Au revoir

It's starting to hit right now that I'm actually going to be gone in about 24 hours. I'm not ready. Nothing's packed..literally, just t-shirts. I have lists made, I have stuff I keep trying to remind myself to bring.. It's all a bit too much. Throw in my mother's nagging and it gets even more chaotic. This excitement is starting to wear off.

Now I just want tomorrow, 4:20pm, to come. I'll be at the airport, with all my bags stuffed full, hopefully under 50 pounds each.. and then it's bye bye rainy Vancouver, hello sunny Melbourne. Many have asked me just why I'm choosing Australia of all places to go on exchange to. My answer is simply, because of grade 4. Those who went to elementary school with me may realise the significance of this year. This country's enthralled me for over 10 years and despite the cost of living being so much more than Vancouver ($1100/month rent!!), I'm going to take it all in. I might be down there for grad school, who knows? The accents are also a bonus.

Thanks guys for showing up, last minute and all. I won't make it all sappy, but it's nice to still see all of us DT kids (most of us anyways..) can have a 2+ hour dinner with no awkwardness. Perhaps in 5 years this won't be the case, but until then, it's always a good feeling to have such a core group of friends there despite all of us being in such different post-secondary paths. Graduation's coming up in a little under a year, but I won't think about that just yet. We'll always have Facebook if I start missing any of you ;) Here's to me hopefully coming back with a faux-Aussie accent.. I'm going to try my best (and most likely fail). Like I've been saying to some people recently: stay safe and don't make babies.

Four days

Four days, and I'll be gone for a good half of a year.
Four days. Holy shit, I never thought this day would come so fast.

Anxious, nervous, excited, and a little relieved.

Time to pack. So much stuff to find/bring/deal with still. My traveling buddy, Esther, broke her wrist so she's stuck in Singapore. That means I'll be on my own through 3 different airports until Melbourne. I hope nothing goes wrong. I'm also going to bring 2 iPods along.

3 sounds better than 2.

In under 3 weeks I'll be gone.
In under 2 weeks I'll be gone.

The latter sounds a lot scarier than the former. Meaning, by next Monday I'm going to hope I have most of my things in order. I thought I would have ample time to get everything organized and ready to go. Alas, this is not the case. I'm just starting to make my packing list. I still have a lot of crap to buy (i.e. shampoo, toothpaste, sunscreen); all those everyday things we use is more than double the price down in Australia. Most likely due to their minimum wage being twice as high as ours.. and our dollars are practically at 1:1 right now, not good.

Meanwhile, I'll try my hardest to see a couple of my closer friends before I leave. If I don't get around to you, well...

And will people please stop thinking I'm Mandarin? Once again on the bus I get mistaken for some Chinaman that knows how to converse fluently in Mandarin. I don't even look like I know the language, well I don't think that I do. Even at work I have Cantonese guests who just go up to me and say something like this,

"You! Young man! You understand? Good, I want ........"

Making sales in Cantonese at a White Spot is more difficult than you can imagine (for non-native Chinese person) especially when they ask me what's better about the Monty Mushroom vs the Bacon Cheddar burger and what I would recommend for them to order. Oh, and you should have witnessed my pathetic attempt at trying to say/describe what mayonnaise/relish (OOO sauce) is to them. This has happened to me twice already. The next time I'm going to fake ignorance.

Sorry mom and dad, those years in Chinese school did me no good.

If only I knew more about photography..

Shameless Tourist in my Hometown.

So far it’s taken me about two days to update my new iPod. I’m too lazy to copy all my old songs from my old iPod to my new one because.. well I’m lazy. Too much work. And I have so much crap on there anyways, I might as well make a new collection. Problem is, I have way too many songs. I’ve been deleting countless old CDs I downloaded. All American Rejects, sorry, I’ve outgrown you. Fall Out Boy, you were High School. Yellowcard, I only like one song from you these days. The Juliana Theory and The Early November, you guys are not mellow enough. The Get Up Kids, I don’t even remember why I have 8 of your songs.. Delete. Delete. Delete.

Back to San Francisco, before I forget all the details.. We went to Alcatraz on Christmas Eve.. I know, weird thing to do. Not going to go into too much detail here. The audio tour was pretty long, but had some insightful monologues and stories the prisoners and prison guards told. The cells were actually really..small, as expected. Going into one, it was smaller than my arm span. How someone could live in there for months on end without any kind of freedom is pretty amazing in itself. The island was really nice. There weren’t many flowers out and blooming, the prisoners used to keep one running and is maintained by volunteers today, but it had an awesome view of San Francisco. No fog, no wind, no clouds.. Okay, I’ll stop

I just realized how hard it is to post crap in here. Damn Blogger.


Amazing view of San Francisco here. This crappy cell phone picture doesn't do it justice.
The view of Alcatraz on the ferry.



After Alcatraz, we continued to Union Square again. It was insane. So many people everywhere doing their last minute Christmas shopping. Canadian Boxing Day sales were put to shame by the regular American sale. Another reason why I like America more, your dollar goes further. Heh. I got a headache though once again from shopping. Stuffy stores and me are not a good combination. As for the attitude of the salespeople in all the stores, it was dismal. None of them looked happy. All of them had a permanent scowl; no greetings, no offers to help you find anything (except in AE), they were robots hired only to fold clothes. Urban Outfitters was a gong show. The sale racks resembled that of a dumpster or yard sale at best. Everything was just thrown in 23891 directions, on the floor, on the racks, on the shelves. No sense of organization, and no one seemed to really care. Can I blame them? No. If I were working there, I’d be in a bitter mood too. I did get mistaken for a worker there, I have no idea how that happened. Just because I was being courteous and folding the the XXL shirt back..


On Christmas, we decided to be tourists and went to take pictures of the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. HAHA. It was beautiful. It was embarrassing. It was … well, boring? I guess. I don’t remember much of my childhood, but apparently I used to play at Golden Gate Park a lot when I was a kid. We dropped by Sausalito, a city right off the Bridge when you exit. It reminded me a lot of Steveston. It was so calm and peaceful. Many small cafes and restaurants everywhere. My kind of place when I grow up. I can’t emphasize just how nice their weather is compared to Vancouver’s..

Let's see.. what else was there. We continued to the suburb of Sunset, the area where I grew up. It’s right by the SF Zoo, not that we went in. There’s supposedly a sea lion cave?mountain? there for us to look at. But we got there pretty late. The view out was still nice. Walked around here with my parents, sister, and aunt. I will admit, and don’t expect me to again anytime soon, this trip wasn’t actually all that bad, in terms of spending so much time with my family. Maybe it was because my sister and I actually got our own hotel room.. Freedom from the parents. And my mom’s uncontrollable 120 decibel level snoring.
We walked down to the shore. I was the only one who went into this cave…the women were too scared of ruining their boots.




As for the rest of the trip, the pictures are on my sister’s camera and my defective memory card.. I stopped using my cell phone camera as much. I got lazy. Sacramento was unexpected. A lot of farm land, I thought our friends there lived on one.. Driving in it was all farm road, I saw no signs of ..an urban center. Thankfully, they lived in a neighbourhood similar to one that you’d see in suburbia, dare I say it, Desperate Housewives style. Don’t ask. We watched Avatar in 3D. My eyes watered at the end of it, from dry eyes! It was one of the better movies I’ve seen. High recommended. Maybe not in 3D though.

Spent the final days just visiting family members. Went to the Great Mall. It was huge. There are 5 areas to it. I was at #2 when I realized this. Suffice to say, I didn’t get through it all. Damn it. I was looking to buy cheap tee shirts to Australia. My sister threw a typical fit over the lack of time there, and our family’s tardiness. My dad attempted to shut her up with new Coach bags. I don’t think it worked.

Ate at this ridiculously delicious place called Crepevine. Their portions were more than generous, and service was quick and efficient. There was a lineup out the door from the moment we got there around 11am on a Sunday, till we left (around 12:30). You actually order first while in line, and wait for a table to free up. Once seated, your food arrives. Hybrid of fast food/restaurant service. I won’t go through the menu, you should try it yourself if you ever drop by Burlingame. It’s just outside of SF, our hotel was minutes away from it. I wish I knew about it earlier, I would have eaten there every day instead of the instant noodles. Prices are very fair, only ~$10/meal. And again, the portions are huge.

Finally, on our last day, we had overpriced, not very good dim sum, and then departed for the airport. But we had a 30 minute pit stop at Japantown. I wish we had more time here, it was so unique and cozy. Their mall was just filled with countless Japanese restaurants, supermarkets, stores, boutiques and everything in between. Oh well, next time.



For those of you who can read Chinese, I found this sign hilarious. I didn’t believe my mom when she said such a street existed..until I saw it for myself.
So that concludes my San Francisco (area) trip. It was eventful, fun, nostalgic in every imaginable sense, and brought upon a sense of yearning for something different in my own life. Our family dinner on Christmas was like out of a Chinese TV show (A Kindred Spirit to those who get the reference). 10 people all around a large expandable dinner table, laughing uncontrollably over past memories, current ones, and stories everyone could relate to. I wish my family were always that happy. At home, dinner for me only lasts 5 minutes usually. For special occasions, maybe 15. The laughter and jovial atmosphere severely lacks, and will continue to because that’s how my family operates sometimes..silence. For that one night, my family felt normal.

If anyone actually read to the end, good on you. This is more for personal uses in the future when I come back and smile at these selected memories.

Have a Happy New Year!

Less than a month to go…

America, how I've missed you

SAN FRANCISCO. Just some bits and pieces from my trip so far. It's been really nice here since day 1. Clear blue sunny skies for four days straight makes me wish I were still living in California. The older I get, the more I'm yearning to become a full fledged American again. It's just something in me that's telling me I'm at "home" here. Not saying I don't like Canada, but it's hard to explain and put into words.

This was a nice surprise. We were conveniently "upgraded" to Economy Plus on our flight there. It's nothing much though, just a bit more leg room. It was the most comfortable flight I've ever taken though. Pity it was only for 2 hours. I could have used it when I was going to China..


Just a few pics as we drove to our hotel. The nice bright shining sun was a definite change from the dreary Vancouver weather..



We stayed at the Crowne Plaza. It's nothing too special. They did a nice job renovating it recently. The rooms come with a nice flat screen.. Unfortunately their hotel is situated right along one of the highways. The cars can really be heard during the day.. I guess it provides some nice 'background' noise at night. Sort of.

Many houses of San Francisco are connected to one another.. Nothing like the separated units we have at home. Chinese families would have fun living in these quarters. My neighbours would enjoy the constant yelling and bitching going on in my family. Privacy is definitely limited here.

We went to visit our cousins at their house. This is their block. It's a nice little place on one of the many hills/plateaus they have in the surrounding areas. Thankfully, there hasn't been much fog so far in the trip. Or wind. SF's known for its foggy days, I can actually see the city this time around.

We went to Downtown San Francisco to take in the Christmas festivities and shopping going on. One word : Amazing. It sort of puts Vancouver's to shame, and I think Vancouver has a pretty vibrant colourful Downtown area. San Francisco's is two times as big and eventful. Macy's was decorated gorgeously, the tree was huge, there was ice skating, and the mood all around was just positive. The view from the top of Macy's was on the Sky Terrace where we waited for an hour and a half at the Cheesecake Factory for a table. It was well worth it I suppose. I've never seen anything quite like it. I would say almost a hundred people in the lobby just waiting and the 5 rotating hosts and hostesses working their asses off trying to seat and put everyone down. Not once did any of them show any signs of frustration. I could learn a thing or two.

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Okay, I'm too tired to continue. Yawn. I've been getting up early each day to get to the gym. If only I could show the same type of commitment at home.. Perhaps it's because of the convenience of the gym. Funny story..well more sad, there was a large young girl yesterday in the gym with me. She was on the treadmill as I was doing my cool down. She went on, started RUNNING at speed 3.0.. (yes, I was being nosy) and then STOPPED after two minutes. TWO MINUTES. She burned 13 calories. She then went to the scale to weigh herself. Unhappy with these results, she proceeded to go to the elliptical where she went on it for five minutes, and burned 29 calories. By now, she was practically dripping in sweat. Poor girl. Her brother then came in to join her. Not any better. He was running at speed 3 as well. Hell, I walk at 4.5..

At least she's trying I suppose. I was stifling my laughter so hard, I had to drink water to prevent myself from sneering. They left after about 10 minutes and 40 calories burnt, at best.

I'm going to blame the dollar menus here at McDicks and Taco Bell for these overweight unfit people. No wonder America has the fattest people around. Makes me feel good about myself, ha!

Hopefully I'll remember what else I did on this trip through my pictures. Yes, they're from my cell phone, I'm not going to bother being all artsy and fancy with my travel journals. As long as I write it down, I'll remember it in the future. Happy Holidays!

Back to the Motherland

Alright, time for my trip back to the good ol' USA. San Francisco to be exact, my hometown. I haven't been back there in.. six years now? Not even sure anymore. I grew up in a suburb of SF I believe.. Sunset? Who knows, I don't know my geographical locations. All I know was that the last time I was there, I had to visit a lot of relatives and family friends. Of course, it's a given. Being from a Chinese family, even moreso a given. The countless ''Hellos'' and "How are yous'' do get a bit tedious at times.

Nonetheless, I'm excited to go back this year. Why? Because I think I'm actually at the age where I can appreciate San Francisco for more than just the people I know there, but now for the city itself..albeit 4 months from being legal down there. I hope to immerse myself in their renowned Downtown area. Union Square. The cafes. The districts. The people. Then again, there's nothing too much separating SF and Vancouver from what I recall.. the food's great in both cities, some argue better in SF.

I need to go to Alcatraz. I can't believe I haven't been there.. I make for a shitty American.

It's now 3:10am. I haven't slept all day after my Statistics final. We leave in about a half hour to Seattle, it's much cheaper to fly out from there.

Hopefully I'll post anything interesting that pops up during my trip. Maybe I'll encounter my own bus incident.

Schwarma

I can not for the life of me focus on my studies. Perhaps it's the Christmas music playing in the background, or that my arm is hurting like a mother from the stupid H1N1 shot. I swear, I'm suffering from side effects of that shot. Fatigue. Fatigue. Fatigue. Pain. Fatigue.

Random thoughts/ramblings at the top of my head at the moment, read if you care. I know two of you do :):

• Melbourne planning is well underway. Visa? Check. Acceptance? Check. Flights? Nope, I should get on that ASAP.. looking at $1600 round trip.
  
• I leave in about 60 days. Two months to the day.
• San Francisco Trip 10.5 hours after my last final on the 21st. I really wanted to buy a new mp3 player..thing this Boxing Day. Online shopping will suffice.
  
• My liver needs recovery, it better regenerate quickly.
• I've been working more that I was in first and second year, yet this year has been my toughest yet.
• I have 62.5 gigs of TV shows to watch.
• Growing apart from people sucks. Inevitable given the circumstances.
• White Spot makes me large. Very large.
• I better not turn into an alcoholic, I have no shame in admitting this. It's a path I hope I never have to go down, but I know I can find other outlets to calm myself down. No drugs either.
  
• Tiger Woods is despicable yet I feel sorry for him at the same time.
• I miss badminton

With that, I'm going to hole up and pray I can actually get some studying done. Number 1, 2 and 3 need to stay off my mind. Only one person may understand what I actually mean by that.