Office Christmas Party

I finally met, in person, a woman who I've been working with, and seeing on my screen, daily for over four months now.  It was an odd but  enjoyable experience.  It was also the first time I've seen many of my work colleagues, in person, for at least six months.

This year our company dispensed with the usual Christmas Party instead opting for us to choose our own groups of up to 25 people and gave us a what I thought was a very generous "per head" sum of money.

I suggested (seriously) that the people that I've worked most closely with over the last year and me catch up at a moderately expensive restaurant.  The per head allowance was pretty generous probably because most Christmas Parties are held at.... exactly the sort of place we wound up at.  Not so great overpriced food, noisy and geared around drinking large amounts of alcohol.  They're often usually at night too.

And I usually avoid them, for all sorts of reasons including being a little deaf.  Even the best hearing aids in the world cannot cope with some situations.

Anyway, my three closest colleagues all agreed that a table for four with a good view and better than average food was a great idea but folded under pressure from others.

As it turned out, it was actually a really good day for all sorts of reasons.  We went to an establishment (I wouldn't call it a restaurant as such) where they taught us how to make Asian cocktails (think canned lychees) and dumplings.

There were only about 20 of us, it was day time and we were the only people in a place that can probably hold about 200 pre-COVID which meant I could hear people (with my better than average hearing aids) and take part in the conversations.  I skipped the cocktails, for all sorts of reasons, choosing to take photos instead (although I was served an excellent mocktail of smashed up lychee, lime (with rind) and mint).

The picture shows Henry making something that had egg white in it - the more you shook it, the frothier it got.  Being an intern, he impressed us with his very very frothy cocktail.

A few of us commented later on the fact that all the egg yolks went into the bin and how much better it would have been if they'd put them into the fridge and made a frittata or perhaps an omelette for breakfast tomorrow.  (Perhaps that's why these places are so expensive - the waste.)

Two of my closest colleagues are women from India.  Someone asked them what were the 4 or 5 most unusual things they found about Sydney.  They noted:
1. "Where are all the people?"
2. "Why is every meal served with chips?"  This one came from the one who's been here a few years.
3. "There is a whole section of the supermarket dedicated to breakfast cereal!".
4. "People who you don't know very well are very pleasant."  This one was from the new one - she's living in a block of units in a suburb close to the city and apparently the neighbours are really helpful.

I was really pleased about the last one of these - not always the case here but I'm glad she's had this experience.