journey of a little rainbow: January 2012

"And I wonder if I ever crossed your mind, cuz for me it happens all the time."

Need you now- Lady Antebellum.

9 months, the name sure sounds long but in reality, it happened so fast like a bullet train. Just as if it's a moment ago, when I first entered Sunway's Ausmat alone while most of my secondary school mates were enrolled either in Sunway's FIA or Taylor's. However, during these duration of time, I met a lot of people who are utmost AMAZING friends that anyone can ask for.. like seriously. :) Met the kindest, friendliest, wackiest, craziest, sweetest, funniest, loudest, coolest, goofiest, hyper-iest people that I've ever seen. And yes, people who are born both beautiful inside-out, who's presence truly left a deep mark in my life. Aaahhh~~ How I miss you guys!! ♥

Throughout the times in Ausmat..

I did the silliest thing as a student when I first shaded my answers at the name area of my EE1 Accounting test paper. (NO WONDER, there's no place to write my name.. heheh :P)

I kept on offering sweets to Sheik during the Puasa season, forgetting that he is an Indian-Muslim. Oops!

I lost my T1-89 Calculator~~ There goes my RM 350.00. T.T

I had to wear heels with plasters on my feet for presentation purposes and it hurt soooo much that there are times when I really felt like pulling them off, fling them away and watch them fall from the 4th floor. (If you love your girlfriend, never force her to wear them.. unless she enjoys it. And if she wears them for you, appreciate it kay?)

I became too emotional during my Moral Studies presentation on Children Discrimination, broke down and screwed up the information. Great embarrassment but we managed to score 21.25% out of 25% for it. :)

I got myself a lovely pet sister upon knowing that she has always wanted a sister for herself due to the reason that she is the only child in her family. Love her a lot.. Oh, and she's a 14 years old person who's doing the same course as us, the 18 years old by the way. :) You have absolutely no idea how proud am I of her.. She's a great girl.

I tried hard to break free from my shell, doing things that I've never done before. I finally get involved in society-based clubs, organizations and events that I've always hoped to do.. all of these to find myself.

And I'm glad that I did.. :)

So, all in all, last year was indeed a year filled with events made out of:

pleasant surprises..

life-transforming experiences...

and

heartwarming memories....

P.s.: I'll miss you. :)

Sometimes, there is a point in your life whereby you will meet a whole new group of people in which, you became so closely connected with. Even though the times that we spent together isn't long, however, it is in that short period of time, that bond is created.. by fate.

To be able to gather at one place from a total of five countries across the borders of the seas;

Considering that successful candidates' application have to go through multiple screenings and 'special' connections..

Fate.

To be able to warm up easily with each other's presence;
Though there are some differences in terms of cultures, personal preferences and concepts..

Fate.

To be able to stick together through thick and thin;
With mutual collaboration, care, trust, understanding, acceptance and love..

Fate.

8th to 28th December, the date that our blue moon was found. :)

♥ 2011 Overseas Youth Hakka Culture Camp ♥

The famous 'Zzzzs' pose. :)

Before I go spilling my heart out, there's one thing that I do not want to neglect because without him, I'll never be able to participate in this year's camp. Should my application fail, and should I succeed in 2012's application instead, the people that I've met and memories that I've gained would had been very different.. And I'm very grateful that I've them all last year. I found out that I was the last candidate, among the 16 Malaysians, according to the man in charge (ain't sure if it's true or not) but according to him, my cousin kept giving him phone calls to check if my name is in the list.. So touched.. Thank you WUI TENG! :D A million thanks to both of my Tzu Chi shigus (Cheng Gee shigu and Siew Bee shigu) who gave their best in ensuring my recommendation letter is well written. Same goes to my parents who made this trip possible.
感恩！！

And so..

There're a total of 16 of us from Malaysia. Apa khabar? :)

All 16 of us gathered and stayed at a hotel nearby KLIA a night before the camp so that non of us will be late for the flight the following day. As we all know, passengers aren't allowed to board the plane with any liquid more than a 100ml in hand and we have to either finish or drop them in the bin provided. Surprisingly although there were a few officers eyeing on us as we walk through the screening machine one by one and I was holding my transparent water bottle right in front of me, they kind of allowed me to cross just like that. O.o?!

Anyway, upon arriving at Taiwan, we gathered at this hotel to meet with the rest of the campers and oh my gawd.. how I watched in disbelief and refrained hard from laughing the moment I saw the guys sitting RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the corridor playing POKER CARDS?!?! Wow.. An unexpected sight. *Grins* Okay, I found my room and the first foreign friend I talked to was Anna Ju, standing right beside the room door with a huge beam saying "Omg.. Finally! The rest had their roommates arriving almost completely and I was so anxious!" Something like that, and yes, I was kind of happy seeing her because she seems to be a very friendly person in which, she is. :) So, my first roommates were Taiwanese who either migrated or furthered their studies to Australia; the sunshine girl: Anna, Erica: who has a very warm demeanor, and Daphne: someone who's generous with her smiles. Yes, there's still some awkward moments and we didn't chat much on the first night but yeah, probably because it was a pretty tiring day.

Moving on to group division, and I was placed in Group 4 with:

'茶叶'
- a.k.a. 'tea leaf', who is the 'supervisor' for G4 who has been diligently taking care of our needs, enquiries etc.

Parker
- Our young group leader who kept disappearing to G5 at times when we need him BUT he will definitely roll back later on and run his duty as a pretty responsible leader.

- Famous for this 'lips-pout-ing' icon, the 'shhhhh~~' with one finger over the lips sign and yes, the 'passing-under-table' game that only the G4 would play every time we have our meals.

Sophie
- Miss Charismatic and also the 开心果 of G4. Thank you darling, for the tremendous effort and spirit you managed to bring out from us within.

- A very thoughtful and fun person to talk to.

Amy
- Lovely, caring, and motherly-like lady who helped and guided most of us with the laundry and stuff.

- According to the survey done by the guys, she's said as one of the most beautiful girl in the camp in which.. I truly agree because no doubt, she has a very good heart.
- Her hawt 'M' dance during the X'mas night? :)

Cindy
- Absolutely adorable, alert and smart girl who has just completed her SPM and I've confidence that she'll do well in her studies.
- Has been my Bus 2 partner throughout the entire trip and we've been watching the City Hunter drama,downloaded into her Ipad with the screaming, and getting heartbroken over Lee Min Ho with Sophie.

Annie
- The 'mother' of G4 who knows the difficulty in earning money so she's very careful with her spendings in Taiwan.

- Her voice; absolutely loud, clear and you can hear her from afar.. Teehee.. She's always making sure we're eating the right food, spending right, safe and ooohhh, her sweet motherly advices.

Ray
- A very kind and funny guy who plays with his facial expression at all times even in photographs!
- Nicknamed '洗手哥'.. lol~~

Kk
- For the first week, he's just too quiet and I was trying so hard to make him talk. But later on, found out that he's a good person in side who's always there to offer help to those in need.

- He's been so kind in agreeing to become my 'sweets delivery messenger' to my 'Owner', Jackie because it's so hard to talk to him and care for him without exposing my identity as his 'Angel' as I'm not close to him.

Peir2
- A very quiet guy who can be really cute at times. :)

- Eats really less.. like just a few spoon of rice and a few pieces of food bits? Hmmm??

"V♥蛋!" :D

Among the small activities conducted at the camp was to select a local Taiwanese young adult student as our extra group leader (Sprite) who will be running around with us for 3 days straight. And it was the G4 girls who made the quick 'browsing' and decision based on urm.. I believe it's his looks? *laughs* I can still clearly remember how Annie stood behind him and was asking "这个好吗？我们选这个ok?" while we were like.. "yes yes! 我们要这个！！Annie, 快快站在他的后面！抓住他, 不要给别人抢走他！！", at the same time happily thinking "yes! We got the best looking one!" lol..

However, sad to say that although we lost in ALL of the group challenges BUT we are obviously the most close-kneeted, loudest, happiest, and family-like out of the 5 teams. :)
蛋蛋家族！！Hiyaaaahhhh~~

Our dear Sprite*, the one in orange and brown jacket. :)

得到惩罚的样子.. :P

Campers also get to experience the taste of living the local Taiwanese lifestyles through the homestay program and oh my, my homeparents' house was so well kept and huge. What I liked best is the fact that they actually plowed this massive land behind their house themselves; growing lettuces, veggies and fruits along the way.. not forgetting the huge fish pond. Home ma and home pa treated us like their own children, home pa was the chef of the house and they stuffed us with homemade delicacies after delicacies. What's more? Upon knowing that I was down with flu, home ma immediately rushed into the kitchen and walked out with a pot of steaming hot starfruit soup which made me felt so much better. On the very first day, she even greeted us with lovely scarfs, bought from different places which were then given to us to help us cope with the cold weather. Before we leave, she even packed herbal candies, caramel and milk candies as well as vegetarian meat for us to bring back home. Omg.. Can you just feeeeeeeeeeeeeel the love? :)

Wearing the scarfs given by home ma.. Miss them so much! :(

Home ma's and home pa's son. :)

At the last week of camp, we had the campfire night followed by the Indigenous Taiwanese fire dancing ceremony in which was a good eye opener for me because in Malaysia, usually, only the scouts have them. The 'first dance' came next and I remembered Li Hong was super happy because she got him* as her dance partner. Lucky girl. Haha.. Basically, all G3 and G4 members memorized this dance by heart as we've been practicing them for our group combination performance. Peace! :D Right after that, we all had papers celo-taped behind our back and were released to convey whatever messages we wished to say to friends who's image first came into our mind, one after another.. Lighted candles and a huge 'Kongming Deng' a.k.a. Chinese sky lantern was then released into the dark night, glowing with all it's might as it reach for the dark sky (sky lanterns are just so beautiful to watch).. which officially marking the closing ceremony of the campfire night.

I made lots of wishes as it floats off..

*Muuaahhhhh*

On the night of X'mas eve, a barbeque party was held and the moment I heard that beers will be provided, the very first thing that stroked my mind was "Uhh uhh.. There goes the guys!!" :) Seriously, most of them were surprisingly strong alcohol drinkers and their supplies of 'gao liangs' seems to be endless where else the beers~~ pure mineral water? OMG! So scary!

But yeah, some of them got drunk in he end and had to leave early while the rest were still standing strong with a little wobbly here and there. Ha-hah. xD Unfortunately, a few of our dear friends were sent to the hospital halfway through the party as they were down with high fever.. or 'flu'. But I was kind of relieved to see them back the next day. Deep inside, I was grateful that Yee Ling, the camper representative from M'sia also known as 'Vitamin jie jie' has been diligently distributed vitamin B+ and C's to the M'sian every day. 谢谢你！:) ♥

Last but not least, this camp ended with a truly economic-organized farewell party. All I remembered was pizzas and soft drinks? Eheheh.. Anyway, everyone looked stunning that night and although it's the last night for us all but at least, I get to take photos with everyone, person by person at the moment that they all looked at their best in the camp.. :) I think the highlight of the event was the 'confession stage' whereby guys either got pulled or pushed up onto the stage to.. urm.. do whatever confession they wished to do or.. by force? Lol.. Henry was very brave that night and I think every single person in the camp knew he ADORES Annie. Hehe.. But Annie kind of disappeared into the washroom for a moment but it's okay.. we all WAITED for her to come back. He did his confession and I was like "Oh-my-gawd.. That's so sweet! :D" and it is! The exciting part came when whoosh~ he gave her a peck the moment she was halfway turning to leave the stage which of course, made the crowd went high?! *laughs* Too bad that I think nobody managed to take photos of them or else, it would be a good memory souvenir for both of them to keep I guess? :) Urm.. there's also 'Onion' who did for 'E', 'Ah L' for 'M', 茶叶 for 'YL'.. and uhh uhhh.. I was startled when my name was called by 'JJ' who was then standing beside 'E' on the stage. Then, 'Ah L' came running over to drag me to the front.. OMG?! I was shocked because.. because.. I was also guessing who's the girl while looking around to see which girl might be overreacting. I didn't know how to react and I remembered I was standing quite a distance away beside 'E' and they were like asking me to stand closer. Awkwardness.. BUT! What he did was kind of sweet to thank me politely so yeah.. but what's with the 'peace!' sign in the photo? Hmm.. not that embarrassing after all I guess? :) Definitely something memorable to remember after this camp. Thank you 'E'. :)

Having to leave the very next morning at about 5.30am, it was very touching to see our dear Australian friends waiting at the lobby to send us off (the M'sian campers have to leave a day earlier). My tears started flowing like nobody's business when I hugged Mel goodbye.. Mixed feelings came rolling and I 真的很不涩的 them all, giving everyone hugs, waving them goodbye from the bus, weeping silently with Jayson, sitting right next to me kept on asking me to stop crying while I can clearly see the tears in his eyes too.. all these still stays fresh in my mind. We arrived at KLIA at noon and my mum gave me a call saying there's massive traffic jam due to road block so I had to board the Express line (Monorail) and then convert to the LRT (Light Rail Transit) to come back home myself. I'm kind of glad my luggage aren't huge tho.. just the right size at unpredictable circumstance. On the journey back home, images after images of the campers filled my thoughts and I didn't realize I was crying until I saw my reflections in the window. Ahhhh~~ so ugly, better wipe them off before someone else sees it. Heh.

So yeah, basically they were a lot more interesting activities that we did throughout the camp from DIY-ing paper fans, salty veggies, traditional lion head and orange jam-cum-cordials, rock climbing, flying fox, mountain climbing, cycling around the peaceful Hakka village, sharing Taiwan's street snacks at the famous 'ye shi', learning the Hakka dance, lots of singings and doing performances and yes, most importantly getting to learn this unique language, while meeting the wonderful Hakka singers and teachers. Truly, this camp had brought me many beautiful and unforgettable experiences..

I miss you all soooooooooooooo much! :)

This year..
Is the year of the ultimate dragon.. *rawr*
A..
New...
Year....
Has....
Come..... *drums rolling*

Okay okay, I've obviously just failed creating a suspense atmosphere. Anyway, here's my resolutions for year 2012. :)
♥♥♥
1) Hardcore effort in my studies. Tv time reduce to at most only 2 hours per day.. I still want to watch
my Korean dramassssssss! :)
2) No matter how busy I'll get this year, my family must not be neglected. :)
Families are my backbones.
Studies, careers and religion are my mind.
My other half is my heart.
Friends are my spirits.
So, all of these comes to the conclusion; Take good care of your 'body'! :D
3) To fill Tzu Chi into any free slots in my schedule, making time for it. :)
4) Learn Mandarin!! *Semangat semangat* After the camp, I found out that it is really hard to survive in a Chinese language-based country if you don't have a good foundation, rather troublesome at times.

So, basically these are the few main ones.. There will definitely be more to add in as I walk through 2012.