Gone For Good?!

Today is the last day of Yasso-san employment with ALJ in Algeria.

He has been here for the last 2 years and all these while that he was here, he never really get used to Algeria. Yasso-san is an Egyptian with a Canadian passport. He has a lovely wife with 2 2 beautiful kids waiting for him in Toronto. Hence ever now and then, he will return to Toronto to spend some good quality family time.

It is true that i have never spoken to a foreigner who really like Algeria, not even Yasso-san. Come to think of it, if someone with almost similar culture could not take Algeria, what about Asians? One thing though, it is ok to grumble sometimes about something but it is not ok when the grumbling is constant. Yasso-san dislike Algeria so much that he even said that if the world is coming to an end and Algeria is the only safe place in the planet earth, he would rather go back to Egypt or Canada and bet his chances on it! Hahahah that extreme.

For me, i have mentioned earlier, when life throws you a lemon, the best way out is to use it to make lemonade. I enjoyed having Yasso-san around sometimes but not all the time. Because whenever i begin to take in what Algeria is offering me, there i would have Yasso-san complaining how bad life is here; reminding me that life is always better some where else. And when that happens too often, life in Algeria becomes unbearable and then you will sink yourself into depression.

In fact, Algeria might not be the best place on earth to be in but it is not the worst place too. For one, it is so near to EU countries that we are able to travel to over the weekend. Algerians might not be as sophisticated as the "city people", but they are always friendly and helpful. When was the last time you had a stranger greeting you with a bright smile on their face while you are buying something from a groceries shop?

So i am sort of glad that Yasso-san is going back for good. I am sure he misses his family a lot. So today, as a token of appreciation for his help during the time we spent, i am throwing him a farewell dinner. I wanted to cook spagetti but KC insisted on bak kut teh again!

Duh! I am not sure what is it with guys and bak kut teh. I am getting so bored even by the idea. Anyways, to amuse myself, i am throwing in some fry bean with ikan bilis and cuttlefish with chili padi. Hope all turns well!

When It Speaks to You

Was listening to this song some time ago while i was training my cuisine skill. I think it was more than half a year or more.

The moment i heard the song, i thought it was speaking to me. The lyrics is very well written painting a very vivid picture. It speak to me because i could simply put myself into it. Somehow, something in the lyric sounded very familiar...i guess somehow something similar would have happend to us in reality..

I however forgot to take note of the name of the song....until one day, during a singing session in KL, i heard of this song again. Coming from the singer then, it added even more meaning to it.... it was surreal....but the song becomes my new love ever since.

繁忙的工作加一把劲来过渡
无聊的交际只管把笑容制造
回家打开一副电脑
模拟找到模拟倾诉模拟很好
从来不知道怎么竟各行各路
从前的一套今天仔细仍照做
夜深粉紫色这外套
模拟起舞模拟拥抱模拟得到

*仍然能拥有梦想跟前途
仍然能拥有自尊跟自豪
仍然明知许多女伴一转身会遇到
为何感到这不算最好
明明从不信天荒跟地老
明明从不会后悔得不到
明明从新掌握去做我总可以做到
为何今晚我不懂如何告别烦恼

浮华掌声里只想一个人赞慕
从难关出发心境可向谁透露
是否悲欢早有定数
何时得到何时失去谁能猜到

Je suis fatiguee beaucoupe!

I am death tired.

Earlier i mentioned that one of KC's colleague will be leaving Algeria for good and his apartment at the 1st floor will be vacant soon.

At the same time, Yokouchi's family is currently staying in a rather run down apartment away from us. The tenancy laws in Algeria is that once the apartment is rented out, the owner will have no say in anything to be done in the apartment. At such, Yokouchi has been having problems in getting the owner to help him fixes repaires and even registering the internet line.

Yuki-chan (age 4) focusing on watching The Little Mermaid.

So this week, i have been inviting Yohouchi's wife and the 2 kids to our house for luncheons. They are so happy with here that they thought of moving over and taking over the 1st floor. The few times that the kids were here, the youngest one even cried and refused to leave because she loves it here so much. At the end, we had to bride her with ice-cream.

Miho-san (mother) with her elder daughter, Satsuki-chan (age 6)

Tonight, together with another Malaysian family (who has 2 daughters the same age as Yokouchi's), we went over to Yokouchi's house for dinner so that they could get to know each other and the kids can have new friends to play with. So in a word, i have been throwing luncheons and dinners non-stop for this whole week.

Mr and Mrs Yong, who owns a travel company in Algeria.

Tonight, during the car ride back to Yong's apartment, i was happily seated with the 2 kids. They were happy to have me and were fighting for attentions during the whole ride. When the elder one wanted to sing for me, so did the younger one. They played with me, tickled me, sung for me, told me stories and they were fighting so hard that eventually one of them cried. Ohhh.... i feel so bad for her.

May-An (age 8), a very pretty and smart girl. Speaks excellent English for her age, as well as Arabic and French too.

Even when we reached their house, the elder one was pulling me aside to show me her homework and test results. Of course at the same time the younger one wanted to get involved and spoke and pulled me at the same time too. So i was sandwiched and did tried my best to please them both. When it was time for me to leave, May-An kept hold of my arm and refused to let me go. It took her mother to persuade her and spoke to her for some time. She even told May-An that KC would be very sad without me! hahah reluctantly, she let go before telling me that she likes me a lot.

Mischievous Ci-An (age 4) who loves to mimic her elder sister and pushes her button all the time!

Phew! By the time i reached home, i was so exhausted. It was as though i had spent a day doing hard physical work! I think all my brain juices had been drained out in that short 2 hours! Boy! I thought babies are though but it is the same with kids too! Especially when they speak at the same time and you do not know who to focus at, or even to respond to first!

I really salut mothers out there. Like the Chinese saying, "having a kid is a 100 years job where mothers have to worry for them for at least 99 years."

No wonder motherhood is the toughest job of all! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!

When In Madrid, Eat Like the Locals - Tapas!

So Spain is famous for its gourmet availability and one of the must try there is Tapas. I was told to just pop into any pubs and order tapas of varieties. Skip the main course at all times because there are just so much different tapas to try.

For our very first meal in Madrid, we did just as was told. From the hotel, we made a left turn at the corner and just pop into the nearest pub we saw.

Most pubs are small and you are expected to eat while standing. Tapas are the best way to have a great lunch or dinner together with a glass of wine. There are just so many types of them that we do not know how and which to order. Besides, the menu is in Spanish too. Hence the best way to go about this is to ask the chef to recommend. It was good!

First, we have salmon with caviars! Yummy!

Secondly, cheese baked oyster. Meat was so tender and juicy.

Next come the must try recommendation from the internet. This is the local spanish soup with an eye, bread, onions and pork. Having a hot plate of soup during a cold windy day is always a blessing.

Sweet juicy piece of lamb on top of a well toasted bread.

And then came the hero of the whole meal - the dried pork. It is said that it takes approximately 3 years for this meat. Hence this type of pork is always sliced thin and eaten with its original taste. It was really yummy. Meat was tender but well marinated with salt. Normally the thighs are hang around the pub and taken down to slice whenever there is an order for it.

By now, i was already stuffed. I was also busy snapping away. Although the chef was not fluent in English, he wanted to help just take a photo. Happily we let him do it. And i must say thanks to him, this is the only couple photo we had for this trip. haha

And lastly, we had the crisp fried  fish with grilled pepper and bread. I love this the most! The fish was so fresh and juicy. Eaten together with the pepper, it was superb!

Before wrapping up the meal, the chef handed us a plate of sweets and on the house. Thanks so much. I think it was made of mango mixed flour and eaten together with icing. It was the perfect note to end the meal with.

And thus, we have a very happy and stuffed customer smiling into the camera!

Being Real in Madrid

Madrid is a very nice and modern city. The flight from Algiers to Madrid takes only 90 minutes and viola, you are back to the world of civilization with skyscrapers, beautiful buildings, people dressed to the latest trend and most importantly, you are instantly greeted in English!

The moment English is seen or heard, it's like music to the ears and calming to the souls.

Another best point of Madrid is how convenient and cheap the transportations systems are. Our hotel is situated in the middle of Madrid. Normally which ever airport in the world you go to, you first feel the pinch in your wallet by paying the costly transportations you have to take in order to get to the city.

In this case, the metros are so conveniently connected and so easy to follow, it took us only 20 minutes to reach our destination. That was not the best part just yet. It cost only 2 euro per person! And within 20 minutes, you will have this before your eyes.

Madrid is vibrant. People are not as snobbish as the French and they are normally very helpful. Somehow even though Spain is a country that practices French but they prefer to speak either Spanish or English. And another great thing about Madrid is having scenes and scenes of our best buddies walking along the street, but i would say they didnt really behave themselves very well..

We booked ourselves in to Hotel Lusso. Like i said the hotel situated right in the centre of the city and from the metro station, it was just a mere 300m walking distance. And guess why i chose Hotel Lusso amongst all that were available?

Simply because Starbucks is just right opposite of the hotel! Hooray! Hahaha well not really. Mainly is because the hotel was having a really good promotion and it is in the area where pubs and cafes are aplenty. And the most interesting fact is that this area had somehow turned into a gay districts over the year! Wooo... that will be really good experience for us. Well we did had a fair share of views, from two same sexes holding hands to passionately kissing on the mouth. Not sure if there were tongues involved but let's not go there shall we?

Once we checked in, we explained the situation to the front desk. He is very helpful and made sure that he got all the information needed. Throughout the next 2 days, he was helping us looking out for our bag and making calls to the airport. It is just too bad that at the end we had to go to the airport personally to retrieve the bag ourselves. When we came back with the bag, he was shaking his head but smiling and telling us "Finally!" with a rather sorry look on his face too. Nice guy.

After all the hassle, next stop, of course to have a nice lunch at any of the cafe. Tapas lunch! Spain famous and most try gourmet! And so we walked out of the hotel, made a corner turn and decided to venture into just any restaurant. 

I know i should continue showing off the delicious food but i am a little lazy now. Plus, i need to sink myself into Bones. They are finally getting together!! More tomorrow folks! Miss ya all and love ya all too!

It comes in 3!

Yep back from a short trip to Madrid and i am just exhausted. I think i need a break from the break i had.

Madrid was memorable! Indeed it will be the most memorable trip i ever had to date. Well, not because of Madrid as a city by itself but because of the whole experience i had.

Come to think of it, besides being fatigue as i am now, it was rather "fun" in a weird way.

We landed in Madrid happily and then proceeded trough all the custom checking and immigration as usual. Then happily we saw our luggage came out real quick and we grabbed it. After that, thinking that we had all the time in the world, we casually spent our time at the airport refreshing ourselves while planning what to do next.

And for some reason, KC thought that our bag looked rather suspicious and decided to open the lock just to be sure. Who knew, he was right! We got the wrong bag!!! The bag that we took was exactly the same bag that we have - color, size and brand. What makes it irony was that the bag was originated from Algeria to Madrid and flew on the same airlines as we were too! What are the odds of that right?? It was like in the movie where things happened in the most bazaar and most "coincidental" ways that it could be ever!

And at this point, i cant help but laughed out loud. It was hilarious! I have always heard stories about missing luggage but only watched about mistaking of luggages from movie! Apparently the same passenger on our flight named Christ took our luggage! So for the next 40 minutes, we were busy speaking to the lost and found people, writing down our particulars while figuring what were there in the bag that were "lost".

Anyways the airline promised to call us once they received any information of our lost luggage. Once we reached the hotel, we told the front dest what happened and what to expect from the airlines and straight away we went ahead for some shopping on stuffs that we will be needing for the first night at least.

I should say i am not complaining about this part because which girl will complain about shopping right? Moreover, now i have the most legit reason to do so! hahah So we went and had a great time shopping at some of the 2 most famous local brands - Mango and Zara etc....and happily went back to the hotel.

The next morning, we woke up with hopes that Christ had finally realized the mistaken bag and had return it to the airport. With anticipation, KC called the airlines and was told that indeed Christ took the bag back to the airport yesterday. Somehow the airlines thought that it was no rush for them to return the bag to us?! And to make the matter worst, the airlines said that now they have to look for the bag because they could not recall where the bag is placed. OMG! Anyways they promised to call once they got hold of the bag.

And we waited....and waited.... after awhile (6 hours later) we decided to call the airlines instead. Good news! They found the bag and it had already arrived in our hotel! And back to the hotel we went.

Guess what we found in the room?

We were speechless! For a moment, i asked myself if we had took a different bag for this journey rather than the blue one we thought. I thought i was hallucinating! This is exactly the bag i have but i am sure that it lies at the top of the cupboard in Algeria. Did we take a wrong bag really?? The color, the size and the brand is exactly the same! And it is from Algeria to Madrid too!

And thus we checked the label and the receipt again. The stupid airlines had made a HUGE mistake! How could they sent us a bag with a different reference number? Furios, KC called the airlines and gave them an ear full. Then he demanded that the airlines to come pick up the bag from the hotel.

At this point, i really find the whole situation extremely funny! What are the odds really?? 2 similar bags in a roll and both are the wrong bags. hhahaha

KC decided to go personally to the airport to check out. When we reached the office, we were told that the airlines had to now reopen another case because our case was "closed". They asked us to go to belt 13 to collect the bag, only to be diverted to belt 9 again.....finally we got the bag but is was already the last night of our trip in Madrid.

Oh ya, i said it comes in 3 right? For "IT" i am referring to bad luck here. On the 2nd day of the trip, just after we knew that our bag was sent back to the hotel, another bad luck stroke. KC dropped the camera on the floor. As a result, the filter was broken. The irony of this was just right before the incident, i was warning him against dropping the camera and he said proudly that he WILL NEVER allow that to happen. Within an hour, i heard "bang" and the camera was there, lying death on the floor! Check out the crakes on the filter and on the pictures....sob sob

Well, i hope that will ends the strings of bad luck...

p/s: I guess i must be the bad luck bearer! I came back with a "death" toe nail hanging at the edge of peeling off... and i just got burnt by cooking oil! WTF!!! I think i need a flower bath to cleanse my luck!