First Day.

To Disclose.
As the title states, it was my first day at Piktochart. And damn, it has such an interesting working culture. It's different, it's new, it's surreal. LOL. Even though it's my first real job, but I know that it's different from other corporate jobs out there, because there's just so much freedom in the office. Okay maybe it's too early to judge, because I barely had any work to do, but the first thing that I noticed was that the company had a very open concept; there was no partition between tables. Everybody was so friendly and welcoming that it made it easy for me to go around and talk to people. Oh right, that's my only task for the whole day - talk to every single person in the office. Thankfully, half of the office were on leave, so actually I only spoke to half of the office people, but it was still so tiring cuz I'm constantly listening and talking and listening and talking,. At one point I'm nodding and giving appropriate responses where needed but my thoughts have already drifted far, far away. Hopefully I did manage to capture some bits and pieces of their stories.

The meetings they had were actually on bean bags! It was really cool. Presentation-based meetings to get everybody up to speed on what different departments are working on and I felt swag sitting on those beanbags. Hahah. Shortly after lunch, Laura, my mentor, I guess I'm gonna call her that cuz she'll be teaching me everything there is to know about UX research and it was pretty overwhelming hearing so many different terms and different ways of thinking and understanding all this new user behavior stuff, but she tells me not to feel too overwhelmed as it takes time to really understand what the heck is going on. So anyway more tasks and more explanations will be done tomorrow, cuz she's really scared I had too much to absorb. I'm a little scared but also looking forward to learning new things. Today I was really drained from talking to so many new people in one day but yeah I believe it will all get better soon. 

It felt good, how I could relate much of what I learnt in AIESEC's working culture to Piktochart's working culture. I was so inspired that I did a little sharing to my fellow AIESECers in hopes that they will learn as much as they could right now, because really, you never know when it may come in handy. That's the thing about life; there will never be a point in your life to say that "I have learnt enough", because learning never stops. There will always be countless amount of books to read, wise people to listen to and then there's also Google which makes learning that much easier. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, but at the same time, I'm nervous too. Hopefully I'll be updating my blog more often along the way and also take more pictures. =)

Voluntourism.

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Today, one of my friends brought up a really interesting topic for her presentation; Voluntourism. I thought her presentation was amazing because it brought up a lot of points that I have thought of but which I had never really dwelled upon. Personally, it was very relatable to me because of my exchange experience via AIESEC. Her whole presentation was basically slapping AIESEC in the face ten times over. Lol. Needless to say, I was very excited throughout her whole presentation. Nodding my head and pumping my fists up in agreement to each point she threw at us. But I know my friend could relate to it too because she was also one of the volunteers that went for an AIESEC exchange. She did not share about AIESEC during her presentation, although I expected her to. I think it was a good choice that she did not, but presenting voluntourism as a whole was a really interesting take on her part.



Voluntourism is basically made up of two words;

Volunteer + Tourism = Voluntourism.

I have never heard of this word before but without a doubt, AIESEC is Voluntourism and I understand this whole concept completely. It involves people from all over the world to take part in a "community project" or "social work" for a summer break or something and then you go back to your life feeling like you've changed the world. Truth to be told, before I went for my exchange, I didn't expect that I'm going to change the world. I mean, come on, it's living six weeks abroad, how much change could I have done? Once I leave the place, the impact I left would have disappeared together with me. True enough, I didn't feel like I made any difference after my exchange experience, which made me feel even more skeptical about AIESEC than I already am. That's also why I changed my department to Talent Management instead of the sales team I was in. I didn't feel like I could keep persuading people to join something I did not believe in.

One of the selling points of AIESEC that I am always reminded by my seniors to use is, "Travel with A Purpose". I always thought that, wow, yeah, that really makes sense. If I were to just travel around sightseeing, I may not even enjoy it all that much. Volunteering somewhere would make it feel more meaningful, more stories to tell your friends. AHAHA. Okay but when I went for my exchange I didn't think about all this alright. I came back and read up more on voluntourism because I am interested in what it really is and what people has to say about it. They found that most voluntourists are women and young adults aged from 20 to 25 years old. It feels like these altruists are really doing something to give back to the community, and maybe this is really the only way they can, but perhaps doing it at your hometown would also bring as much, or even more significance to the community.

Voluntourism is also more popular amongst the Western society to travel to Asian countries to volunteer, some sort of Western imperialism that would make us Asians feel like, "Wow, there are these white people coming over to help us." Haha, let me testify for that. When I was at my exchange, all the Vietnamese students were so amazed by these ang mohs and did not give a shit about me because I looked local and Asian. Sigh, seriously.. I'm more interesting than them lah okay. Haha but anyway yeah, I think it does make them feel even more narcissistic about themselves. I think that's the perfect word to describe this whole voluntourism thing.

Especially in our Instagrammable culture, they just take pictures with these Asian kids to show that they are doing something, but in truth, they did not do much, they did not even carry out the workshops at my project. While it all looks like a bed of roses on their social media, nobody truly knows what they did at their project. Sigh okay, I need to stop bashing ang mohs, but seriously, it applies to everyone in general actually. Even I felt a sense of pride in going to Vietnam to volunteer, but I knew it was more of my own personal development than creating any sort of impact to my students.

I'd like to end this post with a paragraph I read somewhere about #InstagrammingAfrica.

On these trips, we hide behind the lens, consuming the world around us with our powerful gazes and the clicking of camera shutters. When I directed this photo opportunity and starred in it, I used my privilege to capture a photograph that made me feel as though I was engaging with the community. Only now do I realize that what I was actually doing was making myself the hero/star in a story about “suffering Africa.”

Think your travel trips through before going for volunteering abroad, and remember, creating an impact should always be about the people, not ourselves. =)

the Hunger Games.

To Disclose.


I know it's a little too late, but I just watched Hunger Games today. Haha, I've already known how the story goes cuz I read the book a few years back. I just really wanna watch it because the book was so awesome. ESPECIALLY the 1st book! Damn, I loveeeeeeeeeeeee the whole Hunger Games concept. Such an out of the world idea. Thanks Suzanne Collins. =) However, the movie was somewhat a little disappointing. Or quite a lot. =x The whole movie was just really SLOWWWW. -.- and I thought they would feature loads of fighting and action combats because well, THAT's the exciting part. but too bad they focused more on the love story between Katniss and Peeta. =/ anyhow, i tot it was okay besides the fact that it's really slow. Casting's nice. and i find the way they film the movie very artistic. Not the typical way a movie is usually shot, see it for yourself in the movie. =)


Katniss during the reaping. Jennifer Lawrence. She's pretty. =D


One of the best parts of this movie, Liam Hemsworth. :O :O :O :O Gale.

The Girl on Fire.


ohmygoshh so hot!! rawr. lucky Miley Cyrus. -.- lol, sorry there's zero pictures of Peeta. I don't find him as hot. XD haha. 



The cast of The Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor.

marry me.

To Disclose.

Forever can never be long enough for me
Feel like I've had long enough with you
Forget the world now we won't let them see
But there's one thing left to do

Now that the weight has lifted
Love has surely shifted my way
Marry Me
Today and every day
Marry Me
If I ever get the nerve to say
Hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Mm-hmm

Together can never be close enough for me
Feel like I am close enough to you
You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love
And you're beautiful
Now that the wait is over
And love and has finally shown her my way

Promise me you'll always be
Happy by my side
I promise to sing to you
When all the music dies

And marry me
Today and everyday

<3

harry potter.

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harry potter number 7 part 2, awesome! :D

NEED to get harry potter books to complete my collection.
1. Philosopher's stone
2. Chamber of Secrets
3. Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Deathly Hallows

Arghhh can't believe i still didn't finish reading the series. DAMN.

Prince of Persia~ =D

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I know it's late, but.. Prince of Persia is superrrrrrrrrrr awesome! =D me likey alottt.


This dude, this dude, he looks alot like the actual prince in the game.. dam cool weih..
Prince Dastan! =)

Princess Tamina! =D she's reallyyyy pretty. hoho. XD



Well, the story's mainly about Prince Dastan having had to clear his name after a fraud caused by his uncle. He was framed to murder his own father, the King. Well, nobody believed him until he proved the incredible powers of the dagger that contains the Sands of Time. woooots. =D Where does Princess Tamina come in, you say? Her country owns the magic dagger, it's her country's sacred item. So.. she's sort of like a guardian of the dagger.

wee~ awesome movie. must watch! =)

the time traveler's wife.

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I want the booooooooooooooooooooooooooook! since i watched the movie, I want it even badlyyyyyyyyyyyyyy than before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =( I want it superrrrrrrr badly. sob.
I watched the movie last night, alone. and i.. cried. -.- it's.... a sad story. the movie's pretty boring la actually considering it's..his life.. no action n stuff.. but! its super touchingggg. maaan.. i'm lame. XD

taking chances.

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Pic by : Deviantart

Don't know much about your life.
Don't know much about your world, but
Don't want to be alone tonight,
On this planet they call earth.

You don't know about my past, and
I don't have a future figured out.
And maybe this is going too fast.
And maybe it's not meant to last,

But what do you say to taking chances,
What do you say to jumping off the edge?
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay,
What do you say, what do you say?

I just want to start again,
And maybe you could show me how to try,
And maybe you could take me in,
Somewhere underneath your skin?

And I had my heart beaten down,
But I always come back for more, yeah.
There's nothing like love to pull you up,
When you're laying down on the floor there.

So talk to me, talk to me,
Like lovers do.
Yeah walk with me, walk with me,
Like lovers do,

*you guys were awesome.

so close.

To Disclose.

So close - Jon McLaughlin

You're in my arms, and all the world is calm
The music playing on for only two
So close together and when I'm with you
So close to feeling alive

A life goes by, romantic dreams will stop
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you
And now forever I know, all that I wanted to hold you so close

So close to reaching that famous happy end
Almost believing this was not pretend
Now you're beside me, and look how far we've come
So far we are so close

Oh, how could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?

We're so close to reaching that famous happy end
And almost believing this was not pretend
Let's go on dreaming for we know we are
So close, so close and still so far

the show.

To Disclose.

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go I can't do it alone I've tried
And I don't know why

Slow it down, make it stop, or else my heart is going to pop
'Cause it's too much, yeah, it's a lot ,to be something I'm not
I'm a fool ,out of love, 'cause I just can't get enough

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but I don't show it
I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down I know
I've got to let it go, and just enjoy the show
And we are all stories, in the end.