Have a Wonderful Christmas!

As the year comes to a close
and the snow flies once again,
family and friends should be together,
it is that love we wish to send.
May you have a Merry Christmas,
may your wishes all come true.
May you enjoy all of your tomorrows.

Welcome to Taiwan!

I finally set foot into Taipei after months of waiting. The weather was perfect, ranging between 12 to 21 degrees celsius while we were there. Taiwanese are a nice bunch of people, hardly are they loud nor rude, unlike the 'neighbour'. I highly recommend Les Suites Ching Cheng for their excellent service and I luv the interior decor that exudes warmth and coziness that feels like home away from home. I will definitely go back again.

Ivy, Me & Angie before the welcome dinner (taken outside Fifi Teahouse)

My favourite pix (taken with Audrey). Strike a pose!

Group pix

Day 2 at Jiu Fen. Local delicacies are aplenty here.

Hot chicks outside the National Museum.

I ran a mile away when I smelt this.... You are right... Smelly Tofu. YL, Angie and Audrey had a go at it and they luv it. Apparently it tasted good... Next time maybe.

A whole block of peanut candy that's shaved into powdered form to be eaten with ice-cream wrapped in popiah skin.

Taiwanese luv dogs and you can see them almost everywhere from the streets to the malls to the restaurants. This adorable doggy is the boss of the shop - the collar says it all.

As if there aren't enough disasters around us, at 3:45 pm today news came of the 6.0 richter scale earthquake in southern Taiwan. At about the same time the money changer had arrived at our office and we were at one point hesitating whether to go ahead but since we've committed to him there's no backing out. Anyway, S assured us that Taipei is safe so the trip is firmed afterall, but will avoid tall buildings per Hubby's advice. Also, since the news hasn't made headlines until now I assume it is still okay.

Finally! Result for Ethics & Governance individual project was released today. Got an SMS text from Emily and immediately I felt butterflies in the stomach as it's one tough paper that I hope only to pass. Darn! Though I tried to manage expectations I was still disappointed when I saw my grade - managed a pass only. Shortly after few other SMS-es came through and lots of exchanges followed as a good handful of us scored 15/30 which is rather bizarre. Some suggested to call the school for clarification but I didn't see the need. Then, at 5:30 pm I got another SMS from Emily to say the school made a blunder and have made the necessary adjustments... I had no expectations at all in case I'm disappointed again. But I was wrong!!! I stared at the screen in disbelief, from a pass grade to distinction. Felt relieved for a while but nothing is for sure until the exam results are out. 3 days and counting.

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Hubby decided he wants a real tree for this Christmas so we headed down to Thomson to check it out. He wanted the scandivanian tree as it feels more homely, I'm however indifferent be it real or fake tree, I just want the tree up soon. Since we're both going to be away this weekend we won't be able to get the tree ready until next weekend. No tree but we have put up some Christmas decor to kick start the mood a little. Until I have the tree up, it doesn't feel like Christmas as yet.

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4 days to Taipei! I'm looking forward to the food, shopping, and the list goes on ; )

Korean Drama

Gotta admit it, I'm slow to warm up to Korean drama. Actually I've only watched 4 to date namely, Summer Love, Da Chang Jin, My Lovely Samsoonm, and Coffee Prince. Guess I've been influenced by my dear die-hard fans of Korean Drama colleagues. Anyway, here's my current favourite - love the onscreen couple Gong Yoo and Yong Eun Huey, aren't they cute?

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It's that time of the year again - the time of the year that everyone looks forward to regardless of age. A time to ring in the festive season. Angie has organized a girl's nite out on Dec 19th and we've been requested to dress in anything but LBD... Am so looking forward to the evening where we'll kick off with a nice dinner at Ember followed by drinks at the Screening Room. Yahooooooooo!!! Tis the season to make merry ; )

An Enchanted Evening...

Had our year end party last Friday at Raffles Hotel. The function room was transformed into a kingdom with black & white table set up, candles, flowers, chandeliers, all added a nice touch to the evening's theme - Fairytale.

So many things happened over the past 2 weeks. I've to sit down and think it through before I can put it down on writing. Nothing major, just some changes in plans which is part of life, always expect the unexpected. Or should it be what to expect of the unexpected? Ok, dun think I'm making much sense here.

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The office party is barely 2 days away and I'm nursing a gastric flu, of all times... it was a sudden attack as I was feeling perfectly fine all day yesterday until about 7-ish. Decided to drop by the 24-hr clinic in Bishan enroute to MIL's place. I was relieved to know there was only me and another patient waiting to collect medication and I wasn't expecting the whole process to last almost 30 minutes from registration to consultation to med collection. This is not the worst. The patient before me had to make a U-turn as the nurse had forgotten about the MC, and even a simple request like this would take up 5 mins. Why? Because one of the nurse was busy with her work and the other whom I thought was going to attend to the request had walked over to pick up the ruler and then went to the side of the counter and starting scratching the unreachable part of her back with the measuring tool. I found the scene absurd, but it's not over yet. The phone rang... (I could only relate what I heard).

Nurse: Good evening, XXX clinic... Oh, your wife is having diarrhoea, vomitted and too weak to walk ah? She's pregnant... You want house call huh? Wait a minute. (she walks over to doc's office).

Nurse: Patient's husband called to say.... How?

Doc: No... call mobile doctor (can't hear the exact conversation but it was a clear no)

I hope the doctor can sleep well at night as I'm sure this is not the first time he has turned down house calls if he was so quick to suggest alternatives.

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It's my first year-end party with the Firm, YL's first time organizing an office party, so we both hope it'll all go smoothly as planned. Of course with any events you have to expect last minute glitches and that'ss how it is. As always, I'm hoping for the best and prepared for any last last minute hiccups - can't get too uptight about it or you'll never enjoy the process. It's all about having fun, right? I'm sure to update my blog with party details.