John Curtin Weekend - Part 2

Day 2 is here :) Woke up at 5.30am only to realize the sky is still dark. Took some random pictures which i find interesting.

Preparation

The traditional way of cooking rice. Lemang or pulut i mean.

They have very systematic system. Cups and saucers were numbered according to the bilik.

Cooking in the field...

Highlight of today is Iban's traditional costume - Ngepan. Girls and boys were dressed in their unique costumes. VIP coming, gotta dress smartly traditionally =p The whole costume set costs about RM500 or more. you gotta be kidding me, but yeah, it's that expensive.

Bangles

Dressing up

This head dress thingy sure is heavy!

My foster family : they are real good peeps!

Ngepan

the arrival of VIPs...

one of those VIPs that travelled around the world since the past 14 months. *envy*

served them tuak.

...to be continue :)

John Curtin Weekend - Part 1

John Curtin Weekend is here! Michele and i have been looking forward to this weekend since the start of Week12. We're going to rural areas in a big group as Curtin Volunteer. This event is an outreach programme organized by Curtin Volunteer in conjucntion with John Curtin Weekend.

Talk about rural area, one will expect wooden house, bathing in the river, low supply of electricity, mosquitoes and the list goes on. Push away this thoughts. This trip has really opened up my mind. The whole concept about rural areas (bad and poor) turned out to be REALLY AMAZING. seriously.

Upon arrival, everyone was like 'whoa omg omg wow whoa X 101'. It's a DOUBLE-STOREY CONCRETE long house with 50 rooms [they call it bilik]. Each bilik is actually like ordinary house, with living room, dining room, bathroom and stuff. And heck, they even have air cond and ASTRO. Oh yaa, they have Hilux and Prado. *gasp*

Rumah Johnson in Sibuti, Miri

random

olam [first time]

i-forgot-the-name-of-this-fruit

The local Iban tribes perform their traditional dance, Ngajat and invited us to dance with them. Events like berpencak = kungf/silat, keromong = music and gong. They have this unique dance called Poco poco, which is sort of like their morning energizer dance. Tried dancing Ngajat, Poco poco and hitting the gong. Coolies, love Poco poco a lot!

Keromong

Ngajat

Gong

Poco poco [5 minute dance]

We helped to prepare and help around with decorating cause there are VIP coming the next day. Tough work i must say, ribbons and clothes are not easy to deal with =/

Joanne, senior from Kuching

Helping around

great night! good night :)

the reward will be bliss

phew! after all the efforts and hard work...12/12 for Physics quiz. elated much =D

Trademark poses

It's Michele, Kenny and Raymond's presentation today. Omg. They totally did a great job, especially Michele! :) She nailed it; not nervous, clear presentation, perfect! *admire*

Trademark poses

...a group pic to boot.

Smiling in pain

the days are hard, but we'll smile through it. we will =))

Practical skill

and finally i've successfully pick up practical skill, the basic one - pippetting. i kinda suck in it then =p

A lil something

...of the little things that we missed along the way

I decided to carry my camera everywhere with me and capture those lil things :)

中秋节

快乐.

I was pretty sad about the whole mid-autumn festival thingy. Imagine, eating moon cake alone in the dark. The fact that this is my first festive season away from home, the thought of it just kills.

Thank God, it turned out to be quite amazing. Yes, i saw the planet Jupiter, and that was amazing :D And i get to play lantern! weEeeee~ These helped cheer the atmosphere a wee bit.

i like lanterns :)
...cause they're beautiful

Sharon.L told me, look at the bright side, this is a great opportunity to celebrate the festival with my friends. Oh well, true. Thanks dearie =)

Here comes the best part - Moon Gazing. or rather, stars and planets gazing =p

Under the moonlit area...

I SAW JUPITER !!
i know i sound very sakai, but it just makes me excited and happy, jumping around the field like a kid. and wait, i saw a MOON without the lady. So, i reckon those legacy and history saying there's this lady (Chang Er) on the moon is not true? For more information about the history and background of this festive season, feel free to visit http://joshlullaby.blogspot.com/2009/09/true-story-behind-mooncake-festival.html, a very good post on mid-autumn festival!

Angel feels like a pro using the telescope and binocular =p

Kong Ming Deng

Angel being jolly and hyper...

...wishes everyone a Happy Mooncake and Happy Lantern festival, especially to her family back home who did the modern way : enjoying moon cake with tea white wine ;p

Shiki Japanese Restaurant

No lab today :) Went to town, specifically Boulevard area with Michele. Again, using public bus. Heck, i think Miri's public bus system is much better than the ones in Kuching. We decided to treat ourselves with hearty expensive meal after the super busy week.

Shiki Japanese Restaurant

our set lunch =) RM14.
full die i tell you.

We were very happy cause the meal was really good

Life's blessings

Life holds so many simple blessings,
each day bringing its own individual wonder.