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Icon: LJ/sixthmile
Layout: tues day night
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Korea. Hawaii

Written on: Sunday, April 01, 2007
Time: 2:39 PM

APRIL'S FOOL; 1 April 2007 (damn, i got fooled by Lakkshna and Ivy!)

Woohoo! Its Good O' Rachel back from Hawaii on 31 March! And Korea too since we travelled to both of them!

You know, when I woke up first thing in the morning, my mind was already set. My mind was excitedly telling me:

RACHEL KOH, you are going to HAWAII TONIGHT! oh yes,KOREA first! Forget all the stupid teachers' naggings and you can happily avoid all monster homeworks! NO MORE STRESS! FREEDOM is awaiting YOU! SAY BYEBYE TO SINGAPORE! SAY ALOHA TO HAWAII!

I SMILED SOOOOOO HARD CAN!

Gosh!!! (>.<)" Even when I went to school, my mind is only thinking of Hawaii and Korea! I kept thinking i was already in the airplane when I'm still in the car, going to school for the last day, SIA! However, when I see you guys, there was something i worry. I'm worried I might be ALONE by myself when I go away. Zann not coming, a big problem. I'm okay with other band members, but they got their OWN FRIENDS! They sure got NICE companies all the time! Me hor, just stick with groups thats all! Just smile and laugh and watch other people's jokes. SIA. HAIZ. At the thought of it, my smile faded a little. YET, I TOLD MYSELF:

DUN WORRY! YOU ARE THERE TO ENJOY! ENJOY THE POWER OF HAWAII! You are not there to be tested on how much friends you have or WHATEVER negative thoughts you have!

HAIZ. Sometimes I wish one of you could accompany me there, or even be in the same CCA as I do! I don't even mind IVY! Sigh! Too bad Ivy's a LIBRARIAN!

I have to make a move to at least make a "new friend" or two when I go to hawaii. I don't like the idea of being LONELY for 9 days! I sooo envy others! They got friends to talk all day long! Even when sleeping, also can chat happily! Haiz. So sad. Then school ended. Oh gosh, a few more hours left and I will be leaving Singapore! I returned home, and have a long look at my house for the last time before I leave.

I finished packing. Oh gosh, I'm STEPPING out of the house! Omg, leaving Pipit Road. OMG, REACHING the Changi Airport!

I reached there, and went to look for my band. There they are. Then we queued up in our groups and prepared for some airport things. Oh yes, from there, I met Geraldine, one of our classmates from 3/5. She was also there to see me and some of her friends off. I felt so happy cos, its a feeling as if there was a friend who willingly to go to the airport just to see you off. i felt so comforted after all the negative thoughts i had when i was in school you know!

I understand. For you guys, your house are just too far. So its alright if you don't want to go.

Then we were dismissed for DINNER!

A LAST DINNER I'M GOING TO SPEND WITH MY PARENTS.

Gonna cry already.

I'm gonna miss my parents badly. Miss my friends badly. Miss everything I treasure.

After dinner, i went back to the band to get ready to leave. Before that, we had a photo as in a band gathering photo to show that we are leaving Singapore. After the photo, I saw some parents cried, and some were like very worried, yet happy faces to see us off. My mother hugged and kissed me on the head. My father wanted to hug me in a way that he purposely shake me as in to give myself confident that I will be fine. LOL. Weird liao.

Then Geraldine gave me a tight hug. I hugged her tightly too. I'm gonna miss all my friends! She said "Take care, girl! We'll miss you!"

I was like "I'm gonna miss you guys too!"

I felt so happy as I would be off to see a new world awaiting me outside Singapore. I had all mixed feelings inside me; excitement, sadness, anxiety, so much I couldn't breathe steadily.

Soon, it was time for us to go. All the parents and some teachers waved at us goodbye, telling us to take care and be back safely. Oh man, the way I see things, i feel as if we are some sort of survivors, entering in a new world with new experiences and all, hoping to return home back safe and sound. Never heard before. Alamak! As we leave, the automatic doors shut on us, as in creating a barrier to separate us from our loved ones. Once again, I looked back one last time to see my parents. They were waving at me. I smiled and waved back. I then turned my head and faced my destiny.

KOREA

I slept throughout the whole journey in the airplane. Took 8 hours from S'pore to Korea.
Finally, we reached! I immediately put on my jacket as it's gonna be very cold out there. 8 degree celcius!

Here's the photos of how Korea Airport looks like! (actually this two photos were taken at the last day when we leave here to Singapore on the 30 March. LOL!)

Next, there was this Korean tour guide to guide us. He was quite funny as the way he tried to speak in english was kind of broken but still good in speaking english. I dunno his name but nevermind, i just describe him as Korean Guider. We got outside of the airport. GOSH, WE FELT THE COLDNESS!! WHOA, SO COLD!! My face can even feel the cold! My hands also! My hair also! Wooooaaahhhhhh! I love it! I haven't feel this kind of coldness for so many years, after staying in Singapore and its stupid hot weather!

As Korea is a big country, we had to stay in the shuttle bus for a long period of time, hence, we felt bored and tired, right? When the Korean Guider talked to us with the mic, GOSH, SOOOO LOUD!!! I can even feel BIG VIBRATION vibrating my lungs and ribs, like those drums drumming during a rock concert, that kinda thing! He talked and talked about Korea but I didn't listen in the end, got so tired of his grandmother story and I dozed off. Alot of us dozed also. I forgot what he said already but I rememebered one phrase from him, mentioning that Korea is a very tired country. Very tired in such a way that for instance, we Singaporeans can throw a ball from far end but for Korean, they can't. Only a short distance. It was an example, set by him. I didn't know Korea could be actually more tired than Singapore.

Soon, the bus drop us at ....guess what?
SEOUL WORLD CUP STADIUM. The biggest world cup football stadium in Korea!

We were allowed to go inside for a visit. Sorry i only took two photos LOL!!! There was a short museum but sorry, i never took it LOL!! HAHA SORRY!!

Thats the PICTURE!!

Next we went to visit The Palace! SO DAMN COOL! I dun wanna talk already. Let you see the pictures!

See a grey house in the middle? Thats the Prison House from the Palace.

At first, I thought they are fake but they are REAL PEOPLE!

ARGH I looked so horrible there! Worse, I thought I was close to them but i found out I was actually far away. See the distance. (=_=) Try zooming to my face and see how I SMILE. LOOK LIKE SO UNHAPPY SMILE. And my eyes dunno looking at where! Never heard before! My flute section all smile so happy except me! In my own camera somemore. LOL!! This one, I gave my camera to one of my senior since the others also wanna take photo because of the colourful background reflecting behind us.

Food Court in one of the shopping center in Korea. Look sooo freaky nicer than those in Singapore! =X

Finally, its time to go to Hawaii. We returned to Korea airport and proceed to Hawaii. Its a much longer hours between Korea and Hawaii. I think mostly around 10-12 hours. Really freaky long. We slept so much. We watched TV as an entertaiment. And we chatted also.

HAWAII

At last!! We reached Hawaii!!! The temperature was soo much better than in Korea. Really cooling I would say. Its even up to me whether i want to wear the jacket or not. Anway i didn't take photo of hawaii airport, cos it looks so-so to me. LOL!

We reached the hotel! I finally took a rest on the bed. SO TIRED SIA. I had to share rooms with three other girls. This photo I took it outside the balcony!

There are three girls sharing rooms with me right? One of them is my flute junior, sec 1, she wanted to play with my camera, so took a snap of me. Lol, i dunno why she has to zoom so near to my face. HAHA. I just finished my bath and drying my hair, yepp.

Anyway, i don't want to take photos of people, or like me and other people, cos Im like, can't bring myself to ask "Hey lets take photo of together" kinda thing. Dunno why.... however, I was photographed quite alot in other band members' cameras. And with the gatherings also.

Thats the Grand Ballroom where all bands performed. On that day, we had a dinner gathering for all to gather in which we get to know each other from all different countries.

Here's the Mauka Ballroom which we had our dinner!

Oh yes, when we had dinner, we were given our own table seating, which means we cannot be together or as a group, we have to be separated! I ended up staying with one girl called Valerie (which i DON'T like her, she's my flute partner. My flute seniors and juniors also don't like her much) we went to a Table 39, which westerners seating there!!! Gosh, got two boys, really handsome looking!!!! I was like WHOOOAA! But of course I have to be well-mannered as its a grand dinner. We both sat down. So yeah, there was this middle aged westerner lady, she's really outspoken and she "helped" to lighten up the mood by talking to us, and others too. But well, you know that westerners are very open-minded, they sure don't mind, sure talk one. xD There were two boys (as i mentioned earlier) from California band, two girls, one from California band and one from Australian band I think. They are really pretty for their age! Same age or older than me, not sure. From there, we chatted. I also had a hard time listening to them, cos the way they talked are sooo western-like. I sometimes had to pretend nodding my head and all! HAIZ! We had dinner, YUMMY. FANTASTIC DINNER!!! SO DELICIOUS! LIKE A REAL WESTERN FOOOD!!!! GOSH, I have been eating WESTERN FOOD, JUNK FOOD for the PAST 5 days in HAWAII. Im gonna get FAT! No exercises somemore! ARGGHH!

See that? Time for dancing! But we cannot cos we have to go back to the hotel to do our schedules...SO SAD! Our band conductor, Mr De, says so leh.....say only give 10 mins to enjoy, then go back..... (-_-)

THE NEXT DAY!! WE VISITED PEARL HABOUR!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?! HAHAHA!!!

There was no Pearl Habour ship of course, it sank MANY years ago but they built a memorial, yeppp.

We waited for our boat to arrive so meanwhile, we spend a while at the place, i dunno what to cal it, its abit like a Pearl Habour Museum but i never take photo cos it looks boring to me LOL!!! I took the scenery outside instead. And guess what? I SAW A RAINBOW! LOL. Right before my eyes! LOL.

RAINBOW!

This is the very spot where Pearl Habour sank. This U.S.S Arizona Memorial was built right there.

See that long hole in the middle? Inside there are all the names of the people who sacrificed their life during World War II. REALLLY LONG!! ALOT OF THEM!! of course lah. LOL.

THE NEXT DAY,

We went to Ala Moana Shopping Center! I managed to buy some souveniers! LOL. Anyway, for the performances and all, we did, just that I didn't take photos of it, yeah cos no time wah. LOL. I also dun wanna ask teacher, cos they sue busy also and we are supposed to take care of our cameras on our own.

This two photos taken while Im in the shuttle bus. Sorry, i forgot to take photo of the front picture of how the shuttle bus look like. I only look the inside LOL.

LAST DAY, WE WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOR THE FESTIVAL LUAU.

HAUEN. If u are reading my post of Hawaii, here's Mr Juraimi for you! LOL!!

Those four boys there, each are from different band. They are invited to join our percussion band as in to play our song.

SEE THE GUY'S ARMPIT? HAIR!!! LOL!!!

There are some more people performing, with different costumes, but i don't wanna take anymore. I even recorded two videos of the dances! For a short while of course.

OK, here's ALA MOANA SHOPPING CENTER. Actually, its a BIG shopping mall. I just took one part of it can already lahs. I need time to shop!

NEXT, ITS HAWAII THEATRE, the PBMF Command Performance where we get the announcements for the awards

THE EPPING BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL FROM AUSTRALIA.
They were selected to perform. They are not winners. Just selected.

Next, were all the choirs from different schools. There are alot of California choirs and bands, one Australia and one Singapore(thats us!)
Anyway, i only took ONE picture of a choir. The rest, i didn't. I wanna enjoy the show. Plus, I'm sure you won't be so interested as to know who is from whose choirs and blah blah. LOL. I love their singing. Really like a real choir! NICE MAN!

After the performances, the annoucements were made. We won a Silver certificate. At first, all of us were really glum-looking, disapppointed that we only won a silver and all. I didn't really feel disappointed because I secretly knew that we would win a silver, seeing how we processed and compared with the other bands. Then when we returned to the Ohana hotel, Mr De told us that we shouldn't be looking disappointed because it was an international festival, not international competition. Wah liao, gave me such a fright. I thought it was a competition. He said that we were here to experience and enjoy the festival. So after experiencing it, he wanted us to learn from all the lessons we learnt and improve all the qualities we lack when we come back to school. He said that we are a very good band. We lack nothing but one. Its AIR. We need plenty of potential air to perfect the tone quality, thats all. Our real competition is the SYF. He wanted us to be one of the top girl band in Singapore.

OK!!! NOW ITS TIME FOR US TO GO HOME!!! WAH, IM GONNA MISS HAWAII AND ITS FRIENDLY PEOPLE!!!! SIA! I ALSO GONNA MISS ITS LOVELY WEATHER!

We took a bus that brought us to Hawaii Airport. Oh yes, on the way, i took three respective shots of the houses and the sceneries. It look nice so i snapped!!!!

We went back to Korea. O yes, on our way to Korea, we watched a korean movie in the airplane. Its pretty good!!! I enjoyed it. Many of us laughed, hehe.

We went to stay in Incheon hotel for one night.

Look at the place. Look sooo...isolated....SCARY MAN. I was like "eeeww" LOL. Actually, the reason was, this Incheon Hotel is very near to the airport! I took this picture outside the window.

To think i still got the cheek to take photo of myself like that! LOL!!! Sian, i enjoyed myself sooo crazily. I even thought of how my friends are doing back in Singapore. Probably STRESSING here and there. I GIGGLED, YOU KNOW! HEHEHEH! Here I am, dancing in Hawaii while you guys are like URGGHH over work in Singapore. HAHAHAHHA.

FINALLY, RETURNED TO SINGAPORE!!!

SIAN, its already 12am plus and here i am, happily taking photo of myself! WAH LIAO! WHATS WRONG WITH ME AGAIN!

SORRY FOR SUCH TAKING SUCH A LOOONG TIME TO POST THIS. OK, I HAD TO EXPLAIN WHERE THE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN AND ALL! I EVEN HAVE TO WAIT FOR THEM TO BE UPLOADED AS THEY ARE BIG! PLUS, I NEED TO SHOW PHOTO TO MY PARENTS FIRST!!!!

lol, BIG CAPITALS TO SHOW THAT IM VERY SORRY, YET FED UP WITH THAT IVY FOR HURRYING ME!!!

LOL!!! IM ALSO VERY SORRY FOR IVY THAT SHE WAITED FOR ME FOR SOOOO LONG!

HAHAHA

Just joking lah!!

LOL SORRY IVY!!!

Wooo, i enjoyed myself so much. During the days, I also managed to talk to some memebers I never spoke or seldom spoke to. I also managed to make some friends, including the juniors as the sec 4 were be gone after their O levels. Now i often hear like "hello Rachel!" "Hi rachel!" and so on. LOL, yeah, of course i feel happy. It had been 3 years, sec 1, sec 2, and sec 3 this year, we weren't even like that but now i see some improvement around us. There was one time we went to a beach to Hawaii, we played, and one clarinetist girl walked past and saw me. I also happened to see her, then we were like smiling at each other. So she said Hi. I also say hi. Then suddenly, she offered me a hug. I was like "HUH" I didn't know how to react so I hugged her back. She is sec 3, same as me.

OK ENOUGH!!!!! IVY'S IMPATIENT ALREADY!!

Labels: LOTS OF FUN (: