Clog

What I am currently listening to

2010-05-20T12:36:00.000-06:00

...because everyone is always in search of good music, the selection here is quite eclectic:

Everyone needs a twang from a banjo.

Good music for good causes.

Guy/girl harmonies are awesome, especially Canadian ones.
O My Heart by Mother Mother

Enjoy!
P.S. free download from We are Scientists is available.

Back to basics

2010-03-25T14:25:00.000-06:00

The indie band (PK14) I blogged about in 2007 is performing at SXSW. After a little exploring, I discovered that they were one of the bands featured in Beijing Punk:

This led me on a wild goose chase, willing me to discover more incredible indie beijing music like Carsick Cars and Hedgehog.

Take a listen - parts of the songs are in a different language but it'll still bring you back to an era of great music.

Don't get your hopes up...

2009-03-29T22:13:00.002-06:00

don't get chills down your spine.
don't be late for work by watching the trailer.
don't get excited.
Not unless you can bottle it up for October...
when the movie comes out.

Love Arcade fire.

I can't wait for this movie

2009-02-08T14:18:00.001-07:00

I saw the book at the airport (Edm Int) and thought, this would be good as a movie with all the music... and of course being behind in times - it's already filmed and is coming out in April :)

I love this song

2009-01-29T20:45:00.001-07:00

but the lyrics are so hard to sing along to...

Back in Edmonton

2009-01-29T19:30:00.008-07:00

It was a whirlwind of travels before settling back in Edmonton. As soon as I wrote my last exam in Lille on December 16, I packed my bags and headed to:

1. Germany to visit some distant relatives, this leg of travels was mostly a refuel on Chinese and Vietnamese food, leaving me experiencing nothing German at all - except for the fifth food group of chocolate

2. I then sped (using the 20hour transportation called a bus) to celebrate Christmas with Asia and Greg's family (My brief roommate in China and her husband) in Zamosc and Lublin, Poland. I then went to stay with Ala (friend from Lille) in Warsaw, celebrating my birthday and new year's eve with Ala, Ania, Katja and Domen - all students from Lille. Then Ania, Domen and I took the express train (very Harry Potter like) to Krakow for three days of castles, cathedrals, and Auschwitz.

3. Domen and I then took the overnight train to Vienna, Austria. What a beautiful city! Why did I not do my exchange here? If you ever need a creative outlet, head here! Anze (rez mate from Lille) then picked us up and we drove off to...

4. Slovenia! And this was a whirlwind of home-sickness because the skiing, the snow, the lakes and mountains reminded me of the rocky mountains. Highlights included visiting the UNESCO protected caves and the seaside coast where I could see Italy!

5. A drive to Venice for one night and a goodbye to the Slovenian friends...

6. And a flight to London where I stayed with Kimberly and Ryan (friends from Edmonton). I love the free museums and did one each day. The last night was spent partying with people I met up with back from home (Neil and wife, Pippa, Ryan and Kimberly)... then I had to wake up after two hours of sleep and caught the eurostar...

7. To meet up with John in brussels where we took the train to Brugges to meet up with Messalina (more people from Alberta). My last beers from Europe eventually led me to an overnight stay in Leuvan....

8. And in the morning I took John, Dina, and Miguel (all interns working in Leuvan) to Lille for a day tour. And with two nights in Lille with Katja and a last lunch with Ala...I trained back to Paris for my flight home via

9. Copenhegan - the airport was literally a mall, how did I miss this part the last time I was here? This stopover provided me with two episodes of Heroes watching time...

10. I landed in Chicago half an hour early (announced on the plane accompanied by no applause), and when president Obama was inaugurated (announced congratulations on the plane accompanied by ample amount of applause). At this stopover, I watched the season finale of Heroes :)

11. I finally landed at home (Edmonton) after what (I was sure) was about a full day of travel. I came back 11pm January 20 (I was illegally in France for two days as my student visa expired on the 18th). But after two days at home I flew to Calgary for my sister's baby shower (I am sick of flying), and flew back in time to start work on the 26th. I am crazy I know. No time to reflect except - boy does it feel nice to sleep in my own bed, eat my mom's home cooking, and see my family during Chinese New Years :)

Thank you to everyone who hosted me - I will be sure to do the same... remember, just give me five years time so I can do it properly!

p.s. if you are wondering how many pictures five months of travels to 13 countries is? It is about 2500...

Peter Bjorn and John

2008-12-14T04:32:00.002-07:00

So disappointed that they are traveling Europe AFTER I leave :(

Random thoughts

2008-12-11T12:47:00.003-07:00

1. I thought we evolved past the point where we fight violence with violence. But the protests that continue in Athens right now are baffling.

2. I am writing my last University paper... ever. (hopefully). But for some reason I am performing this self-torture and refuse to complete it... self torture or maybe completing it will actually mean something more...

3. Is it safe to travel during a recession? What should I do about my student loans?!?

4. What does Kanye West, waffles and hot chocolate have in common? They were all indulged by me! Check it out!

5. Procrastination complete. I must go finish my paper and study for my last exam ever.

6. Wow, there will never be school again in four days.

7. What an odd thought to have while mariah carey is schreeching in your speakers - btw I NEVER listen to mariah - honestly... I just have my friend's music playing in the background.

Someone sucks at Blogging

2008-11-10T14:46:00.010-07:00

And that someone is me. So here is a recap. I finished my Vietnam trip in July, flying straight to Vancouver for a day of fun before heading to Pemberton Festival. Vietnam was amazing, we had many different sets of aunts and uncles and grandparents visiting Vietnam with us. The two months of family, travel, and FOOD were well worth the heat exhaustion.

Pemberton Festival was wicked cool. The music was fantastic - The Nationals, Metric, Sam Roberts, Flaming Lips, Vampire Weekend... But the finale of Jay-Z and Coldplay blew me away. Coldplay was a dream come true.

From Pemberton, I flew home to Edmonton for a month of work before heading to Lille, France for my last semester in school, this is where I am at right now. But I somehow managed to have most of October off and traveled around Northwest and Southeast France, Amsterdam and Holland, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.

School at Universite Catholique de Lille is interesting. It is a private university so mostly rich kids go there (I am not one of them). Classes are taught in English and I am enrolled in the intensive classes - a new class every week and presentations and exams every week. I have been taught by different nationalities - UK, French, Australians, Portuguese... and participate with 160 international students from Mexico, Poland, Germany... the list continues. It is a mini soap opera here because most of the international students at IESEG (my faculty), know each other...

For a pic by pic review of my trip so far, check out my photo albums: Lille, Vietnam, France ... and more.

Guess who

2008-06-10T23:11:00.002-06:00

Let's play a game of guess who. My trip has the following people participating: aunty, mom, dad, me, cousin #1, and cousin #2.

Guess who...
1. Puked in the streets right beside a store after she/he ate two bowls of fat noodles
2. Pooped 10 times in one day
3. Got teeth implants
4. Got a bad haircut
5. Freaked out at a Cambodian lunch because a cat brushed his/her leg
6. Forgot their Camara - left it in Canada
7. Pulled down his/her pants when the doctor told him/her that he/she would receive a needle in the ass, this was followed by an awkward moment and the doctor told him/her to pull up his/her pants.
8. Gets attacked by a monkey

Answers:
1. Cousin #1
2. Cousin #2
3. Mom
4. Me
5. Me
6. My family (mom, dad, me) - my camera is being fixed at future shop and my dad created the memory of passing the camera to me back at home - it never happened
7. Cousin #2
8. mom - we were at a monkey park and the lady sitting beside her got her hat stolen and so the two ladies jump up with their backs together while the monkey runs away.

The cry-fest continues

2008-06-10T10:48:00.002-06:00

About a week ago we took a trip to visit my grandma's sister. We arrive on a farm and my dad turns to his sister: "Hey, you shouldn't go first, you always cry, I'll go first."

And so my dad is the first one to walk to the house, and seeing a stranger but feeling that it is family, my grandma's sister starts crying. My dad, seeing tears in her eyes, also starts crying. My aunt, eventually starts crying. It seems like the plan did not work.

The afternoon was filled with reminiscing and tears of joy. She is frail and has vision problems, my dad lends her his glasses to see if she can see better - she can, so we plan to find her some glasses (but with heavier prescription).

It's a short story but just think of warmth in your heart - that is what I felt all day long.

Oh wow Cambodia

2008-06-10T10:36:00.002-06:00

After a week in Vietnam, my family and I went to Cambodia. How do I describe it - beautiful palm trees in the middle of farm land where water buffalos are grazing in rice-like paddies. Huts built on stilts to avoid floods during the rainy seasons. And lilies bursting with bright blue skies laying as their background.

Beautiful country with utter devastation - we visited a water town - I mean they drink, urinate, cook, and travel using the same river supply of murky yellow water. The only thing I could think of throughout the whole thing was, they don't know. What I mean is - I saw a kid drink from the river, actually take a bowl, scoop some gritty dirty water and drink it. And you turn to the shores and there are kids, with their ingenuity, selling tourists plates with the tourist's pics on them (they snap a picture of you and then develop them and paste them on plates right away).

So I began to think. How could I help? If I give the beggers money it will only encourage them to beg. If I buy the kid's products it will encourage them to depend on tourists, what happens when the tourists stop coming? That's when I realized what I once realized before - education. Education not on ABC's, but the importance of clean water. But not just that, of how to build things to clean water. And so that was when I started looking around the village and realized that there were NGOs there doing just that. It wasn't a relief but a direction, a realization that hey, when I get back to Canada, I am either going to donate my time or money to these NGOs to help this country devastated by war.

I am too tall and too white to be in Vietnam

2008-06-01T08:19:00.003-06:00

I thought I could fit in - but it it is proving to be difficult.

First story comes when we are entering Cu Chi min tunnels. The price for entering is lower for locals and the driver helped my family buy local tickets thinking that we could pass as locals. We begin walking up to the entrance with the tickets - my dad hands them over, speaking in Viet. Now let me paint the picture - my aunt, dad, and mom, CAN speak Viet. My two cousins LOOK Viet, in fact, one is so tan he looks like he grew up there all his life, and the other is wearing a typical farmer's cone hat. And then there is me - pasty white and sweating.

I know enough Viet to get by - I can listen and understand but can rarely respond. So the guard looks around at everyone and says "it looks like you are not all locals."

Dad, in viet: "what are you talking about, of course we are."

My tan cousin - who knows absolutely no Viet is freaking out and thinking - don't ask me any questions.

Guard: " what about this one." points to me, "where are you from?"

Me: oh my god, my heart is beating like a rabbit's, and you can feel everyone around me holding their breath saying oh no. Thank god I understand what he is asking and I know I can respond: "I'm from here" - I say, glaring at him. Everyone sighs a breath of relief.

Eventually - we get let in, and our family tells us only to speak in Cantonese because there are many Chinese -Vietnamese in Vietnam. So, conversation among the younger generation, i.e. me, is limited throughout the tour. AND since he thinks we are 'locals' - we get the whole thing in Vietnamese.

In the end, he let us in -

The movies couldn't make me cry as much as Vietnam

2008-05-28T04:18:00.003-06:00

Vietnam is so amazing I am going have to skip over my summary of Hong Kong and skip right to it.

I never realized how many Cantonese people lived here in Vietnam and how much family I have. And here comes an amazing story.

My paternal grandma's sister is mute but she can hear. She married a guy who could not speak or hear. They adopted a child that was found by the mute sister in the streets. They adopted a second son whose family was escaping Cambodia - and the family sold the son to them. 10 years later that family comes back to find their son but their son does not go back with them, he stays with the family who brought him up. Somewhere in between the couple have a very beautiful baby but they were living out in the country and one night when the baby was sick, it was so dark they gave her the wrong medicine and she unfortunately died. The family move back to Saigon and they live in the house my dad grew up in now.

I met the brother in law and he is so amazingly down to earth that I started to cry. Then when my aunt told me about this story I started to cry again. It is so amazing.

----

My dad and I were walking back from the house he grew up in when I started asking him about the war. He said in 1975, the road that we were walking on was lined with dead bodies - with the heat coming down, the bodies blackened and swelled. He said the smell was unbearable.

It is stories like this that is making my trip so intense. I seriously want to write a book about my family.

---

In other news - I never knew the world had so many different fruits, thank you Vietnam!

We be flying to Hong Kong

2008-05-21T14:46:00.002-06:00

Long ago, during the years after the Vietnam war, a baby girl was chloroformed. Her parents, emigrating in the dead of night - feared the coast guard would capture them if their baby cried. So she was chloroformed and they sailed to Hong Kong. While at the harbour the dad was on the dock. The mom, carrying the chloroformed baby girl on the boat, realized that the boat behind them was catching fire. She panicked. She gave a crazed look at the dad, and the dad, knowing his wife for a little while now, said... oh crap. That's when the mom threw the girl. If the dad did not extend his arms to catch the chloroformed girl, she would not be alive today.

Years later the baby girl's sister would be flying back to Hong Kong.

I asked my dad if he could bring me to the spot where mom threw my sister - but he said that the harbour was a make-shift harbour at the time, it extended deep into the ocean/sea/water area. It would not exist today. My dad didn't like Hong Kong back then - saying the people there were rude - let's hope that this trip will prove that statement wrong - we had trouble convincing him to go back to Hong Kong.

T minus about 7 hours :)

I'm going to Lille, France!

2008-05-20T16:09:00.002-06:00

It's official (although my real acceptance won't be sent to me until later this month - I've been told, straight from the source, that I have been accepted to study at Universite de Catholique de Lille). Even though I am not Catholic, don't speak a lot of french (if you can even call my attempt of speaking speaking)... I've decided to push my boundaries to their limits and take my last three classes in a foreign country.

So - it kind of sounds like this year's travel plans will be as hectic as last year - but tougher - since I find out all my Lille info while in Vietnam, where as last year - I planned China and Montreal all at once during finals... but at least I was in one spot.

Oh well. Here's until tomorrow when I leave for Vietnam! And to add to random stories from my family, let's continue with my dad and the "one in a million girls" he could've chosen from in the factory. Upon announcing my decision to study in France a few months back, he asks "do you want to have my friend's address in Paris?"
"I think I'll be fine..."
"Are you sure? It's one of my ex's," Dad says, right in front of mother.
"...Uhhh, I think I'll be fine..." I respond, while eying mom's reaction.

T minus 2 days

2008-05-19T11:22:00.002-06:00

My passport says "Certificate of Visa Exemption" because my parents were born in Vietnam. I told my sister that I could come in and out of Vietnam as often as I like for a year. All I had to do was pay $100... enter my sister boiling it down for me: "basically it's a fancy visa - because you still had to pay to be "exempt"" ... whatever.

Wednesday May 21 Leave Edmonton
Friday May 23 Arrive in Hong Kong
Sunday May 25 Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City

Our return is scheduled for June 30 but we'll be changing that, hopefully for July 12 - since that is what we told everyone :) But who knows - maybe we'll stay longer :)

I'm off to Vietnam!

2008-05-17T17:38:00.003-06:00

and here's the kicker - it's with my parents - and it is their first trip back since emigrating.

So my question is how do you prepare for a trip bound to be so intense? Or maybe I don't - it might just be a HUGE shopping spree, a non-stop dinner, sensory overload, claustrophobic, sun intoxication, an "i want to strangle my family" kind of trip. So, because of these things running through my head I have stopped trying to "prepare" myself for the trip of a lifetime.

It has left me to reminisce about a past I know nothing about :) I am hoping that the factory where my parents met will still be standing - although my dad assures me "factory or no factory, we are walking through it and I'll give you a tour of the place even if I have to make it up." My parents met in a sewing factory. "She was one of a million other girls I could've chosen from" - is how my dad describes the experience. My mom was sitting in one of the many rows of girls sewing. My dad was the mechanic that fixed the machines.

Armed with stories like these my trip will delve deeper than any past travel I have taken - and I will share it with you. So check back regularly for random stories of the Cheung's and find out with me as I uncover my family history.

I'm so tired I could cry

2008-05-15T18:18:00.002-06:00

It's a moment of weakness as I realize how quick things are changing. I haven't really prepared as much as I should have... but here is the summary:

-This is my last week of work (although I will come back to work over the summer) - but doing knowledge transfer with 3 new staff members is tough when you missed 3 days of work because you were so sick. I was pretty useless today - explaining things but not really explaining things. Missing details as I was still sick. Trying to listen and brainstorm about "measurables" for a project - only to have my brain recite Rent's seasons of love lyrics - more specifically "how do you measure, measure a year... how about love????? how about love???" While singing this in my head I snap back to reality and blank out. Get asked a question and proceed to see question mark images surrounding my head. Sorry girls - but am pretty sure you will be okay when I leave - especially given how spastic my imagination gets.

-I am still sick - what has transformed from a fever to a fever cough, to a cough runny nose, to what i have now: a rumbling cough in my chest combined with a runny nose that deprives me of sleep.

-I took the wrong bus home today because I did not check the number on the bus - oddly enough I discovered a new efficient way home - with one more day of work left! haha

-I leave for Vietnam in 6 days. I am not prepared. My mentality is not prepared for the change in weather. This statement was proven today when I stepped out of the house and saw how green the grass was, how bright the sky was, only to start sweating when I was indoors. My hypothalamus is confused. Jacket on or off, on or off? In the end - be glad you did not see the fashion foe pah - socks with shoes that you are not suppose to wear socks with.

Top it all off - nothing like trying to nap at home only to have your mom make a commotion when she gets home making it impossible to sleep. Can you hear my heart weeping from exhaustion or is that my delirium talking?

But hey, it could be worse - I heard my sister is a lot sicker than I am. I hear you "suck it up princess" - I can't, the mucous has clogged my nasal cavity. Really - check out the garbage can - I killed a shrub this week with all the tissues I used.

Thanks for reading me vent. Tune in next time as I properly introduce my trip to Vietnam - the ultimate family history lesson. (It's my family's first trip back to Vietnam since emigrating).

New Music from "Old" artists...

2008-04-16T23:02:00.002-06:00

...by old I mean people who have been around for a while but have just hit my radar so they are new to me.

I love em Australians - can't wait to see her at Pemberton.

and I'm a bit bummed that MGMT canceled and are no longer coming to to Pemberton. (side note - I think they are younger than me :I)

Random thoughts to share

2008-04-01T23:18:00.003-06:00

1. John Mayer playing my favourite Justin Timberlake part of a song:

2. Kanye West teaming up with Chris Martin - them both being bald makes their silhouettes look the same...

3. Psyched about N.E.R.D and Matisyahu at Pemberton Fest. That's Right - I AM GOING!

4. Good run this season Oilers :) You got everyone's adrenaline pumping!

5. Earth Hour was a failure in Alberta due to Hockey Night in Canada (I helped contribute in Calgary - whose consumption actually increased during the hour). But - we can do other things to help with climate change/ global warming/ stopping the abuse of mother earth - Live Earth Solutions gives you some ideas.

6. And if you need more convincing, don't forget about the ice-shelf that fell recently... I wish that were an April Fool's Day Joke.

we have spirit

2008-03-22T16:15:00.002-06:00

(but i acknowledge the fact that this spirit is hard to maintain when the Oilers are not winning.)

Did you see the game today? The third period was crazy with back to back action!

Do you see the ETS buses roaming the streets with "Go Oilers Go" flashes? I love it when we support Oilers like that :)

Go young-ens! Go Oilers!

Look out Calgary Folkfest...

2008-03-18T23:14:00.002-06:00

...you have competition (good news is they are more expensive, and don't target the same target market, and have a weird mix of bands performing)...(bad news is it's on the same weekend as you, is in the neighboring province that shares your scenic mountains, and has many well-known artists...and plan to have the festival annually, and serve local organic food)

Pemberton Festival will have acts like coldplay, death cab, flaming lips, sam roberts, metric, wintersleep, SIA and if you're into them- nine inch nails, jay z, tom petty.

I can't seem to decide which one to opt for... to whom should i listen to - my piggy bank or my love of music... (well when i put it that way my answer is music). I guess it depends on WITH whom I will go with - hopefully my friends can help me vote on this :)- although I think they are encountering the same problem as me...

Missing China

2008-03-12T19:53:00.002-06:00

If you ever feel the need to "miss the time you went to China," please feel free to visit the nearest chinese grocery store (preferably one in chinatown).

If upon entering, the smell does not bring flashbacks of the streets in Beijing, continue walking down the aisles. If while in the frozen section the newly discovered frozen dumplings do not remind you of the run-down hole in the wall dumpling restaurants...continue down the aisle. If the frozen bean-sicle does not bring you memories of icecream on hot sweaty days...keep on trucking.

If after the whole experience you do not reminisce about anything... you must not have enjoyed your time in China - try traveling Europe or something.

10 bucks says my riding is the last to come in

2008-03-03T20:13:00.003-07:00

6:00 Off the bus, and on my way to vote.

6:05 I see school #1, I am certain I am suppose to vote at school #2, but check out #1 just in case. I go in, and am met with hospitality and no lineup - they inform me, school #2 is the school to go. Okay.

6:10 I am in school #2. It has two lineups. Alright. I lineup in line B, find out that it is for people who have not registered and switch to lineup A. I wait here for a while. I get to the front and see my brother's name, my mom's name, my dad's name (all of whom are not voting) and do not see my name. That's right people, I am not registered to vote...what?!?!

6:30 I am in line B registering to vote. And while in the line see so many problems - the inefficiency of the lineups (as we line up the voting stations are near empty because of this backlog); the lineups are long; people do not have two pieces of ID; People come to the wrong polling stations; and people cannot be helped when they show up at the wrong polling station (why do we not have computers to search this when it is available is beyond me). If I was not peer-pressured into voting I too would leave ;)

6:50 I am done and hungry (but don't worry, even when I saw all those problems, I smiled, talked to people in the lineup, said my thank-yous to the volunteers, and was in a chipper mood...catch me on another day though and you may be surprised). I leave and walk home and met with some dogs who like to bark... a lot.

7:00 I am home

CEED 2008

2008-03-03T20:01:00.003-07:00

C'mon AIESEC Canada - apply today!

English

French

Being sick has it's benefits, and non-benefits.

2008-03-02T22:49:00.003-07:00

One benefit being, wholly crap I watched a lot of movies while resting in bed this week:

1) Becoming Jane - I need to lay off the romantic movies because no guy will grab you and kiss you with such passion as the guy in this movie.

2) Electra - What a horrible movie. No one would fight in a red suit like that.

3) Robin Hood, Men in Tights - I re-watched this classic and love the random ways it is randomly funny.

4) The Assassination of Jesse James and something about a coward - The title says it all - long and boring. I admit I only watched this movie to see if I can guess where in Alberta the scenes were shot... after failing to do so, I proceeded to watch the "Legend of the Falls 2" movie... or the sequel of that fly fishing movie... that's what the narration reminded me of, that and Mr. BP.

5) Across the Universe - if only life were as beautiful, coulourful, musical as this movie. Sadly the only way to reach this state of being is taking drugs. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the ones I were on this week were not of that medicinal value.

Honourable mention - I was going to revisit Beauty and the Beast after watching the musical but I could not get my VCR to work (as it is not usually plugged in anymore). But, I have to say, love it as much as ever!

Now the non-benefit of being sick is of course being sick. Doing chores and having the wind knocked out of you comes to mind... Feeling sleepy while grocery shopping... wanting to go to bed but cannot as parents are out of town and I need to get stuff done... like feed myself.

The tipping point

2008-02-24T16:13:00.002-07:00

Watch as politics rears its ugly head. I never thought I would see the day Hillary Clinton would mock another (watch the video). I attended a famous five luncheon weeks prior where women praised Hillary Clinton for setting an example for women to run in politics. The luncheon mentioned that many women do not go into politics because it is so verbally abusing. How sad that the woman that they looked up to proved the barrier on why women should not run.

For those who were undecided in the political race down south, I think this video from Hillary Clinton made the decision for them. How can you make fun of someone who is trying to inspire a nation? I do not think this is a step a true leader would make, but then again, perhaps Hillary Clinton REALLY wants to show her true human side.

I'll get off my butt if you get off yours

2008-02-21T21:42:00.005-07:00

But I'll get off my butt either way, I just hope you join me.

I am not a hippie (I do study business afterall), but when I think of all the problems in the world I become overwhelmed and frustrated. I know that I will need to do something in my future career whether through volunteering or running a nonprofit. But what about now? I encourage everyone to do something (but not everything - otherwise you'll experience what many in the nonprofit experiences - burnout). Start today.

I've been reading Notes from Canada's Young Activists and am only halfway through it but have come to the conclusion that everyone needs to read it and become aware of our potential as Canadians. An inspiration to make people think - wholly crap, I CAN change the world.

Here are a couple of interesting links (I've only read halfway through the book):

1. The Otesha Project challenges us to change our consumption behaviours to ensure sustainability - for example - when drinking coffee - is it fair trade coffee? Is it in a reusable cup? Did you drive or walk to purchase the coffee?

2. If I was an engineer I would participate in Engineers without Borders. They provide sustainable solutions to underdeveloped countries. They focus on long term instead of giving short term solutions.

3. Framework Foundation combines my love for the arts and gives back to the community through an innovative timeraiser event.

These are stories upon stories of ordinary Canadians who decided to do extra-ordinary things - read the book - it will open your eyes.

I applaud you for your efforts

2008-02-21T21:15:00.001-07:00

...if life were that simple, you wouldn't need to try.

Inspiration

2008-02-12T19:50:00.003-07:00

It's American but relevant. I love music, and when you are successful in melding it together with something like politics...it makes me love music even more.

Go vote. Check out information on 'Volunteers Vote,' a project I am working on at Volunteer Alberta.

CEEDing the world one leadership opp at a time

2008-02-12T18:23:00.003-07:00

I received an email from one of the CEEDers (Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development - Canadians who volunteered for AIESEC in another country last summer) and she updated us on where everyone was this year:

Richard: (Canada) Ryerson President
Rochelle: (Canada) McGill President
Eric: (Canada) Edmonton Vice President Exchange
Melissa: (Sweden) Internship
Messalina: (Netherlands) Internship
Karrolyn: (Netherlands - India - Canada) Internship, travel, then the government
Marina: (Canada) Vice President Exchange
Layial: (Canada) Vice President Talent Management
Harshitha: (Canada) Studying
Stephanie: (Spain) Studying
Mathieu: Internship?
Duncan: (Canada) Studying and graduating!
Brian: (Canada) Working
Manry: (Ecuador) Vice President Exchange
Julie: (Vietnam) Vice President Exchange

Anyways, as jealous as I am, I am amazed and inspired by the group of people who I shared a weekend with.

Awkward, socially awkward.

2008-02-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

A group of East Indians get on a bus...no, this is not the beginning of a joke, it is the beginning of my workday. I bus to work everyday from Millwoods, aka "little India." Every morning at the back of the bus you can catch the middle-aged men enjoying their conversation and smiling. This is where I sit, this is wear I plug into my mp3 and sleep. Once in a while I wake and glimpse one of the gentlemen smiling. Once in a while, out of the kindness of their hearts, they wake me up once we get to downtown (even though my stop is the last stop and I usually wake before that).

Even though a couple of weeks ago I told myself not to always listen to my mp3 so I can engage in social conversation, I have rarely done so. Today, the excuse was because I recently acquired Matt Costa's new CD and wanted to figure out if his CD was incentive enough to purchase tickets to his concert next week.

So begins my day with Matt Costa singing to me "words always sound much better coming out of someone else, but put it in a song and I know that we can get along." Along comes one of the Indian gentlemen and he sits beside me smiling and saying "morning." I smile back, but am immediately engulfed with a sense of "oh my gosh creeper." That's when I realized, what the hell, why am I so fearful, when did I grow into this non-social and skeptical person? We continue the bus-ride in silence, mostly because, I still have my mp3 on. I usually fall asleep but I didn't today. When we get downtown, and he is getting off the bus, he says "Thank you." ??? "Have a good day!" Okay... "Have a good day!" I respond.

Am I not the most socially awkward person you know? I even had the thought "this is going in my blog," not "I should talk to my friends about this." But I bet you, this is how people in my generation act and respond. And we wonder why "older people" don't get us! Or perhaps it's just me. Any who, goal for this week, talk to an Indian Gentlemen.

I taught my mom how to turn on a computer

2008-01-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've tried "teaching" my mom things before - it never went well. Most times she just wanted me to do it. But today, she finally showed interest in "today's technology" when I told her that she could call her friend from the states for free using the computer (I had skype credits that needed to be used).

My mother's friend from Vietnam called her randomly at the beginning of the year telling her that his daughter was getting married and that he was gathering their high school graduation class to come celebrate. This was done through phone-calls and calling friend's of friends for phone numbers. That's when I realized how spoiled we were with the ease of keeping in contact with friends we make around the world. He said that a majority of the class was going to go to the wedding - I can only hope that one day a group of my friends would want a reunion like that.

So eventually we hook everything up and she contacts her friend - screaming into the mic of course (mom, you don't have to scream!) And apparently, I visited my mom's friend when I was younger: She asks, do you remember me? (I tell her yes with insistent nods from my mother - and I eventually realize I do remember her two kids). Turns out that her son is the same age as me - enter my mom trying to set us two "kids" up.

All in all, the generation gaps, the present-day attempts of "match-making," and the laughter from my mom as she talked to long lost friends - provided some good ol' joy and entertainment :).

A story warranted for non-face-to-face contact

2007-12-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

I would never share this story with you in person, because I would only gain the reaction "okay..." Thank god for the internet, or I would like to call it "the venue to share stupid stories and not care what others think."

So today in the office, I was a bit tired - and do you know the point where you are tired and everything around you - every small, tiny, not usually funny thing, suddenly becomes hilarious? This was my state of being.

As I was eating a granola bar by my laptop, peeling the wrapper from the bar like a banana, I had a sudden vision - that the exposed half of my granola bar would land on the touch pad of my laptop when low and behold - it happened! It split from the bottom half of the granola bar still in the wrapper and plunked onto the laptop! But the thing is - you (or I) would expect that the whole vision would happen in slow motion - I have obviously been watching too many movies and television. But it didn't! It was qucik! A split second! A magnetic pull from my touch pad to the granola bar, the granola bar, unable to resist, time travels to the touch pad.

Anyway, after this whole "fiasco," I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself with actual tears streaming down my face. It was quite sad.

S
A
D

sad.

Carol's Top five concerts

2007-12-08T17:58:00.001-07:00

TOP STORY (not to be confused with toy story): A dramatic adjustment has been made to 'Carol's Top Five concerts' after a fantasmic concert last night. Most notable is a new number one: franz ferdinand/ death cab for cutie has been knocked out of the number one spot and has been replaced by... Bedouin Soundclash/ Matt Costa/ Saint Alvia Cartel.

1. Bedouin Soundclash/ Matt Costa/ Saint Alvia Cartel, Starlite Room, Edmonton, December 7, 2007. Why? Front row, and my sister and I discovered how down to earth 2/3rds of the band was (we only met two of the three after the show)

2. Franz Ferdinand/ Death Cab for Cutie, Shaw Conference Center, Edmonton, April 25, 2006. Why? the band randomly drumming the drums at the end of the show and the fact a good friend put me on her shoulders for one of the songs :)

3. Hawksley Workman, McDougall United Church, Edmonton, March 10, 2007. Why? The sex noises and random swears in a church is quite comical...

4. Built to spill, National, Montreal, 12 juillet 2007. Pourquoi? Because this was the day I decided to get off my ass and not fall into the deadly trap of jetleg from beijing; pick a random concert; find someone random to go with; and just giver. plus there were random art work on a slideshow behind the band during the show :)

5. undecided: pk14 in beijing, the drunken shenanigans from the duhks in calgary, the sweaty sam roberts in the starlite room, hey ocean in montreal, the police in montreal - it probably is the police, because we had side front row seats and purchased $100 tix for only $50...and we were so close we saw detailed the tight emo pants sting was wearing.

This post is dedicated High fidelity, recently visited and reminisced about.

Now to start my coop report about my "career goals" due in a week. Am I ready to BS my way through something? I'm not comfortable lying... weather written or verbal (which reminds me, we recently volunteered for festival of trees and i was manning the santa claus den, children were asking if that was the real santa... I lied ALOT during those 4 hours of my life - I hope i did not scar anyone for life!).

101 reasons why not to shop at Walmart supercentres

2007-11-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

Their 101 aisles.

The car crash

2007-11-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

As I was walking to work today, listening to my mp3, i heard something... but didn't think twice. I kept walking, and looking up, realized that the "something" I heard - was a jeep rollover at an intersection by my house. Shock enveloped me - this is something you see in movies, not in real life. Random people drove onto the nearby grass to get out of traffic's way - not to gawk, but to pull the lady in the passenger side out of the car on its back. Her husband, who was driving, was half way out of the window - but was stuck there. I called 911. They asked if I needed an ambulance, police, or a firetruck. I meant to say "all of the above" but said "both" instead. She said it was called in already and someone was on their way. And sure enough - sirens came blaring towards me. I ran for my bus, not wanting to be late for work.

My thoughts during the whole series of events?
-one time my grade six teacher said that we - students, and everyone, are being so detached from life, not talking to each other because we listen to our music and shut the world out - from this event, I have to agree.
-the empathy that people felt as they rushed towards the car scene to help (not caring that the car may be leaking) - was heartwarming
-the moment when that empathy was happening, I was thankful no media or police were around - it was the peace before the chaos (even when the scene itself was chaotic). The people in the car crash scene even seemed calm - although, it was probably shock.

Then as I rode my bus to work, I thought: why rush? Why did I rush to go to work and not help. I'm not sure if I could've done anything but stare but talking to my mom today - she said that the car roll over might have been from them rushing. I didn't think so since there was frost on the roads this morning. But combining the "why rush?" thought with what I learned this weekend - about how Brazilians are always late because out of respect, when they meet people they know on the way to a meeting, they stop to talk to them. - Combining all this together made me realize: stopping to interact with people weather by not rushing or not always listening to my mp3, goes a long way, because as Don Cheadle said: the one thing that separates us from other species, or connects us as a species - is our ability to empathize.

CEED Closure

2007-11-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

A weekend of debriefing from the Centre for Intercultural Learning in Toronto has provided some much needed closure for the participants of the Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development participants (including me!).

I was able to give a lot of suggestions to improve the program - which was one of my main goals when I attended the session. But I got so much more out of it:

1. Realizing that the Canadian International Development Agency is unrealistic with the short term assignments they send people on. Honestly, how can we change the world in two months?
2. I learnt a great deal on communicating with another culture - even when I am a Chinese born Canadian trying to communicate with the Chinese!
3. Frustrations that I felt were shared among the other participants who went to Jordan, Pakistan, brazil, india, and togo.
4. Found out that dreams and ambitions that we have are laced with deeper values - and that I should try to reach the values, and not necessarily the facade that covers it.
5. Realizing when people say that Canadians are rich, they mean rich in opportunities.

Overall, the psychological analysis, the packaging of our experience (it was not a trip! it was a second life, a life-changing experience!), and the many learnings - have left me wanting more. And because I am rich in opportunities, I will not let them slip by, because how could you face someone with nothing if you do?

Genocide is still happening

2007-11-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there is still genocide in today's world?

You learn something new everyday. I watched Darfur Now today, a documentary following six lives around the world and their struggle to solve the problems of rape, murder, displacement, hunger of the people in Sudan. The film was great at creating awareness and as always with world issues asks the question - what can you do? Feeling helpless is often the outcome but what the people in the movie showed - you can always do something, it might seem small and trivial, but it is something. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

In my own backyard

2007-11-03T21:09:00.000-06:00

From November 1-2, 2007 I attended the Communities without Boundaries conference held in Olds, Alberta. The conference was about the Alberta SuperNet, a broadband, high-speed internet that enables high quality video-conferencing, e-learning, e-health, and other tech-savvy innovations that will come. My first thought when I heard of this SuperNet was "so what? If I wanted video-conferencing I can just use skype." It wasn't until I went to the conference that I discovered how isolated rural Alberta was. Communities face a shortage of doctors and nurses; they do not have enough students to justify the teaching of subjects; and some internet service providers do not extend their networks to some rural citizens because it isn't worth it.

Enter the Government of Alberta, they invested and connected over 400 communities in Alberta to the SuperNet - a first government initiative in the world that connects a region so sparse in population. What does this mean? I like to refer to it as "Alberta is the new Singapore." Wishful thinking? Maybe. But it means communities will thrive and the quality of life will improve for everyone. Citizens can manage e-business without leaving their community. We will be able to market Alberta as a small town friendly place to live while having a successful business.

There is however a huge hurdle to overcome, getting Albertans aware of the SuperNet's availability and ensuring that they know how to use the internet and be innovative in it's use. Lots of money to be made for those entrepreneurs ;). There are also concerns from non-internet savvy people - they fear that "the new generation" would be too attached to their computers and become socially awkward. I see their point - I tend to check face-book way too often - but I also see the other side of the coin - I am able to socialize with people across the globe through face-book. Besides, just because I am using the internet it doesn't mean I do not socialize - I am heading out right after this post.

It's great to see this initiative and it will require a lot of leaders in the communities to push us forward. But at least I know that I do not have to travel the world to live in an innovative and challenging environment. (But of course I am still going to travel - but now when I say I'm from Alberta, people may actually know where that is!)

WRC Broughten.

2007-10-13T20:29:00.000-06:00

Why this conference was so memorable will surprise you. It wasn't just for the fantastic after hour socializing... but because of connections made, rekindled and revisited. Deals were made. Countries to visit.

My aiesec XP kick started at WRC 2004 - where aiesec edm won the spirit keg. Well, this conference - we won it once more - giving me the best first and last WRC of the "aiesec career." ... I received an award for completing the aiesec experience... but I'm not done... yet.

In other conference news: I am headed to a conference about the supernet internet connection in rural Alberta and how to use it. This will not be anything like an AIESEC conference...
a) anyone else I know going to this one?
b) how does a non-aiesec conference compare to an aiesec one - I've only heard bad reviews...

Bringing it back to WRC

2007-10-03T21:45:00.000-06:00

!I am pumped. I just planned a session with someone from BC for Western Regional Conference 2007 and am ready to "share" with all the newbies my XP as OCP and CEEDer. Bring on the acronyms, the memories, and the spirit! Speaking of acronyms, the non-profit sector has a lot...

Here is an ode to wrc.
To the countless amounts of T-shirts I've accumulated over the years (I have more than the three days of the conference and am sure I am getting yet another one!)
To the memories.
To the friends.
To the massive amount of pictures that I have taking up space on the computer.
To new acquaintances, memories, t-shirts, pictures and friends!

New job, bedroom, and season

2007-09-11T21:41:00.000-06:00

I am back in Edmonton, have not finished my CEED report but been adjusting to life back at home. I know what you are asking: haven't you been home for about a month now?

The answer? kind of. After Montreal I went to Toronto for a couple of days, came back home and started applying for coop jobs left, right and center. I went camping in Canmore with my aunt and cousins, and went to visit the Calgary zoo (third zoo of the summer and still my favourite). Had three coop interviews and one phone interview for a job in Calgary but decided to accept an extremely challenging one at Volunteer Alberta where I will be working as a Projects Coordinator.

Meanwhile my aunt from Vietnam was visiting so we basically had a dinner party every night until she left (August 31st.) Also, one of my cousins moved to Philadelphia to study (he got a pretty wicked scholarship), while three younger cousins started University this year - I may see them next semester on campus... weird.

And! I got to move into a bigger bedroom! And new glasses!

All this during my last weeks of "summer" - which felt like fall - you never realize how cold Edmonton is until you go to somewhere warmer....

Anyway, the reason for this post is just to mark a new chapter in my life.

BUT STOP calling my cellphone - I don't have it anymore - that is one thing "new" I did not get - and the new person who has my number now is probably cursing my name!

Trickles of Summer in my daily life

2007-08-17T13:58:00.000-06:00

1. I bite into a Chinese bun in Toronto and forget that there is paper on the bottom - dam, so much more convenient in China! At first I thought - ok, this bun is a little more chunky then I'd like - and then I realize I'm eating paper.

2. I sort through my clothes and throw out two garbage-full bags not because they are old or out of season - but because all the beer drinking I did this summer gave me a "gut" - as someone so elegantly put it.

3. I listen to Madonna on a bus ride to the "welcome home party" from AIESEC Edmonton - and discover that Madonna is saying something in french - not only that - I discover that I understand it! (Je suis desolee)

These are the small trickles of how my trips have affected me in my daily life. I've yet digested what I learned from my trips or how much I adapted to other cultures - but these small surprises slap me in the face to remind me - oh ya, I had a blast this summer.

Now, back at home, you would think I would be able to relax - but reports, applications for jobs, things to sort out for school, and family in general (including relatives visiting from Vietnam, Calgary, states, and where-ever else I have relatives) are time-consuming. Not complaining - just glad to be a different sort of busy (compared to my summer).

"Why is it that when I call your cellphone a weird person picks up and it's gibberish - bleu blah bleu, beu beu, bah?"
"I lost my cellphone in China Dad." I complete the rest of the sentence in my head: due to drunken shenanigans.

Tout le monde ass to the side!

2007-08-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

Ya getting instructions in french may be a good way to learn the language - but in the meantime the lack of understanding is hazardous to all involved!

EXAMPLE A
The explore program students went dragon boating today - and we learned how to do it in french! So here we are - a whole bunch of beginners with the bare minimum understanding of french receiving instructions from a french instructor. Not too bad - it just took us a tad bit longer then if we were to learn it in english. But with this learning in french business -we were scared of tipping over.

So we split off into two boats - our boat wins - and being the cocky bunch that we are - we start rubbing it in their face. And of course karma always has it's way - our boat starts to sway A LOT - we start to scream, totally embaressing ourselves in front of the "losers," - but we luckily do not fall in all because of some frenchlish that was used by our instructor - "tout le monde (everyone!), ass to the side!" - having your ass lined up to the side really does help balance the boat!

Moral of the story - a little english goes a long way. Or is the moral of the story not to be cocky...

Montreal in pictures

2007-07-31T15:38:00.000-06:00

I am procrastinating...

1. School trip to the beach an hour outside of montreal - I love blue sky!
2. Just for Laughs festival - a festival of "funny" performances. Floats and confetti! it's Mr. Bean!

3. The biodome/ olympic - a zoo and the olympic thing... from 1967 - basically - a momento with a good view...
4. Notre Dam Basilica
5. The police concert
6. The Gay Pride Parade.
7. Picnic Electronic - a sunday rave in the park :)
8. Montreal Graffiti

Je suis contente

2007-07-19T18:35:00.000-06:00

Bonsour!

Shall we backtrack? The last days in Beijing were spent sight seeing on a tight budget (I spent all my money and was unable to get my hands on more -eek!) BUT - that did not prevent me from hitting sanlitun one last time and somehow loosing my cellphone on my last night in Beijing - honestly - I was able to last two months without that happening! Good news is someone found it - bad news is the pricetag associated with mailing that baby back to Canada.

So begins my Montreal trip. Yes, I flew straight from Beijing to Montreal - I landed on the night of Sunday July 8 and started classes the following morning (I am learning french through the Je Explore program). The week was filled with jet-leg and shock as I met a pinch of the 400 other Canadians who were participating in the program. By July 12 however, I was fed up with my jetleg and googled Indie concerts to catch - amazingly I found one by Built to Spill (said to have influenced Death Cab for Cutie and Modest mouse)- and so I set forth with a new found newfie friend.

The arrival of the weekend: Sigh - three simple words - I LOVE MONTREAL. The weekend was amazing!
Friday: FREE Reggae fest featuring Kymoni Marley (son of Bob Marley).
Saturday: St. Catherine Street's big street sale that happens once a year - people from the states and ontario drive up for this event... I buy lots including winter boots (I realize I will not be able to use them this season but winter will creep up soon enough), but only spend $170; I also caught David Usher performing for free at this street sale :) The street sale is followed by a Creole festival and the International Fireworks festival - US was presenting that night and did an excellent montage of Elvis songs and fireworks.
Sunday Tam Tam - Every sunday people get together to play drums and dance in the park - enough said. Oh - while this is happening, grownups dress up in mid-evil clothes and battle each other in another side of the park... this event is for those who never want to grow up or who enjoy fighting...

And pray tell how is my week shaping up compared to my weekend? I have visited the Just for laugh festival, had the best yoga class I ever had - for free, had a visit from my parents, aunt, cousin, and uncle, visited the complimentary hot tub and sauna on campus, saw the Canadian fireworks, went cyclo-ballade...yes, je suis contente.

This weekend? African festival, probably fireworks once more, electronic picnic "festival," a visit to the beach, maybe a visit to Laronde - the amusement park, and possibly a visit to Just for Laughs once more.

Until next time, a bientot!

Long awaited update

2007-07-04T04:00:00.000-06:00

It's been a while - I see that someone commented on the last post but I can't open it to view it!!! For all I know you are probably swearing at me - no worries I'll soon be in Canada and will have full access.

Over the week in Wuhan I got to know the 18 interns pretty well - it is incredible - the aiesec chapter only is 9 months old and they have 18 interns with two more in interviews!! I was there training members on how to do aiesec and absolutely enjoyed my time there.

Wuhan enjoyable moments:
- hanging with the interns and eating with four of them at a hole in the wall place - literally. quite the culture shock for them - and when i announced that I've eaten at worse, including one where - I ate at it and the following week it disappeared - after hearing that they were more shocked
- touring around wuhan without the locals as a tourguide - lots of questions asked on directions but the feeling of triumph once reaching your destination is awesome!
- feeling like I was in Cuba - let's face it - this China trip has become known as the Remnants of Cuba trip.

From Wuhan I rushed off to Qingdao - a beach city that once was owned by a Kaiser - if I thought I was in Cuba before - hello! This would remind me even more of it. Highlights included:
-trying to sleep on the train ride down on hard seats - at one point Steph (US) was sleeping on two of us
-getting a tan and seeing everyone ELSE but me get sun burnt
-the seafood hotpot and rediscovering my love for clams and mussels
-a climb through a damp, dark, cool mountain
-parachute surfing or whatever you call it

A random from the trip:
-discovering at the train station that we got tickets for the wrong day and the train was sold out - people have to work the following day and so we need to leave tonight - after about an hour of research/negotiations, we are able to find a bus home to Beijing - arrival time? 8am - people were late for work but hey the made it. This is a nightmare from the book for travelers - but it was fun to deal with.

Until next time (probably Montreal), zaijian!

Homesick for Beijing?

2007-06-19T04:20:00.000-06:00

Blogspot is blocked by the government in Beijing so I can't see my blog but I CAN update it mwahaha.

Currently I am in Woooo hun! (Wuhan). It reminds me of Hangzhou - it has an east lake and on my arrival I discovered that it was raining - the hot humid type of rain - I feel like I am in some tropical desert! The funny thing is as soon as the locals showed me where I was staying I started feeling homesick - for Beijing! It is quite the shock! I thought I would be homesick for Edmonton - but nope! For Beijing! In Beijing there is always a hustle and bustle at home - but here, everyone is in classes and I am currently the only one living in the apartment...I miss people.

Last week was full of dinners and going aways for interns and CEEDers. I said goodbyes and "see you soons" to people from Poland, US, Netherlands, and Brazil. It is sad - but I will cherish the friendships that I made and feel grateful for meeting these people. It is always hard to travel and make friends only to lose them - but as someone told me here - a new adventure begins to visit friends made in the future ;) [Check out Asia and I getting lost (again) on our way to one of the farewell parties]

We also went to the beach - kind of - on the weekend. We went to BeDaiHe and bussed to ShanHuaGuan where the great wall meets the ocean. Took a quick dip in the ocean but after fearing the pollution from the factory several meters away - and David's eyes beginning to burn... we hopped out and bussed home to eat some way too spicy, burn your lips, make you tear when all you do is blow your nose - lamb/chicken/beef on a stick. (check out the beach/great wall pics on the link to your right).

An update about Wuhan will soon come - as soon as it stops raining and I can start my adventures! I am here for a week- then off to QingDao Beach - then a week of touristy stuff in Beijing - and then fly to Montreal to learn french!!!

Random China part 2ish

2007-06-11T09:43:00.000-06:00

"No Drugs and Nuclear Weapons Allowed"
-crap! I guess we have to go somewhere else guys! - This sign was in front of the hard-rock cafe - a joke I am sure?

The day I took this picture was the day I visited the doctor. I had been experiencing two weeks worth of intestine pains - I would wake up everyday and there would be a shot of pain through my lower abdomen...And I was beginning to get a sore throat. The service was great - they took my blood, they spoke english... I was unable to give a stool sample ... ahem, moving on. It was great service - until I found out that each individual test they performed was 30 USD! Total pricetag? About $380 - moral of the story - never get sick in China. Anyways, for the past week I've been sick in bed. This weekend I was coughing non-stop, trying to sleep -only to be awaken by coughing fits. The good news is the antibiotics for my stomach started working - however I just ran out and today the pain came back - but not as strong. I think my coughs have died down a tad bit too?? - Here's hoping I get well soon because I only have 4 weeks left in China!

But let's end on a happy note! I did a test run of a pancake breakfast yesterday to prepare for Canada Day - it went well! I didn't have to do most of the cooking haha - Wicki (the Danish Ceeder) and Natalie (the VP MD from austrailia/Finland) and Tracy (a girl from Shanghai) helped - a lot. We made banana pancakes - first time ever! We cooked it into the pancakes but in the end discovered that it was better to save the banana pieces as toppings... did this all on a gas stove - it was interesting...

Happy note number 2 - re-meeting Canadians that I met from past conferences in China. Karrolyn (Canadian Ceeder heading to Togo) dropped by and we had peking duck. She brought with her two Canadians - one who is currently working in Beijing (Chris), the other headed to Ghana (Rupert). I love how small the world is! It was an enjoyable blast from the past!

MoC MC House

2007-06-04T00:20:00.000-06:00

This is where I live - Mainland of China Member Committee House - or hostel as it has become to be known. I was talking to my family while this was filmed - the loud girl talking in the background. The second last room in the video - that is where I live - on the ground in the hole ;).

Now that you've seen where I live - let's get to know the room-mates! I bunk with the Aussie and Denmark(y?) - and a girl from Taiwan who is not in the video.

One month anniversary

2007-06-03T01:39:00.000-06:00

That is right. On Thursday I have officially been in Beijing for a month. And - quoting the micky d's commercials - I'm loving it! My week flies by and so do the weekends - I feel like I've been here for only a week! Life here is surreal - I feel like I've hit it big, been successful - but I've done nothing! For example, friday night there was an alumni gathering in the fortune tower - we had it in the PWC office! It was so beautiful and wonderful!

This was followed by a picnic in the park on saturday with interns all over the world- followed by a walk down 798. 798 is the most amazing art district I have ever encountered. I could not believe my eyes - didn't think a place as sophisticated as this would exist in China. It had coffee shops around the corner, art galleries, restaurants and bookstores. They had an art walk with complimentary wine, a presentation about how graffiti was blooming in China, followed by a preview of "I Heart Beijing." - So far I am still uncertain if this is a play or movie. I think it is a play. It was comical, the scene they had was describing how an ABC (American Born Chinese) was feeling stupid because when she would speak mandarin - it wasn't that good - and everyone thought she was stupid. And then friends would introduce her as their Japanese friend. I related to the story - people think I'm Korean, and it is exasperating to say that I'm Canadian - because then they say - but you are not white. I end up saying - yes, I am Korean - just like how the girl has ended up saying yes, I am Japanese.

This little art walk was followed by a random meeting of some people from the Switzerland embassy - we had dinner with them and I just couldn't believe my life. The night before I bumped into the Swedish drummer of the Indie concert I was at two weekends ago and we started talking on the street. AND! The day of - I bumped into the girl who had a house party three weeks ago! Life here in Beijing - incredibly random and surreal! I just hope that I am not getting too spoiled and missing the true Chinese culture - but I think I am falling into that trap :S

SiMaTai Great Wall of China

2007-05-28T08:27:00.000-06:00

I went to the great wall of china two years ago and was met with a "meh" kind of feeling. This time however, we went to the steepest portion of the Great Wall and I was blown away! The scenery, the right amount of sunshine and breeze, the lack of other tourists were perfect! Minus the sunburn I got of course. We climbed pretty far - almost to the very top - but then had to head back because our bus was leaving. However, on the way down - we were tired and our legs started to twitch so... we took a zipline down the wall (click here to see the video) which was quickly followed by a boat-ride. A great conclusion to a day trip.

Skirt the dress

2007-05-26T02:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my skirt was a dress - and the belt, usually wrapped around the waist, was wrapped below the bosom to make a 20's style dress.

We were in the middle of Beijing - a city preparing for the 2008 Olympics - modern and big - we were on a rooftop terrace for a 20s themed office party and were accompanied by a pianist, a wii, barbeque, and other 20s costumed guests. It was surreal - a page from The Great Gatsby - as if the bourgeoisie invaded us at that moment.

We met a Swedish professor teaching human rights at Peking University and socialized with interns from Ireland, Netherlands, UK, France, US, the list goes on. The liquid language of choice for conversations was English. As always, the last remnants of conversation boiled down to who would win the US presidential elections next year.

It's times like these I wonder "how did I get here?" How can fiction be so factual?

Today, my dress is a skirt, the belt below my bosom is now relaxed around my waist - a page from The Chronicles of Carol.

Indie Rock

2007-05-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

Yes! - One thing to do in Beijing is off my list - and it left me wanting more. At first I was skeptical - really? Chinese Indie rock? I mean - I heard of Chinese pop - or as I would call - the Chinese version of JT - and I want to kill myself after hearing it for an hour... how would I feel about indie rock?

On saturday, I went to a live indie rock concert in the middle of Beijing beside a drive in theater - and I could only describe this location by what I was feeling - in awe. It was everything a little indie bar needed to be - a place to drink outside, a small venue for the intimate feeling, and cheap beers that swam down your throat.

The band - 3 chinese people and a swedish drummer - were great! The set was short but it made me fall in love with indie again - even if it was mandarin and I only understood half of what the singer was saying. The bass and drums just carried me back to the starlight room back in Edmonton - I love concerts.

We met the band after - but only to loose them after the taxi ride. Flashback to calgary when we met a grammy nominated band and I freaked the lead singer out with my stalkerish quality of asking the same questions over and over again - sorry, I tend to forget quite easily when I am drunk. Don't worry - I don't think it happened this time again - although that would explain how we lost the band...

Overall - f-ing A good time and gong-show!

Random Bus Conversations

2007-05-17T10:19:00.000-06:00

...all in one bus ride

The Cat Story
Chinese girl: "My cat ran away for three months, and then my dad found him, and she had babies after a while, and then a couple of months later she had more babies."
me: wow, your cat is very promiscuous...
her: pro-mis....
me: your cat likes to...
her: likes to...
me: your cat likes to...
her: ...
me: let's move on.

Military Training (In the first person of the Chinese person)
All children in China have to go to military training. It lasts for two weeks where it is endurance training out in the sun. Even if you are a girl, you have to do it. My friend was allergic to the sun and she still had to do it, no exceptions. They have military training so we know how soldiers feel. My dad wants me to do it again because he says I am lazy. They make you run 1070 meters starting at noon. Some children do it three times, some just once, depends on what school you are from.

Wash your hair with rice water
What? The jist is - on the bus, there are flashes of "fun facts." I was reading one: You should reuse your rice water to wash your laundry...oh okay, what? This tidbit was to improve the environment. I asked my friend about it - and then she said you should actually wash your hair with the same water you wash your rice with. (really?) Ya! It makes your hair milky soft! (Okay! Right, I'll get on it!)

I got hit by a bike (again)

2007-05-17T06:49:00.000-06:00

Story is - two years ago, as the teacher stated "You do not have right of way here, make sure you watch where you are going," - I replied "I'm pretty sure if we cross as a group we will not get hit" - as those words left my mouth - A bike hit my leg - okay - mental note - watch where I am going.

Goal for this China trip was to NOT get hit by a bike - I failed my goal. It was early in the morning, I was following a random girl and all of a sudden - Bang! A handle bar hit my arm and the guy struggled to regain his balance as I was in shock. I turned around and saw that he was still disoriented - and now being a true Beijinger - I shrugged my shoulders and walked on. In Canada I would usually see if he was okay - but when in China - be as rude as they are ;)

AND then!!! I had the funnest bus ride ever! The bus driver had diarrhea - he stopped the bus and ran away. He came back after a couple of minutes - and then the gong show began. Picture a bus full of people - literally back to back - one of those you don't even need to hold anything because other people are holding you up - THIS bus, is speeding down the street because we are late. It stops to let people off, let people on, and then the ticket lady at the back of the bus shouts " go! go! go!" - this happens for three stops - the most comical bus ride I had EVER had!

This was followed by a meeting that we had where a Chinese girl and I (mostly the chinese girl) tried to sell AIESEC to the company. I loved this because it was motivational to see someone to market so well for her first marketing call. I could not ask for a better person to meet with - the guy was genuine and nice!

A day at the ZOO

2007-05-14T07:48:00.000-06:00

My favourite is probably the baby on the mommy monkey :) The saddest thing in the zoo? - the tucan bird that lost the top of it's beak somehow :(

So! the day at the zoo was kind of funny. I had 3 hours of sleep the night before so was moving like molasses. Right outside the zoo were dinosaurs because there was a pre-historic museum there - I felt like I was at the Calgary zoo.

Upon entering the zoo - the very first thing I saw- and I thought, what? really? - were Canadian geese. Wow - first the dinosaurs then the geese - did I travel back to Canada and not know it?

Pandas, oh my - these are nice ones, but there was one dirty, patchy and tre sad one :(

Overall impression - zoos are pretty much the same everywhere and... I think I grew out of the phase when zoos were once fun haha. And yes - some parts were sad - I still like the Canadian (Calgary and Vancouver - the only ones I visited) the best.

China is Random

2007-05-10T07:51:00.000-06:00

...and so is this post, welcome to a day in my life in China - narrated via photos.

That's right - a leopard skin bike seat!

Hey - who needs staples when you gots this!

I broke my nail - it ripped off - and the thing is - I have no clue how.

I think I have big feet

2007-05-08T03:12:00.000-06:00

...that's why people keep on staring at my feet, even if they are NOT in flip flops and are in Puma knock offs. Or perhaps they are so afraid of eye contact that they have nothing to stare at but my feet.

Right now I am sitting in the MC's (member committee/national team) house and am researching on what companies to contact and how to go about doing my job here... I needed a break so decided to blog.

Random funnies:
1. Going to the bookstore in China and encountering the "English Gramma" section.
2. Walking down the streets and realizing that I need to pay attention because I have no right of way - no worries people! I haven't been hit by a bike OR car yet - but I don't plan to.
3. Having the ability to reminisce about the time I had a Korean BBQ night in Beijing with the Chinese MC team including a Costa Rican, a Britain, CEEDer from Denmark, CEEDer from Australia, Intern from Poland... I really hope I did not forget anyone - and some general members of AIESEC :)
4. Walking down the street and hearing backstreet boys - not once but twice in two different locations... I guess they are still popular

Depressive moments that can be considered as funny:
1. Wanting to kill myself while listening to Chinese music - it's okay, in small doses... but so pop - picture the era of N'sync and Mandy Moore.
2. Insert number 4 from "random funnies"
3. Celebrating that I finally got about 6 hours of sleep straight - dam jet leg! And I still need more sleep!

The best cultural experience

2007-05-06T17:33:00.000-06:00

... the one way to immerse yourself and try to accomplish something, something so easy back home but difficult in another language... something so trivial and frightening and exhilarating - IS - getting a haircut in another country!

It's tough. To give someone else your trust and see the outcome. For my own hair - not too bad because I know my hair. But I was helping my friend Asia with her hair, and the hairstylists were explaining to me how they couldn't do the hairstyle she wanted because her hair was too thin or something... anyways - they used for different words and I still did not understand "It's too__ (huh?), It's too___ (uhhh), it's too___ (right...), ah, it's too___ (nope -still mind blank)." - in the end, you just end up laughing your head off.

P.s. it all turned out great! Just try it! Why not? Hair grows back back anyway!

Next step? dying my hair? MAYBE - they said I could streak my hair to look like asia's - I want my hair streaked, but I'm not sure if they meant make me blond like her - ya, that's okay... "next time."

Random adjustments, differences, and good ol cultcha!

2007-05-06T17:04:00.000-06:00

Who needs country culture shock when you have AIESEC culture shock?

Crazy. Things I noticed but was easy to adjust to in china:
1. The boys here are shy and will not be forward - even at the clubs and they are dancing around you because they want to dance with you but they just... dance there.
2. I forgot - China has people everywhere - grocery shopping is funny - they have employees at every corner shouting at you, hey buy this!
3. They don't wear flip flops - and if you do - you get stared at - but I still wear them haha. They wear flip flops as indoor shoes and it's very dirty outside so flip flops are not always the best thing...
4. I actually saw blue sky AND the sun the other day - and I said wow, they are improving - and then my friend said - no, that phenomenon rarely happens.

Things that happen to me because I am asian and am in China:
1. Asked for directions (happened to me twice yesterday!) - it which case, I whip out my bad mandarin and say I'm not from here - to which they reply, are you from Korea - yes. haha (NOOooo - but it's less of a hassle if you just agree - because then they start to guess: japan, singapore... anything BUT Canada - and then when you say Canada - they say... but you are not white...)
2. People talk fast in Mandarin here - and I understand quite a bit, but then trying to talk back - its slow and excruciating on the listener's end - I swear they think I'm stupid - so I usually throw in that I'm not from here - to which they reply - "Oh, then your mandarin is pretty good" - which is better than "Is this chinese person handicapped?"

Now, the AIESEC culture shock... dun dun dun...
1. Not sure if it's because I am living with the National team - BUT, they literally work 24/7 - and it's a holiday here haha. Seriously! I go to bed and they are still talking about AIESEC - wow, to be that passionate! Which brings me to...
2. One life. They do not believe in a work life and a party life - because in the end, it's one life, if you like your work, it IS play.
3. Exchange driven. Results driven. In other parts of the world, AIESEC stresses leadership development through project management and VP positions. Here - they believe that leadership development begins when you gain another perspective through an internship :) This explains their high exchange numbers
4. Okay, I need to flip my way of thinking haha. In Canada - you put a job posting on insight and everyone applies - you sift through a lot of different applications. In China, you call students around the world, use your networks to get people to apply - it's because China offers so many jobs, so many that it's hard to distinguish between them - my theory anyway.
5. They started an "accelerated" version of matching/getting the company to sign a contract which I think is absolutely brill. So how we usually do it: talk to company, get them to fill out a job questionaire, put it on insight and match. How they do it which also increases the chances of the company taking on an internship? talk to company, get them to fill out a brief job description, sift through the database, narrow down 30 candidates, email/call to see if these SNs are interested and available, present to company and get them to sign if they are interested. Efficient. It is more work if it is not successful but at the same time, it increases your success rate... so why not?

Vancouver to China

2007-05-03T18:30:00.000-06:00

As soon as I landed in Vancouver airport, I saw why friends would often refer to the island as "Hong Kong number two." I got onto my plane and swear I was the most white person there - and I'm not even white! It was mostly because everyone on the plane was speaking mandarin (well, in the section I was in).

But let me just reminisce about Air Canada - entering onto the aircraft, first class seats immediately drew my attention - cut to the scene from "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz is flying to England in first class - I remember thinking to myself: that's not how first class looks like, it's too pimped out - but alas, I was proven wrong. There were three columns of chairs/beds and each chair had a foot rest and a fancy pillow - at this point, I was tre jealous. But then I saw my section - I definitely knew I had a newer plane - the roofs were higher, the chairs were a beautiful blue, and the television that each individual person had included a plug in for your laptop, a USB connector, and a choice of movies, television, audio, games, and something else... Now, before coming onto this 11hour ride to China, I downloaded Music and Lyrics and other various movies to watch - well I did not need it. I didn't even read the book I had with me! I was planning to sleep on the plane but the movie marathon of Bridge to Terebethia, Catch and Release, Music and Lyrics, Pan's Labyrinth, and Charlotte's Web prevented me from doing so haha.

Fast forward to landing in China. While at the luggage cart I saw my Edmonton friend (who incidentally went to China with me two years back) - he flew from San Fran and landed 20 minutes before me. It was great! And after that I was picked up from an AIESEC person and we cabbed to the national team's house. A lot can change in two years - they planted a lot more trees beside the highway for the Olympics. Beijing looks so much nicer green! The bird's nest stadium looks absolutely amazing - I didn't actually think it was possible to build - it was so amazing that I forgot to take a picture!

And now the fun stuff - culture shock!
1. I discovered that the adapters that I brought do not work with my laptop because my laptop is three-pronged and the adapters only have two holes - it worked in Cuba but not here :( Luckily - if I stay in the living room, there are some adapters/plug ins that work...I just hope it really does work and I don't start a fire by accident.
2. There are about 10 people living in the house and many of them come and go - so I will not have a permanent room - I will be switching between rooms when the team go on city visits.
3. It is May long weekend here - a seven day holiday. Everyone was partying until 5am the night before I came (or the morning I came) and so did not want to go out again :(
4. I've been told that the national team likes to sleep in, it is currently 8:51 am and I am the only one in the living room - so I gather this much is true... unless they left the house already :(
5. Showering makes the whole bathroom floor wet - I'm not too sure what the right showering etiquettes are...

Highlights:
1. getting drunk/tipsy with my Edmonton friend off of one beer because we were both jet legged, the cost? 50 cents I think...
2. the flashbacks of all the memories from my china trip two years back - including seeing the sign "toast" and remembering my friend reading it as "to ast."
3. Being told I was like a gift from Canada because I was showing an AIESECer our branded material (website and marketing packages).
4. Free internet at the house! - meaning unlimited emails home - but I have to be careful of not doing that too often and start discovering the city more :)

Learnt lessons: communicate more, it was so hard to yesterday because I was so out of it. But I'll probably feel less out of place if I ask more questions :).

Waiting at the Edmonton Airport

2007-05-02T09:42:00.000-06:00

We are boarding in 10 minutes... but I'll let the eager beavers load before I do :)

I have free wireless here and am taking advantage of it. Unfortunately this leaves less battery power for watching movies on the plane - and the recharger is in my luggage - woohoo! Good thing I checked my email though - I helped "design" - or as I like to say, stumble through a program and played with it - anyways, I helped "design" a shirt and they needed adjustments - I spent my last hour in Edmonton tinkering with this :)

So far so good :) I was a bit over my weight limit for my luggage but because I was overly nice to the flight attendent lady who was there since 4:30 am and who got off in an hour - I was not charged - it DOES pay to be nice :)

Also, because of the numerous flights to conferences - I now know not to buy the newspapers because - even though I am flying with Air Canada - I know that Westjet offers free newspapers at their terminals - needless to say - I grabbed that :)

Feelings right now? Anxious, this is my first solo international flight! But no worries! I'll pretend I'm on amazing race (again), but with the perk of having someone at the Beijing Airport picking me up.

Until my landing in China, Ciao!

The delicate intricacies of going abroad

2007-04-25T22:52:00.000-06:00

1. If you receive a long distance phone call, do not choose to ignore it - it is probably the embassy for the visa you applied for. (Actually, I was writing an exam and had to ignore it - but it didn't click that the Calgary area code number was the Chinese Embassy... which brings me to my second point).

2. If the Embassy website states "send us a cheque" and a couple of sentences prior to that says "company cheque" - do not attempt to send a personal cheque. So ya - in this case, I should have assumed that they would not take personal cheques, ended spending 20 more dollars express posting a money order to them.

3. Has yet to come but I am sure it will involve opting for travel insurance plan A and paying the extra amount for an ease of mind - but will still keep in mind to travel smartly - which - if you are unfortunate enough to be a "ditz" - you can't exactly "travel safe" - can you?

In other news, two of my friends have safely landed in India and will begin their AIESEC internship briefly. They are there to help orphans and something to that nature. We spent their last hours in Edmonton compiling english books for these orphans :) I was quickly removed from staple duty and to the more paper-cut threatening job of compiling the books.

Two words: Stop it.

2007-04-16T20:44:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure what angers me more - the thought of having 25 plus people die from another school shooting, or the horrible, fear-inducing media coverage of inconsiderate reporters.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3046030

What is the reporter trying to do? He is so quick to blame the police for not being there right in the moment! The interviewee said that the police came two minutes after the shooting, and the reporter asks, "so they were not outside when you jumped out the window?" What point are you trying to make? Do you think that the police can actually predict the future and be right there at that moment?

And then he has the audacity to ask the interviewee the name of his professor who was shot. That was very considerate of you, bravo for realizing that family members may not have been informed yet. I want to congratulate you for wanting to be that person who broke the news to them. You must feel special.

I feel angry at - obviously the media. But I am also angry that we as humans are feeding the media, wanting more information, granting interviews... I am also sad that I did not know about this earlier - I would not have posted my earlier post because it seems ironic that the time by time sequence of how I recorded my life is also the time by time sequence of how the news is covering the shooting.

Mass confusion: wanting to know more, angry at how the media is reporting this but am willing to sit through it to try to understand what is happening. I know, it is hypocritical.

Guilt: What if the reporter reads this - he will feel guilty. Not necessarily what I want. I just want that reporter and every reporter to realize that the media is the only source we have in these traumatic situations. A little more sense in questioning and reporting will cause less hysteria, less pain, and will give us more credibility to think on our own.

A day in the life of Carol

2007-04-16T17:07:00.000-06:00

Warning: a self-centered blog is about to ensue... but this is why the blog is called "Carol's blog" - so stop reading if you are looking for aha! moments!

5:00am= txt msg wakes me up - it's from my bro - "call me when you need the car." crap - I need the car at 9:30am but I fall back asleep.
8:30am = snooze button is hit
10:00am = after emails, getting ready, and calling my brother, I am off to school!
10:30am = Meeting with VP Finance about Hotel Bill that we finally got for a conference that took place way back in Dec/Jan.
11:30am = pick up ticket to China - warning: slow motion actions: as the ticket was passed into my hands, a smile crossed my face and these words, actually came out of my mouth: "yip!" Which was followed by "I'm sorry." But no worries - I made the travel agent smile and he understood my excitement.
12:00pm = As I drive, I eat my lunch that is picked up at Sunterra on my way to...
12:30pm = my dental appointment
1:40pm = starbucks with my dental hygienist (which just so happens to be my sister!)- you only need to wait half an hour before eating or drinking! LOVE IT!
2:00pm = my second lunch :)
3:00pm = So part of my trip to China requires me to raise internships while in China. The next two hours is a continuation of emailing for contacts that I spent 5 hours doing yesterday... some meetings have been set for my last weeks here, yes! Tomorrow's goal? - you mean besides studying for finals? - I am going to pick up the phone and call contacts in Edmonton who may have contacts in China. When it comes to marketing calls, no matter how many I've been on, I am still intimidated.

As for the rest of my day tonight? - I predict dinner, reading up on China (did you know that they are 92% atheist? I thought they were Buddhist), and maybe reading a book that was written by a chinese author - but I shall be reading the translated english version.
...this is the procrastination before the study hurdles and cold calls that begin tomorrow...

eww, I can still feel some grit from the dental appointment... but for all you DH peeps out there - my sis did an amazing job and tolerated my continuous whining/faces I made.

Jeepers Creepers

2007-04-12T23:15:00.000-06:00

Yes. An update to my life is needed. Everyone has heard a version of this story - depending on the day they approached me - my life plan adjusted on a daily basis :)

BUT - final plan set in stone for the summer of a life-time!

1. No NLDC - I will not attend the conference in Toronto because I need to:
2. Spend a minimum of two months in China which will be May 3 to July 8 (I fly May 2). I will be doing my CEED (cultural Envoy for Exchange Development) there - basically - training students on AIESEC and going on some marketing calls. I leave July 8 because:
3. From July 8 to August 10 I will be learning french in Montreal through the Explore program.
4. I will then fly home because I have a court date on August 23 for "parking on the sidewalk" -BS - I was partly on the sidewalk and partly on a driveway - IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA!
5. In September I plan to do my last coop away from Edmonton (hopefully) and will most likely be away from home again! (p.s. I will probably be doing phone interviews while in China for this).

Some may call me mad for doing all this in one year and are confused. To them I say, opportunities come and go - if I die tomorrow, I do not want to regret anything.

Toronto - a.k.a Am I already in China?

2007-03-27T20:47:00.000-06:00

Before I dive into my story:
1. I was in Toronto to receive training on culture shock, AIESEC, and other fun stuff to prepare me to go to China this summer. I also met my CEED (cultural Envoy for Exchange Development) partner who will be with me for a week in China :)
2. I flew down on Friday (7:45am mst, landed 3:40pm est), took the "rocket" to Kingston, subway to Osgoode (or something), and walked to Duncan (I had to be at an office by 5pm). I felt like I was on the amazing race :)

The weekend was full of training from CIL. We learned about values of different societies, played games, and talked to representatives from the country we were going to (other students who went to this session are going to Brazil, Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, Pakistan, India, Ecuador, and Jordan). My favourite was when we were split into groups and we had to come up with a jingle or song for a culture shock. Our group had Identity crisis and used Mulan's "reflection" song and acted it out.

So why does Toronto remind me of China? You mean besides the random Chinese words splashed everywhere? While walking to meet one of my friends for dinner, an old Asian lady asks me if I speak Cantonese and starts explaining that she is lost. I cannot help her as I am from Edmonton, but I do my best, thinking slowly and speaking in the little Cantonese that I know. She is going through memory loss and it is obvious she is frustrated. I try telling her not to worry and that it's okay to forget at that age. Eventually an Asian male comes walking down the street. "Yes!" I say to myself, only to discover the he speaks Mandarin. So there I am, translating from Cantonese, to English (in my head because that's the language I think in), and then into Mandarin. Except I forget how to say "address" in Cantonese, that's where I start pointing to a building with the address on it... The guy eventually goes to grab someone who actually speaks Cantonese fluently. When he came back with help I had to leave to meet my friend so I'm not sure if the old lady ever found her way home...

But it is so weird. I was in Toronto to prepare myself to go to China - I didn't think I'd actually be using Mandarin in Toronto... or use the rule that only 7% of the language is verbal. What is even more funny is I think I was going through culture shock in Toronto - that city has huge buildings and there are people EVERYWHERE!

That was my weekend - our flight home was delayed, I slept the whole way "home" - I actually went straight to school from the airport. Funny thing was I brushed my teeth and showered at school. The showering was interesting because I was getting a towel but did not want to pay so I ended up air-drying slash using paper towels - random. I eventually got home to take a nap at 4pm only to wake up and discover it was 10pm. oops. I went back to bed at 2am and woke up at 7am for class - most broken sleep ever! And that brings me to today - writing on my blog so I do not fall into the nap trap again...

I'm going to China!

2007-02-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

But as my friend pointed out - it's like going home lol. Kinda true. Growing up Canasian I probably experienced alot of things asian. Like drinking the green grass jelly drink and trying to get the jello chunks out of the can at the very end. Or suffocating through the smell of durian as the parentals ate it. Or enjoying the sugarcane juice out of the real sugarcane!

random thought: SMELLS - The body shop body-butter reminds me of certain legs of my life. Why? Because that's what flavour I brought during that trip! Don't judge. Olive reminds me of Disneyland and Mango reminds me of China. I single whiff of that stuff brings back flashbacks. I plan to add to my collection, slowly but surely - I'll have a scrapbook of smells by the end of my life! Just for me (...wasn't that a title to a book?)

random thought #2: my dad approaches me today asking, how do you type? And I respond: huh? Then he states that he uses one finger to type on the computer but I type using all my fingers - I told him he has to learn, there is no memory trick - I then reminisced with him the exercises they forced us to do in junior high. he then shook his head meaning "ya, I'm not going to waste my time with that." - I'm glad the junior high teachers taught me something so valuable...

I asked my dad if he had any relatives in China - he then threw me into this elaborate story about how his dad's relative had two wives and that one wife had two children and left one in china. He didn't find out that he had relatives in China until last year. I still don't know if I understood him correctly or how I'm related to these "relatives."

On my mom's side - I think my grandma's brother (maybe through a second wife as well but I'm not too sure lol) lives in China somewhere - where they speak Fukienese (which by the way is a dialect they speak in China - yes, it looks like a swear word but is pronounced foo-kin-nees.)

I'm looking forward to visiting China again - especially since my family - including aunts in Edmonton, keep on threatening that they'll visit me while I'm there... I just hope I have the time to tour them around if they do come!

The roller coaster that is Cuba

2007-02-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

Imagine - never drinking with your family, all of a sudden, you are cast on an island, an all inclusive island - what do you expect? Not this.

Imagine still, this island is:
-small, the size of the Edmonton-Calgary corridor
-commercialized - their main industry is tourism - their history is hotels, their commodity is tourist knick-knacks.
-is beautiful, the beach is EXACTLY like that corona commercial where the girl squirts a lime at her boyfriend for looking at another girl.

So begins a week in Cuba. A week of missing school, and a week where I get a new brother through my sister's marriage. Showcased here is the attempt of "catch up study" on the plane ride down to Cuba. As you can see, it is going well - so well in fact that it only took me one glass of wine to get tipsy - I was getting off on the right foot! Who needs that water?

We land in Cuba after a delay and role in Varadero at about 10pm, where we start drinking mohitoes, palmeros, and pina coladas at once. We get drunk and take a midnight stroll on the beach - some of us venturing into the water. Here, the scene is out of a movie. The moonlight is bouncing off the ocean, the sand is as soft as a blanket, and the waves are non-existent.

A day in Havana and it is evident, any building that is architecturally pleasing to the eye is a hotel. Also? Cars are small.

And so ensues the whole reason why I was in Cuba - my sister's wedding. The day was interesting - all I can say is if you ever organize a destination wedding, do not do it at Sol Palmeros. We did not see the wedding planner until 2 hours prior to the wedding ceremony. During the ceremony - I couldn't really hear anything (and I was standing at the front!) - but what I did hear threw me through a loop "section 1a of bylaw..." who says that at a wedding? Other than that - the weather held up long enough for us to take beautiful pictures on the beach (which I do not have yet since I was in the wedding party). During the dinner reception I delivered a speech welcoming Tyler to our family - as soon as that task was completed, I tackled the ever difficult task of getting myself drunk - mission accomplished! What happens for the rest of the night - I remember trying to find a new dance venue for my sister's after party - the hotel (oh I am such a big fan!) booked us a club but it was "under renovations." Great! But it was OKAY - we kind of found another "club/theater" in the hotel where there were other hotel guests but we partied there anyways. Drunken fun ensued. Followed by dance offs between siblings and me repeatedly asking the same questions to the same people (tends to happen when I drink too much).

Highlights of the trip:
-the hotel had a beach party where they forced male participants (including my brother) to strip down to their underwear and do a "sexy walk" - my brother represented Canada by break dancing (on the beach! - upon completion he stood up and he looked blond because of all the sand was in his hair - it was cool!)
-beach party number two was the last night we partied hardy - my favourite moment was when they played the techno version of San Francisco
-laying on the beach the last day and then going on a scooter ride
-finding out where I get my party genes from - my dad - the nightlife of the party would be out drinking everyday and would be the last one to go to sleep
-watching the Argentinians play volleyball - they were nice eye candy
-seeing the concert of the band who performed for Castro's 60th birthday, they have a documentary too - I just have no clue what their name is!

My trip did not end off great - I believe I got food poisoning at the Varedero airport - long story short - I was feverish and delirious from the plane ride on Thursday night and for the whole day Friday. Needless to say I skipped school on Friday and did horrible on the assignment due that day.

Overall - ups and downs but would not change this unpredictable trip for a ____?___.

An ode to EEEEEeeeeee.....

2007-01-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

EEEeee... is for excitment - for the feeling that I accomplished something.
EEEeee... is for evil - for the cheesecake that I had for three days in a row.
EEEeee... is for extraordinary - which will be my trip to cuba for my sista's wedding.
EEEeee... is for effed up - for how I will feel after the trip and realizing I have no clue what is happening in school - EEEeee...specially my finance course.

Today I locked myself in a room to complete a task, upon completion I burst out of the room - but to my surprise - no one home, an empty silence house - quite contradictory - the feelings jumping and jumbling inside, and the lack of excitement outside... SOOO I decided to call my friend - no one there :(. SOOOO I decided to check my email... nothing. SOOOO I signed onto msn - natta. SOOOO I'm blogging it baby!

AND I am procrastinating! What's that? the assignment I have due? ya, I'll get to that. What's that? those finance problems that I should tackle since I was lost in class today? ya, that's on my list. What's that? the wedding slideshow for my sis? ya. What's that? The packing that I have to do? ... okay, my list is long and they have to be completed tonight and tomorrow night - I sense a problem.

But for now, I will enjoy my chEEEeeese cake.

EEEeee...
!!!

Living in Edmonton

2007-01-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

The weather channel said it was getting cold yesterday so I canceled the wrap-up National Congress meeting yesterday - just so I did not have to drive on the crappy roads.
Have you ever played hoopla? the team version of cranium? Well, we (edmonton) got hit with something bigger than a dairy queen treat, and something smaller than a snowstorm. That's right! A Blizzard!
I shoveled - I would have to say half a meter of snow today, but within 5 minutes my toes were frozen. After entering the household - it took a further 15 minutes for my toes to warm up and a further 20 minutes for them to return from red to normal skin tone.

Mixed Emotions

2007-01-07T22:55:00.000-07:00

Where to begin...

I don't know how people articulate their feelings but here it goes - I feel a jumble of delerium happiness mixed with anxiousness.

Happy because the conference was a huge success, but now I am sad because - I'm gonna say this risking the vain-ness that I will portray - I received a lot attention at the conference - It's wierd to be home without someone sneaking to my left and right trying to plant kisses on my cheeks - or without people randomly shouting out "we love the oc" or "curl uncurl."

You know you are going through conference withdrawl when:
1. You find your hotel room key in your dryer
2. You join facebook and in one day discover you have over 60 freinds
3. You use facebook as the medium of communication to replace the random cheers in the hallways of the Mayfield.
4. You wake up with a sexy man voice
5. you wake up from a 20hour slumber and think it's the same day

And now I am home, my room is a mess, I have school tomorrow and am unprepared - and facebook - the demon child I tried to avoid pre-conference, is now taking up the majority of my time... but I still have conference stuff to do and emails to answer...

Happy Holidays

2006-12-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

Superman and John Travolta in his disco suit with high heals, who stepped in poo, wishes you a happy holiday!

From gingerbread m...

Oh no you didn't!

2006-12-06T01:16:00.000-07:00

Hey I know it's been a while since I've posted something but I've been organizing a conference...

Come on Edmonton! There is absolutely no excuse why we are not bringing the most delegates to this conference! We can't let Calgary beat us out! :) Friendly competition never hurt - and there will be rule bending to help this competition, open to ALL LOCALS!

How many delegates will you bring? Registration closed an hour ago but will open for another few hours - until Wednesday December 6, 2006 5:00pm Mountain Standard time. Bring it!

Calgary - 23
Edmonton - 19
UBC - 18

In the meantime - I'll start blogging once this conference is over... maybe - visit http://www.aiesecconferences.ca/nc/2007/ for more deets!