playing with my feelings

i was supposed to fly home today from Birmingham International via Frankfurt. i tried to check-in online last night and again this morning but there were technical problems with the page so it told me to try again later or proceed to the airport. otherwise i could get redirected to the 'Manage My Booking' page on the BA website. i decided to check that out and review my itinerary. strangely enough only my Singapore-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Birmingham (both completed in January 2007) and my Frankfurt-Singapore journeys were displayed. so i started to panic and tried using the Qantas website to confirm my flight (since the flight number was originally a QF one) but it refused to let me because there was no option to select the departure city as 'Birmingham'. then i tried calling them and the voice-answering service said i did not need to re-confirm any Qantas flights. so i was pretty relieved but decided to double check that flight was running that day. when i keyed in the flight number it said there was no such flight leaving today. my next option was to call BA and again i encountered problems reconfirming the flight. it was when i finally got put through to an operator that i discovered why.

BA/Qantas had cancelled the Birmingham-Frankfurt flight since February.

so essentially i had a seat on the Frankfurt-Singapore leg but none to get to Frankfurt because BA/Qantas had stopped flying to Birmingham altogether.

the woman on the phone tried to get me a flight today that would allow me to connect to my Frankfurt flight and the only one that i had a reasonable chance of making was from London Heathrow at 8.30pm but meant i had only 45mins transit time. so instead she tried to get me on a direct flight from London.

i now have a confirmed seat on but means that i leave the night of 2 Aug instead and arrive in Singapore 3 Aug (in the evening). and thankfully i dont have to pay any extra charges because my flight was cancelled.

it also means i have 2 extra days in the UK. but i had psyched myself up so much for saying goodbye today it feels weird. and i think it's going to make saying goodbye worse on thursday...

but i am going to make the best of the extra time!

an end to an era

one last night in the UK (for now).

seems so surreal. and rather depressing.

it's hard to say goodbye, even if the parting is only temporary.

and it's difficult to leave when the one you love is left behind. things might be a lot easier if i felt any differently about us.

a BBQ during the short interval between showers and downpours

it (Wednesday) looked like it wasnt going to be a good day for a BBQ. but with some optimism (and using the BBC Weather forecast rather than the weather.com one) we decided to go ahead and buy the food and prepare it since it was the last night Paul would be around before going back to Warsaw and the 3 of us to sit down for a good meal. the skies were gracious to hold out till we had eaten our fill before it started to pour again (the pit is still out in the backyard, uncleaned and a mess of ash and rainwater - urgh!)

smiley!

serious!

water water everywhere

havent been doing much these days because of the weather and the worry that if i did decide to go travelling around the country i might not get back in time to catch my flight back to Singapore. the flooding has been really bad - my graduation ceremony was seriously affected by it as well (which i will expound on when i do a proper post on it) because of roads (and motorways) being completely unpassable. things dont look too good, with some of my friends facing water and electricity cut-offs tonight and for the next few days where they are. the entire news bulletin on BBC1 tonight was about it and there was even a special report programme with a detailed look at the situation around the country.

Click HERE to read more.

Film is indeed a real degree

it's all official now - i'm a graduate!

(a proper post when i am back to Singapore and get my hands on the tonne of photos my parents took on their cameras
- note the use of the plural form!)

anxious

because in about 25 hours my parents will be here. i havent seen them in 7 months...

and also, because the weather forecast for the next few days doesnt look good. please dont rain!

moving home (part 1)

there is a sense of finality when you pack all the stuff you are taking home into boxes and suitcases. the 3 boxes of stuff i am shipping home were collected on Friday and so now there is an empty spot in the house where they used to sit. next is packing suitcases as my family is coming next week and are graciously (not that they really have an option) taking some of my belongings home first.

last night while talking to my mom i was looking up some temp jobs/work experience i could get while i job hunt and it took quite a bit to get used to looking for a job that was more than just a summer filler. the annoying thing of working in Singapore is because i didnt study there, i dont have a foot in the door (through placements and stuff) and graduate schemes are something they havent seem to have discovered so a lot of jobs i am interested in require loads of relevant experience (several years) which i dont have (i think i've got about a year when everything is consolidated).

moving home also means no more (almost-)daily MSN conversations with family back home. even though it can sometimes be exhausting (case in point: last night i had a 4-way conversation with my parents and my brother and everyone joined at different points so i had to repeat myself a lot), it has come to add to my overseas experience. but then moving home means actual random conversations with family so i guess it is a step up...

counting the days

every year i get this letter from the bank about the number of taxable days i spend in the country and how as a student i get exempt from tax if i fill up this form. and every time i fill it up, i go through the process of counting exactly the number of days i spend here (which is a nightmarish process because of all the travelling i do). this time i thought, hang on i might have written down the answers that i filled up last year so that i get the right number again. but after a search through my stack of bank documents and papers, i couldnt find it. so i started again. and this time i remembered to save it.

the funny thing is, filling up the form made me realise how much i travelled (around Europe) in first year compared to my second and third years.

for year from 6Apr04 to 5Apr05
21 Sept - 4 Dec
2 Jan - 12 Mar
22 Mar - 30 Mar
3 Apr - 5 Apr

= 157

for year from 6Apr05 to 5Apr06
6 Apr - 7 Jun
9 Jun - 14 Jun
18 Jun - 25 Jun
12 Sept - 5 Dec
27 Dec - 4 Feb
9 Feb - 15 Mar
17 Mar - 27 Mar
31 Mar - 5 Apr

= 254

for year from 6Apr06 to 5Apr07
6 Apr - 21 Jul
14 Sept - 11 Dec
3 Jan - 26 Mar

= 279

for year from 6Apr07 to 5Apr08
6 Apr - 4 Jun
8 Jun - 31 Jul

= 114

hmmm -
in my first year, i visited Ljubliana, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Budapest, Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels, Dublin, Salzberg.
(11+4+3+5 =23)
in second year, that dropped in number: Oslo, Paris, Barcelona.
(6+3+5 = 14)
this year it was Paris, Warsaw, Krakow, Rouen, Stockholm.
(12+5 = 17)

so it means that as the years progressed, i made fewer trips but still managed to clock quite a number of days... hmmm...

Recreating a Wagamama favourite

the last time we visited Wagamama we were seated next to a White British couple who were very ignorant about food in general - the man said (to his partner), "some people try and recreate the flavours of the food at home - that's just stupid!", which really peeved both Josh and i. in fact, i think recreating flavours at home is a brilliant idea simply because one cannot afford to dine out everyday and when you have perfected the flavours, you can have your favourite dish anytime and have more of your preferred elements of the dish.

as you know, i've moved out of Coventry and to Josh's place in Birmingham. moving is a good thing - because it makes you consolidate your belongings and instills a sense of realisation of how much stuff (read: junk) you have. this is my corner of asian groceries (1 crate, 2 covered plastic boxes, 1 postpac + extras), not to mention 2 cupboards of bottles of sauces, cans and spices. ridiculous! AND this is after 1 week of me cooking dishes with the intention of clearing some of it (especially ingredients that Josh wont use because he doesnt cook any dishes that will require them).

since i had half a bag of panko (Japanese breadcrumbs - they are a lot crispier!) and a box of Japanese curry paste (courtesy of Michael - in fact, a portion of my stash is inherited stuff from Lynn and Michael since they didnt want them and i would be able to at least use SOME), i decided to do katsu curry for lunch yesterday. katsu curry at Wagamama comes in 2 forms - chicken katsu curry and yasai katsu curry (vegetarian - with aubergine, sweet potato and butternut squash instead of chicken). since we liked both, recreating this dish at home is perfect as we can have both chicken and vegetables on one plate!

i used this box of curry paste - the recipe on the back of the box serves 12 (!!) and all i wanted was to make a curry sauce to go over my katsu so i didnt want any of the meat and vegetables that the recipe called for. instead, i tweaked it to yield enough curry sauce for 2 to 3 portions.

Japanese curry sauce
1) mince (or finely chop) 1 onion
2) heat some oil in a saucepan and sweat the onions, being careful not to brown them too much
3) add 430ml of beef stock (sorry for the strange amount - i actually added slightly more than 3/4 pint so i'm guessing it's about 430ml)
*i used 2 cubes of OXO beef stock and added water to achieve the 430ml amount
4) drop in 2 1/2 cubes of curry paste (working with any S&B Golden curry packs) and stir till it dissolves. the mixture will thicken considerably. once it bubbles, take it off the heat and serve over the katsu.

for the chicken: i used breast meat even though i am not a big fan of it as it tends to be very dry when used in cooking. thus it was/is very important to marinate the meat well before cooking so that it is moist. i cut the pieces rather thinly and using the side of the knife, pounded it so that it would be as thin as possible. as i didnt have mirin, i substituted with chinese rice wine, and also used soy sauce and black pepper, then let it sit in the fridge for about 2 hrs. (i think it was Gordon Ramsay who said that a good chef is never afraid to season? so yes, dont be afraid to lay on the salt and pepper!). for the aubergine: just slice it ring-wise (so that the skin will hold it together, rather than you ending up with very limp katsu)

simply coat in egg and roll the chicken and aubergine in panko and deep fry, draining the oil on a kitchen towel before slicing and serving. i served this with a side salad, dressed simply with olive oil, worchestershire sauce (which is more Japanese in flavour than balsamic vinegar, and it also lends richness) and black pepper.
on a side note - it feels really like home living in a neighbourhood where on the weekends you can hear every family mowing their lawns.

this, however, is what we have to contend with because the landlord couldnt be bothered to do anything to the grass after Josh and Paul contacted him about the house (story is that his previous tenants had moved out only a few days before Josh and Paul viewed the house and expressed interest) and Josh was away in Cambridge for several weeks after he moved in so the backyard has be left to reach this state.
what we ended up doing was borrowing one of those hand-held grasscutters from a friend, chopping off as much grass as possible (because we tried using the mower directly and it couldnt cope with the long grass) then mowing over (and letting the vacuum in the mower suck up the excess grass). doing 1/3 of the backyard took an hour. next it's going to be Paul's turn...

a typical day of an unemployed-and-thus-voluntarily-choosing-to-lead-the-life-of-a-housewife person

*wake up and check emails
*make phonecalls to sort some personal stuff
*work out meals for the next few days and write out shopping list
*go to the market (read: not supermarket) to buy vegetables, eggs, meat, fish
*return home and repackage meat into meal portions (including chopping up chicken)
*cook lunch for self
*put in a load of laundry
*watch daytime TV (i.e. cooking shows, property shows)
*hang up laundry
*prepare dinner
(subnote: wonder why the oven is emitting smoke even though it worked yesterday - then work on getting the kitchen and conservatory smokefree)
*clear up kitchen and put away clean dishes
*watch evening TV
*go to bed and start the cycle all over again the next morning!

it's it funny

that everyone is missing Warwick and whining about being bored at home?

Moving Day

i guess moving out of Coventry was the last nail in the university coffin. it feels as if moving away from that city meant a new phase of my life has begun and it feels strange. equally strange is the fact that my student ID is no longer valid, which in true blue Murphy's Law-fashion, i didnt need till yesterday when i went to the chinese supermarket and realised i could no longer qualify for the 10% student discount. :( or to buy student standby tickets for the theatre. or even student discounted ones. urgh...

anyway, moving day (last Saturday) was void of emotional/teary goodbyes. i guess it's because we all know that somehow we will meet up soon. i guess it's because the chances of me going to Malaysia at a whim are a lot higher than me to the UK. in fact, it was a simple, "have a good journey and i'll see you soon".

that is not to say that moving day was void of drama (and heightened emotions). on the contrary, tempers flew and patience was tested (even Michael was getting edgy - he's the most sui bian person i know!). this was because of the people that were moving in to the house in September. let's start at the beginning...

someone knocks at the door at 10.30am. it's the new tenants who have come to move their stuff into the house to store over summer. note: to store, which = they are not paying full rent for summer but the landlord is allowing them to store their things there at half rent. what we were told by the landlord was that we should have a room ready for them to do so by afternoon. so i said, we were told you were coming in the afternoon so we're not ready as we are sill trying to move our stuff out. she said, oh but we were told to come at 11am. then i said, well, it's onlt 10.30, if you give us half an hour we should be able to move some stuff out so that you can start moving yours in. she then proceeds to dump all her stuff on the pavement outside, which blocks our door AND our neighbour's. at 11am, we tell her that the attic is ready (because we had to move some final boxes down) so she proceeds to move her stuff into the hallway and up to the attic. the other guy shows up a while later. then it starts to rain. the landlord comes by and asks us if we can free up another room so that they can move their stuff in so that it wont be in the rain. lynn tells him we've already made the attic available so they should be able to move their stuff in. he asks, is it possible for you to clear michael's or your room sooner? i dont think it's nice that their stuff is sitting out in the rain. lynn says, ok we'll try. but after he leaves she turns to me and rants about how it isnt fair to us that we are already inconvenienced and that we've paid rent for today so technically they should be working around our schedule, and that she doesnt get why he's being so nice to them when he was a really bad landlord to us. then i said, well, i know why...

a break here for some background info - our landlord is a big cheat! because he said he was going to do a lot of things (like clear up the backyard and re-landscape it last aug, or to send in professional cleaners last aug when we were not in the house) but he didnt. and according to lynn who was there when the new tenants came in a few weeks ago to look at the house again, he told them that he was going to again over summer and that he has been doing it regularly for us. AND the new tenants decided they wanted to re-carpet the house and buy a new sofa at their expense. WHAT?!? so of course he's nice to them! if he isnt and they change their mind, he loses out on free refurbishment!

back to the story: lynn tells me that apparently the girl (we shall call her N) told the landlord that she and i are best friends (truth: i know her from Tap because she used to come to some of the classes. know as in i-know-your-name-and-can-match-it-to-your-face-but-nothing-more-than-that, and apparently when she said that to the landlord - right in front of lynn and michael, mind you - michael turned to lynn and asked, ade's got a best friend in Tap?) and that them moving in earlier is not a problem. and she only contacted me twice about house stuff - the first was to get the landlord's number because she had lost it, and the second was to ask if they could move stuff in earlier and i had told her we were staying till 30th June so it wasnt likely they could move stuff in any earlier than then.

anyway, N and the guy stop moving their stuff and just stand in the hallway, waiting for Michael to clear his room so that they dont need to move their stuff up 2 flights of stairs. so Lynn gets really angry and decides to vacuum the living room so that she can move her stuff down and they can move it to her room (because she was waiting for her uncle to come in the afternoon and Michael was needed to get out of his room, which was impeded by their stuff in the hallway, so that he could load his car and drive to the storage place). after Lynn does that, they start moving their stuff again and after they've moved most of it, sit in Lynn's room chatting. so Michael moves their big suitcase up to Lynn's room for them (because it's blocking his way) and we have to keep telling them to move their stuff out of the way because we are trying to move out.

they leave for lunch and come back later with more boxes, then leave again and N comes back with a bicycle. she stands at the door asking if she can put her bicycle in the living room. i ask, are you sure you can store your bicycle in the house? (because i know from previous house experiences that most landlords dont allow it as it brings dirt in). she says, well the other people in the other houses do that so we can too. then i say, i guess so but not at the moment because we are trying to move some stuff out (Lynn's uncle had just arrived) and if she can wait about 10mins, she can come do so. she then proceeds to leave her bicycle right at the door so i move it away and continue helping Lynn move her stuff to her uncle's car. N comes back and tries to come in while we are moving heavy boxes out the door. Lynn gets really angry so she yells, why are you so impatient? cant you wait?! N puts her bicycle in Michael's room and leaves. and of course, in the process, she brings in lots of mud and dirt (rain = lots of dirt)...

it really frustrated me that they seemed to think they had the right to move in earlier than afternoon simply because last year when i wanted to move my stuff in (and i was paying full rent for July), i could only do so after 6pm because the previous tenants were still moving stuff out and we waited till they were almost done. also, they dont understand that we need to clean the house thoroughly in order to get our deposit money back. so after they left, i had to clean the carpets again because of all the dirt they brought in.

but on the bright side, there's retribution. simply because they stored stuff in Michael's and Lynn's rooms - the two rooms in the house that needed work done (Michael had a hole in his wall while water was leaking into Lynn's room and had gone down a wall and soaked the carpet at the base which led to the floorboards beginning to leak). since they have stuff in the rooms, the landlord cant really move it to do the work necessary. and when the landlord returned in the late afternoon, he didnt look very happy that they had stuff everywhere (because the agreement was that they could store all their stuff in one room).

oh well... as long as i get my deposit back i'll be happy.