Thursday night

I suddenly quite miss my Thursday night job. Hopefully I will be able to get some piano therapy tomorrow.

In other news,

1. A Chinese girl actually said my Chinese/Mandarin was good! Haha. Although I'm pretty sure every sentence I replied her in Chinese was less than 10 characters long (such as "Yes, I just moved in", "Oh yes there are many Chinese [in NUS]") -if the conversation went on any longer I'm quite sure I would have lapsed into some sort of mish-mash of English and Chinese! The weird thing is that I was sitting with her and a neighbour during dinner and they were speaking in English (and her English is FANTASTIC) so we were conversing in English (well at least both of them were -I mostly just sat there and laughed) -so it never really occurred to me to speak to her in Chinese until she turned to me at the end of the conversation and spoke to me in Chinese -which just totally threw me off. Well obviously I recovered quite well from that slight shock. Haha!

2. My tutorial today consisted of a grand total of two students (the numbers decrease every week, from 5, to 4, to 2) including myself. Woohoo. But it was interesting all the same and it's quite a refreshing change from large classes (though I'm sure I wouldn't have felt the same if I didn't do my readings) -though the other girl had so much more to say than I did! I hope I managed to sound vaguely intelligent (Thanks to Dr Carl and geopolitics). Heh. And I'm not going to lie - The Geog Student's favourite module at the moment is an Anthropology one.

3. My back is killing me (when I bent over to vacuum this afternoon it hurt like hell)-I think I'm going to try not to bring a bag to school tomorrow.

4. Today looked so deceptively warm -I looked out of the window this morning and decided that it was nice and sunny enough to just wear stockings and a skirt -but oh my goodness when I stepped out... BRRRRR.

5. I have figured out how to work the photocopying and printing machines in exactly the way I want them to. Hah! :D

Okay back to reading Beyond Either/Or: A Feminist Analysis of September 11th (Hyndman, 2003). Wheee (I really still do like geog!)

P.S. Oh am suddenly reminded of something my geopolitics lecturer said about Kondratieff Cycles. Don't know what it means? It's alright cos I don't really either (oops obviously have not been doing readings) -but he claims that just knowing such an intelligent-sounding term can help you win any argument you're in. E.g.:

Person trying to win argument: But ____________________ (Insert any topic and stand)

You: -Scoffs- Have you not heard of Kondratieff cycles?

In a nutshell

Just a quick update -I miss CNY in Singapore. I suddenly appreciate being dragged around to random relatives houses even though I'm usually quite bored to death there, but I guess at the end of the day it did feel like CNY with all the goodies, chattering of relatives and red packets! Well not too bad, the London Exchangers (minus Yanjie) met up for our very own makeshift reunion dinner which turned out pretty well! First day of CNY was spent spring cleaning my room and doing laundry-my room is now slightly neater but not much cleaner than before as I haven't been able to get hold of a vacuum cleaner (and I've already made 3 attempts to do so -I don't believe people here are such clean freaks!)!

Me, Esther, Ziwei, Huoyfen, Yinghong and Heather!

Also, Huien was in London for the weekend! She stayed in my room and saved my life by 1) buying me a table lamp, 2) removing the lampshade from the bulb hanging from the ceiling -my room has officially left the dark ages, 3) bringing me tons of clothes, 4) teaching me how to use my hall stove etc. My room is super quiet now! But Huien can also be a bad influence as she turned me into a thief when we stole 2 eggs from the kitchen fridge (I would replace them except I don't even remember which box we took them from) to go with my mee sua (Yes since I don't cook, I don't own any liao4 to put into my food -but problem rectified when I went shopping at Sainsburys yesterday -I now have lettuce and mushrooms and my own eggs). But it tasted good man. haha.

CREPES! (:

Okay I need to go do my readings now (the first reading i'm doing in 3 weeks -haha I'm so screwed!). I am horrified at how backward the printing facilities are here -e.g. most machines don't have a doublesided option and I swear I will track down all the double-sided printing machines in UCL soon. Also I have nodded off in at least 3 lectures (all geog hmm) now and I don't know what's wrong with me here!! I get more sleep here than in Singapore but raah I don't know! It's not even that my lecturers are boring -I think it must be the lighting as lecturers here seem to like to lecture in semi-darkness.

Alrightey I hope everyone had a great CNY!! Byeee for now.

Library randoms

One of the entries I saw when I typed "critical geographies" into the search menu in the library -I love seeing familiar names here! I even saw a Kong and Yeoh somewhere. Hehe.


I wonder why they keep cleaners locked in cupboards here. I imagine this one to be a monstrous cleaner who has excessive obsessive compulsive behaviour and who will eat/throw out of the window anyone who drops so much as a dead skin cell in the library. So they probably only let him/her/it out at night (him/her/it must have been asleep when I was there because I did not hear any strange rattling noises coming from behind the door)

To Michelle dearest

Dear everyone, this is Mich!Mich has been my lifesaver here in London! Without her, I might be:

1. Still stuck at Bayswater not knowing how to get to Ifor Evans with a 26kg suitcase, with approx 14kg more of other things
2. Poisoned by the tapwater not knowing where to get a (cheap) water filter and other necessities
3. Broke not knowing where to buy cheap things
4. Finding myself trapped in a toilet without toilet paper because she informed me that toilet paper is not provided
5. Hungry because if I can't cook and have no meals provided I tend to just... not eat. So Mich feeds me with fantastic dinners that she and her friends prepare sometimes (:
6. Horribly lost in the depths of London -it's nice to have someone I can blindly follow around!
7. Horribly lonely, but Mich invites me to dinners and random gatherings with her friends!

And the list could go on.

And it's interesting to discover things about Mich's life in London -she's been here 2 years but now I realise that there's so much I did not know about her. No thanks to her friends who have been constantly spoiling her reputation (I always thought she had a squeaky-clean image)! But Michelle I'm STILL on your side no matter what it seems like okay?? :)

Also special thanks to Mich's very hospitable friends,

Bert lao ba who has had to do fatherly-duty things like carry my suitcase up tube staircases and then dragging it to my hall when we overshot our bus-stop by approx 100+ house numbers, waiting for the bus with me in the freezing cold, providing some crockery etc. I am eternally grateful! Also Bert makes very very good food yuuuummm.

and Elise who keeps me warm with hugs. (: haha.

And Mich I'm sorry I don't do a good job of protecting you from them okay? I love you very very much though!

The weekend

Came across a demonstration for Gaza in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, and that was definitely an eye-opening experience -despite the somewhat carnival-ish atmosphere it was just so different to see people openly fighting for a cause (especially since I had just read an article on CNA's website about how S'pore was tightening laws on demonstrations soon), to see how emotions were being stirred and the solidarity being forged between the different groups represented there. It's just been sickening to hear about the killing of so many Palestinians (as if not having their own state is enough -I mean yes we should stop thinking in terms of the nation state sometimes as it is a cause of complications but I guess somehow it's the only "legitimate" way of getting rights right now) even though I don't claim to know all of the complexities surrounding the issue.


On another note, I FINALLY feel like I'm in London because I have been to a big tourist attraction! (Yes, it took me 2 weeks to do so). Time to apply all Sociology of Tourism concepts -has London been less real to me all this while because I haven't seen what "defines" it? And anyway the mandatory touristy picture below shows that that's probably the closest I will ever get to Prince William. Next on the Agenda: Visit the River Thames (Yes, I have not been there yet either)!!

UCL's Singaporean exchange kids (minus poor Heather who was feeling under the weather)

All the same, I do like Camden despite scary stories of people getting mugged between the bus-stop and my hall which is probably a 10metre or less walk at night(resulting in me spending the night at Mich's place). Yesterday I discovered a road called PARKWAY that branches off from Camden High Street which made me very happy as it is to have nice to have another PARKWAY (not parade but oh wells) near my place! Along PARKWAY (no it's not really spelt with capital letters but I just like the word) there are many cafes which I would like to try (and some places with live music), a very homey organic food store and also, I found that it led to Regents Park and London Zoo (did you know that London Zoo was founded by our very own Sir Stamford Raffles)!

Regents Park is very different from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens cos it doesn't feel as atas for some reason -it's so normal here with kids playing soccer, many people walking their doggies and people jogging, and not as many slightly lost and aimless tourists like me. Will go back to explore soon! Am really pleased that there is a nice park near my place! (:


And that's the longest my legs will ever get.


Okay I have just wasted all my daylight hours doing rubbish -and daylight hours were really what I needed in order to do my reading because I have not yet invested in a table lamp. Raah! School here is going to be challenging (e.g. being in a class knowing nuts about socialist societies with people who actually COME from socialist societies), but all the same should be interesting. Whee.

Also, I think I finally realise what I have to try to change about myself and that this is the perfect opportunity to do so, just that I don't know how to go about it yet.

Next up: a post dedicated to my darling Mich! (:

Getting used to London

Well there has been no major culture shock here yet, but I guess there's still a few things I need/needed to get used to.

1) I still have not differentiated cigarette smoke from normal breath on a cold day so I tend to duck from these unidentifiable white clouds emerging from peoples' mouths unnecessarily sometimes.

2) Locking my door everytime I leave my room -even if I'm popping into the toilet for 2 minutes! I also tend to suffer from anxiety because I don't remember whether I've locked my door or not (I can remember walking to the lift and down the corridor but I just cannot recall the precise moment when I close the door).

3) Still refusing to eat Thai food from any "roadside" place -I CANNOT reconcile 40 baht (or less) and 4 pounds!!

4) Taking twice as long to prepare myself in the morning because of the multiple layers to be taken off/ put on including extra procedures like moisturising various body parts and negotiating the hot and cold water tap.

5) The cranky elevator in my hall which has made me fear getting trapped inside TWICE today -it tends to just stop or move strangely (even at levels where buttons are not pressed) -but I have figured that if I repress the level button and the lift happens to be on that floor (which so far it has been) the doors will open. Now I hope this trick will work for the next few months.

6) Hall food. Breakfast is perfectly fine and good (with choice of a combination of eggs, sausages, hash browns, baked beans, 4 types of cereal, yoghurt, fruit,toast, juice, tea, coffee, etc) -MORE THAN ENOUGH. Considering I don't even usually have breakfast in Singapore. Dinner is a little more challenging as most foods I cannot identify at first glance so I just point and hope for the best. On Monday I saw brussel sprouts for the first time (though I only confirmed their identities as brussel sprouts today)

7) Brisk walking half an hour (or more) to get to school. Okay but I like this part because it keeps me warm! And will be the only exercise I'm getting over the next few months or so. Haha. I really wish I could walk back but the sun sets real early and so it's dark and cold bleah.

8)Be better at making conversation with new people. Stop saying retarded things like "Oh your scarf has polka dots on it!" (DUH).

Alrightey that's all for now will post something longer next time! I miss everyone!!