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| My last entry was 3 months ago. Have I been here that long?? Can't believe it!!! Time surely flies when you have a great time. I love my office and the people that I work with. They are just so much fun!! Never met a bunch like these people. My apartment is right in Brussels downtown... It's very close to Grand Place, Mannekin Pis, and all the bars...oh what the heck..it's 2-5 minutes walking distance.  Dressed up Mannekin Pis...
 Grand Place during Flower Carpet
 Grand Place at night
 Gallery St.Hubert (2 feet away from my apartment)
Belgian beers are off the chart....I've been drinking like a maniac....Beer fest was last week... Loved it!!! I just got my car!! Yeee....but...it's manual...it's been a while since I drove manual...but, I've been improving day by day..so..that's good..hauahuaha.... So people..do come visit me!!!! | | |
| Been here for few days...and i love every single minute here... | | |
| I went to my aunt's place last week and stayed over for one whole
week. My 2 little cousins were on spring break, so I tried to
make sure that they break was productive. I helped them do
homework and other played with them, helped them practiced piano, etc.
During my stay, there were few things that my cousins said that were quite memorable.
K, the older sister, doesn't like to eat. It takes her forever to
eat her dinner. She doesn't like things that normal kids like to
eat, cake, cookies, etc. And she doesn't like to eat birthday
cake which is pretty funny considering that she is invited to lots and
lots of birthday parties. Her 4 yr old sister S, on the other hand,
loves to eat. She is the kid who will eat everything that we
offer her. She loves cookeis, ice cream and all other kids food.
During one of the conversation at the dinner table, K said " I don't like to eat sweet things. So, when I go to birhtday parties, when they offer me cake, I will say No, thanks!"
S, who was also listening to the conversation, innocently and quickly
blurted out "And I will say Yes, Please!" Hearing this, all of
the adults on the table laughing our stomach out uncontrollably.
S, loves to make a lot of noise with her toys, let it be banging
things, or playing with her dolls. But, one thing that she loves
to play with me is Hide and Seek. When it's her turn to hide, she
will actually tell me where she is hiding. She would say
something like "I'll be hiding in the closet!" And, while I am still
pretending to be looking for her, I will start shouting things like "Is
S under the bed?" Naively, she will answer "No, I AM IN THE
CLOSET!" Another adorable thing about her is that whenever we
play hide and seek, sometimes she likes both she and I to hide with NO
ONE who will come to seek us. But, it seems she does enjoy my
company in that little closet.
K, is now 6years old. She is now already in Yr 1. And she
loves asking question!!!! I mean, not kidding...For whatever thing I
say, she will ask Why? and when I try to explain it to her, she will
Why me even further. Up to one point, it's just hard to explain
certain concept to kids her age.
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| Next week will be the May graduation Commencement. I can't
believe it!! I mean it seems like yesterday that I was just
packing to get ready to study in the US. And it seems like it was
just the day before when I was packing to go to Malaysia to
study. But, now here I am packing again to get ready for my expat
adventure to Belgium. Yes, I've probably been moving a lot my
whole life time. Lets see.. Indonesia to Malaysia back to
Indonesia then US and then now Belgium. Where will my next stop
be? I do love travelling and being an expat definitely has always
been my childhood dream. Never did I expect that it would ever
come true!
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| Do
you still remember what your answer was when being asked that question?
What do you want to be when you grow up? I am pretty sure that
most of us would start list down all careers that we ever heard
of at that infant age. Some of the list would definitely cover:
teacher, president, doctor. I asked the same question to my
little cousins, K, since she is already 6 yr old I guess she is a lot more
aware and does not realy blurt out weird answer, she said she wanted
to become a teacher. And when I asked S, the 4 yr old, she said
that she wanted to become a Monster..hauhauah... oh well, she is still
4 yrs old, so that makes sense.
I don't really remember what
my answer was when asked that question at those tender age. I
probably had said something ridiculous like monster and stuff.
But, as I grew older, my answer definitely took a better shape and more
sense. However, I think I still do ask myself again and again,
what do I actually want to be when I grow up? Although the
circumstances are completely different now, I am wondering whether I
fulfilled those childhood dreams that I once had.
My life experience has
definitely exposed me to different things that I had explored.
Lets see... I had a formal internship experience at EY and
BP. I was an auditor at EY and was in IT at BP. My activities in
school had exposed me to completely different things. I was an event
planner for Mr Ms Asia, was a leader for RHA. I was also a Math teacher
for almost 2 years. So, with all these experiences, what do I
actually want to be?
I am still asking that
question, and tons of different answers and different dreams will just
suddenly come to my mind. Working in the corporate world will
definitely give better money, better stability, better benefits and so
on so for. But, again, working in those corporate jungle, I am
only a tiny fish in a big huge sea. My contribution doesn't
really count a lot. So, what do I want to get out of life?
Make a huge contribution or just to live life as expected from
me. Do I want a stable life with good benefit and good money, or
do I want to do something that I like? I love planning events, I
love to be the one behind the stage, behind the curtains, the one that
is in control although I am not the star of the stage.
Whenever I watch shows like
fashion show, or parties, or anything like that, I believe some people
will imagine themselves to be the one on the stage, or the one that is
the life of the party, or the one who is getting married. Me, on
the other hand, I will pay attention to those details. How is the
show being done, how is the party being set up, how are the tables
being arranged, what kind of stage props they use, how do they do the
lighting or the music, or anything technicals. I sometimes even
day dream that I was asked to plan for Ms.Universe, or wedding plan, or
just a simple birthday party. And, I could actually plan out how
the tables will be arranged, or how will the stage being
decorated. Yeah...it all just came alive... But, I also
understand that my daydream can be realized, however, will it give me a
stable flow on income, will it give me a great corporate
benefits. Although, I know for one that it will give me
satisfaction when I see that the party is over, or when the show is a
successful one.
On the other hand, my
teaching experience has also given me a different kind of
satisfaction. I love teaching. Yeah.. I know my teaching
experience has never been in class teaching, but mostly just tutoring,
but I just really like it. I may not be that good at
explaining things, or I may have given a different approach to my
students, but it's a huge satisfaction when my students get to
understand the previously confusing question or concept. The best
praise I got was from this guy who said that he managed to pass that
math class because of me. So what if I really hate teaching that
guy, because he was just soooo dumb..so what if I spent my valuable
time teaching when I could study other stuff... the satisfaction of
knowing that I had helped someone is just a feeling that is
undescribeable.
I remember at one point of my life, I really wanted to own a hotel, or
own a book store. I still really want it till now.
Seriously, it will definitely combine every interest that I have.
My corporate experience, the extrepreneur interest, and the
creativity!! I can imagine how will my book store look like. It
will be cozy, I will provide those comfy corners where people will read
and can drink a cup of coffee. I will have children corners,
where there will be a reading together sessions. New book launch
will be something to be celebrated, a little party, etc , etc.
Or...this hotel that I own, will be that little getaway that people
have been looking for. Small enough for it to be cozy, but big
enough for you to move around. It will be a place where guests
will be treated like kings, and at the same time, guests will feel at
home.
But, I also know that to have a book store or a hotel, it's something
that is kind of out of the question. The huge capital involved to
set those up is a barrier!!!
So...what do I want to be
when I grow up, or should I say in the next 5 years? Do I want
still want to be in the corporate world? Or do I want to just retreat
myself from the corporate biz, and have my own event planning business,
or do I want to be teaching in a university ? The sad thing is,
my education has prepared me the best for the corporate jungle, while
it's only my experiences that have prepared me in the event planning
and teaching.
So..what do you want to be??? Do you think you have that dream job that you wanted to be at one point of your life?
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