Hopping mad

Since we brought a car sometime back, "The One" had to bring the car to a car inspection as required and appointed by the car insurance company. We made a call to the company and made the appointment with the lady for a Sunday morning inspection. I remember that "The One" even repeat like 3 times the date and time of the appointment before we hang up the phone.

On the day of the appointment, we got up early to get ready and when we arrive at the place, the lady who answered the door looked so surprised when we told her we had this appointment at this time. She said, "oh no, we don't do appointment on Sundays" We told her who we spoke to (apparently it is HER! whom "The One" spoke to), no matter what we say, she kept insisting, "We don't do testing on Sundays, only if the weather is bad and we had to do it". I am thinking to myself, "HELLO, this is not BAD weather then what is?? People have to make the effort to come in this COLD to make that trip to your place and INSPITE of the fact that we MADE AN APPOINTMENT, to be turned away!" I really feel like strangling her on the spot (usually I'm not violent, trust me). "The One" and I knew we just cant win on this one. We made another appointment and left. Fuming, Fuming, Fuming...

What will you have done?

Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Photo courtesy from http://www.iacmusic.com

Winter driving in Canada

Since it is still the Chinese lunar New Year (for CNY, this festival is celebrated over 15 days), yesterday (chu ba), "The One" and I went to visit his cousin and this is the first Winter drive on the Highway that "The One" is doing since he came to Canada.

It is definitely a new experience for me, especially driving in the snow, we were moving at around 40-60kmph since everyone is very cautious especially during these times, accidents rate goes up. As the temperature drops in the night, the road freezes and in Canada, they do get 'black ice' (Black ice is dangerous as the road can get very slippery and can cause the car to skid if the driver is driving too fast). Along the way back home, even our wipers were frozen with ice and didn't do a proper job of clearing the flurries on the windscreen. Twice, "The One" and I had to stop (once in a parking area, the other time in a petrol station), get out and remove the ice that formed on the wiper.

Driving has never been a big hazard back home since the only weathers we experienced are sunshine and rain..I did learn quite a bit about Winter driving here, different tires..winter tires (which gives a better grab on the road as compared to All season tires), using anti freezant for your windscreen (so that the flurries will not form ice on them), having a ice scraper and brush in the car is definitely a must too (since the side mirror can have a layer of ice frozen on it, need to scrap that off and that brush to brush off the flurries that gathers on the car when you parked the car in the open) and cars here in Canada, they always have their headlights on, even if its the daytime! Aiyoyo so many things to learn about driving and of course driving very very cautiously on the road is another big driving skill test that needed to be learnt if you live in the 2nd coldest country in the world!

So till the time I can drive, I'm going to enjoy being the passenger while leaving this very 'TOUGH' job to "The One" ;P

Cheerios and Keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Photo courtesy from http://baheyeldin.com

Happy Birthday everyone! (Ren Ri)

Today is the 7th day of the lunar Chinese new year (Chu qi), which is also known as "Ren Ri" which means "Everyone's birthday"

Back home in Singapore (if I'm not wrong in Malaysia too), family and friends will celebrate with a feast of "Yu Sheng" also known as "Lou Hei". Its a dish of pickled ginger, shredded vegetables, lime, raw fish (the main star ingredient as raw fish is 'sheng yu ' in chinese), raw cuttlefish, sometimes there's spicy crackers as well and some sauces. This 'Yu Sheng" dish is to ensure prosperity and good fortune. Everyone will use their chopsticks to mix and toss the ingredients as high as they can while saying all the auspicious words like 'pu pu gao sheng, xin xiang shi cheng, long ma jing shen, nian nian you yu' etc etc. The higher you can toss, the greater the prosperity you will enjoy throughout the year. I always enjoy the fun of mixing especially the tossing and making a mess on the tables! oh and not forgetting who gets to find the first slice of "yu sheng" hahahaha...

Wishing everyone Happy Ren Ri!

Cheerios and keep smiling,
With love from PoohBear

Picture courtesy from: http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my

Canada- obsessive with Environmental issue?

it seems that these days, the politicians in Canada are all obsessed with the Environmental issue...Almost anything that you hear on the political news, you can hear green air act, Kyoto, global warming etc etc. The political parties, the Conservatives, the Liberals..all they do is argue about how much environmental this, environmental that, that they want Canada to do. It does make me wonder, ain't there other issues just as pressing as the environment? Although I do have to applause Canadian for their passion and drive in recycling and educating the young ones on recycling and taking care of their world.

However, other than the environment, what about the health care issues, education issues, immigration employment issues..these are issues that are very close to the heart of the very PEOPLE who make up Canada! How can a country function well without first taking care of its PEOPLE?

It has been so ironical hearing about how Canada is one of the best country in the world to live in, but when you are actually here, you can hear how much dissatisfaction and anger these people felt especially the immigrants (and if you do search through the WHOLE forum, I believe none of these immigrants mention anything with regards to the environment and the work the government did in this area)

Check out one of the forum about views on migrating to Canada: http://www.canadaimmigrants.com/forum.asp

If a government is remembered only for being successful in one issue yet failed in nine others...that's a sad situation, isn't it?