Sry

Sry about the long silence... I have been in Shanghai for a week and a half now and today is the first day I have been able to get my internet in my apartment... Well it has been such a busy time for me that I would not even know where to start...

Let's see, I arrived to a wet and humid Shanghai on the 3 Aug... Was greeted and the airport and got on the bus to get to the apartment... That was well and good.. the apartment is nice and mordern enough... But lo and behold, a few days later I suffered a flood- actually it was 2 floods... One was from the washing machine- my nice neighbour down below felt that the noise from the washing machine is not user friendly and decided to cemement up the drainage hole... So hey presto a free wash of the kitchen floor... Yup kitchen as the laundry is in there- who would be sleeping in the kitchen anyway???? 

My next flood as in the shower... the water came up and never went down as the drains were clogged... So two floods within 24 hours was just a little too much for my tiny system to bear... But grin and bear it I did...

Then it was training days and that was fun... I sat a lot that I could just feel the fat growing... But all was well once the weekend came as then I had time to shop! Things are pretty expensive here and there are a lot of creature comforts I am missing- from a simple can of soup to the ore complex breakfast cereal... I can't get over the fact that things are written in bilingual over here and it just seems so weird to me still... I am really hopeless at the script...

We had a team building session yesterday and it was The Amazing Race YCIS style... We were arranged into our "working" teams and had to race all around Shanghai basically... this gave us the chance to see the sights... See it was and my team was really out to win and we literally ran all around Shanghai - in and out of the crowds, dashing across the roads and not getting into any accidents... trust me the rule of the thumb here is never cross when it is the green man...

Oh and as part of the game we had to eat food from a different culture- It was a vegemite cracker for the Chinese teachers and a soy sauce chicken foot for us... yuck yuck yuck... that confirms it, I will never eat it again... It was foul.... Wonder why it is a delicacy??? It is just about enough to make me go vegetarian....

Hence this morning I awoke to find muscles that I didn't know existed in my body and I have legs that are so sore ... I literally had to use my hand to lift my leg so that I could sit cross legged... how bad is that???

Other than that, life is good... I will post the photos once i get them all sorted....

Time to move

The time has arrived for me to move once again... I have just packed all my bags off to the airport and it was a grand total of 105.8kg... That is 5 bags full of stuff... Loos like i moved everything except the kitchen sink...  The reality of moving up to Shanghai has finally set in.. .

One thing I am going to miss is Jersey... He knows that some change is in the wind and has been rather hard to predict at times... But well it is not hte end of the world as I will be back some time to spend time with him... That I can't wait for...

The past few weeks have beem a flury of activity and it has kept me really busy... Have been having a really great time...

Guess the next time I write will be from Shanghai and that is really out in the world.... 

It has been a long while

It has been a long time since I blogged... I guess the rush of getting everything ready to move to Shanghai is catching up on me... I have only a week to go before I fly and LOL I have not gotten my visa.... 

I had to go and get a medical report which required me to be poked, told to relax, xray and nothing all to exciting... But glad that it is out of the way and now I can really go and apply for my visa...

These few weeks have been a challenge for me as there have been so many things to worry and think about... But yet on the other hand, I have been making the most of my time... I was out the other day with a good friend of mine and it really got me thinking about where I am headed... 

I guess it is way past time that I reentered the working world and it scares me and excites me all in the same breathe... One thing is for sure, I will have to save lots and yet still enjoy life... I will have to find my work- life balance again... 

Yet on the other hand, there are other things that are taking up my memory and brain space... not fully digested yet or sorted out for myself... It has been a roller coaster ride for me... But right now, it is bed time as I have not been sleeping well again....

the excitement for the day...

Smoke= Fire= Smell= Fire engines+ firemen+police

Okay it has been a really exciting day today... I was happily out with my Mum going to get a massage done when the housing agent called to ask where we were... I was on the other side of the island... He told us that there was smoke billowing out of the apartment and we had to rush home in a hurry!!!!

I have never driven that quickly from west to east in early rush hour traffic... I was so worried as Jersey is at home... I don't know how I was able to drive steadily and get the car home in one piece... The sight that greeted me was one fire engine and many motorcycles sitting in  the drive way with a whole swam of police and firemen in the house... The lift smelt like a bad fire and by that time, my hands were shaking really uncontrollably.... Thank goodness nothing was burnt (as we had accidentally left a stove burning).... Jersey was all right- just badly shaken and reeking of smoke... 

Now the whole house smells like a bbq gone really bad.... Don't think any air freshner will help the cause.... 

eating

For all those concerend people out there... I have been feasting on tons of food... 

Today was no exception... I went out to get some shopping done and while I was walking there... I came across this rather interesting and new Ice-cream/ desert place at City Link Mall...

Actually the concept is not anything new- very much like the Cold Rock in Australia but of course you end up paying Singapore prices for it...Think mine came up to $7.50 for one scoop! But well it was good none the less...

Chocolate ice cream with Hazel Nuts, macaroon and sponge cake

Now onto the main event... I went to Sushi Tei at Raffles City for some quiet sit down lunch...  I had a feast and I feel so full now... LoL this is a week of feasting followed by another week of dinner appointments... How???

Sukiyaki with the yummy raw egg dip

I forgot

Australia is a great place except for one thing- the bloody Aussies...

Well I forgot to mention that upon my exit from Sydney Airport, I just about had a free poke session... Okay not the pleasurable sort but the criminal sort... Rite I must look like crap in the morning and have a drug mule/ explosive profile... More like the dazed, hungover and basically sleepwalking look... 

Hence after all the usual xray and screening- of which I had to hold up my jeans as I had to take off my belt I was ushered into a room to have 2 multi-language notices handed to me to read... One gave this guy the privillage of feeling my hands and a lady to feel my back/ arms/ the works... the other test was to check for explosives ... Hello! Like anybody in their rite mind would want either on a flight bound for Singapore... Unless you are totally brainless and a Dodo... 

The officer frisking me down got a quick education on the "fine city" and the nice "rewards" for drugs... Think he regretted randomly choosing me... 

Anyway... that sure beats getting my shin kicked by a psychopath/ psychotic/ mentally unstable/ lunatic white random guy on a bus... Hence back to my opening statement about Australia being a great place expcept for the bloody Aussies... 

been around the world...

Okay.... an update is way way way overdue... I have been around the world and back again... I left Singapore bound for Sydney on the 13 June on the A380 (no in economy this time)... It was an ok flight... got into Sydney at 0545 and I must say the airport is very deserted at that time... Out from arrival and back up to departure as I had to take a connecting flight to Auckland...  Spent the greater part of that block of 24 hours in a plane and extremely exhausted after that... But hey all because that is the cheapest way of flying... Logic?

Well here are the photos that I snapped... Not really keen on taking photos at the moment...  I need some inspiration... Oh well... At least the blog is updated...hehe... thats the positive...

The Brand New Apple Store @ George Street

Hurricanes @ Bondi

Manly

Darling Harbor 

The brand new Chocolate Lava desert at Lindt

Sydney Fish Market

The Australian Museum Wall