Goodbye, Grouchy-mate!

Last Friday was quite a momentous day in the Australian history. The soon-to-be Aussie Immigrant, Grouchy, bid our beloved project farewell. She's been counting down to this day for quite some time now, often dubious if it was pushing through. Her home team dressed up the project area the evening before. Pink balloons and signages greeted Grouchy when she arrived Friday morning. Kung Fu Panda didn't miss his chance in singing, "Hindi Kita Malilimutan". Grouchy haughtily said, "Ililibre ko ang kung sino man ang makapagpapaiyak sa akin" (I will treat the person who will make me cry)






Mike and I wanted to give Grouchy a scrapbook. Or rather, Grouchy explicitly asked for a scrapbook with pictures and messages from everyone. Haha. Luck was not on our side however. When we went to the photo shop to have the pictures developed, the great developing machine broke down. Poo.

A little past 4 p.m., we all gathered around for merienda. Grouchy's request. Spaghetti and the best-selling Goldilock's mocha cake. And BBQ, ice cream, puto pao, and pansit! Twas certainly a feast! When everyone had their fill, we started the mini-program. We showed the funny pics of everyone in the project (Thanks to MacMacMac's Photobook application). Then a few peeps gave their messages to Grouchy. My personal favorite was Welmer's. A few of our onshore counterparts wrote to me as well, and I read those outloud. I hosted because I purposely did not want to speak. Haha. If I had given a speech, I would have cried and that would be the end of my (ahem) toughie image. Jewel, Jude, and the Siebel team created a wonderful and funny video! It was a huge hit.




My favorite part of our little program was Grouchy's speech. She was teary-eyed already because of an email from Mr. Duffy and her chat session with Mr. Joffe. When she was speaking through the microphone, she said, "I thought I'd be closing Focus". Then she started crying and laughing and crying. Haha. It was bittersweet.



I will, without a doubt, miss Grouchy. She's been an integral part of the project. I don't think we could have won the first AO deal without her impressive performance. We've learned a lot from her as well. And best of all, I'm just glad she and I have become pretty good friends. :-) I don't want to write too much here, as it might give away my scrapbook message. Haha.




I will miss this classic Grouchy scene. Pooohoohoo...