Tag Archives: USA

History Does Not Repeat Itself

31 Mar

Life in university for M1 started on a good note as far as dorm life is concerned. She has a Japanese room-mate whom she met at the airport upon arrival. I am relieved that this little worry turned out okay unlike what I experienced.

As I had mentioned before, what are the chances of history repeating itself, let alone for two situations – the arrival and the room-mate? You can gather by now, my initial college years did not start off well but towards my junior and senior years, it was much better and overshadowed those trying moments.

During my time, I was supposed to live in the dorms. I got to Flagstaff a few days earlier before the dorms opened. Soon after my arrival episode, I checked out from the motel and reported to the International Students office; I was hosted by a Taiwanese girl, who lived off campus. Her room-mate was away, so she was able to put me up. This temporary arrangement worked out well until I had to move into the dorms.

This is where it all fell through…

I remember clearly as I lugged my luggages through the room door, my American room-mate was there in the room with a guy, presumably her boyfriend.

My presumption proved to be right because the first thing she said to me was,”Hi. My name is…. (Somehow I don’t recall) and this is Scott (This, how can I forget?) and he will be here on a long term basis.”

Oh. My. God.

What a statement. What a welcome. Stunned and speechless was what I was…

My tummy retched. As liberal as I was (and still am) I just couldn’t stomach this. Everything was a blur after that but it did not matter. That night, I went back to the Taiwanese girl and slept on the couch.

The next day, I went straight to see the Director of Housing and made my case to terminate my supposedly non-negotiable dorm contract. Citing moral issues and culture shock to top off this unsavory experience, I was able to convince him of this undesirable and unwelcoming situation. Thankfully he was very sympathetic. As I did not want a reassignment, fearing another similar episode, I was accorded a full refund. However, as a result of this decision made, I was left to my own devices to find accommodation and semester was starting soon!

Thank goodness, there’s always a good soul around who helped me on the accommodation problem. I ended up living off campus, sharing a two bedroom apartment with two American girls and a Singaporean girl.

So looking back now in comparison, I am so glad none of what I went through recurred for my child. She’s got a good start.

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Anxiety and Relief

23 Mar

It’s hard to drive when one has blurry puffy eyes. Thank goodness hubby was much stronger and did not shed freely at the farewell like me and M2. After we hugged M1 for the last time and said our goodbyes, there was much anxiety that followed the heavy heart. Until we hear from her only the anxiety went away and relief set in.

My neighbor saw us when we got home on Saturday night and called me. She insisted I should go over and have some wine, which turned out to be a good thing. Looking at my miserable state, she consoled me. At the same time, she welcomed me to this phase of life when the children would leave home for their tertiary education, gently reminding me she experienced this twice with her children and totally understands my emotions.

The wine helped dull the heavy ache and provided a good buzz to sleep. But I managed only four hours of uncomfortable rest. Anxiety.

By Sunday morning, we managed to Skype her when she was in transit at Incheon and again, at Narita; it was good to hear her voice. But we had to wait longer before we heard from her again when she did the final leg of the journey.

Her journey was approximately 24 hours of flying with the two transit stop-overs but not counting the time to clear immigrations and customs, followed by a 90-minute bus ride to campus. By the time she arrived at campus and checked into the dorm, it would be another good six hours added on to the journey. How tiring!

Last night, I tracked her aircraft on flightaware.com and was able to monitor the flight path and ETA. Amazing what technology can do these days. Thankful that she arrived safely and on schedule, and with both immigrations and customs cleared without a hitch, hubby and I can breathe easier. Relief.

M1’s life as a freshman at university officially has begun!

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I Shouldn’t Worry

19 Mar

There were several occasions M1 tells me she is, at times, worried about the impending journey and new life ahead. I would simply raise my eyebrow at her and share with her, my journey to college to make her feel better, and reiterated that I don’t think history would repeat itself. I mean, what are the chances of what I experienced recurring again, this time with my child? This aside, I am proud that she is following my footsteps in her journey towards higher education in the USA.

I traveled alone halfway across the globe to pursue my degree in Graphic Design. And when I arrived at the little airport in Flagstaff, Arizona, after clocking in more than 24 hours of travel, nobody from the university came to meet and greet me! Can you imagine the horror and fear I went through?

But I guess I was tired and numbed beyond belief from the long journey and did the most unthinkable thing ever, and it is something I tell my child constantly NOT to do.

I hitched a ride with two strangers and their dog in their pickup to town. Hold your wild imaginations, nothing bad happened! They were very nice to drop me off in a motel across campus and went on with their journey.

But do that now in this era, the consequences may turn out differently. Thank goodness, there is someone definitely meeting her. With the internet, repeated correspondence via email, she will be met at the airport, shown the way to board the bus and journey on to campus where someone else will greet her and settle her into life as a freshman at university. So no, I shouldn’t worry.

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Humphrey

10 Mar

What or who is Humphrey, you may ask? Well, when I first got it, I thought it was a hippo, hence the name Humphrey the Hippo. But after years of being associated as a hippo, I came to realize Humphrey is actually a cow. It came as a free gift with the purchase of a carton of milk from the supermarket, and it makes more sense for milk companies to give away cows rather than hippos with their milk products, no?

Humphrey has traveled the world much. It has been to Australia, college and the Big Apple with me. It also came along with us when we did our Great Adventure Roadtrip to the US back in 2012. A rather amusing moment when we were getting ready for inspection prior to boarding at HKIA. He was stashed in M1’s backpack and during security inspection, the officer dutifully unzipped the bag only to be taken aback when unexpectedly, a pair of huge unblinking eyes stared right back at him. Unable to hide his amusement, he grinned back at Humphrey’s big innocent eyes and cleared us.

We all love Humphrey, the confidante, the friend and equally a member of the family. Humphrey will accompany M1 to college.



Can you spot the purple Humphrey? Pic was during my college days.



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But Mummy, These are the Good Ones

24 Oct

One evening, I was commenting to the girls that I don’t seem to have a recent good picture of the two of them in my iPhone5S. My pictures are mostly on food, golf and places. Whenever I talk proudly of them to friends, the only pictures that I could show off (of them) were the US Great Adventure Road Trip ones, and they are like 2 years old! Eeesh.

So M2 cleverly airdropped some pictures of them to my phone, convincing me that these are the good ones. This is what I received.
MM7

MM8

MM9

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I Need to be 40kgs

24 Jun

“Mummy! I am 37 kgs!” M2 announced proudly one day.

“I need to be 40kg so that we can travel again!” she continued.

It is no secret that I set some unusual guidelines when it comes to family travels. Besides the Carrots Reward Program that I have for the girls for doing well in school, there is this weight requirement rule.

Two years ago, when I was planning our US Great Adventure Road Trip, I imposed the ruling that M2 needs to be 30kgs to withstand the 30-hour journey from here to the Land of Opportunity. She hit the target (besides the both of them meeting the school targets) and off we went.

It is 2014 now and while there is talk of going here, there and far away, the travel plans are still up in the air. So whenever the girls ask where we will go this year, I would remind that M2 needs to reach 40kgs.

“London? Paris? Australia? New Zealand? Florida?”

“40kgs then we talk.”

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Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!

24 Dec

I cannot believe another year has gone by so fast! Wasn’t it just yesterday the whole family was visiting the US – the adults catching up with some of our dearest friends and the children seeing what I deem as my favorite places from my college days? Wait a minute, that was last year! Dang.

The past few days I was reminiscing about this time of the year and out of the blue, the song by Band Aid (Do They Know It’s Christmas?) popped into my mind! Wow. That was dinosaur years ago. Watching the music video when John Taylor (of Duran Duran) fleetingly appeared made my heart skipped a beat even after all these years. Sigh…

It’s such a classic and oldie now, that song.

This year I decided to host the family Christmas (eve) dinner, relieving my only sibling of this annual duty. I look forward to the usual happy, fun and boisterous occasion despite the reduced head count (the twins are away in college and the younger niece, at camp). The tree is up, the presents are in place, the wine chilled and the food prepared with love. This time of sharing will no doubt be cherished.

This year has been significant for me, in many aspects of my life. For starters, I tried Candy Crush (in March) out of curiosity and look what happened? I became so addicted to it, I qualify to be called a professional candy crusher. I also started this blog (in June) and have been going strong ever since. With 4,851 views and more than 200 ‘Likes’ so far, I must be doing something right.

This year also marked my M1 turning Sweet 16 and my M2 fairing well in her UPSR exam. Children aside, Hubby and I traveled a fair bit—not to new destinations—but to near and far and enough to keep our sanity in check to balance up the work stress that we face daily.

And this year I made more new friends compared to any past given year. Pretty unusual but then again, golfing friends are a unique breed and it’s nice that it has developed into wonderful friendships over many outings and dinners beyond the fairways and greens. I also rekindled old friendships, thanks to technology for making the world smaller and reachable. For all these, I feel truly blessed and yeah, it’s been a significant year for me.

So I’d like to end this significant year by wishing all—from the bottom of my heart—a happy Christmas and a merry New Year in its truest sense! Hope your 2013 was equally significant for you to reflect back in years to come with fond memories and a smile on your face.

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Bundle Up!

9 Dec

Back in December 2010, we went on a family vacation to Korea and it was right smack during the winter time. And dang, it was cold! Seoul weather was in the low teens and sometimes in single digits even during the day. And when the wind kicked in, goodness gracious! Even the bones were not spared and chilled to no end.

It was the first time for M1 and M2 in such extreme weather conditions and I was worried for them. So I was constantly saying, “Bundle up!” to remind them to do so, every single time before leaving the comforts of the bus or the warmth of a restaurant into the cold blustering winds.

So much so, M2 started counting each time I said that phrase. The cheeky girl.

At the end of the eight day trip, M2 reported that I said that phrase 40 times! My goodness. Did I actually do that? I can be so predictable at times.

Then in November 2012, when we went on another family vacation, this time to the West Coast of the US, that familiar phrase was uttered again. However, as weather was not that extreme the whole time, it was mentioned only in cold places like Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and San Francisco.

But the girls remembered! They would exchange knowing looks at each other and say out loud, “Yes we know… Bundle up!” Sometimes before I can even open my mouth, M2 especially, would beat me to it, “Mummy? Aren’t you gonna say ‘Bundle up!’?” Hrmph.

I cannot remember at the end of the three-week vacation, what my final tally was…

Now that M1 is in Japan during this cold season sans mummy, I made sure she has enough to bundle up without me having to constantly utter that now infamous phrase.

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They Eat What We Eat

27 Sep

Children, from young, should be taught to eat what we eat. I am a big advocate for this. This works out well when the whole family travels or even just go out for meals. We have salads, they will have salads, we eat a burger, so do they, you get my drift?

No such thing as we eat a burger but the young ones have a specially brewed porridge in a hot flask. Maybe this is practiced when they are babies but not when they are older…

Both my girls enjoy food. While hubby and I are no major foodie connoisseurs, we do enjoy trying out new things every now and then. Both M1 and M2 takes pride in keeping pace with us.

I am proud to say when we did our “Great Adventure Road Trip to USA” last year, food was thoroughly enjoyed and no issues at all.

Image

Our very first In-N-Out Burgers!

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Carrots are Good, Part 2

20 Aug

The carrots are being dangled again this year! I figured if it worked last year for the girls with the reward being ‘The Great Adventure Road Trip to USA’, this year we will do a regional destination for its city and the islands. I love this Asean country for its food, golf courses and shopping. Both M1 and M2 have never been there but I think they are old enough now to appreciate the culture and the food, besides the shopping and sights. Also this time, I dispensed with secrecy and let it be known where and when. So the girls know what is at stake and what they have to do in order to enjoy the reward, pocket money for spending included!

The current August school holidays has ended with two weeks of staying put and not much excitement on the homefront. M2 has exactly three weeks to her big UPSR exam while M1 has the year end to show her results. She promised she will not be watching anymore ‘Friends’ until the year-end exams are over; I hope she keeps to her word.

Having made all these exciting travel plans with the children, suddenly a curve ball was thrown when we were summoned to Singapore for a year-end wedding.

Both M1 and M2 are really enthusiastic about Singapore as well but hubby is a little bit concerned. Three destinations. Uh-oh… so much traveling, so little time!

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