As I went through the dry land. It became more and more challenging. The winter nights grew colder and longer. The media brought about daily news about more job cuts and bankruptcy. Rejection notice came one after another. And so the confidence that I had initially of getting work in the UK faded along.
I came to a point when I thought that maybe I should go back to Singapore, where it is relatively easier to look for work. Not that the economy is unaffected, but because I still had permanent residence status there. I looked at my remaining pending application and booked a one-way ticket back to Singapore.
I started to think perhaps God had wanted me to go back and that's why I did not get anything in the UK. I was letting go of my dream to work here. A week into my flight date, I had no pending interviews, 1 passed test and 8 failed interviews. I was at peace then with the thought of going back to Singapore for good, when God shown me his favor.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Zurich
For the trip, we booked a cisalpino train which reduces the impact when turning. This is helpful
Things are really expensive here, much more than in Trento, although the Swiss Franc is not as strong as Euro. I guess people here really earn a lot. One plus side was that we did not need to spend on city transport since we can hire a bike free of charge as a facility provided by the town council.
The city consists of two parts, the old town area which contains historic buildings and the modern part which has all the shops and financial center. I very much like the old town, which is beautifully crossed by a blue-green river.
Another thing that I like is the buildings. In particular, the variety of light colored building which brings about a sense of peace. This is the opposite of the dark colored building more dominant in UK. I wonder why.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Vienna (2)
The palace is located a bit on the side of the city. However, it is easily distinguishable by its massive size. In particular, it has a huge garden which may be comparable to the one at Versailles.
At the end of the garden there is a hill, which allows wide panoramic view of the palace. Thankfully, the weather was excellent then and we could get the most out of it, well, despite the summer heat.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Desert Chapter: Overcoming Complacency
There were two things which made me think about being complacent in my life. The first one was when a company asked me to do a Java test as a response to my application. I was quite confident with my skills in Java since I had a near-perfect score for Sun certification two years back. However, it did not turned out the way I expected. The test covered a wider range than Sun certification. Worse still, I messed up some fundamental questions which I would have answered well last time. So, I failed the test.
The second thing was an interview. As an opening question the interviewer was asking on what I was doing at the moment. To which I blurted out that I was looking for work. After the interview, I realised that I was effectively saying that I was doing nothing while looking for work. I did not get a second interview with that company.
All these made me realise that I was being complacent. I have replaced the desire to learn new things with past achievement I could put in my resume. And that is not a good thing for long term because of the dynamic nature of technology and also the technical atrophy that results from not using some technologies.
At this I decided to make use of the time to refresh my knowledge and learn new things so that at least my CV does not get outdated due to my rustiness. This realisation is another thing I find valuable from this desert experience.
The second thing was an interview. As an opening question the interviewer was asking on what I was doing at the moment. To which I blurted out that I was looking for work. After the interview, I realised that I was effectively saying that I was doing nothing while looking for work. I did not get a second interview with that company.
All these made me realise that I was being complacent. I have replaced the desire to learn new things with past achievement I could put in my resume. And that is not a good thing for long term because of the dynamic nature of technology and also the technical atrophy that results from not using some technologies.
At this I decided to make use of the time to refresh my knowledge and learn new things so that at least my CV does not get outdated due to my rustiness. This realisation is another thing I find valuable from this desert experience.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Budapest (2)
We first headed to the Buda castle through a cable car. This allowed us to see the lower part of the city. The castle area is quite big. Instead of just structural defense, they also have shops, churches, restaurants and houses on top of the mountain. More like a small town there with buses connecting different parts.
To save time, we took a quick lunch with a local bread. It's spiral shape and pretty sweet with various topping. Not bad at all.
As we arrived at the river bank, we managed to get a snap of the Hungarian Parliament building. The building is unique with many domes and spires. We went into the building earlier in the day with a guided tour, but the picture looks better from the other side of the river as it captures the full building.
As we finished our meal, we had some extra time at hand before our scheduled return train. We decided to make use of the time to visit a synagogue.
We had to take a head cover before going in, which is mandatory for male. There was a bit of story of the synagogue as we sit and listen and we got to see some of the artifacts in the museum as well.
It was just the right time as we then took the train back to Vienna to continue our journey. Overall, although the language was indecipherable in Hungary,
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Budapest (1)
Continuing from Bratislava, we went on to Budapest, Hungary. It's a mere 3-hours train journey from there.
First there is the cathedral. We went up the tower and look around from there. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cloudy, so it wasn't as good as it should have been. But the size of the cathedral looks really massive and impressive.
From there
We had a pretty late lunch, but it was good. There are dishes similar to the one in Bratislava, the potato noodle, but the place had substantially put in more meat in it. In that way, it is much more decent meal.
Finally, at night we went to see the river. It separates the upper part (buda-castle) of the city with the lower part (pest) and hence the name of the city.
Desert Chapter: Dealing with Pride
Getting deeper into the desert path, I believe God was revealing some issues I had in my heart. This was one of them. At one point when I was searching for work, I met with a friend who had been offered a good job. I felt small then. However, I still had these interviews lining up, so my hopes were still pretty high. When I did not get those jobs, the feeling then became more like pain.
The feeling was more like broken pride than envy. The reason was this. I often helped this friend I mentioned previously with coursework and thus I felt that I am better than him academically. I would have been okay, for example, if someone else with a higher capability gets the job. For me, that would be a fair deal.
The feeling lingered for a few days and it was making me uncomfortable. Somehow I knew that it had to do with pride and I had to deal with it properly. So, one night I put this in prayer. I confess what I felt and how prideful I was and asked God to forgive and work on my heart. Subsequently, I felt peace and relief, at least until this day.
The feeling was more like broken pride than envy. The reason was this. I often helped this friend I mentioned previously with coursework and thus I felt that I am better than him academically. I would have been okay, for example, if someone else with a higher capability gets the job. For me, that would be a fair deal.
The feeling lingered for a few days and it was making me uncomfortable. Somehow I knew that it had to do with pride and I had to deal with it properly. So, one night I put this in prayer. I confess what I felt and how prideful I was and asked God to forgive and work on my heart. Subsequently, I felt peace and relief, at least until this day.
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