Candlepin Bowling

Today is the boys' school early release day.
My host mom decided to take a half day off to bring us to the candlepin bowling place in Acton, MA.



I never heard that before.
Candlepin bowling was first developed by Justin White (a local bowling center owner) in Worcester, Massachesetts in 1880.
Pretty neat! Worcester is exactly where my county it is, located 20 minutes away from my town.
The main differences from the standardize ten-pin bowling are, candlepins are much more smaller and thinner (thus they could be hardly knocked down), there is no holes on the ball, each player has 3 balls in a frame, and all the downed pins are not cleared away during a player's turn.





It was fun!
The boys were funny, they just simply threw the ball and still could earn a good score. They tried to learn how to roll the ball after watching somebody's play.
I was just a little poor girl.
The game wasn't hard. But, I kept rolling the ball to the both edges.
Couldn't score a good one.
After the total of 20 games, I only had a spare and non strike!



The indoor activity is just perfect for a snowy day.
Our day was ended up with an all of the sudden heavy snow.

Pampering myself

I received my earliest birthday surprise from my host mom.
She asked me to spare a couple hours today.
In fact,she wanna to fetch me to the beauty salon.

She is a thoughtful lady. She still remembers the conversation we had once ago.
I do need a facial treatment so badly. I was about to sign up a package last time.
It has been 2 years I didn't have any deep cleansing on my face.
I felt so fresh after the exfoliating on my dead skin cells.
The reddish problem wasn't as heavy as usual.

I knew it wasn't super clean as I still can see a lot of white heads.
But, it somehow helps me to remove most of the dirts!
That was really good!

Later on, she asked me to do a manicure too.
I appreciated what she did for me.
It's rather than buy me something that I don't need.
She bought me various material stuffs within these years,
I can live without them.
Please no more unnecessary things for me!
I am still wondering how can I squeeze all my stuffs into the limited luggages!!!

Anyway,I do think that my host mom is the one who always teaches me how to pamper myself.
She always says:" You must know how to love yourself more, you deserve a better thing, treat yourself like a princess!"
And, I believe so my fashion sense was deeply influenced by her.
:)

Ice Hockey Game

I went to watch a live ice hockey game--University of Massachusetts Lowell vs Boston College at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, MA.
It was less than an hour drive from my house.





Frankly, I'm not really into sport.
The only sport I like in here is basketball.
Boston Celtic is my favourite. I watched the live game once too.
I thought it would be fun to see the ice hockey game.



Can you imagine the scene that whole bunch of players are chasing around the tiny puck?
I was one of the audiences and being dazzled by the players' virtuosic movement.
Ice hockey definitely is a tough game.
Players bump against the wall or fall inevitably most of the time.
I wish I were one of them, could skate as fast as the flashlight,
or just as if running on the field.




From left: Tiya, Fang, me and Pia


The game took place in Lowell so there were a lot of Umass students showed up to
cheer for their team.
Tons of gears and even a music band to show their enthusiasm and fully support towards Umass Lo team.



According to the past games, Boston College team should have a better performance.
But, just not today. Perhaps due to the advantage of the host...
The final result is 3-1 Umass Lo Riverhawks beat Boston College Eagles.


Umass Lo River Hawks were showing their gratefulness to Fans...

Malaysia Truly Asia- Global Awareness Culture Sharing

This is me with all the 2nd graders at Berlin Memorial School, Massachusetts


Before I came to the United States, I promise myself to involve in the Global Awareness program.
I should have done this a year ago.
I put some efforts on it but just in vain.
There was no way for me to share about my country?!!!
This was so ironic.
I wondered was this my problem? I should approach more schools?
Or the schools' problem? They did not have free time for me to do a sharing?
Or just Malaysia's problem? No one was interested in knowing about this teeny-tiny southeast asia country?
I was frustrated and freaking out.
When the time comes closer to the end of February, I was about to put a halt on this thing.

'Til one day, my host mom asked me to send the christmas gifts to the boys' school.
I knew there was a chance for me to give it a last attempt.
I brought along the brochure and tried to explain to the lady at the registration desk that what I was going to do.
But, she seemed like not the right person I was suppose to deal with.
She assigned me to meet the librarian, Pat.
I proposed my plan again and she just simply approved it.
She thought this was absolutely a good idea for 2nd graders as they would study about Asia in January.
I couldn't believe my ears!
How easy and how fast was it accepted by someone after a long procrastination.
I was real happy at that moment.



After the preparation job, here came the presentation date-22 Jan.
My counselor kindly came to help me.
I was worrying about their responds--Be quiet all the time? Not interested in what I'm gonna to share? Doing something to embarass me?
As 2nd graders could be naughty, superactive, rebellious...



I found out that I was just over-concerned.
They were so behave, actively asking a lot of questions.
They showed their greatest curiosity about other countries.
I was glad that they were willing to learn about Malaysia.

I shared with them about the reasons why Malaysia is being Truly Asia,
our location, weather, flag, national flower, ethnic groups and their traditional costumes, holidays, foods, fruits, languages, traditional games, sports,
school uniforms and currency.
The presentation was going well and smoothly. I was able to handle multiplicate "Curiuos George". Of course with the assist of my counselor too.
They did show their highly interest towards Malaysia.
At the end of my sharing, they all would receive a Malaysia Flag's sticker, a little travel journal and a coloring page of flag.









I was happy being a small ambassador to let more people know about my country.
I hope that government could put more efforts to promote our country's international image.
After being here, I noticed that most of the people know about Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Phillipines, Vietnam, Cambodia or even Laos.
But, sympathetically not many people out there know or hear about Malaysia.
What a shame!
If you were an au pair, please kindly participate in this great Global Awareness program.

Lesson learned: Ice Skating

Opps! If I were not mistaken, the last time I stepped on skating rink was half and a year ago.
I just wonder do I still remember how to skate?!!!
Anyway, I have never known how to. SO, I don't think there is a different.





I decided to go to ice skating with Thai au pairs.
I was thinking to brush up my poor skill or at least not holding the wall all the time.
Looking at the rink, and I didn't know why my inner fear flooded over me.

Surprisingly, I could stand more stable than last time.

In the beginning, it took a while to figure out my balancing.

I was trying not to depend on the hold too much.

Once you keep holding, you would never learned faster.

Despite it still far away from being a good skater,

I was proud of myself. I am not a braggart.

But, I did it better and better.

It made my day!

Perhaps this is just a very tiny matter in our life,

but I do think that we should always feel good about ourselves.

Just anything. Any good thing...

as it could be an element of your happiness.

Another important lesson learned is,

If you want to conquer the challenges,

first you must overcome your fear.

I went through these experiences indeed.

Same for my swimming lesson.

I thought I would never known how to swim in my whole life.

I had had a very bad incident happened on me during my high school year.

I was about to drown in the sea.

I am kind of aqua phobia after that.

Now, I am moving on after putting my fear behind.

It is amazing when you see yourself go beyond the bottom line.

Don't even think about how good you could be,

Don't even underestimate yourself,

just always try your best,

wait until you see the magic of life!

Living frugally

I have been counting down to the last day of my au pair contract.
About 45 days to go...
It isn't that long though, just can't wait for my ultimate west coast trip!

The only thing I know pretty well right now is: I AM
Short of time, short of money!
I am trying hard to keep myself at the attic most of the time.
TV and laptop are the best tools for me to fight with the bore.
I comfort myself with Walmart's squeaky slogan- Save money, Live better.
It's worth to sacrifice self entertainment to swap for a quality vacation.

However,my pocket money is keep shrinking.
As too many necessary expenses are going on!
Travel insurance, flight tickets, train ticket, travel package,
souvenirs for family & friends, personal items and bla bla bla...

I am sort of overwhelming and depressed!
Too many things hang in my mind at once.
Just too much!!!
I try to concentrate on something,
but sometimes the inner voice will pop out to distract me to do something else.
I am completely devastated!
I have no idea what should I focus on now...

All of these literally lead me to the dream factory at night.
I couldn't sleep well recently.
What the heck!!!