4th Weekend Endeavours!

Time flies by, literally!

I believe tomorrow is the start of my 5th week in Uni. Damn, already more than 1/3 done. Happy that my mandarin has progressed enough in order for me to carry on a conversation and to make a few sparing jokes. Two sad things about time flying by:- (1) I can't catch up with character memorisation and the damn shengtiao as usual; and (2) We would have to part ways to different parts of the world when the semester ends. I only have this to say, "Lets truly enjoy the time that we have NOW! We party on, yeah?!!!" =)

Today was another good Sunday. Great sleep till the late morning after a tiring "Chang Cheng" (or known as the Great Wall). We went to Xidan which is on line 1 subway and entered into one of the multiple generic higher classed shopping complexes on the street. Am happy to say that I have discovered that my healthy eating has paid off. Am starting to feel comfortable back in a size "S" after some shopping in UniQlo, but definitely much more work is necessary. Another 2 or 3 damn kgs to go, but this time to be shed on certain areas. *erm* More pole dancing? haha.

As for Saturday, we were so blessed with such perfect weather, clear sunny skies with a slight wind! It was a field trip for the intensive course students at BLCU to The Great Wall of China (Mutianyi side) which started at 9am after the 'jalan-jalan' aka 'Sports Day' at Uni. (Psst, I didn't take part, felt silly to have to stand in the middle of the field and take a walk. Feels like too much hard labour, haha! But am sure that "some" did enjoy it. But damn, I so want the white or red BLCU shirt!)

It took us 2 hours on the Uni bus to get there, with some pretty good countryside scenery with plenty of Hutongs. I love the grey out look of the Hutongs, its so classic and traditional. There are plenty of handicraft stalls before the start of the climb. First word of advice, buy on the way down, and bargain all the way. One shirt was initially quoted at RMB40 to 60 and went down to RMB10. The stalls higher up tend to be cheaper.

Second word of advice, if you hate climbing steps, there's a cable car around RMB36 for one to take up and then only climb down the Great Wall. We were "smart" enough to make the climb up, and with mutual encouragement and a literally occasional hand boasting, we managed to go all the way up to the cable car station. I do realise that my stamina has gone to ground zero despite Mutianyi being an easy climb with well maintained steps and relative steepness than compared to Badaling. I wonder if I can make it in Tibet. Maybe I'll end up crawling on the ground.

Two things that I so regret not doing at Great Wall:-
(1) A jump shot picture with my classmates. (Arrgh, we should have reached for the world!); and
(2) The Tobogan ride at Tower 9. (Yes, tobogan ride indeed. I was told that it was loads of fun...btw, Tower 9, you'll need to walk downwards instead of upwards once u arrive at the intersection of the wall after the steep climb up.)

Great views from the top but my favourite was in the middle of the walk before reaching the Observation platform. Concern of my weak knees made me take the cable car ride down. I had prior experience which was not so pleasant where I was wincing at every step down Badaling. The steep uneven steps totally killed off my knees for almost a year. It was an exhausting but enjoyable trip.


And THANKS to my classmates, I have also discovered the joys of Bao Zi and Jiao Ji (all dumplings) sold in the unassuming local small shops at Wu Dao Kou, with just 4 tables inside.



Looks darn delicious, right? It was! Tantalising to the tastebuds. And actually ridiculously good for 4 kuai for one basket. If only I can remember how to get there again. =)

Food for Thought!

Should we let life take control of us? Or do we take control of life?

Just about to pop to bed. But its just one of those moments where you start to feel philosophical about life, and just have to let it out, least you start to even dream about it. haha. I hate an unadventurous dream. Truth is, I've always had the most interesting dreams, some which obviously, I can't remember, but wake up with a pleasant feeling. Same as to which I feel about life, I would hate waking up in the morning without anything but a pleasant feeling. =)

Were there ever times when you would have an internal struggle between your heart and mind? One screaming, don't be ridiculous, stop denying yourself, let me out, let me feel, let me live!! And the other screaming out even louder, listen to reason, there's no point in doing things that have no meaning or future!!!

Will the heart concede, lie back and let the mind take control? Or will the mind heed to what its heart is softly telling it to. Somehow, in the middle of the battle, the dust settles, and clarity always regains consciousness. I can't tell for sure how many battles that the mind has won, but it truly is powerful. Sometimes it persuades us with reason that our actions are right, and so, sometimes they are. But the other times, when they are not, and we have ourselves persuaded that it is, things do also go terribly wrong. And all that is left, is the strength within ourselves to clean up after, be it a broken heart, body and battered soul.

Who will win? Its anybody's guess. Mine included. :P For the moment now, I choose neither. I wonder if inaction means that the heart concedes? haha. God only knows.

All I know is that I want to live fully now...embrace life in all that it is....happiness, pain, sorrow, joy, laughter... Afterall, what is life if we are not living. :)

Wooo...I am getting philosophical, and good at it too. :) Anyways, my battered mind wants a good rest before the next battlefield in the classroom. *yes, some will hate me for saying that. The b**** isn't even working her ass off anymore, what a life!* Yeah, I know, still loving it. :P Anyways, goodnight world, thank you for showing me one of the many beautiful days in store. =)

Night out at La Bamba & Blu Bar!

It was a Good Friday with fun and wacky classmates... :) Again, am having a good weekend recovering from it. And I might just be getting too old for this. I actually overslept and missed my subway stop this morning to reach home and had to detour.

I look forward to Monday for "ting xue" to see the sweared upon antics undertaken by two of our classmates. haha. Remember, if Monday there is the absence of "ting xue", there's always Tuesday! Jia Yao, Gambate!

We were at La Bamba for dinner, a nice restaurant and bar with a pool table on top of Propaganda Club. I should have taken a picture of the enormous pizza (RMB60) ordered by our Japanese mate. Tasty although it was just vegetarian, tomato and cheese. It reminds me so much of the delicious thin crusted Hawaiian pizza in Phi Phi Island of all places. Sorry, I keep thinking of food these days. Must be due to the lack of sugar in my brain. And to those who have know me since uni, I have already cut out the over consumption of coca cola and switched over to jasmine tea. How boring!!! But how refreshing. Yes, my occasional sinning still surfaces once in a while. Am far from perfect, I know. And I do have a long list of petty but delightful sins.

Anyways, again, it was another fun dinner. I wished I could speak a little bit of everything, korean and japanese included so that we could all get to know each other better. The funny thing is, this is the way we get to practise our Mandarin. Its our only common ground. :) After dinner, we met up with a few more friends at San Li Tun famous for its bar street. Its a must go area for those party loving people. Only its a tad much more expensive than clubs at Wu Dao Kou area, mid range I think.


On excellent recommendation, we ended up at Blu Bar or Bar Blu. I must say, 6 flights of stairs? That's just too much! haha. Blu Bar, one of the many clubs in the building occupies the top two floors. But I definately loved having open air drinks on the rooftop. It really sets the environment for the night. This time, 1 mai tai, 1 Kamikaze shot free on the house and 1 Tiger beer. 1 more Tiger beer would probably have given a bigger buzz, but it was just nice. What can I say? I like being conscious at the dancefloor and not kneeling over in the loo. :P

Most patrons at Blu Bar are foreigners. Some might probably even be students from our uni. haha. Only thing that I didn't like was that the ladies' was downstairs which would only spell disaster for one who had a bit too much to drink. We had hell of a time on the dancefloor downstairs. Its the first time that I see some of my classmates hang loose and laugh hilariously. And of course, the first time that I see some of them dance. hahah. Oh, "mi mi", one can breakdance!!! Totally puts my moves to shame. hahaha. I have to admit, it was impressive! Btw, its a full compliment this time.. :P

We definately need an encore in the next round with the rest who couldn't manage to turn up. Its too fun not to have one. Maybe next weekend when we've recovered? =)

Kampai to A Class!

My Whining Day!

Yes, its just one of those damn days which thank god is almost over. But I still haven't done my homework. :(

Its the first day where I missed school and spent most of my hours curled up in bed. Should be fun right? Day off with loads of time on my hands? *tutttttttt* Damn wrong. Not when you're in pain.

I hate being weak and pathetic. Yesterday, my body was already signalling to me all the way through school and after that there was something wrong. Attributed it to a lack of sleep and a sore throat which I knew would usually later on give way to fever first then coughing later. So, I listened and went to bed early. And woke up at midnight with one of those most damning stomachaches, the type that hurts so much that it even appears in your dreams. Most girls would know what I mean.

I usually won't blog about this. Its taboo to even usually mention it anywhere. When our lives stop because of this, we women would usually lie through our teeth and just make another excuse about being sick instead of saying it as it was. But what the hell, today, I'll damn hell write about anything that I please seeing as to its my blog and then lie about it later the next day. :P Sorry, its really a whining day. I know, its pathetic but I don't do this often. I'll try to make it as short and as painless (to the guys) as possible.

It's not fun being a female contrary to what most men think. No female anticipates those monthly pains with happiness. And the only way we can escape it is by being pregnant. Huh, great choices god gave to us, either choose pain or choose an enlarging belly which then again will equate to pain when the time is up! Hmmm, the part where they say that women can withstand pain better than men, what a load of bullshit, we withstand pain better because we have NO CHOICE to. Its ridiculous as to how much pain we need to withstand.

Sharing with my friend as to the many days that I wished that I was the opposite sex, she asked, "So how are you going to be able to take childbirth?" My response,"I think death is a better option for me." Yeah, so therefore, again once confirming my responses on pro-creating for the world. Why the heck do I need to do it? Yes, I do love children BUT there are others out there already doing it for me. :P Let me enjoy what's left of a pleasurable life.

So guys, if you have a sister, a wife or a girlfriend who's having that first day of the month, be the wiser one and do those small little but significant things for her. Eg. Run around getting her hot water and a panadol, preparing a hot water bottle for her, or making her some hot soup, or giving her a long hug and settling dinner for her. You'll definitely be in her good books for a long time later. (Aih, this is one of the reasons why I miss my ex! He is a good man.)

On a totally separate note. Yeah, I know how wierd that sounds after my whining write up. :P

The weather is changing here. Its supposed to be a much shorter spring here, eg. a month which is too short. The white big flowers that I used to see in Uni has faded and dropped to the ground. But there are different nice looking ones that crop up. This is the best pic that I can take without my dslr. White flowers that can turn into pink ones.

I know now roughly how the weather here works. The great things about staying with my gf is that you can actually hear the wind at night if there is any. If there is wind and some shaking of the window, it means that the next day will be a clear and cold day which is more than welcomed but not today when I can't get out. Arrgh. But anyways, it was snowing cotton just a few days ago. Fascinating. Snowing cotton. As I sit in class, I can actually see white specs of cotton flying past our windows and also flying in once we opened them. It gets into everything. Breath and you're literally breathing it in, talk and yes, you start eating it. =) Can vaguely remember this happening in Kazakhstan but not so much. Anyways, I wonder if it will snow cotton again tomorrow. =)

Propaganda!!! And just for laughs..

It was one of those weekday party nights!

(*Note: To concerned readers and friends, no, it doesn't happen so often...really! Especially not on a weekday! Nah, thats just sin! Ok, I sin sometimes, but not all the time!)

Fun nite at Ps or Propaganda as known. A nice small little bar consisting of two floors, one with a dance floor n one with those nice soft fluffy seats to disolve into. Not that we could get those seats, as they were mostly fully reserved. Ah wells...anyways, its always the company that we keep that makes it one of those great nites...Cheers again!

Testing my alcohol limit again. This time just 2 tequila shots, 1 gin tonic, 3 sex on the beach (really good! I mean the drink!) and 2 mai tais did the trick. Tipsy and happy but drunk to the extent of spilling my guts out. I hate those nights when it happens. Btw, many hot bodies on the dancefloor last night, both guys n girls! Yes, my guy friends in Msia, stop asking me to take pictures of random hot chicks n posting them on my blog. :P For me to appreciate, for you to salivate just over the sound of it. LOL.

Anyways, no hangover in the morning but the hunger pangs!!!! My wishlist was MacD's breakfast meal but all I got was a slice of apple pie and coffee from the small canteen downstairs. Tasted good anyways. And yes, I did make it to class (although 15 min late with a dui bu qi) countary of what I thought I would do. YAY! And signs that my mandarin is improving - I could make small talk with the taxi driver!!!!

I had a great 4 hr nap this evening and now a totally screwed up schedule which I will need to re-adjust to over the weekend. (But no regrets! I did have fun...oh shoosh some of you with those well meaningful smiles!....As I said before live and let live..) And yes, I need to fu si this weekend too! Feel that I am lagging a fair bit behind especially cannot hear the pin yin sheng properly. The only way now is to memorise it all. Memory, please do not fail me now. =) But maybe this weekend, make a trip to the The World-of-Cameras-in-Beijing (cant remember what its exactly called!). I am hankering for those extension tubes. Damn it, I knew I should have bought a macro lense. Feel that those spring flowers are going to waste.

Am in the middle of homework now as I speak. Shit, another 11 x 5 times of Han Zi to write. *groan* Pls don't pick me for dictation tomorrow!

Oh, just another hilarious thing for the Ladies that came up in "those" conversations with my gf (yes, we are comedians for that fact!).

Our conversation again:-

Me: Ahhh...do you know what my idea of a perfect man is? He should be 34 yrs old....

Interupted by my friend, "Why 34 yrs old?"

My response: "Er....so that I always will look younger? haha" (sorry, am just not used to dating younger guys though I have before..)

And I continue, "....matured enough to handle and respect a girl, knows better than to neglect a girl, wants you as you really are...yes short stubby legs and all...has a SEXY mind and body to which you don't mind waking up next to...., and last but not least, which has been on my checklist for years.....loves holding you tight in his arms every night...without you having to ask for it.

My gf exclaims, "Hey I know a guy like that which fits just perfectly into that."

Me with eyes wide open, "Really?????!!!!! Who is he????"

Her final response: "Yes, his name is......SUPERMAN!"

(Its funnier than it sounds...haha)

As you can imagine...I just rolled over and died. Laughter is a great way of lengthening lifes. ;p

Conclusion:- The perfect man just doesn't exist! Sorry girls... haha...and Darn it!!! Or so to speak, even if Superman did exist he probably would have thrown his arms up and given up with our endless requirements. =)

Many Happy Returns of the Day, Yvonne! :)

Just thought that I did send out my love to my dear girlfriend in Malaysia...

"Happy XX Birthday, Girl! =) Owe you one great celebration when I get back! Promise you'll have fun. Tell me what ya want? Stripper guys in your party? haha, just joking. Anyways, at least I personally guarantee the "better-than-sex-cake" and my lovely company (ahem! :P) in our dinner appointment when I get back!"

Hope that you enjoyed your day, dear! *muaks*muaks*

With much much love, Mei!

"Every cloud has its silver lining. The day that you think that life as you know has ended, it has just only really begun. All the trials and tribulations that you have standing before you will only make you stronger at the end. Just have the courage to face them and a strong determination to overcome them and yourself. Stand tall, my dear. Believe in yourself, have patience and you shall triumph."

4 Mar 2009: Happening House Party!!!!

What a night!!!

Yes, this was only one of the tables that day littered with beer bottles! Kudos to the two bachelors who hosted the party at their apartment. Although there was a lack of music but hell, it was fun all the way mingling with everyone. I dare say, I have never seen so many people in an apartment before. We had to literally line up for the loo. Oh, nice loo btw. hehe. Spotlights in the shower...OooOoO.

(The pictures posted won't literary do justice to the number of people that were there. They were taken much earlier. I reckon at one point, we probably had more than 35 people there. )

That night I learnt 4 new interesting facts:-

1) There is such a thing as diet beer for TsingTao. Damn, bought the damn wrong beer and it tasted so flat. I could have gotten my stomach bloated and still feel no buzz. Hence, removing the reason of the existence of beer. Thank god for the kind gentleman who exchanged one "REAL BEER" for my "FAKE BEER"! (The same gentleman as previously advertised! HAHAHA....don't kill me pls!) Btw, the alcohol content was 1% lower with my fake beer.

2) I needed more than 3.5 bottles to give me a buzz. But by time I reached 3.5 bottles, I was too bloated to take anymore. *SOB* Maybe it was due to the fact of the FAKE BEER! *sheesh* And yes, I do know that alcohol kills brain cells but....ar....again, I repeat, am not binging so what the heck! *innocent smile*

3) MacDonald's BIG MAC & FRIES tastes like a piece of heaven at 4:00 am in the morn! I know for a fact that this is seconded by quite a few people. Yes, thank god for delivery service as well!

4) Guys and girls from more advance classes than mine (namely B & C) couldn't read the tattoo on my back! YAY!!!!! I feel so much better now about me being in an A (Normal!!!! I keep on emphasizing that...though it makes a fat lot of difference.. :P) and being Malaysian Chinese. Hey, I had been laughed at many a times, especially by some Singaporean Guys....YES!!!! You know who you are... so THERE! hehe

All in all, it was so fun and interesting till the very end. Some of us tried sleeping at various areas in the living room, but thanks to a certain someone snoring like a train wreak, probably most of us didn't get much sleep. I know I didn't. :)

Anyways, enjoy the slideshow~! This is the best way that I can put more pictures on for now, until I become more IT literate! Jiu Ming!!!

Revelation!!

I had such a hilarious revelation tonight, thanks to my Gf.

As usually we always have our girl talk about many things, one of them being relationships (Duh!) and tonight's conversation went something like this:-

Gf with a thoughtful look :- "Most of the older and more matured guys are usually already married. Those left are usually those with the problems. You have to wonder what is wrong with them."

Me with a even more thoughtful look :- "Er..but I am sure its the same with us single girls. What is our problem then?"

Her reply, "I think we are too independent and opinionated. Henceforth, not submissive enough. That IS OUR problem."

With a horrified look, I stammered, "WHAT????!!!!!!! SAY AGAIN???!!!!! That can't be a problem."

Gf laughing :- "Yes, it is. That is a problem!"

Me with a frown and a chuckle :- "Damn! Our problem is being too independent and opinionated???!!! That can't be right. Come on, there must be a guy out there who appreciates that! If not, Aaargh, then all I have to say is "TO HELL WITH IT". I just hardly couldn't be bothered."

Gf with a louder laugh :- "You see, that also is a problem!!! Not admitting that we can be too independent and opinionated. And not caring!"

Me rolling with laughter on the carpet and cold hard floor :- "BUT....but I am HAPPY being independent and opinionated."

Gf still laughing :- "THAT REALLY IS A PROBLEM!!!! You shouldn't be so happy."

Me still rolling on the ground :- "Er...so now there's a problem with me being happy???!!!"

So, folks, guys and girls, er...in this case, LADIES*!!!!

"WE HAVE A PROBLEM IF WE ARE HAPPY ABOUT BEING INDEPENDENT AND OPINIONATED"

(Huh? What? Am still having difficulty grasping this concept. It so doesn't make sense to me. Haha)

*Note: Only applicable to Single Happy Ladies who are in love and totally comfortable with themselves.

Blah Blah Bar

We had drinks today at the Bar on campus. Yeah, it was called Blah Blah Bar, really catchy yeah? (or was it Bla Bla?) Its a really old dingy looking place with wooden tables and chairs that looked as if it were gonna fall apart. Beer is darn cheap here. RMB5. Whoo hooo! Er...no I am not going on a drinking binge. *innocent smile* Just going to enjoy what god gives me! (Qouted from the infamous incident of the two Perakian politicians who received certain *gifts* given to them and later lompat katak to UMNO..oh yeah, its just Malaysia's dirty politics, if you're not familiar with it...)

By the way, a correction is deemed necessary on my previous post. (hehe, as corrected by the mentioned!) A Hongki guy from US is incorrect (I repeat incorrect!), er..he's from Canada...born n bred there (ok, maybe parents are from HK..hehe..I feel that I am going to get corrected again.. haha). Great guy and canton speaking too....anyone interested? haha

4th Day of Classes at BLCU!!!

These days it feels like I am going back to my student days. Wait, I AM a student! Yay, but a poor one! And classes are getting tougher and tougher every day. Or I could be getting lazier and lazier everyday. :P

Everyday is recently like clockwork. Wake up at 6:15 am and perform the Mad Dash for classes. Feels almost the same as the Mad Dash for work, only that it usually starts at 8:00 am. Arrghh, I almost...almost miss the Mad Dash for work. :P Run down to the underground Subway Station and catch the train to the interchange for Line 13. God help me. I still don't remember the name of the stop. haha. The advantage of being up so early is that I beat the rush hour which starts at around 7:30 am. If I get stuck in that, I would have to elbow out my way. (You only see evidence of the famed 1 Billion people in China at rush hour on the subway. Scary!)

Take a 8 minute brisk walk to transit to the above ground Subway and stop one stop further at Wu Dao Koh station, which is another 10 minute brisk walk to my uni. It takes me one full hour to get to uni. And school starts at 8:00 am. Groan! Oh, and did I mention...I hate the FOUR FLOORS staircase which leaves me huffing and puffing to get to my class. Great news is that I will probably lose more weight by the end of my 3 months class. Yay to that!

We have 3 teachers that teach us different segments;- Reading & writing, Speaking, and Listening. And its a grueling 4 hours straight, with a 5 min break in between for every hour. And yes, we are at the bo, po, mo, fo... hehe although today it was more che, zhe and she. Miss Diao, our reading and writing teacher has a hard time everyday teaching us the phonetics of the language as you can see above. For the life of me, I can't seem to differenciate too well these three sounds. Ah wells...I guess I should get better after more practice. (Praying ever so hard!) And yes, we do have homework everyday. I have to take at least an hour for homework and memorisation of the approximate 25 new words every day. Again, god help me...luckily there's no escaping for now. Somehow, I seem to be getting better every single day.

Class ends at 12:00 pm, so after that we usually have lunch on campus. Have been going to the International Students Cafeteria with another Malaysian friend for the past few days. But today, I had great fun with some other classmates at the Muslim restaurant on campus which was full of students. Surprisingly, it has pretty good food there. We had sweet & sour chicken, naan bread, beef with onions, and some type of naan covered with lamb (I think! Darn, should have taken a picture of the menu!). The meat skewers there are definately highly recommended! I was told that the lamb is even better, but pricey at about RMB16 for each stick. We had the beef one which costed only RMB3 for a stick. In total, each of us paid about RMB18 for about 4 types of dishes. Am definately going to try their other dishes next time.

There are a total of 19 of us in Class 402. And we are so multinational. These classmates of mine in the picture are all of different nationalities. Let's see, we have a Hongki guy from US, a Vietnamese gal from Sdyney, an Estonian gal (Did I get that spelled right?), a Swedish gal and a Korean guy from the US. (Note:- No names shall be mentioned for the moment in case of any future embarassing moments...haha..but I am sure that the mentioned guys and gals can recognise each other here. =P ) I should actually try to pick up other languages. But Mandarin already is so tough, I did probably just collapes from all the mental work. Good luck to all of us! And Cheers to getting to know each other better!

Enjoy picturesque SPRING! (which is also still Brrrrrr...COLD!!! Where is my extra sweater???!!!! Or my human blanket??? Arrgghh..the cons of being single in a 4 season country..ah wells...)

Flowers are springing up everywhere. Seriously a beautiful sight. I feel like I am back in Kazakhstan, only its more beautiful. Took some of these shots on campus and at my gf's apartment grounds. Isn't it really nice? Am tempted to go pluck some flowers, but controlling myself. I don't want the guards to suddenly start running after me. And today, it felt as if spring time is starting to get slightly warmer, which is sorely welcomed. I saw the gardeners at home planting bulbs. I can only hope that they are tulips! The weather has been pretty much good these days. Clear blue skies, if this persists, I dare say, the hazy reputation of Beijing might slowly fade away. Am almost about to start singing "Spring is in the air!" (or technically correct is Summer is on the way! :P )

Cheers to Baby Ts & Sexy Shorts!!!! I can finally start acting young again! Wait, I actually REALLY do feel young. Seriously!