i was really sick last night. which was strange because it only happened after i got home from dinner. maybe i ate too much. i feel nauseous and queasy and really cold and uncomfortable. sick and alone and not a believer in medicine unless absolutely necessary, all i could do was pray. thank god i was fine this morning.
all right. let's try for a chronological recap of what has happened from before i left.
three mondays ago was my last night in singapore. naturally, me being me, i decided to meet my best friends. seb and i went to the gym and then had dinner at fish n co. and then went to the bowling alley and started a game before yujie finally made his grand entrance, fashionably late because of a school meeting. by then, we had like time for only two games. ahwells. we were going to leave but then somehow, in the car park, the topic shifted to like lion dance. and there was no stopping yujie and i from there. we started "practising" lion dance. it was so hilarious. we actually managed to like have yujie stand on me. whee! hahaha. well, following all the fun in the car park, seb and i decided to drive to east coast where he had some fun of his own. ;-) after that i begged him to come over to my place to help me with my packing. i had everything but it wasn't in the luggage yet. the poor boy's nose was so sensitive to the dust in the room that he kept sniffing and sniffing. thanks seb and thanks yujie. :D
tuesday was the day i turned into superman. i accomplished so much in so little time it was so remarkable. i went to the dentist to have my filling done, met seb to go to school, met darice briefly, had lunch with seb, met jermain briefly, met yujie, picked up my automobile insurance certificate from evelyn, headed to suntec church office to settle men's ministry matters, bought ayam paggang and ikan paggang to packet home for dinner and then headed home. had dinner with mum and shijie and then finished my very last bit of packing.
seb came over to my place (the most loyal of them all!) and we headed to the airport together. shawn was there. i checked in. my bag was like 40kg?!! the max allowed was 32kg. don't worry, aaron chew is always prepared (i was never a scout...that's their loss!). i opened my trolley carry on and inside was a soft bag. i transferred everything into the soft bag and then took the heaviest stuff from the big bag and put them into the small one. hence, i checked in two bags and still had two carry on. smart right? well, others like louis, yujie, darice, cheryl and pastor came. something was missing though. the little boy javier. sigh. he emerged running with evelyn! haha. it was such a sad sight for me. i decided that the next time i fly, i will keep the details hush hush, only letting a few closest ones know. sighs. i really wanted to stay longer. but i had to push myself in. grabbed duty free that auntie nina wanted for a client and then flew in. the flight was quite comfy cos i had the seat beside me empty. supper was lousy so i slept. by the time i woke up, it was time for landing.
i arrived in beijing at 630am on a freezing morning. it had snowed the night before. brrrrrr. i took out my jacket and my trench coat but even then, it was like brrrrrr. for like 20 min i was waiting for dad! so anw, dad came with wang gong (the company engineer cum chauffeur) and picked me up. we headed for dad's place, where i comfortably tucked myself in and slept till lunch time. lunch was with auntie nina and it was shui zhu yu (fish cooked in chilli oil...super yummy!). following that, i chilled in dad's office before we headed for school. by the time we reached school, it was like almost 5. so all i could do was check into the dorm. first impression of the school. it's huge! i told myself i need a bicycle. that's for sure.
we had to pay for like 6 months of accommodation on the spot. and dad decided to pay by cash. like omg. around 80 yuan per day for 180 days. imagine the amount of cash. the dorm room is small but good enough. a bed, a table with shelves, a tv, a very small cupboard, a bathroom and a faucet. the view from the room shows snow capped roof tops and a bit of the field. quite pretty. anw, we headed to the supermarket to get things i needed. hangers, 4x4L of water, juices, lock, internet cable etc. following that, dad and wang gong left. and hence, i was left to my own devices. the canteen had closed and hence, i ordered takeout. japanese food which was not too bad. i got my internet set up. which was good! haha.
thursday was registration day. i went around registering and it was quite easy. but i still had to get my dining card. armed with my map, i set off. suddenly someone shouted after me, "u want a lift?". it was miki, a thai girl, and her bicycle. seriously, the bike was a godsend cos the school is so huge! we rode on the bike. it was electric. i fell in love with the bike instantaneously. after going to the dining card place (i couldnt get one cos i didnt have my letter), miki took me to look at bicycles. the good old-fashioned bicycle was cheap. but somehow i wasn't content. so she took me to the electric bike shop. oh my. i took an instant liking to the bike that was presented. it was blue, it was electric, it was foldable so i can eventually bring it back to singapore. and there. my first big purchase. i bought it. 1700yuan. following that, miki brought me to lunch. met her cousin jade, american jessica, australian scott, russian alex and slovak claudia. why do i emphasize the nationalities? because they are all here to study chinese. like it or not, the china is advancing and the rest of the world is catching china fever. without background, these people came to study chinese. and they can now speak conversational chinese, after a mere three or four months! we in singapore need to brush up. after lunch, headed back, settled the dining card and then waited for dad and auntie nina to come for dinner.
friday was a rather slow moving day. woke up, went around searching for a gym, went to 金码大厦to have a look but i didn't buy anything except for a cheap pair of nikes that i quite like. met the same group of pple for dinner. of all places, they chose 鼎泰峰. nice dinner. following that, we went to sally toon (三里屯) and settled at a club called shooters.
saturday was orientation for foreign students. i would say that tsinghua is quite a hmmm...let's just say traditional school (i don't want this blog shut). it's beautiful though. built on qing hua yuan, it's supposed to be very nice in the spring and summer. i look forward to it. :) rushed some work for citynews before heading to dinner. of all places, it was at sakae sushi! i'm usually not the one who chooses but somehow we seem to end up at familiar places. i ate so much. a beef bento, two chawanmushi, two gyoza, one fried tofu, one mango ice-blend, one octopus thinggie and it only cost me like 100yuan!! super cheap man. after dinner, we moved to a club called vics. this one had better music but was more expensive. still, cheap by singaporean standards all the same. we danced for like more than 4 hours. i was so tired.
sunday started depressingly because the streaming for live services was so bad. sighs. guess i had to catch delayed telecast. but i'm grateful that i'm allowed to even access the chc web site. the highlight of sunday was joining a gym! it's called body balance. with the winter being so cold, i'm eating and eating and eating all the time. so a gym is essential. the one in school only has weights. i need treadmill. anw, since last sunday, i've been to the gym every single day. if i don't, not only will i not lose, i will gain weight! :( had dinner with auntie nina and her son xiao yang. auntie nina brought me a nice carpet, a nice chair, hooks for my room, making my room even more comfy than it already was. :D auntie nina is a really great family friend. i'm going to make friends with xiao yang this year. he seems like a nice guy.
monday was the start of school! i had lunch with chin keat, the vice-president of the beijing singapore students association. labor economics was the first class i attended. 720-945pm. it was gruelling. labor econs is not my first choice econs module. my first choice econs module is developmental econs which unfortunately clashes with management accounting, which i need to take for strategic reasons. =/ anw, after class ended, it was freezingggggggg. it was so so so cold. i decided to call take out rather than cycle out to look for food. brrrrrrrr.
tuesday was a short day. i only had seminar of financial problems. seems like an interesting module. but very hard! it's about thesis-writing and stuff. i'm taking mostly level 4 modules here. i wonder how i'll cope later in the semester. had dinner at a korean place near 五道口.
wednesday was a crazy day. my day started at 8am with foundations for financial economics. the class is 8-950am on wed and fri. seriously?! anw, the lesson was quite boring, the morning was so early and so cold. on friday, i decided that life was too short for such classes. hence, i walked out halfway, determined to drop it.
that was my first week in beijing.
well as of now, i have a 4-day weekend every week. cos nus only allows me to map 20 MCs back and so that's 5 modules. hence, i have dropped like 2 modules. leaving me with lessons only on wed, thu and fri.
