My Inner Blues

Today has been one of the days where I'd feel so down and low, as though I can't climb back up the ladder after falling down from it into a deep pit. So much has happened today and there's so much thoughts within me... Disappointment? Relief? Sadness? Happiness? I have no idea how to actually describe what I'm feeling right now. All of these feelings have all mixed and rolled up into an ugly ball of feelings.

This morning, I started my mock exams (some would call it a qualifying exam). I had my MIB (Melayu Islam Beraja also known as the Malay Islamic Monarchy) paper this morning. This MIB paper is one of the paper that I dread so much because I had to write all of it in Malay and it's not really a secret anymore if you do actually read my blog. I guess it went well, I did my best for that paper, wrote as much as I was able to. The only part that I missed out doing was the Jawi (arabic words) part. I forgot all of my Jawi already since I stopped learning Jawi in Primary 6. So, hopefully, I won't fail this MIB paper and get a credit for it at least.

I went home after my MIB paper to do some last minute revision for my Sociology paper which was in the afternoon. There was so much to study that I tried to memorise as much as I could but I think I did it again. I kind of pushed my panic button <--- really guilty of that. Sorry Mr. Ess, I couldn't stop myself from panicking when I saw the questions on the paper. The entire duration for my Sociology paper was 3 hours long. The longest paper that I have ever sat for in my entire life. My bones were aching and I was getting restless from sitting down for so long. I felt so stiff but I couldn't move from my seat since it was an exam. I wrote as much as I knew after my panic attack where my mind went blank. It was a horrible 3 hours. 3 hours 3 essays. How great is that. =.=

After the Sociology mock exam was over, hand phones of the students started ringing here and there. All I could guess at that moment was," OH MY GOODNESS! THE JUNE AS RESULTS ARE OUT!". And.... I was right. It was still in the exam hall, mind you and I could hear shrieks and cries of the students. Out of joy or grief, I won't know since they're not my friends but I do suppose that one student actually scored a really good grade for sociology that her sociology teacher got so overwhelmed and cried on the spot. Congratulations to whoever you are! :)

I was, of course, scared and nervous while waiting and holding tight onto my phone. I registered for the results to come through my phone to me and it's one of the things that I hated. Every buzz that my phone makes, due to other notifications on my phone, makes my heart skip a beat and I would actually stop breathing for a moment. My results didn't actually came to me until a while after I got back home from the sociology exam. 

Well, all I can say is that my results were what I expected or maybe a little better than what I expected since I actually thought that I was gonna fail one of the subject. BUT no, I didn't fail any. Praise the Lord! The results were mediocre and I told my parents about it. They weren't the happiest camper about it but at least I wasn't thrown into a hot, fiery furnace for not getting the results that they wanted. It was then I felt disappointed because I had disappointed my parents with my results since it wasn't what they wanted. I'm not the A kid, though I always wished that I was. 

Even though I was a disappointed, a wave of relief hit me hard. I didn't fail anything and I manage to get all credits except for the one that I thought I would fail. My friends and I were twitter-raging the entire time after the results were out. Some were the happiest receiving such great results however, many of us were accepting the fact of our not-so-good results. Oh well, we can't change the ugly truth can we?

Oh boy, am I ever glad that I actually had such supportive friends like Lin and Sophia who encouraged me again and again, not to give up hope in achieving a better set of grades when I retake my papers again in October. Lin and Sophia are like my sisters from another mother. Though both of them do not know each other personally, I do still appreciate them and love them WITH ALL OF MY HEART! God bless you two girls. Haha!! This is when I realised that friends are just so important. "I would rather have 4 nickels than a 100 pennies." - as quoted from some person on twitter. Lin and Sophia were the perfect pick-me-up after a wholesome 2 hours of being depressed over my results. I wouldn't have come out of my "mini-depression" that quickly if not for them.

But again, I was relieved after all these waiting and anticipating for my results. I'm glad that this is over and done with. I'm thankful that mum and dad weren't as pissed as I thought they would be. I'm grateful for my parents who told me to work harder for the next retake exam instead of throwing me insults to let me fall deeper. I'm grateful for my friends who encouraged me to not give up and to keep pressing on. I wouldn't have gone far without any of them. Most of all, I'm thankful for God answering my prayers because only God knows the perfect solution to every of my problem, no matter how big or how small.

Jeremiah 29:11 - 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my FAVOURITE verse in the Bible. Whenever I'm feeling at a lost, I would always remember and think about this verse and then I'll be feeling a lot better after reading through this one verse. How God works in many ways to comfort and to heal one's soul. 

This is such a wordy and a lengthy post but it totally describes a little bit of how I'm feeling at the moment. I hope that things will get better in time.

I'm singing my blues~

Hannah

Disclaimer: Photos do not belong to me unless stated so. All credits to the original photo uploader.

10 things about me

I just wanted to share 10 things that MOST people don't know about me.

1) I am an introvert. Many of my friends would question this fact but it's the truth. I'm only talkative and more active around the people whom I know for a long time already. If not, you'll be finding me trying to camouflage myself in the surroundings. Not wanting any extra attention than what I'm given already.

2) I'm an awkward person.. or rather I feel awkward many a times. Due to me being an introvert, I don't really fit well in many social functions. I get really awkward and embarrassed altogether sometimes and will hope that everything will end soon before things get worse.

3) I'm a bathroom singer (not literally in the bathroom, but just a term where I don't sing out in public). I love to sing.. when nobody's watching me. Which means I sing while I shower or in my bedroom. My not wanting any extra attention would be one of the reason of me being a bathroom singer. Not that I sing well anyway, I sing just for fun. :)

4) I love to read. Some might be like, what?! Seriously?! You're such a bookworm! Yup, I love reading during my free time. I have many books of different genre. I don't have a particular genre that I like best but I don't like reading science-fiction, unless it's really, really, really good. One of these days, perhaps after my exams, I would like to have a day where I can sleep in through the day, waking up with a cup of warm tea and a good book in hand. That would be bliss for me. :D

5) I like learning languages. It's on my bucket-list. Learn as many languages as possible in my lifetime. I might not be very good at it but at least I know some basics of it. So far, I can speak fluent English, fluent Mandarin (Chinese dialect), average Standard Malay, average Hokkien (Chinese dialect), manageable Cantonese (Chinese dialect), basic Korean (enough to maybe strike a short conversation) and also Hakka (Chinese dialect) which I can only listen and understand but not speak. I'm a half-Hakka and half-Hokkien, so shame on me. Other than these languages, I can say the basic greetings like, Hello, Bye, Thank You, in German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Thai and Tagalog. There's more I would like to learn if time permits.

6) I hate mint. I cannot tolerate mint in any of my food and drinks. If I taste any mint flavours in my food or drinks, I would gag. This is a problem since I was very young. It took me a really long time to change from kiddie non-mint toothpaste to the normal mint-flavoured toothpaste which I used only when I was 7 years old. Even know, if I'm brushing my teeth and the toothpaste gets too far in, I would totally regurgitate it all out. If I were at the dental clinic , I would usually request for my dentist to give me plain water for mouth washing after the dentist is done with my teeth because they usually provide mint water. ><

7) I don't really like eating sweets except for chocolate candies. I love chocolate! I like gummy bears too. I can eat them candies but just not too much in liking them. Weird, I am. Haha! Usually when friends or somebody offers me candies, I would usually politely reject them but I do accept them sometimes. :)

8) I like to cook.. but I'm too lazy to clean up after my own mess. Which means, I don't cook a lot due to my laziness. I would cook if the situation really needs me to, otherwise it would always be dad who's cooking for the family. I like baking too, but I don't have a working oven. I do cook sometimes, like pasta or making sushi or something else, but only if I "feel" like it. So, yeah, it explains why I don't normally cook or bake. :P

9) I'm more of a city girl who's used to concrete jungles than a nature girl. I can be in the nature jungle, exploring and such but I wouldn't be feeling comfortable. Maybe it's a bad thing but I do still go out there some times. It's just that I prefer to be living in the city or the suburbs at most. Maybe I will go to the country for a vacation but not for long-term living.

10) I don't make new friends easily due to my awkward and introvert nature. However, I do have a nice set of friends around me. I made some new friends in my current school but it took me more than a year to actually talk and make friends with them. So, don't be afraid to chat me up because I will normally shy away when somebody approaches me. It will take a longer time to get to know each other when compared to normal people. Bad habit.

So, that's 10 things about me. Just felt like doing one.. Maybe I'll do another one next time. All these re just random facts about myself. Whatever that pops into my head while writing this post goes here. That's all for now ;)

It's all about me!

Hannah

Last week of the school holidays

This week is the very last week of the school holiday for us students in Brunei. Even the international school students are finishing up their summer holidays and getting ready to get back at school. This last week of holiday for me is the last week for me to do my revisions for my upcoming school-based exam before the BIG ONE in October! This freaks me out a little. You can ask almost everybody whom I know, they will say that they're not ready for the exam too. Oh bummer...

So, as yesterday was the 1st day of raya, I went to Sophia's open-house, so to pay a visit to her family, to have a look-see at her house, and most of it all, to catch up with each other! The both of us haven't seen each other in more than a week. Yesterday was definitely a great catch-up session for the both of us. How us girls can talk on and on and on, I don't know but it was all great and I appreciate the bonding time. :)

It was my first time to Sophia's house, though I've met her parents before, it was he first time meeting the rest of her family. Her parents were so ever hospitable and they were so nice! When I first stepped into the house, I greeted and wished her mum, and her mum asked Sophia to usher me to the Dining Room to eat. Eating was practically what I did aside from chatting with Sophia and playing with her nephew. Sophia's mum is a really good cook who cooks really nice Soto (a type of Malay soup noodle dish) and the chicken curry was great! Yums~ No worries, I've been fed well the entire time I was there.

Playing with Sophia's nephew reminds me of having younger cousins. He's just so adorable. Have you met a 2 year-old who can sing the National Anthem by heart? Brunei's National Anthem of course. He's a smiley and happy boy. I can see that he has been the joy of Sophia's family. Active and a little naught of course, but aren't most little boys like that? Because I stayed for a couple of hours at Sophia's house, her nephew and I got along well, and the 3 of us including Sophia's brother-in-law who is also her nephew's father played with sparklers. What a night! I enjoyed every bit of it. :)

My parents were urged into Sophia's house when they came to pick me up together with my youngest brother. Haha! My family was invited as well but they didn't manage to come together with me. It was all great. My parents love Sophia's mum's chicken curry the best whereas my brother love the Soto. He had 3 big bowls of it! Now, you can imagine how nice it was. It was also wonderful for my parents to be able to meet Sophia's parents and family because Sophia has been such a great friend to me.

So, after all the talking and eating at Sophia's house, it was time to depart to another open-house. My mum's friend's house. Even though I was too full, I still manage to stuff a little more food down in me out of politeness. They have great food too! Haha! Bruneians and their love for food. Food makes us all unite eh? It was a wonderful day full of celebrations and food. I love food and one of the things in my bucket-list is to try the food of all the different countries around the world. ;)

Happy 2nd day of Raya!

Hannah

Disclaimer: All photos are not mine unless stated so. Credits to the original photo uploader. :)

Selamat Hari Raya, Brunei!!

Today is the first day of the Muslim New Year in Brunei, so to all my Muslim friends, SELAMAT HARI RAYA!! May all of you have a nice celebration with your family and friends. :) 

Since it's raya, everybody (if not, most of the people) in Brunei gets a 3-days break! Isn't that wonderful? I'm enjoying my morning and I'm looking forward to going to a couple of open houses later in the day. I haven't been visiting houses during the festive season for a few years already, since this could be the last year that we're all going to be together, might as well go visit friends and enjoy this festive season with them. :D

Enjoy your day!

Hannah

School Holidays and the 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony

Oh wow. It's been long since I last posted something here. It's now school holiday for the students in Brunei right now. For me, it's supposedly to be a study break than a school holiday, however, I've been slacking quite some bit and I'm charged guilty for not studying hardcore enough. So far, what I've done for my revision has been just getting by. It's kind of hard for me because when I see other people around me having fun and the times of their lives during the holiday, the mood tends to sink into me and makes me feel so lazy. Fortunately, I have another week of holiday left to help me catch up on all my lost times I spent lazing around to revise and to study. 

So, many things have happened during the course of my absence here. One of them for example is that the London 2012 Olympics has ended. Yup! It's been an eventful 3 weeks and also 3 weeks of not watching other TV channels except for the Olympics Sports channels. I enjoyed the whole thing of course. I woke up at 3.30 AM (due to time differences) this time to catch the closing ceremony. Oh boy, am I lucky not to have school in the morning since I'm on holiday already. The whole thing finished around 7 and I went back to bed and slept the whole morning until 12 PM. Haha! I was so exhausted after the whole thing. I can't wait for the Winter Olympics now that the Summer Olympics is over! :D

This time, the closing ceremony kind of fell a little short from what I expected it to be like. Maybe I've set a much higher expectations after the opening ceremony (thinking, saving the best for last!). The whole closing ceremony is like a concert FULL OF PEOPLE, only being held in the Olympics Stadium. Don't you think so? Only The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate and Prince Harry graced the ceremony but, even so, I enjoyed watching the closing ceremony. I mean who gets to watch The Spice Girls, One Direction, Queen, Jessie J, Russell Brand and many other performers at 4 AM huh? I know a lot of people doesn't think much about One Direction, they talk bad about them and boycott their music but I hold neutral thoughts about them. I don't hate them nor am I a big fan of them. I like their music, it's pretty catchy. No hard feelings here. :)

Also, the SPICE GIRLS ARE BACK!! Woohoo! Some of you might be thinking, eh? This girl over here knows the Spice Girls? How old is she to even know them?! Well, let me tell you. I grew up with a group of relatives. Safer to say, my so-called "aunts" who's actually around my age. I was supposed to call them "ee-ee" (aunt in mandarin chinese) out of respect for the elders as us, the Chinese always place heavy emphasis on. But since we're all almost the same age, maybe a couple much more older, I skipped the honorifics since young. It's a bad habit I know and young kids should not imitate. Okay, back to the topic, my older aunts spent their teenage years watching MTV and we, the much younger kids, spent our free time watching MTV together with them, much to the displeasure of the parents and elders at home. My aunts taught us to sing songs from Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, S-Club 7 and more. Yeah, that's where I got all my knowledge of the 90's pop groups. 

Anyways, Spice Girls were really AWESOME back there at the closing ceremony! I mean, who gets to still sing and perform together as a group since the group's break-up until their last performance together in 2008 and they still look the same! Oh boy, I was much more awake after their performance. I have always liked Victoria Beckham, the Posh Spice, because she's just so gorgeous and she looks amazing at the closing ceremony. You might say that I'm biased but her dress was fabulous! ;)

I spent my waking hours nowadays trying my best to focus and study but, I usually get bored of studying and get side-tracked. I'm scared and anxious for what is yet to come. No matter how much I study, I will always feel unprepared. I suffer minor nervous breakdowns during exams and it totally sucked BIG TIME! When I do get my nervous breakdowns, my mind goes entirely blank and it gets hard for me to breathe. I tend to shiver or shake a lot. Sometimes, I go all pale in the face and the teachers would be coming and asking if I was okay. That, I need to work on it. I need to overcome my exam fears. One more week to make up for it and that's it. Hopefully, all will go well in the end.

I pray and hope,

Hannah :)

Disclaimer: All photos are not mine unless stated so. Credits to the original photo uploader. :)

Belated Monday Fun

Counting down 3 (4 including Sunday) more days until it's officially another school break for us students in Brunei. I know it seems recent that school has just started for me after the second semester break but how time flies! It has been more than a month already. This upcoming school holiday would be the third semester break which would be 2 weeks long. However, I don't think it'll be holiday time for me since I'm having my mock exam right when school reopens. What a bummer!

As I've mentioned in my previous post, Monday was a public holiday for us in Brunei. It was a well spent day for me. It's sad to say that I didn't spend my day studying, like what a good student should. I kind of went out the whole day - Morning with the family, afternoon through evening with my friends. What fun! :) 

Mom woke me up on Monday morning after my parents have sent my youngest brother to tuition asking if I would like to have breakfast with them. Being such a big lover to food nice daughter, I agreed and we went out for DimSum. I love DimSum and having DimSum originating from the Chinese makes me so proud! :D It was a great breakfast which satisfied my DimSum cravings. *Have I ever mentioned that I have a lot of cravings just like a pregnant woman?* I skipped grocery shopping with the parents after breakfast, reason being it's really crowded these days and I'm claustrophobic or it simply being that I was just so lazy. Sorry mom and dad! 

So, Sophia came and pick me up around 3 in the afternoon because she had planned a movie outing with a few others to sort of "unofficially" celebrate Zee's belated birthday. We watched Total Recall. I have heard tons of reviews from many people about that movie saying that it's a must-watch, really good, interesting, awesome movie. As you know, I'm just not an action movie watcher but to me, Total Recall was pretty good. It's all in the future with flying vehicles, floating buildings and the sorts (which totally reminds me of Avatar. LOL).I wouldn't want to spoil the movie for those who have yet to watch it, so I'm not going to blab all about the whole story plot.

With Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel as the protagonists, the movie wouldn't be that bad to watch. Guys just ogle at the ladies whereas Colin Farrell is a pretty good eye-candy to the girls. No? I would suggest you watch it clear-headed otherwise you would end up not really understanding the whole thing because it's just so darn complicated at first. Sophia and I were asking each other during the first half of the movie if we understood what's going on. We both shrugged and only caught the ball on the second half part of the movie. Just go watch it if you're just so curious. ;)

After the movie, the group of us went for sungkai (the breaking of the fast) at Buffalo Steahouse. The whole restaurant was packed with customers when we arrived. They served a whole lot of food, ranging from asian to western. Rice, pasta, fish and chips, ikan bilis (anchovies?) burger. The food smelled great and the taste was good. Good only because some of the dishes fell short of my expectations. However, it's worth a try. Eat all you can for only $16.90 per adult. I forgot the kids price but it should be reasonable too. There's soup and salads for appetisers, tons of main courses and there's many cakes and drinks for dessert too. Sounds pretty good right?

Sophia sent me home later after dinner. Throughout the entire day, Sophia has encountered her own series of unfortunate events. A total of 9 of them. It was mostly pretty funny but a couple were quite scary. A couple of them I remember it vividly. It was when we were going home, just right when Sophia turn out from the junction in the ever, crowded Gadong, a woman dashed out right in front of the car wanting to cross. Sophia immediately braked of course while the both of us were screaming inside the car. Hey woman, there's a pedestrian crossing further down the road, why just cross the busy road, full of cars and try to make a run for it? It's so dangerous!! If you don't care about your own life, think about others. If we didn't braked in time, there would be severe consequences. Even the Beatles used pedestrian crossings. LOL.

Then just right after the woman dashing out in front of us, the car directly in front of us made a sudden stop as well. A group of woman wearing black burkhas were crossing the road just like the lone woman did. Like woah!! We almost banged into the car in fornt of us as well because of the sudden brake. See, this is a perfect example of using the pedestrian crossing. It's a short walk to the pedestrian crossing. Save you life, save others as well.

Oh, another neighbour's domestic helper found a kitten in the wee hours of the morning today. She couldn't keep it so she just gave it to my domestic helper hoping we could keep it. This one is a female kitten which is a good companion to Tigger, my other kitten. Both are so hostile to each other. Any tips on how to make them get friendly at each other? Because if they're still hostile at each other after a couple of days, we might not be able to keep this new kitten. :( My kittens are exactly the same colour as the last 2 kittens in the picture below.

So, I should get back to my books now otherwise, I'll be in big, fat trouble in a few weeks. Shall be back soon. :)

Trying to study,

Hannah

Summer Escapades 2.0

Okay, some might wonder why I've titled this post with a "summer" in it since Brunei has no 4 seasons at all but only a hot and wet climate most all year round. But due to it being summer in most part of the world, also how I've named my previous post similarly and how the international schools here in Brunei are all having their "summer" break now, the summer part can stay. :P

And so, I've spent my week full and hectic but I did manage to squeeze out some time to chill for a little and socialise with a few of my friends. Something that I will miss very soon when I start my full revisions and preparations for my upcoming mock exams which is in 3 weeks. I'm pretty scared for the upcoming exams because I'm not quite ready but hopefully, the situation will be able to change for the better in the course of the 3 weeks.

Monday:

After school, Amy and I went out together because we wanted to go check out the Ramadan Stalls which is happening outside the National Stadium. The urge to visit the ramadan stalls was caused by the many nice food pictures that both Amy and I have seen in many of the SNS (Social Networking Sites). But before that, the both of us kind of detoured to the nearby shopping complexes aka Times Square and the Airport Mall. We went to try out the latest food craze which is the ice cream mochi from Belluno Gelato Mochi. I liked it a lot because I love both ice cream and mochi since like forever however, the expensive price tag may be a reason of my unfrequent visits.

We also went to ShareTea together to try it out. They have pretty interesting flavours such as drinks with rock salt and cheese. It might sound a little gross but hey, it does taste pretty good. The milk tea was nice too. It has this nice, milky, tea fragrance that I adore plus, it's not too sweet too. I love milk tea and I can't forget the milk tea I had in Hong Kong. Mmmmm.. the taste, oh-so-fine.

Amy suggested that we pick up a friend from the airport who's there to send a friend off for further studies. So, in the end, it was the 3 of us going round the ramadan stalls. The food that I bought that day was only okay, in my opinion. A little disappointment with some of the food but maybe it's because of my high expectations to it due to the high ravings of them. Hmmm.. a lesson learnt perhaps to not put expectations too high?

Wednesday:

I had a busy Tuesday, full of homework and hence, no appointments made. But on Wednesday, it was decided that Sophia and I would go to do a little gift shopping for a friend's birthday. After we bought what we wanted, we went to pick Zee and then go to the Ramadan Stalls again because Sophia and Zee wanted to go to have a look-see. So, I kindly accompanied them since I had some free time. I only bought cakoi or youtiao (a popular asian deep fried dough snack) this time round and it tasted really good. HAHA!! Maybe it's my big love for cakoi. 

I remember my grandma bringing me to the morning market on Fridays in town when I was a little girl with my brother. If we were behaving well, she would buy us cakoi as a treat and I have always loved cakoi ever since. Cakoi and I go way back. However, due to the high content of flour and oil used to make and fry it, it's rather unhealthy to have it often. I don't eat cakoi frequently hence, this cakoi was a nice treat to myself. :)

Sunday:

I spent the morning sleeping in after a midnight show watching the 3 stooges. I didn't really like the movie except for the last few parts of the entire movie, maybe it's just me not that into these kind of movie genre. Went to have a delicious chicken rice lunch then off to church for the afternoon.

I went to a Sungkai (breaking of the fast for the Muslims) Buffet at Excapade Sushi. Oh boy, were there a big crowd. The food was great and the plus points was that there is a free flow of sashimi and there's also snow crab legs!! My family enjoy eating seafood so we had a glorious time savouring the crabs. Hehehe.. our dinner was made comfortable with the 2 waiters whom we're on first name basis. If there was some kind of "Best Employee" or something, I would have definitely give the award to the 2 of them in a heartbeat. They are so ever nice and it's a pleasure to have them serve and entertain us. They are the kind of waiters that will make us, the customers, crave to go back there. :)

In a nutshell, these events have actually made my week better at some point after having a couple of really down-in-the-dumps moments. It's gonna be another public holiday tomorrow today (a past midnight post on a Sunday) in lieu of the Nuzul Al-Quran in the nation. So, I'm looking forward and praying for a nice day tomorrow.

Good night,

Hannah

The London Olympic Games 2012

This post is a really late post. I've been wanting to write up a post but I just couldn't find the time. This week has been an eventful week.. the ups and the downs. The ups should definitely be remembered, whereas the downs should probably best be forgotten? I will write up a post about my week a little later, but for now, I want to write a little about the MOST HAPPENING EVENT now!

The quadrennial event is finally back again after the last one in Beijing, the 2008 Olympics. This current Olympic Games is currently held in London, Great Britain with it being the first ever city to host the Games for the 3rd time in history. I'm very excited for this Olympic Games because from what I can most remember, this 2012 London Olympics is the 2nd Olympics that I'm watching with the Beijing Olympics the 1st of course. The memory of me "actually" watching the 2004 Olympic Games in Athen is rather vague, hence, it's not counted. :P

With the Olympics being held in London this year, it disadvantages me because of the time difference. We definitely got the perks in 2008 by being in the same time zone as Beijing. The Games actually started on Friday, the 27th July but in my time, it was already Saturday, the 28th. I woke up at 3am, the earliest in my family just to watch the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. Like, how can I even miss such a historic event right?! My parents came half and hour after me. The event only started at 3.50am however I didn't regret waking up that early because I wasn't that groggy anymore.

Oh, did I mention that I had school that day? In Brunei, most of the school runs from Monday to Thursday and Saturday being the last day of school for the week. I only had less than 3 hours of sleep. I was pretty hyper for the rest of the day mostly due to my lack of sleep. Back to the story, the opening ceremony was amazing! I quite like it. The performances were brilliant and I loved how the event was graced by many big shots especially how the royal family are in attendance. I love royal watching! Oh, the Queen also acted in a short skit with Daniel Craig. Rowan Atkinson made it back with Mr.Bean and also, JK Rowling was there too! Arctic Monkeys and Paul McCartney sang to close the opening ceremony. WOW! It was nice because I actually understood most of the whole thing, all thanks to my sociology lessons. While it was easy for me to take it all in, some found it hard because it's totally not our culture.

Of course, this opening ceremony was compared to it's predecessor, the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Some says the Beijing one was better and some says this London one is better. To me, they're both really good. I mean, a country has got to put in a lot of effort, sweat and blood in order to successfully pull off the entire thing. So, we've got to appreciate all these, that's in store and prepared for us. I enjoy the whole show, though I has to leave for school at 7am and did not really catch the ending but I caught the rerun and it was great! I love the lighting of the cauldron and how it was lighted by 7 youths. It was pretty innovative to come up with the 205 fire stands that come together as one. :)

I caught a lot of the events on television. How I wished that I was actually there and then to witness the competitions. This year, Brunei even sent over 3 athletes to participate in the Games, Anderson for swimming, Maziah and Hafiy for the tracks. It's all for the experience for them. I find it overwhelming when I see the champions get all teary when they see their country's flag being hoist up and hear their national anthem play. What a proud moment for them and their respective countries. :')

There's still more to come and I'm watching some of the events when I have the time. I'm rooting for many countries and for many athletes. They're all so good so I can't choose. :P  I'm anticipating a glorious closing ceremony. Hopefully, all will go smoothly for the Games despite some scandals that has already made its way. All the best to the athletes!! :D

May the best man(woman) win,

Hannah

p.s. I love the music being played during the opening ceremony. Hehe.. Here's some to entertain you.