Sometimes after talking to Cecilia, I would be very worried and start to ponder and ask and myself, "Did I just asked a very silly question?"... I'm overly self-conscious. Sometimes I'll double check with my colleague, Ivy, before approach Cecilia; like whether now is the right time to ask her, is she busy at the moment, or how to ask her, etc. I'm glad she was open to help me, and don't mind me approaching her.
I was touched when I saw PeiPei's mailbox from my sideview when I approached her this morning. Something caught my eye. I saw my name in the email Cecilia sent her. It goes, "It would be good to give Grace the template and let her see the trend of the treasury charges". She's giving me another opportunity to explore. Cool. Those are bank charges from overseas IDT companies. Our subsidiaries; (H-S). I kinda saw how charges fluctuates and which currency contributes mostly to the charges, but cannot write here la..coz I don't even know if they are insider's info or not. But I'm glad that Cecilia has been assigning stuff to me so that I can explore more into what the finance department handles. Heard from Kenneth that Cecilia mentioned to him that she had interned at ADM Cocoa before she entered, and she's now the Finance manager. Cool isn't it?
The amazing thing is that the people in the department aren't selfish and they don't hold back information. They don't refuse my queries when I wanna know more about something. In fact they're really willing to answer. Cecilia even mentioned this, "Next time if you've got any queries to handle a set of datas given by ur boss in ur future company, you can call up PeiPei, etc. And use whatever you've learnt from ADM Cocoa over at ur company. Maybe you were taught another method at ur company, and remember that you did something like this before at ADM and is faster, then you can also apply it there".
The only reasons I can deduce is that firstly, it's GOd's favor He placed with me at my workplace. Next, Cecilia and the rest are confident; therefore they need not worry that by teaching me or giving me information I would become better than them or take over their position in future.
That's so so important. Having confidence of who you are in Christ.
Another issue: I guess it's my lack of exposure of meeting people that has made me speak inappropriately and sometimes incorrectly. I should meet more people, especially working adults. Clare has been really helpful. She's another 女强人! She was from an engineering background, but switched to banking. She worked and study at the same time, and got her Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level1. She's now working in JP Morgan Chase, and has been promoted to a VP position in her department. Cool!! That's tough man, but I'm amazed of how those actually make it. There's lots to learn from them man. My finance manager, Cecilia, is another example. 半工半读 and got her degree. Felicia made a remark on our way back home, "你以为我们以前有像你这么好命meh?". That's true. The previous batch of generation (those who are now 30 and above), probably don't exactly do their degree first-hand. Most worked first and went back to study, or they do them concurrently. This reminds me that I should thank God for His provision, to attain a degree without the pressure of my school fees and the stress from work. Thank You God!
My generation (the 20-odd), take degrees for granted. That's because it has become so common. Almost everyone has it or is doing it. Until they lose focus on their purpose in life. What do they really wanna do in life after attaining their degree? Some friends take their degree for the sake of having a degree. Similarly, some people do their CFA, ACCA, PA, etc for the sake of having another cert that many others have. They do it because others have it, so they must have it too. But is that what they really want? Some friends choose to do a rejected or a dumping ground course so that they can be in that particular school. But is that what they are passionate about? I was encouraged to do so when I finished my A Levels with so-so results. The courses I'm interested are very competitive for entrance. I was advised to select a nobody-want-to-do course so that I can be accepted into the uni. I tried doing so, but God has greater plans. He didn't let me enter, despite how hard I tried to appeal to engineering and teaching.
Then came Krystel who told me she has started school in SIM. I was like huh? Everyone else are busying applying and appealing but you have started school? That was when I was introduced to SIM. When I went down to the school to look at their courses, BSc Accounting & Finance jumped to my sight. I wasn't even interested in the rest of the other schools and their courses, but accounting seems to be a revival. Although it was partly because of past-glory from O Levels, (coz A Levels didn't offer Accounting), but there seem to be a measurable level of interest. However, my mum didn't like me choosing accounting, bcoz she went through the crazy motion of the accounting lifestyle. That's because she didn't went far. She perhaps did her LCCI and remained under the AP section of the Finance department (similar to what PeiPei is doing from the way she describe to me), and quitted after 3years or so. If she had stayed longer, she would be offered opportunities to upgrade and perhaps be at a higher position by now; maybe Beeleng's or Verna's level.
I wonder how is it possible for women to work and have children at the same time. I don't know how am I gonna do so in future. Student care? I believe that communication between parents and children should not be negligible. "Communication is like a phone number. If one number is missing, you can't get through to the other party"-McGraw Hill. Adeline resigned from teaching and is a full-time housewife and mother to Emma. LiHong has 2sons but has her business on, without any maid or in-law to handle them, but she's still doing so well. I wonder how Cecilia does so too. She has a son, and a daughter I think, from the pictures displayed around her desk. Yet she can work succesfully as a manager, and has to stay late at work till 11pm during closing. How does she do it? Firstly, we need to have helpful and willing in-laws and parents to help out in taking care of the children on a part-time basis (bcoz it's not their entire duty to take care of our children, as it's primarily the direct-parent's duty to do so). Secondly, we need to have the correct career path and industry; we need good bosses that are not "niao" on the issue of taking-leaves and leaving earlier or coming later for work. Lastly, we need a good spouse that is willing to share the burden and he/she has the correct work setting and good bosses too.