Preparing for steamboat/grill at Young’s place

Watching 3d UP with RZ

Special ramen outing with MB after THE COVE

Woah.. lots of spring onions hahaa…

Contented with the corn ramen!!

“What does 没 and 有 in没有mean?” asked my Italian friend.

I replied, 没means ‘does not have’ and 有means ‘has’. As the words came out, I realized that I’ve never really thought about mandarin this way. No wonder non-mandarin speakers often comment that mandarin is a complex and difficult language to pick up!

Inside afghanistan. Was having breakfast at home on Sunday, while watching this programme on nat geo. It was a documentary about the soldiers based at a hospital and specialising in emergencies.

There is one scene that has been recurring in my mind. A soldier was ambushed by the enermy and badly wounded due to the blast. He was air-lifted back to the hospital and wheeled into the ER. As the nurses attempted to remove the soldier’s boots.. One of his foot came off!!!!! That’s not all, the doctors realized that the injury was too serious and they had to amputate both legs, above the knees. The next scene was the nurse taking the amputated leg and placing it in double plastic bags. Gosh..At that moment, I thought to myself.. is there really any meaning in war? How can soldiers recover from such trauma?

The documentary was pretty well done, there were heart stopping moments, instances where you feel that human spirit will triumph…and most importantly, how everyone at the base looks forward to returning home to their families. It brings a different light to the situation in Afghan, it is not merely a 5 second news flash or an article in the papers.

If only we can learn to embrace peace.

We celebrated Jimmy’s birthday during lunch. The restaurant was tucked away at a corner of level 6.. we were the first customers of the day. Apparently, the place has been there for decades and the waitresses and chefs are all seniors.

I tried their shashilk beef and really enjoyed it. I’d recommend it to any beef lover! The borsch soup was also very filling, and almost every customer ordered a bowl.

We had a special dessert too, i think it was something ‘alaskan’. Jimmy was so happy, look at his smile? And the other two were busy taking pictures of him with the cake/dessert.

Sunday Brunch @ Dempsey. Met up with my friends from my canadian exchange.. hehe.. we were given the seats facing the forest, out in the open. The menu resembled a newspaper and the items on it sounded quite exotic… can you imagine squid ink pizza? I went for the Asparagus and poached eggs.. while the others had benedicts’ eggs, salmon hash and the blackish pizza. I initially wanted to try the ‘freeform eggs’..but kwan said that that’s something she can cook for me.

We moved into the air-conditioned section once a table was available. Shared the ‘3-in-a-box’ cakes!! Carrot cake was a must Kwan ordered the berry-jin drink .. hehe.. looked really colourful but tasted pretty strange.

It’s a happy start to the week! Had lunch and dinner dates.. hehe.. It really is a plus point to work in the city, where it is convenient for friends to visit. Had a good chat with rz over sushi and grilled bacon.. (yes yes, I do MISS you!)

Work has been fun; everyday’s different but filled with laughter.
I find myself putting different skills to use, being tactful, encouraging, and thinking from the other side of the fence.

A little bit of design, research and planning…I particularly like designing our internal newsletter – Tinkling with the photos and captions.

Researching on must try foods, cultures and quirky stuff, and learning a little more about our island.

Woohoo, let these fun times keep coming!

The girls came over today.. an afternoon of food, more food and kiina!
Too bad kwan wasn’t able to come It is nice to have a leisurely afternoon with friends and to chit chat about about anything under the sun. I’m looking forward to the next outing at ah nei’s house!

This book was calling out to me on my last trip to kino. The cover had a medieval feel to it, bringing me back to the 18th century. What caught my eye was the “qi lin”, a mythical dragon sitting on top of the title of the book. Though the book costs 34 bucks, I decided that it’ll be an excellent companion.

Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop! It was a mysterious, deductive book. The author, Matthew Pearl, was able to use historical events to weave a story about the literary world. Famous characters were introduced, such as Longfellow! Just last year, I was in maine, portland, standing right in front of Longfellow’s house! It is strange how I didn’t know much about Longfellow then, but through this book I became curious about how the poets lived back then.

After which, I went to the library to try and get Pearl’s other 2 books. “The Dante Club” was another exciting read!! This time, it revolved around Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell and Fields’s attempt to translate Dante’s Inferno and to stop a serial killer.

I’m happy to find one more author to look out for!