I Love KK!

I've been very busy the past few weeks, sending out my CV and portfolio to architecture firms all around the world. I've contacted 80 firms (!) and am very, very grateful that I've received good responses from several international firms. It hasn't been easy for archi grads who're looking for work - I called up a firm a couple of days ago to ask them if they've received my CV, and they said no, we're sorry - we didn't have time to sieve through 400 applicants' emails we received in the last 2 days! *gasp*

I'll be going for interviews this week, both in person and via Skype...oh, fingers and toes crossed that they'll offer me a job!

And then it hit me - I'll be leaving home very soon. Again. And that thought made me sad.
Oh how I'll miss this little city I grew up in.

{This is my hometown, Kota Kinabalu (KK) - the capital city of Sabah, Malaysia. We're blessed with a long coastline, beaches, and pretty islands. Beautiful tropical weather, swaying coconut trees by the beach, and one of this region's tallest mountains. It's such a pity, though, that the city itself is horribly planned, and buildings badly designed, because of incompetent and apathetic politicians and a lack of vision and aesthetics by planners and the authorities. As I sat and wondered how I could help pretty up the city - even if it's just a little bit - a lightbulb lit up in my head. Why not do some street art to raise awareness? I've been reading Candy Chang, Color Me Katie and Keri Smith's blogs, and have been very inspired by the little street art projects they've done in their cities.}

{I bought 3 pieces of neon-pink paper, and started cutting them up into little hearts...! The project was very simple - I wanted to show how much I love my city, by sticking little hearts onto random places - especially areas that are the often overlooked and neglected!}

{I drove to the city centre and stuck hearts on the footpath and onto a bin along one of the main streets...}

{So many people stopped to ask me what I was doing - there were tourists, a man on crutches, schoolkids and even a street sweeper, who happily let me take his picture! What I didn't expect doing street art was the conversations I'd have with people - and that I'd get to share my purpose and vision for this project. This street sweeper - who I thought was about to tell me off - said that he was very touched, and that during his 31 years of street-sweeping, he's never seen anything like this and I should do this more! I couldn't stop smiling, hearing that :) }

{I also stuck some hearts onto this public phone booth which no one uses anymore...}

{I loved seeing how passersby would walk and stop a little to look at the hearts curiously. Something tells me I'll be doing this more often!}