Throwback

Miss the team. Miss the feeling of trainings. Miss the outdoors. 

As much as I try to recreate the same experiences, they just cant compare. While things may not be the same, I just have to say, I'm glad I took the plunge and joined it three years ago. It has contributed a great deal to what I am today, more than people would ever know. 

So the question is, what now?

I've been trying to strive academically (meh) and I'm working towards a future career path which as of now I could see growing into passion. 

Would I want to do this all over again? Hell yes. 

But how?

Cambodia - The Land of Happy Children

So it has been a few weeks since I came back from my amazing journey to Cambodia. To be honest, the motivation to go to Cambodia was definitely sparked by how much fun I had in my previous school trip to Nepal. And this trip DEFINITELY did not disappoint. Both were fulfilling in different ways, so no regrets! 

So instead of documenting day to day things, I'll just tell you the things I miss there.

And the first thing I miss is definitely definitely definitely] the children. No doubt in the world. There's nothing in the world like coming down the bus and have a kid run to you like they've been waiting for you. I swear, the feeling nearly reduced me to tears. There's something about all the kids there that definitely touched, they were so genuine and so determined to learn that you can't help but try your best to help them. Even though we helped minimally in this aspect, they showed so much gratitude. 

So here are some of the moments that touched me:

a) There is this boy named Arret. He is this good-looking 10 year old and I swear he is one of the sweetest kids you'd ever meet. So over the course of the first few days I got really close to him. This is because I engaged him in a game of catching while taking a break from house-building, and since then he always looked for me to play. There were a few moving moments with this boy, so let me try and recall as much as I can.

This is Arret by the way.

So the first thing I remember that moved me is on the day we went to his house for survey. By then I knew all his siblings. His younger sister, Tera and his super cute baby brother, Panet. When he saw us, he excitedly waved. He got off the chair he was sitting on and offered me his seat and sort of leaned on my shoulder. He then told his mom something. His mom smiled and translated, "He said you're his very good friend." And that was enough to make my day. Seriously. 

The next thing memorable thing that happened with Arret when I got off the bus and he was looking for me. He held my hand and we walked together to the destination (which was one of the villagers' homes). I really felt special then. 

And the last one would be how he gave me some drawings and a heart shape origami thing. Hahaha, this is quite funny cause he stole one of his sister's drawings and cancelled his sister's name. He then asked the translators how to spell my name and he wrote it on his sister's drawing. Damn cheeky, but really sweet in his own mischievous way. No doubt i miss him. He was just a sweet kid and a very responsible one. He would carry around his 1 year old brother all over the village and he dealt with him when he peed and poo-ed. I know guys my age who wouldn't deal with that shit hahaha. 

b) Next would definitely be Mokri. He is just this really determined kid who is always so enthusiastic in class. DEFINITELY a joy to teach and really just a sweetheart. I don't usually use that word cause i find it freaking weird to say, but in this case, there's really no other word to describe him. 

Mokri is the smiley boy in green.

So the first thing I noticed about him was his Angry Bird shirt. He had two shirts he repeatedly wore and both were angry bird shirts. CUTE OR WHAT?! So this boy really brought me a lot of joy. He sang with me, lepak-ed with me, held my hand but there were two instances that I think i would NEVER forget. 

The first incident occurred while we were lepak-ing together. It was a really hot day so I accidentally fell asleep while he was still resting on my lap. And I woke up about twenty minutes later and while the girl on my left was gone (I mean, I don't blame her) but Mokri was still there. And when I woke up he just gave me the cutest smile that genuinely melted my heart. Thank you friends who managed to document this sweet (and damn FREAKING unglam) picture of the moment.

The next sweet moment was when he SKIPPED SCHOOL (BAD THING TO DO, I DID NOT CONDONE IT) to follow me around during survey. LIKE AWWWW RIGHT? I strongly urged him to go back to school (with the help of our translator) but he insisted. Held my hand from door to door and sat next to me while we did the survey for the respective houses.

And of course there were many other kids and many other stories but there is no way this blog could contain how much every single child impacted me. But the stories I did pen down, are the ones that I find really entertaining/funny/sweet.

But trust me, there's more. And I could easily say, the kids were the main highlight of my trip hands down. 

SO here's some pictures of them - some of the most genuine kids you would ever meet. 

And there's so much more, this doesn't even begin to capture everything that happened. Just a tiny fraction. A tiny important fraction :)

PS: On a side note, ALHAMDULILLAH I FINALLY PASSED MY DRIVING. (Thanks to everyone who helped me and prayed for me. Seriously, couldn't have done it without you)

Birthday Post

So I kind of had the best day on the 9th of April. Haha, guess why!

Okay, lameness aside, I was really touched by how all of my friends went out of their way to spend this one day with me. And I keep saying it cause I really am. I'm sure they're sick of hearing my 'Thank you!' or 'It really meant a lot to me' or 'I really appreciate it!'. But as cliche as those lines are, I really felt it. 

So it started out like any other day. Okay not really, I kind of guilt tripped my dad into sending me to school. So wooohoo ride to school. This would sound horrible but i don't even feel bad. Hahaha, #spoilt. So i reached school at about 8, studied a bit. Went to lecture at about 10. Lecture ended early (Lecturer's present to me I guess hahaha)

And then went to ERC where I was greeted by HANANI. Hahaha, I mean it was no surprise, she asked if she could come. And even though I asked if Friday was a better day, she still made the effort to come on Wednesday so whooop.

So after lunch we went back to do some studying and halfway through she asked me to help her come and collect something. And I genuinely thought it was something else but turns out it was cupcakes for my birthday. SPECIAL DELIVERYYYY~ Then Syifa and Ramesh joined us. And I opened my present which were some nice sandals (that I would totally wear to replace the slippers people always mistake as wudhu slippers)

So yup, all that effort. Couldn't be happier. 'Eyebrows raised to the heavens' SOMEONE might say, but I don't think it was that obvious, i stayed as cool as a cucumber. So here's a shot of the the mini-celebration. 

Yup, ugly hair and all. 

So after that I went about school with chem lecture and all where the environmental engin (Malay) girls surprised me with a gift as well. A welfare pack with all my favourite foods. Haha, we've only known each other for less than a year, and yet they still made the effort. So touched :') AND in lieu of that, we finally took our first photo together.

Then, as planned (since surprises are overrated) I met with the OAC peeps for a short dinner. I know for a fact that most of them are really busy with their own stuff and some of them are just lazy to leave the room, but they made the time anyway. Special mention to yx for travelling all the way from Pulau NTU for this. Even though it was a short while, and it was just dinner, it still meant a lot. They may be the most perv-y, childish noobs I know, and I never fail to remind them, but they are also some of the nicest guys I know (which I never actually say to them). 

So after that I promised Wheel I would meet her for a while. Okay, so i assumed she wanted to treat me something or pass me something. But what she did was even better. As we were walking towards Wendys I suddenly heard some people singing the Happy Birthday song, as i turned to my left, I saw all the 2C girls and I was like WOW SERIOUSLY. I was seriously shocked even though now that I think about it there were many signs. I was way beyond amazed that they actually did all that for me. We've been through a lot in the 6 years. Being a group of girls there was a lot of ermmm complications within the group all the time. But 6 years later, we're all friends, we're all there for the big moments despite moving forward with our lives and not seeing each other as much anymore. So yeah, love you guys :)

Overall, I wasn't expecting much, seeing as how this is a new school, haven't made as many close friends. But it turned out to be one of the best birthdays ever. Seriously. Because of everyone who took the time and the effort for it. I know it seems like everyone has moved on with their lives in uni, but I guess our life in TJ will always be there, no matter how small. And that means that our friends are there too and a little bit of distance won't change that :') Thanks guys.

Signing off,
20 year old Ruzanna (woooohooo, im so old)

ME TIME

Haven't been blogging. Oh well, mid-terms are over and well, they were meh. I guess, that recess week I was a bit shagged from the Cambodia trip/my sleep study, so thank God, I was consistent throughout. 

So only received one set of results back, and I was okay with it. It wasn't fantastic, but good enough for me. Which is my response for everyone who asked me about it. I really have to attribute it to consistency. THe other two, well, just pray for the best lah. 

So this weekend, (long weekend since I had Friday off), I had a lot of ME-time and I'm not even embarrassed by it, cause I had a great time. Sometimes, when you're surrounded by people 24/7, whether they're your close friends or just friends, you kinda lose yourself in everything. You're not the person you really are. You're a different person with everyone you meet.You may like this person that you are momentarily, or you may not. And you don't know how exhausting it is until you realise how relaxed you are when you're alone.

SO Friday I went blading alone. Took a bus to Bedok Corner and used the park connector to get all the way to East Coast Park. Survived one of the most awful falls ever, scraped my knee and palms. Got up, didn't adjust my skates properly, fell on my butt this time. Padding wasn't enough. Ass hurts like MAD. I honestly felt like going home, but I didn't cause I was looking forward to it the whole week, I wasn't gonna just give it up. AND I AM SO GLAD I DIDNT.

You just HAVE to go to ECP on a weekday morning. It's quiet, the people there are friendly, it is so spacious and NOT congested with millions of humans. For a long stretch I was the only one there and I started plugging in my music and singing along

AND that, is when you are TRULY yourself. No worry for shame. Just you, and what you truly wanna do. Which for me, was sing Whitney Houston on blades. 

WELL, i decided to have more pictures in blog, SO HERE YOU GO: 

 Instagram worthy right!

 How I imagine my face looked like as I fell

 Injured Palm #1

 Injured Palm #2

Gross knee, ew