Oh dear, it's snowing!

It's 7.38am London time. It's snowing rather heavily! I bet it hasn't stopped since last night. I had hoped that it would stop. How am I to walk to school later? I haven't got any snow boots! Oh dear this is the worse morning yet since I came. As usual, I'll take things in my stride. I had been worried about my journey here but I arrived and settled in all the same. This shouldn't be too much of a problem for me (fingers crossed).

First Day

First day of IO was normal and overall quite good. Went away quite satisfied with how the lesson was run. I didn't expect that the paper would be due in 2 weeks after I come back from Washington though. What a crash course. Prof Carmody is a neat and by-the- books guy and I could see a bit of him in me, I think.

I gotta a bit unnerved tonight when a denmark exchange student told me that she did not sign up for IO because she would not be able to travel to US in April then. I didn't know of such rules. So I emailed the Singapore Consulate to check with them. I hope this is inaccurate hearsay. But if it happens to be true, too bad I can't travel to US after the exchange. A little disappointing but no big deal I guess.

I paid CAD $140 for the Reznet service and the denmark exchange student could use it for free! Orla helped her with it. I wonder how they managed to do it. I feel a little cheated now. Anyway, it's money spent and no use being bitter about it! Cheer up and I should not let something that cannot be helped bother me too much.

I've hardly done any readings for IOs and I should really buck up now! In SG, I'd not have gone out for dinner just now given the very time-pressed situation I am in. However, I thought to myself since I am here, perhaps I should heed Louis's advice and not 'coop' myself up! It would be foolish to do so and then regret not having let go of certain short term inconsequential targets for some experience that I would still recall with fondness later on, after I've forgotten all of what I've studied. Anyway, although it was a cosy dinner with so many people around the table, I guess I was too tired to really enjoy. But I'm glad I met Rebecca and her canadian-chinese roomies.

Adriana is really sweet, dropped me a message to ask how my first day was. I never thought I'd meet such a worthy friend like her here. I hope our friendship would blossom :)

School is Starting Tomorrow

Finally, January 6th- the day that I've been looking forward to since my arrival in London. However, now that it is arriving I have a mix of excitement and slight apprenhensiveness going on in me. Excitement because I am able to experience classes in Canada; apprehensive because I am not sure what are the expectations of the Professors here. In NUS it is easy as we've either been taught by the professors before, or we's have heard about their teaching styles/expectations from students/workload from classes from people and seniors. Anyway, some uncertainty is part and parcel of exchange!

The last two days have been eventful. JC brought me around on my second day and on my third day, helped me to move into London Hall. He has really been a great help to me! He even offered to drive us to the Wal Mart supercentre so that we could pick up things like groceries and bed linens. I felt fortunate to have met such a nice fellow countryman. Who says Singaporeans are aloof?

Today was a great day too. I went to tour the campus with Orla, my Irish housemate. We found the law faculty building without much of a hassle and went around looking at almost every building in UWO. It's not as big as NUS Kent Ridge Campus but the architecture is much more awe-inspiring. We then had lunch at the UCC. I had a veggie Subway sandwich which is almost the same numerical price as Singapore, sans the exchange rate differential.

I then met up with my exchange buddy, Adriana. Adriana has a great personality which made her glow. We had great conversations both on the bus and over dinner. I was actually surprised that we seemed to have no barriers between us at all, linguistically or frequency wise. We clicked almost immediately and I found her to be a really sincere and genuine friend.

I think I'm just blessed to have met with such kindred souls within just a few days. I think it can only get better :)

Thinking about home, Joey told me that Ah gui is still tired from taking care of Taiqi on her own. I have to resist the thought that I shouldn't have come for exchange at all, because it'd not justify the lengths that Ah gui has gone to put me on this exchange.

Ok, time to sleep. 8.30am class tomorrow!

New Friend and A day around London, ON

I'm grateful to Kelvin, who introduced me to Jen Chyang, one of the few Singaporeans living permanently here. JC volunteered to show me around and he kindly drove me to a number of places. We went to Masonville Place (where I had gone yesterday to buy my adaptor), Loblaw (a groceries place where I bought apples, carrots and tomatoes), Chapters (a bookstore with an adjunct Starbucks), Best Buy (like Best Denki, is an electronics store. I bought a mouse there).

Shopping is expensive here! Not only is there a 5% GST, there is a 8% or thereabout provincial tax! The government taxes off goods is appalling. Now I see some sense in the Singapore Government policy against a welfare state. Though I must say that healthcare can be better subsidised in SG. JC told me that healthcare in CA is totally free! That's incredible to a Singaporean's ears who lives in country where people 'would rather die than fall sick'.

JC also drove me to see the UWO campus and the law faculty builiding/London Hall. We passed by the Thames River, covered in snow and liveless but I could tell that it had seen better times. I think the scenery on the riverside should be rather magnificent in the fall/autumn period. Following that we went to south London and visited another mall, then we headed for dinner at a vietnamese restaurant. I had shrimp dumpling with egg noodles. Portions were small and overall rather expensive though the price is considered mid-range. If standard of living correlates directly with the price of food and goods, then the standard here is very high. I didn't expect the prices of goods to be so high such that it's comparable to prices in other major western posh cities. Oh well...

Still feeling a little bit depressed about living alone. I'm still not used to the way of living for myself only-there seems to be something missing. Anyway, saw a book on philosophy in Chapters today and it says Aristotle thinks the telos (the "end"/"purpose") of man is happiness! Some other philosophers did not agree because happiness seems too superficial. But I agree with Aristotle. Man is constantly-consciously or not-seeking satisfaction in life which necessarily translates to happiness. I think to be able to show love your loved ones is one great source of happiness.

I'm moving into the residence tomorrow. I hope everything goes well.

In Transit and Settling Down

I met Jon Kao at during transit at Tokyo Narita! I didn't know that we were at the same plane until I saw him in a parallel queue for luggage check. What a coincidence. I had not expected to meet anyone I know on the journey here, so it was a pleasant surprise. He's going to Queen's, but before that to join Ben and his Aunt in Toronto. At least we could take turns to look after the belongings while the other goes to the toilet.

Detriot Airport is a fairly big one given that it mainly services Northwest Airline only. There was a stretch of travellator connecting concourse A to B and Cans there it was an interesting tunnel with galaxy-like swirling lights and music. I was quite impressed

Taking a cab to my hostel was so expensive! CAD$29 for a 20min ride. I can't understand that. However the driver was quite nice and helped me with my luggages.
The Guesthouse is really as described, tranquil and prim. It had been snowing so the view outside my balcony is a snowy one. Why did I ever think that seeing snow is fun? As I trudged along the snow covered grounds I wonder: why am I here walking on snow when I could be walking on the clean and easy walkways in SG? It just felt somehow surreal when it occurred to me that I have been transported to a different world. No more warm weather and easy life.

I went to Masonville Place today and what I was told to be a 7 min walk turned out to be at least 12min. But I pressed on because I had to get a laptop charger adapter! My 'universal adaptor' got burnt when I inserted it into the socket here. Having a goal in mind can really keep one going. And looking around for the adaptor was not easy. Luckily I met a very helpful staff at Zellers (their equivalent of our Giant) who said 'hello' to me first. She directed me to go to the Access store instead and that's where I got the right one. 'Gui ren' in a foreign land is a blessing. I took a bus back as it became too cold to walk back to the hostel. I've been done a shopping that is more tiring and depressing. Even as I was about to leave, I didn't even know where to look for a bus stop. I had to ask around and was lucky to have been guided by a Jap man who was with his family.

Departure

I hadn't want the departure to be a teary one. However, emotions are hard to control and I guess I'm too soft at this. Jas and Gwen the good pals were there-thanks for staying up! I used to think that being seen off by the family is enough. However, the feeling of having your friends there with you is one of a totally different kind. While with family there is overwhelming sadness and reluctance surging inside everyone during the lead time before boarding, friends give you a sense of warmth and security. And Jas even made me a tub of pineapple tarts!

Thank you, family and friends, for the love and concern.