Saturday......

Hi everyone!!!

Today was a very interesting day, firstly we all had the morning off!!!!which most of us spent sleeping (me lol) but for others a morning shop was in order. Lucy has picked up a few traditional crafts which consisted of a couple of kites, a fan and lanterns. (poor Teneale had to deal with the repeat showcase of products to the team).

At 1pm we were all assigned to work in the Banquets Department of the hotel. Today the hotel Banquets team were busy preparing for a wedding. The team helped out by doing whatever they could, this included folding napkins, setting tables and wrapping fruit cake for the guests to take home with them. It was great for the team to witness the transformation of the Grand Ballroom from nearly empty to a beautifully decorated wedding dinner for approx 600 pax.

This dinner was set "Chinese style" and consisted of around 8 courses. Once all was set and ready for the guests to enter a select few of us were required to walk with the waiters on the Bridal table and and act as "models".

Before long, it was time to leave the Ballroom and leave the rest to the very capable Banquets team. The whole were exceptionally pleased about being apart of this special day for the happy couple and wish them the very best with a long and happy union. It will definitely be an experience not soon to be forgotten.

So an early night for all tonight, due to the EXTREMELY busy day tomorrow, which we are all very very very very excited and looking forward to. I'm not going to ruin the surprise, your just going to have to read the next BLOG ;)

Night Night, hope all is well and missing you a whole load

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

December 4th

Hello Friends,

It's Bec here!

Today has been our second work placement day. I am currently in the Events Department helpping out behind the scenes with Teneale and Justine. We learnt how to make floor plans and organised wedding photos on the drive (the team really appreciated this as it took alot of time!) We also found out today that we will no longer be placed in the PR department, instead learning Conceirge and working in one of the Restaurants and Lobby Bar.

Tonight we will be hitting up China Town (again for those of us who couldn't wait) and having dinner and a show across the road at Saloma! We are all very excited!! TGIF!

We are looking forward to working our first wedding tomorrow with the Banquets Team!!

Until next time!!


Bec!!

Thursday 3rd December

Hi All, its Di here!

Thought I would begin with some pics (I have finally mastered wifi @ the tourism centre and have some extra time and my trusty laptop!)

Bree with the famous ice cream hot dog- three scoops of ice cream with chocolate topping in a bread roll! (28.11.09).

Lunch at the precious China cafe (29.11.09)

Blue rice - coloured with morning glory flower! (29.11.09)

The whole gang (29.11.09)

Di and Donna and a very serious guard at the Royal Palace. (29.11.09)

A very devoted Gold Coast United fan will take her team spirit everywhere ;) (01.12.09)

'Aunty' Colette on the traditional boat trip. (01.12.09)

The girls enjoying square local ice creams. (01.12.09)

Lucy holding up the temples. (01.12.09)

The Petronis Towers at night. (30.11.09)

There are many more photos to come in future blogs, too many to add today!

Yesterday - Thursday 3rd December we began the day with a trip to Malaysia Hotels Association. A little hiccup on the way in the form of a car running into the back of our bus - luckily no one was hurt - we have been told this is a traditional Malaysian experience!

The presentation at MAH was given by Reginald the Chief Operating Official of MAHTEC (Malaysian Association of Hotels Training and Education Centre). Reginald first talked about tourism in Malaysia and then his co-worker Sophia talked about the three different hotel associations in Malaysia, their roles and the history of MAH. We were then treated to lunch and given a goody bag each with USB, keyrings, bag tags and calender.

As we had a few hours off a small group ventured to China Town for a spot of shopping - WOW, it was amazing, such bargains to be found with a bit of bartering going on. We are definitely looking forward to our next visit to China Town.

The evening activity was a Malaysian cooking class. The school called Lazat was in a house and run by Ana and about six helpers. The menu consisted of - entree of Otak-otak (marinated fish in banana leaves), Kari Ayam (chicken curry) served with Roti Jala (lacy pancake) and onde onde (palm sugar in glutenous ball) for dessert. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the food was delicious! Stay tuned for pics to be uploaded of the fun and games.

Tired and with the thought of an early start for work training in the morning we all crashed pretty much as soon as we got back to the hotel.

As each day passes we are learning more about Malaysian culture and having more and more fun.

Bye for now

Diana Wilson

Off the plane from Malaysia and....

Rob from AIM Overseas here.

I'm just off the plane from Malaysia where I was lucky enough to be part of the beginning of this great program and what a great bunch of people to have spent some time with!

The first few days were really full: visits, tours, work, briefings, shopping, eating....woah! Full on!

A quick thank you to everyone: Colette, Sheri, Diana, Donna, Justine, Rebecca, Lucy, Sommer, Megan, Teneale, Bree, Andi and Harley for being good value to be around and a special thank you for the chocies (they are YUM) and the photo of the group, which I'll post here once I've gotten to the scanner in our office.

A huge thanks to the Renaissance folks, Ron, Paul, Lynne and everyone else, and the GCIT crew, Helen and Rebecca, for getting the program off the ground. From what I've seen it's a real winner.

Have a great time for the rest of the program girls!

Cheers
Rob

First day on the job.

Sorry for the latenest of this blog, I'm not the most gifted when it comes to computer skills.
Yesterday was our first day working with the Renaissance Hotel. It was great! All the staff are exceptionally helpfull and are really opened to us asking many questions. They love to ask us questions too. Like where we are from?, what we are studying?, how we ended up in Malaysia?, and their favourite, how old we are? Everybody in the hotel knows who we are too.
Diana, Megan and myself, were assigned to the banquet department. We were divided up and each went to a different event. Diana was helping down stairs in the conference areas, Megan helped assist in a food tasting lunch, and I helped in the Ballroom's lunch. I loved it! It was the first time I had done anything like that, and I was suprize they let me clear tables and refill the guest's water glasses. I also got to breakdown the event at the end.
Hopefully each day will be just as informative as this one was.
Cheers from Sheri.

Hi this is Andy,

Having a bit of a problem with my account so using Lucy's...
Malaysia so far is amazing and hot. Had the best day so far today. Started off with a visit to the Australian Embasy where we had a presentaion and a yummy Thai Lunch.
After lunch we were lucky to have a few hours to our self which was spent catching up on sleep by most ( seems like somthing we cant get enough of). Our afternoon was spent with 'Richman' on a tour to Purat Jaya (Might have spelling wrong), which was spent mostly on a bus due to the rain. We saw the beautiful sights of the local Mosque and met some local Muslim kids and shared some square popsicles that were delicious. (Strawberry was the best!!!) after a little wander past the Mosque we headed down to the river to wait for our private chartered ride to our water front dinner reservations at a Asian Seafood Restaurant. We were split into 3 groups to board our vessels, (the boats reminded me of something you would see in Venice) our boat driver was the best had us laughing the whole way, telling Sherri he wanted to make her his 4th wife and he could go and live in his big house. We ate a delicious banquet whilst watching the sunset over the lake. All Very tired must get some sleep as tomorrow we start our first day of work... Wish us luck!

Good Night Australia
xx

Monday 30th December

Today we began our first work experience with Renaissance KL. The whole team participated in a full day intensive induction program. Ron the Renaissance training manager conducted an interesting, insightful and informative eight plus hours of the company - Marriott and hotel - Renaissance KL vision, ethics, procedures and policies. We learnt in one day the basics and shortened version of the hotels three day orientation program and what we will need to know for our upcoming work experience.
During the program we also meet the Hotels General Manager, Resident Manager (formally of Gold Coast Marriott Resort and Spa) and the Food and Beverage Director who is also the Executive Chef.
The day ended with a tour of the Hotel and facilities - a beautiful building with excellent facilities. Thank you Ron for an excellent beginning to our work experience at Renaissance KL.
Following induction we all had the evening off to relax and have free time before bed - a good night sleep is sure to be had by all so we are refreshed for our trip tomorrow to the High Commissioner.
Night from hot and humid KL :)