Shonandgraham's travel blogs:
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Exams, shipping delivered and an Xmas party
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It's been a very hectic week for me. I was only in work on Monday and Friday, as I had an exam on Thursday so was on study leave for 3 days. On Tuesday all our belongings that we shipped from the UK in August finally were delivered at 9.30am. Luckily we have a garage so I just asked the delivery guys to just put all the boxes in there. In my study breaks I opened a couple of boxes and unpacked a few things, but it will take us a couple of weeks to finish. We can also ring up to get all the packaging taken away as well which is good news.
I had my last exam (hopefully) on Thursday afternoon. I've been studying the CIMA qualification for a while and once I've passed all the exams and gained 3 years experience I will be a Chartered Management Accountant. The exams are structured in a way that I've already got two qualifications from them - a Certificate in Business Accounting, and then an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting which is good as at each stage you feel like you're achieving something. I don't find out the results until end of January so I can relax over Christmas.
After my exam I met up with Graham and we went to Zico, a little Italian restaurant tucked away on Courtenay Place. I had salmon and Graham had lamb - perhaps not the most traditional of Italian dishes but very tasty nonetheless. We then went to see Quantum of Solace, a whole week earlier than the release date. Graham's a member of his work's social club and they had hired out one of the cinemas and organised a preview screening. It was a good film - typical Bond - lots of action and stunts, but as with Casino Royale, a deviation from the 'normal' Bond. No Q, very few gadgets, and his traditional catchphrases such as 'shaken, not stirred' and 'the name's Bond, James Bond' have also disappeared. However, I have to say I do think Daniel Craig is a good James Bond. I wasn't too sure about him at first but am now more convinced. This movie also sees a different side to Bond, where he's obviously still grieving for Vespa. I won't say any more as I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I'd recommend watching Casino Royale beforehand as Quantum of Solace does seem to follow on almost exactly where Casino Royale left off.
Friday was back to work, but it was a pretty relaxed day as the evening was the work Christmas party. Last year I ended up a bit worse for wear, and it was an expensive ride home as I was sick and had to pay a $100 soiling charge. I am never making that mistake again. Anyway , this year I decided I would be well behaved. The party was at The Boatshed down on the waterfront, and for a change I decided to dress up and actually wear a skirt! We had drinks and nibbles from 4pm until 7pm, but this year there were no prizes. Last year our entry ticket was a raffle ticket to win really good prizes, a total of $20,000 apparently. No such luck this year, but the Christmas tree did have chocolates hanging off them that we were allowed to help ourselves to, which all the women did, causing much amusement to the men. There was also a jazz band playing in the corner - background music but pleasant enough.
After the party finished at 7pm, or more importantly, when the beer ran out, we moved along to St John's Bar and then Macs Brewery where we stayed until 11pm, at which point we decided it was most definitely curry time. However, walking past the curry houses we quickly realised that most of them don't stay open past 11pm. For future reference though, Monsoon Poon is open until 3am on the weekend. We had lovely food there, and then Mat and I caught a taxi home as we both live on the same street.
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