Today I celebrate you, Mum

Thank you for the 9 months of discomfort while expecting me…

…for enduring the pain of labour.. (though you always tell us that it was not very painful as the three of us were very small sized, I only weighed around 4 pound :p)

Thank you for running between 2 jobs everyday for the past 13 years or so just to put food on the table…
And you never once complain about the hardship and pain you went through…
..for driving 8 hours from Singapore to Taiping just to see us at least twice monthly..
..for driving down to Taiping just to drive me to Johor during school holiday..

Thank you for giving me the liberty to do whatever I want, with no constraint at all…
..for trusting me enough, that I’ll not abuse the freedom you gave.…
..for allowing me to fly…

I am who I am today because of you…
…because you gave us your best, 

…and believed that we deserve that...

It has always been my prayers that you’ll find happiness one day,
And I’m so thankful that you have found one.. :)
You deserve all the joy and happiness…

Thank you, Mummy.
I’ll always remember you on this day.

.

It has been a while. But it still feel so surreal. Feel like you're still around.

Wish that you are here.

Have been missing you a lot.

Happy birthday, Markus.

Bila Aku Sudah Tiada - Hujan

Bila Aku Sudah Tiada
by Hujan

Bila, aku sudah tiada
Simpan semua laguku
Jangan ditangis selalu

Mungkin, itu sementara
Bila jumpa penggantiku
Jangan dilupakan aku...

Pagi itu indah seperti biasa
Tidur yang lena terhenti di sana
Layap kuyu masih tak terdaya
Bukalah tingkap mu curahkan cahaya

Siapa yang sangka
Bila tiba masa kita untuk pergi selamanya
Takkan terduga
Jika saat ini tuhan tentukan aku lah orangnya

Bila, aku sudah tiada
Simpan semua laguku
Jangan di tangis selalu

Mungkin, itu sementara
Bila jumpa penggantiku
Jangan dilupakan aku...

Gelak tawa tangisan yang hiba
Kenangan kita masa di dunia
Alangkah indahnya jika
Kita mampu hidup selamanya

Siapa yang sangka
Bila tiba masa kita untuk pergi selamanya
Takkan terduga
Jika saat ini tuhan tentukan aku lah orangnya

Bila, aku sudah tiada
Simpan semua laguku
Jangan ditangis selalu

Mungkin, itu sementara
Bila jumpa penggantiku
Jangan dilupakan aku...

Spring, where art thou?

... the weather is getting colder and colder. it has been raining for the past few days. The temperature is around 9 celsius- 16 celsius. Over the past few weeks, the weather has been rather temperamental. Sometimes, cold, sometimes hot, hardly warm.

One day, my roomate was complaining, "Where is Spring?? This is not Spring, this is Summer!" The other day, when I asked my friend if this is Spring, she said "This is feels like Fall, not Spring." I asked her why. She looked up to the sky and said, "Ask God. God, what's wrong with You?" :p

Spring is supposed to be warm and nice. But has been pretty cold here. Anyway, thank God that the flowers still bloomed in Spring despite the moody weather.

.....konichiwa.

Am currently in Busan International Airport waiting for my flight to Narita, Japan.

I had never felt so stressed travelling alone before. (Ok, this is only my second time travelling to a foreign land all by myself) Even when I was coming to Korea I didn't feel nervous or stress for travelling alone. But this time, it's just different. Maybe because I don't know the language-Japanese and the country well, but neither can I speak Korean!

While on the way to the airport from Inje University, I realised that I've forgotten my Yen! I do not have any Yen with me at all! How silly and careless!! Had to ask the taxi driver to make a U-turn back to Obang-dong where Inje University is located. We were already half way through! Urgh.

So, he made a U-turn, and I managed to get my money from my room. At that point, I felt so suffocated, almost feel like vomitting. Maybe because I woke up too early (at 430am) and didn't have enough sleep. The taxi driver was concern about my departure time, but he couldn't understand what I was saying when I told him that my flight is at 8am. Sigh. Need to work harder on my Korean. I had to call my roomate to talk to him. I ended up paying 30000Won (~Rm90) for the cab fare, double from what I was supposed to pay. Sigh. Lesson we paid for mistakes in life.

Hhmm... it's okay. Well, at least I get to travel to Japan and I'm really thankful for it, from flight to accomodation and getting friends to go around with me (not everyday though). Hopefully, it'll be a relaxing trip. I didn't really believe that I'm going to Japan until after I checked in. :p It still feels rather surreal.

But, yeah... thank you God for everything.

Sunshine Kids~

One of the class that I love most! ~helping out in the kindergarden.

My favourite :) - Meksi.

Marit Larsen - If A Song Could Get Me You

am currently loving this, ;p

If A Song Could Get Me You


and this:
Under the Surface

.Like the flowing river.

Be like the flowing river,
Silent in the night.
Be not afraid of the dark.
If there are stars in the sky, reflect them back.
If there are clouds in the sky,
Remember, clouds, like the river, are water,
So, gladly reflect them too,
In your own tranquil depths.

-Manuel Bandeira-


Reading under the Bol-kot tree with bol-kot flowing down as the wind blows really makes one feel so at peace and tranquil. :)

Korean music class was cancelled today, so I took the chance to start reading 'Like the flowing river' just outside my dorm, under the cherry blossom tree. :p

The weather is cooling and nice. Von, it reminds me of the time when I was reading The Shack at the patio of your house in Janda Baik, last August. The only thing missing then was the bol-kotsss. :p


This is how it looks like when I looked up. But the camera cannot capture the beauty that the eyes see....



Teck Fann accompanied me for a while, practicing some Korean songs with me :p



Tea time :p


:)


she decided to be a little adventurous by trying out the bol-kot...

..While the rest of the guys went for soccer game :p I'll join them next time, just not in the mood for the game today.



..with Duyen before she left for the game..


This is right outside my dorm

The by-elections news

For the live coverage, go to...

Sorry, can't help it. :p

annyeong-haseyo

Welcome to South Korea!


Upon arrival at Incheon Airport, I took the Express Train to Gimpo Airport, it only costed me 3200Won (about RM10). So much cheaper than KLIA Express. It took 33mins to reach the Gimpo Airport form Incheon Airport.




The train is called A REX.


I had to take a flight from the Gimpo International airport to Busan Airport.


Thank God for Beelie, she helped me to purchase the air ticket from Gimpo to Busan online. I couldn't do it myself because everything is in Korean. :p

Air Busan is really good. My flight was at 12.30pm,but I reached and checked in at 10am. The staff asked if I want to change to an earlier flight. So, I took the 10.30am flight instead. Nice!


Bee Lie met me in the Busan airport :)

After that, Hee Jung, the course co-ordinator came to pick me from the airport with Dave to Inje University in Gim Hae.


Welcome to Inje University. I was greeted by the cherry blossoms (bol kot).








These are the places that I need to pass through to get to my dorm from the university entrance. :) Beautiful ,eh?


My dormitory ~ Inje English Town


My room


The table


The cupboard


View outside my room.

I arrived on Thursday, and every Thursday there's a Taekwondo class. So, I just joined in the class to watch and take photos. ;p


Warming up~


:)

At night, the other participants who were there earlier had a welcoming dinner for me and Kelvin (another Malaysian who also went late, but he went a day earlier than me) That was really very nice of them.

After that, we went to Karaoke. :p And I got a little drunk that night. eheheh..


During dinner.

Karaoke time~

Teck Fann, another Malaysian was playing 'drum' with a pair of chopsticks and the tambourine. :p I did that too. It was quite fun.

Friends..

...what would we do without them....

To the new hope

The result of the 12th General Election still feels so surreal to me. I was overwhelmingly excited during the night of election as I was following the unofficial 'minute-by-minute' results announced by Malaysiakini through my mobile while exchanging text messages with my friends.

For me, in this election the RAKYAT had united regardless races and religion behind the BARISAN RAKYAT... and that is something to be proud of.. as a Malaysian - that we can see through the colour of the skins, though a little late (only after 50 years), but late is better than never.

The election campaign in has been going on since last year. For myself, I think it started with the 'Bocor' issue, which had really opened my eyes our on how our government MPs debated in the Parliament, practically turning the House into a zoo as much insults were hurled at the Oppositions MP. Next is Revathi's case - this is how I came across Article 11 which is heavily promoted by Malik Imtiaz and Haris Ibrahim. Then I met RPK (Raja Petra)'s articles in MalaysiaToday that discloses many 'dark scerets' of the gov. Blogs of the opposition MPs like Lim Kit Siang and others also helped to create awareness. It went on with the judiciary scandals, the arrogance and inactions of the Minister and brushing aside many surfacing issues concerning the Rakyat. We were pratically told to shut up and let our elected representative in the gov run the country the way they like it- after all we've given them 90% mandate. Since then, the list continues to sustain itself.

During the campaigning period, came BARISAN RAKYAT which endorsed the
People's Declaration . Six oppositions which endorsed the People's Declaration were known as the Barisan Rakyat - DAP, PKR, PAS, MDP, PSM and PASOK, none from the Barisan National. For me, this is the reason that unite the people. Shouts of "Makkal Sakthi", "Hidup Rakyat" were heard at the ceramahs during the speech of Haris Ibrahim and RPK. Both of them had been the guest speakers, lending their supports to the Oppositions' ceramah. To me, it is clear, to motivation of rejecting BN is due to the common areas I want to see change that can be reflected in the RAKYAT's lives, not so much of race-based issues.

I would just like to extend my thanks to people who I think has helped to influenced the decision of the RAKYAT when casting their ballots last election, besides the Oppositions: Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Haris Ibrahim and Malik Imtiaz. I see hope for Malaysia when I see the work that they're doing.

Is this a threat, Mr Prime Minister?

I read with disgust on today's main page report from the Star of our Prime Minister, Abdulah Badawi saying that:

“You have to decide if you want a louder voice in Parliament or representation in the Cabinet where they can be more effective in representing all communities,” the Barisan Nasional chairman said.

“When the MCA lost its voice, the people felt it. I hope they will think very carefully. This is important in the interest of all races,” he added

Full report here (I wanted to link it to Malaysiakini instead, however they didn't carry the news)

I remembered when he came into power in 2003, he said that he's the Prime Minister for all races. So, even if none of the Cabinet ministers are Chinese or Indians, it should not be a problem, IF the PM walks his talk - to take care the affairs of ALL Malaysians regardless of race.

Why is he saying otherwise now?

I was there too, in yellow!

I was contemplating for weeks of whether to attend the BERSIH’s peaceful gathering to submit a memorandum to the Yang DiPertuan Agong on electoral reforms - to demand for a free and clean election.


10 Nov, I was awakened by an SMS saying that all the roads leading into KL are closed, and police are everywhere. Anyone in yellow will be stopped.

My colleague who was heading to Melaka said that his bus was detour as the route to the Istana was closed, advising me to be careful when attending the peaceful walk later.

Later, I got online, and chatted with some of my friends. I was still deciding if I should go. People said that the gathering is illegal and those who are attending might get caught. My friend had even forwarded me a document on "The police & our right" - how to response when we're caught. My adrenaline was running high.

Should I go? Should I wear yellow? Will I be arrested? What if I was arrested? Why should I go? So many questions were running through my head.

Having to try to advocate the importance of voting and registration as a voters among my friends and family, I told myself that, I should walk the talk. If I truly believe that, we could change things by casting our votes, and if the ballot box is indeed haunted by phantom voters, tempered, gerrymandered and etc, then I should support the cause to call for a free, clean and fair process for the coming election. I told myself that, YES, I want to walk for this cause and be counted. And I think I would regret if I did not attend it...

I was at the Burger King in Masjid Jamek at about 1.30pm with my friends. We were not in yellow but we brought our yellow shirt, towel and water (in case of tear gas, we can wipe our eyes with the wet towel).

We were standing with the lawyers from the Bar Council who were there as Observers. Later, I saw many people wearing "Unit Amal Kebajikan" in red lining up, getting ready to march into Dataran Mederka. A lawyer told me that these people are from PAS.

The FRU trucks were in front of them. At that point, I was feeling excited and scared at the same time.

Suddenly the FRU started firing water cannon without warning. I thought that was unnecessary as the crowds were not violently protesting. There were no riots, no warning issue by the FRU, no nothing, and there’s absolutely no REASON for them to do that.

If the police truly care for the public safety, like what the mainstream news reported, they should not even fire the water cannon or the tear gas. At this juncture, the Burger King staffs hurriedly closed their shop, and asked people to retreat into the shop if they want shelter or leave. I was panicked. It was really scary. I continued to stand at the side to watch. It’s sad, but it’s true, I was only like an observer, I didn’t join in the crowd to brave the FRU. They tried to break the FRU barrier to march into Dataran Merdeka a few times, but were hold back by water cannons and tear gas fired by the FRU. I admired their courage and persistence. Despite of being attacked, they did not resort to violence.

We knew that there’s no chance for us to go into the Dataran Merdeka. Updates said that the other marchers are now walking towards the Istana from Masjid Negara. So, we followed suit. At first I did not know where we were walking to, either to Masjid Negara or to the Istana. I just followed the lawyers, my friends and the crowds in yellow. At that point, I’ve decided walk with my yellow shirt. So, I’ve joined the “gelombang kuning”.

We walked past the Bar Council to Pasar Seni, and from Pasar Seni to the Istana. As we reached Istana, I see a sea of yellow people and many of them were Malays. I wonder where the other ethnic groups are. Many of them were PAS and Keadilan supporters.. My friend felt that we were decoyed as this seemed to be the oppositions’ rally, due to the heavy presence of our Malay friends, as result of the absence of other races.

However, I felt that, it was their commitments and supports that had made this the biggest ever peaceful protest in Malaysia.

No, none of them yell any of their party slogans.

Some slogans that I heard were, “Daulat Tuanku”, “Hidup rakyat, Hidup! Hidup”, “God is great”. I’ve also heard the shout of “Reformasi” at one point. It’s true that this phrase is tightly coupled to Anwar, however, it is also correct that we need a reformation in our electoral system, thus, “reformasi” is needed.

Anyway, I’m glad I joined thousands in the walk on 10^th November 2007 for a free, clean and fair election.