First snow.

If I were to put this post under a label, it'd be under "Significant Days". Oh man, it couldn't be under anything else!

I owe it all to fate, seriously. I'll tell you why in a bit.

We were coming out of the dining hall and getting our bags /coats when this girl I don't know went, "You want to see snow? Go outside!"

Two of my friends started screeching and going, "AHHHH REALLY?!" while the rest of us stood there trying to digest that bit of information. I mean, seriously, snow? In October??

So all of us ran towards the nearest door, and all the while I was thinking, "No way, no way! It's still not THAT cold yet!" Plus I looked through the glass doors and couldn't see anything outside.

But then, but then!

My friend pushed the door open, and OMGOODNESS I saw it. SNOW!!!!

It was proper snow! Not the kind that is so light you couldn't even be sure whether they were there, it was proper snow!

All of us were just screaming, we were so excited.

Seriously, I was just so happy. SO HAPPY. I don't think I've ever been this happy over something this simple in a long time. I was so excited it felt like my chest was about to burst, had this tremendous urge to dance right there and then in the snow. I could tell right away it was a Moment, like when it hits you that life can be so Awesome. It was so beautiful, seriously.

So as we walked (or more accurately, skipped) back to our dorms, we were all laughing and going, "AHH snow!!" and just being super excited, then halfway through it hit me how cold it was.

Like, DAMN cold. My first time experiencing snow, and I was in t-shirt, jeans and a light sweater. Apa ini, of course cold la.

I had my first snow. Oh boy oh boy!

We were supposed to study tonight, you know la, last day of fall break, of course wait until Sunday night only start studying. But the excitement of the first snow in Grinnell was too much, we ended up hanging out in one of the rooms, looking / laughing at photos and Not-Studying.

So I'll explain the fate part. I finished dinner, was supposed to go to my dorm to study. Just as we were leaving the dining hall, another one of my friends came in for dinner. I told her I'd sit with her for dinner, but me being the super greedy person that I am, I really only wanted to have a second round of food.

So my dinner ended up being 1 hour and 45 minutes long, and by the time I was done I looked like I was pregnant with a Food Baby. That's what one of my friends say when you have a full, bloated stomach - having a Food Baby.

That was the only reason I even managed to see the snow loh really. 'Cause if I had left with my friends earlier, I would've gone to my room, which is in the pit and thus is half underground, and I would've stayed there to study, and being half underground I would've totally missed the snow.

Who woulda thought right, that my gluttony actually came in good use for once. Caught the first Grinnell snow. Well worth the Food Baby (and the unfinished homework)!

It wasn't just us who were excited though (even though half of the "Us" I referred to had snow from where they come from), all of Grinnell were pretty excited. We'd get people going, "Did you see the snow??"

My roommate was pretty bummed about missing the snow. So while Chooiyen is excited over her first non-Genting-Snow-House snow EVER, other people are excited over the first snow of the year in Grinnell. Some people are unhappy about it though (at least that's what I gather from the many, many snow-related Facebook status), but then again those are the jaded people who have seen snow a billion times and know that it does not make sense and is NOT a good sign to have snow as early as October.

And so it has come. It snows for 6 months in Grinnell (half a year, no joke man, it snows during what is supposed to be spring), so now I shall have to say bye-bye to the sun and natural warmth and non-windy days. I shall not be able to wear flip-flops anymore, and that bums me out because I am lazy and shoes/boots take too much time to put on when you are two minutes away from being late for class.

SNOOOOOW!!

And to keep up with all the Happy Happenings, my friend who went to California to visit her relatives (at OC man, super rich!) came back last night, and guess what she got me?

MAGGI MEE!

Seriously, I was so surprised, I vaguely remember mentioning Maggi during dinner something like a month and a half ago, it was so nice that she remembered!

I only have 5 packets, so have to eat really sparingly lor.

I am happy now!

Gone with the Wind

Tak baik, sangat sangat tak baik!

I woke up this morning to the loudest, eeriest and yet most exciting wind howl evarrr.

The wind was so strong and howling so loudly it sounded like a combination of someone whistling into a microphone with the speakers turned up and someone revving up a motorcycle engine.

I went to lunch with the wind blowing so strong it felt like it was pushing me to hurry me up or something. You know in cartoons when the wind is strong those cartoon people would be clutching their coats, slanting forwards trying to go against the wind and it looked like the wind would blow them over any time?

Now it's like life imitating cartoons, or something. The wind is THAT strong, and howling super eerily.

And the worst part is when you go out, obviously your hair will be blown till it flies out at all angles, then when you get into the building and try to straighten your hair up, it doesn't work because there would be so much static electricity in your hair due to the cold weather.

The security office sent us all a "high wind warning" email saying that the wind tonight would go up to 70 mph. If you're wondering, that's 120 km/h! That's faster than I averagely drive okay!

And they're saying trees might fall any time, and that the temperature would go below freezing Monday morning.

So it has come. My first time experiencing subzero temperatures.

This is all pretty worrying, yet quite exciting at the same time!

You think the wind might blow me away? I was watching "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", and in one scene the wind was so strong it was blowing Piglet away, and Pooh was holding onto Piglet's scarf, and Pooh was pretty much flying Piglet like you would fly a kite.

It'd be so damn cool if the wind blew me away, over the clouds, to some enchanted place, like Munchkin-Land or wherever Dorothy ended up. Or to someplace called the Hundred Acre Wood! Where coincidentally a Pooh and a Piglet and an Eeyore and a Tigger lived!

I have to go now. Classes start tomorrow and I have not done anything this break.

Goodbye!

Sun, shades and bikinis

So we have reached this point already.

Where it's super cold (and when you complain people merely go, "You think this is cold? Wait till it gets to winter!", which annoys me a lot) and the leaves are starting to dry up and die.

We went on a farm tour today, and it was a lot of fun, but it was so cold! It was super windy, and lemme just say the wind over here is like a knife, super cold and sharp and cuts through you like what only. The wind actually hurts. The wind is so cold it actually hurts!

But I got to do a lot of things I've never done before, like walk in the middle of a cornfield! It hugely reminded me of LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, when Frodo and company first leave the Shire on their long, long journey, and Sam stops suddenly and goes, "This is it. If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."

I love that scene, and I love walking in the cornfields, most of the corn stalks (or whatever they are called) go way past the top of our heads, it was so cool (and so easy to get lost in IMO!)

If you wonder why all our smiles so weird, it was 'cause all of us were going, "CORNFIELDS!" Five countries represented here, no joke wei!

I feel bad putting up photos loh. If any of my Grinnell friends find my blog, then see their faces here, I'd imagine they'd be damn shocked. This is like, a violation of their privacy or something. Must faster publish more posts to bury this one, then never post another photo up or something.

But do you see? Corn stalks are so darn tall!

We played with / patted dogs and cats and horses, carved pumpkins, decorated cookies, tried eggnog (which I thought was nasty) and had a wonderful, wonderful dinner that was so much better than than the food in the dining hall that the dinner itself made the cold and the walking and all that worth while.

But that is not the point of the post.

The point is this - the weather is so depressing right now!

When our van pulled into the parking lot in our college, it was already dark (and cold, needless to say), BUT it was only 7 PM. Like whaddaheck, only 7 in the evening!

So I was carrying my pumpkin and walking across the field to my dorm, the scenery was so damn depressing.

Leafless, dead-looking trees, sad purple-grey sky, heavy mist all around (my friend walked farther ahead of me and I couldn't even really see her anymore), and the damn cold, it was just such a depressing scene lor seriously. Like something out of the Sweeny Todd movie. Like, if I stood there 5 more minutes I could start crying, and I wouldn't even need to be actually sad about anything.

Actually, if you are the really artsy type and you were to see the same scene, you'd probably say it was beautiful or something, because it looked like something out of the movies where they have to spend thousands of dollars on computer stuff to make the scenery look that way. It was quite scenic, but in a depressing way.

(But I must say lah, during the day it is supremely beautiful! A lot of the leaves are turning orange / yellow, and there are a couple of trees on campus whose leaves have completely turned red, and they were breathtakingly beautiful!)

* * * * *

I woke up early today. Like, really early!

I've been waking up at 11.15 AM every day this break, and only because my dining hall shifts start at 11.45 AM. Frankly, if it weren't for that, I'd gladly stay in bed till way past noon, it IS fall break what!

Anyway, I miraculously woke up at 7.00 AM today. I don't even wake up that early for classes loh actually.

I went to the gym in my sleeping-clothes-that-look-like-normal-everyday-clothes, and there was only ONE other person there. Breaks turn people into pigs seriously.

Anyway I went to the gym, came back and showered, went for breakfast (less than 15 people), blowdried my hair, talked to my family for 45 minutes, went to do Number 2 at the toilet, came back to my room, and my roommate was still sleeping.

Man, I feel so productive!

Still an hour till lunch time. I think I'll go take an hour-long nap.

I'm going to Iowa City to shop for winter clothing, and I need all the energy I can get. We were all shivering during our farm tour, and Karen, who works at the college, was like, "You still think you're ready for the winter with what you have now? Think again!"

I seriously dread the day the temperature goes to -20 degrees Celsius, like it does all winters. When that happens, anyone is welcome to kill me. =(

Till then, bye bye everyone!

Accent, or no?

Pop quiz!

Chooi Yen speaks English:

(a) with no accent
(b) in a sing-song manner
(c) with too many "like"s
(d) none of the above
(e) all of the above



Answer? (e)!


Can you imagine!

We were talking about accents the other day, because all of us speak English with such different accents, and when someone mentioned how some of the Chinese have very Chinese-y accents, one of my friends pointed at me and went, "And her? She also has an accent?"

Another person was like, "No, no she doesn't."

(I do have a bit of the Malaysian accent, even when I don't use the "lah"s and "loh"s, but I don't think anyone here knows about the Malaysian accent to know I have one!)

Anyway, then another person went, "She does kind of! She speaks like she's singing!"

And would you believe it, some people actually agreed!

Do I speak like I'm singing? Huhhhh?

But anything la. I also realize I've been saying "like" a lot. I mean, it's such an American thing to do, Americans cannot say a sentence without injecting a few "like" in it.

"Yeah, like, I couldn't sleep last night because it was like, SO COLD! And my roommate was like, SNORING!"

Okay not all Americans speak like that, just like not all Malaysians go, "Ya lah, last night I cannot sleep, SO COLD LAH! Somemore my roommate also, SNORE so loudly lidat!"

But the majority of Americans use "like" a lot. And I'm starting to annoy myself by using it a little too often.

I mean, it doesn't even mean anything, it's just a Shit-Word you use to stall time when you're thinking of the next thing to say.

It's like (this "like" is perfectly fine to use because it's not a Shit-Word) when I was doing my Biology Human Awareness presentation for SAM, and I was using the Time-Stalling "ummm" a lot, and I didn't even realize it!

Seriously loh, I finished my presentation, went back to my seat, and someone went, "Nice presentation! But you "ummm" a lot hor?" And I was like, "WHAT?! I "UMM"-ED??"

Then throughout the day a few more people told me I "umm"-ed a lot, and when I asked how much is "a lot", I was told it was once every few seconds. How can I "umm" that much and still not realize huh?!

Anyway, yealah.

You know, it's funny how Americans have this Amercian accent, and yet they think that they don't have an accent, and everyone who doesn't speak "American" has accents.

Very what right. Even us Malaysians realize we have Malaysian accents, Indians know they have Indian accents, everyone else knows they have accents, but Americans never realize they do.

Sometimes in discussion-based classes, I get the feeling the Americans think they are Normal, and everyone else who isn't American is Something ("Colored people", "Minorities", "People With Accents", etc.). Like they think they are the original people, and everyone else is a derivative of them. (That doesn't sound like it makes sense, but you do understand what I mean right?)

My hall is so quite now. Everyone's gone home/somewhere for fall break.

=(

Quickie

Lately the one phrase I've been hearing a gazillion times is, "What?! I am so jealous!"

It is so weird you know, everyone else here is SO BUSY this week because it's mid semesters week, and I am absolutely free.

I mean, it's supposed to be so hellish a week that they have posted these "How to cope with mid-sems stress" in the toilet cubicles so that you can read and enlighten yourself while you take a shit.

Like, the most extreme case I know is one guy who has 3 mid-sems and 4 papers due. If like that then I might as well die loh seriously.

I have no exams, no papers, I spent my entire tutorial lesson watching "Baby Mama" (starring Tine Fey), and both my Anthropology and Calculus class got canceled today.

I am so free I am actually bored.

I only have this French oral evaluation, which isn't even a big deal 'cause it's pretty much just like a casual conversation with my professor, so the only stress I have is trying to get out of bed at 7.30 a.m. knowing that it is super cold outside and my first class is at the farthest end of the campus.

But tak apalah, fall brreeeaak is here!

One week of holidays!

A lot of people are lucky enough to be able to go home/visit relatives in the US, people like me who have no where to go have to stay here loh.

Sigh, I have a brother in San Fransisco whom I don't get to visit, sad right?

I think, during winter break when it goes to -20 degrees Celsius I will find somewhere, anywhere, to go, 'cause it's only fall right now and already I feel like dying when I am outside.

This is so depressing. I'm SO going to miss the sun!

10/10 on 10/11

OHMYGAWD last night was CRAZY!

There's this HUGE campus party that they have every year called 10/10 that is essentially one big drinking fest. I heard it's called 10/10 because back then the college had this pay system where the first paychecks of the academic year were issued on the September 10, so people pretty much celebrate by, what else, drinking.

And man it was crazy! I mean, the entire campus just moves in large groups from one residence hall to another, drinking whatever beer and cheap vodka found there.

Then the highlight would be at the Mac field, where everyone gets a shot, then the entire campus counts down to 12 A.M. and downs their shot at the stroke of midnight. There were fireworks and everything, it was one huge campus-wide traveling drinking party!

The best (or horrible, depending on how you look at it) thing about this is that the college pays for all the alcohol. Grinnell is so damn rich (probably from ripping off students through the ridiculously expensive meal plans) that they sponsor all the alcohol for all the weekly Harris parties.

And seriously you have to see it to believe it. When we went out to join the party, it was already in full swing, and we were completely shocked to see such a humongous crowd outside of Younker residence hall, consisting mostly of drunk people.

My roommate got too drunk and didn't even come back for the night. I met her when the traveling party was at Gardner lounge, it was an underground room so it was dark and I couldn't really recognize people, but I saw this person waving damn frantically at me 10 feet away and it turned out to be my roommate, she was so high from alcohol it was so hilarious.

But her not spending the night in the room was nice because I got to stay up till 4.30 a.m. talking to my best friend on Skype! (One time it was really really late at night, which means afternoon in Malaysia, and I couldn't talk in my room, couldn't talk in the lounge because people were doing homework there, so I pretty much just walked around college in the middle of the night holding the laptop in front of me, talking and laughing loudly. I got so many weird looks!)

Oh and I carved my first pumpkin! My tutorial class went to my professors house for a pumpkin carving session. We had pumpkin pie and hot apple cider, it was pretty cool.

Everyone, other than myself and this girl from Ghana, has carved pumpkins before. But I think I did a pretty good job! It was interesting, my professor is a really really nice guy, but I always thought of him as pretty lembik, soft and defenseless like that, then I met his wife, who coaches the college's volleyball team, and boy she does she look tough! She looked like she could easily kick his ass. Like, if they were in a danger situation, he'd hide behind her skirt and she'd be the one fighting evil. It was hard to imagine them together loh actually.

And they had this 5 year-old kid, so adorable!

One more week to fall break (which is a week long holiday in the fall).

ONE MORE WEEK TO FALL BREAK!!

Happy joy

Eh eh eh.

You know, all along I thought that since I got work-study as part of my financial aid, I have to repay the college every time I get my pay check.

So today I went to the cashier's office to ask them how to repay the college.

But but but. I found out today that I'd been wrong all along!

Damn happy!

So basically whatever I earn on campus is mine to keep!

I still don't understand how the college gives us work-study as financial aid, then lets us keep the money, but I'm not complaining!

I can easily earn $150 every two weeks (RM525), which means that if I save the money I earn, I can actually pay for my plane ticket home next summer!

I am super happy you wouldn't believe it!

I mean, part of the reason I was so upset when I wrote my last couple of posts was that I realize plane tickets to Malaysia are not cheap, at least not something my parents can fork out just like that. The cheapest I could find for a return ticket was RM7000. So the plan was for me to go home after two years.

So basically while my friends, even the international students, go home during winter this December, then summer next year, then winter next December, then again the next summer, I can only go back in the summer two years from now. That made me kind of depressed.

Now I know I can save money to balik, my parents no need pay even!

Happy!

Now I am actually motivated to pick up more shifts. Right now I am actually under-worked, 'cause I'm lazy and am only working the absolute minimum number of hours.

Also, now I know why one of my friends went shopping and bought so much clothes and a designer handbag, and she was like, "It's okay, I'll be earning back whatever I spent from working." Back then I thought it was a weird thing to say, 'cause I thought you had to repay the college with your earnings.

I am pretty curious loh, I mean, I know I'm saving my money for something, but for people who aren't saving money for that thing, how do they spend the money? There's this American who's working 12 hours a week, which means she earns $200 every two weeks, that's a lot of money for someone who's in a college where every single event is free and your meals are already paid for.

Damn nice right, to earn that much money and be able to spend it however you want.

I know that if I weren't saving money for my plane ticket, I'd most probably get an iPod Touch loh. I'm in that pathetic situation where I have a lot more music on my laptop than my iPod can carry, so every time I plug in my iPod to the computer I have deselect all my music, then reselect only certain songs I want for my iPod.

I completely regret buying my Macbook from Malaysia instead of getting it here loh, 'cause they had this promotion where they were giving away free 8GB iPod Touch. Somemore during that grueling 24-hour flight here I somehow managed to bang my laptop into something, so now there's this uber ugly stain on the cover that I cannot remove.

I am still happy. I love this place, but I cannot wait till I get to go home in the summer!

Even more happy, the weekend is here! It seemed like Sunday was just yesterday, now it's the weekend again. My tutorial professor is having a pumpkin carving session at his house, so we'll see how that goes.

Wah, cannot believe I didn't even fully understand my own financial aid. Who woulda thought something as small as this can make a whole world of difference, man.

Goodnight, world!

not skilled to understand what he has willed

Amazing.

I just came back from bible studies 5 minutes ago. I mean, literally just got back to my dorm.

It just so happened that we were studying the book of Isaiah tonight, and then I came back to my room, went into GMail, and saw an inspirational email from a friend of mine, quoting a passage from, what else, Isaiah. So coincidental right?! And I feel so so much better after reading the email.

And just so coincidentally, before we ended tonight's session, I was sharing with them how many a time when I needed a serious pick-me-up, someone would send me something inspirational right then.

It is almost hard to believe how these things happen at the perfect moment. Pretty amazing.

Like, one time I was out, and due to certain things that happened I was feeling uber shitty. And what happened was this person, whom I have sent text messages to less than 3 times since I've known him, sends me a text message out of the blue of a passage from the bible that somehow perfectly fitted the sort of situation I was in. Super unexpected, I'd never received any forwarded smses from this person before that day.

And it happened several times before, with regard to several different situations, with several different people; it was as though these people had been given the cue to send over something whenever I really really needed it.

All I want to say is, thank you, so so SO much. I dunno if you suddenly had the 'urge' to send that email, or if you were bored and randomly wanted to send something, but yeah, perfect timing.

It's amazing how your emails always always come at the perfect time, with perfectly fitting contents.

And when I'm here alone during Christmas, I'll find solace in knowing you wouldn't have forgotten to remember me!

=)



P/S. I didn't realize I haven't given anyone my Grinnell address. I remember typing it out in an email, but then I realized that was to my parents.

Anyway.

Chooi Yen Lim
Box 3885
Grinnell College
1115 8th Ave.
Grinnell, IA
50112

That thoughtful friend of mine asked for it in the email, but since I realized I never told anyone, might as well write here la. Seems like I'm trying to hint something hor? But yeah, I AM HINTING SOMETHING!

LOL.

No lah. Nothing lah.

I gotta stop here.

It's pretty late, we were talking about useless stuff after it ended and I wanted to leave because I still have so much reading for tomorrow's 8 a.m. class, but I didn't know how to excuse myself, so stayed way longer than I expected to.

Then now I come online, saw the email, and proceeded to blog about it, waste damn lot of time.

Okay good night bye bye!

Don't forget to remember me

It was raining this evening.

I was in my room, doing homework, waiting to go to dinner in an hour, and it was gray and rainy outside.

And for a moment there, I felt like I was at home again. (I don't mean 'home' in the general sense, like I feel at home in this big ol' place, but 'home' as in my house in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. I'd never consider anything else Home.)

Like seriously, I felt like I was in my own room, with my pink walls and messy bedside table and books lying all over, doing homework during one of those rainy days.

Then suddenly some weird Americans started talking super loudly and jolted me back 13 hours away from That Place Called Home.

13 hours. That's actually halfway round the world.

I was reading this blog whose Malaysian author has also just begun college in the US (you've probably read it too, it's pretty well-known), and lucky for her she has a Chinatown near her college, so that she can at least buy stuff to remind herself of home.

Not to mention the Malaysians who are in college with her.

This is horrible.

I mean, you wouldn't think that being the only Malaysian in a school an hour away from the nearest city would be such a bad thing. No big deal what, you're going to leave home anyway, got Malaysian or not, live in city or not, not much difference also, still going to be tough la.

But when you see the international students have people from their own country with whom they can get together with and speak their own native language to, (and obviously the Americans have themselves), and when the ISO start handing out forms for the International Food Bazaar where two chefs (head and assistant) cook food from their own country and you realize you have no one else to cook Malaysian food (best food on the planet) with, and when on a cold morning you seriously crave a hot cup of Milo and all you have is the cold chocolate milk from the dining hall, you wish you weren't so far away from home.

I am so far from home.

The initial plan was for me to go back two years later. My brother came home only after his second year in US.

I don't think I can tahan that long.

I get super jealous when my roommate talk about booking tickets to go home during fall break, thanksgiving, and winter. I get super super jealous when some of my international friends have their parents come over to the college while on a business trip to the US.

I get to the highest level of jealousy anyone can get when my international friends talk about going home this December. I cannot imagine staying in this place during the winter, where the temperature drops to -20 degrees Celsius, celebrating Christmas alone (or with people I don't know well because damnit almost all my friends are lucky enough to go home), for an entire month.

An entire month!

And worst still, I cannot imagine celebrating my birthday alone. College starts late January, after my birthday, so not only will I not be in Malaysia to celebrate it, my friends here wouldn't be in college yet either.

Sucks. SUCKS.

So you guys, while you enjoy yourselves eating roast turkey, singing Christmas carols, having huge gatherings, camwhoring, and just plain having fun with family and friends, please please please don't forget about me okay! Ber-Skype with me! Send me e-cards! I dun wanna feel friendless ah.

Aihh, why am I so emotional all of a sudden.

Definitely, I've been listening to the wrong sort of songs.

During this time, I'd give anything, anything, for a piece of home. Just a tiny piece to remind me home isn't that far away.

A few days ago during lunch, this American guy was saying that he managed to convince a person from his high school to apply to Grinnell. He was like, "I'm the first person from my high school to come here."

Then my Indian friend went, "Yeah, even XXX and I are the only ones to come to Grinnell." (At least they have each other right?)

And all the while I was thinking, "WTF I am the one and ONLY person in my COUNTRY to come here within the last four years okay!"

My friend who works at the admissions office says so far there is a Malaysian who is interested in applying.

I hope hope HOPE that person applies, get accepted and eventually attends. Goodness knows this place, amazing though as it is, needs more Malaysians. A lot a lot more.

Sounds of laughter, shades of life

AHHHH I love the weekends! Especially one heck of a hellish week!

This past week I'd been sleeping no earlier than 2 a.m. everyday (and 4 a.m. on Thursday) to study for 3 exams and work on a project that required walking to the farthest end of the campus to look at and compare pre-human skulls.

Thursday night I was actually getting desperate, 'cause it was already 2 a.m. and I hadn't finished doing the reading for my anthropology exam the next day, so I resorted to looking at Wikipedia pages on topics like Homo heidelbergensis and all that sort of stuff.

Stuff I will probably not ever need in real life, but damn interesting stuff nevertheless!

I was SO looking forward to sleeping after classes on Thursday, but then I got online and starting talking to mah hommies from back home and ended up not sleeping at all.

That's the thing with Skype and MSN. You should never never NEVER sign into them if you know know KNOW you have something important you have to do. I mean, they're the main reason I still wasn't done studying by 4 a.m. the night of the exam.

Aaaaaanyway.

There's this Alternative Happy Hour thing that I went to on Friday, which is pretty much just a group of Grinnellians who go to Des Moines and interact with 5 to 12 year-olds who joined this after-school program.

It was so nice! We left at 5 and got back by 9, and it takes an hour of traveling each way, so we only really spent 2 hours there.

Lemme tell you this much, the kids are aggressive! One of my friends was pushed by this 9-year-old so hard she actually fell down on her back. The kids aren't mean, yeah, they were just being playful, and we did take them to the playground.

But they were so adorable at the same time! Like, they'd keep putting us to jail, which basically entails being tied to a monkey bar with skipping rope. And they could put you in jail for anything, i.e. being older than them, having the wrong sort of laugh, being a freshman, and for doing nothing. Seriously, this boy put me in jail because I was "just standing there".

Then there's this tiny african american girl who suddenly came up to me and went, "Ni hao!" Turned out it was the only chinese phrase she knew, and she wanted to use it on me. Damn cute loh!

Anyway. I've been playing a lot of Mafia lately!

Like, a large group of us would gather at a lounge in one of the dorms and we'd play till 2 a.m. at night. It reminds me of when I used to play it back in Malaysia. Somehow it seemed a lot more fun back then loh.

But Saturday night we decided to play something different, so we had this game where everyone choose a name of a fruit, and gets a stack of cards. Then we reveal a card one at a time, and when someone opens a card that is the same as yours, you have to shout his fruit name before he shouts yours. That way, you get to collect his cards and the person who loses all of his cards is eliminated.

So everyone chose really common fruits, like strawberry, or pineapple, or banana. Then I stupidly go and choose durian (of course la, true blue Malaysian right!), and people were like, "What? What is that!"

So by the time they learned the fruit name, they remembered it pretty well, and it was such a distinctive name that every time I got the same card as someone they'd straight away go, "DURIAN!" while I would still be like, "Uhh kiwi? No, coconut! NO!!"

(Now more people know about the Absolutely Delicious, Positively Heavenly Fruit that is durian!)

I kept losing, and this girl kept donating her cards to me so that I could continue to play.

Cannot blame the wrong choice of name entirely also lah, because honestly I am also a very slow-reaction person.

Like what Fui would call, "Very lagging."

One time we were playing this card game called Spoons, where we pass cards around and when someone gets 4 cards of the same number they reach out for a spoon, then everyone will also have to cepat-cepat grab a spoon, and the person without a spoon loses.

One time someone grabbed a spoon, and everybody's hands just shot out for a spoon, and all I did was sit and stare. I just sat and looked at them grab spoons! One of my friends was like, "CHOOI! GRAB A SPOON!" and pushed a spoon towards me for me to grab.

Otherwise I would've lost. I'm always losing in games that require fast reactions.

I remember when Fui, ZiHui and I used to play Snap back in high school, and I never won. I never won! Fui almost always won. Her reaction damn fast loh.

* * * * *

Speaking of Fui, she sent me a super nice song with super nice lyrics that got me super emo. Thank you so much, I dunno what I'd do without you!

* * * * *

It's so interesting (and damn fortunate for me) that I happened to find a group of people here who are so like me (or, so like the people I hang out with in Malaysia).

I mean, back in Malaysia, we'd know people who drink and go to clubs and get pissed drunk and all, but my friends and I, not being particularly interested in those things, would rather hang out without alcohol and have fun the good old-fashioned way.

Over here, the game is upped, obviously. These people don't stop at partying and getting drunk, they go all the way to making out on the dance floor and having sex. And yet, on a Saturday night when half the campus is drunk at a Harris party where all the booze is sponsored by the college, I have a bunch of people I can watch Aladdin with and play card games with, and still have fun.

My roommate has been with 6 different guys since college started. There were several nights when she'd come back to the room in the morning, still in clothes from the night before. And when I say "been with 6 different guys", I don't mean been in a relationship with, I mean been staying overnight at his room and doing stuff together. Doing stuff.

Over here, getting a guy to spend the night with is not hard. You don't have to be super attractive, you just have to be open and make yourself available. Alcohol works, too. Heck, you don't even need to do anything, they just come to you. Like, you just have to go to a Harris party and there'd be guys, probably drunk, who come and put their arms around you and try to get you to dance. Every. Single. Time.

You just have to oblige, dance with them, do a bit of grinding, drink, grind some more (and boy do people here know how to grind!), make out a bit, and you pretty have him booked for the night.

I overheard my roommate telling her friend back in California that she'd been with 6 different guys, and I couldn't tell if she was proud of it, but it did seem she said it in a braggy sort of way.

It's ridiculous. Anyone can go out on a Saturday night and get a guy if they wanted to, it's not something to brag about, in fact I'd be ashamed 'cause it just shows how easy you are. What sort of reputation would you get, being the girl whom every guy can have a shot at?

* * * * *

And for something completely different, my Oreos have gone soft because my roommate forgot to put the seal on down properly.

One Oreo packet here contains the equivalent of three tubes of Oreos from back home, so now I have to live with all that soggy Oreos.

Unhappy =(