weekend school

For the past 13 years of my education in Singapore, my nightmare of dragging myself to school was from Monday to Fridays and the occasional Saturdays for extra activities. Even if national holidays falls on a weekday, school will place remedial and make-up lessons on a weekday. Because, the Singapore Government advocates a 5-day work week.

In China, there is no such thing.
The China National Day falls on 1 October and the entire China is on a national holiday for a week. Due to some law in China's education system, we are NOT ALLOWED to miss Monday and Tuesday's classes. Thus, we had make-up classes...THIS WEEKEND. Saturday for Monday and Sunday for Tuesday. -rolls eyes-
8am to 6pm on Weekends.
I rather cut short my holidays then have my weekends robbed from me.

But I am in China now and I have to abide to its laws.
So at least my worst weekend is over and let me embrace my one week golden holidays, holing up in my room and watch Moonlight Resonance (Thank you, Allan! -grins-).

To celebrate our "freedom", we went to Mac for dinner and it was fun watching the soap drama put up my Yao and Mingxiu...

MX: F*** you!
Yao: Okay, what did you just called me? Your sundae is gone!

MX: OEI! My sundae! Sorry la!
Yao: So who you wanna F***?
MX:.....my sundae!
Yao: Say you wanna F*** yourself (sundae nearing the mouth of the bin)
MX:......

MX: AIYA! Okay la! i wanna F***...
Yao: yes? say!
MX: (mumbles) myself
Yao: full sentence!
MX: (unwillingly) i wanna f*** myself, happy?
Yao: (satisfied) Your sundae.
MX: !@#$$%^

and i do not want to be female

Men often say that women are like the weather.
On Monday, she could be passionate.
The very next day, she could be cold and distant.
Well, i guess this applies to the men as well but that is another story altogether.

The weather in Wuhan is a perfect example of uncertainty.
Yesterday the weather was freaking hot at 35degrees celsius.
This morning, i was greeted with swaying trees and howling winds.
Autumn is here.

I guess with the combination of an unwelcome monthly visit and the cold weather, i felt kind of down. Lessons are alright but it sucks because half of the time I have no inkling about the stuff the teacher is talking about. Chu Culture, Warring states. Gosh, talk to me about Singapore or World War 2 anytime. I'll gladly sit through a 3 hours lecture on the bad things Hitler did or how do plants photosynthesize because i have the background knowledge.

UGH.
I hate cold.
I hate being dumb.

First weekend

First weekend in Wuhan.

It feels as though i have been here forever, although in actual fact i was still walking and breathing in Singapore air a mere week ago.

Hong Yee and I holding "Everlasting Regret", one of the must-read novels for our Literature module. It is 339 pages long and contains 300 000 words. -faints-

School has started and I'm slowly adapting to being a student again. The whole group of us have been going crazy grabbing books off the shelves in China bookshops because they are really cheap and have many varieties. But being someone who takes probably like 3 months to finish one chinese novel, I did not really burn much money on books. It'll be a miracle if i manage to find ONE SINGLE ENGLISH NOVEL in the entire China's bookstore.
The only English books they have are learning the English language.
Right.

The only thing that bugs me is that we have to pay near to 800RMB to the school for like our student card, library card, canteen card, textbooks and SIM card and some other miscellaneous. On top of that we have to settle our room necessities, electricity, water, Internet and TV bills. It's quite a bit of money to pay but oh wells. Just that back home in Singapore, the electricity, water, Internet and TV bills are all settle by our parents. HA.

Come to think of it, I have yet to introduce you to where I call home for the next 4.5 months..

Welcome to my room 901


Walk right in and you'll see...

The 100o and 1 things on our basin..

I exclaimed in joy when i saw this round thing in my toilet!

Our TV that comes with HBO!
Food and medical supplies occupies our TV cabinet.

Thank you Gabriel for the Singapore flag!
We are the only ones who are so -ahem- patriotic. -grins-

My bed!
I bought a new bedsheet and pillow to make my slumber more comfy.
Sweet dreams are made of..Annabel =)

Because I live in the corner room, we have the luxury of occupying the corridor for drying our clothes. Ingenious ya we?

My Table, adorned with pictures, books, cards and beauty products.
Below is where i keep my bag stash, and it is growing by the day. HAHA.

In China, they have a rule that if a building is 7 storeys or less,
it need not build an elevator.
My hostel is 13 levels high.
-gleeful laughter-

I am thankful for the excellent hostel condition i get here.
It helps that my hostel is almost like my room and thus none of us were really bawling our eyes out during the night. Maybe because, we have 24 hours internet access?

My hostel is akin to a HDB because different people of different colours take the lift together.
The only difference is instead of Malays/Indians/Chinese, I have Africans/Mexicans/Russians/Finlanders/French/Palestinians(!) and more to explore.
We attempt to make small talk in the lift and get to know each other better, though i have YET to make friends with any handsome ang-mohs. -laughs-
I hope my remaining 17 weeks will be a fun and memorable one.
At the very least, I want to be stronger.
=)

Start back at one

It seems surreal that i am so far away from home, and will be so for the next few months.So far, I'm surviving alright at Wuhan. School has started, albeit only 2 lessons. I wonder how i will survive but i think i have to make sure i do because i don't wanna be tortured by such crap stuff again back in sunny Singapore.

CCNU is situated at Wu Chang, which is known to be the cultural area of Wuhan. Shopping aint as colourful as Han Kou but i still managed to buy 4 bags, 3 tops and some stuffs within these few days.

For the uninitiated, Wu-Chang,Han-Yang and Han-kou are akin to Singapore's GRCs. Just that they only have 3 GRCs and one is already waaay bigger than Singapore's biggest GRC Jurong. But ya. China is huge, the walk from my hostel to classroom is me walking from home to Tiong Bahru Market.

Traffic is insane because they literally LOOOVE to horn for no apparent reason and have ZERO patience, zebra crossing and road lanes have NO USE. i nearly got hit by a idiotic scooter who did turn on his HEADLIGHT IN THE NIGHT.
I wonder, what is the rate of traffic accidents in China.
If their LTA were like Singapore, I think those blue boards that state "fatal/serious accident" will be EVERYWHERE.

Although i think my this trip is cursed, but i made a promise to myself to be optimistically happy in all shitty situations. So i have to stick with it. I do not want a suay cloud or a frown constantly following me.
I SHALL MAKE THE BEST OUT OF THE 4 MONTHS.
-grins-

We aimed our knives at...HUITING, the class monitress!

Yao the Knife Warrior
Bel the Maggi Mee Fork
Huiting the Spoon Scooper

Us at Hao Xiang Lai Steak House.
China style Jack's Place that has waitresses pushing carts
selling dim sums.

I had a set meal for dinner which includes:
- steak
- appetiser wine
- free flow red tea
- bread
- soup
- fruit salad
- mango pudding
all for 33 RMB. whee!

My steak! -grins-
but i think Aston's nicer. haha

Yao makes a good meal.
Meat and all.
YUM!

Yao and Yu, that Yao is fast
becoming the favourite student of the CCNU lecturers! =)

Huiting and i, first day in school. We literally ran cox none of us could wake up.

Ray trying to encourage us to e active in the community webbie.
http://chinaimmersionHNU.ning.com
Take a look!

First day in school, blackboard and chalk...OLD SCHOOL!

Shop till we drop. Mind you, we were shopping at SUPERMARKET.

Wang Yu and his proud supermarket purchases and my first china bag!

one good news, my lappie has regained consiousness and will be on its way to wuhan for a mini reunion with me.=)

So we spent a bomb

Personally i think Wuhan ain't too bad a place to live in for the next 4 months.
We behave like tai tais and for once, money does not seem to be of an issue to us.
The teachers brought us to a "high class" restaurant for dinner and I asked her if the food were expensive, she nodded her head.

At our table, there were also 4 students from Electrical Engineering side. They had been here for the past 3 weeks and were going home on 7 Oct. Alan told us that a meal at the restaurant cost around 20RMB = 4 SGD.

Apparently, the China people do not believe in spending 20RMB on their food.
I bet they'll flip if they come to Singapore where a normal meal at a foodcourt or hawker centre will be at that same place.
Living standards, they say.

Huiting eating her plate of oily veggies and rice at the school canteen. The food is bearable but i think it's fat inducing.

Huiting and I have yet to kill each other, we love each other very much. =)
I guess the easiest way of adapting to life overseas is having a bunch of friends with me.





Thank you all who came down at the unearthly hour of 5.30am to send us off.
The FCBC darlings, The 7PLs, The adorable T02, The one and only ultimate Huiyuan.

You guys made me cry buckets on the plane.
Amidst all the suay things that happened to me
i shall vent my emotions on..
SHOPPING!

I'm in China

Just a short update before i need to run off.

- my lappie died on me JUST before i made my way to Changi Airport
- thank you michelle for lending me your lappie =)
- thank you all for sending me off and making me cry
- the hostel is good, looks like a hotel room
- the ang mohs are cheekos and despo, so are the local students
- the hostel in charge is repairing my electricity plug
- i will post pictures once the guy settle my electricity problem.
- i finally got my china sim card! =)
- my 90282112 still can be used throughout this 4 months so PLEASE CONTACT ME
- I LOVE ALL OF YOU =)
- I MISS ALL OF YOU =)

hello and goodbye

And the day is here.
I'll be bopping my way to the lovely Singapore Changi Airport in a while.
My luggage is threatening to explode but i am proud to say that I managed to squeeze all that is needed and maybe un-needed into my 29-inch luggage and the very old but still durable Ripcurl bagpack from my secondary school days.
Sigh.

For the next 4.5 months/18 weeks/128 days..

I will miss taking the MRT, SBS to anywhere and everywhere.
I will miss flagging cab and cursed myself when I need to pay the ERP charge, 30% peak hour and 30cents diesel surcharge.
I will miss buying iced-lemon-tea from the hawker uncle and mos burger.
I will miss using my UOB privilege to buy movie tickets.
I will miss watching SCV and listening to Y.E.S.93.3.
I will miss seeing Bangalas and think that they are cheekos.
I will miss going out to ROC and eat supper as and when i "song".
I will miss kopi c, teh o, tak kiu, char kway teow, chwee kueh, hokkien mee, hang her..
I will miss seeing Malays, Indians and other nationalities on the street.
I will miss shopping at air-conditioned shopping malls.
I will miss donuts.
I will miss Breadtalk and Ya Kun.
I will miss McDelivery.
I will miss speaking in Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, Tamil and English to the people on the streets.
I will miss the clean streets.
I will miss the safe environment.
I will miss withdrawing cash from POSB and UOB ATMs.
I will miss the free SMSes and incoming calls from Starhub.
I will miss you, you and you.
I will miss everything about Singapore.

So long till 17 January 2355 hrs, I wish all of you an early..
HAPPY DEEPAVALI SELAMAT HARI RAYA MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY 2009.


Goodbye Singapore, Hello Wuhan.

whisking away

I can't believe that in less than a week's time, I'll be in China already.
I think Singapore misses me too because it has been raining every single day.
Tears from Heaven?
-laughs-

I can't bear to leave but I have to agree that a little vacation is needed.
To grow, to learn, to appreciate.
My brain, my heart, my self needs the little time away.
Absence makes the heart fonder.
I hope you will miss me as much as i miss you, yes YOU, the one reading. =)

Zi Char dinner with the NewTowners.
No more random dinners and breakfasts with this gossipy gang till 2009. -sighs-
Dinner with them is often colourful and extremely bitchy.
We laugh at each other and more often than not, we have "information" to share.
I will miss Kok's hairy presence, Vanessa's heaving bosom, Jac's noisiness, Edmund's random suans, Michelle's laughs, Janice's blurness, Peixuan's no shy-ness, Zixian's commando awe.
sighs.
Thank goodness it's just 4.5 months.

Seniors and Shuang at Clarke Quay
Why we click:
- we are all 20
- we are really noisy
- we can be quite bitchy
- we share the same loves and loathes
- we worked together
Thank you for the many encouragements assuring me
that I will not die in China but instead have a lot of fun being a tai-tai.
Tao-bao! =)

T02 girls at Xin Wang @ Cine
Everything is different without the CHS people.
T02 is not T02 without every single one of you.
No Jinli for me to suan.
No Jess to hear my whines.
No Meimei to clear my doubts.
No Miao and Pris to sing and fall for my jokes.
No Shuang for me to "ogle" at.

FCBC Cell - my last service
May His joy fill you all.

Sundays will be different from now on.
No long train rides to Expo.
No random Sunday dinners.
No suanings.
No fun.
-pouts-

Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School - annABEL
Even though we hardly met up, but I was real glad for the 1 hour we had today at Mos Burger.
Just chatting ever so freely.
You are my dearest friend since primary days and i hope this will not change.
By the time I come back, you will be 21 and no longer a slave to the police force!
-winks-

The sick guy
God, heal him as he lies on the hospital bed.
Let the lung infection not affect him further, let his fever subside.
Bless him as he rests and protect him from all the viruses and germs.
May he recover fast and be well soon.
Amen.

My Roommate

I hope we will have fun sharing woes and joys together.
I hope we will have fun doing household chores together.
I hope we will become better friends.
Most importantly, I hope...
WE WILL NOT KILL EACH OTHER.
-grins-