CNY buys

I'm heading home for CNY in less than a week's time!

To think that I was spending way too much here, I didn't want to buy any new clothes for CNY but.... I couldn't resist Taobao. Haha...

I bought:

• Red polo tee for the new year
• Yellow shorts
• Short sleeve Tee
• Grey cardigan

Altogether I spent a whopping....SGD50!!!! Taobao is so amazing I can't stop buying from there. I also bought a few stuff to stock up at home

• Muffin Cups
• Ramekins for baking souffles and molten chocolate cakes
• 2 kites
• A phone for my dad
• Cufflinks
• Many many titbits 

I gotta stock up whatever I can get on taobao to make the best of these 2 years, hee hee.

two six

How I spent my first birthday overseas:

Healthy hotpot for lunch

Went exploring the sculpture park and ate half priced cake at Black Magic Chocolate
CNY shopping and wanted to buy a pair of mustard pants, not unsure of how to mix and match

Had a mini pizza party and movie marathon. Watched 50/50 and some china comedy

Cake was from an online cake shop, 21cakes. Rum and Cheese. Mmmm Mmmmm.

It was a good celebration, no biggie for birthdays already. Not much of a birthday fan anyway. Hahaha.

2 company dinners

I didn't win the windows surface during Dnd despite my red boxers

I was so busy being the live director, controlling all the music, video, lights and screen that I didn't even have time to eat. But anyway it was a good one! 

I had another company dinner organised by other staff which was held in the office, a smaller scale but the food wasn't too good. Its also not properly organised maybe due to a lack of space. And i didn't win anything either. Oh wells.

DnD in Shanghai

I have been preparing for my company's DnD for the past few weeks and its the first event I am helping to organise in China.

My second DnD though, and its really different from my first back home.

I am certainly amazed by how efficient the locals are, considering we only started preparing 3 weeks before the annual dinner.

Like seriously, everything looks so last minute but they can produce it for you. But the thing is, you seriously need to check for mistakes because they don't care about mistakes they make.

So I'm wearing my bright red Spiderman boxers for the DnD tomorrow coz the first prize is a Windows Surface.

Hee hee!

half a year in China

Today marks my half-year stay in Shanghai!

Congratulations to me for surviving so well in China and my friends said that I'm more localised than them. Hahaha

Time is crazy fast! Its seems like 2 months ago since I came here, but in actual fact I think I stayed around 5 months because I went back for about a month.

Anyway I was told that I was going to be sent back to Singapore to work after 2 years so I began thinking of a list of things to stock up so that I will not regret not buying when I'm here. Cheap and necessary things like clothes, headphones, speakers, socks, ties etc.

I will really miss the freedom here. Staying in my own house, everything cheap and convenient from taobao, the food and the cheap gym, the cold weather etc.

Anyway my colleagues have been telling me that the coldest season will be during Chinese New Year so I was preparing for the coldest part but in actual fact it has already past and its getting warmer.
My heat-tech is still in its original package and I haven even started using the heat packs or winter socks. -_-

Lucky for me, I encountered snowfall in Shanghai several times.

Till next time, winter.

Xi An

The first snowfall in Shanghai happened on the last day of work, 29th December 2012, Saturday and it was actually my first heavy snowfall.

I went to Xi'an the next day and the plane was delayed because of the frosty roads. Xi'an is one of the must-go list in China because I wanted to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at least once in my life so this 4 day holiday presented itself perfectly.

I stayed in a hostel which was quite nice and cosy (except for the part when one Korean stranger told me to beware of bad guys in China and he is a bad guy after I gave him my namcard 0.0 and I was so afraid he was gonna kidnap me or something) and the staff were very helpful. No plans beforehand, I went out with an Irish lady I met on the first day, Terra Cotta warriors on the second day, climbed Hua Shan on the third day and visited the Shaanxi Museum on the forth before returning to Shanghai.

It was a nice cultural town, very touristy but very convenient because most of the economy depends on tourism. The government actually does a really good job taking care of tourist in Xi'an e.g. airport express buses, cheap official safe transport to attractions etc. Winter is the off-peak season so tickets were off-peak prices, saved me a lot of money.

One of the famous mutton dishes. Its all halal in Xi'an!

The City Wall

Big Goose Pagoda

The Halal Food Street

Its like attending a small China history lesson, learning about the Qin dynasty. The Terra Cotta pits that were exhibited were actually only small part of the guard post for Qinshihuang's tomb and the rest of the tomb is actually still intact, underground which is many times bigger than the pits we seen.

They said of mercury river which symbolises the seas and oceans and mechanical traps that protects the tomb. The tomb has actually very good feng shui, mountains and rivers, jade and gold (mining in the mountains), that's why he chose that place. There is also clay musicians, a zoo, acrobats, the other palace officials etc buried with him.

The famous kneeling archer

Pit no. 1

Yeah its crazy huge

So I went mountain climbing on the first day of the year

This part is crazy steep. You can't even see the bottom. I had to climb like climbing a ladder.

They named this Gold Monster but i think its really exquisite

Overall it was a really educational trip! One tick off my must-go list!

Looking back 2012

January & February
This marks the last semester in NTU and probably the last semester as a school student in my life. Although I had a rather flexible and relaxing 4-course timetable, i gotta work extensive hours in the lab just get results for my FYP.
Attended wedding of my longest friend, PX.
The start of resume dumping in mailboxes of many companies in hope for a good prospect after graduation.
A Malaysia family member passed away a few weeks after CNY. RIP.

March & April
Read the hunger games and watched the fantastic movie
Went to Bangkok for the first time in my life during recess week. Haha it was quite a good trip overall, a very cheap escape from Singapore.
Amidst the numerous job applications I applied for Mitsubishi Chemicals during the career fair and got 2 interviews with them, which was my first job interview. What surprised me was the fact that the position was in Tokyo for at least 5 years, so I didn't do quite well in the second one and got rejected. Oh wells, it could have been Japan.

May & June
Two life-changing months for every graduating student.
The end of exams and FYP. Everything adds up in your 4 years to become a piece of paper which determines your salary for the rest of your life. It wasn't dramatic at all, finishing exams all that, it came with a mixed emotion and a smile.
I scored an interview with a second company.
A last-minute chalet and BBQ one day right before my second interview with the company, which was a business presentation and I owned it. HA
Attended Lady Gaga's concert 2 times.
Graduation trip to Kland and Jland with the boys and it was one of the most enjoyable trips.
2 hours before the flight to Tokyo, got a job offer from the company and I have one day to decide.
Tokyo Disney Sea, sky tower, Akihabara, ramen and sushi etc. mmmmm
Accepted the Job and it was going to be another long graduation trip.

July & August
1 July I was notified that I have to start work in Shanghai in 1 weeks time, so all the rushed meet-up etc.
Started a totally new life in Shanghai, gonna be here for 2 years.
Settled everything including housing, internet, bank, phone, office etc before heading back for my convocation.
Just went in time to meet Michelle Phan and picture with her! WOOHOO!!!
Back in Shanghai, made a lot of friends and learnt a lot of local practice like Taobao etc. HA. A lot of epic moments.
Went to Hangzhou and Anji
Joined the gym and en route to fitness. hahaha

September and October
Hangzhou again for company outing
Inner Mongolia for the first public holiday in China (National day golden week) and its such a beautiful place.
Went back Singapore again to do my visa and work
Bought a new Asus laptop $1300 because my 4-year old HP died after 2 repairs. Very pleased with the new one.

November & December
Visited Xi-tang
Food and parties in Shanghai because of more visitors
More presents from Taobao.. haha
Spent my first winter Xmas in Shanghai with 2 Xmas parties
Solo trip to Xi'An for the New Year holidays and saw the very impressive Terra Cotta Warriors

2012: A life-changing year - the end of one chapter, a start of a career, start of a new life overseas.
I actually didn't see myself living this life a few years back. I eventually got my wish of working overseas with
a good career, but never I thought would be in China. The transition from student to working adult and Singapore to Shanghai was smoother than I thought.
I also set foot in planes and places more than any years in my life.

Here's to a better 2013! Progress and Advance!