FINALLY!!!

After a long struggle to leave my current job, i FINALLY made up my mind to leave Hell!!!

Yes!! I'm now serving my one-month notice and soon my long long 6 months AGONY will be over - 25 April 2008!!! ~Happy occasions fall on 25th for a reason - 25th is also the anniversary of me & Tat while April is my Birthday Month~

I left without a job...that's how bad the situation is having to meet HER everyday!! It's really painful, frustrating, agonizing and ....(the list just goes on) to be working in such an environment!!

Now the happy thing is, I FOUND A JOB!! and the happier thing is, THE PAY IS EVEN HIGHER!! Well though i have been told, warned, informed & advised that it will be much busier but i guess i will give it a shot!! ~Strive while you are young and you can enjoy later~

I shall not mention where the new place is till i have landed smoothly...till then, GOOD LUCK TO MYSELF!!

Learning Experience

This trip to New York was indeed an EYE-OPENING experience for both Me & Tat...

First being the WEATHER:
During our shopping for winter accessories and necessities for the trip, we were advised by the people in the Cold/Winter Wear Shops that the estimated temp. in New York during late Feb. to be between 4-10Degree Celsius.
Shocked of our life when we were landing: "This is your captain speaking. Welcome to New York Airport and we are experiencing a temp. outside of -1Degree Celsius!"

*What the xxxx?*Obviously from my tone, you would have guess that we didn't bring enough winter clothes!!!*BUT we survived!!*

The temperature continued to fluctuate for the next 6 days and on our last day, temperature went as low as -6Degree Celsius!!! Parks covered with snow but we still saw dog runs going on with many dogs playing and we saw a gigantic dog - looks more like a wolf to me!!

Then it was the SNOW:
Singapore is a tropical country and obviously for the 2 of us who hardly travel, snow was like "WOW!!! WAH!!!"
Mountain tortoise you may call us, but it was quite an experience (a happy one definitely) playing with the snow-cum-ice. *Shoes wet, socks wet*

Buildings & Infrastructure:
Most of the buildings, especially the church were of the old structure, having lots of carvings..(Don't really know how to describe them...) With comparison with Singapore as a busy city, it is a total different view. The only similarity i want to highlight is the flight of stairs outside their COURT...(Is it a must to have stairs outside a Court???)

Infrastructure is a terror!!! The lines are really confusing and the stations are underground, not very bright and dangerous i would say..*Took us 6-7 days before we figured out the system and how not to hop into the wrong train!!*
People there simply ignored the yellow line boundary and it gives me the feeling that it's quite easy to fall onto the track!! In the train, we even saw teenagers dancing hip-hop and on another occasion, a one-eye man giving a speech before bringing out a bag "soliciting" for $$$...

Consumer Goods:
We knew that expenditure was going to be high in New York (I spent USD$3.50 for a slice of Salmon Sashimi!!!) but actually, there are some items that are more affordable in New York than in Singapore. *And obviously, we had to sweep them back (in order to make our 20++ hours flight worth!!*

This is as per what was served to me!!

$Clinique Products$COACH$Kate Spade$My Shoes$

Want to emphasize that when I mention more affordable, the difference is really BIG...
~Clinique product is at USD$17.50 (SG$24.50) and what you see in Duty Free Spore is SG$50.50~Shoes of my size need to cost addition $3 when purchased in Spore thus causing the total amount to be approximately SG$42 or more...New York (in xxx shoe source) I can get a pair at USD$19.99 (SG$28.00) and the second pair at 50% off!!!~

Food:
Nothing much to comment about the food except for the serving as well as their many mobile food stalls selling hot dogs, sausages and GYROs... Gyros are meat (chicken or lamb) fried with onions wrapped in something like a Prata... Very nice!!
*Maybe it's a business opportunity to bring it back to Spore....hmmmm!!!*

Servings for most food are huge too!!

This tray is what u will use during your BBQ to contain chicken wings!! U can see its 3/4 filled!

Oh...also the culture of tipping (15% of bill!!!) as well as the term for "eating here or take away". In New York, they call it "to stay or to go."

Last but not least, the TV shows:
I kind of miss the TV shows there....Parental Control, NEXT, Maury Show (my fav.) and Jerry Springer... These are all variety shows and though we feel its acting but they are interesting. Maury Show targets all sorts of social problems - Getting delinquents to explain their actions/crimes and help them turn over a new leaf OR helping parent to identify the other parent of a baby as 1 party has obviously slept with more than 1 partner... etc.
*I may not have provide good description of the content but i simply enjoy watching it*

mY ConCluSion:
It was a Cold but valuable learning trip!!! I know TaT may not have enjoyed as much as he missed a lot in the museums (as i was getting really bored there!!) and he couldn't visit as many places as he wanted to with me around (coz it was freaking freezing COLD). So i just want to apologise for all the "spoils" that i caused and THANK HIM for accommodating!!

~If there is a next trip, please still bring me along, can?~

10 signs you have been to New York

Here are the top 10 signs showing that i was in New York from 22 Feb - 29 Feb 08 (i reached SG only on 02 March only though) :

(1) Your personalised Boarding Pass

(2) A Visit to Rockefeller Centre

(3) You walk the Brooklyn Bridge

(4) You witness the Flatiron Building

(5) A "Night at the Museum"

(6) Touching the soft, cold snow at the Parks
*Encountering temp as low as -6 Degrees Celsius!!!*

(7) Enjoying Western breakfast every morning

(8) A Walk to WALL STREET

(9) You take a picture with the flag of USA

(10) Most importantly, you visit STATUE OF LIBERTY!!

BoNuS: You got to take the SUBWAY and will appreciate how lucky is it to be in Singapore, taking the MRT!!! ~Super Confusing and too many routes to remember!!!~You will also faint by the cleanliness and structure of the stations and trains!!~Stations are not easily indentified as well~It's miracle how we both managed to survive~