One by one they flew to the States. I'm indeed fortunate to have an outing with 3 of them (Lerdie, Maddie and Emily) before their voyage abroad. Emily came down on the 10th of August and were joined by me and Maddie who was already in Kepong with her mother's family. The iBan apparently wanted to do something from Lowyat so we went to the Bukit Bintang area for dinner and then also to walk around while waiting for Lerdie to be back home since Emily will be staying at her house. On the next day, we met up at Bangsar and I arrived kinda early with Maddie since I had to move my car early from my parking spot to avoid kena saman. The other two ladies in the house were still in dreamland, so we proceeded in having McD breakfast first and as usual, Maddie spammed herself on some hashbrowns with the same iBan unshamefulness..lol. We had a light lunch at Delicious in Bangsar Village and we later proceeded to Mid-Valley where we hang around until it's time for Maddie to leave since she needed to take the KTM to Nilai.
The remaining 3 of us then proceeded to Sunway Pyramid for Emily to meet her hometown friend before he flies to the US. Dinner was at Sushi King and by the time we left Sunway, it was late at night but it ain't over yet. There's still mamak supper time with Charmaine and we got her from her place. By the time we finished chatting and stuff, it was almost 3am when Lerdie returned back to her house, a record breaking time even for me to send someone home. The last day was Emily's last and we rounded it up with a lunch/karaoke session at Red Box. Anyways, her train was delayed for a good 2 hrs before it arrived and had we known, we wouldn't have left our sing K session that early..haha.
On Friday, I went to collect my Visa which was successfully approved (yay!) and met up with the iBan at KLCC. She also created a record of 2.5 hrs late from the meeting time of 3pm where she's punished with paying for the parking fees after 3pm. We went to 1 Utama afterthat to waste some time until her aunty returns home. I bet she can't believe that her last night in Malaysia was wtinessed by me..haha. Oh well, she wanted taxi anyways.
On the next day was the first of the flights to American land. Lerdie had a preliminary look on the order of things to come when we send off Maddie on Saturday. Since Maddie's parents were already in America, we were a little surprise to see her standing alone when we arrived because the the rest of the Inti gang had not arrived. Later at night was Charmaine's turn to fly and I spend the weekend at Nilai since it's quite costly to go back and forth plus there's church on Sunday. Monday was Lerdie's day and it was time to bid the hamster adieu on her journey to Texas. Maybe she'll meet Sandy the squirrel over there..lol. The latest person whom I've made just in the nick of a time to send off was Emily last Wednesday. Next monday will be Karyn and Karen and on the first week of September is Eden. The thing about these folks leaving is that they are going to be abroad for a good 3 years. This is unlike me who will only be abroad for 1 year and at most 2 years if I ever decide to complete my BAR exams in the UK. So, even after I return back to Malaysia, these gals will still be studying in America. The next time that we meet, we may not even recognise each other because of the changes and each of us would have been shaped by the places that we are at. Currently, it feels a little weird not having them around since they will usually be joining for makan gatherings and movie outings. Watching them settling down in the US made me anticipate even more excitingly for my coming flight to Europe.
In any case, I've appreciated the friendships that were forged during the two years we have at Nilai. I shall miss all the great laughters, late nights, funny conversations and crazy stuffs that we do during outings. Farewell, my friends in America. We shall meet again 3 years later to catch up on lost times :)
Friday, 20 August 2010
Thursday, 5 August 2010
UK Visa Application
I went to submit my Visa Application a few days ago on Tuesday and I find it a rather amusing experience..lol. On Monday, I was scrambling already to prepare all the neccessary documents like photo with white background and the bank pass book updated. We had to submit online one form and print and sign it and also another appendix form to be filled up by pen. Basically the UK Visa application is focused on two factors - unconditional offer from the university in the form of the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number and evidence that you have funds to maintain yourself in the country. Anything else is basic protocol like your personal details. Even medical history or checkup is a non-compulsory requirement. So, I would say money and confirmation of being a student are at the top of the UK Border guards mind so as to alleviate their irritation of granting a potential illegal immigrant a visa. They are so strict regarding the funds that even money in your parent's account will not suffice and you would have to prove relationship with parents with a translated birth certificate since our Malaysian birth certs are in Malay.
I made an appointment at 10.30am from the internet and I found out on the day of the visa document submission that I'm indeed both glad to made the appointment AND arrive early on time. Firstly, people who don't make appointment get the last priority in being attended and at the same time being late is equals to not making an appointment. And to top things up with the British prim and properness, it's the time when you reach the security guard and NOT the time when they attended to your application. As such, it doesn't matter that they don't attend to you at 10.30am sharp but they expect you to be there sitting and waiting for them even though they may only call you at 11.30am. The fact that one is not there waiting at the appointed time means that he's late and will have to punished with a last number on the queue although it's not his turn yet. Oh yea, and not coming too early also as the guards won't let you in until it's 10 minutes before time. The office entrance is locked by a keypad security, so one cannot waltz into there unless the security guard thinks that you're qualified enough. Anticipating such particularities and specifications,, I was resolved not to be late so as not to get into big trouble or making a bad first impression with the ang mohs in case I get interviewed.
I started off the journey like more than an hour before appointed time but the crazy KL jams and a wrong estimation of the position of Wisma MCA (the place where it is located) nearly costed me the time beyond 10.30am. I parked at the Bank of China parking lot and it's quite an interesting parking place. It has this cool pulley platform to arrange cars, something like a retro Japanese technology. So with the platform system, it is possible to line up 3 rows of cars parked behind one another because the platform pulley will shift the cars accordingly whenever one car wants to come out.
Anyways, I did make it on time and I found out that they even printed a list to take note of all applicant's appointment time of the day. There was a huge crowd there and it didn't look to be completed at anytime soon. I was supposed to meet up with Vincent there but I couldn't see him around when I was there. So, I thought that he had already did his and went off. Anyways, I discovered that he came in later and his appointment time was only at 11.15am. Nicholas also came along but unfortunately, he missed his time so he had to wait quite a long time before he got called. Before submitting, I was kinda worried that I might miss out some documents but the officer in charge there seemed to accept all without commenting much so I assume that all is in order. After the submission, I had to wait a while before going to an interview room for a biometric test. I had to stare at cameras and all 10 fingerprints had to be scanned, not just the thumbprints. Then the officer interviewing me shot some quick questions like what is your name, date of birth and surname in a very fast manner, almost as if I were to stutter a little, they would suspect that I'm lying about my identity...lol. That's roughly the process off the application and I'm terribly hoping and praying that all the supporting documents are valid enough for me to get the visa on first try and not pay another RM976 to try the second shot.
After all the application process are done, the three of us went to Mid-Valley to chill out and we also met one of our good old ex-classmate Michael there. I'm quite relieved personally to sort out the visa application already and it's now just a matter of waiting for some good news hopefully. Looks like I'm not going out of the country at any point soon since my passport and my other original documents are held by the British High Commission for analysis..haha.
I made an appointment at 10.30am from the internet and I found out on the day of the visa document submission that I'm indeed both glad to made the appointment AND arrive early on time. Firstly, people who don't make appointment get the last priority in being attended and at the same time being late is equals to not making an appointment. And to top things up with the British prim and properness, it's the time when you reach the security guard and NOT the time when they attended to your application. As such, it doesn't matter that they don't attend to you at 10.30am sharp but they expect you to be there sitting and waiting for them even though they may only call you at 11.30am. The fact that one is not there waiting at the appointed time means that he's late and will have to punished with a last number on the queue although it's not his turn yet. Oh yea, and not coming too early also as the guards won't let you in until it's 10 minutes before time. The office entrance is locked by a keypad security, so one cannot waltz into there unless the security guard thinks that you're qualified enough. Anticipating such particularities and specifications,, I was resolved not to be late so as not to get into big trouble or making a bad first impression with the ang mohs in case I get interviewed.
I started off the journey like more than an hour before appointed time but the crazy KL jams and a wrong estimation of the position of Wisma MCA (the place where it is located) nearly costed me the time beyond 10.30am. I parked at the Bank of China parking lot and it's quite an interesting parking place. It has this cool pulley platform to arrange cars, something like a retro Japanese technology. So with the platform system, it is possible to line up 3 rows of cars parked behind one another because the platform pulley will shift the cars accordingly whenever one car wants to come out.
Anyways, I did make it on time and I found out that they even printed a list to take note of all applicant's appointment time of the day. There was a huge crowd there and it didn't look to be completed at anytime soon. I was supposed to meet up with Vincent there but I couldn't see him around when I was there. So, I thought that he had already did his and went off. Anyways, I discovered that he came in later and his appointment time was only at 11.15am. Nicholas also came along but unfortunately, he missed his time so he had to wait quite a long time before he got called. Before submitting, I was kinda worried that I might miss out some documents but the officer in charge there seemed to accept all without commenting much so I assume that all is in order. After the submission, I had to wait a while before going to an interview room for a biometric test. I had to stare at cameras and all 10 fingerprints had to be scanned, not just the thumbprints. Then the officer interviewing me shot some quick questions like what is your name, date of birth and surname in a very fast manner, almost as if I were to stutter a little, they would suspect that I'm lying about my identity...lol. That's roughly the process off the application and I'm terribly hoping and praying that all the supporting documents are valid enough for me to get the visa on first try and not pay another RM976 to try the second shot.
After all the application process are done, the three of us went to Mid-Valley to chill out and we also met one of our good old ex-classmate Michael there. I'm quite relieved personally to sort out the visa application already and it's now just a matter of waiting for some good news hopefully. Looks like I'm not going out of the country at any point soon since my passport and my other original documents are held by the British High Commission for analysis..haha.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Being a tourist in Singapore and KL
When you make a place your habitat for 8 years, chances are you tend not to take notice of the touristy spots or attractions unless you're bringing someone else from outside the country. I've been rather busy for the past few days, so I've finally found some time to blog about my trip down south. So, last week, I decided to have something like a road trip with Eden and Karen and we were later joined by Charmaine who's already in the southern island already. We started off our journey at Seremban and took the usual route that I take to Singapore on Sunday evening.
Monday was dedicated in going to Sentosa. As far as I know I'm bored of that place, since visiting it once or twice is enough for one's amusement. The last time I visited it was almost 5 to 6 years ago and now I've decided to take another shot in visiting it with the opening of the new resort and some renovation in certain parts of the island. We took the train from Vivo City into Sentosa and I must say, I'm rather impressed with the resort although it's not fully opened yet. Of course there was Universal Studios but we didn't go in because the entrance fee is a whopping S$66. I managed to enter the casino for free because I hold a Malaysian passport but the other 3 gals couldn't go in because 2 were under 21 and another one had a Singaporean passport. At first we were going around randomly and seeing the attractions on the outside but later in the afternoon, we decided to go for the ticket package which cost around S$38 or so. The package included Images of Singapore, Merlion, Simulation Ride and some Fun Ride thing on two wheels.
On Tuesday, we started off by heading to City Hall to go to Funan IT Mall. We were just in time there to catch the launch of Starcraft 2 and since this is a sequel that people have been waiting for 10 over years, the queue is just crazy! I do want to get the collector's edition but it seems that they are selling it at a higher price in Singapore. Maybe I'll order one from amazon.co.uk instead..haha. We then continued on to the padang and the old Supreme court and at this time of the year, it is the Singaporean National Day celebration, so the decorations and seats are all up. We proceeded on to Esplanade and then headed back to Raffles City wanting to eat Soup Spoon. But alas, it was closed down for renovation and we settled for Mos Burger instead. We proceeded next in visiting more of the areas around downtown like CHIJMES and the old SJI. Next up was East Coast Park since Charmaine wanted to meet her cousin in that area. I still remembered the old way through Marine Parade to walk to East Coast..haha. While we there, we took time to enjoy the little sandy area which acts like a mini beach at ECP. We wanted to cycle but couldn't rent a bike in the end because the shops were closing already. We had dinner in one of the ECP food court and then dessert was at Udders ice-cream where I get to makan the fantastic Rum Raisins ice-cream which had a strong alcoholic rummy taste. The other flavour I got was the Strawberry which tasted like the wild natural ones..lol.
The final day of tour kicks off at Bugis where there are cheap deals for the girls to ponder over. Although we missed Soup Spoon the day before, it seemed to make a comeback when I discovered to my surprise that there was one at Bugis Junction. Soup Spoon Meals come in big portions, so apparently, a combination of some Singaporean breakfast not too long ago and the meal causes an overload in the stomach, giving me a fuzzy feeling everytime I walked. Afterthat we proceeded on in touring around Orchard Road where we later met Karen's cousin over in Somerset. Charmaine had to leave early for her family dinner so I brought the other two gals to eat Botak Jones at Somerset. We met up with Charmaine again at the MRT station where we then went to Boat Quay to enjoy the night scenery there. Lol, that's something I've not really done while I was staying there. After hanging out enough over there, we proceeded on to the Marina Sands Barrage, the other resort other than Sentosa. This place looks futuristic though, with the three buildings and one ark-looking vessel on top of the three. We were joking that it looked like Singapore is preparing for 2012 where the "barrage" on top will detach itself wants the flood water reaches that height. Anyways, the building also reminded me of the citadel in Mass Effect, especially when it is seen from the distance. Some kind of funky feeling when you see it from far. We went into the building and it's just awesome inside with the architecture and lighting! We took a cab back home later because it was already 11.45pm plus when we reached and by the time we finished, it was nearly one. It was a fantastic way to wrap up the Singapore tour as the next day we would be going back in the morning.
On Thursday, we took the afternoon bus and reached Seremban in the evening. We joined the Inti folks for a midnight movie in Mid-Valley and we watched Inception. It's an awesome movie and it reminded me alot of the nonsensical dreams that Maddie had..haha. Now, if only I could enter into people's dreamland..lol. The last weekday Friday was dedicated to going to some spots in KL. We started with going to KL tower and wanted to go to the top but in the end we didn't because the entrance fee is an atrocious RM38. This is a big difference from the last time I went there where the entrance fee is at most RM10. So we went to the Muzium Negara instead and it was a pleasant surprise to me as the place is very well renovated from the time I visted it 15 years ago. The entrance fee to Muzium Negara was a mere RM2 with another RM2 for parking and I felt it's quite worth it with the amount of knowledge stored in there. We finished off the night by having dinner at Ninja Joe (Eden and Karen's first time) and some jalan-jalan around Tropicana City Mall. Oh well, that concludes a superb week of being a tourist around two major cities..haha. I'll certainly want to pay Penang a visit for one grand makan outing for the last time before flying off xD
Monday was dedicated in going to Sentosa. As far as I know I'm bored of that place, since visiting it once or twice is enough for one's amusement. The last time I visited it was almost 5 to 6 years ago and now I've decided to take another shot in visiting it with the opening of the new resort and some renovation in certain parts of the island. We took the train from Vivo City into Sentosa and I must say, I'm rather impressed with the resort although it's not fully opened yet. Of course there was Universal Studios but we didn't go in because the entrance fee is a whopping S$66. I managed to enter the casino for free because I hold a Malaysian passport but the other 3 gals couldn't go in because 2 were under 21 and another one had a Singaporean passport. At first we were going around randomly and seeing the attractions on the outside but later in the afternoon, we decided to go for the ticket package which cost around S$38 or so. The package included Images of Singapore, Merlion, Simulation Ride and some Fun Ride thing on two wheels.
On Tuesday, we started off by heading to City Hall to go to Funan IT Mall. We were just in time there to catch the launch of Starcraft 2 and since this is a sequel that people have been waiting for 10 over years, the queue is just crazy! I do want to get the collector's edition but it seems that they are selling it at a higher price in Singapore. Maybe I'll order one from amazon.co.uk instead..haha. We then continued on to the padang and the old Supreme court and at this time of the year, it is the Singaporean National Day celebration, so the decorations and seats are all up. We proceeded on to Esplanade and then headed back to Raffles City wanting to eat Soup Spoon. But alas, it was closed down for renovation and we settled for Mos Burger instead. We proceeded next in visiting more of the areas around downtown like CHIJMES and the old SJI. Next up was East Coast Park since Charmaine wanted to meet her cousin in that area. I still remembered the old way through Marine Parade to walk to East Coast..haha. While we there, we took time to enjoy the little sandy area which acts like a mini beach at ECP. We wanted to cycle but couldn't rent a bike in the end because the shops were closing already. We had dinner in one of the ECP food court and then dessert was at Udders ice-cream where I get to makan the fantastic Rum Raisins ice-cream which had a strong alcoholic rummy taste. The other flavour I got was the Strawberry which tasted like the wild natural ones..lol.
The final day of tour kicks off at Bugis where there are cheap deals for the girls to ponder over. Although we missed Soup Spoon the day before, it seemed to make a comeback when I discovered to my surprise that there was one at Bugis Junction. Soup Spoon Meals come in big portions, so apparently, a combination of some Singaporean breakfast not too long ago and the meal causes an overload in the stomach, giving me a fuzzy feeling everytime I walked. Afterthat we proceeded on in touring around Orchard Road where we later met Karen's cousin over in Somerset. Charmaine had to leave early for her family dinner so I brought the other two gals to eat Botak Jones at Somerset. We met up with Charmaine again at the MRT station where we then went to Boat Quay to enjoy the night scenery there. Lol, that's something I've not really done while I was staying there. After hanging out enough over there, we proceeded on to the Marina Sands Barrage, the other resort other than Sentosa. This place looks futuristic though, with the three buildings and one ark-looking vessel on top of the three. We were joking that it looked like Singapore is preparing for 2012 where the "barrage" on top will detach itself wants the flood water reaches that height. Anyways, the building also reminded me of the citadel in Mass Effect, especially when it is seen from the distance. Some kind of funky feeling when you see it from far. We went into the building and it's just awesome inside with the architecture and lighting! We took a cab back home later because it was already 11.45pm plus when we reached and by the time we finished, it was nearly one. It was a fantastic way to wrap up the Singapore tour as the next day we would be going back in the morning.
On Thursday, we took the afternoon bus and reached Seremban in the evening. We joined the Inti folks for a midnight movie in Mid-Valley and we watched Inception. It's an awesome movie and it reminded me alot of the nonsensical dreams that Maddie had..haha. Now, if only I could enter into people's dreamland..lol. The last weekday Friday was dedicated to going to some spots in KL. We started with going to KL tower and wanted to go to the top but in the end we didn't because the entrance fee is an atrocious RM38. This is a big difference from the last time I went there where the entrance fee is at most RM10. So we went to the Muzium Negara instead and it was a pleasant surprise to me as the place is very well renovated from the time I visted it 15 years ago. The entrance fee to Muzium Negara was a mere RM2 with another RM2 for parking and I felt it's quite worth it with the amount of knowledge stored in there. We finished off the night by having dinner at Ninja Joe (Eden and Karen's first time) and some jalan-jalan around Tropicana City Mall. Oh well, that concludes a superb week of being a tourist around two major cities..haha. I'll certainly want to pay Penang a visit for one grand makan outing for the last time before flying off xD
Monday, 19 July 2010
A week of fellowship
Football season is over, so it's back to regular updates on Stan's regular life..haha. Well, the whole of last week has been particularly fun and fantastic. It was a period of reminiscing the fellowship time with the folks in Nilai. It started off with the World Cup final "party" in King and Reuben's apartment where a bunch of us gathered together to watch the biggest game on planet Earth in the wee hours of Monday morning. I paid Jonathan's CG a visit later in the evening. On Tuesday night, I had a movie outing with Reuben, King, Maddie and Lerdie in Putrajaya. After the movie, we went around parading in Burger King paper crowns. I guess we all want to do something crazy before Maddie goes back on Wednesday..ahaha.
On Wednesday morning, I woke up with a bad fever and diarrhea. By lunchtime, I was vomitting and had no appetite to eat anything. After popping in a few panadols, I went to CF meeting shivering and feeling exhausted from the toilet trips and cold. I figured out that the cockles that I ate in one of the foodstalls for lunch is probably not fresh and thus contributes to the sudden nuclear explosion in my stomach. Because of the fever, Wednesday felt as if it was passing really slowly but thank God towards the end of the night, I was feeling better already. Anyways, CF meeting was good and it was also timely because that was the time when Justin and Jan Vy had just finished their holidays and had returned back to Nilai. Thursday night was visiting Kylie's CG and Friday was dinner with Pastor Vic. I also took the opportunity to settle a few stuff throughout the week like getting my academic transcript and my haircut. By Friday, my stomach and fever problems were gone to my relief.
I fetched Lerdie back to her house after Friday dinner and Jonathan followed me to my staying place on that night too since he's following me and Lerdie to the FES 48th Annivessary Hi-Tea on Saturday. I was running quite late on Saturday because of lunch and some minor traffic jams along the way. That got hamster rattled up but we did reach the venue on time before the event started. I got to meet some of the Camp Cameron people and of course, the good old FES staff members. It was fantastic to see Chun Chung there and good news to hear that he's coming back to FES and returning to back to ICF as our advisor. The hi-tea is also another opportunity to pay tribute to Annette who will be leaving FES at the end of the year to go international. After the high-tea, Jon and I went to 1 Utama for dinner and watched Predators in the cinema at 10pm. It's quite an action-packed movie but alot of mysteries remained unsolved.
Yesterday morning was particularly funny and amusing. I told Lerdie that I'll be picking her up at 8.30am in the morning. And I did reach her house on time since I made sure I wake up early. The moment I saw that her front door was closed, I had a bad feeling. Jonathan gave her a call but the phone was switched off. Looks like she's soundly asleep. So, we got down and started spamming the door bell and no response! Uh-oh, this is definitely not good! Eventually we got tired of spamming and decided that we may have to sit out stranded at the gate until hamster decides to leave slumberlalaland and it could even be hours later. Two other scenarios which I thought could possibly happen were that hamster was in her godma's house and forgot to inform us and the other is that she misheard it to be 9.30am instead of 8.30am. Finally at 30 minutes later, my phone rang and it was a giggling voice at the other end requesting for another additional 15 minutes for preparation since she just woke up. While waiting outside the gates, Jon and I rained down destruction on two ant colonies who interestingly made their hive out of leaves. Anyways, I guess hamster figured out the irony of ironies especially since she posted on FB yesterday that I'm late..haha. To top it up, she forgot her house keys and after church, she had to camp in Grace's apartment for dinner before her parents came to fetch her. Well, that concludes the one week of super adventure and fellowship.
This coming week will be a resting week before the major roadtrip to Singapore next week! :)
On Wednesday morning, I woke up with a bad fever and diarrhea. By lunchtime, I was vomitting and had no appetite to eat anything. After popping in a few panadols, I went to CF meeting shivering and feeling exhausted from the toilet trips and cold. I figured out that the cockles that I ate in one of the foodstalls for lunch is probably not fresh and thus contributes to the sudden nuclear explosion in my stomach. Because of the fever, Wednesday felt as if it was passing really slowly but thank God towards the end of the night, I was feeling better already. Anyways, CF meeting was good and it was also timely because that was the time when Justin and Jan Vy had just finished their holidays and had returned back to Nilai. Thursday night was visiting Kylie's CG and Friday was dinner with Pastor Vic. I also took the opportunity to settle a few stuff throughout the week like getting my academic transcript and my haircut. By Friday, my stomach and fever problems were gone to my relief.
I fetched Lerdie back to her house after Friday dinner and Jonathan followed me to my staying place on that night too since he's following me and Lerdie to the FES 48th Annivessary Hi-Tea on Saturday. I was running quite late on Saturday because of lunch and some minor traffic jams along the way. That got hamster rattled up but we did reach the venue on time before the event started. I got to meet some of the Camp Cameron people and of course, the good old FES staff members. It was fantastic to see Chun Chung there and good news to hear that he's coming back to FES and returning to back to ICF as our advisor. The hi-tea is also another opportunity to pay tribute to Annette who will be leaving FES at the end of the year to go international. After the high-tea, Jon and I went to 1 Utama for dinner and watched Predators in the cinema at 10pm. It's quite an action-packed movie but alot of mysteries remained unsolved.
Yesterday morning was particularly funny and amusing. I told Lerdie that I'll be picking her up at 8.30am in the morning. And I did reach her house on time since I made sure I wake up early. The moment I saw that her front door was closed, I had a bad feeling. Jonathan gave her a call but the phone was switched off. Looks like she's soundly asleep. So, we got down and started spamming the door bell and no response! Uh-oh, this is definitely not good! Eventually we got tired of spamming and decided that we may have to sit out stranded at the gate until hamster decides to leave slumberlalaland and it could even be hours later. Two other scenarios which I thought could possibly happen were that hamster was in her godma's house and forgot to inform us and the other is that she misheard it to be 9.30am instead of 8.30am. Finally at 30 minutes later, my phone rang and it was a giggling voice at the other end requesting for another additional 15 minutes for preparation since she just woke up. While waiting outside the gates, Jon and I rained down destruction on two ant colonies who interestingly made their hive out of leaves. Anyways, I guess hamster figured out the irony of ironies especially since she posted on FB yesterday that I'm late..haha. To top it up, she forgot her house keys and after church, she had to camp in Grace's apartment for dinner before her parents came to fetch her. Well, that concludes the one week of super adventure and fellowship.
This coming week will be a resting week before the major roadtrip to Singapore next week! :)
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Spanish Armada triumphs
First Europe, now the world Two of the world's most under-performing teams in modern football have finally reached the position they have all been fighting for so long. History will definitely be in the making as none of teams had won the World Cup before. For Nederland, they were never able to reach the final since a double attempt in the 1970s. To do so for the third time with a number of recognizable global talents in their team provided them with probably the best chance to break their duck in lifting the World Cup trophy. For Spain, they had just broken their hoodoo to reach the semi-finals and this was their first ever World Cup final that they're involved him. The Spanish similarly had a fantastic favourable chance to add a star to their crest with what seems to be the golden generation at their possible maximum potential. With a world-class keeper, established defenders, intelligent midfielders and a dangeros marksman, the Spanish armada looks set to be world conquerors after establishing their foothold in Europe 2 years ago. I backed Nederland since they're my 2nd personal favourite national team
Nederland and Spain carried with them the tag of being the advocates of fast attacking football and it was expected that the final encounter between them will produce plenty of attacking action from end to end. However, it turned out to be a cagey match with physical challenges flying everywhere. Referee Howard Webb was flashing yellow cards like they were coming from a waterfall. Although the Dutch were responsible for the majority of the cards being flashed, I still felt that the Spanish were reacting excessively and that the referee has in a few occassions missed blatant Spanish fouls on the Dutch.
In any case, the Dutch could be en route to win their first major trophy if not for Robben's miss of the century when he went one-on-one with Casillas. Incredible. I have no idea how Robben could miss that with the goalie at his mercy. He could have made history. That miss came back to haunt Nederland as the Spanish settled the deal with an Iniesta late goal in extra-time. Anyways, Kudos also to Casillas for making several excellent saves as he keeps a clean sheet for every knock-out game. Santa Ike, as he was hailed, truly deserves to be standing there to lift the World Cup trophy as captain after lifting the European cup two years ago.
That concludes the whole month of tournament as the late nights ended and people return back to their daily routines as they await for the opening of the Premier League.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Singular Spanish kill
Puyol is mobbed after scoring the sole winning goal with his head Paul was right afterall, to the dismay of all the German fans around the globe. I would say he's in grave danger of ending up in one disgruntled Deutsche dinner plate very soon..haha. Trivialities aside, it's time to dissect to see what went wrong for die Mannshaft this time. From the start, it looked to me that Deutschland is gonna be in plenty trouble given the amount of Spainish possession. The Spanish wasted no time in laying siege to the German goal and pushing the Germans to their own half. Such was the domination of the Spanish that Deutschland had ZERO shots within the first 30 minutes and they did not have any opportunities to venture out of their half. It's not that the Germans were bad at their game because they intercepted and defended quite well at times, but the Spanish had taken offensive and forced the Deutsche players to play at the Spanish tempo. Spain dictated play for the majority of the game with their fast-paced quick passing and the Germans struggled to keep with such a tempo. The Germans were made to look sluggish once again like how they did during the Euro 2008 final.
The dominating factor for Spain was their midfield once again as it seemed to me that they stick to their positions very tightly this time. It gave the illusion of outnumbering the Germans where for every corner Schweini or Poldi spins, there will be at least 3 Spanish players chasing after him. The Spanish must have realised that for the past few games or so, the Germans benefited from large empty spaces and by overcrowding the midfield, they would have difficulties playing the through balls for their counter-attack or to create anything for that matter. With the Spanish not leaving their positions to close down players, the Germans were frustrated countless number of times whenever they want to get their ball forward. The receiving man at the front is probably marked by a bunch of red shirts or the ball who have been lost in the little space that they had. The Germans were not comfortable with playing at such tight quarters at all and they struggle to make anything out of it.
The outstanding player for me from Spain is Pedro who literally ran Mertesacker, Friedrich, Boateng and Lahm ragged as they tried to chase his silky moves. Although he was selfish towards the last few minutes of his play, his time with the ball had rattled the German composure and their mentality as he digs deep into their territory. Constant pressure is the style that Spain had adopted to keep Deutschland on the edge as they were not spared any chance to settle on the ball. Actually, I didn't expect Thomas Mueller's absence to be of such a problematic weight to Deutschland but given the run of events, that was the case. Piotr Trachowski clearly could not fit onto the giant shoes of Mueller in connecting Schweini, Poldi or Ozil to Klose and his presence was largely non existent there. What I felt is that Schweini, Poldi and Ozil had occassionally got into some great positions but they lack one person to connect the final pass to Klose. This left Klose stranded like a no-man's island in the middle and with him lacking the pace to sprint, he was never gonna be able to dribble past the Spanish wall. I thought that Tony Kroos made a better replacement than Trachowski himself. Mueller would obviously make a big difference because he was more adventurous in his runs and is willing to take the risk and most importantly, was the linking chain.
I would say that the German crime of the night was not their defending because I thought that they did well to disrupt several world-class Spanish attacking moves which ordinary teams would have easily succumbed. Their losing factor was their inability to fashion and materialise any sort of attacking chance for themselves. Instead, they rather sit out and were contented to wait for Spain to make a mistake for them to capitalise on. They were waiting for their counter-attacking chance. This was never gonna happen because the Spanish had kept it tight for the entire field with short passes. A defensive team can sit out and defend all day long but given the frequent rate in which Spain were attacking with their shots, the law of probability states that surely one stray attempt will go in and that was what happened with Puyol's header which was the most unglam finishing of all. Spain left it late, and the Germans in the end had little time to change the course of their fate. There is no way a team could win if it does not fashion chances on its own even with a good defence. It's basic - a win requires at least 1 goal and that was what the Germans failed to achieve at the end of the night.
Kudos to Spain, they deserve their final spot because they played better overall and no surprises there as many had expected that they had the quality to reach that far. It was already anticipated by many that Spain will be in the final but Holland certainly came as the surprise package after beating Brazil. For Deutschland, it will be a time of reflection for the young players and a time to pick themselves up in time for the 3rd place-off. It's yet another 3rd place attempt, always the case of so near yet so far. Time to finish whatever remains well. Whatever happens, this World Cup 2010 Deutschland team can look back in pride in that they were the side that pumped four goals each into Australia, England and Argentina. A decent campaign for the Germans overall, just the lack of gas to finish the final portion of the tournament. This I felt was a tragic end for such an exciting side with lots of potential. In any case, all the best for Deutschland as they chase the consolation prize of a 3rd place medal :)
Monday, 5 July 2010
Precision defending and quickfire raid
A third goal for Deutschland from Friedrich and it's game over for Argentina This is quite unexpected but Deutschland stormed to a superb start within the first few minutes. Schweinsteiger delivered a superb free kick cross into the box which Mueller connected with a diving header. 4 goals now for the young lad whom many did not take notice before this World Cup. There were individual glimpses of Messi's brilliance in the first half but none of them could result in a goal. The Germans looked more likely the one to score the second goal in the first half but a glorious missed chance by Klose denied them the oppportunity. It was a narrow lead that the Germans held on with 1-0 at half-time. The second half saw a more desperate Argentinian side as they launch barrage after barrage of attacks and pinning the Germans in their own half. However, the Germans held their ground and in the 67th minute, a determined Mueller refused to let his fallen body hinder the opportunity to release the ball to Podolski who duly passed the ball to Klose for an easy finish. Kudos to the superb teamwork display and unselfish play there. The Germans had the time of their lives again at the 73rd minute when Schweinsteiger slither and waltz past several defenders (attackers actually..lol, how did Higuain and Di Maria ended up trying to close down Schweini instead of the defenders?). Schweini finished off his move by passing it to Friedrich to apply yet another cool easy finishing. To send Argentina in the dumps, a counter attacking move in the late minutes of the game enabled Klose to raise his tally 14 World Cup goals, equalling Gerd Mueller's record and one shy of Ronaldo.
The scoreline was just mind-blowing. Neither Michael Ballack nor Angela Merkel would have thought that such a scoreline was possible but it happened. The Argentinians were made to look like amateurs in the face of cold, hard clinical finishing of the Germans. It's not just their finishing that's impressive. I would say that their defensive is top-notch precision as they intercepted balls in a timely fashion and the tackles were cleanly executed. Ball distribution was wisely done in that eventhough they had less time in possession, they made sure that their passes count. In facing such organised gameplay from the Germans, Maradona's slipshot approach to tactics management and organisation was exposed. Individual talent fell short as the Argies ran out of ideas in breaking down the solid German defence that seems to be impenetrable. On the other hand, the Argentinian defence failed to organise themselves well and I lost count of the number of times where Lahm could crept up unmarked and unapposed down the right wing and had a free cross into the box. Schweini was particularly outstanding in pulling the strings as the midfield playmaker/general with his 2 assists and deservedly so named as man-of-the-match. He may not be free-scoring as he did like in the past, but his holding midfield role nevertheless ensured that the ball distribution to the attackers is in top condition. The class of 2006 is showing maturity over here.
The Germans clearly did their homework in restricting their opponent's talisman Messi either on the wingside or have him shoot outside the box. The calmness and composure displayed by the Germans whenever they needed to get rid of the ball out of their own half deserves applause and it was the same calmness that enabled them to aim accurately for the killing blow. The performance of Deutschland in this match echoes ever more resoundingly that there's no 'I' but the star player is actually the whole team collectively working as a unit with clear communication and understanding with each other. The way they are passing the ball seems to show that they are not desperate for personal glory but are happy to let their better positioned teammates to seal the deal. To provide a total 4-0 demolition job of an Argentinian team that seemed to be on high morale is no ordinary feat and they have indeed deserved their spot in the semi-finals for the wonderful football that they play.
Der Mannshaft had indeed exceeded everyone's expectation on how far they would go and now the only team that stands in their way for the final berth is Spain, their opponent from the European final in 2008. I think that Deutschland would have a better chance this time considering that the Spanish weren't playing their best football around in this tournament especially with Torres misfiring and the majority of the deliverance of goods depended solely on David Villa who had rescued them time and time again from the past two knockout matches by scoring the winning goal. Deutschland on the whole, I would say, would be the more complete team but questions are raised in that one possible weakeness is that the inability to score first for Deutschland may be damaging for their morale as shown by the Serbia match. Nevertheless, after observing Spain in their match against Paraguay, I would say that while the attacking range of talent is impressive, Deutschland may just expose the lack of speed in the backline 4, especially Puyol who looked like he's gonna struggle like Matthew Upson in keeping up with the speedy German counterttacking moves. Here's hoping that Deutschland would turn out triumphant to have another chance at being Weltmeister :)
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