Everyday Asia

Home » Posts tagged 'Blog'

Tag Archives: Blog

What’s really been going on…

Ever have a time in your life where so much is happening, it seems almost unreal? As I wrote my immigration form a few hours ago to re-enter India from Singapore, I declared my travels in the last 6 days – Singapore obviously, but also India for a day, before that the UK and Canada.

And why so much travel? The real reason combines the personal and the professional.

On the personal front…

Lots of different things however the real big news is… drum roll here… my partner and I finally took the plunge to sign a piece of paper in Winnipeg with a wee wedding at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. We knew from the moment we met over five years ago that we wanted to spend our lives together, however took our time to get to this stage of bringing our respective families together in celebration.

It still feels strange when folks teasingly call me “Mrs Smith” – a last name I am not adopting but respect completely. I apparently even accidentally hung up on a consulting associate who merrily greeted me that way! (in fairness, the call didn’t connect properly)

Within a week of being wedded in Winnipeg, I was on more planes and found myself in Singapore for some work related meetings. Which is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak as on the professional front as much has happened over the last few months:

  • I was delighted to be back in Jakarta working on a project from September 2016 to December then back briefly in March and April 2017. Naturally this meant a few stops in Singapore in my crisscrossing back and forth between India and Indonesia…
  • January and May were pre-occupied with India projects that enabled trips to Kolkata and Kochi – it had been years since I was in Kerela so that was a particular treat!
  • February brought me to Delhi to co-facilitate a remarkable conference
  • More is unfolding in the technology space with the India company association… plus some new developments brewing that seem particularly exciting!

Beyond the personal and professional, everyday life in India inspired a few amused cribs about:

  • Ready or not, July 1st introduces India’s Goods & Services Tax with some absurd moments and migration migraines from Service Tax to GST
  • After a couple of years of effort, I finally successfully withdrew my last Indian Provident Fund. If ever anyone has tried to do this – foreigner or Indian – you will understand this is NOT necessarily a simple process!
  • After even more effort, a weird system error was finally corrected so that the Indian government was finally convinced I actually had paid my taxes in 2009. Really… honestly… I did… it only took 8 years for them to admit it!!
  • We also learned to survive the aftermath of November 2016’s demonetization in which cash was temporarily dethroned

So from newly wedded bliss, professional developments, to the everyday follies in India, life continues to be an amazing adventure!

There you have… a bit of insight into what’s really going on…

Related posts:

9th Quarter Summary – Still at it!

Bravo you brave soul for sticking it out! For those who’ve been around since the journey began 9 quarters ago, many thanks! For those who just joined, welcome!

July brought a wee shake-up in the approach to the blog as ‘Every day adventures in Asia (mostly)’ morphed into the simpler Everyday Asia with four core themes – Home, Away, Work and Play. Fear not – this blog remains grounded in the everyday mundane activities of a transplanted Canuck living in Mumbai and traveling (mostly) around Asia. (more…)

Everyday Asia – Time to change!

More than two years ago I started the blog ‘Everyday Adventures in Asia (mostly)‘ with the thought to share :

  • Insights into everyday life adventures in my adopted ‘home’ India and working ‘homes’ all around Asia
  • Tales of past travel adventures with a focus on Asia
  • General adventures with topics of interest from the perspective of a Canadian woman living long-term in Asia

I had no feel for what blogging meant, just had a bit of time on my hands, enjoyed reading a few friend’s blogs and thought – why not? (more…)

8th Quarter Summary – Who said turning two is terrible??

I can’t believe that Every Day Adventures in Asia (Mostly) is now two years old!!

What an amazing journey so far! With folks from nearly 150 countries tuning in, over 33,000 views and 2,200 comments, 220+ posts, 867 followers and counting… I’m still amazed the semi-regular ramblings of a Canadian woman about her every day life in Asia is of interest. (more…)

7th Quarter Summary

Funny how time zips by when you are doing nearly nothing!

While not strictly true, the 7th Quarter of “Every Day Adventures in Asia (Mostly)” was certainly more sedate than previous quarters given it was minus the manic travel and project work.

Now how perfectly Dutch

How perfectly Dutch

This 7th quarter brought:

  • An impromptu trip to Amsterdam, finally adding Europe to all my recent adventures… naturally I’ve had oodles of past ones! 😉
  • Saw LOTS of theatre – some fabulous and some definitely not!
  • Mad marriage marathons in Mumbai… once I’m fully recovered I may share some of the gory details!
  • Oodles of family visitors for the Christmas / New Years season
  • And finally a focus on fitness for the slow journey back to normality post ankle injury – including shuffling along to support Avehi Abacus at the Mumbai Marathon!

(more…)

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

6th Quarter Summary

Gee… it seems like only yesterday I wrote the 5th Quarter Summary… However now that I’m ‘grounded’ in Mumbai, am back in the ‘posting grove’ with “Every Day Adventures in Asia (Mostly)” after a longish hiatus. And proud for being ON TIME (as opposed to Indian stretchable time) with this update. (more…)

5th Quarter Summary

When I started this blog more than 5 quarters ago… I had a vague notion of posting about 4 times a month, dredge up observations from current and past trips and generally amuse myself by sharing tales primarily with family and friends, simply using the blog as the ‘means’.

What I found is there is a whole fabulous blogging community out there and yet at the same time – just because someone else prepares beautiful crafted, witty, thoughtful posts on a regular basis – it is not a competition! You decide what to accomplish and it is perfectly fine to be ‘undisciplined’ because this is a choice not a chore!

That being said, I like having these little quarterly round ups as an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on what the heck I’ve been up to for 3 months! (more…)

Battling the white screen of death

I’m howling at the universe – I want to write gawdammit not wrestle with technology!!

Blog purgatory... Help!

Blog purgatory… Help!

Alas WordPress is determined to drag me kicking and screaming into technical areas that are beyond my ken!

This white screen of death is perilously close to being the death of this blog…

I would like to share my excitement about recent trips to Tokyo, Shanghai, Manila and Singapore… the wondrous world of opening companies… enjoying Lebaran in Jakarta, returning home to a monsoon Mumbai.

Instead all I get is a white screen….

So am going to share the pain this once, make a few more attempts when back in India over the next two weeks…. if unsuccessful will simply admit defeat and retire my wee blog!

Has anyone else battled the ‘white screen of death’ and emerged victorious?

Related posts:

4th Quarter Summary – Belated 1st Birthday Blog!

It seems that being locked out of your blog or grappling with the ‘white screen of death’ is a rite of passage with a WordPress blog. Throw in a busted ankle and you got it! I managed to miss the 1st birthday of “Every Day Adventures in Asia (Mostly)“! (more…)