Sunday, July 30, 2006
New York City...
it's been like 4 days since i've been to new york city! the much awaited and anticipated part of our trip. our first 2 nights was spent at YMCA in manhattan... now we have moved to huixin's uncle's apartment at queens area. we had to put up at YMCA the first two nights due to power failure in this area. anyway, really appreciate him for putting us here despite the inconvenience we might have brought him.. he lives in this small apartment with a room, living room, small kitchen and bathroom. he works as a operations risk manager at JPmorgan. wow. he's been in US for 12 years and he studied finance and accounting... like me! :)
the room which four of us squeezed in.new york city was much more congested than i expected.. our room at YMCA was REALLY squeezy. i feel claustrophobic here. people say that NYC is like singapore... hmm... it's similar... but... more noisy and congested... and it is... filthy. but NYC is so different from virginia because of the types of people here. i feel that the reason why alot of people love new york is because of the much diversified culture that they have here. there are so many different kinds of people... from different countries all over the world. i love the feeling it gives me cuz nobody feels out of place here simply because there's all kinds of people here. in virginia we used to get weird looks from others because we were always surrounded by blacks and whites. we just looked odd in the midst of them. and we knew that nobody understood us when we mandarin-esed (word invented by jesse) away. but new york is different because you know there are alot of people who do understand you. which is scary. cuz you have to be careful before you speak. the feeling of exclusivity is not there anymore.
i was so disappointed with the subway system. i mean, i heard so much about it before.. and i must agree that it is extremely accessible.. but it just fell short of how i expected it to be. it's not as new, clean or high tech as i thought it would be. the stations will stuffy, hot and poor ventilated... and it was so dirty. i would have expected more since it's in the city... but i would say it's poorly maintained. the ones at hongkong and taiwan are so much better. and of cuz, singapore's one is good too.
how dirty their tracks are.i feel that i always get to fully appreciate the cleanliness of singapore whenever i am overseas. singapore is really such and clean and green place. like really clean. you appreciate the reason behind banning gums and spitting too. it really spoils the whole overview clealiness. and you also start to appreciate of why our singapore changi airport is one of the first in the world. it's just so good compared to the rest.
but yet at the same time you get to realize the negative stuff of singapore too. we were having dinner last night with huixin's uncle, eric. we talked and discussed about alot of stuff. he's an intellectual one compared to some of the americans i've known at work. haha. he's gonna move to canada soon... giving up his singapore citizenship to be a canadian. he's a pretty anti-singaporean i must say. but it was nice talking to him because he shared with us lotsa stuff.. and i learnt things which i never really knew about.
i am tired. will blog more about new york.. orlando and with more pictures next time.
YuAn® spun on 12:51 PM.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Orlando to New York...
i'm typing this as i'm on my way flying from orlando international airport to new york la guardia airport.5 days at orlando has finally ended... the feeling of flying off from orlando is so different from when i flew off from virginia.
it was more of a sense of relief and happy at the same time. these 5 days haven't been fantastic for me. it was both mental and physically tiring. physical because i did not have enough sleep at all everyday... i didn't rest enough before i left virginia because i was busy packing, playing, working etc. i probably slept like an average of 5 hours each day.. for the last week of my life. we spent 4 full days visiting the parks... from early morning to late at night. the hours were even longer and more tiring than working from open to close at PKD. the crowds at the parks were horrendous. it was so crowded... and the weather... it was raining so heavily during one of the days and it was SO BLOODY HOT HOT HOT under the sun that i felt like my skin was gonna get burnt or something. it's even worse than the hot weather at PKD. it's HOTTER at florida. which i probably bet so since it's nearer to the equator. i thought only virginia's weather is screwed.. now i think the weather here is too.. i guess it's the same throughout the whole america.. simply because of how they kill the earth by being so unenvironmentally friendly. haha.
it's weird cuz i seem to have paid money to suffer. haha. i mean it was a nice vacation.. but i guess i just didn't enjoy it that much. it was alot of factors that resulted in it. but the amount of money spent these 5 days is probably the amount i spent like for a few weeks at PKD. the air tickets alone already cost me USD$200++... not including about USD$300 for park tickets and accomodation. anyhow, we visited the 2 universal studio parks for 2 days, and then 3 disneyworld parks for the next 2 days. so basically we went to universal studios, islands of adventure, epcot, MGM studios and magic kingdom. it was tiring rushing here and there.. and with so many people in line.. it just pisses your whole day off... we didn't manage to finish covering everything of course... but at least we did some of the more popular ones.
we took quite a bit of photos and i'll post it up when i have the time. disneyworld was slightly disappointing for me.. probably because everybody else made it up to be too good.. and so the expectations went up. it is magical.. but unrealistic for me. on the whole, my favourites would be the 2 universal parks and MGM studios. magic kingdom was... nice and pretty... but... too kiddy for me.
i have this urge to wanna come back to US again next summer... i really want to for now. i wanna go back to PKD to work with you again. i wanna go to cedarpoint at ohio to play... i wanna go for thrilling and exciting rollercoaster rides. i prefer parks like these i guess... but orlando was really an experience. i don't like the cartoon and fairytale parts.. i liked the movie parts. it was a fantastic experience.
i flew 3 domestic US airlines for this trip.. namely delta (NY-VA), airtran (VA-ORL) and jetblue (ORL-NY). all in all, i would definitely recommend jetblue man. it is CHEAP, GOOD and CONVENIENT. it has a personal tv.. like wow for a budget airline! thumbs up!
i used to love flying on planes.. now i hate it. i feel nauseous everytime i get on one. the first few minutes i got onto this plane.. it just reminded me how the next time i'm flying would be from new york to taiwan. oh gosh. i was like so disgusted. i hate long flights. like really. i HATE HATE HATE them. it'll probably take me at least 14 hours to taiwan.. oh goshhhh!!!!!!! somebody help me! i guess SQ is the only solution to the problem... but it creates another problem for my pocket. so wells. how i just wished i didn't had to fly back... if only i could just appear and reach whichever country i wanna go to. *poofs* like magical disneyworld. hahaha.
YuAn® spun on 12:52 PM.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Leaving virginia...
i'm typing this as i'm on my flight to orlando, florida.2 months and 20 days at virginia has whizzed past just like that. now i've finally left virginia to head for my travelling plans. it's fast. fast.
i still remember how i was so looking forward when i just reached; to the end of work, start of travelling, and to leave the ulu virginia state. but yet now that i'm leaving, i find it so hard to control my tears from rolling down my cheeks when the plane took off from the airport. because i know that i am really leaving this place. leaving virginia for good. and god knows if i'll ever come back to this place again.
i am sad to leave... very sad. i'm probably one of the craziest ones amongst the singaporeans as most of them can't wait to leave this place man. i can't imagine how much i've cried during the few days before i left. i cried so badly when i left the singapore airport... and for the first few days that i was here. and yet now that i'm crying again when i leave richmond airport. i wonder what i want man. the thought of not being able to see the americans i've gotten to know throughout these 11 weeks just makes my heart ache. we got to know each other better, see each other almost everyday, spend time together.. build friendships... but now that i'm gone, we'll probably never ever get to meet each other again in life. this is the reality and cruelty of life.
and as time goes by, people start drifting apart because of distance... not being part of each other's lifes... etc etc. and before i know it, we might even forget that we've known each other before. but then again i guess it doesn't matter because we will probably never even get the chance to meet each other ever again. it is sad... but yet that's the truth of how reality really is. and it just hurts even more to know that things are going to turn out like that in time to come, and there's isn't really anything much that you can do. simply because change is probably the only constant thing in life.
working at PKD has probably been one of the most beautiful memories of my ever boring life. xueying told me something last night which i felt was really true. this whole program feels like a dream... something that does not belong to reality. i can't imagine how i'll go back to my old life again back in singapore. and felt like i just had a nice, good fun dream for the whole of summer holidays. simply because life was easy, simple and happy. there was nothing much to worry about except not clocking enough hours and getting sent home early... all was good and i enjoyed myself. not only the company of the co-workers, but also the cohesiveness of all the singaporeans (whom many did not know each other before hand) as we all stay in the dorm. we go to work together, chat together, eat together, have fun together. there's always endless things to talk about everyday after work... these are the kinda memories that will never be the same again.
i really really loved and enjoyed my work trip here. it wasn't like a fantastic wow wow thing... but it was good enough for me to be satisfied. at least more enjoyable than staying in singapore. i've learnt so much stuff in life that i can never learn from school... the experiences will last me a lifetime. it has changed my opinions for alot of stuff too... like values and opinions with regards to different things in life.
i love USA and i love americans. uh.. not all but at least most of them. those that love me too. haha. sometimes I just feel that this is a dream that i never wanna wake up from…
YuAn® spun on 11:06 PM.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Skyflier....!!
i got sent home early yesterday... simply because the ride was overstaff. all due to the intrusion of the turkish. haiz. i was let off at 4pm when the first bus only comes at 7pm. what luck.anyway, i accompanied one of my colleagues for break... went to ride his ride (without queuing up. haha.) and roamed around alone for a while. went to ride some rides too and well, just basically walk around the park by myself. i walked around and found out that a few other singaporeans got sent off too.. and they were going around the park riding too. they were in a group and i was trying to find them. in the end, i finally met the group of them at like 6pm. oh wells.
anyhow, i finally went to ride skyflier! skyflier is one of the rides at the park that you have to pay extra to play. it normally costs like US$25 to ride... but apparently if you like know people through some connections, you can get to ride it for free. alot of my friends have rode it already. so then then, xiuling was one of those in our group who were sent home, and she was really sweet and nice enough to volunteer to try ask her supervisor to allow us to ride for free cuz she works at that ride. and her supervisor diandra was this really gentle and nice black lady. the park wasn't too crowded and she agreed to do us the favour. so she helped 3 of us; me, xueying and swee lai on to ride.. the SKYFLIER! it's this ride that brings you high up in the air.. 100 over feet high.. and then lets you off so that you'll drop and fly using free fall.
this is how it looks like... high eh?
all geared up!
unloading the previous people...
loading us up...
preparing to be lifted high up...
and here we fly...!!!
anyway, we bought the dvd that caught our flying action on camera! haha. it was quite a good video cuz it was pretty clear and filmed well. i ripped it from the dvd and converted into a video file using one of the free video converters that i downloaded... and so there's those irritating words for the whole video on the avi file. just ignore it and you can still view the video.
it was really a cool ride which i wouldn't mind going again if i had the chance. the feeling of dropping down is so good. just shiok! it's really cool... and alot of fun. i liked the feeling of the first fall when we dropped down from the highest point. alot of people are so scared of it.. but to me it was so fun. i loved it.
xueying was right. riding this kinda made up for all the unhappiness of being sent home early. at least we enjoyed ourselves and got the chance to ride skyflier! :)
YuAn® spun on 12:29 PM.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Missing singapore food...
we rented a car the other day to go shopping at williamsburg again. to make full use of the car, we realized we ran out of places to go to at night except wal-mart. then we started talking about how we would go for supper if we were back in singapore... then the people who stayed on the east side started talking about going to 85 market to eat so and so. i started thinking about all the supper places we go and i oh so miss my cheese prata, my bukit timah market, my adams food centre and my five star chicken rice all near the west. oh sighs. i've been having this huge craving for mee pok ever since so long. within the first few days of arriving here back in may, i had this huge urge to eat mee pok!! oh my god.. i oh so regret that i didn't go for a good bowl of my most favourite mee pok dry with chilli before i left! i should have went to salvage a good bowl of it. sighs. although the urge has subsided tremedously as compared to before (simply because there's no point thinking about it because i won't be able to eat it anyhow), but the fact still remains that i miss mee pok! i can't possibly find it here!!
just a bowl of it that looks exactly like this would be... HEAVENLY!
and not forgetting... my other favourite.. black carrot cake!! *SLURPS* i love it without any chilli. just with the black sauce... sweet and nice. i wanted to go to my favourite stall at one of the jurong east markets before i left.. but it was renovating and it wasn't done before i left.. so i didn't manage to eat it before i left. sighs.
and char kway teow!!! yummy....!!! it's damn fattening... but... a good plate of it is hard to come by. haiz.
and oh god... I MISS CHICKEN RICE....!!!!!!!!!! the kampong chickens from my five star chicken rice along bukit timah...!! or just any chicken rice from one of the hawker centres will do too...! slurps.
my regular cup of sugar cane drink at hawker centres! can't find them around here man... i miss my pork porridge at clementi central market too!! i always have sugar cane juice to go with it!
my cheese prata...! the cheese prata shop beside NUS is my favourite! plus their mee goreng, chicken briyani... marvellous and FATTENING supper food!
and i miss ya kun kaya toast too.. can't find them around here man... sighs. don't find such stuff around to have them for breakfast man. milo is like so uncommon here. luckily i brought enough over!
last but not least... SATAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *YUMS* i had some for my "last meal" at bukit timah market the night before i left... so i don't really miss it that much.. haha. but still, i love chicken satays.. fresh and hot from the grill.. with the peanut sauce...!! i can't find them here.. not at all la!
the chinese kinda food found here is mostly like cuisines from china... the normal ones like szechuan, sweet and sour, sesame etc... they really ain't that fantastic but at least it's a break from american food.-_- and americans seem to only know all these kinda food for chinese food. but at least i have rice to eat! i can't live without eating rice man! but i just miss all the singapore types of food.. which can't be found here at all! like at least not in virginia. probably in the bigger and more developed states.
anyhow, the best chinese food i've had so far is probably the packet of char siew rice we bought at the chinatown in philadelphia! it was simply awesome! woah. the restaurant's opened by honkies and it's just like those kinda typical ca can tings (hongkong cafes) that you find in hongkong. their char siew rice is.. sooo.. good...!! tastes exactly like those that you can find in hongkong...!! YUMMY!!! it was so satisfying. i wouldn't having chinese food like these all the time man.
YuAn® spun on 1:12 PM.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
VCU housing... rhoads hall!
finally... here's some pictures of my new housing at VCU rhoads hall. this is the place where i'm currently (and have been for the last few weeks ever since i moved out of the hotel) residing at. i'm almost like moving out soon and yet here i am posting pictures of it. haha.
the main entrance to the building. both halls are connnected but i'm staying at the one on the right.
right at the entrance... the carpet that welcomes you in! haha.
i stay right on top at the 18th floor.. which is the highest! this is taken right outside the lift lobby. this hall that is 18 storeys high is probably one of the tallest building i've seen at richmond so far! like wow.. they actually have tall buildings around, despite having SO MUCH land. haha. but 18 storeys is not that high considering what we have in singapore.
but anyway, staying high has it's pros and cons i guess. it's probably more quiet with nobody on top of you... but it can get really cold at night... plus the fact that it takes damn long to get to the ground floor in the morning (especially if we are rushing for the bus!) as it stops at almost every level! so it gets pretty annoying. and if you forgot something back in the room, it's... just troublesome man.
the is how the corridor of our dormitory look like. the rooms are really near each other.
the door to my room! i stay right at the corner! yay... it's good cuz it's more quiet and the room is slightly bigger.
my room number... time to buy 4D??? haha.
this is how our room looks like.. basically we have a double decker bed, each have our own desks, wardrobe and drawers. we share a small fridge and microwave in each room too. i know it's really horrible and messy but it doesn't matter... cuz it's still clean! i sleep below.. just like back at home! i'm too lazy to climb up.
my extremely messy desk.. with yicui's laptop too on the right cuz the lan cable is right beside my desk. my desk is messy (as usual) cuz er... i don't see a point in clearing it if i can find my stuff? haha.
that's about it for the short introduction of my housing... it's nothing much and more inconvenient compared to the hotel cuz we need to share bathrooms (which is something i really dislike). but oh wells, what to do. other than that, it's fun cuz everybody lives near each other so it's pretty fun at night. however, it's a single sex floor dorm so the guys stay below us.. it's quite troublesome cuz we need to move up and down if we need to look for any of them. we also share the floor with some europeans (whom are also internationals working at PKD too) and well.. they really ain't too friendly and helpful people whom we don't exactly like. but yet we still have to see them around. luckily they are on the other side of the floor so we can minimize the number of chances of meeting them. haha.
YuAn® spun on 9:15 AM.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Photos out at Grill night~!
today was independence day... and there was supposedly a big crowd expected at the park... but apparently there weren't so many... but wells, it was still fun cuz i had a second chance to watch the fireworks from my ride area! weijie thinks that the fireworks at NDP is better.. i'm not too sure about that. but for me, having such a spectacular view in a restricted area (cuz the ride was closed and so only the people working could be inside, but not the guests) to watch meant so much more. it felt really awesome. i hardly have chance to watch such stuff like that.anyhow, it was grill night too organized by some of the departments! rides was one of them and so we had FREE FOOD after work! hehe.. we could get free cheeseburgers, hotdogs and soda. all fresh from the grill! yummy! hehe. hot and nice.. though i thought it was a bit burnt. didn't take much pictures of the food... but it was a fun night cuz we all took quite a bit of pictures with all our colleagues! it was a time when alot of us could get together not having to work but just to hang out and have fun! :)
my favourite group photo of the night... i just love group photos! they are fun to take and nice to view. :)
with roger (my area manager) and jesse (my lead/supervisor). roger left his shades on on purpose when it was so dark at night la! i think he looks better without shades though. anyway he's pretty cute. haha. i would think he's my cutest colleague. lol.
yay! me and jesse. i like this picture.. it's nice! jesse always says that i hate him... but everybody else probably knows that i love him the most. he's my most favourite american boy. :) i've becomed so used to seeing him and having him around all the time... simply because we see each other more than we see our own friends/family/bed/laptop/tv etc etc. haha. at work, he's the one who pisses me off most of the time... but yet on the other hand, he's also the one who makes me smile and happy too.
this is willie... he's my ex-lead/supervisor. i used to work with him most of the time when i came initially... but too bad he transferred to another ride. it was quite a waste because i thought he taught me really well last time... i like him and the way he worked... oh wells. this is life i guess. not fated. but he's my favourite black american guy! =)
there are some candid snapshots that one of my friends took.. i thought they looked really funny and comical! especially the one in the middle! i just couldn't stop laughing... he's demonte and is one of my area managers too (like roger). roger looks really funny too with his small eyes... haha. candid shots are so fun!
overall, it was a great night and i spent hours on my computer after i came back at around 12+am. it's like 4+am here now and i should be in bed to wake up by 8am tomorrow because i start work at 10am! oh gosh. and depending on situation... i'll be working from 10am-11pm if i close tomorrow! hahaha. wow... i'd better go catch some rest! life is busy but happy and fulfiling. :)
YuAn® spun on 3:42 PM.
Monday, July 03, 2006
fireworks!
today was quite a happy day... because things sorta turned out better than i expected.i guess it's always the case when things can only get better when you get all ready for the worst scenario! there's no expectations... and so when things turn out to be slightly better... it really makes your day... simply because it can't get any worst than what you thought! haha.
i guess i'm lucky... and i'm happy too that i have others to help make my life better. my lucky stars seems to be shining at US right now... how come they don't seem to shine in singapore? hmms.
i am happy because things turned out exactly to be what i thought would have been a perfect situation/scenario, even though i was all ready for the worst! okay, probably perfect is an exaggeration.. more of like just a good scenario. so well, i'm fine and good. and happy with it. things just sorta fell into place... somehow... thanks to my lady luck. :)
independence day is on 4th July for US... and they have like fireworks for these few days. today's the first night of fireworks.. and i watched it from my ride. it was a spectacular view because it was near to where they were lit out. i think independence day is sorta like their national day.. i guess? so yeaps, seems like a big hooha apparently. and well, the fireworks tonight was really pretty and bright.. similar to those they have at national day parade every year.. but the difference is that i don't have kiasu singaporeans popping their heads right infront of me during the whole time. haha. the view there from my ride was great... peaceful, quiet.. and just nice. it was simply enjoyable for me throughout the 15 mins.
here's a short video of it which i took! :)
YuAn® spun on 2:02 PM.