Tuesday, February 27, 2007

spring is here. almost.

some cherry blossom trees are in full bloom at some obscure parts of campus. and hence they really stand out. i'm always so mesmerized by its beauty.

spring is almost here. it's said that before spring arrives, winter has to unleash its power one last time before packing its bags till next winter. so that power is being unleashed right now. night temperatures are falling and parts of washington state are snowing and ice-flaking at night. the wind is merciless, with wind chill temperatures going as low as -2 degrees, with the sun shining bright.

nevertheless, i'm hoping that season passes soon so the beauty of spring can come.

not that i dislike winter. it has its perks. like the cold air and the warm feeling of snuggling in bed or clutching a hot steaming cup of latte. not to mention winter sports.

but spring brings a whole new world. the flowers bloom and temperatures are cool. i get to wear nice clothes other than jeans and sneakers/boots. i get to go whale-watching and tulip-fields viewing. i get to visit the national parks and volcanoes and go hiking. i get to go wide-water rafting.

not to mention a weekend trip to portland at the end of april to shop and watch damien rice in concert. =) =)

***


on the school front, i finally finally finished my drug discovery final exam paper. i rewarded myself by going to ikea with suzanne to eat swedish meatballs and we ended up having a great adventure. after coming home but still really excited abt my ikea trip and good food awaiting for me at home, wanquan stumbles into the room and invited us to xiaojun's farewell party at venom, a hip club at downtown seattle.

so within minutes i threw on my new heels from aldo factory outlets, grabbed my new bag from levi's factory outlets and my coat (not new. haha.) and was out the door where tony, our singaporean friend studying at UW full-time was waiting with his car. drinks were more expensive than in vancouver. didn't drink much 'cos i'm a good girl. but the dancing was good. i had good dance partners, girls. the men are more blatant with picking up girls and dancing with them. much more daring than the guys back in singapore. its a different culture. either that or they're desperate. hurhur. went out for supper. my legs were SO tired after dancing in heels for 2 hours straight. supper of chinese food at chinatown was good! and it was 4am when we got home. after i fell asleep at 5.15am...

at 930am the next day, my morning call woke me up. we were going to the factory outlets. this time i was bringing those that didn't get to go the last time. and yes i bought stuff again!! someone help me.

i like my weekend. sunday was spent at home. resting from an action-packed friday and saturday. i think being on exchange is supposed to be like this. u work hard during the week, and you get to have a great time during the weekend. whether it is traveling, or exploring our surrounding cities, or eating, shopping, dancing, drinking.

***

i learn more and more with each experience. i see things from the sidelines, from another perspective. i've learnt to hold fast to my faith and my love for God and His Word. I've learnt to depend on Him on strength and comfort at the worst of times. and i feel so happy that this is just the start of this beautiful journey. and i really want to be able to walk worthy of Him.

***


vancouver was a blast. canada is just so scenic and beautiful and idyllic. lots of mountains and plains. as far as the eye can see. vancouver is just as happening, if not more, than seattle. our hostel was very nice! and clean. and right at the heart of downtown vancouver. with pubs and clubs around us everywhere. both nights we went out to sit at a pub and talk and have fun. drinks were cheap so everyone was happy.


our whirlwind tour of vancouver started and ended at chinatown. with good chinese food! cheap too. we also visited lynn canyon suspension bridge, walked the nature trail to see the twin falls. we went to lonsdale quay public market in north vancouver. we also went to the other market, grainville island market. i love walking through such markets. there's always something nice and unique and quirky to look at. plus the gorgeous vegetables and fruits and cheese and fresh produce and flowers. and good food...=) we also went shopping at downtown. haha as usual.

alright. school work beckons. do check my pictureblog for more pictures of life in seattle. toodles for now.

Labels: damien rice, seattle, spring, travels, UW

This girl posted at 11:16 AM

Thursday, February 15, 2007

love never fails.

happy valentine's day everyone!

honestly, happy the-
most-commercialized-where-a-bunch-of-roses-go-for-USD22 day!

ok i'm so cynical. i'd rather express love on a more frequent basis rather than just once a year. y'all know what i mean?

but all things being said, i still miss spending the day with sam. this is the 2nd time we're spending it apart. last year he was in sydney. this year i'm in seattle. the only time we were together on the same piece of land mass is wayyy back in 2005.

my favorite description of love comes not from poems or sonnets or prose or movies.


anyway school's been just trudging along, dragging me at its feet. i miraculously passed my lab exam, which was something to thank God for. i passed! not with flying colors. barely. but still happy. now just gotta study harder for the midterm coming up. argh.

movie pre-valentine's date night with the girls of patricia place (that's the name of my apartments). 7 girls ordered subway/mexican wraps and went to watch because i said so and it was not too bad! i love romantic comedies/chick flicks. love diane keaton and lauren graham and mandy moore. haha the movie was quite funny and i had a really good laugh. =) seeing diane keaton being the mother to 3 daughters make me miss my sisters and my family EVEN MORE. sigh. i miss my sisters actually. i never thought i would. the hours of talking rubbish and talking good food and going shopping. i'm very glad that i've grown closer to them, because i was never close to them due to our huge age difference. and God really works in wonderful ways to bind us together. *smiles*

the weekend that just went by was a pre-CNY gathering of the patricia place and 5 NBS students from the other apartments, campus heights. that saturday started out with a huge breakfast of pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, french toast, hot cocoa with coffee. satisfaction followed, leading to my friend and i carrying 2 big backpacks and heading to chinatown to buy groceries for our steamboat dinner while the rest of them went shopping! hhmmpphhh. i wanna go shopping toooo! but we had fun grocery shopping. i love grocery shopping. esp in a chinese supermarket. on the way back we were loaded with very very heavy backpacks and 2 big bags that we carried in our hands. and as we began our tiring walk to the busstop, we started seeing CNY songs. hurhur. it was so funny. i think people thought we were mad.

we got home, sorted the groceries, rested abit, and proceeded to cook at 4pm. the other girls were supposed to be back to help with the prep. but those shopaholics didn't come home till like 5pm. (and one of them actually had the nerve to proclaim that she was the main cook! ok i'm just ranting but i can't stand it when other people take credit for what they never did.) so we washed everything and cut everything and prepared the 2 types of soup base for our steamboat. we had a LOT of food. and it was goooodddd. love how my 2 soups turned out. decided that red dates and shrimps just wouldn't be right. and that dried scallops should go with shrimps while red dates go with chicken broth. perfect.

(ps. ohmygoodness the cute seth-cohen lookalike guy from my graduate class is here in the library! hee. he's cute.)

the excess food was cleared by many many rounds of zhong1 ji2 mi4 ma3. and many many laughs. we washed everything and proceeded to snack on mandarin oranges and egg rolls. took crazy pictures using the multi-burst function and it was hilarious. reminds me of the neoprint days.

after saying bye to the campus heights people, after bathing and checking emails, it was girls night in and another round of gossips and rubbish games and getting-to-know-each-other and truth/dare games. and yes snacks. we finally dragged our tired feet back at 4am.

therein ends another weekend of fun.

looking forward to this weekend! its presidents' day holiday and i'm going outlet-shopping on friday and vancouver for the long weekend. yayyyyy.

but first. midterms. argh.

Labels: life in seattle, love, sam, UW

This girl posted at 3:37 AM

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

today.

is a good and bad day.

human anatomy lab exam was a disaster. got all the muscle names and their locations and actions mixed up like rojak. throw in the names of nerves, anatomy of eye and ear, and all you get is a mess of latin names.

gastrocnemius semitendinosis semimembranosis extensor digitorium longus extensor hallusius longus soleus peroneous longus peroneous brevis gluteus maximus gluteus medius gluteus minimus iliopsoas psoas latissimus dorsi deltoid rectus femoris tibialis anterior vastus lateralis vastus medialis vastus intermedius biceps femoris external obliques internal obliques transversus abdominus rectus abdominus serratus anterior subscapularis infraspinatus supraspinatus trapezius sternocleidomastoid

i'm positive i missed out some muscle names. (fyi i typed all that from memory!) but these are just the muscle names. not even the nerves and eye and ear and the actions and all.

but i'm glad that i went up to the cadaver lab yesterday for a last minute revision. not only did i refreshed my memory a little, i made several new friends who aren't in my lab session. and this mexican guy is just so funny and he talks a LOT of rubbish. haha.

came home to watch an episode of OC to reward myself.

followed by good things. skype session with parents. a phone call from sam for me to unload all my midterm troubles.

dinner was a boring affair comprising the simple rice, sardines, egg with ham. followed by a big bowl of grapes. msn session with an old friend. american idol auditions at texas that made me laugh so hard. a 5 min walk in the cold in slippers (laziness) to the bubble tea-cum-board games cafe to play monopoly and have yummy avocado greentea bubble tea. great time laughing and gossiping. and i won the game! =)

mid terms are driving me nuts. so far had 3 already. plus a mountain of assignments, all graded. one is due the day after tmr. one more midterm next week. one final exam take-home paper still untouched, due in 2 weeks.

glad for snowboarding trip at snoqualmie. it's fun admist all the falling. 2 huge blueblacks on my knees and muscle ache all over. it's all worth it! gerri and dan were nice enough to bring us there for a 2nd time.

looking forward to vancouver. more snowboarding. spring break. new york city, niagara falls, washington dc. spring. cherry blossoms. whale watching. trips to the national parks. tulip fields. alaska? factory outlets. tax-free shopping at portland. summer. LA, LV, grand canyon, san fransico.

missing the CNY festivities. the food. the company. the visiting. sam. friends. family. ang paos. will try to make it up by throwing a party at home. complete with chinese food and lots of talking.

miss you guys. save me some pineapple tarts and ang paos. =)

Labels: life in seattle, thoughts, UW

This girl posted at 3:51 PM