Falling Off the Blogosphere

Since the climate change negotiations started, I had kinda fallen off the face of the blogosphere.

The pace of the negotiations was exhausting, with back to back meetings from 8am till the early mornings of the next day. Weekends or rest days were as real as fairies. Sleep was a precious commodity. Proper meals were a privilege few of us knew. In their place were apples, biscuits, chocolates, and other snacks that we manage to pack in our heavy overflowing bags.

It was my first time chairing some of the negotiations and that took everything a further notch up the crazy scale.

It has been almost a week since I got back from climate change land. I have spent that time trying to recover from the madness, getting back into the rhythms of work back in Singapore and trying to settle my new home stuff which took a back seat while I was in climate change land.

Yes, these trips are disruptive to my life, they are both physically and mentally draining, and they take up way too many weekends. But I recognise that to be able to do what I do is also a privilege. Despite my frequent whingeings, I believe that in the long run, what we are able to negotiate will make a difference to the world we leave behind. I thank God for these opportunities.

I also thank God for the people He has surrounded me with at the negotiations.

Fellow co-workers who are sounding boards, sources of help and the occasional food deliveries.

Fellow co-Chairs and the secretariat who guided and supported me through my first co-Chairing stint.

Negotiators from other countries that I have worked closely with in the course of negotiations, who I can now call friends :)

Above all, I thank God for His grace and strength that sustains me through every rough time.



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Welcome to the Circus

This place is a circus. 
The stage is set.
The juggler of multiple agenda items.
The man with the shrinking stomach. 
The lion roaring from its pedestal.
The group of clowns up to various antics.
The ring master that holds the whip and keeps everyone else in order.

And the whole arena filled with the audience. 

And here, here you see the reluctant soul. 
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Day 172: The Stadium

This is my first time attending a conference at a sports stadium. 
Looks like there's gonna be lots of climbing up and down stairs and getting lost in the large venue. Because it's not a purpose built conference center, temperature control is not great either with some areas freezing and others stuffy. Let's hope we don't fall I'll.
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Day 171: Warsaw

I arrived in Warsaw yesterday and I'm all bundled up for the cold, wet and dreary winter.
On arrival, I took the opportunity before the madness begins to take a look around. 1st stop was a bazaar 2 blocks from my hotel.
I was hoping to see those big Russian flea market, unfortunatly it was just a fresh produce and clothing market. It was still lovely seeing all the fresh produce. That's the most colour I've seen in this town so far. 
Next stop was the old town which is supposed to be the main touristy area. There weren't many people around though. 
The buildings here were all rebuilt after it was flattened in the war. What I loved was how the facades of each unit was decorated so uniquely and ornately. 
While I was wandering around the old town, I was summoned to attend a meeting, so I had to rush back and I had to figure out the public transport system. Thank God for helpful people around. 




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Off to Climate Change Land

I'm off on my annual end of year pilgrimage to climate change land- a surreal place where people make "short" interventions that last 20minutes, where a normal work day starts at 8am and ends at 10pm if you are lucky, where a comma  instead of a semicolon could cost you a night's sleep, where thousands a people are cooped up together for 17 days straight to talk about one subject only, and where hopefully *fingers crossed* what we agree on makes a difference to our children's lives. 
To those who will be there too, let's just agree to make the next few days as painless as possible :)
As I sit here waiting for my 1.20am flight and getting my feet massaged by the pain machine, I figured now is a good time to catch up on the outfit posts I have missed along the way. 
In one of my $2 dresses fr Bangkok 
In colorful hand me downs :)

See you all when I get back! In the mean time, any prayers for my survival is appreciated. 



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New Combinations

I'm down to trying out new combinations of my clothes for the different outfit everyday challenge. 

I've never thought of wearing this sleeveless shirt up cycled from my dad's old shirt to work before as I thought it was too rugged and casual but it seems paired with a work pencil skirt it turned out quite well. 

And I always thought it was so hard to match this skirt with the stuff in my wardrobe as it is so refined and dainty, but tucking my oversized jersey top in and pulling them together with the wide leather waist belt seems to somehow work. 

Just gotta make it work right?
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Days 165 and 166: Wedding Season

Wedding season is upon us! in just November and December alone, I have been invited to attend 7 weddings!!!! The first two were over the weekend.

I really enjoy weddings as they always exude so much love, joy and beauty. From the effort put in by loved ones to making the day special like the lovely decorations and dessert table at Geoff and Ame's church wedding,
To the bringing together of old friends in celebration.
p.s. did I mention I love wedding photo booths? :)
So happy for all of you! Too bad I didn't get pics with the couples. 

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Day 167: Brrrrr

At 1am on Friday, I will be flying off to spend 2.5 weeks in a land of 0-5 degree Celsius temperatures and about 5 hours of sunlight. And it seems the Singapore weather and office air-con is conspiring together to help me prepare for it.

Hence, my outfit for Monday was this:

A big warm wooly brown coat donated by my colleague upon hearing that I was freezing. My other colleague called it a bathrobe.
Clearly my office does not have a strict dress code. 
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Day 164: Reno Diaries

The new Kwek Kampong is shaping up. In the week ahead, the kitchen cabinet surface, lights and plumbing should be fitted and the main Reno works will be complete. Then all that will be left is to settle our doors (I can't believe how incredibly difficult it is to get the doors we want), and window coverings. 

So we have been going down to the flat during lunch times to meet the renovations people and making sure they get the work done properly. The new Kwek Kampong is actually being done up very simply- but it seems contractors don't know how to do simple nowadays and quality of work is really not great. What I cant comprehend is why they can't just get work done properly without us going down constantly, and having to make a fuss just so they do their job. Sigh. 

After another trip down and having to make another fuss to insist that my kitchen cabinet be done decently, (seriously, the basic requirement would be for the drawers to close properly right?!), I decided to buy some drinks for the workers so they don't burn down my house. 

I'm so glad renovations are going to be done soon. On the bright side, we are discovering that there's lots of wonderful food around our new place. So excited to try them all. 
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Day 163: Blooms

I'm not a fresh flower bouquet kind of girl.
I always thought fresh flowers were wasteful as they would wither too quickly and you would have to throw them away. I remember telling Mr Kwek not to buy me fresh flowers for valentines day and even said I didn't want flowers at my wedding (my wedding decor team pulled it off amazingly well).
But even I almost became a convert when we made a visit to the nurseries along Thompson Road.
Apart from the usual potted plants, there were several large cold rooms brimming with blooms of every size and colour. 
There were rooms for flowers from different seasons and there were rows and rows of buckets stuffed with bundles of beautiful flowers. 
They even had cotton blooms and lavender, and psychedelic roses!
:)
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Day 156: Friends from the Awkward Years

Secondary school is when you make friends that will stick around. You saw each other everyday through the most awkward 4years of your life: puberty. Braces, acne, disastrous hairstyles, and other more embarrassing times forever etched in your collective memories.  Such friends are gold (in our case, we are jade and gold) :)
Such friends are also worth traveling across the island to have crab with. 
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