SUSOM :D

A gift from the SUSOMites 2012! :)

I went for the SUSOM 2012 closing dinner that day and I realised that I have been out, post-SUSOM, for more than a year! Going back to the SU office really brought back all the memories! Memories of all the fun I had with the other SUSOMites from my batch as well as with the SU staff and everyone else I met at SUSOM came flooding through my mind!

It also made me think about my life since "graduating" from SUSOM, and I realised that SUSOM did make a difference in my life, and I did really learn a lot from it! Some things learnt and some habits cultivated through SUSOM has stayed with me until now, and hopefully, they will continue to stay with me for a long long long long long time to come! =D I feel blessed that I joined SUSOM and I can call myself a SUSOMite. Once a SUSOMite, always a SUSOMite! x)

Anyway, I'm really glad I could attend the closing dinner that day. If nothing else, at least I was there to defend all the ex-SUSOMites! Although we were all invited, only Samuel and I attended the dinner, and we were defending all the previous batches of SUSOMites the whole night! xD

The very impressive SUSOMites 2012 with the SU staff they bullied for 22 days xD

One thing I did find out, though, is that my batch cooked better than this year's batch. This made me think of the hard-boiled eggs we made and left there until there were maggots! Hahahahahahaha! Oh, memories, memories!

Representing all the SUSOMites from the previous years!

Joshua and Jing were supposed to teleport back for the dinner from UK and Poland respectively, but I think the teleporter failed them. Again. So it was just Samuel and I! =S

The SU staff were given a mug each by the SUSOMites 2012, all of which were hand-drawn on! Jun Yi got one that says "Mr. Mischief", Jason "Mr. Daydream", Jennifer "Little Miss Chatterbox", Daniel "Mr. Perfect". Cute, no?

The SUSOMites' babysitters xD

Another thing I was a bit shocked to find out was that all the titles for the staff were changed! hahaha at least from SUSOM 2010 to SUSOM 2012, a few people still had the same title, like how Daniel was Daddy Koo for 2 years.

For my batch, Daniel was Daddy Koo, Jason was Mama Lai, Jennifer was Jie2 Jen, and Jun Yi was monkey. This year, though, Daddy Koo became Mama, Jie2 Jen became Daddy, Mama Lai became Brother, and the monkey had evolved into an Auntie xD

Now I wonder what next year's SUSOMites will name the poor SU staff!

mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...





Buh-bye, people!!!

Bye CNY 2012 :')

Hey guys!

Since today is "chap goh meh", I have to say HAPPY CHAP GOH MEH!!! :)

This CNY has been a different one, especially since it's the first one without Mama :( I missed my granny even more than usual this CNY :(

Well, anyway, since it's chap goh meh, I figure it's a good time to blog about my CNY :)

Dad's side of the family came down to BP for our reunion dinner on the eve of CNY's eve, as usual =D Too bad Niko and Julian weren't there! We missed them!

l-r: Daddy, me, mummy, ah chiah, koko

l-r: Justine, me, koko, sarm kue, Jessica

Then, as usual, there was the karaoke session! And, again, as usual, "yue liang dai biao wo de xing" (The Moon Represents my Heart) was the top favourite ;D

Ah Chiah and daddy, the mother-son du0 :)

Group shot!!!

We took a group photo, and realised that we forgot all about Niko and Julian, so we took one more!

We took 2 plates to represent Julian and Niko!!! x)

And then, as usual, we celebrated CNY with mum's side of the family in JB :) And again, as usual, there was A LOT of food! hahaha we are a bunch of food-lovers!

Mummy and daddy enjoying their pork ribs!

And then there was the usual fireworks destruction x)

Happy!!! :D BOOM! Ahhhh!

That Happy Boom was really scary! It is the one that makes a really really really loud BOOOOMMMMM!!!!! that doesn't bring any happiness =S And and and it made a hole in the top of the signboard near my uncle's house xD

The hole wasn't originally a hole. It was covered x) Oops, sorry!

And then back home in BP, we had the famous Wu family yong tau fu!!! :D Apparently the last time we had that was 8 years ago!

Omnomnomnom. Me likey! :)

Oh, and I managed to meet up with some of my TIGS friends :)

Ling Ching, Shin Lei, Jia Lin, Sharon, Fong Yee :)

All in all, it was a good CNY, though I did miss my 3 grandparents who are already in heaven a lot. Well, I know they're in a happy place, so it's okay! =)

Yay! Happy!!!! BOOM!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The "Happy" in the "Happy Boom" is REALLY misleading =.=

mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...





Buh-bye, people!!!

Happy Eve of Chinese New Year's Eve! =D

Hey guys!!!

Here's me and 5 very cute Chinese New Year dog cookies wishing you a very happy eve of CNY eve!!! :D

Bring on the Chinese new year goodies! :)

I'm home!!!! So is koko!!! Missing Niko though :(

Reunion dinner tonight with daddy's side of the family! Happy spending-time-with-the-family!!!! =D

Beauy spot dog cookie!!! xD

mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...




Buh-bye, people!!!

Back to the Old Grindstone!

Hey guys!

So there ends my holidays, and instead, here starts a new year! I've been back here in Cheras for about 3 days, and lectures have already started! My 3rd and final foundation semester has started! *gasp*

My glamourous Cheras life greeted me with finding out that I didn't bring any beddings, and I didn't have any extra bedsheets! So...

At least I have a thick mattress to put my sleeping bag on! xD

I know, glamourous right? It's actually quite nice sleeping like that. I mean, last time, in BB, we used to sleep in sleeping bags on the ground! This is considered a nice improvement, I would say! Oh, and I found a pillowcase in one of my bags, so at least I could use that too! Yay sleeping bag! :D I have a soft spot for sleeping bags, which might explain why I would have one lying around somewhere in my room here xD

Another thing that greeted me back to this place is the amzing views of the sky. I mean, I know the sky is the sky, and it's the same everywhere (well, sort of, anyway), but here, man, the sky just looks awesome almost all the time! I'll be walking back from uni or just be walking around, and I'll literally stop in my tracks to snap a photo of the view!

Maybe it's just me. Maybe since I don't get any kind of view (unless you consider the corridor and the rubbish room a view) from my room window, I make up for it by being extra attentive to what the sky looks like. Or maybe it's just that I love seeing God's little-little reminders that He is awesome, and He can put together nice-nice sky views to make me happy or to make my day :)

Love how the sunlight shines out the bottom of the clouds on the left side of the photo,

as though God is showing His favour upon we people :)

This is one of those photos!

I'm walking, I see something, I stop walking,

I dig around my bag for my camera (or I take out my phone), and I snap :)

I realise that the pictures I've posted aren't of the World's most spectacular views, but then again, they are made by the same creator, and I think they are pretty cool =D And another thing is, the camera I'm using is a bit on the cacat side, so the actual views are actually a lot nicer than in the photos I have xD

Oh! And I've only been back here for not too long a period of time, but already I've had dinner at McD twice xD Two of my housemates (Hong Ling and Karen) and I went there for our first dinner here for this year, sort of to comfort ourselves since we have to start a new sem and our holidays have ended xP

Family Dinner Box, actually =.=

They probably didn't have any more of the boxes for the Family Dinner set, that's why we got the box that says "Family Breakfast Box" instead =.= For some reason, we brought the empty box back to our unit with us when we left too! xDDD

Walking back towards our condo complex from McD, there was this girl walking in front of us who was carrying a small bag on her left shoulder and a small poodle in her arms. When she was about to go through the place where they check our residents' cards, she stuffed her dog into her bag and zipped the bag up! Awww the poor poodle :( We were saying that we should dog-nap the dog and put it in our McD box, which was A LOT bigger than the girl's bag! Put the box to good use! xD

After passing that part, the girl unzipped the bag a little bit, and the dog stuck its head out. It was soooo cuteeeee!!!! :D The dog didn't even make a sound! It was so well-behaved! hahahahaha it was such a cute sight to see that the three of us kept following the girl and the dog right until they went to their block's lift lobby. Since we aren't from the same block, we just kept on watching the dog from afar while they were waiting for the lift xD

Hahahahahaha that sounded so stalker-ish! And maybe even a little bit romantic? *In a deep, soulful voice* Watching from afar.......

"How is stalking a dog romantic?"
"It is! It's about putting effort into trying to be part of the dog's life, even if the dog doesn't know it! That's romantic, isn't it?"
"But it's a dog! A DOG! You're talking about 3 girls watching an unknowing dog in the lift lobby! How is that even close to being romantic?"
"But... but.... but... It was a really really REALLY cute dog!"

Uh-oh, I think the start of this new sem and the going back to classes is really doing my brain some damage. Correction: A LOT of damage :S (And oh no! I just realised how much I sound like a stalker!!! I promise you, I'm usually not like this!)

Ooh and one more thing! I think the barin damage isn't just affecting me xD Today I went with Karen to McD again, and after dinner, we were both feeling a bit too full, so we decided to take a walk around our condo complex. So we were walking around and we ended up at the playgound. We were talking and joking around when I thought I heard someone call "Amanda!"

So I turned around to see where the voice came from. I didn't see anyone familiar, so I ignored it. I probably didn't hear correctly. Then I heard my name a second time as Karen and I were walking away from the playground. Again I turned to find whoever it was calling my name, but all I saw was a bunch of kids playing there. And I was sure I heard my name being called!

So I came to the conclusion that there was a kid at the playground, whose name is also Amanda :D I suggested to Karen, "why don't we go to the playground again and see if we can find out which is Amanda?" Just then, I heard my name again. "Amanda!" and then it was followed by a "Karen!"

Having two kids there with our names playing at the playground while we were there? I decided that it was too much of a coincidence. So I turned back to find who the voice belonged to. I turned and again, saw nobody familiar. So I tilted my head upwards, my eyes moving along the windows of the block where Karen's and my unit is. Then I see it! There it was, a hand waving from a window with lots of clothes hung on the grill to dry xD

Apparently Pey Yann and her housemates spotted us from their window, and so they yelled down to us from their unit on the 8th floor!!! It's nice to know the start of this new semester (or is it the start of this new year?) is making everyone a little bit crazy! :D

mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...





Buh-bye, people!!!

Back from Korea and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Hey guys!!!

Please brace yourselves for a loooong post with lots of photos! :)

So some relatives and I went to Korea for a few days. HOLIDAYYY!!! 12 of us went altogether, but we eat and talk like we're 100 people xD

Anywayyyy, we took a near-midnight flight on the 18th, and reached Korea very early in the morning on the 19th. From the airport, the 12 of us were split into 2 taxis (a "jumbo taxi" and a normal one, the jumbo one being a Starex) that brought us to our hotel.

View from the taxi

It felt weird that the cars in Korea are all on the "wrong" side of the road! People in Korea drive on the right side of the road, which is the "wrong" side of the road, since people here in Malaysia drive on the left side of the road, which I refer to as the "right" side of the road. Yes? No? What? Whatever lah, you know what I mean xP

So anyway, we reached the hotel, checked in, and we all went to explore the place. And look for food, as always :D

Right outside the hotel doors

Somewhere near our hotel

Overlooking a really nice river? Longkang? I don't know xS

We were all so hungry (we had only had a little bit of pre-ordered food on our Air Asia X flight), and so we all just went around searching and searching for food. Finally we ended up in the building that had a food court on its fifth floor. So there we went for breakfast/lunch/brunch/whatever it was :)

So, there, we had our first meal in Korea. Since we couldn't speak Korean, and the people there couldn't speak English, we did a lot of pointing at pictures and ordering stuff we didn't know what they were xD Some things came out quite nice, but for me, all I concluded from that meal is that I am definitely not a Kimchi person o.O

A beef dish with kimchi as one of its side dishes

A fish dish with at least 2 kimchi-based side dishes

A fried I-don't-know-what dish with plenty of kimchi all over

Kimchi, anyone?

Ughh definitely not for me! The first few bites of overpowering kimchi taste was actually fine with me. But after that, yucks. A person can only take that much kimchi in one meal! But then again, maybe that's just me. And my family. And my extended family xD If you like kimchi, though, you would have enjoyed that meal a lot!

After that meal, we continued walking around, checking the place out. We saw on a map somewhere that there was this palace or something, within walking distance from where we were, which is apparently a tourist attraction. So, we headed there. And then, to my amazement, we saw......

Tadaa!!! A nice, big... picture?!?!?!

Anti-climactic! The palace (or whatever it is supposed to be) was closed for renovation =.=

Anyway, we walked around some more and ended up getting more stuff to satisfy our taste buds and stomachs ;)

A cold latte in winter. Nice! :D

Ah Teow and Daddy with cold lattes, sitting out in winter =D

And we also found some street food.

Something that tastes like tau kee

Ooh! This one's interesting!

It's a hotdog in flour and breadcrumbs or french fries, and it's deep fried.

Then it's coated in sugar. Then ketchup is poured all over it. Then it's eaten.

That night, we went for a Korean barbeque buffet for dinner :D

Some of the many things we had ;)

The barbeque buffet was pretty awesome, but the thing is, we all stinked to high heavens when we came out of that place :S

The next day, we learned to use their subway! Struggled through it, more like it xD Everything was in the Korean language, and we couldn't understand a thing!

Uncle Woon and Ah Yee Teng2 trying to figure out how to use the machine to buy the cards

And while all of us were there, so lost, trying to figure out how to do whatever we were supposed to do, a lady came to ask me for directions! Well, at least that's what I think she was trying to ask me, since I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She was speaking to me pretty rapidly in Korean, and I kept going "uhh.. ahhh... erm... S...sorry", but the lady just kept going on and on and pointing here and there. Finally, when she stopped talking, I said, "Sorry" while shaking my head, shrugging my shoulders slightly, and giving here a completely lost expression. I think she finally got that I wasn't local because she gave me an irritated sigh and went off!

When I was telling mummy and the rest about it, I asked them, "Does my face not say that I am lost?" hahahaha, apparently I looked very local. I can fit in!!! :D

Anyway, we finally got our cards for the subway and then we were on our way!

In one of the stations somewhere. l-r: Me, Joyce, Jayne

My 3 kuchi brats cousins :) l-r: Faith, Joyce, Jayne

There were some stations that had names that sounded a lot like Malay names. For example:

Gemuk? We refused to get down at this station that says we're fat! xD

Masuk? They say masuk, so we masuk the train loh!

Come to think of it, maybe we were just a little to homesick for Malaysia xD

That day, we went to Nami Island, where the Korean drama "Winter Sonata" was filmed. I've never watched that drama, but people said that the island was supposed to be really pretty! :D

We had to take a ferry to the island itself, so we took a cab from the subway station to the jetty, where, upon reaching, I saw...

...this!

Okay, okay, I know you're thinking, What? What's that? What so cool about that?

Well the thing about it is, what I saw when I arrived there wasn't JUST that yellow and green kotak-kotak thingy there. What I saw was someone JUMPING OFF that yellow and green kotak-kotak thingy there!

No no no, before you get any ideas about me having suicidal thoughts, I saw someone BUNGEE JUMPING! :D :D :DDD

I've always wanted to bungee jump. Always! Mummy too! So mummy, myself and my cousin Joyce went to buy tickets! =D However, my Ah Yee Lee Hua was talking about retina detachment or something like that, or something scary that could go bad at bungee jumps. In the end, Ah Yee Lee Hua got the guy to return mummy's money so mummy didn't get to bungee jump :( Only Joyce and I.

Myself and Joyce up there somewhere in the yellow and green kotak-kotak thingy

(can it be considered a building?), where we got geared up :)

For those of you who have never tried bungee jumping, YOU SHOULD!!! It's really really fun! We were supposed to count down from 5, and then jump, and so I did. I was like, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, eh? Where's the ground? WWWHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It was like nothing I've ever done before! Even at the Space Shot ride in Genting Highlands, you know there's a seat under you, but this, this was nothing! The only thing under you was... well, nothing!Oh, except for water a long, long way down xD It. Was. Awesome! Hahaha and when it was almost over, I yelled jokingly to the whole gin gang at the side there, watching me, "This thing can support my weight ar! Not bad!" hahahaha! My cousin Faith was saying that it was a little too late in the jump to be talking about the thing supporting my weight xD Oh, and hey! I even got a cert for bungee jumping! :D

Proof that I've bungee jumped!!! =)

Lunch that day was nice. Right after Joyce and I bungee jumped, we went to the convenience store to buy our lunch! :D

Microwavable rice and instant ramen!

It was a great lunch :D

A microwavable box-set meal

It was a nice meal to have in Korea :) After lunch, we took the ferry to Nami Island. The ferry had a big Malaysian flag beside the Korean flag, which made me feel so proud! :D

Malaysian flag up there! Oh YEAHHHH!!!

Looking back from the ferry. I bungee jumped off that thing!

We spent quite a lot of time on Nami Island, the oh-so-beautiful island.

l-r: Mum, Dad and I

LOMPATTT!!!!

l-r: Me, Joyce, Jayne

To tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed by Nami Island. In fact, I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe it's because it was winter and all the trees were botak, or maybe I expected something very very very breathtakingly beautiful, but anyway, I wasn't impressed.

There were, however, couples who probably found the romantic side of the island that was supposedly portrayed in "Winter Sonata".

In case you can't see them, the couple is somewhere near the middle of the picture, towards the right side xD

Wait, I just want to clarify that I wasn't stalking couples there! They just happened to appear in my photographs of the scenes and trees in Nami Island! x)

Okay, so even though the trees and the scenery there didn't impress me, the toilets did xD

The toilets had books in them!!! Wahhh!!!

Hahahaha, we went around looking at the place and taking more photos (of things other than toilets) like the celaka tourists that we were though :)

A random statue that wanted to give me a feet high 5

l-r: Mummy, Jayne, me

We caught a ferry back to the jetty and went back to the hotel. Day 2 in Korea spent on bungee jumping and Nami Island :)

Oh, and seeing Malaysia flags :D

Daddy proudly holding the Jalur Gemilang!

We spent our 3rd day in Korea at a snow mountain.

Sadly, some of the snow there didn't occur naturally :( It was still nice and pretty to look at, though :)

I teman-ed Faith who wanted to go sledging while Joyce and Jayne went skiing.

Faith and I with our vests that look like they're from kindergarten xD

We soon realised that the sledging there was meant for little kids and parents who had little kids. Soooo, in the end, we went skiing :D

Newbies at skiing! l-r: Faith, me, mummy

Skiing was fun :) I helped daddy cross that off his Bucket List by going skiing for him xD

Day 4, we just went around Seoul in the Seoul Tour Bus.

Yes, the bus came with headphones and information about the different stops and places :)

I can't remember the names of the places we stopped at, sorry! xD

l-r: Faith, random owl-looking statue, me, mummy, Jayne

Half-botak trees, not-so-botak trees, land, the sun =)

Myself and Faith

It was really really cold that day, and Joyce had an idea to put her hands inside her jacket and not the sleeves. However, with this, there came the problem of how she was supposed to carry her bag? So...

I used the empty jacket sleeves to tie her bag to her back! You're welcome, Joyce! xP

Before heading back to the hotel and then to the airport and then home, we met Colonel Sanders! If you don't know who that is, all I can say is shame on you!!!

He is...

The KFC guy!!! :D This is a cuter version of him, though xD

More of the dressed-up people at the KFC we were at, with mummy and I :)

Oh, and of course, somewhere in the trip, we at least managed to get a complete group shot!!!

Top l-r: Daddy, Mummy, Ah Teow, Ah Yee Lee Hua, Uncle Woon.

Bottom l-r: Me, Gracie, Ah Yee Teng2, Faith, Jayne, Joyce, Ming Ming.

We were welcomed back home to Malaysia by the hot and humid weather here. Yay =.= Sweating wasn't something I missed on the trip xD

Fast foward a few days from there, and rewind a little bit from today, right now...

I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!!! I hope everyone experiences the love of God this year :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! =)

I spent Christmas around my family and loads of food, so yeah, it was merry, alright! :)

mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...





Buh-bye, people!!!