FAmiliARiziNG...

Day 2- Sunday, had buffet breakfast which was included at the Metro Hotel, not many choices, but the choc croissant was nice, so we smuggled some food for mum and papa who came to meet us back in the room... after breakfast, we made our way to the tourist office again...where we got some assistance looking for accomodation cos we only had accomodation booked until 12 April... was told that most of the places are fully booked already cos it is the peak season now, so we spent quite some time at the tourist office going through our options... in the end, we decided to book 3 nights at this guesthouse which I was told that we would be sleeping ondol style, which was one of the things I wanted to try... and we booked our Jeju trip from 12 April to 14 April, 3 days, 2 nights, and decided to go on a coach tour from 16-18 April 3 days 2 nights as well... and we booked 2 different daily tours... 

after all that, mum and papa went off with Mr Park and his wife to visit the DMZ and some ginseng wholesale market... whilst pong and I made our way to the Cheong Gye Cheon (this stream that stretches quite a long way) which was located across from the tourist office... walked along the stream for abit, and saw this singaporean opened kaya cafe similar to the Ya Kun toast place here, but this cafe was ran by Koreans... did not go in to eat but decided to come back another day to try the food... after that, made our way on foot to the Astoria Hotel, which is approx a 20mins walk, we definitely walked the long way bcos we later found a shortcut through the Myungdong streets... when we arrived, checked in and decided on the 6th floor rather than the 4th floor where mum and papa were, cos we were told that 4th floor is noisier cos there is a karaoke place, when we arrived in the room, realised that our room did not have a nice view like mum and papa's room where they could see the Namsan tower and our room was really hot and stuffy... anyway, we decided to stick with it for the next 4 days... 

we decided to catch a train to Hongdae where apparently Hongik Uni is located and weekend markets... we were told to purchase this Tmoney card which you can use on buses and trains, when we arrived at Hongdae train station, we got off at the specified exit but did not see the uni at all, tried to ask some people but again, language barrier, so we decided to walk towards the direction where more people are heading to, and went into this clothing store to ask for directions... and luckily this storeperson could speak some English and pointed us to the right direction... when we finally got to the place, it looked similar to Myungdong, alot of alleyways filled with shops selling food, clothes, accessories, cosmetics, and street hawkers... and alot of young people... it was pretty crowded, probably becos it was a sunday... you pretty much have to walk along the alleyways if you want to see more stuff otherwise if you stick to the main road, it looks pretty boring on the outside... walked quite awhile before deciding on a place for lunch, this small store where the seats are facing the wall, selling ramyun... it was not bad and it was pretty cheap... I chose this spicy ramyun and it ended up spicier than I could handle so pong and I swapped... after that we decided to go have dessert to cool ourselves... for some reason, it was pretty cold on the first day when we arrived, but that day it was pretty warm... dessert was at this place called nature cafe and we had waffles and brownie with ice cream... after that, we decided to catch a train to Insadong, where apparently it is famous for it arts and crafts and antiques stuff... again, when we got there, we had to ask for directions, this time from a policeman who was standing guard outside the police station... who also luckily knew some English... pointed us to the right direction and there were also alot of people... it was a whole street with shops selling arts and crafts, traditional Korean stuff and street food... also came upon Ssamziegil, where they sell accessories, clothes catering to the younger generation... it was actually quite a cool place, we went all the way up to the rooftop (only 4 stories high) where you can experience some traditional korean way of life... there were also narrow alleys where traditional restaurants are located... after that, we met up with mum and papa at Lotte department store and foodcourt, did not end up eating anything cos we were all pretty full still... made our way back to the Astoria after buying some bread for breakfast the next day... initially booked our daily tours to start on Monday, not knowing that mum and papa made plans with Mr Park to go out on Monday, so in the end, we had to postpone our daily tour to Tuesday and Wednesday... 

after 2 days in Seoul, the things I noticed were 1. alot of Koreans smoke, more males smoke than females, but it was not very pleasant when walking on the streets 2. alot of coffee cafes, the Koreans must drink alot of coffees 3. the streets are not very clean 4. there are no such thing as traffic rules, cos even though there are pedestrian crossing, you pretty much have to start walking first otherwise you are never going to cross the road, cars still go ahead even the lights are red, and there are U-turn lanes, but you can U-turn anywhere within the lane, no need to take turns 5. toilets- there are no such things as sanitary bins, people throw their pads into normal waste bins, and the bins are open... gross... but I think what they do is they wrap the pads in toilet paper and throw them in the bin cos the pads are not visible thank god...

ArriVEd in SeOuL...

Day 0- left for the airport on easter Friday afternoon to catch the plane to singapore, which is an 8 hour flight, no nice movies on the plane hence pretty much was sleeping throughout the flight, and constantly being surrounded by crying babies, seriously had thoughts of shoving the dummy into their mouths... arrived in singapore, was luckily allowed to go out and eat my fishball noodle in the foodcourt and met up with mum and papa... and then it was time again to catch the midnight flight to Seoul- Incheon airport, which is approx a 6 hour flight... which again was pretty much sleeping throughout the entire flight... 

Day 1- arrived at Incheon airport approx 7am... their airport is pretty massive, there is a separate concourse where we were and had to catch a shuttle to the main building where we retrieved our luggage... and was picked up by papa's friend, Mr Park... and the journey from the airport to the downtown area was approx an hour... Mr Park treated us lunch at this fusion Jap and Korean restaurant... did not like the food cos it was more raw food than anything else, like sashimi etc... but I liked the plum tea which he recommended... apparently called 'mei-shil cha'... after that, he dropped us off at Astoria hotel where mum and papa will be staying for the next 5 nights... and we headed to the tourist office located at Myungdong... which took us some time to locate actually even with a map... when we finally found it, we were told that we had to organise the Jeju trip ourselves, all they can do is provide us with some travel agencies which may be able to organise the trip... so we went in search of this travel agency which apparently was located close by... but took us forever to find it, and when we finally found the place, we found out that none of them spoke english and the guy rang up the airline and said we had to book our own flights... so in the end, we went back to the tourist office and found some brochures in english which organises trips to Jeju... so we pretty much took all the english brochures we could find and left... walked to Myungdong and decided to have dinner there... the place was quite crowded, probably becos it was a sat... there was so many alleyways filled with food shops, cosmetic shops, clothing shops, and stalls selling mainly clothes, accessories, food... finally decided to eat at this place which is located on the 2nd floor, had bibimbap, tteokbukki with cheese, and seafood pancake, and decided to try makgeolli... the one we had came from a bottle and it had quite a high alcohol content, which made it taste more like wine than rice wine... did not really like it... it was also quite difficult communicating with the locals, but luckily there was a waiter who spoke mandarin... so not too bad... the bibimbap and the cheesy tteokbukki were not bad, the seafood pancake was not quite that crispy... after dinner, went in search of the metro hotel where pong and I would be staying for one night... had a really hard time finding the place even with the map, we were asking people on the street, the cafe staff, pretty much anyone we thought could speak english, which mainly were the younger generation... we probably spent one hour finding the place... we finally found the place and it was quite a nice place despite being a small hotel and small room... and breakfast included... so we settled in and mum and papa went back to the Astoria for the night... the other good thing about the Metro hotel was that there was free wi-fi in both the lobby and in the room, and there were computers where we could upload pics...

ChAnGE of sEASon...

the townhouse in castle hill did not go through in the end, becos the agent was playing games so atm, we have been advised by the broker to work on obtaining a bank pre-approval first, so that's where we are at atm... got the good news that our budget for property prices can be a little higher than we first thought becos of my low salary, which means we have more options now...

nothing really much happening at work, Laura's surprise baby shower happening on Thurs, hopefully things turn out well, and everything goes smoothly, and people have a good time... 2 more weeks before I go on hols'... counting down... work has been really quiet in aged care for the past 2 weeks, which is good in a general health perspective, as that means lesser older people are falling sick, but that also means there is nothing really alot to do at work... and now that Deanna has joined our team, it's even more quiet... anyway, I am not really complaining though...

it was my long weekend finally after 6 weeks, really have gotten spoiled by this ADO business... cannot go for longer than 4 weeks before feeling like I need a break... went to watch the hunger games on Friday, yet to read the book and only hearing the brief plot of the story from prisy... the movie was surprisingly quite good except the camera becomes really shaky at times... and the theatre was pretty much packed, people were sitting from the 3rd row from the screen and gold class was sold out for all sessions that evening... met up with anna, yochi and jo on sat for lunch, at artarmon... the food was ok, not that great, and went to visit anna's house after, her son Joe is really cute and chubby, which is weird cos no one is anything close to fat at all in her family... went out for dinner with Amelia, Karen and Tina separately on Monday for Korean at Lidcombe, the price was reasonable but the food ok, not that great... good news is that I recently received confirmation that my application for registration has been approved, and no need to retake the IELTS, just waiting for the criminal history screen now... so one thing less to stress about...

went to Katoomba again over the weekend, was really looking forward to our accomodation, but it turned out to be shitty, even worse than the Carrington... the first thing I saw when we stepped in was this dirty soiled towel hanging behind the door, and it's got bloodstains on it, I was really grossed out... no view, and feels more like a motel than a hotel really... and the breakfast was crap as well... so disappointing... went back to Leura again, mainly to get the French Vanilla cake and to visit the French soap shop, went to visit Wentworth Falls, but that was about it really, spent the rest of the time in the room, reading, guess what... yup the Hunger games trilogy... cos I keep hearing how good it is, from prisy, yochi and so finally decided to read the books... so started reading the books, and of course, finished reading all of them and sleeping at 4am on sunday morning... did not think the books were as good as what everyone says, definitely recommend someone to read but it's not something I would be reading more than once... and the storyline becomes darker towards the end, and you feel really bad for both the main characters who went through so much and you have to keep reminding yourself that they are only teenagers... and there are predictions saying the hunger games are going to be bigger than twilight which I definitely have to agree, and may even be comparable to harry potter, which I doubt though...

yay, april is almost here, which means easter, which means chocolates, which means changing colours of the maple leaves, which means cooler weather... nice... and this year, april means I am finally going to Korea, hopefully everything goes well and we will all have fun and cross my fingers and toes, get to see Running man filming or some celebrities...

烦死...

let's see. what's new... papa's confirmed coming to visit in Aug-Sept for 2 weeks, not likely going to new zealand now though...

my ticket to ride boardgame finally arrived, super excited... we played a few rounds over the weekend, but the thing I came to realise was that with this particular game, you actually need more players, so it becomes more challenging and it makes you strategise... it would be even better if I could get the asian version as well...

still house hunting, saw a townhouse over the weekend which I quite liked, the agent agreed to the offer price, personally don't like the agent and it is feeling like he is wanting to sell this property quick... I knew that buying a property is not easy and that there are many things to think about, but the more I speak to uncle, the more I realise that I still have alot to learn and find out... could not sleep last night because of this... at this stage, I guess I will just see this as a learning process and if it's meant to be, it's meant to be...

work wise, aged care continues to be short of staff, and we have been told that this is likely to be for the long term... cos Deanna will only be the senior for 6 weeks, and nothing's been done to recruit for Laura's position yet, so potentially when Julia rotates, ummm... it would pretty much just be me on the 2 wards... anyway, work's been alright at this stage, it's busy but not crazy busy which is really good seeing as how we are short of staff...

the other stuff going on are health issues, BP and my unusual period... alamak, feels like I have got so many things going on atm...

I hope the house issue comes through, cos even though it's not ideal, it's one which I am leaning towards amongst all the others I have seen so far...

GRay & glOOmY...

march already... wish it was April instead so I can go on my Korea hols... work is still the same, busy as always, nothing exciting to report... still trying to organise Laura's surprise baby shower, although people are not responding despite me saying that it has to be organised prior to her coming back to work... so, I am just going to go with the flow... my april ADO got rejected cos we are short of staff then, so I decided to have it in Aug, and hopefully I will have enough leave to go New Zealand with papa then...

no new shows at the moment, still waiting for the moon and sun and salaryman shows to finish, watching running man and amazing race, no new shows, and not in the mood to watch the HK shows...

currently still trying to look for houses and looking into trading in my car... I really don't like going on house inspections, especially when it is raining, was exhausted when I came home today... and property is so expensive, we still cannot afford most of them anyway...

that's probably it for the updates, it's been raining every day, clothes are not drying, and there's flooding here, planning for another roadtrip when I have my ADO at the end of this month... wanted to go new zealand during my last week of hols in april, but nobody wanted to go with me, so at this stage, it's looking like I will be staying put during that week...

DECisiOns, deCisiONs...

nothing very much happening at the moment... the weather is still mostly rainy, with one day being hot, and then the rain returns... not that I am complaining, I think this is the first time since I bought Auris when I have not washed him for like 4 months now and counting... he is filthy needless to say...

started watching this new HK drama, same old story of concubines fighting in the palace, has Jessica Hsuan and Myolie Wu, it started off ok, but at episode 8, I decided to cheat and watched the final episode and it turned out to be a dramatic reversal of roles, the good became evil and vice versa... stopped watching the show... started rewatching old shows, like gumiho, fated to love you... and in between waiting for running man... and 1N2D... no nice dramas now, boring... went to the movies to watch underworld, it was ok, we were forced to watch it in 3D and had to pay extra for it, I really don't like watching 3D, cos the 3D glasses have to sit on top of my glasses... which is not very comfortable as you can imagine... and after that, came home to watch resident evil... it was also only ok, still feel that the 1st and 3rd ones are the best so far... went to rent dvds now that our supplier is pretty much nonexistent... rented a walk to remember (bcos I woke up one day and had this sudden urge to watch it), red planet (sci fi, it was alright), and beastly, which was meant to be a modern version of beauty and the beast... after watching it, it became quite clear why the movie failed to make it to the cinemas...

work-wise, as expected, I had to compromise on my jan ado, and now I was told that I would have to compromise on my april one as well... so irritating, this is what happens when you work in a team and being short of staff... today received my pay as usual, and realised that I have been promoted to a Level 2 year 1... yay, even though the salary rise is only like $2/hour... today at work, there was quite a heated exchange between Ren and Deb, cos Deb is currently helping out at inpt rehab whilst Jo is away, and she needed to make a splint for one of Jo's pts... I mean the usual practice is for us to call on Ren when we need to get splints done cos he is the splints guru in the dept, but today, he pretty much went off at Deb saying things like I can't be the only one doing this, what if I am not here, I won't be doing it on my own, you need to be doing the clinical reasoning side of things as well cos I won't be doing that... and the thing is Deb is more experienced than me, and I can't imagine if I was in Deb's position today... and they were talking abt it in the office, I would be so embarrassed... I felt really bad for Deb... otoke...

ok, I know that I have been thinking of working and travelling in UK for a while now, but since I was back home, I have had second thoughts like, it's too far away, I will essentially be on my own, the flight is too long, it's cold... and so plan B was to go back home to work cos I really think thay learn alot more than us... and so I was talking it through with uncle cos my PR visa expires in 2014 and I don't think I will be staying in the rotation after cancercare... and uncle pretty much said it would be alot easier to renew it here rather than overseas... and things like you need to learn how to work smarter not harder...

so the other thing I was thinking of doing was start looking for another job mid year 2013, preferably TACP, would like to try that, sounds interesting... tell them I can start jan 2014, resign in sept 2013, take 2 months off to travel Europe (and I have already calculated that you need at least 2 months if you want to see most of the places) and start the new TACP job, do that for a year maybe, and then head back home to work, so I can renew my PR visa here...

for the 3 weeks hols' in april... I am actually considering if I could maybe travel to new zealand for a week, did some research and I may be able to see most things within a week... but will have to see if pong's uni schedule allow, seeing as how there is another anzac day public hol on wed...

today got home from work, was talking abt me not wanting to eat so much rice, and so auntie said she will fry noodles tomorrow, for lunch, and I was like, are you sure you will have enough time to do this seeing as how we need to go pick pong up from the airport then... and then auntie mentioned that she spoke with pong this pm, and pong apparently told her that her flight was tomorrow night... I was like no... I am pretty sure when I booked it, she was arriving tomorrow pm... hence I gave her a call and the girl actually told me she wanted to finish playing the bingo game before going to check... I got so mad at her... so I was speaking to nainai when she came on the phone again and said they made a mistake and I was right... and so the panic started, cos nothing was packed, mum was still at work, papa's not in... and she needed to get to the airport in a few hours... I myself was panicking on her behalf too... so in the end, she got onto mum, whom is making her way home, and I called papa to let him know... STRESS! that's the issue with booking overnight flights, the dates and times can be very misleading... anyway, things have been sorted out thank god...

stupid OT registration has finally arrived, such a pain, have to get all the paperwork certified and pay more money... still don't have a definite answer for the IELTS thing yet, so there is still a possibility that I would have to sit another round of IELTS, this time in the academic module... so painful...

BAck TO siAn...

end of the second week of work after my hols'... all I can say is sian... and the weather has mostly been gray and raining... did not do much for chinese new year, just had hotpot that was the extent of the celebration we had at home... nothing much to comment on with regards to work, same old, except some people have left, and there will be new people starting this week... and one of the shitty things are that becos Laura and Deanna are sharing the senior position now, my ADOs clashed with Deanna's which potentially means that I might not get the days I want... which is very annoying... so currently still waiting to hear back about whether my ADOs are approved...

uncle's friends steve and liz adkinson came over for dinner last sat... it was actually not as boring as I thought it would be... was obligated to attend collette's farewell drinks last fri... and I finished so late that day, all I wanted to do was go home... this past fri was karen's and jenny's farewell dinner, and it was thai, so did not attend... went to Mother Earth for breakfast with prisy yesterday... it was not cheap but the portions were very generous... and the food not bad... ate till I was so stuffed and was not even hungry at dinner... auntie's friends came over for dinner last evening, auntie peggy and uncle lawrence and family... the 2 kids have grown alot since the last time I saw them, which was awhile ago... played xbox games, entertained the kids for awhile... ate lots again... I was so full after dinner and cake that I had to pass up on ice-cream... and this is a rare occurence for me... australia day... fell on a thurs and it was raining... which really did not help, stayed at home for most part of the day, doing nothing really... watched running man... ate slept... was a sloth really... went for korean hotpot for dinner that night... dunno why, but did not enjoy the food as much... could be bcos it suddenly became hot that evening, and I had a late lunch, but the seafood pancake was not as nice...

this summer has not really been that hot as compared to last year's, mostly raining since I came back... but I am definitely not complaining...

回到现实。。。

11 Jan 2011... mum had a day off work so we went to city square mall for lunch, they did not have any of the set meals which I wanted hence ended up not eating at the jap place at all... after that, dropped nainai back home and went to katong's new shopping mall to buy our movie tickets for flying swords... walked around parkway parade shopping centre for awhile and had mos burger, have to say that I preferred macdonalds still... also bought famous amos to eat in the theatres... the movie was only ok, too much cgi and not enough real kungfu fighting... but it was good to see some of the female characters acting in unusual roles... overall I would probably rate the movie 5/10...

after that, drove to bugis to eat dinner, ate at the hawker centre, and despite it being a weekday and hot, there was still lots of people... proceeded to OG to buy a new luggage... and I finally got to eat my mian bao jia ice cream...

12 Jan 2011... went to shop around orchard central, 313, ate lunch at din tai feng, only had the xiao long baos and they were so yummy, after that, went to eat long john silver's... and walked around at taka and daiso at ion... wanted to go to city hall for more shopping, but ended up going back home cos I was getting sleepy... went to meet up with zhenzhen for dinner at bishan that evening...

13 Jan 2011... went to karaoke at chinatown kbox with pong... it was approx $14 per person, including one drink and lunch, for 3 hours... cheaper than partyworld though and the room was quite nice... probably bcos it's still new... after that, met up with papa for lunch at raffles city, had xiao long bao again at din tai feng... this time it was not as yummy as the one at 313... after that, tried the new milkshake store... and it was actually quite nice as well... after that, we walked to citylink, bought some hersheys choc, and I have to say they are not cheap at all... walked to the esplanade, wanting to walk to the merlion, but it was too hot and my feet were killing me, wearing the white heels... so ended up having a short nap at the esplanade, then proceeded back to marina square, did not even get to the singapore flyer cos I wanted to check out the food court there, apparently the decorations are olden style... went to have dessert at macdonalds... then took a train to bugis for the class gathering... when I got there, my whole body was already aching, and saw gladys and wanying there already at iluma's aston's, I thought the food was only average, not as good as people have been saying, but there were still queues when we left... chatted for awhile and as time went by, people starting appearing, and most of the gathering's topics were around what is people in our class doing now... who's married, who's getting married and who has had a baby... everyone pretty much looked the same despite it being an 11 years reunion... is that good or bad??? proceeded to nydc for dessert, did not like the drink I ordered, some elephancino drink which tasted really weird... jo had to go back first cos she was really sick, and I thought I probably passed my cold on to her... by the time we left bugis, it was already 11pm, and still the bus was so crowded... urgghh... I was exhausted by the time I got home and my body was aching everywhere...

14 Jan 2011... did not do too much, stayed home and helped mum with the pineapple tarts, they were really painful to make I have to say... urrghhh... once is enough... and then papa came home and had his eye problems, could not open his eyes for some reason, and both eyes were red and swollen... so in the end, had to cancel dinner with uncle jeffrey, was meant to go eat the you zheng yu... stayed till late to watch this HK drama which has charmaine sheh and raymond lam... called sister eternal flower... it was ok, not a show I would be repeating... packed my luggage, and it is always so stressful packing, bcos I did not think I had lots of stuff and I did not even buy any clothing, but ended up with so much stuff to bring back...

15 Jan 2011... back to sydney... had to wake up early to get to sengkang for piyo's morning ceremony... was on the way to the busstop when I realised that I could not see anything out of my left eye, and then realised that the contact lenses must have fallen out... so had to go back home, removed the right one and put on glasses instead... hence got there late, took some pics with piyo, she looked really nice btw... and the 'jie mei's started their games when the groom and his gang arrived... took alot of videos and pics... stayed to chat in piyo's house after they left, kind of awkward initially, cos piyo was not there... but her family were really nice, and her niece was so cute, she is 6 years old and could actually use youtube and likes watching korean MVs, like SNSD... piyo's older sister really looks like her... they even sounded the same... after that, took a long time to go home cos I did not want to walk back to the station from her house in my heels... so caught a bus to the station and the bus ended up taking a big loop around sengkang before arriving at the interchange... finished watching the HK drama, had a nap and it was already time to shower, change and head out for dinner at lao ba sha... had stingray (not nice), satay (only ok), tie ban doufu and rice... and headed for the airport after... walked around alittle, took some pics, sat around at the viewing gallery, not that you could see anything there... becos of the reflection... and it was time to depart... always sad to leave, but did not cry this time... the thing that I was most disappointed abt was friends not bothering to make time to meet up, despite being away for so long and promises to meet up when I am back... well, can't really keep hounding them...

the flight back to sydney... full flight, and there was no space to store my hand held bag, had to store it in the back... first time sitting on the upper deck of the A380... pretty much where the wings of the plane are... I felt sick already once I am on board... since then, it went downhill, pretty much slept the whole way... did not even watch the movies or eat, and the nausea came on once I smelt the food around me... and we were almost arriving when the announcement came that the flight was delayed as the airport was too busy and there was nowhere for us to land so our plane was circling around for like 30mins before landing... and it was so turbulent during the landing, I really felt like throwing up and I have not felt like that since the cairns trip last year... anyway the flight back was really shitty... finally left the plane and luckily the customs were not that bad and I was so lucky that I cleared quarantine too, did not even open my bags to check, all that worrying and stress... arrived back at freycinet close and everything was the same, like I never left, even work too... is that sad??

found out today that collette would be my new supervisor, instead of deanna, I have nothing against collette, but I would not have chosen her for my supervisor... anyway, not that I could change anything now, we'll just have to wait and see how it goes over the next few months... people are leaving all at once, collette (will only be here for one day/week for 4 hours), Karen, Laura and Nicole going on maternity leave... and Kristen's pregnant, Jenny's leaving for the community... there's going to be a few new faces around the place over the next few months...

I can't remember if I blogged this... but the last day of work on xmas eve eve was horrible... there was so much to do, handover to be done, stats to be done, and had to leave off stats in the end, cos it was already 1830... when I came back on tuesday, had to finish them off... and also, something really weird happened on the last day of work that day, was so stressed trying to finish up all the work, when ren came up to me, handed me this blue paper... opened it and there were like pic cards of korean idols in there, but people that I don't really know off... my first thought was ren was playing a trick on me again... he insisted that it was not him and even wrote my name down trying to prove that it was not his handwriting on the paper... anyway, I did not have the time nor the mood to engage in this prank at that time, hence kept it away... now that I am back, I am waiting for an opportunity to find out who the person was... cos the only other person who knows I am obsessed abt korean stuff is charlie, otherwise this is all a huge prank thought up by the 'gossip guys'...

the weather was hot when I left home and when I arrived back in sydney, it's now back to being hot again after I was told that it has been mostly raining over the hols'... disgusting...

5 MOre dAys to Go...

5 Jan 2012... went for karaoke at partyworld at nex... cost $17.50 per person for 3 hours... found a new Karaoke place called K suites at Iluma but later found out that it was even more expensive than K box... it looked really high class from the outside, and initially when we went in to ask abt the price, I was surprised at how cheap it was, but it turned out to be too good to be true after further investigations... after karaoke, proceeded to holland village for lunch... not too crowded cos it was already late afternoon... decided to try this new cafe called everything with fries... it was quite expensive and I did not like the cheese burger at all, limited choices, only the fries and the nutella tart was nice...

6 Jan 2012... went to shop at far east plaza... got there at abt 1130 and still most shops were closed... was looking for a cheaper option to cut my hair and was tempted by the manicure and pedicure salons... hence was walking up and down the 4 levels trying to decide which shop offered the best deal for a manicure/pedicure... until it was time to meet papa for ice cream at this ice cream place called cold stone creamery at orchard central... it was nice, similar to the ice rock creamery in sydney which btw singapore also has... but expensive... and after that was walking around orchard central when we came upon everything with fries again... with more choices and cheaper... I was so upset... so pong ate that again, and I thought this time we should try another dessert hence got the mille crepe, and it was disgusting... damn, I should have gone for the nutella tart... after that, went back to far east plaza again and waited for like 45 mins to get our hair cut... after that, took a train to city hall, met up with mum and papa and went for dinner at the marina bay sands' high class food court... ordered yu pian mi fen... not nice and expensive... and it was finally time for our much anticipated wicked musical... was actually wanting to watch this in sydney a while back, but the tickets were so expensive... it was quite crowded when we went into the theatre, the seats were at quite a steep decline and my seat was the second last row... which aggravated my headache... and I had started to develop a cold and my nose was running throughout the whole show and kept sneezing... I really enjoyed the show nonetheless, it is a story that explained the beginnings of the wicked witch of the west from wizard of oz... and the conclusion was that the green witch has been widely misunderstood by the public and that she really is a good witch as well... the dialogue and singing were really good as well... I am really glad that this was my first musical and I really enjoyed it... it was worth the money spent... $58 (cheapest ones btw, which meant that you can't see the faces of the actors from where I am sitting)... it was not fully occupied during our session, although that was what it said when I was buying it online... but we were not allowed to move down... the show started at approx 2000 and ended at approx 2230 with a 15mins break in between... walked around marina bay sands after the show... all the shops there were high class shops, and there was even a small canal similar to the venetian where you can sit on a gondola and ride the canal...

7 Jan 2012... day of my party... so annoying, cos not many people came despite a fairly good response initially... anyway... went to whampoa market early to do shopping... did not do much after that, slept a little and got ready for the party... zhenzhen came first, although she only came at 1900 after saying that she will come earlier so she could go to her mother-in-laws' place for dinner... she still looks the same, ate and talked a little with her before huimin, jo and fran came... took some pics and started eating and chatting... mum cooked alot of food despite me saying multiple times not to cook so much... melissa came last, and zhenzhen had to leave by then, it was approx 0830... had dessert and they agreed to stay and play games... so in the end, the time spent on thinking up the trivia questions did not come to waste although I probably could have spend less time on it... so we did trivia first, and then decided to proceed with charade with me on jo and huimin's team, and pong, fran and melissa on the other team... it was hilarious... I have never laughed so much until my sore throat actually literally hurt just from swallowing, huimin was hilarious... I was sweating so much from the laughing and tearing up every 5mins... and after that, we decided to play the chinese words game... and that brought on another bout of crazy laughter... and huimin and melissa found out that they indirectly knew each other's friends... what a small world... the party ended at approx 2330 and papa offered to drive jo and huimin home so I went as well... I was exhausted, sweaty, hurting from my sore throat and runny nose by the end... so although not many people came in the end, I did enjoy myself thanks to mum, pong, huimin, jo, fran, zhenzhen and melissa...

8 Jan 2012... my throat hurts, my nose was still running... and did not sleep well the previous night... walked to boon keng macdonalds with pong and mum for lunch and walked at the markets for abit, before catching a train to chinatown to meet fran first for karaoke... it was so crowded at chinatown even though it was raining... went to the $10 karaoke, it was really cheap but the place was still dodgy... but we still get free flow of drinks, no more sharks' fin though... jo came after and huimin came last... all of us were drinking hot honey by the truckload... this is probably only the second time I have gone to karaoke with jo and fran since we knew each other... I enjoyed myself though, despite having to sing with a nasally voice... took a train to plaza singapura after, did alittle shopping and went to eat dinner at cafe cartel... the food was not really nice, and me having a sore throat and runny nose still meant that I could not eat alot of things... fran was telling me about her blind date and it sounds successful, so wishing her all the best and hopefully things work out for her... I dunno if I would agree to a blind date, still think it is quite risky... but it was good that it turned out well for her...

9 Jan 2012... went for my massage and facial at somerset... the massage was quite painful, had to tell the auntie to ease the pressure a little midway... and now that I am no longer having facials at Linda's place, I dunno what I am going to do... have to be alittle more diligent in doing face mask and stuff... had lunch with papa and pong at this ramen place at mandarin gallery, the ramen was not bad but did not eat much due to my sore throat and me wanting to eat other stuff, still yet to eat my mian bao jia ice cream... after that, proceeded to check out the basement at 313 somerset... nothing very exciting there, but bought this berlinger bread thing at marche bakery... went to eat at cold stone creamery again, decided to try the cinnamon flavoured ice cream, it was not nice, I was so full after that, hence missed another opportunity to eat my mian bao jia ice cream and did not get to eat the berlinger fresh... it was hard when I finally ate it... checked out the shops at orchard central... the mall was really quiet as compared to the other shopping centres in orchard... bought my BB cream, went to the sky garden, it would have been nicer at night and if it was not overcast... went to the toilet and was wondering why the seat was so hot when I realised that it was a heated toilet seat, and it is a bidet... hence checked out the various washing and drying functions... it was something new... liked the dryer function but not the washing one... the aim was not good... after that, went to check out this other new shopping place for youth, called scape... there was this really cool jap theme shop selling maid cafe costumes... and this official AKB48 shop and cafe... do people even buy stuff there??!! did not even know they were popular here, why not have a SNSD shop as well?? and this gaming cafe where you can play computer games within your own booth with a big screen per booth or traditional boardgames like mind cafe... after that. took a train to city hall peninsula plaza to buy le pat stuff... crossing my fingers and toes that I will be able to clear customs with all the food I am bringing back... took a train back to orchard taka to meet mum to check out the new year goodies even at the atrium... was raining heavily by this time... it was also crowded despite being a monday evening... seriously overcrowding has become a big issue for us now... bought some suan mei, and prawn rolls for ren... mum is going to make pineapple tarts for work... the good thing about going to such events is that there is plenty of free samples at each store... so you can pretty much eat a meal just by going... after that, we proceeded to the basement where there are more food stuff, they have renovated the food court and it is much neater now... came upon kimchi fried rice again and decided to try... not nice... have yet to find a nice one able to match ceci's standards...

10 Jan 2012... brought nainai back to redhill again... got to eat my nasi lemak, soya bean drink and hum jin beng... a little disappointed becos the portions have shrunk and not fresh... got some HK dramas off auntie esther and uncle michael also came to visit...

HOmE SwEEt hoME...

29 Dec 2011... went to nainai's house and finally able to eat my fav chee cheong fun at redhill market... they have upgraded the place a little and you can choose how much chee cheong fun you want now rather than a standard portion... the downside though is that it is really oily, the chee cheong fun is literally dripping with oil... and we are seriously getting too big for nainai's house now... the government now wants to tear it down and build taller flats in the next 2 years... I will definitely miss redhill, the place where I spent most of my childhood days... must remember to take some pics when I return again... uncle peter came and met us and we made our way to the temple at river valley 'Ju Si Lin'... and then another temple at bugis, 'Guan Yin Miao'... it was soo packed as usual at guan yin miao, no matter what time and day you go... after that, uncle wanted to treat us to dim sum, so we made our way to orchard, probably not the best time to go to orchard, but hey, I am not turning down a treat... got there and it was quite late already, decided to check out if there is a crystal jade close by, but found a 'Din Tai Feng' instead at Wisma, but it was packed and people were queuing... so in the end, decided to eat at food junction instead, which was fine with me, cos I got to eat my fish with rice... uncle did treat us to haagen daz dessert though... it was good... nainai was exhausted by the time we arrived home, I was too...

30 Dec 2011... my one day observation... started off meeting wanru at SGH for the inservice which silvana was presenting... their OT dept was much bigger than us... and the literature article which silvana was presenting on was too "chim" for me, did not understand what she was talking abt, and I did mention that to her later that day... and silvana's response was that it was one of the easiest article already... was taken around the outpatients hands dept for a quick walk around... they have much more machines and resources than us... it made me feel so dumb standing next to them... cos the only splints I made so far and with help, were 2 resting splints to date... sigh... caught the shuttle bus to AH... apparently it underwent some renovations but the hospital was mostly non air conditioned still... it was hot and disgusting... followed some therapists to see patients... the main concerns are not being able to speak dialects (ie when one of the patients was speaking to one of the OTs in Hokkien, I was standing there catching no ball at all), the difference in systems (ie no equipment loans, pts had to buy their own equipment, pts have to pay for our services, very skill and component focused ie using stacking of cones, scooping of marbles to remediate lost function), fast paced environment (not having the time to write notes after seeing each patient and having to memorise and document at the end of the day)... the approach is very much throwing you in the deep end and you can learn to swim on your own... which I don't know how I will be able to manage... it was interesting to see what it's like working here, but obviously I was only there for a day and apparently the rehab service at AH is fairly new... so probably not being able to see the whole picture... it was so hot in the wards and I seriously was dozing and yawning every 5 mins...

went to meet silvana for dinner after work, zhenzhen did not come as she was ill apparently... wanted to eat marche but there was a long queue when we got there... so we ended up eating at this fast food place similar to nando's... the burger was not bad... but expensive... whilst we were sitting there eating dinner, I realised that the 2 people sitting diagonally across from me were xu zhengrong and ponsak... not that we did anything about it... but xu zhenrong was talking pretty loudly and I could hear what he was saying... it got really packed when we were leaving though... went up to the deck and took some pictures... then went for dessert at ben and jerry's... wanted the brownie but they ran out of it, hence settled for the waffle one... the waffle was so stale and soggy that we actually had to tear it off rather than breaking it off... so I took it back to the counter and requested that we get another one made... the lady at the counter kept insisting that they just made it fresh and it was meant to be like that... I eventually decided to stop arguing with her and turned around wanting to walk back to our seat when this guy walked up and indicated that he would make another new one for us... silvana is going away to houston for 2 months as an attachment learning more abt spasticity... and apparently that meant that another year would be added to her bond...

31 Dec 2011... new year's eve... went out for lunch at tung lok, mum's treat... it's apparently a dim sum and seafood buffet... the food was not too bad, but obviously expensive... did not do anything much after that... finished watching the latest ep of running man... and started watching the various countdowns on tv... caught the fireworks live at home... not as pretty as sydney's though... and we could only see the higher ones... did not bother with resolutions cos I don't keep them anyway...

1 Jan 2012... Happy new Year... year of the dragon... hmmm... went to ah ma's house for a visit in the am and stayed till early pm... ah ma is looking better than last I saw her, she's walking better now... went to city square mall for some stuff and headed home... baked pandan cake this time, and it was very successful this time... the cake was yummy, and pretty much gone by the next day... the recipe is not too difficult, the only difficulties are the type of mixer you need and pandan leaves... otherwise I would bake that instead of my really boring but still nice flourless choc cake... uncle jeffrey and auntie came for a visit and it was really nice of them to 'dabao' my fav 'you jian yu'... it was really nice, nicer than the one at tung lok but again, literally dripping with oil...

2 Jan 2012... fran invited us over to her house for lunch... got to clementi and walked around with huimin to look for a gift for fran's mum, got her some new year goodies in the end... got to fran's house and it was soo hot (as usual)... she only had fan at her place and they were small fans... one look at the food and I was like yup, luckily I ate something before I came... did not eat much... her mum can really talk... about anything... similar to auntie peggy actually... went downstairs to chat a little... her condo has alot of facilities, more than us actually... and it's really nice... there's air conditioned function rooms where you can hang out, gym, pool... came back home after, and went out for dinner at chomp chomp at upper serangoon... it was packed with people, mostly teenagers... everyone was willing to stand and wait around for empty tables even though it's so crowded, smoky and hot... definitely not a place I would willingly return again, and the food is not exceptional... lao ba sha has similar food and more varieties... and not crowded and smoky like that...

3 Jan 2012... went to watch 'we bought a zoo' with pong at iluma... deja vu bcos we were again the only two people in the theatre... it was cool but a little creepy... i like the place though... the seats are comfy and not crowded... iluma was undergoing construction hence not many shops are open, and it was really quiet... good place to go if you just want a quiet place to hang out... i liked the movie... touching... finally got to watch this after the failed attempt last week... found this really cool jap ramen restaurant with a really cool concept... so there are 6 different ramen shops all in the same place, what we have to do is choose one and after that, vote for your fav ramen shop and apparently, they have until june 30 before the votes are collated and the best ramen shops can stay whilst the rest have to go... and the whole layout of the place is cool... the ramen was really spicy but good... met up with angie at bugis after, walked around a little, the top floor where there were many cute shops have gone... nothing very exciting now... angie still is the same... she has finally completed her medical degree and is starting her internship at a Perth hospital soon... really happy for her... she's always been smart and hardworking... caught a train to Plaza Singapura, walked around a little, and there is a bodyshop sale going on, could not resist checking it out and ended up spending money on body butter and facial wash... but it was alot cheaper than usual... it was needless to say, packed with people looking for a bargain... angie left for her dinner and I met up with piyo and inthu for dinner at swensen's... went back to bodyshop again after cos they wanted to buy stuff... I was standing around waiting for them when I saw someone who looked alot like wanru walking around, but something was different abt her, so I did not call out to her... she walked around a booth and came back to where I was again, I was considering whether to try and call out to her when she looked up, saw me and waved... I was like, it is wanru... both of us started laughing... she permed her hair, so that was the difference, and hongrui rocked up as well... what a coincidence... cos everyone knew each other, so everyone said hi and went back to doing their bodyshop bargain hunting... on the way home, piyo kept asking if I am able to at least attend her morning ceremony, and I felt bad cos I missed her registration and now not able to make it to her reception, so I said ok, will sacrifice and wake up early in the am to get to her place at sengkang at 0800.. the problem is I don't have the right clothes to wear... now I have to go look for something more presentable to wear as opposed to top and jeans... it's difficult to buy clothes here now cos they are all so small... had a look at topshop and dorothy perkins already and they did not have anything nice... even OG is selling all the chinese new year clothes... otoke??!!

brought nainai out to chinatown today... it was so hot, and the problem with chinatown is there are no proper toilets... urggh... went to OG, CK, and the markets, and it was full of people even though it was a weekday and people should be at school or at work... decided to try this korean restaurant on mosque st, it was expensive, but i thought the food was not too bad... just the price was too high... the main reason I chose the place was becos they had kimchi fried rice... I still prefer the ceci's way of cooking... the breadshop is still there... so of course, bought some bread... the only thing that did not go well today was nainai wanted a haircut, so we chanced upon this hair salon offering haircuts for $8, was standing outside waiting when pong came out saying that nainai cut her ear... went it and nainai was bleeding from the ear, the hairdresser has accidentally cut her ear when cutting her hair... the hairdresser indicated that she would not charge us becos of this... and it appeared to be superficial when I had a look but it is still bleeding when we arrived home... hopefully the bleeding will stop soon otherwise, we may have to go to the doctors'... did not seem serious enough a matter to sue the hair salon but I thought the bleeding should have ceased by now...

终于回到家。。。

24 Dec 2011... arrival in singapore, home sweet home... was asked at the airport if I would like to volunteer to go on a later flight as my flight was overbooked, so I put my name down but was not needed in the end... lost out on a refund of AUD$400 and meal being paid for... damn... first time sitting right next to the emergency exit, good thing is more leg room and the screen is not so close to you, bad things are no windows, the tray is very narrow and close to you making it difficult to eat... was turbulent approaching singapore due to the rain apparently... first thing I did when I landed was head to the foodcourt and ate fishball noodle... yummy! the fishballs are sooo much more fresher here... and my iced lemon tea from Macdonalds'... arrived home finally, rested a little, and unpacked my stuff...

25 Dec 2011... went to whampoa market for breakfast and proceeded to visit temples to give thanks for their blessings for the past year... went out for dinner with auntie esther and uncle jeffrey... did not like the food at all, and it was totally not worth it for the price we paid...

26 Dec 2011... went out to upper thomson for prata for breakfast... and when we arrived, there were already alot of people even though it was quite early... apparently this place is quite famous for its prata... shop name is called casuarina prata... the prata was not as nice as the hype was... probably becos I prefer my prata to be a little less crispy... baked Kueh lapis when we got back home... it was a very tedious cake to bake... and the outcome was not as successful... well, this is probably the last time we will be baking this... knowing what actually goes into the cake... met up with huimin and fran at clementi for dinner... new shopping centre at clementi (what's new?)... ended up eating chai tao kui at the hawker centre, not bad... and after that, huimin bought bubble tea and we went to sit and chat at the food court... both of them looked the same...

27 Dec 2011... brought nainai to new shopping centre Nex... got there too early and the shops are not open yet... usually open around 11am... bumped into uncle peter and family... sat down and chatted alittle with them, and had long john silver's for lunch... yummy... and proceeded to the peranakan museum... not many people which was really good and rare nowadays really... when we completed the tour, it started to pour and nainai was hungry, so took a bus to city square mall and it was pouring outside, so we had to stay indoors and wait for the rain to subside before heading to san yi po's house... finally the rain stopped and we stayed and chatted for awhile before heading home... bought ben and jerry's and haagen dazz ice cream... not that they were any cheaper really...

28 Dec 2011... woke up in the morning and headed to macritchie reservoir for a little exercise, after eating all that food for the last few days... the weather was pretty good in the morning but started pouring when we returned home... went out for lunch at IMM, had swensen's... yummy! had both mains and dessert... was so stuffed after... made our way to Vivocity planning to watch a movie... we bought a zoo... it was sooo crowded when we got there... long queues at the theatres... was told that it was pretty much fully booked that session and the next session as well... decided not to watch... did a little shopping, visited this largest floating library called Logos Hope... decided to head home after as we were both tired...

SOme ENLighTEnmENt pLs...

had a long weekend but pretty much did nothing but present shopping, and as usual, there are crowds everywhere busy doing xmas shopping, and stuff are definitely not cheap now... after 3 days of searching, finally found stuff which were more appropriate... received my kris kringle present today... some really lollipops (did not know they were lollipops initially), another xmas bauble which says Aussie Oi Oi Oi, God knows what that means... and lastly a book called Aussie Slang dictionary (this is a joke) becos apparently I am lacking in my knowledge of aussie slang... my first thought was yup another useless book (remember I got given a 'recipe' book with really weird stuff to cook before and is still sitting in the box, cannot even regift them)...

the weather has been holding up pretty good, considering we are now in summer, temp are still in low 20's, raining on some days, but definitely better than stinking hot so I am definitely not complaining...

today was called into the manager's office for a chat, cos some people have concerns about me not managing my workload, me included... for some reason, I am just not getting through patients as quick as others, and I myself cannot understand the reason for this... and it's definitely not like I am not working hard, but the first thing my manager said to me was 'since you started in aged care, you do not look happy'... which is probably true... I really want to know what I am doing wrong becos I am quite stressed and not even having a full caseload... so now I have got Karen, Collette and Deanna helping me work out some strategies, and hopefully they work and will get to the stage when I am managing a full caseload efficiently and be on top of it... so to borrow Gary's famous word... STRESS!!!

OnE MOrE WeeK...

after saying in the last post that I have had enough of xmas parties, I decided to attend the rehab dinner... cos it was chinese and the price was reasonable... so went for the dinner yesterday, the food was crap, but I had a better time as compared to the aged care dinner...

work has been really stressful this week, can't sleep as a result... and yesterday, I was working till 6pm to finish up handovers, student stuff and the plan to do some stats did not happen at all... I am so glad that the week is over and it's a long weekend for me this week... really looking forward to going home...

went out for lunch this afternoon to celebrate uncle's birthday and we went to takeru... and went to watch mission impossible 4 after... it was ok, not as good as I thought it would be... and we went to watch new year's eve last week, I thought that it was really touching, although it did not get good ratings... 2 more movie tickets left which are expiring when I am away, so I am trying to sell it to work people...

nothing really much happening at this stage, mainly work being very stressful, still watching running man... no new dramas, previewed the chinese remake of brilliant legacy, with jerry yen in it, not as nice... now that xmas is approaching, the shops are so crowded... looking for gifts for people... today when we were at macquarie, I found a huge box of guylian chocolates for only $20!!! bought one box but am seriously thinking of buying more... one more week to home sweet home...

nO moRE xMaS paRtiEs PLs...

this weekend was a weekend of work xmas parties... it was more obligation than me wanting to go really... friday night was the aged care one... I was not wanting to go becos it was $50 for dinner and additional for drinks... and work on friday was really busy, so by the time we finish, I was already getting a headache... and my period really did not help by deciding to come on that day too... Bonita one of the social workers invited me to change at her place, so went there with Laura and Katherine another social worker, got changed and headed to the venue... the venue was quite nice, and they must have booked out the entire place, cos we were the only ones there... I can't say the same abt the food and the dessert though... a waste of money... left abt 2130 cos it was a long drive home and the headache was getting worse... and the dress I was wearing was not the most comfortable either...

one of the good things this week was that despite it being the the start of summer, it is actually quite cool now... wish that the weather would stay like that for longer...

yesterday was the OT dept xmas party at rooty hill rsl... I went to all 3 things: bowling, dinner and laser tag... despite having bowling on xbox, it was definitely not the same as playing the actual thing, cos I really sucked during the game yesterday... there were quite a few people playing bowling and after that, went to dinner, the food was not great again... and most of the dept came... but the conversation was not as funny as the last time at Kate's farewell... not sure why, could be bcos people were tired (like me) or becos the managers were there so may not be appropriate to gossip about other people, which was pretty much what we were doing that night... and after dinner, there was laser tag... alot of people pulled out of that, I did not feel like going, but on the other hand, I wanted to know what it was and so ended up going... there were only abt 9 of us in the end... 2 games of 20 mins each... it was exciting and fun in like the first 15 mins, and after that it was like oh man when is this going to end... and becos out numbers are little, we had to play with other people as well... it was not as scary as I thought it would be... but by the end of 2 games, we were all sweating and yucky...

so in summary, my pocket now has a huge gaping hole and had enough of xmas parties and work people for now...

霉运走开。。。

seriously... my luck has not been good this past 2 months... had the car accident a few weeks back and now, Auris decided to die on me this afternoon at the petrol station... was on my way to macquarie centre when I decided to stop over at caltex to pump petrol... paid for the petrol and went back to the car and it would not start... and there was a long queue behind me... had to apologise to the drivers behind and went into the store to see if the attendants could help... they were nice enough to come and see if they could start the car, but Auris just would not start... so they had to manually push the car to the side... initially one of them asked me to steer the wheel and use the handbrake to stop if I need to... it sounded easy but when I tried, it was really difficult to turn the wheel... so in the end, one of them got into the car and the other pushed the car... and it did not help that it was boiling hot today... it was disgusting... so Auris is now parked aside, there was no shady area... and I called roadside assist whom told me that they would be there within the hour... so I was waiting at the station for more than an hour before the guy finally showed up... diagnosis was a flat battery... decided to change it on the spot and that cost me $150... I was worried that I might not be able to turn up for work the next day really... and whilst waiting in the store... I saw Angela... seriously it's such a small world... and yesterday bumped into Charlie at Daiso... after the battery was changed, continued my journey to macquarie and it was sooo crowded... did my errands and came back home...

seriously... maybe I need to go pray in the temple soon... although thank god it happened at the petrol station and not in the middle of God knows where or on the highway on the way to work...

other than that, nothing really much happening... still have yet to hear back whether leave for April has been approved, and pong has got me hooked on this Korean variety show called Running Man...

oh and work wise... the new MRT OT has been recruited and she started last week... she apparently worked at Nepean before so alot of the people there knew her... other than that, she seemed nice enough...

COUNtDoWN to XMaS sTArts...

this post will mainly be my thoughts about the Kpop concert... there were as expected alot of asians and minority of caucasians... it was pretty packed, especially in the more expensive seats... it was actually quite hot that day, when we arrived, there were already lots of people there, not only kpop wannabes like us, but whole families there, with young kids tagging along...

did not know most of the bands who came, and I was really disappointed that SNSD only sang 3 songs, and there was some issues with the microphones, which was really annoying... I enjoyed most of the performances... and the good thing was, even though my camera was not the greatest and I could not really see their faces unless I watch the screens, I enjoyed the 3 hour show seated... reason being... prior to the start of the show, there was this man coming around offering a free upgrade of seats to the ones in front, where you are seated on plastic chairs (oh and talking about chairs, the seats in the stadium are really crap!!!) and are at the same height as everybody else, whereas where we sat, it's sloping downwards... so when the show started, people started standing up on their chairs, which meant that other people would also have to stand otherwise you can forget about watching anything... so prisy who had the gold tix (courtesy of a gift) was standing for the whole show, and as expected she was complaining at the end... so thankfully, even though the seats are not great, at least we were not uncomfortable and not tired from the standing... on the whole, I did enjoy the show and glad that I went... cos apparently the SNSD concert in s'pore is so expensive and even then, the tix were sold out really quickly...

that was pretty much the main highlight at this stage... looking forward to my next day off at the end of the month, I have learnt my lesson of not leaving such a long gap between my ADOs, I have been spoilt with having ADOs every month now and becos I had the Oct one during the long weekend, and the next one is 6 weeks later, I am really feeling it... aged care is so tiring and busy... and monotonous really... and after my ADO this month, xmas parties... the aged care one which I did not feel like going but feel like I have to go, is on 2 dec (fri) and the dept one which does not sound too bad this year (bowling, dinner and laser tag) unlike the one last one (thank god I did not go), is on 3 dec (sat). The headache is the aged care party has a traditional costume theme, which I don't have, cos there is no way I am going to fit into a cheongsam... have tried looking at costume shops online, no success whatsoever... and they are all so expensive... it better be good food and company...

oh and another thing which has been bugging me for awhile and I blame this entirely on Ren... awhile ago, he said to me that he has decided to matchmake me with PT 1, despite me explaining and saying no, becos PT 1 is much younger than me and younger than pong... it would be really weird... but no, Ren kept asking me off and on and there were some really awkward moments when PT 1 and I are in the same room with Ren and he kept dropping these comments... and now, for some unknown reason, he has decided that maybe PT 2 would also be another good candidate... so the whole cycle is starting again, me saying no again bcos again, PT 2 is also younger than me and I am not interested... and it just seemed inappropriate... and who knows whether PT 1 and PT 2 knows about this... or is Ren just joking around becos... hey he's got nothing better to do... so now, not knowing whether they know, and I still have yet to gather up enough courage to ask and expose Ren's joke... it is really awkward and disturbing at times... and I so did not have this problem until Ren decided to tell me about this stupid matchmaking thing... damn you, Ren, this is all your fault :( When will I have the courage to confront PT1 and PT 2 and expose Ren's joke ??!!! (I am still convinced this is a joke on his part btw and both of them don't know about this and I am the only one stupidly feeling really awkward here)

and now I have become hooked to Running Man thanks to pong...

thank GOD and my LUcKy STArs...

work wise... we've been quite busy last week, as there was only 3 of us instead of 4... and I was told that I have not been managing my caseload very well... but after talking it through with deanna and collette, I am gradually finding my pace and knowing what to do and what not to do... there is ALOT of toileting assessments, practically one for every patient I see...

saw zhenzhen's wedding pics posted on facebook, it looked really grand and she looked really nice in her wedding dress and her other change of dress... can't believe she's married... congratulations to her again...

decided to organise a gathering at my place in Jan 2012 when I am back home... invited approx 20 people and nobody except jo and fran replied... I have even thought of the games we would be playing... so I am crossing my fingers and toes hoping that most if not all of them could come... it would be really fun I think...

went to the city on sat for karaoke and for lunch... went to pancakes on the rocks for lunch... the food was not that great so don't know what the hype is all about... after karaoke, we were walking back to the car when we passed by this new korean cafe and saw the ad saying 20% of the price of kpop concert tix, so I decided that this is a sign and decided to buy the silver seats... so now it's confirmed, pong and I are going to the kpop concert on 12 Nov... yay!!! now I have to think of transport options...

sunday... steve turnbull invited us to trial his self inflatable kayak he bought... so we drove to narrabeen lake and the weather was really good and the lake was not that dirty... so we all had a go on his kayak and swam for a little while... the thing I do not like about going to places like this are that there are no change facilities and nowhere to wash off... so we had to improvise and pretty much change in public and use towels to dry and change... we decided to have korean bbq at eastwood... and I fell asleep on the return journey...

the next thing I heard was Steve exclaiming "oh shit", followed by prisy's exclamation of "shit" and something smashing into my side of the car and glass shattering... I immediately covered my face and head and turned towards the right... when I opened my eyes, all I saw was steve already out of the car, glass shards everywhere, the window on the passenger side was non-existent, but we were all ok, except for a really sore left shoulder for me... I was still trying to process what just happened... when someone peered into the car and asked if we were ok and if an ambulance was required... I was alright except for the left shoulder but didn't think any bones were broken so we said no... prisy then said she could not open her side of the door, and steve's car was a two door car... prisy then said to open steve's side of the car door and we got out of the car one at a time... walked over to the other side of the car and saw the damage done to steve's car and it then hit me that we have just been hit by another car and that steve's car looks undriveable... the family of the house which we pulled over at apparently witnessed the while incident and rang for the tow truck driver, and someone apparently rang the police as well... saw the driver and passengers of the car which hit us... all youngsters... their car appeared to have hardly any damage from where I was standing... the tow tuck people came approx 10mins later followed by the police... took down statements and verified our identities and that was pretty much it... steve went with the car in the tow truck and we had to call for a taxi to drive us back to his house where auris was... damn taxis are sooo expensive... but we had no other choice... luckily we were near eastwood and not at narrabeen... arrived at steve's house, collected auris and prisy drove us home cos my shoulder was sore... prisy had cuts on her legs and her left arm was sore, pong hit her head, shoulder and back, christine could not turn her neck... but thankfully nothing major... once we got home, dumped everything in the washing machine, took turns showering, prayed, rang mum and papa to tell them of the incident and that we are ok... and decided to make our way to castle towers medical centre... I wanted to get a referral to get an xray done to make sure that nothing was broken... when we got there, we were told that there was no doctors available... so I decided to take a day off today to see the doctor...

so apparently what happened was... we were driving along blaxland road on the outer lane... the car which was hit us was apparently coming out of the driveway and wanting to turn right onto the opposite direction, so the driver must have seen that there was no oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road and decided to accelerate out to turn right, without noticing that steve's car was coming towards him on his side of the road... and his car pretty much accelerated into the left side of us... apparently steve saw the car coming out of the driveway, but we have the right of way hence the other driver had to give way to us... but obviously that did not happen and steve tried to turn the car towards the right but there was not much of maneuvring space as we were on the outer lane already... and it was too late... the left side of his car was hit straight on by the other car which was accelerating...

went with pong to see the doctor today, she recommended that I take painkillers and apply heat and ice packs for now, no need for scans unless the soreness does not subside over the next few days and gave me 2 days off work... pretty much the same thing for pong, I was more worried about her head but apparently that has settled since... so now here I am blogging away, have today and tomorrow off work, which in normal circumstances would be really good, but definitely not like this... my shoulder is still quite sore if I move it, but otherwise it's alright... the doctor also found a bruise on the left side of my neck, from the seatbelt... which I did not even notice, cos it was not painful or sore at all... but quite obvious now that I know it's there...

was thinking about the incident just before I slept yesterday... was alittle scared of driving following the incident yesterday... could still feel the impact of the car smashing into our side... the shock of something like this happening... so thankful that all of us were not seriously injured, thanks to steve, his car taking most of the impact, also thought of the fact that the glass shards did not cut our face or our eyes... was also thankful that I did not see the incident happening, whereas pong and prisy apparently saw it happening... I would be more afraid of driving if I actually saw it happening... I am also more cautious now when I drove today...

lessons learnt: when mum tells us to pray before leaving the house, like yesterday, do it... and be extra careful when driving, you never know, there are all sorts of stupid idiots on the road...

NEEd to finD New EnTerTainMent...

october long weekend... did not do much cos it was either raining or really cloudy... still quite cold atm...

sat... went all the way to banksia to eat the lebanese bread... it was a really long drive but apparently that was the quickest non-toll way to banksia... after that, went to the city, karaoke and went for dinner at din tai feng... I still think the xiao long bao there is the best...

sunday... stayed at home cos it was raining... did not do much...

monday... went for breakfast and did some shopping, bought a blouse...

tuesday... ado... sent pong to uni and did more shopping and bought more clothing... urggh... I did not think I am a shopping person but apparently I am... got to read some of the new in death book... my shelf is running out of space to store these books...

prisy decided not to go to kpop concert... pong having her exams around that time... ahhh... still cannot get good seats... dunno if we should still go??!! I really want to... just found out that SNSD having a concert in singapore in december... ahhhh... why can't they have it when I am there???

I have decided that having an ado following a long weekend is not wise at all, especially when your next ado is like 6 weeks' away... sian...

韩潮。。。

survived my first week of rotation into aged care... it was not really busy so it was not too bad, and the thing I like about aged care is that the team actually cares about what you say and recommend and if I feel that the pt still has some OT issues, and not safe for discharge, the team is happy for me to do what I have to do prior to discharge... unlike in acute, they don' t care... the not so good thing, ?fast paced and I am still trying to get used to it... I was initially worried about going to all these different case conferences, but now I do see the benefits of going to them every day... so aged care is not too bad at this stage... do I miss mobile rehab??? yes and no...

have been soo hooked onto this korean drama called My girlfriend is a gumiho... prisy has been pestering me to watch for ages now and I was so reluctant bcos I did not like any of the main leads... and then finally decided to watch last week, and oh man, I am sooo sucked into the show and I am so in denial still, but I think I am starting to like lee seung gi... ahhhhh... I started looking up strong heart and 1 night 2 days, becos of him... the whole of last week, the only thing on my mind was the show... it's really cute and funny... I really like the main leads... they are so cute together...

start of a 4 day weekend... nothing planned so far, should probably make good use of this rare break, hopefully it does not rain...

SEpt 11...

last saturday's much anticipated meat and wine co lunch turned out to be not that great, we were told that there was no lunch special on the weekends when we arrived, hence we had to order from the main menue, and there I was looking forward to having my chicken parmigiana... ended up eating this grilled chicken burger... but I did have my lindt iced chocolate, which does make up for some parts and also went karaoke...

nothing much happening this past week... it's my day off again tomorrow, but not doing anything special... 2 more weeks before rotation... found out who the new MRT PT was, and it was unexpected, the new PT is nice but have never really worked with her before, so we'll see how the next 2 weeks go...

have been hooked on korean dramas nowadays... the latest one being city hunter, I have to say, the plot is pretty good and the cast is great as well... and needless to say, lee min ho is hot in the show... he wasn't that good looking in personal taste, but in city hunter, he's really cool... and this morning, becos I was dropping pong off to school, I turned on the tv whilst having breakfast, and had a nice surprise... sbs has this new program called popasia tv... 2 hours nonstop asian music videos and mostly Kpop music... we were all so excited and screaming like we have never seen these mv before like when Genie (SNSD), Ugly (2NE1) came on tv... now there's something to look forward to on tv every sunday morning...

went to lunch with the family yesterday at chatswood, it was sooo crowded, not that it's not usually that crowded... but found out that there was a fair going on... it was really exciting... all the food stores were the more exciting ones... had lunch at this shanghainese place and then went to eat again at that fair... bought this potato chips on a stick thing, which was really nice, nutella wrap... which was good... the taiwanese pancake was disappointing... and there were performances going on as well... and Kpop is definitely becoming bigger, as there was this group of 2 asian girls, dancing to Kpop music...

still not getting good tickets for the Kpop concert... and the silver seats are so much more expensive... will continue to check, but I really want to go... can't decide if we should go even if the seats are crap...

CAKeD oUt...

an update on my past birthday week... last saturday, met up with the uni girlies for lunch at takeru at chatswood... it was good to see them again, haven't seen some of them for quite awhile, although not all could make it... and in the evening... had the MRT dinner at the korean hotpot place in eastwood... I enjoyed myself, mainly cos most of them had not had korean food before, and it was their first taste, and from what I heard, most of them liked it, except for Kara, and I finally found someone who is even more picky than me when it comes to food... after dinner, we proceeded to go to this korean bakery across the road... and Reem bought me another cake... I had a really enjoyable time, and it was good to hang out with the team outside of work...

sunday... pong and I drove up to blue mountains, stopped over at Leura first, on recommendations from work people, I really enjoyed the small town, and the cute little shops... and the french vanilla cake which I like is found there as well... so I bought one for work and home... after Leura, we drove to the chocolate cafe at Katoomba, and had the apparently famous real hot chocolate drink... it was yummy, similar to what Max Brenner has... and I ate cake again, I ate till I was so sick of cakes... but I just could not resist buying the french vanilla cake... seeing as how I came all the way to the Blue Mountains... after that, we went to the 3 sisters, and as usual, it was quite crowded, being a sunday... took some pictures and then drove to our accomodation place... I have to say, it was not as nice as on the website... the room was not that nice as well, and there was no aircon... being singaporeans we are of course, used to having aircons... and the room was stuffy when we first went in... but the interior of the hotel was nice... renaissance style... so we toured the hotel and the town of Katoomba... nothing exciting, Leura was much better... and what a small little world we live in... pong and I were walking out of the hotel in search for food and in comes Ren and Kathy PT... I was like what the hell??!! seriously, of all the times and places... so had a little chat and we went our separate ways... still have yet to get over this... drove back on monday, did alittle shopping at castle towers on the way home...

tuesday... attended the pressure care course at ILS, it was really interesting and informative, and for $22, the food was good... I was not looking forward to eating there, and was thinking of eating something else, ended up eating the asian noodles... and saw uni people at the course, and Karen and Tina... small world really... Karen and I ended up going to Macquarie centre for a drink and chatted whilst waiting for pong...

so this week was a short week for me really... but it felt long as usual... and found out that Kate has agreed to rotate to cancercare... and Mel is the MRT OT for the time being until they have recruited a full time OT... and they have decided to delay our rotation day for a week, which means that I am now rotating on 26 Sept 2011... Sharon is not real pleased about this new development but there's nothing I could do... Karen just told me to stay out of it... it's not pleasant, as I am still wanting to maintain good relations with them and leave a good impression... so 3 weeks more before rotation... a little upset becos most of the team will not be around when I rotate... had more cake again today, work people organised morning tea for Andrew who has returned to work after 3 months of sick leave, and Kate baked mud cake which was very delicious I have to say... so much more nicer than my flourless choc cake... damn...

tomorrow going out for lunch at Meat and Wine Co, followed by dessert at Lindt's and then karaoke... thoroughly spoilt for my birthday this year...

TOuCHeD...

had a very special birthday this year, thanks to family, friends and colleagues, one of the best and unforgettable ones I have had... despite having to work and having to bake my own birthday cake for work... this year was also extra special, as I turn 26 and I was born on 26 Aug... it's not happening again this lifetime... cos you only turn 26 once... *obviously*...

Elinor, Nat OT and Jenny had decided to fill my table and chair with balloons and I was nicely surprised when I walked into the office in the morning... they also bought me flowers and a card and a movie voucher... a very big thank you to them... for their efforts... Nat PT also bought me a strawberry cheesecake... which we had after the rehab inservice, had another nice surprise when I walked into the inservice and Dr Wong immediately wished me happy birthday and everyone else in the room followed suit... a little embarrassed by it all... that's one of the good things about working in a hospital, you know more people and hence received many birthday wishes yesterday... Elinor and Tina decided that they would locate a recipe for icing for the flourless choc cake which I baked and we ended up going into the ADL kitchen and making the icing there... much appreciated despite all the groaning and mishaps I had whilst making the icing... becos I know how busy they must be... had an afternoon tea in the office where we had the flourless choc cake which I baked (I thought they were bitter btw) and Tina also baked mini cupcakes... they were good... and after coming home, auntie made really good lasagne for me on request... and Christine bought me a cake (yes, another one!)... and there was another round of singing and blowing of candles... I was sooo caked out yesterday... no more cakes for awhile... and saw all the well wishes on facebook last night and this morning... very very thankful to all who have made my special day really unforgettable and made me feel special, loved and missed... and the celebrations are going to continue until next saturday...

one sad thing which I also found out yesterday was that Nat PT is leaving MRT for inpatient rehab, which is something she really enjoyed, hence despite being sad that she is leaving, I am happy for her... so she will be leaving one week before I rotate, so there will be a new PT and OT in MRT come September... I am going to be sad to leave MRT, not just becos I was the first one to start in the team and there was no team when I started so I was on my own for a good 6 months, I do have to say that the first few months was really difficult, cos I do not know anybody and really, anything come to that... and had to make the extra effort to take initiative... and get to know the PTs, the NUMs and the ward clerks... but I was also the one researching for the equipment that the team may need, doing the draft policies and procedures for MRT OT, and I also like to think that I am one of the founding members of the team... and it's a really good team once everyone came onboard...

26... hmmm...

decided to update my blog with a quick update... nothing very much happening...

work... was told recently that the rotation has changed, they have decided to take stroke out of the rotation and replace it with cancercare... was quite looking forward to rotating into stroke next year, but there's nothing much I can do now... told my manager that I don't think I am ready for cancercare, so we are now waiting for the decision of my other colleague who is on the rotation program to decide... but I am pretty sure I want to go into aged care still...

latest news is that Kpop is coming to Sydney... finally!!!! the good thing is we finally get to see the Kpop groups live in action, the sad part is Super Junior's not part of the lineup... damn... it would be really good if they were... tix not on sale yet, but it will be held at ANZ stadium on 12 Nov 2011... hopefully we will get really awesome seats!

my birthday is coming... still not able to get over the fact that I have to bake my own cakes for work... such a drag, and I have to do it on Thurs night... although my birthday weekend seems to be activity-filled... so I am actually looking forward to it... it will definitely be better than last year, when I was still working at 7pm on my birthday... and having to shove my dinner down in the car whilst waiting...

until next time... take care and keep checking for updates :) P.s: I am probably the only one reading my own blog now really... I don't think anybody else is blogging nowadays... oh well...