My Mexican Adventure

Missing you already.... (4)

2007-02-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

Spanish Class last day Spanish Class Tea with Rosy

Missing you already.... (3)

2007-02-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

whitney terrancenadya,hontas,joyce,venessa,anneli,luis,bennet carlos

Missing you already.... (2)

2007-02-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Ross & Jesse Luis Raul Ximena

Missing you already.... (1)

2007-02-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

ICC class Casey Dan Melissa

hallo from vancouver!

2006-12-21T15:41:00.000-08:00

Old photos...

2006-11-26T16:44:00.000-08:00

Mexico City:Xochimilico (where the Aztecs used to do their farming) Mexico City: Teotihuacan (Mayan Pyramids)
Mexico City: "Hong King" Restaurant, dinner with Desmond, witchdoctors, street performers and LAtin American Tower
Mexico City: Entrance of Teotihuacan
Mexico City: Museum of Anthropology. Aztec/Mayan/Toltec/Olmec artifacts
Mexico City: our hotel, sights from the balcony, sugared skulls(for Day of the Dead)
Guadalajara: Paintings in Tonala(my fave shopping place), jumping beans, entrance to Tequila-the town
Guadalajara: El Grito! (Independence day)
Guadalajara: Our hotel and our loot (on the first trip)

:)

2006-11-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

hee. my baby and i are such bums.
we'd meant to take the 130am bus to Tampico, get there at 8am, spend the whole day at the beach then take the night bus back home.

That was the plan.

Then we spent the whole day bumming at home- him playin computer games; me watchin the last season of SATC...

over dinner... both of us were commenting abt how lazy we felt; neither daring to suggest not going to Tampico.

hee. finally- I won! he mentioned it first... but turns out both of us arent too keen. and we shall spend tomorrow bumming around more... and maybe going bowling.

:) i love my dear.

last frisbee training

2006-11-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

just got back from our last frisbee training.

sigh. i've already said so many goodbyes to my already... but somehow none of those goodbyes compared to today's.

the final goodbyes.
the final hugs.
the final kisses.

as i walked away, i couldn't stop the tears from falling.

Goodbye Luis. (El Presidente/Dictator!)
I'll always remember you for my first frisbee battle scar.
You've led our team well....and I'm quite sure the club's gonna grow leaps and bounds under your leadersip.

Goodbye Andreas.
:) I'm glad we broke the you+me=losing team curse today. Your kindness and generousity will be forever etched in our hearts.

Goodbye Hector.
I'll always remember your deadpan jokes and your shy smile. (Ansen will be dreaming of your carne asada for many more years to come.) You're one of the ones I'll miss the most. I only wish you'd been there during the last two trainings.

Goodbye Bobby.
What can I say? I'm quite sure I'll never meet another American who loves the French the way you do. heh. Complaints abt MExican beaurocracy, Risk, MP3s and of course the shouts of,"Come on! Catch that frisbee!" will always remind me of you.

Goodbye Chava/Jorge/Sebas/Adrianna/Tonio/Victor/Ricardo/Angel/the other Andreas and all those with names I can't spell.... I'll really miss you guys.

Photo time!-Bahamas (part 1)

2006-11-23T12:26:00.000-08:00

Leaving Port of Miami:
On the top deck:

Emergency Drill:
the centrepiece during the midnite party:
The barstaff showing off their stuff.Our tattoos:
Inside the ship:

Bahamas and Miami!

2006-11-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

:) ok so... u know what... forget about hearing about Guadalajara (my fave mexican city) and Mexico City... i'm too lazy... will prob only get down to doing that once I get to Fresno...

in 9 days time!

oh my gosh... I can't believe it... sobz

shan't get all sappy abt leaving Mexico right now tho... shall save it for another day. right now....

BAHAMAS

Yup, spent the last 4 days on cruise from Miami to Bahamas. Unfortunately; because of the choppy waves we were unable to visit the first island we were supposed to (Cococay)... but we got to go snorkelling at the Rainbow Reef in Nassau. Man, it was SO cool. no digi-fotos there... Hopefully our underwater camera didn't suck... might scan in some photos once they're developed.

sucky weather so didnt get much sun.. :( sigh. but the cruise was fun... lotsa good food, crappy/crazy/fun activities and... of course; the gorgeous carribean sea!

would love to go back there and go island-hopping one day. :)

**photos to come**

After the cruise, we had one day to kill in Miami. So, we basically spent the whole day shopping at Bayside... (shopping area overlooking the sea. where CSI Miami and Bayside-The Show and Miami Vice was filmed).

God indeed works in wonderous ways. We were so dead broke after the cruise (literally no money in our wallets!).... but we had a whole day left.... so we HAD to go to Bayside. Anyways, we went to the tourist booth to ask for info but they just kept trying to sell us tour packages (which we obviously couldnt afford). Whilst walking away; the lady called us back and said that if we were just tryin to kill time; we could get a $50 Hard Rock voucher and a 3d/2n getaway voucher for attending a time-share talk. (something like those MLM recruitments.)

We figured why not since we had no money for lunch anyway. heehee. convinced her to give us $50 cash instead. To get it; we had to lie to the recruiters that we were over 24yrs; MARRIED; earned more than $40k a yr and were open to buying property. The woman got her commission; we got our 50 bucks (and wasted 2hrs listening to the agent) and the company..... well they got nothing. =D

sadly; within 15mins of "earning" our 50bucks, we blew it at a shoe sale! Ansen bought $30 brown formal shoes whilst i got $15 flat pointy-toes. :D so cheap right?!

(in the end... went to draw money from an ATM.)

all in all; a pretty good trip.
i *heart* Bahamas!
and also.... i *heart* my baby... had a lovely time on the cruise with him. :)

**trip updates**
the belize trip is cancelled! too expensive la... but... may go Cancun instead to get some much-needed sun!

my birthday's coming...

2006-11-05T21:59:00.000-08:00

Hmm... so it's nov 5th today... which means there's less than a month to my 21st birthday! (on dec 4th *hint hint*)

Normally I'd be all excited right about now... but since I'm not gonna be home celebrating with all my friends... I'm not really feeling it.... *sigh*

But yeah; if anyone wants to get me anything; maybe you could just donate into the "debz needs technology fund". Since i've come to mexico I have....

- had my new Sony camera STOLEN
- BROKEN my thumbdrive
- had my darling boyfriend STEP on my laptop. (two patches of black broken pixels on the screen. now i'm just waiting for the whole screen to die on me.)

*sigh* current mood:depressed

P.S
If you ARE gonna send me something for my birthday... heehee. you can discretely ask ansen for my address in states. ansen.li@gmail.com *wink*

Travel Plans

2006-10-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it.....
35 more days till we leave Mexico!!!

Noooooooooooo.............................
:( I'm really gonna miss this place.
Margaritas. Spanish. Tacos. Siestas. Fiestas. Cute Mexican guys and all... haiz.

of the 35 days... 17 will be spent travelling!

Important Dates:
Oct 27 Spanish Midterm 3
Oct 31 Intro. to Mex. Culture Presentation / Intercultural Communication Midterm 3
Nov 1-Nov 5 Travel to Michoacan for Day of the Dead celebrations /Go to the Beach (Puerta Vallarta or Tampico) /Shop at Guadalajara!
Nov 7 Intro to Mex. Culture Midterm 3 /Intercultural Communication Final Project Presentation
Nov 16 Intro. to Mex. Culture Final Exam
Nov 17-Nov 21 Bahamas (maybe meet Jane)
Nov 22 Spanish Exam
Nov 23 Intercultural Communication Exam
Nov 24 International Negotiation Exam
Nov 24-Nov28 Belize/Guatemala/El Salvador
Nov 29 Fly home to Fresno, CA
Nov 29-Dec 14 Fresno/LA/San Francisco
Dec 14-Dec 31 Vancouver, Canada (skiing at Whistler Mountain)
Dec 31 Fly home to SG
Jan 2 Home Sweet Home!

Intercultural Communication-Making a Stand

2006-10-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

There comes a point in every person's life where they have to make a stand for what they believe in. I never expected that point in my life to be during a class on Intercultural Communication!

Yesterday, our ICC prof. was talking about the need to open our minds to the views of others... about the need to listen even when you don't agree... yadayadayada. He then brought us to an open area and did an activity to prove his point.

The game was called "Make a Stand". Basically, he'd ask a question... and you HAD to choose one of the options (no sitting on the fence). The people who chose opposite answers would stand on opposite sides and he'd ask some to explain their viewpoint.

First Question: Pepsi or Coke?
(3 pple Pepsi. 20+ pple Coke.)

Second Question: Would you consider marrying someone of another religion? Yes or no?

In a predominantly "Catholic" country like Mexico, it really saddened me that only THREE of us said "no". And their reasons? "There are some things more important than religion". "All that matters is love". And there I had to stand in front of the whole class and explain that I could not imagine marrying and spending my life with someone who operated on a different belief system than I did. How can you compromise that?

(side point: of the three of us-one said the reason was cos she was an atheist. she didnt wanna marry anyone who HAD a religion.)
(3 pple No. 20+ pple Yes.)

Third Question: Do you have gay friends?
Fourth Question: Should gays be allowed to get married?
Fifth Question: Should they be allowed to have kids?
Sixth Question: Would you consider putting your parents in a nursing home?
Seventh Question: Do you approve of euthanasia?
.....

Where do YOU stand on these issues?

Lucha Libre

2006-10-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend the frisbee guys brought us to watch Lucha Libre. Lucha Libre is basically the Mexican form of wrestling-much like WWF (or issit WWE now?) Some differences are that costumes are more... amusing and there are specified "Good guys" and "Bad guys". There are also good and bad referees....and everyone plays up their roles to make the match more entertaining than anything else (it's not SO much about the violence... althought that is still a big part of the event)

Furthermore, the Mask is not just part of the costume.... it encompasses the wrestler's whole identity. In the past, the best wrestlers didn't even reveal their identity till they retired. Read the wikipedia article-it's REALLY quite interesting. (e.g. masked wrestler vs wrestler w/o mask. if masked one loses, he's unmasked. if other loses, he shaves his head. etc) Anyway, this was more in the past than now.

**on our way to guadalajara, we met a lucha libre wrestler on our flight. he was wearing a suit and his mask! took a pic with him.... but as ya'll know... my cam got stolen. :'( supposedly, he's a really famous wrestler. haiz.

The current champion: Conan BigAn example of Lucha Libre as entertainment- the FUNNIEST fight ever!
A "gay" donkey (seen in pink) called Burrico, an old hag dressed in lingerie* and a supposed hunk*
*cant remember the names
v.s.
El Burro(the donkey), Mini Burro (mini donkey) and Dulce Poly (Sweet Polly)
Also interesting to see that it's a co-ed fight!
More pics of us with the guys, the ring, the guys playing in the ring b4 the event started...and us in the masks. I was Mistico and Ansen was Huracan Ramirez.

Huaraches Tutorial...

2006-10-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

:) We finally made our first authentic mexican meal a few wks back...

Step 1:
Mix Blue Corn Flour with water until you create a firm dough
Step 2:
Roll the dough into a ball
Step 3:
Place in a tortilla maker. In our case, line a round-bottomed pan with plastic wrap. Put some wrap on the tabletop too.
Step 4:
Place the ball under the pan and..... SQUISH it

Step 5:Heat a frying pan and place the tortilla over it.
Step 6:When slightly brown on both sides, top the open tortilla (huaraches) with onions and Oaxaca cheese. Wait till cheese is melted.
Step 7: Top the huaraches with meat (in our case, minced beef w onions) and aguacate(avocado)
Step 8: Add some salsa and.....
Step 9: EAT!!!!!!!!!!

YUM. Believe me, it ain't as easy as it looks... :)

Random Stuff...

2006-10-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

I know I know... still gotta update the Guadalajara/Food/Antonio's party posts... but hey... managed to finish the rest so go and read!....

on to some random stuff....

did i mention, i *heart* margaritas?

and more.....................
(Row 1 L-R) Vampire margarita/tiny cacti/complained I never get any flowers anymore.... so he bought me a cactus with tiny flowers!
(Row 2 L-R)
Peacocks/Finally caught a pic of one of the deers on campus... (always don't have my camera on me when i see them... )/ducks warming up the young 'un
(Row 3 L-R)
Getting ready for halloween/Went bowling with the french kids and bobby.... /Went to the SHAKIRA concert! don't really know her songs but went along for the experience. weren't allowed to bring cameras... so here's joyce,venessa and i with our tix. quite a night... twas raining so we were drenched. great view from the mosh pit tho! and she rocks!

2006-09-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

**this was supposed to be uploaded one week ago. scroll below for 9 new posts. :)

when you have more things to blog about than the time to blog them, it's a sure sign that you've been very busy. (or LAZY as 'manda puts it. :( )

Hmmm.. i've got a HUGE backlog of things to blog about so... will attempt to do so tonight (before i leave for guadalajara and create more backlog for myself...)

I've been in Mexico for exactly ONE MONTH.ONE DAY... how time flies! Got to remind myself to blog:

abt our apartment
abt Tec and classes
abt the mexicans
abt the dinner parties
abt church
abt Monterrey
abt Bungee/Cola de Caballo
abt Chihuahua
abt Frisbee
abt Antonio's party
abt mexican food and my attempts to cook

So let's get on with it.....

Our Apartment
As you can see; it's quite BIG and COSY. :) We usually spend our time either in the living room or Ansen's room. (Don't get the wrong idea.... that's 'cos the Internet/LAN points are in both those places... the one in my room is just next to my roomate's bed so I never get to use it.) Basically, we've got everything we need... Kitchen/Study Area/Living Room/Dining Room/Washing Machine and Dryer and Internet!....and the best thing is- our house is 5 mins away from school!

Guadalajara

2006-09-22T15:30:00.001-07:00

This is the ONLY photo we have of us at the Independence Day celebrations because......
MY CAMERA GOT STOLEN. :'(
working on getting some photos from the rest of the pple we met there....
so... this is gonna take a while but....

**more COMING SOON**

Mexican food (and my attempts to cook)

2006-09-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to Ger. haha.

**more COMING SOON**

Antonio's party

2006-09-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

**more COMING SOON**

Frisbee

2006-09-22T15:28:00.002-07:00

[clockwise from top-right: at tonio's(in frnt) party, my busted lip, at dinner after, w (L-R) Hector/Andreas/Luis/Fredrico]

So the Tec Frisbee Club has just been created this term. Went for the information session which was supposed to be a time for them to introduce the game to the mexicans but basically only the exco(mexicans) and exchange students (who'd already played frisbee) who turned up. May have had one or two newbie mexicans. As you can see from the photos... I was the only girl there! *one or two other girls have turned up recently

Anyway, everyone in the club's really nice... Mexican guys have a lot of "machismo" so they're always too afraid to block me...That's gradually changed. haha. And they even promised to bring me to watch Lucho Libre (Mexican wrestling)! They looked at me funny when I asked abt it- think only ah peks go to watch the matches... everyone else watch on TV.

AND... I sustained my first injury a while back... The field lights were off and luis(president and i) ran for the same disc. We didnt see each other and BANG. Fell backwards and bit my lip! Quite scary la... even in the dark I could see all the blood.

[went with the frisbee club to visit an orphanage. bottom right pic taken at training]

EDIT:
went to watch lucho libre on sunday! 16/10

Chihuahua

2006-09-22T15:28:00.001-07:00

Yup. it's named that way cos it's where they first found chihuahua dogs. We decided to go there cos it has a funky name... and my sis loves chihuahuas. Quite a lame reason I know..

So anyway, we expected it to be HOT and DRY. but when we arrived there after a 10 hour bus ride it was COLD and RAINING!. We had to ask the bus conductor at least 3 times in our super-cannot-make-it spanish whether we were really at the right place before we finally got off the bus.

We also expected there to be chihuahua dogs everywhere... or at the very least-chihuahua memorabilia. But nope. We had to hunt high and low for anything depicting the association between chihuahua and the dogs. There were very few souvenirs... and the ones they had had COWs on them. Apparently, Chihuahua is know for it's cattle and leather industry-not it's dogs. Go figure.

The only chihuahuas we saw were the fibre glass ones that littered the city.(seen above)Nonetheless, it was a fun trip cos the place was quaint and it was our first taste of "mexico". (Monterrey ain't exactly the norm)

Oh, and there were cowboy boots everywhere! They had every single type of cowboy boots u could imagine. All designs and colours. They even had bright purple and baby pink ones.

Other highlights of the trip:
- the yummy food at Casa de Los Milagros. The restaurant used to be a big house or mansion ... had a courtyard and everything.
- Historical sights like Pancho Villa's house and a museum showcasing the history of Chihuahua and the feminist movement the started there!

[clockwise from top-right: Funky cowboy boots, Shoe-shiner booths, grumpy lady selling flags(twas 2wks b4 independence day), flooded streets, mexican potato chips, "the crazy shark", "the crazy horse", me and my flag, indigenous beggars]

[clockwise from top-right: Multi-tiered wedding cake... it stands!, casa de los milagros outside, CdLM inside, in front of the bus station, Feminist Movement, ansen w his burger, car Pancho Villa got shot in, random monument]

Bungee/Cola de Caballo

2006-09-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

[clockwise from top-right:Ansen and I before our jump,view from the top, he's back!, in the bus with the aussies and bobby, scaling the cliff with bobby, ansen's thirsty, us at the waterfall, my jump!, "Enter at your own risk"]

One of the things I told myself I'd do at least once in my lifetime was go BUNGEE-jumping! Never expected to actually have the experience to do so during this trip... but when the school organised a trip to Cola de Caballo (highest peak in Mexico.. highest Bungee in LAtin America) I had no excuse not to go! So off we went...

The jump was AMAZING. exhilirating, scary, crazy.... ah, there's not enough words to describe it! I'm quite chicken though... didnt jump the first time the guy counted off 3...2...1.. Bungee! but who cares, I did it. and I've got the photos to prove it! :) (it's too bad I didn't realize we'd be jumping into trees rather than the waterfall... wore GREEN so the pics didnt come out too well...)

Next we went to the Horestail Falls... It's okay, but I guess after having been to Niagara... all other waterfalls pale in comparison. :p Only interesting thing we did there was climb through a fence which had a sign on it saying "Si Pasa Es Bajo Su Responsabilidad"... in other words, "Enter at Your Own Risk".... thereafter, we trekked a bit and scaled a rock wall...all in my trusty Birkies. :)

Monterrey

2006-09-22T15:27:00.001-07:00

Monterrey's the most americanized and richest city in Mexico. This thus translates into it being.... modern, clean, english-speaking and.... EXPENSIVE. It has it's own charm I suppose... but most pple who come here are disappointed with it being so "un-Mexican". Besides the tacos and spanish-speaking pple, you could easily imagine it in any first-world country. Being nestled between a few mountains, the weather is usually at extremes... (extremely hot when we arrived... and now... getting much colder.) The thing that sucks the most is that.... there is no shopping! Even the mexicans drive down to US to shop cos it's cheaper there... (i'm suffering here! i've resorted to online retail therapy!)

Some interesting sites: (top left..clockwise)

Fuente de Papal: Fountain in the midst of Marcoplaza (city centre)

Colonial Architecture:prevalent in the city area

Puente de Papal: Pope's Bridge

Dios de Muerte (God of Death): Found at the witchcraft market... Even the catholics pray to it.. Evidence of syncretism of Catholiscism and Indegenious religions.

Street Musicians

Barrio Antiguo- Potted Plants

Barrios Antiguo-Street Market: Popular weekend hangout

Puente de Papal Flea Market

"Singapur Express": Restaurant in San Pedro supposedly selling Singaporean Food... nothing looks vaguely familiar tho...

Church and our new church "family"

2006-09-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

[clockwise from top-right: me inside the church, the outside of the church, elena and diana cooking at the church fellowship dinner, with david/diana/david jr at their hamburger shop, sunday school kids performing in church, david cooking, me and marshmallow-girl, more church ladies, ansen/david/luis]

Basically 99% of the churches here are Catholic... (k la, that's an exaggeration...) and the Protestant churches are....well... SPANISH. So for Ansen's first 2 weeks here, he attended a Spanish church with a guy from school who whispered some translation to him. Thank God, He works in amazing ways and on the very day I arrived in MTY, we met the answer to our prayers-Alfonso.

On the day I arrived(a Sunday), we went to El Pollo Loco (the crazy chicken) for lunch. Whilst there, we saw a Mexican man and teenage boy eating with an ang moh couple at the table next to ours. We heard snippets of their conversation and kinda figured they were talking about church stuff. Ansen approached them to ask if they knew of a English-speaking church.. and the rest, as they say, is history.

The couple was Jannie and Ray- representatives from a church in Texas and they were in Mty to check up on the church they'd planted. Alfonso, the man, is a leader in that church and also.. a prof in Tec. Their service was held in Spanish- but Alfonso did an English translation during the service for J and R... and also to brush up on his english. They invited us for service the following Sunday and Alfonso even volunteered to drive us there! (The teenage boy was Louis- Alfonso's nephew.)

The following Sunday, Ansen, Venessa(HK gal) and I went for service. Wow, was so touched by the warmth and love there. Everyone welcomed us with open arms and there were kisses and hugs all around. :) Their church looks pretty shabby from the outside, but is actually quite comfortable inside. Many of their congregation travel very far distances just to get to this particular church and the clincher..... their service is THREE HOURS LONG. They start the service with some songs and prayer, then the children have Sunday school whilst the adults have Bible Study (more informal, by the leaders)... the children then return... more songs..more prayer...communion and tithes... then... the SERMON! (by the pastor)...more songs...and lastly, announcments.

The second week, the Church had a fellowship dinner. It's held once a month and the various families take turns hosting it. :) Good food, good sermon and fellowship... nothing more we could ask for. It was also our first experience having a home-cooked MExican meal. yum. Ansen was enjoying himself so much... till one of the ladies discovered his Spanish couldnt make it. so she sat him down and forced him to speak spanish to her. haha.

The week after that was Jannie and Ray's last week in mty... so David and his family invited them over for dinner.. and us being the new "guests" were invited along as well! The dinner was not held at their house... it was at somewhere better- his hamburger joint! David and Diana(his wife) started selling burgers by the roadside SIXTEEN years ago. Through the years, they'd established their clientele and expanded various times. :) you can just imagine how yummy their food is. Specially made bread with freshly grilled meat patties, avocado and vege...(we're lucky their stall is SO far away from our place... 'else we're gonna come home three times our size!)

So anyway, that's been our church experience so far... every week we're blessed by their love and inspired by their pure and simple faith. :) Hopefully, we'll get used to the 3-hour services soon!

Dinner Parties

2006-09-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

So we've had 3 "dinner parties" so far.... Once with the Hongkongers, Bobby (American), Christian(Mexican who speaks Chinese), Zuzana(Czech) and YuMiao(Prof from China). Another time with some Japanese teachers in Tec and Daniel(Mexican learning Jap)... and the last with Alfonso and his family. (the prof who brings us to church)

Generally when we have these parties... it's quite a torture cos we have such TINY pots and pans... it's almost impossible to cook for so many. But it's fun... we get to make full use of our comfy living room and play stupid drinking games like 7up (but in Spanish! to help us learn the numbers. haha.)

Bobby is quite an interesting fellow. Sometimes, he truly is the epitome of the "typical american"... his views on Mexicans and Europeans are so... classic. i think by now, i've heard the whole "mexicans are lazy and they are only semi-succesful because us americans help them"-speech about 20 times already! But then again, he speaks flawless spanish and french(just spent a year in france on exchange) and prefers to hang out with the french rather than the american jocks. he's a nice guy and we've been spending a lot of time with him 'cos of frisbee. :) (more in the "Frisbee" post)

Christian is another "interesting" guy. He's lived in America, Europe and even China... (that's why he speaks Chinese). He's worked all over the world and the only reason why he's back in MExico is Tec called him up and told him that if he didnt return... they wouldnt be able to hold on to his credits for him any longer. in other words, he had to come back to finish his degree. A TEc degree is basically everything you need to succeed in LAtin America... so despite having a pretty established career ... (with no "real" qualifications yet) he's back.

Alfonso and his family have been a god-send. :) The story of how we met is in the "church post". Here we see his wife Iris, nephew Luis and daughter Priscilla. He's got another daughter called Lydia. He and his wife are leaders in church... and his daughters are in a Heavy Metal band called "The Undertakers". Quite funny actually, shouldve seen his expression when she started talking about her music.... Supposedly "Slipknot" is too mild for her. She's doing a degree in Classical Guitar right now... and she totally owned ansen when she did a short demo for us on his guitar. haha, dont think he even realised it could make sounds like that!

Tec and Classes

2006-09-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Anyone who ever said, "Go exchange can play.." obviously never went to Tec. (Tec de Monterrey or ITESM). For one thing, I've done more homework here than the whole of last term! sianz. It was only when we got here that we realized that Tec is supposedly the "Harvard of Latin America" and that's why it's so siong. Nevertheless, it's all good 'cos.... i'm enjoying classes! haha. the closet-nerd has been unveiled. :)

One class in particular, (Intercultural Communication) is especially interesting because every single continent in the world is represented in the class- so the discussions and sharings we have are truly enlightening. :) The prof started the very first lesson with the quote, "If the world were a village of 1000 people, there would be 607 Asians, 132 Africans, 120 Europeans, 79 North Americans, 57 South Americans and 5 Australians/Oceanians." Ever since then, he continously challenges us to redefine how we perceive the world... in light of "belonging to a world community".

Besides ICC, I'm also taking International Negotiation, Intro to Mex. Culture and of course....Spanish! I seriously love the language. :) Will hopefully continue it when I get back to sg. (wonder if SMU will offer Intermediate Spanish again? hmmm.)

One thing I realised when I got here... is that I'm a perfectionist. :( Even though all these courses are pass/fail... I still find myself putting in so much work; cos I wanna do well. (Haha... seems like jane's experiencing the same thing in Florida. maybe it's a rafflesian thing?) The passing grade here is 70. (yup. you read right... SEVENTY).... but generally most pple can scrape thru with a pass if u hand in all the homework.

So yeah, back to being a perfectionist- we just received our first "mid-term" grades 2 wks back.... (there are THREE midterms during the term. but if u get more than 86 by the 3rd one, they allow you one extra week of absences)... and I got grades I havn't seen since.... primary school! *grin* 100, 93.5, 94 and 89..... go figure which is for which. :)

Enough about classes. Besides Tec- the classes.... there's also Tec-the school! as in the school grounds. The Tec campus is everything SMU strives for... and eventually fails at. The grounds are the epitome of "City campus"! The buildings would be right at home in our CBD, there are art scuptures installed at strategic areas of the campus, there's lotsa greenery and landscaping..... and beat this- there are ANIMALS. not the typical cats and dogs mind you, rather... PEACOCKS, DEER, ducks, pigeons, chicks and various other species of birds. and they're all allowed to roam the grounds freely.

The mexicans tell me that if you get attacked by the deer, you're tuiton is free for the year! Haha. oh yeah, the only thing is, they put "something" (like benches, or the art pieces) in all the would-have-been open spaces to prevent students from congregation and staging protests.

The students in Tec are pretty warm and friendly. Most can speak English 'cos they have to pass a TOEFL test before they are accepted into the school. It is VERY amusing though to read their tshirts... cos they don't really get the funny phrases. for example... just this week i spotted a guy wearing one which said-I'm still wearing my clothes;please help me undress. and a girl wearing I need a sugardaddy. hehe. u should have seen her face when we explained to her what that was!

All in all... I'm loving school. :)

2006-09-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

camera got stolen in Guadalajara- so guess I got no choice but to do a written post rather than a "let-the-pictures-do-the-talking" one. sigh. Coming soon yeah?.....

2006-09-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

okay okay....

FINALLY
an update....

urm. not a written one though.... *dodges rocks from manda*

all my photos have been uploaded to....
http://smusg.facebook.com/photos.php?id=222100335&l=e00fc

go see go see! :)

2006-08-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

i went BUNGEE jumping today! :) whoohoo.

2006-08-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

Warning: Mucho Mucho (many, many) Photos Ahead. :p

been too lazy to write... so basically, in reverse chronological order.... here are some photo's!

2006-08-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is how most of the food is cooked.

2006-08-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

plata de sulcinado for lunch. (basically beef, sausages, guacamole, salsa and tortillas)

2006-08-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

shopping! a lot like chatuchak (jus smaller)... but din have as much unique stuff

2006-08-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

we have to cross the river by foot to get to the rest of the stalls

2006-08-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Flea Market- Puenta de Papal (Pope's Bridge). The stalls stretch from the bridge itself to under it, along the river.

2006-08-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

The church from the outside.

2006-08-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

The inside of the church. The man in green is Alfonso, a prof from Tec. He does a translation of the service which is held in spanish.

2006-08-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Waiting with Vanessa for Alfonso to bring us to church.

2006-08-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

@ Jesse's (australian) party. No prizes for guessing which uni he's from!

2006-08-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

w Emir(mexican) and Camille(french)

2006-08-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

lousy drainage system :( . this is in front of our house after it rains

2006-08-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Cerro de Silla: Literally-Saddle Mountain. Legend has it that a miserly monterrey-ian dropped a coin on top of the mountain and started digging to get it back.Also, some pple call the mountain "the witch's nose"

2006-08-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

see the mountains that surround us?

2006-08-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

Centro Historica

2006-08-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

HUGE pet store with cute signboard. They had miniature ponies and sheep but we weren't allowed to take photos

2006-08-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

Colonial architecture

2006-08-21T13:01:00.001-07:00

tiny donuts

2006-08-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Fortune.... DOG?!

2006-08-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

At the city centre: Neptune Fountain

2006-08-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

(BEHIND L-R:tin, joyce, me, fanny FRONT: Vanessa, Bennet, Bobby, Luis, Christian, Zuzana, Hontas)

2006-08-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

The cooks! (the guy is a v lonely chinese prof- cos he cant speak spanish or english v well)

2006-08-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Had the hongkongers, Zuzana(czech), Bobby, and Christian (Mexican who can speak chinese) over for dinner

2006-08-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

with bobby(american) and siaotin(roomate)

2006-08-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

outside the student centre. (dunno what the colourful ram is supp to be)

2006-08-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

view frm one of the school buildings (thats all part of the skl... even the funny "leaning buildings" on the right)

2006-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

First dinner-steak by Ansen

2006-08-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

First lunch @ El Pollo Loco (The Crazy Chicken)

2006-08-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Outside our apartment

2006-08-21T12:44:00.001-07:00

mexican boy

2006-08-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

where's my bag?!

2006-08-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

finally together (and i look super shagged)

2006-08-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

the tiny plane

2006-08-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

view from my seat(1A) on the flimsiest plane ever...

2006-08-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

FINALLY... last connection to Monterrey!

2006-08-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

@ d airport

2006-08-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

@ d airport

2006-08-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

met up with jiaying the evening before I left. (psst.. jy, ansen says thanks for the snake wine. haha)

2006-08-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

:) finally in Mexico!!

First impressions....The place is MUCH more modern that it is given credit for. I felt like I was in US! the roads are actually quite clean and it's quite funny how the place reminds me so much of Philippines- probably cos they were both under Spanish rule- so the infrastructure is very similar.

Then.. we got to our place...
:)

well.. I must say it's MUCH nicer than I imagined... (in better be-we're paying 1000pesos over budget for it!).. It's quite quaint... has a secure gate... (its kinda like a compound with a few apartments in it)... airy living room...comfy kitchen...spacious rooms...internet...clean,working toilet....

hehe. nothing much more i could ask for.

We then had lunch with our housemate at El Pollo Loco(The Crazy Chicken)- which is a grilled chicken joint. The food there is DELICIOUS!. yum. Coincidently, we overheard a mexican man talking to 2 ang mohs about church! so we jumped at the chance to ask them whether they knew of a english service. We then found out the he is a professor at our school and he offered to drive us to church on sunday! :)

Don't remember much else after that 'cept the yummy steak ansen cooked after dinner. was pretty bummed out about my missing luggage.....

2006-08-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hola!

:) YES! I’m finally I’m in Mexico… but before I go into that… a recap.

So where was I?... As I said… LA was really crazy… it was so crowded.

After LA, I boarded a plane to Dallas,Texas (at 1am) where I was scheduled to take my (final) connecting flight to Monterrey,Mexico.

The LA-Dallas flight was the first flight I’ve been on where they didn’t serve food! Think cos it was a midnight flight... and only 5 hours… :( it was SUPER uncomfortable. maciam budget airline!.. ugh. All I can say is my whole body ached and I was dying to be on flat land again.

Once I reached Dallas, Monterrey was just 2 hours away and boy was I excited! :) I got a SHOCK though when I boarded the plane…. It was so TINY. I was sitting on the very first seat of the plane (seat 1A)… with noone next to me. Seriously, it was so scary cos it seemed like it was gonna fall apart any moment…

Finally…. I arrived in Monterrey! =D Had to have a bus fetch us from the plane and got thru immigration pretty easily. *grin* twas so nice to see ansen’s face grinning right back at me from across the glass wall… AND THEN… the unthinkable happened.

ONE OF MY BAGS WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

sian.

That bag had most of my everyday tops (the one that didn’t get lost had winter wear and sleeping clothes). Anyway, we waited in the airport for the next flight from Houston in case the bag arrived with it… but it didn’t. we had no choice to go back home….

(to be continued)

shout-out from LA

2006-08-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

:) *holler* yo yo wassup peeps? here's a shout-out from LA!
(hehe...LA-speak?)

currently on 12-hour transit and i am dead bored.
i've been online, i've eaten, i've shopped..... and i STILL have 4.5 hours ago. :'(
sianz. mebbe i'm being TOO efficient.

Anywayz- i'm super shagged and my whole body's aching... got stuck next to this huge american woman on the plane just now (i was at the window seat)... and i hardly could move... she even took up the whole armrest and i had to help her pull out the remote control from the side of her seat cos it was physically impossible for her to reach it! ugh.

got stuck in that position for 10hours!!!! 9 hours on the plane... and 1 hour whilst the plane was on the tarmac... (flight was delayed).

can't wait to get to mexico... :D
will update soon...

FINALLY

2006-08-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

FINALLY....

I can say that i'm leaving on saturday!

JAL 712
flight leaves at 8.10AM, will be at the airport at 630.
:)

got my miracle. :)

2006-08-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hallo people.

:) Indeed God answer's prayers... Went to the embassy today to process my immigrant visa. (remember.. the one the guy said would take a week starting today to process???) Well... I got it today! and I didn't even have to go thru' another interview. My uncle (who works in mfa) called up the embassy and somehow got his friend to approve and expediate it. really pays to know pple in high places- both literally and figuratively. hehe

so the grouchy lady just was like,"so i hear you're rushing off to travel? when do you need it?" Then i said,"actually i'm a week late already so asap... today, if possible". then she said to pick it up at 430.

I happily called my travel agent and made plans to leave on wed.. and planned to go to the airport tmr to go on standby. also msged everyone to let everyone know i was leaving liaoz. and i ran around trying to finish up my last minute errands.

AND THEN...

when i went to pick up mi visa, the lady was like,"here you go. and btw, your dad needs to go to US first and use his visa before yours become valid. so travel together or let him travel first."

WHAT?!?!??!?!?!?!?
argh. she could have said so earlier lor... how is my dad supposed to find a flight to states now??? called all the airlines and EVERYTHING is booked. Even the most expensive flight in SIA,he's on the waiting list.

some of u might be wondering why so weird-he need to go too. all i can say is it's like that cos it's some issues with residency... uh, yeah.

SO....

Praise God for answering my prayersand thank you for all of you who prayed along with me
Please continue to pray that my dad finds a flight soonwill leave as soon as he can go. i have a confirmed flight on the 12 which arrives on the 13... hopefully the skl wont mind that i'm 3 days late

Keep on praying everyone- prayers really work!

i need a miracle.

2006-08-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

so.........the document will only ARRIVE on friday. (will collect it in changi then rush over to the embassy which is only open from 9-11am)

and to arrive there by friday, the 11th... which is the latest i can arrive.... i need to leave here on thurs.... which means i need to collect my passport on wed.... but i cant... becos its a public holiday.

and even if i COULD collect it on wed... i cant leave because the flights are FULL until sat.. which means i reach there on sun....

and even if i COULD get the flight... it takes one week to process the passport... and if we go to the embassy on fri... i can only collect it on the 11th... and leave on the 12th and arrive on the 13th.

sigh. i need a miracle.

sigh. i'm still here

2006-07-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I guess some of you are looking for updates....

Was supposed to leave for Mexico today- but I couldn't due to some problems with my passport. So instead of a long comfy plane ride with ansen- we had to have a "nearly-weepy" farewell at the airport. Sigh, it really sucks.

the situation....
My family is in the midst of attaining our permanent residency in US. We've been informed by the American embassy that we should get our green card soon, went for the interview last week. At the interview, we were informed that there are some missing documents and that when we come back with the documents- the processing of the application will take "about a week". During the processing, they need to hold on to my passport (to "chop" it). So yeah. Will be going back to the embassy on either Tues or Wed (depending on when we receive the documents.)

Please pray that
- we'll be able to receive all the missing documents and be able to go back to the embassy on tuesday
- there be no more missing documents and that it be approved on the spot. (actually should be no problem- cos mi mum and sis have their card liaoz!)
- they take less than a week (or a week at most) to process the stuff.

I need to arrive in Mexico by the 11th or else my name will be struck of the register.

Sigh. This ordeal has been immensely stressful. And it's been hard trying to be strong for ansen too. So please do keep praying (for both of us). :)

P.S.
Thanks for all the support... but yeah- don't really wanna talk about it... so yup. Will update if there's a change in situation. Till then, do ask me out so I won't stay home feeling sorry for myself. =D

student visa got approved!

2006-07-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Got my visa today! :)

Whoohoo~ I'm reeeaallyy going!

Watch this space for more updates.