a-l-i-n-e.com

(last updated Monday 25th September 2006)

Intro
I don’t know about other people but I don’t usually read the ‘About me’ pages in people’s websites.
Not at first anyway.
I usually read the blog and only look for an ‘About me’ page when the person seems interesting. By interesting, I do not mean the photos but rather the ‘real’ content of the blog; the person’s personal thoughts. Sometimes i find myself being able to relate to what the person has written or I feel some queer affinity even if I have never met that person. I would prefer to have people befriend me because of what I have written rather than because of my photos or my background or whatever. I am not implying that I’m pretty or whatever. I only mean that some people like to be friends with others just for the sake of having many friends. I have realised this over the years and frankly I am very disappointed. Here you are with a big group of friends. Did you bother asking yourself what those people like about you? Did it occur to you that maybe,just maybe they are not really your friends? They wanted to have that priviledge of saying they are your friends just to show off to other people how many persons they know. I remember talking to someone once and that person was bragging about the fact she knows all the right people. Guess what she meant by right people. duh.

I am not picky about my friends.
I do not care if my friends are rich or poor, extremely cute or plain-looking. What matters to me is how sincere they are and how they really are deep down. I used to think that I have quite many friends but over the past few years, i have narrowed down that list. I mentally removed those people who do not seem sincere to me. However even if some people got removed from my friends list, they may eventually get back to that list. I’m a great believer in giving people second chances or even third, fourth or fifth. (you get the idea ) Some people change with time. Why hold grudges? Why keep that fixed image of how that person was? People should be given chances.

My name is Aline. (Not read the English way as ‘a line’ but as ‘ah lynn’.) My friends call me Aline, Lynn or Ling even if my official first name according to my birth certificate is my hakka name. My name Aline is a shortened form of my hakka name. It’s not supposed to be written with an e at the end but my kindergarden teacher heard my mum call me and she thought that my name should be written as Aline. When my teacher taught me to write, she taught me to write my name like that.

I’m a 23 years old girl who was born in Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. My parents are both from Mei xian,Guang Dong Province, China and they emigrated to Mauritius about 30 years ago.

I got a full scholarship for a B.A in Chinese language at Tongji University in Shanghai, China.
I’m going to be in Shanghai for 4 years. (Sept 2004-> Sept 2008)
After all those years stuck in Mauritius, I felt like discovering new horizons. Shanghai might not be the nicest city but it’s still nice to have a change from the usual life in Mauritius.

Languages?
I can speak/write French, English,Mandarin,Mauritian Creole and Hakka (Chinese dialect).
English is the official language and French is also widely spoken in Mauritius. That’s why everyone who goes to school learns both. It’s compulsory (Primary to High school). Chinese language (or other oriental languages) classes were optional(during my time anyway) . Mauritian Creole is the local language so it is my first language. Hakka is a Chinese dialect. My parents speak Hakka (and also Creole now) so I picked up some Hakka when I was a kid.

Mandarin and me
When people learn that my parents come from China, they assume that I learned Mandarin from them. Therefore, they (esp my teachers in Shanghai) have higher expectations of me. The truth is, my parents have never spoken Mandarin to me. They can understand Mandarin but they don’t speak it. They speak Hakka among themselves. I learned some Mandarin since my childhood days by watching Chinese movies. Then I went off to school and that’s where my official learning began. The classes were only a few hours per week but they were fun. When I went to high school, Mandarin was among the many subjects that I chose to study. They didn’t offer Mandarin at A levels at QEC (my high school) so I could only choose Mandarin as my Advanced Subsidiary subject(AS level). After I finished high school,I wasn’t satisfied with what I had learned so far. I felt that there was something missing; a language environment. The only persons with whom I got to speak Mandarin back in Mauritius were my Mandarin teacher, my dance teacher who’s from Beijing and my friend Chenyi who’s from Ningbo. Since the best place to study Mandarin is China, I applied for a scholarship in early 2004. The whole process took a while; forms to fill in, letters of recommendation , results & other certificates to submit, letters to write and finally an interview. Months later, I left Mauritius for Shanghai (that’s where the China Scholarship Council sent me) and that’s where the ‘real’ learning began.

Siblings?
I’ve got one elder brother,David and two little sisters, Karine and Céline.

We used to bicker a lot back in Mauritius but now that we are so far apart, I miss them loads.
I can’t wait to see them again.

Past and now?

I’ve been told that i’m quite complicated. =shrugs=

I used to socialize a lot, always going out here and there, having fun. I was still young. I was going through my teenager phase. I’ve somehow come to my senses. Life isn’t about having fun. Not all the time anyway. What’s life about then? I don’t know. I’m still looking for the answers. All i know is that i want to do something constructive. I want to be in total control of my life. I want to be the one taking the decisions and I do not want to go with the flow. So what if those people are doing this or that? I’m ME. These days, I mostly hang out with friends or stay home to watch chinese dramas or anime.
I prefer these to going out to parties or night clubs.

I spend more and more time on the internet now. I finished my HSC in November 2003 and I had nothing to do until it was time to go to university. When i went out, I’d go to this wonderful place where I was surrounded by computers all day. (I’ve been called a computer geek ) I was always into computer stuffs even if I never took computer courses. I was always learning things here and there (I think I got that from my brother) but it was in 2003 that I got even more interested in all this computer and internet thing. Now, it’s a pleasure for me to help my friends when they have computer problems.

Else, i used to hang out with friends or go to my ballet classes. I was taking ballet classes at China Cultural Centre since the end of 2002 and stopped at the beginning of year 2004. I stopped mainly for personal reasons. On March 17 2004, I went back and wondering why I even stopped in the first place. I continued my dance classes until it was time for me to leave Mauritius for Shanghai. Miss those days!
I have always enjoyed performing I guess. Back in secondary and high school (12 to 18 or 19 years old) I was a baton twirler (majorette) and enjoyed majorette practice. Going on the stage to perform was a great feeling. Being a majorette made my life in seconday and high school more interesting, more challenging. Practice was only once a week but sometimes we’d have extra practice during lunch time. Baton twirling might look easy to some people but it’s only because they don’t have a clue what it’s really like to dance and twirl the baton at the same time. They watch us perform and think it’s easy but when they try… hehe Enough said about that.

-random things-
I used to like walking outside when it’s raining. One of my friends tell me that the first time he saw me, I was walking outside, slowly, while it was drizzling. He even saw me stick out my tongue to catch a few drops of water. errr. I never realised that people would notice me doing that. ^^
Now on those rainy days, I only feel like curling up in bed with a nice book. Or I just lie there and think. I think too much sometimes.

I love taking pics of place,food and people. Still, right now I’m just an amateur, taking photos for fun.
I’d love to learn how to take those professional-looking photos one day. One of my friends is working part-time as a photographer and I love looking at his pics. I keep telling myself that one day I’ll be able to do that too. hehe

-edited-
April 26, 2005
Studying in Shanghai is fun. Still, I get bored sometimes. I need to find a dance class or something similar. Still no longer into clubbing… Are my clubbing days over?I think it’s just that i hit the ‘pause’ button and don’t feel like pressing the ‘Play’ button for the time being.
Right now,I prefer enjoying some quality time with my friends.

August 18, 2005
Trying to find myself.

September 27, 2006
It has been more than a year since I last updated my About page. I’m still in Shanghai.
Life is still okay here. I’m working part-time now. I’m really considering staying in Shanghai to find a job after I graduate in two years.

Why this blog?
I tend to bottle up my feelings. Writing is the only way to make me feel better…
This blog also allows me to let my loved ones know what I’ve been up to.

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