My Tuan Yuan Fan (Reunion Dinner)

Chinese New Year, the season of food, fireworks, angpows and what nots. I had a pretty interesting Chinese New Year celebration over here in Sheffield.

My Maggi, books, and I.

Winter, cold, nobody around, exams, non-oriental food, no extra money, no one to laugh with.

Just me, my bed, my books, my chair and my table.

Happy Chinese New Year Jen.

Blog Hibernation is Over

Hey guys,

Yeah, its been a long time since i blogged. Not that I don't have the time. I forgotten my blog existed. My sincerest apologies.

Its funny how the world goes round nowadays, I used to be complaining to people about how I wish I could study overseas, gain the experiences I longed for, explore the world, meet new people and just be away from home for once.

And here I am, blessed with a scholarship, blessed with someone to support me from the beginning until now, blessed with the best flatmates one could ever ask for, blessed with friends I can count on in this foreign land. With all these blessings, I adapted fast, the homesick bug rarely bites.

But as time goes by, winter comes, sunlight is bare. I used to think I can go through anything. Physical pain, turbulence of emotions, any amount of stress. No sunlight? No problem. Then i realise, as the sunlight availability decreases, so does my emotional stability. I didn't want to admit it in the beginning, thinking its just me thinking too much. But eventually, one has to admit sunlight does play a big role in brightening up one's day.

I used to think people who get to go overseas for a university life are some of the luckiest people in the world. They have everything. And me at that point being on the verge of not able to go to university is just the suckiest feeling. But of course, now i realise it is so much more than that when it comes to attaining a different experience in a foreign land.

Quite contrary to what some believe, who thinks that people who go overseas to study are just using the money to buy souvenirs; one does learn much whilst living in another place by themselves, without their family, their friends, their loved ones.

To be able to juggle between studies, everyday living (groceries, laundry, etc), socialising, financial matters and your emotions, is a task not to be looked down upon. Especially for most of us who can only go back during the summer holidays, or worse, a few years later. Well, at least for me, it is a truly difficult task.

I, again, for the 1st few months was in a denial of state. Thinking I was a-okay. People used to tell me how they needed so many months to get used to everything. And when I got here, I was like, "Nah, I'm ok what.", "I adapt so fast ah". But my pride got the better of me.

I have been trying to show my family and friends back home how well I'm coping, travelling around, exploring cooking, the great friends I made, the great life I'm living. How happy I was. I hid so much. The truth is, I was really trying to fight depression and homesickness. But still denied anything of that sort. Suddenly my blog page name suits me so well. So much contradiction within me.

I used to be so strong, but as i grow older, I seem to have lost this motivation to stay strong, finding myself to be weaker. And now as exams are like in just a week, the depression is just getting worse. I guess partly is because I got really jealous when most of my friends get to go home for Christmas holidays, or at least during the upcoming Easter holidays. Some have their families or parents coming over to visit them.

So saving up money to travel around seem to be a good idea. But coming back after the adventures doesn't seem to make anything better. My optimism has seem to left me. I guess its just a phase and I'll get over it somehow.

I feel better now. *smiles*

Important Notice

Ladies and gentlemen, if you can just turn your attention to my chatbox on your right, you would be able to spot a so called ~jen~ sending a message at 19:52 on 20 August 2008. Quoting "you guy are a*******".

Well, I usually use the nick jen in the chatbox, but apparently someone has nothing else better to do by impersonating me and putting that in my chatbox. Just to let this person know, when I write in a chatbox, I don't put "you guy", i put "u guys". I put "u" instead of "you" because it saves space and as you guys know the chatbox don't allow much space for sentences in one go.

Number 2, I think that "you guy" is so low graded la... come on, I will ONLY put "guys" instead of "guy". Because I would refer to lots of people instead of just a singular person ok? Even if I did type that out, it would have been a typo, and immediately after sending the message, I would have sent a 2nd message indicating my typo.

Number 3, I don't use that silly word i.e. a*******. Words like these is a waste of my time. And my friends know I don't use that word la... Plus I won't call my friends that way. My friends know that too.

Number 4, that day was my sister's birthday, and my whole family went out to celebrate it. We were gone like at, 6pm? And the message sent was at 7.52pm. My family went out for dinner and caught a movie i.e. Wall E and The Mummy which both started at 7pm(yeah, we separated to watch different movies at the same time). So its even more unlikely that I was able to send that message. I mean going online while watching movie in a cinema?

.........
.........
HAHAHAHAHAHA...

And I never visited my blog since my reply to G. I knew it because a very nice friend told me about it, and even that friend didn't fall for it. Thanks, you know who you are... =)

So dear whoever-you-are-trying-to-defame-me, your busted! Better luck next time ok? Not careful enough la. I'm a very detailed person ok? I don't know if you're just playing an innocent prank on me or you're really out there to get me. Just to let you know, I don't like it. Enough said.

If you're out to get me and you try to pull another thing like this, most likely it ain't gonna work, because I have an army of friends all around me.

And to my friends, you know I don't type stuffs like these. Its a waste of my time, it ain't my style, and its just not me, you guys know it. I'm not making a big hoo hah about this, just wanna make things clear.

So to the person, I'm a person who takes this quite seriously, so don't give me the "Why so serious?" crap. But either ways, I'm not mad at you, like I said, I just wanna make things clear. So do something more useful than this la ya? God bless. =)

Overdued Dude

I know I know... too much things to say baaa... so when they accumulate, you end up not knowing what to write anymore... Like like... Writers' block... Aaanyways, this overdued thingy has been haunting for me. So here goes nothin'!

The Measure of How Well Your iPod Really Knows You

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense.
4. Write the answers down, or even comment on it.
5. Tag 5 people.

Ok... My playlist has 24 songs only so far... It'll be interesting to see how it goes! And... I have to be truthful, more than half are Jason Mraz songs because because because... well... my comp went into hospital and came out songless... then then then... I was addicted to Jason Mraz's I'm Yours... so so so... I downloaded some, ermmm, a lot of his songs... *circling fingers*...

1. How are you feeling today?
Galaxy - Jason Mraz

hahaha... I guess it means my current happiness is like a galaxy! Exaggerative but oh so true...

2. Will you get far in life?
Prettiest Girls - Jason Mraz

errrr.....

3. What’s your best friend’s theme song?
Hanging By A Moment - Lifehouse

wow... nah, best friend, go and hear this song and imagine you're singing it for God... ;) If its not your theme song, I'll declare it yours!

4. What is the story of your life?
Stranger In The Sky - Jason Mraz

5. What was school like?
Curiosity - Jason Mraz

Curiosity indeed...

6. How can you get ahead with life?
Text Messaging - Jason Mraz

Part of the way to get ahead with life baaaa... Technology bebeh...

7. Whats the best thing about your friends?
Stand By Me - Jason Mraz

*nods nods* *smiles* *winks*

8. Describe your grandparents?
That's How You Know - Amy Adams

How me grandpapa meet grandmama?

9. How’s your life going?
True Love's Kiss - Amy Adams

hahahaha... yeah right...

10. What will be played at my funeral?
Bubbly - Colby Caillat

I had a bubbly life, and I wish u a bubbly life too!

11. Will you have a happy life?
Wake Up Call - Maroon 5

Wake up! Happy has a humongous definition! Depends how you see it... ;)

12. What do your friends really think of you?
Better That We Break - Maroon 5

NoOoOoOoOo

13. Do people secretly lust after you?
Take A Bow - Rihanna

14. How can you make yourself happy?
Song For A Friend - Jason Mraz

=)

15. Will you ever have children?
I'll Do Anything - Jason Mraz

*raise eyebrows*

16. What song would you strip to?
Umbrella - Rihanna ft. Jay-Z

17. What does your mom think of you?
Rainbow Connection - Jason Mraz

18. What is your deep, dark secret?
Please Don't Tell Her - Jason Mraz

19. What is your enemy’s theme song?

I'm Yours Remix

20. What’s your personality like?
Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

21. What will be played at your wedding?

Beautiful - Jason Mraz

Ya!!! Someone tellin' me I'm beautiful no matter what they say!

When Working Gets the Best of You

Just wanna share my working experience with ya’ll. As some of you may have known. I’m currently a teacher for 2/3 year olds. Not day care worker ya.

And seriously, I feel it’s more challenging than being a primary or secondary school teacher, let alone being a lecturer.

My students, mostly don’t speak in sentences or hardly utter a word. So, erm, there’s a communication barrier there. But thank goodness they’re smart kids. My principal suspects it’s due to DHA incorporated into cow’s milk. But as smart as they are, they still have the tendency to start killing themselves or each other without realizing it. Kids ba.

So, one has to be super duper alert so that their lives don’t get endangered or body parts e.g. eye go missing or something. 1 split second you’re not alert and Gong Xi Fa Cai, the worst can happen, y’know?

Then there’s the hygiene. Children’s immunity at the age especially is still vulnerable. So, that’s another major concern. You don’t want a kid’s virus to spread to another kid right?

Then there’s connecting to them. I had to be a Barney (literally) every single day for the past 6 months just to get their attention or educate them. Because you have to speak their language kinda thing. Then there’s lots of singing, dancing and exercising. To the point that I lost a shocking 8 kgs since I worked there.

Then there’s a lot of planning, where every detail comes to mind. Like you wanna teach them the sound of the letter ‘p’? How will you make sure they don’t get confused with a cursive ‘p’? How do you relate that ‘p’ with other things aka application? How to make it interesting? Arts and craft? If so, how? And that really stretches your creativity.

It really is easier said than done. But, the reward is indescribable. When a child goes up to you and say, “I love you, teacher”, you’ll melt! Or when they hug you, or smile at you, or high five with you, or bite you(seriously!) when they don’t normally do so with other people. You know that they love you.

One of the greatest joy is, when other people including their parents think that their child can't do something, and I proved to them that the child can, that's really something.*smiles*.

It tests your critical thinking because like sometimes everyone is just not interested in what you have meticulously prepared no matter how creative it is. Maybe the environment is just not right at the moment e.g. you might have a screaming crying baby. So, as a teacher, you don’t want to kill time by just sitting down there and do nothing, neither should you just continue with your pre planned activity because it would be fruitless. That’s when you have to squeeze your brain to the max!

That’s pretty much the summary. I don’t regret teaching there. From being a teenager who didn’t know how to carry a baby, to a pro who can carry 2 babies at a time or carry 1 baby and still multi task.

But carrying them is banned from the school though, for the teachers la. When you carry them, you spoil them, and before you know it, they’ll be brats. I mean it. They’re smart, and they’ll do anything to get the best attention out of you. So if you show them that you don’t offer that kind of service, but you still love them, they’ll learn to listen. And that’s how you get class control.

But sometimes you need to carry them during emergencies. Example, when 1 of them wants to go to toilet and its not potty time? You have to quickly carry that kid and fly to the washroom or they’ll pee in their pants.

There’s loads of stories up my sleeves. Will save them for another day. =)

Quitting from the job this week. So, most likely I’ll be gaining my 8 kilos back. Hahahahaha. Gonna really miss the bunch of kids. They’re an inspiration. And I feel that they taught me more than I taught them.

Education, At Least I think It Is, I Hope

Remember the time I was complaining about how uncertain my life was? Well, it is, for now. And honestly I owe it all to the big guy above.

It all happened on the day upu results were released. And I am not afraid to tell you that I got 4 Bs in my STPM. Wanna guess where I was chucked into?

Perlis? No.
Sabah? Nah uh.
Sarawak? Not even warm

You can proclaim all the states in Malaysia including those which do not exist and still be incorrect. Yeah, I wasn’t offered anywhere. 4 Bs ain’t good enough for me to enter public university.

But that, my friend, is a blessing in disguise. Because on that very same particular day, I received a call from Shell Sarawak. I got a scholarship to further my studies in UK. *smiles* *smiles* *smiles*.

Of course there’s a longer story to this, but I lazy type, you lazy read.

I’m truly grateful. I really am. =)

For those non-lazy readers or willful listeners or advise needers, I’m more than willing to share any information I can give. So, bring it on!

Giant Shock

I was hanging out in Giant Supermarket (of all places in the world), and as I was passing the cooking oil section, I spotted hanging towels, well, hanging there for sell.

Can you figure what I figured?

I figured that the towels were for the public to wipe their hands after exploring the cooking oil section. Until I saw the prices hanging from the hanging towels, that is.

Sound logic ma right?? You touch the big bottle of oil and go “ugh”, then look at the towels hanging there and say “ah~”. Me gonna wipe me oily hands on the beautiful towels!

Then as I strolled further. I spotted something more unusual.

Kids’ panties on sell, hanging at the tea section! What on earth are kids’ panties doing on sell at the tea section?? Ambi Pur the panties??

I rest my case.