Tintin and the City

The deep and substantial conversation I had with a good friend a few days ago made me reflect on the biggest decision that I have ever made in my life- to temporarily drop everything that I had in London and move down under with almost nothing but a man who was brave enough to take his chance on me.  Don't get me wrong, London has opened so many doors for me but at the same time, I was also challenged to the core. I was pushed beyond my boundaries.  It came to a point where I was no longer sure of the person I have become. I can't deny the fact that despite all the challenges, I remained strong and positive. But I was also very inconsistent. In my weakest moments, I broke down in silence. I felt helpless. I was very insecure. London suddenly became too small for me. I was suffocated and was slowly being defeated by my desperate attempt to change myself because I was apparently too kind, and being kind was obviously not a good thing for some people. I was called a pushov

Until about three years ago, I didn't drink coffee because I hated the smell of coffee breath. But when I moved to London, coffee became almost a necessity. Apart from those early morning travels to work, being surrounded by clever minds before eight o'clock in the morning compelled me to do something to keep up with their hyperactive brain cells, and so that  I can keep moving forward until the end of the day. My old tactic of asking someone to pinch my hand until it turned red no longer worked because nobody wanted to hurt me that much. Coffee apparently works better. So, I slowly introduced my system to this energy boosting beverage.  Despite not getting on well with coffee at the beginning ( I had dizzy spells and bouts of diarrhea), it is now a big part of my daily life. My 30- minute morning walk to work is now incomplete without almond croissant and a cup of skinny latte from Pre-A-Manger. But really, I became more accustomed to the coffee culture in Wellingt

Based on my Welly friends' recent posts on social media, it seems like summer has finally arrived in Wellington.   To tell you the truth, I miss spending time with the "power puff" girls and "Daryun". Looking at their photos always takes me back to my wonderful memories in Wellington particularly with Ei, whom I spent most of my time eating and walking while I was there. Hence, I am writing one of the last bonding moments I had with the girl who changed my perspective on life a great deal. Having stayed in the Museum Hotel for a couple of weeks when we first arrived in Wellington, I had the opportunity to eat breakfast at the Hippopotamus restaurant a few times and really had a good experience (even during those times when other people looked at me from head to toe because I was sweaty in my running clothes). During that time though, High Tea (or Afternoon Tea)  was far from my mind because I still didn't have any friends then. Until of course I met