awaken in the middle of the night (again)

certainly not a case of jet lag.. (since it has been a week since I'm back)

thankfully not another bout of diarrhea per last night, that kept me busy shuttering between loo and bed for a few times until i laid hands and applied the 'ruyi' oil..

did a few random stuff...

1. tithe - realised it's 30th and i'd yet did that.. cuz i was working for less than 2 weeks for month of April.. forgot all abt payday, which was on the 25th...

2. surfed randomly on urbanfitters (a lovely shop i chanced upon @ Oxford Street during last day in London.. Love it!) Wishlist-ed a couple pair of shoes but no purchase.. yet..

3. came to terms with what I witnessed earlier this evening... which was not too difficult to grasp.. Nothing morbid, just minor internal struggles.. all things happen for a reason .. His timing is indeed the best timing,,

4. wonder if the hip pain will recurred later during the run.. hope i can 'defend' the title.. lol...but its a different distance though,, and i'm not as fast as my pals think...

5. iPad 2 or Mac Book - but my pinkie vaio is still running alrite most of the time..

vaio's battery on low.. time to sleep again...

sealed

The pathway that you ought not be heading will eventually be shut by God. Yippie, finally saw closure. It's actually not that difficult/ painful to let go of old habits. ;)

Where is the opposition?

I thought there's supposed to be the audi-caltex logo opposition team contesting in my ward but no sight of them or their propaganda yet..

Only sighted the placards by the people in white on almost all the lampposts in my neighbourhood!
Apparently the men n women in white were at the mrt station shaking hands 7plus last evening.. Too bad I was working late so didn't sight them.. At least they are making efforts to make their presence felt.

Does the opposition expects the residents just to vote for them just because? Duh...

C3 Lausanne

It must be God, cuz I don't think it's more than a coincidence I get to attend a C3 service while in Switzerland! Originally was thinking of heading a day earlier down to London so I could perhaps pop by C3 London for a visit. ;)

Just so happened that my friend & her husband had recently joined C3 at their friends' recommendation. ;)

Felt at home once I stepped foot into the auditorium. ;) perhaps it was the culture of the Europeans, the congregation ain't as responsive as I thought it would be. Nonetheless, strong sweet presence of God. ;)

And glad 'Today' was one of the praise/worship song. ;)

Very ministered throughout - from pnw to the Word. It's like confirmation upon confirmation. Gosh! ;) great divine encounter with God. ;)

It's your best life yet!

The 8th day in Europe

Woke up @ 5 am, swiss time, to catch the online service even though I slept only @ 12+.

Missed church even it's only a week!!

Had a great time so far here... Went Naples for a short trip, then up to the highest point that a rail ever went in europe - the Jungfraujoch.. Caught many waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen.. And a few other places...Trigger-happy with the scenery, food etc but none can compare to experience felt a couple of hours ago while on the bed watching the service n jotting the notes in the light of my iPhone( which thank God it didn't shatter when it slipped my butter hands n landed on the hard tar ground in Naples).

Grabbed this screenshot while catching the service on mobile. Wow!<3 it!

counting down ..

In 24 hours, I should be safely buckled down, waiting for the plane to move along the taxiway preparing for takeoff..

Kinda apprehensive .. Afterall, I'll be heading to foreign land  for the first time.. and gonna meet up with friend only like half a day later (plus lugging the luggage - kinda full cuz 1/4 filled with friend's stuff from SG.. and 1/3 filled with the outer wear.. plus my boots/ running shoes in hand luggage (intending to sneak in a couple of runs if possible..) ...

okay, i'm not ready heading there alone.. I've company from Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Exciting.:)

the problem with outsourcing of call centre

I was happily going about the internet check-in when I saw this..

 

In shock, I called up SQ to check. Called the reservation hotline since it was an online reservation and there is no other customer service hotline listed.

 

A lady with a very strong Indian accent answered my call. I am not being a racist/'nation-ist" BUT I had to request her to repeat herself quite a number of times throughout the conversation. She was least helpful in handling my queries (and I was rather panicky since I'm due to fly within 48 hours.. and should a visa is required - when it is evidently not so - but the system stated otherwise, there may not be sufficient time to get one done!) I felt MORE distressed after calling the holine ( my woes as detailed below) but decided to call the Switzerland Embassy in Singapore to clarify my understanding (based on what was clearly stated in the Switzerland Tourism website which the SQ lady did not seemed to comprehend).

 

Thanks to the helpful lady from the Swiss Embassy, I was assured that my fears are unfound and she was right to point out that it was likely I was speaking to someone from an outsourced call centre, hence that preson is unlikely to be aware that SG citizen call travel to most european countries without travel visa if its for short leisure travel!)

 

Rather upset with the unpleasant traumatic experience - I sent a feedback to SQ.:

 

On 7 April 2011, at about 10:40, I called up your reservation hotline to enquire on the requirement on visa to travel to Zurich, as shown on the confirmation page after the internet check-in.

Your staff, Ms Maya, was unable to ascertain the requirement of the visa when it was evident from the information provided upon booking that no visa would be required for Singapore citizen with valid Singapore passport entering Switzerland as I would be in Switzerland for less than 90 days.

Despite putting me on hold for more than 15 minutes, while she checked with her colleagues on the issue, she was unable to answer my query after checking with her colleagues, if the glitch was due to the fact that I was holding an open-jaw ticket (returning to Singapore from London , instead via Zurich.) This was despite the fact that I would be in Switzerland/London for less than 2 weeks (and visa is not required to Singapore citizen with valid Singapore passport to travel to London as well). She insisted that I should call up the Switzerland embassy to confirm that they will be willing to uplift the requirement of a VISA. If so, Singapore Airlines is likely to uplift that requirement as well.  

She added that Singapore Airlines is not responsible for the visa application. This is reasonable, since the company is providing the flight services, and not that of a travel agency.  However, as the Singaporeair.com's  system indicated that a visa is required for travel, when this is not the case, it is not unreasonable to call up the company to verify.  

Fortunately, it is within the Switzerland Embassy's Office's opening hours when I called up to confirm on the visa requirement. If not, it would certainly cause much worry and distress when I am due to travel the very next day.

I have always esteemed Singapore Airlines to be a company of providing excellence service. Yet, the level of service I had encountered with your customer service officer this morning proved otherwise.  This confusion may be due to a technical glitch since the booking I had made was not a direct return journey. But it has certainly caused unnecessary panic at the moment in time when I realised that I did not have a valid visa to travel to Zurich when I am due to travel in less than 48 hours.  Perhaps the company may wish to look into this technical glitch as this would cause unnecessary distress and hassle to apply for a visa within short notice when it turned out that the application is not required. It would also be helpful if the customer service officers are equipped with basic travel information such as visa requirement. It would also be helpful if Ms Maya could have gone the extra mile of providing the contact number of the embassy since she was unable to assist with my query, but she did not.

I wonder if there will be any response regarding my greviances though I'd received an automated reply that "One of our staff will respond to you shortly if it is a matter that requires a response. "

Spring is here!

What's more appropriate to commensurate the beginning of spring with bright hues of colours!

Hence, prior to cgm later this evening ,made a speedy trip to Isetan Scotts after work, for the spring fashion show which I left 5min earlier (else I'll be late!) & made this not too pricey purchase (though it's canvas!) .. Could not resist the 15% discount & double points rewards.

Not to mention that it was the last available piece. ;)

To ward off curious eyes of the huge paper bag, decided to place my shoulder bag within the new acquisition!

Happy April 1st!! ;)