The Little Ones

I know you must miss the kids Paris so here's one of them.  I shall post the other kids face tomorrow.

Missing Home...

Somehow today has been a bad day for me.  It's getting warmer now in Geneva and I started to long for my former home especially the garden where we would spend our sunny days lounging outside lazily watching the kids play and sipping icy cold drinks to cool us down.  It didn't help that I unexpectedly received a text message from one of my dear friends who we left behind asking me how I was.  I nearly cried.

When am I going to get over this sadness I feel?...

Sleepy

The only reason why I am posting from work is because I'm bored. I've been here just a few days short of 2 weeks and already I am disheartened by the lack of attention given to me. Having a room right at the end of the corridor has plenty of disadvantages such as your co-workers forgetting to include you in meetings and your boss ending his tour at the second to last door because he has gotten bored of repeating the same story to 15 other people before you and ultimately, you get left out.

Being stuck in a broom closet is not all that bad really. As my room is contained within another storeroom full of file cabinets, I do occasionally enjoy cheap thrills in the form of the cute and very shy youth working in the office, bending over to get files and showing off his compact little "assets". I really should memorise his name and stop mentally calling him "the hottie".

The kids are doing well. Ernie is still clingy to his nanny. Well, any nanny really. Curly has somehow transformed into an overactive little child who at the same time, has a bit of a motor mouth. I think the Grandma is also now starting to hide from her to escape the incessant chattering. Even I'm getting migraines every now and then with all the constant jumping and dancing along with the verbal diarhhoea.

I'm also getting used to waking up at the crack of dawn to get into work on time. It's not too bad really. I just don't watch as much TV as I used to and I'm physically yanking myself away from the DS and forcing myself to go to bed. It's easy when your eyelids start drooping at 10pm. The consequences of all this early morning start is that by mid afternoon, you start yawning and you don't stop until you get yourself away from the computer terminal. Such is life...

Life's Minor Irritations

I'm sitting in my room and I can hear the humdrum of photocopy machines, someone barking commands over a megaphone in the stadium and the regular outbursts of a few of my co workers. I can easily say that the most annoying would be the voices emanating down the corridor. You may ask why and I will tell you that these loud voices belong to several very whiny girls in my work place and all they do when they open their mouth is moan, bitch and gripe. It really is quite irritating. Maybe that's why you see outbursts by workers in offices with open plan seating. You can't escape anything and ultimately you really want to strangle the people you work with.

Then there are your supposed senior officials who are nothing more than power happy nazis. They get to do the great jobs like dish out work in an automated fashion. Sometimes I think they just dispense the work without even reading what needs to be done in the first place. It's the case of the higher position you hold, the harder you can stamp your foot down to get your way.

I especially love the way everyone in this place thinks they are smart just by opening their mouths, regardless of what they say. It really makes them look semi intelligent but I suppose if it impresses the top management, then they must be really clever...

But I shouldn't complain much really. These irritations give me something to talk about to my few allies at work i.e. the clerical staff. If it wasn't for my annoying, know-it-all workmates, I would have no entertainment whatsoever and I would enjoy my cheap plate of fried noodles in the canteen less...

Starting Over

It's only been just over a week and slowly I'm letting go of my old haunts in Geneva.  I do miss my friends terribly and most especially Paris, whom the kids miss as well.

Work life is improving and in trying to stay positive, I am now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but that's not to say there is that slight resistance to my new environment.  Though I do believe some of my work mates I left behind have not changed much and that some of the administration of the office have sort of remained the same, today I saw some things in a new light.  We have new staff who actually refreshes the scenery and makes the work place bearable. But I am still 'new' to the office and I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way, I will face my rude awakening.  Papa is trying his best to like his change in scenery and thus far, he seems to cope better than me.

With the kids, well, I don't know where to begin.  I feel like they have both done a complete turnaround.  They both seem more resistant to all the no's I dish out and little Ernie is showing early signs of hard headedness.  Curly is also more insistent in getting her own way, with the crocodile tears making a regular appearance.  I'm trying my best to be patient but I'm not a patient person so that's where I fail miserably.  They do miss their Swiss life and every so often, Curly asks if she will see her friend Uno, Otto, Une and Leo.  Occasionally, she asks about the people from her school though most of the times, she mentions Nina who incidentally was one of her educators.  LOL!

Being guests at my parents home is nice but sometimes I feel I'm intruding on their space.  Some of our things arrived a few days ago and when unpacked, it practically filled up 2 rooms and the corridor!  My mom, being a little OCD, has set about packing away our stuff littered all over the house and now I don't know where anything is.  I hope she doesn't even attempt to clean our rooms as right now, it is my organised mess.  The moment she touches anything, I will never find it.

The plus side of coming back is perhaps the eating out.  After getting used to the Swiss cost of living, I had a little bit of a pleasant culture shock when I dined out with over 10 people.  I couldn't stop going on about how affordable it was especially when we all pigged out on countless dishes.  Yes, I have been away for too long it seems.

Right now, I'm just feeling the after effects of moving and facing the prospects of not seeing and hanging out with my friends for a while and at a less regular pace.  I'm sure normalcy will resume and when that happens, that smile will creep back on my ugly old mug...