It takes 2 hands to clap?

I always believe to establish a healthy relationship (be it between friends, colleagues or lovers), it takes two hands to clap. That'll be an ideal way isn't it? However, in life it's not it. There's a saying in Cantonese, "lei kan yan, yan kan lei" (direct translation, it will be...you choose people, people choose you).

There are people who very quickly categorised certain people into 'significance' and 'insignificance' importance category in the back of their mind. So if you're in the insignificance category = no effort required to get to know you. I guess everyone wants to recruit a 'buddy' on their side to further their own agenda. And this is a fact in my working environment. Some occasions, it's very obvious, these people are nice to somebody out of their own selfish agenda and not based out of their genuineness. In these cases, it's always among women. When you have women in one place = trouble brews. Tension between 2 women because of jealousy, sensitivity, I-don't-like-your-face, popularity, the-boss's favourite, etc are so common. I had my fair share of these 'interesting' experience and mind you, it was not on voluntary basis. Somehow trouble comes and find you even when you're not even looking for it *sigh*.

Does anyone out there wants to know the 'real' person within somebody anymore?

Baby Boom 2009

Baby boom this year? Off hand, I can already count 7 soon-to-be newborns ;) Many people believed that the Ox/Cow Year will be an auspicious year to begin with.

I will have 2 babies soon-to-meet-the-world within 2 weeks...One is from my sis-in-law and the other one will be my 'big sister' back home. What a coincidence that the both of them will be expecting their second child. One will be expecting another baby girl and the other will be expecting another baby boy :) One of my best friend, will e also expecting their second child end of this year. My Hubs and I are both looking forward to welcome all of them. For now, it'll be our nephew first then the rest it'll be next year since we won't be back in KL this remaining year :( These days when you go out with friends, you don't go out with them alone, you go out with them plus the lil' ones ;) The circle of friends are definitely growing eh....:)

Summer Carnival in Rotterdam 2009 - 25 July

Rio de Janeiro was in the house!! The Summer carnival came and went with a bang! It was a huge event in the city of Rotterdam. Participants from all over Latin-America (locals and foreigners) participated in this parade in their most beautiful, colourful costumes walking along the street of Rotterdam. On that Saturday, routes en route to the city has been closed off for this mega event. The streets were filled with spectators like me wanting to catch a glimpse of the parade. Thank our lucky stars, the weather was perfect - strong wind but sunny here and there.

In the inner city, shops were going about their normal business, people are also walking around shopping. However, new food stalls were littered everywhere trying to cash in as much as possible on this day. A small stage was also set-up for live Latin music bands...particular one that we caught a glimpse of it ;)

I've never seen Rotterdam city so busy as last Saturday :) The locals sure love their carnivals, parties and booze ;)

1st Year Wedding Anniversary

Finally TGIF! One will never appreciate it as much until you're back in the slave market. This is the most popular day of the week. After an entire week of doing nothing and stressing because I've nothing much to do, I'm all geared up for a nice weekend :)

On Saturday marked our 1st year wedding anniversary and my Hubs and I celebrated it in a nice French fusion restaurant in a nice neighbourhood of Rotterdam. 'In Den Rustwat' is the name of the restaurant that we had picked. We finally get to use our wedding gift - a restaurant bon we'd received from our ex-colleagues last year. This was our little treat :)

The dinner lasted 3.5 hours and that's a typical Dutch way of dining out. It's a whole evening affair. Basically you waited 15-20 mins for a menu, then another 10-15 mins to order, another 20-25 mins for your first course to arrive. Both of use opted for a 4-course menu where my Hubs ordered 4 glasses of wine (the restaurant will serve different wine for different course) and I must admit the wines were splendidly chosen for each menu.

Food was absolutely nice, service was impeccable (and of course it comes with a high price ;) Nevertheless, it was a very nice evening we spent for our 1st year wedding anniversary; great food, nice, cosy place and of course great company.

The Day Came: U2 360 Concert in Amsterdam, 21 July 2009

They still have it!!! It was an unbelievable, absolutely amazing concert I've ever attended. The show started on time, no primadona hanky-panky like Madonna's concert (we waited for 2 hours before she finally appeared) from these bands. Snow Patrol did a fantastic 45 mins opening and the stage crew took another 45 mins to reset the stage for the main act: U2.

At 9:30pm sharp, the crowd went crazy when Larry Mullen, the first member of U2 appeared on stage and quickly followed by the rest of the members...by then the crown went ballistic including me. Bono sang a good mix of songs from their latest album 'No Line On Horizon' and some other older hits such as Bloody Sunday, With or Without You, Desire. Eventhough we'd numbered seats, most of the time, we were up on our feet, dancing and singing along to the songs.The stage was a sight to behold, a massive round stage (360 degrees, that's U2's theme for this tour) with revolving 2 bridges where the band members were freely walking on it. When Bono sang 'I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight', the whole concert ambience escalated to a frenzy - the whole stadum was then vibrating with all the screaming fans, the screen came down that looked like a thimble-shaped and the band was on their top of their performance. Absolutely smoking ;)

Everyone had a great time and it was sad that'll all good things have to come to an end...the concert ended at about 11:35pm. By then U2 had sang 3 songs after the encore. We'd arrived home at 1:30am...absolutely tired out but definitely it was an unforgetable concert...

Basement parking garages in a shopping mall here? DUH!

I'm spoilt by all the convenient basement parking lots in shopping malls back KL :) Over here, you better make sure you have built up your leg muscles cos you're going to walk a long way IF you want to have free parking or a lower parking fees when you go shopping. Normally, most locals will opt for the latter as it is very expensive to park your car closer to the city center. There are no big basement parking garages attached to a shopping mall in the Netherlands. Oh wait...what big shopping mall...there are no big/mega shopping malls here :P

After almost 2 years of living here, I'm slowly...VERY slowly getting used to parking a tad further from the city center though sometimes I do get all grouchy about it. It's no fun when I have to walk a long way just to go shopping whereby when I shop obviously I'll be walking a lot too. So by the time I've arrived in the city, I'll be too tired to do my shopping and all I want is to sit down in a cafe and recuperate :P :P

Paying thru your nose for parking in Amsterdam

Believe it or not, it is true! Reports from an Amsterdam-based newspaper 'Het Parool' and the online news www.nu.nl has confirmed that nowhere in the world is parking more expensive than in Amsterdam. Parking in the city centre for a day may cost you up to EUR50!! That's a lot of $$$ if you ask me. That's why my Hubs dislike going to Amsterdam, mainly parking is a freaking nightmare, with one-way streets and the parking fees are exorbitant!

What we do normally if we do go to Amsterdam, we will park our car at a parking lot next to the Sloterdijk train station and take a short train ride to Amsterdam city centre (5-6 mins). The P+R (Park and Ride) charges a low fee for a day and with free train tickets for people of the car (up to 4 people). It's easy than parking in the city centre.

Once, we'd parked our car in the city centre for a mere 2+ hours and it cost us EUR15+. Some parking garage charges 0.5 hour rate. Shocking!!

Life at work....

Though it's my 3rd week, things at work has been sooo slow....I guess in Europe..summer period aka vacation period...everything just slows down. Most of the time I'm bored out of my wits but after 'suffering' for 15 days...I've finally gotten a breakthrough. My boss has assigned me to a project, a big one actually. Funny how the organisation works...me a newbie has been assigned to this big project which I'm not even sure if I'll be around to see it been executed. My contract is a short-term contract hmmm and did I mention before that it is a very bureaucratic organisation...stressing on that word..'bureaucratic' :P Anyway, I'm happy that finally I'm attached to do something productive...reallly *smile*

Countdown to U2 360° Concert - 21 July 2009

21 July 2009 - Another 9 days to go...counting down....before I'll be watching U2 live for their 360° tour concert in Amsterdam!!! Their 2 days concert was sold-out within an hour when the tickets went on sale. So I was very happy when I got it finally after 1.5 hours of sitting in front of my laptop! I get sooooo excited just thinking about it.

Finally, I'll be there with hundreds of thousand of fans in Holland watching U2!!! They are one band that I always wanted to go since I've discovered their music and it's really suck to know back then that U2 will never go to KL to perform. But now, this is one of the perks living in Europe I guess, most of the big bands tour Europe. Hence, my opportunity came and I'm going to catch U2 live in Amsterdam :) Happy...happpy..jump..jump :) On top of that, Snow Patrol will be the special guest band for an hour performance before the concert starts. We definitely got a good deal eh ;)

Already the organisers have sent notices on the logistics for this concert- it's going to be a nightmare with thousands and thousands of people going to be there in one place. Let's say, it's going to be a late night for me and since the concert falls on a Tuesday, imagine how 'alive' I'm going to be at work the next day :P

Role Reversal....

Since I've started working, my sweet Hubs have taken over my role at home - the 'maid' :) As he comes back from work earlier or at times he works from home, he now does the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc, *muak*muak* Thanks Hubs :) Since I'm taking the cattle transport most of the time which takes me 1.5 hours door-to-door so I'll be home around 7pm or earlier depending what time I get to get off from work. Gone were the days when I wake up at 9am...I've to catch the tram at 730am so normally I've to wake up at 630am to get ready etc. This is the time when I do miss having my own car :( :( *sob*sob*. Trust me, though at times, taking the cattle transport is great but when it breaks down, it'll be a major nightmare!

Late for Work.....

4th day at work and I was late.....It was on a Monday morning and I've decided to take the car to work since my Hubs will be working at home. I've timed myself so that I'll arrived at work at least 15 mins before 9am but who knows that I'll be smacked into the infamous Dutch morning traffic :( I was stuck for 1hr 45 mins on the A20 highway before the cars started moving!! There was an accident involving 3 trucks so the traffic was almost on a standstill. I was cursing my luck and thought I should have taken the 'cattle' transport instead. Thank god, when I'd called my colleague, they were very sympathetic. I've finally arrived at the office at 9:45am and didn't get into any trouble...wheeew :)

MJ's Memorial Live on CNN

Michael Jackson's Memorial was a memorial that I'll remember for a long time. Though I'd missed a large part of the memorial but the remaining ones brought me to tears in no time (coincidentally I'd a happy hour get-together with my colleagues after work. By the time I got home, it was pretty late). It was done so spontaneously and so beautifully with all the performances and speeches by his friends and family. To see his beautiful children for the first time, it was also quite shocking as he shielded them from public eye since they were borned.

I quickly caught up the rest that I've missed on CNN.com. Personally, I especially like Brooke Shields's and Marlon Jackson's speech and the song that Usher sang was so beautiful. I can't help it but I just teared up watching the memorial. Despite MJ's setback in his life for the past few years with the accusations and financial trouble, I practically grew up with his music. He had such an amazing talent; to be able to produce such meaningful and beautiful songs throughout his entire singing career. If I look closely into some of his lyrics such as "Man In the Mirror", "We Are the World", it was beautiful. Don't forget, his music videos were equally amazing! I sure do miss him...my biggest regret that I'll never see him perform on stage :(

Simply Red Concert 3 July 2009 - An Evening to Remember

Simply Red, one of my favourite bands and I've been listening to him since I was in my teens and yesterday I'd the opportunity to see him perform live on stage, yippeee! This was Simply Red (Mick Hucknall)'s farewell concert and mind you, this was his 3rd concert in the Netherlands. I've missed his first two shows in April at Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam - it was sold out on both days! I was surprised when the MC of the evening announced that Simply Red will make one final stop in the Netherlands once again in Arnhem next year before he retires from the music scene.

The concert started at 8:15pm with the performance of the special guest of a local jazz band, Boris. They were quite good actually, getting the crowd 'started' before Simply Red came on stage :) :)

Live in Westerpark, Amsterdam - Simply Red gave all of us a great evening singing all his greatest hits from "If You Don't Know Me By Now", "Stars", "For Your Babies", "Something Got Me Started" were among others. It was the first time for me at Westerpark and honestly I personally thought it was a great venue for Simply Red concert - cosy. Though it was free standing tickets, my Hubs and I had a great time. Mick Hucknall has a great voice on stage and he effortless kept the crowd going the whole evening. There was no fireworks, exaggerating props, special background effects, it was only him and his band giving all his fans a great evening to remember :) Everyone was singing along, clapping and dancing to his music and some of them were men ;) I must admit though when he sang "For Your Babies", I felt all 'mushy' inside, it was such a beautiful song (for those who knows the singer, Jackie Cheung Hock Yau from Hong Kong, it was the same effect when he sang all his love songs).

When the concert ended at about 11pm, I felt a little bit sad that a great artiste whom still has such a beautiful voice eventhough he's already approaching his 50s will retire soon. He made such beautiful music after all.

First day at work in the Netherlands

How was my first day at work today? Well, one word - uneventful.

The morning started with me running late as the tram was late from Rotterdam and in the Hague *aargghh* so this caused me to miss the train and it was a whole domino effect. In the end, I was LATE about 7 mins on my first day! After reporting myself at the reception and went thru the security, I was told to wait at the lobby for someone to get me...finally the HR lady came 20-25 mins later. To my utter surprise, I was apparently early! I was supposed to arrive in the office at 9:30am instead which nobody told me about it *DUH*. So off I went and along the way, 2 other 'newbies' like me came and joined us for the signing of our employment contracts session with the HR lady hmmmm...ok. The session also consisted of signing so many other forms other than our own respective contracts, collected our security passes and the Q&A session. By the time we were 'delivered' to our respective rooms, it was already 11am plus!

And with my rotten luck today, my colleagues did not expect my arrival today so nothing has been arranged for me (a deja vu for me as this happened to me in my previous employment as well *sigh*). This means, I'd only a chair and a table which I shared with a big noisy printer and a fax machine. No computer, phones and stationary were arranged for me. The remaining day, it was sort of an informal and speedy 'orientation' with one of my colleague, filling up more forms and following my colleague around to get familiarised with my surroundings and reading documents = boring.

Mind you, this organisation is very bureaucratic, they absolutely adores their paperwork. Everything has to be done via paper. Basically, nothing moves until you have a signed and approved forms in hand. On the other side, I was pretty impressed that in the building, we have a nice big staff cafeteria, a little ABN Amro office with a ATM machine!, a duty-free shop, a library and a small gym with classes during lunch time! Unfortunately the coffee machines in the office came with a coin slot on the side. Only tea and water are free :P

All in, it was quite an 'interesting' day. So far my colleagues were pretty nice and I still do not know what's my actual work will be but will know more after the meeting with my supervisor tomorrow *rolling my eyes*. After all, it was my first day only :P