Cambridge..

i guess i have more or less settled in.. other than decorating my room, buying all the necessities and such.. yeap! so, i am in churchill college, cambridge. it aint those typical ancient english buildings' castle you will see. it's rather modern, built in 1961, somewhat alike to those mansions. despite its lack of history and beautiful architecture, i love the place! the college spans around 46 acres and has large spaces for greenery and, some useless sculpture, maybe. =) but i dont realli have many pictures of my college so these are assorted pictures over the days! =) enjoy! and trust me, u will love the place!

some useless but nice sculpture

Kings college

punting

Gonville and Caius College

Fitzwilliam museum

Christ College

St. John's college

my dinner!

ha i dunno if it looks gross.. but rest assure it's edible! my first "cooked" dinner in camb! it's pepper n mushroom rice with luncheon meat! pepper n mushroom rice is a premix, so all that i did was to put it into the rice cooker! =) luncheon meat doesnt taste like one, more like bacon.. and i got it from the supermarket! it's a super cheap dinner for me! 24p for the rice and 5p for the luncheon meat! 29p!! yay! good start!

From cambridge =)

Greetings pple! After an arduous journey, I finally reached Churchill College, Cambridge! Yay! I slpt for 3/4 of my flight; am too tired to enjoy watching pirates, spiderman or what not =( trying to clear custom was the first obstacle.. waited for almost 2.5 hrs before i can successfully get a chop o my passport! luckily, my bag wasnt searched so my pork floss is still in safe hands! =) then took a coach from heathrow to Cambridge, another 2.5 hrs bus ride.. urgh! but it was fun i guess.. with the excitement slowly building up! it's really a beautiful place, should come and visit if possible! you won't regret =) took a cab to my college with all the barang barang.. and darn.. it's really far away. i needed half an hour to walk from my college to the city centre! okie tt's all for now.. time to unpack my bag le..

T-12h to departure

darn it feels so surreal.. the moment i have been waiting for the past 2.75yrs of my life has finally arrived! Yet, i just cant seem to feel that excited or happy about it. Maybe i am just overwhelmed by the loads of last minute things to be done, or maybe it's just me. No longer will i say i am awaiting uni, i am a student, now. No longer will i live in the comforts of home and familiar surround, i will have to explore the big unknown that it awaiting me.
i cant help but look back at what i have done these few years. Have i made the right decision? It depends. Regrets? NEVER. I still feel happy over the fact that i am not bonded. There's no sense of remorse in me; for feeling bad about breaking the agreement. =) Cambridge? I guess it's still better than uiuc, no offence though. I guess right from the beginning, i had wanted to go overseas for studies, so that probably leaves nus out of the equation.
hmm.. i dunno wad i am typing.. shall go back to packing now.. urgh!

of basketball and mahjongs..

this morning was supposed to be my last bball match, farewell match! okie shant use farewell coz i aint some super star or wad.. but oh well.. weather wasnt giving face to me.. and the rain poured mercilessly.. urgh! but got a pleasant surprise when the bball peepz called! they came all the wae to my house to pick me up for breakfast! nice rite? am gonna miss them when i leave! urgh i still wanna play my bball! =(
then went to meet 4i guys for lunch.. had 2 admit was kinda sian diaoz that pple start pang sei-ing at the last moment. eh i aint tt free to go out everydae either.. i still got tonnes or admin, packing, preparation and reading up to do okiez.. but nvm.. boonz, js, tony, yx came! so it was a nice and cosy lunch.. js headed off for tuition while we went boonz' house 2 play mahjong! my last mahjong for the year in sing! and to make it even more special, it's with my 3 best frens! oh well! was fun to play with them! darn i will miss my best frens!! buddies for life!!

oh on a side note.. here's wad my student made for me... jellies! as a farewell =) sweet of them!
darn.. 2 more days to flying off.. i shld feel happy.. yet there's this gripping dear inside.. maybe fear of the unknown ba.. urgh!

Supper with oac =)

not in mood 2 write..

ha.. sying n my last supper with oac! 5 guy, 5 gals make up a pretty cosy group! ate at bedok 85 and played lantern at bedok reservoir! fun, nice, cosy!

my surprise present!

29th using candles! everyone better put this pic on msn!

we look gay with lanterns!

nice =)

我的热情...
the gluttons!

darn i will miss 29th!

on a sidenote.. i got a letter frm def! dated 14 aug! and i received it yesterday! wonderful! oh well, it's a reminder to inform me of my responsibility as a ns man to apply for exit permit if i were to leave the country for more than 24hrs. aint it suppose to be more than 3 months? heck, came as a timely reminder to apply my exit permit for this loooong trip.. thanks to the 3G army, my letter was late for only a mth! (clap clap) if it was back in the olden days, i guess i would have probably forgotten abt applying exit permit. efficiency rocks!

name name!

christian name suggestions pls??
my college parents are calling me zheng, which i suspect they will probably pronounce it as jeng.
oh my gosh!! urgh!!!
help me brainstorm..
pls dun tell me tangent way! =S

Blues..

darn.. i having this predeparture blues! dun feel like going out everyday, just wanna stay at home! =( oh yah i got my churchill parents! they will probably be the 1st ang mohs i will ever get into contact with! =) cool! now i have a churchill dad, chuchill mum and 2 cumsa dads! i guess that will make me feel less lonely=)

just being random..

farewell frenzy!

organised a farewell on sat! and i happens to fall on maf too =) but who cares, am definitely more important! invited pple from 4i and oac =) too lazy to type le.. photos!

with 4i less boonie!

29th! less nini

then boonie and yanxi stayed back with me! am amazed at all the things we can talk n play with.. tt's what buddies are for! =o went home next morning n slpt abit before trying to mug! then went for dinner with my uncle's family =)

the 2 sitting down arent my grandparents!

my niece! cute!

surprise tt turned out not as expected..

ha am getting more n more busy nowadays =) everydae seems 2 be filled with new tasks & things to do.. went to bugis to pray this morning before going back rv! darn i love the feeling of going back to rv, feels so homey! met teachers, lab techs n students =) was overwhelmed by my students' hospitality! but oh well.. they mean well =)
then went to give surprise bdae celebration to our ah gal de.. ended up being stunned! she told me e wrong timing for dental and her dad was on the way fetching her! nice, funny n malu-ating dinner at fish n co! ha cute neo print too!
darn.. just realised i got 10 days + a few more hrs to departure.. sianz sianz sianz. cant pick up my mood! pre-departure blues!

my dinner..

ha.. i cooked dinner once more! this time it looks more presentable! hopefully i can replicate this std when i am stranded all the way in uk..

darn.. why am i homesick even before i leave? urgh.. i hate this kind of feeling. .the frenzy of trying to get everything prepared n ready, yet there's always something i missed out.. i hate this nagging feeling! i had never felt this busy n lost before! urgh!

Pauling..

Ha i had just finished reading the biography of Linus Pauling. Am impressed with the life he led and live, aside for him being a fervent proponent of vitamin C =) Well, he's the only man (i think) who was ever awarded 2 single nobel prizes (meaning not shared with others); one for peace, the other for chemistry. If only i can attain half his level of intellectual and intuitive capabilities, i wanna be as pro a chemist as he's, but an organic one =) *inspired*
shall end off with 2 quotes from his biography..

"In the long run, Linus Pauling the chemist will be remembered and Linus Pauling the man largely forgotten, but it was the man who made the chemist possible. "

"In his work on crystal structure, chemical bonding, and molecular biology, his very human personality quirks came together with his almost superhuman intellectual abilities, and the result was wonderful science"

cumsa chalet =)

went for cumsa chalet on sat =) i think it's gonna be my second last chalet before i leave le! was okiez lah.. anw it's a get to know each other session/ice breaker! so gotta know alot more pple, gotta know some better and basically have fun! yay i found my mahjong kah kis le! together with our mahjong set, we will the whole of camb! ha okie am lazy to write.. photos..

the few remaining survivors who stayed awake/half awake throughout the night =)

being random..

darn.. time really moves fast! it's friday already! sianz! still feel like i got lotsa things left to be done, lotsa things to buy, lotsa things to read up and lotsa time needed for mental preparation.. am trying to recap what i did for the past few days..

Mon: run at west coast, go look see luggage, go beach road, eat lotsa local food!

Tue: open bank account, take passport size photo, meeting up

Wed: medical checkup, make new specs & contactss, meeting up

Thur: watch ratatouille! meeting up =)

Fri: run, buy winter wear, go library, cook!

ha seems like a boring entry=S yay cooked a complete meal today! edible but definitely not as nice lah..

Ratatouille!

meeting up session 3! ha i am meeting up with lotsa people these few weeks! went to watch ratatouille! it's a super nice show!! but i think it's abit too philosophical for children 2 understand.. but it's really nice anyway! i think i wanna bring this over to camb! sth that i can watch and make me smile when i am down! meeting up was fun.. gonna be one of the last few times i watch movie before i fly, or even the last! ha as usual.. had loads to talk abt!

looks like 2 boys rite.. muahhaha

in case i miss home! made it blur on purpose!

darn the pre-departure sadness has started to sink in..

steamboat!

meeting up session 2! ha steamboat at bugis followed by mango ice! nice hearty meal! good 2 meet up with ns pple! =) lazy to post.. shall just put photo!

meeting up =)

while i was waiting for my fren today, who happens to be late (as usual), a guy in his late twenties approached me. He looked like those people trying to sell "stuffs" in the name of charity while earning a huge portion of commission, which he happened to be. His breathe reeks of cigarettes and he looked beng. However, I was impressed the moment he spoke. He spoke with fluent and good english, something you will not usually expect of an ah beng (not trying to stereotype). Being curious, i listened on. turns out that he's an ex-con who's trying to get on with his new phase of life. yellow ribbon project, yes. he was frank, he told me that out of the $2 i will be paying, $1 will be his commission and i like that frankness. As we chatted on, i realised he got quite decent grades for his O's. A1 for eng, math and A2 for geog and i cant rmb the rest. HEY! that's really impressive okiez! but the sad fact is that he didnt like chinese and couldnt stand the stress of studying it. and he went bezerk, got baton-ed in the process and got sent to imh. i can still see his wounds, but rest assure he looks and is normal. in the end, i bought a pen at $2. coz i respect him, respect his courage to face the world again, respect his determination to get on with life.

on yeah.. today was session 1 of meeting up. dinner, chat, catching up. was nice =)

i want..

I want a knitted scarf.. but my mum refuse to do for me! coz she cant even sew! urgh! =(

darn i hate this empty feeling inside.. i wanna teach! now! not forever!

this feeling..

i hate what i am feeling now, but i cant find a word to describe it. this feeling, feeling of emptiness, boredom yet on the back of my head i noe i had lotsa things to be done. maybe you call it lethargy? i dunno.

think i am too used to being busy. right after my europe trip, i havent really had time on my own. everyday seems to be filled with things to do, things to look forward to. but right at this point, the only thing i can look forward to is my impending departure to cambridge. i know i should sound excited, but it aint what i feel now. maybe i am suffering from withdrawal symptoms, withdrawal symptoms from school, from my darlings. it's like every weekend, i have to bring papers home to mark, slides to do, textbooks to read. but now, i am suddenly free! and i miss seeing kids in rv uniform, hearing 起立 & 行礼, speaking at top of my voice and teaching them chemistry! boohoo =( man's never satisfied with what they have or used to have..失去了才知道它的好, grass on the opposite pasture always appears greener =(

on a side note.. this is a very pretty n sweet present from one of my kids! so nice hor.. so must show off. haha.

and today as i was walking up the chinese high slope near the swimming pool, i saw 相思豆! occurred to me that i nvr gave 相思豆 to anyone b4 nor had i picked them! coz i nvr believed in them =) anw i still picked up 2 of them =) maybe it's not the object tt lets u think about something or someone, but the meaning behind the beans =) hmm.. shall continue picking 2 相思豆 whenever i go back hc, or if i ever had a chance =) who knows i will give them 2 someone else next time! darn.. i think i am homesick even before i leave home. gonna get depression le la..

my 相思豆