Every summer signifies a change in my life. Last summer the defining moment was when I got made redundant. We are well into what you call summer months now, although the dark grey skies and perpetual drizzle might have you think otherwise. Just as well really, as it reflects on my internal turnmoil

I wondered what my change was to be this year. I just realised that every September I have changed jobs/roles for the previous 2 years. Why break the tradition eh? This year will make it year 3 if I change jobs in September. I know what you’re thinking..don’t really look good on the CV does it?

No, I’ve not been offered a new job. I quite like my current job with it’s mix of coding vs. stakeholder management. However, the job don’t really like me very well. That’s right folks, I’ve been made REDUNDANT AGAIN! OMFG right? Yeah. Yeps. I guess in a way I have seen this coming, so I am not suprised really, just annoyed. Working in my field is really not the best in the current economic climate – I can only put myself in a worse position if I worked in manufacturing cars.

What’s really annoying is that we’ve always been given the steer that our department has too many roles available compared to people to fill it. The first sign of trouble was when my boss did not get his job – I could just see the house of cards that we’ve hopefully guarded start to sway. After weeks of being told by the powers that be that we have nothing to worry about, we were given the news yesterday that not only they did not have enough roles to fit us all in, it really does not seem like any of us will be left with a job to do. It’s a proper bunfight, with one role up for grabs between 4 people. 25% chance. And again, I am in the position that I was in last year. I have circa 6 months worth of experience in my new area, having just moved over in January. Other people in my team have been in this area for years and years – some joined straight after school. So yeah, I am in a ‘IM SCREWED’ position, to put it lightly.

And this time around, there are no jobs out there. None. Not even jobs at the supermarket stacking shelves.

Bacon at the hotel entrance.Or rather, shack in the middle of the desert.

Thought I have let this lapse long enough – but obviously not long enough to forget the unpleasantness of the hotel! On the surface, the people at Hauza beach is nice enough. Stay there for more than 2 hours and it starts to become blatantly obvious that they are really quite unpleasant. Or very poorly trained, depending on how you put it. I went to the front desk to get some change as I only had E£ 500. The front desk refused to provide me with any change, saying that they don’t have any. However, he happily offered to provide change if we were to buy something from them. Not only that, they regularly walk away from me when I am half way through speaking to them. Utterly rude, thoughtless, inconsiderate and totally not fit for purpose to be in the hospitality industry. Hospitality? More like Hospital industry.

And oh, in case you are doubting the fact that you are being ripped off, there are no price tags to anything in the shops. ANYTHING. Nothing has a price tag on it – which basically means that you are charged different prices from the local. On top of that, you can also bargin, from anything from packs of cigarettes to bottles of water and jewelry. The only place with any price tag is McDonalds – and even then it is the same price as McDonalds in the UK charges. I understand that in all touristic areas there are always a premium attached to stuff, but this is just ridicullious. Without any price tags on anything, I only bought a 5 liter bottle of water during my whole time there…and came back with loads of E£ that I could have used in the shops but didn’t. Instead, I am going to exhange them in Malaysia and spend it helping the Malaysian economy instead of the Egyptian one.

View of the main pool

I have not come so close to the ugliness of racism in a very, very long time. All of the staff are only concerned about serving the Russian guests, who form about 90% of the hotel population. Heck, even the radio in the hotel is in RUSSIAN. Table service for drinks are solely reserved for the Russians, the servers do NOT give you any drinks unless you snatch it right off their tray. This may be due to the filthy rich russians who probably tip them a month’s salary every day. What made me feel slightly better was the fact that I was not discriminated against because I’m yellow – I was discriminated against because I was not Russian. Hah.

Their breakfast bacon – sliced salt beef stir fried with peppers and onions. Hmm..

No, it’s not only me that thinks that the hotel discriminates – you can see a queue at the water dispenser lined up with other English guests who are unable to get a drink off the waiters that are supposed to serve you. Even then, when I wanted a coke for breakfast the person at the water fountain would NOT allow me to get one, asking me to walk to the pool bar. This is an all inclusive hotel – which means all food and drinks are included in the price. I bet if I paid that asshole manning the water fountain $1 he would get me two gallons of coke. But hey, if you are going to threaten me with going without coke, I am sure as hell not going to bloody tip you.

Half-filled ditches with stagnant water means that the place has an unpleasant smell about it like a monsoon drain filled with garbage.

And the russians. I am not a racist – but I have never seen a ruder bunch of people. Just as an example, Bacon was getting some potatoes from the buffet table. This russian woman (dressed like a hooker) just literally stood between him and the potatoes as he was scooping them onto his plate. Sure, I’m used to loud and obnoxious people being one myself, but this is really OTT – do these people have no manners at all??

Not only are they rude, I do not understand why do they dress the way the do. I was lying on my sunbed as quiet as a mouse on our last day, enjoying the last of the rays. Two russian women dressed in ass-skimming dresses (with the words Egypt emblazoned all over it) stood next to me, and was ruffling through their bags which they left on the sunbed next to me. One of them bend down to continue searching for whatever she is looking for. And I saw her twat in all their glory. ALL OF IT. Ass up in the skies, going commando, showing off her twat. I felt really….sick. Urgh. SO not a pretty sight.

Obviously this is all just based on my experience with the guests in this particular hotel and is not meant to insult Russians…I am sure they are perfectly nice people like everyone else.

Parts of the hotel looks abandoned…

I had always immersed myself in local cuisines, going far and wide in seeking out local specialties. I remembered climbing on a tree in Ubud, Bali because I was trying to order plates of babi guling and that was apparently the best stall for it. In egypt? I was nothing but disgusted by the food that we were served. It was tasteless, or overly creamy, or too salty. Soaked in oil, or steamed without any flavorings. All seafood was unfresh, even rice had that kept-too-long smell on it. The best food we had in our week there were chips. Yes, as in deep fried potato. I never imagined that I would say that in my lifetime.

When we felt brave, we would chance eating their barbequed or deep fried seafood. Half of it was uncooked, the other half so overly cooked that you could not chew through it. One half of my grilled prawn was cooked, the other one looked like it could’ve been revived by a good vet. And prawns do not even take long to cook!! What is wrong with them people?!?!

Most of my readers have read my posts of lovely local food. Just to demonstrate how bad things were, I was very glad to see a McDonalds. Yes, me. OMG.

Meet the Bonies. He is a resident at the hotel.No, it is not a misspelling on my part.

Believe me now?

Thinking about the quality of the food, it is no wonder that we were sick for most of the holiday. I was so sick one day I just stayed in bed watching TV, luckily they had good english channels. A couple with three kids that sat next to us on xmas eve was so sick that the wife was hooked up to a drip on Christmas day. We heard other guests mentioned that the hotel had been closed down three times in the year for food poisoning.

In case you think its only the hotel, it is NOT. Someone I know had been back to Egypt three times, and she was sick all three times. When we were both still spending time with the toilet bowl 5 days after returning from Egypt, we went to the doctor, convinced that we are down with something dangerous. Doctor said that 90% of the people that visit Egypt gets sick – you should only start to worry if you are still sick 10 days after your return.

I don’t think it’s even just the fresh food. On christmas, we each got a pack of *sealed in the package* mixed nuts, sweets, nougats ect. We ate one there and kept one. I found it last week, and thought I should have another go and ate about half a bag. My fault, really. Guess who spent the weekend with the toilet bowl – again?

The christmas deco

See the pineapples on top of the pile of fruits? Bacon and I were betting that the russians would not kidnap the pineapples – they have been bringing out TO THEIR ROOMS whole uncooked and unsliced vegetables (cucumber,peppers,spring onions) , fruits (whole melons, mangos, lemon) and whole cakes. They have their dinner and then walk back to their room with them. We were thinking there would be no way someone would kidnap a pineapple. But kidnap the pineapple they did.

I would appreciate if someone is able to explain this to me – the russians guests would pile their starter plates mile high with WHOLE cucumbers, carrots, peppers (yes, as in bell peppers that is usually sliced), whole lettuces, whole tomatoes and whole spring onions (scallions) with their roots still attached. They would then sit down, and start eating the whole lot like we would eat an apple. Unwashed and uncut. Even the spring onion.

WHY? WHY WHY WHY?? Is this how it’s usually done? Or just done there?

I can annouce tho, that they left the cauliflower and brocolli alone.I checked, it was still there at the end of the night, but nothing else was left.

Not even the carved butternut squash survived – and it’s really a pumpkin!!

The Good

Okay, so not everything is bad in this hotel. There’s gotta be something good, right?

The sparkling Red Sea.

The sea was lovely. I am a lover of the sea and surf, and this beach does have one of the loveliest water ever. Even though the russian guests insists on stepping on the corals, killing whatever precious little that was actually left. Most of the corals are dead, only those at the edge of the reef remained. Two hotel staff are supposed to act as lifeguards at the end of the jetty that the hotel built for people to access the coral reefs. They spent their day getting sozzled on cheap wine – stopping just for prayer-time, I almost forget this is a muslim country. They say nothing to the russian guests determined to kill the corals by stepping on them (think they’re afraid of the water).

I stood there on the pier, with tears in my eyes, knowing that the Red Sea will no longer be there in five years time. One of the most magnificent coral reef that I have just witnessed will be dead…all gone. Rest assured that whatever corals that are left now will all be killed. Intent on keeping the russian guests happy, there is no education at all. In five years time, none of them will have a job, as the corals will all be dead = no longer a tourist destination.

As close to crystal clear as you can get!

My trademark picture shows how clear the water is. You can compare this to others taken in Redang, Perhentian, Koh Samui, Bali and Ibiza.

Another pair of feet to add to the collection. I love the sun. Due to it being winter, the weather was fairly mild, hovering around 20 degrees. Maybe I was just sick – some nights it was really freezing outside but it was still definately above 15. Only problem was with it being winter, the sun starts setting at 3pm, completely dissapearing by 5pm. Still don’t want to be there in summer though as it regularly stays above 40 degrees.

They have a in-house bakery and their breads were fab! Best thing about the hotel is the croissants. If you know me, you would also know that I am not a big fan of breads. Maybe that’s in relation with the other uncooked food…

They’re very ‘into’ decorating..twisting towels into stuff. Above was part of their Christmas decoration..yeah.Don’t ask..I don’t know

The cute giant tortises living outside our room. Their grunts sounds like moos

Unfortunately they were very badly cared for – and smelt like sewage. Or was that just the smell emating from the ditches?

I must apologise for not taking more pictures. The hotel is nothing much to look at and coupled with the fact that I was sick from the first day I arrived, there wasn’t much motivation or mood left to take pictures of this place that I much rather treat like a bad dream.

No, I don’t have an elephant ass, it’s distorted!

I have not used my ipod in a year or two, leaving it on dock in my bedroom as it is an intergrated ipod/radio/alarm clock thingy. I got a couple of cd’s for xmas, and decided that I really would like to listen to them – as I no longer have a cd player at home, this is proving impossible.

Wanted to start bringing my ipod on my daily commute again. Took it off the dock and plugged it into my laptop. Once, twice. Unable to turn it on. Nor am I able to charge it. Put it back on the dock. Nope, still dead. I remember turning it off on my dock in early December….and nothing after that.

And so that’s it. No more. He is officially dead. I can’t really blame it though, it has been four long years and counting…I think I got it in 2004 at half price. Heehee…yes, I have connections, only paid about RM700 for it when it was retailing at RM1300+

So RIP mr ipod….

here is mr ipod chilling in Perhentian – yes, sticking it in the sand is not the world’s brightest idea. This is still one of my all time favourite pictures.

I have refrained from blogging this for a long, long time. So you are probably not aware that I am surrounded by pregnant woman and baby lovin people. My current desk? I took it over from someone who went off on maternity and delivered a bouncing baby boy.She, in turn, took it over from someone else who left for 1 year’s maternity leave. The chair I’m sitting on is some special pregnant woman’s chair..it has an air pump thingymajig (you know, like the rubber pump on the thingymajig that the doctor uses to check your blood pressure) attached to the back of the chair. And hand rests as well – none of the other chairs have that.

Then a few weeks ago, the woman that sits opposite me announced that she is 12 weeks pregnant (we shall call her pregnant1). Two days later, we had someone else join the team and was sat next to me. She, is also……suprise, suprise, pregnant(we shall call her pregnant2). Not sure if this is the right word, but she is more pregnant than the one that sits in front of me. Then today, our friends in Penang welcome a cutie bouncing baby girl named Cerys.

Yesterday me and pregnant2 was up at the starbucks counter getting tea and some food to feed the one eating for two. She’s developing a taste for toast spread thickly with peanut butter, chocolate spread and butter, you see. One of our mutual acquantaince came up to us and announced that she too, is pregnant. Pregnant2’s little babe was tumbling around her tummy during lunch time and she asked me to feel it….and I realised it was really the first time I am feeling a baby in someone’s stomach for a very very long time – I think the last time I remember doing this was probably when my brother was in the womb!! I must admit tho, feels quite cool! The baby is just like…floating. No idea what I thought it would feel like to be honest. Today, pregnant2 found out that someone else she knows is pregnant. When I was out at lunch with my other, thankfully not family inclined friends, they told me that someone that we used to work with is also, PREGNANT. Oh, what a suprise.

Back to pregnant1. Her stepdaughter (!!! I know…so weird, but I swear pregnant1 is under 35 yr old !!!) gave birth to baby twins a few months ago. Further down our bank of desk, someone’s wife gave birth about 6 months ago. When I first joined the team less than 3 months ago, one of the guys were off with paternity.

Closer to home, bacon’s brother’s wife is also pregnant. Her best friend is also due to give birth in a few days/weeks time I think. Bacon’s friend’s wife is also pregnant again – they already have 3 very very annoying boys. So is my loyal reader Mrs Arskey. Pregnant I mean, not ready to deliver nor have 3 annoying boys..hehe.

OMG OMG OMG OMG. PLEASE tell me what on earth is happening to the world!!!! I am at the point now where I just go..sigh…not another one with a bun in the oven. So if any one of you is pregnant…please break the news to me now…whilst I can still take it. Not much longer..I reckon I am going to just work with single men from now onwards. Unfortunately, I also know that my soon-to-be boss has just came back from her year long maternity a few months ago.

This all is either going to make me feel broody or just turned off from having kids ever. EVER.

Still think my new god son is a cutie pie tho…stolen off his mommy’s blog

Yes, back to depressing issues. It’s now been more than a month, and again, nothing’s certain. It has been confirmed that I have not been matched to a job – there was this excercise of mashing my team together with another team, cutting down from 8 ftes to 4. Obviously, with me having the least experience and all, I have been ‘disposed’ of. If you remembered my previous update post, yes, my assistant’s job did get assigned to my assistant. All’s well ends well. For him at least.

Any regrets? No. I have no regrets whatsoever rejecting his job. The only problem is that all financial services companies in the UK are now slashing down their numbers and making redundancies due to the dire state of the UK economy. So for every job out there in Financial Services, there are now at least a few candidates going for it. Worst of all is that due to the slash and burn, most financial services companies in the UK have stopped recruitment as well – those that have not made redundancies are adopting a wait-and-see methodology. With good reason.

Anyway. I am still seeking new roles internal and external. Am due for a mini-interview re a possible internal secondment, but am really unsure if I am ready for another 6 months worth of uncertainties to just be made redundant at the end of it. On one hand I will have 6 months to ride the storm out – on the other hand, I am fairly certain that I am able to find another role in a couple of months time – thus getting a new job plus my redundancy payment and bonus. Decisions decisions. I really don’t know whether I should take that secondment if I was offered it…and if I reject it does that mean that I do not get my redundancy payment and am literally being made redundant? All these questions – hopefully it will all be answered by the end of the week. At the moment there is nothing more that I can do other than continue jobsearching during office hours (it now consist of about 50% of my working day activicty). I am visiting all jobsites, career sites, vacancies site and anything else I can get my hands on via the internet. Does not help that my laptop at home has stopped working and I really need a new one!! AAAArghhh…I was initially thinking that I will wait until I am more certain jobwise before purchasing a new laptop…however, if I was really made redundant, I would need a laptop anyway to jobhunt! Either way that is another £400 outgoing that I need to shelf out in the next month.

Things are getting so dire that I am going back to selling earrings ect at arts markets….first one hopefully this weekend!