Differences

-This post was meant to be posted a week ago but wasn't because of my procrastination-
So, Jing Yi, Joel, Ke Wei and me went over to Yub's house to have lunch because he just has too much food to spare. And it's a really pretty house, with a nice balcony and all, you know. It feels like an average household at first. Okay, maybe above average because of the undeniably wonderful balcony. But anyway, the lunch was Korean style and I was really not used to eating them, although I had gone for his Korean-styled BBQ once before. It's just so different from the usual Chinese food I take and the way to consume is also different, and there are so many side dishes for you to add on to your wrap. 

Their way of eating was to first take a piece of lettuce/cabbage/any veggie that is able to wrap, then put the meat and all the other side dishes that you want, wrap it up, and then put it in your mouth. Whereas the Chinese way is to take the food that you want, put it in your bowl and eat it with your rice. I've been doing it the Chinese way 98% of my life so far, so just eating the plain ingredients without the rice feels weird to me, not saying that it doesn't taste delicious though! 
After we're done with lunch, it's time for drinks and Yub started naming like 12 different kinds of teas for us to choose. For example, if you said green tea, do you want the Japanese kind or the Chinese kind. Or, if you said earl grey tea, do you want it normal or with blue flowers. And mind you, it's not the kind of tea that you can make from tea bags, it's brewed from actual tea leaves. 

Also, if you said coffee, do you want it drip-style or espresso machine-style or some other kind of ways to make coffee. I don't know why but all this choices made me very frustrated and I ended up just going with Hot Chocolate because what could ever go wrong with that right? 
Man, was I wrong.
It was no normal Hot Chocolate, and by normal I meant those Cadbury Instant Hot Chocolate. That Hot Chocolate was made by I don't know how but I saw some microwaving, and he said there's like real melted chocolate in there, with vanilla and milk and other stuffs which I've forgotten, and it tasted weird to me. I totally wasn't expecting Hot Chocolate to taste so different and while my mind was still processing this new flavour, Joel said there's even people who would add cinnamon into Hot Chocolates. Like, what?! CINNAMON?!

THIS?!

It's not even at the level of cultural differences anymore, it has upgraded to lifestyle difference. I felt like a pumpkin compared to them. They would easily be honeydew or any high-class fruits whereas I'm just here, waiting to be used once in a year for Halloween. 
Everything felt really foreign to me, as if I wasn't visiting a friend's house anymore but more of an exchange to get to know the host's culture. They have their very own liquor cabinet with vodka and etc while the most my parents would get us were jolly sandy or every once in a while, champagne, and here we have people who mixed alcohol into their coffee. 

The host already knows how to make mojitos and I was just there getting free food. The host probably has more than 12 different kinds of tea to serve the guests and the only tea my house supplies is Lipton Tea and none of my family members even drinks tea. We would just serve our guests can drinks from the fridge or instant coffee for my grandpa. Who has the time and effort to go through all that trouble for just a drink? I mean, plain water tastes good too, right? Not being stingy but it's probably just the way I was brought up. For example, people go to places like Takashimaya or ION orchard with their families but do you know where my family and I go to? 
MUSTAFA. 

24 hours non-stop shopping, cheap snacks, second hand goods. That place is like a paradise for me and my family. Everything there is unbelievably cheap compared to other places in Singapore. 
Anyway, the gap is there and I can't overcome it, because that would take a lot of time & effort and I don't really wanna change who I am either. However, all that really matters is that I had a great time and my friends are awesome, open-minded people.

Purple

I dyed my hair.
And it's fucking pretty.
I LOVE IT.

That, in the circle, is my hair. 

I know it looks electric blue in the last 2 photos but irl, it looks purple and it's amazeballs.

I shit you not.

Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year period is gonna come to an end soon so I'll just give you an update on what's been happening. 

On 初一,
The family and I went visiting to our relatives' places. First stop was my aunt's house which is just a few blocks away, but before that, we had our mandatory temple prayers. While at my aunt's house, we also sort of had our lunch there since aunt prepared a lot of food for us and it would be a waste if we didn't eat some of it. Also, we did a lou hei there and I'm always the one who take all the crackers/biscuits/whatever-you-call-that-crunchy-thing because they are really good. The other ingredients are nice too, but only with the unique lou hei sweet sauce. After we're done visiting our first stop, we went back home and I fell asleep. What a productive first day of CNY, right. 

 (Taken before we head out at night)

Anyway, after napping away an hour or so, we decided to go to another temple located at woodlands, and this temple is no joke. It's super big with lots of sculptures and there's lots of people praying even though it was night time already. They must be really famous for making people's wishes come true. They also gave out free beehoon and drinks. Hehehehhe. 

After that, we went to visit my cousin's house as they have called for us to come over and so we did. And guess what, MORE FREE FOOOOOOOOOD. Nomnomnom. 

Don't worry, I'm nice enough to not finish them all. But seriously though, all those CNY goodies & snacks are tasty as heck. 

We also took a polariod there, the person behind the camera is not very skilled at using a Polaroid camera but he did his best. Headed home after that and played blackjack & Big 2. And actually, that's pretty much it for CNY this year. We were supposed to go Malaysia to enjoy playing firecrackers, but because my passport wasn't renewed on time, we decided not to go after all. :( 

And the rest of CNY days are spent lazing around at home or finding part-time jobs.

Yeah, my life is kinda boring.