No day, but today.

We had dinner at his place just two days ago and I left my retainers on his table.

And I had to be stubborn and eat my daily green apples that’ll definitely hurt my teeth. I just don’t care.

He promised to bring along my retainers when we planned for our date tonight.

BUT he forgot.

I was alright and totally didn’t mind because, with OR without retainers, my green apple ritual has to go on every day at snack and lunch time ANYWAY.

I just got home from our dinner date and he BBMed me saying he’ll call me in 30minutes after he showers. 

In exactly 30 minutes later, he called and said he was outside my house with my retainers (and my trainers, that I also left behind!) I squealed and leapt out of bed, down the stairs and out the door.

And there I see him all wrapped up in his waterproof windbreaker, beaming the most unusually satisfied catch-me-if-you-can grin :) 

There he was. He rode his red scooter all the way to the other side of town for 30 whole minutes to return my retainers (and trainers), and it wasn’t like I couldn’t live without them anyway.

As I’m typing this, my retainers tugged a little tighter than usual but I’m extremely buttered up, warm and totally fuzzy inside.

 

He’s my boo! :D

This is love.

5th September 2011, 2:30pm (+1 GMT)

I felt the breeze turned chilly and the leaves on the tress were turning red and orange. I carried my knapsack on my bag and smiled as I walked past Jardin de Luxembourg towards our hostel and thought to myself, “I am so blessed to see summer turn into fall.”

It was the first day of autumn.

Seasonal changes are always significant. They mark a new journey, a new phase of life, new hopes and new joys, not to mention brand new challenges too.

As Grace, Chris and I finally touched down at our sixth city, we were drained, exhausted and bored of the touristy stuff. I know for myself, I wasn’t looking forward at all to go to Paris. I heard it’s really dirty! Being a neat and clean freak, I am so not keen on visiting the City of Love. No matter what people tell me. I even thought of skipping the Eiffel but I just have to visit it. Going to Paris and not going up the Eiffel is as good as not going to Paris at all…so I just had to bear with the long queues and unspectacular grossness of the touristy place etc.

Anyway, we took the worst Metro (in the world) and arrived at Bir-Hakeim. Hopped off the train and walked towards the Eiffel, which wasn’t hard at all considering that the tower is towering :p

Grace and Chris were at their most relaxed mode which was strangely peculiar because they would normally be the “kan chiong” and kiasu ones to go get the tickets, beat the crowd, la di da. haha! But today, however, they were not bothered at all!

I became the kiasu one and asked them where we can line up to get the tickets and they said to me, “Don’t worry la. We’ll just take a walk around the park first.” I was like, “WHAT??!!” Because I know if we don’t line up, we’ll take 3 hours or so to get a ticket. I followed them as they head towards South and East facing where they claim “The best view” is at.

Walking down the few stone steps at the Eiffel and heading towards the rubbish-ridden park, there I saw him in red. Standing there, beaming and beckoning me with his eyes.

I was in such an inexpressible joy but mostly shock that I cried as I walked up to him. I gave him a big hug and said nothing. It was a breezy and sunny day even though my tears blurred my vision and and I was smiling myself silly. He gave me a red rose as red as the shirt he was wearing and went down on one knee and asked in alot of trembling, excitement and hopefulness, “Will you marry me?” Which in a split second, he interrupted himself to say, “Sorry, I haven’t done this before.”

I laughed and cried (oh my gosh, I didn’t stop tearing!) and to which I said, “Yes, of course!” :)

Grace and Chris were busy recording the moment on their camera and iPhone. He slipped the luminous diamond ring into my ring finger on my right hand and said, “Sorry, wrong hand.” I laughed and he laughed. Both were awkward and ecstatic.

We kissed and hugged and some strangers clapped their hands and congratulated us. :)

I never thought this day would come so soon. 

And so, that marks the first day of Autumn in Paris. And at the same time, that first autumn day marks a new phase of life Yew Gene and I entered in with love abounding and hopes soaring.

We are engaged!

p/s: He bought walking tickets up to the Eiffel! So glad he didn’t get the elevator tickets. :) My dearie knows me best! But my two good friends were cursing him haha :p 

So this IS the City of Love. Or at least, it’s the City of OUR Love. To have Yew Gene and my very best friends witnessing a life-changing moment is better than I imagined it to be. I will never forget this milestone, especially not in Paris. Suddenly Paris seems such a lovely place, after all (ignore the rubbish :p) And that was my summer. I left home single and came home engaged to the love of my life. :)

Thank You Jesus, for everything. And everything. We commit our lives into Your hands.

Hours in the library and it’s one of the happiest times I spent here in Cambridge. Maybe because it’s Cambridge? Hmm.

Anyway, I was writing my Shakespeare essay that I’ve been putting it off for 2 weeks! When it comes to procrastination, I’m unbeatable. Ask my sister. She knows that I still have boxes in my room. Unpacked.

But when I sit and try to do something, focus and set my mind on completing it, I actually get work done. I haven’t been impressed with myself for a long time. A REALLY LONG TIME.

Anyway, back to my Shakespeare essay, I’m glad I’m half done and used my brain a little more today.

Across the street from where I live is the majestic Fitzwilliam Museum.

We had a class in there today and no, it’s not Shakespeare. I took another class called Art and Satire and am totally in love with it. I dare say, even more than Shakespeare. I had to fly 6500 miles here to discover that I’m not that into Shakespeare anymore. But I’ll hold that thought because I’m visiting Oxford and Stratford this Sunday and I might change my mind :p Downright fickle, me.

If I were still in uni (in Cambridge), I’d do another major in Art History. Why am I in love with subjects that literally help me make NO money? I have no idea why. It’s the arts, my dear. We don’t do it for the money, do we? And my teaching job in which I absolutely adore pays me measly buttons and heaps of dust bunnies. It’s the joy and satisfaction that the people whom I work with, gives me. 

If I ever tell my parents this, they’ll say in a very loving way, “Don’t be stupid. Nobody lives on happiness alone.” I know that to be very true but unfortunately, the things I love to do just gives me no money but makes me so happy. 

What the jolly heck. :) I hope you have found what you love to do the most. Confucius said something along these lines, “Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” :) I’ll tell you, that’s sound advice.

Tomorrow after my classes, I’ll be hopping on a train to Brighton with Grace to visit lovely Hannah and her boyfriend, Ian. 

Lord, let this be a beautiful weekend away! :)

I was sitting on the lawn studying with my friends one sunny evening and saw many ladybirds coming towards us.

And I was so thrilled because I generally love bugs!

I caught one and put it on this dried leaf and got my BB out and snapped a picture of it. Suddenly I remembered my sister because we use to live near a humongous tree when we were younger. Our parents park their cars underneath its shade. Some days the ladybirds will be over my parents’ cars and my mom will catch them and put them into those see-through cassette cases so that my sister and I can keep them for awhile and look at them.

Sometimes, mom puts a little leaf inside for the ladybirds to feed on. I’m not really sure if they eat though because they always go missing or die after getting caught by us hehe :)

I miss the days of our childhood. It was especially fun because I grew up with my one and only sister :)

Zhi, this picture is for you! ♥

I AM BACK!!

You know what? Setting foot in London has never made me feel this way: I am more grateful for Cambridge than ever! No wonder Cambridge is UK’s 2nd most popular choice of residence after London.

Please don’t get me wrong, I heart London. Who doesn’t? The Underground experience is the best and my best buy is the Oyster card. haha! But seriously, I am such a city girl. I could see myself living in London :) Why not?

Although I am quite sure that I will never get on the London Eye ever, if I do live there. What is so fun about this? I seriously don’t get it. Sorry, I am not a fan of ferris wheels. Definitely not a massive one that’ll give you a 360 view of London in 45 minutes. Nah…I’ll take a rain check.

Anyway, when we first arrived in London, the right thing to do was to head on over to the much talked-about Portobello market!

These houses remind me of the rows of townhouses in Bangsar that is my dream place to live. Except that I hope in that neighbourhood, people will have the sense to paint their facades with unadventurous colours such as these :) It’s not too bad, isn’t it? The teal blue next to the grey house is my favourite.

Guess why I’m standing at this gate?

Because! :) So happy to know this! I don’t want to say it…but yes. Animal Farm is my favourite novella. After Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Angela Carter’s ‘The Magic Toyshop’. Shoot me.

We pass by more of these houses and strangely, don’t they look like the houses turned restaurants at Jalan Alor and Changkat Bukit Bintang? :) Sweet.

It was here that I officially had a migraine. AND PORTOBELLO MARKET hasn’t even begun!

After this picture, it’s officially taking a trip down to the busiest place I have ever been! Even more people, more crowded and more expensive than the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok! You can imagine! But going with friends are fantastic. They keep you going. Till the very end. Until we arrive at our favourite…FOOD SECTION! :D

The whole street was flanked with food stalls, antiques, clothes and you-name-it.

It was quite a lovely sight to see the colours and the vendors. IF only there weren’t so many people.

Walked passed the guy selling paella! So good :) And then…couldn’t resist…

Ghanaian food!

I have never had it before and it sure did smell extremely good! 

Bought a small rice with 2 stews (beef and spinach) and WOW! It was extremely good and the most satisfying meal I’ve had in the whole of England haha! It’s really good. Especially the chilli sauce. It’s super fattening, but who cares? :p Oh, did I mention it tasted really good? It’s good, good, GOOD! :D

Next stop, Covent Garden! We wanted to see where Eliza met Prof. Higgins. Grace and I thought it was here so we snapped a picture just in case. Until we found the real thing!

Tada! St. Paul’s church! :) Okay, Covent Garden wasn’t so bad. It was quite a nice place, in my opinion, except Grace was a little disappointed that there were no violets for sale in sight.

Oh well, we walked around abit. Went into every shop (almost).

Took pictures like this one and the snapped the rest and kept it in my head because even though I like Covent Garden very much, I was getting a little impatient looking for a place that sells pointe shoes. I walked and walked and walked but found nothing! And I can’t believe Teacher Katy told me that there were many shops in Covent Garden. But where? So the best thing to do is to get coffee and chill. That’s what I did :)

I skipped the Globe tour because I wanted to meet my very lovely host, Rachel and Shern earlier at their place. I was so happy to see her finally! :) She’s still as funny and as down to earth as ever. The only thing that changed was her surname, now that she’s married :) And look at my host climbing up her couch, plucking mint leaves to make me a Mojito! She even made her own chocolate ice cream! And her husband cooked dinner! Oh my…looking at them and feeling their hospitality really made me miss home alot. ALOT.

That’s Rachel, hopping off to the kitchen to whip up a welcome cocktail drink!

Both Shern and Rachel live in a very very cosy 1 bedroom flat that cost £800 to rent every month. I thought it’s quite pricey but I guess it’s quite a deal in an area like that. :) I felt very welcome there.

The next morning, we took a train to the posh neighbourhood of South Kensington where their church is. p/s: Dearie, doesn’t this look like Beringin Residence? :p Dis they copy these terrace at South Kensington?

It was a very pretty morning but the construction works everywhere spoilt it.

I followed the couple to their church called the Holy Trinity Brampton.

This is the church where Tim Hughes attends and an even more interesting fact coming right up!

See the Alpha course? Sounds very familiar? Well, because it is! This is the church that started it all. Metro is introducing their excellent Alpha Marriage course :) Not bad huh? To think that I visited the church that started it all. And when I walked into the service, I can see why :) Feels exactly like Metro. And it happens to be Metro’s 29th birthday today too. I miss Metro very very much!

Rachel and I went to Oxford Street after that. And hmm, nothing photo worthy of the shopping district except maybe Rasa Sayang ;p Feel the lurve!

Rachel was so patient with me. Temaning me everywhere and being my tour guide. She’s fantastic! I’m happy Shern and her are coming to visit me in Cambridge in 2 weeks! I’ll be a good host too, I hope :) Guess why I’m smiling so hideously?

THAT’s because, I went to Covent Garden again today. Unsatisfied that I didn’t find what I wanted yesterday, I painfully made my way there even if it’s to walk from Bayswater. (Not that far anyway ) I just didn’t like taking the tube to Covent Garden. It’s when I was there at this station that I realised I am 193 steps below ground level, so close (almost) to hell! :P Creepy!

And guess what I found?

The sole reason I came to London! :D Geddit?

The sales staff at Bloch, Drury Lane, are highly professional, helpful and very friendly. I finally got fitted for my very first pair of pointe shoes. It is big deal for ballet dancers to get their first pointe shoes but I guess for me, this is extra special because I bought it in the heart of the ballet performances, Central London, and that lady who helped me get fitted was AMAZING! I highly recommend BLOCH at Drury Lane, Covent Garden if you’re living in London and need ballet supplies.

I’m very happy today. :) But I miss Yew Gene (very much). I know he’s having a fantastic time in Melbourne and I’d be quite thrilled to know that he did actually think of me even for a minute :) Or so.