Ok.. I really hate it when a friend give you wrong directions... AND THINK NOTHING OF IT.
The other day my friend said we should go out. So me being a good friend, although i was already tired so alright.. lets.. He mentioned lets go venue A! and i happily drove there.. went through an hour jam.. and he called me saying he will be late cause he's with another friend now and that he wants to go some other place. I u-turned and waited half an hour plus for him to text me the new address of where he wants to go. =.=
When i gotten the address, it was a message in which there was no name, just a house number and street. I, being a good friend or an idiot, did my best to google the place and drove there. Upon arrival, (after another hour of jam), got a call from him, in which he passed the phone to the owner of the restaurant. Apparently it was the wrong address and it was opposite the town. I was driving in the wrong direction the whole time.
I didnt want to argue and just told i would go home and rest cause deep down im exhausted. It happened a few times and it seems like he's a friend who wants to do something and as long as he could do it, he's happy, whether im there or not, it doesnt matter.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Living in Laos for a week.
Hey! It's been a really loooooong time since i posted anything here.. Went for a trip to Laos for community work and then been busy with community medicine project and research work back in uni.
Well a little about my Laos trip! We called it the Laos Humanitarian Expedition, which is way too cool a name for what we did exactly.. :P We went over and helped paint the school children's library, bought materials for the village we were in (Muang Kham village) to build a community toilet and then i think they also used some of the funds we brought to rent a tractor and flatten the roads, trust me.. the roads there.. OMGosh. They really needed flattening.
Well a little about my Laos trip! We called it the Laos Humanitarian Expedition, which is way too cool a name for what we did exactly.. :P We went over and helped paint the school children's library, bought materials for the village we were in (Muang Kham village) to build a community toilet and then i think they also used some of the funds we brought to rent a tractor and flatten the roads, trust me.. the roads there.. OMGosh. They really needed flattening.
Here we were climbing down the jetty with some medicine we brought for the village.
We had to take a boat to cross the river to the village, and this is after we took a 10 hour bus ride. @.@
First day in the village, we walked to their paddy fields and tried planting paddy. Really have to appreciate rice after this..
Ordered insects to eat when we were at the town, it was surprisingly tasty! and most of us ate it. Didnt expected so many of us to be so brave. haha
During our stay in the town, we ran around town with these half motorcycles, half vans? They call them tuktuk (its similar to rides in Cambodia and the countries in that region)
The 2nd home that opened up for us. This is the house i stayed in during the time we spent in Muang Kham
Me and Ter! One of the boys who were really helpful!
Overall it was a really great trip, we went over and the villagers were very welcoming. Feeding us rice like crazy, fearing we would actually be able to lose weight there.. I really enjoyed playing with the kids, we didnt understand each other because I couldnt speak Lao, but we still managed to get along, tickling each other and them trying to climb on me.
During our farewell, I'm not a crying type of person, but watching them cry when we leave, it really touched me. Even with such a short stay, they had grown attached to us and us to them.
We might have or have not changed much for them but just by going there and showing that there are people who helps each other, I think thats the most important thing? Sometimes when we read about all the terrible things in this world, we need to know there are people who would care.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Hello blog,
... long time no see!
I just wanted to write about a small adventure I had with chilies yesterday.
See, I have three small students. Two sisters and their neighbour. Ella is 7, Frieda is 5 and the neighbour's daughter, Nola, is 5 too. So one day out of the blue Ella and Frieda's mom asked me, "Hazel, can you cook?" Me: Mumble mumble mumble... Mom: " Can you cook well?" Then she asked me to cook Malaysian food for all of them after the last lesson of the summer. I bravely agreed, then went home to panic and ask everyone for ideas.
One night, holy intervention! I dreamt about steamboat. When I woke I considered it, I thought it was a good idea, right? Just buy all the ingredients and I won't even have to cook! So last Saturday, I told them about it. There tragedy struck. The neighbours already knew about this "Chinese fondue"! Apparently they cook it sometimes during winter cos it keeps them warm. To me it was like a stab in the face.
So yesterday. I got a recipe off the internet and went to the kitchen to try cooking sambal for nasi lemak. One of the ingredients called for was 10 deseeded red chilies. I got to work. I had fun deseeding those chilies one by one: "Wah, look how many seeds there are! Lucky they're all being thrown away, otherwise the sambal would be really spicy..." When I was done I had a small handful of chili seeds and stood there admiring it for a while. Then I went on cooking. About 10 minutes later I noticed an old cut on my finger started hurting again. Half an hour later, the pain spread to all my fingers. An hour later, my hands were on fire!!! I had to keep washing them in ice-cold water to numb the pain. And I couldn't even feel the cold on my hands anymore. When I had to leave the kitchen I brought a pot of cold water with me. In two hours my hands were red and swollen. It became so unbearable I went online to search for remedies... I tried vegetable oil, vinegar, even milk, which worked the best cos it was like instant relief as long as I kept my hands soaking in it. The worst was the vinegar, which only added to the pain.
I watched movies till about 4 in the morning to distract myself, plus I remembered my friend's tips from her baby delivery class that breathing is the key to managing pain so I sat there and concentrated on my breathing like a pregnant woman. Around then I decided I should go to sleep even if it still hurt. Woke up today and flexed my fingers, phew, it doesn't hurt anymore!!! I only still have sensitive skin and really dry skin from being washed so much but that's really a small thing.
So yup, small torture story lor.
***
Update 04.08:
Lunch with the students' families went well!!! The food was goooood, though the kids didn't like it and left their plates half full, their parents loved it. I did too :D
I just wanted to write about a small adventure I had with chilies yesterday.
See, I have three small students. Two sisters and their neighbour. Ella is 7, Frieda is 5 and the neighbour's daughter, Nola, is 5 too. So one day out of the blue Ella and Frieda's mom asked me, "Hazel, can you cook?" Me: Mumble mumble mumble... Mom: " Can you cook well?" Then she asked me to cook Malaysian food for all of them after the last lesson of the summer. I bravely agreed, then went home to panic and ask everyone for ideas.
One night, holy intervention! I dreamt about steamboat. When I woke I considered it, I thought it was a good idea, right? Just buy all the ingredients and I won't even have to cook! So last Saturday, I told them about it. There tragedy struck. The neighbours already knew about this "Chinese fondue"! Apparently they cook it sometimes during winter cos it keeps them warm. To me it was like a stab in the face.
So yesterday. I got a recipe off the internet and went to the kitchen to try cooking sambal for nasi lemak. One of the ingredients called for was 10 deseeded red chilies. I got to work. I had fun deseeding those chilies one by one: "Wah, look how many seeds there are! Lucky they're all being thrown away, otherwise the sambal would be really spicy..." When I was done I had a small handful of chili seeds and stood there admiring it for a while. Then I went on cooking. About 10 minutes later I noticed an old cut on my finger started hurting again. Half an hour later, the pain spread to all my fingers. An hour later, my hands were on fire!!! I had to keep washing them in ice-cold water to numb the pain. And I couldn't even feel the cold on my hands anymore. When I had to leave the kitchen I brought a pot of cold water with me. In two hours my hands were red and swollen. It became so unbearable I went online to search for remedies... I tried vegetable oil, vinegar, even milk, which worked the best cos it was like instant relief as long as I kept my hands soaking in it. The worst was the vinegar, which only added to the pain.
I watched movies till about 4 in the morning to distract myself, plus I remembered my friend's tips from her baby delivery class that breathing is the key to managing pain so I sat there and concentrated on my breathing like a pregnant woman. Around then I decided I should go to sleep even if it still hurt. Woke up today and flexed my fingers, phew, it doesn't hurt anymore!!! I only still have sensitive skin and really dry skin from being washed so much but that's really a small thing.
So yup, small torture story lor.
***
Update 04.08:
Lunch with the students' families went well!!! The food was goooood, though the kids didn't like it and left their plates half full, their parents loved it. I did too :D
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