2nd last day && 2nd last month of the year 2006

On sunday, as we (Chan, micheal & I) walked on ELm Grove road to King's Church, Micheal tried out my phone camera. Nice weather on sunday with a lil bit of wind... i like this residential area..nice apartments around and church is near...perhaps, i shall try to look for a room next year around this area.

Today, Bel and i went on a two hour shopping at Gunwharf quays from 12noon till 2pm. so much of sales going. Finally, i bought three gifts for my loved ones! i'm really happy and i hope they love the gifts as well. I didn't get anything for myself, but i breathed in the shopping air ...muahahahha...that's more than sufficient!!!

This is me with bel & my shopping bags at one of the buildings in university. The leaves are turning into yellow...that woman insisted i bring the shopping bags to my research room and guess what? she does not want to bring into the class...Well, it's safely kept in my rooom...if Bel does not collect from me, that's mine!!!!

That's the usual look of me when i go out. I like to wear cap when i go out because the wind is too strong in Portsmouth. Oh yea..i love this new Nike cap from Andrew! I wear 'berlayer-layer' also lar, one common T-shirt in there, another fleece and the wind-breaker. Today's a bit cold after the rain last night. Bel said 'sejuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk gila!'

This is Bel with her leather jacket! she likes black colour and she bought a black cap today from M&S!

'Nice or not, Fern? only 1.99 pounds for the cap!' This's Bel trying out the cap in M&S warehouse. She didn't buy this cap because the logo is not printed on the cap. She said 'tak mahu...'

Looking out from my kitchen...

Every morning, i'll sit down on a couch in the kitchen and enjoy my breaky looking out to the view outside. Apart from the view, i also look at what people wear everyday so that i roughly know whether the weather is cold or not before i go out to experience the real weather.

IBis Hotel, 54 pounds per day!

Sometimes, i can see the ships coming in from the far end... cool!

My flatmates and i find that this construction opposite our hall is taking shorter time than others to build a building. The white building is another university hall.

It has come to the end of autumn and winter is here. The leaves on the tree are dropping...

Being a lab assistant...

Yesterday was my first time attending lab session from 9am till 5pm. It was such a tiring day. But, it was not that bad as compared to the days of doing wireless measurement studies when i was back in Cyberjaya.

1.5 years back when i was working as researcher, we (Alvin, Dr Sim and i) worked on wireless measurement studies. Given the short period of time to finish the studies, we were really stressed out. Alvin was the champion of the studies and he faced more stress than me. Looking back, we have learned a lot and we gained so much of experience. We reached the lab by 6am and we got all the outdoor access points, tripods, car batteries (i still can remember how heavy is that) and etc into our cars by 6.30am. We worked all day long to finish our measurement and went home around 11pm. i had to stay in the car under the afternoon hot sun and carried out the experiment. When i wanted a toilet break, i had to call some colleagues to come over to my car and took over my experiements. For lunch break, we didn't have the time to have proper lunch. I still remember how thoughtful was Dr Sim when he packed fish and vegetables for me because i was then just recovered from shingles and i had to be very careful with my diet. Thank god we had a very diligent UM trainee who was really keen in learning and working with us. We'd really appreciate his effort and his willingness to work overtime and helped us through our measurements. At the end of 2 month measurement studies on the roadside, We (Alvin, Dr Sim & I) were very tanned and it tooks us months to recover. After all, it was a good experience.

Today, my life is totally different. i'm supposed to study and also to work as a lab assistant for no more than 6 hours per week. Thursday was my first time being a lab assistant. i would say that it was such a good experience. Even though i do not plan to become a lecturer/teacher, i'm given an opportunity to learn how to do teaching as part of my studies. I may not see what God wants me to do, but i'm given a chance to do a bit of teaching. i spent at least 5 hours before lab session on Thursday to work on the lab sheets by myself, to learn a new software that i always wanted to learn. When i was using the software, i need to stretch extra miles in learning the software and pick up more skills so that i'll be able to help the students. i got myself familiarised with the software and understand the entire lab sheets. Due to the fact that it was my first time teaching students and these are 2nd year engineering, i was a bit anxious the night before that. i prayed and prayed asking God to help me so that i would be able to help the students.

On Thursday, the first batch of the students came in around 9am and some good ones had started the work the day before the lab. They managed to finish it within 1.5 hours. i also came to know these 2nd year students, i used to see them at the corridoor waiting for lectures and never came to know them. Unfortunately, the students couldn't finish the lab session and they dragged till 1.10pm even though they were supposed to finish it by 12noon. Then the 2nd batch students came in before 2pm. Apparently, there were more international students in 2nd batch. During the lab session, i had to be very careful with what i teach them, make sure i give them the right facts and also neccessary guidance to help them, but not to tell them the answers. Apart from that, i need to mark their answers. The most crucial part is making sure they are satisfied with the marks that i give them.

Guess what i have to say everytime to the students? i have to say it with extra polite and careful ----> 'Are you happy with the marks? i have to say that i can't give you full marks because we want a bit more than what you've written here. we would expect you to mention...'

At the end of the day, i found myself so tired and i couldn't wait to pack my stuff to go home and cook dinner. i think it was a good experience on thursday to be a lab assistant and i fulfilled the quota of my weekly teaching. Phew...Come to think it, teaching is not that bad after all. But, i prefer to keep myself in the room to do research and dwell into the problem that i want to solve. I don't want students to knock the door and disturb me. I think i'm a bit selfish here, i need to learn to share my knowledge by doing some teaching, right?

Water bottle

Can you believe it that i can't find a water bottle in Tesco or even Sainsbury? i don't know why. Is it because people here prefer to drink tea and coffee? or they prefer a cup of hot tea than plain water? or is it because i'm from a tropical country i need more plain water than others?

hmmm...i've got a new bottle...seeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

This is called 'Fern's mooooo bottle'. Thanks to Andrew who got this bottle for me and i wanna thank the cousin who brought it over.

i know what everyone will ask. 'Fern, are you gonna fill that up with milk?' Those who know me well will know that i can't survive without dairy product (eg. milk) and bread. Haha..Andrew also asked me that. Nope, i won't do that. i fill it up with plain water. i love my bottle so much!!! Drink more water is good for health. But don't drink too much, it will cause too much burden to our kidneys as well.

Christmas is around the corner...

i had such a good weekend. thank god! i went to North London to visit Aunty Janet family and i've just got back to Portsmouth this afternoon.

The weather is getting colder and i can't go to throw the rubbish with a T-shirt anymore, i have to wear a jacket or a fleece these days. The wind is too strong and it's freezing cold today and yesterday. I stood at the coach station to wait for the coach for around 20 mins and i started to shiver yesterday.

As i went to London to get to A.Janet's place, i found that london underground was so packed and sooo crowded. i guess most people just come to London to do christmas shopping. I went to M&S food department, i almost fainted. There were so many things that i wanted to buy, eg. the chocolates, the cakes, the cookies, etc. i wish i could getnextra money! i should not think of that, i'm commited to my studies now and i shall study hard. YUp, that's the way!

i'm still waiting for the christmas decorations to be up in Portsmouth then i shall snap a few photos and share with all my friends. *Sabar...sabar...*

i used to spend Christmas every year in Trinity Methodist Church Penang, attending candle light service with my mom. This year's gonna be different, i'm not sure which church i'll be going to. Alright, have a good week ahead everyone!

Hope vs disappointment

What happen when we're given hope? +ve hope to be exact. we feel happy, we are thankful to God that He gives us hope and He provides the hope for us.

What happen when we're disappointed? we are sad. some of us might feel lost! there was once that i was so disappointed on things that happened to me, but i can't remember what was it about. I only remember what Hweei Min has taught me 'Don't put hope on men, but put hope on God'. i'd really love this advice. At the end of the day, i know that i've got no idea why i was so disappointed but i learned to put more faith in God. Thanks Hweei Min for giving me this advice. Ps 130:5 says 'I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word i put my hope'.

On Sunday, i went to church and the pastor mentioned 'FAITH' and 'PATIENCE'. These two words really hit me and all these while i know that i'm still lack of faith and patience in many situations. i find that in many many situations, the root cause of being disappointed is lack of faith and patience. Let me elaborate a bit. When we do not have enough faith in Him, we have negative thoughts and things will not work out. Why don't we seek His will and we commit it to Him? i believe that He knows me better than myself, He knows what are the things we can face and what are the things that we cannnot face and He will send people to help us. At times, things happen might make us happy and satisfy us, ultimately we have to ask ourselves 'is this what God wants me to do? is this what i deserve?' NO matter what we do on this earth, we wanna do it for Him and Him alone. We want to glorify His name. We do not live based on anyone's expectations, but we want to be a person that He wants us to be.

So, i pray that i'll be more patient and dear Lord teach me to have more faith in You. You're the only one that i'll worship in my entire life. Thank god that i came to know You Lord.

*i hope that friends that read this blog will get more encouragement via this post!*

With a thankful heart,

fern

i've got my FISH !!!

Seee....that was my dinner tonight. i fried vege and i had a piece of fish that i got from ASDA yesterday. it's really tasty and i love it!

TVeee

This evening, a few of our flatmates talked about TV in the kitchen. We were taking turn to use the temporarily 2 stoves that we have been using for the last 1.5 weeks. The funny thing is one of the stoves will not work when we use the oven at the same time. Anyway, back to the TV. One of them started saying 'oh, i miss my TV. i use that TV for 7 years. Even though it's old, i love it'. Then another one said 'in fact, i don't really watch TV, i watch DVDs'. Then i said 'I notice ppl in Uk don't watch TV programs, they watch DVDs because renting DVDs here is cheaper'.

TV...i miss my TV..but it has been sent back to Penang. That's the TV that my dad bought for me when he found out that i was all alone in the girl hostel in my 1st year uni. I only like to watch certain Tv programs, i'm not the kind of person that spend whole day in front of the TV, and become a couch potato.

oh...i miss Astro channel 11! i love it! everytime i go back to Penang i'll watch that channel. Since i came to UK, i only watched TV when i was staying in the guest house in York. I haven't watched TV for soooo long. But i don't like to watch TV all by myself, i enjoy watching TV with family members and friends, not being alone with that TV.

But...if i have a TV in UK, i wonder i'll watch TV at night or i'll do my work at night? Come to think of it, i only watch TV for 5-20 mins before i doze off when i was in KL unless i'm crazy with some serial dramas. I bet ZAZa will say that...because i used to catch up with those Korean dramas at night and i make excuses to go home before the show time (to avoid myself from staying so late in the office). But i stopped watching that after April 2006.

Now, i've finished my presentation slides for next week...phew! i'd love to have a Tv in my room to unwind myself.

Fish

Fish is one my favourite food. When i was young, my dad used to ask me to eat lots of fish because he believed that eating fish helps me in my mathematics. Another thing, he had fish for every single meal (eg. lunch and dinner) and my mother lost of ideas how to cook a fish at times. Guess what? The fridge back at home used to have lots of fish in the freezer. All because my dad loved fish! He also read from the magazine that fish helps our hearts. I think he has proved that to us. His heart was really strong even at the very last minute of his life.

i love fish because i prefer fish than pork, chicken, beef or even lamb! And of course...fish is healthy! But i stopped eating fish after Tsutnami took place because i read in the newspaper that there were so many people died in the sea. i was so afraid. Then after 1 month, i started to have fish.

Everytime i go back home to Penang, my mom will steam fish for me. i love it very very much! tadadaaaaaaaaaa...

My last steam fish before i came to UK...

Since i came to UK, i hardly get the chance to eat fish. But i had salmon for a couple of meals in York conference last week. it was so tasty! i had kipper few weeks back but i didn't like it because it's got too many tiny bones in there and it was too salty. I bought some fish fillet that i can fry, i'll cook that tomorrow. Yay! i'll have fish for tomorrow dinner! Great! YUmmy!

Later at night, i found this article talking about 'No fish in 50 years' looking into the fact that polution has got worse these days. Save the world people! Think of recycling!!! World Peace!!!

Chicken pie

Those who know me well, should know that i love pies. I remember i had pie for almost every meal when i was working in BT UK. Simon said 'You're such a pie girl!' Yea, i admit. i'm a pie girl.

I bought this chicken and union pie from Tesco, it costs 98p for 3. Good deal right? i put it in the freezer and i heat it up using oven. It's fast and the pie is tasty. hmm..i've just bought another packet of 3 two days back. hahahaha!