ended my first week of work, and went for a relaxing facial. but gosh, whole week i've been researching Bali, so when i fell asleep during the facial, i dreamt about Bali surfing. -.-


anyway, my work on Bali is up on the villa bali website as well (: so pleased. i hope tt people book the villas tt i wrote for. hahaha i think i am now quite an expert on Bali, i have written about 140 places of interest and reviewed more than 60 villas so far! feel free to ask me for recommendations if ur going to bali :D hahaha


i have been quite lucky this year. many new opportunities. i shall list out some of the major highlights of this year:


1. Great dancing times

I really did have an amazing partner who helped me forward quite a lot, and i will always be appreciative of that. And then I went on to NZ and learnt from really awesome teachers who are so patient!

2. Thailand FS

i feel very sentimental about Thailand after this trip, after seeing the real Thai people behind all the touristy facade. and i think i really love the culture and the language and the people. i miss the thai people and the villages. was really lucky that i got to experience this journey that i prob will never to again!

3. NZ

NZ was really nice in that i was allowed to finally be free and independent, and i really loved that, even though i complained of boredom sometimes. haha, but i did also enjoy the close knit asian community there (: or even just amongst us exchange students, it was also nice (: i miss having my own toilet space, own fridge space, autonomy to decide when to eat, what to eat, what to do.

i really really reallyyyyy liked that. and i miss the less humid weather.


 4.Special people 

Of course i also met special people, everyone who has walked into my life, and even those who have walked out, have all touched my heart in some way or another.
and through travelling so much this year, being away from home for at least half of 2012, i learnt this very important lesson (as copied from thought catalogue) :


You find the most important people in your life when you’re the furthest away from them. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, but distance also makes the heart grow colder. It could be “out of sight, out of mind.” You figure out who makes the effort to keep in touch with you and who doesn’t. But more importantly, you figure out who YOU make the effort to keep in touch with and who you don’t. You learn who you want to come back to.

It's sad but true. we all only have certain amounts of energy.

Grateful for the girl friends i have. love them a lot.

Really glad i met Z too, although our love is really tragic. but i m grateful to have met him too.

and grateful for everyone i met in NZ, i genuinely miss them a lot. esp L. she's the sweetest.



5. Experiences that make for a good story


Went to a Thai Disco (:

Rode around BKK in the middle of the night on a bike with  my friend and a new thai friend. seriously. sometimes i do stupid things.

Did fieldwork in BKK's red light district. the sneaky part about going undetected was extremely thrilling to me lols.

Bathed in public and in buffalo shit water that messed up my hormones for months after, camped with maggots and cicadas, coped with ice cold bathing water and no lights at night for a few days at a stretch when there were power cuts in the mountains.

Climbed a hill to watch stars, was freezing at the top of the hill and climbed back down in pitch black and only 2 torches amongst the 4 of us

Trip out to Akaroa with a guy i've known for 3 weeeekkksss. hahaha

done a couple of photoshoots that i've always wanted to do but i'd never get to do in singapore

first REAL clubbing experience in NZ with another bunch of new friends. hahah
 
Being so thick skinned to join a  pageant, although it was my reaction to months of being annoyed about hearing someone talk about her title hahah

went to Bangkok with S and T where we shopped, and talked and had girly time!

learnt that my cooking is horrible, but i can still survive on it (: and a benefit is that i lose weight too. hahaha

not 1 but 2 editorial internships which are currently keeping me very busyyy





it's been an awesome year indeed. (:  it may be for the better or for the worse, but it has not been a boring year.


i have lived away from home for 2.5 years and i have definitely changed and grown a lot in many different ways.


but i learnt most importantly, that i am most definitely able to survive.





I'm bulletproof
Nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away

You shoot me down
But i won't fall