School started off pretty well, with the ever boring BD, which spurs me on with very hardworking & efficient team mates, except ZW ): I knw he wun see this! Many Sept babies which I did not mention, just like in the past. It was KH's bdae today & we bought him a chocolate cake which was delicious. Also, my blessings reached out to HX, Adeline, Brian & of course, KH. (: Didnt do much for Mid Autumn, bascially just had lots of moon cake, oh, green tea ones only (: All the 5star hotel moon cakes are like piling at home & they taste really nice even when you're feeling bad, like duh, for the price you're paying for!

Urmm, I've always believe in trust. Trusting the right person with the right kind of information. Most of the time, I tend to keep things to myself, sometimes I will share with my closest person & thats my sister! However, its tough to explain lots of things to her at this tender age of 14.

More often than not, I rely on friends. In the past, I used to trust my 125molecules, till a string of misunderstandings, I ended up only trusting them one by one, stage by stage. Im glad because I knw none of them reveal anything to anyone else, at least, in my memory, they didnt. When I was enrolled into the polytechnic, I realised its never easy to find trustworthy people.

At times, certain people shared your secrets with others for his / her own advantage. Im not trying to pin point nor blame that person. I’ve always believe if someone trust you, don’t take that trust for granted, don’t share that person’s secrets with others, for your own personal benefit. Don’t ever misplace someone’s trust or else, the friendship will just be very badly ruined.

I’ve also learnt, never to trust anyone I’ve not known long enough. In ‘emo’ moments, when I ever need a listening ear, I certainly know who are the ones I can rely on & the person(s) clearly knows who she is (:

Recent updates:

- Worked with Claudia on Wed, was a little more updated.

- Many visited me that working day, Wilson, Rex, Shuyi, Grace, Vincent & lots! :D

- Class chalet over at eerie-looking Aloha Changi.

- Brian’s birthday whip cream bash, chocolate cake. Lets all just hope he appreciates the cake with our ever-so-concerned with being over-budget Kiathow.

- Ghost stories sharing in the middle of the night at the chalet till the break of dawn where everyone goes to sleep together.

- Bathing with the ‘opened’ ceiling

- Satay king, Weiye BBQ-ing crabs with the pot :x

- Irritating Derrick went to splash this puddle of butter on a cat’s neck unintentionally.

- Transvestites were all over the place when we went for supper at Changi Village. Trust me, other than their build and voice, they looked super womanly, yet scary :s Soccer watching at the coffeeshop was cool with C.Ronaldo scoring, so delighted!

- Booked out around 4pm & cabbed in 7seater for steamboat at Bugis

- Emostowree gathering at Settlers’ Café & Marche at Vivo City

- Joining SP netball for IVP, mon & thurs trainings will definitely slimmed me down, awww!

See the reason for me being so broke? Wait till you see my bill, freaking 326bucks. Missed calls are also charged & it cost like $5.81 per minute & 56cents per sms, was told to settle it on my own. My pay from B&J’s for this whole month isn’t enough to cover my bills, thank god I’ve been working in DFS which entitles me to another 300+ salary & it will all be used to pay the bills ): Quit DFS due to sch reopening tmr but of course, Im continuing to work in the lovely B&J’s. Shall continue with my photo blog of Cambodia & this round, Hope Village where precious memories were left & then to do the little things Im sending over to them tmr (:

With the cute & sweet ones (:

The reason for joining this expedition was to bring a difference to the orphans’ lives. I was in awe staring at all the pictures during briefing and all that was in my mind was not just to bring a difference to the children’s lives but to challenge myself, out of my comfort zone, into a third world country. Being the eldest in my family, helping my siblings with their schoolwork is just another simple chore I had to fulfill.

Hope Village, Prey Veng gave me the best times spent in Cambodia; even the magnificent Ang Kor Wat is nothing as compared to the lovely children in Hope Village and the sense of achievement when teaching English. Playing with the children, listening to their personal stories, made me feel how blessed I am staying in Singapore. The guilt when complaining about lousy service and awful food overcame me. The sense of achievement I get after a day of teaching and when seeing their excellent results at the end of the whole trip made me realized that nothing is much more worthwhile as compared. I was truly amazed by the enthusiasm and willingness to learn by the children there. Despite poor living conditions, everyone worked hard for their dream – to be a translator, doctor or pastor. The 7 days spent in Hope Village made me grow, into a more forgiving, stronger and definitely a more patient person. Fostering close relationships with some of the children had thus stopped me from leaving the orphanage; the unwillingness had left a huge scar on my heart, up till today.

Journeyed on with the other 16 and our lecturers, we encountered several challenges, so to speak. Transportation will always be the main problem, bumpy rides, motion sickness, dusty environment and broken bridge which caused the detour. Pushing of vehicle, breaking down of air conditioner, breathing in the thick amount of dust and being surrounded by beggars were common scenes. Despite feeling angered, I felt a tinge of sadness for them, of not having any knowledge or skills for survival and to resort to begging.

Speaking of my other 16 friends, I certainly believed that everyone signed up for the expedition had a heart of gold. The camaraderie which everyone shared was unforgettable. We had the gentlemen who will never fail to protect the ladies in all circumstances and the ladies who will take turns to create more jokes to kill time in the lonely nights.

Overall, I believe I had grown, learnt to never take things for granted, to treasure my life and therefore remember all my time spent in Cambodia, till the end of time. The experience was wonderful and the friendship which everyone shared was absolutely remarkable. Therefore, I reckon that everyone deserved a pat on their shoulders for their contributions, in one way or another and that their efforts were definitely paid off in this meaningful trip!

Joycelyn Low

DBF 3B07

The first day, we visited the mass graves at the Killing Fields, Choeung Ek, of which I did not enter. Also, the S21 Museum at Tuol Sleng, where some of the girls got really scared and became mambo :x

The eerie skulls

The rules enforced during the Khymer rouge

The girls outside the nice nice restaurant (:

Before departing for Prey Veng, Hope Village, we went to another orphanage, bought them stuffs and attended a small concert by them. The children in Aspeca Orphanage were slightly more fortunate as compared to Hope Village, better English, less conservative due to the fact that their orphanage were in the city area of Cambodia, unlike Hope Village.

All of us with the orphans at Aspeca Orphanage.

Some of the girls with the children

The boy I liked most, though he's pretty dark.

Performance by the boys

Most of the girls were lovely in that traditional costumes.

Reality check, the whole week was pretty packed. Monday was plain slacking, worked with Mun Log on Tuesday.

Wednesday, 12 Sept
Went to ton over at Weiye's place for mahjong & supper at Jalan Kayu, cheese prata *drools. The guys had sort of a 'feast', which had a little leftover & it reminded us of Hope Village once again. I lost terribly in mahjong, its just not my game. Watched England match, Owen was excellent, love him so much! In the morning, Ved sent us to J8 for our mac breakfast. MRT-ed & cabbed home, slept till 5pm the next day.

Thursday, 13 Sept
NSE dinner, 8pm at a nice 'restaurant' where sms-es keep flowing. The girls know wad I mean. Official trainings start in October & will slowly intense in November. Wait, stop & think, our competitions will be held next year, like July? A bit kiasu here, oops!

Friday, 14 Sept
Out with emostowree yet again. Movies, dinner & truth&truth with Amelia's bottle, which will never attack her. Bao liao sessions were great, since we got to know more of each other's past relationships & setbacks.

Sat and today were plain slacking, was supposed to work at DFS but I pon work & decided to quit, regardless of the pay (: No matter how high they are paying me, Im not at all happy working there. Off for some swimming sessions with my brother later, may photo blog again at night. Ciaos!

Introduction of the magnificent Ang Kor Wat, used to be reowned as one of the Seven Wonders. I decided to let pictures do the talking.


Angkor Wat, Siam Reap


Imagine we had to conquer this to get to the next level, dangerous yet scandalous, oops! :x

I conquered it too (:

The emo guys found their king.

Beautiful reflection (:

Some of the closer ones

Joyys & Pat & Connie Stowree girls (:

Doing the Cambodian pose :x

Beautiful reflection, beautiful girls (: with our tour guide, who once assisted in the makings of Tomb Raider

my 6days bathing partner who attempted to molest me, of which we realised our butts were the culprit :O

DILEMMA time: Quit or stay? B&J has been my life over the past one year, since 26 Sept 2006. Im still wondering........

Results didnt turn out nice, truely disappointing. Imagine my hard work for the last semester, due to this freaking fucked up module, it pulled the entire GPA down ):

A little wish of my grandpa will never come true. Family story which I just heard from my dad the night while I was waiting for results. My grandma was the second wife of my grandpa. Grandpa has always hoped for his children or grandchildren, or at the very least, someone from the Low family to go through university. None of his children got through, imagine grandma bringing up all the children single-handedly, how to pay for university fees? At grandpa's death bed, he told grandma that she was the second wife, imagine the pain she had suffered. The man of your life confessed only at his death bed that he had another woman before you. My grandma was a noble woman, she bring all 4 of the children up, all by herself, do odd jobs, not enough sleep. Apart from my grandma, step grandma's family did not have any university graduates too. Grandma, upon knowing that she was the second wife, never once visited grandpa at his grave. Dad say if anyone in the family gets into university, grandma will go & visit grandpa's to let him know that his wish is fulfilled.

Joycelyn Low, search your conscience please.

Firstly, pictures of the third runners up for Inter-con Netball Tournament. Despite me looking so freaking ugly, I've decided to post this very memorable experience shared by all of us (:

NSE defenders

Dear shooters

The tiny midfielders (:

With generous vice chairman

From left to right (back) : Cheer, Junjia, Santa, Poh Siew, Saw Hui, Pat, Jasmine
From left to right (front) : Huiyun, Joyys, Sylvia, Felicia, Pamela
Middle: Vice Chairman, Karim

Started working over at DFS, the freaking 2inches boots is killing me, I work 8hours but I go to toilet to rest once every hour. They told me I've got to get used to it, Im still trying hard, super tiring despite good pay ): Now, I just wanna say, I love B&J's! Emostowree will be having a gathering soon, I cant wait any longer to continue our Bao Liao sessions, guess we've got lots to catch up after our Cambodia trip! Pictures will up after J sends them to us & I will start photo blogging with all the Cambodia memorable times (:

Oh ya, I've been missing out on the 5nations netball. Stupid Pat even thought I went & win the lucky draw, come on, dun be dumb, I wun write that cheena name of mine ):