10-year Recapitulation

In accordance with the 10th anniversary of the HKSAR establishment day, the mass media have made recap of the historical events that happenned in HK for the past 10 years.

This seems to have inspired many people, from all walks of life, to make their own 10-year recapitulation. It's indeed very interesting to get to know what other people have done or achieved in the past 10 years time. So, I want to write my own recapitulation too. It's no big deal actually, I just blog it for fun.

Oct, 1996

* Quit the last job in Penang and fly to HK to meet up with KS. Before he left, we went to register ourself as husband and wife in a hurry and non-romantic way.

* A few weeks after I arrived HK, I was lucky enough to find myself the 1st job in a local company.

* Basically this year was a very exciting and challeging year to me. Everything was so new that I have to learn and move on very fast in order to survive in the brand new environment.

1997-mid 1999

I would define these 2.5 years as play years.

*Besides working hard, we were also playing hard. In this period of time, KS and I have been to Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Canadian Rocky Mountains, LA, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Germany, Paris, Rome, Venice, Switzerland, Adelaide, Melbourne, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand south island.

* The ex-boss was very kind and generous to approve my frequest leave application.

Mid 1999

* Left the 1st company to join the 2nd company. Looking back, it's the climax in my career path.

* As I need to stay considerable amount of time in China mainland for working, I have no time to play. Even the business trip to Japan and Korea was not fun at all.

* Anyway, we managed to usher and count down for the new millennium year, watching the spectacular fireworks display along Thames River, London. The moment was indeed unforgetable.

2000

* After registered for about 4 years, KS and I finally held a traditional wedding ceremony in Malaysia.

* Soon after that, I was pregnant. Before my belly was getting real big and unfit for travelling, we went to Norway for a vacation. The heavy workload and the pregnancy had made this year a very stressful year to me.

2001

* Given birth to Vincent in January.

* Going back to work after the 10-week materinity leave. I was shocked to hear the company's financial condition was deteriorating fast. A month later, I was laid off. The company declared its bankruptcy not long later.

* Not knowing what's going to happen ahead, we went to South Africa - Johannesberg and Cape Town for a holiday, leaving Vincent under the custody of his grandparents for a month.

* I started to feel the impact of the worldwide economy downfall on me. It's difficult to look for another job that was equivalent to my last entitlement and salary. I was unemployed for 8 months but a full time mom to Vincent.

* Same year, the horrible 911 incident happened. This almost cause KS retrenched by his company. Since we were yet PR, if both of us unemployed that time, we could only stay HK until our visa expired in the next year.

* This year was really a tough one for me.

2002

* After being unemployed for 8 months, finally I got a job offer in another company. We went to Bangkok for a short vacation before starting work.

* This time, I work in the different field, same industry. I sort of have to start things all over again. Anyway, the new job had given me the time-flexibility that I needed most to take care of my baby son.

* Same year, we bought our 1st home in HK. It is a small apartment but our home sweet home until today.

2003

* At the beginning of the year, a mysterious disease, SARS, swept HK fast and fierce. As it was a contagiuos disease, we tend to avoid unnecessary outing. And when we had to, we wore face mask.

* Same like 911 incident, KS's company was doing real bad that they were forced to take 2 months no-paid leave. The worries of getting retrench was once again haunted us.

* While KS was idle, we went to Australia Gold Coast for a holiday. Under the tense and fear atmosphere, I was pregnant again and given birth the 2nd son same year at Decemeber. People described them as SARS Babies.

* At last, we were granted PR and can stay as long as we want.

2004-2005

* Life was getting very busy ever since the arrival of the 2nd baby to the family. In fact, I didn't quite remember how I spent those years besides working hard and wishing William would be growing up faster.

* At some point at the time, I did think of leaving HK and go back to Malaysia. I was naively hoping to off load the heavy responsibilities on my shoulder to my parents.

* Before the year of 2005 ended, I flied to Shanghai-SuZhou alone, for a short vacation and visited an old friend there. In summary, nothing bad happenned in that period of time. And I started to cherish the importance of world peace.

2006-till now

* Gradually, life reach its stability and consistancy as the boys are getting bigger. Athough still feeling stressful and tension, it's in a more manageable way.

* We started to take them for short distance vacation. Last summer holiday, we went to Singapore, JB and Sibu Island.

Lastly, I want to thank KS for his contribution and support all these years. Without him, I won't be who I am right now.