Leaving my work

First off, let me apologise for not writing sooner - its been a crazy week! We have had more injections, and lots of people to 'catch up with' before we leave. For the record, we are leaving Wellington on June 11th. We are heading up to Mums in Otaki for a day, then on to Napier for Princess' mum, then on to Auckland.

Last Friday was my final day at work. Spent most of the day finalising the clear up of my stuff - 6 years at one place and boy do you accumulate lots of fluff! I also did the technical handover and made sure the new Tim (Named Tim - Hi!). Oh, and made sure my timesheet was complete - probably for the first time ever.

Work put on drinks at 4.30pm, and as Princess had the day off, she came up for the goodbye drinks and the inevitable large-card and speeches that I have seen all the other leave-ees get.
I hope that didn't sound cynical - it was a really good affair (free booze is always a good start) and I appreciated the speeches and pressie and card. Thanks for all the kind comments, a small card just wouldn't have fit that much *love* :)

It was really flattering to hear all the management speak so highly of me - I felt quite embarrased! But after 6 years, these people are like family... Thanks guys for all your support and guidance throughout my time there. NowI have seen presents of widely varing utility given at leaving parties at my old job; so I was very happily surprised when they managed to find me a gift that is truly useful - a speaking translator! (Brook played a guiding hand I think, after seeing me getting Chinese cheat sheets off Gerome - thanks both of you guys!)


(click for more pics)

It is truly awesome - OK it doesn't listen to voice and interpret, but it has some 10,000 phrases in 11 languages, so i just gotta look up the right phrase in English, then pick a target language. Also comes with cheat sheets to quickly find the right phrase. You can read onscreen in any language, or make the device speak out! The English sounds pretty good, so I expect the other languages to be good too. Charlie and Gerome promise me that its Chinese is OK, not saying something like "ooh don't help this guy, he doesn't even know your language!!". Monty Python comes to mind..

So after the free booze dried up, and the family oriented staff* had headed off home, we went to Bodega, the local public bar for a few rounds and some snacks. Intentionally had a good chat with all the Ei lads/lasses (yep you, Tracey) before I got too blurry to articulate smoothly.

urg.. we rocked over to the Bristol to have a few more drinks, and also to see Katie, the mother of Boswell, who is also leaving the country soon and was out having fun. Met a bunch of her mates and then we rocked down to CellBar (under Zibibo at the bottom of Taranaki st.). Things got hazy in there and after being given a 'rusty nail' (whiskey and tequila mixed neat - or something equally nasty) I decided that I'd had enough... Granddad mode!

So thanks to everyone at work for making my time there enjoyable, and for sending me off in style! Please keep in touch. So.. I have got past that hangover, and spent the week trying to get us visas for China and The Netherlands, and arranging insurance. The consulates are open for a couple of hours each morning - (9-12/10-12) and so I have had to dash to them to get info, then wait a whole day before going back.. frustrating!

And weighing insurance options up is a job suited only for an Actuary, the sneaky so-and-sos who make the schemes up in the first place! What is an extra $100k on medical worth versus a $5k drop in bag coverage down to $10k ? I think I might have to resort to the cheapest one that doesnt look to shonky technique.

Plus the Chinese Embassy have our passports for a week! what a pain, but I think I can squeeze it all in OK - Im on if full time! We have final blood tests tomorrow, and I am also orgainsing where to store all our junk. The mini didn't sell so I'm going to store it at my good friends house - thanks Ryan!

So much more to do, once we are on the road I promise more writing!


Love you all.