Mid-December

How have you been? I'm sorry for the lack of post. I'm currently still away on my solo vacation. There's limited internet access so, I shall leave my writings until I'm more free. :) Have a happy holiday everyone!!

11 more days to Christmas,

Hannah

One more week

I'm now running the last leg of my A Level exams. The past few weeks have been exhausting and mentally straining. Boy, am I glad that it's ending next week!! It seems that my posts have been rather few these weeks.. because I totally have no idea what to actually blog about as my life for those weeks have been all about exams, studies, revisions, exams, studies, revision. Quite a bore to read them every time ain't it? Even I get bored of writing all about exams, studies and revisions. Haha!!

So, I took an "off" day today. I took my youngest brother to the Times Cineplex today. The Times Cineplex was opened a week (or 2 or 3? I forgot ><) ago. I saw pictures and heard positive as well as a few negative reviews. The Times Cineplex is situated at the 4th floor of Times Square in Berakas. They don't have any newspaper listing of their screening movies, so I had to go there and check since I don't have their number as well. 

Times Cineplex had a standing banner at the lifts with it's phone number. I found the number rather easy to remember, 234 1122. It's a nice number. Anyway, I wanted to watch Skyfall but my brother wanted to watch Frankenweenie. Being the nice sister I am, I watched Frankenweenie or maybe because I've heard too many bad reviews of Skyfall. Frankenweenie was okay for me, I didn't really like it because it was a little too kiddy. I would have liked it if I were a few years younger. Haha.. and it was all black-and-white. However, I enjoyed the wide, comfortable leg space and the comfy chair. :)

For once in a long time, I got to do something interesting. Hehe.. I just can't wait for all my exams to be over and done with so I can have my freedom back!!

Counting down 7 more days,

Hannah

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

Summer Escapades

I haven't had the time to sit down and go online hence, no new post since the last one. I could actually do a quick post or so but let's just say procrastination got the best of me. My week has been wonderful as it was full of fun and a few outings for me which I enjoyed a lot. I don't think I will be getting much relaxing time after this short weekend break due to the start of Ramadan, the fasting month. Oh, Happy Fasting to my Muslim friends! :)

I shall do a short re-cap on my outings for this post so I can actually remember these times when I look and read back on all of my post. Tuesday was a normal, typical school day. So, nothing on that. Let's just start off with Wednesday. :D

Wednesday:

I went back home after my classes in the morning. There was a hang-out session planned between Eia, Amy and I because Eia is going to leave soon. Amy came and picked me up from home and we went to the Thai Restaurant nearby my house to get Mango Sticky Rice for Eia since she was craving it a lot after seeing Amy's Mango Sticky Rice post on instagram. After buying the Mango Sticky Rice, we headed to Eia's house. 

We were really blessed because Eia's grandma has graciously made us some food for lunch. Oh my.. the food was amazing and totally delicious! Her grandma made chai-kueh (steamed veggie dumplings) and Lo Mai Gai except it was without the Lotus Leaf but in a steel container. The food has the potential to make a person really homesick. We just chat (like what girls would normally do when they're together) the entire time about the things under the sun. 

Oh, in the midst of all the talking, I got lectured and nagged at by Eia and Amy about my serious negativity on life and my studies. Yeah.. they said that's what they, my big sisters or as I call them my che che, are for. They said they nag and lecture me because it was for my own good. Well, it did kind of kick some sense into me so, I guess all of their nagging didn't go to waste. You guys happy now? HAHA! We even took a mini road trip to send Eia to her next schedule. There was a jam because it was peak hours as people just knocked off work but we still enjoyed the jam because we get more time to talk. There's just never ending talks between girls eh? It's going to be really sad when Eia and Amy leave which will be very, very soon. I'm going to miss them a lot.

Thursday:

Thursday was suppose to be another typical school day but my afternoon class got cancelled and there was supposed to be a compulsory function in school that I was supposed to attend in the afternoon. I cancelled my piano lesson just for the function however, the function is cancelled and postponed. So many cancellations.. but then, Sophia had a movie outing planned for the afternoon, so I decided to join her. 

There was a big group of us for the movie outing. 2 girls and the rest were boys. Sophia and I were the only girls but we didn't mind. HAHA! The boys were very accommodating to us the entire time. We watched Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. I usually don't watch action movies because it's just not my type (I'm more of a chick flick and rom-com person) but I just went for it and guess what? I actually liked this movie! I love the actions (believe it or not), the story-line and the actors. Hey, how bad can a movie go with Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway in it? I also like the Bat-mobile or whatever that's call because I like how the tires work. Hehehe. The movie was really nice that we and the other people in the theater actually applauded when the credits rolled.

We hung out, took Polaroid pictures together and ate ice-cream sundaes. It was just a nice, fun afternoon with my friends. Fad, a friend whom I haven't seen in the past 1 1/2 year joined us for the movie. It was nice seeing and talking to him again. I was glad I didn't make a mistake to go watch the movie and join them because I actually enjoyed my afternoon. Thanks Sophia for inviting me along. Big love to you. x

Friday:

Dad texted me and asked if I'm actually around his office area. If I was, I could help him get coffee. Haha! I actually went out with Jess to the area after the text. How nice of a daughter am I? My brother came and joined us after his gym work-out session then we walked around the shopping centres of the area, ate some Frozen Yogurt and had Taro Pearl Milk Tea from ShareTea. It was my first time trying Sharetea and it wasn't a bad experience except for the long queue. I had dinner with the family at a Icebar & Cafe which specialises in shabu-shabu. I will do another post on this soon. ;)

Saturday:

The day isn't officially over but it'll do. I and the whole nation of Brunei get today off work and from school because it's the first day of the fasting month. I slept in and woke up at 10am because my biological alarm woke me up. We had a Care Group Family lunch together at Thiam Hock, a famous chinese restaurant in town. It was a nice lunch and get-together with the whole care group because it's not always that we can actually come together and relax over a meal. Usually, we will have to rush off for something but we actually had a good 2 hours of food and talks. The lunch was for Brother JC who's leaving for further studies in a couple of days.

These are just the little bits of my escapades for this week. I'm really grateful for all the fun and love I received. It's amazing! I enjoy every bit of it. :D

Enjoying my Saturday,

Hannah

Oh Happy Day~~

Today has been such a blessing! I feel so happy and blessed today. It's been filled with excitement and fun. It's just a really nice and pleasant day for me. I enjoyed a lot today. Not so much for the morning part but more so the afternoon session. :)

School was pretty much unusual today. Well, the only unusual thing was that there was a fire drill. That fire drill was unexpected, I mean like ain't all fire drills a surprise? I was walking back to our usual hangout spot after one of my class and I was like surprised to see smoke coming out from below our hangout place. So, I asked my friends if it was a fire drill. A couple of them tried to press the fire button thingymajigie but it won't work. HAHA! Oh man.. we were at our hangout spot for a little while then a teacher came up and shouted,"Go to the Assembly Point!". So yeah, we knew it was a fire drill then and swoosh, phones out to capture the moments. 

The teacher-in-charge of the fire drill (the same one who called us) was annoyed by the indifference shown by the students especially by taking out their phones and started snapping away. Well, it was a new experience. I mean, I have done fire drills in my previous schools however, this is the first time in this college I'm in with so many students and school staffs around. However, it was a little depressing that the fire drill went over our lesson time and it so happen that I have my assessment test that very period. Oh boy, am I lucky. We still gotta do it anyway.

The assessment test for Accounting went relatively well however, for the maths class test, I bet the whole class did badly. We're so gonna face the teacher's wrath when we see him in our next class on Saturday. Why Saturday? Because tomorrow, all upper sixth classes are cancelled due to the "Studyrama". The "Studyrama" is like an education event which is said to help the upper sixths like us to help pave our way into the higher education. I'm pretty nervous and scared thinking about my future. How easy life will be without all these worries eh?

Moving on, I went out with 2 of my friends (they're practically like my older sisters! :D) for lunch. We had a korean lunch at Kimchi Restaurant. The three of us had ddeokbokki (korean spicy rice cakes), gimbap (rice rolls), japchae (sweet potato noodles), dol sot bibimbap (Stone bowl rice) and bulgogi (beef barbeque). It was so yummy!! HAHA!! I love korean food and it has been some time since I last ate it. We saw some aunties and uncles from church having lunch there too. They were in a group and it was a little shocking seeing so many of them there. It was unexpected you see.

After a hearty lunch, we went to Fleur-de-lys for dessert. We wanted to eat the patbingsu (korean shaved ice) from Kimchi but we didn't eat it in the end because it was like closing time for them. Man.. gotta go back there one day to eat the patbingsu. Anyways, we had an ice-cream macaroon, chocolate eclair, Nutella cupcake and mango cheesecake. The ice-cream macaroon was the best out of all. Hehe!! It was unanimously the favourite and the best among all of the sweet treats that we have ordered.

Went back to che Eia's house to chill for a bit after all the foods. She lent me a few of her books, mostly chick lit (Chick Lit FTW!). Hehe.. can't wait to get my hands on them... only when I'm free-er. We had fruit juice while at her house. Carrot + Orange + Ginger. What a combination. It tastes pretty okay but it's not my preference though. HAHA! It was my first time having ginger in a fruit juice. Something new today. Hehe.. after drinking it, you'll feel like you're a dragon because of the fiery aftertaste and it gives off hot vibes, like a very heaty feeling. It's like you can breathe fire. 

Mummy blended green apple + celery juice again for me at home later in the evening after dinner. FRUIT JUICE OVERLOAD! I don't like celery but it tasted quite nice. HAHA! Well, I like fruit juice so I'm not complaining. Fresh and healthy, no sugar added, no additives and preservatives. I think the family is trying to eat healthier and live healthier now. :)

That's pretty much all the events for today. It's been a long day. 

I'm feel so blessed today,

Hannah

p.s. Thanks PW for driving me around. :)

Holiday, how I miss thee...

School has only started 2 days ago and I'm already missing and yearning for more holidays to come.Is it just happening to me or am I just weird? During the semester break, I've seen some who posted statuses saying that "Holiday is so boring.." or even "I'm so bored during this holiday.. I miss school". Wow! I sometimes just wonder what did they spend their time on to make them say that.. Most of them who posted these are the younger ones. No worries, you'll learn to appreciate holidays more when you're much older. Trust me. ;)

I appreciate all the holidays. As a matter of fact, I LOVE HOLIDAYS!! It's like the best thing ever. I get to do and accomplish so many things that I wouldn't have been able to do during school days. Man.. I'm so dreading school right now.. Tests, homework, class assignments.. Oh gosh! A Level is really different from O Level or in secondary school. No doubt that in Brunei, we do half the subjects of what we have for O's which would be like doing 4 or 5 subjects in our A's, however, the workload is double of what you're going to get while in secondary school.

When my aunt told me those "words of wisdom" before I started my A Level, I thought she was actually just joking around or making me feel pressured or scared but it's no joke. Sometimes, there's just so many assignments to do that I'll only get a few hours of sleep just before going to school. For A Level in my school, we use the block system where we see our teachers every single day (except for English where it's just 4/5 lessons out of a school week) and they will just give and dump a wholesome of work unto us and expect us to submit whatever work that they have assigned to us the next day. This is really bad especially for Mathematics and Accounting. Hohoho... non-stop assignments and wall-banging moments. I kid you not.

Moving along from my rant, I had a spontaneous outing with my nom nom bestie. We went to have lunch and then off to Cheezbox to have some dessert while doing our homework. My nom nom bestie introduced me to her friend from another school. Yay! Made a new friend today. He's pretty funny. Haha!! Overall, I had fun today + school was a big help in boosting up my mood for the day as I had a rather light load of classes and assignments for today. :)

Oh, bums went back to Singapore today. Had a short outing with her yesterday for the last time before she leaves. We went to the Time Square area because going to Gadong is just overrated. We walked into Citis Square and voila, Gloria Jean's Coffee is finally opened in Brunei. They had a soft opening on Monday but yesterday was really the official working day. So, the two of us went to try it out. Not bad I would say. A few cents cheaper than Coffee Bean for some drinks. Not sure about the number of varieties but I would say that Gloria Jean's Coffee offers some food and beverages that other places won't offer. Something for a change. :) Coincidentally, Gloria Jean's Coffee Brunei was having their Ladies' Day (happens every Tuesday), so us ladies get 30% off. What a good deal eh? ;D

A good news for me too! My aunt just came back today from UK for her summer holiday. Weee~~ another outing buddy. Gifts and souvenirs I love! Haha!! It's been so long that I miss her so much! Great to have her back. Can't wait ;) 

Missing my holiday,

Hannah