Last day of 2007

It's the last day of the year.. and Hsien Leng's B'day..

I was thinking back about the things i have done this year, the people i have known, the things i have said... I felt that I actually grew a lot this year... I learn how to stay away from home and survive without a maid when i was in inti... Learn how to control my temper (though i still have it sometimes)... Learn how to manage my money, cook and be independant when i came to UK.. I might not have change much... but i knew i am different in some ways... I want to change to be a better person... This is my wish for the new year.. And I wish that everyone can be happy for the new year....

Happy new year to those who read my blog... Enjoy life and may your lives be filled with laughters and hapiness...

This is a picture I just took (in my room)... Just to celebrate the end of the year... hehe... though there is still another 7 hours till that....

Christmas!!!

Today is Christmas day... a day where ppl in newcastle stay in their house and not come out.. the day where all shops are closed and streets are deserted.. the day when even pubs and clubs, discos and bars are closed... I spend my day indoors without even stepping out....
It's boring to celebrate christmas away from home, especially when u r in Newcastle....

Anyway, i actually went out yesterday night... my seniors from Inti had a party over at their flat... they invited us..me and Karen..over for dinner... which is 10pm... yup..10pm.. they started cooking since 5.30pm up till 11pm only done and finally get to eat... we had spaghetti, 3 roast chichkens, fried stuffs, some vege and self-made popiahs... It was quite fun to be there... got to talk to the seniors, get to know them more... better than staying in my own room... we toast to christmas at 12am.. with red wine and coke... Ok.. I admit.. I drank and was a bit dizzy... I drank half a cup of red wine at first.. then karen pour a quarter of a cup to me..coz she can't drink... then a senior..stella.. poured another quarter for me... bcoz she dun wan to drink so much... I have no idea why they think i can drink lo... but then i drank.... the dizzyness was not from the red wine... it was from another drink i took... the person who invited me..Elvin.. brought out his bottle of bacardi.. which he poured for me.. bacardi was similar to vodka... in the sense that both are of approximately 40% alcohol.... dun worry mum.. he juz pour a little bit of barcadi and fill the rest of the cup with coke... after i finished my cup... i was offered another... which i took and then resulted in drinking it slowly and making sure my cup is not emptied so he can't add anymore... hehe... guess I can't really drink much, i felt a bit dizzy after that.. so i stopped drinking... hehe... then we talked and laughed until 3 something in the morning and me and karen left... I went to bed arnd 4 in the morning and am still feeling very tired now though i woke up at 11 this morning... there was a gift exchange event yesterday night which we buy presents and sent to the owner of the present anonymously... we drew lots earlier on to decide who we are giving the present and from there decide what present to buy... i got a tub of biscuit..hehe.. which quite suits me... Pity the guy who recieved the present I gave bcoz i gave a M-sized boxers to him but i think he needs L....

Reena came over just a while ago and we talked for like 1 1/2 hours... i enjoyed talking to her.. she was funny and fun to be with... and because of her I forgot about the turkey in the oven... good thing deric was taking care of it... hehe.. but it is still not cooked though it is already in the oven for almost 3 hours... guess we need another 2 hours to assure that it is already cooked.. I have to go and look at the turkey now... will post pictures of it before I eat it...

Merry Christmas!!!

Tong yun

Yesterday morning, I made tong yun with my flatmates to celebrate the 'go dong'... I had to call mum beforehand juz in case i cook the wrong way... we used the glutinous rice flour to make the balls... due to the absence of colorings, we only had white ones... however... smart ppl like me..thought about using some juices to make colourings... I had a concentrated blackcurrant juice, which we used to make pinkish purple tong yuns and coke to make brown ones... The purple one stained perfectly well but not the brown one... guess I have to put more next time.... after more than an hours work...(we were newbies... that's y we r slow)... we finally finished the dish and it was ready to be served... Deric took the first sip.... and he said... 'hey..this really taste good la... but then why got some fruity fruity taste plus some gassy gassy cola taste 1??'... Then all of us went ..WHAT??.. let me try n see... there was some of these odd taste inside... guess i put too much of the colourings inside..hehe... and when u eat the purplr tong yun.. it taste like blackcurrant... but it was delicious... hehe... considered good for a first-timer..hehe...
Juz came back from the city center...I went out hunting for gifts for a gift-exchange event I am participating for christmas... it's organized by my seniors... Since I haf no idea who is the person I am sending the present to... I bought a cute gift...hehe... a boxer... it looks cute... hope the person who receive it don't mind...
ok.. I am off to marinating my turkey for tomorrows dinner... hehehe... but b4 that.. I haf to google ways to marinate turkey...haha...

The end of the semester

Today is the last day of the semester for me... since I have no classes tomorrow... I am glad that i will have 3 weeks of holidays before my exams...

sadly.. I don't really have any plans for this holiday and christmas.. but I might be going to germany with my classmate..mimi.... in january, after the exams and before the new semester starts... hope i can go...

ok...Let me update u all about my life these few days... let's see... was doing my assignment on tuesday night ( the one dued next semester...) because Lenz came over to discuss... she had to pass it up on wednesday...it's actually a lab report and I did the lab work a week later than Lenz... and the teacher, Pete was kind enough to let me hand it in the next sem..but not her..hehe... so we discuss and did from around 9pm... then at 11pm.. we went out for supper... U must be thinking if any shops opens till so late... Answer is no...I guess only McD and Subway is still open...Ok... I went to the casino... Aspers... And no... I did not gamble.... so dun ask me if i won or lose.... hehe.... 1 thing about casinos is that they give out free food... and in Aspers, they provide free buffet supper at 12 midnight every tuesday... normally the food is oriental style... I got to eat char siew pau.. hehehe... since the food is limited, we have to line up before 12 to get the food...hehe... and 90% of the ppl eating there are asians... shows that we really love to eat...

ok..after the filling supper with the biotech seniors... me, Lenz and Karen resumed work... I really don't know why did I stay up till 3 something in the morning doing the work that I will be passing up in a months time.. I guess i was a bit siao siao that day... but... I manage to finish my work and pass it up on wednesday... plus... I proof-read my friends assignment ( Cathy's logistic assignment on Airbus)... I didn't want to mention this but i had a hard time understanding what her assigment is about due to her english..(Cathy..don't read this plz..hehe) then I did the introduction part of 2 lab reports (Karen's cellular pathology lab report)... since I wasn't taking cellular pathology, I had no idea what was it about and had to serve the internet just to finish the intoductions for her... I am making myself sound as if I am doing everybody's homework.....

anyway... the main point here is i am exhausting myself with ppl's work but I am learning new stuffs... which is good...

I had a test today.. mammalian and microbial cell culture and i think I flung it... sorry mum... i guess i wasn't working hard enough... Neway.. I can't cry over spilled milk... so... I will just enjoy my holidays without thinking about it...

Oh ya... I went out to the city center just now and took some pics..

the pics might be a bit blur due to the lightings and my shaking hand... It's freezing outside... less than 0 degrees... so plz don't mind it...

Happy happy...

Finally... I can breath normally now... sorry for the wait for the nottingham pics... I was too busy with my lab reports and assignments that i havc to set it aside first... Anyway... before the pics will be another long long story bout me n my life this few days...

Ok... I just passed up my 2 lab reports this morning... after that i felt as if there are no more weights pushing me flat on the floor... hehe... and not to mention that my presentation yesterday was quite good... I am feeling so light now (though I still have a test and assignment dued next week...)

juz something about my presentation.. there was only 5 ppl in the lecture hall... me, karen, mimi, reena and the examiner, Steven.. guess that's why I am not that nervous.. at the end of all our presentations, steven mention that we are quite a multiracial group as two of us r m'sian chinese, an indian and a french.... when he mentioned that, i nearly laugh out loud... reason--- when I was listening to the others present, I notice something... the 1st person who present, karen has a chinesy slang when presenting... next was mimi.. i thought she was speaking in french if i hadn't listened closely, then it was me.. the 1 with perfect english...hehehe...just joking... i don't even know how i sound like... then there was reena with her indian accent... I can;t imagine how steven had digested everything we said down... he must have used a lot of ear and brain power to understand us...hehehe...

later that night, Lenzja (a coursemate from inti) and Pauline (a one course-mate from inti penang) came over after dinner to do their reports... I was hoping i could finish mine by 11 but then with ppl around I slowed down... finished my reports around 11.45pm... however.... i slept at nearly 4 am... reason---- karen was sleeping on my bed, pauline ask me to stay and I wanted to watch a show i downloaded..... but the show was for an hour only... therefore the other 3 hours were spent wasted looking at my comp and talking to lenz and pauline....

it is so not my norm to sleep at such a time and i was so tired that i slept till 8.30am( i set 2 alarms just to make sure i wake up) i was nearly late for my class by the time i reach it... neway... was glad i didn't sleep in his class but was listening attentively....hehe...

I went grocery shopping after class and after i unpacked everything i bought, i went out with Cathy to buy some chocs... she is going back to hongkong for christmas tomorrow and therefore are buying gifts.... came back home around 6pm... I am like so exhausted now... feel like sleeping but later cooking dinner together again... guess I will just take my time writing this...

ok.... picture time...

HAHAHA... photos taken in nottingham plus some in leeds...

First and Foremost.... the most important picture!!!! WAI YEE and ME at nottingham!!!!

we finally met in the UK....WAKAKAKAKA.

A bonus in the Nottingham... Met up with WE RIN.... she realy slimmed down a lot lo...

Okok.. pics in the city centre... a christmas tree in the city centre...

Our hostel where we stayed 7 person in one room.. big leh...hehe... I slept on the bed on the left top corner of the pic....

OK.... Here is the pic lots of ppl are longing to see.... the handsome guy!!!! hahaha... I am being stingy in showing his pics (I have another 2 pis...kekeke...) ....Notice Karen is kind of sleeping on him already... she was so desperate for him that all 3 pics she was standing beside him..oh ya.. his name is MAX.. he is from Estonia... n I have no idea where is it..hehe

A electric train.... it is in the nottingham city centre

in front of nottingham castle... lilian, karen, cathy, allen and deric..

ok... y is this pic here? The laptop's owner---Angela... She was holding her laptop all the way when we were touring the city centre... then she asked deric to hold it for her for a while while she goes shopping... which is like hours... hehe.. so we juz did this while waiting for her...haha.. don't worry... she does not know about this blog... foots from the left...karen's, mine and deric's..

In front of the nottingham castle main entrance...

Statue of Robin Hood... the main attraction of nottingham....

What is he looking for???

A random street in the city center

the river within the city centre... hehe...

The map of nottingham university campus.. it's huge... and some pics of the campus...

The car we rented... not very stable but quite ok... I wasn't in the car... I was on the bus in the pics above

Cathy with her packet of nasi kandar... something like that... haha...M'sian food....wahahaha

Us in front of a lake in nottingham uni... yes... there is a lake in the Uni

A map of leeds city center just to prove i was there... notice that deric is wearing my jacket... the wind was quite strong and he was left with his thin jacket... therefore... i offered my big jacket... coz i was already wearing 3 layers and is quite comfy in it...he looks quite funny in it...

Some pics in leeds city centre.... it was around 4 when we were there... looks as if it is 8pm...hehe

Ok.... done with the pics... if u noticed... it is already 11.20pm now...hehe... I actually slept while waiting for the pics to upload.. missed dinner... but my lovely housemates left some dinner for me.....hehe..... juz ate it.... will be up for another 2 hours... ok... off for my dramas...hehe...

full of shocks at Nottingham

Went to Nottingham yesterday...
Deric drove us(allen, angela, cathy, karen, lilian and me) there in a car we rented. the trip there took like 4 and a half hours due to traffic jam and the rain... we reached around 7pm. we were kind of shocked when we saw the hotel we booked.. it was quite small and narrow and the entrance is just a small door towards the upper floors (took us some time to locate it).. the next shock we got was when we reach the reception. the worker there was like sooooo cute and handsome that all of us fell for him... he has these beautiful features that mesmerizes people...
ok...enuf about him... i got a grp pic with him... will be shown in my next post which will be posted some where in the near future.
ok.. so we ate dinner at a thai restaurant...nice food n nice decoration...
next day... we went to the city centre of nottingham...visited the 'outsides' of the nottingham castle and the robin hood museum before we set out to nottingham uni... kind of met a judge from thailand when we were at the castle...he started asking where were we from... most prob bcoz i look n sound like a neighbour(malaysian)...
okok.... back to the main point.... reach nottingham uni = another shock....
the campus is huge... the whole of the uni is equals to Northumbria uni PLUS Newcastle uni PLUS the newcastle city centre... NO JOKE... this is real.... shows how small is newcastle.
we can't even find the sports centre when we were there... neway... we reach there safely...
THEN.... I met up with WAI YEE!!!!! really miss her... had a chat with her n we took a bus from the sport center to the food centre... where M'sian food is for sale... ate nasi lemak, drink cendol....hehe...sad thing tak ada chao kuey tiao....
Oh ya... in case u did notice... we had to take a bus from one place to another... just within the campus!!!!.... and it is a double decker bus.....
Ok... i will just mention other people which I saw.... We Rin.... she was there playing badminton n netballl... really miss her...she slimmed down a lot.... next... a primary school fren studying in Leeds....forgot her name...lim su something... nvm... these 2 r the people i am happy i saw... then next one.... zhen lim....the guy who keeps sticking to wai yee that me and yee's fren (matilda) thinks that he is a stalker and named him 'sticky'.... dun wan to comment further about him.... then there is agnes.... she is there for netballl.... din like the way she say hi... coz she asked...."eh..wat u guys doing here?"... i feel like answering" I took an airplane here juz to see u play netball.." It's like duh... sure la i am studying in the UK and is there for fun...
Fine... i will stop commenting bout both of them before my mood turns bad....
ok... I left nottingham around 2 something after lunch..yum yum... and we head up to Leeds... we just walked around the city centre there for about 45 minutes n then left for home.... the place is beautiful and well decorated for christmas.....much bigger than newcastle too...
we left leeds around 5 and reached newcastle around 6.30... i dun wan to admit it but then i juz haf to say it... Deric was speeding.... 70 miles per hour (times 1.6 to get in km) was the speed limit and he was going at 70.... i know it is quite slow compared to drivers in M'sia that i know... meaning mum, dad, koko, jiejie, and some of them who know who they are... but when u r sitting in that fragile rented car, especially when it is right at the back seat... u will feel that it is very fast... once the car was going more than 65... it starts to be unstable and whenever the wind blows... i feel that the car is going to flip over due to the vibration....
fortunately, i am safely at home now typing this....
I am actually still waiting for y yee to send me a message saying she has reached home safely... but i think she will reach Reading around 11pm.... i will be staying up anyway... got a quest at 12pm tonight...hehe...
Oh ya... photos....I will post it later when i got it from Allen and Cathy....

photos shown below are taken in edinburgh... i will just upload my favourite 10...
Scottish wedding... guys in kilts...The guy is doing this for leukimia patients... we had fun taking photos with him...

I forgot where is this liao... so sorry
A statue..not....a real human...

A cow beside the once cathedral now international center in edinburgh... from left... cathy..karen..me...deric...lillian

In front of the edinburgh castle... we didn't go in... from right... deric..allen...cathy..lillian..karen n me.... notice that I am wearing the scarf my beloved frens in M'sia gave me... love it.. thank you...

A 'castle' in the middle of the town....

In front of st. mary's cathedral...

Way in front of some old building... forgot wat it's name again....sorry

A pan in a stalll.... mum..would u like one of these??? hehe....

OK.... juz in case u forget... these pics are from edinburgh.... the pics in nottingham will be uploaded mayb tomorrow or the day after... I have a few more assignments to go...so might not be able to upload it so fast... bare with me... resuming work now....

snow??!!!

IT SNOWED in NEWCASTLE yesterday morning...
around 8.45 am friday morning (London time)...around -3 celcius.... snow flakes started falling from the bright sky which hung over newcastle upon tyne..... after approximately 5 minutes, the thin snow flakes stopped 'flying' down... that was the first snow scene in UK that I encounter.... or should i say that i heard of...from deric....
hehe... to tell u the truth... i was actually lying peacefully on my bed dreaming away during the snow... i woke up around 10.30 am and was too busy with getting my grocery shopping done that i somehow was unable to detect the fact that it snowed in the morning ( no...there are no snow on the floor or any other stuff to proved that it snowed)..... i was still unsure about the event until later in the afternoon around 1.30pm or maybe later when i was preparing lunch.... that was when i saw deric and he told me bout it... shit... my supposedly first encounter with snow in the UK was missed because i am a pig who slept an extra few hours...
fine... i will wait for the next one... according to the weather forecast on BBC... there will be another snow on monday... guess i will wake up around six and look out the window the whole day so i can really see it... but it is odd to have snow in the autumn here... guess is the weird weather of UK.... this winter is going to be quite cold i presume since the autumn is already chilling me to the bones... hope i won't freeze to death....hehe... yes mum... i will wear extra clothes...
oh ya... before i forget... i better boast about my trip to EDINBURGH today...hehe.... the student union of our uni kind of organized this trip to edinburgh and i was one of the lucky 150 ppl who got to go... thanks to allen and cathy who bought tickets for all of us... it was quite cold and windy up at edinburgh... we (as in me n my flatmates karen, allen n deric n cathy n lilian) went walking around the place together... our tour guide, allen, had to do lots of homework(getting maps on google and the details of interesting places in edinburg) which is why we kind of see a lot of stuff when we were there... however, not detailly...due to the over-pricely entrance fee....we juz took pictures outside most of the cathedrals and castles we visited.... we get to spend like 5 hours in Edinburgh only because the bus needs 3 hours to travel there n another 3 to travel back (neck, back and butt still aching from it now)....so we couldn't see much.... however we are planning for another trip to edinburgh during the new year countdown... maybe we get to see more then...
oh ya... dad called me today... felt guilty when i told him i was in edinburgh coz i am spending his money.... better get a job here fast if not at the rate i am going.... i will deplete my money by january.....OH NO...
ok... i really haf to go back to my work now.... if not i will die tomorrow as i haf a few more other works to do... and i have to go out and buy toilet paper tomorrow as we are out of it(yes...I am in charge of the toilet papers in our flat) ....will upload the pictures from edinburgh when i get it from the others....by the way... i am the only one without a camera here...sob sob....