Ana's leaving

Hi all.

I'm not sure how many people will read this, probably just me and Bart!!!

Well, I'm leaving the company in September to go to practice. But before that I compromised myself to do the OV assessment. (Ain't I stupid?????? Just because I want to help some people to get some more money.) I'm really gullible.

My goal is to do it until the end of July. So probably I'll post here much more often, to exorcise my frustrations.


Now, about Wales: 1 word: SHEEP



Lots and lots of sheep, and green and country side and footpaths that they insist in calling "roads". Well, about the roads I can't really complain, i've been in much much worse. But is too much to ask for a motorway now and then? Driving knowing you might run over some sheep is very stressing

Super duo going to Wales!!!

We are very sorry for leaving You without any news from us. Just to briefly explain You what is going on with us right now. We're doing our NOV training. Is difficult to collect all hours but we're doing what we can, and with other OV's help we are almost done. You can ask : what's that rush?? Well, we will have our OV positions from 2nd of February. Me as OV relief in cluster 24 (Wales) and Ana permanent position in two small plants somewhere in Wales.
How we feel right now?? I can say for myself that I'm feeling nervous. What we'll happen ? We'll see...

How to write NOV essay?

This is my plan for NOV essay:

1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer.
2. Log onto MSN and Skype (be sure to go on away!). Check your email.
3. Read over the topic carefully, to make certain you understand it.
4. Walk down to the nearest shop and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate.
5. Check your email.
6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to grab a coffee. Just to get settled down and ready to work.
7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.
8. Read over the topic again to make absolutely certain you understand it.
9. Check your email.
10. You know, you haven't written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You'd better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.
11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror.
12. Grab some mp3 .
13. Check your email.
14. MSN chat with one of your friends about the future. (ie MHS transformation).
15. Check your email.
16. Listen to your new mp3 and download some more.
17. Phone your friend and ask if she's started writing yet. Exchange derogatory emarks about your company, your friends, the world at large.
18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You've probably run out.
19. While you've got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it.
20. Check your email.
21. Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren't missing something truly worthwhile on TV.
22. Play some solitare .
23. Check out bored.com.
24. Wash your hands.
25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven't started either.
26. Look through your picasa pictures from home.
27. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.
28. Check to see if bored.com has been updated yet.
29. Check your email and listen to your new mp3.
30. You should be rebooting by now, assuming that windows is crashing on schedule.
31. Read over the topic one more time, just for heck of it.
32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise.
33. Lie face down on the floor and moan.
34. Punch the wall and break something.
35. Check your email.
36. Mumble obscenities.
37. 5am - start hacking on the paper without stopping. 6am -paper is finished.
38. Complain to everyone that you didn't get any sleep because you had to write that stupid paper.

NOVs - such a drag

Thing are very shaky for us - MHS personel. There's no OV positions for anyone.

We received a new contract from the company. We are now "Temporary Meat Hygiene Inspectors", until they find us a OV position. Besides that there are new MHS policies: the OV will be Team Leader. This means that we must have skills in the following areas:

"People Performance Management:

· Managing the performance of plant team members including conducting formal and informal performance appraisal and review.

· Setting individual and team objectives.

· Conducting and overseeing the induction and probation of new members of staff

· Managing staffing and attendance levels including managing all absence cases and approving applications for leave.

· Managing all aspects of Human Resources casework (discipline, grievance, harassment, bullying etc.) including appropriately managing issues at an informal level to minimise escalation, acting as an investigating Officer, and retaining accountability for satisfactory resolution of all such cases from the plant.

Effective team leadership:

· Holding regular team meetings: providing advice, cascading relevant management and technical information including checking for understanding and discussing practical implications.

· Encouraging continuous improvement, sharing of ideas, building effective team relationships.

Self Management:

· Effective time management.

· Identifying, communicating and achieving any personal development needs.

Effective development of others

· Assessment of staff competence levels against the defined MHS competencies standards.

· Identifying business related training and development needs of staff.

· Setting and agreeing realistic and achievable Development Plans for staff.

· Coaching and developing staff to improve their skills and performance in their roles"

So exciting, isn't it?

So, in order to do so, we must attend training session across the country, during at least 3 weekends (Why weekends!!!! )

Boredommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

And can you imagine! Me team leader! Ahahahahahahah. I'm so dead!

You know you are in UK when

I found out this and I think it's excellent. I think we all relate with, at least, 90% of all this. It's long, but it pays off.

"You know you are in UK when:

1. One out of 4 words you hear in the streets is "fuck" or "fucking"
2. You have tried the symbol of British food, a breaded piece of fish with fries and they call it fish & chips".
3. You see semi-naked girls in the streets and boys wearing t-shirts with temperatures below zero.
6. You wake up every morning knowing that it's quite unlikely that you're going to see the sun.
9. You realize that dinner time is 6pm
10. You see people drunk in the streets at 8pm.
12. You are kicked out of a pub at 11.30 pm
14. You see people wearing flipflops and shorts even though it's raining.
23. You see Tesco as an important social meeting point.
24. You have struggled trying to convert from Farenhait to Celcius, from Miles to Kilometers and from Pounds to Euros, but you know a pint is 0.56 litres.
25. You have been driving on the wrong side of the road
28. You see 3 kebab shops and 2 indian restaurants in every street.
29. You've had a Full English Breakfast with bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, etc and you think it's amazing
31. You've thought more than ten times that the car you have just seen was driven by nobody
33. You have wondered about the wildlife present in your carpet.
34. You see a group of people wearing fancy dresses every time you go out at night.
35. You have been in a pub next to a really drunk lady, that you think could even be your grandma.
42. You have a sink in your bedroom.
44. You find machines in pubs in which you can buy condoms, vibrators, lubricant and even a Hair Straightener.
46. You ask for a double whisky in a pub and the quantity you're given is just ridiculous!!
47. You see potatoes everywhere, in all different forms and shapes, i.e. boiled potatoes, jacked potatoes, smashed potatoes, chips, crisps, etc.
54. You learn that 4 cups of tea per day is good for you.
55. You have stopped questioning why there are carpets even in the bathrooms
56. You know there is a fair chance your house is filled with mould.
60. You have mushrooms in your toilets.
67. It's only five and every single shop is closed!
68. You've bought something at Argos!!
74. You find normal that in clubs the ladies toilets are full of screaming semi-naked drunk (British) girls trying to do their make up and hair again and again.
75. You feel like being a nun when you wear trousers or skirt longer than your knees and tops to go out
78. You realize that you have never seen an English Restaurant
82. You discover there is a "potato" function on the microwave!!!
85. You see your housemate ordering chinese food or pizzas three times a week
86. You realize that you can get decent (dark, rye, healthy) bread in every European country except for the UK...and no, Toast is not considered a proper kind of bread.....
87. You are no longer suprised to see fans and radiators on at the same time (either in February or June!)
88. You are certainly annoyed by their stupid sockets
89. You realize that every product you buy "may contain trace of nuts"
91. You are addressed as "treacle, sugarplumb, darling, sweetheart, love, ...." (and all other versions of nicknames in that genre you normally only call your wife/lover) by the staff in supermarkets, pubs and restaurants.
92. You are affected by CCTV paranoia.
93. You can see, on a saturday night, Dancing on ice, strictly come dancing, pop idol, x factor, big brother, big brother celebrity, I'm a celebrity get me out of here (and so on) simultaneously!
94. You are not surprised to see an old lady, her daughter and her granddaughter dancing together in a club.
97. You have asked to borrow ten "quid" instead of ten pounds from someone"


"Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish Kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of anything Foreign."

"Only in Britain ... Can a pizza get to your house Faster than an ambulance.
Only in Britain ... Do supermarkets make sick People walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions While healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
Only in Britain ... Are there disabled parking places in Front of a skating rink..

"NOT TO MENTION...
3 Brits die each year testing of A 9v battery works on their tongue.
142 Brits were injured in 1999 by not Removing all pins from new shirts.
58 Brits are injured each year by using Sharp knives instead of screwdrivers.
31 Brits have died since 1996 by Watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in.
19 Brits have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations Were chocolate.
British Hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year after Cracker pulling accidents.
101 people since 1999 have had broken parts of Plastic toys pulled out of the soles of their feet.
18 Brits had serious Burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth.
A Massive 543 Brits were admitted to A&E in the last two years after opening Bottles of beer with their teeth.
5 Brits were injured last year in Accidents involving out of Control Scalextric cars.
And finally.......... In 2000 eight Brits cracked their skull whilst throwing up into the toilet"

But we like Brits anyway!

Real life...

Yes... We get back to our previous life. You may think that this blog is all about OV course, but no. Because our OV course just started.
Right now some of Us are on holidays some are working but we all terrified about the future. Are we able to do all this things they told us in Glasgow? Legislation, paper work, etc... We'll see... We'll see... (cross fingers we do!)

Goodbye Glasgow

As soon as we approched the 3rd week of the course we started to realised how close we were from the end: the goodbye dinner, the evaluation tests, the pile of dirty laundry in the corner of the room that was becoming exponencially bigger...

These last days were very stressfull: the result of our tests (everybody pass by the way! ), the "there is no position for you now" email from the company, all the work we still have do until we become OVs (essays, logs, reports, assessments), the perspective of work with FBOs that cut our car tires and throw us out the window (real stories, no kidding!). It drove us crazy. And still does.

But in the last day when we were driving away from the university this melancolic felling dominate us and we start to miss everybody and everything. We met fantastic people. It's amazing how people with so different backgrounds managed to get along so good.

So we left: fearfull but hopefull of the future.

So we end this blog with a message: If you ever come to Glasgow please....bring a umbrella :) It rains all the time!!

We so look NOVs!!!!