"Take me on a trip I'd like to go somedaaaayy..."

I woke up at 10:30 this morning to Estelle's "American Boy".

The person living in the room next door has been playing the song for the gazillionth time since she arrived on campus.

Frankly, I find the song quite horrible loh.

See, now she's playing it again!

* * * * *

On a different note, you have got to check this out!

Virtual Haircut

It's pretty darn cool. You'll absolutely NEED headphones though.

The first time I listened to it, and heard the door slamming at the beginning I actually thought my roommate was coming in!

* * * * *

Merdeka today!

I saw photos on FaceBook of people going out for the fireworks and stuff, and Paige mentioned the ultimate KL Merdeka traffic jam in one of her photos.

Makes me wish I was back in Malaysia.

Last year we went all the way to the Dataran Merdeka, and it turned out to be pretty anticlimactic, but it was still pretty darn cool that a bagajillion Malaysians were there, to pretty much celebrate Being Malaysian.

Yay for Malaysia!

(I found two other Malaysians on campus! Well, one left when she was three to Pakistan or something, and another left for California when she was 11, but both still Malaysians nevertheless.)

Hypnotize!

The other night the college had this hypnotist come over, and it was THE MOST HILARIOUS thing evarrrr!

So this hypnotist randomly chose 30 volunteers from the audience to go on stage to be hypnotized. Frankly I was super skeptical. I mean, hypnotizing 30 people on stage?

And wouldn't you believe it, the guy actually pulled it off!

It was super hilarious (and quite amazing also la).

He managed to make them do pretty embarrassing things. Like one time, he made them think they were fishes, and pretty much everyone on stage started acting like fishes! And boy did we have quite a variety of fishes on stage. Half of them made little fins with their hands, some made gills that opened and closed, and a few were even making fish mouths, it was so funny. One guy even went "swimming" around the stage! At one point they all even crowded at one corner of the stage, scrambling to catch imaginary fish food.

One time, he asked them if anyone liked Taylor Swift. One of the girls, still hypnotized, put out a downward thumb and made an "EEEUUUCHH" sort of face. So the hypotist made her think she was Taylor Swift, and had her go around the hall singing and waving to screaming people.

The hypnotist also wanted a band to play for Taylor Swift, so he went to this guy (who was still hypnotized) and asked if he could play the keyboards. He went, "Err... no?"

So the hypnotist made him kind of sleep (by pulling his arm hard and making him slump down on his chair), and said something like, "You are now the best keyboardist ever!" or something. Then he woke the guy up and asked once more if he could play the keyboard, and this time the guy went, "Hell YEAH!" and started banging on an invisible keybard. It was hilarious.

He also made them believe that the sun was scorching hot, and he gave each of them a piece of regular tissue paper and said that it would protect them from the harmful UV rays, so they should cover whatever important parts of themselves with it. Some people covered their faces, some just put if on their heads, one guy actually put it on his crotch!

It was pretty amazing, after the show this girl I know kept going, "How does he do it?!", it was pretty unbelievable.

Intially I thought it was a large elaborate hoax, because two people I know where chosen to go onstage, and both had to leave prematurely because they weren't hypnotized. So I kind of thought the hypnotist had planted his little minions in the audience to call on, then pick a few extra actual students to make the hoax more believable.

But then the next day I met one of the girls who was on stage (and who was actually hypnotized), and she said it felt like a dream. She thought she'd been on stage for around 10 minutes, when in fact she'd been hypnotized for about an hour and a half.

Pretty cool actually, this hypnosis thing!

* * * * *

I got the courses I want! Yay!

Over here, emailing, pestering and groveling actually work in getting you courses you want, can you believe it?

A friend of mine didn't get the class that she wanted, and after emailing the professor 3 times, and going up to him a few more times, he actually let her in his class.

So at first I was a little disappointed with my classes, because I didn't get French, and got Economics instead (which I put in only as a backup), and pretty much resigned to the fact that it was only going to be a so-so semester at most, when my friend's sister (a third-year) was like, "You have to email the professor! Ask him more than once!"

So I did, and ended up being able to get French AND History (which my adviser said was an in-demand course)!

Having reading assignments and short writing assignments and stuff when it's only the second day of classes is not at all fun, but I'm glad classes have started.

For one thing, I was getting very sien of orientation talks.

Two days till Merdeka!

When I look at the Stars

So here I am in my room, just back from a meeting with my adviser, eating Double Stuf Oreo, missing an orientation talk because I can't be arsed to attend it.

Double Stuf Oreo from the United States tastes different from Double Stuf Oreo from Malaysia, and I definitely like Malaysia's better (the ones from US actually taste.. artificial?)

Anyway. Guess what I did last night?

Went star-gazing! Saw shooting stars (note the 's')!

It was pretty amazing. The night before that we went to the observatory, which is a super rare chance because I heard it opens only about twice a semester, and through the humongous telescope saw Jupiter, and a couple other things I have no idea what they were. Really nice!

So appetite whetted, we decided last night to go star gazing at the golf course a short walk away.

So. Damn. Amazing.

We laid blankets / towels on the grass and slept on top of them, and when you're on your back and you look up at the sky, the sky sort of looks like a breathtakingly beautiful dome.

We could even see the Milky Way! It was amazingly beautiful. I mean, have we ever ever ever seen the Milky Way in KL? I think not!

This astronomy buff kept going, "Wow, would never see this where I come from!" You can basically tell that he is super amazed. Pretty much everyone was, too.

(I used "amazing" so many times! I have got to expand my vocabulary!)

It was super cold though, and when I was walking back to my dorm I was practically shivering from inside out, it was that cold. (But then again I was the only one feeling that cold. Bad news: it's still only summer, and it goes WELL below zero degrees Celsius in the winter!)

I have this friend who, like me, has never seen a shooting star before, and we thought it would be like in the movies, you know, the shooting star sweeps across the sky, almost in slow motion, with an exaggeratedly long tail trailing behind.

Only it wasn't like that. They were fast, and you couldn't even really make a wish on it. So basically throughout the night there were shouts of, "Oh! There THERE! Did you see it?" and of, "AHH I missed it!!"

Like I said, super nice. It would've been amazing if this was the sky I saw with the DT8 back in Morib though. Maybe then there wouldn't be so many bored people singing out of tune LOL. (Joking!)

Surely, the stars and constellations at night is one of the most beautiful sights evarrrr. You feel so tiny and insignificant, yet at the same time you feel so... inspired? Like you want to go out and DO SOMETHING.

And you'd never guess what I did three nights ago!

I danced! (I suck at dancing, a fact that is made obvious when someone tried to get us to dance for an LKT farewell performance and I got so frustrated and pissed. But then again, it was a tremendously stupid pop dance to begin with.)

The college shuttled us to this actual barn nearby for what they called the Barn Dance. Everyone of us got a bandana, and it was really good fun!

We did square dancing and stuff, and they taught us simple steps (which is good for people like me who have no sense of rhythm). By the time it was over, people were panting and sweating like pigs leaky faucets. Pretty good workout loh, I'd say.

I had such such a good time, but err there are abviously a few slightly uncomfortable moments, like when we're switching partners and you grab the hand of the person next in line and realize that it is completely wet and sticky from sweat. Then you look up at the guy (and believe me, being a tiny Asian I have to look up to people a lot more than they have to at me), and realize that he is completely drenched in sweat.

You can imagine how bad it stunk in the bus on the way back to college.

* * * * *

I want to pick up French in Grinnell, so I've no intention of continuing with Chinese, but I was advised to do a Chinese placement test to see where I stand and which class I could be put in, in case I want to take a Chinese course and they're no longer doing placement tests.

So I thought, what the heck, okay la just go take the test only la.

I went, and when I entered the room where people were taking the test I was feeling a bit misplaced. Everyone was American, and the only Chinese were the ones from America who have taken mandarin classes in high school.

Then I looked at the test paper, and knew knew knew I was totally in the wrong place!

They had questions like " 你和你的妈妈谁比较高？" and " 你在 Grinnell College 的第一顿饭是在那里吃的？" and things like that. I was looking around the room to see how people were doing, which probably made me look like I had no idea and was stumped.

So after that we waited to start our oral test, and we started talking. It's super interesting loh, to hear Americans speak chinese with that American slang. (Actually, I was trying to keep from laughing when they say random chinese phrases in their ang moh slang. Not in the mean way la, but they were so adorable you cannot keep from smiling!)

You know, when I introduce myself and say my name, the typical respons from Americans is, "Wait, say that again?" and then they repeat until they get it right.

With these mandarin-speaking Americans, it was actually pretty interesting. They caught my name pretty fast, and were like, "Wait, what is it in chinese? Is that in pinyin?" So I told them my chinese name, which you guys know is 翠 la. Suddenly they were looking at each other, and were like, "Isn't that crispy?! Why would your parents name you Crispy!!"

It was hilarious la really!

(In case you're wondering, 翠 means jade la, and 燕 means swallow, so literally translated my name would mean "Jade Swallow", which I think is a super nice name! During international pre-orientation we had to go around in groups introducing ourselves, and explain what our names mean. A lot of people went, "Oh my name's XXX, it doesn't really mean anything though" or, "I don't really know what my name means". I was so glad I knew what my name meant!)

Anyway. They placed me in the advanced chinese course (it'd be super embarrassing if I get placed in entry level okay!), but it isn't saying much because this American Chinese I was talking to who is kind of good in mandarin, but not super native-speaker type good, and wrote a lot of pinyin in her written test because she couldn't remember the words and also made up a few words along the way, was placed in the advanced level class too.

Still. I love chinese, I'd love to be able to write romantic chinese like a lot of my friends can do, but this is probably not the place to learn it.

Classes start Thursday. Why am I not particularly enthusiastic about classes starting?

From Iowa

I am in Grinnell! I can hardly believe it loh actually.

But before I go on about that, there's one thing I have to say.

So in line with how ironic some things in life can be, it is when I'm leaving that I feel more love than I have ever felt before. Which makes leaving so much more difficult.

I now know for a fact that I have amazing support from people back at home. While it means SO MUCH to me that people from Big Head 8 made sacrifices to make this special for me, I am also super touched by messages from people whom I thought couldn't care less if I stayed or went.

LOL some people who read my blog read that I was terrified about leaving, and in the days leading up to the day of my flight, I've been receiving super motivational / uplifting text messages, and oh my goodness you wouldn't imagine how touched I was to receive them.

Thanks to some of the 大头八 who stayed over, and even though you guys probably didn't sleep well that night (LOL I only have so many beds you know!) it was a super nice ending (of what? I don't know. Not our friendship, definitely!).

ZiHui, thank you SO MUCH for coming home, even if it takes 6 hours for a bus ride each way. Sorry lah, I should've acted surprise when you showed up. And sorry also lah, that I asked what you brought your clothes for!

Ah Fui! Thanks for the book! I don't dare imagine how long it must've took you to make it! I tried reading it on the plane, but I was already emo enough that if I read it I'd probably cry, and the Big, Burly Korean Man sitting next to me was a little scary looking, I didn't want to get him pissed off by my sobbing LOL. Pissed Off Big Burly Korean Men (or Pissed Off Big Burly People In General) are not something you'd like to be around!

And thanks to everyone who spent my last night with me!

I probably won't meet another bunch like them loh. They're pretty much the only ones who'd tried to assure me many times that my super sepet eyes "很迷人" (you think I'm that gullible meh), then in the same breath tell me how, because of my eyes, I looked super hak yan zhang when they first met me.

Okay so. I'm at Grinnell!

One thing I noticed about this place, is how amazingly nice people here are! Sometimes you would be walking, and you'd meet someone from the town, and I'd bet you my big toe that they'd smile and greet you. Everybody does that! So now I'm developing the habit of smiling and greeting people a good morning / whatever whenever I see someone, lest they think I'm supremely rude.

It's even more amazing how the school officials are more Friends than School Officials. They'd actually remember your names, and stop to greet you if your paths crossed. Now compare that to the horribly rude people at Taylor's and CHS (especially CHS!)

Another super cool thing - the number of countries represented in our International Pre-Orientation group! 30-something, I think. Over the past four days I've met people from Albania, Czech Republic, Honduras, India, Bangladash, Germany, Myanmar, and a bunch of other countries. Damn cool lor, when we get into a room together, and you see the many different colours / hear the different accents.

It's interesting what preconceived notions people have of Malaysia. One guy, for example, was utterly shocked when I told him there are a lot of Christians in Malaysia. He thought everyone was Muslim. Another person had no idea Malaysians could speak English.

During breakfast today this American girl overheard me saying that this is my first time entering the United States. She was like, "Your first time? But you speak such good English!"

Then the native Chinese, upon hearing me speak Mandarin, go, "Wah, ni de zhong wen jiang de hen hao!!"

Then when people ask and I tell them that I also speak Malay, and also cantonese, they seem pretty darn impressed.

LOL so basically even though I still speak Cina-English (or Manglish?), and even though my Chinese is pretty much considered only half-past six by Malaysian standards, over here I can actually impress people! Yay!

It feels a little weird though, I think I'm comfortable enough with the international students that I've met, and am already a little tired of the billion times I've been introducing myself, that I am not particularly excited about Saturday, when the American first-years arrive on campus.

Americans, for one thing, cannot pronounce / remember my name.

Every time I say "Chooi", I almost always get asked, "As in, 'chewy', or as in 'tree'?"

The only people who can say my name right are, unsurprisingly, the Chinese.

Right now, talking to them, with a bit of mandarin thrown in every now and then, is the closest to home I feel loh.

Bye, all the way from Iowa!

ARGH

VYHIUNJMKJN$%^&*H(JMNBXC^&VBY*UNIONB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is super shitty!!!!

I accidentally moved 30GB worth of music into Trash! And there is no "restore" function! What kind of stupid trash bin has no restore function!

APA INI! Now I've got to manually drag 1000 songs out of Trash and back into their respective artist/album folder for iTunes to recognize it damnit!

This is where Macs lose out to Windows PCs!

Calm before the Storm before the Rainbow

Months ago it seemed like August would never come, and college was a million years away.

Now August is here and college is TWO WEEKS away!

You'd think I'd be excited, and that I couldn't wait to fly off to live in the middle of cornfields.

But really, what I am is truly, truly... TERRIFIED.

I was even regretting it a little, applying to a school so damn far away.


And to think, I'd been SO excited earlier!

(Maybe it's a little like a roller-coaster ride. You know how it is: you get in line, get excited when it's your turn to ride, and when it begins and the car starts going upwards and all is quiet except for the loud "clank-clanking" of the tracks, you start going, "Oh shit, damn scared! I regret, I regreeeeet!!" Then the car reaches the top, pauses a little, and you're TRULY terrified, then the car rushes downwards and before you know it, the ride has ended, you're SUPER PUMPED and you wish you could go on it again.)


Anyway.


I was looking through the school directory, and made a search for Malaysians on campus. Only one name turned up -- mine!


Can you believe it!

I'll be flying off to a small, cold, rural town in the Midwest, surrounded by cornfields, hours away from the nearest city, and I will be the only Malaysian there!

In other words, I'll be giving up everything that had been so familiar, to go to a place where absolutely nothing is familiar.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a small Malaysian community, you know. How else am I going to practice my Manglish (of which I am super proud)? Who will understand my nasi lemak cravings, or the wonders of sentence-enders like "lah", "meh" and "what" (as in, "I also got what!")?

(So surprising lah, that there isn't a single Malaysian, other than myself, on campus. I know there were Malaysians who applied last year, I know there were some who applied the year before, but nobody ended up matriculating?!)


Two nights ago, I was so damn scared at the thought of going to a place where no one knows me, NO ONE knows what being Malaysian is like, that I got out of bed at 4 a.m. and dug out the large pile of college viewbooks and prospectuses, because for a moment there I had completely forgotten (and needed reminding) why I was so damn excited at the prospect of studying in a Liberal Arts College earlier this year.

I mean, go somewhere closer to home cannot meh (like Australia, maybe, where Malaysians abound)?
Suddenly flying alone for 24 hours, and being picked up by people I don't know in an airport halfway round the world from home sounds a lot less appealing.


And then I remembered.


It was about going to a place where the small town/ small community meant everyone knew almost everyone else.

It was about going to a campus so far from the city and its distractions that at night you can actually see the stars in the Iowa sky.
(When my brother was studying in Hawaii, he said he'd walk down to the beach with his friends and they'd star-gaze. It seems so much nicer to have that, than to walk out of campus grounds and see a Starbucks chain on your left, and a McDonald's on your right.)

Most of all, it was about (for the first time in my life!) being able to attend school where learning is valued for it's own sake, where it's about "mind-enriching" and NOT "job-training", where people actually tell you not to worry so much about your major and to take as many classes that interest you as possible.


Of course, I'm still terrified.

But for the first time in my life, I get to learn what I like, I get to take classes in "impractical" subjects like philosophy and anthropology and religious studies, and not what (kiasu Malaysian) adults think is practical and useful for finding a job that pays more than I actually need.


I'm still terrified, still wishing I could have Malaysians there with me, still hoping I could fly home as frequently as my parents' budget allows me to, but...


maybe it won't be so bad after all.


Two weeks! *cringes*