Monthly Archives: December 2007
My Close Sabahan Family in Europe
The ‘sisters’… Kakak Maggie and her Jennylein… Taken in August 2007 in Dusseldorf, Germany when we took our parents to visit Becker family. Apparently Kak Mag and I are really related. ‘Jejak kasih’ indeed.
It’s our Church wedding anniversary
Our wedding finally was blessed in the Catholic church in the Netherlands a year later… LOL
Xmas Party 2006
I might have not share with you our last year’s Christmas Party from the company. It was in Utrecht and in a farm area. The place was big and we had lots of fun. Unfortunately dear hubby couldn’t make it to the party so I invited my former colleague. My colleague, friend and I went straight from the office and I didn’t change my working clothes to a dress… was just lazy.. 
This is the place from in front. It’s long and big inside. And we had a champagne etc as a welcoming drink.
Of course there was a short speech from Adi colleague. Hmmm, it’s buffet and we started with the salad and some cold food. (I’m starving now.)
And yes, the guys too… Here’s the colleague/ex-colleagues of my previous company. DZ is my partner that evening, both she and TL are still working at my old company. TL’s girlfriend was an HR colleague from my present company.
He’s a Dutch magician, can’t remember his name but he’s very good. Look at those gorgeous people. haha
Another place with another demonstation. They made roses or anything from that red marzipan. And another place with the people gathering for the magician on the stage. It was fun.
That’s him… and some volunteers from the audience. And the audience of course..
Yes, there was a dance floor. And the dessert, I should have taken more pics. There were yummy.
That’s all for now. I’m looking forward to the next Christmas Party from the company on coming Friday. This time dear hubby is coming with me. 
In Loving Memory of Chuck Smith
4 years have gone and I miss you every time I think of you. You were my first cyber friend and you became the dearest friend to Wim and me. I am sorry you left without witnessing our wedding blessing but in our heart, we knew you were there with us. We miss you, dear Chuck.
“I believe you are watching over me
And I believe you are happy to see me happy
I promise to write you letters as always
And I shall send them to the heaven
With the wings I shall return
to the place where your heart is placed.”
Jenn
Lots of love,
Your little AS
Nicolas Birthday Party
What would a party be without drinks, laughter and a broken glass?
This is what it´s all about, meeting friends and have fun. Thanks to Nicco for the invitation to come to his party. Nicolas is a Swedish young guy and has been living in the Netherlands for 5 years. His friends from Sweden came this weekend just for this party and to visit Netherlands of course. It´s kind of an international gathering as well since the guests are from Sweden, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Israel, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Wim and I had so much fun with the people there. The birthday boy is of course a sweet guy. But of course in the beginning it was a bit weird because the beer and wine had not been taken into the room yet and you almost could hear when someone was breathing. Once everyone had their first 3 beers, you could feel how lively the party was. The funny thing is that most of these guys are IT geek. Hmmm…
Nice to know the couple Codrin and Fafa, Thorwald, Sergio, Adela, Benjamin and the rest of the guys. Hope to see you all again soon.
Hmmm… why do I always have to ask people to make crazy faces??? LOL
Oh well… they look good though, don´t they? Just some of the faces who were able to be lucky to get snapped. Me? I was telling them to make crazy faces or they would regret for not doing it. CLICK or was it CHICK… and I heard Next from Fafa, the cute Indonesian lady. 
How my family celebrate Christmas
Christmas is around the corner. Like other people, I really love Christmas. It is the birthday of Jesus and we are celebrating His birthday each year with all the joy and laughter and love.
Back home in Sabah (North Borneo), Malaysia, my family (including parents’ family) will all go to church on Christmas morning. Everyone is always cheerful and smiling for the beautiful day. It is normal in Malaysia to buy new clothes for a special day. Kids and youngsters like this so much, they can hardly wait to put on their new clothes and go to church with family and say praise to Lord Jesus Christ for yet another wonderful year. In the church, people will say hello and wish Merry Christmas to other people. It’s a joyous day.
Every year, there is one house chosen for our big-family get-together. So, after the Mass, we all will go to one of our parents’ siblings’s house for a get together. Here we don’t exchange gifts because one cannot afford to buy for everyone. You see, my mom has 7 siblings and dad 5, so in total 14, plus their spouses and then the children, their in laws and the grandkids etc etc. We only exchange gifts at home for our own close family. (My parents have 6 kids, 5 son/daughter in law, 4 grandchildren).
Back home, we don’t really have special food such as Turkey or baking special cakes. We just prepare traditional meal on the table for all the family members to enjoy. Before eating, we will pray to thank God for the grace on the table and for getting us together again on this beautiful day.
In the Netherlands, Wim will normally prepare special dinner for us. On Christmas Eve, we go to Catholic church. The atmosphere in the Netherlands is a bit different, I miss the cheerfulness. But I reckon that is because of our different culture. At home after midnight, we open our gifts from under the tree. On Christmas morning, we go to our father/FIL’s house and have a Christmas cake and coffee.
Wish you all a happy Christmas.
When Job-Hunting Begins
I made my first step in looking for a job for next year. I met a recruiter today in my business suit and discussed about our potential future company etc.
In Netherlands, the recruitment agencies are popular for their good service of looking a job for people. One can be a permanent employee to a company with their assistance or become an interim. I never liked working a few months or about a year in a company so for me I always go for permanent job under the payroll of a company and not the recruitment agency.
So, what we need is the cover letter and definitely the CV. Not to forget the preparation of some questions which might be asked by any interviewers.
Outplacement traject
Today I started the outplacement service at CNW in Rotterdam. This service is paid by the company since it is the agreement that they provide us (the ones who will voluntaryly leave the company) the service to prepare ourselves for our next job-hunting.
I have 8 hours in total for my outplacement ´traject´. Today, we had 2 hours instead of 1.5 because the advisor wanted to share some things before my first interview, which is tomorrow.
It was 2 good hours and I was quite satisfied.
The only thing was it´s raining and I was wet.
