the short wanderer

I had been eyeing this one book for quite some time. It's the renowned bestselling book ' The Garden of Evening Mists ' written by the much-celebrated Malaysian author, Tan Twan Eng. The setting of the story in the 1900s compelled me to get my eyes on it, and after finding out that the piece had won the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 I had no reason not to add it to my 'urgent' wishlist and to my delight, my Secret Santa wonderfully fulfilled that request of mine last Christmas. I was reading the chapter where the main character started reading a translated version of Sakuteiki - the oldest collection of writings on Japanese garden-making - when my mind began to wander and seemed to be more interested in the world of its own; which led me to end up writing here instead of finishing the chapter. It wandered off to a place not at all foreign to me, and in fact, a place I've been missing a bit too much for the past few months. Yugiri - a garden the author kept o...

When people found out that I study archaeology, it is common for them to ask, "Archaeology? What do you learn? What are the exciting things about your course?" or "What are some of the things that you like about your degree?" , but I have rarely been asked about 'the other side' of this field (don't worry, I hope it isn't as bad as you thought it would be). Yes, archaeology sounds very adventurous and exciting, but obviously, everything in life comes with a set of challenges - it's a life package that archaeology doesn't seem to have an exception on (and I can say these things now since I'm finally done with three years of undergraduate studies phew)  Disclaimer: The following points are extracted from my personal experience of being in the field for the past three years. I am no expert in this field, and I am merely reflecting on my time as an amateur. I guess it's also safe to say that, this post is probably gonna be more about me ...

The month of June has hummed a strikingly different tune. From the life of living up to people's expectation (mine included), chasing after deadlines, and anxiously getting a number of things done on a daily basis, I was thrown into a life where there's no need to feel guilty about just chilling, yet I am still struggling to keep my mind from thinking about doing any kind of work. (God knows how many times I have to suppress myself from sending out CVs and cover letters to companies because it is just not the time yet...for me. But oh well, I still couldn't help writing (and completing) them all anyway - the drafts in my emails are soon gonna be filled with job applications waiting to be sent I guess huhu)  My last submission was in May, so I had June completely free to myself. Apart from being unofficially assigned to supervise Adam's homework (as well as taking the place as the opponent in his (almost) daily chess routine lol), I have been burying myself in... books -...

I don't know how to exactly write this post, I don't even know what to start it with. I hope this makes sense, well at least I hope at the end, you'll get the message that I intended to deliver. I was watching the 18th episode of Bones Season 8. It was the scene where Agent Booth interrogated a prime suspect of a murder, who was an RUF (Revolutionary United Front) general - the man responsible for recruiting thousands of child soldiers in Sierra Leone during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The suspect wasn't admitting to be the person the FBI agent claimed he is. So Booth then said, "Okay, so here are your choices..." "You either confess to this murder, and you're tried here or... we deport you back to The Hague,  where you have to answer to 17 counts of crimes against humanity ... for which you've already been indicted ." By the time Booth said 'crimes against humanity' , my chest hurt and my heart just broke, and by the...

It's officially 2020, but I can't seem to let go of 2019. 2019 has definitely witnessed a lot of great things (of course there are the not-so-great ones but it's new year so who wants to talk about the not-so-great things right ahaks). This is not another series of my 'WandeRewind' nor any piece of my not-so-deep personal reflection. Just a piece of memory trail, I guess... since I don't really have much time to sit and think about things to write recently hehe 2019 was the year I turned 21. The start of a new decade of my life. It had also marked the 'halfway' journey of my undergraduate years. How did I start my 2019? Oh, with a trip to Vienna and also my first ever Europe solo trip to Bratislava . I still remember sending pictures to my family WhatsApp group just to let them know that I was doing fine being alone in that capital of Slovakia. 2019: Stepping up my game of travelling alone! Nothing exciting really happened throughout my term...

This is a very long overdue post that I almost gave up writing on, but I guess it would be something fun to talk about - not because of my bias towards human bones but I think it's going to be another (hopefully) insightful entry on the fact that archaeologists don't only dig the ground or look at stones and fossils for their lifetime, so here we go! I love beaches, and that's why I love Cyprus :D Last spring (that was in April, which feels like a long time ago right), I had taken part in the Human Bioarchaeology Field School organised by the Heritage and Archaeological Research Practice (HARP) in Kato Paphos, the historical city of Cyprus. The field school is led and supervised by Michelle Gamble, a bioarchaeologist of the practice, assisted by Kieran, who is a staff from the same institution. I had been working on human remains excavated as part of the Paphos Agora Project which is conducted by the team of Professor Ewdoksia Papuci-Wladyka from the Department of...

Hallo, Guten Tag! Author's note: There will be some random mix of German words as you go further into this reading, as I try to put my 6-month German lesson with Dr Linda and another 3-day German revision with Faris into practice.  This is a very long overdue post - of a trip I had undertaken a few months ago - but I still insist on writing about it as I have spent so much time trying to sharpen my knowledge on German language while I was on the trip and it had successfully sparked my enthusiasm in learning Deutsch again, and I love reminiscing the recollection of my excursions so here we go! So, what drives me to Wien (Vienna)...? Well, since I have got a free  Woche (week) in the winter break before the term started, so why not a Reise (trip/travel) to another Stadt (city)? Tag eins (Day 1): Donnerstag (Thursday)  I arrived in Wien Flughafen (Vienna Airport) at around 11 in the morning.  Flughafen , like 'air-port', is a combination of 2 words, f...