Wow it has been a busy month, or so it seems! Christmas shopping to be done, keeping warm at home, wrapping of presents, meeting friends to exchange presents, keeping warm on the way to work, connect group Christmas dinners, keeping warm on the way to meet friends, and work Christmas parties! On a personal level, it's busy like crazy. I love it.
Work wise, it is quiet like anything. omg it's soooo nice! Everyone's in holiday mood... no one's really working!!! And Bel is loving it. I remember before coming over to London, colleagues back home always say "aiya London office is dead in December.. forget about asking them to do things... everyone's away... they are very relaxed" And now, geez I am actually part of that gang that they complained about..! hehe "eh what's wrong with that?"
Day 10. Tuesday I had my Bermonsey connect group dinner party at Richard's place. He and Phillipa, both being English, prepared a wonderful roast dinner for all of us. Roast turkey, yorkshire pudding, veg, sausages wrapped with bacon (they call it "pigs in blanket" - cute name). For my present exchange, I got a Jason Mraz CD - yay been wanting to get that CD for sometime actually :)
Day 9. Wednesday was our Global Emerging Markets Christmas Party.. it was okay but I was feeling very tired and a lot of people partied too hard last Tuesday so many left pretty early including me. Thursday was the finance Christmas Party. I was hoping to win the 1st prize which was a Wii but unfortunately... haiz. I missed that completely actually coz a lot of people just wanted to quickly get home in case the heavy snowfall stopped the trains from working.
Day 7. And today in office, we had our Secret Santa present exchange. I picked up Owen's name last week and goodness, my mind was a blank. I don't even speak much to him except for very serious work related matters and Gabby actually gave me a very good idea.... tada!! Guess what is it??
Haha it's a desk vacuum cleaner!! So cute rite.. the little tube thingy with 2 heads to interchange so it can clean out the crevices on your work desk! Actually when he opened it, he didn't look very impressed.. coz everyone said his Secret Santa must think he has a very dirty desk! haha oops! I thought it was a cute and original idea leh.
Guess who my Secret Santa is! haha none other than Kat herself! She can't keep any secrets this girl... when I asked who she picked, she couldn't stop giggling! And when she said she's going out during lunch to get the present, she said I couldn't come along.. Obvious hey, Miss Lee. I had 3 small presents - 1 chocolate, 1 packet of old school english sweets and *blush* a pair of red polka dotted undies!! hahaha... everyone was curious to know what we all got and when it came to my turn, I just showed the first 2 and Kat was like "oooh she hasn't shown her MAIN present!! C'mon Belinda!" Cheeky Miss Lee! tsk tsk.
Work wise, it is quiet like anything. omg it's soooo nice! Everyone's in holiday mood... no one's really working!!! And Bel is loving it. I remember before coming over to London, colleagues back home always say "aiya London office is dead in December.. forget about asking them to do things... everyone's away... they are very relaxed" And now, geez I am actually part of that gang that they complained about..! hehe "eh what's wrong with that?"
Day 10. Tuesday I had my Bermonsey connect group dinner party at Richard's place. He and Phillipa, both being English, prepared a wonderful roast dinner for all of us. Roast turkey, yorkshire pudding, veg, sausages wrapped with bacon (they call it "pigs in blanket" - cute name). For my present exchange, I got a Jason Mraz CD - yay been wanting to get that CD for sometime actually :)Day 9. Wednesday was our Global Emerging Markets Christmas Party.. it was okay but I was feeling very tired and a lot of people partied too hard last Tuesday so many left pretty early including me. Thursday was the finance Christmas Party. I was hoping to win the 1st prize which was a Wii but unfortunately... haiz. I missed that completely actually coz a lot of people just wanted to quickly get home in case the heavy snowfall stopped the trains from working.
Day 7. And today in office, we had our Secret Santa present exchange. I picked up Owen's name last week and goodness, my mind was a blank. I don't even speak much to him except for very serious work related matters and Gabby actually gave me a very good idea.... tada!! Guess what is it??
Haha it's a desk vacuum cleaner!! So cute rite.. the little tube thingy with 2 heads to interchange so it can clean out the crevices on your work desk! Actually when he opened it, he didn't look very impressed.. coz everyone said his Secret Santa must think he has a very dirty desk! haha oops! I thought it was a cute and original idea leh.
Guess who my Secret Santa is! haha none other than Kat herself! She can't keep any secrets this girl... when I asked who she picked, she couldn't stop giggling! And when she said she's going out during lunch to get the present, she said I couldn't come along.. Obvious hey, Miss Lee. I had 3 small presents - 1 chocolate, 1 packet of old school english sweets and *blush* a pair of red polka dotted undies!! hahaha... everyone was curious to know what we all got and when it came to my turn, I just showed the first 2 and Kat was like "oooh she hasn't shown her MAIN present!! C'mon Belinda!" Cheeky Miss Lee! tsk tsk.
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| My neighbours at work. I'm seated in between Bridget (left) and Kathryn (right) so you bet there's lots of girly talk between us |
A few random shots...
People crowding round to start the gift exchange; and here is Askar with his presents. 2 toy cars and an empty Tropicana box??! Whatever his Santa was thinking we have no idea. And they all came wrapped up in newspaper! Poor Askar, what a meanie Santa. And then he was going around asking people to reveal who is his Santa. I'm sure Santa ain't revealing himself.
and finally... a shot of my team! My manager's on leave and our intern has gone back to Australia so it's just 4 of us left.
I think we all work really well together; I couldn't have asked for a better team here. :)
Day 6. Saturday. Morning went over to Faith and Noel's place
to give them their present. Sweetie Faith knowing that I am in the baking mood actually gave me... pink silicon muffin tray and some standalone pink fairy cupcake moulds! How girly is that? YAY I finally have a muffin tray! After that I went down to Borough Market to get some freshly ground coffee powder to give Pris' father in law. Arranged to meet Alicia & hubby to give them their presents.
And then took the DLR to Jos' place. She was cooking prawn mee for lunch!!
Finally, went to Marketa's place in the afternoon. She invited me over to hang out and decorate her new massive Christmas tree and also watch a Christmas movie - our fav - The Holiday!! I bought some nice cakes from Paul and she cooked Thai Green curry for dinner.
see the bare tree before decoration till the end product; our dinner during the movie
Day 5. Sunday. Alicia and Quek wanted to get snow boots from Decathlon. Didn't know there are snow boots and apparently this particular pair is lined with fur inside (mmm nice) and it's warm and comfy. With thick shoe base for trudging in the snow. Hmm should I get it? Pris said it's snowing a lot now and it's -12deg now!!
Day 4 Honestly, even less motivation to work. So many people are out of office and I felt like I was in lala land. We had a nice team lunch at a Jap/Korean place and after lunch, Jos sent me a link of Kurt Geiger shoes sale! So bad of her lah... bad bad influence. I sent to the ladies around me and everyone was hooked on the website. And... and I ordered 2 pairs of shoes myself! :(
It snowed heavily in the afternoon (wheeee!) so happy. I've been thinking if I should get the snow boots for Germany and... I think I should. It's a necessity (yes it is) since the rest of my shoes do not have good friction to prevent slipping on snow, esp frozen ice on the ground. So, after purchasing it, I wore it immediately since I was almost slipping from the pair of boots I was in.
Day 3. Off to Stuttgart, Germany! The snow is causing transport chaos
everywhere. When I reached Stansted airport, I saw many people sitting and lying around looking very tired. Appeared that some flights were cancelled due to the weather and many were trying to get tickets to reach their destination. Luckily my German Wings flight was ok. The plane was supposed to depart at 8am and then it got delayed to 820am because they had to clear the runway of snow. And then we boarded the plane... and I fell asleep.
I woke up with a start at 930am wondering where I was and guess what? We were still at the same spot! I think some runways were closed and so we had to queue up to take off... I was supposed to reach at 930am in Stuttgart!
Poor Stephan had been waiting so long for me at the airport. Pris was at home preparing a super yummy lunch for me and 2 of her friends from Singapore. mmm... so nice to see both of them again and I can't believe one year has zoomed past like that!
Pris brought us to the Esslingen Medieval Christmas Market. Germany is well known for their Christmas markets and this particular one is nicer and more special from the rest because they have a medieval section where people dress up from the Middle Ages.
so pretty rite!
Day 2. Woke up to some snow in Pris' backyard! :))
Pris said today's the last day to shop during my time here in Stuttgart so heehee it was shopping day for us on the main street Konigstrasse. I love Pimkie, how I wish they have that in London man. Evening time, we went to the Stuttgart Christmas Market and since we spent so much money, I voted to have dinner at the Christmas Market itself hehe but it was so nice coz Stephan and Pris recommended us yummy stuff to get- pork fillet burger, bratwurst, currywurst, potato with apple sauce, some bun with hot vanilla sauce and cinnamon (sorry guys, forgot the names again!).. but trust me, it was so yummy. Only disappointment was that the crepe stalls were closed by the time we decided to have that to end our meal.
Day 1. We all know how rich and hearty tonight's main Christmas dinner meal will be and so thoughtful Pris suggested having a light lunch and so she made us clear tom yam soup to go with some steamed rice. We attended the special Christmas eve service at their church Gospel Forum in the afternoon (wow can't believe I'm here again - second church service in my life having the need of a translator haha) And of course, the long awaited, anticipated... racklett dinner on Christmas eve with their parents Anita, Werner and sister Sabrina! woohoo, time to tuck in!!
Look at the overflowing abundance of presents under the tree!
*rubbing hands gleefully*
People crowding round to start the gift exchange; and here is Askar with his presents. 2 toy cars and an empty Tropicana box??! Whatever his Santa was thinking we have no idea. And they all came wrapped up in newspaper! Poor Askar, what a meanie Santa. And then he was going around asking people to reveal who is his Santa. I'm sure Santa ain't revealing himself.
and finally... a shot of my team! My manager's on leave and our intern has gone back to Australia so it's just 4 of us left.
I think we all work really well together; I couldn't have asked for a better team here. :)Day 6. Saturday. Morning went over to Faith and Noel's place
to give them their present. Sweetie Faith knowing that I am in the baking mood actually gave me... pink silicon muffin tray and some standalone pink fairy cupcake moulds! How girly is that? YAY I finally have a muffin tray! After that I went down to Borough Market to get some freshly ground coffee powder to give Pris' father in law. Arranged to meet Alicia & hubby to give them their presents.And then took the DLR to Jos' place. She was cooking prawn mee for lunch!!
Finally, went to Marketa's place in the afternoon. She invited me over to hang out and decorate her new massive Christmas tree and also watch a Christmas movie - our fav - The Holiday!! I bought some nice cakes from Paul and she cooked Thai Green curry for dinner.
see the bare tree before decoration till the end product; our dinner during the movieDay 5. Sunday. Alicia and Quek wanted to get snow boots from Decathlon. Didn't know there are snow boots and apparently this particular pair is lined with fur inside (mmm nice) and it's warm and comfy. With thick shoe base for trudging in the snow. Hmm should I get it? Pris said it's snowing a lot now and it's -12deg now!!
Day 4 Honestly, even less motivation to work. So many people are out of office and I felt like I was in lala land. We had a nice team lunch at a Jap/Korean place and after lunch, Jos sent me a link of Kurt Geiger shoes sale! So bad of her lah... bad bad influence. I sent to the ladies around me and everyone was hooked on the website. And... and I ordered 2 pairs of shoes myself! :(
It snowed heavily in the afternoon (wheeee!) so happy. I've been thinking if I should get the snow boots for Germany and... I think I should. It's a necessity (yes it is) since the rest of my shoes do not have good friction to prevent slipping on snow, esp frozen ice on the ground. So, after purchasing it, I wore it immediately since I was almost slipping from the pair of boots I was in.
Day 3. Off to Stuttgart, Germany! The snow is causing transport chaos
everywhere. When I reached Stansted airport, I saw many people sitting and lying around looking very tired. Appeared that some flights were cancelled due to the weather and many were trying to get tickets to reach their destination. Luckily my German Wings flight was ok. The plane was supposed to depart at 8am and then it got delayed to 820am because they had to clear the runway of snow. And then we boarded the plane... and I fell asleep. I woke up with a start at 930am wondering where I was and guess what? We were still at the same spot! I think some runways were closed and so we had to queue up to take off... I was supposed to reach at 930am in Stuttgart!
Poor Stephan had been waiting so long for me at the airport. Pris was at home preparing a super yummy lunch for me and 2 of her friends from Singapore. mmm... so nice to see both of them again and I can't believe one year has zoomed past like that!Pris brought us to the Esslingen Medieval Christmas Market. Germany is well known for their Christmas markets and this particular one is nicer and more special from the rest because they have a medieval section where people dress up from the Middle Ages.
so pretty rite!Day 2. Woke up to some snow in Pris' backyard! :))
Pris said today's the last day to shop during my time here in Stuttgart so heehee it was shopping day for us on the main street Konigstrasse. I love Pimkie, how I wish they have that in London man. Evening time, we went to the Stuttgart Christmas Market and since we spent so much money, I voted to have dinner at the Christmas Market itself hehe but it was so nice coz Stephan and Pris recommended us yummy stuff to get- pork fillet burger, bratwurst, currywurst, potato with apple sauce, some bun with hot vanilla sauce and cinnamon (sorry guys, forgot the names again!).. but trust me, it was so yummy. Only disappointment was that the crepe stalls were closed by the time we decided to have that to end our meal.
Day 1. We all know how rich and hearty tonight's main Christmas dinner meal will be and so thoughtful Pris suggested having a light lunch and so she made us clear tom yam soup to go with some steamed rice. We attended the special Christmas eve service at their church Gospel Forum in the afternoon (wow can't believe I'm here again - second church service in my life having the need of a translator haha) And of course, the long awaited, anticipated... racklett dinner on Christmas eve with their parents Anita, Werner and sister Sabrina! woohoo, time to tuck in!!
Look at the overflowing abundance of presents under the tree!
*rubbing hands gleefully*
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