Back in full force

Just as yiou might have thought that my blog is dead, I'm back in full force, hopefully. Reason being after much hardship getting from foreign talent helpdesk team based in the Philppines, i finally managed to have itunes installed on my (new) company's notebook (I didn't have my pc since some donkey years ago. And with itunes, i can finally tap the 3G of my iphone what you call internet tethering.

To show my sincerity and determination in coming back to the bloggers' world, I have done the following:
1) changed the look of my blog site
2) bought a documentbag to transport this notebook between my home n office

3) last but not least, still typing away at this hour.

And a little stry about the useless IT helpdesk which makes us so helpless: less than 2 months at work, I already have at lease 6 tickets, some on different issues, some on the same ones cuz whatever couldn't be solved will be rolled over to yet another new ticket. For cases they can't handle on the spot, they will escalate them to the same levels but you still have to call the same bunch of fools for level 2. Don't ask me why.

I had the experience of a customer service office telling me that he couldn't solve my acrobat reader issue cuz he wasn't trained in that software n he kept trying the method i tried n didn't work, so i said they jolly well get someone IT savvy to man the helpdesk. And he hung up on me.

The irony is according to protocol, they always end the call with "Is there anything i can help you with"? No, they can't, cuz they are so useless.

That's all for now. Watch this space! Otherwise, you can find me on facebook.

Kochang school camp

Start of camp.

I just came back from a 2-day school camp in Kochang. We were supposed to be there to teach English, but the 90 over kids spoke little or no English, and we were only given 2 hours to teach them simple English, so I couldn’t share as much as I had wanted to, though some of the kids were really bright and keen to learn. And I admire very much the KS university students who drive 5 hours to the school every month to teach them English.

Kids learning in their exhibition halls.

The Wat Salak School is made up of 3 wooden buildings, and it sits right next to the village crematorium. The toilets were basic – no flush system but clean and well-maintained by the students. The students were well-mannered. They would show us to the toilet, thank us for scooping lunch for them. The dogs there were equally obedient and clean.

The icebreaking game on day 1 was fun – finding your shoe. The kids had a lot of initiatives in inviting to join them for the games while we were watching on. This little boy pointed to my shoes and dragged me into his group. It saddened us to see some of them in torn shoes and uniforms.

The English session was on day 1 which was followed by a visit to the mangrove forest. I have never been to one! The kids and us were invited to stuff our hands into a black box. In it was a clawless, big crab. Poor fellow had to be touched by strange hands every now and then.

My team mate Grape bending her way to get past the tree.

On day 2, the kids were supposed to draw out what they had learned the day before. While we were planning what to draw, this little boy came up to me to ask for the spelling of the words we had taught them and started practicing. He had a sketch of Doraemon in his notebook, so when I wrote “Doraemon” for him, he and his friends were excited to learn that word. (Given a chance, I would have taught him “McDull”).

This is one instance that I really wished I knew Thai. The entire camp was conducted in English so we replied heavily on our Thai colleagues to play interpreters. The volunteers were also nice people but I was playing ‘charades’ with them most of the times. I’ve added some of them on my facebook so hopefully, I get to know them better through pictures.

The best meal I had this trip!

End of camp.

Another interesting encounter this time was with our van driver. I totally admire him like how I admire our office uncle. This drive is really multi-talented! He could drive safely and continuously for 5 hours, without drinking or even visiting the toilet. When he was not driving, he would be helping to hang banners at the school while our activities were going on, carrying boxes and playing camera man. He made himself useful every other minute!

No such Japanese bun in Japan?

Had this for breakfast this morning. It comes in many flavours and I bought the Hokkaido cream one that my colleague recommended. It’s soft and not too sweet but I was expecting some cream since it says ‘Hokkaido cream’. It says on the packaging that the recipe and preservation method are from Japan so guess that means the brand itself cannot be found in Japan. Maybe I should buy some for my Japanese friend when I visit Japan!

2 for $2 at 7-11. Worth a try (but don’t just eat that for breakfast cuz I had it at 8 o’clock and was looking for food again at 9.

Falling for the Niagara Falls

After raving so much about the autumn foliage, how can I not talk about another wonderful work of nature – The Niagara Falls! They look equally magnificent in the day as at night! Hearing and seeing the gushing down of water gives you the adrenalin rush. The view from Toronto was much better than from New York as you can take in all 3 falls - It’s somewhat like a beautiful girl not being able to see how good she really looks (American Falls) and others can see it better (from Canada). Get the idea?

The maid of the mist ride is a must! The cruise will send you all the way into the falls to experience the mist and get close to the birds hovering over the falls. Of course they will give you a poncho to keep you dry but your camera definitely can’t escape unscathed.

There are many legends to the Niagara Falls. One of it is that a beautiful young Indian lady (aborigines) ran away from her village to avoid marrying someone she didn’t like. She plunged into the falls and was saved by the son of the water god (or something like that) and he made her the goddess of the falls.


Niagara at night, New York. Can only see it from the side. Side note: the pasta sold at food court was a little too soft.

Bird’s eye view of the Falls at Skylon Tower, Toronto.

I love autumn foliage!

I just can’t get enough of the autumn foliage! It was a touching and magnificent sight as our coach (with the lousy tour guide on board) drove past rows and rows of the beautiful trees. We took many videos of the scenery. Enjoy the photos, for even that of fallen leaves on grass is a perfect wallpaper!

Paradise Vacations: It drives you to "Paradise"

We joined a 5-day tour to Canada with Paradise Vacations – one of those run by Chinese immigrants. Quite but it includes no meals and admissions.

The driver was a careful and responsible one. The tour guide by the name of Jacky… can't say much cuz besides saying "Ok, everyone", Take a rest (on the coach)" and "toilet to your left" and "we'll reach in approximately XX minutes", he said nothing much. No info on the itinerary for that day, no background on the places we were visiting.

Some older folks said this was the worse tour ever and they couldn't sleep as much on the coach as Jacky had wanted them to. Jacky suggested we subscribed to the meals otherwise we could find NO food on our own and even if we did, it would cost us 3 times as much. And don’t we patronize the same restaurant as the group cuz we won’t be served as quickly.

He even chided an old couple for tipping him in Canadian dollars instead of USD cuz he had to change them back to USD.

I would do my own free & easy tour any time.

And look out for his little blue umbrella which doubled up as a guide flag.

Welcome to East Harlem

This is a story about East Harlem, New York and to be very specific, 105 St Lexington Ave. We stayed in a 4-bed dorm at Central Park Lexington apartment the 6-7 days we were in New York. Contrary to tales that it was a danger zone and crime hotspot, the non-whites a.k.a. the South Americans, blacks and Asians, are extremely friendly and helpful. We felt like one of them living in the little neighbourhood.

The adventure happened in the apartment which looks totally different from the photos on its website. When we checked in the first night, a black lady in her blue nightgown checked us in. she had her hand on her face all the time and didn’t seem very sober, so we though she as on drugs. It turned out that she had a bad toothache. Shortly after we checked in, we met her kids including a 10-month old baby – a black kitten. It was squatting outside the common toilet and hiding in the bathroom the first few nights. On the third night, a Turkish lady checked into our room. Appalled by the condition of the place, she checked out the next day. But and 6-ish the morning before se checked out, the black lady came knocking on every door (still in the same nightgown – we suspected it to be her uniform). She was looking for her baby under the bed and all over the room. I later saw the baby hiding beside the toilet bowl and informed her. She offered to buy me breakfast and was weeping.

We didn’t see her and her baby for the next few days.

We came back one day and accidentally closed the door loudly. The lady heard us and opened her bedroom door and greeted us. She then told us as a by the way thing, that her kitten had died. It swallowed a strand of the mop. We froze cuz we couldn’t believe what we heard (the mop on top of the death). She thought we didn’t understand what she said so she took out that very mop. My friend couldn’t hold her laughter and excused herself and ran up to the room.

It was a totally safe apartment in a safe area. I got all the good training in Little India. No bedbug problem that is bugging New York cuz the bunks are metallic and plastic sheets around the mattresses are still intact.

This was just one of the highlights of our trip. More to come.