bad day? don't worry..be happy...

the last two days really tested my patience with my colleagues for both workplace. It's so different here. The way management carry out their duties and how they deal with things. And working with immature, can't handle the pressure people.
Everything and everyone was rubbing me the wrong way the last two days. First, at the pub.. I decided to head into work early that day, so that i can grab a coffee and relax a little unlike most of the other times I just get into it straight away. But as soon as I was seen.. they automatically think that I've started. Lots of orders thrown my way of "can you get rid of that high chair" "why isn't there any menus on that reso for 8 people" "where is Andrew" "why are you taking that I'm not even on it, so don't waste your time" Normally, I would just shrug it off and be doing all these things on my toes. But that day, I just thought, you know what, I just got in and you guys are putting me in a bad mood already. So, I will do these for you now.. and once it quieten down, I said to one of the servers, "I haven't even started it. I came in early so I can have a coffee and relax". The response was "no such thing at brunch". I just thought wtf? lol I was livid! I was like, you know what.. I'm taking a five min break - they just stared at me like I was speaking in a different language. LOL. I took it. I don't care. I said to myself. I don't need this shit. Unlike them, I chose to work there not because I desperately needed the money. I chose to work there for fun!  So, I don't need to take any crap from anyone, thank you very much!
To make things worst, they left without tipping me that day. I chased down two and one got away. Steam was coming out of me at this point. Like I said, it's not the money but I'm not going to let them get away with it as I worked my butt off to help them and just cuz they had a bad day, doesn't mean they can treat me like shit either. I have to add this though, that one of them did come to me to apologise for "snapping" at me, he didn't know I haven't started yet. At least, he had the guts to admit to it.
In my quiet moments, i started thinking. My mood really depends on the people around me. When I was at the front desk, I had two guests waiting and they thought had a reservation for 8 people under a name which I had no reservation for. So we started talking and he was so funny, made me laugh by telling me personal stories about him and his gf who was present as well. Then they both started telling me some stories about their relationship (funny stories) and i just thought wow, you guys just made my day. Thank you.
I started to change my mood, I started thinking. When you have happy people around you. People who are there to have fun and enjoy their meals, people who are just happy to live another day, it really rubs off on you.
The people you work with play an important part to your day. You spend at least 8 hours with them. So just remember guys, if you have a bad day.. keep to yourself, no one needs to be at the end of it. I have to remind myself this too. Cuz it's only human nature that you get shitty or stressed out but you don't need to take it out on others.

On a happier note, I got a call yesterday from the Montreal office confirming my flight details. My full time work is sending me to Michigan and Montreal for training. So that, totally made my day with a huge smile on my face. *dances around*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R08q2wzGpzk

New York City Weekend

One of the reasons I chose Toronto was that it is so close to NYC and I love NY.. i just get that feeling of bliss when I'm there.. I have been there twice before last weekend and now thrice! I do feel very bless to be able to visit a city for the third time. Even better when it's a weekend.

As days goes by, I continue to learn things about myself. Well, it's more of a realisation. Yes, "I don't procrastinate, I just do things later.." lol Juen posted the other day that got me thinking. I have this thing, where I tend to leave things to the last minute. It's been with me since high school. I don't know why. I blame the Internet and TV. Or plainly it's just my personality. I have an addictive personality. Don't get me into anything, I will get addicted. Maybe it's the issue of me not being able to say no? or to lie? or the thrill? hm, anyway, the quest continues..but it did help me in getting ready a lot quicker to make up for lost time! lol

Cat and I are big culprits of this (leaving things to the last minute). We say to ourselves that we're just spontaneous. LOL. maybe, maybe not.

Anyway, so on the day of my departure to NY, I was at work til 3pm. Came home and decided to go for a nap since my bus schedule weren't leaving til 10pm and my housemate was going to give me a lift so I figured I had plenty of time. I couldn't nap and were just fart assing around instead. LOL.. slowly packing, eating, watching tv, doing random things. Matteo was nice enough to cook while I was packing, we ate dinner and I wanted to upload the next blog. I already wrote this one, was just finalising the details and uploading photos. Damnit, photos take so long to upload! lol I should have know from Vien's constant whining... anyway, I left the house half an hour before my departure and apparently it takes 5mins for us to get down to the carpark and get the car out onto the road! OMG. I was stressed.. I seriously thought I was going to miss the bus! lol, almost anyway.. but I made it. JUST.

We took a bus from Bay St, with Megabus, it cost us $67 one way because we were taking the overnight bus (cheaper other times). It takes 10 hrs but with customs and immigration, it took us 12 hrs to get there. Which in Aussie terms, is nothing. Linda and I have been on buses for long hours before so it was no biggie. It's part of the adventure.

So, we arrived on the 7th Ave and 28th St, Mike was starving - we search for a place to eat and to meet Nic who flew in from Montreal.

After checking in and refreshing ourselves, we head off to the Empire State Building. Linda, Mike and Nic have never been to NY before, so of course they want to see some touristy stuff. I really didn't mind going up the ESB again as I've never been up there during the day.. so it'll still be new and exciting and I wanted to belt out "empire state of mind" lol

Most of you would have seen on my facebook page that I have been "star jumping" around the world, so I wanted to that here too. I got told off, I mean come on it's not like i'm going to star jump myself off the building.. lol it's all barricaded anyway geez! As I got distracted, I didn't get to sing :( probably best anyway! lol

Mike and Linda went to a college basketball game at Madison Square Gardens and Nic & I went photo shooting in Central Park. It was such a nice day. I love the colours and the lights. It was nice and relaxing and I really enjoyed it. This is my type of holidays. Taking everything in, the surroundings, the people watching, the colours, the laughter all round. Lots of kids and families in the ice skating rink. It was beautiful.

Looking at my photos, I saw the magical bubbles that was created by a man with two sticks and some strings. Kids love these things. Nic asked me.. why do you think kids love it? I thought, well, cuz it's clear, it has a rainbow in it and yeah it's magical and it's the unknown. A clear yet colourful massive bubble that can take the kids mind into another world. Chasing after it and then it just disappear! woahhhh! lol perhaps I'm just a little kid myself.

We went to Katz's for pastrami sandwich which was recommended by Gerard. OMG. it was delicious! And huge! I only could eat half the sandwich!

We met up with the rest including Gerard at BOB. A very tiny little bar in LES. More drinks and shots and no such thing as personal space in this place. LOL. But the music was good. We've been drinking shots of "wet pussies" I just googled the recipe to find out what's in it.. and um.. yeah I think you'll just have to do it yourself. HAHA. Anyway, so I went up to the bar to order more shots of this and apparently no one really know what it is. And the boys (G) was really embarrassed about ordering this drink! hahaha Apparently the african american barman knew how to make it. So, I called him over and asked for my 5 shots of wet pussies. He ushered an older man over to serve me. The guy whom I found out was George hesitated at first. He came over and start talking to me. You know, the whole, oh where are you from, what are you doing here etc etc.. anyway, I got my drinks and he helped me bring it over to my friends. It was literally 1m away. LOL. He then asked me if he was my bf  (pointing to all the boys in the corner). Now, when an older man asked you these sorts of question, of course you're going to say YES. LOL hoping that he'll leave you alone. Like my alias of Michelle, Chloe and other random names I give to guys who are just too forward. Anyway, he told me that he is the owner of the club, I bet he thought he can win me over with this. HAHAHA
As we left the club, he took my hand and put in a business card with his contact details and said "ditch your bf tomorrow and call me" WTF? LOL! are you insane? hilarious! only in NYC.

The next day wasn't pleasant.. too many wet pussies. Oh my head really hurt! To make things worst, we (I) wanted to go back to this breakfast place called Clinton St Baking Company. I remembered it being really awesome last year when I was there with Cat & Eddie and it was around the corner of our place. Anyway, the line here is just unbelievable. It was a 1.5hrs wait and we thought we'll go find another cafe. We decided to head over to Statue of Liberty and find something there. The subway had some construction this day and when you don't know your way around and just going by the map, it was quite difficult to get our way around. We didn't end up eating til about 2pm.

Anyway, I can spend days talking about everything that happened but I need to get out of the house today. It's taken me two days to write this cuz i keep getting distracted. lol
I'll give you the highlights: We visited the tiny little statue of liberty, walked around ground zero, saw the wall st occupy, a bit of shopping, MoMart, eat crazy amount of meat at The Hills Country (thanks G for booking it for us) and on the last day we caught the sub to Brooklyn and walked back to Manhattan.
It was a great weekend away and thank you so much to Linda, Mike and Nic for sharing the weekend with me. And to Gerard for hanging out with us at nights :) I had so much fun!!!!!

I'll admit though, as soon as I was back in Toronto, it just felt like home.

thirtyOne

I know that I said I'm backtracking to where it all began.. but I will be adding a few things in real time as well otherwise I'll be writing in too many places (journal, word, blog) and my thoughts might disappear. So, before I start talking about NYC, here is one that I wrote in Vien's blog on my actual birthday (syd time). My apologies to my mutual friends with Vien whom have read all this already... hahaha. But there's some new photos!!! lol

It felt weird waking up that day, knowing that it was my 31st birthday.. in a new country without my family and friends back home. (I'm talking about sydney time birthday as toronto time birthday was a little different) But it was a sense of achievement.. that yeah, even though I'm so far away, I have done so much this year.. I've travelled to so many different places and learnt so many things especially things about myself. How I react in certain situations and my travel obstacles that keeps getting in my way! Being robbed twice wasn't pleasant but we'll talk about that later lol

No one knew it was my birthday in Toronto besides Linda and maybe Mike.. cuz that day was still 15th.. so when I woke up with all these lovely messages from Sydney, it made me feel so special.. with all these wonderful, beautiful messages from so many people.. the rest of this day you can read below in the Green section! lol

My actual birthday in Toronto 16th, was amazinggggggggggggggggg! I woke up with the best news ever! Now, obviously I'm here for work.. and travel.. but when I arrived in Toronto after so many hiccups, I finally found a place to live and applied for many roles.. I knew I didn't want to work for a bank anymore.. I wanted to expand my skills in different industries... interesting ones like alcohol lol or fashion or travel.. so I applied for lots of roles and being rejected most of the time. Went to a few interviews, most were very focused on sales (very backward here) I wasn't too keen. But one in particular, I was actually excited about. And to get a call for a phone interview at 7:30pm (time difference from Vancouver) I was stoked! then to get another interview (face to face) with people travelling from Amsterdam, Berlin, Vancouver and Montreal for this, I was even more excited.. It was a group interview at the intercontinental hotel.. It was weird...I've never been to one before and didn't really know what to expect. Mind you, I was very sick and very high on medication! It felt like everyone was there for the same role (there were two roles account manager and jnr account manager) and everyone was talking themselves up. LOL.. a strange feeling... almost like the apprentice in some ways.. Anyway, I just had an amazing time, finding more about the company and just speaking with new people! I love listening to other people, where they come from, what they did before etc.. Anyway, I made it to the final round - interview with the panel the next day.. hahah so many interviews these day just for one job!!! It was intense this last one, they asked a lot of questions in every scenario possible! But I felt good. That was three weeks ago.. and my point is.. on my birth anniversary day in Toronto, I woke up.. checked my email to find a job offer for this role. I now have a full time job starting in two weeks as an Account Manager for booking.com looking after hotels in Toronto.

I'm very happy and things is starting to flow the way it should be. I knew that leaving Sydney will bring me to new adventures and experiences. Things that I will not take for granted, things that will make me happier and stronger as a person. This is my first step. Choosing to do things that I Love. Although, I do hold 4 jobs atm including the new one! lol All the industries that I want to work in. I'm a sales associate for Joe (fashion), and a hostess at an irish pub down the road from my condo (alcohol) lol and now booking.com (travel) woo!! talk about setting goals and achieving them! Oh and I still have my position in the bank also! will have to quit that one soon...

it's my birthday and I'll write anything I want......!!

Hi All,

I'm going to put a disclaimer right now : don't expect anything.. I'm going to ramble cuz I can!!! read on at your own risk lol

So, it's my birthday officially today in Canada. 31.. my god. That's old.. lol but yes, many have told me I don't look it and most of the time I don't act it either.. hahaha who am i kidding..

Yesterday, was my birthday in Sydney.. so I truly felt the love from my friends there.. especially the video from Vien's kids.. OMG..so adorable! and the balloons .. what an awesome birthday gift! thank you :)

I also have heaps of msgs from friends around the world.. i feel so blessed.

I had a crazy time last year.. big bday bash at the arthouse with a hotel at the hilton next door and it was themed! masquerade, I finally got to use my mask I bought in 2006 from Venice! so that was awesome! It was so great to have all my friends who are mothers to let their hair down for the night hahahahahaa truth is.. i knocked out at like 11pm and my friends continued on.. but it was good to see the photos afterwards and had us all in stitches..

This year, I want all my girls to go out and let their hair down again just for one night! come on!!!! lol or just go and have a feast somewhere and be merry! life is too short! lol

Last year's............hahaha

Had to work last night.. and as I got into my shift.. cuz i was feeling the love from all the fb msgs.. i decided to bring my iphone with me and had a quick glance when I was working.. and got busted by the GM.. OMG.. so embarrassing.. he said to me "i hope that's not a phone you're looking at cuz it's against company's policy to have your phone on the job" i was like.. oh cr@p er....sorry..... that's going to be a great start to the night! yippee! hahahaha

So after that, I decided to put it away.. focus on work and enjoy the night..

We were so busy last night.. it was insane! i was super excited though cuz it's more fun and I get to talk to many people when it's busy.. and I love that everyone love my accent or is intrigued by it.. yesterday I had "oh, where are you from? I wasn't expecting that, you look philipino" lol

before anyone play guessing games on what job im doing.. I'm a hostess at an Irish Pub down the road from my condo.. such a fun job! but I'll leave the details for later or in my own blog! haha otherwise i'll have nothing else to write! geez.. relaxxxx lol

I was told I could go at 11pm.. mind you, I was only put on until 8pm last night!!! so I worked an extra 3 hrs ! I was exhausted and desperately needed a drink after that busy rush and talking non-stop to interesting people.. so I had to get a beer.. a birthday beer.. just one, then two, then three... lol and then I knocked out (at home of course :P) i'm a light weight ok! lol

I missed an important call while I was working last night.. I tried to call back but since I was let go at 11pm.. vancouver time was just to late to call back as they would have left for home by then.. so I left a nervous msg.. saying how I was working and sorry I missed the call and hopefully I'll speak to him tomorrow (today) ..

He didn't call back today. BUT... sent me an email instead. For a job offer that I had 3 interviews for, 2 weeks ago... who sends an email for a job offer? lol at least it was great fkn news for me!! i was scared to read it at first but its all positive! SO YAY! FOR ME!!!! best bday present ever!!! I'll tell you more about some other time.. I like to leave a few things to myself as I'm starting my own blog.. otherwise I won't have anything to write! yeah vien! stop telling me to guestblog on facebook! so i can actually write in my own!! geez.. lol

Anyway, I have to eat something and start prepping for work and party tonight.. otherwise, I'll be on the floor with my first sip! let alone drink! hahahaa

PS, i'm off to New York this weekend... excitement all round!

oh gratitude.. right.. um..so today..

I want to thank my mum.. thanks for giving birth to me and i will be a good girl, promise! lol

I want to thank all my friends.. all over the world for the wonderful messages yesterday and today.. i truly feel very loved and blessed to have such great relationships with so many people..

And I will be grateful tonight to celebrate with my TO (toronto) friends

In Toronto celebrating my Syd bday (31)

Have a lovely day! :D

xx

Thank you to my dear friends Jacqui, Matteo, Mike and wonderful Linda for bringing the party to my work and watching me work before I was able to join my own party! lol, love you all :)

family reunion in China..

Hi!

So, I'm feeling in the mood to write.. lol I have 8 months to catch up so I can start talking about my birthday yesterday and the day before in Sydney!

My first stop was Hong Kong.. then a taxi into China to Shenzhen.. prior to this day.. I have been talking to my cousin whom I've never met or heard of in my life until a month before my departure.. so it was so exciting to talk to him and organising how we'll meet in China. He told me to get a taxi from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and that my other cousin will meet us at the airport.. it was so exciting.. I mean I'm extremely excited to find out about my other half that I never knew about.. and just being there with my parents and other family members from Cambodia was just extraordinary!

My parents was in Cambodia by this stage, and they were getting a plane to Hong Kong and I was to meet them there. I waited for such a long time in Hong Kong Airport for my parents and aunties to arrived. But I was ok.. I enjoyed being by myself.. listening to music, reading my magazines and writing in my journal so it wasn't too bad.. Finally they arrived.. and I was stoked to see my parents and my aunties from Cambodia as I haven't seen them for a year or two.

I know this is weird.. but I was like the leader of a tour group.. my parents have no idea.. what we were doing and everyone was relying on me, which was fine. I mean I was the "world traveller" lol they just thought that i was travel savvy and knew exactly what i was doing.. I was purely reading signs.. you know those airport signs that tells you where the taxi was.. AHHAHA

I got them to a taxi and finally we were heading towards CHINA. My first time.

Here is an entry word for word from my journal on the 13th April in China...

"I'm in China at the moment living/staying in my grandfather's hometown... We walked through the town which is relatively small. Everyone was gawking at us. Now I know how those animals at the zoo felt like..haha. On arrival to one of my relatives house we were greeted with two fried eggs in a sweet clear soup. This is a traditional "entre"for when family meet together. For all of us, we couldn't really eat it! haha! It's supposed to represent family reuniting and for long life. Something like that LOL!

What I noticed after this two days in China is that all the men smoke and drink a lot! It's been so long since Australia, where we were allowed to smoke in restaurant etc. Here nothing has change. My relatives - the men anyway, smokes everywhere including in cars, buses, at the lunch/dinner table.

I also noticed that no matter where you live or how rich or poor you are, when it comes down to family - we are all the same with our hearts, laughs, mannerism, upbringing and generosity.

Last night (or yesterday rather) when we first arrived we were taken to a hotel in a private room with a huge table in the middle. There's also a huge TV and lounges, it looked like one of those VIP karaoke room minus the huge table in the middle.

We had all these chinese dishes, one was swan meat I believe. I must admit that it tasted strange! But I had to taste it. I thought it was duck! trust me, it did not taste like chicken either!

Then they booked us two deluxe suite at the same hotel and refuses for my parents to pay for anything.

We then got chauffeured to the bus onto my grandfather's hometown which took.... i think 3 hours? I'm not sure cuz I slept most if not all! haha.

What impressed me the most is their hospitality. They fed us well! even though now that we're in rural China, we still have great food to eat and beds to sleep in!

We walked around town and went to my grandfather's house where he lived until he was 18 years old when he left to go to Cambodia.

Because my grandfather left the country so young, he met and married my grandmother in Cambodia.

So all my relatives in China are actually cousins to my father. And their kids are my distance relatives but they are our only connection to my grandfather's family tree. I'm glad I'm here. My only regret is not knowing how to speak Chinese so I can speak to them.

My aim when I get back to Sydney is to learn Chinese - properly = at TAFE or something equivalent.

My highlights so far is seeing how happy my father is, meeting and reuniting with his father's family. I'm glad he decided to come and visit again. And I'm glad that I'm here. I hope that by the time I go back I will know Chinese and that they can remember me. Well, there's only one of me! haha! there's so many of them.

1. my grandfather's house still standing and is over 300 years old. Although no one lives there, it is a gathering house where the old folks will go and have a yarn or probably a few pots of tea! That's what we've been drinking a lot too.

It's such a tradition and Í'm intrigued at the way it's being made and pure. When I get back to Sydney - I want to go buy one of those traditional tea sets and invite my friends to come over and have tea & a yarn or two.

My Aunty & I are sharing a bed and she's snoring at the moment! haha. On that note I'm going to bed.."

Leaving Sydney...

Hi all,

This is my first blog post ever.. well on my own blog anyway, since I have been guest blogging on Vien's blog twice.. hahahan (thrice now since today)

How exciting.. this is all new to me and sometimes I feel like I've been violated in some ways.. but then again it is my choice to be open and freeee.... about my feelings to the world wide web.. let see how this holds up.

Anyway, so I have been travelling for a bit (almost a year to be exact) and I wanted to do this for awhile now.. but have been side tracked.. 1. because I felt like I didn't want to share too many things with strangers and 2. I was/used to be a very private person.. but since I've been travelling and people have asked me so many questions and me having to repeat myself.. i thought yeah.. maybe it's a good idea to start a blog so that I won't have to repeat myself so often. So.. here it is..

I have to back track to the beginning of this year..

Me, Christina Chhoeu aka choo choo, shorty, chewy, chris, chrissy...and sometimes Christine which I absolutely loathe! have had a tough 2010.. losing my brother was the biggest part.. and when my relationship ended in early 2011 I thought enough was enough.. I need to take charge.. i need to own my life and do things that will make me happy..

I was complacent.. i was unhappy with my surroundings.. and I seriously did not appreciate anything.. of course I love my family and would do anything for them and I had amazing friends who have been and I know will be there for me regardless of any situations.. But I needed to get away.. it felt right. It was the right time and moment for me to just explore and experience what I wanted to do since 2005.. to work and live overseas.. so here i am in Toronto, Canada.. living my dream..

My initial date was late Early May.. after one of my close friend's wedding.. but because I have been talking to my parents about my trip and their trip to Cambodia and then my dad telling me that wanted to visit China... i wanted to be part of that, I had to make a choice and decided to go early to be part of my family reunion in China I had to miss my friend's wedding. I was devastated but I knew she would understand in the end... I mean we did have a bit of a tough time...she didn't talk to me for three days! and for some that might be nothing.. but Vanessa and I we talk EVERY day... through IM (instant messaging through Westpac/st George system and emails and not to talk to her for 3 days meant a lot to both of us..

it was tough.. and i know she was angry.. angry that I wasn't going to be at her wedding.. we finally made up.. after constant emails of apologetic promises and love that it's not her it's me and my family.. she finally forgave me and understood. (I love you for that, even though we both cried when we finally decided to meet up for lunch at MPB)..

This blog will be about my self discoveries.. and experiences in life but also a part will be about my travelling exploration... it's going to be fun.. but more of a personal journal so to speak.. so have fun reading..

I did intent for this to get out on the 16th November.. for my 31st birthday.. but I just missed it by an hour.. cuz I had work tonight and also spent most of my whole day replying to my birthday msgs and writing Vien's blog for her.. (no regrets at all :))

I want to make this fun.. and also just as a you know carefree whatever goes.. how i'm feeling and the choices i made in my life..

so enjoy.. this is just the first.. and there will be a lot more but mostly things will have to back track to those moments in my life since i'll be starting from the moment I left home, hopefully I'll catch up before the year end to the most exciting parts of my life as it happens.

Love you all, and thanks for reading....