I mentioned some time back that I will do a summary of the past 8 months so this is what this post is going to be about. I still have the weekend before school starts, but since I will have to help my mum prepare stuff for the bbq tomorrow that was decided just last night, I shall just type this now when there's no one to disturb me.
Hmm, how do I go about this... Okay let's go by months.
December 2013: Europe trip
Idk what to say about this haha or do I already have a post on this? Okay anyway. This was my first time going to Europe and I would have enjoyed the trip much more if we had not gone with a tour group. Europe is meant for leisurely touring the place, not rushing about like mad cows and staying at a certain place for like what, 2-3 hours? I did not get to go to UK though, really want to have a feel of the place. I guess the most significant thing that happened during this trip was our encounter with pickpockets. Apart from the money, yeah it may seem like a trivial thing, but whenever I think back about it, I still feel the chills and anger to those people. And I'm not even the victim. Maybe it's because it concerned my mum.
January 2014: Taiwan trip
Went on a week-long trip to Taiwan with Lee Hwee, Alicia and Jasmine. I may have mentioned to some of you that I was actually contemplating whether or not to go with them, unlike most other people who would spontaneously agree and plan for their trip with their friends. Okay, the four of us were quite close in year 1/2, but I often felt that I could not really click with them. I mean, regarding the stuff that they talked about. Talking about idols, guys, teasing??? I cannot really remember much of what we talked about 5 years ago lol. But they really did care as a friend for me I suppose. Just that I could not really open up to them? IDK. I really dk.
So when I went to year 3, where we all went to different classes (except LH and Alicia), I slowly started to distance myself away from them. It was probably an issue of low self-esteem, because I backed out on a few of our meet ups last minute. It also did not help that I did not have anything in common with them like CCAs etc. For the first few months in year 3, I still went home with Jasmine on a daily basis, but idk since when we stopped going back together. Maybe when I made closer friends in 3G, friends who I felt I could click with better. Yea, I'm a jerk.
So the main point is, from year 3 onwards, I caused myself to be gradually pulled out of the group, while the 3 of them remained close or even closer. We did still talk when we met one another in school, but things just changed. But it got better in SH, when I gained a little more self-confidence. Like I said, it's all just an issue of self-esteem. Anyway, so yea the fact that I was on the borderline of being outside of the group made me think much about going on the trip.
Eventually what made me decide to go was that I wanted to salvage the friendship with them. I was the one who was stupid and distanced myself from them, when they did not even do anything wrong. Before that I always thought that whatever friends you make, you must be able to click with them and be very close with them. But some time between the 4 years from year 3 to 6, I came to understand that there are always different kinds of friends. It does not mean that if I do not have the same interests as them, they cannot be my friend. As of now, how I define someone to be a friend is someone who you are concerned about. Friendship isn't only about fun, common topics to talk about, gossiping about others. Even if friends complain about and criticise one another, disagree on issues, have little in common, but nonetheless they still care for each other, then I still consider that as friendship. I didn't understand this in the past.
Haha okay so this section turned out to be a summary of my relationship with the 3 of them.... The trip was great :)
January 2014: My very first job at Noel Gifts
Xm helped me to find this job while I was still procrastinating at home after coming back from the Taiwan trip haha but hey, she had commission from doing so okay :P Nonetheless, thanks man! :D It turned out I was lucky to have the nicest supervisor, John. Honestly speaking though, I think he picked me because he saw that I was from dhs (he did mention something about dhs people being smarter or something). I mean, people stereotype and are practical. They look for the easiest solution that can save them from trouble. Anyway, more about the job itself. Basically I helped to process orders by writing invoices and also did some telemarketing. I worked during the two weeks before CNY which is their peak period since most companies only purchase hampers then. So I had to call from a thick stack of papers containing the telephone numbers of companies and people. I really hated it whenever I was passed that stack of papers. But it was a good experience because at least now I'm not so afraid of making calls to companies or people. (And it was kind of like a preparation for my next job at the call centre haha!) Even though I only worked there for 2 weeks, it was really rather tiring since I worked from 9am to 7pm (or later) on most days. And I could not exactly slack by playing with my phone since I was sitting right in front of the HR department lol. So I had to find myself work to do, otherwise pretend as if I'm very busy LOL.
February - May 2014: $$$IRAS$$$
No, the dollar signs are not because of the pay. Haha because the nature of the job concerns people's money. I have nothing much else to elaborate on about this, since I think I have mentioned in quite a few posts about my time at iras. It was really quite an unforgettable experience and I feel proud of myself for deciding to take on this job *claps for myself* HAHA. This was one really big step I took out of my comfort zone during this period of 8 months.
February - August 2014: CDAC SHG
How could I have (almost) left this out. This year I started doing many things alone. I started watching movies alone, signing up for lessons alone, shopping alone. SHG was another thing that I signed up for alone. In the past I would feel too self-conscious (about what idk?) to go for such things alone. But nah I decided it's time to grow up haha. I had always wanted to do some long-term volunteering thing which does not require too much of a commitment, so SHG being once in a week thing was perfect. Plus I wanted to try tutoring since teaching is one of my alternative career choices. Honestly, what I had expected was to be teaching a small class, not one-to-on tutoring. But it works too I guess. A class would be too much to handle haha. The kid I am assigned to this year is Farisa. She's a quiet girl, but is willing to do her work. I have much more to write about this, but I will leave it to the end of this year's SHG to sum it up. Moving on, I also met many people from SHG, mostly around our age like 18-21, some undergrads and a few working adults. Really nice people here. They make you feel integrated easily :) And some of the kids here really just brighten your day with their cuteness ^^
March - August 2014: Muay Thai lessons
Another thing that I went way out of my comfort zone for. The very first two lessons I went for at Fight360 and BXG, I went alone. ALONE. Yeah it was honestly intimidating. Especially since I have zero experience and I'm not exactly a very sporty or fit person. But that's why I wanted to go for such lessons. At Fight360, they got someone (who I think is not an instructor but quite an experienced fighter) to teach me the basic kicks and punches. It was good in the sense that I got a one-on-one lesson on my very first day. He was quite a friendly guy (I really cannot remember his name oops!) and told me to go find him if I came by again. In the past, whenever someone says something like this when I doubt I would see him again, I wouldn't know how to reply and would probably just smile and laugh awkwardly. But one thing I learnt these past few months is that in the real world, most adults do not mean what they say. It's all just superficial talk, all standard sentences to create conversation or to appear friendly. It's like standard operational procedures. Yeah. So I decided to just go with the flow whenever I'm talking to people outside. It's kinda sad though if everyone becomes like this. But this is society. If you do not reply back using the standard phrase that they expect, you become unsociable, unfriendly. Then again, sometimes I don't care too much especially towards random people on the streets since I'll probably never see them again so who cares what they think of me haha. It all depends on my mood LOL.
Omg okay that was off-track. Back to MT. After my first two lessons, I subsequently went to Yod Kai Muay after jio-ing Kaining to go with me haha. On our very first lesson there, the warmness of William and Eric bought us over LOL. So we ended up going there then on and signed a 10 session package :P Below is a picture taken just yesterday with instructor Sarawut (I finally got his name haha!):
May 2014: Hong Kong trip
Second trip with friends! This time round was with Kaining and Yiksheng! Too bad xm was unable to join us :( This trip was planned quite in detail I would say. But plans are plans. Execution is another thing hahaha. We tried to stick to our itinerary, which turned out to be a little too packed and we did not factor in enough time for travelling from one place to another. Plus walking down 6 (?) street markets on the first day right after we landed was not exactly very feasible haha. We ended up going back to the hotel for a nap before coming out again for dinner. Anyway, the people there were more helpful than we thought they would be! You know how the typical impression of Hongkongers is that they are impatient and cold? That's why we were quite surprised when not one, not two, but three people approached the three blur-looking girls who seemed like they were lost LOL. Honestly speaking, I was a little suspicious of them at first, that maybe they were targeting the things in our bags. Lesson learnt from the Europe trip. But nah it turns out they were probably just being helpful. Sorry for doubting their kindness! >< Anyway, somehow the focus of our trip turned to FOOD hahaha. But really, there isn't much to buy at HK, it's almost the same as Sg. That's why as with my Taiwan trip, I ended up spending the most on food ^^ I bought the most food back again LOL. Oh but I spent the most on a cushion I bought for my grandma. She loves it hahaha and even made a cover for it because she said she's afraid to dirty it aww. Presenting to you Bananaman :D
June - July 2014: Engin Camp, ChESS camp
...........I paused here for quite some time. And I realise I have nothing much to talk about the camps. Okay I met a lot of new people, had a hard time matching their names with their faces, got to see many interesting characters. But there was no one that I really liked. As a person. Maybe the duration of the camp was too short for me to really know people, especially not if I choose to not open up to them in the first place. But yeah the camps were fun while it lasted, even though I would not want to have fishy water (with fish scales) poured over my head and have soy sauce, peanut butter (oh the all-time favourite...), flour and what not all over me again. It's really about whether you choose to have fun or not la. As much as I'm not the kind who really suits such social camps, I still think it's a good experience and that people should at least go for one of such uni camps.
Wow I'm finally done with this. There, quite a lot of things I have done right! The rest of my time (especially June and July) were spent slacking at home spamming jdramas haha and doing random stuff like piecing my Totoro puzzle and travelling across half of the island to Ubi for driving lessons. It has been a fulfilling 8 months with many new experiences! Goodbye my holidays~~ T-T
