Tuesday, November 27, 2012

水之故事

Water - one of the most important and fundamental needs.

It is funny that the quality of water is so different at different parts of the globe. They always told us that Singapore's tap water is safe for drinking, but somehow mothers only lets us drink boiled water. =P I remember the tap water in China gave a thick white foam when we boiled it, so we ended up getting mineral water and juices everyday.

On the first day I reached the U.K., there were no more water filters in our nearest Tesco and we had not figured out how to get to town for more shopping. So, I ended up drinking about 3 glasses of boiled tap water before I dragged mineral water home, and I had a tummy upset =( totally 水土不服!

Luckily, I got better on the second day after shopping in town (retail therapy always works!). And we finally bought the water filters (they come in a jug form):


To use it, you'll need to install a water filter at the base of the inner tank.





Filter the water by filling the inner tank and waiting for the water to trickle into the outer tank. For every new filter, you'll need to discard the first two rounds of water. With the third round of filtering, you can restart the timer / counter on the lid of the cover by pressing and holding the button until the meters show up on the display.


The little water droplets at the side shows up when you are filtering water (Cool!)

Ok. I mentioned about changing filter earlier. You'll need to replace the filters roughly once every month. The meter shows a blinking "NEW" beside the cartridge icon whenever it's time to change the filter. Amazingly, so far it has reminded us to change filters in exactly monthly intervals (accurate to the day).


Oh, and I still boil the water after filtering - just out of habit.

Ironically, we always ask for tap water in the restaurants (because it's free of charge).

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Luck or 风水?

Sometimes you need to believe in something before it works.

Just like in the game of mahjong - luck or 风水? Maybe it's 风水 , but one must first be lucky enough to get the 风水位 . Luckily, I didn't lose too much =P.

Someone I know had a lot of 桃花运 after getting a pandora bracelet.
Now I am so tempted to go get a pandora too. Sigh.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Fireworks @ Surrey!





Fireworks at 4 deg C! Brrrr....
(It's like watching at least 4 x NDP fireworks...)
异国看烟花,另有一番风味。

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Time as it comes...

I just gained an hour of time! Thanks to the end of British Summer Time (BST).
I just witnessed my computer clock run from 1:59:59 AM to 1:00:00 AM. Yay!

Monday, October 22, 2012

One Month in U.K.!



Okay. I am now officially back to blogging. I felt that it is necessary to document the happy places I have visited and those I will be visiting, plus these little bits of thoughts and feelings now that I am back in school again. I have decided to stop playing those clicking games on FB that is taking up so much of my free time everyday - goodbye my Farmville 2 and Simcity Social neighbours - at least I am going to cut down my visits. Lol.

This post happens to be the 200th post on my blog AND today (22 Oct) marks the ONE MONTH since I reached the U.K.  *applause*

I remember how I had to walk to Tesco's and lug those pillows, pots and pans, plates and bowls etc back home. I had a wonderful birthday in our first trip to Guildford town with my fellow Singaporean classmates and friends. We have been to London (for two weekends!) for sightseeing, went shopping at the outlets at Bicester Village and Portsmouth, and immersed ourselves in the 书香气息 in Oxford. I am so looking forward to the afternoon tea day-out next weekend! =) 

And I am so lucky to have great flatmates who can really cook so well! So 幸福 to have yummy and hot home cooked dinner. I have been diligently trying to learn a trick or two from them as well. The minus side is we do spend up to 4 hours on dinner every day - includes preparation, cooking, eating, chit-chatting after food, and washing up. But it's all worth it!

Although it has been 3 weeks into lessons, I still feel like I am on holiday (i.e. not a student). Hopefully with my new determination to quit FB games the situation will be better?? (Lots of uncertainty here.) I am definitely enjoying every weekend when I would become the typical tourist and start exploring other parts of the U.K. and Europe - once the holidays come!

For those curious, life as an overseas student involves more than just playing and studying. The everyday troubles include:

  • what to eat and how to cook for your three meals (mine usually become just two meals on the weekends)
  • vegetables, meats and breads expiring faster than you can cook and eat  (throwing away food is like throwing away money)
  • the pile of dirty clothes that you need to bring to the laundrette some 10 minutes' walk away (your mood to do laundry will be affected by the gloomy weather)
  • clothes shrinking in the dryer (I avoid this problem by airing my clothes with a laundry rack)
  • arriving on-time for school / play with the not-reliable-at-all bus timing (sometimes the bus drivers will change the routes or just skip your stop)


It's still a great experience for me though. Having fun everyday! =)
Hopefully I can whip up a dish or two when I am back!

To end this 200th post, some snapshots of my happy travels so far:

London!

The London Eye!
Big Ben (Now officially known as Elizabeth Tower)

Buckingham Palace (Look at the crowd!)
Changing of the Guards Ceremony outside the Palace


Portsmouth!

Spinnaker Tower

View down from the top of the tower (Jump if you dare - on the glass window)

Rainy day!

HMS Victory @ Portsmouth

 Oxford!

So "Scientific" Taxi

Christ Church College, University of Oxford
The Grand Hall that inspired Hogwarts' Hall. (Photo from Wikipedia - mine had too many other tourists)

The long dining table


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Works in progress

Stay tuned for updates.

I'm currently trying to figure out which blog layout I like best and adding the personalisation touches. *sigh* feeling lazy (just wanna grab those available templates) but cannot bring myself to using a blog design I don't like. I'll work on it again soon. =P

Sunday, July 01, 2012

delay delay delay

I have been telling myself that I want to blog... about the Korea trip, the Bali indulgence experience, the cruise trip with brainies that took 10 years to materialize, and the most recent Taiwan trip with all the freaky rain. Before I realize it, more than half a year has gone and I am less than 3 months away from my studies in UK. Lol..

I guess I'll delay it further... Maybe I'll resume the habit in UK. =P 
Meanwhile I need to struggle to fill in the immigration forms, settle school admin, HR admin, money issues, spend more time with family and friends, start to draw up my shopping list, decide if I should bring my bolster, decipher again what is differentiation and integration... and to prepare my rusty brains to go back to studying again. Phew... the list gets longer.

Procrastination - my greatest enemy.