Test Drive Part II

Today I went to test drive a Volvo V50 automatic Benzine.

Compare to BMW Series 3 Touring, Volvo V50 is indeed more spacious, less sporty which means more of me and MY car type. The seats were more comfortable, also more interior room, the car itself is quite age but it doens't affect the performance on the road.

Also volvo has a very subtle luxury, not boast of itself but providing the understatement comfort to its driver and passenger. I can definitely associate myself more with Volvo than BMW.

The only downside is I didn't try the diesel one and wonder if the experience would be very different. Anyway, I probably will try on a diesel one once I made up my mind.

Now one more to go, Volk Wagen Passat Station Wagon.

I Can Fly

Don't get me wrong, what I mean is I can fly a kite . Again, taking advantage of the Indian summer and the late start of the Sunday service today, we went to Scheveningen beach to kite. It’s a lovely morning; the beach was rather busy when we arrived.

Many people taking a relax stroll on the sandy beach, together with some people like us kiting and a few dogs and kids running around.

There isn’t much wind today but we still manage to fly the kite at the beach. It was a very relaxing morning with some running, picking up kite and setting it in position to fly. I also feel refreshed by the cool breeze from the sea.

We ended with simple Haring lunch before we return home and get ready to go to church.

An Indian Summer

The Lord has been blessing us with the extended summer. We called this Indian summer, which is usually a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. We went to Roemond yesterday. On our way home in the evening, we saw this beautiful skyline at Eindhoven junction. I couldn't help but took my camera and capture the moment.

Golf Clinic@Dorhout Mees

Today we have an almost full day team offsite meeting at Dorhout Mees, Biddinghuizen. We had been to this place for outing last year. We finished the formality of the meeting in the early afternoon, and at 3pm we started with the golf clinic. It was a pleasant afternoon, 19C, no wind and sunny. What a lovely afternoon for golf driving range. This is my first golfing experience, I struggled a bit from a start but then when I started to love it after awhile.

ANWB Traffic Free Day

Yesterday 9^th October 2008 is the Dutch ANWB Filevrijedag (Traffic Free Day). It is also a day where the traffic jam should be reduced on the roads.

I had an appointment at 8am, and therefore I left home at 6.55am (that was very early and unusual start) and caught in a stand still traffic as around 7.15am.

In the evening, I left the office at 7.00pm and still I encountered a standstill traffic congestion.

Final verdict: An unsuccessful traffic free day. Try harder next year.

Test Drive Part I

Finally, it is about time for a new lease car again. I work from home today so that I could use the lunch hour to test drive BMW.

My lease car will be expiring in January 2009, so it is time to start test drive and select another car. Today we test drive BMW series 318 diesel automatic.

My criteria are quite simple

1. Station Wagon
2. Automatic
3. Built-in Navigator system.
4. Preferably Emission Type label A
5. Fit within my monthly lease amount

One down, need to make time to try Volvo and VW Passat.

A Visit to the Ark of Noah

Yesterday (4^th October 2008) six of us in two cars visited the ark of Noah in Kampen. Kampen is a small little town located at the North East of the country.

The story begins with a Dutchman by the name o f Johan who had a dream about half of Holland was covered by the water. He then shared this dream with his wife and children and eventually following the path of Noah in building an ark. This ark that we visited is already very huge but it is just half a size of the ark built by Noah.

As we walked into the ark, I could see lots of animal replicas of the actual size. There are giraffes, elephants, lions, tigers, pigs, bears and many others of the actual size. Each of these are displayed in an individual cell.

There are also a lot of sections that tell the bible stories such as the Jacob’s well, Abraham’s tent, the tomb of Jesus and etc. There are also a few mini cineplex’s that showing cartoon such as Joseph – the prince of Egypt etc. Frankly speaking apart from the ark itself, the entire setting wasn’t really appeal to me as it is more interesting for little kids to explore and learn about the animals and the bible stories. However, the architecture of the ark itself is quite an interesting experience.

Sorbet Classique

Last night, I performed the “People’s Advocate” role on two of my “unhappy” female colleges over dinner at Seoul Korea Restaurant at Den Haag. After the dinner, we went to Dudok to sample the desserts. I conducted 3 annual reviews this week and with this ‘people’s advocate’ session, I am completed tired mentally and emotionally. That is why I absolutely deserved this glass of Sorbet Classique even after a chocolate truffle tart. What a way to celebrate weekends.

Terrific Autumn Traffic

1st October 2008 - AM - 18 km traffic congestion at A4. Result - 3 hours from door to door, extremely late for an appointment.

2nd October 2008 - PM - raining very heavily, leaves office at 7pm, 9 km traffic jam,. Result - 1 1/2 hour from door to door, even in the evening after the rush hour. Can you imagine that!!!!

Thank God that I am working from Den Haag tomorrow.

World Financial Crisis

Although the world financial Crisis has been going on for awhile, but near home, after ABN AMRO there is another crisis happening since last week. It seems that the entire financial eco-system is at risk, when one part is fixed, the other part is broken.

I was not really alarmed until Johannes suggested that I should open another account at the "R" bank to lower my risk as Fortis is at the brink of collapse and if that happens, my bank account at ABN will also be affected. The central bank will only compensate one not more than 20K Euro.

However, much to my surprise, opening a new bank account is equally difficult in this country. I couldn’t even secure an appointment to open bank account in the coming weeks.

Düsseldorf

This weekend is definitely the last summer weekend of the year. On Saturday (27th September 2008) we made a day trip excursion to Düsseldorf, Germany which is about 2 ½ hours drive from our home.

It was very hot and sunny, almost no cloud in the sky as you can see from the photos.

We arrived at Köningsallee (King's Alley in English), which is the famous shopping street of Düsseldorf that is comparable to New York Fifth Avenue. All the luxury fashion brands have a store here. Since I wasn’t in the mood of shopping, the stroll along Köningsallee wasn’t that interesting to me especially strolling among/against the crowds.

I was in search for the Rhine River bank and also some historical site, but Düsseldord appears to be a very new and modern city, not much of the historical architecture left.

The late afternoon by the Rhine River bank was great. Lots of crowds gathered at the bar, beer halls, terrace mostly drinking beers and watching football.

We also enjoyed our tea break at a Turkish like Cafe close by the river bank.

It was a pleasant day trip, the sunny weather basically sprinkled an additional atmosphere and excitement in the air.

Kiting

Our new kite

Johannes winding up

Me in action

Last Friday (26^th September 2008) late afternoon, we try kiting at Noord Aa again. This time instead of a simple one string kite, we got ourselves a two strings kite. It is indeed quite hard to fly a two strings kite especially when there isn’t enough wind. It was not until many attempts, I finally got a feel of it to maneuver a 2 strings kite with both hands and able to steering it to fly left or right. However, due to lack of wind, the kite didn’t stay up high long. It is a very refreshing hobby. We wanted to do it again this weekend, but can you imagine that there is almost no wind at all this weekend???

Gospel School Bus

Yesterday as I drove to my work, I noticed this kinky school bus in front of me. When I stopped at the traffic light, I saw the word “Jezus houdt van U” (means Jesus loves You) at the rear window of the school bus. It looks more like a party bus for rent but nevertheless, it reminded me of the proclamation for Jesus.

My Green Book

This is the continuation of the never ending Dutch Integration. To cut the long story short, today I went to TU Delft’s bookshop purchase my long hesitating Dutch Language book. I originally wanted to just borrow or buy a second hand version, but books that I managed to borrow are all out dated so finally I decided to buy it, it is not expensive anyway.

I arrived at TU Delft around lunch time; and so decided to check out the student cafeteria as well. Rush hour, packed of students, food was alright, not expensive. Some students hanging outside the library lunching or craving for fresh air as you can see from the photo.

Now, this is my green book ‘Groene Boek’ with 3 CDs. After the level test that I have done weeks ago, I can start from Elementary II, it will start on 27 October and if everything goes well, I should have my certificate hanging under my Christmas tree.

Mid-Autumn Feast

Poon Choy or Big Bowl Dish

Tonight we have the feast at my mum-in-law’s place. Mum prepared the traditional ‘Poon Choy’. The direct translation to English is ‘Big Bowl’ feast. Tonight, this is a simplified version made by layering prawn, crab, dried mushroom, fish balls, squid, smoke paling, dried oysters, pigskin, fried beancurd, green vegetables and Chinese radish.

Besides that, among others dishes we were also pampered with fried Crab Claw and fried oysters. See the photos below, but for your eyes only. :)

Fried Crab Claws

Fried Oysters

Mid-Autumn Festival

I know is old fashion, but for those who still observe this tradition, I wish you all a Happy Mid-Autumn and a blessed time together with the family.

祝大家中秋节快乐!!

Passport to the Sun - Valencia, Spain

We just came back from Valencia, Spain yesterday. We made a very last minute and impromptu journey to the sunny destination refusing to accept the fact that the Netherlands is embarking into a cooler prologue, another episode of winter is lying ahead. Valencia – the third largest city of Spain despite of lack in characteristic and great history, the city still have enough to offer.

An experience that bring us back to the future - the City of Arts and Sciences. A state of art and the largest cultural-educational complex in Europe. Strolling at the compound is a very futuristic experience with buildings and architectures that resemble spaceship and the future.

Journey through the Past – In the city center and the old town, there are still enough impressive architecture in a different era – Gothic, Moorish or Renaissance. The most impressive one is La Lonja (as seen below)

Mediterranean sea , the coast is just 2km away from the city of Valencia, which is perfect to combine sightseeing and sun worshipping. The September Sun in Valencia is still very hot and the sea water is equally warm which makes it a perfect combination for sun bathing in the late afternoon

For now, this is the general thoughts of Valencia. More photos and impressions to come....

The Shanghai Banquet

Last night we attended a wedding banquet of a friend of Johannes. I like the theme of the restaurant, very Shanghainese , very light and airily with high ceiling, with some special Chinese objects display. The Chinese characters have the font that dated all the way back to Qing dynasty.

The menu was alright, a few dishes really reminded me of Shanghai and others reminded me of my mum’s home cooked food. The wedding theme color is pink and black. There were live music played by the trio with piano, violin and viola. Most of the small little things such as the guest’s gift, menu card is carefully thought of.

We did enjoy our time and wishing all the best to this new couple as they start their lives together.

Over the Moon

I received a call from my career counselor on Friday 5^th Sept 2008 informing me about my Performance Rating for FY08 and salary increase for FY09. Our financial year starts in September. Finally in my 4 years with my employer, this is the first time I am banded with 3+ (under the normal circumstances.) In fact, I was just expecting a banding 3 because I kind of know how the performance process works after 4 years in the company. However, much to my surprise, I got a band 3+, which is of course a result that I welcome and am absolutely happy and over the moon. Especially when the performance is tied to the reward and bonus.

Expect the unexpected, especially when it is from the Lord!

My Greatest Purchase Ever

To buy or not to buy is the question, but I just bought a condominium in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah yesterday via my sister. It is called Alam Damai (松苑) which will only be ready by end of 2010. I have the peace in my heart and so I did it. These also secure our desire of moving back to Asia in the future.

Sleepless Night

I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I was more or less tossed and turned the whole night from dusk till dawn.

I suspected the cantaloupe melon but it could be the weather… Well, whatever… I hope I can sleep sound like baby tonight.