SALSA!!

Seems I have been trying quite a number of new stuff lately. So here comes another one. It's my first Salsa class tonight. I went with Eric, one of my fallow Taiwanese friend, here and we tried to find the "studio" with the "simple" map we got from their website. Luckily, both of us got quite a good sense of direction. When we reached there, it's about 30 minutes before the class and there were quite a number of people queuing for registration already. Coincidentaly, we met Chris over there as well becuase he came as volunteer to help out the other classes.

I was really shocked to see so many people when I first entered into the classroom. I have no idea it's so popular now. The first class is just the basic routine and one more turning style, which are quite simple, but I learned 2 things from this lesson. First, in salsa world, "any" man is on demand as the sex ratio is too different that all the ladies got to wait at the "loading bay" to get the chance to practice with the guys. Besides, ladies got to be total followers and just let the guys do whatever they want to do (I mean dancing). Anyway, the whole thing is still very interesting to me and maybe I would have a performance to present what I have learned like one of the Taiwanese artist, little S, in the future. Ha Ha... Another day dream I guess. : )

Home Made Food

Lately, "Home" and "Family" become very hot topics. I just came back from home last week. Jessica went back to her second home, India, last week and her parents are coming over this week. Vega's mom just arrived this evening. Ceci's parents are coming over next week as well. Seems all of us are sort of missing home and our families lately.

I came back with a small luggage that I brought back for my personal belongings and a big carton box full of "fresh" supply. I was talking to my mom previously about how one of my seniors brought the dumpling and some other home-made food done by her mother over to Singapore. That was a very cleaver move to fix home-sick. Then my smart parents started to plan for me. We went back to my grandma's place one day before my flight and got all the fresh supply of fishes and seafood. Then they prepared those things and made it ready to cook for me.

You can see from the pictures. The fish, the cuttlefish and even the rice are from Taiwan. That fishes is the fresh and delicious ones that you would never find it in Singapore and that's my Home Made Food here. Seems I'm getting back my cooking habit that was missing for some time because of my busy schedule on work and study.

I should be back at the end of May again and that's the best season for the fresh bamboo shoot. Ying! Still remembered that one you had at my home? Should be able to bring back some for you. ;-)

First Ever

Seems there are a few new experience to me lately. Went to watch "the Sound of Music" tonight. It is my "first ever" live musical but the music sounds so familiar to me. I might have watched the movie or other form of performance a few times but I just don't have the chance to watch the live musical. It is really good and I like the little girl very very much. The way she act and her voice are so adorable to me. I can only say she is the best actress throughout the whole show.

Besides, it is also my "first ever" visit to the Concert Hall. The design inside is much better than the appearance (guess I just don't like durien). Though the hall is a bit small, it might be a better choice in Singapore already. So hopefully there are more and more interesting performances coming on the way and I got the chances to visit other halls as well.

New Experience in Taipei

I was back at Taipei last week and had some new and interesting experience. First, I finally got the chance to visit the top of Taipei 101, the highest building in the world. There was a long queue because of the tourists and only then I realized there are so many "Chinese" in Taipei now. Unfortunately, they are not well trained enough like me in Singapore and take "queuing" seriously. Anyway, I didn't feel it's so different until I got to the top that I can really my City. I can even see the "Keelung Island" which is located outside of Taipei Country. I was really surprised and felt so good that we have this wonderful achievement. I have visited a few high towers in other countries. None of them are as significant as Taipei 101 to me. Besides, the elevator is another surprise. It only took 39 seconds from 6th floor to 89th floor and the top seep is 1000m/m. You got to try it by yourself.



Besides, I met up with one of my close seniors, Kevin, for dinner and we went to a nice Russian restaurant in Taipei. I was surprised to see all the different types of restaurant in Taipei. The food is quite good and special to me. It is very similar to most of the western food but the way they cook and the source are quite different. Not really sure if people in Russia really take that kind of food but it's still quite good. They even have performance on the folk dancing and the local music. Great to see that my hometown, Taipei, is getting more and more internaionalized and seems there are more and more foreigners there as well. I think Taipei has improved a lot and becomes more foreigner-friendly over the past few years.

Random, Too.

Heard about one of our Indonesian friends' random act. She just bought a airticket back home for a weekend. I was amazed by her really "random" act at that time. However, come to think about it, Jakarta is not that far actually.

Now, I'm the one who make this kind of random decision as well. Just felt going home last Sunday after the exams the day before. So I just book the ticket and decide to go back tomorrow. Ha! Ha! It would be the biggest surprise to my parents as I havn't tell them. I would be taking the early morning flight and reach Taipei around noon. Then I'm going to suprise them by a big dinner at home.

Have a nice trip to myself and to all my friends, let's enjoy this week together at any part of the world.

Celebrations: Happy Birthday Jessica! & One Year More!

Finally, I finished 2 exams yesterday evening. This is the end of my 4th semester and I have only one more year to go!! That is the first thing to celebrate this "early" morning.

Besides, it is my best friend, Jessica's, birthday tomorrow. We spent several of our birthdays together a few years back. It's so cool that we celebrate both of our last birthday together and "in Singapore". It's so amazing that friends can be connected this way.

So I can't wait to hang out with my friends at one of the best beer bars in Singapore, Pauliner, right after my exams. According to them, this is the best beer but unfortunately I prefer wine. Anyway, the highlight is the birthday gift of the day, the special-requested Davidoff Cigars. Great to see that Jess is really enjoying. Happy Birthday!!

One Day Full Time Student

I am a full time student today!

Yap, as some of you may know that I am actually studying part time MBA in Singaproe. So I took one day leave today to prepare for my exams tomorrow. This is my 4th terms in this course and also my 4th "full time" student day. It is amazing that I have finished nearly 4 semesters and one year has gone like this.

To be frank, I do not enjoy my MBA course as much as my previous Graduate Diploma in Markeitng courses. The marketing course concentrated more on the practial side and the lectuers were all practioner who can share with us more practial information from their respective industries. However, this MBA course is much more general and we have only 7 classes to finish one subject. To me, I do not have time and chance to really go into every single subject and some of them are not really that interesting to me.

Anyway, I made the decision to go into this by myself. So I can't complain much and got to hang on to it. One more year shouldn't be too difficult as I just finish one now. Really expect April 2006 to come. By then, I would finish this course and can start to plan for my next move.

He Is Just Not That Into You!

Was browsing some books yesterday evening while waiting for friends. Then I saw this one at the shelve. The topic looked very interesting to me and I just took up one to read. This book is actually developed from one of the episodes from Sex and the City. It's trying to give the no-excuse truth for ladies to understand guys. According to some of the reader reviews on the net, most of readers think this book helps them to clarify their position in any ambiguous relationship. (The book also states that men are actually very simple. Only ladies who normally think quite a lot would misread most of the responses from men.) It also helps build up the confidence as all ladies deserve a good guy. It might be a bit cliche but very interesting to me. Just share with all my friends here:

1. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Asking You Out
2. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Calling You
3. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Dating You
4. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Not Having Sex with You
5. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Having Sex with Someone Else
6. He's Just Not That Into You If He Only Wants to See You When He's Drunk
7. He's Just Not That Into You If He Doesn't Want to Marry You
8. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Breaking Up with You
9. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Disappeared on You
10. He's Just Not That Into You If He's Married (and Other Insane Variations of Being Unavailable)
11. He's Just Not That Into You If He's a Selfish Jerk, a Bully, or a Really Big Freak

Cute Guy!

My first time meeting up with this cute guy is at the end of last Sep when he was celebrating his "First Month". OK! OK! Shouldn't make it so mysterious. This gentleman is my first nephew, the son of my cousin. : ) The other day, my another cousin send me his latest "SALON" pictures. I didn't realize that he was wearing the clothes that I bought for him. Until yesterday, I was chatting with my mom and she said that he grows up so fast that he can wear the clothes I bought for him. That is supposed for 18 months to 24 months baby but he is only "8 months" now. Great to hear that he is growing up so fast but I got to pity my cousin that she got to carry him for at least a few months.

The interesting thing here is this cousin is only three months older than me. I was quite shocked to hear that she was getting married at that time and one year later she delivered one baby. This keep reminding me that I am not as young as what I thought. Anyway, everyone got different preference and focus in life. I would still enjoy my life as a "little girl" until one day I decide to go into the next stage.

Spaniglish

Didn't have time for any movie for a few weeks. Finally, I'm free this afternoon and found something interesting on the newspaper. So I went to this movie called Spaniglish. I thought it is those comedy because of their advertisement presentation and the dog down there. However, it is quite different from what I expect.

It is more about the relationship among people: mothers & daughters (there are three pairs in this movie) as well as men and women. It's about a single mother from Mexico bringing up her daughter in USA. She is working as a maid in this American family whose husband is an excellent chef. Of course, there are something happened between this man and the Mexican lady because she is so gorgeous.

There are 2 things that I want to talk about there. First is how this single mother trying her best to raise up her daughter. Her husband left her with her daughter in Mexico. In order to support their life, she brought her daughter to USA and work in the Mexican community there where their life can go on just like in Mexico. However, she pushed herself to walk out of this community and look for a better-paid job outside. Besides, she also started to learn English in order to suit into the new environment. I guess this is what all the mothers would do as long as they can provide a better living for their children. It also proved what I learned from one of my seniors. There were something happened to her family and she got to take up the guts to fight the custody of her kids because she knows that her kids need her. Besides, she also needs to work very hard in order to provide her kids the same standard of living they had before and to pay the lawyer bill. She said mothers are like tigers when it comes to their kids. Mothers would do anything for them.

The second part is the relationship between man and woman. In this movie, this husband and the Mexican lady actually fall for each other but they know there are something they can not do when they have kids around. So they just had a great dinner at his restaurant and put all the things aside, but how many people can do that? I do not think there are any relationships or Love which can last forever but when you have kids in any merridge, it's not just about your own feelings. Children are the most innocent ones who deserve no hurt out of this. However, the fact is the devoice rate is getting higher and higher and there are more and more kids having problem to cope with the "new" life. So people should really think a lot before they decide to go into any merridge or having children because it is about a lot more people instead of one person only.

DO Club

There is a special club in my company called DO Club. DO is the short form for Duty Officer. Most of the employees here who stay for a certain period of time would need to join this club and take the duty to protect the office. The main responsibility is to lock up the office every night as we do not have security guard and automatic system to lock up office. Besides, this duty officer needs to reach office earlier to open the doors for the others. I forgot when I start taking up the duty but it has become a monthly event to me for quite some time.

Among all the duty officers, there are 3 to 4 who are very senior and possess a set of keys for emergency purpose. The official cut-off time every night is 8 pm. So the duty officer can request all the other people to leave by 8 pm. The interesting phenomenon here is that there would be at least 2 colleagues who are very senior and have the keys. They would stay late most of the time. So we would normally try to ask when they would be leaving and if there is any chance for them to lock up the place for us. Then we can leave earlier.

As to the morning part, there would also be some colleagues who have the keys and would reach office very early because they need to send their kids to school in the early morning. So most of time, they open the doors for me before I reach. So effectively, I might not need to do anything particular most of the time.

Besides, you would see people trying to change the duty roster almost everyday because of their planning for dinner or any other events at night. So this is the time to test how's your relationships with most of the other colleagues. You might be able to tell some interesting relationships here.

OK! It's almost 8 pm. Time for me to chase people out and leave the office