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Gigi Lam

Name: Gim Seng Ng

Age: 22

City/country:  Penang/ Malaysia

School: Wesleyan University

Star sign: Leo

Penang is  an island  off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia. It  is  the second smallest Malaysian state.

It is nicknamed Pulau Mutiara or 'Pearl of the Orient'.

The weather  is hot and humid all year round.  From April to September, we have heavy rain  every day.

I love  my city.  It is a paradise for food lovers like me.

Penang's cuisine reflects the Chinese, Nyonya, Malay and Indian ethnic mix of Malaysia, but is also strongly influenced by the cuisine of Thailand to the north.

Its  'hawker food' is especially famous. It's  sold and eaten  on the street and features  a lot of noodles and fresh seafood.

I  love going to new restaurants with my friends. My favourite kind of food is anything hot and spicy,   especially laksa, the famous Malaysian dish of noodles in curry.

The most important festival here in Malaysia is  the New Year. Like many other countries, we have a series of celebrations and activities. But to avoid the crowds, I tend to stay at home with my family.

There are seven  people in my family. I am now studying in US so I don't go home very often. But I am very close to  them all.

I usually  help my mum  with the housework,  for example, preparing  meals and cleaning the house.

I study physics and mathematics and I want to be a physics researcher in the future. I find physics  really interesting.

It is the branch of science concerned with the fundamental laws of the universe.

I  applied for  a scholarship last year, so  now I am on an exchange programme  studying in the US.

Studying  here is  a great learning experience.  But the workload is quite heavy:  every day, I  spend around  three or four hours   doing homework.

As well as my mother tongue, Malay, I also speak English and Chinese.

My favourite sport is  table tennis. I  can't explain why I enjoy it, but  I find playing  really  relaxes me.

I  tend to wear casual  clothes, but I don't spend much time  planning my outfits.  As long as the clothes fit me, I'm  happy.

I also like listening to pop songs. I don't  have a favourite singer:  I focus on more on the music  than the  vocals. I also like reading and I read all kinds of books.

Apart from reading and music, I  really enjoy travelling  because I am curious about what  life is like  in other countries.

I have been to Europe but I have never been to Hong Kong. Many people say Hong Kong is a food paradise. I enjoy trying new food and I definitely look forward to visiting the city.

If you want to make friends with teens from other countries, send an e-mail to yp.epal@scmp.com. Sunday Young Post will forward all e-mails to Gim.



e-pal