Flustered

So that's how it is when the style aint the same.

Was really struggling to stay afloat... The flight back was worse. I was literally "heh heh chuan" trying to finish my aisle. Support from her, from the galley, was sparse. Even my team girl from the AFT noticed it and asked me how come my GS not helping me???? It didn't helped that there were a few Singaporeans whose faces was obviously turning a little black with the long wait... I was despartely looking around for trays.... Was quite hot in the head manz.... But still have to maintain my cool... @%*&^$&#
*Must take deep breathes*

Anyway, P-plate sucks.....


I've come to really like my team a lot, loads, tonnes..... ^.^

Osaka

I LUUUUUUURVE Japan!
Can't get enough of anything japanese.... Simply intrigued by them!
So much so that even after i got back @ 5+ pm, i craved and went out for Sushi Tei dinner cos i didn't have enough japanese food!
Promised myself i'll be back there for a "eating' holiday, with Pi. =9

Haha!
How could i forget this thing. The one that gave me a shock @ Villa Bali. Now i know how it works =P


Most of my team brought cargo bag along, which left Kelly and myself puzzled cos it's such a short trip. After napping only 3 hours, the whole set of crew (including tech crew but minus the J crews), arranged to meet up for lunch and go out. I've never seen the senior crew so 'onz', which we will soon find out why .... LOL

My first Tempura Udon in Japan!


Soon enough. After lunch, Kelly & me stuck to our bosses for the entire day and guess how many 100 Yen shop we visited in a day?
6!!!!!!
*faintz*

Things are sooooo expensive in Japan that the most sensible places to shop are 100 Yen shops, toiletries shops, Fancl and for food.

The first 100 Yen we visited. Kelly, loss at what to get in the snacks section hehe....




When i came across the maggie mee section, i can't believe my eyes! 100 Yen each???
I used to buy some of it in Cold Storage in SG at about $4 +, $5 + each. And i could only afford it when i wanna pamper myself ! Bought 2 of it in the end, stocking up dry stores for my Amsterdam trip.


Ebisubashi @ Namba station. In search of more 100 yen shops *Pengz*


Now that i am in Japan, i see for myself how exaggerated the Japanese ladies/girls dressed up. They really look like those models in the magazines. We both wondered how much time they actually took to prepare before they can leave house looking so immaculate. The guys too! Trimmed eyebrows, cool dressing etc...





To remember Kelly's last flight and trip with us, with me.

My extremely nice bosses.


Mochi !!! 105 Yen each! ex ex ex .....


Yum Yum.... When we were looking for dining places, shops like this with models are so important cos we can just exercise 'finger power' when we are challenged in terms of language. Had much difficulty trying to communicate, but it's good to know a few important terms to get around.


The town area. Heard from a pax that the place comes to live after 6pm, and that's roughly the time we left. >.<" Next time, i'll be back =P








Not just here. I wanna visit their shrines and temples too!

Stike a conversation with an Australian pax who runs a English school in Japan during take-off & landing. Talked briefly about where i've been to in Osaka, how long have i been flying, places i've been to in Australia, how's my flight so far, his plans on retiring back to Aussie with his Japanese wife etc etc... It was a really nice experience cos the conversation felt genuine and not at all awkward. PR chances like this are rare (ok i can't say rare, cos the choice is up to me =P haha...). Well, most of the time when i'm tired or shy, i'll just try to avoid their glances and so do they. LOL.

Our dinner Keke... Sluuuuurps!!!


That's where the majority of my S$90 budget for this trip went. Besides food, mostly went to 100 Yen shop =P
As for the senior crews, it's like a groceries shopping trip for them. They bought so much tibits, pasta sauce, household items (like the moisture absorption thingy) and others, to last a few months before the next japan trip comes by, cos they're so rare now.

Their products are soooooo intriguing that money will just fly out of ya pocket and burn a really big hole. The Japanese knows exactly how to make life faaaaaaar from boring....

The buy that make both Kelly and my day. The Shiseido mascara that Cherlyn recommended. a little ex for my limited budget! 1260 Yen... After buying this, left almost just enough yen to buy my dinner.




That marks the end of our last flight and trip together.


Gone are the days where i used to look across the aisle during take-off or landing, and passed her facial expressions to communicate whether 'I'm doing well' or 'I'm suffocating here!"

She's the only one i can forget my manners and do without the "May i trouble you", "please" and "thank you" etc when requesting for anything.

Noone familiar who will drag me out to explore together...
Noone familiar to sit down to BK breakfast with me b4 or after flight.
Noone familiar to 'bug' me =9
Noone familiar to have maggie mee party together Haha...
Noone familiar whose always there...
Noone familiar whom i can steal /share dry stores with...

Right, I'll miss you buddy =)

My arms are aching...

Tried tennis for the first time yesterday. Been a 'big' ball sports lover all my life i.e. Volleyball, Basketball, Netball etc... As for racket games like Badminton and Table Tennis or Tennis, i simply dun have the flair for them =9 I always have a phobia of being hit hard by the ball or shuttle coming at 'light' speed, which i did have a bad experience back during JC where i got hit by a badminton shuttle right in my eye...... *ouch*

But then, i succumbed to Kelly's persuasion to join her, Donald and Simon, so that she wouldn't feel so awkward. LOL.... Tennis was fun, but my storkes are so badminton Haha... Loads to learn... Had a great time catching up with them though, we all have our fair share of ups and downs.

Head to Sim Lim Sq to shop for my Digi cam... And i bought an absolutely uncanny choice: Sanyo E6!?!?!?! Ya that aircon brand......

Can i just say something first? The sales men are soooo blardy stuck up and 'Kiam Pa'. Most of them simply ignore you, don't bother to desmonstrate and worse of all give you a F**king black face as if you're dirt in their shop!?!??! Felt so intimidated there...

Then finally we met this Indian dunno boss or salesman on the 3rd floor (xxx Hut), wanted to get my Canon IXUS 800 IS. Ended up he started to desmonstrate the Sanyo E6 after he knew temperature changes is 1 of my main concern.

Will go test drive in Japan... If it suck, will go back and change.
Someone tell me i made the right choice pls........

BKK-Osaka tonight... Looking forward to Japan!!! It's my first flight to Japan after soooo long, and there's none to be seen in my roster till mid September... Zzzzzzzz....

I found Yen!

There she is!
(Small pic cos aint v dressed up =P)

Lose contact with her since early June. Was soo worried !!! Not just me, a couple others too. Babe is working in Brisbane now and she seems really happy there. She came to my room only for a couple of hours before my departure. Her man came here and tabao food for us. Soooo sweet of them =) Sorry i didn't inform you earlier cos i wasn't sure either.

Silly girl got me souvenirs still: Lano cream, Macadamia nuts, some herbal tea for cold (after she knew i wasn't feeling very well) and then TIM TAMs! But thank you bery muchie!


The hotel provides L'occitane miniature products! Couldn't bear to use them there, so u can guess where are they now. =9


BNE's neh ~ Time allowed is so short, and now that you're there, how i wish i can get a longer stay to bug you =P

The flight was good too. Am starting to really like my team, even Kelly agree now that the person i fear most is nice! Haha... *pengz* Besides that, another high point for both of us: Flew with our fav Captain again! Haha, he's the one who 'drove' us to Shanghai and back for our SNY! Look up to him cos he earnt our respect and not command it.

Looking forward to the next BNE or SYD flight, for a bizzare reason (cos no1 like those sectors!) LOL.... =P

Aug-Sep roster's out.
AKL again, but i'm paxing back... Dunno how it will feel like... Then Shanghai again, most likely meet KS ask him bring me to the Oriental Pearl Tower. The chap's there on a 1 year work-study programme by NUS, something silicon valley-like. And there's Incheon, been looking forward to it cos i wanna get cheap Face Shop products. Hehehe... Cheapo i know =P

Only highlight is LHR, but i'm not exactly looking forward to it cos Pounds is 3 times!!! Will most likely hibernate in hotel or just walk around. No shopping i hope. Jerrica just warned me how terrorizing the day flight to London can be.... Better prep myself well for it. 13 hours!!

K managed to get all the rare destinations: Dubai, Istanbul, Johannesburg and Cape Town!!! Envious! Her team seems to get the rare ones huh? But nvm i like my team better. Esp the IFS, nice man, and my LSS and LS, all nice peeps! Oh well, will wait patiently for the rare destinations to come then =)



Went for Facial yesterday. So qiao, Keira was there too. Kelly was there, but i knew she was going, just that our timing crashes, so not much of a surprise haha...
My goodness. Jannie keep pushing me to do peel, not just me i think everyone else! I'm starting to doubt her credibility... But i think her blemish roller does work miracle on me....

Met Yun next. Had loads of salmon for dinner @ Sushi Tei, her favourite. But it was really nice...

It was great having your company! Will be looking forward to your cheese cupcakes ! Hehe...
If only yen's around too...

What on earth is that girl doing! Yen Yen where are you???

Deutschland

Finally got my first check. 5th Solo, kind of late as compared to my other batchies.

Kelly and myself haven been pondering when it'll be, since our 3rd solo. Which explains why we were so stressed up and it was written all over our faces @ control centre the other day, such that Wen sms me all the way from Manchester to check if i'm all right. LOL (Thks Babe)

During the flght, we have no idea if we're on check. But our LS and LSS seems to be asking us a few questions. After touched down still no indication, so we happily thought "okie no check again." Finally, they only let us know when we were leaving Frankfurt and my LS asked me what we served 2 days ago..... Lagi Best, how the H*** i remember? It was 2 days ago and i'm serving meals every day! I mean every flight! LOL....


Marriott Hotel, Frankfurt. 6 Pillows! I was having a mini pillow party there... Hiak Hiak... The MOST comfortable bed i've ever slept in too! Perfect remedy for my tired body. My team was telling me wait til i go Zurich.


In the hotel lobby, some of the senior girls was sharing with us about their exprienece touring the european places and they encouraged us to go on some of the tours the hotel offers. *Piang* All the tours are considered expensive for newbies like us where every dollar counts. But it was something they said that catalysed my decision despite the price.
"It's not everytime you have company (as in buddy) to go on tour with ."

Thus, we chose what we thought was the most value-for-money tour : The Rhine River. 1 full day @ 69 Euro.

The description of the tour goes:
An unforgettable day trip to the Rhine River Valley - an area which UNESCO coutns to the World Heritage of Mankind. Come to see the river, the little villages and vineyards. Mighty medival castles, more than anywhere else in the world. The famous Loreley rock. Enjoy a georgous view from Niederwald Monument and a cable car ride (optional) from the top of the hills in summertime. Lunch in a beautiful restaurant at the riverside is included and a wonderful boat trip on a Rhine steamer alongside the famous river panorama up to St. Goarshausen. we invite you to wine tasting. Shopping stop at Rudesheim/Drosselgasse. (in winter when steamers are not operating we may visit a castle instead).

Enticing right?

Bleah~

Booked the tour, charged to our room, bathe, changed out and was ready to leave again 2 hours later.

It turns out bulk of the time end up in waiting for the bus, the people, the tourguide etc etc. Wasted so much time on waiting. The lunch was so-so (grilled chicken wing with fries and veggie), drinks we have to pay ourselves somemore, not exactly a beautiful restaurant either. Felt a little cheated.

The little village where we had our lunch.














It was freaking hot. Feels as though i'm baking myself under the sun... Another No-Go item for summer time in these countries will be a cap and sunglasses.






And the Castles...







When the whole cruise ride ended, i have no idea what are the castles, their names, the time they were built or destroyed or rebuilt. But i know i heard the name "Napoleon" many times though =P. We were simply 'stoning' onboard cos of the searing heat.


A peaceful little cafe which kelly and myself settled for some light refreshments while the others went for wine tasting (we opt out cos we know without sleep plus alcohol, we may not be able to return back to the hotel Hehe). The only people who frequent those places are tourists and we are the youngest ones around =9




At the end of the day when we returned to our hotel, we've clock our recording breaking 31 hours of no sleep, and i was having a throbbing head. Honestly, the tour seems more suited for retirees =P

In fact we did get to know one of the retiree couples around while having lunch. They were from Washington, USA. Been travelling around the world and for the past 3 to 6 months, they've been touring Europe and not seen home. Said that this was their dream and they started saving towards this ever since 21 years old! 10% of income every month to be exact and despite having 3 children to raise! So disciplined! We were like Wow!

Speaking of this, just the day b4 leaving for Frankfurt, met up with Gerry and we sort of approached a similar topic.

"It'll take more then just money for you to like/stay in this job."
Honestly, i was a little taken-a-back, maybe cos up to now, i'm still quite blinded by the monetary benefits this job brings. The initial few years i guessed it'll all be about money, money, money; travel, travel, travel. Then i'll have to decide whether i want this for long...

Don't worry babe, when i first graduated, i went through a similar quarter life crisis too. It's really tough choosing between doing what you like and doing what you must to get what you like @ the end. Life's all about choices and time will show the way....

I'll have to find a path among this maze, the maze of life.

The next day. Lunch with the team and shopping's next. While walking to the common pizza crew joint, i was telling Kelly how this job feels a little "Ho Jia, Ho Koon" (hokkien) =P Which is why we must constantly upgrade ourselves, otherwise we may just become what Kelly fears most: senile!

Major item on everyone's shopping list, what Germany's famous for : Birkenstock!

But it was such disappointment cos it's either no size or no stock at all. Winter will be a better time, the sale assistant says, it'll take only about 2 days to deliver if an advance order is made. She gave us namecards and advised we email her to make an order first the next time b4 we go (Wen in case u're reading this, i'll drop the email into your box hehe). I think the shop gets aircrew everyday, cos we went with another set of crew too. In the end, i got a pair that wasn't really on my buying list at all, and Kelly(previously not mad about Birki's) is pretty upset that she couldn't find anything to buy for herself. LOL...

Shopping in the city square.

The street to the supermarket frequent by crew.

An interesting encounter. As we were walking up to the Penny Supermarket, 1 of the fruits stall man call out his greetings and then he shouted, "Singapore Airlines??" I was dumbfounded! LOL. Like how he knows man... Maybe there's so few Asians, the only Asian girls he sees will be from SQ? Ke ke...

Maggie Mee and Yogurt party over @ Kelly's room. The yogurt there is so nice and cheap !!!

My buys. Glad that i kept within my budget, inclusive of the Rhine River Valley tour, for this trip. The Adidas there is in fact more expensive than in Singapore. The cap i got is originally 20 Euro!!! But they were having sale, got it at 50% off, thus the price after conversion is still acceptable. The brand's German, but products made in China and the prices are more expensive in the motherland. How ironic.

The chocolate waffles and Giotto chocolates from Penny, highly recommended by seniors. Not sure if the waffles is nice anot, so didn't buy much. But after trying, next time i'll certainly get more as gifts =9

Although i kept within my budget, but i realised i am not doing good enough. Cos i just found out that Peh Peh went and came back from his Frankfurt-New York trip and spent barely 50 bucks in each country >.<"""

Will try harder =)