IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!! my first White Christmas

Finally, it snowed!
i was sooo excited as we were whisking away in the white snow
it wasnt as exhilarating as I had imagined
but the feeling was incredible when snow fell on me ;)

on my flight back from Granada to London,
it was incredibly beautiful
as we descended upon green fields covered with thin layers of white snow
pure beauty of England
I was amazed by the sight
there were British architectured colonial houses covered with snow..

but yet I was cursing and swearing
cos we waited so long for the snow and it only snowed when we were in Spain!
wat the.. :P
so there I was, biting my lips with anger
and dragging our luggage home
when we saw tiny flakes of ice falling from the sky
literally, like a white feather slowly peacefulli falling
I'd probably never forget that first snow ;)

Christmas in Granada was fantastic
one of the best Xmases I've had
Alberto's family was full of warmth, welcoming me with opened arms
althou they didnt speak English,
they were full of smiles, laughter and happiness.
His family - grandma, uncle, aunties, cousins were all there
it was a huge table full of people
and we had 3 days, 3nites of feasts...
wooo yummy n i luvv Spanish food
and there was Cava, Cider, Spanish wine flowing all day
it was full of family festive atmosphere
I wished I was with my family,
but it was nice to be with his too ;)
i luv to see how Alberto is so close to his grandmothers
the way they kiss and hug each other to show their affection
and even Alberto's parents still hug n kiss their parents too..
family values are realli important in Spain
and i think that is the best part of their culture.

Granada was beautiful as ever, even more so in winter
we went to our favourite haunts
the luxurious Alhambra Hotel, that stood high up,
we had a nice Christmas tea in the cafe that overlooked the whole city
and met up with all his frens
I particularly loved this Moroccan Teteria (middle eastern tea house)
where we smoked Sheesha, had Arabic tea..
the street lined with teterias, Arabic stuff, full of Moroccan culture there
and We met up with Fede at nite for some drinks too!
I'l always love the tapas bar in Granada and the drinks!

The best part was when we went up to Sierra Nevada
second highest mountain in Europe (so wat?! haha)
beautiful snow mountains just next to Granada
too bad it was a foggy and rainy day
Alberto drove , n it was a scary trip up
but when we got there, it was sooo crowded
with all the holidaymakers fighting to ski haha

Anyhow, the trip to Spain was realli good
a good break for us too

This morning it snowed again on my way to work ;)
it's been freeeezing cold lately
with temperatures dipping to almost zero degrees.
*brrrrrr..*
my ears and fingers feel like they'r dropping off any moment :P

Well, the New Year is coming!
Im looking forward to it,
tonite we'r having a party at Joana's house
hope it'll be fun! Alberto's putting on his nicest suit haha
New Year's eve will probably be REAL crowded along Thames River
but i'm looking forward to witnessing the best NewYear's parade in the world
and grand fireworks at the London Eye and Big Ben!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
2006 will be a great one

Silent nite

Last nite was one of the best nites we've had
Cooked quite a feast
for someone like me,
u aint gonna expect anyth edible
but surprise surprise,
I just discovered my hidden potential
might just become my newest passion hah..
It was a feast of Grilled Chicken drumsticks
(mind you, that took me eons to make, n tons of oil splattering on me)
with potatoes and portobello mushrooms fried with garlic,
and some Moroccan cous-cous to top it up.
HAH!
bought some new table cloth and a candle over the wkend
and we just had a great candlelight dinner in our own home ;)
life can be simple yet beautiful

oooo had a superb Friday nite
had some drinks with loony colleagues from the Audio team
Im not too acquainted with them,
but have hanged out before, so decided just to join the fun
it was great, laughing drinking n jokin ard
met many new pple - this Finland girl who's been to Singapore!
and this British girl whos so nice *surprisingly*
shes stayed in China for 3 mths before wohoo
I got so drunk,
only knew how much I drank when the nxt day I found this shot-tube thingy in my bag
and remembered everyth.
when I got home, alberto was fuming haha
i forgot we were supposed to have dinner together oopsie
have to change my ways ;P
will post those pics later

the Weekend was weirdly hectic
althou we planned it to be relaxing and we would be chillin' out
the past few wkends have been sucking up our energy
but we had to buy some presents to bring to Spain nonetheless
it's the last wkend before Xmas!
of cos, there was the expected crowd in town
all rushing ard for Xmas presents like lunatics
but wat we didnt expect was the HUGE amt of pple
man, the whole of Oxford Street was closed, no vehicles cld enter
just so loony shoppers cld trample over one another
we changed our plans and went to visit the Santa Land in Earl's court instead
it was supposed to be a Christmas fair
i expected a grand opened air fiesta,
with lotsa candies, bright lights, christmas goodies
but I was oh so disappointed
it was like one of those Expo exhibitions, empty, boring, stale
AND the entry fee was £25?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

strange enough, Alberto suggested heading back to Oxford but i knew there was a hidden agenda of course, how could he resist the FINEST toy store in the world - Hamley's?! phff A grown up kid I supposed.

Christmas is always a festival of giving I wish I could be back home, exchanging presents with frens thou and having a great christmas feast with my family ahh i luvv eatin with them, who else enjoys food more than us?!

But still, Christmas is gonna be realli nice here, cold winter, Everyone talking abt Xmas, Mince pies, Christmas puddings, Christmas lights everywhere and of cos, nice dinners ;) I'm sure it'll be good.

Have a good one everyone!

P.S. I'm gona have internet connection at home today! yippee! Gonna upload my freaking load of photos here yehoo

A pounding headache on Friday - damn!

Sometimes I hate working here
too many reasons..
there are nice people here
but there are more annoying people here!
Wat to do..I need the money,
and it's a good opportunity
sometimes I do enjoy the work
but alota the times, it just pisses the hell outta me

People say I complain too much
If you are in my shoes,
faking a front in the office,
u'll know why Im blabbering here.

By the way, I've wanted to write a list since I've been here.
A list of 10 things I hate about the British.
Oh dont get me wrong,
I've been reeealli happy here
I love my new life,
it's a new start, a refreshing and very different environment
It's me, I need a change of environment all the time
that's why Im here
I've been having a realli happy time with Alberto
he makes me happier than anyone else
everyday, I look forward to going home
lying in his arms and bitch abt our day

anyway, no more mushy stuff
and it's not like I didnt expect this,
I've met many British before
and I've never liked them
u ask me why would I come to the UK then?
that's cos it's the easiest country to move to!
it's the only place I can get a working visa!
If not, I would be in somewhere with Sun,
like Spain - cheap booze, frenly people..

TOP FIVE THINGS THAT I HATE ABT THE BRITISH:

1. Their disgusting accents!! EEUU i can NEVER get used to that. C'mon, they think their English is perfect - I know more words than some of them do.

2. Arrogant smirk. Walk with noses in the air. n it's not just how they look - it's wat I observed when I speak to some of them. and it's the truth - my European frens (all) admitted that Europeans tend to think they are of a higher class than the others (referring to Americans - they think they have no class/culture, wat abt Asians?! where do we stand???) AND the British think they'r a higher class than the Europeans - that they'r the TOP of the class. HAH..amazing

3. Extremely unfriendly. They dont smile to you when u walk past them (possibly like Asians haha). A great example: I was in the tube, carrying loadsa groceries. Snatched a seat and my dear oranges fell outta my bag, all over the place (yes imagine that!), and NOBODY helped me, they just remained seated, reading their books, pretending to be oh-so-wise, and continued with their business while pathetic me had to handle my own shit.

A typical day in the tube: everybody squeezing into the tube, fighting one another, snatching seats, and not even giving them up to the old ladies (c'mon, I know that happens in Singapore every single day, but halo?! at least we've got a heart, we give up seats to people who need them more! ) that's wat I hate abt this city London - beautiful and all that - but it feels like I never left home - I wanna go somewhere less hectic , where people smile and say hello to brighten up ur life.

4. FAKE and superficial. Oh yeh, tell me about it. People used to say Americans especially those in Miami, the beautiful and 'oh-i-think-im-so-cool' people, are the superficial ones. I don't deny that, but those I've met here, have obviously been much worse than those lots. U can always tell when a person is genuine. trust me, it is rare to find someone who is soo genuine here. Pretending to be ur best fren one moment, and the next, turning their back on u.

5. Extremely inefficient. My experience with HSBC was the worst I've ever had - possibly anyone cld ever have. It wasnt any fault of the UK's branch, but u cant imagine how slowly people work here. They probably earn the most money in the world, with their currency being the strongest. but they work SO slowly I wonder how they get stuff done. I had to make a major complaint to get a manager to help me. wayyy too rigid - in the head. And we've been waiting 3 weeks for our Internet broadband to be connected..damn.

Right,
to be fair,
I have met many reeealli nice people in London
like my colleagues
Vimal is extremely genuine, frank and down-to-earth
he hates Hazel and it's so obvious lol
Tom is soo nice and helpful
he aint no fake superficial guy
Others I've met,
like the lady who helped me with my luggage
as I was dragging it up the stairs at the tube station
She's not british! haha
and this old man, who gave me a ride home from the Supermarket
when he saw me carry sooo many bags
He's turkish! HAH!

anyhow, Im realli good here

I will survive!

Christmas yooohoooooo

I always feel the festive atmosphere
when I get greeting cards!
Hurrrayyyyy
I got a Xmas card from Sheila! yay ;)
Thanks! It's so nice to get a card from home
me and Alberto snuggled in bed and smiled as we read ur card
and we got a postcard from Emily!
how nice.. with a picture of HK haha
thanks Em, can we get a big Xmas present too? ;P
n yeh, of course we hafta meet in Berlin!
im about to book tix man, Easyjet has got World cup promotion woohoo
I'll wait for u to go travelling around Europe
hopefully by then ive saved up enough

It's mid-week, almost there
in a beauuutiful mood today, surprisingly
u know how I sulk when i get into the bloody office
but today, I'm in a glorious mood
last nite was great
me and Vimal went for some drinks after work
and again, he didnt let me buy him drinks!
had a good time talking abt stuff, life
went back home and chatted with my italian neighbour
he feels like a grandfather to me hehe
soo nice, and wise
he makes red wine in his own house,
n he's gonna bring some for us!
today he's goin back to Italy for Christmas
so we probably have the whole floor to ourselves :P

its been really Xmasy around here
with everyone doing their Xmas shopping
Im getting soo excited abt my Granada tripppp
wanna try skiing in Sierra Nevada
woooooppiiiiieeeeee

Sheisah

they probably don't spell it that way in German
but wat the heck
hah! my first German word I've learnt (besides Guten Tag of course)
yes always the vulgar words that come first lol
('shit' in German heh)

Wooo had a great time last wkend
Heiko came down from Leipzig to visit ;)
and I sure miss how it felt like to hang out with him and Alberto
he's always so comfortable to be with,
so genuine and indifferent

Friday was a cosy nite when we caught up on each other's lives
had a great meal in a Jap restaurant
rarely eat outside, so that was a something nice to treat ourselves
The good thing about eating in London is that we have cuisine from all over the world
The amusing thing is that the Brits have no food to call their own!
Pathetic.
Anyhow, we had a great talk, drinks at a pub
in downtown Leicester Square

Of cos it was yet another buzzing Saturday
waking up early in the morn n showing Heiko around London
Hannah came over from Essex
and me and Alberto had a realli nice time chillin' out at a cafe
as they went on the London Eye
they probably earn billions from that,
every single time we visit the Eye, and the lines are as long as the great wall of China
A cool n noisy dinner at a traditional English pub in Oxford
that was my favourite ;)
i luvvv English pubs
althou i hate those english accents all around me
oh, n i met my tuition kid I used to teach!
she's studying in Oxford pre-uni and I met up with her in town
so happy to see her
grown up n mature, bt still a kid
gonna visit her in Oxford in Jan

Sunday was another long day visiting Tower Bridge, Camden Market
Heiko arranged to meet with his American fren who was here
and a German girl too
I asked Joanna along, n it was practically a German party haa..
it was nice, like all of us
talking abt our different culture
and listening to them speak in German just makes me laugh

it's just been nice
and Heiko's leaving tmr
i'l be sad to see him leave
its back to work today
n ive been in a horrible mood till now
god help me...

Foggy Friday

as I opened my eyes this mornin'
and looked out the windows
it was like a scene you would only imagine
i thot it was snowing
it was just sooo white outside - soo foggy

Yesterday,
I was just going to write abt how sunny it has been
these days..
and 'who said London is dull and rainy?!'
but TADA
here u go..
we have a beautiful view in the office
right in fronta me
but today, i could only see a whole blank space of white,
and the building just infronta us, thats it.

On a lighter note,
IT IS FRIDAY!!!!!!!
HAAAAAA!!!!
You just cant imagine how much I look forward to this
everyday, its just WORK WORK WORK
i work wayyyy too hard for the meagre sum of money I'm paid
and i feel taken advantage by the company
but i tell myself,
at least I have a job!

anyway, I have been too busy to update my blog
so here I am.
Last wkend was superbbb (which wkend isnt?)
Alberto's parents came over
and they are very funny people - young at heart
we went all over London - took the London Eye!
Harrods - very cool traditional English mall..interesting artwork on the building
Amazingly, I enjoyed the Night tour we went on,
with a group of Spanish, AND the guide was speaking in Spanish ONLY
haha bt Alberto patiently translated everyth to me
it was hilarious..n we saw SOO much stuff
and it was like a pub-hopping tour
where we had a superb dinner at an English pub
with all the historical meaning behind it.

Talking abt English pubs,
I lovee the English pubs here
soo traditional on the outside, cool architecture
and wooden interior - good ol' Lager and Ale

Sunday, we had a great nite too
walking all over town - Oxford Circus
Picaddilly - Regent Square - its where everyone goes to
and we had Chinese food at Leicster Square ;)
Alberto's parents wanted to try some, and I ordered loads to eat
Of cos they weren't as good as those in Singapore
bt it was still a good meal..

Fiesta Italiano

Our Italian neighbours invited us over for dinner on Wed
hoooow nice ;)
thats how i luv italianos - they are genuinely nice,
but they dun talk about it,
they invite us, n thats it - they dun want us to say thank you,
or buy them gifts or anything.
they'r just happy pple who laugh heartily
embrace life - eat and drink n that's life.
they'r two big guys - one in his 60's and the other ard 30's
we had a HUGEEE feast! Pasta Cabonara and Pork Chop
with loads of wine.. Italian coffee..
oh n they even made a wholeee Tiramisu cake for us last wk!
i was sooo touched my eyes were watering oredi haha

But that's not the end of the fiesta
I ended up stuck in the toilet for the rest of the nite (T_T)
hugeee tummy ache, n I literally bombed our toilet lol
the next day I had to hug my aching belly to work
and eat yogurt for lunch..
poor me haha..

Lotsa pics! but i still cant upload argh
leave me comments plsssssssssssssssssss!!