Saturday, April 30, 2011

Residual Royal Wedding Fever

OMG Chia!

Your last entry made me feel like I was there! I wish I was there with you hey. Like I could imagine just going 'heck lets wing it!' I love it how you just followed the crowd! I mean, I am sure that most people in London would have been going to watch the wedding if they were in such a crowd! I wish that it was a public holiday in Perth too!

Unfortunately, yesterday was quite a bit of a mad rush for me at work. Had to subpoena 22 witnesses who were not too pleased when I rang them to advise that they would have to attend trial. Its quite hard having to talk to someone who doesn't want to listen or co-operate with you. So the wedding fever died in its butt at around 8.30am yesterday morning (right after I took that photo of Phyllis). But OH yea! I love carnivorous plants too! But yea, they are not very happy in an office environment unfortunately.

Your sms surprised me! I was still at work trying to finish up some dictation for some letters. But it made me super excited for the wedding all over again! Did you receive my mms? I then spent the train ride back to my car trying to load the official Prince William and Kate's wedding page, YouTube and Yahoo! but nothing worked! Even Kev tried after seeing my desperation, and on his awesome Telstra connection he didn't get zip. I was a bit sad then.

But, then when we arrived at the Raffles for the birthday dinner/drinks they had a big screen up with the wedding, and it was Prince William and Kate getting into the regal, red and gold, horse and carriage. She looked stunning! I loved her simple dress! It was perfect! I stood at the tv and this guy came up to me all tipsy like. His other friend was pretty much sloshed. They were old, but friendly and started chatting about the wedding.

Anyways, I finally watched the wedding on YouTube this morning. Check this video out at 6.00. You can see how happy Prince William is when he sees Kate for the first time, that look. *warm fuzzy* He totally loves her. Then at about 6.07 you can see him mumble "your beautiful." I couldn't believe it when I saw it, watched it about 10 times to make sure I saw it. Awwwww. It's super sweet!

Anywho, I just finished work; ON A SATURDAY =( but on a happy note, I was able to hurry my legs to London!

See:

Just to be near you! =P
So... I am in London...Court. Erm. Yessssss.

I got some really friendly looking girl who was walking by herself to take a photo for me on my iPhone. I felt guilty because she was super excited and obliging, but do have a strong feeling it was because she thought I was a tourist. Oh wells. I felt like a tourist, so we both are happy in a strange way.

Oh yea, I think that maybe the photos should be medium sized... or a least stay within the boarders of the  text. If you click on the photos, they open in a separate page and are the full size. =)

I still wish I was there. My entries are so boring compared to yours =)

Luv
Anna xXoo

This post is for you Anna! And anyone else back home with Royal Wedding fever!

Dear Anna,

I woke up this morning and decided I was not going to disappoint you and that I would make an attempt to join in on the wedding mania! Especially your hilarious photo of Phyllis! I LOVE it! I wish I could send you a male equivalent of Phyllis. Would he be called Philip? If  I did, you would be receiving a venus fly trap because I love carnivorous plants and they fascinate me! Have you ever had one? Unfortunately those plants don't grow well in air conditioned sterile office environment :(

Anyway, with no plan of attack, I decided to stop off near Hyde Park to catch the wedding on big screen. I actually pinched this idea from another dorm member because I was absolutely clueless! I had no idea where about in Hyde Park I should be so I ended up following everyone else in the direction they were heading! So the no-plan-method worked out alright! I should've spoken to another girl the night before because she actually woke up at 4am this morning and she saw the whole royal procession to Westminster Abbey and Kate and William in flesh! She was dying to show someone her iphone recordings and I was the lucky one! After seeing them, I can see how one would get excited and wait around in the wee hours of the morning.  I might've done that if I had known. If only you were here, you would know exactly what to do! :P
Hyde Park is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! WOW!
You know how I have that cheesy beaming smile? Well I had it on all the way down my walk through Hyde Park! I can't believe how big it is!!!  I loved how it was slightly foggy and chilly but it was so tranquil! I love how the leaves of the trees are are brighter green than the leaves in Australia.I half expected a deer to prance out from nowhere. I want to live near Hyde Park :(

About this time when the photo was taken, I was texting you back and forth. I tried sending you a mms of me, but that did not go through :( boo! This does not look like a lot of people because of the angle but believe me there were people everywhere! Many of them had flags and dressed in red and blue and one or two were in bridal dresses!



A lovely gentleman took this photo for me after he saw me doing a self shot. Oh his accent made me giddy!


Today I am in higher spirits and I suspect it is because of the wedding and because I went SHOPPING! I knew I  wouldn't last! After Kate and William exchanged vows I left the crowds and walked down Oxford St. I am sure there are other places nearby, but the tube line is the most convenient for me and the one I am familiar with so it's easier to get back to the hostel! My feet are absolutely killing me because of all the walking I did today. I saw so many things I wanted to buy or wanted to buy for someone else because I know that they would like it! I saw this yacht printed dress that reminded me of HW. I wish I had someone to be mad about the shops here!

I did not find any Kate/William inspired food unfortunately! But I had this HUGE slice of beef and chilli pizza on the go! I managed not to get it everywhere! You can tell I was starving and had to sink my teeth into it before the camera came out!

LOOK can you see how happy I am?

I bought souvenirs today so you can tell everyone that it was bought right on the day of the wedding!! I'm sorry if you don't like magnets.. they fit easily in the post though! Will be sending one to you ;)

And back to that tomato question. Yes, the second one is correct!!! So maybe we need to wear like really tight boob tubes or something. I don't want to experience the pain of ripping off tape at the end of the day. I hope you aren't too disturbed! Either way, we are going! Which reminds me, have you got your tickets yet? We have to do some planning soon!!!  Oh and I hope you get the chance to beat David in a game of scrabble! Get rid of his scrabble king title! He comes up with words like HAAF, KAT and KATA!

Good luck!! MUAH!

PS. What do you think about the size of the pics? Should I keep them small?

Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal Wedding 2011 Fever

Morning!

I woke up so amped up for the wedding. Haha. Last night I laid on the couch with my parents watching a bad live coverage of the wedding count down presented by channel nine. It didn't show anything major, just commentary about dress rehearsals etc. I ended up just listening while I played 'Words With Friends' with David. Oh yea, PS you got to get an iPhone now. No excuses! =D David owned with a 'luxes' which was a quadruple word! Wtf?!?

Because the wedding coverage was so bad, we ended up changing channels to watch 'The Prince and Me' with Julia Stiles. This movie is totally underrated! It was quite well written, not as predictable, and more realistic than the other Disney's modern Cinderella-like stories.

It made me a little sad, I miss the innocence and wonder of wanting to be with someone- that warm feeling you get when they tell you that they don't want you to go; them wanting to talk to you all the time; that semi scary/desperate feeling like you mean something to someone. Maybe that only happens when your super young? Or maybe we got so much going on now, so much more other happy stuff to think about, that the small things like romance is no longer relevant except in movies and in stories?

Anywho, I am totally, unashamedly, a sucker to the novelty and manipulation of the media in this instance. This morning, before grabbing the cereal, I nicked the West Australian off mom to get the wedding section and read up on the goss. It provided instructions on how to follow the wedding on the Internet. Since I am on the go today and tonight, this was awesome! I've now bookmarked the official royal wedding website and the yahoo coverage and subscribed to the YouTube channel on my iPhone so that I won't miss anything while I am at dinner!

Look, even Phyllis my white lily has been hit by the Royal Wedding Fever! She wishes she was Kate Middleton! =P






Your entry was the best!

I totally want more entries like that! I want to hear what you are doing! How come you moved into the bigger dorm?

Your friend Mig sounds awesome! And yes!!!! Ahahaha! I totally sniggered on the train at your description of his ... Hrm... Total weak spot for me. Though I'll take your word for it.

Hey how is the weather by the way? We are constantly hearing that its freezing cold, and that it may rain? How is the dorm, like are you cold in there? Is it comfortable?

Oh! William and Kate 'inspired' desert? Well I assume everyone would be jumping on the band wagon by now. I saw on Getaway, they went to the pub that Prince William frequently goes to, and they renamed a beer to something like "The Prince's Ale," and I just google searched "Prince William Beer" and found that there is an official "Kiss Me Kate" Beer!

So that's what I meant. Like if you see in a cafe some sort of cake/drink/sweet which is re-named or 'inspired' by the wedding. Please have it and take a photo! It's totally LIVING in this very moment. People like me, who are not in London, won't get a chance to have it. Once the wedding is over, I am sure those items will disappear.

Omg! Yes for the tips for the Tomato Festival! Goggles- OK! Disposable shoes- Righty-O! Tape up boobies?

Well, the only things I could come up with are:

  • Need extra support for bounciness;
  • Need to strap up to avoid random hands getting in between them; 
  • Padding for paintball-like tomatoes that are thrown at you; or
  • To look hot like Mila Jovovich in The Fifth Element.

I don't know! Tell me! Haha.

Miss yas!

Exhausted and wishing you were here!!

Hello Anna!

I think right about now you should be well and truly in bed :) I keep forgetting about the time difference. I really hope to keep up my daily blogging even if it is a short one. just so you have something to smile about or read when you are on the train in the morning :) This does not mean you have to write a lengthy reply to me. Even a pic of you somewhere in the city will do! haha! Or the healing process of your bruise.. How is that coming along??

Right now it is 740pm and I have just moved into a 8 person dorm. It was nice that there was no one in their dorms and I could relax and munch on my take away salad I grabbed in a fancy supermarket called Waitrose from across the street. ( I had to choose a salad that could be finger picked through because I don't have any cutlery on me) There is one other person that just came in the dorm. Didn't exchange much apart from a curt hello. She is laying down in the bed. How weird. I thought I would be uncomfortable about sharing a room with even just one other person but the dorm for tonight is with 7 other people. I guess most of them only come in to sleep as they are here to party and explore. It is actually nice to just lie in bed and write to you and unwind.

This reminds me, this morning I met an Aussie chick from Brisbane, Rockhampton. Made me think of somebody. Anyway. I mentioned we were doing the tomato thing in Spain, and she said she had done it and gave me some pointers!! Before I forget these are some of the tips she mentioned. I wonder if you can work out why!

- wear good quality googles
- wear cheap covered up shoes to be disposed of
- tape up your boobs!!!!

The last one got me. I will explain in my next post if you can't figure out why :) But it may put you off from attending!

I am glad that my pic of my travel card amused you and got you into the royal wedding fever! I had a discussion with Migs and we decided that in 20 years time I could ebay it! However, the weather forecast predicts a chance of shower and cloudy conditions. I am indecisive  about joining in and catching a glimpse. Perhaps I need to watch more tv coverage or something to up my excitement level.  I guess you will find out tomorrow. It is a public holiday and I don't know if there is much to do otherwise. I think I will take my SLR out and take some decent pics for you! The SLR has not seen the light of London yet!
What on earth is a Kate and William inspired desert?  I can't say I have been feeling like heavy food like bangers and mash, pies, fish and chips etc. I actually miss eating my greens as you can tell from the meals that I've had today! As tempting as hot greasy food is when it's cold, I am really making an effort to be healthy because I don't want to fall sick!

One thing I am THANKFUL for is the company of Migs. He has been a fantastic companion and showing me around! Here is a pic of him taken while we were having lunch at a little outdoor cafe. He never looks serious but only when he is stirring his coffee.
I had the chicken caeser salad. Was too hungry to take a pic of that for you :P Migs is quite a character. He reminds me of a particular person. Loves his retail therapy and has nice um... I know you are laughing right now!!!

I had a very un-touristy day today. Before lunch we went to get my UK sim card. Yes I have a number that you can now text me if you miss me too much :P We also went into Boots which is a cosmetic/pharmacy chain, After lunch, I met the candidate consultant for the teaching agency. There was a lot to process. After that, we went to find a bank so I could set up an account. The trip there we took my first red double decker bus ride and we sat on the top of course!!

 haha.. it is actually quite frightening sitting at the top right at the front because it feels like you are further forward than you actually are if that makes any sense.

 So all in all, nothing that exciting! I had some time to myself to explore after Migs went back home but only just surrounding the hostel. This is the underground station that is opposite the road of the hostel.

I got a little lost and ended up in a fancy mall called THe Village and it had stores like Miu Miu and Prada. No, I did not buy anything :( In fact, after two days of walking around in central London, I am finding it rather unnerving seeing all these tourists with bags and bags of shopping! Top Shop, Zara, River Island and here I am walking around in Oxford St with NOTHING in my hands!! Bare!! I swear if I don't do any shopping I might have a panic attack! But if I do end up shopping, it will have nowhere in my bag to go! You should see me climb up the stairs to get to the rooms with my backpack! I had to stop for a moment of breath before I opened the dorm door. And it is this problem that has stopped me from stepping foot into a store. Yes, I have NOT entered a single shop for women's clothing, shoes or bags! I hope you're proud of me :D Ask me again in a week's time though....

Anyway my lovely, I really need a shower now. Last night I had a scalding shower. There was no cold water button and it was just hot boiling water! I will have to look for the other showers that are somewhere on another level. I hope you are having sweet dreams!

Chia XOX

PS Sorry if this post is too long! You seem to want to know EVERYTHING! I feel like I have talked too much about myself :(

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Wishing I was there

Heya Chia!

Hoorah!!!! London baby!!!

I am pretty sure that a lot of my future posts will have this entry's title - wishing I was there.

I woke up this morning and got out of bed later than usual. And as I did my morning ritual, I checked my blog feeder on my iPhone to see your photo of Prince William and Kate Middleton! I got so excited for your post! You cannot imagine! It is a photo that truely depicts that you are in London, at this very moment. You are there at such an iconic time! It's so strange that you are there and not here.

So how was it when you arrived? How is your friend that met you at the airport? Tell me about him! I remember you said he took like two days off from work to hang with ya?

How is London? What did you do for your first day there? Where and what did you eat?

Is there William and Kate fever?

To be honest, I secretly am really interested in the wedding. I really really really want to watch it. I think they are such a gorgeous couple, and wished I was like that. Unfortunately, I have a birthday dinner, so I am going miss the whole thing when it is shown live on Friday night! I am doing little sighs in my head as I think about it. Such a guilty pleasure and I can't even enjoy it. I will give you and update on how the sighs are going.

Are you going to try and catch the wedding? If not, I think you ought to go to some of the busier places in London so you won't have such a queue!

I am currently writing on the train to work. Augh! To work! Can you believe it? I so don't want to be thinking about discovery and lining up witnesses for this trial that's coming up in two weeks, when I know that you are in London exploring new places!

I think the thing that keeps me going, is knowing I will be seeing you in August! I am hopefully buying my ticket this week!

Oh! Random things to try in London! Try the chocolate! It tastes better there than the chocolate in Australia. English chocolate doesn't have the added 'non melty' ingredient that they put in our chocolates. Try 'bangers and mash,' the pies and fish and chips (the ones wrapped up in newspaper, not the ones from the cafe). Could you also try some Prince William and Kate 'inspired' desert too? =P

How are your roomates? I hope the accommodation hunting is going well so you don't have to stay in your hostel for long!

I've just gotten off the train, and finally am in the city. It's currently 8.01am.

Here is where I am right now!






Damn I look tired!

Wishing I was there!!!

Luv

Anna xXoo

In London

Hi Anna!

Can you believe that I'm in London? I feel like I am dreaming. I feel like I am actually just staying for a short holiday and then going back home in a week or something like that.

One thing that amazes me is the buildings and how pretty they look! Not just slabs of concrete and bricks. One thing that does not amaze me is the hostel's bathroom/toilet. It wasn't exactly clean and having to share that with other people in the hostel for the next week is daunting.

Check out the oyster card that I got today! I didn't realise it featured Kate and William on it until I got back and emptied my wallet! I am still wondering how I will go about on this royal wedding business!


There are so many amazing London souvenirs that I want to buy now and send them home to friends! There are heaps of Kate and William merchandise but I can't say these are all that appealing for me or for anyone else I can think of.

Love from London, Chia

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

At Changi Airport

Dear Anna,

I didn't realise you did  the first post until a little birdy told me!! :)

It is sweet of you to have thought about me and to try and call me. It made me sad that you just missed me!

I have been feeling a tidal wave of emotions. I think I am mentally exhausted if anything! I think I get really sad when I am saying goodbye. Right now all the sadness has been squeezed out of me and I feel a little numb.

I hope you managed alright with volleyball! I am thinking about all the bruises on your legs! Ouch! I love the photo of Pepsi and you! Yes, we agreed to post pics didn't we and that is a lovely pic of you! MUAH!

I have tried to take a picture of myself at the airport while walking from the arrival point of my last flight to my next gate. Felt rather stupid and they turned out horrible so I deleted them. But that's ok because while I typed this, I took a picture of myself sitting down in A5 lounge while waiting for my flight to London at 1130pm. It's not exactly the most flattering picture of me but it will do now to show you the most recent pic of me :P 

I have also taken a pic of my tickets! On the way to Singapore I couldn't decide between what movies to watch. I ended up watching two French films. They had subtitles so that worked well for me :) I am quite excited about the flight to London as it will be my first double air bus!! I think that is what you call it? Where they have upper and main decks.

I certainly hope I end up meeting this lovely friend of a friend at the airport. I wonder if he will hold a sign up or something... I look forward to writing you my first post in London!














PS. I can't stop chuckling away while I do this post. I wonder what the people directly opposite me must think! 

PPS. Just found out the flight has been delayed (no idea for how long) due to some sort of engineering problem! Oh dear!

Goodbye Chia!

Dear Chia 

I just tried calling your mobile phone in hope to catch you before you take off on your one-way flight to London. 

Its 4.05pm and I missed you! I am imagining that you are sitting in your seat, all belted up. Looking at the safety manuals and the food menu. I wonder what you will choose for dinner? As the plane climbs higher and does a circle of Perth, what are you thinking of? What are you looking out for? The freeways? The City? Your house? Are you thinking of all of us?

I am super sad now. I think I was in denial. I was thinking 'Yea, it will be fine! I will see Chia in August!' But, when I tried ringing you and heard 'Sorry, the person you have called is unavailable,' it hit me. I won't be able to just ring you up when I am at home sick, or go on our girly dates to be silly and just have fun. Hearing that automated voice message made me feel so disconnected from you.

I wanted to wish you well, and be all excited with you as you walked onto the plane! I also wanted to make sure that any fears that you may have been feeling during this week were all gone.

Since I missed you. I thought of emailing you. But instead, I thought it would be a great time to start the posts on our blog, which you had so brilliantly suggested that we do - to share bits and pieces of happiness, optimism and inspiration. 

So here is what I would have liked to say:

You are doing what a lot of us only wish to do. 
You should be super excited; and on a side note, just enjoy the nervous feeling that you may have when you step out of your plane and pass through Heathrow Airport.
I miss that nervous feeling of the unknown. There is nothing for you to lose, you just have a whole lot of experiences and new friendships to gain!
I am so jealous of you and will live vicariously through your stories.
I hope you meet your contact at the airport, and hope that you find your hostel safely.
I hope that you  have nice roomates for your first week in London. 
Good luck on the accommodation and job hunt. 
Take care, stay safe and have fun!
*Phone Hug!*

Back here in Perth, I am trying to enjoy the last hours of the extra long, easter/ANZAC holiday. I found out yesterday that I had a indoor beach volleyball game on tonight at 6.45pm, so no quiet night in. But at least it will kick start my energy for the working week. I have been feeling sluggish a bit from all the late nights and the eating.

As part of our deal when we decided to start this blog, here is my photo for this post:

Pepsi and I saying 'Goodbye Chia!'


Can't wait to hear from you!

Luv

Anna xXoo