It's that time of the year again! Time to look back and reflect on things that have happened / not happened, decisions made / not made, paths taken / not taken. With the help of the 8000+ photos I took this year, I'm going to condense 2013 into a not-so-condensed blog post.
January
New Year's Eve celebration with the family. It's our tradition to count down whilst drinking red wine and munching foie gras on toast. I love New Years partly because of the excitement, but mostly because of the fact that it lets you "turn over a new leaf". Technically you can start a year with any day in a year and end your year with the same day 365/366 days later, but it's different.
"Sem break" = seeing my friends and eating lots of crap.
Singapore 16 - 18 January
I've never liked Singapore. I feel that it thinks too highly of itself. A competitor of Hong Kong my arse! It's clearly less superior (save that it's cleaner?)... Anyway, my sister and me went there for three days for her birthday. In Singapore we walked around and sweated way too much, but we ate even more.
Then I went back to university. Worst semester ever. Thank you for making me feel like the most stupid person on earth, my dear professors and classmates. In midst of a horrible semester, I passed my driving exam. First time!
February
Boring month. To make matters worse, this year's Chinese New Year fell on February. I've always hated CNY with a passion. To me, it's merely a time to eat turnip cake (and proceed to get a stomach upset) and "gather" with relatives that you only see once a year. The red packet money wasn't even good!
The only two memorable events of February:
Cocktail-making class... only fun after a few drinks though.
And drumroll please: Standard Chartered 10k!
March
My birthday month was sadly quite uneventful. Spent the month studying and catching up with friends in my free time. Also tried defeating my inner demon. Most importantly, I turned 19. Last year to be a teenager!
April
From my album there are lots of selfies dated April. It also seems that I had plenty of time to paint my nails, eat burgers, eat cakes, drink convenience store-bought bottled alcohol and doodle turtles on iPhone keypad on Whatsapp.
May
Finals a.k.a. Fuck I've Never Actually Learnt Shit.
I don't know was it stress or the various things thrown altogether at me in life that made me feel how I felt. I don't know what it is that if you like to crack jokes and make people laugh, you would be assumed to be a happy-go-lucky person with no personal problems and worries. Rubbish.
It was quite a bad month and I'd rather not talk about it. I'd just like to thank my friends for being here and apologise to my mother for making her worried.
I did eat a lot though:
Posted this black burger for lols. It was SO salty.
June, July, August
Not gonna bore you with my summer again. Please take a look at my previous post if you haven't already.
September
September marked the start of my exchange journey. I left my family for the second time in my life for Toronto. This time around I was living alone, much different from boarding school. I'm a homebody but I also love solitude and freedom~
In my first month in Toronto, I did a lot of firsts - first time living alone, my first laundry, did house chores for the first time (spoilt yes), ran my first 5k... I visited the beautiful Toronto Islands and went up the CN Tower and absorbed the mesmerising views of Toronto from above. It was a whole lot of experiences in a month, but that was only the beginning ;)
I wrote detailedly about my first three weeks in Toronto when I was still in the mood... Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3.
October
This month I went to the ROM, the AGO, attended Nuit Blanche... I ate Five Guys, ramens, cupcakes, sushi, bibimbap... I did the crazy CN Tower climb (I can still feel a sharp pain in my messed up knees sometimes)... I went to two universities in Canada to visit my friends from high school. We didn't actually talk to each other anymore. But one of them invited me over after seeing my Toronto photos on Facebook. I only resumed posting photos on Facebook to document my life this summer, who'd have known they would rebuild friendships? I love being a Paulinian - even if we're scattered all around the world, we still feel like a community.
November
November was a very special month. It was so much packed into one month! I had external exams and mid-terms. I went to New York, Washington D.C., Montreal, Quebec City and Niagara Falls. My sister came over from Hong Kong. My friend Garen visited from the States. I was contented that Toronto was starting to become "my city" - I could show people around and take them to "local places". It was then my love for this city started to blossom.
December
December normally is my favourite month of the year. But the first half of December this year ended in the blink of an eye. I visited some places that I'd wanted to go. I met up with some more old friends. I said goodbye to my new friends in Toronto (whom I'm missing terribly) early and flew to London to reunite with my family.
My parents and my sister were in London for their winter vacation. I did what I do usually when I'm in London - eat, watch cooking shows, sleep... I met up with two friends from my school in London. We were all amazed by how much difference a few years would make. I had plenty of fun with my friend Sharon.
After a little more than a week in London, I flew back to Hong Kong to reality. On my first day back, I headed to Causeway Bay to run some errands. The familiarity scared me. In an ever-changing city like my hometown, things seem so different after you've been away for a week... HK was busier than when I'd left, a few shops had closed down and a few new ones had opened. But it was almost as if my four months in Toronto had been a dream. My exchange journey is one of my fondest memories... what if all along it's been a dream?
Yesterday, I went hiking. It was a frequented trail with a splash of newness added in. Today, I went for karaoke at 11 a.m. then for a farewell lunch/tea/lunea/lea/tunch/teaunch with my buddies. Just the good old holiday routine. The end of the year constantly reminds me of how fast time goes. With each of us heading towards a different goal, I know one day getting together for a meal will become an irregular special occasion...
2013 is a roller coaster of a year. It's probably one of the worst and the best years of my life. Still I'm thankful for every experience and emotion, for it is experiences that define and shape us into who we are.
Now we're heading onto a new year. 2014 is looking like a pretty big year for people around me and myself. But what exactly will happen? We can't predict the future, but one thing is for sure - growing up is scary.
