Frightening weekend...

So I was in London. I stayed over at Leez's place. She arranged for her then bf and his friends to go out to then most happening club in London called Hanover Grand. They were regulars there, but that didn't mean we didn't have to Que up to get it like if we wre back home. No one is treated "specially" here even if you flash your pound notes....
Anyway, after an hour or so freezing our a^&e off, we finally managed to get in. Leez and I went straight to the ladies room to obviously empty our bladder, the lads bought a couple of drinks and unfortunately, we didn't get a table, so we had to hang out at the bar.
Finally, we met some other people from home (our own country) and they agreed to let us join them. And the thing I could remember one girl said to me "hey, I remember Ive met you before today back home. But you were skinnier then"

wow. thanks for being the typical Malaysian who has to point out every single kilo's you've gained (or lost).

Anyway, about an hour later, I was trying to talk to Leez, she was stood at the bar, and the next minute, she was on the floor. She collapse and fainted.
Shit...

Her bf then called for help, the bouncers came within 2 seconds, took her outside to get fresh air and rang the ambulance. The questions came gushing out towards me.

Was she taking anything? What drugs was she on? How old is she? Does she have any allergies..?

I was quite scared. Luckily, it was purely alcohol, it wasn't drugs. They made me unbutton her top, they wouldn't let her boyfriend near her (security reasons) and there was no lady present except me.
They then found her fake ID card (we had to be 21 to enter the club) obviously, she was only 18 then.
And that was when I thought it was the end of my world.

They told me off, they asked me for my ID, the said we could have been sent to the police lad di dah....

And then the ambulance came.

I got in the ambulance with her as they wouldn't let her boyfriend through for some reason. When we got to the hospital, she had to get her stomach pumped.

So why did she faint? Well, it was because she didn't eat before she consumed alcohol. and yes, I see that she was very skinny then, so I don't think she eats anything, not breakfast, lunch or dinner.

OUCH

And guess what? we heard, starting from then on, NO MALAYSIANS were allowed to enter Hanover Grand unless they carry their passport, and not just the student ID.

ooops.....

Christmas

Chirstmas

Christmas back home is normally just a day off watching telly the whole day. Nothing really changes back home. Its just like any other Sunday’s except there are a lot of Christmassy movies with all this little “moral of the story is….” type of movie..
Anyway, the first Christmas in England was pretty much the same as back home. Except, it was with snow…My whole family came over to visit, and we had a hectic Shopping scene for Christmas. There was even a bomb scare in Marks and Spencer on Boxing day, and I will never forget the look on my mom’s face when we all walked out of the shopping arcade with our shopping baskets. Everyone else started to put their “shopping” in their handbags/ other shopping bags, but mom insisted we wait for the alarm to stop and the security to let us back in to pay for the shopping stuffs. I shall leave it at that…

Anyway, the consequent years, was not so similar. I started celebrating Christmas like any other Englishman (or women) would. (I actually meant: how any English students would celebrate Christmas) coz most of their mom’s would be in the kitchen cooking Christmas Roast. Anyway, I was invited to stay over at LD’s house, since I was his gf at that time, and his mom and dad really wanted him home for Christmas.
And Ive never received so many presents in my life. I woke up the next morning (I was sleeping in his sister’s room, she was on the bed, I was on the extra mattress) and there was 2 sacks- and it was huge, next to the door. It was as though Santa came and left a sack for each of us. I was quite confused; I mean why would I have so many presents? It must have been for LD instead, and they (his parents) accidentally put it in the room Im staying in instead.
But there was a card with my name on it.
I didn’t want to be rude, so I opened the card first. And it was for me. I let out a squeal, and I guess that woke Kerry up. She then screamed when she saw her sack of pressies. 
Anyway, before I share what my presents were for that year, let me go back one night before Christmas morning….
What they (the English) normally does is they would meet their friends in the pub for a few (not overly drunken stage) drinks. They would chit chat, be merry, talk about what they think they’d get from their parents etc and what they got for their parents, gf’s. bf’s etc. And when they get home, most of them will have a glass of wine with their families, to share the story of what they talked about in the pub.
Anyway, the next morning, after opening presents, after breakfast (a light one, ie cup of tea and a piece of toast) again, they would go to the pub, but this time with their dad’s/uncle’s etc. The mom’s would stay at home to complete Christmas roast.
(drinking in the pub at 11 am, can you imagine that?) Anyway, they would then head home for lunch, ie Christmas roast lunch- yummy!, drink wine (or sometimes champagne) and then watch some telly. And probably a visit to the pub, to discuss their pressies. Fun eigh? Oh, you have to wear the red Santa hat to the pub during Christmas eve and Christmas Day... :)
So what did I get that year? Socks, Gloves, Scarfs, tops, knickers, choclates, wallet, perfume and Im sure there was more, but I cant remember now…Basically, it was the complete Christmas gift one could ever asked for as presents.

Anyway, the year after that, I was no longer with LD, I was with CJ. And CJ’s parents were the sweetest Parents In Law (if they ended up as my inlaws that is) a girl could ever have. They didn’t give me expensive presents, nor did I to them, but they always gave me meaningful ones. And until today, I will always get his mom a present for her birthday, and some small gifts for them for Christmas.

Well, what was the best Christmas present I got when I was there? It would have to be perfumes. Every year, it was either, Moshino or JPG, or CK….And they always come with nice Christmas boxes and with extra gifts…. How lovely!


Where did I celebrate Christmas? London in 1996, Malvern (Worcestershire) in 1997, Liverpool in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Trip to the family planning...

A letter from the NHS came through for me on my 19th birthday. It simply states:

please come for a free pep smear test. (I guess its free because its covered by the NHS)

I wasn't sure what it meant, as I have never done it before, though I have heard about it.

The letter immediately made me knock on Lucy's door. We had a "mother-daughter" chat. Once which I would not have gotten if I were to knock on my mum's door.

So the next Monday, I made an appointment to see a doctor at the family planning clinic. It was quite full- for a family planning clinic. Of course later on, I realised what "family planning" clinic actually means. Its not a place where people go to plan for a family. Its quite the opposite, really. Well, in another acceptable way of explaining it would be: a place (sponsored by the government to help young adults with any issues of family planning, safe and healthy sex, unwanted babies etc)

I had to fill in a form, as it was my first visit, which all the history of my mom's, dad's, grandma's, granddad's ec cetera have to be precise.
Anyway, after waiting (and waiting and waiting)- but I guess it wasn't as bad as it would be if it was in my own country (if they even had such place) I was finally called by. Just before I entered the room, I thought to myself "what if the doctor's a man? Would he think my knickers was a tad too much? I mean..it is new- which I bought just for the smear tests. Will he think I'm flirting with him, since its a bit too nice as its lacy pink and black with a matching bra?"
Before I had a chance to chicken out, the nurse got my weight, height and gave me a container to pee in. Right....this confused me a little... Anyway after a few minutes, the nicest lady doctor Ive ever met, walked in.

Doctor: "hi Miss Wen"
Me: "Hi. I'm hear for the free smear test"
Doctor: laughed. "OK, before that, Ive got to ask you a few questions"

And the questions came....
Doctor: "When was your last period?"
Me: I answered my dates.
Doctor: "When was your last pep smear?"
Me: "Never done it before. This is my first time"
Doctor: "Oh? Okay. So, have you been pregnant before?"
Me: "No, I'm only 19"

She laughed.
Doctor: "Are you sexually active"
Me:"No"
Doctor: "okay...hmmm, let me see.... we'll skip this one, and this one, and this one... ahhh. okay this one you can answer... Do you get cramps during your period?"
At this point I'm wondering...what if I said Yes to the question before? What would she have asked me? I'm curious now. Maybe next time I'll say yes to see what she'd ask...
Me:"Yes, sometimes unbearable"

and then she says "Okay, we'll do the smear now. It wont hurt...much anyway"

Oh My God...

Anyway, as she was doing the process of what I call the most painful thing Ive ever experienced, she smiled, and tried to calm me down. The nurse even held my hand and even said "bless you"
She needs more then to bless me- my god, the pain- which was soon forgotten.

Upon leaving, the nurse at the counter gave me a reminder card of when my next appointment would be and that they will send the results to my home address. Oh, also, they gave me a bag of free condoms. She said "this is a month's supply"


Now I understand why the clinic's always full...

hmmmm

The office Pub

My then boyfriend was working in the local pub called "the office". One night, they had a huge function, and they needed extra staff. I volunteered as I have never worked in a pub before, and I knew I had a good "teacher" to guide me as he was working that night too.
They were skeptical at first, as I have NEVER pulled a pint let alone mixed any drinks before. But they were desperate.
So that evening, before the pub was open for serving, I was given a 1 hour training.
To be fair, I didn't work in the function area as that would have just been like putting me in a lion cage. They put me in the other room, where the locals drink instead. And since I was known as a "local" there (because every weekend I am there to hang out with L while he was working), the punters (local drinkers) were very nice (and patient) with me.
By the end of the night, I got myself a few quids in tips, and I could already pull a perfect pint. Well, sort off. I still needed to get the hang of how to pull the perfect pint ofstones. The fluff just gets to me!
Anyway, after a successful night Debs and Paul(the landlord) had everything under control. They offered me a part time job. I was to work there every Friday and Saturday from 8-11. They would pay me the current wage then, which was ₤3.50 per hour. The tips were all mine. Though initially we pulled our tips together, after realising I was the only one which was pleasant enough (or maybe the drunks just thought I was a cute Malaysian girl behind the bar), we decided whoever got tipped were able to keep their owns tips.
So, I was making about ₤15 per night, which is ₤30 per week including tips.

I was on a role! I was so good at pulling pints and calculating off my head (not needing the till to calculate), I ended up working there for 2 whole years. :) Even after Paul and Dave was asked to leave as landlords...

Stay tuned for the next episode of The Office pub- where we all ended up answering to the cops one night...It was MAD!

Working at Coffee.com

In my final year, I was working at Coffee.com initially as a barista cum IT person. They had 3 pc’s to connect on Internet while having coffee and cake/sandwiches. It was the “in” thing at that point.
After 2 weeks, Gary (the boss) noticed that he wasn’t making much profit on the IT side of the business, so he took out all the PC’s and only left to do for me was make coffee and serve food. It was one of the most tiring jobs I’ve ever done. But don’t get me wrong, I loved knowing how to make a perfect Latte or a Cappuccino. And I loved the fact that I could tell the difference between a Panini bread and Ciabatta bread.
I also love the fact that after work, I could make myself a chicken pesto Panini or tuna and cheese on Panini for half price….yummy!
After about 2 months of working there, Gary sacked the manager (he was actually stealing money from the till) and made me (yes, a foreigner) a manager. I did get a pay rise, but at that point, I was so honored to be trusted to be a manager, ie one who closes down the shop (and checks the sales) everyday. I was also the one who was giving whom to do what. There were a few girls and one guy working under me at that time.
But Gary understood. He knew I was in my Final Year, so he did limit the hours he gave me. And some weeks, he would only give me an hour a day to close the shop, if I told him I have a few too many assignments to finish.
And because I was also quite desperate for money, I managed to handle work AND excel in my studies (thankfully)…
Anyway, one memory I had of the place was:
2 underage (16 yrs old) drunks came in at about 3 pm to get some coffee (I guess to sober up) before they went home. Anyway, Sara and I didn’t know they were drunk, we just thought they were high on drugs. One of the girls dropped her coins when she was paying, and couldn’t really pick it back up, and the other was falling over (without her coffee, thankfully) walking to their table.
They also ordered food. Anyway, Sarah went to the back to prepare their food, I was preparing their drinks. One girl stood up and ran (or tried to run) to the toilet. On the way, she puked all over the place.
The toilet was situated downstairs, and you have to go down a spiral stairs, so you could imagine the pain she had to go through, just to get to the loo…
Anyway, the minute she puked, the other customer’s made faces and moved away from their table. (it was quite obvious why). Sarah and I immediately opened the entrance door to get rid of the smell. The next thing was one I could never forget…ever! We had to clean the sick. (Brits call puke “sick”). It made me and Sarah both, nearly sick. Anyway, after about 30 minutes of mopping with water, floor cleaner and a bucket full of bleach, we had to ask the other customers to leave because it was getting quite unhealthy to eat and drink in a room smell of bleach.
We then asked the girl’s friend to check on her friend in the loo. It was getting abit too long for one to have to use the loo, even in such a drunken stage.
After another 20 minutes, no sight of both girls. One of the regular customers- who wanted to see the drama hence he didn’t leave when the rest did, offered to help take care of the upstairs as I and sarah went downstairs to the loo to check on the 2 girls.
When we got downstairs, both girls were sprawled on the floor, both with their eyes shut, one had her head in the toilet, literally.
We checked to see if they were breathing, I ran upstairs to call an ambulance, Sarah checked if they had a mobile phone on them so we could call their parents etc..
We found:
1) toilet rolls (they stole from the loo and the cabinet outside the loo)
2) soap (used) from the sink
3) 2 bottles (half left) each of what looked like Vodka
4) School uniform
5) 2 ID’s- 1 fake, 1 real…

Hmmmmm….

Anyway, ambulance came almost immediately. One girl was already awake when they came. The other was still half dead.
The nurses had a difficult time carrying her up the spiral stairs, (it wasn’t only spiral, it was very narrow). They had to tie them to the carrier (the plank thing) and pulled her vertically upwards, I was so afraid they might dropped her. But then at that time, I actually wished they did! The trouble she caused us both!
My topshop trousers had bleach stains all over!
&*^%

Anyway, after the ambulance took them, 2 cops came. Just to take our statements. Apparently, they were only 16 yrs old. They left school early to go pub hopping.

Anyway, a week later, Sarah and I both received flowers and Choclates from them to say “sorry” and “thank you”…

Sweet? Well, I can still smell the sick and I am still pissed off that because of that incident, the bleach destroyed my beloved topshop black flair trousers…..

Cooking....

In the first year, I was quite lucky I had Raymond. Raymond was the student from HK who was pursuing business degree, but is an excellent cook (he was thinking of becoming a chef, but his extremely rich parents wanted him to do business degree first before settling down with opening a dine in restaurant). Oh, and Raymond lives with Alex, and Alex is related to Barbara, who lives with me.
So anyway, Raymond had a soft spot for me (no he doesn't fancy me, he bets for the other team, so I was quite safe). So whenever he cooks, he will include me in. After two weeks of him asking me to join them, I insisted that I should be included in buying the groceries. Initially they were reluctant, as they say that I eat very little anyway, and I was providing them with the Instant Maggie mee (sometimes at 2 am, Raymond and Alex will come knocking asking me for my supply of Maggie Mee)...And at that time, Maggie Mee was priceless since you cant easily purchase it in Safeways. :)
Anyway, in the 2nd year, Raymond and Alex went back to Hong Kong, and I moved out of the student flat. So, it was cooking time for me.
And at that point, for at least 2 months, I was basically eating butter with Rice and Fried chicken. I couldn't cook anything else. And instant meals was a luxury - the economy back home wasn't doing too well, and I was working to pay my bills.
So I learned to cook to eat... I tried every single dish by making up my own recipe.(I didn't have any of Mom's recipes) And it was okay if it didn't turn out, because I was living with 3 British people who absolutely love everything (Except anchovies) I cook (they assume it was Asian food).
I survived cooking, and I am thankful that I could cook over there to survive, and it helped with my cooking now.

Banks were giving money???

Mostly everyone would research on which bank was convenient for money transactions etc. Especially for transactions from overseas. At that time, Malaysia only had Standard Chartered which you could do money transfer into the students overseas accounts. And even that, with not so many banks, a few least to say.
When the term starts, every banks in town would offer students with their best "gifts" so that the student will open an account with them.
The first bank I saw was Lloyds bank, it had a nice horse logo and lovely green and white color, I went in to open an account with them. (I did not do further research on banks at that time, I guess I was still "clueless"). Anyway, Lloyds bank was giving ₤500 overdraft for 1st year students, ₤750 for 2nd year and ₤1000 for final year. At this point I thought, wow! ₤500 given! How nice...and you get on the spot approval of Visa Credit card with ₤500 Credit limit(I don't even remember if I checked the interest rates!)


Anyway, after putting my money into LLoyds, I then realised, there are MANY other banks which was offering even better! Midlands was giving ₤750(!) for first year and so on.. But at this point, it was too late to open another account, as all the system is on line, so they can use my passport number and see that Ive already received an overdraft with Lloyds. Though, I could still open a savings account with Midlands if I wanted too, but why would I, right? (You can only receive an overdraft from one bank, at that time, if i remember correctly)
Anyway, ₤500 pounds was enough for me (I saw it as "free" money at that point, obviously we have to pay it back, with interest after 3 years. But it was interest free the whole 3 years that you are st dying)- Aren't the banks very nice over there? :)

Anyway, i signed up with other different banks for the "student" credit cards, just to get the inflatable chair, a water bottle and one bank gave a bag pack.... So anyway, with my inflatable chair, bag pack and water bottle, I got into more debt in the first year one could ever imagined. Luckily it was easy to get a part time job over there.... :)