Extended!

I've finally gotten my contract extension...was informed by my boss the other day to raise a form to proceed with the process of my contract extension which apparently take a looong process *rolling my eyes* On top of that, the extension should be for another 4 months but because the year budget ends Dec 2009, my extension is until December and then in January, I have to raise another form for another 2 months to make up the extension of 4 months. Sigh, talk about efficiency. Everything you have to do it yourself in this organisation and hundred of signatures/approvals you have to get for one task. At least, it contributes to our joint-savings to buy a 2nd hand car for me....IF everything goes well....

Berlin!

Berlin....the largest city in Germany, the city that was rebuilt after the World War II. Quite frankly, my hubs and I were both quite disappointed. No offense, no doubt Berlin is a fairly nice, huge, urbanised city, but somehow with such a big city like this, cosy is not the word to describe it. Nevertheless, it is a city I always wanted to visit..at least once.

We took the first flight out on Saturday, very early morning and arrived in Berlin at 8am so we had a full day. Of course taking such an early flight out meant that we had a very short night. And the next day, we were out and about in the city center, walking and did our sight-seeing which covered approximately 10km! That was our first day and mind you, both of us had only less than 4 hours of sleep the night before. I am quite impressed that we managed to cover most of the highlights in the city center - Fernsehturm (TV tower), Rotes Radshaus (City hall), Alexanderplatz (that's where we stayed), Bradenburg gate (what a sight to behold), Berliner Dom (the Prostestant cathedral), the remains of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the museums in the Museum Island, Potsdamer Platz :) :) In between, we had our pitstop to rest our poor tired feet and of course to have nice German desserts that they are good at making. We crashed out nicely that night, very early Zzzzzzz.

The next day we took it easy and decided to visit the Schloss Charlottenburg palace and the must-visit Pergamon museum that was highly recommended by my parents-in-law. The palace was quite a disappointment but perhaps we have seen much more beautiful palaces in other countries such as France. We had to take the public transport to the palace as it is situated outside the city center. We were quite impressed by the German public transportation, it is pretty good. Everywhere, there will be frequent buses, trams, fast tram, trains, etc. Initially, it was quite confusing for us as there were so many type of public transportation available but once you get used to it, it's pretty easy.

Whereas the Pergamon museum took our breath away. The museum is world famous for its archaeological holdings. The Pergamon, located on Museum Island, is really three museums in one – the Collection of Classical Antiquities (also on display in the Old Museum), the Museum of the Ancient Near East, and the Museum of Islamic Art. The Pergamon Museum’s monumental highlights are truly breathtaking to behold. This museum will be my second most favourite museum after the Egyptian Museum in Cairo ;)

Since we had some time left before dinner time, we decided to check out the Reichstag building, the German parliament building. The building is an iconic glass dome constructed on top of the rebuilt Reichstag. It was designed by architect Norman Foster and built to symbolize the reunification of Germany. The distinctive appearance of the dome has made it a prominent landmark in Berlin. Many tourist flocked to this building to catch a glimpse of this German parliament building. We had to queue for 30 mins before we get into the building with tight security of course. When we got into the dome, it was worth it. The view from the dome was magnificent and the dome itself was amazing. The Bundestag dome is the iconic large glass dome at the very top of the building.The dome has a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from the cupola, and natural light from above radiates down to the parliament floor. A large sun shield tracks the movement of the sun electronically and blocks direct sunlight which might bedazzle those below.

The last day, we had a full day as our flight back was at night, we decided to hit the shopping area, the famous KaDeWe ("Kaufhaus des Westens") shopping mall, 60,000 sq. metres of flagship store packed with designer labels! More like window shopping there...drooling all over the nice clothing on display :) Believe it or not, Berlin also has a Galleries Lafayette! But unfortunately not as nice and big as the one in Paris of course, and no shoes department :( How disappointing.

We didn't waste our last day shopping alone, we went to visit the famous Berlin Zoo after spending 2 hours browsing around the stores and had a quick, delicious lunch in KaDeWe. Lunch was very good in their chic food court right on the top floor of the stor one of the best zoo around and has the most species of animals in the world which we agreed. Probably being one of the older zoo around, some of the 'habitats' for the animals were sorely lacking (small area of confinement) as compared to the zoos in Holland. Perhaps too many animals cramped into one big area. We hope that with some works going around now, the management are going to enlarge the zoo area further.

Last but not least, the German food.....I was quite disappointed the first 2 days and most likely we had picked some wrong restaurants/cafes cos the food was sorely lacking than what we had expected. We were compensated on the last day when we discovered this nice cafe, a stone throw away from our hotel. It was soooo good and of course with the lunch that we had in KaDeWe, it sure make our day in Berlin ;) ;)

The Long Weekend Starts Today

The long weekend starts today yippeeee!!! My workplace will be closed for the Raya so Monday is a holiday for us! When the clock striked 6pm, I happily packed my things and left the office in a hurry. Who doesn't...it's Friday...weekend!!

I have more to look forward to....I'm heading to Berlin tomorrow with my Hubs for a weekend trip ;) Weather forecast - sunny with temperature ranging 22-24 degrees. That's not too bad for this time of the year... coming autumn. Trees here are losing its leaves, turning to a beautiful shade of yellow and red. Yup, autumn is definitely around the corner. I just hope that the weather forecast in Berlin stays true, eh...

Liberation Day @ Maastricht 13 September 2009

Maastricht, 13 September 2009, windy and occasional drizzle - Today marked the 65th anniversary of Maastricht's liberation from the Nazi. The first Dutch city to be liberated by the Americans in 1944. This anniversary was celebrated with exhibitions, ceremonies and concerts. The city center was packed with tourists and locals alike enjoying this meaningful day whereby many brave American soldiers gave their life to free this city. I'm fairly surprised that it was celebrated with a bang here.
Hence, the World War II Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial is the only American military cemetery in the Netherlands. The Cemetery lies in the village of Margraten, 6 miles east of Maastricht. The Limburg Symphony Orchestra performed Dvorak's Requiem at the cemetery.

The opening of Maastricht cultural season were also happening at the same time. At 45 different locations in Maastricht, everyone can enjoy free theatre plays, live music, etc. That was exactly what we did. My Hubs and I were in Maastricht for our visit to the parents-in-law/parents. We had another nice weekend.

On Saturday, an exhibition in front of the city hall's courtyard of reenacting the Second Armored Army (150 men in original American uniforms and 70 vehicles from the earlier days of the Second World War II) were accessible to the public.









The next day afternoon, though, the weather was not so nice, we had a good time as well, went from one location to another catching all these talented local bands playing live on the streets of Maastricht. From rock n roll, blues to jazzy music ;) It was indeed nice. We managed to squeeze into a table for the 4 of us and sat right in front of the jazz band playing in ' T Bassin 10 mins walk from the city center.

Body Pump Class

Last Saturday, I've decided to be a heroine and went to join the Body Pump class in my gym. The class is an hour long whereby participants use light free weights and barbells in repetitive exercises that focus on the biceps/triceps and stomach muscles including lunges, squats and presses. Little did I know that the class was pretty 'heavy' for a first timer like me. Boy, did I suffer since then. Mind you, I did finish the class without collapsing. My muscles were screaming in pain for the past 3 days!! First it was my leg muscles, then it was my arm muscles and of course in between were my stomach muscles :P :P

T'was a painful experience on Monday while I was on my way to work...and of all days, my Hubs need to use the car so I had to take the public transport. Imagine, the pain of walking up and down the stairs in the train station, walking that stretch to my workplace were unbelievable slow and painful....every step I took, my muscles were screaming in pain!! Btw, I did miss my tram because it took me longer than usual to walk to the tram stop, etc :P

My Hubs told me that was the result of not using these muscles all my life.... sigh...Oh well, I'm going to have 2 weeks break before going back to the class again and I hope by then my body has gotten over the shock.

Finally....I'm Contributing

The past 2 days, I was finally busy at work!! It's been a long time since I can even utter those words. Think about it, I've officially stopped working 2.5 years ago!! My oh my, time sure flies. This may sound a little crazy, but I do miss being busy at work...able to look at my watch and say "oh dear, it's already 5pm" :) :)