Chinese lesson

If your student is keen in learning, will you reject him?
I think I will not.
Apparently, dear Ron has gotten an email from his instructor that he has to stop taking his Working Mandrin classes as he was not qualified because he has learned Chinese before. His attendance in class has intimidated his fellow classmates.( Huh???)But the thing was my hubba can't communicate properly in Chinese and hence he took up this class to brush up his conversational skills.( All thanks to his true blue AC days.I wonder if I will send my son to that school)
Last two weeks, he was so keen. Everyday, he will come back and practice his hanyu pinyin. Though I am amused by him, I am really happy to see that he is willing to brush up his mother tongue. He told me that he hated Mandarin classes last time and he couldn't believe in himself that he was so eager to learn now.Well, I said, "Is better late than never".
I just pray that god will give him one more chance to pick up his Chinese!!!He really need to brush up!!!!

The new kitchen chef

A new rule was being set in the RR Loft by BB. There can be only person in the kitchen at any time. Yes, he has enough of me nagging at him to keep the sink and the
area clean while he was cooking.So that day while he shooed me out of the kitchen and put on my "precious moment" apron (URGH), he finally made that declaration that he couldn't stand no more!!!!
THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE CHEF IN THE KITCHEN AT ONE TIME!




I want to give him the credit for being so keen in cooking and his improved culinary skills. He cooks better than me!!I do not mind passing the chef title to him at all!!

Kitchen Experiments

Lately, I have been quite a fanatic trying to whip up more decent dishes. The food blogs I went to just inspire me even more. While shopping in the supermarkets recently, I bought alot of new kitchen tools, yesterday was a Chinese chopper ( eventually!!)which cost us US20 bucks!!And i bought another muffin baking tray on top of the ones i bought two weeks ago.
Here are some pictures which I took of my new experiments:
Bacaon wrapped with Aparagus which i learned from one of my friends,Jasmine. I bought this as my potluck dish to a party and everyone found it delicious. Is easy to prepare and looks presentable.By the way, this is a picture taken before they were baked



Simple home cooked styled steamed tofu with asparagus and mushroom.Cheapo me use the left over asparagus from the leftover above and prepare this dish. I miss this kinda of simple dishes which is so healthy and reminded me of family's cooking.



Satay with lots of onions.Hahah, the satay is nice but I haven master my peanut sauce and kueh-tu -pat hence you can't see any. I am going to retry again. So as you can see, my satay dishes has some tomato-onion proudly presented by my BB.


I have also prepared my first bah-ku teh as well . It tastes pretty decent but I din take a shot.( coz it was too dark!!Someone , please teach me how to take nice pictures of food!)On top of that,My baking was a failure because i added too much butter and eggs. I am going to retry again this week.

A morning at Duke Chapel

I love this chapel that sits right in the center of the campus. Is my favourite escapade when i get sick of staying at home and just want to hang around the school to read a book. Yesterday was such a day but the cold drove me straight to the library where i was able to just lay on the comfortable couch, stretch my leg, have my virtual meeting and have a nice sandwich made by BB. I love the Perkins Library.

Charlotte and life of a mba wife

Over the weekend, we took a drive to Charlotte to visit dear MY and WT. Is marvelous to meet up with the couple once again as they have been great help to us during our first year in Durham. WT is in the second year then and has graduated to work in Charlotte right now.I can still remember how MY has send countless emails to me, advising me on the things i need to prepare myself as a wife of a MBA graduate even before i shifted to the states.

"You have to be very independent. They will be super busy attending all the SIPS,company functions and networking.They will have no time for you".That's what she said to me and i could still remember how many times i have to reiterate this to prepare myself."You can volunteer to keep yourself occupied. Is a different kind of joy you can derive from volunteering.Take care of your husband.Fetch him to school and prepare meals for him." MY said to me again. I wasn't sure if i am ready for that then, quitting my job and just do all these what most will rate as "mundane and low achievement" But 1.5 years ago, i guess love has blinded me then and, i decided to take up this great challenge to put everything on hold and be a support to BB.

If you have asked me now after several times of self doubt and low self esteem of not being an accomplished woman over this year, i will make the same decision again and say yes without hesitation.I could not explain why but I learn from God that i should not put my value of work as what other people perceived. Most importantly, i should seek what is right in god's eyes and he said to me" be a helper to your man". Of course,god taught me to be even more humble in my role as well, learning to take pride and joy in every little task that was being assigned to me during this period of time, in family and times when i get to volunteer.

I couldn't imagine myself going through all these without such godly advice back then.MY has been my role model as a "good mba international wife" all this while though I think i have yet to be up to her standard. She has been amazingly helpful and sincere. She is now pregnant with twins and i am terribly excited for her.I pray that god will give her a supernatural delivery and may the little ones be healthy and strong.

lakecrabtree trail

We decided to do more outdoors this time round back in NC.We kinda of miss that out last year due to the job search period. NC has really beautiful scenaries and great hiking trails and outdoor activities. So we have decided to hike every saturday. Last weekend was the Lakecrabtree trail which is just 15 min away from our place.It is quite a neat place but souless. I guess nobody is as crazy as us to hike in winter.But seriously, once you are back in countryside, you won't have as much entertainment as you have in the city. So i think is a great opportunity to get in touch with the nature and spend more quality time together.

Pocky Test

got this from little snooze but my one does not sound too good!!!I don't want to be a partner in crime!!

You Are Chocolat Orange Pocky

Your attitude: funky and flavorful Rich and deep - yet zingy and zesty You are the perfect partner in crime

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

Morocco- Marrakech and the Sahara Expedition

Morocco is the most exciting place I ever went. It is terrific and it marked the first country in North Africa which I went. Morroco is definitely my most perfect destination for travel!! We could have enjoyed the trip more but both of us were down with severe cold ( have not recovered from Czec) and hence our first day after 4 hours flight from London was spent in the Moroccan Hotel. On the second day, we plucked ourselves to get out into the streets and managed to just hang aroung and booked for our tour to the Sahara. Marrackesh has been the capital of Morocco , as well as for smaller countries up through history.One of the most interesting place was the Jamaa L-Fnaa Square where you get to see snake charmers, interesting water bag man and storytellers till the wee hours of the night .In the evening, the street stalls would begin to march in and enticed you with the sweet aroma of the Moroccan dishes.Of course, even though i was sick, i was pigging out in the street stalls ,drunk myself in the orange juice stalls and got energised when i started my shopping in the suuq. Super cheap!!!And I love all those gypsie styled dresses, bags,baskets,jewellery and slippers!! The true adventure really began the next day when we hopped on to our 4x4 minivan to begin our Sahara Expedition with four other couples.

From Marrakech to Ait Benhadou: Visit of the Kasbashs

It's going to take us 2 days to reach the desert but along the journey, we will be stopping to visit various sites. The first one is Ait Benhadou. It has one of the most exotic and best-preserved Kasbahs in the entire Atlas region since it has money powered into it as a result if of being used for scenes in as many as 20 films, notably " Laurence of Arabia" and more recently the" Gladiator.It is now under Unesco Protection. The winding mountainous road made us almost puke ( remember we were sick) but all were worthwhile as we were greeted by the beautiful Atlas Mountains .....

And getting to wind through little settlements in the desert which I think none of us will get used to staying in them. Amazing structures with packed hay, grass and cement.
The familiar scene you saw in the movies.....the preserved Kasbahs
You will see these little ones trying to earn some Dirhams by assisting you to cross some rivers and probably giving you some handmade crafts which you maybe fooled to pay.But they are harmless and in fact some are really adorable and just love to tag along by your side. Many times in my trip, I will get to see many small kids and adoloscents hanging around and I wonder if they ever receive some proper education.

This is such a common sight you will get to see in Morroco. I fell in love with the donkeys after this trip. They were simply one of the mildest, painstaking and industrious animals on this earth. Check out this .

We headed to Quarzazate for our lunch. Quarzazate is a pretty quiet and nondescipt place,it's especially noteable because it is the starting point of the excursions in the desert. It is also well-known for its Studios of Cinema and its large Kasbah Taourit ( The structure at the background in the photograph below)

Thereafter, we continue our journey and made our way to the Dades Valley which threads its course between the mountains of the high Atlas to the North and rugged Jbel Saghro range to the south.The biggest oasis and the line of the Kashbahs that give this route its nickname " Valley of thousand Kasbahs", begin just before the town of Skoura.Here, we spent our night in a hotel which got us frozen. Both Ronald and I couldn't even bother to bathe and wrapped ourselves in the thick blankets which hardly provided wamth.

The next day , we woke up . And after a Berber Breakfast meal, we began to trudge through the fertile palmeraies of the Draa which are crammed with date palms, olive and almond groves. Mid way, we were being led to a Kasbah where the Berbers stayed. None of us understood what's going on as the guide was not English speaking. Luckily, a Latino saved our day and began to explain us. As we followed the guide, we were unknowingly led to family which made carpets ( Basically they are the ones who sold to retailers in marrakech who charged exhorbitant rates for the carpets we saw)!!! And yes, all of us began to make eyes with each other to signal we have fallen into a tourist trap!!!!But nevertheless, we were all patient and waiting to see what the man is up to in his sleeves. Gosh, don't be fooled by these people , thinking they were some uneducated and uncivilised tribal people.They were excellent businessman. He spoke fluent English and he was " hospitable " and served us mint tea ( by the way, this is a tradition to receive guest). After that, he began rattling and we had a mini educational talk on the Berbers and the culture and values. We learned Berber language from him as well. So after the while, the true self revealed but yet he did it in such a way that we did not feel compelled to buy. And all of us agreed that his carpets were truely genuine, handmade, durable and nicely designed ( the carpets were only made by the females and each symbol on the carpet has some significance of blessing ,good health and stuff like that) Of course, we did not reveal our interest that we want to buy. While he was gone to bring us some carpets, we decided to devise a strategy - collective bargaining!!!Haha, yes the more the better bargaining power we had!!! And guess what , who was the best bargainer? Me? No way, i am bad at this. If i can reduce the price by 5 dollars , i will be in heaven. is my BABY!!! I am so proud of him. According to the rest of the group who could not stop praising him for his assertiveness and bargaining power after the whole experience, Baby eventually reduced the four carpets which we bought by 50 %. Well, I mean we bought one and the rest of them belonged to the other couples.One carpet expert in the group said we have paid a reasonable price for ours and it was definitely worthwhile. I felt comforted eventually coz i thought we have spent too much. Anyway, if you get to visit us and get to see the carpet, you will know how it was bought and the interesting journey behind it.:P

We also saw the cultivation of coucous ( Morrocan main dish ) and mint leaves which was served basically in most of our meals. Most of the time, we would also have tajines ( the name for a conical kinda cooking vessel and Morrocan recipes). The tajines were delicious but it can get quite boring after a while. They are also famous for their omelettes. Check out the spread we have during one of our lunch break below.

About 50km south of Erfoud is the tiny village of mergouga and nearby is the famous Erg Chebbi, it is a totally magical landscape which deserves much more than just a sunrise glimspe.And yes, we have eventually reached the highlight of our tour!!!This is part of the Sarhara desert where dunes themselves are fascinating,changing color from pink to gold toured at different times of the day. It is a great place to appreciate the immense, clear desert sky. Everybody was so exhilarated!!!

I could not tell you how beautiful the desert is. You got to really expereince it yourself. I wish I could spend a few more days in the desert and lived a nomadic life with the Berbers.The Sahara is vast,quiet and serene. A perfect romantic getaway for couples who wished to spend their time under the tent, gazing at the stars and if you are lucky, get to spot a lucky shooting star. Of course, not forgetting the fun camel riding which got us all amused. We spent about 1.5 hours riding to our campside,marvelling at the beautiful sunset. The camels are real adorable and yes very interesting. My camel kept throwing out white and gluish liquid. I asked my guide if he was sick and he said it was their saliva!!!I had lots of video clips of me mounting up the camels which was totally hilarious and would be uploaded soon.

There were really nothing much to do at the night. Since Baby was sick, I bravely went with the gals to climb the dunes in the dark. Gosh, that was tiring . The dunes were steep and each step we took, our feet sank deeply into the sand. Who knows if there were scorpians lurking around? ( but we heard there were more of them in winter)We practically couldn't bother much and just want to make it to the top to catch a glimspe of the view. And guess what, we finally made it but only to realise that over the other side were numerous sand dunes. We could not make it to another one and decided to do a ' sand slide ' down the dunes. And so, baby took a picture of me and Judy( the aussie babe) while we were having fun tumbling down the dune.heheh.

And so after this rigorous exercise, the group was worn out and we eventually brought out our thick blankets and wriggled ourselves around the campfire , enjoying the free music entertainment and story telling given by our guides. We were going to prepare ourselves for the moon-rise. ( yes , we get to see moonrise, sunrise and sunset). i wish i bought myself a more powerful camera but unfortunately my canon ixus couldn't really take the beautifully lited full moon rising from the horizon. The night was simply spectacular and unforgettable. i am so thankful that i got to spend it with my Babe. Truely, it reminded me how mighty the lord is. i marveled at his beautiful creation,thinking if this is exactly how the night looked like when Jesus is born.Somehow, i drifted into my dreamland. I guess Ron probably carried me back to the tent.And the only thing i could remember hearing was the faint "Berrrr" noises made by the camels who were sleeping just outside our tents.

Morocco is simply magical.:)

Czec Republic: 26th-31 December 2006

Well, just to back track to my Czec Republic trip during the last week of December.
It was pure fun and jolly. I visited my Czec friend, Slossy whom I met like 4 years ago in the states. He has kindly hosted us during our 5 days in Czec Republic.
As usual, he has never failed me as an ever so reliable and dependable guy. He got our itinery settled for us . Hence, we felt so relaxed during our whole trip- a good break from our Spain trip as our meals and acccomodation were all take care of.

With a local as our tour guide,we were lucky that we hardly get lost in our driving except the third day when we took a train out to Prague alone.Slossy knew his country's history very well and everyday he would flood us with endless information about each historical site we went to. I must say I have a better understanding of the European history, particularly the war history now.Ron who is an avid reader of war history knew quite a fair bit which allowed him to interact with Slossy more. Phew..so I just left the guyz talking and I quietly enjoyed the scenary throughout our tours.

The highlights of the trip mainly includes:
1) getting our lazy bums out in the mountains ( which we thorougly enjoyed as we experienced our first " Snow hike" together. We drove past the Germany border to do this!!!And of course, because we are Chinese, we spent more time than anybody else to clear the custom.Luckily, Slossy was super savvy enough to speak to the Germans in English and hence urghem...they decided to cut the hassle by speaking to us in English and let us go!!:))

2) Train rides with the locals which we enjoyed . We got to observe how countrylife was like. We heard so much about Prague. But I guess Czec Republic is more than just Prague. Away from this crowd attracting city, was a beautiful mountaineous landscape in the other parts of the country. More often, you will still get to see remnants of the 2nd world war and communistic era. Interestingly, these buildings, objects and way of life made Czec an attractive place to visit because there are so much culture and history to learn. There were tons of castles which we unfortunately could not get to go in as they were closed during Winter. Dear ron was disappointed.

3) But nevertheless, he was pleased ultimately by the widespread of Czec crusines which we got to try. We bugged Slossy to bring us to places where the locals go. So we got to taste all kinds of Czec food- Christmas Dinner with carp(prepared by sloss),the dumplings ( Not at all like our jiao zi or bah zang) ,goulaus, the sweet and sour red cabbage dish,the plum wine and Czec beer. Sweet Marcela ( Slossy's gf) prepared several homecooked dishes for us as well. This woman amazed me !!I told Slossy to marry her. She can bake and do handicraft very well. She can literally start her own shop!!!I love her personality. Even though she was down with cold, she was still so hospitable!!!Oh yah, did I not tell you that we went to this cool restaurant in Prague where Napolean was there!!!Cool place with long tables held out in true European beerhall style and lively music from the musicians playing the accordians.Of course, the menu was traditional Czec food which filled us to the brim!

4) Spa biscuits and Spa town-Karlovy vary!!!. Totally fascinated by the spa town. I do not know why it is called spa town but I guess there were lots of hot springs in these areas. I bought this cute little flask which I could use to store the spring water as we hopped from one Spring to another. The water from these springs were believed to have medicinal value and proven beneficial to health. Many rich Russians simply flew in to receive treatment for various diseases and hence you could probably meet more Russians than Czecs in this place. Ron chickened out and did not dare to try the spring water . Slossy and I were happily slurping the warm spring water. Though it has a sulphuric ,runny taste of a rotten egg, I must say I pretty enjoy it. I guess i am just too caught up in the belief that these spring water will make you more radiant and pretty !! Asides from this experience, I saw a few places which were shot in Casino Royale!!!Remember my Daniel Craig!!!!Gosh, in the movie, those places were supposed to be in Montgomery!!

5) Czec movies on Slossy's desktop!!Guess what??Ron and I got hooked and we asked for more!!According to Slossy, most Czec films were mainly based on war or the communistic era ,if not some famous people. It is hard to get funding to produce a movie.

5) And of course, let's not forget the post christmas sale shopping in Prague. I bought myself a pair of boots and a Zara overcoat.The beautiful Charles Bridge, the Prague castle, the clock, the Jewish Synagague,the old and new town and etc... Prague truely lives up to its name.

Thanks Slossy and Marcela for being such great hosts!Ron and I really enjoyed our stay and we hope we can be as hospitable as you guyz when both of you visited us in Singapore or the States.

p/s: Unfortunately, i seemed to have misplaced the disc which Slossy has kindly burned our travel pictures in Czec. They will be uploaded soon!!

I am back!

It has been such a crazy start for the new year. After arriving back in the states since a week ago, we have been busy moving in to the apartment, got everything moved in , did all our necessary groceries which amounted to quite a shocking sum and started to get used to the life back in North Carolina.

I have been busy tutoring a high school girl who was desperately in need of help for precalculus since I came back last week. Though I have told myself I would never want to touch Math again , it seemed like I could not escape what I was being trained to do in my academic career and hence for just two sessions, I have earned myself a hundred and fifty bucks to do my groceries.hehe.Extra income.

Anyway, I apologised for my MIA. Lots of people have been wondering what I have been up to and I just could not get myself in front of the laptop with tons of things awaiting to be cleared and so here I am back in action, trying to back track my logs which I found it so difficult to do.

In addition, I have been busy calling people and chat with my new acct set up at vopibuster which allowed me to call landlines in Singapore for free. And not forgetting, now that we started subscribing Netflix, the night time was usually unwinded with one of our favourite movies.

Well , there are so many things to do now especially I made a resolution to be in the kitchen more often. And indeed I am , i started learning how to bake cookies and cook dishes which we could not find over here. So be prepared for more food and recipes entries

Happy New Year everyone!A blast to 2007 with a loud cheer!

I welcomed the new year in such a haste!We arrived at Heathrow back from Czec Republic after five days visit to my dear fren , slossy.( will write more about this later)

This year has been such a blessed year with so many adventures and learning expereinces. It went off so fast that I could not even remember.Several major decisions were being made and I could not imagine all these happening without the councel of my heavenly father.

From my early promotion in this year to my decision to tie the knot with BB ( small garden wedding soleminisation in the eyes of the lord) and thereafter quitting my job in mid year to join him in the states, my life has been a real roller coaster for 2006.Taking a leap in faith to trust that he will provide deepen my walk with him that i can rest in him and not worried about the future. He has been so awesome, his way of showing me that he has taken care of everything was beyond desciptions.

Many times this year, i am being challenged by him to learn to trust in him. Besides those i have mentioned, my doubts about my own capabilities to evangelise in Mongolia, to serve in the children ministry, he showed me that he will use the weak in his work as well. Nothing is impossible in his hands and he showed me how miraculously he works ( finding a job in london within such a short period of time)He provided me with the strength to withstand uncertainty and i am glad to know that we will be eventually settled in NYC for the next few years.

I am thankful for all the travel opportunities he provided. This year marked my highest record of travels to: Beijing, Mongolia,Belgium, France, Spain, Morroco, Czec Republic, UK . Many life expereinces learnt.Seem different cultures, way of lives , made new friends and realised how small the world is . The world itself in 2006 has been pretty unrestful and I prayed that the nations will conitnue to work towards peace and harmony. Less pollution and more countries to be more enviromental friendly.

With a new family set up, i also prayed that the lows and the toos will continue to be closely knitted. It will be harder for us to spend time with our families as we decided to spend a few more years overseas.And i prayed that god will show me how to be a good disciple,wife, daughter, daughter-in-law , sister and friend. It can be difficult at times to show how we care for each other when physical distances are limited and i need to trust him that he will keep our families and friends close and safe and healthy.

I prayed that i can continue to glorify him in his kingdom,in whatever way he wish to use me. I aim to keep a more regular bible study regime through personal quiet time and fellowships (BSF),couple prayers and continue to serve in Sunday School. I aim to pray more for others and establish deeper relationships.

I prayed that there will be favorable results in my grad school application and god will provide all finances for the studies.I pray that I will have a breakthrough in career through the studies and research.I also prayed that he will blessed me with a more stable teaching job in States for the next few years.

I prayed that BB will get settled in his new job with good colleagues and wonderful working environment. May he shine in his job with the blessings of the lord and not be swarmed by the competitive,cut throat banking industry. May his eyes be fixed on the lord and never be tempted by the worldly gains.May he has good health,energy and dote on me more.(hehe)May our chinese banquet held in June be a joyous celebration for all and may our marriage continue to filled with respect, patience, tolerance, support ,gentleness and most importantly to centre around the lord.