Deprived woman unleashed!
Shopping mania BEGINS!my nightmare has turned into reality: now everything that is selling seems cheap to me; even if it's not that cheap, i just have to convert its price to US dollars and it will seem cheap haha.
the (erroneous) notion that everything's on sale is not helping matters u know..
bought soooo many things within the past 2 days: a book, my 2 les' birthday presents, lip gloss, camera case, a pair of silver pumps, and FOUR PAIR of earrings!
As i was telling shiyun,
any girl who has ear holes can never own enough pair of earrings.
And earrings in singapore are DAMN cheap! esp at Far East!! 3 for $10, 4 for $12, 2 for $5, 5 for $10..... whee! earrings are the
only things i can buy and buy and don't feel a pinch ahaha! if christina is reading this, she will be missing singapore's earrings galore a lot!
Shopping with dear shiyun is still as enjoyable as before :) while browsing through clothes and looking at shoes and admiring jewelry pieces, we talked everything about fashion, our tastes, our wants, and catching up on eveything! it doesn't feel as though i haven't gone out with her like this for a long time! hee...
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11:22 PM
i can hardly catch up in blogging
The past few days, in short, are just eating, meeting up with frens, going back to rj, cutting my hair, and more eating!
Dim sum at crystal jade at the airport was sooooo good! i have decided i wan to eat there for the brunch before my flight back to US! rojak and satay from bedok interchange hawker center are just
yummilicious! i devoured every bit of the rojak's sauce that is mixed with peanut bits... yum....
sigh, it's time to start exercising some control over my intake of food. esp after meeting up with dear shiyun and huilin - arghzz why are singaporean girls all so slim!! so jealous! :( but somehow, i feel less guilt when consuming mr softee and cafe cartel's cakes (see below!) than when eating the soft-served cornell dairy bar ice cream and cakes in my dining hall... i wonder why? in any case, i gave myself one week of indulgence, and one week is up - back to strict diet regime!
Yummy cheesecake and tiramisu cake! ok fine, i think the cakes are an excuse for me to shoot my pretty les! (oh man, i can't believe i said tt!)
well, i went running with my dad at ECP on wed as part of my diet plan. i doubt a 20 min run is going to help reduce my weight significantly but it felt good just hearing my dad say "wah, you are GOOD!" breathlessly cuz apparently i paced him such tt he ran the 3km 30 sec faster than usual. considering that since pri sch days when i forced myself to go jogging with him to train for my 1.6km-run i could never catch up with him and complete 3km, i am rather proud of my improvement ;)
it was really nice to be back at rj! there are two separate parts to my memories of rj and being back at the bishan campus triggers the 2nd part of the memories haha. my students are interesting and cute like before - one class was asking me to rank snow, mountain, water, flower and fire ("What you look for in a partner"), the other class was bitching to me and begging me to help them in physics this june holidays (erpz). the tchers are hilarious too! the physics tchers were trying to get me to relief some classes in july AGAIN within 2 min i stepped into the staff room, and miss chia was genuinely concerned abt my skin condition ((worried stare at my face) "ni de pi fu bian cha le hor?" x3)
it's funny how i always tell myself "i must go and rebond my hair" whenever i wake up with un-straight hair but then on the day i go to the hair salon i back out of rebonding. this time, i ended up splurging 90 bucks on some hair treatment thing which i dun see any huge effect anyway... sighz that's the thing when u dun do 'extreme' things to your hair like rebonding or perming or dying ur hair -- u start to doubt whether it is worth spending those money u have spent...
i finally got my desired camera - canon ixus 65! whee! but the package doesnt come with any casing, and i can't find a good and cheap one yet so i don't dare to bring it around yet! erpz.. that sounds like buying a printer without a usb cable lol. so for now, i can only photo-whore at home HAHA.
ok before i go on a crazy shopping spree as the GSS begins today, let me gush abt the joy of window shopping! i can't believe i get enough satisfaction just walking around the shops at Junction 8 or tampinese mall or -gasp- bedok neighbourhood! i dun even have the luxury of walking into 3 bakeries which are located within 50m of each other and looking at yummy buns and cakes and comparing their prices back in Ithaca! In singapore, i have soooo many malls to walk ard; in ithaca, i can cover pyramid mall and Commons in 2 days, and then there's nowhere else to go to alr. (rmb, my orchard road is at nyc! ahaha.)
anyway, i have been seeing birkenstock spin-offs
everywhere, i am now determined to get one pair of authentic birkenstock sandals! from a factory outlet in US, i mean.
to my horror, there's no Birkenstock store at Woodbury or Waterloo, the 2 factory outlets in New York state! :(
i am truly impressed by our govt. though all the features they mentioned about our new IR during the press conference sounded very impressive, this morning i couldn't help wondering how different this new hotel is from the other existing hotels in town other than its amazing capacity for guests and convention, and exactly how much impact will it have on the tourism board if it's just another pretty and glitzy hotel which doesn't exactly have a distinct theme like those in vegas......until i
suddenly recalled it's the
casino that is the distinguishing factor from all the other hotels in singapore! try looking for that word in the official press release. you've got to learn the art of
emphasizing the main points from the masters yeah? ;)
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1:37 AM
Tadaima!
haven't blogged for quite some time heez... it's already my 3rd day back in singapore.. have already overcome jetlag so it's time to update haha:
Moving outpacking and moving out of dorm was just INSANE. i had been dreading this day for a long time; i used to just glance around the room at all my belongings and think it was IMPOSSIBLE to move out of my room. i packed for hours and hours. it's only under such a circumstance when i am forced to realize: 1) how much stuff i am capable of buying within 9mth(i arrived with 2 luggages and a backpack but left with 2 luggages + backpack + 2 large cardboard boxes+ 1 plastic storage box + lots and lots of large plastic bags) 2) how much junk i have been keeping and nver got to dump them. but it's not just me who have lotsa stuff lor, everyone, girls and guys, has this much stuff! can u imagine moving
everyone's stuff over to our seniors' place for storage, this is honestly the biggest 'project' of the year la! tks to the guys who help move all the stuff and tks to the seniors who generously allow us to convert their homes into 'war zones', else i would never have been able to move out!
moving out of dorm marks the end of freshmen year, and there were moments when i experienced sudden flood of emotions and memories. it really feels not long ago when i entered this empty room with 2 luggages and then i am leaving with the room looking as empty as before. No net change in the state of the room, but attitude, habits, state of maturity... etc have changed irreversibly. Christina and i agree that even though we are not graduating, we still feel as though we have concluded a significant stage in our lives. this is why i feel i have chosen the right time to return home and show my parents what i have 'achieved' in this stage of my life. haha. really, till now i still don't regret not going home in dec despite all the homesickness i have felt; if i had gone home then barely after 3 mth away from home, i probably would not have become that much tougher...
The journey homeThe day i left was really cold for a summer day in ithaca. Took a domestic flight from ithaca aiport to new york city airport on a ridiculously small propeller jet that can only carry 30 ppl hahaha. the overhead storage compartments are too small to even store a normal-sized backpack! (fyi, this plane ticket costs US$270) It was a really bumpy flight, but it still beats a 5 hr coach ride to nyc still in my opinion haha.
Yingyi and i got a free lift from my senior and her bf from the airport to Soho, becuz yingyi helped deliver my senior's air tickets which she had left behind in ithaca haha. Thus instead of sianning for 9hr at Newark airport waiting for our flight back to spore, we spent our afternoon eating not-very-expensive italian pasta at a more-than-decent italian restaurant in Little Italy and shopping at Soho! whee satisfying afternoon for us girls! It suddenly occured to me, after touring ard NYC twice and bypassing NYC numerous times on my way out or back to ithaca, nyc has become not so big a deal to me anymore! i walked ard Soho as though i was walking ard the all-too-familiar orchard road, the billboards at Times Square no longer emote fascination and awe anymore. it amazes me that this big city which sooo many people are dying to visit, including me in the past, has become a place which i
kind of taken for granted alr, within a span of 9mth!
in any case, the traffic at nyc at more insane than usual so we underestimated the time that we needed for our senior's bf to drive us from Soho to Port Authority, and the airport shuttle bus, which runs every 15 min, was 40min late! i nearly broke the world record of missing two flights within 2 months and topped my personal record of waiting at the aiport for 16hr (it would be 24hr if i missed this flight). thank goodness we made it in time.
HomeI was again very emotional when i saw the first glimpse of night lights emitting from singapore island after a 19hr flight and at the instant the plane just touched down on the ground. Ever since i had the intention of studying abroad, i was met with my mother's objections. She kept emphasizing the difficulties that come with studying abroad, i was well aware of them when i chose this path, but i never really understood what they mean and would amount to. i may not be conscious of it all the time but every day i am learning how to survive on my own and adjust to a new life in a new country. i had to learn every nitty-gritty detail from scratch, including operating the washer and dryer (i would always rmb yx's classic shocked-cum-aghast look when i saw him scrapping away the lint and asked him what the hell was he doing lol :P) living 9mth away from home is by no means a small feat for a pampered girl like me, and fine call me egoistical as u wish, i am proud of myself for surviving the past 9 mths! :)
but i must confess, once back home, i am treated like a pampered princess all over again! my mum again takes care of every little thing at home for me, my dad fetches me to wherever i want to eat or buy any stuff. oh well, let me indulge a bit just for these 3 mth la.... hopefully, "independence" is not a skill that would degrade if u don't practise it for 3 mth :P
Food!The only that 'sells' in Singapore is its food, tt's the same conclusion most of us living abroad arrive.
Haha my parents really took the "to-eat list" that i made very seriously: they are close to memorizing all 30 items on my list and have been doing their best to treat me to as many of the items for every meal since i got back. after my third morning in spore, i have already eaten 10 items on the list - beach road prawn mee, katong laksa, chilli crabs, kway chap, sugar cane drink, yakun kaya toast, old chang kee curry puff, roti prata, tau huay and you tiao!!! and going for dim sum lunch soon! SHIOK ah! hehe my parents rock! :D in the past, the non-aircon and wet hawker centres weren't exactly my faves; now i can't wait to go to hawker centres to eat!
And for all the good food i have been eating, i don't feel that i am getting fatter! isn't that amazing? ok let's hope i am not misjudging my own figure... :P
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11:37 PM
Photo backlog
This is the time in the semester when i finally have the time to clear a-semester-worth-of photo backlog and jam up your comp while u load this page :P let the photos sum up my spring semester in
reverse chronological order:
HILC (my dorm) end-of-year banquet! posing with ellen after devouring all the good food! she just got her exchange at cornell extended by another semester, yay for her!
My beloved ILC gang: shanon, guojian and yuan xiang :)
My dearest RHD (residence hall director), Windi! The only RHD in the entire North Campus whom the student residents know by name AND who knows all residents by their names! ;) will miss her when i move off-campus....
Gathering with fellow Utah backpacking gang! So nice to see everyone again and hear how their lives have moved on since getting out of the desert! they are such an eclectic and interesting bunch of ppl; i really enjoy hearing them talk abt really interesting topics and sharing their insights on issues
Slope day! A couple of couples! :P
At Grad Night for the singaporean seniors! It was a cruise-dinner: cruising around Cayuga Lake in the evening!
The 4 freshies who attended grad night and the President (of SSA) who truly took care of us freshies in the past year. Tks yuan jun!
The Singapore booth at Cornell's World Fair! So proud of our booth! :D
A pretty and delicate 3-D map of Singapore made out of wire!
The board i helped make! Very very satisfied with it cuz it looks darn professional (kudos to Khairul on his Adobe Illustrator) and our text reflects the Singaporean culture so succinctly! Our text is so small but they actually caught the attention of several ppl that they were bending over to read! whee!
Got psycho-ed by yizhuan into performing for SOS (Singaporeans-On-Stage)... erpz...
Spring break at Utah's canyons! This was my maiden river-crossing attempt! Was kinda scared then after being briefed by my instructor on the possible accidents that can happen... At that pt in time, i NEVER expected i would be crossing the river for another 20 times!
A nice shot of the Escalante River...
My 20th birthday! :)
On the ski lift! Feels so long ago since i see snow and snowboarded.... haha
Celebrating yingyi's birthday! Nice shot yeah!
The freshies at SSA's Chinese New Year reunion dinner. The big plate of delicious yusheng on our table was long gone
The gingerbread house that i made in one of ILC's activities on one of the last few days of winter break! yummy yummy!
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12:02 PM
Freeeeeeeeeeee!
YESH! the sweeeeetness of freedom! :D
after being one of the last among the freshies to be done with final exams last semester, i am the among the first to finish my exams this time round! sweeeeeeeeeeeeet! :P
the past 2 days have been sleeping, slacking, shopping and packing. yes i started packing! i even helped shanon pack yesterday, cuz he had to check out of his room last night in order to fly back this morning at 6am. i dare say my packing skills have improved after that backpacking trip haha.
sometimes i am amazed by the fact that i have survived 9 months here in a foreign country, away from home... can't exactly explain that feeling, it feels kinda surreal i am going home soon.. finally :)
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2:34 AM
As you can see from the frequency of posts...
sarah is really distracted. and restless.
just one more paper -- so close to the end!! but just can't focus.. :(
still thinking abt my math paper.. without taking into consideration the grade i am going to get (oh gawd, i dun dare to think, really!!), i am upset over the attitude i have toward this course. i have been basically doing homework blindly and using formula routinely without appreciating the math behind it. hence when faced with indirect qns and time pressure in the exam, i lack the command to
apply what i have learnt (or rather, should have learnt). i think my command of math was better in jc.. no more chance to repent anyway, this is going to be the last math course i am ever going to take. haiz.
japanese paper was alright, i guess. listening comprehension and the grammer qns are not very straightforward, as usual. i guess i am already used to it already since i have gone through 7 lesson quizzes in the entire semester, which are really just condensed versions of this final written exam. honestly, the frequency of quizzes (7 lesson quizzes+8 vocabulary quizzes+8 kanji quizzes+ 8x5 short grammer quizzes) has kind of numbed me toward any long or short japanese quiz/exam anyway. which is not a bad thing haha.
I just asked my japanese class friend to send me the photo we took on the last day of class:
The girl sitting beside me is the one who sent me the foto, Chen-san. a really nice Chinese girl who would be doing co-op in NYC next sem! the lady behind me is Song-san, a Korean language teacher in cornell! heh. the couple standing beside her is really a couple, Sommer-san and Zolinswki-san, even our teachers know they are a couple! haha.. the most eye-catching person in the foto is Martina-san. haha, i would say he's the 'baby' of the class, cuz he's (probably) the youngest, and he makes the most innocent, direct, and honest remarks that never fail to amuse all of us including the teachers. he makes the lesson really entertaining! lol
do u realise we call each other by last name (surename)? japanese culture to be polite :P
my classmate Saper-san is organising a dinner tmr night at this japanese restaurant in Collegetown, and he even invited the teachers. heard we may be doing Sake bombing! (sth which i have heard but havent witnessed b4!) i really want to go but i am nowhere near done with my organic chemistry........................... how?
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9:37 AM
bad bad bad...
Math was soooo bad... severely underestimated the paper because the past yr exams given to us are not hard. (Fall 2001 and spring 2002 -- it's a conspiracy!!) i could not finish the paper, and for the last half of the paper i was just frantically and blindly hump-tum-ing formulas... i dun understand what i was writing la... =(
I cannot control my appetite anymore, for some weird reason!!!! :( i look at the mirror every day and i can see for myself i have gained sooooo much weight but that doesn't translate into inhibitance on the intake of food. GRRRRRR
It's friday evening and usually i have no motivation to study at all, but tonight's different cuz there's japanese written exam tmr morning! exams on saturday!! thanks......
why am i so fat and stupid? i hate myself.
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5:47 AM
SCREEEEEAAMMM
And so i joined in the Cornell tradition of mass-screaming at north campus at 12 midnight of the first day of final exams haha.
last sem i was just too lazy to dress up (it was freaking cold in dec duh) and get out of room to scream, so this sem i am determined to do it else i wouldnt have a chance to do so after moving out of dorm. it was soooo pointless, but really amusing :P
soooooooo damn distracted from studying math! i was either comparing the market price of canon ixus cameras in spore and in US OR jio-ing ppl for my impending winter trip to europe OR checking out the price of ipod.
oh do u know ipod is sooooo much cheaper in US? i can get a 30GB video ipod in cornell store for approx S$420 only!
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8:20 AM
Slope day!
In Cornell, "slope day" is synonymous to:
- last day of class in spring semester
- HUGE carnival-cum-cum-outdoor concert on Libe slope (yes we do have this large slope!)
- fantastic sunny weather! (damn hot!!)
- 99% of cornell population under the sun going 'high'
- alcohol :P
This is slope day!
Wth 45 min of sleep on the night (or rather morning) before the last day of class, attended all 4 lessons without ponning ;) , handed in my portfolio for my second and LAST writing seminar in college (WOOHOO!), i proudly concluded my second semester in cornell! :D
and now for the exams. sianzzz...
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2:23 AM
