Summer lovin', happened so fast~
Yeah yeah, that's p cheesy and no one wants to know that. But I thought I might as well write down what Hans and I did while he was here, otherwise I'd forget it all lol
29th June-2nd July: I can't remember what was the exact day he came, but yeah, it was a few days before the July. Basically he came down for my sister's wedding on the 1st of July lol We didn't do much, except let him settle in the basement, help my mum clean the house, and watched a few movies (Beauty and the Beast and Koe no Katachi).
My sister's wedding day went pretty well, I think. We had to wake pretty early, 'cos there was hair and make-up to be done for the church wedding. So yeah, that was probably one of the few times I've worn make-up. At least I'm glad to say that it was light enough that I could tolerate it, but also obvious enough for me to notice the difference lol
During mass, Hans sat in front with me 'cos I had to go up to do the psalm. But when I came back down, I had to go to the choir loft, so I left the poor boy in the front lol Even though I thought it could've been better, most people thought it was good so, eh, who am I to say lol After mass, I let him take a few pictures of me (and us) since we don't have a lot of pictures of each other. I think they were okay, but I felt really awkward 'cos full body shots are weird and I don't know how to pose lol orz (After the whole week was over and my mum was looking through photos that my relatives had taken, she asked me why there were no photos of Hans and I. Welp.)
In the afternoon, we had a Chinese tea ceremony back at our place, where my sister and new brother-in-law had to present tea to all the older relatives, and then receive tea in return from the youngsters lol Later on at night was the temple wedding, so that was another round of touching up make-up and fixing hair. One of my brother-in-law's relatives came over too, to help my mum and I into our saris. I thought it would be a lot harder to walk in but it's not so bad. My problem was that my skirt kept twisting, so it was a little troublesome, but it was okay for most of the night.
The Indian temple wedding was interesting, although none of us had any idea of what was going on. Hans and I were in charge of the reception table, where we directed people to take a card to write some notes for the couple, and to take free bangles and bindiis lol I was called halfway through to join the relatives on stage though, where we watched some sort of ceremony going on.
First, my brother was on stage to receive a ring from brother-in-law (I'm not sure what it is but it's all part of the thing lol). Then it was followed by the priest dude guiding my brother-in-law through the procession, like pouring saffron or coconut water on other stuff on stage. Turns out it was longer than it should've been, 'cos the priest dude was adding a bunch of steps? But somehow, when all that was over, my sister was brought out - and then followed by more ceremony stuff. Some of it was pretty funny, like when they had to present garlands to each other, they had to take turns, dancing towards each other to put it on lol Once all that was done, guests could come on stage to sprinkle rice on them as a way of blessing them. Then finally, after hours on stage, it was time for dinner lol
By the time we came down, I think most people who were invited were already gone, like maybe the just came to watch the ceremony for a little bit, eat dinner, then go lol To be fair, the ceremony did end later than expected, so I guess some people just came to congratulate and then disappear lol Those that were left were like friends of my parents and relatives. We did end pretty late, so I think by the time we came home, I was just knocked out lol
4th-9th July: I have no idea what we did on Monday LOL We probably just hung around the house and help with housework or something like that. But on Tuesday, we brought Hans with us for pilates, and hopefully he learned a couple of things he could do to ease tension on his back. Even though it was like going back to basics, I'm glad to say that at least I have managed to handle them well lol We also spend the afternoon swimming, so that was pretty fun too c:
Yeah to be honest, I forgot a lot of things that happened that week. I think we spent most of it doing chores, or playing Portal 2 and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. Hans also had some gaming competition his friends signed up for, so he spent most of the time training with them. I didn't mind it since I knew that it was something that he wanted to do. (And if anything, it means he owes me big time heheh)
I think there was one day we went out (I'm not sure what for LOL) but I managed to convince Hans to buy himself something that was NOT completely black. Some context: the boy brought nothing but black T-shirts with him. Even the dress shirt he brought for the wedding was black. (On the wedding night, he wore a batik shirt which is like a total cop out lol) So when we went into Uniqlo, I picked out some black graphic tees for him to try. He was fine with trying stuff on, just that sadly, none of them were nice. Like there was a minimalist one with a small design on the front - only for the same design to be blown up on the back. So, nope.
But then we saw some dry-fit jackets, kinda like the one I have. He tried on a white one, and I thought it looked pretty good! (probably because it contrasted with his black shirt underneath LOL) But he settled on a black one with blue trimming along the side. I was pretty fine with it too. I didn't expect him to actually get something that 1. was clothes and 2. I suggested. To be fair, he doesn't look so bad in black, just that I find it a little sad if he only ever looked like an artist, with the plain black shirt, jeans, and long hair. Anyway, I hope he gets the chance to use it back in Canada - I paid $12.90 for that I think.
Anyway, since he was going to spend most of the week playing games at home, I went out with Ju on Friday to go clothes shopping. She wanted to drop off her old clothes for recycling, and then we walked around hoping to get something. I wasn't expecting myself to get anything, but!! Ju found a skirt for me from the clearance section of Uniqlo, and it was like $12.90, which I think was pretty worth it for the material it was made from. Like yeah, H&M, TEMT, Cotton On etc. are cheap, but I think they're cheap 'cos of the material their stuff is made from. But a Uniqlo skirt that is made from pretty thick, heavy material? For $13? I'm getting it. When we went to pay though, turns out it wasn't $13. It was $7.90???? Like???? That was so unexpected!!! I haven't had the occasion to wear it yet though. Hopefully I do soon.
Saturday night, we went out for dinner with my siblings + new bro, somewhere in Labrador park. We went to walk along the beach after dinner, which was quite interesting, since I've never been (or at least never had memories of) pasir panjang beach. It was a good thing I wore my walkable flats, 'cos we walked quite a distance. We could see bits of Sentosa and the Shell oil refinery from where we were. We even went out to the pier where people were fishing in the middle of the night, and then walked all the way back to the car. It was a pretty nice night to walk, and pretty entertaining for Hans too, since he's never been to that side of Singapore.
On Friday/Saturday his friends were up against professional players, so they didn't stand much of a chance in the first round lol But it also meant that they had to play in a second qualifying round the next day. I was a little disappointed he didn't show up for mass lol but needless to say, they didn't make it through that either, so I could understand his disappointment too.
10th - 17th July: Now this is the week I can remember more of lol The previous two kinda just went by, but this week was when we did a lot of things together.
Monday: We set out planning to go to Sentosa, but walking out in the hot sun around noon, we decided it wasn't such a good idea. And there wasn't anything at Sentosa which I thought was worth doing (and was relatively cheap), so we headed down to Gardens by the Bay instead, to get air-con at the flower dome and cloud forest heheh.
It was my first time going there by train, so it was a good opportunity to walk through all the other smaller themed gardens. (Last time I was there, I only got a chance to see the flower dome and cloud forest.) Unfortunately, on the day we were there, the cloud forest was under maintenance, so we could only go into the flower dome. Still, I think Hans enjoyed it anyway. He wouldn't call himself a flower person, but I think we spent quite a decent time looking at everything, and he read almost every information board about plants lol Nice to see him interested in something I appreciate too c:
After we spent most of the day there, we headed down to Marina Bay Sands, since the ArtScience museum was pretty close. We took some really long way, that involved us walking past some rooftop bleachers, in the light of the setting sun, which is pretty damn hot, I must say, when the sun is in your eyes. Unfortunately - again! - they weren't accepting anymore visitors by the time we reached there :/ So, we headed back into MBS, hoping to get dinner, but with everything so expensive, we just went down to Vivo in the end.
Hans wanted to watch Spiderman, and according to online, we would make it to the theatre in time - and we did! But again, by the time we reached, the only seats available were the first three rows. And knowing Hans' shoulder after playing his diddly darn game for days, looking straight up was only going to make matters worse for him. There was another showing at 8.45 pm, but I thought that would end quite late, so I decided against it. As we were leaving, he was pretty upset about it, that I wasn't willing to watch lol
When I realised how much he wanted to watch, I offered to turn back and get tickets anyway, but he said no. Knowing his reasoning now though, I understand. I'm also the kind of person where if I'm upset by something, and someone tries to resolve it - only because I'm already upset - I also wouldn't want it lol After dinner and walking around for a little, while we were sitting outside, he started teasing me, saying how I still actually didn't want to watch, even though I offered, ya dum boi. But's all good, we managed to watch Spiderman later in the week lol
Tuesday: This was the fateful day I would learn how to cycle. The result? I still don't know how to cycle LOL
We headed down to ECP, since that's one of the few places with proper bike rentals, and reached there about 4 pm. We rented two bikes for two hours (Hans' bike was pretty much unused, since I never reached a point where I could cycle beside him on my own LOL)
When I first got onto the bike, I found it quite hard to balance on my own, so even though Hans was holding onto the handlebars and me, I was pretty shaky, and swiveled side to side too much lol orz But eventually, when I convinced myself not to think too much about it, we went quite a distance (with Hans still holding onto the bike, of course ;w;) But whenever I stopped, it was pretty hard to start up again. Eventually, with about half an hour left, I wanted to give up. But knowing how disappointed Hans would be if I quit when we still had time, I tried again anyway.
I think by the end of that day, I was like 60% there? And I'm probably more comfortable on a bike than I was when we first started. But I can also say that I did Hans proud, 'cos I didn't give up when we still had the chance to bike lol We went home for dinner that night, because I was not going to miss eliminations on Masterchef that night. (I also went home with a really sore crotch, but that was apparently 'cos I was sitting forward too much, and not sitting on my butt enough lol orz)
That night, we also sat down to try and plan where we wanted to go, given that we had a limited number of days left. We had intended to go back to school (so Hans could drop off some cookies for the teachers), watch Spiderman, the bird park, more cycling, the artscience museum, and ice-skating. Like I listed all the places we wanted to go, and searched up how long it would take us to get from one place to the next. Ultimately we came up with a plan, but we only managed to do half of those things lol orz
Wednesday: That day, we planned on watching Spiderman, and ice-skating, so we headed down to Jurong East. I was quite glad we watched Spiderman, I didn't expect it to be so good. Like, it was satisfying, pleasant, and in general such a good movie - but at the same time, it wasn't the kind of movie that needed to be hyped, which I'm really glad for.
By the time it ended and we had (a late) lunch, we headed down to JCube to ice-skate. And as luck would have it, judging from Monday, they closed early because they had an event at 5 pm. So yeah, that was pretty annoying. We resorted to sitting upstairs to watch people skate, which is you know, less fun than actually skating lol Hans asked if we could go home early in that case, but I didn't want to so soon. Eventually, we just walked around looking at clothes for awhile, and then took a straight bus home.
Thursday: This was the day Joanna and I agreed to meet up, even if for just a while, so i invited her over to bake cookies!! But since she was coming in the afternoon, we headed to SJI first. However, when we got there, we didn't know we couldn't just walk into school. At the guardhouse, we were told we needed to contact a teacher, who would then bring us in. And the only person's number I had in my phone was Mr Karam's lol Anyway, I tried calling him, but he didn't respond, so Hans and I just decided to go eat lunch first. (and kinda paiseh 'cos we never said we were coming over in advance, so lol orz)
Well eventually, we managed to inform him that we were waiting at the guardhouse for him, and we were greeted by Ms Tan SH instead, since Mr Karam had lessons. She brought us to the staff room, to look around for teachers. We didn't see that many of them, since most of them were having lessons, but we did see Hans' French teacher (I don't know how to spell his last name ;w; orz). Even though he forgot Hans' name, he remembered him for his art, since well, his art was displayed in the stairwells around the senior school side LOL He also invited us to come over for French day, which was happening the next day, and we were like sure why not lol They talked quite a fair bit in French, and about school, so that was nice. Ms Tan also showed him to his old secondary school teacher who was in charge of the foreign students, so that was nice for him to meet up with him again.
When Ms Tan had to go for her own class, so she left us to go explore the senior side and the rest of the school ourselves. Along the way, we saw Mr Johnson, Mr Kishor (from a window, in the middle of his lesson), Ms Chia, 老师 (she asked me why I haven't visited for so long lol), and some of his old secondary school teachers. We even headed to the art side, but the roller shutters were down, so we kinda tried to peek through the holes. Okay, well I did, and made quite some noise doing so... But Ms Vivian Tan was going to open the art room anyway, so lol There was another art teacher there as well, a new one I think, and she basically recounted about Hans' time in art, and um, my involvement.
Even though we didn't get to see everyone, like Mr Kishor, Mr Beaven, or the ever-elusive Mdm Koh, we were coming back the next day anyway. And we needed to get home to get Joanna, bring her over, and bake!
We met her at the supermarket outside the station, bought the few supplies that we needed, and headed home. I thought that the batch of cookies we would make would be a lot more, but it ended up being like, 20 normal-sized cookies, and one huge one (we wanted to know what would happen with just one huge blob lol) Once the big one was done though, we each had a third, whipped out some ice-cream, and just ate it. It was pretty nice I think, although I don't think I'd eat anything that sinful before dinner again. It was nice to see her though, and catch up with her while walking home, and do something together, even if it was just a few hours of baking and watching TV c:
Friday: In terms of weather-luck, we had it too good for too long. When we reached the station at SJI, it was a downpour, to the point that one step outside, meant our sneakers were soaked and we were walking on water. At least I wore my jeans ('cos we were going to go cycling again after), but even then, that just meant we were as good as fully soaked. Still, we managed to make it to school in time for French day.
It was kinda awkward being there though, because we absolutely recognised no one. But Ms Chia found us, and brought us back to the staff room, because Miss McMillan had wanted to see Hans and ask him about Canada. While walking through, we saw Mr Beaven, Ms Lawson, and Ms Isobel Lee, but I didn't really get a chance to talk to them. (Even if I did, I don't know what I would tell them ;www;) Anyway, after Hans spent quite some time chatting with Ms McMillan, we headed back down to the French day celebrations, since, she being from Quebec, I think Hans' French teacher was expecting her to make an appearance lol By then, the hour was almost up, and everyone was leaving to go for their classes, so we headed back home (still, in the rain).
Walking home in wet clothes is unbearable, man. Even though we were going to head out again to cycle, it didn't make sense to cycle in wet clothes, which is why we headed home first, to wash the soil out of shoes, and hang our pants up to dry. I'm pretty sure it was at this point, Hans changed into his new shoes we got while we were out (another item of clothing I did not expect him to actually buy lol But it was like only around $20, which I think is a steal) - but I don't remember which day he bought it. Anyway, we settled ourselves and then headed out again, back to ECP.
This time, we got ourselves a double bike instead of two individual ones, since well, I still can't cycle on my own. I think his initial hesitations with it, was he thought we couldn't talk while on the bike, and well, the whole point of cycling in the first place, was so that I could learn how to. He told me to sit in front, so I can still learn to cycle - but like damn son, trying to start was so difficult, because it was so heavy. So, I was delegated to the back ouo
It was nice, though, we cycled quite a distance. We headed towards the Marina Bay side, to where the barrage was. Getting there was quite tough: it wasn't a straight road all the way. We had to cross a bridge, and even though it wasn't a very steep incline, it was hard work to get up. At the barrage, I thought he might have been interested in going inside to see all the machinery and how it works, but since we didn't have a bike lock, we couldn't leave it there. So we cycled back, (back over the bridge again), and stopped a few times for a water break. We noticed the skies were getting quite dark as well, so we hurried a bit to get back to the rental stall.
Apparently, by the time reached the main park, it had already rained, so we luckily avoided getting caught in the rain while cycling. We cycled about half an hour away from the rental stall in the other direction, and then headed back when it was time to go. I don't know how enjoyable cycling was supposed to be, but at the pace we were going, it wasn't quite the kind where you can take your time and enjoy the breeze through your hair lol We were going quick enough that I felt like my thighs were going to die. But I could see myself going cycling with him again c:
Saturday: Throughout those two weeks, we hadn't had a chance to see the weebs, not since we had to cancel the Friday before my sister's wedding. We headed down to Mind Cafe, our now-regular hangout, to play some games for a few hours. We were surprised to learn that Meihang was working there now, especially since we were last there not too long ago, and didn't see her then. But it was nice to see her again, and she even taught us one of her favourite games, about soup. Basically, it's one of those quick-response games, where you can't say the name of the ingredient the previous person had drawn, or you can't say the taboo ingredient. We played one round and I was the first one to finish all my cards omg I didn't think I could do it, but I did.
We then played some other games, like Dixit (which Daryl once hated 'cos he lost p badly the first time we played LOL), Coup (at the request of Abbi), and codenames. Unfortunately, we didn't stay for long, since 1. Hans had been waking up pretty late, so we met up later than expected and 2. we had to pick up some stuff that Hans' dad needed from the pharmacy, and we were going home for dinner. Wish we could have played for longer though :/ (and after how much it cost to be there for a few hours on a weekend, I have a feeling that it's probably better to just buy the games themselves and go to someone's house to play LOL)
Sunday-Monday: Hans came with us to church, and for lunch, we basically ate what we had the previous Sunday LOL My mum was feeling kinda sick, so we had fish slice soup, again. But we spent the rest of the day (and night) watching movies, like Midnight Diner, Doctor Strange, and finally Kimi no Na Wa. (What a great movie to end his visit on, amirite? But seriously, I wanted him to watch it since it's good, and In This Corner of the World is not online at all omg) We also cooked a pizza in the middle of the night.
But yeah, I guess watching Kimi no Na Wa on the last night was not a good idea. If anything, at least it got the tears out of the way beforehand. The first time I sent him off, I teared at the gate; the second time, we were at the airport quite early, and we teared while waiting; but this time, at least the next day wasn't so emotional lol But yeah, Kimi no Na Wa did not go easy on my nose, or my eyes.
The next day, again, woke up a little late, but we still managed to walk out to the Grandstand for lunch and come home in time to get to the airport. We did most of the packing before going out to get burgers, which I really wanted Hans to try. He liked them - but because of the small size and high price they were at, he did not approve in the end. I mean I can understand, but like boi you tasting the good stuff right there. We were also hoping to get some ice-cream, but they were closed ono So we just headed home to stuff everything in his bags: snacks that his aunt wanted, the thickeners that his dad needed, small cheapo plastic umbrellas and a laundry basket from Daiso, his new shoes. Now that I think about it, I don't know how he managed to fit everything in, but he did it.
Just as we were finishing up and about to head out, my mum came home early from work 'cos she wasn't feeling well. She offered us a lift to the station, and we took the train down to the airport. Not much happened there, except that terminal one has some new check-in system. But after all that was done, and Hans had eaten his fill of kaya toast and cheese fries one last time, I sent him off to the immigration gates. Not gonna lie, as saw him walk away, I did tear a bit ;; There goes mah boi...
I guess all there's left to do, is find myself a job and earn some money, so I can visit him instead. I was thinking that it was possible to do a summer exchange in UBC, but most of the mods that overlap are 1. year 3/4 mods, and 2. environmental, which is not really what I want to do. But oh well, still got to earn my money first. Hopefully I can c:
