Someone Like You

I'm a hugeeeee Adele fan. I love her. I absolutely loved her first album, '19', and even used one of her songs 'Make You Feel My Love' in my wedding DVD. And now she has a new album, '21'.... (her age) and I can't wait to get this album!

The album only comes out in February next year, but there are 2 videos which are already available. I wanted to share with you this song called 'Someone Like You". Its amazing, I love it.. her voice is amazing..

Enjoy!

Exhausted

I am finally back home here in Melbourne. I arrived a week ago and since then I have been busy with many different things. First was trying to get up to speed with work. Then I was trying to catch up again with friends.. and also, my cousin from Malaysia came over to Melbourne for a holiday. My cousin stayed with us for a few nights, and we were busy organising dinners with the rest of the family here. I am slightly exhausted and have not really been feeling the best. I do not know what is wrong, but maybe I am just looking forward to some alone time.

On Saturday, one of our friends tied the knot at a beautiful reception place called the Ascot House. It was also the first wedding we have attended since our own. Despite the wet and cold weather, the wedding turned out quite lovely and I am very happy for the bride and groom.

Little Miss Bargain Hunter flew down to Melbourne for the wedding.

I did not end up going in to work today. Last night, just around dinner time, I had quite bad tummy cramps. I thought it would have gone away this morning, but it did not. Grumpy stayed home to "care" for me, while playing a new PS3 game that he bought. We went to see the doctor and I have to be a bit careful of what I eat the next couple of days. My mum insists I go on a detox program. Hmmm... what is a good one?

Second Time

I am currently in KL at the moment. I arrived about two weeks ago for work. We are at the second phase of our Australian project. Three more nights, and I fly back to Melbourne. I miss my hubby and my puppy so much.

On the other hand, its nice to see my parents again. They are thrilled to have me back home for the second time in such a short period of time. With this trip, I am much more familiar with my surroundings, the people and my work experiences.

I have the same accommodation arrangements as my previous trip. Staying at the hotel on weekdays, and then back with my parents on the weekend. I was even getting used to being spoiled (served) by the hotel staff, which is terrible, isn't it? I wake up each day at 6.30am, go downstairs for breakfast... I sit down at the table and they automatically bring me my usual cup of tea and whip up a delicious omelette each morning for me. When I finish work, I get picked up, I arrive at the hotel, they serve me drinks and nibbles... go back to the room, get fresh fruit delivered, plate of cookies, bottled water, room service, massive bed... okay I should stop. I am not a princess!

Tomorrow is my last day of work here in the KL office. It is actually Diwali.. and a public holiday in Malaysia. Happy Diwali!!!! I have a team of 6 Indians this time round, out of 13 people! One guy might argue that he isn't Indian, but Singh... *rolls eyes* Am I being ignorant by saying its all the same? hehe.. Imagine trying to remember 13 new names all at one go? And 6 of them with unique (and long) names? Its hard, trust me!

However, it is still business as usual, and we must go in to work regardless.

While business trips are interesting and challenging, both personally and professionally, as it takes you out of your comfort zone, the daily routine, etc... I must say that I find these business trips quite exhausting. I am feeling a bit lazy since I completed my part of the job on Tuesday. The three extra days here (yesterday, today and tomorrow) are for me to ensure that everyone is fine and to support the new Business Experts from Melbourne.

Okay, I am going to call it a night. Last working day here in KL.... hmmmm.. did I mention that my boss is thinking of sending me here again next year? >.<

KL work trip (Part 2)

This time round, I am so glad I made the effort to meet up with some old friends.

I met up with one of my closest friends in secondary school, Little Miss Kampung. She spent a few years of her life growing up in America and (I think) she completed Form 3,4 and 5 in Malaysia. She is such a funny character. She never wore a headscarf in school, but it was a decision she made in the recent years. Despite that, she is still the same person to me, and we spent hours talking about all those years we spent chatting our secondary school life away and getting caught by our teachers. We had dinner at Alamanda shopping centre. We ate at this steamboat restaurant, and I never thought I would say this, but it was quite good! Malay steamboat!

I also met up with some other friends from secondary school for dinner. We talked a lot about love, life and family. With one of the girls... when we were 14 years old, she lived in a small house in Subang, with her mum, dad, grandmother, aunt and three younger sisters. 14 years later, she still lives in the same house, with her mum, dad, grandmother, aunt and three younger sisters! OMG That is amazing!

Here is the new team which I had the pleasure to train in the KL office. Before I left from Melbourne, I looked at the name list and yeah.. whatever. It was only when they were all seated before me, I realised that we hired 9 girls and only 1 guy. In this picture, there are two BE's from the Melbourne office, both staying in KL until January 2011.

It was an interesting mix of people. Two were existing employees from other departments, two were fresh grads (one from Monash uni, another one studied in Canada for 5 years), the others were experienced, majority from our main Cyberjaya competitor, HSBC. One girl worked in Dublin for about 6 years, another one studied in Dublin Business School for a few years as well.

The girl hidden at the back, I have been telling my mum and friends that I have a real princess working in my team! Haha, okay she is not really a princess, but she is from the Kelantan (one of the Malaysian states) royal family, who was forced to marry a guy 11 years her senior, at the tender age of 19. Her husband was also from the royal family too. She gave birth to a son a year later, and then shortly after that, her husband passed away (due to cancer). OMG. My face changed and I said "Sorry to hear about that". She told me she is fine, because she did not really love him and that her little boy is now 5 years of age.

Along with the two BE's from Melbourne, we took the free shuttle from Shangri-la Putrajaya to Shangri-la KL one night. From Shangri-la KL on Jalan Sultan Ismail, we walked all the way to Jalan Alor. I was the self-appointed tour guide, and I have never been to Jalan Alor before in my life. LOL we got lost, of course... walking... but we finally made it there, after stopping random strangers numerous times, asking for directions.

We tried lok lok.

Of course I let my Aussie colleagues taste a durian! I paid Rm20 for this baby durian, which came with 4 little pieces. My parents never fail to remind me that I got cheated. Robbed blind by this durian man! FAIL!

Regardless of the expensive durian, I enjoyed my Jalan Alor experience very much! It was great!

One my last day in KL office, I was planning on taking the team out to lunch, and treat them to a nice meal. Instead, they tricked me and brought me downstairs to the cafeteria, where they were waiting for me with heaps of yummy food such as satay, noodles, cookies, fruits and even a delicious cake!

Such a lovely gesture from them. I felt bad because they paid for everything with their own money... oh dear. However, it made my entire KL trip feel like such a positive experience.

I thought that the lunch was more than enough, and then later, they presented me with a basket of fresh flowers and a framed picture to bring back to the Melbourne office. Speechless!

Finally, before checking out from the hotel, I was able to snap a photo of our 'Bas Pekerja'. It really did feel like one! Each morning, all of us staying at the hotel, would hop on the van. The driver would then drop us off, one by one, at the different offices in Cyberjaya. IBM, DHL, HP, Shell, BMW, HSBC, etc. At the end of the day, the van will pick us up again and take us back to the hotel. So much better than taking a crappy disgusting taxi.

Okay, bedtime. Good night!

Life as a panda

I thought I would share with you this video. It is absolutely hilarious!!

Aren't we all this Panda at some point of our lives?

KL work trip (part 1)

Upon my arrival in the airport in KL, I was so excited. It was the first time ever there was a limousine service waiting in the airport for me... organised by work. I secretly had my camera in hand, waiting to take a picture of the Indian man holding a sign with my name on it. When I stepped out the gates, much to my disappointment, my name was no where to be seen. Bastards. I knew this was going to happen. I made a phone call to the limousine company, and 20 minutes later, a guy approached me "Excuse me miss, are you Miss Ng?" ABOUT TIME! Anyway, the important thing was that at least a car turned up, and the driver carried all my bags and brought me back to my house in Subang Jaya. My parents were extremely happy to see me.

My 2nd day in KL, I meet up with my friends Mr Happy and his fiance. Both from Melbourne as well. Haha. It was a coincidence that they were in KL (on holidays) the same time as myself. I see them nearly every weekend in Melbourne! We went to Petaling Street in search of authentic chinese food! I love Petaling Street at night, the vibrant colours, the crowd, the heat, the desperate traders...

I cannot say that the food was all that great. It was quite overpriced and the taste was pretty average. But I still enjoyed the entire experience... I was such a tourist!

The Air Mata Kucing drink was an exception. It was very nice!

I told my friends I was not planning on going home until I took a picture with the Chinatown arch. They did not even know if it exists, but I was convinced we have it in Malaysia. There is one in Melbourne, one in Sydney, I have seen one in London. Surely we have one in Malaysia! And voila! We found it!

It was also Moon Cake festival, hence all the colourful lanterns.

After our Petaling Street night out, I went home, took a shower and was ready to go to bed. Then it dawned on me. SHIT I HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW.

During the weekdays for two weeks, I stayed at the Shangri-la hotel in Putrajaya. Here are some pictures of the hotel. It was a nice hotel, staff was friendly and the room was very comfortable.

A walk-in

The bathroom opens up, overlooking the bed.

I loved the bathroom. It was huge. Could easily fit a family of six. LOL

It was a very quiet hotel. Majority of hotel guests were people on business trips. Hardly anyone goes out to the hotel restaurants for dinner, opting for room service instead.

Its bedtime for me now. Will blog more tomorrow. Nite!

Home country

It has quite crazy over the past few weeks. I celebrated my birthday about four weeks ago! Yay Happy Birthday to me! Being 28 years old... is only 2 more years to reaching the big 3-0. Oh jeyyyysusss... I must admit my birthday celebration this year was pretty awesome. Will post up some pictures later.

After my birthday was over, Grumpy and I took on a little mini project at our home. We changed the carpets in our living room to floating timber, much to my dog's dismay. Pictures to follow soon. We are very pleased with the results.

And then, it was the week leading up to my trip back to KL for work. I had a very busy week at work, with more than a dozen meeting invites to attend, and heaps of preparation to do. We were briefed over and over.. and as I am the first person to kick start this project, meeting the new recruits we hired in KL for the first time, there were very high levels of expectation of me. So much pressure!

And... then I finally made it to KL. So here I am! Back in my home country for work.

How was it been so far? Its okay. Can't say its fantabulous, but its okay. Work is quite tiring. My mission this time is training 10 new starters about the main application system used in our department, and how we use it in Australia. I talk a lot about the Aussie business, Aussie blah blah blah blah blah but I am at heart a Malaysian :)

The KL office is growing at a very fast pace. The office is so sophisticated and my favourite part is the kitchen, as it comes with free drinks. Heaps of soft drinks. Hot drinks come from a machine, each floor has a few machines, fridges stacked with all kinds of drinks. Its great! I told Grumpy that there were no real tea bags or coffee in sight, no real sugar, nothing. It all comes from a machine! Voila!

I had the opportunity to meet a lot of senior people in the company, which does not mean much to me at all. However, I met one senior boss, head of something in the entire Asia Pacific region, and he is OMG-SO-GOOD-LOOKING! How can such a senior executive be that cute?! Plus, he's French, which makes it all so sexy. LOL Why is it that all the French people that I work with in Australia are unattractive? Maybe except for one, but he's left...

So during the weekdays (like today) I stay in the hotel. There is free shuttle to our office from our hotel. Then on the weekends, I go back and stay with my parents. Its nice to be with my family. I spent time with my grandfather (who is not well), my aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, in-laws etc.

Despite my busy trip, I do admit, I miss home.. I miss Melbourne! :(

I miss my hubbykins, I miss my puppy, I miss home! Is it weird? I'm back home yet I miss my other home! Why is this always the case? When I'm in Melbourne, I moan about how boring life is and how much I want to do something a wee bit more exciting. And when I actually get the opportunity, I can't wait to go back to my normal life with routine etc...