will u bring life into my photos? RAINBOW MADNESS xD

Monday, February 12, 2007

[ music : Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer ]

AH!

finally had time to sit back and relax. have been working for like 9 days in a row and today is my well deserved rest. my job in Raffles Grill for the Wine, Food and art experience had come to an end yesterday but my job in Raffles Grill still continue. only, this time instead of being a waitress, i'll be a hostess with hidayah and melyssa. =) both of them are from Dunman Sec and they are really nice and interesting, easy to hit off too. so working with them is not much of a dread.

well, i would consider myself lucky cuz i had the privilege to do different kinda jobs in Raffles in that one week. i was in the wine team twice. once me and Elina were stationed in the BIG tent for an international event. i helped out at the Writer's Bar yesterday and i did the drinks - champagne, wine, juices and what not. it was really fun! =) haha. there will be people who will come up to u for drinks and u get to meet some interesting figures. i learnt how to pop the champagne safely! hahaha! so happy about it. haha. when a guest walked pass, Malhim (the bar man) said that she has round breasts. i was like thinking, well, isn't all of them round? HMM? haha. but not to fear. Malhim is really nice and he is not a pervert. i did hostess-ing once when Melyssa was too tired due to the chalet the night before. Hostessing was fun. i get to interact a lot with the guests. like when they are going home, ask how is their dinner and kinda like strike up a conversation with them. mostly, the Caucasians are the ones who will be glad to talk to u. the people who go there for the event is damn RICH! i happened to chance upon some of the credit card receipts and GUESS WHAT? i saw HUGE figures. those people pay hundreds to dine in Raffles Grill. i was like OMIGOSH. i saw a figure that was roughly about $14000. if u thought that the whole dinner was worth the price, think again. the food may be cooked up by 3 michelin star chiefs, 2 michelin star chiefs and 1 michelin star chiefs but they come in freaking small proportions that can hardly fit ur stomach. but the wines were good. XD haha.

Oh! speaking of wine, i've learnt a lot about the different kinds of wine. managed to try out at least 6 different kinds of red and white wine. i sniffed about 10 different types. all has their own unique smell to it. its interesting! Hmm! maybe i should take up some kinda wine classes. haha.oh! i shook hands with Oz Clarke! haha. if u're not a wine fan, i guess u wouldn't heard of him. but to the population that have been drinking, sleeping, breathing wine, u must have heard of him. he is from Ireland and is a famous wine expert who wrote a best-selling book about different kinds of wine. haha.

speaking of which, i rubbed shoulders with some other well-known people too. like this Black American who is a well-known pianist. sorry, i can't remember his name. well, u know how bad my memory is but anyway, he's really nice! haha. i was in charge of doing the candles for the dinner so i manage to snug up some time and wax to make 3 wax hearts. i gave them to Hidayah, Melyssa and the pianist. he's so sweet! he said, "wow, thank you sweet-heart. that's really nice of u! i'll cherish it forever." during yesterday's branch(a breakfast-lunch buffet), he played a birthday song for a guest and a few nursery rhymes for a toddler.

oh, if u think that Caucasians are big stuck-ups, well, get this. Asian can be seriously worse guests as compared to Caucasians. when u serve them, they will either ignore u or just find fault with u. (speaking form Shelia's experience.) whereas for Caucasians, they will compliment on the food with a smile. they will give ooh, ahhs on the food. phrases like "its lovely!", "Mmm! this looks delicious!", "Thank you, young lady.". Best of all, they do it with sincerity. they have table manners too. while i was doing waitressing, there was this super short Asian guy who has no table manners. he slouches and act like a big shot. so what if u paid big bucks to feast here? u're not worthy. when i was changing the candles, he asked me if he could have the second desert cuz he was in a rush to go but he was mumbling to himself so i couldn't hear him at all. so i said, "i'm sorry, sir. pardon?" then he dragged and said, "COULD. I. HAVE. MY. SECOND. DESERT? I. AM. IN. A. RUSH." as though i'm really dumb or something. like hello? u were talking so softly la, probably beneath the frequency of us human's sound wave and in addition to the music being played, i doubt anyone could have heard u. even Melyssa and some other waiters and waitresses complained about him. he came like for 3 days. sad case. haha! Kent complaint was the funniest. he was serving wine to that guy. he poured the white wine which is super sweet that even when u sip, u can taste the intense sweetness of the wine. so due to the sweetness, Kent poured lesser than the regular amount into every guests' wine glass. that guy said,"wa, why so little? budget hotel is it?" wth. so kent came to the kitchen and said, "drink so much. so sweet still drink so much. drink until u die la. no common sense." heh.

OHOH! charmaine is really funny! haha. i love being with her. she had me laughing non-stop the whole time we were in the kitchen. she is a photo manic, i tell u. haha. yes, worse than me. she got all crazy snapping photos of the 1990 and 1992 white wine bottles. we took some photos with a 3 star michelin chief. the chief knows how to treat the ladies. while taking the photos, he was like hugging me but it was kinda uneasy for me. then he gave me a kiss on both cheeks. Louis was like,"so are u happy? haha. the chief gave u a kiss."

anyway, we were tasting some of the white wine behind in the kitchen and its a wine with a vintage of 1992. its super sweet. Charmaine taught me and some of the people in the wine team how to taste wine. u take a small sip, let it stay in ur mouth of awhile, spit it out and u will taste the actual taste of the wine itself. heh. anyway, i was doing the candles and sometimes when i walk out of the door to the dining area, PDR (private area) or VIP tables, some of the candles will be blown out so i'll go back into the kitchen with a stupid expression and Charmaine laughed at me. blahh..

Hidayah, Fidaos, Melyssa, Nur, Andy, Ryan and mal slept over night in the a cheaper hotel beside raffles hotel cuz they have to work morning shift the next day. i wanted to stay over too! but my dad didn't let so.. BOO. haha.

OOOOhhhh!!! i ate a lot of chocolates yesterday! the chocolates at the buffet was like CHOCOLATE HEAVEN! haha. oh my gosh. so sinful! gona have to exercise real soon.

ok, i'm lazy to further elaborate about the week in Raffles. shall talk more next time. but then again, maybe not. i must have bored u out, haven't i. haha.

anyway, here's the wrap up.

after yesterday's Branch, we went to celebrate. the full-timers and the managers went to a restaurant in Raffles the Plaza, i think. we were invited too but the price to pay was like $60 so we part-timers decide to sit it out. we part-timers either went home or to eat dinner together. at first we opted for pizza hut or Jack's place but in the end, we settled down in New york New york. Oh man! the serving there is American Serving. the food portioning is like HUGE! darn, should have taken a few photos of the food. haha. went to play pool after that in Pool Fusion. the place is good. nice music and pool. =)