Okay. I know. Don't need to say it. Before you think my blog is dead, I am telling you it's not. It has just been in a long coma. (Not funny? No? I can hear the crickets singing. Okay. Moving on.) Ahem. So. Again, plenty apologies for not updating my blog. I can give you the usual so-sorry-I-have-been-extremely-busy excuse but that is just partly true. I am also lazy. Plenty apologies again. Here is a quite and brief update on what I have been up to since the last time I write and some thoughts on the year 2015.
After winning the EcoWorld video competition, we were invited to sit in for a meeting with the production house FOREFRONT and EcoWorld representatives. Not much of a happening here. Just the usual pre-production stage where we go through the storyboard and think about what modification we are doing and stuff like that. Oh! We were published! In The Star newspaper and Inkslingers, my uni's newspaper. Awesome, right? But that is old news now and it's time to move on.
From top: The article in The Star and the article in Inkslingers.
There are the usual assignments, quizzes and exams. Not to mention work and classes. Things slowed down after exams, which was about 3 weeks before Christmas. Spent my brief break meeting up with some long lost friends and lazing around. Christmas came and went. Then came the highlight. A trip to China. It is a family trip with the exception of my eldest sister who couldn't make it due to some work related issues. We signed up for a tour and it's 8 days long.
We tour a few cities: Suzhou (苏州), Nanjing (南京), Wuxi (无锡), Hangzhou (杭州) and Shanghai (上海). It was a hectic 8 days and to be honest, I didn't really enjoy it. It was too rush. There wasn't time to really appreciate the surroundings.
How was China at December, some would asked. One word - cold. I missed Malaysia the entire time I was there. I miss the sun, the food, the need to only wear 1 shirt and 1 pants. No matter how some people insist on differentiating the races here, I am still and forever will be a Malaysian to the core. Skin colour and ancestry line has nothing to do with the fact that I am born here in Malaysia and I am a Malaysian and Malaysia is my home. So what I am a Chinese and my grandfather is from China? Malaysia = home. Simple as that. #SayNoToRacism
Other than the cold, I was being shove around all the time. People in China need to take a few more classes in manners and moral values. Also, I don't really want to go back to Shanghai anymore cause there are too many people there for me to handle. Gosh. Plus, the way the people talk there is like they are arguing with each other. Cultural shock for a poor little Malaysian Chinese - me.
BUT this is just the little bad experience for me. China is actually a very beautiful country. It is rich in history and culture. Once you get past the cold and the cultural shock, you will begin to immerse yourself in this ancient land. I won't say much anymore. Let the photos below tell you the story.
Shi Zi Lin, Suzhou
狮子林，苏州
Photo credits: Me
Fu Zi Miao Ye Shi, Nanjing
夫子庙夜市，南京
Photo credits: Me
San Guo Cheng, Wuxi
三国城，无锡
Photo credits: Me
On our way to Hangzhou, we stopped by a place called Wuzhen (乌镇). It was one of the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
Wuzhen
乌镇
Photo credits: Me
Xi Hu, Hangzhou
西湖，杭州
Photo credits: Me
The 3 photos above was taken while I was on a cruise ride on the Huang Pu Jiang, Shanghai.
黄埔江，上海
Photo credits: Me
The photos here were just some of the places we visited. Aren't they beautiful? Especially Wu Zhen and Xi Hu. Shi Zi Lin is a close 2nd. I really wouldn't mind going back to these few places. When you are there, the feeling is really different and, believe me, it is a very lovely feeling. You feel very relax and peaceful. So hard to find these kind of places now. It is truly a paradise.
So, what are my thoughts on the year 2015? It has been quite an interesting year. There were a lot of breakthroughs and little achievements that made life really awesome. Of course there were the down-times and the dramatic-times. Come on, what is life if there isn't any of those times, right? Trust me, for a dramatic girl like me, there are plenty of those times. But, the most important thing is that we never give up and persevere until the end. It is through all these stages that we gain experience and maturity.
There are laughter, there are tears. You care because you love and you cannot have love without heartbreak and hurt. But don't stop loving! Because when you stop, it means it has turned to hate and the bitterness in you will make you miserable. Why carry this hate in you and be miserable when you can choose to forgive, forget and be happy?
Life is full of choices. Make the right ones. I know I made some bad ones in 2015. But I learnt a lot from those bad choices and will try not to repeat the same mistakes.
A new year, a new start. A new chapter of my life is going to start soon as I will be graduating from university this year. I have no idea what the future holds for me. But I look forward to it and I am ready for any challenges ahead. =)
