At work and at Play

So there I was...

I was burning up the dance floor at the Backpackers Club in downtown Auckland. Twas just the kind of music i could dance to. Dance, hip-hop and R&B. When suddenly, Black Eyed Peas song "Lets get it Started" came on and i totally lost my ryhthm! I FULLY expected the whole club to stop, get in rows and start the line dance that Rajiv's AIESEC International team made so popular at IC in Germany!!

When that didnt happen, i just couldnt get my flowing moves back! Sheesh! I ended up collapsing on a couch laughing so hard at how long and hard it will take for me to get through a party without leading an AIESEC dance at least once.

Its been a month since i started my traineeship and the month has moved so fast! Lots to learn, lots to do, lots of new people to meet and I think its fair to say i have settled in quite nicely to this bubbling and active city. Lets see now...what have been the highlights of the last month...


OFFICE PARTY:
I work on Level one of the Group headquarters of Fonterra on the Middle East and Africa team. The Fonterra Customer Service has the USA, Oceania, Asia, Europe and Latin America teams who are all providing service for the 140 country network operations of the company.

There is also a brands, Nestle, Inventory and Order resolution teams who all play a part in the serious business of dairy production and sales for Fonterra. All in all, 150 people with as varied nationalities as an AIESEC International conference!

So we had a party where it was nice to see all the colleagues and bosses let their hair down and surprise surprise... I turn out to be one of the "talking points" for the ladies in the office. Dont know if that is a good or bad thing...

DEVONPORT TRIP:
Auckland is similar to Stockholm in the sense that there are a lot of outlying islands you could travel to for the day just like the Archipalego. So we (AIESEC interns) took a weekend trip to nice tiny island called Devonport. Filled with nice families, well paved streets and large parks, it seemed built for growing families.
We had lunch at a nice Peruvian restaurant and boy did I feel at home in that place! I have now concluded that I am a person of passion. Which is why the music, culture and passion of Latin America and Africa call out so strongly to me!

WORK
I am learning a lot in my time in Fonterra, my role demands an attention to detail and my experience in Sweden has gone such a LONG way to prepareing me for this role. And what do I do?

I happen to be an interface for a simple yet extensive process in getting dairy products from Cow to Customer! I move tonnes of milk products worth an average of US$300,000 across the world everyday. I am constantly in touch with product planners, Logistics, Account managers, Warehouses, packing plants etc...

In a nutshell!

Of course, there is a whole lot more to it but there you have the main gist!

Its a Friday night here now and i am meeting up with some of the other interns for a drink downtown. Dont know if i am up to it. Plan to spend my time in the Library tomorrow. The Auckland main Library has quite a collection I am told. (I wonder how i never got labled a 'dork' in high school!)

(I have been trying to upload some pics for the last half hour. I do think there might be spyware on Mialy's computer. Brand new computer too! I'll upload some good pics later!)