the adventure begins...
Guess it's time to wipe the dust off this online journal, and start blogging again with a vengeance. After all, there is much to say. Life just got more exciting, and that much sweeter. =) I left Singapore for Frankfurt on sunday night, then took a three-hour train ride to Leipzig. So here I am, back in his arms, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of a wintery german stadt.

It was quite a journey, for I definitely did not travel light (16kg overweight!). I had a huge (I mean HUGE) suitcase filled with countless goodies (pineapple tarts, bak gua, shrimp rolls, ikan billis, chicken floss etc.) for the greedy one. Okay, I guess my numerous clothes and shoes must have added quite a bit of weight too. Then I had my huge 55L backpack, stuffed to the brim. Then I also lugged along a classical guitar for his entertainment. *sigh* With the thick winter coat and scarf limiting my movements, I could hardly walk 50m without resting. And boy did i have to walk alot. I must thank the nameless strangers that helped me drag my luggage onto carts, into trains, off trains, across platforms, up escalators... Not knowing where to go and which train to take certainly didn't help. Anyhow, I made it safely to Leipzig...so it's all better now. *cheers*

Anyway, i think i quite like winter. Especially if you have a warm hand to hold whenever you feel like it. When I first stepped out of the Hauptbahnhof, it was a very different world that greeted me. Cute little trams , cobblestone streets that look like pavements, bare naked trees, the cold whipping wind... can't wait to explore the city more. Haven't been to many places although this is the 4th day of my visit...Daryl's still got a week of school, so i'm spending my mornings lazing around, grocery shopping, and preparing lunch. When he visited me in Berkeley, all he did was laze around and play guitar. *ptui*

We've also done quite a bit of cooking. Invited his german housemate/classmate to dinner last night, and prepared a yummy but spicy meal of sambal kangkong, mapo tofu, and kung pao chicken. mmm.... happy tastebuds. =) Think i'm quite a big disruption to his frugal lifestyle. Since i've arrived, we've gone grocery shopping twice (in three days!), and the fridge has filled up with all sorts of food, fruits and juices. I didn't spend very much...but I suppose he usually buys enough food for only a day or two, whereas I plan for a whole week or so. He'd better get used to it.

We're heading to the Canary Islands next weekend for a week's fun in the sun...then spending the following two weeks touring mainland spain and portugal. I'm really looking forwards to some warmer weather, and white sandy beaches..oh, and seafood too. Most of the fish here seems to be dried or salted or smoked. After that should be heading back to the US for 2-3 weeks for grad school interviews and open houses. I've had some positive responses from a few schools already...and so the year ahead doesn't seem so uncertain anymore. =P

Oh, I feel so lucky. I'm really glad that i took a year off before applying to grad school. I gained so much more than I expected from my internship. I did some cool science research, interacted with some really great people, became better friends with M, stayed in a cute studio, earned some $$ for my trip to europe, danced alot, laughed alot, and mm..maybe got a better idea of my plans for the future. Then I got to spend chinese new year in Singapore. The snacks, the food, the family, the ang pows. I enjoy spending time with my parents more and more as I get older...the three weeks we were together seemed strangely short. Mm.. I suppose as they get older, the more I want to make the most of the time we spend together?

Oh, and my adorably handsome baby cousin. I love him so much. I melt when his little hand clenches tightly around my index finger, and when he smiles at me, and when he gurgles excitedly whenever I talk to him. I guess I experience only the good things. I don't have to change his soiled diaper, I don't have to feed him every 4 hours, i don't have to wake up to his crying at 3am in the morning, i don't have to carry him until he falls asleep, i don't have to pacify him when he wails at the top of his lungs. Man, i'm not ready for kids. But is anyone actually prepared for the responsibility of caring for a totally and utterly dependent being, until they are actually faced with it? Oh well, hope that he still remembers this jiejie when I return to Singapore sometime in May. Babies grow up so fast...they remind me how old i am.

Okay...gotta clean up the room and shower. Moving in all my belongings and stuff has added a lot of clutter. Have to stop procrastinating. I hope that it'll start snowing, then we can go out and take pretty pictures. I'm so happy i could burst. *POP*

uuuurgh
just had one of the worst things i've ever tasted - salty licorice. It's a Dutch candy, looks innocuously like a gummy sweet, but tastes like...er...a sweaty foot or something. I was shoving handfuls of wasabi peas into my mouth just to get the licorice down. Apparently it's made with similar compounds to what urea has......eeek!

Sunday already?
Back in a familiar life surrounded by dear relatives and old friends, and the US one quickly fades into the background. But the blogs, the emails and the news reports serve as a reminder that life, whether I am present or not, continues to move at the same unrelenting pace. New friendships are forged, old ones strengthed, new places are explored, old haunts revisited. Whether i am in Singapore or in California, time, people, life, goes on. And when i return to one place from the other, i am frustrated by all that i have missed out on. 7 Months. The sudden deepening of my cousin's voice came as a shock. My aunt's swelling tummy, a surprise, since she showed no signs of pregnancy the last time i left. My other aunt's broken foot - no one told me. Friends, with new boyfriends/girlfriends, entering the workforce for the first time. Not large significant changes, but little subtle ones that make me feel displaced and ever so detached....unable to put down my roots in any one place.

The Move (part 2)
Met my new neighbour-to-be last night. Twas a good meeting, which left me really looking forward to the move-in once i get back from Singapore in 2 weeks. Okay, so his dog started barking his head off once approached the main house, which was not very nice at all. But once Maddy(the dog) and I said hi, things started to take off. She sat quietly on my left foot, mm..which was the first time i had my foot sat on actually, and err..just let me stroke her. Those clever animals sure know how to make us fuss over them. Then she even fetched her rubber ball over so that i would play fetch. You must understand that i have never really played fetch with a dog before; i used to have a little pom that only wanted to eat or sit under the couch, so this was another first time for me. Kinda surreal throwing a bright pink thing out of the door, and have a big black furry thing bound out of the house in pursuit, and then repeat this three times. It's funny how excited Maddy gets, whether it's the first time i throw it or the millionth. I'm gonna have fun as long as she doesn't poop all over. =) The guy was pretty nice too. He seems really cool with sharing the internet and the phone and washer/dryer, which makes me feel glad coz i know i'll be able to pop over should i need any help. And he also doesn't seem psychotic or deranged in any way, but i have my pepper spray at hand *muahaha*....kindly given to me by ys for my protection. Oh, and a good omen....we saw a bright shooting star above us as we stood outside discussing the finer details of i-can't-remember-what. Everything is falling in place now...i'm happy to say that this post-graduation life is suiting me well. =)
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Best wishes to all my dear friends that have started school. It's weird hearing you talk about classes and the campus and stuff, while being so strangely detached from it all. Have fun learning new stuff, while i start purging facts/formulas/useful skills from my little brain.

and now for the news
Mm..someone commented that my blog kinda looks like a newspaper now. well, i would hope not, partly because i know that the news here would be hardly worthy of mention even in the tabloids, and partly because i put in some effort into finding pretty fonts (which other people cannot see..boohoo). Yah, i almost forgot to mention that i revamped the page....really needed a change. so now it's blue =) and gives me much more space in the main frame to write/put pictures/etc... I still need to add the links and other random things. I've been so busy with work though, that time just flies right by. I suppose it'll take a while before more changes are made to this page. But that's alwez been the case right?
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I'm leaving for Singapore tomorrow night...can hardly believe it. Have had a ton of work in the past few weeks, and I think my supervisor and I will welcome a short break. The project i'm working on is really fascinating, and strange as it may sound, i'm gonna miss working in the lab. I've never felt that way before about labs. Oh dear, i'm turning into a lab rat! We've been really lucky with our experiments so far...most things have worked out, and so much has been done in just 1 1/2 months. With a lot more luck, we could be on our way to developing a drug for auto-immune diseases. It'll be real nice if the work that i put in now could help thousands of people around the world. I think this is one reason why research in a pharmaceutical company gets me that much more excited. okay, the pay helps too. =)

ssshh....it's meant to be a secret...
...but i'm flying back to Singapore!! =) My supervisors have kindly agreed to let me go back to singapore for a short break. More details about how that came about later. =P Now i'm so happy i can't stop grinning and tell anyone who wants to hear. My parents will be back in Singapore the weekend i arrive, the five of us will once again all be home at the same time, plusplusplus Daryl is currently back from Deutschland on holiday! *xiao jumps around the room in glee* Yes, this will take my mind off my twin bruised toenails for the time being. Sambal stingray, char kway teow, chwee kueh, roti prata..here i come! *drool* Although just two short weeks, this trip is a dream come true.
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My colleague and i have been surfing the net for random rubbishy sites. Extremely therapeutic after a long day at work. Would you wear this? Great, a Pulitzer Prize winner specializing in toilet humor-Dave Barry.

The Move
This is perhaps the biggest and most significant event in my life in the past few months. Yep, I moved. Into an apartment in Mountain View, which i had never been to before. An apartment that i had never seen. With roommates that i'd never met. And with absolutely no idea what to expect. Save for the roach problem, everything has worked out really well thus far. WHAT ROACH PROBLEM?! you may ask. Mm...my roommate and I are now very coolly nonchalant about the irritating pests that plagued us upon our move in. We didn't even cook for 2-3 weeks because of these unwelcome kitchen guests. Well, I can now bite the heads off cockroaches with my bare teeth. Nah, not so powerful yet lah. Luckily they're the small German cockroach and not the huge-ass singapore flying ones. We've tried fumigating, roach bait, roach killing powder and insecticide...and ironically the problem got better once we started cooking. MMm...my cooking ain't that bad right?
Anyhow, living in this apartment has been pretty safe, and it has nice amenities such as a pool and a playground. It's been fun living with my new housemate, Emiley, who i believe has a Singapore obsession, apparently triggered by a fascination with our very own SDU. She knows so much about the country, and loves the food. We've even made plans for makan at Banana Leaf tomorrow night! Yar..and she even tried to make me record the answering machine message in a strong singaporean accent, just to amuse her and her friends. harhar.
It's also been fun furnishing my room from scratch. Cheapskate lil' me plowed though Craigslist everyday, and now i have a cosy little room with a glorious queen sized mattress and twin futon amongst other things....all for less than $50. Just put up pictures of ABC, my parents, the canoeists, and so on...they add warmth to a boring room.
If i could choose, i would stay in a furnished studio. (Yes, and become even more antisocial) At the end of a long day at work, i just want to have my own private space, without having to be cordial and constantly worrying if i'd be stepping on someone else's toes all the time.
One thing i hate about the whole moving process though, is meeting up with prospective co-tenants or roommates. With every person i meet, i try to be really friendly and open, so that they get a good idea of who i am and where i come from. Also, on their side, they have to open up their homes, and provide a glimpse of what life for them is like. It hate it especially since i feel much of it is just superficial courtesy rather than real i-like-you-so-muchnesss. There was this little old lady whose room i went to see. The house was okay, the room was okay, but she was nice, eager and sincere. I felt so terrible turning her down, coz she actually was so honest and open to discussing all the terms of rental since she had a good feeling about me. I felt bad for a few days after that.....but i really wanted to stay in a studio by myself. Later i met another old lady that made me feel very unhappy. She had a great studio, a cute doggie, and well, seemed friendly enough. We talked for quite a while, and i would have probably gotten the place if not for what happened next. I mentioned that i had to wait for a phone call from another renter before i could give her my answer....that was an earlier arrangement that i had made. This old lady suddenly became someone else. She folded away my application, stood up, picked up the dog, turned off the light and abruptly ended our meeting. She could not even spare a smile from that point on. I was disappointed at the way things turned out. I don't understand how people can be so hypocritical. Oh well, at least i got to know what my prospective landlord would be like before i learnt the hard way. No more old ladies for me from then on.
i'm dead serious.

Japan in June
The bulk of the photographs i took in Japan were not of people, but often some sort of weirdly interesting food or gadget. I can understand why Japan would be a culture shock to many people. People behave so very different than those in other large cities. I was pleasantly surprised that strong emphasis on courtesy and decorum still made up a large part of the japanese culture. The hotel staff were all extremely enthusiastic about well, everything! Whether I asked the front desk staff for the nearest optician, hair salon or commercial belt, they would immediately dig through the yellow pages and folders filled with newspaper clippings and meticulously written telephone numbers and addresses. Then they would even ring up these shops, just to make sure if they really were what i was looking for. It was almost like a mission. It amazes me that this is even with a "no tipping" rule. Yes, a no-tipping rule. Even porters! In Japan, the group is still valued above the individual. Try doing that in the US. Oh, and there's the polite bowing. By the end of the trip, i was unconsciously bobbing my head up and down whenever i spoke to the Japanese, just as they tirelessly do. Here's a couple of things that made the trip a memorable one:

1. The toilets - oh man, i spent so much time exploring the various functions of Japanese toilet bowls. Here's a pic of some of the features you can expect from a typical loo.

I think the flushing sound thing is the funniest thing. The instructions claimed that the flushing sound (it sounds really fake by the way) was a water-saving feature. Who would use it? I can't imagine that anyone would use this feature. Flush after every few pees just to save water?! yucks.

2. The juxtaposition of old and new- Traditional shrines and buddhist temples coexist side by side with the modern metropolis skyscrapers and apartments. You can almost imagine samurai-like gentlemen walking the streets of Tokyo. Afterall, as late as the 20th century, the Japanese were still carrying swords and wore traditional garb, thanks to their isolation policy.

3. The meticulous detail that goes into the aesthetic presentation of japanese food and gifts- I was lucky to have enjoyed a real japanese (8-course?) dinner at a traditional ryokan inn. I just had to take pictures of every dish i ate. It was like eating art itself! Even a simple hotel breakfast turned out to be a fit-for-photo-taking affair. Mm....It was really interesting...half the time i didn't even know what i was eating! Gifts were also always very presented, whether it was a can of tea or a bag of sweets. (okay, as u can see i spent alot of time eating and buying food)


4. Having my first public bath experience. i.e. first time completely naked in front of perfect strangers and my mom. Very er..steamy. Hm...okay..have to stop thinking about it. It's one of those things that you just do but not think about too much. I tried taking a picture of naked guys in a bath waaaaaay far away in another building. SHHhhh...don't tell anyone! Anyway it was too far away. But there was nothing to hide the fact that there were naked men in a public bath. No screens or curtains, just glass from ceiling to floor. Alright...once again too many details here. =P

5. Quirky sights all around Japan - Despite the government closure of a street where people would go to busk, see and be seen, the famous youngsters of Harajuku still sit near the subway station on Sundays, seemingly oblivious to tourists snapping away at them. But i think they dress up as such for a purpose, and are actually happy to oblige to a picture request. The english standard in Japan is also not up to par with many other major cosmopolitan cities, so you do get some really funny signs. Wording on clothes especially, don't make any sense at all.


6. Finally, I had an awesome time with my parents. Sure, there were the occasional squabbles and times where i felt they were overly protective. But i know they are just concerned, and will always be whether i'm 6, 16, or 60. I felt like we got to know each other better, and spend some quality time together exploring a strange city. My mom asked me questions about daryl, and my dad said some really nice things to me. And i can feel that they are trying their best to let go, and treat me as more of an individual. Going overseas has made me appreciate my parents more, although i very seldom express it to them. This trip to Japan brought us closer emotionally, and moved me in a special way. I can only hope that my thank you card at the end of the trip adequately expressed my gratitude towards all they have done for me all these years.

ps. You just have to check out this photoblog has awesome snapshots of daily life in the Tokyo area from the eyes (or lens rather) of a pretty cool Canadian dude living there with his wife and very cute baby boy.

Where the hell has all that time gone?!
well, my mundane life has simply been jam-packed with a ton things ever since graduation. Where and how should i start posting again? I've been considering pulling the plug on this oft neglected blog...especially after comparing it to all the beautiful stylo webpages that everyone else seems to have. Boo! I wish mine were chio too. Although my blog fails to serve any aesthetic purpose, it is the one window that friends miles away have to my little life. Especially because i'm becoming so damn antisocial.
Seriously, i can hardly recall going out in a group larger than three in the past month or so. I build walls, i keep to myself, i don't well, socialize. I hate being so closed off to people. but at the same time, I like being alone. I like knowing that i can do any damn thing i wish, whether it's digging my nose or making stupid faces, not that i actually do such things. ;)
Guess i'll start blogging bits and pieces of the past few months.....little fragments of the wonderful summer that i have had. Post-graduation life had always looked so unsettlingly uncertain, but thanks to a few great people and lucky twists of fate, it's worked out just great. Many thanks to whoever is out there looking out for me...

fire in the sky
Living near Moeser Lane made it possible to catch yesterday's spectacular fireworks across the bay, even though it took 5 minutes of muffled 'booms' to make lazy ol' me leave the house. The annual KFOG KaBoom was one of the longest displays i have ever seen. Forget about the waaaaaaay short Singapore National Day fireworks. This one must have been close to 15 minutes! Just imagine the money they spent. I didn't take pictures though...just grabbed my car keys and raced up the hill. After the fireworks, there was a grand line of cars chugging down Moeser Lane. Somehow i thought it was pretty funny.
i miss him the most not when i'm upset, or having a bad day. It's when i'm really happy, or see something nice that i feel the great distance between us. I'm looking forward to the day where we can actually live our lives together, and the emptiness will be a thing of the past.