Last week was hectic at work. We have to finish a report and because our counterparts had many comments we had to discuss, rediscuss and overdiscuss the contents and phrasings of the report. This resulted in 4 hour meetings, 10-12 hour working days and still, no final report....
In between my colleague and I participated in a charity run which was held yesterday and I will post some pictures on the blog this weekend. Initially there were two distances, a 2.5km and 6.6km run. I signed up for the 2.5 as I am almost able to run this 3 times a week every morning and I felt this was a good practice for me.
Unfortunately the organization decided to change the distance to give more people (who wanted to walk...) the chance to participate. Instead of 2.5 it became a mere 1.6km.
Omar could not stop laughing and was making jokes about the marathon distance all the time. In the end I was able to feel some satisfaction after all when I saw that I had ran the 1.6 in 10 minutes instead of approx 12-15 min.
Back home, take a shower, put my running clothes and my purple sweater in the washing machine and off to work. Finish work, come home and discover that my once blue towel is suddenly purple. Luckily I did not put any light coloured things in. Grmbl, what a week, finally weekend!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Japan 2008
We are back from our Japan trip to Tokyo. Angela had a very pleasant project and I played the tourist, met some friends and alumni, and networked for a job. The next few topics will be about our Tokyo experiences, the food, the commute, and we will also post some pictures!!
For our first Japan picture of the week it was a tough choice… so many pictures, so many stories, so many different impressions. The race at the end was on, between: the famous and mad 7 way crossing, a random encounter with the chocolate man and two models, cool fashion in Shibuya, or one of the other 500 pics that made it to the keepers folder…
Our winner of the week is, as you can see: “Chocolate man and two models.” It’s not more Tokyo than the others, nor is it more contrasting than the others, but it is sort of ‘uniquely Tokyo’ to find smiling models roaming the streets looking for willing paparazzi to portrait them. So have a look at our first Tokyo picture in the pic of the week section.
For our first Japan picture of the week it was a tough choice… so many pictures, so many stories, so many different impressions. The race at the end was on, between: the famous and mad 7 way crossing, a random encounter with the chocolate man and two models, cool fashion in Shibuya, or one of the other 500 pics that made it to the keepers folder…
Our winner of the week is, as you can see: “Chocolate man and two models.” It’s not more Tokyo than the others, nor is it more contrasting than the others, but it is sort of ‘uniquely Tokyo’ to find smiling models roaming the streets looking for willing paparazzi to portrait them. So have a look at our first Tokyo picture in the pic of the week section.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Singapore F1 - The first night race
Tonight, Singapore will write history in the long tradition of Formula1. As many other people we had not managed to get tickets for the event. Passes were going for over 6000SGD right before we went to Japan, so we had accepted the fact that we would only be able to smell the oil and hear the noise from our balcony, and watch the race on TV instead.
How sweet was the email from the INSEAD alumni club 2 days ago, that we could get a race-day pass for a very reasonable price and a discount!!! So first thing we did after getting back from Tokyo: we booked 2 Sunday walkabout tickets with VIP entry to the F1 bubble party at the Singapore Flyer, and a boatride from Clarke Quay to get us there. With the walkabout tickets we will be able to walk all around the track and find the best spots to check out the action. We are so excited!
Singapore has done an amazing job at organizing the event. Apart from most taxi drivers who are less thrilled about the “street circuit” concept, I think that everybody else loves it. The downside to me is that there still is no permanent circuit in Singapore… Sepang in KL is too far a ride for frequent trackside action. Maybe we should have this street circuit thingy open for public every other month or so? just a thought... For the rest, Monaco in Asia is extremely cool, and the event reminds me of the unforgettable GP trip to Monaco a few years ago together with Dan.
At 1300h, just a few minutes ago, the track opened. When I look out of the window, I only see a nice Mercedes pace-car doing relaxed laps around the track, but no other action. We plan to head towards the circuit at around 1500h to see the Aston Martin Asia cup, the BMW challenge and the Porsche cup. Next we will enjoy the great food at one of the many hawker stands around the track and by then we will be ready for the night race! After that, there is a great score of DJs in town to help us finish the night in true F1 style ☺
How sweet was the email from the INSEAD alumni club 2 days ago, that we could get a race-day pass for a very reasonable price and a discount!!! So first thing we did after getting back from Tokyo: we booked 2 Sunday walkabout tickets with VIP entry to the F1 bubble party at the Singapore Flyer, and a boatride from Clarke Quay to get us there. With the walkabout tickets we will be able to walk all around the track and find the best spots to check out the action. We are so excited!
Singapore has done an amazing job at organizing the event. Apart from most taxi drivers who are less thrilled about the “street circuit” concept, I think that everybody else loves it. The downside to me is that there still is no permanent circuit in Singapore… Sepang in KL is too far a ride for frequent trackside action. Maybe we should have this street circuit thingy open for public every other month or so? just a thought... For the rest, Monaco in Asia is extremely cool, and the event reminds me of the unforgettable GP trip to Monaco a few years ago together with Dan.
At 1300h, just a few minutes ago, the track opened. When I look out of the window, I only see a nice Mercedes pace-car doing relaxed laps around the track, but no other action. We plan to head towards the circuit at around 1500h to see the Aston Martin Asia cup, the BMW challenge and the Porsche cup. Next we will enjoy the great food at one of the many hawker stands around the track and by then we will be ready for the night race! After that, there is a great score of DJs in town to help us finish the night in true F1 style ☺
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Mooncake Festival
It is now September, and everywhere people can buy mooncakes. Mooncake is a Chinese pastry, traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.[From Wikipedia]
Nowadays, the shops and hotels are diversifying their mooncakes to attract also the Western people (and Asians who do not like the traditional mooncakes). If the traditional sounds too heavy, you can also purchase the snowskin, which is basically a mooncake that is not baked and has a white or other colour skin that looks like marzipan (but is not). The filling was in the beginning also the bean paste or lotus seed. Luckily for us, there are now many variaties with insides of truffle, chocolate, champagne and even ice cream mooncakes.
(There is also a crusty mooncake on the market, we have not sampled that one but it looks ok. It does not have the nice "drawing" but looks a little bit like a round greek or turkish pastry, without the honey dripping off)
In 2005, Omar and I tried two mini mooncakes at the Raffles hotel which were very nice. We were not aware that you should eat only a small portion of it however (approx 1/8 pp), and as I can recall we did not need any dinner that night. Last weekend we wanted to try the mooncakes again and bought 2 look a like traditional mooncakes at the Vivocity Mooncake / MidAutumn Festival. One is a chocolate Cappuccino and the other a sort of Oreo mooncake. We adapted to the culture, cut off two small pieces and enjoyed them with some coffee after dinner. Apparantly not completely adapted because, mmmmmmmm chocolate is much better than bean paste....
Nowadays, the shops and hotels are diversifying their mooncakes to attract also the Western people (and Asians who do not like the traditional mooncakes). If the traditional sounds too heavy, you can also purchase the snowskin, which is basically a mooncake that is not baked and has a white or other colour skin that looks like marzipan (but is not). The filling was in the beginning also the bean paste or lotus seed. Luckily for us, there are now many variaties with insides of truffle, chocolate, champagne and even ice cream mooncakes.
(There is also a crusty mooncake on the market, we have not sampled that one but it looks ok. It does not have the nice "drawing" but looks a little bit like a round greek or turkish pastry, without the honey dripping off)
In 2005, Omar and I tried two mini mooncakes at the Raffles hotel which were very nice. We were not aware that you should eat only a small portion of it however (approx 1/8 pp), and as I can recall we did not need any dinner that night. Last weekend we wanted to try the mooncakes again and bought 2 look a like traditional mooncakes at the Vivocity Mooncake / MidAutumn Festival. One is a chocolate Cappuccino and the other a sort of Oreo mooncake. We adapted to the culture, cut off two small pieces and enjoyed them with some coffee after dinner. Apparantly not completely adapted because, mmmmmmmm chocolate is much better than bean paste....
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Our box has arrived!!
On the 26th of June we left one of our boxes at Insead with a company that ships the boxes between France and Singapore. We thought that this was a very good plan because this way we could take more with us to Singapore. So we stuffed the box with clothing and off course, books. And we put a little cable in it, that we had never used before. It was a cable with which the Macbook can be connected to a TV, to use the laptop as a DVD player.
July came and we returned to Singapore. Our box had not yet arrived because instead of by air, all the boxes were sent by ship. Several weeks went by and we forgot what we had put in the box. Then we moved into our new studio, and we had a big flatscreen tv. Omar was happy that he could watch all his series (Unit, Alias) on Tv instead of on his laptop. And suddenly it dawned upon us, that little cable. Never had we needed it and now we could use it. But the box was somewhere at sea.
Omar, positive as ever, started to brainstorm and came up with a solution. He built himself a small cinema with all the dining table chairs. This way he could sit on the couch, watch the DVDs on the Macbook and get the sound from the two hifi speakers that our landlord, a high end stereophile, had installed for us. It was still on his Macbook, but it was better than having to sit with a warm laptop on his lap and sound from the inbuilt speakers.
And finally, September 3, our box was here. Omar carried it to and from the taxi and started unwrapping it as soon as we were in our apartment. On the bottom of the box was the, still in plastic, little cable. And we are going to use it tonight for the first time!
July came and we returned to Singapore. Our box had not yet arrived because instead of by air, all the boxes were sent by ship. Several weeks went by and we forgot what we had put in the box. Then we moved into our new studio, and we had a big flatscreen tv. Omar was happy that he could watch all his series (Unit, Alias) on Tv instead of on his laptop. And suddenly it dawned upon us, that little cable. Never had we needed it and now we could use it. But the box was somewhere at sea.
Omar, positive as ever, started to brainstorm and came up with a solution. He built himself a small cinema with all the dining table chairs. This way he could sit on the couch, watch the DVDs on the Macbook and get the sound from the two hifi speakers that our landlord, a high end stereophile, had installed for us. It was still on his Macbook, but it was better than having to sit with a warm laptop on his lap and sound from the inbuilt speakers.
And finally, September 3, our box was here. Omar carried it to and from the taxi and started unwrapping it as soon as we were in our apartment. On the bottom of the box was the, still in plastic, little cable. And we are going to use it tonight for the first time!
Monday, September 1, 2008
A Day in Our Life in Singapore
During our whole Insead experience Omar and I shared apartments and a house with others. It felt almost weird to go back to living in an apartment with just the two of us :) But we managed. I started this post with a picture of a present that Omar gave me to fix that. No idea what it is. if anyone knows, please tell me, for now I have named it "My Japanese Green Pea."
Life is almost the same as it was in the Netherlands. I get up early to practice jogging (I am now able to run 2 km every morning), take a shower, have breakfast and wake up Omar before I leave for work. I go downstairs where the doorman is waiting (this is definitely different from the Netherlands) and I walk to my work which is only 2 blocks away (I can actually see it from the balcony on the 34rd floor)
During lunch Omar and I sometimes meet up, depending on whether he is in the apartment or at Insead. There are several nice places where you can have lunch in Robinson Rd. We usually end up eating a sandwich after which I return to work. At 6 I walk homewards. We then have to decide where to eat. Having Lau Pah Sat (hawkerstalls) next to us is great and we are loyal clients of some of the Indian shops there. But other times we go to the Soupspoon, or to one of the malls. Or, we stay at home and Omar cooks himself a meal. I really think that he is the only Dutch person living in Singapore who actually enjoys buying potatoes, vegetables and minced meat to make himself a nice stamppot with meatballs and gravy. On the other hand he also enjoys to improvise an Asian meal, or to make something complicated as well.
It is nice living here. We share the condo with approx 20 other people and 25 or 30 guards, a truckload of cleaners, 2 doormen and on average 10 estate agents who almost live here. The housing market is very competitive and the agents have to work hard. We frequently see Jen, our agent, when we get back during the week at 11pm or on Sunday when we go out for dinner at 8 pm. Some of them are like hungry vultures, sorry for saying. When you come home and you step into the lounge one or two of them will very often ask you whether you live here and if yes, how much do you pay and they will give you a salespitch and their cards for in case you are interested.
Bon, enough for a day. I need to get some sleep as well. Tomorrow Friday again, time flies.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Hi everyone!
Hello family and friends in the Netherlands and wherever you are. After Omar’s graduation from Insead we decided to change the blog a little bit, to adapt it to our current life and adventures.
Our old blog “futurefusion” was mainly created to share our experiences of the MBA year with everyone and it still exists, as Omar is still posting messages. But these messages are about Insead, classes and other MBA related items, for future students and to have a complete narrative of our year at INSEAD. This blog is about our life now, where we are, what we are doing and where we are going. We miss you all and we would like to let you know that this is our way to get closer.
Why Zestytaste? In the freedictionary.com zesty is described as:
Adj. 1. zestyzesty - having an agreeably pungent taste piquant, spicy, savory,
Savoury tasty - pleasing to the sense of taste; "a tasty morsel"
2. zesty - marked by spirited enjoyment, barmy, zestful, yeasty
spirited - displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness
We both like zesty, or spicy food like chilicrab, curry, dhal and thai food. We also like adventure, living a life that is never the same, chaotic, in another place and another culture, another climate.
Our old blog “futurefusion” was mainly created to share our experiences of the MBA year with everyone and it still exists, as Omar is still posting messages. But these messages are about Insead, classes and other MBA related items, for future students and to have a complete narrative of our year at INSEAD. This blog is about our life now, where we are, what we are doing and where we are going. We miss you all and we would like to let you know that this is our way to get closer.
Why Zestytaste? In the freedictionary.com zesty is described as:
Adj. 1. zestyzesty - having an agreeably pungent taste piquant, spicy, savory,
Savoury tasty - pleasing to the sense of taste; "a tasty morsel"
2. zesty - marked by spirited enjoyment, barmy, zestful, yeasty
spirited - displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness
We both like zesty, or spicy food like chilicrab, curry, dhal and thai food. We also like adventure, living a life that is never the same, chaotic, in another place and another culture, another climate.
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