Treasuring every second.

It's my last week chilling in Msia! Ugh. Got to accept the fact that I've been here for almost a month when it seems like I just got down from the plane yesterday. Last week was Chinese New Year and I went back to my mum and dad's kampung-- Ipoh on Chor1. Had our reunion dinner with dad's side on 除夕 night. This year's cny is a little different as I'm now vegetarian. I've decided to stop taking meat for almost 3 months now. Well there are quite a few reasons to it. First, I attended a talk in uni where a doc said, humans are not born to eat meat cos scientifically, our intestines are not designed to digest meat, cos compared to the lengths of our intestines to the lengths of a tiger's, ours are way longer. Herbivores have long intestine, so hey, we're more similar to them. Moreover, carnivores have huge and sharp teeth but we don't right? Second, I wanna train myself to being more compassionate as I'll be a doc soon. Thirdly, my yoga instructor, Dr Dhilip, we call him, suggested me to be a vegetarian when we had my farewell lunch before I left to ShangHai. I only smiled, cos that time I thought it would be really hard for me not to take meat cos I'd been taking meat for 19 years leh, say stop then stop, so easy ah. Hahah. Until one fine day in ShangHai when I was having dinner with my friends, I realized quite a lot of them are vegetarian, and so I thought, if so many people can quit taking meat, why can't I? So from that day onwards I officially say bye to meat meat.

    My mum and aunt, who are both vegetarians are surprised and glad to find out that I'm not taking meat. That day when I was skyping with Emily, she asked ''Eh, you know what ah? I'm now a vegetarian.'' You wouldn't know how much we laughed and how surprised we both were since we started to be vegetarians at almost the same time! We have that bond eh, no matter that distance. Hahhah.

  So, for this cny, no more 大鱼大肉 for me. Seeing all the dishes- raw salmon, prawns, 东波肉, abalone, 石斑fish that I once loved eating so much served on the table, I felt hard to resist the temptation and nearly fell for them... But right at that moment, I tell myself 'if not now, then when?' If I failed to resist the temptation now, I may never be able be a vegetarian forever. Being a vegetarian requires determination too eh? Hahhah. And yupe, I only got to eat Loh Hon Zai- mixed veg since all the other dishes were meat.

  It surely felt great to visit my relatives in Ipoh. Only.. to some relatives that I'm closer and have more topics with la. I enjoy meeting them.. Heh.. Cos some relatives I totally don't have anything to talk about or I totally haven't seen them before, so it's like.. AWKWARD.. AWKWARD.. AND AWRKWARD... Like seriously, I don't even know how to address them I just call them uncle or auntie. Hahah. Then take angpau, bye bye hahhah.

  The questions I got most from my relatives this year are 'How's China?' 'Do you miss your family?' 'Where are places you've been in China?' '东方明珠is really pretty isnt it?' 'Got ShangHai bf ah?' 'What have you learned ah? Lai, 把脉for me' 'Is this good for the body?'. Wooowwh, I hope the questions won't get worse or more epic next year.

  I didn't gamble much this year... I've only won RM1 this cny.. Lol. Instead of gambling, me, my mum, aunt, bro, cous bros, and one meimei stayed up till 4am playing the Police, Killer, and Healer game. Hahah. Never knew it could be fun playing with fam too. <3

 Before heading back to KL on Chor5, my fam and I visited to Gaharu Tea Valley in Gopeng, which was where my mum were born. RM 10 per head, went up to the valley where they plant 沉香, which is the Gaharu tree, which is a type of herb widely used in China, and which offers many health benefits especially for those who have blood clots in their heart. We took some pics, hugged and touched the trees, drank Gaharu tea and ehm... Nothing else. Well, I wouldn't say it's worth the visit. But it's nice creating memories with my Fam. Credits to the boss who made great effort in making a plantation into a tourist spot tho. :)

  Here ends my cny post. Gonna post about my baes baes I met up with in my next blog post! Stay tuned. Heh.

New phase of life.

As I'm turning 20 this year, I'm stepping into a new phase of life as I progress into university life. Gone were the days where I have to cut my hair and nails every few weeks or to pull my socks up whenever I 'sense danger' (yeah, I was quite a rebel. But 短袜was the trend! What to do > <) I've chosen my path to further my studies in ShangHai, China, to complete my dream as to be a Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Practitioner.

I am actually back for winter break from ShangHai now and I am deeply ashamed of myself for not being able to share my life in ShangHai sooner. I've promised my friends that I'll update, but I did not. I'm not quite of a high profile person, thus only some of my closest friends know I'm going abroad to study. I thought that maybe my friends wouldn't give a shit or perhaps too busy with their life to care so much about me. But I was wrong. Some do actually care. For those who care, here's a great big hug for you. ♡

Just like how relieved and glad to know that my friends are striking high and doing well in life by reading their blogs and looking at their pictures, I tell myself that I should really start blogging again. To let them be a part of my life despite we're now being separated in order to chase our dreams. Are you willing to be a part of my life? I hope you are :)

I've started Sem2 for four weeks and now I'm on winter holidays.  Being in ShangHai for the past few months has been a great experience for me. Not only I can make friends with people from other countries (and also from msia), I've once again assured myself that traditional chi med is the right course for me, and I'm at the right path. The more I learn about it, the more I find it interesting. And it's funny how I don't really like Chinese in high school(I only read English novels), but now, I find China's culture and their writing-甲骨文, interesting, and can't wait to discover more about them. I've come to learn that Tcm is not only about medicine, I have to be good in almost everything, like geometry, astronomy to be a good doctor. How is tcm related to geometry, you might ask. If I never have the chance to study in ShangHai, I might never know.

I got results which I'm really satisfied with in Sem1. But actually, I don't think it means anything. The things I have to learn is infinity, and I know even if I've graduated, I still have to keep learning.

I missed home a lot when I haven't got back to Msia. I miss my family, even though I video call them very often. I now cherish each and every moment being spent with them, knowing I'll be going back soon. My parents keep bringing me out to eat cos they know that I miss the food, and would order so many for me to eat lol. I feel so loved, though. To show how much I love them, I share things that I encounter and what I learned in uni, and I always wonder, whether they feel it or not..... cos I don't really know how to express myself...

The view of ShangHai's 外滩 is magnificent. Being in ShangHai for only several months, I've merely visited a few places. There's this museum which I really like, which is 中华艺术宫, I'm sure Zsan will like this place a lot too. I wanna bring you there, Zsan! They have statues, monuments, pictures, drawings that you don't really understand but that's what I like about it- to guess what the painter want to express through his drawings.

There are 24 students from Msia in my class in total, and we always hang out together. You would think that they might be all cool and serious but they're in total opposite. We're like a family cos who else do we have?  It's good to have them keeping your backs, giving you all the fun and entertainment. It's fate that brings us together, so I hope we can be united as one, maturing, growing and supporting each other in this foreign city, in this place we call our second home. Kinda miss them already, heh.

I now have friends from countries like Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada, Tukhmanstan, Thailand, France, US, Korea and others.. They're awesome and special, just like each and everyone of you. :)

I'm gonna end here, for today. You can ask me on what you'll like to know. :)

Loves, yuan.

*Pics are in extra large so you can see me clearly. heh :)

 

Orientation day!

 

Hang gai gai day!

 

Uni's running track

 

ShangHai-外滩

 

步行街

 

豫园老街

 

My roommate. <3

 

Pattern de wo x)

 

Classmates

 

Auntie uncle buying vege hahha

 

 

Celebrated Halloween for the first time heh.

 

We performed for uni's awards ceremony.

 

 Friend's bday! The one you can see only her brows xD

 Ohana <3