~Aaron~

People this is my new blog: www.lightbearer2110.blogspot.com

no longer using this one.

Of course, i’m going to leave this intact

The trip to Italy was really amazing despite the visit was
rather rushed (I didn’t even get to see my Italian friend, David). Italy is richly diffused with arts and
history. Carvings, sculptures, monuments and paintings were every where.

The views
were fantastic, the FOOD is delicious (and HUGE!) and the people here are GORGEOUS!

 The 7 of us
were had a great time!

Milan + Venice (day 1-2)

 
Day 1

After a
rather alarming dash to the airplane (we almost missed it) for our flight to
Milan, we arrived at Milan’s Bergamo airport. From there, our
adventurous journey of exploring the land where very few people actually speak
English began. We ‘went’ to Milan to get to Venice (it worked out to be much
cheaper than landing in the other 3 cities themselves, because the tickets were
bought late. Lesson: get your ticket ASAP!).

 
We took the
train to Venice and arrived at our accommodation around 6pm. That is, after 6 hours of journey
from Milan ! Not a pretty straight forward journey after all, compounded by the
fact that the camping site (i.e our accommodation) was not anywhere near main
area in Venice. We still had to take a bus to get there, and then walked to that
place. Frustrations came as we couldn’t communicate clearly to the people here
and we were quite lost with our directions (imagine, we wasted about 30 minutes
trying to locate the bus stop. Ok fine, it was partly our fault too, not
reading instructions properly. hehe).

 
However,
Italian people are really warm and helpful. We were in the bus to our
accommodation and we had no clue whatsoever where we should stop. Other
passengers who noticed our desperation helped us a lot, even when some of them
couldn’t speak English! And how grateful of us when there were some who could
actually speak them!

 
We didn’t
actually camp, despite being in a campsite. We instead opted for ensuite rooms.
Ahh….at least the adventure that we had trying to get to that place was
worthwhile!

Day 2

We went to
the island part of Venice (the main attraction spot) and
spent the entire day walking. An extremely wonderful paradise, and I think the pictures
you see here say it all. Just one particular thing: my trip to Italy was already completed with the
music that came from the accordion that I found in Venice. Completed the narrow
streets+Italian+accordion+pizza+gelato scene! Yay!

Florence (Day 3+4)

The only
significant thing I did here was: lining up to see a sculpture of a naked man.
Ya ya ya, a sculpture called to be the “The Perfect Man”, the statue of David,
sculpted by a man called Michangello. The rest of the day…makan, makan, makan.
I like!

Must say
the best accommodation in all the 6 days. Felt like home.

 And this is
when Mimi was officially called “Mimichan”. Hehe

 Yup, went
to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Rome + Vatican City(Day 5+6)

 
Went to the
Colesseum – never imagined it to be THAT huge. The Forum, which is next to it,
is modern-day equivalent of London in those ancient times. Then to the
famous Fontana di Trevi (Fountain of Trevi)……it’s a beautiful huge man-made
elaborated outdoor pool! Unlike the museums in Malaysia, the museums here are about rocks,
paitings, and sculptures. Too bad I’m not a ‘museum’ type of a person – being in
a museum for longer than 2 hours was already unbearable for, although that’s still
not enough by Roman museum standard to completely explore them.

 Next day,
was Vatican City! Made me thought a lot about God when I was
there. What more when the day before was Good Friday and the next day would be
Easter. A majestic physical presentation of Christianity. It’s a must for every
Christian to visit Vatican City!

 Xxx

 
And there
you go, a visit to Italy . I’m sooooooooooooooooo going there
again!

When I first read this, it was really inspirational. But after I read again for the second, it felt scary. Thanks Ben for the story..

THE WINDOW
    Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

    And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
      

    One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t hear the band, he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head:
Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything ?
It didn’t seem fair. As the thought fermented the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - that thought now controlled his life.

    Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing.

    Now there was only silence —– deathly silence.

    The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it away — no works, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

    It faced a blank wall.

St Barts choir (not BL choir) is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool. I can’t wait for the day that we will be performing, which is 18 April; because it’s grand!!!!!

There are 400 choir and ochestra members altogether!!!!!

But coolest part is….. we’re perfoming it in ROYAL ALBERT HALL. THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!!!!!

Oh, i’m just really excited!

Siti Nurhaliza (just like what Ihsan has said) already had a performance there. I’m going to a (group) performance there…

So apa macam…..saya, Siti - ada ngam punya?????? hehe

Well, it’s been a looooooooooooooooooong while since I last updated my blog.
Between my last time writing and now; 4 significant events occured:

1. I went home to Malaysia!!!!!! FUN FUN FUN FUN…and malaysian food…*drooling*
2. Mum’s birthday!!!!
3. I went to Cambridge!!!
4. It snowed in London!!!

Really lazy to elaborate on those.heh. But basically, I had fun!!!!!

I just finished my Brain and behaviour last week. I really thought i would screw up this one big time, given that I skipped one week of class (while having fun in Malaysia) and I could not concentrate at all the following. That equals 2 weeks of lag behing studies!! But surprisingly, I thought I was much better prepare for this module than my previous modules.

The next day i went to cambridge; excellent weather. And an even better reason was, i didn’t have to worry about exams! Gee..that really makes me feel look like a geek, where everything revolves around exam.Heh

On another matter, this year I am taking British Sign language Class (i don’t quite understand why people actually gave me a look when I told them i’m doing sign language).It’s £50 for 20 classes, with weekly classes. This will probabbly last until June. There are about 20 of us in the class from different years (all medics). The tutor managed to make us enjoy the course, so far. I find him to be a very funny guy. But the more amusing thing is that, he is BOTH deaf and mute (i.e he can neither hear nor speak)!!!!! So far, I’ve learn how to the alphabets, months, days, numbering and some basic conversation lines. weeeee!!!

And yes, how could i forget about my new wife HP RW 6828?? It’s a PDA phone. I’m still trying to fix technical problems related to MMS and WiFi (this baby can surf the net!). My main uses are: phone, planner, music and keeping my lecture notes. I just realise just how much you can in a very short time. I actually finish reading lecture on schizophrenia in about 5 minutes while waiting for the bus! And in the future, this baby of mine will be going to the hospital with me; I want to fill it in with medical references. Smart doctor.Heh

The Swimmer

If I were to be asked what is the greatest personal achievement that I have being in the UK, probably as for now it would be teaching myself how to swim. Through trials and errors, occasional near-drowning experiences in Mile-end swimming pool at a depth of just 1.8m, and a demanding life guard asking me (a super amateur!) to do a 25m non-stop swim test(trust me, that was difficult and scary for me), I somehow know how to swim. And yes how could I forget the insults of some of my friends, teasing me that my sperm can swim but I can’t. Haha.

Now, I really love swimming! I think I’m more confident now! I learn that there are some things which you can teach yourself. Some philosopher’s quotation : "There are 3 ways of learning: hands-on, which is the easiest; wisdom, which is the noblest; experience, which is the bitterest." (Thanks to Hani, here’s the improved version of the quotation: "By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is
noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and Third, by
experience, which is the bitterest"-Confucius-)

Yesterday, Aini and I went to another swimming pool, called St george’s pool. This time it really literally went into a much greater depth. Imagine,from my usual gradually-becoming-deep Mile End pool, it turns to a from-1.8m-to-suddenly-3.3meter(!) pool!!! I didn’t know that it’s a diving pool! Anyway, I did swim through the deep waters. I admit, it was rather scary at first but an exciting experience. All that went through my mind that mind were, if I screw up this, there will still life-guard (and Aini) to save me; and, to overcome the fear, befriend and respect it- and it will most likely reciprocate your actions, and save your life.

The Obese

I had a lecture today about obesity, and I now appreciate the fact that there are just some people that are just meant to be like that - it’s in their genes. Really. But the fact that obese-gene seem to have exist to this day demonstrates that it has survive the course of human evolution where only the fittest will survive.

I thought about it; if I were fated to be obese, can I accept it given the becoming-fit craze prevalent in the society? True, obesity does symbolise morbidity or some sort along the line. But somehow for some people, it also manifests a sense of accepting yourself, just being yourself. The inward beauty,so to speak

The Slowly dying friend

I’m currently watching a Japanese series called ‘1 liter of Tears’. It’s based on a true of the life of a girl with incurable disease called spinocerebellar degeneration disease (SCD), a gradual death of your brain cells consequently the loss of normal body function and ultimately death. The drama depicts how her life was from when she was still normal until her death.

I made me think, what would I do if the doctor suddenly broke the news of such disease to me? Knowing that I will slowly no longer be able to do the things that I enjoyed doing, and eventually die in few years’ time, what would I do? How would I live life with a reality and future that seem to be condemning me?

Or probabbly, the first question that will come to my mind: Why me?

Why me?

Why am I unlucky to have this?

Probabbly the best for that is: "having this disease is not unlucky, it’s just…inconvinient."

I just love the fact that how her family and friends were very supportive.

Trust me, ‘ 1 liter of tears’ is a very touching story. It constantly reminds of me of the people and things around me, that I have taken for granted.

Haven’t cried yet =P

Day 1
Flight from London to Eidhoven (and then a bus to Amsterdam) was rather adventerous…. my flight was at 7am so I had to leave home to take the bus around 3 am, alone (I was travelling on my own for this trip)!!!! Immediately after I settled down at my accommodation, a hostel (and met my dormmates form England and Italy), I did the normal thing that I like to do in London - random walking! I deliberately got myself lost in Amsterdam to explore the city centre, and of with the aid of maps.

Amsterdam is really a cute city- so many canals in the city and all the buildings are closed-knitted - the sense of community is kinda strong. This city has great views…and it’s very, serene.
One thing that I couldn’t help but to discover is the ubiquity of bicycles in Amsterdam.

Think this is bizarre? Then look at this following pic

They even
have a parking space for bicycles!

Little I realised my hostel is just around the corner of the infamous Red Light District. Hehe. Girls, both young and old, exhibiting (yeah, exhibiting!) and selling themselves behind glass windows.

As much as prostution is legal here, it seems that (certain) drugs are too. The one that seemed to be the favourite is called ’sendi seeds’ (because I just somehow constantly see shops selling them). Coccaine is somewhat in trend too , although illegal (several people dicreetly and secretly aske me if I want some).

Day 2
Today I took a day tour trip to Belgium, namely region of Anthwerp and Brussels (capital city). Nothing much to comment on the former. But as for Brussels, here it goes. Has two distinct areas: the uptown (for residential purpose) and downtown (commercial). The uptown being dodgy; but dowtown is great! Compared to Central London, the city centre of Brussles is more spacious!

I was lucky as there was a festival happening that time at the Central Market Square. Exciting! Loud music and massive dances over the square!

Besides that, I also have a look at the ‘pissing prince’ around the corner.Heh, become famous for pissing - how about that?

And my visit to Belgium will not be without eating Belgian waffles!!!!!!!!!YUMMMMMMMMN!            

Next I want to go again. Day trip not sufficient.
I returned to Amsterdam at about 5pm and reach at 8pm. I walked randomly again (and this time I reeeeally got lost)..and luckily again I had map to get back to hostel.

When I got back to hostel, I learnt that the English lads I met last night had left, and I made new friends with these guys from Spain. It was a very moment when we tried to communicate because they coud barely speak English and I do not know Spanish! Someone rather, we manage to have a …. conversation. After that, I chat with my Italian friend. Wah, this guy is no ordinary guy, man! He’s a professional concert pianist! He had been to several countries in europe to perform and he’s paid extremely well! And naturally, having very rare golden opportunity as this, I told him to give a VVIP treatment when I see his concerts.Hehe

Day 3
Today, I took another tour and this it was to a tour around Holland (although in reality, there’s no such thing as ‘around’). The morning part was to visit the countryside areas in Holland, namely Volendam and Marken. OH MY GOODNESS, I looooooooooooooooooooooove the scenery!

I visited a cheese farm where chesese is made the traditional way. Then see windmills, and also wooden shoes being made.

When I visited Volendam, I met a South Korean and a Japanese. Wahh, so nice, because the South korean belanja me makan (17euro lunch!). We exchanged contacts and hopefully I would met them again in the future

Later of the day after I visited Delft (area where pottery stuff is made), I went to The Hague. And as for my last visit was Madurodam, whe you could see mini-replica of all Holand major cities.

I reached home at 6.40pm and thought it’s gonna be a boring night. My Italian friend has left. But not my Spanish friends! =) Yes, we still had trouble comprehending each other, but a few more Spanish friends(girls) that could speak basic English, made the conversation more bearable. I still enjoyed myself that night very much though. I learnt a bit of Spanish from these very friendly people ( they constantly offered me food although I was already full. I had to resist quite a lot of times after courteously accepted the first few offers). We sang songs and had some good laughs. The atmosphere was fantastic that evening!

And now, I really feel like taking up Spanish language lessons!

Day 4 and 5
I took a city tour and also a canal cruise tour. The highlight was probabbly visiting a diamond-polishing factory.
Then I returned home. My spanish friends have left….and this time it’s really boring. I didn’t make any new friends.
Didn’t do anything significant already after the city tour. Random walked, still. Browsing the shopping malls, but hm…it’s just okay, I guess. Couldn’t be bothered to go museums (not interested in Art Museums), and not even Sex museum.Hehe

I left for Dublin on day 5 . Stayed with Kamal. There, I learnt how to play "Risk". Addicted already!

Day 6 and 7
Went to Galway. Disspointment- it rained when I arrived, and when I left, it still did! Kecewa because I didn’t get to see Cliff of Moher. Looks like I just have to go there again. But, I met Qama (but not Rina), my KMB exclassmate there.

Day 8
Today I went to Belfast myself to meet Izy, another exclassmate. Jalan2 with her. Teman her shopping. And again, disspointed I didn’t get to go Giant Causeway (too far away from the City). Well, I’ll come again.

I returned to Dublin, and it was already dark. I took bus 19 to go to Kamal’s house…. but I took the wrong way! Luckily the worst case scenario (kredit habis, bateri phone habis,malam, middle of nowhere,bitchy busdrivers) didn’t happen. Luckily the bus driver was really kind; he was suppose to go somewhere else after reaching the final stop, but he instead took me back to the city centre,and it’s free! Then Kamal met me at City centre and brought me home.Heh, so much for being adventurous!

Day 9
Met Sarah for breakfast (alas,after all this while, we managed to have our ‘coffee-chat!’) and home to London.

Harrods:

Been working here at for quite some time. Tired…but rich.Hehehe. My last at day at work was of a mixed feeling - happy that I finally finished doing ‘low’ jobs; sad that I’m going to such a wonderful work environment, since everyone there including the my bosses, are reeeeaaally nice! I thoroughly sincerely enjoyed myself working there, and I might consider working there in summer (if don’t have any plans yet). They are soooooooooo sweet, getting me a BIG farewell card on my last day.

I was already offered to work there as sales assistant twice but I had to reject both. First one, because it’s a full time job, and that’s definitely impossible for as a student. Second one, although a part time offer,demand 20 hours a week which are spread to 5 hours a day,including weekdays,will not fit my time table. It’s still possible if I want it badly, but not worth it considering the travelling  time from Whitechapel to Knightsbridge. Two good offers, end up being rejected. I must place my priorities right. My studies come first; and not that I’m desperate for money (although extra money can be used to do more shopping!HAHAHHAHA).

A quick fact: Harrods is 7 floors up….and 7 floors below ground; a dog couple got married in Harrods..their owners paid 1 million pounds for the wedding ‘gowns’, which were encrusted with diamonds! Wah, this people had so much money!

Cardiff:

Cardiff was lovely!!!!!!!!

Trauma conference:
It’s an excellent conference that I attended. Made me have that ‘ER’ feeling when attending the conference, especially during the practicals sessions with firemen- saving road traffic accidents vicitm demo(which I myself did too), suturing, cricothyroidtomy and chess decompression (not sure of the correct terms). Then the lectures were really cool too.

They had sparked my interest in specialising in trauma medicine, esp max fax. Just amazes me how max fax (and plastic surgeons) can reconstruct and restore body parts that are almost mutilated by all sorts of accidents. But I am aware of the intense pressure that one has to face during such times of emergency. I guess I have quite a good tolerance level to that. But once beyond that,I’ll just switch - feeling helpless and and really at lost of what to do next. Furthermore, it will be a huge mess when I first see the victim, and I’m suppose to be one to be in-charged of handling the situation.

Bloody gory but interesting.

p/s there was lucky draw for this conference.and guess what!? I won tickets for two to the London Eye!

Les Miserables:
It was an extremely lucky offer that I got when I purchased the tickets to watch Victor Hugo’s play "les Miserables". That time it was on offer by London Underround (company which handles London public transport system) - 2 tickets for the price of 1. So, Pei Chia and I bought the most expensive seat (!) and each of us only need to pay 25pounds (the original price was 50pounds each!)! And I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally loved the show! Was ToooTAlly blown away! It’s like….woah!!! It’s worth it! Even if I were to pay for the full price, I would still be very satisfied with the outstanding performance quality shown. I don’t mind watching it again!

The Godfather
I have been reading quite a number of books and right now, I’m indulging my with Mario Puzo’ s "The Godfather". Basically it’s a story about the mafia group of Don Corleone. I learnt modus operandi of the mafia group in great details through this book. And I really admire Don Corleone because he’s damn powerful - influential,prudent,rich and respectful.Hm…if only I’m soooo like him.

learning
to love without expecting.

learning
to laugh without crying.

learning
to dream without slipping.

learning
to dance without tripping.

learning
to live without complaining.

learning
to play and not go astray.

learning
to jump and not fall.

learning
to give and always give.

learning
to breathe, chill and never fret.

learning
to fight and never die.

learning
to forgive and be happy.

learning
to understand contradictions, failures and heartaches.

learning
to keep my head when all is lost.

learning
to smile and always smile even when its raining.

Only now I realised that it’s been a looooooooong while since I updated my blog. Guess I’m too busy with work at Harrods (guess what, they liked me; they extended my contract until mid of next month!)

During the summer sales it was busy down there at Harrods, but now, it’s kinda boring, but it’s relaxing I guess. But all I care, I got some spare cash to burn!Oh ya forget to tell: the other day there’s this competition between different departments at Harrods and my dept became champion: guess what each people (including me) in the dept got: a Harrod’s GBP60 voucher!!! (p/s To my ex-flatmate Zul who before this tried ceaselessly convincing me to go back instead spending 3 months in UK for summer hols, I have a message for you : It’s worth it staying here! ngehehehehe)

So what else had I been doing apart from working? Well, nothing much, since I worked five out of seven days in a week; and sometimes more if I do overtime. But when I’m free, I settled quite a number of things like settling bank stuff (change address,which is pain coz my flat is flat ‘o’, and this predictably can also be misunderstood as ‘zero’), sending JPA result, (still)looking for a good gym, hunting for price-slashed designer clothes shops (when they slashed, it can as much as 70%!), planning holiday trip to Netherland, Belgium and Ireland. Btw, I visited Anuar at Cardiff too!

My travel: Like I said I visited Anuar over the weekend at Cardiff. Cardiff is lovely, man! I want to go there again! Next stop is gonna be the European countries. ‘Netherland (a.k.a Holland), Belgium….and suddenly IRELAND?’ you may ask. Well, I’m going to Ireland to go to Gallway and Belfast - places which I didn’t manage to go on my first visit during easter - to visit my exclassmates there and do a bit of sightseeing. One spot not to be missed is Cliff of Moher.Oh yeah! On the hand, I’m planning to spend bout 3-4 nights at Europe to check Amsterdam (hehe),and since Belgium is just like an hour by bus from Amsterdam, I said to myself ‘why not, visit there too?"And I want to see windmill too. Great things looking forward to after I stop working!

And now, just one more month to Year 2 medicine MBBS course…and just 4 more months before I go back home !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!