Slice Of Life #219 - Greetings From Spain! - Tuesday, June 25th, 2019

    Okay. I'm currently in Barcelona, Spain, and I am on a train, waiting to go to Madrid.

    Back in Malaysia, I made an itinerary for what we were going to do in Barcelona. I've also made one for Madrid, and we're going to be following it while we're in Madrid. 

    The time zone here is 6 hours slower than Malaysia's time. We were like backpackers in Barcelona, as we were walking to pretty much anywhere we had to go to. Altogether, we took 7 train rides in 3 days (not including this one).

    My mom is currently looking at the itinerary I've made for our trip in Madrid. Tomorrow, we're going to go to Seville. On the day after tomorrow, we're going to be going to Toledo. 

    My dad's made the itinerary for our trip in Seville, and we're going to be taking a tour in Toledo.

    Now, the conductor is talking over the loudspeaker. I'm sorry, conductor, but I can't understand anything you're trying to say to us...

    The train's started moving! Madrid, here we come!

Slice Of Life #218 - Summer Holidays! - Tuesday, June 18th, 2019

    Today is the 2nd day of my summer holiday, so I don't have to go to school. My summer holiday's going to last 2 months. Because of that, I'm going to be going to Spain this Saturday. But for now, I'm bored.
    I've just came up from the living room, where I've been reading The BFG by Roald Dahl. I've finished the whole book except for about 50 pages, which I should be able to finish in the car while we're going to a shopping mall later today.
    I'm also looking at a few books that I may want to buy. I'm currently looking at Allies by Alan Gratz. It's going to come out in October later this year, and I've recently become obsessed with books by Alan Gratz, so I may want to pre-order it.
    Downstairs, I have a whole bookshelf almost full of books that I want to read over the summer. Surprisingly, I haven't read Harry Potter (I read the first 20 pages of the first book, but thought it was too boring), so I'm going to try to read - and persevere - through it this time, because everyone says it's amazing.

Now wait, I need to go to buy some groceries with my mom...

    Okay... I'm back.  We went out, ate some lunch, and then bought some groceries. Now I have to do my research.

    Because we are going to Spain, my dad asked me to search up a few places to go to. We have 2 days in Barcelona where we don't know what we're going to do, so my dad asked me to find a few places where I'm interested in going.

    I'm gonna' start searching, so I'm going to conclude this post here. Bye! 👋

Slice Of Life #217 - Tooth Extraction - Tuesday, June 11th, 2019

    I was really scared. Today, I was going to be extracting my baby tooth because a permanent tooth had already grew behind it.
    I heard the door creak as a nurse opened the door to the dentist's consultation room. "Zhi Hong," She said kindly.
    I took a deep breath and walked into the room. "Hi," I said to my dentist, Dr. Cheah, who I already knew because my parents were friends with her. "So, you're going to be extracting your tooth today, huh?"
    "Yeah," I replied. I was really nervous because I am really scared of pain.
    She took a look at my teeth. She used a metal object and pointed at a tooth. "It's this tooth you're going to be taking out, right?"
    "Yes." I replied.
    Dr. Chuah turned to my mom. "Did Dr. Teh give a letter saying which tooth to extract?"
    I had recently gotten a retainer, and Dr. Teh was my orthodontist (AKA the person who told me to extract this tooth. AKA the person who gave me the retainer.)
    "Yes, she did." My mom replied. "Let me call his father to see if he has the letter with him."
    I didn't really know what they were talking about. I remember the letter Dr. Teh gave my parents being on a piece of paper. Then I realized that my dad had probably took a photo of the letter. My mom showed Dr. Chuah the letter.
    Dr. Chuah started to put the numb cream on the tooth. She told me that she would count to five and then it would be over. But, it wasn't 5 seconds. It was more like 10 seconds. Those 10 seconds felt like an eternity. The first few seconds didn't hurt, but when we got to the final few seconds, it hurt a lot. My eyes started to tear up.
    Unfortunately, we had to do it twice, which wasn't very good news. Fortunately, the second time didn't hurt as much.
    After that, I gargled my mouth. Dr. Chuah picked up something and started pressing my tooth with it. It was to check if she had put on enough numb cream, which she did. Dr. Chuah then picked up a pair of pliers and told me that the pain was over.
    She used the pair of pliers and took my tooth out. I got to take my tooth home to keep it. I exhaled with relief. It was over.

P.S.: If you are reading this and are also scared of pain, I don't mean to scare you with this slice. On the other hand, it doesn't really hurt that much.

Slice Of Life #216 - Chinese Chess - Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

    Okay... My chess class is over. Today, I had my Chinese Chess class, and I have to say, I learned a lot. The person that teaches me chess is an "international grand master". He competes internationally and arises as the champion in almost all of the competitions he attends.
    Before class, I was working on my Free Choice Writing Project (FCWP) so that I could get it finished before the end of the school year. I would then be able to publish it and have it put in the "5DH Library".
    I had gone down about 15 minutes before 7:00 (the time my chess class was supposed to start) to get my chess set out and organize everything. After that, I sprinted back up the stairs, taking them 2 by 2, just to get up so I could work on my FCWP.
    I finished writing chapter 11 of my FCWP when I heard the sound of a doorbell. Again, I sprinted, but this time down the stairs (*Please do not sprint up or down the stairs at home. In fact, don't sprint up or down the stairs anywhere. You could get seriously injured and you may or may not end up with a broken body part.*). I watched as my teacher came into my house.
    We started to play some chess. I improved every time I played it. I moved my horse. "Thank you!" My teacher said as he ate my horse with an elephant (I'm playing Chinese Chess, and Chinese Chess is different from normal chess).
    "Dang..." I said. I made another move, eating a soldier with my car. My teacher moved his horse.
    We kept on playing. After a while, my teacher told me that I had already won. All I had to do was move my car down. My cannon was positioned in a spot where I could eat the king if he moved to the left, and my horse could eat the king if he moved forward. Now that my car was in position, the king couldn't go anywhere without being eaten.
    We played one more round of chess. After that, my teacher started teaching me a few things. He put a few chess pieces on the chess board. "Do you know how to win?" He asked me.
    I started messing around and trying to figure out how to win, but after about 3 minutes, I asked my teacher how to win. "Look, it's pretty easy. You mark this elephant. The elephant will move up. Because you are already marking the elephant, you eat it. If the other elephant decides to eat you, your king can afly over and eat the other king. Then, you can win."
    He started testing me to make sure I understood. When I didn't know what piece to move (and it was a really easy decision), he would make me think so that I would remember it for a long time.
    "Don't worry if you forget what to do. We're humans, not computers. Computers will never forget things, but humans will." My teacher told me.
    He kept on teaching me new things. After that, we played another match. And just like that, my class was over.
    I had learned a lot today.