I really can't be bothered about repeating myself and retyping every single detail of my trip here and in California. So I'm going to post up a e-mail I sent to my Godparents.
Non-personal part of e-mail begins here:
I arrived on the 31st in the morning, Uncle Ming Tat, my mother's cousin, picked me up at the airport. We didn't recognize each other though he was right infront of me, he had to give me a call to indentify me. As soon as I stepped out I felt the chilliness of the weather. It was around 16 degrees I think. It was still bearable but I needed my sweater. We then took off to his house in Irvine (Voted the safest town in all of America) the population was made up of 50% chinese. I met Uncle Ming Tat's wonderful family, his wife anne and him were very hospitable to me, making me feel very at home. They have children, 9 and 7, coincidentally it was their birthday on the day I arrived. Although they already celebrated their birthdays a day prior. I then met my cousin (That I didn't really know about, well, not as my cousin atleast.) nicholas. Nic was studying in Iowa, dimoi and was staying over for the holidays, mainly going on trips to different theme parks. Nic had a bunch of friends too. Uncle Ming Tat cooked some curry and nasi lemak for dinner, it was pretty good, reminded me of home too. After dinner, since it was the 31st and new year's eve, Nic was planning to go to Disneyland, he invited me, so I followed to watch the fireworks. Sadly, when it hit 12, the fireworks were heavily blocked by a thick fog. Oh, and did I mention, the fog in CA is horrible! Like seriously horrible. Since my uncle slept early, I bunked over in an apartment that my cousin, Nicholas rented with his 7 other friends. They were 6 guys and 1 girl, the apartment was pretty big, and not exactly an apartment. It was more of a beat up house, but still, it was pretty cozy. If you were wondering how we got around, Nicholas could drive with his Malaysian license. I found out today that you don't need to pay to take a driving license examination, only for the license itself, so methinks i'll get one soon, so I can drive next year when I move out.
On the second day, I followed nicholas to Disneyland, this time to actually get into the park. The lines were REALLY long, I mean, they were so long you'd have to wait in line for an hour just to buy the ticket. Which was what I did. Nic and friends bought a City Pass which costed them about 259 USD. I got a dual park pass for 94 USD, which was okay, but still pretty pricey. We spent the day there, it was extremely packed, like atleast a 60 minute wait. It was pretty sad, wasn't worth the money, but still a pretty good day, though the rides weren't really that extreme. Oh, I also had a taiwanese breakfast before we entered the park. We left the park at 12 making full use of the tickets, and once again I spent another night at Nic's.
The third day was comprised mainly of the same activities. Though the only thing different is the fact that we woke up earlier this time because we had to take a train down to LA. The US metro can really bring you places. We started out at around 6.30 a.m. in the morning and headed towards the Union station then we took a red line metro down to Universal City. It costed around 17 dollars and you could take any other form of public transport without getting new tickets. Which was pretty convinient I guess. We then took a tram up to universal studios from the station. Just like the day before, it was packed. Probably because it was the last few days of holiday for the americans. The group decided to take a front of the line pass because of the extremely long lines. Well, as you can obviously pick out, the front of the line pass allows you to skip to the front of the line. Though the price was way more elaborate, I really had no choice, seeing as how all my other friends wanted to upgrade, I just couldn't say no, now could I? Well, it burnt a hole in my pocket costing me 109 USD, being independant now I felt the pain of losing money =(. The last train home was scheduled at 6.30. Sadly, we missed it. Thank goodness Nic and his friends knew their way around america, we took the metro down to Vernon, and then one to Transit mall. There we took a train to Tustin, and my uncle had to drive half and hour to bring 2 cars to us. The whole trip took around 4 hours, approximately. We then had a chinese dinner, excluding my uncle and his wife who brought the second car down. It was nice to have some rice after a long day. I went home to Uncle Ming Tat's house and I packed up a little as I was leaving the very next day.
There's really nothing much going on on the 3rd, I just traveled and hit Kansas at like 7.30. There, Pau Ying picked me up. She has been living in Kansas for approximately 10 years. She's a chemical engineer. I don't really know what they do, but yeah. She set me up to live with Jeremiah, this singaporean that's doing his masters in Music composing here in KU. Jeremiah is pretty fun and everything, he's really hospitable too. Xiao Tian is a pharaceutical major that lives close by too. They live in an apartment area called "The Malls" very close to KU. I went there today, but only to register, I missed the orientation because I'll be seeing them tomorrow anyway.
- End of e-mail. -
I didn't read everything again, so forgive me If I repeat anything below.
I haven't settled down yet, and It has been days since I've hit Kansas. I've got a nasty sore throat that's making me wake up in the middle of the night. I woke up at 5, went back to sleep, at 7, went back to sleep again and only finally waking up at 8.30 feeling extremely cruddy. :(
I'm right smack in the middle of orientation now, and I'm sorry to say It's a little boring. Well, I guess it's just that they're telling us alot of things we are already going to find out easily as we settle down more here in Kansas. Did I mention? 2/3s of the orientation class is Chinese. China Chinese. I went like this.
Role call of nations (Something where the guy calls out your country and you stand.)
Guy : Malaysia!
*Ian stands up*
Guy : France!
*2 French people stand up*
Guy : Did I forget anybody?
Crowd : China!
Guy : Okay, China
*VOOM*
*Majority of the room stands up.*
Thats how elaborate it is.
Anyways, I need to head back now, so I'll update more on my orientation later.
Ian,
Non-personal part of e-mail begins here:
I arrived on the 31st in the morning, Uncle Ming Tat, my mother's cousin, picked me up at the airport. We didn't recognize each other though he was right infront of me, he had to give me a call to indentify me. As soon as I stepped out I felt the chilliness of the weather. It was around 16 degrees I think. It was still bearable but I needed my sweater. We then took off to his house in Irvine (Voted the safest town in all of America) the population was made up of 50% chinese. I met Uncle Ming Tat's wonderful family, his wife anne and him were very hospitable to me, making me feel very at home. They have children, 9 and 7, coincidentally it was their birthday on the day I arrived. Although they already celebrated their birthdays a day prior. I then met my cousin (That I didn't really know about, well, not as my cousin atleast.) nicholas. Nic was studying in Iowa, dimoi and was staying over for the holidays, mainly going on trips to different theme parks. Nic had a bunch of friends too. Uncle Ming Tat cooked some curry and nasi lemak for dinner, it was pretty good, reminded me of home too. After dinner, since it was the 31st and new year's eve, Nic was planning to go to Disneyland, he invited me, so I followed to watch the fireworks. Sadly, when it hit 12, the fireworks were heavily blocked by a thick fog. Oh, and did I mention, the fog in CA is horrible! Like seriously horrible. Since my uncle slept early, I bunked over in an apartment that my cousin, Nicholas rented with his 7 other friends. They were 6 guys and 1 girl, the apartment was pretty big, and not exactly an apartment. It was more of a beat up house, but still, it was pretty cozy. If you were wondering how we got around, Nicholas could drive with his Malaysian license. I found out today that you don't need to pay to take a driving license examination, only for the license itself, so methinks i'll get one soon, so I can drive next year when I move out.
On the second day, I followed nicholas to Disneyland, this time to actually get into the park. The lines were REALLY long, I mean, they were so long you'd have to wait in line for an hour just to buy the ticket. Which was what I did. Nic and friends bought a City Pass which costed them about 259 USD. I got a dual park pass for 94 USD, which was okay, but still pretty pricey. We spent the day there, it was extremely packed, like atleast a 60 minute wait. It was pretty sad, wasn't worth the money, but still a pretty good day, though the rides weren't really that extreme. Oh, I also had a taiwanese breakfast before we entered the park. We left the park at 12 making full use of the tickets, and once again I spent another night at Nic's.
The third day was comprised mainly of the same activities. Though the only thing different is the fact that we woke up earlier this time because we had to take a train down to LA. The US metro can really bring you places. We started out at around 6.30 a.m. in the morning and headed towards the Union station then we took a red line metro down to Universal City. It costed around 17 dollars and you could take any other form of public transport without getting new tickets. Which was pretty convinient I guess. We then took a tram up to universal studios from the station. Just like the day before, it was packed. Probably because it was the last few days of holiday for the americans. The group decided to take a front of the line pass because of the extremely long lines. Well, as you can obviously pick out, the front of the line pass allows you to skip to the front of the line. Though the price was way more elaborate, I really had no choice, seeing as how all my other friends wanted to upgrade, I just couldn't say no, now could I? Well, it burnt a hole in my pocket costing me 109 USD, being independant now I felt the pain of losing money =(. The last train home was scheduled at 6.30. Sadly, we missed it. Thank goodness Nic and his friends knew their way around america, we took the metro down to Vernon, and then one to Transit mall. There we took a train to Tustin, and my uncle had to drive half and hour to bring 2 cars to us. The whole trip took around 4 hours, approximately. We then had a chinese dinner, excluding my uncle and his wife who brought the second car down. It was nice to have some rice after a long day. I went home to Uncle Ming Tat's house and I packed up a little as I was leaving the very next day.
There's really nothing much going on on the 3rd, I just traveled and hit Kansas at like 7.30. There, Pau Ying picked me up. She has been living in Kansas for approximately 10 years. She's a chemical engineer. I don't really know what they do, but yeah. She set me up to live with Jeremiah, this singaporean that's doing his masters in Music composing here in KU. Jeremiah is pretty fun and everything, he's really hospitable too. Xiao Tian is a pharaceutical major that lives close by too. They live in an apartment area called "The Malls" very close to KU. I went there today, but only to register, I missed the orientation because I'll be seeing them tomorrow anyway.
- End of e-mail. -
I didn't read everything again, so forgive me If I repeat anything below.
I haven't settled down yet, and It has been days since I've hit Kansas. I've got a nasty sore throat that's making me wake up in the middle of the night. I woke up at 5, went back to sleep, at 7, went back to sleep again and only finally waking up at 8.30 feeling extremely cruddy. :(
I'm right smack in the middle of orientation now, and I'm sorry to say It's a little boring. Well, I guess it's just that they're telling us alot of things we are already going to find out easily as we settle down more here in Kansas. Did I mention? 2/3s of the orientation class is Chinese. China Chinese. I went like this.
Role call of nations (Something where the guy calls out your country and you stand.)
Guy : Malaysia!
*Ian stands up*
Guy : France!
*2 French people stand up*
Guy : Did I forget anybody?
Crowd : China!
Guy : Okay, China
*VOOM*
*Majority of the room stands up.*
Thats how elaborate it is.
Anyways, I need to head back now, so I'll update more on my orientation later.
Ian,
3 comments:
hellloooo my freakishly tall girlfriend. hahahahah ok i'll email you the details on that post you commented on. Not. What. You. Think
Who's that? :p How are you there Ian? Miss you ):
:( I miss all of you too :S
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