USA

So, everyone's busy working, eh?

How fast time flies! It's been 2 1/2 years since I've been here in America and to see what has happened or is happening  to Malaysia right now, is sad. I'm kinda glad none of BERK lives in KL, atm! :)

But I do hope everyone else out there is safe!

Not much has been happening, I recently moved down South & I'm living with family again. My dad & stepmom are going to takeover a Chinese restaurant, hopefully real soon & I'll help out there while going to school, as well. Classes this semester aren't too stressful yet but I'm learning to cook! For finally, I know. Haha. It's a Basic Food Prep class & right now we are learning to practice our cuts/dicing and making stocks. We'll start to make real dishes in the coming weeks, I'm excited for that! Who knows if I may end up finding a new passion?! Haha. Josh & I made some Chicken Cordon Bleu and Asparagus with Egg and Chorizo for dinner last week (with my dad, stepmom & step uncle). They all said it was pretty delicious for our first try! My step uncle is a really good cook, btw!

Not much going on with my life right now apart from school, badminton & watching Netflix! Haha, if any of you need a good laugh, try watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt! It's hilarious, I promise. 

Anyway, I hope y'all are doing great in life & enjoying the work scene. I miss our adventures together! We need to plan one real soon! and Oovoo too! 

R

Back to Scotland!

Hello guys it's been a long time since I last made a blog post (still 300% more productive than Ken/Amanda) but this is definitely a good time to do one.

Last half a year went by so quickly, I had my finals all the way back in March and then it's been more or less happy times since then... until now of course since I have to do actual work!  Basically I'm in a place called Ayr, about an hour away from Glasgow.  I'll be here for my first year of work and then next year I'll be in Glasgow then after that, who knows!  But actually the town itself is a very pleasant place to be.  It's got most of the shops you need (except for KFC) within walking distance and I literally live next to the sea.  Of course this is Scotland and I'm guessing there's only one day a year when people actually go into the water, but still it looks pretty when the sun is out (i was walking along the beach one day, kinda grey and cold outside, when i saw two kids in swimsuits in the water with their parents just watching them wearing sweaters and i'm pretty sure that almost qualifies as child abuse).  Overall seems like a great place to start out (keep in mind it's still technically summer), and the hospital is about 10 minutes drive away.

This is the view from my house (not a particularly sunny day)

So the hospital isn't a very big one, there are 18 junior doctors starting out.  They all seem pretty nice!  Plus since there are so few of us there's a buddy buddy feel to it all.  It's a weird system here, we don't get put in any one department - we just get shuffled around the different wards like the small fry we are so it's still pretty disorientating.

I was looking forward to getting a real ID card, but it's really a piece of laminated paper. No budget.

On the plus side, i'm back in Scotland so I can get FOUR FISH for just £10.  (PS: that's cheap int he UK)

My nights are now filled with completely wholesome activities.  This is Mayu's finished banangrams (hope you've used it at least once by now ELIZABETH).  I tried to tell Mayu that Godzilla wasn't actually a word =/  Also, we tried to decide on a new hobby to take up together and for some reason we've settled on chess.  Look forward to our next rematch Amanda!!  I'll be training hard. pls go easy on me

SO YEAH GUYS THAT'S MY LIFE RIGHT NOW.  

WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?
SEE YOU AT OUR NEXT OOVOO SESSION.

KEN + AMANDA I DEMAND A BLOG UPDATE BEFORE THEN!

K

a little update.

ok, it's time for a little update, I suppose. as most of you have seen on Facebook...something changed in my life, haha. but I'm still the same person, don't you worry! :)

Josh & I met slightly over a year ago & have been talking ever since, almost every day except for when I decided not to talk to him. he was still in a relationship when we we started talking, but we were just friends, then. we got pretty close and it took us awhile to realize that things had to change, if we both wanted to be happy. well, mostly me. I did not want to be a third-wheel (eventhough they broke up, I still felt like one) and I was willing to give up everything I had for him, if he still wanted to work things out with his ex. they had their problems together but I could tell that he was torn and undecided, at times. I told him I would always be his friend and I was there for him, especially when he was hurting and trying to find himself. 

it took us almost a year to work things out and finally, he got over his past and told me that he would like a start a present & future with me. trust me, I was as surprised as anyone of you, when he showed me that card. I haven't told anyone much about us because in the past, even though he made me the  happiest girl on Earth, he also made me sad, at times. but I don't blame him for that. it was mainly because of his ex, in the picture. I don't know exactly what the future holds, but I do hope it'll be a great and awesome one. I guess the "just friends" thing didn't work out for us.

there you go. :)

@Yellowcard's concert.

R

JUST KEN THINGS

Ken to Yin Lin: 

 I can see your eye bags even through the lousy resolution of your webcam.  I can't tell whether yours or Amanda's is worse..

K

CONGRAULATIONS PENNY AND HAPPY 2015!

I just wanted to wish Penny congratulations and leave this here =]  It was a beautiful wedding and it was a blast being in Malaysia again.  I am so sad that two of BERK couldn't make it, but I've made the following picture just for you.  And now that i've done it i've realised how scary floating heads actually are.

 

 I'm headed back to the UK tomorrow, finals are in 2 months!  Before I came back I kept telling myself that I'd go into full revision mode after I got back from Malaysia, but now I'm totally not feeling it.  I wish there had been more time with everyone and I wish I could have seen E and R too!  I probably won't be back till the next wedding, and I better see you all there!

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you all have a great year ahead, and see you at our next oovoo sesion =]

K

Christmas is almost here!

abandoned? Happy Early Thanksgiving y'all! anyway just a short update on the most recent concert I was at! Curtis Peoples is a singer songwriter from California and he was really good and funny on stage! he even covered N' Sync's "Bye Bye Bye"

http://youtu.be/ielj0EG1jLw

super awesome acoustic set from Kris Allen, btw. he sounds exactly like how I pictured him in my mind and on American Idol! 

http://youtu.be/2yTkiqZui3k

Boyce Avenue (a YouTube cover band, in case you don't know) were pretty good too but they sang a lot of their originals and we were quite drunk by the time they performed. hahaha! here are some pictures:

Curtis Peoples 

Kris Allen

Boyce Avenue

my friend, Quyen and I with Curtis Peoples

hope you're all doing well! can't wait for my exams to be over!

R

CONFESSION TIME

BERK

Final year begins!

HI GUYS!  LONG TIME NO HEAR FROM YOU (especially 2 of you)

In case you guys haven't met our flat pet, this is Totoro the hamster.  My housemate and I adopted him after a sad story, we saved him from certain death (so he says).  He also wont tell me what Totoro's original name is except that it's "a stupid chinese name".  He's a happy hamster though!

That's him getting to know my dad

Mayu and I went to visit a pet shop (you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a pet shop that sells birds).  Mayu's dream pet is a bird.  

Specifically a parrot.  I thought she meant those colourful parrots, but nooooo her ideal parrot is called the African Grey parrot (see above) which looks like a giant pigeon.

Also Mayu found this weird Japanese recipe which involves stacking a billion crepes on top of each other and putting cream and nutella and bananas in between.  Highly recommend 5/5

So then my parents showed up, and if you have my dad as a friend on FB (add him now) you should have seen ALLLL the stuff he put up on my wall.  They stayed for a few days in the UK, we got stuff down then we flew down to Copenhagen where we got on a cruise!  

In the UK they thought that Stonehenge was a good place to visit.  People I told that I was headed here all gave me really funny looks.  It's one of those places where you get there and you think "well that looks cool.  what next?".  Literally could have stopped by the side of the road and taken a picture.  But still, interesting place!  Fun fact of the day, NO ONE KNOWS WHY STONEHENGE WAS BUILT.  

This here is in Copenhagen, where I saw a packet called Pumpernickel and decided I had to try it.  

Don't try it.

In Copenhagen there are bikes lying everyday, FOC.

(Didn't try taking one in case I got arrested)

  

So this is the boat we got on.  It's essentially a big hotel that floats - up to 3000+ passengers and about 1500 crew, or so they say.  This is the nicest pic I have of it.

And this is the main common area of the boat.  Next BERK trip = cruise??!

And if you tell them it's your birthday they give you balloons and stuff.  We celebrated my chinese bday and my dad's real one

This is a park in Oslo full of weird ass sculptures, and this is my personal favourite - man kicking babies.

[Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park]

We spent a day in a town called Aarhus, Denmark; was just a pit stop on our way to Berlin.  There was this old church tower and I was bored so I went to climb to the top, there was no one else there, and when you reach the highest room it's pretty dark and deserted.... and on the far wall.  I think those were torture instruments.  Got the hell out of there quick!

Spent another day in Berlin - went to see a couple of landmarks then HAD TO GO SHOPPING FOR THIS ONE BAG MY SISTER WANTED WHICH MY PARENTS PROMISED TO GET.  Great sightseeing in Berlin, all the best department stores (I am not amused).  After we got this bag, I started rolling it and my mom said, "What are you doing?  It's new.  You have to carry it."  At which point I had to carry a new bag in a plastic bag for the rest of the day =]

Next we come to Tallinn, glorious capital of Estonia. That tower in the back is called....

KIEK IN DE KOK.

(sorry i'm easily amused)

In St Peterburg, Russia, my dad kept asking me to pose with random paintings in all the places we went to.  I'm not completely sure what criteria he uses to select the pictures for his collection of photos of me + paintings, but i think it has something to do with naked women.  

St Petersburg is a great place!

In Hellsinki.  My dad is professional photographer.  

And finally the cruise ended and it was back to the UK for me while my parents went home.  

My housemate made 2 cakes for my birthday.  This is how he keeps things a surprise.  

And this is the cake mayu ordered for me!  See if you can spot it.  I see she put up a few photos on facebook so you can go there =]

That's about it for me, I am 2 weeks into my final year here.  Gonna be doing the same stuff until March, that's when my finals are.  See you guys in December?!  And please update, YOU KNOW WHO ARE.  Hope you guys are doing well!

Totoro says bye!

K

where is the peoples?!

good stuff.

whatsuppppp people? OneRepublic this weekend! and classes are finally starting next Monday after a 3 1/2 month break! :o)

how are you guys doing? hope work is not too bad! I know K is enjoying himself right now. blog soon guys! 

R

WELL GUYS

Hi guys! Time for a random update from me, since I'm probably (finally) going to go into full exam mode very shortly.  I'm finishing the last week of my last placement for the year, then I've got about 2 weeks before my finals.  Sadly, not coming back this year, but then again none of you are around!

Here are some of the things I've been up to...

This is where we sometimes practice for exam stuff.. it's a music room in a hall, but i'm pretty sure it used to be a bomb shelter in world war II or something

Was at a BBQ the other day and it rained because this is England.  That's how you cook food when you're desperate

And i brought some satay

Took me hours to chop a billion shallots

And i had a special guest recently too

Concert which I bought the tickets to last november or something and they were sold out.  I was so excited about it, thinking that tons of people would be dying to go with me cause it's so hard to get tickets... well one year later and I found out that none of my friends even KNEW who the band was, and in the end I had to get mayu to come with me.  one week before the show I had to keep sending her youtube links to their songs, and I bet she didn't listen to them anyway!  still, i had fun though.

Mayu and I had an argument over what was the best (easiest?) way to make a melon dessert.  One is where you blend the melon and then add ice cream inside, the other is to chop melons and eat with it milk.  

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK. 

Finally found a cool karaoke place in london, introduced by mayu's sister.  It's at the back of an old second hand bookstore and impossible to find.  

But you search for songs on this cool device "__". Unfortunately, they didn't have "don't wanna miss a thing" otherwise I would have brought the whole place down

=]

Apparently this is how I take naps

So I'm currently out of London in a smaller hospital, and since I'm only there for a month we don't really bring much cooking stuff and spices so we resort to weird things.  Picture here is a medical student eating apples with peanut butter which is "normal".

Housemate was out of the house and Mayu was coming over so I spiced up dinner!

Ming Yi was in London!  What about you guys!  (Elizabeth feel free to visit again anytime haha.  Now with accommodation in London!)

* * *

Still waiting for your stories guys =P  But I know you're all probably busy with work too, so good luck getting settled in and with the grown up life!  When you get the time let me know what's been happening.. (that message was mainly for Amanda, I know you're reading this now Ken and you're very free, so blog!)

And finally, Elizabeth, Mayu gave me a shirt recently and i thought you should be the first to see

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You know who the real Kal-El is.

K