July 18, 2005 8.34pm
Woohoo!! This is Dundee air I’m breathing. After 24 hours of traveling, waiting, transiting, watching Russel Peter’s again (for the 5th time) in Amsterdam, we’re finally here in the fine city of Dundee.
Weather’s superb!! God gave Scotland central air-conditioning. Seriously, it’s so cooling. But when the wind blows, it really does chill bones. Even right now I have to wear my hooded jacket. And if this is summer, we’re gonna be so dead when winter comes. But we’ll worry bout that later and enjoy the sun now, which is pretty blazing when it does shine.
It’s 8.35pm now and it’s still as bright as 1pm outside. I think my body system has lost its circadian rhythm. Pretty tired, considering we’ve walked from 10am to 5pm just now. Seriously, no exaggeration, 7 hours of walking. But the streets are so well-paved, the weather’s great, people are friendly, I feel I could walk the whole day. No sweat(figuratively and literally). And the best thing is, the hall that I’m staying in right now is within walking distance of the city centre. Oh yea, and Dundee is not only about 1 shopping centre (like what everyone says). Hey, you should see the streets. It’s as good as Singapore Orchard! Or maybe even better, considering the fact that the buildings are all of rustic type. They all look so majestic and historical. And the lawns! Oh man, lying on the grass feels better than bed! And there’re benches at some of the places where you can just pack lunch and chill out there (unless it’s winter when I guess you’ll really chill out).
TESCO’s our new lepak place to replace mamaks. They’re open 24 hours. And it’s so fascinating to just walk around the whole huge place searching for good deals and cheap buys. It’s definitely therapeutic (like what Lena says). Was pretty funny how me and Lena were buying bread in TESCO the first day we were here. We took one loaf, then we saw another loaf which was cheaper, than we saw ANOTHER one which was even dirt cheaper. But it taste superbly good. One of the best breads I’ve tasted in my life! Nearly went crazy when I saw all the various types of bread available. It is really BREAD LAND there! The whole aisle was dedicated to bread, bread and more BREAD! And not just your normal Gardenia white or whole meal bread, they have all kinds. And they’re cheap. Yeap, my plan: £1 or less per meal. And it’s working. Had sandwich and a peach for lunch. And cooked pasta with Lena for dinner just now, with lots of broccoli, carrots and minced meat. Yummy!! Balanced meal. Tomorrow lunch will be packed ham sandwich. Dinner - pizza, lettuce + maybe baked chicken. For those staying in Vista who are still being agonized by rooftop food, well…your time will come, have patience.
Been great hanging out with the M202 seniors who are now our batch mates (Colin, Woei Lin, Saw Sien). Nice bunch of people who can tahan the legendary Raymond lame jokes that we told them. Good that we could actually get along so well in such a short time, or maybe it’s just the factor that we’re all being thrown together in a foreign land.
Uh…I better get used to the Scottish accent. Yea, it’s pretty sexy (especially when it’s a tall, well built ang-moh guy you’re conversing to, heh). But some of them just have such a heavy accent that I couldn’t decipher what they were trying to say at all. And I don’t want to appear as if I’m some mainland Mandarin speaking Chinese who doesn’t understand English. But well…it really needs getting used to.
Met the Dundee Chinese Christian Fellowship people on the first day. And they seriously remind me of how we used to have welcome events for the IMU juniors. Really touched by their effort. Brought us to lunch (which I spent £5 on. RM35!!! But I needed real food after 24 hours of airplane food). Helped to answer some of our queries. And I could really see the heart of the lady who heads this CF. Honestly, she does remind me of PC. 40 yrs old but she looks as if she just graduated from uni. Like what PC said, walking with God makes you younger J Singaporean who’s called to lead and reach out to Asians who come to Dundee to study. Will most probably join their meeting this Friday.
Oh yea, my room reminds me of a super cozy hotel room. It has no fan but it feels as if it’s air-conditioned. And it has an en suite toilet. The whole place is carpeted and there’s even a one-man sofa to chill out in. It has a great view overlooking the river. And you see lots of sea gulls here which gives it a very beach-y and vacation-y feel. The common area + kitchen are really nice chill out places too. Only thing is, this place is really expensive! So will just stay here and enjoy it temporarily until we can find our own flat (which was the reason we walked all over the city centre just now talking to property agents).
Right, it’s still bright outside. Gonna see if the rest wants to go out for a walk. This weather’s too good to be wasted. And once we start classes, I don’t think we’ll have the luxury of doing what we want at any time.


July 19, 2005 10.15pm
‘The chicken’s making noise…’ That remark by Woei Lin uttered so innocently seriously set me and Lena into laughing fits. We were all gathered in the common room helping out in cooking dinner (headed by Elaine’s mom). And the chicken was sizzling in the grill. Or rather, ‘making noise’ as Woei Lin put it. Had rice, vege stew/soup, eggs and grilled chicken seasoned in curry powder for dinner with the rest of the crew. Somehow it all tasted so good although it was a very simple meal. Maybe it was the people, maybe it was the fun of preparing together. Or maybe it was the thought that at least we’re eating some real food rather than IMU rooftop cheap pluk xi-yao-gai and overcooked vege.
God, thank you for the house we found!!! Oh man, you guys got to see it! It’s a brand new 3 storey bungalow with a garage which can fit 2 cars. And also a backyard and garden where we can have BBQs. And as I said, it’s brand new! Hot from the oven! Baru built! We’ll be able to fit all 9 of us in. And it’ll come fully furnished, even with a dishwasher and washing machine and 30” TV and…you guys won’t believe this…build in WIFI!! Oh man, thank you God, talk about abundant blessings! I can still rave on about all the plus points about this house. But then, it all seems to good to be true. So we’ve yet to sign the contract at the moment, but we’ll go to the uni Student Advisory and well, get their advice. But 99% we’re gonna take it. The landlord was superbly nice, a bit too nice to be true. Will pray about it and if God really wants us there, well, we’ll get to stay there.
Am getting a bit apprehensive about the weather. Took a 20 minute walk with Lena, Colin, Woei Lin last night 10pm to TESCO. And man! My facial muscles were so cold they were cramping and I could barely speak. The wind was beyond enjoyable, it was really torturous having to walk in that weather. And I have to remind myself again and again, this is summer! Brace yourself for winter!
We passed through this field/park/playground and guess what we saw…wild rabbits hopping around happily! And they’re way cuter than those you see in Pet’s Wonderland. They have really huge eyes, and nice brown fur with ears standing up. And we saw more today near the hospital. Maybe the rabbits here are like the wild cats or dogs back home. Except the fact that these rabbits are much cuter and they look like they’re enjoying themselves hopping around, rather than looking miserably at you begging for food like the wild dogs do back home. We were all so excited to see wild rabbits that someone was shouting ‘Arnab! Arnab!’
Right, going off for a dose of God’s word, and then maybe have an early night. Oh yea, my left post auricular lymph nodes are swollen. Slightly tender, mobile. The area around it feels slightly sore too and there’s a bump behind my ears. Hopefully it’s just a pimple which lost its way and grew on my scalp, causing the bump and the redness and the swollen lymph nodes.