Phone Interview with Shell

I had a 20 minutes phone interview with Shell at 2pm, today. I was very nervous before the interview. A lady from the Human Resource (HR) called me slightly after 2pm. Unlike other interviews, she did not ask any technical questions. Instead, she asked questions on leadership, achievements, problem solving and challenges. The weirdest part is the last one, about general knowledge. She asked me about National Park, its purpose, advantages and disadvantages. Even though it is not a face-to-face interview, I feel even nervous, maybe because I could not see her reactions on my answers. I will be notified if I manage to get into the last phase of interview in another 5 working days. According to the lady, there would not be any technical questions for the last phase as well. It will be a whole day session in Shell.

Interview for Programmer at Intel

I departed for my interview in Intel at PG12. It was drizzling again before I departed. It was easier to find the place compared to Agilent. I do not need to register myself at the guard house and headed directly to the lobby. The security checking only starts from there. They have a body scanner there, like the one in the airport. I called the interviewer, SM before registering myself at the counter. I would prefer this kind of security, at least everyone do not need to get stuck at the small entrance at the guard house. SM approached me shortly after that. He is a middle age man in his 30s and quite friendly. We went into one of the small meeting rooms for the interview. The interview is not very formal but there are some technical questions. He gave me a problem solving question but I think I took a bit too long to solve it. There are 2 branches for this application tool development team – one in US and another one in Malaysia. There are currently 6 members in the team. This department is currently expanding. Thus, they need to hire a few more programmers. He will inform me in another 2 or 3 weeks time about my status of application. FAQ: “Are you confidence in getting this job?”. My answer is no. I will just have to wait for the result in another 2 or 3 weeks time.

Interview for Customer Service at Agilent Penang

It was raining again this morning! I departed to Agilent at 8 am. The company is quite near to my house but it took me 25 minutes to reach there due to the light traffic jam. I entered thru the back entrance. The security check there is quite tight and the guards are doing their job well. I need to give them my IC, fill in a form and get a pass before entering the compound. I met with another interviewee as I entered. Both of us took the entrance and ended up taking a small walk around the factory before entering the lobby. We were required to fill in a form at the reception.

A staff from the HR department guided us to the Learning Center soon after that. We were then seated and took our tests before going for the interview. The Korean language test seems to be easier than I thought. Yet, I was unable to understand the meaning of it, even though I was able to read it. I spent the hour writing out each of its pronunciations, which is the best I can do. The interview was conducted by the HR manager, Ms Tan. It was a one-to-one interview. They were looking for someone who can speak Korean language to deal with their customers. The tasks of this position include giving out quotations and invoice, which I am not particularly interested in. After that, she invited a Korean staff to talk to me in Korean. I hardly understand what she said. I only understand a word or two in her sentence. Before the end of the interview, she asked me if there are any positions that I am interested in. Ah… finally she asks! The interview ended slightly before 11am.

I am thinking, “Am I wasting my time for this interview?”. Well, at least, I get a chance to see the inside of Agilent Penang.

Back in Penang!

Yes! I am back in Penang already. It was raining heavily on the way back and it was freezing cold in the bus. I hardly have any sleep on the bus. I reached Penang at around 5am and it was raining as well. My parents were there to fetch me as I reached.

My home is even messy before I went back; things on the sofa, books and some other stuff piled up on the table etc. It seems that my parents have been lenient in teaching my little sister on the basic tidiness and cleanliness. Perhaps, it is because she is the only child at home now and my parents are quite busy. I seemed to be the one always doing the nagging part. Some of you maybe wondering, “since when you have a little sister?”. My parents adopted my cousin’s daughter who is having some family problems since last December. It is a long story. She will be staying with us for the next 3 years if nothing goes wrong.

Holiday mood is in the air whenever I am in Penang. Perhaps that it is too “comfortable” here or because my parents are around, I want to talk to them and do not feel like working on my tasks.

Job Interviews

I will be going back to Penang on Wednesday night for my 2 interviews on Friday. Everything comes in a sudden. My more relaxing schedule this week becomes a packing one.

The first company is Agilent for a position in Customer Service. I seriously hope that I do not become a telephone operator if I get the job. One of their HR employees called me several times regarding the schedule for the interview. It seems that they are keen on finding someone who knows Korean language well. Unfortunately, my level is not even up to the Beginners standard yet. Worse, they want to give me a written test before the interview, even after telling them that my proficiency in Korean language is very poor.

Another company is Intel for the position as a contract software developer in Kulim. It is a software tool development company. They are using C++ and my skills in that language is not good. I wonder if I can perform well during the interview when it comes to technical questions. Actually, I am more worry about my performance if I did get confirm for that position. Anyway, I will try my best! t(''t)

p/s: Thanks to Huwi Yin senpai for her support and Dr Andrew for his advice ^^

Trip to Cyberjaya

Everyone is quite keen on finding a job before they graduate. I also hope that I can secure a job before I graduate. Some of my friends are getting interviews from companies already. I only attended an interview at the end of the February and that’s it. All these jobs finding stuff has being getting on my head and taking much of my time. I guess I should have concentrate more on my studies now. With so many assignments, tests and classes lining up, I could not afford slacking off.

Today I went to MMU, Cyberjaya to attend the Career Fair there. Since they were providing us with free transport, I might as well take this opportunity to visit some old friends there. The bus departed at 8.45am from MMU, Malacca and reached the destination at around 10.30am. I went looking around the fair as I reached. The venue is smaller than the one in Malacca but there are more participating companies. I submitted some resumes but did not attend any of the walk-in interviews.

I met with Ryan, Bee Jun and Yushu at 11am. Yushu just finished an interview with Motorola. He dressed like as if he is a businessman, very formal and smart. It is the first time I saw him wearing like that. He had attended 7 interviews so far. Wow… that is a lot! Then, we headed to the fair together. We did a small chatting. I saw Corine and Chun Cheat passing by. Yushu went off earlier before we have a group photo together. Then, we visited the FIT building before heading to the cafeteria in the FOE building. I saw Sasi, Danny, Chai Hoang, Ai Chin and Mei Shin there. Chai Hoang was too hungry to wait for our reunion lunch at 1pm. Ryan and his friends seem to think that Cyberjaya campus has more beautiful girls, which I think that is not really true.

At 12.50pm, we departed to Street Mall to have our dinner. Sasi offered to meet the other guys in front of library and asked us to depart first as Jin Boone (JB) was waiting in the car already. I did not know that Jin Boone has a car. I must be too outdated. We had our lunch at a restaurant called Penang House. According to our Penangite, JB, none of the dishes there tasted like from Penang. The business is good because the shop is air-conditioned. The cheapest dish cost RM6, excluding of tax and service charge. Chai Hoang arrived with Sasi later, while Chee Keong (CK) arrived with Alex and Alvin at the very last. There are a total of 10 of us – Mei Shin, Chai Hoang, JB, CK, Alvin, Alex, Danny, Ai Chin, Sylvia and I. Sasi visited Malacca a few weeks ago and he looks more skinny and energetic now. Chai Hoang and JB is the same as ever. CK has gained some weight since Alpha but he looks better now. Alvin has changed his hair style. I think that the little pony tail looks weird on him. The previous hairstyle is nicer. Alex is slimmer than I last met him. Danny has changed his hairstyle; it looks stylish with the yellow highlight. Mei Shin and Chai Hoang are having fun playing with his hair. Sylvia is slimmer than I last met her. It is nice to see everyone again before graduating! Due to some mistake in ordering, CK actually have Nasi Lemak for both his breakfast and lunch! Luckily he have Alvin the Cat (because he is from Kuching) to help him out with the dish. Danny refused to help CK with his dish but helped Ai Chin instead. What a lovely couple... We took some photos outside before heading back to the campus. It was around 2.30pm already.

I quickly rushed to the front of the library to meet Madhu. I have not seen her since Alpha. Yuya was not able to make it because she is having a meeting. Madhu said that she was really busy with CCIP recently, looking for people to become the Culture Pageant. Madhu is much slimmer compared to in Alpha. It seems that she is having a heavy workload, taking 7 subjects this trimester. She is not following the schedule and the subjects are getting tougher, with more assignments and things to learn. It is always better to take them as soon as possible. I met Eileen and her sister shortly after that. She looks nice in her dress.

While heading to the STAD building at 2.55pm, I met Wei Chung and greeted him for a while. Then, I met Gin Bey, my ex-schoolmate. I have not seen her for years. Sylvia and Alex sent Mei Shin and I off at around 3.20pm.

Even though it was a short trip, it is nice to see everyone again. It reminded me of the good old Alpha time. We were the noisy and active Group 25! Sasi, Danny and JB are a whole bunch of humorous people. I guess I will next meet them during the coming convocation in Cyberjaya campus in August.

Education and Career Fair

Last week, there was an Education and Career Fair in MMU, Exam Hall for 3 days. I was a bit disappointed about the fair. There were very few booths and companies. The participating companies were such as Shell, Intel, Avago, Robert Bosch and Jobstreet. It seems to be more of a career fair than education fair, with only 1 booth on education by IDP. IDP is a body promoting about education in Australia. It is owned by all of the universities in Australia. They also provide consultation to students who wish to study in Australia. I did send in my resume before the fair but did not receive any news from the event organizer or company. Only a few students were short listed for interview by some companies. I am starting to doubt my skills or knowledge in the field. I managed to get an interview for Robert Bosch for the embedded system programmer. But, I think my performance is not good enough to convince the interviewee. I attended a career talk by Shell, an interesting one. I get to know more about the company and the job positions available.

My final year project is on the track now, which is something good. My class for Java started this week, which means I will have to attend more classes and have less free time. Microsoft SQL 2000 admin class will start on next Saturday. Though the schedule is a bit pack, it’s always good to be able to learn something extra. For those who do not know, there is an Education Fair in Century Mahkota Hotel, Malacca on this Saturday, 12-6pm. There is an IDP fair on the same day in Subang Jaya.

NOC IV

The second week of the last trimester is coming to an end soon. Holiday mood is slowly decreasing and everything is getting back on track. It was quite boring for the first week and things are getting very hectic this week.

I attended the Night of Celebration (NOC) IV on Thursday night in Main Hall. This is an annual event held by SPARC. It is a musical drama and the admission is free. It was my second and last time attending this event. My first visit was on last academic year. The entrance was crowded by people once it was opened. I was supposed to enter with Mei Shin and Soon Jin but they were not there yet when I arrived. I made a right choice entering the hall first as the front and middle seats were filled up very fast. I managed to get a seat on the right front. It was quite a nice view as I was not block. Beside me is my neighbor, Jason and Foo was sitting nearby. It was not as nice as last year’s performance but the door gift was nice, sponsored by Tupperware and some samples from a cosmetic company. The commercial section was a bit too lengthy and the emcee for the opening was not doing a great job.

The title for NOC IV was Chapters of Life. The story surrounded Abigail, a kind hearted girl who suffered from leukemia. When she was given hope to recover from her sickness, an accident happened and she passed away. Her friends and brother a lot suffered from her death. My favorite character is Chris, played by Justin Lee. His singing is the best and doing a good job for his role as Abigail’s brother. Even though Violet, Abigail’s best friend (played by Renee Tiun) is not a goody type of character, she played her role well. Sean, played by Aaron Liu’s performance is not bad. I had a hard time listening to his singing as it was unclear. Abigail’s performance is lack of emotion. Overall, the music, dance and props for this year are a bit disappointing. However, the flash show before the start of the event is something worth mentioning. It was about the training of the actors before the event, more to a comedy. Despite all the flaws, the event was a bit hit. The venue was packed with people and there were many spectators standing at the back.

Chinese New Year 2006

This year’s Chinese New Year is a very busy one. We were busy decorating the house and spring cleaning. Not forgetting, teaching my niece on performing some of the housework. We had our reunion dinner at my grandmother and uncle’s house. On the first day of Chinese New Year, we visited the “open house” at Fort Cornwallis for free food. There was still a lot of food available despite our late visit, specially the non-Chinese stalls. There were quite a number of Indians there other than Chinese. On the first 2 days of Chinese New Year, we had steamboat at my uncle and aunt’s house. 2 days of steamboat is more than enough to give me a freak about food.

My uncle’s house was robbed on the third day of Chinese New Year. The estimated lost is around RM 1K. It is a lesson for everyone. Do not put too many valuable things such as cash and jewelries at home during festive seasons. Do remember to keep your door lock as well!

On February 1(Wednesday), we had a small gathering at Coffee Bean, Gurney Plaza at 2pm. This is the first gathering after more than 3 years, since Siew Hoon’s birthday party in 2002. 14 people attended the gathering – Siew Hoon, Hui Ping, Yoke Pei, Hui Wen, Yoke Yen, Siew Ean, Yee Loo, Chiew May, Kae Wen, Siew Eng, Tian Tian, Ee Pheng and I. Yi Wen came quite late and Tuan Fern was unable to attend the gathering as promise. There was a kind of weird feeling when we saw each for the first time after a long time. Many of us stayed quiet for some time. Some of us are still quite close as we still keep in touch. Everything became heated up after the photo session. There were around 4 cameras. Many of us flipped through our graduation magazines before attended the gathering as there are some names which we had forgotten. The class gathering turned out to be another small gathering of friends when we saw some of our ex-schoolmates. Even though we do not know each other and have never talk to each other before during high school, it feels good to see them again.

Even though I did not reach my goal of seeing all my friends, at least I met some of them ^^

Happy New Year!

I would like to say "Happy New Year" to all the Chinese and Koreans in the world! While enjoying all the delicacies, remember not to eat too much! For those in overseas/not at home, just enjoy this festive season in your own ways. Even though the celebration may not be as grand as in your home country, it's another life experience worth mentioning in the future ^^

Holiday - Week #1

It is holiday now! This holiday is different from the others, not because of Chinese New Year, but something else. My niece is going to stay in my home and sharing my room starting from January 17 due to some circumstances. She is 11 years old. She was in the hospital before that. After 7 years of having a single room to myself, I have to share my room with someone again. I am very peculiar person when it comes to tidiness. I do not like anyone to mess with my stuff; a strong holder of privacy. Luckily, things turn out to be better than I expected.

Unlike other holidays, in which I spend almost the whole day in front of my laptop/personal computer chatting, watching drama/movies/anime and surfing, I am helping out my parents to take care of my niece. As my home personal computer is broken, my brother is basically occupying my laptop to play Warcraft. I am able to online most of the time. The list of people online for my Yahoo and MSN messenger is always so few during holidays. As Chinese New Year is approaching, the list decreases to less than 10 people online for both messengers.

There are sales everywhere now. So far, I had visited 2 shopping complexes – Giant and Tesco. Giant is a newly open supermarket in Bayan Baru, located just beside Pantai Mutiara Hospital. Some of the shops there are still under renovation and the place is relatively small, only single storey and not very spacious. I visited Tesco yesterday and it was packed with people even though it was 11pm. There were many people and trolleys, barely able to move. There are some places selling clothes, for stock clearance(not in Tesco). It is not really cheap. But, there are some very nice clothes for girls around the age of kindergarten at PISA (Penang Indoor Stadium Arena).

Jin visited me 2 days ago. There was not much time, so I did not manage to give him a round tour around the island.

Congratulations to Huwi Yin for getting her first job at Intel, Cyberjaya ^^

Final Exam

Yippee! Finally, it is the end of the long waited and suffering period – final exam! I just finished my 2 papers for this trimester yesterday. The 2 in 1 combination again (2 papers in the same day). Due to the public holiday on Tuesday (Hari Raya Haji), some of the exams were scheduled to be held at night. Those taking Artificial Intelligence (AI) are some of the victims due to this public holiday, such as me. This was my second last final exam before I graduate but I think that I am not doing well in it (there are too many uncertainties), despite all the preparation done. Hopefully, everything turn out to be good! >___<

The exam fever started a week ago. The library was packed of people, but the number reduced a bit on rainy days. There are a few factors behind this phenomenon. Of course, people tend to be lazy to go out during such a day because they will get wet and by staying at home, they can get some nice sleep. Another reason is because the library is freezing cold nowadays. I wondered how I was able to stay in this “fridge” continuously for more than 3 days. Other than my “library gang”, I saw Zi Bin and Jin in the library as well. My broken umbrella was stolen on last Sunday. These people must be desperate enough to steal a broken umbrella. Even though it was broken, it still can be used. I managed to get a new umbrella from Jaya Jusco (JJ) at RM10. Chinese New Year mood is everywhere in JJ now, with all the signboards about discounts. I managed to get a blouse at 50% off, good deal.

I met Tze Hun, my ex-classmate in high school in EP car park last Saturday. She looks a bit different during secondary school (of course most people look different from when they were in high school). I haven’t met her since we graduated. She is now an undergraduate for medicine in Manipal College.

Recently, I am listening to my old collection of mp3. Whenever I listen to those songs, some of my old memories reveal. There is always a song to describe our feelings and situation. Still remember during Alpha, when Cindy was still my roommate, we always like to play “Scarlet” the opening song of “Ayashi no Ceres” whenever we were upset.

I will be going back to Penang this Sunday with my brother and housemate. Looking forward to see my old friends again this holiday and Chinese New Year ^^

Revision Week

Finally, trimester 2 is coming to an end soon. Everyone is busy now, either on their assignments, presentations or preparing for the final examination next week. Short trimester is always very hectic due to its short duration. It is more of like a crash course. Even though I am only taking 2 course subjects and a Final Year Project this trimester, time seems to be insufficient for me.

The weeks after my birthday are all about assignments, projects and tests. I got to eat many birthday cakes this year, special thanks to Jin, Daniel and Kevin once more. Thanks to Huwi Yin for her 2 in 1 cards. Thanks to Christoph for his parcel from Germany with plenty of goodies inside. Thanks to my Japanese teacher for her “onigiri” and 2006 organizer. Thanks to Travis kor kor for visiting me.

Despite my tight schedule, I managed to squeeze some free time in between to watch “Narnia” at Goldren Screen Cinema (GSC), Mahkota Parade. I have not being to any cinemas for more than 6 months already. The cinema had done some renovation and it looks much better now. I was a bit disappointed with the movie, but overall it is okay. I like the character design very much despite some of the unrealistic details of the storyline.

On Christmas Eve, I departed to Singapore for a one day one night trip. It is rather tiring trip, definitely not going for such a crash trip in the future, especially with a few sleepless nights before the trip. I was falling asleep or dozing off whenever I have the time to do so. We visited Singapore Zoo at first. There are many foreign animals in the zoo and it is really well maintained. There are a number of performances by the animals. However, most of them are rather boring. Perhaps, tourists from non-tropical countries might find them interesting. The sea lion show is my favorite. It is advisable not to go for the elephant show. There are 2 polar bears in the zoo as well. I was sympathizing to those bears as they seem so tired or unhappy to be kept in such a small and hot cage. Then, we headed to Seoul Garden for a buffet lunch at 12 SGD. Even though it is a Korean style buffet, it is different from the one that I have in Korea. Suddenly, I missed the food there, which is something very unusual. Next, we headed to Sentosa Island. It is not as nice as I think it is. We got to take a ride for free and enjoyed the musical fountain that starts at 7.40pm. The whole place was packed even before 7pm. It was a long wait for the 30 minutes show. By the time we reached Orchard Road, it was already 9.30pm. No shopping in Singapore this time as most of the shops was already closed. We took our dinner at the food shop at Singapura Plaza. The countdown at Orchard Road is always very crazy. People there will be “attacking” us with sprayers, even though we don’t know them. But, beware of thieves or guys who are planning to take advantage over girls in the crowd. It was very tiring and the bus arrived 1 hour late from the time scheduled to depart. We were very tired and sticky due to the spray. We reached Malacca at 7+am. I went to sleep immediately after taking a bath. Finally, I get to have a nice sleep after a long time.

Now and then, I will recall my memories when I was in Korea. It is one of the nicest moments. It’s so relaxing and enjoyable, despite that I need to deal with some projects given by my professor. Too bad I didn’t get to experience White Christmas in Korea.

My Birthday XD

December 6, Tuesday – It was my 21st years old birthday! It was my senior, Huwi Yin’s birthday as well. It is nice to have the same birthday with some friends, because they will surely remember your birthday. We talked about our birthday celebration and stuff a few weeks before that. I had a mixture of feelings while waiting for my birthday to come. Due to my exam on last Sunday, I refused to let my parents to come to Malacca to celebrate my birthday with me. I would not have much time to entertain them and the mood to celebrate my birthday earlier.

The night before my birthday, Jin was supposed to come to my house to do our Final Year Project (FYP). Instead, he brought me a small ice-cream cake for birthday celebration. He bought the cake from 31 Baskin Robins, Mahkota Parade (MP) and it was half melted by the time it reaches my house. I have to force myself to finish the cake as soon as possible before it melted totally. He is very naughty, messaging some of friends in my Yahoo Messenger (YM) list to ask for presents. Pin Shen, my housemate gave me a box of assorted stuff as present. I found out later that it was actually Poh Kim’s idea. Argh… naughty fellow… But, it was a very creative present indeed. I received a lot of birthday greetings after 12am (thanks to Ai Chin, Sylvia, Nam Ling, Seok Bee, Hui Shan, Yi Wen, Pin Shen, Alex, Travis, Andy, Yushu, BJun, Yuya and Chong Eileen). My housemates sang me 2 birthday songs through YM. The first one was not very clear. The second one was better. It was very funny ^^

I only have 1 lecture in the afternoon on my birthday. Chak kor and Daniel greeted me. Daniel gave me a surprise when he bought me a small mango cake from Bread Station. He even brought along his camera to take photos for me. Although the cake was small, it gave me a pleasant feel and it was quite tasty. My Japanese class classmate, Roh told me that I will be getting a surprise later, putting me into puzzle. Hui Shan, Xiao Wan, Ai Chin, Mei Shin, Wan Chiew, Jin Yee and Daniel gave me a green blouse as present. It was the second formal clothes that I have. Thank you!

My original plan to have dinner at TC Spring turned out to be at Bei Zhan, when the restaurant was closed. I really like the seaweed soup at TC Spring, maybe because that it tasted a lot like my favorite seaweed soup at a seafood restaurant in Penang. 10 of us went there, in 3 cars. My brother brought along his 2 friends. One of their birthdays was on December 7. Bei Zhan was quite different from what I expected. It is much grand, classy and has a lot of customers. Pin Shen and Jin Yee did most of the ordering because they have been there before. They ordered 7 dishes of food and seaweed soup. All of us have a very full meal.

As I reached home, Kevin came to my house to give me my birthday present. It was a huge Kukumalu milk mug from Kevin and Roh. Arigatoo gozaimasu! I received 3 electronic greeting cards from Kim Cheng, Sylvia and Madhu. Thanks!

Hmm… I guess that’s it. Sorry if I miss out anyone’s names here ^^;;

JLPT 2005

December 4, Sunday – At around 9.40am, Kevin, Poong, Yen Ching and I departed to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for our Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). This examination is conducted by the Education Department of Japan. It is worldwide recognized. There are 4 levels. Level 4 is like the beginners’ level and Level 1 is the toughest. Not many pure Japanese are able to pass the Level 1 exam. This examination is held on the first Saturday of December annually. The examination is divided into 3 parts – “kanji” (Chinese-like Japanese characters), listening and grammar. The allocation of marks is “kanji” (100 marks), listening (100 marks) and grammar (200 marks), totaling up to 400 marks. It is 100% objectives. The passing rate for this examination is 60%, meaning 240 marks. The registration for the examination is normally open around September to October. There are a few test centers around Malaysia, such as Penang, KL and Johor Bharu.

Kevin was driving at around 120 km/hour. We reached KL at around 11.30pm. It was the first time Level 2 test was held in UTM, City Campus. We were looking around, finding our way to the campus. Luckily there are signboards around to Jalan Semarak. It is located near Ampang Park. We managed to find the campus easily. The place is relatively small and badly maintain. There were no signboards on JLPT exam at the entrance. Instead, huge signboards on a wedding were placed at the entrance. We were quite disappointed with the location of this examination. The air-conditioned was rather noisy and the place is not well maintained. Previous years, it was held at UIA.

We had our lunch at a small eating place opposite the campus. The food there does not look very fresh and tasty. The place is quite dirty. But, the price is quite okay. I ordered a plate of chicken rice at RM3.00. Then, we each ate a small packet of rice crackers given by our Japanese teacher before we departed. Yen Ching did not eat it as she had a sore throat. It tasted almost like the local rice crackers, but it is not salty and harder. It was like a good luck charm for us.

We waited there for around 1.5 hour before entering the examination hall. The other examinees were quite anxious but 4 of us seemed to be relaxing ourselves. We saw two kids, around 12 years old and below taking the exam as well. It is like a sort of humiliation to us, taking the same level exam with kids. There were more than 200 examinees for the Level 2 exam, much more than I anticipated.

The exam started at 3pm. The first paper was quite okay for us. But, the second and third paper was a huge disaster for us. It was quite tough for paper 2. As for paper 3, we did not have enough time to finish all the questions. For Level 2, this paper is rather different from Level 3 and 4. There are around 50 questions on comprehension, with a few passages. Each passage is quite lengthy. Comparatively, only a small number of questions are on grammar. I managed to do the grammar part better than I expected, maybe due to the effort that I had put in for my intensive revision.

After the exam, we headed to Suria KLCC for dinner. I ordered a bowl of Chicken Teppanyaki at the food court. It was not nice. There was way too much water for the rice, making it sticky. The chicken was not that nice as well. I strongly discouraged anyone from trying it. I heard that Genki Sushi is quite nice but more expensive. Maybe I will try it during my future visits to KLCC.

After 1.5 hour, we went back to Malacca using Jalan Tun Razak. There was a jam along the way because a car was spoilt. There was another serious jam at Seremban on the highway. We were stuck there for almost an hour, for no valid reasons. The lights of the cars from both sides of the highway were really nice. One side is yellow and the other side is red. It was like fire-flies lining up.

We reached Malacca at around 11pm. All of us were really exhausted. Even though most likely I will not pass for this paper, it was a nice memory attending the exam with everyone. If I really pass this paper, it must have been a miracle ^^

Trimester 2 2005/06

It has been almost 2 weeks since the new trimester started. I went back to Malacca on November 8 and stayed over night at my grandaunt’s place at Banting. There is always a lot of food in her house. We had chicken rice for breakfast the next morning before heading to Malacca. We reached Malacca on November 9 and were busy packing, moving and buying some necessities after that.

The new trimester started on November 14 and it was nice to see my friends, lecturers and tutors again. We have not seen each other for about 6 months. Many of them change their hairstyle or image. I felt a bit weird about attending lectures and tutorials again. But, I am able to get use to it. After all, I have been attending lectures for the past 3.5 years. It is not a very long period, but not too short as well to forget about everything. I attended my first Japanese class of the trimester on Friday and it is great to see everyone again. There is around 3 weeks before the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and everyone is anxious about it. I will be taking my Level 2 this year. But, I do not feel much tension as I did not have high hopes for this year’s exam. I have not being attending classes for the past 6 months; things must have been a bit rusty. I am glad that I am still able to read “hiragana” and “katakana” fluently and understand my sensei’s lessons. In addition, Level 2 test is quite difficult. I will just have to try my best for this one.

(p/s: “hiragana” and “katakana” are the Japanese characters. “sensei” means teacher in Japanese.)

Week 2 is not very relaxing but not very busy as well. I was doing some work for my final year project, doing some research, revising my notes etc. I was not very keen on doing my more than 50 pages of homework for my Japanese class but did some in the end as practice. Grammar sure is something tough for any language.

Today, Kevin, my Japanese class’s classmate passed me the photos that they took during their stay in Japan for a week. I was not able to attend that homestay because of my industrial training in Korea. I would not have enough money to spend for both trips.

The venue of the expo that they attended caught my attention. It was a really huge area with each country having their own buildings for exhibitions. The architecture and decorations for each building varies, but they were all very grand and artistic. I like the 2 green mascots for the “AiChi” EXPO. It is an exhibition to promote love to the environment. Their homestay took place in Nagoya. Nagoya is a state in Japan, famous for its ancient castles.

What attracts me more were the beautiful flowers and the shrines. It was spring when they visited Japan. The gardens were all decorated beautifully by the flowers and trees. The shrines in Japan sure are different from those in Korea and Malaysia, even though they all share some similarities. I like the way how the Japanese make their wishes at the shrines. It's special and cute. The temples that they visited during the homestay were located in Kyoto. Kyoto is the previous capital of Japan. Many of the traditional customs are still practice here. It is possible to see girls in “yukata” or “kimono” around.

(p/s: “yukata” and “kimono” are the Japanese traditional clothes. “yukata” is the thinner version of “kimono”, normally wear during summer because it is very hot. “kimono” consists of a few layers and it is much thicker than “yukata”.)

Festive Season

It’s a season of festivals in Malaysia now.

October 15, Saturday – Malaysian-German Society, Penang organized their annual event, Oktoberfest. It is a festival celebrated during the summer by the Germans. It is a traditional festival in Germany, a happy gathering of cheerful beer drinkers. This festival is completed with dancing, bands and contests. The event started from 6.45pm. The highlight of this year was the performance by a band from Germany, “Inntaler Musikanten”. It was their 14th performance in Malaysia this year. A lot of Malaysians and Germans attended the event this year. Both German and Malaysian food was served. I got to eat the huge pork sausage. It was a bit expensive, but the sausage alone was enough to fill my empty stomach. These huge sausages are actually daily food in Germany.

October 31, Monday – It’s Happy Halloween! But, there’s not much celebration on it in Malaysia. There’s a small party at my house for my dad’s birthday. We only invited our relatives to have steamboat and mini barbeque (using the steamboat set). We bought 3 medium size tubes of ice-cream from 31 Baskin Robins with 6 flavors (2 flavors in each box). There’s 31% discount on this day, so each tube cost around RM27 after tax. Of course, I did order my favorite “Cream of Pralines”. In addition, we bought a 0.5kg chocolate mocha cake from Cosmart bakery as the birthday cake. My mum prepared quite a number of seafood but I was not eating much as I don’t like steamboat seafood that much.

November 1, Tuesday – It’s Deepavali and public holiday in Malaysia. It’s a festival celebrated by the Indian community in Malaysia. It’s their New Year. There is some Indian food that we always look forward to on this day, such as “murukku”. “murukku” is a type of snack originated from South India. We were supposed to go to Butterworth to visit my mum’s professor but he was not free. So, we went shopping at Makro, near USM instead. There’s nothing much to buy actually, just for sight-seeing. Then, we went to Tesco. It was very crowded there. Both levels of the carpark were full. Luckily we managed to get a parking space. Again, it’s just for sight-seeing. I managed to get 2 original cassettes at RM3.90 each from Artist Gallery – one is the best collection from Kinki Kids (a Japanese band) and another one is the best collection from Zhou Hui. I was quite happy with it ^^ My mum forced me to go make ear holes on this day. She thought that the earrings that I bought from Korea will go to waste if I did not wear them (I can just admire the earrings instead of wearing them). It was really painful and feels weird to have something on my ears… -__-|| Too bad I did not get to taste some nice “murukku” this year. I visited my neighbor’s house later at night but they were not preparing much food because they are renovating their kitchen.

November 3, Thursday – It’s the first day of Hari Raya. Hari Raya is the New Year for the Malays. Malays is the major population in Malaysia. It’s a misconception that Malaysians are Malay. It always happened when we tell people that we are Malaysians in overseas. Before Hari Raya is Bulan Ramadhan, the fasting month. The Malays cannot eat during certain hours throughout the month. There were many places setting stalls to sell food in the evening during this month. A variety of Malay, mostly with curry, can be found. The parliament EXCOs or head of village normally will have Open House (Rumah Terbuka) on this day. Open House means that anyone can visit the host’s house and celebrate the festival together. A variety of Malay food will be served.

I visited my mum’s friend at Genting, Penang around 12pm and have our lunch there. As usual, a variety of curry was served. It is different from the curry in Korea which is sweet. Then, we enjoyed ourselves with a variety of biscuits. We departed to Ipoh, Perak at around 3pm to attend a relative’s wedding. It’s been around 7 years since I last went to there for a visit. It’s more developing now. Many roads in the town have change to one way street. The place was very crowded as there were a few restaurants there and all of them were full. It’s really hard to find a parking place. It must be a good day for wedding. The wedding was held at the second floor of East Sea Seafood Restaurant. 2 different weddings were sharing the same hall without any divider. It was very noisy with all the people talking, music blasting and people singing. I could hardly hear anything from my relative’s corner, the 3 level cakes was blocking all the view and there was no emcee to organize the whole event. The other wedding was monopolizing the whole place. There were 9 dishes in total. Each dish was served in large amount - double the amount served in restaurants in Penang. Overall, the food was okay. Some of the dishes such as the fried fish and kaya biscuit were very delicious.

Festivals like Deepavali and Hari Raya are something very common to us. Like every year, we will stuff like watching the television, going out with family/friends or shopping etc. However, when I was in Korea, the feeling is very different. I would miss home, recalling what I did for the past few years during this day. Even for celebrations that I think that it is insignificant when I am in Malaysia (like the National Day), I was looking forward to it when I was in Korea. Do appreciate what you have when you have it ^^

2 weeks after back in Malaysia

It has been 2 weeks since I came back to Malaysia. I was not doing anything serious (such as preparing for my Final Year Project) for the past 2 weeks. I did some shopping at Prangin Mall and Bukit Jambul Complex, Penang. It is sale now, things are quite cheap. There are quite a number of RM10 blouse for sale at Prangin Mall. The quality is quite okay. I realized that there are more and more Korean hair accessories selling in the shopping complex now, but at a higher price.

I am hook up with watching Korean drama series that I downloaded in Korea, of course with subtitles. I just finished watching 新娘十八岁. It is a love comedy. Hok Joon’s grandfather and Chong Su’s grandfather made an agreement that their grandchildren will marry each other when they grow up. Hok Joon (28 years old) and Chong Su (18 years old) disagreed about the marriage at first, but later, Chong Su found out that Hok Joon is the guy of her dreams. Many funny things happen after that. From the drama, we can see a lot of Korean culture and practices.

The Sad Love Story is a melancholy drama series. The whole story is sad from the beginning till the end. The storyline is quite complicated and twisted. Joon Young was raised up by her mother who is the boss of a club. He was always bullied by his friends because of this and disliked his mother. He met up with Hye In, who was blind, when he was bullied by his friends in the park one day. They became classmates after that and Hye In’s aunty worked in his mother’s club as a singer. Some of their classmates begun bullying Hye In as well and Joon Young protected her. Two of them became very close friends after that. A series of sad events continue to happen throughout the drama. The soundtrack is very nice, the best ever that I come across so far for Korean drama series.

I did my medical checkup this Monday and many people were asking me if I am sick. I am perfectly fine, just decided to do some checkup as there is a promotion going on at Pathlab. But, it is really better to do some checkup, as we maybe having some unknown health problems. If we get to know about the problems earlier (if there is any), then we can take some actions on it ^^

The Remaining Pictures in Korea

Sorry for the long wait. Here are the remaining pictures in Korea:

Photos taken during Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF):
http://photobucket.com/albums/a146/dellachew06/Korea29/

Photos taken in Daegu:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a146/dellachew06/Korea30/

Photos taken in Lotte World:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a146/dellachew06/Korea32/

Photos taken in War Memorial Museum and Nandemum:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a146/dellachew06/Korea33/

Photos taken in Gyeongbokgung and Myeongdong:
http://photobucket.com/albums/a146/dellachew06/Korea34/

Back in Malaysia!

* Sorry for the slow photo upload! My connection is extremely slow recently.

For my first night in Malaysia again, I couldn’t really sleep well. There is only 1 hour time difference between Korea and Malaysia; it shouldn’t have affected me that much. I woke up at around 7.30am and unable to get back to sleep again. Suddenly, I feel weird being in Malaysia again.

As I went out to the “kopitiam”, the aunties there are speaking in Mandarin. It feels so weird that they are not speaking in Korean. I find Malaysia’s dollar notes very small as Korean’s one are bigger. I just couldn’t seem to get use to its size. The feel of touching it is different again. Some Malaysians are missing Malaysia food when they are in Korea. I do not know why but I don’t seem to miss it that much. Could it be because that I was able to get use of the food there? I was quite bored with Korean food as they are almost the same after staying there for a first few months. But, I was not complaining it as much as when I was in Malacca. Hmm… could it be that Malacca’s food really doesn’t suite my taste? Or perhaps I was comparing it much with Penang’s food? The food in Korea and Malaysia is almost totally different.

Suddenly, without the need to go to the lab, is somehow too relaxing for me. I enjoyed going to the lab. My lab members were there and I was happy chatting with them. There were many friends around the campus as well. Though I need to work and sometimes maybe a bit stress, I like it there. It feels very homely. The internet connection in Malaysia is extremely slow compared to in Korea. I can hardly upload a picture into my photobucket today.

When I cooked in the common kitchen, most of the time there were other students cooking there as well. Even though sometimes we were not that close, only hi-bye friends, I feel warm. If in the morning, they will greet you “morning” and asked you what you are cooking etc. Nowadays, as I walk into my “private” kitchen, I only see some cooking utensils and unwashed dishes (must be my brother’s doings again). No more curry smell in the kitchen anymore (the Indians always cook curry there and my mum seldom cooks curry). There are so many things that I miss it there~