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.

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!!

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! :]

far and nearly faraway.

i am in school right now as today is the Kickoff meeting for the Sony Ericsson project. this means that we have a sit down consultation with Claus and Charlotte our two tutors and really talk about the project, make sure everything is set straight, (or at least any broken bones are set properly in good casts) before we move ahead into the cadding and prototyping stage for the final presentation.

when i arrived extra early in school today, studio was almost deserted except for one person who is like the usual designated music player in our side of studio. i did a doubletake...it felt rather familiar. not unlike back home when we go to school on saturday sometimes and unexpectedly find some warmth in the little cluster of people there. well, you find home at the strangest moments sometimes.

it was actually a rather rough night for me last night but thanks to timely online prods and shake-ups from great friends i am blessed with, i made it through. special thanks to my journeymate man. it was exactly what i needed to hear. thank God for you!

oke lah, time to get ready for the Kickoff liaos. take care you all. for those i'll be seeing in Milan, can't wait!! be well meanwhile. :]

here, there and everywhere.

it is one of those nights i am up doing work and being an inefficient workaholic.

i think this blog has been quite happy dappy so far and i guess that was part of my positivity plan but it's probably more realistic to also say that there are the down days and this might just be one of them. but hey, that was part of it too lah, learning to overcome these things and growing up abit in a good way hopefully after this experience.

i miss people here, there and everywhere. but time is flying lah. soon i will miss my time and the people here too. humans are strange beings lah.

oke will have no regrets, be thankful, and get back to work now.

love and miss you all. but will be a strong little rock! and survive, well. :]

worry not, just pray for me, and trust.

take care and be well!!

school school school

heyos, i've been busy with school. not really managing my time well or at all...so i've had to have some overnights doing work already.. not in school cos it's not quite a stayover culture over here but doing work at home on the comp. the design design part is really kicking in soon and today i more or less have to do most of the work for the puma presentation as i'm leaving for kiruna tomorrow and will only be back on wednesday afternoon..and the final presentation is on thursday.. GREAT PLANNING. haha! i should've known better.. but anyway it just gets tighter later on in the semester so maybe this will turn out to be the best time to have travelled anyway.

anyway i think i am starting to enjoy school more cos i am learning alot. the teachers are people still very much in the industry so their comments are really down to earth and constructive. you don't feel like you need to second-guess what they actually mean. they say it like they mean it. it is quite stressful though. i had thought previously that my 6 months here would be abit more restful than the crazy semesters we have in NUS ID but it was not to be... we're encouraged to follow the year 3 track so i did...and thus am living a familiar but tiring life now. not that different from back home - chionging overnight doing work, feeling stressed and panicky and excited, friendly classmates, crazy classmates sometimes heh, and helping out with the milan fair booth has been fun too. i hope i really will get to go down with them though! i just really miss the IDiots sometimes esp when working late on my own. cos although the class here is quite tightly knit and fun and all, i guess there's nothing as wenxin(heartwarming) and qingqie(closeknit) as home lah.

i miss the chingchongs/acronymgang much too. come online at weird timings in singapore so it's normal timings here more leh! haha but at least our facebook group is still alive so i feel a little happier everytime i see an update.

i miss alot of people. but i probably shouldn't try to list them all out.. later still miss out people then *lagi worse. (*even -more- worse.) i hope you guys know who you are! haha. and especially for those who haven't been great recently, be well soon. if i were back home i would get you out for a pint to talk. take care much!

i've been cooking quite a bit recently too. proper food oke! chia family style pork and potatoes and ma you jiang ji (sesame oil chicken, with ginger). friends' biased reviews were all good! haha. photos are on Marta's cam.. maybe i'll put them up when she gets back from her super short trip to London..

well i'll be in up north in Kiruna from tomorrow (saturday) till wednesday. so take care, be well, and talk to all of you soon again.

God bless.