Good food!!!

YAY!!! Me home!!!

Arrived yesterday!! No sleep till Singapore! haha...watched 6 movies on flight....not much sleep..arrived at 0644am...had dim sum breakfast! :)....went home, sweat like crazy....slept 1hr...cousins arrived at my house, went to eat lunch at one of their house...picked up another cousin's car...went home..slept for 2hr...got dragged out of bed to send my parents to my grandmother's place...went to meet classmates for dinner, had a long gossip-catching-up session....went for supper at Jalan Kayu's prata!!! Had a short confrontation with a guy there!! Damm I am begining to not like that place for its crowd...

Anyway........me one happy oyster back in his cove...:p

Home soon!

Just home after a late Christmas dinner with close frens Tana, Myriah and Boyan. Had a fabulous dinner at PUCK, nice wine, good food, good laughs and M&Ms.....ooh....WAS a really good dinner to wrap up this year. I think I will miss them all, even when i am back in Singapore. Tana will be in Germany, New York, Oklahama. Myriah, all over Portugal. Boyan in his ski hut in the Bulgarian Mounts. Me in hot, humid Singapore with too much to eat, too much to shop, too many movies to catch, too little time :)

There was an air of festivity as you walk the streets tonight, listening to Love Generation on your fiets, with a cool chill blowing, I felt like I had half-a Dutch Christmas this year. My first autumn/winter in Europe. Got a really huge FIP Santa Gift Pack from the Boss too!

*Back to reality* I have to clean my house, do last minute laundry, water the plants...hmm, wonder if it will survive....clean the toilet, sweep the floor....pack my bags!..OH...yeah, pack my lugguage...haha...almost forgot about it.

Wow, its 1am now. Better start taking out my luggage and stuff my clothes!

Planning to wake up at 6am, dump the clothes in the washer, go back to sleep, wake up at 7am, dump the clothes in the drier, go back to sleep, wake up 8am, pack last minute clothes. And get out of the house at 9am!

Wish me luck and safe travels for everyone heading home!

SQ323. Wait for me! I am checking in!!!

Countdown!

4 more days to go....:)

Wierd thoughts van de dag

Today I had a weird day. Was woken up by a fren to play WoW online. Played for 6hrs. Missed my train to Deflt for my gifts shopping plan. Slept till 6pm then. Ordered Chinese takeaway - as I have officially cleared my fridge in preparation for homecoming on friday. Wanted to study my Dutch, but ended up watching tv as they were showing something really interesting on Animal Planet. It was on SOS Fauna and how they were raiding illegal wildlife bird and animal poachers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Saving the fauna by releasing them in the wild in the Amazon and Bahia environments.

There was a women in this organisation "Project Monkeys", who dedicated her life to saving Monkeys. Its really amazing how people can say that and walk the talk.

Have anyone of you ever thought of dedicating your life to a cause?

Leaving everything familiar for a cause to advance the pharmacy profession internationally has always been on my mind. For now, I still believed in it.

Perhaps its not a wierd day but weird thoughts. Pro-departure 4days Singapore.

Back to Dutch...

Sinterfeest in mijn kantoor!

Today is Sinterklass day - Dutch version of the Santa Claus! :) And best is, we still get the normaal Christmas holidays!! hehe

Well, everyone gets a half day off but the 3 of us met phil, decided to work! wow...hehe, hardworking FIP staff eh....not to forget I had to go have my lungs X-rayed for my regular 6 months TB check up in the morning. Hmm, apparently, they dun really believe that I do not have TB...haha...oh well.

Anyway, just at about 4pm, the sun came out finally and I had this craving for chicken wings by the reinkenstraat near the office. So, we decided its time for our very own Sinterfeest! hehe, bring on the bottles!

Half-Year Anniversary!!

WOOHOO!!

I was just talking to my fren and I suddenly realised that tomorrow - 1st Dec is going to officially mark my 6-Months Anniversay in the Netherlands! I officially started work on the 1st June!!! WOW....i actually am still alive! hehe

I am now looking at my organiser and it really does bring back memories, albeit only 6 months, haha...about what i wrote about the stupid GDD, ...IND...and crazy places I had to run to get my visas. At one point, I was legal to work but illegal to stay and having to take a TB test at some place where I got lost, trying to find the building!

I actually travelled more than 3 hours to see windmills!!...tsk tsk...such touristy acts are never to be repeated nor condoned in all sense...lol

Some interesting facts:

1 new job = 1 new life experience

2 times Ikea trips = 2 times renovation of my flat

3 haircuts = I have my favorite hairstylist fren now in Amsterdam. He's cool.

4 of my Singapore frens came over visiting (Seokz, Wendy, Kok Wee and Liza)

5 weddings dinner in Singapore missed :(

6 crazy parties at least :)

12 Dutch classes so far

50 days travelling out of the Netherlands in the past 6 months!

FUN times with Liza and frens!

Hihi..

Wow...writing this makes me feel like going home! Spent two dinners and 1 night with Liza and frens when they were here last week was really really fun, to be able to crap Singapore Style..haha...IT was a superorama-singaporean outing! Haha, haven't had such laughs for a while haha...I still dun understand why they had a Batik Nite in Amsterdam?!! haha..

Oh yes, I think Pauline and Rachel are fun people too! Really enjoyed their company and hopefully, they dun think I am a crazy oyster! hehe....good times...good times...

I also introduced to them, two of my good frens here. Jonathan from FIP and Samir from Dutch Class. :)

Check out the cool photos!



Taken at the Dam, from left - Jonathan, Liza, Pauline, Rachel and Samir



Liza, Me and Pauline - had a long walk on Wed night - we COULD have taken the tram though! hehe,...kudos to Liza for still walking with her sprained ankle --> won her the Bravery Award during their company Batik Nite!



Group photo at the hotel on our first night dinner outing.





Instead of watching the Boom Chicago performance, we got there after the show had started so...well, guess we could always do some light drinks and chats there still. :)



Me and Liza on the Fri night. Out at the nearby Cheeze Fondue place. Heel Lekker!! :)





Check out the Fondue and Salmon! Good times Liza!! Miss u all already!

Can't wait to be back in Singapore!!!

Nothing ongoing but LIZA is in the Netherlands now!

Hihi..

Nothing recent has been really exciting here...did anyone even know that I slept till 430pm on Sat afternoon? It was just a day that I thought, should be an morning-alarm-free, ended up being Not-Much-Of-a-Day left! haha...And I had to talk about my non-existent weekend during Dutch classs last night. :)

Dutch is getting tougher! Ik den Nederlands is heel moeilijk! Som ik kan horen heel goed maar ik begrijp niet...:(

ANYWAY.....I am meeting Liza tonight at Amsterdam for dinner!! YAY! Should be fun! Shall take some photos! haha

Hailstones!!

Wow...we got caught in a mini-hail stone rain!!! Quite fun though painful when they hit your head.. :) I heard sometimes in Canada, they rain hail stones the size of golf balls!! Crazily!!

COLD!! Maybe about 7 degrees now...maybe I should buy a glove now...haha

First time in my life...

Made in Egypt

Not sure if you guys have seen this....hehehe

Sinterklass is here!!

Here's an early Ho Ho Ho to all of you!!

Spent an early morning cycling to the harbour to wait for Sinterklass to arrive...with all the other kids!! haha..sadly, I didnt get a treat from the black petes...:(

There is an interesting story behind Dutch christmas and all about how Dutch immigrants brought the tradition of Santa Claus to the rest of the world....then again, thats what the Dutch thinks...haha.. and it is still a dream for me to be celebrating Christmas at the Santa Claus Village in Finland.....

Until then, here's some Dutch Pre-Christmas festives!



Zwarte Pete with some mini-zwarte petes!!



Huge crowd by the harbour!!



Not so fun...



Extremely enjoyable!



The cool thing was if you cant find a place to stand by the harbour...well, you can come in your own boat!









And nobody is stopping you if you just want to kayak here...hehe looks really fun!



Sinterklass's steamboat from Spain!!!



S and his merry Petes onboard



Can you spot Sinterklass?





Sinter! Sinter! *kids jumping*



And so you all thought Sinterklass was on THAT boat....ah....i see him in the crowd...



This Pete was once a stuntman!



All hail! The Man Waves.











Made in Spain



Thus, presenting you Sinterklass, with special appearance - Tigger!!

Sinterklass in the Hague!! Tomorrow!

On Saturday the 12th of November, Sinterklaas will be in town again. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Dutch tradition of ‘Sinterklaas’, here’s a crash course: Sinterklaas is the name of the historical Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children and sailors, and a bringer of gifts. Every year he travels – by steamer – from Spain to the Netherlands to bring children presents on the 5th of December, his birthday. This year, too, children and parents will welcome Sinterklaas to the Netherlands when he arrives in Scheveningen harbour.

So..........tomorrow, I am planning to cycle to the Scheveningen beach to welcome Sinterklass too! I heard he is giving out treats to children too! :)

Check out the program!

Festivities to celebrate Sinterklaas’ arrival in Scheveningen, on the quay of the ‘2e binnenhaven’ (the second inland harbour), will start at 10.30 a.m. Karel de Kok (‘Charles the Chef’), Lakei Franciscus (a valet) and Hofdame Frandolien (a lady-in-waiting) will play the leading roles in the children’s musical Karel de Kok, perform funny sketches and songs that you can sing along with.

The S.S. Madrid will arrive in Scheveningen harbour at approximately 11 a.m.
Around 11.15 a.m. the S.S. Madrid will steam up the inland waterways and reach the second inland harbour (2e binnenhaven).
Around 11.30 Sinterklaas will set foot on Dutch soil.

After a welcoming speech by Mr. Deetman, the mayor of The Hague, Sinterklaas will go to the city centre.

Euro English

Usually I do not like to forward emails but this is really funny, especially when I am learning Dutch now....haha

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze
forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl

Cycling to Hoek Van Holland - 40km today!

Another sunday spend cycling somewhere...hehe

Well, initially I really wanted to cycle to Gouda, after reading a little on the town from my Lonely Planet....BUT I cant find the website that gives you the cycling routes?! Anyone know?

So...I remembered that Mark was telling me that he cycled to Hoek van Holland, which is about 20km away from the Hague, was a pretty nice place to go according to him...hmm..I am trying to think of a word to describ the place...perhaps I can conclude that the process justifies the end. haha...because basically there is nothing at Hoek van Holland!!?? I got to a little port town near the sea, after maybe about 2hrs? Nothing much there actually...haha.....seems like a good exercise day though..

With a little disappointment, I headed back to Den Haag and spotted a different sign that points to Den Haag, in a totally different direction which I came from? Being a curious me, I naturally decided that I got to live dangerously and take this new route back home, afterall, its also just another 20km back. And, I am glad I did!! The path winded away from the main roads and after 30mins, I was cycling on a hill path! I wished I started earlier the day because then, the skies were darkening with the sunset....it was almost unbeliveable how/why there is this bike path, along the coast, winding on some low hillies, with no cars and just some people walking...with a few sheep here and there! hehe...really nice

About 12km on this hill/coast path, it felt like hardcore cycling..haha....especially with the strong winds...at this point of time, I though of Weijie! hehe...I remember we did the round islands cycling in Singapore, 2 or 3 times? (I hope you are reading this weijie..hehe)

Anyway.....check out some of the photos I took along the way,...I must find the bike route to Gouda!! Till next weekend..:)



The street which I live on



On the way - came across this windmill in the Hague! wow...seems to be a real working windmill.





Some sheeps along the way...



Plenty of greenhouses too! With 2 sheep onlooking as I took this photo.



I think sheeps are curious creatures. :)



The hilly path! Nice workout for cycling here...





A Beach nearby

Spongebob Square Pants party or Halloween Party?

ZUT ALORS!

BOB L'SPONGE!

One might mistaken us for a group of 10yr olds celebrating Spongebob's birthday party! BUT, these photos were actually taken during our Halloween party last week! hehe....*good times*



SquareBox Sponge Pants?



You might recognise some of us...



A Father and his two daugters



Happily drinking



Too much drinks? The doctor from Scotland is called in. :)









Cookie Monster also came to our party!!