30th Oct 2007 - Lamb Chop

Last Friday evening, while I was walking back after my lecture, an air of gloominess surrounded me while darkness obscured my vision. It was just a quarter past 6, yet it seem like the night had gone on forever… Despite being shrouded in darkness, I felt otherwise. It was a new experience for me, someone from the tropics, who only knew the Sun would rise and set for fixed hours a day back in Singapore. Last weekend was also the end of daylight saving, in which the time in UK would be pushed back an hour following the end of daylight saving. I was pretty intrigued by this whole “episode”!

I had my 1st picnic in the UK at Durham’s botanic garden. I thought my friend was crazy for organizing a picnic without a regard for the chilly weather. Fortunately for us, the temperature rose and it wasn’t as cold as usual. It was good company as well, and I was glad I went for the picnic despite my initial reservations about it. The garden isn’t as big as the botanical garden in Singapore, but it was really amazing to see lambs roaming about the garden. I felt, for a brief moment, that I was in New Zealand! Haha, I think lambs are really gluttons. When I entered the garden, they were eating non-stop. When I left, they were still eating, seems like all they do each day is just munching and munching non-stop. I wonder why they don’t get fat. Also, there is only one single ram in the entire lamb population. It’s akin to the “emperor” of China and his harem of “concubines”. Lucky ram I must say!

Recently, I went to the Metrocentre near Newcastle. It’s touted as one of the biggest shopping malls in Europe. It was pretty impressive when I 1st arrived there, a little overwhelmed by the size of it. However, after spending several hours there, I began to feel that much of its fame is over hyped. I would still prefer shopping in London because the shops or boutiques there don’t carry as wide a range as those in the capital. It’s quite a shame since the Metrocentre is supposed to be THE place to be at, I think…

I have just gotten myself a good nonstick pan today, haha, quite happy with my purchase. The 2 previous cheapskate nonstick pans I bought were around 6 SGD each and both were spoilt within 2 weeks of cooking. I’m sure I took care of my pans, after several initial disastrous episodes with nonstick utensils! Anyway, my future sister-in-law said I gotten a good deal with my new Tefal pan. It’s relatively cheap even when compared to Singapore prices. Found out that the Tefal pans cost roughly the same whether it’s in the UK or in Singapore. By the way, hehe, my fried rice is much nicer now and so is my aglio olio pasta… My Taiwanese friend said my food always looks nice to eat, but I told her that looks are deceiving! My British flat mate also commented that I seem to know how to cook well, I guess it’s just my poise when I cook, ever charming and professional!

Oh yes, before I end off, there was a stupid fire alarm this morning at 7.15am! There was no way you could stay in your room and carry on sleeping, unless you're already dead haha. Every room has a fire alarm and it's so bloody loud that I bet that even the corpses from cemeteries miles away have woken up for this fire drill as well! Furthermore, you can't just step out in your shirt and shorts because it's so cold, still had to change into my jeans and donned on my jacket... zzz... going back to "sleep" now!

24th Oct 2007 - Cold Start

I had a cold start to my day this morning. It wasn’t because I had a late night or that the weather was negative 1 or 2 degrees Celsius through the night. It was because the boilers and heaters for the water and room respectively weren’t functioning. Gosh, there was no way I could shower in the cold water when the temperature was around 2 degrees Celsius in the morning. Think I would get hypothermia… I’m wondering how can some British girls wear so little at night, which is much colder than during the day, when they go out to a bar or club. It’s crazy… perhaps they have thicker skin than us Asians? My British friend in my course always pokes fun at me, saying it isn’t cold though I always lament to him that the weather’s cold. So I came up with a good rebuttal line “I’m from the equator, where there’re coconut trees!” Haha, anyway the weather is going to get colder, so I’d better get a pair of gloves and my winter coat before I become a snowman on the streets.

This morning, as I walked towards school, despite feeling very cold since it’s just a tiny weenie bit above zero degrees Celsius, I noticed that the grass patches had a slight whitish glaze over them. It was quite nice actually, though it means that winter is just around the corner. I made a mental note to myself that the first thing that I’m going to do when I return to my room was to take a nice hot and long bath. I was gambling on the fact that the heaters/boilers would be repaired by then, anyhow the technicians are pretty efficient from my experience because this was the second time it happened. However, the first instance this happened, they took a much shorter time to rectify the problem. It looked like my gamble paid off, as I could feel “warmth” being radiated from the heaters when I reached my room. But, I didn’t take a hot shower immediately. Something much more urgent required my complete attention. I had to “bake” a cake in the toilet! Imagine walking for 20 minutes or so out in the cold, mind you, it’s upslope all the way, and trying to curb/control your tummy. It’s not funny, haha I was in a distressed state! I’m sure most of you people never had the urge to clear your bowels with the very cold weather making your situation much direr.

Talking about toilets, this reminds me of something. My British friend once said to me “you’re proud to be Americanized right?” I was in a blurred state when he said that as I had no clue as to what prompted him to make that remark. Then he carried on saying that I always want to drink Starbucks and I use the phrase “I have to go to the washroom”. I found out that British people just say they need to go to the toilet and they use bog as well, though this term is a very crude word for toilet. I once told my friend that the banks in UK are quite “anal” about details and she burst out laughing, saying they don’t use that over here in UK.

Anyway, I think I’m settling into life here over in the UK. It’s not as fast paced as Singapore, a laid back kind of feeling, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing except for when you need something done quickly and because of the way the system works, it really drives you nuts. Well, going to study now, hope everything’s going fine for you guys…

21st Oct 2007 - Purpose

It has been a while since I last posted an entry, hence I decided not to procrastinate my blogging. Actually, blogging is something one does when he’s free, so perhaps it shouldn’t be thought of as procrastinating? My life has been held up by school work, giving me way lesser time now to write a blog entry. Also, what can be so interesting about school? The only amusing thing I observed while in school is when my English lecturers couldn’t spell some English words properly, which is an irony.

Yesterday was a day filled with events for me. I went to a Japanese festival organized by Teikyo University in Durham. It seems like Japanese students would go there for 5-10 months for some lessons in English, so as to improve their command of English and then to return to Japanese to complete their degrees. The festival wasn’t a very large one, it was actually not really exciting or interesting. I had some Japanese food, but the Yakisoba that I had wasn’t nice. The food was prepared by the students so you can’t really expect much. Luckily it was cheap! I think I only enjoyed the banana with chocolate fondue, which isn’t considered Japanese food. However, my Japanese friend told me that they usually have that during occasions. Oh yes, I tried the Japanese rice cake which I went for seconds. It’s similar to the “muachee” (or something like that) that we have in Singapore, though the rice cake was much smoother and the peanut coating wasn’t too thick. There was also a cultural dance which I thought was the most interesting event of the day since it’s something you don’t see often, unless you’re in Japan.

In the evening, I attended my first concert in the UK. It was the world premiere of the Durham Concerto which was aptly held at the Durham Cathedral. The orchestra performing was the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and boy were they awesome. The pieces they played not only resonated within the old stone walls of the Cathedral but the music resounded within my heart as well. It tuck at the chords of my heart, making me feel melancholic and nostalgic at certain points during the concert when the melody set a somber ambience. The concert was segmented into 3 parts which were “morning, afternoon and night”. The pieces echoed the feelings of the composer when he witnessed Durham in the morning, afternoon and night. He was trying to recreate the feeling that this castle city of Durham gave every visitor during the different parts of the day. I personally liked Durham in the afternoon because it was imaginary and the tune was mellow and thought provoking. The pieces played were trying to depict the pilgrimage of St Cuthbert and his followers. For some background information, he is the saint which led to the birth of Durham City as his followers decided to lay him to rest here. The cathedral in where he was put to rest was voted one of the best cathedrals in the world, if I’m not mistaken, and is also a world heritage site. Looks like I’m in a historically rich city!

After the concert, it was freezing and I was so tempted to take a taxi but my friends wanted to walk. The weather in Durham has been rather erratic. It can be so cold (6 degrees Celsius and below) on several consecutive days, including the mornings and afternoons and yet the very next day can be warm only to be freezing at night again. Thankfully, I bought a nice thick hoodie to keep me warm. Haha, I think I asked several of my friends for their opinions on it before buying it since I’m pretty indecisive about it. You guys should know who you are, so thanks a lot! Anyway at night, my college converted our bar into a club. I didn’t feel like going but my friends wanted to since it’s the opening of this “club” at our college. I think this event would occur once a month or fortnight. Anyway it was pretty boring and dumb because you have to pay an entrance fee to enter our very own bar. Not to mention, the crowd’s the same, it was the Butler crowd and there were few outsiders. I thought it was a waste of time, not going to go for it again… This concluded my eventful Saturday.

It’s nearly 1am now and I still want to do some work before I sleep, so I’m going to try to end off on a funny note. I have this friend from the Philippines who’s doing his masters in law. He’s not only smart but rich, think he has a masters in public affairs from Japan as well as two bachelors in law and political science. For you girls thinking that he might be a good catch, too bad I can’t introduce you to him because he’s married to his doctor wife who’s currently working as a specialist in America. Anyway, he told me something funny. He was telling me that some people who left the Philippines for several years go back there saying that they forgotten how to speak in their native language because they were abroad for a couple of years. He asked me “Denis, do you know how to test if they truly forgotten how to speak?” Of course I didn’t have a clue and so he told me, you just set the dogs on them and suddenly they will be able to curse and swear in their native language while being chased hot on their heels. Haha, he also told me something else which is funny, but I think it might be offensive to post it here. It’s regarding Philippinos anyway, and I always tell him jokingly that he discriminates against his own countrymen. So for those of you who want to know what it is, just drop me a message ya?

This weekend has been pleasant for me except for an isolated incident. I prayed about it in Church since I’m quite at a lost now. All I know is that God blesses us with gifts for a purpose and likewise, these gifts may be taken away for a purpose…

11th Oct 2007 - Fairy Tale Morning

My morning began rather nicely like a fairy tale… reckon most people would have come across tales of frogs turning into charming princes after being kissed by a princesses. This morning, I was lucky to experience such an encounter. However, I wasn’t the frog who was kissed. Instead, the “princess” took the role of the frog and I, the prince. No, I didn’t kiss the frog, just in case you’re curious. All I had was a frog for company on my way to school. To be honest, I feel that not many people look good in green, but the frog did look pleasant in green, after all, since it’s a frog right?

Well, the past few days or week since school began were mentally draining for me. The need to get into the studying cycle once again, the need to be disciplined, the need to even get out of bed early, all these needs took a toll on me. I felt I’ve become more moody and less friendly, maybe it’s true? I haven’t really met up with my international friends, except bumping into them occasionally after lectures or classes. Guess everyone has started to get busy, but as our Vice-Chancellor said “do not let your studies get in the way of your education.” I seriously wonder how many would adhere to his words. I do agree with him to some extent. Many people think that university is all about academic results, but in my opinion, it’s rather untrue. A complete university education isn’t only about studying but comprises of one’s personal development i.e. time management, learning to prioritize issues, facing challenges etc. Now I’m wondering why did I even type the previous line, am I getting older or more mature?

Though I feel that I’m being drained of my life essence due to school, I was motivated to study and do more work today. I don’t know what had gotten into me, perhaps it’s due to having a good start to my day or maybe having a short day in school today left me with more free time to do my work. Anyway, I felt quite satisfied that I actually did more work than usual today, so much so that I ended up doing something funnily stupid. I wanted to have fried rice for dinner tonight, and I’m aware that overnight rice is better for fried rice. So I decided to cook my rice in the afternoon, and chill it in the fridge till dinner time. Alas, I was so engrossed in my work that I left the rice cooking in the pot for around an hour! When I realized that I left the rice cooking in the kitchen, it was too late by then. The whole kitchen smelt of something being burnt. Even up till now, which is roughly around midnight, the kitchen still has the burnt odour. My rice was totally charcoal black (my rice became rice crisp!), as though someone deliberately set fire onto it. To my utter dismay, my nonstick pot was also spoilt by the burnt rice. I really felt dumb, because I just spoilt my nonstick saucepan a couple of days again, and now something similar happened. Thankfully I have another 2 pots to use and not have to waste money purchasing another pot. So much for wanting to cook fried rice for dinner…

Well, it’s finally Friday. I’m sincerely glad for Friday to arrive as I feel I’m being overworked. It’s not that I have been mugging like crazy over the past 2 weeks, but I reckon my Singaporean mugging genes are setting in. Possibly only a matter of time, I hope or hope not, before I become a full-fledge NUS mugger in Durham. Well, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I have to bear in mind the words of my Vice-Chancellor as well!

6th Oct 2007 - Emotions

Over the past few days since I last wrote an entry in my blog, I tried cooking various meals. Gosh, my fried rice experiment was horrendous, the rice was bland despite the generous garnishing of prawns, sausages, shallots, garlic, onions, chilli, eggs etc. I even had problem cooking rice, I had to keep adding water to it and making sure it doesn’t dry up. It was quite embarrassing when my flat mate who’s half American/British told me he found it surprising that I couldn’t cook rice. Well, basically its underlying meaning is that Asians tend to eat much rice and for an Asian not to cook rice is kind of like a joke. I tried cooking Aglio Olio pasta as well. It was much better than my fried rice, but still not as nice as my cream pasta.

Speaking of food, I had a formal dinner last night. The attire’s the same as matriculation, a gown worn over a suit. It was a 3 course meal which I thought the appetizer tasted the nicest. I’m not sure what it is exactly as it’s the first time I tried it. The main course was chicken with some mushroom sauce, plus side veggies and potatoes. I seriously cannot comprehend how these Caucasians can stomach so much carbohydrate! Don’t they get tired of it? Guess not… The chicken wasn’t that good, but can’t really complain since it’s “free”. We didn’t have to pay for it, but it should be included into our hostel fees. Nothing is ever free in UK, maybe toilet paper? Haha, dessert was not too bad but was a tat too sweet for my liking. It was chocolate mousse cake I reckon. The setting for the dinner was quite nicely laid out. It was like in a restaurant and there was a “high” table in which all the important members of the college were being seated at. When they entered, we had to stand and when they left, the same applied. It’s really Harry Potter-ish except for the venue, if only it was in the castle! After the meal, there was entertainment in our bar/lounge. Think it was some Scottish dance and music and they were gathering people to dance along to the tune of it. Quite interesting I must say.

After hanging about the bar for a while, I went for a walk with a friend. Durham’s really safe at night. The number of policemen and vehicles in town were overwhelming. I think it’s because the only night entertainment is going to a restaurant/pub/club so you’re bound to drink. Though I’ve been out at night before with my friends, but it’s usually to chill out, I don’t really pay much attention to the surroundings. However, last night, I brought my friend to look at some marvelous scenery. Durham’s really pretty and majestic at night, and though I appeared to know the place inside out to my friend, I was pretty awed by the sight of the Cathedral and Castle at night. I was pleasantly surprised myself. On the way back, my crazy friend felt cold and wanted to run. Imagine running with our coats, it’s so unglamorous, so I told her we would only run when there’s no one around! Whenever I see people walking in our direction, I would tell her “remember we have to maintain our image!” When we got back, it was already midnight, didn’t realize that we were walking for an hour and half.

To think of it, although Durham’s one of UK’s top 10 university, I think, during matriculation, the vice-Chancellor kept bringing up Cambridge and Oxford as though there’s some rivalry. Well, I supposed there is, but pardon me for this, the whole world knows the above mentioned but not Durham University. I was amused that he had to speak of Durham University’s heritage and history, how it used to tower over Oxford and Cambridge. He also included the fact that Durham University was better in sports etc. Maybe he mentioned it to make the students feel proud of being in Durham, but I felt there wasn’t a need to talk about the past as it’s the present and future that matters.

My lectures began this week, and it wasn’t too good. I have to revise as I forgotten some 1st and 2nd year stuff. I had a Chinese (PRC) lecturer for a management module and it’s was quite hard to keep up with her as her spoken English wasn’t too good. Besides that, she wasn’t the least interesting and to make us pay attention, she omitted certain powerpoint slides in our notes so that we have to copy them while she’s flashing them on screen. The ridiculous thing was, she left out 2 pie charts and we actually had to draw them out. It doesn’t really make sense, does it? On my way back from lecture, it got me thinking, do I join the rest of the students in ridiculing her because of her English just so to fit in with the crowd or do I try to be empathetic towards her since I know what it feels like to be alone in a foreign country. It’s like a moral dilemma in a certain sense…

Today, I had a wonderful day. I spent my morning and early afternoon with a friend shopping in town in addition to buying groceries. I tasted my 1st good dose of chocolate here in Durham as well as in the UK. It was nice, after not pampering myself for such a long time. Haha, a month isn’t exactly a very long time, but when you’re abroad, you seem to lose notion of time. A point to note for girls, do NOT wear boots when you intend to do grocery shopping! Haha, you will end up whining that your feet are hurting because the pavements overseas aren’t always flat. Furthermore, you’re going to be carrying lots of stuff, so it’s not advisable to do so. You can try if you want to, but don’t say I didn’t warn you =P I went for my 1st hockey training today which turned out to be rather good. I thought that I would be embarrassed since I haven’t played hockey actively for 5 years since I entered the Army. Thankfully, I didn’t have to suffer the ordeal of being made a laughing stock. Time to count my lucky stars…

I have been feeling emotional over the past few days. Much of what I’ve experienced as a person has been bottled up within the depths of my heart. Coming over to UK did not in the slightest sense stir the emotions that lay deep within. For the past 3 weeks or so, I was merely living life on a daily basis, for the feelings that I experienced since arriving in the UK were those of loneliness and solitude. It’s hard to describe it all in words, but life was fine after I gotten used to living in UK and learnt cooking. My food doesn’t taste fantastic but it’s still edible. I remembered when I was young, I used to say eat-able. Funny isn’t it, how time flies without one realizing it. Someone actually managed to evoke all the feelings that were concealed in my heart, feelings of disappointment, betrayal and of being taken advantage of. It’s not that she did anything towards me, but somehow, through her questions and replies, these feelings started to diffuse slowly towards the surface and it made me felt very emotional. I started to think, “why am I feeling all these now”, to which I have no answer to, as of now. Perhaps, subconsciously, it’s because I don’t want to be bothered by my past so I rather appear as a jovial/easy-going/happy-go-lucky person to others as well as to concoct an outer-shell portraying me as a person who isn’t serious and just talks crap, as well as being sarcastic (Haha, I added being sarcastic for someone), without a worry in the world. While I’m typing this, time just ticks away silently, without waiting for anyone and myself still being unable to conceive my feelings. Would time give me an answer in time to come, perchance?

2nd Oct 2007 - My 1st encounter with cooking

I had a really busy day today, scurrying from place to place while carrying loads of stuff. Though I slept at 5am the night before, I was woken up at 8+ am by the college representatives to go for breakfast. It seems like during the orientation week, there’s some sort of breakfast being provided. Please don’t go all “wow”, because today’s breakfast is only toast plus some spread! Yesterday’s breakfast was much better, we had grill sausages and bacons to go with toast, which is lovely on a cold English morning. Anyway, I had to woke up early because I was supposed to meet a certain someone, of THAI origin (haha hope she reads this!), during breakfast. Apparently, I found out much later in the night that she didn’t go for breakfast. Guessed I got punked yet again… Haha, actually I had to wake up early anyway to go to town to get my tie as well as cooking utensils plus groceries. After starving last night with no dinner, I had to call a delivery which cost 5 pounds. It was then that I told myself that I’m not going to get caught in such a situation ever again. Thus began my journey into the aromatic world of cooking.

I had to travel from shop to shop so as to compare prices between the utensils i.e. saucepans and pots etc. It really isn’t cheap to buy your cooking utensils here, but it’s not like I’ve any other viable options. Buying groceries are expensive too, especially meat and veggies! 3 stupid garlic cost 90p, 4 onions cost 70p, 6 eggs cost 1 pound and so forth. Do the maths, and you realized that these veggies, that we take for granted in Singapore, are not cheap over in UK. I was in a mad rush shopping for my utensils, groceries and my neck tie because I had another appointment in the afternoon.

I was supposed to attend my college fair with my friends followed by the university fair in town. The college fair was really simple which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, the varsity fair was chaotic. The place was crammed and there were all sorts of peculiar societies such as paintball, varsity (this is misleading because it’s a bar, so I reckon this society is to promote drinking?) and many other societies which you wouldn’t find in Singapore because of the difference in our lifestyle and culture. Anyway, I feel that our matriculation fair back in Singapore is much better organized.

Though my day was jam-packed with activities, it was a satisfying day for me because I cooked for the 1st time in 23+ yrs of my entire existence! I whipped up a serving of cream based pasta, which I thought tasted pretty good. Hehe, I didn’t use the cream sauce from those ready made bottles, but I cooked it from scratch. Many thanks to my cooking teacher who showed me the art of making cream based pasta. I’m now looking forward to preparing my next meal as I’m going to experiment with another type of pasta which I never been taught. If only my engineering experiments are as interesting as cooking! Time to go for another round of grocery shopping tomorrow…

1st Oct 2007 - unInteresting

I haven’t blogged for several days now because I was caught up with college and varsity activities. The days seem to be rather preoccupied though at some point in time, it is quite boring, such as now for instant. Well, I thought there is going to be some dinner activity but apparently I’m mistaken. This kind of sucks as I didn’t get dinner from town earlier on when I was there. And I’m now just waiting for my Indian delivery to arrive in ½ hr’s time. It isn’t cheap, costing me 5 pounds but I don’t really have a choice now. Think I should invest in utensils and learn to cook some something simple. But I realized that even buying utensils isn’t cheap…

Quite a number of things have happened over these few days. I don’t really know where to begin from or what to write, guess I’m just crapping? I made several more friends, both international and locals, but we international students tend to bunch up together. Perhaps it’s because we known each other a few days earlier before the freshers arrived or maybe it’s a psychological thing? As we all are aliens in a foreign land, I suppose each of us seek solace and comfort in one another subconsciously be it that you’re from Asia or other parts of Europe. One French girl pointed out to me that it could be due to our age difference as most of the locals would be 18 or 19.

The English people are quite crazy when they’re high and drunk. My friends witnessed some Englishmen stripping off everything outside a pub, I mean literally everything, think their female companions were cheesed off by them till they left the table they were sitting with their male counterparts. Some bars/pubs close at 11 as well. It’s quite “cute” because they would ring a bell to inform everyone that they’re closing. But 11 pm is really kind of early.

The orientation over here isn’t as long as in Singapore, but I think KR’s orientation package is better? The highlight of each day is just drinking as there isn’t anything to do at night. I’m looking forward to Wednesday though because it’s matriculation. It’s going to be held at the cathedral which is really grand inside and all of us would don on a gown over our suits. It’s very Harry Potter-ish and damn cool! Would take some pictures when the time comes, time to charge my camera.

I met my exchange coordinator today and he was telling me that the local students who went to NUS for exchange were complaining to him that they really have to study very hard in Singapore when they were there. He told me that I shouldn’t have a problem and the number of school hours would be fewer than that of NUS or at most equivalent. I was relieved to find out that most of the lectures would be using notes instead of textbooks and that most lecturers would print out the notes for us. Hee, this saves me a lot of money on textbooks especially and printing notes in school. Sigh, I think this entry is so boring because I have nothing really interesting to talk about. Neither did I think much about life now since I’m quite preoccupied. Haha, no time to be emo as Pamela puts it! Well, at least tomorrow should be better with all the college and varsity fairs. Kind of looking forward to it actually as it’s a good avenue to meet more people. Pray my Indian food arrives soon, am famished! this is my 1st post for October and it's so uninteresting, sigh...