Salted & Fried
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
SCHOOL... REALITY...
I met my course tutors and lecturers and course mates for the first time today! And I like realised how blardi PACKED MY TIMETABLE IS... IT'S CRAZY.. .I HAVE LESSONS EVERYDAY MONDAY - FRIDAY 9 - 4/5pm!!!!!! And this is excluding like outside stuff they are encouraging us to take like presentation skills, writing skills, language etc... CV writing and more! WAHLAU... looks like there's gonna be NO TIME for anything else boi... YES, might not even have time for... MAHJONG...M.A.H.J.O.N.G.!
ARGHHHHH!!!!
But today was fun! I met JAMES! YES! JAMES GUEST! It was GREAT to see a familiar face haha... very fun indeed... haha. I think he left for Singapore today... so if you guys see him there in the lab, tell him don't forget send me list of possible projects he thinks needs/can be done in Philippines. I think I might want to just go and do it there. It's a change from Singapore and it'll be fun! Alternatively, if TL can think of some project branch off from hers, then can go to Wilmington. She's emailed me like links of where to get funding for if I wanna do research in the US... HAHA! Boi that will be so fun man! See how... they'll be assigning me a project supervisor based on the KEYWORDS we come up with for what we want in our project. SO FUN.
The course is structured SO WELL! I cannot believe how well it is planned man! I can't describe it to you but you feel like they're REALLY here to TEACH you and like give you like MILLION AND ONE OPPORTUNITIES and help you open doors! SO UNLIKE IN SINGAPORE!!!! Well, maybe not ALL institutions/places of learning in Singapore... And they're really bringing in many many pple to come teach and talk to us etc... it's so cool!
I'm so excited to get started with the course but also a bit scared because it seems like there's so much to study! There are only 16 pple in my course! It's such a small class and I am the only ASIAN there... and there are only THREE non-british students (1 other ITALIAN, and another African).
There was free LUNCH today too... so yummy... I was stuffing my face with sandwiches and chips and apples and orange juice so I won't have to eat anything else haha...
But it has been a tiring day... I started at 9am and only ended at 4pm. Got back home and went online then crashed for 15min before my cooking mates arrived. We had fried rice and Lia cooked chicken marinated in honey and soy sauce (YUMMY STUFF) and BANANA MILKSHAKE! MMMMM.... then we sat around learning bits of french and german with one of my flatmates (who insisted we eat apples to keep healthy). Everyone's really nice here and I think am lucky to have really nice flatmates... =)
And my coursemates are really nice too they keep asking me the same questions again and again though so I feel like getting an FAQ sheet out and pasting it on myself. I pasted SINGAPORE big big on my shirt cos pple kept asking me where I am from hahaha...
OH and the university welcome held yesterday was actually done by an NZ entertainer who juggled and escaped from a strayjacket and role-played and spoke in diff accents while telling us about the rules and regulations and services of the uni... HAHAHAHA... MAN... it was SO COOL. First time I've seen this and it's MAN EFFECTIVE. Because everyone was actually paying attention to him and not snoring and sleeping! Like BEST USE of multi media to bring across points that would otherwise prolly be delivered in a super boring way if it were in NUS.
So far so good. I like the NCL uni. =) ¶ 4:54 am 2 comments
ARGHHHHH!!!!
But today was fun! I met JAMES! YES! JAMES GUEST! It was GREAT to see a familiar face haha... very fun indeed... haha. I think he left for Singapore today... so if you guys see him there in the lab, tell him don't forget send me list of possible projects he thinks needs/can be done in Philippines. I think I might want to just go and do it there. It's a change from Singapore and it'll be fun! Alternatively, if TL can think of some project branch off from hers, then can go to Wilmington. She's emailed me like links of where to get funding for if I wanna do research in the US... HAHA! Boi that will be so fun man! See how... they'll be assigning me a project supervisor based on the KEYWORDS we come up with for what we want in our project. SO FUN.
The course is structured SO WELL! I cannot believe how well it is planned man! I can't describe it to you but you feel like they're REALLY here to TEACH you and like give you like MILLION AND ONE OPPORTUNITIES and help you open doors! SO UNLIKE IN SINGAPORE!!!! Well, maybe not ALL institutions/places of learning in Singapore... And they're really bringing in many many pple to come teach and talk to us etc... it's so cool!
I'm so excited to get started with the course but also a bit scared because it seems like there's so much to study! There are only 16 pple in my course! It's such a small class and I am the only ASIAN there... and there are only THREE non-british students (1 other ITALIAN, and another African).
There was free LUNCH today too... so yummy... I was stuffing my face with sandwiches and chips and apples and orange juice so I won't have to eat anything else haha...
But it has been a tiring day... I started at 9am and only ended at 4pm. Got back home and went online then crashed for 15min before my cooking mates arrived. We had fried rice and Lia cooked chicken marinated in honey and soy sauce (YUMMY STUFF) and BANANA MILKSHAKE! MMMMM.... then we sat around learning bits of french and german with one of my flatmates (who insisted we eat apples to keep healthy). Everyone's really nice here and I think am lucky to have really nice flatmates... =)
And my coursemates are really nice too they keep asking me the same questions again and again though so I feel like getting an FAQ sheet out and pasting it on myself. I pasted SINGAPORE big big on my shirt cos pple kept asking me where I am from hahaha...
OH and the university welcome held yesterday was actually done by an NZ entertainer who juggled and escaped from a strayjacket and role-played and spoke in diff accents while telling us about the rules and regulations and services of the uni... HAHAHAHA... MAN... it was SO COOL. First time I've seen this and it's MAN EFFECTIVE. Because everyone was actually paying attention to him and not snoring and sleeping! Like BEST USE of multi media to bring across points that would otherwise prolly be delivered in a super boring way if it were in NUS.
So far so good. I like the NCL uni. =) ¶ 4:54 am 2 comments
Monday, September 25, 2006
MAHJONG & FREE FOOD!
Today... I found... MAHJONG KAKIs! Thanks to Jeff's pressie of mini mini mahjong set, I managed to get my mahjong fix for the week! HAHAHA.... well not necessarily for the week lah... but enough... for now... ahhaa!
We taught 3 other people to play mahjong and my flat mates also want to learn how to play!!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!! Too bad the tiles Jeff gave me were missing like 4 flowers (i.e. got 1 set of flowers instead of 2... I had to make a set of the animals from the spare tiles). There was also no "white dragon" or the "window" so had to use the spare tiles to make that one also... haha so now we're making do playing with just 18 x 4 tiles. ANYTHING LAH AS LONG AS CAN PLAY ALREADY GOOD ENUFF! haha! (BTW, the guy on the left in the photo is the one that looks like my BRO! Dun u thk dun u thk????)
I won with the LAST TILE today... hahaha so cool. We haven't started playing with points yet (yes, points, because I don't think any of us can afford the $$ haha...) but we should do so when we settle on the "redeemable items" e.g. massage, getting someone to buy groceries, washing the dishes, doing the laundry etc...
Well, other than mahjong the most exciting thing that happened today was the FREE FOOD I got at the MOSQUE! Me and Lia (the other muslim girl) went to walk to the mosque to get free food. They're giving free food throughout this whole Ramadhan period! And they gave us like enough food to last a week! I got like 2 HUGE packets of rice and like 3 packets of chicken curry thing... and kurma and canned drinks! I felt kinda bad... not only becos I did not fast today... but also becos we were the ONLY 2 GIRLS there asking for food! Like there weren't ANY OTHER GIRLS around! And we had to wear our HOODS to enter the mosque grounds cos they required us to cover our hair (urgh!). They're very nice though... they kept asking us whether we wanted more food when they gave us like 3 whole plastic bags worth of food... I don't mind helping out with the cooking if I'm free. But I think my apetite's seriously gone down, cos I don't eat as much as I used to... I guess the company's different too and the food's different as well... good, maybe can lose weight.
It took us 2 HOURS to walk to the mosque and back... TWO HOURS... man! But the walk was quite nice albeit a tad cold... Abby would have loved it though.. because on the way there and back... there were HUGE FIELDS... and in the HUGE FIELDS... there were lots and lots of... YES! COOOWWSS!!!! MOOOO!!!!
HAHAHA... Today, there was also the Newcastle vs. Everton football match at St Jame's Park stadium... and I can SEE THE STADIUM from my room (it's a bit far and hazy, but there you have it!). There were people in black and white attire EVERYWHERE... and then later on, there were people playing DODGEBALL (yes! DODGEBALL like in the movie!) in like basketball areas... hahaha...
Sure is an interesting place Newcastle... so far so good... Tomorrow induction will start and I will have to go pick my modules and see my tutor. My classes will probably start the week after next and I have to write my project proposal before end of October so it sure is going to be very packed! ¶ 5:17 am 7 comments
We taught 3 other people to play mahjong and my flat mates also want to learn how to play!!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!! Too bad the tiles Jeff gave me were missing like 4 flowers (i.e. got 1 set of flowers instead of 2... I had to make a set of the animals from the spare tiles). There was also no "white dragon" or the "window" so had to use the spare tiles to make that one also... haha so now we're making do playing with just 18 x 4 tiles. ANYTHING LAH AS LONG AS CAN PLAY ALREADY GOOD ENUFF! haha! (BTW, the guy on the left in the photo is the one that looks like my BRO! Dun u thk dun u thk????)
I won with the LAST TILE today... hahaha so cool. We haven't started playing with points yet (yes, points, because I don't think any of us can afford the $$ haha...) but we should do so when we settle on the "redeemable items" e.g. massage, getting someone to buy groceries, washing the dishes, doing the laundry etc...
Well, other than mahjong the most exciting thing that happened today was the FREE FOOD I got at the MOSQUE! Me and Lia (the other muslim girl) went to walk to the mosque to get free food. They're giving free food throughout this whole Ramadhan period! And they gave us like enough food to last a week! I got like 2 HUGE packets of rice and like 3 packets of chicken curry thing... and kurma and canned drinks! I felt kinda bad... not only becos I did not fast today... but also becos we were the ONLY 2 GIRLS there asking for food! Like there weren't ANY OTHER GIRLS around! And we had to wear our HOODS to enter the mosque grounds cos they required us to cover our hair (urgh!). They're very nice though... they kept asking us whether we wanted more food when they gave us like 3 whole plastic bags worth of food... I don't mind helping out with the cooking if I'm free. But I think my apetite's seriously gone down, cos I don't eat as much as I used to... I guess the company's different too and the food's different as well... good, maybe can lose weight.
It took us 2 HOURS to walk to the mosque and back... TWO HOURS... man! But the walk was quite nice albeit a tad cold... Abby would have loved it though.. because on the way there and back... there were HUGE FIELDS... and in the HUGE FIELDS... there were lots and lots of... YES! COOOWWSS!!!! MOOOO!!!!
HAHAHA... Today, there was also the Newcastle vs. Everton football match at St Jame's Park stadium... and I can SEE THE STADIUM from my room (it's a bit far and hazy, but there you have it!). There were people in black and white attire EVERYWHERE... and then later on, there were people playing DODGEBALL (yes! DODGEBALL like in the movie!) in like basketball areas... hahaha...
Sure is an interesting place Newcastle... so far so good... Tomorrow induction will start and I will have to go pick my modules and see my tutor. My classes will probably start the week after next and I have to write my project proposal before end of October so it sure is going to be very packed! ¶ 5:17 am 7 comments
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Something wrong with my RAM slot
There's something wrong with my RAM slot on my MAC!!!!!!!! It's only reading the RAM from only 1 slot instead of the 2 that's available for the Mac Powerbook G4! ARGH!!! I was running on 256MB RAM ONLY instead of the 1.25GB RAM I am suppose to have!
Spent half and hour talking to the Apple Support pple on the phone to figure out whether I can do anything to fix it myself... And the conclusion was I have to take it down the an Apple Service Centre! IN NEWCASTLE?!?!?! Was doing and internet search and found 1 way way out of town! Do you think they will accept Macs not purchased in the UK? I am still on Apple Care but if I were to wait until I come back to Singapore, my Apple Care will expire... sigh... Any advice anyone?
Even bought a screwdriver set to fiddle around with the RAM slots. I switched slots for my 256MB RAM and 1GBRAM and now my Powerbook says it's running on 1GB RAM only. Not that I can't live without the other 256MB RAM, but if the other slot happens to GO, then I can't use my Pbook at all! So better to get it fixed early right? ¶ 2:33 pm 1 comments
Spent half and hour talking to the Apple Support pple on the phone to figure out whether I can do anything to fix it myself... And the conclusion was I have to take it down the an Apple Service Centre! IN NEWCASTLE?!?!?! Was doing and internet search and found 1 way way out of town! Do you think they will accept Macs not purchased in the UK? I am still on Apple Care but if I were to wait until I come back to Singapore, my Apple Care will expire... sigh... Any advice anyone?
Even bought a screwdriver set to fiddle around with the RAM slots. I switched slots for my 256MB RAM and 1GBRAM and now my Powerbook says it's running on 1GB RAM only. Not that I can't live without the other 256MB RAM, but if the other slot happens to GO, then I can't use my Pbook at all! So better to get it fixed early right? ¶ 2:33 pm 1 comments
Wild bunnies!
I was walking home just now back from a trip to see the river Tyne at night and err... of cos... a short stopover at a local pub for a beer... and GUESS WHAT I SAW!!!! THERE WERE BUNNIES... YES... REAL... BUNNIES... RUNNING AROUND IN THE FIELD NEXT TO WHERE I LIVE!!! LIKE STRAY CATS IN SINGAPORE... ONLY... BUNNIES!!!!! Muffy would've liked it there...
WILD BUNNIES!
Of cos there were also the "bunnies" around town... the freshers week consists of pple dressing up as either fairies, bunnies, pirates or cowboys... It was quite a sight to see all these young ones dressing up for what we would have called "orientation week". Some of them were wearing SOOO LITTLE... and I swear it's really cold already now! Especially at night!
I wanted to take photos... this time... I brought my camera... but I left my CF card at home because I took it out to download photos I took previously... sigh... It's not fated... The river Tyne is very nice at night... I will share some photos Nancy and the others took when they get around to passing it to me.
Also, did I mention, 1 of the Singaporean student looks SOOOOO much like my BROTHER! Like he's also a bit short, not very skinny, got dimples, and LOOKS AND ACTS LIKE MY BRO! (No, he does not have one eye if some of you are wondering...) ¶ 5:46 am 1 comments
WILD BUNNIES!
Of cos there were also the "bunnies" around town... the freshers week consists of pple dressing up as either fairies, bunnies, pirates or cowboys... It was quite a sight to see all these young ones dressing up for what we would have called "orientation week". Some of them were wearing SOOO LITTLE... and I swear it's really cold already now! Especially at night!
I wanted to take photos... this time... I brought my camera... but I left my CF card at home because I took it out to download photos I took previously... sigh... It's not fated... The river Tyne is very nice at night... I will share some photos Nancy and the others took when they get around to passing it to me.
Also, did I mention, 1 of the Singaporean student looks SOOOOO much like my BROTHER! Like he's also a bit short, not very skinny, got dimples, and LOOKS AND ACTS LIKE MY BRO! (No, he does not have one eye if some of you are wondering...) ¶ 5:46 am 1 comments
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Here in Newcastle...
OK OK here's a blog!!! haha... wahliew... I promised Abby I'd blog about my trip to chinatown but I... FORGOT TO BRING MY CAMERA so I couldn't take any photos... Instead, I will blog about my flat and my room and my flatmates!
My flat is a self catered postgraduate housing and am sharing 1 floor with 4 other flatmates. All girls. The other 2 floors are apparently all guys. 2 of my flatmates are Taiwanese (Taipei), 1 is from America (Colorado) and the other is from Canadia (Toronto). They're all taking rather art-sy fart-sy subjects like Translational English and Art galleries and museum studies and Heritage Studies and Counselling... so have a feeling I am the only geek around.
Anyway, THIS is my room before I cleaned it up this morning:
And THIS is after I vacuumed it and neatened it up this morning (I woke up at 6.30am!):
My room has 2 windows. The view I have to say is great... One overlooks the street and I LOVE the buildings here... they're all so pretty! My whole flat looks exactly like this building across the street:
The other window has a nice TREE VIEW... And sometimes nice birds will come perch there in the morning... But I dunno what birds they are! Maybe I should take up a little bit of birding... hmmm
Right outside my room is the TOILET, the SHOWER AND! Importantly, the KITCHEN. How convenient huh:
The hallway:
The kitchen:
The toilet:
The shower:
FOOD FOOD FOOD in my cupboards!
Food in my fridge:
Well that's my house!!! I hope to be able to start cooking tonight! I got almost everything I need except for FORKS... but I have a pair of chopsticks so I think it'll be OK. Tomorrow PUASA IS STARTING!!! ARGHH!!! But the good news is... the MOSQUE is giving away FREE FOOD FOR BUKA PUASA!!! WOOOWOWOWOWOW... hahaha! Have to go check it out man... hur hur hur
Today the streets were FULL of baskers of all sorts... there were pple on stilts... native red indians playing their native music in full costume... there were pple preaching and carrying signboards saying that the world is gonna end... pple singing in the streets... a live concert going on... and basically lively weekend scene... too bad I forgot to bring my camera. I'll go back down to town next weekend... or tomorrow and take photos if they're still around... My flat is so near to town! It's about 400m from the Metro station and 1km from town centre (the monument... go see photo of the monument at MY FLICKR ACCOUNT).
I got myself lost in town and stumbled across a diving shop! MAN the diving is SOOOO EXPENSIVE... it's like 30pounds for 2 dives and you have to get yourself registered with them for 25pounds and rental of gear is a BOMB... really... it costs 20pounds to rent a 7mm wetsuit... CRAZY! The waters in summer is about 17degrees... 7mm wetsuit ain't gonna cut it for me dude... there goes my hopes of trying out cold water diving...
Haiz, I miss my friends back in Singapore... we've got such a routine worked out and get things done so fast and so fun... and know what each other thinking so no need feel so awkward. I think for sure making lasting friendship is harder to do as you get older... ¶ 10:32 pm 8 comments
My flat is a self catered postgraduate housing and am sharing 1 floor with 4 other flatmates. All girls. The other 2 floors are apparently all guys. 2 of my flatmates are Taiwanese (Taipei), 1 is from America (Colorado) and the other is from Canadia (Toronto). They're all taking rather art-sy fart-sy subjects like Translational English and Art galleries and museum studies and Heritage Studies and Counselling... so have a feeling I am the only geek around.
Anyway, THIS is my room before I cleaned it up this morning:
And THIS is after I vacuumed it and neatened it up this morning (I woke up at 6.30am!):
My room has 2 windows. The view I have to say is great... One overlooks the street and I LOVE the buildings here... they're all so pretty! My whole flat looks exactly like this building across the street:
The other window has a nice TREE VIEW... And sometimes nice birds will come perch there in the morning... But I dunno what birds they are! Maybe I should take up a little bit of birding... hmmm
Right outside my room is the TOILET, the SHOWER AND! Importantly, the KITCHEN. How convenient huh:
The hallway:
The kitchen:
The toilet:
The shower:
FOOD FOOD FOOD in my cupboards!
Food in my fridge:
Well that's my house!!! I hope to be able to start cooking tonight! I got almost everything I need except for FORKS... but I have a pair of chopsticks so I think it'll be OK. Tomorrow PUASA IS STARTING!!! ARGHH!!! But the good news is... the MOSQUE is giving away FREE FOOD FOR BUKA PUASA!!! WOOOWOWOWOWOW... hahaha! Have to go check it out man... hur hur hur
Today the streets were FULL of baskers of all sorts... there were pple on stilts... native red indians playing their native music in full costume... there were pple preaching and carrying signboards saying that the world is gonna end... pple singing in the streets... a live concert going on... and basically lively weekend scene... too bad I forgot to bring my camera. I'll go back down to town next weekend... or tomorrow and take photos if they're still around... My flat is so near to town! It's about 400m from the Metro station and 1km from town centre (the monument... go see photo of the monument at MY FLICKR ACCOUNT).
I got myself lost in town and stumbled across a diving shop! MAN the diving is SOOOO EXPENSIVE... it's like 30pounds for 2 dives and you have to get yourself registered with them for 25pounds and rental of gear is a BOMB... really... it costs 20pounds to rent a 7mm wetsuit... CRAZY! The waters in summer is about 17degrees... 7mm wetsuit ain't gonna cut it for me dude... there goes my hopes of trying out cold water diving...
Haiz, I miss my friends back in Singapore... we've got such a routine worked out and get things done so fast and so fun... and know what each other thinking so no need feel so awkward. I think for sure making lasting friendship is harder to do as you get older... ¶ 10:32 pm 8 comments
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Where did all the time go!!??!
Did I say 11 more days?? THAT FELT LIKE YESTERDAY! ARGH! Leaving TOMORROW IS LIKE... ARGH... For some reason it all still feels surreal... I'm probably going to get hit by tsunami pangs of missing everyone and everything back home... All I can do now is just look forward and cross my fingers REAL HARD... Hope I don't miss packing anything into my luggage or my box...
¶ 1:59 am 2 comments
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Leaving for UK
Leaving for my studies in UK finally! I can't wait to go... and I can't wait to get out. Still a million things to settle and there's only 11 more days! ARGH!
¶ 3:42 pm 0 comments
