Home Sweet Home

ME, BRO n MILO

Some things changed, even if you were away for only a month! Haha, i am talking about myself now. The 1st things my bro said to me wasn't "kor, i miss you" or "kor,u become more shuai after one month" BUT "kor, you look like a ah tiong!". And I wasn't even wearing my made-in China 羽绒服！fyi, 羽绒服 is a outer coat the ah tiongs wear during winter. The only thing Shanghainese about me at the airport was my haircut. Haha, imagine my tiong-ness when i come back one year later!

Milo changed too! Milo is my Schnauzer i got last July. He is looking more like my brother!~fatter that is. No wonder they say Schnauzers take after their owners! Other than the horizontal growth in size, Milo is still as active and still knows how to go toilet to pee and shit. And he still remembers me! My good Schnauzer! shall plan an exercise regime for u this week, to be carried out by my equally needy bro! Haha

Alright, that's all the changes i have noticed since i came back. Hopefully everything else either remain the same or changed for the better! Shit, I am still the lousy mahjong player that I am! lost $30 to my "chio bu" 堂妹 last night, thats RMB150! equilvalent to one month supply of 饺子！It's 大年初一，wish my parents 身体健康！my bro 万事如意！and all my friends 恭喜发财！Time to wash up and collect "ang baos"! Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

回家了！！！

Night view from my apartment

My tatami room

My bags are packed and air tickets checked, I am going back to my hometown for Chinese New Year! pw asked just asked me if I am happy going back. Well, of cos I am! Chinese New Year is my FAVOURITE festival! collecting ang baos aside, I love the once-a-year reunion dinner and my favourite mahjong after that. Hmm, wondering if TCS will be showing Jacky Chan movies this CNY eve again...haha

Been in Shanghai for a month, feels like i am one of them now. Had happy times; i celebrated my birthday here, and frustrating times too; rmb the time we were house-hunting. There was this particular day when i feel like 老天爷was playing with us. We fell in love with this house, went hunting for gorcery n stuffs when the agent called us and said the landlord wants to find trouble. And when we given up hope on this house, the agent says the deal is on again. Landlord is playing hard to get sia. And the rest is history. And boring days when I had nothing to do for the entire day in office and i will wonder whether i had made the right choice in coming. They shall all stay as memories in me.

Now that i am truely settled in shanghai; kinda miss the city and my housemates; the one whose hands are too short to reach the window handle (u noe who u are), the one who cooks for us, the one asks me to do everything for her(haha,not that i mind), the one who is already back home and the one who sleeps beside me every night.

Good Bye Shanghai. See you in a week.

Lunchtime Blog

I shall dedicate this post to my lovely colleagues at GEA After Sales Business Unit (ASBU) since today will be my last day in office for the chinese lunar new year! will be catching a plane back to 老家 tomorrow.
I have 13 colleagues at work, (Dong Yang, Michael Cui,Cindy, Saniya, Lily, Angel, Jenny, Emma, Sandford, Li huimin and finally, Water, River and Bridge, who btw are not related in any way), each of them unique, all local Chinese and mostly Shanghainese. I hate it when they started conversing among themselves in Shanghainese cos I dun understand a single word! Now i know how my Melayu and "GEk Leng" friends feel when the chinese started talking in Mandarin.

老Dong, Shanghainese, aka Manager of ASBU. Charismatic leader and well-respected leader in ASBU. A leader with a personal touch, he will get out of his office and joke amd talk cok with us whenever he is free. But he is no softie! In my 1st meeting with 老Dong, I saw him f**king the company bus driver up-side-down! To me, he is a fatherly figure though.
Me: 老董，我这个周末要到黄山去游玩。
老董：那么你这个星期一别来上班了。爬黄山很累的，你还是留在家里休息吧。
A quote from our conversation to show his fatherly side. I will try my very best it stays this way and make sure i dun end up like our company bus driver uncle!

Sandford, Shanghainese, aka my 2nd fatherly figure in office. Standford is my neighbour in office. He is quiet by nature but will slowly warm up to people(a bit like me). We seldom talked to each other initally, but has since "warmed up" to each other. His has a keen interest in language; he has a german,danish,english and chinese dictionary in office! and he reads english literature! Apparently, I reminds him of his niece. He has a niece currently schooling in Germany, who is about the same age as me. An old head who gives sound advise and a pleasant neighbour to have beside.

I shall stop at the two fatherly figures for now, got to get back to work already. More to come in my next episode of lunchtime blog...

黄山 road trip: intro

yES! iT'S finally up. It shud have been up a few days ago; tried setting up a wordpress but cant get past the Great fireWALL of China. Damn! My 黄山 trip this weekend gives me the extra motivation that drives me to finally set up a blog. It's my 1st road trip in China.Here is a little info on my trip. 黄山 is in the 安徽 region, 6 hours bus ride from Shanghai, it's machiam from Singapore to Ipoh. I will be leaving tonight and returning on Sunday night. 黄山 is a must-see, according to my seniors and colleagues. It known for its beautiful senery and its highest peak stands at around 1,800m (i guess). So i am definitely expecting something much better than our very own 武吉知马山！And I might see snow if I get lucky. It seldom snows over at Shanghai;has been a snowless winter thus far fyi. I shall be trigger-happy on this trip. A blog is a must. wanted to upload my would-be beautiful pictures and share my 1st road trip experience here.

五岳归来不见山
黄山归来不见岳

Can someone please explain to me what it means? I guess it's a poetic way of describing 黄山's beauty. So stay tuned for a update on the 黄山 trip!