Eat like elephant?

Snapshot: I-City in Shah Alam. A place you must experience and feast your eyes.

" I keep on running, keep on running... " - Erase Me, Kid Cudi and Kanye.

Alright, since i'm a man of my words (or trying to establish one), this is a post on my break. It's rather short as i'm entangled with other obligations back here at uni.

Let me begin.

Driving home on Friday, after class, was one of my favourite times. There was no pressure in the drive, my mind was completely on the road focusing on getting back home- unless you consider planning for my holidays as a distraction.

Saturday, off to Kuantan to send my brother for camp. Of course, going means eating. And eating means good. Well, usually that's the case. However, i don't find Kuantan food as amazing as other places i have been. Probably it's just me, taste is subjective. Or perhaps, the choices of the restaurant i went wasn't the one with good ones.

But the highlight of this trip wasn't on the food- since i've been there and experienced it before, it was the elephants i was anticipating. Elephants, yes, you read right. Leaving Kuantan back to KL, we stopped by Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary and i was eager to bathe the elephants or play with them in the river. I didn't do my homework right and when we were there, the elephants had bathed. I was disappointed, but at least i got to see the elephants and i know that i will return to fulfil my desire.

Elephants with their food.

Went out shopping for gifts on Wednesday with my brother and managed to get what we wanted. Thanks for the sales at that time, we saved quite a lot. What can i say, sales time is the best time to go shopping!

I wanted to catch a movie but nothing in the cinema really attracted me.

Friday was Hari Raya, and visited my uncle's house who serves out-of-this-world delicious cake was what i looked forward to. Apart from the cakes, i never seem to give them enough credits, thinking about the ketupats, mutton rendang, kuah kacang and chicken rendang makes my mouth water.

Saturday was my grandpa's birthday dinner and this meant another round of makan!

Sunday, left for Melaka. If in uni, my meals are my meals, eating in Melaka was like my breakfast and probably lunch put together. Haven't i mentioned Melaka is a food haven! You won't have enough time to try them all if you'll be there only for a day! So, i tried to stomach as much as i can. Live life with no regrets.

Muar on Monday and again, makan!

Tuesday, back to KL and halted on the eating. Too much in, too little out. So, it was time to 'cut the fat'- sounds like the Biggest Loser.

Saturday, makan dinner at one of my favourite hawker stall area in KL, and Sunday, as two weeks have passed in a glimpsed, it was time to start another journey back to uni.

Something hit me this holiday and i, sort of, have something in mind to do for my next longer break. I'm going to do a food-and-travel sort. Since my passion is for food and travel, and Malaysia has so much to discover to deliver, i might as well channel it somewhere and expose these places to you. So, watch out, it will happen!

Something about durians is that it's almost irresistible, especially if one looks like a full, delicious smile. No doubt, durians are the king of fruits! And there were around in my house for quite some time until i devoured them all.

Do elephants eat a lot? Because wc10 feels big like an elephant now!

'Not Afraid' of 'Teenage Dream' and whisky!

" I'm not afraid, i'm not afraid,
To take a stand, to take a stand,
Everybody, everybody,
Come take my hand, come take my hand... "

Alright, so Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' took home the Best Video at the VMA 2010- no doubt, she deserved it; Justin Bieber won Best New Artiste; Usher made a mind-blowing performance with 'DJ Got Us Falling in Love' and 'OMG'; and enough with Taylor-Kanye's unforgettable incident, this time, i'm spellbound by Eminem. Yes, in fact, this is the first time i'm actually listening to his song over and over again- Mockingbird is not bad, but just that i didn't really appreciate it as much as this.

I don't know how i got interested in this song; perhaps, the title itself says a lot. 'Not Afraid'. It's not my cup of tea- if you know me well enough, that rap music isn't on the first of my playlist, but this surely made an exception and with its great intensity, i might take a second look at rap music and probably i may like it. Seriously, i like this song so much that i might take this and make it my first attempt to rap.

Don't laugh.

" We'll walk this world together through the storm,
Whatever weather, cold or warm,
Just letting you know that you're not alone,
Holla if you feel like you've been down the same road... "

I know i may not feel the song as much as Eminem himself felt when singing it. His opening act in the VMA was amazing, and the stage was stunning, to say the least. This song has a catchy tune and it has been on auto-play in my mind for the past few days.

" No more drama, from now on i promise to only focus,
on handling my responsibilities as a father,
I solemnly swear to always treat this roof like my daughter,
And raise it, you couldn't lift a single shingle on it..."

If you haven't heard this, you MUST go listen to it then.

Other than Eminem, i found some songs to be good listen- you may have heard of them, i know i'm a little late, being unable to get hold and listen to these songs. 'Teenage Dream' by Katy P leads the pack. From 'California Girls' to 'Teenage Dream', i found both to be extremely catchy. 'Cooler Than Me' by Mike P is next. Then we have Drake's 'Find Your Love'.

There are more, but i just can't recall them at the moment i'm typing this.

And you may be wondering what's with the 'whisky' in the title. I like the taste of alcohol, but i'm no alcoholic! I'll elaborate in my next post.

If you read beyond the words of my post title, i hope you can get the meaning i'm trying to convey. Even if you don't, somehow, along the way in your personal teen years, you will eventually understand it. And when you do, you'll go 'Ooohhhh....."

For the next post, expect one of these songs to be the quote of the post. wc10 is still enjoying his break and like always, he doesn't want it to end so soon!



* this post serves as a prelude to my upcoming post about my break. Stay tuned...

Season 5, Episode 3: When a Chinese kid calls me Anna...

... and an Indian child calls me uncle.

" Spasibo (pronounce as Spasiba) " - Russian, means 'thanks'.

Lots of happenings in the last recent few days, that each time i wanted to blog, i procrastinated. And when i wanted to start, something else always pops up. So much, that now, it's already my mid-sem break. For this sole reason, i will update.

Of course not from the start. It will be too long for you to read and too tiresome for me to write. I visited I-City in Shah Alam- you can visit my brother's blog for more details.

I'll fast forward to the Thursday before the mid-sem break, putting the test i had earlier the day behind me and skipping the lab part to bring you a story that had, slowly but surely, shaped me into a better person and definitely meant more to an assignment for the Moral Studies.

A group of eight students embarked on the journey to Ipoh, locking the Precious Gift Home as the prime destination. We arrived the home slightly after 3 and handed the groceries we bought earlier to the caretakers as donation. Later, we gathered in the living room and began to introduce ourselves.

When we stepped inside the home, we noticed how the children became excited and attached at our presence. Some came close to us, reached out for our hands and asked us to carry them. They were so little and the majority of them were Indians.

After a brief introduction with them, we began our first activity- drawing with the children. We brought books for them and gave each kid a pencil. I have to admit, my drawing is really terrible, and they wanted us to draw for them. I sat next to a boy, his name is Aaron. From the session we had, i realized how his imagination grew wild and his creativity just spilled all over the pages. Indeed, sometimes i had to ask him what it was because i couldn't make up the pictures he had drawn. He is five.

Meet Aaron.

He asked me to draw him Ultraman. It was not easy- as i have said, i don't draw much but i tried, at least i tried. I asked him to pose as the Ultraman as i sketched the image of him onto the book. Then we drew spiders. Spiderman, actually.

Then there's another kid, his name is Samuel, the kid of my post title. He calls me Anna, and somehow, i felt a feeling i have never felt before. He was the only Chinese boy in the home at that time (his brothers were at school), shy and quiet, yet he mingles well with the other kids. This, by itself, has taught me about togetherness. Being together, despite the difference in race, respect knows no boundaries. To call me 'brother', in any language either way, it simply shows their respect towards us, towards me.

And Aaron, he called me uncle.

Then i experienced another incident that caught my attention. Another kid was drawing in Samuel's book and when Samuel realized it was his, he became agitated. He snatched it away from the other kid and went to the sofa, grabbed a sharpener resting on it and threw it away. I wanted to go to him and talk to him but then he walked to the other side of the room and sat in front of the aquarium. He hit the aquarium with his hand where the fishes were and crossed his arms. Then, he became still for a moment. Not long after that, he got up and walked back to the group of kids and played together again, with the kid that used his book on accident too. I knew that it's normal for kids to throw tantrums and the look on his face says it all. But his tantrum was short-lived and the wonder part of it was he forgave his friend about it and everything became back to usual.

Then it was time to colour the sketches. This, again, i've read that it tells the mind of the child. It gives us a clue to what he thinks or what is playing in his mind- psychology, my passion to study about human behaviour before i took up engineering. Enough on the sketches, they started to make paper planes and flew them across the room. A kid, i can't remember his name, came to me and asked if i could do him a paper game. I asked him what it was and he showed me, by his fingers, how it was played. It was the game that goes 'colour-colour, what colour do you want'.

I knew what it was because i had played it back as a kid. The problem was i couldn't exactly remember how it was made. But, again, i tried. I tried because i wanted to prove to the kid that i can do it. I attempted to design the game for him and as he looked thrilled towards me, i folded the paper, one step at a time. And when i started, the memory of doing it came back and i completed it for him. I wrote the four colours on each face of the paper and slowly placed the paper between his fingers. Not long after that, i saw him walking to the other kids and he started to play with them.

The point is, in satisfying him, i realized that from the result, i'm more satisfied at myself. When he asked me about it, the first thing that came to my mind was 'Oh sh*t, i forgot!' and i was hesitant to start because i didn't want to disappoint him but when i told him 'I can't remember, but i'll try', i couldn't believe that i actually can do it. And that was pure joy and satisfaction.

We played charades for many rounds and from my observation, they are competitive kids. Some are brave to come forward to act; some don't know how to act but they still came forward.

And the last on our spontaneous agenda list was to sing with them. Some of them could play the guitar- if only i have learned. And we sang together. We sang 'Rasa Sayang', twice- once during the singing session and another before we say our goodbyes.

It wasn't until about a quarter past six when we left the home. We were there for about three hours, but it didn't feel as long as the time tells. Perhaps, it was because time flies when we are having fun. But for one thing sure, i was drained at the end of the day- it had been a long day in uni and the kids were energetic.

What i can make out of this visit was that it wasn't a mere task to complete my Moral Studies coursework but something that we can and should learn. Other values that i learn through this are patience and tolerance. It is not as evident or as clear in the situations i had experienced but on the whole, i felt that without these two putting into practice, there won't be a visit as fruitful as this.

wc10 will visit the home again and 'spasibo' for the enriching experience!