Work and study update

20 days since my last blog post - I think that's a new record!! We have been busy with full time work and our uni exams, but are glad to announce that our exams are now over! Despite still having to go to work for 40 hours each week, we feel like we are on holidays. :P I had one exam and Ben had two, all hosted at UBC, and we think they went ok - but we'll find out for sure on 10th July.

Ben's job is going well. I don't think I have officially blogged about what he does: his role is Team Lead/ Project Management Support for the marine sciences division of an environmental engineering firm. He actually got the job after a 4-hour temping assignment to put together a desk turned into doing some computer referencing work for the department for a few weeks, and that turned into his being employed directly by the company to fill this new role they had created to keep up with the admin/ HR/ resourcing side of a rapidly expanding team! The way things come together sometimes is just amazing.

I work for an industrial pump manufacturer. Until the end of May, I was their Expeditor, replacing a lady who was on leave. Then at the start of June, I moved into their Parts Sales department to replace a guy who was replacing a lady who is on leave (if you followed that!). I got the job through the temping agency too, but am now employed directly by the company - at this stage until December. My job involves a lot of computer work (in SAP) doing up quotes and sales orders and working out pricing for various parts of pumps. Customers already have the pumps and just contact us by email or fax for the spare parts they need.

Back in mid May, my workplace held an open day BBQ to celebrate the company's 175th birthday. Ben came for lunch and I took him on a tour through the factory to show him the various stages of the pump-making process. :) Here are a few photos from the day - the blue jackets were company gifts we received that morning...


Unfortunately I only ever saw the cake in the above photo some weeks later - we'd left by that time as employees were given the rest of the day off! It's a great company to work for, and the thing that has continually astounded me is that no one seems to leave except to retire. Since I started there, many of my workmates have celebrated their 10, 20, and even 40 year milestones, and some even have parents who worked there!

At this stage our plan is to live here until about October 2010... yes, almost 2 years, as opposed to our original 6 month plan! This is due to a number of factors, including finding good jobs, having great accommodation, fitting in with the wedding plans of loved ones in Australia, and not having seen much of Canada yet!! Needless to say, we are enjoying our time here very much.

We are looking forward to getting away for a couple of trips in July. We have been working non-stop for 5 months now, and here is what we have planned to bring the "holiday" back into our "working holiday" :P... from 10-20 July we will be road tripping in Alberta, and from 30 July - 3 August we are having 4 nights in Las Vegas. So you can look forward to something more interesting to read about on here soon!! For now, I have some activities from the last few weekends to update you on, so I'd better get started...