The first week was just browsing at home and talking to people at home .
so did not get to meet or go out and see the new place.
In office , interestingly I met a Indian... Vijay , who happens to be my project mate and what else he was also from banaglore.So he was very helpful to me in finding my accomodation and the things that I must know in a foreign country.
Another surprise , the client place which is at Ministry of Social development, which is a government organisation and I could find lot of Indian faces in my floor where I work.Something that I had not expected when I left home.Still have not met all of them , but have known few like Dhiraj , Darill , Satya , Neela who happen to be working in my project.
Others in my project are mostly Kiwis , who are helpful and are more serious about their work.Something that I have not seen in India.People tend to do more of their personal work than for what they are paid for..
It is not that all of them are like that .. but many are.
Work wise , it was difficult to understand their process , the project back ground , as everybody was busy with their work. After a month , looks like I have the hang of most of them.The process is very methodical , heavily documented and follow the standard software cycle.
Nobody interferes with others work, and hence it is a calm environment with 8 hours of work.
The second week was interesting , met few
Indians(Jaya,Shiva,Saravanan,Shankar,Mahendra,tarun) from EDS company in my apartment who had just arrived . All of them were from chennai or Bangalore and hence it was easy for me to communicate in tamil or kannada.Some thing that I am known for .. behave like a Kannadiga in a Kannada group and as a tamilian in a tamil group.
The second weekend was fun , met my room mate vijay..guy form chennai ...who was moving to wellington , whom I had not seen before but had contacted thrugh email... thankfully .. he is a nice and calm guy and hence it was no problem in getting along with him.
The weekend ended with all of us visiting a Murugan temple in wellington, the pooja took almost an hour and it was nice to pray for some time in a foreign soil..
Suddenly it was feeling at home , talking in Tamil , Kannada , Hindi.....never felt I was in wellington.Thanks to the friends I have made here .. and all have been good to me ....
Friday, February 22, 2008
First day in NZ
Its almost Fifty days since I left my home and have been working in a new environment with lot of new people. It has been a tough and a good learning experience.
Day 1 will be remembered for just one reason - I arrived at wellington on jan6th ...sunday evening around 730 pm. I never knew a city would sleep that early , the roads were empty and bright as it was summer in NZ.
I arrive at the appartment and realise that the glass door(entrance) is locked and there is no one at the reception, so had no clue how to get in to touch with people as I had no mobile nor any local SIM to call people. With 30 kgs in hand .. was just thinking have I made the big mistake in life ???..thank god, the taxi driver realised I was in trouble and offered to help me call the manager of the hotel and then could get in touch with the Manager and I got my room key from the security lock in front of the door.
It was bit of a drama on day one , but it ended well as I met an Indian Shivi leaving in the same apartment who took me to the nearby shop to buy some thing for the dinner.
The next day was at the HP office , where I met my manager and then got some HR papers to fill and then came back home.
The first week was not that great , firstly my manager did not agree for my relocation expenses and then I had to run around to get my bank account and IRD number sorted out. All this had to be done , with no help .. which was a pain .. but understood everything cannot be done by help .. few things you need to sort out yourself.A real good learning experience!!
Day 1 will be remembered for just one reason - I arrived at wellington on jan6th ...sunday evening around 730 pm. I never knew a city would sleep that early , the roads were empty and bright as it was summer in NZ.
I arrive at the appartment and realise that the glass door(entrance) is locked and there is no one at the reception, so had no clue how to get in to touch with people as I had no mobile nor any local SIM to call people. With 30 kgs in hand .. was just thinking have I made the big mistake in life ???..thank god, the taxi driver realised I was in trouble and offered to help me call the manager of the hotel and then could get in touch with the Manager and I got my room key from the security lock in front of the door.
It was bit of a drama on day one , but it ended well as I met an Indian Shivi leaving in the same apartment who took me to the nearby shop to buy some thing for the dinner.
The next day was at the HP office , where I met my manager and then got some HR papers to fill and then came back home.
The first week was not that great , firstly my manager did not agree for my relocation expenses and then I had to run around to get my bank account and IRD number sorted out. All this had to be done , with no help .. which was a pain .. but understood everything cannot be done by help .. few things you need to sort out yourself.A real good learning experience!!
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