still wandering

hello my loves, i’m sorry i haven’t been updating my blog religiously like i ought to! i really want to but something always crops up..homework, going somewhere, people visiting or visiting people, studying for midterms (which are neverending, by the way), sleeping (i have insane morning classes), and just plain procrastination. OR..spilling coffee on my table. grrr.

there’s been SO MUCH that has happened since the last time i blogged, which is what, 3 weeks ago?!? i find it hard to believe that the winter quarter is ending in 3-4 weeks time, and then it’s SPRING BREAK AND HAWAII!!!!! (: (: (: i’m 2/3 way through half of my stay here in davis, which is… like lightning. i’m so glad that i’m staying for the spring quarter… i can’t imagine going back so soon! it’s almost like i just came here a week ago. and yet so much has happened. everyone’s been saying how nice it gets here in spring… and i get glimpses of it sometimes when I walk past a tree that’s beginning to bloom (: it’s getting really rainy here though! it’s been raining all weekend and the weather forecast says it’s going to rain for the next ten days straight! pooooo. hate it when it rains. but strangely it’s not as cold when it rains.. just wet. the black umbrella that I bought from san francisco for $3.99 is coming in really handy now… though just now at the bus stop the wind was so strong it made my umbrella do that thing where it flips inside out so my umbrella looked like a rain-collecting bowl on a stick. hahahaaha. cheap thing.

i’m at common grounds cafe again, this time with rochelle! we’re studying.. but once weifen comes back from school we’ll go to nugget and get the much raved-about sandwich for lunch. i have so much to do this week!! drama is alot of work, but tons and tons of fun. i’ve just been allocated my final scene and scene partner. have to start memorizing lines and doing scene analysis and rehearsal schedule etc etc… (: speaking of classes, here’re the classes i’ll be taking in the spring quarter:

African American Dance and Culture (for Theatre)
Human Sexuality
This Planting class with jeremy, it’s a hands-on class so we get to spend time in the sun (SPRING!!) in our overalls, which we plan to get at a thrift store soon, getting our hands all dirty planting whatever!
a Religion class that’s based on all the religious texts like the bible and the koran etc etc.
and last but not least… the Astronomy lab! which is basically star-gazing at night from 9.30-11.30pm every tuesday (:

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS… is that i get fridays off!!!!!!
this spells FUN times ahead my friends. 3-day weekends forever and ever amen. i need to start thinking of where to go and what to do (:

this blog is proving so much more difficult to upkeep than my new york blog!! i think it’s because i had more free time and less amazing people around me (other than xixi) and more touristy things to blog about the last time i was in america. i’m glad this time is different, but i’m going to try to blog more often!

today I went to the tanglewood office to collect a parcel that elfie sent me… it’s a BIG WHITE FLUFFY BATHROBE!!! <3 <3 <3 i’ve been wanting one for so long but they’re really expensive here. YAHOO!!!! now i’ll look like a crazy saloon person wearing that and my white bedroom slippers and maybe a white towel on my hair to top it all off. heehee.

okay, more later! (soon!) but for now… PICTURES!!!! *HUGS FOR EVERYONE*

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge with friends from around the world on Dylan's City Tour!

Muir Woods! this shot reminds me of the forest in Bridge to Terabithia (:

sherry, avani and i, we were trooping around berkeley last weekend <3

the pretty berkeley marina

postcard from xixi and letter from elfie! (check out the durian stamp.)

me on my laupok bike... in front of the mailboxes.

fresh STRAWBERRIES at the farmer's market!

a cute band playing in the middle of the farmer's market at central park

boy with froggie booties! *SQUISH*

pretty quilts and fabrics billowing in the wind..

doing my astronomy homework at the arboretum...

hmm

listening to latika's theme while snoozing on the grass on a (rare) sunny winter afternoon by the creek... pure heaven.

i kiss ducks

i eat ducks too

milk and sunshine = bliss

sprawled on the quad one day, skyping with elfie and shanta (:

common grounds

i’m sitting in Common Grounds (the cafe across the street from our apartment) in one of their heavenly couches soaking myself in the streak of sunlight that’s pouring strategically in through the glass door onto my armchair, studying for my animal science midterm tomorrow (more like people watching and enjoying the music). i just had one of the best cookies.. pumpkin spice cookie, and its vegan so it doesn’t have eggs or milk in it which is unbelievable really. my trusty bike is parked outside, and the shawl xixi gave me is spread across my lap for extra warmth and coziness (: ooh nice music. the couches are so beautiful… there are plush plum ones and rich hunter green ones, dusty pink velet ones that rock back and forth, vintage faded floral ones that have huge armrests and curved backs, nice fluffed candy-striped pillows strewn all over… olive green carpeting and old wooden coffee tables with brass legs. i think my future home would have to have beautiful couches and armchairs like that, extremely comfortable and pretty (not necessarily flowery though) bedding and a well-equipped kitchen. oh and bathrooms that make you never want to come out of them. those are THE essentials!!! other than the people, of course (:

this weekend’s been funny. saturday was one of the most strenuous days ever since i’ve been here, we went cross-country skiing with the outdoor adventures club at uc davis. we cycled to school at about 6.30am to meet the rest, and got back at about 5.30pm…super duper tired. i simply lost count of the number of times i fell. though the first fall of the day was MINE, I know that much. HAHA. too bad i was taking the photos so there’re no photos of me with my legs and arms flailing in the air..somehow i found it hilarious everytime i fell down (really hard) and couldn’t get back up again. well eventually i did…but it was tough with my feet clipped into the long skis. so the couple of photos i got with me in it i’m on my feet, but i DID get quite a few shots of weifen and stephanie all tangled up in the snow…hahaha. the trip was called Introduction to Cross Country Skiing but it sure was a tough introduction! but i had tons of fun though, mostly falling down, but when i started getting the hang of it (relatively), it started getting less tiring and more fun (: the others on the trip that had tried snow-shoeing or alpine skiing said those were easier than cross-country skiing.. maybe i’ll try them out next time. i’m thinking of signing up for the weekend backpacking trip with stephanie in march… camping out in the wild under the stars, campfire cooking, trekking, not bathing… sounds fun already hahahahaha.

on the way to the snow yesterday stephanie and i were talking and i realised that it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t get any of my other choices that were in the big cities like boston or LA because i probably wouldn’t have made as much effort diggin’ and sourcing for interesting things to do as I’m doing now since there’ll probably be more “touristy” things to do in those places. and stephanie reminded me that if I had got hawaii i’d have to fly out to go any place else…whereas being here i could just get a ride or take a train to practically anywhere in america..and i’m still going to hawaii anyway!

oohhh my body is aching so badly now its interrupting my train of thought.

oh yes. thank goodness i didn’t get my period before/during the ski trip. hahaha. the 3 of us were talking in the back of the van in not-so-hushed tones about the horrors of getting our periods on any outdoor camping/ activity trips especially if we had guy guides which would make it extra awkward. taking those pills that postponed your period would just make you the manic woman on the trip HEEHEE.

and on a food note, weifen and i tried making pattaya last night! but we didnt have a pan big enough to fry omelettes big enough to wrap our fried rice.. so it ended up looking like this!

le grande finalé!!! c'est mon FRIED RICE (semi pattaya because omelette not big enough to wrap the rice)

still yummy.. (: i added the super spicy chilli i found at safeway that had thai words on it so i figured it had to be spicier than some “newman’s chilli sauce” nonsense. i miss LAPCHIONG!

okay here’s a list of foods that i officially miss from singapore:
1) the east coast road jumbo prawn mee
2) chicken rice and chicken rice chilli
3) hokkien mee
4) tomyum soup
5) satay!!
6) stingray!!!
7) bakkuteh!!!!
super spicy laksa
9) dry beef noodlessssss
10) FISHCAKE
11) parkway parade STEAMBOAT!!!!!!
12) chicken curry!!!!
13) cut chilli with light sauce…oh my god.
14) fishball noodles with alot of chilli and oil and everything!!!

okay i’m going to get back to studying now before my drool ruins my notes. enjoy les photos!! (:

sunrise

sunriser

sunrisest

view from the van as we drove 2 hours from sun to snow

stephanie our new friend from the trip (: who happens to be friends with our housemate and the girls who rented us their rooms!

she's taking us to a thai restaurant this tuesday!

stepping on snow, no skis yet though!

me in rochelle's ski jacket and chris' (one of our guides) sunglasses... poor snowless singaporean.

christian! one of the guys on the trip who's a natural at this cross-country skiing business.

our picnic in the snow (:

castle peak meadows! where we practised before going on to the slopier parts.

The Big Snowball Fight

bombs awayyy!!!

i like this picture of stephanie!

falling down falling down falling down...

crashing into each other...

maybe we needed helmets on top of all this gear.

see those ski tracks we're making in the snow? (:

too bad we forgot to take a group shot.. but it was fun.. i want to go for another snow trip before the snow disappears...