Panic Time?

From an entry in Vineyard:

Was looking at my desk calendar and realized I only have 3 weekends to prepare for the Singapore trip. Tentative departure date is October 17 and as promised, Natixis will shoulder accomodations.

The agenda they prepared for me includes:

FX Trading Profit & Loss Management
FX Trading Position Management
FX Orders and Customer Management
FX Options Pricing and Trading Practices

Training Date :

18th and 19th October 2007

I spend the 20th hanging around PNB Singapore branch which is open on weekends, and go back to Manila on the 21st.

Kept hearing "chocolates" and "tapa" today from Boss Dan and Ted. Cristy's excited planning for my stay there.

And I haven't even started preparing ... from checking the documents I need to bring (not sure if just bringing a passport is enough), deciding if I want to be able to use my cellphone in Singapore, and confirming if I could use my credit card there, too... otherwise I have to buy SGD or USD (because the dealing room folks expect me to bring something/anything back ... it's freakin' tradition, what can I say?). This isn't like going to Boracay where I can just dump beach wear in a bag and rush to the airport with only 20 minutes to spare before boarding time (yup, I've done that). Crap ... where is that suitcase?

Just realized another thing: unless my bro is reading my blog, none of the folks at home know about this trip. He he he! Hey, I don't have the plane tickets in my hand yet ... Budget Division still has to approve this thingamajig.

Going to Singapore?

(From an entry in Vineyard):
Natixis Singapore agreed to host one trader from PNB to spend two days in their office and see how they run their dealing room. Ted, Rey and I were the candidates to go there. The piece of paper with my name on it was drawn earlier by Boss Mon, which means I get to visit the Natixis dealing room in Singapore... IF Budget approves the expenses.

Now, it's time to list down what I should get out of this trip other than being toured around by Cristy and shopping. Ha ha ha! To be honest, I wasn't that interested when the idea was first broached. I've been away from the thirds desk for a year, so I haven't really been dealing with Yannick or Carol. I expected that they'd give the slot to the third desk dealers.

Last thing I heard ... Natixis is willing to pay for the accomodation. Ted had asked Amex if they have a similar program ... Amex said yes ... but they will only pay for the plane fare. That doesn't mean I get free plane fare as well ... this means they can send a second trader with me to Singapore ... either Ted or Rey. The only problem will be accomodations. Cristy says I can stay with her if we ran out of options.

Wonder how this will turn out? It's a month from now, so I don't want to think about it till everything's been threshed out.