Indulge in reminiscence: August 2011

Guess what? My boss left a message in my voice mail at 8.50am but I only listened at 10am when I woke up to use the loo. Today, there were short of staff so I worked from 10.30am till 3.45pm. Unfortunately, I had to leave early for my eye appointment. In summary, the result showed that I have dry eyes (yes! need regular use of eye drops), increase in my eye power by "3 clicks", some loss of cells (but hey, the cells can be regenerated) and scratches in both of my eyes (not sure what the cause is as the optometrist also doesn't know the reason. Maybe due to dryness?). Anyway, I am going to change the lens soon (not frame cos' I really like the frame I am having now) and use preservative-free eye drops for dry eyes regularly instead of just using it when I feel the dryness. Oh, I am so impressed by the sophisticated equipment at the optometry.

Rewind the time back to 23 July which is my second day in Dunedin. On this day, I could hardly wake up but I did eventually to the cold temperature in the morning. Joe was here so before I went to help out with the preparations of Dunedin Cultural Concert, I had a chat with him for a bit.

At 11am, I arrived at Town Hall with people in there decorating the place, installing the sound system, rehearsals and so on. Lunch and dinner were provided by ICC (host for this cultural night).

It is as if I was wearing a cap due to my numerous number of thick and coarse strands of hair

Lunch from AngusBurger! Look at that massive burger!

Flags all around. Oh yeah, it is shameful to call myself a Bruneian when I hanged the Brunei flag the wrong way (it was flipped horizontally) which I only realised when someone, who is not a Bruneian, asked if that's the correct way. Oh oh . . .

Jayani, from Sri Lanka and Imran, from Malaysia. The MCs of the night.

The sound guys! Yc and Ed

Blue and Yellow represent Otago!

Angela, the stage ... i can't remember

Jane, the vice president of ICC and stage director.

They(Miin and Weyta) were two of the helpers for this event

With a blonde (sorry, I can't remember her name) and Art, the president of ICC

Jon and I went back home to get changed but before that, we dropped by New World (not dropped by actually. We went home, parked the car and walked to New World) to get a bouquet of flowers for Art for his effort to put everything together into one piece. I have to mention Jane too. She worked really hard for this and hope she is recognised for this as well.

Jon's sparkling clean beautiful car

Pretending that it's mine. HOhoho

Let me explain what this event is all about. Dunedin Cultural Concert is the new name for International Cultural Night which is held every year hosted by OUSA-ICC. Click here for last year's. This is a colourful and radiant night where all the international clubs showcase their cultures. It fuses both traditional and modern arts of each country. In other word, contemporary. For the past two years, I had been involved in it . . . 2009: Dancer for BSA (Brunei Students' Association). 2010: Usher in Cambodian costume. This year, I am one of the hosts for VIPs. My partner is Mr.Kok, as expected. Lol! What we did was just making a conversation with the VIPs. The best conversation I had was with an old grandma! Haha! As you all know, I really adore the elderly. =) Also, I am able to sit and watch the show this year. All in all, it was very impressive and totally indulge myself in it. I missed home when Brunei and Malaysian clubs performed, at the beginning and the end respectively. It was extremely heartwarming indeed. I am proud to call Brunei my home =)

If I am not mistaken, there were a total of 16 performances. However, I only managed to capture a few clubs'.

Backstage: BSA

Very proud of BSA!

Hand-mime by the Singapore Club

My dinner! It's yummylicious. Taste of home.

Fiji club

Indonesian Club

Sorry for the cacat photo.

The Chinese Club

ANZ's representative gave an award to Art as a token of appreciation. Oh yeah, ANZ bank is the major sponsor for this occasion.

Representative from the hospice. All proceeds go to the hospice!

African Club (AFROTAGO)

The Saudi

Korean Club

Indian Club

Japan Club

The Malaysians! Oh man! the effect was so grand. They showcase all the different nationalities and tribes in Malaysia with the music that I always heard on TV back in Brunei.

So vibrant!

Surprise!

At the end, the staff all bowed on stage.

So happy to see Esther! (sorry again for the wrong rotation of photo)

With the Brunei girls

With Eddie, the main photographer of the night. The other two were Boris and . . . a hongkong guy. Lol

Everyone was tired after this. Nevertheless, we still went out to Hanami for a small celebration. Too bad we did not make it to karaoke. (I think maybe someone wants to come karaoke with me in the future. heee)