No link?

Grad Trip to UK! Day 2

2011-06-07T01:06:00.003+08:00

Typed this up in Paris, but didn't have wireless to upload. And my pictures only upload with the simple uploader, so looks like updates' gonna take a while...

Paris Day 1 - Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis
We had to wake up at 4 am to get ready for our 5.25 am train to Paris! It was pretty chilly in the morning, brrrrrr. I was wearing a dress and a really thin leggings lols, so pretty cold. But in the day, wa, super hot!!! The sun like very very hot la, then when the wind comes it's very cooling.

Anyways, just to show you guys our room; it's family room, 4 single beds!!! Very nice and cosy (:

And this is the train station...

I fell asleep on the train, but there were sheeps and cows!!! So cute! ♥ The train was too fast for my camera though. I think it rivals the Shinkansen in speed, my ears will have too much air pressure.

This is our hotel!

Today is the first night, XQ and I are sharing a double room, and the room is like outside of the main walkway, weird. No air con also, gg, but I expect the night to be cold.

Official check in time's 12 noon, but the person let us put our things there. Greattttt. So we set off to explore Paris!!

Random street market opposite our hotel

This is their dustbin! Just a plastic bag!

Guess what this is! Recycle bin lols.

We're walking to some hostel to have our breakfast.

View from the hostel dining area. A platform bridge!! Dunno the actual term...

Unfortunately, breakfast was only from 8 am to 10 am and lunch starts from 12 noon, so we had to go somewhere else. (It was 10.30 am then.)

We went to a bakery. At first I wasn't on planning to getting, but peer pressure la.

DM made fun of my answer to the baker. The baker asked if I wanted this bread, and I went 'Ah!', and DM say it's supposed to be 'Oui!', whatever la, I dunno French :x

I saw egg so I ordered, but I didn't know it's tuna!! :9 Yum. The tuna here is brown and not off white!! I think it's tastier, and also no mayo, so yum yum. Randomly, the Starbucks Mocha Frappe here is nicer too :x Smoother.

We took a Metro train to Ile de la Cite. The order's gonna be pretty messy because we went back and forth. The first thing we saw was Court of Justice.

So elaborate right.

Compare to ours.

Okay la, actually not bad also :x

Anyways, in Paris, the city is largely divided into right bank and left bank, and there're many bridges connecting both banks. While crossing one of them, we saw this huge ass boat!

And the first glimpse of Eiffel Tower!!

Walked around somemore and took more pictures of similar nice looking buildings, which I'm not very sure of the name...

Square de la Tour St. Jacques

Center Pompidou; a science and technology museum

While randomly walking, we also saw a speciality shop!

Nice display!

LEGO display!

Place des Vosges; a place popular for picnicking

We're crossing Pont (means bridge in French) Marie, means we're heading towards Ile St Louis. Apparently Nodame was filmed here, but I didn't pass by the place ...

Lunch!

My 6 euros freshly squeezed orange juice, it really is fresh, and thick lols

Ordered salmon!! But didn't expect it to be raw! But it was still good :9 The potatoes were nice too. Didn't like the red stuff though...

DM's veal.. French dish? Tastes like mutton

Since there was nothing much there (I think we didn't go to the correct place.), so we headed back to Ile de la Cite to see the Marche aux Fleurs (Flower Market).

To my disappointment, it was just a long stretch of flower shops. Thought it was supposed to be a market!! Like the last picture there!

Next stop was Notre Dame!!
The design is really very very detailed!!!

These were taken on the bridge, before really going to the Notre Dame.

These were taken in front of Notre Dame

And the interior... It's bigger, but I think not as nice as Montreal's Notre Dame.

The stained glass are all really nice though...

That's all for Day 2! :D I didn't type anything much after this. So hope the updates keep up lols.

Grad Trip to UK! Day 1

2011-05-19T07:28:00.005+08:00

It's 12.30 am at London now, and 7.30 am in Singapore... I've to wake up at 4.00 am London time to get on a train to Paris.. Gonna be having less than 4 hours of sleeeeeep.

The photos are taking quite a while to upload.

Anyways, ya today morning my family and Kenneth came to send me off. We had Wang Cafe and the egg yolks were damn big xD /random

The plane ride was 14 hours... zzzz. OMG. I had such an uncomfortable time ): Watched 3 movies. Green Hornet was funny, GANTZ was surprisingly boring (it's like Incite Mill) and The King's Speech was pretty witty!!

SQ really has good food and service. I got to know of a new drink called the Apple Spritzer; it's a non alcoholic drink of apple juice + sprite.

Had lots of problems with the Tube. The direct line we had to take was under serious delays. We changed trains twice, to District and then Circle to get to our location. It took 2 times longer than usual omg.

At one of the stations we had to transfer at.

The Tube train

The station we had to stop at was King's Cross Station, and it's freaking pretty! ♥ I'll take a proper photo when I get back to London.

By the time we settled down it was already 10+ pm, so we weren't left with much choice. Had Chinese food! :D Super big portions.

My Malaysian Fried Rice, which I left more than half, it's really a lot.

Okay! That's all for today! :D

Montreal Day 3

2011-05-14T00:53:00.005+08:00

Blogger is back up! Sigh, I take so long to update, then I've forgotten most stuff, so can't write funny experiences ):

I must must must update quickly for UK Grad Trip! (And I still haven't type Japan one from June '09 also...)

Montreal Day 3
Day 3 of Montreal was one of the most beautiful days in Canada. The buildings, the buildings at Quebec City were really really old and beautiful (limited vocab again :x).

But first we visited Montmorency Falls. Well after you see Niagara Falls, Montmorency Falls pales in comparison. But still looks nice! Hearing the sound of the casscading waterfall is the best thing (: Refreshing feel! Anyway we kept making fun of the Falls by calling it in a Hongkie way :x "Mo-mo-ro-ciii" Falls xD

Pictures.

The only thing here better than Niagara Falls is the natural landscape. Niagara Falls feels very built up because of all the attractions built there.

After that we headed for a buffet! Only had one hour to eat, so didn't take much photos xD And also totally amazed and happy at the amount and variety provided that I forgot to take pictures :P

We also went to an observatory tower, where we could see Quebec City I guess? There were also lots of nice photographs displayed there.

There's this row of nice buildings? We're going there later, it's Quebec City!

Zoomed in.

After that... we proceed to Quebec City, the highlight of the day! ♥ You really need to see this in person.

Uncle making maple candy xD

It actually says no photos but I took one (or two) anyway :x

Anyway here is mostly just enjoying the sights. The shops either sell souvenirs you can get anywhere, or more expensive things that I wouldn't spend my money on.

At night, we went drinking. That's all xD I learnt bad stuff during SEP :O

FYP

2011-03-23T15:34:00.003+08:00

My final year is finally coming to the end! Thesis is due next Wednesday (1 more week!) and poster presentation in 2-3 more weeks~

I just got my SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) scans. I don't understand what they mean :P

Well.. I'm supposed to use these magnified structures to deduce why my compounds act a certain way xD Guess I gotta ask my mentor again. And btw, these 3 belong to different compounds.

My New Year Resolution

2011-01-02T18:38:00.002+08:00

You know what my NY Resolution is? To lower my expectations of others.

Sometimes you use your own judgment to decide how capable a person is, based on perhaps the way they behave, the way they speak, their character, their experiences.

Someone once told me that I always see the good side of people. Which now I'm starting to think it's true! I always choose to think that people will change, people make mistakes. Perhaps I really do have high expectations of others. And when they do not meet my expectations, I get upset and disappointed. "Why can't they be so and so?" I keep asking myself.

Then it dawned on me, I'm being too hard on myself and on them. They aren't as good as I think they're. So I should lower my expectations. They say the higher you expect, the greater your fall, or something along those lines.

So if I start treating you like an idiot, you'll know why. I'm just fulfilling my NY Resolution!

P.S. This is not particularly aimed at anyone who reads my blog. Though I do have some people in mind as I write this.

Montreal Day 2

2010-09-04T10:23:00.008+08:00

lols it's been one year since I left for Canada, and I haven't finished this :x

Montreal Day 2
Pretty exciting 2nd day. Went to various places, Notre Dame, Old Port, Old Montreal, Parc Olympique, Biodome!

This is the train station near our hostel!

They've like different names for the train systems in the different provinces. In Montreal it's STM (Short Term Memory?? Haha, it's smth Train Montreal ba. French xD) Btw, in Toronto it's TTC, Toronto Train Commission (I think)

First stop is Notre Dame.
Very very nice church!

The place is full of stained glass!! So nice!!

And candles. You can deposit 2 CND, and light a candle (:

Taken from the side.

Pipe organ at the back!

Perhaps a slightly better photo?

Well, anyway my photos don't look any justice to the place. SO MUST GO SEE YOURSELF :D :D :D

Next is Old Port! Well, I don't think it's a port anymore.. I only saw yatches there :x Maybe that's why it's Old Port.

There were lots of trees there, so we saw many many autumn colors~ ♥

Okay now for the more PORT side of the Old Port xD

Anyway we took lots of throwing leaves photos here xD

And then turn to Old Montreal. It's this place with lots of nice buildings (sorry for my limited vocab).

I think this place feels a bit just a bit, like Harry Potter streets xD Diagon Alley or smth?

Had lunch! Poutine, must eat in Montreal. It's kinda like fries with gravy. Mine's onion and mushroom. But it's very fattening ah :x

Then it's Olympic Park.

The stadium!

Reclined tower!

Inside

On top of the swimming pools was this. Probably for the camera crew?? Pretty high and scary =/

Nearby is the Biodome. As the name suggests, BIO = Animals?

The place is divided into 4 sections.
1) Tropical

SG have also? :3

SG don't have?

Beaver~

Haha, this one SG SURE DON'T HAVE. LYNX! I think this is the American/Canada section le, opps. Ok checked. Laurentian Forest.

3) St. Lawrence Marine ecosystem

Opps never take anything interesting here :x

4) Arctic/Antarctic

Here got a few kinds of birds also, but penguins are best!

Penguins watching free show :x

These penguins are trying to swim against the tide :x

Penguins are so cute ♥

I think Biodome is too small la. I like Singapore Zoo better. Or maybe Toronto Zoo! Which I shall update ~~dunno when~~ next time.

And... we're done! Then I guess we went to Gay Village on this day. It's just a road, which has lots of rainbow flags with 6 colors x3 And male couples in restaurant. nodnod

Yay! I updated :x

Montreal Day 1

2010-05-16T01:23:00.004+08:00

Well, I guess it's kinda late to be writing all these :P But they were very interesting experiences! This was one of my favorite trips while in Canada~ (Well, not that I went to a lot of places, just Toronto, Niagara Falls, Montreal and New York.)

Montreal Day 1
Montreal's a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It's largely a French speaking community; most of the public transport and road signs are in French, the people speak mostly French here too, though most of them know English (I suppose). Montreal is also home to McGill University.

Anyways, the bus ride from Toronto is like 10 hours xDD I think we reached late morning, so we checked in to our hostel, and went to travel around Montreal. Quite bad because it was raining haha.

Lunch was at this restaurant called Copper's or Nickel's, I can't remember anymore xD

Full course meal for lunch??? Soup, meat loaf and dessert~

With our tummies filled, our first stop was to McGill! Where we were supposed to meet up with Fabian, Deming's friend. And then climb Mt Royal.

Founder of McGill!

Redpath Museum at McGill!

McGill's quite a pretty campus, very spacious. But I still prefer UofT; liked the buildings and the grid layout of the school (: (Well am a bit biased too of course ;))

The museum is just like any other museum la, check out my pictures on FB k xD
It's more nature related. And a bit of history.

And now we're on our way of Mt. Royal. Not fun ok, it's a mountain =/ You guys know how much I despise exercise right xD

Got left behind T_T

Well, that being said, the scenery was actually pretty breath taking and peaceful. ~~Though the ground was kinda wet and stuff.~~

Finally reached the top! (:
Fooled around a bit, took photos, and headed back down.

Pretty nice view there...

Koped from DM

Also koped from DM
In fact for more photos, please refer to Deming's, his pictures are nicer anyway xD

Anyways, Montreal is really artsy and has nice buildings everywhere.

Subway station, toilet break

We made a short trip down to Old Montreal, and Notre Dame, but it was late already, so we left the actual visitation to the next day.

At night we had dinner at Chinatown; which wasn't as big as Toronto's! HAH :x And hm, we booked tickets for a day trip to Old Quebec, a beautiful beautiful place.

I know we went to Gay Village one night, but which night I don't remember. Nothing much except the rainbow flags with only 6 colors, and male couples in restaurants :D

Also went to a pub at night, but I didn't drink of course :D *good girl*

Okay, I'm supposed to have tuition tmr ._.

Milk tea!

2010-04-11T22:27:00.002+08:00

So one day I went to the supermarket and decided it's time for me to try Pokka Milk Tea! (Everyone likes the Green Tea right???) Well, and they were having a discount too.

WELL.

The Pokka Milk Tea is damn fail!!! Was having high hopes for it, since XQ told me it was nice (smth wrong with her tastebuds lo :x). The milk tea had a very very strong tea taste so it wasn't that nice. In fact it tasted spoilt! I let my sister try, she suggested that it may be that the milk inside has turned sour... Well... Maybe. I'll give it a try next time if someone treats me :x

Pokka Milk Coffee.. After the large disappointment that was the Pokka Milk Tea, I wasn't having high hopes for the Milk Coffee. I recall going to the FairPrice @ Jurong Point (it's freaking big!) with Ryan once, and the milk coffee was almost gone! So this one must taste not bad?? Well, it really tasted not bad, at least better than the milk tea could ever be!

MineShine is a Taiwanese brand. It's the best ♥ Everyone should try that! I saw a chocolate version too, maybe I'll try it next time.

Prices
Pokka Milk Tea/Coffee - $1.05 for 500ml ($0.21 per 100ml)
Mineshine Milk Tea - $1.70 for 600ml ($0.29 per 100ml)

The former is cheaper, but the latter is definitely worth that price! And anyways the price of Pokka was on discount, usual price should be $1.25 ba?

OMG.

2010-04-07T16:53:00.002+08:00

Wow, now that I'm actually doing my 2 parts for the GEK project, it's really quite a handful!

My parts were aupposed to be compiled... so I'm should have people giving me their parts of the research. And two of my group members have not given me much to work on.

So now, I'm only on the first part, and everything I've typed so far, are stuff I found myself. Gotten read thru all the information and sieve and type them in. Wow. I don't mind doing it, just that, wasn't this supposed to be group effort? If I knew it was gonna be individual I wouldn't have volunteered to do these 2 parts o_o

EL project seems so much easier now. Just assign work. Well GEK we assigned work too, but not that clear = fuzzy concept.

And um, well I know they've other projects la. But please allocate appropriate time for this too. It's fucking 30%.

Just a disclaimer, I am unhappy about the situation, not the people.

Well, anyways gotten try finishing it by Friday. I was hoping to start studying for my lab quiz + practical test next week, but seems like it's impossible now.

I haven't changed my blogskin for a long timeeee!

2010-04-06T20:50:00.005+08:00

Time for a more pictorial and non emo post! Wheeeee.

I wanted to post my Kyushu Fair loot, but I realised I've my Valentines' stuff! I post those first :P

Tadahhhh!!!

Well, of course not everything is for Vday package, some is just personal food items. Marks and Spencer's stuff spoil very fast lo :x Okayyy, maybe means NO PRESERVATIVES right??? :D

My parents got 300 dollars worth of Robinson's/M&S/John Little vouchers for buying 2 new TVs, lols. (I didn't even know they bought the tvs.. >>)

So I had 150 dollars to spend. Just nice spent 50 bucks at Marks and Spencer! So lucky! The rest was spent on bags and shoes for CNY (: (One of the shoes spoil liao, throw away le :x)

Oops

2010-03-23T07:12:00.000+08:00

I wasn't even that tired.

But after dinner, I fell asleep till 3am. And continued sleeping till now.

GG. Nv do work!!!

Happenings at the Central Library

2010-03-11T15:25:00.003+08:00

Am waiting for Ryan to finish his make-up lecture so we can go get his violin together (with Joce).

Saw this scene at the computer opposite to mine.
There were 3 people doing group discussion. 2 of them (let's name them A and B) took chairs from the empty seats beside that computer (no one was using those seats at that time).

So after a guy came and found the seat missing. He dragged another chair from somewhere else. Another girl came to take the 'somewhere else' seat.

A saw the above scene and laughed amusedly.

Wa lau eh right. Take ppl's chair still laugh! All your fault la, at least feel guilty plz.

When the group was leaving, C (she was the person using the computer) wanted to move the chairs back. A told her 'Don't bother.'

DOUBLE WA LAU EH >>

And lucky we changed the JSS camp to 13-16th July.
Union Camp is 6-9 July lo...

2010-03-06T01:39:00.000+08:00

There's no use wishing for things you don't have. Nothing will change if you complain about someone who isn't willing to change. Just gotta do the best you can. And try not to explode.

Hm.

2010-02-27T01:09:00.003+08:00

I dunno, I've been getting irritated with people quite easily recently. Dunno the cause of my short fuse. Today was a relatively good day. Joce came for GEK lecture, and the lecture was pretty interesting. Transition Metals was not bad today, but mostly because it's recap of Year 2 Physical and Inorganic. I even discussed with Yihong about the nucleophility parameters and dunno what...

Hm... I hope I go back to my usual happier self soon. If I keep being like that, I'm afraid I may offend someone.

Hah, that reminds me. This year's Homestay is very popular! Must be from the advertising we did since Matric Fair, lols. The quota is 8 I think, but have 11 applicants already?

Looking at the people who applied, welllllll...

There's this girl who came for chawamushi making session, and like.. she said "I never receive any emails from you (JSS)." Then I was like to myself, "Oh shit.". Asked her for her name and email so I can check and like update her information or smth. Turns out it was typed correctly (and not typed by me anyways... but that's besides the point.) just that it was the nus mail.

I told her "Oh, it's typed correctly, your nus mail.." Jokingly I said "You never check your nus mail right.."

"Ya so now change it to that one."

lols wtf. Why did she sound so haughty and buay paiseh huh. People like that just piss me off. She sounded like she's blaming me (or maybe us) for sending to the mail she doesn't read when she supplied it us herself?!?! Hm, and in the first place... how can you claim that you never receive anything... you never open that mail, of course never read la. boo.

I miss you...

2010-02-24T03:01:00.002+08:00

This week is crazy @_@

But will be okay once I'm done with lab report and Viva (for now).

I'm quite afraid of the written quiz for CM3292 (lab module). Heard from Weiwen it was easy but only because she took Solid States and IA.. Think a lot of Chem majors took those in their Semester 1, gg la. And the % quite high too.

Oh wells, better sleep.

You know you're attached when...

2010-02-21T18:41:00.003+08:00

Your friends no longer use you as a gauge to see if they're staying overnight or going for an activity.

Haha.

I can't believe I spent so much time doing a summary! Like squeeze 5 pages into 1 page with font size 12!!! D: OMG GG. Then still must write critical comments wtf. Dunno how to write!!! GG.

I haven't study for my VIVA and haven't do lab report T_T

My mum's birthday coming! Dunno want to get anything or not...

I haven't study my Chemistry... and my EL.. and my GEK, and etc etc. WORK IS NEVERENDING T_T

Whippy flying off tmr.

I went to Chingay yesterday and it was great! ♥ Love the floats, the performance, the fireworks and the company. Too bad never bring camera. Hope I can go again next year~ :P

Responsiblities

2010-02-18T00:29:00.002+08:00

Is it so hard to reply to emails? Is it so hard to type a single sms? Is it so hard to ask for just a tiny bit of co-operation?

If you're not willing to contribute, not willing to give up some of your time, then don't jump into it.

Oh I hate free loaders too. Just want the status, don't want to do work.
And leech off people. Boo.

CNY~

2010-02-16T01:43:00.003+08:00

Because someone told me I havent updated for a long time and my recent posts all short and emo.

Here's a long(er) and not emo post!

Reunion Dinner
Went to my grandma's place. She never cook the soup where she always put abalone inside one lo. The only dish she cooked was the wuxiang. The rest is vegetarian lols. Had a lot of wu xiang with chilii :9 Yum. Then my mum brought a can of abalone; got the maid to slice them. Ate with chilli :9 :9 Yumyum.

More ppl came and we sat around. I've got nothing to say so I just played my PSP. FFVIICC~

Day 1
As usual early morning go my grandma's place again. (Okay actually it's noon.) Then sit around and collect angbaos. Move over to granduncle's (grandpa's bro) and also sat around, but this time 2 ppl nv gimme my angbao!! Hahaa. Had lunch~ :D Beehoon with curry~~~ Nice. I think I feel awkward mixing around in a dress, haha.

At around 4+ went to my grandaunt's place (dad's aunt), sit down and get angbao, okay not really, because there not many ppl. 2-3 angbaos there. Watch some MJ show, I dunno the combis so it's hard to appreciate. Fell asleep! Woke up hungry and ate stuff like bar kwa and love letter which I usually don't eat. Can tell I don't eat because I dunno how to spell bar kwa! But you know what I'm talking about right?? BBQ pork thing..

Went home for awhile to rest. Changed to blouse and skirt and slacks, wahahaa. Went to my aunt's place for steamboat, spammed myself with wuxiang again, I swear it tastes SO GOOD~ :D There was hotpot too, had some meatballs, I like meatballs :D

Sat around and got bored. Started playing Pokemon on my DS. I love my handhelds.

Go home! Shagged. Did GEK and never count my angbao money.

Day 2
Today I went to Ryan's place to collect more angbaos xD Alarm clock at 10, snoozed till 11am. Changed. I've never wore dresses 2 days straight, it's a miracle. Left my place at 11.30am, reached Lakeside at 12.30pm and dear Ryan still hasn't reached!!!! >( Haaha. Walked and met him on the way. Dress = +100 points.

Had lunch, WU XIANG AGAIN! Wheeeeee. His big aunt gave me angbao~ His mum also.

Napped a bit then watched Mononoke! Nice! Very anti-social.

Headed to his little aunt's place, ate again! Did she cook wuxiang ah, oh no. Prawn in batter I like! :D Whee.

Sat around watch TV till 8pm or so, then moved out to Shing's place.

Missed the stop and stopped at the stop before NY Girls. (dunno the proper abbrev.) Opposite is CHINESE HIGH which looks really atas, but too dark can't see clearly. Wanna see it again. Took bus back to Shing's place, turns out no reception in the room they're in ._. gg. But Ryan found the place.

Played Black Jack, I can't sit beside Ryan, I seem to give him bad luck. Played myself after awhile, started with 2 bucks, ended with 4 bucks. I got Black Jack twice cos they forgot to give a card to Whippy ._.

Saboteur! I missed it.

Took KH's car home, whee.

Hope I study tmr...

?!

2010-02-08T13:20:00.002+08:00

2 out of 4 people is considered a lot of FASS students meh.

It feels like under appreciation.

2010-02-08T13:18:00.003+08:00

Am I not good enough? Have I not contributed enough?
Is there any meaning in staying?

Maybe I really didn't do much, and just think I did. Hah.

2010-02-02T20:16:00.003+08:00

Why must people automatially assume that I'm spending time with my bf?
Why must people assume I won't spend time with them?
Why do my friends not share their problems with me anymore?

Why am I not included anymore? Being attached doesn't make me a different person.

This is fucking annoying.

Missed my flight

2009-12-31T15:37:00.001+08:00

How often do you experience this man?!?!?!
Whhheeee.
WTF la.

Someone get my bf to come online plz.
Haha, jk.

Wellll, cya guys on the 2nd of Jan. Maybe I'll spend my day updating my blog tmr... Or visit Kensington Market, haha.

London have free public transit on NY I think. I hope so!

FREAKING SCARED

2009-12-30T09:25:00.002+08:00

Today is my 2nd day at home alone... It's pretty scary cos the house is big and I stay on the 1st floor, so I totally don't know what there is on the 2nd and 3rd floor.

Today afternoon after coming back from buying my luggage (which looked like a medium sized one in the store, but when compared with my HUGE LUGGAGE turned out to be the same size; hope I don't have excess baggage... But excess baggage up till 32kg is 30pounds per bag, which is about 68sgd, quite ok... but anyways,) after coming back, the DOOR WAS OPEN. WTF. I was so freaking worried and went to my room, phew all my belongings are still there.

Left the house again to meet Lynette. And told her about the door, and got scared again. What if someone was hiding on the 2nd and 3rd floor! ): Couldn't shop in peace (was planning the spend the rest of my Canadian dollars at Eaton Centre). Kinda rushed back, and trying to distract myself. Came home, the door was closed. All my things are there...

Went to check the top floors, freaking scary. No one's there. Good. But still freaking worried... Feel very unsafe now ):

Someone come bunk with me T_T Boo. And later I need to bathe, I think I'll be scared again... This sucks.

More Weekend Trips

2009-12-24T05:40:00.003+08:00

OMG!!!! I REALISED THAT ON TOP OF NOT WRITING ABOUT MONTREAL, I HAVEN'T WROTE ABOUT THE CITY PASS!!!!!!

Die. So I gonna write quickly about my weekend trips, aiyo.

21st Sept: St. Lawrence, Distillery, Cabbagetown

We went to St Lawerence and that day was the Antique Market was operating.

Antique market got a lot of interesting retro kinda stuff, like quaint tableware and old DC comics.

This is the main St Lawerence Market building.

And some interesting looking pub.

Next stop was Distilley District, which has too many art galliers.

Then after that we went to Cabbagetown, which wasn't much. There were nice houses.. Haha.

17th Oct: Hart House Farm

This is kinda a subsidiary of UofT. They produce apple cider I think. But I didn't get to see any apple trees, haha. But it's yet another nature kinda place, like Elora Gorge like that...

The bus ride there was about 1 hour. Lunch was served immd, but because we were too slow, so didn't manage to get a seat inside. Eating outside in the cold was definitely not fun. Haha.

Lunch was bread and cheese (:

Then before the walk around the area, we had some time to nua around. So basically the whole trip was nua-ing around in the room la haha.

We went to the area where they were making apple cider.

Then a tour around the area.

I was very tired after the tour, so I slept on the sofa, and soon dinner came.

Grilled meat, potatoes, and so on..

31st Oct: St. Lawrence Fresh Market, High Park

This time we went to visit the Fresh Market instead of the Antique Market at St. Lawerence. Same place but different food being sold.

Dunno why we didn't visit the main market in the past.
Basically it's like a live market, and downstairs there's a really good bakery.

Next stop was High Park, it's in the atas area lo. Haha.
I don't dislike nature parks la, but I don't like to walk on uneven grounds xD

Time to go to NYC! My friends are scaring me with the customs ):

Celebrating Mooncake Festival In Toronto

2009-12-16T09:43:00.002+08:00

The lecturers here at UT mark damn fast, I already got my results for my two UEs. Pass :D Now I only need to worry about my Chemistry mods, which are the 2 things I've been worrying about actually. Haha. One more paper on Thursday!

Everyone's going to Japan! Not fair! I wanna go too! (Actually I kinda forgot I just went in June...)

Anyways I'm copying and pasting part of a MSN convo, it's faster like that XP

3rd October: Mooncake Festival + Nuit Blanche

fel | i found my motivation says:
haha
eh ytd
we cooked tang yuan
then deming went into my room w/o asking (haha) and saw the moon from my balcony
so in the end they came up with this brilliant idea to have the maf session in my balcony lo

fel | i found my motivation says:
then move things in

fel | i found my motivation says:
to the balcony
very cold
but drink hot tea
quite nice la
haha
then we've mooncake also
the traditional one
which i ate 1/8 of
then have snowskin looking mooncake
but according to deming it's not
it tastes weird....
make me feel like puking =/
so i hurry drink tea
haha
then hm
we talked a bit

fel | i found my motivation says:
hmm
after our maf session
we went to nuit blanche, it's actually the name of the event la
but it's along the whole of toronto
they've 3 areas for this art event
just nice we stay near one of it, which is dundas street la
so first we went to ago (art gallery of ontario)
cos free admission
see some interesting photos of high fahsion
then went out , have ppl drawing graffati as performance
then we went to the ontario art college
they've all these strange looking figures
quite big one
then have cows.. (fake cows)
have a lot of mist
quite interesting also
but a bit scary
haha

fel | i found my motivation says:
hmm after that we went to bay street, there's a bus terminal there
ohh ya overnight event
last till today early morn
last time when we went back at 2+ still a lot of ppl
anyways the bus terminal
inside have a metal cage
with dunno hw many ppl inside
they going to westle blindfolded
but too many ppl liao
cant really see
haha

fel | i found my motivation says:
anyways
after that we went to a music performance
they were kinda anyhow playing
but they actions and stuff
so it's very fun
and i really like the sound from musical instruments
live stuff
so i really enjoyed that

fel | i found my motivation says:
then hmm, after that we met up with deming's friend renhui
also a photographer
her photos very nice one

fel | i found my motivation says:
we went to eaton centre, it's this big shopping centre
then there's a giant bunny at the rooftop
so interesting
haha
then we went to the church, they having some event too
but queue too long

fel | i found my motivation says:
after the church thing we went to old city hall
it's very nice
then they have ice skating ring
which is not frozen yet
then they had lighted up words in bet 2 buildings
4 letter words
very nice scenery there
then we all took photo

Okay, watch anime, bathe, switch off the com and do last revision! ♥

Snow Diary again!

2009-12-09T14:47:00.004+08:00

9th December, around 1.40am.
Weather forecast says that there would be SNOW tonight (not flurries). So after some revison... Okay, fine, I was slacking around, drinking water and stuff... I decided to look out of my window. Switched on the lights, and omg THERE REALLY WAS SNOW.

This time the precipitation was much stronger and bigger and the frequency of the snow falling waws higher. The wind was really strong, so I could also see the snow thrusting here and there. It must be really cold outside =/

I can't take a photo cos the window is reflective. Maybe on the way to school tmr. First paper tmr! Wish me luck.

9/12/09
3 months have passed! So fast!
:D

Snow Diary, lols

2009-12-08T06:57:00.005+08:00

7th December, around 1pm.
The weather was cold at usual around 1 degrees. DM, Lynette and many other facebook status updates inform me that it's snowing but I can't see anything from my window.. The weather forecast says 'Scattered flurries'. I wore my scarf and hat, and also prepared my gloves in my bag.

So everything seemed normal... Until I reached the intersection of College and Spadina. I saw small specks of white flying past me!

More and more white stuff flew past me and I could see them on my coat~ I could feel them hitting lightly on my face!

I wonder how it would be like as the snows get thicker and heavier~

I shall write some real life encounters too.
One day in computational lab...

Girl: I'm 20 this year. I'm so oldddddd.
Kinda cute but likes-to-wear-tight-fitting-clothles exchange student from London: Oh, it's okayyy.
Cute exchange student from London: No, that's really old. I'm only 19.

Fel: *heart goes piang!*
Fel: *thinks to herself* I'm 21 already......

No wonder we can use the Day Pass without getting caught.

I'm on an emotional roller coaster and the operator is watching videos

2009-12-07T03:00:00.002+08:00

When you choose to do Activity A over Activity B, you're signaling that Activity A is more important (or ok, maybe more enjoyable). You're also signalling that Activity B is less important.

First exam on Wednesday. Jia you! :D

Random

2009-12-02T12:19:00.004+08:00

I see some people joining this group

As long as somebody else is as screwed as me, everything is good.

Too bad it doesn't work like that in UT!

31 more days.

2009-11-22T23:27:00.000+08:00

本当は話したかったんだ。

My pillow.

2009-11-20T14:00:00.003+08:00

I'm glad I brought my pillow over. I can't believe I didn't think of packing it till the very last minute. I wanted to bring it, but I was telling myself "Aiya, it'll be like hotel like that! When I go hotel, I don't bring my pillow what..." But then, now I think back, what was I thinking man. I'll be in Canada for 4 months leh.

I need to do a reflection about my failing grades, but another time when I'm more awake. And yes it does matter, even if it's S/U.

OMG

2009-11-13T10:36:00.001+08:00

I just realised I've NEVER written anything about JSS outings.

Though they're the main group of people I spent my time with for the 2 months before I left. lols.

Must study!!

Weekend trips in Toronto!

2009-11-12T07:51:00.009+08:00

Okay I'll write VERY briefly about the things I did during weekends. Always got things to do one. Haha.

6th Sept: Canadian National Exhibition Airshow
On the bus back from Niagara Falls we saw a lot of planes flying above us. Seems that there was an airshow going on, so very enthusiatically, we went for it. The Airshow was held near the Harbourfront, at CNE (Canadian National Exhibition).

We stopped by the Harbourfront, the wind was nice, and the lake was pretty.

Changed TTC (street car) to CNE.
When we reached we realised must pay, so being ~~the cheapstake Singaporeans we are~~ not so interested in airshows. We decided to just stay outside and watch!

We were quite enthu with finding and taking photos of the planes. Cheap thrill, haha. We'll like hear from the airplane and predict where it's coming from, haha.
Well, other than that, the show was really quite nice and exciting!

Okay, after a while, we got kinda bored, so we headed back to the Harbourfront to meet Pam and ZY.

We still saw planes there, looks like they park their planes there or smth. Also met Bang Hao, a fellow Singaporean. Turns out he knows one of my secondary school senior! So qiao, small world man.

Pam brought us to Honest Eds, it's like this really cheap place with everything, haha.

Got reminded of JSS; seeing these baseball gloves, haha.

I remember Bang Hao being very funny. He bought a lot of things like bed linen and stuff. Then I asked him if he needed help. He replied, "Don't worry, I've these." then he pointed to his arm muscles, HAHAHAHHA. Damn funny, lols.

That night we met with Velda, Pam's friend, and has Chinese food together~

Bang Hao came to our place to mahjong! (Then we played dai dee and bridge!) It was fun~
I jioed them to play next week~ ♥
Looking forward!

12th Sept: St. Jacob & Elora Gorge
Deming won a ticket from ISC (International Student Center) for a day trip down to St. Jacob and Elora Gorge, so we decided to come along~

Off we go~~

St. Jacob is kinda like a flea market? Nothing interesting, but I saw a lot of fruits and veggie haha. Deming bought strawberries, which were REALLY good! We had them at Elora Gorge after our long trek.

Next we went to the Mennonite Museum, which is obviously a museumn about Mennonites right? Haha. Ya I go google see got anything come out or not.

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons (1496–1561), who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The teachings of the Mennonites were founded on their belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, which they held to with great conviction despite persecution by the various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. Rather than fight, the majority survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their radical belief in adult baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches because of their commitment to nonviolence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite)

Well, basically what I learnt when I was there, was 1) They're Christians. 2) They're peace loving. 3) They live simple lives. Well.. it was quite boring, IMO. But slightly interesting to know there're still such laid back people living around here.

Next comes my worst nightmare, Elora Gorge. Well, okay, it's not that bad. But I was wearing slippers, plus I'm not really the nature loving kind. I like Botanical Gardens and cycling in Ubin (if the mood comes). But I don't like nature walks? Haha.

But okay I need the exercise.

Some people went tubing, haha.
The group of us stopped at a picnic site and enjoyed strawberries and blueberries (I think). So nice~

We met this 2 PRCs who are studying in HKU, and are in UofT for exchange.
They can't understand my English. LOLS. Time to speak in Candian accent?

Well, ok la, actually it's just one of them. The other guy said he understood me.
Anyways, after having dinner with them, the guy who couldn't understand me went really quiet. Haha. Then I asked if he's okay. And he said "I think I finally understand what you're saying."

Dunno if it's because I switched to Canadian accent, or.. he's starting to understand Singlish! Singlish rocks.

Okay, two is enough.
Do lab report!

Niagara Falls Day 3

2009-11-08T04:57:00.006+08:00

I'm so sian of writing my lab report. I guess I really relied too much on my seniors' ones last time! D: Haha.

I'm gonna type up an entry, then study for my Organic Chemistry. Tmr we're planning to go to Casa Loma and another attraction under the City Pass, so I must really try to finish my revision today. Concentrate!

Niagara Falls Day 3

Today is the time for wine (: I tell you, this day really changed my opinion about drinking. I used to tell myself I probably will never touch anything alcholic (unless you consider ethanol and stuff like that xD) because my family doesn't drink, my friends don't really drink. Well, they've nomikai in JSS, but I also never join in, so ya.

But we went for a wine tour! So it's inevitable that we've to drink right?

We were quite lucky, because we booked the tours like on the midnight of that day, and we were quite worried that no one will come pick us up for the tour. Waited for around 15 minutes, and the guy came~ I still remember his name, Chuck, Uncle Chuck, though we don't really call old men here Uncle, haha.

I took very little photos that day because I forgot to bring my charger for my camera battery xD

Heard a lot of wartime stories from Chuck.

We visited a total of 4 wineries.

1) Stonechurch (http://www.stonechurch.com/icewine.html)

They've the best icewine I drank, but too bad I didn't get any. It was the first winery we visited, so I was quite apprehensive about getting anything. (But I regret!) The wine bottle was really pretty too~

The uncle there was very nice and friendly!

We got served this Riesling-Gewurztraminer too, which supposedly goes well with Asian dishes. Not very dry so it wasn't too bad.

The place also sold like wine cooking recipes, haha.

2) Plitteri

The feeling here was rather different from Stonechurch; it was much more commercial with all the stacks and shelves and bar counters.

Tried the red wine. I think I prefer whites.

Intermission: Niagara-On-The-Lake

Break for lunch, and we got a chance to visit this little town of NOTL.

We had lunch at this quite ATAS place, but the food was good, lamp wrap :9

This is Lake Ontario (I think).
I can see it in Toronto Harbourfront too. Can you believe it!?!? Singapore where got this kinda BIG LAKE! (Only have Kallang River lo ;x)

3) Inniskillin

Little tidbit 1: VQA is kinda like the ISO for wines.

Little tidbit 2: The main wine retailer here (Toronto, Ontario) is LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). In Montreal, Quebec, SAQ, (Société des alcools du Québec, or Quebec Alcohol Corporation).

At Inniskillin (Deming's favourite), we had a short winery tour. Got to see some vineyards, and also the things they do to get the wines.

I wrote a lot of rubbish on my FB pictures too, you all can go and see xD
Basically what's so special about ice wine? (Btw, Inniskillin was the first place producing ice wine in Canada, the very first ice wine was made in Germany. Canada's well known for ice wine because of the suitable soil and wind/temperature conditions for harvesting frozen grapes.)

Ice wine is hmm... made from frozen grapes. In winter, they let the grapes freeze till everything dries up, leaving a bit of concentrate. They extract this concentrate and ferment it (: So ice wine is really sweet (and good) :D (But sometimes too sweet; Inniskillin's was REALLY sweet.)

After that we headed for wine-tasting (3rd one). Red wine, as usual, don't taste good. And as I've said the ice wine here is TOO SWEET.

Janet and DM bought sparking ice wine, it's not bad.
So I bought it too.
They gave us a $5 off coupon here lols.

4) Reif Estate

I bought white wine here, because I thought it was really good~
Compared to the others.
Have yet to drink it though, wanna go back and drink with the people I love :D (But if I don't drink with you, doesn't mean I don't love you hor, haha)

And that ends our winery tour. Chuck brought us to this little chapel/church.

Good place for impromptu wedding, lols
And if you've no only 4-5 friends :x
Hahaha, ok, shall stop being so mean.

Night falls~

And that ends my blog posts for Niagara Falls. WAHAHHAHA. FINALLY. After 2 months. So many more exciting things I've yet to write about. lols.

And anyways... I really must check up what's the limit on alcohols I can bring back...

STUDY!

Yesterday was the scariest day of my life.

2009-11-04T23:01:00.003+08:00

fhidsfhsngvsdnighsjngikvjfvjkirgnvnbriohgvnv kxlgj girgjjrhnhvfjivgihsrgvsjvjgrgmkljfpoa
sdjgoijrsgosrdjvgp;sdjkgop'kgespjgvospdvjgodlvjsd,jngvkrldjfv,kjrgodsjvn,
denfl,jdegsdigvlnszdikvnsklvnfigvjfv,flkribgh,bndfknihgsoeghvnksz,.ri
dfgshuibyvbtnyuign udfsogv baprp yt8iure;a9or i939;rw;9wa 9i49t uuj;t u4 utw trisjghriujsf oiwewwor uwouawuwa;uutatuarterituerijtaru tuw ;uw48w4utw9u
tw4jio9yu tii96343i984itu942iu24o9u42 4u oui4 ujftiwuj ieut iwiw utiw 4ut4ufwk f kirgksefesfiejfikejfmhegfkr,mdnhgihrgmrhngihnrfkgvnhdsikcnfkdjndkjnk

Random key mashing is not useful. Haha.
Gonna find some way to make myself feel better.

These feelings suck.

2009-11-04T01:29:00.002+08:00

FUCK FUCK FUCK! WHY AM I NOT IN SINGAPORE NOW.

THANK YOU FAN WAN YIP AND GOH SUAT HONG.

2009-11-03T16:10:00.004+08:00

I ♥ Physical Chemistry.

And these are the only 2 lecturers whose names I can remember. (Well, other than Lam Yulin who taught us Organic Chem, and John Yip, Inorganic.)

Oh wait, actually some names are coming back to me... But nvm.

Thank you, my dear wonderful physical chemistry lecturers.
Due to your good good teaching skills, I still remember all my thermodyanamics.

I didn't even need to study hard for my Geochemistry test.
I got 92/100 for my midterms. WTH.
~~But maybe the class average is 97 or something, you'll never know. Haha.~~

Anyways, I think it's A le la. So don't care. S/U.

ガンバ！ｏ（￣へ￣ｏ）（ｏ￣へ￣）ｏガンバ！

2009-11-02T10:51:00.002+08:00

If you wanna support someone, first, you must get yourself into that mood!

ファイトォ~!!! ☆ミ

MRTs

2009-11-01T05:39:00.002+08:00

Everyone's joining that page which goes smth like 'I disagree with SMRT's action of disallowing plain water and sweets.'

Haha.

My dad works for SMRT, haha. So I'm not going to join it! xP Haha.

Just a random thought.

Niagara Falls Day 2 (Part 2)

2009-10-29T14:27:00.005+08:00

I think, while on SEP, I've learnt smth about my studying habits. I either study hard, or don't study at all. I can't do the middle part. Which is I can't study smart!!! Oh noes!! D: I just don't feel good if I don't go through everything! And I don't feel good when I actually should have known smth, but couldn't do the questions because I didn't study for it.

Haha. And the weather is so cold, you just don't feel like studying, haha. And lab reports, zzz. I usually do my lab reports on weekends back in NUS though, haha.

Okay, shan't backlog! So must faster write!

Niagara Falls Day 2 (Part 2)

This entry should be shorter.

Well, after visiting all the Niagara attractions, we went to the Botanical Gardens on my wish. I actually like Botanical Gardens (in general) (: And the weather was really good! The sun was out but it wasn't humid at all, so nice ♥ My mum would have liked it there too.

We didn't do much there other than feeling the cool breeze~ Haha. Then after that DM decided that he wants to go back to the hotel room and nua, and I asked Janet if I could join her in exploring Clifton Hill.

We ogled at the cute bus guys on the People Mover, wahahaha. I swear they purposely hire good looking guys one lo! Haha. Anyways, overheard this funny convo on the People Mover. There was this lady enquiring about the White Water Walks, so the guy on the bus told her that like these rapids are 5-6 degrees bla bla. So the lady was like 'What do you mean by 5 degrees? And why are they green?' So the guy very patiently explained to her, that like the water is green because of algae or smth. Then lady was like 'OHHH RAPIDS. I thought you said RABBITS.' OMG it's damn funny la. No wonder she looked so confused and amazed while talking to the guy xD (Okay, it doesn't sound so funny, but the actual scene is funny! haha)

Okay we went to Clifton Hill which is kinda like an amusement park district haha.

Ventured to a shop with LOTS OF candies!
Well, I don't really like sweets la, but they all looked really nice and pretty.

There were lots of attractions down the street, like haunted houses and stuff. But we didn't go because must pay money haha.

We went to the souvenir shop for Ripley's Believe It Or Not!, read a couple of interesting books, kinda like Gusiness World Book of Records? Intersting. And then there were like maggot sweets/lollipop or something. Damn gross la.

We went to a few souvenir shops too, but never buy much la. The things here are overpriced.

At around 6pm, we headed back to Niagara, because we wanted to see the illuminations and stuff.

And guess what we saw~

Rainbow! Very long never see liao.
I took a lot of rainbow photos, haha.

Anyways I took this while waiting for DM to go take his sunset shot. But the sky turned dark before it even turned orange.

Unhealthy dinner! Haha. Was kinda sick of fast food, but bo bian haha.

At around 9+ pm, we went out to look at illuminations!

Well, okay la, my camera can't capture very nice ones, but DM's one did! Very very nice shots. We took photo with his pro camera.

Steal some photos from Deming to let you all see the nicer background.

Ya and this last shot of me very unglam, but nevermind. lols. DM like to do test shot, then just nice take photo of me opening my mouth till like that hahaa.

See! I got take photo of myself! Just that it's not on my camera!

Okay, I'm done~ Next is wineries, but that's another day :x

For my favourite engineer, haha.

2009-10-28T13:45:00.003+08:00

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems."

Not I say one ah! Scott Adams say one. Haha.

I'll do a proper post after I finish typing my Experimental part of my lab report. Regret taking lab mod here lo, sian. Haha.

I admire people who are true to themselves.

2009-10-26T09:49:00.003+08:00

Came across this while revising for my Personality test tmr.

On connections and disconnections,

After much unresponsiveness and rejection (isolation), one still continues to try to connect. If one is powerless to change that relationship, they'll try to change themselves, in order to be what others seem to want, and hence deny their own feelings.

On the surface, the person may seem compliant, but internally he/she is experiencing increasing disconnection and fear of establishing new connections.

...Isn't that sad? Human relations....

Little tidbits

2009-10-25T12:27:00.001+08:00

Just now, Janet sneezed and instead of saying 'Excuse me', she said 'For example'.

HAHAHAHA.
She was reading textbook.

I miss NUS T_T

2009-10-16T23:35:00.003+08:00

I miss my labs in NUS when I could spam the rubber gloves.
And I can write my data and findings and whatever on draft paper.

Actually I don't really like to do lab la :x (Unless it's Physical or Spectro Chemistry)

Niagara Falls Day 2 (Part 1)

2009-10-16T10:07:00.006+08:00

I've cough!! It sucks! D:

Finally decided I'll update my blog today. Finished one midterm today, another one next Tuesday. Lab starts next week, and I've to do a summary for an article for the TAs to gauge my writing skills ._. Apparently the department got more money this semester. Use it to upgrade your labs la! Why give TAs more money and increase their working hours. We're not happy and they're not happy.. (But at least they're paid.)

Okay time to write. Then bathe, then do homework. Then fold clothes.

Niagara Falls Day 2

I remember one morning I had exco meeting, Was it this morning? Haha. Anyways, seeing everyone was great. I remember liao, it was my last day at Niagara Falls. I also got to talk to Ryan and a lot of other friends like KH and Kurt, so I felt much less homesick.

This is our hotel room. So big and nice~ 110SGD for 3 nights!

I had Tim Hortons~ It's named after a famous ice hockey player.

Nice and affordable breakfast! The 'bread' is like Popeye's biscuit! Crispy one~ Nice.

Must try the donuts and timbits next time!
Can't buy back for you all. But they've hot chocolate powder, so I'll buy that back~

The main activity for Day 2 was the Niagara Falls Attrations. We got an Adventure Pass for 4 of the most popular attractions, Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, Niagara's Fury, White Water Walks.

Maid of the Mist

This is definitely the best attraction, if you wanna save money, just go for this one. It brings you really close to the Falls!

Everyone with their ponchos!
At all the 4 attractions I went to (other than White Water Walks), they give us ponchos. I hope they recycle..

Maid of the Mist was really fun because you can feel the Falls~♥ The water splashing all over your face and your body. Haha. And the really loud sounds from the Falls!! Nice! :D

I saw a double rainbow too!! Very pretty (:

Niagara's Fury

Indoors attraction!
They had a really nice souvenir shop and cute soft toys!

This was an indoor attraction, so we didn't expect to need ponchos, but they gave it to us anyways. We watched a video about how the Niagara Falls were formed. 2D video. And because we were wearing ponchos, everyone was very wary of the ceiling in particular, wondering if water will fall from above. But no sprinklers in sight.

Then AFTER THAT, a door opened and there was this platform for us.. to experience it in 4D. Haha.

So basically there was wind, water, ice, snow. Haha. And shaking. Well.. hm, quite fun la. Haha.

Journey Behind the Falls

This attraction was kinda... meh. Cos like, we literally went to the 'back' of the Falls. So you just see the Falls coming down... and ok, time to go! Haha. The tunnel we went into also smelled weird.

The Falls and me. This is the apparently cute picture of me. So I just put it up, hahahaha.

That's about the only pictures I had xD

White Water Walks

For this attraction, I wouldn't say it's interesting, but it isn't too bad. We walk down the gorge which is kinda on the left hand side of the falls, and it flows all the way to I don't know where xD

Some facts for you all~

And yes! I finished my post on Niagara Falls Day 2.
But this is only PART 1!

Hope I won't be too lazy again...
Backlog by 1 month. Haha.

D:

2009-10-13T13:13:00.002+08:00

I think that emoticon is one of my favourites, especially for blogging haha.

Well, I'm back from Montreal~ It was a beautiful beautiful place, especially Quebec City (: The autumn leaves there were really nice too ♥ Shall upload photos soon. (And blog... haha, I SUPER BACKLOGGIN Niagara Falls, hhaa)

Anyways, I got sick! D: Why. At first it's sore throat, how come have cough now!!! D: D: I just hope it doesn't evolve to a fever. Must rest more and drink more herbal tea.

I really must write about this telephone call I made to Ryan while in Quebec.
After typing a long string of numbers and memorising Ryan's mobile number (twice), I finally got through to him. I couldn't really recognise his voice, though mostly because I was at Montmorency Falls and it was pretty noisy. Anyways, I started with "Is this Ryan...?"
Ryan: Ya
Me: This is Felicia.
Ryan (and me): ... ... ... LONG PAUSE.
Ryan: Oh!

HAHAHAHAHAHA. I told him "You need time to think who I am ah???" lols. It was funny.

Okay, I'm sleeping. Hopefully after resting tonight I'll feel better!! Have a test on Thursday and I haven't really studied for it.

HAHA ANIME.

2009-10-06T22:55:00.005+08:00

WTH.
Why does the Japanese train stations have their own anime?!

lols lols lols.
Okay, but at least they introduced some little facts about the stations (: Quite interesting.

And nice seiyuu cast~ SugiTomo, Morita, KENN. ♥
Ishida Akira is the dog. Haha.

But cheesy anime. Haha.

Trust

2009-10-02T15:49:00.004+08:00

You talk about trust. But how can I trust you, when you're doing things behind our backs? And you've the cheek to say it's a trust issue and that having checks is a sign of no trust. OF COURSE you don't deserve any.

いとしいあなたへ

2009-09-30T10:20:00.004+08:00

一緒に話す時間が少なくなるでも、いつもあなたのことを　思ってる、　支えてる、　励ましてる。

また　会えるように！　(^^)//

wth~ D:

2009-09-30T01:16:00.003+08:00

I was talking to KH (someone from JSS) about SEP. And he was telling me for Japan, NASA (Nus Awards for exchange, alr forgot what it stands for...) is 3000SGD :D Wa. Then I saying why Canada only 2000SGD???? D: (Can't even cover my air tix, haha)

Then he showed me this link.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/iro/nus/students/awards/nasa/NASA%20Std%20Award%20Value.pdf

China: 1720
M'sia: 2000
South Korea: 2500
Indonesia/Vietnam/Thailand: 2000 <- SEA ._.
UK/US: 2000 <- Same as Canada

Whut.

いまのきもち２

2009-09-25T10:03:00.002+08:00

辛いのは。　待つこと。

Niagara Falls Day 1

2009-09-23T06:28:00.005+08:00

OMG I'm having a really bad cramp =/

Haha, ok whatever ah. Anyways today my lecture/tutorial was like... what 30 minutes only??? lols. I asked the prof questions! Amazing. Never had to do that in NUS. Then I was very soft, and I spoke in my Singapore accent, she can understand! Yes. Hahhaa. Anyways, I think that tutorial, if you've no questions, you don't need to go... Aiya... Now I know~

Okay, will write about my first day at Niagara Falls. Actually I already did, just that the post didn't go thru properly lo!! Angry! Haha.

Niagara Falls Day 1

Left our place around 8/9+ in the morning, walked ALL THE WAY to Bay Street with our heavy luggage. Took at the very least 15 minutes. Haha. Anyways, reached the Bus Terminal and immd went to board the bus! :D Fell asleep a few times on the bus, I think bus have sleep-inducing effects. The buses here. I feel like sleeping everytime I go on one.

Many different sorts of scenery along the way... I think Canada has too much empty space. Then all the empty space use for factory outlets, haha.

We finally reached the Bus Terminal 1.5 hours later. Not that bad a ride.

We took a bus like that.
Anyways, after this we had to take another bus to the Falls. So ma fan, haha.

THE FALLS. Nice hor. This is the American Falls.

And the Canadian Horseshoe Falls

Anyways, the gushing sounds is really really nice. And the falls were really big. Okay, I can't describe it, lack of vocab.
You all should go watch the video I took on FB.

Oh! I really hated the background music there, it made me emo :x Hhahaa.

Anyways, I really gotta show you all this picture, hahaha. I AM VERY NUA. HAHAHHA. And I don't wanna get any darker!!! You all go look at my Natsu Matsuri pics ah, omg. I hope I don't get darker anymore; in fact I hope I get fairer!! lols.

Okay, anyways near 1 or 2pm, we finally headed UPSLOPE (with our heavy luggage) to our hotel. We passed Clifton Hill, which I took pictures during Day 2, so I'll write about it again :x Hahha.

And our hotel is damn nice one (: I also have the picture in Day 2 I think. Will show you all when I finally blog about that day :x Hahaha.

Anyways, the hotel mgmt was very nice, let all 3 of us stay w/o extra cost! :D (We booked room for 2.)

And because it's already afternoon, so we decided to do Niagara attractions the next day, and go to Canada1 It's basically a place with lots of factory outlets = shopping! :D

Educate you all about Canadian traffic lights.
They don't use green and red man one~! They only have white man and orange hand!! And some roads have, some roads don't have one. (Usually crossroads have, and small roads don't have...)

SUBWAY :D I haven't had Subway since I came.... Haha.

There was lots of flowers on the way there~

Singapore where got this kinda thing~!!!

And after 30 minutes of walking... we're finally here!!

Guess I need to write a bit about the factory outlets. Basically from what I remembered, I went to Nike, and there wasn't much because 1) all the clothes were like M and above, which we know, are too big for Singaporean guys. And I didn't need expensive sportswear, so I didn't even look out for girls' stuff. Haha.

Coach: Immediately various ppl popped into my head, Sandra, HUI SHAN. HAHAHA. I too young and immature for atas brands la, so I look look only lo. Haha. But I did try to look and see if I could get anything for KT, but I decided I'll just share with Joce they all (though I haven't told Joce my plan to do so :x). I also tried to see if there was anything for my mum, but nah... The Coach colors were all very bold and bright, blue green pink. My mum don't like. Haha

Guess: Thought of Shan again :x Girl, if you wanna change my mindset of you, better do it soon xP Haha. I also tot of my stupid sister, haha. Cos she's crazy over red, and before I left SG, she was saying she wanted a wallet. The wallets were relatively cheap, CND29.90, around 45SGD. But Janet tried, and apparently the wallet can't fit a 50 dollar SG bill! Haha. No use lo. Haha.

Esprit: Vanvan should know how much I like(d) this brand. Now I rather buy Uniqlo, because the sizes suit me so much better. Haha. Well, I spent some time around the men's section, and the shop assistant probably couldn't stand my indecisiveness, (I was standing around, looking and flipping, looking and flipping, pacing back and forth haha) so he came up to ask me if I needed help 2 times. lols.

Urban Planet: US brand, streetwear. They had some really interesting clothes and affordable prices. 2 tees for 15 bucks. Bought some, I probably won't wear them, but in the first place I had my sister (and her friend, YT), and the JSS girls in mind. So I bought like 2 S and 2 M sizes one. S for Jocelyn in particular lols, and my sister.

Body Shop Depot: I thought have discount on everything, but nah, only some. And the some, I never use. So... sian... Haha. Wanted to get my facial wash if they had it.. I thought it would be enough... But seems like it's going to run out!! D: I don't wanna buy expensive toiletries here~~~

Sony: My Ipod earphones going to cui liao. Still usable la, but well. Haha. ELECTRONICS ARE MORE EX HERE. Please don't die my IPod earphone. And I hope none of my electronics break down here. Haha.

By the time we headed back, it was already 7+? And I was feeling so much better because I shopped. HAHAHAHA.

We bought beer on the way back. The light one was pretty good. Very malty.

Beer chain.

Had our dinner at Wendy's.

Spicy~!

I wasn't very hungry, so I only had fries and 1/3 of that. In Canada, they don't mind giving us a BIG cup of ice water (: So nice. You see, in Singapore, they only give you a small small pathetic cup. lols. And they don't have chili sauce here. Someone ship me some packet chili sauce or smth ._. Haha.

Okay, I got no pictures le. So I just summarize the rest.
So when we got back, we drank the beer. I nua-ed on the armchair and fell asleep for a while. Went for a shower and wet the whole floor because I didn't know you must pull the shower screen INTO the bathtub. (Now I know!) Drank more beer. SLEEP.

I update about Day 2 and Day 3 next time ok :x Hahhaa.

いまのきもち

2009-09-17T10:38:00.005+08:00

怖いとき、悲しいとき、辛いとき、　あなたのことを思うだけ。。。　ココロが軽くなって。　

In Toronto! Coping with my homesickness..

2009-09-08T10:07:00.004+08:00

Okay, so I reached Toronto's aiport, Pearson. Anyways, I had a BAD HEADACHE on the airplane from filling in the form, made the ride back to our aprt a very bad experience. Haha.

Pearson Airport was very like plain and boring, nothing to do one. They charged 2 dollars for trolley... Now we know why Changi Airport's one of the best airports around, haha. Heathrow was boring too, remember? haha

Okay, so we reached our apartment at around 8/9 plus; taking a taxi van thing, it was 70++ dollars for us. Haha. Anyways, the outside was kinda rundown and it was DAMN COLD. And we were all really tired. Had to drag my luggages all the way up. Lucky the landlord brought her male friend along, and he helped us with some of the luggage. Some ATs were still occupying 2 of the rooms. So Deming got the single room and Janet and I shared the queen bed. All of us took a bath. Around 11 plus, we left to explore around.

Chinatown at night! :DD Very empty at 11 plus, haha.

Okay, fast forward to next day.

This is like right in front of my place, haha.
(And it's the one I went to in my recent FB status.)

So in my still happy mood, we had our FIRST MEAL in Toronto.
This restaurant is just like, 3 minutes from my apartment...

Yummy spring rolls! :D

Watery shrimp congee (how to pronounce???), generous portions of shrimp. Large cry from Singapore xDDD

Chinatown in the morning was more lively! :D A lot of vendors, and all the shops/groceries were open~

We saw durian!

One of the HK restaurants. Either King's or Gold Stone... Haha.

Okay, as we continue walking, we leave Chinatown (Spadina St) and walk down Dundas Street. (I'm slowly learning the street names..)

We past AGO. I wanna go to ROM though. Haha, you guys can guess what ROM is?

Some sculpture haha

Reached Dundas Square!~

BIG SHOPPING CENTRE: Eaton Centre

Lots of shops inside. We went to get our prepaid cards (expensive) and looked at various clothes. There were the usual Esprit, Zara, GAP, Aldo. Aldo's cheaper here. And American brands like Old Navy and Holister.

Here's the Canadian food court.
Quite nice. But all the stores are like expensive. Haha. A lot of cuisines though, haha.

There was a wedding on the day back!!

We explored a bit nearer to our neighbourhood. There was a store called Blue Banana. Ppl who sent me off should find this familiar xDD

This is my Fido (service provider) SIM card, haha.

Okay, things go DOWNHILL here.

This seemingly harmless pita sandwich was the cause of it...
Here's how my day went...

This is Kensington Market, lots of nice stores around here.
My first experience of feeling homesick was here. I witnessed an ugly part of Kensington and downtown Toronto. Drunkards. There're bars near our place. And when we left to meet Sara (another Singaporean) for dinner we saw a drunkard and he was actually threatening to beat another drunkard. It was really horrifying. To have it so near to me, and so near to my apartment, it really made me feel very unsafe. Singapore was never like that, I never worried about things like that back in Singapore. The drunkards here are quite high one, they'll like shout at the top of their voices and so on... It was scary. Met another drunkard very soon, at a crowded area. He was swaying around with this glass bottle, and it was pretty scary..

Now more. I had a very bad stomachache from that pita sandwich... I thought I would be okay because I brought the pills that I always have for stomachache, but.. after one packet, my stomachache did not subside... The cold weather didn't help. I couldn't sleep the whole night, and I kept visiting the toilet. It was very bad... I even comtemplated not going to Niagara Falls. The next day it was still not better after 2 more packets of the pills... I was feeling really bad. And I couldn't call my mum, because I didn't want to worry her.

With my stomachache, I went to Niagara Falls. The bus ride there was nice. When I reached Niagara Falls, the sight of the falls was so beautiful that I forgot about the pain for a moment. But, I started wishing that everyone was here with me.. Basically I got really homesick.. And my stomach just hurt somemore. It was only at night that I started feeling better.

I must really thank everyone who spoke to me on MSN that few days. Talking to you all, made me feel so much better. I think I remember speaking to Joce and Vanvan, so thank you. I think I cried a few times in the toilet with my stomachache, it's just a really bad feeling. Didn't help that I couldn't get to talk to certain someone mentioned in the previous post..

Well, anyways, finally things got better on the 2nd day. I did some shopping, bought stuff for everyone I missed back in Singapore, webcamed my sister. I got to talk to more people. You all are really important.

And also Deming, who asked me why I chose to come here. He told me that I didn't look like I was enjoying myself. I wonder if it's because of my usual sian/tired face, or I just really showed it. But his words just hit on me, I made this choice. Everyone was so happy for me. What am I doing??? I must make the best out of this trip. Just hope everyone will still remember me when I get back!!!

Well, I'll write about Niagara Falls again.

Anyways, I'm feeling much better now. Got closer to my housemates, enjoying my time with them.

Marc showed us this U Curve during UofT orientation. I just hope I'm on the adjustment and not at euphoria (new things and new experiences, excitment..)
I don't ever want to feel that slump again; it's the worst feelng ever.

ARGHHH!

2009-09-01T11:48:00.001+08:00

I need to webcam :D

I'm super emo.

I haven't spoke to a certain someone for a few days already.... I need to speak to that person soon..

I'm in Canada~

2009-08-31T04:33:00.005+08:00

But I'm already missing the people back at home...
This morning I called my mum and I was really happy to finally be able to talk to her. She's been working whenever I try to call (: So yay.

4 months will be over soon, I guess now I'm still not used to it yet.. Being in a different country, everything's interesting and new, but yeah.. Anyways, I'm a bit stung by the prices here! The cost of living in Canada is 1.3x higher!! Haha. Really scared I don't have enough money. Anyways, ok, am going to write about Canada and stop backlogging, haha.

SEND OFF
FIRSTLY, I really must thank all the people who came to send me off, so many of you, so touched T_T Thank you. I didn't talk much to everyone but I'm really grateful to be able to see all of you and take pictures with you all ♥ You will be missed!!

JSS ♥ Really enjoyed my last 2 months with them.

Pyaess, group of ppl who I never get sick of seeing.. :D (Not that I get sick of seeing anyone though.. Hm)

My 4C friends, when will I meet you guys again~~~

Tampines gang~~~ Thanks for coming!

It was kinda painful towards the end. When I headed to the Departures, leaving these ppl behind (plus my family too), became more and more real... I hugged my family, took one look at the important people. Hugged Joce and everyone else within my reach. Then walked in, waved and tried hard to smile, haha.

Okay, enough emo-ing. Anyways, I was seperated from Deming and Janet because we booked our flights at different timings. It was kinda lonely, but nvm. I had my letters for company. I finished reading them before the plane flew though, hahahaa.

The plane ride was alright, had some problems sleeping, but aiya it's always like that. Shows were kinda boring, haha. Anyways, there was once I wanted to visit the toilet, and the woman beside me actually asked me to climb over her!! D: lols strange experience. I was walking barefooted to the toilet, strange ah. I couldn't possibly climb over her in my pumps!

HEATHROW AIRPORT, LONDON
After 13 hours, god, horribly long flight, but couldn't feel it much, because it was only 5/6am when we reach Heathrow Airport, London. Anyways we took a bus to Terminal 5 where our transit was (Yeah, haven't even reach TORONTO!)

Anyways, there's really nothing much to see, and too many people.. And my handcarry was really heavy. When I come, I'll make sure I've lots of things to keep me occupied.

Okay, pictures.

Yummy looking food, but I very cheapstake, so cannot, control!!

Saw a familiar name, hahaha

Anyways, we finally settled down at a cafe, where I didn't eat, because I'm so cheapstake, hahaa. Nua there for around 4-5 hours?? I watched Buzzer Beat, but before the show finish my laptop cui. Anyways, got this ang moh guy come talk to me, quite cute. LOLS.

FINALLY, it was near 3pm, and we got ready to check in to our Toronto flight. I received a sms and was very happy (:

Off to Toronto!

Anyways, I lazy liao, will go nap. So I'll update tonight xDDD

Thoughts

2009-08-13T02:25:00.003+08:00

Do we get closer to people the more we talk to them?

How do we get closer to someone? Why is it that some people are harder to get close to? Is there a right way to get close to someone? We can't get close to everyone we want to be close to.

Are there times where talking more just hurts the relationship?

Woohoo! Long time no blog!

2009-08-02T02:47:00.005+08:00

Today I embark my journey of 'treasuring time with my friends'. I met up with VANNESSA and STEPHANIE. Wooooooooo ♥ Too bad Ping Qi couldn't join us..

After tuition, I went to join Van and Steph at Orchard Central, another new shopping mall at Orchard Road.. Haha. It's very big and spacious!! Nice, and has lots of comfy sofas. It's more crowded than the time I went with Rindy, Xinhui, Ryan, Wei Quan and Zul after karaoke..

Anyways, they wanted to take a natural picture of me coming up the escalator but failed, hahaha.

Okay, so the first cool thing I saw was...

Aren't these people just.. amazing? I would never do anything like that.

It was quite an interesting sight, especially with all the 'audience' below.

Anyways, we went for a bit of a walk, before ending up at Botejyu, it's this okonomiyaki place. They've it at Manpuku too. The cheese oko was good. But I'm kinda broke, so I went for the cheapest pork yakisoba.

Here's my pork yakisoba.

I think I prefer okos :D

Steph's seafood yakisoba. Smiley face (:

And Van's seafood oko. Looks yummy.

Too bad they were not very hot ):
I loved the one at Manpuku (and HIROSHIMA!!! <3)

We took pictures of course, it's all about treasuring time with my friends!

I actually kinda like the backdrop.

lols. After our meal, we went to nua at the sofas, opps.

Relaxing~

Not the best aftermeal activity, but well xDDD
We talked about various stuff, like how Steph got thinner or fatter. And Steph taught me how to use some features in my camera!! SO FUN. Next time I show you all :D :D

Um, then oh, Steph's fake nail dropped, wahahaha. And Van keep taking zi lian pictures :P

We watched as the skies turned darker...

Here's us!

Moving on...
The basement!

Well, we didn't do any shopping. But the basement was nicely made~

The ceiling!

Very pretty walls!

Interesting pose by Van lols

The layout near the lifts were beautiful too.

Steph waiting longingly for N!

Very nice English-inspired (I think) design :D

After nua-ing around, we went to Centrepoint, walk around. Then Steph tempted me to go Kino and see ~~naked~~ Mukai Osamu. Haha. BUT BY THE TIME I REACHED, NO MORE LIAO. SAD.

But she found it for me.
Very hot :D

Okay, so we finally decide to go home, and take photos at MRT xD

Sleepy liao..

Oh, we also took picture in the toilet at Orchard Central, lols.

THANKS GIRLS. I LOVE YOU. ♥
I'll print your pictures and put in my photo frame, hahaa.

Demoralised..

2009-07-13T02:06:00.001+08:00

I finally gathered courage to check my CM3291 results today, after so long, haha. I'm quite dissappointed with myself. I guess I've to work harder when I come back from SEP.

Hah. I suck at lab D:

I'm back!

2009-06-29T07:57:00.001+08:00

Did I miss anything?

My sister doesn't wanna upload Japan photos on FB! D: I can't update like that!! Must try to get her to upload.

I wanna write about Japannnnnnnnn.

21st Birthday

2009-06-19T00:28:00.004+08:00

I actually don't feel that being 21 is such a great deal; perhaps it's because I didn't hold a party. Or perhaps, I feel like my parents have always treated me like an adult. But I did receive lots of gifts and love from my friends. Thank you.

I will write down a little on what I did, just for memory sakes.

1) Family. We actually celebrated for 2 days since my sister had to go for a school camp on my birthday. On 30th May, we went to Manpuku. I had curry rice which wasn't too brilliant, but the fruit tart was delicious. (Can get a bit sickening if you've too much though)

And then on my actual birthday. I went with my mum to the Food Fair at Expo and bought lots of goodies. My favourite was the jelly stick and drink :D

Went back at around 2-3 and slept till 6 xD Opps. XQ also dropped by to pass me my gift. Thanks~

My parents' 21st gift to me (:

My sister passed this to me half asleep when it was midnight. I just came back from a celebration.

XQ's gift, and also a homemade card (:

2) Bananas; I've wrote a bit about it already. We went to Nihonmura after our lab *tired* Haha. (I'm just glad it's over, don't ever remind me of it again!!) The food was really good.

Creative way of wrapping!

Sims 3~

3) LSC, we've all known each other for around 2 years, and I'm glad I got to meet them. We went to Werner's Kitchen, which is actually kinda good! German food. I haven't seen JH and QX for the longest time!! Gossip session with Jian Hao, Kenny, LT and WF was fun. Too bad a few others couldn't make it ):

Nice apple necklace!

4) Van, Sarah joined me for Teppanyaki at Century Square hehe. It was fun making fun of Van lols.

5) Shan, Jun, Van, EY (And Junwei), thanks for going to Jap KTV with me~~~~ The museum was kinda fun too. They bought me a bag which I really like (: Thank you!!!

6) HY, KL, Shar, MP
We went to Manpuku again. And this time I found smth nicer, the okonomiyaki store. And more fruit tarts!!! They shocked me with a surprise visit to my house.

Koped from HY's blog xD

The cake was good, and I really appreciate the effort. Thanks girls ♥

Okay, all these were really short. But I'm sleepy and it's been 2-3 weeks since my birthday. Haha. Now look forward to my Japan posts :D

We had celebration for XQ and JW today! It was fun. And I haven't seen ZW and Wen for so long! So it was nice to see them again~~ And HC can bake! Hehe.

Kininaru aitsu fushigi na aitsu~

2009-06-16T23:27:00.001+08:00

I got to sing Kininaru Aitsu at Cash Studio today~ Woohoo. But I think 4 people is too little for karaoke, so we got chased out after 3 hours ): That time when I went with my Jap class classmates, we stayed for a few hours, damn shiok haha.

I should write about my birthdays, will do that after tmr's practical test. As usual, please wish me luck! D:

My JC friends were incredibly sweet ♥ Thanks HY, KL and Sharlyn~~

Remember this?

2009-06-08T12:51:00.001+08:00

Too bad we didn't get to sing CCS songs ytd xD

Birthday with Bananas

2009-05-30T00:21:00.004+08:00

Today is results release day. I did alright, I think my CAP didn't change, that's good, in a way. But, that also means I didn't improve, haha. Looks like I'm destined not to get any As haha.

I got B for Biophysical! Sian haha. But I guess I won't s/u it ba. Only left with 1, so I shall save it for possible Cs D: Choi choi.

No photos but yesterday the Bananas helped celebrate my birthday for me. Thanks! The food was really good. We ate at Cathy, shit, I didn't even see the restaurant name. I think it's 日本村. Haha. I had salmon teriyaki don and it was good! I liked that they had the egg inside too (: However, my rice kinda sticked at the bottom, haha. The bacon and asparagus was good too! Better than Shokudo's.. I also took a bit of JW and WK's waffle (thanks!), it was yummy too. Soft soft kind.

Cake was strawberry shortcake, haha. It's kinda cheesecake-like. Not bad too.

I liked my present a lot too, Sims 3 ♥ The pre-ordered one, so I've to go down to get it myself on 2nd June, haha. A bit ma fan, but yay~ Sims 3! Can't wait to play it.

Too bad XQ and HC couldn't make it ): And Frankie still won't talk to me.

Okay~ Sleep.

What should the title say?

2009-05-25T01:17:00.003+08:00

How come after I started eating Vitamin C and I don't feel healthier ah. You think it's having a bad effect on me? D:

Okay, this was a nonsense post.

I finally visited the new shopping centre in Bugis, Illuma? Dunno how to spell. It's damn talllllllllllll. Haha. The doors also very tall.

Surprise!

2009-05-18T14:50:00.005+08:00

I must tell myself not to dread school during the school term. I must tell myself not to dread work when I'm working.

But can I tell myself not to dread special term when I'm having holidays????? I've no mood to re-map my modules. I'm going to do a lab in Canada! (If everything goes smoothly, hm, I haven't gotten an acceptance letter from my PU, maybe I should email the Dean's Office...) Anyway, I'm totally slack for lab. My table is in a mess, and it gives me an excuse not to do any work. Bad bad.

I should buck up; because my lab has always been cui. Not really the lab report, but the actual lab itself. Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing xD Haha.

ANYWAY. I had a big surprise yesterday! My dad had his birthday celebration yesterday with his Poly friends with their families. I've known them like since forever, haha. And I'm the oldest of all the kids. Anyway. I got my first 21st birthday present yesterday! Haha. Like total surprise. No wonder before the dinner they kept asking when's my birthday. (They left the receipt in my present so I can do some polishing, can you guess what they gave me? They bought the stuff like in late March la! That's so long ago,haha.)

Pictures.

Uncle Edmund made the card himself!! SO sweet :D I'm really happy at the card hahah. But his wife told me they made it at like 11pm last night, hahahaa. But still, so nice of them. They (More like he) pasted all those stickers inside. A very meaningful card~ ~~Kind of reminds me of the cards that HuiYan did when we were in JC.~~

First present.

A key. Haha. My mum also asked me if I wanted one. I said, "Car key??" Haha. Then she kinda lightly scolded me, haha. I told there's no need to. Can get me something else with the money.

The more expensive present ~~which I need to find a place to put it in...~~

The insides.

Is that what I think it is on the heart?

A bracelet. Actually, I'm not a fan of heart-shaped items *no love* Haha. But! It's the thought that counts; besides, I don't really think they know what I like la. But, yeah, really appreciate the effort! And thought! ♥

Haha, okay, other things from yesterday.

We had Dian Xiao Er yesterday. The tofu is nice haha. And this lotus root, so tiny!!! Haha. So I took a photo, and my sister is like "You take this?! But not the main dishes??!" Haha.

Bought Mr Bean ice cream too. Was nosing around while one of the older kids bought our stuff for us. I saw this coupon and was like "OHHHH, we can use this what." Then the person heard me, and asked me to tear it for her. Opps. Anyway, save 30 cents for the ice cream *auntie*

Randomly. Haha.

I'm waiting for my download to finish...

2009-05-16T01:31:00.004+08:00

I went to try the Japanese bakery at Tampines1 to see if there's any difference between the ones there and Four Leaves. (And also in Japan).

Well, nah, it's not the same as the ones I had in Japan. But okay, I only tried 2 cakes from the same bakery when I was in Japan, so it's not a good gauge.

Anyway, I think I still prefer Four Leaves, because I don't like those stuff at the side, is it almonds? Haha.

The top is Mixed Fruit Cake. Bottom is Strawberry Short Cake? Can't remember. Haha. The cream and stuff, tastes like Singapore's.. Hm. ~~Not to mention the service opps.~~

The strawberry ons is pretty good. But the mixed fruit. It's really mixed lo. The kiwi, strawberry and peach on the top is normal. But you know what's between those layers? Grapes and pear ._. Weird. It tasted kinda weird.

They were a pleasure to look at though XD I think I'll stick to Four Leaves.

I haven't tried their cream puffs though, it looks nice :x Maybe another day.

Lab.

2009-05-14T21:44:00.002+08:00

Just one week after my exam..............

I HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL. BLEH.

I think I breathed enough ether (and other various volatile solvents/chemicals) to shorten my life by 5 years. And that's in 2 days. 4 more weeks of lab at least. Can further shorten my life by 20 years. Whee.

When did we start washing stuff with acetone? I mean we've always used distilled water. I prefer distilled water.

My yield is forever low. Sigh. And I'm lazy to write my lab report which I need to hand in tmr ):

I missed Amazing Race again!

2009-05-12T18:02:00.002+08:00

The timings at AXN is not accurate lo! Got so many time slots for different countries.. ): My last episode... Now I've to watch on LQ on the Internet! ): Hmph!

Anyway, it's been very relaxing~ I've been playing games and reading manga xD Taka doesn't wanna hire me because I've school on Wed and Thurs, sigh.

There's school tmr ):

SIAN.

Sometimes it's not the things you say, but who said it.

2009-05-03T02:53:00.003+08:00

Or sometimes it's the other way round xD

My mum's coming back in less than 24 hours~

I jio-ed Joce to study with me tmr~

I love BIOPHYSICAL *self psycho*

I love PHYSICAL CHEM. (I really do, but I can't solve the tutorial qns.. >>)

My mum's coming back!!

It's raining really heavily, but how come my air con is still so hot!

I feel dumb.

2009-05-01T19:19:00.002+08:00

I'm so horrified by my carelessness for yesterday's Inorganic. Though I keep trying to tell myself to focus on my next 2 papers, I just randomly out of nowhere, suddenly recalled the mistakes I made. Then I start thinking about why I couldn't think of the answer straight, why was I so panicky and didn't read the questions properly. Why ever after I changed the answer, it's still not enough. Why did I take so long to think that I didn't have enough time to finish?

They're driving me crazy omg. Then I looked thru my Physical mid term, which I didn't quite do well. Half my MCQ were wrong. And the thing is I actually had the correct answer and then changed it last minute. I lost lots of marks. I'm quite afraid of enzymes questions, so I panicked at it. I tried it again today, and I realised it was just subbing in the correct stuff. I feel so dumb at myself, because this could be done in under 2 minutes. I spent 10 minutes on it and still couldn't figure it out. Why can't I just calm down and think of other solutions? I'm quite sure everyone did well for this paper, because it wasn't difficult. I hope I'm not too below average. Sigh. It was a good chance to pull up my grades for Physical but I let it slip..

Analytical tmr~ Or later. In... 7.5 hours.

2009-04-29T01:33:00.002+08:00

I just finished tagging my notes since it's open book. I'm still kinda like, oh, tmr is analytical. Feel a bit 余闲. I think it's because my mum went to Japan, so I'm a bit like... Bleh. Haha.

I spent my whole day talking to her yesterday T_T And she kept saying she was distracting me but I told her it's okay, because she'll be gone for 7 days!! ):

I thought of plans to cut down on the pile of clothles to wash, so my mum doesn't have to do so much laundary. Don't ask what I did. But I can stop now, because my dad did the laundary xDDD

I'm coughing. Hope tmr I won't be too noisy..

HAHA.

2009-04-24T13:45:00.001+08:00

I was at the airport when this happened...
Spiderman made a visit to NUS Central Library~!! Haha, I'm sure everyone had a good stress relief~

I was supposed to study Chapter 13 - 17 of my GEM2901 (Exam tmr!) but I found out there's no Chapter 13 - 15 xD lols. So I only had Chapter 16 and 17. A bit relieved, so hopefully I won't slack around and have time for Solid States and maybe some Analytical...

However, my package from Play-Asia also came.. I think I would get a bit distracted... HMM.

It's still hot.

2009-04-23T23:54:00.001+08:00

It rained yesterday night and the wind was so strong!! How come today revert back to the usual hot hot weather??? SWEAT.

I've been trying to study Analytical, that I've been neglecting my other core mods. HOW? I still can't do questions that I've seen for the second time haha. Something is wrong. I should do Inorganic tmr. At least that one got more hope than Analytical.

I kinda like the song!

VERY HOT!

2009-04-08T18:45:00.006+08:00

The weather is soooooo bad lately. I usually can stand it when I wear my jacket. But today it's just super hot!!! Argh!

lol. Guess where I went shopping just now~?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Fairprice!!!!
Haha.

引出し　こうなったんだ～！
My drawer became like that! Haha.

I don't put my things downstairs, because I'm scared my dad or sister will go eat it xDD *selfish*

According to Jocelyn, Singapore dollars is going to devalue.. by 5%.. next week. Till 2010. Should I change my Singapore dollars to Japanese Yen (and Canadian dollars????) ARGH!

I drew this during my Biophysical Environment of Singapore lab last week.
I traced it over a 2003 Singapore Map. Phew. SO MANY ROADS. But it was kinda fun la.

Tampines 1 opening tmr.

I really can't understand Analytical!

2009-04-01T22:37:00.005+08:00

I am trying. I really am. But no matter how much I try to concentrate, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND ANALYTICAL. I NEED HELP!!! AHHHH. I don't know why. Usually when I read textbooks, I at least get.. 60% of what they're saying. But for ANALYTICAL! <<<10%. What's wrong ah. I think I've a very saturated brain for Analytical; I just can't squeeze more of it into my head. CUI.

Hahh. Maybe I can ask, but if I don't know everything, how to ask...?!
Aiya. Try my best. Maybe I'll change my approach and just practise questions instead of trying to understand the concept?

Let's have a video today~! ~~To commemorate how I finally know how to post videos >>~~

This is from one of the otome game events. And one of the seiyuu of the characters is singing~ It's damn gay. But I really appreciate the effort Kishio Daisuke様 put in. He wore a wig and sang in a really high voice~ It's cute :x That's the character he's voicing in the screen up there~ He's very adorable, really.

Kishio Daisuke voiced Kaname in VK, Shinobu in Junjou Romantica, and Howard Link in DGM, Yunoki Azuma in Kiniro no Corda and Imadori in School Rumble~

Okay, I should bathe and do my tutorials! Analytical!! Waaa. Hopefully attending the tutorial tmr will help.

DAMN IT.

2009-03-18T00:25:00.005+08:00

昔の関係もう戻れない。

I didn't get Inorg and Org Expt for Special Term 1. Damn it. And I think there may be no Round 2 tmr. If it's like CORS, all the slots are already taken, Round 2 for what??? Sigh. I'm praying it's different from CORS, but what are the chances. Hah.

If I don't get it, it will screw up all my plans. If I didn't have to take Special Term 1... I could have applied for homestay at Fukuoka... Fuck it lo. It's balloting, so I guess I'm just unlucky. I think I may want to take Term 2, but that will also screw up my holidays plans. And besides I will be lonely.　I guess if it comes down to that, I will just have to take it after my Year 3. Hopefully I can get Hons, so I don't feel like my graduation is delayed.

SIGH. What to do. Sigh also no use la. Just blame myself for being unlucky. Pray that tmr still have chance, or pray appeal works. 何とかなる。

But still. Fuck. Aiya. Pissed.

さき、ともだちといっしょにじっけんしないと　さびしいというでしょう。　ほんとは。。。　いっしょにでも。。。　さびしくなる。やっぱり　にんげんかんけいはふくざずね。。。　わたし　にがて。

Okay, time to finish up lab report.

HOHO.

2009-03-02T01:08:00.011+08:00

今日はちょっと日本語でブログを書きます。　どうこが間違ったら、　すみません。

最近いろいろを考えて、　いろいろを見て。。。　やっぱり　彼氏がほしいな。。。と思って。　大切な友達がいるけど、　ちょっと違うね。　（友達の皆さん、　ありがとう。）　大学で　周りの友達大体　男の子だけど、　私たちの関係は　みんなの思うより　弱い。　多分彼らは　男同士　だからな。　最近彼らと　話すとき　ちっと　難しくなりました。　大学の彼氏探し　大変だね！　はは。　でも。　友達だから、　もっと仲良くしたい。　私やっぱり　大学で　彼氏を探せないよね。。。　私本人もう魅力はなくて、　女らしくない。　(泣）

解る皆さん、　馬鹿の話を読んで　もらって、ありがとうね。　（笑）
解らない人と説明しないでください。　お願いです。　

Okay, I should do my lab report! Just a bit left!!!

What have I been doing?!

2009-02-28T01:57:00.005+08:00

I PASSED MY JLPT 4 :D YAY.
My sister got 12 points higher than me, wtf. Haha.

Something is wrong with me, I can't concentrate. I am considering just doing what I wanna do, then at a certain time slot, do my revision. But. It's already Saturday. I think one important thing is to get out of my house. Sunday I probably won't get any work done. SO HOW. Sigh.

Another random picture post.

I messed around with Jian Wei's keychain. It's too big to be hanging on a pencil case lo.

Green green revision session at Eve's house last sem.

Cute hor.

My sister draw this.

Guess who is it behind the wheels!

Look at the time??!! Hah, another day wasted.

I think I'm having problems concentrating this semester...

2009-02-18T00:28:00.002+08:00

Today is a random picture post... The sight of the two Westies just make me sad xD

Nice sea view??

lol, a picture taken at Pyaess (Jap Lang Sch)

Cute little car spotted at International Plaza carpark. Anthony sent us home that day.

CM2101 experiment? Look who is supporting the white background?

I should go study my Inorganic...

Resume to normal channels!

2009-02-14T01:23:00.003+08:00

No more Japan!! ):

Today is Valentine's! I'm fine with it really, but I remember I had one really horrible Vday a looooooong time ago, omg. Anyway, as long as I don't see too much PDA.... Haha!

Today is Friendship Day too~ I love all you guys ♥

Anyway, I visited Pet Safari just now! I saw two Westies! They're so adorable!

They kinda looked like this; just that they were less hairy.

Cute hor.
I think after Ruffy and Waggy, I'm coming to appreciate and like dogs more than cats, ahaha.

Japan trip~ The last days

2009-02-07T17:27:00.006+08:00

3 more days in Japan.

Day 7

Basically, as mentioned in the previous post, JW and I left our homestay families in Hiroshima, for Tokyo ): ):

Tatsuo-san brought us to this little corner to get cheaper tickets :D Yay. Anyway, on Shinkansen (I love it.) the scenery began to change slowly from countryside to cosmopolitan; it's damn cool.

When we reached Asakusa finally, the subway station had no escalator and we had to carry our luggage. I'm really thankful to JW for carrying mine for me. And luckily for me, he can read maps, so we found the hostel in no time; it's really near the subway. Just turn left, and walk a bit. There. Didn't take a picture of the room, should have. The room, is DAMN SMALL. Haha. It's just a double decker bed, and some space for walking and luggage. But for the 2 nights, we sorta spent our time out of the hostel or downstairs. (There's internet there, so I made full use of it.) There were a few Singaporeans too, we chatted for a bit, but I guess we didn't get along with them as well as they did with each other xDDD Haha.

On our first day in Tokyo (Day 7 of Japan, Day 1 of Tokyo), we reached the hostel at around 5pm. By then it was already very dark! So we had this false impression that it's really late. Both of us were feeling pretty down from leaving our respective homestay families. I think we both didn't really have the mood to walk around or whatever. Haha. I made a call to Youko-san to tell her I've reached Tokyo, called my family too. I missed my homestay family more! Hah!

Anyway, we didn't take much pictures on Day 7, no mood la. We had Yoshinoya for dinner. Yoshinoya there is very counter-style, it's not like Singapore where you've tables and chairs, it's like a circle surrounding the shop assistant, and you eat there, like Sakae Teppanyaki. The food came really quickly, I guess that's why it's fast food. For Japanese, I think, Yoshinoya is mostly for the salary man (office worker) who wants his meal quick and filling. Everyone who came was alone other than the two of us xD

Salmon and beef ♥

We walked around for a bit, and went back at about 9pm? Then went downstairs to watch anime on my new laptop. I kinda bathed at 2am, lol. Surprisely the bathroom was quite clean and not as cold as I thought..

Day 8 (Day 2 of Tokyo)

Our only long day at Tokyo. We visited Akihabara (how could I miss going there right?) and Shibuya. We actually wanted go to Shinjuku too, but I forgot why we didn't and decided to go to Shibuya instead xD I want to visit more of Tokyo next time, if I've the chance.

In Akihabara, I basically dragged JW around to a denki-ya (electronics store), and all sorts of anime-related shops xD THERE'RE TONS OF THEM. IT'S HEAVEN ♥♥♥ ~~JW must have been bored, lol~~

An advertisment of NEWS promoting a shower foam, I think. My sister likes them that's why. Anyway, it's strange that there's a perfume and toiletries section in a ELECTRONICS STORE.

Anyway, I went to the denki-ya, got myself a mouse and an adaptor (for the future), and got rid of all my 1yen coins :x Service in Japan is great, the sales assistant didn't even barge, he politely thanked me and counted the money. So patient!

Busy Akiba street.

Lunch? Onigiri~ Thank god JW works at a Japanese restaurant and likes Japanese food (? Okay, I kinda bullshit-ed about the 2nd part, but you like Jap food right???) Oh anyway, ya, if he wasn't there, I probably wouldn't know which to buy, because I don't know the ingredients inside.

Another busy area in Akiba. Anyway, we actually walked the wrong direction and reached this quiet road with lots of tall buildings. We decided that this was the wrong way and headed back to the subway and try another exit.

See the anime ada?

Took this in the first shop I visited, I bought lots of stuff there. The staff allowed me to open and flip the books unlike the staff at Animate ): I bought a doujin of OkumiyaxShigure from Our Kingdom~ Happy!

I bought anime merchandise to sell at Animate xDD

Sorry for the lack of pictures, many of the shops didn't allow pictures, so... But I had lots of fun. Only left Akiba (unwillingly, for me that is) at 3pm.

We passed by a maid cafe too! It was really cool. If I had enough money, I would have went in and tried... Haha.

We kinda got lost on our way back to the Akihabara subway, we ended up at Kanda, lols, and that station was direct to Shibuya. Lucky~

We didn't do much in Shibuya though, couldn't seem to find the shopping area, and I guess we got lazy, hah. We were tempted to catch a movie, but it probably would have been expensive, a waste of time and money, since the movies are dubbed in Japanese and have no subtitles. I did buy myself a (golf) bag, for putting my extra baggage xDDD I guess it serves as a travelling bag too, I brought it for Batam trip later.

We saw Beard Papa Cream Puff and it's crazy queue. With the current exchange rate, it's more expensive to get cream puffs in Japan than Singapore xD

Went back to the hostel to put down our (more like my) shopping, and headed out for dinner. I was more cheerful today already, probably because of shopping xD But I think JW was still feeling a bit out of it.

A temple near our hostel

Compared to Hiroshima (and also Shibuya), Asakusa streets are relatively quiet. I'm trying to take a picture of the X'mas lightings though...

Raimon, it's supposed to be one of the famous spots in Asakusa.

Nakamise, this too.

Had dinner at a reasonably-priced restaurant. We thought it wouldn't be good because there's no one inside, but it turned out very good (: I love how there's always salads with every meal.

Previous night, we were really hungry while watching anime, so we decided to buy stuff from the konbini (and also to waste time).

JW's beef with rice

His cream puff; looks nice right!

JW's melon pan which are as big as his hands! It didn't taste like melon though. Dissappointed...

I wished I had a Tokyo Guidebook then I can read a bit about the places of interest... Maybe next time.

Day 9 (Day 3 of Tokyo)

Finally the day to go back to Singapore... Left the hostel near 11, and made our way to Narita Airport. And now I will again, apologise and thank JW for my heavy heavy luggage. Our tension were both really high during that horrible trip to the airport. The entire subway DID NOT have escalators, and they also had redundant up and down flights, like the one in City Link, go down and up. ?! What for? So thanks, I know it was heavy...

At Narita Airport, it was super warm lo, no need to wear jacket anymore. I threw the jacket that Youko-san gave me T_T Unbearingly. The zip was spoiled anyway... So I just decided to throw in the end.

Worst meal in Japan :x

JL food is great :D Spent my time watching movies and reading manga on the way back. It was a long 6 hours journey. By the time we reached Singapore, it was already past midnight, around 1am. My family and my auntie and uncle came to pick me up. Thanks~

Wrap up

I HAD SO MUCH FUN. やぱり　日本は私一番好き、一番行きたいの国だ！ I loved my homestay experience too, it gave me a chance to learn more about the Japanese culture and lifestyle (: If I've a chance I really want to do a homestay again. I know I'll be able to visit Japan again, but having homestay is just... Well.

Anyway, now pictures of what I bought. I missed out on buying Royce chocolates! Damn! It was that the other area, and by the time I went there, I already spent most of my money. I used the last of my yen to buy a box of champagne-flavoured chocolates (:

This is Hiroshima's speciality, momiji manjuu, it tastes the best when it's just bought.

Green tea and sakura flavoured biscuits.

Chocolate tokyo banana!

Tokyo banana!

Hokkaido's Shiroi Koibito! It's good. I want to visit Hokkaido.

Anyway, I left about 10,000 yen to get omiyage (food). Haha. Sorry if you didn't get a share, it probably expired by the time I met you xD; The foodstuff really expire quickly.. I'll get something non-perishable next time.

New Toshiba laptop, that I sorta regretted buying..

Transfer of info to new laptop thru an external moniter. Look at the cracks on my old laptop!!! I liked my old laptop..

Reborn straps that I bought to sell. (I still have the Gokudera one if anyone is interested.)

DGM straps that I bought to sell, too.

Reborn mugs~

Illustration books

And one more with interchangable book sleeves.

Gifts from my homestay family

Photos, handkerchief, chopsticks, diary and a cute towel ;_; I miss them!

Finally done. The last days were kinda boring huh. I guess more pictures would have helped. Anyway, if anyone wants to go to Japan, remember to jio me :D

Japan trip~ Day 6

2009-01-31T13:24:00.004+08:00

Finally, my second last day in Hiroshima. On the last day, I basically just woke up, feeling a bit strange. Had my last breakfast at my homestay's house T_T And they sent me off at the Shinkansen station )': Okay!

Day 6

On the second last day of my homestay, it was moving around with your homestay family. Mine brought me around to a few places. We first went to the Hiroshima Children's Planeterium, which is kind of like a Science Centre. Haha. I didn't take any pictures inside because I was holding my laptop. It was strange going there because all were kids haha. I realised that Hiroshima is really big, because all the places I visited that day were in Central Hiroshima (where I stayed), if everything was there, and this was only the central part of Hiroshima. Then the entire Hiroshima must be really big. Get my logic? lols. Okay, nevermind. Hah.

Anyway, near the Planeterium, we saw...

See the crowd???

See the queues.

...Very long queues. I kinda knew it was NEWS having a concert, because Steph told me before I went to Hiroshima, and Clarissa and Jane talked about it. I told Tatsuo-san, and he went to confirm with a staff there. Haha. The queues were super long. Getting concert goods perhaps? Tatsuo-san asked if I wanted to queue too, and I was like 'Nooooooooo.' Haha.

Next they brought me to see a baseball field. This stadium was about to be tore down, and a new one was 'building in progress'. I was happy :D Because I like to watch baseball (: Ookiku Furikabutte is a pretty good baseball anime if anyone wants to try!

A real baseball field~~!! <333 It's super big.

Lunch was grilled meat, yum. I think this was the day I spoke most to my homestay family, especially Tatsuo-san. We discussed about various meat, I told him beef is my favourite (I told him long time ago too, and he remembered :D Wow. They amaze me.) Tatsuo-san said ya, he thinks he likes beef best too. Hah.

NIKU~!

Look, so much salad and side dishes. I had salt and garlic with my beef.

Grilling. I like how the meat is done so quickly and how delicious it is~! ♥ Maximum satisfication.

The main attraction of the day was Shukkeien. Tatsuo-san said it would be good to visit a Japanese garden. If you remember Hiroshima Castle on Day 2, this garden would be the villa of the shogun of that castle. Haha. According to Tatsuo-san la. Haha. I think the place is really pretty, the structure is nice too. Lots of greenery.

Overall view of the garden; isn't it so peaceful?

So much green.

A turtle? Can you spot it?

The lake; it's pretty big.

Bamboo! So interesting.

My homestay family~~~ ♥

Place where the shogun sipped tea xD This place is actually for rent. Tatsuo-san said they could rent it for summer, which led me to think the family must be rich or something xD

Snacks~ Red bean sweets and green tea. Perfect combination and sweetness and bitterness!

Later Fumie-san left for school, Tatsuo-san and Youko-san brought me to see a traditional Hiroshima dance, Kagura. (It's VERY near to the house.) It was pretty interesting, and they used Hiroshima-ben (which I couldn't understand, haha).

The three-men dance. The actors in this dance was mostly elementary and middle school kids. That is Singapore's primary and secondary school.

This is the one I enjoyed immensely. The Snake Cutting Dance/蛇切り舞. Basically the story goes like that, girl goes to the mountain to gather herbs...

...and gets gobbled up by a evil snake!

The parents of the girl are upset, and now they only have one daughter left = less people to take care of them. So they got Yamato Takeru to help them!

Cut to the snakes gathering around for dunno what.

They do a little dance, twirling and curling around each other. Which I LOVED, because it was so enthrallinjg and pretty. I bet it was difficult to do, in the snake there's only one person, must be hard dragging the costume around.

The 3 snakes dance around.

Yamato Takeru finds them!

Kill!!!!

And finally he destroys all of them.

The end. Oh, Yamato Takeru gets the last daughter as his bride and they lived happily ever after :D The 'fighting' scene was nice too.

We spent some time walking around before the concert at Elisabeth's Music University. I bought a manga, which Tatsuo-san tried to pay for me and I was like no!!

Tatsuo-san: もう決めた？
Me: はい。 *shows him the manga*
T: １つだけ？　*lifts one finger*
M: *nods head*
T: *takes manga from me and walks towards the cashier*
M: え！　何をやっているんです！
T: *quickly walks towards the cashier*
M: 今日一杯払うから、　これ自分で　買って！ *grabs the book* (<- The Jap sounds wrong here, but whatever :x)

Haha, I'm faster, so Tatsuo-san wouldn't pay for me, hoho. I mean he's already paid for lunch and my entrance fees already, I don't him to spend anymore... But thanks Tatsuo-san~ He's so nice.

We went to the shopping mall, and look what I saw!

Extravagant right?

They are really BIG. But this is only the display. The real thing is near the cashier xD

Near 7pm, we met up with Fumie-san and her friend, and proceeded to the concert hall together. We watched a Christmas concert together.

Auntie block my view.

A soloist and the orchestra. They mainly sang German Christmas songs.

Orchestra only.

And the choir.

Tatsuo-san loves singing. He sang Silent Night as they walked towards our dinner place. Haha. And Youko-san said that's why Fumie is good at singing xD

Anyway the concert ended pretty quickly at about 8pm? Less than an hour I think. We headed for dinner. Sushi~ Okay, I like sushi. But the sushi I eat is like the usual, unagi, kappa, and onigiri... So... it was pretty bad when I went there because all their sushi are raw! And my homestay family loves sushi that with raw fish. Haha. Then they kept making fun (actually Tatsuo-san only la) of how I can't eat raw food. Because I think they did ask me if I can eat sushi. Of course I can right, so I thought that questions was weird. Now I know why, haha.

Big unagi sushi. Look at the small bundle of rice below.

Chawamushi with lots of ingredients inside.

All sushi.

We had lots more than this, we had sashimi too. And Fumie-san had otoro, the fatty tuna. Wow. Haha. They had sushi with beef, and also cheese! Those were yummy. They also have uncooked beef on sushi too xDD

Finally farewell the next day. Anyway, I forgot to mention, my homestay family's last name is Yamasaki. They bought tickets and went in with me to send us off. (Us = JW and I). I wasn't feeling sad, but finally... when I said goodbye before entering the train, I couldn't finish saying my 'お世話になりました'. I was like 'この一週間... sniff sniff...' Bwaaaaa!!! Haha. Then I just keep apologising. Fumie-san actually hugged me and said, 'この一週間　楽しかったよ。' (lols, she didn't even talk much to me xDDD) I calmed down a bit and said the rest of my 'thanks for taking care of me.' On the train I wanted to cry somemore, but JW said 'you cry lo' then I don't feel like crying le haha. Fumie-san actually 'chased' after the train, like anime like that, so funny. Hah.

Okay, and the last entry will be about Tokyo, and then I would have officially finished writing about Japan. Phew.

Japan trip~ Day 5

2009-01-25T00:18:00.005+08:00

Okay, okay, I will not qian Japan blog entries past CNY. So today will be Day 5! Overall, this was my favourite day in Hiroshima, followed by Day 6, my last day in Hiroshima. I guessed partly it's because I've become familar to the place, and closer to my peers and host family.

Day 5

We did lots of things in Day 5. Interesting things, we visited an oyster-harvesting factory, made wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) and visited Miyajima. Miyajima is awesome, I really enjoyed the scenery there.

Miyajima guchi; this is the train station which we alighted at. To go to Miyajima island, we've to take a ferry there, haha.

But instead, we headed to...

Ohno Oyster Place. We saw and learnt lots of stuff like how they are harvested and then processed to those that are sold in the supermarkets. Oysters are the speciality of Hiroshima, and are the highest exports for the region.

View from the factory, I really liked the misty feel of the place. Which reminds you that 'YOU ARE IN JAPAN!' Haha.

Harvested oysters.

The aunties sitting there, on their cushions, opening up the oysters.

And they end up like this! (It looked kinda gross when I was there, haha)

Next they're being washed, and seperated into different sizes.

At the end of our learning experience, we saw the boat that they use to harvest oysters.

Btw, the place smelled real bad, I think I got a headache, esp when the aunties were, haha. But it was super interesting! I mean, how often can you see this in Singapore? Don't even think Singapore has oysters, ahaha.

After the trip, we went back to the main building for some Wagashi lessons! It was totally cool! We learnt how to knead and make wagashi (和菓子). I didn't take any pictures, but the main ingredients were actually one ball of red dough, and one smaller ball of white red bean paste (<- weird?) Haha. We used various tools like chopsticks, and ta-dah! The sensei is damn zai lo.

Finished product. I forgot the correct way to eat this; watched it in one of Arashi's variety shows before. So Steph, yeah! You're right! :D

The pretty pretty ones that sensei made. (And we koped later)

Haha, we were seperated into 2 groups and chased the first group off because we laughed at them earlier (I was in the second group) lols. Anyway, we lied to them that we made 2 wagashi, but actually we got them from sensei xD Hah!

Lunch was wonderful; udon with onigiri. Superb, this was one of my favourite lunches (: It was filling, and satisfying and delicious. The udon is not too thick and the soup is just nice!

Fast forward, and we're on our way to Miyajima! Miyajima is an island off Hiroshima; it's one of its visitors' sites. Highlights of Miyajima: deers, Itsukushima Shrine, Otorii, rice scoops, and momiji-manju.

On the ferry to Miyajima, I spotted the otorii (floating gate). I'm like super obsessed with it, I took lots of shots of it, which I should exclude xD

Approaching!

The first deer spotted!!! We were all super excited, and then there were much much more as we continued walking.

More deers, and a stationary monk (?)

Deers and their poo poo :x When we went up to this herd, they were shitting like crazy la. Poo-poo just came out splashing :x EW. haha.

Yamamura-san playing with the cute 'lil deers.

A male deer; if you can look closely, its antlers have been cut off. According to Yamamura-san, since it's the mating season, they may get angered/violent very easily and hurt people, so yup.

A family of deers! Aw!

After venturing lots of deers, we reached Itsukushima Shrine. If you thought shrines are boring, this is definitely something I really enjoyed during my trip to Miyajima, and Hiroshima. I got to see things that I watched from anime, and learnt briefly in Japanese class.

The entrance; we had a guide with us from Torii-ya (lady in orange), one of the Momiji-manju stores. More later.

Told ya I'm obsessed (:

Low tide; it's not 'floating' anymore.

Near the actual shrine, the structure is SO pretty.

Cleansing before entering the shrine.

Hm, well. Otorii? :D

The padoga is one of the main attractions too.

Interior of the shrine.

We arrive AT the Otorii (:

Place where you hang your bad omikuji/lots?

I bought good luck charms (omamori/お守り) for my parents and sister. Health and Studies respectively. There were also good luck charms for fortune, for a life partner, for driving. I guess this shrine is famous for the driving ones? Because there were LOTS of variety for the driving ones. Maybe I should have bought one for ZW, haha!

I really liked the shrine. Anyway, after the shrine, we did some shopping at the area, the place was filled with momiji-manju stores. They're like steamed cakes in the shape of maple leaves, and have filling inside. Everyone was crazy over the cheese flavour. I bought mine from Fujii-ya, because I did some research and this is MUCH more well-known than Torii-ya. The guide who brought us around was from Torii-ya. Too bad they expire so soon ): I felt that the momiji manju tasted much better when I tried it. When I brought it back to Singapore it wasn't so good anymore. I guess it's because it's nearer to the expiry date.

Gotta love these momiji (:

This is a rice scoop! lol, seriously, in the souvenir stores here, they sell rice scoops, with like 'peaceful family', 'good fortune' written on them. Hah!

Day 5 is the last day that all of us from NUS will be meeting ): So, it was kind of sad... But we just met up last Friday, so. Haha.

Alright! That's about it. Just chucked lots of pictures in xDD I also visited Fumie-san's music school at night. It was rather an interesting experience. Fumie does singing in her music university, and her voice is just awesome (: At 9 pm, you just see lots of people going to the store room to keep their instruments and stuff, quite different (:

Alrights! 2 more days? I thought one more only. Shit la! Will I make it in time for CNY?!

Japan trip~ Day 3 and 4

2009-01-08T15:37:00.012+08:00

Haha, I haven't been updating recently because I've been hooked on Persona 4! I has been awhile since I've played an RPG... Haha. It's great! I like how it's based on a modern setting instead of a magical world like FF and other similar games. And it has replay value, so maybe I'll go check out the price someday and get the original copy. Okay, let's move on! Finish about Japan, then write a general entry for all the outings I've been to :D

Day 3

On Day 3, we went to Kure. That's Reiko sensei's (Japanese language teacher) hometown!

That day was the first time I had to take a train down to the Hiroshima Train Station. Thankfully, JW met me at Sogo first, and we took a train~ It's was fun. I don't really get the train/bus system there. You grab a ticket at the back of the train! You enter from the back! Cool hor, and alight from the front. I still don't really get the bus/train system. So just follow what others do... Anyway, the reason why I use bus/train is because technically it's a train, but it looks like a bus to me. In Japanese, it's a 電車? Yeah.

Scenery on the train (the real one this time) to Kure. So many colors!

We arrive at Kure! It is the view from a mall near Yamato Museum.

And this too. It's a submarine, but it also doubles as a museum :D

The um... Signboard? If you can see the small text, Kure Ocean/Sea Historical Museum. Yeah, it's a museum for Hiroshima's warship history.

One of the blueprints of the ship?

A model of the remains of the ship (Yamato) at the bottom of the ocean after its last battle.

A model of the ship. The real one is even larger xD

The fun part of the museum, kind of like Science Centre. Haha. This features 'Pulling the whale of different materials'. You get to choose between wood, aluminium and steel. Which is the heaviest? Haha

We spotted some middle (or was it elementary) school students, and asked to take a photo with them xD;

And another photo taken within the museum, Kure most probably serves as a port/harbour for Hiroshima.

Since we were early, the guide told us to walk around the mall, which was kind of boring. Haha.

The thing I was most looking forward to...!!!

Okonomiyaki!!!!
My first time having okonomiyaki. According to Reiko sensei, Hiroshima's is noodles-based and Osaka's is not. Would like to try Osaka's in the future too... Anyway, the okonomiyaki tasted great! Especially with the sauce and mayo. Omg. ♥ Everyone should try. It was damn filling though, haha. JW and I and Guide-san were the only ones who managed to finish at our table.

Day 3 was indeed a tiring day. At night we had another activity, a dinner party hosted by the Hiroshima-Singapore Association. We were presented as one of the examples of relationship building between Hiroshima and Singapore. lols.

Before that, a few of us went shopping together, it was actually really kind of fun to just go out like that with everyone :D

There was quite a lot of food, and they were all nice. But I was kind of bored, because all we did was stand around, eat and talk. I really didn't know what to say to my homestay family, so it was kind of awkward. I had no problems with the other families though, it's weird. Haha. Maybe it's because for most of my friends, their homestay families consisted of younger parents, so it's easier to communicate?

Anyway, Tatsuo-san took lots of desserts for us to try. Haha. And oh! They also opened Tiger Beer! lols.

Picture of my homestay family and I (: Plus JW. Tatsuo-san said he looked pitiful... haha. 「可哀そう」　と言いました。

After that they brought me to see Christmas lightings~ Unlike Singapore's, which we hang across the street lamps, in Hiroshima, they have structures and they're all decorated with lights of different colors :D

Tatsuo-san said this path was like walking through a moment of magic. Haha. And I agree with him. Hhaa. The poor guy riding the bike got a shock because I forgot to off my flash xD;

Is it too long? Can I move on...

Day 4

Since we had such a LOOOOOOOOONG day the previous day. The meeting time was 10am, and I happily woke up at 9.15am. lols. We spent a day at the Hiroshima City University! I didn't take a lot of pictures that day. I guess I wasn't in the mood, and later it rained. But it was really interesting! I guessed I should have taken pictures, because this is probably the one place you weren't be able to visit if you go to Hiroshima.

Ulu bus stop

We had to walk a bit before we reach the University.

The front of the Universtiy! It was so spacious.
Anyway, according to the professor, because this crossroad has no traffic lights, 2 people had died from it. Omg!

Okay, that's about the only few pictures I've of HCU. Now... Bear with the boring descriptions! xD

1) Lunch. We took a look at menu (on a display shelf) and went off to get our lunches. It was strange ordering in Japanese. Haha. Because I'm sure if my pronounciation was wrong, the Japanese students would realise!! AHHHH. Haha. Then pay for your food, get your utensils and get your (free) drink :D Haha. One of the professors got his students to come have lunch with us, and we chatted a bit, the girls I spoke to were Miya-san and Saki-san. Luckily I was with Jane, so I kind of, um *zip* Haha. I hate to introduce myself because my name sounds weird in Japanese (I think). Fu-e-ri-shi-a. And there're 5 syllabus, omg.

2) Met with the Dean of the University and took pictures of him. Poor Junyuan (He was selected to be our speech representative, but that was only for the dinner party!) had to play his role and introduced us and thanked the Dean for his time. lols.

3) Tour around the fine arts department by one of the senseis, have already forgotten his name xD; We saw many things, wow. Metalworks, woodworks, clay, stones. So on so on. It was amazing. Oh, we visited an arts exhibition which was at the University when we went.

4) English lecture with the Japanese students. It was a 'International Relations' module. Haha. The lecturer is an ang-moh, and wow, she spoke so quickly I wonder if the Japanese students understood? Her whole lecture was in English alright. I didn't hear her speak a single Japanese word. Anyway, we got seperated into groups, like the lecturer just went around and 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 8 ... And all of us got split into groups! Omg. What an eye-opener. I got into the same group as Miya, one of the girls I had lunch with just now. I asked her if they always do this (split into groups in this manner) and she said yes. lols. I also got to know 3 more people, Mai, Yakkun, and Saatou. The last two said this was their nickname? Haha.

I was rather impressed by their English ability, it was above expectation. lols. *is very bad* Well, but still, I had to speak really slowly and made sure I didn't use any difficult words. Haha. We chose a difficult topic, "Is it the responsibility of developed countries to help developing countries?" We had an interesting discussion, when I suggested that they could do so by technology (we always learn that in Singapore right), Yakkun objected and said the developed countries are doing it for their own benefits. Though I told him that the practical world is like that, both sides gain. lols. Yakkun also said that he doesn't think Japan is a developed country! And I was like "!". He said his definition of a developed country is similar to those who colonolised others in the past. Interesting view, no? And he thinks they're evil xD; Miya gave another point and said something about NGOs, I think they've read about this in their classes. Haha.

When it was time to present our views, though Yakkun didn't really know what to say, he was still all "I'll take a responbility for choosing such a difficult topic!" Haha. So cute. I was 'proud' of him, because I guess most of the Japanese students gave us, Singaporeans, the task of presenting xD; Our topic was difficult alright! Most people did topics like "Is it better to be a single child or have silbings?" or "Should women work after marriage?" (One of the Singaporeans actually said that fathers don't have paternity leave, that's not true right? *shakes head*)

Okay, that turned out a bit too long! -_-||

Please bear with it a bit more! Had an interesting dinner where I tried more things.

Hamburger patties. And NATTO. Omg, I hate it xD

Scooped melons from a desserts store. Tatsuo-san remembered I liked them! One of my favourite fruits is honeydew (:
好きでしょう。 (Suki deshou?/You like them right?) Hehe :D

Okay, that's it for today~ Thanks for reading!
Hoping everyone's bidding goes well!

More random little notes of Japan:
Bathtub: Most Japanese families have a bathtub (I think, or is it all?) You've to soak in it after showering and cleaning yourself. I didn't on the first day of my homestay because I was like... "Er... do I HAVE to?" It's just not my habit. My concern was actually not the fact that the water might be dirty (it looks really clean, and chlorinated :x btw) but the fact that I would dirty the water. Haha. Weird hor.

Somehow Youko-san figured that I didn't use the bathtub and urged me to do the next day. I explained that I was afraid that if I went in, I would be too used to the warmth and feel even colder when I get out of the bathtub. She replied that that's not true, and they soak in the bathtub to keep their bodies warm so that they won't catch a cold so easily. I tried it, and ya, she's right :D I really enjoyed the bathtub lols, it was so warm and comforting. The 3rd day, Youko-san reminded me (again) to soak in the bathtub before I went for my bath xD;;

Japan trip~ Day 2

2008-12-29T22:29:00.027+08:00

Day 2

I did 2 things I rarely did in Singapore while in Japan.

One. I had breakfast! Such a healthy lifestyle I seldom had in Singapore! But I guess I could if 1) My mum doesn't work. 2) She's not so lazy :x But I guess I wouldn't call it lazy on her part too. In Singapore, it feels more like the children should be independent, or bringing it to another level, fillal. In Japan, I guess perhaps children are cherished, so they're being loved and doted upon, or maybe this IS the role of mothers in Japan.

I had apples, toast with cheese and milk tea. The apples are good. But the cheese on the toast tasted like there was... something extra, like... I don't know. You know on cheese bread, sometimes they've those little brown strips?? Yeah, it tasted like that. Not a fan xD; The milk tea is kind of different from Singapore's too (and also different from those I get in bottles at the コビニ/Convenience stores in Japan.)

Two. I watched TV lol. How long has it been since I last watched TV for more than 30 minutes... I watched news btw, haha. There's this scandal about a beautiful politician and her backer xD lols.

Anyway, since I woke up early, I went back to bed, and got really sleepy, I really fell asleep and Youko-san had to wake me up XDD She showed me the way to Sogo, one of the meeting areas (the other is Hiroshima's Shinkansen Station). It was super near. And super cold..

Today's first stop was Hiroshima Jou (Hiroshima Castle). We walked over from Sogo.

I never get tired of taking these beautiful trees with red leaves.

The entrance of Hiroshima Jou. There's still a long way to the real castle though.

The river at both sides of the 'entrance'. Probably served as a natural barrier in the past.

Stairs up to the castle.

This is the castle! It was built by Mori Terumoto, one of the shoguns under Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Edo Jidai. It's 5-storeys high.

A picture outside the castle. This is a rare non-group picture of me. I made JW take with me because I don't like to take pictures alone xD; Thanks~ I really like the scenery... ~~I look super short here!~~

I think these are the leftovers from the atomic bombing. Hiroshima Jou was bigger than just the main building I showed just now.

This is cosplay of the Edo-jidai! xD The plot is the evil retainer, JW, is trying to steal the pretty concubine, Jane from the shogun, Lord Jitsy. lols. Wantanabe-san was that's day representative from the Hiroshima Shinkin Bank :D

After wow-ing at the cosplay, we went up to the next floor, and learnt about some samurai history. lol. The exhibition was titled 'Life of the Samurai and the Peasant'.

Reading room of a samurai?

Samurai's desk?

A peasant's storage? Kitchen?

Boxes which can both store tableware, and be used as tables for eating.

Cooking area?

Hung outside shops for good fortune. I saw it at a couple of stores around Hiroshima.

The next floor (4th floor) had various items related to the Samurai, like swords, readings, utensils and so on.

Cool katana swords, no handles!

Eh... really no handles leh. I need to go back and re-watch Gintama xD;

The last floor (5th) provided a very scenic view!

Such a big mass of water... It's wider than Kallang river...

The route up to the castle.

That looks like the Peace Memorial Museum...

Cute little ducks swimming in the river at the exit.

That's the end of the tour of Hiroshima Jou. I kind of liked this attraction. It reminded me of my Samurai module, and how much they're related. Further evidence that what I was learning really happened. Amazing. (Though I didn't do well for the modules *harps on it*

Next up, lunch at the staff canteen of the Hiroshima Shinkin Bank!

In the meeting room... I shared gummy bears with everyone!

lol. We took photos with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman? (Or is it President and Vice-President?? Is there even a difference???) Anyway, we also did a impromptu reharsal of the ceremony that will take place the next day. It was funny. Tani-san, the secretary of the bank was very humourous.

I had ramen. It was pretty good. A lot of people were crazy over curry rice, and also hayashi rice (<- Due to Ryuusei no Kizuna). In Japan, or in that canteen, the staff first bought meal vouchers at the vending machine, then they hand these vouchers to the canteen people. Interesting? Hehe. After the meal, they had to clear the leftovers in a bin, rise the utensils a little, then throw them into their respective basins/sinks. Very orderly :D

I sat at a table with Carrisa, Jane, JW and Tani-san lol. It was strange xDDD I basically kept my mouth shut throughout lunch. But Tani-san was very sporting, I was kind of... trying not to talk? Because I'm still nervous with speaking Japanese, espcially when Tani-san is such a high-up! (And also in front of Carrisa, Jap 5 and Jane, Jap 4. lol) Tani-san was nice, he tried to make me talk... but xD; I left it to the experts ;D

Next up was shopping, we went to Yamada-denki, an electronics store first. I brought a nice orange laptop bag. (Youko-san also gave me one later, now I've extra xD Yay! I really received many things from them... ): I miss them!!!)

The nice Arashi advertisment at au.

Interesting FF cans at the convenience store.

Next we went to Hondori Shopping Street. It felt very non-Singapore-ish, because we're always in shopping centres. Anyway, the place was cold, so it's like an indoor shopping area, sort of xD;

The looooong street.

We also went to Sun Mall. It's damn stuffy there, and full of clothles xD; On the 4th floor, there's a lovely shop for anime goods and manga!!!!! (♥_♥) I was happy.

Nodame standee near the escalator :D

Anyway, we were dismissed near Sogo, loithered around a bit with JW and Xinhui. JW had to wait for his homestay guy (Nanba-san) to end work, so I accompanied him for a bit. Dinner won't start till 7pm anyway. We walked at Sogo a bit, which was nothing but clothles we couldn't buy ~~afford~~. They were all winter wear too xD;

JW left a bit before 6.30pm. Xinhui and I headed for the basement. The cake stores there are all so pretty! The cakes were so tempting. I bought 4 different kinds of cakes for my host family and I.

I got lost on my way home. lol. It was kind of scary, because it was dark and my feet were kind of hurting. I remember my home was near a primary school, I circled around it but couldn't find my house. I wanted to ask for directions, but well, I'm actually a foreigner though I look Asian xD; I asked an uncle at one of the many carparks. He told me I was in the 6th division (I stayed in the 5th). He's so nice, he had an accent though, he ends most of his sentences with 'jaa no', kind of like Nyanko-sensei in Natsume Yuujinchou. Anyway, I found the 'Family Mart' (a convenience store) and realised my home is just around the corner. I always thought from Family Mart, there was still a distance to my house. Anyway, I think I passed my house once, just that I didn't recognise it immediately. zzz. I also noticed at the 'entrance' of the side road to my house, there's a BIG arc saying 「袋町小学校」 (Fukuro machi Elementary School). I kept these 2 landmarks in mind, the sign and the Family Mart. Never got lost again xD;

Youko-san sounded a bit angry that I came home late. xD I apologised, of course. I hoped my cake was not damaged because I've been wandering around for 1 hour or so. Youko-san told me that Tatsuo-san liked cakes :D So, that's nice. I bought it from the same confectionary as the one that Youko-san bought cream puffs from. I ate it the previous day. Japan's cake was kind of different from Singapore. I'm comparing it with Four Leaves because I love the Strawberry Shortcake there, and the cake I ate was similar. I thought both were nice, but they tasted different. Maybe the egg and flour they use are different xD;;

Well! That was long. Thanks for staying till the end :D

Japan trip~ Day 1 (Part 2)

2008-12-26T10:31:00.008+08:00

Hello, am back. Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas this year? I spent mine with some close friends from my past job in the Library Supply Center.

Been so long since we met!

Had Waraku. Then cake at Spinelli, then had cake (and bread) at Cafe Cartel again! Very sinful!!! D: D: We played dai dee at Spinelli and got chased away lols. We got buy drinks leh! Just that we were done. The boys at the next table were playing cards too >>

Anyway, hope to meet them again soon!!

~

Continue with my rant on Japan.

So we were 30 minutes late, I was a little afraid of what I was going to face. At the Hiroshima Shinkansen, we met Thiam Huat (he's a TA for Japanese Studies in NUS, and also our in charge). He looked angry xDD He was accompanied by someone of the Hiroshima Shinkin Bank (which was sort of the association that took care of us, I think they're sort of related to the Hiroshima-Singapore Association, anyways, it was cool to find out that there's an association like that xD;) Jian Wei explained our situation, and we took a van to the Peace Memorial Park. Goto-san, the Japanese in charge of this programme greeted us. Felt a bit bad.. ):

We missed quite a lot of stuff because we were late, which made me pretty upset, because this 'attraction' was sort of the one that I was MOST looking forward to. It's like the main thing of Hiroshima! The atomic bomb! Ahhhh ): Nevermind. Hah. But I don't really think it's my fault, it's the train. My only fault is I didn't want to go too early (Plane arrived at 6 am Japan time? So actually we had lots of time...) I mean we're going to be in Hiroshima for 1 week! If we had time, we should spend our time at somewhere like Kansai Airport instead of Hiroshima right? :D :D

D:

Peace Bell

It was raining lightly that day, so I (or was it JW?) held the umbrella, so I didn't take many pictures.

We visited an underground place where one of the survivors had been hiding out in, that place really stirred up lots of emotions in me (but it couldn't be compared to our guide, she was stammering) because the guy was lucky to have been right here at the right time.

We also visited the Peace Memorial Museum which tells of the bombing, and they've like hm, the history of Hiroshima from the bombing in 1945 to now, and their efforts in keeping peace. They've this clock that stopped at 2 something in the afternoon, the time when the atomic bomb landed. It was rather heart-wrenching, I felt. Then there was these 2 models of Hiroshima before and after the bombing, there are a mere 3 buildings left, and the rest were in a shambles.

Anyway, the weather was damn cold, plus it was raining. We walked back to the Hiroshima Shinkin Bank, and I think it was then, it suddenly struck me again that I was in Japan. Haha.

Okay, cut things short, we sat around in this big hall waiting to meet our host families. It was scary!!! Haha, though I'm quite talkative but... not in Japanese! xDDD Since my Japanese level is only amateur-ish, it was difficult to strike up a conversation. After some talking, and asking me about my plans. They also informed me that the meet up places are very near to their house. (This was very good for me, my host family stayed in the town area; usually we meet at Sogo, it's about a 15 minutes walk from my house, whereas for others, they must take a bus. Japan transport is efficient, but rather expensive...)

When I reached their house, it was kind of a narrow path with rooms at the side. The path led to a door, which led to the kitchen and living area. I didn't take pictures though. Japanese wear slippers in their house, I was a bit afraid of doing the wrong things, and offending them unnecessarily. I wanted to follow what the mum did, but she never let me go behind her xD; So I had to ask.

Slippers were needed everywhere in the house, but not in tatami rooms. She laid out the futon for me.

My little corner of the room, I pack my bag here every night. At first I read here too (read what? The manga I bought from bookstores here) then I moved to reading on the bed the next few nights xD;

The futon had many layers. See the wire there? It's actually a heater.

What did I've for dinner... XDDD I can't remember. But the Japanese meal is so complete. There's rice, a main dish, tofu, soup, salad. Wow. I finished my rice before I finished everything else. I had oyster (kaki) stew :D It was pretty good, but I don't really like oysters xD; My homestay mum, Youko-san, told me it's good though, so I tried a bit. I'm still not a fan though xD; But it was fine lo xD;; My homestay dad, Tatsuo-san told me oysters are famous localities of Hiroshima.. Hm.. You'll see in Day 5 :D Remember my host family mum and dad's names ok!

That's all for today!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2008-12-25T12:12:00.006+08:00

It was Christmas Night.

In a warm room, there were four candles lit. They were precious candles that watched over the world.

However, this night, the candles began to speak sadly...

"My name is Peace."

"But all people do is fight. Apparently, I'm not needed."

...So she said, and her flame flickered wildy and went out.

"My name is Faith."

"But the world doesn't try to know God. Then, they can remain ignorant."

...So she too, lamented forlornly, and disappeared.

"And my name is Love."

"I trusted that someone would find me, but everyone cares only for themselves."

"Faced with the people who have lost sight of the ones they love, I depart sadly."

...Only one candle remained.

A child ran up and to the three extinguished candle said,
"You can't go out!"
"Peace, Faith, Love, you can't go out!"
"We need all of you."

After the child spoke and tears welled up, the remaining candle said,
"It's okay."
"Because my name is..."
"Hope."
"As long as I am here, we will all keep shining."

- Bartender, Episode 10

Believe! Miracles can happen!

Results

2008-12-24T20:46:00.008+08:00

Okay, divert a bit, must have my semester-ly results rant. Haha. I think I'm still happiest with my Year 1 Sem 2 results.. But this semester I finally got my first A.

I went to read my old entries. My 'favourite' chem module was CM2101 last sem, you know Adrian Micheal Lee's 'Introduction of Spectroscopy'? I don't know, can't even remember the module name! We just call it '01', 'Spectro', '2101', 'Adrian'. Haha. And guess what, it was my best module!!!! lol. Am I surprised???? YES. 70% surprised. 30% I knew it was going to be better than my other 2 core mods, lol. Just don't know how good. Anyway, I am satisfied with it. Satisfied with my other 2 core mods too, glad I passed my Organic, and not very pleased with my CM2102, but it's okay, so I won't complain.

I wanna complain about my Geisha module la! I got a B-! lol. Decided to s/u it. I really enjoyed the module. Was surprised though, thought I could at least manage a B, since I did average throughout the semester. Maybe it's my finals. But it really was an interesting module... ~~Shit, I shouldn't have told ZW though, he'll keep reminding me of it like for EC1301...~~

Hope next semester will be better! I really liked CM1131 (Basic Physical Chemistry) in Year 1, I hope I will enjoy CM2131 (Physical Chemistry) in Year 2 too. 頑張れ！

Random little note on Japan:
I didn't watch a single anime in Japan! (Well, I did on my last night in Japan using my new laptop.) But I didn't while I was in my host family's home or the hostel. I did watch Conan and Yattaman though xD;;; Just a bit. I think Japan's　TV channel is like SCV, must subscribe de. lol. In the hostel, there were these 2 girls who kept hogging the TV (and the sofa). They laugh so damn loud, very inconsiderate. *shakes head*

I had anime withdrawal syndromes in Japan! Can you believe it??? Haha. Anyway, loved Akihabara :D

Later~!

Japan trip~ Day 1 (Part 1)

2008-12-24T13:56:00.016+08:00

Day 1

The day started out pretty badly, my mum was nagging at me about how I've too many things on my hands, and how I may misplace them, blah blah. When we reached the airport, she told me how small my bag was... The worst thing was, my dad dropped my laptop. That was super sucky. I meant to bring it overseas to blog, to watch anime, to do my SEP stuff, so it being spoilt was really terrible, and killed most of my activities while I was in Japan. The screen broke =/ And my dad told me to get a replacement in Japan. But it was hard because Compaq is not a Japanese brand and they don't sell it there. Well, anyway, if you've been reading this blog, you would know that I bought a new laptop back (and sort of regretting it).

We had dinner at Popeyes, but I was actually kind of full from the takoyakis I had earlier. As if spoiling my laptop was not bad enough, I witnessed an uncle scolding the cleaners for taking his 2 dollars. He left his handkerchief, food and 2 dollars. When he came back, only the handkerchief was left. So he had a BIG fuss out of it. lol. I mean, WHO WOULD LEAVE MONEY ON THE TABLE LIKE THAT. Silly. It got so bad that even the police came. lol.

Okay, oh well, more bad things to come, but later. At about 8 plus? Jian Wei and I left for the Departure Hall, it was kind of sad.. I know I'll miss my mum. (And I did! XD I called her on the plane before it took off).

Japan Airlines was pretty good. The service and the food were both wonderful. I only figured how to use the movie watching thing the last hour I was on the plane xD;;; There was quite a bad turbulence on our way there though. Super scary, we were passing through a thunderstorm. Scary! I think the seats were a bit stiff for sleeping, but it may also be because it's too early for me to sleep xD;

More bad things to come. We landed at Osaka's Kansai Airport 5 minutes earlier. Queues at the Immigration were short. But! We forgot to fill the immigration form! Damn. So by the time we finished filling it up, the queues were very long. ZZZ. AND! We didn't fill in the address, which we needed too.. >> Queue again. lols.

Anyway, I dropped my Vicks sweet on the escalator down (having some sort of flu), and it was funny (and embarassing) because all the people (Japanese) were staring at me and my sweet xDD

More daunting obstacles as we reached the airport! We wanted to get the Shinkansen tickets but...

There're different ticketing machines for different kinds of trains; Shinkansen, subways. You sometimes need to find the correct amount to pay too, which can be pretty confusing. But luckily, if you pay the wrong fare, there's a fare adjustment machine at each station. Well, that's for paying insufficient, I don't know if you can get the money back if you paid too much...

Look at this! So many confusing lines...

Luckily we found an office, and asked for help. The person that served us wasn't very good in English.. so, with my lousy Japanese, we somehow managed. We walked about Kansai Airport, and it was really fun!

There're so many vending machines in Japan! Everywhere! You don't have to worry about not having any drinks. The warm drinks were so nice... and warm to hold xD; The next popular vending machines is for cigarettes.

Nice banner.

Even the plastic bags have a vending machine! :D

I really liked the autumn-y feeling of this board.

We got a bit sleepy after all the walking, and just sat around doing nothing. Jian Wei had lunch and we headed for the train station.

Okay, this will be the last unfortunate event, and I rank it the 2nd unluckiest event after the incident with my laptop.

We bought tickets for a train just in time to bring us to Hiroshima by 2pm, where we were supposed to meet the other NUS people... But! That train couldn't move, and we were delayed for 30 minutes. Meaning, we were late. It was rather terrifying. Both of us knew the annoucement was talking about our train, but we didn't know what. We were anxious and, well, the thought of being late was... not good, very scary. Well, anyway, I somehow understood after a few rounds of the annoucement, and got ourselves new tickets, and we were definitely going to be late. Zzz.

At first, I was a little down, because everything was going really badly today. But, since we're going to be late, might as well enjoy the rest of the ride... And I *did* sms the leader to tell her what happened, though I wasn't sure if she received it (she said she did when I saw her later).

This is 'Haruka', the train which brought us to Shin Osaka from the airport.
The seats are very cool de! They can turn! You see, because at the airport, the train has to go the opposite way right (kind of like at Pasir Ris, you go back to Tampines?) so the seats turn to the other direction! Damn interesting. At first Jian Wei and I thought we've to sit facing other people, but in the end it was to turn. Aiya, it's difficult to explain. You must witness it yourself; go to Japan :D

I really was amazed at this plot of land; they're growing something! So natural, something you don't see in Singapore.

Shin Osaka, where we saw (and took) a Nozomi train, one of the fastest Shinkansen.

The board telling us the departure time and the destination, ours is the 2nd. Throughout my trip, most of the boards had English translations too.

This piece of land looked so bleak and barren, it was a little strange for me.

Moutains; a common scenery in Hiroshima/Kansai area?

Are you guys interested in reading more? Because I think it's kinda long (and perhaps boring!) Anyway, thanks to those who read~

Back!

2008-12-20T14:54:00.002+08:00

I'm back from Japan! And Batam!! Most of the photos are on Facebook, do take a look if you're interested. I'll probably type up an entry or two on the Japan trip. And possibly one for Batam. Shall see.

I bought a new laptop in Japan. I'm crazy! Yeah! Everything's in Japanese, go me. I hope I get used to it...

More updates soon~~ Transferring stuff from the old computer to the new.

I'm off! To Japan!

2008-12-07T01:30:00.002+08:00

Flight details

7th Dec, Sunday:
22:55 – (Departure) Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1

8th Dec, Monday:
06:00 – (Arrival) Osaka Kansai Airport Terminal

Flight: JAL722

//

16th Dec, Tuesday:
17:50 – (Departure) Tokyo Narita Airport Terminal 2

17th Dec, Wednesday:
00:30 – (Arrival) Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1

Flight: JAL711

Until then!

how could i let you go

2008-11-27T16:18:00.003+08:00

After Organic yesterday, my dad asked me how my paper was. "It's hard lo." I told him. I think he was quite surprised, because throughout his 20 years with me, the answers he had always gotten was "It's okay la." or "Can do." or "Quite easy." He paused, then asked me "Everyone found it difficult right?". "Well, I guess..." I replied.

But I think what I couldn't do was much more than the rest. I hope I pass my Organic, a C is fine, though sian diao. I also hope I do fine for my 2101 and 2102, a B, can I even aim for that? Sigh. Is this Year 2? zzz. Sure sucks. Well, last paper tmr.

Everyone, do your best (:

In other news, I took a taxi to school this morning, it came damn fast, haha. Peak hour at around 7/8 am, went through PIE, or PTE, or something, I seriously don't know. I need to learn expressways after exams xD; Anyway, grand total of thirty-two bucks. Steady.

I'm going to the IT Fair on Saturday :D Yay.

Jomon, Yayoi, Yamato, Heian, Kamakura, Ashikaga...

2008-11-20T00:49:00.003+08:00

I'm getting 'high' from reading my Japanese Studies readings! :D :D :D :D :D

Siao. I'm going crazy le!!! ZZZZ. The lecturer like skipped the Ashikaga parts, good job man. So does that mean it's not so important and I no need to write notes??? I think it'll be faster this way, because I've like 3 more lectures to go through. I'm an expert at Japanese history till the Kamakura Period now!!! Wahaha. Japan history is really interesting, you just keep seeing the same trend going over and over again. People in the land always take over! No matter how much the leaders learnt from mistakes past leaders made, it's just no use! Japan is too big, and the Shogun just can't make sure all his vassals are loyal to him. But I guess Minamoto no Yoritomo did a good job. Too bad Mongols decide to invade. I really like the Kamakura Period, so interesting :D :D

Hope can finish soon~~~ Going to school tmr, hope it will be productive. 2101, my favourite module of all :D Wheee.

Really siao liao. Maybe I should get coffee. Zzzz.

The only thing I needed then, you could give me so easily, but you didn't.

2008-11-07T20:34:00.002+08:00

So my spectro test was cui. And I can tell most people could do it. This makes it even more cui. Zzz. Thanks HC for showing me the smile whatever sms, and also had a chat with Shu Yun on the way home.

Still thinking about the test, but I am going to Vanessa's house now. Maybe I will feel better after seeing those happy people~ :D

JLPT4 is at Nanyang Girls' in the afternoon. Horrible. I've a flight that night!

My progress...

2008-11-03T23:19:00.002+08:00

Air tickets: Booked; S$1074
Hotel: Booked; S$80
Travel Insurance: Asking around
Shinkansen: Will buy soon

Save money: Currently doing so!!!

Hope I don't burn too big a hole in my pocket. Need to sell some stuff after my exams.
I'm doing my film analysis now, it's actually a fun film, but to write an analysis. GANBARE, WATASHI.

Leptons and Quarks!

2008-10-27T11:01:00.006+08:00

http://www.particlezoo.net/
Featuring Subatomic Particles Plushies from the Standard Model of Physics! (Kind of like the Physics Periodic Table)

I soooooooooooooo did this in Einstein last semester. So cute! ♥ Click on to read descriptions (:

Love the photon, glueon and dark matter.
Too bad, because in Chemistry, electrons, protons and neutrons are together right? Haha. But in Physics, doesn't seem like it. But they're cute. ♥♥♥

They even have anti-particles! With their mouths black instead of white. Hehe. YH will love this, must remember to show him.

It's going to be troublesome...

2008-10-24T15:43:00.003+08:00

BUT EXCITING!

I am going to Hiroshima!!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I AM GOING TO JAPAN! :D :D :D WAHAHHA.

Why am I always feeling left out?

2008-10-21T21:34:00.003+08:00

Dear God, please give me more time. Lately, I can't seem to stay up late, and I can't seem to get up early. My timetable sucks. I am lazy. I screwed my tests. I screwed my projects. I am easily affected by human relationships.

I am looking forward to the December holidays.

But first, I must get through this.

First experience with Wireless@SG

2008-10-10T19:25:00.004+08:00

Well... Frankie, I listened to your advice and went to enjoy life at Liang Court. Sitting at Starbucks now, typing this entry. This place is actually pretty conducive, not bad. Not a lot of people too. The place is kinda dark, but I just shifted over to where the plug is (THERE IS A PLUG, PLUS FOR STARBUCKS), and it's much brighter now. Probably because my back is facing the door (there's light behind me) so it's brighter. But that means if I watch Gintama later, everyone can see me. This place is freaking cold, my hands are trembling as I write this.

Anyway, I was writing my lab report, and I get all worried (NO ENJOY AT ALL, FRANKIE ):) because I've conveniently forgotten everything I studied for for 2101 test last week! *GASP* I guess it's just one of those modules where, after you learn, you forgot a great portion of it. But... as I learn more of 2101, I actually find it rather... fascinating. I still prefer 2102 though, drawing fragments and guessing mechanisms are actually kind of fun... Well, unless an exam or a test is involved xD;

No one is online. I bet everyone is studying!! AH. *guilty* Because I'm meeting Steph to go to Kinokuniya. She should be reaching in 30 more minutes~ Yay. Hope I can finish my lab report or at least half of it after I reach home. Need to finish Organic tmr. And plan out a study plan for 2102. I don't want to panic like for 2101, I swear I felt like crying that day. lols.

I went to Funan just now; I think I may have bought the wrong DVD. DVR-R or DVD+R?! I can't remember. I always thought mine was DVD+R, but my sister said DVD-R... Anyway, I did a search on Wiki, and apparently DVD+R is an improvision on DVD-R, so hopefully it's better? :D When I go home I will know. Even if it's wrong, hope I can still burn my PS2 games in xD

Okay, I am going to watch anime. (So much for saying I want to study.) I'm a bad girl. lols.