The last time i wrote a long string of chinese words was my letter to my grandpa before he passed away. That particular letter took me heavy emotions and cutting dread. Although i scored a good grade for my Higher Chinese when i was in secondary school, that is long past history and has no relation to my current ability to write in chinese.Today, i was assigned an impossible task. My boss showed me a long email written in English (talking about very formal, political and technical issues) and enquired if it is possible for me to do a direct translation in chinese to be sent to a prospective ship buyer in China. Of course, the reason why i got this job is partially because i promised him that my chinese is reasonably good. Hence, i took on the challenge without a frown in my stupid eyebrow.
Firstly, this is not a love letter. Secondly, this is not a short love letter. Thirdly, this is not a english short love letter. Eventually, it took me 3 hours to complete the translation. For sound precaution, i requested my boss to send my email to our representative in China to proofread, just to make sure things are happy and peaceful. To my surprise, he responded with "I do not know who is your translator, but his/her expressions are really weird. There are also some minor wrong words that i spotted. Please ask your translator to be more careful next time'' .
DAMN. GIVE ME THAT CHINESE DICTIONARY!!! NOW!!!
But for the sake of friendship. 
When i was told that i will be going on board a vessel, i was innocently excited. I envisioned strutting in my heels and greeting the deep blue ocean in glam. My fantasies were slightly dashed when my mentor informed me to do away with heels on that day. I arrived at Marina South Pier in T-shirt, jeans and flats, secretly hoping that the sun will show mercy and not eat up the ringworms on my already sensitive face. It was a 20 minutes ride on the water taxi to reach the place where the vessel was parked for the buyer's inspection.I was greeted by a huge, overwhelming object statued in the middle of the sea. In comparison, the water taxi seemed like a miniature. After some commands which i did not understand, the crew on board extended a rope ladder from the top of the vessel to the tip of the ant-like water taxi. It took almost 5 long minutes for the water taxi to drift to a precision where we could hop onto the rope ladder. I was quite sure i did not sign up for mini fear factor program, but was completely relieved i wasn't in heels and skirt.
Soon we climbed on, which wasn't too hard for me since i am not too much of a girly person. The very helpful mentor gave me a tour around the vessel to familiarise the compartments. Adventurous is too humble a word to describe his character. We climbed down into the engines room which was hot and noisy. We lowered into the tankers where crude oil and chemicals are stored for transportation. When he asked if i was alright to go into the tanker (which was extremely dark, the ladders were slightly coated with remains of oil and dirt), i immediately concealed my concerns and dived in. Little did he know that i was slightly bimbotic and worried about dirt getting into my jeans and face. I felt like i was in the scene of Titanic, but only when it crashed.
Now i know why shipbroking industry is so very male dominated. I was feeling ashamed that i spent too much emotions worrying about dirt getting into my face and sun melting my skin. I brought an umbrella with UV protection but never had the chance to open it because i did not want to seem like a complete bimbo walking on a huge vessel yet whining about the superficials.
Luckily i am a manly female. That pretty much helped a lot :)
Choosing to move on with life is close to saying goodbye to lovely people in my audit job. No doubt i don't have a flare in auditing, working in a big 4 sheltered me from harsh reality. Days are hard, but eventually i fall back on extremely genuine and nice colleagues to giggle around with. I remember days when we stayed up late to work on extremely insane reports. I remember the number of times i witnessed colleagues crying over tight deadlines and unhealthy stress. Nevermind the fact that stress is hardly in my dictionary, looking at lovely people threatened by stress is no funny issue too.
I love days when i joked about my manager and laughing at it later on with another funny colleague. I love days when i watched youtube and spent the whole afternoon dancing in the room with Tej when no one is around. Yea, now you know, SOME AUDITORS DANCE. I love days when i took out my smelly heels and causing huge commotions. I love days when i went into office with big sunshine smiles when eveyone else looked like they just escaped an earthquake. I love days when i looked at kinky bras online with another 2 creatures even when the managers were sitting just behind us. I love days when i felt extremely confused about what i was doing and subsequently completely chucking them into the bins. I love days when i told colleagues stories of my fantasies on telling my manager that she is a completely fucked up bitch. I love days when they were so concerned why was i still working when my ringworms looked so evil. I love days when i bought plenty of food and snacks and finishing every single bit of them.
My farewell was great, my colleagues are extremely lovely. I am insanely lucky to have known all of you. I came into kpmg with groove and funk. I left kpmg with a huge sack of love :)
My mum just showed me a video of her friends and her at a ktv. They were all dancing and laughing hysterically to a chinese groovy song. And she is completely arrogant about her happening life..
Afternoon drizzle.
H: Shit, it's raining. I can't cross the road!
T: Just dash across! We are all here already!
H: No need to dash, i got umbrella. But i scared to open, cuz there are a lot of pple here!
T: Just open! Quick! We are all waiting for you!
H: GRRRRRR. Ok fuck it. I'm just gonna open it now.
So, for the next 10 seconds when i crossed the road at holland village, my weird yellow umbrella secretly made many people's day :)
BIG HOLE in my flimsy pocket.
10 Facts about taxi drivers:
HELEN. she's a bitch. but a KIND one.
Jing
Jing 2
Geraldine
joelle
Mishie
Xing Yue
Adeline
Ying Ying
Lixian
Meiling
Adriel
Dom
siree
lisa
sing ying
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