EAST TO WEST

NEW WEB ADDRESS

2008-09-25T16:37:00.002+02:00

Hi you... I have moved. Please update your blog to the new weblog address:

http://www.jenndonneo.com

Thank you for visiting this blog.

Tag About Me

2008-07-30T00:23:00.003+02:00

I got this tag from Joann. thanks.

1. When you buy a greetings card, are the words or the picture more important to you?
If I bought, it would be funny or sweet or light. But I prefer making them myself.

2. What's your favorite kind of cake?
I love any kind but mostly with soft and creamy cakes.

3. Do you ever make gifts for people, if so what, or do you buy them?
Yes I do, I make little scrapbooks for special people on a special occasion. I make my own 3D cards and make another different type of books as gifts. I do a lot more but sometimes when I can't find the time, I would just get something from a special shop and recreate.

4. What's your favorite holiday?
Emmmm... let me see, going to a hotel, and do nothing, or just lie down on a soft beach and read books or write something.

5. Are you going on holiday this year?
Yep. I am constantly on holiday, short trip here and there and if everything is ok with FIL, we'll be away for about a month. My holiday is already approved. hehe

6. What was the best party you've ever been to?
Too many to mention. I go to party almost every week so all are good. The best is I think, the party at my English sister's wedding in a castle in England in a couple of years back.

7. If you are married, describe your wedding. If not, what would your ideal wedding be like?
My wedding was a blast. Most of my relatives and friends were there. We got married on October 10th in Malaysia and had the reception together with my youngest brother who has been my darling 'little' brother. So, 2 couples with their own fairytales... hahaha..

8. What's the most romantic thing that's ever happened to you?
On top on a beautiful alp "Grosclockner' in Austria and looking at the beautiful white snow around us.

9. What's your favorite girls' name?
Sissy for Elizabeth.

10. What's your favorite boys' name?
My late grandfather's Christian names: Donneo Augustav

11. Which celebrity would you like a dream date with?
I have stopped dreaming to date a celebrity.

12. Which female celebrity do you find beautiful? Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston?
The sexy Angelina Jolie of course

13. Which male celebrity do you think is attractive?
Jeremy Northam from the film Emma

14. What is your best character trait?
Haven't figures out yet.

15. What is your worst habit?
Take a long nap after a heavy lunch or dinner.

So I have finished my tag and now I am going to tag :

Joyce

Quirin

Hilda

Bookworm tag

2008-07-29T23:28:00.003+02:00

I got this tag from Cousin Cel. Thanks cuz.

Here goes :

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
I can't remember. It was ages ago when I was still very very young I think.

What are some books you read as a child?
I remember Archie comics books, Enid Blyton, Hardy Boys, some Chinese books and some Malay books which I cannot seem to remember.

What is your favourite genre?
It varies. I used to read mystery, crime, western and some Asian novels. Since 2004, I started collecting and reading historical romance. Now I stopped reading HR temporarily because I'm into other non-fiction books or magazines.

Do you have a favourite novel?
I have many favourite novels and it is hard to just pick one. My favourite for the most complicated plots is Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. If I need a laugh, I just grabbed any of Teresa Medeiros, Julia Quinn or some other best authors books.

Where do you usually read?
It depends. I read everywhere. I always bring a book or a magazine or some articles with me wherever I go so I can read anytime. e.g. in the car/metro/train, at the park, in the middle of the city, in a cafe, at the beach, at my couch, in bed and the best is in my studyroom with the beautiful music in the background and the smell of burning candles.

When do you usually read?
On the way to work/home, when I feel like reading. When I am in the mood to read, I can finish reading a 370 pages novel in 2 days, i.e. in the evening after I finish with work.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Yep, normally I do.

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
No, not exactly. As long as it is a book, I read them as if they all are equally interesting.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
I don't like borrowing so I buy all my books. Wanna see my collections? Just in 3 years time of collecting. hehe..

Do you keep most of the books you buy?
Yes, in my 'sanctuary'.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
I have no children but I would just get any easy to read and some moral development for the kids. I have many collections for them in my bookshelves too.

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
Hmmm... lets see... I don't have a list, I just buy and keep them in the bookshelves and wait till I pick one of them to be read.

What’s next?
Oh well, we shall see.

What books would you like to reread?
I have no idea, so many in the list. I just close my eyes and pick one I guess.

Who are your favourite authors?
Too many to mention.

And I love to pass this tag to :

Joann
Dora
Sis Mel
Susan

Guests at home

2008-07-27T23:19:00.003+02:00

Dear all,

Just a quick update since I feel like all my body is aching or whatever it gives me.

Our guests from Colorado USA were here from the 25th till today and now they are on their way to Copenhagen, Denmark. Yesterday we went to the 'ZomerCarnaval' (Summer Carnival) here in Rotterdam city and today we walked to the river at the end of this island. We had lunch there too. It was hot this weekend and I felt great as I got tanned. But I don't know how to get rid of this stinging and itchy arms after the sunburn.

I try to come back tomorrow to update more and visit some of my friends' blogs.

In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful and a blessed week.

Cheers,
J

Home Update

2008-07-24T23:07:00.000+02:00

I wish that I was home with my siblings and parents now. And of course with our English Papa Joe who is now visiting my parents and staying with them for two weeks. Sis Jose and family are also there, the idea is to find a new babysitter for my nephews. Her Filipina babysitter has gone back to Philippines to her husband and kids.

As for our little sis Jess... she is working now. haha... yep, she turned 20 on last 31st May and now doing her practical training for her course. It is just hard to believe our li'l baby sister is now a young woman. Which means I am now going to celebrate my many years being in this world. Wuahhhhhhhhhhhh.. LOL

I wish to update more since my last visit here but I am exhausted. Can we continue next time please???? I promise to come back soon. Sorry for my long absence. I'll share the whole stories when the time allows.

May God bless you all.

Lottery

2008-07-13T12:01:00.000+02:00

Yep! One lucky guy from The Hague won the city lottery on 10th July for EUR25,000,000.00 which is 25 million Euros. He thought he won only EUR25,000.00 (25 thousand Euros) but realised it only on the next morning with the amount. That's what I call luck.

You ask me if I bought... nope.. This price is only for one person and it is unbelievable too much money. I guess I just passed this time. I would rather keep the money than to spend it to something that I was not sure I could get.

My Morning

2008-07-05T07:54:00.004+02:00

It is Saturday morning and for the second time this week, I woke up at about 6.00 am. Of course I would be lazying on my bed for a while while checking emails from my cellphone and read some good articles. It is also the second day that I started to cleanse my body system by drinking seasalt water.

The idea of waking up early in the morning was there forever but it is just not easy to do so. I guess the main dilemma for some people. Getting up late can make me a moody person the first few hours at work. Having to rush, run and fly getting ready for work is already a bad sign to have a terrible mood. By being rush, I don't take anything for my stomach in the morning and which means I would feel rather moody because I feel that my body system is still struggling to get energised. Some people don't take breakfast because they do not want to go to the wc early in the morning. Isn't this the silliest reason ever? Whenever I rise early, I don't mind taking anything such as drinks, fruits or food just so my empty stomach after more than 10 to 12 hours not eating will have something filled and the other reason is so that my body system can work well and is cleansed.

I guess I just have to get used to rise earlier in the morning so as to feel good the rest of the day.

I will continue for the morning tips later on. Right now I need to get something to eat and drink. *_*

Some Thoughts

2008-07-04T21:22:00.002+02:00

I was thinking recently if I should add more things to do in my list-to-do. Right now, my list-to-do is already long and so far only several have been done. I have no idea. Things that I would like to add more are like: having an extra domain name for my new website. My personal website has not been updated for a very long while and I am not sure a second one will be a better idea. In fact that's how this blog has started.

Second thought was: going to the gym several times per week. At my work, we have a contract with the gymschool. So, instead of paying the full amount, we only pay EUR23 per month and unlimited access to the gym. That's great but I can do it at home with my 2 hometrainers and several tools and the best is: it is free. On the other hand, going to the gym is best for my discipline. I will think of the money that I would spend every month EUR23, and EUR276 per year. That is already about RM1350-RM1400 per year. If I use this money to send to the poor kids, they will praise God forever. Back to the discipline, I want to do it not because of the nonsence reason i.e. to get skinnier. No, it is just to make me feel good everyday, with more energy and feel good most of the time. Of course by doing fitness, one will get bigger (not fatter) because of the new muscles built. I guess I will just join it for my own health. You will hear it when I do, I already have the form, signed and stamped by the company.

Happy July and Happy birthday Joshua

2008-07-01T23:52:00.005+02:00

I wish you all a happy July. For my friends in the States, it will be your 4th of July in a few days.

To my little darling Joshua,

Happy birthday tomorrow hunny bunny...

You will get a big bunny for your birthday from big mama and big daddy, darling. Have fun with mama, daddy and little James.

Love you... mwahhhh...

Foster children

2008-06-29T23:11:00.005+02:00

On Thursday evening, we have got a phone call from Plan Netherlands, telling us the progress of our foster son in Sri Lanka. Then we have asked for another foster daughter from South America. I am waiting for the details of our new foster child.

Kasun is already 12 years old now. We have been 'having' him since the Tsunami tragedy. We know what he gets from our money. At least he has a decent school, has clean clothes and necessities now. His ambition is to be an army or police officer. Wim and I are always happy to hear from him.

Fostering a child is a way to help the poor children or orphans to help their development. This is one way for us to have our dream come true. I know how it is to be poor but I don't know how it is to be orphan. I hope someday, with God's will, we will be able to build a home for these unfortunate kids.

Our Favourite Place

2008-06-29T14:34:00.003+02:00

Finally I am able to make a pic of our favourite area in the house.

This is the place where Wim and I spend most of our time together when we are home from work (apart from the bed of course). Whatever we do in our home, from preparing dinner, having dinner, watching tele, internetting to gardenning, we see each other almost every second.

In fact both Wim and I have our own rooms on the 2nd level of this house. I have my room for my collections of books, my DVDs, my hobbies and my (office and hobby) desks etc, and also a PC, a TV, a hi-fi set, a DVD player and one of the home-trainers. In Wim's room, another computer and some technical stuff. Unfortunately for the rooms, we prefer the living room instead.

The reason is simple: since we both work and don't see each other the whole day, we decided to spend our time together at the living room when we are home. Being married, doesn't mean we have to stop the romance, does it?

Time flies so fast and unconciously we lost all the valuable moments with our loved ones. So, why not appreciating each other when we can?

Prash Our Indian Friend

2008-06-29T13:21:00.005+02:00

Last Wednesday evening, Wim and I had dinner in a Singaporean restaurant in our city with our new Malaysian Indian friend Prash and his mother and aunt. After dinner, we invited them to come to our home.

Last night, Wim and I were invited to Prash's new appartment. His mother and aunt were there too. It would be their last evening in the Netherlands. They were on holiday to the Netherlands to see the new country her son was sent to by the Malaysian-Singaporean company. This appartment is provided by the company and the company rented 5-appartment in this building for the Malaysian people. Apart from that, they also get housekeeper to clean their home. On top of that, they get free business-class tickets to go home to Malaysia or Singapore 4 times a year.

The building is newly built. So even the smell is still fresh from the cement, paint etc. He has the appartment at the 11th floor, so it's nice to see the ferries coming in or out from the Spijkenisse river and to see when the bridge is open.

We enjoyed ourselves being with this family. They are quite nice people. It appeared to me that the ladies and I share the same interest: reading. They are coming back next year so I will make sure Prash to let them come when there is the big book fair here. We will also be seeing the mother and aunt in Seremban when we visit Malaysia.

These pictures below are taken after 10.00pm, still not dark.

From the left view of Prash's appartment

From the front view of Prash's appartment

From the right view of Prash's appartment

My New Toy

2008-06-29T12:34:00.006+02:00

After a month not able to pick up our new Karaoke set, we finally went to our friends on Friday evening/night.

Here they are: my Filipina girlfriend and her husband and 2-year old very clever daughter.

And on the right is my new toy. It costs us EUR235.00 which is quite a lot of money but it is something to add value in our life so it is more interesting. ;)

Hi and Bye

2008-06-25T23:13:00.002+02:00

Hi there...

I'm so tired but I just thought to come here to say hi to you all. Had a nice time with our Malaysian (Indian) friends earlier this evening: the son, the mother and the aunt. We went to our favourite Singaporean restaurant here in Spijkenisse. The food is great.

Sorry, I'm too exhausted to type more. Gonna hit the sack now.

Ciao...

Met Ann and Family

2008-06-22T09:35:00.003+02:00

Yesterday, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Bolliwood beautiful ladies/gents were in Rotterdam. My Indian Sabahan girlfriend, Ann, and I wanted to go but the best sits are too expensive, almost EUR200 per person so we postponed to another year.

So, instead of them coming over to Rotterdam, Wim and I drove to their place. 178km in 1.45 hour. I bought lots of Asian stuff from the Asian supermarket to her (she refunded me the money) such as kangkung, salted fish (from Malaysia), mango, mangosteen, guava, bittergoard, Indian herbs, salted dried prunes, roti paratha (roti canai made in Singapore), soto style instant noodles, chrysantimum, and lots more which she cannot get at her place. (We also can get nangka/jakefruit, rambutan, langsat and durian here.) Her one-year old girl, Gina, is sooo cute and it was nice to see her wanted me to carry her the second she saw me. Her parents were so surprised because Gina normally needs more time to get used to the new people but not with me. :)

To shorten the story, we had a great time getting to know each other. We are also aware that we are not going to take each other for granted like other people like to do to someone else.

Dutch team lost

2008-06-21T11:46:00.000+02:00

It has been a horrible evening/night. The Dutch had to pack and go home. wuahhhhh... Guus Hiddink, the Russian coach, has won the victory over his homemate Marco van Basten. The Russian played so well and the thing that I feared most with the Orange team came true. They lost concentration, they didn't played well, they just missed so many goals. Now the Orange team is out, we just hope for the Russian to win the Euro cup. That's the Dutch Guus Hiddink. He made Korea a proud country when they played the world cup. So, go Guus...

Another Jane Austen's lover

2008-06-19T21:26:00.004+02:00

Have you ever heard a man loves the work of a woman from the 16th century or even from the regency period? And that his best film of all time is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?

I have. Only today I heard it from his own mouth. My American colleague. He is big, single and smart. His outlook should be a Star Wars or CSI fan. He is supposed to read science fiction or crime stuff and talk about football or Al Bundy. Instead he is talking about the classic feature of Keira Knightley "... with her neckline so long and her mouth so sensual...". Can you imagine that? LOL

I thought I was the crazy one to watch Jane Austen's work on DVD thousand times. Hey, a man can break my record. He has watched Becoming Jane in the Netherlands while I am living here permanently and missed the movie. This sucks. :(

I better go and find Dangerous Beauty now.

Out to the site

2008-06-19T21:02:00.004+02:00

I was out to the plant/site today. Most of us in our team are not in the office today. My manager and my female colleague APH went to France yesterday evening to visit the plant there because she is in charge of that business, while I am in charge of the business here in this country. I got a lift from my American colleague, who is here for a couple of months on an assignment. That means I didn't get a lift from my manager's Porsch. :( LOL

Have I told you that, when entering the second door to the office, it is like going into a space ship? Armagedon. At ING, they also have the same system but here, it's worse. I put my batch on the reader/scanner and there is a round door opening. You get in, the door will close. The other door opens, you get out. Too bad, no lights.

There I got myself a room, facing to the road where I can see all the men going in and out of the site. The superintendents, engineers, operators, everyone has to go through a scanner before going to their car. For the individual car, the guard stops the car and checks the trunk. See if someone might have misplaced some products into their car instead of to the right place in the lab.

My day was almost filled with meetings. It was a great learning curve about the business.

McLeod's Daughters - Who will survive?

2008-06-18T18:34:00.004+02:00

Tonight was the last episode of Season 7 here on Channel Net 5 (I know we might be late). I can't wait to see the Season 8. It will be their last season.

What a shame if Riley, Grace, Patrick and Tayler had to die in the car, in the water. Poor Kate might lose her love. She is so unfortunate is love, isn't she? Poor girl. Before Riley left with the others, there was that sparkling and tiny little voices telling either of them that he was attracted to her and vice versa. That little wink and a smile from Riley caused Kate to think. Were they friends? Was their relationship more than that?

Silly Patrick and Tayler who wanted to catch some crabs and their childish act caused Grace lose concentration. She was not 'well' after finding out about her fiance's having an affair with another woman and I bet her head was still full of confusion when she told Patrick and Tayler to 'shut up'. All this action caused them all thrown into the flooded river. The car was drown and the doors were closed.

What do you think will happen? Inside the water, the pressure is low, so they can't open the door. Therefore, when asked "who will survive?". My answer is "no one will".

I bet Season 8 will come back with several new faces. If no one would live, that means no more Mc Leod, accept if Regan came back.

Clair is dead. Tess and Nick are in Argentina. Jodi and Matt were murdered. Regan left. Grace, I think, is dead too. So, no more McLeod's daughters or even nieces. Stevie might leave with her husband, Alex Ryan, to where Nick and Tess were. That leaves Charlotte, the granddaughter but she is with her aunt in South America.

No wonder Stevie and Grace promoted Kate to be the overseer. Now, I get it. Kate is going to take care of Drovers Run together with Moira. As for Marcus, will he be with the beautiful vet or Kate? I wonder. But this is my assumptions.

Can anyone tell me if I was in the right direction? Please? Wuahhh.... I am so desperate to know the rest of the story.

Malaysian Restaurants in the Netherlands

2008-06-16T19:53:00.004+02:00

I guess I'll list down all the "Malaysian" restaurants in the Netherlands here. I still have to find out Alex's address. He's a Malaysian Chinese, with an elegant style of restaurant and a karaoke lounge just next door/street.

Angkasapuri
Malaysian & Indonesian
Rivierlaan 121
Spijkenisse BK
3207 Netherlands
Phone: 31-(0)181-627 397

Malakka
Chinese, Indonesian & Malaysian Cuisine
Puck van Heelstraat 154
MG Rotterdam
3077 Netherlands
Phone: 31-(0)10-483 34 88
Fax: 31-(0)10-479 78 13

lulu
Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, Thai & Vietnamese
Van Vollenhovenstraat 60
Rotterdam
3016 Netherlands
Phone: Van Vollenhovenstraat 60
Fax: 31-(0)10-201 93 94

Malaysia Restaurant Wau
Asian & Malaysian Cuisine
1012 AR Amsterdam
AR Amsterdam
1012 Netherlands
Phone: 31-(0)20-421 24 87
Fax: 31-(0)20-421 24 87

Nam-Ho
Malaysian & Chinese-Indonesian Cuisine
Mgr. Nolensplein 21
Breda
4812 Netherlands
Phone: 31-(0)76-514 40 64
Fax: 31-(0)76-515 03 73

Sense of Asia
Vietnamese, Thai, Malay, Cantonese Cuisine
Rijksstraatweg 433
DB Haarlem
2025 Netherlands
Phone: 31-(0)23-549 25 07
Fax: 31-(0)23-549 25 08

New Season
Chinese & Malaysian Cuisine
Warmoesstraat 39
Amsterdam
1012 Netherlands
Phone: 31-(0)20-625 61 25

Orange beat French 4-1

2008-06-13T12:12:00.001+02:00

Yeayyyyyyyyyyyy.... I won, I won... I bet with my manager and I won. 4-1 I said, I give one for the French. My boss bet 5-0. Life is so great right now. I love Edwin van der Sar, I love Robin van Persie, I love them all.

The Dutch beat the world champion with 3-0 on last Monday, and now 4-1 against the former vice-world champion. They better concentrate on the field and not play hide and seek there.

6 points to the Netherlands team now. Whether they lost the game from Romania on the next match, it won't matter much. But they should not lost their concentration and let us all frustrated. The players should bring back the joy from 2 decades ago.

Plant Tour

2008-06-12T22:50:00.004+02:00

In the morning, I thanked God for the rain. My plants and the dry ground were watered. But the rain went on till the mid-morning when my manager, EJ, and I were on the way to the plant in Maasvlakte. There I met several colleagues: the cost accountants, engineers, operators and some other people from other department.

As I mentioned before that my task is mostly on the partnership and joint-venture accounting. Unlike my previous job, I do not consolidate the figures from our other companies, but here I'm working on a big project that is half-owned by our company and the other half by another company in Germany. Since everything is done at our site, all costs incurred are to be charged to the other partner.

Although the project has been there for more than 5 years now, the partners have never been to the plant. EJ organised to have this plant tour for me and for our partners. I met the German partners today and to my surprised, our main contact person is such a friendly and kind guy.

During our tour to the laboratory, I felt so happy to see the stuff there. The last time I tried to mix up some chemicals and creating another product or made them explode was when I was in high school. What would my life be now if I really went to pursue my education to become an engineer? I never know.

So much information and really an interesting day but taking photos are prohibited there. After the tour, we continued our meeting with the Finance people from both partners.

The day made it even nicer because I got to sit in EJ's new and tiny Porsche sport car, from Rotterdam to Maasvlakte and from Maasvlakte to my house.

Manglish, Chinglish, Singlish, Dinglish, English

2008-06-11T22:45:00.004+02:00

Last month, I bought a very 'beautiful' book from the gift shop. It was not a paperback book or any books that contain words full page. To me the price EUR10.00 is expensive, with 128 pages and a bit bigger than paperback novels. But because of the funny sentences that I had to laugh out loud (I was alone shopping) in the shop, I didn't think twice but just grabbed the book and paid.

What would you do when you read "I thank you from the bottom of my heart and also from my wife's bottom" while there is a drawing a man standing on his wife's bottom while she is lying down on the floor and both with a wine glass on their hands? This is the Dinglish (Dutch-English).

Most of the Dutch speak English very well but of course when English is not our mother tongue, however fluent and good we are, there will still be something invalid in our sentences. The thing is we tend to make a "direct translation" from our language to English. Unfortunately although there are similar words in both languages, the meaning would be something else.

When I read this sentence: "May I thank your cock for the lovely dinner?", it reminded me of another joke back home. Oh well, somebody wanted to show that he spoke English, so this was how he said to the White man (orang putih). "Senang-senang, datanglah di rumah saya. Saya potong ayam saya untuk kamu." but in Kanglish.

"Easy-easy, come to my house, I cut my cock for you."

Our Strawberries

2008-06-09T09:13:00.003+02:00

In our previous home, we planted lots of strawberries. The new family got to taste the fruits.

Last year, my mom and I bought 4 tiny pots of ready-planted strawberries. This year this is the result. I picked 4 riped strawberries yesterday and tasted them. They are emmmmm.. luscious, oh so fragrant and very sweet fruit.

Did you know that strawberries contain more Vitamin C than oranges or any kind of citrus fruit?
According to 2 recent research, here are some facts about the strawberries:

=> Low in fat and calories
=> Eat a daily serving of strawberries (about 8 berries, 50 calories) can reduce the blood pressure and may reduce the risk of heart disease
=> Strawberry eaters tend to have higher dietary fiber, folate, potassium and vitamin C
=> Enhance memory function and aid in the management of rheumatoid arthritis

They taste soooo good and very healthy.

Strawberry Nutrition Information
All nutrition information is based on 1 cup (8 to 10) fresh strawberries
Calories: ca. 50

- Protein 1 g
- Fat 0.6 g
- Carbohydrates 11 g
- Sugar 7 g
- Fiber 3.5 g
- Iron 0.6 mg
- Sodium 2 mg
- Calcium 22 mg
- Phosphate 30 mg
- Riboflavine 0.1 mg
- Vitamin C 85 mg
- Potassium 240 mg
- Zinc 0.2 mg
- Niacin 0.4 mg
- Vitamin B6 92 mcg
- Folate 34 mcg

The Lady of the House

2008-06-08T17:22:00.003+02:00

I promised to Dora to share my roses when they were blooming. It has been weeks but only now I can share them. I guess, these beautiful flora has controlled the house. Yes, she has become the lady of the house.