Orientation was a fun time of meeting lots and lots of people. It's one of those occasions where you meet so many people that the next time you meet the same person, you can only recognise them but you can't remember there names. It was great meeting new people. The other side of orientation were the talks they give you. They are some of the most boring talks that you can ever here. The only consolation was that they had a raffle prize draw at the beggining of each talk for a bike. I didn't win it though unfortuantely so it was bit of a waste of time.
As I didn't have a place to stay for the weekend because my apartment move-in date wasn't til the monday, I went back down to Orange County. Also it was Lynnette's Birthday over the weekend. We went to Maxim's Cafe in Rowland Heights with Lynnette and her family. It was nice going back there with the massive portions of food! = P I was especially surprised by their souffle. I wasn't expecting to order a souffle in a chinese restaurant let alone being very tasty and massive. But then again, they served portions of chips as well. We then went to a Boba (Bubble Tea) place for boba despite already being extremely full from Maxim's. I was craving for it though ever since I got to California. Afterwards we went to Lynnette's place and we watched a Thai movie called "Chocolate". It's a Thai martial arts film. It's about an autistic girl who learns muy thai and all sorts of martial arts by watching tv and living next to a muy thai school. She then goes on a rampage of beating up her mother's debtor's, as her mother used to be an ex-gangster, in order to get money to treat her mother's cancer.
On sunday, I went to church with Lynnette. It was my second time there. The church is quite small and it has a family like feel. Everyone knows each other and they are very friendly. Before the worship service, we had Sunday School. Every Sunday, they would have Sunday School for all ages. It was quite different from CCiL and other churches I have been to. It was like back to when I was a kid where there was one person at the front who did all the teaching. While other churches, it was more discussion based. After the worship service, we had a mini party for Lynnette. It was good meeting people and it was quite amusing watching them trying to "echo" my accent.
After the party, I was "absorbed" into the Woo family without really being given a choice for another family celebratory dinner. This time we were joined by Lynnette's cousin - Karissa and Tiffanie. But first we went back to Lynnette's house to watch Ponyo - I fell asleep about halfway through it- not that it wasn't good it was just that I was too tired, but its about a magical fish who falls in love with a boy on land and she wants to become human but her father disapproves. It's kinda like a Japanese version of The Little Mermaid. What followed was kinda a crazy night. It involved going out for dinner at a bakery kinda place in Yes Plaza - the food was pretty nice and we had tapioca drinks for desert, flicking a paper dumpling at each other to see which family's blocking method is the best, Lynnette, Karissa and Tiffanie hijacking my camera (The pics and vids on facebook are pretty self explanatory) and watching clips of insanely high pitched but incredible male singers on youtube.
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Wednesday 16 September 2009
UC Santa Barbara
Today I went up to UC Santa Barbara in order to get ready for orientation tomorrow. My Uncle took the day off to drive me up here.
The journey took around 3 1/2 hours due to heavy traffic going into downtown LA. Gosh!!!...they have to sort out the traffic here - maybe a congestion charge would do or maybe not. It was an interesting site driving around LA, on the one hand you had the beautiful blue skies and the sun shining down on you and on the other, you had an extremely thick layer of smog just sitting on the horizon. After my uncle drove through much of the LA traffic and exactly halfway to Santa Barbara, we decided we were hungry and stopped at Jack in the Box in Thousand Oaks. It was my first time at Jack in the Box and I actually found the food ok...I ahd their chicken, cheese and bacon burger. For the remainder of the journey, my uncle decided that I would drive the other half of the Journey to Santa Barbara. It was a really good drive with mesmerising views...After passing through some very steep hills, you are suddenly hit by Oxnard, CA...and then by beautiful beaches and the glittering ocean on one side and mountains on the other. It was a shame I couldn't take pics as I was driving.
I met my first roundabout in the states today at UCSB, which was exciting. there's an astonishing amount of roundabouts on campus for the USA....especially for bikes. The campus itself is pretty big and very nice with the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. It seemed very empty today as people were not back to class yet. After settling into my temporary accomadation, we went for a self guided campus tour. It was like a normal university that you would find in the States...lots of buildings - apart from the fact that there's a lagoon there, it's right by the sea and two beaches next to it. We also explored a small part of Isla Vista, mainly looking at where the shops are and at Del Playa. Del Playa Drive is the main party street...apparently its manic and chaos down there on most weekends and especially Halloween.
The Lagoon
Me at the Beach with Del Playa overlooking it.
The Beach
Storke Tower
The journey took around 3 1/2 hours due to heavy traffic going into downtown LA. Gosh!!!...they have to sort out the traffic here - maybe a congestion charge would do or maybe not. It was an interesting site driving around LA, on the one hand you had the beautiful blue skies and the sun shining down on you and on the other, you had an extremely thick layer of smog just sitting on the horizon. After my uncle drove through much of the LA traffic and exactly halfway to Santa Barbara, we decided we were hungry and stopped at Jack in the Box in Thousand Oaks. It was my first time at Jack in the Box and I actually found the food ok...I ahd their chicken, cheese and bacon burger. For the remainder of the journey, my uncle decided that I would drive the other half of the Journey to Santa Barbara. It was a really good drive with mesmerising views...After passing through some very steep hills, you are suddenly hit by Oxnard, CA...and then by beautiful beaches and the glittering ocean on one side and mountains on the other. It was a shame I couldn't take pics as I was driving.
I met my first roundabout in the states today at UCSB, which was exciting. there's an astonishing amount of roundabouts on campus for the USA....especially for bikes. The campus itself is pretty big and very nice with the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. It seemed very empty today as people were not back to class yet. After settling into my temporary accomadation, we went for a self guided campus tour. It was like a normal university that you would find in the States...lots of buildings - apart from the fact that there's a lagoon there, it's right by the sea and two beaches next to it. We also explored a small part of Isla Vista, mainly looking at where the shops are and at Del Playa. Del Playa Drive is the main party street...apparently its manic and chaos down there on most weekends and especially Halloween.
The Lagoon
Me at the Beach with Del Playa overlooking it.
The Beach
Storke Tower
Thursday 10 September 2009
Giant Robots, Mahi Mahi & 85 degrees
Lynnette decided to take me into LA for the day. There were several places we gonna go to....Ginat Robots store, an art exhibition by Mike Shinoda at the Japanese American National Museum, Farmer's Market, The Grove etc. However LA traffic limited us to going only to the first destination I had decided to go to....the Giant Robots Store. The Giant Robots store is a small shop heavily influenced by Asian American Pop culture, somewhere in West LA according to Lynnette. The store was a lot smaller (about the size of a corner shop) than I had originally expected as I was told that the store contained a restaurant/cafe as well (The restaurant cafe was loacted across the street). It sold some t-shirts, manga, comics,, art books and other random books. Lynnette and I were transfixed by a book about "Unuseless inventions from Japan". It contained some of most random inventions which included an inverted umbrella that collects water to save on water bills, umbrellas for shoes and a leg powered washing machine powered by walking.
For Lunch, we went to the Giant Robot's restaurant called GR/eat. It was a really small restaurant with a simple but stylish-ish decor. I ordered the Mahi Mahi with Misoyaki sauce while Lynnette ordered the vegetarian omelette rice. The Mahi Mahi is a popular fish eaten in Hawaii. The Mahi Mahi was served with rice and some vegetables. Meanwhile the omlette rice consisted of a vegetarian fried rice stir fried with a sweet and spicy sauce with an omelette on top of it all. Both dishes were delicious!
The Omelette Rice
The Mahi Mahi
Lynnette had a meeting at K-town after lunch so we couldnt go anywhere else. I was dropped off at The Coffee Bean, all by myself in an unfamiliar area only with a mocha frappaccino and a copy of the LA Times to keep me company.
K-Town
After the meeting, it was off to 85 degrees in Irvine to meet Aryn. However we ended up at BIOLA instead, due to traffic on the freeway. Lynnette showed me around the campus. It is a very small but cosy campus. We joined Aryn outside her dorms for a BBQ...even though I didn't eat anything.
BBQ
We then headed off to 85 degrees after picking up Garrett for pre-dinner. we were met by Lynnette nad Garrett's parents at 85 degrees. 85 degrees is a taiwanese bakery in Irvine which is always extremely busy...apart from when we got there. It was immediately busy after we brought out milk pudding buns. Later we were met there by Aryn and Steven.
Despite already being a bit full, we originally decided to go to dinner at Popeye's, which served fried chicken. But we couldn't find the exit on the freeway so we went to The Hat instead. The Hat serves big portions of pastrami sandwiches and fries with chilli dips and cheese dips which we would mix to make chilli and cheese dip. It was quite filling. We were joined by Ariel, who had made Mochis. I don't really know what mochis are but they were delicious!
For Lunch, we went to the Giant Robot's restaurant called GR/eat. It was a really small restaurant with a simple but stylish-ish decor. I ordered the Mahi Mahi with Misoyaki sauce while Lynnette ordered the vegetarian omelette rice. The Mahi Mahi is a popular fish eaten in Hawaii. The Mahi Mahi was served with rice and some vegetables. Meanwhile the omlette rice consisted of a vegetarian fried rice stir fried with a sweet and spicy sauce with an omelette on top of it all. Both dishes were delicious!
The Omelette Rice
The Mahi MahiLynnette had a meeting at K-town after lunch so we couldnt go anywhere else. I was dropped off at The Coffee Bean, all by myself in an unfamiliar area only with a mocha frappaccino and a copy of the LA Times to keep me company.
K-TownAfter the meeting, it was off to 85 degrees in Irvine to meet Aryn. However we ended up at BIOLA instead, due to traffic on the freeway. Lynnette showed me around the campus. It is a very small but cosy campus. We joined Aryn outside her dorms for a BBQ...even though I didn't eat anything.
BBQWe then headed off to 85 degrees after picking up Garrett for pre-dinner. we were met by Lynnette nad Garrett's parents at 85 degrees. 85 degrees is a taiwanese bakery in Irvine which is always extremely busy...apart from when we got there. It was immediately busy after we brought out milk pudding buns. Later we were met there by Aryn and Steven.
Despite already being a bit full, we originally decided to go to dinner at Popeye's, which served fried chicken. But we couldn't find the exit on the freeway so we went to The Hat instead. The Hat serves big portions of pastrami sandwiches and fries with chilli dips and cheese dips which we would mix to make chilli and cheese dip. It was quite filling. We were joined by Ariel, who had made Mochis. I don't really know what mochis are but they were delicious!
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Happy Birthday
Today is my Uncle's Birthday...so Happy Birthday to him! = D
Today was a far more relaxing day than yesterday as I had pretty much done most of what I had to do yesterday. The first half of the day was spent at home online catching up with people located in various places around the world...mainly London and Beijing.
For Lunch, we went to In-n-Out, which was awesome!!! = P I love In-n-Out....their burgers are some of the best I've had! It was great being there again. I have never been so excited about a fast food burger chain before....so sad I know!
After going to Wal-Mart to buy some essential, we went to pick up my cousin from school. What surprised me was how much extra-curricular they had on at the same time and how busy they were. They had the NJROTC (Navy Cadets), Baseball, and Cross Country going on and that was only what I could see from the car park. The NJROTC were very good at drill...a lot better than we were when I was in the CCF.
To celebrate my uncle's birthday, we went to Coconut Bay for dinner. The majority of the customers there were young people...around my age, which was a good sign. It's a thai bar & grill restaurant. The food was pretty nice and cheap. The portions were decent size...not too big and not small at all...Just about right.
Today was a far more relaxing day than yesterday as I had pretty much done most of what I had to do yesterday. The first half of the day was spent at home online catching up with people located in various places around the world...mainly London and Beijing.
For Lunch, we went to In-n-Out, which was awesome!!! = P I love In-n-Out....their burgers are some of the best I've had! It was great being there again. I have never been so excited about a fast food burger chain before....so sad I know!
After going to Wal-Mart to buy some essential, we went to pick up my cousin from school. What surprised me was how much extra-curricular they had on at the same time and how busy they were. They had the NJROTC (Navy Cadets), Baseball, and Cross Country going on and that was only what I could see from the car park. The NJROTC were very good at drill...a lot better than we were when I was in the CCF.
To celebrate my uncle's birthday, we went to Coconut Bay for dinner. The majority of the customers there were young people...around my age, which was a good sign. It's a thai bar & grill restaurant. The food was pretty nice and cheap. The portions were decent size...not too big and not small at all...Just about right.
All in a Day (Tuesday 8th September)
Today was a busy day. I had to sort out a lot of stuff in as little time as possible. Still being jetlagged I woke up quite early in the morning and slept very early as well.
Today I went to Bank of America to sort out my bank accounts. The customer service there was so good. As we walked in, we were immediately greeted by a lady who asked if we needed her assistance and within a minute I was sitting at a desk being served by a personal banker and opening my bank account. Unlike in London at barclays where I had to wait 30 minutes just to get to see the personal banker and in the end wasn't even able to open an account. Anyways I found it quite funny, sad and cool that in America you can choose what background you want on your card and cheques. It took me extremely long time to choose mine, eventually I chose my one to have an aircraft carrier at sea, a fighter jet taking off and a helicopter! Very manly I know! I was tempted to get the Hello Kitty one just for jokes, but I knew I would regret it later.
We went to a vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I had been craving for Vietnamese for a while...especially for their spring rolls which is wrapped in rice paper instead of being deep fried - the deep fried ones are called egg rolls. It was very very nice, especially the dipping sauce.
Then we went to the DMV to sort out my licence. Had to wait in a queue for 20 minutes just to get a ticket to wait inside. American people are so friendly over here. People just started long conversations with strangers in the queue, if you tried doing that in London....it would never happen. But anyways it took nearly 2 hours to get my driver's permit (provisional licence) and I ahd to do a written test just to get it. I didnt revise for the test so I was surprised that I got 34/36 and passed. The two I got wrong...one was about not being allowed to smoke in a car with a child in it and the other was something I've never heard of before.
After having gone to the DMV, we decided to go play some golf at the driving range. My uncle is a golf maniac and I was shocking at golf. I would hit a few good balls but my technique is nowhere as good as him. I'm good at Wii golf though! = D
Today I went to Bank of America to sort out my bank accounts. The customer service there was so good. As we walked in, we were immediately greeted by a lady who asked if we needed her assistance and within a minute I was sitting at a desk being served by a personal banker and opening my bank account. Unlike in London at barclays where I had to wait 30 minutes just to get to see the personal banker and in the end wasn't even able to open an account. Anyways I found it quite funny, sad and cool that in America you can choose what background you want on your card and cheques. It took me extremely long time to choose mine, eventually I chose my one to have an aircraft carrier at sea, a fighter jet taking off and a helicopter! Very manly I know! I was tempted to get the Hello Kitty one just for jokes, but I knew I would regret it later.
We went to a vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I had been craving for Vietnamese for a while...especially for their spring rolls which is wrapped in rice paper instead of being deep fried - the deep fried ones are called egg rolls. It was very very nice, especially the dipping sauce.
Then we went to the DMV to sort out my licence. Had to wait in a queue for 20 minutes just to get a ticket to wait inside. American people are so friendly over here. People just started long conversations with strangers in the queue, if you tried doing that in London....it would never happen. But anyways it took nearly 2 hours to get my driver's permit (provisional licence) and I ahd to do a written test just to get it. I didnt revise for the test so I was surprised that I got 34/36 and passed. The two I got wrong...one was about not being allowed to smoke in a car with a child in it and the other was something I've never heard of before.
After having gone to the DMV, we decided to go play some golf at the driving range. My uncle is a golf maniac and I was shocking at golf. I would hit a few good balls but my technique is nowhere as good as him. I'm good at Wii golf though! = D
Labor Day (Monday 7th September)
Today was Labor Day, so nobody had work or school today. This meant I could hang out with my family. = )
I'm still pretty jetlagged, having had no sleep for the past 24 hrs and playing extreme Wii, I only managed to get 6 hours sleep....waking up at 6am in the morning.
My aunt and her family decided to come over to my Uncle's house. After playing some more Wii for a little while we decided that we were hungry and wanted to get something to eat. My Cousin Aubrey decided to go to the Boiling Crab. It sounded quite a nice place to go and I've never been before as well. So off we went to the Boiling Crab. When we got there, we found out that it does not open til 3pm on weekdays. I thought 3pm was a very strange time to open as it was neither lunch time nor dinner time. But what can I do about that. We went Yum Cha instead. The dim sum was decent but it didnt have the variety that you would get in London or HK.
After lunch, we went to Brea Mall where we walked around to digest the food we just had. We spent a lot of time in Brookstone where there were lots of massage chairs to try. Then we went to have some more food in the form of coldstone ice cream. = P Aubrey had invented a new and weird flavour and wanted me to try it. It involved the mixing of vanilla bean ice cream and mint ice cream followed by a crushing of kitkats. The guy serving us looked at us weirdly as we ordered it however it was actually surprisingly tasty.
After Brea Mall, we went back to my uncle's house for some more Wii playing! Afterwards we went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant for dinner. They had so many different types of sushi which you wouldn't find in a conventional Japanese restaurant in London. They were all weird and wonderful creations. Even though they were on the pricier side, they were delicious and i think they were worth it. Afterwards we went back to my uncle's house for some more Wii! Then we went for a swim in my uncle's pool (communal pool shared between the neighbors) and in the jacuzzi. It was nice being able to look up into the night sky and seeing lots of stars around. Afterwards we played some more Wii. I'm starting to think that I've been playing a lot of Wii recently. = )
I'm still pretty jetlagged, having had no sleep for the past 24 hrs and playing extreme Wii, I only managed to get 6 hours sleep....waking up at 6am in the morning.
My aunt and her family decided to come over to my Uncle's house. After playing some more Wii for a little while we decided that we were hungry and wanted to get something to eat. My Cousin Aubrey decided to go to the Boiling Crab. It sounded quite a nice place to go and I've never been before as well. So off we went to the Boiling Crab. When we got there, we found out that it does not open til 3pm on weekdays. I thought 3pm was a very strange time to open as it was neither lunch time nor dinner time. But what can I do about that. We went Yum Cha instead. The dim sum was decent but it didnt have the variety that you would get in London or HK.
After lunch, we went to Brea Mall where we walked around to digest the food we just had. We spent a lot of time in Brookstone where there were lots of massage chairs to try. Then we went to have some more food in the form of coldstone ice cream. = P Aubrey had invented a new and weird flavour and wanted me to try it. It involved the mixing of vanilla bean ice cream and mint ice cream followed by a crushing of kitkats. The guy serving us looked at us weirdly as we ordered it however it was actually surprisingly tasty.
After Brea Mall, we went back to my uncle's house for some more Wii playing! Afterwards we went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant for dinner. They had so many different types of sushi which you wouldn't find in a conventional Japanese restaurant in London. They were all weird and wonderful creations. Even though they were on the pricier side, they were delicious and i think they were worth it. Afterwards we went back to my uncle's house for some more Wii! Then we went for a swim in my uncle's pool (communal pool shared between the neighbors) and in the jacuzzi. It was nice being able to look up into the night sky and seeing lots of stars around. Afterwards we played some more Wii. I'm starting to think that I've been playing a lot of Wii recently. = )
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Day One (Sunday 6th September)
I've decided to start blogging about my time in California in order to keep everyone posted.
Day One:
The flight landed at LAX at around 2.30pm. And I managed to get out of the airport by 3.10pm considering the flight was completely full and its LAX. The flight was pretty uneventful, although we had a very funny Chief air steward who would crack a lot of jokes on the PA system. I also managed to watch all the summer films that I didn't get to watch in England...Fast and Furious, X-Men Origins, Star Trek and Monsters Vs Aliens! = P
I was met by my cousin and Uncle, Aubrey and Calvin, at the airport and the first thing I had was a mocha frappaccino. = ) I am still not used to US dollars right now, still in Pound sterling mode >_<....the mocha frappaccino was like $4.50 or something and I was thinking that that was really expensive as in my mind I was thinking £4.50, hmm its very expensive! But $4.50 is only like £2.80...so it is still expensive, around the same as London.
One thing I noticed as we got out of the airport and onto the freeway was the lack of cars. Usually there would be heaps of cars around and traffic jams but it was empty this time. Then I remembered it was a Sunday and it was Labor Day weekend....so it was a Bank Holiday weekend.
I am currently staying at my Uncle's house. It's pretty nice. We went to my other aunt's house for dinner. There was so much food and it was delicious! = P We played a lot of Wii because my cousin Derrick brought the new Wii sports resort! It's really fun but tiring. I was so tired at the end of it considering I hadn't slept for the past 24 hrs and California is 8 hours behind London so I was a bit jetlagged.
Day One:
The flight landed at LAX at around 2.30pm. And I managed to get out of the airport by 3.10pm considering the flight was completely full and its LAX. The flight was pretty uneventful, although we had a very funny Chief air steward who would crack a lot of jokes on the PA system. I also managed to watch all the summer films that I didn't get to watch in England...Fast and Furious, X-Men Origins, Star Trek and Monsters Vs Aliens! = P
I was met by my cousin and Uncle, Aubrey and Calvin, at the airport and the first thing I had was a mocha frappaccino. = ) I am still not used to US dollars right now, still in Pound sterling mode >_<....the mocha frappaccino was like $4.50 or something and I was thinking that that was really expensive as in my mind I was thinking £4.50, hmm its very expensive! But $4.50 is only like £2.80...so it is still expensive, around the same as London.
One thing I noticed as we got out of the airport and onto the freeway was the lack of cars. Usually there would be heaps of cars around and traffic jams but it was empty this time. Then I remembered it was a Sunday and it was Labor Day weekend....so it was a Bank Holiday weekend.
I am currently staying at my Uncle's house. It's pretty nice. We went to my other aunt's house for dinner. There was so much food and it was delicious! = P We played a lot of Wii because my cousin Derrick brought the new Wii sports resort! It's really fun but tiring. I was so tired at the end of it considering I hadn't slept for the past 24 hrs and California is 8 hours behind London so I was a bit jetlagged.
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