Journey - Application

Life is a journey,

Not a trip.

Life is what’s coming,

Not what it was.

You can do what you want,

But you will never have it all together.

You are much stronger than you think,

But you always look down on yourself.

It's a long long journey,

Till we know where we’re supposed to be.

It's a long long journey,

And we don't know if we can believe.

Cause it’s a long long journey,

Till we feel we are worth the price.

If we don’t start,

It is certain that we won’t arrive.

Why don’t you take the first step,

to change the world?

First week of Global Passport

Time flies, and one week has passed since I first reached Vietnam.

First of all, I am really really glad that my first-fully-managed project, TechCycle Teah4ALL has successfully come to an end. It is a really spontaneous move, because we just decided to run this project on the spot, without much consideration of other factors. We just had one month of planning before we ran this. We did not join all the planning with national team and other LCs. All we did is to have 2 meetings with MC, and just do it!

Although we only managed to match 2 EPs to this project, we are proud to say they have a memorable and fulfilling internship. They have managed to conduct 5 workshops at SMK Bandar Sunway, SMK Sri Aman, Catholic High School, SMK Subang Jaya. A uni campaign was carried out in Taylor's as well. They have successfully collected 20+ items of e-waste for our project. *Clap Clap* And I really thank my project team, for being able to pull things out despite being new in running project. I am too lucky to have such fantastic teammates to work with me. :)

Because lovely people do lovely things. ;)

After completing my AIESEC work in Malaysia, here comes my new AIESEC journey in Hanoi! I have visited a few places. Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, West Lake, Temple of Literature, Grand Opera House, Bat Trang Village etc :3

On 16th Feb, I have visited so many places at one shot! There's a temple in the middle of the lake, underneath the legend of Turtle (Top Left Pic). There were people demonstrating for the peace that Vietnam has when China invaded them years ago on that day (Top Middle). And there are so many French buildings around the Old Quarter (Top Right). Wedding couples love to take picture around these beautiful buildings and this is a tourist-must-go spot! (Bottom Left). And one of my favourite places, the Grand Opera House! (Bottom Middle). Last but not least, I also went to the garden and cafe within their housing area! It is such a breathtaking scenery. :)

There was an art exhibition in front of the Cafe in housing area. And this is my favourite art piece! Do I look like on of the children with innocent smiles too? =) 

 On 19th (Wed), I went to another part of west part of Hanoi. Went to Ho Chi Ming Museum, The Presidential Palace wher HCM stayed, One Pillar Pagoda and Temple of Literature (Confucius). The temple is very big and spacious. And you see that the garden is beautifully decorated with flowers. Although we have flowers in Malaysia, I still could not take my eyes off from these flowers. The scenery is just simply too picturesque. And this is how Vietnam preserves and utilizes on what they naturally have to turn this city so beautiful. :)

Try to walk along the roads in Old Quarter, and you'll always find all the beautiful flowers smiling at you ;) 

On Feb 22nd (Sat), we went to Bat Trang Village! It is a village which is located 20km away from Hanoi and we had to take 2 buses in order to reach there. But, it is all worth it for this new experience! :) As this is a village of ceramics, people usually go there to hand make or purchase ceramics-made products such as Vase, Cups, Bowls etc. And of course, their Bun-Cha (Grilled Pork Noodle Soup) is yummyy!

Duckie and Vaan were so spontaneous as they joined us immediately after my host sister's friend, Le called them in the morning. And none of them has been to this village before this.

So here is a blur picture of us making " an art piece" together. 3 interns + 3 new friends :)

On 23rd (Sun) This is the Opening Day of Global Passport in NEU! Around 20 attendees came. This is the day where OC will brief attendees about AIESEC and also this project. This is the first day where they meet EPs, like other interns and me. LCPe explained AIESEC history for them, followed by introduction of project by Project Manager. After that, we had some game and sharing session. It was fun, especially when we had a game which needed us to apply toothpaste on our faces and pass around the team. The toothpaste is really sticky, but we enjoyed ourselves. :)

Attendees :)

  

Attendees and I during sharing session :))

In the afternoon, we had meeting with the whole project team. And we went to the Information Day of AIESEC in NEU Hanoi. I was very surprised that their info day is on a Sunday. Imagine if you were to be invited to an inf o session on a Sunday in Taylor's, I guess nobody would attend. But, students here are keen to learn. AIESECers are like an elite team. Confident, outspoken and dynamic. And it is hard to get in too. For their last recruitment, they only chose 3 candidates out of 60 students. OH MY GOODNESS. Thank god I am in Malaysia.

After meeting, we went to several cafesss. The first one is Holic Cafe. It is a small yet comfortable cafe. Quaint-and-classy style. The only bad thing about this cafe is they dont sell any cooked food. Neither do they have snacks. So, we can't really have a good meal or high tea while enjoying the coffee here. Nonetheless, their coffee is fabulous. My green tea latte. It is RM6.50 (35,000 VND) and is definitely worth trying :) I have never taken any coffee in Malaysia, but since the day I came to Vietnam, I have started to drink as the weather here is cold. Feel so warm every time we drink something hot. ^^ And we went on to another cafe to have some hot food while chilling there.  

Love from the bottom of your heart <3

Walls in most of the cafe in Vietnam are decorated with pretty wallpapers :)

Meeting, planning, site-visit and eating is basically what we do before classes start. The real challenge only starts when the scene of attendees attending classes comes into picture. So, stay tuned for more. Love :)

Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world.

New chapter of life

After Chinese New Year, here comes my new journey of another phrase of life.

Before I start blogging about this 2014, let me do a conclusion for what I have achieved for 2013 :)

1. A case
2. 3 violin performances
3. 2 piano performances
4. Election
5. Not-too-bad-but-not-so-good results
6. A part time job to wrap hamper during CNY in Singapore
7. Learn and understand more about teaching in Buddhism
8. Attended 2 LLDS, 2 National Conferences
9. LCM
10. Wrote Transcript and being an interviewer
11. LEAD project
12. Home visits
13. More thick-faced?

But overall, it is a great year. Although it leaves me a deep scar at the beginning of the year, it is indeed a fulfilling and life is so much better and meaningful, when I get to meet so many good people along the way. :))

Short trip to KL

Aloha people!

Here I am to update about my life :)

On last Wed (22nd), I rested at home for the whole day. It was not a productive day as I didn't do much on anything on that day. But but, dinner served was slightly better than usual :D All these days, I have been cooking nonsense to be frank, even my dad could not bear my "cooking arts" anymore. He said this in a sarcastic way, "Whenever the clock hits 6pm, you'll just open the fridge, and cook whatever it is there. And you never plan what to prepare, what to put and etc." I was kinda angry with him saying this, but it is so true that I can't argue back. So, ta-da, at least something edible, different for the night :)

After that, here comes my second KL trip in the holidays! Before this, I have followed my friends back to her Endau house. It is followed by the trip to KL. And a brand new environmental project, TechCycle Tech4ALL is waiting ahead! ;)

On 24th (Fri), there was a high school workshop at SMK Subang Jaya. Before this, I stayed in Zhou Yee's house. So eventually, she followed us to the workshop, together with the EPs. All the morning session students attended the workshop, around 250 students. Good job for both EPs who had conducted the workshop successfully! To be very honest, it is really a challenge to speak in front of 250 people, and also to attract their attention. Now, I really salute teachers, who can settle so many students at once, with rules and discipline. 

After workshop, all of us were given some token of appreciation. The counselor, Puan Lee also treated us a lovely lunch. A well-spent day indeed. Last but not least, I really gonna thank Zhou Yee for coming with us! Hope that she had an eye-opening experience. ^^

Delicious food at their canteen =)

Camwhore session at Zhou Yee's place :D

Last Saturday, it was Y2B Malaysia 2014. 

It is also the first day of MyLDS for senior track. I am kinda disappointed with this arrangement as they only prepared two-days activities for senior track. I have never been to MyLDS, which is a national conference that lasts 6 days 5 nights. Being a senior in AIESEC, I am not allowed to join junior track which is almost one week long. An opportunity to participant in such a big national conference is gone :( However, in this two short days, I did learn a lot of things :))

There are 10 companies involved in this Y2B. They are Ernst and Young, TalentCorp, MSC Malaysia, Microsoft Malaysia, Shell, Accenture, Says, Genovasi, MyTeksi and GE imagination at work. The theme is "Building the Bridge: Decoding Gen-Y". Apparently, it is all about Gen Y nowadays. A few representatives from those sponsors gave speech and it was followed by an external forum. They discussed a few areas regarding Gen Y. It is so true that even we Gen Y, also cannot handle ourselves the same generation, not to mention baby boomers and Gen X.

After that, it was workshop session. 
I was assigned to Ernst and Young entrepreneur and innovation workshop.
In the first part of the workshop, they have invited Mr. Nelson, who is awarded as "Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013" by EY in Malaysia. 
If you dont know who he is, take a look at the picture below in which business he has founded :)

Mr. Nelson has founded this corn business 27 years ago in PJ. 

Now, his business has expanded to overseas, exporting corn to more than 16 countries in the world.

His talk is rewarding in the sense that we have learnt a lot from him.

He believes in 5 Ps- Place, Product, Price, Promotion and People.

The key of success in his business is the quality, quality of corn.

For him, experience is utmost important and this is what makes him a successful entrepreneur.

He has been working since young, accumulating a lot of working experience in different working industry.

"You will never truly master the whole business until you experience it," he said.

This is where you learn new skills, train yourself up.

Networking is vital too.

Mr.Nelson advised us talk more and make as many friends as you can!

Of course, be sincere and honest all the time, with smiley face :D

To get help and learn new things, go ahead and ask! 

Never be afraid to be thick-face and paiseh.

People wouldn't know what you need until you tell them.

Besides,

focus on 1 business at once.

Go out and work in that relevant industry, and learn from other people.

After you have some hands on experience, 

only you venture your own business.

Do the things you love.

Start small and be patient and perseverant.

Always have a contingency plan, to grow stably even during recession.

When you partner with your friends to do business,

never forget to write everything in black and white.

In this world, nothing is permanent.

After gaining insights from this respectable entrepreneur, 

we proceeded to the next session, workshop.

All of us were divided into 10 groups of 10.

Yup, so there were 100 students in each workshop.

I joined group 10, in which there were 2 people whom I know with some other new people there.

We were given a case study to be solved and presented in half an hour. 

So, we had to write out our plans and present everything in 5 min at the end of the session.

It was fun and interesting!

I have met some people from Sunway and USM.

They were so friendly and funny, and very soon, all of us blended in well. =)

Our question was that, "our organization is an IT hardware company. We have to come out with an environment activity which will increase the revenue or make a saving, with no fund allocated."

Meaning that, we have no capital to do this activity besides making money for the business.

The situation is very similar to the project that I am doing now, 

TechCycle Tech4ALL.

In this project, 

we are supposed to create awareness and collect e-waste for underprivileged children. 

This suits this question perfectly,

so we went along with this idea.

However,

we realized that it does not make sense if we want to do some charity work while making money out of that.

Why would people donate e-waste to help us make money?

So with quick wit,

we turned the solution around!

It makes sense if we partner with NGOs who can help us to collect e-waste and benefit from this.

And since we are an IT company, we can refurbish on our own. :D

With this,  we save $$ too.

And we go on with this, 

bla bla bla bla.

But guess what?

With such an impromptu plan,

we are the winner group! :D

And the prize is

TA-DA

H&M card which has RM50 in it.

Each and everyone in the group got this.

The happiness was beyond my description

Because I have not bought any single cloth for the one whole year,since last year CNY until now!

Perhaps for girls,

it is indeed an achievement if we can curb our shopaholic personality!

I did not buy any shopping items like cloth, shoes, make-up etc,

for last whole year. 

Until recently, 

only I bought 2 pairs of shoes for this coming nwe year as some of my old shoes had come to the end of their lifespan.

THAT'S WHY I WAS REALLY EXCITED WHEN I GOT THE SHOPPING CARD :D

But besides this,

I really learnt a thing or two out of this Y2B.

Unpredictable.

Hello everyone, here I am to update about life. :)

These few days have been very busy. One of my aunts just passed away last Saturday. Immediately, she was sent to Nirvana Memorial Center. Without hesitation, almost all relatives took leave, coming down all the way to JB to send her off for the last time. Everything was settled very fast in the sense she passed away on this Sat's morning, open for condolence on Sunday, then was cremated on Monday.

Nowadays funeral ceremony was so much easier. The center will basically cover everything for you, and all you need to do is pay and be present. My aunt has already purchased her memorial tablet last year, which is a memorial package for herself and also her son. This is why everything could be so simple and efficient.

The timing of sister coming back from Taiwan was really just nice, Sunday's night. Only mummy and I drove to Singapore to pick her up this time round. Daddy stayed in Malaysia to handle all the funeral things. And this Sunday happened to be my another aunt's birthday! She is the closest relative to us, where I will never be afraid to talk anything with her. Her birthday is so easy to remember that, you wont forget once she tell you. 19/1, and you inverse it, 911. So after staying at home whole day to clean the house, we rushed out to buy her a Cappuccino cake in JB and went to Singapore.

Luckily there was no jam and we had a sweet dinner with my uncle's whole family :) Perhaps it is because all of my cousins have grown up, they start to be more mature and caring about the surrounding issues. After picking up my sista, all of us talked discussed like never before. It has been so long, since we last gathered and really sat down to talk. Talk about life. about politics, everything. My aunt was very surprised and said that I was really sweet & thoughtful ;) And we ended the gathering with chocolate and pineapple tarts bought from Taiwan given to my aunt. Hope she really had a blast :))

And after coming back to Malaysia, we still rushed to the memorial center, so that sista got to give her last condolence to my aunt. Some relatives also came to our house to stay for one or two days. Therefore, that night I ended up sleeping on the floor, with a map and sofa cushions being my one-night-bed at nearly 2am.

Throughout these days, I talked to a lot of people. Realization really really dawned on me that, life is this fragile, isn't it? I didnt even get to visit my aunt for the very last time although I am in JB. Everyone didnt expect this fast, and we always say, "Next time bah". Well, so there is no more next time. This is also part of reason no matter what, I must always come back to home. No matter how many times I need to travel up and down, I must always come back. Plus the days that I get to see my parents, is not often.

Sometimes, I do worry about my dad. He never wants to do medical check-up for so many years. Smoke, drink, work. Rest very little, portion of food that he eats is getting lesser and lesser. But, he is as stubborn as a stone. We cant force him to change unless he himself wants it.

About my sister, she is finally back from Taiwan! All we do when 2 of us are together is quarrel and argue. Laugh out loud! But no choices, sometimes we really hate each other! And the current issue between us is who does the household. Who cooks and who cleans. Kinda lame I know, but ya, that is us, haha. :')

And for today Tuesday, I had an interview with Vietnam. Hopefully the answer would be a positive one as this interview took both parties like more than 1 and a half hour, which is really long (longer than me Skyping with my overseas' friends, zzz). This period, I kinda get a lot of rejections, from different people. But well, success and fruits only come after tons of sweat and failures, isn't it. I must always be humble. Humble, HUMBLE! Down to Earth! I am not really polite towards my sista O_O

Last but not least, I really want to be the King of the Music (Jay Chou said this before). Why did I give up in the first place? Isn't it music wonderful? Just really afriad, one day. One day, my fingers, can't fly anymore. And I, would be none other than nobody. Someone, that is less than her own name.

The first post

     First of all, happy 2014 to everyone! On the very special day, I am here to say that I will be officially using this blog to blog! And today marks the day where I start blogging :)

    So without further adieu,let me introduce myself a bit. I am Jasreel, or you can call me You Jin as it is easier to remember and sound better ;) I am from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Currently studying in Accounting and Finance in Taylor's University. I  am a May baby, and have only one elder sister.

   I am an ordinary girl, who grows up in a warm family :) Sometimes you may find me weird (or you can use the word extraordinary if you want to :D) as I don't do what normally youngsters like to do. I am a quiet person I guess? But I am very friendly, where you can talk to me anytime you want ^^ On top of that, you might find me interesting or funny if you start to understand how I swim in my own ways (Hahaha XP).

   The reason why I start blogging now is to record moments of my life! I did blog last time, when I was in primary and secondary school. But I guess I stopped after PMR? Without writing it down, we tend to forget what we have done and never realize that, "Hey, you have actually come this far!". And it is so true that our memories always fail us when we need it the most, right?? XD I want to record down every single thing that made up my life, everything that I appreciate in life. And not to forget, I gonna write my life-changing exchange experience here, to share with everyone. Hope that it gives me positive energy when I feel demotivated 

   Besides, I also want to keep on writing. To be honest, my English is very  bad and I have stopped reading since don't know when, but pardon me for my language if it is too horrible. :/ I still remember vividly that my English tutor once told us that, keep on reading and never stop writing! It is undeniable that I only write when I have to, like for assignments, work, exams etc. So, I want to find back the joy of writing, telling stories etc. And hopefully, I get to express myself better? And perhaps speed up my thinking and writing speed. Since I have created this blog for assignment purpose (as the previous post), why not utilize it and continue? :)

  So all in all, I hope I will update this blog at least once a week. Stay tuned for more ;)

  Last but not least, here's my selfie :)