Thursday, December 25, 2008
25/12/2008 didn't feel like christmas at all. I wasn't in the christmas spirit. hahas. But I did enjoy myself on that day with my cousins and siblings. We first met at YCK MRT station before boarding the train to AMK. We bought tickets to watch Bedtime Stories. Since it was early, we went to the basement of AMK hub to snack. I got myself a curry puff and a cup of juice that is named the elixir of youth! hahas. Inside the juice was papaya, lemon, carrot, celery... My cousins tried the popeye juice and the radiant juice. After buying popcorn, we proceeded into the cinema. Bedtime Stories is a nice and funny movie. (: After the movie, we took the train to Khatib to have late lunch at my cousin's friend's cafe. We ate pizza, rosti, calamari rings, fried chicken and waffle with icecream. Then we went to OCC to bowl. It was quite long since I last bowl. The 8 of us occupied 2 lanes. For the 1st game, I was 2nd! And for the 2nd game, I was 3rd. hahas. After bowling, we had to wait for the shuttle bus so in the meantime, we played a game that we used to play when we were young- pepsi cola 1,2,3! It isn't the normal thumb game. hahas. Then we went to our grandparents' house for dinner. After dinner, we had logcake! It was delicious. hahas. Then we went to our cousin's house to play cards. Too bad we had to leave early so didn't get to play much. Anyway, still have to thank terence, my sis, limin, keefe, jolene, jiaxing and my brother for a wonderful cousins outing! (:
| a simple day.
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Yesterday we had informal walkin prac.
This session broke 2 records! 1st record: the longest prac session so far (from 9am to 6pm)! 2nd record: the prac session with the best attendance (only 1 didn't come)!
Although the session was very tiring, we managed to complete the whole walkin. (:
Must thank my OGLs for coming down and learning the whole walkin. Also during the session I shouted a lot, so I must apologise for that. Anyway, thanks to all those shoutings, my voice totally changed now. hahas. And my legs are aching. This dancing certainly is a good way to exercise. hahas.
After the walkin, liz, lisa, jacq, sijia and I went to plaza sing for dinner and do some shopping. plaza sing was very crowded so we couldn't find a place for dinner. In the end, we bought packet food and found a spot to sit. 5 people again for gossip session no. 3! hahas. While we ate, we played truth and no dare. So again, I found out interesting stuffs and learnt more about them. We went to shop for clothes for informal walkin. Too bad, we couldn't really find something in the end.
| a simple day.
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Sunday, December 21, 2008
We had another informal walkin prac yesterday. Attendance was not as good as the previous prac sessions but nonetheless, we still managed to learn new steps. After prac, Jade, SiJia, Mindy, YuHung, Albert, Alvin, ZhiHao and I went to coro to eat lemon chicken rice. Chatted and ate. After lunch, Jade, SiJia, Alvin, ZhiHao and I went to island creamery. I was super full from lunch so didn't eat icecream but the others shared a tub of icecream. This was another gossip session where we played truth and no dare. Alvin and I were involved in both gossip sessions alr! hahas. The previous one was with Letts, Albert and YuHung. Both sessions were equally interesting except that this session was more lively. We laughed alot. hahas. And poor Jade and ZhiHao seems to be unlucky during this session. Wells, definitely learnt more about them. I should take turns to have gossip sessions with the other OGLs as well. hahas.
It was my cousin's birthday that day so couldn't go for council christmas party. We went to ah ma's house to celebrate. The house became super crowded because out of 10 families, only 2 families were not there. It was a good gathering session especially for us cousins. We played truth or dare again. hahas. This time, I learnt more about my cousins and some secrets that I didn't even know before. We ended this game with my 7-yearold cousin getting a dare. So after cutting the birthday cake, she had to smear cream on one of my older cousin's face (who was not playing with us). It was super funny. Too bad I didn't notice it cos I was distributing the cake. The cousins went to J8 for late night shopping. It was only that day that the shops at J8 will open until 12am. It was super crowded and we managed to see michelle chong and daniel ong. I also managed to see my sec 2 maths teacher and my j1 ex-pe teacher. We shopped until near 12am. Took mrt to yck. Then we decided to stay over at someone's house. But we couldn't decide whose house to stay so we sat outside the mrt station and discussed. The discussion took place for quite long. Finally we decided to stay at my 1st uncle's house. All together there were 8 of us. We played poker cards with monopoly money. It was a new game but I had beginner's luck so I was winning. hahas. It was a very addictive game. In between we ate maggi mee, drank coffee and tea to keep ourselves awake. In the end, only 4 of us remained awake so it became a story telling session where I was telling them stories about my school life. Cos apparently, the environment around me has very interesting things happening. The 4 of us who kept awake are/were from uniformed groups! hahas. We are trained to stay awake. We chatted till 8 plus in the morning. It has been a while since I went through the night without sleeping. So after breakfast, we watched TV, played wii, took naps... And we planned our next gathering on Christmas! hahas.
| a simple day.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
This is going to be a very very very long post. It’ll be about my 8 days trip to BeiJing and Xian! (:
1st day:
Went to the airport super early. Had breakfast there with my relatives who were there to send us off and also with my other side relatives who were going on the trip with us. We were the last to board the plane! Hahas. Everyone on the plane was waiting for us!
we still had time to take photo although being late! hahas.
Anyway, it was a 6 hours flight to BeiJing. We took China Airlines so there was no personal TV. I spent my time on the plane sleeping, eating and playing cards. After reaching BeiJing, we still had to take a bus then a train just to collect our baggage! After collecting, the first on our agenda was an acrobatic show. We bought popcorn and hot chocolate before watching the show. It was quite boring. And the show was not professional cos there were quite a lot of mistakes made. We had dinner next. It was a nice meal and they called it the ‘emperor meal’. Hahas. We checked in to our 4star hotel. It was a nice place. The bed is very soft, the toilet is super nice and the TV had channels that my sister and I like!
Watched TV before sleeping.
2nd day:
We had a buffet American style breakfast.
It was snowing that day! This was the first time it snowed for this year’s winter in BeiJing. 
We were super lucky! Then we visited a place that sells jade. 
We were taught how to differentiate real and fake jade. We went to the Great Wall of China. Because it was snowing, the great wall was covered in snow! A white great wall makes a really great scenery! 
We climbed to the 3rd watch tower before making our way down. 
i still think of my house! hahas.
The steps are very steep and due to the snow, it was super slippery. We slide down the great wall! It was a faster way to get down. Then everyone started to follow us! Hahas. We visited the Ming Tomb. It was a very big place. Then we went to the cloisonne place. Cloisonne is like pottery except it is made of copper. It is a very detailed piece of art. It takes a lot of patience to put everything piece by piece. We had lunch. It was ok. Then visited the hot springs. The hottest pool was 42◦c. We managed to swim, got a massage and had lots of fun! Dinner was so much better. There was sweet and sour pork! We watched a performance. It was better than the acrobatic show. The lighting and effects were very good. 
There were even ice-skating and qian shou guan yin. 
3rd day:
After breakfast, we went to visit a place that masters in traditional medicine. We had a lesson on yin and yang. A professor even took all of our pulse and diagnose for us. We went to Tiananmen Square. It was really big. 
We had the famous BeiJing Roast Duck for lunch! My favourite! 
However, I prefer Singapore’s. hahas. There were a lot of duck meat dishes, even fried duck meat! My brother broke his tooth during lunch so we had to visit a hospital to have his tooth removed. The hospital looks really scary. Hahas. We went to the Forbidden City. It is called forbidden city because in the past, it was forbidden to the commoners. It is very very big! 
It has 3 outer courts, inner courts, bedrooms, garden… We had to walk, walk and walk. Next was tea appreciation. We went to a market for shopping. It was a scary shopping experience because people will pull you to buy and we had to bargain! I bought a bag! Dinner was ok cos finally the fish served had no bones unlike the other meals. We went to a place with very nice night view. 
Then went to BeiJing’s ‘Orchard road’. The CD shop didn’t sell the CDs that I wanted. Sad.
4th day:
After breakfast, we went to an olden gate used for wars in the past. We learnt fengshui there. Then we watched old BeiJing’s ZaJi show.
We were the only customers and yet they had to perform for us. Thus their tips were quite a lot. Hahas. It was quite interesting and there was interaction between us and the performers too. We rode trishaw and went around olden houses. It was a very cool experience sitting the trishaw.
We entered one of the houses. It was really nice experience.
this little boy was running after our trishaw waving good-bye. very cute!
We had thai food for lunch. Green Curry! Hahas. It was the best lunch throughout the trip. We went to BeiJing’s ‘Clarke Quay’. It really did look like Clarke Quay with places to eat and drink and a frozen river. Hahas.
We went to Summer Palace where the emperor stays at during summer. We then saw the Bird Nest used for this year’s Olympics. Took a lot of pics.
Then it was the Water Cube.
We managed to go inside and see the swimming pools and diving boards and the many countries flags.
We had foot massage next. It was my first time trying. It was quite nice, sometimes painful. My massager is a university male student, aged 19, doing his attachment at the foot massage place. He is studying traditional medicine. We chatted as he did the massage. Hahas. We went to another market to shop. My bargaining skills is still not good so bought a Great Wall shirt at a higher price. During dinner, there was a show. Dinner wasn’t very nice.
5th day:
After an American cum Chinese breakfast, we went to the airport. Took a domestic flight to Xian. The flight lasted for 1.5 hours. We had lunch at the airport in Xian. Sweet and sour pork again! It was the nicest sweet and sour pork among all the others in other meals. We visited Princess Yongtai’s tomb. It was underground so we had to walk through a tunnel. Then it was Emperor Wu Zetian’s tomb. Her tomb is very big and her coffin is deep in a mountain. 
Everything in these tombs are original and they were situated in the rural area. Shopping at the urban area! Bought my CDs. Dinner was hotpot. We each had our individual hotpot. 
There were vegetables, mutton, beef… We checked into our hotel. Our rooms were upgraded to the deluxe rooms. So my room had a living room! Hahas. However, the sofa was used to put all our stuffs. 
6th day:
We visited the Terra Cotta Factory. It is the place where they make replicas of the terra cotta warriors.
Bought myself a kneeling archer. Then we visited the real Terra Cotta. It was very big.
We visited 3 pits. The 1st pit has a lot of warriors while the 2nd and 3rd pits are more empty because they are still trying to repair the broken terra cotta warriors. We saw the bronze museum that preserved the bronze horse carriages found in the pits. We watched a terra cotta movie to learn the history behind it. Then we visited the hot springs of Yang Guifei. We took a tram and saw the many hot springs built for her, the emperor, the crown prince and even the imperial chefs! After lunch we visited the silk factory. We saw how silk was made from silk worms. The silk blankets were very comfortable! Then it was the Tang paradise that was built to remember the tang dynasty.
We visited the whole place on tram. It was like Sentosa, the scenery is very nice. We had dinner. This dinner had the most dishes. 11 dishes + rice+ soup+ noodles.
We then took a taxi to 2 shopping malls near our hotel. We bought stuffs and supper--- KFC! We had our supper back at the hotel. Ate KFC egg tarts!
thanks for the wonderful trip!
| a simple day.
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Sunday, December 07, 2008
Went out with my sister and cousins today. We had lunch at Shokudo at City Hall. It was fantastic! hahas. Especially the crepe with strawberry yogurt icecream! After lunch, we went to Singapore Post at Paya Lebar for shopping. We headed to This Fashion. And then we went a little crazy. Taking clothes, trying them out, rejecting them, accepting them... My cousins were really good. hahas. They seemed to accept everything they tried and so the clothes in our basket just kept piling. hahas. My sister said they looked like they never shop before. Anyway, they spent really alot of money on clothes. Luckily there was a 30% discount. hahas. I bought 2 pieces of clothes too! hahas.
I'll be going to China very soon! Hopefully everything related to orientation and solaris will go on smoothly! (: Then I don't have to worry on my trip. hahas.
| a simple day.
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Saturday, December 06, 2008
Went back to school yesterday and today. Had to wake up early...
We had GM yesterday at the raintree. It was a really weird location for GM. hahas. But student lounge had no power so we had no choice. Anyway GM was rather long cos each comm summarise what they plan to do. After that was banner painting session. We painted our orientation banners. And then we decided to clear the CPU store. It was a really disgusting sight to see maggots or termites in the store. Some banners were eaten up by them! hahas. Luckily YuHung and Ziyi were there to help clear them. They burnt and flood the creepy crawlies. Rachel was brave too! hahas. She caught a frog that was inside the store. We were supposed to have lunch at 12pm. Then because of the really bad state of the CPU store, we ended up having lunch at 5 plus! hahas.
First informal walk-in practice today! Met SiJia earlier to practise but there were more who came early as well. We learnt dance steps for dancing queen and once upon a dec. Because it was a Sat, the school was doing fogging to kill the mosquitoes and we were chased from the canteen to the raintree to the area outside LT1 and then back to the canteen. hahas. Felt quite bad about making my OGLs move here and there. However with all these moving around and more breaks than planned, we still ended on schedule and managed to complete the 2 dances! (: After dismissal, YuHung, Letts, Albert and Alvin helped me to complete painting solaris orientation banner. After painting, we went to Serene Macs for lunch. Then went to island creamery. Chatted alot and ended up playing truth or dare where dare was actually not applicable. hahas. We made alot of noise! Anyway, through this game, I found out more about these 4 guys! hahas. It was quite a good laugh during all this. (:
| a simple day.
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Monday, December 01, 2008
On Sunday my godma brought my siblings, my cousin and me to SSC for branch. We had a buffet branch and it was a Peranakan buffet! hahas. I love nonya food! Considering the fact that both my father side and my mother side were of Peranakan culture, I'm a Peranakan too! hahas. There was a huge variety of nonya food at the buffet. From the cold dish, to the main dish to the dessert. Let me recall some of the names. hahas. There's nonya chap chye, babi ponteh, soto ayam, popiah, kueh koshi, chendol... I tried everything! hahas. Except for steam rice, durian puff and chendol cos steam rice will make my meal not worth and I don't like durian and chendol. I ate ALOT and I felt extremely bloated after the meal. After eating, we went to the arcade. Played car racing, shooting and photo hunt.
It was Grad Night on Monday. We reached Swissotel at 12.45pm. It reminds me so much of last year when I had my prom there as well. However, the seniors had only 2/3 of the ballroom so it looks small while for my prom, we had the whole ballroom. We decorated the place. Changed into our attire. I was really amazed at the amount of makeup a girl has to put on her face. I didn't put so I was observing the rest. They spent more than an hour in the toilet! hahas. Had dinner then reported for duty. I was to seat at the tabling booth and check their tickets and tell them their table no. It was quite a fun job I must say. hahas. Got to see the seniors in their prom wear. Because the theme for grad night is Lights, Camera, Action! It's your movie tonight., there were seniors who came in attire of movie characters. There were Pirates, StarWars, Mummy, L, Willy Wonka! It was really cool. hahas. I sat at the tabling booth throughout the whole of grad night. Stoned, chatted and ate! I was really sleepy after everything. hahas. The grad night seems fun and according to my senior, she did enjoy herself. Looking forward to my next year prom! (:
| a simple day.
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