Friday, July 22, 2005
Flowers growing by the mass graves - Ujung Karang, Meulaboh.
Sunset at Ground Zero - Ujung Karang, Meulaboh.
Ruins of building - Suak Ribee, Meulaboh.
Aceh is very beautiful. The waves are awesome, and I imagine before the tsunami polluted the beaches with tonnes of debris and pieces of houses, the coast was really really beautiful. If it weren't for the political situation there I bet it would have become a popular tourist spot eons ago. It's hard to think that over 100,000 people lost their lives there, and that the pile of rubble in front of you used to be someone's home.
It was a really enriching experience, and so amazing because Aceh is so different and yet there are little pockets of comfortable familiarity around. (And it helped that the translator I was with was a complete dear =P)
Feels weird being back in Singapore. Feels weird starting school again. Everything just seems so long ago.
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Monday, July 18, 2005
Am in an internet cafe in Medan now. Civilisation, at last =P Nah, it wasn't half bad in Meulaboh, we had a nice house and interesting food. We stayed in an area that was 15 mins walk from the part of the town that was destroyed by the tsunami. But the place has recovered somewhat since, there's construction and rebuilding going on most places and the people are starting to piece their lives back together again.
We stayed at Poskol Temasek, which is also termed the Singapore HQ. There were a few Mercy Relief people there looking out for us, of which our Irish Naval Officer in-charge Edward deserves mention for flirting with everything that moved =P But yeah everybody was really nice and went out of their way to help us. And the locals were really friendly too, the Singapore flag on your id-tag and a camera really goes places around here.
Ok, I've had my cheap thrill of 30 mins of internet access... the rest of my team is waiting for us to go for lunch. Will post more and maybe upload some photos as well when I get back home =D
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Sunday, July 10, 2005
Am leaving tomorrow morning for Medan (that's in North Sumatra), then taking an internal flight to Meulaboh. I should still be contactable via handphone. I think. Sorry about missing the choir practices, I'll try to memorise all the scores before I come back next Tuesday =P Pity my poor travelmates, who will be subjected to the alto part of all the songs! *evil laughter*
Deep breath, here goes... 9 days without the internet. How am I going to check my email?!?! T_T *claws face* (hahahaha...) My only regret is not being able to get my hands on the 6th Harry Potter book on 16th July.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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Friday, July 08, 2005
Which Battle Royale character are you? by liz.
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Thursday, July 07, 2005
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love?
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Wednesday, July 06, 2005
In other news, I have to finish an article and script before I fly off. Am so dying here.
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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
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Friday, July 01, 2005
Anyway, have been trying to learn Bahasa Indonesia to prepare for my trip to Aceh. But everytime I read the phrasebooks, I pronounce everything like Japanese and I have a Japanese commentary running through my head, suggesting the Japanese translation of the sentence. (Probably because of all the Jap movies I've been watching.) Somebody help me? Tolong?
And last but not least, a LiveJournal community that slashes Sly with Taufik. They've got fanfiction, icons and fanart - IS THERE NO GOD?! *claws eyes out* *hemorrhages and dies from the horror*
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