Monday, December 30, 2013

Seeing out the old year

This year has probably been the most eventful I've ever had.

I left my job and left my country to move halfway across the world; scaled barriers of bureaucracy with every step despite being a legal migrant; found a temporary job that lasted longer than  I wished but was a great eye-opener; landed a better job that I'm hoping will open up more opportunities; and settled very comfortably into a blissful 'couple life'.

Belfast has been better than I'd expected - it hasn't been as boring or as dreary as I thought it'd be, and has enough restaurants for me to explore. I've been blessed with pretty good weather too, with a gorgeous summer and a mild winter so far. I'm learning how to drive, exercising my (lack of) cooking skills, and been lucky to have made some new friends and had old friends visit.

Although I'm seeing out 2013 with a rather serious ankle sprain - on the same leg I injured in 2011 no less - and won't be able to do any shopping, ballet or driving for quite a while, we're having a good craic spending New Year's Eve at a friend's place playing board games and having a quiet night in  :) We also, not so long ago, finally reached the point where we've spent more time together than apart - things have been good, all things considered.

For 2014, I'm hoping to pass my driving test, learn how to swim, do more ballet, stay injury free, have better health and expand my cooking repertoire. I want to read more, spend my time better, explore more of Ireland and do more outdoor activities together. I also hope work will get more challenging and I'll make more friends.

Here's wishing everyone a happy, exciting and fulfilling year ahead with lots of love and good health! (*¯︶¯*)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The end of a season

Today has been so surreal.

From driving down south in good spirits to having a pre-match carvery, to having a great first quarter before all went crumbling to bits and ending in a Tyrone defeat to Mayo, to being more upset than I thought I would be (I mean, it's not even my county and the lads seemed less upset than I was), to cheering up over tea and biscuits on K's couch, to getting misdirected by the sat-nav which brought us on a detour to avoid the toll only to have us rejoin the motorway at the toll, to being back up North on very dark motorway-like roads with not a car in sight and the lowest and yellowest moon ever hanging there in the distance just out of reach, to finally reaching home absolutely knackered from sitting most of the day.

The Gaelic football season for Tyrone has ended - for me it lasted all of 3 weeks but it seemed like a bit longer..

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Berry summer

It’s more accurately the end of summer, but I was feeling under the weather today and for some reason my mind turned to making sangria. A punnet of blueberries and blackberries later, I had made a mixing-bowlful of delicious sangria as well as some blackberry liquor that should be ready in about 2 weeks.

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I really like the taste of the sangria, although the alcohol is a bit strong and I might add more juice or mixer the next time I make this. The basic ingredients were 1 bottle of red wine, 2 cups of orange and raspberry juice, 2 shots of southern comfort, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 oranges, two handfulls of chopped blueberries and blackberries and pineapple soda ice cubes.

It’s so easy and tastes like summer!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Kindness with muscle

Thought to share this article from today’s Straits Times for certain portions below.

 

DR WILLIAM Wan knows he is much vilified on social media. Critics, accusing him of "Nato" (No Action, Talk Only), say he should get off his high horse and do some real work.

They mock the possibility that one man can make a dent on an increasingly uncivil society, marked by the latest result of the Graciousness Index - an annual study that tracks the perception and experience of kindness and graciousness in Singapore - which hit a five-year low this year.

The general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), who had his contract renewed recently for the third year, smiles it away. But his smile betrays the barest glint of teeth.

Make no mistake, he means business. Dr Wan, 66, does not see his movement as a benign cheerleader, but a force to shape positive social norms, collaboratively but cogently. "For Singapore to be a gracious society, it takes a lot more than a fuzzy, cuddly cheerleader asking people to smile and be kind. This has to be undergirded by collective political and social will to say this is the society we want, backed by good laws and enforcement," says the fervent believer in tough love.

That is why the SKM is calling for ramped-up penalties and enforcement for those who flout social rules. It has joined hands with the Public Hygiene Council to curb littering and the National Environment Agency (NEA) to coax tray returns at hawker centres.

For the record, he also supports mandatory arbitration for disputes between neighbours, stiffer protection for battered women and tougher legislation against maid abuse. "I don't believe in capital punishment but I'm for punishment. We don't have to be harsh and cruel to be determined and forceful in helping people to do the right thing," he adds unequivocally.

He encourages his 15-strong secretariat and 60 members to be trained by the NEA as citizen volunteers given the authority to ask litterbugs to bin their trash and to take down their particulars, if they refuse. So far, 10 have been trained, himself included.

Interestingly, the serial church pastor and theologian is keen to debunk the common misconception of kindness as softness, being nice, or turning the other cheek. "Neither is kindness about: 'Oh, let's be kind, let's not be negative and critical.' No, that's not what it is. I think we can be constructively critical of something that's not right, graciously so, be very tough about it and seek changes," he continues.

Take littering as an example. "It's terrible that our society has become so badly littered. And (Public Hygiene Council chairman) Liak Teng Lit is right; we have a cleaned city, not a clean city. In fact, we are the ones who advocate stronger enforcement. Why? Because it would be unkind to allow people to litter and cause diseases to spread. So we then offer ourselves to be volunteers to enforce the laws. Being kind is also to be tough about things that are not right.

"Some take the view that I'm the good cop, Mr Liak's the bad cop. But I'm still a cop. That means I want to stand up and say this is wrong, but I will say it in a nice way. And if you're not going to listen, then I've to find a way to enforce it."

Kindness not softness

THE first two years when he took over, the SKM focused on encouraging people to take time to be kind and say thanks. But this year, he wants to take it up a notch and elevate the understanding of kindness.

He's also making the movement less "campaign-oriented" and more of a "facilitator" which supports ground-up initiatives.

His personal definition of kindness is: Doing the right thing for the right reason. He quotes in part his favourite writer and Christian theologian C. S. Lewis: "You can be good for the mere sake of goodness... You can do a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right."

But even he acknowledges that that may be too high-minded. "Until we get there, most of us will be asking: 'What's in it for me?'" he says realistically.

So these days, he goes around schools, civic groups, religious organisations making a case for the ROI (Returns On Investment) of being kind. It goes something like this: Kindness and compassion increases the production of the hormone oxytoxin, which is also produced when people are in love, cuddle, or connect with each other. It has been shown to heal wounds, protect the heart from damage, slow down the ageing process, and reduce blood pressure. He concludes: "A hug a day keeps the cardiologist away."

He knows he's up against a complex social dynamic, what with the widening income gap and more foreigners here.

The norms of doing the right thing are the same, he maintains, no matter where one comes from. "It's the practice of it that is sometimes not there," he says. He always takes pains to correct the perception that certain foreigners add to the lack of social graces here. In fact, he says many foreigners go out of their way to make life more pleasant here.

SKM has at least a dozen foreign volunteers who hail from China, India and Vietnam. There is also a Japanese group called Green Bird Singapore, a local offshoot of a Tokyo-based non-profit body, that goes around places such as East Coast Park and Little India picking up litter once a month.

Practising what you preach

HE KNOWS all about kindness, having been both at the giving and receiving ends. He was the product of a large blended family, when a widower married a widow. His late father was a trader who never found the gumption to work again after his business failed. His mother toiled round the clock as a warehouse cleaner and hawker to support them all.

In Secondary 1, he became a Christian, started Bartley Christian Church with a bunch of friends, moved out to a rented room and gave tuition to support himself. At 17, after finishing at Bartley Secondary, he attended Singapore Bible College, pastored a congregation and taught at a private school. On the side, he signed up for the A levels a few months before the exams, crammed and qualified to study law at University of Singapore.

As a third-year law student, he got married. A year later, he graduated, bagging a Second Upper, and started his own practice the day he was called to the Bar. He set up a number of charities, including the Prison Fellowship Singapore, which supports prison inmates and their families, and preached on weekends.

In 1975, he left for Canada, returning with master's degrees in religion and theology three years later. He taught at the Discipleship Training Centre here, pastored a church, and was founding secretary-general of a national Christian movement. But burnout from juggling three jobs saw him returning to Ottawa, Canada, in 1981, where he did a PhD in constitutional law, served as vice-president of Toronto's Tyndale University College and headed a cluster of 75 churches in Ottawa.

After 10 years in Canada, he spent another six years in Washington DC, where he was co-senior pastor of a downtown church which integrated blacks, whites and Asians. His successful merging of the congregation made the front page of the Washington Post on Easter Sunday in 1994.

He returned here in 1996 to pastor Bartley Christian Church, which had grown to 2,000 members, for the second time. But a leadership dispute in 1998 led to an exodus by him and several hundred members. Disillusioned, he returned to law at Kelvin Chia Partnership in 1999, aged 52. He did civil litigation and pro bono work, then retired as a senior partner on his 60th birthday in 2007.

That was followed by two years in Nebraska in the US being trained in psychometric analysis, then returning to head the psychometric assessment consultancy, Talent Plus, here. In 2011, on the cusp of another bid at retirement so he could spend more time with his three grown children and three grandchildren in North America, he was invited to run SKM. He welcomed it as an "opportunity to do something for Singapore", after having lived over two decades abroad.

His old schoolmate Joseph John, 65, now a counsellor, notes that leading the SKM at this stage in life may not have been "an altogether wise decision".

"But this is vintage William at work, going where few others have gone before. He has taken on a task that even angels would fain take on but his decision to do so is marked by a strong conviction, forged over many years of working with different sorts of individuals, that despite the many layers of self-interest, there is in all of us a desire to respond with kindness when we have been touched by kindness."

Indeed, Dr Wan believes there are no truly lost causes. This is what made him employ former convicts as clerks in his law firm. He defended payroll robber Tony Ng, now a 61-year-old businessman, for free and housed him in his home, while preparing for the court trial 40 years ago. Says Mr Ng: "I was touched by his trust in me, inviting a total stranger, and a criminal, to stay in his home."

Another unlikely candidate Dr Wan brought on to his church staff is former drug addict Luke Thuraisingham, 60, now pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church. The latter recounts: "He saw the good in me and felt I could pastor a church... That's so him, changing one life at a time."

But Dr Wan himself says his own motivator is the kindness shown to him by others when he was helpless. He relates a particularly painful time when his daughter Li-Lynn dropped out of school and left home at 16. When she resurfaced at 19, she was pregnant and on drugs. But a kind family friend, Becky Moi, took her in and taught her pottery, despite her many problems.

"We were not able to even talk to our daughter but Becky was able to communicate with her and she learnt much from her," he recounts. That led to Li-Lynn turning around and eventually attending community college with her two-year-old in tow. Today Li-Lynn, 37, has a history PhD and is professional potter in Canada.

His other children, Le-Ann, 40, an art therapist, and Le-Ben, 32, a geneticist and psychiatrist, live in the US.

The grandfather, who lifts weights every other day and won a Council for Third Age's Active Agers Award in 2011, still lives fully, gratefully and daringly. He has a long bucket list. Items ticked off include sky diving, snipe racing, and scuba diving. Outstanding items include bungee jumping.

And of course trudging on, nudging Singapore into a more gracious society, which he works 11-hour days on, knowing that his goal may be reached well beyond this lifetime.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Summertime

It's funny how my posts so far have all been triggered by the weather – being here must be rubbing off me. It's summer proper, and thankfully the weather has been warm for nearly two weeks now and it's simply gorgeous.

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Plane spotting from my backyard.

Everyone around me is complaining about how hot it is, but it's great. I actually feel like I don't have quite enough weather appropriate clothes, given that I own a lot less casual summer clothes than office-suitable summer gear, the latter being completely useless given the place that I am currently working at.  The only thing stopping me from buying more clothes is the (probably valid) fear that this weather will end all too quickly and abruptly.

To be honest, it can get a bit too warm here - the house has no fans and there's a lot less cloud cover – but rooms quickly cool down due to the strong breezes. That said, my colleagues all feel that the office is too warm (it's not) and turn the air-con on, chilling my arms and numbing my hands and necessitating my donning of a cardigan – it seems like regardless of where I go, I can never escape unnecessarily cold air-conditioning.

Summer brings about another seemingly strange phenomenon – the ceasing of all classes and courses at the local arts centre and other private teachers. My ballet teacher (who teaches from a church) is off for 2 months, and the Crescent Arts Centre sits empty for a similar (if not longer) period of time. It has meant that I'm having a fair amount of time to myself, but it also means that I'm gaining weight and losing flexibility and strength because I'm too lazy to exercise at home!

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Showing off the gorgeous scenery with the Beaghmore Stone Circles

On the work front, things are as meh as usual. On good days I'm fine but on bad days I'm really bored, and today I spent most of the day trying to look busy. However, as luck would have it, 15 min before the end of my shift things started pouring in, and I couldn't leave till 20 min later than I was meant to. It hasn't been that great a fortnight, and that's already with me taking 1 day off last week in lieu of the May day holiday I was owed, and another off day tomorrow in lieu of last week's public holiday.

On a personal level, an article that was shared on Facebook today regarding how modern weddings are a waste of time and money evoked strong feelings. While I don't feel that things like marriage seminars or counselling are necessary (my personal view is that living together before marriage is not a bad way to find out if you want to do this for the rest of your life, but given that the article is written by a pastor he's not going to even suggest that as a viable option), the article brought up feelings that I had a while ago.

Marriage and weddings (both in the recent past and near future) are thick in the air this year, and the more that goes on regarding weddings – not marriage, mind you, but weddings – the more intensely I feel that 1) they're a bloody waste of time, effort and energy; 2) they're darn expensive, both for the couple and for their guests; and 3) that if my turn to get married comes around I'm going to wanna do something like a small ceremony with a big party after where everyone can just come, help themselves to a buffet spread of some sort, drink, dance and get wasted while having a good time.

I know that (3) is a lot more fantasy than reality, as the fact that I'll still want things like photos and videos to remember the day by (as well as to show friends and relatives who can't be present), but I think that having this ideal in mind will help keep things simple. Perhaps that and the reminder that the less money we spend on the wedding the more we'll have for our honeymoon and for feasting and enjoying life for the rest of our days together.

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Wildflowers grown on the Hill of the O'Neills which the O'Neills I was with half-heartedly tried to reclaim.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Summer Days

Summer came and went one glorious week a while ago, and now it's back to chilly spring weather without the blooming flowers.

I only wish I'd known then that it was all the sun I was going to get!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Two months

That's how long it's been since my last post, and it's nearly 4 months since I arrived here.

It doesn't seem like much has happened since then at all. The last post coincided more or less with the start of my job – a crappy, low paying one which I'd decided to take up while looking out for something better. It's quite life-draining, but at least it covers my expenses here, which is useful given the glacial pace that the job hunt is going.

It has its experiences I think. People who somehow think they can get things without paying on the spot. Foreigners who don't know the English name of the place where they work. Non-native English speakers who get annoyed that I don't understand their English even though it's they who have poor pronounciation. I've never been in this sort of environment before, and while I wish I could take away more from this experience, I guess there are still incremental pluses as a result of this.

At the end of April, it got warm and sunny enough for flowers to bloom:

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I managed to do a bit of sightseeing too, to Belfast Castle (more a mansion than a castle):

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We also went to Carrickfergus Castle, which is actually a fortress and a short drive away from Belfast. It was a gorgeous but extremely windy day out:

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I've also been learning how to drive, which has been fun yet stressful. I've had 5 lessons so far, but need to work a lot harder on the steering and general control of the car.

I'm disappointed by the lack of ballet classes for the major grades though. I've been going for classes whenever I can with at Crescent Arts Centre (CAC) and with another teacher, but although the CAC is an open class while the other teacher's is for RAD Intermediate students, I feel that the CAC's classes are more challenging and more enjoyable. I can't believe that the Inter class is still doing stuff from the exam syllabus even though the exams were last Saturday, and I'm astounded that the girls are doing their exam material – albeit to different music – for a showcase at the Lyric Theatre in two weeks. I'm even more shocked by the low standard of dancing – it's bitchy but I truly think that they have a long way to go before they should appear on stage. Everything contrasts starkly to how my teacher back home conducts her lessons, trains us for the exams and demands perfection for our school's performance. The girls can't even do their exam routine without mistakes, much less execute it with good technique or dance quality! We wouldn't have been allowed to take the exam or go on stage if we were only at that level. More importantly, I'm bored of doing Intermediate exam stuff which I wasn't even taught properly, and yearn for us to do something different and more challenging.

Well, enough about ballet and more about the weather. It was only recently that the weather started warming up properly, and this week has been just lovely. This was us the day before, out at the back with a drink in hand; i was in shorts and a sleeveless top and it felt so good to be warm again:

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I'm not sure how long the nice, sunny, rain-free weather will last – the sky's all clear till next Monday according to the forecast, so here's to continued fine weather!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

The changing normal

I nearly died from my lunch today.

I occasionally forget that starter portions here are fairly big, while mains can be downright enormous. So, I order what I think is a fair amount until the food comes and I end up bursting at the seams – without even finishing everything on my plate.

Granted, we had a late breakfast of pancakes at about 11am, but it was nearly 4pm when we ordered lunch and I couldn’t resist starters that cost just £2 – part of the Carlito’s meal deal where a main is £5.95 and two courses are only £7.95.

We got some chicken tempura – two pieces of tender chicken breast coated in crisp fish ‘n’ chips batter, served with Thai sweet chilli sauce – and gorgeous deep fried brie served with berry compote.

We were happy and satisfied by the very delicious food, until the mains came and we were horrified -they were giant portions! Here’s my Fussilli ala Carlito’s – pasta in white wine cream sauce with chicken, mushrooms and peppers:

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I looked at it, wondered how I was going to finish everything, but plunged on anyway. The pasta was even better than it looks, and somehow the combination of cream, mushroom and chicken made for an extremely tasty sauce. I wanted so very badly to consume every last bit of it, tried my very best, but failed anyway – it’s been 3 hours since lunch but I’m still feeling the effects of overeating :S

I was very surprised that the food turned out to be so good, as Carlito’s is in the middle of Botanic Avenue – a very studenty place which is full of cheap eats. I thought it was gonna be pub grub – which is pretty good here anyway – but the interior looked nicer than I’d imagined and the food far surpassed my expectations.

But the above review of Carlito’s is a long introduction to thoughts that have repeatedly occurred to me since I came – that what was normal back home is far from what’s normal here. And I don’t mean the quirks of the country, but what things like ‘fast’ and ‘average’ means.

For example, I’m considered a big eater back home. Everyone I know can attest to the fact that I eat a lot for a girl, and my appetite is often joked about among my former colleagues. I used to be hungry all the time and out-ate everyone on my team – but it seems like I can’t eat much more than a main course here. And it’s not like the women here don’t eat much. Head out and you’ll see them order starters and mains and finish everything on their plate – and it’s not because they’re bigger than I am, as I’ve had the opportunity to see a girl smaller than me eat a lot more.

Also, I’m considered to be a fast walker (also frequently joked about), a fast eater, and the owner of a loud voice. Unfortunately, when I came over I realised that my walking speed is very slow in comparison, that I don’t eat particularly quickly but am actually on the slow side, and I struggle to be heard over club music when other girls don’t seem to face a similar problem. Again, I don’t think it’s to do with me being smaller in built than most others – there’re many people my size here as well.

I suppose it’s welcome to the ‘real’ world, as someone joked, but it’ll be interesting to see where other Singaporeans - whose appetite, walking speed, eating speed and voice volume are ‘normal’ or ‘below average’ - stand when they come over :)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Dirty Duck Alehouse

Good food has to be shared – and The Dirty Duck Alehouse is definitely one of those.
We dropped by the Dirty Duck the other day after a trip to the transport side of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The alehouse is a large but busy place; it was nearing 3pm but it was still full of customers.

We were seated upstairs by the window. E settled for standard pub fare – the Dirty Duck Angus burger (£9.25), which was a large, juicy burger with generous toppings.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t but order seafood given our view overlooking the sea. As I’d been completely off seafood (apart from fish) for more than a month, I jumped at the chance to have Crab Claws (£10.50). The crab claws are actually on the starter menu, but I love that restaurants here tend to offer some, if not all of their starters in main-sized portions.

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The crab claws were absolutely divine – no points for guessing that the reason why there isn’t a picture of the Angus burger is because I was too absorbed in and excited about my meal! There were so many crab claws that I actually got a bit tired eating them at one stage, and – to my own disbelief - gave at least 4 of them to E. I estimate that at least 12 crabs gave their lives for my wonderful meal.

The ciabatta was a brillant touch. It soaked up the flavours of the garlic butter-infused broth, and complemented the textures of the tomato and leek perfectly. The portion of bread was just right too – I dipped it in the broth, scooped up leek and tomatoes with my fork and placed it atop the bread, and dunked bite-sized bits of it into the broth at the end to absorb all the garlicky seafood goodness. E teasingly offered to get me a spoon – but who needs spoons when you have ciabatta!  ♥♥

Be prepared to get your hands dirty when you have this dish – as there’s no way to eat crab claws without using your fingers – but the warmth in your tummy and your garlic seafood insides (yes, I do love the combination) will make it more than worthwhile.

The Dirty Duck Alehouse
2-4 Kinnegar Road
Holywood
Co.Down
BT18 9JN
Tel: 028 9059 6666

Best friends

When I hung Totoro up, I wished I'd bought more Ghibli souvenirs when I was still in Japan.

*Bitch alert*

I wonder how some people can be celebrity bloggers when their writing style is nothing to shout about, the topics they blog about range from the mundane to the inane, and – of all things – every other photo of theirs is a blurry shot, and it’s not even blurry for artistic effect.

Surely there has to be more going on here in Belfast.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Post-colonial ruminations

This afternoon, it occurred to me for the first time that I’m living in the land of my former colonial masters. Well, being in Northern Ireland (NI) technically I’m living in the land that had been colonised and subsequently subsumed under my former colonial masters – but basically I’m in the UK, and Singapore was once a colony of the British Empire.

While on JET and interacting with British, Irish, Jamaicans, Australians and Americans, I came to realise that Singaporeans are far less hung up about our colonial past and a lot less aware of issues relating to colonialism. The vast body of literature on post-colonialism would hardly resonate with Singaporeans – in my experience, reading post-colonial academic and fictional works is just like learning to see things from a different point of view.

I can only speculate on why this might be the case. The biggest reason might be that most of us are descended from migrants who came to Singapore only after the British arrived, hence have no sense of having been colonised as our ancestors are not indigenous anyway. It might also be because the history books have told us that Singapore is what is today due to forces set in motion by the arrival of the British – as well as the Scottish actually. Perhaps it’s also because our short history and collective consciousness is more coloured by our separation from Malaysia than anything else – even our occupation by the Japanese due to the incapability of the British to defend us.

These thoughts came to mind due to some very first world problems.

I received the bill for our landline today and was shocked by the huge amount owed. It turns out that calls from landlines are fairly expensive, but we have no choice but to use the landline as our area has abysmal mobile reception. So if we need to make calls from home – which I need to do in my effort to settle in, find work and find ballet classes – we have to use the house phone, and the free talk time from our mobile plans are as good as useless. It made me feel poor, that I’m charged for services that I do not get to utilise fully, and that I’m being over-charged for services that I can use.

Boo. Whinge.

Winter (wonder) Land

Last Friday was spent being extremely distracted by the falling snow.

While I’ve seen snow before, before Friday I’d never had the chance to see it falling from the sky – beyond the scanty specks that drifted down before melting on the ground on a few occasions in Kansai.

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Sitting by the window when it’s snowing is very distracting. I kept staring out, mesmerised by the snowflakes and trying to capture the falling snow. The snow wasn’t heavy enough in the morning to be caught properly on camera though, and it wasn’t till the afternoon when the snow got heavier that I managed to get some shots.

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Most of the snow had accumulated during the night – it wasn’t that thick in our backyard, and as can be seen, it was the icy type of snow, instead of the fluffy kind you see on tv. In other words – it wasn’t nice snow, especially if you have to walk through it.

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The howling gusts of wind were quite fascinating too, and I was very happy to be indoors:

The snow got a lot worse as the day progressed. In the late afternoon the lights started flickering every now and then, and during the rush hour the radio stations were down. Sometime between 7 and 8pm, we experienced a blackout, realised that we had no torch lights, had tea lights but no lighter or matches, and had no heat.

So what did we do? We headed to the large 24hr Tesco near us to get supplies – or to camp there for heat if necessary. There was actually a blizzard – as the snow was being billowed around rather than coming down to the ground – and it was quite a sight with the thick snow piled up on the pavements.

While we were driving very slowly due to the slippery and icy roads, for some reason there were cars zooming past us – I don’t understand how people can have such disregard for their safety and their lives. There were also people who were trying to avoid the snow on the pavements by walking on the road instead – utter idiots. This guy was quite far out on the road as he was also avoiding the puddles that were next to the pavements, and it took a while for us to spot him as the roads were quite dark.

A part of the road had also flooded and a car had gotten stuck in the water. It brought to mind my first visit to Belfast in winter 2010, and I went into full crisis mode – the moment we got home, I filled up a bucket in the bathroom and all available drink receptacles with potable water just in case there was a repeat of that winter where we had no water for 4 days (it could have been longer but we’d buggered off to Dublin by then).

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As life would have it, once we’d prepared for the worst, the worst did not happen. After the very orange night sky (above), a fair bit of snow had melted by the next morning and it hardly snowed where we were the following day. There’s still some snow on the ground now but no fresh snow – and the brown snow that we saw on the main road outside Central Station yesterday was testament to how pollutive vehicles are.

There you have it – my somewhat anti-climatic but fascinating weekend. I know it’s not at all a lot of snow compared to what those outside Belfast had (as they’re higher up in the mountains) or what’s common in many other countries, but give this tropical girl a break!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (aka The Trocks)

I'm meant to be sending in some job applications, but today has been really bleh so I'll blog about The Trocks instead.

I saw The Trocks perform quite a few years back^, but when I noticed how cheap the tickets were selling for stall seats in Belfast, I could'nt not watch them again. For the price I paid for stalls here, I would have only gotten seats in – at best – Circle 2 back home.

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I love the cover photo of The Trocks' programme, as it conveys everything about the company in this one picture of one of the founders and current ballet master - grace, elegance, poise, and underarm hair. Yes, The Trocks are an all male ballet troupe, don't really hide their masculinity, have awesome makeup skills, are hilarious and great fun to watch, and in certain respects are just as elegant as female ballerinas*.

While it was such an experience watching The Trocks from up close – the tickets are absolutely worth it as their facial expressions are key to the comic effect – the highlights for me were the open rehearsal before the show and the post-performance Q&A session. All that I will share below is what I learnt from those two extras.

The Trocks are on tour a lot, and their practices and rehearsals are all done while on the road. Before each show, they spend some time doing class (going through allegros, turns, etc), then run through some of the dances that will be performed that night, as well as some of those that will be performed at the next venue. For example, we were treated to a rough cut (but still very good!) of the famous Don Quixote pas de deux, which I've never seen them do before. It was fun trying to remember the faces of all the dancers and the positions they took during rehearsal and then trying to recognise them in the evening with all their makeup on.

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I learnt that professional male dancers only take about a day to get used to dancing in pointe shoes – a shockingly short time given the difficulty that I face in my futile attempts at anything – because their feet and muscles are already very well developed and used to the movements.

I realised that a good number of their dancers are from Spain and Italy, although they're a New York-based company.

I was impressed by the knowledge that all the dancers are expected to know the steps to all the parts, as the roles are rotated among the dancers (except for the Dying Swan). This means that there is no competition among the dancers to score the title roles.

I was treated to the surreal sight of half the troupe of professional dancers (that's 8 of them) doing as many fouette turns as they could (the target the teacher set was at least 16), followed by the next half, then the first half, and then the second half again. I can't remember if they went for the pirouettes a third time, but oh. my. goodness. I couldn't breathe from the excitement of how special and once-in-a-lifetime that was.

Also, I found out that there isn't really any trick to making the feathers of the Dying Swan fall on cue – if their Artistic Director is to be believed – except stuffing lots of loose feathers between the many layers of tulle in the tutu. I was also informed – to my shock, horror and utmost admiration – that their ballet teacher, who was en pointe for the entire duration of the Dying Swan piece, has been doing this for more than 20 years and continues to do it today at the grand age of 52.

(O_O)

Indeed.

*      *      *      *      *      *

^: I can't for the life of me remember whether that was back in Singapore, or a long time ago when I was on exchange in London.

*: I'll share what their artistic director said in response to a question posed to him about the difference between men dancing en pointe and women dancing en pointe. He said that it's like tennis; while Steffi Graf had finesse, Andre Agassi had lots of strength.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

2Taps Wine Bar

If the waiter at 2Taps tells you that a table should free up in about 15 min and suggests that you could have a drink and wait – don't believe him. We got our seat after 45 min to an hour, thankfully with a drink in hand (stand at the bar while your sangria is being prepared, and you'll get a nice amount of alcohol in it).

The good thing was that the food that came made up for the long wait. Their pan fresco was an assortment of breads – including a very delectable garlic bread – accompanied by two delicious pestos and olive oil with balsamic vinegar. The cinnamon spiced lamb and potato tagine arrived just before we started on the last slice of bread – a good thing, as the dish was a rich, sweet and spicy stew. A must try is the serrano ham salad with rocket, melon, pear and walnut – I loved the combination of flavours, particularly the strong burst of sweetness from the pear.


 
We ordered the half Paella Valencia, which turned out bigger than we'd expected as it was piled up high and chock full of ingredients. The rice had absorbed all the essence from the meats and was irresistible, but unfortunately the prawns, chicken and sausages were a tad overcooked, while some of the mussels weren't very fresh.

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While we had a good meal – even with the disappointing meats in the paella - I think it might have been due to a lucky choice of tapas. The table next to us had ordered many things which we didn't and their tapas didn't appear as appetising. The tiger prawns, for example, came in a small ramekin and judging from their size probably weren't even tiger prawns.

That said, I'm quite keen to return to 2Taps on a week night – I believe they have a deal where you get two tapas and a glass of wine for £10.95. I think they're worth another shot, and with their extensive menu I'm certain there're more good dishes to be had.

2Taps Winebar
42 Waring Street
Belfast BT1 2ED

(Don't be put off by the unappealing website and shoddy photos of the restaurant interior – with the dinner lighting it had a warm, cosy ambience.)

Addendum (3 Jan 2014)

We returned some time in May 2013, taking advantage of 2Taps' deal which offered 2 tapas + a glass of wine for just £10.

Again, we ordered the serrano ham salad with rocket, melon, pear and walnut, which was just as good as before. The goats cheese wrapped in Serrano ham with fig relish was also delicious, and I particularly loved the piquant fig relish.

 
I don't particularly recall the mussels steamed in butter, cream and leeks, which is probably a good thing as if the mussels weren't fresh it'd have stuck in my mind. I do however, remember that the pan-fried sea bream on a bed of sweet onions and new potatoes was light and fresh, with the fish done just right.

Feeling the need to return to 2Taps again!


Thursday, February 28, 2013

Azure skies and emerald fields

To balance some of the negative vibes on this blog:

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I was struck by the expanse of pure clouds and sky when we drove out the E’s hometown. Not all of Northern Ireland is pretty, but there are some great bits here and there along the way.

Just at the end of the road from E’s parent’s place is this gorgeous view below. Apparently the grass darkens when it gets warmer (and wetter), but I really love the current shade of green that’s out there in the country.

Can you spot the sheep?

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The United Kingdom–land where your blood boils.

I am up to my ears in rage and frustration due to the twists and turns in settling in, no thanks to the ridiculous regulations that are present in the UK.

Starting with my bank account – the UK requires that all applicants, citizens included, must provide two forms of evidence when applying: a primary form of evidence such as a passport or driving licence, as well as proof of address.

We thought that a signed contract from the letting agent certifying* that I do indeed live at this address would suffice - but we were wrong. The first bank wanted either a bill in my name delivered to my current address, or National Insurance-related correspondence. So we tried another bank, which was more helpful and showed us the application form^ which lists all the acceptable documents. Seeing that my best bet was to apply for a National Insurance number (NIN), I headed to the Jobs and Benefits Office to do so – more on that later.

While waiting on the NIN, we heard that B, an American, had applied for an account with Santander. B had to pay £5 a month for that account, but it was easier to open an account with Santander than with other banks. We checked that out, and to my delight Santander was willing to make exceptions for people who cannot provide the specified documentation. They scheduled for me an appointment with an advisor after confirming my photographic identity (by viewing my passport and my identity card from back home), and I got my bank account today. Yay.

So, now that I have a bank account, I was all ready to get a proper mobile line and purchase a new phone – a bank account is necessary to set up direct debit from that account for the monthly charges. However, I just discovered that what the sales person (#@!%*&) did not tell me was that customers must have resided in the UK for at least 3 years. The rationale for this requirement is beyond me, as where customers have previously lived has absolutely no bearing on their credit worthiness or their likelihood to default on payments! The only option now is for E to purchase a second phone and line in his name for me to use, with the bill to be charged to his account – which was a possibility we had considered in the first week of my arrival but eventually decided to wait till I got a bank account to make it easier for me to manage my own phone line in the long run. A two week wait and all for nothing!

Back to the NIN application. There was scant information available online on how to apply for an NIN, except for a phone number and address. We called the number, but when the person found out that we are living in Northern Ireland, she directed us to call another number instead – essentially “bugger off if you’re in Northern Ireland”. It’s the same thing for certain government offices – e.g. there are no Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agencies in the whole of Northern Ireland, and if you happen to need their services you are welcome to send things in by post or drop into the nearest office in Scotland instead.

At the centre for the NIN application – which we couldn’t contact by phone as no one bothered to answer the line – I was told that it is essential for me to prove that I am actively looking for work at the NIN application interview. The person then informed me that I could get a letter proving I’m actively seeking employment from the Jobs Centre near City Hall. Off I went, halfway across town, only to be told when I got there that not only was I misinformed, but that the place where I could get a letter was from the Jobs Centre housed in the exact same building which I was earlier in. *rage*

In view of the above, I thought to list down some tips for anyone considering moving to the UK:

Tip 1: Bring your NRIC with you when you are moving overseas. I usually don’t bring my NRIC when I’m overseas, and I had with me only because I’d forgotten to empty my wallet before I left.

Tip 2: Santander is awesome – bank with them if you’re in the UK. They are also the first bank in the UK to have an account which gives you cashback on your spending on petrol, household bills and the like – something which many banks in Singapore offer. They also have a credit card which gives cashback on purchases at supermarkets and departmental stores – which is uncommon, if not non-existent, in the UK as well. Unfortunately I’m not eligible to open that account, but if you are – bank with Santander.

Tip 3: If you want to move to the UK, make sure you know someone who is willing to apply for things like a phone line on your behalf.

Tip 4: Be appreciative of the public servants and administrative staff back home. They’re actually pretty good.

Tip 5: Be thankful that Singapore is small. Your needs are well looked after and the provision of services is fair no matter where you live – even if it’s in an opposition ward.

*      *      *      *      *

*: To get that contract and my keys to the house, I also had to fill out forms, send in a scanned copy of my identification and pay a non-refundable £30 (or more; can’t quite recall) – so it’s not like it was some scam job.

^: This is a sample from Santander – see List 2.

Drying flowers

Cut flowers can last a really long time here – while they tend to wilt by day 2 or 3 in Singapore, flowers can last about 10 days here, depending on what type they are.

My roses and carnations are about two weeks old now. The carnations are still beautiful and fresh-looking, but I’m more amazed by my roses:

They are drying on theirs stems – which, by the way, are in a vase of water.

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I feel like throwing them out as they are clearly dead, but am also tempted to see how dry they can get while remaining in the vase.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Two Weeks

It has been two weeks since I moved over and I’m not as settled in as I’d thought I’d be.

I’m still waiting to set up a bank account, as some idiot at BT screwed things up by acting on his own accord despite our express instructions to send a paper bill. Without the bank account, I’m still without a proper mobile line – and a new phone – here, and was forced to get a Tesco pay-as-you-go SIM card, which at least has given me some semblance of normality to life with internet on the go*. I finally hauled my lazy ass down to register with a GP so that I’ll have some medical coverage if I fall ill, and the appointment is next week. Same for the application for a National Insurance number – the appointment is next week as well.

I’m still waiting to apply for my provisional driving licence, namely because I need to find someone who has known me for more than 2 years and resident in the UK to sign on the back of my passport photo to verify that the photo is, indeed, of me. Perhaps E’s dad on our next trip down to the country. I’ll need to submit my passport with that too, so it’ll have to wait till all the essentials are sorted.

I’m very slowly working on finding a job, with the emphasis on ‘slowly’, as evidenced by me spending about the past 2.5hrs finding a suitable blogger template and updating it. Even then, I’m not entirely satisfied by this one – it seems a little too cheery for Belfast, and childish for my age and my unemployed circumstances – but I like its simplicity.

Already I’m certain that I cannot ever be a housewife, as it’s an incredibly boring occupation. I can imagine what tonight’s conversation will be like:

E: What did you get up to today?

Me: Oh, nothing much. Tried finding a job but got distracted and updated my blog instead. And looked into A and B and C about D and E and F.

E: I see. What else did you do?

Me: Well, I also did the laundry, and as I read that you have to de-ice your freezer regularly to ensure that it’s energy efficient, I spent an hour this morning de-icing it. You should have seen the amount of ice that had accumulated in our freezer – it filled up the whole oven tray and more!

Yup, I must be so proud that my greatest achievement today was removing the insane amount of ice in our freezer so that now we can save money on electricity with an energy efficient freezer! Yay. Really, it’s not so much that I’m bored of sitting at home – not yet anyway – but it’s just that I have nothing interesting to share or talk about with other people. Yesterday I went to see The Trocks (more on them in another post I think) which will be fun to talk about, but before that the most exciting thing I had to talk about was the immensely tiring walk I had to Forestside, which was much further and way more strenuous to get to than we’d thought.

Anyway. I’d better put in more effort into finding a job. And, out of sheer randomness, here’s a picture of the Big Fish – which I am told is called Kev.

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*: Yes, I am very attached to my phone, am a Facebook addict and am extremely grateful for access to GoogleMaps on demand in an unfamiliar city. Smartphones have to be one of the greatest inventions of the century.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Relax! You’ll Be More Productive

Article from here.

The New York Times

 

February 9, 2013

By TONY SCHWARTZ

THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?

More and more of us find ourselves unable to juggle overwhelming demands and maintain a seemingly unsustainable pace. Paradoxically, the best way to get more done may be to spend more time doing less. A new and growing body of multidisciplinary research shows that strategic renewal — including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent vacations — boosts productivity, job performance and, of course, health.

“More, bigger, faster.” This, the ethos of the market economies since the Industrial Revolution, is grounded in a mythical and misguided assumption — that our resources are infinite.

Time is the resource on which we’ve relied to get more accomplished. When there’s more to do, we invest more hours. But time is finite, and many of us feel we’re running out, that we’re investing as many hours as we can while trying to retain some semblance of a life outside work.

Although many of us can’t increase the working hours in the day, we can measurably increase our energy. Science supplies a useful way to understand the forces at play here. Physicists understand energy as the capacity to do work. Like time, energy is finite; but unlike time, it is renewable. Taking more time off is counterintuitive for most of us. The idea is also at odds with the prevailing work ethic in most companies, where downtime is typically viewed as time wasted. More than one-third of employees, for example, eat lunch at their desks on a regular basis. More than 50 percent assume they’ll work during their vacations.

In most workplaces, rewards still accrue to those who push the hardest and most continuously over time. But that doesn’t mean they’re the most productive.

Spending more hours at work often leads to less time for sleep and insufficient sleep takes a substantial toll on performance. In a study of nearly 400 employees, published last year, researchers found that sleeping too little — defined as less than six hours each night — was one of the best predictors of on-the-job burn-out. A recent Harvard study estimated that sleep deprivation costs American companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity.

The Stanford researcher Cheri D. Mah found that when she got male basketball players to sleep 10 hours a night, their performances in practice dramatically improved: free-throw and three-point shooting each increased by an average of 9 percent.

Daytime naps have a similar effect on performance. When night shift air traffic controllers were given 40 minutes to nap — and slept an average of 19 minutes — they performed much better on tests that measured vigilance and reaction time.

Longer naps have an even more profound impact than shorter ones. Sara C. Mednick, a sleep researcher at the University of California, Riverside, found that a 60- to 90-minute napimproved memory test results as fully as did eight hours of sleep.

MORE vacations are similarly beneficial. In 2006, the accounting firm Ernst & Young did an internal study of its employees and found that for each additional 10 hours of vacation employees took, their year-end performance ratings from supervisors (on a scale of one to five) improved by 8 percent. Frequent vacationers were also significantly less likely to leave the firm.

As athletes understand especially well, the greater the performance demand, the greater the need for renewal. When we’re under pressure, however, most of us experience the opposite impulse: to push harder rather than rest. This may explain why a recent survey by Harris Interactive found that Americans left an average of 9.2 vacation days unused in 2012 — up from 6.2 days in 2011.

The importance of restoration is rooted in our physiology. Human beings aren’t designed to expend energy continuously. Rather, we’re meant to pulse between spending and recovering energy.

In the 1950s, the researchers William Dement and Nathaniel Kleitman discovered that we sleep in cycles of roughly 90 minutes, moving from light to deep sleep and back out again. They named this pattern the Basic-Rest Activity Cycle or BRAC. A decade later, Professor Kleitman discovered that this cycle recapitulates itself during our waking lives.

The difference is that during the day we move from a state of alertness progressively into physiological fatigue approximately every 90 minutes. Our bodies regularly tell us to take a break, but we often override these signals and instead stoke ourselves up with caffeine, sugar and our own emergency reserves — the stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol.

Working in 90-minute intervals turns out to be a prescription for maximizing productivity. Professor K. Anders Ericsson and his colleagues at Florida State University have studied elite performers, including musicians, athletes, actors and chess players. In each of these fields, Dr. Ericsson found that the best performers typically practice in uninterrupted sessions that last no more than 90 minutes. They begin in the morning, take a break between sessions, and rarely work for more than four and a half hours in any given day.

“To maximize gains from long-term practice,” Dr. Ericsson concluded, “individuals must avoid exhaustion and must limit practice to an amount from which they can completely recover on a daily or weekly basis.”

I’ve systematically built these principles into the way I write. For my first three books, I sat at my desk for up 10 hours a day. Each of the books took me at least a year to write. For my two most recent books, I wrote in three uninterrupted 90-minute sessions — beginning first thing in the morning, when my energy was highest — and took a break after each one.

Along the way, I learned that it’s not how long, but how well, you renew that matters most in terms of performance. Even renewal requires practice. The more rapidly and deeply I learned to quiet my mind and relax my body, the more restored I felt afterward. For one of the breaks, I ran. This generated mental and emotional renewal, but also turned out to be a time in which some of my best ideas came to me, unbidden. Writing just four and half hours a day, I completed both books in less than six months and spent my afternoons on less demanding work.

The power of renewal was so compelling to me that I’ve created a business around it that helps a range of companies including Google, Coca-Cola, Green Mountain Coffee, the Los Angeles Police Department, Cleveland Clinic and Genentech.

Our own offices are a laboratory for the principles we teach. Renewal is central to how we work. We dedicated space to a “renewal” room in which employees can nap, meditate or relax. We have a spacious lounge where employees hang out together and snack on healthy foods we provide. We encourage workers to take renewal breaks throughout the day, and to leave the office for lunch, which we often do together. We allow people to work from home several days a week, in part so they can avoid debilitating rush-hour commutes. Our workdays end at 6 p.m. and we don’t expect anyone to answer e-mail in the evenings or on the weekends. Employees receive four weeks of vacation from their first year.

Our basic idea is that the energy employees bring to their jobs is far more important in terms of the value of their work than is the number of hours they work. By managing energy more skillfully, it’s possible to get more done, in less time, more sustainably. In a decade, no one has ever chosen to leave the company. Our secret is simple — and generally applicable. When we’re renewing, we’re truly renewing, so when we’re working, we can really work.

Tony Schwartz is the chief executive officer of The Energy Project and the author, most recently, of “Be Excellent at Anything.”

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Red, Blue, Purple

Are apparently good colours for oxen in the year of the snake. We are also meant to avoid white and green.

hmmmm.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Hoshino Coffee, Singapore (Plaza Singapura)

*I’d also posted this on HungryGoWhere.

There had been so much media coverage about Hoshino Coffee that we decided to give it a try. The experience was, overall, disappointing.

First, the table that ordered after us was served before us - it was only when we noticed this and asked to check on our order did our first dish arrive. This is plain unacceptable, considering we had ordered similar items (the famous pancake), as well as spaghetti and coffee - which should have been served sooner than the pancake anyway.

Also, the staff got our order wrong - twice. We ticked our selections on an order list, which was confirmed by the staff member while we were still in the queue. Yet, when we were subsequently handed the order printout, it was missing our matcha softee and our double pancake was a single pancake instead. We clarified this with a staff member - who managed to rectify the softee but not the pancake order. This was finally settled on the second time we approached the staff.

That said, one particular staff member who was serving our table was very attentative. She kept offering to top up our glasses of water, cleared the dishes promptly and was very friendly. Thumbs up to her for her initiative and attitude.

Foodwise, Hoshino Cafe is good but overpriced. The friend who ordered the Hoshino Spaghetti ($14) found it good but a but a bit oily. Their cafe latte ($7.00) was small, and while it was good, it wasn't any better than other good coffee I've had. Their blended coffee ($5.80), which I didn't try, received no complaints - except for the teeny cup of milk which accompanied it. We had to ask for more milk, although the really tiny cup provided some amusement.

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For some reason, the coffees took quite long to arrive even though you wouldn't think it'd take too long to prepare. More puzzling is that our matcha softee ($5.80) took the longest to arrive - even longer than the famed pancakes which require at least 20min to prepare. The matcha taste wasn't very strong, and at that price, I certainly wouldn't recommend ordering it. Good thing that ours was redeemed due to a Stanchart promotion (1 free softee with every drink and main ordered).

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The double pancake ($12.00), made souffle style, was indeed fluffy and delicious. However, the whipped cream that came with it was a bit too salty and the serving of maple syrup was too dainty for the amount of pancake served. Luckily, the pancake batter is sweet on its own, hence we didn't need to ask for more syrup.

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Having tried the double pancake, I'm not sure what the huge fuss is. While it may be interesting that such a thick pancake still manages to be fluffy, fluffy pancakes on their own aren't too hard to achieve in your own kitchen. For that, I recommend The New Otani pancake mix, available at Mediya, Liang Court. It works like a charm for making fluffy pancakes.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Two and a half years

A chat the other day had someone ask me what made me decide to move to Belfast “out of a sudden”. And it struck me then that this move isn’t sudden at all – on the contrary, it is a whole two and a half years in the making.

I hadn’t thought about this in a long time, and I suppose I hadn’t shared it with that many people either. But there were what were to me anxious, depressing talks about “what next”, “where now from here” and “how can we get visas with nothing but experience being assistant language teachers beneath our belts”. The decision to first go our separate ways was made, but there was the knowledge – although I might not have fully admitted it to myself back then – since the day we boarded separate planes at Kansai Airport, that this Singapore-phase of my life was always going to be an sojourn; an interlude before our lives merged properly again.

I recall how it was when I just came back – with no job, severely missing Japan and full of uncertainty over what was going to happen to us. I remember the difficulties adjusting – to living with the parents again, to the crowds in Singapore, to the lower quality in the taste of food, to being so very far apart. It was painful, it was frustrating, I didn’t want to be here and I was not happy.

Yet, humans will always adjust and somehow things managed to develop their own sense of permanence. The friendships I had before Japan were renewed and some new friends were made; work, unfortunately, more or less became my life but I really got back into ballet; my ability to really appreciate good, fresh, clean flavours faded to just a memory; and I came to spend lots of time with a bunch of colleagues whose company I really enjoy.

One year flew by, and there came this ‘turning period’ where a question posed led to some thinking, which resulted in the decision that something had to be done to end this at two years. Slowly, steps were taken and plans were made – it would have been very nearly 2 years if I could have left in September as originally intended, but there was the traumatic visa application, the agonising wait, the monetary calculations and decisions stemming from desires borne of friendship and, of course, Chinese New Year. So two and a half years (and 9 days, in fact) it will be.

Looking back, things feel so different now. August 2010 is without a doubt the lowest point in my life thus far, and I hope it remains so. Also, I’m tempted to describe the time back here as “liminal” – except that it really is not, as I’ve gained a lot and things have developed. Regardless, the next phase is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, so here’s wishing for its fruition, for a good adventure and for much more happiness ahead!

Hokkaido 106

Hokkaido, July 2010. We used to take so many shadow pictures in Japan.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Four-wheeled goals

My grand plan to take intensive driving lessons while I’m unemployed has been dashed by the realisation that I will need to apply for and obtain a provisional driving licence before any school will start giving me lessons.

The process will take about two weeks, cost me £50 and I will have to surrender my passport – again, and with my visa inside this time – to the authorities handling my application >.< I just hope they won’t lose my passport, like the Embassy staff did to one of my friend’s passport.

So much for keeping myself gainfully occupied as far as possible when unemployed. In that case, I probably should purchase a copy of the highway code and start preparing for the theory test, spend lots of time looking for a proper job, take on some part-time work, and offer my services for English <—> Mandarin/Japanese translation.

On the bright side, it should all be done in two weeks and I definitely don’t expect to find a job that quickly anyway. Gargh.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Revelation

Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland (NI) has been listed as one of the top 10 destinations to visit in 2013, and I was browsing their calendar of events when I came upon this:

The Chinese community is NI’s largest and oldest minority ethnic group. Chinese immigrants arrived in the 1960s, mainly from Hong Kong, and today there are over 13,000 Chinese people - including students - living in NI.

No wonder the first few people I saw when I was in Belfast over Christmas 2010 were Chinese! I recall back then that I was all excited being the token Asian – I mean, you really wouldn’t expect Chinese to be in NI, would you – only to have that thought crushed quite promptly.

At any rate, Derry/Londonderry is also the UK’s city of culture for 2013 (that’s probably why it was on the Top 10 list) and given its proximity to Belfast I’ll be using this as an excuse for getting people to visit me!

This, by the way, is in the county – the gorgeous Mussenden Temple. Come visit!:

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On exercise

It just occurred to me that I attend ballet twice a week for 1.5 hours each time, which adds up to a total time commitment of at least 4 hours including travelling.

Hence, in theory I could easily split these 4 hours into 45 minute blocks of exercise spread over 5 days a week do head to the gym – or at the very least, I have no excuse not to exercise at least twice a week on the treadmill or elliptical or cross trainer or whatever.

Here’s to a fitter, toner, slimmer and healthier 2013. Or at least a 2013 where I don’t get any fatter than I am now!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Reminiscing Taipei

It has taken a while to occur to me that the place I have visited the most often in the course of my work is Taipei! I think I’ve actually been there 6 times, although there never was much chance to travel around. Would like to go back again some day, on a leisure trip this time.

This night market below is notable for the fact that I’ve been there twice, and isn’t one of the famous few. The only one I’ve been to more times than this is Shida Night Market, which is awesome on weekends.

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One of the more recent visits is when we were there during Taiwan’s ‘Double Tenth’ celebrations. I think this road is 建国大道, and there will be a procession on 10/10 each year.

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The most beautiful view I’ve had of Taipei so far – taken from the Taipei Zoo Metro station. I like this view even better than that from the Maokong Cable Car.

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