Saturday, September 06, 2008 // 6:08 PM
FINALLY! INTERNET CONNECTION!!!!!!
okay so today is the first day that i'm gonna stay at this rented apartment, which explains why i get to use the internet. As for the past few days, i was living in a hotel on the first two days and at my dad's friend's house for the next three days.
i don't know where to start, because so many things have happened since my previous blog post. hah.
okay so....lets start from before i left for hongkong.
FRIDAY (29 August)
Went back to Xinmin for teachers' day celebration.
managed to catch some of the performance in the hall haha. then it was just going around to find teachers, and of course meeting up with friends (:
had a nice lunch with mr chan, junyi, rose, kuay huay.
Went to cousin's house for a sleepover with my other cousin! (confusing? haha)
Then we both went to watch Huaykuan's dance concert because I got free tickets from someone! haha. anyway the concert was so nice!! just like the rehearsal that i saw, only with a few more dances cos i didn't really watch the finale and liang laoshi's dance the last time.
and it nice going with my cousin to watch because we haven't really gone out like this before, but anyway, after the performance we went to back to my cousin's house
and we watched movie, gossip, chatted with cousins and all. Ahh i just really love going to my cousin's house for a sleepover, hope we'll get to do that again sometime soon!
SATURDAY (30 August)
woke up and received a call from my mum.
she said that the student visa had arrived at my house so we are leaving for Hongkong the next day. and i was.....
SHOCKED.
too fast. i still have plans for Sunday and Monday, but I'M LEAVING THE NEXT DAY ALREADY?
made a lot of calls, sms-es to inform people and change of plans.
then i left for bugis to get the box thing for zls's teachers day present and to meet ebird to settle the flower and cookie stuffs for the Huay kuan dancers that night.
we went back to my house and everything was just SO RUSH after i found out that i was leaving the next day.
i remember that it was raining SO HEAVILY when we got down the bus and i only had a pathetic small unbrella to share, so we both tried to sqeeuze in, but the first step we took out of the bus stop, VOOOM we were both drenched hahahha! so we started running and all and it was so much fun even though we both got really wet, but i really enjoyed it.
reached my house and we started writing the notes for the dancers and attaching them to the roses and cookies, it took us longer than we expected, but i guess that's considered my last time spending time with ebird like this before a really long time...
after both of us got changed and all, we cabbed down to Victoria Theatre to meet up with the Huaykuan dancers backstage, gave them the roses and cookies. And they gave me a farewell present by the people from Huaykuan! (:
after that went to meet limin and joey to bake the cupcakes and cornflakes thing for zls.
limin and i went to the supermarket to get the baking ingredients. it was already 9pm when we met to get the ingredients, but no choice cos i'm leaving the next day.
then limin and i took a bus to joey's house and waited sooooo long for the bus, but it was nice cos we had a really nice chat (:
then on the relatively long bus ride, i opened the present from Huaykuan and started reading them. it was really sweet of everyone and i was quite surprised because i thought that some of them actually don't really know me, yet they still left a message and all. everyone was really encouraging and HAHA to the big and small sizes of hand shapes by everyone.
reached joey's house and it was quite late by that time already.
started baking! it was really fun baking together, not the first time baking, but the first time the three of us are doing it together, hopefully not the last though.
anyway it was really fun cos we did all the melting together, all the mixing together, all the measuring together, all the spilling everything together, all the getting dirty together.
great fun really.
and we ate a lot of the cornflakes thing after we made them and some of the cupcakes (woops)
it was yummy. was hoping that zls will like them
then it was about 1am already, but we still haven't make the card for zls yet, so we just hurried up to joey's room and decided how we want it to be, joey and limin were so sleepy by then and i was practically the one doing the whole card lor, hahah but nevermind lah.
on a side note, when i was in hongkong already, limin told me that the cornflakes and cupcakes were ants infested!!!!!!!!!! I SPENT SO MUCH TIME AND EFFORT MAKING THEM WITH JOEY AND LIMIN AND OUR EFFORTS HAVE GONE DOWN THE DRAIN. to say the truth, i was quite disappointed when i heard about it...but oh well, can't do anything also.
but heard that they re-made the cornflakes and gave them to zls haha. well, its just not the same. which is the reason why i insisted that we make them together before i leave..
left at 2am and when i got back home, continue packing my lugguage while talking on the phone with elizabeth, when everything was done i was so tired that i just plonk down on my bed..
SUNDAY (31 August)
woke up and rush again.
reached the airport and SO MANY people came.
i really bad at expressing my feelings, so i don't really know what to say
but I MISS EVERYONE!
well, let the pictures do the talking, but i'll upload them another time, because i don't really have time today and there is a lot of photos!
RECEIVED LOTS AND LOTS OF PRESENTS! and most of them were hand-made with A LOT of effort, so i was really touched and all by everyone, cos i know that they love me, and i love them a lot a lot a lot!!!
When it was time to go through the departure gates......it was.............how do i say.......
full of 不舍得-ness.
and i was fine at first, i know that i'm definately gonna miss everyone, but my emotions then were stable.
until when people started hugging me at the last moment...i was like..."okay i'm gonna cry soon if you guys hug me any further!"
so i went through the door and i didn't want to turn back, cos if i turned back, i know i'll start crying like crazy and start regretting that i've made this decision and i'll so want to stay in Singapore but i'll have no choice by then. so i just tried to remain calm and everything....
then junyi called. her voice was a little shivering and i can tell that she was already crying, and she asked me "why you don't turn around one.."
wah siao, then suddenly i started crying like crazy liao. couldn't control myself at all, and when i was already inside waiting for the plane and all, i just couldn't control myself. i miss everyone already and i can't wait to be back in Singapore. the tears just kept on flowing...
as the plane took off, i took one last look at Singapore-my home.
and for the first time, flying towards another country didn't seem so happy and excited. it was more of the uncertain-ness, the nervous-ness and just the feeling of being alone.
reached Hongkong in the evening, went to check in to a hotel that is just 2 minutes away from the Hongkong Academy for Performing Arts.
went to cafe-de-coral for dinner, and went to bed after that.
MONDAY(1 SEPTEMBER)
i was all prepared to go for lessons on the first day of school already, although i had absolutely no idea what class, where to go, what to do.
so went to the school to register first, and it took so long that i didn't even have a chance to attend my classes!
after registration at the admin block, i was taken to meet my advisor in the dance school.
my advisor is Mandy Petty and she is SUPER NICE LAH! she helped me out a lot and we registered my courses together and all, she is the musical theatre teacher, but since APA doesn't have musical theatre in the Dance school anymore, she now teaches the electives and is the advisor for Diploma 1 students.
anyway i think that in the future, musical theatre will be in its own school of APA and not in the dance school of APA, so that is why musical theatre is taken out of the dance school in APA. thats what Mandy Petty told me haha, to give musical theatre equal importance as drama, music, dance etc. school
oh and Shen Pei Qi actually wanted me to join the Diploma 2 for my chinese dance classes! haha i was really happy. but then the Dip 2 chinese classes clashes with my ballet classes, and i can't miss ballet. so i couldn't join the Dip 2. but i'm happy that i almost had the chance to (:
after that, Mandy took me to introduce me to my classmates. they were having ballet.
so we went in, and it was so weird cos everyone was like staring at me like i'm some alien or something! then Mandy said " say hello (: "
and then everyone waved at me haha. stayed to watch the class a little.
then went off to do my bank account and all the other stuffs.
didnt go for any classes ):
so in the end i still missed my first day of school even though i reached Hongkong before 1st Sept.
TUESDAY( 2 SEPTEMBER)
sort of my first day of school!
went to school and i was so blurr. then i met one of my classmates in the lift, he told me about my locker room and all.
then had Fundamentals for the first lesson.
Fundamentals is basically Anatomy.
just introduce ourselves...and we had to draw ourselves three times and i'm have no artistic talent i think i draw until i look like a ghost.
nevermind about that.
but yay the class is taught in english cos the teacher is from brazil i think. haha so i can understand the lesson
BY THE WAY, EVERYONE IS SUPPOSE TO HAVE AN ENGLISH NAME! SO MY NAME IS NATHALIE. yes hahaha, i know its really weird and funny, but yes my name is nathalie. (sounds familiar right, sajc people?)
anyway my classmates have really interesting english names......
they are called, rainbow, nature, water, skinny etc...
then had ballet technique.
every one of our class is extremly basic because all the teachers want us to get our posture correct first, get our muscle correct and everything. so we did a lot of basic exercise to strengthen this and that.
the class was conducted in a little of english and more or cantonese, so i'm quite lost.
contemp technique
we did some contemp movements lor hahah! it was nice cos the class was in taught in both the chinese lauguage and the english language (:
I LOVE DANCING TO A PIANIST!
had lunch.
i think i'm really lucky to have nice classmates. and they asked my to join them for lunch! i was really happy haha (:
and they were really nice and friendly to me, they helped my order my food, intro me to the canteen, and they were just really nice people. i'm really thankful
left the academy for a while to settle my Hongkong identity card...
then came back for Acrobatics class.
it was really fun! its like Huay kuan.
Acrobatics is one of the electives but this elective is compulsory for chinese dance major students.
we did handstands and some rolling on the mat.
after that had Tap class
haha my really nice senior was so nice to lend me her Tap shoes for a year so that i don't have to buy one cos its expensive haha.
Tap was fun! my teacher is Mandy Petty and is a really fun-loving person!
hahha love Tap classes.
WEDNESDAY AND ONWARDS (cos i'm too lazy to blog le)
actually theres so much more i want to say but i'm quite lazy.
nevermind, i shall blog them next time.
so here is my time table.
MONDAY- ballet technique, contemp technique, intro to music, lunch, Body conditioning(yoga), Chinese folk, Jazz.
TUESDAY- Fundamentals, Ballet technique, Contemp Technique, lunch, Acrobatics (2 hrs 45 mins), Tap
WEDNESDAY - Chinese technique, Ballet technique, Improv. and rep, lunch, Contemp technique, 普通话
THURSDAY - Intro to performing arts, English, free period, lunch, Inprov. and rep, Chinese folk, Tap, Cantonese
FRIDAY - Fundamentals, Ballet technique, contemp technique,lunch,Chinese technique, Intro to music, Jazz
So basically i start at 9am everyday and end at 7pm everyday.
but on wednesday i end at 5.30pm
and on thursday i end at 8.30pm
each class is 1hr 15 mins, and you have a 15 min break between each class to move to your next class venue.
the APA studios are big!!!!!!!
you definately have space when you dance. i have all my ballet class and some of my contemp class in Studio 6, which is the second biggest dance studio in APA and its huge
even the smaller studios are big
so its really fun.
Oh yah, i had the worst class ever on wednesday for my chinese technique class!
IT WAS TERRIBLE!
the teacher conducts her class ENTIRELY in cantonese
then she asked who can't understand them i raised my hand..then she found out i'm from Singapore and such...
and then she look at me sort of angrily and said "你很麻烦leh".
so she kept saying cantonese and i didn't understand so i just had to copy,
so sometimes will do wrongly cos i don't know the beat and all.
and she keeps scolding me and scolding me,
like if i got the beat wrong or what, she will "haiya" at me or come and hit my head or something.
wah i was really quite demoralised at that time.
cos i don't understand a single thing at all.
then cantonese is driving me crazy!!!!!!!!
oh but i like improvisation class haha
its conducted entirely in cantonese too, but at least she will try to help me out when i couldn't understand, and during impro class, we do really fun things.
at first i though i won't like the class because you have to choreograph or something...
but then during the class its really like we can do any movement we want and no one will say anything. its like free moving and its really relaxing as well. love impro class!
okay so more info about the place i'm staying.
its about 15-20 minutes away from the academy. so quite convenient.
and my landlady is REALLY NICE to me (:
hahaha she graduated from HKAPA film and television 5 years ago, so that makes her my senior hahah! what a coincidence!
she works in Disney and she is a voice dubber, she is the voice of a few of the disney characters you see on television! so cool eh? haha, but i don't know which disney character though, haven't ask haha.
anyway i'm too lazy to post up pics already, shall do it next time (:
I MISS EVERYONE IN SINGAPORE!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. cantonese is killing me.
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