Catching Fire

The other time I wrote about the Hunger Games, and praised it. I have, of course, since finished it. And so I started reading Catching Fire, the second book in the trilogy.

I have to say though, that this book is not so interesting. The plot is a little boring, but of course, I have not finished it. But looking at how it seems like now, I don't think it will get much better.


Overall I think that it is still okay, but the first book was still much better.

The Hunger Games

I had always wanted to read the book, but I only had the chance a few weeks ago. I was so excited! I read it all day, peeled to the book.

It lived up to its expectations, being very interesting. It was also filled with suspense, and whenever or wherever I stopped reading, there would be something in my head telling me to continue.

I definitely recommend it, The Hunger Games.

"Stuck" with a new hobby

Today me and my family went to the Singapore Philatelic Museum. At first I was bored to death. Then I was becoming more and more fascinated about the world of stamps. I enjoyed the room which had Tintin artifacts and sketches from the artist Herge.

I have to say, is is quite weird as some stamps can be worth up to $480 alone. I feel that is can easily be lost, and is not worth it. Anyway, I bought a couple of stamps and a folder.

This afternoon I put the stamps in and I have to say, they looked pretty nice.

Now I am "stuck" to stamps, I think I will enjoy letters more...

The Muppet Movie

"Yaaaaay!" Kermit would say. He's not here though. Anyway, me and my family went to watch The Muppets last night and enjoyed it.

My father said he remembers all the character except the new ones. It brought him back a lot of memories.  It was also quite funny, especially Fozzie Bear.

My mother surprisingly belted out 'Rainbow Connection' when Kermit and Miss Piggy were singing it.

We have some singers here, Idol!

Flight Back

Today was the day that we flew back to Singapore. It was also the day of the gruesome 10-hour flight back. It was in the afternoon, so it was hard to sleep.

The food started out well, with green curry. And then it turned worse. Tea became plain milk(literally!). And the fish was plain and boring.

Enough with food, let's talk about the flight. The was little turbulence till at one point, it. was. terrible. The plane swooped down and went back up again for about two times. It felt like I was in a stunt plane!

However the plane landed safely and we were on safe ground again.

Got to get use to the time now, and hopefully get my sleep back...

Day 6

Today we went back to Mrs. Jones Fruit Orchard so those people who ordered fruit could collect them, but to most of us, it only means more free samples...

We also went to see the flower garden there, and got a better look that the last time because that time it was raining.

After a few lakes, we arrived at a small cathedral next to a dog statue. The cathedral was small and looked more like a hut than a cathedral.

I know a dog statue may sound funny, but it's real. It was put up to honour the dogs who help herd sheep everyday. Poor dogs, running around in the hot sun...

Next we went to a small town called Geraldine for lunch. We ended up in some cafe, and so did the majority of the group. The lunch was nice and simple, and it was enjoyed by many.

After lunch we headed to Farmer's Corner. Now it's supposed to be like a huge souvenir store, but it wasn't. It only ended up being a store selling stuff like sheep wool, stuffed toys, stuffed toys in pillows, and much more.

The thing that attracted many people's attention were the Alpacas at the back. They look like a cross between a llama and a sheep.

After all that we headed back to Christchurch for some last minute shopping. That was quite fun. After that, though, we headed back to the same Chinese restaurant as we did on the first night. The food was quite bad, and seemed like hawker centre food...



Tomorrow I'm flying back home...quite happy about it!

Day 5

Remember I said that Day 4 had few events? Well this day practically had one main event. That event was a trip to Milford Sound.

I was dreading this day not because I don't like Milford Sound, but because of the terribly long drives to get there. It takes about 8 hours to go to and fro from Queenstown! And that's what we had to endure...

Yes, it was as hard as it sounds. At every stop we tried to exercise to the fullest. When we actually got to Milford Sound, we were all drowsy and still half-awake.

The main reason I was excited about this trip was that we could see dolphins, if they were in the mood to go near the boat.

The boat looked just like a cruise. At least it was not a fishing boat...

Soon we started off! All of us from the tour had not eaten yet, so we ate our lunch on the boat. There was a viewing platform outside, and me, my sister and father went out. Let me tell you, it was not easy to move.

The wind was so strong you could literally fly off! It got better in time, and we started looking for wildlife. Little did we know, the boat was soon turning around and going back to the port!

We were so disappointed as we had not seen any animals. We felt like giving up. Then we saw some seals, and it caused a chain reaction.

The seals were all lying on a rock, relaxing.

Then, the captain of the ship steered us right into a waterfall! We could feel the sprays of water splashing on us. What was amazing, though, was that it created what was like a small rainbow on the water!

And then we saw a dolphin! Well, only, um, half of a dolphin. It just zoomed past the boat.

We were very disappointed that we only saw the front half of a dolphin. We spent about half of the four hour drive back to Queenstown thinking about it.


This Saturday I'm going back home! Can't wait.....

Day 4

Today was one of the days with few events.

First, we went to a town called Arrowtown, which was more of a cowboy town. It seemed very quiet and peaceful. Of course, no cowboy town would not have a wanted photo...

Next was the main event of the day, or for adults only, the winery. The special thing about the winery was the cave where they stored the wine.

It was supposedly dug out of the mountain nearby.

My parents tried three different types of wine, and of course, for free.

Next we left for a cruise to a farm, in which we had a nice barbecue lunch and a farm tour. In the tour we learnt the importance of dogs and how farmers shear sheep. 

After the farm tour, we went back to Queenstown for some free time. We spent a lot of that time feeding birds and throwing stones. 

I know, I know, it may sound boring, but it was actually quite fun. 

After that we went for dinner, and after that, no more events.

Tomorrow we're going to Milford Sound, the only event of the day. Sounds fun...

Day 3

We started the day with a helicopter ride. We depended on the weather to be able to fly, and when I looked out of the window, I couldn’t even see the tall mountains in front of our hotel!

 When we had finished our breakfast, we were told that our tour driver had gone to check whether we could fly up or not. In the end, we could!

 At first glance, the rotors seemed very dangerous and I was afraid of getting on the helicopter! In the end we got in the air with a swift movement and we headed towards the glacier.

The first step we took on the glacier was amazing. Our feet practically sank in the snow! It was very cold and very bright. Maybe that’s why we only stayed up there for a very short while…

 Soon we were back on safe, safe ground and were recovering from the cold. We had to wait a while for our tour bus to come, and when it came, we headed for lunch. But before that, we had to exercise our feet…

 After lunch, we arrived after a long,long,long drive, at Mrs. Jones fruit orchard. I thought that it was going to be plants, fruits and all, but it turned out to be more of a fruit supermarket. The free samples were the best of course…

 Next was a mining centre, a gold mining centre, where we learnt how miners in the old age mined for gold. After all that, our memory was put to the test. We had to try gold panning!

Of course, we did not find gold. It was fun though, and it was very interesting.

Best of the day, was food. This was the best food we had eaten during the 4 days, including the flight.

Few more days till home.....

What if...

... your results are good? You should be overjoyed, right? Well, not in my case, at least. Flashback to the day I got my report book. Turns out I'm first in class! I was so happy, as this was my first time. I had been close, but never first. And then there was glitch. Later that day, I find out that my teacher had made a mistake.

You see, my teacher thought that when there was 0.5, it would be rounded off to 1.0, but the other guy whom I was tied for first with, had 0.8 and the back of his score. In the end she found out that she couldn't round off the five, so the other guy got first and I got second.

Am I disappointed? Well, who wouldn't? However, I still did pretty well and I'm happy that I did. Next year, our classes will be mixed up. Can't wait to see how our class interacts with each other!

PSLE Marking Days

Although the PSLE is over, the teachers still need to mark the papers in peace, don't they? The result? A four day 'break' for pupils. Of course, it is not a break. And what a good timing. Right before our exams. The perfect excuse for teachers to push us.

Luckily for some, they can take it as a 'break'. I'm quite sure that a lot of students are looking forward to the end of exams, when students and teachers can take a well-earned break. Since the exams are so seperated, there probably will be a confusion.

When one exam finishes, and that subject teacher has nothing to teach, what will that teacher ask us to study? The saddest part about that is that if our teachers plan some 'celebration', we will just have to wait till all the exams finish. So sad...

(image from google images)

PSLE...over!

(Image from google images) The PSLE examinations are finally over! In my school, us students had to sacrifice a lot, like for example, not being able to play at facilities such as the basketball court or volleyball court. We also were under a lot of pressure to keep the food name of our class.

If we were noisy on normal days, the teachers won't be very harsh on us. If we are noisy during PSLE,(I'm not pointing any fingers)then the reaction would be different. Many teachers would expect the Primary sixes to let out a cry of happiness, but primary school students can also do that, right?

NE Show 3

Just last Saturday I went to the NDP rehearsal at the Floating Platform. Although it was very hot, I still enjoyed myself. Especially the fun pack. This year's NDP was supposed to be a musical and it was.

The performances were both exciting and energetic. The opinions of the visitors were also pointing in a good direction. I also think that all the schools that went there had a good time. I hope that next year I can go again!

Bak Kut Teh

Today me and my family went to a place which sold bak kut teh. I was very anxious to try it as it was the first time
I went to this place. The first thing we noticed was a spelling error on the notice. They spelt dining with a extra 'n', making it dinning. We had to wait for quite a while for our bak kut teh to come.

The bak kut teh did come after a while more. It tasted almost exactly like the one we eat at home, making it very
nice. It was much better then some other places that sell bak kut teh, like ones at food courts.

2011

Happy New Year! It is 2011 already. Today is the last day of the holidays before school starts. I have really enjoyed last year. For our holidays me and my family went on a trip to a place we never went before.

Europe!(At least my mother, my sister and I have not) To be exact, we went to Germany, Austria, And Switzerland. We stayed there for 10 days.

We joined a tour for our holiday. What's more, we took an Airbus A380 home, and we sat on the upper deck!