For all the times I felt happy, sad, unsure and lost

Exactly 7 years ago, I started blogging and tada today myprettytryst turns 2555 days old!! This space really holds a helluva memories for me personally. And possibly also loads of late night thoughts and emotions. It feels like I've half my life written here; from the broken english days right up till today. Now that I think about it, I really ought to give myself a pat on the shoulder, for not deleting this blog on impulse so many times before. There are some days when words don't come out of my mouth just as I wish they would, so I end up here. I don't think it's entirely sane to dedicate a post to a non-living thing but I'll still do it. Thank you for always being here bloggie. I hope I don't get sick of writing for a long time.

30/52

Can't believe we're already more than halfway through 2014, with school starting in less than 2 weeks time. I liked a post on tumblr recently and it says “Are you scared? Or are you not ready? There is a difference.” Thought it's pretty applicable in this case. Not sure how I feel about entering uni. But really, how did 8 months passed by so quickly?! It feels like I just finished A levels a week ago.

Anyway, I'm back in kl this week for one last getaway before school officially commence. I always feel over the moon being around this big big family of mine. Going shopping with my sisters from other mothers tomorrow, am just gonna ignore the fact that my wardrobe back home is actually going through a near-explosion-crisis because nobody says no to retail therapy right? RIGHT.

Some pictures from today. Survived the day with merely 4.5 hours of sleep last night before our super early flight this morning. I feel like my eyes are gonna explode any moment now.

6:40AM

7:05AM

7:25AM

7:45AM

8:15AM

9:00AM

10:30AM (my kinda breakfast!!! m'sia boleh!!!)

11:30AM (went to see gran's new house & found the perfect wall for future #ootd shots lol)

2:30PM (furniture shopping)

7:30PM seafood feast

10:30PM

okay goodnight xx

Berries world of learning

It's my final week at work and I've been sooo damn sad and whiny about it to every single person since Monday. The fact that I missed work on Thursday due to SIM's Freshmen Orientation Day and didn't get to snap any pictures with the Thursday kids for memories sake just makes me feel upset. I didn't think the previous week would be the last time I see them. FOD was heaps of fun but still! sigh pie. I miss all my cute little cuddly puffs already.

Wednesday's affair

Saturday's affair

Sunday's affair. Okay I'll have to admit that I'm biased for loving Sunday's kids the most BUT that's because I've witnessed them growing up along the way since I started working on every Sunday 2 years back so it's normal to feel additionally attached rightttt? I didn't managed to get a picture with every class today but I guess it's fine. I have thoughts (or rather: I've already made up my mind) to continue working on Sundays as soon as I settle down proper in school. For now, seeing all the kids in my photo gallery would suffice.

p.s. i have in my arms the cutest malay toddler ever and behind me, my favourite twins ♡♡

Okay shit I already feel a little sentimental while typing this post #halpppp #overlyattachedteacher

But anyway, since I've been a part-timer at Berries for almost 3 years now, I must say there's always something new I learn about the kids and myself each time I go to work. And also about people (parents & teachers) in general.

• Song most commonly sung by children aged between 3 to 8 years old: *drumrolls please* it's none other than Frozen's theme song LET IT GOOOO. Sure, the chorus's damn catchy and sometimes I feel like the evil teacher having to stop them from humming the tune during lesson. It's like I'm taking away a part of their childhood.

• Being the youngest assistant teacher at work always create some sort of amusement among the primary school kids when they ask about my age. I can't even figure out why. I was even asked before if I'm married (what?!) so I end up having to tell the kids “老师没有这么老啦” (loosely translated as: teacher not so old la)

• Children are basically the epitome of mood swings. One second they are all giggly and happy, the next second they could be bawling their hearts out. Especially the younger ones (3/4/5 years old).

• Children are also complain kings and queens: "teacher, just now X's hand knock me" "teacher, Y never sit properly" "teacher, but Z never raise up his hand first" GOODNESS and at times it just hit me that I probably was once like that too.

• Nine year old is the age where all the rebellious hormones start to act up, I'm not joking about this one. There are days I feel like strangling some of the boys in class but then... this leads me to point number 6

• The inner teacher in me always gives in. As a teacher, I've learnt that raging at kids is extremely unhealthy even though in my own opinion, I think that my tolerance level is pretty high so at the very most I'd just raise my voice slightly. Speak of raging, I honestly can't stand watching parents scold/hit their kids in public (in front of the teachers/other parents). Like that's not embarrassing or hurtful to your kid's pride at all, getting shouted at with so many outsiders present. Sometimes parents really need to let the fact sink in; every god damn kid goes through the young and naughty phase in their life.  

• The way children behave outside reflects how well their parents have taught/guided them at home. I've met little rascals who bully their friends (sudden throwing of fist/spitting saliva) during class time and there was this one who's 5 and wouldn't stop saying "who gives a fuck anyway" omg if my kid was like that... I'd lock him up in a cage lol (just kidding) but really, it makes me wonder how kids this generation are being brought up in the comforts of their own home.

• Despite all the annoyance I get here and there at work, one of the best feeling in the world is getting acknowledged. A simple thank you（谢谢老师）at the end of every lesson makes up for every wrongdoing.

• Best feeling #2: feeling wanted/needed by the younger ones. Out of 3 teachers in the classroom, the kid only wants you. Maybe I'm just self-obsessed or something ha ha ha

• Best feeling #3: hearing children tell their parents "i like that teacher" or them coming up to me personally to say "teacher i love you" nawww inside my head I'm all "TEACHER LOVES YOU TOO". Sometimes I don't even know if they understand what they are saying but oh well I choose to soak in temporary bliss.

• Through all these time, I've assisted in numerous classes, taught by different teachers and as individual, each teacher certainly has their own way of teaching and handling situations that arise during class time. I don't necessary agree on the way some of them work things out, but I guess it's only right that I keep in mind all these little actions and learn/not learn from them. 

And the list probably goes on and on. Apart from some of the shocking truths, there are so many more fun and cute moments that I can't recall them all in an instant. I just hope that all the memories I've made at Berries would stay with me for as long as possible. It's so silly but my heart actually aches to think that the kids would eventually forget me and that I always miss them more than they do.

PHOTO DIARY: TAIWAN 2014 (I)

Hi guys! Yes I know... omg I finally got down to finishing up 1/2 my Taiwan photo diary after much procrastination. I don't know how people find the determination to type travel diaries. I spent some time contemplating what to do with this post, or rather, how to do it. Should it be a summary of the entire trip or should I go into detail of each day? Settling on the latter because I know it would be worth my time. I'd probably read back on my own posts in the future and this would serve to be yet another precious memory.

Let's get started! Back to 26/05/2014:

Day 1: my family booked a 1025am flight so that we could have ample rest the previous night before our trip (which didn't exactly helped because everyone was just busy buzzing around the house trying to do some last minute check and pack and ended up going to bed late), but thank god we got to catch up on some sleep during the 4.5 hours flight.

p.s. i don't know if you guys can tell but i went to taiwan with a freaking swollen and bruised right eye, all thanks to a bad knock one day before we departed for our trip, so yup in case people think i got abused or something ha ha ha just sayin' oh and momsie said the bruise looked like make up and suggested i just apply eye shadow on my other eye.... seriously i don't even know to laugh or cry at that comment

Upon arriving at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at about 3pm, we met up with our local tour guide who then loaded our luggages onto the mini bus before taking us on our first bullet train experience. Indeed, it's called a bullet train for a reason. I half expected mrt speed.. what was I even thinking I don't know.

20 minutes into the ride and we found ourselves arriving at the 台北 (taipei) station. Our bus driver picked us up from there and off we went to 西门町 (xi men ding) for our first round of street food and shooooppppping (no time to take pictures cos we only had 2 hours there wtf). Our shopping speed was really put to ultimate test: see, like, pay, buy. The cousies and I wasted no time and scooted off to look at clothes while the adults were in charge of buying food and snacks to bring back to the hotel for dinner/supper.

*on a side note, I always think that it's such a pity Singapore doesn't have all these street shopping, maybe apart from Bugis village (which is often too packed and squeezy)?

We stayed at this hotel in the city of Taipei and even though the accomodation wasn't anything too grand and fancy or whatsoever, it was extremely neat and cosy! Have I mentioned how much I love staying in hotels? Got too busy living in the moment (rolling around my huge white bouncy bed) that I had no thoughts of snapping any pictures. We ended day 1 of our trip with some late night snacking and family time in one of our hotel room. Precious times with the fambam.

Day 2: woke up bright and early and we're off to our first destination at the 士林官邸 (shi lin guan di). This place is basically the residence of former president chiang kai-shek and it's massive, being an estate on its own with a church, rose garden and a huge mansion.

The entrance to it was a long walk way filled with palm trees lookalike on both sides so we instantly pretended like we were in Los Angeles only sadly, we are not. But still! *cues walking and hair flipping moments*

(a retarded scene during toilet break; everyone was so quick to dump all their belongings to me before dashing to the restroom.. so i turned into Ademaid)

After looking at too much greens, we finally moved on to some browns and blues at the 野柳地质公园 (yehliu geopark) where we saw rocks and rocks and... more rocks before finally catching a glimpse of the ocean!

Next up was a drive up the narrow mountain roads (giddy giddy rides) before we arrived at 九份 (jiu fen) which was bustling with people, both locals and tourists. Jiu fen was located somewhere high up in the mountain area so the weather was exceptionally chilly and it was nice not having to worry about perspiring while walking through such crowded streets. Had loads of yummy goodies to fill up our tummies as we strolled along the crammed yet vibrant streets. Speaking of which, I really have to confess that most of the times when food was present, I'd be too busy stuffing my face which explains the lack of pictures. I probably only have 2 out of 5403726 pictures of the food we ate, whoops.

Our accommodation for the night was at the 头城休闲农场 (toucheng leisure farm). Dinner was served barbecued style that night which was just so-so. After din, we were taught to make our very own sky lantern. The family took turns to write well wishes all over it before we lit and sent it rising up into the air. It was a heart warming moment watching our lantern disappear into the night sky. Why we no allowed to do things like that in singaBore huh whyyyyy??????

Day 3: rise and shine, we were bound for 花莲 (hualien) today. Started the day with a tour around the farm we stayed at. Not too sure bout the hiking part where 2 of my cousins got attacked by mosquitoes, but I sure loved the animals we got to see at the end of it all. Saw wild boars, piglets, goats, ducks, chickens, and even buffalos!! You geddit.. it was an animal farm. I attempted to take a selfie with one of the buffalo but freaked out before I even got to press the camera shutter when mr. buffalo got too close for comfort. Feeding the goats was fun though, it felt like a wrestling game lol goatSSS vs adelene.

Actually, our itinerary for the third day was, to me, the most relaxed one but I think it got a little uninteresting for the youngsters halfway through. The adults enjoyed the chilled schedule that was mainly filled with sightseeings though. But it just meant more mountains and ROCKS. I secretly wonder if taiwan is made up 70% of rocks or something (just like how the earth is filled with 70% water) but of course, that can't be it.

After lunch, while en route to 花莲 (hualien), we visited the 太鲁阁国家公园 (taroko national park) and trekked the 砂卡噹步道 (shakadang trail) before checking in to another hotel at night.

Day 4: halfway mark of our trip, so far so good! Today we continued road trippin' towards 高雄  (kao hsiung). Half way, we stopped for some snacks and to take pictures with the 北回归线标志塔 (i can't remember the english name for this one but i'm sure you all can tell it's just a white something something tower)

The driver drove further down towards the 八仙洞 (eight immortal cave) after that and we also took some pictures there before settling down for lunch at a restaurant by the beach. I remember the food didn't really suit most of our liking and the weather was mad humid (we were seated outside) but luckily, the view of the magnificent sea made up for everything.

After lunch was an hours drive down to the gorgeous 三仙台 (san xian tai). This place was one of my favourite attraction spot out of so many all thanks to the picturesque rocky coastal views from above. I love the sea so so so much. And the sky. And and just anything with pretty shades of blue. I wish I could emphasise enough by showing you guys all the pictures I took at this place alone but decided against the idea or else this post would never see an end to it.

By the time we finally parted with the sea and arrived at our accommodation for the day, it was already evening. We stayed at the 小熊香草世界 (master bear resort). It was an extremely adorable bear-themed place and the night activities prepared for us and some other tourists were interesting too. I guess this place is recommendable for family trips, provided you don't mind staying a little further away from the city area for a day or two.

So that's that for the first half of our family trip. This post has been neglected for far too long in the 'draft' section and I'm so glad I finally put together all the bits and pieces. Let's bet the second half would see light in about a months (or maybe two?) time *hides face* Till part two :)