visit and we were asked to attend a meeting with a future supplier, in which, he was also taking the part.
Obviously, when you suddenly are asked to attend a meeting, with no prior knowledge on the topic, you are bound to remain quiet, just in case you offend the higher-ups sitting there. So, we were just sitting quietly, listening to the conversation, paying attention to the details, so that we might get some of the things, at least, from this advanced stage meeting (this was actually third or fourth one). I must say one thing, these meetings teach you a lot – how the suppliers try to convince you that they are the best, how you talk to them, how you give them details by not so giving them “the” details and what not. For now, it also taught how one creates a pressure on other party and how the other party handles that. I have come to realize that our company is doing so much for us (they let us attend the meeting with suppliers and we are free to, rather encouraged to, ask questions of our own) and we are growing with each and every activity we do here.
That aside, in the end, we were asked to give our input. We were asked what we were working on. And it had been around 15 days from the time we started. We told what we were working on and we were bombarded with a lot of question which were totally out of our field.
My dear boss’s boss,
We are engineers, chemical engineers. I understand we do economic analysis too with the technical details. But that doesn’t mean we have to do market analysis also, that too on everything. That is not our area, you see. It’s not that I’m not ready to learn. I’m eager, you teach me and you’ll see how fast I can do the things. But please don’t expect us to know every field like that.
I do know my roles. But this is real life situation and we have just started. It takes time to understand each and everything of the plant. You want us to know everything well in advance, that’s okay. I know, you are paying for almost every utility for us besides the stipend and I assure you that I won’t disappoint you. But give us some time. We are also humans. I’m sure, in the end you’ll say, it was an excellent deal to bring these kids here. But for now, you must understand that it hurts when we are deemed to be not working or not under proper guidance. Because I feel like, I’m doing bad to my mentor, my boss more than myself.
I also understand very well that, being from a reputed university, we are expected to know everything. Yes, we may know more (sometimes and sometimes not) but that doesn’t mean everything. You need to see that, although it fires me up when you say, we are not doing anything (even when we tell you about the projects we have already completed or are undergoing), but deep inside, it does affect my confidence. At least once in a while, you can appreciate us too. Won’t that be a better boost? Won’t that make me work more, to hear more praise?
I’m really grateful to have this opportunity to work for this particular company, I swear. I love everything here. But please, could you please, just read this once and try, just try, no, just think over it and implement some of the things? I shall be really very very thankful to you.
Oh, and this is from me only, my boss is not involved in it, I assure you. Please don’t say anything to her. Thank you, once again.
So yesterday, I didn’t have much work at the company, so I took out time to search about internships. What other resource better than wordpress? Alright, I just wanted to see what other’s experiences are and if possible, some opportunities, may be? That’s because, I had been discovering a lot of things here recently (like lucky draws and online free classes). So I thought, may be, may be, I’ll get to see some posts with internship opportunities?
That aside, I did get a lot of posts about people’s recent intern experiences and it was, seriously, fun to read them. A lot of them also told about things like what you can gain, how it helps your resume, and that today’s trend is shifting to hiring interns in the same company from doing job interviews to hire freshers. As I was reading various stories, only one thought was coming to my mind – “what am I doing?” I know I’m doing my training too (which actually can’t be called internship) and I do get a lot of time after and before that. But time is flying so fast. Almost a month has been finished and I haven’t been able to start what I had in my mind.
I have a lot of things I want to learn and do in my life, and I’m sure everybody has. But I keep realizing every now and then, that I’m not doing enough for it. Sure there are circumstances sometimes (in my case most of the times, but that may, as well, be an excuse) but one has to work hard. Every morning, I wake up with the thought, that I have to do something, something substantial so that when I go to bed and analyse my day, I can have that satisfaction, that yes, I achieved something today. But no. All I keep doing is watching K-Dramas whenever I get unrestricted net (i.e. out of the company). Sigh!
Oh! That reminds me, I was watching ‘We Got Married’ Khuntoria Couple. That couple has been the only one till now, which felt real real. I just love their chemistry. I know, it’s a thing of past. To tell you the truth, I have been against this show and even though, I watch it, I still am. I started this show with TeukSo couple. I know I am gonna cry I reach on the end for this couple. Now-a-days, it totally looks acting. But it still is cruel.
You make a pair and have them act as husband-wife for, don’t know, how much time. Isn’t it obvious, people can develop real feeling? Alright, they are professionals. I understand. But what I see is, the idols are, generally, not allowed to date (not that they don’t but still). And suddenly, they (some of them) get opportunity to share their life with another person (don’t tell me they share their life with their fans too, I know that but realize, it’s much more with that person). They do events for each other, even during concerts; preparing food, one house (though it’s only one day per week), going on vacations, meeting each other’s family and friends and even wedding photoshoots. And, after a year or so, they are asked to break up just like that. It’s so heart breaking for people like me, how would it be for them?
Khuntoria Couple
For those, who don’t know what “We Got Married” is, it is a South Korean reality show, where they make a guy from entertainment industry marry (not literally) a girl from the industry. They take interviews of idols and then based on their answers, choose the partners. The couple is not told about their partners and the first meeting is to know who that person is. The starting is always heart racing (I mean for the couples for whom I have seen the show). How will they react, what will they do, everything makes, at least, my heart, flutter. Then they start their new life, meeting each other once every week for filming weekly episode. For first few episodes, they get to know each other. Then they get a home for themselves (now they have something called WGM village where the pair gets home right away). There are members’ episodes too in between, if any one of them is in some group. They do activities and complete missions given by WGM team. it’s a lot fun, really. If you start once, you can’t stop, especially if the whole series has been aired. And you know what? The episodes are available with english subs with respective couples only in them. That means, if there are three couples at a time and you are interested in one only, you’ll get the episodes for them separately. The last part is their divorce, where they are just told to dissolve the marriage (which is why I dread starting it whenever I find that someone from my favorite group has been there). That’s all there is, to it.
What? You are saying I’m crazy, ranting for no reason? Oh really? Then tell me, people make such big deal out of actors and actresses who film a drama together, which is generally 4-6 months? And, they have to be a different character. Here, they have to act as themselves (the irony!) and that too, for around a year or more than that (leave the exceptions). From a normal human being’s perspective (I’m not saying I’m normal but yes, I’m talking about me), I find it too painful. If I keep myself in their situation, I don’t think I would be able to bear it. So, people out there, who are working hard to entertain us, please don’t play with their hearts, even if it is for entertainment of some people. Ah! I again come to the point where I say, they are human beings also. No such post of mine goes without this line.
Huff! I’m tired after so much jabbering. So, I’ll take my leave for now and focus on my problem stated above. I’ll try to ‘try hard’ :P.
On the side note, I have been given the name of Japanese here in Thailand too. I just can’t escape the status can I?
Right now, I’m listening to f(x) (you can tell by mention of ‘khuntoria’ above), so, I’ll post this song today –
The Joys and Worries of an East Asia Lover 