Fall Colours

It's been a long time since I last blogged and so much has happened that I want to blog about. Since my last post on Toronto, some interesting things that I want to share with you all (and hopefully will write about soon) are:

- Trip to Washington DC (7 - 9 Oct)
- Workshop on "Avoiding Procrastination" (13 Oct)
- Football Game (16 Oct)
- Trip to the Great Smoky Mountains ( 18 - 20 Oct)

Also want to post about:

- Campus Crusade Homeless Outreach (every Wed)
- School life at NCSU

Just writing these down so that I'll remember to blog about them soon. For now, enjoy these pictures of fall colours that I personally took at the Great Smoky Mountains. I'm usually not so fast in posting photos but these are simply so nice that I can't wait to share with all of you. So awesome and beautiful right? The actual colours look much better!

Well, just in case you didn't believe I really went there, here's a picture with me and the mountains.

Toronto (26 Sep - 1 Oct)

Time to talk about my Toronto trip before my next trip, which is... tomorrow, to Washington DC! This is a super overdue post.

So... my adventures in the USA has also brought me across the border to neighbouring Canada! Some photos are up on facebook already. There's too much I can write about but I guess the pictures will give you a better idea. Well I wasn't very keen on two consecutive weeks of travelling, but since Chia Ying's housemates were away that weekend it would be nice to accompany her. Thank God I recovered before I went and so was able to enjoy myself fully. And God really blessed me with special opportunities that weekend, like going to Midland on Saturday and seeing the street performances in Kensington Market on Sunday!

Anyway I arrived on Fri night and was received at the airport by Chia Ying and a couple who does the International Students Ministry, which Chia Ying is involved in. On Sat we got a ride from them to Midland, this place north of Toronto, about 2 hours away. They were going somewhere nearby to visit their son (they usually go on weekdays but this was an exception!) so they dropped us off at Midland, and we took the boat cruise there in the Georgian bay, which supposedly has 30 000 islands. Of course we didn't get to see all the islands, but it was quite beautiful, especially with some of the trees having fall colours already. There were many cottages on some of the islands as well, looks like a good getaway place. Also really thank God that the rained stopped in the afternoon when we were just boarding the boat!

At the Georgian Bay

On Sunday we went church in the morning then downtown in the afternoon. Had some chinese food in a Hong Kong restaurant in Chinatown, then walked to Kensington Market, where the street was closed to traffic for street performances and all. The street is closed to traffic for pedestrians on the last Sunday of the month in May to Oct, and we just happened to be there that day. Quite interesting. We walked further to Little Italy and Korean town too. I guess I was pretty surprised at the large proportion of Asians in Toronto. More than 50% maybe.

We had dinner at the CN Tower, the tallest structure in the world at 553 metres. The revolving restaurant is 350 metres above ground. Good view of Toronto and Lake Ontario, but it was quite cloudy and misty that day so couldn't see too far, and we also missed the sunset :( The food was good though, it's really fine dining! After dinner went to the open-air observation deck, which was super cold when the wind blew. The wind was so strong that it actually propelled us forward when we were walking! It was a happening day and we walked a lot. But more to come in the next 2 days.

At the Look Out Level in the CN Tower, 346 metres above ground.

Finally on Monday we went to the Niagara Falls, the place where you must go if you come to Toronto. It was really beautiful, but the sun wasn't out that day so we didn't get to see any rainbow :( Took the Maid of the Mist boat ride, which got us all wet from the falls and my camera phone nearly died! But thank God it survived after some drying, or else I would have lost a camera and a phone.

Then we did something adventurous - cross over to the US border to see the falls from there. It was much more beautiful at the US side, because we could only see the rapids from the US side. And it's so different in that US did it as a Niagara Falls State Park (which was quiet and serene), while at the Canadian side there were other attractions like museums, haunted house, ferris wheel, casinos etc.

There was just one (big) problem in crossing to the US. I didn't bring my I-20 form with me. This form is needed for me to re-enter US. We brought our passports because we needed it to take the tour bus from Toronto to Niagara falls but I didn't think I'll need the I-20 form so I left it at Chia Ying's place. Thought that if the US side didn't allow me in then I'll just come back. They did allow me in because from their custom system they could check and verify that I'm at student in US. But the problem is when I went back to Canada they didn't allow me in because I didn't have the I-20 form. The Canada immigration officer was very strict and didn't accept even though the US immigration side gave a written verification that I am a student at US. She insisted that I needed my I-20 form to enter Canada. So I had no choice, I stayed one night in US in a youth hostel near the Niagara falls, while Chia Ying went back to Toronto to take the form and came back to Niagara falls the next day and crossed over to the US side to pass it to me. Actually the next day when I crossed to Canada side with the I-20 form the immigration officer didn't really check the I-20 form. I folded the form and he didn't even open it to check that it was my name.

That day I walked the Rainbow bridge (the bridge that links US and Canada) 5 times! It so happens that every trip I go on, I have time alone myself though it's not planned beforehand, which is good I guess, I quite like it. But that day after looking for a place to stay a buying dinner, I missed seeing the sunset again :( Wanted to hang around a while more to see if the falls would get illuminated (as seen from the postcards) but thought that it wouldn't be on since it was already 7.30 pm then. It was getting cold to so I decided to check into the hostel instead of exploring more. Then I only found out when I arrived at the hostel that the falls were illuminated at 8.30 pm. It was deemed too dark and unsafe for me to go back there then, and the other girls there didn't want to go, so I didn't get to see it :(

So our supposedly one day at the Niagara falls became two days, because when Chia Ying came over the next day we spent the day exploring the US side again, and discovered more nice places to view the falls from! We walked so much those 2 days that my legs were actually aching when I came back to Raleigh. And because of this I-20 form I missed my flight from Toronto to Raleigh on Tues morning (as well as my classes on Tues and Wed, an additional 4 classes!). I booked the flight on Wed morning but because for Star Alliance redemption I have to book a round trip, so I booked another Raleigh to Toronto flight on 16 Dec. So the new plan is to go visit Chia Ying again after my exams. I really wanna come back to the Niagara Falls again, cos we didn't really walk much of the Canadian side (the place is simply too big!) and I must catch the sunset and the falls illumination then, which starts at 5pm during winter. Hopefully I will get to see a rainbow too. Chia Ying and I also talked about going Montreal and Quebec. More chance of seeing snow there :) Probably take the train down to New York City or Boston from there after that.

The American Falls


The Canadian Horseshoe Falls

On the rainbow bridge which links US and Canada.

On returning to Toronto on Tues night we realised that 1 Oct (Wed) is a public holiday in Singapore, so we decided to call Sarah that morning (Tues night for us). Haha we actually had "DG" for over an hour! It's so great catching up. And really glad to have been able to spend time with Chia Ying. The time spent those few days were probably more than 1 year's worth of DG time together.

What an adventure! Many more to come soon :)

The most happening, crazy, dramatic, exciting and adventurous week

Yes, the past week since last Fri has been happening, crazy, dramatic, exciting and adventurous. It all began with the trip to Toronto to visit Chia Ying. I shall leave the details of this trip to another post; it's too much to write in one post. Chia Ying has posted some photos on facebook and I'll upload mine soon.


After coming back on Wed morning I was frantically studying for my tests on Thu and Fri, but I still decided to go to Crusade homeless outreach on Wed. I shall leave this to another post too.
On Fri night I had the choice to go for AO fellowship or to church for the mission conference in Chinese. I decided to go for the latter and I'm so glad I did. RCCC has its annual mission conference this weekend, with sessions on Fri, Sat and Sun. The speaker is Elder Yu Muh Chieh from Rutgers Community Christian Church in New Jersey. I was so blessed and inspired by the message and the speaker's testimony. It's also great to be back in RCCC after two weeks of "absence". I'm so looking forward to the next two sessions tonight and tomorrow morning :)


Then after coming back from church last night I went to watch Kungfu Panda at 11.59pm. The campus cinema has movies at $1.50. I think it's a really good movie, lots of food for thought. Hmm... what is my destiny?


It's 2 pm on a Saturday afternoon and I just had a lazy Saturday morning, eating brunch and making travel plans with my Korean friend at the dining hall for more than 2 hours. It's seems quite rare that I'm around on Saturday cos I've been out of Raleigh the past two weekends. I actually had plans to go up to the mountains with some friends this weekend, but we decided to postpone it to two weeks later because the trees haven't fully changed colours. Two weeks ago, at Grand Rapids, a few of the trees there had changed colours and when I returned to Raleigh, I saw this from my hall window.


Today, the colours still look the same. Hopefully two weeks later when we go up to the mountains there will be more colours. I realised this is the first time I'm experiencing fall and seeing all these fall colours. I probably won't get to see this again cos I won't be able to leave Singapore during fall (at least for the next 5 years). There were some very nice sights in Toronto of colourful trees too.

But anyway, I'm glad to be around this weekend. If I had gone up to the mountains, I would have missed the mission conference. Somehow I feel that there are so many events in my life that is arranged by God. Even for my travelling trips, dates just coincide and I get rare opportunities like going up north on the first day in Toronto.

Someone told me that the trees probably haven't changed colours nicely as the weather here suddenly dropped. Yes the weather the past 2 weeks here was so erratic. There were a few days where it rained and temperature suddenly dropped, like 14 degrees. Then the next few days when the sun was out I thought the weather would be back to normal but no, it remained cold. The sun is so deceiving. It's not like in Singapore where you can look out of the window and determine that the day is gonna be hot and sunny. Here it looks sunny from the window so I thought I could wear t-shirt and berms only to realise that it's too cold the moment I step out of the building. So now I have to check the weather everyday before I leave house. The weather is very good today. Sunny and 24 degrees. A good afternoon to just go out and instead of staying in the air-con room to blog. Haha. Anyway I'm going to play frisbee then go for a birthday party :)

Grand Rapids (19 - 22 Sep)

I went to Grand Rapids in Michigan state last weekend and met up with Jenny who was there for work. My 2 favourite pictures are here and some others are up on facebook. Just a brief update here and will write more next time, not much time to update now cos i'm flying again in 2 hours, this time out of USA (haha... guess where?)

Anyway I arrived last Fri night at Grand Rapids, after a mad rush to catch the bus to the airport. The plane arrived early in Chicago so managed to connect to an earlier flight to Grand Rapids. It was terribly crowded at the Chicago O Hare airport so I'm glad I could board the next plane almost immediately.

On Sat we visited the apple orchard, the hush puppies store, Rockford (a small town), then in the evening joined the youth group there for their activities, which included a visit to a rescue mission and a bonfire.

On Sun we went to church, visited downtown and a cemetery nearby (quite a beautiful place). Joined a tabernacle tour for a short while and then went to Grand Haven to see the sunset :)

And Mon I went to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. I'm so glad I could go (thanks Beth!) as it was really good. I'm so inspired and touched by his life and how God seemed to guide him all along and prepared him for that 2 and a half crucial years as president.

That's all for now. More updates next week :)

Short update

A lot has happened these past few days... Study Abroad Fair, Campus Crusade Homeless Outreach, my first test here etc. Will blog more about these some time soon.

I'm off to Grand Rapids for the weekend :)

Blackout!

There was a power cut for more than 3 hours from 5pm plus just now. Classes were cancelled and all the stores on campus were closed. No air-con or electricity in our dorms so people started to come out to the open, studying at the benches, playing ball/frisbee, lying on the grass to read etc.

Benches that are usually empty were suddenly filled with people. My favourite place to study when I need to get out off air-con rooms to get some fresh air.

These people were playing this game called "four squares".

We figured that the dining halls were probably closed as well so I went with 3 others to the nearby street outside school to have dinner at a Korean restaurant. Interestingly, we are all from different countries. Food was not bad too but again I forgot to take pictures of it.

International people: (from left to right) Ji Seon from South Korea, Madoka from Japan, Rachel from US and me from Singapore! :)

The campus was almost pitch dark when we came back and alarms and flashes of lights were going off in the library. Some people were just hanging out downstairs while others were playing hide-and-seek (a good occasion to play this game heh). Shortly after we came back some buildings resumed power but my hall was one of the last few to get our power back. Not sure what caused the power cut though. I've never experienced a power cut in my whole life in Singapore so this was quite an experience but thankfully it was just for a short while only.

Dinner with Singaporeans

Yesterday, the pastor of the church I attend invited the Singaporeans here over to his house for dinner. His family has been in the US for about 18 years but he just moved to Raleigh about a year ago and is the english pastor of Raleigh Chinese Christian Church. Andrea and I went to their house after lunch in church and had a good time playing guitar hero and just chilling out before dinner in their beautiful house.

Another Singaporean family came for dinner too. A few other Singaporean students were supposed to come as well but couldn't make it. Dinner was prawn mee and laksa, prepared by Aunty Jean and Aunty Angela. It was the first time I ate prawns since I came! After dinner we had bobochacha, fruits and coffee too. (I forgot to take pictures of all the food!) It was a good evening with fellow Singaporeans :)