1 post tagged “christmas party”

I realised I have missed too many days to do articles on each topic I want to say, so I guess I just do a summary of the last 2 weeks.

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Pool game, vietnam style

I went to play pool with K. I was shocked when I realised that the holes were covered up and that we only have 3 balls. Apparently, this is one way that they play here in vietnam. red, yellow and white. You are either yellow or white, and the aim of the game is to hit the other 2 balls (red, then opponent's) with one stroke. Then you count points based on how many times you manage to hit opponent's ball. You play till time's up. I was thinking, is it because they don't have money to afford more balls, the system of collecting balls manually from each hole is too troublesome, the table does not need various mechanisms to make sure that the balls roll out.. etc that this is a low cost way of playing pool?

Anyway, after a while, it was quite fun cos you really need to work out the way the ball will affect the path etc. I think it is great for practice and understanding the physics, angles of the hitting. But miss the satisfaction of hitting it into the hole

Drama of the flying hat

I went to tuy hoa for a project, to train the local authorities on development control guidelines. Anyway, based on my colleagues' description, I was imagining that I would go to coastal town where the beach is great and that I could go to swimming. Alas it was the wrong season and nobody warned me. It was windy and stormy, and our plane nearly could not land. The winds was so strong that when I was disembarking I really felt that I could be blown away if I didn't also carry my laptop and luggage to weigh me down.

After everyone descended the plane, 2 old ladies then took their turn with some help from the airline staff. So this old lady was stepping down the stairs to get to the shuttle bus and then the strong winds blew her hat and some stuff away. Then all the ground staff panicked and rushed up to help her. This actually happened 2 times as the hat was retrieved and returned to her and then it got blown away again.

It was actually quite stormy over the 2 days that we were there and some locals were dressed like for winter with sweaters and scarf. And someone actually gave her English teacher (who is actually works in the Construction Dept) a pair of gloves.

Construction Dept

The irony of the construction dept is that the minor road leading to their office building is one of the few roads in the town that is not paved properly for vehicular travel. Also their gate is dangerous as one staff had his finger cut off when trying to shut it and got his hand trapped in the latch, and my boss related that the whole gate collapse and crashed on him. This is the building authority, regulators we are talking about. I was wondering how do they ensure that all buildings are safe when their is obviously lacking, how are they going to enforce anything.

Christmas Party

We invited 40 and only 20 turned up after all 40 said they were coming. We ended with too much food. It was a boring party but I didn't care too much. It was a success considering that the fish tank was set up, the drawings were printed and pasted, the signboard has finally arrived and the food was nice.

Singapore

I was actually very happy when I saw Changi airport while in the air. The orderly trees, the idea of home, family and friends. To land, the plane had to make a big loop and so I was quite distressed when it flew further away to make the u-turn. Also, the plane seems to be making terrible noise and lots of clouds, which reminded me of the landing at tuy hoa.

Meeting up with people during this festive season gives me great pleasure, but many are away for holiday. I don't really miss any particular food, but more the convenience of everything. Looking forward to more shopping to buy stuff that I just don't know where to get in hcm city.