New Apartment

I've finally got the key to my new apartment. The bad news is: the apartment which is supposed to be cleaned before handing over to me is not clean at all. After filing numerous complaints but still can't see any progress, I decided to clean the house by myself. In fact, already started cleaning part of the house since late evening & will take tomorrow off to complete the rest (the floor is the tough part with hundreds of aged foot prints).

Get a colleague's help to buy furnitures from IKEA & transport them to the new apartment (bed, dining table, chairs, lamps, cooking utensils etc). I'm glad that he has a big car. And glass top table can be really, and I mean really heavy! Never appreciate lift so much before >o<

Another friend helped out on purchasing the cleaning agent (I'm not sure what to buy when the description is 'encrypted' in Danish & they look almost the same from the outside) and also part of the cleaning. I'm truly grateful for these kind people's help, wouldn't know what to do without them in a foreign country, alone.

Hopefully I can finish the house cleaning (now I realize I can be very fussy about dirts/uncleaned spots) by tomorrow so I can proceed to furniture assemble over the weekend. Then I'll have to consider Internet package & TV package & change of address & buying household items (on top of the basics that I bought)........so many things to be done for a move. Wish me luck!

UK_Graduation

My friend, CS's convocation ceremony is held in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. Skipped the relatively boring ceremony to catch more sleep instead (after all, I slept late due to late karaoke activities the night before) & only showed up for photo shooting session. The rest of the afternoon is just taking pictures & more pictures & more pictures...

Set up a dinner with CS to celebrate his graduation at a French restaurant with mutual agreement to dress up (or at least dress nicer) for the dinner. My feet is aching in my 3inch high heel but look is more important than anything, so I must persist, lol...

The celebration followed by another round of karaoke (in another karaoke house). So I've been to karaoke twice within 3 days in Liverpool! The session dragged till late night about 3 am. One of my friend performed 'magic' tricks, it was quite impressive :) We had great time singing, 'dancing', laughing & eating (yes, we ate again because dinner was a little early). And I tasted duck's tongue for the first time, maybe the last time as well; it's not bad, but it's just not good either :s

Can barely open my eyes when we reach home. Knocked out immediately when I touch the pillow. The next day (which is also a big day), is another story, another blog...

The Dark Knight

Watched the Dark Knight in Coventry. I don't like typical comic-oriented movies (maybe except Hellboy) so didn't expect much from the movie even though the preview is stunning. Nevertheless, even the lousiest movie has stunning preview, I'm sure we have all been 'cheated' at certain point. Went for it because we're late to catch Wall-E & at the end of the show, I'm actually glad that we're late.

Cool gadgets/technology (eg: the new 'Batman phone'), one or two (not much) thrilling moves & ultimately the mad-crazy Heath Ledger played joker makes the ticket valued for money. Solid story line, maybe a little too much information to put into a single movie but it was nicely plotted & executed (two-faced is 'borned' in the film).

Batman (Christian Bale) struggles to be the hero that Gotham city needs, undergo the risk of his true identity being revealed & portriats more human side of a superhero (which is much better than Peter Parker's struggling in Spiderman) while battling with the Joker who doesn't play by the rule & has no rules himself.

I'd say it's worth watching if you haven't do so but don't set the expectation bar too high, else you might be dissapointed by your own expectations ;)

UK_Liverpool

Liverpool has changed so much since I left. Surprise to find the new Liverpool One shopping arcade (really big one) which operates until 8pm on weekdays & also open on weekend (back then, shops closes at 5pm); 1 superlamb banana grow into hundreds of different design lamb banana (will share more about this in another blog, I included 2 lamb banana in picture below); so many new chinese restaurants+karaoke & old street buildings turned into fancy new buildings with new shops/restaurants. I can barely recognize the new section of Liverpool & feel lost in it.



I told my colleagues in Denmark that I MUST eat a lot of real chinese food when I'm in UK (and trust me, Chinese food in UK can be really good). When I first landed, I express my 'desire' to eat proper chinese food (aside from shopping) & was brought to eat 'dim sum' the next day morning as brunch. Being a totally satisfied customer, I must share what I ate:-

Went to Albert Dock (the Liverpool harbour) for a walk & view the tall-ships which are stopping at the harbour over the weekend for exhibition from far. The weather is not cold but the strong wind brings down the temperature & can really 'blow me off my feet'. Had to stop for a hot coffee to gain back some warmth.

Went for karaoke in the evening. I feel like living my Penang life in Liverpool. Even the waiters greet us in Hokkien (Penang dialect) / Mandarin because they know my friends & we get special treatment / discount, from the morning dim sum restaurant to the evening karaoke house. After all, it's a small Chinese community, guess everyone just know everyone else.

The food picture taken in karaoke is the result of 10 patience & accommodating people who waited for the last dish to come (despite they're actually hungry) so I can take a complete picture of all the dishes. I know I'm an embarassing crazy girl who always snap pictures of food but I just feel that if the food are nice & I can't share it to others (at least the picture), it'll be a waste. Weird huh?

Anyway, introduction to the food (only in Chinese, sorry), starting from 3o'clock position, clockwise: 白灼明虾，肉丁四季豆，溜鱼片香菇芥兰，凉拌海蜇(not so nice though)，凉拌火鸭，XO酱海鲜乌冬，风塘软壳蟹，香辣鸡翅 (yum yum) & 咸鱼砂煲豆腐.

My UK trip is already worthwhile at this point with shopping, my favourite singing activity, lots of nice food & most importantly meeting up so many friends. More to come...

I'm so lucky

I went out to the convenient shop right opposite my friend's house with him to get some ice-cream. We ended up with ice-cream, potato chips, pork salami, milk & some crackers.

The problem is: we are 2 pounds short from the total bill. While we're in the midst of struggling which item to 'sacrifice' (I was actually thinking of taking out the pork salami) or to run back & grab cash, a lady in the queue right behind me told the cashier that she'll pay for the rest.

Feeling absolutely touched & grateful, I thanked her more than a dozen times. She said I mustn't go back without my 'peperami'. Isn't the world wonderful with kind people like this? This is the first time (and most probably the only time) that I am caught in such situation & meet one of the kindest person in the world who makes my day :)

Pic: The peperami(s) that are saved by the kind lady

Moral of the story: never go out without cell phones/enough cash unless you're as lucky as me :)

**********

Just recall that I have been lucky in Denmark under similar circumstances as well. Parked in a car park which only accept 20DKK coins / a Danish ATM card and was stucked because I don't have either of them. Then a kind lady helped to slot in a 20DKK coin & rescue me out from the carpark :D --added 1-Aug-08

Victory

The result of 2 hours shopping (until the shop closes) on my first day in Liverpool:-


I'd call this round 1...& will resume round 2 on Monday, wahaha...so glad to know that Liverpool is on sales. The magic word 'SALES', and the price is really low (especially compare to the expensive Copenhagen)!!

Kylie, if you're reading this, the red straps tiny dress is for Elvi :)

Arrival....UK

Well, as mentioned in previous blog: I'm going to UK to attend a graduation & an engagement ceremony. When I was asked my purpose of the trip at the passport control counter, I said the same thing. Then the control personnel asked: how do know they're graduating & engaging? I almost fainted on the spot...of course I'd know these info ahead before planning my trip right? Wonder what will happen if I tell him I had a hunch that they'll be graduating & getting engage, lol...

'Staying or leaving' is the first sentence I was asked after entering UK. It was thrown by a friendly cashier but he has to repeat 3 times before my mind figures out he's actually asking if I'd like to have my drink+food in the cafe or take away...that's the first time I heard such variation of 'having here or take away'.

Anyway, I'm totally glad to set my feet my on once I knew very well place - Liverpool (again). Welcome drink (latte) served by a friend who's currently working part time in Costa Coffee, who's also graduating from his Masters study (congrats, CS!)

Pic: CS preparing my medium latte (on him), haha...