salsa high

It?s been 14 hours since I touched down in Sydney but the pain of having to leave lizzie almost 24 hours ago has yet to subside. We hugged for the last time and I tried hard not to cry, not so much because I was sad to leave, but because pulling ourselves apart from our embrace felt like we were ripped apart.? But I had to go.? We both knew this and the day had to come. And as the day drew closer, amidst the flurry of administrative chores and the packing up of my life, having to leave her behind was the only thing on my mind. It still is I couldn?t sleep in the plane. The pain may not pass, but I know we will pull through and we can only come out of this stronger.

The day passed by in a flash (perhaps I?ve been numbed) but we looked at a nice apartment with in a particularly quaint building that I?m sure lizzie would approve of. We only looked at 2 apartments today and they were in that building but I?m pretty certain I will be staying in one of them, with Sean of course, who?s my roommate and course mate. It?s just a 5 ? 10 minute walk from the faculty building so I think it?ll do fine. I?d love for lizzie to see it, but I guess she?ll have to settle for pictures till she flies over. The landlord seems like a nice guy and I think I made an impression on him that I meant business, thanks to lizzie?s coaching with her experience in the real estate business. Thanks.

I took a walk in the campus this morning right after I put my bags down. Google Earth doesn?t do it justice. UNSW is big, not too large, but it?s densely packed.? That should be a good thing because that means everything shouldn?t be too far away.? There aren?t many open spaces but I?m not too much a fan of that anyway.? I managed to set up a bank account with the ANZ bank office on campus.? The lady assisting me with the set up was incredibly nice, and that can be said for most of the people I?ve met here so far, she went through every detail slowly but purposefully and explained everything to me.? Everyone here seems friendly.

The food?s great too, by the way.? But nothing can take my mind off lizzie.? I hope I sleep tonight; there are things to do tomorrow.

Our journey began today, 15 Feb 07, at 8pm, when I embraced?him for the last time before he walked through that gate. A journey that would last six years or more. When we first met in 2005, he shared with me, his dream of being a doctor. And from the day we got together, I knew this day would come eventually. And even after having months to mentally prepare for such a long separation, it was still so hard to let go. It was painful. I was fighting so hard to be strong. I stood there watching as he walked away and I never felt more?alone than that moment when he disappeared from view. But somehow, I just know we will make it through and emerge stronger, together.

Yeap, I finally got myself a lappy for my 6 year study trip down under.? It’s black, sleek and sexy and?I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

The lid is composed of a magnesium alloy.? I’m not sure what that means but it looks like sexy stuff, no?

It comes with this thing called a dock.? Provincial me has never heard of anything like that before so I think it’s a fantastic idea!? You get extra ports at the back for better connectivity.? So let’s say my laptop already has 4 USB ports, this dock has an additional four which means I get 8 USB ports!? Very cool.

And here it is in its full glory.? It came with that cute optical mouse you see on the right hand side too.

So there it is.? My beautiful new lappy – an Asus V1Jp.? This is such a new model that the Asus Singapore website doesn’t even carry it yet.? Just in case you’re wondering, the specs are great:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHz)
2 GB RAM
120 GB Hdd
ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 (512 MB)? <- GAMING!!!!!
15.4″ Widescreen display (It’s glossy too so colours come out really nicely)
1.3 MPixel camera (This one is attached to the top, which is such a cool feature)

Yeah, so basically those are the specs.? I got the whole deal for just $3400.? Did I mention that it comes with an additional battery?? :D? But the important thing is that it’s sooooooo preeeeetty!!!?

It’s been some time since we blogged but we’ve been really busy. lizzie has been on a job hunt and I’ve been so stressed trying to deal with my kancheong parents wrt my uni things. Well I’m leaving this island on the 15th and I’ve got accommodation for a week, at least that’s set in stone. Everything else seems to be in flux – there isn’t a lot of information on the web about Australia, as in really living in Australia, not the touristy nonsense. Yeap, so that’s basically what I’ve been busy with, “Australia stuff”.

On slightly less frustrating matters, I’ve finally ORDed. Yeah I’m out of that stupid stupid stupid organization that seeks to enslave young innocent 18 year old males. Bah. Perhaps I’ll rant about the SAF some other time.

Oh and I watched The Dance Floor last night with lizzie at Mediacorp. Nice show. Wong Li Lin is a cold hearted bitch. That Calhoun guy rocks.

Yeah so that’s about it for now. I think I’m in a bad mood today. Perhaps. Bleah.

Our first year together!! Date to be engraved in stone is 18 Nov!! What better way than to celebrate it by going away. =) And so on the morning of 18 Nov, we left for a 1 week holiday in Chiangrai, Thailand. It was definitely an amazing trip! Of course there were the classic moments…we took Tiger Airways, being practical and budget conscious people. It was a first time for both of us. We were just loitering at the duty free shops, waiting for the gates to open, when suddenly this throng of people started grabbing their luggages and ran like madmen in some direction…yeah thats the kiasu syndrome in action. It was free seating. Ty and myself brisked walk and there was already this long queue ahead of us, but we still managed to get a window seat. Yay. 😛

?We stayed the first night in Chiangmai and took a 3hr coach ride up to Chiangrai the following day, where we got free lodging for the next 4 days at this guest house owned by Ty’s uncle. Ty’s uncle also had some other guests (these 2 australian couples)?and we?followed them in their tour of Chiangrai. Other than the gorgeous landscape of rolling hills and stretches of fields, there’s just?too much to write about the beauty of the place. I will just mention?a few of the more memorable?moments.?:P

Elephant riding.?A must when you go to Thailand. Usually, each elephant would have a personal?trainer (or Mahout) who will follow the elephant through all the years of training. A usual ride would have the visitors sit on the designated chair atop the elephant and the mahout would sit?on the elephant’s?bare back,?at?its neck, to guide it.?It was?great fun seeing Ty being the temporary mahout! Esp when the elephant went into the river and?it was deep! Ty almost had his shoes submerged…yeah he had me yelling into his ear to lift?up his legs…:P

Crossing the border into Myanmar:?Ty and myself weren’t exactly informed that we might be crossing the border into Myanmar, so it was lucky we brought our passports with us. At the checkpoint, there were military personnel all around and there was this tiny and kinda dinghy room which had a sign that said “Foreign Passports”.?And so we trudged in, six of us (we had another 2?Australian couple with us), to have our passports checked. Now this was the part i was uncomfortable with…the?Burmese authorities kept our passports, in exchange for some cardboard visa with a rather poor print out of our photos.?And they kept all the foreign passports in this drawer in a wooden table, very much like those teacher’s tables you see in classrooms 10 years ago…Anyway, when we crossed the checkpoint, peddlers swarmed us. I just saw hands from all directions, offering their goods for sale and many had suspicious-looking tablets which they claimed were “Viagara”. Thank goodness we were only there for a couple of hours.

Buying?Rubies in Myanmar: One of the australian men, Ross, was a gem?trader.?He buys his own jewels, cuts and sets them, then sells them at a very handsome profit. He gets an unset ruby for about US$80?and sells it for about US$500! Fwah..I want to be a gem trader too…Anyway, the process of bargaining for the rubies was indeed an eye opener. The starting price was US$200 for about 5.58 carats of rubies and we squeezed them right down to US$90. Well, the deal was sealed anyway. 😛 Yeah and staring at all those beautiful shiny gems…I was thinking it wouldn’t hurt to buy one ruby to set a ring…maybe 2 more for a pair of lovely ruby earrings…oops.

SHOPPING!! Haha its amazing how patient ty is when shopping with me…well ok towards the end i think he switched off…:P The night market at Chiangrai was the best! Simply cos the things there are even cheaper than?those in Chiangmai. The things are not fantastic but cos they are so cheap, you just can’t resist buying…a few..haha. So in all, I bought shawls, t-shirts, a hat, accessories, lanterns and a whole lot of other stuff which?I normally?would not have bought on my regular shopping trips here…:P Oh yes and ty (so sweet of him) bought me a red glass?rose that’s just utterly pretty! (Actually I?requested for?him to buy it?for me…does that count??) haha. Nah he’s really such a swweeeeeet guy…*blink* 😛

Lighting?lanterns: On our last night in Chiangrai, we bought like about 10 lanterns to light on the hill top. These lanterns are not your usual hand-carried paper lanterns. These lanterns are huge cylinderical ones and they are like little hot air balloons. When the fire heats up the air inside the lantern, it just soars up. And the thai people, they light these lanterns during some festivals, make a wish and send it up to heaven. Of course some lanterns catch fire midway and come back down to earth in ashes. My first?lantern?had a hole in it and so it didn’t rise very high…one of ty’s caught fire midway in the air…thankfully my second lantern went right up… 🙂

In a nutshell, it was a great trip and we had loads of fun! Wonder where will we go the next time…:)

The first ever salsa festival in Singapore started with much aplomb on Friday 13th October. When ty and myself arrived at Downtown East on Friday?night after work, we were just in time for the first round of performances. It was truly entertaining, esp this little couple aged 10-11 who got the crowd roaring with delight. We danced till 10 plus and decided to have an early night since the next 2 days would be really exhausting.

?And it did prove to be a wise choice, cos by the end of Saturday, my feet were blistered, aching and my whole body was protesting at the rigorous pace. We attended workshop after workshop, starting from 10am all the way to 6pm. Even lunch was only half an hour. Indeed it felt like salsa bootcamp. 😛 But it was definitely worth the money and time! We attended workshops conducted by Edie the Salsa freak, Susana Montero, Super Mario and the Cobo Brothers. Each instructor has his/her own style and emphasized on different things. It was quite an eye-opener as well as great exposure. That night, Johnney Polanco, this great salsa band (that comprised men in tuxedos ;P) really set the mood for some high-energy salsa dancing! Unfortunately, we were already washed out, having danced non-stop for the whole day. We left for ty’s place at about 11pm and still managed to stay awake to watch 1 more episode of Grey’s Anatomy (it’s the latest drama series about surgeons cutting up patients which ty got me hooked onto)…in case you’re wondering, we’re into Season 3 already..:P

Sunday was another gruelling day of workshops…and dance accidents…yup I elbowed a few guys, stabbed Bernard (Jitterbugz) in the eye with my finger when I did a pop and probably stepped on some toes. Haha then again I had my fair share of guys with sweaty palms, funny breath and ‘accidental hands’. Nevertheless we learnt some really cool moves and there’s this one which we learnt from Super Mario…one which ty liked immensely…but I don’t..oh well, all in the name of ‘fun’…here goes: Guys, lead the girl into a back brake and then do a neck hammelock (I’m not sure?what you call it but its like a hammelock except that?the girl’s?arm is around her neck rather than around her waist)….okies here’s the gross part…guys, put your?free hand on her head and push?it?out under her arm…yeah its quite funny (if the girl has a sense of humour)?but I wouldn’t recommend you doing this unless you’re?totally chummy with the gal for her to allow you to ruffle her lovely crown (not that I was a willing candidate when ty made me do it…).

All in all, here’s?my opinion?of what we learnt over the 2 days:

Cobo Brothers – I really like the style of this husband and wife team. The feel that I get from watching them dance is a smouldering sizzling chemistry that brings out the sexiness that is?characteristic of salsa. We attended one of their workshops?on leading and following and they gave us some useful tips, esp for the guys.?Guys, instead of?you moving the girl (ie. leading the girl back when you do a back brake) around,?try dancing around the girl, as in YOU move. So for instance when you do a back brake, you move back instead and keep the?girl where she is. So for?any move that you execute, you do the running around and you keep the girl at the exact same spot. In other words, you move the girl as little as possible (from an inital reference point, like if she’s standing under the light, you make sure that she stays under the light after every move). Their rationale: Girls appreciate that more than being thrown about and then being yanked back. This is esp so?during social dance and when there’s limited space on the dance floor. It’s better for the guy to get stepped on by other pple rather than the?girl (YAY!?I totally agree?:P) Apparently its proven that guys who take care of their?partners during social dancing are more likely to score points for future dances.?:)

?Susana Montero and Super Mario – Their workshops are really?fun and funny.?Susana is like this high energy, super enthusiastic and hyper lady packed in a petite frame, and Super Mario is this?BIG and tall strapping man with a dry sense of humour. They make quite an interesting dance couple. They have some very interesting moves and susana taught us a pretty cool short choreo for ladies styling.

Edie – We didn’t go for her workshops but we sat in for her talk on choreo and performance techniques, which became more of a sharing session. It sure revealed a lot into her life, esp her relationship with Al Liquid Silver and the problems they faced when it came to dance. But I have to say she is a very engaging performer. She’s really really funny and she just has a knack for capturing the audience’s attention.

It was unfortunate that we couldn’t get to see Edie perform on Sunday night, cos we had already booked tickets way before, to watch Carmen at The Esplanade. We also missed the record-breaking rueda attempt. Nevertheless, I think we enjoyed that weekend immensely and we brought back some great video clips of the instructors… 😛

So I was fiddling with my camera just a while ago and I decided to take some photos of my darling beautiful violin.? She’s?(yes, I’m?convinced it’s a she)?a french instrument from Paris made in 1892 and I thought I’d like to share?her with the world.

So that’s my french darling!

And its beautifully carved scroll!

Here’s a shot from the bottom!

And the belly!

Now, as you can see, I use some pretty expensive strings – pirastro olivs.? They’re gut strings (made of sheep intestines) so they don’t require much strength to press down and most importantly, makes my violin sound more mellow, which I like.? I also use their gold E string because I somehow find that they somehow help eliminate those annoying whistling sounds.? And finally:

The Label!

It says Paul Beuscher, 27 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, 1892.? The top part that was truncated in this photo reads Instruments de Musique.? The picture quality isn’t that good but that’s the best I could do…? I had to use a stupid torchlight to provide lighting.

By the way, I actually checked out Paul Beuscher and his shop is still around!? It’s run by his heirs no doubt, but that’s pretty damn amazing because the shop has been there since 1852!? They’ve even got a website:? http://www.paul-beuscher.com/.? Apparently they’ve expanded their business and have swollowed up the adjacent shops.? Unfortunately, they don’t sell violins anymore.? Instead, they sell pianos, keyboards and guitars.??What a pity.

Anyway, I just wanna say that I?absolutely love my darling violin!!!

The last time I moved house was when I was 12…and those memories were vague..probably because I didn’t carry many things then..:p Anyway, my family and I moved last Fri 15 September, from our 4th Storey walk-up apartment at Telok Kurau Lor L….to 2 lanes down..to Lor M. Haha..albeit the short distance, the hassle of moving was not any lesser. There were so many things to pack it seemed never-ending. And when it finally did, we had a whooping 42 boxes of stuff..not to mention all our electronics like computers, recorders, speakers and other household appliances.

The movers came at 10am sharp and I must admit they were really professional. They wrapped?all our appliances like our fridge and mircrowave, in bubble wrap and plastic film. I was convinced that they should handle and move all our electronics as well. But my dad insisted we should carry those “sensitive” items ourself. We obliged, which later turned out to be our greatest mistake…because we were left with one whole room of these “sensitive” items which we had to lug ourselves when the movers had left…and going up and down 4 flights of stairs was no joke..esp when I’m lugging my huge speakers…

Worst of all, it rained cats and dogs that day, so the actual moving was only done way later at 3pm in the afternoon. The movers left at about 6pm and we continued on our own till like 9pm. By the time we returned to our new place (which was thankfully on the ground floor), my whole body was aching. But we still stayed up to unpack some boxes till 1am. I was beat.

Oh Yes, I forgot to mention that Ty is such a dear! He came down the next day and Monday to help me pack. Not to mention my dad was so pleased with him cos he connected all our electronics, ie TV, dvd players, hi-fi systems and all. I myself always get lost when I see that mass of wires…I dunno how ty can make sense out of it.

The major unpacking was done over the next 2 days and its amazing how much satisfaction we feel when we empty out box after box. By the end of Monday, the mess was starting to clear and the new house finally started looking like a home. Even till today, one week later, we are still re-arranging things, drilling holes to hang pictures and clearing more stuff. Moving house sure is hard work! Now I’m finally starting to settle in…my new room is much smaller than my old one, but its definitely much cosier. And I definitely got rid of lots of trash that I had accumulated over the last 12 years…:P

And my dad got a new 40-inch plasma TV…man I’m so going to watch Lord of the Rings on that…:P

Its 1.00 am on Sunday morning/night and i’m still sitting here typing away on my new laptop….cos Ty has just got an email to inform him that he’s been accepted into medicine at the University of New South Wales! Finally he can heave a sigh of relief after all those agonizing months of interviews and tests…plus the nerve-wrecking months of waiting. =) And I’m so proud and so happy for him! The course would take about 6 years. I’ll leave him to blog on the details (I’m very sure he will soon) tomorrow. =) Congrats dearie!!?

Thai?Express?has always had a special place in both?lizzie’s and my hearts.? The food’s not exactly spectacular, but somehow, we both always end up dining there.? You see, from time to time (pretty often), lizzie has a craving for spicy food and because Thai Express is pretty ubiquitous, whether it’s Plaza Singapura, The Esplanade or Siglap, we always just conveniently walk through their glass doors.

The food, as I’ve said, isn’t particularly exciting, but you can get a pretty decent meal for two for?about $25 – $30.? For that price range, the exceptionally fresh seafood is unbelievable.? For example, the prawns in the Tom Yam Soup are always crunchy and the fish always melt in your mouth.? I don’t know how they do that, but my mother says it’s some chemical they put in.? I’m not too sure, but at that price, I’d rather not know.? But that being said, I would never object to going there for another spicy meal where the food always looks fresh!

Some of the standard dishes we order quite often are the Tom Yam Thalay (seafood), and Kang Khiew Wan Gai (green curry chicken) because, well, they’re good.? But it’s hard to describe them, so I’ll let the pictures we took on our last Thai Express?dinner?at Siglap speak for themselves.

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So here we are in my room preparing to go.

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The first dish served was the Tom Yam Thalay.

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Lizzie and Tom Yam!? Two of my greatest loves in the same pic!

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Now here’s a close-up shot of the Tom Yam.? Looks great doesn’t it?

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Mmmmmmm…

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Lizzie ordered some laksa thingy.? I’m not too sure about the name, but it still looks good.

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Laksa?

And lastly, my favourite curry – green curry!

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Got your fix?? I sure did.

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So we had a hearty meal and lugged our satiated bellies home without?much loss?in the financial department.? Of course, there’s no pleasure without pain, and that dinner sent me running to the bathroom early next morning.? But it was totally worth it.