And it’s Christmas…

It’s 8:30pm on a Thursday night and here  I sit at Hong Kong airport waiting for my flight with hundreds of other expatriats wanting to get home before Christmas. Having been away for three weeks I can not express into words how excited I am about heading home. Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling, I love airports (Hong Kong would have to be my favourite by far) but when you haven’t had a weekend off for three weeks and you’ve averaged 6 hours a night when your body is used to 8 or 9, heading home feels great!

I have just been catching up on some reading, when you’re overseas for work you feel a little out of touch with the rest of the world. Even though we all have access to the Internet it just doesn’t feel the same, by the time you get back to your hotel room after dinner the only thing you want to do is shower and sleep! At this point I have to say that although I haven’t slept enough recently, the sleep I have had has been amazing. The Sheraton beds they have in China are fantastic, I’m not sure what the mattresses are made out of but I want to marry them! I’m almost tempted to buy one of their mattresses for home!

I must agree with Frutzie that this year has just flown past, it feels like yesterday when I made the big decision to move interstate and now I’ve almost been here a year. I can’t see too much changing in the coming year except that I have been asked to spend a little more time in China which I agreed to because I actually don’t mind living up in China, firstly when you’ve lived up there before, it’s almost no big deal and secondly this time round the living situation is completely different so I’m looking forward to spending more time in our China office. I’ll also be doing my first world trip next year, I can’t wait to visit the US and other parts of Europe, it’s almost criminal how much travel I get to do for work.

I guess it’s time to start thinking about new year’s resolutions and aims and goals. I guess my one mid/long term goal would be to find a partner in crime. It would be nice to share some of my thoughts and experiences with someone special, I’m currently leaving the situation to fate but on odd occassions I’ve felt the need to help fate along. Hopefully the coming year will provide me with more opportunities. I’d like to improve my health also, more exercise, eating the right foods, drinking more water etc. I’ve been lazy recently with my health so it’s one area I definitely need to improve on, I’d also like to pick my Chinese reading skills, I simply don’t recognise enough characters anymore. I need to be more diligent and read Chinese newspapers, websites etc and bring my level of reading up to where it used to be. If I spend more time in China then this will probably help in this area.

Two more hours till my flight, looking forward to catching up with friends and family soon. February seems like such a long time away but I know it’ll be here before I know it.

Dating

So I’m not great at this dating thing, the whole dressing up and looking pretty and making small talk. This whole dating scene is very much not up my alley. However I believe I’ve been converted after my fairly successful blind date last night, now I’m not one for blind dates but I figured I didn’t have much to lose and with my past ‘boy’ experiences I didn’t think I could go that wrong. The boy I met was actually very nice, quite open and out going and most importantly didn’t give me the “I need to get away from him” vibe, we played Cranium and won which was surprising for both of us! We ate, we talked and I did a lot of stupid smiling which apparently is what I do to cover my nerves.  It’s interesting but I was actually very relaxed and laid back, I made an effort with clothes, make up etc so I looked half descent and generally had a good time. Perhaps this dating thing isn’t so bad aftter all

Way too Busy!

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged for 2 months! With things over here being so busy I guess time has just slipped by. Firstly I have to say I miss Melbourne and I miss my friends so much, having finally moved into my new place and bought a car (sexy silver Astra) I feel like I’m settling into the Perth life and that scares me and excites me at the same time! I finally have a proper one bedroom apartment (with a separate bedroom, bathroom and kitchen!) and it feels nice coming “home” so to speak. My car is fabulous, it’s very me and I simply love it, photos will be posted when I get around to it.

I’ve finally caught up on everyone’s blog and I can’t believe how much I’ve missed out on, I’m so grateful for the Internet, without these blogs I’d be completely cut off from everyone and everything.  With Christmas coming up I’m getting a little mushy and sentimental I think!

The best thing about my life right now is that I love my job, I love my place and I love my car! Not much to complain about Btw, the social scene is picking up over here too, moving in next to a work colleague has definitely helped with that!

Inspiring

What a beautiful day today in Perth, having been away for 10 days in humid weather it’s nice to feel the fresh breeze come through the front door. As I sit and type this I’m looking out my balcony window and thinking how grateful I am to be living here. I had lunch at a friend’s house and it was a wonderful afternoon, great food, fantastic company and lovely weather. One of my friend’s is quite ill, she’s going through chemotherapy at the moment and every time I see her I feel inspired, she’s so positive and energetic. I know she has down times and it’s traumatic for her husband to see her going through this but her strength is indescribable. I think to myself and wonder whether or not I would have the same strength to go through with it. Watching her progress has definitely helped put my life into perspective, my friends will tell you that I tend to whinge a lot and if you read my blog regularly you’ll probably pick up that I’m a bit dramatic but when I see this friend, when I talk to her and hug her and see her smile I realise there is very little in my life that I can whinge about. I’m very lucky and extremely blessed.

Waking up in Hong Kong

It’s always wierd when you wake up in a foreign bed, especially when you’re in a foreign country. I usually have no issues with sleeping when I’m traveling but last night I just couldn’t get comfortable, the pillows were too soft, the bed too hard and the room too dry. Last night was the first time I’ve ever felt like I wanted to be  home, which is a disturbing thought for me ‘cos I usually love traveling.  I’m going to put it down to jetlag and see how we go, today will be a day of shopping, shopping and more shopping. Hard life huh?

Self Doubt vs Low Self Esteem

I think a healthy dose of self doubt every now and then is ok but I wonder where the line is when self doubt becomes low self esteem? My friends will know that on occasions when I’m at a weak point I’ll think stupid things about myself and then require reassurance from them. Lucky for me I have amazing friends who seem to knock some sense into me whenever I turn to them and if that doesn’t work I have Mustang who just kicks my ass for being stupid! I’d like to say a big thank you for doing this ‘cos if it wasn’t for you guys I’d lose myself in depressing thoughts which would ultimately leave me crying and eating Tim Tam’s by the bucket load! 

Another eventful day with lunch at a friend’s house and baby sitting followed by DVD’s and catching up with friends on the net.  I miss my friends immensely, there are times when I wonder if it’s all worth it, being away from them, being away from my family, being away from what I know, what I can depend on. Although I’ve always said that Perth was temporary, there are times when I wonder if the decision I made was the right one.

Fake Breasts / Wearing Clothes / Sexy feet

Now I have to have to have to give this new fake breast product a plug. When I first bought it I was a little skeptical especially since it cost me $10 but I tried it today and it was perfect. Not only does it mould to your body but it sticks and stays. It doesn’t enhance your cleavage by a lot but it definitely solves the whole bra strap problem.  I’m a huge fan of this product and would recommend all girls go out and buy a set!

Onto my second dilemma, I hate wearing clothes around the house. When I go out, clothing is fine but at home, I like to wear as little as possible. The problem is, because I live in flat, the back door opens out to the car park where all the tenants drive in and out and the front door opens out to a common corridor!! This means that I can only be naked with all the blinds shut and all the doors closed!! I can’t wait to move into a house!

I caught up with prostitute guy last night for dinner and we embarked on the topic of relationships / girls etc etc. The more I talk to him the more superficial he becomes, it’s sad when a guy has to define himself by how many hot chicks he’s slept with. I asked him who his last girlfriend was and he told me that the last girl he was interested in had a boyfriend but he knew deep down that she was the one. He’s banking on them breaking up and then him swooping in and catching her. Anyway, I asked him how he knew that she was the one and he said, “because I don’t care what her feet look like, she could have no toes and I would still feel the same way”. Apparently he is not only into sleeping with Japanese prostitutes but has a foot fettish, he gets turned off by bad / ugly feet / toes and the fact that he doesn’t care what this girls feet look like shows that she is the one. Now this got me thinking…should all of us have a yard stick by which we can decide whether or not a perspective guy / girl could be the one?? 

Spider killing techniques

Thanks to everyone for your spider killing suggestions, I will definitely be taking those up in the near future.  I’m not sure about the squishing ones but the spray and sweep is something I’m pretty good at.  I’ve just read Frutzie’s blog and Immie’s blog and I suddenly feel like I really need a hug. It’s wierd but you don’t realise how much you miss physical affection until you stop getting it. At times like these I wish I had a dog to hug or some other pet. I guess this is one of those things I can put on my list about why I hate being alone. It’s strange when I think about where this need for hugs comes from, my mum and I aren’t particularly close in that way, I use to hug my grandma a lot and I guess I’ve always been pretty affectionate in relationships so perhaps my need for hugs stems from that? What ever the reason, I miss hugs! I miss giving them and I miss receiving them.

Another weekend

A fairly productive weekend so far, cleaned the bathroom, made tuna and corn pasta bake and did a batch of laundry. I’ve got another weekend before I head over seas and then I’ll be back in Melbourne for my cousin’s wedding. Time is passing really quickly, it feels like I was only just back in Melbourne but it was actually 2 months ago.  I’m having a very bloated week this week, I’m not sure what I’ve eaten or not eaten but I’m feeling yuck. I also need to tone up for this wedding so I’m trying desperately to exercise / do pilates / eat healthily etc etc.

Also, there was a spider in my bathroom last night and I was too scared to kill it so I left it. Scary thing is that it’s not there today and now I don’t know where it’s gone! Can anyone recommend a good way to kill spiders without squishing them? The whole squishing thing freaks me out.

All by myself…

There are very few times in my life when I will admit that I hate being alone. Today is one of those rare occassions, I’m a pretty self sufficient person, independent and if you ask my friends they will tell you that I’m not particulary needy. However today I’m going to list the reasons why I hate being alone.

1) I hate taking out the trash

2) I hate making two trips from the car when I go grocery shopping

3) Cooking for one is incredibly frustrating

4) I can’t kill small bugs around the house because I’m too scared but I know if I don’t kill them they will spread their germs

5) Housework annoys me to no end and just once I’d like someone help pick up the slack

So there you go, all reasons why I hate being alone!