just desserts...

today was a busy day.. started off with a welcome tea session for my grad course that starts next week. was kinda apprehensive about the class.. was hoping that the people in the class would be nice (and cool) enough to befriend. figure that having friends in class would make the next 9 mths more bearable! the welcome session itself was ok.. one of my ex-colleagues is part of the organising staff so we had a nice catch-up. looks like there are a couple of nice, friendly ppl in the class, but i guess only time will tell if we'll get along.

got stranded at nus cos of ths horrendous downpour. finally made it home looking like a pathetic wet dog. sigh.

followed the hubby to the Touch Diabetes Centre where he's volunteering for some fund-raising activities.. figured i'd chip in and help out with any copywriting they need done. i'm obviously not a professional, but i figure that i can at least offer, and they can then decide if it's acceptable or not.

"finally made it home looking like a pathetic wet dog"

went bike shopping after that. we're looking for a road bike for me. that way perhaps i can keep up with kale when he's on his mtn bike. or at least i can hope! didn't get anything, but at least he knows more or less what we're looking for now. also bought him his b'day present. the boy wanted socks for his birthday (don't ask).. so we went sock shopping too. he's now the proud owner of 6 pairs of new socks.. yeay him!

we were also inspired by jamie oliver's "naked chef" and decided to try our hand at making chocolate mousse and sesame snaps. the snaps are looking good.. the jury is still out on the mousse though, it's still setting in the fridge. will let you know how it goes... but yeah, making the dessert was definitely fun. i think the cooking bug has bitten... will see what other fancy gluten-free concoctions we can conjure up!!!

looking forward to an easy sunday at home tomorrow..just chilling.

UPDATE: choc mousse eez good... mmmmm.... we may have a keeper.

life's reminders

today was a pretty draining day. got woken up by a call from my parents saying that my paternal grandma had passed away. the rest of the day was spent with the many funeral arrangements and the actual wake itself. there are just so many things and rituals to be done that i felt pretty lost.

was supposed to go watch kale's indiv time trial today, but obviously that didn't happen. he didn't do as well as he hoped, but given the circumstances, who can blame him?

anyhow, i'm going to go catch some shut eye before going back to the wake tomorrow morning. i;m on compassionate leave for the next 2 days, so at least i should be able to help out somewhat. the funeral's only on thursday, so the next couple of days are going to be pretty draining.

anyway, with respect to the title of this blog... today really made me realise the fragility of life, and the importance of family. i'm too tired to wax lyrical about it, but i thought i'd just pen it down so that when i look back, i can remember what was going through my head at the time. tis, after all, the purpose of a journal, no?

TGIF!!

Man, it's been a loooooong week. The jet lag hit hard on Wednesday, and we've been deprived of sleep ever since. It's been sheer torture trying to get up for work in the morning, and I don't know how Kale does it cos I've only had to get up slightly under 2 hours after him, and I'm still fighting to crawl out of bed.

Thank goodness it's Friday though. We can finally sleep in tomorrow. Phew. Time to run some other errands tomorrow, but other than that, it should be an easy day. Sunday brings the time trial race for Kale... so that'll be another packed day.

I received official confirmation this past week of my rotation, so I guess I can blog about it. Come 1st Sept (which just happens to be my birthday) I move over to the Intellectual Property group. It's not where I would have expected I'd end up, given everything, but I guess everything comes full circle. When I first joined the company, my previous boss headed both groups, and I was given a choice between IP and my current group. I chose my current group cos it was more established and I thought I could learn more as a freshie... but 3 and a half years later, I guess fate has its way and I'm heading over there.

I'm excited and a little nervous. I've been in my current group for long enough that I'm comfortable and I know my way around. Joining a new group means picking up new stuff and learning to work with new people and a new boss. Kinda unnerving. On top of that, I'm also starting a grad course in IP related law to support my new job. So I'm a little concerned I've bitten off more than I can chew. Especially since I will need to pass my course since I'm being sponsored for it. *bites nails*

I haven't studied for so long that I'm not so sure if I know how to go back to school! It's ironical that I'll be starting school around the same time my sis does! Only difference is I'll be trying to figure out how to juggle school and work. Egads. School starts in 2 weeks so we'll see how it goes. Kale and I are trying to take swimming lessons in preparation for more triathlons next year but with the class, I'm not so sure we can figure out how to squeeze it all in. Kale's thinking of taking Chinese classes so that he can embark on some self-enrichment too while I'm occupied in school. That way I won't be able to talk behind his back anymore! heh.

Ok lah, time to wrap this up and consider hitting the sack. Tis getting late.. shall try to catch up on sleep... G'nite world.

Bicycle Diaries - Tour De France 2005 vacation

Here's my "dissertation" (as coined by the soon-to-be Dr. Buonerba). Hope it doesn't put you to sleep as quickly as some of my other work papers are bound to do!! Read from top down... tried to do it in chronological order with different days in different entries so it's not too long. I tend to be a little verbose when I write! *sheepish grin*

Day 0: Friday

Kale and I rush home from our respective workplaces... get a quick shower in, and pack up the last minute things. Mom kindly offers us a ride to the airport, and without much further ado (and a full 3 hours early) we arrive at the airport. We were unsuccessful in bargaining for better seats and were stuck waaay in the back of the bus (row 67 or something retarded like that). Mom has a minor panic attack when she can't find her wallet (turns out it was left in the car), and after we help her "find" it, we head off in through immigration.

After what feels like ages of waiting, we pile into the plane and promptly fall asleep for 7 hours (the best way to fly, if you ask me) and wake up in time to catch "Million Dollar Baby" prior to landing. Arrive in Frankfurt at 5am local time... marvel at the amazing "smoking areas", which are essentially just signs put up near tall ashtrays with no visible ventilation systems. Great.

Day 1: Saturday - Zurich

Arrive at Zurich International Airport at 7:40am. Locate the hotelbus (not the Joker Bus, which believe it or not, is really a name of another hotel shuttle!) and get to the Welcome Inn without any fuss at all. Room turns out to be pretty darn nice... Good start to the vacation, I say!

We get turned away at the breakfast restaurant (cos we apparently don't have "breakfast rooms") and venture out in search of breakfast. Get our first taste of ridiculous Swiss prices. Settle for a Napoleon Slice from the nearby backerie, deli ham and yoghurt. First time (with many more to follow) when Kale tries to ask for a spoon for his yogurt in a non-English speaking store (now we know it's la cuiller). Sweet. Take our food to the nearby square to savour our food (and newfound freedom) in the cool brisk air and bright sunshine. We marvel at the number of bikes on the roads, and the lack of people and cars. Nice.



The Backerie outside our hotel in Kloten

Having brekky in the square and enjoying the sunshine and cool air


Shortly after, while we're lying around watching telly in the hotel room, we hear the distinctive American accent floating up from the parking lot. And lo and behold.. the rest of the Buonerba entourage has arrived. Kale gets an exceptionally warm welcome from Dangerboy (read: Wes runs straight into his arms for a bear hug at first sight!). We all surmise it's cos of the uncanny resemblance between the 2 buonerba brothers... don't think Wes can really tell the difference quite yet. Bet he just figures he gets 2 for the price of 1.. yeah!

The whole herd wanders out for "lunch" at the same convenience store (hotdogs for the girls and more yogurt for Kale)... before we head out by train to downtown Zurich.

Zurich was really really pretty... my parents and I had visited when I was perhaps Carissa's age, but I don't remember anything about it.. this time around though, I soaked it all in and have pictures to help jolt the memories a couple of years from now. The river was beautiful, the buildings were quaint, and the weather was lovely. There was also a "teddy" Zurich theme with 4 foot high teddies placed all over town - good for distracting kiddies, I say!

Walked all the way down to Zurichsee, and then caught a riverboat thingamajig back to the train station where the girls (and their shirts) had ice cream before we headed back to the hotel.


Hunting for lunch with the whole entourage

In the train on the way to Zurich

Teddy tour of Zurich- first bear to get accosted by Jess and Carissa

The Schmuck bros..

The geek engineers trying to figure out Pythagoras' theorem

This is how you know you're married.. your husband is looking elsewhere (presumably at some hot chica) when your pic is being taken..

Dangerboy with sidekick in tow

The "cool" uncle with his charges 

Day 2: Sunday - Geneva

Woke up bright and early, checked out and had breakfast in the hotel breakfast room. Hardboiled eggs in egg cups, bacon, bread and yogurt. Yum. Wes kept us in the waitress's good books by continuously flirting with her... =) Way to go, Wes!!

Headed off to church. My first Catholic Mass in German. Wow. I *thought* I knew my order of mass. I was wrong. Goodness. Now I know what it must be like to be a kid sitting in church where nothing makes sense. Yup. Interesting.

The drive to Geneva was pretty uneventful.. Cinderalla 2 was playing in the back of the Alligator to keep the girlies occupied. We dropped the 2 brothers off midway for a ride and then Lisa drove while I unsuccessfully attempted to navigate our way to the Hotel Le Grenil in Geneva. The Swiss need to learn that the whole idea behind road signs is that they NEED TO BE SEEN. Not hidden in some nice small fancy font on the side of some building. But thanks to some decent mapreading *ahem ahem* and a WHOLE load of luck, we found our way there. I'm just glad I was navigating for Lisa and not Dave!! *chuckle*...


"Rockin' the hottest outfits" - enroute to Geneva

Secret training for Tour De France 2012



The guys show up soon after, all sweaty and all. The hotel rooms are pretty fancy, if a little rundown. We get the top floor complete with a connecting roof-top balcony with some sort of a view. We headed off to do the foot tour of Geneva. Conclusion? Zurich is far prettier, and feels safer. Give me Zurich over Geneva.

Other conclusion of the day? Asian food is far friendlier for gluten-free diets! There's practically nothing that's gluten-free and substantial in Switzerland (save fries).



View from the balcony outside our rooms. Not so scenic, eh?

Lake Geneve

A stiff breeze in Geneva 

Day 3: Monday - La Tania

Dave attempts to put the bathroom door that Dangerboy pulled off back together again. The car gets packed up again, and we head off in the direction of Courchevel. The guys get off at Albertville, and get set to ride to La Tania where our hotel is.

Dangerboy and his harem motor over to Moultier to get groceries. I have never been grocery shopping with 3 kids under the age of 7 before. Tis an experience, I tell you. I have also never been grocery shopping where they don't give you bags for your groceries. Tis yet another experience. Chalk another one up for me.


On the way to Courchevel. I'm blocking the Tour De France sign. Duh.

We get into La Tania (after ogling at men going uphill in spandex for pretty much the rest of the way up to the hotel) and then realise that the reception system in France works very different than in any other place I've ever been to. There is no receptionist on duty. Hmm. The door to the room is open, and you come back later (after 5pm, when the receptionist deigns to show up) to pick up your keys and linens. Hmm. We check out the room and then attempt to unload the car with 3 kids in tow. Now that is a sight to see.

I have decided that I'm not so sure if I'm keen on the Buonerba-style family vacation. Every vacation so far has turned into some form of a physical challenge for me. First skiing/snowboarding in Utah, then hiking in Hawaii, and then now pushing a creaky, rusty luggage cart with tons of baggage from the ONLY parking lot all the way across the resort to the room. Yeah. These Buonerbas, I tell you, are crazy. =p

Lisa asks if I feel like a power woman yet, and I reply with a feeble "no"... especially not when faced with a ton of luggage and 3 kids. I have to say Lisa has definitely earned her new last name. I'm still working on it. Think I'll keep "Soh" for a while longer until I've earned my stripes. Or maybe FOREVER!!!

The guys make it back WAAAY later than expected. Guess the TDF boys make the slope up to La Tania look like a piece of cake, cos the ride up took more out of them than they thought. But thankfully they made it back without much incident. Lisa, Kale and I headed out to the store and the car to get more stuff out of the car. For 3 small people, these kids have a lot of stuff! We get caught in a hailstorm in the process..(Yes, another first for me).. and end up looking like pathetic soggy dogs by the time we get back.

"Celebrated" Lisa's birthday with a citron tart and a birthday song..and then crashed into bed.


Lisa's birthday celebration - that citron tart was goood!!

View out of front of Maeva resort @ La Tania

Day 4: Tuesday - Stage 10 of TDF

Get up and have breakfast before driving down to Le Praz to catch Stage 10. Staked out a spot by the side of the hill where the kids could see above the heads of grown-ups. Waited, and waited, and waited... there was a loooootttt of waiting. Had a minor spat with my lovely husband in the middle of the TDF euphoria. Ah, married life, ain't it grand?


Us (and Jess on the swing) in the playground in the resort

Kale in Le Praz where we hung out to wait for the cyclists to come by. Fassa Bortolo bus (I think) coming up behind him

Atmosphere shot  

The promo caravan finally came around. Man, you think only Singaporeans are nuts about freebies? Think again!! Some of these European people are willing to risk their lives for a pack of gummi bears! Dang.


Credit Lyonnaise float signalling the start of the Tour De France promotional convoy

Haribo freebies...


Eons later, the bike riders finally come around...and here are some shots of them coming by. I would say who they are, but aside from Chris Horner and Lance Armstrong and that Urikunov (sp?) dude, I have no idea who everyone else is.


Little girl on very expensive bike. Starting 'em young

American Dangerboy!!!

Tour De France groupies

There goes Lance on the far right...

Erm.. T-mobile guy...

Chris Horner in yellow

Some other dudes... err...

Some other dude... yeeaahh... 

I felt cheated cos I totally missed Lance come by. I was looking out for the yellow jersey, but of course, I neglected to realise that he WASN'T in the yellow jersey that day. Duh!

The atmosphere wasn't as crazy as the tv makes it out to be. Kind of a letdown actually. Cool, but not as cool as we had thought. Kale comes to the conclusion that he's a "sporting event on tv" type of person rather than a "sporting event in real life" type of person. I'd say I have to agree.

Day 5: Wednesday - Start of Stage 11 of TDF

Kale, Dave and I plan on riding down to Le Praz to see the start of the race. Only problem? I have no bike, and Lisa's bike is a tad big. By a tad, I mean that I can't touch the pedals. Yeah, boy do I feel lame.

So Kale and I take the conventional way down to Le Praz. We walk down. After hanging down there for what feels like 2 hours baking in the sun, we see absolutely NOTHING. We see 2 team buses, but no one coming out of them. Kale did see Bobby Julich ride by on his bike though.


Crazy ski jumpers at Le Praz

Staking out of the team buses, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone important


We figure we'd might as well walk back up to the hotel, and by the time we get there, we realise that the Buonerba clan has staked out the roundabout near the hotel, resplete with US flags and all.



The hamburg-ers in the roundabout


The peloton with the Discovery boys in front come charging up the road, and true enough, they split up on either side of the roundabout that we're standing on and form up on the other side. Neat. Very cool.


Peloton charging down the road

Here they come....

There goes Lance & the yellow jersey

Joining back up on the other side of the roundabout

Here come the team cars

T-mobile

Discovery .. 

The girls went for a swim and then the guys headed off for another ride while Lisa took the kids for a hike while I camped out with my book and ipod.. nice. Had huge hamburgers for dinner and then crashed into bed while the rest of the adults caught the TDF on tv.

Day 6 - Driving day

Piled in the Alligator again. Long drive this time. By the time we go to our first stop (the mountain pass that crosses the border between Italy and France), I was significantly car-sick. Just couldn't get my head around those darn switchbacks. But the cool mountain air and really beautiful scenery quickly took care of the nausea.


The crocodile all loaded up

Welcome to Italy...

Sound of music, anyone?

Picture perfect



After a quick toilet break, we headed back down the other side and continued driving through more winding roads. Ugh. I have to say that Dave and Lisa are blessed to have kids with stomachs of steel! Those kids were playing with jigsaw puzzles and eating cheetos while slouched in the back of the car and were none worse for the wear. Man!


Kale and Mt Bianco, supposedly the tallest mountain in Europe

Our little "pension" in Fluelen 


We finally pulled into the town of Fluelen a couple of hours south of Zurich. The original plan was to stay there for 2 nites, but we couldn't get 2 rooms for 2 nites, so we ended up only staying for 1. This was the first time I had ever driven into a place without having accomodation and having to figure it out. I've always thought that you'd get ripped off since they knew you'd take whatever they had to offer. But I guess it worked out ok. Dave found a very quaint little "pension" run by a sweet lil old Swiss lady who absolutely adored Wes and the girls. It was her b'day the day after we arrived, and she had all 6 kids and 11 grandkids coming over to celebrate. Phew.

Another first - the rooms didn't have attached bathrooms, and I ventured out to the bathroom before bed and boy, was it dark! You have to understand that coming from a place like Singapore where you don't really need headlights to drive around at nite cos it's so bright, going to somewhere like Fluelen can be quite a shocker. It was pitchdark in that stairway, and I was groping my way past these freaky face masks with long flowy hair in the hallway. Dave said they're traditionally put up in the Alps to ward away evil spirits. That night they were scaring away more than just spirits!!! Yeah... I also managed to successfully kill 3 flies that were buzzing around the bed. Euuwww..