September's here finally.
The month of August saw me doing a lot of travelling and no blogging...
August 6 ~ 10, I was in Istanbul.
August 17 ~ 22, I visited Nice in France and Monte Carlo in Monaco.
August 23 ~ 31, I returned to Singapore for vacation (a week!)
September is going to be my last month of expatriation. I am repatriating to Singapore in the middle of this month.
But more about this later.
I went to Singapore and all I got was a lousy....
...Portable Hard Disk!
I bought it when I visited COMEX 2008.
Is COMEX an abbreviation for Computer Exhibition or Communication Exhibition? I never can tell but it is the largest IT exhibition organized in Singapore annually.
COMEX is therefore a much anticipated affair as Singaporeans are flocking there to look for the latest bargain price on digital cameras, notebooks, printers, mobile equipments and other electronic products.
I hate crowds. If I hadn't wanted portable hard disk, I wouldn't have gone. After going around some of the booths, I shortlisted my choice to 3 brands:
Maxtor
Western Digital
Imation
Their prices were about the same: around SGD125 (USD90) for 250GB. The difference was in the bundling. For instance, Imation comes with a free protective sticker and a pouch.
Long story short, I went for this Western Digital one:
I got it because I thought it was the best looking among the 3. I am such a sucker for product design when it comes to shopping. I bought 2 additionally for Xinyi and her friend KK. I hope they don't regret my decision.
Ramadan and Mid-Autumn Festival
When I returned to Beirut, it is the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month. For the Chinese, we are anticipating the Mid-Autumn Festival that falls on the full moon of August in the Lunar year.
The difference from our Muslim brethens is that, we eat.
We eat mooncakes. A lot of them!
It is a sweet cake-like pastry with a very sweet lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk filling.
The mooncakes I bought looks something like those in this picture. The round egg yolk filling resembles the moon.To be exact, Muslims also eat a lot of during the breaking of fast during Ramadan. Especially the sweet stuff. Come to think of it, we're not so different after all. Everybody eats a lot of sweet things and gain a lot of weight. Only difference is that their practice is just a bit more restrictive in that they have to fast a little during the day.
So I bought some mooncakes to be brought back to Beirut. Somehow I got a discount buying mooncakes from Marriot hotel Singapore, which is rather known for their mooncakes.
Anyway, my intention was to bring some mooncakes to my Asian colleagues working in Algeria. Somehow, the moon in Algeria is especially big and them being far away from home during this occasion, so I thought it might be a nice touch.
.... RAMADAM KARIM & HAPPY MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL to ALL!!!
2 comments:
Sadness & Sorrow ...
Are the two of you heading back to Singapour for once and for all ?
Definitely ?
Won't you miss our watermelons ?
Not to mention the power supply black outs (you were unfortunate for settling down in that Algiers suburb black spot, one of many for sure ! ^^), the driving jerks, the pork meal stealing maid ... the listing is not exhaustive ! :P
Well, i will miss your expat posts, of both of you ... é_è
Long story short, it was my pleasure reading you, but don't give up on me, don't you dare, i have an addiction now, as much addictive as Xinyi's for coffee, Oh yeah ! It's a hell of an addiction as you can see !
Happy flying back ! :)
PS : Funny ! I also spotted out that WD external HD, the black colored one tough : 76€ for 500 Go storage.
Seems i made a better deal ! ^^
Phaeton,
We are definitely going back to Singapore for good. Our last day in Beirut is 17th September.
From then on, life is definitely gonna be boring. Life in Singapore can be considered pretty standard and therefore often taken for granted.
So I think I will never forget the exciting time I spent in MENA, where life situations can happen on an almost daily basis.
And yes, you guessed right. How can I not miss the succulent, sweet gigantic melons! (not trying to sound risque here).
I'll also miss coming from work to a TV that is blasting Arabic music video because the maid has been watching TV instead of doing my dishes properly.
I will definitely miss driving on the left side.
Anyway, watch out for my new blog after my expat blog is defunct.
I shall stay in touch!
It has been a pleasure for this blog to have your support all this while!
Take Care!
Alan
PS: Yeah well....mine's definitely cooler... >_<
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