Life@NYC

21st Birthday

2007-05-15T01:47:00.000-04:00

Well, the title says it all, I'm officially old.

I've had nice surprises over the past two days, and I guess, it's as good as a birthday can get when you're away from home.

Yesterday (which was Cat's last day in New York as well :s), I tried on 2 shirts in a shop along Soho and just as I was about to pay, Cat suddenly said, 'STOP. Erwin and I are paying, it's your birthday present.' Nice.

We had dinner at Shabu Shabu, which serves incredibly healthy (and hearty servings) Japanese steamboat... and it so happens that there were birthday decorations in the restaurant. We were eating with Erwin's friends as well, which was pretty nice. I would post pictures, but my SD card isn't with me at the moment.

The plan was to sit at Starbucks and talk until it was time for Cat to leave for the airport, but we ended up sitting at Macdonalds while waiting for Erwin, who went to send his friends to the Subway. It's pretty amusing on retrospect. Cat and I started writing Erwins (ultra belated) birthday card... and just as I was writing 'Happy Birthday Erwin', it hit midnight and 3 things happened at the same time- (1) Manda called me (thank you so much babe, sorry I was a bit distracted because too many things were happening) (2) Erwin appeared with a slice of cheesecake (3) Cat started shoving Erwin's card into my bag. Pretty overwhelming to talk on the phone, while trying to make a birthday wish and hide the card... haha.

I was really tired, but my mum woke me up with an sms this morning... told me to come online with my webcam... which led to me spending an entire hour trying to find my webcam in the mess of my suitcases... I thought everyone at home just wanted to see me, but they bought me a cake! So there I was, in bed with my laptop, looking incredibly awful because I just woke up, and 'blowing' my birthday candles. And well, complete with making a wish and watching everyone eat the cake on my behalf.=) Thanks mummy, dad- you all are so sweet.

And I was quite busy trying to thank people who wished me happy birthday on MSN while talking to my family... thanks everyone who remembered.

Then I had a late lunch with Estelle at Chinatown, before having dinner with Erwin after he got off work.

Erwin and his overdue birthday card! Quite ironic that I was giving him his birthday card on my birthday.

My card from Taitong, Cat and Erwin.

We finally made it to Starbucks today... been saying we should all sit in Starbucks and have coffee at least once since it's an American icon. Too bad only 2 of us made it... and not that you could even tell it's Starbucks from the pictures, heh. And no coffee either, only Apple crumble, and nice long conversation.
And Nathalie bought me a flower! I'm living in her apartment now, and she's incredibly nice... she's been reassuring me that she didn't forget my birthday from last night until today. And this morning, when I woke up, she started telling me about how she was going to buy a muffin but didn't get up early... and promised that I would still get a 'surprise' muffin at night...and she came back with a huge flower instead!

To everyone who remembered, and everyone who tried to make it special for me, thanks :)

And I guess, this birthday is tinged with nolstagia as well... both Cat and Taitong have flown off, spending the first two hours of the day reminiscing with Cat and Erwin at Macs, seeing Estelle and thinking about how it doesn't seem too long ago when we talked so much about us being in New York together (I wish we met up more :s ), three people flying off on this day (Poy, Sujin, Cat)...oh well.

Bye 26th, Bye many people, updates

2007-05-12T01:37:00.000-04:00

Updates first... End of exams isn't worth talking about. It ended, I went to the gym for a workout, came back. Spent the next whole day being bored because no one was around... but at least, Poi called in the evening and we headed down to this Jazz bar with Erwin and the korean girls. The live band was pretty good... until the singer started getting people to dance with him, and I was the first one he dragged on stage. This always happens to me in the states, miami, new york...hehe. Later on, we headed to Poi's place to play Wi... so fun, I'm a champion boxer! We made stupid videos of ourselves looking stupid playing Wi tennis and Wi boxing, I'll upload them if I think I want to share my embarrassment anytime soon.

Can't remember exactly when, but there was yet another fire at the dorm, 1am in the morning. This time, we went down (almost) immediately... the funny thing was, the next day, Cat and I woke up to the fire alarm, and we were like, 'OMG I don't believe this is happening again, we just had a fire last night!' In my miserable, sleepy state, I started pulling on track pants and grabbing a jacket... then the alarm stopped, and it dawned on me, 'oh brilliant. It's the tuesday fire alarm test.' (We are usually in school Tuesday afternoons, so it's the first time we heard it.)

Woodbury's shopping trip wasn't that great this time, but I still ended up spending quite a lot. We said bye to David, didn't get to say bye to the Hongkong people (not that we ever hung out much with them, but still, it's sad)...

Then we started packing up ourselves, sigh. I've so many things, so so so so so many things... I wanted to pack everything in an organized fashion, so that I can live out of my suitcase until the end of May, but I gave up and threw everything into my luggage, and stuffing things wherever there was actually space. Yesterday, Erwin and I wheeled my luggage and carried two bags from 26th to 4th street… I emptied out two of the bags, brought them back and this morning, carried 3 bags with the rest of my stuff to 4th street again. Moving to Nathalie’s was supposed to be a ‘rehearsal’ for moving back to Singapore, but well… it’s obvious I’m going to have problems bringing everything back!

Oh, Erwin and I watched Spiderman 3 on Imax yesterday. Absolutely loved the huge screen… and it’s so cool when you start seeing different parts of New York City that you recognize!

No time for updates

2007-05-10T22:03:00.000-04:00

I've to move out of my dorm tomorrow. Packing is such a chore, and so is dragging your luggage down 22 streets.

Life these few days? End of exams, woodburys, spiderman 3 Imax, clearing the dump of my room.

Sorry if I can't talk to anyone lately.

Sigh, so sad.

Running by Hudson River

2007-05-04T21:40:00.000-04:00

I'm talking to Liza online as I type this!

Anyway, Donna brought me running by the Hudson River today, all the way up at 10th Avenue... it's so nice! Running by it really reminded me of the Singapore River-Esplanade area, just a lot longer... and it was so nice running round the Pier, looking across at Jersey City... and I could even see the Statue of Liberty in a distance... it's really kind of far, but I think I'll run there again tomorrow.

And we had a nice dinner at Vanessa's Dumpling's after that. There was this 'auntie' at the cashier. I heard her speak, and asked her, 'Are you from Singapore?' And she said, 'You're berrryy clever.' (It was so obvious) haha. And she still asked me where I was from, isn't the accent so obvious?

Some pictures of Hudson River...

I love New York City! With three more weeks to go, it suddenly feels like there are so many things I've yet to explore, sigh... I need to find some way to see things, do things, shop, buy things for friends once exams are over. Speaking of which, I'm already behaving like my exams are over... I haven't touched anything since last night! (Slept at 5am because I was reading Shophaholic in New York...and I think I'll continue reading now *embarrassed face*)

Just talked to everyone at home over MSN Video Chat... I do miss Singapore. I can't wait to go back, but the thought of it is quite depressing.. don't quite know what to feel. :S This is my weekend in this apartment here, but the rest are all up at Ohama, Gesche (the girl in the apartment)... so that makes a lonely last weekend.

Oh well.

One more exam to go!

2007-05-04T02:08:00.000-04:00

Yep, just one more paper to go... and I'm feeling great, because I've 4 days to study and I just have to prepare a cheat sheet, so it should be fine... So sleepy from having two papers today, but all I want to do is stay up and watch Gilmore Girls.

I barely studied for the Movie marketing paper today, and it turned out to be quite difficult. Not that it would have made a difference if I actually studied... I actually realized I'm pretty disadvantaged, being an exchange student and having been in New York for less than 5 months (ok, maybe I'm making excuses for myself)... I feel like I know so little about how movies are released here, the huge campaigns, the distribution in big markets like New York and LA etc... I was trying to think very hard about magazines that print ads are featured in and stuff, but I barely know any of those either. Oh wells.

Went to Shefali's place for a dinner with my New Product Group today... it's the only project group I like here, because it feels like a real group, not just a working relationship. (I actually liked it enough to revisit whatever Excel VBA knowledge still left in my memory to create a program for our presentation, can't believe it). And we did well for our project! :)

So, here's me pretending that I'm actually doing the cooking. Truth is, I was slacker. For one, I can't cook. On top of that, I came straight after my paper which ended at 8pm, so I didn't bring anything either.

The girls in our group! Sujin, Donna (going jogging by East River with her tomorrow), Shefali's roommate (forgot her name), Shefali

Oh, I must mention, it was my first time visiting the dorm at Water Street. I always knew I lived in a dump (the dump's at it's dumpiest state right now), but now I feel like I live in an absolute dump. My apartment has two bedrooms, each for two people. Shefali's dorm is meant for 2 people... and it's TWO STOREYS. They have a kitchen, two bathrooms, a living room... omg. That's not all, each level is bigger than my entire aparment.

Home alone this week. Everyone else has gone off for the Warren Buffett AGM, which I'm not going for anymore, because I couldn't book a flight to Omaha (it was actually all booked up due to the thousands of people flying there for the AGM).

And, one more week left in this place before I move out. (will be staying at someone's apartment for the summer). Exchange feels like it's ending soon...

Hello I'm still alive

2007-04-28T13:13:00.000-04:00

Long overdue updates! I'm a bit too lazy to talk... so here are long overdue photos.

Mambo Night @ EarthNYC. We waited FOREVER before Mambo music came on... Christian's trying to push me shorter than him in this photo as usual. Realizing he's from Australia, I told him that we had to teach him how to dance Mambo, and omg, he copied everything I did...not everything I do is Mambo! (don't even know half of it)
Singapore Day, with Chris (who was up to celebrate her 21st!), Engsiang, Jac... felt like National Day. Unfortunately, we barely ate anything because the queues were so long, for puny portions. It felt exactly like National Day... and they somehow managed to import the Singapore heat into Central Park as well, it was the hottest day in New York City! So hot that we all gave up, and Es and I went shopping!

Estelle! Oh, she's holding Just Tea. I don't know if it's the heat, but Just Tea suddenly tasted so good. I don't even drink Just Tea in back home...

Central Park. I think I look fat in this photo- stupid shadow in my arm :S Anyway, Central Park looks much better now. Bluer skies, cherry blossoms... in fact, there're cherry blossoms everywhere now. I think it's Spring, for real.

Ultra overdue photo from ice-skating. Erwin claims I look like a professional skater here... haha, should see my wobbling around like a duck when I'm not posing.

I've been running around Washington Square Park, amongst all the green trees and cherry blossoms. I don't think I can ever run in the gym, ever again. On Wednesday, I was huffing on the threadmill, gave up after 15 minutes, and ran out.

Exams are coming :( I'll find someway to continue slacking.

Projects, Projects, Projects

2007-04-20T02:40:00.000-04:00

Despite the stress (I think this is the first time I've ever mentioned the word 'stress' on this blog!), I'm feeling quite pleased right now. I planned on not sleeping until I finish my Consumer Behaviour Project, and I was under the impression that I would be up until at least 4am, but it's 2:15am, and I've finished!

Projects are a real MAD RUSH over here. All done at the very last minute, and I mean, REALLY last minute.

Today, my New Product Development group finished our project report 10 minutes after it was due.

I don't even know the names of some of my Movie Marketing project mates. Well, I know their names, but I can't match them to faces. We did everything through E-mail- 'you do this, I do that, we all send to her, she compiles, we present what we wrote.' Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my presentation today. I was freaking out because I had no time to even look at the updated slides, and worried that no one would understand me, but I somehow managed to talk my way through everything, and I'm pretty sure everyone understood me.

I wish I wore a skirt for my presentation today. (Only those who know why I always wear pants for presentations will get this.)

One project meeting tomorrow. Two more project presentations. One more project presentation to prepare. I'm going to finish all of them at all costs- need to go for Singapore Day and Mambo Night on Saturday!

Fire up @ 26th

2007-04-17T18:06:00.000-04:00

Yes, there was a fire at my block today, can't believe it.

I was changing to go to school, Cat had just got out of bed... when the fire alarm started ringing. And we ignored it for about 3 minutes because (1) we were lazy (2) we thought it was probably a false alarm. And I was still searching for my shoebag, gloves, coat, packing my schoolbag... in short, I didn't panic.

Then it got annoying. So I looked out of the door to see if there were people dasing out. Quiet lobby, nothing, no footsteps. So I told Cat, 'Ah there's nobody. Probably a false alarm.'

The alarm stopped for three seconds, and I was convinced, 'Yea. False alarm.'

Moments later, it came on again, so Cat went to check this time. And there were sounds of people running down the steps. So I grabbed everything I needed for school (honestly, I still felt like it must be a false alarm) before leaving.

...and omg, we dashed down 23 storeys. Wait, the steps were so steep, couldn't have dashed even if we wanted to. We walked down 23 storeys. I thought I was going to fall with my coat, bag, gym clothes (haven't even packed it in), breakfast in hand.

And I was STILL expecting to hear people curse about a false alarm the moment I got down. To my horror, there were firefighters at the lift and a whole lot of people outside...

I later found out that the fire was on the 24th floor, just above me. I really can't believe that I almost stayed in my room.

I never thought I would actually be caught in a situation where I've to evacuate a building due to a real fire (too used to the faulty alarm in PGP!) I guess it's a lesson learnt.

Anyway, they sent out an e-mail. No one was hurt, thankfully.

Oh yea, Erwin didn't know it was a real fire until we called him from downstairs. He later told us that he saw the firefighters at his door when he came out, but instead of asking, 'why the hell are you still here?', they just looked at him and went along. Gosh.

Ice Skating at Rockefeller

2007-04-16T01:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, wanting to escape from the horrendous amount of projects, Erwin and I went ice skating at Rockefeller with David (he's Spanish, so it's pronounced 'Darr-veed')... really expensive, but I'm so glad we went- today is the last day before the Rockefeller Rink closes for Spring, but it's pouring today, so I guess yesterday was effectively the last day.

And skating outdoors is really so nice... the rink's really small compared to Central Park, but I really enjoyed myself because I could skate better, and the weather was nice and relatively warm... met loads of strangers while skating, a South American guy who couldn't really skate too, so we kept laughing at each other, a professor who was stumbling next to me, when I told her that I was a newbie too, and she said, 'it makes me feel like holding your hand!', so we held hands and skated along, then Erwin came along and held her other hand, and I happily slipped and fell onto the ground. Yes, I fell three times... another time while racing with David, and a third when this guy skated right into me. There were 2 professional skaters in the rink too, one guy doing really graceful moves, and this South Korean guy moonwalking to Frank Sinatra, cool... I had so much fun, skating around with Christian, Erwin, David, looking at strangers, laughing and smiling at strangers seated in the restaurant around the rink who were laughing at my lack of confidence to go too fast...

And guess what? When the rinked closed at 8, they changed the music... and this guy proposed to his girlfriend on the rink... it was so sweet, got down onto his knees and all, before his friend brought a bouquet of lovely flowers. And the whole crowd watching along the sides cheered...

With David... I've nicer pictures, but they're in Christian's camera
It was David's first time ice-skating, so we had a bet to see who would learn how to skate properly first. Well, he was pretty good for his first time, and I lost to him in a race to the side...

Post Ice Skating was nothing but absolute indulgence in food. Gosh, I feel pretty sick thinking about it. We had dinner at an Italian place just off Times Square and the family sized pizza and pasta was HUGE. Thank goodness for the guys' hearty appetites. And I don't really like pizzas, so I was glad to let David have a third slice of it...

We wanted to have dessert at Juniors Cheesecake, but it was closed by the time we walked to Grand Central! We ended up at a diner called Big Daddy's... and there we were, with our waffles and strawberry cheesecake sundae icescream. I can't even begin to describe how big the ice-cream was... underneath huge amounts of whipped cream (according to Christian, it's common knowledge in Australia that whipped cream is made of pig's fat), there was strawberry, stawberry ice-craem and chunks of strawberry cheesecake all mixed... well, it was so yummy then, but on retrospect, I actually feel quite grossed out thinking about how much we managed to eat. Oh, and they had trivial pursuit cards, which we played while waiting for our food... I came up with this brilliant idea that whoever got a question right need not pay, and Christian actually managed to answer my question! I was frantically trying to find questions I could answer, but ... ahh, I'm stupid.

ahhh...look at the HUGE ice-cream. Just looking at it makes me feel fat.

Prata! And my very big bruise from all that falling.

Other than Ice Skating, I shall not talk about my absolutely horrible weekend.

There was a storm today... and the weather forecasts says that it's going to rain everyday this coming week. :( Someone save me from the weather.

And after wasting my weekend away, I just spent the entire night finishing two projects at a go. :S

Randomness on a rainy day in New York

2007-04-12T16:04:00.001-04:00

I woke up to the gloomy sound of raindrops today. It's been ages since I've seen so much rain, but I certainly don't miss it. What a hassle, couldn't walk to school, searching for my umbrella, running for the school bus while holding my bag, file, shoebag and umbrella...and the wind was so strong I could barely hold the umbrella over my head!

I had yet another random thought while dashing from the gym back to Stern today. As always, because I always go to the gym during my lunch break. For those who don't know, I go then to avoid the crowd. And well, the shower there is way nicer than the bathroom in my apartment. Love standing under the big dryer to dry my hair, love putting makeup in front of a big mirror, with proper lighting. I digress.

So, I was running in the rain, and blaming my inability to run any faster on the traffic light at every single street, and my long coat getting in my way, when I realized-

I'm so used to seeing people in long coats! Everyone wears them in New York, thick ones for the winter, thin ones for the rainy spring... and then, I wondered to myself, 'If I wore a long coat along the streets in Singapore, is everyone going to stare?' I heard the weather back home is still as erratic as it was when I left...seriously, the next time it pours when I'm back, my first instinct would be to reach for my trench coat and put it on, and stop just as I'm stepping out of my room, and think, 'Oh shit. I'm not in New York! Go change.'

I thought I can't wait to pack my long coats into my suitcase (don't think that will happen ever, looking at the weather), but now I think of it, I can't imagine not wearing a trench coat, or not seeing anyone in a trench coat.

Another random realization- I never really noticed it, but the NYU Home webpage, which is the equivalent of NUS' IVLE Intranet, is so pretty! I think I might miss seeing it. When I finally log on to IVLE again, after so long, I'll probably think, 'Oh man, this is ugly.'

Log-on page...

... I can't believe I only JUST today that this page looks different every single time I visit...

ahh, so many versions. If you're bored, just go to http://www.home.nyu.edu and click refresh over and over again...

The 'IVLE' after you log in...

Change the colour settings, and the picture changes along with it...(about 7 different versions!)

I know it seems really trivial...but pretty websites does make school work a teeny bit less
dreary!

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,127042,00.html - Read this, the first ever Singapore Day for Singaporeans in New York City is next Saturday... the description of the food is making me drool. Good food, and mambo night!

Finance Test is Over! (and Tuesday mumblings)

2007-04-10T18:59:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling unusually pleased right now... the title says it all. Yay, felt so happy putting my finance notes back into the stack in my drawer (yes, I still do not own any files.)

Bad news-

I just discovered that projects are due in about two weeks...

Today, my New Product Development chose our presentation date... and it's one day after Consumer Behaviour project presentation...

Projects are barely halfway done... (not even quarter-way actually)

I've a finance excel assignment to do *curses*...

I just realized exams are coming...

I've exams on 3 consective days...

...and there's no such thing as a study week over here!

But who cares, doesn't stop me from giving myself a short break now. I just want to enjoy what's left of New York.

And I was wearing my new Zara shirt today, what a nice shirt to feel happy in (Yea, I'm a photo whore.) Anyway, Ray says I look like I've grown older..well, when exams are over, I'll be turning 21 really soon... oh, we'll be attending Warren Buffett's AGM at Omaha (probably the most boring place on earth... made more so by the 5.5 hours question and answer session- didn't know investors have so much to ask about financial statements!)... so I requested to take one of my papers earlier (going to die) and will be flying over immediately after my last paper.

It's funny how we get accustomed to things. I tend to have sudden revelations about the things that I've grown used to over here in New York, and it always amazes me-

On Saturday, I walked past a SHOPPING CENTRE (I miss shopping centres!) and Takashimaya New York... two things I haven't seen in ages. And then, it dawned on me that I'm no longer amazed by huge stores. I'm so used to walking into a store, and expecting to be big, (usually) pretty... with a security guard by the door.

While I was at the female locker room of Cole Sports Centre this afternoon, it occurred to me(with some amusement) that I've grown used to seeing people change in front of me. haha.

I'm looking forward to home, and not looking forward to leaving New York City, all at the same time. Last night, I lay in bed wondering how it'll feel when I step into Changi Airport...

I simply can't imagine.

Oh well, considering I'm stopping over at Germany on the way back... it still seems pretty far.

For now, I shall munch on my sweet potato bun from Chinatown. Yummi-ly. Happily.

A Profound Question

2007-04-08T03:21:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention that my mind was occupied by a most profoud question while I was walking back from school on Thursday evening-

'What's the first thing I'm going to eat the moment I step into Changi Airport? (Well, assuming I don't get right into my car and sleep.)

It's a tough question!

Some other random pictures which as been sitting in my computer because I've been lazy...

From Engsiang's visit...rarely take pictures in my room. I got the form for booking a checkout appointment in my mailbox today... I really should take pictures of my room (even in its messy, un-pretty, dirty state)

Sujin's 22nd birthday party yesterday. She's my Korean neighbour and New Product Development groupmate... I got her earrings because she's always looking at mine (and says that she has never seen me wear the same pair twice, haha)

From Mel's visit... outside the Hersheys Store at Times Square.
I went nuts in New York! (not really, haven't been clubbing)

Saturday Slacking

2007-04-08T01:33:00.000-04:00

Cat, Winnie, Erwin and I went to try for the lottery to get Hairspray tickets today... and Erwin got lucky! He got two front row orchestra seats, so we bought two more standing tickets and took turns to sit and stand. Winnie and I sat in the first half, and stood after the intermission...

which was absolutely PERFECT.

I hate to swoon, but Ashley Parker Angel (the guy from Making the Band) was starring in the show and... oh my goodness, he was just there, right in front of me on stage. Ahh, good show, great dancing, great singing, and greater eye candy (very very very cute :p). And during the half when I was standing at the back, there was an act when some of the cast members came out from the back of the audience... and he was standing next to me for 20 seconds. (I wouldn't have realized if Winnie didn't tell me!) I felt like I could die on the spot, haha.

Well, it's a lucky day, Erwin winning the lottery, cheap tickets, eye candy. =)

Oh, but I've decided that I prefer standing tickets to the front row orchestra seats. We were literally seated right in front, about 1 inch from the edge of the stage (at the corner too)... so we couldn't really see the entire stage properly. And I didn't know how tiring it was until I finally moved during the intermission, and boy, my neck was aching.

The Apple Store near central park's supposed to be a tourist icon by itself.. since we had loads of time after getting our tickets, we decided to check it out. It's really cool... (actually, stores in New York generally have cool concepts)... it's entirely glass, so you get a great view of the surrounding tall buildings. And when you step in, you take this glass elevator down to the glass store... I'm no Apple Fan, but walking into the Apple store really makes you feel like buying an Ipod. All the displays, Apple TV... and every single model/colour is put on display for you to try.

Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever enjoyed shopping in toy shops until I got here... all the toy shops here really have a way on bringing out the most childish side of me, including the FOA Scwarz toyshop next to Apple. All the life sized stuffed animals, dogs, dolls... if I were a kid, I think I'd want to live in New York and visit toy shops everyday. I think the coolest think was the 'piano' on the floor... I actually got in line to try it out, but changed my mind since there were kids in front of me and they were closing. We were lucky to catch the last performance of the day though... it's pretty impressive, take a look at the video in the previous post!Sigh. It's Sunday tomorrow and if I don't finally do my work, I'm so dead. There's a finance test coming up on Tuesday, and I've been completely lost ever since lessons resumed after Spring Break. If it's possible to fail something here, this is definitely it.

Cool Pianos

2007-04-08T01:09:00.001-04:00

Photobucket Album

Check this out... saw it in the FOA Schwarz toyshop today! 250000 USD to buy a piano like that!

Start-of-April/Spring thoughts

2007-04-03T21:46:00.000-04:00

Cliche as it sounds, but time does fly, isn't it?

3 months have passed, 53 days before I leave New York City. Last Saturday, I took Engsiang to take a look at Stern from the outside, and I suddenly recalled this picture. I remember I was quite impressed with Stern's Tisch Hall and Kaufmann Management Centre when I first arrived... that picture was taken 3 days after I landed here, when the Stern building was still a novelty. Now, I'm so used to seeing it everyday, that I don't even look at it... in fact, I'm usually dashing towards it, trying to make it in time for classes. When I get back to NUS, I wonder whether I'll suddenly remember, and miss seeing such a nice building.

Today, I saw cherry blossoms while walking back from school... spring is here, or at least, it's coming really soon. I still remember the cold when I first got here, and the horrid cold in Febraury, when the temperatures dropped way below 0 degrees... freezing while waiting for the NYU bus, I hoped for spring each morning.

Now, it's never too cold to walk to school comfortably... and I walk so fast. I've always liked walking, and I used to think that I would walk a different route every day, to check out the different food and little shops in every street... but I've been walking the exact same route almost everyday. I'm so used to turning the corner at 23rd street, then walking down to Stern along 3rd Avenue, passing the same diners, same grocery shops... and more and more fruit stores have been popping up along the streets, and fruits have been cheaper... yet another sign, that spring is here.

I've since packed all my long sleeves tops and thermal wear into my luggage. The trench coats will go there too, as soon as possible.

I remember the first time I went to Times Square... I loved it so much that I said, 'I'm going to come here at least 5 times.' I think I've been there about 6-7 times... and I've stopped noticing the lights. Now, the shops seem boring too.

It's April, and it seems like I've gotten used to New York, learnt to live here... like I've come to know New York. Yet, there are so many things I thought I was so excited to do, but haven't. Visit Strand Bookstore, see the Metropolitan, spend hours walking around Central Park and looking at trees (I'll do this!), see Rockefeller, the statue of liberty, Brooklyn Bridge... I haven't even stepped out of Manhattan, except the brief encounter with Staten Island. (I thought I would shop all the streets of New York City... but really, I haven't been shopping that much. haha, spare me that skeptical grin.)

I'm so used to the 10-15 minute walk to the nearest subway station... navigating the subway map... frequently hopping onto the green line to grand central, then the shuttle to Times Square... but I've never taken the bus. Not that I intend to.

There was a time when I thought I've to visit somewhere new every single Friday, with the long weekends and all. Now, I can't seem to remember what I've done every single Friday.

When my friends came, it was such a novelty... We've had pizza at the restaurant below my apartment, desert at cafe mozart, random stuff from the Mc Donald's $1 menu, lunch at Kimmel (NYU's student life centre), bun and milk tea at Chinatown, shopped at Soho, stood outside the Met, tried to get tickets for a musical... the familiarity of all the old faces, smiles and comfort from our days in Hwa Chong... We could have been anywhere, in Singapore, eating, shopping at Orchard Road. The things we've always done... but how often are we here together in New York?

For me, not very often.

I need to save money

2007-03-31T01:41:00.000-04:00

Tell me what do you do when...

...you happen to walk into Le Chateau just as you are about to catch the NYU bus home... and find that they're clearing their accessories at a dollar each...

... and another day, on the way home from school, you discover another store clearing their bags at $5 each...(speaking of which, I've been looking for a big sling bag to carry to school ever since the strap of my old one broke and it's so difficult to find anything cheap and functional... really miss all my bags lying at home)

... and you've already spend money watch a musical the same week...

... and on a weekend, you go shopping with an old friend and he agrees that the Guess watch you've been eyeing is nice and inexpensive...

...not to forget, Swatch is having a 40% spring sale... (note to self: avoid seeing it while walking anywhere near school)

What do you do when your school is next to all the shops, when clothes/accessories are cheaper than food, when everything is always on sale because the fashion changes so fast, when watching muscals sometimes only cost twice as much as watching a movie...

... I refuse to buy any food outside next week!

Anyway, I came down with a fever yesterday... went for one class, planned to skip one, ended up skipping two... and when I woke up, the only think on my mind was, 'It's so hot, I want to drink coke' and called Taitong, who kindly bought me two bottles to down...

...the weekend has been nice so far though. Estelle and Engsiang came over to chill out, and I laughed a lot in spite of my runny nose and throat.

Thank goodness I got better today- it's been a fun Friday, heading down to Soho with Engsiang, walking in and out of shops looking for clothes and discussing them, having milk tea and buns at Chinatown... we had plans to trying to get tickets to watch Wicked (if you want to get cheap tickets, you can submit your name at the box office 2 hours before the show and everyday, they conduct a lottery to pick 20 people who will get the orchestra seats at $26)... but there were probably about 200 people who entered their names in the lottery and we didn't get lucky. :(

I'm really much better now, but I'm pretending I still too sick to do work until tomorrow.

Les Miserables

2007-03-28T00:55:00.000-04:00

Life's been busy... but fun.

Last week, I saw Sheryl, Serene, Christina and Engsiang... and I met Melissa today, who came with the package from my mum, complete with my Horlicks, coffee, Redoxon and credit card in an angpow!

Mel and I managed to get standing tickets for Les Miserables! It's not my first time watching the musical, but definitely the most enjoyable by far because I understand so much more... and it was awesome. To me, this show and its music is timeless. And I'm pretty lucky to have been able to watch it at this time! Lea Salonga (the voice of Miss Saigon, Princess Jasmine) played Fantine and her voice was amazing... I think just hearing her sing for awhile was worth my 21 dollars.

I'm convinced Spring is coming. The weather has been good the past week... I've officially put all my thermal wear and scarves away. And today was amazing... the highest was 21 degrees, damnnnnn hot in the afternoon. I'm not complaining though, it's wonderful to be able to take out all my (Zara) tops and walk around without a jacket... and not feel fat with all the thermal wear and million layers!

And I've started running outside the gym sometimes too... last weekend, I followed a jogger on the streets and found the East River! It's pretty dirty, and probably polluted since its next to the highway (but then again, which part of Manhattan isn't?)... but I loved seeing the skyline of New York across the river... and I was sweating in 8 degrees!

School work's piling up... projects, assignments, case studies and what not... but well, I'm on exchange! Everyone here are really laid back about projects... general lack of motivation to even have project group meetings. But heck.

Just wanted to say that I miss everyone back home. =)

2007-03-25T02:11:00.000-04:00

Cat's 21st Birthday

Me, Serene, Christina @ Cafe Mozart

Estelle, Sheryl & I @ Cafe Mozart

Girls @ Central Park

Spring's coming!

2007-03-22T13:56:00.000-04:00

I'm about to rush to class, but I'm so excited that I've to type this first... I just realized it's nearing the end of March, and spring should be here, soon.

It didn't feel like spring with all the remains of the snow since I got back from Orlando... and it was cold this morning while I was going to school.

But when I stepped out of the gym on today afternoon, it was SO WARM that I had to strip off all my jackets immediately!

I just checked the weather, it's 14 degrees now and the low for today is 10 degrees! YAY, glad that I'm going clubbing tonight, don't have to wear so much.

Anyway, Sheryl and Serene are staying with me this week, so nice. =)

ahhh, I'm so excited for spring.

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Spring Break Updated!

2007-03-21T02:00:00.000-04:00

I finally have some time to post up everything on Spring Break... because it's Thursday night! I love Thursday nights... in anticipation of the 3 day weekend, I can update my blog, slack, surf the net, talk to my mum on MSN and listen to her whine about housework (maid's on vacation right now)...

Hanging around + Universal City Walk, Orlando
One the day we arrived at Orlando, my poor, deprived, ghastly white skin saw the sun for the first time! Felt good to be able to take pictures in normal looking clothes and actually look a bit different everyday...instead of being stuck in trench coats all the time. I was rather disappointed in myself though. When the temperature dropped in the evening, I still had to wear a cardigan... I thought my body would be able to brace any cold after all the freezing in sub-zero temperatures! And I was still freezing in air-conditioned places, why?!

As I mentioned before, Orlando was strange to me... too surreal. Food was expensive, except buffets... so many cheap buffets everywhere. After being deprived of food all morning, we stuffed ourselves Sizzlers for lunch...great to have a reasonable steak after so long, but I felt like I never want to eat a buffet ever again. We explored some shops... well, mostly gift shops, half of which claimed to be 'the biggest giftshop in the world.' Right.

We took a walk at Universal downtown in the evening... pretty nice, with the live bands, clubs, big restaurants, Hardrock cafe etc, except that I was pretty tired from sleeping two hours the night before, talking to Taitong on the flight instead of sleeping (nice chat) and the day's travelling.

Walt Disney Magic Kingdom & Disney Downtown, Orlando

If I ever go back to Orlando again, I'll probably only visit 2 places... Universal Studios, and the entire Disney area, which is huge- 5 theme parks + Disney downtown + Disney resorts. Taitong and I were wondering if it was as big as Singapore... and I'll make sure I rent a car to drive. Transportation in Orlando was really terrible...we had passes for the i-trolley, which brings you to the various attractions along Internatonal Drive, but it came only once in 20 minutes, didn't go to Disneyland, ended at 10pm... we spent a lot of money taking cabs from Disney back to our hotel.

I've written about Disneyworld before, so I'll let the pictures speak of how it relieved my childhood...

Oh, I didn't include pictures of this, but we went for a the Arabian Nights dinner show as well. I wouldn't say it was bad, but it was definitely not worth the price and the expensive cab fare just to get to the place. We were served dinner while watching a horse show (and a feeble attempt to fit it into some lame storyline)...well, it was difficult to concentrate on the show and my food at the same time, especially in the dark. And I couldn't help but keep thinking, 'If I were really an animal lover, I might not be able to eat while watching the horses being whipped and doing stunts) Orlando has many famous dinner shows- comedy shows, mystery shows etc... guess we picked the wrong show and location.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not
This was an interesting place... check out the cool slanted building! It's basically a museum with a collection of wierd and amazing things, such as artwork made of a million buttons/strands of hair/cigeratte wrappers, a three-legged man who used his third leg as a 'support' so that bending his knees was like sitting on a chair, a dress made of guitar picks, heads shrunk to the size of a fist...

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Orlando

We spent 2 days at Islands of Adventure and it was greeeaaaattttt. All the attractions were so innovative and I loved almost every single ride, from the extreme roller coasters to the kiddy ones.

The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride was the most brilliant ride I've ever been on in my life! It wasn't so thrilling that you'd scream your lung outs, but it was so smart- a combination of simulated rides, a real roller coaster and 3D movie effects. Basically, you 'travel' to different screens and experience various simulated effects, including Spiderman popping up right in front of you, the bad guys stretching out to grab you, swinging about the city, falling off a skyscrapper and being caught by a web... the effects were so real, really felt like I was in the middle of a Spiderman movie... could even feel the heat of the 'fire'!

We also got soaking wet by the Popoye's ride down the ripples... and there were kids who (paid money to) shot us with water guns... I was freezing from all the splashes. And we screamed out hearts out with The Hulk and Duelling Dragons...Oh, I must mention Poseidon's Fury. This wasn't a ride, but a tour of the 'Temple of poseidon'... and wow, the effects were brilliant... they made it as if we were caught in a temple without escape, and we walked through a tunnel with water swirling all around (so fast that it doesn't even splash you), stood in a cave... and there was this amazing moment when we were blinded by a flash of light and the next second, the entire cave had transformed into a place with water splashing, pouring off the falls and fire as the 'gods' fought... so so so impressive.

Erwin's Birthday Celebration

We surprised him with a cake and a free facial!

Erwin's Seafood Birthday Dinner, Lincoln Drive, Miami

Miami really reminded me of Singapore... among the cities I've seen in US, it's the one that is closest to Singapore. The shopping, the tropical weather, Metro above the ground... and Lincoln drive felt like an expanded version of Clarke Quay, with all the restaurants/bars/clubs... there was even a river at the end of the stretch, just like the Singapore River. While Singapore is not even half as exciting, visiting Miami somehow made me realize why people might want to come to Singapore...

I loved Miami. Besides the strage familiarity of some areas, it's such a happening place! I'm sure everyone there does only 3 things- go to the beach in the day, eat and shop in the evening, then go clubbing. In the day, everyone walks about the streets in their bikinis and at night, in their party clothes. Can really feel the entire life of the place at night... with music blasting from cool cars on the way to the clubs, crowds along Lincoln drive, sounds of people shouting and singing on the street...so exciting.

Anyway, it was Erwin's birthday, so we treated ourselves to dinner at this seafood restaurant, which was relatively cheap compared to New York City. It was the first time I tasted crab/shrimp in ages... and absolutely heavenly.

South Beach, Miami

I've never exactly been a very 'beach' person, but South Beach was so nice! Cat and I lay on a deck chair to tan, and alternated between reading a book and sleeping (mostly this) by the beach... loved the feeling of the sun on my skin and just closing my eyes to relax. It can't really be seen in the beach pictures, but I swear I got browner when the effects of the sun set in about a day later... I'm no longer such a white chicken!

Clubbing at Cleavelanders + Last night in our messy 1-Star hotel room, Miami

This club was recommended by Qiuyun, and we later found out that it's the most famous club in Miami. The music was bad, but it was quite an experience clubbing outdoors... and there's a swimming pool below the dance floor.

Bus City Tour and Ducktour, Miami

We were chased out of our hotel on the morning of our last day, so we went on the tours to pass time... very enjoyable ones too. The bus took us to the various neighbour hoods of Miami- Little Havana, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, the Art Deco District... seeing some of the highways reminded me of Singapore again, as well as the palm trees and expensive houses which felt a little bit like the Bukit Timah area. People in Miami are really, really, really rich... all the houses were beautiful, especially those where the entrances faced the river, and the owners had private speedboats to cruise along the river and take them around. We also passed Versace's house... and a hotel that costs US$1000+ a night to stay! At Little Havana, we got to try some Cuban coffee...the smell was like...MMMM...mmmm..mmmm

I think we all liked the Ducktour along bayside the best... took a cruise with a great view of the islands, basked in the sun, enjoyed the wind... and we met a Singaporean who was in Miami on business! He heard asked talking and asked, 'Are you from Singapore?' Loads of celebrities live on the islands... saw the houses of Madonna, Gloria Estefan, P Diddy...

I've to run off to meet Estelle, Sheryl, Serene and Chris who are all in New York City this week!

Bye Becky

2007-03-18T20:38:00.000-04:00

Wish I was there to see you

Orlando so far...

2007-03-12T01:45:00.000-04:00

I can't really post pictures now because I'm using Taitong's laptop... but there are a few random things I feel like talking about first...

I've mentioned this before, but I can't help but keep feeling that Orlando is a really bizarre place... I feel like I've been transported into some strange land made specially for tourists... there's really no sign of ordinary living (I'm still wondering where the locals live)... with all the tourist attractions, gift shops, outlet shops and overpriced food... rarely see taxis about, and there's this whole internal iTrolley system meant to take tourists around. And the whole place just feels empty, and quiet (the whole world is at Disneyworld and Universal Studios)... I even feel strange waiting for the bus here because it takes so loooonnnggg to come, as if there's no need to rush anywhere, because every single soul here is on a holiday.

We went to Disneyworld yesterday! I think I'm getting a little too old... the roller coasters are not exciting enough for me anymore, but I ended up enjoying the 'kiddish' rides like Winnie-the-pooh, Peter Pan, It's a Small World... all so pretty. And we watched this real cool PhilHarmagic show too... the Mad Spinning Teacups took on a new high this time, with Erwin spinning it so fast that I couldn't stop laughing in all my giddyness, and felt like I couldn't stand after it ended, I can't believe those teacups turned out to be the most exhilarating ride! I'll probably let the pictures do the talking when I post them (can remember better with them too)... I shall just add that the highlights of the day were really the parades and fireworks disaply. We watched both the day and night parades... fabulous floats and dancing... the night procession was like a disneyfied Chingay with all the lights, just a million times more exciting. I really wonder how many people work in Disneyworld just to put up such a spectacle everyday... and how much they spend putting up the fireworks display every night... it was SO SO SO SO NICE. 20 minutes worth of fireworks, I've never seen so many fireworks at a go in my whole life.

Really feel like retiring to my bed to read Fast Food nation now, but there're some random things I feel like typing about before I forget-

(1) Erwin said the most enlightening thing at Disneyworld yesterday. I was thinking back about how I used to read Enid Blyton when I was a kid and how I loved The Naughtiest Girl in School series...and then he said, 'It's communist.' My first reaction was 'HUH?!'...then i realized it made a lot of sense- all the kids going to boarding school, where they've to surrender all their food and money from home, so that they can be distributed and shared equally among everyone...

I feel like reading it all over again to look for all the connotations. Can't get it out of my head.

(2) At Ripley's Believe It Or Not today... Erwin was trying out one of these 'metal ring puzzles' (twist around two interlocking rings until you figure out how to take them apart...' Bored, I decided to try it too and after awhile, I said, 'This is so impossible. This is amazing.' He turned to my direction just as I said that (while fiddling), turned back... and realized he unknowingly separated the rings just after I said that! Believe it or not!

Very tired now... and feeling so poor, despite saving loads of money from practically starving the whole day at Disneyworld yesterday (wanted to maximize our time and avoid paying for overpriced food)

Tagged by Andy, Spring Break is here

2007-03-08T21:49:00.000-05:00

I've never done this 'tagged' thing before, but since Andy- since it's you who tagged, and you wrote me a postcard last year, and said we should keep in touch, eat dimsum... and didn't have the time too (you were so busy the whole of Dec!), I've decided to respond to it. (I promise I'll send you a postcard from New York City sometime!)

This is what you are supposed to cut and paste if you decide to participate in the tagging game. Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog

Six Weird Things About Chengwei:

1. I have some peculiar eating habits- I love dunking things into my coffee! Besides the normal biscuit with coffee, I love dipping corn flakes, all kinds of toasted bread (especially wholemeal loaves, english muffins, ciabattas), waffles, danishes, croissants...

2. This should have been number 1 - hear this, I DO NOT EAT CHOCOLATES, not because I hate them, but because I'm paranoid from having fallen sick so many times straight after consuming chocolates. I haven't eaten chocolates for more than a year!

3. I love eating in class and having 'TV dinners'. There are times when I would starve myself through lunch just to eat during 2 o'clock lectures... starve myself until 9pm to watch TV...

4. My vision of an ideal life is to have enough time to wake up and read the newspapers while drinking coffee everyday... it's really not that simple... no one has anytime for that!

5. I don't know when I acquired this habit, but I don't believe in sleeping too much anymore. I go to bed whenever I feel sleepy and whatever time that is, I'll set my alarm for 7 hours later. So if I sleep at 1am...I'm up by 8am! (and sometimes I wake up automatically before that) I actually think it's a good habit... makes me feel pleased with myself because I've a lot more time for the rest of the day.

6. I'm scared of fishes, I hate eating (most) fishes, but I LOVE sashimi....

I tag- Manda, Linda, Christine, Taitong, Darren, Kevin (I'm too lazy to tag on your blogs... so if you happen to see this)

It's spring break! I'm actually typing on Taitong's laptop in Orlando right now... My entire attitude has really transformed over here. If I were back in NUS, I wouldn't be able to enjoy a vacation if I know I've undone work... it'll be nagging at me at the back of my mind. But now, I've an assignment due on the first day after break, I'm getting back only one day before... but I don't seem to be affected by the fact that I haven't done it.

After half a semester, I realized the general attitude to school is a lot more laxed over here... no one seems to care much about skipping classes, which makes me wonder how they catch up. Attendance in most of my classes were only half full yesterday... probably because most people had gone off for Spring Break. For one of my modules, the professor asked if we had a problem with the schedule exam date and someone actually raised her hand and said, 'yea I can't come. It's my best friend's wedding'... and everyone had a whole host of reasons for not liking the date, which prompted me to say, 'yea I can't make it, my mum's coming.' So we had a class discussion, and the exam date was rescheduled.

If I were back in NUS having my mid-semester break right now, I'd be studying for midterms, catching up on tutorials and thinking about the upcoming projects. No one seems to care about starting any projects early over here... project meetings get cancelled, and are never rescheduled. I've one nice project group though, thankfully, =) If I were back in NUS, I'd be frantically trying to finish studying for my midterms (still remember I had 6 last semester), but over here, I panic about half a day before, decide to walk to school before my paper instead of mugging on the bus... and I won't say the exams are that easy, but the level of difficulty is something we can never even dream about in NUS.

It's been half a semester, but it's hard to decide which system I like better. I like it that it's more relaxed, but admittedly, it seems even more so because the fact that my grades don't count leaves me with little motivation (ah, shame on me!). Somehow, I feel that everything back home is more rigorous, and we get a better grasp of everything (most of the time). But things are always more exciting with Stern and New York City. Yesterday, we had the assistant marketing director of Loreal International come speak to us during New Product Development class (claairrsss- it's so easy to slip into pronouncing all my 'a's the American way) and it was so interesting that I thought, 'Stern students are lucky, so many opportunities to hear from people in the different industries.'

And then there are classes like movie marketing. The prof works with Miramax and he had just gotten back from the Oscars, so he spent 15 minutes telling us how boring it was... apparantly, during the uninteresting awards like best lightings/sets, everyone there gets bored and walk out for drinks by the bar, leaving the auditorium almost completely empty...and guess what, they actually have 'fillers' on standby to occupy the empty seats so that it looks like the audience is always there on TV! I find it so unbelievable... getting people to dress up fancily just to be 'fillers'!

Just go to Orlando today... really tired because we barely slept last night after being locked out. (ended up at Dunkin Donuts in the middle of the night- felt like I was having breakfast with my cup of decaf coffee and bagels.) Orlando must be the ultimate tourism-driven city in US... I honestly think that if you live here, you: (1) own a hotel/inn (2) work in a hotel/inn (3) own a theme park/tourism attraction (4) work in a theme park/tourism attraction(5) own a restaurant (5) own a gift sore (6) work in a gift store (with the amount I spend eating at a diner in NYC, I can have a whole main course and buffet here...)

We're going to Disneyworld tomorrow... about disappointed that we're just going for one day and skipping Universal Studios entirely since I already flew all the way here and don't know when the next time ... but well, they're really expensive. And I'm really looking forward to watching the Arabian Nights dinner show... so many dinner shows here! The rest will be visiting Holyland, which I'm skipping... shall spend some time shopping at the malls and outlet stores... hopefully there're nice things to buy, mid-semester break can't possibly feel complete without some retail therapy!

HI DAD- You need MSN!

2007-03-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

Of Mary Poppins, life, tests

2007-03-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed Mary Poppins so much! It's definitely the best musical I've watched here so far- the theatre was great, the set was beautiful (and I mean, fantabulous-ly beeeaaautttiiiffulll), the magic trick effects, the singing, the dancing... I really loved the tap dancing and all... the above video's the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (I can't spell it, copied and paste, haha) dance, the last part is really cool! I can't find the video for 'Step in Time'...

the roof top tap dancing was so impressive, especially when Bert started 'walking' up the side of the stage, and started tap dancing upside down at the top... obviously pulled along by strings, but it was amazing because he was singing, and you can still hear the tapping sound of his feet!

I think the entire stage and effects is really worth paying to watch... they had Mary Poppins 'flying' down with a kite... and they lifted her up to the audience at the end...

It brought back so many childhood memories of watching Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dkye in the Mary Poppins movie.

While walking to school yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me that I've grown so used to the street of New York City... and the food vending carts everywhere. I don't buy much from them, but I love them anyway... love the smell of the kebabs/hot sandwiches as I pass them, seeing the big pretzels, buying honey coated, freshly roasted nuts (yumyum, they always seem to be at the shopping areas, so I always buy them while shopping!)... and especially the breakfast carts that sell bagels, croissants, muffins, danish, doughnuts... I haven't bought any food from those, but for some strange reason, I love it when I'm rushing along Bleecker Street to Stern in the morning, stop by one, and ask for 'one small coffee with skim milk please' to carry along to class. I know I'm going to miss seeing these vendors around when I eventually return home.

I've grown accustomed to so many things here- the supermarkets, walking everywhere, the Subway, the feeling of 'I don't feel like going home' after every show I watch at Times Square because there's so much life there, expecting to see random people performing in the Subway... still don't like it, but the cold weather and never sweating... speaking of which, it was 12 degrees today. Totally unbelievable... I had to take off my jacket after coming out of the gym because it was so hot!

And of course, I've gotten used to slacking...Sigh, I've two tests coming up next week and I've absolutely no motivation to prepare for them. Doesn't matter that Consumer Behaviour is pretty interesting. On the upside, my Managerial Accounting finals is on Wednesday... will be looking forward to starting school at 2pm on Mondays and Wednesday after Spring Break!

And some habits never change, like how I need to bathe, change, wash my face, put on moisturizer/cream/toner/whatever whenever I get home before doing anything else... even if I'm starving, I need to settle down before I can eat in peace... which is terrible, because I usually am starving after a pathetic lunch in school, and there's so many coats/jackets/gloves to keep before I can eat. Like how I love eating in class... I really can't help it, so I find myself eating my breakfast at 11am because that's my earliest class, waiting until 2pm to munch on food during my 2pm class... and how I love dipping things in coffee- I just discovered how good waffles dipped in coffee is!

Amanda... I miss eating with you! (and drinking Ya Kun teh bing)

Weekend

2007-02-26T01:18:00.000-05:00

By right, I should have spent my weekend preparing for my midterm tests, but well... I'm so used to slacking the weekends away. Even back home, I've always associated weekends with a break- work, dinner with my mum, sometimes shopping, lazing the whole Sunday away reading the newspapers, playing the piano and enjoy home, dinner with my family... except over here, it's not quite the same because the concept of being slack applies 24/7!

Friday night was spent laughing my head off at the National Comedy Theatre, where they had a competition between two teams of comedians who had to play games with input from the audience. They were really amazing... there was this game where this guy had to 'guess what he was doing' based on the gibberish talk and mimes from his teammates- I don't know how on earth he did it, but he managed to guess, 'I'm playing baseball, but the bat is a pickle, and the bases are the Olsen Twins, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton.' They kept speaking apparantly senseless stuff that sounded like 'bleah om ugh waata....'... impressive man.

I had grand plans to be really disciplined and stay home all of Saturday, but Cat wanted to go shopping around Grand Central and I couldn't resist... and actually, I'm really thankful we went out. It's been a long time since I've had 'girl retail therapy' with no guys around! (no offence to you guys, haha) We walked around Grand Central... always looking at FOOD as usual, bought Juniors cheesecake (decided to cut it into half so the guys can gobble up their share as fast as they like while we slowly savour ours...strolled along 42nd to 34th, looking at the stores along the way...

And we walked into a really exciting kids place- Build - a - Bear factory. It's this place where you can customize your stuffed toy... if I had a kid, I would definitely bring HER there!

First you choose your toy....then stuff it up...

...dry it and comb its hair...

...pick an outfit... (there're so many! Sports wear, statue of liberty, wedding gowns, suits...)

...pick shoes and a host of other accessories, like collar IDs, caps, integrated voice...

...and you get your own cute bear!

We checked out Macys at 5th Avenue too... just at the right time because it was having a one-day sale...except that it was so huge that we didn't have the energy to look through everything. There're just so many things to look, definitely going back there for more shopping! =)

On Sunday, I thought I would quickly go to the gym before lunch, then rush back to study... but I stopped by the supermarket on my way back... and argh, the supermarket is the bane of my existence over here! Everytime I walk in, I end up spending at least 30 minutes just looking through the incredible variety of food in different versions and brands-the cereals, the different flavoured oatmeals, the jams, cheese, salad bar... and trying to resist buying all of them. And if there's one thing about food that I like here, it must be the different kinds of bread... all the pitas, ciabatta, cheese ciabatta, garlic cheese baguettes, farmers bread, country loafs etcetcetc... They're all so expensive in Singapore, I'm so going to miss eating so many types of bread when I go back...

Happy Birthday dearest Mummy!

2007-02-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

The Magic Flute

2007-02-22T01:59:00.000-05:00

I went with Christian to watch Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) at the Metropolitan Opera today. We got tickets from Stern at 5 dollars... and oh my, I feel so lucky because this is probably the only time I'll be watching an opera there. The opera house was so grand... and the entire thing was so impressive- the singing, the orchestra, and especially the stage set-up and props. Even if I did not know any German and there were no subtitles, or even if I didn't like classical music or operas at all... I think just staring at the amazing set and listening to the soprano would have been good enough!

Inside the Opera House

Curtain call (Christian took the sneak shots...)

Chandelier outside the theatre

Outside The Metropolitan Opera

=)

2007-02-21T15:40:00.000-05:00

I'm in an unbelievably good mood today for the weirdest reason...

I yahoo-ed the weather in the morning, and the forecasted temperature range for today was 0-8 degrees, which made me think, 'That's it, I'm wearing a skirt today.' So here I am, wearing what I was wearing in the following picture-

... I don't know why, but just wearing normal clothes put me in a great mood. And it's unbelievably warm outside! Didn't even have to wear my jeans under my skirt after coming out of the gym. I think i'm a lot more resistant to cold now- if I walked around in a skirt in 18 degrees air-conditioning at home, I would have been dying of cold.

I really sound so ditzy (ironically, that's 'Ditzy' with me in the picture - miss you girl!), but I think the happiness of wearing a skirt has been infecting everything I do today. I was exceptionally interested in Consumer Behaviour class today (well, it is very interesting, but even more so today)... and exceptionally happy sipping my 75cents coffee in class.

I think I shall take a walk back in the warm weather today. Going to the opera tonight!

Back from Washington DC

2007-02-20T00:40:00.000-05:00

The bus ride to DC was so looooong, but I had loads of thoughts on the way.

We passed by many of the suburban areas with huge pretty houses, except that there are nothing but trees around... and maybe a few (squarish box looking) shops/restaurants every few miles,no busses, no nothing - which I think, is the kind of place most Americans outside the big cities live in. And I was really wondering if I could possibly live in places like that. Actually, I think I wouldn't mind it for about a week, as a change from the cities I'm used to... just to experience what living in a big house in small town is like... but probably no longer.

There were so many bare trees on the way, and I was suddenly reminded of a picture of my Dad which my mum used to keep in her wallet- one of him standing among a lot of trees in autumn, probably somewhere around the Virgina area.

The weather was nice and warm when we first got to DC... then it started snowing as we were walking around... which was pretty, white ground, nice monuments, azure blue skies and all... then the snow stopped, then it got warmer, and all of a sudden... the snow was SO HEAVY as the night came. I was completely 'snowed over' (i.e. covered in snow from head to toe). We wanted to take sheltar in a toilet, but there was so much snow that we couldn't even see the toilet. (According to the news at DC, it was close to a blizzard). As usual, I thought I was going to freeze to death... everywhere I go, everytime I get used to each drop in temperature, I seem to meet worst and worst weather conditions!

This is me trying to take a picture jumping in the air among the snow while it was still nice and warm. There's a limit to how high I can jump with the weight of all the jackets...

Capitol Bulding.

I like this!

Washington Monument - This brought back another memory. According to my Dad, when we used to drive by it when I was three, I would point and say, 'pencil building!' I'm not sure, but I think we had a recording of me saying that.. National Aerospace and Air Museum. It's actually a display showing how air pressure can cause things to remain suspended in the air...and Taitong and I decided to try to take pictures which looked like we were making it float.

Actually, we didn't have much time to visit most of the places in DC. We spent most of out time in the Holocaust Museum. 'Enjoyed' wouldn't be the right word, since it was really depressing... but I read quite a bit of the history stuff in there... somewhat overwhelming because I realized that I've studied these stuff, but I've been out of touch with History for so long, when I used to be really interested in it. And, it seems so unbelievable that the Holocaust wasn't all that long ago... while sitting down to wait for the rest, I thought, 'I'm so lucky. I've lived a life so untainted.'

If I had to live somewhere in US, it might just be DC. The place is nice, there're sufficient stuff in the city-shopping, movies... and most importantly, the transport system is great. The Metro is so much newer than the subways in NYC... much easier to navigate, and basically works the way the MRT does, which I'm so used to.

Oh, something hilarious happened over dinner with Justin, Taitong's friend who studies in Maryland. Erwin was really quiet for a long time... and suddenly asked Justin, 'Which kindergarten did you go to?' We were all pretty stunned by such a random question... and the next thing we knew, Erwin said, 'I was from the same school. You used to cycle around with me in the void deck!' I think I almost died laughing, the world is so small!

I spent most of my journey back listening to music on my mp3 player. And I realized, I haven't played the piano for so long. And I don't even think I will still be able to play by the time I get back.

CNY Eve

2007-02-18T02:42:00.000-05:00

We decided to have some Chinese Food for dinner since it's Chu2 Xi1. That huge cup of Kway Teow made me a really happy woman!
The M&Ms store at Times Square is three storeys... I don't eat chocolates but it was novel looking at it anyway! The columns of M&Ms on the wall were simply amazing... (it's about twice as long as what's on the picture, couldn't get a shot of the whole thing.) And the Hersheys store was just opposite... they sell Hersheys shirts, caps, stickers, cups, pillows...and I got Hersheys earrings! Well, I'll be walking irony when I wear them since I refuse to touch chocolates...but they're cute!

Everyone has been asking how I spent Lunar New Year Eve... we spent it watching Mama Mia. We went to the ticket box two hours before to check if there were last minute discount tickets and got standing tickets for 21 dollars! I thought we'll be standing in a small crowded area...but there are actually labelled 'standing seats', where you can lean forward on the pillar... got a really good view because it was where the orchestra seats are. I think it was so worth it... I much rather stand for 2.5 hours than pay twice the price and sit somewhere on the third storey among the last rows.

And Mama Mia was really enjoyable, loved all the singing and dancing. And I can't believe they managed to fit all the songs into the story.

Happy CNY!

Dunkin Donuts Coffee!

2007-02-17T11:59:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning with a craving for coffee, so I called Erwin and half an hour later, we braved the cold to walk out...

... it was totally worth it! I LOVE DUNKIN DONUTS COFFEE! There I was, on the eve of CNY, dunkin ciabatta into my coffee...

Chengwei says:
I feel like eating another ciabatta
Erwin Teo says:
eat lah
Erwin Teo says:
so skinny.
Erwin Teo says:
can lah.
Erwin Teo says:
don't hink so much
Erwin Teo says:
ciabatta says
Erwin Teo says:
"eat me chengwei!! you want to eat me!"
Erwin Teo says:
"i'm so lonely on the shelf..."
Erwin Teo says:
"i wanna be chewed and swallowed!! mmmm. i'm tassty!!"
Chengwei says:
stop trying to make me like you!
Chengwei says:
haha i really feel like i can write a blog post about the coffee
Chengwei says:
don't u think like..the milk kind of blends in very smoothly
Chengwei says:
which makes it so nice when something soaks it up, hahaha
Erwin Teo says:
ok you're more or a coffee drinker than i am
Erwin Teo says:
for me it's like
Erwin Teo says:
"mmm. nice."
Erwin Teo says:
for you it's like
Erwin Teo says:
"the smooth aroma of the ground beans... with the silky blending of milk... serve to create a unique culinary experiance that will tentalize and delight your taste buds"
Chengwei says:
hahhaa i'm going to put that on my blog

I'm going to make sure Erwin and I take turns to grab some Dunkin Coffee every weekend from now on! He just had TWO DONUTS dunked in coffee...

I want more coffee....

Happy CNY!

2007-02-17T01:03:00.000-05:00

I feel so funny as I type this...

The mike on my mum's laptop is switched on and I can hear everything that is going on at home... the tv, my mum talking to my brother, my parents talking over dinner, the sound of people eating porridge... and the weird thing is, I feel exactly like what I would feel like if I were at home now- back from Pee Gee Pee because it's Chinese New Years Eve, sitting on the floor in the corner of the living room while typing on my laptop because everyone else is still eating at the dining table. Just now, the TV sounded so loud and I almost said, 'Daddy, softer can...' It feels like I'm home.

It's really so hard to remember I'm not at home now when I keep hearing my family talking in the background...my Dad asking my brother where he came back from, my mum asking my my maid where something is... sounds so ordinary, but so entertaining all of a sudden.

Thanks to my mum, I'm starving now. She decided to show me what they were having for lunch by facing the webcam to the dining table. Omg, the food was just spread out in front of me, and for a moment, I felt like I could just grab a pair of chopsticks and reach out for food. My mum also said I looked like I was going to start eating soon, and that she hasn't seen me so happy to see food before, haha They were having plain porridge... and it made it feel even more like I'm at home because that's what we always have for lunch on Saturday. I almost forgot how much I loved eating plain porridge.

Today feels like a normal day. Well, a bit normal because I did a bit of work in the morning. Like... the equivalent of one tutorial in NUS.

Then I spent a relaxing 1.5 hours in the gym, came back, and spent the rest of the night being entertained by the noises of my house.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone back home! Chu1 Er2 falls on Presidents Day, no school! So I'll be having a really un-Chinese New Year over at Washington DC.

Happy 21st Birthday to dearest Christine / X-ine / Bing / one half of the Friday Swing Sitters / One third of CCA! =) I can't believe we're all reaching 21 soon... we've come a long way! And... I'm wearing my friends T-shirt as my 'slacking-at-home' shirt this week in honour of you!

Heaps of snow on Valentines

2007-02-15T01:23:00.000-05:00

Last night, while Cat and Erwin were on their way back to the dog show (I didn't go back, it was so boring...), they called back to say it was snowing... and I decded, heck, I'm not going to change just to go out and freeze. So Erwin walked around by himself for half an hour and came back to tell me it was 'seriously snowing'... yep, so I just pulled on track pants to go take a look... and it was really really snowing! Whatever snow there has been before this have just been little trickles that last for a couple of minutes... and it snowed through last night...

...and this morning, I got a shock when I walked out of the dorm to get to school. There were PILES of snow everywhere... I know it looks pretty in the picture above (Madison Square Garden), but it really isn't... most of it is brown and dirty, which made me feel like I was walking around a playground the entire day. Gross. After awhile, I got so tired of trying to hop about and avoid the piles that I just walked through them... my feet were all gross and wet from walking about so much today, yikes. And it's so painful when the wind blows the snow into my face... oh, I slipped and landed in a pile of snow outside Stern. :(
Estelle thinks no one should eat crappy food alone on Valentines, so that's us at a dim sum restaurant. (I ate kway teow, mmm)
Cat, me and our (sinful) food. We spent V-day evening The Vagina Monologues at Kimmel (that's the student activities centre at NYU) and I must say, it was much better than I expected...brilliant script, witty, hilarious. Many of the cast were theatre majors and they were really brilliant. I've never read the play in spite of all the talk about it... maybe I will now.

I must mention, I think Stern is really really really rich. There was free lunch in the lobby today... I thought it would be some crappy food, but it turned out to be truckloads of huge sandwiches (turkey, beef, salmon etc), chocolate fondue, cookies, muffins... and really nice ones. gosh.

Oh, something hilarious happened in my class yesterday. It was the class with the Singaporean professor... and halfway during class, he accidentally said, 'you know, those people can be really dua jia'(big sized)'... everyone just gaped at him and I totally burst out laughing as he apologized!

Time to get to bed. There goes my day again... no work done, as usual. I don't think I'll ever survive NUS next semester.

Pictures from Upenn and Philadelphia

2007-02-12T23:22:00.000-05:00

Test is over (barely even studied), so here's pictures from our weekend trip to Upenn/Philadelphia...

Cat and I signed up for the Wharton Women Business Conference and it was good! The speakers were really prominent women and I especially liked listening to the CEO of Nieman Marcus speak about the entire retail business and selling to 2% of the richest Americans. (On a side note, she said that there're customers who ask for their remains to be kept in a Nieman Marcus carrier, I don't know whether to believe that!) Not to mention, nice food too!

And the Upenn Campus was beautiful... actually, anything's way nicer than NYU's city campus. I thought Stern was a pretty nice business school, but Wharton's really new and modern, and the facilities were amazing...

Oh, now I realize that NYC's exceptionally expensive. Everything in Philadelphia costs so much less. (Even chains like Dunkin Donuts are cheaper!) As usual, I was very excited to see food I'm familiar with in Chinatown...what more, a cheaper Chinatown... got Khongkuan biscuits and more vitasoy, yay.

Here's a dumb picture of us in our apartment, looking happy after yet another round of grocery shopping at Trader Joes.

I'm going to watch the Westminster Kennel Dog show tomorrow. It's supposedly the best dog show around... I'm quite looking forward to it!

Back from Philly

2007-02-12T00:29:00.000-05:00

Just one picture first - I've a test tomorrow and I'm still procrastinating.

Philadelphia was COLD (wait, isn't that my comment to every single thing?) I hate winter, have had enough of it.

A bit more to say

2007-02-07T01:07:00.000-05:00

Taitong and I spotted this car around school today! (Waited in the cold for the driver to leave just to take photos...)

I just remembered- I was really amused during my project group meeting today.

(1) I've kind of figured that there are a lot less choices in terms of cell phones over here, but apparantly, the cell phones aren't quite the same as those in the Asian markets...my project group mates were so amazed to hear that I charge my phone about once a week even though I don't switch off my phone at all. They charge their phones at least once in two days... even for the same brands (Samsung's really popular here), the batteries are not as good. Strange.

(2) They were equally amazed when the Korean girl told them that phones in Korea come with infrared... I think every single phone I've ever owned has infrared, and it's not even really useful.

(3) This guy who has been to Singapore was telling us about the rumours about the infamous case of the American who got caned in Singapore for attacking a policeman. The rumour over here is that he spat chewing gum on the road, and got canned for that, haha! (Well, he says he never believed a word of it.)

(4) Just the other day... he was telling us about how he loved the conveyer belts and self-order computer systems at Sakae sushi... I've always assumed it existed everywhere.

Ice Skating at Central Park

2007-02-07T00:44:00.000-05:00

NYU is rich. As part of Winterfest, they gave out free tickets for students to iceskate at Central Park's Wollman Rink... free skates, free hot chocolate (I don't take chocolate, but the massive amount of whipped cream looked sinfully good...), free scarves... we went with Poi and Sirin (from Thailand), as well as Clara (from Korea) and it was really fun... only my second time ice-skating, so I was at the side most of the time.

Unfortunately, it was COLD (-13 degrees today, I think). Brrr, my toes were so frozen I couldn't feel the bottom of my skates and I kept thinking that I was more likely to fall because my legs were trembling than from losing my balance...

Anyway, I'm going to Philadelphia this weekend. Cat and I signed up for the Wharton Women Business Conference to visit Upenn and decided to stay the weekend!

The Lion King!

2007-02-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

We went to watch The Lion King today - our first musical on Broadway... the music isn't particularly memorable compared to other musicals I've loved, but the effects and probs were so impressive! Lots of colours on stage, and they used puppets (including shadow puppets) to recreate the animals, which made it very different from any musical I've ever watched...and Timon and Pumba looked straight out of the Disney Cartoon... the guys playing them had huge puppets attached to their bellys, so they had to sing, dance, act and maneuvour the puppets at the same time, wow.

...and the theatre had a great view of Times Square!

This was from 2 days ago, when we took the ferry to Staten Island. We wanted to see the statue of liberty, but it was too foggy- that's Christian pointing to it in the last picture, as an attempt to show that we actually saw it, haha.

We walked into Virgin Megastore today at Union Park... and they had a whole lot of cool shirts selling at a 75% discount. It's crazy, can't believe I bought 8 shirts for less than $35. I'm sending a parcel back home this week... my lucky brothers have so many new shirts!

The weather's getting depressingly cold again. The wind is so crazily strong that I can hear it howling outside my window... so loud that I slept less than 3 hours last night. :S And today was so cold that we could feel the wind through the glass windows at the theatre... it's times like these when I feel absolutely no guilt paying for cabs...

Nolstagia

2007-02-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

I really should be studying for my so that I can go ice skating (for free!) at Central Park the day before my Managerial Accounting mid-terms, but I've been looking through old photos and I don't feel like it anymore.

These were taken in during my last 2 days at home...there's Becky, Lady (I saw a dog that looked like her on the streets yesterday and almost called out), Liza, the car I've yet to drive (!!!), Dad and I at Coffee Bean, Dad, Mum and I at Sushi Tei because I wanted sashimi salad before leaving, grandparents during the last dinner, a pretty sunset around my estate...

Familiar faces I used to see around Business School... and there's barely anyone I know here.

Teh bing, I didn't get a good one before leaving :(

Manda (my fashion guru) and I feeling happy around town because our exams ended on the same day...

Our favourite picture on yet another shopping trip...

With Qiuyun (my penpal) a week before she left for North Carolina...

Jingyi and Christine... and the f.r.i.e.n.d.s from the good old days when we were in the ugly Nanyang uniform...

...Linda, my shopping pal who made lectures/tutorials so much more bearable...

23rd Dec 2005, F.r.i.e.n.d.s Day and we had zicha at Novena... I need GOOD, CHEAP food...

Darren, Serene Yizhen, Ray, Lynn... the gang who made my last overseas trip to Beijing soooo memorable

Ray still owes me coffee from TCC...

Ray again, my 'brother'... we look young in this picture!

F.r.i.e.n.d.s again @ hemispheres... life was fun.

The last time Linda and I met before I left...

Asian Aerospace 2006... with my mum and brothers... the days when I looked fatter (I'll probably return looking like that)

I want to go back, where I can wear skirts and sweat in the sun, eat bread talk, ban mien, crsytal jade porridge, sushi, kuay teow, paos, khong guan biscuits (this list will never end)and anything that doesn't cost more than 3usd, go shopping with Manda, Linda, my mum, lie down in my messy bed in my messy room...

We had lunch at Gotham Bar and Grill today... Winterfest Restaurant Week is happening around here- a time when restaurants offer 3 course set lunches for a fixed price (about 25 USD + tax and tips, but it's cheap for a restaurant meal here).

I don't think I've ever eaten such nice food before... but I think I rather go home and have everything I've mentioned above and more (which will still cost less in total.)

Contented

2007-01-28T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well, i'm feeling rather contented now because I actually ran today. As in, really ran out on the streets instead of jumping up and down on the boring, depressing threadmill. And it felt soooo good... I ran a good 45 minutes, from my dorm all the way down to school and back up (got lost on the way and discovered the nearest shopping area to my place!)... and it felt way less tiring than the usual 30 minutes at the gym.

I feel like I never want to step on a threadmill ever again, but the weather forecast says it'll be colder over the coming week. :(

When you are poor, hate fastfood and missing food at home (I think there's something wrong with the grammar there, but I'm too lazy to think), anything you cooked on a stove by yourself can taste good. Last night, I had Campbell Golden Mushroom soup with bread... which was so yummy that I just bought another 3 cans of soup. While preparing my lunch just now, I discovered that vegetables can be cooked in practically any way. I couldn't even find the oil, so I just threw in ketchup, hot sauce and whatever spices there were around... no rice? Oatmeal will do.

I don't think I can ever study again. I've been watching TV on www.alluc.org for the past 2 weeks... I resolved to start on some readings last night, but I discovered that the web has loads of movies and watched Material Girls instead.

Worst still, I think I might just start on online shopping soon; it's all so tempting when I've a US address. I still can't believe I spent 4 hours looking at DKNY watches online yesterday!

Guess what?

2007-01-27T01:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, guess what, I finished my first piece of homework here. Well, first piece of homework that requires me to use my brains a little. After procrastinating for the past 3 days (When everything is pass/fail, I find myself incredibly uninspired to get any work done)... I just did it. Well, technically not because I went over the page limit, but I don't care. There's this thing about how it actually takes more effort to write more, than less sometimes.

Anyway, we were assigned to answer some questions on a Starbucks Case study. I must say, it was an enjoyable read in spite of the fact that it was 20 pages long. Well, reading about coffee is fun.

And now I can relax tomorrow- spend more time in the gym, PACK my room and probably hide here all day because its so cold. I hear the wind howling outside my window all day.

I think I said my day at Central Park was the coldest I've ever been in my life. Last night was worse- Coldest and scariest coldest day of my life, by far. We decided to check out some party organized by the Korean Student Association at a club along Spring Street and it was bad. No, it wasn't the party that was bad, because we didn't even get in. I was on the guestlist, but we still spent more than an hour queueing outside... and last night was supposedly the coldest day in New York. Most of us ended up taking shelter by hanging out in a Chinese restaurant (I think their staff gave up chasing people out) while the guys took turns to queue. We eventually went out when we thought we were about to get in... but no, they were letting about 2 people in every 5 minutes. The wind against my face left me feeling so sick that I gave up and left in a cab. And I threw up the moment I got out. Scary.

I heard from the rest that they gave up after another hour of queueing and that fights broke out because people were unhappy about having to wait. Gosh.

Oh, did I mention, the girls in front of us were in mini skirts and open toe heels. How does anyone manage survive -12 degrees wearing that?!

Slack

2007-01-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

If I were back home right now, tutorials would have started this week... but I don't have tutorials over here. Yesterday, I got back to my room before sunset, and then I realized how slack school is-

My classes start at 11am everyday, I get a long boring break from 12:15 to 2pm, and they end at 3:15pm. Well, except for Thursdays, when I get an even longer break from 3:15pm to 4:55pm, and end at 6:55pm... when it's freezing outside. And Stern has no classes on Fridays.
Oh, and one of my classes will end by Spring break, which means I'll start class at 2pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I've so much extra time on hand that I can't think of what to do besides torture myself on the threadmill in between classes. And I don't even feel compelled to do my assignments because there's until 11am the next day!

I really miss stepping into class and seeing familiar faces. Oh well, maybe it'll get better with project groups (ugh!)

Feeling nice

2007-01-20T23:52:00.000-05:00

Estelle brought me to this Malaysian Restaurant (over here, Malaysian = Singaporean) opened by a Singaporean guy last night and the food was so good. I can't believe I had fishball Kuay Teow last night; I thought I wasn't going to slurp kuay teow for half a year! It was so unbelievably satisfying...such a pity that I was too full to finish my food. I definitely must bring Taitong, Cat and Erwin to try the food there sometime.

It snowed after dinner, brrr. We took a walk back to Estelle's place and she showed me the walkway along the entrance of Columbia University (the school she attends)...

...my goodness, it's so pretty.

I bunked over at Estelle's for the night and her bed was so much more comfortable that I slept more than I ever have since I got to the states. This morning, we had a nice brunch made of coffee and french toast before she showed me more of Columbia as it is in the day. It's really so different from NYU... much more typical of an American University with it's own campus and all the Gothic architecture. It has an old, ancient feel to it, with all the statues, pillars and famous names carved out on the buildings, which I actually like better. And the common room at her dorm even had a piano... it's been a long time since I've touched those keys, but my fingers were too numb to play.

In the afternoon, I took the subway down to 59th Lexington to meet up with the rest at Central Park. I got a little lost and had to detour, but at least I can somewhat get around on the sub on my own now. We didn't see very much of it because it was way too cold, but it was lovely, especially all the trees. If only it was summer... I can see myself sitting there alone in the afternoon, reading a book, or just jogging.

But the wind was so strong today, and I've never been as cold as I was today in my whole life. In spite of wearing 4 layers, I was so cold that my feet, ears, fingers, cheeks, everything was numb. And I kept wondering whether my toes would drop off without me knowing. We took shelter in an eatery for awhile, but Taitong and I were still so cold that we couldn't speak properly. The wind just kept blowing and blowing... I think we all reached the limit of how much cold we could possibly bear... and decided to spend the next hour just browsing the shops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art even though we had no plans to view the exhibits. I think I would have been contented standing there until tomorrow morning. The Met looks interesting though, really can't wait to check it out. The store really had a very interesting colletion of books...and those on sale were really cheap. I was so tempted to get this one about advertisements of the 1960s, just that I don't know how I'm ever to carry such heavy things back. (And Chris, I got you a nice birthday present from there!)

Anyway, I think this is a pretty cool shot we took at Central Park!

The next time I visit Central Park, I'm wearing 2 jackets, 2 trench coats, 2 gloves, 2 pairs of long johns and 4 pairs of socks (I wore 2 today).

The rest were meeting some other Singaporeans for dinner, but Estelle was coming over to my place, so I left the Met early and walked all the way from 82nd to 59th street because that's the only subway I remember... so cold I didn't really care how ridiculous I looked with a hood on my head and my lips covered with the collar of my jacket. Or how I was walking behind a very tall lady all the time to shield myself from the wind.

But... I found my first ZARA in New York! The sales are pretty good... thank goodness size 36 is too small and 38 is too big, or I probably would have bought another 3 pairs of pants. Besides, whatever shirts I like from Zara, I probably would have bought them even before they're on sale. Nevertheless, just walking into the store made me a happy girl... picked up their directory, and I discovered, the nearest Zara is just 8 streets away from where I live! Yay, I can probably walk there whenever I'm depressed from now on.

I'm feeling really nice, warm and happy now, nicer than I've had in a long time. For one, I walked into Bath and Body Works when I got out of the subway on the way back... and the sales were really good... (there're just too many sales over here, help.) Picked up a pumpkin and cinammon shower gel... except that I'm feeling incredibly stupid right now... why didn't I buy enough toiletries for the next 5 months?! It's good soap and shampoo which come in various wonderful frangrances... and it's even cheaper than the crappy soap I bought from the discount store which I don't even trust not to give me rashes. It's the last day of sales tomorrow, maybe I should just walk over again.

And I had some time after Estelle left, so I finally managed to organize the stuff in my room a little. Found a makeshift toiletry bag, figured out where to place various stuff... I'm not a partiularly tidy person, but at the very least, I need an organized mess. Whenever I get back, I expect to know where to put my things and actually put them there before I can even relax... and get showered and changed into slacking clothes before I can even think of enjoying my dinner...

So tonight, my life finally had some semblence of normality. (And I finally had some time to put on face mask too, haha.) It's funny how small things can make one so contented now and then. =)

Whinings

2007-01-17T18:54:00.000-05:00

I know I sound like I'm having fun all the time, but trust me, life over here is not all that fun. Being the Singaporean that I am, I've a long list of complains right now...

Starting with the weather. Winter is definitely not fun at all.

(1) Going anywhere is really troublesome. On top of piling on so much clothes, I've to carry so many things - gloves, hats, scarves... can barely fit into my bag.
(2) Speaking of bag, it's so difficult to carry my bag because I can barely feel it above all the layers of clothes. And, it keeps slipping off because the coat makes my arms 3 times fatter.
(3) I can't find anything in my bag among all the the scarves and gloves... and I need to flash my NYU card whenever I enter any building or take the bus, so I'm always clumsily searching for it. I probably can't hear my hp if it rings under everything too.
(4) Imagine carrying a fat bag plus a thick coat walking around school. I bought my textbooks and groceries today... all added together, I felt like a garang guni man lumbering around school.
(5) Whenever I pay for something at a shop, I've to remove my gloves, feel about for my wallet, figure out how much to pay (still not familiar with all the coins), put on my gloves before going out...
(6) Everything is so heavy. My shoulders ache from all the coats hanging over my shoulder everyday and it's difficult to move quickly. Today, Cat and I were running for the bus... besides looking like a duck about to fall over its short feet (well, I know I've long legs, but they felt short then), I was carrying so many bags and my only thought was, 'If I fall forward now, I'm going to dislocate so many bones.'
(7) Continuing from (6), when the wind blows too strongly, it makes it even more difficult to move forward.

More complaints...
(8) My hostel has implemented the most ridiculous system. Initially, we had to flash our cards at the guard before he opens the door for you. Then, we had to flash our cards, and then swipe our cards to activate the turnstile to get in. As of today, we have to flash our cards for the door to open, then key in our birthdate at this device on the turnstile, then swipe our cards... I know it's security and all, but surely there's no need for this! It's not as if my identity would change from the 1 second I take to walk from the guard to the turnstile. There were so many people jamming up at the small space between the guard and the turnstile today because it just takes so long to get through.
(9) Now I truly appreciate the A1/A2 bus service at NUS. They're packed, but they come frequently, and there are bus stops... over here, the shuttles come once in 15 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes...so once you miss it (and I seem to miss it all the time), you're left freezing in the open until the next one finally comes. And they're not exactly on schedule because of the traffic around New York City. For now, I can only take the bus from the last stop because there are no bus stops and I've no idea where else it stops.
(10) I've to pay for RECEIVING smses. And the mobile service provider sends you sms-es with advertisments sometimes.
(11) Textbooks are so expensive. I'm trying my best not to buy any... but the professors compile notes into course packs we have to buy and they're ridiculously priced.

If you can see it, that thin pack of thing that contains papers printined in black and white costs 40 + USD. The used textbook I ordered from Amazon costs 40+ USD... in the bookstore, textbooks range from 120-160 USD, each.

(12) It takes forever to get anywhere. Walk, wait for bus, walk, wait for bus...

(13) I tried the coffee at school today. It cost me $1.45 and it wasn't even hot.

(14) I'm so deprived of vegetables. I love this grilled vegetables at the deli nearby... but it's $3 for a tiny pack of cucumber, zucchini and brocoli.

(15) Everything here is just fastfood and beef. Fastfood is GROSS, don't even know what parts of the cow/pig/chicken go in... I avoid it as much as possible.

(16) Even going to the washroom is troublesome... figure out why.

(17) The accounting standards/terms are quite different here, so I'm quite lost during my managerial accounting class.

(18) Even files and folders are expensive. It'll cost me at least $4 USD for a ring folder... and I can't even use them when I'm back because they're letter sized. I'm keeping all my notes in 5 stacks in my drawer to save on files and a 3-hole puncher, how pathetic.

I'm sure I thought of many more complains while waiting for the bus in the cold today, but they've slipped my mind.

Well, just to make this post a bit more positive...

(1) I found my Vitasoy Malt at Chinatown today! It's so hard to find it in Singapore, but they actually have it here! Anyway the shops at Chinatown have quite a lot of stuff, like rabbit sweets, Khong Guan biscuits, instant noodles (okay, not relevant to me because I refuse to eat them too.), instant udon (only 60 cents...my dinner tomorrow!), tofu... and, I've pork floss bun for breakfast tomorrow!

(2) I made a trip to the bookstore today and it's unbelievably easy. You scan your NYU card at this station and you immediately receive a printout with the textbooks for all your courses, their prices, and where to locate them. And textbooks are arranged according to courses... so you look for the course along the aisle, and tadaa, all the books for the course are waiting for you.

(3) There are so many kinds of bread here. It's a bread heaven... everytime I go to the supermarket, I've to keep reminding myself that I'll be here for a few months and to take my time to try everything. And I love bagels with cream cheese... they're cheap, big and yummy.

(4) The laundry here is fantastic. Expensive, but all the machines work, and the dryers actually dry your clothes. In Pgp, half the machines don't work, clothes come out more dirty than they were to begin with at times, and the dryers don't dry your clothes.

Look at what just came in my NYU E-mail!

'Mix it Up!

Are you interested in living with someone of the opposite sex next year?
Residential Education offers you the opportunity to do so through the Mixed-
Sex Housing program!
Come find out about the program and meet other potential roommates at an
information session.

The Mixed-Sex Housing program Information Session will be held:
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 PM in the Palladium Multipurpose Room (3rd
Floor).

The application will be available on-line from February 1-14, 2007.'

Mixed sexed housing programme? Why do you need a programme for that?!

I've been quite amused by some things here... for example, the Washington Square News, which is the NYU daily student paper... I was reading it that day and there was an article about students complaining that their examination results take too long to be released... I read on and I realized... it's 'too long' because they expect it within 72 hours! omg, I think the local students will just faint if they hear that NUS takes 1 month at least.

Oh, Americans say 'Hi how are you' all the time. And they told us during the orientation that the only reply to it is 'fine how are you?'. Even if you're not fine at all. I haven't really gotten used to saying that, but I think it's quite a nice habit. Everywhere I go, there're people saying 'how are you' or 'have a nice day'. Today, at the supermarket, the cashier told me to 'have the absolute best day'. He probably doesn't mean it, but well, it's nice to hear anyway.

First Day of Classees

2007-01-16T15:52:00.000-05:00

I've been walking so much! I walked to the gym early this morning and it was already packed at 7:30am... got chased off the threadmill after 30 minutes. Walked back, missed the shuttle bus... so I decided to walk all the way to school... from 26th Street all the way to 4th Street, another 30 minutes. I think I'm getting used to the weather though. I'm still cold, but I can actually bear the wind blowing against my face even without something to cover my head.

Well, I can't say I had a great start to school. I forgot it was a Tuesday, so I walked into the classroom for my Monday class... only discovered I was at the wrong place 15 minutes later, quickly excused myself and dashed up to find the right class. I was late, so I was pretty lost without any notes.

Anyway, I just finished my New Product Development Class. The professor is from Singapore, what a coincidencce. He asked us to guess where his accent was from and well, it was clearly Singaporean. Classes here are really so different... in fact, it felt pretty intimidating. We had to do 15 minute introductions... and every single person seem to either own a company, have a new product, be doing an intership, working at some company... and I mean, everyone. I think having jobs and attachments are probably the normal thing over here. This girl was saying she was a model, and has worked with Vogue and all the other fashion magazines... the prof asked her how many times she watched The Devil Wears Prada and her reply was, 'twice. And that's basically my job...it sux.' Wow. Most people are taking the class because they have their own companies, have new product ideas, already have products etcetcetc. Scary.

It never occurred to me that studying here could be that different. It's not just about understanding... but all the examples given in class are American ones, so the prof was mentioning all kinds of brands I've never heard off or know very little about. Or, he'll mention products that are going out here, which are still rather in back home, and vice versa. So I'm like... lost, nothing to say. I think I'll get used to it though. The class looks rather interesting.

I'm actually in the computer lab now... came here to print my notes for free. It's amazing, everyone at Stern can print their notes for free!

And I've got to run off now to call Estelle (no reception here) so that we can meet for dinner! More about classes soon.

Woodburys

2007-01-14T22:38:00.000-05:00

We took a train down to New Jersey today to visit Woodburys...
...I think it's pretty lovely, looks like a town out of Desperate Housewives or something! I would have liked to spend more time just walking about and taking pictures of the trees (well, they're barely trees in winter), but there was just no time at all...

... Woodburys is like, one big Factory Outlet town! It was just HUGE, with 200 + outlet stores of so many brands, Guess, Coach, Liz Claiborne... well, everything you can think of (except Zara =s) And they were selling everything at discounted prices...thank goodness it's pretty far away, or I'll just go broke in a month. I got (yet another) pair of jeans from Guess (see that pretty black thing up there?) and it wasn't even 20 dollars! Now I really have to make sure I don't put on weight, or I won't be able to fit into all the jeans I've bought. Besides that, I threw money into a Polo Ralph Lauren Blanket (it's the cheapest blanket I've seen in NYC so far...), track pants to sleep in, one more sweater (7 dollars!)... The Nike store had so so so so so many shoes going at $29.90, which really makes me wonder why I rushed to get a new pair of track shoes just before coming. And there were just so many things to see... I don't think we even covered a quarter of the shops! (Mum: I defnitely must bring you to Woodburys if you come up to visit me...) It's a good thing American sizes are huge (yes, even I can't wear most things beyond a size S), or I would probably have ended up with more clothes than ever...

On another note, it's great to have guys around when you're shopping... to help hold all our bags, and especially during winter, hold all the coats while we're trying on clothes... And anyone who knows me would also know that I'm totally clueless when it comes to maps, subways and directions, so I just follow the guys...haha. And they've been fixing up the lamps in our rooms (lousy K-mart thing keeps spoiling) almost everyday as well... well, they'll be trained technicians by the time we leave! Tomorrow, I'm going to ask Taitong if he can help me set up the microphone for my laptop.

Tomorrow would have been the first day of classes, but thankfully, it's Martin Luther King day, a public holiday! We'll be heading to the gym in the morning (yay) before checking out the free ice-skating at Bryant Park... hopefully, we'll manage some rest before school on Tuesday... sigh, I'm not really looking forward to classes now, especially since I've been feeling like I'm on a vacation the past week. I finally checked out my schedule and I'm basically lost with all the venues and stuff... don't even know when, where or how I'm going to print my lecture notes before Tuesday. Help.

I think my typing sounds really incoherent and random today! I'm just really, really tired... what I really need is another good run at the gym to recharge. Doesn't help that I couldn't really sleep last night...

I shall just turn in right now before I drop dead. Goodnight world.

More pictures

2007-01-13T18:46:00.000-05:00

Taitong and I in a costume store along Broadway. It was really awesome. I've never seen so many costumes in a store before. They've everything from Starwars to Superman to Batman... 2 whole storeys filled with all these party stuff!
The NYU shuttle bus, isn't it cute? (and it's purple!)
Hi Raymond!

Times Square

2007-01-13T09:08:00.000-05:00

Times Square is seriously the most amazing place I've ever been to. Stepping into 42nd Street it is like being transformed into a whole new world. I remember being so captivated by all the life and lights in Shanghai, but omg, this beats it hands down. It's not even my first time at Times Square, and I can't believe I forgot how absolutely amazing it is until we went there yesterday! All the humongous billboards with the lights and advertisements... it's like, the absolute epitome of consumerism. I Actually, it's almost disgusting if you think of it... how much money and electricity actually goes into all these. It's as if every single company and shop located there is trying to outdo each other... Morgan Stanley, Ernst and Young etc... all the big companies have humongous buildings with humongous billboards advertising their big names. But...ahh, I love Times Square, need to go there at least 5 more times before I leave. And the stores there are huge as well... didn't see much, but we walked into Toys R Us..

...if I were a kid, this would be my paradise! I'm pretty sure this is the biggest Toys R Us on earth... 3 whole storeys of endless Toys. They've everything arranged according to magic tricks, barbie dolls, board games, different movies like Toy Story, Pirates etc. That's Cat looking gleeful among all the stuffed toys.

And a 2 storey Barbie House. Serene, if you're reading this, they have a HILARY DUFF Barbie Doll, I'll send you the picture next time.

And Times Square is where the theatres for all the musicals are. Each Broadway Show has its own theatre... and I think I'm going to go broke watching all of them. I was so pleased when I saw that they were showing Les Miserables! I've watched it twice, but I'm definitely catching that one... along with Mama Mia, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago... and I can't believe they're having a LEGALLY BLONDE musical coming in April. Taitong says he doesn't mind catching it, haha... for me, I just want to watch every single thing... it means getting to go to Times Square! We had dinner at some Italian Restaurant yesterday. The green stuff on my plate is some kind of fettucine with cream sauce... and it's the most amazing pasta I've ever tried in my life. The texture was just nice and chewy, and the cream was simply yummy... and it was damn filling, luckily there were guys to help us out.

Singapore's pretty infamous around here, I think. Just the other day, this Taiwanese lady who's here to study English Teaching asked Cat and I, 'What langauge are you speaking?', to which we replied, 'English.' And then, to our amazement, she said, 'Oh the famous SINGLISH? Is that it? Everyone who studies English have heard of it!' Oh my goodness, our English is indeed that horrendous.

That's not all. Yesterday, we met a Korean guy at the laundry and when he heard that we were from Singapore, the first thing he said was, 'Is it really true you can't chew gum there?'

I'm feeling really contented right now. For one, we went to check out the gym at Palladium this morning. It was totally awesome. I've never stepped into such an amazing gym in my entire life. It was 2 storeys with an indoor pool, basketball courts, huge shower facilities... and a lot of equipment. It's at least 8 times the size of the NUS gym and I'm pretty sure it's comparable (if not better) than California Fitness. And it's only a university gym! Each threadmill has an individual LCD TV screen, with remote controls for you to select from various channels... I think sports and exercise are really big over here. I wish I took pictures of the gym, but anyway, check it out at http://www.nyu.edu/palladiumathleticfacility.

Yea, and I managed a 45 minute run on the threadmill. Such a torture staring at the mirror since I didn't bring my own earphones to watch television, but it really felt great to be moving and running after close to a week. Hopefully I can go there often... it's about 12 streets away, so a 15 minute walk just to go there!

Besides gymming, the weather today is fabulous. It's not too cold, just nice for us to all walk about comfortably in about 2 layers with long pants. I'll be a really happy girl if it stays like that everyday. And we found this store called Trader Joe's next to the gym... which sells really cheap groceries. And there's so many kinds of cereals and bagels that I think I could just live on all those... think I'll walk over to gym and buy all my food from now on.

There's so much more to say, like how I found humongous bagels for just 70cents for lunch, but the guys want to go out and Erwin's bugging me, so I need to go get changed...

Damn damn damn tired

2007-01-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so tired that I need to hit the sack, right now. But before that, I need to say that TIMES SQUARE IS THE MOST AMAZING PLACE ON EARTH. (See above: MnM billboard infront of MnM Store...the boards are amazingly clear, like lcd TVs.) Shall post up a million pictures of all the lights tomorrow.

Anyway, I just got off the phone with Qiuyun!!! We discovered that we were both using the same mobile service provider, so we can call each other, for free! When I heard her voice just now, we were practically squealing into the phone, 'ohmygodohmygodohmygod'. Man, I thought we wouldn't talk to each other for half a year...

More tomorrow morning if I managed to wake up early. Going to the gym... ahh, so tired. (I really don't understand why I'm so tired every single day!)

Maybe I wouldn't be that deprived after all

2007-01-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

We found Chinatown yesterday evening and it was amazing! You can't really see it very clearly in the picture...but those are century egg porridge (mmm), charsiew wanton noodles and fried rice! I couldn't ask for a better meal after walking from school to Chinatown in the terrible cold. And there're stores after stores in Chinatown selling these things...I think I'll hang around there often. The bakeries there sell pork floss buns, tau sar piah, the kind of bread you use to make kaya toast... all at inflated prices relative to what we're used to, but I'm learning to ignore it because it's already so much cheaper than all the western food which are essentially cheese, cheese and more cheese. I must say, there are barely any veggies, but when there are, they're really yummy... all the grilled carrots, zucchinis, potatoes etc... the potatoes here are really different, very sweet and all.
Look, roasted pork and duck! (not that I eat duck though) I wonder if there's steamboat...

Found this in a pharmacy. I don't believe it, low carb sneakers, protein sneakers... and they have other assortments of completely ironic health products, like no-fat chocolates, diet chocolates, diet chocolate muffins... basically, all the chocolates masquerading as health food. Are chocolates really such a must-have? Thank goodness I don't eat chocolates at all, and it wasn't even that hard to give up chocolates. So many other yummy things to eat...like ban mien, I need a hot steaming bowl of ban mien, right now!
I've been meaning to take a picture of this- that's Washinton Square Park. I think that's the kind of 'central area' around the NYU campus. Quite pretty and I'll probably pass it everyday on the way to Stern.

Anyway, we spent the greater part of our day at the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) Orientation. It was great because of the free breakfast and free lunch, haha. Well, they just spent time telling us about how to socialize the American way, safety, health services, academic culture blah blah blah... but I must say, the OISS really put in a lot of effort into these things, with the free food, snacks and all... and they even had a lucky draw, someone won an iPod Shuffle, wow.

The day's programme was supposed to end with a trip to Brooklyn Bridge, but the 4 of us decided to take a walk down to Chinatown instead and got pretty distracted by the shops along Broadway on the way. Really, can you imagine passing by humongous Swatch, Gap, Guess, Espirit, Levis... stores on the way to school and in between classes? Like...

...this! I saw parts of NYC that I remembered from my last trip here... like HnM, Old Navy... all along the same stretch. It was really hard to resist walking into every store, but we wanted to actually get to Chinatown and save shopping for today. Well, I got a new pair of Levis Jeans at USD 19 though... it's practically a sin not to buy it, haha. (Honestly, I just needed more pants) I wish I was here in summer... all the thick clothing kind of kills the joy of shopping. I'm almost too lazy to try clothes half the time. It'd take at least 15 minutes to remove all the layers of clothes, thermal wear and all. :S

Besides, I wouldn't be so miserable in summer. If I didn't like New York City, I'll probably be sobbing and dying to go home right now. It seems to get cold, colder and even colder everyday. And there's so much walking in the streets to be done... we waled from the Subway back to 26th Street yesterday (that's where I live)... just 2 streets and I couldn't really take the wind already, sigh. I feel like hiding in my room everyday... but there're still so many things we haven't ventured out to see- times square, the statues of liberty, wall street etc. I saw pictures of Times Sqaure on Christian's camera yesterday... WHOA.

Now I'm even cold in my room, bleah. :(

More pictures from today

2007-01-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

This is the cutest (and thinnest) dog I've ever seen! I really wonder whether the coat is meant to keep it any warmer or for pure aesthetic purposes. We went to Citibank to collect our bank accounts today and this little thing was just wandering around. I'm sure no bank in Singapore allows dogs, except those huge police dogs.
Most expensive Granny Smith I've ever tasted, but it's already the cheapest I've seen around- 75 US cents. At least I was very happy eating fruits, really wonder if I can get enough fruits/vegetables over the next few months... really can't imagine life without fruits after every single meal. This eateries the nearest to Stern, so I'll probably be grabbing an apple everyday from now on. They sell bagels for 75 cents, I should just eat those everyday.

I thought I would never wear anything as ugly as ear muffs, but today was the coldest day in New York City so far this winter, and I finally bought a pair (it's the thing sticking out about my hat) from K-mart today. I must say, it's really a good buy for less than 2 dollars, helps keep my ears much warmer and when I decide not to look stupid, I put it around my neck and it keeps my neck warm.

The weather was terrible today. The first drops of snow came in the morning, but we couldn't get a picture because it lasted for less than 5 minutes... more like a drizzle. Frankly, I don't care much about how pretty it could get if it snows... I HOPE IT DOESN'T SNOW ANYMORE this winter. I've never felt as cold as today in my entire life... the number of layers I managed to squeeze into my jacket doesn't quite matter. It's the cold and pain when the wind blows across your face... the wind was so strong today that all I wanted to do was go into every nearest building. Normally, we start taking out all our coats because it gets pretty stuffy indoors, but not today. As Erwin put it, 'I'm not going to complain that it's warm when I step into the next building... I figured the longer I feel stuffy inside, the longer I'll keep warm outside.' While waiting for our shuttle bus back, Cat and I were so cold that we just stood inside a phone booth. Probably looked very ridiculous. There're still some girls walking around in mini skirts and jogging around the park... which is plain crazy as far as I am concerned.

A very short mayor of NYC.

In the shuttle bus. The girl's Geecha (pronounced geisha). She's German, but studies in Hongkong... lived in Singapore for 3 years too!

I haven't ran for a few days already and it makes me feel like there's something abnormal about my life. I hope the weather starts to get warmer, so that I can attempt to run about on the streets... it must be pretty cool to run along the streets and avenues around here. Otherwise, I'll have to use the gym at Palladium, but that's about 20 minutes away from where I live, and I hate running on the threadmill (absolutely boring).

I forgot to mention that people around here are really taller and bigger. On the plane from Frankfurt to NYC, I already noticed that the passengers around were significantly taller... well, probably around my height for the ladies, but they're just a lot bigger. I actually felt puny and scrawny compared to them, which is pretty amazing for someone my size. And I keep seeing really tall and big people around over here... which is pretty good because they help block the wind.

We got more furniture and stuff today, including a tall lamp. At least my room looks more presentable now... and I guess we've sufficient things to survive for now. That means... we can start looking at the sights and SHOPPING soon instead of running about buying boring and expensive things! 50% off storewide at United Colours of Benetton now... guess what I'm doing tomorrow?

Well, and I'll have time to start e-mailing back and writing to people. Linda, I'll send you a postcard when I can find one! =)

I had/have so much to say...

2007-01-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

Forgot his name, but he's very nice. Taken outside Stern Business School... I think it's the nicest NYU building I've seen so far.

...but stupid Blogger ate up my post last night! Sigh, and I'm really too lazy to retype.

I was saying that it feels pretty unreal to be here, and even more unreal that I'm going to be living at this place for the next few months. For now, I feel like I'm a suagu tourist wherever I go... everything feels so different! It's like I'm on a two week vacation or something, and life will return back to normal once it's over... but no!

There's just so much to do to settle in- buy lamps (can you believe it, my room has NO lightings at all, water heater, toaster, bulbs... was shopping at K Mart and some budget store yesterday, almost died carrying everything around. Everything's really more troublesome than I expected. In PGP, when I lack something-

(1) I call home and ask my mum to bring it.

(2) I know where to buy it.

(3) I probably can easily borrow.

Over here-

(1) I don't know where to get it.

(2) My heart aches because it's so expensive.

My goodness, I'm seriously going to go broke within a month... even toilet rolls are expensive. Taitong and I spent $4 USD for 4 rolls (makes me want to starve for the next half of the year so that I don't go to the loo too much)... and then realized the hostel gives them for free. I had vegetables and mashed potatos for dinner last night and that was about $6USD...

Maybe it's the novelty of being somewhere new... but I must say, despite being really tired walking around, I love this place. I love it as much as I remember loving it from the last time I was here... the NYU campus is really unlike the NUS one. Or rather, it isn't even a campus... just different buildings scattered all around the Greenwich area, as if someone couldn't find a big enough piece of land to rent and rented whatever little spaces were available everywhere... so when you walk from one building to another, you pass by all the other shops like GAP/Sisley (no, I haven't started shopping...too busy to even think of it.) And it stretches across the Broadway area too... very interesting.

I've a major problem over here, I've got a new hairstyle- The air is so much drier that whenever I wake up every morning, the layers of my hair STANDS. And I just look like Cruella Devil in 101 Dalmations. And it just doesn't go down. I had to take a picture for my NYU ID yesterday, and it looked awful.

We've met some of the other exchange students too. Many of them are from Hongkong, one guy from Korea (I shall put up his picture above), some from Australia, China, Mexico...

Oh, and I was saying yesterday. I didn't have time to feel any reluctance/cry on the plane. The moment my neighbour arrived, he said, 'Hi I'm your neighbour' and started talking to me and asking questions. I even know when, how and where his gf broke up with him... and he gave me loads of tips on NYC because he's so familiar with the area.

Gotta go out now!

ARRIVED

2007-01-09T08:01:00.000-05:00

I've arrived and I've loads to say even though it's just about 1.5 days since I left, but there's no time... just a few pictures!

Family @ Changi Airport

Somewhere in the area where I live (I'm not as happy as I look, it's damn cold.)

Don't think I've ever been so happy to see Taitong before (met him at the airport)

Anyway, I was pretty lucky to meet someone who travels to NYC all the time, so he could take me shopping around the airport at Frankfurt and help me find my way back... or I probably would have stood at the Boarding gate for 2 hours for fear of getting lost.

I've to run now!

If you're wondering where Cheng Wei is...

2007-01-06T09:10:00.000-05:00

Testing

2006-12-16T03:36:00.000-05:00

Testing

Leaving on 7th Jan 2007

2006-12-13T07:18:00.000-05:00