argh
There is so much to do. oh well, actually it doesn't sound like a lot but each homework takes so long to complete. its really intense. My laundry cum clean the house day became a meet-with-classmates-discussion event. 7 hours!! There is so much i want to do. i want to read Anansi Boys which i am half way through, i subscribe to The Economist which is coming faster then i can finish reading, i am not even in touch with world news!!! I don't listen to the radio and i don buy the papers, i don have the TV... u get the idea.
This is the start of the recluse scientist-in-training life.
Point Lobos ... Again
I signed up for a day trip to Point Lobos with the international office, only to realized that i have been there before, 5 years ago!
california
You know that u are in California when you start talking to random strangers. Its the really cool thing about being here. Back in singapore to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger will be met with suspicion.
A fews ago, I was walking back from the bus stop. it was an awfully cold night and there was this mist hanging in the air. I wasn't sure what it was. its like rain but too fine to be rain. It felt very surreal. There was this other guy who was walking the same way as me, so i went like, "whats that" And he gave a very breezy "its fog" response. to which...
: well its really cold
he: i like it, its so nice! its different
(he was just walking with his hand turned towards the sky...)
:where are you from?
he: hawaii
: isn't it like tropical there?
he: thats why i like it here. its different. and you get to wear different kinds of clothes....
i laughed. and we just chatted a little bit more before we went our separate ways.
and today, i was on the way back from Trader Joe's. There was this guy next to me in bus with a skateboard, 2 dozen eggs, and a little pot of cactus. Cute cactus. So i couldn't help it but compliment them and asked where he got them from. It was quite fun because for a moment, it sounded as if he brings his cactus out for fun or something. But anyway, it became a bus ride worth of conversation. It certainly entertained me. and thats just it. I can never imagine that happening in singapore. Or is it because i never tried.
My housemate invited a couple of her grad students over for dinner yesterday. They are all americans, or at least have been living in the US for years.. and they are so interested in China. The culture, the language the people. And i am just so fascinated because for one thing. i am chinese, i know that it has this totally deep rooted culture thing, but i never want to study that. And then, when you think about it, have you seen any chinese people, or asians studying american culture? Maybe there are, but i don't know any. There I was in a room full of people talking about Beijing, shanghai, and i've never been there. Even when i was in berkeley, my american born taiwanese room mate studied art history, and she particularly loves chinese art. In fact she spent a year in taiwan working in a museum or something.
if i were to go to china and study the culture for example, it will never be a cool as if i were white and speaking chinese there.
cooking
I come from a city where its so convenient and cheap to eat out that few of us know how to prepare a meal. It doesn't help that many of us are still living with our parents, which just makes it unnecessary to ever learn to cook.
Until 2 years ago, all i could manage were eggs (fried, boiled, scrambled) and instant noodles. I was in living in Italy and the cost of eating out is huge! Added to that, you have to pay a
coperto so its definitely not something i would do everyday. Instant noodles were ridiculously expensive, not surprising of course, and so i had to learn to cook. There i was, all 23 years of age, a supposedly having received a well rounded education with a degree and all.. and i can't cook. I had to ask my 16 years old housemate (from France, and another from Denmark) to show me how to prepare meals. As a result, I got rather proficient at making pasta. And only pasta.
Once again, i find myself in a foreign country where eating out is not an everyday option (i think Singapore is the only exception). But now, at least i can cook pasta dishes. So i will survive. Yet having variations of pasta for dinner everyday really isn't something i can do (its either aglio oglio, pesto, tomato, cream base from a pack). So just this week i ventured into cooking the more sophisticated asian like stuff. Which i am proud to say, turned out pretty good. The bean paste chicken with chili and steam fish with ginger were surprisingly yummy. -- i bought the cheapest fish cos i thought if i were to screw up, at least screw up a cheap fish. Circumstances force us, at least, me to wield the pan. I guess thats good. Its a step towards being self sufficient and maybe thats part of growing up. that everyone should learn how to feed themselves.
Labels: life
