Mystifying Valley

Last Saturday a few colleagues and ex-colleagues went to this pub called Dave for Jolene’s farewell. As she’d be leaving to Singapore for work soon.

Aaron the bar tender? haha.. he’s the aspiring PAM


Jolene, me and Alicia

Keong Yee and I. The Windows Vista guru in LowYat

Poh Sze and I. One of the most sought after talented babes in the office

Alicia and I. The babe who can never get drunk

Jolene and I. The hot babe with a big dream. And obviously it was towards the end when we were about to call it a night.

Err.. That was the situation

Goodbye, My dear friend. We are going to miss you!

Tara now, Agnes and Yau.
Thanks for your care and your love all these years.
Thanks for making me feel like the luckiest sister friend on earth.
Without the two of u, life in Liverpool would have been so different.

Tara now, Chin and Grace.
Thanks for your support and your friendship all these years.
Thanks for being such good friends and never fail to make us smile.
Don’t forget to send me your wedding invitation when time comes, k?

Tara now, Paula and Vianti.
Thanks for making my life so much brighter since you both came in.
Thanks for all the laughters, all the tears, disappointment and triumphs.
Keep to your promise to visit me in Malaysia next year, will ya?

Tara now, Jackie.
Thanks for being my greatest sister and mentor support.
Thanks for making me dinner and delicious soups during exam time.
You’ll always be my biggest worry after I’m gone.

Tara now, Nellie, Meaw and Tee.
Thanks for being such great colleagues.
Thanks for teaching me so many things and sparing me so much of your generosity.
I’ll always remember you guys.

Tara now, Peter and Carole.
Thanks for accepting me as a part of your family.
Thanks for your cheerful jokes, encouragement and you never cease to make me laugh.
I promise I’ll write.

Tara now, Keith.
Thanks for always being there.
Thanks for always listening.
Promise our friendship won’t end from here, alright?

Tara now, all our friends in Liverpool.
Till we meet again, you’ll never walk alone.

Just got back from London after about two weeks of a very relaxing break. It was a farewell trip to say goodbye to our relatives and friends, and we were being pampered so well I guess I’ve gained a stone after all those sumptous feasts and lots of sleeping. I wasn’t as adjusted to the hustle and bustle of London as I used to during college years, but it was so good to see my sisters and nephew after so long. I really miss them now.

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Yesterday was spent at Claire’s place catching up since the last time we met was last summer. 8 years ago we both came to this stranger land together though we went on a very different direction and hardly see each other often, knowing that we are somewhere reachable has always been a great comfort and when we hugged each other goodbye in the tube, I could no longer hold back my tears. It was all very emotional.

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I’m no longer skeptical about going home, I’m confident it’ll be a good start. I’ve been receiving lots of positive and negative comments and advices from people but I prefer not to judge till I see it myself. I’m going home afterall, aren’t I? The worst I can get is to land a 1k job but it’s still home. However, I’ll need some time to settle down and to get used to the things from where I came from.

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Tomorrow is my last day in UK. I hate to say goodbye to friends whom i’ve cared for so much. I hate to say goodbye to Liverpool, a city I’ve grown to love.

I’m currently blogging from London at sis’s place, which is our last destination before heading home in another 10 more days. There are 3 more relatives from Ray’s side to visit and then we’ll be done and home we come.

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Seriously, we haven’t stopped running since we quitted our job almost a month ago. First there were several leaving dos with colleagues and friends and lots of drinking. Before I know it we were already on the plane heading for our Europe trip.

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It was a fabulous trip, first time being a backpacker wasn’t easy at all but it was a hell of an experience. My rugsack weighed about 25kgs and I’m still recuperating from sore shoulders, Ray was laughing at me throughout the trip whenever I was carrying the rugsack cos he said he was struggling to see my head from the back and it looked as if a spooky bag was walking on its own. haha. but not so funny.

Anyway. My favourite place? It has to be Chamonix of France, nothing beats the feeling of being on top of the world at the summit nearest to Mont Blanc.

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Worst place? You’ll be surprised.

Rome was supposedly a really nice historical city and we’ve been longing to visit Rome for a very long time and therefore, we’ve stayed there for 4 nights hoping to see the city more thoroughly. But sadly, it was a big disappointment as it turned out. The place was notoriously overcrowded, it didn’t help even we tried to go back to those famous spots in the night to avoid the crowd.

Trevi fountain was magnificient but it wasn’t as romantic as it claimed in many movies. We struggled hard to find a seat to sit down and to enjoy the view and when we finally managed to squeeze into a small corner, then there was a crowd of Indian sellers trying their best to block our views by standing in front of us unless if we buy an item from them. It was really intimidating. Some of the locals there were really rude and the worst was how we almost got mugged on a busy street and only managed to escape the ordeal by me hitting the bitch’s hand who tried to steal the wallet out of Ray’s pocket. And I was yelling like a mad woman on a busy street.

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Besides that, we visited the Vatican City the day before the Pope passed away. The Sistine Chapel? Absolutely splendid.

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Will try to write more about the trip later. By the way, thanks for the birthday wishes. It was a very normal day, just the way I liked it.

It’s final. Everything will be over in exactly 3 weeks time. Then we’ll be jetting off for our long awaited holiday before heading home for good in April. The plane ticket should arrive by next week, it’s been such a long time since we last had a ‘real’ ticket to fly as we’ve always been using e-tickets to travel within the continent. Now this sounds like an important departure. It is. Isn’t it.

This isn’t as easy as I’ve thought, packing my 7 years worth of belongings is very stressful. I just realised that I have far too many things in my room and it’s impossible to ship every item back cos mum has already warned me not to bring back anymore ‘rubbish’. But every rubbish in my room has their individual sentimental values that I’m struggling to let go of. Just a simple task of shredding my lecture notes and bank statements dated back from college days to my final year felt so strange, it’s like I’m wiping off the entire history I’ve been in UK… this isn’t easy for me.

I remember in the past when I came across oversea bloggers who kept moaning about their hesitations in going back home for good, I did not understand why they felt so good about staying abroad being second class immigrants… I certainly didn’t agree with them despite living in UK for almost a decade. I was always desperate to go home so when I graduated, it became a natural decision for me to kick start my career in Malaysia when time comes. All the procedures happened so naturally I didn’t even have a single second thought about this because I was so adamant about my decision.

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We have now more or less finalised our date of departure and we are really busy doing a lot of packing, shipping, selling our belongings and planning for our trip as well as some practical stuff for the near future. It’s when all these things gradually become reality and knowing that what I’ve been longing for is about to be materialised, I start to fret and panic about everything. I’ve got this sudden sense of nostalgia for almost every spot of Liverpool that I’ve been and frequent, such as the cafe that I go to every afternoon during lunch break, the pictureque scenic view that cheers me up every morning when I go to work and so on. I don’t even bitch about the English weather anymore as I know it’s something I will miss very soon. Remember I used to loathe the scoucers and especially their funny accents that I couldn’t stop complaining but now most of my friends are these passionate locals whom I can only communicate and joke around with, wheareas the fellow Malaysian friends that I recently met really make me feel out of place.

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Despite the thought of basking under the hot sun everyday doesn’t sound too appealing nor the lack of manners and the funny attitudes that I’ve been getting by these new acquaintances aren’t helping me much for my emotional preparation, I still remember where I come from and where I should be going from here. Whether I like it or not, I just need to accept it.

I haven’t even told my boss about my resignation yet, I will do it in the next coming days when things are calmer at work and I shall update more on my plan to go back to Malaysia. Just for my friends who are wondering, I won’t be able to make it back for CNY or even my birthday but it’ll be before May.

I can’t wait to go home. But at the same time I’m already missing everything over here.

Sigh.

 a pint of lager

My Halloween Sunday was very well spent albeit a really lazy one, time and companion were all that mattered whilst the crap dinner and the absolutely unconvincing horror flick ‘Exorcist The Beginning’ were only trivial.

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Time, space, freedom and notthingness were all that I craved. But these needs only get fulfilled on Sunday where all my worries will be thrown to the back of my head temporarily because with choice, I prefer to concentrate on enjoying every moment of laziness that I deserve.

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Before I know Monday had already set in. I don’t loathe it either, as I know more calories will be burnt with my workout routine and I’ll be glee to see an extra pound falls off the scale each week. That’s a big encouragement in the agenda and besides, my learning everyday makes me more contented each week. For all I know this drive is equally essential just as what I told my sis, I’m not doing nothing here; I’m gearing up to prepare for what I am to face pretty soon. Life may seem to be stuck in a rut at the moment but with choice, I’m also cherishing the beauty of it.

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Four more months to go, I’m eagerly counting the days but at the same time, I’m already missing England.

Autumn scenic views in Liverpool.

Been busy doing a lot of packings lately. Anyone knows any door-to-door shipping companies which offer a great deal?