I realised I can actually survive without logging onto the internet at night and surfing in my free time for a week!  For the past  nights, I have been killing time watching BBC, reading the bible and playing... pool! Got a really bad back ache from bending over though!  Old already...

On a more interesting note, although having been British educated, I find that I am subconsciously changing to fit my company's American-style English at work and typing on a German keyboard!  Some of the standard things include:

• Dates in Month-day format (e.g. 9/26)
  
• Use "Z" instead of "S" when using words like "organization"
• On the keyboard the "Z" and "Y" switch places
• The "@" sign is with the "Q" key and not above number 2

So now I am neither here nor there - I type the "Y" proficiently, but take some time to remember where the "Z" is...

Autumn has finally arrived.  The temperature has dropped quite a bit - it dropped to 5 deg at night in Bonn last week!  

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I just got my pay slip last week and realised.. I'm paying a whopping 45.62% of my salary in taxes and mandatory insurances! 

Lohnsteuer - wage tax

Solidaritatszuschlag - solidarity tax

Krankenversicherung - health insurance

Rentenversicherung - old age pension insurance

Arbeitslosenversicherung - unemployment insurance

Pflegeversicherung - nursing care insurance

Did some math calculation with colleagues... based on the number of hours we burn at work, my wage is just abit higher than 10 Euros an hour!  Its even less than what I wld have earned without the MBA if I went back to my old job.   Kind of sad huh?  

Time flies! To think I started B-school exactly one year ago...  and today I'm an alumni.  

Got my first sense of Monday blues this week when I went to office on Mon morning at 615am.  A feeling I hadn't had for such a long time!  But I'm really really thankful to have a job...   

I was pining for mooncakes for the past 2 weeks after having been tempted by a friend's blog abt her having bought four boxes of top grade mooncakes - Raffles Hotel's Snowskin with Champagne Truffles and Ganache and Baked Mooncake Mother of Pearl with White Lotus Paste Single Yolk...

And God has been really good to me!  Was invited to a kolic's place where we celebrated 中秋节 and I had a taste of 莲蓉蛋黄月饼!!  To top up the atmosphere, we had hung candle-lit 灯笼 around the living room and drank 龙津茶 from authentic looking chinese tea cups :)

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Sunday morning.  I surfed NBC Europe and came across Joel Osteen's surmon about self worth. 

He narrated a story about going to a friend's place and saw many paintings in the house.  Joel didn't appreciate them until that friend drew attention to one particular painting which was worth a million dollars.  It was painted by Pablo Picasso.  A painting draws its meaning from its painter.  Likewise us - we have been made by God!

The bottomline is to not seek for external validation.  Living life this way will result in a roller coaster of ups and downs .   Eph 1:12 ... that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  Do things to the best to our abilities, then take time, recognise that it is good and give thanks.   Amen!

I lost my mobile phone :(

What's worse - its a business phone issued by my company!  I've owned a mobile phone for over 8 years - since mid-2000, and I have never lost my mobile phone!  Why now?  

I thought long and hard - it must have been left on the table in "Bangladesh" meeting room at my client's place.  We left the office at about 645pm, and I called security at 1033pm, who told me that it was nowhere to be found.  So between that 4 hours, who picked it up?  Cleaners?

Loads of questions are running through my mind right this moment.... Will the cleaners return it to the security?  Was the security guy really honest, or did he pocket the phone himself?  What will HR say? How will this incident affect my appraisal?  Is the phone insured?  If not how much will I need to pay?

Worried, stressed... but through it all, I must testify that God is still good.

• Just enough credit in my UK Vodafone a/c to send an SMS to a colleague who actually knew the telephone number to the building security in my client's office
  
• Found Voipcheap online that allowed free calls to landlines in Belgium for 1 min per call - just enough to call the building security!
  
• Although the phone wasn't found, I managed to connect finally (after 2 calls) to a T-Mobile operator who understood English and could lock my phone a/c

Prayer: Dear God, would you bring me through this ordeal unscathed?

Never had a love for white wine... but this Italian RIBOLLA GIALLA 2007 really made me start to appreciate them (hopefully I can find it at Frankfurt Airport to bring a bottle home)!

What can I say? Its pleasant, fruity and very well balanced! Perhaps when a French picks an Italian wine, we should trust their taste!

Long hours. What else to expect from this industry? Monday started with a bang, from 7am right up to 1030pm.

What I didn't quite get used to is the shortage of food. As I worked on, I could feel my hands turn cold (am I turning into a cold blood creature?). Eventually, I crawled back to my hotel room, half-starved. Then I saw this:

Godiva chocolate! It tasted... heavenly! Yummy! Too bad there was only one piece :(