You know some people are just clueless when...

The following conversation took place today at lunch in my hall, when I had taken my food and was at the counter showing the guy my hall card as proof of ID.

Guy at counter: Thank you. Or should I say 'arigato'?

Zhen: (amused) I'm not Japanese.

Guy at counter: Oh! Erm, Chinese?

Zhen: (even more amused) I'm Malaysian.

Guy at counter: (sounds disappointed at self for having had two guesses wrong) Ah! Hmm, I used to know how to say it, but I can't remember right now...

Zhen: It's 'terima kasih'

Guy at counter: Ah, yes! I knew it was something like that! 'Terima kasih'!

Zhen: (laughs and takes her food)

******************

Yesterday night at O'Neils, my friend and I were making our way to where the rest of our friends were seated when a drunken guy spotted me and said, "Sawadee karp!" and when I didn't respond, insisted again, "Sawadee..."

I don't mind being mistaken for a Singaporean because Malaysians and Singaporeans are so similar, but to be mistaken for a Thai or Japanese?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not particularly offended. I just find it amusing.

On several occasions, too, I have been told that I have an American accent. Once in ASDA, the lady actually thought I was American! It went like this,

Zhen: Hi, do you sell cotton wool and flip-flops here?

Lady: Oh, I think we have cotton wool, but I don't think we have flip-flops. Do you have that back in America? (She was referring to Walmart in the States, since ASDA is a chain of Walmart)

Zhen: (completely caught off-guard) Erm, no.

Oh, funnyness.... XD

Update:

Two guys at The Rocket were trying to hit on five of us girls with a super lame pick-up line. Then they got to asking us where we were from, and when it came to me, one of them said, "Where are you from, Korea?"

You know your language is in dire need of practice when...

林微珍终于知道怎样用 MacBook 来打华文字！

当我正在打这些字，我得脑里一直必须想清楚，我是否打得对？我用到的词汇是否对？我写的句字听起来好像是对， 可是读起来却如巴刹里讲的话，而不像正确的华文。

唉，我好想能如以前那样作篇！差不多几个月前，当我在搬家时，我找到我在读六年级时写的作文。当时，我还会使用成语，还会写蛮好的句字。现在，我只会写最技本的句字。如果给别人读起来的话，肯定以为我是刚刚学华文而已。给他们知道我是从六岁开时学的话，丢脸死喔！

没办法，语言就是这么样，如果不使用，不练习，就会忘掉。真可惜！

不，我一定要练我的华文，不能让我多年的学习这么样丢失！

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Je m'apelle Zhen. J'étudie la loi à King's College Londres. J'ai dix-neuf ans. J'habite a Londres, en Angleterre. Je suis née à Kuala Lumpur, en Malaisie. Je suis malaisienne.

Mon pere travaille dans une banque et ma mere est professeur dans une lycée. J'ai un frère ainé. Il est étudiant à Melbourne. Il a vingt ans.

***********************

Saya sedar bahawa kebanyakan orang tidak akan memahami seluruh catatan saya pada hari ini. Tujuan saya menulis dalam bahasa yang berlainan bukanlah untuk menunjuk-nunjuk, tetapi untuk berlatih. Apabila kita tidak menggunakan bahasa yang kita pelajari dalam kehidupan seharian kita, lama-kelamaan, kita tentu akan melupakannya. Saya berasa sangat sayang untuk membiarkan bahasa saya hilang begitu sahaja. Kebolehan untuk bertutur dalam bahasa berlainan merupakan suatu aset yang sangat bernilai, yang tidak boleh diperoleh dengan senang.

Saya sudah belajar bahasa ini sepanjang zaman persekolahan saya. Takkan saya mahu biarkan tahun-tahun itu bazir?

*********************

If you actually read and understood all that without having to refer to any dictionary or translator, let me know.

:)

Head bowed & hands firmly in her coat pockets as she hurriedly makes her way down the street. Her eyes are determinedly fixed on the irregular surface of cobble-stones, watching out for any treacherous bumps that playfully threaten to make her stumble or lose her footing as she click-clacks on the pavement, adding symphony to the sound of the drizzle already forming puddles around her. Her strides bring her down the path that was already all too familiar to her. Down past the grey Victorian building looming above her, turn right at the small Italian cafe as the smells of cappucino and espresso drift out in a mixture of heady sensations, further down past the fruit stall seller and his wide array of grapes, bananas, peaches, oranges, and then past the quaint little park in the middle of the square. Not that she saw this now - her eyes are still fixed on the floor, no one hardly looks up in rainy weather - but she could remember each scene and all its detail as if she was just only walking past them, having had these sights and sounds imprinted in her mind after so long.

Walk, walk, walk, it is still drizzling. People are walking past her in the same manner - heads bowed, hands in pockets. Some hold black umbrellas, some wear hooded jackets. Many are like her, hair uncovered and coat tightly wrapped around themselves. The only tell-tale sign of the rain would have been their walk.

The steady rhythm of her footsteps are slowing down now. She is nearing her destination, and she can feel the drizzle beginning to lift. She makes that final turn into the lane and involuntarily glances up, and behold! A wonder, a marvel, a beauty right before her! The sun has begun to let peek its rays and as they fall onto the earth, warming it where it had just been cold misty rain before, she sees its shine on the autumn tree leaves, a glorious blend of orange, yellow, red, green and sunray.

She stops. She takes in the masterpiece of nature before her, and breaks into smile.

Ah, London.

You know everything's going to be fine when...

Hello world,

I never publicly addressed readers of my blog in this way before, but there's always a first to everything.

I realised that now I'm away from so many people I love, I really should blog more often.

So here goes.

Hello world & welcome to my attempt to let you into a sneak peek of my life right now.

Without pictures, because I need to edit them first & my Photoshop Trial ran out before I could.

I have been in London for more than a month now, & this is how a typical day of my life here constitutes.

I wake up to the sound of my handphone alarm playing the beginning of Nicest Kids In Town by Hairspray. I snooze it at least once on a good day, three times when I'm tired, then get up to do the whole morning routine.

Breakfast is a quiet affair at the canteen of International Hall - everyone still groggy with their eyelids half-closed. We have a huge bunch of King's Law students dominating the tables at the same time, all having to rush off to lectures immediately after.

Some take the bus, I choose to walk along with a few others. We walk for about 30-40 minutes, depending on

1. How crowded the streets are

2. How distracted we are by our conversations

3. How strong the wind is blowing

Our walk takes us down one of London's busiest commercial areas where we clearly see modern buildings juxtaposed with older ones. We pass by, sometimes through, LSE & I have on occasion bumped into a few LSE friends on my walk. Then we make the crucial last 10 minutes crossing of the Waterloo Bridge, where you either feel extremely cold or extremely hot, depending on London's erratic weather.

Entering King's College London's Waterloo campus, we head for the largest lecture theatre, also the reason why we first year law students were moved from Strand to Waterloo - because it was the only lecture theatre that could fit all 397 of us. I usually sit with my hall mates somewhere on the right, quite near the front. Then I bring out my things in preparation to take notes for the lecture.

Everyday, I only have either one or two hours of lecture which is usually in the morning. I then head back to the hall to have lunch & to prepare for my seminar. All my seminars are held late in the afternoon save one, which is fine by me because it gives me time to do the last-minute work I unfortunately have grown so accustomed to.

I don't get more than an hour of seminars a day. After, I walk back to the hall for dinner and at night, my activities vary according to the societies I've joined & what my hall mates decide to do.

Sounds boring? Trust me, it's so much more than that.

I cherish my solitary walks around London. Before you start worrying of this seemingly-hermit-habit, let me assure you that it's nothing like that. Everyday when I cross the Waterloo Bridge, I get the best view of London. On one side, I can clearly see the London Eye, Big Ben, & House of Parliament. On the other side, I see St. Paul's Cathedral, the huge rocket-shaped building which I still don't know its name, and the many wharfs dotting the Thames.

The view is beautiful, regardless of weather. Some might say that the best time to see the view would be when the sun is shining brightly in the sky (at which Jamie Cullum's London Skies will always start playing in my head - will you let me romanticize/the beauty of the London skies), but I beg to differ. Sun, cloud, rain, evening - and the view is still breath-taking. It seems as if every time I cross the bridge, London would have a different variation of the scene to show me.

I have caught a scene where the entire Northern part of the city was shrouded in clouds but as I headed South on the bridge, I could see a glimpse of where the clouds ended further down & oh, it looked so beautiful, the way the grey of the clouds gave way to clear blue sky. On another occasion, I caught a horizontal rainbow that was just above the horizon - & when I mean horizontal, I mean perfectly parallel to the horizon - in the evening, such a rare sight it was as indeed it was my first time seeing a rainbow like that! & when I walk back from my seminar that ends at 7pm, I get to see London city lights & how they reflect off the Thames - beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Adjusting to Law took awhile, but I really do enjoy it. I have just handed in my very first law essay - on Contract, a scenario given - and though I doubt it's of any standard, it being very unexperiencedly written and all, I can't help feeling a sense of satisfaction at having completed my first assignment.

I have two more essays lined up for next week but I feel as if I should blog so here I am.

First year law students at King's take four compulsory modules - Contract, Criminal, Public & European Union. Might not seem like a lot but considering how much we have to read for each module, the pile builds up if you leave it for later.

London has been growing on me. & no, I wouldn't change it for a single thing.