| Wednesday, September 29, 2004 |
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Yesterday was a day of adventure and misadventure. Mostly misadventure though. The Malaysian students in the northeast area were invited to a dinner with the Prime Minister. Way cool right? The catch was that its held in New York (which is about 5 whole hours away...). Initially I wasn't able to go because there wasn't enough space, and someone screwed up the name list. Then, after much hassle I was finally able to go- they even hired an extra car to accomodate me. (Not because of my size lah.. its because they didn't want to squeze)
The trip started out late. Why? Because the driver came late. For the record, we (the 4 Wellesley girls) were in a BMW- while those from Brandies, Boston U, Harvard and MIT were squished into a van. *grin* Nothing like being given royal treatment. Ok, so he was late, and he was having trouble finding his way in. Fine. He seems like a nice enough guy..maybe early forties, uncle-ish man. Then, he has trouble getting out of Wellesley to the highways. Hmmm. The driver of the van then calls to ask him to catch up- and we finally do, at a rest stop. The two vehicles then travel together- us following. Its raining pretty bad, and its misty because the road is warm and the air cool. What speed do they go at? 80 mph. Which, in my opinion (although I'm still no good judge) is really fast, since the limit is 65. And it was raining heavy! Good grief. I tried hinting to the guy by talking about how tough it must be to drive etc etc- till Jhia Huei just puts it bluntly- 'Its dangerous, isn't it.' Haha. Love that girl. The rest of the journey there was pretty uneventful, and we arrived at about 630pm.
The venue they chose was vomit-inducing opulent. Seriously. I've never before seen such gaudy, ornate, ostentatious, fussy, poufy and fake ornaments, paintings and chandeliers before. Talk about cheesy taste. The dinner was scheduled to begin at 8- when the PM came in. The guests, however, were supposed to be seated by 7. Twits. He came late of course. My tummy was grumbling and rumbling by the time we sang the national anthem. Dinner was so so. Nothing that I should complain about, but nothing to talk about either. You would think that they would serve Malaysian food at a Malaysian gathering though. No such luck. We had salmon OR chicken. Sigh. I'm not even going to talk about the kind of company I had at the table. We were 'distributed' such that we were seperate from our college friends- so I had to try to talk to some random people. They had a performance too! Hahaha.. it was so so so so bad. I mean, BAD. Malay dance at its best is a lovely thing to see, but this was really bad. The costumes were cheap, and the performers were... amusing. We stood in a corner and kept giggling. I feel bad, but it was really such a icky thing to witness.
At the end of dinner they gave speeches and we could've waited for him to come around and shake his hand and all, but we (or rather, Jhia and I) decided that if we stayed any longer, we'd reach Wellesley in the morning. So off we went, into the rain again. This time, we didn't even get onto a highway when we had to stop and ask for directions. ARGH. So blur. Then, once on the highway, we started running out of gas. The other girls were all asleep- but I stayed awake to keep an eye on the road. I really didn't trust the guy by now. Dude, when your tank is less than a 1/4 full, its always a good idea to top it up cos we've got several hours more of driving! No.. he happily goes on until the meter reaches zero. ZERO! In all my 'long' life of being in cars, this is the first time that someone has actually allowed it to go to nil. We're on a highway man! There may not be gas stations nearby!!! I tried to keep him reminded of the fact that we needed fuel.. but there was none in sight. I prayed so so so hard. Finally, I spotted a sign, and got him to turn in (did I mention that he doesn't hear too well either?) - but it was closed. What kind of developed country is this? How can you not have all 24 hour gas stations???
Thank God, after more than 15 mins of white knuckle clenching and praying, we found one that was open. Sui Lin was so blissfully unaware of what happened that she actually asked- are we in Wellesley? Now, why is it that I felt a twang of irritation? After that episode, they all went back to sleep again. I kept awake by listening to some of Jhia's strange jap music.. and lo and behold- he manages to drive into a closed booth of the toll station. ARGH! Man, will you ever learn? Well, at that station, we learn that we missed our exit. Sigh..
Good thing we were close to Wellesley by that time.. and by the grace of God, we managed to get back alive and in one piece. Oh yes. He also went up the kerb when he navigated the corners of the road to my res hall.
I arrived at 4am, tired and drained- but superbly thankful.
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posted by wenster @ 6:55 PM  |
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| Monday, September 27, 2004 |
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Today I had an hour and 10 mins of holding my breath while trying to take notes from bio lesson. The nice girl next to me had a problem of pungent feet. And she was wearing open toed sandals and had a habit of putting one foot on her knee, which made it even worse. I'm pretty sure she's oblivious to it.. and I kept trying to siam by moving away ever so slghtly, turning to the other side.. and sitting so so straight to elevate my nose. It was a very trying experience. I will not let my feet get into that kind of a stink ever.. its just so painful when you get a wall of stink in your nose when you're expecting normal, lovely nitrogen, oxygen and CO2 mix.
Got a paper back today. I think one of the most troublesome things for someone who's studied in Singapore academically speaking is the writing of papers. We don't learn how to cite sources properly. We don't learn angles from which to tackle a subject and research on it. What I did learn was how to crap my own facts up and argue them, which is a skill, granted, but not one useful for formal work. No surprise, then, when I say that my writing is markedly different from those in my class. Yeah well, this is truly a place to learn... education around the world (at least around the 3 parts that I have encountered) is not standard, and so.. maybe there is some justification in employers preferring one kind over another. The question is, how much do they know about each area?
Will be going to do more research now, salut!
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| posted by wenster @ 5:55 PM |
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| Tuesday, September 21, 2004 |
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Went to look for my bio prof just for fun today.. she's really nice. She's not american too, so she offered to help in whatever way she can, and also offered to show me the lab where she does her research and stuff. I felt really weird at first though.. its not the norm for me to go into someone's office and say, "Hi, I just came to say hello..." Heh. But it turned out ok. I think i'm going to volunteer to be a SAR- student admission rep, where I greet those who are coming to Wellesley to visit and stuff. It'll be cool.. like doing open day, except that its over a period of time and not just a day. The word SAR just reminds me of SARS though. Heh. Bet they're pretty hazy about that over here. Apparently it'll be autumn day after tomorrow. Cool huh. Went around sticking up posters for my 'campaign' to be secretary for class of 2008.. although I think its quite redundant in a way because its like, noone else is running for this post I think. oh well. It feels pretty weird. And, its nowhere as organised as NJ's elections though. (thats 'cos I did part of that.. but who knew? haha)
p.s- i was lazy so this is actually part of my email to jer. heh.
oh yes.. jiing just got added to the check out list!
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| posted by wenster @ 2:45 AM |
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| Sunday, September 19, 2004 |
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Didn't go for the beach clean up today, it was raining. Last night's bible study was good.. and we had fellowship afterwards, which equals lots of food and random games. people use the word random a lot here. Anyways, today was nice. Went with the bible study girls to super 88, a supermarket that sells asian food. There's also a food court that has all kinds of asian food, so we shared pad thai which doesn't taste the same as that in Thailand, but now that we're here- its good enough. Ayako and I bouught some minced pork and wan ton skin on the spur of the moment. So tonight we had nice good food- noodles with cauliflower, onion and snow peas with wan ton. yummy. My two roommates are going partying again- Minying to a small private one at Harvard and Christine to a probably bigger one at MIT. The big thing that I've learnt about myself since I've gotten here is that I'm not a party person. I'm think I'll be interested if its my good friend's thing or something like that, but no more big bashes. I've got 2 left feet and a suspicion of every guy that looks vaguely shifty (which most of them do). yeah.. so thats one good revelation. I'm not that type.. and quite happy being as such. The bible study girls are cool- they drove us there and back and even brought us to our doorstep. They are so so nice. I'll be going to church with them tomorrow- if I go for freshman bible study, I should be gone by early afternoon.
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| posted by wenster @ 1:02 AM |
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| Sunday, September 12, 2004 |
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Tower Court is overrated. Just as background info, its a yearly 'party' at Wellesley where supposedly truckloads of guys turn up. And I agree with the description. This place goes from less than 1% male to 80% male. Ok, so I exaggerated. But the number of guys that 'feed' off a Wellesley girl's presence is amazing. We've got rules about how many non-W we can bring into our dorms you see, its 3 is to 1- and tonight I am so going to lock my doors.
But, one thing I did learn today is that I'm not really into this kind of thing. Guys just standing at the corners, guys walking around drunk,girls stumbling around drunk, crowds so thick you feel that you're breathing in all CO2, dizzy lights, guys dancing with girls so close they might as well take their clothes off then and there... nah. So, breathe easy people. I'll be kuai. Oh yes... MIT guys? Nothing special.
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| posted by wenster @ 6:41 AM |
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| Wednesday, September 08, 2004 |
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I've had a grand total of two lessons in two days. Haha. Actually I went for 3, but one is a duplicate. Had 2 econs classes today- and I need to decide, preferably by tomorrow, which one I should take. Pros and cons?
Terris' is more normal, she's really nice and used like the example of Disneyland to start the class off. The timing for her class is good in the sense that it follows after an earlier class I have, so I'll have more time in the afternoon. That means easier studying time and.. I guess a timetable that is easier to work with. Plus, I already have a space in the class.
Matthaei's class is more radical, because she has strong political views and she's femenist and a little hippie like, which means I'll probably learn more alternative views. The students in her class seem more fun too. However, taking her class means that I'll have 70 mins of free time between classes- good and bad. Also, I may not get a space in her class beacause of high demand.
I just prayed, and read Proverbs- e one Stella tagged and yeah, I am hoping for a sudden blast of certainty in my class selections. Pray for me please.. I'm going to get on with writing homework now..
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| posted by wenster @ 7:00 PM |
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| Monday, September 06, 2004 |
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Its good to be careful. Was out with mom yesterday in Boston, and we had our first experience with a crazy person. He just walked straight into mom and knocked her over! And on purpose too. Gosh I am so pissed with him.
Anyway, watched The Notebook downstairs just now, its so so sad!
While I was doing that, my 2 roomies were at a MIT frat party- which wasn't really all that it seemed to be. Heh. I'm glad I didn't go (I did laundry haha), and that I can feed off someone else's experience. *leech* I guess its a big eye opener and myth buster- the first rush parties of the year, when frats and sororities recruit. There'll be one in school next weekend.. will probably walk over to see what its like for myself.
Went to Plymouth yesterday night- with family. Ate really good lobster at the seaside. I felt so suaku for gaping at the big seagulls and stuff. The coast is so so cold, so wildly beautiful. Then this morning we celebrated mom's brithday with 2 stacked doughnuts and a big utility candle.
Another late night... but it was worth it- I got to talk to Jer.
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| posted by wenster @ 5:26 AM |
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| Saturday, September 04, 2004 |
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Yay.. my laptop is up and running after several days of trying to get it connected, here I am. So so glad that God managed to get it to work. I followed all the instructions but couldn't get it connected, and I was really frustrated. Adding to that, I was supposed to register for classes the next day and I couldn't get my schedule figured out because of clashing in scheduling and teacher and timing preference etc etc.. adding to that my coursebook just disappeared to nowhere and I had a rough day.
So it was in that state I answered Jer's call, and I feel so thankful that I have you dear, because I know I can count on you to pray for me to make everything better. Immediately after praying I felt calmer, and when I opened my devotional book randomly(that incidentally he gave me too) I felt the Holy Spirit's work- in that the words were written there for me- like He was trying to say that its ok, things will be fine. A part of it said something I understood as Jesus has overcome the world, and He is MY Lord and Saviour- what else is there to say? I have to hope in Him, not put up a happy front; trust in Him instead of crossing my fingers. Plus, it continued today-with words of encouragement: The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down- Psalm 154:14
Know what? I realised that I wasn't going to God as often as I should, as quick as I should. And I will try to change that. Meanwhile, I thank Him for my beloved, and for His works in my life.
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| posted by wenster @ 5:40 AM |
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| Wednesday, September 01, 2004 |
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Computer training is over! Its kind of weird to hear that right? Well, before we can use the campus internet we have to learn how to plug it in, make sure we're virus free.. etc etc. BUt I'm not complaining cos using the net is free and we get free antivirus stuff too!
Now, if only I could figure out what the instructions on the booklet mean.
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| posted by wenster @ 8:02 PM |
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