茶碗蒸

Goodness... a hell of alot sure has happened since my last update!!

Hmmm let's see where I should start from.

 First of all... exams are finished! And what's more... the results have come out! I was very pleased to find out I have passed everything smoothly which means I don't have to change my tickets and come back in January! XD Thank heavens for that. Although now I don't know what to do with all the notes I brought back home with me (in case I had to study them in the holidays haha)... So tempted to burn them, to be honest (or at least shred them like what we did last year! Mwahahaha). But of course I know we'll probably need them next year so they will just have to sit in the attic for now.

As some of you already know, I had also been working in Collingwood Street Pharmacy in Nelson... well, it was more technically speaking "volunteering" since I wasn't getting paid. I still can't believe how nice everyone there was to me though! Incredibly, during the four weeks I was there no one ever yelled at me or scolded me in anyway (even when I spilled a tray of chunky calcium tablets all over the counter...@@). The only time anyone told me off was also quite gentle and sincere (which made me feel even worse I guess!). Plus they always made tea or bought coffee for me, always invited me to take breaks and eat some goodies someone had kindly brought along for morning tea, and they were always so friendly and polite to someone as inexperienced as me. I am simply amazed at how patient they can be towards all of my questions as well... For if they were Taiwanese I'm pretty sure I would be receiving hard glares after three questions regarding the locations of medicines on the shelves XD And because of that, I was able to gain so much from the days I spent there as well as experiencing a relaxing and enjoyable working atmosphere. I'll definitely miss working there...whether it's Gary's explosions of songs and hilarious comments (or occasionally swear words XD), Tim's good looks, relaxed attitude, and the glow on his face when he talked about Campbell and the soon-to-come baby, Ann's gentle voice and lovely English accent, Anna's infectious laugh, helpful attitude, and ability to socialize with any customers, Margy's motherly nature and cheeky comments, Bob's perfect hairdo and makeup, or Mary-Anne's willingness to teach me new things. I'm sure to miss them all. And I was so very touched by the card and present they had secretly prepared for me! Although that somewhat made my guilt increase another notch when I remembered all those mistakes and troubles I brought them, and how I was so slow with everything that I ended up being more of a burden than help *sweat* But all in all.... a HUGE thank you to everyone at Collingwood and everything I had learnt there, all the experiences with dispensing, packing, and the occasional customer-serving will no doubt be of great help to me in the future. (And on a last note... I never knew how hard it was to pop medicines from their foils!! At least I was certainly never expecting to have a bleeding nail and scratches on my fingers from it. Damn you, aspirin! ="=)

Cooking was another new challenge for me this past month too. I mean, what can I say when I have a mum who has spoiled me with exquisite food these past 19 years? XD Although so far this challenge hasn't been too bad... or perhaps it's just my taste buds being gradually poisoned or killed by my terrible cooking experiments. XDD I was quite proud of a chicken curry I made the other day actually... it certainly turned out better than I had expected! (Watch out Miya and Jenn... that might be all you can smell next year at our flat mwahahaha)

Then the worst challenge......driving. What can I say? It has quite simply been a nightmare. Ever since my wobbly driving which made Brian incredibly nervous on my second day back, and nearly getting hit on the morning that I went driving by myself really early, my confidence has never improved much. But gradually, with some professional lessons with different instructors, and Brian's patience and the long hours of driving practice around Stoke and Richmond, I have finally gained what I had hoped but never thought possible to get this holiday... my restricted licence. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest achievements this holiday... and one earned with enormous difficulty at that!! The test today was nothing less than nerve-wrecking, emotionally straining, and physically draining despite its incredibly short length of time. And I have to admit I didn't feel too joyous afterwards since there was one place where I failed to look ahead (even though I thought I did ==) and was too slow to give way. So I was lucky, incredibly lucky that I had passed...

But what the hell, I passed!! And that's all that matters at the moment! XDD Thank God!! All my prayers had been heard after all.

And now... all that's left to do is some last-minute shopping, coffee catch-ups and house-cleaning... then home at last. For those of you in Taiwan... or going back to Taiwan soon... I shall see you very soon! Can't wait to catch up with you all XD