Living With Heart

Am i really back home?

2009-04-18T20:13:00.003+08:00

I have been backed for 3 months, but why do i feel like i have come back to a different place?

It's the same living room, same sofa, same kitchen, same tables and chairs.... but something feels different.

Maybe i'm just tired

Friends in China

2009-02-10T12:50:00.002+08:00

It was only during Dec and Jan did us girls made tonnes of friends and got closer to the friends we had already made...i have yet to write anything about them.. nor the events that we had..

Our friends.... the 2 korean friends, Malaysian friend Zoey, Classmate Jun Hua, Hair Stylist Liuyi, Yangyang (guy), Yangyang (girl), Big brother Zhengkai, Shop Owner Shao Ping, Evil Aura Jie Jie, Mongolian Ailiyah, Photogenic Li Fang and her boyfriend, another hair stylist Cheng Long. Did i miss out anyone?

Oh ya... Liying's shanghai cousin Yan Ning and my singaporean cousin Mei Ting... Anyone else?? hmm.. i'm not too sure.. but those are the bulk of our friends.. heehee ^^ and the important thing is we're all still in contact.... we are not hi-bye friends... i think they are the only people that i have been using my webcam with...

Miss them? Definately! I'll do a introduction for all of them once i have time in office.. oh ya.. did i mention that i have started working?? I'm in MOE as a tempt staff.. heehee..today is day 4 of work and also the day that marks the 1st month i have been back.

Liying, Yeahhooi and I will be going for dinner and to watch brideswar after i end work.. I can't wait.. I conicidentally met up with yeahhooi yesterday on the mrt and i invited her home for dinner... it is really nice that we are actually so close to one another and each others' family...

I know polytechnic is still having Exams... so good luck !!

February 2009

2009-02-01T11:26:00.002+08:00

It's been so long since the last post....

There has been lots of Ups and Downs for me during this one month plus. Things that happened in china, things that happened after i came back.. (Just checking, do you even know that i'm back?)

There are still many things left undone.

It still feels like i'm living in a dream.

Surviving China - Video

2009-01-30T11:42:00.006+08:00

Liying and I prepared this for the publicity meeting, and i have edited it for my aunt. This is the edited one...I'll do the other posts when i'm not teaching english to my china friends or when i'm not doing posts for my QQ空间 (China's MSN).

I think that we are facing the same problem when we are back, we cant seem to find people who are interested to know how we lived our lifes there. It is hard for them to relate what we have done there, and we are becoming more reserve each time someone asks us how was the trip...

I cant be bothered about how the guys felt about the trip, because the 3 of us had a great time there. I think we must thank them for their childish acts, because without it, the 3 of us might not have made so many friends. I know that each of us have changed during this 4 months, and this change is not isloated to just the 5 of us. Everyone back home is also changing. But I have met friends who are still standing in the same spot as when i left. Should i feel sorry for them? It is true that when someone travels, their mindset becomes broader,and they will look at things from a different angle... what we think and how we look at things become different from what we felt 5months ago.

I am still adapting to the life here....

Shining Friends

2008-12-12T21:36:00.003+08:00

Dedicated to LI YING AND YEAH HOOI

Countdown 30days

2008-12-11T10:15:00.002+08:00

30more days before taking the plane, back to a place where i belong, a place called home.

But then again, i have found another place called home. It is in China, Jiang Su province, Suzhou city, at the cross road junction of 现代大道 and 新港街.

I will miss waking up to seeing Liying beside me. I will miss running in campus with Yeah Hooi. I will miss the times when we walk hand in hand along the streets, laughing, singing while we walked. I will miss the times when we are under the spot light (焦点) on buses, in restaurants... what can i say, we love attentions.

30 days left...

And they say that this 4months long programm is very long...

Can't it be slightly longer? Just a tiny tinnie longer?

Looking for DHL

2008-12-08T20:06:00.001+08:00

I went out to look for DHL alone. I was suppose to send things back to my cousin. I found a DHL customer service centre just 2 streets away, it is still walking distant, but i was feeling lazy that day and didn't want to look for the centre.

When i went downstairs, i saw a DHL van parked at the condomium's foyer. I was tempted to ask them to give me a ride but I took a cab instead. The centre is located at 新海街 225号. Apparently, the taxi driver do not know where the centre is. So i asked him to drop me at a place i am familiar with and began walking in another direction. I have to admit that i was actually walking aimlessly...

I noticed a familiar yellow van parked in front of a buliding. And you know what i did?

I actually went up to the van and tapped on the window. The man reared down the window and i asked where DHL's customer service centre is. Do you know why i have every confidence that this man know where DHL is? The reason is simple, it's because i have tapped on the window of a DHL van....

And true enough, he directed me to the centre. But when i got to the centre, the only useful information i got was to dial 400-810-8000 instead os 800-810-8000...

But i had "fun" trying to look for the centre...

楊丞琳 - 帶我走

2008-12-05T07:19:00.000+08:00

2008-12-02T23:11:00.001+08:00

I have written the FINAL chapter.

And I have closed the book...

A beautiful night.

2008-12-01T23:11:00.002+08:00

40days,

and it is

the START of all ENDINGS...

Learning Chinese Culture

2008-11-30T12:57:00.003+08:00

Sunday morning and i am feeling lazy... a few more reports to do =X

Today is the 30th November. Another month and 10 days till i am back home in Singapore. Why does it have to be so soon? Why does it begin to end, when we have only started to learn and understand?

The first 3 months. But i can't really say i have truly experienced the culture of China, until i came to know and make friends with the local Chinese...and it is only recently that we began to have a stronger friendship with the friends we came to know. Although not all are local Chinese, but getting to meet Korean friends and Malaysian friends are quite fun too.

I know i have yet to introduce Zoey(the Malaysian friend) and the 2 yang yang(s) that Yeah Hooi met in her church. I even left out the fact that we went to wuxi on Monday =X haha.. my bad..

I think that it is only from them that we can really know Chinese culture. And i am confident to say that i am learning things from they, even from Liu Yi. Being brought up with different family background and environment, each of them taught us something different, but then again, there are some similarity between them...

I know we are going to learn more... and i hope that they can learn more about us ^^

小红外套与火车

2008-11-24T15:47:00.001+08:00

有一天，小红外套买了从无锡前往苏州的火车票。这是小红外套第一次搭火车。一开始，小红外套傻傻地跟着别人排队。排了很久，也没有听到火车的声音。小红外套，等到不耐烦，就踏过百线。饰演了女主角在Just My Luck叫车的时候，喊了，"TAXI!!" 转眼间，火车就来了。。（不知道为什么，火车是从另一个方向开来的。。）

小红外套就很开心地踏入火车内。

第一次乘坐的旅程便开始了。。。

Going out with 刘毅

2008-11-20T15:12:00.002+08:00

I told you that i made a friend in the salon. And he was nice enough to bring us to China Post to make payment for our electricity bill since not all China Post branch have that service...

We found a new street to play in!! The whole street sells, fishes and plants!! My element !! Heehee, i would definately go back to buy some seeds and maybe some pots. Perhaps, we can get a christmas tree ^^

I think we scared him, by "dragging" him to take neoprint with us.

He taught me something that day, "No thank you!" 不谢！

We were walking along the fish and plant street when, Li Ying noticed a plant bearing some fruits. They began to touch the fruit with the utmost curiosity. The uncle tending the shop began to reprimand them, “麻烦你们不要乱动，谢谢！”（Do not touch the fruits, thank you.）And you know what was Liu Yi's first reaction? He replied to the man "no thank you", which literally means ,"不谢". 不谢 actually means "your welcome", but under the translation of him and his friends, it suddenly became "no thank you".

He explained that China students learn English word by word. And their teacher never taught them how to reply when you receive thanks from others. So they themselves came up with the term, "no thank you!". Interesting...

Video Call

2008-11-19T14:37:00.000+08:00

The flexibility and applications available on the Internet is really something that removes distance between people.

I managed to have a video call with my group mates back in Singapore !! Heehee. Just look at Xuan Ming's shirt, a classic example of what it is like back in Singapore. I ave no idea why he is inside the photo. (I wanted to take photo with Mrs Tan ! Xuan Ming, Extra...)

The class seems like they are doing fine. Some new gossips and happenings..and i am not there to join in the fun =(

Enjoyed talking to you guys ! ^^

I love Salons !!

2008-11-17T09:33:00.002+08:00

I guess it's the Monday's blue for everyone. 3 of us went out to have our breakfast at a Happy Place call, Macdonald, to have Happy Food.

I introduced to them a bookshop at one tiny street, and we bought a few more books. We're sort of like book addictics. We can stay in a bookshop for more than an hour, doing nothing but flipping pages. Someone have to stop us from buying any more books!!

For some reason or another, we decided to have a hair cut at this salon called, Jane Eyre. "I am now sitting in a hair dressing salon, waiting for Liying and Yeah Hooi to get their hair done. I met someone this afternoon (sounds…erm… ya….), the assistant hair dresser.

He greeted us at the entrance, leading us upstairs to the salon. Each of us got served by a different assistant and the one serving me was him. It was pretty, how do I put this, nerve wrecking to be served by a not-bad looking guy. Being us, we started conversations with the assistants serving us. Awkward, awkward and more… I told him that we are not locals and were students studying in the local university.

He was quite surprise by that, he told me that he did not notice that we are foreigners. We talked. I found out that he is not from Suzhou, but from some other city in Xu Zhou. He came to Suzhou 6 years ago..."

Let me carry on my story... because i allowed the hair dressers to play Crazy Taxi using my laptop thereafter....

After having a sort of in depth conversation with him he told me that my chinese isn't really there yet. *Heart Breaks* And he encouraged me to use the term "普通话" and "中国话" instead of 华文/华语, because locals isn't familiar with the term.

He washed my hair for me! *Blissful feeling* =P heehee.
But then again, he helped 2 other girls wash theirs that night. *Jealous* =(
But he helped me clean my ears! *Melt* hahaha... Victory ! (i'm kidding)

He told me that he intends to tell his boss that he is quiting his job at the end of the month (is it for me?... I'm sorry, but my brain isn't working. It is what people would call "Xiao Lu Luan Zhuan")

If you want to know, this is the hair desser assistant... His name is 刘毅 (liu yi)。You know that i always use "口是心非 (kou shi xin fei) to introduce myself. And he tried using "留意" (liu yi, the meaning is to take note of something) to help me remember his name. And yes, i got his contact number !! *big smile*
This is wang lei...the manger of the salon.

Make me feel like the time during SP Superstar the Musical...
Wang Lei playing Crazy Tazi with my laptop..

I can't find my fringe...!!!

The final looks...
Yeah Hooi and her Hair dresser.
Our hair dresser...

heehee... A Very "Fruitful" Day.

I LOVE MONDAYS ! ! !

Tough Cookie

2008-11-16T22:14:00.000+08:00

My Tough Cookie-ness was being eaten up by the Cookie Monster Inside of Me.

BBQ at 太湖

2008-11-16T21:22:00.001+08:00

We went to a BBQ at TaiHu, with s friend that we met in during the WuYiShan Trip. He invited us to join him and people from his company =)

The guy behind totally looks like the tou guide from wuyishan trip !! Me and the 2 girls felt that they look alike for a very long time, before i broke the slience and said that he look like the tour guide...!!

Water-powered Generated.

Xinfei acting dumb at the back.. =)

Andy say i look so cartoon.

The Leaves are Drying

2008-11-15T14:14:00.000+08:00

叶子开始枯萎了。秋天来临了。我们也已经在苏州度过两个月了，还有多两个月就要搭飞机回新加坡，回到属于自己的家了。两个月后我们再也不会有这个机会五个人在一起生活，有人也可能会变得更开心吧。我不会骗大家，更不会骗自己。我们五个人之间有些摩擦，有些不愉快。把五个性格不同的人放在一起，这是难免的，所以我不觉得这是很难以置信。但是我知道我们都还在向比此学习。比此的理解还不到能让我们毫无顾虑，毫无防备地做自己吧，可是怎么办，还有两个月，没办法，只好忍。这也可能只是我的想法吧。隐瞒，这可是我的强项。

今天的天气很好，前几天还挺冷的。坐在咖啡厅里，听听歌，喝喝雪碧，把自己的想法收入进电脑，感觉真舒服。我很少用华语把脑里的想法写下来，跟何况把它打进电脑里。

两个月过了！时间过得真快。我觉得挑战刚刚才开始吧。对于学校的作业，对于在新加坡等着我们回家的家人和朋友，对于我们五个人，对于我们自己，挑战正式开始了！

我还真的没有一个人出国那么久。难怪父母会那么担心。过了两个月，父母也应该放心了吧，可是谁又能懂父母之心呢？朋友啊！到这里才知道谁才是真正的朋友，谁能算得上“知己”两个字。我可没有在说你什么，是我的头脑在说话，不管我的事！

真好笑，平时不说华语，不写华文的我能够在中国生活。自己都觉得奇妙。现在又不知觉得用华文打字。。。可能有错字自己也不知道吧。管理自己的财经方面，我可是烂透了！我就别说了，免得被你们骂。好吧，我答应自己要把这次的花的钱还给父母。虽然知道他们一定不接受，但是做女儿的我还是要还给他们，就让他们当旅行的费用吧。

想一想，我们真的只剩2个月吗？我会不会舍不得的？不知道我会去的时候自己是不是成长了，比以前的自己成熟多了。想到以前的自己，我还不知道自己还记不记得以前的欣霏是什么样的。我会不会回去从前的自己呢？

Shopping again?

2008-11-08T21:52:00.001+08:00

Victory prizes from OUR (not all mine!!) war with shopping...Boots and more shoes !! And of cause we bought other stuff.. but i think this blog have become a public blog, so i'm not posting the rest of the items that we bought... it's personal.. hahah

Ying ying, is this the correct cap u wanted??

Survived 2 months

2008-11-02T22:54:00.002+08:00

XINFEI SURVIVED the first 2 MONTHS IN CHINA !! *3 cheers*

I should give myself a pat on the back. I think i have fared quite nicely. But I still dont think that i can say the same thing when my marketing results come back.. =( *Anxious tears*

But I know that i need to improve on. And that is managing my finances. I am so bad at handling my own outflow of cash. I have never notice how much i spend in Singapore, and here alone in China, I began to see how much money i draw out from the ATM, for my daily expense. And to tell you the truth, it's not cheap.

Things have been okay ever since i got here, and i hope that it'll get better.

November Present^^

2008-11-01T10:52:00.000+08:00

My Uncle and Aunt was at Shanghai for 5 days, and since they are one this free and easy trip, they decided to visit me here in SooChow!! ^^

And guess what !! THEY BROUGHT PRESENTS !!

Wrapped by my cousin with lots of effort and Scotch tape !!

And the content of this cafefully wrapped, fragile box?? MAGGIE CHILLI !!
A gift from another cousin of mine !! ^^ XINFEI LOVE YOU !!

Other miscellanous stuff that i have collected over the few days ... ^^
This one is the one that i passed to the guy that sat next to me during class.

Halloween

2008-10-31T22:35:00.000+08:00

It's HALLOWEEN!! Heehee, but we don't have costumes. Instead, we wore our dress... heehee..

The University was having their Sports Day...

We went to explore the school compound.. and this is what we saw......

This is what we call AN UNIVERSITY..!!

My face blur =( *tears*

The is on a road, right outside the school. We went out of the school using another exit...
GOOD EAT DINERS. Shi Quan Jie 649 号



The Only Edvience that it was Halloween !! See my NEW BOOTS !! =P

The girl beside, is Zoe, we met her during the saturday trip to Bai Ma.

(I have not uploaded the photos =X)I saw this American guy, who wore the werewolf headgear (I wouldn't call it a mask), attached a tail to himself and wore a white shirt with red sleeve that screams, "色狼". And i managed to take a glimpse of what was under his head gear, he is cute. Seriously. =D

SMS recieved

2008-10-30T11:31:00.002+08:00

I recieved a SMS yesterday night. I was asleep and my phone rang. So i woke up and looked at the message received. It wrote:

“也许你现在睡得正香吧？可我却睡不着，生活的无奈和家庭的烦恼让我难眠，人啊！！我这一生该怎样到老呢？”
"You might be sleeping peacefully at this moment. But i cant fall asleep, the helplessness in life and problems in the family kept me awake all night. With life in this manner, how am i going to live? "

It seems like the person randomly sent this message out, hoping to recieve some encouragement in life. I replied the person this morning...

“太阳升起来了！又是新的一天，新的开始！人生是美好的。你要珍惜！好好加油吧！=) "
"The sun is up! It's another new day, another new start! Life is beautiful. You must treasure it! Best Wishes and Good Luck! =) "

I wonder if this person would reply me or not....

If You Can Dream

2008-10-29T09:29:00.001+08:00

"Disney Princess - If you can dream"
There is a world where hope
And dreams can last for all time
A wonderous place to go
You'll know it when your heart finds

Hearing our song as old as time
Hold my hand, we're gonna fly
What a magic ride
And just a kiss away

If you can dream
The wish we're making on a star
Is coming true
The colors of the wind will lead
My heart right back to you

'Cause if you can dream
Reflections in a diamond sky
Come shining all through
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day
If you can dream

Someday my prince will come
It's certain as the sunrise
Once day the slipper fits
Then you see the love in his eyes

It's a tale as old as time
There's no mountain we can't climb
When you're finally mine
And just a kiss away

If you can dream
The wish we're making on a star
Is coming true
The colors of the wind will lead
My heart right back to you

'Cause if you can dream
Reflections in a diamond sky
Come shining all through
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day
If you can dream

So the story goes
Never die the rose
There's a whole new world
Waiting there for us
Waiting just for us!

If you can dream
The wish we're making on a star
Is coming true
The colors of the wind will lead
My heart right back to you

'Cause if you can dream
Reflections in a diamond sky
Come shining all through
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day

Oh, love will save the day
If you can dream

You can dream...

Day 2 of a 19yr old

2008-10-28T16:30:00.001+08:00

Day 2 of a 19yr old and i think i flunked my marketing exam!! *faint* I seriously think that i failed the exam, so it wouldn't be a shock to me once i get my paper back...I have trouble understanding the questions, let alone answering them...
With my standrad of chinese, I am at a total disadvantage here... =(

The roses were dying, so i'm going to make dried flowers out of them ^^

Happy Birthday!!

2008-10-27T17:53:00.010+08:00

Today is me birthday !! All geared up in wind coat and boots ^^ My birthday present for myself. A brand new wallet!! But the strapped broke on the first day, which is quite sad.
In Class...

Yeah Hooi tried to suffocate me... =/

Oh.. and there is this little story about the guy beside me.

I am suppose to do something crazy, and so i did. Yeah Hooi wrote on a post-it pad “哈罗！我叫欣霏，穿黑裙的。我今天生日，祝我生日快乐，好吗？谢谢”Translated into: "Hello! I am XinFei, the one wearing the black dress. Today is my birthday. Would you wish me a happy biirthday? Thanks!"

I had to placed it on the guy's table next to mine. We were having class at the moment, so i had to be discreet. I managed to placed it near his book. He read it and placed it back on my table, with not much of an expression. Yeah Hooi and I burst out laughing...
After awhile, i wrote on the paper,“吓倒你了吧 =P” Translated," Did i scared you?"
He read it, trying to hide his smile. He turned to me and said,“没有啊。” "No."
The bell rang thereafter and he just walked out of the classroom, without wishing me a Happy Birthday. *Heart Break*

Roses for Me!!!

Another long story...
These two sweet hearts, went to the neighbourhood centre without me, and asked me to go home first. They called up and asked me to go to the rooftop. I knew it had something to do with my birthday, but i wasn't sure what they were up to. The first thing i saw was the cake(the picutre above is taken after i have removed all the dates), the next thing i saw was a bouquet of roses. My first reaction “太夸张了吧！”"Too exaggerating" Liying told me to take a closer look at the card, and i did. I had to admit that when i read the "From: " part, i was confused.

It wrote: From Daddy Mommy 大哥二哥 (Elder brother Second Brother)

My second reaction,"why 二哥 inside..." It actually took a while for my brain to process that this bouquet of roses was from My Family!!

That made me cry.

This is the first time i am celebrating my birthday oversea and without my family, and this is how they surprise me. I have been here in SooChow for 1 and a half months, and i thought i have gone through the "Miss Home Syndrome", but apparently, the roses made my heart soften and made me Miss Home..

A very fortunate Lee Xin Fei....

I am grateful to be born into this Family! Love You Daddy, Mommy, 大哥& 二哥!

-----------------------------------
And to add on to my birthday surprises, though this wasnt much of a surprise. since Yeah Hooi received one two days ago...But Jun Sheng wrote me a brithday card, using his right-hand (He is a left-hander) >Don't think I don't know<

Goodbye 18...

2008-10-26T23:59:00.002+08:00

There is 2 days in which Yeah Hooi,Liying and I have conesutive age in terms of years, 20,19 & 18 respectively. Yesterday and Today. Tomorrow, I'll be 19th!!

I guess the craziest thing i have done when i AM 18th (excuse me, but i still am), is to sign up for the China Immersion Programm. I still can't believe that i am actually HERE IN CHINA!! And guess what, i will be entering a new "AGE" in this foregin land, which i have learned to call 家/home for the past 56days...

This is the first time i am celebrating my birthday overseas, and i do not know what to expect after receiveing Whipped Cream yesterday. Oh ya, i remembered something, for those in Singapore, Tomorrow is also Deepavali!! A PUBLIC HOLIDAY on my BIRTHDAY and I MISSED it!! *screams*

I am going to use my new wallet(right) toromorrow, so that I can remind myself that being older, i have to take better care of my finances. *Spending too much these few days*

Birthday Wishes.... not going to tell you.. heehee ^^

If you look at the published time of this post.

It says 11.59pm. But i'll tell you a little secret.

This post is sheduled to be posted at that time. I am actually typing it now, at 8.44pm. Heehee. I don't really do countdowns, not even for my own birthday. We have class at 8am tomorrow and we are suppose to hand is one video reflection and review thingy, which i am not done yet!! =(

I am THE official sleeping princess, and i guess that wouldn't change, no matter my age! =)

Of Whipped Cream

2008-10-25T22:09:00.003+08:00

Yeah Hooi came into the room just now.. holding two small plastic cup, containing something white. She told me that Jun Sheng had bought one for her and the another was to be given to me. A closer look at it, and i noticed that it was a CUP of WHIPPED CREAM, decorated with bits of coloured rice!!

We were wondering why he did not buy another one for Liying and we managed to figure out the answer by ourselves. It was because it is YH's birthday today and mine is on Monday... So, if you were to do the maths, He actually bought us WHIPPED CREAM for our birthdays...

I have to admit that even thought it isn't the most expensive, nor luxurious, nor the-present-to-die-for, it was actually very creative and interesting of him to have thought of such a present.

So i am here, struggling to finish my cup of whipped cream.

I remembered that my mum used to bake cakes at home and so, having whipped cream in the house was pretty common. My brothers and I would beg her to squeeze whipped cream into our mouths. And sometimes, i would secretly go into the kitchen and squeeze some on my fingers and lick it without her knowing.

The most recent time we had whipped cream in the house was when i was in JJC for the first 3 months, that would be more than 2 years ago. I made a cake and decorated it using whipped cream. I would also squeezed whipped cream on cookies to eat =X

After typing so much, i still have half a cup of whipped cream to finish...

Back to savoring my birthday present...

One Very Happy Xinfei

2008-10-24T18:22:00.005+08:00

Today, Xinfei self-proclaimed herself as the HAPPY-EST girl on earth...

I decided to reward myself for today's assignment hand in and report writing exam.

I bought myself a bear for my birthday^^

The store keeper sold the bear to me at 80yuan =P
(When we went there the other time, someone else told us the price was 100yuan.)
The bear attending class with us. If you're wondering why i brought the bear to class, it's because i bought the bear in school during lunch break...
I am going to name this bear Hammie.. heehee. It was down to Haji (which means 8 in Japanese, to compete with my mum's cat, NaNa which is 7), but i figured that Hammie is easier to pronounce.

When You Believe

2008-10-23T06:36:00.001+08:00

After watching Troy, we just HAD to watch Prince of Egypt.

Busy Busy

2008-10-22T21:18:00.002+08:00

I noticed that i have stopped blogging this few weeks again. Two reasons:

1) I do not have the photos.

The photos are still with Yeah Hooi and sad to say, but my laptop is left with 35GB, so there isn't much memory space left for me to take in any more photos.

2) Busy!!

I am done with my Hero movie review due tomorrow, and i am(well, i was) reading the case study for the assignment due on Friday on business ethics.

I have yet to find a topic and the statistic for my report writing composition test on Friday (Graded).

And for next week, We have to hand in a video review on customer relationship due on Monday morning (30%) and last but not least, we have a 50% marketing exam on Monday in Chinese. Die!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What i am trying to say is, we are actually quite busy and i guess that we will be staying home this weekend.

One more thing before i continue reading my business ethics textbook, we have TWO (not One but Two) BIRTHDAYS over the weekend. Yeah Hooi will be 20 on the 25th and Muah (which is me) will be 19 on Monday. But will all the assignments, i do not think we have to mood to do anything, but i promise Yeah Hooi and myself that we will go shopping next week!!

Animal Farm

2008-10-21T09:19:00.004+08:00

A post dedicated to my two "Brothers" of Animal Farm.

THANKS!! for...

1)Being my "Brothers" and being there for me
2)Making me smile and laugh
3)Being honest and open to my crazy questions
4)Making my life interesting
5) and finally, thanks for Being yourself

But ducky almost made me cried...i swear that tears were forming... evil evil..

I was totally touched by your actions *Tear tear* =(

Where Hamster go?!?!!? I miss her and everyone else!

You guys made me remember all the crazy entics we did in class, "Anyone ordered chinese food?", water fight, writing stupid notes to each other....

Miss ya and Love ya.

Achilles' Heel

2008-10-15T19:42:00.004+08:00

I was reading >Can you keep a secret?< by Sophie Kinsella this morning, when i came upon the phrase, Achilles' Heel. It sounded quite familiar and after a while, it triggered my memory...

There was once the movie Troy was aired on channel 5. I remembered that my mind was struggling with my body to stay awake just to watch Brad Pitt in some greek warrior costume. My kor was also watching the movie with me, at least i think he was, or he might be using his labtop in the living room, i cant remember. But anyway, he was out in the living room when he explained to me that Achilles Heel means the weakness point. I remember things my brothers tell me. See, the type of influence a brother have on their little sisters...

Anyway, i remembered that my tired body won that night and i didnt even manage to stay awake till midshow. So here i am watching troy again.

三塘街

2008-10-12T09:19:00.000+08:00

It is Saturday and we are going to San Tang Jie with our Korean friends. I felt like i just came out from an Australian farm that day, wearing a red checked top, with jeans and boots. I might actually blend in with the locals in Australia.

Going For Lunch！

Time to give our legs a little break!!

Journey to the Past

2008-10-05T18:30:00.001+08:00

This song was playing in my mind during the Shanghai trip.

Shanghai 上海

2008-10-05T17:18:00.001+08:00

On 2nd October, we were off to ShangHai. Liying's distant relative (her grandfather's brother and his family) hosted us for the 4 days. It was heartwarming for us to experience the extend of their hospitality for a distant relative whom they have not seen for ages and strangers.

Evidence that we have been to shanghai. Nope, i was not talking abut the tower, i was talking about the security guard =)

The uncle's car had a open top, so me and yeah hooi was spontaneous enough to take a photo. Though i have to admit that i was afraid the traffic police will stop the car or something.

This is the hotel's cafe, where we had our breakfast each day.
To proof to you that xinfei's memory of places is very bad, i forgot where this place is... It's nice and pretty and all, but i cant seem to remember the name...I think is is Cheng Huang Miao but i cant guarantee

The piece of cloth at the side of the picture is my cap...

ShangHai Ocean Aquarium!! I wanted to uplaod the photos of the fishes, but i figured that i'll take too long. But i did upload some of it...

I know you cant see our faces clearly, but that is what i like about this photo ^^ You cant see our faces, but you still know who is who.

We will definitely go back to shanghai again !!

武夷山之旅

2008-10-01T23:25:00.000+08:00

I have taken 2 and a half hours to upload all these photos.. so please take your time to enjoy the photos..

Day 1: Getting there

Start of Day 2!!

At the top!!
Waiting for our pictures to be done...

We bought these colourful slippers for the boating experience.

Day 3 Hike!!!

And finally, how can we miss out the cute tour guide?!?!?!

Theme Park

2008-09-26T18:20:00.005+08:00

SuZhou Theme Park !! YEAH!! We actually bought the tickets at a minmart in our school, we had them at student price of 34yuan.. which is less than half the price of the enterance fee for 拙政园!! *Regrets*

Xinfei found another friend.. ^^

Okay, i have to explain myself for this photo and the following few photos. JunSheng and I wanted to take the glider down from the top of the hill. But someone had to suggest that we climb up the hill. And guess what, we did just that. If you know me, you'll know that i hate climbing up stairs and climbing hills/mountains isn't my thing either. But.. the view is worth it..

The photo above is also very significant. Remember that i said we wanted to take the glider? Well, that was the last ride of the day and we missed it!!! By the time we walked to the cable car station, the uncle was already leaving the place and you guessed it, we had to climb down the hill!!!!
My Closing Photo!!

Holiday Plan

2008-09-25T11:35:00.001+08:00

It's 11.15am and no one's awake. At least not yet. We have to hand in a Chinese composition today, and i guessed they slept late yesterday. I woke up to copy it into the book since i have typed my composition in my laptop yesterday night. Class starts at 2pm today, and it is just movie viewing....

It's been a while since i last updated my blog. Well, the simple reason is that i have not transfer the photos from the cameras. I'll do some post-dated blog again..^^

We will be having a 1 week long holiday starting from 29th sept to 5th oct, so we'll be traveling around.On Tuesday, we went down to the travel agency to purchase our tickets for a 3 days 2 night in 武夷山 wu yi shan (29th sept to 1st Oct). We will leave the travel group at wu yi shan and head down to 南平nan ping and 副州 fu zhou. Well, this the tentative plan, subjected to budget, time and weather conditions.

Tonight, we will be going to 金鸡湖Jin Ji Hu again. This time, we will be there to watch the magical fountain, since we would not have another Friday off. (We do not have Friday classes at the moment)

Liying wants to watch the sunrise on Friday morning. I'll let you know if she managed to wake us up =P On Friday, we will be going to 苏州乐园 Suzhou's theme park, for a day's of fun filled activities. YEAH !!

ClassRoom Glamor Shots

2008-09-24T16:26:00.001+08:00

It was raining again, this time, we had our umbrellas with us. We reached the classroom quite early and had the time to do some photo shots. The blue umbrella is Yeah Hooi's and i know this is going to surprise you, but the orange umbrella is MINE !! ^^

MELROSE PIZZA DESSERTS AGAIN !

22rd Sept Dinner & 投篮机

2008-09-22T21:00:00.005+08:00

Dinner at a steak house along Guan Qian Jie.
I know this seems weird, but it is actually spaghetti with spicy mushroom sauce and it taste... well, it taste spicy. =X
Here we are again. Ready and prepared to break our individual records and tag-team. =P

Today, we spend 10yuan (30coins) in the arcade, courtesy of JunSheng, cause he was the one who wanted to play. Guys, haiz...Tag-team winners: Yeah Hooi and LiYing with a score of 361.

Xin Fei an Jun Sheng didn't make it to round 4. Score: 249!!! That is 1 more mark before we can pass the stage.

Individual top score: 332 (Tyco)
Individual top score: 228
Individual top score: 206 Individual top score: 148

Stay Tuned for the videos ^^

星海XingHai Swimming Complex

2008-09-20T23:25:00.002+08:00

True to our words, we went to the nearby swimming complex this afternoon.

The first thing we were asked to do when we got there was to do a medical check up. Sounds scary and awkward right, it was. Our brave Yeah Hooi went in first, and when she came out, she told us that the doctor just looked at her and took a photo of her for a medical card. It took less than 2 minutes. Big Relief. We actually imgained that they will take a blood test or something.

Liying and I bought a swimming costume each which cost 129yuan (faints) and all of us had to buy swimming caps.

The 3 girls bought the normal ticket (30yuan - S$6, which is considered expensive even in Singapore) while Mr Yeo bought the VIP ticket at 50yuan.

Have you been to Japan, hot spring?? Well, if you come to China swimming complex, you'll have the same changing room and shower experience minus the hot spring and the hot and cold tubs. I would not describe more, but you can use your imagination...

Mr Yeo on the other hand, got to enjoy his private room, with resting area, of sofa, massage chairs, television, magazine, hot sauna (ours wasn't hot).

There is only one single huge and crowded swimming complex. It gets less crowded at around 6pm.

MY GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT TODAY:
1)To float face down for around 20seconds
2)To float face up for 2 seconds
3)To swim frog style for 2 strokes

You might be laughing out at this moment, but for someone who is afraid of the water, i think i did a great job. I am trying hard to learn how to swim, okay. And I have been staying in the 1meter to 1.2 meter area =X Even the smaller kids can swim better than me, no wait, i cant even swim.

DINNER. SUBWAY !!!
3 cheers for China subway!! But it is slightly different from the one back home. Firstly, they do not have cold cut trio, but the most important thing is that they do not have green chilli, not the green pepper. I miss chilli !!

I have something more to say. I ordered a 6inch teriyaki chicken (22yuan) and added the regular meal (6yuan), but i paid 21yuan. Heehee. I think i'm too cute and was given discount. =P

Missing Words

2008-09-20T13:35:00.001+08:00

I know that i have not been typing for quite sometime, who knows, i might lose touch to my English in a few months time.

It is agreeable that a picture tells a thousand words and the pictures i have posted adds up to millions of words, but then again some thoughts cant be convey using pictures...

1st thing on the list
"I rather be here in china than be back home waiting for a family member".

With the typhoon and the milk powder incident happening, and the fear become worst when you know that the five of us have not been watching any news, reading any newspaper or listening to radio. Truthfully, i have no idea about any of the incidents until my mum called and told me about it. And till now, i still do not know much of the details...

Another thing about it is that we are here enjoying ourselves (at least most of us are), and time seems to fly so quickly, except early in the morning in bed when what feels like hours is in fact only a few minutes. I wonder at how fast the time in singapore is moving...

2nd thing on the list
It is funny that one can forgive people who are not blood-related more easily than those who are. A cousin of mine told me once, that you will only hate a person who you love as much. True? I think so. Let's just take a look.

Back at home, i will scream at my brothers for not washing their plates, leaving their cups all around and things like that, but over here, i will help wash cups readily and to clean the kitchen up every once and then. Weird right? I have always thought that we would do things for people closest to your heart without any form of return.

3rd on the list
Among the five of us, there is one that is living in the past. If you have read earlier posts and notice something, you'll know who i'm talking about. Somethings in the past are unforgettable, especially pleasant memories.

I still think of times when my mum would actually cook at home and that i get to help out, like the orange-flavored steam cake, cookies, prawn dumplings (with waterchest nuts), Tang Yuan... But i know that if i were to live in the past and expect her to cook everyday, we wouldnt be be having princess porridge and to joke about it, would we?

The past in what makes us who we are today, be it memories that you want it to live forever or past that you just want to forget. If we were to live in the past, wouldn't we be stopping ourselves from creating a brighter future?

>><<

Our plan today is to swim!!! [Most of you must be trying to link swimming with XinFei right? I am not there to swim, i'm only there to look at cute guys. KIDDING!!] But it's already 1.34pm and we are still at home, with no signs of going-out. Liying and Jun Sheng have not brush their teeth!! Smelly People!! Heehee.

2nd Place of Haven 投篮机

2008-09-19T23:34:00.002+08:00

I can feel my arms breaking as i type this post...我的手很酸，可能是按倒柠檬了...

2 days of basketball shooting machine..

Tag-team with JunSheng...
Score: 313

Yeah Hooi did take a video of us shooting, but it was unglamous (not that this photo is anywhere better, but who cares)... We'll retake the video some other time and I'll post it..

And for all those who think that i have no basketball skills, please think again.

My personal best of 212 !!! It was 147 just yesterday =D

JunSheng's score was 146 to 243... =(

Yeah Hooi and LiYing's wasn't quite there yet. =P

Why is this place our second haven? Someone was feeling down on the 18th, so we went to GuanQianJie to look for dinner, we found this lovely restaurant and right next to it, is an arcade. I have to say that it is very cheap to play in China's arcade, 1yuan can be exchanged for 3 coins.

The first day we went there, we spend 30yuan[$6] (90coins) and today we spend 20yuan[$4] (60coins). Any arcade fanatic should come to china...

The arcade we went to isn't crowded, though we do have a few smokers inside. Once we started playing, we just cant stop.... I think we are addicted to it.

1st Place of Haven 金鸡湖

2008-09-19T12:26:00.004+08:00

Our first place of haven here in SooChow is a little coffee house along 金鸡湖JinJiHu, it is walking distance from our apartment.

We went there for the first time during the mooncake festival, and the second time was after our crazy fun of arcade. During the latter time, we were looking for a place to hydrate ourselves, the pub along the street offers a wide range of alcoholic drinks but the atmosphere wasnt as nice as the coffee house, so we took a taxi there.

The decorative lights would go off at 11pm and the owner would place mini lanterns on the table for us. One thing about this coffee house is that the owners will only close the shop once every customer have left the place. And on both days that we were there, we were the last customers. .. "Little" spider.. The coffee house is mosquito-and-bug-proof, because this "little" spider had tonnes and tonnes of companions all around us...
I was the weird one that ordered the tea ^^
The swing-chairs is OUR spot!! ^^

18th Sept

2008-09-18T18:26:00.000+08:00

The four of us went for dinner at the GuanQianJie...

We were suppose to look for a travel agency so that we can arrange for a short trip next weekend, 7 days Public Holiday for China's National Day.

They do not have CHILLI here is China!!! So tabasco sauce is the closest thing...

My whipped cream fell down =(
Doesnt this look like a lawyer with the wig??

This is the resturant beside the acarde. The name is Water Paradise XXXXX XXXXX. (I forgot)

HomeWork Day

2008-09-17T12:26:00.000+08:00

1st take-home assignment: Movie Review of 我的父亲母亲
2nd take-home assignment: Cover Letter for job application (In Chinese)

Dateline: Thursday 18th sept.

We were rushing our work on Wednesday night, with some distractions of cards, drama shows online, jokes and plain nonsense...

We did one letter writing on the first week of school. And being the second week of school, the teacher returned us the marked assignments. She said that i did a great job at the alignment and format of the letter ^^

拙政园 zhou zheng yuan

2008-09-15T14:30:00.000+08:00

Reading Horoscope reading of the day.

This is what i ordered. Beef Fillet.
Outside ZhouZhengYuan
The rest of the photos are inside zhouzhengyuan^^

I like pretty windows....

Ah Pao!! =P

Sitting down, cause i'm too lazy to stand...

MoonCake Festival- 金鸡湖

2008-09-14T23:27:00.001+08:00

Honestly, the pictures tells everything. The beauty of the lake and the fun we had...

Jun Sheng treated us to the drinks that night. THANKS!!
We were at the coffee house till 1+am and we walked home.

MoonCake Festival - Mooncake

2008-09-14T18:42:00.000+08:00

Salad !! I think i have been a vegetarian ever since i got here...
What's a mooncake festival without mooncakes. When the girls and I were chatting about buying mooncake in night, asking if anyone wanna go to the lake with us, JunSheng went to the room and gave us a little surprise. Who would have thought that the guys would buy mooncake for us... Really Touched. Thanks!

MoonCake Festival - TaiTai and Playground

2008-09-14T15:52:00.000+08:00

I took a photo of these, because i bought all these and all of it have a similar colour tone... heehee.. together with my shorts, cargo pants and shoes... lol
Huge Cream Puff. For only 4yuan, less than a dollar..

One is beef, one is pork and one is fish. But i cant tell the difference, can you??

PLAYGROUND TIME !!!

This is plain funny. If i were to sit down, she would have flown a few metres...

MoonCake Festival -Rooftop

2008-09-14T07:14:00.000+08:00

18th Floor, here we come. Our Rooftop view at 19th floor...

Going down...
Still living up to my self-idolised tittle..

Korean Friends

2008-09-13T20:51:00.001+08:00

We are in China and we met korean friends!!! =X Instead of improving my chinese, i have been learning korean...

We brought them down to Guan Quan Jie... ^^

Guess how much was this????
5Yuan!! which is like s$1. hahahaha
We took some neoprints.. heehee.. it cost 30yuan for 9 large photos. We wanted to take profile photos at a studio, but it costed 388yuan. So if you do the maths, we could pay 300yuan for 10 turns, giving us 90 photos... hahaha...

Pimple day 2 - crazy photos

2008-09-12T23:03:00.001+08:00

1 day, 1 place, 1 scene
2 cameras, 2 batteries that went flat
3 person, 3 hours
130 photos

Need i explain more??

Oh ya, i forgot to tell you that this is just a lake.....

Pimple day 1

2008-09-11T23:26:00.000+08:00

It's a raining day, and guess what, we do not have umbrellas =X So dead. We alighted from the taxi and took shelter at a makeshift tent with the scary school's security guards. It seems that they were in a good mood that day, being friendly and enthusiastic about “我们是中国人”, and knowing that we were foregin students, they kept asking where we are from, and reading our names from our student card. Cool car right??!?!?! Free car wash !!
Wet, cold and hungry.>and yes, you can see e pimple on my left cheek developing =( <

Students from the previous class did not clean the blackboard. They were doing 完成句子, which is to form a complete sentence using a given word.
Read the sign board =)
This is one of the newer bus, it seems like the normal sbs bus, and they have "tv mobile" too!!!
Being me, i spoke english in a store along guan qian jie. There were these too girls who kept looking at us, and they were whispering about us. When we got out of the store, the two of them were brave enough to come up front and talk to us!! Yeah!! We got ourselves some local friends.

This book cover caught my eye, because like the 3 girls here, one have curly hair, one straight hair and one short hair^^

Wednesday Class

2008-09-10T08:49:00.000+08:00

The parade square of the university. Cool right?? Looks like some scene from the Taiwan/china drama series.If you have looked at the earlier post, there is some proverbs by confusion along the streets. The school have signs like this all over the place. I think there are 6 sign boards in every classroom.

The classic china classroom!!
Our 2nd chinese language class. Han characters and Han language. 汉字与汉语。The past words and development of chinese characters. Interesting class. I thought it will be those type of class, where you learn new words and how to form sentences using them, just like primary school. But thank god that it is not.

I learned that the 4 grestest invention by the chinese is The Compass, Gunpowder, Paper, Printing.

Though not a big fan of it, attending this class I agree with the teacher that the fifth greatest invention is the Han Language.

The English language only consist of 26 alphabets, and words are formed by arranging the alphabets in an order.

Students learning chinese have to learn around 3500 to 5000 Han characters in primary and secondary school, and there are many other characters which are not learned in school. Each Han character is different from the other, the pinyin (pronunciation) might be similar, but each character has a different meaning.

>story i heard in class<

47 years ago, there was this scholar that said that there are too many illiterate and there were too many Han characters, it is too difficult to learn and difficult to type out, so he invented the pinyin, in roman characters.

There was this time when the newspapers were in the form of pinyin. so words like move 动（dong) are written as dong, but there are other words that have the same pronunciation 东(north) 洞(hole) 冬(winter) 懂(understand) and many more. It took the type writers less time to type the roman characters, but it took the readers longer time to understand the message. The Becasue each Han character represent something different, it was easier for readers to understand the message at one glance. So chinese newspapers went back to Han chacacters but, pinyin was used as teaching material.

The circle with two pointed shapes below at the right represent the sun, fire and mountain.

This class is fun ^^ seriously fun.

Second thoughts

2008-09-09T18:29:00.005+08:00

It is only the starting of the first week in school, and i might be having second thoughts, though i know that i remain here for the next 4months, i am still giving myself false assurance.

School - I think all of us have finally experienced the true academic life of a China University Student. Marketing is a module which all of us have taken before, but when words like marketing and sales turn into 营销和销售, terms that we used to understand turns alien and foreign。It doesn't help that we do not have a textbook (at least not yet), we missed 1 week of lesson and that we couldn't read what the teacher is writing on the board, and as for me, an addition disadvantage is that i cant write down what the teacher is saying as i could only make up the pinyin. I'm so dead...

Apartment Life - Things are a bit complicated.

Back to being myself

2008-09-09T18:23:00.002+08:00

Hey people, this blog will be turning back to the age old style.

A classic online diary and not a "Things I did today" blog...

>Dear classmates, can we go spam my group's blog? ^^ <

Day 1 of School

2008-09-08T23:36:00.001+08:00

First class of the semester, customer relations mangement. Being Singaporean Students, we sat at the very last row, but moments later, we could feel eyes on us. It seems like a untold practice that the girls sit in the front while the guys sit at the back and that guys do not sit next to girls. We even asked the guy sitting next to liying, about it, but he said there wasnt such a practice. Oh well....

In case you do not know, their classes are like our primary school, 40mins of class time followed by 10mins break. Attendence was marked in the 1st period, and thereafter, students started sneaking out of the classroom during the break =X Sounds like your normal polytechnic students right? =)

We have a 4hrs break every monday. How boring is that?! We manage to find the library to slack, though there isnt much in there.

This is the 2nd classroom we went to. For chinese history. *Faints*

We were taking some photos since the teacher wasnt there yet.

Teacher XinFei.

Wet Market- day 7

2008-09-07T23:45:00.000+08:00

WHEN DID THIS TURN INTO A PHOTO BLOG?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

It seems like i am entertaining you guys with my crazy photos. Okay, i'll entertain you guys for a while, and then when things settle down, i will turn it back into a boring blog of the life of a heart fly.

It's sunday and everyone is just lazy to move. 4 of us went to the next door neighbourhood store and in the early evening, we explored our surroundings and found another neighbourhood center. I guess there are plenty of neighbourhood centers around for us to explore. Being "vege lovers", we went shopping at the "wet" market!! (P.S. it isnt really that wet)

Breakfast. Chef Yeah Hooi. Porridge?? <-- we ordered it.

Oh ya, did i mention that i saw this above average cute guy at the supermart next door?? I guess not. He is the co-owner of this flora retail shop. Weird, but so far, he is the only above average, there arent cute guys in china. =( I'll try to get his photo the next time round,kay.
And another thing. Their live fishes is horribly alive. It is still breathing when placed in the plastic bags *goosebumps* And i guess we wouldnt be having any chicken meat for some time, because it is live poultry. That is, the chicken are still alive 5 minutes before you point at it and tell the store owner that you want it. *more goosebumps*

I have something to admit, me, junsheng and liying fell asleep somewhat in the middle of the day. Both of them fell asleep on the sofa, while i fell asleep on my bed. Yeah Hooi was evil enough to take photos of us sleeping. And no, i wont upload the photos here, dont even dream about it.

Dinner. Chef Yeah Hooi.
We tried quite a number of ways to try and steam the fish. First, the fish wouldnt fit into the rice cooker; then, we couldnt steam in it the frying pan because it was too flat (we placed a plate in it to boil); we tried using the old pot, but the plate couldnt fit;
My solution, to pan fry to using yellow wine? 黄酒。
Hey, we saw fireworks^^ Lucky for us, we have the perfect view, between two tall buildings. The red spark in the middle, is actually fireworks... hahaha....and they say that there is fireworks every sunday. You must be jealous right??

Home all Day - day 6

2008-09-06T20:09:00.000+08:00

Healthy Breakfast. Chef Yeah Hooi.
She went out early to church but made breakfast for us and left us notes^^

Lunch. Chef Yeong Whee.

I see two people taking food off the table before lunch starts!!
I have to admit, i ordered this (Tomato Omelet) even after eating 3 sunny side up in the morning.
If you're wondering, the black one is actually mushrooms, and it taste great.
We went down to buy icecream, and to explore facilities in our condo.

XINFEI FOUND A FRIEND!!! =)

Stealing food again !!

Dinner. Chef Yeong Whee.

It suddenly seems like i am doing a food blog. Hahaha!!

An uneventful day - day 5

2008-09-05T23:16:00.004+08:00

An uneventful day, except for washing dishes after dishes.

We were told to go for Business Ethics today at 8am, but when we got there, we found out that the lecturer is away and would only be back after the end of their national day. Things like this do happen, and there is nothing much we can do about it. It isn't our fault, but we have to take it in.

Today's Lunch Menu. Chef Yeong Whee.

With nothing much to do, we were all watching movie on Jun Sheng's laptop. So relaxing ^^

Today's Dinner Menu. Chef Yeong Whee.

Time to clean up the dishes!!!

Internet Problem Solved - day 4

2008-09-04T10:16:00.008+08:00

I couldn't update anything about my first few days in Suzhou because of a slight Internet problem. But finally, our Internet is working!!! After 3 long days...... 3 Cheers for the Internet man!!

Breakfast today is cooked by Mr Yeong Whee. Sunny-side up.

We were suppose to get our residential card done, our school admission card and buy the school books. But it seems that the Internet is on and no one is willing to leave their laptops.. heehee..
Okay... Off we go to make our residential card
They have sign boards like this all over the place. Proverbs by Kong Zhi, Confusion.
These flowers can be found outside their public toilet!! Pretty Pretty!! My blur face =X

For Lunch, We ate like royalties. It was really a nice east-meets-west combination.

Eating Salad with Chopsticks. Interesting Combination.
My Western Fried Rice. 西式炒饭。
Fortune;Luck (fu). Good Fortune(lu). Happiness.(xi)
We were afraid of taking photos within school campus because there are guards who would scold you when you enter the school and they have this National Army training for students. So the school looks like a training boot camp with all the green army uniform. The only different is that they used Chinese commands =X
We wanted to buy school books but when we went down, the teacher told us to wait till school starts and to ask the respective teachers which books to buy. With nothing to do and some time, we went to tour the school. This is part of our school^^.
The school hostel. Scary ~
A closer look at the hostel... Good thing that we took the apartment. Shopping at their Guan cheng Jie again. We were looking for bags and found some nice ones. I bought this at 50Yuan. It is S$10, quite cheap, but i think we could get it at a much lower price. We have to compare to their standard of living!! And we keep forgetting that we are in china!! Must be smarter the next time round. Only buy things that are 25yuan and below =X

Okay, i will do some post for the first 3 day which are post-dated^^

AuChan - day 3

2008-09-03T14:13:00.001+08:00

Today's plan was to go to school and report and to go to this super mart place, AuChan to buy household items. Luckily for us, we did just that.
Lunch was taken just next to our apartment, at a restaurant called "Penang Flavor". And no, we have not missed Local Singapore food, at least not yet.

Penang Fried Carrot Cake. They added lots and lots of egg, my favorite.

Thereafter, we went to the University for the first time. The guards were kinda scary and we had to take our passport out for a quick check just to enter the school. The below is our timetable.

Monday:
8.00-10.20 Customer Relations >Combine Class<
2.00-3.30 China's History (Week 1 to 3), SuZhou's Garden Culture (Week 4 to 5)>Combine Class<

Tuesday:
10.30-12.00 Chinese Writing (Week 1 to 7)
2.00-4.20 Marketing >Combine Class<

Wednesday:
10.30-12.00 Business Negoitiating >Combine Class<
2.00-3.30 Chinese Language

Thursday:
2.00-3.30 Chinese Drama Aprreciation (Week 1 to 10)

Friday:
8.00-10.20 Business Ethics >Combine Class<
2.00-3.30 Modern Chinese Culture Appreciation (Week 6 to 8)

AuChan is like our giant super mart at imm but triple the size. We spent more than 3 hours just touring the area covered by the 1st 30 checkout counters. And i think there are over 60 check out counters. We were only at the household items area. We bought lots and lots of stuff, from electric kettle to hair straighter, from rags to blankets, bowls to cleaning rag. We spend 1,891yuan, which is close to 350 sing dollars. =X

Once again, we went next door for our dinner, but his time, it was just the 3 girls, so we decided to have pizza.

Living up to my 自恋 (self-idolised) tittle.

Just look at the cheese. Jealous?? The pizza and garlic bread are freshly baked, hot from the oven. The crust is crispy and the outer rim has cheese.

But just when we though the pizza was great, my cranberry and apple cheese cake came.

It was so mouth-watering. Just looking at it makes you drool.
(this picture just became the big-head doll photo)

I told yeah hooi that she could motivate me to read more Chinese books using the cheese cake. The cheese cake is light and the apple and cranberry are fresh. The cake just melts in your mouth, leaving a light and sweet refreshing taste. I could eat the whole cake without feeling sick.

Simply Sinful and GREAT !!

观前街- day 2

2008-09-02T12:10:00.000+08:00

Our little roommate's birthday was actually on 1st Sept, the date of departure, but being busy people, we couldn't get the card done in time and had to spend the morning passing the card around secretly.
Happy Birthday, Liying!

Slacking on the sofa, waiting to go out.

In the early afternoon, we went to 观前街 (Guan Qian Jie), the shopping district. We had vegetarian for lunch.

This was what i ordered, it is called 喜福 Xi Fu。

Off to do some shopping!!!

KFC is 肯德基（ken de ji) called and Pizza Hut is 必胜客 (bi sheng ke). An East-Meets-West buliding.
Dinner was at (lao ma mian xian), which literally means Mother's noodle. I had porridge and some side dishes, shared with Yeah Hooi. The below picture is what the guys ordered. I think it is suppose to be some shell animal from the sea, but it looks like a snail !!

Back home, we did some more cleaning of the house, especially the kitchen.

And of course, we washed our clothes, for the very first time. And this definately won't be the last time^^

Departure - day 1

2008-09-01T23:12:00.001+08:00

Early in the morning, even before sunrise, I was up and preparing to go to the airport for my long trip. For some reason, there wasn't much anticipation, instead, i had this "no-big-deal","nothing-special" feeling. We have been talking about this trip for a few months now and the day of departure is finally here, but yet it doesn't seem like we are going to study in china for a whole semester what so ever. It just seems like we are going for a free-and-easy trip and living in an apartment together.

Trust me, She's my sister.
He doesn't wanna take photo with me =( Do we look alike??
My 2 bros. We seldom take photos together =(
Jenni, Clare, XF. Family Photo
Checking in luggage. So lucky to have a bro to help push the trolley... heehee
The 5 brave pioneers for this trip to soochow. Will be remembered for ages to come. Hahaha
The lecturers that made it happened.

Going from ShangHai to SooChow
Coach Ride^^

The sign reads SuZhou Industrial Park. Our Destination.
Doing some unpacking. Wonder why i look so weird =X This is just me and my roommate (liying)'s room. She is taking the cardboard on the left and mine is on the right. The middle portion is our shared hanging place. The door to the far left is towards the living room and the other one is to our toilet.

We went for dinner but at a KOREAN RESTAURANT!!! Hey people, this is China, so why aren't we having CHINESE food?? We had the private room to use.
FREE FLOW APPETITZERS ^^
This is so yummy, fish roe with rice. They make it seem like the fish roe is free in china!!
End of the meal. Jun Sheng must be wondering, "What have we eaten?!?!?!?!?!"

Our first meal in china is Korean food. Kinda weird. Heehee. But YUMMY!! Wonder what good food we'll eat for the many days to come. Aren't you tempted? =X

Saturday-Modestos

2008-08-30T18:30:00.000+08:00

Why am i the only one with green menu??

Waiting eagerly for Food =X

Saturday-Swensens

2008-08-30T15:00:00.000+08:00

lOvE yOu gUyS ^^

Next Meal 4 months time, we go eat indian food =X

Class Outing - Santosa

2008-08-29T17:02:00.000+08:00

kh: our class outing..go sentosa throw SAND, play tic-tac-TOE, eat lakSA (Sandtoesa!)
Other photos can be found on http://hotelxm.blogspot.com

Thursday before flight

2008-08-28T22:01:00.004+08:00

This was what happened..

Morning - Macdonal breakfast with mum and aunt

JP shopping with mum, bought leggings and food stuff

Afternoon - Went back to school to sign for NVP results..

Comparing photos...

Midday - Suntec City
Prawn Noddle At food republic
Crazy Comex IT fair <-So totally not my element...

Dinner - Spoon Soup I can see myself from the reflections...Yummy Food!! ^^

4days more

2008-08-27T20:09:00.002+08:00

Okay, this is my plan for the last four days before going China.

Thursday

Morning - Jurong Point with Mum

Afternoon - Packing

Night - Dinner with Group Mates

Friday

Morning - Class Outing Sentosa

Night - Family Dinner

Saturday

Morning - Breakfast with 185 people

Afternoon - Icecream with Animal Farm

Night- Dinner at Vivocity with the girls

Sunday

Afternoon - Family Lunch (with other relatives)

Monday

China, Suzhou !!

Xiao Long Bao

2008-08-27T19:52:00.004+08:00

Wendy wanted to have xiao long bao (steamed dumpling) with me today after our last exam so i joined her and brought her a "little" surprise. Though not that little, i brought Yeah Hooi along. Heehee...

Things we ordered

Stm. Pork Dumpling

Stm. Veg Dumpling

Steamed Veg Bun

Radish Pastry

D/F Shredded Pancake

LaMian/Spicy&SourSp.

F.Ndle/Beef&M.MushR.

Hmmade Ground Bncurd

Cold Water

Towel?? <- I'll sure we did not order this. And it cost 30Cents each =)

I guess that is a lot for 3 person, we were bloated by the end of the meal.

And guess how much we paid??

A hefty $48.60.

Date with the Dentist

2008-08-27T18:11:00.005+08:00

Ahhhh.....

Why do i meet all the weird people?
My dentist was singing when he did polishing for my teeth, his feet was even tapping to the music.

It would have been fine if his singing was great, but trust me, it wasn't. I was trying my best not to laugh, when there was so many equipment and tools in my mouth.

Avisit to the dentist is like a nightmare for all young at heart, and apparently I'm one of them. As we grow older, we would forget about our twice a year visit to the clinic. I was at the clinic yeaterday, to take some medication for the china trip, and i was hoping that my mum would forget about the dentist. But with the dentist just right next door to the clinic, the probability of her forgetting is close to 0%, unless there is a major distraction like an earthquake or a wild tiger.

Anyway....

I just finished my exams!!! Yeah!!
I threw 20 marks away!!
So everyone, please do not tell me anything about EQUITY....

Countdown to flight: 4 days

1000 Words

2008-08-26T15:17:00.001+08:00

I actually have the lyrics on my secondary school table.It is the purple colour piece of paper. My table is kinda messy right? =X I have a poem, written by my friend at the top right hand corner, below that is a Grafield comic strip (we all need some little fun in our lives), a "SHUT UP" advertisement by our school library (it was interesting at that time), the wrapper of a Kit Kat given by Mr Lee the physics teacher (My source of Motivation. Erm...I'm talking about the chocolate...). The red book that I'm hugging, that is my report card. And yes, you can see my A maths textbook, it is always there. I seldom bring it home, becasue i use my brother's at home.

Days to Flight: 5 days

1 more exam tomorrow. Compensation & Benefits

I Lay My Love on You

2008-08-25T12:04:00.000+08:00

I am placing this song, becasue it is a dedication to my friend. Yes, he once used his creative mind and made a camp performance with this song. Though it is not the only camp tricks that he have done, i think this song best represent it.

Tribute to a Friend

2008-08-25T06:09:00.000+08:00

His crude and rough manners disgust many. Taking advantage of girls and making crude and insensible remarks every now and then.

Many feared him. His over-powering presence scares us. And it seems like nothing would ever survive if placed up against him. You could never know what or when he will do something dramatic.

Most loathed him. Some would even take a punch from him to get him barred from a certain area. What follow his name were usually negative and notorious comments and opinions, some of which were agreeable to a certain extent. He is what you would call a scumbag.

Though born as a leader, his brainless and childish acts and stunts which he used to lead others are irritating and meaningless to most. He once brought his remote-control car and was playing with in along the corridor, creating disturbance and laughter at the same time. Another time he had led the camp with his dumb forfeit actions, one which we were made to follow. It was ridiculous but fun. There were those would will joined him readily in his crazy entices.

It has been almost a year now and yet, comments still follow his name. He had portrayed himself as someone to fear, someone to hate. And it seems that he has done the perfect job at it, because it is what most people thought of him.

I think everyone has a different side, one is what we would show the world, be it the true or fictitious side, and the other, the real person deep down inside, is something that we would keep in us as long as possible. We could never judge someone based on what we see and what we hear; there are things that we don’t see and don’t hear, things that are still part of the single being.

I am fortunate that I got the chance to see other sides of this person, the person who till date remains notorious in the minds of many.

It may not seem like it, but he is smart, in fact, he is intelligent. Being in the course that only those with single digits could get in prove something one way or another. He is knowledgeable and would only share if you were to ask. Yet, his brainless entices are the ones which no human of the right mind would carry out.

He is afraid of the dark. Unbelievable, but true. He created an account which puts his fear into something which many, including me, could relate to and it has become an outlet that we could use to joke about our fear. I will give him credit for being able to turn things around, and to look fear in the eyes.

You may laugh, but he is honest and will justify his actions (well, at least most of it). You could ask him things about his life as a delinquent, from things like smoking, drugs and gangsters; he would share things with you. I remembered him telling me that though he likes to smoke, he can’t stand the smell of other smokers. He is actually very self-conscious and would ask if there was any smoke smell on him after he smokes. He would explain whole-heartily, about how if he were to dress up his best in his most “zhai” clothes and hang out in someone else’s turf, the other party would still know. He shared some trademark symbols and tell-tale sign of gangs, one which I would not disclose.

Right up till now, he is the only one that made me cry and comforted me all at the same time. Like most guys, he is helpless when a girl cries. I would not tell you what happened, but I would tell you that I wasn’t crying on purpose and that what he said during that time that made me cry made sense to me, even now. He has taught me things, some of which i would never admit. Though he didn’t provide any solutions or what-so-ever, he rebuked my options which I wished to carry out then, and because of him, I chose not to carry them out. Perhaps I would never know if the path I didn’t chose would lead me to somewhere better or not, but I am glad that the path I took has brought me here today. Perhaps i have grown stronger, maybe even braver than before.

There was this once, when we ordered fast-food delivery at 4am in school. After payment was made and the delivery man was gone, we found out that there wasn’t any cutlery and straws for our breakfast meal. He called the outlet up and made some complains. And guess what; the delivery man came back with another 7 sets of breakfast meals with the cutlery and straws. We ate 14 sets of meal but paid for only 7. Thinking back, it was quite naughty of us, but I can’t deny that it was fun. At that time, I even helped him sew a red heart on his bag, the type of bag that looked like a rabbit-little creature, i could remember his was brown in colour. He just said he wanted a heart on it (I forgot the name he gave to his bag), and I am glad that I could do it for him.

He is influential. There are those that would like to be with him and those that would like to be him. People would follow him. The fun side of him brings people together and I guess that is what they like about him. His jokes, his creativity, his stunts, his “patterns’. I think no one would ever be able replace him and what he did, not in the hearts of those who feared him, not in the hearts of those who loathed him and definitely not in the hearts of those that admired and loved him.

There is this other side in everyone which many of us forget. That is everyone is someone else’s child. His dad adores him and trusted him, a lot. There was once when I overheard them making a conversation. Strange as it may seems, it was like any other parent-child conversation. “Have you eaten?” “What time are you coming home today?”

Perhaps even all that I have said, it wasn’t enough to change his image in your mind and I couldn’t care less. No one could change what he has done in the past but we can start thinking of what were the thoughts and motivation behind every action he made. Was it to seek attention? To cover his short-comings? To put a brave front?

It is true that you are what you want others to see you as. But there are still too many questions without an answer. And it seems like the real answers would remain as a mystery and lived only as our individual opinions.

To Kill A Mocking Bird

2008-08-23T14:23:00.000+08:00

To Kill A Mocking Bird. I have heard about this story long before, and yet this 2hours long theatre production was my first contact with this classical story.

Obviously, you wont be getting any constructive critics from me. But what I can tell you is that there wasn't any fanciful props nor was there any glamorous red-carpet-show costumes nor any state-of-the-art sounds and lighting. But even with a simple set, the show was captivating.
It narrated by France Finch, the grown-up of six-year-old Scout Finch and the drama goes about showing the memories and thoughts of the past.

My Stage Manager from the SUPERSTAR MUSICAL played the part of ...., the nanny-like figure for Scout Finch and her brother, Jem Finch. Was she acting? I really can't tell. Heehee.

I think it will be a good book to read. Do let me know if you have the book by Harper Lee.

Royce Chocolates

2008-08-23T06:52:00.000+08:00

Royce Chocolates^^ Thanks!!

I did not tell you, but it the first sight of it, due to the sliver wraping, i thought it was a silver pouch like thing and I almost fainted(just kidding). But the part about not knowing what it was, that was serious. It was only thereafter when i read the words on the paper bag.

I have no idea what's with me and Royce Chocolates, I think we have a long link of fate that is tied together.

Scaring me to meet a mystery person is plain evil. I seriously thought is was my nightmare that we were going to meet. If that's true, I'll kill you. But thank god, it was the guy that share the same birthday as me.

I found out that I knew Mr-same birthday since Pri5, but have never gone out with him what-so-ever. And i have to admit i only got to know about him on our 11th birthday when I bought some candy stuff for our class. So for the whole 3 school terms before that, I didn't know that there was someone that shares the same birthday as me. Hey, did you know that we share the same hospital too? And that you were born 5 hours earlier. Perhaps we even share the same doctor. Haha. Happy "Mugging"!!

It was actually a unsuccessful day for us. I was suppose to get a dictionary, which i didnt, someone was suppose to get shoes and didnt, while the another was suppose to get foundation but got tanner instead. Weird!! But still I had fun with you guys. Do remind me to get you guys chiong-san from china kay! And give me your 3 measurements. =P

Days to flight: 8 days

1 more Exam Paper!!! <- I hope i dont forget!!

9 more days

2008-08-22T14:40:00.000+08:00

Right now, there is a lot of things going through my mind. For one, going on a 5 months long trip with people who are not family and living with them under the same roof are two different stories.

The 5 of us carry within ourselves, our own beliefs, habits, stories and history. And with the 5 of us brought up differently, we will have diverse mindsets on a single matter. It might be easier to compromise with another human being, but to find similar grounds among the 5 of us might be a challenge.

I have no idea what we haven gotten ourselves into when we opted for the apartment. But i guess only time will tell...

Papers left: Compensation and Benefit Management

Days to Flight: 9 days

Have you Studied

2008-08-21T16:20:00.000+08:00

For all our life, as a Student, we asked our friends, "Have you studied for so-and-so paper? And every answer given by them is returned by our ridiculous thought.

If they answer yes, we will be surprised and shocked and think that it is impossible to study for that 10 plus over chapters and do all that 5 year-series, or that they are just being too arrogant and acting all smart...

If their answer is no, we say that they are lying and that even if they say that they did not study, they are still able to score well...

So, what? Other than living up to the expectations of parents, ourselves, we now have to live up to our friends expectations.

What is wrong with all these people?! Is it because they are just not confident and want to see if there are others who aren't prepared for the paper? But yet the funny thing is that when they do meet people who tells them he/she is not fully prepared, they will just say that these people will score well no matter what they say.

Are they just trying to make themselves seem like the one who is the least prepared for the paper and so as to give themselves some leeway for their own failure?? Or they just cant accept the fact that they are always people who will do better than them and need some poor excuse for themselves...

Either way, if you ever meet some one who doesn't believe what you say and choose to listen to their own reasoning, tell them, "if you don't believe, don't ask!"

Drop the Pink Elephant

2008-08-21T14:37:00.000+08:00

Drop the Pink Elephant, an interesting book that shows you 15 ways to say what you mean.. and mean what you say.

There was this particular chapter that describe something we should apply in every conversation we make and every speech. And that is everything is relative.

Every interesting thing to you can be boring to another person, especially when the another person have no interest in it and it becomes worst when they are unable to form a picture in their mind of what the hell you're talking about.

Remember what Doctor Seah always say. Everything is Relative. He says he is short (which is true), but compared with someone shorter, he is tall (and this is true again). He says he is handsome, and i must say he isn't wrong if he compare himself to someone uglier...

For my first Act3 event, i was posted to the National Library Black Box. There was this time when i took the backstage lift with my venue manger, Andrey and Human Jazz creator, Christian Swenson, and both of them were around 1.9 meters tall.

Standing beside them, I subconsciously said what was on my mind, "I feel short." And my manger told me, "You're not short, we're just taller." Thinking back, I agree with him. With a height of 1.67, i am taller than the average Singaporean girls my age, but under that particular situation, i was short as compared to the two "giants".

You see, things work in a relative manner.

I have to admit that i do make this little miscommunication to people around me when i start talking about Nana (For those who do not know, Nana is my cat). To me and my family, she is the cutest thing on earth but to most, she is just another cat, and that is because you have never met her and is unable to relate to her. I share stories about her soon, and i hope that i will be able to make to relate to her.

Days to flight: 10 days (oh my god!!)

SunGlasses Test

2008-08-19T10:48:00.000+08:00

What Your Sunglasses Say About You

You are competent, direct, and powerful.
You are focused on success in all aspects of your life.

You need to be shaded from moochers and parasitic people.
You feel sunniest when you're around people as driven and and brilliant as you are.

http://www.blogthings.com/thesunglassestest/">

The Sunglasses Test

Little gesture on the bus

2008-08-18T15:04:00.000+08:00

There wasn't much empty seats on the bus, so i took one beside a guy. The aircon was blowing in my direction and my throat felt uncomfortable. I started coughing, silently, trying to suppress the coughs. But i was still coughing and couldn't really stop.

The guy beside me must have noticed, as he tilted the aircon towards him instead. Shortly after, i stopped coughing. It was a little gesture but it helped get rid of that cough and it was really nice of him, because he could have just done nothing.

Now, how many of us would do things for a stranger?? I would give up my seats to people of senior age, those who are visibly pregnant and those who seem to have difficulty standing. I have to say that sometimes, when there is a lady standing right in front of me, with a slight bulge at her tummy, i would be at a dilemma on whether to give my seat up for her or not. Reason being that if she is not pregnant, she might be offended of i were to give up my seat to her. A dumb and insenetive reason but i still make it up by giving my seat to those who really need to seat.

Days to flight: 13 days

Searching for Me

2008-08-15T19:17:00.001+08:00

Only 1 person from my project group have found my blog, 2 are looking for it and another couldnt be bothered. In their search to find my blog, they have found some other accounts in which i have, like fanfiction and facebook...

So it suddenly occur to me that if people are keen enough to search for me, it is pretty easy. All they need is my full name and/or my nickname of heartfly. So those friends that i have lost contact with long long ago, isnt really interested to know how i have been. Pretty Sad =(

I suddenly wiished that looking for my friends was as easy for me as it is for them to look for me. For being the one with horrible short-term memory, I cant remember a lot of their full names/surnames...

Dont you have a friend that you wished to look for too?? I hope that you'll be able to find them.

search for Lee Xin Fei and you will get my blog and my facebook account.... and it is at the top few links!!

Type in xinfei heartfly, you'll get my fanfiction account, friendster account, my past blog (which if u know how to, you'll be able to find this blog, but since you're here reading this, you wont have to).

Exam Countdown: 4 Papers

Countdown to flight: 16 days

My little place in Kranji

2008-08-10T12:44:00.000+08:00

Studying under the coconut tree in Sunny Tropical Singapore. How cool is that? I'll like to introduce my little place in Kranji for those who do not know what my family does.

We do wholesale and retail for indoor/outdoor plants and freshwater aquarium. A term that commonly associated with is that we run a farm. This farm in Kranji is mostly for retail, it is located on Neo Teow Road, right beside Khiang Sheng (if you know where is it that it). Most of my weekends are spent over there.

The indoor plants

Our Landmark?? In case you cant tell the difference, this is fake.
Mini Catus. My favorite.My Beautiful guppies

Class Outing -Pizza

2008-08-06T17:27:00.000+08:00

Our pre-exam class outing. We went to Clementi's Pizza Hut during our 3 hours break. We did invite our PTN, but she was having classes during the time.. But I think if she's there, the atmosphere would be so awkward.

We played 中级密码 around the table of 16. So fun. Our forfeit was to take a spoonful of cheese, which wasnt that bad. But I lost twice.. and the 2nd spoon was a huge spoon and it had chili bits in it. SICK !!

Missing: Jacelyn, Ashika, Fu Weng.

Hiding: Kian Hui & Jin Kun.

We took this with our Investment Analysis & Finance tutor. She's one interesting character.
Me and Class Rap, Jun Yuan aka Xiao Yuan. Apparently, our specs look the same.

It is only once in a while, when my class really sticks together as a group. It was fun while it lasted. I wonder if the class will be the same 5 months later.

Number of days left as a class: 2days =(

Other Sides of Me

2008-08-06T17:01:00.000+08:00

Lives of 5 crazy person

http://hotelxm.blogspot.com

Created by me using my project group account, so it is pretty much a shared blog. It is a crappy blog, and i will give it a rating of "not-for-the-faint-hearted". More for my class 0f DBA03.

5-合-1の未道

http://we-have-story-for-you.blogspot.com

A blog to hold the journey that the 5 of us will go through in China, Suzhou. I think most of the blogs would be in chinese =X, but hope you'll enjoy it. It'll be more of a photo blog.

The links can be found at the sidebar =)

What Kind of Thinker

2008-08-06T16:58:00.000+08:00

Your Thinking is Concrete and Random

You are naturally inquisitive and curious.
You're excited by new ideas, and you are a true independent thinker.

You are interested in what is possible. You like the process of discovery.
You are often experimenting, challenging old ideas, and inventing new concepts.

Rules, restrictions, and limit don't really work for you.
You have to do things your own way, and you can't be bothered to explain yourself.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofthinkerareyouquiz
What Kind of Thinker Are You?