A "Pok Gai" time (broke in Hokkien)
I only realized how unorganized or how many farewell parties Jap do tend to have. If I had known how much each would cost, I would be more hesistent to agree to go for the whole series.
So far within this 2 weeks, I have attended 2 farewell. One is the whole-school one $110 and $30 additional for the presents. This I went cos many of those whom I have worked with are going. Among them are those who joined the same time as I did. Their contracts not renewed, or they dont want to renew due to the poor pay, some even pay-cut. Forced to leave in a sense. It was an even more expensive "Zha Chai Rice" this year than last year cos I didnt drink last year. It tasted better but still most definitely not worth the price paid. Its paying for the private room, the stage and atmosphere. They each get a leaving present of their names in Chinese character plus a bouquet of flowers.
The second one which I have always skipped is the "Pink" party that is only open to the lady colleagues. This time, I worked very closely with the host and she will be leaving. She took special care to inform me of stuff, made sure I was accounted etc. Hence I shouldnt and couldnt say no. I looked at the paper. Basically its a pot-luck. Bring 1 item. So I agreed. In my mind, I decided to be a bit generous and order some nice cupcakes from my turned-baker ex-colleague. It was meant to be my "present" of sort to everyone who attended. Then Headless the one organizing later informed me that they are collecting $20 to buy a farewell for each of the leaving female colleagues. Grr.... Those cupcakes are not that cheap cos there were many people attending including for the host's family. But... nevermind. Never again. On top of that I was thinking of contributing some meat. Which I changed my budget from a whole chicken to just $6 of shrimp paste chicken from an economical rice stall after having to pay another $20 extra. So that meant $50+$20+$6+$7 = $83 inclusive of everything plus a shared taxi ride back home.
The Pink party was good, the host is very kind to keep refilling our cups etc. Her Thai green curry with mango salad was delicious. Ate until quite full. Many brought dessert too. But the show-stealer were the cupcakes I brought. Cos I asked my baker-colleague to make Hello Kitty and Roses for this "Pink" party, the colors are pinkish and definitely girlish. And I've realized how big fans of Kitty jap colleagues are. And the cupcakes taste as good as they looked. After the 'forced' talking - either talk for 5mins or answer questions, we headed back about 10.30pm ++ Shared a cab with 2 others.
The last farewell is the Level farewell. Again, I feel compelled to go because many in my level are leaving. There are just 4 of us left. So far havent hear anything about any extra costs. But the price tag is a hefty $100++, dinner is at a restaruant in Fullerton area. 8 course chinese (I scanned through the menu, saw Peking duck) and its formal attire... This on a Friday, I wanna to have free time on my weekends. Still have my groupons to eat. I wanna aim for the Kraze Burger soon.
Seriously this year, I really cut down the number of work parties I attended. In fact, I only attended 1 common, 2 level parties, 2 farewell for my 2 local colleagues, and these 3 last farewell-in-a-row. The problem is that there are quite a few pricey ones. If I had thought $80 was already too much. There are a few hitting more than $100++ So despite cutting down on the number of parties; There were 4 common ones, 2 Sec 3 farewell, 3-4 Sec2, 3 Pink etc, I still paid about $600. OMFG! That's the price of easily a PS3 and my Final Fantasy titles... Sigh, next year I will cut down on the farewell too. Just too much, not that much value especially that ZCP one.
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