Summing up my past week - looking for Singapore Map 2007!

Last week was a hectic one. Mdm was kept busy at work. My office had been preparing for a workshop (held last Friday) for the past few weeks. BIL's trip also left P and I shuttling between our house and his. At times, some thoughts simply flash across my mind and I promise to get myself in front of the computer. I never did. It's the lazy bug attack!

Anyway, lots seem to have happened in the past week. For one, I did my first hairdye in 5 years! Just yesterday, we went down to our new place and saw that the pillars are STILL not piled, meaning, our land is as vacant as ever.

We were at a Mexican restaurant yesterday and managed to catch glimpses of the Singapore Grand Prix on one of the cable channels. P and I were in awe. I mean, look at the cityscape! Mdm is sure proud of my country. Whether or not night race is safe, it sure is an excellent strategy to market tourism.

I am thinking of buying a Singapore map 2007, frame it up, then hang it on one of the walls in our new place. That's the year that I left. Anyone with one, care to sell it to me??? =P

Hairstyle inspiration

Mdm found inspiration for my next haircut.

The Thai Yakuza

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And then... me and my new geeky look!

Breathing down their neck

The new haircut



By the way, Forensic Heroes 2 is on crunchyroll too and it comes with subtitle!!!

I have agreed to give supplementary Mandarin classes for my nieces an hour each on Saturday and Sunday. We started the classes a couple of weeks ago and I have a feeling that the kids are starting to dread the weekly classes. It's hard not to, I will too if I'm them. The kids have tuition classes 5 times a week, thrice on weekdays. On some days, they get home past 7.30pm.

If I haven't been here, I would have thought that only kids in Singapore are enrolled in intensive supplementary classes by their parents. My nieces/ nephews back in Singapore are attending special weekend courses and mind you, they are still babbling toddlers. Aside from the usual music, art and dance classes, there are now art and speech therapy classes. My nieces here in Thailand, are picking up golf and are attending classes 3 times a week.

I don't remember myself as a kid having to attend classes like them. In fact, my parents never really bother to send us for enrichment classes. Sometimes, I wonder if I will unconsciously become a mum who breathes down my kids' neck too.

Thank God it's ... Friday!

Isn't his voice just cool.


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I'll be making a trip to the hairdresser's tomorrow cos I have found my inspiration!



It just keeps getting shorter and shorter.

Except for my planned visit to the hairdresser's, Mdm is up to nothing this weekend. I'll just hibernate at home or catch some hk drama. Forensic Heroes II is out and it's all over D-addict now. =)))

Alone on a saturday night

P's out attending some function with FIL. Mdm being mdm, is staying at home. Since this afternoon, I've been catching lotsa shows on Youtube and in the meantime, googling on new hairdos and blogging. Speaking of multi-tasking...



Mdm's current hairdo is kinda inspired by this look.



And I am getting bored. But then... I saw the tousled look!



So cute.

Meerrryy meerry Xmas!

Merry Xmas to all!

Tadahhh.

Tried jogging twice since it's arrival. It was good sweating out and all but the whole jogging thing is still a torture to me. Have to push myself real hard... and to date, I've not been able to reach my target distance yet. Sad or wat. Cut my hair on Sunday. Finally I've decided to leave my hair in the hands of the Thais!!! And surprisingly, I like my new hair! Wakhahaha. No post-rebonding flat hair and after 2 days of washing, it remains as before. =) Given this very satisfying result, I wonder if I'll be going back to Jeremy again.

Xmas here is as good as dead. We didnt do anything on Xmas but went out for dinner and drinks with P and his friends on Xmas eve. It wasnt really a party or anything. The regular Xmas songs were off and as usual, Thai pop songs ruled. We had a very very full dinner followed by a very very full supper. I was so super full that I puked when I got home. Have a plan to travel up north with his friends next month for a short trip. That aside, I'm looking forward to CNY. Going home is so wonderful but the thought of spending lotsa money for this trip sends shiver down my back. Airtix is expensive cos it's festive season and... angpao!!! ROOOOAAARR. I wonder if I'll be getting angpao from all the seniors

Some pics taken at the farm when we were there yesterday to fetch my MIL

Panorama

Run... RUN!

P and I had tried heading to the stadium cos I had wanted to continue my regimen as before. Since I'll be home in another 1.5 months time, I certainly do not want my aunts to comment on me regaining weight. Anywayz, I almost died after my first run. I could barely complete my first 2.4km, to think that I was doing 3.5km at least thrice a week before moving here. Guess fitting in the gown was certainly a huge motivation then. I think I had ballooned quite a bit since, no joke!!!

SIL is into exercising as well. Quite remarkable for her age and the volume of work she has (plus looking after the kids). Anyways, just 2 days ago she bought a treadmill!!! Cool or what man. The machine is arriving today! Wakhahaha. I'm so looking forward to it. I can get up, jog, shower, jog, eat, jog. Jog jog jog jog jog!!! Woohoo~ Will even dream of jogging today. Hopefully she will try out the machine TODAY so that I can use it after her. Midnight jogging... how does it sound? ^-^

My curls are straightening and I am contemplating if
1. I should opt for a hair cut here,
2. Wait till I get home and go to Jeremy.

Argghhh. Kinda getting tired of my long frizzy mane. I am thinking of reverting to rebonded hair and feel like doing it ASAP. Or a chic haircut. But what if the stupid hairdresser here gives a job that leave me with super straight and flat rebonded head? Or... damage my hair further by using pirated hair products?

Mdm Chong day-to-day

The result of our home rebonding kit:



Fixing P's car for the Nth time... his lao kork kork car keeps failing him. We were on our way to his friend's when his car broke down.



At his friend's. See that sleeping posture? Wakhahaha... cute or what man.


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A typical school day begins at 9am =)

0900 - 0930: Shower shower
0930 - 0945: Powder up and prepare
0945 - 1000: Transport myself to YMCA*
1000 - 1200: Sawatdee lessons
1200 - 1215: Transport myself back home
1215 - 1400: Laze, wait for P to get ready then go for lunch
1400 - 1730: Work work work**
1730 - 1830: Help nanny and sis to prepare dinner***
1830 - 1930: Makan
1930 - 2300: Leisure leisure****

And for a typical non-school day, just substitute that 2 hours with work.

*
Dont think I've mentioned it, but aku have been driving to school by myself for the past 2 months already ^^. P showed me the way a couple of times and then I was off by myself. I'm still familiarizing myself with the complex routes here given that there are lots and lots of on-going road works. For now, I know my way to Tesco Lotus, Carrefour and my favourite local supermarket, Rimping (though I've not really driven to these places by myself, except for the one time that I drove niece to Tesco to run some errands).

**
As for work, hmm... have mentioned to some that we are converting his place to a boutique hotel. Right now, the estimated number of rooms is 22 plus a nice tiny wing for ourselves. The plans are done and we will be passing them to the structural engineer while I'll con't to do some 3D works. Not really sure when we can proceed with this project though cos there is a proposal to widen the road right in front of his place and also to widen the Mae Ping river behind his house... so, we cant be really sure what we will be left with =(. And... unlike Sg, such proposals are usually very sketchy and according to P, may take years to be realised or eventually be disposed.

***
P's family dont usually cook so his sis would usually buy some takeaways from the market but nanny would concoct 1-2 dishes for the kids while I'll help out by preparing the ingredients. The Thais have incredibly small garlics and peeling them is extremely taxing. Nanny uses garlic alot and since peeling them had become my expertise, my hands are kindda stained with the smell of garlics. It's bad... very bad... I keep smelling garlic!! And it doesnt help that I hate that stinky smell. Something new:


I was introduced to this few days back... my god, soooo yummy!!! It's mango dipped in fish sauce and sugar. P said it's even better with some chilli.

3-4 times a week, P and I will settle dinner by ourselves, i.e to eat out/buy back/cook. Till now, I have attempted to cook the yummy lotus root soup, rather sucky bak kut teh soup, fry some bak choy (bland but edible), omelette, fried eggs, sichuan tofu and black bean paste with chicken (both with good reviews thanks to Lee Chum Kee).

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Leisure activities meaning strolling in hypermarkets/ supermarkets, watching DVDs, having drinks with his friends or playing games on our beloved Wii. If we are going to hypermarkets/ supermarkets, we'll usually do it before dinner to get some add-on dishes for dinner plus to rent DVDs for after dinner program.

And yup... that's about it. Guess it looks like what a pair of regular Singaporean couple would do. Tuesdays are movie days cos watching movies on tuesdays is darn cheap. 80 baht per person for regular seats, i.e. less than S$4. Sundays are for sleeping in late and squash. I hardly do any shopping here cos... hmm, dunno. I usually like shopping alone, gives me less pressure when browsing. LOL. Shopping in department stores here isnt that cheap either and I rather do it back in Sg.

Side-tracking, I'm completing my Thai level 2 this week! =)) My Thai is as good as my Bahasa now... wakhahaha. Kidding... it's way better than my Bahasa. =P
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I saw a rat in the toilet when I was getting in for a shower! !@#$%^&*

Deja vu

Back to Thailand. *Sigh* 10 days should be a rather long break but waking up today makes me feel like I'd never gone back home. It felt like a dream. Here I'm in this room AGAIN, typing in front of the com. Back to 2 eggs, a cup of coffee and my beloved Myvito biscuits.

I tried to recall what we'd done over the last 10 days in S'pore. Aside from my trip to grandma's at Malacca, bulk of the time was still spent in S'pore. Yet, we'd been to Orchard only ONCE, Vivo only ONCE and Westmall only ONCE! And, I failed to walk my dog and engage into long talks with MM. Hell... what had we been doing? I did manage to pop by Jeremy's to have my long awaited hairdo and got some new loots to prepare myself for the mild winter. Aside from that, we hadnt been doing enough and time never seems to be enough.

The product of Jeremy's:



We suffered city withdrawal sypmtoms yesterday and decided to gave ourselves a break (i.e. no work) while spending half the time sighing and missing city life. I always thought it is harder for me than for P cos this is his home and it would be easier for him since his friends and family are here. Maybe I've been too rigid-minded to disregard that having spent 9 years in Sydney, he had gotten used to the cosmopolitan way of life which was in his case, complemented with much freedom, less restriction and zero family intervention. Being in Singapore must have reminded him much of his life in Sydney. When I decided to get married and move here, I was given a choice and I made one. Maybe it was harder for him because he didnt have the chance to do so.

Pics of us back at home:






Shan and the rest popped by my place on sun and baby fox was here too. My folks were happily playing with him when Shan and WM asked if Plan B would have to come early since my folks seems pretty addicted. Few days before I left, my mum actually asked me to get Shan to bring Baby fox to our place when she's free. O..O. Taking this picture convinced me that Plan B really really has to be placed on hold. It's for the sake of the tiny life that's going to be in my hands.



P spent his birthday in Singapore. We had a simple meal and guess what, this Sichuan Hotpot was to him the best food he had ever tasted in Singapore. O..O. After dinner was a typical Chong birthday finale

















And some family day photos:











My parents had been trying to impart their cooking skills, getting me to cook some Chinese food here for both myself and P and my dad had been trying to coerce me to pick up cooking so that I can prepare meals for P. And so mummy packed me a bag of red dates, bak ku teh herbs and some other stuff for me to start poisoning my husband. I had prepared my first dosage yesterday and surprise surprise surprise... it actually tasted quite yummy!!! Haha! Me is proud of meself. I am starting to be a cook. And... we bought home a rebonding kit yesterday and I had my first test to being P's personal hairdresser. To perfect the job, we went hunting for a salon style straightener.




My reluctant customer:


Had been asked quite often about what I have been doing in Chiangmai and my answer is uber PC -- "helping my husband". Full-stop. Short and sweet. I guess to do justice to my life here, I should give a more detailed description of what I'd been doing. Next entry. =)