Monday, November 26, 2007
I LOVE MY HOMESTAY FAMILY!
They are SO nice to me! Everything they did was very thoughtful and considerate of what I liked or felt, and they supplied me with all their traditional Korean food!
The father kept driving around just to help me find the adaptor so that I could use my laptop.
The mother repeatedly asked me whether I was cold, and cut lots of fruits for us.
My buddy, Lee Ji Jeong sat on the scary rollercoaster ride even though she was really afraid.
Her younger sister helped to fiddle with the computer, trying to restore the screen to the correct colour.
And funnily, they had to revamp their plans on where to bring me around Busan because all the famous places were already covered by the KSA programme!
We went to the sauna. I don't want to record what happened because I've been traumatised for life. But on the bright side, I got to see this cool big bridge with neon lights that vaguely resembles the Golden Gate Bridge.
We also went to the amusement park, where the rides were fun!
And now that I'm back, I have a new buddy, who apparently was in England for half a year, so her English is Good! Lucky me!
Sorry for not calling home, but the ICC didn't work.
The Xuan
Thursday, November 22, 2007
I finally have Internet access! Labels: ksa
I'm so annoyed that the international adaptor I brought doesn't fit into the Korean powerpoint! And most of my homework is on the laptop.
It's very very very cold here, and at the end of the first day my lips were cracking already.
About half of my luggage was mysteriously damp when I was unpacking - all my jeans and pants! I really have no idea how this happened; it's rather frustrating.
We had this very nice dinner, where you get to cook your own meat (plus some mushroom and potato) , and eat with vegetables and stuff.
Both my homestay buddy and school buddy are girls, so I count myself as very fortunate!
Plus, today my sister is going to get her PSLE results, so I wish her all the best! And if she gets below the cut-off point for MGS, I'll disown her. Fine, I'm joking.
The Xuan
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Oh my, last day in Singapore before flying off to Busan!
I was rather in a frenzy during the trip to school, worrying about how my poofy jacket would fit in the full suitcase, how I hadn't packed my umbrella yet, how my hand luggage would probably be over 7 kg...
Choir, as usual, was ended early by Ms Lim, but because she wanted us to learn Japanese Games - which is tough, with a capital G.
Then the comm had to sight sing this Crowned with Flowers song, and it's in 4/2, so singing crotchets and quavers is Super Hard. And the words are ridiculous. This goddess writes on the sand that her faith is immortal, then this storm of wind and weather blows sand and faith away.
What kind of rubbish faith is written in sand anyway?
And we're not going to do All Creatures Now are Merry! After memorising it and singing it over and over again! Garn.
Oh yeah, Xuemin and I were told to sing the sop part for the last page of Yver. Which is basically B------ all the way. Then Ms Lim made us go over to the sop side - and EVERYTHING LOOKS DIFFERENT FROM THERE.
Seriously. Even Ms Lim looks different from the right side of the AVA. Very strange! I think next time we ought to stand ABTS, then it'll be interesting.
We managed to sell our logcakes. But I confess I forgot to try and sell cookies - which is a pity, because the chocolate cookies are awesome. Really can't stop eating them.
And everyone got their caroling scores, photocopied from mine! So now almost everyone's scores have "Sixuan" photocopied on them! Yay! I own them!
I better go and finish packing. Dong Wook told me that the temperature's around 5-12 deg. I assume he meant Celsius, but that's still colder than I expected.
The Xuan
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Well, it was slightly weird to go for Juniors without my younger sisters.
Interestingly, Joshua was the speaker today. [good job!] And I was supposed to read 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.
So, Josh had to repeat the reference some 3 or 4 times. And then right after I finished reading it, Delia asked for the reference again. And then I heard Hongyu say "After Kings..." and to my shock, Louis was still flipping! Oh my...
I had lunch with my 姐姐today! Because her husband is incapacitated at home with a swollen knee thingy. Poor guy. Hehe, my parents lent him a tongkat.
After that we had our long overdue camp meeting, and now it's confirmed 17-20 Dec in church. Pity we couldn't book the fairy point chalets. I feel a bit guilty, leaving them for Korea on Tuesday to do all the work. Haha, because chairpeople get to order other people around!
I don't really feel like going to Korea now. Mainly because it's for so long, and I don't know how to do laundry. How can I survive there? I'm so dead!
The Xuan
Well, today was D-Day, where the 12 choirs met in HCI for the mini in-house competition to be judged by Mr Meng.
In the end, there would be a top 3, as well as individual rankings of gold/silver/bronze. At least we got 2nd, even though we probably didn't sound very good, and the first note for Yver SPLIT! Oh, the shame!
In the end HC got 1st, because the judge said their lullaby was the only song which touched him. Well, I'll take off my hat to anyone who can be touched by Yver - I mean, it's the different types of songs what.
If, as he said, the ultimate goal is to touch the audience's hearts, then why do we have international competitions and have songs of super high difficulty requiring a lot of technique?
Because if all you want is simple easy songs that touch people, you'd have every choir choosing that kind of sleepy "awwww" song to sing, and that just doesn't make sense. I agree if you want this kind of song for concerts. But not for competitions.
And I thought it was nice of Ms Lim to say, "HC practiced for one month; NJ practiced for one week." And all the stuff about no one is a silver or gold forever. Very true.
Afterwards my parents took me out, first to do their banking thingy, and then to buy souvenirs and a jacket for KSA - I'm leaving on Tuesday night. Still got to go pack!
The Xuan
Friday, November 16, 2007
It's 9pm now, and instead of doing work, Xuan is blogging! The horror.
My 2 younger sisters are in camp now, so the house is really quiet...
We had another choir practice today, and we had the workshop with Mr Meng Da Peng. He's quite cool!
Anyway, he talked a lot about how dynamics like pp p mp mf f ff are for expressing the feelings of the heart, and the loudness is secondary. But when he mentioned some word I didn't understand, I asked softly what it meant, and like 5 people heard me! Good thing Xiao Yun told me, but then I could have sworn I heard sniggering.
TOO BAD, Xuan is of the 'ang moh pai' [according to LC], as are Sheena and Wanyun! Yay!
Oh, I stayed back with XM, Sheena, YT, LC and Eugenia to listen to HC choir sing Lullaby and Pamugun. I think that's how you spell it?
The lullaby song reminded me of Sleep, which we sang 2 years ago for SYF. Very nice tune. If I were a Sop 1, I'd really feel like king of the world with the melody. No wonder Ms Lim was touched by this song. Can you imagine anyone being touched by Yver??
I'm supposed to pack for Korea, and I'm wondering how to pack so that the amount I have to wash is a minimum.
I hope we do well tomorrow!
The Xuan
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Yay, today is my mum's birthday!
We went for this buffet at the Miramar Hotel - I think we've been there before for someone's birthday, and we sat at the same table! Food was quite good, especially the satay and tempura!
The birthday cake was hazelnut, supposedly from Prima Deli, and we started choosing how many degrees we wanted our slices to be. I opted for cosine inverse 1 as a joke, then my mum said something like arctan 1...
I was thinking of my mum, and how when I was younger I had actually considered being a math teacher like her. It made me wonder whether many children ever want to grow up and follow in their parents' footsteps. Hmm.
Speaking of jobs, I also wonder when people start to have ambitions. Do we immediately decide on something typical like being an engineer / doctor / lawyer? Or even if we do, is there perhaps some secret cool career we'd like to have if we thought we were capable enough?
I don't mean like movie critics, or those people paid to go to other countries and say how nice the food is.
I mean like actors, film directors, acrobats, philosophers and all that jazz. I myself would have loved to be a writer if I were any good. Because I love stories. I think people who can write good stories, whether romance or mystery or sci-fi, with endearing characters and good plot, and a clever phrase or ten, are truly geniuses.
But, I'm still glad I want to be a doctor, even if it is borin, practical and typical. :D
The Xuan
Darn, I did the falling asleep at 10pm thing again! This goes to prove that the math revision package is the cure for insomnia. Labels: choir
Well, there was another choir practice cut short, Ms Lim thought we're crazy to start at 1.00 and plan to end at 6.00. BUT, we actually started at 1.10, because many people requested it so that they could walk via the sidegate.
It was agreed on, but apparently only half the people knew? Like you have Lingchung, Eugene, YongJ and Ann merrily eating lunch downstairs when Xuemin and I went up to find Eugenia and Sheena ready to go to the AVA. I was FUMING, because of this lack of communication. If I had known, I'd have left my house 20 min later!
So, we got let off by Ms Lim at about 5.15(?), then as we were waiting for the people in the choir store...
LC: Eh, so what are we wearing for the workshop?
JA: Hmm, sops can wear red, tenors wear green, basses wear blue, and altos...yellow!
me: I own NOTHING yellow.
JA: Ok, then black.
me: Yay, black! (claps hands)
LC: Haha, then they'll look like a bunch of gangsters!
me: Excuse me, are you saying that altos are gangsters??? Look at Jaymie (for example)!
Jaymie: Yeah, I'm a "shu nu", ok?
JA: But underneath the facade...
LC: The true evil lying beneath...
Yuntian suggested the choir go out for ice cream - I voted for Island Creamery at Serene House. Surprisingly, most of the choir of that day - 19 people, went! But actually, it was more like 17 of us on the first bus, then YongJ and Amanda after us. O_O
Sheena and I shared the banana split, but then they didn't let us choose the flavours, so I didn't get to have my nutella... sigh. But looking on the bright side, I got to play bridge with Xiao Yun, Jing An and Pei Cheng / Eugenia. However, I never get good cards.
I hope we'll have more opportunities for choir bonding like this!
BTW, I saw Xiaowen's new blog, and she commented on my new blog, so I should mention hers too... it's in japanese and english, I haven't seen any chinese on it yet though. And it's sparkly!
Off to do more math,
The Xuan
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
I meant to post last night, but fell asleep trying to do maths. And I would still have been sleeping if my father hadn't woken me up at 7 to ask my mum how to do the math! Argh!
Anyway, yesterday's practice wasn't as bad as I thought it might be - at least Ms Lim didn't scold us. And I think Altos is the best section! Cos we ROCK.
Plus, I found out that Wanyun and Chian Siang were from NY primary, in the same P5-6 class, and are now both in 06ip04 and in choir. Makes you wonder whether you'll ever meet back with your primary school classmates again in unexpected ways.
I had to give Ms Chua the letter from my mum to sign, stating that xuan is to be withdrawn from choir after Cantabile on April 13, and that if practice clashes with H3, H3 takes precedence. Ms Chua signed it happily, because those two requirements are a given. BUT, that's because they don't know what requirements are made of ME.
My laptop is to be transferred to my parents' room, so I can only go in there and use it for work - which also means no blogging, facebook, youtube and other stuff. It's so lame; I'll have had this blog for what, one month before I can't post anymore.
Also, no tv, going for class / choir outings, no reading books, no dvds, nothing but chionging for A Levels from April 13 onwards. Darn.
On a different note, I wore this MGS Sec 2 Adventure Camp t-shirt I haven't worn in an age. And then I showed it to my younger sister...
the first thing she said: "That's so old."
Xuan: "Really very old meh? How old am I?"
sister (taking much longer than she ought) "17."
Xuan: "So that's..."
sister: "3 years ago."
Xuan: "...feels like an eon ago."
Because I can't totally remember what life before NJC IP was like back in MGS. In a time where you don't have annoying boys in your class, where the uniform includes a pinafore with a pleated! skirt, where you have chapel and pray before each exam, where morning assembly is heralded not by two bells but by Christ the Lord is Risen Today, lasting 3 minutes, where everybody speaks English (even in chinese class), and good English at that.
If I could rewind time back to 3 years ago, would I still choose to go to NJC? Hmm...
The Xuan =)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Well, here marks the end of a long "negotiation" with my parents on whether I can go to Italy for the competition next year.
At first, I was really upset because I felt that my parents were being unnecessarily difficult over this. All the stuff about how much time choir takes up, and if only I was as attentive to my studies as I am to choir, and how my mother thinks cca shouldn't have competitions at all, and wishes she never let me join a performing arts group.
But I'm afraid that perhaps why I really felt so upset was because what they said wasn't totally untrue - I DO spend too much time on the laptop, probably didn't do as much for my subjects as I did for choir...
Then my father went on about how I'd have to give up other stuff, besides Juniors and Choir. I didn't really have much other stuff though, besides the laptop, since I don't go out and I rarely watch tv.
And then it went on to the how IP people don't have the training of taking national exams like the J1s have, and how A Levels is a once in a lifetime exam, and how you don't just need 4 As but also H3 to get into medicine.
All this stuff made me feel rather lousy and worthless in the sense of not being a capable person. And then reflecting on it later made me feel like a crummy excuse of a daughter, because I'm lazy, and that's a fact.
I admit what my parents said mostly made sense and were true, but it really hurt when my mother said that she expected my maths to be better, especially because I've always looked up to her matematical abilities. And I always thought my maths was quite ok, but perhaps 87% and in top 50 for the cohort just isn't good enough... sigh.
I guess it's time to stop being whiny and emo, and time to get serious about work.
God help me,
The Xuan
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my sins are washed away
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my sins are washed away, are washed away
Thank God it's Sunday!
Seriously. Every Sunday morning it's hard to force yourself out of bed to go to church, especially today when we had to take the bus. But then when Juniors starts, even if you're tired, you still receive this energy of some sort, which all goes to show that being tired is not an excuse for ponning church!
Joshua led this relatively new song today: Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew, but most of us didn't really know how to sing it, so he and I concluded that we must have been doing it wrong. Oh well. Funnily enough, later when I went home, both Hongyu and Michelle asked me whether I got the mp3, which I myself had asked Joshua earlier on.
Today was board game day, and I got to play bridge, woohoo! I swear, I'm suffering from bridge withdrawal symptoms. Come Juniors Camp, we shall plan a board games afternoon and I shall play bridge. Even if I keep on losing.
And we had a new friend in Sunday School called Xavier (I think). He's Linus' SA band senior. I didn't know that Aunty Jee Nee was Linus' aunt, or at least she's his father's cousin's wife. And since Linus is my cousin's cousin, we are related by some long string of marriages and such. Thus, Aunty Jee Nee is my mother's brother's wife's cousin's wife.
Anyway, today seems to be a day for new songs, since in service there was this one called How Can I Keep From Singing. So I shall end off this post with the bridge of the song =)
I can sing in the troubled times, sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step, and fall down again
I can sing cause you pick me up, sing cause you're there
I can sing cause you hear me Lord, when I call to you in prayer
I will sing til my last breath, sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels, and the saints around the throne
~The Xuan~
Well, it seems I finally got round to creating my own blog. Ok lah, to be fair, my younger sister did everything - because xuan is a n00b!!! But I found the nice blogskin! ha!
Let's see. It's 12.20 am now, and I really ought to go sleep because I have to wake up earlier tomorrow to go for Juniors.
I actually debated on whether this blog ought to be for journaling down the events that happened in my life, or whether it ought to have cheem dissertations on the wonderful abstract philosophies of that life.
I suppose it can be a bit of both, right? But the latter will only occur if I'm feeling particularly brilliant.
Anyway, I just came home an hour ago after going to Ben's house for our class gathering of the year, and to celebrate his birthday. Congrats Ben, you've finally crossed the line to being old 17-year-olds like us! Now only Charlyn and Rachel are left, I think.
I feel that this age of 17, somewhere between the monumental 16 and 18 is a very transitional stage for all of us. I personally felt that 17 provides the course of growing up that people have to do from being younger, naive 16 year olds to the more mature and perhaps more cynical 18 year olds. So, no matter what they say, 17 is an important age to be!
It was a lot of fun in his basement belting out the karaoke songs, whether in tune or not, and I got to play his electric guitar - but I kinda suck at it. Sarah is PRO at drums.
And his mum made oreo cheesecake! Sheryl should have been there to taste and compare.
After I went back, I think this class gathering reminded me why I love our class so much, and that 27 of us are a really special bunch of people. I say with confidence that we're the best class in 05ip ever! Of course, I'm biased =)
For a first post, I think this is quite full, haha. Hopefully it won't turn into one of those dead blogs that gets a post once every few months or something.
God Bless,
The Xuan.
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
