Weekend Update - Korea Ski Holidays

I feel terrible having to come back to work this morning...had too much fun with the family over the past 2 weekends...In the past 2 weeks, I have overplayed, overate and definitely over enjoyed myself. I am terribly late with my readings and discussion board contributions but I really don't care! It has been too much fun to think about study!

It was our very first ski holidays and the best thing about the whole trip was that we got to see snow falling from the sky the morning that we were leaving the ski resort. The children were ecstatic and didn't want to leave! It was the family's first time...

Didn't know skiing can be so difficult until I got myself all geared up and could hardly walk, let alone do all the body and limps coordination that the instructor taught me... D was totally eager and he learnt fast. After about an hour practising at the bottom of the slopes, we boldly went to take the lift up the beginners' slope and took our very first plunge... It was scary! It was fast and it was a real struggle coming down that slope. It took us all about half an hour or more to finally reach the bottom... D wanted to go up the lift again but the rest of the family was totally worn out couldn't wait to get out of their gear. I would really like to bring him up for a second round if I were a little more skilled...but...I was totally bruised. Maybe next time, my dear boy! When you are bigger and when I am fitter...I hopefully.

Other than the skiing, the next highlight of the trip was the ride on the T-Express, Korea's fastest and steepest roller coaster made out of wood entirely. According to the guide, the steepest slope was 70 degrees and the speed was 140km/h! And the worst thing about it was that the safety gadget for the ride was only a safety belt at the lap! I could feel my butt lifted away from the seat several times during the ride which was about 2 minutes? N screamed until she lost her voice and I was teary by the time I got out of the ride. That was the best roller coaster ride, ever!

After all the excitement at Everland, we were brought back to the city where we got hands on some ice-carving works. We were taught how to make a beer mug out of a block of ice and hubby was so sweet...he carved my initial on his beer mug! The 2 kids broke the handle of the beer mug, so they made wine glasses instead which looked more like trophies to me.

So, that's about all for our 5 days 4 nights trip to Korea. The rest of the trip was just about eating and shopping which I enjoyed very much too, of course. I am especially happy with the Korean skincare I bought. :D

Here are some of the photos of the trip:

N & D totally knocked out after a 3-hour midnight flight to Incheon...

At the war museum the morning after the flight...N & D firing away!

The Pheonix Ski Resort at night.

D rocking on fresh snow.

D making snow angel on the morning snow...

The snowy morning...so beautiful!

See the wooden roller coaster in the background?

The completed works of ice art...

December 2008 HK Disney Photos

The train that took us to Disneyland.

Mickey symbols inside the train.

Main Street

Our Lunch

Bubble-blowing Stitch! Cute!

The X'mas Parade starts...

1st came the band and a big Mickey balloon float.

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

Alice in Wonderland

Chip & Dale

The characters of Toy Story

The characters of Under The Sea

Finally Santa, Micky and Minnie came out to greet us!

Guess what? Mickey-shaped Pizza for dinner!

Highlight of the trip - The Disney Magical Fireworks!

The grand finale!

Weekend Update - Disneyland

Time passes too fast, the kids have been here for over 2 weeks now and they will be leaving for Singapore in the next 2 weeks' time...it's getting sad.

The first weekend, we went ice-skating and just this past weekend we went to Hong Kong Disneyland! It was our second trip to Hong Kong Disneyland in these 3 years and there are just a couple of added attractions that we didn't get to visit the last time. The verdict? Hong Kong Disneyland is still way too small...and there are still too many mainland Chinese tourists.

We had the same itinerary according to Hubby, which I couldn't remember except for the fact that I didn't really enjoyed it the first time. I still didn't enjoy it this time but I enjoyed the time spent with my children. I truly hope that they have enjoyed themselves and especially the precious time we spent together. D hated all the queuing up to get onto rides and getting our pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie. N was more tolerant of the waiting time and she obviously enjoyed her candy floss! It was in blue, her favourite colour! No wait, I think her favourite colour is not blue anymore or is it still? Anyway, the best part for me about the whole outing was getting all those crazy snapshots of them all!

Oh yah, in 3 days' time, we will be going for our very first family ski holiday in Korea! We will be going to Pheonix Park and I am very excited about it!

Even chickens are not spared...

Doom and gloom is getting into my company...it's not that the axe has fallen on us but we are told not to recruit for replacement staff. Whoever resigns will be let go happily and no replacement will be given. Individual departments will need to think of how to split up the job among the ones remaining and get on with it. No OT, no replacement and definitely no more new employments. *Sigh*

Honestly, I didn't feel too threatened about this economic crisis until my hubby told me that one of his ex-classmate working for Philips in Singapore has received the letter yesterday and then my boss in Japan called me. Being Japanese, he started the conversation with a sentence that went something like this: "I need to apologise to you about something..." I was stunned! I thought he was going to tell me that I have been chosen to receive the letter! Luckily, it was about the project that he had promised to let me handle which is going to be postponed for God knows when. I don't really mind that, I just want to keep my job. I guess at this time and moment, being able to keep my job is the ultimate priority for me now. All other things can wait...even the plan about moving back to Singapore to be with the kids. If I were to lose my job, my kids and I are going to suffer even more anyway.

The axe has fallen on the chickens in Hong Kong also. A chicken farm in Yuen Long was found to have bird flu and all their chickens were killed yesterday. Today, they are killing all the chickens in other chicken farms within 3km of it. I have a thought, why don't they just cook up all the chickens and send them out to Africa where the people are suffering from famine. The people there have nothing to eat and are dying anyway, why don't we just send them some cooked chickens and let them have a meal of their lives? Will the bird flu spread even when the chickens are all thoroughly cooked? I hope someone can answer my question. I just don't see why over here we are wasting all these food while people over in Africa has nothing to eat..

My business trip to Shanghai

I was away in Shanghai for a very short business trip...arrived in Shanghai on the 2nd December evening, went to office and warehouse the next morning for meeting and then off I went to the airport to catch the 1:20pm flight back to Hong Kong. Basically, I was taken from the airport to the hotel, then from the hotel to office and warehouse and finally back to airport all in the company's car. All I saw of Shanghai was my hotel and the 1 block of the street around the hotel where I went to get food for dinner. I was all alone and that was the problem...I didn't dare explore the streets too much. Anyway, it's my 3rd or 4th trip to Shanghai and it is really no big deal. It's just another big city with terrible pollution and traffic jam problems.

By the way, the hotel (Penta Hotel) that I stayed in was rather modern and chic, so I took some pictures of it. It was RMB538 per night inclusive of breakfast and free internet access.

View of the bed from the doorway

View of the TV from the bed

Another view of the room from the arm chair

My dinner bought at the food court near the hotel...Yummy!

2 down and 16 more to go!

I have just received my final score for my second subject on Managerial Economics. Final exams score 79 and overall score 85! *Phew~* Thank God! And thank you, hubby!

The day of the exams, which was just 4 days after my discharge from the hospital for viral infections, I was still very sick from taking the dosage of anti-biotic prescribed by the stupid doctor. The anti-biotic was so strong that it was not only killing the virus but also killing whatever good cells I had in me too, I think. I was so weak and in so much pain that I couldn't sit up for long. It was like every half an hour I sat up, I had to lay down for more than an hour to recuperate. Luckily for me, hubby helped and I am more than grateful with the final outcome! 2 down, both scoring 85 and above, what more can I ask for?

I will start my 3rd subject on Marketing Management on the 15th December and then the 4th in February 09, 5th in March 09, 6th in May 09, 7th in June 09...at this rate, I guess I will really need 3 full years to complete all 18 subjects. Unless I squeeze in 3 subjects at the same time? Hmm...