Working for 2 months in Montreal, Canada.

I really miss Malaysia. Even if a lot of things in Malaysia is getting worse, but I really miss it. 2 months in Montreal is too short to try to make new friends. And it's too long to stay without friends. Pokemon Go is bored to be played alone. 

The next exciting thing is only Niagara Falls. Then when I come back, it will be 8 more working days, then I can go back to Malaysia. The food, the movie in cinema, the badminton and so on, so many fun things I missed. 

I gonna stay positive, be happy while I am here. Continue to build my body abs. It's coming out soon....soon....

Why is it so hard to save money in KL/PJ in Malaysia.

After reading a lot of post in facebook and some articles, I realized there is a lot of saving guide. But it is really hard to save money in KL / PJ. The capital of Malaysia has too much hidden cost that always exceeding the budget.
  
1. Parking and petrol. Once you have car, parking is one of the hidden expense. You feel like it's nothing but a month can cost you to around 100 or even more if you travel a lot. Anywhere you park, it costs money. Your rented condo, your office, shopping mall and so on. For petrol, this is another biggest expenses that comes together when you have car. Even though you might say you just use your car to work, it will still cost you at least RM150 and above. And usually when you have car, you don't stay at home at weekend. 

2. Car maintenance and insurance. If you drive your car less, you still need to maintain it at least once in 3 months. Sometimes it is just coincidence that the big maintenance that usually cost at least RM300 is timed together with car insurance. You will feel like stabbing yourself in the heart why you get the car at the first place. Not to mention if your car tyres burst when you are driving with no reason, it will cost about RM150 per tyre. Imagine this month the car tyre burst, next month fix the air cond, third month maintenance, 4th month car insurance due...... how are we gonna save money. 

3. Gym and sports. If you subscribed to gym membership, it feels like it's only RM150/month, or maybe even lesser, but it is still money. How many times you need to go to make it worth your money if you subscribed to gym monthly. The trainer told me at least 3 times a week. I subscribed once when there is a haze because I can't go jogging at the nearby park. When the weather is better, I straight cancel off my membership. 
For other sports, some of them will cost a lot too especially sports like badminton and futsal. Badminton is costly because of the shuttlecock. Futsal is because of the court rental.

4. Entertainment. Maybe you said "I will not go clubbing or pub, so entertainment is not a cost to me." Not really. Even movie, karaoke, cyber cafe, bowling, pool, bird park, escape room and so on is cost. It's just that sometimes it is a bit small and we don't put them in our budget list. Don't even mention those who drinks at bar or club once in a while (month maybe?), that will cost even more.

5.  Food and drinks. No! I am not saying you cannot eat or drink. You can eat and drink of course. But do you see that sometimes drinks are not so necessary. Drinks in restaurants is just overpriced. For example, a meal of Nasi Lemak Chicken Berempah maybe cost about RM12, the drinks of Limau Ice might cost RM5, which is about 40% of the food price. Save it up 3 times, you can eat another meal. You can try to bring your own drinks for a month, you will feel that you saved up a lot in that month.

In short, saving is really hard in Malaysia but I believe there is still many ways to do it. Get part time job or second job or freelance job so you need more time to work instead of spend, or find some cheapskate way to live in KL/PJ, I believe there is a lot of articles like that. I also just start saving more from this year. How many people who in their 30s have more than 10k in their bank account?

张碧晨 白芍花开 lyrics meaning and pinyin

Verse 1:

总梦见那年白芍花开 

 zǒng mèng jiàn nā nián bái sháo huā kāi

 Always dream of peony flower blooming

我们牵着手走在白色花海

wǒ men qiān zhuó shǒu zǒu zài bái sè huā hǎi

We holding hand walk in the sea of white flower

那时天空那么蓝 

nà shí tiān kōng nà me lán  

At that time, the sky is so blue

时间那么慢

 shí jiān nà me màn

The time is so slow

记忆中的味道那么甜

jì yì zhòng dì wèi dao nà me tián
The taste from the memory is so sweet

Verse 2:

再次梦见那片白色海洋

zài cì mèng jiàn nā piān bái sè hǎi yáng

Again dreamed of the piece of white ocean 

仿佛一切停止在那瞬间

fǎng fú yī qiè tíng zhǐ zài nā shùn jiān

As if everything stopped at that moment

刻着你我的青春 

kè zhāo nǐ wǒ de qīng chūn

Engrave your and my youth

白色的约定

bái sè de yuē dìng 

White promises

我不愿醒过来 

 wǒ bú yuàn xǐng guò lái

 I don't want to wake up

这是最美丽的永远

zhè shì zuì měi lì de yǒng yuǎn
 This is the prettiest forever

Chorus:
转眼多年青涩渐远 

 zhuǎn yǎn duō nián qīng sè jiān yuǎn

 Instantly, many years of sentimental has passed

一切恍如昨天

yī qiè huǎng rú zuó tiān 

Everything seems like yesterday

转过身去依然清晰的笑脸

zhuǎn guò shēn qù yī rán qīng xī de xiào liǎn

Turned around and still can see the clear smile

就像那白色的约定 

jiù xiàng nā bái sè de yuē dìng 

Just like the white promises

纯洁而美丽

chún jié ér měi lì

Pure and beautiful

牵挂著彼此之间  不变的誓言

qiān guà zhe bǐ cǐ zhī jiān  bú biàn de shì yán

Worry about each other   the never changing oath
 

再次相遇白色花海 

 zài cì xiāng yù bái sè huā hǎi
Meet again in the sea of white flower

拥抱纯洁的爱

yōng bào chún jié de ài 

Embrace the pure love

淡淡的绽放在初恋的地点

dàn dàn de zhàn fàng zài chū liàn de dì diǎn

Lightly blossom at the place of first love

思念落在纯净之源   不变的誓言

 sī niàn luò zài chún jìng zhī yuán  bú biàn de shì yán

Missing because pure source of never changing oath

再次回头发现  身后的人是你

zài cì huí tóu fā xiàn  shēn hòu de rén shì nǐ
Turn the head around and realize the person behind is you.

 Verse 2

Chorus 

 

Dad had passed away for 3 years.

Emo post ahead!

Well, not totally emotional. Everytime my brothers and I talk about my dad, we will have not much good things to talk about. We remember that our dad likes to farm so much at the back of the house. To farm, you need a good soil. So he always ordered us to go carry good soil from some place. 

There is once,  he ordered us to do so, but the place with good soil, is quite deep to a forest. There is a lot of mosquitoes and insects. We got no choice but to spray the mosquitoes repellent on our body just to avoid being bitten by it.... Bad memory huh...

Do we have good memory???
....
..

I am thinking hard.

Yeah, found one. 
I came to KL and I need car. I don't have enough money for down payment. So I called dad and he said he can borrow money to me. "Borrow"... means I need to pay back....No idea why dad and son need to be so calculative.. haha. 

Any other good memory???
.....
...

Still thinking....

I think my dad also "borrowed" me 2k when I first come to KL to settle down. We don't having saving since kid. Well, actually we do but when my dad is jobless, it's finished in just few months. We have a lot of sad story with our dad bad habit. And we all had decided not to follow his footstep. Thanks to him, we are now so independent. Somehow, it ends up pretty good too. Haha.

Alright, enough with ranting. 3 years had passed since my dad passed away. We are still doing alright. And maybe getting better.

Searching through the downtown in Montreal

I had went to several souvenir stores in downtown Montreal, Canada, just to find the suitable size of souvenir that I am going to buy. After been to 6 or 7 different stores, I finally found a suitable one. 

It is quite fun, to shop for all these items. I will probably buy some for myself too. 

The most exciting event next is to go Toronto. I will be there for 2 days 1 night. I really want to visit their Ripley's aquarium and Toronto Zoo. The journey will take about 6-7 hours probably. Hopefully the bus is comfortable enough for me to sleep.

Weird Dream

I am still in Montreal, Canada. And will still be here for the next 6 weeks. 

Last night I had a very scary dream. I dreamed that I went back to Malaysia. I forgot what's the reason behind it, but I actually consider that as scary. Hahaha. It's because I haven't been to Toronto and Niagara Fall. I told one of my friend and he say "so now Malaysia is nightmare la?". Hahaha.

Halfway through the dream, I woke up and felt relieved because I am still in Montreal.