Rediscovering Eden
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
I am Yours
dailies
Thursday, April 23, 2009
UPdates!
-11:30 PM
4. The next day, at 9.00am SHARP, this guy came knocking on our door and we had to get up to open the door. At first we both ignored the knock hoping that whoever was outside would go away but the knock became louder and louder and more persistent. Neighbours were coming out to see what was wrong. How embarrassing! and in came the repair guy from the management.
He said that the management got to know that our house leaked water into the unit below and we said ya. He talked so rudely and said that we'll have to pay for damages incurred. That got me and my housemate really mad. We were telling him that its the infrastructure of the building that is causing the leakage becasue by right, the floor boards should be waterproof and should be of good quality so that water dont seep through. And I said that this is my house, even if i wanted to make my kitchen into the swimming pool, that is seriously my business. And he gave a smirk and sneered and said “你们是哪儿的人？什么材料才是好的你们说？说什么话，两个小.." and he gave that mocking face. My housemate said that her bro was in the buildings line and said that the materials used were not good and the repairman just said that it would be too expensive to build good ones. My first thought was that,oh man, no wonder buildings crash when earthquakes come.And we were arguing with him and he kept asking if we were Chinese. I asked him if it mattered where we were from and he kept quiet,only to ask it 5 mins later again. This time I answered yes while the housemate hesitated. She then said that we are from the South. The hooligan repairman gave a mocking face and sneered and remarked that we are bluffing. I've not been so irritated to this extent for a long time. To me,I still think that I'm Chinese,afterall I'm just 3rd generation PRC. So in that aspect,its not a lie. That repairman sounded like some hooligan by demanding apologies and payment and talking to us in condescending and demeaning manner. Typical PRC that try to get their way by being proud and rude. Both of us wanted to much to kick him in the shin and slap that sneer off his face.
It turned out that the building's floor boards and prob every estate in our run-down area is not waterproof. Maybe the atas town areas are,but not for our district esp when my estate is the best estate in the area already.It was such a simple thing. Just tell us that its not waterproof and we'll noe that we cant leave the floor wet next time. Dont come in and be some act-fierce hooligan that demands payment. PRCs! Tsk*. Money is everything to them. When the hooligan finally left,we were so indignant and started to kick the air. I stamped the floor once and quickly stopped cos our walls and floor boards are hollow. I dont want the old lady coming up, the security guards coming in, neighbours staring and worst still, the hooligan coming in and shooting his mouth off!
UPdates!
-11:04 PM
3.The Neighbour below.
When the cleaning auntie came to clean up our messy house,she must have moved the hose of the washing machine such that it doesnt drain directly into the sewage system. Because I put my clothes in to the machine to be washed and after it was done, we realise that the kitchen floor was relatively wet. Relatively is the word because I would expect more water than that if the hose was not in its place properly. I actually expect flooding. But no, the floor was just wet, as if we didnt mop our floor after splashing water. So we didnt care much except to put the hose where its suppose to be.
Half an hour later when the house-mate was in the shower and I in my room, someone banged the door of our house (we dont have a doorbell) and I decided to ignore it. The bangs became more persistent and louder and I told the housemate and she said wait for her to come out. The bangs became worse and I told the housemate that I'll go open the door first. I looked through the peep hole and the person outside must have saw that the light through the hole was shut off and said "开门啊，我是住在你们楼下的一位老太太。我又不是土匪。开门。”I said "有什么事吗？“She kept quiet and I didnt open the door and she banged again! So i hid behind the door and opened it and out popped an old lady who scrutinised my face before asking "你是不是日本人?". I went "huh" and said I wasnt.The housemate came out quickly from the toilet thereafter.
SO the old lady decided to come in WITH HER SHOES ON, like only one day after our cleaning auntie came!!! SO she went into our kitchen to analyse it and kept repeating her words and our kitchen floor had like brown water cos it was already wet and now it has stuff from the old lady's shoes!!!I was like !?!!? and so was the housemate. She was saying that her ceiling was leaking water and her kitchen was flooded. And she kept repeating that.The lady then went into the living room and examined our furniture. She was like "为什么你们的摆设是这样？我家和你们的不太一样。我的是..." Honestly, the housemate and I were controlling ourselves from bursting out in laughter. I dont know. We were horrible interrupted by this old lady's entrance into our home,disgusted by the fact that she walks in with her outside shoes(but i think its their practice here to do so) but tickled by her
sampat-ness. She said “你们的屋主是个日本人吧。这家三年没人住了。我半年前回来时（she was away to visit her daughter who is also studying overseas)知道楼上有人，但人不多"。LIKE CAN YOU SEE THE DEGREE OF SAMPAT-NESS? We were so so amused by her. Then she turned to our shoe-rack and said "你们这里住很多人是吗？＂and we were trying our best not to laugh cause a minute ago she had just remarked that she knew that there were only a few people living in the house and now she is asking if we have a big household all cos we have a lot of shoes! THen she asked if we were here for business and we said 'huh' and then said we are students. And she said that we looked very cultured. She then talked about the rent and said that she also rented the house for the same price and then a more expensive price and then a cheaper price. She remarked that our house layout is the same as hers and that it should be quite warm cos it faces the sun. THroughout the whole time she kept asking us our nationality which we kind of answered in a round-about manner. She then said that she is Mrs. Lee and that we could call on her anytime.
THe moment we closed the main door after her and I locked the door, we burst out laughing.We dont know whether to be annoyed or amused or what. We didnt know how to react. She was a nice but sampat lady. And we were wondering if she is like a loudspeaker who would tell the whole neighbourhood we flooded her toilet,we are foreigners,we are...
We went back to our rooms but after like 15 minutes, we were rudely interrupted by knocks on our door AGAIN! The housemate got the door this time and said it was 2 guys outside. So we open the door cautiously and it was the security guards who said that the lady downstairs went to them to tell them that her house was leaking and it was cos of us and yada yada and that the 务业,which is the estate management would check on us the next day.
UPdates!
-10:21 PM
2. 中山公园(Photos in facebook)
I spent one afternoon with HF,YY,SM and FU at 中山公园, a park near 天安门. Flowers are blooming all over Beijing. First it was the cherry blossoms,now its tulips and I love tulips!All the different colours,so pretty!
Mao Mao. A fat white cat. I think cats look nice next to flowers as long as they dont go and mess up the flowerbeds. There was a brown one nearby too! :)
Honestly,the normal streets in Singapore look better than any streets in Beijing.But the parks and gardens in Beijing are way better than the ones in Singapore. I really love the flowers over here. The colours are bright and strong under the sun rays.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
UPdates!
-7:49 PM
1. Daddy's visit to China.Daddy came to visit me from 1st April '09 to 11th April'09. It was so exciting to wait at the arrival hall to wait for him to clear customs. We were wondering why he was taking so long and I was wondering if he knew that he had to take the internal train and whether he knew where to get off.In the end, it was because a lot of planes had landed concurrently and clearing customs took longer than usual.
A blurry picture of the arrival. Can you see the BIG DHL box? haha,its my FOODIES,worth 24.5kg! Daddy was to stay at Dage's place for the first 3 nights(I joined him on the 3rd night cos it was the day my exams ended!).
In Beijing:
水立方-the place were the 2008 swimming olympics was held.The blue things are real bubbles! THere is a barricade around the area because the bubbles can withstand force that spreads over a large area i.e. low pressure,like if you throw a stone the bubble wont burst. BUT the bubble will burst if you use a needle or a knife to cut it,hence the barricade.
And next to it，the Bird Nest!
In the foreground is a solar panel.Yes,all the atas places have solar panels.In the background is a place or park that reminds me of the area around the Esplanade,Singapore. On the left is the tower that changes colour,like the one in City Hall and on the right is the Ferris Wheel!
The next day we went with the cousins and nieces to climb the Great Wall at 八达岭.We had lunch at a Cantonese Restaurant first and I wanted to eat Wan ton and so I decided to order some 龙云吞or something along that line and it turned out to be:
-.-.Like I went 'huh,就这样吗？' and the waitress said yes. Almost fainted. Its that thing in tomato sauce only lar!
But I found more erm 'wonton' beneath. But still..I should have look at the pictures more carefully.
There were A LOT of people around and the wall at this tourisy area is really easy to climb. Its not that steep and there are railings for you to hold as you climb up. Coming down is more diffult than going up.
I like the terrain in the background!
Hee.
Dage and Dad.
The only place where ppl actually queue and DONT push cos if you do, you risk 1.getting scolded by the guard or/and 2. rolling down the slopes and pushing others in the meanwhile and thus getting scolded by everyone.
;P
Thereafter we went to Starbucks and then to a restaurant for dinner.
Hahah,I wandered into the place where they roast the Peking Duck and asked the chef if i could watch them do their stuff and he said yes. Hee.
Got bored waiting for the food to come and so i wandered off to the park next to the restaurant only to get called back by Dasao after a while cos the food was ready.
The younger niece.
In Hangzhou (Pictures are on Facebook), a place well-known for food,beautiful scenery,pretty ladies,top-quality silk and Long Jing Tea:
We arrived to a very bad jam on the first day and when we finally reach our hotel,it was already 12-1pm (we had arrived at 10-something am.). So we went out of the hotel and tried to flag a taxi to bring us to wherever we wanted to visit. The cabbie said that we could book him for the whole day at a fee of 50RMB per hour and my dad said ok. We visited a few places that were really good and if we didn have a car, we would never have made it in. My dad decided to book him for the next day as well which was a wrong move cos we realise that all the places are close to each other and pretty much walk-able. The cabbie is really smart man, he even joined us for meals, which meant that his was free. I kept telling my dad not to be too nice to the PRCs and to stop giving tips and being to nice to them but my dad didnt listen. In the end, that cabbie joined us for meals which he normally wont eat,brought us to expensive districts cos he realise that i buy higher end stuff but got disappointed when i didnt want to buy the stuff at the expensive district(cos they were really too expensive and i know that there are places to get the exact same stuff at a cheaper price).The hotel bell boy kept aiming us and kept trying to help us carry our stuff cos my dad will always give a 10 RMB tip to him which ngiao me didnt want to give. I've seen enough PRCs to make me weary of ALL of them. (It was only when my dad returned to Beijing did he realis that PRCs are not too honest people.)
So, we booked the cabbie for all 3 days in the end, spending quite a bit on transport in the end. Shouldn have listen to the cabbie and let him decide anything. Should have just decided what we wanted and not feel bad for the cabbie cos its us spending our own money anyway. But the cabbie brought us to nice places to eat,so oh wells but I still dont trust him. It was only on our departure did he told us that no one has ever book his cab for all 3 days,ppl normally only book for ONE day. He has a way with words which i dont like. My dad was also weary of him from the start. The cabbie even said that when i return to HZ for a friend's wedding, I can call him and he will take me around free-of-charge and accompany me at a shopping area for a day but i wont want that to ever happen.
Despite the cabbie and the 'ever-ready-to-serve bell boy',ppl in HZ are generally more refined and cultured and soft-spoken than the ppl in Beijing. THings move at a slower pace in HZ and I enjoyed the serenity and scenery. It was really good to be away from the smoke,fog,dust and rudeness in Beijing.
Every member of my family now owns a silk quilt,quilt cover,pillow cover. I have a cotton quilt too(hee,its my old one which I used for the past winter. Anyone interested in acquiring it? Hee. It has my smell I think. ;P)I love the new pink silk blanket and I keep falling asleep when I study on the bed cos its so soft! I cant rmb the exact place where we bought it though cos its a secluded place which makes China's national silk items. We had to row boat to get there.:P)
In HZ, its customary for the bride's family to give as dowry a complete set of 9 silk items-e.g.the quilt,the cover, pillow case, pillow, bedsheet etc. THe more complete the set, the higher the status of the wife in the bridegroom's family. People who are not that wealthy normally give about 3-4 items.
Tianjin (Pictures also in Facebook):Daddy wanted to go TJ to find his
taichi sword and fan and so we went, taking the train that went at 350km/h. We reached within half an hour.
Our breakfast which was utterly salty. I was quite ok with the taste having lived for so long in Beijing which also likes salty and oily food but my dad totally didnt like the food and didnt finish it.
A church! We had to take a photo with it.
:D
Doesnt it look a like a palette? hee. Its 热梨膏!
I would pay to play this again. It fun trying to aim at something and it isnt expensive to play at all!
I could only hoop a small little gingerbread man while other ppl got little vases and cups. Hee,but i'm happy with my little gingerbread man!
We ate the 狗不理包子 which is the trademark of Tianjin. To me,it feels like a smaller version of our 大肉包,nothing too fantabulous about it. But do try it if you ever go to Tianjin,haha, just to say:"I've eaten the baozi!":P
Daddy got his sword which we almost couldn bring back to Beijing for they were delibrating if they had to consider it a weapon.I got a calligraphy brush with my name and well wishes for marriage engraved on.
Back to Beijing: I had aimed to reach back to school,i.e. Beijing, by 3pm from Tianjin so that I can sneak back into class for I had classes from 130-5pm. But it was a friday and everyone was trying to get back to their hometowns. So we couldnt get the tickets we wanted and by the time I reached back to school, it was 4pm. Lesson ended at 420pm. -.- I walked to Daddy's hotel and we took a cab to 新街口 where I met with the worse scare of my life in Beijing but also got myself a Yamaha Digital Piano!
On our way to 新街口, the cabbie was a nice guy who asked me if I was going to buy an instrument because the place is famous for both Chinese and Western musical instruments and I said yes. I went on to ask if he knew any place that sold Yamaha products or if there was even a Yamaha shop in Beijing cause I had search the internet the night before, called the number posted on the net but the number was not in use anymore. The nice cabbie said he will make a few calls for me and he made many calls, called so many helplines and then called the numbers they provided to help me get some addresses and telephone numbers. I gave him a 5RMB tip for that cos he was really nice. Dad and I browsed through a few shops and I was suprised or shock to realise that in China, the people do not showcase their keyboards or digital pianos for ppl to choose and make their choice. People have to look at brochures provided and make their decisions. I was trying to explain to a few shops that I will never make a decision to buy an instrument without touching it cos the touch and feel is of utmost impt,next to the sound, to the instrumentalist. They agreed but they said that if they showcased something, that showcased item could not be used for sale. I walk in and out of many shops without buying cos it just doesn make sense to buy a digital piano based on some lovely statements people write about. Finally I walked into this shop that had about 6 good digital pianos on display. I touched and played with all of them and the one i liked cost 6000RMB and the cheapest but okay one was 3800RMB including international warranty,transport and fixing up the piano and repair when needed. The other shops required that I somehow carry 3 big boxes that were taller and bigger than me home and bring them back if I need repair. So i decided to buy the 3800 RMB one!
THe van use to transport the stuff needed some repairing and so we had one hour to get dinner. Dad and i walked around to find food and as we were walking down the streets, suddenly we heard a girl scream. I turned around but couldnt see what had happened. Daddy told me that an ah peh had touched the girl and the girl screamed while her bf wanted to beat that ah peh but didnt in the end. I told my dad to make sure that the ah peh was never near me. So we went to this alley to eat tepanyaki squids and we sat at the small tables. My back was facing the main road and I was talking to daddy who was busy msg-ing. For some reason, I suddenly decided to turn my head 90degrees and I got a shock of my life. That ah peh's face was 5-10cm away from mine!!!!! I think he is ill or something cos his lips were so badly swollen and deep purple in colour and that was all I could remember. He was so close I instinctively leaned backwards and started screaming for my dad who hadnt realise what had happened. I saw the ah peh raising his right hand and had this er,smile or smirk or something appearing on his face and I screamed even more and my dad finally realise and force his way between me and the ah peh. The ah peh then walked away into a nearby cafetaria to sit. Everyone in the alley was looking at me. I was utterly utterly speechless. If that ah peh had touched me, I am pretty sure I would have kicked him. LIke I know I shouldnt kick an old man but I'm pretty sure given that situation, I would retaliate. And all the vendors there were females and the only guy there at that time was my dad. LIke why has that ah peh have to aim me? I later learned that the ah peh had been around the area for the past 2-3 days. One of the local ladies kept smiling as if to hide her laugh at me, and it got into me so much, i asked her in mandarin what she was laughing at. When she realise that I understood and could speak the language,she just said "mei2 shi4". My dad told me not to be so unkind to the ah peh cos he felt that the ah peh was a little mentally unsound and I felt the same way.
Anyway, I got my new digital keyboard, got the guys to send it(and us) to my home and fix it up!
Daddy left the next day in the afternoon. I went to the cousin's place for lunch and dinner. When I reached home, I just felt sad and cried cos my dad had gone home. It was so fast,like the day when I stood at the arrival hall to receive my dad was just the day before. Even in the days leading to the departure, I felt that my dad didnt want to leave me alone in this Beijing and felt sad to be leaving cos he kept saying like 'so quickly 11 days have passed' or 'too bad,i have family in Spore too'. Even when I was staying with him at his hotel, I know that he would wake up when I have fallen asleep to help me charge my 2 handphones and 2 camera batteries and that everything we needed for the next day was in order. Suddenly I felt like a princess again, like in Spore...spoilt brat..and suddenly, I had to do everything by myself again. That didnt make me cry though cos if I didnt want to do it, it was just cos i'm lazy. But i cried cos there wont be anyone in cold Beijing to look out for me or to take care of me like my own direct family members and I cant behave the way I really am at home cos you've got to be considerate towards people around you. I learned many things within the few days Dad was here. Got scoldings here and there but I was okay with it. They taught me things no one else except my parents will ever dare teach. I will miss waiting on my dad and arranging his food and timetable too. Living on your own away from home makes you appreciate things you've taken for granted.
Now to the longest period without visitors. Unless I get some form of suprise somehow.*;P
