Monday, October 18, 2010
Edgbaston Woods and nearby areas
The Biodiversity and Conservation Management lecture was spent visiting the Edgbaston Woods today and we are supposed to produce a management report on how to conserve it. It is a really pristine, beautiful and relatively untouched part of Birmingham. But I've got totally no clue how to go about the management report!!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
London, yet again!
The trip to London started in the wee hours of the morning. I left for the city centre at 11:15 P.M. and spent the next few hours in the city centre Mcdonald's waitingfor my bus at 4:30 A.M. It was very tiring and along the way, I managed to complete one miserable reading as well as being chatted up by a true blue Brummie. He appeared like a nice guy, but the jackass of his clique, as his friends all asked him to ignore him. He also mentioned that London is a fantastic city, but the only problem with it was that it is filled with London people. Therefore, it would be perfect if one could remove all the people of London from London. HA! What a funny guy, with his warped way of thinking. It is pretty true though as the people in these parts of UK seem friendlier and more approachable as compared to the ones in London.
The megabus ride was spent sleeping on the 2nd storey of the bus and by the time I reached London, I was dead tired. Within 5 minutes, my contemplation of whether to stay in Victoria for 5 hours to wait for Yaw Vwee and Mindy ended. I decided to travel to Jun Yi's place and managed to get some much needed sleep there.
A terrible thing happened in this trip though and it was the fact that my trustworthy old Canon camera finally called time on his long career. Somehow, the pictures all come out super overexposed, in stark contrast to the previous Samsung camera that can only take pictures that are super underexposed. Weird! As such, there was only 2 photos taken during the trip before I decided to stop trying altogether.
Met up with Yaw Vwee and Mindy in the afternoon, together with Jun Yi, and we went to Borough market before catching Phantom of the Opera musical at night. Yaw Vwee and Mindy are their usual selves, not changing much from the last time I saw them in Southampton. We did not really spend much time together in this trip as everyone stayed in different places, and Alan was supposed to meet his other group of friends. As for Jun Yi, I found that we got along pretty well in this trip from the hours we spent Wii-ing together, and talking about morals. On a side note, I found Phantom of the Opera pretty good and the songs rather nice despite not being a musical kind of person. The new experience was not life-changing but it was definitely eye-opening. Jun Yi found it to be sub-standard though. What a cultured man he is.
The next day, I made the biggest decision and purchase hitherto in Europe. I bought a new camera!! Time will tell if this will be a worthwhile purchase. After that, the trio of Jun Yi, Yaw Vwee and me attempted to catch a movie but it was not meant to be. Subsequently, we split up and met up with Mindy to go to her friend's church service. The music was superb and the talk was interesting and funny at times, while bringing across the speaker's message very well. Somehow, all pastors, or speakers, at church services all seem to be very good presentors. Dinner was at Bayswater but the extremely famous and atas lobster noodles was fully-booked so we settled for a cheaper alternative nearby. Thank goodness it was unavailable as I did not know it was going to cost a bomb, at a hefty sum of 30 pounds, beforehand.
First shot of trip: Jun Yi's place
Thanks Mindy for the self-made birthday card!
The megabus ride was spent sleeping on the 2nd storey of the bus and by the time I reached London, I was dead tired. Within 5 minutes, my contemplation of whether to stay in Victoria for 5 hours to wait for Yaw Vwee and Mindy ended. I decided to travel to Jun Yi's place and managed to get some much needed sleep there.
A terrible thing happened in this trip though and it was the fact that my trustworthy old Canon camera finally called time on his long career. Somehow, the pictures all come out super overexposed, in stark contrast to the previous Samsung camera that can only take pictures that are super underexposed. Weird! As such, there was only 2 photos taken during the trip before I decided to stop trying altogether.
Met up with Yaw Vwee and Mindy in the afternoon, together with Jun Yi, and we went to Borough market before catching Phantom of the Opera musical at night. Yaw Vwee and Mindy are their usual selves, not changing much from the last time I saw them in Southampton. We did not really spend much time together in this trip as everyone stayed in different places, and Alan was supposed to meet his other group of friends. As for Jun Yi, I found that we got along pretty well in this trip from the hours we spent Wii-ing together, and talking about morals. On a side note, I found Phantom of the Opera pretty good and the songs rather nice despite not being a musical kind of person. The new experience was not life-changing but it was definitely eye-opening. Jun Yi found it to be sub-standard though. What a cultured man he is.
The next day, I made the biggest decision and purchase hitherto in Europe. I bought a new camera!! Time will tell if this will be a worthwhile purchase. After that, the trio of Jun Yi, Yaw Vwee and me attempted to catch a movie but it was not meant to be. Subsequently, we split up and met up with Mindy to go to her friend's church service. The music was superb and the talk was interesting and funny at times, while bringing across the speaker's message very well. Somehow, all pastors, or speakers, at church services all seem to be very good presentors. Dinner was at Bayswater but the extremely famous and atas lobster noodles was fully-booked so we settled for a cheaper alternative nearby. Thank goodness it was unavailable as I did not know it was going to cost a bomb, at a hefty sum of 30 pounds, beforehand.
First shot of trip: Jun Yi's place
Second and last shot of trip: Mindy in her new coat to show her my spoilt camera
Thanks Mindy for the self-made birthday card!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Disappointing Futsal!!
Futsal was a major disappointment. Being one of the factors that pushed me to book a 4:30 A.M. bus to London, futsal was something I really looked forward to. Sadly, it was worse than the worse case scenario I imagined. I was one of three who were present for the session and there was no coach or even organizer whatsoever. Nevertheless, I just spent my time kicking a size 5 tennis ball with an ang moh and a middle eastern. It was more lame than anything. Lousy ball, lousy session! The only interesting thing was the air-pumped goal post and the fact that I walked home in my soccer attire. WOOHOO~ I feel like a hero walking home in dri-fit T-shirt and shorts while all the ang mohs around me are in long pants, jackets, etc. Surprisingly, it wasn't as cold as I imagined it will be. My theory is that with your whole body feeling the cold, the cold is less focused and you will not actually feel as cold as when you have cold hands in long sleeve. Having said so, this is a hypothesis I will not test.
OK, all the best to everyone who is reading this. I got to prepare to leave London now. Got to camp in the city centre for 5 hours, bus for 3 hours, then camp in London for 5 hours before the rest arrive!!
Pre-pump
Post-pump goalpost
Haven't seen my legs like this in the longest timeThursday, October 14, 2010
A visit down there.
Stony Southampton!! Just days after the Birmingham trip was our midweek travel to Southampton. The bus ride was almost 4 hours and I read my one and only reading I have done on it!! After that, I drifted off to dreamland before being woken up at Coventry and spending the rest of the bus ride listening to the Jay Chou's new album that Tong Wei transferred me. He still rocks. Say "see you" already, only to realize I cannot see you anymore~ What an emo line.
Upon reaching Southampton, we were supposed to rendezvous with Yaw Vwee somewhere in the city, wrong, town centre where he agreed to pick us up from. Mindy was having her project meeting and Yaw Vwee picked us up with the CAR. Woohoo~ Everyone was excited at the prospect of driving around in UK and the price was just about alright when split amongst us. Even Mindy, the one without a license, had a go at driving the car around a bumpy carpark. Alan was the craziest for attempting to drift the car in the stony carpark. He managed to half-succeed while dirtying the whole car with fine sand in the process. Despite our excitement and crazy antics, any damage to the car will cost a hefty £600.00!! This makes driving really stressed. Anyhow, the Peugeot 308 was a very nice car to drive as its clutch is very easy to control and the car is very stable even at great speeds. Only thing that got us all was the wipers and signals that swapped places. I guess the reason we all loved the car was that it provided warmth in the teeth-chattering cold weather and shelter against the strong winds.
After Yaw Vwee picked us up, we picked Mindy up from her campus before heading to the famous Stonehenge. Located right smack in the middle of nowhere, the Stonehenge is just a collection of heavily-weathered stones arranged in a peculiar fashion. It was supposedly the best time to visit Stonehenge and I could see why as it would be doubly cold and boring during winter. The white clouds, blue sky, green backdrop makes this an opportune time for nice pictures. Listening to the free audio guide, certain portions were interesting, especially the ones about the myths and legends of the place. Apart from that, I have to say it is a really well-marketed pile of rubble.
After the visit to Stonehenge, we dropped by Salisbury and visited its cathedral as well as a random park. Subsequently, it was getting late and we decided to head back to Mindy's posh place at Montefiore House for dinner. We bought some groceries which Mindy paid for (I guess she is feeling guilty for not preparing her "3 dish 1 soup") and whipped up a fulfilling dinner at her kitchen.
The next day, we woke up early for the long trip we had prepared! New forest and Jurassic coast awaited us. First up was New Forest and we went to a place called Bolderwood which was supposed to be a good spot for deer watching. Well, we were bashing through the woods and feeling cheated when we caught sight of not one, but two deers. The first was running ahead of the second, and constantly turning around or stopping to wait for the other. They seem to be a pair of love deers, running freely through the woods. Instantly, our hunter instincts took over and we began tracking the deers. We managed to spot them in a clearing not far ahead but it was at the same time that they spotted us and fled. As a result, we didn't get any good pictures of the deer that was worthy of the occasion. Poor us! We did get many shots of the typical cow and horses after that though as we travelled to various other spots in New Forest. I guess horses and cattle are more domesticated and used to humans than deers.
After that, we headed to Swanage, which was the beginning of our fling with the south coast of UK. The beach was freaking COLD with the winds constantly howling at you. It was the only cold beach we had ever experienced with the sun shining, at this point of our lives. Damn sua ku. We randomly saw some postcards and of all the postcards, the most beautiful one was a place called Old Harry's Rock which was apparently very near us, according to google map. Without further ado, we headed towards it. We hiked for approximately an hour to reach Old Harry's Rock and lo and behold, the view was breath-taking. The treacherously steep slopes and narrow paths to the edge of the rocks makes you envious of the birds who can fly freely to whereever they want. The strong winds and numbing cold makes it all the more dangerous to navigate the narrow path as the control you have over your body is reduced. It felt unreal to be at the edge of the UK (when referring to google map), and being at a site where you have only read from geography textbooks on coastal erosion. It definitely brought back memories of the awe and wonders of Mother nature that I first felt in Switzerland. Humans are but minute beings amidst our planet and simply one of the many organisms here on Gaia!
Sadly, 天下无不散之筵席! All good things come to an end, and after sending Yaw Vwee off, it was soon our turn to leave in the wee hours of the morning. May our student exchange programme not end so soon!!
Yes, I drove this car.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge during near sunset
The one who did not contribute to driving duties
Simple, yet nice. Thanks Mindy for paying for the groceries.
New Forest (Bolderwood)
New Forest (Bolderwood)
Old Harry's Rock rocks! Too bad his wife ain't around anymore.
Mindy's Home down thereSunday, October 10, 2010
Monday just started! And it is back to school again after a whirlwind weekend. I managed to totally forget my worries about my studies and have a good time. Plan your studies around your travelling and fun, as I put it. Wise words indeed.
Over the weekend, on saturday, we picked up our old travelling pals from Birmingham city centre. Celine, Mindy, Yaw Vwee and Jun Yi all arrived 2-3 weeks older, fatter and length-of-hair-longer than when i last saw them. Our ploy to get Tong Wei to pick them up with just a paper with their names failed miserably as we all got spotted before any form of plan was put into action. Sad sia. Well, in any case, when everyone was gathered, we were all starving and no one could resist the suggestion for a Chinese buffet at 5.99 pounds. Yaw Vwee was told off by this possibly-racist, or simply over-sensitive, ang moh when he took a picture of her daughter, but apart from that the buffet lunch was awesome.
After lunch, it was on to the city tour with none other than yours truly as the tour guide. Sadly, when I was busy explaining the sites, my dear friends felt that I was crapping!! Is my reputation really that bad? Subsequently, some time was put aside for shopping which seem to interest our dear friends who live in more suburban areas as compared to us. HAHA, poor little country bumpkins.
The highlight of the day, at least to me, was DINNER. Sticking to our manly words, Alan and I prepared a 4-course meal, with additional chilled milo and teh si, as well as a cake for dessert. Having been practising for a couple of times over the past week, we were confident when approaching this delicate task of cooking but alas not everything turned out perfect. The vegetables was apparently described as "as crunchy as potato chips". I wonder if that was a compliment or a thickly-veiled attack on the poor skills of the chef that left the stalk of the vegetables somewhat raw? Poor us, getting all these stick after such monumental effort. Nevertheless, we had a good time just talking and catching up while listening to Jay Chou songs (again!). Our housemate, Rahim, even dropped by to hang out a little with us. I hope he doesn't feel left out in this house.
Sunday proved to be another great day, helped by the lovely sunshine and weather. We woke up late, as expected but set out for the one and only Cadbury World!! The place I read about all the way back in Singapore, when i first got my SEP acceptance and package from UOB. The place where i imagined with my geographical imagination as a chocolate paradise turned out differently from what i expected (buildings made out of chocolate) but it was heavenly nonetheless. Filled with the fragrance from the milk chocolate aroma along its corridors and with many enticing and SHIOKADOODERDOO chocolate freebies, Cadbury World is definitely a must-see attraction in Birmingham. Definitely well worth the 7 plus pounds entrance fee, which should have been 10.50 pounds if the lady had not screwed up. Still from a high of living a childhood chocolate fantasy and seeing all the dizzying amounts of chocolate sold in the Cadbury World store, I ended up buying 20 pounds worth of chocolate!! I guess there would be enough chocalates for me as ration over the next year, especially when taking into account those i bought from Switzerland. Life is indeed a box of chocolates. Freddo ones.
After Cadbury World, we ran to the bus interchange to catch Mindy and Yaw Vwee's buses. It was tiring but worth it since no one missed their bus! After that, lunch was alright before we bidded farewell to Jun Yi. Celine's bus was very late at 8.45 P.M. due to Nottingham's proximity to Birmingham, therefore we decided to catch a movie. After some procrasination, we decided on "Eat, Pray, Love", a romance flick shot beautifully over 4 countries, 3 continents and as many if not more male leads. The food motif was especially saliva-enticing while the show as a whole makes you want to travel to all the places it was shot at. Celine loved it, and even cried to its scenes. Alan and Tong Wei slept through parts of it. I guess it can only be summarized as opinion-dividing.
All in all, the weekend was good and I was happy to meet up with my old friends. If we are all in the same school, it would be havoc man so it might be a blessing in disguise that we are not. Well, it is back to school for now, for today!
Arts peeps outside Central Library (Birmingham). HAHA
Dinner! Good job Alan. And me.
Happy belated birthday, Celine!
Rahim trying hard to fit in.
Celine, Mindy, Yaw Vwee (a guy)
Herman cartoon in Cadbury World
Mindy's self portrait in chocolate
Wouldn't it be nice?
My impeccable ration of chocolates!!
Over the weekend, on saturday, we picked up our old travelling pals from Birmingham city centre. Celine, Mindy, Yaw Vwee and Jun Yi all arrived 2-3 weeks older, fatter and length-of-hair-longer than when i last saw them. Our ploy to get Tong Wei to pick them up with just a paper with their names failed miserably as we all got spotted before any form of plan was put into action. Sad sia. Well, in any case, when everyone was gathered, we were all starving and no one could resist the suggestion for a Chinese buffet at 5.99 pounds. Yaw Vwee was told off by this possibly-racist, or simply over-sensitive, ang moh when he took a picture of her daughter, but apart from that the buffet lunch was awesome.
After lunch, it was on to the city tour with none other than yours truly as the tour guide. Sadly, when I was busy explaining the sites, my dear friends felt that I was crapping!! Is my reputation really that bad? Subsequently, some time was put aside for shopping which seem to interest our dear friends who live in more suburban areas as compared to us. HAHA, poor little country bumpkins.
The highlight of the day, at least to me, was DINNER. Sticking to our manly words, Alan and I prepared a 4-course meal, with additional chilled milo and teh si, as well as a cake for dessert. Having been practising for a couple of times over the past week, we were confident when approaching this delicate task of cooking but alas not everything turned out perfect. The vegetables was apparently described as "as crunchy as potato chips". I wonder if that was a compliment or a thickly-veiled attack on the poor skills of the chef that left the stalk of the vegetables somewhat raw? Poor us, getting all these stick after such monumental effort. Nevertheless, we had a good time just talking and catching up while listening to Jay Chou songs (again!). Our housemate, Rahim, even dropped by to hang out a little with us. I hope he doesn't feel left out in this house.
Sunday proved to be another great day, helped by the lovely sunshine and weather. We woke up late, as expected but set out for the one and only Cadbury World!! The place I read about all the way back in Singapore, when i first got my SEP acceptance and package from UOB. The place where i imagined with my geographical imagination as a chocolate paradise turned out differently from what i expected (buildings made out of chocolate) but it was heavenly nonetheless. Filled with the fragrance from the milk chocolate aroma along its corridors and with many enticing and SHIOKADOODERDOO chocolate freebies, Cadbury World is definitely a must-see attraction in Birmingham. Definitely well worth the 7 plus pounds entrance fee, which should have been 10.50 pounds if the lady had not screwed up. Still from a high of living a childhood chocolate fantasy and seeing all the dizzying amounts of chocolate sold in the Cadbury World store, I ended up buying 20 pounds worth of chocolate!! I guess there would be enough chocalates for me as ration over the next year, especially when taking into account those i bought from Switzerland. Life is indeed a box of chocolates. Freddo ones.
After Cadbury World, we ran to the bus interchange to catch Mindy and Yaw Vwee's buses. It was tiring but worth it since no one missed their bus! After that, lunch was alright before we bidded farewell to Jun Yi. Celine's bus was very late at 8.45 P.M. due to Nottingham's proximity to Birmingham, therefore we decided to catch a movie. After some procrasination, we decided on "Eat, Pray, Love", a romance flick shot beautifully over 4 countries, 3 continents and as many if not more male leads. The food motif was especially saliva-enticing while the show as a whole makes you want to travel to all the places it was shot at. Celine loved it, and even cried to its scenes. Alan and Tong Wei slept through parts of it. I guess it can only be summarized as opinion-dividing.
All in all, the weekend was good and I was happy to meet up with my old friends. If we are all in the same school, it would be havoc man so it might be a blessing in disguise that we are not. Well, it is back to school for now, for today!
Arts peeps outside Central Library (Birmingham). HAHA
Dinner! Good job Alan. And me.
Happy belated birthday, Celine!
Rahim trying hard to fit in.
Celine, Mindy, Yaw Vwee (a guy)
Herman cartoon in Cadbury World
Mindy's self portrait in chocolate
Wouldn't it be nice?
My impeccable ration of chocolates!!Friday, October 8, 2010
Second Lecture and The Globe
Woke up very early for the 9:00 A.M. lecture, 323 Urban Life, Urban Communities, today and was one of the first to enter he lecture theatre. I sat right smack in the middle of the whole lecture theatre and waited. Somehow, while more and more people came, no one seem to want to take the seats on either side of me. In the end, the whole LT was packed and the 2 seats beside me was empty!! Super extra man. The lecture itself was pretty dry and cheem as the examples and issues discussed were all related to the UK urban policies, which I knew nought of. Even the occasional joke cracked by the lecturer made me feel more foreign as they were all regarding some former lecturer who I have never seen, or heard of before. That's pretty sad. I shall switch tactics and enter the LT just before lessons start and sit with some ang mohs the next time round.
On our way home from school after delivering lunch to Tong Wei, Alan and I made the best discovery of the week. A street soccer court complete with goal posts and fencing on the sides, that is free and open to public. Furthermore, it is pretty near our home. I foresee spending at least some time there in the near future!
Things picked up and got even better after that. We attended the free dinner at The Globe, a church that is really nice to international students. The food was pretty good and we made many new friends there! People from China, Indonesia, Slovakia, UK, etc. It's nice to have people in the same predicament as you, being away from home and finding it difficult to integrate and mix with the locals here. I had to admit that it was the first time I'm so happy to be able to speak to Chinese people. HAHA! Some of us exchanged contacts in case we are cooking and can have Chinese meals together. WOOHOO~ Best still, they have this weekly football sessions on Friday startingfrom 22nd Oct! Alan and I signed up without hesistation man. Seems like The Globe is a nice, and most of all free, place to hang out in. I will definitely be back there for their weekly Monday sessions.
On our way home from school after delivering lunch to Tong Wei, Alan and I made the best discovery of the week. A street soccer court complete with goal posts and fencing on the sides, that is free and open to public. Furthermore, it is pretty near our home. I foresee spending at least some time there in the near future!
Things picked up and got even better after that. We attended the free dinner at The Globe, a church that is really nice to international students. The food was pretty good and we made many new friends there! People from China, Indonesia, Slovakia, UK, etc. It's nice to have people in the same predicament as you, being away from home and finding it difficult to integrate and mix with the locals here. I had to admit that it was the first time I'm so happy to be able to speak to Chinese people. HAHA! Some of us exchanged contacts in case we are cooking and can have Chinese meals together. WOOHOO~ Best still, they have this weekly football sessions on Friday startingfrom 22nd Oct! Alan and I signed up without hesistation man. Seems like The Globe is a nice, and most of all free, place to hang out in. I will definitely be back there for their weekly Monday sessions.
Looking forward to see my old friends tomorrow too, after spending some time to make space in my room and vacuuming the carpet!
Alan and Tong Wei in The Globe
Some of the new friends made. From left: Alan, Tong Wei, Li Duan, Xiao Xi, Mr. Nice Guy, Cindy
Thursday, October 7, 2010
New Iranian housemate!!
I forgot to mention our new housemate moved in today. He is a 29 year old Iranian and he is here to learn English. This makes communication abit of a problem as his English is like my Vietnamese. Ok, maybe better than my Vietnamese. And we do not know Arabian or Turkish which he speaks.
Other than the language barrier, he seems a pretty nice guy to get along with. BUT!!!
BUT BUT BUT!!! He uses a really weird shampoo. Introducing the first garlic shampoo I ever set my eyes on.......
Shampoo Parjak even has an onion picture on it. It's only saving grace is that it has "no fragrance" according to the label and i duly tested it. Sure enough, I can't smell anything. HAHA! Interesting shampoo indeed.
Other than the language barrier, he seems a pretty nice guy to get along with. BUT!!!
BUT BUT BUT!!! He uses a really weird shampoo. Introducing the first garlic shampoo I ever set my eyes on.......
Shampoo Parjak even has an onion picture on it. It's only saving grace is that it has "no fragrance" according to the label and i duly tested it. Sure enough, I can't smell anything. HAHA! Interesting shampoo indeed.
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