Celebrate Christmas in Singapore

Came back to the semi-deserted NTU campus last night. After I had booted up my laptop and updated my MSN name, some people greeted me and asked me why I have come back to Singapore so early, since the new semester starts on 7 January (that's two weeks away).

I had been thinking about it over and over and over again. It's an opportunity to learn something. But I wanted to celebrate Christmas with my family. Convinced by a senior, I came back to join a camp on 26 December. After that, I will go back to KL for a week, celebrate New Year with my family, then come back to NTU again. But why I had come back on Christmas Eve, NOT on Christmas Day itself? Coming back on Christmas Day means I still have half a day to celebrate with my family. I just realized it after I had bought the bus ticket, and continuously thought about it on the journey back to NTU. It made me feel SO bad. I had to celebrate, or rather, survive the day myself.

Today I woke up and cleaned my dusty room, which had been untouched for more than three weeks. Then it's lunch time, and the canteen downstairs isn't open. So I went to the nearest opening canteen and paid 60 cents more than I usually do. Still get confused by the 20 cents and 50 cents coins after studying in Singapore for nearly half a year. The sizes of Singaporean coins are smaller than their Malaysian counterparts, but have twice the value.

Since I never been in Singapore around Christmas time, I decided to go to Orchard Road to experience Christmas in Singapore. After dinner, I reached Orchard Road at 9 pm. The whole Orchard Road was decorated with snowflakes hanging between lamp posts and between trees, which I think looks better than Bukit Bintang. A section of the road was closed to vehicular traffic because a stage was set up for performances. Of course, the place was full of people. I brought my seemly faulty camera along, hoping to have enough time to snap some photos before the camera fails again. Thank God the camera worked perfectly fine tonight. I snapped some photos, including a tall christmas tree. To prove that I had actually been there, I also asked some people to take photos of me (and I was asked by people to take photos of them as well). I watched part of the performance and walked down the road until the next MRT station, then back again. In the end, I was glad to have come back a day earlier and got to experience the celebration here.

I wanted to post the photos here tonight, but just realized that I don't have a camera USB cable in my room. My roomie must have taken his cable back home. No choice but have to wait for next time to post the photos lor...

Lastly, wish you all...

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!!

Misunderstood

Just finished exam yesterday. After 3 weeks of studying hard (erm... not really) and intense stress, I finally have something and time to post something here.

I am not going to talk about how I did my papers, but about a post on a friend's blog. Though it was written a few days ago, due to intense study, I just saw the post today. From my understanding, she felt some regret of coming here to study because people seems to misunderstand her, not knowing the actual person she is, and insulting her for being something she thinks she's not (I hope she is not talking about me).

I sometimes feel what she felt too. Whether in NTU or not, I sometimes feel people around me don't really understand me. People seems to misunderstand my actions, thoughts and words. What I am in people's eyes is not really who I am. Is it because of my lacking of communication skills? Or maybe different people interpret things differently? I don't know.

Sometimes I meant to be joking, but end up it become an insult, and being branded as "rude". Sometimes I do something what I think has nothing wrong about it, it is deemed inappropriate by others (I think this applies to what we usually called "bad habits" as well).

The appropriateness of what we do, think or say is determined by the people around us, not by ourselves. If people say you are rude, then you are rude. If people say you are insulting them, then you are insulting them. Some people here ask me why I went to a independent school, and enter university earlier than them. "Why you spend your parents' money to study in school?" "Why you want to come one (or two) year(s) earlier than us?"... I know they are joking, but I don't feel happy, or rather, I feel offended by it. It seems that they are questioning my qualifications to enter the university.

For those who are offended by my actions, thoughts and words, please don't keep it in mind. I am really sorry about it. I didn't mean to insult you. I don't like to insult people, nor do I like to be insulted by others. Please accept my sincere apology, OK?

7S1/7S2 加油！！

睡梦中，突然想起一首歌。一首充满回忆的歌。

我想，过了很多、很多年后，当我们又同聚，或偶然碰面时，我们会是怎样。搞不好有一天我在扫街时，看到一张报纸，报导着一项科研突破，还有一张熟悉的脸孔。我把报纸拾起，告诉大家这个人我认识...

两年前，我面临一个重要的抉择。在父母的劝告下，我放弃可能成为学会执委的机会，选择了学校开办的先修联班。父母希望我将来能到新加坡升学，达成这个期望最直接的路线是考一张高中统考文凭。进先修联无非是想要多一个保障，万一统考考得不好，就多读一年考STPM。

就这样，我加入了这个只有35个人的大家庭。有些人想考完统考再作打算；有些则立志考完STPM进国立大学继续深造。无论如何，先修联（一）的我们都需要上准备统考和第二年STPM的课程。

• 黑鞋是我们的传统标记。
• 我们课室和高三课室隔着一段不大不小的距离，近在眼前，远在楼边...
• 我们在卫生股长的领导和恐吓之下，努力地打扫课室，而赢得了班级整洁比赛全年总冠军。（希望他不会找我算帐，我不要变成沙丁罐头里的沙丁鱼...)
• 我们比其他班幸福，因为班上有三架冷气机（其他班只有两架），这第三架冷气机确保我们上课时不会中暑。
• 我们有5K：KL、KJ、KT、KC 和 KHL。
• 我们时常有机会听演唱会，班上有唱歌唱到走音的歌手，还有笑声震天的维尼熊、搞笑的大炳和倾国倾城的世界小姐。
• 我们有专业的摄影师、预言家（答案是A！）、超级球迷、不满船长的水手（Q: Why not? A: Why yes?）...
• 我们每个星期三有2个小时的体育节。
• 我们还有金鱼、蜜蜂、大牛、阿兔、Foo 和 Hoo，再加上整天潜水然后突然咬人的鳄鱼。

转眼间，应付统考后，又是分道扬镳的时候了。虽然有些很确定会留下来，我们还是依依不舍地向每个人送别，因为统考成绩还没出，谁留谁走还不成定局。

先修联（二），卫生股长升级成了班长，维尼熊成了学会主席...

我们在储藏室上课，大家都被STPM的杀气压得喘不过来，没有开演唱会，体育节缩短成40分钟。

班上有14位同学离开了，不过我们欢迎碧仪的到来（22）
一月，摄影师走了（21）
二月，联（一）财政飞往犀鸟之乡（20）
四月，北极熊去UTAR，小帅哥去实验室（18）
五月，诗晴、世界小姐、小帅哥和财政（就是俊轩咯）前往新加坡升学（15）
八月，伟锋跑去了台湾(14)

最后，班上剩下14个英雄美女努力奋斗，准备STPM。班长数学很强，报考包括MLT和物理在内的5科。主席带领可爱的学会财政和她的好姐妹报考生物等4科，其他的报考物理等4科。

亲爱的7S1/7S2：
我们尝过甜酸苦辣，一起去NTV7寻找天使，也去了国会大厦；虽然7S2时很多都离开了，包括我自己，不过我相信我们都不会后悔选择先修联，也永远不会忘 记我们那段美好的回忆。7S1是我中学生涯最棒的一年，也是最难忘的一年；感谢你们陪伴我度过这一年。For 7S2: We went to SMK Chong Hwa in April and May to sit for MUET, and now you guys are going there in less than 2 weeks time to sit for STPM. Work hard, but don't work too hard... Wish you guys all the best in STPM!! 加油！！其他人也一起加油吧！！

7S1/7S2 Forever!!!

7S1 Class Song7S2 Graduation Film

Around Singapore in 180 minutes

No, it isn't related to the book by Jules Verne (one of my favourite stories), and no one is going to bet on it.

Time flies, it's been almost three months I've been studying in NTU, and it's exam in 2 weeks' time. The reading rooms, libraries, benches etc are full of studying people. Seems like everyone is having another UPSR/PMR/SPM/STPM/Junior UEC/Senior UEC/PSLE/'O' Level/'A' Level again... Me? Still wasting time in front of my laptop...

Back to the topic... Usually on Saturdays, I travel to Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station because I have something on there at 5 pm.

MRT/LRT system map

Geographical location of the MRT lines (Note: Circle Line is under construction and Downtown Line is in planning stages)

Location of Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station

The nearest MRT station to NTU is Boon Lay (at the western end of East West Line). From the system map, there are three ways to get to Dhoby Ghaut:
1. Take the East West Line train to Outram Park and transfer to the North East Line (this is the way I usually use, as it seems to be the fastest way, but need to walk a few minutes to the NEL part of the station.)
2. Take the East West Line train to either Raffles Place or City Hall, and transfer to the North South Line (if I go by this way, I would change line at Raffles Place because it's cross-platform)
3. Take the East West Line train to Jurong East and transfer to the North South Line (I think most people will say "You crazy ah?!")

However, I decided to go crazy today, travelling by the third way, going through the northern part of Singapore. I went out at 2:30 pm, one hour earlier than I usually do. Reached Boon Lay at 2:50 pm and boarded the train waiting at the station (trains stop at terminal stations for a few minutes to fill the train with passengers). Reached Jurong East at about 3 pm and transfered to the NSL train on the other side of the platform. Compared to the southern part, the northern part of Singapore is less developed, so natural greenery can be seen on both side of MRT tracks in some areas. To my surprise, I reached Dhoby Ghaut at about 4 pm. The journey time is about the same as the usual way (1.5 hours if bus ride from NTU to Boon Lay is included). Wow. I arrived there an hour earlier, so I went lepaking in Plaza Singapura.

After I finished my thing there, I went back to the MRT station at 8 pm. I came back using the usual way; by NEL and transfer at Outram Park. Reached Boon Lay at 8.50 pm. The time spent on the journey included the time waiting for the train at Dhoby Ghaut, walking at Outram Park and waiting for the train at Outram Park. Seems faster right? But the 199 came after I waited for twenty minutes at the bus interchange (by then, two 179 had come and gone; for those who don't know, NTU is served by two bus routes, 179 and 199; my hostel is on the 199 route). Reached hostel at 9:30 pm., that is, 1.5 hours from Dhoby Ghaut.

So, my total travelling time today is 3 hours (180 minutes) and I travelled on all 3 MRT lines on the same day! Yeah! No prize though... :|

Photos!!

It's end of the month already, and I haven't update my blog for three weeks!!!

It's been a busy time, with plenty of mid-terms and assignments... Finally it was the recess week! I went back to KL and relaxed myself the whole week, shopping, eating and visiting friends. I brought some homework back to do but end up bringing those blank papers back to NTU again... Now still struggling with the lab report...

The Orchard trip photos finally made their way here! I kept pressuring Tammy on giving me the photos, but I realized that I can simply grab them from her blog!! Haha... After I got the photos, too busy (or lazy) to put up here. Now it's almost a month since the trip, but I am still eager to put them on here.

Behold, the great durian of Singapore...


Tammy and Ching Hwa got very thirsty after eating the durian, so they decided to take a sip...

In Singapore, tap water is safe for drinking. Drinking from Merlion I dunno lah.

Looks like Ching Hwa was taking a bath at the Merlion too...

YEAH!! Finally it's the camwhoring session!!

Where is my mouth??

Three of us had our mouth wide-opened, but something is quite different...

Erm... This looks so...

Acting innocent...

Next will be my birthday photos!!! Hey Monica, where are they??!!

Merdeka, failed experiment and birthday

It's 11 days since my last blog. The long delay is because of my laziness to blog everyday. Anyhow, I will summarize the important events that occurred these days.

August 31 (Fri): Malaysia 50th National Day. Countdown at SADAM (School of Art, Design and Media) with other Malaysians. Still had to go to classes in the morning, since I am in Singapore...

September 1 (Sat): Malaysians organized a "Merdeka Night" to celebrate National Day. We played some games, and the performances were great, especially the band!

September 3 (Mon): Lab class in the afternoon. Paired up with the girl beside me and did fractional distillation. Sadly, the experiment failed, and it doesn't affect only 2 of us but 4 because the experiment was done in pair of pairs (means that a group of 4 people, 1 pair did simple distillation and the other did fractional distillation).

September 4 (Tue): My 18th birthday! Went to SADAM at 9 p.m. to meet Porodica group members ("Porodica" is my Freshman Orientation Camp group, which means "family" in Serbian). That silly Hauo Wah (aka Monica, Lucky, Luxury) thought that it was his (her) birthday and put 20 candles on the cake, although (s)he suddenly realized that it was his (her) boyfriend's birthday (for the sake of who didn't know, I played Lucky's boyfriend in the commercial we staged on the last day of FOC). It is customary to get the birthday guy wet here, so I got pushed into the SADAM pool. Later, Luxury, Jackson and Ming Wei (the last two are seniors) also got throw into the water.

I will post the photos next time if I got them. Tammy, where's the Orchard Road photos??!!!

Streess!!!

Sunday evening, I was having dinner with Sheau Maan. It was a happy time; we haven't had such a long chat since last year(?). She mentioned that during exam period, we will hear people screaming every night. "Ya meh?" I express my disbelief.

After I returned to my room, I started doing my lab report that I had to submit the next day. Gosh! The lab report wanted me to write about something I learned little...streeeesss!!!!!!!!!!!! The last time I felt so stressful was the day before UEC Maths. I set aside the lab report and started to do the organic chemistry tutorial on Tuesday...also cannot do...at that time I understood why do people scream...I felt that I wanted to scream too...I decided to go to bed and leave these aside until the next day.

Monday morning, the situation didn't get better. The lab report had to be finished by 1:30 p.m. (my lab class) and I still had no idea about it. With the assistance of a coursemate, I managed to complete the report. But my stress didn't end here. I started thinking and questioning myself; what if I cannot cope with my studies, especially organic chemistry? What if I failed the exam? What if I ended up without a degree? ... I started to question my ability to major in Chemistry...

Finally, I realized that the purpose I come here to NTU; I come here to learn new things, not to expect I had already known everything that is to be learned this four years. I have to manage time properly: not to leave things until the last minute, sleep earlier to avoid sleeping during lectures... I still have four years to go...

P/S: Thanks to JJ for encouraging me during my stress time and Bookworm for letting me to bother him on that morning! Cheers!

Orchard trip

It's been a quite busy week. It's Saturday again, but had a Maths make-up lecture today. Talked about limits...

After 3 hours class, finally got to enjoy weekend!!!! Tammy (my coursemate) asked me to accompany her to shop in Orchard; even though I'm not the shopping type, but I am eager to go to experience Singapore and hanging out with friends (actually I wanted to go there for another purpose too). After all, it's quite boring to stay in hostel when roomie is not around... Ching Hwa (Tammy's neighbour) joined us when we were about to go out.

After a bus ride, we got on MRT. Tammy and Ching Hwa played some lame games, while I blurr blurr... until we reached Orchard; it resembles Bukit Bintang (especially Lucky Plaza, which is the Singapore version of Sungei Wang). We enjoyed window shopping and looking around the area, really destressing after all those limits...

We parted 2 hours for my second purpose there — to attend church Saturday service. Reached church just before service started. The preaching reminded me of God, especially when I am away from home and facing challenges.

After church service over, we rejoined after a silly phone call; Tammy said she is in front of me, and I turned back... still blurr blurr...

After dinner, we went to visit Esplanade and the Merlion; posted for many photos at the same spot for over an hour.

Returned to hostel at 12 o'clock. Saturday is over.

2 years

It is already 2 years. Exactly 2 years since the event that I will never forget in my entire life.

At this exact moment, 2 years ago, my house telephone rang. It was mum. Her voice sounded very odd. She asked me to wait for someone to pick me up and send me to her. The place turned out to be the hospital. "Dad had left us..." this was what my mum said.

This 2 years, I had been motivated by the incident. I was determined to score well in SPM (which was 3 months away from the incident), UEC and enter a Singapore university. And I have done it successfully. I had scored well in both SPM and UEC, and now I am here in NTU. There is still a long way to go; four years in NTU, after graduation...and this event will still serve as the motivation behind me.

P/S: After some thought, I realized that the real motivation behind me is my mum. She works so hard to provide me a home and a good education... must study hard...

独中生与国中生

看了维尼熊的独中生与国中生和碧仪在维尼熊的文章下的留言之后，心里有一点感触。

独中生和国中生之间有一条不大不小的鸿沟，这一点我是十分赞同的，毕竟大家的求学环境、教学方式等等都有一定的差距。独中生，尤其是在实行双轨制教 学的独中求学的，功课一般上比国中生来得繁重。所谓的“双轨制”，就是在上独中课程范围的同时，也要学习国中生所学的东西以应付政府考试如PMR、SPM 和STPM，课本、教学范围和国中一样，唯一不同的是教学媒介语。

实行双轨制，无非是让学生有机会考多一张文凭，因为独中统考文凭不受政府承认。独中生考完了统考，不能进国立大学，出国多数选择台湾或新加坡，留在 国内的就得进入私立大学、学院继续升学。很多独中生读完高二、考完SPM之后就到学院求学，剩下的留在学校读高三、考统考。有一小部分留在学校的学生选择 进入学校特别开设的“先修班”两年，第一年除了要应付统考，也上一些STPM的东西，第二年则专攻STPM。不过往往到了第二年，统考成绩出炉后，班上一 大半人会选择到别处去升学（我就是其中一位）。

在课外活动方面，我一向来认为国中生的课外活动比独中生来得多，因为我就读的独中限定每人只能参加一个学会，直到去年才允许学生参加两个。在我学 校，课外活动分数是计算入成绩册上的总平均的。国中生没有如此的限制，而且分数也没有纳入总平均的计算。在表达能力和独立方面，我认为国中生比独中生来得 强，而且我也很欣赏国中生这两方面的能力。

来到NTU，真的感受到国中生和独中生的差距。独中生一般上会比国中生小一岁，而我本身因为小三跳小五就是“小中之小”了。每当他们问起我的年龄时，他们都会羡慕我们独中生比他们早进大学。

不管是独中生，还是国中生，无论差距多大，我们都是马来西亚的子民，今年我们将欢庆国家独立50年。

以上只是我的肺腑之言，得罪者请多多见谅！

First times

These few days marked a number of "first times" to me. First blog, first time spending weekend in NTU, first time playing games on my lappie, first time going to church since coming to Singapore...

This afternoon was my first lab class in NTU. Today's experiment was potentiometric titration (titrate acid with base using a pH meter instead of an indicator). I got paired up with a Singaporean guy. The whole experiment was mainly done by him and I did little to help him. Felt a little guilty about this...

Today also marked the first time I had dinner with my roomie, Philip. We went to Canteen 2 (perhaps the busiest NTU canteen at night) to have dinner with Philip's friends.

Tomorrow will be my first tutorial class...

Hope tomorrow will have more fun, excitement, surprises and "first times" too...

First weekend at NTU

SMSed my cousin last night if he could come here to fetch me. No reply. This mean I have to spend the weekend in campus.

Some friends from Johor went back today after they got their student passes. Even though I got my pass earlier, I have to wait until September to go back to KL...

It was raining in the morning, so didn't have breakfast. Had my lunch at Canteen 9 (the next block from my room). It has 3 stalls plus 1 drinks stall, but usually only the rice with vegetables and meat (杂饭) stall is open and manned. The food is cheap ($2) and ordinary, but is edible and can fill up my stomach.

After lunch, played games on my lappie and watched TV. Fell asleep in the afternoon. When I woke up, it was about 7 p.m.

7:30 p.m. went down to Canteen 9 for dinner. I went to the same stall — the same dishes as lunch. I decided to go to Canteen 2 although it is crowded. Met some friends there and chit chatted with them while having dinner.

Back to room at 9 p.m. Chatted with friends on MSN and wrote this blog.

Sunday is coming; hope it will be a better day tomorrow.

My first blog

I had always been hesitant about creating a blog. After so much thought, I finally have the determination to write this. No sure whether will regularly write here.

Just started my uni life at NTU, Singapore. My first lecture was on Wednesday.

It's a silent and lonely midnight here. Previously I had a temporary roommate from China who happened to be my coursemate (I am an NTU Chemistry and Biological Chemistry student; yeah, the course name is really that long). Since he moved to another room nearby last Monday, I almost always had a single deluxe room. I have no idea of my roomie (a Singaporean) until last Friday. Even though he put his things here, he had only spent a night here. My roomie probably uses this place as his arrival place in NTU, coming here in the morning and back home again at night. His home is not that near too; he lives on the east coast of the island (NTU is on the west; an MRT ride from here to there takes about an hour, not to mention bus rides to and from MRT stations).

Today is special; it may be the 1st time I spend my weekend here in NTU. For the last 2 weekends, I moved out of campus and stayed at my uncle's house.

Still have no idea whether my uncle will come tomorrow. At least I got my roomie's TV to use...