29th September, 2006

Didn't go to work for the past 2 days... Still feeling feverish and having headaches. Temperatures fluctuating between 36.6C to 37.8C within a day... :(

This is oredi too much for me to take and I still have to be taken aback by a shocking news: my fren fell off from the horse while she was learning horse riding yesterday. Temporary memory loss and couldn't remember who I was...Couldn't really rest well last night. Luckily she got better today and could still recognised me and recalled that I was sick.

Talked to my parents over Skype and they saw the state I was in, and also for the past 2 months - they want me back to S'pore. They knew that my heart cannot take all these, especially when the weather is turning cold here... "Compensation we can settle it slowly. Money doesn't matter to us. We just want you back healthily... ok?"

27th September, 2006

Felt slightly better after 2 days of medication but head was heavy today.. Just before lunch, Shufen and Kaiyan said that i might be running a fever as they felt that i was hotter than them. Made an appointment to see the nurse again... Took my temperature - 99.4F. SLIGHT fever she said (after that i went home to check, it's actually only 37C leh... fever meh?) She then arranged for me to see the NURSE PRACTITIONER (ie, juz a level lower than doctor.. comparable)

She walked into the room, asked abt signs and symptoms according to a questionnaire-type of sheet. Then use the stethoscope to listen to my breathing, use a light to check my eyes, ears and nose. "Nothing much I can do except to let your immune system fight the virus out (if it's viral infection) and give you some medicine for your cough and a nasal spray for your nose block. And friends... just this few sentences alone cost me USD 55!!! My friends offered to buy the medicine for me after they sent me home.

Was taken aback after i came out from my bath.... My friends had bought my medicine for me and the total cost of the medication was USD86.72!!! (Anybody wanna buy 4D?!?!) Just the nasal spray cost me USD69!!! *pengz*

Besides the nasal spray, the other 2 are OTC (Over The Counter)... I have to read the instructions myself on how much to take a day... And NO medication was given for my fever!!! took my own Panadol together with these medication.. And that sickening nasal spray that cost me USD69.. the more I look at it, aarrrggghhhhh!!!

25th September, 2006

Last Friday - slight sorethroat
Last Saturday - cold, felt feverish, irritated throat
Yesterday - runny nose, cold

Took a flu tablet before i slept last nite and i woke up with such a DRY nose and throat. Coughed phlegm out - yellowish with a bit of blood (gross i know... kekeke...:p) Went back to company to make an appointment to see the NURSE at the company's medical centre that is just 2 min-drive away. Earliest slot is 1010am.... *yawnzzz........*

The nurse took my temperature after hearing my signs and symptoms - 98F. No fever she said. Then she checked my ears - there's liquid behind my ears. Conclusion - Congestion. Gave me de-congestants as well as something like Panadol i guess...

I then went home to rest for the day....Hmm....... hopefully I get better tomorrow :/

And oh yah, I got my nametag for my lapcoat:

23rd September, 2006

It's the 1st day of Fall today in New Hampshire!!!

But I'm sick... :<

Really cham to fall sick when u are so far away from home... ...

Sob Sob...

22nd September, 2006

Thanks to Shufen, I gotta visit an American house today. Her supervisor, Katie, threw a summer cook-out session on the last day of summer. Her house was just about 8 minutes away from our place After we knocked off from work, we drove to her place and reached at about 6pm. The other gals from QA dept were already there.

May looked a bit eerie at night but the house is REALLY beautiful

The house has 2 storeys and a basement. The master bedroom is on the 1st floor and it has an air-bath spa in its bathroom! Wow... The living room is rather spacious and the kitchen is well-equipped - with a big fridge, oven, dish-washer and a bar top. On the 2nd floor, there are 2 guest rooms - one is a gal room and the other is a guy room. They are done up cosily to welcome any guests that may pay Katie a visit.

Besides the 2 guest rooms, there is also an office where Katie's husband -Timmy worked. Then comes my favourite room of the house (besides the master bedroom :p) - the POOL room! Katie and husband have bought a pool table and a dart board for friends to enjoy when they come. There is a plasma tv on the wall, a lazy boy (comfortable one-seater couch with mug-seater armrest), one couch and a mini fridge. Next we proceeded to the basement. There is a room where she cut her hair in and guess what we found there...

Her name is Tarsha... I've always been afraid of doggies, especially my panda's jack russell *_*" But this dog is tame and obedient and it weighs 84 pounds! When winter comes, it becomes a sledge (or sleigh huh?) dog. It can pull you down a snowy slope !!! Katie then brought us to her gym room... Wow, she has a stepper, threadmill, weights, exercise ball etc... (As seen in the pic above..) She has a tv there for entertainment and we noticed this on the wall...

Can anyone guess what this is? Clue: It can be found on the wall of every room. Not heater, not air con, not intercom.... It's a RADIO. Hahaha.... How cool is that!!! Now time to introduce the owners of this fantastic house, who have been married for 16 years!!!

Shufen, Katie and husband - Timmy and ME :)

Now time to mention about the food for the night. Katie prepared 3 cooler boxes of beers and drinks. We have Corona (my fav!!!), Smirnoff, Sam Adam, Magaritas etc... Americans can really drink and ALL know how to drink, be it men or women. Then there was broccoli salad, crab salad, BBQ chicken, beef burger and fruits. ALL were delicious, trust me :p Cos all home-made.. Then dessert wise, we haf caramel tarts and chocolate eclairs AND then it was time for SMORES!!! (Tell u guys, this is what i'll bring back from US to introduce into OUR BBQ :p)

Katie broke a branch from one of the trees near her house, pared the tip a bit and put 2 marshmallows onto it for BBQ-ing.. When they turned brownish, she removed them away from the fire. She then prepared a slice of Graham biscuit place a piece of chocolate onto it, and sandwich the marshmallows with another piece of Graham... It was HEAVENLY... though sweet.

We left her place after some boozing and chatting... And throughout the night, snapshots were taken...

See the 'tub' behind? It's an open-air HOT TUB!!! We will come back during winter for it :p

17th September, 2006

Rochester has its annual fair for the whole of this week - It's 131st!! USD8 got us into the fairfield and we started our FIRST fair adventure in New Hampshire :p

The weather was ideal for the day's activities. Firstly, we embarked on our get-to-know the animals programme :p All animals shown below were fenced up and kids were allowed into the areas to interact with the animals. Some of these animals were also available for sale.

Oink Oink

this animal is kept as pet and makes a VERY sweet sound, that reminds me of my panda :p

Meh~~ Meh~~

Moo... Moo...

Cuckoo-koo-koo

After the 'animal shows', we made our way to the food stalls for a walk. Similar stuff were sold every alternate stalls. Sausages, french fries, pizzas, sundaes, fried dough, apple caramel, candy floss etc The gals were eager to try out the fried dough. But to me, it juz taste like hum chim peng :p

Vega and the fried dough

There is a contest where people bring their dogs here to compete how well-trained they are, how well do they follow their owner's instructions. As we moved on, we felt as though we were in the zoo...

We have camels and giraffes!!!

zebra

Besides the above, there were reptiles, monkeys, rabbits, peacocks etc... After all the animals, there came the games...

We took a short break, had some food before we proceeded to Circus Hollywood...

Quite an enjoyable time spent at the fair... Another one will be coming up next next week and dun think would be going since it's gonna be something similar... Gonna find some othe activities to do cos Fall is coming... ... *blink blink*

16th September, 2006

Finally found the time to do up my wall, with the 3M paper that my panda sent me :p And this is how my room looks now... Love panda... Hahaha :p



Then it was time to set off for our activity today - Whale watching at Gloucester. Reached the destination after about an hr's drive. This is the whale centre whom we are following out to the sea today. There's an exhibition of the bone remains of a humpback. We then went to the neary Dunkin Donuts to grab a bite, before boarding the boat - Miss Cape Ann.

Off we go, out to the Atlantic

Sea wasn't very rough, and there were 23 of us, making up half of the passengers onboard :p Took quite a number of photos along the way out to the ocean....

Our shadows...

Both our other halves work in HSA and both will be coming in Dec :)

About an hour at sea, 2 of my friends cannot make it, they began to feel giddy and have to sit on the benches. Luckily i brought along medicated oil......

First sighting of whales took place after abt a 1.5hr journey to the Atlantic ocean. From afar, we could see water 'spraying' out from the blowhole.. We were all so excited!!! :)

All that we saw were humpbacks.. They appeared in pairs usually - mother and child. The captain of the boat knew exactly the names of each of the mother and baby whales (juz how did they differentiate between the diff whales when they all looked similar..) Spent almost 1.5 hrs out at Atlantic ocean, whale watching. And on our way back, came across these 2 whales that were flipping their flippers and one of them even performed a stunt!!

Wanted to put the video clip for this, but i dunno how to embed into my blog... any kind souls to teach me???