公司總部在杜拜，每年第一季會舉行周年會議，海外各國的員工都會前往杜拜，一年一會。我是第一次參加公司的周年會議，也是首次與同部門的同事正式見面。由第一天加入這間公司，我們都是透過Skype通訊和視像，一切也是隔著電腦螢幕，所以我很期待這一趟旅程。
The headquarter of my company is located in Dubai. There is an annual conference held in Dubai every first quarter of other year and all the overseas employees will fly there to attend. It was my first time attending the annual conference and also officially meeting my teammates in person. Since the day I joined the company, I met them via Skype or in video calls only. Everything was behind the computer screen. I was so looking forward to meet everyone.
會議為期3.5日，然後我會多留2.5日遊覽杜拜。杜拜總是給人奢華的感覺，我還在飛機上已經感受到，俯瞰著杜拜的夜景，金光閃閃，說這個城市是以金薄舖蓋一點都不誇張。杜拜的機場出奇地樸素，我看不到令我驚嘆的華麗誇張的裝飾，反倒阿布札比的機場更顯金碧輝煌。一埗出機場已經被一股熱氣包圍，所以接下來數天我都是輕裝上路，涼鞋相伴。
The conference lasts for 3.5 days and I stayed behind for 2.5 days, to take in advantage, to explore Dubai. As we know, Dubai always gives us the feeling of luxury, richness, extravagance and splendor which I already felt it while I was still on the plane. Overlooking the night view, the street lights from Sheikh Zayed Road, which is the most important main road connected the entire Dubai, lighted up the city. The city was like covering in gold. Together with the other city lights, it was a golden sea underneath. The airport in Dubai, unexpectedly, is very simple and not surprisingly glamourous. I did not find a lot of high-end decoration which I saw in the airport of Abu Dhabi. Another well-known fact of Dubai is the high temperature which I felt it once stepped out from the airport. I was so glad I had bought 2 pairs of sandals with me to comfort my feet under this weather.
DAY 1
到達會議會場Fairmont the Palm Jumeirah，終於見到各地的同事，雖然是第一次正式見面，但並沒有感到陌生，反而十分興奮；但此行真正目的是公務為主，還是要表現得體、成熟和專業。出發前，我們的經理提醒過要注意自己的言行，不要太鋒芒太露，因為你總不知道誰在你背後觀察著你的一舉一動，亦不知道他們的影響力有多大。每年會議都有一個晚會，之前發生過某已婚男同事和一位女同事都喝多了，最後一同在女方家中過夜，第二天整間公司都知道了。沒有人知道當晚是純粹借宿一宵還是另有內情，但你已阻止不到他人的幻想，別人向你投下奇異的目光和在你背後說三道四。
Finally meeting my overseas colleagues once we arrived at the conference venue Fairmont the Palm Jumeirah. Although it was the first time meeting each other face to face, it was not feel strange, instead we were very excited. To bear in mind the trip is for business but leisure, I tried to be presentable, professional and mature. Our manager reminded us, before we headed to Dubai, to well behave and be caution of what we said, it is not good to be too outstanding. The reason behind is you never know who is watching you and what they gonna do and think. They could be a very significant person affecting the company. Every year, there is a gala dinner. It happened that a married-male colleague and a female colleague were drunk and the guy stayed overnight at the girl’s place. The next morning, everyone in the company knew and spread the word. No one know the whole story. Is it just ask for a place to stay or ask for more? You cannot stop what people think and human imagination something is quiet powerful. They will stare at you as you did something wrong and talk behind your back.
會議第一天是一個簡介會，全公司不同的部門的主管都要作約15-30分鐘的簡報，介紹自己的團隊、工作、過去業績和未來遠景，好讓各國同事都對不同部門的工作和人脈有所認知。總括來說，早上的簡報比下午的好，原因是大家都仍然有精神，集中力較高；午飯後大家都有睡意，開始感到疲倦，如果簡報本身內容沉悶的話，的確難以令人細心聆聽。我們事後在討論整天的簡報中，誰的表現是沉悶得令人睡著，出奇地平時說話風趣的同事，在簡報中的表現未有很突出。
The conference started with an introductory which all the department heads have a 15-30 mins presentation on their job, teammates, past achievement, and future vision. It is to let all of us know in depth what they do and who the team are. Overall speaking, the morning session was better than the afternoon one because everyone was still energetic and stayed in focus. It was a little bit tough for all of us after lunch. Everyone seem to be tired. If the presentation is boring, it gave a bit more hard to concentrate. We were discussing afterward who got the most boring presentation and their performance. It was surprise that a colleague who is full of humor most of the time when you had conversation with him, had a not satisfactory performance in the presentation.
不得不提的是，眾多人之中，我其實不是最年輕的一位，但不知由何時起，我被稱為BB或Baby，感覺我真是最年輕的。我想原因是亞洲人總是看上比實際年齡年輕，加上我在眾多人之中年資比較淺，還未夠一年，所以大家都十分呵護我，成為Baby當之無愧。
I have to say that I am not the youngest among all of my teammates. However, my teammates started to call me “BB”or “Baby”. It is a fact that Asian looks younger than their actual age. Also, I am the very last one joined this company, as per my working duration is green. Those are the reason why everyone takes good care of me and treats me as a “Baby”.
難得跟她們相聚，我準備了小小心意給她們，就是動物面膜，即是以動物為圖案，放在臉上變成了一頭獅子老虎。她們顯得很雀躍，不消10秒一叠20塊的面膜，最後只剩下3塊。後來我收到她們傳來的照片！！！
It was a very rare chance to stay together and I brought some gifts for them. I bought some animal masks from Hong Kong. It is a mask with the big head of different animals, when you put it on, you looks like one. I can tell they were very excited about it as a pile of 20 pieces of masks were gone in 10 seconds. I have only 3 left. After a while back from the conference, I received the pictures from them trying it out.
會議在呵欠和沉悶中完結，大家這時變得精神，在大合照中都搶先站在有利位置，對於矮小的我，如常安排在前排。大家試著找找我在那吧！
The conference end in lots of yawning and tediousness and all of us were awake. As in the agenda, we will take a group photo to come to the official ending. I was put in the front as usual because of my height. Try to dig me out if you can
第一天會議完結，公司安排大家到附近沙灘酒吧聯誼一番。這個地點真的值得一讚，遇著黃昏時分，夕陽西下，氣氛十分好，大家都好好享受這個時刻，輕鬆一下。
The company is so sweet to book the beach bar for us to have a drink and chill after the conference. This is a really awesome location and I really like it. It was already sunset and the sun was shining on the sand and ocean making everything under gold. Together with the ambience, we had a great time and very enjoyable.
回酒店之前我們先到阿聯酋購物中心(Mall of the Emirates)走走，又是一個奢華的地方，但她們告訴我杜拜購物中心會比這裡更勝一籌，比這裡更大更華麗，那我便拭目以待。至於阿聯酋購物中心的賣點就是有個室內滑雪場，換著以前我會很雀躍，但自從在瑞典看過雪後，我對雪的熱情有所減退，但有機會還是希望嘗試滑雪，腳踏滑雪板，由山上高速滑下，然後很師氣的在山腳停下，括起一片雪花。另外這裡有家樂福，相對我比較感興趣，看看阿拉伯食物，阿拉伯人喜愛吃各種的甜點和果仁，是他們飲食的一部份。我回港前都買了一些甜點和果仁回家，我個人覺得太甜，但家人卻很喜歡。
We headed to the Mall of Emirates before going back to the hotel. It is a mall with extravagance. However, I was told to stay calm and hold on with my praise because Dubai Mall is a way more extravagance mall which is gigantic and more glorious. All my praise can be released when we go there in a few days. Speaking of the Mall of Emirates, the selling point is obviously the indoor skiing playground. I would be very excited to see that if I have not seen real one yet. My passion towards snow decreased once I have seen so much every day in Sweden. However, I would love to try skiing which I never did. Imagine! Stepping on the snowboard to ski down the hill in a high speed, then stopping at the bottom with a cool posture and some of the snowflakes were splashed. So Cool. Besides, you can find a global supermarket Carrefour here which interested me more. Checking out the Arabic daily meal and delicacies, I found them like eating sweet and nuts. Those sweet was toooo sugary for me. Anyways, I bought some back to Hong Kong as they love it.
晚上回到酒店房繼續談天說地，新加坡的同事帶來了我最愛的班蘭糕，她們的房間在高層，可以看到哈里發塔和杜拜街道景色，太幸運了！
At night, we had a girls’ night in the hotel room. The colleague from Singapore brought the Pandan Cake which is my favor!!!! Their room is located in the top level which has the very glamour night view of the Burj Khalīfa and the street. They are so lucky and so am I!!
黑暗中的一線光就是哈里法塔
Burj Khalifa is right there in the Darkness
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