Summer Breeze of Love

If you don't already know, 'Summer Breeze of Love' is the title of a Hong Kong produced movie. I remember watching it some years back.

Last summer, I just had the "spontaneous overflow of emotion" (refer William Wordsworth) that I wanted to express so much on the blog. Every single day I thought up of things to write here, but I couldn't find the time to do so. What is more, the slow and bad internet connection at home really got me frustrated.

Anyhow, last summer breezed over with my feeling loved by the people I love. I have learned a lot and have grown up a little bit more over the summer. Ahh... how much I hope that summer is not over yet, although it was REALLY HOT here in Hong Kong. It is even hotter than in Kuala Lumpur. Duh. But if summer wasn't over, I think I would not be able to get through it. Summer suppose to be blissful, but last summer was painful and I am glad that it is over.

Speaking about KL, I am now missing the Hokkien mee, laksa, roti canai, Ramly burger, yumcha and karaoke sessions back home. Malaysia is a food paradise! I am now deprived of my much loved food, as I did not even bring a single pack of curry paste to accompany my boring dorm life. I especially miss yumcha sessions with my family, cousins and friends! Now I don't even find the chance to use the smatter of Tamil that I know.

Well, as usual, I'll let the pictures tell the words. Although summer was long, unfortunately, I did not get to see all the people I want to see as everybody's busy and it is difficult to find a time when people can get together. I do miss all of you! <3

INTIans Bowling Session!

INTI's hot chicks!

Andalasians (very) late night supper.

On a road trip with Chiam, VV and Vicky.

Below, visit to the hot spring (How lucky am I to join the company trip?!) in Sungkai, Perak.

The mysterious guy in my life.

Ignored by the kids...*sigh*

The idiot box is preferred over me.

One of the Mehndis I got. I have freaked some people out with it unintentionally. They thought I had some illness or growth on my hand when they saw it the first time. LOL.

Until I update on the crazy semester of the new academic year, ahnnyeong.

Summer

This summer, I have learned a lot; and I am scared...

But I also learn from US President elect John McCain that when there is fear, there is courage and that the bigger the fear, the bigger the courage. I just hope that I have enough courage to go on, and a little bit more to give to others.

End of April, Comes May

Time flies. Now that the semester has actually ended, I have started to clean up my room and pack my stuff since I'll be going home for the summer. The last weeks of April was really hectic as I tried to finish most of my assignments before I go on a trip with my travel buddies, Helen and Wilson, again. With my roomie constantly keeping an eye on me, I was not able to procrastinate as much, which is very good as I like to get things done. However, we still went out the evening before my major exam and had lots of fun as usual since we are both fun people. XD

Things did pop up suddenly at times and do not go well as planned. Another essay popped out out of a sudden, making my already hectic schedule even more hectic. Off I went for a holiday but some things did not go well and I feel upset and am having a headache about them. Sigh. Now that the semester has ended, I should be happy and excited about going home instead!

End of the semester, looking back, I feel like I have not achieved much this term compared to the previous semesters. Although I have written almost 20 drafts and papers this term (which explain why I am always occupied in front of the computer), I do not feel that I have learned as much. Maybe this has to do with my taking one subject lesser than last term. Now I am getting the hang of studying like the locals, taking as many courses as possible (but not all major courses like some friends do. I have to kowtow to them). Not that I think I cannot handle them but I prefer variety as I bore myself very easily.

Made some new friends this term, and also had a fun outing with my besties from my major. Glad to have also met up with Amber, whom I have not seen for a year. Have many planned outings with some very good friends who will leave soon, especially my great roomie Helen but I am currently very broke so wouldn't want to think about all the plans just yet. Have tonnes of fictions to be read and also undone homework for languages. I plan to reinforce my knowledge of English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Spanish this summer. Let's see how it goes.

By the way, I have forgotten Morse code until I saw my flashcards while tidying up my room.

Me and my roomie.

Gone hiking with Wilson and Helen.

Traversed many, many tunnels; walked on the highway and hitched a free ride when we could not walk further.

The beach! Summer is here!

The tallest building in the world, Taipei 101.

The many, many tunnels which are pitch dark inside.

Love these pop-up postcards. Did not buy myself any though. :(

Until I write again, hasta luego!

I know...

i know i should practise better self-control.
i know i could have done better.
i know i should not have think too much.
i know who would always stand by me.
i know who would always be there for me.
i know what i want.
i know what i want to do.
but, after all, there are still many things that i do not know...


happy at times, feel sucky for sometimes
happiness was shortlived
meanwhile the suckiness became worse
with the bad weather
and the rain
falling on me
and being forgotten,
being left out
to myself,
alone, almost.




Enough of rants. Now let the photos explain the highlights of the past weeks.



Director Daphney has finally uploaded the graduation pics taken last month. Nice, eh?
This is taken before the 'tired look' pic. Nah, I am not showing you that.

Celebrated Arief's birthday at the Indonesian Restaurant. Food was very, very good.

The seating arrangements are funny, like we are speed dating. Guys one side, girls another. Lol.

The view of Hong Kong Island across the Victoria Harbour was very nice that night.

My first cup of soy milk after almost 3 years. Don't know what made me give it a try again. It was really good.

Pork 'muscles'. 아주 맛있었어요.

Over the Easter break, what can be more fun than gobbling up a big bowl of ramen with beef (sadly, no bulgogi) while watching the never-ending episodes of Korean TV shows? I feel so Korean. Lol.

Thanks to my teammates, I got my 'cup' for last year's University's Handball Open Competition.

Another mail from San Francisco. And it is from the Gmail team this time. Life is just full of surprises!

I didn't want to give up

and i have always quoted "Never, never, never give up"
and i always tell you that

disappointed with myself

but this time
i have really decided
to
let go.

for real,
because i have shed the tears
that i feared

and i know
there is just so much that i can do
and there are more that i cannot

for as long as i tried
and tried my best
if not, satisfied

there will be no
regrets.

The weeks that were...

The semester has been passing ridiculously fast this time around. With endless papers to be written, it feels as if I am living on a daily basis. Perhaps it is because of the weather that keeps changing its course, I feel incredibly tired at times and that results in the need for hibernation, which I have not done enough of.


I can't wait to share this, a ticket and book autographed by Ms. Margaret Atwood, former Booker Prize winner:

My very first autographed book by a Booker Prize winner (and it was addressed to me)! And the ticket which I gave to my gf, Darlie.

What I have done in the past few weeks (not in sequence, and as much as I can remember) include loitering around Hung Hom one Saturday or Sunday night and had hamburgers at the most famous restaurant for serving them at the area. Well, I was not very disappointed with the hamburgers, although having waited for more than 30 minutes for them (and you call them fast food?!). The double beef burger with cheese that Ivan got was very delicious, but the pork chop hamburger I got was not bad either, except that Ivan discovered it has bone in it (and bones appear to be in both parts of our burger!). Although I did not get to visit PolyU, I was glad to have explored a little area of Hung Hom that night.

Double beef hamburger with cheese.

Pork chop hamburger.



Also, I have been hopping to Tai Po market on a weekly basis for all the delicious and cheap food that I can find there, apart from getting my weekly supply of fruits and vegetables. Helen has been my most loyal companion so far, and we have tried many new food in the area. I am glad to have also found a new favourite snack for myself (Sorry, no pic here 'cos I do not always have a camera with me). Will get you one if you come with me. Teehee.

Look good, but do not taste good. Were conned!

Another highlight of the weeks would be the Hong Kong Sevens held at the Hong Kong Stadium, which I have gone to and shouted and cheered crazily with Daph. It was an eye-opening experience for I have always wanted to watch some sports matches (apart from the Olympic Games) first hand, after seeing the crowd of happy people around Times Square and Causeway Bay at the end of the tournament last year. Entering the stadium without any knowledge about rugby (nor paying for any ticket - it was free for students, but only for the preliminary rounds), I left with better understanding of the game.

Hong Kong Stadium @ Causeway Bay.


Women in action! HK Sevens' Women's Final: Australia vs. China. The former team won the game.

Notice the signboard at the back ("Jack, Will you marry me? Love, Adriana).

The weeks have also been enjoyable with many photo-taking sessions with good friends who are graduating this year. Having one of those sessions once every week is more than enough, for the school buses and campus will be crowded with people... I particularly enjoyed that one day that all of us gathered and took pictures around the whole campus for like um... 6 hours? But we had lots of fun, though. (No pics yet 'cos pending uploads from the director of the photo-taking tour group).

One of the bouquet of roses for my graduating friends. I was teased for being 'too free' to make these...


Also met a bunch of cool people these couple of weeks and have volunteered myself at some community service programmes. I don't see myself as a volunteer at all, but much more like a participant for I had lots of fun myself, joining others in their activities.



I would also like to again wish all my March birthday friends "Happy Birthday" and may you have another great year ahead. There are so many of you having birthday in this month~ :To dear Pa, Wj, Carmen, Chiam, Marcus, Ikhwan, Janice, Felix, Sophia, Vivian, Tino..... (sorry if I have left anybody out..).

Lastly, having not explored much, I am geared to begin more adventures (this is reinforced after having myself glued to 'The Amazing Race' again, after stopped watching my favourite all-time series for more than a year) and vow to get more work done. Exam period is looming around and I think I should stop now, for I still have yet to write the essay nor do the assignment that I have planned to do tonight (um, last night, since it is already past midnight). Until I write again, everybody がんばって yo!

With Laam Laam, after getting souvenirs and photo album for volunteers for the 2008 Olympic Games.




At Tsuen Wan, the farthermost station on one end of the red MTR line.


A "Thank you" card from KY and Rosanne. How sweet! ^,^

The Girl in the Window

It rained today. The gloomy sky added the moodiness into my already sulky feeling today. I hate such mood swings as I cannot concentrate on doing anything. Except, maybe playing online games. On days like this, I usually get myself immersed into thinking and reflecting on myself, on what I have done and what I ought to do. Everyday, I see people around me working so hard to accomplish their goals in lives, or at least, trying to do their best in whatever they are doing. What about me? What am I doing? Upon reevaluating myself, I find that I am far behind others, so far behind that I think it is very difficult to catch up with life already. Thanks to mom and dad and my bestie for often giving me the encouragements, even though I have yet to do anything significant in my life. Years have passed and looking back, I realized I have become somewhat more introvert than before. I was not as active as before anymore. I am not the me that I was anymore.

Today, I witnessed my new bff [as a friend puts it] in the University's Speech Contest. Congratulations to Yuki for winning the contest. I was very happy for her [Yuki] and to have spent my time with Mandy, whom I believe, was annoyed by my incessant speech when the contest was held. I hope that she would not be angry with my disturbances for perhaps it is due to my uncontrollable emotions and mouth that I was not able to control my flow of speech. I love talking so much that I wonder if I should be a lawyer instead of a teacher, but I do not have the confidence to talk against others yet. Besides, sometimes I will be amazed by the occasional stupid comments that I make about some issues. Anyhow, I was impressed by the performances of those who made it to the final of the contest, particularly that of my 'new bff' of course, as all of you are winners who managed to beat the many contestants who have enough guts to participate in the contest and this includes myself. I sincerely thank Yuki for 'forcing' me to join the contest and having failed to get pass the preliminary round and witnessed the performance of others, I now can see where my weaknesses lie when giving out speeches.

Back in the room, as usual, I read news online. It was not something extraordinary to be mentioned, but lately, I have been doing a lot of reading online and ignored the required readings for the courses that I am taking this semester. Although I would like to deny it, the fact is that this is the way I am - I procrastinate and I like to do things that come to my mind at moments of instants. For weeks, I have been putting my 'things must be done' list away from my mind and hooked myself on reading online news, going to the gym almost on a daily basis [which is very unusual of me], some dramas and blogging. I have also started reading books [fictions] of my interests again and this seem to be the only thing that I find that I am both happy and beneficial doing it. Must be crazy to do all these things in the midst of the examination period but I think that my inner self is trying to define itself. Itself. Right, what am I?

Enough of rants, I find it very disheartening to read about 'The Girl in the Window' today. Although the article is somewhat long, but such stories always have me reading from the beginning until the end and more often than not, I will go searching for more details about them. I was reminded of the movie 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as I read snippets about the case of Danielle. The movie is largely based on the story of Genie, who is also mentioned in the article about Danielle. It also triggered my memory about the case in which Josef Fritzl of Austria who kept his daughter and grandchildren imprisoned in the basement of his house for many, many years. Ahh... what happened to have caused the 'animals' to do such things to their children? The children do not deserve such treatments at all...

Staring at the computer screen for hours now, I am still pondering about the news, the recent political events of absurdity that occurred in my home country, the lives of others and of course, my life. Though I may not have been the girl in the window, but I would like to be the girl in the picture. One day, I hope the day will come again.

わたしの べんとうが です。 ~ My bento.

しあわせ！

この　わたしの　弁当が　です。

因为我的好朋友‘肥肉’叫我有时候试一试用中文写网络日记来帮我改进我的中文程度，所以今晚我就用中文来写日记。 很抱歉因为虽然我上了三个普通话课， 我的中文程度还不是很理想。 可是， 从一个句子都看不懂的我， 现在可以用中文来写短文了。 我觉得我的中文程度比到香港来之前已经进步了很多所以如果我在日记里有打错字， 我也不会觉得很害羞。

上星期我一共看了三部电影, 例如 ‘一百万零一夜’和 ‘Changeling’ 。 这两套电影都很值得看。 虽然那是我第二次看‘一百万零一夜’这部电影， 我双眼睛也是从那套戲开始到做完的时候都一致黏着银幕。 说了这些， 你一定会觉得我有很多时间。 其实也不是的啦。。。

今天我很开心因为我第一次为了一位好朋友做了 “べんとう”， 也就是在日本很有名的便当。 虽然这是我第一次做的便当， 我也成功把三层的食物放在饭盒里。 希望我的朋友真的吃得饱啊。 不跟你说饭盒里面有什么因为如果你有机会吃我趁手做的便当你就会知道了。 唉。。。 我的烹调技术那么差， 有人要吃我煑的东西吗？ 哈哈哈。。。

说完了， 现在极点了？ 我还正在上网， 什么都还没做。。。

Searching for Strawberries in the Slums

'Slumdog Millionaire' (SM) won EIGHT Oscars and I am glad about that. Although tight on budget, my forty Hong Kong Dollars were well spent on that movie. I am glad that I have actually chosen to watch it over The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I will definitely watch some time later. It is a genius to have the narration of the story using flashbacks in a way that they do not bore the audience at all. Most importantly, SM shows that we learn best through life experience and that every little answer we have within ourselves are related to our life experience. I have always loved to watch such inspirational movies. Somehow I relate SM to 'Catch Me if You Can' and 'Forrest Gump', which both have inspired me very much. I would love to watch SM again, not only because of the very good storyline, the clever children actors and actresses, but also because every time I watch such story, I will have a very good feeling that comes from within myself - that I have a better life than others, that I am not as poor at doing something as I think, that I can do something to help others. Enough of SM, now I am looking forward to read the novel which the movie was based on - 'Q&A' by Vikas Swarup. The last time I checked, the University's libraries only have the Chinese edition. Duh.

Last Sunday I joined an outing to an organic farm and plucked strawberries. On that trip, I was allowed to pluck 160gms of strawberries form both Japan and France. Those from the former were sweeter whereas the latter, juicier. Apart from the strawberries, the highlights of the day is that the drivers [two of them] got lost on the way to and fro the farm. That resulted in the cancellation of other leisure activities but I was happy that I got to spend a fun time with Yuki and Mandy in our, err, presumably second outing together.



Seeing all green at the farm.


Our 'bloodied' hands.. Just kidding. Hands were dyed pink/red by juices from the strawberries. Made our hands smell good too. Natural fragrance. XD

Another highlight of the week would be my Korean barbeque outing. I would say that it is more of a grill thing because I consider barbeque as a cooking activity which you use wood or charcoal to make fire and not use the grilling/'barbeque' pan conducted with electricity. Anyway, the food was good but I find them to be a little extra salty sometimes. How many slices of pork, beef, mutton, chicken and fish fillet did I have? Ten? Twenty? I would recommend the beef slices because they tasted the best. Mushrooms, onions and kimchi tasted good too. Desserts were OK. I have some theories for the buffet - 1. Eat 김지 to 开胃. 2. Drink tea to help digestion. 3. Eat quickly to prevent feeling full easily. My friends and I were on the verge of 'dying' due to overeating. We used only 2.5 hours out of the 4 we supposed to have to gobble up everything we can. All in all, they are food for thought here. [I mean that you can think about giving the buffet a try].


Three girls + 50 dishes [maybe I exaggerated] in 2.5 hours = ?? [I don't want to say this, but how am I to stay healthy and reduce my weight if I don't stop binge eating?]




Well, Saturday is coming to an end now and I better start working soon...
잘가요.

..By the way [when can I stop babbling?], I was fascinated by these containers for bananas when I was buying a lunchbox. What if there are bananas with somewhat out-of-the-ordinary shapes.. can they still fit into those containers?




Also, I have my post titled 'Searching for Strawberries in the Slums' with the hope those children in Garib Nagar would find their happiness, gain more access to education and enjoy lives like other children.