Learning Chinese

Learning Chineze is not easy at all, however there is always a shortcut. I came across this today, cleaning my inbox :) Thanks Amit, it is really helpful, especially in Singapore:

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes...(You MUST Practice Outloud!)

1) That's not right ..................Sum Ting Wong
2) Are you harbouring a fugitive?......Hu Yu Hai Ding
3) See me ASAP........................Kum Hia Nao
4) Stupid Man ........................Dum Fuk
5) Small Horse .......................Tai Ni Po Ni
6) Did you go to the beach? ..........Wai Yu So Tan
7) I bumped into a coffee table ......Ai Bang Mai FaKin Ni
8) I think you need a face lift ......Chin Tu Fat
9) It's very dark in here ............Wao So Dim
10) I thought you were on a diet .....Wai Yu Mun Ching
11) This is a tow away zone ..........No Pah King
12) Our meeting is scheduled for next week ...Wai Yu Kum Nao
13) Staying out of sight ..............Lei Ying Lo
14) He's cleaning his automobile ......Wa Shing Ka
15) Your body odor is offensive .......Yu Stin Ki Pu
16) Great .............................Fa Kin Su Pah

(Cool Song to listen to: Coolio - C U when u get there)

THE DHL BALLOON!!!!

It's a bird...NOOOO It's a plane...NOOOO It's the DHL Balloon :):):) We are cool. We have sponsored the world biggest tethered balloon to be set up in Singapore. And we have now a cool DHL balloon downtown Singapore, just near our office.

Anybody can enjoy now the stunning view from 40 storey high:):) It is something very unique for Singapore and attracts quite a lot of people, it is a fantastic branding. Before the official opening one couple already got married, they were so impressed that they even moved the date of the marriage, just to be the first doing it in the balloon.

The balloon and our office:

It will be in Singapore for 1.5 years, so you have a lot of time to drop by and just have a balloon ride on the DHL Balloon :) In the evening can be quite romantic, because up there it is silence (if you don't go with loud Mexicans, haha) and you can see Singapore by night from above. It's a pity that you can't do bungee jumping from the balloon. But the view is nice :) Don't miss it!!!!

Me enjoying the balloon ride, the office is on the right :)The financial district and the port in the background:The national library (bottom left) and downtown Singapore: The ocean, ships and some islands:

Fabric of the Nation

I was waiting for one of my friends in one of the random MRT stations in Singapore and I have bumped in this very interesting and very Singaporean exhibition.

Launched on 14 July 2003, the Fabric of the Nation began as a simple call to Singaporeans to sew a patch of love for their country. Within three weeks, some 15,000 patchwork blocks were submitted. These are now sewn into 60 panels. I think only in Singapore can something like this happen. Nice people :)

Even the President, the prime minister and some of the senior ministers sew some patches and one block is with a 0.1 carat heart-shaped diamond pendant stitched onto a piece of red cloth and surrounded by 38 pearls, representing Singapore's 38th birthday (in 2003).

If you come to Singapore, you can visit this to understand how people think of their country. It is something unique and something that makes me admire Singaporeans for their love for Singapore. I wonder what people from my country would sew on these patches... if they would sew something at all....

(Song of the day: Depeche Mode - Free love)

Latest news :)

Yes!!! I could buy tickets today for the Coldplay concert in Singapore :):):)This means that on July the 10th I will be enjoying the great great music of these cool dudes:):):)After Oasis and Placebo now Coldplay is coming…. Who said Singapore is boring????

DHL winning cool awards!!!

We are winning some cool awards, see my entries on this on the DHL intern blog:

• DHL best brand in AP
• We are cool

It is good to work for an award winning company, makes you proud. Especially when you work in marketing and you win a brand award. :)

Sunday thoughts...

I was just relaxing the whole weekend. Meditating, taking care of myself and my soul. I started to swim again, after two weeks of being sick and taking pills. Friday, I just warmed up, Saturday I managed to swim 50 laps, today already 60. Will be back in one week to 100. Incredible how much strength you can loose in just tow weeks. And how many kilos. A lot of stress and imbalances put me down, but I am back again. Feeling strong and calm and full with life force :) Hope that it won't disappear on Monday morning....

Parties..... well, here is the link from yesterday: http://veraceline.nomadlife.org/2006/05/one-more-for-records.aspx

I have a lot of things to write about, so many things are happening, but somehow the words are not coming. Just enjoying now the Sunday afternoon :) Being lazy and smiling. Just shaved and the skin on my face is so soft.Just wanted to share this. The candles in my room are nice as well. The burning candles gather the bad spirits. The angel on my desk is playing a divine melody and the Vietnamese statue is dancing, moving slowly, just like the candle light.... or the candle light is moving on the statue, does not matter, they are in harmony.... everything is so alive.... so full of life....

I see people, I know exactly what they do and how they feel now.... I am connected to them. One is happy and tired, putting all the energy to get 4 more hours to go on the long journey, one is praying to God and preparing the Sunday lunch, one is admiring the garden and the spring, one is just full of love and affection, one is just trying to find the answer to all the questions of the universe, one is just a simple fellow looking at people as I could never do.... One is just sitting and his eyes are full of wisdom... I wish I could understand that look... and one is just being the one.

I understood what distance is..... finally.... yes.... distance is relative..... I can control distance..... I hope I won't forget this understanding... this feeling....I need to understand time now.... What is more essential? Time or distance? Or what we do with time and distance is the most important?

I am not drunk if you wonder how can I be so random writing the above. I am not stoned. I am just hungry and will go to have lunch now. Back to being an animal now and hunting for Hong Kong noodle, haha :)

Song of the day: Angel - divine music :) haha

Sharks, nemo fishes | Discovering a new universe

Diving.... it is hard to write about this experience. I came back from this diving trip from Tioman and I tried to tell people how it is, but I do not think that I managed to transmit the feelings, the experience. ....

Few years back when I was a student in Oradea, I used to listen to a song, Sterbinszky - Fly away with me. And whenever I listened this song, I knew that there is an island somewhere far away where I will feel in a certain way. And I had that good feeling whenever listened this song. And always that certain feeling. Feeling of freedom, of discovery, of adventure, of happiness, of completeness, of calmness. Since then I have been in different situations when I was listening that song and kind of felt that this was the thing I was thinking of when I was a student, but there was always a feeling that it is not exactly that. That I still did not found that place I was thinking of, I still did not found that experience.

Early morning I was on a speedboat to Tioman on the sea, could feel the breeze and the fresh air.... waterdrops were hitting my face as the boat touched the water and was jumping on the waves.... The sun was just above the sea and the small islands we were passing by were still asleep. And I was just smiling and listening to this song and I knew it that this is the place that I was dreaming of few years back, this is the experience I was looking for such a long time. Even writing these things now I am smiling and feeling again that happiness, I can smell the sea, I can feel the breeze on my face.

On the way to the diving site, full of excitement:And under the water.... it is a totally different world, another universe.... There are no KPIs, no tasklists, no cars, no people.... it is just you and the underwater world, God and the nature. Just you and your thoughts and the beauty of a different world. It is hard to describe, you are part of something so great, you are one of the many elements of this underwater world. If you act in a way, the fishes around you react in an other way. It is funny to see how a fish is swimming towards you, looks at you and after that goes in an other direction. Probably just evaluates me whether if I will eat him or not. And the corals are so beautiful... thousands of colours. And the fishes as well. Big and small, and colourful. Living together in a perfect system. You can see how the small fish is cleaning the big fish, or how these cute nemo fishes are living in harmony with the poisoness plants. It is like watching Discovery Channel or National Geographic live, just that you are a part of it.

The Nemo Fishes:Fishes everywhere :)
Of course the most exciting thing is to see the sharks and swim near to them. If you are still, then they might circle around you, but if you start swimming, then they just go away. I saw two black tip riff sharks, but these were harmless. Anyway 1.8 m is the longest from this type of shark :) So I have the advantage of the height :):):):)

No picture with the sharks, they are too fast, but you have this blue spotted ray, very peaceful and very beautiful:

This fish really exists in the sea, so far I met only on the menu of the Singaporean restaurants. I like this one better :)It is interesting in diving how your breathing keeps you floating and just filling your lungs with air takes you up, and just breathing out the air takes you down. Air is the most precious thing under the water, but just in the real life, you have to get rid of the most precious things sometimes in order to be able to float. And sometimes you need to get as much of it as you can, just to keep floating.

Me posing for the camera in true Asian style. I know - I know, bad hair on this photo... Discovering the underwater world.... and profiling my sexy legs...Happy faces after diving...I am definitely hooked by diving and really looking forward to be under the water again, to explore more and more from this unique world. But even if I will go back to Europe soon, I know that I experienced the thing in Asia. I found the treasure. Mission Accomplished.

Dido Forever! (especially on Friday morning)

White Flag

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,

Or tell you that.

But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it

where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder

Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and

destruction to come back again

And I caused nothing but trouble

I understand if you can't talk to me again

And if you live by the rules of "it's over"

then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet

Which I'm sure we will

All that was there

Will be there still

I'll let it pass

And hold my tongue

And you will think

That I've moved on....

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be.