Where is EveryOnE?

I missed the 8:32 a.m bus this morning:( Since I would need to wait for another 30 minutes to catch the next, I decide to take 25+ minutes walk to work.

When I was approaching the office's car park area, I noticed that there are hardly any cars:O At this point, it perks me to check the date for today; since I recalled the distributed email last Friday highlighting that November 1st is a public holiday - All Saints day. After verifying against my mobile phone's "Organiser", today is indeed not 1st of November!

My watch shows that it was already 9:05 a.m. when I was climbing the stairs - up to the 2nd floor - where I met GL (Singaporean colleague) telling me that he had rang the bell & no one answer. FYI, both of us had not been issued the access card which is still under process. After a few minutes, a colleague of ours turned up & finally we managed to enter.

The office is totally deserted, with no people in view. Upon sitted at our respective terminal, GL speaks that his PC's time shows 8:17 a.m. - it was exactly 1 hour slower than the time indicated on my watch. Then, he excitedly said something about Daylight Saving Time, which sounded totally 'alien' to me. As I am a little girl with little knowledge, so I asked him what is it? He gave me that outsmart-you-look saying "You do not know what is Daylight Saving Time?" and ask me to go search the web on my own>:P

Humbly I GooGLe it out! My search had lead me to here and the operating time for countries/territories is indicated here.

In short, Daylight Saving Time "makes" the sun "set" one hour later and therefore reduces the period between sunset and bedtime by one hour.

That means: An additional 1 hour in time difference between Italy & Malaysia, making it a total of 7 hours difference:(

Prayer for Adrian's newborn

Special prayer dedicated to Adrian's newborn daughter - Elisa, who is diagnosed with kidney failure at birth.

Lord Jesus Christ,

You have brought her into this world.
Unfortunately, before she even open her eyes,
her life is put to the test.

May you sent your Holy Spirit onto this newborn child.
Heal her with the touch of your hand.
Give her the strength, courage and patient to endure the pain.
Shower her with love, in the midst of her fight - to battle the illness.

I make this prayer through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.

Please kindly keep her in your prayers.

雨过天晴

It had been foggy since last Saturday. When I woke up 8:30 a.m on Saturday morning, it had been ...


Although it had been already a few days after what had happened, it seems that I still cannot get out of it :( Finally, I decided that I need to talk to my remote guardian, who had patiently listened and with his/her 'unique' way gradually stop my 'rain' before it turn into 'thunder storm'.

After the line was disconnected, it was 10:34 a.m and it had been ...

Take A Breath of Fresh Air!

I took my remote guardian's advice to get myself out from staying in the residential unit.

So, out I went - not that far - to the nearest Piazza Ferretto, where the crowds of people, young and old, gathered all over the square. Moreover, it is a Saturday :)



There is a water fountain located at the end of the piazza. It is mesmerizing at night - with golden light illuminating the splashes water.



Cigarette vending machine is available at almost every passageway; if not, there is always Tabacchi shop at few distance away. Despite the effort to ban cigarette advertisement on the media, however one could definitely figure out why the number of smokers is still on the rise:P



.. to continue

Recollection of the week

Some of you - who had been following my blog - might have noticed that:

• My previous days' posts are written in Mandarin, instead of English. I did not do it on purpose; it just came naturally - as I expressed what I was going through.
  
  It took me a while to realize that I was actually 'speaking my mind' to my remote guardian (as we conversed in Mandarin), who was not to-be-disturb at that period of time.
  



• Something 'ugly' happened last Tuesday. It had sent a great impact on me, such that I could not even 'digest' it at first. For the very first time, I realized that I am not able to 'spill the beans' to anyone.
  
  p/s: My apology goes out to Mr. & Mrs. Tio, who had always been my all-time-listener, and continuosly sharing their years of experiences with me. Thank you for your concern & love.
  

压抑

往天忐忑的情绪
直今还未能平复

......

奇异

已好几晚难以入眠
读完'时代'杂志后
已约十时夜间
周围一片寂静
脑袋不禁又'开动'了

三番四次提醒自己
别想了别烦了
脑子总是不'服从'
用枕头埋着双眼
翻来覆去几刻就睡了

迷迷糊糊醒了好几次
却想不起为什么
今早当我一睁开眼睛
顿时吓了我一跳
窗连竟然一半被拉开了

是我梦游了?
或是谁来拜访了?

领悟

不如意的状况
困扰了我一天
回房睡了一夜
今早感到好多

从中学习不少
跳出框外看事
考量他人立场
非人人都一致

往长远地想想
别因政策人事
而抹去了目标
受点苦学忍耐

要令發怒的人息火，
最好的方法是忍耐?

Foggy Sunday morning

I have slept for 10 + ½ hours after a tiring 3 days 2 night working trip. Now, after having enough rest & self-cooked breakfast, I am sitting here to blog for the past few days.

Work trip - Day 2

... to continue

Work trip - Day 1

I was alarmed at around 3:30 a.m. by SMS + call from SGP & I was left wide awake after that. Instead of closing my eyes - try to get back to sleep again, which usually takes at least ½ hour of more - I got up to do some stretching, double check the items-to-bring, wash up and make a warm cup of Ovaltine. At 5 a.m. sharp, I was sitted on the taxi & way to the airport.

Since I do not have any luggage to check-in, and after going through a fairly long security check (I was asked to switch on the notebook and login for the officer to inspect), I realized that I was among the earliest to arrive at the departure gate – it was an hour before the flight is due to take off :P While I was near to doze off, I saw my other 2 colleagues i.e. GM & G descending from the escalator, dressed smartly in their respective office wears which is a contrast of their usual casual wears in office. The flight was delayed for ½ hour due to fog in airport:(

Upon arriving at Munich airport, we board the train heading to Hauptbahnhof. I slept throughout the 45 minutes train journey. Then we exit the station and hop on a taxi, where G (who had studied German for ½ year) showed the taxi driver the printed map to our destination. However, despite the taxi driver having ‘tons’ of map kept around his & the passenger front sit, where he flipped one after another at frequent stops by the road & at red traffic light, still he did not managed to figure out the location. While the taxi driver’s quick-tempered nerves showed through his body-language, and also to get us out from being drive around by a ‘blind’ driver, GM decided to put the taxi driver on the phone with the person-in-charge. We arrived at our destination feeling very much relieved:D

Stepped Out ...

The schedule is going crazy once again!

As I was packing to return on Monday, it was already after six, I was told that the PM wants to have a word with me via skype. He told me that I will have to spent one whole week in Munich, Germany for the integration testing. At first, the idea seems fine:D But what came next was that I need to work over the weekend too:O

Looking at the fact that he is indeed a considerate person, as he did ask for my consent on whether it is alright with me, despite the silent voice of protest within me, I said it was OK:P

Eventually, that explained why I have not been blogging for the past few days:( Discussion & talk continued, and the schedule is changed and changed, and finally, the good news is that me & another 2 technical guys will be only going for 3 days:D

Got to go off now. I need to pack & get a good rest in order for sleepy head to wake up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to catch an early flight!

Mozzarella Cheese

I have always been fascinated at the variety of cheese displayed in a very large section at the supermarket, and a few stalls which specialize in selling only it at the wet market. However, I do not quite like the 'aroma' which smells like spoilt milk, especially those yellowish ones:S





As most of my friends who often eat out with me might know that I have never been adventurous when it comes to tasting new food. Probably it is out of curiousity, I was tempted by the idea to try some after having noticed that people here have cheese in their daily diet. And I also happened to meet this 15 years old teenage girl (who have just return from Tuscania for her tennis traning; Wow! She represents Italy to play tennis:O) while waiting for bus, about what cheese she enjoys eating.



Eventually, upon her recommendation, I bought Mozzarella to see & taste it myself, which she mentioned it is best eaten fresh. It makes me recalled that back in July, Pizza Hut introduced Cheesy Lava 3 Crust which uses mozzarella as one of the ingredient.

On Friday night, I gently took out the white ball shape mozzarella (soaked in water to keep it fresh) & cut it into half - for a start:P I sliced the half into thin slices to eat together with tortelli, which looks like our chinese version of 'wan tan' stuffed with cheese + spinach/meat, which is what I would call instant-but-nutricious food; throw tortellis into boiling water added with salt for few minutes, then it is ready to serve!



Eating mozzarella - as it is - is like chewing milk flavoured jelly + bubble gum! The first slice did not seems that "welcome" by my taste buds:P But after taking a few slices, it does taste like eating frozen milk + yogurt:D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Saturday afternoon, I use the other half of the mozzarella for cooking! This is plainly my own experiment, as I do not know whether it can be used to cook in hot pan:P So, I added mozzarella - cut in small cubes, so that it melts easily & evenly - after I have cook shell-shaped pasta with cauliflower, red & yellow sweet Capsicum (灯笼椒) & marinated chicken fillets.

Indeed, my recipe did worked and it taste delicious:D Next time, instead of using tomato paste as pasta sauce, mozzarella does seems to be another alternative to choose from!

Say CheeZe!

Thanks to my Singporean colleague who lent me his so-called "First-Generation" digital camera knowing that I have already gave up the idea of purchasing one over here:P

Upon entering the residence's unit, the kitchen + dining room is the place I spent most of my evening time - cooking & eating with the TV switched on at all time. It is pretty compact & equipped with the utilites needed for cooking (except microwave) & washing.



As I have just "reloaded" my supply from the supermarket, looking at the amount of food storage I have, it seems to give an indication of a "DaRuRaT" soon=)) I only managed to get Ovaltine as the 1 & only healthy beverage here. How much I miss the aroma of Vico & the variaties of cereals back in Malaysia:S

Basically people here "live" on coffee & they are very particular about it - by looking at the varieties of coffee available on the office's coffee vending machine: Caffé Latte - more milk less coffee, Caffé Macchiato - more coffee less milk, Cappucino, Cap Ciok - coffee + milk + chocolate & etc)


Sunday - Sabbath day i.e. 7th day (No. 4 under The 10 Commandments stated that one should keep this day holy - shall not do any work & should rest) - all shopping outlet e.g. wet market, grocery outlet & supermarket are closed, thus Saturday is the day where people will swarm out to do all the shopping!

Since I am known to be a "sleepy head", I only have enough time to wash myself, have simple breakfast & I will be rushing off to catch the bus to work, therefore I have to force myself to wake up early on Saturday to visit the wet market to shop for fresh vegetables, fruits, fish & meat:P



Next ... the sleepy head's "humble" bedroom, which she spent her lonely nights & weeping bitterly longing for home:(( Michelle, your sweater & socks (lying on the bed) definitely had come handy - keep me warm throughout the night:D Btw, I called your house last weekend, your mum said that you have went up north to Alor Setar:P Do enjoy the long week stay at your "second home":D I bet I will received ReD bOMb from you soon;)

Pray this is FiNaL Extension :S

Just got another update from the Development Project Leader that I have to further extend my stay here - at the worst case - until mid of December:S This time, he came to us after a lengthly meeting, at least with confirmation (but certainly not with the exact date) regarding the advance application of business Visa for our extension (to avoid what had happened to my other 3 colleagues i.e. forced to return upon 90 days expiry & currently working remotely in SGP office while waiting for their business Visa to be approved) & the task which we will be working on together.

I hope that this will be the final extension I get to hear from him. And I have expressed my concern to return home, at least 1 week before Christmas, as my 2nd elder brother is getting married on my younger sister's birthday. I have already been & will be missing a BiG part of the whole preparation:(

My parents have told me over the phone that my house is undergoing phase-by-phase 大扫除 e.g. finally throwing out the JunKs accumulated for years, changing of new toilet bowls:O & repaint the house, especially my room who is chosen to be the bridal room - 二哥和二嫂: 你们真有眼光;) This time at least I am excused - for the time being - from playing the role of all-time-cleaner of the house:P

A Pleasant Evening ...

Yesterday happened to be the last day my ex-apartment mate (from the company's Helsinki office) here in Venice, as she is leaving to Scotland for another project.

The initial plan was to go to a disco/pub, which I was informed only an hour before we take off. I was having 2nd thought then on whether I should chicken out last minute:P

Here comes 1 of mine self-confession again ...

I have never visited any disco, pub, nor KTV before until this point of my life:"> Probably I do not like the continuous bombastic loud noises of the music + people shouting over their lungs, and the typical dim settings - as of shown in movies - with disco ball party light rotating and smudging multicolor lights on the dance floor, and not forgetting, the smoke & liquor in the air - sent butterflies in my stomach!

On top of that, it is one of those 'thingy' which runs in our genes - being extremely alchohol intolerant:S A can of shandy can sent my face go red like a tomato:)) My mum will definitely be the one who remember the incident clearly. Although it had been years back when I was still in my primary standard 3, she carried 'an elephant' i.e. me, of course:P from an open-house Christmas party back to our house (luckily it was only a minute to 2 walk)! That is the first time I got drunk - without actually noticing it - drinking glass after glass of sweet & sparkling fruit punch! And I found out later that it was added with rum, brandy & XO:P No wonder, as I later recalled, I was talking so happily with my face blushing & burning with redness:D

However, after an hour of drive to the our destination (located in another city called Treviso), the guy - who we named him 'Frankenstein - The Monster' instead of Francesco (his birth name) - told us after having spoken to the muscular-dressed-in-black-coat guy (who is in charge of the guest) that reservation is required upon entering! And to our bad luck, the place is fully booked! We were already starving & shivering - it was about half past 9 then. We are forced to get our butt back into the car and drove to another place in search of FOOD - FasT! FasT! FasT!

1/2 thanks to 1 of our guy, who had happened to spent his childhood years in Treviso, but can barely remember the exact route to Montelvini. We ended walking - in cold air - for another half an hour (from where the car is parked) along the high row of defensive wall (as the guy explained, built around in the 40's to protect the city). Finally, we reached & sat down to start ordering - with the pretty pregnant lady waiting by our side. However, the guys seems to be extremely talkative the whole night, and suggested that the 'celebrity-of-the-night' would have to strip at the end of our meal - solely to satisfy their own 'appetite':P

The waiter brought us a basket of Grissini Torinesi i.e.Italian breadstick, which we gobble up in a few seconds:P Then we had some Italy Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine, where we did the "Cin Cin" (in Italian) which is similar to our Kantonese version of "Yam Seng". One of the Italian guy, Diego, who is sitted next to me explained that one should look into the other person's eyes in order to show that one is sincere in doing it.

The evening was filled with Italian + Indian + Romanian + Malaysian + Singaporean english talk, laughter & some dirty jokes (as Frankenstein always relates the 3 letter word i.e. s*x to whatever we have to talk about:P). I learned that Italian, in general, eat pasta for dinner & meat for dinner. In addition, we - the non-Italians - are supposed to learn a new language called "Italian English":))

Extend AGaiN :O

This morning, I was informed by the Development Project Leader that probably I would have to stay until the end of November i.e. end of 90 days (Visa expire)!

天啊! 怎么可以这样?

Chicken "ABC" Soup for Me

Last Saturday, as I was preparing to cook my weekend "ABC" soup or better known as chicken stew, it makes me discover something about myself :P

According to my grandma's "ABC" soup recipe, the ingredients are as follows:

• white pepper seeds


• chicken drumsticks


• onions


• tomatoes


• carrots


• potatoes

I remember the exact order of the ingredient which needs to go into the pot of boiling water with pounded white pepper seeds; previously I will need to ask my grandma (whenever she is at my house) to repeat the sequence :P It goes like this: First, dump the onions + tomatoes first and let it boiled - the kick-off is a quick one i.e. wash & cut the onion & tomato into medium size .

Then I can take my own sweet time to peel the skin of carrot & potatoes. Usually I will skip the scraping of carrot's skin (as I am being plain lazy!) and just cut it, then I will proceed with the potatoes. This is the moment I was prompted - upon holding a potato in my palm - deciding whether I should peel the skin off to start.

Although the recipe 'pronouced' it as one of the required ingredient, but I learned that I do not like eating potatoes (excluding the mash version - which mum will buy from nearby KFC whenever we are sick - with no appetite to eat), because it is very filling e.g. like starch. So, it took me a few minutes to decide ...

I think the above scenario pretty much relates to our life ...

In our childhood years, we are given instructions and told to execute what have been instructed. We are told not to question when we asked why should we do it - just do it, or else live with what it takes to disobey, namely the 'CaNe'! Sometimes, we are hardly given any choice, and most of the time, decision is make for us.

As we grow up and start to 'stand on our own feet', we are continuosly posed with challenges in life, which most of the time require us to make our own decision. As for me, I used to be almost indecisive even if I am told to make small decision e.g. when a waiteress comes to ask what I want to eat:P Eventually, I discover that when I learned more about myself e.g. my like & dislike, strength & weeknesses & etc, it is easy to at least make small decision!

So, you should know - at the end - whether I did peel the potato & drop it into the pot or not ;)

GoSh! Rain whole DaY ...

It has been raining with frosty wind all day yesterday. Wet Wet Wet! The temperature was reported to be 10 degree celcius. Cold Cold Cold!

I cannot believe my own eyes when I noticed white, misty water vapor - visible - coming out from my mouth:O It was like the smoke 'release' from the nose of a person smoking a cigarette (minus the disgusting smell:P)! I learned that it was a natural phenomenon when one breaths on a cold day that makes one exhale air vapor. [只怪自己见识少, 何必大惊小怪 :P]

Apart from wearing a raincoat, I have to put on 3 pieces of clothings to keep myself warm. Perhaps I need to get myself a boot (as of suggested by my remote guardian) before my shoes goes soaking wet after having stumbled into those little pools of water on the uneven road surfaces, and worst still - my foot turn icy, white and numb having being wrapped in my soaking pair of shoes!

If anyone is to ask me the question "Can you better tolerate hot or cold?" again, I think my answer - at least at this moment - will definitely not be COLD! Wait til I go to place with blazing hot weather, probably then I can reevaluate my answer again:))

Stay Extension ...

This morning, I received an email from my operative reference regarding the resource planning for the coming months. According to the schedule, I was relieved to know that I will be able to return to Malaysia at the exact date stated on my flight itinerary.

However, few hours later, I received another email - this time is from the Development Project Leader - about the change of plan; I am expected to stay until mid of November:(

天啊! 我好想家 ...