Riverdance

Nelson & I watched a theatre show 2 weeks ago. It was my first time sitting inside a classic theatre to watch a live performance!

Riverdance is a world-class performance of Irish dance, which is also known as Stepdance.

Stepdance might seems easy to master at first glance but in fact not easy at all.

How could you move your leg so rapidly and control your upper body movement in synch at the same time? Outstretch arm too? It's so ridiculously tough!

The show was really SUPERB & SPLENDID!

Personally, I like a part where other form of dance is incorporated into the choreograph of stepdance.

Traditional Stepdance VS "Hip hop Stepdance". Funny yet interesting!

Apart from the brilliant dancers, the musicians are excellent too!

The musician I love most is definitely the drummer of the show!!!!! He is so funny!!!

He was busy all the time! He has got 3 sets of different types of drums and a big gong. He was hopping left and right to play the set drums and percussions. He seems to enjoy it so much.

He is SO CUTE!!! VERY CUTE!!!

Tax Free

No wonder people always say Dublin is an expensive place to live at!!! Even the duty free shops in airport are no exception.

I have wanted to buy a parfume for quite a while. Brown Thomas is selling the CD at €99 for a 100ml EDT.

When I was passing by Dublin Airport during my trip to Scotland, the tax free shop is selling it at €69. I was hesitating and thought that it might be cheaper at UK airports. Kudos! I am right! It's sold at £45 (approximately €59) at Edinburgh airport.

€10 cheaper!!! I bought the CD parfume and a facial cleanser.

I also got myself a pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans last week at Arnotts during the clearance sales!

It's definitely a big steal :)
Shopping is always GOOD therapy!

加班

昨天放了一天假，突然今天变成有很多事要做。唯有加班。

前两天都只睡了三四个小时。好累！好累！

虽然这不算什么；比起以前的工作，实在好多了。

加班，根本就不存在老外的字典。今天会加班实在少有。

加班之后，还要和同事们到酒吧喝两杯。这一早就约定了，我还差点把它给忘了呢！

目的是为了抓住夏天的尾巴而庆祝一番。我看他们是要找理由喝酒而已，哈哈！

天啊！夏天的过去。。。这代表着秋，冬天的来临。好怕那冷冷的天气哦!

Sigh

雨天

虽然在爱尔兰是一件见惯不怪的事，但还是会令人觉得忧郁和纳闷。

雨后真的会有彩红吗？

Half ten at night

Two idiots were craving for desert at around half ten. Idiot A decided to bake a cake. Idiot B offered to help. Both of them finished all the preparation in half an hour. The cake needs to be baked for a good 50-55mins!

The baking tray seems to be a bit small for the amount of batter prepared. Idiot A was afraid the batter would be overflowed when it was being baked. Idiot B thought that would not happen but though that it would be bloated like a mushroom. Both of them kept checking the cake every 15mins to see whether has the batter overflown nor has it been over-baked, burnt.

Both of the idiots were sleepy while waiting for the cake.

At 11.50pm, the cake was done and it's perfect!

They had a slice of cake and a cuppa eventhough they were sleepy. They felt so satisfied and went to sleep.

~THE END~

What a stupid night!!!!!

30mins

Yes, finally. I ran 30mins non-stop on a treadmill!!! I broke my last record. *Happy*

The gym has a sun tanning room where there are a few sunbeds that you could make your skin tanned!!! Hmmm...should I try? I'm not a fair skin gal nor I have very dark skin colour. So I'm in between *黄皮肤* and that doesn't look healthy. Tanned skin looks absolutely healthy, at least to the Irish!!!

Nel does not agreed as he thinks I would look like a philipino maid -_-"

Movie time

I could not remember when was the last time we went to a cinema. I only remember it was National Treasure that we had watched. It's ages ago!

We watched The Mummy 3 today and I think the movie is not that nice. I still prefer Mummy 1.

Butlers

We went to city centre today to do some shopping. It rained out of sudden. It was heavy rain!! The raindrops were massive.

To wait for the rain to stop, we decided to shelter at this cafe chain - Butlers Choc Cafe :)

They have got great hot chocolate. Love them =D
Hubby ordered a cappucino and I had a hot chocolate. And we had a slice of Americano cheese cake as well.

Sometimes it feels just so relaxing to just sit at a cafe for a cuppa and watch the world goes by.

Don't you think so?

Madrid

After so many days of travelling around Spain, we finally stepped down at Madrid! The capital city of Spain!

We were so tired!!! It's the 10th day! Alan even brought some ginseng medicine along, hoping they'd boost up his energy to last the whole trip.

The bear and strawberry tree at Puerta del Sol, Madrid. I've heard that it's a symbol of Madrid and one of the most popular meeting places. This is also the ZERO km spot.

We saw lots of people queing at lottery shops. Anywhere, anytime!!! I was wondering are they so addicted to gambling. Not only selling at the dedicated shops, there were even roadside stalls selling them too! I wonder is that legal? Only after that that I realised there was a special jackpot prize on new year eve.

Plaza Mayor

We wanted to visit Palacio Real, the Madrid castle but it was closed on new year eve. Damn it! We only managed to peep from the entrance gate from afar.

New year eve is not a pulic holiday in Spain...why did they not open?

Let us in!!!

Then we decided to stroll around the city and do some shopping. Zara and MNG are so cheap over there. Both of the brands are originally from Spain and they are categorised as high street fashion.

However they are quite expensive in M'sia lor.



One of the most fascinating things we encountered here has to be the way they celebrate and count down on new year eve. Most of them would get themself a wig! A very bright colour wig! They wore it and walked around the city. I wanted to get one too but none of them was interested to join me.

Nelson, Alan and Kher Sin...you old folks, come on!

During the countdown party before midnight, Madrilenos would usually have 12 grapes ready in their hands. When the clock hits 12am at midnight, they would eat one grape at one time synchronising with the striking tempo of the bell.


Dong...down one grape

Dong..another...

Dong...(X12)


So, 12grapes!!! Get me? Then make a wish. Your wish would come true!


Our lovely hotel prepared the grapes for us too.


Wait a minute, how to eat 12grapes within the 12 seconds???

I read the travel guide again, it said "SWALLOW"!!!!

Oh my god, eventhough the size of a grape isn't that big, I didn't think we are able to achieve the feat.


Anyway, we tried! All of us failed! No one of us was able to swallow 12 grapes as planned!

Nel even tried to swallow but fail to finish as well. Ha-ha. Crazy fellow!

Countdown party at downtown Madrid, Puerta del Sol

Madrid was our second last destination at Spain before we journeyed to Guadarrama for tobogganing.

I would say it was a great trip and a great experience for me EXCEPT....

I really want to watch BULL FIGHTING!!!!! There was no performance during Winter :(

Segovia

Segovia is probably the city that I love most in Spain! The festive atmosphere within the old city walls was just magnificent. It was almost become dusk when we arrived by train.



Aqueduct of Segovia - the most recognized symbol in Segovia which was left by Romans two thousands years ago.

There was a small group of brass band singing Christmas carols from door to door marching towards the central square in the old city. The locals and passer-bys would join them and sing along. With the medieval backdrops, I felt as if I have travelled five hundred years back into an old European village.

Segovia Cathedral

By all mean the largest building structure in Segovia sitting handsomely atop the hill. Sometimes I am really curious why would the ancient people spend so much resources and energy to build such a prominent structure in such a small city.

Alcazar of Segovia

Fairy tale-like castle built by the cliff. Gorgeous!

We should have overnight at Segovia.

I found an excuse for being messy!

Life is "interesting" and there are always untoward incidents happen along the way!

I had one last Friday. Well, it was not really a disastrous one as I discovered it early.

After a routine gym work out session, Nel and I were waiting to cross a road. It's red light then. Lots of people were around us waiting for the traffic light too. We were happily talking to each other while heading to bus stand to take a bus home.

Suddenly, I felt a jolt behind me as if somebody is trying to open my backpack. I shouted "Somebody opens my bag" and immediately I turned to my back.

OH-MYYY-GODDDD!!!!!

My bag has 3 compartments and 2 of them were wide-opened and the last one was half-opened!

I searched my wallet and hanphone promptly which were placed separately in 2 of the compartments and luckily there were still inside.

Standing right behind us were a middle-aged woman and a child, probably around 12-13yrs old. Discerning from their outlook and we can guess they might be from one of the Eastern European countries like Romania. I can't confirm (as I didn't see it spot on) whether they are the culprits who tried to open my bag but I am almost 99.9% sure that they are responsible for it!!!

It was crowded and jam-packed. I don't think the people behind them could reach my bag across them. Neither were the people beside them! So yes, they are the one!

I stared angrily at them and they did not even care to bother us! I've checked my bag and since no stuff was lost, there is no point to argue with them.

1) They obviously would not admit it.
2) I doubt that they could even speak English.
3) Nothing is lost.

Typically, when you're being stared at, wouldn't you usually would return a glance or question the person "is everything ok?" When I stared at the woman and the child, and I stared at them for quite a while, they just ignored me intentionally. Aren't they pretending to be innocent?!

Back to my title. Know the reason why they couldn't find my purse? Alright, this is not something to be proud of. But ya, because my bag is so messy. My wallet was actually at the outermost compartment and it was hidden behind a plastic bag, some tissues, a bunch of keys, bus schedule leaflets and some useless papers. All of these rubbish blocked their view.

My mobile was at the second compartment. This is again another messy compartment! There are some used bus and train tickets, lip balm, tic-tac, coins, cereal bar, etc etc etc. And of course the handphone was stucked beneath all these rubbish. Lucky me!

I don't care if I lose my purse because I don't usually put much cash in my purse. The maximum would be 50 euro only. However what concern me most are the atm card and identity card!

After this incident, instead of keeping those important cards in my purse, I put them in a card holder.

Oh man, I still could not believe it was a child who was trying to steal my purse!

Valencia, Spain

Another post on Spain trip again ;p


After spending 5days in Barcelona, we went to another city in Spain - Valencia.

We strolled around the city centre on the first day.

Make no mistake, there is no gold to be collected on the grass. Oh, maybe yes.

Answer : They were trying to clean the shits stained on their shoes!

Hahaha, so funny. Three of them kena dog shits! They thought they were so smart to walk on the grass. Lucky me, I did not follow their trail. I walked on the road shoulder instead :)

We went to visit the cathedral and castle but I have only vague memory on these places. They are not so special after all comparing to those in Barca. However the city centre itself and the ambience are very cosy and neat dotted with many classical buildings.

Merry Christmas! Ok, that was last year. Tee-hee -_-"

The next day, we went to the popular City of Arts and Sciences! The buildings itself at this area are eye-catching enough.

My first time seeing Beluga Whale!

The centre is HUGE! There are a Science Museum, Oceangraphic Park, Imax Cinema, Arts Centre etc etc. See, the area is so photogenic.

We went to Oceangraphic Park. The park is huge, we couldn't finish visiting it and treasured our stay there until the last minute before closure. They closed at 5.30pm because it was Christmas session.

Sigh, that will never happen in M'sia! Public holidays and weekends are the best day for business, ok!

I was so sad because I have not finished visiting the centre! The entrance ticket is not cheap though - 25euro ler.

The world is BIG with so many more places to visit and I don't think we would go back to the same place again!

Anyway, the City of Arts and Sciences is really a good place for family outing!

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

I know you read my blog! ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Yes, it's you!



Dear Father-in-law,

May all your wishes come true! Nel and I are looking forward for your visit to Ireland and Europe :)


P.S Mother-in-law..we are looking forward to travel with you too.

Forgetful

I forgot to bring my keys today!!!


I reached my apartment doorstep at 6pm and longed to rest at home soon. Who knows??? I forgot to bring the keys. I have used another hand bag this morning and forgot to take the keys.


Damn it!


So I went to the nearby supermarket and strolled around. I bought some useless snacks :p

Thinking that hubby would reach home at around 6.30pm which he usually does, I called him to locate him; he was still in the office.


Why were I so "lucky"?

Then I sat on the corridor outside my apartment and played games(mobile phone) while waiting for hubby. I waited for a good 30mins!


Nobody to blame but myself. Mom always scolds me for being forgetful :p