I'm bored!!!!!!! I'm supposed to do some readings for english lesson tmr, but it's so boring!!!!!!!!!! There are some exercises on it and I don't know if i'm supposed to do them. I don't want to do them!!!!!!!!!

There will be Sociology lesson tmr and I hate sociology!!!!!!!!!!! I don't like the teacher who's teaching the subject because I don't understand what she's talking most of the time. On the last lesson, she asked the students to listen to 2 songs and write about their historical time, platform/style... I didn't know what to write!!!!!!!!! she's crazy too. She admitted to it herself. She's scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think I will do well :( I hope tmr's lesson will be better!

The Geology map session was a disaster. The TA went thru the exercises with us but he went very fast and I was lost!!!!!!! I didn't know what he's talking about!!!! Ended up staying back and ask him to go thru the whole exercises again! ARGH!!!!!!!!

Talked to guy named Doss. Weird name for an American! He asked where we came from and then he told us that he has been studying in Jap for quite some time, but he doesn't know any Japanese cause he went to an American International Sch.... That's all. It's better than sitting in the class stoning while waiting for the class to commerce although I doubt he will remember us when we bump into him on the street! I noticed that when the Americans talk to us, they will definitely start by asking where we are from and then talk about some other things. But, they never asked our name! Never!!! Weird! What's the point of knowing some personal info of smo without knowing their name?

Tommy sent me some jokes:

Seorang nenek yang nyebrang jalan hampir
ketabrak motor. Pengendara
motor marah : "Nenek bego! Nyebrang jalan gak
liat2!"
Nenek sewot : "Lo yg bego!! Nabrak nenek-nenek
aja
gak kena..!!"

TRANSLATION
An old lady is crossing the road and nearly knocked down by a motorcycle.
The motorcyclist angrily said,"Stupid old lady! Watch where you're going!"
The old lady snorted, " You're the one that's stupid! You can't even knock down an old lady!"


When i see baby, i remember "TEDDY BEAR
DOLL".
When i see a little
girl, i remember "BARBIE DOLL". But when i see u,
i remember
"PANADOL"

Happy Teachers' Day

I wanna wish all the teachers in Zhonghua

A HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY!

Thank you so much for the guidance and everything you've done for me :)


I will be going going to school in an hour time for Geology Lab. I read the manual last night and I felt so fed up! I didn't understand a single thing!!!!!!!! I don't know how I'm going to survive today. I hope the TA will give a detailed explaination what we're supposed to do.

Then there will be Ele. Cal and Orientation and go home. I always feel that the day passes so fast here. Well, I always woke up rather late, 8/9am. I used to wake up at 5.30am every morning! Things have changed! I just have to face the reality and change for the better too!

Met Tomtom yesterday before my class and they introduced me to their 2 friends. One is from China and the other is from M'sia. It's nice to know more people, but I'm doubtful that they will remember me when we bump into each other a week later. My social life is so screwed!

So, Pluto is no longer a planet, no longer in the Solar System. So, there are only 8 planets in the Solar System. My reaction? OK, so? But a columnist at Daily O'Collegian (my sch newspaper) begged to differ. In his column titled " So long, dearest Pluto, we will miss you". He complained how scientists came to such sudden and shocking decision without first consulting the people like him. He feels that it is not fair. It is unjust for Pluto. He wrote "Pluto might not be the biggest, brightest or warmest of the nine planets, but it's still a part of the solar system. It's still a part of our culture. Yet, here I sit, and I never had say. Here is my chance to bid farewell, a chance to say goodbye to a planet that's been there my whole life. You never asked much, you just wanted to be included. That was enough for you. But somewhere, in some cold, dark room, much colder than your own world, a bunch of guys decided your fate. And nobody even asked you. So take care old friend, try to stay warm and write if you get the chance. I'll always consider you a planet...and a friend." I'm telling you, I was laughing till my stomach hurt as I read this article. This guy must have reallybeen obsessed with Pluto when he was younger. Otherwise, I don't get it why would anyone even consider Pluto "a friend" or even asked Pluto to "write if you get the chance"??? Haha... Funny guy!

Pluto I have no obsession with, but soccer,Yes! And I still haven't given up hope in wanting to organize "watch Euro 2008 together" as part of my plan to bring soccer to Stillwater!!!!!! And now, I even dreamt of more. I want to set up an organization, OSU Asian Soccer Association or something of that sort. I heard that the Jap and Chinese will sometimes play soccer on the weekends. Then, there are also S. KOrea and Vietnam teams. So what an opportunity, right? But my problem is I don't know any of them. I don't even have a friend!!!!!!!!! Howwwwwwwww!!!!!!! Coming to OSU really ruined my social life!!!!!!!!! NOt that I like to socialize very much, in fact I prefer to be left alone, drowing in soliditute and my own train of thoughts. But you need friend! A friend which you and your inner self won't be able to fulfil. Someone who is able to advise you, cheer you up, listen to your problems or crazy ideas or simply someone who will lend a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. I need a friend!!!!!!!!!!! But so far, it's not yet fulfilled :(

LIverpool won! Way to go Crouch! I hope you will maintain this standard and keep the goal coming! Kudos to Agger too! But I think Liverpool still need to work harder. Comeback king! Erm... I'm not being pessimistic here, but how long can you keep the title? Go Liverpool!

Wow, Arsenal lost. I think not many will consider Arsenal as one of the title contender this season. I just feel that the Arsenal team now seems weak.

I really miss reading Straits Times or The Newpaper. USA sucks! I want soccer matches! I want soccer news!!! I'm starving for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really miss home :( I miss talking to Jac on the phone. I miss disturbing my sis and bro till they are angry! Haha... I miss quarrelling with them too! I miss having someone to talk to. I miss the food, the companion, the climate... everything! I wonder when I go back next summer, will everything be the same just as I left them?

I may be an introvert but I still need friends. I don't want many friends. I just need a friend that I can click with and talk to. I don't need that many friends. What I need are true friends who will help me in times of need, and won't take advantage of me. I choose my friends wisely. I don't socialize much. I feel that if we are meant to be friends, one way or another, we will be friends.

Didn't earn much this week. Only work for 5 hours. I cleaned 3 suites today! And all of them are so dirty!!!!!!!!!!! And no tip! In fact the "normal" rooms usually have tips. Seriously, I should stop talking about how much money I earn and how much tip I got.

I saw the driver with blue eyes again. He really has nice eyes. OK, enough of that. Today, I had some sort of Elementary Calculus tutorial. And we spent an hour to go through a question. Wow!!! Mrs Koh, will you be shocked to hear this? Haha... I really really miss Mrs Koh's Maths lesson. The maths lesson here is so sucky!!!!!!!!! No wonder not many Americans like Maths. Anyway, my tutor is from Japan. She is a teaching asistant and she's doing her PhD in Maths right now. I can't imagine how she can survive solving equations and formulas!

And for yesterday, I had my English lesson. We continued to introduce ourselves and our partner. There's only sung, "Sasha" and I left. So, "Sasha" asked if I want to go first. I said no and he could be first. He was introducing me and he seemed to be very confident and I was very worried for him. I was wondering if he even know where I came from because I didn't remember if I told him that. True enough, he didn't know where I came from. Here's how he introduce me " I would like to introduce my friend. Her name is Can...i(I didn't think that anyone in the class could figure out my name!) and she's from Japan... (oh my gosh!!! Japan!!! ARGHHH!)" I shook my head and stared at him in horor! I am from INdonesia!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!! I didn't worry for nothing!

First day in school. Only two words to describe-boring and lonely. I really really miss the school days with 4e1!

I had english first, followed by sociology then elementary calculus and to wrap up the day, I had geology(the most boring lesson)!

THe english lessons are for international students. My cousin and I went to look for the room and when we found it, I opened the door and saw students already seated there. I couldn't see the teacher at first as she was sitting down and a "stand" blocked her. So we entered the class only to realise that there's a teacher there and we seemed to be way behind the lesson. And then we came to a conclusion that we came to the wrong class. Our class is supposed to start after this lesson. Oh my! What a great start!!! The english class was very very small. It consits of around 20 students. Many are from the "Russian domain" countries- Ukraine, Kazakhtan and Siberia. Even the teacher is from Ukrraine. A guy seated on my left is from Ukraine and his name is Sasha. I don't know if it's really spelt S-A-S-H-A, but it is pronounced that way. We were supposed to pair up and interview each other about where we came from, what are our interests, what languages we speak, and what is our major. I ended up with Sung so I asked "Sasha" if he would exchange place with me. But he didn't seem to get me and ended up joining us. He's "previous" group consisted of 3 ppl. I asked him if he know Shevchenko(sheva is the only ukraine i know until today!) HE didn't get me at first and when he finally did, I don't know why, he couldn't stop smiling and kept asking us how we know him. World cup! Tv! ok, so the interview went on poorly. And that "sasha" seemed to be uninterested with the whole thing and we would have to introduce our partner later!!! Knew it from crashing the previous lesson! Anyway, we couldn't introduce our group so we have to do it on wed.

Then for sociology, the prof was a little scary? She started by welcoming us to introduction to Physic , DR. Pullinurleg (pulling your leg! don't get it at first! Haha) Everyone was a little confused but then she explained that some refer to sociology as social physics!!! OOOOOOOOOhhhhhhh! She seemed to strict!!!

Then off to calculus. They changed the venue again!!! Argh!!! It took us some time to find the initial venue and then they changed it to somewhere we didn't know. We asked for direction and finally found the correct venue. WE were very late! So embarassing!!!

Geology was so boring! The teacher kept talking about lesson policies blah blah everything was stated in the handout!!!

After lesson, we went to Walmart the Gray bus was filled with people. People standig up till the steps! Reminded me of the times when I was boarding 105 bus to zhonghua. I miss singapore!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel that I'm losing contact with soccer and my dear liverpool!!! I was so busy with my housekeeping job and there's no epl news or matches broadcasted here. It's so frustating!!!

And it's even more frustating to know that Liverpool drew in their first match. ANd what's even more frustating was that they drew to Sheffield United!!! Sheffield united!!! They even need a penalty to equalize! Oh my! I really hope this was just a "warming up" for them. If they continue to play like this, kiss goodbye to the epl trophy or even to cl spot!

ARGH!!! GO LIVERPOOL!!!

It was raining cats and dogs! The rain started 15 mins ago. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Happy because finally after weeks of scorching hot days, salvation in the form of rain drops came to wash the hot climate away! Sad as it's my first day of school and I don't want to get wet!!!YEah, there's buses today, but I still have to walk to the bus stop and to the classes. By the way, I have never mentioned this- there's a bus driver who looks like Iker Casillas. Well, the fatter version of Casillas that is. Haha... Then, there's another driver. He doesn't look like anyone I know, but I like his eyes. He has blue eyes!!! I like that!!! But, no I don't have a crush on him. He's quite fat so not really my type. I just like his eyes.

I'm still feeling nervous. The butterflies in my stomach just won't go away!!! I hope everything turns out to be okay!!!

I ate the laksa cup noodle last night. It didn't taste like the real laksa, but at least can quench some of my carvings of laksa. I really really miss home. It's funny that now whenever I think of home, I will think of S'pore not Indo. My family and friends are in S'pore. I think S'pore has been a "home" for me for the past 8/7 years. Indo is only a place where I go for holiday, a sanctuary from the busy and stressful life I have as a student in S'pore. Yeah, I miss some of my realtives, the cheap things that Indo offers, the food, especially satay 'cause I don't like the satay in S'pore, e-mie, nasi padang... Ok, so Indo is all but a home. It holds my earliest memories and I really cherish that memories till today. I'm grateful that I'm able to spent my childhood days in Indo, instead of S'pore, because I was away from the "kiasuism" and stressfulness of the education system in S'pore. The carefree life that any children deserve, I got it in Indo. And when the riot striked, it's time to grow up. It's time to move to S'pore. S'pore has made me the way I am today. The more independent, mature and "serious" me! If I were to spend my teenage days in Indo, I bet I wouldn't be so serious about education, about what I want to do with my life... S'pore made me think to the future. I made friends there (well, all my friends are in S'pore. I have since lost contact with my childhood friends. Sad really but there's nothing I could do about it. ), I learnt alot academically, physically and emotionally there... I will always hold S'pore dear to my heart. It is after all my second home or my home for the past 8/7 years and it is still is now. Indo and S'pore saw how I grew up from a child to a teenager with raging hormones. But now, my present and future(for at least the next 4 years) are in Stillwater, OK, US. Thinking about this, I can't help but feeling really, really greatful to God for the opportunities He has given me ( being able to live in 3 different countries, which I feel has or will bring out the best of me in the different phases of my growing up years). Now, I can say that I spent my childhood in Indo, my teenagehood in S'pore and my early adulthood in USA! Envy me! Haha...

Haven't blog for quite a while. Well, I was so busy and tired. I had just moved house and I didn't realise that there're so many things to unpack! At least I have my "own home" now. I can do whatever I want to it! Actually, I didn't really do much to my new apt. Because I don't really know what to put. I wasn't allowed to use scotchtape on the wall, but I went ahead and use it to stick Gerrard's poster and some other stuffs. Otherwise, my bedroom wall will be "blank white"!!! So ugly!!!

I was busy working and attending orientation!!! The orientation was so boring. Then there's a section where we had to fill in a "tax form". As I had been living in S'pore for a while now, I had to put it as my country of tax residence and there's not exemption or anything. Indonesia, on the other hand, signed a treaty with usa and if the indonesian students earned less that a specific amount, $3300, I think, they don't need to pay any tax!!! So unfair. Just because I have been living in foreign land for some time, I'm being denied the right that my other fellow Indonesian have!

Fall classes start tmr. I was excited and anxious at the same time. Excited because I will finall be able to get a feel of what studying in OSU (or usa) is like. summer classes were like a brief introduction to it. Not the real thing! Anxious as I don't know what to expect. There're so many question marks- Are the professors nice? Are the classmates friendly and hence, I will finally be able to have friends? Will the subjects i'm taking be to difficult for me to handle?...

I will try to be open of what tmr or fall semester will be. I don't want to set any expectation because then I won't be too disappointed of what will happen!

Sung got $10 tip in a day from 1 room!!! I didn't get anything today! :( Talking about unfairness again! I wonder how long must I wait to get another tip! Another 2 weeks??? ARGH!!!

Tommy and Thomas are back!!! And my parents titip lots of things for me. Cup noodle (laksa)!!! Some seasoning to make laska, bah kut teh, fried rice, rendang.... Waah!!! So nice!!! I hope when I cook them they will taste nice too!

I want to rest and start packing for tmr.

I haven't blog for the past 2 days. I was busy buying the remaining stuffs for my new apt. on Friday. I even missed Finding Nemo on Disney Channel :( I had another tip again :) ANd Mabel was so nice again.

Yesterday was so darn tiring. I worked for almost 9 hours with only around 20 min of rest! I had to clean 13 rooms! MY back was aching so were my hands! Argh!!! I will have the same workload again today:(

I got tips $5 and 10cents!!! I was over the moon. Forget about the 10 cents. I found it on the floor, so I didn't know if it was a tip or not but since it's a check-out room, I took the money. And I was given $5 tip from a guest in the room 4440! I wasn't expecting much. I had resigned to my unluckiness of not ever getting any tip. So when I walked into the room, I was quite surprised to see the 1 dollar notes on the table. At first, I thought it was $4, but as I took the notes and counted them, altogether there were 5 one dollar notes!!! I was so so so happy. Finally, after almost 2 weeks of waiting, I got a tip!!! :D

Actually, I felt guilty for complaining a lot of not getting tip. I even blamed Lord for this unfairness. I guess Lord heard me and wanted to tell me that He doesn't forget me and all these was a test; a test to test my patience. Forgive me, Lord! (Yup, I believe in Lord Jesus. And I do pray to Him for guidance and of course forgiveness. I attended a Christian Protestant school for around 6 years before moving to S'pore. For that 6 yrs, I studied about Lord Jesus and every morning, there would be a prayer session before the start of the lessons. Every student would have the chance to lead the prayer. I could roughly recalled the prayer in Bahasa Indonesia, " Bapa kami yang ada di Surga, kuduskanlah namaMu..." That's was all I could remember. In English, it's called Lord's Prayer.
"Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
And deliver us from evil.
[For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
Now and forever. Amen.] "

Although I believe in Lord Jesus and pray to Him, I think I'm not prepared to commit myself to be a real Christian. Firstly, my dad may strongly object to it. The other time, when I accompanied "Endut" to church before going to the movie, my dad was angry. So, I think I will wait for the time when I'm really really prepared.

Back to my day as a housekeeper. Today, Mabel was the "head" as Pauline and Tommy weren't there. Speaking of Tommy, I haven't seen him for a week. Wonder what happen to him. And Mabel seemed to be in an extremely good mood. I cleaned 4th floor! Yeah!!! At first, Mabel paired me up with Vet, a new trainee. But Tiffany didn't come, so Vet and Sibo, another new trainee, got to do Tiffany's work. So I was left alone again :) I prefer to do the cleaning alone. Now, I know how the "senior housekeepers" felt when we were told to help out. Anyway, Lord must have a plan for me to get that full $5 tip. If Tiffany didn't come and Vet worked with me, I would have to split that $5. I felt really really guilty now. I hope Lord will forgive me.

I had to clean room 4438. It's a checkout room, but the guest, a young lady, was still sound asleep. I went there twice to check,but she was still sleeping till around 12pm! She must have a very late night. So, I went to help Sung out. Then while doing the cleaning halfway, Mabel came and told me that the guest in the room 4438 was already awake and should be gone by 12.30. So by around 12.40, the guest left. When I went into the room to clean, the lady left a note saying "PLEASE CONTINUE TO OFFER AMAZING SERVICE, BUT PLEASE REMEMBER, "A SMILE IS NOTHING BUT CONTAGIOUS."" I didn't know what she meant by that and I was even more puzzled by what Mabel said to her or did to her. Weird!!! Anyway, she didn't really use the bathroom, so I didn't have to spend so much time cleaning the bathroom ( I guess it's some sort of a tip) I hope tmr will be as good as today :)

I got to clean rooms alone again today :) It's nice to be alone, taking your own time doing the cleaning. But Daphnie kept coming and helped me stripped the bed. Yeah, she did help me save some time, but i just don't like the way she arranged the pillows and blankets. I have may way of arranging them in a way that will make it easier for me to put them back onto the bed. But, I don't really dare to say that I don't need her help. I mean, I could use some help, but other people do things differently and I don't really like that. I got a tip 35cents. Not much, but at least this was the most amount of tip I ever got. I found 25cents on the floor. I was a little apprehensive in taking it at first, but considering how dirty the room was and it's only a quarter, right? So I decided to take it! Hope I won't get into trouble. I'm wondering if the rooms that Daphnie entered before me to strip the beds had tips. It's difficult to trust somebody whom you don't know! I'm really intrigued by it. Hmph... I'm thinking of entering the rooms first. May be before I start my cleaning routine for the day, I will knock on 3 or 4 rooms and look inside if there are any tips and if there are, took them before Daphnie come. Or if I get quite a sum of money, I may leave some for her. But so far, I don't think many guests give tips :( Just my luck!

Oh, about Mabel and her dear cart. She complained that someone put in an "alien" bottle. I was going for a break and I went down to the housekeeprs room to take my chocolate. Mabel was already there taking her lunch and talking to Pauline. Then, she suddenly brought up the topic about the bottles. She said somebody put in a bottle which is not hers (hers have a name on them. REally, did she buy those with her own money??? How can she calls them her own when rightfully, they belonged to the hotel???) Anyway, she continued complaining," If you use somebody else's cart, don't take off any of the bottles or put in any bottles. My bottles were in the buckets..." *roll eyes*For the record, I wouldn't have to put in an extra bottle of cleaners(red in color liquid) if she put it with the rest of the bottle. I tried to look for it (trying to be nice) but I couldn't find it. So, I did the most correct thing, take another bottle! Complain, complain, complain, she might as well bring a locker and lock "her" cart and bottles inside. I didn't know if she knew I used her cart yesterday. May be she did, may be she didn't. Whatever it is, my conscience is clear. I didn't do anything wrong.

I wonder how many rooms I will clean tmr. I just hope that I would get to clean rooms in 4th floor. They don't have extra beds and they tend to be cleaner than 2nd and 3rd floors(especially 2nd) I got a really really hard time cleaning the rooms in 2nd floor on Tuesday. Spare me the torture, please? Well, at least for tmr, cause I will need to visit my apt after work!

My fingers are aching again. They didn't hurt so much yesterday! May be due to the build up from yesterday. *sigh* 4 more days to go before having a 3 days off. CAn't wait. I really hope tmr's workload is not so heavy. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to clean the bathroom properly, I will just roughly wipe it. The dark unknown secret of housekeeping...
I really wonder how people like Beverly and Charlotte can work everyday doing such things. Won't they feel very tired, hands, arms and back aching, feeling bored...
From this week onwards, my weekends are gone. They will be filled with housekeeping stuffs. What a "great" way to spend weekends!

Ok, I got my wish. Sung and I were given the opportunities to do rooms on our own. I got 8 and sung got 9. Before jumping into conclusion that I got the easier job, let me tell you that of the 8, 7 have extra beds and many rooms around 5 or 6 were darn dirty. And this is the first time I cleaned a toilet in which the guests used every singel towel! I got a really hard time cleaning it! So many stuffs inside the small rooms :( And I didn't get any tip at all. Sung got another $2 plus. This is not fair!!! and his rooms were so much cleaner than mine :( Stupid guests! Know your rooms so untidy still didn't care to give the housekeepers any tip!!! I finished last :( Due to insufficient carts, I have to use Mabel's. She's off today. I hope I didn't do anything that she doesn't like to her carts. Beverly told me that Mabel doesn't like anyone to use her cart(as if she owns it. Might as well bring it home everyday!) I really really hope I won't get into trouble tmr. That Mabel will be back!!! Argh!!!

My arms muscles are aching! For some rooms, I'm just too tired that I didn't really change every single sheet. And for the bathroom, i just roughtly wipe it dry so it will seem clean. What you expect? Very tired you know. If got tip, I may be encouraged to do a better job. Well, SAndie was off today, she may be back tmr, so I better do my rooms carefully, or else she will complain about me! I don't know if I will be on my own again tmr. I hope I am.

After work, we went to clean up our apt. Our neighbour is a japanese family. A whole day of cleaning. My hands are becoming rough!!! I must remember to put lotion! I'm only 19, can't have a wrinkled hands.

I read a thread on the class forum titled "special thanks". I can't believe I didn't notice it before. After reading those thanks from my classmates, it was appealing to write my own thank you 'speech'. I know I didn't really gel well with everyone in the class. I prefer to mix with those people that I feel comfortable to be around with. That's me! I choose friends. I don't make friends easily. I don't socialise. I believe if we are meant to be friends, we will get along naturally. Actually, that's what happen so far!

Here is my short thank you 'speech' :

4e1'05 -- the best class to be in. Thank you for the wonderful memories :) I really cherish them. How I miss those times! And of course, thank you everyone for putting up with my craziness about Gerrard and Liverpool ;)

Jac-- THank you so so much for always being there for me. Your advice, patience with my tantrum, nonsense, non-stop chattering about gerrard and liverpool are really precious. Thanks also for your call every night. I really miss talking to you on the phone!

Ren-- THanks for your nonsense( or jokes). They always brighten my day. Thanks for your long long emails. Keeping me occupied and happy :)

Wilson-- Thanks for letting me call you A Kwa ;) Thank you for being there to talk about soccer(smsing, talking about soccer during lessons especially during phy lessons in Sec 3 whenever Mrs Ngiam said "discuss with your partner", we will always discuss soccer instead. Haha...) and some other things(like that person on the bus) I'm still waiting for the things that you owe me!!!

Monica-- Thanks for your concern and encouragement. Coming from the same hometown, it's easy for us to relate to each other's "homesickness".

YSK-- Miss your laughter! Thanks for making me laugh! You and Ren--- the perfect couple! Haha...

Yaowen-- Cheeky boy! Your hou lian pi and nonsense brighten up my day. Your lame ideas amazed me. Still owe me things too!

And for the 6 of you, thank you for your companion on the day before I left for USA! Thank you so much. Very early "celebration" for my 20th B'day. My first time playing pool... Thanks *shedding tears*

For the teachers who taught me- Ms Tan CI, Mrs Koh, Mrs Wong, Mr Koh, Mrs Ngiam, Mrs R. Seah... thank you so much from the valuable guidance.

THank you is never enough a word to convey my deepest gratitude to all of you.

I did the bathroom today. I had only 1 cent and a small basket today. Sung had tip again :( This time is more. He had $2.50. It's not fair!!! All I ever gotten was 1 cent!!!

Yoshi got to do housekeeping alone. He had been doing that since Sat. Well, I just hope that I could do the cleaning alone tmr. I really would like to try out how to do my own cleaning!!! Own timing, no need to "kan pie ren de lian se". I really really hope i can do the cleaning myself. It's like end of training and naik pangkat!!! Actually just now sung and I were about to be given our own list and could do the cleaning by ourselves, but Pauling(the person in charge) was worried that we could not manage cleaning 10 rooms :(

Please Lord let me be able to work on my own tomorrow. I really would like to know my own speed.

And I had to work on Sat and Sun. I'm supposed to move house this sun. Oh well, i think I will have to think of another plan. Pauline said that she could let us off on next Wed and Thur to move house. But, the good days to move house are on Aug 10 (Thur) and Aug 13 (sun). Yeah, I'm rather superstitious. I would rather be safe than sorry.

"Thou hast thrust sore at me that I maight fall: but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my my salvation. " Psalm 118

I was reading the Holy Bible which was given to my cousin by a friend. And I found this verse conforting. You'll Never Walk Alone! As LORD is watching over you!

driving lesson

Just came back from my driving lesson. I'm still feeling very nervous. I haven't been driving for 4 months. I wasn't as nervous as last time. May be because there weren't that many cars and also it's a lot easier to drive the automatic car. I have to watch my speed limit often. I would drive too fast or too slow. Sometimes, when I was driving 60mph, I got this feeling as if I was speeding (the speed limit is 65mph) or I was going to lose control of the car!!! I really need to conquer this fear! I didn't have the chance of trying out the uphill parking and do lots of turning like Sung. May be I will ask Kokogi to let me try it out, but I don't think he will let me *shrug* I think I wil need a couple more lesson, but if kokogi will let us practise using his car, we may only need 1 more lesson. It's quite expensive. USD50 per hour!!! But I think Sung may be able to take the test with 1 more lesson and I may need 2 more lessons. He's, not surprisingly, a better driver than me. I was wondering how many tests I must sit for before I will be able to pass my prac. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but I really really don't think that I will be able to pass on my first try. I only just made it for my theory, and the prac is supposed to be more difficult :(

I had a "video conference" with Ren. Haha... Used Sung's notebook 'cause his has a built-in webcam. I haven't talked to Ren for a long long time. REally miss her! And of course my other friends too. It's really comforting to be able to talk to Ren. I made me less homesick, actually. And it definitely cheered me up. I was having a bad day in the afternoon, feeling homesick and everything. So being able to see Ren and see her cheecky smile really made me happy :)

I haven't been blogging about soccer lately, have I?

Liverpool lost again! I can't believe it! No wonder Mourinho is writing them off the EPL title challenge.

Hmph... May be it's Benitez' trick into thinking that Liverpool is struggling even before the new season starts. I hope it is. Then, I wont' have to worry about my dear liverpool. I really hope they can win EPL this season. If not, then I would settle for any team as long as it's not Chelsea. But i'm not very hopeful. They made some good signing this season. Ballack, Shevchenko...

All the best Liverpool!

YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE!

I'm so so so so so frustrated. Firstly,it's because I miss home. Secondly and more importantly, it's because of that stupid Mabel. She worked darn slow today. And Sunggoro worked with her!!! I, by some luck, got to work with Beverly again. So, I finished early today at around 1.30. Then, I had to wait for an hour for Sung. I wanted to help him actually, but he was doing the bathroom, so I couldn't really help him. He asked me to do the bed cause he had twin beds. But, I didn't want to because that Mabel definitely wouldn't want any help. I knew it because 1) Bevely told me that you don't help Mabel! 2) She wants her paycheck. The longer the more money she had 3) When I approached the room she worked in, she coldly said to me, " What do you want?" ( Duh! Isn't it obvious? Of course I wanted to talk to my cousin. Bu ran yao gen ta tan qing suo ai arh?) I replied as a matter of factly and coldly too, " I want to talk to my cousin." She told me to go to the bathroom. I did and I told him I will wait for him till 2pm and if he's still not done, I might help him. He still had 4 rooms left. My goodness! I know he had many twin beds to do, but surely not that slow! Oh well, it's that Mabel! I actually wanted to wait in the housekeeping room, but there's ppl in there. Then this lady who I had only seen today kept staring at me. Her name is Sandy and her work is to check the room that had been cleaned. She looked at me as I sat down and read the papers. I pretend not as if nothing is wrong. May be she feels that I should go home and not wait for sung there. Well, if she's sitting down in the room, resting instead of doing her work, why can't I do that too? In fact, I'm not the only one who waste time. What about those ppl who take too many breaks? My job is done, but I'm waiting for my cousin as we usually punched out together. I don't know if they allow it, but Beverly always wait for Charlotte and they go home together. Why can't sung and I? By the way, Beverly went for job interview as a teaching assistant. But she will only know if she get the job on tue. I hope she gets it because she need more money and it's really better for her. She not young anymore and housekeeping job is really tiring. And today is Stacy's last day. You can't last long as a housekeeper, can you? ( I still have 2 more weeks and 1 whole fall semester to go before I can call it quit! But i'm working on the the excuse to quit the job alr. I should stop thinking about quitting when I barely started :( *sigh* Can you blame me?)

Before I proceed with telling you the rest of the day, let me just commend on something about the surprise "farewell party". Yes, with the inverted commas. Why? because it's not a party at all. The food came, then we sat around the table, waiting for Stacy to be surprised. Stacy came, she looked surprised, but since she's a quiet lady, she didn't say much or show too much emotion. She came in, sat down and ppl started queueing for food( fried chicken, Mabel's potato salad and baked beans, bread and soft drinks) Then, we sat down and eat our food quietly. Not many ppl talk. Even when they were talking and joking, it's... I don't really know how to put it into words, but basically what i'm trying to say is that there wasn't any atmosphere at all. Hello, it's supposed to be a party. There should be laughter echoing the whole room or tears being shed since it's a farewell party. But nothing! No party mood whatsoever. There wasn't even a thank you speech by Stacy or any form of speech by the other "senior housekeepers". And you called this a farewell party? The inverted commas are so appropriate! Sitting there, staring at the wall, listening to some ppl's talk or jokes which I didn't understand at all, made me think back of the fun time I had with 4e1 or even with the Library and Art Club ppl. What they mean by a gathering, a party(of any sort) is really a gathering and a party. The mood is just right, not too mild not too wild! I really missed those days. And I started to miss my family too.

Back to the topic, so, I had to wait for Sung. I sat in the housekeeper's room a little while. After observing me for a few seconds, Sandy decided to do her work! I was left alone with the laundry lady who did her ironing in the room cause the big iron in there(I don't know why. So don't ask me) I asked her if she needed help. She said no. So I looked around the room for a while before deciding to leave the room. I looked for Sung again and he still had 3 more rooms. I decided to sit on the staircase. I sat there all alone and as I looked out of the window into the clear blue sky, I started to think about my family and my friends in Singapore. I missed them really really really x100 badly (i'm crying again now as I recalled this! Argh!) . I haven't think of them that much for the past few days as I was too tired from the housekeeping job. As I think of them, I started to cry. It lasted for a few minutes. I wanted to be a secondary school students again. I noticed the "senior housekeepers" are a bunch of hyprocriates ( except of Beverly and Charlotte, I think) Well, at least they seem to be more sincere than the rest. They smiled at you and what you are saying when it's really obvious that that smile on their face are fake. They seemed to be nice to you, but when you are not looking, they talk behind your back(ok, students do that too, but we kinna expect more from adults, right?) It's really scary! I don't want to be that when I grow up. I hope I can get along well with my collegues and I don't have to pretend to be nice to them when I clearly don't like them. And I really don't want to do such a job when I grow up. I envision myself to be working in an office doing a more "high class job". I'm not saying that being a housekeepers are shameful, but really, when you have a bachelor or master degree, will you really want to work as a housekeepers? NO! you want to work in a nice office!!! By the way, there's a bunch of girl basketball players staying in the hotel. While I was cleaning the rooms in the second floor, they girls came, chattering noisily down the hallway. They stopped in the middle of the hallway as one of the girls was talking to her father whose room happened to be in the middle of the hallway. I forgot to empty the dustbin in one of the room and I had to go back to empty it. So this girl wiht a basketball in her right hand and chewing on her left hand, blocked the way. I said excuse me really nicely, but she looked at me as if I'm a filth and move her upper body only by a few inches. I had to squeeze behind her, trying not to come into contact with her. REally, she's probably only around 12 years old and she's already doing that. What's wrong by being a housekeeper? Does being a basketballer ( not even a national basketballer) so great? She really mei jia jiao. Her parents have failed in educating her!!!!

Ok, back to me waiting for Sung. Where was I? Oh ya, I was crying when I finally stopped, I felt much better. I heard somebody coming down the stairs. I quickly grabbed my backpack and run away. I looked for Sung again, and he still hadn't done yet. It's almost 2.30 pm now. Then I thought of a brilliant excuse. We or rather he had to leave as he's meeting his advisor at 2.30pm. Mabel was taking a break, smoking. I decided to change inside the bathroom then, he asked me to help him clean. I was a little apprehensive at first as I didn't want that Mabel to find me cleaning the bathroom. But I couldn't just stand and look at Sung cleaning the room by himself. So I decided to help him a little and hopefully be able to finish or stop cleaning before that Mabel came back. But my hope was trashed as Mabel came back and saw me cleaning the bathroom. Then, she said coldly to me, " We don't need help!" I tried to reply her but she just wouldn't listen to what I have to say and just shook her head and kept saying, "No, No..." Really wish she sprained her neck! I felt like telling her, "What do you mean by WE? YOU don't need any help, but my poor cousin DO!!!" No point in talking to an unreasonable person like her. I went out and then Sung told her that he had to left now as he need to see the advisor at 2.30 . Then she brought us to see Pauline ( the person-in-charge since Tommy was off), but she's nowhere to be found. The laundry lady told her to just let us or Sung off and she could just do the remaining room by herself(she should be over the moon!!! Still act for what?) that Mabel replied, " Oh, I just feel that I should tell somebody of higher position (the correct word should be of higher AUTHORITY!!!)." The laundry lady: "you can tell Sandy!" That Mabel just ignore her and walked away toward the "punch in and punch out" room and muttered under her breath," Sandy ain't of higher position." ( At least what Sandy is doing is of higher position than you!) REally, she could just stop pretending and cut her acting( which was really really damn lousy. Oh well, if she can act so well, she might as well go to Hollywood, right?) by being nice to us (when she just snapped at me a few min ago) and trying to find ways to let Sung off(when actually she could just let him off since he's a trainee) The point was she just wanted to waste some more time! URGH! What a hyprocriate! We still have training next week. I think I may have to work under her again. I really really hope against all odd, I don't have to be so unlucky! WE punched out and apparently, we worked for 22 hr for the week. 2 hours over. I hope we won't get into trouble. And that Mabel saw me punched out at the same time with Sung when obviously I wasn't doing anything for the past hour. I think she knew (that I haven't punched out yet) , but I also think she didn't. I just hope that she didn't tell this to Tommy. I could actually complain the same thing about her, couldn't I? But i heard from Beverly that Tommy likes Mabel because she works longer and Tommy has this feeling that she's doing a great job. We just thinking that if we wait for one another, we can get more or less the same amt of time and hence, the same amt of money. We have the same job after all. I don't think it's really fair, the pay per hour system. It's like if you manage to finish the job early, you got lesser pay than those who did it slower because they dilly-dally and we are given the same number of room to clean. Where's justice!!! That's why, I want to work somewhere with a fair salary system. I have to start and end work as stated in the office hour. This is fairer!!! And if I really have the chance, I will write a long letter of complaint to the manager or any person who has the highest AUTHORITY about this unfair work system to the housekeepers! May be I will do that before I quit or better when I have found a new job and this may be a perfect chance for me to be sacked!!!

Oh yar, talking about that Mable, in the morning, she came to Beverly and checked her trolley for her spray bottle. She found it there and just took it away, saying, "This is mine! See my name here?" I didnt' see the whole point of having to get back her bottle by searching everyone's trolly when she could just use another bottle. Beverly had to get a new one. If I really really have to use my own spray bottle before I could do my job properly(because I'm a weird person who can't work without my own things!) I would take a bottle and then search my bottle and when I found it, I would give the bottle without my name on it to the person who happened to have my bottle for whatever reason. Sooooooo unreasonable!

I really wrote a lot, but I just have to get all these out of my chest to fell at ease. I really missed calling jac at night and pour out all my worries, my complaints... I really miss everyone in Singapore. OH my, I started to cry again!

just came back. My hands are so red and sore, especially the tips of my fingers!!! And my back too. Housekeeping job is really not good for the back!!! I worked for 5 hours again today. Actually, I finished early. I didn't really have a break :( I worked with Beverly again today. I did the bed again. I wanted to practice my "bed making" skill. I felt that I need some more practice to do make the bed faster. WEll, I felt that I'm going more faster. I can make the queen size bed in around 15 min. Then, Beverly let me tried out to do the whole room by myself. I did it under 35 min! Well, actually, i didn't really clean the bathroom properly. I just roughly wiped it dry (I'm tired , okay!)

Then, after we finished, we went to the housekeeping room at the basement. There was a box of sugared doughnut. I really wanted to take 1 and eat because I didn't have my lunch and my stomach was impatiently nagging at me, telling me that it wants food!!! Then, Mabel and Yoshi came in , followed by Daphne and Charlotte. Mabel was looking at Daphne and smiled at her, asking how she was doing. Then, she just looked at me and smiled. After that, she praised Yoshi in front of everyone, saying that he made a bad very fast in 15 min. (Daphne worked with Mable on Tue and Yoshi today) Then, Beverly came to my rescue by praising me for cleaning the whole room in 30min(I think it's more like 32 min, oh well, who cares?) Mabel just smiled and kept quiet. Haha... who had the last laugh now? Me!!!! Yeah, I heard Yoshi do work very fast. Fast doesn't mean good, right? What's the hurry? I need to clock 20 hours!!! So, man man lai!
Mabel then pat me on the back and said that I was made to make the bed the whole of yesterday to practice the hospital corner. I think she's the only one who's very particular about it. I've seen how Beverly and Stacy(sunggoro worked with her,and since I finished early, I looked for him and helped him out) and they are not that particular about it! I know Mabel didn't like me much because I did my work very slowly and I seemed to not know anything and a slow learner. And yesterday, she kept complaining about the trainee housekeepers, saying that we cut short her working hours (2 ppl= twice the speed), and she wanted her paycheck... For the record, 2 ppl didn't equate to twice the speed. I made the bed almost two times slower than her. If anything, I (or we) were helping her(or them) to "work" longer!!! I was hurt by the comment. I'm a very sensitive girl. I felt like saying that since I went very slowly in doing my work, I didn't slow her down and it's not my fault that she got a trainee with her. If she didn't want, she can just complain to Tommy! I didn't like her. She smokes and she's loud. She kept calling me Hon, Girlfriend, then kept saying dude... I know it's typical of american. But so far, I never heard anyone said that or they way they said it doesn't sound as crude as the way Mabel said it. In a nutshell, I don't like Mabel. I'm not the only one, Beverly doesn't like her too.

I got the card which excesses to every single room in the hotel with the help of Beverly. Sung had it too. See, oldies are so much nice. But Mabel lookes quite old. There's always exception, isn't it?

I didn't have any tip :( But I got a bunch of candies and a can of diet coke. Sung got another dollar :( I saw a few coins on the table for some rooms, but they are stay over room so we, housekeepers should not touch anything belonging to the guests.

Second day at work. Work for around 5 hours again. 10 hours altogether! Yeah! I made... I can't remember how many beds I made today. I think it's about 8??? I worked with Mabel. She's stricter than Beverly. She asked me to make the bed. Then, if I get to work with her again tomorrow, which I really really really hope not, she will let me do the toilet. I made the bed very slowly again. Most of the time, Mabel would be done with the toilet and will watch me :(

ONly 2 days and I'm already dislike(I wanted to say hate, but it's too strong a word) my new job :( It's hard you know. My hands are red and sore from all the tucking in of the sheets. My arms and back are aching... NEXT TIME, IF ANY OF YOU HAPPEN TO STAY IN A HOTEL, BE KIND AND HELP THE HOUSEKEEPER BY PULLING OFF BE BLAKET ALTOGETHER. DON'T JUST PULL OFF ONE OF THE SIDES(because the housekeepers would change the bedsheet everyday!!!) And remember to leave some tips before you check out :) So far, I haven't received any tip yet. But I found a penny in one of the room while vacuuming it and I took it when Mabel's not looking :P My first penny, I will frame it up!
And today, mark my first time using a vacuum. Well, I think I used a vacuum before, but not the type they have in USA, so I was a little blur on how to operate the vacuum cleaner. And Mabel was laughig loudly at me, and started telling her friends. Well, can you blame me? I have always use broom and dustpan. Gimme a break!!! I'm learning!!!!!

Tommy said we should at least work for 1 semester. Trust me, if I can find a new job after Fall Semester, I would quit this housekeeper job! I know I should not complain when I have job and earning money, but I'm wondering if it's really worth the pain and everything.

And today, I received an email from the school dining service. They want to see my cousin and I and there may be a potential job for us. Hello, I applied for it for ages, ok about 2 month to be exact, but why now!!! Why now when I have found a job!!! I don't know about the pay, they didn't list it. Hope it's lesser than this housekeeping job, this will console me a little. I think working in the dining service is easier and they may provide us with free food! It's dining service after all.

Anyway, I should be grateful that eventually, after 19 years of my life, I started working and earning my own money. Money from my own sweat and hard work!!! I should be proud of myself! Good job!!!!

I don't know if I need to work on Saturday. Hopefully not, because I don't have a car. And if I need to, I will have to stay overnight at the uncleaned apt. But wait! If I work for another 5 hours for tomorrow and friday, this will make it 20 hours for the week. And I can't work more than 20 hr! (well, I don't know if this applies for summer. Kokogi said students may be allowed to work longer for summer. Hope not!!! I need a break! I'm still adjusting with this work!!!) Yes, now i know how lucky my life has been. I'm really a "da xiao ce"! It's okay, i'm changing!!!

Housekeeping job started today. Was it fun cleaning guests room? Well, to tell you the truth, it's more fun to be the guests. Duh! what am I talking about? I reported at 9am sharp but the supervisor, named Tommy, taked his own sweet time about telling us how to punch in and assigning us to "senior housekeepers". Well, I didn't really mind cause it's written in the slip for those who forgot to punch in. That I reported for work at 9 am. I got paid by the hour. So, I was being a little irresponsible, but I didn't mind waiting, so "take it slowly, Tommy!" I started cleaning at around 10am, I think. I was the understudy of an old lady named Beverly. She's nice, but she is a hardworker. She didn't even take a break. When she took one, she took it while we were cleaning the last room. Actually, that room was supposed for me to clean. Well, she taught me how to make the bed and clean the bathroom. Then, she asked me to clean the bathroom so I wouldn't be too confused. But at the last room, she decided to take her break and eat the cheese cracker while I was busy cleaning the bathroom. But I guessed I cleaned the bathroom too slowly. She finished eating her cracker before I finished cleaning the bathroom. So in the end, I didn't manage to make the bed. We finished cleaning at around 12pm. Then she felt that I still need some more practice, so we helped another housekeeper, whom Sunggoro was under. They still had 4 more rooms, we helped them cleaned 2 rooms. This time, I got to make the bed. I made the bed too slowly and the other end was too short to be tucked in :( I still need some practice. In the end, we finished at 1pm. Then we asked Tommy for the letter to make our SSN. He again, took his own sweet time. Well, it's okay. I would punched out when he gave me the letter. So we took about an hour for him to find the file, get the letter "stationary" don't know what it meant at first, but it's like "cut and paste the letter into a paper with the hotel logo". So, we punched out at 2pm. 5 hours of work(and waiting). Well, I didn't take my deserved break!!!!
And I got my uniform also. So ugly!!!

I had to report earlier tomorrow at 8am!!! I have to remember to take some food and water to eat and drink. The last thing I want is to get gastric pain!!! NOw, my lip a little cracked as I didn't drink any water for 3hr?

And, my cousin received a letter from his gf from S'pore. And I haven't received any letter yet from anybody. Do you hear that A kwa, ren, jac...? And it cost my cousin's gf only 50cents to send him a card and some photos!!!!! It cost me 84cents, in USD!!:( Ren, how come it's so cheap? Well, mon says she's writing me a letter soon, but she seems to be very busy, and ren said that she may send me card cause i'm moving house soon. *hoping*