(no subject)
this is coming a tad late, and i've forgotten how to blog properly for some time already XD but suanne baited me into it, reminding me that i'll probably kick myself later for not taking things down along the way. So - I guess the following were some of the significant stuff that happened this year.
1) February 1st/2nd - Signing with WongP, seeing SHINee in real life. I can't remember for sure if it was the first or second - actually a quite check on my calendar/with my eljay entries will probably inform me but I am, as always, LAZY. In any case, it was the same day. I remember being nervous as heck with signing the 'contract' (more like note lol) with WongP - not being very sure who I would be signing it before and what I was supposed to wear etc etc but in any case I ultimately practically skipped my way to the concert SHINee was performing at. The night only got better when Del, Kel and I found out that there was to be a signing session at the end of the concert (!!!!) - and oh I have an entry ( stillingfleet.livejournal.com/49338.html) on it (and so it was on the 2nd of Feb, lol). And pictures! Well of Del and I camwhoring before the event =)
Me and Del (L-R) at the Esplanade Theatres waiting for the concert to start. My skin was crap that day =.=
Actually (and this wasn't mentioned in my entry that day) even prior to the concert we had had a lot of fun being overaged SHINee fangirls. Zark, Del, Kel and I had worked together to create a scrapbook on Singapore for SHINee - presumptuously tailored to cater to their respective individual tastes, and therefore rather more self-gratifying than not, but I like to think that they did get around to looking at the book and that hopefully they liked it. We're pretty sure that they had a chance to, because Del passed the book personally to Onew (lol who looked pretty shocked). In any case it was great fun (even if expensive - I don't know how people can sustain a scrapbooking hobby in Singapore because the materials are EX), especially the part where we put the book together in a Karaoke room at Del's workplace's recreational centre while singing.
Till this day, according to Del, the caretaker uncle at the recre centre still asks if we're going to do arts and crafts in the room whenever we troop over for a spot of K-ing.
2) Going on Exchange; I was a student at the law faculty of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China for a semester (March to June, but we were really in China from late February (23rd? 24th?) to July 25th). The story's too long to go into, but pictures should suffice to evoke memories, no? Pictures of important places and people, no less.
Before I left, we paid a visit to my maternal grandfather, who doted on me when I was a kid, and my aunt, who was a year younger than me and only 12 when she passed away. They both died in the same year and rest near to each other. They were the closest extended family to me when alive. In the picture are my grandmum and my mum, L-R
sending-off crew from law for me and mich =) Thanks guys (L-R = Marcus L, Benson, Huili, Germs, me in my ugly glasses, Michelle, Sikhi, Timo, Hao Jin, Ernie and Sheng Rong). I should probably also note down Suen, Luke, Francis, Teri & Andrew and a few other people who I can't quite remember at the moment who sent me messages/met up with me just before we left.
MMichelle (left, my fellow Law exchange kid at Tsinghua) and I at the beautiful Tsinghua campus grounds. The campus is huge - going around the whole place wwould probably take at least a day on bicycle.
I might not have said this before on paper, but Michelle was a blessing from God to have around throughout the term. I'm not sure if I would have had as much fun and learnt as much if not for her. She remains a close friend, and I hope and pray that it stays that way for the rest of our lives.
L-R, Me, Mich and Marcus Lee on the road to Tiananmen Square. Marcus, exchanging at Zhengfa University, as usual was unable to smile into the camera like everyone else (my camera is littered with pictures of him screwing up his face). He was also one of our buds during the period.
A precious photo of the interior of the Bridge, our (Mich's and mine) favourite cafe in Beijing (we were then told that we can't take pictures of the interior lolll) where we would go to to study/chill/study and chill. It usually gets very crowded but no one ever chases you away even if you've been there the whole day. There was also free wifi access and a host of interesting characters. For instance, in the background is the nice old man Mich and I nicknamed as Karl Marx, who ironically turned out to be a staunch Christian who used to lecture at the aeronautical and space university (I can't recall the precise name but it's really famous) near Tsinghua.
(Coincidentally, our senior Ma Chao's twin brother, Ma Zhao, attends that university. Ma Chao is also really cute, along with being really nice, if somewhat ADHD, which is probably why I remember this random bit of information lol).
Our close local friends, Senior Du Jiayang (president of the dance society I joined and a CCP member (!!)) and Yida. Incidentally they just sent us letters and Christmas cards this past Christmas =) This is actually not an entirely flattering picture of Yida, lol, but it's significant because it's our first picture of the both of them - and on the first day of our meeting Yida; we were on the train to Tianjin from Beijing. Yida especially has been there for me (and when travelling, Michelle as well) throughout this past year, and I'm very grateful for him.
Isaiah (left) and Hamilton (R) leading the class. We volunteered with a Christian NGO, teaching local migrant children English (migrant as in they were not originally from Beijing; their parents are 'migrant workers' having moved to Beijing, largely from rural areas in China, to find work. Normally this demographic is pretty vulnerable in urban China). The children were a delight - I still remember a precious dialogue I had with one of the girls:
Girl: Jiejie ('older sister'), where are you from?
Me: Singapore.
Girl: ???
Girl: Oh, jiejie is from Canada!
Me: No, jiejie is from Singapore.
Girl: No, you're from Canada! *beams*
I hope this life will never be cruel (or too cruel) to them.
Senior Yangfan and I at a basketball match (the first basketball match I've ever watched in my life, and likely my last lol, although it was actually quite enjoyable). When he's not wearing his glasses he actually looks a lot like Yamapi (he has gorgeous skin for a boy, I'm so jealous!). As a friend he's a tad erratic - there are times when he seems very close to you and seems to want to open up, then there are times when we can't seem to get beyond the niceties.
L-R, Val, Mich, Me and Christelle. Val and Christelle were 'stranded' in Central University of Finance as exchangees, until a mutual friend of Val and I, my senior Joseph, told me online to go find her. Val and Christelle were super adorable and we would go out with them and Marcus Lee often while in Beijing. They also went to Qingdao with us.
The thing is, I had started this part of this entry intending to include pictures from our travels (Mich, Yida and I would go on to travel after the semester was officially done, for about a month), but somehow it ended up being all about the people who mattered. And I guess that sums up why my exchange experience really was so important to me - the people, what I learnt from them (or perhaps what God wanted me to learn from them) and the importance of their friendship to me. My camera doesn't have all the pictures, but here's to other friends we met on exchange; I can't imagine exchange without them:
Other fellow exchange kids from Singapore - ZARRRRKKKKK (ilu girl), Pei Guan, Wen Wei, Sophie, Guo Qi, Yawen, Noel (who first ferried me around on his bike, lol), Warren, Elicia, Xin Yun, Andy and Tai Zhi.
Bible study buddies from Singapore - SOPHIAAAA (dajie), Andrew, Guan Hui, Jing En, Lanfang, Caiyun and Wan Qing.
Other exchange/undergrad/grad kids from other countries - Melissa and Vicky from Canada, Isaiah, Lindsay and her friend (her name escapes me), Juliana and Carmen from the US, Slava from Ukraine, Haeyoung and our other Korean unnis...
Other local friends: Yin Yun from church, Victor, our seniors and juniors from San Nong Xue Hui (especially Xiao Ji, Senior Bing Bing and the abovementioned Senior Ma Chao), and seniors from the dance society.
3) I somehow, by God's grace, survived the first semester of our last year in law school despite not getting proper sleep throughout. This has been a recurrent problem and still persists - I only pray that it doesn't affect me as seriously as it did this coming (and final) semester, which starts next week. Eventually I managed to get rather decent grades, and for that I have to thank God, and my friends who helped me greatly throughout, particularly Germs and Zark (for International Commercial Litigation), Michelle and Zhixuan (for Personal Property).
4) Hong Kong! Twice this year in fact - once from 2nd January and the second time for a much shorter period during the 2nd - 5th of December. The second time was a chance for my younger brother Samuel to get a quick break overseas after his A-levels prior to his going into Army. I actually miss him a lot on a day-to-day basis; my mum waits every night for his call home.
the younger brother and I while waiting to get into the fantabulous Ocean Park.
4) I actually went (and managed to stay for the most part) at two camps! The first was immediately after I returned from Hong Kong (we reached home at 2 am; I woke up at 5 am to make my way to the next camp in Genting Highlands, Malaysia) and was organized by and for the Varsity Christian Fellowship of NUS; the second was our church's youth (or rather teens) camp, where I helped out as a camp worker. These were a personal breakthrough because I am always antsy with meeting new people, and I absolutely DETEST camps on principle. But I actually enjoyed myself, thanks to a surprisingly friendly atmosphere, and got closer to God in the process. It makes me wonder where God will lead me in this new year ahead.
I have many stories to tell about my fellow group mates at the first camp (yesterday yields a story which was rather an epic disaster =.=), but that may be for this year's entries...
L-R, back row: Guang Rong, Shu Zhen and Sharyn;
L-R, front row: Matt C, Stephen Y, Jerry E, Timothy G, Yu Ming, Marcus F, Sheryl T and me.
...and that was a really really brief summary of the last year! Hopefully it's somewhat adequate - but really the last year was nothing short of insanity. A lot of things happened, a lot of people appeared, I messed up quite a bit but also made 'mistakes' I don't regret, and I think prayed more than ever. If that's not a good year, I don't know what a good year is, and I thank God and everyone who has appeared in my life in this past year for that.
Here's hoping 2011 will be just as insane! =)
1) February 1st/2nd - Signing with WongP, seeing SHINee in real life. I can't remember for sure if it was the first or second - actually a quite check on my calendar/with my eljay entries will probably inform me but I am, as always, LAZY. In any case, it was the same day. I remember being nervous as heck with signing the 'contract' (more like note lol) with WongP - not being very sure who I would be signing it before and what I was supposed to wear etc etc but in any case I ultimately practically skipped my way to the concert SHINee was performing at. The night only got better when Del, Kel and I found out that there was to be a signing session at the end of the concert (!!!!) - and oh I have an entry ( stillingfleet.livejournal.com/49338.html) on it (and so it was on the 2nd of Feb, lol). And pictures! Well of Del and I camwhoring before the event =)
Me and Del (L-R) at the Esplanade Theatres waiting for the concert to start. My skin was crap that day =.=
Actually (and this wasn't mentioned in my entry that day) even prior to the concert we had had a lot of fun being overaged SHINee fangirls. Zark, Del, Kel and I had worked together to create a scrapbook on Singapore for SHINee - presumptuously tailored to cater to their respective individual tastes, and therefore rather more self-gratifying than not, but I like to think that they did get around to looking at the book and that hopefully they liked it. We're pretty sure that they had a chance to, because Del passed the book personally to Onew (lol who looked pretty shocked). In any case it was great fun (even if expensive - I don't know how people can sustain a scrapbooking hobby in Singapore because the materials are EX), especially the part where we put the book together in a Karaoke room at Del's workplace's recreational centre while singing.
Till this day, according to Del, the caretaker uncle at the recre centre still asks if we're going to do arts and crafts in the room whenever we troop over for a spot of K-ing.
2) Going on Exchange; I was a student at the law faculty of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China for a semester (March to June, but we were really in China from late February (23rd? 24th?) to July 25th). The story's too long to go into, but pictures should suffice to evoke memories, no? Pictures of important places and people, no less.
Before I left, we paid a visit to my maternal grandfather, who doted on me when I was a kid, and my aunt, who was a year younger than me and only 12 when she passed away. They both died in the same year and rest near to each other. They were the closest extended family to me when alive. In the picture are my grandmum and my mum, L-R
sending-off crew from law for me and mich =) Thanks guys (L-R = Marcus L, Benson, Huili, Germs, me in my ugly glasses, Michelle, Sikhi, Timo, Hao Jin, Ernie and Sheng Rong). I should probably also note down Suen, Luke, Francis, Teri & Andrew and a few other people who I can't quite remember at the moment who sent me messages/met up with me just before we left.
MMichelle (left, my fellow Law exchange kid at Tsinghua) and I at the beautiful Tsinghua campus grounds. The campus is huge - going around the whole place wwould probably take at least a day on bicycle.
I might not have said this before on paper, but Michelle was a blessing from God to have around throughout the term. I'm not sure if I would have had as much fun and learnt as much if not for her. She remains a close friend, and I hope and pray that it stays that way for the rest of our lives.
L-R, Me, Mich and Marcus Lee on the road to Tiananmen Square. Marcus, exchanging at Zhengfa University, as usual was unable to smile into the camera like everyone else (my camera is littered with pictures of him screwing up his face). He was also one of our buds during the period.
A precious photo of the interior of the Bridge, our (Mich's and mine) favourite cafe in Beijing (we were then told that we can't take pictures of the interior lolll) where we would go to to study/chill/study and chill. It usually gets very crowded but no one ever chases you away even if you've been there the whole day. There was also free wifi access and a host of interesting characters. For instance, in the background is the nice old man Mich and I nicknamed as Karl Marx, who ironically turned out to be a staunch Christian who used to lecture at the aeronautical and space university (I can't recall the precise name but it's really famous) near Tsinghua.
(Coincidentally, our senior Ma Chao's twin brother, Ma Zhao, attends that university. Ma Chao is also really cute, along with being really nice, if somewhat ADHD, which is probably why I remember this random bit of information lol).
Our close local friends, Senior Du Jiayang (president of the dance society I joined and a CCP member (!!)) and Yida. Incidentally they just sent us letters and Christmas cards this past Christmas =) This is actually not an entirely flattering picture of Yida, lol, but it's significant because it's our first picture of the both of them - and on the first day of our meeting Yida; we were on the train to Tianjin from Beijing. Yida especially has been there for me (and when travelling, Michelle as well) throughout this past year, and I'm very grateful for him.
Isaiah (left) and Hamilton (R) leading the class. We volunteered with a Christian NGO, teaching local migrant children English (migrant as in they were not originally from Beijing; their parents are 'migrant workers' having moved to Beijing, largely from rural areas in China, to find work. Normally this demographic is pretty vulnerable in urban China). The children were a delight - I still remember a precious dialogue I had with one of the girls:
Girl: Jiejie ('older sister'), where are you from?
Me: Singapore.
Girl: ???
Girl: Oh, jiejie is from Canada!
Me: No, jiejie is from Singapore.
Girl: No, you're from Canada! *beams*
I hope this life will never be cruel (or too cruel) to them.
Senior Yangfan and I at a basketball match (the first basketball match I've ever watched in my life, and likely my last lol, although it was actually quite enjoyable). When he's not wearing his glasses he actually looks a lot like Yamapi (he has gorgeous skin for a boy, I'm so jealous!). As a friend he's a tad erratic - there are times when he seems very close to you and seems to want to open up, then there are times when we can't seem to get beyond the niceties.
L-R, Val, Mich, Me and Christelle. Val and Christelle were 'stranded' in Central University of Finance as exchangees, until a mutual friend of Val and I, my senior Joseph, told me online to go find her. Val and Christelle were super adorable and we would go out with them and Marcus Lee often while in Beijing. They also went to Qingdao with us.
The thing is, I had started this part of this entry intending to include pictures from our travels (Mich, Yida and I would go on to travel after the semester was officially done, for about a month), but somehow it ended up being all about the people who mattered. And I guess that sums up why my exchange experience really was so important to me - the people, what I learnt from them (or perhaps what God wanted me to learn from them) and the importance of their friendship to me. My camera doesn't have all the pictures, but here's to other friends we met on exchange; I can't imagine exchange without them:
Other fellow exchange kids from Singapore - ZARRRRKKKKK (ilu girl), Pei Guan, Wen Wei, Sophie, Guo Qi, Yawen, Noel (who first ferried me around on his bike, lol), Warren, Elicia, Xin Yun, Andy and Tai Zhi.
Bible study buddies from Singapore - SOPHIAAAA (dajie), Andrew, Guan Hui, Jing En, Lanfang, Caiyun and Wan Qing.
Other exchange/undergrad/grad kids from other countries - Melissa and Vicky from Canada, Isaiah, Lindsay and her friend (her name escapes me), Juliana and Carmen from the US, Slava from Ukraine, Haeyoung and our other Korean unnis...
Other local friends: Yin Yun from church, Victor, our seniors and juniors from San Nong Xue Hui (especially Xiao Ji, Senior Bing Bing and the abovementioned Senior Ma Chao), and seniors from the dance society.
3) I somehow, by God's grace, survived the first semester of our last year in law school despite not getting proper sleep throughout. This has been a recurrent problem and still persists - I only pray that it doesn't affect me as seriously as it did this coming (and final) semester, which starts next week. Eventually I managed to get rather decent grades, and for that I have to thank God, and my friends who helped me greatly throughout, particularly Germs and Zark (for International Commercial Litigation), Michelle and Zhixuan (for Personal Property).
4) Hong Kong! Twice this year in fact - once from 2nd January and the second time for a much shorter period during the 2nd - 5th of December. The second time was a chance for my younger brother Samuel to get a quick break overseas after his A-levels prior to his going into Army. I actually miss him a lot on a day-to-day basis; my mum waits every night for his call home.
the younger brother and I while waiting to get into the fantabulous Ocean Park.
4) I actually went (and managed to stay for the most part) at two camps! The first was immediately after I returned from Hong Kong (we reached home at 2 am; I woke up at 5 am to make my way to the next camp in Genting Highlands, Malaysia) and was organized by and for the Varsity Christian Fellowship of NUS; the second was our church's youth (or rather teens) camp, where I helped out as a camp worker. These were a personal breakthrough because I am always antsy with meeting new people, and I absolutely DETEST camps on principle. But I actually enjoyed myself, thanks to a surprisingly friendly atmosphere, and got closer to God in the process. It makes me wonder where God will lead me in this new year ahead.
I have many stories to tell about my fellow group mates at the first camp (yesterday yields a story which was rather an epic disaster =.=), but that may be for this year's entries...
L-R, back row: Guang Rong, Shu Zhen and Sharyn;
L-R, front row: Matt C, Stephen Y, Jerry E, Timothy G, Yu Ming, Marcus F, Sheryl T and me.
...and that was a really really brief summary of the last year! Hopefully it's somewhat adequate - but really the last year was nothing short of insanity. A lot of things happened, a lot of people appeared, I messed up quite a bit but also made 'mistakes' I don't regret, and I think prayed more than ever. If that's not a good year, I don't know what a good year is, and I thank God and everyone who has appeared in my life in this past year for that.
Here's hoping 2011 will be just as insane! =)