wish you were here

chanced upon this :)

2011-04-12T01:53:00.000-07:00

“It’s more than just affection for someone; it’s a deep underlying connection. The comfort of knowing you can tell them everything, and not have worry about being judged. The first person you tell when something exciting happens, or when something scary happens. The person you turn to when you need to vent. The person you can laugh at because they will just laugh back at you. The person you need to tell things to so your brain doesn’t explode. The person who can make you feel better when you’re having a tough day, the one you turn to for advice.. The person you can have full conversations with by merely exchanging glances.”

<3

time to defy gravity! :)

2011-03-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSxXy7Jn-2Q&feature=related

i miss defying gravity.
i wanna be there this friday and saturday :(

2011-03-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

i recently read a line from a book that striked me quite hard. "could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed?"

weird but i think my answer would be a definite no! :S

chilly summers and fried ice creams

2011-02-07T03:36:00.000-08:00

i love it when my food turns cold but tasty :)

2011-02-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

sometimes, you have to lose it before realising the importance of it.

selfcenteredness

2011-01-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

i often get irritated at work when people request for this and that and that and this. at that very moment i'd get really worked up and frustrated cuz i just cant get the tasks i need to complete smoothly.

notice the word 'I' was used quite a few times in the above paragraph. it is precisely that i expect ppl to understand my situation and emphatise with me that the frustration builds up. but when i stop and put myself in their shoes, i then realised that maybe each of them only made that one (small) request each, and thus get ashamed of myself for thinking that way.

why do humans have this selfcentred streak in them? for greed? for hunger? for survival??

lao zi once said: " Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires.

i guess that should be the way to go. as we lower our expectations and embrace simplicity, the concept of ME would somehow shrink and get smaller. and hopefully we'll learn to emphatise with ppl around us :)

"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway." - Mother Teresa

up and on!

2011-01-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

it's been more than a year i last blogged! time to revive this baby here. :)

yes im back.

2010-01-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

and when the fine lines become blurred out. :S

let it snow let it snow let it snow (:

2009-12-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

camped in the library the whole day today. but the view was so good. (:

white has always been my favorite colour (:

and my ticket is finally confirmed! ):
i hate the feeling of getting back to reality. 8th jan, 12pm.
i dread waking up every morning to a brand new day.
15 days left in montreal. and counting down.
so many things to study.
HELPPPPP!

stop and stare

2009-11-29T20:11:00.000-08:00

http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2009/09/finnish-education-system-rocks-why.html

1. PUNCTUALITY IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
2. BEING EFFICIENT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
3. INVESTING SIGNIFICANTLY IN EDUCATION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
4. TEACHER EDUCATION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!

not like im some education minister-wannabe, but it's quite an inspiring and insightful read.

sporeans are forever in this rat race, a so-called pressure cooker education system. i think we just cant help it! there're so many reasons that lead to this, but largely cuz of our collectivistic culture and upbringing? like we care alot about how we perform in a group, how a group (or school) perform, how our performance is as compared to where we stand in group..., which inevitably contributes to our competitive nature?

the list would be endless if we try to analyse the situation. but i guess this would always be a never ending battle. everyone striving to work harder and the stress would always be there. it'd be good to stop and learn how others are doing, like looking at the world from the other end of the telescope.

chill everyone! stress levels' rising cuz of exams. dont forget to spread the love (L) ! (:

cheers to 21st

2009-11-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

spent my 20th nov with some friends over dinner. had B&J ice cream cake. yayy! haha though the restaurant screwed it up and it was all melted when they served it. then up to altitude 737 at night. quite memorable cuz it's the highest club in montreal and overlooks a good night view of montreal. (:

thanks everybuddy for all the well wishes! (: i miss you guys deepdeep.

it's 2weeks of school left! i dont know why im so excited bout it. cant wait for school and exams to be over yet dont want my stay in montreal to end so early. i guess it's the separation anxiety all exchange students would face. like it's starting to get comfortable and im used to life here and made new good friends and we'd have to part soon. on the other hand, CANT WAIT FOR saltlake, LA, LV AND SF! and of course back home where all my friends and family are and the fooddddd (:

oh and it finally dawned on me that im an adult alr!

i wish i could fly, but i wanna know that there'll always be someone there (:

you keep me going!

2009-11-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

i tried googling "montreal durian" yesterday but to no avail. :(

Nevertheless, presenting pieces of evidence to where the largest part of my expenditure has gone to...!

chocolate bomb! from Reuben's. Truly Orgasmic.

Cinnamon Apple Cobbler from Reuben's

she couldnt stop smiling!

(:

"Schwartz's World Famous Smoked Meat"

Chunks of flavorful smoked meat + dollops of mustard

Snow White & Juliette's Damn thick hot choc

whitechoc + baileys & bitter hot choc, which was most thick

Warning: their hot choc is sore-throat-inducing

homely korean food!

bibimbap in stone-bowl. keeps food warm til the very last grain of rice!

food, fun, friends! (it's quite funny to see how Raphael uses chopsticks! :D)

mexican food

magarita gold in a flower-looking glass!

69cents taco! there were more food but the pictures were all blurred

dim sum with more friends

hearty brunch!

back there again for more surprises!

pretty chocs

white choc fondue

indulgence-

chocolate storage

Bar-B-Barn: "Home of the World's Greatest Spare Ribs and Chicken"

good food in lousy lighting

in Pizzadelic

smoked salmon is ♥ (:

french loaf. cream cheese. heavenly salmon

grilled chicken

with shitloads of fries

MORE TO COMEE! :)

The belly rules the mind. ~Spanish Proverb (:

actually i very happy

2009-10-25T19:10:00.001-07:00

to have a housemate like bev :)

i feel like a kid again!

2009-10-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

ZOMG! it's only october 22nd and it officially snowed in montreal. it was really awesome, like countless of snowflakes floating down from the sky. i've seen snow before, but i really dont know why i was still soo happy!! haha. walked in the snow for quite some time til my toes went really numb. but deep inside, it felt so warm cuz it really made me feel like a kid again! i guess sometimes we just get so caught up in life that we forget to take joy in little things.

speaking bout feeling young, i recently talked to a classmate from my developmental psych class. it feels kinda weird to call her my classmate cuz she's already a mother of two adolescent kids and reached the middle age of forty that most sporean women would be so shy to speak of. what really amazed me was that she's doing her full time studies now and really enjoys it. she says that she finds herself still growing and discovering so much more bout the world and herself now. going to school has changed her perception in life so much and she's excited to go school. she's so bubly and felt so much like a friend to me than a senior. she also said that she just feels like doing what she enjoys cuz she's tried but just doesnt like the working life. people of different worlds i suppose. what she is doing now is totally not the 'mainstream' route that people would take. for sporeans at least.

i got to know another two ppl from my class. both are from china, one doing her masters here and the other just re-taking his chemistry degree here cuz his previous one was done in china where it was taught in chinese. i cant help but really admire these ppl. like they'll go all out to pursue what they really want, even if it might not seem the 'normal' thing that people would do.

i should really start thinking of what i really want. sth that i would be happy doing. maybe we should learn more from kids. just doing what they feel like doing and not fearing the consequences... (:

throw the yardsticks

2009-10-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

i'll spread my wings and i'll learn how to fly
i'll do what it takes til i touch the sky
and i'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And Breakaway

Out of the darkness and into the sun
I won't forget all the ones that i've loved
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And Breakaway

threshold

2009-09-30T13:10:00.001-07:00

i really need to push the reset button. but i just cant. someone help! :(

tonight's selfcooked 6course dinner

2009-09-23T20:31:00.001-07:00

bliss (:

fall has fallen! :(

2009-09-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

woke up to a gloomy day today. no longer the bright sunny day that we've always experienced. i guess this really marks the start of autumn! :( i wake up at 7.30am every morning and had been greeted with super bright sun the past few days. sigh! no more loong hours of daylight, and sunny sun! and it's getting colder! i think we'll start wearing winter clothing soon while the ang mohs stare at us like we're some idiots haha.

anyway! schoolwork is beginning to pile up though it's only the second week of school! :( SEP is so not fun when it comes to schoolwork! hahaha! now we're worried if we can even pass their courses! the workload for each course(module) is equally or heavier than those in NUS. But people here take only 3 or 4 modules each semester and take their time to finish their degree. i made this friend in my psych class who grows up in montreal but took 2yrs off her studies to go china to study mandarin! my friend met a few ppl who did likewise too. many of them switch around and try out different course of study before deciding on their major. so it's so unlike the spore system, when switching between courses is so difficult (maybe besides FASS?) and cramping 5-6 modules per semester just in order to graduate in 3-4 years. it'd be so much less stressful that way right! but i guess it's the culture? like ur peers would look at you in a different light if they find you much older than them. and even the govt doesnt seem to encourage this system! our tuition grant is only good for 4yrs of study. hmm...

so things have started to be monotonous these days. some interesting encounters these few days!

haha orientation organised by Concordia International Students Association was a blast! met lots of ppl from all arnd the world and thought the best part was the bar-hopping at night. heh. shhh dont tell mummyy! going toronto with them next weekend, CANT WAIT!

i've been studying chemistry for the past 6-7 years of my life, but i wasted half an hour of my life yest attending CHEM 101. guess what was it about! the lecturer blabbered on for half an hour, all about PLAGIARISM. -.- it's a damn serious offence in my school apparently. gone are the days when i copied and pasted senior's lab reports wholesale! hahaha oops. there's gonna be an online quiz which the passing mark is 100%. HAHA.

we didnt feel like going back so early after the talk, so decided to take a random bus that comes along and see where it took us to. hahaha fun way to explore montreal! ended up one metro stop away from our house, so decided to just walk all the way back and explore our neighbourhood. really loved that random day! learnt alot bout my neighbourhood! also learnt that it's always good to just keep trying, cuz we never know what we'd learn or gain from every experience. (: there're bound to be failures nonetheless, but trying is free anyway, so no harm! (: we found this super old and run down restaurant but turned out that they serve super duper good smoked meat!! oh my. they're super generous with their serving and the meat is super tender and flavourful! pity i didnt bring my camera that day, but we can always go again! i never liked beef but that really changed my opinion on beef! hahah! slurps! found this cool dollar shop too! hahaha! it's really great to learn that there're budget shops arnd, esp when std of living is so high! (: it'd be my fav hangout from now, other than the supermarket. hah.

it's friday night today so it's eat out day! dined at some jap restaurant! omg oishii! the feeling of thick salmon meat melting in your mouth, and together with the wasabi and soy sauce, it's heavenly! hahaha i sound like i haven eaten sashimi for ten years. but yes it's really awesome to know that all these great food places are just within walking distance from our apartment! there's this korean bbq restaurant around and the smell of their grilled food seems so tantalicious too! haha i dont think we eat so much good food that often in spore too, but heck. anything that can make us feel closer to home would make us happy! (: (we eat crap during the weekdays anyway. -.-)

OHHH YESS I JUST RMBED! hahaha volunteered to be part of this psychology study in school one random day and guess what i got from it!

TIM HORTONS CARD and has a value of $2.50!

hahaha. I LOVE TIM! it's everywhere in Canada and i think everyone here loves it too! it's cheap and serve nice bagels, donuts, wraps, and ICE CAPPUCINO! they've got damn good raisin cream cheese bagel too. reg, it's like ur raisin cream cheese, but the bread is the harder version. i wish i could franchise it in spore. heh.

eh i dont just eat and think of food everyday k! (though i really do whenever i've got nth on my mind, tt's how deprived i am. :S) hahaha im a member of Le Gym in my school! it boasts to have the cheapest gym rates in town but the gym is freaking nice! the treadmills, cycling machine, rowing machines and whatnot line up the gym in few dozens and take up like half the gym! looks a lil like those magnificent army battalion. the other part of the gym is filled with the cool weight training machines. it's really fun to gym, haha esp when you get a chance to work out and play with all the cool machines, while there're many muscle-popping hunks around. :D sorry guys, im straight so i dont check girls out when i gym. HAHA. but yeah, it's really good. and it's the only time i get to sweat it out in this cold and dry country! feels really good after that and the best part is you dont get the sticky and hot feeling after persipiring so much! (i can just go shopping after that! heh)

ookay i think i should get back to my lab report. no plagiarising means i must digest and rephrase every single detail i read from the net. argh. tons of reading to do too. double argh. going for some dinner organised by Malaysia and Spore Student's Association tmr (hope it'd be fun!) and Quebec City+Montmerency Falls trip on sunday! whee!

anyhow only

2009-09-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

in chinese, we say
"xie xie" (thankyou)

and we reply

"bu xie" (welcome)

and in french, we say
"merci" (pronounced as miet-see)

so shouldnt we reply

"bu-ci" ???

HAHAHA. oops. :D

pictures speak a million words

2009-09-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

It's getting colder nowadays! We should hurry do summer stuff while we can now! it's making me so lazy too. diee..

us early in the morn!

school girl here. jud your bagg!

This is quite hilarious! Pathetic 4 graduates in that year! In 1920s? My grandma's era!

Moi School

In french.

taa-daa!

Ppl here like to stay in the sun, esp wherever there's grass patch.

Allez Up

Managed to sneak a pic of the high wall area. it's quite small!

French time!
apples = pommel (like pomelo!)
cheese = fromage
and Je t'aime! (:

im an international student!

2009-09-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

hahaha second day of school today. Got used to squeezing with the morning crowd here and taking bus down to school. Totally love my campus. it's got old red brick kinda architecture but the communications journalism and my science complex is new! hahah! even lessons are conducted in a damn old-school fashion. blackboard and chalk. :) will upload pics of them tmr or sth.

Had lotsa interesting encounters at school!
1. My quantum class only had 15 students incl both of us.

2. Lecturers dont upload slides for my chem class, they use blackboard and we had to copy notes. old.school.

3. Lecturers dont dress up. my quantum lecturer wore sandals and berms. (i thought he was a student!) neurobiology prof wears berms with a chain and high cut converse and had tatoos on the back of his neck and arm. (he's super duper humorous and animated! love his classes. and he introduced himself by waving cheekily "Hi! I'm Jim!" ) devt psych lecturer wore jeans and tshirt.

4. Classes are interactive, so unlike spore's. Students can just raise their hands and comment on what the lecturer has said, or asked questions. I like! though i haven spoken in class yet. I have classmates who are over 40 and 50 years of age in my devt psych class! One is even becoming a granny soon!

5. Students here are rather independent. Most of them go classes alone or only had just one or two friends arnd. So unlike in nus where u can see at least some cliques of students arnd.

6. Who says there're no free lunches in the world.the downtown campus offers free lunch! haha just that it's a non-profit organisation for healthy food, so they serve vegetarian and organic food. (no wonder not ALOTTT of ppl go for them. hahah)

7. Some of my lects are only an hr and fifteen mins long. I feel it's good! Just the right duration for my short attention span. Can fully concentrate and absorb better :)

OH i went to climb! OPUS pass rocks. Unlimited metro and bus rides, so i took a metro down yest after school to check out the supposed Montreal's highest rock gym, Allez Up. Was soso only i guess. Camp 5 still owns big time, but oh well, shouldnt complain, at least i got to climb. Their bouldering walls are full of tapes, so there were lotsa routes around. Oh yeah, went just alone. I miss you guys la. Wish you guys were here. Well, hope i make some new friends soon! AND! I got a freaking flapper. :( I think it's too much moisturiser over these weeks in this dry country. Signed up for the one month's pass too, so i should really make full use of it! Things really arent cheap here! :( Would post pic soon!

More random stuff!
1. Girls in Montreal are damn hot! Alot of them (in downtown of course) have so good dress sense and sharp features and flawless skins. How i wish i were a guy. LOL.

2. One week into my stay here and i still look out for cars the opposite way. It's left hand drive here but instincts always make me turn my head to the right, the spore way. So glad im still in one piece now. I should really start learning or i'll meet an accident one day! :(

3. Cars here dont have car plates on the front. They only show it at the back, i wonder why.

4. I've added more bookmarks to my google chrome page. I think i really need more entertainment online at night. fmylife.com rocks. Please intro me any random and cool website! Would be deeply appreciated! (:

5. How i wish i could DRIVE! :( soo many cars here, soo many independent female drivers arnd. One of them would be me. One day.

6. I shall start learning one french word a day! It's been 8days here, so here goes!
Bonjour! = hello
Bienvenue = welcome
Ouvert = Open
Ferme = Close
Tirez = Pull
Poussez = Push
Poulet = Chicken
Frais = Fresh
Sortie = Exit
avec = with
I realised i had learnt a tiny weenee bit of french for piano b4 but all thrown away completely. My memory is deteroitating. tsk.

7. Yx and I are gonna sign for yoga classes. Just too bored and wanna work out badly. We'll get so fat if we continue at this rate! heh.

Okay time to sleep. Tmr will be another day of just one hr fifteen mins lect! yay!

first and foremost

2009-09-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly a week since i touched down montreal, but it seems that so much has happened! Well, this's the very first time im gonna be away for home for so long, and i guess i'll never be able to forget this experience. (:

I used to see loads of ppl walking arnd in the airport alone when i worked in dfs. Finally got my chance to understand how they feel, when i first stepped into the terminal after my sendoff, alone. To me, it was kinda like a sign of independence. At that point of time, i thought to myself "okay this is it!" I never had problems with taking planes, cuz i was always with my family or friends. But this was my first ever time i boarded it by myself. That also marked the start of my exchange program. From all the researching and crazy mapping of modules, to the submission of application, the interview and then the approval.. Til now, im still really glad and thankful that im given a chance for this exchange. One week into my stay here, i truly understood the feeling of being all alone in a faraway land. Okay, maybe i wasnt all alone, cuz thanks alot to my housemates for the company, but the feeling sucks when the night falls and u realised that ur really just so faraway from your friends and loved ones. Now i truly understand the meaning of "stepping out of your comfort zone" (:

Seattle was a nice place. Busy port and hectic downtown, just like any other city. But it also has it's greenery and the suburb area. My stay was made wonderful thanks to yixuan's aunt and her family who made me feel really at home. Their neighbourhood was so quiet and peaceful. Visited places like downtown seattle, Leavenworth, their community library and their annual state park. Shopped quite a bit here and there too. Nordstrom rack rocks! (: Haha had lotsa fun in all the places there and i guess the pictures would tell them all. Spent alot of my time there with yx's young cousins, Nathan and Nicole and hanging out with them allowed me to have a taste of life as an ang-moh kid. (: their family's quite cool! Parents are singaporeans but spent their undergrad years in US and thus decided to settle down in US. The way they chose to bring up their children is also pretty much the angmoh way and thus the children totally speak and think like the Caucasians, though they totally look chinese! oh and they dislike tofu and steamed fish, but love spore's roti prata and hainanese chicken rice! (: cute huh.

Montreal is an awesome place!! (: super happening downtown but peaceful suburb too. Had been out every single day since i reached. Fell in love with this place.. Spent one whole day walking around with yixuan. They say that the best way to tour Montreal is by foot. True indeed. Loved that random day. We took a train down and randomly stopped at Peel, one of the stations downtown, randomly took a bus which happened to bring us to Old Montreal. Beautiful placee! Nice old architecture and interesting stalls along the streets. Heard it's even better at night. Looks like i've got more places to go when im bored after school! (: After some leisure walk and a quick bite at my fav Tim Hortons, we walked down and saw the road that led us to Chinatown! Had my long craved bubble tea which tasted SUPER GOOD! think that guy ice blended the milk and the tea. can try that when i get back! there were some sightings of durian too! muahahah. but were fex. :(

Oh have i mentioned that Montreal is famous for their strip clubs? haha not sure how true it is, but definitely worth checking them out one of these days! :P (shh dun tell mummy) LOL.

Some friends from toronto came up to Montreal, so brought them arnd and explored Mcgill campus. It's one of the top twenty colleges around the world and the best college in Canada! Worth taking a tour round the campus and taking pictures! heh. Oh, and we tried the Montreal's famous smoked meat and poutine. Super nice! (: *slurps!

AND I WENT SIXFLAGSS!! (: there's only one sixflags branch in canada and thank goodness it happened to be in Montreal! haha spent the entire day in there and totally enjoyed myself! have always wanted to go one since young when my dad told me bout it. tried the legendary ride that takes us through consecutive plunges. wasnt as scary as described, but the few-seconds-view was spectacular and the entire ride was simply awesome. the other few rides worth mentioning are Boomerang and Vampire! (: None of us threw up at the end of the day, and it was definitely an unforgettable experience! (:

haha Canada's labour day was spent jetboating. Was actually planned to do whitewater rafting but we went late! So had to made do with jetboating on a later timing. Were initially quite disappointed cuz we thought that rafting would be so much more fun, and that i've tried it in NZ alr. Turned out that jetboating on the rapids along St Lawrence River was super good! We encountered Class 5 (the highest class!) rapids. The water level went up so high and plunged down on us, and left us all totally soaked to the skin. The adventure we had with the longtail boat at Krabi to Ao Nang during the storm was nth compared to this man. Im so glad the jetboat or any of us didnt capsize. The faraway view of downtown Montreal from the river was splendid too. Clouds were super nice high up in the sky, and the sun casted flashes of rainbow on the splashes of water from the sides of the jetboat. That day felt so good, and we'll never ever get that back in spore. A pity couldnt bring camera up. There were many kayakers, jetboaters and surfers trying out the rapids too. I guess there's other side of the world that we've never seen before (:

wow okay i think i've written long enough. that should briefly sum up my adventures for the first week in this faraway land. shall keep more updates in the next post!