a long overdue gathering

Just got back from xiwen house… it was a gathering that was long overdue… our gang… since year 1, since xmas party at yuan’s house, we haven had a proper nice outing where we spend time with each other… surprisingly, we had full attendance today, given everyone’s hectic schedule and of course, me and daming’s erratic flight roster… most of the time there is bound to be someone who couldn’t make it. But since its Christmas and new year and Charlene is back, even Wendy and Carmen, who are the highest probability of flying aeroplane is here. Though it was initially meant for wendy, xiwen, Charlene, Carmen, yuan, barney, Patrick, daming and me… Thomas requested to be present and yaoxiang too, since he is xiwen’s neighbour.

Food and presents we brought for the gather and of course the gift exchange… thou nothing much grand was planned but the company of the people is more than enough, we haven seen each other for so long.. esp for those who have already stepped into the working world.. this kind of gathering is very very very much appreciated. I miss them actually, cos we dun have much chance to hang out together even thou when we are staying in hall… as time passes, we are all caught up with our own activities in hall and in school though we stay together, we seldom meet up. Except in year 1, when miraculously we always manage to wake up for breakfast together… those were the days…

Food overdose, desserts overdose.. in the end we have to resort to playing card games and drinking games to finish up the food… Carmen kana real bad… wendy too… Patrick and barney turned totally red.. but nobody mind… its all in the name of fun… thou initially we were a little apprehensive… cos we haven seen each other for a while, haven been updating each other… that ice thawed before we knew it… and we had a lot of fun, playing, laughing and almost tearing her house down… I miss the carefree days…

Let’s have another gathering soon guys… thanks xiwen for organizing… I miss you all…

White Christmas at Switzerland.. and boxing day at zouk

Back from Zurich but haven had the mood to blog…. But I think I am forcing myself to sit down and write about this before I forget more and more of it. Happy to be in Switzerland, Zurich, since its my first ever European country and first European station… thou it’s a far cry of my own expectations of long stay and doing backpacking.. but at least I think I step in on Europe now… originally planned to go skiing in the swiss alps… but it was almost destroyed by the cold winter weather. But luckily, yolene, Sharon and june were very enthusiastic and they decided to carry on with the plans we in the end the 5 of us booked a tour to mount titlis… the highest mountain in central Europe… the thought of skiing is almost driving me crazy that I din quite bother with how cold the weather is.

First day was nothing much, as we went to foxtrot in hope of searching for food and factory outlets… to our dismay, the factory outlets closed down and we have nothing except some grilled food for lunch and a supermarket to get some consolation food and tidbits… chocolates and wines are dirt cheap here… shud have bought more… sigh…

Early morning the next year, 5 of us woke up early… the night before I think we were all really shacked out… plans made to watch stardust in yoyo’s room was aborted cos no one can wake up after lying on the bed… in the coach which pick us up from movenpick hotel, we went to town area to catch a morning coffee before setting off… the trip was fun and an eye opener for us who haven seen snow and meadows… like what they say… its like walking into a fairy tale… the scenary is captivating and surreal… cant stop snapping photos… leaving Zurich, we passed by the province of Schwyz and Zug before stopping at the town of Lucerne for some snacks and shopping… photos galore again… we are camwhores… seriously… we dropped some people off at mount pilatus before moving on to titlis… reaching there… seeing the skiers really made me excited… but looking at the timing… seems like skiing is out of the question… tts saddening as we only have time to get to the mountain top and take the rides… being first timers we tried everything possible… minus skiing of course cos simply no time. Cable cars, some rides over the mountain tops, playing with snow… lying in snow to take photos… having our meals at the top of titlies… exploring the ice caves… in the freezing weather… most people think we are mad… but oh well.. first timers…

The journey and the time spent together bonded us quite well.. in the end we camped together in yolene’s room for dinner and chit chat session… which concludes the day… think next time I am going to rent a car and drive up… so that I can ski… there are other mountains to explore too.. like pilatus and laax. Hope I get to meet nice and adventurous crew again… hope to see u guys again soon, yoyo, Sharon, june and I will be seeing yiling in abu dhabi few weeks later… thanks for the wonderful first trip to Europe… not forgetting that it’s a fantastic white Christmas to have… first time in my life…

Addie dragged me to zouk on boxing day... initially i was on my way home... but i met her in town and hang ard with her for a while... in order to make me go with her, she bought clothes and shoes to change into... i had no choice man... but to go with her... queue was madnessly long and we couldnt get in for the longest time... meanwhile waiting for her friends sindy... pretty girl who is her batchgirl... i guess its crew, we hit off pretty fast and chat up about work and stuff... met her other friends... qiulian, and a few msu pageant girls... and outside friends who always club at zouk or st james on wed, fri and sat. terrance was a friend whom i played waterpolo against in secondary school and melvyn said he saw me at the airport before... hazel is another friend of theirs and she joined later... fun fun fun with drinks and dance.. not forgetting company of pretty girls.. i think i found my clubbing gang... fun and friendly and easy to get along with...

and i miss school finally...

think to some people... this might be long overdue... but only after looking at fotos... i realised that i actually miss the freedom of being a student... looked thru the photos of the year 4 soci honours class... the activities they do and the hanging out at the soci lounge... i finally realised why at my graduation ceremony, the year 4s are so closely knitted together... cos of the small number of them and everyone taking almost the same modules and all the time hanging out at the lounge for honours class students only.. plus all the outings... its hard to see why people wun be close in their honours year... i see my gang pple, vivian and becca hanging out with daniel, may ee, nicole anne, thomas, anastasia and others... i realised how few of us are actually doing honours.... and the people that we are so used to seeing at lectures are finally real friends instead of pple knowing who each other are but never said hi before...
i guess that made me really feel like doing honours... maybe i should have really done it, its afterall my studies... am i regretting now? that wud mean 1 more year of hall life... would i be doing what i am doing now?

going to zurich tmr, switzerland... my first european country... hope my crew is crazily fun... travel vs school... who wins?? hope to go skiing..

Major Error

just got back from brisbane...
its a paradise that place.. near sunshine coast and gold coast... not that i had the time to go but at least i know where i can head to next time... hotel was smacked in the middle of the city... food... shopping... chilling out pubs... were all at the doorstep.. did a bit of shopping there.. not much, cos din wanna spend all my money... took quite a bit of pictures of that place too... mainly for the concepts of the cafes and the pubs that were in the street...

it was the flight that was unforgettable... cos i missed out one cart of trays and the 2nd in command was bursting thru the rooftop and gave my immediate boss a dressing down thoroughly thou it wasnt his fault.. it was mine actually cos i forgotten to check.. i felt bad... really esp when my immediate boss is such a nice guy who even find time to write us a xmas card each... he din even scold me for my mistake, only told me to watch out in the future and carried on to teach me more things... think he is one of the nicest anyone could meet on board.. its a terrible feeling getting him into trouble... Brian was super nice oso.. came down and offer his protection.. think he took me as a mentee... and gave me this personal number and ask me to call him whenever i need advice or help... think he has a certain liking for me as we can click and has common interest.. he even call me to wake me up for soccer... such a nice boss.. thanks Brian... think i learnt a lot from you.. as a person...

Freezing Seoul

this is overdue cos of my laziness...
so much so that i forgotten what i wanted to pen down...
anyway, its back to fun Seoul again... quite happy actually... cos Seoul is an interesting place to me... i had planned to go down to Itaewon and Myeondong again... hopefully still have time to meet royston... weather no permitting thou... lucky to meet Shirley again on this flight... we headed down to Itaewon together with Shirley and Linda.. bought the stuff i promised Bobo.. and went for some very nice korean grilled beef.. very shiok... suppose to head down to Myeondong after that.. but the cold winds and freezing weather not permitting...i think it was down to at least -8 degrees that night... forced me to give up on my Myeondong and Krispy Kremes... but i saw a very pretty girl at the convenience store... think she is one of my collegues on the other flight... seoul-frisco i think... she saw me too.. but too bad.. i dun think will get to see her again... it was so cold that when the wind blows, everyone was chilled to the bones. mist were escaping as we talk, as though we were chimneys...

next morning i went down to lotte mart to get some seaweed... on the way back.. i met my first boss Patrick Loh, a super nice boss whom i met on my training flight.. he still remember who i am... he's doing seoul-vancouver...gracious me.. so happy to see him.. still remember the night when he talk to me and thams together.. and we drank till 2-3am at the hotel in narita... memorable...

on the flight back... saw a super pretty korean girl... think pretty enough to be a poster model... wahhh.. looks in the mould of Eva Xiao.. but an even prettier version...