MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Presents wrapped? Check
Cards Sent? Check

Great - now can collapse in a heap, but before that...

Merry Christmas one and all!
(and something I pinched from Juney)

A Hokkien Christmas

A time to every purpose under heaven

I think Fabien's Grandfather's funeral was a dignified and touching ceremony. I lit the candle in front of his coffin to show that his light shines on, because (click to see the English translations): Il y a un moment pour tout et un temps pour chaque chose sous le ciel , and I'm the official transport system for his latest descendent.

You see, this I suppose is a good time to make the

Official Online Announcement

we are going to have a baby next year- no kidding...

Here is Sohni's lovely announcement for us (click to enlarge):

Empowered or Deluded?

I was just reading this extract from the NY times on women who choose to give up promising careers to stay at home with their families. I wonder whether it is empowered or deluded?

If you are interested, this is what the Becker-Posner Blog has to say about it. The subject has been discused in quite some detail, so I won't go into the economic and social arguments here. Just limiting myself to my own personal experience, my thoughts are these:

I wonder whether I am it's a great thing that my husband's career is interesting and provides for many oppourtunities for international travel, or that it is all terribly incompatible with my own land-locked career?

I work for much less money now than when I was a lawyer. But on the other hand I've ticked a lot more things on my "Life's to-do List" this year than I ever could have done working in a law firm, such as:
1) taken a crash course in economics (yep I finally understand Lagrangian multipliers!)
2) learned to make passable deserts (something which always confounded me)
2) speak enough Italian to kind of survive
3) Finished reading my French Lit books (which were otherwise gathering dust on the shelf)

The List of other things which I want to get around to doing whilst in Turin are:
1) get a driving licence (this is actually quite hard to do in Italian!!)
2) learn more about photography, art and art history
3) read more about Corp Fin, Econs and Sustainable Development (eclectic I know, but considering a career switch to microfinancing and development work)

Of course, I do wonder whether I could have done all those things whilst working as an in-house lawyer... I actually think it was possible, because I left work at 5pm almost everyday, but would have taken longer... However I think there is no need to torture myself with a whole bunch of "what ifs" and "maybes".

The point is, I've put my career temporarily on hold because this was the state of affairs Fabien and I agreed on for now. However, just as I look forward to starting full time work again (although I am not sure if I necessarily wish to go back to law) I also have learnt to enjoy the increased flexibility and the fulfilment with working free-lance light-weight academic - as opposed to my "heavy weight" academic friends who actually make a career out of university education.

Merry Merry Christmas and Peace and Goodwill to all!

Surprise party for ME!!!

My husband could have a mistress outside and I really wouldn't have had a clue... Who knows what he does behind my back? In this case - a truly truly wonderful gesture...

I thought he had organised this party for my birthday last week which had to be cancelled because of his grandfather's funeral. So we had dinner in Geneva instead. What I didn't know was that it was not cancelled -- only postponed to yesterday night!!

So... All our friends from Torino appeared at dinner bearing presents and food - it was really sweet of them!

UN ideals

I managed to get a UN security guard to stand still long enough for me to take a photo of his badge.

I am a fan of the UN actually (*blush*). I actually think that Silvia Broome, is a believable character. Hey, if I spoke several languages (including a fictious one) and looked like Nicole Kidman, it might as well have been me... Actually, I do believe in a lot of things the UN stands for and what it tries to accomplish. Okay, there are alot of things wrong with the system, and it does drive me nuts some days.

This is what Mike Moore, former Director General of the World Trade Organisation says about the UN which I think is pretty accurate (emphasis mine):

I still get irritated by political leaders who attack the U.N. system, demand the U.N. do something, then deny the U.N. the resources, the mandate, and a coherent management system to do the job. It’s obscene when leaders attack the U.N. because peace-keepers stood idle while genocide was committed. They were instructed not to interfere. The U.N. can only do what Governments allow it to do. And that’s how it should be. The U.N. is not a world government. Those of us who believe in the system must be at the forefront of reforms to re-invigorate its structure and mandate, otherwise those who don’t trust multilateralism will win by continuing to undermine by preventing the reform that it needs.

In times of sadness and rejoicing

French funerals are generally pretty dignified. There isn't much overtly violent emotion and people just kinda sniff quietly in the pew. Maybe it was because Fab's grandfather was a pretty dignified kinda guy.

In the bright winter sunshine, we went from the church to the cemetary for Bon-Papa's burial in the family grave. The part where I started to cry was to see Bon-Papa's youngest brother (he is 90 plus years old!) come in his wheelchair say his last goodbye to his brother. He is the last sibling still alive.

What made the day a strangely emotionally charged was because immediately after the funeral, we had a lunch reception in Bon-Papa's house in Mons, and then on the same night, we had (on the other side of the family) Ingrid's Profession of Faith dinner reception. As we are in fairly strongly Catholic North France, religious milestones are also big family events.

So we attended this big celebration for Ingrid. These are some of the photos of the family who attended the happy event.

Ingrid is Fabien's youngest cousin, and the "bridge" between their grandmother's grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As Ingrid is only a few years older than the first great grand-child, she is of course, by far the most popular baby-sitter of the family! So you will see lots of the little ones running around too.

Happy Birthday!!

I am 28 years old on this day. My brother Shaun is 24 years old - Yup we share it...

I am sure my parents planned it like this so that we only get ONE joint birthday AND christmas present for 2 children ... (sneaky Singaporeans huh?)

Happy Birthday anyways Shaun.

I don't think we celebrate birthdays very much in my family, but Fab's family likes to make a bit of an occasion of it. Unfortunately with the death of Bon-papa, it was not possible to do anything too grand (and we were leaving for Geneva) so we had birthday breakfast for me in Armentieres.

What was a little logistics nightmare, was that Fabien had organised a little surprise party for me, with our friends, at home in Turin, but had to cancel everything at the last minute because we had to drive back to France - Thank you sweetie - it was the thought that counts.

Akan Datang!

(which is Malay for "coming soon")

Will soon post a little more about
1) the Funeral of Bon-Papa and our thoughts
2 Geneva and meeting my Trade Law friends

PS - thank you especially to Joan, Jean Nie and other unamed friends for sending your happy birthday wishes - it is very sweet of you...

In Passing

We just recieved news that Fabien's paternal grandfather just passed away yesterday.

We will go to his funeral this week, so I won't be blogging for a bit.

In a way, I think this is not a bad way to go. He was 100 years old, his 3 sons grew up healthy, he saw his grandchildren grow up. He was in full possession of his mental faculties (albeit with a little hearing and eyesight loss) but he was active and lived a full and healthy life, generous and giving. When I first met him 4 years ago, he was curious about Singapore, gentle and charming.

We just spoke to him on the phone last week, and he was happy to hear from us in Turin. He dropped down and died whilst pottering in his own home, so there was no question of ever being painfully ill or having to suffer any kind of degenerative disease.

I think this funeral is to say goodbye to someone who lived a full and happy life which we should celebrate, and try to emulate.

okay, gotta go and pack now - but see you here again next week. We will leave tommorrow morning and drive up to Lille (stopping over in either Reims or Troyes), and directly to Geneva on Monday because Fabien has a meeting there.

See you here next week.