World Cup 2018 and Its Life Lessons

FIFA World Cup - Russia 2018

Since June everyone all over the world had been excitingly welcoming the World Cup 2018, after one of the world historic event - Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's visit and summit in Singapore had over. I had missed both important events (the summit and the world cup's opening ceremony) as I was still on holiday in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Throughout few decades of my life I had never shown any interest in football, ever!!! But since most of my Bhutanese young friends loved football so much (many had so much passion in it and played them very well - including what I had witnessed myself during my trip in Sri Lanka not long ago on how they would purposely travel to another city just to participate in a match, play it under the rain, etc.), plus my brother and nephews' great interest on some football teams, I had slowly been developing the interest towards football.

Final FA Cup 20 May 2018 - Chelsea VS Man United (Pic source: Google.com)

I watched my first football match with interest back on May 20th, 2018 - the FA Cup final Chelsea VS Manchester United - at my brother's house, when I stayed there over night. My brother supported Chelsea while my nephew supported Manchester United. I was waiting for my friend to reach my brother's house as she participated in running event that night. To be honest, I had zero knowledge of football. So many times I would comment unnecessarily which at the end, irritated my brother. Hahahahahaha..... :P

And now, this World Cup games.

It was very expensive to subscribe the football channel in Singapore, especially for this World Cup event. So we did not have an access to watch the games conveniently at home. During dinner meeting with friends, she told us her experience of searching the free streaming match and she ended up listening to other then English languages comments given by the commentator, i.e. Arabic, Thai, etc.

World Cup time!!! With Durian :P

However, sometimes, our local TV channel (Okto) broadcast the match (not regularly though), and I watched my first match on Sunday, 24th June, England VS Panama. I still had no knowledge about football so someone suggested me to just see if the player made goals or not. Hahahaha.... And instead of having beer while watching, I had durian (if you had durian, no alcohol was allowed to be consumed). And from that match, I knew few players such as: Harry Kane (the 25 years old English's footballer who made 3 goals on that match), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United player ), and John Stones (Manchester City player who made 2 goals).

Then followed with Japan VS Senegal match. I watched it on streaming online this time since it was not broadcast in local TV. Thanks to someone for giving me the link so that I could watch it on my laptop at home :) From this match, I also learned to know few good Japanese players like Takashi Inui, Keisuke Honda, cool-looking Maya Yoshida, and Shinji Kagawa. Although the result was draw 2-2, they managed to go on the next match.

So, from that day onward, I tried to watch one match per day (due to the time difference I could not wait and watch the 2 am game here). Sometimes hubby taught me some rules on the game too, which increased my knowledge a little. Many times I asked around what people thought about the result of the upcoming game like which team would win, how many scores they would make, and so on.

Friends were helping up in broaden my knowledge too by saying who were good from the team, and associated the country with its good players, e.g. Argentina - Messi, Portugal - Ronaldo, Brazil - Neymar, French - Griezzman, etc. Hehehehe... :D From Facebook post I also knew some of the good-heart players, e.g. Messi,

Some matches were good, in the sense you could see how strong the team, e.g. on Korea match against Germany. The Korea defenders were defending very well and the goalkeeper did his job very well on the match too. There you could also see how weak the Germany striker. They had so many opportunities to make a goal but they could not use it well. Some games were too much of fighting, bringing the players down, injuring players neck, head, legs, and so on, and not worth watching.

Many games were unpredictable. Those who people thought supposed to win, they lost, and who supposed to be weak, they won, even after the 90 minutes game had over (Korea VS Germany match).

I learned new things on every match as I was really having 0 knowledge on it. Just like yesterday's match - Russia VS Spain. In this match, when the result was draw, they were given 30 minutes to play and see which team could score a goal and win. In the event they both did not score any goal, both teams would do penalty kick - 5 kicks were given and those scored the most would win).

World Cup's betting (Pic source: Singaporepools.com.sg)

Apart from it, I also learned about the betting system from Singapore Pools. Hahahaha.... I haven't put my money on any bet so far, but usually the World Cup event was the only event most Singaporean would put their money and bet on it. Like from the above figure, I had to ask my brother what was the figures showing. There were many bet type available too, e.g. Pick the score, total goals, halftime, halftime-fulltime, etc. P.S. I do not encourage you to bet, to be interesting in betting, and other kind of betting interest by posting about it here. I just wanted to share what I learned from this World Cup event.

World Cup 2018 - Round 16 Chart (Pic source: CBS Sports)

So we are now at the Round 16 match. Many good teams have been taken out like Portugal, Argentina, and Spain. Will more good teams be out from this World Cup??? Hopefully not. And which team you predict to be World Cup champion this time round?? Many of my friends hope that Brazil and England would be one of the champions. But with so many went out so far, it would be hard to predict right??

That how the World Cup lessons apply to our lives journey. So many things are unpredictable. No matter how good the team or the person is, sometimes luck (or fate, or karma) is still playing parts, which makes everyone undergoes ups and downs in life. No one experiences only the good things or only the bad things in life. It is all mixing up like roller-coaster ride.

Life lessons from World Cup (Pic source: Pinterest.com)

Some of the important lessons are how we can accept all the situation bravely and wisely? How we can learn from the things in the past so that we can have a better journey towards our future? How can we accept failure in life? How can we get up from it and move on? How can we live our dreams?

We face praise and disappointment. We face so much pressure from society. If we are good, they expect us to perform good all the time, or even better performance. If we are not good, they may despise and look down on us. While at the end, it is our own life and we are in control of it. What type of life we prefer may differ from what society expects us for having. Can we strive and get hold on it?

You may not think much as I mentioned here when it comes to World Cup, but these thoughts just appear as I write. Hope that we can have enough strength to choose the life we want to live, and not living life from other's expectation. Be you, be yourself. Be me, be myself, no matter what.

Bangkok D2 - Pratunam area and Talad Neon Night Market

Still in my sleeping clothes, buying the Thai Ice Tea for breakfast :D - Soi Silom 5, Bangkok

One thing why I love staying at the Heritage Hotel at Silom is because there are local market, food and beverage stalls, and 7-eleven convenient store at nearby area. Since it is located at CBD area, they sell lots of breakfast items in the morning.

The Heritage Bangkok Hotel location (Pic source: Google map)

It was just few minutes walk and you could reach a small alley where you could buy your variety of breakfast items.

Our breakfast for the day :)

Omelette with minced pork and rice was one of my favorites plus the mixture of fried chicken and pork cutlet / skin. They fried it freshly every morning. Cut fruits were cheap and they had lots of varieties. It was good vitamin booster for the day!!! They also had many shops selling hot and cold beverages. In any case, you were really pampered with so many choices and the best thing was the stalls were different every day. They seemed like moving from one place to another everyday (not all stalls though).

SuperRich (green color one) near Chit Lom BTS - Bangkok, Thailand

When you have filled your tummy with food, you are ready to leave the hotel and explore!!! If you don't bring enough Thai Baht with you, worry not!!! There is a place that I can recommend you to go to exchange your currency.

SuperRich (green building) Thailand best rate at Pratunam area - Bangkok, Thailand

Stop at Chit Lom BTS, walk through the connection bridge towards Big C Supercenter. You can go down the bridge after passing the green Big C building. As shown at the map above, follow the road and find the SuperRich money changer. There are two SuperRich though - the orange and green color one. I checked both places and found that the green one offered the best rate. You can also check the rate online here to decide if the rate is good enough or not. So far I found it better to change there than in Singapore or other money changer in Bangkok.

Go Ang Kaomunkai chicken rice (pink color) at Pratunam - Bangkok, Thailand

Once done, you can try famous Hainanese chicken rice from the nearby area. There are two well-known shops selling chicken rice - Go Ang Kaomunkai (pink color one) and Kuang Heng (green color one). If you read the review, the pink color one is more famous and have longer queue.

Kuang Heng chicken rice (green color) - Bangkok, Thailand

I tried both places. Both places sell the rice with steamed chicken. However, at Kuang Heng, they also sell the deep fried chicken cutlet and you can order both at one plate. The taste was similar with what we had in Singapore except that they came with additional sauce that made the overall taste different (if you added them in). Although many would prefer eat at Go Ang Kaomunkai, I personally preferred eating at Kuang Heng. It's subjective though. Can't make up your mind??? Try both places lah!!! :)

Chit Lom BTS surrounding area (Pic source: Google map)

So, change money done, lunch done. Next, time to exercise and shopping!!! :D If you see the map above, you can see many places to go around that area. If you like to shop clothing, you have to visit the Platinum Fashion Mall. It is within walking distance from where you have the chicken rice.

Platinum Fashion Mall - Bangkok, Thailand

Platinum Fashion Mall specializes in wholesale fashion clothing and accessories. It is a six-storey building with over thousand shops inside. When you buy more, you can ask for a much better price!!! (at least try to ask how much if you want to buy 2 or 3 pcs so that roughly you know how much it should cost). You can find lots of things there including goods imported from other countries like China, Korea, Japan, etc. Personally, I prefer to shop here compare with at MBK (Ma Boon Khrong) Center. You won't have any difficulty in communicating with Thai there when bargaining as most know basic English.

Yum Saap at Platinum Fashion Mall Level 6 :)

Btw, there are 3 different zones inside the mall and connected to each other. One with lower level (Zone 3), another one with higher level (Zone 1 and 2) where you can find the food court and my favorite Moshi Moshi shop. Don't just browse around 1 building whole day as you can find many more shops at the building next to it. You can find varieties of local and International food at the Platinum Food Center or food court style  (you need to use card when purchasing food/ beverage and get the refund for the unused amount of money), and if not satisfied, they also have few restaurants there. I tried Yum Saap - Thai restaurant - after tired shopping and walking around. We chose light food (som tum zua - papaya salad with crispy pork skin, Mama noodle spicy salad, and delicious crispy morning glory spicy salad). Hmmm... yummyyy!!!!

Big C Supercenter - Bangkok, Thailand

Well, some people can browse this mall for a whole day. But if you still have time and energy, you can continue shopping, but this time, shop for local snack (Pocky exotic flavor coated stick biscuit), Koala's March mango/ banana biscuits - exclusively sold in Thailand, various Tao Kae Noi flavor seaweed, Mama instant noodles, Koh Kae flavor nuts, Thai tea instant or canned, and so on) and you can get it all at the Big C Supercenter!!!

Colorful rows of tent at Talad Neon Night Market - Bangkok, Thailand

Or otherwise, you can continue your walk and experience Talad Neon night market!!! Please take note that it opens only from Thursday to Sunday from 5 pm to 12 am. I was lucky that it opened on the day I visited the place because I did not pay attention to the opening day's and time's information. This place is famous because of its colorful rows of tents (it is very beautiful if you see it from far above the area).

Container alfresco dining - not for rainy day :D Talad Neon - Bangkok, Thailand

You can browse the place row by row. There are many young hipster and entrepreneur selling their trendy design clothes, apparels, even food and beverage over here. Accompanied with music, you can chill yourself with few glasses of beer and some snack at one of the container alfresco dining style restaurant, feel the night breeze, smoke your cigarette, or even have Thai massage. You can even have a nice haircut over there (especially for men) at THB 250 per head.

Enjoyed the local Thai food at Talad Neon Night Market - Bangkok, Thailand

As for me, after such a long day, I just wanted to have a good local Thai food accompanied with Thai local beer. If you go to Thailand for the first time, you may want to try the charcoal grilled fish coated with salt, which is served with chili dip/ sauce. Two of us ordered that with a big pot of Tom Yum soup and medium size of Pad Thai (stir fried Thai rice noodle with vegetable and prawn/ chicken/ tofu) plus a big bottle of Singha beer and paid THB 700 (SGD $29). Oh man!!! We were simply full and satisfied!!! :)

The Erawan Shrine - four face of Brahma God with night parade - Bangkok, Thailand

Since my stomach was full, I decided to walk back all the way to Chit Lom BTS station. I had to take the Skytrain back to hotel anyway. On the way there, we passed by the Erawan Shrine - the four face of Brahma God. There was parade was going on that night, which I could enjoy from the connecting bridge nearby that area.

The crowd in Erawan Shrine during afternoon - Bangkok, Thailand

Actually in the morning, on your way to the SuperRich, you can also stop there to offer flowers, light the candles, and pray using the incensed sticks. Each face of the Brahma God represents different meaning. Front face - career; left face - romance; back face - money, and right face - health. Well, actually each face signifies different virtues, which are kindness, mercy, sympathy, and impartiality. Many believe that whatever wish that you pray to the shrine there will come true. Many Singaporean go there and pray so that they can win 4D or TOTO back home hahaha... :D

Drink more and eat more fruits :)

Well, that is what you can do on your day 2 visit in Bangkok. Since the weather is tropical (only hot and rain), make sure you drink enough water to avoid dehydration, plus buy and eat some fruits from the road side to make sure you have enough vitamin and do not fall sick. Most importantly, have enough rest or sleep at night. 'Til next post!!! :)

Over superstitious???

When I joined the briefing yesterday outside my boss' office, they were talking about the color of the clothes that we were all wearing that morning to start our first day at work in the Wooden Horse year. The color of cloth that I was wearing seemed matching with what they said. Oopss.. I didn't know that they also believed on this!

The newspaper cut in Chinese language

A week ago my buddy sent me a scanned newspaper's cut above through what's app, which saying that by wearing a certain color of cloth to work on a particular date would give us good luck.

It was also mentioned there on which day you have to start your work in order to have a smooth work throughout the year. E.g. Goat, dog, tiger, and rooster to start work on 4th Feb; Horse, rabbit and pig zodiac to start work on 5th Feb, etc.

Today is Li Chun. People was advised to wear red, orange, yellow, gold or silver color cloth to invite good luck. Since I had red color top, no harm on just following what it had said.

So this morning, when we had a briefing again, my two Bosses, few colleagues and myself were wearing red color clothes for work. Hahaha... It looked funny though. Not only that. This evening after work, I accidentally met my best friend and her colleague who were also wearing red top clothes hahahaha.....

However, most of us couldn't follow the advise on the starting day of work since we worked at Fin dept and we had to go to work on Monday to do our month-end closing. Lolx!

Generally people here (especially Chinese race) were very superstitious. Most of us would blindly believe to do what it's said to be good for us although we were not sure who wrote that and based on what.

Today there was another interesting incident that made me even wonder, were we overly superstitious???

After having my lunch, I went out for a fresh air, like usual, sitting down next to the river listening to my songs and reading a book. When my lunch time was over, I returned back to my office. On the way there, I saw a friend posted something on Facebook, and this was what she wrote, "Today is 立春 (Li Chun). Go bank in some cash n your wealth will grow. Huat ah!!!!" ("Huat ah!" means "Wish you get rich or Be wealthy!) Then she attached the following picture below:

List of hours believed to be good or very good to bank-in your money

When I saw my Zodiac, it's said would be very good to bank-in from 1 to 2.59 pm. But my lunch time had already over so I thought of ignoring it.

Suddenly my buddy sent the list into our group chat. I told them that I wouldn't go as my lunch time had already over and my toe was hurt on Sunday when cycling so I couldn't walk far. Then my best friend said, "OC, your time hadn't over yet. You still can bank-in until 6.59pm." I still remained quiet. Then she said again, "OC, go bank-in la! So long you bank-in today." I knew she meant good. She wanted me to have good things happen in my life :) Finally I said, "Ok la," and I gave in.

After work I decided to go to the bank that located not very far from my office. On the way there I met my best friend -the one I just mentioned above, who was also wearing red top :P I came to know that she started moving to her new office today. Yayyy!!! We finally work nearby again :)

She left her colleague and decided to accompany me to the bank. (She was the same person who asked me to bank-in some money just now). We both walked there. Wow, there was quite a queue there on the deposit-cash machine. Everyone was queuing on the same machine. Wow! Again, I wasn't the only one who was superstitious!

Queue for OCBC deposit-cash machine at People's Park

I had to queue for some time before my turn came. Luckily my friend was there. We both chit chatted while waiting. Usually not many people used the deposit-cash machine as more people queued for the ATM or withdrawal machine.

After I banked-in some money, we both bought 4D at nearby stall hehehe... I was so happy to meet my friend and we both were wearing red. So why didn't we try our luck? I bought the number of rooms in her new working place ^^

Since we lived nearby, we took MRT home together. Supposedly she should drop first,  but she accompanied me until my station then took one more station back to her house so that we could chat longer hehehe...

Queue for POSB deposit-cash machine at Compass Point

Suddenly she sent me message saying that the queue for the deposit-cash machine at shopping mall nearby her house was super long! I asked her to help me taking pictures if she was still nearby the area.

POSB deposit-cash machine queue at the other side - Compass Point

Sekali she told me that she was going to queue again. Yalama! She had queued once in the afternoon leh... And now, despite the very long queue, she still wanted to bank-in some more cash? She replied me, "Cos want to make myself more "huat", tats y i decide to queue too." Oh my!

The best thing was - after queuing up for 1 hour and 15mins, she couldn't bank her money in. She said the machine had gone haywire, couldn't take her money at all. She tried many times but the slot just didn't take her money. So she gave up as behind her there were still lots of people waiting for their turn.

She said the Cisco officers even came again to collect the money from the machine there as it was too full and one of the deposit-cash machines was spoilt. I guessed due to too many transactions done in a day.

Hahaha... So many people here wished to get rich and more luck in money. Overly superstitious? They just didn't care. Just follow on what was said to be good. And I, was one of them. Lolx! :P

Click here for the best time to bank in for year 2015.

Almost win 4D!

Before leaving Singapore to Korea, I bought a set of 4D number (7883) for Sat, Sun, and Wed - 11, 12, and 15 January. However, the number only appeared this Wed, 22 Jan as Starter Prize. If won, I would have an additional S$500 pocket money for this CNY Kekeke... Too bad ya! Anyway I believe in 'if it's yours, it's yours' la!

Long queue - all is hoping to get rich overnight :)

However, it won't stop me for trying our luck again. This time, I will buy Toto during lunch time,  with combined resources and luck from other colleagues, hoping to win tonight's S$5Million! Lolx! Wish us luck! Huat ah!!! :D

Happy Birthday dear Baobei!!!

Today is another special day for me and Baobei. It reminds me eleven years back when I was in the KK Hospital and entered the Operating Theater, to have a Caesarian delivery of my dear boy. As for today, he has grown up tall and 'fat'- hehe... He is still cute sometimes with his thick cheek and chin. I love kissing on his both cheeks and hugging him closely to me.

I took Childcare Leave today. Starting this year, Singaporean parents who have children age 7 to 12 years old are entitled to have 2 days leave. Previously this policy didn't exist. Therefore, I still can enjoy this benefit for two years :)

At first I planned to bring him to Adventure Cove Waterpark at Sentosa Island. But I changed the date into one of the weekdays next week as my hubby will have his days off and my brother's daughter can also join us. So 4 of us will make better partners and more fun!!! Hope the weather won't be too hot or rain too much!!!

Recently my families and I were affected quite badly by watching too many of Korean variety show - Running Man, Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) - recently held in Hong Kong, Korean series (Strange Housekeeper, The Master's Sun, The Heirs), etc. Many Korean pop songs from famous Korean band and singers can be found inside my hand phone music list now and soon I'll be flying to Korea... lolx!!!

Sometimes we would see many Korean food being made, prepared, or eaten during the show, and every time I could hear my son wishing to eat this and that. Hahaha..... So, as today is his special day, I prepared few Korean dishes for dinner.

Shopped Korean ingredients :)

 
Since yesterday, I browsed online on what to prepare and how to prepare the food. During lunch time, I went buying special ingredients at Korean specialty shop. This morning, I woke up early too so that I could go to market and buy fresh meat, seafood, and vegetables.
 

Homemade Korean style cucumber pickles - Crunchy and nyummy!!! :)

Once reached home I prepared the first dish - see above photo, cucumber pickles :) I bought 8 pieces of Japanese cucumber, sliced it round, chopped the shallots, garlic, added vinegar, sugar, salt, and Korean chilli flakes. Mixed it using hands (with plastic glove) and store it inside the chiller, let it cool! Didn't expect that it tasted really good! Hehehe... It's my first time making such a nice pickle!! ^^

At first, I planned to make 4 dishes. However, since I had to prepare and cook it alone (with my son's help sometimes), I only managed to cook 3 types. I didn't know that it took so much time to prepare it all. Alamak!!! While preparing the ingredients, I would take a look at the recipes, check if I prepared it correctly and do it in right way. Hahahaha...... Really had to multitask ya...

So, here is the food that I cooked:

1. Doenjang Jjigae or Korean Soybean Paste Stew

Doenjang Jjigae - Soybean Paste Stew

It's not difficult to make and prepare. Since there were quite number of people eating, I had to cook it in one big pot. Ingredients used: zucchini, enoki mushroom, tofu, onion, red chilli, garlic, spring onion, Doenjang paste, Korean chili flakes, and anchovies soup powder. It tasted good. All of my family members enjoyed it. It's not spicy.

2. Japchae (Korean Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Noodles)

Japchae - Korean Stir Fry Noodles

I spent lots of time to prepare this one as it involved quite number of ingredients, such as: marinated pork, sliced onion, chopped garlic, sliced Shitake and oyster mushroom, spinach, and the noodles itself. I had to cook each ingredients one by one and added some sauces to make it tasty. At the end, mixed all ingredients and cooked it one more time. Not bad! :)

3. Haemul Pajeon or Seafood Pancake

Haemul Pajeon - Korean Seafood Pancake

I mixed the flour with fresh prawn, squid or sotong, spring onion, sliced onion, and chilli. This food was quite easy to prepare too and I cooked this few times before. Like usual, the taste was good hehehehe....

I think I needed about 2.5 hours to finish cooking it hahaha.... But they all enjoyed it. It felt good when they satisfied with your cooking. You would immediately forget about all the troubles to prepare ^^

After taking a bath, it's time to cut the cake :)

Happy Birthday dear Baobei!!!

He enjoyed the food very much! I'm glad he did! Btw, he chose the cake above. It's a black forest cake. Nyummy!! Tasted really good!!! Well dear, hope you will remember each Birthday that we celebrated together. I may not be able to be beside you in your every Birthday in the future, just hope you are happy and treasure the moments that we share together. Wish you blessed with good health and life full of joy and happiness!!! Hope you study well too!! Love you dear... Muach!!!

Oh, btw, yesterday 1212 came out on 4D result. It was consolation prize. I didn't buy though, but my mother-in-law bought it and won some money. Hahaha.. Not bad ya? Hope my luck will come soon :D

P.S. My son was very happy with the meal. When opening his birthday gift, he told me, "Mummy, this will be my Christmas present." I said, "No,  this is your birthday present." He smiled and said, "This is my Christmas present. You know what my birthday present is?" "What?" asked me.  He said, "Just now the Korean food that you cooked was my birthday presents." Ooohhh.... "Sssshhhhhh......." I could hear my heart melted. He kept saying, "I love you Mummy" as he was too happy with the special meal I cooked ^^ I love you too Baobei! It felt good when people appreciated your hard work, seriously!  My sis-in-law and hubby were complaining that they ate too full because the food was so nice hehehe....