Outside the Box

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Week 20. new place-new life September 5, 2007

Filed under: Food and drinks, Health and Fitness, Money, Pregnancy — urnn @ 8:13 am

cot.jpg

We have now officially moved to Discovery Bay. We found a beautiful apartment with alomost 360 degrees view. It is a little bit stretch in terms of our budget so we decided that this year we will just forget saving money ( we still put aside a certain amount of money for our baby though) and cencentrate on enjoying our little life and our little baby without being a high flyer or eat out every single meal as before. We love this flat that much!

As soon as I moved in I was relax and happy. We have lived in Central Hong Kong last year- it’s time to have a calmer life.  I can eat now and begin to enjoy cooking as I did before I was pregnant.

I have no idea that one of my main reason that I couldn’t eat and not gaining weight during the past 5 months (even though the baby is big- God knows how) was due to the fact that I did not like the environment. We lived in a nice flat but the environment was bad, no view (or te estate agent calls it ‘building view’), bad cooking smell (no offense to our chinese friends).

With our current flat the back of our flat faces the mountain (nothing in between at all), front face the sea (with other buildings in front but we are on tope of the mountain, so nothing obstruct the view to the sea). During the day I can only hear the sound of the waterfall.  This is heaven.

The baby is still alive and kicking. I become less concern and begin to enjoy my pregnancy now. Today I even begin to practice lullaby lyrics and aiming to memorise the lyrics to welcome the birth of our baby. I feel for the first time as a mother when I sang the songs and can begin to imagine myself as a moher now.

But I still don’t want to start buying cot and all that to tempt faith……Old fashion I know.

 

Tax February 2, 2007

Filed under: Money — urnn @ 5:27 am

tax.jpg

One of the reasons I prefer to live outside the UK is because of the income tax, although I do miss my London from time to time. We get high taxed for every single thing there. I always dread for the 31st January and 31st of July. 

We have a nice flat which we let out in Kensington and we hardly get anything from our rental income. I am annoyed!

However, I am one of those who pay every bill promptly and hardly haggle for anything.  Not exactly a suitable character when we live mainly in Hong Kong. So I am annoyed when I am in Hong Kong, annoyed with myself this time. 

Haggling is an artform and part of the culture when you are in Hong Kong. I can see the stall owners spring to life when my husband starts the haggling process. I wish I can do something like that without my face turns red!

 

Money Money Money! January 30, 2007

Filed under: Money — urnn @ 11:14 am

money.JPG 

I am in the middle of negotiating my monthly income. I’m not one of those who can keep a straight face when talking about money. However, it’s got to be done, for my self respect.  In fact, I found a good website about how to keep a straight face which might come in useful in the future (next year- I like to see my income increase every year, even for only 5% mainly because of the fluctuation).  I learnt this from my very nice accountant.

Anyway, the website is

http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-a-Straight-Face

 Another good website about why it is hard to keep a straight face is

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2349981.stm

I will be good at it some day, I’m sure!