17th May 2006

University of St. Gallen is perched on top of a hill overlooking the city. Yizhen and I floundered up the hill, wearily making our way through the cobbled paths early in the morning. Midway, I became lazy and took a bus (all transport within the city is free for those attending the conference). Hah.

That morning, chartered coaches brought us to Swiss Re (a re-insurance company) in Zurich. The seminars were more interesting and we had a variety of choices. Topics like how do reinsurers manage risk, measuring risks for natural catastrophes, obesity and risks were the highlight. (Again, topics I can identify with). Well, I particularly favoured the appetising spread of desserts. Oh man, we were really spoiled.

In the evening, we had a welcome dinner and were each given a "goodie bag". with a swiss-knife (sponsored by PWC), a signer water bottle, conference t-shirt and materials. Got our SPOT ME device too....

Ended off the night with drinks and karaoke at a club called Trisli.

16th May 2006

Arrived in Zurich at 7am in the morning and did not have proper sleep on the plane. A really long day, nevertheless looking forward to it. I met other Singaporeans on the plane and surprisingly this year, the Singapore's contingent is the largest (25 out of 200 world participants).

( I am gonna make the next few entries short as I am kinda dozing and the next few days at work will be really busy!)

Well, we had a few hours to kill before the conference began. So we headed to Zurich city for a leisurely walk, stopping in a small cafe and enacting what many tourists did best! Photo taking!

Headed back to the airport and met up with other delegates from the other countries. I was pretty zonked out then and was tired of self-introductions. Thus, stuck with the familiar, a singaporean gal called Meera whom became a good conference buddy.

We were given name tags and lunch packs (mainly comprised of chocolates, nuts and cheese). Chartered buses brought us to the Olma conference centre where we were greeted with cocktails. Hah..saw Michael (whom I met 3 years back from the conference and whom I met a couple of times after in Singapore and Melbourne). It's amazing how our friendship still stands after all this while and how we have grown through the years.

We were divided into groups and was seated. We had talks from UBS (recruiting centre)...telling us how exciting and rewarding it was to work in their organization. The next seminar was on corporate governance. This was somehow more interesting to me. After all, I did a lil consulting relating to coporate govenance recently. We were made to introduce ourselves on the table and then later discussed some minute issues on corporate governance.

The lucrative "sales pitch" did not end. We were each given a toiletries bag and was treated to a sumptuous buffet dinner with wines, a magic show and the performance of a live band. Sat with Michael, Meera, Andreas (a Hungarian I met on the same discussion table) and Elidor (Albanian who attended the conference three years back too).

By the end of the whole day.....absolutely exhausted....I was brought to my host's (Bella and Lina) place at the end of the evening. Realised that I had another roommate (delegate too) from China. Yizhen is studying in New York and is from Beijing. Very sweet gal. I plonked my bags and headed out again! Had to meet Michael and Oender (A turkish friend I met 3 years back durin the conference). Fortunately, I lived right smack in the city. St. Gallen did not change much and I can still remember the "ins" and "outs". Met them at Macs and we headed to the local bar for a drink. It was really really nice to see Oender. Has been frigging three years since I last saw him!!! Amazing. He did not change much. Still as warm and is working in Credit Suisse now. You see, like I emphasized earlier, it's interesting to see how everyone changed over the years. From a student to a successful banker; or a student to a full time honours student and a part-time entrepreneur embarking his business in a high risk country...Love to see passion in people!

Oender had to leave early as he had to work the next day and had to catch the train back to Zurich. I chilled out at Michael's host's place for a while (again, the swiss students were very hospitable) and then headed back to my host's and zzzzzzz....

Back from a memorable holiday..=)

I was immersed in plenty of coffee drinking, yawns as well as piles of work today! Practically trudging the hours like a warrior drenched with fatigue. It's 3.20am now and I just completed my day's of work and in a few hours of time, I'm back in my battle zone. Battling with the jet lag, preparing for a client's presentation on wednesday, and numerous meetings. But my head frequently whisks to the times I had in St. Gallen and in Andalucia. Thinking of the conversations I had with the people in the conference and of course, my wonderful times with Monty in Spain!! It's strange that for the two weeks that I was gone, it felt as if I was away for a month.

St. Gallen, Switzerland

A short short message:

Grace is fine. Good weather in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Excellent conference and food. Having a blast....but extremely tired.

A mix of interesting people...will update more. Two more days to spend time with Monty.=)

Finally finally finally.

The day will come tomorrow. Aaaahhhh...feels good. It will probably take another two more weeks before I update this little blog of mine.

The anxiety is killing....really dread to think of the returning part.

Hmm..From Tokyo to Vienna to Bratislava and then to.....Malaga. La la la...

Learn how to die and you learn how to live

Monty and I had an interesting conversation today. We talked about death. A grim topic where any sane human being would be so fearful of. Would you have done anything different if your days are numbered? Would the choices differ for people of varied ages? I would think so. Most of us would quit our monotonous working life and then embark on a unpredictable riskier journey (given our leftover resources).

I gave it a little thought. First, I would definitely quit working. After all, I see no long term gain. Hmmm...I would probably hold my own funeral where I am present and where I can hear melodious eulogies of myself. It would have to be a joyous event...like a wedding. There I would give thanks to all my loved ones. Then I'd probably raise money, together with my savings, head to countries that are stricken with poverty and help them financially (in some ways possible). Armed with a camera, I'll take snippets of grateful faces. Armed with a laptop, I'll write a book with their stories and my journey and hopefully, able to create awareness with this published work of mine. All earnings will then be donated to unicef. Rather wishful thinking...but a fulfilling one.

Death by William Butler Yeats
Nor dread nor hope attend
a dying animal;
a man awaits his end
dreading and hoping all;
many times he died,
many times rose again.
A great man in his pride
Confronting murderous men
Casts derision upon
Supersession of breath;
He knows death to the bone-
Man has created death.

Boo boo's birthday at the Mcdonalds!

When was the last time you visited Mcdonalds? Or...when was the last time you attended a birthday party at Mcdonalds?

As much as I can remember, I attended Pearlene's birthday party of this sort when I was probably 7. Since then, I have never been a great fan of this fast food chain, especially after the release of the movie SUPER-SIZE ME. It's natural for me to equate its food to obesity and beef patties made up of the insides of a cow. Eeew...But to my delight, I enjoyed myself today. One thing for sure, they revamped the menu, catering to the health conscious. I mean, ten years ago, you would never imagine this fast food chain that is sprouting all over the world to have "Apple slices", "yogurt", "low-fat milk", "corn" in its menu.

What's interesting about the party ain't the birthday cake or the singing of the birthday song. It's the mere fact that a bunch of adults in their mid-twenties are actually enjoying themselves playing kids again. We were treated like kids! Ditto. The organizer, much like a disciplinarian or a school principal, ordered us to sit on little chairs, wear our juvenile colourful hats and finish our food quickly. It was ludicrous to hear nursury rhyme songs playing on the background (damn....should have brought our own cds). Likes kids, we played infantile games and received happy meals (with the toy gadgets inside). Quite embarassingto say this, but I did enjoy myself!

Thanks Booboo....Happy birthday once again!

One more week...counting down

I just received my conference package and learnt that my host's name is Kathy.=) Hopefully, all goes well with my stay with her.

I remember the first time when I went for the conference. I stayed with a bunch of fun-loving gals, two swiss, one south-african, another Singaporean as well as a Slovakian! It was pure fun. Just partying every night. The second time of the conference...due to my drunken stupor, I lost my host's key and I had to pay for the loss.

Anyhow, this is a first rate conference. Here are some facilities they offer (all provided for):

1. Excellent food: We have 5 meals a day with free flow of lindt chocalates (from what I remember), booze galore during dinner nights..specially catered evening events (held at different venues in and around St. Gallen)!
2. Financial Information: A comprehensive news and up-to-date information service will be available at the Reuters Terminal in the Communication Centre as well as on flatscreens in the foyer.
3. Internet Corner: Enjoy e-services at the Internet Corner with sufficient terminals and printers.
4. Money Exchange Counter
5. Press Centre
6. Free Transport around as well as within the city! : We just have to present our badge to the bus conductors for free transport.
7. Simultaneous Translation: All keynote sessions taking place in the Auditorium will be translated simultaneously into English, French and German. Portable ear phones are handed out in the Auditorium.
8. And a Funky Device called SPOT-ME. This device (only be used in the conference) can detect your friends within your victiny and informs you their presence by vibrating (like a pager). Through this device, you can also send messages .....very cool to play with during boring lectures. It stores photos and information of all delegates as well as outside participants.

Lala....one week more....and the best thing, hanging out with Monty in Spain!

Prawning

Went prawning the other day with a bunch of friends and brought Little One along too. Surprisingly, he caught the most amongst all of us.

The picture above shows the mega-prawn we caught, but surprisingly, NO ONE ate it...oh man. What a waste!

I would love to have these two animals to be my pets!

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Run (5.6km)

Let me confess: I'm not a sports enthusiast and have not participated in any sort of competitive run in my life. Yes. Pathetic. Once in a while, you'll see me don my sports gear and jog on the treadmill. It's weird, but I'm not too sure what made me join this year's corporate run. Perhaps it's the free company's t-shirt and shorts. Perhaps Jane Doe's harping on how fun it would be to people-watch spurred me to fill up the application form! Hah.

This year's run proved to be a success, recorded a sky-high number of 11,000 participants. It was definitely an experience.

I mean, how many times in your life do you flounder your way through massive crowds of perspiration-dripping, hard panting people? Most participants were serious competitors! They find every way to squeeze through every possible "human to human crevice", nudging and shoving to get their hands on the bottled water laid on tables along the journey. What is most amusing is the fact that participants can find short-cuts in spite of barricades and run marshalls. But I....I adhered to my pride and continued the normal route, in spite of seeing bunches of participants cutting through pieces of grasslands. Bugger!

I gotta rant about the different corporate sports gear I saw. Thank god that my company chose a simple design and colour. Sad to say, some other corporate designs I saw were outlandish and colours too bright (Purple, orange, lime green...what were they thinking)!

As for my performance, I was disappointed with my timing (39.42 mins). I was asinine, absolutely half-witted. I started the run faced down 80% of the time, There were huge hoardes of people moving everywhere and I wanted to focus. When I saw the 4km mark, I was like "hmm...did I pass 4 km or do I have 4 km more to go?" I thought "I'm not that tired. I think I have 4km more to go. Pace yourself Grace." There I was happily jogging at my my quite "turtle" pace and it was when I almost reached the finishing line (about 400m to go) did I realised I made a frigging mistake!

Lesson learnt. Try again next year! Maybe should try the SCB one. 10km of course...

Relocation plans

Just got news from my boss that I may be relocated. No details as to how long, where and when I will leave, but most probably straight after my trip from Switzerland and Spain.

I think it may either be Taiwan or Bangkok. Don't know why, but I'm totally ambivalent. I mean, the good news is it's an excellent opportunity to advance in my career but if it's Taiwan, I'm handicapped in my Chinese. The place seems so foreign. Never been there. No friends. Different culture and my plans to see my friends for the coming months have been slashed off my list. Basically, stuck there alone fending myself. Hyiak!

And, I tried googling this city, Kaohsiung (the place where I think I will be posted to). "The most industrialised city in Taiwan", "Polluted", "If New york is Taipei, New Jersey is Kaohsiung"....hah...pray that it's a few month stinct.

Frig it. I am gonna conquer my fears and live it my Way!

Boat Asia 2006

Jane Doe and I attended Boat Asia 2006 at Sentosa Cove with given free tickets from Dad. Boats were very pretty and PRICY too. Hope to own one someday. Even better, a house at Sentosa Cove. I'll just sit by the water during weekends, read and fish all day. Heaven.

KUTA BEACH!!

Mount Kintamani

Spa Indulgence

We were given a free-two hour spa massage when we bought our accommodation at the NATAS travel fair. This was the highlight as we were treated to a body scrub and a foot and body massage. The massage ended blissfully as we soaked in a tub filled with milk and flower petals.

Monkey Forest

We come face to face with a band of monkeys. Vendors sell packets of peanuts just outside the entrance but we chose not to feed them as the monkeys looked aggressive.

Rice terraces

Rice farming is an important activity (I think agriculture accounts about 45% of their GDP. Tourism is next of the list, about 30%), and the countryside is characterised by a series of artistically laid-out terraces.

One Hellava Morning

Jane Doe and I woke up at 5.30am in the morning just to catch this morning shot! Yes.. crazy. Hmm..wonder whether I will wake up so early for work.

Temple: Gunung Kawi Sebatu

This was the most interesting temple. Its backdrop of moss covered walls, huge ferns and statues exudes an ancient feeling. It feels as if you have entered a lost civilization. Ritual bathing takes place occasionally in the pools with water flowing out from sprouts. Notice that I was made to wear an orange sarong as I was inappropriately dressed. Heh!

Temple: Taman Ayun

Temple: Tanah Lot

Jane Doe and I were fortunate to view this temple during sunset. This temple is one of the most photographed icons of the island. It makes a perfect picture postcard. When sun sets, the hues of pink and orange offer a dramatic natural phenomenon. There is hearsay that any unmarried couple who enters the temple will not be together in their future.

Bali Bombings

There were two Bali bombings at Kuta area: one happened on October 12, 2002 and the other 1st October 2005. The first bombing occurred in a Sari Dance Club and it killed 202 people. The majority of the dead were foreign tourists, especially Australians. A memorial was built to commemorate the people who died. The two pictures above are the two bomb sites respectively.

Bali Shopping and Accommodation

Yes, I just returned from my trip and it was pure relaxation.

For shopping, you'll find plenty of surfer wear, surf boards, accessories, Balinese wood carvings, and furniture (my dear jane doe bought bed lamps). You get reasonable deals as long as you know how to bargain. Street vendors can be irritating and the fact that we were gals attracted more unwanted attention (we had many love declarations made to us in one day. Oh man! you should hear when they utter "wo ai ni"! You'll cringe.)

Jane Doe and I stayed at the Mercure Kuta. The hotel is fantastic as our location is just directly opposite the Kuta Beach. There are plenty of sun-worshippers, bronzed surfer fiends, water sport fanatics. If you are game for beatiful sunsets, KUTA is the place! At night, it comes alive with restarants serving everything from western cuisine to Indonesian nasi padang. However, traffic is heavy, with an endless stream of cars and motorcycles, shops, cafes, street traders, money changers, bike rental compnies..but I guess all these add to the colour and bustle of my stay!

Good Friday!

What an interesting day for me. Had to conduct two discussions ALONE at the new client's office (another GLC). One discussion on mergers & acquistions and the other, tendering process. There I was in my twenties, facing men in their thirties to forties. I was embarassed in presenting my namecard to them as I was just a mere consultant. Fortunately, there were no tough queries and all went well. Phew. They were a funny bunch as well, occasionally cracking me up. I love this job. It makes you think and learn everything about various businesses. I'm gonna be a guru one day! Haha...

Anyway, one more day to BALI!!! Happy good friday! I love public holidays. In the month of May, there will be more.....

Got a reference for my Happiness Paper..Hah.

Lame as can be, I googled my happiness paper and found that a Finnish university had conducted a similar study and made references to my paper. Haha...cheap thrill.

http://www.vatt.fi/seminaarit/esitykset/hirvonen_9.2.06.pdf

Happy Birthday Pearlene!!!

My best friend whom I knew since seven, celebrates her birthday today! Give it up for the person who lights up the lives of many!!! Anyhow, we had a sumptuous meal at a Japanese restaurant at cuppage with good ole friends, followed after by coffee at TCC. Pearlene, keep your friday night free. Gotta hot date with me to watch westside story! Hah!

You know it when you're flying over Africa