My School, My Home, My Heart.

My school offers many scholarships to students of all walks of life. The scholarship money comes from donations that come from people all around the world and from all types of financial backgrounds. So, most if not all students in my school are on some sort of scholarship, one way or another. Every year, as a token of our appreciation, we write letters to our donors. This year, they decided to make a video for them too. Not very long, but VERY well worth the watch.

I am proud to say I am a student of Soka University of America!

With the right description...

I just put up a post on photos from Argentina for our class blog.

I hope you all like it.

Sorry, still on work mode but this should suffice as an update :)

Click ME 

And HERE for the main blog page. 

99 Problems. No Bitches.

Such an irony of a title judging by the fact that this post is gonna be a teeny bitch session.
I shall try and save you the agony of reading it all so I shall keep it short and simple......



Yes, modernization has brought mankind far.
We've grown, revolutionized and morphed into something quite different from our ancestors.
RULES, restrictions, regulations, all that held us back no longer hold truth.
We move, we grove, and remove all that we never enjoyed to make our lives better.
But aren't we forgetting about a lot of things that once made displayed our innocence?
Are we disregarding all that IS good for something that FEELS good?
Don't you think we're throwing away value to justify our rebellion?

Are we forgetting our origins?

Sure, we're all slowly gradually becoming as one, a family, a unity.
But as a consequence, we're also beginning to lose a sense of identity as something unique, distinct.
What happened to innocence?
What happened to value?

and

WHAT THE FUCK ARE  YOU WEARING?!

rant over. good night.

Love love

That Gap to Fill.

Sorry guys.

Updates are not available right now cause I am absolutely busy. :(

SIGH.

Though I will be back soon for more on Argentina :)

I am now fully camped in on campus though! :)

But here is a teeny tiny update about what I did when I got back.

We watched Immortals at the dollar theater! 

(it was $3 well spent hehe)

and then...

we went to Cha.

After so long of not having it and after having some insane cravings for it...

I must say, it was rather satisfying :)

Anyway. I have to go but I will be back! :)

STAY TUNED :)

Love love



Resolute, Resolve, Revolve.

I made my New Year's Resolution for 2012.

Late, I know but better late than never, right? It's almost February and I still have 11 months ahead. 11 months of change to be made. :) All possible when you think about it. Very little time. Much to be done.

Someone once told me a criteria he seeks in a companion. He told me he needs her to work hard in life. While at first I couldn't really fully grasp and understand his standpoint, I believe he holds much argument there. He mentioned "I work hard in life, at everything I do". Why shouldn't we all? After all, life IS about working hard to gain something positive in return, no? I watched Arthur on the plane and in one of the parts (I'm not going to give this away but I do recommend this movie!) the female lead says "it felt good to earn something". Haven't you have one of those moments, say a game or a sport you worked SO hard for and won? Feels pretty darn amazing, no?

I think I'm going a little off topic here though it is quite related to my New Year's Resolution. This year is quite an interesting one to build because I'm at a point in my life where BIG decisions need to be made. *hmph! determined face*

One of my New Year's Resolution in order to fulfill these goals and make these decisions is something I've NEVER done before. I used to always think it a waste of anyone's time. So, I've decided to actually have a time management thing going on. Every year, the school gives us a student handbook. I am determined to fill this thing to the brim! With post-it's and all that jazz. I told myself that I need to set my life straight and it starts now. Late but hey, at least I came to realized that now.

Soooo it is safe to say that....

2012 is going to be crazy crazy CRAZY. 

How about yours?

Love love. 

NEWSFLASH! :)

My maternal family at reunion dinner.

We be bosses man! 

HAHAHA. 

I'm so jealous. I wish I was there! 

Dragons, Pheonixes and Pork.

团圆饭

reunion dinner

a time when extended family meet to have a BIG feast the day before Chinese New Year.

Every year since I can remember, it has been a tradition for my immediate family to fly back to the East Coast of Malaysia, Sabah, for the reunion dinner. I could never imagine my new year's without it. All the absolutely delicious food, the stench of pork, cool night air, red packets and well, you get the jazz of it all.

This year marks the 3rd year I am unable to do so...

Damn. All the delicious food, all the red packets, visitors and family I've not seen in what feels like forever.

Haha well, that's my Chinese New Year. But, I'm in Buenos Aires, Argentina so I cannot complain...

So, anyway, about Argentina... It is a BEAUTIFUL place. The food is to die for, the people are nice, the weather is a nice change from all the coat/jacket/boots wearing. The price difference is pretty darn awesome and seriously, my class is just AWESOME. My professor is SUPER DUPER chill! Best class, EVER. I could not ask for better... Anyway, in my Mini Hello post, I mentioned something about a sleepover at our professor's.

Literally, all 11 of us students had to move to his place from our hostel. One of the girls woke up feeling all itchy and found little ticks running around. So we all uprooted ourselves to our professor's apartment and set up  "beds" to fit everyone.

Made of sheets and blankets. 

It was kinda nice cause there was air conditioning haha. 

The next day we were relocated to hostel number 2

the clan all squeezing/ chillin in one room for the afternoon.

The hostel was not bad but it was kinda weird cause it was not exactly the cleanest one

It was the most expensive and kinda was not worth what we were paying actually.

But they were pretty booked so we only stayed for 2 nights and were moved to hostel number 3 

This is Nandini btw haha

This is the breakfast area 

Honestly hostel 3 is the best thus far. 

We're freakin Nomad bosses.

Anyway!!! Enough about moving and shit. Now on to the food! OH BOY.

Warning: Please refrain from drooling. Kay thanks.

SAY HELLO TO.....!

Choripan! 

Basically a sausage cut in half in a bun plus 

condiments that adds flavor

(This had bacon in it which made it extra yum!)

Empanadas!

OH MY GOD they are SOOOO GOOD. 

they have corn and basil (separately)

Chicken and spicy beef mmmmm sooo good!

To Malaysians they're kinda like Curry Puffs 

but they have a variety and are not curry.

NOM NOM :) 

Then there are the desserts

we had 3 full bags of these! 

Even these were gone in SECONDS

not to mention the abundance of fruit! :)

This is not all of it but haha. 

Whatever.

This is the survival part of being in Argentina :) I shall talk more about the 2 weeks of being here later, all the markets, the things I did, the places we visited, etc later. :) 

Mini Hello.

So,  a week has passed since I arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

My experience thus far has been truly wonderful. Overwhelming, with so much beauty, food and a never ending learning process.
As I am quite busy, this shall be a mini post on some of the fun parts of the trip. The deeper more complex things I shall talk about when I'm free :)

Flying over the mountains to get there :)

Sleepover at our professor's cause there were ticks in one of the beds :/

Beautiful graffiti! 

Art exhibit by Latin American artists :)

Flower monument :) It closes as the day gets darker :) 

Sunset. Gorgeous innit? :) 

So much to talk about! Argentina has treated me very well :) I shall update on the food part in another post though :( Need to do some homework now :) 

Buenas Noches. 

Love love

Buenos Aires!

Hello helloooo

I'm currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina :)

As much as I'd love to talk about my trip back to Soka and the one here from California, I can't. I need to work on my assignment but I promise you I will update as soon as I can! :)

Thanks for your patience though!

I will be back.









Love love

Talent is Talent.

There are some VERY talented people on this planet.

But this guy trumps it all.

Talk about OMG right. This is freakishly crazy! Talent RIGHT THURRRR

I am Chinese.

I am Chinese.  

我是华人。

wo shi hua ren

Growing up as a child... This sentence was probably the most embarrassing sentence ever.
As a kid, I never really wanted to be Chinese. I had always wanted to be one of those kids, a brunette or a blonde, with blue eyes. Wow, what was I thinking. -.- So anyway...

If you may or may not know (if you don't, post Shut Glutton talks about it) by now, I had spent 2 days in Birmingham with a high school friend and a skating friend :) I had quite a lot of fun. I met so many people and felt absolutely welcome and loved by these lovely people.

In the previous post, I talked about how I cooked for 12 people. These were the people I cooked for...

Kay, seriously, they're SOOO nice.

Those who lived in that house helped me prepare the meal. 

My friend (the one in purple), Jia Joon bought all the raw materials,

and helped me chop garlic even though he said he hates chopping garlic

Okay, seriously. Super nice.

Then, when these people came, I was still stirring the food. 

 I was working on my 2nd dish and was half way there. 

Most if not all of them offered to help me

Then I offered the position of a stirrer and immediately they lent me a hand.

On the 3rd dish, I told them to start without me as I was almost done 

but they refused and made sure everyone was at the table before digging in. 

Looking back, I seriously DO NOT know WHYYY I did not like to associate myself as Chinese. I don't know why I hated wanting to be Chinese so bad. As some of you may or may not know... I went to Chinese school (primary school/ elemantary school) without knowing a single word of chinese. All I knew how to write was the word "swim" in Chinese. Random fact yay! haha. And I HATED my parents for it (sorry mom and dad, you already know this though). I mean, 7 year old kid, lost, confused, (bringing back weekly school update things that I needed to translate for my mom and most of it I'm just like "whatthefuuuuuuuck") but today, I cannot thank my parents enough for making me go to Chinese school. It has definitely helped me in SO many ways unimaginable and most importantly it's allowed me to meet and communicate with amazing people like those in the photo. Seriously. 

Anyway, back to these amazing people. 

I spent well, technically 2 nights with them and they've completely made me feel so at home.

Either way, I miss them already and well, this post is dedicated to them :)

&

All the great people I met :)

Side thank you: Jia-Joon for letting me crash at your place and for taking such good care of me! Seriously :)

Love love

Shut Glutton.

Oh London, how you treat me so well. 

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!! 

How is your 2012 so far? Good I hope! :)

My friend and I arrived at London on the eve of New Year's Eve. 

It was a hell of a trip upon arrival. What with the rain and lack of information from Google maps. Quite sad lah. 

Walking in the rain, quite lost... 

But really, the bus driver was tremendously kind and helpful. He saw to it that he told us where we needed to go, what we needed to do to get to our destination. Post check in, we were so tired, we just went to bed after getting ourselves a teeny tiny snack/drink. 

New Year's Day itself was quite fun. Did a little exploring before we went to save ourselves a spot for the fireworks. Pictures shall be seen below. Before I show you my London trip, (or at least the 2 day and a half of it) I wanna share with you guys some of my pictures from my short visit to Brussels, Belgium. It was barely 5 hours, our trip there. But by goly, it was AWESOME

Look it....

*** edit***

Just a mini PS in the middle... I started this post earlier, perhaps a few hours after my new year's celebration but never got to finish it due to internet issues. So, this is kind of a 2 in 1 post. Birmingham update together :)  Birmingham is story number 2. :) OH I love.

***edit end***


After a billion years of not seeing Yik Mun and after a long time of talking-planning-time-place-space-continuum-yogetthepicture, we finally meet up in Birmingham... and guess who arrived 30 minutes late hehe. :) But before I talk about the event of our hangout... I would like to do a small rant on how I had to pay 20 fuckingQUID for an unfortunate event that took place. No thanks London subway. -.-

So, what happened was, yours truly woke up early for everything. Had every planned out. Gave myself enough time to get to the train station to board my train to Birmingham. Who knew... The subway was not running well due to "signal problems" so they suggested a special route to go to the station I needed to go to (let's just say, I had to get from A to B. It's a direct subway north from A to B. They suggested to take the south one to switch to another line that'll take us there so we listened and started making our way there. I say we cause so happened, a man and kid was heading in that direction as well). Arrived at station to switch trains only to find ourselves with a 12 minute wait that kept growing longer. So we found ourselves changing our plans and landing ourselves on the next fastest + available subway to get there. Long story short, we managed to figure out the FASTEST route to get there but arrived 15 minutes too late for our trains. So we went to the ticket booth to ask for a replacement ticket (having it being not our fault) but all we got was a "then you have to ask the underground to compensate you, but you need to get a new ticket" are you kidding me bech? No choice lor. Bought the roundtrip whydidIdothat? the return was one pound more. Thinking my previous return ticket didn't work anymore, I bought the return.

Epic fail Kim. 

So anyway, arrived in Birmingham to a waiting friend OMG I swear my timing is horrible. Everytime something goes wrong and I have to opportunity to change a plan to accommodate the change of plans, I always do not do what my gut tells me. My gut is ALWAYS right in these situations. I wonder why this kinda things happen. Why do I not trust my gut? So after arrival, I got a tour of the University of Birmingham and went for a buffet lunch with the friends. It was quite nice. Got to know some people and do a bit of people watch when I went to get food. After lunch, headed to the supermarket to buy some groceries.

Mission: Cooking for a dozen people.

End result: MAJOR success, new friends and a very happy Kim :)

Latest accomplishment: "I COOKED FOR 12 PEOPLE!" YESSS :) Oh the joy!

We ended the night with a game of Cluedo and I got a VERY comfy bed to sleep on. Boy did I wake up rested :)
 Back to my story about meeting Yik Mun. :) So, I woke up round 10 ish, got ready, ate breakfast and left the house to go meet him. Arrived hehe, half an hour later than agreed. I swear, me and my gut feeling + bad timing... Thank goodness they decided to wait a little longer for me. Apparently they were about to leave when I arrived.

The day went tremendously well. I was expecting the lunch date to go short. Perhaps 2 hours long. Little did I know, the lunch date went on till dinner, with the addition of my friend Jia Joon and new found friend Aaron. :) Oh damn, I just realized we never took a picture together whuuut -.-

Anyway! For lunch, we went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant! OMG kay, lemme say, I LOVE COOKING. ABSOLUTELY. Some people love playing dota, some reading, having philosophical talks, I, LOVE. COOKING. And I ENJOY watching Jamie Oliver's show. I used to watch it on TV a lot. So going to this restaurant for lunch was just a treat :) I got the Wild Truffle Risotto and it was quite good :)

My dream come true :) 

After lunch, we went shopping for one of them and in the process, I fell in love....

Yes. The new Stella Baguette Stainless Steel Watch from Fossil 

Having tried on the few watched my new friend was trying to pick...

This was one of them. And OH MY GOODNESS...

I fell in love. 

But it was £125.

Sigh. 

We shall be united, dear watch.

Till we unite... I shall bid you goodbye.. For now.

Love love