Christmas

Having spent my Christmas walking around a quiet London last year, I'm so grateful to be with my family this year. I decided that we should do something more than just casual dinner so about a month ago, we made plans to do a secret santa this Christmas. Shopping for the perfect gift under such a low $10 budget was not easy! It was challenging yet fun. But I'm glad everyone got something awesome! I know I did :)


You must be wondering why the heck are we celebrating Christmas when it's clearly not our culture. Well, I don't really know exactly. We're greatly influenced maybe. I remember my first Christmas when I was young and we had this big Christmas tree propped in a corner in our old living room. I guess we celebrate it for a different reason.

We headed out shopping the day before Christmas and I honestly can't recall what we did, but here's us dining at Ideal.


Definition of a third wheel:

HEE HEE

Alright, until then, you can see loads of Christmas pics Shely uploaded on FB if you want to. I'm off to watch some YouTube videos before calling it a night. New Year is around the corner!

Happy Dongzhi Festival!

Today marks the winter solstice festival and I was lucky to have two meals that include tang yuan in both! Dad decided to go on with the tang yuan rolling without us this year and by the time I stepped into the kitchen, the smell of sweet tang yuan soup filled the air. Our lunch was the usual fried kueh tiaw tapao from the usual coffee shop near our place. It's a weird combination eating tang yuan with kueh tiaw, I know. But most importantly, I woke up late so I didn't have time to prepare lunch!

Fortunately for us, mom decided to order food for dinner so it was nice to come home from Seria to find readily prepared food. It's such a nice change from all the cooking and cleaning, you know.


Heavenly duck to mark this special occasion.

Mom is always ready for the camera!

We're really looking forward to Christmas this year because unlike previous years, we actually got a little something special planned so I can't wait for it. In the meantime, we've been cleaning the house a lot lately, clearing out unwanted stuff. We've actually got a scanner in good condition that we don't need so if anyone wants a fully functioning scanner, please let me know. 


Cheers from all of us. Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Bowling


Strike or no strike?

Hello people of the world. How's the holiday so far? We've past the halfway mark so you better cherish every bits and pieces of this holiday before everything comes striking. No pun intended. On one of those forgotten days, I drove my sister and brother to the newly opened complex at Seria, much to their delight. We ended up playing two games of bowling and watched two 3D movies. I was quite dizzy after that as I've not gotten used to the 3D glasses on top of my actual glasses. Wouldn't it be nice if we can integrate 3D glasses with our regular glasses? That way we don't have to wear both at the same time.


Shely having a go at it.

How well did we bowl? Let's just say we hung our head in shame after the two games, and especially after being sandwiched between two pro teams. On our left, we had two young people who got strikes so often we lost count. On our right was a family who used their own bowling balls complete with wipes and gloves. We didn't even wear socks!

Up Top

I haven't gone up the hill in over a year so I decided to do so one fine day. From what I've heard, the road leading to the army training spot has been cut off to make way for the road construction project. It does indeed look different now as a result of the construction work. I wonder if the hill, or what's left of it, is still worthy of the name Bukit Lumut. But it does seem to be the only hill we have in this village and the only spot for moon sighting in Belait. That has to count for something.

I believe I can fly~

The dual way carriage road construction is under way!

Deforestation is inevitable in this case.

I've got the best view of the sunset in Lumut from the Lumut Hill.

The Wooden Toy House

I've always wanted to build my own house. The other day, I finally got the chance to. Well, it's not exactly one that I can even put my foot in but it's closer than I'll ever get. Here's how my brother and I created a house - from scratch!

Step 1. We gathered a few planks of wood. By that, I mean a $2.90 pre-cut pieces ready to be assembled from the low priced gift shop in Seria. After much effort in making sure the edges are smooth, we carefully put the pieces together.


Step 2. Then, it's time for some color! We collected all our painting equipment, including that bar of chocolate and diet coke, in case we get thirsty.


Step 3. Next, we tore the pieces apart to paint each piece individually. We started with the floor. We picked green, of course, because we love the nature.


Step 4. I wanted a red roof because it's such a cliché color for a roof.


Step 5. The walls are obviously white in color because this is Brunei after all.


Step 6. Finally, we placed all the pieces back together to admire our new home that we cannot live in. Isn't it a nice unstable house?


Alright, now that we're done, we don't really know what to do with it because let's face it, it's quite an eyesore and, not to mention, a waste of space!