On 10 December 2011...

Today's pre-Christmas theme is something soft.

I looked into my food storage box, and my eyes met with a box of chocolate cakes. Its red glossy wrapper stared back at me. I sighed. The cake is supposed to be given as today's gift, but I have to improvise my plan now, for the receiver's mailbox is too small for the cake, and the words "Buatan Malaysia" (Products made in Malaysia) will give away my identity.

I craned my neck over the messy coffee table to look for the next best alternative item. What else do I possess that is soft? I wade through my stuff: papers, food, stickers, paper cup, locks, and more food. The dark blue bundle at the corner of my table caught my eye and my fingers ran through the packet, and a smile grew on my face ...

In the afternoon ...

After my presentation on stage (refer to Kicking A**), I rushed to the computer room to type a message to accompany the gift. I typed:

Something soft?

Check out under your room door.

I grabbed a few pieces of recycled paper as wrapper. I was about to leave ... but I froze on the spot realising he may have never seen such item. So my eyes averted back to the laptop and I typed:

Facial mask

Instructions:

1. Please ask for instructions during Christmas party.

I then ran to my room for the clock in my mobile phone indicated the club activity is going to end soon. I quickly wrapped and labeled the gift and slid it under the door before running back to the presentation venue. I breathed in relief to found the activity has not ended and no one was aware of my disappearance.

As everyone - so was the receiver - was glued to the presentation, I took that opportunity to drop the message in the receiver's mailbox...

Spinoff: Yes. I. Did. It. I used my sponsor's facial mask as the gift for that theme. And. Yes. The receiver is a GUY.

Why a mask? It's because it was the only thing that I have in my room that is soft and warrant he won't be able identify his giver. It never come across to my mind what would his reaction be since I was so occupied with my own concern that I don't have a gift! Besides, I thought the gift would be very funny and memorable for him. See how thoughtful I were!

I told one of my cabin mates about this story, and we both ended up laughing and rolling on the floor. We dare not imagine how he'd reacted especially reading the instructions. I actually wanted to type out the instructions, but I'm never good in instructing (I had been deleting and retyping sentences on the laptop). I simply fear my instructions would confuse him instead. And... the waves were really rough. I was already developing prodromal symptoms of seasickness since I had been looking at the screen for a substantial amount of minutes. The lesson I learned on board is to never read and write when the sea is rough!

Seriously, I was burning with curiosity. I was dying to ask when I saw him the next day, but I had to refrain. I have to save it for the Christmas Party on the 12th of December. Ugh. How much I hated to torture myself! Who ask renaye to be funny and cheeky in the first place?! Served her right!

BWAHAHAHA.

By the way, tembak means shoot in Malay. We use this word when we are telling others that we are trying our luck in choosing something or answering objective questions without considering much of the outcome.

Anyways, here is a picture of the mask I gave away. Maybe I should share this story with my sponsor too, for she was a participant of this program too. =)



Don't forget to check out what item I gave on the next day!

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On 9 December 2011 ...

Ah... I thought to myself ... luckily I bought extra Malaysian pins when I was back in Malaysia on 28 November 2011, as they come in handy now since I have to prepare a pre-Christmas gift that suits today's theme: Something small. The blue Malaysian pin with KL tower in the background is really small... to fit in the receiver's mailbox...

I found a small plastic on my coffee table for the pin and hastily insert it in. I then tore a small piece of paper and was about to ink it, but my hand paused. I have written to the receiver before ... and writing with left hand is not a great idea for I worry the message will look like some kind of Halloween title instead. The only solution is to print the message to accompany the gift.

What message should I write? I kneeled in front of the computer and played with the keyboards... Suddenly ... an idea thundered! I shall play with punctuation marks! Thus I typed

Something small ...

with the pin clipped on the message.

I looked around and relieved for there were no one in the walkway. I walked up to his mailbox and placed the gift inside it at 11.40pm-ish, hoping he will not guess who the giver is ...

Spinoff: The first thought I had is ... AIYA .. why la didn't I get a girl to be my Christmas buddy. It would be so much easier for me to choose a gift! Don't you agree?!

However, the truth is I already knew it would be a guy ... in fact I even knew who it were!!! But as usual, I ignore the premonition... and continue wishing it would be a girl!

There was a voluntary Christmas gift exchange with themes that lasted for four days. I signed up just for the fun of it. I don't remember when I got the premonition, but most likely it would be during one of my reveries. When I found out it was a guy who know me ... I had a headache in preparing the gifts since my items will give out my identity! So do you wanna know what I have given him the next day? Check out the tembak! post then!

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On 10 December 2011 ...

I actually don't know what possessed me to volunteer to present the Cambodian martial arts to the PYs. Maybe I could not escape from the word "FREE GIFT" when I was told that I would be getting some souvenirs from Cambodia should I say yes. Oh well... old habit die hard, I guess. So I said yes. But the truth is not because of the free gift, it's to try out new things and not wanting to regret for letting go any limelight moment (just kidding)! And I was told my partner will be my YL.

BWAHAHA. I will be kicking my YL's a**. I like that. (evil laugh)

I practised a lot of times so our stances look real as I was sooo concerned that my physical limitations will ruin the performance. Also, I have lost touch with my martial art skills, thus, more concern wrinkles on my face.

When YL and I appeared on stage, my contingent members who were sitting on the floor were shouting in Malay "Hey ... don't forget to be gentle when you hit YL'" and "Yay! AYL is in action with YL". I wanted to bare my teeth at them but I can't since any martial art sessions require serious look from participants. =(

So anyways, we did two actions. One is where I reflect YL's hit and the other is YL reflecting my hit. It was an interesting performance, though I'm having difficulty in sitting on my leg position. And ... I dislike my expression in this photo. It makes me look like Garfield! ARGHHH!

Spinoff: I chose to join the Cambodian martial arts as my cultural activity. I still remember how the person-in-charge of this activity tried to convince me to volunteer to do a presentation. I knew of his intention when he approached me, so I kept avoiding him. It ended up in a hide and seek game. Not literally or verbally but physically! I ran around the deck before hiding behind a huge pillar and popping my head left and right as he tried to talk to me. I guess I had fun bullying him. BWAHAHA. (evil laugh). You know he almost gave up on me! I know I'm very EVIL and NAUGHTY!

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My friend has the craziest idea: To marry our cats (when we have one) together so we can be in-laws! So we can always keep in touch with each other and never forget one another!

Fantastic idea right?

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On 6 November 2011 ...

Ever since my collegemate wore a jester hat to class, I developed an interest for having such interesting headpiece too.

This dream finally came true after 6 years of waiting ... in the form of a squid headpiece! My host mum in Hakodate runs a merchandise business that sells Hakodate's mascot: Ika (squid in Japanese). Actually I shamelessly asked for it, and it's the most expensive merchandise in her shop. BWAHAHAH.

Today, all PYs had a ship tour according to SG. We were all thrilled to visit the bridge (room from which the ship is commanded). However, our turn was only at 4.30 pm and we had plenty of time to kill! So we did a group photo on the deck!



I'm the easiest to be spotted because of my headpiece! I was actually kinda hesitant to wear it, but then I was thinking if I don't wear it today ... when would I have the chance to do it? So I wore it for the ship tour and attracted lots of attention.

The most awkward one happened in the afternoon like 3 pm-ish. All SGs were having their own gathering before the tour, and there was a SG grouping in front of the water cooler on level 3. As I was lazy to go back to my room for a glass of water, I headed to the water cooler, passing that SG group with my Ika headpiece. They were discussing something with a National Leader when I walked pass them. And the moment I passed by ... they stopped talking and all eyes were on me following me until I disappeared into the walkway where the water cooler is situated. After quenching my thirst, I walked pass them again and... again their eyes trailed after me.

I was like "What is wrong with you guys?!" You know ... if I were really in a crazy mode at that point of time, I would have done an Ika dance (a ceremonial dance from Hakodate) for them ... since they could not take their eyes off me. In fact, I was tempted by my thought! Maybe I should just do it!

The next day ...

It seemed my Ika headpiece made me kinda well-known on board for no one else wore such interesting piece. I wore it also to match my SG outfit and to show how proud I were to have my homestay in Hakodate!

Later, I was given an impression that my team member had an interesting way of introducing me to his SG mates. You see he was one of the PYs I was passing by yesterday ... and according to him, his SG mates were shocked to see someone with such headgear. That explained the silence ... hmm ... nod nod. And then after I completely disappeared from the walkway ... he proudly told the National Leader "That girl who was wearing the squid hat is the AYL of Malaysia."

Err.. my head tilted to one side and err ... laughed with staccato notes ...

Spinoff: As I expected... I created an interesting way to enable people to remember me! Go renaye go!

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On 14 December 2011 ...

My friend and I sat on a bench on 4th floor to enjoy the night sky and listened to the melody of the waves for the second last time.

While we were chatting, I saw 1... 2... 3... shooting stars above me ...

Spinoff: I didn't make any wish upon the shooting stars because they were shooting too fast! Before I could say "I wish", it already disappeared!! My friend joked that is why there are usually so many shooting stars at one go so we could simply finish our sentences. First star will be "I" then second star will be "Wish" and so forth. I bet God is very impatient to listen to our wishes ... I wonder who is the idiot started wishing on a shooting star? And who is the idiot following his footstep? He'd better guarantee wishes made upon shooting stars will come true! Apparently, my team members witnessed around 20 shootings stars the very same night... =(

I would definitely remember this night for its yellow moon slightly concealed by the clouds... for its strong cold wind on my face. It's the best weather I ever had since walking down those lonely roads in Wellington ...

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