Dad's Visit!

On Saturday, Dad arrived in Buffalo for a visit! It was really nice seeing him in Buffalo. (: He brought along with him so much stuff for me! All the things I asked for, and so many others that I did not ask for. Feel the love from home..

Didn't really do a lot of touristy things while he was here. Only watched a concert, went to Jasmine for lunch, went Hoowa for grocery shopping and bought dinner for the peeps from Duffs so Dad could try the Buffalo wings. On the second day, we went for a walk in the morning then proceeded to the Outlets where we shopped so much! Dad bought me so many things. It's always so nice to have family around. Really missed Dad when he left.

Recession Over!

Singapore declares its recession over
Thu, Nov 19, 2009
AFP

SINGAPORE - Singapore on Thursday declared a severe recession over as data showed its economy grew for the second straight quarter in the three months to September.

Official data released Thursday showed gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 14.2 per cent in the July-September period on a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis following a 21.7 per cent surge in the previous quarter.

'Effectively, the recession in Singapore is over,' Ravi Menon, the permanent secretary with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), said at a media briefing.

Year-on-year, Singapore's GDP grew 0.6 per cent in the third quarter compared with a 3.3 per cent contraction in the April-June period, the MTI said in its third quarter economic survey.

In its outlook for 2010, the ministry forecasted economic growth of 3.0-5.0 per cent while maintaining its existing projection of a contraction of 2.0-2.5 per cent this year.

Singapore's trade-reliant economy was the first in Asia to sink into a recession last year as the global downturn hit demand for its exports, especially from the United States.

From http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Story/A1Story20091119-180894.html

I know I know.. I've been missing for so long on this blog and the next new post is on a news article. :/ But I just had to post this! Great news for people who are graduating soon!

I'm still surviving.. workload is currently really heavy with me trying to finish all my research papers/projects yada yada before the thanksgiving break which is next week! Dad's arriving this Saturday which is très très très exciting!

Oh, and flobble died again. >.<

Letchworth State Park

It's time for an update!

School has been crazy busy for the past 2 weeks. Next week is a nice break with only a paper due, which of course I have not started on. I am terribly exhausted. Especially with the super late nights for at least the past 3 consecutive nights, staying up till 3am to finish my work and all the eventful and draining days.

Went to Letchworth State Park today with Prof. Natalie Simpson and the rest. It is so beautiful with all the trees in autumn colors, waterfalls and rainbows. It's a nice place to visit but it's a 2 hour drive out, so not a convenient place to go. Pictures will be up when I find enough motivation to upload them.

The last few days has certainly taken its toll on me. All I want to do all the time is curl up in bed and just not do anything. I've also been doing the weirdest things ever like wanting to move every single item out of my room and repacking everything at midnight and when I have to do my french homework, sitting on the floor and sew my socks then proceeding to sew a pair of jeans which didn't need any mending. :/ I'm still holding up but as soon as the laundry is done (50 more minutes), I'm jumping into bed. I have a huge sleep debt to clear. Haven't been able to fall asleep easily as well even though I am really tired.

Things to look forward to next month besides all the assignments, research papers and projects:
- Dad's visit!
- Boston trip during Thanksgiving. (:

October Snow

The weather has been getting so cold and it's only mid October. The forecast shows rain/snow showers for tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. Snowing in mid october! O.o


EDIT: My ipod touch forecast shows that it's snowing now!

Steamboat on a cold windy night!

we had steamboat the other night. It felt good having steamboat on a cold, windy night. There was tons of food and lots of meat for only 4 of us! Not cheap having steamboat here though. But really nice. Peektures! Notice how much food we had plus using the rice cooker as our steamboat pot. (:

Washer Queue

Ridiculous! I walked down to the laundry 4 times lugging my laundry in my hands, detergent in the other and key around my neck and each time the washer was taken. I even timed when the cycle will be done so I can "snatch" the washer. But it didn't work out! I have to wash my sheets or I can't sleep tonight. Finally got it on my 5th trip down.

Some kind of laundry day today huh.

6 weeks!

How time is passing so quick. I've been in America for 6 whole weeks, in school for 4 entire weeks. That is freaking me out a bit seeing as I am still in the holiday-i-just-got-here mood. :/ Lots has happened with lots of American experiences.

I'm slowly starting to settle into the routine of school though. How do I know that? When I start waking up later every morning and have to run like mad to the shuttle stop to catch the bus.

Events that I've been up to.. American football match, Kofi Annan talk and I've got tickets to hear Tony Blair speak! I'm also exploring Buffalo more and am more comfortable with taking the buses and stuff. But the bus timings are terrible! You really have to know the schedule and the exact time the bus will be arriving or else it's an hour or half an hour's wait between buses. That's if you're lucky. I took bus 34 to Burlington Coat Factory the other day and waited a grand total of 1 hour and 40 minutes in the sun for the bus home!

Have been pampering myself a little. Bought two cans of Yeo's soy milk from Wegmans (can't believe yeo's made it all the way here) and 1 box of instant sesame paste from the Asian market. Not cheap but at least there's something for me to buy once in a while if I really want it.

Picture time! The football game! The Americans really love their football game and the atmosphere for that game was something that is not seen in Singapore ever. All those for just a college football game. Imagine their NFL.

Us in UB colors! True Blue/ UB Believers? Haha.

Beautiful sunset over the lake and a lone duck. Taken by Joel!

Busy busy bee!

School is starting to get real busy! My inertia is toooo great that I still can't get into studying mode. Just got back from a group meeting just now which went pretty well!

We had a long weekend the last week because of Labor Day on Monday. Weekend was spent lazing around. We had picnic on Saturday with Prof. Natalie Simpson who treated us to pizza, pretzels and tasty citrus green tea. The pizza slices were huge that I had to stuff the entire slice down my throat. Salute to some of them who could eat 2 slices in the time I took to finish 1! It was Fall fest at night and we went to camp outside the community building to catch the fireworks that they were launching in school. It was rather impressive! They were launching it only a few hundred meters from me so it was really loud! Here's a video of the last few minutes of it. I love the ending.

Had the rest over on Monday and Cassie and I cooked chicken rice for them and Kenneth fried the egg. Reminded us so much of home! I really should have bought more of those mixes here. YUM YUM.

I build a bear in school today! It's still has no name as of now. I really wanted a monkey but they were out of monkey so I got a white bear instead. It is wearing a UB shirt! I stuffed it myself with the stuffings and made it real fat. Hee.

My bear!

The birth certificate table!

Stuffing their animals!

Woke up late this morning after snoozing for a grand total of an hour. While I was rushing around trying to get ready in the shortest time possible, I suddenly missed home where my mum will make sure I get up on time for school. Then today when I collected and was packing away my laundry, I saw that there was a hole in my socks. Kinda miss home again where there will be people to mend my clothes for me. Not complaining though. I'm actually rather glad of all the things I have to do on my own because I feel I am learning a lot.

It's amazing the things one can manage to do when one has to. I have, in the 3 weeks I have been here, cooked my own food, do my own laundry, clean the house (vacuum, mop, wash the toilet/bath tub etc), iron my own clothes... Who would have thought. While ironing my clothes this afternoon, I suddenly thought how different life is now for me. No longer pampered at home, I now have to handle and do a lot more things on my own. Just a while ago, all I had to do was focus completely on my studies. Food was always ready when I wanted to eat, the house was always cleaned, bed was always made, my clothes washed, dried, ironed and pack into my cupboard for me. Now, while doing my work, I have to run out to check on the boiling water, take the laundry down then remember to put the laundry into the dryer and finally take it up. While reading my things, I have to then put it aside to cook food if I wanted to eat. After having guests over at my house, I can't just retreat into my room to get back to my work. Instead, I have to wash up and clean the house. It just amazes me how much I have changed. I like it (at least for now) because I know I can finally grow up and learn how to take care of myself. (:

First week of school and multiple seasons in a day!

The first week of school is over. It has been relaxed so far with classes ending early and not going much into the syllabus. The workload for the rest of the semester certain;y don't seem light though. Lots of writing assignments, group projects and multiple research/response papers.

The temperature change here is so volatile and crazy! I feel as though I am experiencing multiple seasons in a day instead of in a year. Winter/Fall in the morning, Summer in the afternoon and then back to winter/fall again. Even more amusing is the feeling of two seasons at the same moment in time. While it's cold, the sun is really strong due to clear skies. So when one is walking in the sun, it's warm. Step into the shade and it's cold!

Cooking is becoming rather fun. Throw things together and see what turns out. It has been quite satisfying so far. Grocery shopping has become my favourite past time. Gosh.

Picnic, carnival and Fall fest tomorrow!

School and the Pretty Sky!

School has started. It's interesting yet intimidating. French class was conducted entirely in French, lots of writings/research papers/responses to write this semester.

Free things given out just makes me so happy! Free book (Kite Runner), free breakfast and 100feet long of banana split to welcome the students back!


The sky was so pretty and picturesque today that it makes me so happy! Someone commented that it looked so nice that it looked abit unreal with the sky so blue and the clouds hanging so low.

Pictures of the sky and the lake at the back of my apartment! Love the reflection in the water. (:

Niagara Falls

Popped down to Niagara Falls over the weekend for 2 days in a row, both days camping on the Observation tower till late into the night, freezing ourselves off even with scarves and gloves (second night). It was pretty crazy of us considering that we went down for that, just to be able to watch the fireworks. Niagara Falls is really pretty and majestic!

Snaps!

16th August 2009, at the airport:

Lovely people who came down to send me off even though it was such an unearthly hour! Thank you so much (:

South Lake Village where my apartment is!

Finally arriving on campus at a late late hour after a long long journey. All tired and just wanting to get to our apartments.

Apartment O! It's a lakeside cottage and we've got an apartment at the back with an awesome view. (:

The top 3 windows belong to my apartment! The big window is the window in the living room. The one next to it is my bedroom and the next is my housemate's room.

The view at the back of our apartment! This is what our windows look out too. Our apartment is the last one of the entire row of apartments.

Trying to get the entire lake and rows of apartments. The lake of South Lake Village!

One of the many wildlife on the lake. The quackerjacks! Or what people normally call ducks. Managed to get this close up shot when I tried to feed them and got them to swim near me and then using telescopic zoom.

People fishing at the lake.

The front entrances of the lakeside cottages.

The other apartments of South Lake Village. I forgot what they are called. The Greens?



North Campus of my University where my classes are held. It's HUGE! This is just a small radius near my apartment.

Center for the Arts!

Stretch to many of the different halls/buildings.

Part of the North campus

Baird Point which is this 3 pillar monument along the lake.

Shuttle stop near the apartment for the Red Line shuttle! One that I'll be taking to my classes when it becomes too cold to walk.

Sports hall with basketball courts/seatings etc in the Alumni Arena. It's HUGEEEE!

More pictures up soon! I know I will soon resort to collages to make it easier to upload. (: