9:26 st.patrick.green

we went to downtown chicago with limo in style, 3 limos and about 8 people in each limo. the weather is not very good, in fact drizzling the whole day.

some of us in the limo, it took almost an hour to arrive to the city

chicago river is indeed tinted in green

very green indeed as you can see from the photo above, i wonder how they do it

the st patrick's day element, green hat, it was raining so there is no point hanging around on the street, so a few of us decided to go to jazz club

we went to andy's jazz club, but there were a huge st patrick's day party going on, the club is packed with people in green attire, drinking bud light with green bottle, a lady was so drunk that she couldn't even walk straight anymore.

by the time we entered to the club the irish party is almost over and the club is in transition to a normal jazz club again, we had some finger food but even the bbq chicken wing is super sized, i never see such a huge chicken wing, it looks more like a turkey wing to me...

here is the movie clip that i recorded during the st patrick's party, irish music and live band was on the stage. but who is st patrick after all, why it is worth such a celebration? i know i can find the answer in the internet but i just never take the chance to find it out, it's not important after all...

9:26 finally.a.short.break

we finally "finished" all the preparation this morning. it's been a long working week since tuesday, each day is about 10 hours and now we just concluded the preparation and ready to go to chicago.

here is the group photo of the team, 28 of us from different nationalities but make up a super great team. happy weekend!

8:26 polaroid.zink

most of the things that i ordered from webshop already arrived, the first package i received is this polariod pogo zink printer that i received two days ago but no time to try it out until late last night...

like conventional polaroid camera that provide instant prints, this is a rather small and portable version that allows one print from laptop, handphone and camera directly. the print size is small but it really doesn't matter for the fun of it...

the packaging of polariod pogo zink printer

the polariod printer

trying out my first print from my cell phone

violla! don't expect great quality print, the quality is just at par with the normal polariod instant camera...

the good thing about this is ZINK (zero ink), so there is no cartridge but just some special zink paper needed and it can also be use as sticker...

now photo printing can be more fun!

my other packages also already arrived at the center, i just don't have time to pick them up yet due to the long schedule that I had every day, but i will pick them up today after the class and before we hit downtown chicago to catch the fun of st patrick's day parade...

chicago is gonna to be green today!

8:26 spirit.of.excellence

today we started with the teach back session and guess what, i am the BEST!! it is really hard to believe this. each team went up to present a teach back session and at the end there are critics and compliments. i am actually the only female in the section lead position and much to my surprise my presentation style also very well received not just by the fellow colleagues but our coaches and school lead, both gave me real compliments and no delta.

here are some photos of me in action....

looking at the screen

explaining something...

my scorecard

it was a surprise to everyone in the room because i haven't talk much during the preparation so far... and my social profile is amiable, there were quite a long comment from the teaching coach about me being an amiable yet presenting as like i have a driver/expressive social profile...

everyone get a score card with comments (good and bad) some had 2 pages of comments but i only had one page and they are all good points.

this really boost me up, but it is not by my might or by my own strength, but by the spirit of the Lord, if the Lord is in me, His spirit of excellence is also upon me, and that's how an (1) asian (2) female (3) non native english speaker surpassing the westerners...

tomorrow is saturday but i am not having a day off but we still have to continue preparation for half day. In the afternoon we will be heading to chicago again to join the st. patrick's day parade, a team outing and dinner together. some opt to stay in chicago but i will be heading back to st charles with a few others...

7:26 bright.and.beautiful

another long day...^_^, everyone is a bit tired already. today we are divided into the proper grouping of three, i am a section lead and together with me is another dutch guy and a irish guy from london. i am thankful that we do have quite a good team dynamics

this is our class room setting, more male and female (as usual)...

i went to target this evening as i am running out of a few things which i delibrately didn't bring to the states. browsing in target is quite an enjoyable experience and manage to find my stuff pretty fast...

these colorful jelly beans bright up my mood...

look at the different colors of jello, all things become bright and beautiful isn't it?

it's late now, need to do a bit of preparation for tomorrow teach back session and then zzzzz.

good night everyone!

6:26 life.in.st.charles

the outlook from my room, facing a rather quiet and tranquil green space

the hall way where my room is located, the center has the hotel standard

the view of the restaurant just from the hall way nearby to my room, here is where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served....

the fruits salad bar, i am really spoilt with the array of choices

i like the breakfast here as i can have the pick of my colorful fruits, this morning i had pineapple, strawberry, honey melon and green melon, they are sweet and healthy.

oat meal cooked with apple is another healthy conscious choice with a dash of nutmeg powder and dried cranberries

then the less healthy choice, but because i ate in the order of fruit plate, oat meal and then come to this, i actually only eaten the blueberry wrap and didn't touch the other two. sorry i know that is a waste of food, so i will take less tomorrow...

luckily i went to gym for at least 30 min each day right after the class. we literally sitting whole day from 8am to 6pm, thus a 30 min workout is essential especially looking at the food that were offer to us. so far i didn't touch sausage and beacon and other high fat and calories stuff yet, but i don't know how long can i resist this before i start eating them....

it is actually only second day of preparation but it feels like a long time already...

5:26 st.charles

the faculty started today at 8am, there are in total 28 of us joining as the faculty, preparing ourselves for next week. In fact, we were told that there will be 9 section rooms with 3 faculty in each room and total of 270 participants flying in for next week's course. Out of the 270; 90 are from UK, 80 from US and 40 alone from Spain, none from Asia Pacific.

the faculty material and hand-out

the preparation today was rather intense, must people couldn't concentrate due to jet lag, but I was fine since this is already my 5th day here....

I am blessed to have 2 colleagues that I know and get along very well also here for the faculty so we already had great time since last night...

I haven't got the opportunity to take photo of the center and the surrounding but will do so in the next few days.. for now this is the photo of the dinner that I had tonight.

it is a full board service training center, so breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided. the only challenge is to ensure that i don't over eat and need to have regular workout. tonight i had seafood paella for dinner, unfortunately the seasoning was so salty that I have to leave the plate untouched and opt for another something else.

the desserts are grand marnier cake and chocolate tart (share among 3 people), i only have a small spoon to taste both, the grand marnier cake looks great but the orange taste is artificial and the chocolate tart comes with mousse chocolate that is not solid at all. so a spoonful of both and that's all....

it's been a long day... and now i need to dive in to my bed

4:26 jazz.green.art

here are some new discoveries about chicago this trip in the aspect of jazz, color of green (seasonal) and art...

along the clark and state streets there are plenty of jazz establishments, no wonder chicago is famous for the blue jazz. here are just some of the few jazz rooms all within 500m radius...

i spotted an art outlet along south states street, the art supplies are so huge with wide range of selection. i spent quite a long time browsing through the water color section and even then the choices are unbelievable and the price is also very friendly compare to europe.

the city is decorated in green although st patrick's day is still about 2 weeks to come. it is actually an irish tradition and thus all the irish pubs are already decorated in green and some shops already selling anything that comes in green colors.

i wonder how st patrick's day will be celebrated here and i have the chance to witness this day in the coming period....

4:26 chicago.loop

it's grey today, this morning i woke up early again, i fall asleep while watching the oscar academy award and only woke up at 4am with the tv still switch on...

i roam early enough to catch the vibrant of the loop, just south of the river. the walk along the river was a bit chilly though...chicago river walk

the loop public transit cta and the crowd walking around in the office suits, quite an interesting time to enjoy the atmosphere of the loop and listen to the sound of the train passing by every few minutes....

the theatre, norah jones is coming to town but only on march 20...

then I walked to the millennium park again and spotted a few more public art nearby the crown fountain, these installations are from china

i almost has the cloud by myself...

the crown fountain at millennium park

just opposite the park is the chicago architecture center, there is an explanation of the city development, interesting for those archy people....

My last few hours in downtown chicago is well spent and i enjoyed the loop as much as the mag mile.

4:26 delicious.chicago

i found another cafe that specialized in breakfast/brunch that opens early aka 7am onwards. orange is not too far from my hotel and i was practically the one and only customer at that hour of the day...

orange - contemporary brunch with a peel, that's the slogan of the restaurant. i ordered the specialty which is orange scented coffee, and to my delight it actually tastes quite refreshing and the orange is not overpowering or artificial at all. the bonus is there is bottomless refill.... i also had a glass of apple celery ginger juice, freshly squeezed and healthy concotion. you order the juice by picking the choice of fruits from 3 steps and hand it to the waitress.

my current read... a good companion for a single diner...

the decoration is warm and bright, i decided to sit nearby to the window so that i can enjoy the traffic and passerby while enjoying my breakfast.the decoration is warm and bright, i decided to sit nearby to the window so that i can enjoy the traffic and passerby while enjoying my breakfast.

i ordered french toast kebobCoconut-infused french toast skewered with fresh strawberries and pineapples,topped with honey and served with coconut-mango salad.

again american size that are so big that i could never finish the whole plate by myself, this is really yummy and what an creative combination, love the mango coconut salad that is served slightly warm.... although m henry may be the best but orange is definitely not bad at all, the food is pleasing to the eyes and satisfying to the stomach.

i had my portion of walk and stroll around the loop area before i had my late lunch at the oyster bar just opposite the hotel, this is probably my last nice seafood before i head to st charles where i called home for three weeks.

the interior of the oyster bar, quite a cozy place to hang around...

i had 1/2 dozen oysters as starter and they are just so fresh, meaty and delicious...

then follow by a crab cake Caesar salad and the crab cake is really made of shredded crab meat, so sweet and juicy, the green is nice to complete my vegetables intake of the day. and on the courtesy of the house is a piece of key lime pie which i don't really fancy the crust is soggy and too sweet for me...

for now goodbye chicago, my limo is coming in 30 minutes and off i go.. i won't say this is the end of my holiday as this trip is never a vacation but a few days in chicago is a good overlay to fight the jet lag and enjoy every good things that the windy city could offer....