Autumn in my heart

In my opinion, autumn is the most beautiful season. Before I came to Russia to pursue further studies, I used to think that perhaps Spring is the most beautiful time of the year. Imagine my disappointment when I first found out that true Spring just last about 2 weeks and all those flowers that make spring “Spring” withers away under the summerish scorching sun. Yes, it’s still spring as shown on the calendar, but unfortunately not in real life.

Autumn is always the perfect time to snap some photos. It’s a must do for students like us studying abroad. I love the weather: not too cold, not too hot. It’s always just right to scroll to the park right after class.

What I’ll always do is, searching for the perfect leaf to be my next bookmark. I’ve always been a nerd. Bonus is, I’ve always been a nerd, with a sense of art. Thank God for that.

Photo session in Chekistov Park after Pharmacology class. Photo credits to Amber Liew.
 

We don’t always have time for all these, it’s always important to create memories.

The Mamaef Kurgan hill never fail us when it comes to Autumn photo shooting. Golden and red leaves perfectly reflect Autumn.  

       And the best thing about outings and photo shooting? I would say it’s the golden time I get to spend with the people who care about me and I care about. The most important necessaries for overseas students is friends. Not just “friend”, but “true” friend. Some discovers them with ease but some only after a storm. Just like the Jewels in a treasure hunt: no pain no gain.   

Love this vintage feel.

Graduation

Graduation photos in Russia.

Graduation photos back in Malaysia.

This graduation marks the end of their 6 years medical studies and the start of working life. Time to be doctors, all the best. Congratulations to all, especially my beloved Honey Bear and dear sister Janice :3. You two are the most inspiring and the bravest people I’ve met in Volgograd, the lows in life never led you down and both of you taught me to smile in the rain. Life lessons I would never forget, cheers to that. 

Spanish rose

15

“You take a deep breath and you walk through the doors
    It’s the morning of your very first day
   you say hi to your friends you ain’t seen in a while 
   Try and stay out of everybody’s way” ~ 15, Swift.

Yes, I did take a deep breath that day for I knew this is kinda a land of geniuses. That’s the morning of my very first day here, but I am not 15. I’m already 17, going to college. ^^  I didn’t say hi to my friends as, well…. I didn’t manage to make any yet and I was having a race against time. I didn’t stay out of everybody’s way either, in fact, they stayed out of mine. (Imaginary) =.=

When I first got here, I was late. Although I arrived at 8.30 am and the registration was supposed to start at 9.00 am, I was not on time as I had promise my fellow ChungLingiants that I will be there at 8.00am sharp. If it’s not because of the confusing road signs and all those roundabouts, I could have gotten there before 7.30 am! =P

Everything was new to me here. For a second, I thought I will be all alone in my hostel for other Chunglingiants are not taking the same course as me. See: Sheafen, ALG; Sinyen, ADFP. But miracles did happen. After taking my hostel keys, I stopped by before the administration office to pick up some Intec stuffs, and I met Sheafen and Sinyen. We exchanged our room numbers so that we can find each other in the future. Imagine our surprised face when Sheafen and I realized we have been placed into the very same house! Superb! =D

We rushed to Akasia together. At that time, that place was such a maze to me. I walked round and round and round and couldn’t find block 4. Luckily, with the help of the fascists, we found it, and it’s just beside the Photostat center! So much the drama when we realized they had given us the wrong keys: both of us. We anxiously waited for our third and fourth housemates to come and end our torture, coz that was not a good windy day… the heat, ouch!

Hannah from Kuching reached after our “long wait” outside the door. And I was screaming inside: “FINALLY!!!” However, she also had got the wrong keys... =’( Never mind, we continued waiting for our last hope to arrive. Three of us hardly talk. We just introduced ourselves, and talked to our parents, or simply stay quiet.

There comes another girl. The moment we have been waiting for! Unfortunately, after she tried to unlock the door, she turned to us and said “My keys cannot open the door… == ” By the way, she is Rebecca from Bintulu. I used to think that she is a Malay, but turned out she is an Iban. She is doing Russian Program and so do I, so I decided to be her roommate.

After we were done unpacking and arranging our stuffs, we, new housemates sited down and had a little chat in my room, just to know each other more. =) Rebecca was not there, she went to Giant to buy things because She didn’t bring too much things from Sarawak.

I already forgot what was next. A talk in Dewan Cemara, perhaps? Or I slept the evening away? I couldn’t recall back. So…. Ета все. ! ^^

1st outing with housemates and Chunglingiants to Sunway Pyramid. ^^

   Yeemin (A-level, MSU), Hannah, Sheafen (ALG, INTEC), Sinyen (ADFP, INTEC), Me (IRS, INTEC)

Freestyle

I attended CLB cultural night last Saturday.
Basically, we paid RM 15 to get in and chat+sleep+ facebooking using the school's wireless network...
Tat How still looks like a bamboo, nothing change.

The programme that I like the most is . I mean, who don't?
Although they didn't do Air Flare, their skills are still amazing. ^^

Then I love the wind orchestra's performance. Especially
(although I have been listening to the same melody over a hundred times.... still love it ^^)

by the choir was presented in a cReATiVe way. Thumbs up from me! =)
The idea of Card Board animals was a hit, way to go. =D

Well, watching juniors performing on stage was indeed a first time experience for me.
Kinda miss those days when we were the performers on stage instead of being an audience.
But when we were on stage back then, tense and worrying about our performance ,
we wished we were the audiences. 

Life is full of contradictions =D

Yes, Raja Uda!!! ^^

Sushi came to fetch me with his Merz!! haha...

We went back to school to meet with the rest of the gang: Zhenyin, Wanyi, Suiyeen.

The funny thing was... my juniors can't recognise me... T.T

... I'll put the blame on my funny hairstyle...

It took us nearly 10 minutes to finally found a parking spot.

This pretty much proved that Raja Uda is a buzy buzy street indeed.

and the food? the Best of the Best ! ^^

  

Miss Raja Uda's Hokien Mee sooooo much!!!!! XD

Sushi (Mr Driver) eating his Cendol.... =)

Lol... I haven't seen Wanyi and Suiyeen for a long long time.

Wanyi is studying in Singapore under Singapore scholarship. Congratz congratz congratz!!! =)

She'll become a caring nurse in the future for sure...

(although I was quite surprised she choose to take up this profession)

Suiyeen, Zhenyin and Sushi are doing STPM.

You guys will definitely nail it!!! GAMBATE (x infinity)!!!

We talked about "important" things like "The future of CLB" and "Our School's reputation"...zzz (some rumor spreading in facebook... or should I say scandal??? Haiz...=.=)

and some way too UNIMPORTANT things like "a little SOMEONE blocked Sushi in MSN"...

and ... other things. ^^

We simply must take photo with Wanyi's masterpiece!!! ^^

Sushi actually wanna make this his facebook profile pic!!!

So... today is not so boring after all!!! XD

Tournament !!!

"Holidays"? it sounds unimportant to me now. coz to me, everyday = holiday.^^
But, yeah, just for now. After this June, I'll be toiling again, burying myself in books....again. T.T

Jit Sin High school= Battlefield^^

Brother went to Jit Sin High School yesterday morning. Ah~ Martial Art Tournament. I already forgot even the basic set patterns. Lame memory, you can't blame me.=) If I were given a chance, I.... WILL NOT GO BACK TO COMPETE AGAIN!!! (Maybe I'll change my mind? No way! Yes, I still love martial art but...) I still remember how my muscles and my whole body ached til my nervous system nearly break down! Oh my god! I mean its okay when it comes to set patterns 套拳and QiGong气功, totally no problem. But 推手 and 散打? Please! I can't wipe this terrible memory off my mind. I went for a tournament and I got myself "点穴"-ed. Actually, my opponent did that unintentionally lah~ coaches do not teach us how to use that technique but somehow she got the right "穴位" accidentally. Eventually, My shifu had to step in and help me to clear me clotted blood ways. I couldn't raise my right arm for two weeks. -.-

Cat fight?!

Then something about 硬功 and my stupidity. I had to break 6 pieces of wood in one minute. I had broken 4 with some clean smacks but the fifth was really hard. So I jumped off to finish the sixth wood first. I wonder why I couldn't break that damn 5th wood with side kick. Perhaps I should jump higher? You see, I was so distracted until I missed the 6th wood I have to chop with a slap palm. I chopped the building blocks beside instead!!! I was so stunned that I forgot to cry. All i could think about is HOW SHOULD I TAKE SPM WITH A BROKEN RIGHT HAND?! of course it didn't really break la...^^ my blow was not that powerful. My coach's assistant led me outside to apply some medicine and I realized how painful that really is, and that's how I remember to shed a few tears (just a few^^). I couldn't hold a pen for a week as my fingers were swelling badly and that was a pretty good explanation I had for not doing my homework. What? You expected me to do it with my toes? Nah~ not a chance! =P

Brother came back at 7.00pm. Luckily he didn't come back with a broken arm and won himself a golden ticket to the semi-finals. Hurray! Go~ Team Chung Ling!!

Help needed!

I just finish painting this piece of drawing featuring bunnies and butterflies. I am thinking of writing something sensible using calligraphy. But, I can't find anything that matches this picture. Anything on your mind, friends? It could be the chorus of a song, some verse of poem.... ANYTHING!  

My Procedure:

End Product:

Please Help to complete this painting! Thanks.^^

Evil Bunny

Yesterday was just nice. Got a nice chance to hang out with friends. Just Chia Muar, Ching Kwang, a Beh, Eevon and me. We had a pretty good time having breakfast at saitoLim and playing EVIL RABBIT's game at Chin Kwang's house. Althought I don't like the idea of "All bunnies are EVIL", I found the games very amusing. Firstly, the game which the rabbits was playing flute really hurted my eyes, and the "Burping Rabbits" was really disgusting. And then there was the fun parts: the race and the swimming competition. Enjoyed the trill ( even though I din't actually participated). Thanks!! : )

100分同學

朋友的兒子小鼎，在高中以“生物”為傲，因他從小喜歡生物，考試時，生物成績總是全校最高分，所以同學都笑稱他“生物怪咖”。

在大學甄試中，小鼎高分被錄取，開心地進入了台灣南部的一所國立大學的“生命科學系”。他，終於可以好好發揮他最喜愛的生物專長了。


生物第一次考零分

可是，開學後一個多月，朋友南下去探望兒子，兒子卻愁眉苦臉，悶悶不樂；一問之下，兒子才難過、低聲地說：“媽，上週生物第一次考試，我考……零分！”

“啊？生物不是你最強、最棒的一科嗎？怎麼會考零分？”朋友一臉不可置信地問道。

“我們老師上課，都用英語講，我根本就聽不懂！考試也用英語出題，我根本不知道怎麼回答……”小鼎低頭，吞吞吐吐地說。

在台灣，不管是日常生活，或是學生上課，都是使用華語，幾乎沒有說英語的環境，可是，為了讓大學生更具國際競爭力，有些大學要求教授，上課逐漸改用英語授課，學生也要看英文書。

“媽，你知道嗎，我們班上有個馬來西亞來的僑生，他的國語（華語）腔講得怪怪的，我都聽不太懂，他竟然生物考了100分！”小鼎憤憤不平地說道。

當然，馬來西亞是多元種族的國家，英語是必懂的語言。不過，小鼎又說：“媽，我們班那個馬來西亞僑生好厲害，很多成績都好棒！當我們的報告被教授打不及格、被退回來時，教授卻把那僑生的報告拿得高高，對大家說：‘這，就是我所要的報告！’”

聽起來，小鼎的自尊心真的大受打擊，萬萬沒有想到，一個從馬來西亞來台灣的男僑生，生物成績竟然考100分；而他，零分。

用辛苦獲取幸福

不過，小鼎又跟他媽說：“這學期，我參加了魔術社、街舞社，你知道那個僑生參加甚麼社嗎？他竟然參加‘領袖社’……天哪，甚麼是‘領袖社’，我聽都沒聽過，他說，他回馬來西亞要當領袖……”

小鼎原本心中不平，但說說，卻轉而用敬佩的口吻說：“媽，那個僑生好節省哦，他都很晚才到餐廳吃飯。”“為甚麼？”“因為自助餐廳七點半去，大家都快吃完了，那時候去，點的菜，阿姨都會算特別便宜。我們一餐吃四、五十元，他都只有吃十多元……他都吃白飯，點最便宜的剩菜，再加很多不用錢的肉湯汁……”

小鼎又說：“而且，那僑生都參加校內外很多演講比賽，他說他沒甚麼錢，他必須靠演講比賽得名次、拿獎金，才有錢在台灣唸書……”

聽了這真實故事，我很感動。人，就是要“不要怕窮，要窮中立志；不要怕苦，要苦中進取。”在通往成功的過程中，有時是孤單，是窮苦，是寂涼；但也是充滿希望、毫不抱怨，只有堅定信念、努力實踐。

“辛”與“幸”，就只有差一橫而已。而且，“辛苦過後，必有幸福來臨啊！”

星洲日報／副刊 ‧作者：戴晨志‧2010.01.30