University long semester break 1 (Chapter 2) - Medan; Indonesia

26th May 2011- 2nd June 2011

I am delighted to be one of the SIFE UTHM members who had been selected to join the Indonesia Outreach Programme (26th May 2011 to 1st June 2011). It is plausible to say that this programme is the most interesting and meaningful event that I ever had experienced since I stepped into tertiary education. We have been sharing our knowledge or information with our neighbor country; Indonesia’s friends about recycling, HIV &AIDS, water issues, nutrition and future planning apart from cultivating the interests of continuous learning in some poorer friends at Medan. It‘s a good thing to learn caution from the misfortunes of others, this makes me feel appreciative for what I own (have) now.

Well, the 1st photo is the tired looks of everyone during discussion of each night.

The meaningful moments we spent together with! UTHM Sifers go go go!

The programme had kick-started by Alex, Scott and Rinesh's participation in a concert event and parade organized by the Faculty of Language and Arts of Universitas Negeri Medan (UNIMED). They had helped setting up the booths to promote our university as well as SIFE to the Indonesia students.We had attracted 50 students from UNIMED to join our session through group discussions and presentations by our fellow SIFErs in which the idea of  “To create a better world through the positive power of business” had successfully delivered. Throughout this two-days program, SIFE UTHM managed to convey the SIFE concept to the students in UNIMED.

Yee Lin was introducing SIFE concepts to students of UNIMED. 

Group Photo  at UNIMED

Apart from the target programme, we also set out to explore the surrounding every morning, where we visited markets, and home based businesses to gain insight about the economy activities there.

Group photos at a shop which sells something which looks like milk .

Pui Yen and I conducted of Hang-Man game =)

socializing with volunteers of UNIMED.  This bunch of Indonesia girls are very cute!

On the next few days of the programme, we had shared our knowledge on 5 topics regarding social matters, which are HIV & AIDS, Environment, Entrepreneurship, Nutrition, and Importance of Future Planning. Some UNIMED students had been lending us helping hands to help translating to some who couldn't understand our language. In short, they helped easing the communication problem.

At Al-Alum

At Yayasan Pendidikan Shafiyyatul Amaliyyah

Before we headed back to Malaysia, we had gone to a relaxing place i.e. Lake Toba! The vicinity of it is very nice, tranquil surrounding and it's different compared to Medan city.

Lake Toba's scenery..love the serenity of the environment

with scott,wei lin,sue fern and ying min

nice smiles from everyone=)

It's an amazing outreach programme that was organized by us. We, SIFE UTHM had spent a total of 2,500 working hours with a budget of RM 10,000 for this project.


I had learnt boundless knowledge by cooperating with the other Sifers such as how they remained being resilient when entangled with difficulties in running the programmes and the perseverance of everyone to make this programme a success. Furthermore, the teamwork had been showed by everyone as all efforts are consolidated in innovating new ideas or solutions to help each other especially those who face presentation problems in Yayasan Pendidikan Shafiyyatul Amaliyyah and Al-Alum. From this unprecedented programme, I am able to learn the culture of Medan; Indonesia such as their foods, languages and etcetera. Nevertheless, I have learnt from this programme i.e. we have many ambitious desires which are achievable in life and we should keep pursuing stoically and appreciate what we have right now because the starting point of all achievements is faith in self. 

Last but not least, I am proud to be a Sifer!

The 3rd trip is with my dearest family which is to Singapore...

(to be continued...)

University long semester break 1 ( Chapter 1- Malacca)

During Long Semester Break

Chapter 1

Aha, finally I am continuing back with my abandoned blog after 3 months. Time flies like lightning strikes, the 4-month holidays are going to end soon. Anyway, this has been long overdue and as of right now I need to remind myself of all the things that I had done during the holidays. So I started the blog post with the trips/ retreat I had gone to...

(17/05/11 - 21/05/11)

1) Malacca  

The semester break started since May 2011, the 4 sistaz had decided to have a trip to Malacca with the assistance of Lucas Goh right after our final exams. Well, this trip has been planned since 2nd semester, and it's eventually, successfully organized! I had been reaching Malacca earlier than the others and I could say that the time I spent there is much memorable. As the quote goes, ' The early bird gets the worm', I had tried out more delicious cuisine compared to others as I came earlier. =) Okay, I am going to introduce what are the MUST TRY OUT cuisine when you come to Malacca, Malaysia.

1st and foremost, you can't miss out Satay Celup when you come to Malacca ! He had brought me to Restoran Ban Lee Siang to eat satay celup instead of another famous satay celup shop i.e. Capitol Malacca. According to him, Restoran Ban Lee Siang's satay celup is more fresh and cheaper compared to other shops. Let me give some short explanation, satay celup is a dish where raw or semi-cooked food like seafood, meat and vegetables on skewers are dipped into the pipping hot satay gravy.

Satay celup!

Next, at the mention of a trip to Malacca, the second thought that springs into my mind is the idea of having a bowl of sweet, refreshing cendol after being sun-parched by her infamous mid-day heat. We had gone to the Dataran Pahlawan and had our yummy durian cendol! The durian aroma mixed with coconut milk and gula malacca making this durian cendol with an additional epicurean taste. Furthermore, the dollops of durian of the cendol were creamy and possibly with fresh chilled D24 variety!  I still hope to have more scoop of it after finishing it.

My durian cendol from Pink Berrys, Dataran Pahlawan.

If you ever notice from the food reviews or even any social networking sites, many had been mentioned that Nadeje layer cakes/ mille crepes is a-must-not-missed-out food when visit to Malacca. It is said to be more yummy compared to Sarawak's mille crepes and Indonesia layer cakes. Well, skepticism had lingered heavily over my expectations, however I still request my friend to bring me to Nadeje Cake House. We had ordered three pieces of mille crepes! 

Had some nourishment of cakes at Nadeje Cake House!

The mille crepes is worth for a notable write-up. Here's a closer look on the famous mille crepes/ layer cakes @ Nadeje Malacca. I just realized that the word of  'Nadeje' means hope in Czech language. Hmm, can I say that we had enjoyed few pieces of meaningful mille crepes  =P

Berry-berry strawberry.. Quite nice!

Tiramisu mille crepes. Profound taste!Based on the menu, it made of high quality Mascarpone cheese of Galbanoni, Italy. 

I still prefer the original mille crepes!

Home made custard cream with Tahitian Vanilla Beans which are mixed with Fresh Cream- Yummy!

Okay, not forgetting the hot mocha, I like its epicurean taste and aroma!

Apart from Nadeje's famous layer cakes, I had the chance to eat nyonya kuih-muih! Nyonya food or Peranakan food is very famous in Malacca and it's like grabbing a golden opportunity to eat the famous Nyonya food when you know a localist there. I regretted that I kept most of it till the next day in which some had to be eaten within 24 hours. Sigh.. wasted~

Nyonya Kuih-muih

The night before I joined with my sistaz, my friend and I had some nice home-cooked meals =)

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On 19th May 2011, I met up with the other ladies and Lucas Goh! The trip with Hui En, Siew Chen and Chia Pei was full of laughters and we got to know more about Lucas Goh; the smart guy in our course. We went to Malacca Mahkota, some historical places such as A famosa, Porta De Santiago, Dutch windmill Malacca, muziums, and etc; Jonker streets, and much more.

At Porta De Santiago, Malacca.

At Dutch windmill Malacca.

Hehe.. sweet smiles from us! Yippy!

I was posing with a tricycle at Malacca street.

Hui En and I with our potato chips at Jonker Street.

At Malacca beach!

We headed to Gou Gou KTV on the first night =)

Apart from the KTV moment and going around historical places and etc, we had some exciting moments with FOODS! I kept remembered of the ramen that Lucas brought us to eat. Too bad that I couldn't remember the route to go there, otherwise I could bring my parents go =) A reasonable price for big portion as the ramen just cost around RM7. Highly recommended and I am so eager to visit the shop again!

Ramen at Good Village Noodle House at Melaka Raya! 

Thanks to Lucas Goh's great fraternization with others, we had the chance to get discounts when went to eat sushi buffets at the shop his friend works.

The only photo we took when we had Japanese buffet!
We were too busy of getting ourselves sushi, teppanyaki and etc.

Apart from trying out delicious Japanese foods at Malacca, we also not forgotten to eat Nyonya food! Lucas had brought us to Jonker Dessert 88 during Friday morning.  Jonker Dessert 88 is located right at the middle of Jonker Street and it serves some home-made cendol, ice kacang and Nyonya delicacy!

Without hesitating, I had ordered a bowl of nyonya curry meehoon + noodles. It served with (tauhu pok) bean-curds, some cucumber and onion slices, egg and a spoonful of tuna which made it tasted different compared to Penang curry.

My Nyonya Curry

Left Bowl of Nyonya Laksa was ordered by my friend and she claimed it's yummy!

Well, it will be incomplete if we just ate Nyonya food, hence we had ordered cendols!

Banana cendol ordered by Siew Chen.
Banana lover can always try ordering this.

My durian cendol which had lesser durian taste compared to Pink Berrys'. =(

Not forgetting about this cute egg-shaped ice cream!
 You can find this at many shops along the Jonker Street.

Wow, it seems like the longest blog post I ever wrote! Okay, I hadn't done with introducing about Malacca delicacy. Another signature Malacca delicacy is Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls. We chose to eat at the most famous chicken rice shop i.e. Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Shop. We had to queue up for more than 30 minutes before it comes to our turns.

The chicken tasted very delicious and juicy =) I found that the chicken meat is more tender and with more distinctive taste compared to the stalls nearby my house and even better than the chicken rice I ate at Ipoh. Perhaps this is the special recipe from Hainanese! The signature chicken rice balls are worth to be mentioned here. The chicken rice balls are cooked with chicken stocks, chicken oil and being shaped into like golf balls or ping pong balls.

Chicken Rice Ball @ Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Shop

The breakfast that we had before we headed back to each's hometown was duck noodles from Kedai Kopi & Makanan Soon Yen @Jalan Tengkera! I can assure you this duck noodles which comes with shredded braised duck meat is highly recommended. A bowl of herbal duck soup is served together with the duck noodles too. The soup has a tinge of spices and herbs. Perfect noodles!

Famous duck noodles at  Kedai Kopi and Makanan Soon Yen, Tengkera

Okay, it's time to pen off. This trip to Malacca meant alot to me. I hope that kiwi will join us to the Bali trip we plan to go next year! We are going to spend another year and half year to spend with, shall make some memories imprint in our life =)

Discover Broga Hills @ Semenyih

Due to certain reasons, we had come to explore Broga Hills @ Semenyih. The entrance of Broga Hill (which is also called as Bukit Lalang) is quite obscure and hardly be spotted due to no signboard along the roads. I could only remember the parking lots are at a vast palm oil estate. We wasted quite some time to locate the Broga Hills and luckily we spotted the entrance around 6am. The sky was still pitch dark and misty due to the rains last night.

Several landslide areas which had made me having solemn heart attack! Well, I am not a sporty person and catching my breath while hiking this Broga Hill isn't really that fun. On the other hand, the partner is like a kangaroo, skimming along the trails towards each and each checkpoint. It's a 1.7km hike up till the peak of Broga Hill and the breath-taking view is at the top of the hills. Along the trails, the entire journey up did not really fascinate me as full concentration has to be placed on my surrounding, rocks, mud, slippery trails in order not to fall down.

Several small suburb towns

Finally, I able to rest against the big rock and my whole body was drenched with sweat.

I took around 45 minutes hiking up the Broga Hill. Most could reach the top within 30 minutes. Hence, I could say that my stamina is much more to be improved. For descending down the Broga Hill, it just took us about 20 minutes. Balancing the body was the quintessence to descend the Broga Hill and I was thankful that I had the aid of the umbrella and hiking partner's help. Otherwise I might have been dropped into a valley as I almost slipped downward the squalid and perilous landscape area.

                                      Top 5 things you need for hiking Broga Hills at Semenyih

• Good body stamina and frequent work out before hiking
• A good camera that would really pay off all the hard work in climbing up 
• Bright and good torchlight that has large coverage
• Comfortable sport shoes and travel lightly (a small bag with wallet and drinking water are enough)
• Bunch of friends (I personally think few people going along would be better); perhaps can have light picnic .. :)

4 month holidays

Read back facebook comments then only I noticed the special date 0520..Well, I think that might be a special night yumcha session that I never try before in my life. Today,I listed down a memo about what I would like to improve during this long holidays. First, I will need to learn some soft skills including how to utilize photoshop, sony vegas studio, adobe aftereffects software; and enhance my speaking skills. (someone introduced me a job i.e. surveyor..and I am still unsure should I go for this job)..

Secondly, I am thinking of enhancing my self-confidence and maturity. Uhh.. I just found that I can't control well my emotion where I will just be freaked out of unexpected things. Found a long list of websites that teaching how one's can enhance the maturity:

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Mature

I like the way it teaches..Yea, I am just myself.. I can't act mature, maturity depends on experience.

Thirdly,I need to learn some sports.. Cycling vs swimming.. I am gonna take the latter one first. =) I am so eager to go to beach, yet the only activity I can do there is just looking at the scene and collect the seashells. Hoping that I can swim next time. At Sabah beach or the upcoming Phuket Island?

I am not perfect, neither u are..

But I am willing to improve myself..

To be a better person..

Forthly, I have broke my promise to join the japanese club and pursue second level of Japanese Language. Now, I think of utilizing the 4 months to have profound understanding in this langauage again.

..........................................................................................................................................

The previous semester result had been released and I am satisfied with the overall results except for Production and Operation Management. I know I can do better in the final paper, yet unexpectedly I made so many silly mistakes. Huh. Bad~ I shall have quoted " no pain, no gain".. I gained better results this time..

The recent case made me understanding that I should not forget what I had once, appreciate what I couldn't own, do not give up which I think it is belonged to, and learn from the mistakes I have ever made.

- will not be around for a week++.. for Medan Outreach Programme..-

- I'm somehow looking for a place that I can relax..Huh-

Mother's day contest

I finally back to KL after the hectic exam weeks and malacca trip. Today, went to Selayang Mall's Poh Kong to redeem the prize that I won for Mother's Day Contest "Shining Mums". The terms to join this contest was to share out with a short story and choose gold/diamond/jade or pearl to describe our mothers to win for the best slogan award or best shining smiles. I was one of the winner for the best shining slogan in the contest. The slogan I wrote was as the followings:

'Pearl ‘best represents my mom, because this symbol of unblemished perfection emanates the enchanting beauty and uniquesness of my mom.

Mom, profusely thank you for:

Path of glory that you directed me when I was lost,

Enduring words of encouragement when I faced difficulties,

Aspirations of life you guided me in astonishing proportion,

Rhythm of confidence you built in me to embrace the challenges in life,

Love that you showered me since the day you gave birth to me.

Well, the feeling for winning a prize for mom instead of myself is indescribable using words. I would like to thank Poh Kong profusely for this meaningful contest as I never give my mom the pressie she desires the most, kiss or words that said ' I love u,mom'.. This contest had given me the chance to write some sincere words about my mom, and thank her publicly.

Poh Kong Online Contest

Mom was delighted when she opened the gorgeous present box. She was actually surprised that I won in the contest instead of buying it myself. =P Haha.. it was really great when seeing my mom trying to wear the pearl necklace and she commented that she loves the pearl necklace! Yeah! Nothing is more precious than looking your own parents proud and happy because of you done just a little thing for them.

Here's the necklace given by Poh Kong.. * I love it too..* I am looking forward for the upcoming events from Poh Kong and do hope that Poh Kong will continue organizing such meaningful contests.

Mindy Gledhill- All About Your Heart ( Nie version)

Mindy Gledhill- All About Your Heart( Nie version)

Another sweet,soft and gentle song that I played it all days long..*like*

I don't mind your odd behavior
Its the very thing I love
If you were an ice cream flavor
You would be my favorite one

My imagination sees you
Like a painting by Van Gogh
Starry nights and bright sunflowers
Follow you where you may go

Oh, I've loved you from the start
In every single way
And more each passing day
You are brighter than the stars
Believe me when I say
Its not about your scars
Its all about your heart

You are a butterfly held captive
Small and safe in your cocoon
Go on you can take your time
Time is said to heal all wounds

Chorus

Like a lock without a key
Like a mystery without a clue
There is no me if I cannot have you

Chorus

No matter how hurt is the scar but the heart that matters most..

Quoted from Michelle Lim

________________________________________________________

Recently, indulging in reading up lyrics and quotes..Somehow, the words touched the heart.

Anyway, gotta pen-off here for at least a month.. Gonna put full focus on studies.. =)

I WANNA GET 3.5 ++ AGAIN! Have faith in heart~

Mustn't spoil my own future with my own hands, so may the heart listen to me to stay calm with concentrated minds too~

Strangers, again

The video had illustrated the stages that a relationship will go through. While we always hope for the best, we often can't avoid the inevitable. Well, we started out being strangers and eventually we are strangers to each other again.. Hmm..

- The cbox will be deleted upon too many unknown's advertisement postings..-

miss the previous comments in the cbox, yet all were covered by the ads..huh...

The Kübler-Ross Model

The busy week had been finally ended after completing the tons of assignments. Today, my housemates and I had been going to two famous temples in Batu Pahat in order to soothe our minds. This would be a hard semester for me to go through but I believe that I can progress further if I hold tight on the belief. Everything happens for a reason.. Hmm, the reason, i shall let the time to prove it or perhaps there's never have an answer for that. Anyway, I got the fortune tally which shows me better future ahead, and I hope it will truly happen to me =)

Life is just as fragile as the heart. R.I.P hui en's friend. Sometimes, we often dwell over the past and could not fill the depression with joys, and eventually end our life. During the sad moments, what we need the most are someone who can give us positive comforts and advices, or just a pair of ears to listen to us. I would say that friends and family play important roles as they are the ones who will be there as listeners and supporters when you feeling so down as if the world is ending.

Hereby, I would like to share an article that I read at noon i.e. 'The Kübler-Ross Model', which is commonly known as the The Five Stages Of Grief. I found that most of us will experience the stages below depressively when undergo some significant events.

The 5 stages, popularly known in its abbreviated form DABDA, include:

1. Denial — "I feel fine."; "This can't be happening, not to me."
   Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of positions and individuals that will be left behind after death.
2. Anger — "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; '"Who is to blame?"
   Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy. Any individual that symbolizes life or energy is subject to projected resentment and jealousy.
3. Bargaining — "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I'll do anything for a few more years."; "I will give my life savings if..."
   The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Psychologically, the individual is saying, "I understand I will die, but if I could just have more time..."
4. Depression — "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I'm going to die... What's the point?"; "I miss my loved one, why go on?"
   During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of death. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the dying person to disconnect from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
5. Acceptance — "It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."
   In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with his mortality or that of his loved one.

Okay, I seems like still being around the stage of denial, anger and bargaining. Huh! Bad progress, but I wish for the day that I will say " I am fine" and I truly mean what i spoken that time.

You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.

“Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.”

~ Og Mandino quotes Check out this book at Amazon.com:

Too Much to Ask

Too Much to Ask

Its the first time I ever felt this lonely

I wish someone could cure this pain

Its funny when you think its gonna work out

Til you chose weed over me, you're so lame

I thought you were cool until the point

But up until the point you didnt call me

When you said you would

I finally figured out youre all the same

Always coming up with some kind of story

Everytime I try to make you smile

You're always feeling sorry for yourself

Everytime I try to make you laugh

You can't

Youre too tough

You think you're loveless

Is that too much that I'm asking for?

I thought you'd come around when I ignored you

So I thought you'd have the decency to change

But babe, I guess you didn't take that warning

'Cause I'm not about to look at your face again

Can't you see that you lie to yourself

You can't see the world through a mirror

It wont be too late when the smoke clears

'Cause I, I am still here

But everytime I try to make you smile

You'd always grow up feeling sorry for yourself

Everytime I try to make you laugh

You stand like a stone

Alone in your zone

Is it too much that I'm asking for?

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Can't find where i am

Lying here

Alone I fear

Afraid of the dark

No one to claim

Alone again

Can't you see that you lie to yourself

You can't see the world through a mirror

It wont be too late when the smoke clears

'Cause I, I am still here

Everytime I try to make you smile

You're always feeling sorry for yourself

Everytime I try to make you laugh

You can't

You're too tough

You think you're loveless

It was too much that I'm asking for

this fits my life like you don't know.