1. FOOD

2. Family Reunions (& Noisy Aunties)

3. Festive Mood

4. New Clothes & Shopping!!

5. Catching up with long lost friends

6. Extra pocket money (It's a blessing to be Single!)

7. No Traffic Jams to Work and Empty shopping Malls!! =)

8. and since Chinese likes the number 8. The final one. This year is a Dragon Year and I am born in the year of the dragon (hmm.... not that it changes anything but well since the parents in China and Hong Kong are busy ... I feel so wanted.) :P

I had a day off!!! and.... what did I do? Hang out with a bunch of crazy gals and talk about our good ol' days. Weird how we never get tired of talking about them. Brings us back right to that moment in time. So Awesome!

Well we were suppose to meet up and our favourite (or rather usual) hang out spot during our school days. A ABC shop behind Kajang Market. We used to frequent the place for lunch before Add Maths Tuition or when we have activities in school. Sadly it was close. I haven't been to the shop since the lady owner died (killed by some robbers in the evening!! Shocking!!)

So, Terri one of the gals suggested we visit school before going for lunch. I was like what??? School??? At this time (it was already 12.40pm) I gave excuse like who are we going to meet there? No teachers will be around for us to visit and etc but well she persuaded us and Wei Jean went off and change into jeans (no attire above the knees allowed in school)

Off we went. Just as we stepped out of the car we met our former discipline teacher. Yes! The one and only Pn. Nirmala. It was a love and hate relationship. She's really quite nice to hang out with except of course for the silly rules she makes us abide. Eg. Ribbon must be used after tying up your hair ensure that its certain centimeter only light blue, and black. No talking loudly. Yeah the list goes on but she thought me Literature in English (Only had 9 of us who took the subject) and we had loads of fun in class with her.

Anyway before long, my modern + add maths teacher walked out and Pn . Nirmala called out "Eh Pn Lim. You remember these girls?" Pn Lim replied while walking to a shop nearby only pausing a little to say "Yeah I can remember only two of them. Especially that one!" (Pointing to me). [Obviously she thought my elder sister, me and my younger sister, what else wasn't one of those easy students to have around :p]

We manage to make our way to the school entrance which was about 150meters away from our car and met up with more of our school teachers. Needless to say many of the above happened again with the usual question. What are you all doing now? Wah so long already, we are getting old, decomposing and bla bla bla...

Ok. Walking back into school brings fresh memories of the things you do. Too bad I didn't have a camera with me. We were busy comparing the changes in the school. The teachers were also proud with the changes but the still have the exactly same red fans and the pink walls. Of course now the have bright orange doors and windows with slightly less bright orange walls with the pink fans.

The blackboard is still the old one where we used to stand on it walking around on the attached cupboard to get our classmates attention or pretty much sit on it just for the fun of it. Seriously, a bunch of monkeys. :) However, it now has the white board stuck on it.

The photos below were taken using Terri's handphone.

School Hall with the Hall of Fame. The list of PMR and SPM Best Student, Head Prefects, Best Overall Students, School Principal. School Hall was also the place where I spend most of my school life and also nights practicing last minute for choir competitions. Oh yes the place where we shared our joys and also where we had our fights. Choir practice were memorable but stressful. It was also the place where formal functions such as price giving ceremony and PIBG were held.

Ah! Our School Canteen. One of the places that's used by both the Secondary and Primary School. Lots of changes. Titled floor and new table and chairs. We used to have wooden table and wooden chairs and the floor was concrete. Will always remember the keropok leko's that brought us so much trouble with the teachers and the school prefect. (Never quite got why the canteen operators used to only finish frying the keropok leko when the school bell rings - recess time is over)

The place we used to line up for Monday Morning Assembly in Secondary School. With the Primary School surrounding it. How they get tortured with the noise that comes from us. Oh also quite a dangerous place to walk by as Ms.Tay used to throw books and bags out of the Standard 6 classes especially when the work handed in is deemed rubbish to her. Never know when you might get an exercise book hitting your head while you are walking around that area. Only way to avoid is to ensure you don't hear her voice when you walk. If you hear her shouting is best to watch your head. (Still adore Ms.Tay nevertheless)

School field that floods. Remember the days we cheered and screamed with our teachers supporting our "Rumah Sukan" . Yeaps the teachers were equally all out! Just loved school sports! Oh and our very dear Girl Guide House. Probably the one and only in the whole daerah. A place where could hang out and make all the noise we want without the teachers banging on our doors. :) Oh yes and lots of secret stuff hidden inside. Illegal items usually :)

Yes mirrors. Plenty of them found. Wonder whether its because we are in an all girl school that there were mirrors on every corridor. We appreciated it during our school times straightening our uniform and tidying ourselves up.

I think this is photo that summarises it all up. 10 years of my time in Convent Kajang. 5 years in Secondary School and another 5 years in Primary School. This photo shows half of our secondary school which connects with our primary school. Both the gals beside me are childhood friends since Standard 2.

If I have the chance I am sure I can go on and on about stories in my years in school. Its really nice sometimes just to slip into the past and re-lived those years. Although many things have change but the Convent Spirit stays alive always. :)

Looking back I just realised how much I complain about work. Still do....However, my outlook of work has since quite change realising that the main reason of my existence is to glorify HIM. If you would ask me how I would summarise the year 2011 well the one word I would use to describe 2011 is humbling.

A year that I am brought back to ground zero. After all the achievements, positions, titles and knowing the ins and outs of whatever I do, I am brought back to a place where I know nothing, no experience, the youngest as well as 'no voice'. Learning to rely on HIM more than my own knowledge and experience.

It has been the year of 'First' of many things as well.

It was a one week tour to Southern China. Below is a short summary of the trip if any of you are interested to go as well. Well, my apologies that it starts from Day 8 instead of Day 1. One thing for sure from one town to the next our routine goes like this. Sleep....Toilet...... Eat..... Sleep....Toilet.... Eat..... :)

Quite sad that we woke up, had breakfast and went straight to the airport. Felt that we should have departed from Guilin airport instead of traveling 6 hours plus to Nanning just for the city feel. (Travelling time a big ripped off).

Finally visited Wal-Mart. Super pack with people. Managed to do a little shopping with the 1 and the half hour allocated time. The tour guide was super nice to stop for us so that we can shop at Wal-Mart. Of course there were a lot of unhappy officials yelling because there's no place to stop in the city. The park at Nanning was nothing much to shout about after seeing Guilin and Yangshou. Nevertheless, the last dinner at Nanning was one of the best meals.

Very early in the morning we took the bus to see eagle catches fish. I really thought I would see an eagle but its a duck like black bird with his neck tied with some string to avoid the fish that the bird catches to be swallowed down. Its the old traditional way of catching fish. The morning breeze was just right. The old man managing the raft allowed us to have a hand in rowing the raft and we had to sing songs during the little trip as well. They even "berpantun with songs" .

After that they took us to see the Silver Cave, its a limestone cave something like Gua Tempurung but its much older and very well maintained. They lit the cave up with colourful lights and had sign boards to help people with no imaginary to see the stalagmite and stalactite in a different light.

One thing that amazed me was that you could pay to be carried through the more than one hour steep steps to view the majesty of the cave. A big salute to the porters.

Oh but one scary thing is the ladies all dressed in traditional costumes will haunt you. Thank God I am not a guy, if I am they would have pulled my arms and shoulders off. I should have taken photos of the people grabbing the guys to take photos with them for a price of course. If you have been to China, you would probably understand what I am trying to say over here.

Next, it was a trip down the West Street also known as Foreign Language Corner. Over here, you'll see tones of "Ang Mo Kia". Things over here were of course much pricier but it was nice just to walk and see different things. We then took Green Lotus Peak. We saw a Big Banyan Tree and they explained some history but sadly, couldn't understand much due to the language barrier.

It was supposed to be a bilingual tour but the tour was mostly in Mandarin. The tour guide from China did her best to simplify everything for us which was really very considerate of her. The tour guide from Malaysia which should have been translating was of course not doing her job in translating. Her usual response was to tell the other guides or those briefing us to speak slower. Quite funny because if you do not know the language speaking slower will not help. Its like saying f...u....n...n...y..... really slowly and telling someone who can only understand Italian to understand.

Anyway, that night we watch the Impression Liu San Jie. Frankly, everyone seems to know about Liu San Jie but of course I know nothing about this person before I joined this tour. However, the moment we left nanning to Guilin, there is no way you can leave the place without knowing who Liu San Jie is.

I initially thought its some opera singing kinda stuff and wasn't really looking forward to it. I was so impress that it was an outdoor theatre with the hills as its back drop and the river as its stage. A total cast of more than 700 people perform that night and I was telling my sis its like you are watching Beijing Olympics opening ceremony again. Its that big a scale and it was really spectacular. A trip to Guilin will not be complete without this. Is a must watch!!! Of course it cost 180yuan per person if you are on tour or 220yuan if you are not on a tour. Total audience that day was 3000 people and on other times they have 3 shows which is about 9000 people watching the show. Seriously massive!! You can really feel China's labour power here.

We visited another park in Guilin. It had bridges, lake and big trees. There were many groups dancing by the lake. Its something you see in Taiping. The aunties were really so graceful that if you didn't look at their wrinkled face they would have passed of as any young ladies.

Lunch was at another tasty restaurant in Guilin. Food were nicely carve but they usually serve lots of vegetables instead of meat. The pork served is fatty pork. Nothing but thick layers of fat.

Then we proceed to Lipu where there was a river cruise waiting for us. Spectacular scenery once again but it was so so cold. With the rain and wind blowing it was difficult to stand outside for long. Since it was freezing cold they postponed the Impression Liu San Jie to the next day to avoid the 9 of us being block of ice.

First and foremost, apologise for no updates for a month. Have been off any kind of media for a month.Something we agreed as a family for 21 days, then I was preparing for my professional paper so couldn't update.

Today I will be leaving for China and will be there for 8 days. Wonder how it will be since its m first time there. Strangely, lots of negative stories floating around from friends. Nevertheless, I'm sure it will be an eye opening experience.

Probably wondering what's the title of this blog got to do with anything. Well.... I was sleeping and i heard "tak" sound and I am now unable to move my head, nor lift my left hand up high. No massages from dad or mum is helping and the ice pack solution does not seem to relieve the pain. Really praying that it will get better because I am already dreading the plane flight and the bumpy bus rides.

Goodness knows how I am going to lie down and rest my head tonight. Guess my mum will be quite please for now that she doesn't have to 'yell' at me for slouching. I have a straight spine and a tilted head. If you see any weirdos walking like a robot say hi because it must be me.

ok typing this in agony because I'm tilting my head and using one hand. Shall stop here and blog after I return from the great Chinese land.