Exchange at UBC - The Man in Van

Bye, Vancouver!

2006-12-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

The exams are over, my essays are all done, I went to New York (again), and I'm back in Van. I'll be leaving tomorrow for Singapore and I can't wait to get my Queen St. Bak Chor Mee. Actually, I don't think it's on Queen St. but I can't be arsed to change it. The same thing with the pictures I took of New York and stuff; I can't be arsed to put them up online because I think I packed my USB wires and harddisks away already, oh wait. They're here actually, so I can do it most conveniently.

NYC was good as usual. It was really like a route march over five days because I think I must have walked over 200 streets in three days, and over 50 in the other two days. I woke up with blisters and my feet and muscle pains in muscles I never knew I had. Some new places I visited this time were FAO Schwartz, the Museum of the City of New York, the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Holocaust Memorial (or something like that anyway), the Brooklyn Bridge and the top half of Central Park. I also went to Serendipity 3, and at 11.30 in the morning, the queue already stretched to the next building, but I was admitted as soon as I arrived because they didn't have tables for 3, or 4, or 5 (which groups most people were in), but they had tables for 1 or 2.

Some other places I visited for the second (or third, or fourth) time were: Battery Park, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, the Empire State Building, the Public Library of New York and Bryant Park.

This trip felt a lot better than the last because I knew the place, and I had more time. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the Met because I was carrying my huge backpack which they didn't allow in. Whatever it is though, I will be living vicariously through Gilbert as he makes his way through the second floor of the Met and marvels at what I didn't see.

Gilbert is leaving tonight for New York, and then it'll be David and me left in the house. Then I leave tomorrow, at 12.35pm and he leaves at 4pm. It's sad because these are the people I've lived with for the 4 months I've been in Canada, and they're the ones who've helped me a lot, and who I've helped a little. I'll miss things like making pasta with Gilbert, watching Jeopardy and Full House and trying to help him wash the dishes. I'll miss helping David climb in through his window when his door gets locked on him and watching South Park and the Simpsons and drinking icewine. I'll miss Matt's huge CD collection and his easily amused personality, plus the fact that he looks like Robin Hood, and how he pronounces tuna as "tune".

Anyway, pictures. Here is a picture of trees growing out of skyscrapers.

And here is one of Gilbert and me.

And here is one of my housemate, Matt, who I couldn't get to say a proper goodbye to.

And this is of the Brooklyn Bridge which I walked across on a glorious, sunny, New York Morning at 8.00am.

And this is of David and David at Van Dusen Gardens, in Vancouver, on our second last night here.

So, I suppose that's about all. Exchange is over and all I have to do now is to pack up and try to replace that empty feeling inside me where Vancouver resided once. Then it's Singapore, school and hissoc for me. I'm at the place where history meets memory...

Snow

2006-11-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

I don't really like the snow now, but I suppose that's because of the stomach thingy I got about the same time the snow started falling. It's been two days already and I think it's conditioning at work because now I'm afraid of snow not because snow is cold, but because every time I see snow, it gives me pain in my tum. Anyway, here's a whole entry about snow.

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

Snow

School is Closed

2006-11-28T00:18:00.000-08:00

Closures of schools actually do happen here! I experienced one such closure because apparently there was a snowstorm somewhere and something something cars something something stranded in ditch something something. But the end result of this was that power was cut off in UBC at about 3 am. I would know. I was up, trying to retch my liver out in the dark with only the light from my handphone illuminating my very (w)retched state. Geddit, geddit? Hahaha. I'm so funny I sleigh myself. Geddit, geddit? Hahaha.

Anyway I had some stomach thing last night. My stomach was so bloated I couldn't get to sleep properly last night and I had some odd dreams while I was tossing and turning. In the end, I didn't sleep a wink at all, and it was lucky because I locked my window to prevent the warmth from escaping from my room which I wouldn't have done were I sleeping.

I woke up in the worst state this morning and I tried puking again but nothing happened. Laura came over and passed me some Metoclopramide which did something to my stomach which made me want to puke less and Gilbert gave me some charcoal tablets which made the diarrhoea go away. And David gave me bottled water. It's the little things like this that people do for me when I'm sick that really touch me, although I'd rather that be done in other circumstances.

I slept almost the whole day in powerless UBC, and when I woke up it was in time for dinner. Gilbert got himself scalded when he slipped and fell on the snow while carrying Laura's hot soup over. We are two sad sacks.

But the best thing about today is: There was NO SCHOOL! Which means, no test today and an extension on one paper. Still, my stomach hurts a bit, and I don't feel like going for school at all tomorrow. It's stopped snowing so that is a very great possibility. But, snow storms are predicted for Wednesday, so that's something else to look forward to as well!

If it were up to me, I wish school would be cancelled until Friday. That'd be nice.

Snow is so much fun

2006-11-26T19:56:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing the worst weather for the past few days - rain and grey skies. But today and yesterday just made everything worthwhile even though I have so much work to do. For want of a better simile, the amount of work I have is like the amount of snow we have here. Yes, it is snowing now! Here! Look at it!

This is the amount of snow we had yesterday when it first started snowing - just snow on the flowerbeds, but not on the ground.

And then, it got heavier and heavier, and by the time I got out of the house to go for the Rolling Stones concert, this was how much snow there was. I was nearly late in meeting Abdul who bought the tickets for us because I was admiring the snow so much.

This is that Rolling Stones Concert. Mick Jagger ran miles around the stage like the excellent showman he was, and did all sorts of amazing things with his body you never believed a body could do. He would be a riot to impersonate if you did charades. Mick is in red, Keith is in white next to him, and the rest are all around on that platform. The platform was part of the stage, and halfway through the concert, it moved forward along a passageway, into the middle of the crowd. We all went wild.

And there were fireworks too. The concert finished about 11.30 and Abdul and I lost our way for a bit before we walked in the right direction, missed a bus or two, and finally, we got home around 1.30 in the morning. Snow was everywhere, and UBC is an amazing campus in the winter with snow all around.

Then today, I wanted to play with snow with Gilbert, but he said he already did it and proceeded to sleep, so I played with snow with Sulynn instead. We made a T-rex.

This is our completed snow T-rex. He stands slightly shorter than me, and he was an architectural feat of snow. Every part of his body was made of snow, except his eyes and nostrils because using twigs for arms is just heresy. We took 2 hours because the arms kept falling off. Then when we were done, he miraculously came alive.

Here he is chasing me.

Here I am chasing him.

And then he looked cold, so I gave him a hug. Those are Sulynn's gloves; mine are not here or at home. I don't have gloves. My hands are always cold, and so are my ears and my face feels like it's been shaved raw.

And this was how much snow there was when we came back. Lovely lovely lovely snow, I tell you. We studied for a bit, then later on, I made a snowman outside my door.

He was twee and small and very cold and thirsty, so he went over to Starbucks and ordered a Chai Latte. Now he has been snowed in and a mound of snow is building up around him. He is the pope of Starbucks.

And then much later, we went sledding down a small slope; the trip didn't last too long, but it was really fun. This picture is of Sulynn and me carrying the table to the top of the slope. We used a table from my house to sled down this slope and snow was spraying all over - this was Sulynn's idea. No one ought to doubt the experience of a person who's done this whole snow thing at least once. I forgot to mention that Gilbert joined us as well, and we shared 1 pair of gloves. My hands were burning on contact with the metal of the table.

Another thing I thought would be fun to do was to roll down the slope, which I did. I got snow in my pockets, on my hair and in my shirt. Woohoo! I hope it stays snowy tomorrow...and until I get out of Vancouver and head for New York.

Snow is so much fun.

"Snow covered, Slippery, Wet"

2006-11-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

I have a gazillion and one essays to do, but I had to write about this. This is what I've been waiting all my life for:And it happens tomorrow!!!!! Maybe...I'll see this on my way from school, little wooden hut, little soldier and little snowman with hat, scarf, buttons and carrot nose.

Yeah. Jools is the man.

What I know

2006-11-15T01:27:00.000-08:00

Regarding Earl Grey Tea, Dilmah tastes better than Twinings.

I am stuck in 7 degree weather trying to finish up my work after a whole day's procrastination. If there's one thing I hate more than reading Greek philosophers waxing lyrical about trying to understand the world, it's reading English scientists trying to determine the nature of air. Those English scientists, how pedantic they can get! And those oh-so-long sentences! By the time you get to the end of the sentence, you forget what it was about. But such is the life of an undergraduate. You read stuff you don't enjoy sometimes, but mostly, you read stuff you enjoy. And because you don't bitch enough about the stuff you enjoy, you forget what you were supposed to remember. But, because you bitch about the stuff you don't enjoy, and because all the bitching is about the worst part of it, you don't remember anything because you don't like the parts you bitch about, and thus you don't remember it.

Like, if you were to ask me about what Hobbes said about the nature of the air, I'd know fuckall.

But I do know that Dilmah tastes better than Twinings. And that excessive consumption of Earl Grey makes you photosensitive and prevents potassium intake because of its bergamot oil.

Also, I know about most Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola films as well as Wikipedia can enlighten a person. I have also discovered more about Central Park than I can visit. I have also been able to buy a Sufjan Stevens album online. I have watched Serendipity. I have enjoyed Serendipity. This is the John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale love story type movie which I don't usually enjoy, but which makes for good TV on a grey Vancouver day, which is everyday now.

This is what I have learnt throughout the Remembrance Day weekend.

BelugA

2006-11-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

Apologies! The reason why I haven't been blogging so often is because the nice laptop that my parents DHLed over takes motherlong to load Blogger. I can go down at 3pm then come back up at 7pm and the )#($*#)(*@#)(**&@# page hasn't loaded.

About the only thing this laptop is good at is word processing.

Anywayyyyy, my birthday is finally over, and I'm writing about it now because now no one can coerce me into a repeat of my 21st birthday. My 21st birthday was all about getting drunk. This year's birthday, I had a nice Greek dinner at home. No one cooked; it was a delivery. We had ice wine, and it was so good. And sooooo nice and lovely, the way I always thought a birthday should be celebrated - in a place far away from home, with friends.

And then David and his friend Lawre tried to repeat the 21st birthday thing by dragging me to a party, which I grudgingly went for, found the conversation all right, the drinks not so all right, went home early and slept.

Also, I wanted so badly to go for the Remembrance Day ceremony on the 11th with my poppy and all, but I overslept. Story of my life.

An "A" starts every single paragraph in this entry, and an "A" shall end it. BelugA

Thoughts on Foucault

2006-11-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings! I have just finished a reading on Foucault, and here are my thoughts about it.

1) "These alien discourse/practices are then explored in such a way that their negativity in relation to the present explodes the "rationality" of phenomena that are taken for granted" is not a sentence. It is an abberation.

2) "One objection often raised against Foucault's writing is that it is difficult, mannered, and finally incomprehensible." You got that right.

3) "Apodicticity" is a new word I learnt which I haven't learnt at all.

New York, New York

2006-11-05T04:23:00.000-08:00

There is this commercial in Canada which I find really irritating. It goes like this:

"If you want to get fit, you go for a run. If you want to save on food, you go to Save On Food."

My ass lah, Save On Food. If you want to Save On Food, you withdraw all your money out of the Dining Convenience Plan and go out and buy food from Safeway or wherever, and cook it at home. And I am getting to be a pretty good cook even though my culinary repertoire now consists of rice, pasta, fried rice, chicken, dumplings erm...(the dumplings were ready-to-cook), and basically, stuff with cheese. Anyway, as a result of my "new-found fortune" once left formenting in the rubbish bin that is my Dining Convenience Plan, I have decided to go back to the U.S. of A.

And where better to go in the U.S. of A. than New York, New York? I know I should visit other places, but they don't hold the mystique that New York holds for me! I went to Seattle. I didn't like Seattle that much. I went to Portland. I didn't like Portland that much either. But I loved New York! I'm still deciding whether I want to wait for my roommate (the other David) to come along because his exams end later, or whether I should go first and meet him in NYC.

But this time, I'm prepared. The last time I was in NYC, I made a big mess of my touristing. I didn't finish the Met, I didn't finish MOMA, and I went to the Museum of Cartoons and Comics or someshit which was horrible. This time, I've got everything planned out. I'll finish the Met and MOMA, then I'll do the Museum of Skyscrapers and Museum of New York and I'll go to Central Park and pay homage to my hero. And I'll climb up the Empire State Building. Yeah, I'm prepared. And yes, I'll definitely see if I can buy that I Heart NY t-shirt.

Because, I Heart NY.

The Laptop Problem

2006-10-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Latest update on the laptop situation: It is going to be expensive to fix it because they don't have the parts in Canada and must ship them over from elsewhere. The technician says it might cost about $1000. For $1000 I can buy a new laptop. It is going to take a long time to fix it because the parts need to be shipped over.

What I did: I told them to remove my harddisk and put it into a removable harddisk thingy, accessible through USB.

What I want to do now: I want to cry. But, seriously, I want to send my laptop back to Singapore where, maybe, my father can fix it. And even if he can't, it'll be cheaper to fix in Singapore. And I think I will probably ask him to ship a laptop over as well so I can continue doing my work.

Who I need to thank: Gilbert, for lending me his laptop to transfer data from one part of my newly converted removable harddisk to another. And for helping me figure out how to do so.

Laptop spoyr

2006-10-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

One of the worst things to happen to exchange students has happened to me, other than scoring Fs on tests, or losing your way, or getting kidnapped, or getting on the wrong flight, or losing your luggage, or losing your laptop, or getting sick. My laptop is spoilt.

What happened was that Clausewitz's On War fell on my laptop from the shelf on top of a table in the library and dislodged 2 keys, cracked 1 key, cracked my quartz display, and made my screen turn black. Or my harddisk crash. I hope it's not the latter though.

But, thanks to Gilbert, I have been able to google for Fujitsu service providers in Vancouver and I will head there with my now comatose laptop and hope they can revive my harddisk without losing any data. Thank you very much Gilbert!

I sound pretty all right now, but I can assure you it's a delayed reaction. Tomorrow, I'll be crying like a baby about the inconvenience of not having a laptop and at the cost incurred to fix my laptop.

No More Midterms woohoo!

2006-10-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today on my way to lessons, I saw something amazing. I saw this whole row of trailers-for-the-stars parked in front of Buchanan. It's for Fantastic Four II!! I wish I brought a camera. I might even meet Jessica Alba! But what's more amazing is that I can now monkey around doing readings for my modules. No more midterms! Woohoo! No more papers-for-the-time-being! Woohoo! I am going to run! Woohoo!

My stubbed toe yesterday seems to have become better, just a little better. It is still stubbed and still swollen, but at least now I can walk on it and wiggle it around like wigglewigglewiggle.

But what I really want to boast about today was reading 200 pages in 3 hours. And it was good reading, but when I entered the tutorial, all that talk about poststructuralism just befuddled me. I know poststructuralism, just not very well. Words like "discourse" and "rhetoric" are fine on their own. Then there are bits like "rhetorical discourse", "rhetorical agency", and "relativism of power" which I don't understand. But, I should have a better understanding of it Tuesday after class. Because I have "agency". And because I asked my lecturer to helpch me.

More interesting posts should be coming up in time, because no more midterms woohoo!

Today

2006-10-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

I thought this day would be a good day because I woke up in time for my first lesson and proceeded to drag my frigid butt to Geography. It got even better when the lecturer announced that he would be changing the exam date to the 9th of December, instead of the 19th (woohoo!) and now my exams end on the 15th and I have SO MUCH TIME TO DO SO MANY THINGS!

But...then I went for my midterm. It was an open book exam, and I didn't bring my notes. Actually, I did bring them because I brought my laptop, but I didn't print them because printing is )(@*#)#$&* expensive here. So I just did a closed book exam and I was kicking myself all the way because I had extra time left over, and I couldn't answer 1 question, which I could have if I had my notes.

And balls! I stubbed my toe against the little wheel on the bed frame. It went like KER-BAAAAANNNNG and the bed frame vibrated and I went down. The pain didn't stop dissipating until about 2 minutes later and now my toe is swollen and hurts when I try to bend it. I know nothing's broken because I can still move it, but I just hope I haven't torn a ligament (again), and I hope I can get to running ASAP.

Squirl squirl

2006-10-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

I have almost finished all my drowning in the quagmire of shit in the toilet bowl called "Midterms". But I haven't flushed yet, because I have one more midterm on Wednesday. Yay for that! But I feel quite stupid because I've been so busy, that I haven't had time to study for a test this morning that was 20% of the grade. And it was so easy had I studied. But I didn't, and it wasn't.

On another note, I realised that I have not mentioned that Gilbert bought me a squirrel when he went to the Rockies. The squirrel is now precariously poised on the edge of the table, waiting to steal my chocolate bars when I'm not looking. His name is Squirl, and he is actually a chipmunk, but it's the same difference to me because they look the same. Bushy tail. Little ears. The ability to hang on trees upside down. Eaters of acorn nuts.

I love the sight of squirrels scurrying around on campus. I used to see one for everyday I was in Vancouver, but when I started walking to campus, the number became something like, oh, a gazillion a day? I think it's nice how they don't really run away from us unless we penetrate their safety zone, which isn't that far. I saw a squirrel one arm's length away, and I wanted to eat it because it looked so deliciously adorable.

Oh, and the midterms are a quagmire of shit because I know that my lecturers will be wiping their asses on my test papers. Perhaps the S/U option was really a good idea after all.

Saving El Presidente

2006-10-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

The Blue Guys are the bad guys. The guy at the right, camouflaged in the trees is Major CJ, and that poor dude in brown in the middle of the Blue Guys is El Presidente.

Heehee. El Presidente.

Does anybody remember the game "Cannon Fodder"? Or am I the only primary school boy who played it when I was much much younger? I remember my brother and I used to play it during our school holidays because my dad introduced us into geekdom early. What he did was like kindergarten for the computer age; he deviously entered our names into the Primary School of Geeks by bringing us to Sim Lim Square and buying us loads of shareware games.

The thing about these games was that they worked on DOS, and you don't just click here and click there, you type in something like /install...or something. I can't remember if Cannon Fodder was for DOS or Windows, and I can't remember how I installed it, but I did and I played it. Anyway, at one point in our holidays, we even learnt some really upper-level DOS stuff (which like most of the knowledge I get from lectures...has been returned to their lecturers), which was probably my dad's aim. Most of the time, we failed to install the games. And when we did, we couldn't figure out the keys.

I remember always falling off cliffs. And I remember all the characters I controlled, Jools, Stoo, Ubik and the others were so dear to my heart that it hurt when any of them died. But it was great fun! You could shoot the enemies and see them fly (to their deaths), and you could shoot them and see them writhe in paroxysms of death, and you could also run a tank or skidoo or jeep over them to kill them, or you could...

So many ways of dying and so many ways of killing. No wonder Cannon Fodder was so much fun.

Heehee. El Presidente.

Several things

2006-10-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

1) I ran 9km in 45 minutes which is my new post-NS record.

2) I learnt how to cook rosti, and actually got down to cooking it.

3) I learnt, from David my housemate, how to make mint tea.

4) Gilbert is in the Rockies, and I am in Portland. We travelled in opposite directions.

5) I was listening to Timmy in Timbre, and when I heard your voices, I felt homesick all of a sudden. I hope you guys still meet up, or at least, attempt to. If not, I will be execute.

Portland, Oregon

2006-10-08T00:39:00.000-07:00

Right now, it is 0035hr, and I am in a hostel in Portland, Oregon typing these words. I brought along my chargers and adapters only to realise that horrors of horrors! I brought the wrong adaptor; the one with three, not two, pins. It seems like every single powerpoint here is two pins, so it's really lucky I'm going to be away for two days.

It's our Thanksgiving weekend now, and it's three days long so we (Laura, Sulynn and this really nice guy, Jonathan, and I) decided to drive down to Seattle first, and then Portland. I found out about Portland later. And Jonathan drove, not us. Poor, brave, tired dude.

Whatever it is, I'm pretty glad to be out of Vancouver. I still miss the place, but I think I've visited every attraction I'd really want to go to. I've done Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park is nice but I haven't been there yet but will have time to do so, I've gone downtown, and I'm really content just doing my runs down to Spanish Banks and back. I seem to be getting fitter because I'm doing something like 45 minutes for 9km. For a post-NS timing, that's pretty good I should think. Anyway, I seem to be on the right track in my half-marathon training.

Back to the trip. We visited a music museum called "Experience Music Project". It was 1) designed by Frank Gehry, and 2) possessing a Jimi Hendrix gallery. I was literally squealing when I entered the EMP and I saw...the KISS axe guitar. I'm not sure if the others had much fun there, but I had heaps. I bought a catalogue (as usual) of the collection, and other things (which I shall not write here because those are my souvenirs for people back home).

We went down to the Cheesecake Factory, this huge....huge. large. amazingly big restaurant with the best cheesecake I've ever tasted. I don't even like cheesecake, but this was real good. It didn't even taste like cheese at all!

And then, we went down to Johnston Ridge Observatory, to observe Mount St. Helen. This part of the journey took us up a whole set of meandering roads cut into the sides of mountains, and we went all the way up to 4000 ft, or more, and we reached there 15 minutes before closing time, got our tickets...and observed that the volcano's peak was covered by clouds. While it was disappointing, it was also amazing because we were in the clouds as well! Either that, or there was fog 4000 ft up in the sky. And the view as we drove along the sides of mountains was just stunning. I have, never in my life, been so in awe of nature. I wish I had the pictures, but I didn't bring a camera.

And we drove and we drove and we drove. Or rather, and Jon drove and he drove and he drove. And now we're here, all settled in Northwest Portland International Hostel, which seems to be a really cosy place, with a very nice concierge, and a very clean toilet. Tomorrow, we tour.

I give thanks

2006-10-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

I've been too tired to post anything recently. In fact, I'm going to leave my book-borrowing until tomorrow morning when I make my way from Geography Building to Buchanan. I'll be going to Seattle on Saturday! Actually it's more Portland than Seattle, I don't know why. But I'm looking forward to going to the Experience Music Project Museum in Seattle; Jimi Hendrix!!!!!!

For now, I'm just going to take a rest from my books because I feel I've earned it. Tomorrow, I start again.

It is OK to be rfest

2006-10-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

So today in my 2-hour-sleep-for-the-whole-day-rush-essay-until-damn-stress mode, I walked past a piece of paper stuck on a lamp post saying it was OK to be rfest.

"What is rfest?" I thought to myself. "Can it be eaten? Is it Italian? Some Slavic language? Perhaps a colour? Does it wriggle like a worm? Is it a nom de guerre? What is a nom de guerre? Does it mean circa?"

That was at 12pm, but it is 9pm now and I just realised what an rfest is, and why it is OK to be rfest.

I am sorry for not updating

2006-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

I woke up and first thing this morning had a wholly unhappy phone conversation which drove me back to sleep until 2.45pm. Then I woke up again and felt all no I do not want to go to Metrotown when yesterday I was all I need to geddoutuvthehouseandgosomewhereduringtheweekendorIllgocrazy. That's when i realised how much work I had to do, and it all collapsed on me like a gypsy bath built on spindly sticks of wood. I am one hundred and four percent sure, or is it ten-ish, or less? Not more though.

But I promised Gilbert and so I'll go. Besides, we need to get groceries and I need to get comfort food. I'm already halfway into hibernating, winter is coming, and I need chocolate. I have three beds in the house; my own bed in my room, and the two couches downstairs for my afternoon siestas. I sleep a total of 12 hours a day, or somewhere about there anyway.

It doesn't really help that David in the next room plays sad-sounding music with happy lyrics which thumps through my wall to confuse my moods. Or happy music with sad lyrics. It's all good music though. And that one day, he played the song from Amelie over and over again, which just made me miss home a bit more.

The Grouse Grind Mountain Run Walk/Crawl

2006-09-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

I stood at the bottom of the mountain and didn't think it'd be such a big deal. Even though it was like a huge green wall that stretched up as far as I could see, I never imagined it to be so steep. I only learnt that after they flagged us off and I jogged over to the base of the mountain. Grouse Mountain is (200X Peng Kang Hill/Macritchie/Bukit Timah Hill combined, and 2X Crazy). To make it easier to understand, this are a picture to illustrate. Enjoy!

The Grouse Grind Mountain ~~Run~~ Walk/Crawl was afoot!

The Walk/Crawl was precisely that; a walk/crawl. I walked because I couldn't run. I couldn't run because it was too steep, and because there were too many people blocking the route. I overtook some people, not many, but those were rare instances. I walked because the person in front of me walked, and I crawled in two senses; I moved slowly, and I had to touch the ground with my 4 extremities because the terrain was exceptionally steep in some places and I have a slight psychomotor coordination problem.

When I got up to the top after about an hour of climbing steps, I was treated to the most beautiful view I have ever seen in my life. It was a clearing, and there was a chalet, and from there, I could see Stanley Park, many other mountains, (maybe downtown Vancouver) and all the trees I climbed past.

The Grouse Grind Mountain Walk/Crawl was a great experience; I'd definitely do it again, I'd go through all that pain once more to feel the same way I felt at the finish line this time. It was much better than completing 21km, or even getting up Peng Kang Hill in record time. It felt more than that; it felt like pride.

I was proud that I didn't stop no matter how much I was tempted to. Proud that I actually completed the race. I was proud that I, like 600+ other competitors (this year), knew this was going to be painful, and actually went ahead and did it because we wanted to. When I leave Vancouver, when I finally am forced to, this event will stay in my memories as something I knew I might not have the possibility of finishing, but which I did.

Grouse pre-run jitters

2006-09-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

I am scared again. I signed up for the Grouse Grind Mountain Run on Thursday or Friday, and today, I went down to collect my race pack. It took me about 2-3 hours to get there by bus(es, I had to transfer thrice), and on the last bus, as it ascended the road leading to the base of Grouse, I knew I was in really deep shit. Grouse Mountain came into view, and it was so high that my mind couldn't really comprehend how huge it was. When I got off the bus, I knew I was in really, really deep shit. I wish I had a camera, so that maybe we could all share this feeling of me being in really deep shit, but I didn't bring one.

I shall bring a camera tomorrow though; the view from the top is bound to be beautiful.

I got lost again

2006-09-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

One of the scariest things you can do while you're overseas is to get lost. It's not that bad getting lost in the city, but getting lost on the highway is the worst, and about 45 minutes into my run, that's where I was - getting lost on the highway. Thankfully the sun was up and it wasn't too cold.

Eventually I found my way back, and found that Google Earth, while useful, is not the greatest tool for mapping a running route unless you know an area intimately. This (in yellow line and red dots) is where I ran. The little green dots at the bottom of the route is where I started, and the other little green dot is where I ended.

I was supposed to meet Gilbert at the bookstore in about 30-35 minutes, but I was unable to because I was in Locarno Beach by that time, trying to figure out where to make the turn as indicated by the blue line and the words "Turn Here". So Gilbert was worrying about me, and I was worrying about me and also worrying about him worrying about me. In the end, this is the distance I ran according to the handy Google Earth "Measure" function.

Like balls lah! No wonder I'm so achy all over. I think other than my very nice long-sleeved t-shirt, I must also buy Deep Heat.

One thing I will miss about Vancouver when I'm back in Singapore will be the squirrels, fir cones, and acorns. I saw a squirrel an arm's length away today! He saw me a couple of his arm's length away today! We stared at each other and then he ran away.

Oh, and also the getting-lost-while-running routes.

Google Earth!

2006-09-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

We, and by we, I mean I, have downloaded Google Earth! I downloaded it once, just to look for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, but I deleted it because I thought it was causing problems for my computer. I also tried to find my house but I couldn't because it was hidden behind a huge cloud; this time though, I found it but I was going, "This isn't my house! It doesn't look like my house!" and it really didn't even though it was my house. No, it doesn't look like my house at all.

But this time, I wasn't so interested in looking for Osama as much as in the running routes I could find to get ready for the New Balance Fall Classic.

So now we, and by we, I mean Gilbert and myself, have just used the "Measure" function on Google Earth, and mapped a 16km route from UBC to Stanley Park which we will run one sunny day so that we (hopefully) can get ready for the half marathon distance. Personally, I feel a little cheated because the half marathon is just 2 rounds of the 10 km distance and a little bit. And that just means running around UBC and its surroundings twice. Nonetheless, I think it'd be a cool idea to complete 21km in Vancouver which is why, even though the 21km is bound to be boring during the second round, I'm (hopefully) going to do it.

In other news, it's been raining the whole of today and we, and by we, I mean Gilbert and I, have had a discussion on this topic and come to the conclusion that 1) he needs to get a water-resistant jacket, and 2) walking is the better option of getting from point A to point B when it rains than cycling because you get less wet walking.

In other, other news, there is going to be a Grouse Grind Mountain Run this Sunday! It is 2.9km and tough going because Grouse is a mountain, and we know that mountains go up and up and up and up and then down and down and down and down, and the 2.9 is unfortunately on the up and up bit. But, as is the case with most races here, the prices are steep; it is 29.68CND just to sign up for the run, and an additional 34++ for a technical t-shirt. It might not happen because the Grind has been closed, although it has been reported that the Grind will be open in time for the run. I want to try running up it (if, and when, it opens)! What is a trip to Vancouver without a trip up the Grind?

The rain in Vancouver

2006-09-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

The rain in Vancouver is a tricky mother's son. First, it starts before you wake up so it makes the weather conducive for sleeping in, and you wake up hurriedly, gobble down breakfast, pack your bag and walk out. Then you walk back in, remove your boots and run up the stairs to take your rain jacket before running out again. You end up in class slightly late.

When you finish your class, you walk out and the rain is out there waiting for you. You shrug your bag off your shoulders, put on the jacket, put the bag on and pull up the hood. The hood is stuck under a bag strap and you have to tilt everything a little to pull it back out.

After you pull the hood up, you walk to your next class and the rain cuts in at angles, instead of pattering down, as if it were trying to get past the defences of the rain jacket and into your base layer. It blinds you because the hood doesn't extend that much past your eyes and you have to keep adjusting the hood, your glasses, your posture. Then when you reach the next class, there is a yellow sheet of paper taped to the door stating that your lecturer has cancelled his class. You pull up the hood and walk out into the rain.

The rain turns soil into sludge, and fields become slick; danger traps all these. Boots work but jeans don't, not for long-distance trudging from the SUB to Tbird. Jeans become wet too, and when you reach home, all you want to do is take them off because they're sodden and cold, and put your hands over the heater because the cold makes it so that you can't feel your fingers. You think about how the next time you go to the big sports shop, other than buying that very nice long-sleeved running t-shirt, you are also going to get waterproof pants, gloves and a thermal hoodie. And then you wonder whether it is a good idea because you live on the equator.

It really isn't, but I really want to. Because the rain, that tricky mother's son, tells me I should.

An indignant post

2006-09-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

You can imagine my indignation when someone tells me "no need to study so hard" and attempts to direct me to do certain things which exchange students are "supposed" to do i.e. "not just to explore the place, but to interact with the people!". And after that, to apologise for being judgemental, but you know what? The damage is already done. As you can tell, I'm pretty much still seething over what someone has said about what we should do during exchange.

I don't think people should have a right to prescribe what other people do on exchange. They can go on drunken rampages of debauchery if they so wish, or mug until their eyes bleed, or take the middle lane. But is that your problem? You can have certain "rules" of what exchange students should do, especially exchange students who S/U their modules (like me), but these rules do not necessarily apply to me or to any other exchange student.

I'm all for exploring the city. I like exploring new places, and not so new places. I like exploring places which are rooted deeply in my consciousness, like the public library in New York. The movie Spiderman was a big part of that for me because it showed me New York and I wanted to know if the notion conveyed by the film, and the notion I kept in my head of New York i.e. my memory of what I think New York is like, and the place itself i.e. New York, converge. The process happens like that for most of the not so new places I want to explore but which I have in my head.

Vancouver, notwithstanding its not being a large part of my consciousness, is very interesting too. I've seen the largest sports shop I have seen in my whole life with gear oriented toward whitewater rafting, running, hiking, climbing and the like. And them other places, oh look at them other places. A couple of days ago when the weather was fine, I ran from UBC to the beach, down a slope, and there I saw a mountain range peeking over the trees, and a field of dandelions and daisies, and when I reached the Spanish Banks, downtown Vancouver sparkled with the reflections on skyscrapers' mirrored glass of the setting sun. Dogs swam in the ocean, and runners ran by with astonishingly good postures. It's a new experience, and all I had to do was observe.

And bollocks! to you if you think that by exploring the city, you aren't interacting with the people. When you are by yourself and new to a place, you don't wait for people to interact with you. You go and make conversation with them because you don't know how to get to Yale from New York, and you just need the confirmation. And that was how I met Steve the Korean who hates the Japanese for the war in the Pacific, 1939-1945. That was how I knew what to visit in New York because he very kindly drew a map of Manhattan for me. Yet, you can also wait for people to interact with you. In Vancouver, you just have to stand in a corner with a map and look lost and people automatically gravitate toward you and ask if you need help. So much for interaction with the people being something you have to actively pursue.

Nonetheless, while I actually do my own little bits of exploring and interacting, does it mean I have to do it on the scale that you dictate? Does that mean if you say that exchange students must do so-and-so, we must follow what you say? Isn't that being totalitarian about an experience that is supposed to be created of my own volition and in the way I think will best benefit me, not of how you think I should create this experience?

This is how I feel I want to create my SEP experience: I want to make it meaningful and for me, "meaningful" would be runs to the Spanish Banks to see the mountains, trips (not too expensive, or not whale-watching) to places within the city and outside, and studying for my modules because I want to 1) learn stuff while I'm on exchange, and 2) understand how university education in Singapore and Vancouver differ, or are alike. I like observing as an experience rather than actively going out and creating a situation that I can deem as an experience, and that's what "meaningful" is to me, and if that's how I enjoy myself, then you don't have the right to make me enjoy myself any other way.

Because Vancouver rains (or so I have heard)

2006-09-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of readings to do in the next 1.2 days, and then I realise I'm on exchange but that still doesn't make the panic go away because...I don't know why! It's just that I want to put in effort in whatever I do, so when I die maybe my children or wife or someone will put on my gravestone "He put in 100% effort 100% of the time".

Which is not really true. Take running for example; I can't put in 100% because of some reason which I learnt in SPT (but I was sleeping during that class, after they said "There is absolutely no way you can put in 100% effort for physical training".) Speaking of running, I went for 4 runs in the week, three down to the Spanish Banks which is down the slope, north of UBC, (we got lost on the last Spanish Banks run but found our way there), and one in the gym because it was raining bollocks-ish.

There is about 3-4 days' difference between the rain in Vancouver, and the weather report about the rain in Vancouver. From Sunday until Tuesday, I was anticipating wet weather, and it didn't come; some days it was sunny, and some days it was cloudy, but it didn't rain. I stopped believing the weatherman even though it was cloudy one of those grey, dry days. Then, on Wednesday I had a lesson which ended at 9pm (!! Yes! That's how chao pia I am!) and when I got out of the classroom, I knew the weatherman was right at last. There was a hard drizzle and I was dismayed because i brought along my green hoodie as protection against the cold, not the rain. So I ran 1.2km back to Thunderbird in the rain and was soaked. Luckily Gilbert and Laura (a Singaporean law student living 2 doors away) had heated up soup for me, those two nice souls!
Thankfully, we have only had 2 days of rain thus far. But, one thing that makes Vancouver's rain more enjoyable than Singapore's is that you can get caught in it and, given a little time, still come back dry in the end because moisture just evaporates so quickly. In Singapore, you perspire when that happens and you stay wet because of the high humidity.

I have taken precautions against the rainy weather though. I bought today from Main Street and Granville Island: 1 X Track Pants, 1 X Longer Running Shorts, and 1 X Thin Jacket. All these, as you can tell, are geared towards running. More specifically, they're geared towards running in the rain. OK, the boring part is over.

Now, for something totally different. Today, I was in Granville Island with the usual gang + 1 (a girl named Hui Ping) and we went to the Granville Public Market and Kid's Market. We bought strawberries from the market and they were soooooooooooooooooooooo good! And we were stuck in the Kid's market for a damn long time because all of us were so fascinated by the toys and games. It's like Toys R' Us X 10000000 for us! (I bought the Thin Jacket from this island peninsula thingy place).

Then we moved on to Robson because I wanted to check out the sizes of the shirt for the New Balance Fall Classic (and not make the mistake I've made 3 times in a row, namely choose the wrong size for the T-shirt). There, I tried on this long-sleeved running T-shirt which I know I will probably never use in Singapore, but which has SO COOL THUMB HOOKS and it feels sooooooooooooooooooooooo good! It is the same price as long-sleeved running tees in Singapore, and I might buy it because I loves it so.

And then the group split up, Sulynn and I went to Main, I got my shorts and pants, and then we went to Gage and I got files from her and I went back to Tbird and I am here typing. This last paragraph is necessarily short because I want to hit the books. For Gilbert's part of the story, I shall direct you to the taupok's blog.

Bye!

The Who

2006-09-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Other than running, Vancouver offers me a multitude of opportunities to do things that I enjoy, such as going to various concerts by choice acts.

From September to December, bands and singers like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Black-eyed Peas, The Who, Paul Simon, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Keane (last I heard, they cancelled the tour, but I might be wrong), Elton John, The Killers, Jamie Cullum, Goo Goo Dolls, James Blunt, Dixie Chicks and John Mayer will be performing in Vancouver, BC!

I'm thinking about whether I should part with CND$140 to watch The Who, but if I do that, I'll get it left right and centre from my parents (We paid for you to go overseas to study, not to go and watch people sing!) and I'm also too stingy to part with my money. I'd prefer to save it for when I go to Seattle (there is something planned, but it's not confirmed) and also, for my run(s). If, and only if, I happen to find CND$50 on the floor, I'd consider going for the concert, but my runs take priority over all else.

Anyway, if I do go, ~~The~~ Who else wants to go?

I am a horrible tourist

2006-09-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

I am a horrible tourist. I go to New York, I look at buildings. And then after that, I go on wikipedia and find out how much I've missed. And then I try to console myself that 5 days isn't enough to check out the whole of New York.

And then I realise that I really, really want the very iconic I Heart NY t-shirt which sells for 10 for US$10 at ubiquitous souvenir shops (which I didn't buy, of course) only when I'm in Vancouver. I am a horrible tourist.

Natural Selection

2006-09-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

So.....I was supposed to be reading my Darwin book again but I got sidetracked. I was thinking about how good a run I had yesterday, and how my cousin who I always run Real Run with told me how good the weather in Vancouver was for running before I left Singapore, and how I decided that he spoke the truth. Because of these running-inclined thoughts, I felt that I needed to go and get into a race or two before I leave for Singapore, and I also decided Races First, Darwin Second. Call it natural selection if you will.

After much frustration, I found a catch-all site for races, and I have decided to go for at least 2 runs, if I have the cash for it.

The first is:
2006 ING James Cunningham Seawall Race
Oct 29, 2006
9.5 km
But the registration fee (and this is the killer) is 18 for the run. That sounds ok right? And 25 for a technical shirt! And I am very gian to get the t-shirt. Thus, my registration fee is 43 dollars in total. Which really, really sucks.

The second is:
New Balance Fall Classic
Nov 19, 2006
either 10k/21k distance
And it costs 45 for the 10, and 60 for the 21. If I were hard pressed for cash, I'd choose this race because 1) I know New Balance oh-so-well, and 2) I don't know who James Cunningham is. Oh, and on top of that, I like the idea of running in November.

But ideally, I'd want to run in both. Because running makes me so happy. Also, running makes me tired and sore, but that's besides the point. Because, the point is, running makes me so happy.

There's also the Turkey Trot which takes place on Thanksgiving Day here, October 9, 2006. It happens on Granville Island, and it's 10km, but it costs fif-freaking doo dah day-ty dollars.

In my mind, all three are probably equally good runs, but I'm certain that the Turkey Trot and the Seawall Race have the best views. Nonetheless, in my heart of hearts, New Balance Fall Classic holds the key to happiness. Because running (the New Balance Fall Classic) makes me so happy.

The Man in Van can cook

2006-09-10T23:31:00.000-07:00

I have now joined the ranks of Olivier Bourdain, Miss Koh, Chelsea Ting, Bryan Lee and my mother! I am now a person who can cook! Woohoo! I cooked pasta in about 20 minutes, and it wasn't half bad.

And I also just realised that I should have taken a picture of the food before I ate it. But I realised that too late: I have deflowered my culinary virginity, and that moment in history will never be repeated.

In other news, the weatherman is wrong and I shall never trust him again. I have been anxiously awaiting rainy weather for the last 2 days because according to the weather report, it was going to rain on Friday, and then Saturday. Today is Sunday, and while it drizzled on Friday, it looks like my wet weather is going to be postponed until Wednesday which sucks because Wednesday is a school day! That means I have to walk for 20 minutes in the rain. That sucks even more than it not raining on a Saturday.

In other other news, I went for a run from Thunderbird up to a little beach called Acadia (Beach or something like that) which is near the Spanish banks, and back. It took me the greater part of an hour, and there was a very nice slope down to Acadia which gave me a great view of downtown Vancouver and the mountains behind it.

The run back from Acadia was good as well because the slope wasn't too steep and it was a pretty relaxed run back up the slope. The best thing is, I hardly broke a sweat. Now I feel all sleepy but I still have 60 pages of Darwin to go, and 2 other readings. So I shall stop blogging like the silly sot I am, and get down to Natural Selection.

Balls to UBC Food Services

2006-09-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

This is what happened to me.

2 weeks ago: I got to UBC and subscribed to the Dining Convenience Plan which the lady said she'd already set up for me.

2 days ago: I went to buy a meal with my Dining Convenience Plan and the card didn't work. I went to Ponderosa House and the lady said that the system was down. That's fine.

Yesterday: I went to buy a meal with my Dining Convenience Plan and the card didn't work. I went to Ponderosa House and the lady said that she just set my system up that afternoon. And she also said, "You know computers..."

Balls to that UBC Food Services lady!

The Man in Van

2006-09-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

We cleaned out the house at last, now the Lebanese dude has left! They (Gilbert, Matthew and the-other-David) are my housemates, and they cleared out some of his stuff after he left, and I joined them on Monday in cleaning up, the day after I reached Vancouver from NYC. The house is now in more-or-less clean and tidy conditions (less my room which looks like Ernesto missed the whole of America and just came to Room A, my apartment, Thunderbird Residence, UBC).

School has started and I've had two modules to go for. I nearly forgot that it started on a Tuesday and I looked at my timetable for Monday before Gil reminded me that Monday was Labour Day. I hate school; it's not the subjects or the learning part...it's more about the competition part. I hate the idea that I'm pitted against other students just to get a good grade but that's just the way it works, and I have to live by that.

Anyway, UBC's less lonely because I've found more Singaporeans and Malaysians and Indonesians there! There's Gilbert (my housemate) who was a PTI in the batch before mine, there's Sulynn who's Boob's friend, and there's Huey who is a Malaysian, but who studied in Singapore all his life, and Simon who's Indonesian but, like Huey, studied in Singapore as well. And then there's Sun/San who's Singaporean/Indian. At least that's how they introduced him to me.

I can't really comment on the lessons now, but I can comment on how they're split up into various parts so that each module takes up 3 hours per week. So you can have module A for 1 hour, 3 times a week, or module B for 1.5 hours, twice a week. Tomorrow, I am going to suffer. I start at 9 in the morning and end at 9 at night. And Residence is so far away from the northern part of campus where my lessons are held that I don't think it's worth the effort to walk back and sleep.

Anyway, the weather report today according to prophecy is that Ernesto hasn't hit us yet. With any luck, it won't hit us at all. Actually it's almost impossible because we're on the west side of the continent and Ernesto is going around the east. There are no clouds in the sky during the day and I've become so acclimatised that I can walk around comfortably in a T-shirt and jeans in the day (because in New York and New Haven it was raining 2 out of the 4 days I spent there, and the weather was colder there than in Van, oddly). I hardly perspired when I went on a run with Gil and Sulynn, and the view from the Rose Garden in the northern part of campus is amazing (these two statements have no link). Just row after row of mountains beyond the sea (this statment is linked with the second statement of the last sentence). Wow (this is just an exclamation because I don't know what to say).

Anyway, Van is great even though I miss New York. Oddly, when I was in New York, I missed Van. But wherever I am, I miss Singapore, even its sweltering weather. That is the most Singaporean thing I can think about in this multiethnic city I live in at the moment.

The Man in Van has to leave now because he has school tomorrow. Goodnight.

I Heart NYC

2006-09-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

NY was outstanding! I travelled a lot, saw many things, and met up with a couple of friends from Yale. I was in fact living on the

Yale campus

and travelled to NYC by Metro-North 3 hours a day to and fro. I don't want to just list what I did, even though I think that'd be a good idea considering my forgetfulness, but I'd just like to say that I visited a couple of museums -

the Met,

MoMA

and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, visited a couple of buildings -

Chrysler (my favourite),

the Empire State Building,

the Flatiron (my other favourite),

Grand Central Terminal,

Rockefeller Centre,

St. Patrick's Church,

the Public Library of New York

and went to Central Park, WTC site, Wall Street and saw

the Statue of Liberty and

Ellis Island.

Too bad I didn't see John Lennon's grave because I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT!!!!!! Balls! What sort of Beatles fan am I?

I think my stay in New Haven complemented my New York experience. While New York has buildings packed close to each other, and these buildings are built up,
and up and UP and UP,

New Haven is built s p r a w l e d across the land, so you can really see the noticeable landmarks like Harkness Tower. And while the buildings in NYC are of all sorts conceivable, Yale in New Haven achieves architectural unity with its Gothic and Georgian buildings so you know where Yale ends, and where the rest of New Haven begins.

Also, New York has this toughness and grittiness which has acquired mythic proportions. I thought that was all bullshit, but when I was walking in NYC, I felt it. It exudes out of the New Yorkers, exudes out of the city and the buildings. It feels a little Singaporean, actually. We're different from New Yorkers, but we're the same (even though I have to say something about my generation of Singaporeans, myself not excluded of course); I suppose that's what happens when you have immigrant workers who need to protect their interests.

But lest you think New York is all about killing a rat by looking at it, you have got to go and see the Statue of Liberty. I was a cheap tourist so I didn't take the ferry across to Liberty Island; I just saw the statue from the opposite bank, and on that bank, there was a copy of the famous poem which has "Give me your huddled masses" carved in stone, and I felt that that was what NYC was about. The legendary New York toughness is what most people see, but they fail to see what New York really stands for, or what the Statue of Liberty symbolises. I think the way people look at the Statue of Liberty is that it's an icon which represents New York City and America to the world, but it doesn't represent what New York means.

I love NYC. I love NYC because of its buildings. I love NYC because of its museums and sites. I love NYC because of the sense of history its buildings convey. I love NYC because it reminds me of my friends in New Haven who helped make my trip there hassle-free. I love NYC because of its legendary toughness. I love NYC because it is the capital of the world. I love NYC for what it is supposed to represent. I love NYC because I learnt about myself.

Vancouver downtown

2006-08-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

In order to prepare for my journey to the airport in 2 days' time, I decided that I needed to learn how to travel by public transport in Vancouver. This was made simple by a transportation card called the U-Pass which has "unlimited rides", which I learnt meant that every ride was FREE! I like paying 22 dollars a month for this.

So in order to learn how to travel by public transport, I decided to go "downtown". With my handy U-Pass and my Greater Vancouver Transportation Map, I made my way downtown...and proceeded to get lost. Well, I got lost because I didn't know where I was, until I found out that I was actually downtown so yay for that! But returning was a pain in the ass because I didn't know where the buses were after meandering around, and a grand total of 3 people asked if I needed help. I didn't really need help even though I did reply in the affirmative; downtown's not huge at all, and easy to figure out actually.

Downtown is just like Orchard Road, only more expensive. Much more expensive. I ended up not buying anything there because (1) I didn't want to spend all my cash, (2) I didn't have money in my debit card, and (3) it costs an extra sum to withdraw cash at an ATM, or from Cirrus, which I felt was a rip off. I just walked around, looked at how they managed to close one entire road off for some works and just looked at downtown Vancouver from the ground up.

One more thing, though. There is a bridge over this river known as False Creek and it has the most awe-inspiring view. When I remember to bring out the camera, I'll take photographs of the view from the bridge.

On my way across campus, I noticed that fall doesn't bring about red and golden and yellow leaves, just brown and black ones. Or perhaps it isn't really fall yet, or maybe it's just the beginning of fall. Or maybe the leaves got burnt by the sun which is not covered by any clouds. There are little streaks of clouds in the sky and nothing else. There is absolutely no cloud cover so wherever you walk, you get buffeted by sunlight. Perhaps the leaves got buffeted by sunlight.

I originally asked my Lebanese housemate who just finished his Phd and is leaving in 8 days whether he was going to town, and if he was, whether I could tag along. It turns out, after my return, that he never intended to go to town but planned on spending his whole day playing his PS2.

Another thing about Vancouver I've realised: Weekends are precisely what they are meant for. You don't see anyone working on Saturdays and Sundays except for the retail people. I love Vancouver's system already, but I still miss SG.

UBC, Vancouver, Canada

2006-08-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in UBC already! I have been here for 2 days, and I'm still suffering from jetlag, sleeping at 6 in the pm and waking up at 3 in the morning. And that's only when I force myself to sleep late. If not, I'd probably sleep at 2 pm and wake up at 8pm or something like that.

Vancouver is cold. It's about 15 degrees celsius out, but the sun beats down hard and heavy, and when I walk in the afternoon, it's delightful because walking under shade means that a delicious breeze of cold air cuts to the bone, and walking in the sun is just so...Singaporean. So at the same time, I miss Singapore and don't miss Singapore just by walking on the streets.

What I have been doing these last two days: I walked around campus trying to fix my mealplan and accomodations. I got a UBC card and a U-Pass. I went to the UBC Village and bought 3 (!!!) packets of Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion (eh bob?) and a box of chocolate granola bar thingies, the kind of bars I used to eat during NS just before CPFT, and also, most importantly, my first meal in Vancouver which, sad to say, is Chinese economical rice (Sweet Sour Pork and Mixed Veg). I'll probably head out to town tomorrow because I want to see how the U-Pass works and because I have coins now in case the U-Pass doesn't work the way I think it should, and because I think I need to head out anywhere outside campus at least once before I fly off to NYC.

UBC is, for want of a better word, surreal. I saw my very first squirrel in a tree an arm's length away gnawing at something, and a few minutes later, a man with a jungle hat, singlet, shorts and sandals emerged from the bushes nearby with his guitar at the ready. People actually lie on the grass, and it feels like I'm in Sydney (even though I've never been to Sydney before).

The buildings here are different. There are log cabins, huts, little ceremonial-looking one-storey buildings and the requisite tall buildings (which aren't that tall actually). It is different from NUS because everything is spread across the land, rather than piled on top of it.

Which reminds me, I have opted to transfer to this place called Gage Towers, a 17-storey monstrosity situated at the Northeastern end of the campus which is only 5-10 mins walk away from my faculty. That's a huge different compared to Thunderbird Residences (where I am currently staying now) which is at the Southern end of the campus and which takes me about 20-30 mins to walk to Arts. The room here in Thunderbird is great; it's got a lot of space and it's really quiet. But it is just so far from everywhere else it just doesn't make sense. And what is worse is that the rest of my apartment is nearly disgusting. There're a couple of old Domino's pizza boxes strewn at the back of the living room, the kitchen is in such a mess and the living room smells of spice. Stains on the toilet seat don't make living conditions any better. Hopefully, Gage deals me better cards as far as living conditions are concerned.

I'm still lonely. The cold cuts through my bones and I woke up last night at 3 am and felt so utterly alone. I miss Singapore, even with its hot-until-sweat weather, where you can sleep under a fan in August and still wake up drenched in perspiration. I miss all my friends. I miss 3SG Boon, Bob, Baba, and most of all, I miss Michelle. It smells like paprika now and it's bright at 6 am, Canadian time. I know no one here, and I heard Singapore voices downstairs about 2 in the afternoon yesterday, and I missed Singapore even more. Canada will be fun once that is over.