# Climate change - a warning?

Debates have risen after the attack of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, as well as many other typhoons in Asian region, over whether climate change was a direct factor in contributing to rise in hurricane activities.

There were claims that global waming was causing an increase in sea surface temperature, hence resulted in more severe hurricanes and storms. There were also suggestions that greenhouse gases is linked to the increasingly horrific weather. In fact, two prominent studies, as reported by FT, seemed to confirm the theories.

Are the recent disasters a kind of signal? A signal that gives us a warning that climate change is a serious issue to be tackled with high importance? If they are, are human looking at the problem seriously? Or are we just brushing it aside, again and again, as long as we are not too much 'affected' by the rage of the nature?

We must act. Among the key issues relevant to climate change and global warming include the effects on food industry, travel and tourism sector, control of emissions in developing countries, and design of technologies that is 'greener'. However, all talks and no action would not solve the problem of hazardous gases emission, greenhouse effects, global warming, etc... We need ACTIONS, instead of just rounds of talks and debates, with no immediate fruits of actions. Do we remember the Earth Summit in Rio, 1992, or the negotiations for Kyoto Protocol in 1997? But do we remember how long does it take for them to bear results? Do we remember doing what we have been saying?

Climate change is not just a so-called 'environmental' issue that many people tends to ignore, thinking that it is irrelevant to their lifes which have more 'important' things to tend to. Climate change is a global issue, which affects everyone of us, as long as we live on this earth. We cannot stand aside and watch the worsening of our environmental state, we have our responsibility. Earth belongs to everyone; however, sometimes it is ironic to see people claiming the wealth of minerals and resources produced by earth as their 'rights and properties', while shying away when it comes to the issue of tackling environmental issue. As we gain economically from nature, let's not forget that we still have our responsibility to take care of it.

A simple habit is 'Give and take'. Sadly though, we seem to have been taking too much and forgetting to give in return. And most importantly, to give in return means by practical, realistic actions, not just by beautiful words, discussion or promises.

# Where have our ethics gone?

I was shocked to discover that the main tactics used by friends in interview to apply for job/internship is by BLUFFING/LYING. Rather than using concrete examples which show qualitites needed for the job, people make up stories and 'invented' work experiences that make them look good. And most surprisingly, many are actually proud of themselves for being able to bluff through the interviews and get the jobs.

Suddenly I felt so ashamed for our fellow students. I just could not believe that the eagerness to get into a good company can encourage students to start making stories just to meet the requirements. I feel sad for the recent development of 'skills-targeted' employment procedures. As the companies state the 'perfect' qualities of prospective employees, suddenly everyone 'transforms' into perfect humans with lots and lots of wonderful experiences, or should I say, imaginative experiences.

Application forms are filled with bullshit and non-existence flamboyant words and accounts. Interview process, originallly aimed to get to know applicants better to assess their personality and skills, has transformed into a story-telling session. I am 'impressed' by such development in the career pursuing ratrace. Interestingly, with the increasing demands on human resource skills, the quality of worker does not exactly rise, but rather the skills of bluffing enhance.

How low can we get? How far can we compromise our ethics for material gains? How profit-minded can we be? How individualistic and materialistic can we be??

Today I felt disappointed with my own friends, and I felt sad for the society. I hope for a change, a change in culture, a change in mindset, a change in human nature.

# Global Risk: How Civil Society Responds

Just went to a public lecture in LSE Old Theatre, titled "Global Risk: How Civil Society Responds". Speakers include Professor Lord Giddens (former LSE director), Professor George Gaskell, and Professor Mary Kaldor.

The lecture focused on the increasingly important role of risk in the global society, and with the advancing application of risk in everywhere, it is vital to answer a few main questions:

- What is risk?
- Why is risk important?
- How is risk relevant to us?
- Who define risk and its benefits?
- Who does risk management benefit?
- How much of risk is tolerable?
- etc etc etc...

From the lecture, here is what I understand about risk and its implication onto the global society, a.k.a nations across the world.

Formal definition of risk (from ST330 module: Stochastic and actuarial methods in finance) is potential for unexpected events to occur or for expected events not to occur.

More intuitive approach: Risk refers to future, uncertainty and involves calculation and measurement. There is a difference between risk and uncertainty, in a sense that risk is measurable, while uncertainty is immeasurable.

Well, it is getting a bit boring with all the definitions so I should get into the points.

History/Background
In the past accidents are characterized as acts of God, nature or just by luck. There is no sense of insurance and predictive measures to account for risk. Peter Bernstein's book "Against the Gods" mentioned the starting of the notion of risk in the voyagers' exploration records. In 1970's, the notion of risk became exponentially important and suddenly we see risks everywhere, and we find applications of the knowledge of risk everywhere.

Current Situation
Risk is deeply ingrained in our life, as our society is future-oriented and globally integrated, and there is a rise in the incidents of man-made risks. Professor George Gaskell described the phenomenom of a "Risk Colonization", where we see risk measurement, management and control in every sector, from health to law to finance. By employing the notion of risk, we aim to increase efficiency and assist in our decision-making process in uncertainties.

Risk management is observed in various social issues - tsunami preventive measures, terrorism control, climate change management, gender difference, migration problem solving, etc etc. With the widening application of risk management in everyday's life, there is, however, a potential threat of "Risk of risk", in which the process of managing society risk leads to institutional risk, which causes a spiral effect of risk creation. With so much of the 'known' unknowns and 'unknown' unknows, the global society needs to decide which risk is tolerable, and which is relevant?

Besides the spiralling effect of risk that Professor George Gaskell mentioned, Professor Lord Giddens explained about the issue of informing the public about the risks they are facing. There is a fine line between scaremongering and coverup in risk control in public. How much do we want to expose to the public? and how much risk we can take?

With globalization, the notion of risk developed from social contracts, to national policies, and to global convenance. As the knowledge grew, we noticed the gap between political party and the society, and we saw the different weights carried by the rich countries and the poor ones in deciding the risks and methods to counter them. Professor Gaskell raised one crucial point, "Who defines risk and the control methods? Who does it (risk management) benefit? What level of risk is reasonable?"

There is also another issue of the increases in the 'blame culture', reported by the New Scientist. Human have collectively become more inclined to blame than we used to be. The increased frequency and size of litigation and compensation amplified the society's tendency to start blaming one another for any risk and any accidents. Where do we stop, and how far we want to assess the risk in everything?

There is still much room for debate in the application of risk in our society. I do not deny that risk is an important element in our life, in fact, I myself study the subject that deals mainly with risk assessment, management and control. Risk gives security and stability, but the global society needs to have intensive public debates, proper analysis and deep research on risk to manage risk properly, and prevent exploitation of this wonderful idea by certain irresponsible groups. With the notion of risk spreading from finance to larger perspective of global/ social issues, there needs to be a careful examination on the control measures and application.

One last thing I am still waiting for a reasonable explanation: Certain people use the name of risk to carry out pre-emptive actions, supposedly as 'preventive' measures to protect the world. Yet, have we properly assesed the risks, our tolerance for the relevant risks, and the realistic probability, if not, the proofs of the risks? We need to think more, and we need more global participation in decision making rather than power concentration in a few big powers.

# Great Ideas that Shaped our World

The recent cover story of New Scientist really attracted my interest - "The World's Biggest Ideas".

Top Ten Scientific Ideas

1) The Big Bang - the concepts that describes the origin of universe. It was proposed that after a few seconds of the beginning of the universe, the temperature was 10 billion degrees high; radiation, protons, neutrons and "dark matter" were present in known proportions. Then everything cools down, and with action of gravity, density contrasts grow and gradually form our universe.

2) Evolution - Darwinian Theory. Cumulative evolution is guided by the force of natural selection. Life starts with a single bacterium, and diversity stems from successive branchings (Speciation), and evolves into different species. Survival of the fittest.

3) Quantum Mechanics - study of how subatomic particles behave and provide a framework for physical theories. The article linked quantum mechanics to abortion, free will and human identity. Interesting subtle links.

4) Theory of Everything - theory of general relativity, gravity, string theory. Dimensions, forces and particles. We have yet to find such a kind of Theory which encompasses Everything. But we will try.

5) Risk - Quantifying risk and differentiating between risk and uncertainty, measurable randomness or uncontrollable acts of God. Growth of the blaming games, litigation and compensation culture. Risk assesment, management and control. In fact, the fundamental notion of my current study.

6) Chaos - Unpredictable, the world is packed with possibilities.

7) Relativity - Einstein! Mass can be converted into energy, speed of electromagnetic radiation is a special scale of nature. Einstein's relativistic theories also redefines the way we think on intuition, and change the absolute concepts which were once so deeply ingrained in our views.

8) Climate Change - global warming, iceberg melting, fllods, draughts, causes of recent Katrina, etc etc...

9) Tectonics - Study of Earth Sciences, geology, plates movements, plate tectonics.

10) Science - pursuit of truth, to answer everything in the universe. Combination of theories and experiments. Suddenly reminds me of the X-file "The truth is out there". hehe.

Enough blabbering. Back to work now.

# Part-time Catering Assistant

I started work today as a part-time catering assistant in the school cafe. I was quite lucky to get this job because it has been said that students applying to school jobs normally have to queue in the waiting list for quite a long time.

I was stationed at the Plaza Cafe next to the library, although we are told that we might be stationed in any other cafes if needs arise. The cafe is a small one, but a busy one too. My shift is during lunch time, the peak hours of students getting off classes and coming for food. It was hectic to keep everything in order, from maintaining the coffee machines, to refilling food stocks and cleaning up tables and emptying rubbish... etc etc.

Made a few blunders during first time trying. But happy that things are getting into place. It feels nice to be busy actually. Guessed I am not a person who can sit quietly long enough, hehe...

After starting the job, I was quite surprised to find out that some people actually think waitressing is a low-class work. Perhaps these people have always been used to being served upon and being rich. They really needs to learn to respect everyone's job, from the supposedly high status office work/ CEO/ advisors/ etc to lower income workers. There is a need for these people to climb out from their own cocoon to the real world. The world does not revolves around themselves, hehe.

At workplace, got to know a few nice colleagues. Gosha is a friendly girl from Poland, currently finding postgrad courses to study, planning to do IELTS and also finding accommodation. Katy, another Polish girl, is working long hours at cafes and bars to earn a living. Annie, from Malaysia, is the supervisor, and she's on working holiday visa. Leila, Philipine based in Madrid, was travelling from places to places to work. Each person has different stories and background, yet they are a family in this small cafe. I like the friendly atmosphere in here.

Tomorrow I am having another shift. Looking forward to the new day!

# Islamophobia

600% increase in religious hate crimes in UK after 7/7.
Attacks on mosques, arsons and mearing of bacon acros the doors.
Verbal abuse and physical attack of Muslims.

Such was the backlash against innocent Muslims after incidents of terrorism. I was surprised at public's immature thoughts and actions. For terrorism acts by some individuals, the whole community took the blame. Medias have been resposible for shaping the themes which seem to demonize the Muslim community and link Islamic religion with terrorism.

It was unsettling to realize that xenophbia is still wide-spread among the society here. With such developed society and advanced nations, why can't we embrace the simple values of tolerance of each other and acceptance of people different from us? I cannot understand what is the point of racism at all. Why can certain people denounce anything different from their tradition/race/values? It is not like their own values are superior to any other's.

Growing up in Malaysia, I am grateful that I learned tolerance among races since small. It is easy for us to mingle together without being very aware that we are different from one another. Multicultural society in our country seems to have form a strong foundation for our national peace. At least, we are not that sensitive that people are different from us. At least, we do not fear other people because we are not familiar with their culture. At least, we are not too proud of our own values and despise any other different cultures.

Tolerance among races and religions. So fundamental, yet so hard to achieve.

# Incitement Hate Laws In UK

Post London 7/7, the government unveiled plans to ban incitement to racial hatred, to protect people from being abused because of religious faith. It would become illegal to knowingly use words/ behaviour which are threatening and abusive against individual because of their beliefs. When asked to explain the new laws, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer told BBC that people "attacjlomg the values of West" or "glorifying the acts of suicide bombers" would face actions of laws and "deported wherever possible".

Interestingly, these laws seem to have unclear distinction between criminalising words and deeds. With the principal of justice in which prople are held accountable in law for actions rather than opinions, the new thought-crimes-laws seem to hit the freedom of speech right in the face. It is a scary thought to know that now, we can be imprisoned for expressing our though and opinions.

Suddenly we found ourselves attacking at our own democratic principle of freedom of speech. The society today seems to have become so frail to withstand speeches/ opinions and thoughts. Fighting terrorism needs problem-tackling at early stages, but ruling out people' voice does not directly solve the problem. Tackling problems at the root level does not mean censoring speeches or covering up the ears of public. Banning people's voices only gives the impression that their opinions are something worth listening to.

With such increase in pre-emptive action, the world has suddenly become so full of distrust and suspicion. We penalize people for their thoughts, we attack people because we fear to be attacked. Such actions shows our own insecurity and lack of confidence for our own regimes, principles and social structures.

What we need i a more comprehensive plans and actions to counter terrorism and reduce inter-racial hatred. Banning speeches and deporting clerics do not guarantee that the problem will be 'shooed' away. We need open debate, we need understanding among races and religions. In fact, everything boils down to the most fundamental values in society - to respect one another, to tolerate and to understand one another. It is surprising that many of us today cannot even perform such simple task and follow such basic moral values.

# Sick of advertisements

I have to say I am sick of the surging advertisement appearing in my "Comments" Box. They always start like this,

"Hey you have got a great blog. Good work! I have a blog about blah blah blah, welcome to visit my blog to have a look! would be grateful if you drop me some comments... blah blah blah..."

Gosh! it seems that people take every single opportunity to advertise their merchandise. Even the little comment boxes, which are meant to let friends leave messages, are not spared.

Perhaps I shall just set the setting of this blog to be "Private". geeshh...

# Oxford Circus vs Cambridge Circus

A question suddenly popped up in my mind, why is that Oxford Circus is so famous, but not Cambridge Circus?

# Oxford Circus, the intersection of Regent Street and Oxford Street.

# Cambridge Circus, the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road.

Both have busy streets, both have a variety of stores. Perhaps the difference is that Oxford Street has more 'shopping'-type stores... I do not know.

Almost all people know the location of Oxford street, but not too many would know exactly where Cambridge Circus is, or even whether it exists.

Snapped some shots at the Street name plates, here's the Cambridge Circus sign:


Here's the more famous one:

# Egg Growing

My Birthday Egg has mutated!

With an unknown reason, my Eggy has grown a patch of black spot on his head. looks as if he has suffered a bruise. Surprisingly he still has the happy toothy grin as ever.

Poor thing... I can't wait for his growth. It is like a mother watching her child grow. hahaha...

Here's his pictures


Day 1 and Day 2

# Waltzing Matilda

Waltzing Matilda
'Banjo' (A.B.) Patterson, c. 1890

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Down came a jumbuck to dri-ink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stuffed that jumbuck in his tucker-bag
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred
Up rode the troopers, one, two, three
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?"
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Up jumped the swagman and sprang into that billabong
"You'll never take me alive!", said he
And his ghost may be heard as you pa-ass by that billabong
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me


A friend suddenly asked this question about what's with the Waltzing Matilda in Australia... Dumbstruck. Another friend answered it effortlessly.

It seems that there are some arguments that the song is a political statement to attack political figures in earlier centuries on the squatters’ refusal to pay shearers higher wages. However, it has been argued that the plot of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is based on the conflict that raged between these two groups in the 1890s before the song was composed.

More information on the National Library of Australia
Waltzing Matilda

# Buckingham Palace Summer Opening

Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Royal family since 1837, home and office of Her Majesty The Queen, is opened to visitors on regular basis. The Summer opening ends on 30 September, and unfortunately I missed the chance to go in and have a look as all the tickets are sold out like hot cakes.

Quotes from the Official website of the British Monarchy (www.royal.gov.uk):

"The State Rooms of the Palace are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova and Chantrey; exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world."

I missed the chance to stroll in the garden where which potrays the Garden Front of the Palace and the 19th lake.

I missed the chance to see the "White Wardrobe" desinged for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother by Norman Hartnell. I also missed the spectacular diamond jewellery in Hartnell's creations.

I missed the chance to see Cecil Beaton's famous series of photographs showing the State Visit to France by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in July 1938.

I missed the chance to see all other extraordinary gifts...

All the treasures, awaits in the Buckingham Palace. And yet I missed this chance to visit. I can only wait until next Summer. :-(

# Happy Birthday to me!

Felt quite surprised and touched today to receive many unexpected calls and wishes from friends... Phone calls, sms, email, friendster... A short message means a thousand words... Also felt touched when some went all the way to buy gifts...

I guessed I have been quite cheeky today, forcing everyone that wishes me to sing a Full Happy Birthday Song to me! It was quite fun pestering people to sing, especially to those who had never really sing out loud in public before. But it's great to see that everyone is very sporting! Thanks loads buddies! Will sing to you at your birthday too! hehe...

Thanks so much friends! So many people to thank, I can only express my gratitude and happiness to all of you. thanks especially to YY, sinsin, anthony, Joey, ah phang, tzuenkiat, yuhjiun, voonsan, chunhong, liciang, daryl, phannee, liangqin, chialin, chinloon, johwee.... etc etc etc... pardon me cuz i cannot manage to write down everyone's name... but you know what my heart wanna say, ya!

Special message for YY... Really thanks so much for everything. you've really made me feel 'special' today. and thanks so much for all the help you have given me last time. very very thankful to you. you r a true friend whom i appreciate very much! muaks! lots of love, hugs and kisses...

Some pics...


With the little gifts...


At Wetherspoon with ray n phang, 'wuliao' so take pics while waiting for food.


At Paul Teahouse, Rasberry tartlet, strawberry tartlet, peppermint tea and earl grey. thanks YY for the cute Stitch! Love it! but still i wanna smack you for not listening to me... grwww...
YY insisted that her photo not to be taken. you wish... kekeke..


Yuhjiun's egg gift... will update more about its daily progress. supposedly to grow into a tree that says "Happy Birthday". Let's keep our fingers crossed.

and thanks yiing, I forgot to take pics during our warm and nice lunch at CNR, and a nice little reunion and chats... suddenly realized we have grown much five years after Form 5, Sin Min. Things change, people change, but our friendship stays. Ganbate!

Well, tired after all the meals and walk and talk and shop.... I shall have a good night sleep tonight. Thanks again for all the wishes...

# Our room!

Decided to have some photos of our little room, which manages to fit in two people...


My Study Table


My Decor Corner


My 'bookshelves' made from recycled boxes


My bed secluded in a corner

# SARS News

** Bats a 'likely source' of Sars **

A new study finds a virus very like Sars in Chinese bats, indicating they were the likely source of the 2002 outbreak.

BBC

Comment from a friend: "notice that Xinhua, pretty much the unofficial "official" mouthpiece of the Chinese government, hasn't "picked up" the story on SARS...or at least I couldn't find it on the main page, the Health page, or SciTech page. Interesting...since they usually pick up on other stories pretty fast...perhaps we'll have to wait for an official Chinese response...or we may never see it appear on the page."

Let us wait...

Xin Hua

# City of London

Dragon statue at Temple Bar Monument, source (Wikipedia)

Was told by Ray that at the boundaries of the City of London, these dragon statues guard the City. In each road leading towards the City of London, there will be these dragons, commonly believed to be griffins, guarding the entrance, protecting the City in a mystical way.

Only after being informed by him, I started noticing the little dragons standing by the street. All the while I have not be mindful enough to notice the significance of these statues; there have been so many statues and monuments scattered near the streets that people sometimes took for granted. Near LSE, by the Thames River, there were so many monuments, including the obelisks from Egypt, standing quietly without too many people noticing their stories. I felt embarassed by myself, for not taking just a little bit more time to read the carvings on the monuments, just to understand more about the history.

With such remorse, I decided to look into the City of London in more detail by finding information from the web.

Information from Wikipedia: The boundaries of City of London (such a long one!!!)

"The City of London borders the City of Westminster to the west - the border cutting through Victoria Embankment, passing to the west of Middle Temple, going east along Strand and Fleet Street, north up Chancery Lane, where it becomes instead the border with the London Borough of Camden. It continues north to Holborn, turns east, continues, then goes northeast to Charterhouse Lane. As it crosses Farringdon Road it becomes the border with the London Borough of Islington. It continues to Aldersgate, goes north, and turns into some back streets soon after it becomes Goswell Road. It ends up on Ropemakers Lane, which as it continues east past Moorgate becomes South Place. It goes north, becomes the border with the London Borough of Hackney, then east, north, east on backstreets, meeting Norton Folgate at the border with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It continues south into Bishopsgate, and takes some backstreets to Middlesex Street where it continues south-east then south. It makes a divergence to the west at the end of Middlesex Street to allow the Tower of London to be in Tower Hamlets, and then reaches the river."


Of course, a picture says a thousand words...

From there, also realized that the Great Fire of London did not only occur once in 1666. In fact, there was another in 1212, and BOTH of the fires are referred as THE Great Fire.

With demolishment of houses to make way for commercial buildings, the City's population fell from 19th to 20th century. Recently, however, residential use of buildings is encouraged, extra accommodation is being provided. Yet the population is not expected to grow beyond 10k people.

I think I have starting to sound boring to some people. But a point I must make here. There are many little things that stand right in front of our eyes, wanting to tell us the fascinating stories behind them. Each has its own stories and origins, yet with busy life of human, we tend to forget to care about the little things. Sometimes, we really need to slow down a bit, to appreciate the little things, to understand how things come about. As we look back to the history, we will be able to look at the future in another perspective.

# Voluntary Organization Development

Walked past Finsbury Park and saw a huge crowd of women in pink, celebrating the Weekend to Break Through Breast Cancer. With blasting music from loudspeakers and people clapping and singing to welcome the participants, I can feel the elevated spirits of the event. It is nice to see such sounding response from the public for the public event of promoting awareness.

With UK strong voluntary organization and network, various activities are able to be carried out effectively, and with good support from the public. The awareness of the need of voluntary sectors' help in the society started as early as World War period; and the involvement of voluntary organization in providing planning, regulatory and management of social welfare activities heightened during Thatcher's government. There has been a long history of development of the voluntary movements and NGO's in UK, and this paved the way to the establishment of a mature social welfare system.

Getting the assistance from the NGO's in terms of social services in many aspects really alleviates the burden on the government. With the self-autonomous activities of planning, management and execution of various projects, the NGOs work hand in hand with the government and ensure a more effective management of the welfare of the community. Self-initiated programs with a noble cause, aiming to care and to give, has a great force of propelling the development of the society in a positive way. Starting from individual's initiative to care, the spirit of giving extends to larger community, and to national level. Hence if we all just give a little bit more to care about others, we can really make a difference in life.

From the discussion with HF, it is fascinating to learn how voluntary organization came about. I decided to borrow some books from her soon to read more in depth about the advancement and development of UK social system. It might be taken as a model to be emulated by our own country. We still have a long way to go to progress this far in voluntary actions and organizations.

# Happy Birthday Phang Jie!

Today is ah phang jie's birthday!

Cooked a vegetarian meal for her, plus a bonus of a small cupcake with a cute candle. Hope she likes it...

Last night we had a birthday celebration at Thai restaurant, followed by a trip to pub. We made phang jie drink lager. hehehe...

Best wishes for phang jie! May she be happy and healthy always!


phang jie's birthday lunch


phang jie's corner

# Student Mentoring Scheme

Student Mentoring Scheme is back! Finally I received the allocation of my new mentees for the new academic year. I got only seven this year, compared to an astounding twelve students last year.

Checklist:
1) Introduce myself
2) Explain my role of refering them to relevant departments and finding information.
3) Arrange for a meet-up session for a friendly chat.
4) Always be there to help throughout the whole academic year.

Add-ons by self:
A few reminders of things to do during first few days in LSE:

1) Where can you find information?
a) New Arrivals webpage and information pack.
b) New Arrivals Helpdesk.

2) Remember to go for
a) Registration,
b) School Induction,
c) Departmental Induction,
d) Student support service induction,
e) Freshers Fair,
f) etc etc etc.

3) Checklist: Have you settled these things?
a) Accommodation
b) Activate your LSE Computer Account
c) Open your Bank account
d) Register with an NHS doctor
e) Meet your tutor
f) Apply for NUS card, Student TFL Discount card and ULU card
g) Pay your fees
h) Register with local police (for certain overseas student)
i) etc etc etc.

4) Important things you will find useful
a) Your student ID card and number
b) Your Certificate of Registration or letter of offer

# LSE New Arrivals Helpdesk

Starting to work at the New Arrivals Helpdesk during registration week. It's a fun experience, and it felt great to be able to put our skills of being student mentors, a.k.a human signposts, into good use. It is no wonder Sarah advertise this job mainly to student mentors, because we are more familiar with the whereabouts in the school.

Top Questions:

1) Where is the Accommodation Office?
- East building, second floor, E294

2) Where do I register?
- Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House building. From Old building, get out to the main street, turn left, walk along the street, Clement House is just next to the Post office.

3) How to I open a Bank Account?
- The leaflet says everything about it. For the Certificate of Registration, print out from LSEForYou, get it stamped at the SSC. There are other documents that the Bank might require.

4) How do I get to Student Service Counter?
How do I get to the Library?
How do I get to the IT Helpdesk?
etc etc etc...
- directions, directions, directions...

5) What else to do after registration, and before other inductions?
- NUS card, student discount card, bank account, medical centre, lots to do!
- Refer to the New Arrivals Website, pleaseeee...


Interesting questions:

1) Which mobile network should I get?
- Stores like the Link, Carphonewarehouse, phones4u, etc etc will provide more professional advice than we do. :-P

2) Where can I get bedlinen?
- Unexpected question, but a very crucial one.

3) Where is the toilet? (with grimace on face)
- (poor chap...)

Scenarios:

1) A guy asked the same question, "What is the time that the Graduate Admission Office is open?", for at least 8 times, 4 times to Sarah, 1 time to Michelle and 3 times to me. I can already memorize the answer, 11am - 1pm, dear.

2) There was such a hype over the registration of Lewinsky as a student in LSE. Press Office came to instruct us to contact them immediately but discreetly if we encounter any media groups, or notice any 'unusual' new arrivals. Gosh... what's with the world today? She is just like any other student, man...

3) A girl accompanied by a whole group of her family came to ask loads of questions. The interesting thing is that it is not the girl who asked, but her dad, mom and bro who did the asking, and seemed much more anxious that she did. Princess of the family I suppose.

4) A guy who kept announcing to the whole world that he has got thousands of cash in his pocket and really needs to open a bank account, although we repeatedly advice him to go to the Bank instead of telling us about how much money he has got. Posing a risk to himself.


While working at the Helpdesk, realized that the arrangements of the registration process and other inductions are not well planned.

- Students found themselves at loss of what to do, and what is next.
- Students were advised to arrive early, but they could not do anything at all until they have registered. No point to come early and be told that they are not allowed to do this and that until their regstration.
- Students face bottlenecks in most process because of lack of the tactic of 'break-and-conquer' to serve the crowds.
- Students could not get hold of computers, while all the crucial information can only be found online.

I decided to write a feedback/suggstion letter to the Student Service Centre, to suggest things and provide some constructive feedbacks. Examples are like:

- Produce a 'very-concise-checklist' of what to do
- Produce a 'step-by-step-timeline' of the important dates and events
- Produce a more user-friendly handbook to give more personal touch, instead of putting everything online, where many people do not get internet access that easily.
- Arrange the registration process such that returning students can go through the process faster and earlier, instead of insisting that everyone register on the very same day, causing bottlenecks and traffic jam. After all, I thought that we have gone all computerized and online?

Written a long feedback and suggestion letter to the SSC, hopefully they will look into the matter and take actions to improve our service to the students.

To serve is our duty, to provide top service is our initiative.

# Broadband Fiasco

Being appointed the IT Service Manager of the house, I found myself at loss of how to deal with technical support in the beginning. :-P

We subscribed for broadband, only to realize that the modem and our wireless router are not compatible. We have a USB modem and an ethernet router - communication breakdown between these two fellas.

After evaluating different options (from getting an ethernet modem, to getting a USB router, and to networking via a main server, etc etc) we decided to get a router with built-in modem.

Happily bought a D-link router-cum-modem, but miserably failed at setting it up. Even by consulting D-link technical guy, we still could not figure out how to set it up. In the end, I went back to PC World to exchange for a Linksys, and with the clearer instructions and explanation on the user guide, I learned some new jargons or networking, as well as gained some basic skills of so-called 'technical support'. hehehe, i m on my way to become the tech-guy in the house.

Putting up security measures is another fun challenge. I found myself constantly get blocked accidentally by the security defense that I set up myself. Talk about being locked outside of own house... With trial and error, I finally manage to set up some basic defense wall for our network. Will consult my tech-guru in Nottingham to learn more advanced skills to build a proper fotress soon.

On my way to becoming the NTGOTB. :-)

# Plymouth Trip

A trip to Plymouth during the weekend is so rewarding. An escape from the hustle and bustle of London city is always welcomed.

I had one of the most memorable train journey to Plymouth. Watching the vast green fields and hills swooshing past outside the windows is a satisfying experience. Yet the best part is during the journey approaching Plymouth, where the train passed by the edge of sea, giving a weird sensation as if we were gliding above the vast sea.

Met up with Ray's old friends from Plymouth, Wong and Hong. They acted as guides to bring me around Plymouth while Ray went for his work. A walk from the City Centre to Barbican showed me the Cathedral, Guildhall and Plymouth Gin.

Strolling at Barbican, where Drake and Raleigh once weighed anchor, ensures a great relaxation. There was a bustling community of stylish cafes, tea shops, craft workshops and galleries. In fact, many of their local artists, such as Beryl Cook and Lee Woods, have attained global reputations.

Standing at the Mayflower steps, where the Pilgrim Fathers first embarked on Plymouth, I surveyed the area. The National Marine Aquarium (largest Aquarium in Great Britain, deepest tank in Europe) stood by the pictureque harbour, where many boats rested on the gently lapping waters. I love the wamr mediterranean quayside atmosphere, I love the rich artistic heritage of shops and cafes, I love the warm sunshine and gentle breeze... I made it a point to take the Tamar Cruise in my next trip to have a good look at the Dockyard, Warships and of course, the sea.


Barbican

We then walked to the Hoe, where I was fascinated by the beautiful rocky cliff and slopes. Smeatons tower stood high on the cliff. This masterpeice of John Smeaton, built by 1493 blocks of stone and 1800 Oak Renails, formed a centrepiece of the Hoe and has become one of the most well known landmarks in Plymouth. It is a pity that we did not have a chance to climb to the lantern room on the top, where we can see a breathtaking view. However, we did not manage to get into the Plymouth Dome because it was way past the closing time. Next time, perhaps.


The Hoe

What striked me most though, is the friendly atmosphere and the relaxed attitude of the people here. Things moved much slower than in London, and people smiled and called out to one another more than we do in London. I realized I enjoyed small town atmosphere much more than the city hectic life, and this is such a great holiday break for me.

We went to a Chinese restaurant where Ray used to work. We were pleasantly surprised to find such a close-knitted community in Plymouth, where everyone practically knows everyone. The best chef in Plymouth, a good friend of Ray, paid for our meals, making us feel a bit paiseh with him. Such was the warm and close relationship of the small town people... I love it.

My greatest harvest in Plymouth is to get to know a few marvellous friends, Wong, Hong and Visya. We had fun together, and celebrated 2005 Mooncake Festival in the kitchen of Wong's house. The Ah Hong's style nasi goreng in the next morning and the Debenhams coffee break were enjoyable too.

Like I usually say, I will be back to this lovely place.

# Moving into New House

The moment I walked into my new room, I was aghasted to find that it looked more like refugee camp than a normal bedroom. Boxes were piled everywhere, and the air smelled musty n dusty.

It took some time to clear up a walking space that led to my bed. I was too exhausted during my first day of arrival so unpacking was not done at all. Somehow I managed to sleep in a dusty bed with a dusty pillow n a dusty duvet. Not too pleasant. hehe.

Cleaning up the house and unpacking is some new adventures, not only that there are too much clutters around the house, but also that we have to deal with housemates to work in team. There were some disagreement about things like space allocation, rental, contract, etc... but hopefully with mature discussion, we will sort them out one by one.

Main problem in living in harmony with housemates are the duties allocation and responsibility to take care of the house. Sometimes I realize that not many people would have initiative to clean up, unless they are 'allocated' with the responsibility. The 'tidak-apa' and 'couldnt-bother' attitude is an annoying character. More importantly is the way of communication among the housemates. Instead of open and direct discussion, there tends to be talk-behind-the-back and middle-man-passing-message type of communication. This is so wrong, and I feel uncomfortable using this mode of commnunication - it tends to break down - messages sent are unclear and people do not feel frank with one another. There is really a need to change the way things work in this house.

Personally, I feel students really can learn a lot by living out with friends during their study, whether during college or university. It really builds up their communication skills, and tolerance among friends. It is a good place to train responsibility, not only to oneself, but to others and the community. To keep a house running is not an easy task, and it will be an uphill task if people do not cooperate. Coming out from the cocoon of family's pamper, many students will find this a good way to learn to be independent.

I am glad that I have Huifang as a housemate last year. With her responsibility and initiative to maintain the upkeep of the house, I found it easy to get along with her and divide tasks among ourselves. We have mutual understanding of making our little house a homey place to be in. The way we maintain the housekeeping is by own initiative and willingness; and I found this is such an effective way! If we have love for our home, and have the initiative to take care of it, things will be easily settled.

Staying in a 5-people group this year is another adventure. Let's see how our new family will develop. Ganbate!

# Disaster!

It seems that this world is not heading to a better direction. Headlines that hit the newspaper each day are full of negative reports. Shocking, sad news dominate the media. Recounting the events, I suddenly noticed how our everyday-life is full of woes, threatening to endanger human's life.

26 December 2004, one of the most destructive tsunamis hit the Indian Ocean, causing great devastation to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Somalia, Myanmar and Malaysia. Fatalities shot to more than 500,000. In July 2005, Typhoon Talim engulfed Taiwan, and recently the Gulf Coast of US is attacked by the Hurricane Katrina.

The natural disasters caused much misfortunes to human race, showing how fragile human can be. Yet with such fragility, human demand to control the world, and claim rights on natural resources and landscapes. How dare we! Long forgotten is the respect for nature, the love for Mother Earth, and the care for our environment. I remembered an old chinese belief that natural disasters shows the wrath of the God to mismanagement of the goverment in control. Now, with all the disasters, from El Nino to La Nina, why can't human take these as lessons to learn to respect and care for our earth?

Not only facing natural wraths, human face threats from within too. Reports on terrorism has intensified since the September 11 WTC terrorist attack. A more recent nightmare include the 7/7 London bombing followed by the 21/7 bombing. And all the while, wars have been going on around the globe. From the dispute about Gaza to the controversy of Japanese textbook rewriting, from the pre-emptive attack on Iraq to various jihad wars around the world... what has become to our world?

We are plagued with disasters, from the political ones to economical ones to social ones. Planes crashed everywhere in the world nowadays, due to negligence of budget airlines which tried to save cost and forgo safety. Economical disasters happened, causing world companies collapse, countries facing crisises, etc etc... Every disaster is connected to one common factor - human nature.

Our greed, our unsatiable wants, our arrogance, our prejudice, our hatred, our ignorance... Human are blessed with intelligence; we have the ability to reason and analyse, yet we misused our cleverness. We thought we can outsmart others, sometimes we thought we can even outsmart the nature; in the end the ones who suffer is ourselves.

We need to learn. Despite all the teachings of variuos religions and moral values, human values are being degraded more and more. In the pursuit of material wants, many forgo their moral values. It is time we look at ourselves, truthfully, and ask what has become of us, and what can we do?

It is time to reflect, remorse, and redo the right thing.

# Malaysian attitude

We, Malaysians, need to change our third world mentality, if we really want to achieve our target of reaching a "Developed Country" status.

Despite our skyscrappers and lots of world's number one, we lack of the fundamental values - social values, basic moral values and conscience, and sometimes, common sense. In many simple things, the mentality shown is far below the desirable.

Scenario 1: In supermarket, the cashier helped customers to steal goods by pretending to scan the price tag without actually inputting any data, or by miscounting the quantity of goods bought. This is VERY common, caused losses to supermarket, and yet people do it in the name of 'helping friends'.

Scenario 2: Despite numerous calls to curb open burning, people ignore the issue. Complaints to Jabatan Alam Sekitar went unheard, or sometimes, officers DO come to check, but always check during the time when the burning is NOT done. After office hour, the people happily start burning again.

Scenario 3: Fighting and pushing to get onto public transport. Vandalism, snatch thief, etc etc..

Scenario 4: Officers respond to complaints with "OK OK we will look into the matters", and no action being taken, or lots of bureaucracy lengthen the process until people lose patience of waiting and give up.

Scenario 5: Funny that the calling number and SMS contact plastered at the back of most transport vehicles (for complaints of street misconduct) never work.

Scenario 6: Quite interesting too that while other countries can allow self-service in many purchase, we still need a worker to weigh the fruits/ vegetables in the supermarket to prevent people from use wrong measurement. More interesting is that sometimes even a worker who 'helps friends' cannot be trusted.

Many more scenarios can be noticed in just our simple daily life. Yet we go on with them. Time to wake up, Malaysians! These kind of habits only ruin ourselves, only potray negative image on ourselves, and do not help our country progress in anyway! Education aims to eliminate the naiviety and ignorance, yet many educated persons follow the trend of the mass.

Learn, and grow. We have seen much growth and development in terms of physical and material progress. It's time we focus on our internal growth too - moral, values, outlook, perspective.

# Education UK Exhibition

Education UK Exhibition is here again! Heard from some friends whom I made during the Going Global Conference that they will be coming to promote their universities. aww... too bad I have made plans during the week and could not go down to KL. It would be so nice to catch up with old faces again!

Anyway, the publicity has been good. Saw in the newspaper... the eye-catching advertisement that promotes Education UK as DIY equipment that equip us not only with quality education, but also with fantastic experience! And the vast amount of advertisement from respective universities in UK certainly shouted out loud that the Education Fair is coming!

Best regards to the friends who will be there! Enjoy Malaysia!

LINK to Education UK website

# Haze!!!

While Hong Kong and Taiwan have been hit by typhoon, Malaysia is experiencing a serious haze problem due to forest burning in Indonesia. The Air Pollution Index (API) rose up to more than 500 points (over 300 is already hazardous), visibility was poor, pollution was bad and people are having health problems.

This haze problem really gave ASEAN a smack right in the face. Gone are the agreements and the pacts among the countries, as the so-called cooperation to curb the haze problem was nowhere to be seen. Has it been just all words and no work? Has it been just empty promises among countries and no real actions of prevention? The countries in our region really need to sit down and have serious discussion to solve the problem.

One thing to commend Malaysian government is the decision to reveal the API statistics to the public (finally). At least civilians know the hazards they are facing daily, instead of being kept in the dark about the statistics so as not to affect the tourism. One thing to remind, however, is that there is a need to really look at the matter of haze and try to solve it. Haze has been around for very long, even before this serious one, and yet there seems no actions taken to confront our neighbouring country. Each time it occurs, just a simple ‘sorry’ was given and no further preventive measures taken. We need to think, is there more actions that we can do, at least for the sake of our people’s health?

I wait for a better solution soon.

# Taiwan Trip

My trip in Taiwan was not only fun-filled with the sightseeing and delicious snacks, but also mind-awakening with the chance to learn from the Hope, MRA people about the ways they organize their volunteering activities.



Taipei
First few days were spent with Xiao Tian. We went to the Palace Museum only to discover that it was undergoing some reconstruction in certain parts. Still I managed to see much more exhibition than I did during my visit in China, hence realizing the vast amount of treasures brought over during the end of Qing dynasty.

I enjoyed very much the trip to Damshui where I found lots of snacks to try – nougats, muachi, fishball soup, ah ge, steel egg, wan tan soup, etc… At the Damshui Fisherman’s Wharf, we crossed the Lovers Bridge and enjoyed the hot afternoon under a ‘n’ shaped huge tree while looking at the Guanyin mountain in the far.

Of course, we went to the famous Shilin night market and also took a look at the highest building in the world – 101 Tower. Personally I think it is not too pretty with its Lego-like architecture design.  Still prefer the twin towers in Malaysia, hehe.

Within the first few days, I noticed a few interesting facts about Taiwan. First of all, tuition classes are so common in Taiwan; even the university students go for tuition! I was fascinated by the kiasuism exhibited and wondered how could people actually spent a fortune just to assure themselves they are learning well. Second discovery: girls in Taiwan are so afraid of sunshine that they actually wear a hat + take an umbrella + weal long sleeves + put on sun lotion every time they go out. There is even a saying of ‘triple protection’ to ensure girls get a fair skin. So much for the obsession for fair skin. Third discovery: Taiwanese loves to use abbreviations for almost everything; many words are abbreviated and it was amusing to learn up new words and having a good laugh when my friends can always use 2 or 3 words to shorten my whole sentence.

Yi Lan
We went to Yi Lan with a group of friends. Once again, I savoured the various food and snacks like DangGui mutton soup, Tian Bu La, Pu Rou, tofu, etc… but I particularly like the Peanuts-wrapped icecream.

Staying at the B&B located next to a vast padi field is enjoyable. It made me feel I am right at home at Kedah, the rice bowl of Malaysia. We managed to come just at the time of the celebration of the Children’s Day and we joined in the celebration to become children again. Besides these, we went to the National Traditional and Cultural Arts Museum and I learned much more about the local music, traditions and arts. Of course we did not miss out the chance to spend a hot afternoon in the Cold Spring~! (It IS very cold!)

TaiZhong/ Changliaowei
I followed Changcheng and Shufen down to TaiZhong. I was lucky to have a chance to go to Ri Yue Lake as GYSD was organizing a volunteer activity there. Besides getting some souvenirs, I was fortunate enough to have a go at pottery-making, all FOC as a special treatment from the owner, seeing that I was a guest from Malaysia. We later went to the 921 Earthquake Exhibition Centre and on our way managed to watch the ‘Bu Dai Xi’ at the roadside.



At night we went to the night market at Feng Jia (going to night markets has become a norm to me in my Taiwan Trip, hehe). Again I was dazzled by the choices available.

The downside of the trip this time is I happened to bump into the typhoon season so certain plapces like Hualian and Kaohsiung are not accessible. However, this gave me a good excuse to have another trip in another time! hehe...

The best experience I had in Taiwan was the time spent with the people in Hope, MRA – I not only got to know lots of new friends but also got a chance to learn about their organization of youth activities and volunteering work. Through the conversations with the social workers, I got to know their work in various parts of the world from India to Samoa. I salute them so much for their great heart and sheer determination, I look up to them for their love for humankind, and I want to emulate them to serve my community better.

# China Synergy Program

The sixth Chinese Synergy Program for Outstanding Youths, 10 July 05 to 25 July 05, is one of the best experience I have had this year! Consisting of 197 delegates from all over the world, we participated in exploration and exchange activities in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Xian, Beijing and Shanghai.

This is a trip for me to search for my roots, as a Hainanese descendant from China, I had always wanted to know more about the country that my grandfather came from. This trip has proven to be a fantastic chance to know more about China, in terms of its economic, social, political, technological and cultural development.

I have to say I have gained so much from this trip – visiting the historical sites, learning about the cultures and traditions, touring major development project centres, participating in exchange activities with local youths, meeting government officials, etc. More importantly, I have met many outstanding and interesting youths and have forged friendships that I treasure so much. The 16-day tour has given a chance for us to get to know our group members well and foster friendships. This type of friendship is valuable as it is neither for the needs of business advantage nor just for the purpose of networking; it is the true feeling of liking of one another and the brotherly love that pull us together.

Spending time with the fellow delegates really opened my eyes in a lot of matters. I feel so happy that we can discuss many issues openly, each one explaining their own views while listening to the others’ too. We saw clarification in many issues, and hope in solving many other conflicts in future.

Each place and each activity gave opportunities to absorb new knowledge and experience. Tours of historical sites gave me more exposure on the history development of China, and understanding my Chinese roots. Talks, seminars, forums provided chance to speak out our minds, and learn from others in return. Touring cities let us feel the lifestyle of different cities, and just being in the country made us realized as Chinese, we may be in different parts of world and yet, we share so much in common.

What I have learned is not confined to historical and cultural understanding; more importantly is the integration and the understanding of one another. The same root that connects us all in the past, is the factor that affects what we are at present. I found my heritage, my roots, my identity.

Hong Kong
Here we had the Commemorating Ceremony. A visit to the Hong Kong Museum of History was enriching in building our knowledge about Hong Kong. In the museum, I was delighted to see depicts about the Opium War which I had been interested in, and to learned about the local traditions, educational system, the famous housing management in HK, the anti-Japanese era and finally the return of Hong Kong to China.

A trip to the Police Training School was fun-filled as the police officers were very friendly. Observed the information system, training process and various other features in the training school. We even had a chance to see a demonstration of scenario training and watched gun-shooting training. The other groups went for visits to HK Airport authority, Trade Development Council, Tourism Board, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Independent Commission Against Corruption. Felt a bit pity we did not get to visit the ICAC because HK anti-corruption unit is famous around the world.

In the Be a Hong Kong citizen program, we went to Mongkok and other shopping streets like the bird market, flower market, goldfish market and Lady’s Market. Enjoyed the ‘kai dan zai’ and hong kong noodles. Went to Victoria Peak too for a panoramic view of Hong Kong in the dusk.

Well, my impression of Hong Kong is, it is a very busy city with high-rise buildings and exciting activities. It is a great place to do shopping but I think I would prefer some quieter place to stay. 



Guangzhou
The most vivid memory I had about Guangzhou would be the tasty food! I would say the best food we have tasted throughout the trip was in Guangzhou. It has certainly lived up to the expectation as a food heaven.

I was impressed by the project of University City which combined several universities at the same place, letting them share the common facilities such as sports ground, research centres, etc. This kind of planning not only saves up cost, but also encourages integration among different universities. From the seminar, we got to know that the planning considered the environmental factor too, but this is yet an issue to be debated as I think that changing certain landscapes to accommodate for university grounds is not really that environmental friendly.

We spent the night having dinner with the Guangzhou government officials and were entertained by performances and games. I was particularly pleased when the performer of ‘changing face’ came right in front of me and miraculously ‘changed’ her face! It was a wonder how she did it so fast as I did not even blink when she came up to me.

The next day we went to visit the Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family and later on had a Seminar on the Pearl River Delta Economic Development. I would say that this seminar is not up to my expectation; it was a good account of past development but provides little insights to the recent growth and future opportunities, also the speaker could not come up with satisfying answers to questions on the various problems in the development. Perhaps it is also because of the language barrier that affected the communication between the speaker and the audience.

Our stay in Guangzhou is too short and I do not have a good chance to really explore the city. I missed the chance to meet up with Sophie and Zhihua from British Council Guangzhou too due to limitation of time. I think I would have to come down another time to properly enjoy this city.

Xi An
The Ancient City Wall, the City Tower, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, the hot springs, the 72 royal mausoleums and the Cave Dwelling Community – such were the attractions of Xi An.

We could not help feeling nostalgic when being in the oldest city in China, which has been the capital of many kingdoms in the past. Everyone was awed by the magnificent sight of the Terracotta Tomb, and the great view from the City Wall. The Seminar on Chinese History and Culture was mind-awakening as the archeologist Han Wei explained about tombs excavation and relating it to the history. However, I would say the seminar was a bit unfair to people who have not had too much knowledge in Chinese history because the speaker assumed we all have Chinese history background and spoke in much detail about archeology.

The most vivid memory that was engraved in my brain was the trip to the Lan Tian Cave Dwelling community. We visited the local school and observed the poor conditions of facilities and resources. Yet the children are so eager to learn and their innocent faces just made such a big impact in my heart. We visited the village and I noticed they do not even have clean water supply and basic amenities. While the delegates are gulping water from the mineral water bottle, the villagers are sharing water from the well and washing clothes from a stagnant pool of water. While the delegates put on layers and layers of sunblock and insect repellent, the children ran around bare-footed. Such was the vast difference between our fates. I believe there were many more villages with similar conditions and that certainly needs development to improve the quality of life of the people and to bridge the gap between the rich and poor.



In terms of weather, Xi An is a dry city; in terms of historical values, Xi An is a city rich with history and significance. I have to say, I actually like this city.

Beijing
Our stay in Beijing is the longest in the trip. We visited various sites such as the Great Wall, Palace Museum, Yuanming Garden and Yi he Garden. Also, visits to Peking University and Tsinghua University caused much excitement among the delegates. We were given good reception at the military camp as they demonstrated the military practice and showed us around the camp. The visit to the National History Museum, however, was a little disappointing as I did not see many displays available in there. The best I have got out of the museum was the exhibition about the Zhenghe’s Expedition, while the other wax museum and the exhibition of the national treasures are just so-so. I think most have been brought to Taiwan…

The best experience I have got here is to be chosen as one of the three representatives to speak at the Great Hall of People. I remembered the choosing process in the van, the drilling practice in the HQ and the rehearsal in front of all the committee members of CSP. But the most unforgettable memory was the moments of walking up the stage of the Great Hall, standing in front of the podium and speaking to more than 300 audiences in the hall. That feeling was exciting, although my stomach was full of butterflies. I was really grateful for the chance to give a speech here because it really helps a lot in my public speaking, and I secretly realized speaking in public is quite a fun thing to do too! (One tiny setback though: I missed out the interesting Seminar by Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games due to the rehearsal for the speech)



Shanghai
Shanghai is a vibrant city with presence of cultures from all over the world. As the economic centre of Asia Pacific, it boasts of fast development in the financial, hi-tech, industrial and semiconductors fields. It is the window, the gate, the key and the bridge to the Chinese Economy and it welcomes overseas Chinese like us to invest our future there (I might consider too,  )

We visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, Yuyuan Garden, Chunghuang Temple and Huangpu River. Also we did not miss out the visit to the Qibao Ancient Town to see the old shops and architecture. We had our farewell party there as the Chinese delegates will part with us in Shanghai. I used to think that I will be cool enough not to shed a tear, but ended up crying like everyone else. I think that our bond has grown stronger than we thought it has. I am touched to know that the tears are tears of true friendship, the tears of love and care for each other – we have somehow etched in our hearts the love for our brothers and sisters in the group.

Back to Hong Kong
I had a funny experience when passing the Airport Immigration. I was quarantined a while due to having high fever (I didn’t even know I had!) and was suspected for SARS. I was advised to seek hospital treatment later and was released, luckily. So I went to the Baptist University Hospital and WOW, the bill amounted to more than HK$600! Omigosh! I ended up having to use my credit card to pay the bill. I certainly hope that I can successfully claim the medical insurance I bought during CSP because this is just too exorbitant! Lesson learned – try not to get sick in foreign country while traveling or you will have to pay your price.

Adios CSP6 fellow friends! We will be in touch!

To friends who are interested in taking part next year, please go to the CSP website.
LINK

# Roaming around London

I definitely want to tell this to all my juniors wishing to come to London for study but worrying about the expenses – there are so much ways to enjoy the city without spending much money!

By just walking around London, I have discovered a variety of places where I can spend time without putting burden to my wallet. I remembered the first discovery was during the times when I was still using crutches to walk – I just could not stand sitting around during the sunny day!

During my first walk, I discovered the pleasure of walking along river Thames, watching people relaxing, jogging, sightseeing, etc. Along the stretch of the bank, I enjoyed the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, HMS Belfast, various bridges especially Tower Bridge, Royal Festival Hall, and all other shops and pubs along the river. I was so fascinated by the River Thames walk that I dragged a group of friends to join me in my next adventure – to cross all the seven main bridges in one day. Boy, that was a great exercise for our limbs!


My first sight of Tower Bridge, taken during winter 2003

From the walk past Tate Modern along river Thames, I also realized that most museums and galleries in London do not collect entrance fees! So with a few friends, I started spending long afternoons in museums and galleries. I particularly like British Museum and the National Gallery near Trafalgar Square; and there are yet so many more museums that I plan to go!

I like the parks in London – it is always so relaxing to have a stroll in the parks. I have repeatedly visited St. James Park for its beauty (with a de-tour to Buckingham Palace of course), and I love exploring Hyde Park although I have got lost in it after crossing the border into Kensington garden.  Sometimes when I don’t have the time for huge parks, stopping over at small squares or gardens gives a boost of energy after a long day. Russell Square, small as it may be, has become my frequent stop-over place on my way to the University of London Union building for societies activities.


Green Park, taken during Autumn 2003

During my second year, it became a routine for my housemate and I roam the street markets and food markets during weekend. There is just so much to see in the famous flea markets in London, from grocery and snacks to accessories, carpets, furniture and even to antiques. We made full advantage of the famous Brick Lane, Petticoat Lane, Spittafields Market and Liverpool Street Market just around the corner. Sometimes, we ventured out of our ‘territory’ to other interesting markets like Camden Town, Borough Market, Shepherd Bush Market, etc. The markets never fail to give us surprise in each visit!

Hanging out with friends in traditional English pubs (I personally prefer old English pubs than modern disco pub, guessed I am a bit retro…) is a nice way to spend the afternoon. I always prefer to choose afternoon for a nice gathering with friends in pub as there bound to be less people to cram with.  A whole lazy afternoon spent chatting and relaxing is well worth the price paid for a pint of beer. There were also times we have to stand outside the chilly night among the crowd holding our glasses, but that was fun too in its own way.

And of course, my all-time favourite hangout place would be Trafalgar Square. I do not know why I love it, but it just have a serene feel. I just feel I belong there. :-)


Trafalgar Square, taken during Spring 2004

I always bring along my camera when I decided to roam around London to enjoy my afternoons. There are so many things, so many moments that I wish to capture in my photographs, making those particular moments eternal. I am compiling the snapshots I have taken during the year, and hopefully during this summer I can arrange them and put them in albums for memory.

Many corners of London are still yet to be explored, and they beckon me to come! I just can’t wait for my next ‘roaming’!

# London Bombing

7 July 2005
The manmade disaster pained my heart so much! Much has been said about the bombing and people all over the world are damning this terrorist act. The bombing of the tube station and buses are just inhuman acts. Targeting civilians is NOT the way to fight for any cause.

I have so many thoughts in my mind about the act of terror done to innocent people, but right now I just feel so tired to write. I am disgusted about terrorism and sad about all these feelings of hatred. I just want to say, this is NOT the way to get our voices heard. No harm should be done to any person, animal and environment. (sorry I deviated a bit) I really hope justice will be done soon.

21 july 2005
Another attack, I have lost my words. The world is getting crazy nowadays.

# Out of hibernation

YOO HOO!!! Exam is over and I am free!!!.... not yet. Still lots to settle – accommodation, termination of contracts, change of address, finding a new house and moving in, packing… Ganbate to myself! Go through this and you will earn your Summer holiday!

# Exam!

Exam will start tomorrow! BEST OF LUCK to all my friends and to myself! We have been training for a whole year and now it is the time to fight the monster! Hehe…

# Student Mentoring Talk

I was chosen to give a talk to share my experience with new volunteers of the LSE Student Mentoring Scheme. At first, I felt a bit jittery but it went on well and I actually enjoyed myself giving a talk. I was very thankful to Sarah for giving me this chance to speak as I learned much about public speaking and presentation. And I am happy to be able to share my experience and encourage more students to take part in this mentoring scheme. I have enjoyed being a student mentor myself to help out juniors in getting around in school and I believe this new batch will find the same happiness too! Ganbate to all the volunteers!

# British Council Lunch

I was invited to the British Council International Student Award Ceremony and Lunch to handover the Gold Award to this year’s winner. I was pleased with the invitation and looked forward to see some old faces and some new faces in the ceremony.

It was a pleasant surprise to find out that I was sitting next to Jimmy Choo on my table. I remembered dad was just talking about him being such a famous shoe designer in the world, and most importantly, he is a Malaysian who did the country proud. Had a good chat with him and discovered that he was a very friendly and warm person. Our table consisted of ALL women and only one guy, and all the ladies adored him so much for his exquisite shoe-making ability!

Got to know a lot of outstanding international students in this year’s competition and I really salute them. Each of them exuded amazing abilities and personalities and I have no doubt they will be successful in future. I feel so honoured to have a chance to talk to these people and learn from them, and we exchanged contacts to stay in touch in future.

Catching up with old faces that I have met last year was nice too. Managed to see Nicki, Siobhan, Tatyana, Jacqui and others again, but didn’t manage to catch up with Andrew and Ian. Met some new people too and it is nice to feel as a part of the BC family.

BC has given me the opportunity to better myself, and to learn new things and meet new people. I could not be more thankful to them for all the care and help they have given to me all these times.


Handing over the Award

# Daddy's Visit

Daddy has come to London to visit, it’s his first time in UK and I wanted to make this good! Thanks to my friends’ frequent visit to London (from all other parts of UK), I have trained myself to be a seasoned local tour guide who can memorized the routes I take them for a tour in London.

Argh… I was lazy to describe the whole trip, but overall we had a great trip and have covered most places in London. Dad enjoyed the trip to Camden Town very much, and he loves the walk along river Thames. He got so comfortable staying in London that he started practicing his Tai-Chi in the morning in our neighbourhood and even got to know some stall owners in the street market. He loves the cold air much more than I do! Haha.

Next year both my parents will come for graduation and I guessed I have to start planning for a tour in Europe…

# Farewell Party

Big feast for the end of term for HF’s language course! We threw a farewell party for her classmates, and I was excited to meet them though I haven’t met most of them. We cooked bat kut teh, cocacola chicken, dumplings, pak choy, etc…(HF made sure the guests helped out! Hehe…) and the guests brought over some food too.

Met some interesting friends – a Japanese girl who is very good at direct selling, a Korean professor who still has such a young heart, a Japanese man who is very very polite and influenced me to pronounce ‘Yes’ as ‘Yesu’, another who seems to always day-dream, a Vietnamese girl who is always bubbly and a Columbian girl who is very sweet and friendly. Despite the language barrier, everyone had fun and could not stop chatting about everything under the sun.

Getting to know them is a valuable experience as I learn to understand the accent of different nationalities speaking the same language, English. It was entertaining for us to discover each other’s ‘strange’ accent of speaking English and try to decipher what the others are talking about. It is heart-warming to see everyone has an open heart to learn, trying their best to practice the language and trying to understand each other.

Some of them will return to their country soon and some will further their studies in other universities after the completion of their course. I will miss this bunch of international students much, and hopefully we will stay in touch.

# Duan's Hair Disaster

Like other students, I grabbed the chance to get a free hair cut from hair-styling school in London, but I made a mistake of going to the modern hairstyling school instead of the traditional hairstyling school.

The experience was hilarious – I was allocated a student hairdresser who only speak Spanish, we cannot communicate unless with a translator. It was funny watching the teacher giving directions in English, while a translator translated into Spanish for the student to understand the commands. I was like a dummy sitting there waiting for my haircut, hoping to learn some basic Spanish in the process. 

The cut went on for a long time and I was feeling curious that many other hairdressers kept coming over to look at my hairdresser at work and some even took photos. Only after it was done that I realized he has done disaster to my hair! He has shaven the back of my head and left two strands of hair at the sides, making a false impression of me having long hair in the front, while revealing a extremely short hair at the back. My fringes were Japanese style and I looked a bit too cute for my age. He even put on some gel to make 3 strands of my hair stood on top of my head. GOSH!

I was dumbfounded. More interesting things happened – all the crew gave a round of applause and started to take pictures of my scary hairstyle. They actually thought that this WAS an achievement! I could not decide to laugh or to cry…

In the end, I have to go to another saloon to save my hair, at least, to get a more normal hairstyle… The hair disaster and the rescue activity was a funny, yet scary experience. And I think Ray would never let me forget the rescue trip in which he accompanied me until forever.

# Walking Spree

I have to thank my housemate for dragging me into this. I was still groggy in the morning when she dragged me to walk to school with her. And mind you, it took almost 1 hour to walk from our house to school! I was halfway dreaming and walking during my first try, and arrived at school in a half-awake condition. But somehow I got addicted to this walking-to-school-disease and started to enjoy walking to and back from school.

There are always lots of things to see along the way to school – people rushing for work, window displays and even the busy traffic. One plus point is that our route to school pass by places of interests such as Tower Bridge, river Thames and St. Paul’s Cathedral and these beautiful scene never fail to awe me.

It took one hour in each journey but it was worth the walk. Almost everyday we manage to see some interesting or funny thing happen along the street, and we always have endless conversations about things we saw along our way. And certainly our stamina build up and I wonder whether I should go back to marathon again, hehe. I haven’t been running since I came to London and this started my ‘walking spree’ again.

# Translation work

Recently took up a volunteer help in translation with huifang's IOFC. agreed to help her out in translating essays of her friend's from chinese to english.

At first I thought that the translation work is easy, and I realized I have over-estminated my own abilities. haha. As I went along in the work, learnt quite some new things:

1) to understand and maintain the author's style
2) to communicate with author to get his expression accurately
3) to check and re-edit again and again and ask professional opinions

The first day progress was slow. took whole night just to translate one paragraph. Then the second day I got much better as I can roughly understand the author's style already.

However, I realized, surprises happen in all places. While I thought my speed and accuracy have increased, after a few days, I encountered mental block. Tried to translate the whole day but the outcome is just terrible. Now I realized there were times when we cannot use our brain at all. :-P

Quite enjoy this work and it really helps a lot in my language ability. will continue to learn from it and work hard. ganbate!

# Societies Shields Night

I was pleasantly surprised to know that I was among the recipients of the University of London Union Societies Shields 2005. The Shields are awarded to students who have made contribution to the union community through societies’ activities. The Warden of the Shield is Dr Joan Ripley, she was a remarkable lady who still has a young mind and ideas. Our society, ULUBUDA, swept a lot of Individual Shield Awards, but did not manage to win the overall Best Society Award. I suppose we are still a young society and still have rooms for expansion and improvement. We will be back for next year!

# Chinese New Year

I was grateful that I actually got to celebrate Chinese New Year in London, especially it was such a big celebration compared to other places in UK. In fact, UK government organized a week-long Chinese Week in conjunction with the CNY celebration.

Went to Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square with a few friends from SP, penang n taiping. it felt so nice to be able to chat in hokkien for whole day long!

It was a nice start with the firework display in Leicester Square (China Town). We spent a few hours at Trafalgar Square watching the performances. had a good laugh when the male auto sang songs after songs, and was a bit disappointed watching the pathetic lion dance. :P Dinner was a nice vegetarian buffet in Goodge Street.

The whole day was fun, especially the last 15 minutes major firework display. Felt appreciative of the effort put in by UK in celebrating this event. London is a very international cosmopolitan, and to have a nice event like that certainly attract lots of chineses, not to say tourists from all backgrounds. they are really doing their job. :-)

# Chinese New Year

For this year Chinese New Year celebration, I went for a reunion dinner at Four Seasons with a bunch of Malaysian fellows. It was a nice gathering and especially entertaining to talk in Manglish!

I remembered last year I spent my New Year Eve at the Temple. The temple was holding Reunion Dinner for 500 people and I was volunteering as a waitress to serve the food. It was an enriching experience as a group of friends do the preparation work together and delegate tasks to serve different parts of the dining hall.

After the temple’s reunion dinner, I joined my hall’s Chinese New Year celebration, and it was great fun! It was a potluck dinner and everyone brought a dish, resulting in a mountain of food in the common room! Chatting, singing and playing cards are common sight and playing group games certainly let us get to know each other better.

For both years, I never missed the celebration at China Town, watching Lion Dance and stage performance in Trafalgar Square. I just could not resist the draw of the festive atmosphere in Leicester Square! And I suppose all Chinese just cannot resist the firework display during CNY too!

Looking forward to next year’s CNY. 

# A dash of local feel

During the stay in Scotland with the McInnes family, I enjoyed the warmth of the local family. It was enjoyable chatting with the family besides warm fireplace, learning about their culture and traditions, listening to amusing stories, and sharing our own cultural practices too. I still remembered Martiza and I spent the whole night chatting to the family about everything, and Bill and Andrea even showed us the traditional Scottish dance!

We, as overseas students, can always have a chance to experience local family life and get to know local people, either through visits to friends’ house, or participating programs such as the Host Family Program. I have seen many of my seniors going, and going again, to visit their host families, and I felt fortunate to have the chances to visit local families too. By staying a few days at their home, we can really notice many differences between our homes and theirs, make some cute mistakes and discoveries in the process, and have a good laugh together and learnt from each other. I especially enjoy Christmas stay as we always have a chance to join the midnight mass, Christmas dinner and of course, the exchange of presents under the Christmas tree!

Sometimes Malaysian students tend to cluster among themselves during festive seasons. This was a good way to celebrate together and stay united together, but perhaps sometimes we can also try to get some local feel of the festive seasons and get to know the local culture too?

# Winter Holiday

Looking back at my winter holiday, I realized I have been through a lot of things, and hopefully have learnt somtething from all the whirlwind-like chronology of events.

~ Edinburgh Conference ~The conference trip was a great start for my winter holiday. Did not expect my second year in UK would start off with such an interesting experience to look back on next time. Learnt a lot about international event, presentation, debating, networking, etc...
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~ Newcastle and Sunderland Trip ~This trip gave me a chance not only to tour new places and learn new knowledge, but also a chance to meet up with old friends, getting know new people, and rethink about various issues ranging from international students' interaction to integration of culture, values and traditions.
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~ Finding Accommodation ~
An adventure-like housing crisis popped up just before christmas. It seemed to be the worst time to have to worry about accommodation, but thanks to HF and SS, I managed to face the problem with a positive attitude, and in fact has learnt much from this experience.
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~ Christmas Celebration ~
A traditional christmas celebration with a family in London is much more than what I expected to get for christmas. Was lucky to have their invitation to join their family celebration in London. Learnt much about the celebration and traditions, got to know more about Christianity and enjoyed the games and songs very much!
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~ Vegetarian for a Month ~
A new year start for my housemate and I is a one-month-vegetarian-plan.
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~ Street Market ~

~ NHS System ~
There is a need to look at the NHS system to improve the service and quality. An experience lead me to research on some problems faced by NHS and hopefully there is a solution in future.
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# NHS - non-helpful system?

A visit to local clinic left me feeling dismayed at the bureaucratic system of the National Health System NHS.

A contstant dry cough and breathlessness for more than 2 weeks raised my attention about my own health so I decided seek medical help instead of recovering by self at home. I hoped to have some professional advice and diagnosis whether my asthma has come back.

Realized my registered clinic was closed so went to the walk-in centre nearby. I remembered enquiring the hospital staff when I first came and she told me that we actually do not have to register at a local clinic since we can 'walk in' into the walk-in centre anytime we need to seek medical help. but i got registered anyway as I did not really feel safe hanging around without a registered health-centre and doctor.

Waited for 3 hours at the clinic and when it was my turn, the doctor told me that they have recently changed the system such that the walk-in centre NO LONGER treat patients who are registered. He declined to treat me and said I should make an appointment with my own registered doctor. I was utterly dismayed and I explained that I have went to my own clinic and since it was closed, I came to the walk-in centre, and I further explained that I was previously told that the walk-in centre provides the service of "Walk-IN".

After some arguing, he reluctantly agreed to take a look at me. Disappointingly, he gave no real help to the problems I raised. Even though I explained my circumstances of prolonged cough and no sign of recovery after long period, he gave the same advice of drinking water, eating fruits and resting. I have been doing that and NOW I wish to get further advice on my dry cough, sir. So I enquired whether I can seek any help of getting check up for asthma, and he promptly answered he was no specialist to do that. when I enquired how I could get a specialist diagnosis, he curtly said "I dunno". such was the manner of a doctor, whose job is to treat patients and provide help to human race.

I was disappointed at the lack of professionalism of the doctors so I decided to research a bit about NHS.

Information from nurse staff in UK revealed that the NHS was facing shortage of doctors so they imported overseas doctor from India, some of whom do not have enough qualification.

From Financial Times 24 Apr 02, NHS Clinical negligence bill rose to 4.4 billion pounds. Cases of clinical negligence is still on the climb, while its financial office is facing strain in funds and budgets.

Report by Lindsay Wise, Alexander Harris Solicitors shows a rise in hospital-superbug infection such as MRSA Contamination (MRSA = Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, infection after hospitalisation/surgery due to bacteria growing resistant to the normal penicillins)

The European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System data for 2002 showed UK has the worst rates of MRSA in Europe, probably due to lack of importance and resources placed on infection control measures.

There are many more issues to be explored and looked into.

I certainly hope that measures to improve the efficiency of health care and medical treatment will be carried out systematically and effectively. A few areas worth looking into are: bureaucracy in medical treatment procedures, ratio of doctor to patient, hygiene and infection control, clinical negligence prevention, etc. British tax-payers have contributed so much to the health system and it is annoying to see such states of service provided.

# Dark City

It suddenly dawned on me that all the people in the tube were wearing dark colour clothes. Dark suites, dark coats, dark hats, dark umbrellas… Nobody is smiling, nor chatting to the others. Everyone sat in silence, only the rumbling of the train was heard. The atmosphere was so ominous and depressive that I felt like suddenly sing a song to cheer everybody up. :-P I do not know whether the culture of being oblivious to other people on the street is common in all big cities, but I am certainly not used to this kind of culture. I admit I would prefer a small town scene where everyone knows everyone, and there are always peals of greetings every morning we walk on the street.

Why have people in big cities ‘evolved’ to be non-talking strangers to one another? Where has the warmth among people gone? This is an issue to be looked into by all the big cities, not only in UK, but throughout the world. People are behaving like strangers, or worse, like robots in cities, and most do not even care to know what is happening around them. People are only focused on the things they do themselves, and the atmosphere is ever stiff, and cold, and unfriendly.

On my way to leave the tube station, I gave a big smile and greeted the tube attendant by the checkout machine. He was surprised, but I saw his lips curled up into a smile and greeted back. I wonder, if we can get everybody to do these kinds of simple little gestures, wouldn’t our lives be happier and the days less gloomy?

Smile, and the world smiles with you.

# Vegetarian For A Month

My housemate Huifang initiated the idea of becoming vegetarian for a month to celebrate the New Year 2005.

I am awed by the idea and happily joined in her new year resolution. A one-month-vegetarian would be a great way to train ourselves to be disciplined, to reflect on ourselves and also a good way to start a fresh year without killing.

Preparing vegetarian food was challenging, creative and very rewarding! It leads us to think up of new varieties of food and find new substitutes for seasoning and flavour of the food.

I realized that I can actually survive without meat. and at the same time realizing that I love vegetables much. It's a good start for a year.

I have actually taken a series of photographs to record our progress.
For more please follow link:
Vegetarian Series

## Follow-up:
15/1/05 - Half a month passed and we are still continuing this practice without any desire to have meat. GANBATE!

we are starting to walk more frequently to and back from school. Maybe our next challenge would be a Walk-A-Month-to-school. who knows? *^_^*

# New Year 2005

Fireworks in the sky over the Thames River, Countdown at Trafalgar Square, ringing bells of the Big Ben... A new year has arrived. A new beginning has started.

New year celebration is interesting in London. A few main locations such as along Thames River, at the Westminster near Big Ben, and Trafalgar Square, have always been the main locations for New Year Eve Countdown. The places are always EXTREMELY crowded, and I found it no different than last year countdown - still jammed with people as usual. :-)

This year, 2 minutes of silence were dedicated to the recent Tsunami victims. It was touching to see everyone quietened down to give their sympathy to the suffered ones.

Wish everyone a Happy New Year. Have a great year ahead.