first impressions

First day of training wasn't so bad. I made a lot of impressions.

On "kids" these days.
They never stop to stun (yes, stun's the word) me.
Right on our introductory activity, while I revealed my deepest darkest secret as being afraid of addressing a big crowd, theirs ranged from being in love with their best friend, falling for their best friend's gf/bf, did it with their best friend's gf/bf and being a single mom/dad. Is this an issue of generation gap? Maybe, just maybe, because I play soccer and most of them just stay at home and watch tv.

On "senior" colleagues.
Most of the seniors (re: with the company for more that a year) still have that endearing sing song lilt to their speech but they well made up for it by talking a lot while I struggled to keep the conversation going. I guess this happens as I am too mindful of my grammar and choice of words, not to mention the daily battle I have with my dentures in getting the right sound for some vowels and consonants.

On "training"
While the rest of the trainees get to be fined for every vernacular uttered within the training floor, our group will be getting a "log" instead. An accumulation of these logs will sadly be used as a ground for expulsion. As if I didn't have enough torment listening to "intelligible" recordings that almost tore my ears off on top of things to know about (and keep in mind) a country that I have very little chance of setting my foot on. If all goes well though, and we adhere to what is required of us, there's no doubt about our finishing as best in our batch.

On a typical after-work-activity for a discerning out-of-towner.
I went to the nearest quiet room right after class (around 00:05H) but the next vacancy was at 12:59. So I tried the room downstairs and I was in bed by 00:30H. Sleep was elusive though. Apart from being new to the place, it didnt help that heeled shoes clicked against concrete (which, to me is inexcusible having tiptoed my way from the door to my assigned bunk) and phone alarms blared amidst the deathly silence which is only ocassionally disrupted by a snore here and there. I think carpeting should be installed and users would just log their wake up time (and have the minder wake them up at the appointed time) so that the place would live up to it's name as a 'quiet room'. One thing is sure though. It beats sleeping alone in a haunted clinic.