YOGAYUGA

I had a Hooters Mushroom Swiss burger for dinner. It was tasty, but so rich. I couldn’t finish it. The last time I went to Hooters, it was back to beginning of 2005 in Singapore. My Taiwanese colleagues loved to go to Hooters, so I had been there several times when I worked in Taipei. I enjoyed the Hooters girls show too. Hooters girls are always hot. Needless to say, those in Hooters here are super hot!! Well, I didn’t see any show tonight, but just waited for my burger to go!!

I took the local Sky train down town after I got off from the cruise. I just waned to have a short ride, and see what it is like. I was curious. It looked so nice while I saw it from far away during day time. It was 6pm already when I took it. I didn’t know that there were so many homeless and strange people on the train. It’s a free train. I quickly got off after one stop. I wouldn’t try it again at night time. I felt a bit scared actually. People told me American down towns are usually not so safe, I guess I know why now.

I took a cruise tour today for 1.5 hours! I went to Bayside down town Market Place, but didn’t expect any cruise trip. And it happened! It only costs USD15.00 for each person. It was USD20.00, but the first 15 persons offered with special discount. I was within the first 15. I didn’t pay much attention about the tour details, and just realised after I got on the cruise that it was a tour of Millionaires Row and beautiful Biscayne Bay. I just wanted to get on the boat, and go somewhere beautiful. ^_^; It takes you to see the Homes of The Rich and Famous. All the expensive houses are built along Biscayne Bay. Houses include Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, Jackie Chan and Gloria Estefan, etc. The tour guide introduced each house when our boat passed by each of them, but most of those people he mentioned I have never heard. Many are Spanish singers, and local stars. I only know the well known international stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Jackie Chan of course, Ricky Martin and Elizabeth Taylor, etc.

It was a great fun trip with VERY Caribbean atmosphere. They played special song on the boat when came to house of that particular person. They made up sound of Ku Fung when we passed by house of Jackie Chan. They played song of Ricky Martin as well. The whole tour started from Bayside Market Place, passed by well known houses, South Beach, and back to Bayside.

The bay view was fantastic with so many boats and cruises around the whole area. I guess I had been 1/20 of Caribbean sea. lol

House of Jackie Chan, and house of Ricky Martin

They played the song of Ricky Martin by the time we passed through his house…You can see me in the end of the video…

People were singing and dancing in the Market Place. Latino music was all around…

You can hear the music…

The building view looks so much like ours in Hong Kong….

Look at this photo though those small words you can’t read it clear. Let me state in here…

“USD14.00 for a pair, USD20.00 for two pairs.”

Each pair of sunglasses is with a big label in the front naming some well known designer brands such as Ray Ban, Gucci, etc…

Those small words state “compare to our quality of Gucci, Ray Ban…..etc.”

Well I didn’t read them all, but what it means to tell you that they are the same quality as those designer brands. Those sunglasses are actually fake designer brand items, but of course the quality of them is far behind the real things.

Dear! I found this is quite ridiculous. I am very surprise that they can sell fake designer items in the public mall. You can find many fake designer items in many public malls of Mainland China, such as malls in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai. You will also find them in Mongkok, Hong Kong but not complete public. Basically, people will get into serious trouble if they sell such items in public. And I found them in the international mall of Miami. LoL

I told myself not to eat something too heavy everyday, so I chose to have Pastrami sandwich for lunch and mussel with tomato soup for dinner today.

I am so tired after screen shopping in the international mall for few hours….oh well, it’s part of my job as I need to shop and see the current trend of the market. I now need to source accessories for what American women like, not what Asian women like. I am working for the complete American market!!

I didn’t know what was going on, but heard sound of firework outside my window. It was the real firework outside my hotel, not very far away from my location though.

Apart from Australia and New Zealand, I found that Florida is also a place that having a hot Christmas. We had a Christmas party held in our company this afternoon. It was the most exotic Christmas party I had ever been because it was totally Spanish but I enjoyed it. It was such a great fun! Well, all my colleagues are Spanish speakers, so they usually speak Spanish in the company unless they talk to me. It’s interesting that all their written documents are in English though they mainly speak Spanish. Some colleagues don’t know English at all.

We were playing game related to gift giving. We all prepared Christmas gifts for this game, basically I didn’t understand it at all as it was totally new to me. We all got a ticket with number which is related to the gift we are going to pick. Our CEO talked everything in Spanish, so my colleague translated me what he said. Our CEO was holding a bowl with tickets having the same numbers as what we had on our tickets in hands. He randomly picked a ticket from his bowl, then called out the number of that ticket. The person who had the same ticket as what he picked, he/she could choose any of the gifts on the floor. That person needed to open the gift immediately in front of everyone. If that person didn’t like the chosen gift, then he/she could remain to stay out, and try to give his/her gift away. Everyone had choices of choosing either the new gift on the floor or the chosen gift of people who stayed out. I didn’t even know it was me when he called my number as he spoke in Spanish. My colleague heard it, so pushed me out. I just picked the gift from someone who tried to give her gift away. And here is what I got! A set of body lotion! Not bad! One of the colleagues got a gift with a SUPER BIG size of lady bra. It was so funny. Everyone couldn’t stop laughing. Our Christmas food was special too I found. It contained ham, some porks, fried banana, rice and vegetable. I start to feel my tummy getting big now after so much food I have everyday for two weeks. LOL Eventually, I am getting weight gained….Congrats! Joyce! haha!

I didn’t know that we need to bring a Christmas gift for the company Christmas party tomorrow. No one told me until the driver told me after work. Well, I am new so I am not supposed to bring gift he said. However, I bought a bottle of red wine for gift.

I ordered a wrong dish for my to go dinner tonight. I was thinking to order something like shrimp cocktail but it came with something not what I want. I found that I read the wrong menu, the dish I ordered was Shrimp & Macaroni Salad. It’s tasty though. I am not BIG in salad originally, but I eat a lot of salad in here. Sandwiches and salad are the greatest food I found in this city.

We had so many sandwiches in the office during lunch time as there was executive meeting going on. The administration prepared too much sandwiches and cookies so they distributed to us. Then my colleagues gave me most of them. I only picked three. Since I came here, I can’t stop eating in the office. Once I stopped, there must be someone giving me something such as tea, coffee, cookie and dessert. People do like eating all the time in my office. They brought their home made desserts, cakes and whatsoever. I wonder if I will really have some weight gained before I leave. I don’t feel I have much weight gained so far from how I see myself in the mirror.

I had an interesting conversation with my colleague today during lunch who is originally from Panama. She has been in the U.S. for long, but still goes back to Panama once in a while. She told me her nephew had been learning Mandarin and Cantonese since he was few years old in Panama. She said his father was a lawyer. He did already foresee the future of China twenty years ago therefore he sent his son to study in the local Chinese school of Panama. His son is now already a fluent Mandarin and Cantonese speaker studying university in Taiwan. Mandarin learning is not something that difficult for western learners, but Cantonese is not easy to learn at all, especially one has never lived in a Cantonese speaking place. It’s hard to imagine learning it in a Central American country. However, my colleague told me that Panama has high population of Chinese people.

We are having Christmas party this Friday….