Surprise Parcel

It was a 2 pm. An innocent parcel waited unsuspectingly in my mail box waited in my mail box just as I passed by. "Hmmm.... could this be mine?"

Looking at the handwriting, I knew I recognised something familiar. When I saw what was written in the content, I laughed. No need to look at the name. This was definitely mine.

Grace, I can recognise your handwriting anytime.

My hall buddies decided to drop an eleborate "Hi" with a parcel sent all the way from Singapore. It had been a stressful afternoon and this parcel really made my day. I am really thankful for friends who remember what makes me tick.

Interestingly, this little parcel contained everything that I couldn't live without. And these are all the things that I can't find in the US. You guys are amazing! Seriously, you guys just made the remaining of the year easier to bear.

so, what's in the package?

Bible: Chinese + English. This would be an interesting one. Since on average, I own a new one every 3 years to vary the reading routine, having 2 languages on the same page would be something fresh.

Indomee: Simply the best instant noodles. 7 years being an expert in the field can't be wrong. Nothing else comes close to it. Ben, I hope this didn't come from your cupboard.

G-Tec C4: I only use fine tip pen and this particular pen model can't be found here. Just at the right time too, since the my last one was down to 0.5 cm remaining ink.

White Coffe: Coffee is to me what fuel is to car. Anybody who has known me long enough will know that. Zhan Rui, I believe you are the culprit for this, cause I have not seen any E-blocker drinking this before. Thanks. The next time we will be drinking the coffee that you will be bringing back from France.

Chili Sauce: For someone who consumes 5-7 packets of chili sauce per value meal, I am reduced to just ketchup here. My housemates simply went bonkers when they saw this too. Melf, Tina, Lishi, Grace, Weiguang, Ben (did I miss out anyone?), I really wonder HOW MANY times did you guys go to McDonalds to really amass this amount of chili packets? I am touched...

But the winner of them all is...

my calculator!

For a country this advanced, it is surprising that I couldn't find a better replacement for my 7-year old sidekick. None of the scientific calculators here fall under the category of "functional". This dude came at the right time - just 2 hours before my test! That is why this parcel is God-sent.

Cost of shipping: $52.80
Chinese & English Parallel Bible: $30.00
Joy of receiving: Priceless

There are some things money just can't buy. For others, there are always friends.

Trekking In The Snow

Since my trip to Silicon Valley is cancelled, I decided I was still gonna make my spring break worthwhile. I prefer the great outdoors to shopping anytime and was anticipating my first hiking experience in the US woods. Thankfully, managed to find a few trekking buddies, rented a car and off we went to the nearest State Park we could find.

Taking a shot outside someone's yard

"Near" was relative, since we drove for almost 4 hours before we finally found the park. The place was almost deserted, save for a jogger with his 2 dogs. While we weren't expecting a very bright and sunny whether we didn't expect was that the park was almost covered entirely by snow either.

at least we know we are not alone

Iris getting the food ready


Seconds before we started (Iris & Kai Hong)


lets go


Eric beside the river

Since the ground was covered with snow, we could really find the right trail. So, following the safest way, we trekked along the river, until we reached an open plain that didn't seem to fit into the densely-packed terrain. At first, we wanted to trek along this opening and see where this trail led to. After walking a few steps, all 4 of us felt that something was not quite right. Upon investigation, we figured it out - we had been walking on a snow-covered frozen stream.

all that's calm may not be good news...


...until you find out...


...what exactly lies beneath

In the middle of the park, there were some abandoned tunnels and railway tracks. It was actually pretty dangerous walking through the tunnels as stalactites were actually forming from the roof and one pile actually fell and stabbed through the ground as we past.

watch out for falling icicles


hopefully no train runs at this time (Iris, Eric & Kai Hong)

We saw some other interesting stuff as well - oddly shaped ice-bubbles, stalactites forming beside cliff wall and beautiful gorges.

discovery of icicles

check out the shape of the ice

illegal souveniers


final glimpses of sunlight


time to go

we'll be back

StarCite

The Background
Quite of you have been asking me what my company deals with and honestly it's quite a mouthly for me to string into one sentence. My internship company, StarCite, is a Philadelphia home-grown company that acts as the channel between corporate event planners and suppliers (airlines, hotels, golf clubs, etc.), allowing them have visibility over their budget and spending.

Confused? So was I, the first time I heard it. Let's say I am from a multinational company in US and I will like to hold a conference in Japan. Now, sourcing for a hotel / conference hall in a country halfway across the world isn't really that easy a task. Besides negotiating prices, you will still need to work around limitations (such as no rooms during proposed date, but rooms are available a week later), special requests (golf course for Sunday) and when all is done, you realise all you've got are quotations from just one hotel. And all the time you spent calling, negotiating, agreeing to bad deals all translates to unquantifiable money lost.

Via the StarCite website, you can post up a detailed decription of your meeting 9 in just a matter of minutes) and choose to send it to say all the hotels in Japan or all Hilton hotel chains automatically. Instantly, you can ask for quotations to a few hundred hotels in the blink of the eye and let them do the work instead of you. Every hotel returns with a quotation and the one that gives the best deal wins. Pretty much like ebay bidding for hotel space. Simple?

The story so far...
On Monday, my boss CH called us (Eric & I) into his office. All the while I have heard from seniors on how great a boss he is. He called us because he was really concerned if we were learning enough during this internship period. He wanted to see if there were anything else we wanted to do. He had actually mailed all 6 managers under him telling them that we would be approaching them for assignments and we actually get to choose the assignment where we can learn the most. All 6 managers hold very different portfolios so diversity in learning is assured. My admiration for this man grows....

Passing the Holy Grail
When you work for department that revolves around technology, the "untouchable items" would be the code and components that makes up the code. After the session with CH, I am officially "in", working hand-in-hand with the developers and programmers. My remaining 10 months is going to be exciting.

Scenic view on the way to work


Welcome to StarCite!


To remind us of our names after working for 18 hours straight


My cubicle


View of the city from the office after 6 pm