THE AVENGERS: An action pack movie peppered with humour.
For a non-marvel comics fan, it took me around 15 minutes or more to understand the setting of this movie. In general, I felt that this movie was pretty interesting and to my liking. Apart from some useless characters like the hawk and black willow, the other super heros like iron man, hulk and Captain america and semi-god Thor played a great part in making this movie a pretty hilarious one. Okay i ain’t going to be a movie spoiler :D
THIS IS THE REASON WHY I WOULDN’T WANT TO GET MARRIED <3
I love the background. dream to play in this type of environment <3
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
Cambodia, Kingdom of Wonder
Just came back from my mission trip in Cambodia and i must say that i enjoyed myself thoroughly- from the people, to the scenery and even the food.
I spent my first three days in Cambodia teaching English at (Project Khmer Hope) PKH and it was a rewarding experience. Although I am younger than 90 percent of the Hospitality class (the age of students ranged from 19-24, 24 of them in total), the students were still so eager to learn from me.
“My Hospitality class learning English”
“My classroom-this reminded me of the TC block in nj and Mrs teai”
Here was the schedule:
7am Breakfast
8am-11.30am English class
12pm Lunch
2pm-4pm English class
4pm-6pm Free time (most of the students visited the library where i read books to them)
6pm Dinner
7-8.30pm English class
This students from camobodia must have some sort of zeal to keep up with this schedule. If this was my schedule, five times a week, i bet I’ll be sleeping for 50 percent of lesson time. It was nice to chat with the students to get to know more about them and how different our lives are. for instance, I keep pet tortoises and fishes, while they keep pet pigs, chickens, cows, dogs (larger animals that can only be seen in the zoos in singapore). Oh and i learnt how to count in Khmer- Moi (1), Bee (2), Bowl (3), Bowen (4), Prrrram (5), Prrrram-moi (6), Prrram-bee (7), Prrram-bowl (8), Prrram-bowen (9)- do correct me if i am wrong.
On the second night, Xuan and I star-glazed for almost an hour. There were millions of stars in the sky (spotted the orion, which can be seen from my house in singapore). while star glazing, we heard some weird singing from the dark. According to the PKH senior who was visiting too, 99.9 percent of the farmers are drunk in the night due to the easy access to beer and they would sing into the mikes in the night. Although they maybe a distance away, due to the fact that everywhere is really quiet, who can hear them singing. Cool isn’t it?
On the third day, we had the honour to visit the market and park in a tuk tuk. The students were in for the treat today and the cook bought chicken, fish, etc (a rare sight at pkh where a one dish veggie meal is served at every lunch, breakfast and dinner. We had a wonderful time at the market- bought a tub in the market for the teacher to wash clothes and tried to act as a seller. I failed terribly as the I wore glasses (the large majority of the people do not wear glasses). The park was a very simple place- just a few tress, a lotus in the middle and a couple of benches. We also climbed down the huge drain to get a better view of a fisherman using his net to catch little fishes.
“Failed seller because of my glasses”
“The market- Similar to Singapore in the 50s (no form of refrigeration)”
“Fish- can be kept for more than a year in this state”
“Fisherman and his net”
“the really nice senior (in his late twenties about to enter the university) with me at the park”
Weather in Cambodia
we were melting in cambodia. Although it was 36-37 degree celsius in cambodia, similar to that of singapore, it was strangely warm and we couldn’t stop perspiring.
“My bed is on the left- this is where we spent more than half the time melting and sleeping with the bugs”
Bugs in Cambodia
On the first day, i was horrified to find many small bugs on my bed and took to effort to squish all of them and give them a proper burial (in the bin). however, i eventually resigned to my fate and decided to sleep with the bugs.
Music In cambodia
The student, especially the boys can sing really well. They sang some love song about a “girl leaving the boy and yet the boy still loved her and was willing to forgive her despite what she did”. Their voices were so melodious and were able to make your heart melt. They made me sing and my voice really phailed in comparison. BOO HOO.
“Mo Na (singing) and Sok Nen (on the guitar)- they are both 23 years old)
Food at PKH
In Singapore, we have a variety of food for every meal. In Cambodia, we had one dish for every meal. The first meal we had was BITTER GOURD. if i ever saw a bitter gourd in my food in singapore, that will be the first thing i dish out of my plate. But at PKH, no bitter gourd means no dinner- so i had to stuff that into my mouth, swallow it whole without chewing it to make my dinner a little more enjoyable. Another memorable meal was EGGPLANT. Honestly speaking, when i saw the eggplant I really didn’t feel like eating it- but still we cannot waste food, especially in a country where having a meal that can fill your tummy to the brim is a luxury. I was trying to numb my senses (taste and smell) while i ate the eggplant to ease my sufferings until I SAW THE CHICKEN FEET. that was the last straw (i threw the rest of the food away and felt really bad).
Other than that, the food in Cambodia is Excellent- the tasty pork noodle soup, the fried ginger chicken, ommelette, fish soup and the list goes on and on.
I think that i grew fatter in Cambodia considering the amount of rest, rice, food, dishes that I had. :P
“The chicken feet in the eggplant dish”
On the third night (friday), we took a one hour journey to the guest house. During the ride, we saw thousands of people flowing out of the garment factory and getting onto the vehicles to pick up the multitude of people (all of them had to stand in the vehicles). Speaking about vehicles, it was interesting to note that there are three different places you can sit when riding a vehicle (a van):
1. on the seat itself
2. on someone else’s lap
3. on top of the van (literally)
“Guide to how to sit on the vehicle”
“Modified Vehicles”
“Bumpy road that gives you a free massage”
“Motocycles are for three or more”
When we reached the guest house, the entire phnom phen was having a power failure (fortunately the airport had generators and stuff). so we were practically living in the part and using the lights from our phones to figure our way around. It was not until a cambodian brother used candles to light up the whole place (how nice of him). as we were the first guests to live in the guest house, the candle wax really ruined the whole place. Such a wonderful place with no electricity, really made the place a horrible place to live in instead. It was literally an oven. The water came intermittently and it was so hard to wash your face, let alone, take a bath.
The next morning, we were horrified to find dog poop spattered over the porch of the guest house too. Perhaps the neighbours weren’t happy that the guest house looked so luxurious amidst the other zinc roofs and atap houses. oh wells.
We took a five hour journey to the farm which was around 1000 meters above sea level and 500m near the border between cambodia and vietnam. Our van flew past the MEKONG RIVER (the river that i had a lot of conflicts over :P). SO COOL
We also went to central market to shop for shirts- 12 USD for 7 shirts and 10 USD for a part of high tops converse shoes, value for money :P
On this trip, I realised that I have this strange ability to make friends with anyone who sits beside me on the plane, from any country. :D
Okay random photos of random people
