Bolton Market on my own

Busy all day long. Feel like I'm a housewife with part-time work! :p

I woke up at 7:15 a.m. today! I tried to make Chinese soup, upload photos, take a shower, have breakfast and make lunchbox within 2 hours before going to work! These days I had been having showers in the early morning after waking up, instead of in the evening. Today's work for my ex-colleague was not difficult either - formatting her transcripts. I'd prefer doing such simple work occasionally, which is much more relaxing. While my ex-colleagues were busy with their work - seeing clients, editing a poster, replying to email, etc, I felt relaxed about my simple work. :)  I guess my attitude toward my ex-employer (the organization) and the people there has changed...

I worked till around 2:30 p.m. as I had to rush to the Bolton market for fish (like a housewife!:p)!! Someone had lent me his bus ticket so that I could take a bus to and from Bolton for free! :) The bus journey took a bit longer than I had expected - a bit more than an hour and the Bolton market was quite quiet when I got there around 4 p.m. There were not much fish left but I was determined to buy fish anyway (after such a long bus journey!). I bought a big salmon for £5. I was struggling between salmon and seabass then. Later I found that the salmon I bought was not of good quality - not 'pink' enough and not tasty. :(  I didn't feel like staying there any longer as I wanted to head back home asap. Maybe Saturday shopping at Bolton market with friends was much more fun to me. An interesting 'adventure' though this time!

The soup pack bought by mum: very good quality!

My lunchbox

Dinner: steamed salmon + sugar snaps with broccoli & beansprouts + baked beans

The most delicious dish for me was baked beans! :p

working, eating, chatting...

Half day work and a relaxing afternoon.

Today's work for my ex-employer was still to help her check the accuracy of her transcripts. It wasn't difficult and I could practise my Mandarin as the recordings were in Mandarin. I finished my work around 1:30 p.m. and had lunch with another ex-colleague. After lunch I was planning to go to chinatown to buy some foodstuff and who knows, I came across my friend who was to call me today for a chat! What a coincidence! I accompanied her to food shopping and then we went to the food court for tea, where I had had lunch before! :p Having parted with her, I did my own food shopping and then went back home for home-made dinner..

How wonderful it'd be if my life's always like that - working and relaxing...

Lunch: fish & chips from Harry Ramsden + cheeseburger from Mcdonalds!

The most delicious was the chips!

Dinner: Udon with mixed vegetables, egg, roasted chicken and mushroom!

all stuff 炒埋一碟! :p

Back to 'normal' life!?

A busy day. Felt good about being busy.

I had agreed with my ex-colleague that I can help out as a volunteer at the art gallery. I hadn't had any idea about who I'd interpret for until I got to the art gallery - the faces of those people were so familiar! They were the elderly that I had used to help out while still working at my ex-employer. Today's meeting was a briefing for next Sunday's Chinese New Year event at the art gallery. An elderly couple invited me to yum cha with them afterward but I tried to reject them politely as I got work to do and also I didn't feel like yum cha with them.. Anyway I got to go home first then as my flatmate texted me to say she was not sure if the heater in her room had been turned off!

I went back to my ex-workplace to work for one of my ex-colleagues as her support worker. Today's work was to check the accuracy of the transcripts for a research study that she was doing with a university. Transcription was no stranger to me as I had done that so many times! I still felt like a stranger at the workplace where I had used to work...

I had been waiting for the blood test results from the GP and finally today I tried to find it out by calling at the clinic. The reception said my female GP was so busy today but she could ask her to give me a ring. Later in the afternoon the female GP called me and helped me to find out the remaining report of my blood test results - it was negative! That means my health was 'normal'! :) But I still had itchy and rash skin and the female GP asked me to take a photo of my rash skin if it came up again; even she had no idea why I had that skin problem. She suspected it could be my living environment that caused me trouble with my skin - that made me wonder if my bed/room has any bed bugs or something that irritate my skin (besides the washing powder that may be a suspect!). Hmm...

Having known the results of my blood tests, I feel a bit relieved and with some work to do (though temporary and very low pay!), I can feel that I'm back to 'normal' life..

Dinner: the bolognese mince leftover from last Saturday's party with friends at home 

was eaten with rice and vegetables! Very yummy! :) 

cold cold cold..

Back to lazy mode.

I seemed to have better sleep these few days (not woken up till the morning). Not sure if it was because I didn't have nap and I was too tired after a long day?! Anyway, I was back to a lazy mode today - I did laundry only in the morning. In the afternoon I was trying to do a bit of tidying up but the cold weather just de-motivated me! I felt so cold and I had to wear many clothes to get myself warm. Then I went out to meet up with two friends for a drink. I had a long chat with one of them on the street on my way home! =_=' I was so frozen as my hands got so red and I couldn't feel my feet when I got back home!

I do like sunny weather as we had these few days (I wasted it though without going out in the daytime to get some sunshine!) but I really can't stand such cold weather...

Lunch: it was leftovers all day! 

salad + bolognese meat, sweetcorns & 雪耳 from soup! 

oh the rice with bolognese reminded me of 窩蛋免治牛肉飯!

It was a box of cup cakes that my friend was given by her colleague as her birthday gift!

Mocha + cup cake

the cake was too sweet.. 

Dinner: leftovers again!

Roasted chicken (without bones) + choi sum & sweetcorn with mushroom!

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

I always think my birthday is the day when I should do whatever I want to and without any pressure. I'd think about how to spend the day - this year before my birthday I had been thinking about going somewhere, e.g. Bolton, whether to do shopping or just walk around. I didn't want to stay at home. At the end I had to stay at home for the morning, as I had to complete job applications! I could have gone out and enjoyed myself earlier if I had done the application beforehand.. Anyway, VIP took me to Bolton. We had lunch at Sainsbury's - it was disappointing and my mood got a bit affected (I shouldn't let my mood get affected!). We did food shopping at Morrisons and Asda. When I was at Morrisons, I thought I had made a wrong choice - we should have gone to Eccles as there was a higher chance of getting bargains. Anyway, we got a roasted chicken from Asda for £2.20. The chicken was for my birthday dinner - mum used to buy me chicken on my birthday (I don't know why she chose chicken!).

Even though my birthday seemed not much different from other days when I do food shopping, I did enjoy it. It isn't about how and where I spend it, but rather how I feel about it.

Dinner: roasted chicken!!!!!! + leftover salad + garlic bread

Lunch at Sainsbury's: disappointed - the fish was too small and oily! 

the yorkshire ham was quite nice though :) 

Gathering and gathering... eat eat eat!

A day about gatherings with friends.

First I met up with two friends for yum cha lunch. There were dim sum trolleys and some people asked us if we wanted any dim sum from their trays. We had some dim sum and a bowl of 'ho fun'. It was a nice chat without much pressure! Then I accompanied one of them to Arndale Market where she got 3 seabass for £10. I wasn't tempted as I thought I should get them cheaper in Bolton market the other day?! :p

I then met up with one of my ex-colleagues who was going to make dinner for me and my two other ex-colleagues in my flat! It was my pre-birthday dinner celebration! It was actually the first time I invited them to my flat for dinner since I had moved. I wasn't used to seeing other people cooking in my flat while I was waiting. :p My ex-colleague did good cooking! The spaghetti bolognese she made was very nice! Her salad was also nice! The salad sauce was the best! Her cooking did inspire me and give me some ideas about cooking! hehe! I made Chinese soup as drinks. One of the ex-colleagues brought us a wii and they played wii fit. It looked very fun. Our gathering ended with me having a ride while one of the ex-colleagues took the other two colleagues home.

I enjoyed the dinner, not because it was to celebrate my birthday, but because it was nice having some good food with friends at home!  :)

Dinner: wah nice food!!

I fell in love with panettone!

Volunteering at MAG

Back to my volunteering at art gallery today.

I could have volunteered at my previous workplace but I guess I'd rather spend time doing something different with nicer people than going back to a place which may remind me of some unpleasant memories/people! :p Today's workshop was about 'circles' - the little kids (0 - 5 years old) could use white/black paint to draw anything on circles. The kids were so cute!! One of the gals even had her clothes taken off and had white paint on her body! Wow! The parents seemed not to mind much their kids getting dirty/messy with those paints! My role was mainly to help with any materials needed for the workshops. Simple and happy to see those little kids enjoying themselves!

I tried using MSN to talk to mum (with video cam) in the afternoon. That didn't cost me anything and mum can see me! After mum had asked me if I had watched the DVD (Hins' concert) that she had helped me to buy in HK, I watched the DVD! It reminded me of the time when I was watching that concert in HK!

It has become colder today - freezing! I stayed in bed in the evening. Time to use the electric under-blanket! I'll try it tomorrow and hopefully it can save me some money by not needing to turn on the heater.. :p

Feel like going somewhere in such sunny, though cold, weather..

Lunch: Leftover salmon stir fry with sugar snap & 'choi sum' 

Dinner: baked beans with potatoes + broccoli stir fry with soup leftover

(not much stuff left in the fridge!)

Back to work - full day

Back to my previous workplace.

I went back to my previous workplace to work for one of my ex-colleagues as her support worker again. I didn't get used to work full day though - I woke up quite late, around 8:40 a.m. I had a shower, then breakfast. I can't imagine how I could work a full day! Guess I had been away from full-time working for so long. Again I still felt strange about working in the organization where I used to work. It seems there is a distance between me and the people there as well. I just don't have a sense of belonging. After all, I'm working there temporarily and probably for a very short time. So I don't think I'm part of the organization. All I did the whole day was listening to recordings and checked the accuracy of the transcripts. Quite boring indeed but not stressful. The fact that my ex-colleague was my employer also made it less stressful for me to work there! And she treated me lunch! I guess I work well with bosses like her - my past employer/supervisors whom I had a good relationship with used to be very nice to me and gave me least supervision, except for my last employer (the senior management of the organization for which my ex-colleague is working).

Being able to have some work to do - a full day - does help me - I found it easier to spend a day and in a more meaningful way...

Dinner: super skinny fries from GBK

I still prefer chunky fries... 

My favourite: cheese & bacon burger

Reflection on 2011

A lazy day.

I stayed at home almost all day. Felt too lazy to go to gym - I started wondering again about whether to cancel my gym membership. I did my reflection on 2011. It looked as though I had done nothing in 2011 as I got no job - in fact it was a year when I thought a lot about my life. Changing from having a full time job to becoming a student again was eventful and it affected me a lot - which may help explain why I have been having so many health problems including anxiety and why I felt so depressed/lack of confidence/felt so insecure, etc. I don't know if that's what people call 'mid life crisis'! Hopefully in 2012 I'll gain back my confidence, my energy and my life!

My skin itch problem stilll comes and goes. :(

Lunch: leftovers - sweet potatoes + stir fry salmon with vegetables!

Dinner: 雪菜肉絲米粉 + 玉子豆腐 with choi sum!

Breakfast gathering with friend

A relaxing day that started with breakfast with a friend.

I hadn't had breakfast outside for quite a while. Usually I'd prefer meeting friends for lunch or dinner instead, because usually I like to have simple breakfast which can help me 'detox' in the morning! Anyway, since my friend had to go to work at 12 p.m., having breakfast with her would be the best option we could have! We went to BHS for breakfast. In my mind, BHS is a place for elderly, which is true, as the majority of customers in its restaurant were elderly (except for us! :p). The time wasn't enough though as we had so much to talk about!

I spent the afternoon making Chinese soup - 'Ching Po Leung' (another example showing how much better the stuff from HK is, than those from the Chinatown here!) and tidying up my kitchen cupboard. I felt like being a 'si lai'! :p

Breakfast at BHS

Nice but I might prefer breakfast at a cafe in the nearby!

A soup pack from HK bought by mum!

Dinner: the first time I made 苦瓜炒蛋!

steamed salmon & broccoli with chicken breast

Back to my previous workplace

Back to my previous workplace - almost one year since I had left there.

The first thing in the morning was to see the useless GP about my blood test results. He was quite nice to me this time (as a medical student was in the room as well!) and said he'd chase up the remaining part of the report to me. Hopefully everything's ok..

One of my ex-colleagues, who had hearing problems, asked me to be her support worker as she got some funding to employ someone to help her. The job is about working 10 hours a week, at a low rate. I can only do 2 to 3 months only though. After last Tuesday's meeting, it was the 2nd day I worked for her and it was the first time I went back to my previous workplace as she had two meetings there today. My main job was to jot down notes for her, which was not difficult. I didn't really have many feelings about my previous workplace though - I just found it unfamiliar - it was like a stranger to me. Maybe not having any feeling about it would be good for me.

I enjoyed working again..

Dinner: sweet potato (boiled) + stir fry broccoli + steamed chicken with mushroom and black fungus

The mushroom was quite big! It was of good quality. 

I can tell how much different its quality is from that of the mushroom I bought from Chinatown.. 

The mushroom bought by aunt! 

2012 resolutions - Keep healthy & plan for my future?

Lazy Sunday.

I woke up a bit later than usual - around 10:15 a.m. today after staying up late last night. Then I spent the whole morning surfing the internet in bed! The single duvet someone gave me made me reluctant to go out of the bed as it was so warm! With it I haven't really needed to turn on the heater over the past few days (also the weather was not as cold as before)! I met up with a friend for a good chat in the afternoon - she and I have been struggling with our health problems and recently she's been suffering from heartburn/stomach problem, same as me before. We both said we needed to rectify our bad habits and become more healthy. I gave her a big bag of bread that I got from Morrisons yesterday for 9p. I just realized, when I packed the bread for her, that there were more than 9 bread (around 12?) in the bag, which means each bread cost less than 1p! Wah!

I got some information from friends about immigration. Looks like now's time for me to think about and plan for my future...

Lunch: leftover salmon + salad vegetables with rice

Very lazy meal.. 

Dinner: potato & meat pastry + mixed vegetables with rice + sweetcorn soup 

another lazy meal of the day... 

Shopping bargains again! Yeah!

Shopping Saturday again!

Quite lazy in the morning. Was thinking of going to gym (been a week since I last went there!) but gave it up at the end! =_=' Had a good home-made lunch. :) Then I went out to Boots & Superdrug for daily necessity stuff before meeting with VIP for dinner and food shopping at Morrisons! We got 2 big bags of bread for 9p each! And 2 bags of 4 pies/pastries for 19p each! Very good bargains! But as we got too many things, we felt so stressed at the self-service that we left a gift wrap (which we paid for already!) when we left the supermarket. :(  Anyway it was good shopping! :)

The only unpleasant thing about the day was my itchy and rash skin (mainly on neck) in the evening. I'm not sure if I have come to terms with it or if I just don't want to bother about it any more; I didn't take any anti-histamine tablet as I thought the rash would be gone the next morning. But the rash skin just made me worried about my health problems again...

Lunch: noodles with salmon, courgettes, carrots, green peas & broccoli :) 

Yummy!

Dinner: our all-time favourite fish & chips! :p

Feeling down!?

I needed a good rest after a busy week.

The post-auntie&cousin visit syndrome was made worse after I had checked my blood test results. There seemed to be a mistake made by the clinic again and they may have missed out an important point about the results, which made me worried a lot because according to the lab report, I have a (big?!) problem with my auto-immune system. :(  The female doctor whom I've been seeing and who I'd prefer is on holiday till 17th Jan and so I had no choice but to book an appointment to see the useless GP to find out what's going on. :(

I thought I'd meet up with a friend of mine for a drink this morning but because I hadn't confirmed with her yesterday, she thought I couldn't make it and she was at work when I contacted her after arriving in Starbucks. So I went back home. I spent the whole day on my bed after doing the laundry. I was just tired. My little finger of my right hand got red and swollen for no reason. :(

I just feel unhappy again..

Lunch: salmon & mixed stir-fry vegetables

Dinner: pasta in sweet corn soup with turkey mince and mixed vegetables

It tasted ok but looked terrible! 

Saw off auntie and cousin :(

Auntie Sheung and Cousin Sharon have left and gone back to HK!

Auntie and cousin took a flight back to HK this morning. I accompanied them to the airport as I had free time anyway and I could help them take luggage. After checking in, we went to Cafe Nero for a drink and chat. It seems I haven't talked so much with auntie and cousin before. I did get to know more about them. They went through the security around noon and I took a train back home. When I got back home and looked at the living room and my bedroom where there were full of their luggage and clothes over the past two days, I felt 'empty'. Everything got back to normal but at the same time I felt a bit sad. :( Auntie and cousin had a very good relationship between themselves and that reminds me of my relationship with my mum - last weekend I just had a little unhappy conversation with her. It seems auntie is more understandable than my mum!?

Maybe because I haven't got enough sleep/rest and healthy eating over the past few days, my body gave me some responses - dry lips, constipation, heartburn, itchy and rash skin...  :(

A large cup of mocha for free!

These are what auntie and cousin have left me with

Lunch: udon again - with salad vegetables left by auntie

Dinner: McDonalds!

Stuff bought by mum 

Stuff given by auntie

Gifts by another cousin

Being a tour guide

I was a tour guide for auntie sheung & cousin sharon today.

To be honest, I can't think of any place when it comes to showing people around. Maybe I'm not knowledged enough about Manchester!? Anyway, I took auntie and cousin to the Old Trafford Stadium of Manchester United first - to be precise, it was the mega store of the football club that I took them to. They were not interested in the stadium but the mega store where they bought some t-shirts for uncle and cousin's brother. Since we bought day tickets for tram, we tried to make use of the tickets by going to different places. Our next stop was the Lowry Outlet Mall. I didn't mean to take them there but since they were not interested in the Media City where BBC was situated, I think it was better to take them to the nearby shopping mall where they could do some shopping! They did find some good bargains. I had thought aunt would buy something expensive but surprisingly she was very careful about her spending and she seemed to know the prices of a lot of things in HK, e.g. kitchen utensils, clothes. She didn't spend anything more than £10 for an item!

Our lunch was at Morrisons in Eccles. After lunch, we did a bit of shopping at Morrisons. Again, I got to know more about my aunt & cousin through their shopping. Auntie Sheung is quite healthy and she prefers vegetables, fruits and porridge!

We dropped off our shopping bags before heading to the city centre for more shopping. The weather today was actually quite bad - windy and rainy. When we got to the city centre, auntie sheung seemed to be quite tired already. We only went to a few more shops like TK Maxx, Primark, LV shop, 1-pound shop ,etc. They didn't buy anything besides some pants that cousin bought for her friends. We then went to a Japanese restaurant for early dinner before going home.

It was a tiring day as we had walked a lot!! Aunt and cousin went to bed at 9 p.m.! I continued going online till midnight...

Our lunch at Morrisons

It seems auntie and cousin can eat more than I do!

Dinner at Samsi

Hello Auntie Sheung & Cousin Sharon!

Auntie Sheung & Cousin Sharon have come to my place today!

I'm not sure if it's because I haven't been back to HK for two years, I had mixed feelings when they came to visit me. I felt quite nervous because I wanted to make sure they had a great time here. I didn't really talk much with them in the past. I went to the train station to pick them up in the morning. It was a rush because it happened I had to attend a meeting in which I'd be helping my ex-colleague. After they had dropped off their luggage in my place, I took them to the Chinatown where they'd meet my aunt's friend who'd then take them to her house till the evening. I was late for the meeting but I didn't miss much (actually I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do!).

I picked up my aunt & cousin from the train station again in the evening after they had had dinner with my aunt's friend. We had a nice chat after back home. They slept on my bed while I slept on the sofa in the living room. My first time to sleep on the sofa in my flat! Not bad...

a slice of home-made bread from an ex-colleague!

Oh I want to make home-made bread too!

Lunch: Udon with turkey mince & vegetables

A bag of yeast and bread recipe from ex-colleague

Dinner: cheese & ham tortellini with turkey mince balls

No more unhappiness but food & sunny weather

What a good weather today!

After a nice night's sleep, I felt a bit better. Yesterday's conversations with mum and tall gal friend were still in the back of my mind. >_< I shouldn't let them get me down, right? Anyway, I distracted my attention/unhappiness by focusing on cooking and also starting getting prepared for the visit by my aunt and cousin who'll be arriving in Manchester tomorrow morning. I moved my accounting notes from my bedroom to living room (sometimes I wonder if having so many stuff under my bed may affect my health?! :p)

I went out in the afternoon, so as not to waste such a sunny weather with blue sky (though it was much colder than before!). I was thinking of whether to buy some more foodstuff in case my aunt and cousin need food at home? The city centre was still filled with people, but not as many as last week/before Christmas. I was focused only on things I needed (e.g. food!). When I think of how small my bedroom/flat is, I won't buy any more things! :p

Hopefully my aunt and cousin's two-night stay will be smooth. I'm getting stressed now..

Breakfast: steak pastry with cereals (& blueberries!)

The pastry was really very oily.. but tasty!

Lunch: a very lazy meal

cheese burger with some last night's leftover

Can't think of any dish when there wasn't much in the fridge that can make a dish!

Dinner: turkey mince meatballs!

The meatballs were eaten with pasta in soup!

a good or bad start of 2012?

有苦自己知!

That's how I felt after having conversations with my mum and my 'tall girl' friend on the phone this afternoon. What could I expect from them? Did I just want to update with them my life here? Or expect some pressure? Anyway, it turned out I feel a bit unhappy and stressed. :(  Mum sort of 'complained' to me - she said, 'I don't know why you like studying so much; And I don't know either what you're doing there. Is your (accountancy) course really useful? Do you study for more qualifications? Or for getting a status?' (That reminds me of what my sister-in-law said to me about my mum tending to complain indirectly!)  The 'tall girl' friend asked me to think about seriously whether I should continue my study; she said if I continued doing it, I wouldn't want to give it up and there's 'no way back'! =_=' It'd be a waste of money & time if I gave it up in the middle. =_=' Just thinking of going back to HK and living in an environment where people tell you what is 'useful' has made me stressed already. :'(  Is that why those friends of mine who went back to HK for good are not very happy? Someone has also earlier asked me to think about my future. Maybe because I've never thought and planned in advance for my future?

What can you do when people around you don't support you, sound negative or disapprove of what you do?

I'm wondering if I've got beaten by the cold virus... Stomach is still not well and I have more phlegm in my throat. :(

On the first day of 2012, I have to remind myself to 'live for the moment', as the title of my blog says...

Lunch: last night's leftover!

Dinner: tofu with chicken breast, mushroom, green peas & carrots + shallow fried cabbage