crabby B.R.A.T.

I think after this post I won't upload any more photos from the China trip. I'm getting quite tired of them myself.



On the way to Hong Kong, the plane already had Christmas decorations up. That was really cute.





All the above taken at Sun Yat Sen's. Just nice scenes (or at least I hope so) that I thought I'd take.



At the site on Zhuhai. We were only right across the river to Macau.



Also at Zhuhai, but this was taken at the site with the woman statue with the pearl on her head.



I can't remember where this place was. Sigh. But they had spectacular shows with lots of gunpowder involved. Very interesting.



My group again. The lady 2nd from the left is our school's director of Career Services.




Same thing.





Ah, the Koi. They flock to wherever the fish food go. I think a few of them got bitten in the process. Sigh.

ANYWAY...

Happy New Year in advance to everyone. :) A lot of things happened this week. My grandparents got baptized on Thursday (which was GREAT, considering it's been a 15-year project from the family). Earlier that day, I finally pushed myself to go to BBDC and my driving is still fresh in my head, even after a 3-month hiatus. Good! And then the night before my cousin, her fiance, our other cousin, and myself attempted to go to Zouk/Phuture. Twenty people down the road they completely shut off the entrance (full house), so we had to join another queue that goes to Zouk only, and that line became twice as long. So we gave up, and met our parents at the Raffles to get some Singapore Sling (which was VERY good, and there was a nice ambience: live band, lots of dancing, and peanut shells littered all over the floor). Then I went back to school on Friday for the exchange student orientation and all turned out pretty well too. My friend and I (with another guy - they're not dating) went to catch Narnia: LWW (and he treated us to the tickets - isn't that nice?!), and it was a very nice show - I got the Holy Spirit goosebumps watching it. Then I got 2 eyeshadows from Red Earth for only $22.40 (20% discount!) and went home. On Tuesday, LM and I went to get a HK exchange student from the Airport. Both of them got along VERY WELL, so I'm thinking of chucking the fellow to LM. She seemed to like it that way anyway.

Fantastic week, but also very tiring. School starts next week for me. I hope I can get Social Psychology on a Monday instead of a Thursday so that I can get a 3-day week for school, and work part-time for the rest. I sent a note to LVMH Fashion and I'm not sure if that's going to get through, but let's see how. Haha.

Ciao people, and have fun at your New Year's Countdown Party!

On my system. From the China trip. Some of them are from a friend's archive. But man, renaming all of them - wow!

So instead of going in sequence, I'm just gonna put up the pictures that look nice. Saves a lot of trouble for me. Hurhurhur.


Some of the folks from Chek Lap Kok International Airport in Hong Kong. Taken on DEPARTURE. Heehee...


The guy in the middle is Eugene. Trying to act smart...


We're at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Not a bad place, I'd say. Those shades you see there? They broke later during the say. Very sad about that... *sigh*


Ocean Park had a Japanese Garden. I'm taking a picture here with a fellow groupmate of mine. That bag you see there? Is an imitation (Rule #1: any imitation that looks like the real thing is always worth it. I got this one at a quarter of what the original might have cost. DON'T ASK ME FOR THE PRICE. I'LL TELL YOU TO JUMP IN THE LAKE FOR THAT!). That red jacket and sweater you see there? I got them while i was in Minnesota (Rule #2: just because you don't think you'll be wearing those winter clothes again does NOT mean you should invest in those that are cheap, low quality, thin. Especially when you're in those countries with really cold climate - it's always good to invest in GOOD WINTER WEAR. That way you don't suffer).


We're in Guangzhou on a ferry ride along the river (I forgot what it's called). Very COLD. But very refreshing. Despite the polluted air, I enjoyed a bit of solitude on board.


My groupmate and i again. I like her :D


My class has this habit of posing for the picture. It's just so funny. There are more shots, but I've exceeded the limit on Flickr. I don't know what this is supposed to mean. The guy (Elvis) was our photographer (since he's with SMUSAIC. And he takes VERY good shots). How he manages to juggle so many things at the same time is beyond me. But nice guy :D


Again with my groupmate! But we're in Zhuhai and we're very near that statue of the lady carrying the pearl over her head (think Zhuhai's version of the Singapore Merlion).


We were in Guzhen (the city of lights. Quite literally, too. They have the cheapest Swarovski Chandeliers I know). We're standing behind this dragon that I think is only a few hundred thousand renminbi (RMB). And that's my project group, by the way.


I just love this shot. FINALLY a decent picture of me!


See what I mean by habit of posing? This one was in Shunde. One of the gardens, can't remember the name.


This park has a mini-waterfall. I've got such tiny eyes here.... sigh.


I'm very proud of this picture because it means that I can use it as my desktop wallpaper! Haha! Also in the gardens at Shunde.


AAHHHH!!!! LOVE IT!!!


In Shenzhen. Any American must either be elated or sad about this. This is where your jobs have gone to. Haha.


Why does every tree on the roadside look like this?


The Hilton Hotel at Shenzhen. The one with the funny roof. No, we didn't stay there.


Shenzhen's Expo Hall. Still under construction, but I think it's going to be a great place!


Some places of China have these boards up. China is a very collectivistic society. I wonder if they have room for self-thought.


Real estate in Shenzhen. And the rest of the PRD. Saves the time and effort to read the papers.


the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.


Midea. That company is doing very well. One of the few MNCs in the area, and the only one we ever came across.


How much food we ate at Shunde during our own free time. And still more food came.


At Baolin Temple. I don't know what this is, but it's worthy to be another desktop wallpaper to me.


The stairway leading up to at least 3 temples at Baolin Temple. Long climb. In heels.


The entrance.


At the Guzhen Township People Government of Zhongshan City. Haha.


The building itself.


Remember I said that Guzhen is the City of Lights? That's their pride and joy over there. The King of Lights.


Yup, the King of Lights. Disappointed?


Remember the Swarovski Chandeliers I was telling you about? This is not one of them.


Guzhen really wasn't kidding when it said it was the City of Lights.



There was this amazing antique clock that caught my attention. Actually it wasn't the only one. There were more.


We were visiting Sun Yat Sen's old home at Zhongshan. I miss those sunglasses!


We found this pig in Sun Yat Sen's home. I don't know what's it doing there...

I have MORE pictures, trust me. I don't know if I have the capacity to upload any more of them, but oh well... enjoy what you see here!

... And I'm still busy!!!

I tried going to the gym on Thursday morning, but apparently, even 2 weeks' absence can do a lot of things to your brain, like:

1. Forgetting to bring lock and key for the locker
2. Forgetting to bring gloves for weights
3. Forgetting to bring mp3 player.
4. Forgetting forgetting forgetting...!!!!!

And then I forgot more stuff too, like:

1. Forgetting to retrieve two IPA letters from school for my exchange programme buddies (one due for arrival that same day at 11pm)
2. Forgetting their matriculation dates
3. Forgetting to get more information about administrative stuff, like EZ Link, calling cards, maps, etc
4. Forgetting to even agree on where to meet, how to meet, and what we should look out for (my buddy and I) at the airport, when multiple arrivals just drive me up the wall!

And then I was running around with my auntie and everything, trying to meet all these people at once... I couldn't even stay home in the afternoon and get any rest before heading out for the airport (whoever said that the airport was a good place to shop must've been doing that at Terminal 2, becase Terminal 1 was just absolutely bare!). Fortunately, I managed to get Christmas gifts for Mom and Dad, which wasn't a total loss. I haven't sent my Christmas cards out at all, which is really really late!

And then it's just really funny when I've been the one who's been so, so excited about Narnia, and yet I haven't been the first one to see it! The friend who agreed to watch it with me did it with someone else instead. :S Hm. I don't expect a sorry from her. She hardly does it anyway.

I've also discovered something really interesting. This is my busiest year ever, and yet I feel more energized since my becoming an undergraduate. It's like the juices in my brain just keep pumping, and I actually like that feeling. Like the time when my group report and presentatioin slides were due just 30 minutes before, and we were still not anywhere near the finishing line, and I was panicking and everything... it actually felt quite good. Exhausted and overwhelmed, yes. But it was a strange, new feeling, and I kinda liked it. A lot of people I know will say it's stressed. But I think this level of "stress" that I'm getting is actually doing some good for me.

Weird.

Call me a stickler for detail and order, but for crying out loud, just because you don't know how to do a bibliography, does NOT in ANY way mean that you should just DUMP me a name, and a GENERAL homepage, just so that I can INCONVENIENTLY DIG through all that TRASH and find the relevant information, and put things in PROPER ORDER so that our report doesn't look like MONKEYS wrote it!!!!!

I'm going to finish this stupid report tomorrow.

*FUME*

If you check out the City Harvest Church website, Joyce Meyer will be coming down for their services. I've heard that she's an amazing woman of God. I've read snippets of one of her books, and she's not so bad. If anyone is interested, their services are now at the Expo Hall (yes, Expo Hall. They're oversubscribed again). And there's always the website. =)

If Pastor Greg Laurie ever makes his way down here, hook or by crook, sign me up!

No. More. Clams.

Thanks to those, I got food poisoning for the whole of Thursday, just as I was about to go out and do some serious shopping.

I had diarrehoa at 6:30am, followed by a slew of stomachaches that followed me right through till 7pm at night, when I started shivering as if I had fits of some sort. That lasted for about half an hour before things calmed down. I took a lot of warm water (which was a very, very BIG mistake!), and then I threw up so bad I went to the office to request for a change in the bed linings and towels. By then I couldn't even keep my focus and my head straight, so I was sent to hospital, where I was diagnosed with food poisoning that gave me a record high of 40.6degC.

Nuts.

It was just so weird having that kind of violent reaction to any food. I'd never had anything as violent as that. Or at least, in memory. But I will definitely NEVER touch clams, oysters, and mussels again... EVER!

Anyway...

I wouldn't say that China was a blast or anything. It did give me a chance to learn more about the great people in class (and the not-so-great ones..., *cough cough sneeze sneeze*). It also gave me a chance to see what the big hoo-hah about China was about. We went to the Pearl River Delta region and visited the companies there to check things out.

In all honesty, while they're doing great, I think they have a lot of issues to settle like:

1. Polluted air - it was like breathing in a smoking area 24/7. Coming back home was like breathing through an oxygen tank.
2. Toilets - While some weren't as bad as I'd heard, they don't even provide toilet paper.
3. Common courtesy - all they do is push and shove. And yell. Very rude.
4. Traffic - Now I know why people talk about the traffic there. It is utter CHAOS. Sure they follow the traffic light rules and everything, but that's just about it. They squeeze into everything and anything that remotely fits their vehicle, oncoming traffic or no.
5. Food - great food, but they could afford something less oily. I feel like I'm carrying a pot of lard in my tummy right now. Where's the sushi?!

And then there's Hong Kong. Ah, the WTO riots. We weren't there, thank goodness. Or we were in the area, but there weren't any demonstrators around at all. We were on Hong Kong Island on Wednesday, and we visited the streets where there were bars and clubs and everything. Very nice night life. VERY nice branded boutiques! There was Nine West, Armani, and the likes. I WANTED to go! But it was already 10 and they were CLOSED.

Hong Kong CBD was beautiful, and all the more so from Victoria's Peak, where we took the tram and everything. The thing was going at a 45-degree angle. Interesting experience. But it was really nice to be at the top and see everything. I'll be it would've been better if not for the BLARDY SMOG!!!

And then came the food poisoning. Sigh.

Oh well, at least I had a lot of time to catch up with a lot of sleep, which I didn't get enough of since we were always out till midnight or 1 in the morning.

Conclusion: China is NOT the place I want to be. Not even for work. Maybe Zhuhai's not so bad, and if you put me in Hong Kong Island, I might consider. Just DON'T MAKE ME LIVE IN MONGKOK AND I'LL BE VERY HAPPY ALREADY!

I should've taken a picture of the toilet to show you how we lived in HK. Oh well. I guess no one would want to show that. Haha!

But the room was surprisingly cozy. I slept well at MongKok.

Sigh.

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Quite a offensive at first, because it was so glaring and obvious as to who Aslan personified. The Narnia series is a GREAT collection to exemplify what Jesus Christ is about (although NOT the best). It is also, in my opinion, the least offensive to those who want to just read it as it is. But if you tell me to keep that opinion to myself, well, I'll be!

On the other hand, it was also a personal experience of my own that I was not informed on the interpretation of the series until sometime last year. I did vaguely hear that it was related to Christianity, but not the way I perceive it now. So while it may be a good thing that first-time readers are left to decipher the story on their own, fantasy or not, I feel sorry for them if they never realized how strong a background those stories were written in the beginning.

I wonder what the heart of the author was when he first wrote the books...