The Spirit of Christmas

Christmas gift-giving is always a sign of great Christmas spirit, right? 

Below are some of the Christmas gifts I got for my friends!

For The Cow...

 An animated singing reindeer!

 And a tiny reindeer card as a finishing touch!

For my Korean penpal...

 Gifts from Typo! A notebook with Spanish on the front cover, and the English translation on the back and...

A fabric Christmas stocking with reindeers and blue trees on 'em! So cute!

She hung it on her door after receiving it!

 Also sent her birthday gifts along with her Christmas ones since it will cost a lot cheaper than mailing them out twice (together, they still cost 20++ bucks ._.) and gave her these cute character earstuds from Toy Story! They look a lot different in the picture than in real life...

...See?

 Also sent her a Forever 21 necklace (they don't have F21 there) and a silver nail polish from rubi!

And decorated her a birthday card! I think I must have done about 6 birthday cards in the past month!

For my penpal from India...

 Haven't heard from her ever since I sent these bangles (also Forever 21) her way. I wonder why. Anyway, these weren't exactly Christmas gifts - they were for her birthday. Figured I'd just put this here anyway.

Me trying on the bangles!

Below are some Christmas greetings videos I've received on Whatsapp! Enjoy!

Apparently, Becky's mother sent this creepy-weird Indian version of Christmas to her via whatsapp.

A sweet Christmas greeting!

My aunt whatsapped this to me. Pretty cute.

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How I Spent Christmas Day

Well, once again, it's been more than an entire month since I've last blogged! But there'll be a whole slew of new posts coming up! Wouldn't wanna keep my non-existent readers of the blog waiting! Anyway, before I forget...

... And have a spanking new year! I love, love, love Christmas! Here's what I love about it! 

I usually begin listening to Christmas songs from end of October... I know, crazy right? I get into the Christmas spirit waaay too early! Here are some of the Christmas songs I'm currently listening to!

"Baby It's Cold Outside"

"Chestnuts" by Ariana Grande and Liz Gillies

Christmas shopping in departmental stores and anywhere else for Christmas presents! Also, the thought of receiving Christmas gifts as well!

Good ol' Saint Nick living right in Finland's Laplands on a fell named "Korvatunturi", according to my Finnish penpal! One Finnish Christmas tradition: Finland families with little children usually hire someone (a relative, etc.) to come over on Christmas Eve dressed up as Santa Claus to deliver the bought presents to the kids! How adorbs!

Christmas cookies, and any other type of food that signifies Christmas! Especially...
Gingerbread men!
Also, holiday sweaters! Well, my taste for Christmas sweaters ain't exactly like this one... I prefer those with reindeers on 'em! A little like this one:

Besides, what would Christmas be without a REINDEER sweater? ;)

Hoping... and hoping to get a letter from Santa from the one you sent him months ago!
Reading funny ICANHAZ cats captions, especially on the topic of Christmas!
Wooden horses
Having a good laugh at photos of kids getting scared of Santa Clause! (This particular Santa looks like an ape, anyway.)
Christmas lights!
And you can't forget the Christmas tree! I recall I bought a small Christmas tree (one of those commercialised ones without a branch but a knitted box as a base) last year, but I'd no idea where my mother placed it, but I'm far too lazy to bring it out to decorate. No one ever drops by my house for Christmas anyway. Next Christmas, then!
You may think I'd have a wonderful Christmas, seeing how much I love so many aspects of it right? Truth is, I don't even have a Christmas tree decorated at home, nor have I hung Christmas lights, or even bought a Christmas sweater for myself. But I have been watching Christmas movies, wrapping Christmas gifts and listening to Christmas songs! That's just me trying to convince myself I'm having a wonderful Christmas...
Anyways, I went for Christmas service at Glory Presbyterian Church close by with Elaine and her "friend"! Becky was supposed to come to, but not surprisingly, she overslept and missed it! It was pretty all right though. Nothing I didn't expect! Singing hymns, a Christmas song, listening to a sermon and reading scriptures... I went home after that!
...And opened Christmas presents I'd already received and was saving for Christmas morning! The first one I opened was from Becky! I got 3 presents!

 A mini glitter lamp! It has an on-off switch at its base! Pretty!

Where should I put it...?

 An owl necklace!

 And the wooden mannequin from Typo I've been aching to have for AGES! Becky got it a month ago. She did a great job pretending she hadn't gotten it for me already when we went Christmas shopping this week.

 Unwrapping it!

 Tadaaaa!

And from Alleyne! She told me its price, but I shan't reveal it here~ ;)

 Pretty wrapping paper! It's really thin though.

 A Scrapbook Kit from Precious Moments! How precious!

Always wanted a scrapbook... but couldn't afford it! I shall start scrapbooking with it as soon as I have the time! Thanks, Alleyne!

Also got a package (that I had to personally collect from the post office again since no one was home when the postman came!) from my Korean penpal, Jenna! Love all her presents! 

 The package.

 A pig-rabbit! I told her I loved the Korean drama "You're Beautiful", and she gave me this cell-phone holder with a stuffed pig rabbit by its side! The pig-rabbit was a symbolic character in the drama series! So cute!

 Closer view for you to get envious of it!

 She also gave 2 boxes of instant noodles - the best and favourite brand in Korea! Can't wait to try 'em!

That's all the Christmas presents I have for now! I'm expecting 4 more! Hurrah! (I hope that didn't make me sound at all conceited - HAHA!)
Once again...(I just had to say it again) Share

Random Musings of the Day

Amazing, I've actually got the blogging mood after my last post about 20 days ago, amidst all the assignments that are due comin' up. Needless to say, feelin' the pressure, but not feelin' up to actually DOING the work. I've seriously gotten WAAAAY lazier over the years. I swear, I wasn't as lax as this in secondary school!

Okay, it sounds pretty boring up to here, so I shall talk about the photos I've got for today's blog post! It is surely way more exciting than my mundane life.

This is one of the pretty recent photos I took at Suntec City's Convention Centre with my lousy camera phone. It's ain't too shabby, I reckon. SO. PROUD. Still, some people thinks I have lousy photography skills. Bah. They are pebbles surrounding a huge column extending to the ceiling with water slipping against it to the circular water bed around it! So purdy!

Sorry about the lighting. That was Swensen's bad lighting. My mother treated Elaine to Swensens when we planned to head to Esplanade to do our radio project! Awesome~! We had this lovely concoction of ice cream, marshmallows in fudge, and Oreo cookies! I only disliked the banana in the center.

I put all the sweets I had in my refridgerator into this sweet ol' plastic jar. Everything else (even candy corn!) stuck to the caramel toffee bonbons I bought in Paris. This makes me think of a beehive. Yuck.

Wondered how THIS came about? Alleyne came across the left photo of the baby girl while she was bored in Feature Writing tutorial. Then she got bored during Public Relations tutorial, and combined these two photos together (the right one courtesy of the Cow's newly-activated FB account!). HILARIOUS! She posted this edited photo to Facebook, and boy, did it get some popularity (not that much really - just a coupla people)! There was even an in-class advertising of that photo on FB by the teacher, when A spilled to her when she was asked what she was laughing about (most teachers seems to be asking her that these days...) The photo is totes adorbs! AIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!

The final thing I'm gonna show for this post is about the newest function for Apple's newest version of the iPhone (4S!) - Siri! It basically helps you send texts, call someone, Google search something, make notes, the list goes on... The cool part is it does all that by responding to your voice! Check out the hilarious video below of how Siri really helps in a relationship. You won't even have to face the person with the help of Siri! Peace out! xx

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Pre-France Jitters

OMG I BLOGGED FOR AN ENTIRE HOUR, AND THE NEW BLOGGER WIPED IT RIGHT OFF EVEN AFTER I CLICKED SAVE SO MANY TIMES. ARGH. I shan't bother writing a really long one now, and I can't remember what I wrote anyway...

Anyway, I previously wrote the last time I blogged was in July 20, that's about 1 and a half months!

Going to the airport in 6 hours and 30 minutes, then we head to Dubai, and then Paris! I'm not feeling particularly excited about France, since it's a school trip, and apparently, I've got no friends whatsoever. Ain't gonna be fun. The only things I'm looking forward to is the long plane rides (7 and a half to Dubai, another 7 and a half from Dubai to Paris!), sightseeing in Paris and Vichy, to places like Tour Eiffel (need I say more?), Le Louvre (home to the famous Mona Lisa!), Les Catacombes (underground, with tons of skeletons), visiting Thiers & Lyon during our stay in Vichy, Champs Elysees, and of course, shopping!

 Flying Emirates, in Terminal 1! Bummer, I'd hoped it was Terminal 3.

This is the full list of the itinerary of our 14 days in Paris & Vichy, France!

8 September

01.40: Departure time from airport

13.30 (France Time): Arrival in Paris

15:30: Arrival in BVJ, students accommodation.

19.00: Visit of BVJ surrounding area and dinner.

20.00: Free time in Louvre’s surrounding area.

22.00: BVJ’s curfew. Students have to be back in their accommodation before 22.00 (you'll be locked out after 10PM if you're not back in the dorms! Harsh)

In case you were wondering, BVJ stands for Bureau Voyage Jeunesse (translation - Office Travels Youth?!). It had some pretty bad reviews... so I'm not particularly looking forward to stay here, not one bit! The only good thing about it is its prime location (5 mins/2 blocks away from Le Louvre, and other major destination spots!) and the Internet access!

Here are some of the negative reviews it got...

"The rooms are somewhat dark and lack ventilation, which is especially noticeable after someone showers. Showers and sinks are in the rooms, though both are push button, which proves annoying when it takes a long time for hot water to run. There is no closet, not even any hooks or rods to hang towels are so towels remain wet."

- Review by TheHostelz.com

"...no lift and a spiral stair... no closet, no table / chairs, no bathroom. Only the 3 loft beds (without ladders or rails, only a stool to climb up) and a washbowl with a mirror. And snot everywhere on the walls and on the ceiling."

- Review by S, Germany

"... no toilet paper ANYWHERE! Internet kiosks stole my money as did the 200 year old lockers. the top bunks have no ladders and no rails, but sink in the middle so you don't fall out. The showers don't stay on. The breakfast ran out of muesli most mornings and the lady yell at you for not returning the tray, but then have to wipe the table cause the coffee/hot chocolate is served in bowels."

- Review by Anonymous, NZ

9 September

07:15-08.15: Students have breakfast at BVJ.

09.30: Paris Bus Tour (Champ de Mars, le Louvre, Tour Eiffel, Arce de Triomphe, Nothre Dame, Orsay, les Champs Elysées, Opera, Grand palais) + Visit of the surrounding areas

11:30: Lunch

12:30: Eiffel Tower Visit

14.00: Visit of the surrounding area (Trocadero, Champs de Mars, Esplanade des Invalides)+ Bus Tour (free)

19.00: Dinner around BVJ

22.00: BVJ’s curfew. Students have to be back in their accommodation before 22.00

10 September

07:15-08.15: Students have breakfast at BVJ.

09.30: Paris Bus Tour (Champ de Mars, Le Louvre, Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Orsay, Les Champs Elysées, Opera, Grand Palais) + Visit of the surrounding areas (what?!! TWO SIMILAR bus tours two days in a row? Really, it's an utter waste of time...) 

12.00: Lunch

13.30: Visit of the surrounding areas: Palais Royal, Tuileries, Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde

15.30: Le Louvre Museum Visit

19.30 : Dinner

22.00: BVJ’s curfew. Students have to be back in their accommodation before 22.00

11 September

07:15-08.15: Students have breakfast at BVJ.

09.15-12.30: Paris River Cruise

12.30-14.00: Parc de la Vilette Visit

16.00: BVJ to get students luggage.

18.01: High-speed train to Vichy

20.51: Dinner in the train. Arrival in Vichy. Host families are waiting at the railway station. (There are many instances in Vichy where our host families will have to pick us up from a certain spot to bring us home. What if they forget?!)

12 September

08.00: Language Placement test (oh crap. I'll surely be placed in the beginner's class!)

10.30-12.00: Language Class

12.00: Lunch (Geez, 2 hour lunch break?!)

14.00-15.30: Language Class

16.00-18.00: Vichy historical visit

19.00: Dinner and time with host families

13 September

08.45-12.00: Language Class

12.00: Lunch

14.00-15.30: Language Class

15.30-18.00: Free time (visit of the surrounding areas)

18.00-19.00: Sport (Umm... I hope this isn't compulsory!)

19.00: Dinner and time with host families

20.30-22.00: French Movie Screening

14 September

08.45-12.00: Language Class

12.00: Lunch

13.30-19.30: Visit of Thiers, charming French city and capital of the prestigious cutlery-making industry in France. (Looking forward to this!) 

20.00: Dinner and time with host families

15 September

08.45-12.00: Language Class

12.00: Lunch

14.00-15.30: Language Class

17.00-18.30: local Delicacies tasting

19.00: Dinner and time with host families

20.30-22.00: French Movie Screening (Another French movie? I hope they are good Cannes Film Festival types of movies!)

16 September

08.45-12.00: Language Class (Last day of classes! Hallelujah!)

12.00: Lunch

14.00-15.30: Language Class

17.00-19.00: Sport

21.30-00.30: Dance Party (Not compulsory) (Thank goodness. I'm not going, no questions asked!)

17 September

7.30-20.30: Field Trip to Lyon (Looking forward to this one as well!)

18 September

9.00-20.00: Field Trip to the Auvergne Volcanic Regional Nature park (Ditto! This is the largest regional nature park in France!)

19 September

07.00-08.00: Last breakfast with host families

10.58-13.52: High Speed train from Vichy to Paris.

15.00: Check-in at BVJ. (Damn.)

16.00: Visit of Centre Pompidou-National Modern Art Museum

19.00: Dinner

20.00: Visit of Champs Elysées at night (It'd be cool to see the place at night! I predict pretty lights!)

22.00: BVJ’s curfew. Students have to be back in their accommodation before 22.00

20 September

07:15-08.15: Students have breakfast at BVJ.

09.00-20.00: Visit of Montmartre, Sacré-Coeur, Historical Walk, Food Market Rue Mouffetard

22.00: BVJ’s curfew. Students have to be back in their accommodation before 22.00

21 September

07:15-08.15: Students have breakfast at BVJ. (Final breakfast! Yee-ha!)

09.00: BVJ check-out. Luggage will be kept safely there.

09.00: Visit of Galerie La Fayette (genuinely can't wait to visit this shopping centre!)

12.00: Lunch

13.00: Free time (spent shopping, I hope!)

15.30: Departure for the airport (Counting the days till it comes time for this...)

21.50: Flight Departure

22 September

20.55: Arrival (Home Sweet Home!)

We'll be staying in a host family's home each! Mine are Monsieur Bouguerre & Mademoiselle Bouguerre! I love their last name! The man's 59, while the woman's 66! They have a dog (yay! Just hope it's not the fierce, unfriendly sorts) and two daughters who are no longer staying with them, so I won't meet them.

On Sunday, when we went to Suntec for the Comez exhibition, we came across a souvenir store (items are not of exceptional quality...) and I found a fridge magnet with places of interests of the country, and some fruit forks (is that what they're called? - they have 2 prongs!). Then, just yesterday, my mother came home with a nicely wrapped package for the host fam as well! She bought this aluminium ornamental plate display costing 40 bucks! Crazy expensive! I just hope they like it.

And together with the package, my mother brought home the Abbey Dawn clothes I ordered online! ;D This is the shirt I ordered... It cost $24.99 USD! I ordered 'S' but it still looks awfully big. Damnnn.

Elaine's hoodie from Abbey Dawn also came through! I had to run down to pass it to her where she was waiting in a taxi in the midst of mapling. Died, disconnected, and didn't get the EXP. Geek talk ends here, don't fret.
She passed me stickers she bought in Daiso in return! ;D

I just finished downloading A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song, starring Lucy Hale! I recently began watching Pretty Little Liars, and she's awesome as Aria! I also enjoyed watching her as Justin's goth girlfriend in Wizards of Waverly Place Season 1! She has a pretty good voice. Check out the movie's music video, with her single 'Run This Town'!




Anyway, that's enough blogging for now. I shall blog all about France when I return, my non-existent readers! I shall leave with some really random pics...

Two baby heads I found in a shopping mall, selling children's clothing.

This is HILARIOUS. And totally accurate. You'd only understand this if you play The Sims...

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