Salut !!

Right, I'm not sure how many of you know that I've moved to Cheshire more than week ago for my internship but yep, I'm four hours away from London now!! 

This should explain why I've been so quiet after exam and Greece - so much of packing ups to do, moving out from the old house as contract expired, storing winter stuff in the warehouse and shipping some stuff back to Malaysia. 

Reminds me of balik kampung journey for raya, hehe.

And also saying goodbyes to all my favourite places in London (Basir's house for the karaoke, Harrods for its massive sale, Westfield for its cinema and all the Msian restaurants!!).

Although I think I've been here long enough to survive on pasta and pies, which has reached a plateau now, I still find nothing beats the richness and spiciness and deliciousness of fried kuey teow, nasi lemak and chicken satay.

Nyuumm!! :)

Anyway, moving up north means I need to adjust myself to the new suburban life, the north-west accent and the one-every-hour public transport.

Life here is, of course, very different from the one I'm so used to. I can now understand why some friends who study outside London cannot stand the city for more than two days. They get lost among the swift activities between Londoners catching the train and running into buildings.

There's none of those here! It's so peaceful and calm. You see mums with strollers chatting by the hedge in the evening, old men reading novels on rock chair, and housewives trying to figure out the lawnmower. Just like the relaxed ambiance of Wisteria Lane, sans dramas and back-stabbings. A typical English village, I must say.

Anyway, I'm now living with a lovely lady who is really chatty and she makes me feel at home instantly. Her house is far more comfortable than my previous flat and I'm so glad I'm here. She's been in the village all her life so you can imagine how much information I need to absorb about the new place in a day. She'd start taking out all the booklets, information leaflets and show me internet pages to answer my three-word question, "where is xxx?" (I have a personal tourist guide, at least hehe).

Well, my landlady may have all the bus timetables and guides printed out, but with no bus services on Sundays, they're no use!! I overlooked that fact and came back from London last sunday to no means of transport to go back home. No bus, no taxi, no tube - I ended up walking for 3 miles. So that's not a good experience and definitely something for me to learn about this place.

As for halal meat, I haven't found any shop that sells it yet. However, I've found one halal Indian restaurant 10 miles away.

I've been living on vege as there's not much seafood in the local store. Can you think of any Malaysian vegetarian dish? I only have nasi goreng cina in mind. Plus, I haven't met any Malaysian yet here, and I'm the only intern in the department. So yep, haven't had Msian food for quite awhile now.

*shouting out loud* I need kuey teow goreng!! ThankYouVeryMuch.

Silverstone 2011

I was at Silverstone last weekend for the Formula One Grand Prix. I don't watch F1 but when anyone watches it, I'd just join in. So, some names are quite familiar and the terms are not total strangers to me either.

Anyway, It was not an ordinary trip (although it was my first F1 ever), but it was one of those days that I'd keep in my memory all my life. I was shortlisted for a one day - yes, just the qualifying day - experience to be among the spectators right above the pit, who receive free earplugs and flowing food. I see them on tele all the time, but last saturday, I was one of them!!

I love how the tag says "A guest of Mercedes GP Petronas", hehe. Makes me feel so important I wanna sleep with it.

Speaking of free flowing food, we were greeted with variety of food as soon as we arrived. I saw people having breakfast and networking at the same time. Me? I was busy stuffing my stomach with salmon and salmon and more salmon, my favourite. Oh, and cakes. I'm still growing, so you can't blame me for being hungry :)

Then we were taken to the pit. Yes, you heard it, THE PIT. It was about an hour before the race, we could see teams assembling the cars. 

Our national hero and Malaysia's F3 driver, Jazeman Jaafar was also there. Very nice kid indeed with big dream too. I tried to go close to Ferrari but it was so crowded. One man even whispered "you chose the wrong team love" when he saw my Mercedes tag. Haha.

The best part of the day had to be the viewing gallery, situated at the back of the each team's garage. It's got two rows of seat, with a clear screen overlooking the garage. You'll be given headphone where you can listen to the team conversation. Only a number of people were allowed to visit the viewing gallery and I was lucky!

And while I was down in the gallery, Nico Rosberg came in to change tyres. So cool !! Oh, photography was not allowed sadly.

So I went to the office this morning and told my colleagues about Silverstone. They all thought I went with the Ferrari team. I have totally forgotten about the company. And to be professional, I could only nod.. hehe :) At least Alonso won the race.

And lastly, who is this person on my left??

Lewis Hamilton is on my right.