It's almost like a weekly update, but I've now arrived in Zagreb. Had a few bookings to do to make sure I have a bed along the coast of Croatia and hence will most likely just head out to town for an afternoon stroll around lower or upper town as I'll need to wake up REALLY early tomorrow morning (try like 3 am). 

Train from Prague to Bratislava was uneventful, which was good and it's a short train ride. When I got to Bratislava, had to ask around a bit for the tram ticket office and luckily I got there like 10 mins before they closed! On the walk to the hostel, I'd have to say that Bratislava is a rather old town. The street I walked down to the hostel had like graffiti all along the walls and just looked scummy!

Didn't have a nice time checking in as it was really busy at the bar and there was only 1 staff manning the bar and reception and hence, she had to serve all the bar guests first so it took forever. Then, when I went up to my room - the ppl in there were so messy that there were clothes all along the floor and I couldn't figure out which was a clean bed :( so I had to trod back down to reception and she came back up with me to help me find my bed. It seems like someone had moved the sheets on my bed so I couldn't tell if it was clean or not. That night - of all nights - felt very lonely :(

Next morning - woke up for the walking tour and learned about the history of Bratislava. After the tour, I bought some food along the way and visited the Devin Castle (which was ruins) and also the Bratislava Castle (though it was closed). I also trodded up the hill to see the Slavin memorial and got some goo view of Bratislava so here they are 

Here are some pictures from Devin Castle / Bratislava Castle and Slavin Memorial 

and finally dinner - is Dumplings with melted Sheep's cheese - only available in Slovakia - with a Slovak beer of course :)

 (didn't manage to get these pictures up cuz Xanga is playing up a bit... but you should be able to see them in my FB albums)

Need to head out now, will do Budapest on another post cuz too many photos!!

1/1/11....1:11AM... erm... I was most likely scrubbing the carpet in the Cheung living room or maybe using my calculator to figure out the cost for New Year's dinner.. just wondered what I was actually doing in that numerically unique point in time.

As I'm finally now back in my flat, showered and back in my jammies, I pondered the day while cleaning the remaining dishes from dinner. Last night and today was probably the most relaxing days I've had in a LONG time. I know that most people will probably think I'm weird for blogging about this, but I think sometimes I'm just become so immersed in my job that I've forgotten how to enjoy life. I must say - leading up to New Year's Eve - it was actually slightly stressful. All we knew was we had the Cheung house for our party, which is in Livi, majority of us will be going from Edi and we have but one car - 5 seats... Hmmm. Trying to coordinate food, drinks and rides with not a lot of responses was slightly stressful as usual as if you know me - I don't like things left "unplanned". The "play it by ear", especially for parties and other group events, rarely show up in my organisational dictionary. But finally, the New Year's Eve arrived and though, lots of things didn't go as planned (i.e. plastic jello shot glasses were SOLD OUT - who knew! and we were way behind schedule at arriving at the Cheung house, which meant that cut into my "detox Cheung Mansion" time), I had a very enjoyable time. 

Though at first it looked like we didn't have enough food, it ended up everyone was fed. When it seemed like we didn't have enough drinks, those who wanted a drink got one. Never had I ever been able to stay up from 10am to 630am the next morning feeling energetic for majority of the night playing games (YEAH Dance Central!!! hehe). Snoozing when I felt like it was also good and then when I got up, all I had to do was pull myself up to a couch, curl up and then watch Step Up 2 surrounded by my friends. Breakfast included Nachos with cheese and beef, potato and leek soup, re-heat pasta and potato wedges (breakfast of champions - I know!).. then I reverted to my position on the couch to watch more Friends Season 10. I think it's the first time in a while where I've laid there and just done nothing and NOT beat myself up for "wasting a day" so to say. 

Long story short - it was a very very enjoyable break and thanks so much to Cheungs for opening up the house to all of us. Thank you to all my wonderful friends for the good times, games and banter, you've made my new year's simply wonderful. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful brothers and sisters. Thank you God for my totally awesome "extended" family. 2011 has gone off with a good start. 

So often we have so many things going on in our heads that we say we’d sort out when we have time – chances are, some other things, usually more immediate things, take over and those thoughts just slip to the back of our minds. It’s only when we finally realise – WAIT – these ARE things we need to think about and I NEED to set a time to think about them – that we need to make a conscious effort to ensure we address these issues.

For me – it took giving up going to a wedding, shutting off all communications with the world and finally drawing the line between what time is mine and what time is work’s. In these 2 days, I realised that in order for me to have time with God – I need to make a conscious effort to MAKE time for God – it doesn’t just come. Some magical space doesn’t just open up in my diary where I’ll look at it and go – Yay – I can “pencil” God in. Chances are when a slot does become free – it’ll probably get filled with something else because we all have a busy agenda.

On Work

 As some of you may know, I pretty much constantly struggle with work – struggle with when to “shut off” work is more the problem. And to my surprise – of my list of macro issues to ponder (if you’ve studied Economics, you’ll know that I’ve referring to the BIG issues, usually something which takes more than just one “to-do” to resolve), work was the first one I came to a realisation on. With some deadlines looming at work (i.e. client accounts to be signed and results to be released) we have the wonderful task of ensuring note disclosures are reasonable. Given that I’ve actually be off this client for a week now (and managing yet another “mahoosive” (thank you Sarah for this wonderful term)), I pretty much spend 9-6 managing my current client and then use my remaining brain power to tie in all these notes. This process usually involves you talking to the client to get supporting backup; hence, me working on these past 6 every night is probably not the most efficient. Either way – at the end of last week, there were still support O/S, as a last ditch effort, I went in on Sat Morning (my first Saturday of the season! Not a reason to celebrate) to tie in everything I could and send out emails to the client – thinking that I’d just check up on this on Monday (my day off) to ensure everything was a OK. BAD IDEA. I ended up spending about 1-2 on my emails and then went into the office for another 2 hours as what I needed was on my work laptop (which I’d already conveniently left AT WORK).  Whatever drove me to do it – I think it’s cuz I think it NEEDED to be done, but to be brutally honest, will the audit world stop because I’m on holiday? NO. Do I get any extra perks for coming in on my holiday? NOPE.  Maybe more comfort for the Managers and ultimately the client that their accounts are ok, FAB for them, but for me – that’s one CRAP day off. I’m glad that while I sometimes need a wake up call to finally “get it”, it usually doesn’t take much of a “slap in the face” for me to get it. I GET IT. If you don’t draw the line for work – no one will draw it for you, and that’s the hard truth.

On Love

On this one, I think that I probably started off in the right direction, but then I decided to take a short cut on the road as I saw everyone else “passing me”… I guess I’ve finally hit the age range that all single people hate – when all your friends are getting married!! Don’t get me wrong, I love weddings, but I’d like it more if it was MY wedding! In 1 year, 4 of my friends have gotten engaged and all the girls that I used to work with got engaged and married (at one time or another throughout the year) and that probably totals up to around 5 as well. So seeing that all these people have found their “one and only”, my mind starts to ponder – where’s MINE? I started to ask different people for opinions and even gone as far as identifying “potentials”, but yet – in all of this, it just didn’t feel right at all… why am I trying to hard and yet nothing ever results? I think that it’s because of this nagging feeling that made me realise that YES – I have been trying to take matters in my own hands, rather than placing trust in God. And so – my new plan of action, you can say it’s doing something or doing nothing at all, is simply to keep my eyes on God. Our great God parted the Red Sea, turned water into wine and fed 5000 people with 2 fishies and 5 loaves of bread – seriously – is putting 2 people who are right for each other together REALLY that hard for Him? Nah…. I shall wait upon the Lord 

On God – or rather on Life

Finally, the last macro issue – what does God want me to do?

A day is as long or as short as God wants it to be. Some days I get through everything I need to do and I feel like a machine!! Some days, no matter how fast I work, I can never seem to catch up with the rate at which my O/S list grows! My mom always tells me “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” ~ Matthew 6:34. This is always easier said then done – I guess how I understand this time around is slightly different. I always thought that to accomplish something is when your “to-do” list is finally empty – all items crossed off, and I’ve come to the realisation that when that actually happens – I’ll be really asking “now what?!” Life is a journey and there’ll always be things to do – that’s the fact of life, but how you complete it all is a matter of priority. I see the task now as – how can I live my life – continue to do what I need to (i.e. cross off things on my “to-do” list), but do it joyfully and with confidence that God is with me every step along the way. I think that recognising this is important because then it won’t feel like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m grateful that I’ve had 1.5 days (minus 0.5 I spent at work!) to clear my head and spend time with God and allow Him to guide me through these issues. I think that as part of my daily routine – I really need to consciously make time for God – otherwise, I’ll just end up in this position again, where I need to spend 2 days pondering over things which have been bothering me for months! Finally, a bible verse came to mind and in searching for another bible verse, I actually found it. Usually, emphasis is on the first section, but here I’d like to highlight the second half - “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

I don’t know about you – but I find that to be pretty good assurance from God.

Have you had some “God” time lately? Are you making a conscious effort to allow God to be a part of your life – not only on Sundays – but everyday?