Hmm had a great day today but first let me talk a little about the past 2 days. As mentioned in the earlier post, we went out with this German guy (Markus) to eat and shop around in Mong Kok area on 28th. It was rather fun and we had a great time talking and taking photos. We went to Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry terminal to take photos and this is the place where you can view the picturesque skyline of new HK island; slowly but surely, we realized that our Esplandade view of Shenton way is not that magnificent afterall.

Later on in the evening, I went to dine with my parents. We had a great time chatting and at the same time, they displayed a tinge of sadness as they'll be departing the next day and I'll be on my own from then on.

In the morning of Monday 29th, we went to accompany Yuin Yee to pay her miscellaneous fees. Along the way, I went to borrow some books from the library. I departed to meet my parents for dim sum after that and we had a wonderful meal! I accompanied them to shop for a while before I set off for the Victoria Peak via the peak tram. We bidded farewell reluctantly and they'll be returning back to Singapore shortly after that.

The view of the skyline from the Victoria Peak is marvellous!

I took a half an hour walk along the Hong Kong trail near the Peak tram station and the skyline of HK is even more beautiful over there. Sad to say, my camera doesn't have a very high ISO value and hence the picture didn't turn out well :(

Today (30th Aug) is the welcome tea for all the exchange-in student. It began with the coordinator introducing the school to us (there were 12 of us, 3 from Singapore, 5 from US, 1 each from France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland). After half an hour, the rest of the exchange-in students from Mainland China joined us. There are more than 30 of them! We had a fun time chatting with one another, with those from China wanna learn to communicate better in English and thus tried to use them and those from the European countries tried to make themselves understood. Out of the 5 from US, 4 were what we classified them as ABC. Well they speak beautiful English with the "yeah" but couldn't understand much Chinese. Now here come the Singaporeans to bridge the East and the West ... haha ya know what I mean.

Tonight our hall had some orientation tea for those staying in the hall and we joined them for the first part before departing for the canteen at LG7 for dinner. Daniel's room mate, Richard who just arrived today, joined us and another friend from Shen Zhen joined us too. It was fun sharing and chatting with them. For now, I truly know what's so fun about exchange - it's to communicate and understand one another culture better; along the way we will become more "world wisely" and of course tolerant towards one another. There are more to this but I'll have to experience and discover slowly.

I'll have a good night rest tonight as we'll be heading for dim sum followed by Ocean Park tomorrow morning. I guess it'll be a fun day.

Ahh had a bad night sleep. The condition in my room reminds me of my NS days and the poor night rest was probably due to the extra small bed. I finally managed to get myself connected to the internet at around 0000 this morning. The first person I saw on MSN was darling Zhao Ying (Hugz) and we chatted for slightly more than half an hour. Following that I reached for the bed, only to find myself waking up several times in the night. Finally, I decided to wake up at 0430 to do something to make myself tired - surfed the net and went to bed again at around 0600. Before that I went to the "balcony" at the second floor to take back 2 pieces of shirt which I washed a few hours back and hung up there for illegal drying (there's no proper place to dry our cloths so I have to think of some ways to dry it, sigh).

The bright sunlight woke me up and I saw 0805 registered on my hp; went to washed up and getting ready to go out to walk around. There will be a German guy joining us today and I guess it'll be interesting. Hmm initially wanted to go jogging but I need to get used to the sleeping and room condition first before I can get back my usual routine of sleep. My room mate is not here yet and I hope he'll be a nice person for if not I'll had a hard time.

I am about to reach for the bed. Anyway, checked into the hostel at around 1230 today. The condition was really bad as my room was filled with dust, hairs, some distant foul smell etc. :(

My mom managed to borrow a piece of rag and I wiped my desk, book shelf, wadrobe, bed etc twice! After that, I placed my lappy on the desk, books on the shelf, clothes in the wadrobe and laid my bedsheet; only then it looked more than home, though still a far cry away. This reminds me of my army days when everything were so filthy. Yucks!

After that, Daniel and I accompanied my parents out by taking bus 11M to Hang Tau MTR station, where they will be taking MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui and both of us will be waiting for Yuin Yee and at the same time, shop for some items. After Yuin Yee arrived, we went to get some buckets, "dynamo", pillows and most importantly, dettol. We returned to the hostel and I cleaned up my room for the third time; this time round using dettol to disinfect the whole room. We went to dinner after that and I got my internet connection at around 0000.

The left picture below shows my working area after my clean up. The one on the right was that at home. Which one do you prefer? :p

Today is the 100th day anniversary with Darling Zhao Ying!! Happy anniversary dearie!!

Anyway I was at home in this morning doing some last minute packing. 2 days later, I'll be emarking on my SEP to HKUST. I wonder what it will be like - the elements of excitement and uncertainties are there and being away from home seem pretty scary. It's not that I have not been away from home since all Singapore males have to undergo 2.5 years of National Service; it's just that this time round it is different since there won't be any weekends in which I can return home. Most importantly all my friends and Darling are in Singapore and being away from them is sure to inject a deep feeling of loneliness. I met Darling at night for an Italian dinner besides Singapore river; it's pretty romantic and we chatted a lot. However, I can feel that she is covering up her sadness by being happy and laughing with me. She is really an independent gal; but afterall not seeing her bf for half a year is really sad thing. She's really very nice and encourages me to go for this exchange despite knowing that she won't be seeing me since she knows that I will be enjoying the modules over there.

Anyway I have been catching up with quite a no. of people for the past few days. As mentioned in the very first posting in my blog, I met up with the Chemistry Olympiad students and my band of brothers. 2 days before that, I met up with Xuelian, an old JC friend. On Sunday, I met up with some friends from my Chemistry lecture cliques and I was bumping around in NUS yesterday.

Before the day end, once again, Happy 100th Day Anniversary, Dearie!

It was a great but packed day. A near-workaholic like me likes a day that is filled with activities because in the end, I'll feel that it's a day that's well lived.

Anyway it was 5 days before I depart for HK for my SEP and 2 groups of people asked me out today - the chemistry olympiad students whom I got to know when I was training them for ICHO 2005 from June - July and my "band of brothers".

The day began with my final tuition session with Marlin. At the end of the tuition, she passed me a card and a gift, which kinda touched me especially after I read the content in the card. I am really glad that I have made a difference in her life by showing her Chemistry from another perspective. Following that, Eugene came over to take over the tuition (it was 3 hours long that day, so I took the first 1.5 hours and Eugene the next 1.5 hours). I am sure Eugene will do a better job than I do in preparing Marlin for her "A" level.

After that, I met up with my olympiad students at Harbour Front. Dr. Alan came as well but sadly, Doreen and Lifeng were not able to make it. The 5 of us (Justin, Astee, Jackie, Dr. Alan and I) headed for Dragon Gate Restaurant for a sumptuous dim dum buffet. We catch up a lot and really had an enjoyable time. It's really nice sharing perspectives with them as it made me feel young again.


After the dim sum, everyone left except for Justin and I. We had a game of American pool as Justin wanna learnt it and so I taught him with my minimal knowledge. Swensens was our next destination where we had ice-creams and we had some heart-to-heart talk on some issues. Finally at around 5.45pm, we bidded farewell and I left to meet my "band of brothers".

Those who came include darling Zhao Ying, Yuan-Ting, Weng Chun, Zhijie, Andy, Teck Loon and Jach. We had a wonderful time at Dragon Gate (yes, the restaurant where I had dim sum in the morning!), not that the food is extremely nice but rather we enojyed chatting and catching up with one another. It's interesting to see Zhijie mixing so well with my "band of brothers". :p

The day ended with some photo takings and after that, everyone went on their separate way home. A fulfilling day indeed (in terms of meeting and catching up with people).

Some of the activities for the next few days include meeting up with my Chemistry lecture clique tomorrow (Sunday) and spending time with darling Zhao Ying in the final 3 days. I should be bumping around in school and will spend the bulk of my time packing my stuff.