Summer is near

first bug i see in Boston

Weather is great now. No more waking up to cold air.Yay!

I'm in my last semester at school now. Have more 'holidays' so in that sense less stressful? Yeah right, I chose to take 2 classes and 3 seminars, unlike some of my 'smarter' friends who chose to have all as seminars so that they have plenty of time to relax? Nevermind. Everything comes back to the same question - What's you objective? And my objective is still the same, to learn as much as I can, not score as high as I can.

Anyway, a childhood friend of mine came over for the long weekend last week, hence the reason for me to not have the time to update my blog. I'm much closer to his elder sister than I am to him. Therefore it was more of an eye-opener and also learning more about people and things back in my hometown experience.
We saw Fergie from black eyed peas in one of the clubs the other day. So much for that experience. We had to pay USD30 for entrance fee and all we saw was Fergie's dancers doing the dancing (they were awesome!) and her coming up to the stage once in awhile to say "wassup?". That for USD30? I might as well buy a bottle of Shivas and throw a party.

New York & China (Beijing & Shanghai)

Why would millionaires need to bargain in the first place?

Just came back from a school field trip to China last week. Will have to finish my homework later tonight. No rest for the weary and busy people.

New York
New York hasn't change much since I last came 10 years ago. I find it really interesting that you can find imitation goods and fake dvds selling right in front of the cops though; and to think that we normally hear about US complaining about China and the rest of Asia for selling fake goods? Although the number here is small, but it's still nearly like the pot calling the kettle black.


Street vendors in New York

China
Well what do you know? Apparently I find myself able to survive in China on my own with the limited mandarin that I know of after all.

Beijing people reminds me of the older generations, such as my grandparents generation very polite and courteous. The air pollution that everyone knows China is popular for wasn't that bad in the city as they have moved most of the factories to the outskirt of town.

Shanghai on the other hand is totally different from Beijing. If I were to compare Shanghai and Beijing, Shanghai would be similar to Las Vegas and Beijing, Washington DC?

Everything in China is huge. The factories are big and there's a lot of tall apartments/condos/buildings all over the city. The cities are huge with nearly 20million population just within the cities itself! I hope and wish to visit China again one day as a tourist next time, instead of just doing company visits.
one of the govt owned factories in Beijing

The Bund in Shanghai

Home Alone for a month

one of the oldest church in Boston, located near Copley

I've just realized that this month will (/is) symbolize a lot of one of the many firsts in my lifetime for me again.

I had a small cookout party at my apartment the other day. I experimented where everybody brought a few ingredients of their own, and most of us end up cooking in my small kitchen so you can just imaging the small ruckus we made amongst ourselves.
can i have the pot now?
when is it my turn to cook?
what are you cooking?
is it done yet?
All in all, we all had a nice time. Even my housemate/roommate was enjoying herself after so many months of being stressed out (all of us were, because of school).

I've never been (will be) really alone for so long. My house mate (what they call as roommate here) will be away for a month. I'll be coming home to an empty apartment for a month. We'll see if I will go nuts first or be able to feel as if nothing has changed.

Meanwhile, I'll be going down to New York with a few of my friends tomorrow, and off to China for a school field-trip for a week. Will try to cram as many low-budget traveling as possible while I'm still a student and 'single'.

I won't be going back home before graduating though, since my loving family has imposed a one-year exile on me. All I can say is, thank god mom was able to see me through a short detour after her business trip. I miss home and my peeps. But with her visit, no matter how short it was, helped to ease my restless soul a bit. Apparently I'm not the only one as I know a number of my schoolmates who are going back home right now even though we only have 1 week break.

I've talked to some of my schoolmates here. To those people who have managed to cope being away from their home so well. Those that I talked to so far, they have managed to deal with it because this is not their first. But I also found out from my limited research and knowledge, they have come to get used to not feeling attached to their homeland and have a little difficulty feeling totally belonged to their 'former' homeland. and this has nothing to do with the phrase "macam kacang lupakan kulit" (the peanut has forgotten its skin, where it came from). It's just that people grow and get exposed to different things.

Sometimes I do wonder if people back home really do miss me, or they have learned how to move on, and my presence there doesn't really matter. Sometimes I wonder if I would feel that way. Consider the idea that your surroundings is just an enhancement of your life? As the saying goes, life goes on, right?


At the end of the day, it's your own faith and believe in yourself that will be guiding you through the labyrinth of life.

No need to mention to me that I only have 3 months plus more to go till I graduate. That doesn't matter and that's not the point. Just one of my random thoughts. I'm learning and growing.
I'm fine.