Bye 2012, Hello 2013

Happy New Year 2013 to all. As per usual, I hope and pray the new year will bring all of us joy and better opportunities in life. So here’s 2012 for me, in a nutshell:

1. I took up a part-time job as a tutor
I worked in a private tutiton school for about 6 months, teaching History and Geography to a slew of students ranging from Year 7 to Year 13. Throughout the 6 months period, I was never truly happy with my job but I couldn’t leave it until November. Nevertheless, it was the experience that counts and I was, all in all, glad I had that.

2. I enrolled as a grad student
Last August Leon and I were accepted as Masters students. Both of us are doing Master in South East Asian Studies by coursework. Honestly it was fun in the beginning, but after the first semester, we were so exhausted that we aren’t actually looking forward to go through another semester of toil. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that we’ll only need to suffer for another one semester. The reason for this anguish is that I feel cheated for doing a research work. The programme states that we’re only supposed to be doing the Master programme by coursework, which would involve a mini research exercise. Instead, we were expected to do a full-fledge research paper/thesis.

3. I travelled to West Malaysia
My sister was assigned to do her work attachment in Perak, Malaysia for 4 months (Jan-Apr) so the whole family came along to help her settle down. Then in March I went there to visit her again (I was there to shop too).

4. Received a special gift
I blogged about this back in October already. Leon got me a custom-made white-gold necklace adorned with a Peridot stone. It was such a beautiful (and expensive!) gift that I cried when he gave it to me. I haven’t tried it on because I was afraid I might damage it (I’m a klutz).

5. Completed the Goodreads’ Reading Challenge
My target for 2012 was to read at least 25 books and I am glad I surpassed that target – I read 27! The last book I read was Wings of the Divided¹, an ebook written by C. J. Sullivan.

How was your 2012 and what are your expectations for the new year?