Yesterday I went on the company's charity grocery run again. It will probably be my last since we will be leaving within the next 4 weeks. There were three of us this time so I did not have to pack or carry the groceries. My duty was the paperwork, getting the 14 recipient households to sign for the receipt of the food and informing them of next month's delivery date and times. Company is a major corporate sponsor of the Society for Physically Disabled and employees help deliver the groceries sponsored by various companies to the families that qualify. I brought Ryan once during the June school holidays and he found it very interesting. First time he had seen how small some of the HDB flats are and how some of our fellow citizens live. He has been asking to join me again but that was a one-time window of opportunity. I have not been good at carrying out my longstanding resolution to be more active in helping the less well off of our society. So easy to proscrastinate... my fear is I may never get around to it before the good lord calls me home. That would be the most tragic.
All the homes we went to had someone at home save one. When that happens, we leave the groceries with a neighbour. Not all the families are very badly off. But it can hurt to the core to see how poor some of these families are and how delibitating the diseases or injuries can be to the person and the family. Like the woman I met on one of my first runs who had multiple handicaps and could barely see and was all alone at home, moving painfully slowly to open the gate for us or the Indian man with a shriveled hand and leg who insisted on signing for the groceries. One of my favorites is this Malay boy in a wheelchair who despite his celebral palsy, has the most cheerful disposition and eagerly awaits his friends on the days of the runs. His mother is absolutely devoted to him and he told me he was going to send us a Christmas card that he was going to draw for us even though it would take him ages getting his hand to obey his brain. All because his mother said, he loves our company. Sentimental? But true.
Things are finally coming together on the relocation front. The visa application bundle is on the way via Fedex and I am tracking its journey online. I cannot recall where I asked the US legal counsel to send it to, hopefully to home address because I won't be in the office next week. We have had some communications with the housing agent in the US and we kinda know what schools to put the kids in. Schools in California are still closed so will need to wait till first week of August when the staff comes back to work.
So the training in Bangkok went well. The day ended with the lot of us packing into a boat for the obligatory dinner cruise down the Chao Phraya river. Everyone started belting out on the karaoke, joining the resident lady and male singer. I refrained till the very last few minutes - I generally don't join in such activities for fear of my better half hearing about them and giving moi a hard time about "enjoying" myself while on business trips as he is wont to do. But a bunch of ladies pulled me up from my seat for the last group song so we ended the day to the refrains from Like a Virgin. Boat made a stop at the Temple of Dawn or Wat Arun and we went ashore to admire the temple and hear the stories of all the different King Ramas and their exploits. Temple is stunning in the night lights - all golden with intricate carvings up and down its different levels.
Will be leaving for Bangkok again on Monday, this time to be trained. Ha ha. Role reversal. May also have to make a trip to Manila after that to meet my team there one last time and do mid-year PMP (or staff appraisal). I am feeling sad. They are a young and very energetic group and just so easy to work with. I also missed the first ever monthly conference call with my new work group the night I returned from Bangkok! It was late and my calendar reminder did not work. I was very tired and retired to bed early. Wonder what my new boss and CIO thought of that. Hope they did not regret hiring me.
On a different note, Peter and Kris are moving house today. We are not involved though. Shall see if Bert is up to dropping by later in the day to see how they are progressing...
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