NUSAF Rocks!!

2008-10-12T20:27:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, this is a late post. Sorry! Didn’t have free time until today to write about my summer… But here goes.

The beginning of my summer has been a tumultuous ride, to say the least. I’ll spare everyone much of the details, but I originally had planned to visit Japan and Singapore for 2 ½ weeks. However, I did not found out I had an expired passport until the day of my travel, which eventually cost me $1k+ consisting of fees and a new airplane ticket. Yes, it was a very stupid mistake, and I am daily cursing myself for it. But thanks to an emergency fund from dad, I was able to make the arrangements and travel. Thank god for parents. With that out of the way, I was able to join KX, who was already in Japan for two days.

We spent a good week in Japan, exploring Tokyo and eating an endless amount of noodles, tempura, and sushi. Tokyo is a very beautiful city, with a distinct Asian culture that was very different from what I was used to in China. The Japanese were very

economical. The very nice Sakura Hotel were we stayed at was an example of such great utilization of space. Within a space of about 2 apartment rooms, there is enough space to fit 4-5 rooms of 8 people each, a kitchen area, 2 toilets, and 3 shower areas. The toilets themselves have faucets on top that drips into the tank, removing the need for a separate faucet.

Apart from Tokyo, we traveled to places such as Yokohama, Hakone, and Kamakura. Each place was quite interesting, with its own places of interest and fun things to do. Yokohoma has one of the highest buildings in Japan, called the Yokohoma Landmark Tower. Hakone contains a national park that would allow us a glimpse of Mount Fuji, however, the day we went it rained L. But we had a chance to visit the hot springs. Kamakura was a beautiful little district about an hour’s train ride from Tokyo. The town center right outside the train station was bustling, but once we got away from the center, it became a mountainous region filled with small houses and winding streets. It really felt like I got away from the city.

Afterwards, it was off to Singapore. As I said goodbye to Japan, I realized that this flight will be the only one where neither of the To/From Countries are China or the US. It was a good 6 to 7 hrs flight. Changi airport was surprisingly refreshing. Unlike JFK or LaGuardia airport, whose shitty terminals I had grown accustomed to for so many years, Changi was huge and modern. Big spaces, colorful decorations, FREE internet, and foot message machines available to use for free convinced me that Singapore was damn rich. As nice as I felt inside the airport, once I left it and felt the hot blast of Singapore air that I realized: This is no longer Chicago, Tokyo, or New York. We are in the tropics.

Throughout my stay at Singapore, I lived with KX’s family. He had a family of three, in addition to his mother. Their family is very pious, as I remembered distinctly waking up at around 5 in the morning, hearing the sound of a gong in the main living room. It was KX’s mom praying. As I am not a religious person, I didn’t quite understand the need to wake up so early to pray. But I admired the persistence of KX’s mother, who prayed each day and night. I felt

The cuisine in Singapore was great. There were lots of things to choose from to eat. Throughout my stay, I had chicken rice, char kuey teow, fish ball noodle, teh tarik, rojak, nasi lemak, among various other cuisines. Here a (rough) itinerary of what I did for the 7 days I spent in Singapore:

Day 1: Downtown, Orchid Gardens, Chinatown
                Day 2: Sentosa
                Day 3: Palau Ubin
                Day 4: Visited a Buddhist temple with KX’s mom, then visited the Singapore National Museum
                Day 5: Visited the Paranaken Museum and other museums
                Day 6: Food Tour: Visited Various Hawker Centers, had lunch at Little India
                Day 7: Shopping on Orchid Road

I realized by the end of day 3 that there wasn’t any more “big attractions” for tourists. As a result, I decided to visit as much museums as possible. Granted, of course, that I did not have a chance to see the nightlife, which both Ariel and Benedict were quite shocked when I told them. “Eh! What has KX done to you at Singapore! ”, was Ben’s cry of pity. Next time, Ben.

All good things must come to an end. The week passed by quickly, and in a blink of an eye I was packing my stuff and ready to fly back to the US. I was almost broke, having spent a large portion of my money in Japan. However, I did gleefully purchase a large assortment of Prima Taste sauce packets, which I brought back and cooked in the Evanston Apartment. To explain that would be another story.

Beijing Olympics - My complicated journey

2008-08-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

Oh MICHAEL PHELPS, how i adore thee!

yeah, i know i have been raving on and on and on about having a ticket to watch the beijing olympics men swimming at the water cube on 9th august ... BUT i didnt get to watch it. yes, how UNFORTUNATE!!! =(

so, nahoi and i bought tickets from ticketspot.com since march or february i think. and through emails they confirmed that we are going to get the tickets in beijing in the month of august. so nahoi and i, full of hope and dreams, that we are going to see the korean dong-seng (that young korean dude who won gold for butterfly) and michael phelps + ian thrope ...

so august came, and we called and called the company to ask for our tickets. they keep saying, "ouhh .. your tickets are not here yet ... tmr it will come!"
nahoi and i were very patient ... BUT when the event was on saturday and we still didnt get the tickets on thursday, we get really worried. so nahoi and i travelled far across beijing to this majestic looking building called CAPITAL MANSION. when we reached, the security guard said,"sorry, the company is closed for the day!" we were like,"wtf?!" just as we were about to go off .. nahoi heard a familiar voice (that bitch who were the person in charge for our tickets), she pointed her finger on her and shouted (yes, she shouted vehemently),"i want my tickets!"
the chirpy lady smiled, asked for our passport and receipt and disappear into the lift!!!!!
20 minutes later ... a mainlander came down with our passport and receipt and told us that the tickets are not ready!? so ... the usually nice and peaceful nahoi and i .. start scolding her! i think she was petrified .. but I DONT CARE!! i came so far away just to get our tickets .. paid so much money for them and still NO TICKETS?! wtf?! nahoi and i forced her to give us a specific time where we can pick up our tickets ... she not happy that two young girls just scolded her .. finally said out loud, "OMG! you damn lihai (chinese: pro)!" i took her name card and scream back, "you guys then lihai!!!!" and stormed off .. geeezzzzzz

next day ... FRIDAY ... we came back again. in a 'chirpier mood'
met another security guard >>>
us: hey, we want to get olympic tickets
guard: sorry! there is no one at the ticket office and you cant go up either
us: wtF?
canadians arrived ... asked the guard for the lift to go up too! guard rejected
us told canadians and soon after a whole of white ppl what happen ....
everyone got angry ... make a scene!
ticket ppl disappear ...

suddenly the lift door open .. it was empty .. and when the guard is not looking .. we RUSH in!!
guard found out ... stop the lift door with his hands .. lift start this annoying beeppppp
guard begged us to leave ... we refuse .. ignoring his stupid accented chinese .... 20 minutes ... a few capital mansion officials came down and begged us not to block the lift ... we told them to find the tickets ppl ... another 10 minutes .. a nonchalant looking guy came talking on the phone saying that he is the ticket ppl and told us to follow him .. we did

he brought us into this apartment ... pretty nice .. where there are gazillion other ppl waiting in line to get their tickets .... there were a couple of americans (the ticket ppl) sitting on the dining table punching numbers into their laptops and sorting the tickets .... the mainlander lady saw us ... got really scared ... quickly came to us and told us that she will help us ... 15 minutes ... she usher us to one of the ticket ppl ... drama begins:
white man (wm): we are sorry. i think the broker back out on us ... we dont have ur tickets ...
us: what?!
wm: our alternative is: refund you guys or we will get you guys other tickets ...
us, very emotional: sir, you dont understand. we came all the way here from the UNITED STATES, just to watch the olympics. wasting accommodation and flight tickets fees! we are just students! we book this from march! how can this happen! what shall we tell our parents? that we came here all the way to watch nothing?!
wm, scared: sorryyy ..
us (very very very emotional ... shouting that we are students blah blah blah to the listening crowd ....)
wm, v v v v scared: ok ... i can refund u and get u free tickets! i got badminton, judo, rowing, basketball ...
us: u dont understand, swimming is a very wanted event! we book them since long long ago! that is not very fair! we only want event in the water cube or the bird nest!
wm: we really dont have it ... sorryyy ....
nahoi: i think, IS ONLY FAIR if you guys award us with 2 sets of tickets. badminton and basketball ....

so in the end we got 5 tickets (3 badminton and 2 basketball) we get our friend penny a badminton ticket .... then in the struck of good luck ... one of our frens got extra gymnastic tickets that he is willing to trait ... 1 badminton ticket for 3 gymnastic tickets +300rmb .. good deal ... so nahoi and i watched a total of 3 game! in a day!!!
all our seats are pretty good .. basketball was eventful!
we get to see bush, and kobe bryant plus the whole men us basketball team =) happy!

Arts Craze!

2008-07-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't get enough of going to shows and concerts! 2 weeks ago, it was down to the Ford Oriental Theatre for some lovely green fun at Chicago's longest-running musical... Wicked! The Oriental Theatre itself was beautiful and had such intricate interior designing... and the set was absolutely grand. Imagine a giant dragon bordering the stage... a moving dragon that can flap its wings and have its eyes glow red! Pardon my excitement... but it was my first major musical here in the states. In case you haven't heard what Wicked's about... it tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West, in the Wizard of Oz, came to be evil... it takes us on a journey back in time to when she and Glinda the good were still in school together. Very well put-together, i have to say. Bought the soundtrack, which was totally worth it, and the music's been playing in my head ever since. :) Stephen Schwartz is a brilliant composer and songwriter.

And then the very next day, it was a trip down to the Chinatown Summer Festival! But not before a long, painful ride on the El! lol. Our very own Corrinne May was in town performing there and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. :) She still amazes me with how she takes the time and effort to speak to each and every one of her fans... and she remembers them too! The festival was pretty cool... lotsa little stalls set up along the street.. little bit like a Pasar malam... except that there wasn't much variety in terms of food... all mostly pot stickers and fried bee hoon... none of which looked very appetizing... so Jessie and I headed to Penang instead! hehe... had a good dose of Prata there... (still can't believe they charge $3.50 a piece!).

Ooh.. McDonalds had this really weird campaign going on too... they called it "I Am Asian". When i first saw it, i was like o_O. But it's true... they handed out freebies with that slogan... and it shows a website too... Seems like they're helping promote the Asian culture... and even offer scholarships to Asian-Americans. Hmm...

And finally over the last weekend, Sam Kastelic came down form Wisconsin to visit us... and we went to catch Cirque Du Soleil together! It was held in a giant tent next to the United Center with stripes of blue and yellow (Cedarian colours! yay!). This particular show's called Kooza and right from when you enter the fenced area the carnival atmosphere hits you. Staff members walking arond with songs and cheers about how they're selling water and ice cream... photographers to help you and your friends create memories (and to help them earn $ when you buy their souvenir photos). Basically the show was fantastic. You watch, you're entertained, you're kept at the edge of your seat. It really amazed me how elaborate a set you can put under a tent... it was transformed to a performance area as good as any theatre, really. With the moving sets and the hidden trapdoors and all... brilliant. Aye, watching it just makes you wanna run away and join the circus too. :)

Adventure in Ohio: Got carded for buying DVD?

2008-07-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to my friend's place, and after watching The Dark Knight - awesome movie!!!!! - we went shopping at a large departmental store. We discovered a pit of DVD movies selling for $5, and so we spent 50 mins looking for DVDs to buy.
I chose Speed, and then headed to the counter to pay.

"Sir, do you have an ID?"
"Err.. huh? ID, does this work? (Giving her my NU ID)"
"It gotta have ya birthdate on it Sir, you gotta be 17 to buy it"
"Well I don't have my ID, but don't I look more than 17?"
"Well, I gotta card you Sir or else I can't check this out for ya".

Do I really don't even look like 17 years old...?
And what..??! Carded for buying Speed?! The thing they say about Asians: we never age. Yayyyy ....(?) ^_^''''

ps: Update the blog everyone!! ;)

By the way, 2 movies totally worth watching:

To love Boston

2008-07-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

A colleague and a friend both told me before coming to Boston that it's their favorite city in America. Being in here for 3 days and left on Sunday made me realized I actually felt the same as well.

The excitement in this town simply never ends, no matter from its history, intellectuality, beauty, landscape, or people. I haven't been here for long to make a conclusion that it's the best town in the States, but it definitely is till date my favorite city.

Since I arrived on Thursday, I've been staying with JJ in Harvard, and have met up with Nick Kim - one of the best ReFresh-ers who taught me how to dance, and then been meeting up with Eric Bell - my fellow "Wall-E" inventor - for a few times. There's been some enjoyable conversation in this nice town. So great! ;)

And then yesterday there was the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, to celebrate the 4th of July weekend. JJ and I actually waited along the Charles River for 4 hours starting 6 pm, and then to observe the entire event starting from the moment the orchestra played at 8.30pm. Never had I ever seen such patriotism and commonness of tens and thousands of people, gathering at a single place! No matter if its for the country, or for the Red Sox, it's an exciting atmosphere.
The two F-12 tactical fighter fly-over added more acoustic to the celebration - especially when it flew right above our heads!
The fireworks was even better! It really was the best I've ever seen in my entire life! Extremely well choreographed with the music, the orchestra etc. It's spectacular!

Today was even more exciting.
I went on a walk on Freedom Trail, visiting all the historical sites, including
The State House : ( ps JJ didn't come coz he's tooooo lazzzyyyyyyy ;p ;p ;p )

The Boston City Hall, Faneuil Fall, Quincy Market, Whale Watch harbor, the North Church, and the USS Constitution:

       Boston City Hall                 Quincy Market

       North Church                   The USS Constitution

One of the things that I really like was the almost pure European style shops in the North Church area. Italian cuisine, people playing harmonica and violin, horses carriages etc... it's just mesmerizing.

Another thing is the diversity that I got to witness here. It could be that the North Church area was flooded
with primarily tourist, but from all around Boston, there are people from basically any ethnicity that you can name, speaking a myriad of different languages. Just in this one day alone traveling Freedom Trail and then taking the -T- to dinner, I heard fluent speakers of Spanish, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Thai, Cantonese, Korean, and I think Vietnamese as well. The diversity is simply great.

To say that Boston is a city that incorporate both modern city life and strong cultural roots is certainly not an exaggeration.

How did my last day in Boston ended? With Boston Lobsta~~!
We finally went back to Legal Seafoods (this time in Copley, Eric) to get a taste of Lobstha~ and Oystha~ and for JJ - Chowdha~

This has perhaps been the best vacation I've had since I've come to the States. And I think I'm going to come back here again someday!

Arizona!

2008-07-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

So i'm finally getting around to making a post here. Since my pictures from the July 4th Celebrations and the Taste of Chicago festival aren't ready yet... i'll do a little backtrack to my 5-day trip to Arizona! Visited Jessie Chen (who'll be joining NUSAF) next year. So the first thing i noticed as I stepped outta the airport in Phoenix the 110 degree weather. It's like having a giant fan blowing hot air into your face... no kidding.

And as the pic will show you... the landscape is a big difference from in Chicago too. There really are cactus plants everywhere. Even their school names and building names carry the word "desert" in them. Yup, nearest shopping mall to her place is called "Desert Ridge". lol. It's no wonder that most people living there don't come out of their houses unless it's to walk to their car... or it's at night. And instead of the usual caterpillars and squirrels we see around campus, cockroaches and sometimes scorpions are the sight to behold there.

Jessie's family was nice enough to do a day-trip and take me to see one of the 7 wonders of the world... The Grand Canyon. First of all... it's HUGE. It'll take a few hours of driving just to get from it's south point to it's north point. Imagine looking out into the canyon and seeing nothing but magnificent rock formations extending all the way into the horizon. We're allowed to hike down trails into the Canyon, but signs are posted everywhere warning people not to hike down and up all in 1 day. People have been known to die from exhaustion attempting that. I heard it takes like 8-10 hours to hike down to the bottom. I hiked for about 1.5 hours. lol. If you ever visit the Grand Canyon in future, i recommend planning to spend about 3 or 4 days here... take 1 day to hike down... camp down there... explore n everything... then take 1 day to hike back up. It'll be amazing. Breathtakingly amazing. I bought from the souvenir store a little jar of something labelled as "Desert Hot Chocolate". Oh my, i wonder how that'll taste.

During my stay, Jessie also organised a little party for me... she invited a bunch of her high school friends over and even started a Facebook event called "Pot Luck party with a Singaporean and Roast Duck"... Lol. It was nice getting to know each one of them... i find that many people are curious to learn about our sunny little island. Got questions like "so what do people in Singapore do?"... or even "did you have to serve the mandatory military service? no? Then why's your hair short?"... hehe... either way, i was happy to share with them more about our beloved Singapore. :)

-Shuling

4th July

2008-07-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hey people, by popular demand i've decided to post. So yes, Yee Hoong was here for about 4 days or so.... I'll have a lot of stories about that but I think he'd rather I not post them here.

The 4th July fireworks were magnificient and worth the crazy 4-5hour wait during which we listened to the Boston Pops (Jazz). It was interesting to compare how Asian countries and the USA celebrate their National/Independence day. They have their own version of community songs but its not so..... forced... like in Singapore.

Life in Berkeley

2008-07-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all

It's been a pretty busy 2 weeks here at Berkeley. I left Northwestern thinking that it would be a really chilled out summer with loads of time to work on the NUSAF website along with some other random stuff but it has definitely not been the case!! The math classes that I'm taking are totally pwning my ass. And I am definitely not exaggerating.

Hmm.. anyway more on the culture at Berkeley. There are a whole load of Asians over here (and Ben really likes it) along with a LOT of Asian Food. We've been having Chinese/Thai/Viet/Korean food for the past 2 weeks with just only one non-Asian meal. Expectedly, Berkeley might be a great school academically but I think it's definitely not the best College to be in if you're looking for the US experience.

Oh and we probably shouldn't complain about our workload. Most of you probably think that NU's workload is crazy along with craploads of mid terms but it's even more insane over here!! Engineers spend about 8 hours (or more) on each weekly problem set and I'm guessing that's excluding Lab work. A typical mid term would have an average of 50% (as compared to 70-80% at NU which is the case for most of the classes that I have taken) And it's a hidden rule that students are expected to spend 2 hours on homework for every hour in class. Crazy.

Anyway I made a couple of skating videos alone today. Take a look everyone. They're not that great so feel free to comment/criticise.

Oh and how's everyone doing elsewhere on this planet..? The people at GS..? In Czech Rep or should I say Rome..? In Barcelona..? Oh and how is it back at home in Singapore..? Come on, don't be shy, let's see what's going on!!

2008-06-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

This is a great initiative guys (esp Kenny) - great way to update everyone and keep in touch. Btw, for those of you who haven't checked it out yet, "I screwed my GPA" is officially live on youtube - check it out.

-Jw

Greetings from Akron, Ohio!

2008-06-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings from (the barren lands..) of Ohio!

Arriving here 2 weeks ago is almost similar to arriving in a different world than that of Chicago. Akron's a relatively small town south of Cleveland ( http://maps.google.com/maps?q=akron&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=DVFA,DVFA:1970--2,DVFA:en&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image ), which was once the rubber and manufacturing capital of the States before lots of company moved out in the 80's. Life's here dramatically different from that in Chicago, in the sense that everyone/everything moves at a slower and more relaxing pace. People are extremely friendly and chatting with complete strangers on the side walks are very common! It's rather relaxing working 8-4pm in such a laid back town, and still have time to work out and do some leisure reading, and day dreaming...

Weekends are however..... particularly boring, without internet access and any form of entertainment in my apartment! Still trying to find ways to past my weekends. Why not go out? Well, long story short, I'm living in a .... not so safe portion of the town so I never go out alone after nightfall >.<

So in short, this summer's going to be way relaxing than ever, with too many cellphone minutes to kill as well. So those who are still in the States, plan on receiving a call from me! LOL

View of Downtown Akron

ps I'm currently looking to buy a new PC laptop for my brother. Any recommendations? ;)

Hope everyone's having a great summer!

when one get so carried away ...

2008-06-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

oh how i thought, pinned, longed for ... nusaf?!
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DA JIA HAO!
(it sucks that i havent figure out how mac type chinese character ...)

I'm currently in BEIJING ~ with Na Hoi! (She is my roommate)
We are staying in this hotel-dorm look alike for international students at Capital Medical University (yup, NOT Tsing Hua ='( )
The first few days here have been pretty bad (I will talk about it some other time ... or ask me if you are interested) but things are changing around and hopefully, this trip will be as memorable and fun as many of you who went to Beijing last year have told me *cross fingers*

I'm currently learning chinese and public health in china.
For chinese, i'm learning china's current society problems, like unemployment, china's book reading habit, china's economic growth and its threat to other countries.
I'm also doing poems (haha! i can recite poems now ~~~ my lao shi especially loves LOVE poems ... can teach kx a few =P or probably he is too expert already .... =/)
Plus, china's history and geography .. (wow! hollistic education)

so i really miss you guys *awwwwwww*
and i made these comic strips to be used for 'other purposes'
but they are so pretty .. so haha .. praise me for that!?

XOXO

Berkeley

2008-06-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Kenny's arrival in Berkeley was supposed to be heralded by stormy weather, dark clouds, gale and hailstones. However, Berkeley is currently bright and sunny with clear blue skies (and quite yellow on the ground). What happened to Kenny's emotional angst that was supposed to translate into what the Chinese describe as the 'Heavens Crying'?

Apparently dousing happy and gay California with incessant rain was not enough for Kenny to reflect the true anguish that permeates his entire being. Is it a mere coincidence that 700 forest fires burning simultaneously across the entire San Francisco region resulting in Berkeley looking like Sumatra occurred at the same time Kenny set foot lonely in Berkeley?

Stay tuned for more insightful observations and the latest weather update in CA.

Welcome.

2008-06-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

To fellow authors of this blog,
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES!! Come now, we're all one big family and it is perfectly fine for everyone to share his/her true feelings. Write often and post lots of pictures!

To readers,
Enjoy all the entries that this crazy bunch of people have written!