change.

So in a blink of an eye, Christmas and New Year passed. I told people that it didn't feel like Christmas, coz I spent a huge part of my december fighting fire at work. It was dreadful, and I was super drained by it. I know we sometimes go through moments of anguish in life, but the frequency, and the weight of responsibility is making me weary. Yes, I did see God who made a miracle happen, but it wasn't without tireless days of just getting new people in to brief and rebrief, without control on whether the numbers would increase. But of course, God comes in to make a way. Not sure how He did it, but once again I'm awed.

Anyway, in this new year I can foresee a repeat of craziness and I cannot stop asking God why He is making me go through all this. I've fallen sick many times since starting work. I realised that my last blog entry was about me recovering from sickness, and last week, again I was wheezing away in KL for work and it's taking me a while to recover again. Why, God, why? :( My body aches, and my soul aches too. I want work-life balance, I want to be able to exercise 3 times a week, meet friends on weekday nights, enjoy coffee and a book on saturday morning, pick up singing again, sew all sunday, find joy in serving people without the looming threat of multiple deadlines over me.

In Philippines now for fieldwork, 1 week away from the office. Fieldwork in the day and rushing reports at night. I guess the bright side is that I get to be away from the office, and take a break from the mundane of managing projects from my computer. It's refreshing to talk to people for a change and be reminded of how vastly different people are and how there are many different ways to live this life.

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Despite being all depressed at work, some other stuff happening in life:

my baby niece Sarah was born! she is a chubby chunk of cuteness

 she drinks milk and falls asleep straight after, wakes up and poops everywhere ^^

like a boss

 She celebrated her 1st month at the beginning of this month! So coincidental that Brenda and Chuan got cake bites from Huiyi :)

 Morning faces after a long weekend in Bandung

 Zel with my present for her from honeymoon. I came back in September and only met her in December. My new year resolution is to meet my good friends more. I hardly hang out with them coz all my friends are super busy people and so am I. I end up meeting groups of friends maybe once a year. I need to be a better friend!

 on a mundane saturday afternoon, on the way to church. :D I really like the face on the right.

:D Learning to be a better mentor too!

This is our supper ritual coz it's the only place open near our place, and it requires 2 bus transfers. We usually miss the last bus and end up taking a 20 minute walk back home.

My husband is a cocoon.

He also likes to read the news all the time. From the moment he wakes up, brushes his teeth, essentially every moment he is not talking to me or doing chores. International news hur.

Early morning to church for Christmas service.

Serving with beloved friends :)

lhy's Christmas gift for me! :) Though I end up sticking to my normal tooth brush. I gave him ugly M&S underwear and he claims it's "self-beneficial" haha

 Yummy Christmas dinner at han yang's place

We love maccas!

And more!

We booked flights one week before our impromptu Bandung trip coz I badly needed to take a rest. 

Breakfast! Fried food.

Happiness!

Forever a honeymooning couple

Simple yet amazing Ayam Bakar

Some tofu with overkill of batter

Good morning!

This is Tangkuban Perahu, a volcanic crater. It was breath taking.

We trekked 1km to Kawah Domas, a super nice natural hot spring. 

Had to book a local guide for this trek, but 5 of his random khakis came along and befriended us. In the end, they tried to sell us trinkets when we reached and were trying to rest and get our own time. It was very annoying because I really hate rejecting people, especially after talking to them for the whole trek and they kept helping us to take photos. But they kept persisting and it got super annoying at some point coz i just wanted to enjoy soaking my feet and take in the surroundings. Look, how beautiful. The temperature was just right (20C +/-) and the water was super warm so it was a lovely place to spend time.

Went to this place which supposedly sells the best Tahu Susu Goreng coz lhy loves his tau kwa. It was alright only!

Went to visit a strawberry farm and they had stopped strawberry picking for the day! We had an overly sweet strawberry milkshake. 

There after we got back to the hotel and knocked out! This was NYE and we had wanted to catch some event at the hotel. Woke up at 10pm and decided to order room service instead as we were so lazy.

We started on our usual NYE tradition by sharing the memorable moments of the year.

And at midnight, there was a crazy display of fireworks! Hilton overlooked the city and we could see the entire skyline, and every where in the city people were playing with fireworks! It was so amazing. We turned off the lights and just stood there watching. It went on for 10 minutes.

It was the best treat ever :)

So long Bandung :)

First brekkie of 2017.

We had so much time to kill before our flight coz I buffered time for the train back to Jakarta. Went to the mall and walked the whole afternoon. 

Indo is crazy about batik. and I love batik too. They have batik everywhere. Some dated, some contemporary. There is this place called Bateeq, selling super nice modern stuff.

More amazing batik.

<3

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Here's a random photo of an orange with a giraffe on it.

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Malaysia work trip!

Hilton love again.

our colleague Theresa was back in KL for the weekend, and brought us for dinner!

amazing sedaplicious KL Hokkien mee.

I prefer KL grilled stingray! It's so tender...

We went to Alexis at Bangsar to eat amazing Tiramisu and some meringue fruit cake. Really amazing.

Spent the weekend at focus groups and falling sick :(

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A night to remember - it's been a year since he proposed! He remembered, and I didn't. He took me to a fancier place for the night, but we ended up quarrelling about my work coz I was being sensitive about things. Being irrational/emotional coz it's really affecting me. Eventually we made up coz I was being silly. Regardless, I'm so thankful for this understanding husband of mine.

I amuse myself with such photos when I need to finish work and he can go to bed earlier than me.