Thursday, September 14, 2006
I PASSED ALL OF THEM..
(*note: passing mark is 70)
big deal hor...
;P
well...
i got
77 for applied semiotics (pass is pass okie...)
88 for intercultural comms
91 for spanish (haha..i also cant believe... :P)
And… *drum roll*
100 for international nego..(yes its upon 100...but then it was a group report..haha..)
okie lah not to bad for the 1st test..
now can justify slacking off...
haha
:P
anyway, this wk was quite slack...getting results...checking results...not much
homework (yay!!).
spent most of the time planning with debz our trip to guadalajara for mexico
independence wkend.. :D
besides that, we had Alfonso and his family over for dinner.
debz prepared fried rice, stir fried beef, teriyaki chicken, stir fried veg and sayar lode (its prob spelt wrongly...adi help!.. :P)
well, the family (Iris-Alfonso's wife, Pricilla-daughter, and Luiz-nephew) seemed to like the food, espcially mom's chilli... :P
(was quite interesting to see Alfonso's OVER-reaction when he ate the sambal...haha..he quite the actor... :P)
after dinner, we were talking abit...and i pester...erm...persuaded Alfonso to teach me some mexcian songs...e.g. the song he used to woo Iris...hehe..
(really didnt take much effort on my part...he quite the showman... ;P).
must say i was impressed...(of course i couldnt understand what he was singing most of the time but still... :P)
after Afonso, it was Pricilla's turn to perform for us..(background info: Pricilla is studying music, majoring in classical guitar...only cos the school didnt have electric guitar! also she is currently in 2 bands, 1 performing in mexico and the other (a 3-piece all-girl band called that includes her sister) doing the club/pub circuit in texes,US... power sia.. haha :D)
anyway, after a few classical pieces, she performed some of the stuff she does in her bands...
(fyi, her bands do really heavy stuff....lets just say they consider light!!!!...hahah certainly non-jetlaxx stuff..hahah :P). i was blown away... didnt know classical guitar can sound like that..hahah
well, after that i must admit that i was torn between feeling quite lousy cos my guitar so 'lan' (as debz put it "you got owned"....think she watching too much american tv liao...haha :P) and feeling motivated to practise harder....
will let talk abt it when i decide... :P
haha
anyway, we got invited to their place for lunch the following sunday (yay! more mexican hospitality..and food..hehe :D )
~~~~
met a missionary on tues...
interesting fellow...
cant really say much except that his ministry is with the students here...
just thot i'd mention him so that ppl can pray for the work done here
:D
~~~~
Now, HIGHLIGHT OF THE WK!!!
this sun we went to GUDALAJARA for independence wkend!
it was fantastic...
the weather was great...
the ppl nice..
and the attractions brilliant!
:D
1st up we went on a tour to the town of tequila (yes...this is the birthplace of the alcohol used in making many a margaritas) to see the process of how tequila is made...
really interesting tour...
enjoyed it lots even though i dont really drink the stuff...(but i did try a shot that was 55% alcohol!! all i can say is that it was damn power!!! it evaporated even before it reached my stomach...haha)
after the tour (which took place from 930 in the morning till abt 6pm) we went back to the hostel/hotel/inn freshen up. at 7pm we went walking in the downtown area and joined the festivities as the ppl waited for the customary shouting (otherwise know as "los gritos")
it was really a sight to behold as the entire town square was turned into a pasar malam!
haha...
nice
:D
so debz and i went walking and shopping and bought a few suvinors and stuff...
unfortunately the photos taken that night are unavilable....
debz camera got stolen.... :(
yah...it was stolen in a town called
:(
thankfully there is nothing a bout of retail therapy cant help...(at least for girls lah...i still prefer to spend my day playing RPGs and Winning 11...haha :P)...and that was exactly what we did the next day (shopping lah...not winning 11...).
we went to a town called
:D
well, i did most of my souvenir shopping there...
so that settles that...
(now can concentrate on enjoying myself... hahaha...like i wasnt already doing that... :P)
debz bought lots of stuff too...infact we bought so much stuff in gudalajara that we couldnt squeeze everything into our bags… (although it must be said that we were using only our carry on bags… not check in luggage… :P)
in the end we packed what we could into the bags and the rest we placed in plastic bags and attempted to just calmly bring it on board with us… (we had 2 carry on pieces + 2 big plastic bags!...:P)
guess what....
we got thru!
Whoohoo!!!
Haha....try doing that on SIA and see what happen....
:P
its the 1st time I been allowed to bring so many things as carry on...
then I realised the locals got even more
piangz....even saw one carry stereo box on board..
(chey..and here I thot it was my charm that got my stuff onboard..turns out the airlines here arent that strict abt such thing...bah)
oh well....
at least we got back safe and sound.
:D
filled with tests....
sigh....
this is the wk where all my modules had the partials (aka mid term... *note: not exactly mid term..the system here is that there is a test every month.. :( )
so that was pretty much how the wk went by...
preparing for my tests..
(okie..okie..i was whining more then i was preparing...still... :P)
Highlight of the wk:
Antonio's party
we got invited to the house of one of the guys from frisbee.
he was having a party on sat nite with some close friends and he invited the whole frisbee team.
(very nice of him :D)
after a wk of test debz and i both were looking forward to attending this party..
didnt regret going at all..
was a really great party..
ahah
(at least i thot so...)
like any mexican party there was beer...
but that was not what made the party great
(pls lah...i dont even like beer...)
the thing that i really liked abt it was the food that Antonio 'made'
(he says its his recipie..but cooking was done by others...he just directed...haha sweet! ;p)
there were 2 dishes...a meat dish with avocado and tomato and other stuff..
and this really sourish vegie and seafood dish...(looked like coleslaw... tastes a bit like sourkrat... tastes alot better then im discribing it..haha)
all eaten with tostadas...(crispy totilla-like food)
nice!!
haha
after that was a ribbon cutting ceremony (to offically start the party...but most ppl were already eating and drinking by then...:P) and then we had games (variant of charades)
btw the purpose of the party was to celebrate freedom of speach....go figure...
haha
all in all it a was a really fun party (kinda reminds me of yacell parties where we eat and play.... haha)
made new friends and got to practice my spanish..
sweet!
:D
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
wah...this wk quite slow in terms of doing exciting stuff...
seems like im falling into a routine of going classes... coming back to the apartment..having lunch... bitching abt school..trying to do the day's hw...having dinner... checking mail...
hiaz...
i miss my ps 2.....
:P
anyway this wk was interesting...visited some church member's home for 'cell'...had dinner at another church member's eatery...and went on a trip to Chihuahua...
(yes...it the place where the dogs where 1st found...)
~~~~
okie...this 'cell' visit isnt really a cell...
its a monthly gathering at a member's home
the whole church is invited and almost the whole church turns up...
its held on a monday evening.
there is songs, prayer, and the pastor does a sharing/sermon..
after that was the potluck..
(many dishes..mostly eaten with tacos.. 1sst homecooked mexican meal.. + some ladies offered to teach debz some recipes...haha :P)
i also had a few conversations in spanish (at least tried too.. :P)
all in all quite an interesting nite..
:D
~~~~
remember the american couple i mention a few posts back?
their names are Janie and Ray, they are from texes (they live abt 1 hr from dallas) and their chuch supports the mexican church that i attend. (really nice folks...very grand-parently..if there is such a word...haha)
anyway, one of the church members, David, was having a farewell dinner for Janie and Ray at his eatery and we were asked to join in as well..(YAY!!! more of david's famous hamburgers!! hehe...) {to cut long story short...he basically started with a small hamburger stand...served real good burgers..got popular... and is now a big hambuger stand.. :) }
anyway, we were treated to his best dishes...hamburgers (with beef, ham, avocado, tomatos, lettuce, on a homemade bun...;p), taco arracheda (beef) and papa ensalad (baked potatos in cheese and butter topped with beef) mmm....*lick lips*
food was great...
company better was better... ;)
heard the 'love stories' of Alfonso and David..
quite hilarious when their wives shared their side of the stories as well..
haha
it was a fun nite...
:D
~~~~
Chihuahua..
well...what can i say...
was gonna write a breif history abt the place..but i figure if you want a history lesson there are much better websites to go then mine..haha
we had wanted to visit the copper canyon (big tourist destination) but it was too costly and too far... so we ended up walking ard most of the city.
we took a 11hr bus ride to chihuahua..but unfortunately it was raining on the 1st day we were there so it was cold and wet...(bah...)
thankfully we still managed to cover quite a bit of the downtown area inspite of the weather..
the 2nd day was much better...
the sun was up, but there was a nice cool breeze... :D
(kinda reminded me of san fran...:) )
well, we walked some more.. and visited some musems.
was quite interesting actually...(was abt the mexican revoultion)
you can see for yourself when the photos are up
(dont ask when...still in process of uploading...LOL)
i shall offically not talk abt schoolwork anymore...
knns....
thot i came here for a holiday...turns out i get more homework here then i did the whole of my last term in smu...
and its only been 3 wk!!!
as one prof puts it... "its busy work...work designed to keep you busy..not neccessarily to work to make you think..."
buay tahan...can say this kind of thing and still give that kind of work...
got to remind myself im on exchange....my grades dont count...
haha :p
anyway, missing my life in sg quite badly... family, mom's home-cooked food, friends, supper food, cf, buffet food, church, auntie genin's food, frisbee, after workout food, jetlaxx,.... {see the pattern...haha ;) }
yah, so..was kinda grumpy this wk....
could have been worse...at least i could talk with ppl at home...
thank God for internet and instant messanger...
(and gary for offering to send me stuff...;p)
well anyway, apart from school this wk was great!
after all the bitching abt missing stuff from home i decided to do something abt it....
i relooked my budget and squeezed out money for a guitar! :)
hehe...
on thursday i went with debz and Jesse (an aussie classmate from basic spanish class) to look for guitars. (we had earlier went with Alfonso to look at guitars, but the ones i were interested in were out of my budget of sg$150-200...)
so with our limited command of espanyol we asked ard for cheap guitar shops and was recomended a shop called
i got my electro-acoustic for 99usd + a cheapo gig bag for 10usd and some picks total cost me abt sg$180 (bah...lugi on the exchange rate...but at least still within budget... :D)
hehe...felt good being able to play something...
(only prob now is that i only know the bass line for the songs we perform and not the actual chords... oh well...better then nothing.. :P)
[Photos to come]
~~~~
watched my super ex girlfriend with debz..... she thot it sucked...
i enjoyed it... ;)
haha..
stupid movie...leave the brain at the door kind... but was what i needed from mundane school work...
~~~~
friday...TGIF...
"thank god its fri(sbee) day..."
(taken from SMU frisbee team publicity)
:)
and this friday was the 1st meeting of Tec's own frisbee team too..
frisbee in monterrey! after so long i finally touched a disc..hahah!! :)
the meeting was quite interesting...
began with a powerpoint presentation abt ulti and its history and then the president went on to talk abt his vision for the club...
pretty inspiring...
:D
anyway..i played disc!! :D
haha..how i missed it....
~~~~
The Highlight of the wk.
3.
2.
1.
BUNGEE!!!!!!!!!
yes...i went bungee...
the highest jump in latin america no less...
(so they say on the brochure...at lest thats what i think it said....
its was in spanish...haha..:P)
nevertheless it was high...
and jumping (or stepping...depends on how you look at it...;) ) off the ledge was an truly a ball-shrinking experience (pardon the language...dont know how else to put it lah... :P)...
talk abt leap/step of faith...haha
(sorry couldnt resist... :P)
anyway will let the photos speak for themselves
[the photos will be up soon...
i hope... ;)]
haiz....
second wk of classes....
so far classes are interesting...
but the workload is heavy...
:(
no much of a holiday after all...:P
haha
yah right...
like im gonna let some homework stop me from enjoying my stay here... :P
HIGHLIGHT of the week...
friday dinner party @ home!
good fun!
had abt 13 ppl over at our appartment for dinner on fri just to try 'singaporean' food...
(prob the most singaporean dish was the chicken curry...the rest of the dishes...erm...singaporean?..well... can find in singapore lah... haha :P)
[Photos coming soon...erm...maybe not so soon... :P]
Church:
God provides... :D
was having lunch with debz and siao tin at Pollo Loco (the crazy chicken) on the sunday debz arrived, when i overheard the conversation of the table next to us...(they were speaking in english....my ears couldnt help but to hear...hahah :P)
anyway, at the table was an american couple and a mexican famiy. when their food arrived, i noticed that the mexican man was saying grace for the whole table...(at this point i thot to myself "sweet! a mexican man saying grace in english... got to ask if he knows any church with english service.")
as they finished their lunch and was abt to leave, i managed to catch the eye of the mexican man. so i put on the most charming(read: non-threatening) smile i had and approached him. i introduced myself and asked if he knew of any church nearby which has an english service.
turns out that there isnt any nearby, but he does english translations in his church. he also offered to drive us to the church the following sun. SWEET!! :D
God provides...haha :)
Talk to me people!
