But Every Night With Us Is Like A Dream

Sometimes all it takes us for us to look up at the stars and realize how small we are.

Pride. Greed. Envy. If you follow the going on around the world you'll surely be shocked by the attack on Paris. A normal reaction from an attack so horrid would be to sympathize and mourn for the innocent lives lost. But humans are fickle things. We are more driven by our sins. Envy. Instead of mourning for Paris, some people would rather say they will not stand selective media and mourn for the attacks on Syria, Beirut and various other atrocities happening all over the world. In order to feed their pride, they will try not to be mainstream and protest against Facebook having a filter just for France. They are so desperate to get noticed, they'll be willing to say anything. Social media plays a huge part in everyone's lives. It stays alive by capitalizing on our fickle nature. We feel happy when a post get a tonne of likes, we get jealous when someone's got more shares and comments on the same post you shared, we can't get enough attention. Sometimes I wonder if the world have always been this way or was I too young to notice the reality.

So.... it's been forever since I write something here. Actually it's only been slightly over a month haha. I think i say this before but usually I only post when I have a random thought I want to rant but do not want to post it on Facebook. Ironically after writing this I will share onto Facebook lolol.

It's been 3 years and counting since I've come to Pahang. Initially when I first arrive and saw the cows, I thought I won't be able to do anything here but study and stare at the trees. Now, 3 years later, although I still stare at the trees and cows but didn't do much studying, I managed to experience a lot of things I thought I wouldn't been able to try. I've traveled a lot on my own. Learned to be more independent and not die on a random street somewhere.

So in the latter half of the mid semester break I went to Kuching to attend Qiu Xi's convocation. First time stepping on East Malaysia!

The fooooood. Actually I ate whole lot more but I forgot to take pictures of them heh

Congratulation Yong Sue Teng! Thank you for being my tour guide when Qiu Xi is busy 

Congratulation Loo Qiu Xi! Who knew your outspoken personality would help you own uni :P Thank you for hosting me and bringing me around doing what I love the most, EATTTT. It was fun being in Sarawak.

But.... reality kicks in and I gotta write 3 chapters of Thesis in two weeks lolol

Heartbreak is The National Anthem

"They say love is based on effort. I say that is a lie. Love is about meeting expectations. Let's say you wanted cold water. I put all my effort and fan the water so it's cold but one day someone comes along and puts ice in your water and that person turns out to be all you're looking for. Love is not something wholly based on effort. Its about meeting expectations." -Anonymous

Every time I write something I'll always say it's been ages since I posted here and well it's kinda true for every post. Once a while when I have a random thought I'll blog about it but these days random thoughts are getting scarce.

So as I step into final year, so many things is coming to an end. The final monsoon. The final year of playing frisbee. The final year of getting late to class because a cow blocked the road like a boss. The final year of looking at pictures of Hokkien Mee to keep your sanity. The final year to drive 7 hours just to get back home. The final year to stress about how much food to store to prepare for the winter. The final year to argue pointlessly on Facebook about extremist university rules which forbids my sexy knobbly knees.

Final year comes with a lot of final chances to do so many things. It's closer to the beginning of a new chapter in life. A lot of times I worry about what am I going to do with my life after I grad, if i grad *touches wood*. To be honest my short term goal is now to work and earn as much as I can so I can be able to see as much of world before I am confined to an office looking at a screen for the next 30 years of my life.

But for now I just hope everything goes well in the final year.

I miss Penang hipster foooood

UMP lyfe, trying to be a Pokemon Master

The beware of cows crossing sign ain't a lie

True love is how a dog look it's owner

Turtles can be hipsters too

I LOVEEEEEE BEACHES

and playing frisbee in the sun

#thuglife

Bae Suzy <3

Everything is volatile.

Screaming, Crying, Perfect Storms

"Love is not wholly based on effort. People are puzzle pieces. No matter how much effort you put in, you can't change someone's shape just to fit yours. One day someone who fits her perfectly comes and you'll be left alone reminiscing the moments. Another way to put it, she wants cold water. You put all your effort into fanning the water making it cold but one day someone comes along and put ice cubes in the water. He's just everything she's looking for."

I still talk about pokemon and play dota like a 17 year old but I just realized when I meet up with my peers, let it be from school mates or uni mates. we talk not about dota and pokemons but about work, politics, MYR being higher than our CGPAs and our looming future after graduating. Hopefully

I've always think of myself as a childish person who plans just what to eat for the next meal but when I meet up with my friends I realized I grew up without realizing. As much as I want to stay the whimsical kid who sees a pack of dogs as the mafia, a part of me slowly grew up and get in touch with reality. A part of me starts to have worries, worries which in a year or two ago I didn't know even exists.

This made me realize we can't never ever stay the same way ever. No matter how much you wish to stay the same, unless you change and grow, you will never gain anything. It's the same as your phone. Do you wish to use a sturdy Nokia 3310? Trying to read a map to find directions? If you miss those moments in the past, keep it in memory. It's the only place where moments can last an eternity.

It's been ages since I last posted something. I remember I started this blog posting hand made presents hoping I'll get spotted and get a start up to open up a gift shop. Now this blog have changed to a place where I pour my thoughts for me to look back how much I have changed over the years.

Being two weeks away from going back to university, going into final year, getting one step closer to being a graduate, I wonder what the future holds for me

Everything changes but PIK NIK remains to be my favorite hipster joint

I'm Yours

“Aw, I’m sorry Finn. But look man, let me share with you a little secret on how to win the heart of a princess. It’s not easy, but you have to be persistent.You might have to defeat a demon lord and warp through several worlds.

But once you do, you walk up the wizard stairs and produce your magic key you got in the water world to unlock the chamber door.

Then, you walk right up to the princess and give her a smooch."

Jake the Dog

Best. Show. Ever

Perhaps now I am at the phase where I am trying to find out what I want to achieve in life and I just realized I just want to slay monsters and protect the Land of Ooo with a magical dog and win the heart of Princess Bubblegum. Going into season 5 now, I'm starting to question whether this show is really for children.

Watching cartoons reminds me of the innocence of childhood. The carefree days when we can always go on an adventure and we are only bound by the limits of our imagination. 

I admire people who are very objective. To be honest I have yet to discover what I want to do in life other than things which seems pretty much whimsical. I want to travel the world. Teach English. Help in animal shelters. Eat everything around the world. Become a floor sweeper for Taylor Swift concerts.

I pretty much want to do random things all my life but I'm only bound by one thing. Reality. Where will I get the money to travel the world? I'm awesome with a broom but there are no job vacancies in Taylor Swift's team. I always think to myself, I don't want to grow old and always regret not taking the opportunities that was present at the moment.

But for now I am quite contempt with everything that I've experienced so far. I've get to see Taylor Swift live in the RED Tour. I get to jump off a bridge and survive! Okay I'm kidding I went for bungee jumping in New Zealand. I get to teach English in Vietnam which awaken my inner Vietnamese and I get the proud feeling when I see Vietnam getting mentioned. I've managed to get into a university in the middle of the forest which somehow is a blessing.


Nope I'm just kidding. I'm just saying all this random stuff to avoid facing an intense week of tests, assignments, quizzes and trainings.

I just want to sit around and play with my figurines

And get a heart attack eating the best thing in the world

I promise to study when I finish season 5 *nods*

Down The Stairs, I Was There, I Remember It All Too Well

As I grow older, the world seemed to be more grim and dark then it was when I was still a kid. Perhaps I was still oblivious to the going on of the world being blissfully innocent when I was a child. Perhaps the world is always this way just that I did not notice it.

But then again looking back just about 10 years back, things truly have changed and a lot of it ain't for the better. Racism has always been a huge stigma in our society. Humanity's inability to accept differences and egos huge as Jupiter creates and breed hatred. Oh wow I did not know I can think and type in such fancy and bombastic words lolol.

Anyhow, I'm not sure it has been going on for a long time or otherwise, recently I felt as though there is a lot of hatred plaguing the society. Just take a look at the news for example, in the constitution we all have a freedom of speech, but whenever someone voices out their opinion which is out of the norm they get crucified and burn on a stake. Heck some even called for the girl who voiced out an opinion to be shot and raped. How is this acceptable in the society? For someone to be getting death threats just for speaking out a public opinion? I'm being vague here and try not to mention which issue I'm talking about because I don't want to get arrested

Hatred breeds hatred. Don't help the spreading of hate. Sometimes all it takes is just to swallow up that pride and accept people for being the way they are. You can change the world! Just don't get arrested

I just found how awesome historical facts can be

And I can't stop logging in and out of Facebook 

And leaving this image on every desktop I see

And I tried a new style of making cards

When you are young all you wanted to do is grow up and start doing things on your own. When you are in school, all you wanted to do is finish school as soon as possible and enter a university. When you are in a university, all you wanted to do is be a kid again and be blissfully ignorant.

We never know what life has in store for us. Most of the time we spend time working and wishing for things in the future or even the past. Perhaps all you should do is live on the present moment and cherish every moment because time will not turn back.

Yeah You and Me We Can Light Up The Sky

"Nice to meet you, where have you been? I could show you incredible things"-Blank Space

Sometimes I get annoyed by the fact that I'm stuck in a forest far away from home because I did not study hard enough and ended up here but looking back, I realized life ain't that bad being here. If I did not ended up in UMP, I would not have joined AIESEC. I would not have met so many people with different experiences. I would not have learn to speak 5 words in a second. I would not have another family. I would not have gone to Vietnam. I would not have discover the greatest creation on earth which is the holy glory banh mi.

I'm always annoyed by the fact that I got decent results and I still ended up in form 6. But again everything happens for a reason. If I did not go to form 6, I would not have met classmates I'll meet every holiday. I would not have learn from awesome, well most of them are teachers who taught me a little more on life beyond books. I would not have went to Viper Challenge. I would not be limping for 3 days due to muscle aches from the challenge hahah. 

Anyhow main point is no matter where you end up, life will always have something in store for you. You may not realize it at that moment but perhaps in a day, a week, a month or even a year later incredible things could happen. Life is full of incredible things. All you gotta do is don't lose hope. 

Family 1

I convinced a lot of people I am a Vietnamese

It hurts but it's fun

The team

I gotten so tanned even facebook thought I was my otter

Form 6 family

Who love to go for dim sum early in the morning which I always struggle to go

Family 2

New Project! I don't know how to use photoshop hence Powerpoint lolol

 Looking back again sometimes I do wish I am doing creative arts design, writing or even teaching than try to figure out the transfer for an electrical and mechanical control system. But hey everything happens for a reason. Who knows one day I will be travelling the world teaching kids and changing the world.

Life is bliss if you always have hope.

'Cause We're Young and Reckless

Things I want to do in life:

1. See snow.
2. Go bungee jumping.
3. Visit Paris and Tokyo
4. Watch Taylor Swift live.
5. Go on an exchange  
6.  So many things

It's been two weeks (exactly 14 days) since I returned to Malaysia and I finally decided to write about my exchange in Vietnam. To be honest I was too lazy and I just spend all my time watching Adventure Time, playing dota and stuffing my face with oranges

As you can see from the list above, I managed to cross out another item off the things I must do before I die. Being an AIESECer I learn about how meaningful and life changing an exchange experience can be. It would be quite ironic for me to tell everyone so much and so awesome this program is and I did not go on an exchange on my own. So last winter, I decided to go on an exchange. Realistically I know if I don't go for it that moment I will not go for it ever again. Thus in order to make the exchange a reality, I have to overcome a huge barrier

MONEY

I do not want to ask my parents to sponsor my exchange because it's something I felt I must earn for it myself. So last summer instead of eating my way around Penang like usual I worked for 45 days non stop to earn enough cash. I like to earn money, I dont like to work hahaha but I am thankful for that experience as I managed to improve my Mandarin tremendously. 

Okay it's been a while since I wrote and I am being very long winded. In short, I work my butt off during the summer and saved as much money as I can during my semester to ensure I can go on an exchange. 

So with my tight budget I decided to go on an exchange to Vietnam. I was not that picky on the project to be honest. I wanted to go on an environmental project but I end up getting selected for Global Passport, a national project hosted by AIESEC in Ho Chi Minh

Global Passport is a project which aims to improve the English speaking skills of the university students of Vietnam. Everyone speaks Vietnamese and the youths do not have much opportunity to speak English. By giving the students the opportunity to interact with interns from all over the world, they will be able to improve their speaking and also make them more competent in order to compete in the growing ASEAN region. 

So on 11th January midnight I departed from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. I arrived at 4am and took the 5am bus to the airport. I then took my 8:00 am flight and whoa la~

Goodbye Malaysia!

Hello Saigon! You can tell it's Sai Gon from the hazy air haha

So I arrived on 9:30 am Saigon time which is about one hour behind Malaysian time. In a way I traveled to the past!

Culture shock number one

Imagine you replace all the car in Kuala Lumpur with motorcycles and you get Sai Gon. Millions of bikes everywhere. The traffic is intense. 

Behind this yellow helmet is me holding my check in luggage and my hand carry bag and holding on to dear life. 

Sai Gon has a very high population. The city is very crowded and packed with people and motorcycles. Crossing the road would take tremendous courage. Okay I'm being a little dramatic but still the traffic is insane and it freaked me for a bit when I try to cross the road. 

Culture Shock Number Two

Everything is in Vietnamese. There is Chinese characters in somee districts

The medium of communication is Vietnamese so everyone speaks Vietnamese. It doesn't really help when you look like a local so people tend to speak Vietnamese to you as well. Usually the students or the AIESECers will aid us when we order food or get around. I rely heavily on body language to buy food alone or getting directions. 

Everything takes a while to get used to so after a few days the traffic don't look that scary anymore. After a few weeks, the language seems more understandable. 

Basically what I do everyday in Vietnam is going to classes from Monday to Saturday from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Sometimes we have meeting to discuss and plan the class content and on Sunday we have activities organized by the project team. 

Content Meetings

Class is in session!

The topic for season 8 of Global Passport is Multiculturalism. Our job is to create fun and interactive activities which gives the student a chance to speak while using multiculturalism as the topic. The class began quite awkwardly initially but after a while the students start to settle in and it was just pure fun and joy. 

Aside from the classes there are other key activities for this project. The highlight event is Cultural Day which is similar to a global village. The class interns are tasked with organizing the content of the event with the aide of the students. 

Before I arrived in Sai Gon everyone know I was a VP -.- By default they selected me to be the Organizing Committee President tasked with handling Cultural Day. It was not an easy task. I only have 9 days to get everything done. I rely heavily on the students and put my faith in them. 

It was a very hectic week which I kinda forsaken my class responsibilities to focus more on this event. In the one week before the event I was physically in class but mentally away ahaha. 

Seeing how hard they worked with a tight deadline made me very proud of them

I am so proud and thankful to everyone who poured their time and energy and made this event a success. To be honest I was worried for a long time it might be a disaster because of the short time given but yay trust is essential. I put my complete faith in the team and they did not disappoint. 

I may be quite immature in the way I behave but I am quite mature in my thinking. As you grow older you will realize there is more to the world than just about yourself. Sometimes you got to put others ahead of yourself. I guide the students in a way that I let them do things on their own more rather than just taking orders from me. I am so happy to see this event became a very good chance for the students to interact and bond with the other interns. They really connect.

Post cultural day, classes resumed as usual but I can see the students are more closer to the interns whom they worked with.

And that was the aim of this project. It was to give youths a chance to speak English with people from all over the world. 

In the end of the classes there is a final exam. That time is when we knew we had made a difference. Some of the students love to speak but there are some who are always quiet. The quiet ones are the who surprise me the most in the final exam. They can really speak well! Nonetheless the satisfaction from seeing how much the students have learnt and grown in the past 4 weeks truly will be an eternal memory. 

While I was in Saigon I had the opportunity to stay with a host family. The other interns all stay in hostel whereas I opted for host family. The only down side is that I became a Cinderella. The parents usually sleep early and the daughter has school in the morning so I can't stay out late. But to be honest I've never regretted choosing a host family.

It gave me the opportunity to bond and learn with the family and I am very grateful for everything they have done for me. They do not know me at all but the treated me like family from day one. Even the son Hy who didn't talked to me at all at first come to my room and play with me whenever I am home. The mother, Ms Thuy will always try to talk to me even though there is a language barrier sometimes. The father, Mr Minh even trusted me with his motorcycle. And finally the daughter, Thy always open the gates for me when I get home from class and talk to me about random things. Living with a host family really made my exchange more awesome. 

So after 31 days, it's time to say goodbye to Saigon

Time to say goodbye to the hazy air

Goodbye to the students 

And goodbye to the interns 

It has been an awesome experience. Getting to know people from all over the world and knowing there are people out there who is more obsessed with Taylor Swift than you are. The most eye opening experience was actually my visit to a HIV afflicted children home. The caretaker asked us not to post any photos of the children on social media so I did not post any to respect his request. There was one girl who was quite attached to me. I can't speak Vietnamese but that did not refrain her from trying to communicate with me. The heart breaker moment is when she asked if I will come back next week and I had to say no :(

In short this exchange is awesome but to say it was life changing perhaps not so. Maybe it's because I'm living in the city so things were quite similar in Malaysia. The only main difference was the language. The people whom I've met made the exchange memorable. I will cherish the time we walked around aimlessly in the city or the time we became tourists and visit the attractions spots or just wandering around in the middle of the night looking for food. I will miss the busy city and the insane traffic but most of all 

I MISS BANH MI

'There is a reason God limits our days.Why?To make each one precious.'

Mitch Albom

Your life is your own story book. Do not fill the pages with regrets. It's a grim way to say it but the very last page is death. Thus before we reach the last page, fill the other pages with colorful experiences. It's the experiences that make up your life story.Where there's a will there's a way. All you have to do being brave enough to take the first step.