Amy | Europe

autumn is here

2009-11-04T10:54:00.001+01:00

The leaves have turned familiar shades of red, orange and yellow. The first time I have seen this here in Belgium and a sight I never knew I had missed while living in Singapore.

Outside, my neighbours have crawling leaves on the walls of their apartment buildings, these are all changing colours. Some leaves have fallen to the ground creating a monet of sorts.

There's a crisp bite, a light chill, when I open the windows or take a walk outside in my medium-length black coat. All these things make it easier to live here in Europe. It reminds me of home.

I never thought four seasons were so important to me. Now I know it is. There was something missing from the tropical climates of the southeast which could never be replaced. Air conditioning left my lungs unsatisfied, always wanting more. Something that cannot be created artificially.

Damp leaves, wet pavements, half empty branches gently waving in midair. All these emulsify into a special smell that my nose instantly recognises as autumn.

It smells just like this in New Zealand too.

Plugged back into the Matrix

2009-08-31T13:57:00.003+02:00

I haven't been without internet for a long period of time since... well 2005? It's been a new and strange experience not having the ability to connect to millions of other computers around the world in an instant and to do a 'search' on Google just because I found something interesting I wanted to look up.

There have been some advantages such as I needed to plan my time a lot better. Being without a constant connection encouraged me to really think about what I needed to do and when I can send my work across or check my emails. In a way, it made me more productive because I wasn't doing random things along the way - like write in my blog - to take up the precious time I had online. I took refuge at the internet lounge of the hotel connected to the serviced apartment.

The most annoying aspect was being out of touch with my business in Hungary, and also I couldn't read the news. Granted it was a weekend so there were no pressing issues to handle. If it was a weekday, I would have been livid with the serviced apartment people.

My alternative was to turn on the television and sit there listening to BBC 1 or 2 and CNN broadcast the news to me... I also watched a few films in French, which was great fun, but it made me realise that while I'm really fast at reading, I really suck at listening to French. Too many vowels for my brain! >.<

I am now digressing from my lunch to write this. But I'm seriously considering the positive productivity and health benefits of unplugging from the Matrix.

Days and nights...

2009-07-31T22:53:00.002+02:00

Days and nights are going by so quickly in this idyllic period of my life. It's the middle of summer, people are happy on the street soaking up the sun. I look forward to seeing Antoine after work. We go for dinner, meet friends, or just chill.

I work at home during the day, typing on my laptop, creating websites, writing content, doing some design work. I think about promoting SELTI, how to get our name out there to our target audience?

Time seems to roll by too quickly. I'm planning my next visit to Budapest again, my third visit in the last 5 months and before you know it, I'll be going somewhere else. Brussels is just here and now. At the of the year, I'll be somewhere else. Somewhere new.

Days and nights they pass by so quickly and before I know it, my friends and I wouldn't have seen each other for weeks and months, and eventually, years.

Still...I wouldn't have my days and nights any other way.

keeping in touch with New Zealand

2009-06-14T18:06:00.001+02:00

Recently, I have started to read New Zealand news again. I'm still pondering why I stopped reading New Zealand news while I was in Singapore; instead preferring international news or Singapore news.

Reflecting upon it now, there could have been a few explanations. Perhaps I was overwhelmed with the new culture and could not find the energy to keep up with my own? Living in Europe has suprisingly not given me a lot of culture shock (yet). Could it be because I have friends here that I knew from New Zealand? Could it be because I have more time? Could it be because the European lifestyle is quite similar to the New Zealand lifestyle?

While flipping through one of my farewell gifts - a small book on 'Singlish' - I realised that getting by in a culture completely different to mine required my full concentration. There were many things I didn't understand about Singapore culture - even though some people can live there and not feel "Asia" - I emersed myself, watched carefully and analysed the life of average Singaporeans. In order to make room for it all in my head, I had to limit my brain from processing anything that was not Singaporean or global in nature.

I wonder if I missed much... I'm busy catching up now.

Cherry hugs and chocolate kisses

2009-04-17T18:48:00.002+02:00

Got an email from my boss yesterday and today. Well one is my previous boss - I just bought her a box of chocolates to thank her for her generous hong pow that she gave me when I left for Brussels, the second is the boss I had when I left the firm. They're both very cool and great role models for me... in terms of professionalism and also learning how to live life to the fullest. I was so lucky to have two good bosses during my time at the firm.

And replying to another email from a friend I met in Singapore gave me some time to reflect on my times in Singapore and the experiences I'm having here in Brussels. In Singapore I had a hard time dealing with culture shock and the fact that I had to start everything from scratch, meeting new friends and getting to know how to work in a company.

But now that I'm here in Brussels and I have friends here, I have Antoine here and I have managed to find myself a new and challenging part-time job, I'm discussing business ideas with a long-time friend of mine... I feel whole again. I feel like I really need to keep in touch with the people that I love and not let my old relationships collect dust, like they did a little while I was in Singapore.

So I've renewed my promise to ensure everyone dear to me, who's given me guidance knows what's going on in my life!

No mood to write but have new discoveries

2009-04-15T15:21:00.002+02:00

I have a temporary writers mood block... so I started replying to emails and clicked on one of the curious gmail tag ads. It was called 'basic chocolate cake' www.101cookbook.com.

In 30 minutes time I had a mini adventure and discovered how to make a chocolate cake without sugar and white flour, who is Ginny Evans, a personal chef who specialises in food for special needs diets and a blog called Chocolate & Zucchini (two of my favourite foods).

It's amazing what you will find on the internet these days just by clicking from one blog to another website to another blog. I discovered a network of female chefs who have made it big and know how to promote themselves - they write cook books, they give private cooking classes and they know how to express themselves everyday to create a fan following.

Interesting concepts, great marketing. Things I now have time to explore and ponder.

Day Trip to Liege

2009-04-07T16:57:00.002+02:00

On a spur of the moment idea, Yasmine and I went to Liege for the day yesterday! We explored the city just like any other tourist but with no prior expectations at all and it turned out fantastically :D

Liege being a tiny little town didn't require too much walking and there were churches, a palace, squares and shopping districts as expected. And giant steps, tiny blind alleys and gothic architecture from the 12th century which was unexpected!!

Crazy day out there leaving at 9:30am - one hour train - arrive 11am in Liege, quick pitstop at the tourist office, make a short plan of our we will tackle the town and then we were off! At 4pm we almost made it for the 4:00pm train but just missed it... were back in Brussels by 5:30pm.

Great day, cheap travelling and great time with friends... Yasmine coming at all from Singapore was a bit random but it was nice to have a little piece of Singapore here in Europe to remind me of the good old times.. (they were that long ago!) just one month :)

Getting back into the groove

2009-03-29T14:40:00.001+02:00

Well it's been exactly 3 weeks since I landed here in Brussels, Belgium. And it feels like months. Frankly I haven't had a moment of boredom or laziness I feel... although I might feel that taking a 1 hour tv break is lazy, in actual fact I've managed to set up a few things for myself already and I shouldn't discount that!

Positivity :D

In 3 weeks I've managed to get in touch with all my friends here in Brussels and see them all at least once.

I've won a freelance assignment to write a destination guide for Brussels - any help would be much appreciated from Brussel-lites ;) I also finished the first section last week focusing on Travel to Brussels. I even know how to get here by ferry from 4 different ports of the UK!!!!

I've started researching and having meetings for the potential business expansion into Western Europe of SELTI International.

I've called home 3 times and spoken to brother, dad and mum separately so they know I'm safe and sound here...

Wahh not bad at all! :)

party tonight

2009-02-28T02:15:00.002+01:00

Time is 9:15am

I'm going to start early today because I have a party tonight at my place :) I hope it's going to be a lot of fun! I'm really excited!! I'm going out to buy more drinks in a little while and then start moving furniture around. Preparing for parties can be slightly hectic but a lot of fun!! I just love having everyone over and seeing people have fun :D

I know my place is difficult to find but it's got lots of space inside and outside and just perfect for house parties. House parties are great - people can chill and bring their own food and drinks. Wear normal clothes :)

The last bbq party we stayed up until 4am playing headbandz - the game where you put a card on your head and ask yes/no questions to get to the right answer. It taught the whole group that you need to be specific! Ahh the lessons we learn aye ;)

Well I hope this party goes well too. It's going to be a global potluck so people will be bringing food from different places around the world :D Hee it probably put off a few people who don't want to cook but it doesn't matter, we just buy pizza haha

So this will be the last time I host a house party in Singapore.. but I'm sure it'll be just as memorable as the last two.

Oh I yeah I just superglued my forefinger to some tissues but at least I managed to fix my broken stuff - the super glue really works.

Time is 9:20am

being into someone

2009-02-27T16:00:00.002+01:00

Time: 11:01pm

OK second note this time I'm going to talk about the movie I just watched tonight called "He's Just Not that into You" -- it started out just like the book and began with questioning the advice or perhaps 'lies' we've always come to know and tell each other, or maybe it's just to console each other when we are rejected by someone else. It ended in a very nice way with everyone beginning new chapters in their lives.

Kyoka and I spent dinner time talking about relationships and the movie as well and it really made me think about how much time and energy we invest into life's relationships... and how I feel it's a good thing.

I've been talking about relationships a lot these days, with my boss as well, and we've come to the conclusion that human beings are not built to be alone, we are social creatures, and if being happy means moving locations, moving careers or shifting your own mindset about certain beliefs...why not? At least even if you get your heartbroken in the end...if you don't give up you still have a better chance than someone who gave up.

Oh this goes back to the positive leadership talk again... it was mentioned that insurance salespeople who are more optimistic and more tenacious are more likely tou outsell less tenacious salespeople by 20-50% - probably because they are willing to improvise, change their styles and don't give up. It's not always about intelligence or good looks, it's simply believing that changing your own behaviour and habits will lead to you achieving your goals in life.

Time: 11:07pm oops bit over time ;) that's all right. It's more important to finish my thought.

positivity

2009-02-26T16:18:00.002+01:00

Time starts now... 11:18pm

I went to a Positive Leadership training today that lasted for 3 hours. It really took me back to the days when we were at conference with David Pollock - he was a really great speaker on positive psychology. So I knew that all this stuff was true and not bullshit - like some of the managers would think.

The difference was there was a general focus on becoming more positive and optimistic rather than only focusing on your strengths. This includes mirror neurons - these funky things in our brains that make us act the same as other's do (when you smile to someone, they smile back), and other scientific studies into positiveness.

So one of the take home exercises is to do an action that makes you more positive everyday. To make it a habit you have to do it 21 days in a row at the same time. My good and positive habit will be to journal for 5 minutes everyday. It has to be about something positive that has happened to me today.

Hopefully after 21 days I will be an expert optimist!! That's the goal :D Although I think I'm already quite an optimistic person to begin with, the speaker Shawn Achor said optimists can become expert optimists and super optimists. Just don't smile like a crazy person all the time ;)

Times up! 11:23pm -- wow I wrote a lot!

081011

2008-10-11T17:50:00.002+02:00

Point 1.
My head is still throbbing from a bump to the head, my knees are sore, I'm hungry and need a shower. I could've just described myself after a fight or something nasty like that. Well spectators at floorball may only see a whole lot of people running around aimlessly chasing a ball with no positions (except for the goal keep) and no rules.

That is floorball.

It was the same at intermediate school (junior high), it's the same now.

Point 2.
Yesterday I made my notes private on Facebook. Why? Because it is no longer private to me any more. Not that Nomadlife is any more private.

But if I'm willing to blog at all, isn't it just natural for people I don't know to read it? To find out about my thoughts on the world, on life, on love, on friendships...etc. If I had to hide my thoughts or keep them private, I might as well keep a private journal, not a live one.

So my thought of the day is: why do people have blogs if they don't want to be identified by it? Why do people write private thoughts and observations in a public arena? What need are we trying to satisfy?

Talent Attraction

2008-10-10T16:55:00.002+02:00

In the present days of "Talent Wars" companies are forever going on about how much they need to attract fresh blood, the best people who will stay and thrive in their companies. But I have to say some go about it in a funny way. Let me put it this way: if sales of products can go through the roof with good word-of-mouth advertising then it can be as easily undone with poor reviews.

If I ever own my own business one day, I really can't afford to be a bad manager because it would not only ruin my chances of maintaining current talent, I also won't be attacting any new ones, right. Why? Because I, for one, would not tell a friend to apply for any position at any company if I know they'll be working for a horrible manager or a team that will eat them alive.

I would be a crap friend.

big hole in a qantas plane...

2008-07-25T18:44:00.003+02:00

hmm I am going to be flying on one of those in a little over a week >.<

but on the upside, I don't have glandular fever!! hugs to Aine and Alan :) your well wishes protected me from such a nasty sounding virus.

I was down with fatigue after the trip to Kuching, guess my immune system is shot at the moment. Not too happy these days. Now I've caught a cold to go with my newly repaired but still sensitive tonsils...

let's hope the Qantas plane that I take on my way to Europe holds up better ;) even though the grammar in this post isn't holding up at all. bed time

What is fatigue?

2008-07-18T15:57:00.002+02:00

It's the feeling when all your muscles hurt, your limbs don't want to move and every movement you do make causes pain and small cries. It's the feeling when your eyes are trying to close, but you're trying to keep them open, dark circles begin to form. One minute you are chirpy and the next minute you feel like you passed your bedtime by 3 hours. This is all in the middle of the afternoon - 4pm.

Now it is 10pm and I've been trying to eat and stay awake so I can take my medication. Previous doctor gave me antibiotics but the second gave me sleeping pills...apparently it's a viral not a bacterial infection. I might have glandular fever. When I look it up, the nickname is 'kissing disease' but I haven't kissed anyone for 6 months...so I think it's cos I was sharing drinks. Not doing that any more.

It's probably time to go to sleep now... ahhh getting ready for bed will take another hour because doing anything takes time.

This sucks, But I still want to attend those birthday parties tomorrow night...so I'm going to get lots and lots of sleep just like the second doctor said. Interesting experience seeing doctors in Singapore. Cultural observations to follow later.

Being away from home

2008-07-04T16:06:00.002+02:00

Well after being away for so long, I met an Aussie today and we joked with good old sarcastic self-deprecating humour. The type I miss so much here where everyone is straight talking, honest and mean everything they say. Doesn't take a lot of guessing or wit to know what people mean. But it does take a little bit of the fun out of language.

I noticed that the Aussie girl hadn't changed much at all since going to HK but I have changed my style to fit in with the local flavour.

It makes me wonder, if I stay here for one more year, what would I become? Less of myself? Less of a Kiwi? Less Cantonese? More Singaporean? More of an international? A foreigner or a local?

Makes you wonder what identity is and how many you can take on in a lifetime. Or perhaps you just have one identity that is constantly changing.

Speak good Cantonese campaign

2008-06-14T19:35:00.002+02:00

Apparently my Cantonese is getting worse. Something I already started noticing when I first moved to Wellington because I kept forgetting words; but I never thought the tone of my speech had also changed that much. I guess with 3 years living away from home and having no Cantonese speakers around you, one would experience that effect. People used to say my tones sounded fine even though I couldn't use high-level vocabulary. It helped that I had debates with mum and dad at the dinner table every night but I never had formal schooling unless you count kindergarten.

But this never became an identity issue until I moved away from my home. After that I realised that speaking Chinese is more than just a way to communicate to my parents and grandparents but also a way of showing that I am still Chinese.

Here, speaking multiple dialects is a badge of honour and is an important part of who you are. An identity crisis I am now facing: most people wonder if I speak any other language at all because I speak English with a Kiwi accent. In NZ speaking perfect Kiwi accented English helped you fit in, here, I feel it actually makes some people uncomfortable - i.e. my hairdresser who felt a lot better when I started speaking Cantonese with him!

Unfortunately, he is one of the few people whom I have entire conversations in Cantonese with now apart from my mum - she calls once every 2 weeks - and I only see my hairdresser once every 3 months! Does my Cantonese sound so bad that no one wants to talk to me in case they start to sound like me? Why do I even care? Is this another form of culture shock?

Maybe I'll feel more at home when I'm in Europe? I am so 'ang mo' (foreign) sometimes anyway. So many questions. I should just be comfortable in my own skin? I dislike ambiguity?

But I just wish I had someone to speak Cantonese with (more than 2-3 sentences a day that is). Where do I find this person? Will I find them in Europe? Is this self-discovery? Questions!

On life.

2008-05-26T16:22:00.003+02:00

Someone once said:
"Life is a journey, not a destination"

Since life's final destination is death, one should definitely make the journey enjoyable, right? :D

One of those lessons to remember...

2008-05-15T16:17:00.001+02:00

I sometimes hear people say it's harder to find new friends as you get older. You really start appreciating the old ones that you have or had.

Over the last couple of weeks I've had some pretty nice moments and some not-so-nice ones. Nice moments: I was lucky enough to meet lots of new friends from all over the world in Singapore and on Sibu Island. I also met up with some old acquaintances who quickly became friends over the course of their trip in Singapore. And got to go online a lot more these days after work to catch up with Kiwis in New Zealand and Hungary! And honorary Kiwis in Belgium.

Not-so-nice moments: Finding myself quite betrayed by some old friends, their remarks, their gossip and their behaviour. Makes you wonder if they were worth keeping at all and if they really held you as a friend in their eyes.

So should I write about the good or the bad? Taking an example from Ryan an old friend of mine, I think I'll start with the bad and finish with the good.

Have you ever wondered why guys like to score points on their mates by listing out all the girls who have ever liked them or even looked at them? And then even girls who rejected them miraculously transform into their 'past lovers'? I have wondered... and I think it's because they're telling the story. Here's my guess.

This is to keep their girlfriends on their toes so they know that:
a) those other girls never had a chance
b) what they have is valuable to other girls too

Nice.

What happens to those girls who become known as the 'bitches' and 'boyfriend stealers' in the eyes of their girlfriends? Well it doesn't matter to them anyway because these other girls are in the past.

Everything is fine until the girls find out. And frankly, I'm pissed off.

I don't like being told that I was madly in love with a guy 5 years ago when in actual fact I immediately rejected him as soon as I got a closer look. In another case, I don't like finding out that people I thought were friends only saw me as some past girl who never mattered to them at all but their girlfriends should be jealous of if I ever showed up again.

I'm sorry but I don't think these are things that friends do.

So taking the good with the bad. I am willing to accept that there will be 'friends' out there who really don't deserve your time and energy to keep.

On a high note though - I'm loving my friends in Singapore :) and let's hope I don't get into 'love affairs' I'm not aware ever took place at all.

Lesson learnt huh.

Caught in the middle

2008-04-24T16:35:00.002+02:00

Mature beyond her years. Grace Wang is currently a celebrity. You may want to read this article to get some background and here it from her own voice.

Not many "victims" of incidents like this get the opportunity or have the courage to speak out. But the fact that she did shows that this is not a girl to be pushed around and good on her for standing up for what she believes in! And what does she believe in? Not China against rest of the world, not Tibetan independence but freedom for all and better understanding of cultures.

This girl learns languages in the hope of understanding more people and bridging the gap between people. She has learned there is no 'right' side in this argument, only lots of people who are not willing to quiet their own voices for just a moment to listen to what others have to say - even people who speak their language.

Lots to learn from this incident. And I've had some pretty intense conversations with Chinese people on this. In the past, I may have just taken the side of Tibet because we live in the 'free' world after all, but the more I interact with Chinese people, the more I've come to realise that neither side is 'right'. They see the whole situation in different ways. And simply jumping on the bandwagon without looking into the facts is what has conjured up these protests.

I am also beginning to realise what politics really is. Haha so much for taking politics 202 last year. This puts it all into perspective.

Personal or Professional?

2008-04-22T15:50:00.003+02:00

I've had a history of this...my impression of someone - even a very good friend - can change instantly if I have had a poor professional experience with them. My mental image and the memories I have of them automatically conjure up a bad taste in my mouth and all sorts of negative feelings.

I guess I've always had problems separating personal and professional... but is it wrong? I place a lot of value on professional integrity and competence... both leave a strong impression on me and lead me to truly respect people. I have a holistic way of seeing people and it gets difficult for me to separate their professional and personal selves. But why should I separate them when the two should go hand in hand, right? Your professional self is a reflection of who you are as a person... or so it should be... perhaps I am just idealistic.

Anyway, I don't like pointing out examples - sensitive to peoples feelings on the web. However seeing myself in past experiences, I do forgive and sometimes try hard to forget the bad taste. And always, I like to remember the lesson I learn from each encounter.

Attack of the Facebook invitations

2008-03-27T08:53:00.004+01:00

Do you ever feel like you are drowning? I do. I am drowning in a sea of Facebook invitations and requests. Over 200 of them.

Each day I think "tomorrow I'm going to clean up my invitations". Tomorrow never comes. And then more come. When I add more friends, more invitations come.

Because I think of other people's sanities, I refuse to invite friends to ANYTHING. But I guess others do not feel the same way... sigh.

Just like the bottomless pits of junk inboxes, I know even if I manage to delete away all my invitations this time, I will just get more and more and more the next time. This is a new form of SPAM.

So what is the solution? Either I warn my 350+ friends to stop sending me invitations or I start restricting my friends list. I don't want to do the latter so perhaps the former? But who would ever remember "Amy does not want invitations" when they are eagerly adding that brand new "Which friend is hotter" application? No one. So maybe I'll just let it be until the next social networking website comes along :) heeeeeee.

Comatose

2008-03-24T23:56:00.002+01:00

Ever feel like you've been in a coma and you've just woken up?

The world has changed around you but you've just been dreaming for months. The dream world was just the same as the real one except locked in time.

Sometimes, I feel like this.

Although people tell me when you're away from the country or person, it's just the opposite. They will not change but you will have. By the time you see each other again, it will be just the same as before but you would have experienced new things.

So in this case my dreams are changing me.

Indeed, everything will change even the slightest and it's like planets moving away from each other during their separate orbits. But will the planets ever meet again?

The Leap Years

2008-03-01T03:18:00.002+01:00

Happy Leap Year!

Okay that was yesterday. What special things did you do yesterday which you will never be able to do again on the same day for another four years?

Me? I went to see a local movie called "the Leap Years". It was romantic, starred Joan Chen and some other good looking actors... but erm kinda stopped there. For a local film, it didn't have a lot of locals and they spoke Cantonese rather than Mandarin/Hokkien mix. The movie was geared towards a wider audience - outside Singapore as well. Maybe that's why it didn't garner a lot of plaudits from locals (people laughed at the end of the movie...and reviews have not been raving). But I have to say I enjoyed the scenery... it was Singapore but in a very fuzzy, blurry cinematic light.

This is really bad I know, but I have started to relate almost all pieces of media I see to a social agenda by the government... hee. Some of the popular ones at the moment are 1) social development, get people having babies to increase the population 2) Speak Good English campaign!

So this was a good combination of both because most of the actors spoke with American accents and the movie definitely hinted that if you keep waiting and pursuing you will definitely find someone. If that fails, when a rich guy proposes to you, say Yes ;)

# Learning

2008-02-19T13:23:00.003+01:00

# There are many different ways of looking at life, we have to experience these “different ways” before we can truly understand why, what, when, how of another lifestyle...of another mindset (It is hard as hell!)

# It is easy to criticize an environment that is different to your own; it takes a lot more patience and open-mindedness to appreciate the good aspects (A lot of people choose to take the easy way.)

# Working in a MNO means you have to learn the systems and processes that keep such an organization in order. Many times, be prepared to wait for things to go through the right approvals before you can start (It can become frustrating.)