Unfortunate week

Woke up on a Sunday morning, filled in my details for my Tuesday flight. Suddenly, my mind went into 'RED ALERT' mode and I could feel my blood with adrenaline rushing through my vessels.

I need a Visa to get into Belgrade, Serbia.

WHAT?!! Googled on application process and the website stated that we need to apply 3 weeks prior to traveling and it'll take 3-5 working days to process.

Panic...

Anyway, took a night bus down to London to the Serbia embassy (thank goodness I didn't have travel sickness attack), lost my specs nose piece in the toilet while I was changing, stood outside the embassy for 15 minutes like some beggar, plead them to get my visa done on the same day, told to get health insurance to have the visa approved and processed, ran around London like some headless chicken to get the insurance, got it, told that visa will be done by 3pm, bought 4pm train ticket to get back up home and 5 minutes after getting the ticket at 12.30pm, got called that visa was done. Wheee BUT train ticket at 1.30pm cost 20pounds less than the 4.30pm train T.T

Reached home at 9pm feeling so loved because my friend drove out to fetch me home (even though I already started walking home) and packed me dinner!

Slept at 1.30am, woke up at 3.30am for 4am taxi. The taxi driver recognised me because
1. I am oriental
2. I am chatty
3. He picked me and mom up when we went to Germany in June
LOL.
Flew to Serbia with no problems at 6am, transited at Paris for 4 hours where a funny American guy chat with me and trying to impress me with stories (good entertainment I would say) then reached Belgrade, Serbia at 3.30pm WITHOUT LUGGAGE!!!

Submitted a report to the lost and found desk, taxi to hotel and got cheated 180 Serbian Dinar (RSD). He told me 1800RSD but when I paid 2000RSD, he gave me back 20RSD. Only realised what happened when I was in my hotel. Feeling sorry for myself x100. Asked where to get clothes and toiletries for the conference and was directed to the largest mall. Shopping ain't my thing so it took me forever to actually buy anything. Got back to hotel at 8ish pm.

BTW, Serbians are not the friendliest people. But then again, maybe because they can't speak English and hence try to avoid me? Another story for the guys, I could feel their eyes burning into me everything I walked home from the conference. Wolf whistling, laughing after passing by me like some kiddos etc but still, it was nice when I smiled and talked to some of them (with limited English and lots of awkward laughters). I tried to buy some food and to find out what meat was used, we started communicating in animal sounds. Epic traveling experience LOL.

Conference was Ok, well, not really in the best mood to engage but it was educational and I did learn things. I was called a baby by the surgeons there because I am a freshly 2 month old graduate while they are all experienced and skilled.

Anyway, to cut story short, got my luggage the day before I left, went around exploring Serbia only to encounter words like this.

How do I go about reading this? I nearly got lost but eventually recognised the places that I passed through.

Flew back on Friday with no hiccups until I reached the UK border at the airport. Due to the wording on the visa, I was detained for almost an hour, sitting at the side like some illegal immigrant. On the bright side, I was all alone and when I was asked to sit at 'that corner', I was all alone. But still, I was dead tired and exhausted. On the bright side, my luggage was arrived safely.

Finally got home by 9ish 10pm and thanks to the taxi driver, my mood was better. I seriously love chatting with them =)

Unpacked, repacked for Edinburgh trip next day (today in 3 hours time heading down), bathed and cleared the kitchen a bit (Blame my partial OCD), washed clothes (to wash all the bad luck away LOL), searched for claim forms etc till 1ish 2am only to be woken up by my mom at 6.30am.

Now, I have tonnes of things to do and submit etc...

Hopefully my Edinburgh trip won't be as tiring as this past week.

Home is now just a house

Since I started working, I have stop looking forward to coming home. I used to enjoy staying at home and would call this house, my home. But recently, that is the last thing that comes to my mind when I enter the house.

Opened the front door, the house is in darkness. My housemate(s) are in their rooms with their doors shut.

Put my stuff down and entered the kitchen, piles of dirty dishes in the sink, stove/ hob is dirty with some left over food lying around and very oily looking. The cloth that we usually used to wipe/ clean dirty table top is wet and slimy. Cloths that we do not usually use are wet and dirty looking. Wet washed dishes/ pots all over the place and some on the wooden shelve. Opened the fridge, everything is filled with food. The little place I have is occupied by other people's food. And people ask me why I don't eat much, because every time I want to buy something, I'll be thinking if there's space in the fridge or freezer. Totally put me off from having my late dinner.

Got into the bathroom, floor is wet, the mat on the floor is wet, the window is closed with the blinds down and the whole bathroom is dark, wet and damp. Mould alert!! Toilet paper has finished but no one (or the last person who used it) did not bother to replace it. No one cares.

Getting home feeling tired is one thing. Having the feeling that I need to clean up after people who has been home hours before me is another thing. It really annoys me and really doesn't make my day end any better. I received enough crap in work, I don't want to receive more crap when I'm in my comfort of my house. It really irks me and I really feel like shouting at them but what can I do but just bottle it up and hope that one day it doesn't explode.

My 2nd housemate who is currently out of block left his gf in our place, occupying the living room. I am trying not to blame her but things have changed since she's around. I never had to face such crap last year or early this year. Maybe I am feeling all angry and annoyed because of stress from work but in all honesty, my work is not that stressful. Maybe I just don't like change and having her around is a change.

The kitchen is in a mess, the bathroom is in a mess. If I were her, I would have the courtesy to ask how does things work around in the house and not just barge in and start doing things your own way. Gosh, I really don't like her. I haven't really had a conversation with her since she started living here 2-3 weeks ago. Firstly, I can't act all nice and interested in knowing her at all, secondly she speaks with an accent when she conversed in English. It drives me up the wall hence the avoidance. Even the sound of her voice just makes me want to leave the room. I know I am being mean and judgmental which is so unlike me but I just can't help it with her. I'm sure she's a nice girl but at the moment, I don't give a shit.

Gosh, why can't things be like last time when we had so much fun at home, talking and laughing and not keeping to ourselves in our rooms. I miss my first year staying here when my 1st housemate was working and every time, knowing that she'll come home to rant, I'll keep my door open and welcomed her home, listened to her rant and do crazy funny things with her. Or when my 2 new housemates moved in. We do keep to ourselves but we still do laugh and joke and tease each other. I miss those days.

Now, to wait for her to leave in another weeks time then hopefully things will be back to normal and I can call this house home again.

Last Friday which was my birthday was another sad story of my life. In 2012, I was locked out of my room after coming home from hosp after a long day. I was all alone, sitting in the common kitchen playing with my phone, feeling sorry for myself. It ended with me being in my room with tonnes of self-pity. This year is no different at all. Came home after a crappy day at work, housemates all in rooms and me, alone in my room feeling sorry that it's my birthday. I really hate my birthday because it's a time when I feel very lonely and sad that I even exist. I'm pathetic I know.

Not advertising my birthday but getting wishes from people who sincerely remembered and cared to wish me did help a bit but seeing the number dwindling down just put everything in perspective. Maybe I can't be alone after all, maybe I do need someone in my life but a week after my birthday, thinking rationally again, I think that's one of the last thing I want now. What if this person disappoints me as well? I don't need more of that shit and now, I am content with being alone again.

Let's hope that next year, no one reminds me that it's my birthday and it'll be another normal day =)
Better still if I don't exist by then XD

To all who are living overseas

Hey you, starring at this screen from somewhere far away from home, give yourself a good pat on your back and go treat yourself something awesome because you are GREAT!!!!

You had the courage to 

- leave home

- stay somewhere far away from family, relatives and close friends

- adapt to the new environment and culture

- familiarize yourself with the local accent/ slangs

- find a new home in a new place

- make new friends

- join in the locals who already formed cliques after years of studying together (especially for PMS and PDS friends who joined as 3rd or 4th year students)

- accustom to the new teaching styles

- overcome the urge for mamak or food from home

- make yourself heard

and finally, be extra proud of yourself if you managed to go for presentations, participate or win competitions, perform on stages etc

Kudos indeed!!!

=)

*pat pat*

English spoken by Malaysian

I have to admit that my English is not the best and I can never compare myself to my fellow colleagues here BUT what happened moments ago just did it. I can no longer suffer in silence. I have to rant...RANT!!

Malaysians start off school with kindergarten (some have the privilege to go to nursery/ Montessori prior to kindergarten) where everyone learns ABC, to read and to write in Malay and English. If you were to go to a Chinese kindergarten, you learn Mandarin as well; if you attend a Tamil kindergarden, similarly, you learn Tamil on top of the two basic languages. After that, you grow up (sometimes not applicable to everyone) and attend Primary school. Depends on which school (government or private), you still learn Malay, English +/- Chinese/ Tamil. You go through the same thing in secondary school and when you attend university/ college, depends on whether you attend a local university where Malay would be widely used or private university/ college, English would be the main language in lectures.

What I am trying to say here is- ENGLISH IS TAUGHT IN EVERY LEVEL OF SCHOOLING.

The story from the previous post continues.

My friend wants me to find her a shipping company and help her send the parcel back to her.

Fine.

But why must I search one for you when you have internet and computers/ ipad/ laptops (she just got a brand new Macbook few days ago =.=) which you can use to search as well. I don't really mind looking up for her but what happens if the one I choose is not of her liking or something goes wrong in the middle of the shipping process and she blames me. No way man. I had enough of crap.

So I asked her instead to choose one and I'll do the rest from here. I'll call up for you, I'll arrange the pick up from my house for you and I'll do everything that I can to get rid of the parcel back to you. OK. maybe I'm being too harsh here but I am really annoyed.

Anyway, after much discussion, she finally decided to use the same delivery company because it's the cheapest. So be it. Gave them my contact and liaise with them. Then I needed to print this document which had instructions on it.





I just wanted to confirm the 2nd part of the instruction.
So do I paste the folded label on the parcel or just put it in a clear plastic bag then hand it to the driver as well or what? Why can't they write
'Fold one of each (what's wrong with using the word both) printed label at the dotted line and place ( it or both?) in a UPS Shipping Pouch. If you do not have a pouch (provide it then!), affix (paste/ stick) the folded label using clear plastic shipping tape (what the hell is a shipping tape?) over the entire label (is it difficult to add in words like 'onto the parcel'?). Hand one printed label to the driver (so if I put both in the pouch since you didn't mention anything about it, do I hand the pouch to the driver too? Oh wait, does that mean I need to affix the pouch on the parcel? What is going on here?!!!).'

So I emailed and texted the person who called me to arrange this delivery to confirm what is written on the instruction sheet and this Malay lady copied the number 2 instruction on her reply. I repeated the question again this time with simple terms:
'Do I stick one of the printed label on the parcel?'
Her reply was:' Print all the document I gave and stick on the box'
So do I stick both the documents on the box?

Fine, i'm just being picky and difficult now so I didn't bother replying and just did what I thought was correct.

ARGH.... why are people who can't speak and comprehend English working in the customer service?? What if an English speaking customer uses their service?
Oh the shame!!

Rantings...

I'm just so sick of being used and not being appreciated.
I'm pissed.

You are leaving tomorrow so you asked me in the morning if I wanna meet up later tonight. I replied 'sure, what time and where' but nothing back from you even till late evening so I asked again. I even called twice to ask but you didn't pick up. Then I texted you asking if its still on, only then you FINALLY replied with 'hmmmmm... I'm meeting xxx at 9pm later. You wanna join?'

What the....You don't want to meet up in the first place, then don't suggest it.
Making me annoyed. It's not like I NEED to meet up with you anyway. Oh, and then another text followed with a favour from me- to leave stuff at my place so I can help her pass it on to the juniors.
Really?? Is that how you ask for a favour?

Later another friend from M'sia (this person's housemate) whatsapp-ed me and started pouring her troubles to me. It was about her parcel that was supposed to be picked up yesterday but the delivery people didn't turn up and her housemate is leaving tomorrow. She wants me to get the parcel and leave it at my place. She also suggested asking a friend of ours or a senior (both have a car) to get the parcel to pass it to me. Oh did I forget to mention that the parcel was 40kg?

I suggested that she could wait till tomorrow then only pass it to me if they still didn't turn up. They might come tomorrow. And since the housemate is leaving to the airport with her family on a taxi, they can get the parcel to me before heading to the airport with the same taxi. Troubling others just because they have a car is not the right way to go.

Noooooo... In the end still troubled the people with car with reasons like 'later the delivery people don't turn up (I repeated- use the taxi and drop the parcel at my place before heading to the airport) and its 40kg, very heavy (she (the housemate) is not alone, she has a family with her which are not disabled).

I find a few things irritating.
1- Why leave things last minute when you left ages ago.
2- Why must you trouble other people when you can sort it out yourself. You're paying for the taxi anyway so ask the taxi driver to drive it to my place so you don't need to purposely trouble other people.
3- Why didn't your housemate call the delivery company when they were late (oh wait, she was so busy till she can't reply me)

Oh whatever. The stupid parcel is in my house now anyway. No point complaining right?

I guess it's obvious that I rather appreciate my local friends here than some stupid fellow countrymen that only use me whenever they feel like it.