On my Own

So I was on my own for the past few days, so I had to cook my own lunch and dinner, and go tour around on my own. Hence, on Monday i went downtown to take a look at Westfield Horton Plaza, which feels like an UTC that is stacked upwards into a mall. Then I walked around aimlessly till I reach the Chinese History Museum which is closed on Monday. Tsk, so I walked back into downtown area and came by this grocery show that sell extremely cheap stuff. I saw a box of soyjoy selling at 1.59 USD. Something must be wrong about this shop I thought, soyjoy could not be that cheap. I flipped the box over and to my horror, the soyjoy has expired since March this year, a total of six months overdue! This aroused my interest and suspicion about this place. And so I found out, many things on sale are either expired or going to expire, hence the cheap price. And all these appeal to the homeless and jobless people who roam around downtown area.

As for today, I went to Balboa park again. Other than paying for the SDMA, San Diego Museum of Art, which is 8 USD, the rest, like the Mingei International Museum, Timken museum for the art and Museum of man are free admission. I was intrigued by the art collection in SDMA, especially the oceanic/asian/american art pieces, where I can differentiate between them and tell the culture and way of life by looking at the materials use, and I can tell about the beliefs about the people too. Like looking at statues of Guan Yin when he was still in his masculine self. I like one particular painting called 'the drummer boy' which has a lot of story behind it. In the painting, a boy was carried on the shoulder of another man and was playing his drum. The boy has a wound on his leg. On the foreground I can see some people pulling one another, helping each other, to those that are injured. While in the background, there were soldiers marching. This makes me ponder and imagine about the war times, where the boy has to cheer the troop on as they go on fighting. During times of unrest, people are struggling to get by and survive. This becomes a complete story.

Alright, tomorrow is orientation day =) I miss Peter and Mandy. tsk

You gotta pay me to do that

Went out with a new found friend, David, who is well-traveled, friendly and accommodating. We were supposed to go downtown to catch the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) at 12.30 pm. To my horror, the express bus 150 does not operate during the weekend and so I would have to take bus 30 which takes an hour or more to get to downtown. Hence I text him and said that I would be very late. A minute later, he called back and said that he could fetch me since he's driving, which is great as it would save time. So we got there, and what a disappointment, I pinned high hopes on MCA, thinking that it would be big and grand, having many exhibits. In the end, we walked to seaport village, which happens to have an art carnival.

We then see the art that we are familiar with. There are many motivated and enthusiastic artists who are selling their work pieces. They are of different forms, metallic sculpture, oil paintings, acrylic paintings, clay figurines, asian-infused art pieces and much more. There are booths that promote theater and musical stuff too. The best part was that, both David and I won a free ticket on the seal tour worth 32 USD each. Fortunately I did not buy the ticket when I visited Old town the other time. So we finished walking around (midway museum) and boarded the final seal tour at 5pm. It was an hour and a half ride, most of it was boring, and cold, due to the chilly strong winds, until the part where we get to see the seals and pelicans in the middle of the ocean, which comes with a fishy smell. So both of us agree that we will not pay to go for such tours, and they have to pay us for us to tour. haha.

Anyway, thanks David for sending me back and inviting me to go Las Vegas with him in October. Hopefully I'll be able to go with him.

Next stop.

Aiyo, I have so much to write down since many things still amazes me. Like why Americans eat more and quicker than I do, how many things are made convenient and automated, how come some things are much cheaper here than in Singapore.

Over the weekend I got to the post office with Jordan, while Mandy and Pete went for their exams. Soon after, I joined them for lunch at a Latin-America All-in-one restaurant cum provision cum clothing store. The food is yum yum and comes in big portion. A pity I din get the chance to take the photos of the big fat roasted pork/bacon, big flavorful juicy beef, warm beans gravy, large chunk of fresh avocado, tender chicken and potato. And a good glass of passionfruit milkshake. After that was a series of 'welcome to america' stuff. We went to big stores so that pete can get his singlet and shorts, it's a wonder how people need to drive from one place to another to shop, unlike a all in one shopping mall concept we have in singapore. nevertheless, the stores are big and we do need to spend much time there.

On Sunday we had brunch at CoCo's and it's my first time to a breakfast place in America. I had a cinnamon roll french toast with scrambled egg and bacon. Yum Yum, top with maple syrup, and had a glass of orange juice. That's an unhealthy pick as compared to Pete's and Mandy's omelet. A series of impromptu stuff begin to happen. Pete and I drove to LA to his parents place which was HUGE and it will take me like half an hour to finish walking around the place. There was over a hundred channels on the television and we had good indian food when mandy came over too. We shopped at the Ralph's nearby and got ourselves deserts - Ben & Jerry's Chunky monkey, which is half the price of Singapore's. After that, I went to Mandy's place to stay, and had the chance to speak with her and her parents. I feel very much at home to speak with her mom in mandarin and we talk about many things, the difference between sg and us, studying in ucsd and asian countries. Seems like people have the impression that Singapore is a clean and green country, along with its strict laws.

The next day, Mandy's mum made us breakfast, toasted bread, oatmeal and eggs. Then we drove back to SD and I helped her moved her stuff into her new apartment, planning out what to do for the next few days.

So on Tuesday, good job for Mandy as she has completed her project! She can have the rest of the days free without going back to school for more lab. So on Tuesday itself, we drove to Balboa park, google maps din help us much, we found the place when we felt like giving up. We had a good look around the place, then walked on to 'extraordinary desserts' for delicious and mouth-watering desserts!. We shared a raspberry/strawberry coffeecake, a warm chocolate cake drizzled with dark chocolate sauce and a lemon bar. After that we were full and skipped dinner. Then we went to target to buy stuff. It is pretty similar to giant in sg.

On Wed, we went for breakfast at Einstein's bagels at the medical center with two of mandy's friends. I had a spinach egg with swiss bagel, with cinnamon sugar. Grace, who goes to the church, asks me to tag along next sunday, and joined them for welcoming week at the beach for bbq on the 25th. Then we got a coupon from Grace, buy one get one admission at Birch Aquarium. So instead of 8 bucks, we paid 6 bucks each. The aquarium is really a great place that we spent a good educational and trigger happy two hours there. We moved on to the La Jolla Downtown and the beaches there. Managed to see pelicans, seagulls and seals there too. Got my feet into the cool blue water and was thrilled by the large up current. Had lunch at burger lounge. Love the beef burger and the fresh cut fries there, great taste and large portion too.

Shopping time as we embarked on a journey to the Las America Premium outlet. I want so many things there and I want to go back again! I bought jeans from hurley and berms from levis. Many things from Gap and shirts from Nike. that place was shopping haven to many sgporeans. I'm sure of that.

Really thankful that Mandy is kind enough to spend time with me and show me around the mandy way, although we only know each other for barely a week. Would do the same if she comes to Singapore then =).

That's for Friday~!

Alright, I need to recap what I did yesterday. It was a mini adventure. I’m not someone who can walk through Orchard Road for hours, I walk hastily and wouldn’t stop for much things. Hence, this trip to Old Town is a new challenge to me.

I left my place around 12ish, right after I had my mozzarella turkey ham mushroom sandwich. I was trying to locate the post office, well I didn’t and so I took bus 150 from UTC to get to Old Town. When I alighted the bus at Old Town, the first thing that I was greeted with was the trolley system and the coaster, which was awesome. I took some photos of them and started with my photography excursion.

Lucky me, the Old Town State Historic Park is just beside the trolley station and so I simply walked in. It’s really like a small town with a central square in the middle, a large grass patch for people to sit on and get some shades from the trees. So it’s Old Town, so we don’t expect to see buildings like those in the city, but wooden houses with big boards and old style handwritings. I suppose this place is developed to be a tourist site, since it has been renovated a few times, and have restaurants and shops in the entire park. There is a trolley tour that lasts two hours, and ticket costs 32 USD. I was tempted to but I thought I should walk around more and maybe I can wait till the Tracy and Qiao Qi when they come here.

I walked here and there, amazed that every single shop amazed me. There are museums all over the place, each telling us a little part of San Diego of the past. One of the first museums I went to was the Stable, telling us how horse carriages were used as an important transport for delivering things through the state. Then I went to a newspaper museum, which was not so interesting. I like the candle shop and the candies shop. The whole candle shop has this thick intense and sweet aroma, which is less artificial than the Body shop, so I looked around and eventually bought 4 honey stix of different flavors, namely mint, cinnamon, coconut and clover. The candies shop sells a whole lot of stuff, from fudges (like 12 flavors) to caramels to chocolate and sweets. I saw some gross lollipop with scorpions and larva inside. *Puke* After that I moved on to the courthouse, to take a look at the sheriff’s office and the mayor’s office, and little jail at the backdoor. I then went to the First school there, which was closed unfortunately. So I moved on to the Well’s Fargo Museum, which is in fact about bank and money exchange during the old times.

I thought it was about time for me to leave and so I went to the Fiesta De Reyes, which is a Mexican plaza, selling Mexican food and many related items, from hot chili sauce to colorful clothing and hats. I went to this penny souvenir stop, where I can make my dime into a souvenir by putting in half a dollar. There were toyshops, tile shops and paintings on sale too.

This isn’t the end of my adventure, in fact only halfway through. Around 3pm, I decided to walk more to explore the rest of the park. I spotted this greeting cards shop that has very interesting punch lines on the card, and an Old town gallery, with great photography and paintings. It was a hot day and I got myself a diet coke and walked on. Then, I saw this beautiful and exquisite Catholic Church. I walked in and sat down, listening to the peaceful songs and read a bit from the songbook. I flipped to my favorite page, which is Psalms 23, and then I kneeled down and prayed. I like the place. It calms me down, ensuring that I don’t walk alone. I walked on to Whaley House, known to be haunted even during the day. ( I don’t wanna pay to get frightened, so I just walked past it)

I got to this wonderful deserted place, where I saw houses, each unique in their own way, as though they belong to different princesses in Disney land. I took some photos there, sat and rested a while and then decided that it’s time to go home. I walked to the visitor’s center and realized that there is a show called ‘Saints and Sinners’ at 6pm and so I think ‘Why not?’ and decided to go have dinner and look for post office at Midway Drive since it is 4.45pm already. It was really out of pure luck I found Midway Drive and many fast food restaurants like Carl’s Jr, In n out, subway and Fatburger. In the end I stick with burger king since it was nearer to the State Historic Park. Of course, I walked back to the park right after the quick and hasty dinner.

I am so glad that I didn’t miss out this show, it’s a show that requires the audience to move around the square with the cast, as they tell us some interesting facts in the old San Diego, like the square used to be a garbage dump and they spent 18 years cleaning up the place, and the deep pits were made in the square so that a bear and bull fight can take place, for the people to bet on. There is also a scandal about a schoolteacher and she got married to the principal of the school. I like the story line and how they get the audiences involved. I feel that I am transformed into another person here, in some ways? During the show there was great humor, and even gunshots! In the end every sinner turned out to be somehow a saint. Corny and dorky it is.

Luckily there was bus 30 (which takes a longer time to get home) when I realized that Bus 150 is out of service after 6.30pm. I got to Ralph’s again at about 8.30pm and did some shopping again, getting shampoo and more food. I got home, got all hyped up for unknown reasons. Jordan offered me to sit beside him and research on how caffeine works, as he was all energetic and alert after eating a caffeine pill before his chemistry test. We spent hours looking it up, and I taught him some mandarin while he taught me how to pronounce ‘theatre’ and ‘the’ in the correct manner. There were some chemical discussions and I taught him about organic chemistry, ring strains, and stable structures (checking aromaticity of compounds). I went for a shower and we continued with the movie ‘Who killed the electric car?’ while Mandy and Peter continued preparing for their exams. When we were done with the show it was like about 2.30 am? We looked up the Internet for more about electric car till it was around 4am when I slept.

Things I wanna do today

I will be going to the post office to send the receipt back to MOE.

I will be getting a phone plan over there.

I will be traveling to Old town to explore the place.

Hopefully I can then meet up with Jordan and go downtown together.

Dependence

I feel lonely, quite a bit, in this distant place where I don't see my family and friends, maybe this is what homesickness is. Things should be fine. Well, I think Singaporeans are adaptable people, maybe a few weeks later I will start to get accustomed.

Just went for a little bike ride to school with Mandy. It was tricky, since I have never rode a bike on the main road before, I was thrilled yet slightly afraid to be riding and following Mandy on the route to school. (I have watched too much American movie showing how people can suddenly get smashed by an incoming vehicle.) I fell twice, first time because I saw a steep slope at the sidewalk and was worrying that I might fall in there. You know, I tremble and buay steady when I feel scared and so I skid a bit. Hope Mandy din mind me there. After that we did a little turn into the student service center which I wasn't too confident about, hence I fell again. Luckily for today, I din shed blood at all, just some little scratches. Nice to have her to show me around, if not I'll be so lost. I like the school. I went to get my ID card already, with the free bus stamp. I went to pay for my insurance at the cashier's office and we had yogurt.

I freaking love the yogurt here. The concept is totally different from yumi yogurt in Singapore. There are like 10 flavours for the yogurt, from chocolate custard, new york cheesecake to plain tart, vanilla bean. Everything is self service. So I had some peanut butter, berries/passionfruit and peach tart yoghurt. For toppings i had M&Ms, cookie dough, sea coconut, jackfruit and strawberries. It's a pretty and colorful cup of yoghurt (shucks I din take photo!) and cost about 3.50 USD? (38cents per ounce) Peter and I agree that this is good stuff that should be sold in Singapore. Surely it would stir a storm.

Right after the dessert treat, we had a little talk, and then Mandy and Peter dropped me at the Icenter where I submitted my registration form, then went to take a shuttle bus back home, and gosh, the chain of the bike came off, I had to put it back and made my hands all dirty, so I had to clean them on the way. And yay I'm home~! Going for a jog then shop for more groceries later, so I can whip up something at the end of the day.

Behold UCSD, I gonna be an incredible asian boy here.. lah..

Give me a day and I'll learn more

I've learned plenty today, much thanks to Bill and Jordan. Well, Jordan is my housemate who is taking lower division chemistry now. He was nice and helpful to recommend his bicycle to me, which would be a convenient way of getting around La Jolla. So we were intending to ride from our place to Ralph's, but just a 100 m ride later, one of the pedal of the bicycle dropped out, and I panicked and scratched my toe on the road. There was some bleeding but it doesn't hurt, so it's fine, the sad thing is that I had to push the bike back to the garage, and take bus instead, which cost me 2.25 USD per trip. It's interesting how people communicate here, as back in Singapore, we never greet the bus driver nor we say thank you or what when we alight, everything is about being quiet, trying not to get attention. Well, I greeted the bus driver and said thank you when I alighted, incredible. Thankfully and fortunately, a man whom I meet on the bus told me that I could take the bus for free if I get my student ID and a yellow sticker from the transportation department. He showed me around the supermarkets and theaters, telling me the differences in prices and the things available in different supermarkets, and how he feels that values of American have shifted, as they are willing to pay more for less, seems like spending money is like a thing to pass time. I got introduced to Thomas, who wears a colorful shirt and has an interesting hairdo, Bill says that he is an icon around this area and Thomas said, "go ahead and click me." So we chatted for a while and we parted a while after that, as I return back to Ralph's. Coincidentally, Jordon happens to be there and asked if I wanted to have dinner with him, which I did, so we had chicken and salad from the salad bar, (well, that was his treat and it's a much appreciated friendly gesture) and we went on with grocery shopping. I got myself a gallon of milk and a box of cereal. And then, I used his student card to take the free bus ride home. Well, he highlighted the lonely planet book about places I should visit and lent me a dvd just in case I get too bored. Now I have another one now from Peter.

I realise that people here, they don't just walk past someone they know, either pretending that they don't know, or simply say 'hi' or wave hand, and quickly get away. When they are not that busy, they stop and talk a bit. When they are not free, they would go 'how have you been?' or 'how is it going for you?'. There is no longer a thing called 'hi-bye friends' here. People here make connections. After discussing with XT, I think it would be good that I put behind what I am and the habits I have in Singapore and get accustomed and adapted readily into this large melting pot. Maybe after that, I will start to enjoy the beautiful things America has in store for me.

For tomorrow, I'll be going to school to get my ID card and the yellow sticker, and probably move around the campus.

偶然

在人群中，在你我的身旁，甚至在我们的身上，出现许多的遗憾和早知道。

若我有先知的能力，问我是否希望能够去弥补遗憾，驱除早知道，我不愿意。

有人会问，如果早一点认识自己身边的另一伴该会是的很美好的事。这样一来，就有更多的时间培养默契，享有二人世界，只羡鸳鸯不羡仙的日子。

但是，可曾想过，每一样事情的发生都有准确的时间，人物与地点。只要错过哪一个，事情的后果将回不一样。如果早一点认识，但对彼此不来电，没兴趣，那也只不过是浪费时间。所以，我从没想要去思考，为什么没早点做这做那的，而是如何把握，珍惜眼前所拥有的时间，好好的跟另一半相处。毕竟，人与人之间的关系是很微妙的，世界那么大，偏偏就遇上了在生活里出现的各式各样的人，不是吗？

我想借这个机会去好好认识新朋友，还有这个陌生的环境。更重要的事，我想多了解自己。

First post from SD

I know, it's crazy. I still can't believe that I'm here. I went out for a walk just now at about 11 am, in shorts and a running tee, to explore La Jolla and the places around here. Only then, I realize how small I am in this big place. Singaporeans are spoilt brats, I get to know this when I found out how eating out is not that affordable here, and people do go marketing and cook their own meals.

I had lunch at Westfield UTC eatery after walking and looking lost for an hour. I must have looked stupid, thinking that I finally saw an oasis in the midst of a desert, or something along that. I walked in, looked around, and to my surprise and delight, chinese food is available, at a corner I see Pho and Vietnamese cuisine, but wait a minute, a bowl of Pho for 8 USD? I could have 4 bowls of this if I go Vietnam. Finally I settled down with a lamb/beef kebab flatbread with a cup of diet coke. Not too badly priced, 7 USD and the portion is real big. Halfway through the meal I thought I was really full, and so I observe the people around me (sound like some stalker or something). So I saw this dad and his two sons, having burger king, and another two kids who are having lunch together, and they tried to join two tables together. So the boy instructed the girl to push the chair while he pull the table. Both of them looked cute doing that. Finally I finished my lunch and moved on. Took some photos of the iceskating place right in the middle of the eatery.

From there, I continue my little asian boy's adventure. Looks like I have under dressed myself here. I accidentally crossed the street and saw the executive square, having big firms like ernst & young, with people wearing formal wear there. I walked back to UTC and shopped around. I went into Macy's, A & F, and GAP. And relieved to see Starbucks and Ben and Jerry's, shops that I'm familiar with. Even seeing Chinese along the way brings me some sense of relief which I can't explain. Perhaps I am still adapting to this place (few hours after waking up, I felt tired and wanted to get back to bed because it is freaking wee hours in Singapore). Anyway, I see products that I consider cheap, like Levi's jeans silvertab selling at 32.99 USD, perhaps the most 50 USD, which is much cheaper as compared to 100 over dollars back at home. Other goodies are like CK jeans tees for 30? Or even Guess? Oh well, I wasn't in the shopping mood yet so I merely looked around.

I gotta go to the supermarket one of these days, and also around the campus to see what goes around the school.