The seven of us (Sabrina, Shuying, Chris, Kenneth, Tony, Kenneth's dad, and I) went for a day trip to Stratford-upon-avon today. Was very excited, woke up super early... haha also partly cos I get hungry quite easily in the early morning, dunno why also. Called for a cab to come at 8.15 to pick me, Shuying, Kenneth, Tony and Kenneth's dad up from Elgar Court. The phone operator said they'll call me when the cab reach but they didn't leh... make me wait in my room for so long, in the end I decided might as well go down and wait. And it was there already, Shuying was also there. But we had to wait for the rest and the driver said it was 75p per minute for waiting time. Ouch! But luckily they came like maybe one minute or less later la, so not that expensive.

When we reached New Street station the rest were all there but we weren't sure if Imran was coming so we waited until 8.45. Then we walked to Moor Street station, bought our tickets and caught our 9.27 train to Stratford-upon-avon.

[haiya... really cannot take it already... i'm sleepy and cold. why is it so cold tonight?!]

The train journey was quite fast and it was quite funny especially when Sabrina was laughing all the time. The scenery was beautiful, green pastures... erm ok, got brown and yellow also la. Cows, sheep, trees... blue sky! If I ever get a chance I'd like to spend some time to experience farm life. Haha of course I'll feel quite isolated and sian without my laptop, and so far away from other civilisation also... but I think it'll be quite a great experience. Especially the peacefulness, tranquility... haha used to dream of living a quiet, simple life. Now not really, I guess it could get a bit boring la. But still want to experience it. Maybe for a week?

Just outside the Stratford-upon-avon train station was a large carpark where many locals parked their vehicles to sell things. It was like a flea market, everything was being sold there. There were books, antiques, toys, plants, fruits and vegetables, and all the things they decide they don't want anymore. The antiques were fascinating, there were clocks, pocket watches, sets of cutlery etc... haha even old coins selling for 20p each! Kenneth's dad bought fruits from one of the stalls, it was very sweet (except for the occasional sour ones)... nice!

Then we walked towards Shakespeare's birthplace and passed by another flea market. Even more things to see, and to get tempted by. Shuying ended up buying a very nicely decorated candle holder. The whole place was so beautiful, I love it more than Birmingham! I like the way the streets and buildings (or shophouses) kept that 'old' look but the shops inside were modern, selling things like sports wear, hip clothing, perfume etc. There was a shop selling cakes, pastries, oh no... haha too bad, don't get to eat take a picture also not bad la.


Doesn't it just look so delicious...

We also walked past a brass quartet of two trumpets, trombone, and tuba busking in front of a shop window. So cool! Don't know whether they bought arrangements of some pieces or did their own, but it was really good.

Nearing Shakespeare's birthplace there was a plaque-like stone on the ground labelled 'Shakespeare's Ghost', with a statue of a dog tied to a trophy in front of it. On top of the stone, there was a grey statue, apparently of Shakespeare holding a book. Then... the statue moved! It was just a man busking. People were putting money into the trophy for him, and he would bow to them in apparently the Shakespearean manner I suppose... haha. But some people stood very near him and tried to stare into his eyes. He would go still for some time, and suddenly reach forward to scare the people. Later when we were returning and passed by the place again, he wasn't there anymore.

[Ok, gotta go for music department socialising activites heh... shall continue this some other time]

We're going to Stratford-upon-avon today! So exciting... we're going to catch a train there and estimated that the tickets will not be more than 30 pounds. Then we'll get to see Shakespeare's birthplace, etc... haha this is exciting! We'd probably not get to do this so often once school starts next week. Made an egg sandwich for lunch... heehee we're all on tight budgets so we should save on lunch! Okiez, going to get ready, otherwise we may just miss the train we're planning to catch!

Had a department meeting at Barber Institute this morning. Wah this year like quite a lot of people taking leave and stuff. The department should be mostly English, I think. Maybe some international students but mostly non-asians. About the only asians there were Poh Ning, me, and this Hong Kong girl. Don't really know her name, it sounded quite weird... but I know it starts with G.

We also got to meet our 'parents'... each senior is assigned to one of us. My mum's Lizzie, she's really nice and friendly. But I think many of them are not really used to Asians, can tell that the parents with asian children were having quite an awkward time trying to make small talk haha.

Tomorrow supposed to go register for our MOMD (modules outside main discipline). Thinking of taking Introduction to Psychology, or History of Art , or The Impact of Mathematics. Haha hmm I know some people will go, 'Eeee... maths....' Haha but sounds quite interesting leh, here's the module description: These linked modules will explore the impact of mathematics in topics such as: music; art and literature; chaos; sport; money; stars and planets; the past; the future; recreational mathematics; architecture. Quite cool to find out lor. How how... cannot decide!

Very happy that my airmail parcel was delivered to me safe and sound, and on time too! 12 + 9 days = 21 sep. Yay... happy with my speakers! Hahahaha and finally scores! Heehee don't have to borrow Poh Ning's Beethoven sonatas anymore.

K, going to sleep. Maybe can fall asleep soon and then maybe if I'm too tired I won't wake up when my flat mates come home later.

Haha eating breakfast and blogging... quite tired... last night we came back at eleven plus and then shortly after that my flat mate came back with a noisy and rowdy bunch of people. Was going to knock out but then kept getting distracted by the noise.

And this morning after I woke up for about ten minutes I can hear sounds outside my room already. Wah, how she sleep so late but wake up so early?! (I woke up at six lor) Nowadays I wake up earlier to bathe and let my hair dry before I go out... cos if I wash my hair at night then it'll still be wet when I want to sleep. Bad for my head right. And when I wake up in the morning i'll have a really 'nice' head of explosive hair! Haha... okay sorry crapping around.

Hmmm oh ya. Yesterday's dinner was great! Hahaha all of us have been like living on bread to save money... and also cos when you buy bread there's the expiry date lor. So must finish before it expires right. Yesterday we all couldn't take it anymore, so we decided to meet at Shuying's flat to cook fried rice together. Hahaha so fun, we all took turns to fry different batches of rice cos the wok was rather small. But then the rice was a little sticky cos we just cooked it before we fried. Haha no time to wait for it to be cold already! YUMMY!!!!! Hahaha

Then we went to Melvin's flat for tea. Lanx was super despo to go clubbing so Melvin managed to get him a place cos one of his friends was going for a movie instead. Yepz, so we chatted until quite late and the four of us shared a cab back to the vale but poor Chris had to walk home alone cos Queens Hospital Close was in the other direction.

Today... meeting Ruth and she's bringing us to buy our books. Then I also need to get to the HSBC New Street branch to get my cheque book. Sighs... they make me so sian. Last week they told me my cheque book reaching the uni branch this week but yesterday they said it was sent to New Street. And can't set up the internet banking cos there's always an error when we tried. But when we ask the man at the bank he'll think we didn't follow his instructions carefully. Got very irritated with him yesterday cos he kept saying things like, 'you must have read the digits wrongly', or 'you must have input the wrong details' etc. We understand English perfectly well ok... sigh.

Then back to my room to dump all the books first before meeting Chris at the uni train station and we can all go open market together. Yay it's supposed to sell really cheap things near closing time so can get all the groceries there. But one thing I won't buy from there is the meat la, cos may not be fresh. Need to get lots of fruits, I just don't feel right if I don't eat them! Hahaha so opposite from my bro.

Some of them planning to go party with their flat mates (cos it seems like the fastest way to get to know them!), but don't think I'm going cos tomorrow got some deparmental thing. Anyway, I'm not really into such things. Guess I'll just mix around with my flat mates, talk to them etc but don't think I'll go parties.

Okiez... going to fix some lunch to bring along later. Haha my loaf of bread's expiry date is today! Need to finish it... don't waste money!

[13 September 2005 2020hrs: not so tired tonight so I can start writing about the previous days, and maybe if there's going to be enough time tomorrow I can copy this into blogger using the wireless network outside the library!]

Sunday and Monday felt like a single (long long) day. It just felt like the two were joined together and the day never ended. I think it's partly due to the flight.

Spent most of Sunday packing, frantically trying to get many things into the luggages without exceeding the weight. Too bad, in the end the weight was 33.5kg in total. Supposed to pay 3.5 X $72.50 = $253.75!!! But luckily we didn't have to pay eventually, explain that later.

And then si4 yi2 came to visit in the afternoon, so most of the time was spent talking to her. Or rather, just sit with them in the living room lor. Cos I don't have that many things to talk about.

After that we went to grandma's house for dinner. And then it was back home to get the luggage etc ready, before san1 shu4 and xiao3 shu4 drove my grandma and aunt down to pick us up. Somehow it felt like a very normal trip, as if I were travelling to UK for some band thing. At the airport I was sitting next to my grandma and she was constantly telling me the do's and don't's (again!). Later da4 bo2 and my cousins arrived and there was a spate of photo-taking, haha all of us whipping out our cameras. Sat there for quite long, and Guanyan was wondering about Popeyes so he and my dad went to buy some food. Ate a muffin (yum!) cos I know I'd surely be eating some more when I met my beloved section later.

Then it was time to say goodbye, everyone was wishing me all the best etc. Grandma was crying but weirdly I wasn't affected, even though usually will cry watching people cry in shows. Think maybe it also depends, like if I'm watching the show alone then I can really cry buckets but if there are other people watching then I won't be that affected. Sigh. Nevermind, she'll cheer up soon. And anyway she can always go to my house and see me via msn and the webcam.

Met my dearest section at Swensens. Thank you all SOOO MUCH!!! Where else can you ever find a section that's still sticking together since secondary school days... yay ET rocks! (Hmm Debbie, maybe I'll give you an 'internet send-off' haha. Too bad I can't fly back) Anyway, at Swensens, Debbie and I had two different kinds of "peaks", which is basically just lots of chocolate ice-cream, cream etc piled up in a tall tall glass. Mmmm CHOCOLATE!!! Jiehui and Shini shared some dunno-how-many-scoops-of-ice-cream thing, and Yiting had another chocolate thing in a shorter but rounder glass. Hmmm seriously I think my description skills are really bad hor, ok nvm. And since it was four ice-cream items, we could order some set thing which came with fries, the total costing $26. Thanks Yiting for your treat!

Thanks everybody for your present too! Haha the lantern is really hilarious! What am I supposed to do with it? Haha. And there's the butterfly-thing, which (sorry!) I haven't opened cos it looks very fragile and I think I'd wait till I move into my permanent accommodation so that it wouldn't break during the move. Thanks very much for the thumb drive, should be more useful than my tiny-capacity one heehee. What I really liked best was... the monday-to-sunday thing! (Hmmm were you all thinking it was the chocolate?) Now I know why you all said I have to flip it everyday (I will!) haha then I won't forget what day it is and what lessons I'll have ya. Well, so sorry about the chocolate actually, cos all of us didn't get to sit together on the flight to Dubai, and Poh Ning's mum was holding the plastic bag when we boarded the plane cos I had other things to carry. Later when we reached Dubai's baggage check for the transit... the chocolate had to pass through their scanning machine, which was labelled 'radioactive'. Argh. So sorry! *Sob* I didn't get to eat the chocolate! =( =( =( =( But anyway, I'm really happy and thanks again for all your presents! And the effort put in to make the monday-to-sunday thing!

Walked down to the check-in place together and took some photos. (Hey, must send me ok... can't wait till I move into my permanent accommodation and apply for the internet service in the room!) Sorry that you all had to leave so quickly, haha cos we all wanted to check in as soon as possible. Anyway, the check-in was quite bad, cos the guy at the counter was very irritating. According to Poh Ning's dad, they called Emirates in the morning to check whether her mum's luggage allowance was 20 or 30 kg. Apparently they said it was 30kg, but the guy at the counter refused to believe that cos on her ticket it said 20kg... 'if it was 30kg they'll have put it on the ticket, makes sense?' Argh, he said that with the very irritating kind of discriminating tone lor (he was also Chinese ok, hmmph we really have lots of things to bring what!) So we were 15kg overweight altogether. But in the end they managed to convince (actually not convince, he didn't look convinced but anyway, think he just didn't want to argue) the guy and he let us off without having to pay. (Thanks ah, Poh Ning! Otherwise I'd have to pay so much!) Second, when we passed him our ticket-holder (which contained next June's ticket also), he took out the wrong ticket for mine. Instead of taking out the Dubai-to-Birmingham ticket for 12 Sep, he took out one of the June tickets. Wah... luckily I realised when he returned me the tickets for next June. And I was wondering, huh? Why would I need to fly from Dubai to Birmingham next June?! Lastly, when people check in together usually they'd give you seats together lor, but he gave us seats that were quite separated, at rows 16, 19, and 38.

Oh ya, there was a small (ok not very small) glitch on my part too. Haha when they were scanning our hand luggage then the woman told the guy to check my bag. Apparently I put a sort of set of things like nail clipper etc in my bag but I thought I put it into one of the luggages. Whoa, mayhem! I had to take out anything that resembled the rectangular-shaped thing that they saw in the scan. Finally after scanning my bag three times over, we found the thing. They are so weird lor, they confiscated one sharp-looking thing but then they let me take back the nai clipper and some other things. Actually I think those that they returned me were still quite dangerous-looking leh.

Anyway, I wasn't very unhappy with sitting separately la. It gave me a little taste of what it feels like to fly alone. I took 38, cos at least 16 and 19 are nearer so they can be closer together. (But in the end they swapped places with some people and sat at row 39, haha I was so blur I only found out in Dubai!) My seat was a window seat, beside two Africans (Or African-something, I just don't want to use the term 'black' cos somehow it seems a little degrading leh). The baggage compartment was quite high up and I had to tip-toe a little to reach the handle and try to squash my hand luggage in. The plane was very big and of course stable, except one small part when we were having our second meal. Oh ya, the meals on Emirates are good! (Ok, please note that this is coming from a very sui2 bian4 person!) And I think it really depends on your choice when you order. Our first meal was two triangular slicles of bread, one with ham and pickles on top and the other with some sort of cream cheese. The cheese one was delicious!!! And there were other things, which I forgot. (See, the cheese one must really be so nice that I forgot what else came with it!) The second meal we had a choice of ommelette or noodles. I think I made a right decision with the noodles, cos I generally don't have a good impression of ommelettes on flights. They just seem too watery to me all the time, I don't like that. The noodles were yummy haha just normal noodles stir-fried and there was one rather big prawn sliced into half. For dessert (yay, dessert!) was a fruit tart. Yum. And of course there were fruits, salad, bread, butter, biscuits, cheese etc. Actually I slept for quite a lot of the flight, and so did my two neighbours, so I didn't really have to bother about them.

[13 September 2005 2150hrs: Aiya, think I should go sleep. Eyes starting to get tired and starting to feel sleepy. Actually, also cos my legs are aching... well wait for my post on today! Haven't really adjusted, now I sleep at 10 and wake up at 4! Ok, to be continued...]

[15 September 2005 1638hrs: Just got my wireless repaired, been getting disconnected all the time just now. See la, wasted 1.5 hours of my blogging time! *Sob*]

On the transit flight from Dubai to Birmingham, the three of us got seats together. Poh Ning and I sitting by the window and her mum sitting on the aisle seat in the middle section. The first meal was another bread affair. This time it wasn't as nice but still, it's nice! Haha. Somehow I had lots of appetite on the plane but Poh Ning and her mother were complaining that they were feeding us like pigs. The second meal was good too, I think we all took chicken. Cos I've experienced beef on planes that really taste bleargh. So I decided to get chicken. And the dessert was a creamy thing with berries on the bottom. Yum! Heehee. Yupz, so that's about all I have to say about the flight (actually it's quite a lot!). The coolest thing about Emirates is that they have one camera attached to the plane's nose showing you the pilot's view, and another camera attached to its belly showing you the downwards view. It's really cool during take off and landing and when we were low enough in UK we could enjoy the downwards view and see all the fields and buildings!

[15 September 1658hrs: wait, lemme just upload this before I continue the story...]

Then when we got down the plane, the customs was soooo slow. I think we waited more than half an hour lor. At first there were two queues, one for British passport holders and for non-British passport holders. Cos the British process is faster, they finished much faster than us. So they opened the other counters to us. But later another plane arrived and all the people on the plane were British! ARGH. One big group. So they had to give those counters to them again.

[15 September 1805hrs: this has been very slow moving, like I said, it's a long day. And now I'm chatting with lots of people on MSN so it's slowing me down quite a lot! Haha lemme publish again...]

[18 September 11:14hrs: using the wireless in the library now. Met Poh Ning and Shuying here cos they needed to fix their hallsnet. At first I didn't want to come but later I thought I should cos if the Arts Building was open then maybe we could book a room to practice on Monday. But too bad, it wasn't open]

When we reached the luggage belt it was really easy to spot our luggages cos most of the people were gone already, and only the last few people's luggages were left. Luckily we still managed to meet Shuying in the end (her flight arrived at 11+ but she said she would wait for us and also her parents were taking the same flight as us). At first the welcome team was already getting the group of international students gathered there to move out of the airport and we thought we'd have to wait for the next bus but luckily they managed to give us our yellow stickers (like we're tourists!) in time for us to follow the group.

It was a very sunny day, even in the plane the sun was shining so brightly we lowered the blinds for most of the trip. Actually we only raised it when we were nearing Birmingham so that we could peer down to see the scenery. I didn't know what to expect of the weather so I had my jumper in my hand luggage, and Poh Ning's mum was saying we might be cold outside especially me cos it was just a jumper (their jackets were a bit thicker), so she actually took out another three jackets from her luggage. But in the end we didn't need to use the jackets at all.

After the bus dropped us off at Prichatts, it became very chaotic. There were people everywhere, and everyone was collecting their luggage from the van. And then we were supposed to queue up in a line to store our luggages in the Social Centre. But it was so full they changed their minds and they told us to move back so that we could put our luggages on the grass outside the building. The whole thing was quite tiring cos I was carrying my super heavy hand luggage and my laptop bag too. My right shoulder was aching!

Tags were stuck on our luggage and we were given half of it so that we could collect our luggages later. Then we had to queue up in the Social Centre to get our accommodation contracts, and then our keys for the temporary accommodation. It took very long and all of us were very thirsty. Fortunately there were cups of water. There were many things to collect and everything was really messy.

The three of us tried to ask if they could allocate us to the same flat for the temporary accommodation but they said it was on a first-come-first-serve basis. But we still ended up in the same flat cos we were queuing one after another. The flat was non en-suite, but it was still ok I guess. My room was very dirty, there were little white bits of things on the floor and everything. So I was always either wearing my shoes or my slippers when I was in my room. Some photos of how the room looked like when we first went in... (actually I took these after I finished packing the day before we were moving to our permanent rooms)







The next few days were mostly just going around to do our registration with the university, going to the library to install the authentication certificate for the wireless, going to the finance office etc... Takes quite long sometimes, cos the queues are all very long!

The most irritating one was the bank. There were only two counters, and the people there could only do transactions and stuff, those with questions all had to queue up to ask another man. Only one man to answer so many people's questions! And he's quite racist... argh. When Poh Ning and I tried to ask him how we can set up internet banking, he explained the procedure and then he said, 'if you're not comfortable with English, translate the website into your own language...etc' Felt like boxing him. He says that to everyone who's Chinese-looking lor! Hmmph. Managed to get my solo debit card but can't really do anything with it cos obviously withdrawal got limit so can't pay my fees and accommodation in cash. Then we tried to pay through the epayment gateway in the the university's website but there was an error. We're guessing there's also a limit for such online payments. So now we just have to wait for our cheque books to come.

They are really weird. On Monday I went to collect my card and cheque book, but cos mine were supposed to be collected at the New Street branch, they said I had to wait a few days for them to be redirected to the university's branch. Then when I went back again, they only gave me my card. I was worried that they'd sent my cheque book back to Singpore, like Poh Ning's, so I asked them to check whether that was what happened. But then they said I asked for it to be sent to UK. So where did my cheque book go? Now I'm supposed to go back sometime next week. Sigh. And next week is Freshers Week, the whole university will be crowded with people trying to get everything done! Even longer queues than now! But we're hoping the banks won't be that bad cos if most UK students already have accounts they won't have to keep going to the banks.

Class lesson was super early today. 9.30 am... the earliest class lesson I've ever had! A bit too early to properly wake up but then I like it. Heehee I'm an owl/early bird, I work better in the morning or at night. Afternoons are bleargh, too drowsy.

Ms Ching was super friendly today. Haha maybe it was her first lesson of the day? She talked to us for quite long (as in, ask about how's everyone etc), I think the longest I ever remember from all the class lesson. And she was very amused to hear that my luggage is super overweight. Sighz. Ok, anyway, playing was ok. Except for (ARGH) my stupid lack of concentration at one part. Not again! Anyway, i was quite comfortable with the speed though I know it's definitely too slow to be the real speed Beethoven intended! But well, better to play at a manageable speed than to trip over all the semiquavers!

Was very inspired by Adeline's playing to start learning Bach again! And Ben's Beethoven too. Michele played Mozart's concerto in C minor, I just love watching concertos during class lesson! Sighz. Ms Ching says next year they'll do more duets. So fun! I want to do too. The rest of the class is actually quite poor thing, cos both Shaun and I are leaving. That leaves the five of them... further split into two 'Beethoven groups' of two and three. Shaun and I are from the same group, leaving poor Adeline and Bernice to fend for themselves now! Haha that was a project we were supposed to have been doing from beginning of the year but other than discuss what topic we should do, we haven't done anything! And the concert's coming, december?! I think. And if Ben goes into NS early, then that leaves the four of them. Hoping I can have lessons again when I'm back next year. And class lessons, I'd definitely miss them!

After class lesson Adeline and I had lunch at Han's... and she treated me to a slice of their oreo mint cake. Yum. Was very interested in her job, and I think it's really quite interesting! I mean, other than the fact that it's not something to do with music, but I think it's so different from a static clerical job. When she's not fighting cases she has to do research on other cases, and she can have lots of cases at a go, which means she's always fighting against time to get everything done by their deadlines. Stressful, but definitely not boring! Later we went window shopping around Novena Square, and I was eventually pursuaded to do crazy things like try on a skirt knowing fully well I wouldn't buy it in the end. Oh well. Adeline's really young at heart!

Ok, enough for now. Feeling super tired from waking up so early this morning! And from all the packing! Haha it's a miracle! (Well, no, it isn't actually) I didn't exceed the baggage limit. Cos I took so many things out! Too bad, just got to air mail some things over.

Met some of the mepers today for lunch in Soup Restaurant at Suntec. We were actually very undecided about what to eat. But Ms Chew said we should eat Chinese food cos Poh Ning and I are leaving already.

Oh before we met Ms Chew, Kan Kan, Poh Ning and I went to minitoons in search of a gift for Ms Chew. Poh Ning and I couldn't decide between a cookie monster soft toy and another soft toy which is very hilariously labeled 'Animal Ball - Chick'. Cos it's basically a very round chick haha very cute! But cookie monster was also adorable with its funny look. Kan Kan prefered the chick but she was a little unwilling to help us decide cos afterall, the gift is from the two of us. But in the end she got quite fed up so she decided on the chick heehee.

Ok, anyway, got to go pack somemore. ARGH

Got my JBL Creature II speakers today. Originally wanted grey cos if it was black, the subwoofer really looks like Darth Vader's helmet, and white feels too... cold? Just didn't like the feeling of white. But in the end I settled for white cos they didn't stock grey. It's packed quite snugly in a box but weighs 6kg. Guess I have no choice but to ship it over, although I keep thinking of sending by air so that I can get it sooner. But then again... $$$$!!!

And my packing is still in a mess! Even if I manage to squeeze everthing in, I bet I'll still exceed the baggage limit. Cos the smaller luggage is almost full and it already weighs nearly 15kg. Imagine how heavy the bigger luggage will be once I manage to pack everything else in it.

In the morning I got a flu vaccine before going to Sim Lim. Now my left arm is aching. I think I'd rather the jab hurt a lot and after that not have this sort of post-jab aches. When he said 'your arm will ache for one day or so, don't worry and just don't carry heavy things etc', I didn't really bother cos at that time it was only a little tingly sensation around the fingers. But later when I went home and practised for Saturday's class lesson, ouch. At first it was perfectly fine, but once I finished practising and put my hand down from the keyboard, the muscles were all wound up tightly as if I'd been doing one-arm push-ups or something.

Okay, shall sleep earlier today. Been waking up quite late nowadays and getting that 'I just wasted my whole morning' feeling. Going to meet the mepers tomorrow! Finally we managed to find a time...

Feeling very hungry and I dunno why... cos I ate quite a lot for dinner? Funny.

Well, today went to trim my hair so that I can cut down on expenditure there... erm if it doesn't get too long and messy la. But I think it will, so see how first.

And then I was much too early to meet Ruth so I was fortunate that Poh Ning could come down earlier. We went to borders and after browsing through some shelves, we decided to sit at the children's corner cos everywhere else was full. Actually, I've always been wondering, it's school holidays so you can expect more teens and kids to be out and about, but why is it that all year round there are adults around too? They all seem like they don't have to work, and can spend their days leisurely browsing through books and sipping coffee. Haha I know it's a stupid question la. But when I was in school I always thought that weekday mornings were the best time to go to the malls cos there would be less people. But after leaving school I realised that's not the case.

And then we met Ruth, and she passed us manuscript paper. It certainly wasn't what I expected. In my mind, manuscript paper means either loose sheets of paper with lines, or sheets of paper in a book, and mostly A4 sized. But it actually looked like a drawing block, the kind we used for art in school, and was that big in size too. No wonder she said one pad can last both of us for a year. Heehee thanks Poh Ning for agreeing to try to put that in your luggage!

We had lunch, and had a very interesting conversation with Ruth. (You didn't think we met her just to get manuscript paper right... a bit evil...) Well, lots of interesting things to know. Ok, and chiller things like thefts and murders. But I guess it's a blessing in disguise that we didn't get Jarrett hall, which we tried to request for, cos apparently it's situated in the 'bad side' of Selly Oak, where more crimes happen (as opposed to the 'good side' la). Although the Vale is a bit far from the main campus, I think it's ok cos I like walking. Ok i won't compromise my safety just to save money... if it's still too dark in the morning, I'll take the shuttle. But at night, when there's no more shuttle then no choice lor, walk in a group and be careful.

I'm having some problems packing cos I think I will exceed the weight limit, and that's if I actually manage to squeeze everything in. Shall try to settle that (or at least 90%) tomorrow, after I go get the flu vaccine and go buy my speakers. Haha and Poh Ning will say, 'pack la, don't keep going out everyday!' Sounds like my mum, nagging everyday. But ok, considerably less naggy! =)

Met Elaine to introduce her to my student and sat in for the lesson. Was very impressed at Elaine's teaching! Wah really effective man. She actually got her to play in time! And me... trying to get her to do that since dunno when, didn't manage it. Think the only thing that can stop her from failing now is if she doesn't put in any effort to practise. Really learned a lot by observing Elaine's methods... and I think it's really good! I realised why my teaching was ineffective, and realised that sometimes when I let the small details take a back seat in order to get the 'more important things' corrected, it doesn't work because the small details have to be correct in the first place. And I must really learn how to be firm but encouraging at the same time. Wah, Elaine, power ah.

Aspire to become like her in time to come... hmm well maybe. Still don't really know what I want to do next time. But feeling more strongly pulled towards the private teaching end most of the time than teaching in school.

Feeling quite bad now for arguing with someone just now. Didn't want to lor (duh, who likes to quarrel... plus it's like my last few days here already) but then I just suddenly got very irritated la. Suddenly ask me to help you, ok la I don't mind helping but then can't you just have a little teeny bit of patience and let me finish whatever I was doing first. Still, nevermind, I decided to help you first ok. And then you have to be so impatient... people helping you with things they don't even know lor. I just said can I check and find out then later I tell you, then you go and say 'ask you to help you don't want to help me.' Excuse me, I thought I just said I'd check and tell you?! Forever... duan4 zhang1 qu3 yi4. Pissed ok. And then I find out and you say, what if it's wrong. Ok lor, I may be wrong for all you know but I really tried to help la, not like I didn't mah.

Sighz... and as always after conflicts, the feeling of regret is here to haunt me. Don't usually flare up easily, but dunno why was super explosive just now. Maybe cos before that my mum was accusing me of not helping to fold the clothes. 'You'll rather just slack around and don't help me. I go to work ok, not "shaking leg" at home one.' Argh. Ok at least this is justified la, I really didn't help her.

And this afternoon had to bear the unreasonable rantings of a pissed mother. She complained that I didn't tell her I'd be going off in September, otherwise she wouldn't have wanted me to teach her daughter. Ok lor fair enough, if I knew I would have told you. Or in the first place I wouldn't have considered taking on the job. But then I thought I was going to NAFA so I was job-hunting. Well it's probably quite largely my fault that she has to change teacher two weeks before exam la. But then you don't have to rant and rave about being too busy to book a studio and all that... 'I'm not a machine just going round and round ok.' AHHHHH!!!!! Like I said you had to do this, had to do that? I just suggested that you book a studio and you also agreed that it would be good practice what. Told you to book earlier don't want, then now come and regret that it's fully booked right. Well just let her hate me for all I care, even if I wasn't leaving I'd bet she'd fire me once her daughter fails the exam. Which I think is very possible... but then again, we're talking about dedicated Elaine here, who said she'd try to teach every single day if it was possible and turn the situation around. Really thanks to Elaine for agreeing to teach her for this two weeks till her exam man... and I think she really needs all that help. And after that her mother can go on and find another teacher who can teach on Saturdays I guess...

Had dinner with some band people at NYDC. Haha haven't seen them for ages! Had a great time catching up with them... and all the jokes and yiting's funny prank! Hmm and at least now there's Joycelyn to join Debbie and I to listen but not care about their talk about so-and-so. Ate a dessert called "Pricscilla's Favourite", which Jiehui says next time will be called "Jiehui's Favourite" cos she says it looks very nice. It was! Delicious New York cheesecake with a scoop of chocolate chip ice-cream and chocolate syrup! Heehee I just can't get rid of my sweet tooth. Going to miss my dessert-partner aka Debbie! =)


Thanks again to Yiting for this photo!

September's here... getting nearer and nearer to THE DAY. And now all the wild thoughts are coming back again. Like whether it's very selfish of me to be going overseas, whether I really made the right decision, whether I'm going to be wasting time and money etc.

It's really stupid to be thinking about all this when all the preparations have been made but sometimes it just happens. Like on certain Sundays when I have dinner at grandma's and she would either be nagging about the do's and don't's, or she would go on and on about how everybody's going to miss me, about how being alone overseas will be tough ('you are neither young nor old... blah blah'). Or when sometimes my mum would sneak in hints about missing me when we're actually talking about other things. It's quite a feat for her to sneak in hints during such unrelated discussions or conversations! Or her constant nagging about various stuff. Like when there was this unidentified bug in the living room, and while she was clearing it she was saying something like, 'there are going to be even more bugs in UK, you better get used to it.' And I was a bit stumped, cos I wasn't even bothering about the bug or running away from it or whatever.

On a happier note, the excitement's starting to set in. Especially since I got the air tickets today. And since it was school holiday, my brother helped carry the bigger box to the post office... cos I knew I could only carry the smaller one if I were alone. We were actually quite lame, we tested the boxes at home and obviously they felt okay, but after a while we realised that if we were really going to carry it all the way to the post office, we were going to need quite a lot of breaks in between. I decided not to expose him to any back threats... quite bad for the back to keep bending down to lift heavy stuff! And I wanted to reduce any risk of car accidents along the way, since our usual route to Jurong Point would involve jaywalking... I really think it's dangerous to be carrying something heavy across a road when any time there may be a car coming along and then it'll be too late. So we flagged a cab from the bus stop outside our house. Which is super lame haha I was almost expecting the taxi driver to be saying things like, 'siao ah' but maybe with the boxes we didn't look that ridiculous.

Both of us were actually feeling quite... erm, for the lack of an appropriate term, 'er....' at the post office cos the person at the counter was super blur! I had to fill in two sets of forms for the two boxes, each set consisting of two different forms. And when I finished and passed them back to her, she mixed them up and ended up pairing the two boxes' forms together. After I corrected her and she made lots of cross-outs and other scribblings on the forms, she proceeded to stick the forms on the boxes... and messed up again. She didn't bother to ask which set of forms were for which box, and I'm sorry to say I also didn't bother to tell her la. But I still think that being the post officer, you should at least check with the customer and make sure you are putting the right form on the right box. At least I noticed that she made a mistake and told her, but then since the form was already on the box, the only thing I could do was to make ammendments on both forms. The people in the queue must have been quite pissed cos the whole process took quite long.

And then there's also the tiresome chore of packing. I don't know what I'm going to do to not exceed the weight limit, or what I'm going to do to squeeze everything into two luggages, one big and one small. It wasn't so bad at first, but after pohning 'nagged' at me to bring more warm clothes... e.g. 'You think you have so much time to buy there? And what are you going to wear while you buy more?' Haha not like I wasn't intending to bring any warm clothing at all lor... but in the end I still rummaged through the closets to find more warm clothing from long time ago when we still had the luxury of travelling to colder countries. Come to think of it, we only travelled to a colder country twice as a family, which I must say we were quite fortunate to have enjoyed... considering all those who are less privileged. Yep, must really be contented with what I have and not keeping count of what I don't.

Found enough to actually create a problem for the packing, especially since most of them are quite large... either my mum's or my old things. We used to share jackets and stuff cos I was fatter than I am now and maybe she was a bit slimmer? And my mum also dug out a jacket my dad bought but never wore. She said she wore it for her whole trip to China cos it's really warm and comfy (and not to mention big and bulky... lots of insulation, and it's the longer type that reaches to my knees) The sleeves are too long... 'the most comfy thing is that I can hide my hands in the sleeves,' according to my mum. Haha ok la, since the person whom it was supposed to fit was my dad, it's understandable that the jacket's a bit big for me. But wearable I suppose... the only problem is packing everything. Needless to say, my room looks like a tornado just swept through it. Again. Seems like a daily affair now that I have to tidy up the whole place before I can sleep sigh.