Firs Nineteen Day Feast in the UK

Yesterday, I went to my first Nineteen Day Feast. A Baha'i who is also studying in University of Sunderland, Fereshteh picked me up to go over to Chester-le-Street where the feast was. Went to her house first since it was still early and she cooked a wonderful dinner. She cooked a Persian dish (she's a persian), which i was familiar with, thanks to Naysan (back home in Labuan). I forgot what it was called and I forgot to ask her what it was called. If you guys know what it is please tell me, okay? Its brinjal with tomotoes and chicken, and spices which made it so mouth watering. It was accompanied with rice cooked with crispy potatos! YUMMY! Home cooked food.....:P

Fereshteh had to go pick some other Bahai's up, who were also students around this region. There was Sara from Portugal and a couple from Iran, Maryam and Fenon.

We then headed to Fereshteh's brother's house where the feast was at and met up with the other Bahai's. Kamran (I'm not sure if i got the name right), the host of the night was really hospitable and made us feel at home. We, the newbies had to introduce ourselves and tell a little bit of where we came from. After prayers and discussion, socializing with the others was fun and manage to get to know some of the people there.

I forgot to take pictures of the night until we were about to leave, so no pics this time. But i'll definitely take pictures next week when i go down to Newcastle for the youth gathering!! Looking forward to meeting up with all the other people from around this region.

till the next post, enjoy the remaining weekend, HAVE FUN!

Happy Autumn Festival!

Autumn is here and so is the mooncake festival!

Too bad that there is no mooncake for me to eat. Looking at this picture above, makes me crave for Tau Sar mooncake. I don't even bother looking for any mooncake here, because definitely it'll be expensive.

So to all of you celebrating it (or may not be celebrating it,like me), may the light that shines from those lanterns bring you and your loved once happiness and everything good!

Hugs and kisses!!!

Day Trip to Newcastle Upon Tyne

Planned to stay a night in Newcastle, but when we reach the train station saturday morning, we were told there were no trains running from a certain station to another. Not being familiar with everything, we went back to our flats and dropped our knapsacks carrying our clothings for the night. Since we weren't staying the night, we bought return tickets to Newcastle

The journey took about 20 minutes and we were already in Newcastle. Eventhough being only 20 minutes away, both places are so different! Newcastle is full of people and its so busy, whereas in Sunderland, its so quiet and you dont see as much people going around as you see in Newcastle.

Met up with classmates from Inti College who are studying in Northumbria University. They took us around the town. The main attraction in Newcastle (which they knew) was the Millennium Bridge. We went there to take pictures, and since it was near The Sage(theatre hall), we too went there to take picture. I found out that tickets to The Nutcracker(the ballet musical) is only about 12 pounds, which is not too bad. After conversion, its about RM100, which is WORTH it!!! I made a promise to myself to go to musicals while i'm here.

After spending about a couple ours that area, we decided to go to China Town, which is not that impressive. It was just a street with chinese shops and restaurants and things are not cheap! We thought of eating there, but 5-6 pounds for a plate of rice is something to consider! So we went to KFC!! Which was only half the price!!

After dinner, we went back to the bridge to take more pictures since the lights were turned on! A whole different scenery. Clubs were now open and you can see everyone dressed up ready to party! The view was nice and the weather was great! It wasn't cold or anything, so we sat on the bridge taking pictures for awhile!

Started to walk back to the train station after that. We were all so tired that while it the train, it was so quiet compared to the journey to Newcastle that morning! A whole total contrast. We walked for about 12 hours, I'm sure that would cover at least 3 days of exercise eh? Hahaha!

Got back "home", showered and everyone konked out!

Anyway. Enjoy the pictures below!

Pictures of Our Day Trip to Newcastle

Metro station on the way to Newcastle
The first thing we see when we reached Newcastle
Stella's dorm in Northumbria University
Bollywood songs! It was so much of fun watching these people playing musicBanghra drummers!
Lunch!!!
DSCAU!

Bridge!

Millennium Bridge!

The Girls

Retractable bridge

Group pic...Xin Me and Thong missing because they are behind the camera

Solar-powered parking machine

Man on pole kissing DSCAU Sept '05Gateshead Millennium BridgeCam whoringWalking on the bridge
Night ViewVandalised train stationLong escalator

KnackeredExhausted!

Birthday Girl

This goes out to Hsei Di, the H-O-T chick, who I've known for the longest of time! I haven't seen you in I think 2 years and really hope we'll meet soon!! Do take care!! Have fun!!!

Happy Birthday Di!

Stay "chun", wishing you all the best, sealed with many hugs and kisses!

Love ya gurlfriend!

Starting Anew

Settling in a new place takes awhile... Been here for 4 days still ain't enough. I still have this outer body experience and i fell that things have not sunk in yet that I'm here in the UK.

I'll just upload a few photos of what i've been seeing around....enjoy!

Hanging out during transit at Dubai Airport

Dubai Airport

McDonald's - their servings are much bigger than Malaysia

Newcastle Airport

The other half of the airport

My room window

Precinct Hall of residence

Gateway - University of Sunderland's administrative office

Our first dinner together

Clubbing at Blu.bambu

Proton! Malaysian car!

My comfy bed

My desk

Sink in my room

On the way to the shopping complex

Arrived Safely

Hello from University of Sunderland!!!

Arrived here at noon yesterday at Newcastle Airport to find out that my luggage wheel got busted! Damn irritated by that however I managed to get a claim form filled out...just wondering when they will give me a call.

Still coping with jet lag....I'm feeling really tired all the time! I so wanna just sleep in my room but I need to get things done! and the shops here close at 5 or 6pm...so everything has to be done early...

Been doing grocery shopping with my flatmates (INTI people), we've got a bunch of us, so i guess it would be easy. We just need a timetable so that everyone has equal responsibility.

I just came back from a club just now! hahaha..you guys must be "wah, second night there already clubbing?"... its was the Uni event and the club were packed with students... The music was great but my dancing kaki (you guys know who you are) are not here with me! and to make it worse, my period had to come today and now i'm having back pain and shoulder (not sure if the back pain is caused by the period or the massive walking that i've been doing... the shoulder pain is due to the one hour wait at the immigration, carrying my laptop bag). I know I really need rest!

So i guess thats all for now..will upload pics once i'm well rested okay? Now i need to go shower and go to bed!!! too tired to do anything else!

Happy Anniversary to my Parents!

Picture taken in Beijng (Dec '04)

Happy 31st Wedding Anniversary to my beloved parents!!!

I love you both very much and sure am going to miss you while i'm soooo far away!!!

HUGS and KISSES mom and dad!!!

My parents are still on holiday in China and will only be back tomorrow!! Hope you guys enjoyed yourselves!! Love Ya

Leaving tonight!

All packed? kinda...still got some stuff to deal with...

All ready? I guess I have to be!

All excited? yeah!

My flight is actually tomorrow at 0055hrs, so means I have to be at the airport tonight! Will be flying together with my friends, which would be fun! Will by trasitting in Dubai for about 3 hours and then continuing my journey to Newcastle!

Everyone tells me that I should be excited, so i guess i am....But last night...kinda had a nightmare lar. It was about forgetting my ticket and passport and things like that lar. Travel nightmares before travelling ain't helping to ease the butterflies in my tummy. In my dream, i forgot my ticket...and then i see everyone taking their own sweet time while i'm the one there being all "kan cheong" about checking in. Everyone is like " check in already lar" and I myself still not yet check in!! sigh!! What la....I'm never like this before going anywhere!!! Laugh all you want la okay??

This pass 2 years plus I've been staying with my sister and her family in Nilai while i studied in Inti College. With this, I would like to thank her, Shien Wei and the Kids for making me feel at home! LOVE YOU GUYS FOR THAT! My sister has been very helpful with my preparation for this UK thing. Helping me settle payments while i was in Labuan and many more! THANK YOU! I really appreciate it! My sister has help me with every aspect of the preparation and i really am grateful that i have her here to help me with everything! I think i'll be so dead if it weren't for her!!! THANKS CHE!!!

Well, I guess the next post will come from Uni of Sunderland! Pray for my safe journey ya'll!! Take care and see ya!!!

BitterSweet

I'm leaving on FRIDAY!!!! CRAZY!!!!

Can't believe it!!! My room here is still a mess and i dont know what to do! Packing gives me headache!!

SO FAST...time is zooming by like....like....like.............haiyo...too fast lar!

Books read during the holiday

I know that I’m supposed to have read more books than I have during this very long long holiday. I only manage to read 2 books. Actually started on the third book which was Anna Karenina but that it was so thick and the story was a little bit too confusing with the amount of names one character had.

First book I read was Da Vinci Code. I know that almost everyone already read the book and watched the movie. But I haven’t so yeah, read the book and it was really interesting. I know that the book is fictional but the details were really convincing. Makes The Lourve one place that I want to go and see when I visit Paris. I guess the book can be a really a way for France to get people to go to Paris huh? The book was really a page-turner and really enjoyed the book. I’m quite sure people like me who is not really into all this history of any sort would at first thought everything in it is real due to the details. I know some at a certain extend is real but the book can waver the believe of a Christian.

Another book that I read was Jodi Picoult’s Mercy. If you have been following my blog, you’d know that I’m a big Jodi Picoult fan. I have already read and own I think 5 or 6 of her books. This book is about how a small town detective is stuck in a dilemma where he’s distant relative comes to him with a confession that he killed his wife. How the town is split and how his wife sides the cousin for killing the wife because he loves the wife so much, who was suffering from cancer. The sheriff himself then gets involved into an affair with a young lady from out-of-town.

I know that 2 books for a 4 months holiday is very little and I wished that I had read more. But time is gone and I only have less than 3 weeks here in Malaysia. Preparation to go to UK is undergoing. Talking about books, I bought a pharmacology book the other day while I was in KL dealing with my visa. Reading it now, I think it is interesting and quite happy with the choice I made to study that course. All I know is that I have to work hard with this one year that I have because of the course-switching, being in a new environment and all. Final year project is a scary thought you know! Wish me luck for my final year and hopefully I will graduate with a BSc (Hons) Pharmacology with flying colours – first class? Second class upper also can la...:P

OH ya....

I forgot to tell you guys....i bought a new laptop like 3 weeks ago and now am using it. Still new to it and don't really use it. My sister's wireless router at home has gone cuckoo so i can't use the computer unless its for freecell and word.

Acer travel mate 6291 is the model and its really nice and small. Size of an A4 paper, its really nice to bring it around!!

Yay for me, and thanks to Dad for paying for it!

Leaving in 7 days

I’m leaving in a week time and getting a little nervous, a little excited. I know I should really be very excited but now I’m feeling a little worried. I think it’s all in the packing. While my mom was here the other day, she helped me pack my bag a bit and now it is almost done, just a little here and there. The thing that gets me nervous is the thought of my luggage going overweight and if I have brought enough things. I sometimes I feel that I don’t need to bring so much yet sometimes I worry that when I get there I’ll start to regret not bringing the things that I need. Feeling of “I should’ve” and “see I told you, you should’ve” later will definitely suck. Some say bring this, some say don’t just confuses me and just puts me out of the mood of packing.

My parents are off to Macau and China for 10 days, and they just left 2 days ago, means that they won’t be sending me off at the airport the day I leave. I know some of you might think that it’s quite sad, but I think it is a better idea so that not much drama will happen there at the airport, plus there’ll be more than 40 students there saying their goodbyes and all, so imagine KLIA packed with students and parents crying their eyes out. I think there will be more than 40 students, because I know that there will be 40 going to University of Sunderland and I think there’ll be more students from a different travel agent and going to different universities.
I can’t believe that I’ll be leaving in a week and I always thought this day would never come, or would come so soon. Just yesterday, I went to collect my air ticket and it really hit me that I’m really going. I guess I can start singing “I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again”...hahaha.

Another thing I’m worried about is also studies. So scared that I’ll be left out or cannot catch up with everyone. I know that I’ll be going into the final year, and going into a subject which I’m quite new at, it’s going to be difficult. So imagine, students who have been there since year one are already familiar with what is happening, they already have their own clicks and you are coming in as a newcomer. Scary eh, luckily I have another friend with me doing the same course, phew!

I should be more positive about going overseas. Be able to appreciate the opportunity that my parents gave me. I know I’ll have to work hard this one year but at the same time, take in the culture and the experience in a new environment. One thing I’m really excited is getting to a new place and learning about people there. Seeing how “different” people say we are and yet still be the same. So I guess that would be exciting to see. Thanks dad and mom for giving me this opportunity...love you guys loads...missing you guys already.

Well, on a lighter side, Mix.fm gave me a farewell gift this morning, not exactly lar because I don't think that I'll be getting the gift before I leave and it is a mystery gift! Hahaha, I won the "Almost 90's at 9" this morning and very happy with myself! thanks to my sis for the phone! hahaha...and yes, my sister did win something too last week! Lucky lucky!!!

Well, I'll update you guys with whats happening with the remaining days in Malaysia whenever I can and definitely keep you guys posted about my life in the GREAT BRITAIN...wakakakaka!