When I'm Upset I Pick up the Kitchen Knife

It's been a frustrating morning that crept into the afternoon, having to deal with HR paperwork and rostering issues with the company that hires me. It is frustrating to get things done here. I suspect no one comes to Dubai to work. No one works. They just refer and redirect phone numbers.

So in an attempt to ease my mood and feed my soul, I cooked. Since I don't get to go back this CNY for Reunion Dinner - because it is in the sinister nature of the crew scheduling people to stick a Beijing flight for me on the 8th so that I can't rid of it because I'm a required language speaker - I prepare a nasty, sinful, gooey pot of Pork Belly Stew with mushrooms. At this very moment the whole apartment smells delicious. I am in touch with my Chinese roots, yes!

First Flight of the Year

Zurich in Switzerland. I used to think it's in Germany. People there speak German (I was told by a Swiss passenger it's got its own version of German), French or Italian. It is one of the world's richest country and you can feel it there.



I would've gone out had it not been so cold and me so tired - yeah from the New Year fall and the alcohol binge. To the old town, the picturesque city as seen on TV. Instead I took the hotel shuttle to the Airport where I had breakfast and did some grocery shopping. Rosti, sausages, pasta, chocolates, etc.

Back in the hotel I hung out at the crew lounge for a bit and later had salad, fruits and bread in my room. Swiss bread deserves special mention. It is yummy (!) on its own. "So good you can eat it own its own" is NOT Gardenia.

Zurich would be a Designer's place. The airport is one of its kind, no tacky stickers and wall paints. The shuttle train that takes you from one part of the airport to the other is clean, egonomically designed and in that short journey it plays sounds of nature and farm animals in brilliant surround sound quality. Everything is in order. Perfect logos (I love the Swiss flag), appropriate typefaces, really neat signages and posters even the charts that tell you train schedules. Afterall we all love Helvetica.

Well, I will go out next time I'm in Zurich.

It Rains in Dubai

It is raining heavily outside. The past week has seen several occassions of rainy weather. Other crew say it didn't used to rain this much. It's a nice change, and probably one to be cherished since there'll likely be rainless the rest of the year. While my windows gets 'washed' most other areas are a mess, the ground is wet in a dirty-sandy-wet way.



BTW, while Bush was in the UAE, Dubai's main roads are closed for the most part of Monday. With no underground transport system to boot just yet, the whole city's shut down. It's been declared a 'public holiday' too.

Beijing #3

As the last flight in 2007 it wasn't bad at all. This time I arranged with another Singaporean girl to go eat Peking Duck, and our Purser and First Officer came along too. It was good company, good food. We went to the famous Quan Ju De, XiuShui outlet.

A long lunch and some shopping later I was sipping my must-have hot soy milk and accompanied the rest to the cafe. Later we stood in the piercing cold wind waiting for taxi only to succomb to paying 3 times for one to take us back to the hotel.

Went to Carrefour to do my fresh food shopping and packed Fried Rice for dinner. It's prepared with very generous amount of veggies, some bacon and all wrapped in lotus leaf.

Shopping was great at Perth

...hence there was nothing much else to blog about. It was 21st December, pre-Christmas in great 25-degree weather, and it seems the best thing to do is shop.

But I had to stop for a break to listen to the singing Santarinas. They sang popular carols and each one accompanies different dance moves. The smallest girl (first row, right most) keeps getting the moves wrong in either directional or rhythmic ways, in perfect (read: hilarious) oblivion. At the end of the performance she was nudged by the girl behind her to march off first and though she did, the rest didn't follow! She was all frowning and upset as witnessed by all.

Help! 5 Kitties for Adoption

My kind bestie Wendy took in 5 kittens and is seeking desperately to place them in good homes. 5 adorable kitties from the same litter, eyes barely opened, now at Bukit Timah, Singapore. Wendy has been feeding each one and taking care of their general wellbeing but she is unable to handle it for long. There are 3 resident cats in the house.

So please, if you can help her, or know someone who can, please contact her on her blog: http://fastandfurry.blogspot.com/

Update: 2 kittens adopted, 3 are still available in foster home!

Fallen into 2008

Happy New Year everyone!

New Year's eve began with us girls (the boys - Rich is on the long-awaited Melbourne/Auckland trip; David had a turnaround and went for the bus at midnight what a shame) having coffee and cakes, followed by a quick shopping at the Carrefour, then to MMI, the toxic paradise of Dubai. Herein lies the magic potions of many kinds, at prices so affordable, anyone with an alcohol licence could afford to be drunk.



Some of you may already know that I had too much to drink at a house party we gate-crashed into, got my feet extremely dirty, attempted to wash them clean in my bath tub at 1 am, and fell out of it standing one-legged. I must've hit the side of the tub before hitting my head on the bathroom floor. Nasty, I know. Loud thud, I heard.

With my feet almost entirely clean I went to bed and woke up the next morning with a sore side. My concerned friends drove me to the EK Clinic and I was attended by a really kind doctor (unlike the uncaring one I saw the last time - that's for another story another time). Doctor performed a thorough check of my head, neck, spine and joints and confirmed that it's almost miraculous I have just a muscle sprain and am fit to fly to Zurich today. Yeepee. I was prescribed painkillers, muscle rub and a peace of mind.

My head started to hurt a little too but I guess it's just a superficial sore. I guess for what the fall could otherwise result in, I am lucky afterall. A careless fall, or a lucky drop?

Tip: don't enter the tub when you're drunk.