Fooled!

Have been missing in action for the passed few days. Not because i was busy, since everyone who reads my blog knows that i have all the time in the world to spend. Well here is the reason why i was missing in action.

Cafe World!

Sigh... i was not really into playing games in Facebook, especially Cafe World. When KC and my brother was into this game, i snorted at them and told them to be a man and quit. What is the fun in just clicking and clicking only and earn money in the virtual world? Well they said it is because of the interactions that they could get from their friends. I was not buy into playing. I even asked KC just to stop because he was annoying me by leaving in the middle of a mahjong game. Hello! Mahjong is reality. Cafe World, virtual!

KC's Cafe. 

So why am i in Cafe World now? It's like slapping myself here. Well all because of my dear Jess Goh. We were just talking in msn when we both thought it will be good to just start a game together and compete. And she told me that she has abandoned her cafe for a long time and hence we should start afresh. Well excellent idea!

So for the first time ever since i have Facebook, i clicked on the gaming button and play a game. So i started my cafe and named it my Lazey Corner, well the name says it all. Then to my horror! Stupid Jess's cafe is at a whopping level 61! I am at 0!!!! So i got fooled! Well she claimed that she didnt know and it was a honest mistake. Anyways i was fooled!!

Jess's cafe at level 61!

The thing with Cafe World is once you started, you can delete it. So if i stop now, it's like having a black mark on my otherwise 'clean" Facebook! Darn you Jess! So now i have been doing what other Cafe World players are doing. Click click click, serve serve serve and cook cook cook cook.

I am giving myself another week before i got totally wear off of the game. After a day of clickings, i have had actually feel bored but just still doing it to fill up my time. But then on my defense, i thought i played the game quite well too. After a day i am at level 10 and have a beautiful cafe with decorations and even got expended and even earning medals and all..... Well i am just trying to console myself to feel better by thinking so.

And this my miserable cafe at level 9. How to catch up to 61??

Whenever i log on Facebook now and in the future, i will definitely reminded myself of how a fool i was made by Miss Jess Goh! So Miss Jess Goh, i think i have now paid for the prank i put on you earlier. We are even now!

Booooo!!!!

Maxtography

I have contemplated a long time when i was asked if we should get a photographer to shoot for our wedding day. Let aside the costly price that we are talking about, i wasn't really into having a professional photographer taking the photos because i was not really a huge fans of wedding.

I know i know, it was supposed to me "MY"day. I was supposed to be the center of attention and i should do everything i could to capture the day. Well not me. For me, i thought having my brothers helping me to snap photos will be good enough. After all, the photos will be kept in one of the drawers eventually and what is the point of  spending on it when the photos will never see the lights again after the day itself? Besides, never really like taking photos because of the hassle of preparations - makeup, hairdo, posing and etc. Gosh!

Anyway, we went ahead to sign a photography session with Thomas whom was introduced by KC's friend because he wanted it. So Thomas came and spoke to us few days before the event and then there he was on the day itself. I should say i was quite pleased by his professionalism and his punctuality. So the day came and went and the photos was taken.

They were marvelous and i find myself totally not regretting on the decision of getting him to snap on the day for us. The photos were taken with so much efforts. The little details on things and the timeless expressions on us and our guests. And our photos appear on his website maxtography, it is like having a time capsule for us to reminisce those lovely moments anytime we like.

I love this photo the moment i saw it.

Besides that, with his professionalism and his talents, he was even interviewed by a magazine from Philippines. Some of his photos were taken and featured in the magazine. To my surprise, i saw us in the article. And this is a bonus to us. Not everyday you could see yourself appearing in a magazine let alone in another country?

His featured article in Framz magazine.

And i love this photo of the little girl. 

The other thing which i thought was way more priceless is how a one-off client/photographer relationship has blossom to the category of friend now.

Thanks Thomas. :)

p/s: would strongly recommend him to anyone who wants to have quality and real photos taken minus all the superficial elements.

Back to Basic

How do you celebrate any occasions in Algiers when the selection of restaurants is limited? I guess the safest choice is to just visit the biggest hotel available locally and is this case, Sheraton.

We went to Sheraton for lunch as celebrations of our first year being Mr and Mrs Wong. Sheraton Algiers is ranked as a 4 stars hotel but one should not expect any really magnificent or fancy decorations. Didnt manage to snap any photo of the hotel because there is nothing much interesting to snap anyway.

So here are just some very plain photos i took just to commemorate this day and besides, i was bored when waiting for the food to come. Had some really normal and plain dishes with a price that is not justifiable - 5,100 dinars or approximately RM250.

Since he cant find flowers for me, i take this as the flower lo..

Raw salmon as appetizer

KC's ordering - Roasted Lamb

Mine - Plain grilled fish

Of course like i mentioned earlier, every occasion has to end with a photo snap of all the attendance, which in this case, KC and i. On the way back when i examined the photo, i wanted to punch that guy at the back. Look at him, all smiley and looking right into the camera as if he was invited to take the photo with us. What is his problem anyway?? Cant he just mind his own business? Sheesh!!!

p/s: saw these lovely cherries on our way back. Cant stop but to snap a picture of them. Love the vibrant color!

Stealing

It's almost 3am and i am still awake because i refused to sleep and i am afraid that history will repeat itself again when i wake up later.

Yesterday when i woke up, the house was out of electricity and water. It was the second time for the month. The first time was when the Algeria utilities company decided to fix some wires and the funny thing is how the electricity and water cables are so closely linked together that they have to shut both down together.

Yesterday was different. The reason was because Toyota Algerie forgot to pay the utilities bill, and i wonder how many months behind. So i woke up and got back to a world when electricity was not invented. I ate my lunch, took a nap and it was only 5pm. From then on, i struggled to fill my time with reading. I should say i actually learnt a lot from reading the book titled "Imponderables". At least now i know why wines are named dry when it is just simply means less sweeten. And i know that blowing air into Cofi's ears is equivalent to the noise we all hate when the fingernails scratches on  boards and dogs hate that, and that the black dot within the white droppings by birds is the actual dumping whereas the white patches are actually birds' urine....

All the time when i was reading, i was hoping that the power will be up again. But it didnt. By the time the clock stroke 730pm, i was tired from reading, stressed by boredom and i just sat in the dark meddling with my iphone. Thank god for the games i downloaded previously.

Finally the power came back up by 8pm. I was rejoiced and the first thing i did was to turn on my tv and had the volume turned up. Then Kc came back and he told me that the power was only up in the evening because Toyota Algerie didnt managed to pay the bills today. So the owner of this building, having some friends working with the utility company, gave him a helping hand by secretly and illegally turning on the power for us. We are stealing electricity and water as i type! We are thieves!

Until Toyota Algerie pays the bills, i will be facing boredom again in the day (boo!!!) and we will be continuously stealing power from the country. Hush hush now.......

Prime

Watched the movie "Prime" over the channel not too long ago.

Prime is about Uma Thurman, a newly divorced woman, met Bryan Greenberg, who was 9 years younger than him during a movie. She was 33 and he was 24. She was looking for someone to settle down but he has just started his life. So Uma turned to her therapist, Merly Streep, for advice. Not knowing that Uma was referring to Bryan, who was the son of Merly, Merly advised Uma to go ahead to have fun because she deserved to be loved and treasured again. Eventually Merly knew about the true identity of Bryan. While she tried to control her dismay of the relationship as his mother, she still tried to console Uma as her therapist until one day she could not take it anymore and told Uma the truth. From then on Uma is on her own to deal with Bryan. Both Uma and Bryan love each another very much, however the age gap did take a toll on them. They broke up, reconciled, broke up again and reconciled again. The last scene showed a year later, they have broke up again but on good terms. Bryan was planning to venture his life at another city and then Bryan saw Uma from outside a restaurant. He smiled at her and she smiled back, and then they waved a "hi & bye" to each other. With that smile still lingering on his face, he then turned around and walked away.

I think the film projected the reality of life clearly and not the fancy fairly tales that we might hope for. Though a very down to earth ending, it somehow brought out the message of the need to try when it comes to relationship because at the end scene, both Uma and Bryan said goodbyes with smiles on their faces. Because they knew they have tried and gave in their best.

Just happened that someone dear to me is also facing the same situation and could not make up her mind to it. Well if you happen to read this, maybe you could find the answer you need in Prime. Good luck dear.

When Insanity Hits!

Algeria is a boring place. There is no mall, no cinema, basically nothing. So each weekend, the only place we ever go "shopping" is to the wet market or the mini market buying groceries. That's it. Just wonder how much we could buy from the same place weekly? After a while, it just seems like we have bought everything that is available.

Yep, Algeria is a boring place that will drive even the most sane person going gaga. Now KC and me are not the most sane people to begin with, it only took us 1 month to start to act goo-goo or ga ga.

We were so bored last week, we decided to teach Cofi her first survival skill. There is a large bath tube in the bathroom and KC suggested to take Cofi for a "swim" and being the naughty me, of course i agreed! I was excited! So poor Cofi, already hating taking showering to start with, will have to suffer being dipped in the water while me and KC happily laughing at our mischief!

So we started by filling up the tub. Well it's not really a deep tub but deep enough to put Cofi in where water could filled up to reach and covered her up to her ears. The moment we put her in, she gave us a very confused look because before this, she had never been dipped into water at all.

After a few pushes, she begin to realise that this whole thing is rather new. Walking in the water and experiencing "floating" for the first time in her life. She had a difficult time "swimming" around in the tub and trying to get out though. 

Giving me the "help me" look.

Cofi's first time experiencing "floating".

All the time when we were pushing her around in the tub and encouraging her to swim, she was suffering greatly, while we both were laughing our heads off! We are just cruel! KC even hold her up so that her feet could not touch the base of the tub to encourage her to paddle more. Well she did. She was paddling so quickly and panting so heavily, all because she is an obese dog and lack of exercises. When KC finally release her, she quickly swam her way to KC and then stuck her head into KC's lap and refused to move anymore. 

Cofi all manja with KC and refused to move another inch after the tiring "swim".

Poor Cofi has to suffer because of 2 insane people looking for ways to spice up the boring life. As i am typing this entry, Cofi is already fast asleep on the couch. She must be tired. Anyways, will make this a weekly routine to help her slim down! Hahahah i love mischief! 

Happy 1 Year Anniversary

Dear 

Happy One Year Anniversary to Us. 

Glad to have many more years of celebrations to come.

Love and yours always.

The Most Sexists Language Ever!

Have been trying to learn French via the Internet by myself these few days and it is so tiring!

French is really a tough language to learn!

For a starter, why should things be categorized into male and female???? Things are just things and they are lifeless! Not like they own an identification card and has a different surname of live in different addresses? And the worst thing is there is no rule to categorizing them. The French simply decided at that very split moment that some are males and some are females. And then people who are trying to learn the language like me, will just have to memorize them! Why is bread the male role while butter is the female role? OMG! They are just food!

Well anyways, on a lighter note. I bought myself another Nespresso machine again. The first one i bought was for my brother as his birthday present. Well i mentioned in my previous post that buying the machine will lessen our visitations to Starbucks, which had proven us wrong. We still buy a lot from Starbucks even with the machine around because we were lazy and we were caution on using the capsules because refilling is not easy.

Anyways, the one that i just bought is pretty cheap compared to prices in KL. While is is really difficult to get a refill of the capsules in KL, since there are not many Nespresso boutiques in KL, the refilling is easy here. Capsules are sold everywhere in local supermarket or i can simply go online and order and have them shipped over.  So i can just indulge myself as much as i could with it. It's a bout Rm500 cheaper and it is from Sweden. So warranty is given 3 years rather than just 1 year. Since there is no Starbucks here, i find this machine pretty useful in making myself a cup of really bitter and aromatic coffee. I am happy.

Well time to go back to my French. Have been stuck on memorizing the numbers at this moment. Argg! Another pain in the a@@! Maybe a cuppa of Nespresso now will calm myself. Tat!

365 Days... Almost

When i woke up this morning, i got myself a text message from KC.

"This is gonna be fun. I'm the first to remember today its 1 year you're my legal wife. Happy first year anniversary. Muaks."

Isn't he sweet? I am truly happy that he remembers this very special date but i guessed he some how got the actual date wrong. It's actually not our anniversary for another 5 days.

Well i am still touched because of the efforts he put in.

Happy 1st year anniversary my dear. Thanks for making me happier each day.

Dissecting Love

Today is a gloomy and raining day. The weather took a 180 degrees turned again since yesterday. Have not been seeing the sun a lot lately and the wind is blowing strongly again, making it rather nice to sleep in on a cold day.

Well our brilliant security guards decided to turn off the heather system again. The last time he did it, it was because the weather was turning to rather nice temperature but then the cold breeze decided to come back, and we have to ask him to turn on the heathers again because it was simply too cold. Now that they did it again, i am lazy to ask them to turn it on again. So instead, i closed all the windows and have a really nice blanket sitting in the living room where i could crawl with Cofi under it.

Someone asked me why is love so intriguingly seductive and what is love all about?

I am not sure if i know the right answer to this. But i do know love is at its peak of attractiveness at the beginning only when both are trying to figure out if the other party have feelings for them. It is this guessing games that makes love so attractive and irresistible.  It is also during this stage that we will paint a lot of nice pictures about the other party. We could dream all about them in the nicest way ever because we have not really get to know them yet, and there were also never any bad memories of  fightings, shoutings, disappointments, angers, frustrations..in us. All we could see is that the person is the perfect one for us.

But of course, after awhile, the reality sets in. There is never a similar me in this world. Sometimes, i would not want a similar me in this world either because i think 1 of me is bad enough. No matter how much i love myself, there will always be bits and pieces that i hate about myself, that i wished i could changed but never. So if there is a second me, its like blowing up on all the things i like twice! Since there is never a 2nd me, we will now find things that we hate about our partner. The little things that set our anger off. The things that we wish they could change but never. Then we began to consider if the relationship is worth it. And then comes acceptance and eventually after a long long time, we got so used to our partner that we question ourselves again if we really do love them. By this time, we could never paint the perfect picture of our partner in our mind because we have seen all the evils in them.  Some will call it quit, some managed to hurdled through these pitfalls and stay put together.

I guess this is what love is all about. Of course every person and everything thing will have their attractiveness at the beginning. But when the novelty wears off, do we just simply throw them out and continue searching for the next new thing? And now that i come to think of it, i suddenly remember the quote from McDull not so long ago....

麥兜真言：

真正的奇蹟， 並不是當某些事情忽然見“當” 一聲的出現。 真正的奇蹟， 是當那走的很慢很慢 的老爺鐘，經過了漫長的數十年, 依然風雨不改的,依然老老實實的為我們不停的報上時間......

McDull's words of wisdom:

A true miracle is not when something appears suddenly. A true miracle is when that really really old grandfather clock is still ticking after all the years, and still chimes obediently at the right seconds..

I guess now i could answer my friend that love is like the grandfather clock in the house. It used to be the newest toy in town, then it got phased out by something newer. But you still keep it because you have grew to love it, it still works its wonders and will always be a significant piece in your house. In this case, in our heart.

Never thought i could learn so much from an animation. No wonder i love McDull!

4 Musketeers

Few days ago i blogged about KC asking me to throw out a feast for his fellow Japanese colleagues as a way to say thank you to one of them who brought us cup noodles from Japan, and also to introduce them to our famous Bak Kut Teh, or should i say Chi Kut Teh. Since none of them had been to Malaysia, i thought might as well do KC a favor.

So we had the feast 2 days ago and i woke up very tired yesterday. I decided to do a bit of hibernation the whole of yesterday and am feeling better today. 

The last time when we had the feast, it was amongst my dad, Yasso-san and Yakouchi-san with us. It was more like a business dinner. They talked about business over dinner, over dessert and even over tea.This time, it was more like a gaming cum Bkk feast. Kc invited 3 new colleagues, all ranging of the age 25 years to his. The only same person was Yokouchi-san.

First we have Watanabe-san. He is a shy and cute young chap at his 25 and he was the one who brought us the cup noodles. Well I have to say the picture i took didnt really justifies his good looks. I was told that he was rather popular when he worked in Korea some time ago because he looks similar to a very well-known Korea actor. Too bad i dont know who. And when i said i wanted to snap picture of him, me gave me this awful look!

And then we have Kengo, if i have spelt correctly. He is about the same age as me and he has been working in Algeria longer than KC did.  And i was amazed that he could speak French and even Spanish. He is a very funny guy with a lot of weird thought and also big gestures. Really like this guy!

Now he is some-san. So sorry to him because i cant recall his name. I knew it starts with Hano...something. Anyway he is the typical well-mannered Japanese guy who got all tensed up with Yokouchi-san came because Yokouchi-san was more senior than him. A very shy but nice guy overall with kids. 

And we have Yokouchi-san again. Poor fellow is still waiting for his permits to be granted. Apparently now Algeria government is tightening the issues of work permits because there are too many expats coming into the country these few years. And poor Yokouchi-san has to eat alone all the time and he was complaining how difficult it was to buy vegetable for himself only and also cooking. So i told KC to invite him to our house for dinner more until his wife and kids are here. And i told KC not to invite Yokouchi-san for another round of BKT because there is only so much a person could take. Being the nice Japanese in him, he will not decline the invitation of course!

Anyway before the dinner started, the boys decided to play around of Street Fighters. Kc was rather happy because finally he do not need to play solo with the machine and he got to show off his controllers what he purposely bought over the internet just for this game. It was fun to watch them play because they were so engrossed with the game and they were shouting and doing all the ooohhs and aaahhhss during the fight! The whole house was bombarded with their shoutings and echoes such as "wakata".."Kc-san,Kc-san".... "dame!dame!"..."gambate!" ... It was funny even to watch!

Finally i got to play with a human!

Watanabe was rather good. He won so many rounds that KC refused to play with him.

Kengo was very funny because he was sort of a newbie. He said "this is the best time for me today!" when he finished a game even though he lost.

I wonder how they know which is whose. They all look the same! No fun!

And their work bags are like super heavy. I dont know what they put in. 

Local dessert bought by Yokouchi-san. Very very sweet coating.

And then Kengo-san found hidden treasures inside the cabinet. He shouted "Oh Mah-jong!" And started pointing to each one asking if everyone knows how to play. He was so excited and kept saying "We can play, we can play!" and decided to take out the set of mahjong to check around. Apparently the Chinese and Japanese share the same tiles of Mahjong but with a slightly different rules. Well my dad told us previously that Japanese mahjong are rather boring. 

So when we explained to Kengo, i told him the Chinese style will be quite violent. He starred at me with his eyes wide opened and began to gesture and said "Violent-neh?" (gesturing turing table and punching faces) "This violent-ka????" So funny guy! Anyway i think i will be seeing them around very soon for mahjong.

A Wet Wet Day

In KL, the last time i wen to a wet market was some years ago. Normally i would just drive to the nearest supermarket at my house and buy all the ready-made and packed raw food. If there are any skinless chicken, i would definitely take them. If there are any peeled and chopped garlics, in they go to the the cart. Everything should be the easiest and most convenient ever. Coming to think of it, i dont even cook that much in KL and yet i would go for the most convenient way even on these rare occasions! Not very good aint it?

Now what do we have in Algeria that i can go shop around here? The answer is Nothing! So the moment KC told me we are going to the largest wet market in Algiers, i was so psyched and i made sure that i brought along my camera when i go. It was like the only opportunity i have to actually dressed nicely other than t-shirt and shorts and get the chance to wear the shoes i brought from KL and actually step out of the house in them! Whao!

Now the market is quite a distance away from our house. We met up with a local colleague, Nadin, who was previously a tour guide before he joined ALJ at the office. From the office, it took a car ride of about 30 minutes before we finally got there. According to Nadin, this market is so huge and there are so many varieties that we can basically get anything we want from here. You name it, they got it. So i was rather excited but actually i have nothing in particular to buy. I was just being nosey!

We started off from the clothing and shoes section and walked our way to the spices section. All the time when we were walking we heard people shouting "Ni Hao" at the background. Well i guess it's the same in Algiers too. Only that people in Algiers are less friendly and they do not see us Chinese as though we were from another planet. That's a relief to some extend. Finally we are normal!

Some of the local shoes designs. Looking rather comfortable because they are made of leather.

Just look at the amount of spices they have.

Olives! All kind of olives! Well too bad we dont fancy olives.

Ginger! Imported all the way from China! We have been looking for it so long finally! But it's costly though. A piece is about Rm12.

And then we came to the vegetable section. I love the colors here. Colorful and vibrant and the vegetables are so fresh that they are shinning! No joking! When we passed by a stall that sold eggs, the Algerian kid called me and gestured me to take pictures of his eggs. So i did. Then he pointed to the eggs and said proudly "Ji Dan". I laughed and nodded and echoed him. Along the way, we even encountered stall owners trying to tell us the prices in Mandarin. It was difficult to figure out initially but we did. I am surprise that they knew quite a lot of Mandarin. I guess the Chinese have made their marks here.

Look how pretty the veges are! And they are all pesticide free at a low price, unlike in KL.

Well the owner insisted that we take a photo here. So we did.

At this stall, the owner told us the price by saying "Yi Bai Wu". It took me a while to figure out what he was saying. It meant 105 in mandarin. 

And finally we went to the meat section before we head back and all the time we only conquered a small part of the market. And here i saw some really huge fishes and rabbit meats too! Well the sight of the dead rabbits with head still intact but skinless was not pretty and i did not take any pictures. But here we saw a Korean family buying some meat and when i blurted out "Ang-ni-ya-sai-yo" they looked at me. So its confirmed. I tried to secretly take picture of the young kid but he saw me! And the cute boy posted for me even. Awe...

I swear we can have fish for a week if we buy any one of these. They are huge!

Ahh...coffee beans... too bad i do not have a grinding machine in my house.

This is the "paparazzi" photo i took.

He realized and then he decided to pose for me. So cute!

Well i was thinking, maybe a wet market is a wet market in any other parts of the world. They are indeed the same and nothing much different. The only reason i acted like i have never seen them before is because i didnt visit wet market that often and i was just being ridiculously silly!