Job Apprasial

Sometime ago I got my job appraisal. Not job evaluation, where the communication goes both way between you and your superior, with appraisal the communication goes one way – they tell you how good or bad you are in workterms, period.

I was quite surprised since this happened only after 6 months – I don’t know what’s normal, but I thought they’d wait and do this at the end of my 1st year – or at least a month before that.

Anyway, as I misunderstood appraisal for evaluation – I actually had a list of things I planned discuss with my manager (as you might have noticed this is not my best effort blah blah) – I didn’t even have the time to worry what their grades were going to be. I only had 5 minutes to fret before the appraisal was handed out. It turned out that I was ‘on job expectation’ for all but two, where I was ‘exceeding job expectation’.

I was relieved when I walked out of the office, seriously, with my stress level up there with the engagement and wedding preparation, work was suffering quite a lot (like: eh, the datas are filled in, did I do that? eh, yea, that’s my name on the paper, it should have been me…eh I don’t remember!! ).

Later on a colleague told me that as long as there’s no mark in the ‘lower than job expectation’ column, I was safe. On the other hand, if I continue to have the things in the exceeding column, I can persist for a promotion. Ah, music to my ears . Oh, and there’s actually 5 columns, not only 3. The on on the higher end is a straight ticket to promotion and the one at the lower end kicks you out (I suppose).

I think it would do me good to read what is actually expected from my job, but as I only saw the columns and bothered to check out the 2 ‘irregular ones’, now I can only tell you about those two, hehehh..

The first one was my relationship with other colleagues.

Seriously.

I didn’t even know such an appraisal exsisted! Apparently all the cake I brought to office and the hours spent on ‘networking’ did result in something good, hihihi..

The second one is more serious, my problem solving ability. Manager said I had the ability to be cool and tackle the problem straight on the head. (gee..I wish this ability stays with me out of office hours )

Honestly, I’m overjoyed to have that one ability acknowledged . I never knew how I’d turn out in the business world until I showed up in Holland. My univeristy years were filled up with too much social events to pay enough attention on getting proper GPA, and it took me way too long to get my studies done. In the mean time I did freelancing and part time jobs, nothing in an office. I think among my homegirls I’m considered to be the most hippie styled (did I say ‘I think’?? )

Even in Holland, the second job I got via the work agency turned out to be with people I know. The interviewer turned supervisor was Itsco’s good friend. Yes yes…nepotism in the air – he hired me for a week to help out one of the section which were lacking work force (it was summer, 4 out of the 5 were on vacation) – as in, no harm could be done.

Only after that week did I realize that he previously thought I was blond.

B.L.O.N.D.

DOH, I might have realized that before! – I mean, when I meet him it’s always either at the pub or at the party, where I was problably laughing my head off being silly. You should have seen his face when he realized I actually had a brain attached to my face…I didn’t know whether to rejoice or feel insulted – in any case I took the ‘real’ job offer he gave after the week trial. He actually had to bitch with the section’s supervisor who wanted me to work there longer (yes, yes, let me bask in my glory here!! )

So you kinda understand why I dont get totally elated when I receive compliments from this person – I mean, he once thought I was blond!! – well, yea I know I’m blond, but not THAT blond (hopefully!!). But finally, finally acknowledgement from serious working people, people who judge me for my ability to get the job done

BTW, that was an irony, as my then supervisor has now become a multi-powered manager, and had to do an assessment test in order to become one. The result says that he has an outstanding ability to judge a persons character .

Welcome

I think I’ll always remember this year’s Christmas. I’ve come to realize that Christmas for most of the people in this part of the world is more about love and family. It’s special because it’s the time of the year when people make more effort to be with their loved ones, families from all over the world unite again. I like the warm feeling it gives.

This year’s Christmas, Itsco and I both stood in front of the Kruiskerk congregation to share our faith, and to ask them to receive us to be a member of their family. I don’t know all of them yet, but through some members of this church I’ve felt once again the beautiful relationship that can only happen in a fellowship. So that was our Christmas gift, a new family to grow together with. ^___^

Honesty

It gives you such a warm feeling when you know that there are still honest people in the world!

A few weeks ago I gave my Sony DSC-W1 to my brother, since I noticed he had an artistic feel when it comes to handling the camera. I don’t have much time to spend with my brother, and I know I’ve been missing out a lot of things in his life. I wish I could give him more time and attention, but I know I can’t give him much. I really don’t want to fall into the category of person who replaces attention with money, but now I kinda know how those people might feel – it’s the least they can give. I hope that the cam didn’t fall into that category, since I gave it thinking that he’ll be able to develop more of his talent with it. And also share more of his life and my family’s through the lens .

Anyway, I had to replace the camera, right, being the lens freak that I am. Normally I would go through weeks of extensive research before buying electronic things, but I really didn’t have time for that, so this time I asked my wedding photographer for advice. And so I ended up buying this cheerful little thing:

I haven’t even downloaded any pictures from that camera when it got lost. How it got lost? Well, I left it at my sister in laws place during Sinterklaas, and Its’ father was going to get it for us (he had to go there and meet us later in the week anyway). But then he lost it! I was in complete disbelief – how do you loose a camera?? He searched for it in all three houses he’s been to that day, in the car, in his pockets and bags, but it was lost.

I was really confused since I hated the situation: my in laws were of course going to buy us a new cam and I didn’t want them to. It would be tiring to persuade them not to get us a new one, especially since I knew I’d loose anyway .

But anyway, it all ended well: some kids found the camera on the street and after read the "Missing Camera, Please return to bla bla" notice that was placed in the area, returned it to my in laws. Isn’t that sweet of them? Isn’t it great to know that kids are still thought good values? ^_____^

on a monday

Sooo…did you miss me here? I’m back now, as a married woman, hehe.. And yes, it feels great . I got to meet almost all of my relatives and quite a lot of friends whom I haven’t seen in years came too. It’s crazy when you think that nowadays a wedding is the only way to have a reunion with them, people are so busy busy busy!!

I’m still kinda sick at the moment, but if I take a close look at my behavior in November, I should be thankful I’m not in a hospital, attached to a (lard) IV! It’s a nice different feeling, like a glowing warm happiness that stays underneath all the layers of tiredness – yes, TIREDNESS. Try arranging a wedding for 500 AND take care of your never-been-out-of-the-country in laws and see the kilo’s melt away, haha!

Anyway, the newlywed me not only lost 4% of her body weight, but also have layers of highlighted hair and loads of tan. I look soooo very (more) exotic now, haha.. (yes, the pictures+stories will be available soon!!-hopefully, hehe!) What is not so exotic was the pile of laundry that took me a week to finish (and I don’t even believe in irons ), and the bedroom that is not totally done yet (read: not done at all).

So among the year end excitements well have to put our heads together to decide the color and design of the room . Knowing that I have an ehm, somewhat expensive taste (somehow the things I pick out usually turns out to be the costliest in the collection, ggrr..) we’ve set up a budget…since the bedroom is only the first of many rooms in the house that will have a makeover.

Well, at least I get to design my own home, hehe..I don’t really know if Itsco will survive it – at least he survived the wedding, that’s a super good sign OK, that’s enough for Monday ramblings

Compliments to Cindy :)

Apparently some of my friends didn’t even get to see my card, as it got stuck en route, hehe.. Well, here are some parts of it .

The inside of the invite was done in two languages, English and Chinese.

Choices

Career choices can be quite confusing sometimes .

Last May I decided to receive an offer in another department of my company, and since then my old boss and his manager has approached me several times, hinting that doors are still open if I wanted to come back. I was tempted, but I’m looking forward to the permanent contract the current department (hopefully) will offer me next May. Here in Holland it’s normal to have a one year contract first, after that they can extend it once, and afterwards the company must hire you permanently – or not at all.

Last week my old boss talked to me again. This time he’s willing to offer a contract AND a considerable amount of raise, making it so hard to resist!! The reason why I’m not running back is because of the high possibility that the department might be outsourced to India, which means in a short time everybody in the Holland office will be laid off. And make things even more blurry, my old boss might get a higher position in the company, where he’ll have more control about the future of the department. Which means there might be a posibility to scrap the idea of outsourcing to India (with all respect, their work is utter crap).

I’m confused now…stay with a slow but more sure career path, or move for a better payed but an unsteady career path. There’s lots of other plus and minuses about both department that I need to consider, adding that with my own future planning. If I stay where I am, in several years I might have to do extensive traveling. I used to want a job that enables me to travel, but now I know it’s much nicer to travel on your own for holidays, rather than travel for work. Especially when kids come into the picture.

We’ll just see what happens next May!! I might not even stay in this company, heheh… Well, it’s actually hard to move to a different company, given my low dutch ability, hehe.. The plan was to work on the dutch, but given the multinational environment, my dutch has not improved at all . I wonder what has improved after 3 years living in Holland!! My cooking skills, for sure, haha.. (it comes down to essensial survival necessity – what kind of a sentence is that??)

Anyway, yesterday I went to a conference in Amsterdam, and was exposed for the first time to a Jewish community. It was really interesting! Apparently they have their own food quality certificate (something like halal for the moslem), and depending on how orthodox they are, it could be very complicated. So it seems that they also have a community of their own where ever they go (yea, like Chinatown for the Chinese ). It’s new to me, realiizing how extensive the Jew community is throughout the world. I mean, before I know they’re scattered through out the world, and they’re veerrryyy wealthy, but I never met any for real before.

Ah well, better go back to working like a madman, last things to do before I go on a month holiday!!

day minus day minus day

I can’t belive how fast the days are flying!! There has been – and still are 1001 things to do, but soon I’ll be going back to Indo – and this time I’m REALLY excited . Already confused on how to bring all the stroopwafel, kruidennoten, boterkoek, CHOCOLATE, and of course the klompen. As kitsch as possible, hahaha!

Next week I’ll have to go to a conference in Amsterdam first though, but that’s quite a far cry from the conference I was hoping to go to: Washington DC!! If I’ll go it would have been the perfect time: between Christmas and New Year. I was so very looking forward to seeing the overdone Christmas decorations on the streets of DC! But nope, it’s not happening. Well, for a reason maybe, then I’ll get to spend my first year end with my husband, also nice ! And my manager promised me I can go next year to the big conferences in the States (when I actually know more about what I’m doing, hihihi…). Yippeee!

The weather here it’s so weird…we’ve had a mild October so far, temperature around 10-15ºC when I cycle to and from work, no thick overcoats needed yet…hope this wont mean we’ll have blizzards in January!! Holland has a way of creaping at you when you least expected, so now I know to expect the extremes, hehe..

There are sooo many things to be stressed about, but so far it’s quite easy for me to be happy and bounce back from my gloomy thoughts, and I have much more energy to face the problems – I feel like a completely different person compared to when I went back home early 2006!  I’m doing the 40 Purpose Driven Life at the moment, and it really helps get me in a happy-thankful-blessed mood. It’s so strange the timing my church chose to do this programme, but well, for me it’s once again an affirmation that He knows better about my needs compared to what I know myself, hehe..

I know whose hands November is in, and I’m so thankful for that!!

Ohhh..I’m counting down the daaayyysss ^______^.

Simple taste??

Arrgghh…this is terrible…!! For MONTHS Its and I have been trying to find a suitable wedding ring. We went in and out loads of jewelry shops in Indo, and browsed endlessly. Until several months ago I just gave up and thought we’ll just have the ring we saw in Indo – the jewelry shop owner is a friend of the family so I could tell her I’m still hesitating, so we didn’t give any downpayment yet but can call later on for it. So that’s the ‘ban serep’ ring (hehe..ban serep = spare tire). Finding our rings is difficult, I like intricately patterned and curvy feminim rings, while Itsco wants a simple no hassle NO DIAMOND masculin ring. We had to meet somewhere in the middle.

So on the last desperate move, we went to a little jewelier in the centrum to check their rings out. I wasn’t that hopeful – I also wanted to find a wide ring like the one we saw in indo, just to see again if it does look nice on my finger.

But just when I least expected it, there was our ring. Right there, in the little shop. The ring already caught my eye on the display since it looked different from the rest, and when I tried it on…well, they say that the ring chooses the person, doesn’t it? It was soooo gorgeous on my finger!!! I also love the ring because this one really symbolizes ‘two becomes one’.

And Its liked the male ring too. – we’re talking about a guy who’s still trying to talk me out of the idea of him wearig a ring too, so him liking a ring says a lot about the ring . I don’t actually mind *that* much if he does’t wear a ring – I don’t need a ring to ’seal’ my posession, if the man wants to flirt when he’s out with the guys then he has my permission, I know his heart is already mine anyway. (no, not that he flirts ) But I guess it’s a tradition, and also a symbol, and ‘I dont like rings’ doesn’t sound like a strong argument, haha.. Well, this ring he liked, so that’s the end of our little problem .

But heres the bigger one: they say that craftmanship often comes with a pricetag. In this case, it’s a €2,300 pricetag – the material alone wouldn’t cost a quarter of it!

Well, I love the ring, but I know the ring is not the most important thing, it’s what it symbolizes that matters – and in the end, who needs a ring anyway??

So I don’t really know how this story will end – but I’m so very not going to pay that kind of money for the rings. It spoils the whole idea. I don’t want a ring so expensive that I’ll be rooted in the value of the ring, instead of the memory of the vow Itsco will say when he puts the ring on my finger. It’s the vow that matters – the ring can be anything – round to symbolize eternity, diamond to symbolize purity, precious metal to symbolize value, but what are symbols when compared to real actions from the vow we make?

I’ve been given a ring before – acompanied with vow-like words, "just as I follow the ring and always takes me back to where I start, so I follow my heart in every direction and it always takes me back to you." But where is he now?

And I am really rambling off, aren’t I?? haha.. Oh well, I should feel very very blessed to have been and be loved with such an abundance. I’m really a spoilt brat .

We’ll see what happens with the rings, haha…

Conferring Conference

I’m going to another conference tomorrow, here in Holland. It’s about 100 Years Levinas. Who? Emmanuel Lévinas, a French Philosopher deeply influenced by 2 German Philosophers, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heideger. Yes, you go ‘who?’ again, don’t you? Me too.

I don’t know whether I should focus on the info about the conference itself, but it’s really no use – never in a hundred years am I going to understand what these philosophers are talking about.

The other option is to dig some background about the important people attending the conference. People who knows people who knows people who are top leaders in their field. Nobel prize winner wannabes. – is there a nobel for philosophers?? eehh…don’t think so…

So I guess if I stay in this work field, I’m going to go and meet people. Oh, this is kinda ironic. My publisher is scheduled to meet Pope Benedictus later this year, right. Well, she was actually scheduled to meet the late pope too. Right after September 11, so she wasn’t allowed to go out of the country. With the treat *this* Pope is getting, I hope she doesn’t have to cancel again.

Anyway, I gotta get back back to my box of knowledge, only a few more hours before the conference!!

Woking Chops

Hmm..I think I’ve bloged this picture once, but I don’t remember giving out the recipe. Well, I should. It’s so simple and dilicious that it’s a sin to keep it all for myself . I got the recipe from my Popoh (that’s grandma in Chinese) and eversince then I’ve learned not to under estimate simple recipes .

Since I’m used to the ‘bite sized’ bakut in indo, I usually ask the butcher (or boyfriend, haha) to chp them up. But I guess leaving them in long strips doesn’t harm the taste! Since my popoh didn’t have proper measurement, I never really measured mine properly – I think I used 1/2 cup = 1 ‘part’ measurement for almost 1 kg pork chops. As long as the liquid covers the pork totally.

The ingredients themself are quite versatile, if you’re more into sweet glazings, just switch the proportions for soya and sugar!

4-3-2-1 Pork Chops

Ingredients:
- pork ribs (I know it as bakut)
- 4 parts water
- 3 parts soy sauce (the salty one)
- 2 parts sugar
- 1 part vinegar
- Five spice powder

Woking it:

• Now, put all the bakut and the rest of the ingredients in the wok, set fire on high to get things boiling. I usually continue to boil on medium and stir every now and then til the water reduces.
• When the water is almost syrup consistency (this might take a while), turn heat down to prevent chops from burning, and stir every now and then.
• After a while the syrup will coat the chops and the fat will start to melt. I like to let it fry until it’s a bit dryer and it’s charred here and there. That’s how I get the BBQ taste. Just dont over do it.

If you simmer it quite slowly (mine took a bit over an hour from finish to start due to the large quanity) the ingredients seep in even without the need of marinading beforehand - and it also gives a savoury glaze to the chops.

Just watch how fast these chops disappear