Wednesday 30 August 2006

I'm so blessed!

Didn’t I just mention in my previous post that good things are coming my way? Well, since I’m going to be travelling and leaving my host family soon and my host mum will be travelling a lot and we won’t see each other much, they decided to give me my farewell present now while both of us are here.

After I posted my blog, my host mum came home from work and they presented me with my brand new Olympus X-715 digital camera!! My very own digital camera! They wanted to give me in time for my travels and also to thank me for the 2 years of looking after the girls. They made Kara and Brigid give me big hugs. I was so touched and happy to see the camera that I cried on the spot. I gave all of them, including my host parents, hugs to thank them for their generosity.

The present even included a 512MB memory card and a camera case. Wow! I can take pictures without worry now! I’m just on top of the world right now. God really knows my needs and presented me with the solution just at the very last minute. I’ve been praying about what to do with a camera since I broke the one my host parents loaned me. Now, He gave me the solution when I least expected it! Really very blessed, me. Sure, the camera is not the best one there is, but it’s free and it’s mine! My very own! I still can’t believe it. I’ve been surfing around, intending to buy one when I get back to S’pore, now I don’t have to worry about it!

Well, have to go play with my new toy, make sure I know the functions before I go on my trip tomorrow. Need to sleep soon too, although I’m pretty excited to. Blog again when I come back from Ireland in a week!




Kid
August 30, 2006 at 6:40 pm

yabba dabba doo…so happy you’ve got a free camera. they are just so thoughtful…i can imagine your ‘over-the-moon’ look..practice practice and shoot some Ireland, Mexico, England, everywhere for me to see….the grass, the sky, the architecture, the people and of course YOU.

Happy news!

Good things are coming my way! Haha! I’m so happy now. Don’t know if I mentioned it before(you can see I’m pretty forgetful and lazy to check my previous blog entries). Just before I came to London, the digital camera my host parents loaned me for the past 2 years decided to break down. I was so upset by it as I know I still have so many travelling to do and so many pictures to take. (By the way, the break down of the camera has nothing to do with me, that’s why it’s so upsetting. I can’t blame anyone!)

So, I had to think of ways to get a camera to take pictures when I’m travelling. For my Alaska trip, my dear friends Yueping and Yongsiang were very nice to come to my rescue and let me have the use of their camera(which reminds me that I still have not sent the pictures out to my friends to see!). Buying a new one is out of the question as I do not have enough money to spend on this. It’s not budgeted for.

Now, since I sort of broke their camera, I dare not have the cheek to ask my host parents for the use of their other digital camera for my Ireland and Scotland trips. I’ve already decided to just buy those disposable one-time use cameras and develop them when I get back to S’pore. I mentioned it to my host dad and guess what?! He very graciously offered me the use of the other good camera! Woo hoo! Now, I can take good quality pictures and also take a lot of them! I can also upload them to the website and send to everyone of you! Haha! Isn’t this a good news? I just have to be very careful now with the other camera. Don’t want to spoil this too. So, friends, keep a look out for my vacation pictures! Let me go edit my Alaska pictures now and I can send them out to everyone.



Sylvia
September 17, 2006 at 9:16 pm

where are the rest of your pics?!
i never got a single one!

Monday 28 August 2006

Why do things not always go to plan?

Now that I have the internet and can surf at home anytime I want, I’m back in the world of instant messaging too. Then, I got to keep in touch with friends whom I’ve always been keeping in touch with but not at a regular basis. Don’t know if I’ve mentioned on my blog before. I’ve already planned a trip to Ireland for a week and then to Scotland for another week before going to Mexico for a month and then back home to S’pore.

The reason why I chose to go Ireland and Scotland is because they’re nearer to London and thus cheaper to travel to. Also, they’re places that I’ve always been wanting to go but didn’t have the chance to. Of course, although I’ve been to most of Europe before, there’s still many places that I’ve not been to, like Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, etc. However, those places are kinda far, more expensive and more dangerous for me, a lone girl to travel to by herself. The language barrier frightens me.


Now, my friends kinda start contacting me and inviting me to visit them in various parts of Europe. I’ve been trying to contact them before I did my booking for these trips back in USA but they didn’t reply in time for me. I booked everything before I came to London. Now, I have invites to go to Stuttgart, Germany, Frankfurt, Germany and Stockholm, Sweden. What the…!!! I want to go to these places!! But the problem is that I’ve already planned everything to such and extent that I don’t have any free time in between my trips. If I knew, I would have postponed my trip to Mexico and squeeze all these other places in between. It’s really a rare chance to be in London and thus flying to these European places would be much cheaper. Now I have to give up on this rare chance.


Why do things not always go according to plans??!!

Saturday 26 August 2006

Life in London so far

Finally we got cable internet at the house here in London and I’m able to surf the internet for free! Have been trying to go to the library to get online and was shock to have to pay one pound for every half hour of usage. So, I only did it once a week just to clear my mailbox and to do some planning for my trips. Have been missing blogging. I actually like this method of putting down my thoughts and feelings, not that I have a lot of them recently.

This past one month of staying in London has been the most boring part of my life so far in the past 2 years. I’m literally staying at home all day, everyday. The pound is so strong and makes everything so expensive that I don’t dare to spend my money on anything, much less go out and enjoy. The good thing is that I’ve been to London before, twice, so I don’t need to do the touristy stuff. So far, only went once into central London to visit Buckingham Palace. The Queen goes on vacation every summer and they open up the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace to the public. So, it’s a good timing for me to go. After that, I went to catch a musical at West End. Les Miserables! After watching it, I don’t really find it to be a really great show. The story doesn’t really fit and seems strange. However, the cast did a great job with the singing and acting.

I have plans to go Ireland and Scotland for a week each for vacation. I don’t know why I’m not at all excited and not really looking forward to going. This is the first time I’m feeling this way for a vacation. I guess partly, I’m pretty paranoid about my money running out here. I only have whatever money I have left from USA. Today is officially the last day I’m working for my host family and they’re not paying me anymore. Well, I can’t imagine myself spending all the money I had in just 2 months here, but I do want to bring some money home to S’pore. Who knows how long I’ll take to find a job. I need something to feed myself in the meantime. Also, having been in the States for almost 2 years and if I go home with nothing to show for, it seems like I’ve wasted 2 years. Thirdly, I have not given my parents any money for these 2 years. Have to set aside some amount to give them when I’m back. Even if I don’t give them, they will ask for it, so I better be prepared.

Right now, I just hope to leave here as soon as possible. Not that I want to leave Kara and Brigid or my host family. I will miss them a lot. But the whole feeling is just different. I’m in a different house, no friends, no freedom, not much money. If I’m still back in Fairfield, I will definitely not want to go home and will feel very, very sad at the prospect of going home. Moving to London is just a whole lot of changes for me and I think I’m at the end of my patience and tolerance for changes. I also have the feeling that I’m out-staying my welcome with my host family. Whenever they talk about their plans for the future and I know that it doesn’t include me, I just feel like an outsider. It’s just so sad.

I just hope that I can keep in touch with them. They have so many things to keep up with that they’re a little at a lost too. Kara just started kindergarten at the international school here. Dutch is coming soon to join the family but she’s not feeling very good back in USA at Anne’s parents’ house. I tend to be the least of their problems and I get neglected. I guess I’m selfish to want to have their attention just because I’m leaving them. I want them to feel sad and reluctant too, like how I’m feeling. Their ease of letting me go just makes me feel sad and dispensable.

I’m tired of always being such a pessimist. Have to go find some friends who’re happy and optimistic to cheer me up. I miss my friends back in USA!!!