information overload

It's been 3 weeks of training now and 2 more weeks to go before I start doing 'real work', whatever that means. These 5 weeks of training are called the 'bootcamp', and there are 12 of us in the programme. Most of them are like me, fresh from university. Some have finished post-graduate studies and there's one who had just submitted his PhD thesis.

The first day was okay and relaxing. We were given talks about safety, security and the overall structure of the company. The next 4 days were quite full. Seven and a half hours of technical stuff each day. That's a bit too much for me. Even in uni my schedule wasn't as packed as that. Yes, I know, some of you guys have classes all day, so I shouldn't be complaining right? Well I don't care, and I'm not actually complaining, I'm just saying, you know. Heh.

The thing is, I'm a bit slow in understanding stuff (some people would call it blur). I usually need to read it as well to really understand what I'm being taught. So when I'm bombarded with too much information, I can get a bit lost. Sometimes, to my surprise, I really did understand all that technical stuff, but then the next day, I'd forget what I understood. (Please forgive my overuse of the word understand. I've checked the thesaurus, and although apprehend and fathom sound much cooler and intelligent, I can't seem to make good proper sentences to describe the same meaning with those words. That's because I'm not cool and intelligent enough.)

And like Nina, I also have trouble remembering words, especially uncommon ones. Well, I forget normal words as well. So when I'm sitting there listening to the guy teaching us, and he's using words that he just talked about the previous day, which I've forgotten what they mean, it does get a bit confusing. It's a good thing we have a computer on our table, so I can just google the word or use answers.com. Not only do I have trouble remembering words, I also have trouble saying them. However, I can pronounce Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with no trouble whatsoever. Hmm.. I wonder why.

During the second and third weeks, there were more talks, but less technical stuff. Plus we had to do a lot of practical exercises, which I struggled to do. It was really frustrating seeing other people complete some exercises with ease while I was trying my utmost best to apply what I've learned to the codes in front of me. The instructions were sometimes confusing as well. But alhamdulillah, I got through the first 5 exercises, and there are 5 more to go.

So it has been a full 3 weeks for me, and unlike Hyree, I don't have the liberty to be bored at work, because there's a lot to be done. But there is this game that's quite interesting if you're feeling bored during lunchtime. Try the Antbuster game. I've reached level 70. Go and beat that!

What I do like about the company is its respect towards other religions and races. I wanted to know where the nearest mosque is so that I can pray solat Jumaat, and the Human Resources kindly found a fellow Muslim working there to bring me to the mosque. So if any of you are in the SE1 area, the mosque is at marker A in the map below. Here's its address:

Bait-ul-Aziz Mosque
1 Dickens Square
London SE1 4JL

The mosque is not as big as the Regent's Park Mosque, but it is a standalone building. It has 2 storeys and fits quite a lot of people during the Jumaah prayers. However, the khutbah is given in Arabic, so I don't understand it. I'm not pretending to be religious, but there's this 'emptiness' in me if there's no spiritual/religious reminders every week. Yes, I do feel sleepy sometimes during khutbahs but it's no fun listening when I don't understand a clue of any of the khutbah content. They should at least say some sentences in English so that everyone can understand. I mean, not all Muslims are Arabs you know.

What I don't usually enjoy is the daily commute to work. I use the Jubilee line, which is repaired nearly every weekend. However, despite all the 'repairs' done, it still breaks down at least twice during the weekdays, which had made me arrive late a couple of times. And some people are seriously smelly, even in the morning. X sempat mandi la tu. I just pray that I don't become one of those smelly people some day. The thing with smelly people is sometimes they don't realise that they smell because everyone's kutuk-ing them behind their back and not telling them face to face. So if suddenly I do smell, please let me know!

Anyway, on Thursday, we had a team building day. There was a treasure hunt in the afternoon where we needed to solve some clues and take photos of certain landmarks around London. It was fun because we had the opportunity to go sightseeing while 'socialising/bonding' with our teammates. And in the evening, we went to Chinatown and had dinner there, which was paid by the company of course.

There are 2 more weeks to go and I hope I understand and complete all the exercises on time. There'll be more technical stuff next week (oh no, more jargon!), and at the end of the final week, we need to take the Accredited Symbiosis Developer exam. Maka dengan itu, saya perlu belajar. Wish me luck!