We are in the midst of cramming for our studio midterm presentation. Instead of escaping to the islands of Bali or Phuket for the weekend, we’re stuck in our very own Rumah Universiti (it’s Universiti, not University in Malaysian) having a full-day date with our laptops.
Our project is an elementary school near Siem Reap, Cambodia. We are designing a new structure to the school which accommodates three class rooms and administrative offices.
Our progression has been slow (studio twice a week instead of thrice) or maybe it’s just me. I have less than two days till my presentation and still making preliminary design decisions…I hate this phase when your deadline is approaching and you still don’t know what to do.
Anyways, something to lift up my mood:
Mid Valley Mega Mall in Kuala Lumpur has become our new home away from home.
A blow out sale at Sogo, a Japanese department store, also in KL.
I was just amazed how immaculately the items were kept. If this sale were in the States, clothes would be flying all over the place.
A testament to Ando’s Row House in Sumiyoshi?
Lijiang, China.
for my honeymoon.
Hoi An, Vietnam
Please, just don’t run over me.
Saigon, Vietnam.
Visit Hoi An. 
A nostalgic view of downtown, all painted in yellow.
Yaly Couture is a must stop in Hoi An. They tailor anything, from shorts to evening gowns, in only two days!
Pig feet. melts in your mouth! Suzhou, China
Meet on sticks - the go-to-food when we were sick of rice. Li Jiang, China.
Sticky rice, my favorite. Nanjing, China.
getting in touch with my culture - sushi ice cream plate. Hanoi, Vietnam.
Rambutan - haven’t tried this one yet…near Ipoh, Malaysia.
One of the perks of study abroad is the random afternoons you get off.
Today after brief desk crits with our professors, we walked down to the cafe, gobbled up scrumptious but inexpensive ($2 for a full plate of Malaysian food!) lunch, and returned to studio only to discover our professors had already left.
Now we’re locked in studio avoiding the thunder and rain.
Now we have the entire afternoon to get our lives together and be productive, or not. The first thing I’ll do is get off this blog and do some research for my precedent.
I love the word rustic. It makes aging sound beautiful -the older the better.
It also reminds me of the Japanese word, “natsukashii：懐かしい”
It is the feeling you get when something reminds you of old memories.
In Yangshuo, we visited a shop house for bamboo crafts.
Taking one step into the courtyard, I felt like I was back in the fireplace at my grandparents’ house. All of a sudden, all childhood memories spent at the now demolished house came back; my brother getting scratched in the eye by Yasu, the dog, at the engawa, and cuddling in front of the fireplace with my cousins.
I’ve grown so old.
———-
Our internet connection is cutting off again.
On a brighter side, I’ll learn to grow less dependent on technology.
Less time on Yahoo! headlines, Vogue.com and more time reading books, I hope.
