Tubing

Sat 3rd Mar 07

this time we went to Mt Cranmore.. it's quite a big group this time round with some colleagues too... with the experience from last time.... i decided to try the more relaxing tubing! haha... there's no need to carry the heavy skis and wear the crampy shoes... just have to pull the tire-like thingy around... but the queue to go up the slope was always very long... but it was a pretty relaxing day.. hanging out with xy... we spend the queuing time chit chatting as usual... then when it's our turn... our tubes get hooked to this belt and we sit on the tube and get pulled up the slope... cool man.. don even need to walk.. hahaha... then when u reached the top of the slope... it auto detaches from the belt and send u down a small hump... then u pull ur tube to the start of the slide... u can either go individually or u can go in groups of 4... there are lots of teenagers trying out different formations... from holding each other's hands to forming a circle... and sliding down... oh u can also choose whether u wanna just slide down or u can have the person in charge spin u and u do a twist all the way down the slope... it was pretty cool... but the ride down was pretty short.. could have been better if the way was longer... then it's all over again queuing and everything... there were lots of parents with kids too... i guess this is one of the less dangerous one where kids below 5 can join in the snow fun too....

Cute baby in tube...

after a while.. u just get tired of queuing... so we just went and sit on the snow... continued chatting and xy started making snowman again.. this time she made a snowman and a snowcat... hahaha.. pretty cute though... kids that walked pass us all told their parents tat it's a cat... xy was glad the snowcat she made actually looked like one.. hahah....

after everyone was done with skiing... tubing... snow boarding... we dropped by this pub place for a drink.... they ordered this drink that looks kinda like 'test tube babies'... it came in a rack of 6 or 7 small glasses... slightly bigger than shot glasses... it is a gradient of intensities.. or watever they call it for beers.... u have the super light ones... which are golden yellow... to the super bitter black ones which i don like... more like stout...

relaxing day on the whole.. and the scenery was nice too...

-jiahua

CNY in Singapore

For the week that we were going back to sg.. it snowed heavily... we were pretty worried that flights might be cancelled and we might not be able to be back in time for CNY... we checked the weather forecast diligently everyday... looking for any tell-tale signs of a worsening in the weather conditions....

Wed 14th Feb 07

on the scheduled date... we left work earlier than the proposed time and hope to catch the earlier flights out of Boston... we reached the bus station 1 hour earlier... and we took the last bus out from that station to Boston before they stop service due to heavy snow.... when we reached the airport... we were lucky enough to catch the last flight out of Boston... we were so glad to be on the way out since weather over at Newark was much better than at Boston.. so on the whole we made the right decision to leave early... if not we would not have been able to make it for any of the 'lasts' so that was the almost eventful V day... spent catching the bus and flights.... followed by the spending of the rest of the next 2 days in the air...

Fri 16th Feb 07

arrived in sg early in the morning... feels good to be home again.... to the familiar environment tat we had been away from for half a year... so glad to see my parents... and also glad to be able to make it for CNY...

The rest of the days were spent meeting frens... buying stuff to bring back... and since it's the CNY period... visiting relatives too and repeating ur story of ur life overseas for the thousandth time... but it's kinda the wrong time to be back... other than be able to spend time with frens and family for CNY... becos during CNY... all the shops were closed... there is really nothing much to do and no where to go if u r not visiting relatives or hanging out with frens... wanted to go for sushi on the 2nd day of CNY.. but apparently nothing was opened except the cinemas.. so that was a let down... but luckily i managed to eat some of the local food... had my favourite prawn noodle at AV... had steamboat as with every year at my dad's fren's place.... and went for sushi with my parents... miss salmon sashimi so much! spend some time catching up on local tv programmes too.. haha... kinda lost touch with anything asian... tv shows... songs... everything!

and days just went by like tat... and it's time to return to US... the going back part was ok... but the thought of the super long flight was major sian... oh i rem on the flight due to turbulence and the bad circulation in the cabin... i felt pretty nauseous and thought i was gonna faint when i stood waiting for the restroom... so that was a little uncomfortable... but nonetheless.. reach back home safely... with all our new year goodies... instant noodles and sauces... haha... the end of the vacation... it's back to work again... till the next trip...

-jiahua

Birthday week

Thur 1st Feb 07

My Birthday! hmm.. older by another year.... and the 1st birthday overseas i think... in the morning... xy and sm came over before we left for work to pass me my presents... a Baby Phat down bomber jacket... the one that i mentioned to xy that was pretty cool looking... always thought bomber jackets were pretty cool... oh and the 6 presents that xy gave me... each individually wrapped and has a letter of my name on each of them.. damn... i should have a longer name.... hahaha.... inside each were small little items...

#1 - a drawing pad
#2 - charcoal drawing pencils
#3 - a mini water colour set
#4 - some drawing pencils
#5 - a box of carebears bandaids... cos she says i am prone to cuts and i don have bandaids...
#6 - a pack of mini Twix... my favourite chocolate snack in US

well... from the list... i have more art supplies now... no excuse to not start drawing.. ya i know... i have been procrastinating for too long... will get started on something soon.... hmm....

after that we went to work... and while we were walking down the corridor on the 2nd floor... the 1st floor area looked pretty dark... it's then that we realise that there was a power outage... OMG.... no lights no electricity... we hung around till noon and was dismissed cos there was nothing we can do without power... well well... how interesting... so we went home... hahaha...

My presents!


Fri 2nd Feb 07
After work... as usual whenever it's someone's birthday in our house... we will go for a nice dinner together and get a treat... =D

we went to Sake Japanese Restaurant at Downtown... i think it's the first time in a long time since I had Jap food... OMG... i am so missing my conveyer belt sushi in sg.... that's one thing i missed... we can't get cheap and good sushi here.... and i had garlic kobe beef... but i guess i still like sushi better...

oh... and according to xy.. the snow that fallen after dinner was the 1st time that it was enough to make a snowman... haha...

Jap food!


Sun 4th Feb 07
Had friends visit from New Jersey... went for breakfast at IHOP... then we decided to go out and play in the snow... at the field near our house... we used cardboard boxes as makeshift sleds... and surprisingly it worked pretty well.. we were able to slide down the slope on it! had lots of fun then... not forgetting the snowball fights... hai... rough pple... tsk tsk tsk..... after staying out for too long.. it gets too cold... so we went home... and started making snowmans outside our house... well... snowmans are not as easy to make as it seems on tv.... we only managed to make a couple of small and out of shape ones...


our snowman by the doorstep...


for dinner we went to Robert's Maine Grill and Market... a nice place with a lighthouse building... had to have lobster and seafood there... but the food is pretty pricey...

-jiahua