Sunday 27 June 2010

Weekend Love

I came to appreciate the weekend now that I'm working again. It meant so little for the past ten months as a full-time student and I was shamelessly complaining when the whole week was cramped with lectures. As much as I love my work right now, weekend is still a luxury I look forward to. Being able to sleep in, having late breakfast and video-call with my family, catching up on some reading & language lessons....the list keeps growing and the days keep diminishing!

I've been consuming a lot of fat and sugar these days including.... 

Two ice-creams at work (weekly tea)
One homemade ice-cream at the midsummer fire festival
One homemade soft-ice by the lake

....in just a few days which might explain how I could fall asleep in the forest after a run! Imagine that...who would doze off after running? Someone who has been eating a lot of fat and sugar that is. But hey, the ice-creams were worth it!

Sunday 20 June 2010

Close to Ideal


It's a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon. At the risk of sounding cliché, I'm writing this by the window overlooking the flowery garden with a steaming cup of chamomile & lavender tea while hubby is wrapped in a blanket on the bed watching the idiot box switching from one channel to another. It's a satellite tv so tons of channels to choose from, with additional channels from Russia, Norway, Sweden and Chile. There is a generous streaming of American and British shows so you could've stayed indoor all day and thought you've had a beautiful day. Outside, it's a clean coastline with people smiling and greeting each other. It's a bubble I don't wish to pop. There's no beggar, no indication of poverty or pollution, no sign of immorality. For the first time abroad, we both feel like we could happily settle down and raise a wonderful family here. That's mostly what the expats here feel and eventually do.

My workplace is amazing. The staff work in their own room with freedom (you can arrange your own time to fit your children, etc.), lunch buffet is provided, weekly breakfast or tea together (our department had ice-creams last week!) and they have a strong network with other offices be it in South Africa or Vietnam by communicating regularly with their counterparts through surprise, surprise...Skype! They're casual but results oriented and everyone feels like they belong. Every evening you can see parents biking or jogging with their kids, something you don't see often in Malaysia with teenagers loitering with their equally aimless friends and parents working long hours. It tires me just to think about it.

I love my country, but we could really learn a few things from a region so developed and yet stain-free like Scandinavia.

Monday 14 June 2010

A Year Wiser...and Happier!

The past 48 hours have been amazing. A massive thank you to Kak Aliaa and hubby, our host in Manchester. That Old Trafford tour would remain in our memory book for a very, very long time. The birthday card and with our friends singing the birthday song, it was a perfect start of my first birthday celebration abroad. Instead of the usual party and dinner, I spent my birthday in a forest and even spotted a couple of wild deers! Denmark is a different experience, they don't even lock their doors here. Coming from Malaysia, you'd understand I need some time to get used to this level of trust and morals. I'll write more soon. With all the love in the air, I feel kinda lazy tonight so I'll just post the song that I keep listening to when I feel like on top of the world and some photos that would easily translate how I feel right now.






Friday 11 June 2010

Adieu

Today seems too quiet. The house is almost empty. I find myself doing the same exact thing I always do on the night before leaving anywhere; staring at the ceiling and trying to capture the final moment, thinking how this would be the last night lying in the room. I've done this a number of times and yet it doesn't seem to get any easier. Goodbye is still the hardest part of life.

Sunday 6 June 2010

I'm a Free Man!

I can taste the liberty in my hands. The same furious hands that were tapping and clicking on the poor laptop. I can see in my eyes the lovely day ahead with birds chirping and roses blooming, welcoming the same tired eyes that were staring at the radioactive screen for hours non-stop. I am now free as a bird!


Well, for the semester at least. Even birds, sadly, get wounded and fall to the ground.

You’ve got to understand this. The final coursework was really tough to crack and I needed the 35% mark because the written examination was something like a nightmare. You wake up in the middle of the night, sweating and heart pounding uncontrollably, knowing you’ve had a terrible dream but somehow you don't remember exactly what it was. No kidding! And rumour has it that 80% of the previous batch flunked the subject and even after the re-sit, some still failed. I told you I wasn’t kidding about the nightmare. But alas, I finished it! And I did it with colours splashing on every page hoping that the professor would be in a state of blissful grading for my coursework which consequently would lead to a really good score. Strategy my friend, strategy.

So now that everything is done, reality hits home. I have to get ready for this time next week, I’ll be landing at the Copenhagen airport. There will be new people, a new environment, a new home and my first job abroad. I have to admit, I hate to leave. A little afraid as well. I’m feeling comfortable here but then, I was also in my comfort zone in the Mediterranean Nice last January before nervously leaving for the industrial city of Newcastle. Change is the only constant in life indeed.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Rollercoaster

It's a really beautiful day. The sun is out and I can see families walking with their dogs, sharing laughter and simply enjoying their time together. I feel a slight pang of emptiness. I miss my family...my fun, close-knit family.

Counting my blessings though, it's almost 7.30pm and that calls for Britain's Got Talent with dear hubby!