djkr and friends take on Life

everytime i head out to go to school/the super market/ random locale, i always wonder will i miss this place when i get back home? it might be strange to ask these questions now but 150 days in another country is not a terribly long time.

it has begun to become colder here. now we can see ‘smoke’ in our breath at night when the temperature dips below 10 degrees at night. but it is this cold climate that allows  home owners to grow their own plants in their own back yard. for example, right outside our house, there is a macadamia nut tree which provides me with a plentiful supply of nuts, which i manually crack with a hammer and snack on. that’s fast food for you.

talking about fast food, there are no more krispy kremes left in san diego. i know i was shocked too, but apparently, the west coast is experiencing a health wave, which makes food more healthy (and expensive).

sdsu is a city campus akin to something like smu but with a much larger land area. while the schools are nothing to shout about (the classrooms are really old school, save for some of the newer buildings) what really shines through are the facilities. the gym is amazing -- comparable to those at california fitness back home. (which kind of makes sense since sdsu is IN california) the basketball court is akin to those you see in nba courts. we attended a game last thursday when the aztecs played the new mexico lobos to a crowd of 8001 people. (more than s league matches!)

what makes US sports so successful is not so much the sport itself but the ‘auxiliary support services’, if you will, that make the sports scene here so entertaining. around the cox arena (the name of the basketball court), there are various stands selling everything to sdsu gear to hot dogs to marine recruitment drives. in between half time breaks there are various ‘mini games’ including a flying blimp carrying a voucher for a taco restaurant, the best dressed fan and a blind folded fan trying to find a voucher on the court for a year’s free hair cuts. while in the end the results matter (sdsu won), i don’t think americans can imagine a game without those mini games.

in sdsu i am currently taking principles of pr, principles of advertising, international advertising, astronomy, world of animals, intro to rock/jazz and SURFING!. i managed to match the 2 sciences and international advertising. intro to rock/jazz i am taking as a ue. but i am having a headache with the first 2 subjects. technically i can match to pr writing and advertising and creative writing but i don’t really want too because here in sdsu its pretty much theory based.

in fact, most of the way they teach in sdsu seems much more theory based compared to back home. and the textbooks here are riduciously priced (100 usd for a textbook). on one hand i have the practical aspect of things (clear more cores) compared to the idealistic aspect (do subjects that will help). but then again i should not complain: all my subjects here are s/u.

i am quite excited about surfing though. even though for some ridiculous reason there is an exam for surfing (as well as any sport you want to learn for credit here), it will probably be one of the few chances i will get to surf EVER. first lesson is this friday!

it seems so alien for once that there are no red and gold gawdy decorations all over the place, generic cny music and of course cny food. but still, we managed to hold a celebration here, a steamboat dinner. it was simple, clean and one of the last vestiges of connection to back home. i miss eating my grandma’s wantons and meeting the relatives  and of course receiving ang pows.

i have not really gotten into the motions of studying here on ‘holiday’ yet. maybe i will eventually, when the fun stops. if ever.

update:  disneyland video up. dunno why its squashed. basketball game pictures to be up next.

orientation in school was BORING. didn’t take pictures but met the other international students. apparently, after the australians, singaporeans are the second biggest group here at sdsu with a staggering 14 people!

met a few foreign students already -- 2 korean guys whose name i can’t remember now (oops), 2 japanese dudes -- yohei and hiro, an australian gal -- jules, 2 thai girls from chualongkong -- peach and pear (i swear this is their names) and a few locals here -- chris and nate. they came over saturday after martin luther king day parade where we had a night of drinking and cards. turns out that drinking games in other countries and similiar to the ones back home -- save a few differences here and there.

on sunday i went to church -- first presbyterian church of san diego. and amazingly, there are tons of singaporeans here. the pastor -- andre ong is singaporean. other members of the church are mostly asian -- taiwanese, japanese and chinese. its almost as though that you never left asia. but i guess it is a comfort you know that fellow asians are here.

and such comforts are sometimes needed. on sunday morning, a stranger knocked on our door at 6am. and i was the only one who woke up. going to the door, some dude named … i forgot… needed to use a phone. being in a strange land for 10 days at 6am after a night of drinking, some how i maintained the common sense NOT to open the door and told him we didn’t have a phone and he left. i didn’t have the common sense to look through the peephole to see the person but still it was disconcerting. and just yesterday, on the way to beach, i sat beside a guy who smelled like pee. 2 days before that, a crazy man boarded the trolley and started swearing loudly at a random person. i do not discriminate against the homeless or crazy but i think it is a good reminder how lucky we are in singapore, where we are constantly coddled up in cotton wool and put away from harms way.

ok enough of the emo stuff. i did say beach. so i am proud to present the very first eclectic sheep productions vblog. its not very polished.. but i will try and improve the quality. enjoy and good evening from san diego.

just got back from disneyland yesterday. need to go to school now so will blog when i return

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we spent 4 days in anahiem,  just visiting the disneyland resort. disneyland resort is made up of 2 parks – disneyland park and disney californian adventure. anahiem’s disneyland is the original disneyland – that is to say, it is the first disneyland ever built, envisioned personally by walt disney. it is not as big as walt disney world, but that does not mean its magic is dimished.

disneyland is not the most exciting theme park but it is indeed a fun one.

i am pretty sure that disneyland has some sort of narcotic effect on adults and children. on the very first day we entered the park, we saw mary poppins. i mean, yea i was thrilled to see her and all. but there was this kid behind me so thrilled to see her he shrieked (this is true!) MARY POPPINS and proceeded to charge towards her like a battering ram. this happened twice.

hong kong disneyland has nothing on anahiem’s one. anahiem is bigger and more fun. and of course more expensive. some how or another, you don’t notice that you are paying $20 usd for a meal of 2 inside the happiest place on earth – and this is for fish and chips at the takeout. of course, don’t forget, each time you exit a ride, a gift store is waiting for you to spend more money. it really is quite ingenious – ride a toy story ride, feel emotionally vunerable, buy toy story merchandise to bring home a part of disney with you.

directly opposite disneyland is disney californian adventure. designed primarily for out of town tourists who want to experience california in one shot. a ride calling its self california soarin, compresses the entire californian experience into one huge simulator ride. aso, their rides are generally better then those are disneyland – better meaning more thrilling, for example they have a ‘real’ roller coaster – unlike space mountain. but for a more magical experience, disneyland still triumphs.

i won’t blog in detail about the rides i took (i will leave that to the video i am going to post up soon) but i did take the must-take rides here of course – space mountain, pirates of the caribbean, splash mountain and the trip to see mickey mouse in his home.

after doing my pirate job on sentosa, i can sympathise with the staff of disneyland. esepcially those in the winnie the pooh costumes. you can almost imagine them shaking hand after hand and smiling (if that is possible inside a costume), baking in the californian heat inside their furry suits. and finally, when they get to rest, once they pass the door that says ‘cast members only’, they take off their costumes and curse #$%^.

but i guess, i shouldn’t think so much about it. after all, it is about the magic of disney. isn’t it?

see below for a whole lot of pics

mickey and us

more mascots and Us

eeyore now!

more pooh overdose

interesting bank

not really a door?

snow white and pamy

hehheh.

this is disneyland.

video coming soon.

i hope you guys back home are doing fine! miss all of you back home and wkwsci!

its the end of my third day here and we have not been grocery shopping. this is partially due to our landlord bringing us around great food places in san diego and him providing us food -- coffee, cheese, biscuits etc.

yesterday, after the mexican restaurant, pamy and i had a tour of the area. we familiarised ourselves with the region, got to know the neighbourhood. we also managed to go to sdsu for the first time. its a sprawling open campus -- machiam like smu liddat -- but bigger. much bigger. we went to an italian restaurant for dinner -volare i think it was called.

today, we headed to the shopping district of san diego. sorry one of the many shopping districts -- fashion valley (wow i hope the name didn’t give it away) we used one of san diego’s trademark transportation methods -- the trolley. if you been Melbourne, this might be familiar to you. you pay (or not; its an honour system), hop onto the trolley and take it where ever the rails take you. $5 per day… hmmm… looks like the student ticket pass has to come into play.

well, yes, some things like coach, godiva’s etc etc.. but i think the cost of food here kind of balances out everything else. for example, we had chicken teriyaki for dinner -- $5.29 usd = $7 sing. oh yes, i also FINALLY ate Mcdonald’s in US. for $4 usd per person(promotion) we got a HUGE fries packet, a large coke and 2 big macs to share among 2 guys. the fries here taste… fresher? and the coke here taste different too. in fact, i like the coke taste here. less acidic.

we finally also got us lines, so if you guys wanna contact us, drop us an msn and we will provide them.

its 2am now and tomorrow pamy and i are heading to DISNEYLAND. sooooooooo…. i leave some pics here and off i go

videos to be uploaded when its up.

UPDATE: VIDEOS UP

Pamy being suspicious at volare

the food at volare’s

one of my house mates here, Jamie, trying to act cool. lol

two other NTU students here: Sherry and Priscilla at the trolley station

this lovely leather GAP jacket looks good but costs a whopping $298 usd.

go aztecs?

this is reallllyyyyy cheap. wait till you see the meal.

this is the huge package of fries we got when we upsized. their medium fries = our large fries. 2 of us barely finished the packet. and the fries is up to the brim when they serve.

the kiehl’s bag is mine. but note fashion valley’s open air concept. its 2 storeys only but its long.

trolley in sd

eh?

we are back in the house after lunch!

we had lunch in a place near the home called el rodeo. San Diego is near the state border to Mexico and the Mexican food here is pretty decent. the specialty of San Diego is fish tacos -- fried fish and with taco shells, stuffed with tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream and onions. in addition, i bought a plate of nachos and it is so so good. i love Mexican food.

the skies of San Diego are permently a strange vivid blue colour, something out of photoshop. our landlord explained to us that due to the various winds; hot air from Mexico, cooler air from LA and dry air from Death Valley, you get a strange mix of climate and air here. the colours are vivid; almost surreal. everything is so bright.

Mexican Restaurant near the house

Fish Tacos

NACHOS!

Stan, our landlord

Graffiti on the wall

School Xing

A trip around the neighbourhood, trishaw style.

hello i am in san diego!

thanks to welyon, jeanette, jac, ness too and danielle for sending us off at the airport! also thanks for all who send their well wishes but were not able to make it. thanks to my parents for allowing me to go on exchange too!

after a 24 hour journey, we FINALLY arrived in San Diego. could not sleep on the plane, but went stone dead in the train from LA to San Diego. anyway, i let the pictures do the talking.

UPDATE:  some videoes up

Eh?

outside the house we stay in!

the street sign of our house here!

pamy and me outside the house.

the californian sun is quite searing due to the lack of clouds, but the the cold air balances it so it isn’t too bad! i have more videoes then pictures actually. let me crank up my fcp then i will upload them on youtube. our landlord, stan, is a very nice guy and we are pretty thankful that we met him. really help us settle in well. we are currently waiting for our landlord to come and pick us up to go to a yard sale.

we had chinese food in San Diego yesterday. unlike Thad’s experience, the chefs we had were all chinese and the food was pretty good! note of caution in america, always order small. the small portions here and like the large portions in Singapore. for breakfast, the landlord brewed us coffee which was awesome.  ahah ok i getting restless. should be going out soon. blog tonight guys!