Shockingssss

My shocking and surprising guests..

i, the mum actually flew all the way from Malaysia to Manchester to 'look after' her only child

ii, the son was ashame of the mum because she was wearing trainers during her journey and he borrowed a pair of lady shoes from his lady friends for his mum

iii, the son was aware of his mum finding out what he has been doing in Manchester and what kind of friend he is hanging out with

iv, the son then booked train tickets from Manchester to London, hoping to 'stay away' from the facts about his life that he didn't want his mum to know any further

v, the mum keep complaining that the son is spending too much but she still feed him loads of money into his pocket and bank account

vi, his living expenses is around £400-500 a month, which is around RM2200

vii, poor mum likes to bail the son out, leaving the son with some bad attitude and a little bit irresponsible of almost everything which is too late to change

viii, the mum & the son are actually good people to me despite the rather spoilt part

ix, the mum still force/watch the son studying because the son is a party boy

X, the son spend 1 hour in shower in the morning and another 1 hour at night. Leaving poor me have to wait for so long!!!

My volunteer story

Another day of Crisis service has ended. Again, it was tiring, but you got to come home full of satisfaction, knowing that just some little things you did, meant so much to the homeless.

I always wanted to take up some voluntary work to help the community, also to build up my soul while contributing something to those who needed help. At the beginning of the month, I read about this exclusive christmas service from the church and thought this would be a good opportunity for me to get involved in. Without much hesitation, I signed up on the website and I was assigned to help at the Rough Sleepers Centre.

Things turned up well on the first day, but with a little struggling moment this morning, I still ended up going to the centre and volunteer my time & work. I would say I had a very very very different experience from what I gained on the first day.

1. Standing outside Tesco (a super-market) beside the Rough Sleeper Centre with 3 other volunteers for 2 hours and almost froze to death.
Job description: Avoid the 'guests' of the centre from shoplifting (I thought Tesco should have more specialised guard??)

2. Spent an hour in the Pet Zone (a special service for the guest's pet, including veterinary)
Job description: To keep the dogs accompanied?? Again, I was froze to death and it was kind of boring cause the dogs were sleeping most of the time.
(There was a guest who has actually got 5 dogs! I wonder if he is spending all his money on his dogs which eventually made him homeless)

3. Spending don't know how many hours standing at the gap with a weird lady. (the only indoor job for today)
Job description: Basically just stand there and smile to people who passed by.

And there was this black guy(a rough sleeper) approaching me saying my scarf looks nice!

He actually asked if he could take a closer look at it and I agreed. I passed him my scarf and he smelled it, then showed that (after having drugs) kind of smile or grin or whatever silly look it was.
He then asked, "Can I have it?" (with a little bit of desperate look, but still lack of sincerity)

Seriously what would you do if a rough sleeper ask you things like that?????

"..oh we-eee-ll, .. .. .. yeah, you can have it, if you really like it. you know, it keeps you warm and,... yeah.. take it" (deep inside me, my heart was bleeding)

"REALLY?"

"Yes.. (now please just go before I change my mind) (my heart still bleeding) "

He left, without saying thank you, without having this supposedly happy look. The worst is, he had already got a scarf on him.. And I still said YES??? I supposed he didn't really need my scarf?

Deep in my heart, I was very upset, it was my favourite scarf. I got it from my aunt as a gift and I only had it for 3 days and it had only been on my shoulder for twice.
I told my sister, she said I was toooo kind? (I don't think I am)
I told my aunt, she went "What?? I went to find it from the store for you, and there was only one left!"
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After hours and hours of self-counselling, I comforted my erratic heart.
- not only those who look like needs help, needs help.
- if you really want to help someone, would you give up something that you like so much which could possibly help other people?? It was just a scarf, what if it's your favourite jacket? shirt? or even money??? My answer to that is I don't know. I want to help, but I think I have limitation.

All I could say right now is goodbye, my 2-day old scarf.

Do you still want to volunteer?
Yes.

ChRiSTMaS + BoXinG DaY + CriSiS

So it has been quite a while since I blog, I guess......, time just seems passing so quickly. About christmas, I know I should probably post it on the day or a day after but I just didn't have time to write about it. Here it is, my post-christmas post.

That was my first christmas in winter. (I know my lack of previous experience in my younger days will annoy some of you and I'm sorry if you feel annoyed) It was very different, missing those church performance, christmas parade, and similar faces that were hanging around in church. I had a very English style of christmas. I remembered I was so tired that I couldn't even wait for the clock to strike 12 and I headed to bed without hanging up my stocking.
So, I missed the most exciting part of christmas ---> waking up early in the morning, checking the stocking for surprised present from Mr. Santa.
Then, I went to christmas service at a local church, meeting a lot of people who only go to church once in a year. (Very common isn't it?) After that, aunt's friend came to pick us up to his house for christmas dinner. (Very English) He then sent us home at 4am in the midnight, really very kind of them to have us over.

Boxing day... I don't know what it is but it has something to do with the bible and it is like one of the very momentous events in christianity? That's what I was told. The person who told me didn't seem very sure though. But, it's mostly about shopping(!!!!), where most of the store had discount up to 50-70%. Literally spent about RM1000, and enough about it.

Took up voluntary service at Crisis today. Was fun, I was assigned to Rough Sleepers Centre. All of the guests are homeless in London. It's 1:20am right now, brain is not working well so think of what normal volunteer would do then. Was enjoying it... really.. another shift to go tomorrow. That's it !

Staying away from London once in a while is good. Honestly, living in the third most expensive city in the world is tough. It's tough because the city is so huge that you get lost so easily. It's tough because things are expensive, Oxford/Regents streets kill pockets. It's tough because people are tough.

Most people in the uni are going back home. I think I am the only one in a few people who is going to spend the Christmas and new year in London. The holiday is kind of long and thus I took 5 days off, visitng my sister and cousin in Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK.

I enjoyed the first 2 or 3 days in my sister's hostel. The place is kind of OK, it is very close to her uni, and the uni is not in the city (that's the main point). Even if it is in the city, it's still so much different to London and you have to believe me when I tell you this, the second largest city in the UK is not actually large anyway!

I really really don't know how I am going to survive if my uni is located outside the city, in 'ulu ulu' place like Univ. of Birmingham for instance. I mean, you've got nothing else to do apart from lectures! It's not like you could skip lecture and go to see Daniel Craig premiere of Quantum of Solace in Leicester Square. *Cough cough* One good thing about Univ. of Birmingham is that it is huge! 10 times larger than my tiny small UCL located in central of London. They've got many green fields, their own football field and WIDE pedestrian. It reminded me of how pathetic it is for us UCL folks to walk on narrow pedestrian which could only fit one side forward and the other backward. ;[

Anyway, I started feeling bored of Birmingham after 2, 3 days and some of my friends said I'm addicted to London? Gosh, hell no! That's like one of the worst thing ever that'll happen to me. Addicted to London?? my goodness! (and well, I actually feel better when I came back in London but that doesn't mean I'm addicted to it, does it?)

on the train feeling bored

~爽~

今天的心情，只有这个字 ‘爽’ 可以形容。

我把这个字放在我的MSN，然后就很多懂华文的人就来问我为什么这么爽。我就让他们猜咯。那个丘浩丹，头脑还真是歪，‘你不是virgin了哈？’......真是有一点swt，这样都被他想出来。不过hoh,如果有一天我不是了，我也不会大庭广众post出来啦！神经病才这么做。

好了，为什么爽 呢？？？

因为我今天跟两位Malaysian美女出去逛街，而且还吃了Malaysian食物！！！最重要的是，我讲的是古晋呛的华文！！！songz!

我们首先去号称全欧洲最大间的shopping mall，而且今年十月底才开的。真的很新！很漂亮！不过呢，大间我就不敢说啦，因为KL有很多比它更大的。不过设计什么都是很漂亮的。。

然后呢，就去找吃的。Malaysian食物！！而且是大马政府有部分津贴的，所以很便宜。一餐才£4.50。
后来就在那里聊天聊到几个小时那边。讲的是古晋呛华文！！从来没有这么爽过。因为hoh，跟台湾人或是中国人讲话，不懂为什么我会觉得我到底是不是在讲华文。不过呢，事实是虽然他们的华文都讲得会比我好（我认为我的口语也不错啊），不过我认为我可以写得比他们好！（因为多数在我大学的中国，台湾人都是在这里念书念几年了的）

跟这两个美女在一起虽然只有不到半天，但是我真的是感觉自己在家乡。一起大炮，一起笑大大声。一起说‘lakia!’ （太久没有说那个字了）lol

还是一个字，爽！！

到底这两个美女是谁呢？？？

黄伊娃 跟 陈美芬 啦!!!!

那个伊娃呢，还是没有变。一样疯狂！跟他在一起不用怕没有话题说的
美分呢，变美了！！因为第一次看到她没有带牙套！LMAO xD
真的很高兴可以看到他们的说！！！

今天， 我觉得我的华文进步了！
=)

I think I got a job

Few months ago I was desperately looking for a job, but to no avail.

I sent out CV (I thought mine was pretty crap), cover letter, but I never got any replies apart from the ones which I was rejected.

This term was really busy so I didn't really have much time to go out + I need to save money..

So I dropped off the idea.. maybe I just wasn't meant to work in this hectic term.

Couple days ago I got an email from titicaca.co.uk travel, saying that they're recruiting people to expand their business in different part of England. So they need some enthusiastic and responsible people to be their regional sales representative. They prefer people who can speak Mandarin & English, preferably current student.
(Who could be better than Me ???) *smile*

I was thinking, maybe this is the sign. As I was thinking who would ever email people directly to offer a job? Aren't they supposed to post it or advertise somewhere where people can see it?
Without having too much second thought, I corrected my CV and wrote a very appealing and outstanding cover letter to express my enthusiasm, and sent it off literally 2 hours after I read that email.

Finally within 24 hours time, I got a reply.
In order to know me better and to assess my suitability, I was given an employment assessment task. It was all in Mandarin, I guess they wanted me to show that I can speak/write in Mandarin?
It took me freaking two hours to complete those simple questions, longer than anyone would ever expected.
*Reason for that :
1, I had to make it looks good
2, I simply forgot how to write proper Mandarin. Crap!

Anyway, I got reply from them today. Again, it's within 24 hours!! (efficient!)

''感谢你一直以来对TITICACA.co.uk旅行社的支持 (我才懂你两天！！），也很高兴你能喜欢销售代表这个位置（因为可以赚钱和获得staff discount ---我忘了怎么说staff discount in 中文）。通过你在测试卷中所提到的信息和个人想法，我们能体会到通过你的聪明和努力一定能够充分胜任这份工作（那当然！）......''

Ok. Now I think I would have enough money to really chill out and actually have fun by next term!
(not to mention discount staff rate for travelling? BIG GRIN)

Date with sexy Oxford/Regents Street

Oxford Street, one of the world class shopping streets which is the busiest over the whole Europe.

Regents Street, any major shopping streets in London which cuts through the middle of Oxford Street, help forming the Oxford Circus.
So what is it like shopping or just walking on these fabulous streets??

Actually this wasn't my first time walking on the streets. Since they are both in centre london and I live in centre london, these two streets have been one of my often-walking place. Now what is so different about my recent visit, that's what I can't wait to tell you.

As you all know christmas is approaching and what makes christmas so special in London is the decoration around it. The weather(winter) has definitely added a plus on it, also the recent credit crunch (cause everything has to go down, and that's why there is sales going on now).

The weather was pretty good this morning, and so I decided to have a day out in the city.

Obviously it is weekend and people here like to shop a lot so some guy just decided to block Oxford Street and Regents Street from vehicle (cause they know how bad it feels to squeeze yourself around two narrow sidewalk with massive number of shopping freaks).

Of course who will ever miss this once in a year event ?? Even though those silly trucks and public vehicle were forbidden to enter, the crowd still filled it up. Probably christmas sales and christmas light decoration are too attractive, like a big hoover sucking people from different places!

Not just the sales that worth your time and energy. There were loads (!) of christmas road show going on, and the crazy christmas deals! Oh gosh, I am so gonna drown here if my aunt wasn't there. Everything looked wonderful! The people, the spirit, the decoration, and everything other thing reflect how different people over here celebrate christmas compare to those back home. Everyone around has showing this extreme christmassy spirit and I got influence by being so excited about this momentous occasion. After all, it's my first christmas in winter at the place where I was dying to be. CHRISTMAS, I AM SO READY !!!!!What about Madagascar visit the town??? >
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Or maybe seeing Calvin Klein underwear model live show ????


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TADA!!!

SEXY !!


HOT!!!

AND IRRESISTIBLE
Taste the difference of real, hot, live model !!

I can't help but seeing a lot of high-ians surrounding outside the shop! Lots of squealing as if they have reached orgasm.. Duh~

AHHHHHH

AHHHH
Having exam tomorrow, and it consists of 6% of the overall mark at the end of the academic year. Well, I'm basically in holiday mood right now, so I may just make donation tomorrow perhaps?? It's christmas season, by mean of DONATION PERIOD anyway!!! So if I screw up the test I won't feel too bad! :D

Cant wait for pub crawl!! Cant wait for skipping lecture to go Europe's largest shopping mall (actually some in KL is larger) !! Cant wait for German Christmas Market !!! AHHHH
~I'm kind of rebellious~ *but only sometimes* (I'm not normally like that)

Crap, this old bad habit just never fade.. Whatever.. this is like once in the lifetime stuff so it shouldn't turn out too bad..

Anyway, good luck to my exam tomorrow!!

(hate that freaking chloroform bitting my finger now and it's freaking painful)
(and THAT particular finger was licked by the stove again ??)

I don't want to lose my finger, SERIOUSLY !!!!

AHHHHH