Thanksgiving '13

Hello there!
I haven't doing much lately. It's not that I'm not studying and revising hard, I need to motivate myself more 'cause it's December already and my exams is in a month's time. My friend got me an Advent Calendar for Christmas cause she knew that I haven't had one before. I love it so much, I'm really excited to start it tomorrow. How did y'all celebrated your Thanksgiving Day? I don't know if it's a thing to celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the UK but I didn't and I don't think my friends did as well. But I would like to take this opportunity to be thankful for whatever I have.

I'm thankful that I have families and friends who love me and I know I can depend on whenever and wherever. 

I'm thankful that I am able to have many foods that I really love and I am definitely looking forward to many more.

I'm thankful for everything that I have now, I am appreciating every single one of it and I wouldn't demand for more. 

So much more that I'm thankful of. xx

Have a great weekend! More #throwbacksummer updates to come!

zhi wei x

Cloud 23, Manchester

Hello there! I've had an amazing weekend, even though I've returned to Liverpool with three break-up news. It was really unexpected, no doubt attending university changes so many things. I personally think relationships are really hard, I still do not think I can manage it well with so many things going on with my life now. 

I've paid a visit to Manchester the other weekend for afternoon tea at Cloud 23 with my brother and his girlfriend. We were pretty lucky as it was a really lovely day despite the strong wind. We're at up north now, I don't think I should be expecting lovely weathers everyday. Cloud 23 is similar to Thirty8 in Grand Hyatt in the sense that Thirty8 is on the 38th floor and this is on the 23rd.

We've ordered three different types of teas, 

And this came along with our cool-looking teapots. This thing is pretty cool, I shall name this the tea infuser timer. Basically, the tea infuser timer times how long different teas should infuse so that we can drink our teas at its best.

We've ordered the Traditional Afternoon Tea set as we were one week too early for the Christmas Afternoon Tea set, which we wanted to order initially. They have many other different sets, such as the Champagne and Wicked tea sets. 

For some reason, you'll never miss this building in Manchester. It's a real tall building in the most awkward but unique position. The view from such high up is just breathtaking. We were there from late noon till evening. Just in time to watch the sun sets.

Simply amazing.

#ootd

This restaurant would look really familiar to some of you Malaysians out there. We went to Pearl City for dinner after tea 'cause I was craving for their salted egg soft shell crab. It's a must-try if you ever dine there. Apparently if you're a member of Malaysian society in University of Manchester, you'll get great discounts.

Here are our dishes ;

Have a great week ahead everybody! 

zhi wei x

Halloween '13

Happy Sunday everybody!

Halloween was probably a month back and it was actually my very first time celebrating it. Making the effort to dress up and carving a pumpkin. We didn't do no trick or treats though. I would absolutely love to do that someday. 

Halloween isn't a big thing back home. Maybe cause I wasn't legal to party before so I don't really bother much about it. I figured if we were to try trick or treating in our costumes, we might get drench in sweat from running around visiting houses after houses. I've carved the the eyes of the pumpkin below. It's our floor's very own pumpkin, apparently he's Italian with his curly moustache and cotton afro. 

He was a really adorable pumpkin ; 

On Halloween day itself, we all got dressed and partied all night long. We all did have a great night. I've spent quite some time on this make up. Thank goodness I was on Skype with my friend all the way from Leicester and she helped me with it ;

Pictures & pictures of us during pre-drinks ;

We've got bloody chemists, nurse & devils that night. I didn't get many clear pictures when we were out cause it was freezing cold to take any pictures & nobody remembers to take the pictures when fun takes over.

#ootn ;

Have a great week ahead! 

zhi wei x

Home is where the heart is - Pliny the Elder

As you may or may not know, I'm in university now in Liverpool, in my first year doing physiotherapy course. *Throws confetti* I'm going to be frank here, being the only international student in the whole course isn't easy. This is though, what I've always expected and wanted from the moment I've decided to step out from my comfort zone. I do not want to face the same obstacles in life and the same challenges after all these bravery to leave home.

I have made many, many great friends, especially during freshers week. As Liverpool university has only 10% of international students, I have not met many Malaysians. Having to attend courses, joining sports club and living on the same floor with a sea of local people allowed me to have most of my friends locals. I know there's a Malaysian club that I can join, but I'm always missing out on all the events and it's all cause I am always the last person to notice these events. I'm not very attentive in such situations. I promise to go to the next event. Don't get me wrong, I love them locals. They can be the most hilarious and caring people you'll ever meet. But, it does not feel like home. I miss saying Lah and mixing random languages in conversations.

It can get quite lonely sometimes when you're sick of potatoes & chickens and when you want rice with several Chinese dishes for a change, you have no one to contact. I'm staying in a catered university's hall and they serve British foods most of the time and they tried making oriental foods, which I do not like. I love British foods, I even crave for their cereals in the middle of the night. To add-on, I absolutely love that we get full English breakfast with toasts every morning. But it does not have the taste of home. I miss having Roti Canai for supper and Nasi Lemak from the roadsides for breakfasts.

I miss home but I do not regret coming here. Not a single bit.
Remember to visit Raqul Reed today! xx

Sleep well everybody!

zhi wei x

Itadakimasu ; Etsu

Hello there! 

I've been really, really busy lately but I think I've been slacking a whole lot too. I'm the kind of student who wishes that to learn about everything but I do not want to do work as well. So I'm neither categorized as a bad student nor a good one.

It's been a while since I've had real, proper oriental foods so I've dragged one of my friends to have Japanese with me, which was highly recommended everywhere and I LOVE IT. Just so you know, I'm currently staying in a catered university hall. It's not that their foods really suck a whole lot. Okay, maybe just a little. But hey, typical Malaysians have very high expectations on foods.

Just us on the way ;

This street performer was so amazing, it was really cold & windy and he/she managed to stay up like this without moving a single muscle ;

Welcome to Etsu! Well, I really don't mind being their spokesperson as long as I get free Japanese foods ;

Pictures & pictures of this pretty place, it was almost Halloween when we went there ;

My friend's pot of green tea looked really Japanese somehow ;

My green tea latte. You have no idea how much I loved it ;

Since my friend and I are big fans of sashimi (raw seafoods), we've ordered and shared one plate of sashimi with many varieties ;

They were all really fresh. Yummmmz.

Here are our main dishes and desserts ;

I think it's best to whoever wants to dine in at Etsu to make reservations a week in advance. I'd remember trying to make a booking two days before and was told that the restaurant was fully booked after 6 o'clock in the evening. My friend and I did went and had to finish our meals before 6pm. Just so you know, they rarely open in the afternoon or lunch times. What a strategy, business business business.

It rained when we were on our way back but we weren't drenched by the rain so its fine ;

Back to work now. Boohoo.

Have you got your moustache for Movember?

zhi wei x 

Throwback Summer #5 ; Bitch day out

Hello there!

It's getting really dark outside but it's only 5 o'clock in the evening. I don't like this "shorter daytime, longer nights" saying during the winter periods. Never liked it before. I've struggled to get up this morning as I haven't been feeling very well. I actually slept at 9pm yesterday but only managed to wake up at 12 noon today. Then I took a nap at 2pm again and just woke up. I just wanna get this over with. 

My bitch brought me to Uncle Jang's for lunch when I was back home over the summer. I love the concept of this whole restaurant. They just basically throw in whatever ingredients you'd like into a really massive hot plate and the portion is too much for one pax, so do bring companions. Definitely going back again when I'm home.

RAWR, ready to eat ;

After lunch, we headed to Juice Works in Sunway Pyramid, bought a cup of juice each and chatted all the way. Not exactly all the way, we took pictures together of course. 

Love her to bits. xo

Have a great weekend people & keep warm!

zhi wei x