So I have been here just under two weeks now. I have settled in alright I guess, with still discovering new things everyday getting surprised regularly. It has been a bit harder than I had expected at first but its manageable.

Until now, I have been spending the mornings helping out at the breakfast buffet as a hostess and then the rest of the day I have been in the F&B office helping the Assistant F&B director and the Secretary. I have been doing all kinds of jobs which have greatly increased my knowledge and awareness of the hotel and the hotel brand standards. These jobs have also allowed me to get to know my colleagues much better, even though I cannot yet remember all of their names. Everyone wears a name tag, yet not everyone's name tag says their nickname, and so with only one introduction I cannot remember every one of the, but I am learning! Every day brings new knowledge! I believe that a nickname has finally been found for me, Wen (not sure I have spelled it correctly) and it means Glasses.

Currently my supervisor is away and so I have not yet set up a proper internship plan, he will be back in a week and then we shall sit down and discuss my "projects". Due to my previous experience in the hospitality industry, he decided to let me do most of my internship as a management trainee, and so, to the hotel I am a management trainee.

He thought that technique wise and floor supervisor wise I would learn very little and wants to put to use my experience as a trainer. Therefore one of the projects I will be undertaking for sure is implementing the new breakfast SOPs and training the staff accordingly.

Further, I shall be doing a lot of management related work which will be very educational and more fun for me! Other projects for me to undertake will be discussed next week and throughout the next few months.

After just under a week working at the hotel, I think I started to show some signs of one of the hardest culture shock stages, the one where small things start irritating me, or maybe some part of homesickness is settling in, even though, like I said I am no stranger to travelling alone and new cultures. It is by far not the first time that I am away from my parents. Without wanting to I have had enough of eating rice 3 or even 4 times a day, at all meals, eating only with fork and spoon, not being able to conduct a nice lengthy conversation in good English, having difficulty breathing (this morning the Chiang Mai provincial house declared that dust particle levels have risen to over 50 micrograms of dust per cubic meter than the safe level. Fortunately, I spend most of the worst time (during the day) cooped up inside the hotel, but every time I step outside, it is a challenge to breath properly).

I have found an okay guesthouse at about 10 minutes walking from the hotel and have settled in nicely. As for sightseeing the city, I haven't done much yet. I have been working very long days at the hotel, and so when I do get some time off, for now I have just been recuperating my energy, as I am still getting used to the heat. However there are a lot of fun things to do and see in the area, of which I intend to make full use of!

Today I will also be joining the volleyball association for the first time at their tri-weekly get togethers for some fun! It should be nice, only I hope the weather is ok.