abcedefg.blogspot.com is back in action
or maybe not
i re-read the entries here
and compared it to my recent entries there
the mood is different in general.
April 9, 2010
Not so great firewall of china
October 7, 2009FINALLY, i can log on to wordpress aft more than a month of hiatus. 😀 There is a better site proxy server to hide the IP address from China! muahahaha
There are so much to update everyone! Life is roller coaster here.
I shall do a quick update here before i go off for my massage. My body is aching after the inner mongolia trip. It was a great adventure and will blog about it in the next entry.
I had a huge argument with my housemates towards the end of August but all wells now. Looking back, it was totally unwarranted but it brought me even closer to the girls. My relation with issac will get better along the way i guess but it is never the same again.
Right now, I have happily settled down. Work is getting better; andrew is a good mentor.In mid sept, he brought us to guangzhou to see how he does business deals with the chinese. It was an eye-opener.
Semester in Fudan has also started for me. With school projects and an upcoming mid-term on top of my internship, it is gonna get real busy.
And and and,for the most important highlight, my family is coming over to vist me next week!!! Alex,germ, kel and jared are coming over in dec to celebrate my bday with me!!!
I LOVE WEEKENDS!
August 22, 2009Hangzhou is known to be the back garden of Shanghai. Nine of us took a train there and embarked on our first weekend trip out of Shanghai! The beautiful sceneries distracted us from our weariness and having a good massage at the end of day recharged us for the next day. I really enjoyed this trip as it allowed me to be away from the city landscape and in closer contact with nature. In a summary, we played with spring water, spent 2 hours in a beautiful garden which made us feel as though we were in holland, walked up a mini-hill and climbed the rocks with our bare feet! We stayed in a pretty cool hostel too that cost us a mere 25rmb for a night stay and provided us with the comfort and coziness that we needed. (more photos on facebook)
I was all psyched up for the week of work again albeit i wished i could stay in hangzhou longer. Work has been busy with two wine events in a row. However, the thing that is tiring me out is not so much how busy i can get at work but rather how confused i can be because of the ‘politics’ and from following orders from different superiors. It will be a very long story to explain over here. I dont even know the whole picture but I dont wish to know and get myself involved. This week was especially bad and certain issues affected me abit too much. Damien’s smses helped to keep me going along the way. I am particulary grateful that god always send my friends to be with me whenever i need. It is amazingly very timely just like how ac paul rang me up when i felt like talking to someone back in sg.
Anyhow, i was really glad for the weekend once again! Chunjia, yanning and i went down to the indoor sports hall to show our support for jiamein in her inter-company badminton competition. The locals were amused by our singapore style cheers esp the “We will rock you” version. We headed straight home after the competition and didnt leave the house since then. Our attempt to have a movie marathon failed terribly. hahaha. Chunjia and i were zonking in and out of dreamland while the other two ended up doing their own stuffs. Our two boys were out since last night and currently chilling somewhere. I am contented to be at home and recover from the horrid post work week!
ok, time to sleep. i need to wake up earlier and stop relying too much on cabbing down to church on sunday!
it will be a relaxing day and i am bringing my housemates to aunty jasmine’s place for a home-cooked singapore-style dinner!
WE ARE THE WONDERGIRLS!
August 4, 2009There is an upcoming national day dinner hosted by SSBA. I dont know what went through our minds that we decided to perform along with chunjia. I often find myself together with my house girls doing crazy things like this. As much as it is too late to back out, we are kind of enjoying our rehersals at home in front of our wide and long mirrors! I just hope we wont get cold feet on the actual day. By default, Issac and Yongsheng have to be our number 1 fans!
We will be taking on a noose cum mr brown’s nobody inspired performance. I am going to be an anchor woman reporting the news about the H1n1 cases in Shanghai. Chun Jia will be reporting ‘live’ from shanghai and doing the infamous ‘nobody’ dance with jiamein and yanning. I will be singing my own lyrics as they dance. Cos’ if you have known me long enough, i cant dance for nuts. My body movement co-ordination is probably one of the worst you ever seen.
No photos or videos will be posted. It is best to keep it all in Shanghai, or our reputations back home will be at stake.
When you wash your body wash your hands too X2
You don’t want get swine flu or someone pass to you
You better wash your body your body your body
H1N1
Is confirm no fun
Be careful of crowds
Don’t go coughing
If you have-tem perature
Maybe its fever
Don’t just take honey
This flu is not funny
Maybe its time to wear a mask
Maybe you have forgetten sars
Whatever the weather
Must use thermometer
Take your temperature before you leave
When you wash your body wash your hands too X2
Though the level is yellow
Don’t be a dirty fellow
You better wash your body your body your body
When you wash your body wash your hands too X2
Must wash before eating
Or germs will stick to you
Wash more than your body your body your body
Remember to use soap
Soap makes you smell good
Detto is the best
Kills away germs
Clean and smell good
You should use it
(the next 4 lines are dedicated to the shanghainese!)
And please no spitting
Spitting is so gross!!!!
Please do practice good hygiene!!!!
Or else you should be quarantined!!!!!!
Don’t be a spreader
We stay clean together
We stop the swine flu from its rampant spread
When you wash your body wash your hands too X2
If you think you are infected
Keep yourself at home
You better wash your body your body your body
When the downpour caught us offguard..
July 30, 2009The rain was very heavy in the afternoon. Drainage system in shanghai is not very good; there are mini floods everywhere.
Ailin and I could not make our way back to the office after our lunch until we finally found a kind soul who lent us her umbrella. However, it was too small for both of us to use without getting wet.
I decided to roll up my pants, cover my heels with plastic sheets(courtesy from a retail clothes shop), went back to office to get another umbrella and pick ailin back.
THIS IS SOMETHING I WILL NEVER DO BACK HOME. UNGLAM TO THE MAX! 0.0
A simple email that made my day! :)
July 29, 2009LOOK AT THIS!
From: Pamela Loo
Sent: 29 July 2009 11: 25AM
To: Charlene Tan
1 attachment
photo.jpg (87.8 KB),
Saw this at Gluttons Bay (near Esplanade) and totally burst out laughing!
So cool right!
Miss you leh Huat 🙂
and of course, i miss you too, HUAT!
Hold on tight!
July 27, 2009It is a challenge to live in Shanghai everyday; starting from the simplest challenge of squeezing up the bus and getting the shop owners to understand my chinese to the tough times when your values are being questioned. Awful things happened since friday night. I was really quite mentally unprepared for the unexpected and have seen the ‘true’ colours of people in a way.
Amazingly,i thought, my manager cum direct in-charge called me up last minute this morning to give me and ailin two days leave from work. I guess both of us really needed that two days off to rest and cool the tension between us. I spent my morning, feeling so happy about it and thinking that things will get better after this intial ‘teething stage’. I skyped my parents and firmin, called up shimin before i dozed off on the sofa. On average, i sleep 4-5 hours a day. It is damn tiring everyday. Hunter reminded us again on sunday that we are here not for exchange but to work. To me, the working world is really a scary place where no one cares if you are dead or alive.
Ailin’s phone call woke me up a while ago. She sounded anxious on the phone regarding our direct in-charge’s sudden resignation email in our mailbox. The main reason for our two days leave has been revealed. For now, my tension with her seems so trival as compared to this shocking news. It is also quite scary in a sense that we dont know what is going to happen to us next.
This is not an entry to let you know that things arent as rosy as i thought i wld be and that i may have been better off w/o gg to shanghai. If there is one thing to be really thankful for everyday, I thank god for my housemates especially my roomie! It feels like the 6 of us are starting a family together where we really care for one another. A home where there is genuine care and concern. This one year will be an experience that will mould me stronger so long as i keep my eyes on Christ.
Xujiahui Church/ St Ignatius Cathedral
July 22, 2009
This is the church which i think i would be attending mass every sunday. It is like the nicest church i have ever seen thus far.
Jared once shared with me that he always feel God’s presence the strongest whenever he is overseas. How true! i felt this inner peace in me after a long and tiring week. Amazingly, a spanish man befriended me after mass and it turned out that he is a businessman and is currently looking for shops to sell his spanish wine which he intends to import to shanghai! We exchanged our contacts for future possible dealings. Exploring around xujiahui alone after mass was quite exciting. but i didnt have to worry about getting lost as i was equipped with a live ‘GPS’ back at home- yongsheng!
It is my second week here. I am more or less settled down.
However, i think it will take me a while to learn the art of squeezing up the public bus to and fro work. The commuters can get pretty rough which i hate it. Standing for a total of 2 hours (to and fro work) with my heels on the bus can be good form of excercise.Maybe at the end of one year, i will come back with a pair of sexy and toned legs. HAHAHA
Quick update
July 16, 2009i am feeling a little down. perhaps partly due to the weariness accumulated over these few days.
Most things have gone pretty well and that we have amazingly found a beautiful apartment within the first day upon arrival. My housemates are a really bunch of fun-loving people to be with. However, my camera is currently not functioning properly since yesterday. i didnt close the cap of my new water bottle tight enough that it leaked and some amount of water went into the camera 😦 oh well, the thought of the hassle of getting it repaired in shanghai can be a little fustrating.
Shanghai is really packed with people. The streets are like 7 times more crowded than what you would find in singapore. -.-
Food here is good and cheap. Food sold in restauants/cafe have similar prices to the restaurants/cafe back home; just that it is in RMB instead of sing dollar. hahaha
I officially started work today. The local people in the companry are rather nice. There are tons of work to be done but i am not complaining. I think i might end up being busier than i am back in singapore. Nonetheless, i really hope to find time for myself alone. I really need it. Being surrounded by people ALL the time can be rather suffocating. My mood is slightly better now after locking myself in my bedroom to type out this entry.
Hearts on fire
July 11, 2009My time in css started and ended off with a ‘hearts on fire’ rally. I remembered vividly at the rally last jan when i was inspired to join css by the strong desire of those who are willing to be healed and continue to grow closer to God. Many fell in front of the blessed sacrament after being prayed over. It was a beautiful scene. This year was pretty much the same but with a special ending for me.
The sharings hit me quite abit. Cos’ just in the afternoon at the noc boot camp, our alumni made us feel really good about oursleves. He claimed that everyone who has completed this programme are all very successful and we are expected to carry on the good name. One of the sharings mentioned about the measure of success- the greatest success in life is to do God’s will and the greatest discovery in life is to discover God’s will. It is not about the accumulated weath or scaling the coporate ladders. How very true! Amen to that!
After the sharings, it was the veneration of the blessed sacrament and the pray over session. I was one of the ‘catchers’ again. I didnt really wanted to be prayed over cos i don think i am prepared. Plus,i enjoy being a catcher instead. One of the prayer warriors just randomly walked up to me, of all catchers around me, and invited me to be prayed over. I awkwardly obliged and offered up my fears and worries i have silently. Somehow,by the spirit prompting, they knew that one of my worries is that my housemates and i are still unable to find an apartment to stay!
“Pls help charlene to find a place” “A place that has love..a community….” I cant really remember as i fell back towards the floor, feeling really warm and at peace.
The first person i hugged after getting up and walking up the stairs to the upper floor of the auditorium was germ. My very first good friend made in css just so happened to be standing there. We stood side by side at the p&w session too like how we did last year at rally, at foc’08 and the retreat’08. Memories, good and bad, flooded back. But whatever it is, i thank god for our friendship. It is one of those friendships i made in css that i do treasure and remember.
While heading back home in Andre’s car (someone, whom i thought i would never be speaking to after our conflct at the lourdes event, agreed to alight me at the bus stop opp holy spirit), Bro Jude commented that i spent my last night with my friends. I beg to differ.
I spent the wonderful night with God. I felt Him during the prayover. I saw His presence in everyone at the rally.
Holy Darkness, Blessed Night, Heavens' answer hidden from our sight 
