Westerner? Me?

I'm a Westerner now. Yup, you read that right. Am a Westerner because I just moved to the Central part of Sg to the Western part, near Jurong =D

ok, since the lame joke is outta the way... am gonna write about the moving out process.. It's been years since I really moved house and it feels like a lot of fuss... but am done! The new place is pretty cool, on the 21th floor, n most importantly just 15 mins from school. Quoting a friend, "Now you can go back more often to take a shower...." No, no. I am determined to sleep well this semester, which means no staying in studio!

That aside... these are the stuff I brought in the moving process:

- 1 big luggage of clothes, toiletries, electronic stuff (laptop, camera, chargers), towels

- 2 small boxes of food stuff

- 1 plastic container of drawing materials and paper

- 2 small luggages + 2 big plastic container + 2 backpacks of books...

....I realize I really have a problem moving with all my books huhuhu.. and I didn't even bring half of them! Left some at my old place and sending about half back to Indonesia...

During the selection process where I was sorting out which book to send back, I had lotsa difficulties... Classic bookworm-with-little-time syndrome.. "Send this back to Indo? But I really want to read it again.. this is my favorite book...." Huhuhu... In the end I had to get though and decide to send almost all my fiction books back to Indo, the argument being, I can easily borrow fiction from the library, and there are always tons of new titles for fiction anyway..

That leaves me with non-fiction books, art and architecture books, and indonesian fiction books (difficult to find in library! I have a good reason!).... Well...and some fiction books that I really, really like...

After the sorting I piled them high in my room and suddenly was struck by a thought: "What if I send them back and the cargo got lost in the middle....? After all, I'm sending these to Indo so they will be handled by an Indonesian agency at some point or other.....*yea I totally don't trust Indo post office*... What if I lose these books? And some of them are like, really really my favorite..and some are really meaningful gifts, and like, some are really difficult to find now... What am I gonna do if I lose them...?"

In the end I resorted to photographing the books pile by pile so at least I'll know just what are the stuff I'm sending back huhuhuhu...

Farewell, my little darlings... Be brave, and be safe.....

A Little Big Sis

Was shopping around a bit, trying to find a (super belated) birthday present for my youngest brother.. And as I wander around looking for a suitable present, I came to realize just how much my youngest brother has grown up... Gone were the days where my brothers thought I'm the coolest sister just because I could draw tons of Pokemon characters for them to color, the times where they would gladly come to their "know-it-all" sis for help with homework, more and more I'm thinking what is there to being a big sister, especially to teenage brothers who are growing up far-away from me....

And so. The immediate problem was how to assert my status as "cool big sister" by finding a cool present for my brother's 16th birthday. Coloured pencils? Nah, that was for long ago when he specialized in vandalising the walls... Stuffed animals? He used to like them, but am not sure he still does... Gundam robots? C'mon Shiela what are you thinking.. Chocolate? (the Plan B that always becomes Plan A in my case because hey, how can you go wrong with chocolate?) but nah, not for my brother... A mug? Too classic... Shirt? I don't really know his size.. Perfume? Yep my "heck-care" youngest bro now uses it and I know what he likes, but he just bought a full bottle.. Bag? He got a cool faux leather one from my other bro.. Stationery? Shoes? 

In the end, I gave up and fall back on the one thing that always works with brothers (at least with mine..) : I tell him he can choose a restaurant and order whatever he wants. So, we were going to eat at Bakerzin because they have fantastic desserts, and I was to meet him in VivoCity. 

"Sis, where are you? Am here in front of the shop." "K, be there in 5 minutes", and while looking for my brother, I realize that I'm no longer trying to spot the kid with loose t-shirt and baggy shorts (oh yeah, he was so heck-care he even wore his shorts the wrong way several times. Nope, he doesn't read my blog.) Now, am looking at a tall guy with a well-cut shirt, cool black jeans, trendy shoes, nice posture, and thinking, "Wow that's my kid brother.." And it hits me that these days when I go out with my brothers I always make an effort to dress "older", "more sophisticated", that kinda thing... because if I hang out with them wearing shirt, bermudas and sandals, I look like some 16 year old heck-care "kid" following her cool-looking older brother around.. What an irritating state of affairs! 

And during the lunch treat I discovered quite a lot about my brothers. For example, that he doesn't like thick-crust pizza. That he doesn't really like chocolate. (ok, so luckily I didn't choose the easy way out). That he once went all around Singapore collecting free advertisement postcards AND WROTE A MESSAGE IN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM just because the girl he adores likes those kind of postcards.

Wow. 

I've always adored my younger brothers, in an "oh-my-bro-is-so-cute"kind of way, but I think I'm starting to really like and admire them for the persons they are becoming. I feel like a "little" big sis..Not just because my brothers are now physically so much bigger than me, but also because they are stronger, more dependable, becoming their own personalities instead of just my little brothers.

Oh, but the other day, the middle one called me all the way from Malaysia to ask about a problem in Business Law, which he should've known is not my domain, but he still wanted my help anyway. I'm a bit proud.. Maybe the little big sis still has to be around for some time...

On School

Fiuh! At last I got to write about school! Somehow I didn't get down to it till now..

And school has been....fun....in fact it's even more fun than I expected... Went to a field trip along the Southern Ridges, a nature park area in Singapore made up of mostly canopy trail, n it's a cool feeling walking among treetops for a long, long, long way... and I realise Sg is actually a lot greener than I thought seen from above.. Hm..I can't really put it into words, but to be able to play outdoors and then notice that it's part of school...that's a good feeling hehehe... 

And the lectures...have been a lot more interesting than I expected too... it has just been 3 days but the range of topics covered..well.. learning about environmental pollution, snail's reproductive system, learning about examples of beautifully done landscapes... there's so many books I wanna read now related to my studies huhuhu... 

And the lecturers... well it's generally good omen when most of your lecturers say, "I don't believe in exams, and anyway, I believe that none of you will fail.." hahaha... but yea, it's lucky we have tutors that are very passionate about their fields, very very understanding (as I have proven by running off earlier several times to do this and that stuff, while they still smile and say, "it's ok.."),

and the great thing is because the landscape program is so new, with only 7 students in it, we get a lot of flexibility, like changing lecture time, places, suggesting to tutors the materials we want to learn about... it's pretty cool to be able to kinda "shape" your own curriculum...

And above all... I think there's something special about plants and working with plants.. just because it's a living thing... that well, a building is totally the work of the architect, but a garden...is a collaboration between a person and Nature herself... more things are beyond our control...things grow, bloom, decay, die...

I think, even more than architecture, I get the sense that I can make a difference with landscape, that truly if I master what I'm supposed to master, if I learn how to use the plant palette, learn how landscapes affect the environment, learn how rainforests work, how the tropical climate affect and is affected by plants...I get the sense that I can create something that is beautiful, alive and useful as well...and that's the most exciting part of all!

Bits and Pieces...

"..mets la tete avant le coeur! "

("put your head before your heart!")

- frenchpod.com

Hm..this line is kinda over-used by people around me (yours truly included) , and frankly I was a strong proponent of the "reason before feeling" principle.. which is really ironic since now I gotta admit that the one time I threw reason outta the window and just followed my feelings, I was truly happy. Of course this could be like gambling, and maybe what I had was just beginner's luck, because well, in every gamble there's a 50% chance of things going horribly  wrong. But hey, I take what I can get, and frankly the rebellious-arty-farty-chick in me was glad to follow the heart.

"...the real world is.... very real...we are dealing with the needy, the greedy and the seedy.. but don't worry this classroom is not a real world. You can keep your idealism with you."

- BL5102 lecture, Environmental Science 

(a bit of explanation just in case: the needy = the often poor local communities, the greedy = those businessmen who will do anything including destroy the enviroment! the seedy= those corrupt government officials...yeah, like for example indonesian ones...)

(in talking about different landscaping traditions around the world)

"...the French will not leave the rock untouched. The Chinese will leave it alone."

- LA4301 lecture, Materials and Techniques

hahaha I wonder if this attitude extends to the daily life.. I'm still thinking how this quote fits with the stereotypes people have of the French and the Chinese.

"..as a designer, we experience.. and then we try to construct this experience for other people.."

LA4301 lecture, Materials and Techniques

Good reason to skip school again and go travelling next time: "I'm just gathering experience..."

Taxi conversations

I've always liked talking to taxi drivers, especially those who have more interesting points of view and not just complaining about the government in general (and saying Indonesia is creating trouble..). 3 days ago I had to take a taxi from school because I missed the last bus after MLA barbecue... and what followed was one of the most bizarrely interesting conversations I've had in a taxi..

Some excerpts....

Taxi uncle (TU) : "Eh girl, you study NUS ah? wad do you study ah?"

me: "Oh I study architecture uncle..."

TU: "Eh, that means my guess is correct lah! I knew you study architecture, you go the architect face!"

me: *feeling super happy but a bit confused* "Hah? Got such thing like architect face ah? Really ah uncle?"

TU: "Ya lah! I know the architect type one.. I work in building industry 28 years already ok, always work with architects one..."

me: "Oooo..." *hoping that at the uncle has good memories working with architects and not think we are a bunch of concrete-obsessed megalomaniacs..*

. . . . . . 

TU: "Eh girl, I tell you something ok.. Today you will learn a lot from uncle...You know what is 'HR'?

me: "Human Resources?"

TU: "No....It's actually 'Human Robot'!"

me: "Ha?"

TU: "ya lah! You must work work work very hard, if you don't work you get fired. Of course human robot right!"

me: "Hooo ok..."

TU: "And you know what is 'HB'?"

me: "HB? human bondage?"

TU: "You think lah..if you can guess before we reach Toa Payoh, means you are very smart.. ok I give you clue.. human robot right, don't care about other people one... but people must be caring, correct or not?"

me: "Ah...HB is human being?"

TU: "EH?? how you know? wah! smart girl! Come, come i shake your hand!" *and this is the bizarre part..he actually extended his hand to the back seat and insisted on shaking my hand... thank goodness we didn't have accident huhuhu.."

. . . . . . 

TU: "You know ah girl, actually I work on a lot of buildings in Singapore.."

me: "Oh ya? Which ones uncle?"

TU: "Like Chinatown point,you know or not?"

me: "Oh my church is there! "

TU: "Oh ya? You know those big pillars in the building, got 8 pillars.."

me: "Ya ya can see it from the emergency stairs behind my church.. all the way from roof to foundation right?"

TU: "Ya...and each pillar is 2m diameter... new technology at that time you know, I went to Kobe specially to get the concrete and steel.... eh, and girl, I tell you a secret ah..."

*to uncle if you read this..sorry but this is really too interesting I can't keep it a secret...*

me: "Wah, what secret uncle?"

TU: "You know ah...under those pillars..got 10 kg of gold..."

me: "Serious??!! But why put gold there??"

TU: "Don't know lah, last time for feng shui lah..."

me: "Eh but serious ah uncle? Gold under the pillars?"

TU: "Ya they put at the foundation under each pillar... you go there lah with a gold detector I'm sure you can detect.."

me: "Hoo ok..." *formulating a plan, just in case next time I would be in desperate need of money*

. . . . . . 

*I forgot why and how... but somehow we ended up talking about couples in Singapore.. and dating...and the conversation got to SDU, the official government agency to matchmake singles huhuhuhu..."

TU: "Eh girl, you know what SDU is?"

me: "Social development unit?"

TU: "No....I tell you what it really is: "Single, Desperate, Unwanted"

me: "Waaa..hahahaha... nice one uncle.."

TU: "Ya you learn a lot from uncle right, girl.."

___

Yea, I did =)