Thursday, December 01, 2016
Under the beautiful hills along the Ayung river in Bali, women stood there waiting for tourist to complete their exciting water rafting journey. After deflating the raft, they bear the few kilograms of weight on top of their head, walked arduously up hundreds of steps, earning a mere amount for each raft carried to the top of the hill. Their heavy breathing were loudly audible and their trembling legs were obviously visible. Yet, they soldiered on to bring home the money they needed.
In Dali, a woman stood in the chilling weather. In the morning, she had walked tens of kilometers from her home to the town central to sell her home grown fruits. Business was affected by the weather and the sky was rapidly becoming dark. The few kilometers were waiting for her.
In Lijiang, a woman literally begged you to ride her horse. She lowers her price bit by bit just to get her only business for that day, or else she had to head home empty handed.
Holidays aboard let me interacts with different people, makes me very grateful and thankful of my life.
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Why are you back? I don't know! Maybe to relieve those schools days where all troubles seem so innocent to me now. Looking back, it's really your mentality that determines how you view everyone and everything. If something happens, you must be at fault too! Don't try to change anything but yourself, for the better.
2008 has seen me in two different countries, now 8 years later, I am going to two different countries again! This time with someone I have known for a few years. Few years do change things, perspective and mentality. I hope for the best but of course always prepare for the worst.
I will be back.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
i am just lazy, too lazy to update. i wrote my last post when i was 19, now i am alr 20! time flew by!
life in hall is another different experience altogether. it's fun and heart warming. a few steps away, you know there will be someone there listening to your complains and tolerating your lame jokes.
still cant decide what to major in. between sth useful and sth easy which one will you choose? now i am undecisive. i like two of the five modules i chose this sem, the others i cant bring myself to like them!
every week is like a cycle. ten more weeks later, i will be free! i am waiting for that day! okay oay, i am thinking to far! now one week at a time. chinese new year coming soon... wishing everyone a happy cny!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
first day of school
woke up at 7am
ate a hearty breakfast
found out my doorlock spoilt
rushed to the office to report it
walked to lt11
met jieying
went in for el1101e
lecturer is a japanese
she nags a lot
but gave clear examples
lecture ended 30 min earlier
went engine canteen with jy
bought macdonalds
went back hall
helped cui audrey
dressed up, make up
went for dinner
laughed and joked
went for movie
LOVED the movie!!!
the dating game ended on a nice note! finally my date did sth for me!
Friday, July 31, 2009
a great experience of hall life has just begun. today marks the end of the freshmen orientation in
kent ridge hall. i love the people and company in
kr, especially the caring and helpful seniors in A block! love them so much! of course i wont be enjoying it so much without
audrey!! we live in the same block, same floor! going to the 4
th floor kitchen, watching
yu hang cook his
maggie mee, spying on
teik zhen, talking to
zhi jian, keeping
joseph busy! had so much fun and surprises as well! i love the location of my room and i simply love my neighbours!!
fritiz,
jennifer,
hai qing, fern,
pei wen!
hall has no nights!! it remains vibrant and noisy late into the night! i think i will master the following skill soon: how to knock hard on doors without hurting my hand!
haha!!
tze wee is so pro at this!!! lots of
nj seniors in
kr! great talking to them! with their company, i will not be lonely!
bidded for my modules today! 3 exposures, one
lvl 2 minor and will be bidding a gem soon. timetable is out and the days only
gg to start at 10am on the days when i have lessons. i will only be going to LT 11 and LT12. bidding is starting to get interesting now!
went for arts
oweek for its first day! fun! i love my
og mates! there's a
kaihui and a
jieying as well!! my
og name is
sheng siong!!!! lame!
in the
midst of hall camp, i found time to go to
pgpr to visit
shen yang! had dinner there and shop in their supermarket.
pgpr is just like a condominium!
crazy things we did:
1. walked with
audrey and
nina to cheers and back at 4.30 AM!! we almost fall asleep on the way back, thanks to the can of coke that wakes me up a little.
2. waited with
audrey for
teik zhen at the corridor! he was shocked to see us standing there cos he
didnt wear a top! he was stunned for a while then managed to mutter that he think he has to put on a shirt.
3. sitting with
audrey on the swing on the rooftop and talk to
teik zhen till 3.30 AM! the next day, whenever i closed my eyes, i got a feeling i was sitting on a swing and swinging!
4. went on stage to do forfeit! but it was just posing in front of everyone with a guy.
although i enjoyed myself in the hall, i miss home! so now i am finally home, i shall spend more time with my family...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
moving to kent ridge hall tmr. this marks the end of my 8 months long holidays.
i hope
from tmr onwards,
a new life
a new beginning.
Monday, May 18, 2009
qantas airways is a nice airlines. they handed out multiply meals, both dinner and breakfast! there is even a huge ben and jerry chocolate ice cream onboard! the in flight entertainment is a new experience for me too! never had been on a flight with movies and games provided! kills the boredom because i realise the time on the plane passed really slowly! but at least the flight is smooth and comfortable.
landed in sydney airport on the 12th may 5am. had to pass through the checkpoints to get out of the airport. dogs were sniffing at luggage and this cute little dog actually stopped beside my bag! apparently my father had brought apples along in the bag which is not allowed into Australia. strange isnt it! apples not allowed because they are scared they may harvest germs. so the woman handling the dog took away the apples and guess what she did with the apples? SHE USED IT TO FED THE DOG!! so if there are germs on the apples, the dog would have ate it in the end! its just like taking a 7 hours flight just to bring apples all the way from singapore to australia to feed the dog! ridiculous!!
took the train to the budget hotel we will be living in. it has been a shock to see the trains so old and the train stations so run down! and the ticket from the international airport to the area we are living in was so expensive! 27 australian dollars for a single trip for one person!! the buildings around the area where we passed were ancient and most have cracks in them. it was just a short journey to the train station we were suppose to alight and i kept on wondering why is the ticket so expensive?!!. initially walked the wrong way to the budget hotel but finally we managed to walk the right direction after asking for directions at least three times. the area we are living is called newtown, although the buildings dont look new at all. haha!
arrived at the hotel in the morning at around 8am. i have a pleasant welcome from the cute old cat! her name is pebbles and she is so lovable! played with her while waiting for the reception person to come.
hello pebbles!!
was assigned to room number 2. the lights in the room is quite dim but on a whole, it was well furnished with two beds, one double decker and a queen sized bed. while i decided to take the queen sized bed, my father will make do with the double decker. rested for a few hours before we finally came to our feet and decided to walk around the newtown area first and probably walk to sydney university to take a look.
it just takes 15 minutes to stroll to the university. the school compound is big but they definitely look old. there are some grand old buildings around too. went to the education building and walked around the interior of it as well. and that is the only place i can find a water cooler! maybe they think only educationers need to drink water. i felt so hungry by then cos the last meal i had consumed is on the plane in the morning. so my father and i went around, trying to find the school canteens. my father kept on saying that the canteens sell cheaper food then those from the outside. but apparently, they are still expensive! i was so hungry by then that i just bought anything that comes into my sight and ate it up. in the end after the meal, i dont even know what kind of meat i had just eaten! was it donkey meat? cos the thing i ate is called doner kebabs! i just feel like vomiting when i thought its donkey meat!! but my father kept on telling me its either mutton or beef. my father then spotted some chinese students in the same canteen and went up to talk to them, getting a feel of what is it like to study here as an international student. asking them about how they solve the accommodation problems and their meals. afterwards we headed back to the hotel cos i felt giddy and wanted to rest. on the way back, we bought a 1.5l mineral water for A$3.20!! it was the cheapest price compared to other bottles in 7 eleven!!!!
so what kind of meat is this??!
outside the faculty of education. i first saw this building on their booklet.
some ancient buildings inside the university
in the evening, we walked along the busy street of newtown, called king street. it is famous for its restaurants and eateries. but everything seems so expensive. a plate of singapore fried noodles actually cost 7 plus australian dollars. oh my tian! just as i thought i will die of starvation in this ghostly place, we found a super market!! thanks god!!! the thing there were cheaper then those cooked food in the restaurants and mini marts. bought cucumbers, bananas, sausages, cereal and milk. it was so comforting to finally eat something decent. it was only be then i realise i wont die of hunger at least. haha!!
second day went to sydney university again to have a better look. i think they were having some council elections on that very same day. so everywhere around the campus, there were ppl dressed up, distributing phamplets. approached by them a few times in the day. and once a guy asked me whether i am a student of the school and of course i said no then he turned to my father and asked him if he is a staff member of the school. haha!! i told the person he is my father la! went to the counter and enquiry about the course and they referred me to the coordinator of the double degree programme. called him from the phone in the education building to arrange for a short meeting with Dr Jims Allenders. he gave me some info about the course, the rough schedule for the five years. he tole me the cohort per year is very small, only around 80 people per year, made up of mostly locals and most of them are girls. okay, so this means i wont be finding myself a boyfriend anytime during those five years!! haha!! i think their teaching methods are quite fun, i could hear a lot of laughter coming from the classrooms during their tutorials. then went to unilodge, one of the hotels for students! went to have a look at the rooms, well, the room is nice, but the price is not. haha!!
on campus and the clear blue sky!
inside on of the rooms in unilodge. the celing was so low, i could practically touch it!!
a colourful room!
from the third day onwards, i was starting to experience some fun and started to experience some real feeling of going on a holiday. we spent the entire third day exploring the city centre. didnt take any bus or any public transport, we walked all the way for several hours around the area, armed with the detailed tourist map we have managed to get. went to the chinatown area, visited paddy market, a place where a lot of Asian faces can be seen and the vegetables and fruits are cheaper then even the super markets. just a bit cheaper though. walked to darling harbour, circular quay, then across the bridge to the opera house. the wind was strong that day. i felt so shiok standing in the wind and letting my hair fly loosely. it is like a natural fan! so cooling! after that we walked back to china ton in searching for a tour agency to book a tour to the blue mountains. it only cost A$39 per person to get on the tour. so we booked it and that will be how we are spending our fourth day in sydney.
vegetables in paddy market.
the darling harbour.
the famous bridge in sydney.
the opera house, those white birds are the sea gulls.
feeding the sea gulls.
the tour bus would be leaving from the china town area at 8am. so we had to wake up very early. this time, we decided we should take a bus to the meeting place. we bought the tickets from the bus driver when we boarded the bus itself. this is so weird!! i dont even know where is the stop we are going to alight so i told him we are going to the terminal stop. it cost 3.50 per person to get there. actually we overpaid but we really have no idea where is the real stop we alighting, so never mind la. then the driver waited for me to pay first before he drive off, i think all the passengers in the bus were looking at me when i count those unfamiliar coins. was only 7.30am when we got to the meeting point, so we sat down and start feeding the sea gulls with biscuits! those pretty birds are just so lovable!! finally boarded the bus at 8 and we headed first to the zoo located in black town! the tour guide was also the driver. he introduced to us the various places while driving the vehicle! so pro man!! and since the tour only consists of chinese, either from the mainland or taiwan, hongkong, the guide have to speak in chinese, then switch to cantonese!
seagulls again!
the ticket to the zoo cost 12.50 for an adult. i think the only fun things in the zoo was to take photo with the koala! the animal sleeps 16 hours a day, so the only way to prevent it from sleeping is when it is feasting on leaves. then the kangaroos! there were super a lot of them. visitors can get ice cream cones to feed them. so kangaroos eat biscuits? haha!!
me and my father with the koala which was happily enjoying its food!
the cute kangaroo eating an ice cream cone!
the emu. oh no, what did i see??
went next to the blue mountains. took the steepest railway train in the world. it's just a short ride down but it's really steep!! took the cable car and tram which only lasted 8 minutes in total. the scenery is those i have never seen before. even along the ride to blue mountains, it give me the sort of rural feeling, a sense of wildness- endless grass plains with sheeps or cows grazing on it! took a lot of photos there. then went to a sort of cave, formed by natural causes, it was so dark inside when all lights were off. a lot of history to the caves and how the names of different sections of he cave came about. then the tour guide brings us to the cinema to watch a movie about the blue mountains, taken from a helicopter. but we chose not to watch it as we dont think it's worth the money, so me and my father stayed outside in the lobby. then there was this person carrying two plates of biscuits. she tole us, one contains the meat from the "smart kangaroo" and the other one is from "emu", both types of animals are found extensively in australia. my father tried them but i didnt. cos i dont feel like eating kangaroo or emu. headed back to china town after that. the sky had already darken at around 5pm. it seems like it's already 10pm when it's only 8pm when we actually returned to chinatown. there are some sorts of night markets at chinatown, so we went around to explore. we found the massaging service very interesting!! they just pitch some tents out in the open, whoever wants a massages, lies on the table and the person will start massaging!! in the open mind you!!! haha!!
the three sisters are behind.
inside the cave.
the outdoors massaging!
went to the beach on the fifth day. bondi beach seems far from where we lived so we took the train there. the ticket only cost 3.40 per person!! so cheap this time compared to the train ticket from the airport!! they must have designed it this way to cheat money from tourist!!! the sky is clear and the wind is cooling, the sun is mild! i just feel like laying on the grass near the beach and spend the whole day looking at the sky!! my father even collected some sand back! we ended up feeding sea gulls and sitting on the grass, enjoying the wind for more than an hour. we watched as the cute little dog chased the sea gulls around! so relaxing!! after that we went down to the seaside and waited for the waves to come before i run back to shore. there were a lot of people surfing in the sea!
those clean and pretty birds again! their home is by the sea!
the waves are coming!! RUNNN!!
walked all the way from bondi beach to china town to book another tour to canberra, the capital of australia. the bus from chinatown to king street was so crowded that i prefer to walk back to the hotel.
sixth day was spent mainly on the bus. because the journey from sydney to canberra takes four hours! plus another four hours return journey, we sat there for 8 hours until our butts rot la. haha!! canberra is such a small place! it is located in the middle of sydney and melbourne. a long story exist behind this as to why canberra is made the capital and not sydney or melbourne. the tour guide explained for 50 minutes! went to their parliament house, visited their war museum and was driven around the areas where the embassies of different countries were located. singapore's embassy was among the first few countries. some countries even have fbi cars parked close to it for protection and one of the countries, i cant remember which one le, is too poor to build a building there, so there is only a sign telling ppl its where their embassy should be.
the parliament house is quite a nice building. even the trees in the building looks nice! managed to survive the 4 hour journey back from canberra. the guide showed two movies along the way back to entertain us. not very entertained though, cos the seat itself felt very uncomfortable. decided to eat the mcdonalds in australia after coming down the bus. the burgers are not at all bigger then singapore's!! felt cheated!!
one of the places parliament will hold their discussions. looks very much like singapore's one!
other one as well.
outside the parliament house. there is an australian flag on the long steel structure, but the flag, which thats the size of a bus, is too heavy to fly.
inside the war musemum, remembering those died in ww1 and ww2.
since our ticket back to singapore is in the afternoon of the seventh day, so we decided to rest enough on that morning and head straight to the airport after checking out. so wake up at 8, cos we have to check out at 10am. returned the key to the reception at 9.30, went upstaris to the lounge to use the internet and read the newspaper until we feel we need to get moving. i bide goodbye to the cute old cat, pebbles! she is just so lovable that i feel like bringing her back to singapore!!!
goodbye pebbles!! i love you!
pebbles is an extremely nice cat with no temper at all!
explored the sydney airport since we have so much time. found a perfect spot to view the landing and taking off of the planes. our flight was delayed for half an hour cos they changed to another plane at the last minute. i was generally happy to leave sydney because i have not been eating well those seven days! so i super anticipate the meals onboard! i was so happy to sit in the really last row of the plane cos we were served first!! haha!! the ice cream was not as nice as the one we ate when we came but it's nice to have an ice cream after seven days without one.
the areoplane, QF6, was delayed.
inside the plane with superwoman. haha!!
i am just so glad to be back although the weather in singapore is not as good as in sydney.
an experience indeed.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
yes yes i am in
sydney right now! what a shock i received when i first arrived with my father. it looks so old and ancient everywhere. even the trains are so oldie! but now i feel quiet okay here now. shall blog more next time
ba.
going to
sydney uni now to check out. meanwhile i shall go pat the cute old cat- pebbles! she is so cute!! i want to bring her back to
singapore.
Monday, May 11, 2009
leaving for
sydney in 4 hours time.
but still i am not in the holiday mood.
dont know why. maybe its because this is more like an educational trip than a real holiday.
coming back on the 18
th. 9pm. see you guys then.
byebye for now.
Friday, May 08, 2009
today had driving lesson. finally get to see audrey going to the driving centre too. walking to the school together was simply a wonderful feeling. at least i dont have to walk alone and i am just so tried of walking that stretch of road alone.
just as i have expected, i met my car 11 instructor again. i showed him my test results and he kept on telling me if i didnt mount the kerb and didnt strike down so many poles, i would have passed with 16 points. okay, i knew that, but who ask me to be so kanchiong on that day. i was such an elephant!
audrey's instructor is ermmm! looks like one too. speaks so slowly somemore, reminds me of joo oon! after driving, took the free shuttle bus to amk hub, bought a drink and the special type of gel to wash the hands. went home after that.
such a boring day it seems. then received stellie's call. she sounds so not herself la. just because the tester was a monster! make me feel very disgusted too! i hope i will never met that person!
went to eat mcdonalds with my father. they are so law by law! i am so sure my handphone has the most accurate timing in the whole world because its auto adjusted by the world timing system. but still the mcdonalds staffs insisted that its two minutes to twelve and we have to stone there for so long to wait for time to pass. crazy!! and the woman's service is so bad! she gave me the black face as if telling me i am such a cheapo, no money to buy the meals is it? i feel like boxing up the woman la!
feel so annoyed that i cannot sleep well during my afternoon nap just now. my heart keep on pumping irregularly, i thought i am going to have a heart attack already! must be the coke i drank at mcdonalds just now. dont know what shit they add inside!
later still got a tuition to teach. hopefully i will feel better during tuition. i always do. tuition makes me distress! anyway this will be the last tuition i have before my trips! so i will get to enjoy a super long break! cool!
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
was sick for so many days. finally getting better after almost ten days, three doctors visit and $85 bucks spent. finally after much persuasion, i finally get to go for the junior college
syf this year.
woke up at 6.20am because of the rain storm and couldn't fall asleep since. in the end, i really
couldnt take the thought of missing this very important event, i
chionged out of my house at 8.25am with a box of tissue paper, a huge bottle of water and my medicine. i must looked like an auntie when i reached there because the first thing
li chen told me was that i look like an auntie who just got up from bed.
mr ng told me i looked very pale so i was excused to be the stage manager for the day. but poor
audrey had to take up that role with
phoon you!!
hahaha!! meanwhile i went in with
sueanne, met
clarice, the three er
hu girls and seniors. feel very
jin zhang for the juniors when i see those
familar red blazers! such a sense of nostalgia!
luckly i was tune deaf, i
dont have to face the disappointment of them playing out of tune for any parts, cos i simply cant hear the difference.
haha! anyway they played well. they had practised hard and everyone could see their effort.
even queuing for the afternoon tickets was fun! it's like a daring game, see who is the cut queen king/queen.
haha!!
sueanne is so daring! she just stand behind a person and wrote her name down on the paper so naturally that no one e
ven realised that she had cut queue. the afternoon session was so b
oring because by then i had already listened to the set piece for so many times. almost fell asleep. wonder how the judges could listen to the same music
everyday without being bored? this is a totally boring job man! but of course as usual we keep ourselves entertained by talking. me and
audrey going through all the junior colleges from
practically A to Z! and
audrey said by watching
AJ perform it reminds her of that time when we managed to trick
jennifer!
haha!!
while waiting for the results, a very unfriendly lady wanted us to sit separately with our juniors but in the end, we
didnt comply. me,
audrey and
clarice had our butts glued to the seats, refusing to move!
haha!! we are brave man!
sueanne kept on teasing
patrick and candy!
when the results came, it was totally within our expectations. GOLD! i am so glad our aim has been lowered to a realistic gold a few weeks back. so there are much happiness, no one looks sad.
actually i am
satisfied with the results! the teachers are too as
mr ng told me afterwards. compared to the other performing arts group in
nj, co is the few l
ucky ones that has
maintained her standard. together with the two
gz teams,
njcogz has achieved triple golds this time round! it is commendable!
well down juniors! today is your day! enjoy and have fun!
didnt went to the celebrations after the results. went home instead. listened to the recording i had made when the person announced the results. this year, five schools got
GWH. now the trend is heading towards more and more schools being awarded honours. maybe that will be
njco's aim in two years time.
four more days to my
sydney trip. my father has already taken out all
th winter
clothings and now my house smells like moth balls! the smell makes me faint. anyway i will be going down under soon for seven days. i hope
australia will not have any swine flu cases at all, so that i could have a peace of mind when i go there. also
taiwan trip in 14 days time! 2 weeks to be exact!
driving lesson on 8
th and 10
th may. at least 2 more lessons before all my trips.
i need to make a trip down to
nj between my travel interval which is 19
th and 20
th may. going back to get my award since i cant collect it personally on college day, neither could anyone help me collect it on stage. today never really talk to
ng, talk to him next time
ba.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
i am being such a
SHUI TONG! i bought two 1.5 litres of mineral water and drank them in one night! and today morning they are empty! nearly lose my voice when i taught my small group this morning. luckily they all behaved! after lunch, i bought another 2 more bottles of water! i think i will finish it by tonight!
just checked online! got my
ielts test results. i am quite okay with my results. i scored 7.5 overall:
listening: 8.5
reading: 7
writing: 7.5
speaking: 7.5
actually when i did the averaging, it comes out as 7.65, so they must have rounded down. (what kind of maths they adopt??)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
i just manged to book a new driving test date. it will be on the 4
th of June, Thursday, at 10.15am. i think this is a better timing then the first. from what i experienced yesterday, i think it's best to choose a timing when all practical lessons have stopped, no cars in the circuit! i was too nervous when i suddenly see so many cars in front and behind me! so i hope this will be the second and last time i will be booking for my exam. on top of that i paid for 8 revision lessons as well. all those good souls, please sell your timing to me k! i need practice!
went to the
ployclinic today to see the doctor. my sore throat has been irritating me for 3 days already. there were so many
ppl in the clinic! just this morning, i think they manage to see 300+ patients! could see they have stepped up their precautionary measures to combat the recent swine flu! those questions will be hurled at anyone who is taking the queue number: have you went overseas in the past 2 weeks? are you having a flu or a fever? i felt dirty in there cos practically everyone is coughing! i feel like wearing a mask even when i am not having any fever or flu! luckily, the doctor i am assigned to works fast (at least she is faster than the rest). when i got home, i hurry washed my hands and of course ate my medicine. i hope i could be well enough to go for the singing session on
Saturday!
the swine flu! it is so irritating!! please go away soon! i want a peace of mind when going overseas! i want to enjoy the trips so very much! pigs,
dont disappoint me k!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
haix! i failed my driving test today! i thought i was in control but yet i mounted the kerb when the test just began! and i
strike down the poles for both the parallel and vertical parking! it was raining and the poor tester had to run out and pick up the poles twice! he jokingly said that i kept him busy. oh wells. what's wrong with me? it never happened before when i was practising! the tester told me that he could see i know all the stuff but i kind of hurrying myself and did not do so nicely.
the tester was nice, but not the weather. it started raining during the warm up and the test! not so heavily though. still i have myself to blame. i knew all was over when i mounted that kerb.
so this means i will need to book more revision lessons, book a new test and make more trips from the
mrt bus stop to the school which is a super long way in.
but luckily, it wont be long before my next test. beginning of
June i guess although i have yet to confirm the date. may will be a fast month with all those trips. i anticipate the next test and hopefully by then i will be steady enough to get my license.
Monday, April 27, 2009
tmr is considered a big day! there is a special feeling that i seldom experienced.
jiayou!
