Sunday, March 18, 2007

Shanle's First Body Flip

Shanle is 5 months old today and he did his first flip onto his belly! Here's a video to share...

Friday, March 16, 2007

Promotion - A Career Booster

The promotion list was out today and I am one of those who will be promoted on 1 Apr 07. This is my third since I joined MFA on 14 Feb 00. The promotion came kind of earlier than expected. My previous two promotions were in 2002 and 2004. I thought I would have to wait for another year as promotion in the civil service normally gets slower as one progresses up the rank. Fortunately, I will not have to wait for another year.

This promotion is a significant one for my career in MFA. I will now be posted overseas as a second secretary instead of third secretary. Besides marginal increase in benefits, the number of posts I am eligible for will also increase. This may translate into actual postings which I have been looking forward since I returned from Taipei last year. Hope I do not have to wait too long for my next posting. Cheers!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

台灣云遊記 - 前言

撰寫一部‘台灣云遊記’是我設立部落格以來心中所籌劃的工程之一。台灣可以算是我第二個家. 畢竟, 我在台北度過了我將近六年的青年時光。

1998年2月22日是我第一次乘坐飛機出國﹐目的地就是台北。那時候我正在服兵役﹐是被外派到台北的訓練總部去當一名小小的財務書記。在那次駐外台灣﹐處了台北, 我也走遍了台灣中南部﹐包括新竹﹐雲林﹐嘉義﹐高雄還有恆春半島。從花蓮秀姑闌河系的澎湃急流到高臥玉山國家公園欣賞百年一度的獅子座流星雨﹐都讓我刻苦銘心,永不忘懷。轉眼瞬間﹐我在1999年的11月中卸任回國。那一年九個月的精彩時光讓我成熟了不少也大大增廣了我的見聞。

在我還未回國前, 我就申請加入外交部﹐希望可以在未來不遠的日子里回到台灣這塊寶島。進入外交部後﹐在貴人的力挺之下﹐我終於得以從回台灣﹐出任行政與領事助理代表。2002年6月1日﹐我再次入境台灣並在隔日走馬上任﹐展開我二度駐台﹐故地重游的生活﹐

這次台灣的日子包涵了不少曲折的故事。其中最重要的是我和我妻子奕雲相遇﹐戀愛和結婚的經過﹐接續的台灣云遊記中﹐大部分的都是我和奕雲的熱戀之玈。我帶著奕雲重游了淡水﹐野柳﹐東北角﹐阿里山﹐十份瀑布和九份。我們也一同遊覽了不少新去處﹐比如梨山﹐合歡山﹐清境農產﹐金瓜石﹐陽明山上的秘密花園﹐花蓮海洋公園﹐彰化鹿港﹐日月潭等等。每一次出遊都鞏固了我們聚少離多的脆弱戀情。我們得以排除萬難終成眷屬﹐ 台灣這塊美麗的寶島功不可末。

在這部台灣云遊記中﹐我也會加入和家人在2003年十一月遊覽東北角 蘇花公路 花蓮 太魯閣 中橫公路 清境農場 合歡山 還有奧萬大的事跡。在台灣的那些日子里﹐我結交了不少志同道合的朋友也一起遊覽了不少景點。我也會把照片及影像整理出來和大家分享。

我預計每一個月完成一篇云遊記﹐希望在2008年年尾之前把它完成。

总目录
雪山国家公园,梨山,天池
二 阳明山,擎天岗

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Babysitting - Performance Appraisal

Today is the last of the seven weekdays that I babysit my baby boy full-time. It's back to office tomorrow and Mummy takes over until 16 Mar 07. The babysitting experience has given me a good insight of the life of a homemaker. It is really a very tough job. While it's fun to do this occasionally, I cannot imagine myself babysitting and attending to all the household chores day after day for the rest of my life. By the way, cooking for the family was not even part of my short stint. Kudos to all the homemakers!

Now comes the time to appraise my babysitting performance. This is what he has to say:

Music Nournishes The Soul & Mind (Chinese Songs)......