It was devastating, nine days after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake killed hundreds of people in south-central Chile, relief efforts were beginning to reach those in need, rescue missions became recovery missions, and rebuilding is already under way. In the days since the February 27th quake, nearly 150 aftershocks have been recorded, including thirteen above magnitude 6.0.

Despite the rush of humanitarian aid to all affected areas, the government has been criticized by Chileans, who say the response was slow and inefficient. One recent government action was to grant a short amnesty to looters before sending troops out in search of stolen goods. Nearly $2 million worth of looted items were returned, often dumped on roadsides, by Sunday.

Collected here are photographs from the past week in quake-affected Chile.

Credit – Boston.com, Read more: Chile, nine days later

Had some problems with my bank a few days ago. Apparently I was charged like 3 pounds from my account without any notice, clarified that with that at the branch and was told it was a stray bank charge and they immediately refunded the value in full. Scary!

Banks are different here and the bank’s online facility is quite unique from that back home in Singapore as well- yes we have to key in the bank pin and password each time you log on, the catch is that you are not allowed to enter the password in full, but rather key in 3-4 characters from your long passwords and pin based on their character position, mental!

And yes, the secure card reader don’t seem to have much use either. Why don’t they just use those 256-bit pin verification dongles? Buying stuff online works through the same verification method as well, but is not that “secure” as I expected it to be. Tried to purchase my oyster card online via the transport for London website, but the website kept telling me that the transaction was unsuccessful and to submit another. I assumed that I was not charged and the transaction didn’t go through due to a verification problem (you have to key in passwords, pin numbers, have the correct address etc), but my bank statement didn’t state otherwise- I was charged the full value of £23 (£20 value + £3 card value) each time even for a failed payment and was refunded only 2 times automatically from the website.

The bank representative explained little of the workings here on their debit cards, apparently every charge to a card successful or not will be treated as a point of sale transaction, only where the payment is verified where the card be actually charged. Go figure! but my bank balance don’t seem to be saying so!

I have to be more careful buying stuff online now, all these rouge charges are getting hard to keep track on!

It’s important but not Urgent!
With term ended a week ago, had about a whiff of freedom and lots to procrastinate, well so as it had been now. I remembered dreading the long days in lectures and supervisions of the previous term, always hoping for some breather off so I can consolidate and get work on track. Then I discovered what weekends are best used for. Well, till I wished they were longer as well as I never had enough time to get backdated work done and they always just end up in a viscous cycle, piling up almost no end in sight. That had to stop, one day. Then suddenly comes this offset of freedom.

Just like the fun and lightness of the new ice skating fair ground on Parker’s piece, this holiday felt strange, a direct contrast so unreal- no nagging alarms, dragging myself to make breakfast everyday in the dark and cycling at break-neck speeds to the department in time for lectures hoping not getting hit by traffic along the way. Go figure, well that’s life of a typical Cambridge university student.

Come to think about it, I had not actually got anything academic done till date. Spent much of the early week getting chores and dated freelancing projects settled. At least that is all done with a load off my chest so I can focus. It had been sometime since I’ve trained my brain to work on a schedule and I guess it’s not too late to get myself onto a stringent routine. So school work is next.

Holiday plans
Oh yes, I will be staying over in Cambridge for much of the holidays, most people I know will be heading back home for Christmas, but that’s something I find unjustifiable, let be costly for just a short 6 week vacation. On the contrary, I will be spending Christmas over with Aunt Jenny’s- she’s an old family friend in Hampshire who invited me over to spend Christmas with her family. Went around hunting for some gifts in town after sending Christmas cards home at the post office. After much consultation for an appropriate gift, finally settled for a niffy box of chocolates and a bottle of wine for them.

Now all I have to do is decide on my mode of transport there. I am very much torn between choosing the coach or train to get to Farnborough through London. Initially, I wanted to take the train to King’s Cross and London Underground my way to Victoria station or Heathrow to catch a connecting coach to Hampshire, it’s being the fastest and cheapest solution. The underground is cool, but I’ve not actually seen much of London myself, and I don’t want to pride myself having traveled London, but only in the tunnels!

So yup, that will be the coach for me there and keeping my options open for the underground trip back, which may not be a bad idea after all- I will be spending the new year’s and the countdown in the heart of London thereafter. Yay!

Woohoo better-than-dominos quality pizza with the same 2 for 1 offer in a restaurant, how else can it be better? Apparently it’s possible with coupons! and lots of them! Headed up to Pizza express situated near Jesus College with the gang for dinner recently, the chow down was definitely not possible without the website my friends discovered while hunting for the best food deals in town. This funky website goes by the name of Student beans and can be useful if you are a student on a budget here.

So apparently we all students entered this rather “posh looking” joint (which we all definitely looked out of place). It was rather hilarious when our “voucher mastermind” kept clarifying with the waiter there whether we can use those printed coupons off the net, before we ordered and even when we are paying, man it does adds to the cheapness which we students already have. But hey if you are asking for dinner on a budget that’s the least you can do. And hey at least the Pizza was great and so was the venue!

Last week was exceptionally busy, particularly with term coming to and end in about 1 weeks time. Time do pass rather fast when you are buried with work almost literally every day! I even do not have time to send out Christmas cards yet, despite having telling myself to send them weeks ago!

Nevertheless, some interesting things note over the past week was the rather unpredictable weather here at this time of the year. Strangely as I was told by my seniors, it usually do not rain as much as it does last year. This year is exceptionally “wet”. So as I come to learn the hard way as well.

I was caught in a downpour when cycling back from a from another college supervision about 2 weeks ago. I was literally drenched despite having much clothing on me, but that didn’t make much of a difference as they are all cotton and not water repellent! Dang! was that a night to remember, I was literally “sick” the following 1 and a half weeks after, not that I was down with a bad fever, but had those lingering symptoms which makes you feel horrible and won’t go away. I had a bad sore throat which slowly developed into a bad cough, (which proved rather interesting in developing the coughing chain-reaction in lectures). I am actually getting better now and so appreciate hot drinks now- something which I never did so back in tropical Singapore. It’s just wonders what a nice hot cup of green tea can do to not only soothe your throat but warm your day up as well.

“You always bring a jacket out in England!” So as I learned from a causal chat with my block cleaner when making breakfast one day in the kitchen. She’s a nice lady to chat with where she goes about her rounds in the morning sprucing up our rooms and common area. Interesting were her stories of how strong the wind gets here, it can get so gusty, it can literally smash windows or even blow your balance off your bicycle!

Ok, that much I have for this update, the rest of them can go in photos:

Touch the sundial!

Bike overload!

Everything tastes like chicken!

Oh yes, we had another cookout, this time with a group of Malaysians living round my block! We experimented with Maggi Goreng and had curry chicken as well! Just like food back at home here! whoa! The ride back home with the groceries for the cookout was rather interesting as well. Tested out the fancy new pannier bags I’ve brought from Amazon and they are really good to transporting loads off stuff on your bicycle. Full trolley visits to Tesco are a breeze now!

Meegoreng? Goreng!

Operation Chicken Lice!

The Meegoreng cookout gang!

Oh well, that is all for now. The weekend is here!

Ah, good old San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the world, only this showing how it looks like in the past, specifically set in 1905 before the big earthquake and fire of 1906. Well, besides the fact that this video is more than a century old and almost everyone you see in this video is not much among the living now, it’s still a blast into the past of how life was like back in the past which, in terms of organization with the exception of horse drawn carriages here and there, is not very much different from life we have today (and the exception of lack of vehicular control). Nevertheless still a fantastic city, through the eye of a camera on a cable car on this video.

And come to think about it, nothing much had changed in terms of how the city is still laid out today, specifically the trademark cable cars! This video really want to make me want to visit the place again. It also makes you wonder what things will be like 100 years from now and how people in the future will see us living today. Go figure!

In my latest email from home, it seems that there were some highlights and talk in Singapore of our PM Lee’s speech at Cambridge 800th anniversary gala dinner. Well not that I do not know of despite it happening within close proximity from where I am, but hey I have other things to worry about.

There was social last weekend at the CUMSA club (Cambridge University Malaysia and Singapore Association) and ironically it was actually founded by Lee Kuan Yew, LKY almost 60 years ago in 1948. Well not that I actually knew of it when I joined. Haha anyway, I kinda signed up as a lifetime member with the club. It was games night last Saturday and we had quite some ummmm fun, as you can see in the pictures, hey it’s a social event after all right?

Deck out the Wii!

Table games

And there’s always CS!

Besides the doses of fizzy drinks and oily fingers from food, it was largely a social event, we had games, Nintendo Wii, poker, card, board games and the best part (and why I was there) LAN gaming! Yea Counter-strike, DOTA and possibility L4D in the future as well. A fragfest it was, a much needed one too after a long week. Wahahaha I don’t think LKY envisioned his club as it being such as now, haha but at least we are keeping on with the times!

Food Alert!
Play hard? Also work hard! I was literally packed over the weekend, I had to submit a report and 2 example papers homework over the weekend, so I was relatively busy, so were the lack of updates as well. But that didn’t stop me from organising my first cookout over the last weekend! as well, that was earlier that same Saturday as well!

Turn this stuff

into THIS!

Yea! I love cookouts!

I initially wanted to prepare linguine with clams, but Saintsbury’s (aka their NTUC or cold-storage) was out of clam chowder, so I had to settle for beef stew with a vegetable mix instead of the sauce. Top it up with some smoked ham and going generous in helping some of my college mates finish up some soon-to-be-expired eggs. I prepared my first cookout!

Yea, a cookout for the gang as well. Ahah not bad for my first! I COOKED THAT Wahahah!
Oh yes, in short, that is pasta with beef stew, cabbage vege-mix, scrambled eggs, shredded ham and leafy vegetables, very wholesome!

Lastly on the weather, despite winter being quite far off, it gets cold enough here at night and in the mornings to “smoke from your mouth” when you speak. I think it hits close to freezing here at night, despite the meteorological services reporting 4-8 degrees. Nevertheless, I am still getting on the temperatures here very well, strangely being clad most of the time wearing only 2 layers of top clothes with single layer jeans and shoes. I should be able to handle winter with not much problems. The only problem is that your hands do get only very cold after awhile when outdoors, especially when you are cycling, but gloves always help!

No one seems to wear slippers of sandals out here, unlike what I do everytime in Singapore, maybe I should actually dress less sloppily?

There are quite alot happening around college, chill out sessions, welcome parties, ice-breaker sessions, speed meeting sessions, performances, talks you name it. And that is not just limited to events here but around town as well. The freshers events are the highlight for this time of the year, with the seniors getting to know all the juniors as well. There is just plenty to go around, sometimes you do not know what you are signing yourself up for as well!

Getting social here is not very much like what we do at home. Pubs and drinking is a way of life here, as synonymous as a gathering in a hawker center or a coffee shop for starters. Wanna meet? Pub! Watch soccer? Pub! Moreover, clubbing here is more open in nature and have better atmosphere and mixes compared to that I know that the clubs back in Singapore, even by local DJs around town. The club culture back home is almost nothing compared to that here and I still have yet to experience the best clubs in the Country.

Few of my favorites regular show segments here will have to be the stand up comedy, Wolfson howler. It’s usually pure crude humor delivered in a way you least expect it, it makes you laugh without questioning much of of Morales anyway, a show worth catching on their regular tours round Cambridge and is usually a full house whenever there is a show.

Wolfson Howler

Club? Umm Night Dance!

Bwarr da hands!

With the weather getting colder now, things are still very much heating up not only on the fun side but the in classes as well- everything is starting to go full steam, but at least there is still time for games and play as well!