Never Procrastinate

I shall remind myself everytime I think about going out that I have to study and finish my homework. If I'm not mistaken, I have a couple of test coming up next week which really sucks. I just got into the flow of being in college again and now this?!! I recently got assigned an assignment on Wednesday but I only started it on Thursday. It is Sunday and I've not finished it yet. Well, I'm 60% done but I've not taken into account that I have to finish my Chem homework and study ahead for my classes tomorrow. Gah!

Help someone? It doesn't help that I'm not a whiz a Excel. Sure, I know how to use it for charts and calculations but the problem is figuring out where to add in the equations. I ws invited to go to a nice Indian couple's house for dinner tonight. I am envisioning all things curry and chapati's but sadly, I have to stay back and finish this. I need my a hologram of my professor that I can access at any time I need. I will continue working on it after taking a nice, hot shower. It sucks that the temperature outside is -11 degrees celsius and I'd have to walk out to the dining hall for dinner later tonight.

Skating and Shopping

Finally things seem to be coming together. I was saying the previous weekend that I had nothing much to do which made me feel homesick. However, this weekend, I was so busy so much so that I didn't have time to do all the things that I wanted to.

On Friday night, I went ice-skating for the very first time. The rink apparently had a special rate of $5 for Drake students instead of the usual $7.50 so I decided to go as I've not skated before. A bunch of us went but when we got to the rink, the line to the counter was so long! There were tons of Drake students there including many of my American and Malaysian friends. Anyways, it took us about 30 mins to get our skates and by the time we got ours, they ran out of skates for the rest of the people waiting in line.

The rink consists of 2 ice-skating rinks and I think they are both bigger than the one at Sunway Pyramid. Anyways, I had this warped fanstasy that once I got onto the ice, I would just take off and skate like I've done it forever. The boots were a little unkind to my bony ankles...they were like two planks strapped to your foot on each side. You have to lace them up pretty tight to prevent your ankle from breaking if you ever fell down on the ice. Out of the 4 of us, only one of my friends, Nicole had skated before. I gingerly got onto the ice.

It was so slippery. But I decided to shuffle slowly by the wall with Nicole next to me. I've roller-bladed before and it is very similar to ice-skating except for the fact that ice-skating is much more slippery. I made progress along the wall and then I lost balance and was falling to the ground. Nicole grabbed my hand and my weight pulled her to the ground. I fell on my butt and she fell on top of me. All this happened in less than 1 minute when I got onto the ice. So much for my fantasy of being able to glide on the ice.

But thanks to Nicole and Amber and my previous experience with roller-blades, I got the hang of it faster than my other 2 friends. Eventually, before we left, I could skate the entire rink without needing to stop or falling down. I fell a total of 3 times, the 2nd time was karma...I was helping Nicholas to skate and he made me fall down, like how I made Nicole fall. The 3rd was entirely my fault. I stopped using the wrong technique and ended up kneeling against the wall. By the end of the session, all of us were glad that we got onto the ice and would definitely go back again.

That was on Friday night. I decided to go shopping on Saturday. It happened to be a cold and windy day so it was torture waiting for the bus when the windchill was -10 degrees or so. But we managed to get to the mall. I managed to snag some good buys.

I got these two watches by Tilt from Pacsun. The original price was $29.50, I paid $5 each.


My next stop was Aeropostale. I needed T-Shirts as I didn't manage to bring many from back home. I got 2 shirts for a mere $4.50 each instead of paying $14.99 per shirt.


My friend Ann wanted to get some hair accessories. We decided to go to this accessory shop. There was a bargain rack in the middle. Bags and clutches were going for $3 each. I saw this nice metallic mesh-like bag. It was the only one left and I thought someone might have dumped it there. But I decided to take it anyway. I looked at the tag, $26. I can always say that I don't want it if it was really $26. Then I got myself a nice black clutch ($14), the last one left. I took them to the counter and when the sales assistant rang the bill up, it was $3 all right...both of them. It was so cheap!!!


After Aeropostale, I went to Bath & Body Works. It's a really nice chain of bath and beauty products and they have shops all over. I spent some time looking around the store because I needed to get some lotion. I ended up buying the lotion and some shower gel and lipbalm as well. Wanna guess how much they were? $3.70 for all of it. They were 90% off!


The thing about shopping in America when things are on sale is that, when they are on sale, they really slash the prices. The best part is that the items are usually in good condition and are nice. I can't possibly get that metallic bag at that quality back in Malaysia for RM 15 even. Aeropostale t-shirts at FOS cost no less than RM 23.90 usually and the bath products that I bought were Made in France and I'm sure they're as good as Crabtree and Evelyn or L'Occitane products. I'm just waiting for the spring/summer sales...

Stupid MS Excel

Bah, been feeling extremely frustrated for the past few hours because, I have to finish some assignments on MS Excel but I can't seem to get it right. It is driving me crazy! I have to pass up my assignment on Monday and I haven't done 10% of it yet!! Looks like I have to visit my Professor tomorrow and ask him to teach me how to do it. Gah!!! Help!

Food Glorious Food

Yesterday, I followed a couple of Malaysian seniors to church. A different one from the one I went to last week. I think I'll be attending this one permanently as it is rather similar to DUMC...similar, but not quite. I miss DUMC and CG. Anyways, after church, they so kindly took me to a Vietnamese restaurant as I told them that I had cravings for Asian food. The day before, I had a fried rice dinner at Hubbell Dining Hall and it was just nasty. Who puts plum sauce into fried rice?!!

I ordered Chicken Fried Rice at the restaurant. It was beautiful to be able to see chilli sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, chili paste and chopsticks on the table again instead of the usual salt, pepper and ketchup. When my fried rice came, the serving would easily feed two of me back home in Malaysia but boy, did it smell good!!! I stuffed myself and finished the entire plate. If someone would hit me on the stomach then, I think I would've puked. We then went to the Asian supermarket next door. They have Indomie!! I will go back and get a whole carton another day because right now, I don't really need it and I'm broke. $7.95 for 30 packs which works out to about RM1 a pack.

I was talking to my mum on Skype this morning and she told me that my family (minus me :( ) would be going to Penang this weekend! How evil is that? Imagine all the char koay teow, asam laksa and rojak I would miss. I spent some time in class spacing out just thinking of all the food back home and yes, my mouth did water so much so that I had to swallow my saliva in class. It didn't help that it was past lunch time.

I had to go to the bank today because I still have not gotten my debit card and check book yet. I think the manager got my address wrong. She cancelled the old one and reordered a new one for me. I should be getting it in a couple of days. Until then, I've only got 15 bucks in my wallet at my disposal. On the way to the bank, I noticed a Chinese takeout restaurant. Heh heh heh...it's walking distance from my dorm. Looks like I'll visit it when craving pangs strike me again.

Home Is Where My Heart Is

My mum woke me up today at 8.40am by sending me an sms...asking me to come online. I shall remind you that it is a Saturday. Hmm...anyways, after that I couldn't go back to sleep. I felt a twinge of homesickness today, I admit. It is my first Saturday living on campus and it is rather boring. I mean yeah, I have work to do and stuff but I miss home (my room!), miss my family, my friends, the mall and Blossom. Gone are the days when I can wake up in the morning, and put my feet down onto solid ground, lumber off to the bathroom and change freely in my room. I miss the family dinners with my parents, bro, Tan family, aunts and Aunty Jude. Something is usually planned during the weekends but now, it's dinner at the cafeteria.

I miss going out to the Mall and mamak with Yvonne. I miss Friday night CG meetings with YT, Hannah, Sarah and Jane, Eugene and Nianci, Ju and Jou. I miss the mamak. Here, we can only hang out at Spike's and Spikes do not offer roti kosong with dhal sambal nor teh o ais limau. Sigh...


I miss Blossom most of all. If I'm stuck at home alone or am up late into the night, she'll be the one who usually keeps me company. Bawl! I miss you piggy!! I wanna cuddle you and kiss you. Sometime earlier this week, my mum told me that Blossom ran away. I felt my heart drop down to my knees. Apparently, she sneaked out of the house because my dad didn't lock the gate and ran around the neighbourhood. My parents went out but when they got back, they found out that she was missing and spent 3 hours looking for her. They asked around and found that my neighbour caught her and got her back. She was so scared when she got home that she hid underneath the couch.

I would absolutely die if anything happened to her. Just trust my dad and bro to leave the doors open around the house. I was so mad that I told them off. Sigh, to make things even more sucky I have very little money at the moment because my ATM/Debit card has not arrived. Meaning, I can't go to the mall. Not only that, I have so little of my stuff over here. I miss all my craft supplies. All my paper, ribbon, stickers and etc. I hate to start all over. Valentine's Day is coming up and the shops are full with all kinds of craft items which I am dying to get but then again, I have no one to give them to. Most of my closest friends are back in Malaysia. Bah!

MASA

Apparently, after doing much comparison, I realized that I have more classes than most people, even those who are doing Actuarial Science. Anyways, I was supposed to attend Alive (youth meeting) last night at 8pm but I decided to skip because I had to study for my Politics class which was the next day.

After reading (baca kosong) my textbook, I felt dizzy as I really had no idea what it was talking about. The english used is far from simple english and it doesn't help that the printing is so close together. Anyways, it was only after finishing the book that I realized that it was the wrong book!! I have 2 textbooks for Politics and I was reading the wrong one! -.-"

The previous day, there was a Srping Activities Fair at Olmstead center. It's basically an exhibition of student organizations in which you can join. I, of course...joined MASA. The Malaysian Students Association. They had a meeting yesterday night at 9pm so I decided to go because I was sick of studying.

It was crazy! It felt so much like home to be around with people from your country. Most were Chinese but there was a few Indians and only one Malay. And yes, most are doing Actuarial Science. We went to Spike's Deli after the meeting...one whole group of 40 or so. We bought tons and tons of food and spent part of the night talking away.

I was talking to this guy from Klang who was my age. The funny thing is, we were talking and then we both ended up agreeing that each other looked horribly familiar. When he told me his name, it took a while for it to sink in. OMG, I thought...he was this weirdo guy who used to tell tales about me in secondary school. Of course I didn't ask him about it but spent the whole time thinking about it. I thought about it on the way home and when I was about to go to bed. Then, I realized that he wasn't the guy which was a big relief because if I'm not mistaken, they both share the same surname. Haha...no need to panic...

Snowflakes

It started snowing again. *heaves big sigh* There is only so much of snow one can take. Since yesterday, I could see that the snow was gradually melting away as patches of brown winter grass could be seen peeking out from the carpet of white. I was looking forward to enjoying warmer weather again but apparently, I'd have to wait a little while longer. If everything is still and calm and it snows, then its perfectly alright. But what makes winter suck is the wind. Right now, as I type, the windchill is -11 degrees Celcius. I've gotten used to walking around without a hat for short distances but it is not advisable. If you stay out too long, you can feel your ears beginning to ache from the cold.

I exited Fitch Hall where my Chem lab was and oh boy, do I have wearing googles. First of all, I got the wrong kind...the one with the elastic band around your head instead of the glasses kind. It is uncomfortable and yes, they do make you look like a dork. When I stepped out, it was snowing. You could see individual snowflakes falling to the ground. Some got caught on my coat and I took a hard look at them. They look like the cutout snowflakes we see during Christmas! But you know what the best part is, every single snowflake is different. Imagine the zillions of snowflakes that form and fall to the ground and every single one is unique. It blows my mind just thinking about it. God sure knows what He's doing when He created this world.

I never had much of a problem with brittle nails back in Malaysia. But over here, so far, 2 of my fingernails broke on random and another one looked like it was going to, so I'm trying to be very careful with it. My pinkie toenail on my left foot completely came off!! I didn't notice it until I sat down to wear my socks this morning. Gah! I hate having ugly nails...

Random...

I finally got my computer hooked up to the Internet in my room using LAN. The computer guys down at the IT Center really know what they're doing. I dropped my PC off yesterday and got it back today. Nothing beats being able to connect to the Net from your room.

My classes started yesterday and I actually have a class after this but I thought I needed to take a lunch break in my room. So far, I got a feel about what I'll be doing and the classes that I think would be challenging for me would be American Politics and Quantitative Chemical Analysis. The ENSP classes seem alright for now...but then again, you never know.

So far, I've not missed any Malaysian food and if I do, there is always instant noodles. The food here is to be expected. Pizzas, burgers, wraps, salads, subs...etc. I'm doing my level best to eat healthy so I usually opt for a sub and try to stay away from the burgers and stuff. Breakfast for me is always cereal and either juice or tea. I've got so much of fibre in my diet that I do not have to worry about getting constipated.

I went shopping again yesterday, but this time to a proper mall and Target instead of Walmart. The mall that I went to will not be able to beat Malaysian malls. It was pretty old looking and the interior was rather dimly litted. However, the stuff available here is just mind-blowing. I didn't really have time to look around the mall as I had only an hour but I spent the entire hour just in Aeropostale. There was just too many things to look at in the store. I had a very limited amount of cash in my wallet and I didn't really need to buy any clothes at the moment. But boy, if I did...I'd spend all my money. In the end, I bought a hoodie, a top and 2 scarves. Both tops were 70% off but my favourites were the scarves. When I asked the store assistant how much they were, I couldn't believe my ears...99 cents each!

Anyways, I finally uploaded some pictures of my dorm and some of the people I met here. On Monday night, we were invited for dinner at a friends place. The family works closely with Asian students so yeah, it was a change to be able to eat home cooked food instead of cafeteria food. Yesterday was a holiday over here for Martin Luther King day. My friend and I attended the celebration at Sheslow Auditorium on campus. It was a welcome change from white America. The performances, music and speeches showcased African-American culture. I initially didn't feel like attending but I'm glad I did.


This was the view outside the Holiday Inn Express where I was staying when it first snowed.


This was the same view the next day. It snowed more and some of the other Malaysian students started throwing snow at each other (including me) at the hotel courtyard.


We took this picture with some of the other Malaysian students that we showed around campus. As you can see, we were feeling very very cold!


My dorm, Jewett. Very good location as it is just across from the library and near buildings where most of my classes are held.


I'm sleeping on the top bunk. It is very high up so much so that I can't sit up straight in bed or else I would bang my head on the ceiling.


My side of the room which still looks quite sparse despite the fact that I tried to furnish it as best as I could.


The front entrance of my room. I have a TV and couch in addition to the fridge and microwave but all of them belong to my roommate.


They were playing some board games at the welcome party at Andrew's place.


All of us Asian students who attended the party at Andrew's place. Andrew is the blonde guy in the red shirt on the right. Kerry is the dark haired guy in blue on the left.

Internet and Americans

Finally!! I finally managed to log onto the Internet, but using wireless. I can't log onto the Net at my dorm using LAN. It sucked not having been able to use my computer for the past few days. I wan't able to get onto MSN nor onto Skype and my blog. So many things happened so yeah, my post will contain everything.

When I first came here, it was pretty warm, not that cold. It only became really cold in the past few days and at first I couldn't take it. However, I'm glad to say that now, I'm getting used to it. Walking around in 3-4 inches worth of snow is no biggie. Ice is a different matter, I slipped on ice outside my dorm on the first day and fell on my butt. Needless to say, lesson learnt. Never ever walk on ice, walk on snow and watch where you step!

I finally can say that I've completely unpacked my bags after 2 shopping trips to Walmart. My side of the room is still pretty bare but I'll get there eventually. The best part about having an American room mate is that they think of everything. Mine has a microwave, fridge, TV, couch and DVD Player. I get to use all of those. So yeah, no need to get any more appliances.

Guys, if you want to get to know cute, blonde cheerleaders, just drop me a note and I'll see what I can do for you. No guarantees though. Lol. My room mate Candi is a cheerleader and so are several other American girls I've met here so far. People over here are generally friendly so no worries I guess. Oh yeah, did I mention that the guys are hotter too? I go weak at the knees for tall, dark haired guys with disarming smiles. Haha!

I'm kinda stuck in my room at the moment as I have no idea where my Malaysian friends are. If I can't find them, I'll just hang out in my room. Will put some pics of my room, etc. later. Feeling very lazy at the moment. Think I'll fix my phone and then go out for lunch.

Assimilation

Last night, I went to bed at 7pm as I felt so sleepy. As I was about to drift off into a deep sleep, I felt someone shaking my shoulders. It was Grace, waking me up because some seniors were here to take us to Wal-Mart. I dressed in a mad rush and we all bundled up into the car with 4 of us seated in the back. It was a very nice second-hand Mitsubishi. Price tag? $5,000 only which is dirt cheap if you are working in the States.

We first stopped by Burlington’s Coat Factory. Jeans and zipper sweaters from Calvin Klein were only $30 and $15 respectively. They had other branded stuff as well. I saw a pair of Nine West heels going for a mere $14.99. However, I didn’t get anything in the end except for a hat and a pack of tissue wrap. The hat was only $2.99 so I couldn’t resist. Art stuff is available aplenty here and the pack of 20pcs of tissue wrap was going for $0.79. When I checked out at the counter, I realized that they had a sale on the tissue wrap….50% off, making it $0.40. Dirt cheap even after conversion!

Wal-Mart is huge. I bought pillows and a quilt for my room at the dorm. Paper products aren’t very cheap over here. But since I had to get some notebooks, files and papers, I bought some. A spiral bound notebook with 70 sheets of paper would cost you about $1. I got some for 84 cents. A pack of 10 hangers cost $0.97. Some things are cheap but some aren’t. It’ll be in your best interest if you do not convert currencies. But sometimes, you just can’t help yourself. I spent just a little over $50 dollars at Wal-Mart.

By the time we reached home, I went straight to bed. I slept at about 11pm and zonked out completely. I woke up this morning feeling rather cold at about 5am. I got up and went to the bathroom. In our hotel room, we’ve never turned on the radiator unless it happened to be a rather cold day. Even so, we only leave it on for a couple of hours as it’ll dry your skin out if you leave it on for too long. I went back to bed without thinking much about the cold but put the bedspread over my blankets for extra warmth. I slept until morning in my cosy cocoon.

I was the first one to wake up. It was 8.45am. I got up and looked outside. Holy crap! It snowed last night!! No wonder it was so cold. I spent some time peering out of the window as it was my first sight of snowfall. It wasn’t much but a sprinkling of snow on the ground. We met some Malaysian students at breakfast that just arrived last night. So we promised them that we’d take them to the campus and show them around and help them get stuff done. I bundled up before going out because I know it was going to be cold. It was snowing lightly when we went out.

Little did I know how cold that would be. I’ve never felt so cold in my entire life! I think it was about -8 degrees out and the wind was so cold that it was hard to breathe properly for some time. I had to cover my nose with my scarf and after a while, my ears began to hurt. It was that cold! We practically ran all the way to Aliber Hall just to get out of the cold. My ears and fingers (I had gloves on) were so numb that it took me a good 10 mins to warm them up again. After dropping the newbies at Aliber, we decided to go to Walgreens. I had to get a hairdryer and other things like that. I spent another $40 or so there, making the overall amount around $100. I think I’m going to get a fridge to put in my dorm room and either a hotpot or a rice cooker. A mini bar fridge is about $60-$70 but I hope I’ll be able to get one second-hand from a senior. The guy who took us to Wal-Mart got his for $15.

I’ll have to get my textbooks as well, hopefully second-hand also as they are horribly expensive. It is much cheaper to buy brand new books online rather than from the University bookstore. Also, it is much cheaper to eat instant noodles for meals rather than to eat out. A bowl would cost you about $1. I just had those for lunch…not too bad. I’ve made up my mind to buy 2 dozen or so and keep them in my room.

There is a snowstorm forecasted for this weekend. I don’t know how much snow that will be. I hope I’ll be okay and not freeze my butt off!

Orientation

I went for orientation today and boy, was it boring. They just talked and talked but in the end, we did get some interesting information out of it. There were only 20 or so International students this intake and more than half of them were Malaysian students doing Actuarial Science. Over lunch, Grace and I met a couple of interesting characters. An almost middle aged man from Chile who moved here with his family so that he could take English classes at the university. Another boy from the Netherlands who is a professional junior tennis player and is at Drake on a tennis scholarship. I emphasise the fact that he is a boy, entering freshman year...unlike me, already a Junior. There was another girl, Aia and she is from the West Bank. The best thing about University in the States is that you get to meet so many different people from places that you only hear about or see on TV.

I'm doing my best to fight off the jet lag and I hope it'll wear off before my classes start. We have nothing planned so far tomorrow but I think we'll be taking a trip to either Walmart or the mall to get some supplies before we move into our residence halls this Saturday. Eating out is really expensive here for us especially if you decide to convert currencies. A meal outside would cost you between $6-$10 inclusive of tip. Imagine...spending RM36 for a sandwich...

The Journey (Part 2)

I called Drake U when our flight got cancelled just to inform them that we would be arriving on the later flight. The woman in charge told me that she would try and send someone to get us but if there was no one, we could always take the taxi. Since our flight was delayed twice, I already prepared myself to go and get a cab after we arrive. When I was walking to the baggage claim carousel, my friend was like "Hey! There's someone here to get us!". I quickly turned in his direction and whoa...someone was there to pick us up alright. Standing there holding up a folder with my name and my friend's name printed on it was this hunky looking Asian dude.

Yes, you heard me correctly...a hunky looking Asian dude! He introduced himself as Ali/Eli and after talking to him, I found out that he was a MS student, studying Business Administration. "Hmm....older guy....I like!", I thought. At first, I thought he was Filipino but I was wrong. He's from Kazhakstan, speaks 5 languages, is tall, dark and handsome and lastly, studying at Drake. He was very nice, taking us to the hotel in his car and helping us with our bags. At the hotel, I found out that I was staying at the second floor. There are only 2 storeys in the Holiday Inn Express and no elevator. If you recall my giant bags, think about how much it would weigh...He helped me carry all my bags up to my room in addition from carrying them out of the airport, into the car and out of the car into the hotel.


When I opened my room door, I got a shock. There was someone sleeping in one of the 2 beds and there were bags on the floor. Uh oh..there is someone in my room which I have to share it with. After thanking Ali/Eli and saying goodbye to him, I took a closer look at the bags of this sleeping person; then I looked as hard as I could at the person but she (apparently!) was asleep in bed with a sheet over her face. She looked awfully familiar. It was no one other than Grace! Haha...apparently, she asked the front desk lady to put us in the same room.


It was really cold when I arrived, -2 degrees. It was so cold that my lips went numb in the wind so much so that I couldn't speak properly. It was a good experience, to see how winter is really like. It is beautiful but bare. The trees look naked but grass grows. I woke up this morning and went down for breakfast. Grace's friend came over at 10 to take us out. He is a former INTI student and I do mean it when I say people look better over here. He is good looking and for a Chinese guy, actually looks good in a beard/stubble. Unfortunately, he is a little on the short side and younger than I am.


Anyhow, he was really nice. He took us around to get things done and on a tour of Drake U. According to him, it is small in comparison to other campuses but to me, it is big! He took us to get our ID done, to see my advisor, to hand in our health form, to the store and out for lunch. I had a little trouble locating my advisor but the moment I met him, I knew I'd like him. He dresses like a biology researcher on a field trip. Flannel shirt and jeans. He spent almost an hour talking to me and discussing what would be the best option for me, to stay in Bio 001 or to start a different class. Apparently, they don't really know anything about A-Levels. I could see that he was really concerned about me, in case I couldn't cope with the classes if he put me into a higher level class. He took me to meet some of the faculty members who happened to be some of my lecturers and yeah, they come in checked flannel shirts, jeans and hiking boots. :)

The good news is, I don't have to take Bio 001 but am going to take Iowa Environment instead. The bad news is, I would be having classes everyday! Gah...hate that. But, I have a feeling that I am going to enjoy myself very much. After getting everything done, Eng Tai (Grace's friend) took us for lunch at an authentic African restaurant. The food is not bad and service was really good. It was also a lesson for me in tipping. It feels quite weird to tip because back home, everything is included so I don't tip. Here, it's something that I'd have to get used to.

He also taught us how to save money and get the most out of things. But I'd have to tell you that another day as it's getting late...almost 3am and I need to get to bed.

The Journey (Part 1)

Let me start from the very beginning. After hugging and waving everyone goodbye in KLIA, I took a flight to Changi Airport. It was about 12am when we arrived. Our next flight would be at 7.30am to Tokyo. We spent the night trying to sleep at the airport lounge. I slept for about 2 hours only because I was worried about the bags that were with me. The adrenaline was pumping so the lack of sleep didn't really bother me at first.

I realized how tired I was on the flight to Tokyo. Flying economy class didn't help either. The headrests were at an awkward position and the chair had very little recline to it. Plus, the noodles they served for breakfast didn't help my appetite; I felt a little sick. It felt like the longest flight I ever took! I was waiting for the plane to land because I wanted to get out of the almost cattle-like conditions of economy class travel. I slept a little on the way but woke up to a crick in my neck due to the awkward position of my head when I fell asleep.

When I got to Tokyo, it was like "Yay! I can say that I've been to Japan". I was hungry and wanted to get something to eat. Unfortunately, I didn't have any Yen on me. I was looking around and found a shop selling sushi. As I approached the shop, it was like whoa! No way I'm paying that much for a box of sushi! It was 1600++ yen for a box and if I'm not mistaken 1000 yen is RM32. I'd rather starve than spend 50 bucks on sushi! So anyways, we were waiting for our flight to Chicago and after a while, there was an announcement that it was delayed. But thank goodness by only an hour or so.

At the gate, we were hanging around with the other passengers who were on the same flight with us. The Tokyo-Chicago flight would be the longest one that we had to endure; 11 hours. I could hear the flight attendents calling names of passengers on the intercom and usually, I don't pay attention. But this time I did and I thought I heard my friend's name mentioned. I told him so and he didn't want to believe me. Then I heard my other friend's name announced and then mine. I started to have this sinking feeling in my gut and wondered if anything bad happened. Lost baggage, overweight bags or maybe, they couldn't connect us to the flight.

I approached the counter and the Japanese women behind the counter asked for my boarding pass. The looked at it, typed something on the computer and printed a new boarding pass for me/us. Oh, okay...they were just issuing us a new boarding pass because the flight details were slightly changed due to the delay I thought. I allowed myself to heave a sigh of relief. She handed the pass back to me and smiled, "We've upgraded you to Business Class".

Still feeling rather dazed due to the lack of sleep. It took a while for the news to sink in. I looked at my boarding pass, it was a different color...with Business Class printed on it. "Hmm...what is this?", I thought. I looked at my friends and they looked back at me. "Business class...". Slowly, we started to smile stupidly and then started to make Business Class jokes. We were going to fly Business Class!!!! It was the best flight I ever took in my history of air travel. They give and give and give you stuff in Business Class.

When I was flying from Singapore to Tokyo, I asked the flight attendant for a toothbrush as I had not brushed my teeth since I left my house. She politely told me that they didn't provide that amenity for Economy Class. This time, I got a bagful of goodies; eye shade, socks, slippers, lotion and yes a toothbrush. I selected my food from a Menu and what I wanted to drink from a list. The food was delicious!! I had two starters; a salad and a japanese starter. My main course was Basil Baked Chicken with rice and a glass of Chablis. Come to think of it, I actually had 4 glasses on my table...water, wine, orange juice and tea. I said glass didn't I? The proper utensils were a nice change from the plastic that is so commonly used in Economy Class. Dessert was either Eli's Cheesecake (famous Chicago dessert) or fruit with cheese. I choose the latter; the cheesecake slice looked too big to finish.

I slept on most of the flight as there was more legroom then I could ever dream of and the seats reclined to an almost 180 degree postion. When I got to Drake, my friend asked the other Malaysian students that were on the same flight with us if they got upgraded. No one got it except for us 3 monkeys. However, the flight from Chicago to Des Moines is a totally different story. Our initial flight got cancelled and then we were rebooked onto another flight which was delayed twice! We were supposed to leave at 6.45pm but ended up leaving at 10.20pm!

I really liked the population at Chicago, a mix of blacks, whites and asians. Thankfully, there was no problem at Immigration and Customs. They didn't even bother to check my bag. TSA security was okay, had to take my shoes off and one of the locks on my bag was taken and the zipper damaged. But, nothing went missing from my bag which is more than I could hope for. Americans are generally okay but then again, there would be a few who might not be as nice as they seem.

Touchdown!

Yay, my first post in America! I actually arrived only about 2 hours ago after spending more than 24 hours on the plane and in transit. I've arrived safely, in one piece and my luggage is okay. Thank God! To those who prayed for me, thank you for your prayers, care and concern. It's 2:05am at Des Moines at the moment so I think I'll have to get to bed now to try and adjust my body clock to the time changes as soon as possible. There were a lot of things that happened which I will blog about in my next post. Right now, it's off to bed!

I Need Roti Canai! (...and good company)

Gah! This is a rant! I shall specify this from the very beginning, so be warned. This is my last chance to attend a mamak session but due to lack of transportation, it was unfortunately canceled at the last minute. I am really really sad because, I want to have a last round of 'teh o ais limau' and 'roti kosong' before I leave. I am still grumbling about the fact that my dad wouldn't let me take the car out at night despite the fact that it will probably be the last time I get to drive until I get back. It's too dangerous for girls to drive at night, blah blah blah. My dad offered to take me but I refused. Don't want to be chaufferred this time. No...not this time. Gah! So here I am, stuck at home, in front of the PC feeling far from satisfied and listening to my Rock Playlist. Geez, what a way to spend my last night this way.

Sweet Madness

This week was a mad rush to tie up loose ends and to squeeze as many mamak/shopping outings with my available friends. Today, I went to the dentist and to the NIRC department to collect my IC. My mum decided that she needed to get me some Traveller’s Checks at the last minute so we went to the bank, twice because my mum couldn’t make up her mind.

The past few days, I had trouble packing because the amount of things I had to squeeze into my luggage was so overwhelming that I decided to give up for the moment. However, Delle came over today and helped me squeeze all my clothes and things into the 2 bags. I wouldn’t be able to fit everything into my bag without her help. She a gem! Love you lots Delly, thanks for helping me pack! Will miss you when I leave. Looking forward to seeing you in about 11 months time. Hee!! Now my bags are packed but I’m not ready to go…just yet. Surprisingly, I still have a little bit of space left in my carry on luggage in which I will stow treats such as asam, herbal tea mix, tom yum paste and bak kut teh ingredients for me to savor when I feel cravings for Malaysian food.

To YT, thank you for the collage cum card. I will bring it with me by hook or by crook! I couldn’t think of a better farewell present. I will miss every single one of you when I’m over there, especially on Friday nights.


To Hannah, thank you for the lovely card and the sweet reminder of friendship. When I miss your laughter and am feeling down, I will take it out and know that it would cheer me up. I’d hate to not be able to see you again before I leave, so do try and make it on Monday. It was already sad enough to hug you goodbye just now at the car park.


I’m sad that it will be 11 months or so before I’m able to come back and see my friends, family and CG members. But on the other hand, there is so much to expect and experience over in the States. Living on my own without parental supervision *cheeky grin*, finally pursuing my major and adapting to the lifestyle and culture of America. Last year flew by so quickly and I hope that this one will too…

Baffled

Right now, my Messenger seems to be working. I think it's acting up since it knows that I'm about to leave and that I am chatting with my friends even more. Even my computer has mood swings, a little like it's owner. Haha! I just got back from yum char with my friends, and especially one that I've not met in a long long time. She looks and dresses exactly the same. I find it comforting that although some things have changed drastically over time, some people remain the same. And I mean remain the same in a good way. It's good to be able to talk, joke and laugh with her again.

Onto a completely different topic, I took Grace's advice of packing a week ahead and she is totally right. I have to get another suitcase as soon as possible but the challenge is getting everything you want (I emphasise the term 'want') into the bag. I had to take out some of my things but then again, I think I'll have to take out more. The funny thing about packing a year's worth of stuff is that, as you're packing, you realise that you forgot some things and you end up taking all kinds of things with you. But they are not junk, just items that you tend to overlook if you're packing for a vacation. Special things like presents that you received or pictures and other personal paraphernalia like that. I'll be going to the dentist and the optometrist tomorrow. Tomorrow is Wednesday...come to think of it, it is already tomorrow!

Frustration!

Gah!!! The first thing that happened was the earthquake in Taiwan that disrupted internet service throughout Asia. Okay fine, having a slow conneciton is definetely better than not having one at all. At least I could still chat on MSN, download music and browse although some pages take forever to load. But then again, what use is it if you got the Internet but no MSN?

I realized yesterday night that something was wrong with my MSN Messenger. Sometimes I couldn't send/receive messages and at times I could. Okay I thought, it was probably because of overcrowding in the Net. I tried logging in today. Completely impossible. I thought, maybe my desktop is shot...but what about my laptop? It wasn't working either but the service status says that MSN is up and running.

I don't like shit to happen to my computer. Seriously. I'd rather have problems with other things but not my computer; especially if I can't figure out how to fix it. So here I am, blogging because I can't access Messenger. For those who have an inkling on how to fix this problem, do post a suggestion because the frustration is killing me. I can't use Web Messenger either because my brower does not support it. I feel so disconnected!! It sounds really sad but yeah, I do feel disconnected.