KT in USA

hello Singapore!

2009-09-25T00:29:00.011+08:00

20 Sep Sunday

After checking out of our room in the morning, we left for Danshui to take the ferry to 渔人码头.

情人桥



delicious mango ice

We picked up our rental car at about 5pm and setted off to 大溪桥 in Taoyuan.

We stayed over at Lydia's friend's place in Taichung for the night.

21 Sep Monday
That's me packing my bags on a Monday morning b4 we left the house.

breakfast!

Luce Memorial Chapel on the campus of Tunghai University in Taichung

鹅肉 for lunch in 嘉義

Rested for a few hours at Lydia's rented place b4 setting off for Tainan.
One of the many 古迹 in Tainan

22 Sep Tuesday
Visited another two 古迹 in the morning b4 setting off to 高雄.

We specially drove 2 hours from 高雄 to Taichung to fetch Derek and Erica who had just arrived back in Taiwan. Seriously I didn't expect to be able to see them again in Taiwan b4 I return to Singapore. It was great nevertheless!

23 Sep Wednesday
After packing my stuff in the morning, we setted off from Tainan at around 10am for Taoyuan Airport.

Lydia and I just outside the restricted area, thanks for the 招待！

brokeback Alex and I, thanks for offering to drive all the way to the airport and putting up with my nonsense all this while

reunited with my dear

pleasant surprise to see Belle, Gua and Hansheng

my family and I

So this officially marks the end of my America and Taiwan adventures. It feels great to be back on familiar grounds and with my loved ones. It feels like I have not been away for so long, I have merely woken up from a long long dream, a dream that I will never forget with all the friendships made and the experiences of a lifetime! This will be my last post on this blog. I would like to thank all my loyal readers and hope that you all have found my blog to be entertaining in a way or another.

welcome to taiwan

2009-09-20T00:03:00.006+08:00

American adventure ends but Taiwan adventure begins!

16 Sep Wednesday
After a gruelling 13-hr flight from San Francisco, we finally arrived in Taiwan. The flight was made to feel even longer because there wasn't any personal in-flight entertainment.

National Taiwan Musuem

spot my Chinese name

bubble milk tea!

smelly toufu!

17 Sep Thursday
Danshui

Ximending

Shilin

18 Sep Friday
Taipei 101

19 Sep Saturday
Jinguashi

Jiufen

Ximending again!

We'll be leaving Taipei to explore some other parts of Taiwan b4 returning to Taoyuan Airport to take my return flight to Singapore on 23 Sep Wednesday. This will be one of my last few posts on this blog.

city by the bay

2009-09-16T17:52:00.009+08:00

12 Sep Saturday
After a 10-hr Amtrak bus-train-bus journey, we finally arrived in San Francisco, the City by the Bay!

view of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge

view of the City Hall

We went to Fisherman's Wharf to collect our passes to the City Sightseeing tours booked earlier and hopped on for the 6pm night tour.

13 Sep Sunday

view of the hostel that we stayed at

The package we booked includes the Alcatraz Island tour too. We were scheduled for the 11am ferry to the island. The island served as a lighthouse, a military fort, a military prison and a federal prison in the past.

inside the main cell house

We went on the 3pm Golden Gate tour

view of the Palace of Fine Arts

We crossed over to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Chinatown

14 Sep Monday
Park Loop tour

Pier 39

Alcatraz Island in the background

On the way to check in for our flight to Taiwan

emo pic in the toilet

~ end of American adventure ~

I am currently spending my 1st night in Taipei after reaching here at 6am this morning. I still need to get over a bit of jet lag though.

universal studios hollywood / santa monica

2009-09-12T11:46:00.015+08:00

9 Sep Wednesday
After a 7-hr long bus journey, we finally arrived in Los Angeles, California. We wasted no time and made our way to our hostel located in Hollywood. We setted off to Universal Studios after a quick wash-up.

spotted Marilyn Monroe 5-pointed star along the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame

arrived at Universal City

outside the entrance to Universal Studios

Shrek!

Shrek & Princess Fiona

cast from the WaterWorld performance

too fast too furious

Terminator

The Incredible Hulk

the Flintstones

cooked Singapore Curry noodles for dinner

10 Sep Thursday
Went to the Universal Studios again to visit the remaining attractions/rides as we had a 2-day admission pass

Revenge of the Mummy ride

I have no idea who this character is

Apollo 13

the Simpsons family

Homer Simpson

Curious George

I'm a NFL player

went for a haircut in the evening as I really cannot stand my long hair anymore! not bad right?

11 Sep Friday

After checking out of our rooms, we setted off to Santa Monica Pier which is abt an hour bus journey away.

nice ferris wheel but closed for maintenance

nice and clean beach with loads of ppl

had Thai cuisine for lunch - green curry chicken *slurps

We'll be leaving LA on the Amtrak train to San Francisco later tonight at 4am. It will be our final stop in the states, time flies when you're having fun.

last day in vegas

2009-09-10T12:59:00.004+08:00

After checking out of our hotel room, Alex and I proceeded to have brunch at the Jap/Chinese restaurant at our hotel lobby. It was a super filling meal.

We went to explore some other parts of the Strip that we have not gone to yet. Found the 4-storey M&M's store!

view of the Statue of Liberty and Disneyland replicas behind me

this should be a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge if I'm not wrong

Watched this show at the Paris Las Vegas

After the show we went back to our hotel, claimed our baggage and took a cab to the Greyhound bus station for our 1:35 am departure for Los Angeles. We went to the Universal Studios this afternoon but only managed to get on the studios tour and a couple of the other attractions due to time constraint. We'll be going again tomorrow to try all the rides. Cheers!

sin city / grand canyon tour

2009-09-08T16:07:00.015+08:00

5 Sep Saturday
After a 5-hr long flight from Miami, Alex and I finally arrived in Las Vegas, The Entertainment Capital of the World aka Sin City. After alighting from our flight we were already greeted by the countless slot machines in the transit area.

view of our hotel room at The Orleans Hotel & Casino

6 Sep Sunday
Wasted no time and headed down to The Strip

photo taken at the hotel lobby while waiting for the shuttle bus

Paris Las Vegas

inside Caesar's Palace, another big hotel

Went to watch the Blue Man Group performance at night

nice car spotted at Flamingo Hotel

7 Sep Monday (Labor Day)
Went on a 1-day bus tour to Grand Canyon South Rim
caught a shot of the famous signboard while the bus was leaving Las Vegas

Hoover Dam photo stop

finally reached Grand Canyon and stayed for a good 3 hours

exhilarating views!

miami vice

2009-09-05T11:57:00.007+08:00

2 Sep Wednesday
After a 6-hr long bus journey, Alex and I finally arrived in Miami! We took two buses to reach our hostel.

me waiting at the bus stop to make the transfer to the 2nd bus

view of our 4-bed dormitory

3 Sep Thursday
Collected the Go Miami Card at the Visitors Center

Went on the Duck Tours

Cooked our own dinner using the hostel's kitchen facility

4 Sep Friday
Went to hit the Haulover Beach

there was a short spell of rain but it didn't dampen our spirits

the rain is going to be over soon!

we suntanned for a couple of hours, how nice just to relax on the beach w/o any worries

I am currently spending my last night in Miami Beach and will be leaving for Las Vegas on tomorrow afternoon flight. Sin City here I come!

worlds of wonder

2009-09-03T13:05:00.008+08:00

1 Sep Tuesday
The third and final instalment of my Disney World adventure was at Epcot, where we discovered the worlds of wonder and power of imagination.

iconic 'golf-ball'

finding Nemo

World Showcase - China

World Showcase - Norway

World Showcase - Germany

World Showcase - The American Adventure

World Showcase - Morocco

World Showcase - France

World Showcase - United Kingdom

World Showcase - Canada

Lydia left on the Amtrak train to New York today while Alex and I continued our journey south to Miami Beach on the Greyhound bus. The hostel looks pretty good and we're gg to spend the next 2 days exploring the beach!

thrills of Hollywood

2009-09-03T12:18:00.004+08:00

31 Aug Monday
Went to the second theme park named Disney's Hollywood Studios. There's a total of 4 theme parks at Walt Disney World.

High School Musical 3 performance under the iconic sorcerer's hat

the American Idol experience

anyone care for a ride?

group pic with the gigantic guitar behind us

me posing under the sorcerer's hat

I wanted to snatch his grenade

this is the best show that you'll nv want to miss, only 2 showtimes per day!

scenes of the stuntshow in the background

where dreams come true

2009-09-01T13:47:00.005+08:00

29 Aug Saturday
arrival at Orlando Airport from New York in the evening

30 Aug Sunday
@ the entrance to Magic Kingdom

group pic with Princess Jasmine

group pic with Mickey & Minnie

group pic with the castle in the background

with Tigger & Winnie-the-Pooh

spectacular fireworks showcase to end off the night!

NYC update

2009-08-31T13:15:00.003+08:00

Only 2 photos to wrap up the New York's chapter due to time constraint. From now onwards only selected photos will be posted, I will try my best to do a proper update when I'm back in Singapore!

I am currently spending my 2nd night in Orlando, Florida. Went to the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom park today, simply awesome! I will be gg to another 2 parks in the next 2 days!

nicely done

2009-08-29T14:21:00.005+08:00

photo with GM at the Associate of the Month luncheon

what a way to wrap up my stay on the island!

final days on the island

2009-08-28T12:59:00.009+08:00

My last few days on the island last week can be summarised into the following:
- watching a ballet performance by students
- lots of photos with co-workers
- luncheon with fellow Associate of the Month nominees
- dinner @ Bistro
- bidding farewell at the ferry dock

John D Lamb - a great musician; flowers around the property

Me holding the Singapore flag in the cafeteria; Jayson, David and Carlton on my last day of work

Andrew, Crystal, John and 1 of the Bistro cooks

wonderful supervisor Cassidee, Denise, Excecutive Chef Scott, HR Manager Joanna

HR Director Irene, Ricardo, Carlton and David

Sous Chef Justin and hostess Beverly

luncheon with fellow nominees: chicken cordon bleu, bacon-wrapped shrimps, chocolate fudge cake

Olivia, Nina; dining at the Bistro for the 1st and last time with Lingling, Michelle, Alex and Lydia

Abby was working as dining room attendant during that time; Olivia and Nina again

Jessica, Ivy, Erica

Evita, Kameka, Jenny; Lydia and Wayne

leaving on Arnold Line which meant that I have tried all 3 ferry companies!

emotional goodbye

I am currently spending my 2nd night in New York City right now, will be updating soon on the journey here and thereafter!

mini picnic

2009-08-22T23:29:00.003+08:00

On last Thursday, I had a mini picnic together with Alex, Lydia, Maddie and Jenny along the coastline near downtown. We bought takeaway chicken wings and french fries from Goodfellow's. It's a pity we could not see the sunset as it was quite a cloudy day.

What a nice way to end off the breezy evening!

Millie's / Starbucks / Horn's

2009-08-22T03:19:00.008+08:00

Went downtown in search of food with Lingling, Lydia and Michelle on Wednesday evening. After much consideration, we finally decided to try Millie's on Main.

no whipped cream on my hot chocolate?!

We ordered turkey wrap and chicken tenders to share, they tasted well but the servings were miserable.

After the meal we went to Starbucks where Lydia bought a cup of strawberries & creme frappuccino and I bought a cup of iced green tea latte.

We went to Horn's Bar later in the night and had some specialty drinks.
~ passion fruit martini, pomegranate margarita, rum runner, pomegranate martini ~

The 3 of them left around midnight due to work the next day while I joined the rest (Russell, Sean, Nina, Olivia, Penny and Amanda) for the rest of the night.

fulfilling OFF day

2009-08-21T02:45:00.015+08:00

On Tuesday which was my last official off day, I went to have lunch at Goodfellow's with the rest who were either off or working later in the afternoon.

After lunch I went to Fort Mackinac with Olivia as both of us have not gone there b4.

it was interesting to learn the American rifle drills

soldiers getting ready to perform on the parade ground

they sang a couple of folk songs and ended off with a simple mass dance

view of the bath house

view of the gift shop

We left after the rifle firing demonstration

Went to the Great Turtle Park in the evening with Alex to play soccer with a few Jamaican colleagues

We played non-stop for more than an hour but it was good workout nevertheless.

Went down to the BBQ pit where the same gang was preparing for the second consecutive BBQ in two days! We tried the Singapore Satay recipe and it turned out very nice.

What a way to end off my last off day on the island!

~ 3 more days to go ~

BBQ-licious

2009-08-19T13:29:00.004+08:00

Had a BBQ after work together with Jenny, Maddie, Evita and Lydia near downtown on Monday as the cafeteria dinner was really bad that day. It was a last-min decision but all of us played a part to make it a pretty successful one.

food preparation in progress

we had corn, chicken, pork, cabbage, broccoli and mushrooms! they were delicious!

spot the huge rainbow in the background

toot-toot train?!

Yankee supper

2009-08-19T04:38:00.003+08:00

Went to the Yankee Rebel Tavern for some supper after work with Lydia, Maddie and Jenny on last Saturday. It is the most popular restaurant on the island according to TripAdvisor.

root beer float!

Battlefield chicken burger and turkey bacon wrap

cheesecake and their famous chocolate bread pudding for desserts!

Overall the food was good and reasonably priced too, two thumbs up!

beautiful sunrise

2009-08-19T04:15:00.004+08:00

In the wee hours of last Friday morning, Lydia, Maddie, Jenny and Evita went to watch the sunrise from the coastline leading to the Arch Rock.

view of the Main Lodge's tepee

look out for the rising sun

brilliant orange skies

The sunrise was truly beautiful judging from the pictures, too bad I wasn't there to witness it in person.

~ 6 more days to go ~

travel plans

2009-08-15T10:51:00.011+08:00

It's confirmed, my last day of work is 23 Aug and I will be leaving the island to set off on my travel in the evening of 24 Aug. I will be going to

New York City

Orlando

Miami Beach

Las Vegas

Grand Canyon

Los Angeles

and finally San Francisco!

I will be stopping over at Taiwan for abt a week b4 returning to Singapore. I am getting excited about the travel part, which I have worked hard for it in a way. Work has been pretty much the same these few days.

I received a piece of gd news today, that is I am nominated for the Associate of the Month for July! I will be having a luncheon with all the other nominees, managers and GM on the day I leave. I am delighted to know that my work is appreciated by others. :)

updates

2009-08-12T13:33:00.002+08:00

Went to the Horn's Bar last Friday with my Bistro colleagues. The siblings Jason and Ashley were leaving on the next day so it was sort of like a farewell gathering.

Bistro was closed on Saturday due to bad weather so it was an unoffical off day for me. Business was pretty good on Sunday though.

Monday - I went to the post office with Lydia and Michelle to settle some paperwork b4 gg for breakfast @ Mustang Lounge.

Tuesday - My manager Bonnie planned to bring all the Bistro ppl out to the waterpark over at Mackinaw City. But as the weather looked threatening, she decided that we should all go to the casino @ St Ignace first instead while waiting for the weather to change for the better. We took the 10am ferry over to Mackinaw City where Jayson and Bonnie retrieved their cars. They stopped for breakfast then we headed to casino.

it was the first time crossing the Mackinac Bridge for most of us, amazing!

All of us stayed in the casino to play some games and have some drinks at the bar. In the end we didn't get to go to the waterpark as it was too near the closing time by the time the weather changed for the better.

We crossed the bridge again to Mackinaw City to takeway Burger King dinner and managed to get on the last Shepler's ferry to the island.

Thai-Chinese Lunch @ St Ignace

2009-08-08T23:03:00.011+08:00

Lingling, Derek, Alex and I went to St Ignace on Tuesday afternoon in search of some Thai-Chinese cuisine. We managed to get on the 12:30pm ferry to St Ignace b4 it departed. Upon reaching, we asked the female staff inside the ticket office for directions to downtown St Ignace.

some photos taken along the way

We walked for abt 15 min then approached an uncle inside Star Line ticket office by the roadside. We asked him which way to downtown St Ignace where there is a Thai-Chinese restaurant. We almost fainted when he pointed in the direction of where we came from, meaning we had walked the wrong way! After about 20 min of walking, we finally arrived at our destination!

Thai iced tea (sweetened) which had a funny taste; wanton soup and hot n sour soup

Combination platter as appetizer - chicken satay & wings, meatballs, crab & vegetable rolls. We can use the black stove to heat up the food which will also add a nice BBQ flavour to it, so interesting.

Lingling and I ordered fried rice while Alex and Derek ordered fried noodles.

We agreed to order one more dish (thai crispy chicken) to share among us. On the whole, we that the meal was not bad but slightly overpriced.

Next we walked around in downtown St Ignace, went into this Indian musuem.

Murdick's Fudge can be found here too!

Next, we made our way to the casino via the shuttle.

photos taken from the lobby of the casino building

We took the last ferry at 7:30pm back to the island. Derek, Alex and I went to the Lakeside Marketplace to exchange our meal vouchers won during orientation.

Derek took these photos of the full moon on the way to Lakeside. It was much nicer but somehow the photos didn't show it.

On a side note, planning for the travel part has been smooth so far. I am so looking forward to it!

updates

2009-08-04T02:32:00.006+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been working an average of 10hrs everyday ever since I came back from the road trip. Business was pretty good during last Monday to Wednesday, partly due to a big party organized by Bayview Yacht Club on Tuesday. I was kept busy right from the moment I started work until I knocked off. Last Wednesday was the 'busiest day so far this season' as quoted by my manager Bonnie. On Thursday just b4 lunchtime, I asked to be off for the rest of the day as I needed a break after 4 long days.

Outside of work I have been busy posting abt the Chicago road trip and doing research and planning on the travelling part after ending work.

big party last Tuesday on the front lawn, the turnout was in the thousands.

Alex was busy helping with the food booth

steel pans performance by Third Coast Steel's Stephen

took a pic of Alex who switched to prep cook and Joanna who went to help out as Banquets server on last Saturday

Zhong Dan was the latest to leave the island last Saturday to set off for her travel.

group photo of Jenny, Wayne, Maddie, Lydia, Zhong Dan and Evita

on the way to downtown, saw several birds flying in a formation

Michelle and Lingling met us in downtown.

group photo of the 4 dorm-mates (Michelle, Zhong Dan, Lingling and Lydia)

emotional goodbye once again

took a photo of Olivia in the cafeteria, she was also helping out as Banquets server that night.

less than 3 weeks to end of work!

Windy City

2009-07-31T08:39:00.017+08:00

*WARNING* - SUPER LONG POST, VIEW AT UR OWN RISK!

The long-awaited post on the Chicago road trip is finally here! Oh well gd things are worth waiting for aren't they?

Day 0 - Mackinac Island (22 July 2009)

Was scheduled to work from 10am-3pm at the Bistro but it wasn't opened due to bad weather. I went to help out at the Round Island breakfast for about an hour then asked my manager Bonnie if I can be off for the rest of the day. She said ok then I left for the bank and withdrew most of the funds in my account cos I wanted deposit them into a Bank of America account when I reach Chicago.

Albee, Lydia, Alex and I took the 5:30pm ferry out to Mackinaw City.

We were expecting the taxi that we had booked earlier to fetch us to Pellston Airport to collect the rental cars. However after waiting for abt 15 min, the taxi had not arrived yet. I called the taxi company and the person said that the taxi was there at 5:30pm and waited for 15 min then left. I told him that I booked the taxi for 6pm pickup but he insisted otherwise. I asked if he could come and pick us up immediately, he said he would need half an hour and we would need to pay him another $40 for gas and lost time on top of the initial $40 agreed for the one-way trip. We decided to seek other alternatives as we were running out of time (rental company closes at 7pm). With the help of the Shepler's staff, we managed to call another transport company Wolverine Stages and they could reach within 20 min but charges $27 per person for the trip. Leaving with no choice, only Alex and I went to pickup the rental cars while Albee and Lydia waited at the dock for the rest who took the 7pm ferry.

As we were running late, I called the rental company Hertz not to close as we were going to collect the cars. The person said she had issued out all the cars (cos of overbooking) and she would let another company Avis to handle our reservations. We reached just in time as she was pulling down the shutter door and she directed us to Avis counter. Avis quoted us double the amount (mainly due to age differential charge for 21-24 yr old) that we were expecting to pay Hertz. Alex and I felt so shocked and thought to ourselves "Has this road trip ended b4 it even started?" We asked the Hertz lady for possible solutions, saying that we really need the cars and all our friends were waiting for us. She went back to her office and issued 2 cars (intended for the next day) to us at the agreed costs on the reservations. We could not thank her enough for her generous help.

Anyway after checking the cars we left for the ferry dock to pick up the rest of the ppl.

Next stop at Walmart to stock up on supplies for the trip; the 11 of us

1st pit stop at Meijer: Elsa, Jenny and Alex; Ford Expedition & Ford Focus; Derek, Alex, Ivy and Michelle

taken inside 24-hr Meijer store: Elsa, Michelle, Derek, Jenny, Erica, Lydia, Albee and Ivy

2nd pit stop at a random Shell station off the highway exit; the couple Erica and Derek

We needed to pay 3 toll charges on the way to Chicago, this was the last and the most expensive one: Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge USD3 per car

Day 1 - Chicago (23 July 2009)

We parked at Howard Johnson Inn (accomodation for the night) b4 gg to the nearby McDonald's for some washing up and breakfast. They said this is the flagship 50th Anniversary restaurant.

decorations around the level 2 of the restaurant

After resting till abt 9am, we went to a nearby Bank of America banking center to open bank accounts.

After opening our accounts, Lydia and I went to fetch Sun Ke, Siyu, Kang Xi, Stella and Sam from the Greyhound bus terminal to Howard Johnson Inn while the rest were still in the process of opening their accounts.

Alex and Sun Ke contacted each other thru phone to decide where to meet. Alex and the rest were heading to a famous pizza shop to buy food for a picnic at Millenium Park. We were in charge of buying the drinks.

some photos taken along the way

corn-shaped building: top section consists of offices, bottom section consists of carpark. how cool is that?!

inside the famous Giordano's Pizza

After waiting 45 min for the pizzas, we finally settled down at a nice spot inside Millenium Park.

Crown Fountain that can spout water; Alex eating the famous deep-dish pizza

around Millenium Park

At abt 2:30pm we left Millenium Park to go on the 90-min lake and river cruise. We used 2-for-1 e-vouchers to purchase the tickets so each of us only paid half the regular price of $23.

views from the ferry; ferris wheel at Navy Pier

spot John Hancock Center in the bottom right pic

spot Sears Tower in the top right pic

The first 60 min of the cruise was on Lake Michigan and the last 30 min was on Chicago River. I must be lacking in sleep so badly that I dozed on and off during the Chicago River part. Nevertheless it was truly enriching and offered views like no other.

After the cruise, all of us went back to the hotel to check-in and rest for a while b4 setting off to Chinatown in search of dinner. We settled on Lao Sze Chuan Chinese Restaurant for dinner.

炒饭，炒面，红油炒手，水煮牛肉，麻婆豆腐，炒菠菜，蒜泥白肉

it was a fulfilling dinner for all of us

We drove to Navy Pier and the Grant Park surroundings in search of a nice spot for a picnic but as some of them were feeling tired so we went back to the hotel to rest for the night.

Hard Rock Cafe at night

Day 2 - Chicago (24 July 2009)

After we checked out of our rooms at abt 10am and left our bags in the cars, we went to McDonald's for breakfast again. Alex and I only ate some cake as we knew that we would be having McDonald's breakfast again the very next day.

After breakfast we went to purchase CTA (Chicago Transport Authority) day-pass which offers unlimited rides on CTA bus and train.

All of them (with the exception of Alex and I) made their way to Field Musuem.

Alex and I alighted one stop after them at Chinatown. We were craving for Chinese food again. We settled on a shop selling $4.25 set meals

We ordered 烧鸭饭，烧肉饭 and 牛肉干河

We felt super full after the meal. Went across the street to a supermarket.

We then made our way to the Field Musuem to meet up with the rest.

the famous T-Rex named Sue

Kang Xi, Derek, Erica and Lydia wanted to meet up with Sun Ke to visit University of Chicago so they left the musuem earlier than the rest. Alex and I left together with them but we went to walk around in downtown instead.

some photos taken near the Buckingham Fountain

some pics of University of Chicago

Albee and Ivy went to the Art Institute of Chicago after leaving the Field Musuem.

bottom right pic: Crown Fountain at night

Alex and I took a CTA bus to Navy Pier after spending some time in downtown

we finally managed to eat Chicago hotdogs! (it's not easy to find one on the streets as others say)

we looked so funny here!

Chicago Bulls!

Sun Ke they all came to Navy Pier to meet us for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

After dinner we walked to John Hancock Center to go up to the Observatory level

the night views of Chicago were beautiful

that day was actually Albee's birthday but all of us agreed to act as if we had totally forgotten abt it. But we secretly bought a cake for her to celebrate at night inside the hotel room. (Sun Ke they all were staying for another 2 nights)

We setted off towards the factory outlet stores in Birch Run at abt 2am.

Day 3 - Birch Run (25 July 2009)

breakfast @ McDonald's then shopping time!

lunch @ A&W; last pit stop before returning the cars at Pellston Airport

that's the amount of stuff we bought!

~ ROAD TRIP MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ~ 900 miles or 1448.4096 km travelled ~

back from Chicago!

2009-07-26T23:05:00.002+08:00

I'm back from the road trip to Chicago, will update more on it soon.

101st Race to Mackinac

2009-07-22T13:35:00.006+08:00

Monday
Worked from 9am-9:30pm. There is actually a yacht race conducted by Chicago Yacht Club going on these few days so a lot of ppl were expected to be on the island. At the Bistro, we wore t-shirts bearing the co-sponsor 'Mount Gay Rum (Barbados)' logo. We were also allowed to wear our own jeans or berms to work. We had a special BBQ buffet and limited menu for the guests. But after an hour of opening, the kitchen stove broke down and we only had the BBQ buffet for the rest of the day. Took some pictures during the day.

JP (supervisor) and Alex

me with Vy (fellow dining room attendant) and JP too

David and Cassidee (supervisor) - bartenders for the day; Jayson and Alex, Ricardo and Vy

Alex and Edwin (cook); me with Jayson; me with Carlton (barback)

John M, Ashley, Jessica and Jason (all servers)

Sean, Ally and Ivy came to play golf

loggerheads

Business wasn't as good as expected though and we started to do closing at around 8pm. Alex and I went to find the rest of the people who had gone to eat at Goodfellow's. After that some of us went to Sinclair's (Irish pub) for another bar experience.

Tuesday
Worked from 9am-9:30pm. It was pretty much the same as the previous day so nothing much to write about except that there was a short spell of rain in the afternoon but we continued to operate nevertheless.

On Wednesday evening, Alex and I will be setting off for our 2nd road trip to Chicago with 9 other Taiwanese. This time Alex and I will be driving 1 vehicle each. Our plan is to explore Chicago for the 1st 2 days and we'll be gg to the same outlet stores as last time for some shopping on the final day b4 returning to the island. Will update more on the trip when I'm back.

updates on the weekends

2009-07-20T10:36:00.002+08:00

Saturday
Bistro wasn't opened for business due to the bad weather. It wasn't actually raining but it was cloudy and cold all day long. All the Bistro ppl were asked to report to Round Island at 3pm instead to see if we can work. So I went to report at 3pm and told to work until closing. At about 7pm, as the restaurant wasn't as busy as expected and there were 6 ppl working as the same position as me, the manager asked us to decide which 3 wanted to clock out. Me and two other volunteered to go off as there really weren't much things for us to do.

Went Quorum to play pool with roomie Derek for a while b4 gg back to look for Tailong to see if he was free to give me a haircut. He gladly obliged my request and I have a neater hairstyle now! After my shower, the Chicago road trip gang had a mini discussion on the itinerary so that everyone is clear on what we'll be doing and such. There'll be 11 of us gg for this trip and we'll be renting 2 x 5-seater.

Sunday
Worked from 10am-9pm. Business was similar to last Sunday's. I asked my supervisor that I want to be off early as tmr will be a busy day cos of some yacht race event. A lot of people will be expected to be on the island and we can wear t-shirt (sponsored by Mount Gay Rum) and jeans to work for the 1st time!

'Singapore Day'

2009-07-18T12:14:00.011+08:00

Thursday
Worked 6pm-12am at the Round Island. It was super busy, partly because it was starting to rain outside and the Bistro had to be closed early. As a result, many people might cancel their plans to go downtown for dinner and stay in the resort for dinner.

my schedule for the upcoming week is out:
17 July - 12pm-? (Bistro)
18 July - 10am-? (Bistro)
19 July - 10am-? (Bistro)
20 July - 10am-? (Bistro)
21 July - 10am-? (Bistro)
22 July - 10am-3pm (Bistro), leaving for Chicago road trip in the evening
23 July to 25 July - OFF (away on Chicago road trip)

Friday ('Singapore Day')
Woke up early in the morning to help out Chef Eric in preparing the cafeteria lunch for 'Singapore Day'

We started with cutting the ingredients which consist of vegetables, lemons, pineapples, tomatoes, carrots, mushroom etc.

the helpers consist of Alex, Huijun, Maurine, Xuemin, Mingna, Zhong Dan, Lingling and me

we had a lot of fun preparing the food

Chef Eric is the one with the red cap

Alex stir frying the mixed vegetables in a super big rectangular cooker

I was in charge of frying the chicken parts for the lemon chicken dish (it was complimented by many people!)

we also helped to cut the pork meat for the cafeteria dinner

group pic with Justin (Executive Sous Chef) and Cyrus (Banquets server)

We had tom yum soup (Eric's recipe), lemon chicken, fried cabbage in oyster/soya sauce, mixed veg with beef/pork in chilli and veg rolls. There was a projector slideshow set up in the cafeteria to show various photos of the people who came from Singapore and some iconic pictures from Singapore. The Singapore flag that we bought in Toronto the other time had already been put up, will post photo of that another time.

Bistro wasn't opened in the morning due the bad weather so I thought I could have the rest of the day off. It turned out that it was opening at 1pm and I had to report for work there. The weather wasn't very kind to us, one moment it was sunny and the next moment it was drizzling. We didn't know whether to keep all the setup or leave them on the tables. After dinner it rained continously and my boss finally closed it down and I left at 6pm.

some photos taken at the Bistro (Vy and Mingna; Ivy at the golf counter)

After work I went to find Huijun and Maurine who had already done all the necessary checkout. They were going to leave the island and set off on their travel. After they had some food in the cafeteria and photo taking with some co-workers, a large group of went to send them off at the ferry dock.

it was yet another emotional goodbye

take care and see you all back in Singapore!

Goodfellow's / Ready-to-Cook Meal Kits

2009-07-17T01:43:00.008+08:00

Slept in till abt 11am then went downtown to have lunch at Goodfellow's with Alex, Kang Xi and Shi Nan. We ordered from the employee menu that is only available from 11am-4pm.

nice ambience

hot chicken wings & fries; bbq pulled pork sliders

16" pizza with bacon and banana pepper rings toppings

We also ordered an extra basket of fries. We felt so full after the end of the meal and it cost each of us only $9 inclusive of tips.

On our way back, Alex and I went to buy chicken drumsticks and rice from the supermarket because we planned to cook our own dinner together with Huijun and Maurine.

preparing to cook Hainanese Chicken Rice

step by step

In the meantime, Alex went downtown to buy more chicken drumsticks and potatoes to cook Singapore Curry as we felt that the chicken rice servings would not be filling enough for all of us.

Alex and Lydia skinning the potatoes

we cooked hot and spicy szechuan soup too! ; fragrant chicken rice is ready

the rice and chicken tasted heavenly, especially we're all so far away from home! The dark soya sauce and chilli sauce completed the chicken rice delight.

boiling the pot of delicious curry, we cooked more white rice in the meantime

After clearing up the place, some of us went downtown for a chill-out session at Horn's Bar. There were a lot of fellow co-workers there and it was like a big family gathering. We left Horn's Bar after they closed at around 2am.

Pancake House / Surrey Square Butterfly House

2009-07-15T12:50:00.006+08:00

Monday
Worked from 12pm-10pm. Business was surprisingly better than it was on Sunday.

Tuesday
Cycled downtown with Sun Ke and Xuemin to eat breakfast at the Pancake House.

Sun Ke, Xuemin and I ordered island breakfast, cinnamon french toast and ham&egg with toast respectively.

After which we went to another butterfly house located at Surrey Square near the Grand Hotel. Free admission for island employees!

the place is slightly smaller than the one located behind St Anne's church

I feel that there are more butterflies here but the gift shop is much smaller

Worked from 12pm-5pm only, Bistro was closed for a private function in the evening. Went downtown with the rest to send Jiamin off. Hao Yu and Vivek treated us to ice-cream from Joann's Fudge. We sat along the coastline for abt an hour before she left on the 8pm ferry to St. Ignace. Bye Jiamin, see u back in S'pore!

the weekends are here again

2009-07-11T20:34:00.011+08:00

big group photo taken on the other day b4 they left for downtown

Friday
Worked from 1pm-10pm. Business was ok. The lower deck was closed for the evening due to a wedding rehearsal dinner managed by the banquets servers.

Saturday
Worked from 10am-9:15pm. It was busier during lunch hours than dinner hours, probably due to the wedding functions being held in the evening.

Sunday
Worked from 10am-8:15pm. It was strange to see that there were no occupied tables for abt an hour from 5:30pm-6:30pm except for a few ppl sitting at the bar.

'specials of the day'

Jason (new server), Mingna and Joanna (new hostess)

Business did picked up at around 7pm with a few big groups of ppl coming in for dinner so it was still alright.

work & work

2009-07-10T13:00:00.005+08:00

Wednesday
Worked from 5pm-11pm at the Round Island. Business was ok. The dining area was never full house at any point of time but there were quite a few big groups of 7-10 ppl.

Thursday
Worked from 10am-9:45pm After work I went downtown with Sun Ke to find Jiamin and the rest (abt 20 over ppl) as they were having some sort of a farewell party for Jiamin whose last day is this coming Sunday and leaving on Tuesday. Sun Ke and I checked almost all the bars for them but to no avail. It turned out that they were sitting at the foot of Marquette's statue. They were already having some drinks and tidbits b4 we reached at abt 10:30pm. After a short while Lydia, Zhong Dan and Lingling came with some takeaway pizzas from Lakeside Marketplace. We ate the pizzas, stayed and chatted for about an hour or so then started to walk back to the resort.

My work schedule for the upcoming week:
10/7 1pm-close (Bistro)
11/7 10am-8pm (Bistro)
12/7 10am-8pm (Bistro)
13/7 12pm-close (Bistro)
14/7 12pm-6pm (Bistro)
15/7 OFF
16/7 6pm-close (Round Island)

Updates

2009-07-08T14:07:00.007+08:00

Sunday
Worked from 10am-10:30pm at the Bistro. Business was not bad but there were all-in-all 6 DRAs during the whole day so the tips component of my wages was effectively undermined.

Monday
Worked from 10am-4pm at the Bistro. It was raining on and off, really dampened my mood. At 4pm my supervisor asked if I would like to take a break and return at 5pm, I said ok so I went back to my room for a power nap, had dinner then reported back at the Bistro. It turned out that the rest of them were almost done with closing down the Bistro as it was drizzling and cold out there. So effectively I already knocked off at 4pm and got the rest of the day off.

After work went to play table-tennis with Lydia and the rest. As Alex had missed his dinner, we went to the Lakeside Marketplace to order pizzas to eat. It was a torturous 45-min wait cos there were a lot of guests queueing up for their orders. Anyway after eating we went to Lydia's room to chat with her, Lingling and Zhong Dan b4 resting for the night.

Tuesday
Slept in till about 10am then saw Alex in the room, he said Bistro wasn't opened due to bad weather. After lunch, Alex and I borrowed bicycles from our colleagues to go downtown to deposit our paychecks. We dropped by the grocery store to buy B&J ice cream to share. It cost more ex at US$4.77 as compared to Walmart. We cycled back and ate the ice-cream at the Bistro bar area.

It tasted really sweet and we couldn't finish the last bit of it. Anyway we went to find Irene (HR Director) and the chefs to discuss about the upcoming 'Singapore Day'. It will be held on next Wednesday during lunch and the flag will be up on that very day too. We'll be assisting the chefs in preparing the food on that day. She'll also need our help to do a presentation on Singapore. Alex started work from 3pm at the Round Island. I started at 4pm but we both knocked off at midnight after setting up the buffet tables for the next day's breakfast.

Independence Day

2009-07-05T21:19:00.006+08:00

Fourth of July is Independence Day, the national day of the United States. I could see that there's a lot of people who had come to spend the day on the island.

Worked from 8am-3pm at the Round Island. Took a short nap after work b4 gg for dinner. After dinner went back to use laptop b4 meeting the rest at 9pm to go downtown to see the fireworks display. On the way to downtown, saw the Mackinac Island Fire Department truck drive past sounding loud horns to commemorate the occasion. (Aren't motor vehicles banned on the island?! Apparently this was one of the few vehicles that are being used on the island, I saw an ambulance during the 1st month.)

Lydia outside one of the fudge shops; US flag-inspired fudge

We walked past the Mackinac Island Public Library to get down to the coastline so that we could have a good view of the upcoming fireworks. It was about 10pm already when we witnessed the last moments of this beautiful sunset

Russell, Joanna, Sacha, Sabrina and me; Haoyu and me; Lydia and Siyu

all set for the fireworks display; Peiwen, Dongyu, Siyu and me; Dongyu and Lydia

At about 10:30pm, the skies erupted into a spectacular 15-min fireworks display from Mackinaw City.

It was truly a fantastic way to round off the festive holiday. After the fireworks display was over we trudged back to our dorms to rest for the night.

Updates

2009-07-05T07:21:00.008+08:00

Thursday

Bistro wasn't opened for business due to bad weather. After lunch I came back to update blog and upload fotos on fb. I went to Round Island at 3pm to see if there's any work for me. Bonnie asked if i would like the rest of the day off then come back tmr. I said ok cos I'm scheduled to work 10am at the Bistro on the following day.

I came back at 3plus, did the laundry and used laptop in the meantime. I went for dinner at abt 5plus then played table-tennis for a while before coming back to shower and relax. Maurine, Huijun, Stella and Vivek came to my room at 8:30pm to discuss about the upcoming "Singapore Day" where we need to come up with 5 dishes for the chefs to cook for lunch on one of these days. We opened the bottle of ice wine brandy that we bought from Canada's duty-free during the road trip. At about 9:30pm Lydia came to find us to eat noodles then we all went to the cafe to continue the discussion while having noodles at the same time.

We cooked 'dong fen' and 'la mian' to mix with Lydia's minced meat sauce that she brought from Taiwan. We settled on the 5 dishes - chicken rice, maggi mee goreng, minced meat steamed egg, sweet & sour pork and fried cabbage.

Friday

Worked from 10am-9pm (left early becos got 2 other DRAs to help do the closing). My schedule is out:

4/7 8am-1pm (Round Island)
5/7 10am-? (Bistro)
6/7 10am-? (Bistro)
7/7 4pm-close (Round Island)
8/7 5pm-close (Round Island)
9/7 10am-? (Bistro)

Went downtown after work with the same group of people as last week. This time we wanted to visit another bar named Goodfellows but it was quite crowded and there weren't any big tables that we could all sit together. We settled on going to Seabiscuit Cafe instead. We ordered beer, cocktails and some finger food to share.

Penny, Ally & Abby; Vivek; Polly

Lawrence & Bonnie sitting next to Alex

onion rings; sweet potato fries; Bonnie, Sun Ke & Polly

Russell (Taiwanese who works as a bellman), Abby & Ally

the whole gang

Walmart Trip / Transformers 2

2009-07-03T01:38:00.007+08:00

Went to Walmart on my 2nd off day of the week with Lingling, Zhong Dan, Lydia, Kang Xi and Sun Ke. We took the 9am ferry out in order to catch the 9:45am shuttle to Walmart.

some fotos taken on the ferry

Sun Ke and Lydia playing Tornado Hockey

We went to the nearby McDonald's to have lunch. I had a "Angus Third Pounder" Mushroom Swiss Burger meal.

We shared a Haagen-Dazs mango sorbet and B&J cherry garcia too

After lunch we went to AT&T where Sun Ke and I each bought a prepaid SIM card. After that we went to the Dollar Tree shop where everything is sold at a dollar each.

took some photos inside the shop

at about 2:30pm we walked back to Walmart to wait for the 3pm shuttle back to Mackinaw City.

took some photos outside Walmart

on board the shuttle bus

We went to the courtyard cinemas at Mackinaw Crossings mall cos we wanted to watch Transformers 2. It turned out that there's a showtime at 4:05pm which suited us. It cost $5.50/person for shows b4 6pm, even cheaper that back in the resort's theater. Lingling and Zhong Dan didn't want to watch the movie so they took the 4pm ferry back to the island.

The movie was not bad but I don't understand some parts of it. Anyway after the show we went to KFC for dinner b4 taking the 7:30pm ferry back to the island.

Casino @ St. Ignace

2009-07-02T11:45:00.011+08:00

Alex and I were both off on Tuesday, we went to try our luck at the casino in St. Ignace (the city that links with Mackinaw City via Mackinac Bridge). After lunch at the cafeteria, we took the 12:30pm ferry out to St. Ignace.

view of the Grand Hotel from the ferry

the weather these days has not been very good, it was cloudy and windy all day long. The Shepler's staff was very nice to assist us by calling the casino shuttle to pick us up. We waited for about 10 min b4 the shuttle arrived.

on board the free shuttle to the casino

at the entrance to the casino building

we signed up for a free Northern Rewards Club which will allow us to accumulate points on the cards when we play the slot machines. Alex and I each won about $5 using the free promotional gold tokens.

We then moved on to try our luck at the blackjack table. We were quite lucky at first but ran out of it after some time.

managed to take some photos discreetly inside the casino

We moved on to play roulette when the table opened at 5pm. We managed to recoup our losses plus cover some of our expenses at the end of the day.

We left the casino at about 7pm to catch the 7:30pm ferry back to the island. We met Firat (Banquets) and Evren (Bellman) in the casino. We were on the same ferry back to the island.

when we alighted from the ferry, Mingna, Xuemin, Jiamin, Sam and Charlie were waiting at the dock to board the ferry to St. Ignace (Greyhound terminal) for their Chicago trip.
Firat and Mingna; the rest with Alex and I

As Alex and I haven't taken our dinner, we went to the Quorum to find more people to eat with us in downtown. We managed to find Lydia to come with us. While waiting for Lydia to get ready, Wan Sin and Alex played a few rounds of table-tennis. Lydia wore her 'bee-hive' cap.

We went to Seabiscuit Cafe for dinner! pink lemonade and hot chocolate drinks!

we ordered chicken noodle soup, sweet potato fries and pork ribs

we added a plate of macaroni cheeseballs, the food was not bad.

took some photos outside the restaurant after our dinner, it was already around 10pm.

we dropped by the cafeteria for some drinks, took some photos with the people there
Erica, Ivy and Albee; Kang Xi, Sun Ke and Siyu; Ryan and Derek

Derek (our roomie), Alex and I; Alex and Dmytro(server); Dmytro with his roomies

Fire Safety Training

2009-07-01T12:08:00.004+08:00

Bistro wasn't opened for business on Monday due to bad weather. Bonnie asked me to attend a fire safety training in the amphitheater though so those who were scheduled to work at the Bistro went for the training. It was about an hour long and the instructors actually wanted to demonstrate using a fire extinguisher to put out a fire but it was called off due to the continous rain. After that went for lunch and off for the rest of the day. I went back to try uploading the road trip photos on facebook but kept failing. Took a 2-hr nap then went for dinner, table-tennis and chat a while with Maurine and Huijun abt their travelling plans b4 coming back for a shower and internet again.

took some photos after dinner along the coast in front of the lawn

big freight ship cruising by

ugly duckling?!

can u spot some more of them?

Stormy Sunday

2009-06-30T01:52:00.005+08:00

Worked from 10am-6:30pm. It was quite a cooling day despite the sunshine as there were occasional winds blowing and cloudy skies. It wasn't too busy during lunch hours. It looked like it's gg to rain soon so at around 5:30pm we started to keep all the stuffs from the tables and chairs that weren't occupied. I left at 6:30pm after dropping the linen off at the laundry room. I went to the Quorum to play table-tennis and pool after changing out of my uniform. It's been a while since I last played the games. I went back to take a shower at around 8:30pm. After that I went to Sun Ke's room to play some group games with the Taiwanese people. Btw, the last batch of Taiwanese had arrived yesterday. There were 9 of them which brings the total no. of Taiwanese to 30.

Night at the Musuem: Battle of the Smithsonian

2009-06-28T11:55:00.004+08:00

Worked from 10am-5:30pm today. I was feeling abit jaded from work cos I had been working everyday since I came back from the road trip and most of the days I was at the Bistro which literally meant 10am-10pm for me. It was super busy during lunch hours, probably due to the fact that it's a Saturday and there's a wedding reception on the lawn next to the Bistro. At 4pm, I asked my supervisor if I could be off work after taking ice for once more. He asked me to try finding a replacement at the Round Island but I didn't manage to. When I returned with the ice, he asked me to go for dinner break first. When I came back from dinner break my co-workers had already kept most of the stuff cos it was drizzling. Another supervisor Cassidy was surprised to see me back cos she tot I had already left but I explained that I only went for a dinner break. She told me to go back and rest immediately while the rest of them will take care of everything.

I took a shower and a 2-hr nap b4 I went to catch the movie Night at the Musuem: Battle of the Smithsonian at the Theater.

The visuals and the sound effects were clear and acceptable. Below are some scenes from the movie.

check out the miniatures Albert Einstein below

Al Capone (black&white) and Abraham Lincoln

Starbucks delight

2009-06-27T12:06:00.007+08:00

23 June (Tuesday)

Went downtown with Xuemin and Huili to take a look around the shops and I went to deposit my paycheck on the way. We dropped by Starbucks for drinks

Xuemin ordered a iced green tea latte, I thought it tasted nice though she said the way in which it was prepared is different from Singapore's.

view of the shop's interior

Xuemin and Huili; my rich-tasting Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino Blended Creme

I went back at about 4pm to get ready for work while the both of them stayed in downtown to walk around more. Worked from 5pm-11pm, business was ok. Alex and I have a new dorm-mate named Wayne who arrived with 4 other gals from Taiwan.

24 June (Wednesday)

Worked from 10am-10:15pm, business was ok. Our last and final dorm-mate named Derek moved in with us. He arrived with 6 other gals from Taiwan. That brings the total number of Taiwanese to 21.

25 June (Thursday)

Worked from 10am-10:30pm. Went downtown with Alex, Vivek, Sun Ke and 6 other Taiwanese to a place named The Gate House, a casual bar/restaurant by Grand Hotel. Had a few speciality drinks, martinis and 1-dollar beers that we couldn't finish at the end. We played 'drinking goggles' game and also learnt a new 'gei wo tempo' name game from them. The forfeit was to drink The Classic Bloody Mary which nobody wanted cos it tasted disgusting. It was really fun and I could see that all of us enjoyed the night very much. After it closed at 2am, we made our way back to our dorms for a good night of rest.

Btw after work I took some photos of the Glow Golf which runs from 10pm-midnight every Thur-Sat. Hope you'll be able to figure out what's in the dark photos.

26 June (Friday)
Worked from 10am-10:30pm. It was a cooler day than the previous days due to the occasional winds. It was much busier during dinner than lunch. I'm starting to feel a little bit jaded.

There's some slight changes to my work schedule for the upcoming week:
27/6 10am-? (Bistro)
28/6 10am-6pm (Bistro)
29/6 10am-6pm (Bistro)
30/6 OFF
1/7 OFF
2/7 10am-6pm (Bistro)

Updates

2009-06-26T21:09:00.004+08:00

19 June (Friday)

1st day of work after coming back from the road trip. Worked from 7am-3:30pm. It was super busy until all of us didn't have time to go for lunch cos after buffet breakfast ended, many groups of people started to come in for lunch so there were a lot of trays of glasses, plates, utensils etc to clear. Another 5 taiwanese people (4 gals & 1 guy) had arrived when we were out on the road trip. Alex went to play volleyball with them, Mingna and Lydia after dinner.

20 June (Saturday)

I tot I had the day off when the weather didn't look good in the morning. However the weather suddenly changed for the better and I went to work at the Bistro from 1:15pm-10:30pm when it opened for business. All those working at the Bistro didn't have time to go to the cafeteria for dinner so JP (our supervisor) asked the kitchen staff to cook burgers for everyone so that we could take turns to have a quick bite behind and resume working. We started keeping everything at 9pm then knocked off after that.

21 June (Sunday)

Father's Day. Worked from 10am-9:45pm. We were offering a BBQ lunch for the guests as the kitchen staff needed to do scheduled cleaning for their cooler. We started offering the regular menu from 5pm onwards for dinner. As Alex and I were unable to get away for dinner, JP got chicken satay and grilled salmon for our dinner. We couldn't finish it though and saved some for supper. Was busy sorting out the photos from the road trip, there was a total of 2000 photos/videos from the 6 of us!

22 June (Monday)

Worked from 10am-10pm. I only managed to have my lunch at 3:30pm. After work went to the Lakeside Marketplace with Mingna to eat ice-cream. We went to sit at the lawn chairs for a while b4 gg to the gals' room for a while cos I realised I haven't been there for some time.

Toronto-Niagara-Birch Run

2009-06-24T12:04:00.028+08:00

*WARNING* - SUPER LONG POST, VIEW AT UR OWN RISK!

Day 0 - Mackinac Island (15 June 2009)

Alex and I worked at Round Island during the breakfast hours. We took a short nap in the afternoon, packed our bags and took the 5pm Shepler's ferry out to collect the Hertz rental vehicle at Pellston Regional Airport. There was a long queue for the ferry.

After collecting the vehicle, we made our way back to Mackinaw City to pick up the rest.

After which we made our way to Cheboygan's Walmart to stock up on supplies for the trip and also ourselves. Alex and I shared a Subway footlong as we hadn't taken our dinner.

We found out that B&J ice-cream had dropped 50cents to $2.50, woohooo!!! We bought 2 pints to share.

We setted off at about 10pm towards Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I drove for abt 3hrs b4 having a 15-min pit stop. Alex took over the wheels for the next 3hrs b4 we had another pit stop inside Canada when it was around 5am.

We took a photo with the convenience store uncle.

Day 1 - Toronto (16 June 2009)

I took over from Alex and drove for the remaining journey to Toronto. It was start-stop traffic on the highway leading to Toronto, probably due to the morning rush hours. After parking the car, we had breakfast at BK and also used their restrooms to wash up.

Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits

Spotted a lot of Chinese restaurants and shops on the way to our 1st stop - CN Tower. It felt weird to see many Asians on the streets.

At the foot of CN tower; top right pic is the exterior of Rogers Centre, a famous multi-purpose stadium.

After buying the admission tickets, all visitors had to pass thru a non-contact security scanner.

before boarding the lift to the lookout level

views from the lookout level at 346m above ground

lying on the glass floor at 342m above ground

situated on the same level as the glass floor is the outdoor observation deck, it was chilly out there

last stop for CN tower, the Sky Pod at 447m above ground

We took a look at the gift shop located on the ground level b4 setting off for lunch.

Had some shuteye while waiting for the pizza and chicken wings.

On our way to Chinatown (Spadina Avenue), we passed by the Ontario College of Art & Design and Art Gallery of Ontario.

we had bubble tea and dropped by a Chinese supermarket!

can u spot the Yeo's drinks?

After visiting the Chinese supermarket, we spotted a shop selling flags. Without any hesitation, we went in to buy a Singapore flag cos we wanted to put it up in the cafeteria.

We went to Kensington Market - a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Toronto.
Father's Day promotion?! We went into a gift shop to take a look.

We had an early dinner at a Hongkong-style restaurant. I realised I hadn't used chopsticks for a long time.

wanton mee soup + fried beef hor fun + yan chow fried rice + fried dumplings + charsiew-roasted meat rice = a satisfying meal. We had sing chow fried bee hoon too but it tasted like dry mee siam.

After dinner we went to Toronto Eaton Centre - the #1 retail destination and a "must see" tourist attraction in Toronto.

We guys separated from the gals to do our own walking. We managed to use the Macbooks at the Apple store for free internet.

We took the subway back just for the experience, it did save us about 10 min of walking time. We realised that their subway is super efficient, no irritating door closing beeps, just a short beep and it closes. Once the doors close, the train moves off immediately, no time lag of any kind, short and sweet.

The guys ate Popeye's Chicken for supper.

We went to a pub for some drinks and also to use their restrooms for washing up before gg back to sleep in the car. We could see the lighted-up CN tower from where the car was parked.

We setted off towards Niagara at 3am in hope of catching the sunrise there. To our disappointment, the skies were too cloudy to reveal any form of sunrise.

We took a break at a rest area just before Niagara. We had Tim Hortons for breakfast and also took a look at the gift shop there.

Day 2 - Niagara (17 June 2009)

After parking the car, we made our way to see the falls. Stella 'holding' the Hershey's chocolate?!

Planet Hollywood

view of the falls from Canadian side

We went to the 1st attraction - Journey Behind the Falls

It was basically an underground tunnel below the Horseshoe Falls. It was a unique experience being so close to the falls and hearing the sounds of the water.

After the tour, we crossed the Rainbow Bridge to get to the American side.

shots on the bridge

The 2nd attraction we went to was the Maid of the Mist. It was a boat ride that took us past the American Falls and very near to the Horseshoe Falls where it stayed there for a few min to let us experience the mist created by the falls.

After we alighted from the boat, we went up a few flights of stairs to get even closer to the top of the American Falls.

We stayed around at the Observation deck for a while b4 breaking off for lunch.

I had Bleu Cheese Burger while Alex had Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.

It began to rain after lunch so we waited until about 4pm b4 making our way to our 3rd and final attraction - Cave of the Winds. It is a series of wooden walkways that lead up to the Hurricane Deck, where we were just 6m from the foot of the Bridal Veil Falls. On our way there, we realised there's a lot of birds that have made the areas around the falls their homes, which explained the stench in a way.

view of the path we're abt to take; We knew it's going to be the wettest of the 3 attractions.

this wasn't the Hurricane Deck yet, this was too minor in comparison. We were unable to take any photos on the Hurricane Deck cos it was simply too wet!

We walked to the far end of the Goat Island to take a closer look at the Horseshoe Falls from the American side.

Alex and I were 'stoning' after all the walking. We then crossed the Rainbow Bridge back to Canada.

Hershey's chocolates store

Coca-Cola store

We decided to have something nice for dinner. We agreed on eating at a Korean BBQ restaurant.

spicy bbq beef; kimchi pork soup

seafood noodles that tasted like udon; it felt heavenly to eat spicy food on a cold day

Stella and Vivek went around the shops after dinner. The rest of us were feeling too cold so we went back to rest inside the car.

view of the illuminated falls and the surrounding areas at night

We went to the same rest area as in the morning to wash up b4 setting off towards Birch Run for the next day's activities. Opened the car's bonnet to do routine checks and also to ventilate the engine at a pit stop. Crossed the Blue Water Bridge from Ontario, Canada to Michigan, USA.

Day 3 - Birch Run (18 June 2009)

We finally reached Prime Outlets @ Birch Run for our factory outlets shopping. Took some photos around the area b4 they open for business.

it's extremely hard to find an A&W outlet nowadays

We had breakfast at McDonald's. bottom right is their Deluxe Breakfast - 3pc hotcakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuit and hashbrowns.

view of the area that we were gg to conquer

After visiting Levi's store, we splitted up to do our own shopping.

We were supposed to meet back at the car at 2pm then proceed to lunch @ A&W. We waited for Vivek until 2:30pm and he hadn't shown up yet. We left Huijun there to wait for him while the rest of us went to buy takeway food from A&W. It turned out that Vivek got the time wrong because he bought a new watch and the salesperson setted the wrong time for him! Anyway we had a quick lunch inside the car before setting off towards Pellston Regional Airport to return the rental car.

random shots of them sleeping during the road trip

We needed a personal luggage cart to put the combined luggage for the 6 of us; on the ferry back to Mackinac Island

~ ROAD TRIP MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ~ 1084 miles or 1744.528896 km travelled ~

Clown Band / Lilac Festival Parade

2009-06-20T08:43:00.009+08:00

Last Sunday, 'Scottville Clown Band' came to perform at the Bistro, it was a super busy afternoon. Most of the performers came early to have lunch, Bistro's menu items on that day were cut down by half because we were also offering a BBQ buffet.

the band getting ready to perform

Alex and I went back to the Round Island to take more ice, took photos with Jayson inside the kitchen.

Alex and Mr Spongebob

After the clown band left, we were all busy clearing up and getting ready for the evening. Alex and I went to throw alot of empty cardboxes, trash, and take the dirty napkins to the laundry room. After we came back, Bonnie was so nice to ask us to take some food and eat at the lower deck level.

took photos with John M., he's a very nice and hardworking guy

During this time, all the groups involved in the Lilac Festival Parade started to gather at the lawn in front of the resort. At about 5pm, they started to march off one by one.

first the flags, then horse carriages

carts

bikini aunties and uncle! so interesting

that's the resort's float

lots of colourful displays

scouts and greyhound dogs

more dogs

young dancers

haunted theatre's float

took photos with Ricardo and Mingna

Emma (from Banquets) and fellow DRA Peiwen

took photo with Ricardo again after we had knocked off

Back from road trip

2009-06-19T09:59:00.003+08:00

I'm back from my road trip, will update my blog soon.

My schedule for the upcoming week:
19 June - 7am (Round Island)
20 June - 10am (Bistro)
21 June - 10am (Bistro)
22 June - 10am (Bistro)
23 June - 7am (Round Island)
24 June - 10am (Bistro)
25 June - 10am (Bistro)

Off to Road Trip

2009-06-16T02:34:00.002+08:00

I'll be leaving for my road trip with Alex and 4 other friends in a few hours time, a nice break from work cos work is so busy nowadays, machiam fighting a war during meal times. Will continue to update my blog once I'm back. See ya!

Saturday

2009-06-14T21:17:00.002+08:00

Went downtown with Sam cos I wanted to buy Star Line ferry tickets for our upcoming road trip.

Worked from 5pm-11pm at the Round Island. There was a reservation for a table of 20 people. Other than that it was still quite manageable. Bistro was super busy during the whole evening, they ran out of the rolled-up silverware and had to use the red rolled-ups from Round Island.

Knocked off at 11pm, went back to shower and gathered in Maurine/Huijun's room to further discuss the road trip.

NHL Stanley Cup Final

2009-06-13T22:16:00.002+08:00

Worked from 10am-10pm, business was not too bad. We were busier during dinner than lunch. We only started to close at around 9pm. I dropped by the Round Island office to write my timings for today, it was super crowded there lo cos the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Final Game 7 between Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins was being screened. Final result was PIT 2, DET 1. (Penguins win series 4-3)

Sugar Loaf / Fort Holmes

2009-06-13T21:04:00.007+08:00

Alex took a photo of Lydia and me while Maurine, Huijun and Stella were busy eating behind us

inside the pancakes shop

while waiting for our orders to arrive

Alex, Stella and me; silver dollar pancakes

on our way to Sugar Loaf and Fort Holmes

we love kicking/punching each other

that's the Sugar Loaf (named for its resemblance to maple sugar packed into cone-shaped baskets)

soaring sun; view of Sugar Loaf from Point Lookout

Fort Holmes (the highest point of the island at 320 feet above the lake level)

view of the Mackinac Bridge was magnificent

lazing on top of the fort

group pic!

countdown-timer sequential shots

Skull Cave (a small and shallow cave near Fort Mackinac)

with Arnel and David

Theresa was babysitting 2 kids at the Lakeside Marketplace

Alex on the Euro Bungee

Sunny Days

2009-06-12T10:19:00.005+08:00

Wednesday
Xuemin came to the cafeteria during lunch with a Taiwanese gal named Lydia who just arrived in the morning. Xuemin and I brought Lydia downtown to take a look, showing her places such as ferry docks, banks, post office, clothing and fudge shops. It was a bright and sunny day. I went out in tshirt and jeans becos it was warm.

random pic of a couple in traditional costumes

Xuemin bought a strawberry milkshake; view of the Mackinac Island Public Library

the one and only school on the island

Grand Hotel in the background

Little Stone Church near the Grand Hotel

We visited an art gallery where there were paintings of different aspects of the island

paintings of the Grand Hotel, Mackinac Bridge etc

simply beautiful

Views from outside and inside the Visitors' Center gift shop

Worked at the Round Island from 5pm-11:15pm. There were only 2 servers and 2 DRAs including me. One of our closing tasks is to set up the buffet breakfast tables and equipment for the next day. All of them were relatively new and I wasn't sure about the setup too. Luckily Alex came to help me after knocking off from Bistro or else I probably won't be able to knock off before midnight.

Thursday
Alex and I went to look for Bonnie to verify our hours for the last paycheck before gg for lunch. After lunch we went to find Stella, Maurine, Huijun and Lydia to go downtown together. Maurine and Huijun wanted to eat pancakes so we went into a pancake shop and ordered 3 different kinds of pancakes to share. Each person paid abt 3+. I thought it would hava been better if they were piping hot. Stella went to the post office to settle some stuff and she's working at 4pm so she asked us not to wait for her. The remaining 5 of us went back to the resort. Alex and I went back to our room to take the island map and changed into berms cos it was quite warm. We made our way to the Sugar Loaf and Fort Holmes (another 2 attractions on the island). Lydia was meeting Xuemin after her work to go Butterfly house so she didn't follow us. We took a lot of photos during the trip, will upload soon once I got them from Alex.

We came back for dinner at 5:30pm, after that Alex and I went to check our work schedules for the upcoming week before sharing an ice-cream at the Lakeside Marketplace. Maurine, Huijun also accompanied us. We went to sit at the lawn chairs to relax for a while before returning to our rooms to wash up. On the way back to our room, Alex and I attempted the EuroBungy where we did somersaults on a trampoline, making use of ropes to secure us. It was quite fun but tiring after a while. We also experienced some giddiness, part of the post-jump effects I suppose. We had a discussion on the upcoming road trip again and we are clear on the attractions to go. Alex will be coming up an itinerary with time schedules and some maps.

My schedule for the upcoming week:
12 June - 10-? (Bistro)
13 June - 5pm-close (round island)
14 June - 10-? (Bistro)
15 June - 6am-12pm (round island)
16 June - 18 June OFF for road trip (Toronto/Niagara Falls/Saginaw)

Updates

2009-06-09T23:12:00.004+08:00

Sunday
Bistro was closed due to bad weather conditions so I didn't get to work. During lunch, my manager Bonnie informed us that her relative brought a batch of Oakley sunglasses selling at half their retail prices so we went to take a look. Alex and I didn't see any to our liking but our two Filipino colleagues each bought a pair for about 80 USD. We went to play table-tennis for about half an hour. After that went back to bathe then did our laundry while we used laptop in the meantime. After dinner we met to discuss on the upcoming road trip

Monday
Worked from 7am-2:30pm. It was raining for the whole day. Business at the Round Island breakfast was good, probably due to the weather as many guests might had cancelled their plans to go downtown for meals.

Alex and I each took a photo with Bonnie's granddaughter in the cafeteria

She's camera shy?

Busy Saturday

2009-06-07T10:30:00.003+08:00

Woke up to a nice breakfast

Worked from 10am-9pm, did the usual tasks of setting up. Business was even better than yesterday, I was kept busy all the time.
When it was close to knock off, I spotted a huge ship cruising in the waters.

side view of the entrance to Bistro, the room contains all the golf equipment.

Group photo with the servers:
From left: Jayson (Philippines), Myself, bartender David, Ricardo, Carlton (all from Jamaica)

the place where the chefs put out the food

views of the bar

Busy Bistro

2009-06-06T11:03:00.002+08:00

Worked from 10am-7pm. Business was pretty good, even during 2pm-5pm when usually there isn't any customers at all, we had people coming in occasionally during those hours.

I just received my 1st paycheck. It was a small amount compared to what those in other departments got. But I'm sure my future paycheck amounts will be more 'pleasant' to the eye once the F&B business starts picking up.

Before it started to rain at 5pm, we were already keeping all the stuffs from the tables. I managed to knock off at 7pm after bringing the dirty linen to the laundry room.

Day 25

2009-06-05T08:39:00.003+08:00

Worked at the Round Island buffet breakfast from 7am-12:30pm. It was quite busy between 8am-9am as we were serving a large group of elderly guests. Even Mingna and Alex were roped in to help after the F&B meeting. Knocked off at 12:30pm after bringing the dirty linen to the laundry room. Had lunch, surfed internet and took a nap. Took a bath before gg for dinner.

Sam, Vivek, Stella, Sun Ke and I pitted ourselves against one another to the 18-hole putting course after dinner. Results in descending order: Vivek, Sun Ke, myself, Sam and Stella.

My work schedule for the upcoming week:
5 June 10am-? (Bistro)
6 June 10am-? (Bistro)
7 June 10am-? (Bistro)
8 June 7am-12pm (Round Island)
9 June 5pm-Close (Round Island)
10 June OFF
11 June OFF

Sunny Bistro

2009-06-04T10:20:00.002+08:00

I managed to work at the Bistro from 10am-9pm as it was bright and sunny all day. I could see that the business is slightly picking up. During 2pm-5pm as there was practically no tables I used the time to wipe the glasses and wrap cutlery until ran out of knifes lol. Then we started to close the Bistro at 8pm, kept all the cushions, condiments baskets, glasses and cutlery etc. We all cooperated quite well so managed to finish everything within an hour.

I will be working at the Round Island buffet breakfast from 7am-12pm tomorrow and there's a meeting for all F&B staff at 8am.

Groundskeeping on 'Off' Day

2009-06-03T09:29:00.004+08:00

It was supposed to be my off day but I went to work in the groundskeeping department from 8am to 4:30pm. I was teamed up with a fellow WAT mate named Peiwen who works as a dining room attendant at the Round Island. Our task for the morning was to pluck out all the tulips and weeds from the area outside the laundry room located at the Straits Lodge (the building which I stay in). The tulips had to go because new flowers will be planted for the summer season. It was pretty tiring as we had to loosen the soil with a shovel first before we could pluck out the plants with ease, but time passed very quickly though.

After lunch, we continued to pluck tulips at the areas behind the benches along the Main Street. The soil was softer therefore it was quite easy to pluck the flowers out but there were many of them and we had to empty the cart after each area as it was full. It wasn't very tiring at the end of the day and I actually felt it was quite a fun job. I will probably go work again on my off days.

Btw Alex and I are planning on a road trip to Niagara Falls in Canada on the 16th with 5 other. Hopefully all goes well as planned!

The Haunted Theatre

2009-06-02T02:21:00.009+08:00

The first day of my 4th week here did not start well. Bistro was not opened for business AGAIN due to the weather, which meant that I didn't get to work. I wanted to go work in groundskeeping since I was free for the rest of the day, but the manager Allen said he would prefer additional helpers to start from 8am rather than in the middle of the day. So I went back to my room, changed out of my uniform and watched a 45-min video on Chicago (which was filmed close to 10yrs ago!) together with Alex. Frankly I must say that the video didn't convince me to visit Chicago but a lot of people here said that it is a must-visit place. I shall reserve my comments until after I have visited it probably in July.

Played table-tennis with Alex after lunch then went back to use laptop in the laundry room. At around 4pm, Xuemin, Alex and I made our way to the The Haunted Theatre downtown. Admission is free for MP employees. So the 3 of us began walking through the exhibits.

The Haunted Theatre

Last Chance to Chicken Out

Which door to choose?

Disco-light jail cell

After exiting the exhibits room

Met Austin, Wan Sin and Jiamin towards the end of the exhibits

Xuemin, Alex and I took a walk back to the resort. After dinner at the cafeteria, we went to the Lakeside Marketplace for ice-cream. Stella was on shift.

Xuemin chose Mackinac Island Fudge while Alex and I shared Cake Batter
Tomorrow is supposed to be my off day but I haven't been working much for the past few days so I will be going to work in groundskeeping at 8am. At least it is a much more stable job.

Day 21

2009-06-01T08:18:00.006+08:00

Photos from the 'Hansel & Gretel' play

Reported for work at 7am at the Round Island Bar & Grill to prepare for the buffet breakfast. As there were 2 dining room attendants around (Naishan and me) and there was only a total of 4 tables after one and a half hours, my manager Bonnie asked which one of us wanted to clock out. I volunteered to go off early since I haven't had my breakfast and I was pretty bored by the lack of work. So I was free for the rest of the day after 8.40am. Went back to use laptop until lunch time.

There was a sale for employees at the activities center from noon to 5pm so after lunch I went to check it out. All items were going at 25% discount and I bought myself a cap for US$14+ after discount.

After dinner, some of us went downtown to visit the Haunted Theatre (a haunted house and wax monster display, free for MP employees) but it was closed before its stated time of 7pm, probably due to the poor business. We walked back in disappointment. Alex and I went to use laptop and relax on the lawn chairs but it got too cold for us and we went back to our room after half an hour.

Stormy Saturday

2009-06-01T01:19:00.003+08:00

I went to report for work at the Bistro at 10am. As usual we laid out the cushions on all the seats and got ready to open for business. After opening for an hour or so there wasn't even a single customer in sight. At around 12.30pm then the first group of customers came in, followed by another two groups. After a short while it started to drizzle and all the customers went inside the shelter area while all my colleagues and I scrambled to keep all the cushions, glasses, wrapped cutlery and condiments baskets. The customers and us were kind of like stuck under the Bistro shelter, just waiting for the rain to stop.

After the rain had almost cleared up, I went for lunch and when I was back at the Bistro, the weather appeared to have changed for the better, turning bright and sunny. Those earlier customers had already left. The rest of us were just standing around feeling cold cos of the strong winds. At close to 3pm it started drizzling again and my manager Bryan happened to drop by and told us to close it up for the day. We were actually quite glad by the decision as it was freezingly cold out there and time passed so slowly because there was really nothing for us to do. I clocked out at around 3.15pm and came back to use laptop in the laundry room until about 5pm then went to take a bath.

When I was walking to the cafeteria to have my dinner, I felt really weird to see that the skies had cleared up and it was bright and sunny once again. Maybe it was just fate that my hours got cut again due to external factors. My job is really an unstable one.

Executive Putting Course

2009-05-30T10:26:00.004+08:00

Today I woke up at 6plus to get ready for work at 7am. It wasn't busy as there were only a few occupied tables at any one time during the breakfast hours. I completed all my tasks and knocked off at 12.30pm. After lunch went back to room to use laptop until around 3pm, took a 2hr nap before washing up and went for dinner.

After dinner, Sun Ke, Xuemin, Huili and I went to play golf on the executive putting course next to the Bistro on the Greens. It is free of charge for employees! I am not really into golf but nevertheless it was fun going thru the course.

Sam came to join us after his dinner when we were playing the 14th hole

After playing golf, the gals went to do their laundry and I went to play table-tennis for a while before returning to my room.

There's rain showers expected for tomorrow, if Bistro never open for business again I might go work in housekeeping if they need extra help.

Butterfly House & Insect World

2009-05-30T08:38:00.008+08:00

It was raining yet again on Thursday, which meant that Bistro wasn't opened for business. Just when I thought I was having yet another day off again, Bryan (my manager) told me to help out at the Epicurean from 12pm. So I continued to use my laptop in the cafe, ate lunch and reported for work. It turned out that there was going to be a function at the Epicurean that night and we had to set the tables differently from what we do for the breakfast. Each guest was supposed to have 1 water glass, 1 red wine glass, 1 white wine glass, 4 pairs of forks & knifes and 1 butter knife on a saucer. Everything must be placed neatly in a standardized way. You can imagine the amount of work required. It wasn't too tiring though and I knocked off at 3pm.

Mingna and Alex were also done with their housekeeping work for the day. We went downtown to open a bank account before it closed at 4pm. On the way back to the resort, we dropped by the Butterfly House & Insect World, which is located just behind St Anne Church. There's free admission for Mission Point employees, so we wasted no time and went in to take a look.

The Butterfly Garden is in fact a greenhouse. It can get really warm inside after some time.

spotted many different kinds of butterflies

Clockwise from top left: flour beetle, unknown worm, superworm, orange-spotted roach

Bearded Dragon on the bottom right

world of insects

the souvenir shop

After dinner, we went to the theater beside the Activities Center to watch a play titled 'Hansel & Gretel' by a group of 4th-7th grade school children who are from a school on the island. Alex and I went to play some pool and table-tennis before resting for the night.

My work schedule for the upcoming week:

29 May 7am-12pm (Round Island)

30 May 10am-? (Bistro)

31 May 7am-12pm (Round Island)

1 June 10am-? (Bistro)

2 June OFF

3 June 10am-? (Bistro)

4 June 7am-12pm (Round Island)

Champs League Final

2009-05-28T09:36:00.006+08:00

I was sort of happy when I got to know my work schedule last week because I get to watch the UEFA Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United on my off day. Champions of Spain vs Champions of England. Many considered it to be a dream final. It was shown 'live' on the ESPN channel here at 2.45pm.

Man Utd started well in the opening 10 minutes but Barcelona scored with virtually their first attack of the game. They never looked back thereafter and their second goal sealed the victory for them. Barcelona was indeed the better team. Congratulations to them for being the 1st Spanish club to complete the treble!

Btw, all those who came on this program received our Social Security cards from the HR this morning which will enable us to open a bank account for our paychecks. We also got our handpunch numbers and scanned our fingerprints in the system. From tomorrow onwards we have to clock in and out for work and break.

Bistro on the Greens was closed for two days in a row already due to the rainy weather. Hopefully it'll not rain again tomorrow or else I might not get to work which means no income!

Mackinaw City / Walmart Trip

2009-05-28T01:49:00.015+08:00

Memorial Day 25 May 2009 - U.S. federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May to commemorate U.S. men and women who died while in the military service.

It was actually my off day but due to some changes in the schedule, I worked from 7am-2.15pm. Huili and I were the dining room attendants helping with the buffet breakfast provided by our resort. Our tasks were slightly different from what we did at the Bistro. As there are limited tables, once the guests leave we must quickly clear and setup the tables ready for the next group of guests. The servers themselves will refill juices/coffee/iced water for the guests. There's one juice glass, water glass and coffee cup for each guest so imagine the amount of stuff we have to clear/setup for each table. We also had to constantly refill the fruit juices jugs by walking through the kitchen to the Round Island side. We had to wrap more silverware and wipe dry the glasses. It was quite busy but everyone carried out their own tasks well so everything was done efficiently.

After knocking off I went to check with Alex at the Bistro to see if he's able to knock off earlier but he wasn't sure if he could. Maurine, Huijun they all were planning to stayover one night at the mainland (Mackinaw City) then visit Walmart the next morning. They were aiming to catch the last Red Line ferry at 8.30pm. Frankly I wasn't even sure if I was going but after much persuasion from them but I decided to go with them on the trip as I'm on off for the next two days.

Met the rest of them outside the Activity Center at around 7.30pm. Xuemin just knocked off and went to change out of her uniform. We dropped by the Bistro to see if Alex was able to join us. To our delight, he got permission to go off. So he ran back to the room, had a quick change of clothes and joined us on the trip. We bought a pizza from the island's grocery store before we boarded the ferry.

Upon reaching the dock at Mackinaw City, Huijun and Maurine walked briskly w/o informing us exactly where they were heading to. At one point we lost track of them cos they ran too far ahead of us. It turned out that they wanted to capture shots of the sunset from the bridge and the sunset was fast approaching.

In the meantime, the rest of us spotted a bar selling 12-inch pizza for 5USD. We went in and ordered one while waiting for them to return. After they returned, we finished both pizzas before Sam, Alex and I went to a convenience store to buy some beer and chips for the night.

We checked into Best Western Hotel - our accomodation for the night. Initially we wanted to save on the cost by booking only 1 room although it can only have 4 legal occupants. We even tried to walk in separate groups into the hotel vicinity but was discovered by the staff. In the end we got 2 rooms - 1 for the guys & 1 for the gals.

spotted a few Harleys in the hotel's carpark

We were so glad to check into our rooms as it was freezingly cold outside with the strong winds. The room was quite spacious and well equipped, much to our delight. We took turns to wash up then played some card games until late into the night.

The next morning, all of us woke up and went to eat ate the complimentary breakfast after washing up. We took a short walk to where Shepler's dock is located to wait for the 9.45am shuttle bus to Walmart in Cheboygan.

it was seriously cold out there!

After an approximately 30-min ride, we finally reached Walmart and started our shopping spree.

Spongebob-inspired products, 'Congrats Class of 2009' paper bag & strawberry milkshake oreo

sunglasses galore & PCK-inspired outfits!

act suspicious?!

look carefully, one pint of B&J ice-cream for only 3USD!

Coke plus - Coke with vitamins and minerals

I bought a pair of sunglasses, a bottle of shampoo and two tubes of toothpaste. The rest which are mainly foodstuffs and detergent were shared by Alex and me. Sam and Stella stayed behind as they weren't done with their shopping yet. The rest of us took the 1.15pm shuttle bus and left Cheboygan for Mackinaw City. As there wasn't much choice of dining outlets, we settled for KFC - 16pc chicken with 4 boxes of potato wedges and Popeyes-style biscuits. The 7 of us finished 3 pints of B&J ice-cream too! Delicious!

After the heavy meal we walked around the shops in Mackinaw Crossings.

Mackinaw Outfitters, which sells outdoor lifestyle products, was our first stop

We took the 4pm Star Line ferry back to Mackinac Island

Xuemin finally bought herself a red 'Mackinac Island' sweater at the clothing store after much persuasion from us. I wanted to get one too but couldn't find the design I wanted. Alex and I reached back at our rooms around 5plus. We skipped dinner as we weren't hungry yet and napped for a few hours instead. We then went to the cafe to eat cup noodles (courtesy of Xuemin) together with Vivek and Xuemin at 9plus and used our laptops.

Cycling on eve of Memorial Day

2009-05-27T22:22:00.007+08:00

Last Sunday was my first off day since I started work on 15 May Friday, although on some of the days I only worked for a few hours. Anyway after lunch, Mingna wanted to go cycling around the island since it was her off day too. Kang Xi and I also tagged along. We managed to borrow the bicycles from 3 kind-hearted colleagues and off we went!

Air force military band performing in the open field at the end of the stretch of downtown shops
Kang Xi and I
Mingna and Mr Policeman

this structure is called the Devil's Kitchen

photo of us while on the move

another photo taken by me while on the move

the water here is so clear and beautiful

Kangxi and I beside the cannon

Kangxi and Mingna

Kangxi and I on a structure that appeared out of nowhere

After much cycling, we finally reached the foot of the Arch Rock.

Oops no climbing! We cycled along the shoreline trail
We reached back at our place at around 4pm, went to the lakeside marketplace to buy one packet of potato chips for each of the colleagues who lent us their bicycles as a token of appreciation. After washing up and dinner, we went to visit Xuemin who was on shift at the Activity Center. We spotted a volleyball so we loaned it out for an hour to play on the lawn. We managed to ask a few more fellow WAT mates to join us.

end of the good workout

Old Fashion BBQ

2009-05-25T09:25:00.004+08:00

Bistro on the Greens had a 'Old Fashion BBQ' for the whole of Saturday from 11am-8pm, meaning there was no menu for that day. It cost 15.95USD per adult and 10.95USD per child for the all-you-can-eat buffet. The food consisted of BBQ chicken, hamburger steaks, sausages, fried chicken, baked beans, corn, coleslaw, potato salad, cakes and watermelon complete with optional dressings such as onions, tomatoes and cheese.

Both Alex and I were on shift. As the lunch turnout was not as good as expected, I went for lunch at 12pm and he went at 12.30pm. We were told to take a break from 2pm and then return at 5pm for the dinner crowd. Alex and I then returned to our room to rest until 4plus, went for dinner at the cafeteria then got ready for work at 5pm.

Dinner time!

The turnout for dinner was quite good as most of the tables were occupied. Alex and I were constantly walking around refilling iced water and clearing/setting up tables. Before we knew it, it was already nearing 8pm. We began keeping all the seat cushions and prepared to close up the area. I took away some leftover food (sausages, corns) back for supper as well. We only managed to knock off at 9.30pm.

We dropped by the cafeteria for some drinks, saw the gals using laptop there so asked if they interested to eat the food. Xuemin wanted to eat so she came to our room to eat and also took the chance to complain to us about her new colleague who was transferred to the Activity Center recently. Sam came to eat some of the food too, then afterwards Vivek came after his bath to finish up the remaining food. Vivek, Xuemin, Alex and I played a few rounds of daidee before they returned to their rooms to rest for the next day.

Opening of Bistro for the season

2009-05-25T08:33:00.007+08:00

On Friday, the opening day of the Bistro on the Greens, I started work at 10am. I began with laying out the cushions and fastening them on all the seats. I went back to the Round Island Bar & Grill twice, once to take water glasses and another to take baby chairs to the Bistro. My job is to assist the servers by pouring iced water for the diners and clearing/setting up the tables after they have left. The orders will be taken and keyed in by the servers themselves. Other drinks and food will be served by them and they will collect the payment at the end as well. As business was not bad, I only got to go for lunch at 1.30pm when there were lesser occupied tables. The 18-hole executive putting course was opened for business as well and many people gave a shot at the golf course.

After knocking off at 6pm (kitchen closed at 5pm only for that day), bumped onto Mingna and Alex outside the cafeteria. They were so nice to wait for me to finish my dinner then the 3 of us went down to the lawn to relax a while.

That's me on the armchair
Alex was feeling cold
Spotted some ducks on the lawn near the shore No prize for guessing correctly whose legs are mine
it was very bright and sunny even at 6.30pm Spotted an aircraft in the skies 1st day in my official working attire

At around 7pm we trudged back to our dorms as I went to wash up and rest for the next day.