Rapunzel (My version)

A long time ago, there lived a happily married couple in a small cottage at the edge of the woods. They have been longing for a child for many years. After 6 years of marriage, God finally granted their wish. She broke the news to her husband and both of them were overjoyed. One day, she had a strange yet vivid dream. In the dream, she was walking in a beautiful garden and a particular plant caught her attention. It was the most beautiful rampion (rapunzel) and it looked so fresh and green that she really longed for it. A few days have passed but she still couldn’t get her mind off the dream, particularly the rampion. She began to lose her appetite and her husband who noticed the change became very worried. He asked his dear wife, “What ails you, dear wife? “. With eyes filled with sorrow, she turned to look at him and said softly, “If I can’t eat some of the rampions like the one I saw in my dream, I shall die”. Her husband was alarmed and he promised his wife he would bring some back for her. However, the only place he knew that has beautiful rampions is the enchantress’s garden which was surrounded by a high wall. Nobody dared to go into it for they fear the evil enchantress which has magical powers. But, for the sake of his beloved wife, he decided to get the rampions from the garden. Thus, at twilight, the husband stealthily clambered down over the wall into the garden and grabbed a handful of rampions. Clutching the rampions close to him, he hastily returned back to his house and handed it to his wife. His wife was overjoyed and at once made herself a salad of it. She then happily ate it. It tasted so good to her- so very good, that the next day she longed for it two times even more than before. She begged her husband, “Dear husband, I just need to have a second taste of it, just one last time and I shall be contented, I promise.” Her husband couldn’t bring himself to deny his wife’s request for he loved her so. The next day, at twilight, the husband descended into the garden once more to fulfill his wife’s wish. To his utter horror, the enchantress was standing before him, looking as menacing as ever. “How dare you trespass into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief?” said she. “You shall suffer for this dishonorable act! “she shouted lividly. The colour drained out of the poor man’s face. “Ah, please do have mercy on me. I only did it out of necessity. My wife desires to eat rampion so badly that she would have died if she had not got some to eat”, he answered. That explanation mollified her anger by a bit but she was still not satisfied. So she said to the man: “If that’s the case as you said, then I’ll allow you to take as much rampions as you will, but on one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world right after it is borne”. The terrified man consented to everything, thinking that the enchantress will soon forget about the promise. He then hurried home and gave his wife the rampions but he didn’t dare tell his wife about the promise he made with the enchantress, fearing it would upset her badly. Months passed by swiftly and the day arrived where the woman’s baby is due. Almost immediately, the enchantress appeared and she took the baby with her, naming her Rapunzel.

Many years have passed since then. Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her in a tower, which lay in the forest, and had neither stairs nor door, just a small window at quite the top of the tower. She did that, fearing Rapunzel might try to escape from her captivity. Whenever the enchantress wanted to enter the tower, she would called out to Rapunzel :

‘ Rapunzel , Rapunzel, let down your hair to me.’

Upon hearing this, Rapunzel who had magnificent golden long hair, would unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and let her hair fall all the way down the tower, allowing the enchantress to climb up the tower by it.

One day, the king’s son rode through the forest and he passed by the tower. Suddenly, he heard a sweet melodious voice that sounded quite ethereal resounding throughout the area. The song is so wonderfully charming that it touched his heart rather deeply. He stood still and listened for awhile more until the singing stopped. Then, he rode home silently, with the song still playing in his mind. The next day, he went to the tower again but this time he saw the enchantress, standing beneath the tower, calling out :

‘ Rapunzel , Rapunzel, let down your hair to me.’

Then like usual, Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair and enchantress climbed up to her. The prince was amazed by this new discovery and decided to try it too. Thus , the next day, when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried :

‘ Rapunzel , Rapunzel, let down your hair to me.’

Immediately , the hair fell down and the king ‘s son climbed on it.

At first, Rapunzel was terribly frightened when she saw the king’s son for her eyes have never beheld any other person besides the enchantress. However, the king’s son assured her he meant no harm and began to talk to her like a friend. The king’s son was so taken by her beauty as he had never laid his eyes on such a beautiful lady before. He sat by her side and told her stories about the world outside the tower that she had never gotten to see for the whole sixteen years of her life. They became quick friends and the king’s son would visit her almost every night. She enjoyed his company and his sense of humour, not forgetting his stories about the world. Two months passed and their friendship slowly turned into something much deeper as they both fell deeply in love with one another. One night, when the moon shone brightly in the dark starry sky, they professed their love to one another, letting the moon be the witness to their love. The prince gently tilted Rapunzel’s chin up, looked deeply into her vivid dark blue eyes and said “ I am deeply in love with you , Rapunzel. Will you let me take you as my wife?”. Rapunzel shyly gaze down at her hands which were folded on her lap and nodded. She then raised her head slowly and met his gentle gaze. She then sang:

‘My prince , you’re my light, my heart, my soul
There is no other but you
When the sun rise, we will part
And my tears would fall
I would then sing for darkness to come
So the stars and moon will rise
And so will us

The king’s son was touched by her words and he continued the song:

Love is a beautiful yet painful feeling
You will be my first and last, my love
Though we part
My heart never left your side
Fear not, my love
It’s just a moment of despair
I’ll always be by your side
As we belong together
For all eternity

Rapunzel smiled sweetly at him and said “I will willingly go away with you. I will follow you wherever you go, my prince “. So, the king’s son told her that he will take her away tomorrow night as the enchantress usually visits her at daytime. The next morning, the enchantress came to find her as usual without a hint of suspicion that Rapunzel was planning to leave the tower with her beloved. That was until Rapunzel naively said to the enchantress, “Tell me madam, why is it that you’re so much heavier for me to draw up compared to the king’s son who’s been visiting me almost every day?” Upon hearing that, the enchantress got into a rage and shouted,” Ah, you wicked child! What do I hear you say! I thought I have separated you from all the world , and yet you have deceived me! “Blinded by anger, she grabbed Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand and snipped them off with a sharp pair of scissors. Rapunzel’s lovely braids lay on the ground. She then cast a spell at Rapunzel causing her to lose her beautiful voice and took Rapunzel deep into the forest, abandoning her there. Poor Rapunzel was very afraid as she was deep in the forest alone and she has never left the tower before.

On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off to the hook of the window. So when night fell and the king’s son came and cried :

‘ Rapunzel , Rapunzel, let down your hair to me.’

The enchantress let the hair down. The king’s son ascended, but instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, gazing at him with venomous looks. “ Aha ! “ she cried tauntingly , “You have come to meet your beautiful dearest but she is no longer here. I have punished her severely for going against me. You will not be spared as well as I will scratch your eyes out so you will never be able to see her again, forever!” The enchantress lunged at him but the king’s son jumped away. In despair, he quickly leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced into his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but some plant herbs and berries, desperately trying to survive.
After a few days roaming in the forest in misery, finally he reached to a river bank. Upon reaching there, he quickly drank the cool water from the river to quench his thirst. He then sat by the side and lamented the loss of his dearest. Heartbroken, he sang:

Love is a beautiful yet painful feeling
You will be my first and last, my love
Though we part
My heart never left your side
Fear not, my love
It’s just a moment of despair
I’ll always be by your side
As we belong together
For all eternity.

Rapunzel who was making her way to the river heard the familiar strong voice and her heart skipped a beat. She recognized that voice and she knew it was the voice of her beloved. She began to run in the direction of the voice, fearing she would not be able to hear the voice ever again. When she saw him, she ran to him and hugged him tightly. She was so overwhelmed by the mixed feelings that washed over her that her tears began to fall. Deep sobs racked her slender body as she held onto him in silent. At that moment, two drops of her tears fell on to his eyes and miraculously they grew clear again. The king’s son could see again and the first thing he saw was Rapunzel’s beautiful face, damped with tears. He held her face with both his hands and brought it close to him. He kissed the tears on her face gently, then her soft lips. The spell was then broken. Rapunzel could speak again as the spell will only be broken with the kiss of a true love. Then, he led her to his kingdom where his father’s palace was situated and they lived happily ever after. The evil enchantress was never seen again.

Cooking 'tang yuen' with lin hsin and pei yen....

Today is mid autumn celebration day. We're supposed to be eating mooncakes and playing lanterns. Instead, we cooked 'tang yuen' for dessert. XD (PS : we ate mooncake before the preparation of 'tang yuen' XD) Usually 'tang yuen' is cooked during winter solstice which falls around the end of december. Howver, Lin Hsin suggested to cook this particular dessert just for the fun of it. So, I agreed. =) Then , I asked Pei Yen to join us in the preparation and she agreed~! =) So, the three of us happily worked together to cook the 'tang yuen'. =)

The ingredients used are glutinous flour, red beans, 'choki choki' (Description: chocolate in a shape of a long tube) , rock sugar.

My First Job Experience

Gazing at that sturdy brick building, memories of the past come washing over me. Like a fog, it envelops me and suddenly there I was, standing behind the counter politely greeting the customers with a sweet smile. That was my first job experience. It began on a hot, sunny day, 21 months ago when my two ex classmates; Wai Ling and Grace and I, have decided to look for a temporary job to fill our time as we had an approximately five months long holiday. We started our job – hunting by going to a shopping complex in Subang Jaya. After strolling in the shopping complex for three hours, I couldn’t find any suitable job offer besides a sales assistant job in an eyewear shop. However, I turned down the offer because I didn’t think I could perform very well in the job as I couldn’t converse very well in Mandarin and most of their customers speak mainly in mandarin. We then took a bus to Taipan USJ, a commercial center. As we walked along the row of shops, there was one particular shop, ‘Guardian Pharmacy’ came into our view. At that moment, I thought to myself, why don’t I just give it a try? So, I entered the shop and randomly asked a sales assistant if there was any job vacancy available. She told me to head to the pharmacy counter. I thanked her and walked to the end of the shop. I reached the counter and warily took a job application form. I filled up the form carefully and just as I was about to hand in the form to one of the working staff, a Chinese lady dressed immaculately in a white coat came behind the counter. Her big eyes filled with curiosity, she asked me, “Are you applying for a job here?” I was surprised by the sudden question so I just nodded. She smiled and told me to wait awhile before disappearing to the back of the shop. A couple of minutes later, another Chinese lady emerged from the back of the shop. She went behind the counter and attended to me. At that time, I thought she looked very stern. My heart was pounding as I was very nervous. After 10 minutes of questions and answers, she told me I had gotten the job. I was elated and I thanked her quickly. Her name is Sheryl and she was the store manager of Guardian Pharmacy. Sheryl is a tall and slim lady with a manner of grace. She has a sweet disposition and she always treated her staff kindly. I must say I am very grateful to have her as my boss. After explaining the job description to me, she informed me that I can start working the next day.
The next day arrived swiftly. I was new there so Sheryl introduced me to the rest of the Guardian’s staff. There was Kak Wani, Kak Mun, Kak Shida, Kak Angel, Kak Lia , Kak Oji and Iliana. You must think it’s funny that I called them with those names instead of their full names but that’s how I addressed them when I worked in that place. In fact, I still addressed them that way even up till now. There are two working shifts; morning and afternoon shift. Morning shift is from 8am to 5pm whereas the afternoon shift is from 1.30pm to 10.30pm. Everybody has to experience working both shifts, thus we rotate working the morning shift and afternoon shift weekly. My job in Guardian Pharmacy was mainly as a cashier and a sales assistant. At first, I didn’t do much cashiering job as I was still new to it. After a few practices, I was given the responsibility to be cashier. Basically, I never knew that working as a cashier could be so stressful especially during the weekends and it was much worse when there were ongoing promotions or sales. You cannot possibly imagine the queue at the cashier counter. It was so long that the line of customers could literally reached the end of the store. I could still clearly remember how it was back then. It was a Saturday night and I was the cashier on that fateful day. Customers are bustling in and out of the store and the store is crammed with people. I took one look at the queue and the facial expressions of the customers and I almost swooned with fear. What’s worse is that Guardian was having sales that entire week and we had to give out all sorts of things like vouchers, Paddington bear stickers, and free gifts conditionally. There were so many things to do and so many things to take note and remember. I broke into cold sweat. Some customers would be giving me angry looks, impatient gestures and some would even snap at me. I know that they waited for very long just to pay for a few items but it was not possible for me to manage any faster than that. I had to ensure that the customers get their vouchers maximally and at the same time give them their Paddington bear stickers and free gifts if they purchased certain items that entitled them to a free gift. I also have to ask them if they want me to help them use their newly gotten vouchers to deduct their total payment. At that time, we were short of staff. Thus, I had to pack the purchases in plastic bags all by myself. There were also times where customers reject the items I’ve scanned and I have to do a refund.
Besides working as a cashier and sales assistant, if I’m working in the afternoon shift, every night before closing the store, the other staffs and I had to take turns to sweep and mop the floor. The supervisor will do the closing of the system and if everything goes well, then we can go home. If it doesn’t, we have to wait until it’s done. There was a time I had to wait till about 12.30 am before I was allowed to go home. My mother waited for me in the car for more than an hour. I felt so bad for having her to wait for me and I was furious with the management.
I’ve learnt a lot from working in Guardian Pharmacy. Since then, I realized that we shouldn’t spend lavishly on unnecessary things as money isn’t easy to come by. I worked so hard yet I didn’t get paid much. I got scolded countless of times by customers while working in that place even if it’s the management’s fault or rule and obviously not my wrongdoing. But I had to accept and apologize to the angry customer to mollify them. Besides having to face the customers daily, I had to face the tantrums of my colleagues and occasionally, unnerving demands from my supervisor. Thus, it is not easy to earn money and we should always spend moderately.

Home sweet home =)

Finally , I'm back home~! =) I didn't sleep well last night......i don't know why...maybe it's because I'm not sleeping in my room but in my parents' room (that's because my room is occupied by my relatives who came over to my house) ...or maybe there's too much in my mind.....sigh....oh well....

Today, i went to shop in Sunway pyramid with my mum, aunt and cousin sister~! gosh....how i love shopping soooooo much.....=D I tried so many clothes(dresses, skirts, tops) and shoes... hehe..... I LOVE the white mini skirt i tried on in Padini Concept Store.....sigh....it's so nice.....unfortunately, it's REALLY short......T.T........ i really don't understand how the other girls can wear mini skirts.... i mean it's fine if I wear the mini skirt and stand up the whole day....But when it comes to sitting..the problem starts......It will be EXTRA short and tight when i sit....it's not very convenient to wear the mini skirt......So, after pondering for quite some time, I decided not to buy the mini skirt.....

We spent about 5 hours plus shopping in Sunway Pyramid.... I bought some stuff for myself....teehee...=) and the great thing is I finally got to buy an anklet~! =) I love the new anklet I bought....it's beautiful.....=) (although,it doesn't have a bell) I will definitely treasure it.......=)