Blogs are bad

Deborah, reading your blog makes me miss California.

And that's bad.

Swine Flu!

Thank God that I'm here in Singapore instead of in California. Mexico is just 4, 5? hours away from where I used to stay.

How ironic that in my US classes the threat was always far away, like bird flu from Vietnam, terrorists from Afghanistan etc., and yet the Swine Flu came from Mexico!

I just read that the virus is a new strain mutated from the bird, human and swine viruses. The US only has so many doses of Tamiflu, and it probably won't work against the new strain!!

Friends in the US, please take care...

...in the snow!

Sean and I went to Chinatown to eat Dim Sum, then abandoned our plans to walk to Eaton Centre. It was too cold! And it was snowing! Ok technically, it's called a Flurry - a mixture of snow and rain. Somewhat like a McFlurry - A mixture of Ice-cream and an added ingredient.

Fellow equator-dwellers should visit places such as these to gain a better appreciation of the year-round summer that we have. I miss the sun and the cloudless blue skies of the O.C.! Where my ears don't turn red and painful; where I don't have to wear a beanie and a cap at the same time; where the wind does not blow the snow parallel to the ground.

...in Toronto, Canada (Part 3/3)

This no-map thing is getting to be a trend.

It's snowing here! Just when I thought I'd left winter behind.

No Montreal and Quebec cos there's a weather warning. Maybe later in the week.

Meanwhile, enjoying the posh hotel with the large flat screen TV and personal Queen-sized bed! (for the same price as a hostel in Paris/London)

...to Mannheim, Germany! (Part 2/3)

For once, the title of the post is REAL. We REALLY didn't have a map to get here, and instead of taking an hour like Michelle predicted, we took 3 hours to get here. And missed two trains, and took an hour to buy train tickets, with much help from the friendly Germans! Seriously. Adventure of a lifetime. Sorry friends, you shall have to hear how long and arduous our journey was for many many years ahead. I don't even know if we were travelling north or south or what.

To begin from the beginning, we left Candy's house at 1130AM, made our way to Victoria station, took an Easybus to Stansted Airport, took RyanAir to Zweibrucken, took a bus to the Hauptbahnhopf, then got STUCK at that place for almost two hours. Good that the falafel place Michelle brought us to rocked and we ate for the first time in 12 hours (during which time we talked alot about PHO and hainanese chicken rice and hokkien mee and duck rice). Indeed. What a day (It is now 2am and Fiona Koo I just called you!!).

Going to the Black Forest tomorrow and we have to wake up at 7am to get to the town centre and see the fountains with water! It's spring! And this whole daylight savings plus change of timezones thing is really screwing up my sense of time.

Nevertheless, I think I like Germany. No more dystopian society here!

...cos of Daylight Savings AGAIN.

I think I wrote earlier on about the effect of losing an hour, to sleep to study to do everything.

And it has happened AGAIN! in London! Argh.

Before coming on exchange I never experienced Daylight Savings. It was some far distant concept that would never affect my life.

Now, I've experienced it twice in 3 months. Ridiculous.

So where does all the time go?

After-Exchange Tour Around the World Part 1/3

(Photos and details when I get back to Singapore cos this place is freaking cold)

Finally I get to touch a computer! Candy's computer! I'm currently in her house in southeast London, and it's kinda surreal.We've never spent more than a few hours together ever since graduating from secondary school. And now we're gonna meet Michelle and spend a whole week altogether!

Yvette and Xiao Yun have gone back to their respective countries of exchange, namely Irvine, CA, USA and Grenoble, France. It's a bit weird, like the past 4 days in Paris and 4 days in London were all a dream.

Nevertheless, we had a blast! Paris was just too much to cover in 4 days alone. We did all the touristy stuff like the River Seine Cruise and the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland (Which compares BADLY to the Anaheim one), but also saw the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay for intellectual stimulation. Tip: The Louvre is free for people under 26years on Fridays after 6pm! It was fun taking underground transport again and just walking around a city without worrying about parking. It was not fun however, converting everything in Euros to USD and then to Sing$. Heart attacks all around. And empty stomachs too cos we practically survived on bread.

We stayed in a 3 star hotel near the Gare de Lyon (Major train/RER/metro stop) so it was quite convenient and easy to find on the first day. XY arrived from Grenoble at that station too and found us severely jetlagged in the hotel room. Rats, plan to surprise her at the lobby - FAIL.

Alright, long story short for now, to be edited at a later date cos i gotta check my mail and apply for internship n special sem and whatnot.

so then we went to london and finally got our own beds (xy n i had to share in paris) then we visited all the touristy stuff in TWO days only but the markets were like awesome la. nice food!! singaporean stuff. West End on two nights. better transport. EVERYTHING IN PLAIN SIMPLE ENGLISH.

and now they're gone. and I'm still here. and the surreal world goes on.

(I miss the US. can't wait to go to Canada! all the touristy stuff's too overrated.)

...to the beginning of the end.

Live every day like it was your last.

I can happily say that we did live almost everyday here in Irvine like it was the last. 10 weeks really puts things into perspective/ I'm glad we tried to squeeze in every little thing that we could do into our weekends and treasured all the weekdays too. Even though school was such a drag sometimes.

I can't believe it's over!!!!! IT JUST HIT ME. I AM LEAVING IRVINE IN 5 HOURS!!! (and I haven't packed. joy.)

oh boo i guess the universal studios and chris tomlin posts won't get up today.

To everyone still on exchange:
GO OUT AND HAVE FUN. DON'T STAY HOME AND WATCH MOVIES. even if you do, invite tons of locals and other exchange students over!!

And so begins a new chapter - Hello Europe! (I WILL MISS YOU, IRVINE! YOU ROCK!)

to the Last Day of School. Almost.

Two papers down, two more to go!

Mixed and torn feelings about this.
Never been so happy to finish exams. Never been so sad to finish exams.

After my Coercive Diplomacy paper, my prof (who's the associate dean for social sciences) asked if I was staying for Spring Quarter, then he proceeded to interview me when I replied in the negative. Questions like my nationality/citizenship, my future plans, the languages I speak. Basically, he asked me to keep in touch so he could recommend me to intern/work at Washington D.C.

Yay! Another objective for this exchange accomplished - found a mentor for my post-grad studies.

No mood to study for tomorrow's papers :(
No mood to pack :(
Have mood to play with Tripit.com! (Travel site that keeps all your itinerary in one place)

...to the Undie Run at UCI

I was walking to the bus stop from the SS trailer, where we had the most boring and arghh review session for finals ever (cos it was like attending another lesson, and so much stuff that wasn't covered in lectures is gonna be on the finals?! we're not foreign policy experts!!).

Then I saw a few hundred people standing in their underwear in front of the flagpoles. In 9Celsius or 48Fahrenheit. With policemen standing around. It looked fun, but the bus was coming so I couldn't join in. haha.

Turns out, it was an Undie Run! The people ran all around campus, and through the Gateway study centre where veryone was so stressed. must have been a riot!

Check out the link to the run:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1127694947/bclid1125901233/bctid16531382001

Happy studying, everyone!

...to Jars of Clay and Delirious?

Is this a ploy to get me to stay in California?

On March 18, the day before I leave, at 1.30pm there's a FREE Jars of Clay Concert at the Nokia Theatre in L.A.!!

At 7pm that night there's a Delirious? concert at House of Blues in Anaheim!!

Should I go??

I need to pack and sleep to drain all the stuff from finals out of my head!

but they are just THERE!

ahhhh!!!

MICE IN THE HOUSE!!

Update: William came over and deduced that the mouse lived under the oven. So we opened the bottom part and voila! A chicken bone (not from us, cos we don't eat chicken with bones), a tissue, and many droppings. Mickey was exposed!! Lois and Amanda proceeded to feed it a few grains of rice everyday to prevent it from coming out. It has not been seen or heard since.

MICKEY OR MINNIE IS LOOSE HERE!!

It all began with my hearing a "THWACK" sound on the kitchen floor. I turned my head to look and caught a glimpse of A TAIL attached to a BODY!!

After alerting my housemates to our situation in a rather out-of-character manner (they have never seen me scream before) we proceeded to investigate and to commence OPERATION CHASE THE RAT OUT - because Amanda "doesn't like to kill stuff." Lois corroborated my story with evidence of DROPPINGS in our room. Armed with chairs to stand on, our broom and vaccuum cleaner, we started opening all the kitchen cupboards to determine the location of the rodent.

Unfortunately, we failed. To accomplish anything except have weird conversations (we have video evidence of this). So I decided to take a shower. and then.

I FOUND DROPPINGS IN MY CLEAN CLOTHES!!!!

if they were in the dirty laundry pile, ok la can understand.

BUT THE CLOTHES WERE CLEAN. Now I have to do launder all my clothes. annoyed!!

We also found shit in the walk-in closet. Collected all shit samples to show our management office. There was enough to fill a small medicine bottle.

so grossed out right now. Supposed to blog about snowboarding and all my aches but I'm writing about mice instead. ARGH. We only left for a day!! And this happens!! Pretty sure the mice weren't around before cos we had to pack for our trip and there was no sign of the creatures.

Lois made an observation. First we were visited by Deborah, then Daphne, and now the mice. hahahaha!

We smell a rat here.

...but went to Universal Studios and saw Chris Tomlin in Concert!

...my lights cover dropped, and my car got towed.

I am supremely annoyed now.

Last night was a totally rocking Chris Tomlin concert, of which I will talk about in a later post.
One of the other exchange students agreed to come to church with us this morning.
Another one could make it only for small group, so both of them are coming to discover their Purpose Driven Life.
I am leading the discussion tonight.

And that is why the devil is trying to obstruct God's will.

Last night after I got back at 2am, there was no place to park cos someone else parked in my lot. There was NO other lot available on the curbside. Not even at the leasing office.
So I parked at the Permit Parking lots, assuming I had the right to park in my own apartment vicinity and not have to cross hell and high water just to get my car a resting place. Besides, it's not safe to walk around alone at 2am.

Guess what. THEY TOWED IT AWAY. In the mere SIX HOURS I left it there.
Thing is, if I parked in another resident's lot, I still might have gotten towed.
Result: Missing Church at the main campus. Missing another day at Universal Studios.

Another thing happened. The cover for the lights in my kitchen fell out.
It's not like the plastic covers of the same kind in hall.
This one's plastic but attached using Plywood and Steel bars.
I was standing in that kitchen just a min or two before the thing tumbled down in this massive ripping-cracking noise.
I would have had serious head injuries.

The thing that dropped.
Moved it so people could walk in there.

But I don't. I'm still alive. And I can have church right here in my own home. While I'm waiting for the apartment manager to get to work at 12pm. There's another church service at 4.30pm. We're still going for small group.

I CHOOSE TO PRAISE GOD IN THIS CIRCUMSTANCE.
I don't care what the world throws at me now. It's gonna be alright.
Cos I know my God saved the day and I know His word never fails.
And I know my God made a way for me. It's gonna be alright!

The enemy's been defeated, death couldn't hold You down.
Gonna lift our voice in victory. Gonna make our praises LOUD.

We will sing sing sing and make music with the heavens.
We will sing sing sing grateful that you hear us when we shout your praise.
Lift high the name of Jesus!

PDL Day 25:
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

Update:
Luan came to drive Ka Ho and I to the impound and we got the car back for $180 instead of $270. How many people get driven by a royal? And the charges were reduced.
We managed to catch the 4.30pm service after lunch at Luan's fave Viet restaurant. Nailed all my unforgiveness to the cross. felt good.
Small group discussion was GREAT. Leo and Ka Ho were blessed I think. The others were challenged by questions such as "why does Christianity deem other religions false" and "what are the conditions for heaven?"
Awesome stuff. 14 ppl came for cell in total.
still need more prayer!!

...so Deborah had to be my GPS

...to Verdi's house for dinner

I expected to stay home and do the powerpoint for the group presentation next week, but Verdi's invitation to dinner extended to me too! It was impolite to refuse so Amanda, Lois and I got a ride to his house in Costa Mesa.

It was not a sit-down kind of dinner, but the stand up and cook and eat and drink at the same time kind. Like those they have in Turkey, where Verdi comes from. Good music in the background (Maroon 5, James Blunt, the Beatles), good conversation, and a nice viewing of pictures from the others' Yosemite trip. The whole thing lasted about 4plus hours, til 1245am!

Menu (so you can see that my appetite has increased):
-Guacamole
-Tortilla Chips x many many
-Tomato and Cucumber Salad x muchmuch
-DIY Burrito x 2
-Fish steak x 1
-Leftovers Soup x 1 bowl
-Wine/Orange+Mango Juice x 2 glasses
-Herbal Tea that was mostly an Oregano infusion x 1 mug

Amanda making the guacamole

Lois preparing the tomatoes for the burrito

Verdi making the fish

Busy in the kitchen!

Food!

My first burrito.

My second burrito.

making the burritos.

The wine we drank.

Soup made from the leftovers of the food cos we couldn't finish all of it!

...for the UCI Men's Basketball Game!

We went for the UCI game against Cal State Northridge to help break the record for student attendance. 2500 students went in total - a record! Apart from that, no more Lakers tickets are available, so this was a nice substitute. Can't believe after 6 weeks here I have more school spirit than 2.5 years in NUS. But the game was very fun and the atmosphere rocked! Considering UCI is very tame when it comes to sports, I wonder how it would be like at a college football game... which will never occur cos UCI doesn't have a football team :(

Location: Bren Events Center!
First 200 people got free tshirts but we didn't :(

The BAND!!!!!!! They played cool songs like All the Small Things, provided the music for the cheerleaders, held up signs for encouragement and for advertisements.

Honouring the Irvine Police Force during one of the breaks.

Halftime entertainment: Wear the Frozen Tshirt. The girl won!!!

Distracting the opponent during free throws.

Holding up the Anteater sign when we had free throws (I think it really works).

Peter the Anteater!!
He distracted the opponents by rubbing his thigh and mooning. Does crazy things like taupok-ing the students and squishing people in massive anteater-hugs. Look at how buff he is!

Yvette and Marie-kris (her colleague in some class). Don't know how to spell her name haha.

Final Score: UCI WINS!!!!
This game was broadcasted on ESPN by the way. I might be on TV!!

The towel I was waving around and the free ticket!

...and melted my cup!!!

why do i do such silly things with such a terrible deadline looming before me? i feel so sorry for my housemates who have to endure that sickening pungent burnt plastic smell. i've used my cup to microwave drinks before, just forgot to make it lower-powered. great. no cup now. didn't manage to take a photo of it. have to open all windows and doors, turn on all fans and heaters, and thus have to put on a multitude of layers just to be able to type this thing out.

This was seriously not for fun, but for survival! In my own apartment, no less!

(we had pho for dinner btw. at the 50% off place. I LOVE PHO!!)

...to Weekend Trip: San Francisco!

I just got home, like 3 hours behind schedule cos of really bad weather in California, and it's absolutely freezing! Though it's not raining here like in San Fran..

If going on exchange is like a dream, then going to San Fran was like a dream within a dream. The experience was so - to borrow Deb's word - Surreal! I don't wanna wake up from it yet, but I probably will once I start writing my policy memo and midterm, both due Tomorrow!!

Consequently, there's no time to write a full report of the trip now. I just have to write the outline out before school erases half the plesant memories in my brain.

San Francisco is totally different from the O.C. (can't compare with LA cos I haven't been there yet. Shocking, I know.), with its own character and moods. What was weird was that I didn't go there as a Singaporean, but as a Southern Californian! I caught myself comparing stuff (like prices and the weather) to "home", meaning Irvine and the O.C. And I've only been here for 6 weeks! (6 weeks?! meaning I only have 4 left here?!?!??!?!?!?!)

Speaking of home, it's wherever you feel like you belong. Alors, the goal of the whole San Fran trip was not just to go sightseeing, but to meet up with people I know in the area. I'm happy to report: MISSION OVERWHELMINGLY ACCOMPLISHED! many many thanks to Kah Onn and his car :D

1st Day:
soundtrack - oldie jazz and pop
location - Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf; Old Navy; Half Moon Bay
people met - Kah Onn, his housemates

I woke up at like 4am or something, super early for someone who usually sleeps at that time, and made my way to the John Wayne/Santa Ana Airport by bus. Very few people were around so it was kinda scary. It took an hour plus to get to a place that's 10mins away by car. But once at the airport everything was fast and efficient, and after sleeping another hour away on the plane, I was in San Francisco! Kah Onn, however, was not. So I had to wait more than an hour for him in the boring airport.

First sign of Kah Onn's car!

He hadn't finished his work so we went to his apartment at Belmont and I waited for him to be done. Then we went to play at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco!

Personal chauffeur!
"San Francisco" equivalent of "Hollywood"?

The city! with a cool vehicle that I forgot the function of! Parking inspector maybe?

The Famous Pier 39 at the REAL Fisherman's Wharf! Not the restaurant thing.

Lunch at a chowder place! Clam chowder yay!

Chowder in bread bowl and fish and chips!
What we did cos it was Raining - the first sign of horrible things to come.

Wandering around and chancing upon this place - The Princess Diaries, anyone?
An old-fashioned mechanical arcade.I enjoy the humiliation! With tissue!

KO and I tried this thing cos it was only a penny. We cheapskates! We waited til others put their quarters into the arcade machines then we'd go watch the stuff for free.
This was KO's!! hahahaha

This was mine!

The first ever game to provoke public outcry cos it was deemed too violent!
Very mild by today's standards - a car running over stick figures that are supposed to be human.The sun setting over the area. Dinner at a famous restaurant at the Wharf that I forgot the name of. A plate of oysters and salmon cakes!

Then we went walking around in the city. Wanted to watch a movie but there was nothing nice.
A Jollibee (filipino fast food chain that ROCKS) in California?!
Too full to try it though :(

At Half-Moon Bay where KO goes when he's being emo. Too cold and windy that night to go down to the raging sea behind me.

2nd Day:
soundtrack - Jack Johnson, Savage Garden
location - Golden Gate Bridge; Napa/Solano Valley; Justin Herman Square; Chinatown; Berkeley
people met - Deborah, her roommate

We planned to go to Napa Valley and look at scenery, but weren't sure what to do when we got there. So we headed to the Belmont Library which was just in front of the apartment. It's so nice! And well-equipped!

The Belmont library!

The Pantry at KO's office which is super well-stocked with snacks and all kinds of drinks. We took some heehee.The official seal of California! Some female deity with a bear and the golden gate bridge and whatnot.


Driving through the city to get north! WITH THE TOP DOWN!!



The Golden Gate Bridge! Stupid KO kept saying I was swaku just cos I was fascinated with everything. At the vista point! Road trip to Napa! Singing Savage Garden..:D

Vineyards, with bare vines cos it's winter.

We went to the Napa Visitor Centre where they gave us a coupon to taste a glass of wine for a dollar! This was the place. Wanted to stay and have roast chicken too but it was full.

Our second glass of wine! I got a cabernet sauvignon and KO's is a white wine i forgot. helped him pick it out.
Our first glass of wine was at another visitor centre where we barged in on a tour group and got a glass of wine free cos we didn't know they already paid for it!

The Oxford bow market or something like that. bow oxford? hmm. anyway it's an indoor place where you get to do wine and cheese and samples tasting and its super fun but super ex.

Then we RACED back to San Fran to be in time for the...

PILLOWFIGHT!! Remnants of a great war.

Non-stop action for 4 hours in the cold. Didn't bring pillows, too frozen to hang around for abandoned ones.

Dinner at this all you can eat dimsum buffet! In chinatown.


The restuarant and what we ate. They were closing so they foisted humongous amounts of dimsum on us that we boxed and brought home.

Deborah happened to be in the pillowfight, and we were supposed to meet! But we ended up picking her up from Old Navy where I shopped the day before. We filled the tiny car with our nonstop chattering (KO was reduced to silence) and concluded that it was Singapore right there at that moment. This was a crucial meeting. As you will see in a later post. Because Deborah concluded her friends were her liabilities, and decided to visit the OC!

Vertical night starts now.

This is a horrendous photo but I gave up documenting the experience in favour of EXPERIENCING it intensely. We were going down a Vertical Road. KO's car nearly died going up then down!! ROCKED.

Visitng the International House at UC Berkeley. Look at their sitting room. They have a gigantic plasma TV with cable. Hello JCRC are you listening?!


Look at their laundry room. With computers and vending machines for use while they wait. JCRC pay attention here!!

Hanging out in her room. So strange. i could only previously view it through Skype, and now I'm here. Parallel lives colliding.

After dropping Deb off at Berkeley, we died that night. too tired.

3rd Day:
soundtrack - various incl. Shakira, Jason Mraz, All American Rejects, Jay Chou, Michael Buble and Norah Jones
location - Monterey Bay; Carmel-by-the-sea; San Mateo
people met - Amy, Farid, and an NOC person

The next day dawned bright and....rainy. Typical Northern California weather, as I had learnt by now. Meanwhile, at home in Irvine, it was bright and sunny! Meanwhile, in Yosemite National Park where my other friends were, it was snowing. The whole range of weathers represented in one state.

Destination: Monterey Bay! Historically known for its canning business (like sardines), it was settled by Native Americans, then Chinees and Japanese dominated the business.

Half Moon Bay by daylight. And by rain. Quaint.

Stopping to take photos cos the view was amazing!


We drove along coastline like this for.. 3 hours? Until we got hungry, having finished the pilfered snacks. Stopped at a Burger King at a tiny town. Marina or something like that. We also got gas at Santa Cruz,where another UC is located.

Another Real Fisherman's Wharf! So creative.

More boats! but no Japanese fishing ones like in the days of yore.

Budget entertainment - playing with the telescope at the Marine Museum. We visited two museums cos they were FOC and it was raining. No biking or kayaking today :(((((

The real view.

Walking through the pier. More budget entertainment - trying clam chowder samples.

Candy shop where we got lured by the smell.
So we bough caramel corn and saltwater taffy!

the beach at Carmel-by-the-sea, where we were cheated of a sunset by the rain.


Had to cross this mini river that barred us from touching the waves!

I crossed first yay.. KO decided to take his shoes off when he saw that mine were wet. Could barely take this photo cos it was FREEZING. WIND. RAIN. COLD.

We sang more songs on the way back up. Earlier on, Amy (sec sch friend) had called and asked to meet up! We met at San Mateo- KO's previous house was located here. Bombay Garden yay!

Indian food YUM

Amy and Me and the Chappati.
(I think it was really Naan but that doesn't rhyme.)

Raffles Hall reunion in SF!
Farid and me, with a reluctant KO - strange guy.

After dinner with Amy, Farid and an NOC guy who's name is apparently Joshua and who was extremely weird, we sent Farid home to his SF hostel.

Riding the KO-mobile.

And that was it. Byebye San Francisco! hello midterms!