home and away.

yesterday president asked me what i missed most about lund and what was my most precious possession from lund..

i told her that at that moment of asking, i was really missing the running places behind sparta. strangely, i hardly took any pictures of it. the neighbourhood behind sparta was where i went walking and running, sometimes with friends and sometimes on my own. it was where i went to get away when the going away got too rough. it was where i could see the horizon when i ran, literally had more space to breathe(and this translates almost directly into emotional space) and felt safe even though it was hardly a familiar place. i guess it was a really open hiding place.

as for my most precious possession from lund, it's hard to say... things don't make sense without the memories and people they are linked with. i treasure the little gifts i got from friends there, memories of many meals shared, crazy self-invented trips, pictures i made throughout the six months on my own and with friends, and i still wear the bracelet that the girls in class got me at the end of the mad and wonderful semester i had together with them.

in other news, i went jogging with my brother at east coast park the other day, it had been a long time since we went on a jog together. after our run, we both felt like eating something, and it funnily turned out to be the same thing! sotongheads on a stick from old chang kee! (i still don't get why they call that bit of the sotong the head, aren't those tentacles legs??) and then i finally had bubble tea (honey ice blend!).

oddly enough, all my food cravings kinda dissolved when i got back to singapore, maybe cos i know that i can now eat the food anytime. but all the same, i was glad to finally have teochew muay with the eastern muay gang after so super long! the food is one thing, but the makan togetherness that is the essence of teochew muay was more the main thing lah. but i was also very happy to eat chai poh neng, fresh sotong, chai buay, and kiam neng again!! oh forgot to order fishcake!! haha nevermind, next round! soon!

hrmm, some of us are still on europe time in all senses of it, a little living in the six hours behind past and all but i guess we will adjust back to life here soon enough. i don't think i will be writing here much anymore, except maybe for lund related stuff. and to post up shots from the great backpacking trip with hun!

as for the friends i made on exchange that are all over the world now.. i know some of you want to know how i'm doing in singapore and all....so sorry that i won't be blogging much but do contact me on facebook or via email to counter the timezone barrier and stay in touch!!

the flown away days and the liao shang walk back.

alot was in my head as i went on my final walk. some words and images probably fell off my thought train along the way but here is what is left of it...

i spent the last few hours of sunlight in lund on my own walking from sparta back to marona's place. i had taken the bus to sparta feeling quite lost. i just recalled that i had wanted to take a few of those cute egg paper bags and also buy a few more little swedish picture books from ica-tuna, the supermarket that fed me for half a year.

as i walked i remembered paul saying that his last two stopover days in lund would probably be terrible cos he would literally see shadows of all of us, the people he had spent his time in lund with, everywhere in this street and corner with no one familiar around. i thought that was quite drama, but wah, tis true siah.

as i walked i was flooded with moving images of all the people - passerbys, friends, family and everyone in between - with whom i had walked, biked, driven, stumbled, laughed, ran, jogged, skipped and passed through these streets with.

as i walked i was thankful. for everyone and everything i have been blessed with in lund. days are impossible to re-live. we can only fondly remember and keep in touch.

leaving home was not easy. but going home hasn't been easy too.

home is where the heart is lah, but your heart fixed one meh? here, there and everywhere.

and so, this is goodbye to the goingawaydays. as for the people, we shall meet again someday! let's hope the world is as small as we all say it is. although i know i'm also the one who said the world is small but still not small enough sometimes.. ah well.

take care, be well, God bless and see you all here, there and everywhere.

posting back in time part two >>> 11th june 2007.

last big breakfast + last sunset. see you again in about a month dear lund! it is my last night in london now, will be off to see the president (of tpgg) soon tomorrow evening in eindhoven!

posting back in time part one >>> 6th june 2007.

my healthy family flying above lund on a wonderful little hill.

and....happy father's day papa!!

far, and a little away again. // 14th june 2007

heyos.

i am now in maner's apartment in london. wanted to post up pictures from the final days in lund with the family and friends but haven't had the time or state of mind. will do that later on maybe at olivia's or hun's.

the first day in london after leaving lund was kinda hard, it was only a 1.5hour flight yet it felt like i had gone so far away from it. i missed the place, the people, but these you can still revisit and reunite with. it is that certain time in your life when all these places and people came together quite magically, that certain time that you miss intensely and will still miss from time to time in the future because you will never relive them again. so how leh? be glad that you were blessed with those places and people during that certain time and treasure those
great memories lah.

otherwise i am quite enjoying london so far, especially the afternoon rambles into museums and random streets that i have been doing on my own the past two days.

and there are really alot of singaporeans in london it seems. i can hear them everywhere haha.

sommarhus // 1st to 3rd june 2007

last weekend we were at johan's family's summer house somewhere in blekinge, above skane. no drinks, no laptop, no traffic, just alot of trees, assorted nature sounds, five portions of great company, four rare cocoa bean cards, three floating flowers, two beautiful lakes and one fish. goodstuff. i quite miss it already, unexpectedly.

the last party with the classmates at OG's last week was also quite heartwrenching! and thanks for the dear bracelet. will wear it almost everywhere i go!

the family is here with me now and i just cooked the usual sesame oil chicken and chinese veg dish for them...looking through the abandoned food cupboards for cooking stuff made me suddenly emotional. arhhh. i never knew onions could make me tear without even having to chop them first!! onions kept so carefully in an airtight container somemore!! haii.. i miss the midnight bakery..

but i will be oke.. i will survive the final days in lund!!

last picnic // 1st june 2007

last picnic with the classmates at the city park. happy belated birthday anna!

"where are u sheep??" answer part three - Stockholming // 28th to 30th may 2007

flying hun in skansen..

we were in stockholm for two days and the weather was wonky but the food was great. haha kudus hostel is the best siah!! looks like exchange has turned even a big guy like kudus into a proper market auntie haha cook and watch soap opera... oke oke but we were really thankful for him being a good host! on the last night in stockholm we met more nice people...first a lady from the presbyran (a convenience store) near kudus' home drove us all the way to central station at 1am in the morning because the metro had stop running and we had to catch the first train. the central station was still closed so we wondered and wandered around in the rainy cold for a while then finally went inside a 24 hour apoteket and the lady was nice enough to let us sit there quietly too as long as we didn't lie down and sleep heh. and so we survived! the parents and brother were in stockholm at the same time as us but time was too tight to meet up but no worries, just 5 days more before the chialets reunite in Lund!!

"where are u sheep??" answer part two - Saving Private Paul aka Rebel Tiger // 26th to 27th may 2007

hun the brownbear arrived to visit and we headed out to a cottage stay with other brave souls : paul "rebel tiger" ho, john, yvonna, weizhi, kellie, hanway and yang. i guess we all agreed that it was more a cottage madness adventure than a cottage stay... braved rain and muddy slopes and lighthouses that refuse to be found and bikes that are good only for one person and had one heck of a time in kullaberg and molle and later on in helsingborg too at the mysterious tree tunnel, favourite hangout spot of the rebel tiger..

saving private paul... the journey to molle from the cottage was madness enough already but the journey back was almost impossible cos we were all super tired and tompanging (ferrying) someone else on your bike is really much tougher than it looks. me and paul kept falling quite badly into the grass at the sides.. really shang hen lei lei ( injuries all over) mans....so in the end paul decided i should ride ahead first on my own, also so that i can pass the rest the key he was carrying. haha rather dramatically his bike helmet was in the basket so really macham saving private ryan.... when i reached the rest after at least 20 minutes of riding, we decided we must go back to get him and so off we went, me and john with paul's helmet still dramatically sitting in my bike basket haha.

and thus, we saved our dear private paul aka Rebel Tigerrrrr!! haha.

it was a real blessing in disguise (despite all the giant bruises and scratches) cos the light was really wonderful on the way back and we got to see that bit of the country just a wee bit more.

"where are u sheep??" answer part one - Family O4 exhibition // 23rd may 2007

this was really wenxin (heartwarming). as i walked around the exhibition space curated by Therese as her industrial design project for this semester, i confirmed for the nth time that i am really going to miss this place. it has become my 3rd home and my dear IKDC classmates - my 4th family.

but my 1st family is on the way to see me, 5 days more!

the re-realisation that people are leaving or have left lund is slowly but surely getting to me too.. trying my best to keep my spirits up and believe that the world is really getting smaller so it's not totally impossible to meet up again but perhaps it is still not small enough. hai. :/

norwaynutshelling // 16th to 20th may 2007

and so we went, there and back again. tried out many modes of road, river and rail transport, tested out the ergonomics of the oslo train station tiles, ate weird fish balls in a can, saw man u lose to chelsea (simultaneously across oceans with my brother) while wondering what happened to prince william, tried some really tasty wild smoked salmon, saw little houses on a hill, climbed down that hill, and shunbian saw a heckload of stunning fjords along the way. beautiful and expensive norway.....haha i think once is all we can afford for now.

much work to do now. not many days left in lund too. :/

peiting arrives // 11th-14th + skånetripping // 13th may 2007.

wah i think i haven't been so tired after a submission, usually i would hibernate for a few days after but this time round, i immediately had someone visiting after the submission on the 10th so it was mad fun but super tiring days right after submission! 累 beyond belief sometimes until surreal siah. ( lei - tired ).

we did the around the sound pass thing on saturday and then went skåne tripping on sunday. extreme tiring but memorably enjoyable stuff.


sun screen printing


the tripping route as illustrated by johan the mostoftheway driver. haha eh i drove a wee bit too oke!

a fairly accurate jog through my (design) journey.

we had final presentation for the main studio project today and i had been going through quite a rough time before it, hadn't been sleeping much the nights before and totally didn't sleep last night. usual stuff actually for ID. and throughout all that i kept wondering to myself if i can really handle this sort of crazy lifestyle for my whole life if i am going to become a designer. it is really madness.

i was totally shakey and sleepy and wonky when i biked to school this morning having not slept at all....hardly knew what i was doing when i reached school. thankfully i was third in line to present and the presentation was received surprisingly well. the night before i had been worried and feeling really insecure and dissatisfied with this and that, and thinking how i could have done it all better if i had just managed my time better. then suddenly after i finished presenting and got the feedback and comments, all the pain and trauma from the past few nights and weeks and months just suddenly melted away and i totally felt like design was worth all the pain and madness again. this is like some version of the post childbirth pseudo amnesia i remember mrs ban telling us about in secondary school. it is how you forget all the pain and trauma of childbirth the moment you see your baby.. and then go ahead and have another kid! [haha i should check with june since stan and june are parents twice over now! so fast! heh congrats again and thank God!!]

anyways and then i wondered if i would experience the same dissolving away of all the tiredness and madness of the past days if i had gotten less than positive comments... not really sure, i definitely have had crits where my concepts were less well-received. but i think even during those crits you still experience this same release and rejuvenation to find the energy to be able carry on in this not so smooth path, through watching other people's presentations and being inspired and spurred on by them as well. listening to all the comments and feedback also really helps put a broader perspective on concepts and designs and where those could take us.

oke lah, not gonna quit this journey anytime soon yet. still quite inexplicably and almost inextricably addicted.

.
.
.
.
.
. . . . . haha so addicted that someone even had to buy new underwear today cos they ran out of clean underwear cos they were too busy doing this design project to do laundry!! haha that is dedication man...

valborg // 30th april 2007

valborg! or the day everyone went to the park... it celebrates the official start of spring and in the day pretty much everyone or at least almost all the students are picnicking in the park, with a bonfire in the evening and then funfairs and parties at night.

i'm not really sure why but staring at the bonfire and the sparks fluttering all over, i thought of home, and then for a little while, relived the fireworks chasing nights.

höganäs playtime // 28th april 2007

haha even though there was almost nothing to see cos everything was closed and we couldn't meet up with the guide of the walking tour we were supposed to join, we had much fun and madness with our own imaginary tourist attractions, observed friendly pets who ate toy monkeys and did some indepth research into the playgrounds of höganäs..

it's truly the company that makes or breaks a trip and this was definitely one fun and mad trip!

milan milan // 16th to 24th april 2007

in milan we stayed on a farm
cows teenagechickens dogs horses
p l e n t y o f g r a s s
did us much good and no harm

breakfasts in the sun
swings in the wind
songs in the volvos
all add up to big fat fun!


oke enough random rhymes....

Milan was really quite an experience....roadtripping there and back, seeing so many different exhibitions, getting inspired by some, walking more than i have ever walked before in my life, living on a farm with crazy classmates and crazy teenagechickens and cute mushrooms, having an IDiots reunion many miles away from home, sitting on oldschool trams, and of course, eating a lot of affordable and super wonderful italian food!

i think we all missed home a wee bit more in milan cos we were doubly displaced, but then again it was also a much needed break from Lund too. i realised it was the first time i've been out of Sweden since arriving in January so it was a really fresh feeling, abit of a get away from the main get away.

far, and a little away... in milano!

i had initially wanted to blog about the week past, and try and sum up all the stuff that has been happening between the last post and today before i head off to milan..but i'm feeling a little frazzled so not quite in the blogging mood. i've realised a certain pattern to the way i blog.. usually it's on a sunday, or just before i go off for some trip....i open photoshop, look at pictures in my filebrowser and in some sense that is the visual summary of my week. some years (whoa!) ago, i watched the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind with two photographer good friends, and one of them commented after the movie that perhaps why i always take so many pictures of everything is because i am afraid i will forget everything again...some kind of fear after i once lost my short term memory for a day due to a concussion. i guess that might just be true..to some extent. so how i usually go about my blogging is that i come up with a visual summary of either events or feelings, find words to further express them then finally put them together into what you are reading now as a blog post on my yan-wei-is-oke blog.

so i promise to do more proper post-posts after i get back from milan! take care meanwhile, and see some of you all SUPER SOON!! TGMM! :]

Good Friday // 6th April 2007

Blessed Good Friday and Joyous Easter! we went for a walk to all the churches in and around central Lund on Good Friday and it was a great experience. and good to know that the true meaning of Good Friday and Easter is still remembered around these parts at least by some.

kristianstad + åhus // 2nd april 2007

feeling random and needing a fair bit of fresh air, me and Marta got up early today and headed out not quite knowing exactly where we would go today. we ended up at Kristianstad, a city about an hour by train from Lund. it was wonderful to walk by the river, relax, eat in the beaming sunshine and simply get away for a little while. after ambling about for part of the day we decided to head to Åhus, a 20 minute busride away from Kristianstad and check out the beach. it was quite perfect yet again! although alot of things were closed the sun, sand and sea in today's perfect weather was enough to occupy us completely. i finally got to step into the Baltic sea! it was super cold but yet there were kids jumping into the water in their bikinis and all... we were rather amazed...thought that we were pretty brave to walk in the water already but oh well! see more pictures from the trip on my flickr page.

i don't know how much we walked today but it sure was alot! an enjoyable tiring yet relaxing workout though. refreshing.

perfekt day // 29th march 2007

after that rough night, i decided that i probably need make myself go out and do things that i normally do back home that i haven't been doing for almost 3 months.. and that worked super well!

i went walking about to see photography shows in town, sent my holga rolls for development, finally got a library card at the city library which turned out to be a really nice place, borrowed photobooks, bought small boxes (which i collect) as well as super cute little tomtes (what gnomes are called in Sweden). along the way i also chanced upon yeo hiap seng soya bean milk, muruku and umbrella jelly...little spots of home!

after that i was really tired but felt so much better and finally more emotionally acclimatised to life here. thank God! :]