if you live in country A but want the experience of living and working abroad ?
Country A
i) Great salary
ii) Great working conditions (30 hours a week but with a salary people in country B,C,D,E,F can only dream off, good employee rights & welfare)
iii) Boring
Country B/C/D/E (not talking about Malaysia here)
i) Bad to OK salary (good for those countries but no comparison with great salary in Country A)
ii) Bad to OK working conditions (40 hours or more, difficult to take weeks off in a row, worse employee welfare)
iii) Interesting (because it's new) culture
iv) May be closer to my family
v) Friendlier locals
vi) More representation of your ethnicity (so you don't stick out like a sore thumb all the time)
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Friday 18 February 2011
More Food Pictures
I'll be honest here, guys... When I have nothing much to write but feel it's been a bit too long since my last entry, I'll post some photos of meals I've had. Most times, there are meals eaten at cafés or restaurants because I am terrible at taking photos after cooking. I really should find my camera again. It's probably in the spare room, might even still be in the suitcase haha.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
The Proposal
I guess I haven't actually told you about my engagement yet. It wasn't anything special and having lived together so long with marriage planned in 2012, it shouldn't be a surprise but I was anyway!
It was a very normal day, really. The Dutchman and I decided to have dinner (I made the reservation), he brought champagne from The Netherlands. We ate, conversation was OK but nothing special. If I were to be honest, I was wondering why he barely spoke and thought "pfft, this is kinda boring" :-P Dinner itself was yummy though.
Then, after that, he asked if I wanted a cocktail. I didn't really want to, it being not a particularly fun evening but said yes. We went to a gorgeous little house which is the cocktail bar next to the restaurant. It was dark and we were alone. No staff, very intimate, cute little place. After we got the drinks, the waiter turned on the music which coincidently was about being reunited again after a long-distance relationship. The Dutchman said "Nyonya, I have to ask you something". Now, this sounds ridiculously obvious and I considered it but didn't think this was it. I'd always expected him to ask me in the forest or something in the autumn (not my perfect proposal but it was his). Another guest came in so nothing was said for a while and when she left, Dutchman repeated "Nyonya, I have to ask you something", got down on his knees and presented the ring (which I couldn't see at all because it was so dark!);)
It was a pretty middle-of-the-road proposal but I was sort of crying and felt really happy hehehehe. Later, when I could actually see my ring, I thought it was really nice:D It's a ring I would pick myself. It's quite big though so it's in the process of getting resized.
We're both really looking forward to the wedding but a part of me is considering just eloping to Hawaii or something. Weddings are so expensive. After some asking about, the ceremony we want (very simple, the expensive part is the food & drinks), will cost 10 000 euro in Malaysia. In addition, my father wants a Chinese wedding dinner as well (another 10 000 euro but he'll pay for that). 20 000 euro for a wedding sounds like a crazy amount of money. I'd rather he saves that for his old age or go on holiday with it or something. Our ceremony on the other hand, is facing quite some opposition from my extended family because it's an hour flight from KL. Strangely enough, Dutchman's family are fine with flying 15 hours to get to it;-) For me, it's like I'm going to invite you because I like and value you but if you don't want to come, fine. My parents insist we should pay for accomodation for everyone. Considering that we are paying about RM400 p.p. for food and drinks and are actively refusing angpows and gifts, we thought it would be quite fair for guests to pay their own flight and other misc expenses (which would probably be less than the RM400 p.p.). *sigh*
Maybe we should just sail into the sunset and forget all those other people;)
It was a very normal day, really. The Dutchman and I decided to have dinner (I made the reservation), he brought champagne from The Netherlands. We ate, conversation was OK but nothing special. If I were to be honest, I was wondering why he barely spoke and thought "pfft, this is kinda boring" :-P Dinner itself was yummy though.
Then, after that, he asked if I wanted a cocktail. I didn't really want to, it being not a particularly fun evening but said yes. We went to a gorgeous little house which is the cocktail bar next to the restaurant. It was dark and we were alone. No staff, very intimate, cute little place. After we got the drinks, the waiter turned on the music which coincidently was about being reunited again after a long-distance relationship. The Dutchman said "Nyonya, I have to ask you something". Now, this sounds ridiculously obvious and I considered it but didn't think this was it. I'd always expected him to ask me in the forest or something in the autumn (not my perfect proposal but it was his). Another guest came in so nothing was said for a while and when she left, Dutchman repeated "Nyonya, I have to ask you something", got down on his knees and presented the ring (which I couldn't see at all because it was so dark!);)
It was a pretty middle-of-the-road proposal but I was sort of crying and felt really happy hehehehe. Later, when I could actually see my ring, I thought it was really nice:D It's a ring I would pick myself. It's quite big though so it's in the process of getting resized.
We're both really looking forward to the wedding but a part of me is considering just eloping to Hawaii or something. Weddings are so expensive. After some asking about, the ceremony we want (very simple, the expensive part is the food & drinks), will cost 10 000 euro in Malaysia. In addition, my father wants a Chinese wedding dinner as well (another 10 000 euro but he'll pay for that). 20 000 euro for a wedding sounds like a crazy amount of money. I'd rather he saves that for his old age or go on holiday with it or something. Our ceremony on the other hand, is facing quite some opposition from my extended family because it's an hour flight from KL. Strangely enough, Dutchman's family are fine with flying 15 hours to get to it;-) For me, it's like I'm going to invite you because I like and value you but if you don't want to come, fine. My parents insist we should pay for accomodation for everyone. Considering that we are paying about RM400 p.p. for food and drinks and are actively refusing angpows and gifts, we thought it would be quite fair for guests to pay their own flight and other misc expenses (which would probably be less than the RM400 p.p.). *sigh*
Maybe we should just sail into the sunset and forget all those other people;)
Monday 7 February 2011
Thursday 3 February 2011
An Update
After 6 months abroad, I am back in The Netherlands.
Some random updates:
i) I drink beer now and actually like it.
ii) My internship was hideously boring but I really loved the place.
iii) After a few talks with my boss without any outcome, I concluded in my report that I do not regret my internship but did not really learn much. He was hopping mad, refused to sign my report and used liquid paper to change my appraisal (which was originally excellent but is now terrible). Luckily, I was smart enough to make copies of my time card and so forth. Do I regret it? No. I was already very diplomatic in my report and in my opinion, they didn't give a rat's ass about interns. This is quite common in Malaysia (which I also stated in my report) but as I had already informed them about my expectations and that of my school's prior to accepting the internship, they should've been prepared.
iv) I put on 8 kg. Everyone tells me I am "montel".
v) I am engaged! The Dutchman proposed last month and we will get married at the place where he proposed as well.
vi) My parents are driving me crazy with their wedding expectations. They do not care about us getting married at all. They just want their Chinese wedding dinner with 200 people I don't know. I already told them we are happy to turn up for that dinner they are hosting but now they want us to cancel our ceremony and only have that Chinese wedding dinner, which I think is ludicrous. I have balls of steel. I will survive this muahaha.
vii) I am looking for a part-time job as I only have classes 3 days a week this semester but I'm not looking too hard. This is bad. I should work, right? I'd really rather watch Criminal Minds and Boer Zoekt Vrouw.
viii) My brother asked his girlfriend of 5 years to marry him. She said no! Well, actually she said she's "not ready yet". He just asked me if we would mind if they got married in the same month as the Dutchman and I (as she said "maybe 2012"). Of course we mind!
x) Can't wait to start cooking again;-)
Some random updates:
i) I drink beer now and actually like it.
ii) My internship was hideously boring but I really loved the place.
iii) After a few talks with my boss without any outcome, I concluded in my report that I do not regret my internship but did not really learn much. He was hopping mad, refused to sign my report and used liquid paper to change my appraisal (which was originally excellent but is now terrible). Luckily, I was smart enough to make copies of my time card and so forth. Do I regret it? No. I was already very diplomatic in my report and in my opinion, they didn't give a rat's ass about interns. This is quite common in Malaysia (which I also stated in my report) but as I had already informed them about my expectations and that of my school's prior to accepting the internship, they should've been prepared.
iv) I put on 8 kg. Everyone tells me I am "montel".
v) I am engaged! The Dutchman proposed last month and we will get married at the place where he proposed as well.
vi) My parents are driving me crazy with their wedding expectations. They do not care about us getting married at all. They just want their Chinese wedding dinner with 200 people I don't know. I already told them we are happy to turn up for that dinner they are hosting but now they want us to cancel our ceremony and only have that Chinese wedding dinner, which I think is ludicrous. I have balls of steel. I will survive this muahaha.
vii) I am looking for a part-time job as I only have classes 3 days a week this semester but I'm not looking too hard. This is bad. I should work, right? I'd really rather watch Criminal Minds and Boer Zoekt Vrouw.
viii) My brother asked his girlfriend of 5 years to marry him. She said no! Well, actually she said she's "not ready yet". He just asked me if we would mind if they got married in the same month as the Dutchman and I (as she said "maybe 2012"). Of course we mind!
x) Can't wait to start cooking again;-)
Tuesday 1 February 2011
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