It's been 2 months?! - 27th June 2017


Posted by Xian Jin


One moment I was wondering about what’s going to happen. Now, here I am preparing for my finals. It’s as if I’m on the express train of life. I remember how I was so undecided and unsure on what to do, what not to do, what to say, what not to say… etc before I entered college. Questions and doubts were floating like stormy clouds in my head, ready to pour. I had mixed feelings about starting school again, after 6 months at home- I left my job too, and missed it deeply (still do). Fast forward 2 months later, here I am, as busy as one can be with assignments, presentations, so on and so forth. It’s strange how time can pass so fast.


Despite having been here for over a month, I still get lost occasionally. This place is huge!!


I am really enjoying my time here, ‘even though’ it has only been a few weeks (or ‘because’, I don’t know which yet). I’ve fallen in love with the beautiful scenery of the lakes and trees, the ducks, cats, tortoises- you name it, you got it. Not to mention the people around me, who have been so friendly and caring. I’m glad I ended up here, and even more so that I took a course which was totally outside my comfort zone. 

I look forward to more walks across the bridge every morning, as if a pathway to a land unknown. Here's to more running from one hall to another, more classes where everyone but me seems to know the topic inside-out, and more adventures in the days to come.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent...
Read more

Discovering Pasir Pinji's Comfort Food - 29 June 2014

Image
Pasir Pinji Road in Ipoh is like a living heritage town. If you google this place, you will see a long list of local delicacies you must try - the famous yong tau foo, chee cheong fun, cendol, roast pork, traditional mooncakes, pastry, etc. On a Sunday, we saw the idyllic lifestyle of the local people - watching the days go by, sipping tea and catching up with friends along the corridor of shophouses, waiting for the takeaway of their favourite food or desserts from the roadside hawkers, sitting in coffee shops and dipping Hainanese buns into their kopi-O or Milo. .. it's like a walk to my childhood years in the 80s.  Ban Guan Foong Bakery has been around for more than 50 years. One of the very few remaining bakeries producing traditional Hainanese bread and buns using wood-fired oven.  A family-run business by the Goh family and some old and loyal workers. Getting ready the wood-fired brick oven  Removing the ashes from the heated oven  ...
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's ...
Read more