Where else in the world, can you 1) pop your hand out of ya window, grab a bottle of coke and drink it chilled? 2) without having to worry about the condensation on your cup that will soon form into droplets of water threatening the very security of your laptop?
No where else but my little cosy corner I called home for the last 3 months or so. Think I'll seriously miss this place. Peeling open my eyes to the morning sun, opening the window for the cool breeze that wakes the rest of your body up. No where else, except my little Chambre 229, Ango Residence.
MoulinRouge
One Day I'll Fly Away --Nicole Kidman
I follow the night
Can't stand the light
When will I begin to live again
One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
What more could your love do for me
When will love be through with me
Why live life from dream to dream
And dread the day when dreaming ends
One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
Why live life from dream to dream
And dread the day when dreaming ends
One day I'll fly away
Fly fly away...
I flew. This was my dream. And all dreams end. Am I dreading the day when it ends? I don't know. I just know that I will know in due course. In the mean time, I just want to continue my dream...
How many times have you learnt about some things, only to forget about it after the passage of time? I decided not to anymore. Not when my friends had taught me so much. So here's a new label named "I learnt" which contains snippets of inspirations my dear friends had either wittingly or unwittingly taught me.
First to start with -
Courage is not the absence of fear, but is acting in spite of it. - Chong Choon.
Think the original came from Mark Twain and Nelson Mandela. Anyway, following my subsequent interest in the subject, just want to share with my friends a passage.
"The one fear we must all guard against is the fear of ourselves. Don't let the sensation of fear convince you that you're too weak to have courage. Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice." - Abstract from "In search of Courage" by John McCain.
short entry before i go for oenology exam. well... once in a while, i would wake up to the morning and just feel blessed for all the chinese lang teachers i had, especially back in Catholic High days.
十年树木，百年树人。
They had really been the bedrock of many of my beliefs. Just this morning, the phrase "勿以善小而不为，勿以恶小而为之" from Mr. Chan Tep Kok somehow pops in my head. And of coz, the then irritating Mr. Pan Kah Hock nagging me to "严于律己，宽于待人", something to my embarrassment that though years had past, I still couldn't do it.
Maybe it's coz I mainly returned to Rouen with a jaded heart, taking things more granted than they should be. Thank you, Mr. Chan Tep Kok and Mr. Pan Kah Hock. I'm just glad that you were in my life and left a definite footprint in how I should conduct myself.
My respect to all Chinese teachers in Singapore, for standing firm in educating the next generation even though most chosed to ignore you.
Anyway, was looking around in my incredibly messy HD for resume and cover letter to apply for Beijing Qi Xia when I recalled those songs I got when I was in S'pore. Got to know these new songs from UFM1003's radio drama, 2530的未来. Nice drama with compelling script and fantastic voiceover from those incredible people Mediacorp once had but failed to take note. Well, enjoy the 4 songs below.
Never thought that I would be a victim of that, given my inborn ability to sleep anywhere anytime. In any case, jetlag gave a brand new meaning to 早睡早起.
Crazy day. Woke up damn early in the morning to a shivering cold breeze coming into my room. Thinking that a hot shower will do me good, I went to Ellen's bathroom. She had warned yesterday that there's something wrong with the shower and that cold water might come on for a few seconds before reverting back to the hot water. Darn, I must be the first person to experience otherwise. The hot water came on for a few seconds, and it's freezing cold water for the rest of it. Perhaps Singapore should ban water heater and we can immediately see a reduction in water usage.
Anyhow, it is another mad rush to find where Blue Marble, our luggage storage place is with Ellen's parents. Peishi had her luggage missing and frankly, I was quite worried about her. But she arrived at the Blue Marble faster than we did despite the fact that she's much further away from Blue Marble, much thanks to the efficient (they had got to be @ 40 euros for a trip like that) taxi. The 3 of us are really indebted to our hosts. They spent like nearly 1 hour driving back and forth, asking around, kenna horn by other people and kissed their bumper to a small metal sticking out from nowhere, just to get us to Blue Marble. Whoever said that French are snobbish have obviously not met them before.
Our gracious hosts before we bid farewell outside Blue Marble.
A nice flight on Easyjet (albeit costing us quite a bit for budget airlines) brought us to Madrid. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So when we're in Spain, we followed fellow Spainards and cheated on the metro system. They are still using turnstiles and all 4 of us can pass through the turnstiles when it remains half-rotated. Bah, before you cast that disapproving look of yours, please bear in mind we're all poor asians students trying to make ends meet. Besides, we did not do it often... Not when the station controller is around anyway... ;)
Our Madrid Home
Plaza Mayor & took a candid pic of Xiaolin as she poses for the camera.
One thing I'll never get sick of is their crystal clear deep blue sky.
It was quite about 5+ pm when we finally reached our hostel and the pic above was taken @ about 8+pm. New experience for me to still be in the sun @ 8pm.
Plaza Mayor at night. Should have more of such places in Singapore. Best place to jio char boh.
As we walked the streets of Madrid, we found this shop owned by some Chinese from Zhejiang. Friendly lady who taught us a few Spanish phrases. Rather refreshing to talk to someone in Mandarin and rather surprising, to know that there're so many Chinese in Madrid. Ah well, as the saying goes, 有太阳的地方，就有中国人.
Yes, the famed alfresco dining with a musician available at the snap of your fingers, and of "cost" (pun-intended), some euros. Romance costs... :(
Afternote: damn dulan.. can't get the Youtube thingy aligned.. go to the website for the full view of the video.. if you got solution, email me yar.. thanks...
