Trip to downtown San Francisco

A grp photo of all singaporeans in the STRAT program. We are all in genentech's comfy jacket
Walgreens and the muni bus
All of us with our yummy clam chowder
On the way to fisherman wharfs


One of the steep slope in SF
At chinatown

Last weekend was a long trekking trip at downtown.
We walked from Powell stn to Chinatown-fisherman wharfs then bk to market street where powell stn is. The Chinatown is the world oldest . it has existed for 100 over years.. which is why the street is pretty dirty. we had our first Chinese food there. After chinese food, we strolled( in the end)to fisherman wharf to have clam chowder. Finally i satisfied my craving for clam chowder after i tried it at Seattle;s fisherman;s wharf. Cool!

About Genentech

what ya will see from the computer lab building
I was doing my online courses in the computer lab. Got bored of it and took out my camera to capture the fascinating view out of the building. Do ya notice small house up the hilly slope? yeah SF was once a mountainous area
My colleagues
It;s the 2nd week in South San Francisco. Alot of intensive online training and orientation.

Genentech business logo: Business for life.

Just by spending two week here, i learn that everyones who works in Genentech are so proud of being in a life-savings company. The company has their own research team to continuously create new product to save patient's life. Ive heard stories from fellow colleagues abt their friends and relatives who ;s life was dependent on genentech;s products. Rather genentech ;s product saved their life! it;s just amazing that the company is capable of doing that.
Besides, genentech has extremely good welfare and incentives which was why they were the number one US company to work in last year ( google took over this year, gene dipped to 2nd place) One fabulous facility that they have was the gym house. The gym house gives free mineral water bottle and fruits like apples/pear. Besides, there;s free salsa, cardio , palates, hip hop dance classes. The trainers at the gym house was experienced and helpful. One trainer guided me with hamstring workout since i jog alot which dominates my quads. The work out was all totally different from what i have done in sg. the equipments are all brand new.
After gym work out, it was perfect for a steam bath and sauna in the bath room.
When we ready to go, the shuttle from Marriott will pick us up from genentech.
it;s jus too comfortable .. shuttle to pick and bring us to work. Genentech is giving marriott is alot business as there;s always guest from genentech.

i guess i did the right choice to come here. Get to know ppl from diff background. Most of them are PHD or master students. The lead researchers in the lab are mostly renowned scientist in the biotech field.
The campus is located js next to the bay with hills in font. There are 40 over buildings . The campus is so big that ya needa take a shuttle to commute from one building to the other.
Ya could have a beauitful view of the highway and hills. Check out the picture below

My suite in SSF & Sightseeing tour at Down town SanFrancisco

The golden gate bridge. what made the bridge famous is that it;s made of cables and wires.

Downtown SF park
Hilltop view of SF.


My room

Arrival in San Francisco

Finally after months of anticipations, i am in San Francisco now. The weather is perfect with the scorching sun and the chilling temperature. There are alot more things to explore here but what more important is settling in.. first month we are staying in marriot residence inn with one person to a suite. Pretty cosy suite like a mini studio..there will be a company bus that pick us up from inn to the facility and bk to our inn.Complementary breakfast and dinner for the first month, subsequently we will be staying in rented apartments and going to work on our own..foresee that i could be cycling or taking a bus or driving if ive decided to get a car.

Indeed there are alot of stuffs to settle.. opening a bank a/c, get a social security no.. check out apt etc.. but well chill!
Later we are going sightseeing at downtown San Francisco.. It;s a tour organized by the Inn. Looking forward to it. I should jus take a nap first since i;m up at 3am today! Will update this blog with more photos soon!

Last two weeks in Singapore

Finally, after months of waiting, VISA application;s almost done.It; a long wait. i applied for the program in June. Accepted the offer in July. All administrative stuffs takes months to process. Thats how troublesome it is to work in US. But well.. i should not be complaining since it is a great long vacation before i start working officially after 18yrs of educations. heh..

Upcoming will be my departure to San Francisco. It;s pretty much confirmed. I will be flying off on 3rd Nov 2007. 7am flight. Flights that goes to US or Canada are always at such weird timing! So early.. although it;s a Saturday but it will be nasty for my friends to wake up so early to send me off!

Finally i could start work. feel like my brain has stagnant ever since my last exam. I look forward to work ..

Packing here and there..

Look forward to
-meeting up with friends before i ;m off to US.
-tonight ;s dinner: Xj's 26th birthday dinner
-tmr dinner with chris and kath
-sat out with mum and hui
-sun lunch with pj gang
-mon dinner with cheehong
-next fri lunch with siewsze
-next sun,mini farewell lunch with NTU peeps

My 23rd Birthday Suprise Dinner

The whole group of them. Ya notice the black bag carried by liefeng? it was suppose to be a present for me. Liefeng hopped in front of me a few times.. hoping that i will take notice of it! haha but i was a like blind lady! i only realized it till leifeng to pass it to me as he pretends that he needa go washroom and need me to look after it.. When i held on to the bag..i see some resemblances to the Karrimor bag that i wanted to get from queensway! haha .. BINGO.. it;s my present from them!

Xj teaching the guys the complicated steps of foldinf the paper rose that i;m holding on to.

Debra with me and the cake!

The fish & Co singing the birthday song . Iwas made to stand on the chair with the cap on! haha

Blackforest BIrhtday cake!

It was a great suprise birthday dinner at Fish & CO last night ! I was really touched that chris and gang all could turn up. Xj created so much suspense for the past two weeks... So it was the secret planning to get all the guys to turn up at Fish and Co .

Best present received was Xj ;s creativity juice = A Bouquet of Roses(made by xj) and a potrait of me (drawn by xj)

Model for Studio Photography course

Not the best picture taken with dear.. yet to get the nice ones from liefeng!

I was asked to wear and pose with this gold scarf. I feel wierd with the combination.BUt the instructor says .. "wait till you see the photos developed"

The typical studio layout.

The pictures were all taken in the studio by supposedly professional photographers.

I volunteered to be the model for my friend;s studio photography course. Good experience! Love all the nice photos. A good album to compare with.. before & after US trip.

Last month in Singapore

Event Calendar for october

1st Oct-- I was the chicken little mascot for Children;s day celebration.
Cute chicken little for the kids while i was suffocating and almost breathless with that huge head cover. =(

6th Oct ----> Attending ExxonMobil ex- colleague's wedding

7th Oct -----> 23years after my first cry in this universe! A day i am looking forward. Xj created so much suspense and climate for the past few weeks... make me wonder what will happen on that day! Usual routine.. we're going swimming first in the morning before any suprises are executed ! heh ..Feeling *blissed*

12th Oct-----> Removal of my widsom tooth... Yikes..I hope the dentist will do a great job! No good food after that for few days!

15th OCt-----> US Visa application-meet up with the agency

18th Oct-----> Xj's birthday! heh.. i am still planning on it.=)

21th & 27th--> last two weekends in singapore! Meet up with friends!

heh ..right now.. enjoying the last few weeks of free time!

Labtop- RIP

The Acer labtop that ive only used for close to 2yrs jus died on me!!!!! boooo..................
Cant blame anyone but myself for getting Acer cos it only offers one year warranty ( i did not top up 250 for the extended warranty =( Repair cost $640 for replacement of VGA &motherboard.
NOw i leart my mistake .. i';m gona get a labtop with one year international warranty follow by 2 yrs local warranty.!

Yup only consolation is that it crashed before i left for US. Else i will be in deep shit! Darn...

Make over to my blog!

Muhahaha! i just managed to change my blog;s template and upload a nice photo collage edited by my Mr Professional Photographer Lie feng. Have to attribute credit to him for taking such nice photos of me during the MAE graduation dinner! And of course the nice collage too.

Silly me! The tag board is gone and i dont know how to retrive it cos it was created by xj.
Okie what i needa add to my pinky blog now is my tagboard and link to friend;s blog!

Feeeling Joyous!
Just ordered Durian moodcake from GoodwoodPark hotel.All thanks to Desmond who works in DSTA. 20% discount for DSTA staffs! Yummy looking forward to savour it

Now till departure to San Francisco

I am still in the midst of US Visa application ! I guess the earliest i can depart is in END oct . Yay! i can celebrate dear;s and my birthday in singapore this year. ( but not next year! )

How to make my free time more constructive?
I have decided to give my blog a makeover! haha i realized my blog is the ugliest around. Ugle background, no link to friend;s blog. I just found out from xj that it aactually takes so much effort to have a nice blog. Meddling with the HTML etc.. Mayb cos i;m new to it which is why i;m complaining now! haha.. i just changed my template and my tag board is gone! alamak.. haha but no worries.. will get it back soon....with some help.

Other than blogging..it will be
- watch tv/korean drama online
- Check out housing etc in San Francisco
- Check out daily news
- exercise ,jogging/swimming
- chatting with friends on msn
- planning for several weekend ahead. haha
- Find out great restaurants to makan.
lastly and most importantly
Learn cooking from maid! hahah
i'm gona bring mum;s AMC pots to SF! Muhahah

My Next path

After much hesistations, i have decided to take up the trainee program in San Francisco!
I will be working for Genentech for 12mths. Supposedly it should be be 18mth. but under the new rule of US fresh grad's VISA are only entitled to 12mths. Glad that they have such rule as 12mths is just nice a period for me, i prolly find 18mth too long!

This trip is definitely a differnt experience from my canada exchange. I will be staying in rented apartment/houses (doing own cooking)unlike in WCRI where food for three meals were readily available. No more of crazy drinking games ! haha. This time is serious business. TO work as a manufacturing trainee in the pharmaceutical industry. I foresee alot of challenges like... cooking ( i sux at it! time to learn from my maid) , working in a foreign country with the US ppl, Good/bad roomie/housemate etc ... many many more which i will update when i;m there! heh

i should be flying off in mid oct earlier.. needa do medical check up.. visa processing etc which willl take 4-6 week from now.
yup i;m glad that i could spend my 23th Birthday in singapore! yeah! heh..

I;m excited abt both work and life in San fran! travelling is def part of my weekend plans. heh
My roomie also promised that she die die will visit me! We hope to meet up with our WCRi peeps and have another reunion trip ! yup that willbe the future plans.
As for now, i needa do medical check up, find good roomie, housing near my company etc.. settle contract issues etc...
heh i;m still pretty free ! will continue to slack till the day i fly off!

Graduation Photo-Taking Tour Part 2

An edited photo from the one below! Do i look more gentler? SOft kinda feeling?
Daffy looking satisfied !
Daffy trying to make the tripod more useful
Daffy only one with her mortaboard
All looking cranky!
Daffy and the Merlion keychain!
Daffy trying to block the guy;s faces behind her
Splashing dirty water at our friends but daffy looks pretty sleepy
Mr Hilarious most comfortable with his standing posture
Din know debra made me a rabbit!
Our dear photographer who did the perfect timer set-up. All of our faces were captured.
In front of Supreme court
Edited photo-- Zoom blur
Collage made by Mr Professional Photographer!