Monday Blues

Today’s a blue Monday. A very blue one indeed. Not because weekend was too short, not because I wanted to have more sleep, not because I had to go to work.

I bumped into my old neighbour in the lift. We shared the usual greetings. She then started talking about the pain on her knee which had kept her grounded at home for the past 3 months. No wonder we didn’t see her as often but it didn’t occur to us that she was unwell.

She’s a typical Teochew Ah Mah and we always addressed her as “Aunty”. She spoke only Teochew and understood only Teochew. She’s a devout Buddhist who will go to the temple to pray and usually goes for strolls after breakfast or dinner. We were happy when we learnt that our neighbour is an elderly lady. Somehow we have an affinity with older folks. Kind ones of course.

There were occasions when we couldn’t understand totally what she was trying to say, neither could she understand fully what we are trying to tell her. But we still do simple exchanges when we see each other. She would make her Teochew kuehs and share some with us and I too would pass her some stuff that I’ve bought or made.

I was late for work but I stood and listened. I could have disengaged the conversation and rush off for work. But I didn’t. To give someone else your time is something that we urban beings can hardly give now. Moreover, I have a soft spot for elderly folks. Perhaps because I was brought up by my grandparents.

The unbearable pain on her knee had made her tear but that was nothing when compared to the pain in her heart. I empathized with her when she shared how her youngest daughter tried to make her sign a contract to will the current flat to her. Her youngest daughter is 45 now and single, after 2 failed marriages. Thankfully, no children. And fortunately, Aunty did not sign the contract. Relationship with her daughter turned sour.

I can’t imagine the hurt she felt when she shared how her own daughter is waiting for her to die so that she then could sell off the flat for money. My heart ached when she said if not because of the knee pain, she would have just jumped off the building.

I knew how it feels and I just listened. Before the end of our conversation, I tried assuring her with my limited Teochew vocabulary that she could look for us if she needed any help and kept telling her “hua yi jiu hor” – as long as you’re happy. I wanted to her not to think too much and just concentrate on getting well, but with my little pool of lexis, I gave her a soft rub on her shoulders and repeated the liner.

The walk to the office was a long one. A lot of thoughts went through my head and emotions swell whenever it reached the sore spot. It was strange that the emotion that took over was sadness and empathy for Aunty, instead of anger towards her youngest daughter. I was also thinking what else can I do and the most immediate was to learn a few more Teochew terms so that I could communicate with her better.

It’s a blue Monday today but I hope I have made Aunty’s Monday less blue today.

Healthy Living - Raw Food Glow Workshop

Ooh...been so long since my last entry. Just a quick update on the last entry. We've received the full refund of the air ticket cost and and SIA has recently refunded the $150 admin fees. NTUC Income has also waived the travel insurance premiums. Somehow emails work for us better than calls to the customer service centres.

Total damage: $98 for the 1N hotel stay + cab fare to and fro the airport. Disappointment? Nay....it's a sign......... =P

We've been rather busy with the past weekends. Robinson sale, talk @ CPF, HPB's healthy lifestyle roadshow that we chanced upon which we've gotten our BMI calculated and received goodie bags :) The item that enticed us to join the "Uncle and Aunty" queue - 750g brown rice. Don't tell me you didn't queue for free stuff before...I bet the Ben and Jerry's queue is longer than this.

Uncle Tan and I participated in a workshop organised by PA and thought I could share the recipes for those who are interested in a fuss free nutritious food which doesn't require any cooking.

It was a small class held in Cuppage Plaza, a quiet little open space outside the cafe "NutriHub - the Organic Fushion Cafe".

The trainer is a former nurse and her last stint was working with the National Cancer Centre. Her medical knowledge has somewhat made the workshop more interesting and educational. We've picked up a number of useful tips on how we process the food for health benefits.

How can healthy food be delicious? Well, you'll never know till you try and well...sometimes it's a matter of how your mind is being programmed :)

Good things are meant to be shared, so here are the recipes:

Cashew Fig Milk
Ingredients for 1 serving (approx 300ml):
- 12 cashew nuts
- 1 Medjool date
- 1 Fig
- 200 ml filtered drinking water
- 5 ice cubes

Method:
1. Wash and soak cashew nuts overnight in filtered dirnking water.

Note: Apparently cashew nuts and almond nuts are 'acidic' in nature and are not good for the body if taken without getting rid of their acidity by soaking them. It's better to eat raw nuts than those pan fried or roasted as the fats from the nuts will turn to hydrogenated oil which is unhealthy for the body, and that explains why some would feel bloated after eating these processed nuts. If you still prefer your nuts to be crispy, you can lightly toast them but the best is to dehydrate them using a dehydrator.

2. The following day, discard the water and rinse it before adding them to the blender.
3. Remove the head of the fig and cut into 4 pieces.
4. Remove the head and seed from the date.
5. Wash the fig and date before mixing them with the cashew nuts, water and ice cubes and blend them till smooth.

We were all surprised by the sweetness and taste. The smell is a little weird but everyone likes the taste. The first pic is the milk. You can replace the cashew nuts with almond nuts (12 pieces) or brazillian nuts (3 pieces). Similar to fruit juice, try to consume it within 2 hours.

Swiss Museli
Ingredients for 1 serving (approx 300ml):
3 tbsp of rolled oats (organic if you are the purist)
10 pcs of shelled walnuts
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp sunflolwer seeds
1 tsp white & black sesame seeds
1 tbsp raisins or wolfberries
200ml filtered drinking water
1 tsp lemon juice
Fresh fruits i.e. banana, payaya, apple, strawberry, kiwi etc.

Method:
1. Rinse the rolled oats, nuts and seeds and dried fruits (raisins/wolfberries). Pour them into a clean container and soak it in 200ml of drinking water. Keep the container overnight in the fridge.

2. Remove it from the fridge the next morning and pour it into a bowl. wash and cut fresh fruits to add into the bowl and add 1 tsp of lemon juice into it, mix well and serve.

If you prefer it warm, you could cook the oats then mixed in the nuts to cook. Preferably not to add in the fruits as their enzymes would be destroyed under high temp which loses its nutritional value.

Fruity Nutty Tart
Ingredients for 5 to 6 tarts:
Crust
Walnut - half cup
Almond - half cup
Medjool dates - 3 to 4 pcs
1 pinch of rock/ sea salt
1 pinch of 5 spices powder (optional)

Filling
Banana - 1 to 2 pcs
Kiwi - 1 pcs
Medjool Dates - 1 to 2 pcs
1 tbsp Psyllium Husk (this is good at making food stick together, similar to gelatin)

Method:
1. Soak almond 3-4 hrs and drain dry. Wash walnuts and dates

2. Use a food processor to blend all ingredients for the crust. Chopped and pulse into fine pieces and blend well into a sticky mixture.

3. Divide the nutty paste into 5 - 6 portions. Place each portion into a tart cup. Mould the paste to form the tart crust. You can refer to the pic above.

4. Use food processor to blend all ingredients except strawberry for the filling together. Wait 1 - 2 mins for the psyllium husk to expand and form the sticky texture. Cut strawberry into halves and use as topping.

5. Place 1 - 2 tbsp of the filling on the tart crust and add fresh strawberries as topping.

Chill the crust/ tart if possible to harden it further.

Personally, I found the banana taste a little overpowering. Perhaps can reduce the amt or consider other fruit filling.

After the workshop, we were served lunch - organic fried beehoon with beans and mushrooms with organic thai green/red chilli. Sedap!!! Desert was organic green bean soup with kelp (or seaweed I think) and sweet potato.

This cafe serves organic food besides selling organic items and conducting classes of this sort. You could visit tthem at www.nutrihub.blogspot.com or pop by the cafe to take a look at Cuppage Plaza (behind OG Orchard, near Centrepoint) at B2-25. Open daily from 10am to 7pm and closed on Sun and PH.

Have fun trying :)

The Signs...

For the first time in my life (and Uncle Tan's), I was denied to board the plane on the day of departure.

Reason: Passport's validity - less that 6 mths. And...it's 10 days short. Sign No. 1

It all started when Uncle Tan and I decided just to take a break from work to R&R. Because we didn't plan exactly when and where, it was all decided about 2 weeks before the trip, after taking into consideration that no current H1N1 outbreak, no earthquakes or riots and somewhere that requires less planning cos we prefer a free & easy trip. So Taiwan it is since there's no language barrier with a convenient rail system and the place also offers nice scenery in parts of the city.

We did a bit of research with the use of friends' past itineraries. Somehow we seem to be looking forward more for the break instead of the trip itself. Probably we were stressed with work & our immunity level was low.

Uncle Tan did mention to me that my passport was slightly less than 6 mths. But it really didn't strike us that there'd be any problem. Moreover, the system also allowed the booking without any prompts and we went ahead to book the accommodation. It was only successful upon the second try as the first choice hotel was fully booked. Sign No. 2

We went ahead to select the seats thou not many choices. You'll be surprised to find the entire row 44 empty. Talking about the superstitious beliefs amongst Singaporeans. Oh if you're keen to know, the total cost of the air tix we paid is $1,348.

Days before departure, Uncle Tan went to check the weather forecast on www.weatherunderground.com and thunderstorms would be expected. It also indicated "Typhoon Parma" on the 4th and last day of our trip. Ok, everything has been booked, so it's kinda too late to do anything anyway. Sign No. 3

The only thing that we could not do is to do the Internet check-in. It prompted the message: "You must have at least 6 months validity on your passport to complete Internet check-in. Please check in at the airport." Sign No. 4
It still didn't indicate the prohibition to travel and I grumbled about having to arrive at the airport earlier to do the checking-in.

Just before stepping out of the house, I suddenly recalled that my buddhist beads, which I always bring along with me for every trip. We made a search and just couldn't find it. It didn't really leave a very bad feeling or maybe I just told myself not to think too much into it. So we left the house anyway. Sign No. 5

I wonder if this was a laughable mistake as I could see a staff seated at the other gate smiling to himself. I was like "huh?" "what?" when I heard this and was trying desperate to see who else I can seek help from especially at this hour when most people are still asleep. 2 of my colleagues knew about my predicament as they were early birds and that also allowed me to vent some frustrations and well, confusion.

I'm curious to know how many knew about the 6-mth validity rule. The staff told us that certain countries like China and Malaysia are more lenient whereas countries such as Taiwan, is pretty strict about this. And when we told her the system still allows the booking to go through without any prompts, she said that the system would not prompt if we booked via the KrisFlyer. So doesn't that make KrisFlyer members at a disadvantage then?

So she advised us to make a trip to ICA to see if it's possible to get an extension and gave us SQ's customer service hotline to enquire. We were given the following options:

1. Cancel the booking - cancellation fee at $75 per pax if the cancellation is made before the plane takes off at 8.30am. Afterwhich would be the full cancellation charge of $150 per pax applies.

2. Take the next available flight at 12+pm and to top up $148 per pax. However, we need to inform them before 8.30am.

3. Up-selling the ticket - keeping the tix with flexi dates with top-ups.

And that was how we know that ICA opens at 8am and for a moment I thought ICA building had a 4D-Toto station. The Q outside the building was already forming before the opening. Fortunately it moved pretty past and the Q to do the extension was short - Q no. 004. Ah, another sign... ...

Before we went in, we contemplated whether we still want to go ahead with the trip if extension was granted. Somehow we felt that these things perhaps happen for a reason and so we decided that if the extension was not granted, we take it as a no go.

And indeed it was. In order to do an extension for a single trip, the staff said we would have to apply for visa. Alternatively, she suggested making a new passport which she could expedite the process but could only collect it at 4pm. Either way, we couldn't catch the next available flight and we did not have any mood to go even if we were to postpone the trip to the following day. And having to go through all these in the morning is somewhat draining. So we decided to cancel the trip and try to see if we could be refunded.

We called the online travel agency to explain our situation, followed by an email. They were very prompt in settling this they replied before the stipulated 48 hrs. They are agreeable to our suggestion to pay only a night's rate and refund the remaining sum instead of charging us the full amount. I strongly recommend their service if you intend to book your own travel accomodation. Here's the link: www.octopustravel.com.sg.

We are still waiting for NTUC travel insurance's reply on the waiver of cancellation charges though the amount was not a lot. The lady did not return my call and I had to follow up with an email. We even called the credit card company to see if we could stop this payment as the transaction was done only a day before. Well, Uncle Tan hesitated to do so as this would mean his current card would be void and the bank would have to re-issue him a new card which means he has to go through the hassle of re-linking the credit card up with his mobile phone monthly payment. And that is the ONLY one payment that is linked to the card.

In any case when he called the following day to stop the transaction, he was told that the ansaction had taken place - the day which I called to request for the waiver....... My insurance agent said that it was possible for the cancellation in the past but since NTUC Insurance has become commercialised recently, they have new rules. Point taken.

As for SIA, we would be given full refund of the air tix but will still charge the cancellation fee of $75 per pax despite our request for waiver via the hotline. When we visited the customer service centre at Ion, the staff explained that there is nothing she could do as the refund process had taken place and that apparently the staff said Uncle Tan had acknowledged that we would pay for the cancellation charges. I had no more ammunition to fight.

We were given an email address to write in and well, no harm trying. I wrote a long email for Uncle Tan to send and hopefully like the travel agency example, they could accede to our request.

Honestly, we didn't really feel disappointed and we took this episode as one of those "adventures". It was an "exciting" experience indeed with lessons learnt. I was even joking to my colleague that we felt like immigrants from ahem...you-know-where, lugging our luggage from the airport to ICA. I suppose having the thought that things happen for a reason somewhat made us feel less agitated (except for occasions when Uncle Tan really test my patience for not being proactive in thinking of solutions to get back the refund and giving me incomplete info before I go for "the negotiation"). Even though I'm here safe and sound, I really hope the typhoon would subside soon and not cause too much casualties and destruction. We are so fortunate not having to go through the fear these people face. But nothing is absolute.

And you and I know jolly well who contributed to to all these unfortunate disasters. Yes, it's through our little greedy, sometimes lazy and selfish ways that resulted in all these. We all know what's going on and how we can try to reduce the impact. If you think you alone can't do anything much, think again. And if you think you have no children so there's no need to think so much about the future since the world will not end in your time, think again. You'll never know when's the day and I suppose you like travelling too?

Farm Trip at Kranji

Afternote:
Realised that I was too excited about posting the farm trip...and something else ;p that I actually forgot to provide details about the place = 0

For those who are interested in farm trips like me, you can visit this website www.kranjicountryside.com for the list of farms located at Kranji. There's the veggy farms, fish farms, a mushroom farm, a goat farm and even a frog farm. If you like to be woken up by the chirping of birds and get the first breath of fresh air and be greeted by nothing but the greeneries, you might wanna check out D' Kranji Farm Resort.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is nearby as well and it's a good place to watch the migratory birds or just enjoy the scenery along the board walk as you walk through the mangrove swamp.

To get there, you can hop onto to the Kranji Express at Kranji MRT station at $2/adult, $1/student and senior citizen. Apparently there was a promotional activity "Drive N Hunt" happening that day, so transport was FOC that day :)

Caution:
If you are a banker or from the gar-men, beware when you meet Poison Ivy in person at Bollywood Farm. Not recommended for the faint hearted.
However, if you want to toughen up your kid whilst earning good bucks serving customers, you can consider sending your kids there for training.
Recommendation: Cold grilled brinjal, papaya salad andlemongrass chicken. Banana muffin with choc ice-cream is YUMZZZ!

Day: National Day

Time: 10.15am

Locaton: The Kranji Countryside

Welcome to D' Kranji Resort Farm!

Papayas for anyone?

Didn't know that Singapore has got its very own corn field too.

Sunflowers in the making.

Guavas

Such a pretty brinja aka eggplant. It tastes like egg when grilled. No wonder it's called an eggplant. Not the plant that grows eggs, Uncle Tan.

Ooh...chilli padi

Yea, we have rice field in Singapore too. But the grains seem to have been eaten by the birds.

How we know??......

Cos Aunty Tan went to pick some to see.

Note: For demonstration purpose only.

The bitter gourd from Japan. Tastes good when mixed with preserved ginger. Tastes like the local achar.

According to the owner, bitter gourds are good for diabetic patients.

This one looks like our local breed.

Able to guess what this is?

The banana flower and bananas on top. Bet it could make loads of rojak.

And who have we here... :)

Wendy: U shouldn't believe everything Uncle Tan says...

Karlos: Oh really?


The way to Mr Pee-Wee's place.


Here it is, the eco-friendly Mr Pee-Wee's place :)


What Do You See?


Reminds us of the rural place in Malaysia...a rare sight in Sg now.

Wendy and Karlos: Hey, we're the ones who discovered where Mas Salamat has been hiding all this while...

Exclusive: Caught in action!

Welcome to Bollywood Veggie Farm

This banana flower is HUMUNGOUS.....

A different breed of 'aloe vera' according to Uncle Tan...

It's actually a dragon fruit plant lah......tsk tsk tsk...

Warning: The following pictures may make you think twice about the enjoyment of spas.

View at your own discretion.

Oh no what kind of a spa is this? I can't take it anymore...

Oh my gosh, it's sooo ticklish...wooo eee...!!!

Meanwhile, the men decided to try the spa with more sensation.

Here fishy fishy, pls be gentle with me...

Woh, those fishes are sure hungry...

They sure got the BIG bite...

What Do You See?

Watching NDP has been one of my favourite events of the year. I loved watching the Apaches, the military police doing their cool stunts with the rifles, Chinooks flying with the huge Singapore flag, the amazing transformations by the performers and of course, the singing of the national songs which definitely evokes the feeling of patriotism.

I thought I was going to grow out of watching NDP especially it has since moved to the floating platform at Marina Bay (including failed attempts to get NDP tickets). When I was away last year, I wasn't motivated to watch the parade online either plus and darn, that year it rained for the first time after many many years.

This year's NDP somewhat has reignited my interest. There seems to have a whole lot of hype and publicity. There were road shows held in the heartland, mini campaigns and what was pleasantly surprised was that the NDP Exco had invited Mr Brown to be part of this year's NDP where he would cover the behind-the-scenes actions for NDP 2009.

Well, it might be a plot by the Gahmen like what Mr Brown had suspected. I too raised my brow when I heard that from the news. Plot or not, I thought the objective of reaching out to more people via various channels was met. And it did make me took the time to go online to "check it out".

So, the Gahmen isn't that rigid and inflexible afterall.

You might like to visit this link if you are keen to find out what goes behind the scenes. For those who are working in the Gahmen, I guess it will serve as a good reminder of the tough (well, sometimes @#$%) work you have done and more to come in future. For those who aren't in the service, well, please appreciate the work these people have done, although not all are relevant. You know what I mean.

Mr Brown goes to the NDP 2009

I've been reading comments in the papers about this year's NDP song. To be honest, everytime they played the song after a show, I usually switched channels. Not that I didn't appreciate the song but somehow it just didn't catch my attention. Until I caught the spoof of the NDP 2009 Theme Song "Lekuasimi" (aka you see what see in Hokkien) which made me appreciate the original version (but I had to admit that I remembered the lyrics of the spoof version more clearly, partly thanks to Uncle Tan for continuously humming the spoof version). You'll know what I mean after you've watched it. Honestly, the tune is quite catchy, just that it's not that easy to sing along except "What do you see? What do you see?"

I remembered asking my ex-boss who used to be with the RSAF why the need to spend so much time, money and effort on NDP. Well, besides showing others (shan't be too politically explicit here) what latest gadgets we have and the strength of our military power, it's also a National Education time where it serves to remind all Singaporeans not to take what we have built and achieved for granted and we should all feel proud to be a Singaporean and to face the challenges together as a nation despite our size.

Don't dismiss it as something insignificant and that it can't make people feel patriotic with just that one celebration (to be exact, should be 8 in all including the rehearsals which I too had just found out from Mr Brown). I was told that even an Ah Beng who is not that patriotic cried when he was watching the NDP live onsite.

P/S: Whoever has lobangs for next year's NDP pleassse let me know. I haven't been to any one yet for the last 31 years. Thank you in advance.

I thought the Pledge Moment was a great idea. Not only those who went to the parade can experience the feeling of patriotism, I believe those who took part in the pledge too must have felt something. Uncle Tan and I did though it was done in front of the TV. It didn't require a lot of effort, it might be a little awkward to some, but it's a powerful way to reaffirm your beliefs. Just like renewing your marriage vows.

Btw, in case you wonder who Mr Brown is, he isn't an angmoh (or perhaps he wanted to become one). He is the veteran Singapore blogger who writes satirical stuff on Singapore National Education Series and other funny musings on the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997.

I wanted to do a similar spoof titled "Aijiasimi" (what do you wanna eat) given that Singapore is a food paradise and this is a common question asked before lunch time. I'm only a few lines done and perhaps could save it for next year if they happen to do something like "Lechiosimi" (what are you laughing about) as the economy should have improved by then =)

Photography Service

Announcing......

The start of my friend's photography service KC Photography

If you or your friends, relatives, family members, colleagues, company etc. would like to engage a freelance professional photographer for events, graduation ceremonies, ROMs, actual day weddings, family portraits or glamour shots. please feel free to give her a call to find out more or check out her rates.

No obligations of course :)

She has been my personal photographer, or rather, our family photographer for the past 10 years which goes from our vacation shoots to crazy home DIY studio shoots (with Uncle Tan as a busker, my mum as a college student, one of my cousins as a kimono dancer etc.) to my mum's personal portfolio to me and my brother's graduation photos, ROM photos and actual day wedding shoots including my brother's upcoming wedding next year.

She's also good in taking sports photos as seen in the recent AYG event. You can check out her past portfolio at her blog:

http://kc27photography.blogspot.com/

If you like her service, please feel free to help spread the word around too =)

A simple happiness

I didn't know a simple act of washing face can bring such smiles. I'd never be able to feel the sense of contentment of living a simple life.

The trailer on TV prompted me to watch the first episode. It's one of the best things that I get from watching TV - I get to see what's going on the outside world, and realise how fortunate we are...and how poor we are.

We are fortunate, especially Singaporeans, where we have no natural calamities. The most would be the haze from Indonesia or the flooding during rainy seasons. Other than that, it's the usual complains on the ungracious acts, people get caught eating in the trains, buses not arriving on time, toilets are dirty, dustbins not enough etc. We are the pampered and sheltered lot.

I'm a city kid, although I'm glad I grew up having real masak masak and self-invented toys to play with. Now I'm hooked on games in Facebook and Pop Caps, and that was partly the reason why I had sort of neglected updating my blog besides trying to catch up with my work.

Because of that programme, it has somewhat changed my mindset of Ah Tiongs. At least some of them. They can be the simple and nice folks without the air of arrogance, without the scheming minds that their richer counterparts have. It's sad to see that prosperity somehow is inversely related to the values people have.

I knew the programme will make me go teary, but I had to watch it, I had to remind myself there's more to life, I wanted to tell myself how minute our problems are compared to theirs. Humans are forgetful beings, we need to be reminded.

The first episode brings us to the earthquake zone in Sichuan. The journey was arduous and on route, the sight of massive destruction of roads and buildings showed the prowess of nature, as if it was angry with how we have willfully wasted what it has given us.

The first task was to help build a house from scratch and they helped a school to build a library filled with books. They also taught the children basic hygiene such as washing their hands and face and brushing their teeth. Seeing the faces that brimmed with joy made me envy the simple happiness they have. We have taken many things for granted and we have become too complicated be easily satisfied.

They featured a girl whose mother died of complications after giving birth to her. She stayed with her maternal grandparents as her dad had remarried and lived in another village. My heart went out to her grandma as she carried a bagful of branches as that she had gathered for the day. It was heavy certainly. Her grandma started crying as she shared about the teasing by her granddaughter's classmates - that she is an orphan. She was sad that her daughter was not able to watch her own child grow up. The girl wept quietly as she comforted her grandmother. I realised that regardless of wealth status, humans instinctively can't seem to accept very well things that are different from them.

The other was a deaf-mute girl who was unable to attend a normal school because of her condition. She was a pretty little girl full of optimism. The volunteers tried to convince her parents to send her to a special school so that she could continue her education. She was lucky to have met these volunteers as education, transportation and living expenses were taken care of. The parents were unwilling at first as they couldn't bear to live apart with her, but eventually agreed for the sake of her future. The host couldn't hold back his tears as the girl tried to call his name in her husky little voice. I was happy for her.

Life was tough and the harsh weather made it harder. Perhaps that is how they learn to be resilient and I admired their tenacity and strength.

Oh, the programme is called "Stars for a Cause", aired on every Thurs, 8pm on Ch U. I shan't elaborate more, catch it and I hope it will make a little difference in your life.

Caught in the Act

I did an 'auntie' thing yesterday which I still felt tickled when I think about it.

As I was passing by the 'overwhelming' bakery shop at the centre (the bakery is often packed with people and the breads are always topped with stuff of all sorts that somehow makes the breads look literally 'overwhelming' to me), I caught a stealthy act in action from the corner of my eye.

I was amazed at my quick, if not instant, response.

"哇!可以用手拿面包啊?!!"

The uncles around turned to look at who made that loud and clear comment. The sales assistant immediately went up to stop the auntie who seemed oblivious to what was going on.

It was too late. Her hand had already "ravaged" the 2nd piece of bread with her "I-believe-yet-to-wash" hand. I didn't know buying bread now is similar to buying fish in the market where one can 'press' to test the freshness before making the purchase.

I wonder if she could have been an NEA officer in disguise, checking on the bread's freshness "first hand"...

Most bakeries are using bread covers to prevent breads from being exposed to germs/bacteria/ people's saliva. Even then, that still didn't stop some who still insist on "hands-on" experience. Especially in that crowded bakery, it was not tough to practice that. That auntie was taking her time to scrutinize the breads. No one saw what she was doing. I hope it was the case and not no one bothered with what she was doing.

With the recent hygiene scare and the eminent flu pandemic, some Singaporeans somehow still don't "wake up" their idea. Many people would lament and said it's "heng suay" (depends on your luck). But why leave it to chances when you can take a more pro-active role?

I'm definitely not a clean freak and I am not against the idea of "lap sup jia lap sup dua" (the belief that one's immunity would be stronger if he/she doesn't grow up in a totally clean environment), but to these people who might indirectly cause a series of unfortunate events happening, I think I have the responsibility to correct what's not right.

So besides litter bugs, spitters and inconsiderate smokers, I've now added unhygienic homo sapiens to my list.

It seems that it's always easy to spot an ungracious act as opposed to a gracious one. To a gracious act direct at me, I'd thank the person sincerely with a big smile. But for gracious acts which are directed at others, I suppose I could only give a smile to acknowledge the kind act. It's tougher to capture on camera as well.

Well, if you have ideas, do let me know. It's always better to share something good besides highlighting the not-so-good stuff. The world is already a tough place to live in, should try to make it better. And I'm trying to make it better by also "educating" those who are on my list ;p

It's Spring again...

Tomorrow is the Spring Festival for Zurich. Time flies...it's already been a year.

Ironically, I've been missing the weather there. Ok, I used to whine at the cold weather and trying to convince everyone, including myself, that I'm a tropical gal who prefers the tropical climate. But with the temperature climbing from 27°C to 30°C, I'm truly beginning to miss the "cold and gloomy weather" quite a lot. Talking about the grass is always greener on the other side :>

I guess Uncle Tan and myself, including my friends who had been there, would continue to miss the place and relish the memorable times there. And to share and "view" our fond memories, Uncle Tan is currently working on a project to make a coffee table book, or rather, a few coffee books that compiles some of the pictures we've taken.

Uncle Tan's colleague from Zurich came to Singapore a couple of weeks back. Well, he sort of brought some "Siwss air" here with the chocolates and the well wishes from the rest in Zurich. We played host for a day before he went off to Hong Kong meeting his friends.

He likes our weather, our food, especially seafood, and......the shopping. These are the general things they like about Singapore. I even heard that one of the colleagues who was posted here to work was so awed by the city sights and lights that he could just sit and view the city sights the whole night, with beer of course :)

They love the city buzz while we love their tranquil hush;
They admired our city sights while we desire their green lush;
They see the vigour of city life yet we perceive it as the hustle and rush.
We are indeed, ironic creatures of such.

Some of the photos we took of Urs :)

Entering into the number "3" + 1

The HR lady must have been amused by me when I went to sign my appointment letter last week. Somehow I forgot my Uncle Tan's ID number, his title and......our wedding date. I remembered the customary date but the ROM date is something that it's there but needed greater effort to retrieve the info from a certain section of the brain.

I called Uncle Tan. His advice - refer to the wedding ring. Aha, so it's good to imprint dates afterall. But I had a hard time trying to decipher the imprint and, a hard time trying to believe that I've been officially married for 5 years! OMG!!!

I guess the number '3' has some effect on women in terms of memory and behaviour...ok or maybe just me...as I can literally see some of you raising your eyebrows already.

I did something finally that I have been wanting to do for some time - perming my hair. Partly because I wanted to do something different while I still can and partly because of laziness as it's easier to bun up a permed hair and and more versatile to do different style. But then I forgot my weakness - laziness.

The frown between my eyes simply stayed locked from the moment the curlers were removed till I went back home. It was different from the curl I had 2 weeks ago at my bro's ROM. I looked like those baby dolls with those super fluffed up hairdo.

The stylist says big curls doesn't last very long and suggested a mixture of medium and small curls so that by the time the hair 'settles', it'd look more natural.

So for the next few weeks, Auntie Kin will have her hair bun up or pin up until the hair decides to settle, if it ever. Ok, so it's one thing tried.

And from now on, I would be contented to have my hair curled just for the moment than wanting the curls to stay with me longer.

Kunsthaus (Art Museum)

Finally managed to get these pics uploaded from my mobile if not because I was down with flu and had to take a break.

Sorting out these pics, this season's Amazing Race which had shown parts of Switzerland....arghh!!! It's calling me back!!!

The art museum in Zurich is one of the places I'd recommend to visit if you love arts. You'll be happy to be able to see the works of world renowned artists such as Monet and Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Piccaso, Claude Monet and Marc Chagall (the guy who did the stained glass for the Fraumünster Church in Zurich.
It was only towards the end of my stay in Zurich that I finally managed to step out to explore a little bit more without Uncle Tan around (other than the shopping trips in town ;p)

Located at Helmplatz 1, you can take Tram 3, 5, 8, 9 or Bus 31 and stop at "Kunsthaus" stop.

Opening hours:
Sat, Sun, Tues: 10 am - 6 pm
Wed to Fri: 10 am - 8 pm
Usually the museums here are closed on Mondays.
Fee: CHF 12 for adults and CHF 8 for students (for permanent exhibitions).
Fees for temporary exhibits cost about CHF 18.

Try to give the place about 3-4 hrs as it houses quite a huge collection of works ranging from the Old Masters to Impressionism and Post-Nordic Expressionism to Swiss Painting to Modern Classical. I had to finish my visit a little early because of an over-friendly tourist from Brasil who had helped to guide me to the right building. I guess I'm not used to the ang moh friendliess yet :>

As the pics were taken with my mobile, so the quality will be somewhat affected. Still, hope this could give you a glimpse of some of the charming works displayed and hope it'll entice you to visit this museum when you're there. Enjoy :)

I'm always very amazed and struck with how life-like such portraits are. Some looked as if they are like photo-quality.

These 2 pics are a little blur due to the lighting. But imagine the minutest details such as the rocks, the leaves, the various shades due to the lighting......it's awesome.

I admired this artist who can paint such a picture. This is the actual size of the painting. The one above is the zoom-in version.

This place looks familiar...Venice

Contemporary art

This is done by Mark Rothko(1903-1970) in 1963, using white, blacks, called "Grays on Marooni". Contemporary arts really need a lot of your imagination :)

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

Tete, buste de femme, 1940

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973
Tete, 1913

Claude Monet, 1840-1926
Le bassin aux nympheas avec iris, um1914/22

Claude Monet, 1840-1926
Der Seerosenteich am Abend um 1916-1922

Claude Monet, 1840-1926
Le phare a Honfleur, 1864

Claude Monet
La Falaise a Dieppe, 1882

Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917

Das eherne Zeitalter, 1876/77

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890
Chaumieres a Auvers, 1890

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890
Cabanes blaunches aux
Saintes-Maries , 1888

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890

Travali des chanps, 1885