I saw my first raccoon this evening on my way to class. The masked dog caught my attention scraping down the slope before catching me eye-to-eye. I smiled, thinking to myself "How cute! That explains the unidentified poop I see on the paths!" (We have all kinds of animals on campus. Now I can identify 3 kinds of poop if I see them: geese, deer, and raccoon. I bet I'd be able to recognize the poop associating it to the animal I see. [Man, wouldn't the biology lecturer and the pet-lover back home be proud!])
That started the ball rolling for good things to come. I was rather annoyed that I was not prepared for class today. But knowing that my new MacBook arrived early this morning excited me. However, being a techno-illiterate, I had troubles setting it up and faced problems with the wireless connection on campus. The annoyance did not get to me but I dread to leave my new toy for class.
As I approached the the Education Department building, I bumped into Dr. D, who was trying to locate me all day. He had an extra ticket for Avalon tomorrow and would love for me to join him and his family for dinner before that. That boosted my spirits for my upcoming 3.5 hour class! Things started to get better when I found out that I did pretty good on my test on Tuesday and aced the assignment given. (Laughs) Now, I just have to keep up the good work and work on what is due in the next 32.5 hours.
But hey, I bumped into some international students in the dorm and they were going to hang out at Selina's place for a movie night. It is summer after all... So, after watching Sweet Home Alabama over sugar and caffeine free coke, an orange popsicle, and some mini pizzas, I managed to log on in my room hassle free! What a day!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
My First Visitor
Kin Yan visited me this week. He arrived from Connecticut Sunday afternoon and we had the best of times (minus the moments when PMS-bunny took over) till past noon today. I hope he had as much fun as I did, caught his flight out from Chicago O'hare, and is happily reuniting with his family this evening.
We spent a good deal of time catching over meals. (Yep, although paranoid of getting blown up, we practically stuffed our face with American Food at least twice a day.) On Sunday, we had A&W/KFC lunch before driving out to IKEA at Schaumburg to shop for stuff. After having dinner and dessert there, we lost our way for a while heading back to Judson. (Bunny was no help in this for she went "Oh, THERE is Olivet [where STF teaches 1/2 of the year]!" and made Kin Yan miss the exit.)
Monday was a day spent downtown Chicago. We drove downtown and universal to all major cities of the world, we experienced the morning traffic. I was intrigued by the toll systems, but soon focused my attention to the majestic Chicago City skyline. It was simply beautiful. Our first stop was Chinatown as Kin Yan craved for Malaysian food. After lunch, we drove along the shoreline of Lake Michigan towards Lincoln Park up North. We spent the entire afternoon at the zoo, had a Chicago hot dog, and walked towards Old Town, where we enjoyed the stunning architecture of residential buildings and coffee. We later drove down the Majestic Mile and circled to find parking before visiting the ever-famous Sears Tower. We spent about 1.5 hours there, but I will definitely want to go there again as I would love to see sun set and the city's night skyline from101-stories above the city. We had the yummy Chicago famous deep-pan/stuffed pizza at Giordano's before making our way back northwest. Again we mixed up our bearing, but I did enjoyed the drive as Kin Yan rented a VERY NICE car. (*^_^*)
Tuesday was easy-breezy as Bunny had to finish up her reading/preparing for a test, finalize on her research material that would be discussed, and finish up her assigned questions, all due in the evening. Struggling hard to complete everything as soon as possible, we did manage to have lunch on campus and caught Ironman at the AMC cineplex at West Barrington in the afternoon. We played a few games of 9-ball before my class and had dinner's at Subway's after.
This morning, we took time to explore Wal Mart and Deals (a dollar store) before having a REALLY HEAVY brunch of scrambled eggs, cheese burger, and dessert at Denny's. It was great having Kin Yan for the past few days. We talked about almost everything and hung out.
Thanks, buddy, for making the trip. I did try to burn what was consumed thus far by rearranging my room and organizing the mess. After this, I'd better hit the books for this week, classes and assignments would be pretty intense!
We spent a good deal of time catching over meals. (Yep, although paranoid of getting blown up, we practically stuffed our face with American Food at least twice a day.) On Sunday, we had A&W/KFC lunch before driving out to IKEA at Schaumburg to shop for stuff. After having dinner and dessert there, we lost our way for a while heading back to Judson. (Bunny was no help in this for she went "Oh, THERE is Olivet [where STF teaches 1/2 of the year]!" and made Kin Yan miss the exit.)
Monday was a day spent downtown Chicago. We drove downtown and universal to all major cities of the world, we experienced the morning traffic. I was intrigued by the toll systems, but soon focused my attention to the majestic Chicago City skyline. It was simply beautiful. Our first stop was Chinatown as Kin Yan craved for Malaysian food. After lunch, we drove along the shoreline of Lake Michigan towards Lincoln Park up North. We spent the entire afternoon at the zoo, had a Chicago hot dog, and walked towards Old Town, where we enjoyed the stunning architecture of residential buildings and coffee. We later drove down the Majestic Mile and circled to find parking before visiting the ever-famous Sears Tower. We spent about 1.5 hours there, but I will definitely want to go there again as I would love to see sun set and the city's night skyline from101-stories above the city. We had the yummy Chicago famous deep-pan/stuffed pizza at Giordano's before making our way back northwest. Again we mixed up our bearing, but I did enjoyed the drive as Kin Yan rented a VERY NICE car. (*^_^*)
Tuesday was easy-breezy as Bunny had to finish up her reading/preparing for a test, finalize on her research material that would be discussed, and finish up her assigned questions, all due in the evening. Struggling hard to complete everything as soon as possible, we did manage to have lunch on campus and caught Ironman at the AMC cineplex at West Barrington in the afternoon. We played a few games of 9-ball before my class and had dinner's at Subway's after.
This morning, we took time to explore Wal Mart and Deals (a dollar store) before having a REALLY HEAVY brunch of scrambled eggs, cheese burger, and dessert at Denny's. It was great having Kin Yan for the past few days. We talked about almost everything and hung out.
Thanks, buddy, for making the trip. I did try to burn what was consumed thus far by rearranging my room and organizing the mess. After this, I'd better hit the books for this week, classes and assignments would be pretty intense!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
You Know You Are in America When...
... everything is much bigger in size, volume, and quantity.
My right wrist has been hurting since 2-3 days ago. Was it caused by the lugging of my stuff? Or by pushing and pulling the heavy doors over here? Even opening and closing a car door seems to be a major task for me.
I used to think road kills on Malaysian roads happen more often since nobody really clears away the mess. For all I can remember, I had never seen any in Japan. But hey, the standards of road kill over here matches the opening line. I saw something lying dead right in the middle of the road on Tuesday. I think it was a gopher (not the regular stray cat, dog, or monitor lizard we get back in Malaysia. I might be wrong since we were cruising rather fast). Nevertheless, the size of it was similar to a big dog. The stuff one may hit/run their car through over here... A friend of mine hit a deer and the front left of her car was totally ruined. The impact of the hit caused a massive dent, a 2 foot rip above the bumpers, and took out all the lights on the left. The deer possibly died of a concussion within the next 24 hours.
Anyways, I should get back to my reading. 3 hours to class and I have hardly touched on the assigned chapters. The bed was so tempting this morning that I got back under the sheets after I was done with breakfast! Slaps on the wrists and will sit in the library before class today.
My right wrist has been hurting since 2-3 days ago. Was it caused by the lugging of my stuff? Or by pushing and pulling the heavy doors over here? Even opening and closing a car door seems to be a major task for me.
I used to think road kills on Malaysian roads happen more often since nobody really clears away the mess. For all I can remember, I had never seen any in Japan. But hey, the standards of road kill over here matches the opening line. I saw something lying dead right in the middle of the road on Tuesday. I think it was a gopher (not the regular stray cat, dog, or monitor lizard we get back in Malaysia. I might be wrong since we were cruising rather fast). Nevertheless, the size of it was similar to a big dog. The stuff one may hit/run their car through over here... A friend of mine hit a deer and the front left of her car was totally ruined. The impact of the hit caused a massive dent, a 2 foot rip above the bumpers, and took out all the lights on the left. The deer possibly died of a concussion within the next 24 hours.
Anyways, I should get back to my reading. 3 hours to class and I have hardly touched on the assigned chapters. The bed was so tempting this morning that I got back under the sheets after I was done with breakfast! Slaps on the wrists and will sit in the library before class today.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Day 4- Sober and Smiley
My body is finally catching up (or is it slowing down?) to the time here. I woke up around 8:45, took my shower and felt like a million bucks. (Thank God I did not get up any later as maintenance turned off the water right after I got out of the shower.) The morning was moving slow but I finally managed to log on campus computers with my very own user ID. Yep, settling down and getting integrated.
I was invited for lunch today. The gay party of 7 congregated at Olive Garden where we had soup, salad and bread sticks. It was a good deal as we could have as many rounds of refills to our choice of 3 kinds of soup, garden salad, and yummy bread sticks. What a joyous gathering it turned out to be for a welcome lunch for me and a farewell party for the resident missionary who will be returning to Congo.
Everyday is a fun and exciting experience. Today I managed to have my close encounter with the state police. We saw them everywhere during our drive to the restaurant. The amusing thing was that 5 state police cars were parked around our car at the restaurant. We were observing the officers and cracked a few jokes. We had to tone ourselves down when they seated down next to our table. (Laughs)
All is good. My jet lag is slowly wearing off and I guess since my brain is working, I'd better get some blogging done and read up for my class. Hmm, the bed seems rather tempting though....
I was invited for lunch today. The gay party of 7 congregated at Olive Garden where we had soup, salad and bread sticks. It was a good deal as we could have as many rounds of refills to our choice of 3 kinds of soup, garden salad, and yummy bread sticks. What a joyous gathering it turned out to be for a welcome lunch for me and a farewell party for the resident missionary who will be returning to Congo.
Everyday is a fun and exciting experience. Today I managed to have my close encounter with the state police. We saw them everywhere during our drive to the restaurant. The amusing thing was that 5 state police cars were parked around our car at the restaurant. We were observing the officers and cracked a few jokes. We had to tone ourselves down when they seated down next to our table. (Laughs)
All is good. My jet lag is slowly wearing off and I guess since my brain is working, I'd better get some blogging done and read up for my class. Hmm, the bed seems rather tempting though....
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Getting Connected
It is always an interesting experience to start afresh in a new environment. Being one of the modern day technology-reliant babies, I was looking forward to get myself connected to the basic necessities of the 21st century, telephone and Internet connections.
My day started slow as I walked around campus to get hold of the needed textbook for my class this evening. I hoped to get some reading done before class as I used to but to my avail, both the campus store and library did not have it. Nevertheless, I did managed to check out the wide range of campus merchandise being sold (something I had never experience before). Minga and I went to the bank to check out some "interesting" activities in my account before picking up another international student from Etophia for lunch. We ate at a local well-known Chinese buffet, made a trip to Wal-Mart, and head over to Woodman's again. It was simply super that we still managed to get back on campus 2 hour before my first class and I managed to cram in 1.5 hours of sleep!
Class was interesting. A total of 26 students turned up rather than the 11 that were expected. Since is a summer semester catered for those who are coming back to school to get a certification, we had an interesting group of people. I survived my first session and enjoyed the walk back to my room. Instead of hitting the sheets, I spent a good 3 hour in the TV room getting myself acquainted with Lydia from California, and the basic cable we have on TV. Fellowship over popcorn, Law & Order, and a few episodes from the Disney channel... it was fun.
The night wrapped itself up by me connecting my phone and receiving my campus PC ID. Now, I will be accessible to the rest of the world and look forward to keeping you guys updated.
Hey you there! Now you have no excuse not to contact me!
My day started slow as I walked around campus to get hold of the needed textbook for my class this evening. I hoped to get some reading done before class as I used to but to my avail, both the campus store and library did not have it. Nevertheless, I did managed to check out the wide range of campus merchandise being sold (something I had never experience before). Minga and I went to the bank to check out some "interesting" activities in my account before picking up another international student from Etophia for lunch. We ate at a local well-known Chinese buffet, made a trip to Wal-Mart, and head over to Woodman's again. It was simply super that we still managed to get back on campus 2 hour before my first class and I managed to cram in 1.5 hours of sleep!
Class was interesting. A total of 26 students turned up rather than the 11 that were expected. Since is a summer semester catered for those who are coming back to school to get a certification, we had an interesting group of people. I survived my first session and enjoyed the walk back to my room. Instead of hitting the sheets, I spent a good 3 hour in the TV room getting myself acquainted with Lydia from California, and the basic cable we have on TV. Fellowship over popcorn, Law & Order, and a few episodes from the Disney channel... it was fun.
The night wrapped itself up by me connecting my phone and receiving my campus PC ID. Now, I will be accessible to the rest of the world and look forward to keeping you guys updated.
Hey you there! Now you have no excuse not to contact me!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Who Am I? Where Am I? What Am I?
Most people know of how hectic my life is at most times. My move to Chicago has been the most dramatic change of my life thus far. Just a month ago I was still in Macao drinking in the possibility that I will be heading off to America soon, quit my job on the 7th, packed up and left Macao on the 10th, running around KL getting the needed documentations for 2.5 weeks, spent a week in Japan, and arrived here in Elgin, Illinois about 52.5 hours before my first class. Yep, this will be the top of my crazy list for a while.
I got up around 5:3o this morning unable to get back to bed and decided to do some unpacking. I was done and prepared to meet Minga for our activities for the day around 9. We took a tour around campus by car and arrived at our first stop for the day, meeting the Director of Intercultural & Academic Integration, GL. It was great to finally put a face to the person who played a big role in bringing the bunny to the States. Even though I was really spaced out and ready to get back to bed, GL graciously explained to me what I will be doing at Judson University before I was ferried off by the Dean of the Education Department, KD.
Overwhelmed and disoriented, I found out the following: (1) I am a post bachelor certificate student (2) I will be starting my first class--Education Psychology, to get my teaching certification, possibly focusing on elementary education, in less than 36 hours (3) Ohio Residence Hall will be my home until the Fall Semester begins (4) And a whole bunch of other stuff that I could hardly remember.
In a blur, I then went over to the registration office, received my ID with a terrible picture of me taken on the spot, had lunch at the cafeteria (man! It was food heaven! I would say that the spread of food would equal a 4 star hotel spread in KL, and this is during summer when only 1/2 of the food serving stations are open), took a nap, went out to the bank and set up an account, had an early dinner at a pizza buffet, and shopped at Woodman's for food.
Lesson learned at the end of day 2, everything is super-sized in America. People consume a great amount of food for each meal and the supermarket is WAY bigger than what I am used to (just imagine shopping for food at a place 3 times the size of Carrefour, Wangsa Maju, and 6 times the size of Jusco supermarket at CNT). Thank goodness for jet lag, I was out like a light before 10 and slept soundly for the night.
I got up around 5:3o this morning unable to get back to bed and decided to do some unpacking. I was done and prepared to meet Minga for our activities for the day around 9. We took a tour around campus by car and arrived at our first stop for the day, meeting the Director of Intercultural & Academic Integration, GL. It was great to finally put a face to the person who played a big role in bringing the bunny to the States. Even though I was really spaced out and ready to get back to bed, GL graciously explained to me what I will be doing at Judson University before I was ferried off by the Dean of the Education Department, KD.
Overwhelmed and disoriented, I found out the following: (1) I am a post bachelor certificate student (2) I will be starting my first class--Education Psychology, to get my teaching certification, possibly focusing on elementary education, in less than 36 hours (3) Ohio Residence Hall will be my home until the Fall Semester begins (4) And a whole bunch of other stuff that I could hardly remember.
In a blur, I then went over to the registration office, received my ID with a terrible picture of me taken on the spot, had lunch at the cafeteria (man! It was food heaven! I would say that the spread of food would equal a 4 star hotel spread in KL, and this is during summer when only 1/2 of the food serving stations are open), took a nap, went out to the bank and set up an account, had an early dinner at a pizza buffet, and shopped at Woodman's for food.
Lesson learned at the end of day 2, everything is super-sized in America. People consume a great amount of food for each meal and the supermarket is WAY bigger than what I am used to (just imagine shopping for food at a place 3 times the size of Carrefour, Wangsa Maju, and 6 times the size of Jusco supermarket at CNT). Thank goodness for jet lag, I was out like a light before 10 and slept soundly for the night.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A New Chapter Unfolds
Hear ye, hear ye! If you had noticed the countdown clock on the left of the page, it runs out today! Through the hustle and bustle of the past month, I am blogging to you from the Land of Lincoln. This bunny sends her warmest greetings to you from Illinois, United States!
I arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport around 2:30pm after a 12 hour flight from Tokyo. Disoriented and jet lagged, I was picked up from the airport and ferried to my new home, just 30-45 minutes away by car. I checked into the dorms and found it totally amusing how the system is similar to what we had back at Tokyo Christian University. I had to go through my check list and was glad that it was in English. I was totally wiped out and slept till around 9:30 before heading out for dinner with Minga, the international student from Chad who is doing a post bachelor leading to a Masters Degree in Architecture.
Guess where did I have my first meal in the States? DENNY'S! (Hysterical laughs!) Ah, what fond memories I have from Japan and it compliments the newness and difference of this all American all day breakfast chain. Minga and I had a good time getting acquainted and we later took a drive to the neighboring neighborhood to collect her stuff from the family she was staying with the last 2 weeks. Dinner and midnight drive, what an adventure!
I arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport around 2:30pm after a 12 hour flight from Tokyo. Disoriented and jet lagged, I was picked up from the airport and ferried to my new home, just 30-45 minutes away by car. I checked into the dorms and found it totally amusing how the system is similar to what we had back at Tokyo Christian University. I had to go through my check list and was glad that it was in English. I was totally wiped out and slept till around 9:30 before heading out for dinner with Minga, the international student from Chad who is doing a post bachelor leading to a Masters Degree in Architecture.
Guess where did I have my first meal in the States? DENNY'S! (Hysterical laughs!) Ah, what fond memories I have from Japan and it compliments the newness and difference of this all American all day breakfast chain. Minga and I had a good time getting acquainted and we later took a drive to the neighboring neighborhood to collect her stuff from the family she was staying with the last 2 weeks. Dinner and midnight drive, what an adventure!
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