Returning to Life

Finally back in Singapore (with good stable internet connection), so probably ought to update my dear friends. It'll be difficult uploading all the photos here so please refer to my facebook account for them:

http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=785625157

I'm still uploading them as I type this entry so please be patient. Hehehe.

Some feelings from the trip. I did enjoy myself there and I really appreciate the very friendly culture in general. Something I wished happened in Singapore. Smiles and hellos, plenty to spare. But working there makes me realise how "Singaporean" we are. We simply cannot tolerate inefficiency. As described by my darling, it's a really huge feat to try to do a task that can be finished in 1 or 2 hours in more than 5 hours. Luckily it's not everyone that does that (but enough to irritate :P), and there are quite a number of Singaporeans and Thais who work similarly to us.

Apart from work, we made really great friends, especially with the Thais. Some of whom I'm sure are life-long relationships. Next time when we visit Phuket and Bangkok, we're gonna have personal guides. Haha! So if you ask what is my biggest take-home from working at Grand Canyon, I'll have to say it's the friends from Thailand. :)

As for the travelling part, I can only say it was great. I have never done more shopping in my life than the time I was there, all thanks to the cheap prices. But one thing I was stunned by was that prices stated are always excluding taxes so we end up paying more than we expected. Tipping was also another thing we had to get used to. Something I earn my extra pay from too working at a dining room. But since it isn't a fixed fee like in Singapore, we can pay according how well we were served which was more reasonable for us. When service was good tips can be up to 20%, but sometimes you don't even feel like leaving the small change behind. However generally service was good for most of the places we ate at, which is also one reason we enjoyed the trip.

Anyone that ask me if they should go for Work & Travel, I'll definitely say a yes. But it requires planning if you want a fruitful trip, so that days off are well-spent. Initially we ignored the fact that we had only 2 months and we had to make very rush arrangements for travelling in between which caused huge friction. If you are looking at earning back the programme fees and air tickets, you'll probably need at least 3 months and still it will depend on your job and pay. All in all it was a great trip which I didn't regret going for, but I certainly missed home so I delighted that I'M HOME!!