A brief trip via the Metro service (30 minutes) down from Newcastle, lies Sunderland. Situated at the mouth of River Wear, it can boast a nice coastline as well a buzzed city centre, developed throughout the years as a coal-mining town to the current high-technology industry.
River Wear via the Metro
City Centre from Sunderland Station
Sunderland Metro and Train Station
Stepping out from the station, the city centre provides a compact yet organised location. The roads are mostly small and pedestrian walkways dominates the geography here. Like most other cities in the UK, the place is a combination of both old and new buildings. As Sunderland has been largely been in the redeveloping programme due to modernise the city, the architecture landscape are mostly of the 21st century settings. However, conservation projects are lately part of the plans by the city council, hence traditional buildings are mostly preserved as reminder to Sunderland's industrial history.
Museum and Library
Sunderland City street views
A visit to the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens is our first agenda. It holds the industrial history of the city itself, including textile making, coal mining and ship building.
Museum and Winter Gardens Entrance
Inside the Sunderland Museum
Next up, we have a look at the Winter Gardens, where the tropical jungle are modeled and preserved here. It is certainly a reminder of the Malaysian humidity and hutan (forest) atmosphere.
Into the Winter Gardens
Inside the Winter Gardens
Next, we head out of the building and dropped by at Mowbray Park, just beside the Winter Gardens.
(clockwise from left) 2 Views of Winter Gardens, swans in the lake, park view
Apart from the beautiful view of the lake and the exterior of Winter Gardens, it has a scenic garden where various activities are available.
Next up...other destinations in Sunderland. Part 2 soon.
Took me awhile to get another post up. As aforementioned, it is an exciting time here. Full of joy and challenges at the same time.
And here I am, 2 months into my pilgrimage at Newcastle. Academic Development Week is what they call it for this week. Nice name for mid-term break. However, there is no excuse in resting on my laurels. Assignment deadlines are upcoming and the literature reads piles up like snow on a cold winter day.
Speaking of snow, here is a pic of them. First taste of it.
Well, not exactly clear. But there you go for a preview.
As autumn drifts into winter, I will just let the pics give a brief chronicle of events so far.
The occasional makan sama-sama sessions with fellow Malaysians
I swear these are my guilty pleasure food of all time
One of the class scenes, though I am in a much smaller class than illustrated
First match at St James' Park
Me and Monsieur Jacque o' Lantern preparing for Halloween
Silent Hill picturesque of Northumbria University
I have also made some intriguing trips to a few cities in the UK. But it is gonna be too long to be all included in one post.
The very first breath of UK weather when I stepped out of the plane did make me want to stand there and embrace the cold fresh air. Welcome to Newcastle, a large sign board said.
The welcoming coast of Newcastle
The weather is indeed a great topic to be discussed in the UK. It is a great conversation starter. Newcastle's weather is a drama queen of its own. Rain and shine cycle can be completed in approximately 7 rounds per day.
Getting on from that, Newcastle itself is how I expected it to be. Captivating, fun and at the same time homely.
City Centre along Northumberland Street
Northumbria University is 5 minutes away from the City Centre, a great boon for people who embrace convenience. A mixture of traditional and modern architecture and facilities, it gives the combination of vintage yet savvy feel.
Northumbria University
I like it here as it is not as complicated as it is in London. On the other hand, it provides the basic needs of a cosmopolitan. If you want serenity, Newcastle provides that as well. More on that in the next post.
That moment when I make my decision and decided to further my studies was still quite fresh in my memory. Fast forward one year, and here I am getting ready to take the challenge that did not seem to be on my five-year-plan manifesto. I decided to seize it as it is what they call a golden opportunity. It was the right moment financially speaking; the most important of all factors.
Few more days left and I am all set. UK is not a total stranger's land for me, thanks to that valuable few months in Liverpool. However, it will be a new place, new environment this time around. One that has received splendid feedback and recommendations from my colleagues and friends.
Welcome to Newcastle they say
How brilliant it will be, only time will tell. The chronicles will be told once I am there for my "getaway". As the designated date edge closer, all I am praying is that I will make it.
A lot of times, you have to really think about it and you'd realise that friendship ain't a thing that is easy to maintain. It is much more easy to fade away into oblivion rather than you keep one.
To maintain a certain friendship needs effort. What's more if this friendship is maintained since kindergarten.
Not easy I can tell you. Yes, we are friends since we are 6. It has been almost 20 years and we are still keeping in touch.
You don't realise it until you sit down one day at a nice, chill-out cafe and you are reminiscing about the past that you have gone through. 20 years of memories down the road. And here we are in a foreign land (well, everything out of Penang is considered foreign in this context) sipping latte and having a nice sandwich, watched a funny movie together and bitching about how Penang is still better place than KL.
The fact that we came from the same schools and how we developed throughout the years, each with a different path taken, people met and exposure gained is already an interesting fact. In fact, we don't really share a lot of things in common, paradoxically speaking. But here we are, surviving and setting foothold away from where we are from.
Started by stereo-typically, Asians, Aaron Lynn and Thanh Pham, the blog is similar to what Lifehacker has offered to me so far. But having more life hacks on my list of to-reads would do no harm.
The title itself is already eye-catching. The common "myth" of efficiency and genius of Asians. If you read the posts, I can say that it carries the title well. Good links, sufficient support of facts and most definitely important, helpful.
Mondays aren't that bad after all. In fact, I don't really jump onto the Monday Blues bandwagon. I believe and will always be positive about the start of the week.
So first thing in the morning, I was informed by one of my students that the deposit was paid (finally!) And it was like....
And later in the afternoon, there was another anxious moment, when I have to collect the visa of another student. Anxious because it will be my first student to get a visa to the UK and the case ain't straight forward. So 30 minutes of waiting in visa centre was giving me the jitters. There are many unnecessary what-ifs in my head, but it turned out just fine. And it was like....
Next up it was a us vs. others moment, where student is only interested in two universities, with only one of them has affiliations with us. So intense and last minute preparations were made for a great presentation. And it turns out, way before I have the chance to present all my points to convince, she has already made her choice. And the choice is what everyone would have wanted it to be. And it was like....
So there you go. Monday ain't that bad, was it? It has been a tough year, so hopefully days like this will be more of the rule rather than the exception.
I think it is time to reflect upon the major decision that has been made since last October. 3 more months and off I go. For self-enhancement, to put it bluntly.
A lot of people will comment somewhere between this lines: "Wah, song loh. Can go oversea leh. I oso wan." or "U so lucky. Can go study again."
Let me tell you this, it is not as "song" as you think it will be. This is a responsibility and with it, comes with the burden and expectations from every corner of your life. It comes with questions. Questions that needed to be answered by yourself, like " What are you gonna do after this?" "Will it be worth it?" "Why this course?" and "Can you make it?"
And not to forget the responsibility to la familia. After all, they are the ones who made this possible all the while. It is an investment. And as the concept of investment goes, it can turn good or bad, possibly with dramatic effects. I guess, it is You Win or You Die, dramatically speaking. What is in for the parents? I can't really promise them alot of things. But what I can promise is, I will do my best in what I do.
The Game of Thrones has just ended for its second season. And if the dates are to follow the previous seasons, we have another 300+ days to go for the next season. 300 days and counting.
The show has an awesome cast. The Starks, Lannisters, Tyrells, Boltons...Hodor....blabla. However, I would like to bring attention to the latest on my list of yums (apart from Emilia Clarke with brunette hair): Rose Leslie.
And who was she on GoT? The wildling and spearwoman, Ygritte.
Not exactly a Wildling face that you are expecting. I would have thought her as a lovely princess in any Great Houses of Westeros on the series. But yea, she is one of the Wildlings. Better than being one of the whores of GoT.
Pretty sure there are comments about why such a beauty was cast on a tribe Beyond the Wall. We all expect Wildlings women to look like Osha (Natalia Lena). But hey, everywhere needs a beauty. And if she was known to the Seven Kingdoms, I am sure lots of Westorosi will take flight to the North pronto.
Leslie not being Ygritte. Still yum.
She has a sexy and a tad husky voice and accent (similar to those from Scotland and Scouse in nature). Her taunts on Jon Snow are just simply epic. Here is one of them, though you have to watch the whole scene on this in S02E07, to get the full LMFAO moment.
And if you are wondering how similar Ms Leslie is to her character. Here is a video of her being interviewed:
Seven minutes of gratifying moment. Can't wait to see more of her on Season 3.
Via Lifehacker, I found a blog that made me read it for the past 2 hours (which is an amazing feat for me considering reading is not particularly my passion).
Introducing PsyBlog, a website of psychological sciences with modern experiments and research. Although focused on the contemporary, the blog also covers topics that has been significant to the field of psychology. It is great like this as it acts as reminders to what we have studied so far and if there are any updates or changes to the theories.
One important factor that I like about the blog is that it did not come with many technical terms and jargon. Even if there is, they will be links or simple explanations to made the articles comprehensible. It is a easy-to-read blog using simple grammar and is very suitable for people without a psychology background.
Also, you can follow the blogger, Jeremy Dean on twitter for the updates.
There are many things in between the current and last post that had happened. The typical ups and downs of life, mostly down though.
There were frustrating periods, where I can't find the enthusiasm and discipline to write a single post. It was a complicated woven web, that all I wish to have was an easy life. Monotonous, metronome-like and most important of all, simple.
Part of life is to get through the challenging times. I considered this period one of the lowest point as far as my serving memory goes. A large chunk of it was robbed. Literally. It takes lots of time, energy and money to pick up the pieces again. At least I was able to go through the routines of daily life without much hindrance. I credit that I have learned and applying it on a daily basis. It helped and I am glad that depression did not take its toll.
Now that I have a wee space for a breather, I can do some reflection of what has happened and be able to be thankful that things did not break me as feared. Perhaps I have masked it well, but at times and in solitude, thoughts and imagination creeps up and stresses life out.
I hope things are going to a brighter side by now and I have no reason to believe the contrary.
My reminder to self though: The only easy day was yesterday.
So I guess most of us had heard about the best question posted in a debate. In case, you haven't, here you go (with subtitles for those who don't understand mandarin or simply can't here what she was shouting about due to the noise pollution that she was making):
So there you go. Half Penangnite (because mom-in-law from there), lives in Selayang (but meanwhile knows all the shit that is happening in Penang after 10.30pm) , joined Malaysian C*** Association (self-explanatory).
And she is famous now on the social media, mind you. Best ever would be my dear friend's post on her webpage:
So I am pretty sure who you would vote for at the next GE ain't it? The rakyat's fighter or the mafia group who insist that illegal parking after 10.30pm is nothing wrong ft. a pornstar and a w****. Not difficult maa right?
