November 09-So from where I left off, I moved into a 3 bedroom HDB flat with Hui-En and her family: sister and soon-to-be bro-in-law plus her brother, total 5 people including me. Living with friends is still manageable, but living with a friend's family needs getting used to.
1: Have to get used to the family lifestyle and habits. Recycling was one of them, but I have to admit it's a very good habit.
2: Have to get used to sharing the toilet, especially so if it's not clean most of the time
3: Have to get used to leaving all the electrical appliances switched on, since back at home we switch everything off when it's not in use.
4: This was during the initial phase, the first two weeks after we moved in: Realizing that my food in the fridge is missing, which was resolved with labeled shelf in the fridge.
5: Have to get used to the "messiness" in and around the house. I have to say in terms of neatness, everyone has a different threshold of neatness. Mine is neat but not overly-neat. Not like those housewives who have very high expectations of cleanliness and neatness.
Hopefully with time, I can get used to their living style, although it won't be easy.
December 09-
Part 1)Had an early Birthday celebration at home this year. Mum bought me the whole Cheese Brownie Cake from Dessert's Bar.
Back in Singapore, went out for lunch with my aunt @ Swensen's and then dinner with Yiny and Zunny, my two juniors from Nat Choir. Yiny used to be my roommate for a few nights in Genting when I accompanied them for an International Choir Competition. Zunny is studying in Singapore and Yiny is here for a 1-month attachment. The two were acting weirdly and sticking very close to each other when we were on the escalators and walking aimlessly while looking for a place to eat at Ion Orchard. We settled for Watami and ordered 4 dishes. After that, we went to Marvelous Cream and shared a waffle ice-cream bowl and that's when they pull out the surprise. It WAS indeed a surprise coz I never realise Zunny was carrying a breadtalk plastic bag and they were sms-ing each other discreetly. Consider it a good job for fooling me ah..Then when I went back, there was something fishy going on as I know Hui-En will have something under her sleeves. Turns out she and Yiny were in contact, AGAIN via sms when we were about to reach home. Had green tea swiss roll as my cake heh..LOVES LOVES green tea. Thanks for making my day a great one.
Ion Christmas Tree
Part 2)This is usually the most exciting part of the year yet the most tiring one. Surprisingly this year it wasn't tiring but it was fun.
Although I only get to sing twice this year, it might be a blessing in disguise since we get to focus on doing our best for that particular show and get to spend more time mingling and catching up with the rest, and of course teasing a few of them in the midst. Perhaps I thought it might be my last year singing with the group (hopefully not), so I really appreciate the time spent singing with them. This time, things are much better and not so uptight and intense like last year. Everyone had a jolly good time up in the "mountains" right?
It started with the long long journey up to Cameron Highlands. Yee Mun was so nice to prepare us a "picnic breakfast" in the car: sandwiches (chicken and tuna) with nutrigen all packed in a cooler bag. And the jokes kept coming especially if you're in William's car. We kept laughing non-stop throughout the whole journey. And in case I forget to tease Will next year, he ate 3 sandwiches (6 slices of bread topped with chicken and lettuce), 1 nasi lemak which he ate in the rest area, and 1 McD coffee. Hahahaha.
After it seemed like forever, we finally reached our destination: Cameron Highlands Resort. For most of them, it was their 2nd trip up since they sang last year. Checked-in and had lunch. The room was typical for a 5-star resort, with a poster bed in the room.
Fish Pond
But I was quite shocked at how exorbitant the food prices were when I saw the lunch menu. RM48 for a spaghetti aglio olio? I can cook myself la haa. Decided to order something light yet special, something that I can't cook by myself. So I went for the Chicken, Mushroom and Leek pie. Boy, it was delicious, the gravy drizzled over the pie was yummy, and the sides: mashed was gooood, cauliflower cheese was OK.
The service was very slow and inefficient though. I'm thinking they only have one chef who is very very slow. They had forgotten one order and the desserts as well. Oh, the guys opted for desserts after their meal. No wonder they are guys. Foo can beat William with his lunch eats: Club Sandwich, His dessert to go with his 2 Espressos, plus an Orange Juice. And he was complaining about being hungry barely 4 hours after we had our hi-tea.
Speaking of hi-tea, we had our lunch at 2 plus and hi-tea at 5 plus, because the dinner menu wasn't available until after 6pm. So we indulged ourselves quite abit with the food haha. At RM55++ per pax, the hi-tea was OK. But it was my first time, so I'm still happy though. Again, they took like forever to serve the hi-tea. Bake some scones also take so long one ah? Make sandwiches also take 30 minutes ah??
We started with the scones, spread with jam and cream cheese?Yummy!!! And then moved up to the sandwiches (tuna and egg). Last but not least are my favourite: assorted selection of cakes. We had strawberry tart, choc pudding, fruit cake, choc cake, lemon cake. Can't remember what's the other one though. Not to forget the tea too. Mine's Lemon with Tangerine, which I barely drank, as usual.
Went to get dressed, make-up and hair. Wait wait and wait till 9 plus then only we got to sing "Joy, to the World" out in the cold. Adjourned to the lounge while the guests enjoy their first three courses. Took the opportunity to snap, snap and snap pictures. Think this year was the only year that we have alot of time to snap pictures while waiting to sing. I don't remember taking any pics last year. We only got to sing the remaining 4 songs at 10 plus, close to 11. Everyone did well, except me :D (Still depending immensely on Wai Kuan jie heee). And then snap, snap, snap again and was asked to sing another two songs. After that snap snap abit then changed and wait while the guys went down to "ying chou" the guests by singing with them. It was about 12 plus or 1 when we went out to look for food to fill our grumbling stomachs.
Yup that was the one and only night that I wished it would have been two, or more. When you have less opportunities to carol, you tend to appreciate that one and only one session.
Thought we could have stayed on much longer up there, but someone has to go to work so he "ruined" my plans to buy strawberries hahaha. Hopefully there's a next time. :D
Before we went off, we had our breakfast at the resort. No pictures though. The waiter/waitress will first serve fruit of your choice from the fruit platter. After that, they brought a basket of croissants, danish pastry and muffins, while waiting for our ala-carte breakfast order. Half ordered the Highlands Omelette (with aged french cheese, smoked salmon and chives) and the other two, including me ordered the two eggs any style. I ordered scrambled and soft-boil eggs to go with my sides which consist of: hash brown topped on a french toast, chipolata sausage wrapped with beef bacon and wild mushrooms. For the drinks, it was coffee/tea and orange/watermelon juice.
Yup, that sums up my christmas caroling for the year. Hopefully, if my jobs permits, I can come back and perform during the school holidays. After so many years, I have grew very attached to the group, and not singing once a year is very depressing in fact. Hopefully next year, when I'm back my mum can let me drive laaaa. In Malaysia, it's quite impossible if you don't drive, unlike in Singapore.
To end the year, will be going to Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi and Wuzhen as my end-of-the-year trip. Flying to Singapore the very next day once I return from China to process my temp employment pass. Looking forward to teach the kids.
Toodles for now. Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all!
PS: Pics that we snapped in Cameron Highlands will be up very soon. Stay tuned
Update: Here they are
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