DAY 5 BERLIN

Woke up in the early morning coz we are going to Berlin at 9.20am. Michele was so nice to get us some croissants and orange juice for breakfast. He even drove us to the train station though he had to work.

We took nearly 6 hours train to Berlin, when we arrived there it was already 4pm. What a long journey!! Germany is so big!! Haha it reminds me that Michele and Dirk said England is small and nothing :D I don’t think so tho :P

We hung out a bit in the Berlin train station coz we had no idea where to go and we didn’t have plan. The host family were not available until 8pm so we had to walk around by ourselves for few hours.

Then we just picked a bus to Zoologischer Garden and visited the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche. This church was destroyed by British during World War II and then the German people rebuilt a new one just next to it.

And then we shopped around at Kurfürsten-damn. We didn’t lock our luggages at the train station, we just dragged our HEAVY LUGGAGES to go shopping!! We were crazy!! :D We went to H&M and Zara, we just left our lugguges at the cashier and then shopped around. I bought a bag at H&M, it only costs 19 Euro!! So cheap!! And I also bought a fragrance set at Zara :)



We couldn’t reach Henriette before coz the mobile number didn’t work. Finally we called her home and she could pick us up at the Schiöneweide Station. We took the tram to her home. She isn’t living in the centre of Berlin but it’s not too far away.

The big problem to go to her place is… she lives in 3rd floor!! Oh my goodness!! How come there is no lift in the buildings? Last time we have Dirk to help us but this time we have to do it by ourselves. I don’t think the little girl can help me to carry our stuff. Next time I will never take such heavy luggage to travel!!


Henriette’s flat is so big and the interior design is classic. She lives with her mom and sister in such big flat. It’s great!! She has a piano at home and the piano looks classic too. I wish I could have a piano room like that. Henriette’s mom was so nice, she cooked us some pasta and we chatted for a while. And her sister is a little girl and I guess she can’t speak English much. She loves Johnny Depp coz there are many Johnny Depp’s posters in her room!!

I was too tired today so after dinner we didn’t do much thing. We just went to bed at 11.30m. Health life in Berlin :D

DAY 4 MUNICH

Woke up at 10.30am this morning with a bit headache. I think I drank too much beer last night. When we woke up, Michele was in the kitchen and he was cooking the breakfast (brunch) for us. He made scrambled eggs with his homemade bacons. It was soooo delicious!! Also he made espresso and prepared the croissants for us. I like the espresso!!


Then Dirk and Max came to Michele’s home and we were going to the lakeside. Dirk drove his PORSCHE car, what a cool cold classic car!! It’s brilliant! He bought this car from America! Rich man :D Nice car! No wonder why he can only drive this car during summer!!

The lakeside isn’t far away from the city centre. They said most of the rich people have their houses in the lakeside. Obviously the houses there look much bigger. Some are very huge!! Michele’s said one house was for one family and we joked that the family was for more than 20 people :D I really can’t imagine how rich those people are!!

The lake is big and beautiful. It was so good to relax on the lake in the sunny day. I forgot to bring my sunblock coz I didn’t expect it would be so hot and sunny in Germany. I used Kristine’s sun lotion but Max told me the sun lotion could only protect me from the sunburn but not protect me from tanned. Oh I don’t want to get tanned!! :P

Dirk and Max brought their swimming suit but they didn’t go swimming. The lake water was cold and I think they couldn’t swim in the cold water :D What a shame that they didn’t swim. I couldn’t take any funny pics :P

After that we went to a restaurant which is on the top of the hill. We had our dinner there (someone said it was snack only, impossible!!). I had 1 liter beer, a super huge pork with potatoes. Max and Michele could finish all!! Amazing!! Dirk didn’t eat the pork, he only ordered some light food coz he doesn’t like it. He is clever :D

The pork was nice, the skin was crispy. I shared one with Connie. Connie tried her best to finish it!! Cool!! I tried my best to eat as much as I can, but my stomach was too full and I could only finish my 1 liter beer. Dirk joked that if I couldn’t finish the dish, the weather would be bad :D Oh my god! How come German people are not fat if they eat that much? :D

I drink more and more everyday. The total beer I have drunk these days is more than I drink beer in Hong Kong for a month or two!! I was a bit drunk when I walked down to the hill. I couldn’t walk straight and I felt asleep at Michele’s car :P

"i fell asleep but not drunk!"

We went back to Michele’s home at around 8pm, Dirk came over and we had beer again. We chatted and made fun of each other. It makes me feel closer to them. They all are so funny and have sense of humour!! We are like good friends now. They laughed at me that I got drunk easily and I explained that I was too tired to fall asleep but not drunk :P But in their faces, they didn’t believe me!! :P

DAY 3 MUNICH

Woke up at 7.30am this morning... I wanted to sleep more but I couldn’t. Maybe becoz of the Jetlag. Took a shower, had some breakfast and then Dirk took us to walk around the city centre of Munich. We visited Peterskirche, Frauenkirche, Marienpatz... There are a lot of nice buildings which were built by Hitler. There are churches, arches, towers, universities... Munich is a really peaceful city, there are no tall buildings and not many people in the streets (except the Oktoberfest).

We went for the Oktoberfest to take a look to see how it looks like. There were loads people!! Many of them wear traditional clothes and they looked so nice!! But the clothes are expensive!! It costs around 70 Euro at least!!

Then we had some soup for lunch at Münchner Suppenküche which is near by Dirk’s office. It tasted good. Then we walked back to Dirk’s home, rested a while and went shopping. I bought some short-sleeves coz the weather is a bit hot during day time. The sun was too bright. I only brought few short sleeves from Hong Kong so I need some more. It’s strange that the temperature can be 24 degrees during day time but 14 degrees at night.

At night we finally met Michele and her girlfriend Kristine. Michele looks so Italian!! :D We packed our stuff and moved to his place. His flat is closed to Dirk’s home. His flat is smaller than Dirk’s but it’s very comfort and it’s a nice warm flat.

Later on we had dinner at a nice restaurant which is near by Michele’s home. We had traditional Bavarian food. They were delicious but the portion was too big!! I shared with Connie but we couldn’t finish the dishes. We also drank some beers and we were so full!!

Then after dinner, we went back to Michele’s home. Michele showed me some strong alcohol which is stronger than 40% vol. My throat felt like burning!! :P We chitchatted until 2.30am. It was kinda relaxing and fun.

DAY 2 MUNICH

When we arrived Munich it was nearly 2 pm. We took 45 mins train from the airport to Hackerbruecke Station. Dirk was there waiting for us already. He was so kind to take us to his flat since he had work to do.

My luggage was so darn HEAVY!! It was 24 kg!! I don’t understand why it was so heavy!! I don’t think I bring much things for my trip :P It tired me out to carry the luggage from the train station to Dirk’s home.

Dirk lives in 4th floor. He helped us to carry the luggages but he asked if I brought a stone with me!! I have no idea either :P His flat is so big! With 2 living rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 1 toilet and 1 balcony. I love his flat!! He went back to work afterward then me and Connie rested ourselves and waited him coming home after work.

When Dirk came back, he took us to the bar (just downstairs of his flat), I drank 0.5 liter of beer, it was kinda strong for me. I was a bit dizzy after finishing the glass. German beer tastes good, it’s fresher than what I drink in Hong Kong. I thought Budweiser / Heineken / Guinness were German beer but they are not!! :P

Dirk’s flat mate Chris joined us. We chitchatted and had good time. Dirk and Chris can drink quite a lot!! They drank few glasses!! Then we went back to their home and drank one more bottle. I was amazed that they drank beer like drinking water!! :D Dirk said Chris looked so German but I really can’t tell. They both just look European to me :P This night we had a really good time tho it was our first met.

DAY 1 HONG KONG / DUBAI

Yay!! Here you go Germany!! Taking 7 hours flight from Hong Kong to Dubai first, I slept all the way but couldn’t sleep well. I really don’t like to take long haul flight. When we arrived Dubai it was 4.30am. Nothing much to do at Dubai Airport though it is big and with many shops. We just hung around, read magazine and waited for the flight to Munich. We waited for 4 hours and then took another hours to Munich.

I realized the advantaged of using BNO passport. Connie used SAR passport, the immigrants kept checking if her passport was real and asked her a lot of questions. Well I really love British now :D

MEETING MY FRENCH FRIEND

Meeting my French friend at IFC City Super, I could recognise him easily!! It's good to see him in person finally!! Then we went to Causeway Bay for dinner. We had dinner at Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo Cuisine and then his girlfriend came to join us after work. Someone recommended me this restaurant and I think the Shanghai Dumpling was really good. After dinner we went to Ikea coz they wanted to buy a dining table. I want to get a bookself but my flat is really too small to get a new one!! Really need to thow away something useless!!

RÉVÉRENCE

Shopped around at HMV today and then I bought this CD "Révérence" by Henri Salvador. Actually I wanted to buy his other album "Chambre Avec Vue" but it was out of stock. What a shame. I know him by accident coz once my friend sent me some Jazz songs and I found his voice is very magnetic. His voice doesn't sound like he is 90 years old!! It's a wonderful album!!

MY OWN BOXING GLOVES

Bought a pair of boxing gloves today!! That's cool!! I feel like I'm more like a professional boxer now :D Tho I'm far more good at it :P It feels so good to have my own gloves, I don't want to use the public gloves anymore, they are really mess. I'm so in love with kick boxing now!! It gives me so much fun!! My trainer said I played better that before :) Hopefully I can manage to do twice a week next month.

ENGLAND 3-0 RUSSIA

Yay!! England won another game!! Owen scored two first-half goals and it propelled England into second place in group E!! :) Owen is totally back!! :D He could become England's all-time top goalscorer!

ENGLAND VS ISRAEL

England win over Israel 3-0!! Owen's superb goal is impressive!! He is England's Hero!! :D It feels so good to see him scoring and lead England to win. I usually think Heskey is his best partner!! I'm glad that SHREK and ROBOT were not on the pitch LOL Yay!!

LOOK FOR FLAT IN LAMMA

My french friend's girlfriend is coming to Hong Kong for work so I helped her to look for a flat in Lamma Island. Lamma Island is a good place to live since it's peaceful and the rent is cheaper. I think it's really suitable for her. If I work in Hong Kong Island, I may choose to live there if I can afford. The property agent showed us few flats and finally she chose a nice one which is not far away from the pier. It is furnished with balcony and rooftop, it's good!! Maybe I can borrow her roottop to barbecue? :D

10th ANNIVERSARY GATHERING

It was 10 years ago when we studied in Intitute. Time runs fast!! We are no more teens now LOL I organised this gathering coz I really like the moment in the institute, it brings me lot of happy memories. I didn't expect so many people will join!! I meet some friends frequently but some of friends haven't met since graduation. It's good to see old friends!! Comparing with 10 years ago, we don't change much, huh? lol What a shame that some of them can't join. Maybe next time, 11th?

WORN OUT

I'm worn out and feeling a bit fed up for my busy life. I feel happy when everything is going smooth but I feel so annoyed when something goes wrong or not like what I expected. I feel less concontrated on my work since my assistant handed in her resignation letter. Tho I will have a new assistant soon but I don't like to train up a new staff again. Kinda wasting time...

And we still haven't confirmed everything for the Germany trip yet... Hopefully we can confirm everything next week. It's rush and we don't have much time... My manager knew me using private msn at work so I have to be careful... Don't want to get caught!!

NASTY HAIRCUT

Went to have a haircut today... I went to the same salon, same hair stylist but not the he didn't do what I expected! I asked him to trim a bit only but he cut too much for the my fringe!! He cut more than 3 iches!! Darn!! I look like an idoit now!! :( I dunno what's wrong with him!! I will definately never go there again!! What can I do now? Wearing hat until my hair grow? Or is there any way to make my hair grow faster?

FAERWELL TO COLLEAGUE AGAIN

One more colleague has resigned so we went to Jin Luo Bao Korean Restaurant to have farewell dinner with her. We ordered too many food and we hardly finish all!! :D I was all full for whole night!! We all questioned her and I finally know why she resigned!! Taking care of her son is only excuse, the main reason is she hates our boss!! Hahaha :D She is a nice person, it's kinda sad to see her leave. Hopefully we will hire a new staff soon... Darn my assistant is going to leave too... Hard work!!

I LOVE OYSTERS!!

Dinner at Island Seafood & Oyster Bar tonight. It was great!!! The environment and the service were good!! We mainly focused on oysters so we didn't order many dishes. We had Wagyu Angel Hair Pasta and different kind of oysters.

The waitress recommended us St. Peter Island (from Australia), Fine De Clarie, Roumegous and Perle Blanc (From French). They were all so delicious and fresh!! I like Fine De Clarie and Perle Blanc most. The Perle Blanc was creamy, rich and sweet!! Fine De Clarie didn't have strong "sea taste" and it was good. St. Peter Island and Roumegous were a bit salty but pretty good. I will definately go there again tho it's expensive!! Luckily someone treated us tonight :D Yay!!

After dinner, shopped around and then bought a nice hat. Didn't plan to buy a hay coz I don't wear often. But it was on sale and it looks nice :P

HERE YOU GO! MUNICH!!

Yay I'm going to Munich at the end of September!! ;) Kinda unexpected, huh? It was a bit rush to decide going there tho, I have just confirmed my ticket today!! My manager was reluctant to approve my vacation coz someone is going to leave. She asked me to change the departure date but I can't!! There is no choice for her :D I'm a bit excited for my trip now!! It will be Munich Oktoberfest when I go there!! I can imagine how fun it would be! I really should learn some German and get to know more about this country :P Luckily I have a friend who is so helpful and kind to help us!! :) Can't wait to go there!!

FRINGE CLUB LIVE JAZZ ORCHESTRA

Watched Live Jazz Orchestra at Fringe Club, it was great!! But the theatre was small and there were not enough seats so we had to stand all the way. But I enjoyed it!!

After watching the orchestra, we wanted to have a drink at LKF but all the pubs were full of people so we went to TST Ned Kelly's to have a drink, eat some snacks and enjoy Jazz band show again. It's really a good place to chitchat and relax!!

"big onion rings @ Ned Kelly's"

NASTY WORK

My company is expanding and there is reformation such as enhancing our brand and image to attract more customers. Our boss usually has many ideas and he's just taken over another company. That means our workloads are increasing. I got many meetings recently and I have to deal with some producing companies and stuff... It's ok I can deal with it.

But today got a really BAD news, my assistant just handed in her resignation letter!! Oh my godness!! She has worked for 2 months only!! She thinks her job is kinda boring and she wants to work in a sales and marketing team (but our company doesn't have sales and marketing department!!) I think she is quite smart and efficient and I was going to teach her more but now it's a problem for me if she is going to leave in a week. I have to take over all her work!!

My manager has some suggestions for me:

1) She has a middle-age Japanese friend, who doesn't know any Cantonese or English. My manager THINK she wouldn't mind to be my assistant and she can work well.
My opinion: I don't want a Japanese assistant it's only my manager thinks she is suitable. It's a big problem if she can't communicate with the non-Japanese speaking warehouse staffs and accountants. How can I order her to deal with things with other staffs?

2) Hiring a cheap local data entry assistant who doesn't speak Japanese. Or not to hire anyone but we all share the workloads.
My opinion: As my assistant, of course I prefer if she can speak Japanese and Cantonese, I don't want to translate everything all the time! I'm not a translator! If they don't hire another assistant for me, I don't think the other colleagues are free to take over some workloads! That means I have to do by myself!

As a conclusion, my company isn't willing to pay more to hire a better person. I'm sick to teach someone who doesn't work long. It's kinda wasting my time. What should I do? Doing all the work by myself?

NED KELLY'S

Chilling out at Ned Kelly's after French lesson. I wanted to go there long time ago since I knew there is Jazz live band show. Didn't plan to go there tonight but suddenly someone also wanted to go too so we went there to see how it is.

It's totally like a differnt world when I get into the pub. The woody decoration and atmosphere are good!! It's a how Jazz/Blues bar should feel like. Most of them are foreigners and middle-aged customers, they go there to enjoy the live Jazz music. We ordered few drinks, potato skins and salad. The potato skins were great but I didn't like the salad. Can't believe they made with canned tuna.

Live band show is from around 9.30pm - 1am. Luckily we booked the table, the pub was quite full! We had to share a table with 3 Dutch men. But they were nice and funny and they talked to us. I supposed they are also Jazz lovers! They even bought us drinks without telling us! I had great time and I love the live Jazz music!! It makes me want to learn saxophone so much!! I was in cheerful mood and I felt so relaxed. A great place to chill out!!

FEELING DOWN

Have been feeling a bit down recently... I'm unable to feel excited or energetic about anything... What should I blame? The bad weather? The nasty work or someone who doesn't do something constructive? It really irritates and frustrates me. A friend reckons I'm easy to be annoyed recently but I just can't help. Of course I want to be happy always but what should I be happy for?

RUSH HOUR 3

Watched RUSH HOUR 3 tonight. Not a best movie but it was funny!! There was no gripping storyline, the stunts were okay, just old tricks of Jackies'. Not much surprise and predictable ending but it was interesting. The jokes and gags make me laugh. The movie is a bit too American and I don't think French people would like it LOL

RIVIERA CÔTE D'AZUR

Joined a travel seminar of France today, it makes me want to travel to France so much!!! Know some more about the geography of France and the way to travel there by train. Seems it's not that difficult!! I have a clear picuture that where to visit!! Tho I'm not going to Europe this year, I can plan it for next year!! Paris, Riviera Côte d'Azur are a must go place!! Can't wait for my trip!!

After the seminar, dinner with friend at TST and then we went to Central and shopped around at H&M. New Autum and Winter clothes are released!! So fast!! It's still hot summer!! I found a nice coat but it's too hot to buy it right now... May be I should wait to buy it later. Then we had drinks at LKF, we drank 2 cocktails at The Fong and I got a bit tipsy. Fell asleep immediately when I got into the bus :P Luckily I still could get off the bus and go home :D

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was hilarious! I watched The Simpsons cartoons since I was very small so I hardly remember the personaility of the characters and the story. But I quite like the movie!! Homer does something truly thoughtless and stupid. It's a plain, simple comedy. A bit short tho it makes you laugh a lot!

TESTING PHOTOS

Having some tests on my camera, overall it's excellent!! It's complicated and I have to spend more time to figure out how to use!! Finally I can try to take some pics with depth of field. I have Snoopys to test with me :D The Snoopys are clear and the background is blurry, it's what I want but the Snoopys are not sharp enough. I think I didn't focus quite well. Need to practise more!!

CANON 400D

Yay here we go!! My *New Toy* Canon 400D!! I got it finally!! I have been waiting for few weeks!! :D And today I spent a lot!! I bought a camera bag, a 4G CF card and a 400D guide book, they are necessaries so I have to buy them... I'm so poor now!! But it's a thrilling day!! Can't wait to test my camera!! It feels so great to own a DSLR!! :D

NEW WATCH

Shopped around at MongKok and dinner at Pizza Hut with friends today. Didn't have mood becoz of the rain. I really don't like going out during rainy days. It's annoying! I just wanna do window shopping and I didn't intend to buy anything but then when we went into an accessories shop, a watch caught my attention! I bought it without much consideration :P Those evil friends just made me to buy it!! LOL Actually I really love watches and I'm quite into classic simple watches recently. Can't afford to buy my dream watch and I think it's not too extravagant to buy a cheap one, is it? :D

KENZO + HAAGEN-DAZS

Dinner at Kenzo with family tonight. The food was quite good but it wasn't as good as I expected. I had it once 2 years ago and last time it was great! May be we didn't order the expensive stuff lol Anyway we had good time and enjoyed the food.

After dinner, hung around and then had dessert at Haagen-Dazs. I like the German cheese cake!! Not too sweet and it tasted good! :D Let me try to make one by myself!! :D

TYPHOON SIGNAL #8

Thanks for the typhoon!! I was off from work at 2:30pm today. Didn't want to go home right away so went to APM cinema to see if there were tickets for The Simpons. But there were too may people and only 1st row was avaiable!! Then my colleague suggested to play bowling but the bowling alley was full too! The shops were also going to closed so nothing we could do. Finally we had to go home. It was a waste to go home tho I had some time to relax :)

DEAD END

It's hard to say I enjoy or I'm tired of busy life. I should be happy to do something I like and I don't want to regret when I'm old. But sometimes when I rest myself and think about it, seems like I'm rushing myself to do many things at once. I don't like the feeling of doing nothing, it makes me feeling bored and losing my way. Some people may not understand but please don't blame me if I'm too busy. I know what my top priority is and I'm trying my best to arrange my schedule. Really need to figure out what to do, otherwise it's going to the dead end. Gimme some more time!

FAREWELL DINNER

A colleague is going to leave and today is his last day so we had farewell dinner with him. I'm glad that finally he can find another job coz our manager was too mean to him. Also this job really doesn't suitable for him, there is no meaning to be suffer here. Really hope he can have better prospect in the next company!!

We had buffet dinner at Todai, the food was good!! Haven't been there for a long time!! I like the uni sushi and the loster!! They were goood!! The oysters were ok, not fresh enough so I didn't eat much. I love the dessert!! They were tiny and sweet!! :D Overall it was good!! It wasn't really like a farewell dinner coz we didn't act like we would miss him coz I'm sure we will see again soon! Hong Kong is small, right?