...was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life. It's been quite awhile, but I'd still like to blog on it. I know I'm going to be all kinds of emotional while typing this all out, but I'd still like to do it. Regardless. So I can look back and remember it all. But that's really the point of blogging, no?
I was in Singapore for Gong Gong's funeral till Tuesday afternoon, and then we rushed back to PJ. Stopped by in Negeri Sembilan for dinner at one of the Chinese restaurants there. My dad said it was kind of my farewell dinner with my entire family, so he let me choose my favourite dishes. Aww. He doesn't say it because that generation of fathers don't usually, but I know he really really loves me. As do I.
We had sweet and sour pork, and kangkung belacan. My choice. Yum.
Dinner was good. And I was fighting back tears. It had been a long, hard day. I had been crying since the early morning, since the funeral parade, and the cremation parlour, and then the dinner. If I had managed to make it back to PJ that night, it would have been more tears, because Ching left that night, and I would have cried even more at the airport, even though we're leaving to the same place. Don't laugh at my crying habits lahhhh.
It's not possible for my tear ducts to dry up.
ANYWAYS. Yeah, came back and went over to Ching's house where they went back to after sending her off because Ming needed me to bring a USB cable for her, and because they needed to fetch Emily home too. It was strange, you know, to be sitting around on the couch in Ching's house, without her there.
Mary, Nick and Ming left to Murni's while Siokkwan, Jo and I left to have what would be one of the funniest nights we've had in a long time. I seriously have not laughed like that in ages. The three of us got into the car and literally, and I mean literally exploded with laughter till our sides almost split. Remember the Li Chun/De Shun debacle? You can read it in all of it's embarassing glory here.
Wednesday was spent packing, packing and packing. I hate packing. DESPISE. I am the kind of wishy-washy person who likes to bring anything because "I might need it when I'm there". When Ching and I went to India last year, we were told it was winter, and I still brought one of my skirts because "I might need it when I'm there".
*glares at laughing people*
Whaaaaaaaaat? Who knows, right. Better safe than sorry. :P
Went to the Digital Mall with Sioki and her classmates to get my last minute computer stuff - mouse for laptop, empty CDs, things like that. Sioki and I came back to hang out in my messy, stuff-strewn-all-over-the-place-because-I'm-packing room for one last time. Us girls, we've hung out in my room so often over the past few years.
John came over after that, with KFC nuggets. Aww.
Relatives came over that night. My aunty, and my grandparents. And my entire immediate family. We had my last home-cooked dinner, which they jokingly called my last supper. I lost it again during grace, where my sis-in-law prayed for my year in Australia. For those of you who don't know yet, I'm super close to my family. I adore them and would do anything for them. So, yeah. That was hard.
What was even harder, was when they went back home. When my brother engulfed me in his arms and told me that the person he missed most when he went to Australia 18 years ago, was me. I was only one then. When my sister hugged me and said that she will miss me like mad. When each one of the kids came up to me and hugged the stuffing out of me.
Joel: (in a serious tone) Wen Kor, take care of yourself in Australia, kay? Please don't swim in the sea. (dramatic pause) Got a lot of sharks one you know.
After they all went back, I resumed packing, till about 11 when the gang came over. Sharm, Manda and Karen. Sioki, Jo, Ming, Suki, Mary, and Nick. We hung out in the padang, just chatting. About nothing in particular. And that's what I love about them. That we can just go on for hours and hours about nothing in particular. And it felt damn comfortable.
Left to the mamak where I had my last Roti Hawaii for the year. Omg. How I miss the Roti Hawaii. And Murnis. And Maybank mamak. And nasi lemak ayam.
Oy, you people back home, please appreciate your local mamak. Thankyouverymuch.
Went home at about 2 in the morning, knowing I would fly in eight hours time, and continued packing. It's a never-ending process. Ick. Packed while transferring Heroes and ANTM from Jo to my laptop so that I wouldn't be bored down to my toes whilst I'm here. Packed. Packed. Packed somemore. I seriously wouldn't advise last-minute packing, because it was horrible.
I was packing right till the gang came back again at like... 5:45 a.m., was it? Here's the deal. Students are allowed 30 kg of luggage. Fine. So I finally zipped up my bag and weighed it and...
OMFG. 60 KG.
I am completely a bloody idiot.
Panicking, I got down on my knees and started unpacking frantically. Took out about half the stuff like a madwoman, zipped it up and weighed it again.
Still TOO MUCH.
Ack. Although it broke my heart, I took out some more pretty tops. Zipped it up again, and Ming, taking pity on me, helped me heft my bag onto the scale again.
Ming: (long pause) Ey, Wen ar, you're allowed 30 kg, right? Not 30 lbs, right?
Me: (even longer pause) OMGARGHHHHHI'MSUCHANIDIOT!!!
I had initally seen 60 LBS. Not 60 KG. Which meant my luggage WASN'T OVERWEIGHT in the first place.
-_-"
I am stupid. That is all.
I wanted to knock my head against the nearest wall.
Threw everything back into the bag, zipped it up and loaded it into the boot. And then it was time for goodbyes. Hate.
I was crying like a baby as I made my way down the line and hugged everyone and said bye. Thankfully all of them held back their tears (either that, or they weren't very sad to see me leave, lol), or I would've been worse.
Sioki, Nick and Ming came with me to the airport; the rest had class. And I'm glad they came. They took my mind off the actual leaving. Had breakfast at McDs and a super random conversation that I don't remember much. Something about a McDs ad or something like that. The three of them together are unstoppable. Nick contributes lame-ness and Ming and Sioki contributes unnecessary creativity. Lol.
Then it was time.
The number of times I remember seeing my dad cry - probably less than three, maybe. One of the times was when he gave my sister away at the altar during her wedding. And the other time, was when I hugged him at the airport before going down the escalator.
The escalator was pretty torturous. Because you can actually feel yourself getting further and further away from them. And then I reached the bottom and I probably shouldn't have turned back, but I did, and that made things worse. But then, thank God for friends like these. Nick, standing there, waving the McDs paper, Sioki and Ming pointing to it. Made me smile amidst my tears. The tears didn't stop coming, but still, being able to smile was good.
At least I didn't go alone. Having YK, Mel, Sook Yan and Jonathan telling me not to cry helped. I would probably have been a wreck flying alone. I don't know how the four of them stayed so composed throughout leaving either. I wish I could've been.
Boarded the plane and read the letters from Sioki, Mary and Nick on the plane cause they told me too. Made me feel even more emo, if that was even possible.
Slept quite a bit during the flight, watched an episode of the Office, and Employee of the Month, and half of Lovewrecked. At least MAS has all this stuff for you to watch. Pretty big selection. Indian Airlines had nothing, I remember. So booooooring.
Got off the plane, and got through customs okay. Funniest bit was during the baggage claim. YK and Mel went off to get the bags while I stayed by the trolley and guarded the hand luggage and laptops. My bag was sooooo incredibly heavy that YK couldn't lift it off the conveyor belt no matter how hard he tried. He tugged and tugged, and the bag just kept on moving and moving on the belt. Hee. Some good strong Samaritan helped him pull it off the belt after that. Haha. YK, buff up a bit lah. =p
Mel's friends picked the both of us up, while YK went off to Clayton. The weather was great. Not too cold. They dropped us off at our now previous-house, and omg, it was a horrible first impression. Not that it isn't still horrible, but fresh off the plane, all tired, and seeing the awful house; it was BADDD.
It was dirty, and dusty. The floors were wooden and creaky. There's this one spot on the floor in my room, that if you step on it, the entire cupboard vibrates. The walls were paper-thin. It was a creepy looking place, full stop. Disgusting. I thank my lucky stars everyday that we don't have to stay there. From the outside, it looks like a haunted house at night. No kidding.
The first night there was so, so difficult. Plus, we stay along Dandenong Road, which is a highway, so it's was/is bloody noisy. And then I had to go watch the slide show Jo gave me before I left. I tell you Mr. Lim Jo Weng, you made me cry buckets okayyyyy. Tsk.
I was in Singapore for Gong Gong's funeral till Tuesday afternoon, and then we rushed back to PJ. Stopped by in Negeri Sembilan for dinner at one of the Chinese restaurants there. My dad said it was kind of my farewell dinner with my entire family, so he let me choose my favourite dishes. Aww. He doesn't say it because that generation of fathers don't usually, but I know he really really loves me. As do I.
We had sweet and sour pork, and kangkung belacan. My choice. Yum.
Dinner was good. And I was fighting back tears. It had been a long, hard day. I had been crying since the early morning, since the funeral parade, and the cremation parlour, and then the dinner. If I had managed to make it back to PJ that night, it would have been more tears, because Ching left that night, and I would have cried even more at the airport, even though we're leaving to the same place. Don't laugh at my crying habits lahhhh.
It's not possible for my tear ducts to dry up.
ANYWAYS. Yeah, came back and went over to Ching's house where they went back to after sending her off because Ming needed me to bring a USB cable for her, and because they needed to fetch Emily home too. It was strange, you know, to be sitting around on the couch in Ching's house, without her there.
Mary, Nick and Ming left to Murni's while Siokkwan, Jo and I left to have what would be one of the funniest nights we've had in a long time. I seriously have not laughed like that in ages. The three of us got into the car and literally, and I mean literally exploded with laughter till our sides almost split. Remember the Li Chun/De Shun debacle? You can read it in all of it's embarassing glory here.
Wednesday was spent packing, packing and packing. I hate packing. DESPISE. I am the kind of wishy-washy person who likes to bring anything because "I might need it when I'm there". When Ching and I went to India last year, we were told it was winter, and I still brought one of my skirts because "I might need it when I'm there".
*glares at laughing people*
Whaaaaaaaaat? Who knows, right. Better safe than sorry. :P
Went to the Digital Mall with Sioki and her classmates to get my last minute computer stuff - mouse for laptop, empty CDs, things like that. Sioki and I came back to hang out in my messy, stuff-strewn-all-over-the-place-because-I'm-packing room for one last time. Us girls, we've hung out in my room so often over the past few years.
John came over after that, with KFC nuggets. Aww.
Relatives came over that night. My aunty, and my grandparents. And my entire immediate family. We had my last home-cooked dinner, which they jokingly called my last supper. I lost it again during grace, where my sis-in-law prayed for my year in Australia. For those of you who don't know yet, I'm super close to my family. I adore them and would do anything for them. So, yeah. That was hard.
What was even harder, was when they went back home. When my brother engulfed me in his arms and told me that the person he missed most when he went to Australia 18 years ago, was me. I was only one then. When my sister hugged me and said that she will miss me like mad. When each one of the kids came up to me and hugged the stuffing out of me.
Joel: (in a serious tone) Wen Kor, take care of yourself in Australia, kay? Please don't swim in the sea. (dramatic pause) Got a lot of sharks one you know.
After they all went back, I resumed packing, till about 11 when the gang came over. Sharm, Manda and Karen. Sioki, Jo, Ming, Suki, Mary, and Nick. We hung out in the padang, just chatting. About nothing in particular. And that's what I love about them. That we can just go on for hours and hours about nothing in particular. And it felt damn comfortable.
Left to the mamak where I had my last Roti Hawaii for the year. Omg. How I miss the Roti Hawaii. And Murnis. And Maybank mamak. And nasi lemak ayam.
Oy, you people back home, please appreciate your local mamak. Thankyouverymuch.
Went home at about 2 in the morning, knowing I would fly in eight hours time, and continued packing. It's a never-ending process. Ick. Packed while transferring Heroes and ANTM from Jo to my laptop so that I wouldn't be bored down to my toes whilst I'm here. Packed. Packed. Packed somemore. I seriously wouldn't advise last-minute packing, because it was horrible.
I was packing right till the gang came back again at like... 5:45 a.m., was it? Here's the deal. Students are allowed 30 kg of luggage. Fine. So I finally zipped up my bag and weighed it and...
OMFG. 60 KG.
I am completely a bloody idiot.
Panicking, I got down on my knees and started unpacking frantically. Took out about half the stuff like a madwoman, zipped it up and weighed it again.
Still TOO MUCH.
Ack. Although it broke my heart, I took out some more pretty tops. Zipped it up again, and Ming, taking pity on me, helped me heft my bag onto the scale again.
Ming: (long pause) Ey, Wen ar, you're allowed 30 kg, right? Not 30 lbs, right?
Me: (even longer pause) OMGARGHHHHHI'MSUCHANIDIOT!!!
I had initally seen 60 LBS. Not 60 KG. Which meant my luggage WASN'T OVERWEIGHT in the first place.
-_-"
I am stupid. That is all.
I wanted to knock my head against the nearest wall.
Threw everything back into the bag, zipped it up and loaded it into the boot. And then it was time for goodbyes. Hate.
I was crying like a baby as I made my way down the line and hugged everyone and said bye. Thankfully all of them held back their tears (either that, or they weren't very sad to see me leave, lol), or I would've been worse.
Sioki, Nick and Ming came with me to the airport; the rest had class. And I'm glad they came. They took my mind off the actual leaving. Had breakfast at McDs and a super random conversation that I don't remember much. Something about a McDs ad or something like that. The three of them together are unstoppable. Nick contributes lame-ness and Ming and Sioki contributes unnecessary creativity. Lol.
Then it was time.
The number of times I remember seeing my dad cry - probably less than three, maybe. One of the times was when he gave my sister away at the altar during her wedding. And the other time, was when I hugged him at the airport before going down the escalator.
The escalator was pretty torturous. Because you can actually feel yourself getting further and further away from them. And then I reached the bottom and I probably shouldn't have turned back, but I did, and that made things worse. But then, thank God for friends like these. Nick, standing there, waving the McDs paper, Sioki and Ming pointing to it. Made me smile amidst my tears. The tears didn't stop coming, but still, being able to smile was good.
At least I didn't go alone. Having YK, Mel, Sook Yan and Jonathan telling me not to cry helped. I would probably have been a wreck flying alone. I don't know how the four of them stayed so composed throughout leaving either. I wish I could've been.
Boarded the plane and read the letters from Sioki, Mary and Nick on the plane cause they told me too. Made me feel even more emo, if that was even possible.
Slept quite a bit during the flight, watched an episode of the Office, and Employee of the Month, and half of Lovewrecked. At least MAS has all this stuff for you to watch. Pretty big selection. Indian Airlines had nothing, I remember. So booooooring.
Got off the plane, and got through customs okay. Funniest bit was during the baggage claim. YK and Mel went off to get the bags while I stayed by the trolley and guarded the hand luggage and laptops. My bag was sooooo incredibly heavy that YK couldn't lift it off the conveyor belt no matter how hard he tried. He tugged and tugged, and the bag just kept on moving and moving on the belt. Hee. Some good strong Samaritan helped him pull it off the belt after that. Haha. YK, buff up a bit lah. =p
Mel's friends picked the both of us up, while YK went off to Clayton. The weather was great. Not too cold. They dropped us off at our now previous-house, and omg, it was a horrible first impression. Not that it isn't still horrible, but fresh off the plane, all tired, and seeing the awful house; it was BADDD.
It was dirty, and dusty. The floors were wooden and creaky. There's this one spot on the floor in my room, that if you step on it, the entire cupboard vibrates. The walls were paper-thin. It was a creepy looking place, full stop. Disgusting. I thank my lucky stars everyday that we don't have to stay there. From the outside, it looks like a haunted house at night. No kidding.
The first night there was so, so difficult. Plus, we stay along Dandenong Road, which is a highway, so it's was/is bloody noisy. And then I had to go watch the slide show Jo gave me before I left. I tell you Mr. Lim Jo Weng, you made me cry buckets okayyyyy. Tsk.
