[UK life] Fire Alarm at night

I have enough of my face for only basic cleansing everyday. After buying an exfoliating polish and a cleansing flannel in The Bodyshop, I did a thorough face cleansing and super skin care tonight.

However,in three mimutes after everything done, the fire alarm suddenly rang loud in the whole youth hostel building. All guests including me, with my cellphone,camera and roomcard, ran out of rooms to the ground floor.

While going downstairs, I scared a kid and made some people laugh by wearing a mask on my face and a towel on my head. It's really embarrassing!!!

Not for long, the alarm wad confirmed as a mistake.

"Now everyone recognizes you." said my roommate after entering back the room.

"No, they can't. I got the mask." I answered as convincing myself.


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YHA I stayed: London Central YHA

"5 stars" of Sunny's rating !! Strongly recommend it!!!

Lobby and food

Kitchen



My bed

 Dinning space

 Reception

[UK life] Military Tattoo

Tears filled in my eyes as the first play started.

Magnificent, passionate,touching.

Thanks God gave me a nice weather to enjoy it.

Thanks Helen prepared a blanket and a seat pad for me to keep warm.

I love bagpipe.

I love Edinburgh.

I love Scotland.


Looking down from section 6 BB5，

the upstanding military uniform with Scottish kilt is exactly a turn on to me.
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從The Mound(National Gallery of Scotland)眺望晚上七點多的Edinburgh city centre。
一整片的綠是Street Garden(天氣好的時候相當好躺)。

觀眾陸續往城堡廣場進場，警察人員設置了臨時入口，檢查大家的隨身物品。

進場後找座位，我的第六區BB5幾乎跟壁紙沒兩樣...將近貼牆。:P

儘管低溫風大，每場軍樂表演幾乎都是滿座。主持人在開場時，會相當熱情地問"Where are you from?" 、"Anyone from Italy?"、 "Where are the people from Germany?"、"Where are the people from Taiwan?" 每當自己國家被問到的時候，觀眾就會瘋狂尖叫，台灣也有被問到唷!! 超感動的~

The Massed pipes and drums are the best!!!

[UK life] Carsickness

Clara is going to a highland trip today.
Because it's easy for her to feel bad for a long-distance on the bus or ship, she wanted to figure something out to solve this problem.
However, what does work in Italy seems not helpful here. The pharmacy which she had asked yesterday didn't have something like a "Plaster" which is generally used in Italy to prevent sickness in one's trip. ( In fact, neither had I heard about this medical product before.)

She wanted to know how to explain this kind of illness to the driver so that she might be able to sit on the first seat to feel better today.

We started with consulting the dictionary about "how to say feeling ill on the vehicol?"
The anwser is "carsickness" or "seasickness"!!
We burst out laughing because it's unbelievably easy.
I was thinking that it's weird because you feel carsick when you are in a car, you feel seasick when you are on the sea,but you are homesick when you are NOT at home.

It is said as the meaning of  "bad sea" in Italian.

It sounds more reasonable for me, because:
When you are on the bad sea, you feel seasick.
When you are in the bad car, you feel carsick,
When you are in the bad host family, you feel homesick.

Hahahahaha!!!

[UK life] Good food settles

今天跟偉勝學長賢伉儷一起去吃韓國菜，我點了Spicy seafood noodles soup,還有跟大家share海鮮煎餅，超級無敵好吃!!!!又有種更喜歡愛丁堡的感覺了!

吃完飯後在新城散步，聊到wetherspoon這間pub,學長提到這家連鎖餐廳有間很厲害的分店，是開在百年舊銀行辦公室，以前的金庫也在，它的名字The standing order,是按月支付的意思。好特別!!! 因為可以帶小孩進去，所以我們在那邊喝下午茶，我跟學長點咖啡，學姐點a pint of cider beer,學長順便跟我介紹當地的啤酒。他們的咖啡不比星巴克差，而且也便宜，我好喜歡這家店，人們就這麼自在地與古蹟共處，真的好舒服，感覺下次來愛丁堡，絕對是為了pub culture，就像學長的冰島同學一樣，來個pub巡禮!!

接著我們去Leith散步，學長繼續介紹幾家好餐廳，都好想找個伴去試試，因為這兒的份量太多了，而我已經有淡菜的教訓,哈。

跟學長相聚是我在愛丁堡的第三個禮拜，當時學長帶我走了超過我的經驗值的哩程數，還有介紹餐廳，景點等。開始敢進餐廳點菜對我來說是個重要的轉捩點，當我想念家鄉或心情不好時，有了重新獲得力量或自我安慰的方式。

After that day we met, time seems flying faster. And in an instant  it becomes my last week in Edinburgh...

學長說他完全可以理解，當年他在紐約也是因為一碗超好吃的越南麵線，讓他整個人找到在異鄉生存的動力。(學姐說"上次你已經說過了...") 所以說學長更確定食物很重要，讓你有settle的感覺。I can't agree with him any more.

離別之前，把心愛的小禮物wine stopper送給賢伉儷。好喜歡他們，讓我看到長久的relationship，除了彼此照顧還一同成長，hope them live happily ever after. ^_^

[UK life] Homework: Fox and Woodpecker

One day, a fox wad walking around in the forest.The weather was wonderful,the sun wad shining and the wind was gently blowing. Suddenly,the fox heard that a tree behind him was creaking. He turned back,raised his head,and found there was a Woodpecker on a branch,which was holding a piece of meat in its beak.

The meat was huge and swaying, as if about to fall."It looks delicious!"the fox thought. Then the fox talked to the Woodpecker,"Good afternoon, lady Woodpecker. I have heard that Woodpecker have fantastic voices for singing. May I have the pleasure of listening to it?" The Woodpecker was very happy to hear that. When the Woodpecker opened its mouth to start singing, the piece of meat fell down, just in front of the fox. As expected, the fox had enjoyed this satisfying meal in the end.

[UK life] Telling a story

某次上課內容是讀一篇文章(每個人都不一樣)，自己挑想學的新單字，然後跟自己的partner討論是什麼意思。這是在Kaplan最常見的討論式學習。

課堂結束後老師叫我們用自己的生字寫短文。我的文章跟大自然有關，其中一個單字是啄木鳥。想了半天，我想起某次Goody要我講故事，關於狐狸與鳥。於是我寫了這個英文版的給Goody的故事。

今天收到老師改好的文章，Katy對我說， it's lovely, and well done!

紙上的評語是文章結構跟幾個片語用得很好，excellent。

很開心，然後突然好想Goody，抱抱他，跟他說謝謝他逼阿姨"唸"書，讓阿姨在國外言之有物，哈。

[UK life] Saying goodbye

Clara is leaving on this Saturday, but she wants to stay for one more week.

到昨晚回家為止，機票跟學校延期的事情都還沒有下落，她心情很低落，即使吃飯時聊天，everything was shown on her face.

回房間之後，看她呆坐在床邊，我向前關心，她說I really hope I could tell all my feelings to you in Italian, and you could understand them.

我叫她講，也許我可以聽的懂，於是她

開始用義大利文發洩，我一邊安慰她. It's really weird that I could feel all of what she was talking about, except Italian language itself.

講著講著她眼眶紅了。

她說她感覺命運在拉著她留在愛丁堡，

僅管家鄉的real friends也滿心期待她的歸來。

後來我才知道，所有她在這兒認識的好朋友，包括我，都碰巧會在"下週"離開。

這種巧合不容易發生，因為語言學校的課程超彈性，跟訂飯店差不多，每週一有一百個新同學來，週六有一百個離開...每個人留的時間不同...

所以她想繼續留一個禮拜。但她有預算考量。(而重點是機票改期的費用很高,€80起跳...而且她還沒找到一週後的班機)

最後我給他出的主意是，不如不要去學校上課，一週費用省下£185，補貼機票錢，反正在這裡，只要有心，處處都是英文等著她學習。而且她的三五好友包括我，只有一個人跟她同班，所以一天不差那三小時。

她破涕為笑了。然後又開始誇獎我，哈。

希望她可以成功改到機票，不要花太多錢!!

然後我跟她約定了明年的義大利之旅，希望我到時候英文跟"義大利文"都有進步，才不愧對她，哈哈哈!!

我也多了回家賺錢的動力了!!!

[UK life] Little things about Clara

I have been talking about my roommate Clara on Facebook time afetr time.
But still many things have I not talked about.

We talk a lot after dinner, walking upstairs into our rooms or going outside to sit on the bench at the backyard, every evening.

I enjoy this moment between us very much, not only because I can practice speaking English but also because I speak true feelings instaed of facial ones despite the poor vocaburary. So it makes sense that we use some body languages,faces or sounds which are mixed in our English coversation.And I love that parts as well. HA! 

As I have just said previously, we talk a lot, from political, historical and cultrual topics to some things about family, relationship,touristic and so on.

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day.
(I always have to describe something by starting with the weather  in the UK becasue it would be easier to understand the atmosphere to me at that time.)

As long as the weather is nice, I become happy easily and sort of "undefeatable" mentally, maybe.
Hence I got well-prepared and well-dressed for the first time in the UK to go out to enjoy my lovely sunny Sunday.
Before my leaving, Clara said " You look very sexy today!!" I smiled her back, saying thanks and getting a goodbye hug, then we separated into each one's trip. 

I took a tour bus to Quenn's ferry to see the Forth Bridge, a hundred-year old  and magnificent masterpiece of engineering.Then I went on  to Holyrood palace, which is a totally opposite direction of the harbor.
Because it was too good to give up or keep away from sunlight. ^__^

To sum up, I went home in a delightful mood at around eight.

After finishing my dinner,  we chatted in Clara's room as usual.
Clara asked me a lot of questions, maybe ten,about the location of Queen's Ferry, a small conflict between Helen and her...blahblah.

The final question she asked is this.

"Did you meet your lover today?  You really look sexy and pretty today. Did you?"
"You mean today? in the morning? or from the morning to now?"
" In the whole day. Even when you were back at the dinning table. You smiled to me and looked beautiful. Why? Didn't you meet your lover? LOVER."
"No...and why?"
"You must have met someone or fall in love with soneone."

Then I thought of one interesting thing which I did keep in mind for a while today. 

"Maybe I did!! But not me, it's the bus driver!! Maybe he fell in love with me."
"He?...a what?"
"A bus driver."   
 "How? Why?"

Then I satred to explain what heppened to me.
'When I took a bus to North Bridge in the afternoon, there were many cars on the road. The bus was waiting to approach the stop where I wanted to get off. However there was still a distance, not long but no short,between the bus and the stop.'

(In the UK, buses follow a rule that they only pick up or let off passengers when the bus is exactly right on the specific postion of the stop. Someday in rush hour, I had been waiting on the pavement to get on the bus for 30mins just because there were about 5 or 6 buses ahead.)   

'While I was waiting, the bus driver who is a young man asked me,"You wanna get off here?" I said, "Yes.Thank you." and then he opened the door to let me get off even we were not that close to the stop. Then I heard he saying some words in his mouth. However, as you know, my English is not good enough. So I didn't know the exact words. But I think I heard one word "Charm", maybe he said "you're welcome because you're charming." or "I am charmed"...something like that. And he smiled very friendly. So maybe he fell in love with me!'

Clara looked at me with a face shown "I don't believe it" and suddenly took up her dictionary.

 'Or, maybe, he was not saying"CHARM" to you...let me check...oh! yes,maybe he said "Champion",yeah..."Hey!chaaaaaampion!" hahaha...'
 'What is the word connected to me? It doesn't make any sense!'
 'Of course it does!! Because you are a "woman" and you are a "Asian". He might thought a asian woman is unable to know how to get off the bus. But you did! So he said "Wow, well done!! CHAMPIONNNN~~~" Hahaha...'
  'What a  bull shit! It's nonsense!!'

 'Or, maybe...oh I got another one. This word..."Channel"...yeah,"Channel"...Hahaha...'
 'What on earth is that? I still think "charm" is the most likly to be the right one.'
 'Maybe, there is a CHANNEL and he wanted to remind you...You said you were on the North Bridge, right? Didn't you see any channel...Hahaha... '
 'Why you started the beautiful question but ended it like that!!'

Clara was completely enjoy herslef in this game and couldn't stop turning pages of her dictionay.

 'Or ,or...yes,uh...hahaha...maybe "chapel"...yes!! He must have said that.'
 'I have no connection with this word!! You're really bullshit!'
 'Of course you do!! haha...ummm...Because you are a WOMAN,and, you are a ASIAN, obviously.Haha... He thought you were a tourist for sure.So he introduced the chapel to you...you know there are really a lot of churches, kirks and "CHAPELS"...right?Hahah...'

 'Do you always learn new vocaburaries by laughing at your friends like this?'
 'Haha...It's a good way, isn't it? (stilling looking down at the dictionary) Oh, maybe "CHAR"...ohoh, terrible, it's really terrible...poor Sunny...'
 'What's that? What does "Char" mean? I don't know that word...'
 'C-H-A-R,CHAR,forget it, you wouldn't like to know it. It's not good, a bad word...Hahaha...'

Although I ketp on staring at her and cursing her, I couldn't help laughing as well as her at the mean while.

I found another lovely bullshit friend far far far away from my country.
It's really a miracle. ^___^

  

[UK life] One day trip in Glasgow

Glasgow is a nice place to shop and see some impressive architectures.I went there with the golden partners plus the Yeh family last Sunday.
Walking out the station, George Square came into our sight, on which there are many statues of famous people. One of them is a person named James Watt. After reading the introduction in front, I found that he might be the one who had invented (or improved) the stream engine and therefore it lead to a important start of the Industrial Revolution.

There are dozens of statues in Edinburgh as well. However,before meeting James Watt, I only have feelings for Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations. Now I think I could understand why most Scottish people are very proud of Scotland. (So J.K Rowling has become less important to me recently.)

After the historical tour, we went shopping...Hahaha. Many shops in Glasgow are having sales promotion now.Some clothes are too cheap to be believed until you find the inside label printed with "Made in Bangladesh".

Then we visited the lighthouse which is one of the great architect Mackintosh's masterpieces. The only pity is that the rain had never stopped. The cold and wet weather made everyone tired and miserable.In one hand was an umberlla and in the other hand were thin paper bags filled with new clothes, which were so wet that become broken apart just after few hours.

At last, we dicided to go home earlier. To sum up this tour, I think I still prefer Edinburgh so far...:P

   

[UK life] Teacher in Kaplan

This is my favorite teacher Katy.

At my first week, I tried to discuss with her about the classes which are more than I could do.
Then she told me that she thought I was just slow but not lost and I should try one more week.
That comforted me a little bit.
She can explain vocabs and grammars in easy ways and always give us positive responses when we make mistakes.
I like the way she teaches and that's the most reason why I am still struggling with the advanced classes. Haha!!

[UK life] One for all , and all for one

I am doing what you have done to me.

這是第一週上課的獵人故事中的一句話。

某天我在整理回收紙張時，又翻閱了遊學中心的資料與提醒，試著讓自己融入寄宿家庭(聊天表達自己或許很難，但行動是容易的)，這禮拜開始，我吃完飯不會馬上溜回房間，會幫忙洗碗跟收拾桌面。讓Helen & Dennis知道我也是很有誠意的對待他們。

This morning, Dennis said ,"I am giving you a new name，Chief dish washer.

I said, "that's nice. It sounds I am useful.

Dennis said, "Yes, you are useful.

仔細想想，有時候我總是說的太多，做的太少，

在無法擁有很好的表達能力的時候，

行動反而讓一切變得簡單，讓人與人之間的相處愉快。

所以希望我以後不要找藉口偷懶了，哈哈哈。

[UK life] 飲食大不同: 奇怪甜點Custard

In every host family, a sweet comes after dinner meal everyday. It's said as a rule of Kaplan school.

Although I am not fond of sweet at all, I finish each sweet every time for sufficient nutrition.

某天的甜點，是個很詭異的東西。

像一碗濃稠、勾勾的、甜的、溫溫的蛋黃色小米粥，

但裡面還有放罐頭水蜜桃跟海綿蛋糕，

Host mother Helen said it's called Custard,and roommate Maria said its Spanish name is Natilla.

我用冒險的心情吃它時，Helen一直在觀察我的表情，問我敢不敢吃。

I haven't seen this before...

Maria也是怪表情，她說the sweet in Span is made cold, not warm like this.

兩個人都開始開玩笑爭論對方國家的食物很怪，

我才忍不住說both you are strange to me。

我吃幾口後，實在忍不下去，

也怕吃完一次之後，以後還有千千萬萬次，

把裡面的水蜜桃吃完就放棄了。

然後婉轉地說: I don't get used to it so far....

到底把軟軟的蛋糕塊放在濃稠小米甜粥裡有什麼好吃的???

老油條加花生湯才是王道啊!!