after hearing all the horror stories, i am so thankful for my boring and monotonous life as a full-time student and part-time housewife. waking up in early in the morning making myself some nice hot breakfast, pile on layers of clothes, scarf, boots, gloves etc. walking to school, going home just before the sun sets to cook dinner, and back to my room where i'm suppose to study. dinner's probably the highlight of the day, sitting around the table together for some simple, delicious and healthy home-cooked food with a lot less oil than outside, and no msg. although our home is not the best in terms of furnishing and renovation, and it gets really cold at night even though all the windows are closed, i'm loving this homely feeling.
school's been hectic though it's just mainly classroom lessons now. apart from the boring theory lessons which we can't escape, it's quite exciting poking needles into ourselves and friends, getting free massage by practising tuina skills on each other. what else can i ask for? life sounds great so far doesn't it?
ok, it's getting late and really cold now. time to hide under my layer of blanket and quilt with 2 layers of clothes hugging my little hot hand-warmer. nights get as cold as close to zero degrees celcius now and i can't wait for the central heating to be switched on.
Sunday 26 October 2008
原本可以睡懒觉的星期六早晨，我们却比平常更早起床，太阳还未露出它温暖的笑容我们已收拾好了东西出门了。目的只有一个，那就是尽早抵达香山欣赏秋天的红叶。经过了近两个小时的城铁与公交，穿过了拥挤的车龙和人群终于到达了目的地。以为可以看到满地布满红枫叶的我们难免有点失望。一眼望去香山还是绿色的，只是多了点红色的点缀。我们一路走一路照相留念，轻轻松松一路上有说有笑地走到了山底。上山的路更是挤满了人，大大小小老老少少都是为了目睹这秋天的美而来。我们也只能跟着人群慢慢一步一步地往上走。终于在中午走到了山顶，找了一片空石头坐下来歇息，并欣赏眼前的风景。下山时我们选坐缆车，体验一下高高在上的感觉。但高处不胜寒，一点儿也没说错，冷风迎面而来入骨而吹，冻得我们手脚冰冷，连照相都难。就这样我们下了山，完成了这次的香山之旅。
登山队伍
远方的红叶
冷风
终于到了山顶！
人山人海
我试着体会诗人曾说过的霜叶红于二月花，更是因为可以远离污染和喧哗而感到心旷神怡。但红叶也不过是掉落前短暂的光彩，一种另类的美。
星期天我们到了北大，观赏了那儿的文化节，也参观了那古色古香的校舍。
在图书馆前面
未名湖
已经习惯这季节的变化，也爱上了落叶的美。
也终于领悟了不是你的东西终究不属于你。
登山队伍
远方的红叶
冷风
终于到了山顶！
人山人海
我试着体会诗人曾说过的霜叶红于二月花，更是因为可以远离污染和喧哗而感到心旷神怡。但红叶也不过是掉落前短暂的光彩，一种另类的美。
星期天我们到了北大，观赏了那儿的文化节，也参观了那古色古香的校舍。
在图书馆前面
未名湖
已经习惯这季节的变化，也爱上了落叶的美。
也终于领悟了不是你的东西终究不属于你。
Friday 24 October 2008
it was finally over, the horrible exams. and it was time to chill on that chilly night.
we walked down the shopping street, had dinner at a small restaurant, walked down the small dark street with shops selling everything needed for the ill, injured and dead. finally reached the lake. but that was just a lake (or sea) and we were not there to fish. so we braved through the rain, trying our best to avoid puddles of water but our jeans were still wet and toes were to numb to be felt. then we finally heard music and saw lights. wanted to chill at some atas-looking pub with liveband playing english songs, but it was so noisy, smoky, expensive and the minimum per table was 400yuan. obviously we just wanted to chill so we walked back and found ourselves in a nice cosy pub singing emo chinese songs.
we were there a month ago in tanktops and skirts. now we're all wrapped up.
upstairs beside the windows overlooking the sea so dark at night. even the beer's called 'chill'
we walked down the shopping street, had dinner at a small restaurant, walked down the small dark street with shops selling everything needed for the ill, injured and dead. finally reached the lake. but that was just a lake (or sea) and we were not there to fish. so we braved through the rain, trying our best to avoid puddles of water but our jeans were still wet and toes were to numb to be felt. then we finally heard music and saw lights. wanted to chill at some atas-looking pub with liveband playing english songs, but it was so noisy, smoky, expensive and the minimum per table was 400yuan. obviously we just wanted to chill so we walked back and found ourselves in a nice cosy pub singing emo chinese songs.
we were there a month ago in tanktops and skirts. now we're all wrapped up.
upstairs beside the windows overlooking the sea so dark at night. even the beer's called 'chill'
Tuesday 21 October 2008
Monday 20 October 2008
and so my adventure in this city continues, yesterday i took my new toy out to explore the CBD area and to enquire about the cali fitness here. first time on the road wasn't too bad. here in BJ everyone has a right of way. the cars don't stop for pedestrians when turning even when the green man is on, the pedestrians cross even when red man is on, bicycles weave in and out of traffic, and even against the flow, and i hear the cars honk every moment even though i stay on the 18th floor and i'm not beside a major road. so the golden rule of getting anywhere is: just go.
alright, so i managed to find the place (and the building is really called 'the place') after about half an hour. it was a sunday and CBD was very very empty. one word to describe the area: awesome! architects are really cool ppl when then can make all the buildings look so good and unique.
the big apple!! haha. they were having some apple fair and the whole big apple is made up of real apples. cool right?
managed to find the gym without much difficulty and it's awesome! and very empty. it's really better than those in Singapore, maybe cos it's newer and very few ppl go there. i wonder how's the crowd during peak hour cos yesterday almost all the 2 rows of treadmill were empty and the class has less than 10 ppl. and half were not chinese. they even have a medicine ball abs machine where it's like those basketball game you find in arcades just that you throw medicine ball and you can lie back and do crunches each time you throw a ball. they even have a basketball court (cos its endorsed by yaoming) and a room for taiji and yoga etc. not to mention the changing rooms with big and pretty chairs in front of the mirrors and shower cubicles with soap, shampoo, conditioner and surprisingly, doors! (even those in s'pore only have shower curtains). now comes the sad part. they don't have records of international members in their system so i can only use the gym upon producing my membership card, which i lost!! bleah!!! and membership is damn freaking expensive! since they are so secretive about the price, i shall just say it's about 10 times (or even more) than the any normal gym around my house area. and i will definitely wear mask next time i go out on wheels again.
say 'eeeewwwwww' but that's the amount of dust i get EVERYDAY in my room (and i love magic-clean though it's so hard to find here) now just imagine what i've inhaled. won't be surprised if my lungs turn black soon.
meanwhile i shall just go run in park on days with good weather and i'm going to get that set of dumbbells.
teach me how to convert back to healthy lifestyle when munching on junk is inevitable, beer's cheaper than water, i need stimulants like caffeine to get me studying, and i concuss unknowingly on top of my bed almost every night, waking up in the middle of the night by the cold, and the list goes on..
alright, so i managed to find the place (and the building is really called 'the place') after about half an hour. it was a sunday and CBD was very very empty. one word to describe the area: awesome! architects are really cool ppl when then can make all the buildings look so good and unique.
the big apple!! haha. they were having some apple fair and the whole big apple is made up of real apples. cool right?
managed to find the gym without much difficulty and it's awesome! and very empty. it's really better than those in Singapore, maybe cos it's newer and very few ppl go there. i wonder how's the crowd during peak hour cos yesterday almost all the 2 rows of treadmill were empty and the class has less than 10 ppl. and half were not chinese. they even have a medicine ball abs machine where it's like those basketball game you find in arcades just that you throw medicine ball and you can lie back and do crunches each time you throw a ball. they even have a basketball court (cos its endorsed by yaoming) and a room for taiji and yoga etc. not to mention the changing rooms with big and pretty chairs in front of the mirrors and shower cubicles with soap, shampoo, conditioner and surprisingly, doors! (even those in s'pore only have shower curtains). now comes the sad part. they don't have records of international members in their system so i can only use the gym upon producing my membership card, which i lost!! bleah!!! and membership is damn freaking expensive! since they are so secretive about the price, i shall just say it's about 10 times (or even more) than the any normal gym around my house area. and i will definitely wear mask next time i go out on wheels again.
say 'eeeewwwwww' but that's the amount of dust i get EVERYDAY in my room (and i love magic-clean though it's so hard to find here) now just imagine what i've inhaled. won't be surprised if my lungs turn black soon.
meanwhile i shall just go run in park on days with good weather and i'm going to get that set of dumbbells.
teach me how to convert back to healthy lifestyle when munching on junk is inevitable, beer's cheaper than water, i need stimulants like caffeine to get me studying, and i concuss unknowingly on top of my bed almost every night, waking up in the middle of the night by the cold, and the list goes on..
Saturday 18 October 2008
the past week has been spent hiding at home, in our rooms, cramping as much information from the textbook into our brains as possible for the first exam here in BJ. and it was horrendous. the late nights almost made me doze off in the middle of the paper, and it certainly didn't help by sitting next to the window, listening to the workers singing as they work downstairs. oh well, just hope the next paper won't be as bad.
Now i don't mind being a permanent housewife. my mom will be never believe me when i tell her i really do enjoy cooking and cleaning up the house, that coming from someone who does absolutely zero housework back at home and always leaves her room in a mess.
and we are all turning super auntie by spending our lunch breaks doing grocery shopping, going to class after lunch break with bags of vegetables, comparing how much money is saved by buying things on sale in supermarkets, where to buy cheap and good stuff, and discussing how often we clean the house, etc. etc. speaking of food, i really miss sambal kangkong, curry fishhead, fish soup, horfun, economic beehoon, peanut pancake, botak jones, aston, fanciful pasta, yong tau foo!! ben and jerry's, GOOD COFFEE!!! mom, quick come and save me!!
SGD keeps dropping, the sun sets at 5.30pm, the weather is ever-changing, usually around 10 degrees at night, and goes as high as 26/27 degrees during the day. things i do everyday without fail: clean my room floor, think about what to cook, check weather forecast, exchange rate, horoscope (just for fun)
now should i convince myself that people change?
Now i don't mind being a permanent housewife. my mom will be never believe me when i tell her i really do enjoy cooking and cleaning up the house, that coming from someone who does absolutely zero housework back at home and always leaves her room in a mess.
and we are all turning super auntie by spending our lunch breaks doing grocery shopping, going to class after lunch break with bags of vegetables, comparing how much money is saved by buying things on sale in supermarkets, where to buy cheap and good stuff, and discussing how often we clean the house, etc. etc. speaking of food, i really miss sambal kangkong, curry fishhead, fish soup, horfun, economic beehoon, peanut pancake, botak jones, aston, fanciful pasta, yong tau foo!! ben and jerry's, GOOD COFFEE!!! mom, quick come and save me!!
SGD keeps dropping, the sun sets at 5.30pm, the weather is ever-changing, usually around 10 degrees at night, and goes as high as 26/27 degrees during the day. things i do everyday without fail: clean my room floor, think about what to cook, check weather forecast, exchange rate, horoscope (just for fun)
now should i convince myself that people change?
Sunday 5 October 2008
can't believe one week of golden week has just passed like that! what constructive things have i done? none, really.. only destructive ones and the list will just get longer.
yesterday was quite a long and dramatic day. left home early in the morning to go shopping at the wholesale centre behind the zoo, cos they close at 4pm! and i'm such a fast and efficient shopper, just went there to get what i needed. bought a coat, 2 pants, 2 boots, and some other things which couldn't escape my temptation along the way. and as i was choosing and trying on the boots at my last stop, i lost my wallet!! some damn pickpocket stole it!! tmd! had to go through all the trouble of canceling and replacing my credit cards etc again! luckily i didn't bring my IC here, and luckily i took out most of my money, so i guess that thief must have been quite disappointed to find less than 100yuan inside (and a fifty dollar SGD note, if he's smart enough to change it). and the drama doesn't end here. we were lazy to cook so i decided to buy back some dumplings from the market behind the busstop where i had to alight. and there my dearest housemates called to say that we're out of electricity! it wasn't a blackout, it's just that we forgot to top-up our electricity card (yeah electricity is pre-paid here) and best thing is all banks were closed by then. so we knocked on the glass doors of the bank since there were people inside still. and thank goodness they don't operate law-by-law here, this friendly guy came out from nowhere and asked if we need help. he managed to get us into the bank and asked the people there to switch on the machine so that we can buy our electricity. if not we had to walk even further to a 24hour place or enjoy candlelight the whole night, without hot water to bathe. phew!
now i'm finally more or less settled in my new house, and here's some photos of my nice little corner..
that's my bed, with bedsheets brought over from home (that doesn't fit perfectly) and 2 big ikea cushions, and a small and simple bedside table from ikea too
that's the place where i'm suppose to be studying, luckily it's long enough for all my junk (which is really minimal)
my wardrobe, and that's almost all the clothes i have, including the first drawer of clothes (so much less than what i have back home), and i pasted the mirror myself (from ikea too)
my cute little bedroom slippers, so soft and comfy!
a place to gather when the hungry stomach growls, love the water dispenser, getting hot water can't be more convenient
living room, with our new and pretty purple sofa. very nice to sink in too.
kitchen. where all the yummy food comes from!
and here's photos of our first 2 attempts at cooking:
first home-cooked meal of egg and tomato, chicken with capsicum and fungus, potato and carrot soup.
our second attempt of egg and chives, mushroom and tofu, and pork ribs and lotus soup.
see we can cook!! and we just found out that the little eatery downstairs do provide delivery. looks like we won't starve in winter anymore!
brrrr... it's raining now and tonight's a cold night...
yesterday was quite a long and dramatic day. left home early in the morning to go shopping at the wholesale centre behind the zoo, cos they close at 4pm! and i'm such a fast and efficient shopper, just went there to get what i needed. bought a coat, 2 pants, 2 boots, and some other things which couldn't escape my temptation along the way. and as i was choosing and trying on the boots at my last stop, i lost my wallet!! some damn pickpocket stole it!! tmd! had to go through all the trouble of canceling and replacing my credit cards etc again! luckily i didn't bring my IC here, and luckily i took out most of my money, so i guess that thief must have been quite disappointed to find less than 100yuan inside (and a fifty dollar SGD note, if he's smart enough to change it). and the drama doesn't end here. we were lazy to cook so i decided to buy back some dumplings from the market behind the busstop where i had to alight. and there my dearest housemates called to say that we're out of electricity! it wasn't a blackout, it's just that we forgot to top-up our electricity card (yeah electricity is pre-paid here) and best thing is all banks were closed by then. so we knocked on the glass doors of the bank since there were people inside still. and thank goodness they don't operate law-by-law here, this friendly guy came out from nowhere and asked if we need help. he managed to get us into the bank and asked the people there to switch on the machine so that we can buy our electricity. if not we had to walk even further to a 24hour place or enjoy candlelight the whole night, without hot water to bathe. phew!
now i'm finally more or less settled in my new house, and here's some photos of my nice little corner..
that's my bed, with bedsheets brought over from home (that doesn't fit perfectly) and 2 big ikea cushions, and a small and simple bedside table from ikea too
that's the place where i'm suppose to be studying, luckily it's long enough for all my junk (which is really minimal)
my wardrobe, and that's almost all the clothes i have, including the first drawer of clothes (so much less than what i have back home), and i pasted the mirror myself (from ikea too)
my cute little bedroom slippers, so soft and comfy!
a place to gather when the hungry stomach growls, love the water dispenser, getting hot water can't be more convenient
living room, with our new and pretty purple sofa. very nice to sink in too.
kitchen. where all the yummy food comes from!
and here's photos of our first 2 attempts at cooking:
first home-cooked meal of egg and tomato, chicken with capsicum and fungus, potato and carrot soup.
our second attempt of egg and chives, mushroom and tofu, and pork ribs and lotus soup.
see we can cook!! and we just found out that the little eatery downstairs do provide delivery. looks like we won't starve in winter anymore!
brrrr... it's raining now and tonight's a cold night...
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