Miscellaneous

Posting about the Vietnam trip will really have to wait. My mum keeps saying that recently I have many "Kang Tau" but seriously, these few months are the only opportunities I have to catch up with friends I have been wanting to meet up with for a very long time.

Caught up with Steph Chung after work one night and had dinner together. Realised I missed talking to her a lot. All I can say is, thank God that I met someone like her.



Also went to watch Geraldine's play at NUS with Sam. I felt that the nicest part of the play was the ballet piece [didn't really realised that ballet could convey so much expression. Haha!]



Had a mini reunion dinner with Sam too. Brought her to Golden Mile Steamboat, my fave hangout since young, since she's such a steamboat fanatic.

After that we headed to Chinatown for dessert. It was really makansutra that night 'cos I promised that I would take her to nice eating places. Took her to the place where my grandpa brought me for dessert when I was young. As expected, the Pomelo Mango Sago and the Peanut Paste was really good. It was definitely better than the other shop along South Bridge Road where I had dessert with Elaine and the rest after our lunch.

Chinatown is really crowded now due to the festive season. Despite going to Chinatown countless times, I always make it a point to avoid the Chinatown crowd during Chinese New Year but this year, we survived it. Honestly speaking, it wasn't as bad as the mob at Bugis Street where it was elbow-to-elbow traffic but it wasn't that good either!


I was telling Sam on the way home about the "kiam pa" face of Singaproeans while taking public transport. She wanted to take a picture of that in a discreet manner by turning off the flash mode of the camera but guess what happened. SAM, DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARASSING THAT WAS?!?!?!


I'm so glad there's no work today! My mum was like "No work means no pay!" but I badly need a break so i'm really looking forward to the 5 days of break. Ever since I started work, I don't have the pleasure of reading. I miss reading!

Therefore, for the next 5 days, I'm gonna glue myself to my chair and devour every Time magazine and novel and newspaper I've been waiting to lay my hands on for a long time.

Have an enjoyable Chinese New Year! :)

I decided to update before my trip to Vietnam tomorrow as I'm expecting lots of photos :)

Quick updates from last year....

If I'm not wrong, this happened on the day when Sze Yee had her carolling at Orchard Road. Ai Ping, as usual, decided to monkey around in the fitting room! We met the Three Wise Men near Sze Yee's concert venue and Ai Ping and I decided to take photos with them. Surprisingly, we met Ding Yi and Matthew when we caught Sze Yee's performance at both Simei and Orchard Road cos we didn't know they were also carolling with her!




These few weeks have been a rather hectic one for me as work has literally left my otherwise free days occupied so, social gatherings have to be pushed to the evenings. I've been working in my aunt's office as an accounts assistant/data entry staff for about a month now and I've more or less gotten used to waking up in the morning and joining the rush hour crowd.

Money is really not easy to earn. Initially, I thought grownups said it for the sake of making us appreciate our academic years but after I've experienced it myself, I can feel the pain!

Doing admin stuff and calculating payment vouchers and receipts can really be drudgery when one has to do it like clockwork everyday but I'm glad to have met Sarah, the other temp worker they employed. My supervisor's also a nice lady, very systematic in whatever she does and very patient but lately, I don't know why but she's having this short bursts of moodswings and she'll start to lose her patience with us. Of course, sometimes it may be due to her having high expectations of us but otherwise, I find them quite unnecessary. Nevertherless, this work experience is one of the best I've yet to experience ( cos the others were quite bad!)


The view of Great Eastern Building from my office is really nice although it may not look as great here. In fact, I think it looks better at night!



Doing OT wasn't as bad as I expected, partly because of the $10 dinner allowance each of us were entitled to have as well as the free cab ride home.

We had Sushi Tei and drinks from Mr Teh Tarik for dinner during the previous OT.

Sushi Tei's Chicken Katsu Don!



Going to work with Joan and Samantha have reduced the boredom of morning train rides (especially on Monday!) Now that my office is gonna shift to the Tanjong Pagar vicinity, it will be even more convenient for me to lunch with them...haha...

Met Sam for dinner last night before her driving test....


As for today....

I SAVED THREE LIVES TODAY! Haha!

Met Midori at Yishun for the Blood Donation Drive at church today. Initially, I was OK about giving blood and all but when Midori started to feel all nervous and paranoid, I almost wanted to back out but thank God I didn't! Esther's parents also accompanied her for moral support...

The whole process took an hour: after all the form-filling, medical screening and blood tests.

Actually, I felt that the only bad part was the blood test and maybe the anasthesia applied before they administer THE NEEDLE into your arm. THE NEEDLE is the one thicker than a cross-stitch needle which draws blood from your arm. Actually, I didn't really feel the blood draining out but gradually I started to feel sleepy, exhausted and breathless when I was with Midori at Northpoint.

We were each given iron tablets to "recuperate" and some Chicken Essence after having some light refreshment at the Cafeteria.



Really have to thank Midori for constantly trying to distract me from feeling nervous throughout. Now I have a pretty orange bandage that will probably accompany me to Vietnam to remind me of today. It was really quite a pity that Midori couldn't donate today due to her persistent bouts of diarrhoea but she has already donated twice!


Oh man, can't wait for tomorrow! Till then! :)

silent night...

Looking back on what happened during Christmas last year, this year is really dry and dull, reason being most of us seem to be geting sick of the thought of being amidst the Orchard Road crowd getting last minute presents or rushing from one party to another or wrapping gifts and preparing Christmas dinners. Maybe Er Yi's decision to veto out her annual Christmas party at her place contributed largely to the silent night I'm experiencing tonight but not to worry, there's always "Peter Pan" to turn to at 10 later...

Anyway, church always has interesting events lined up to maintain the Christmas cheer [even though we all know that Christmas isn't just about the turkey and the gifts and the merry-making].

Home Christmas at g12 was as happening as ever with more people coming to join us. Food was great, sharing that night was by Yireng and everyone enjoyed themselves...

pictures courtesy of Jasmine and Midori :)

Also, the Christmas Banquet at HOF made me feel all excited for Christmas again. Dresscode:Streetwear.

my sister's cute street hairdo since 1998... Bedok 2!
The "pasar malam" on the first floor was really something. There were street games and food by the various regions, although we mostly tried the food the whole time. If I'm not wrong, Region D's food was nice (fake shark's fin soup, muah chee and fried chicken that resembles that of Taiwan's "Shihlin Snacks." I especially liked the game by Region B.

The game involves the player trying to hit the rapidly popping heads of the Region B members (donned in colourful construction helmets) before they retreat back to their holes (something like the game in arcades where you hit the crocodile's jaw as it comes out of its hole). Midori got disqualified from the game as she hit their heads too hard. :D

Sermon by Pastor Dale was good too and his framework was based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

“There is no peace on earth,” I said;

“For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

It's so great to know that even amidst our darkest hours of life, there's a God who never fails...who always lifts us back to our feet again. Being a Christian doesn't mean that our life would be trouble-free. It only means that we would be able to rely wholly on that Someone who loves us so much that He can ease our burdens that Life inevitably brings.

Christmas needn't be about the degree of fun and the thrill we get from receiving and opening presents...

SO, even though tonight may be a silent night for me, I am content :)

the sequel...

I decided to continue the previous entry on a fresh page cos the time spent on scrolling down the entry for ages just to organise your pictures was taking a toll on me so if you have not read the previous entry yet, I suggest you start from there before reading this one.

Moving on, we went to Samsoo Herb Garden the next day after breakfast. I had the most bizarre lunch when we had to munch on pretty flowers and consume potpourri water (I felt like Dino the dinosaur). We had to mix different sauces, add in the rice with the flowers plus chilli and mix them all before eating so these is how it should look like:

Step 1: Everything looking nice and pretty...

Step 2: Add the sauces provided with the shredded chicken and the rice. Notice the potpourri water on the right.

Step 3: Voila! Rojak: Korean style!

Everland Theme Park, owned by Samsung was quite nice too. As we had to complete our Big Five ticket, we had to plan which rides to take, partly cos we had a limited time to complete them. Safari World would be good for animal lovers. We actually could see the bears, lions, tigers, elephants and giraffes up close as we drove into their enclosure and the bus driver cum trainer made them perform tricks. We could not see the Li-ger (cross breed of lion and tiger) as they could not withstand winter temperatures.

Safari World

Took the Ferris Wheel (quite boring, could not feel it moving, that's how slow it was...), some simulator ride which was not worth it cos it was narrated in Korean, the Hurricane (a revolving sphere moving viking style), the Viking Ship and the roller coaster. I didn't realised that the roller coaster was the type that could go upside down until I was happily strapped into my seat ( my brother pointed it out to me then, there were not one but TWO complete 360 degree loops to overcome! Eeeek!) So, I screamed until I felt like vomiting the whole way through. Even though my eyes were closed three quarters of the time, I could feel myself being lifted up when I was overturned TWICE but it was quite a shiok feeling when I reflected upon it later. Both my younger siblings took the ride and I'm ashamed to say that out of the 3 of us, I was the only one who screamed (you must understand that I'm not quite the dare devil when it comes to such things). Headed for Seoul after that.

Changdeokgung Palace was quite OK, learnt a fair bit about Korea's history. Really pity the palace guards who had to stand motionless for at least 2 hours in the hot sun, under the constant, cruel scrutiny of us curious tourists.

Shopping at Dongdaemun followed and lunch was Ginseng Chicken.

Took a 5-minute journey by ferry to Nami Island, the filming site for "Winter Sonata."
this really made me feel a sense of liberation...If you watched "Winter Sonata", I'm sure you'll be familiar with the following scene.If I had watched it beforehand, I may be able to better appreciate the place even more...Dinner was nice as usual...

Ray, my aunty's friend's son was really very adorable...played with him for the whole 2-hour journey by coach to the ski resort.



Vivaldi Park's Pine Hotel was much better than the hotel in Seoul which we bunked in for a night. Slept on tatami mats...

The other highlight of the trip was definitely the skiing. At first it felt weird but after awhile, the feeling is just indescribable: imagine the feel of the cool wind against your skin as you rush down the slope...

This is the only time during the trip where I actually saw my brother stealing a grin at the camera...

This is also the first time which I witnessed the vulnerable side of my brother. As he fell down quite a couple of times, he could not get up (it was really quite challenging for a beginner to get up after falling) so he had to wait until Richard had to go over to him and give him a hand (in the meantime, he would just sit in a mermaid-like position and grin at us, who were watching him in his helpless state which was quite cute...heh heh....). The adults left for lunch after 2 hours of skiing and so my siblings and I embarked on our arduous journey of trudging uphill for the umpteenth time (you had to pay to use the ski lift). Upon reaching, my sister could not attach her boots to the skis and we spent half an hour to an hour trying to figure out the problem (the ski patrol was utterly useless cos he just stood there watching us and skiing away after a moment). In the end, the poor girl had to make her way downhill by foot...

Took the gondola ride after that to the expert slope (they are really good man...otherwise they can't be called experts right...) The slope was really steep as you can see...

The view there was magnificent too...

ski lifts and gondolas to overcome the arduous climb uphill for the experts...

The next day we passed by the presidential Blue House and had a steamboat cum stone pot lunch.

Kimchi-making was not bad...tried on Korean traditional costumes after that...