It's Chinese New Year! Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!! This is the oddest CNY for me so far, because although I know it's CNY and I want to celebrate a little, there's no festive mood at all and I have tons of lecture readings to catch up on!
Went to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) today for brunch as they were offering free flow pancakes with their combo meals. The pancakes were excellent! Although they were supposed to be freeflow, the waiter tried to chase us out after we had our second plate of pancakes by giving us the bill and clearing our plates. Sheesh.
In the evening we had a little reunion potluck of our own on the 2nd floor kitchen, where each cooking group whipped up a few dishes. The yasai tempura done by Peiru and Hwee Chuan was good! We also had rave reviews for our chicken rice. Haha. The vegetables were undercooked again though, it seems Raymond still can't get it right yet. =P Must prevent him from cooking vegetables next time.
After that they played some games but I didn't join them because I had to 'bai nian' with my relatives on skype. It was a wasted effort though as my aunt's internet connection was too slow for us to communicate properly over skype. So sad. And I was looking forward to seeing all of them too...the worst thing was, the games finished before I ended my chat with my relatives and I didn't get to play. =( (CRF to 'no festive mood' - haha lit students will understand what I mean)
So my CNY eve has been a poorly spent one. I expect that I'll be spending the first day of CNY studying indoors as well, since most of them have midterms next week and they'll have to study. I realise that all I've done here so far is study, research and shop. I really must go for more outdoor trips man or my exchange experience will be pathetic. Haha.
After many days of anticipation and waiting, I finally received my parcel of CNY goodies from Mummy today! Thanks Mummy! =) But you know what? You wrote my address as "Arcadia Court" instead of "Acacia Court"..no wonder you asked me to pray hard that my goodies will reach me. Haha!
My parcel! Mine!
Precious contents
Tucking in! (Yes ugly picture I know)
I think I must have eaten about 15 pineapple tarts at one go, plus a few kueh bangkit. Feeling kind of bloated now, but also very contented. =) Genetics midterm tomorrow!
I was studying for the GENOME 372 midterm exam today when I noticed that the quarter dollars here are rather unique and can be categorised into 2 types of designs:
Unique design based on different states
What I call the "Liberty" logo
And on the flip side we have:
(If you were wondering, the picture in the background is a quaternary protein. =) )
Finally managed to receive my first sermon in the 3 weeks I've been here, courtesy of Mummy and Georgina! The message was great and I could feel the anointing and presence of the Holy Spirit even though I'm thousands of miles away, listening to it on my laptop here.
It's not raining nearly as much here now, and I'm quite thankful for that. What's surprising is that almost every Sunday, the Sun will come out and I'll be able to feel the warm rays of sunlight streaming through my window for a good part of the day. Trust me, it's a wonderful feeling after a whole week of gloomy, cloudy and rainy days. So every Sunday my expression is like this:
Haha. Just another one of my nonsensical posts.
I went to the IMA with Peiwen and Huishan today. That place is a gym fanatic's heaven! Haha. Imagine a huge room full of treadmills, exercise bikes, stairmasters and a whole array of machines exercising all the various parts of the body (including the gluteus maximus haha). And that's not all. They also have a weights room, an indoor swimming pool, a sauna and even some computer terminals for you to surf the net. Too bad I won't be able to use the swimming pool though, because I didn't bring my swimming costume.
Well anyway the point is that I finally got some exercise after such a long time and I think I'll have major muscle aches tomorrow. Haha. This weekend's not very happening; got to study for the first genetics midterm exam next week. -_-
Saw something funny in my email the other day:
"Dear Students,
We have been informed that you have not observed laboratory safety rules while carrying the lab practical last semester. The following safety regulations have been violated:
- disposing glass pipettes into normal waste bins
- disposing gloves into sharp bins
- wearing lab coats into the toilets
We have also been informed that you are wearing lab coat in CR1 and student resource centre. Let me remind you that such practices may result in compromising safety within the school. All laboratory wastes are to be disposed at their designated bins. It is your responsibility to find out from the lab technicians where these items are to be disposed. As for lab coat, it is to be worn only in the lab.
I will be going round for spots checks. If you are caught for breaking safety rules, I will take down your name, and send you to see Prof Lars. After which you will be barred from lab practical and to sit for a three hour safety lesson/training conducted by me, followed by attempting a closed book lab safety examination (1 hour). If you fail the lab safety examination, you are required to re-sit for the examination until you have passed. The passing mark is 95/100.
Not following safety rules means somebody may get hurt as a result of your negligence in practicing safety. I strongly urge all of you to show responsibility for yourself and for your others.
Joseph Chua
Lab & Safety Manager"
In which other university will you find emails like these?
Today, Seattle celebrates a day of peace, unity and equality. To me, MLK Day = holiday! Haha. I noticed that there were a lot more blacks who turned out today, and it was quite an experience watching the MLK Day Parade down 4th Ave in downtown Seattle. Initially I thought there would be floats and streamers like the Chingay parade, but in actual fact there was only dancing and marching. There weren't many people on the streets watching the parade as Seattle was back to its usual inclement weather of pouring showers. It was also a pity that the paraders had to wear raincoats, which masked the glittery and colourful costumes that they had on underneath.
I felt pretty excited trailing the parade as they trod down 4th Ave, and before I knew it, I had arrived at the Space Needle / Seattle Center House, where they did a wee bit of cheering and then everything was over. It was quite a quiet affair on the whole. After that we went to the Seattle Center House to watch the performances by the All-City Youth Choir and the Garfield High School Marching Band. The band was pretty amusing - their movements got more and more exaggerated with each piece and towards the end, they were swinging their instruments with wild abandon. Haha. The woodwinds section was relatively weak compared to the brass and the percussion, and thus the balance was a little off. However, I was quite impressed with the solo trombonist (and I really mean solo - there was only one!) and the trumpet section.
Garfield High School Marching Band
Thereafter we went to downtown to do a little shopping (hehe). I couldn't stand HS's style of shopping so I decided to come back by myself. Spotted "The Cheesecake Factory" and felt quite tempted to purchase a godiva chocolate cheesecake, but managed to stop myself in the nick of time and saved $7.50 in the process. Haha. I shall make it my short-term goal to eat in The Cheesecake Factory before I leave Seattle..(btw I heard that they have a 50 page menu!)
Yesterday
We were given a "guided tour" of the botany greenhouse in UW by David, the exchange student who's doing research there. It was an amazing experience being able to observe up close plants that I've only been able to see in textbooks, such as the venus flytrap, the pitcher plant...and it was the first time I came to realise that there are many varieties of the flytrap and pitcher plants, and they differ greatly in size and appearance too! As for the rest of the exotic plants I saw, I'll just let the pictures do the talking. =)
Notice the heart-shaped leaves?
Cute cacti
Gigantic Lemons!
Can you guess what that is? (Hint: it comes from Seychelles)
Gargantuan pitcher plants
Miniature venus flytraps
Today
We went to the factory stores at North Bend, which I think is southwest of Seattle. It was a 2 hour ride in total as we had to change from 271 to 209. Along the route of 209 we passed by lots of interesting places, such as the Snoqualmie (man-made)Falls, the Railway House Museum and Snoqualmie City (which had the candy factory). We initially wanted to visit these places before heading for the factory outlet, but the museum was closed, and the Falls and the City were too far away from north bend for us to walk there in the pouring rain.
On 271 enroute to Issaquah
The photographer
Saw some steam trains on the way past Railway Museum
View from inside the Factory Outlet
We went crazy when we saw the factory outlet with its 50 (!!) stores and immediately started shopping without bothering about lunch. Haha. First we saw a "chocolate factory" and being the chocoholic I am, I couldn't resist buying some chocolate back. I bought half a pound of dark and milk chocolate almond bears, which consist of a layer of caramel and 2 layers of whole almond nuts covered with yummy chocolate.
Next we went to the Adidas outlet where I bought a waterproof (it says climaproof) Adidas windbreaker at $16, which is only S$26! The Adidas here is dirt cheap! Haha..We also went into the Nike outlet, which was really large and had nicer jackets but I didn't want to buy too many since Singapore is so hot and I probably won't be wearing jackets that often.
After that we had lunch at Burger King where I ordered the 99 cents cheeseburger, which had a cheesy label:
Satiated =)
Then it was back to more shopping at Gap, where I got a jamie jacket and a camisole for only $9! What a steal! (Even the salesgirl was saying, "Score"!)
Actually the (essential) items that I wanted to buy on this trip were socks, waterproof shoes and a bag. In the end, the only essential item that I got were socks, since the only waterproof shoes they had were boots and again I probably won't wear them in Singapore. Hence I decided to buy better woollen socks that had the soft towel texture:
Well it seems like I bought a lot of stuff, but I just calculated and I only spent $41 (including the chocolate)! Not bad for 6 solid hours of shopping! =)
Freezing cold on the way back..
It was freezing cold out in the strong winds today, so...
...I tried Tully's mocha. It sucked.
Fred Hutch's logo
Huishan and I with a portrait of Bill Hutchinson, founder of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Bill Hutchinson
The weather forecast for today was showers, with a temperature range of 39 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully it turned out otherwise and the sun was even out for a while at 11 am. That was when I realised I missed the sun! Haha. Apart from the strong winds, it wasn't really that cold today.
I went to Fred Hutch again today to discuss the project with the prof and post-doc. They were celebrating an extension of the prof's tenure or some grant (I wasn't very sure since nobody explained it to me properly) and so we had champagne, nuts, cookies and cheese to go around. I had a little champagne and my face felt quite flushed after that. Haha. And the most exciting thing that happened was that Linda Buck (winner of nobel medicine prize 2004) joined us in the celebration!
The prof dragged on a little and it was dark when I went back. Was quite scary walking along university way after dark as I could see stragglers along some corners and drunks at a particular bus stop making noise. That has to be the fastest I've ever walked in my entire life. So from now on I'm going to hang the big whistle that I got from answering the UWPD quiz on my lanyard. Just in case. =) And maybe I should consider getting a sim card here too.
I took out my wallet today and noticed to my horror that the pretty handbag-shaped charm on my wallet was missing. I rooted through my entire bag and even retraced my steps from school but I couldn't find it. Must have dropped it on the bus yesterday or something. No wonder my eyelids were twitching yesterday. Now I'm quite sad that it's lost because it was a Christmas present from Mummy and I liked it very much. I don't even have a photo of it. =(
Just suddenly felt very homesick a while ago as stupid skype wasn't working properly and I couldn't see my family while talking to them. Dinner today was terrible - the fried rice was too salty and loaded with msg, the chicken was too fat and oily. I'm never going to buy ready-made food from safeway again.
I was a good girl and I revised my lectures and did my tutorials the whole of yesterday, so I decided to treat myself to a day of shopping at Bellevue Square. We (Gabriel, Ankur, Raymond, Peiwen, Huishan, Jiaxiang and me) took bus 271 to Bellevue and passed by the beautiful Lake Washington on the way. The water level was quite high and it felt almost as if the water could just rush up onto the road and flood the bus.
We had lunch at a restaurant called "What the Pho!" and I ordered the charbroiled chicken with rice (Com Ga Nuong). I was initially reluctant to eat there because I don't like pho at all but one bite into the hot grilled chicken and all reluctance was abolished. Haha. In fact, everyone was eyeing our chicken enviously as it was absolutely scrumptious! After lunch we went for some shopping at Bellevue Square, where we met Xiao Jun and Mark (current and ex-presidents of the SSA) who took us around the shopping centre. The guys went to look at the cellphones and sim cards while the girls went shopping for clothes. =) I had a look at the T-mobile prepaid plan - the cost was similar to Cingular's but at least incoming sms is free and outgoing is only 10 cents compared to Cingular's 25 cents for outgoing sms and 5 cents for incoming sms. Still I don't think I'll be getting the sim card here, as I don't foresee myself using it often.
Halfway through at Guess we lost Huishan, so Peiwen, Xiao Jun and I continued exploring the shops on level 2. I spotted a "Claire's" outlet (selling shiny accessories and is what I term a "shiny heaven") and hurried excitedly towards it. To my dismay, the jewellery they sell now are no longer as shiny, they sell gaudy gold-coloured accessories and the silver is tarnished. So disappointing. It was the first time I stepped out of a Claire's outlet without buying anything. Later on I decided to go solo and split from Peiwen and Xiao Jun because they wanted to look at clothes that I wasn't interested in. (Seriously, USD30 plus for a crummy t-shirt at abercrombie and fitch is highly overpriced.) Instead I went to Mariposa, which was having a major sale and got a really nice pink knitted jacket for $21. I also saw some nice and super cheap stuff (5.99 for tees, 9.99 for tees with beading!) at JCPenny, but I couldn't buy because I was running short of time.
Dinner was at Red Robin's, where I shared a crispy fish burger with Huishan because we were actually not hungry at all. Prices were quite reasonable, although we had to remember to tip because it was a restaurant. Haha. They have free-flow fries too that come with a variety of dips. I think the ranch dip is not bad.
Well it's back to school again tomorrow. How the weekend flies.
My lovely pink jacket
We had a potluck today with the UW Singapore Students Association and 3 NUS students on exchange here at the UW. Actually they sort of invited themselves by sending us a mass mail on Wednesday and suggesting everything. And there were Taiwanese in the SSA, which came as a surprise to me. Well I suppose I won't stop you if you want to think of yourself as a Singaporean. Haha. There were lots of yummy food like pasta, pizza, lima beans, fresh lettuce salad, fried chicken wings, roast chicken (which we forgot to eat and so they took it back =( ), bak kut teh (chicken, not pork), macaroni, chips and even ice-cream (you really should try eating ice-cream in winter, super shiok I tell you). I ate till I burst. And biggest miracle of it all is that today's dinner only cost me USD$1.81!
The only downside was that I had to handwash all my clothes which reeked of the cooking smell because YL was cooking lots of oily food in the 6th floor kitchen. Urgh. It's not worth it using the washing machine here - it costs $1 to wash and $1 to dry, and in winter I don't really have that many clothes to wash because I wear the long john inside so I mostly just wash the long john. I think I'm starting to acclimatize to the weather here though. I no longer feel that cold and I'm wearing less layers of clothing each day. Well I heard that it's going to get colder soon, and the water on the streets will start turning into ice. Just hope it won't be too cold. =)
Still trying to get used to lessons here, but the pace is really too fast for comfort. Guess I shall just have to be very hardworking from the start. After all, I'm here to study right? (Yes Mummy I will study hard, don't worry. Haha!)
I had a full day of lessons today and even though I ended at 3.20, I feel rather lethargic. I figure it must be the long walk I have to take to and from school everyday as my lessons are all at the far end of the campus. The endocrinology lecture in the morning was given by a post-doc as the professor was away at some conference in Florida, as such the lecture lasted only for 30 minutes and we were given a short introduction to the vertebrate family. It was surprisingly enjoyable, and the post-doc was kind enough to take us to the biology office to help us get addcodes so that we can take the module even though the class was already full.
After that we had a tutorial session for genetics and the TA merely discussed the life cycle of retroviruses to prepare us for tomorrow's retrotransposon lecture. Cheh. I thought we had to discuss the transposon questions and there I was, rushing out my answers to the tutorial yesterday. I went for the FIUTS wednesday lunch after that and got a free sandwich and tea, and also mingled with other international students. It's a great way to know more people and I'll probably be going regularly (if only just for the free lunch haha).
Developmental biology lecture was quite promising, although the workload is enough to kill. For just that module alone I have 1 midterm exam, 1 final exam, 2 articles from newspapers on developmental biology to hand up, 2 critique/review papers to write and weekly class discussions that will be graded. You don't know the real meaning of stress till you've studied at UW man. Sheesh.
First day of school was a blast. Not!
We had our first lecture on Genetics today and the lecturer was, sad to say, a tad boring. She's quite nice and approachable though and at least she enunciates properly. Basically I'm just learning stuff that I've learnt before in this module with some new bits added in but still I can foresee challenges ahead. Haha. I just rushed through my tutorial questions tonight because I realised in the evening that I might have a quiz (quiz = tutorial) section tomorrow even though the lecturer didn't finish teaching everything for lecture 1. It's such a chore having to write out the questions on a piece of paper as I don't have a printer to print out the questions and it's much too expensive anyway. The little luxuries that we take for granted every day.
Finally managed to meet up with the supervisor at Fred Hutch today, after she stood me up yesterday (hmph). She seems pretty nice and the project she wants me to assist in seems viable too, and it's good that she only wants me to come in twice a week, or I don't know how I'm going to cope with both studies and research work. Fred Hutch has a large library too, so I'm hoping that I can just borrow my textbooks from there and I won't have to buy. =) I guess I'll be doing my xeroxing and printing there too since they have all the equipment. Haha.
Well, I just hope that tomorrow will be a better day!
At the bus stop in downtown
Posing with the mini Statue of Liberty at Alki Beach
With Peiru at Alki Beach
One of the interesting tiles embedded in the pavement surrounding Alki Beach.
At Alki Beach
Fanny, me and Rashidah at Krispy Kreme
Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
The moving statue outside SAM
Notice anything unusual?
The view down the Seattle Harbor steps
The girls with a cute baby and her father
The guys in their funny poses
Photo with the "Jewelled King" in the middle of the Harbor steps (they have quite a few of these statues decked differently throughout Downtown).
Benaroya Hall (I think)
Pike Place Market
Another view of Pike Place Market
Fisherman's Wharf
Yummy food in a display window - specially for Sis =)
The busker next to Starbucks 
The first Starbucks outlet.
The restroom with the automatic sliding doors.
Skyline of the Wharf with the baseball stadium in the background (the one with multi-coloured lights)
Photo of Space Needle up close
Blurred photo of Space Needle from the rooftop garden of Acacia Court - must practise using my camera more! Hehe.
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