Back at UBC I was learning Beginners’ German from a German PhD student whose lessons were quite fun and engaging. Even though he was unsure of certain grammatic rules, we always forgave him because beads of perspiration would form on his head even in the midst of winter. Our German textbook introduces grammar step by step and we were just getting into past tense. Learning was in short sentences. I was already struggling with so many rules to remember and vocabulary to memorize, but I managed to get by with pastel colours.

Here in Fudan my classmates are done with grammar rules and usages. My current textbook is filled with PASSAGES and during today’s lesson I was completely lost when the teacher read the passage and the class started analyzing sentence structures. Usages and grammatical rules are briefly reviewed in Chinese and I can’t really follow. There’s way too much I need to catch up with, and I’m not sure if I can handle learning a 3rd language with my 2nd language in such a short time. What is 第1-4格respectively? And then there’s 强变化动词，不规则变化动词 (irregular verbs?)，不定式 (indefinite?)，现在时(present tense?)，过去时(past tense?)，完成时…

I am so dead.

Going…Going…Gone.

I haven’t had time to sit down to reflect, but what I know now for sure is that the past 4 months has been nothing short of pleasant, fun, and wonderful.

Much thanks to my housemates for giving me insight into Canadian culture and helping me with all my needs, and all other friends who made this sojourn so enjoyable I find it hard to leave. Mostly, it’s thanks to the friendly, and always-going-out-of-the-way-to-help Canadians and their pleasant habits.

It’s 2.30am now and the cab I booked will be arriving at 7am. Still, I have not finished packing.

So I have to pack now, blog later.

The next time I blog, it’ll be across the border, down where it’s not as cold.

At UBC, in Vancouver, in Canada. The final 10 days (till my next visit, of course!).

Slowly, I’m trying to cut the strings of attachments.

I’ll always revisit the memories created in this lovely liveable place, and with its people I befriended so easily (you must know how anti-social I was/am in Fudan). It remains on the top of my list of places to live/retire in (if I can afford to).

(And of course, the place to sign marriage papers if someone asks)

Click on the pictures below for pictures of UBC, and other memories in Canada.

Hey I submitted my photos to UBC’s Go Global Photo Contest just in time before the deadline. Nothing fantastic, just wanted to try out for fun. Nevertheless……….

VOTE FOR ME!

Sorry, I couldn’t put it any other way without sounding 不要脸. Haha.

I recall being forced to write compositions on accounts of being trapped in a lift back in Primary School. Be it a continuation story, a story based on pictures, or just a set-titled composition, we’ve all written about it during those front-teethless years, even if we’ve never had that experience. For 22 years in my life, I have never been stuck in that claustrophobic environment.

In fact, lifts, other than images conjured up by horror flicks like The Eye, have always been the creator of sweet (or bittersweet) memories for me. But that’s not the topic for today.

So today I can actually write a true account of how it was like being stuck in the lift, and compensate for all those primary school years when I couldn’t choose that topic or simply couldn’t come up with an accurate account. But since I’m staying away from writing (other than necessary essays) because of a growing phobia, I’ll just leave it to your imagination, haha.

Keywords: 3 girls, 30 minutes, 7 rescuers, dying ventilation, the lift kept going up and down, but the door just wouldn’t open

No pregnant lady with a burst water bag, no plunging elevator, or any other drama involved. We were happily crapping away to lighten the mood while the lift went up and down, like talking about how the leftover from lunch that we packed would last us for one night, but that we didn’t have enough water. The creepiest part was probably how the lift went to floor zero (there is no button for this), and when the rescuers shut the power without warning in order to stop the lift from moving to get us out. Pitch darkness for 3 minutes, and then the ray of light burst into relief of 7 faces staring at us holding our cellphones above our heads for light.

I suppose it’s quite amusing for those on the outside to find that the lift they called for took so long to arrive and then when it finally does, hear girls shouting through the thick door for help. Someone even said “are you stuck inside? Oh, have fun!”

Other than that one optimistic student, I thank the kind souls who helped us call the relevant personnel to get us out.

To date, I’ve been stuck in a lift, experienced two blackouts, and four five six seven evacuations because of fire alarms, all within this short stint at UBC. Exciting stuff, huh.

Add 24 hours with 16 hours time difference from your home country, and you get 40 hours on your birthday! That’s if you count your birthday starting from midnight of the day according to your birth country, and then only ending after midnight of the country you’re in! Haha

I had a very healthy birthday cake this year! Carrot cake! And it was very yummy!

Wah I think my arms are going to be as big as thighs.

The cake was baked by 2 of my lovely housemates! Thank you Alison (left 1st row) and Allison (centre 2nd row)!

And thanks to my Singaporean friends who were also present at the cake-cutting and sang the Chinese birthday song!

You have to admit that the cake is really special! Sorry for the exclamation marks throughout this post. I’m just very touched and thankful! Haha. And it’s the first time I had a carrot cake for my birthday! And it looks like a big donut! Haha…

But of course the most unique (and loveable) birthday cake I ever had was last year, my 21st’s. Made of jelly. Made by her.

And thank you all happy-birthday-wishers!

This year I have had an excessive number of people who otherwise wouldn’t be aware of my birthday wishing me a Happy Birthday via Facebook. Hmm.

There was a blackout in the entire campus yesterday around 1pm, for about 15-20 minutes. I was in one of the classrooms at Buchanan and we just pulled up the blinds and continued writing our assignments. I heard that other classes ended immediately ‘coz of the blackout. Bleh.

Then in the evening at about 7.30ish there was a blackout again. -_- This time for about 2 hours. This happened just after I posted my previous entry on my whining about work overload.

Neighbours from the other unit came over and we played Cranium (this rather interesting board game that consists of components like charades, pictionary, etc).

If blackouts happen more often, can I use that as an excuse to not do all the work that are due?

Playing with candles. X. My name lah.

No it’s not that cold in Vancouver, well, not yet at least.

My schedule book has so much orange ink scrawled all over for the next couple of weeks, depicting all the deadlines for the many assignments and term papers. Arrgh!

I won’t be able to delight you with pictures of this or that mountain, nor anything exciting for the next few weeks I guess.

What’s lined up for me for the next three weeks: German writing assignment, German Test, World Lit assignment, World Lit term paper for writing workshop, World Lit final term paper, Brit Lit term paper, MLT term paper, Technical Writing Report, Technical Writing Report Presentation, Creative Non-Fiction writing assignments…

And then there’s the exams in the following two weeks.

I don’t know which I should start doing first.

Who says students on exchange have it easy?

My dear friend Winnie commented that Reina and I, who are on exchange in Norway and Canada respectively, only blog about “nothing but fun and more fun”, and that the only time we talk about school and books is when we boast (my word, not hers) about skipping classes (I think this was directed to me ‘coz I bragged so in one of my previous posts).

So I decided to blog about the not-so-fun here!

1. Making it to the top of the list has to be the worst household chore: Clearing Compost. Compost is the garbage that is decomposable, such as the vegetable leaves that you throw away, and whatever remnants of food you dispose of while you’re cooking or whatever. You don’t know how awful it is until you have to clear this mountain of colourful soiled variety of rotting food compiled by 6 individuals with uniquely distinct different choices of food. You do remember how in Fear Factor, the daredevils are compelled to gulp down the horrible concoctions stewed by the evil producers of the show? Eggs with unknown powder, chilli, peppers, sauces, etc.? Add bones, veggies, carrots, apple cores, potato skin, egg shells, and whatnot to the mixture to have a better idea of what we have to take turns to clear here. I really dread it when it’s my turn to have to transfer them to the compost bin downstairs that is filled with a hundredfold of your contribution. And guess who volunteered to scrub the compost bin?

2.  We have loads of reading too! And by having our fun our reading piles up, so we end up having to work doubly hard to catch up after dawdling away! I think we feel immense pressure to grasp this opportunity of the exchange tightly, and so try to pack in as many activities as possible, but end up in pain later (after going for a long weekend gazing at mountains and other beautiful natural landscapes, you want to run away upon returning to the mountain of books on your desk). So you might run away again. And the whole cycle of pain and pleasure begins. again.

3. We have to plan our trips/explorations around quizzes, tests, assignment deadlines, and exams! So we can’t be full-blown travellers because of these obligations that we simply must fulfil! And Reina just whined about having a 5-hour long project meeting today, and she’s gonna have a 4-hour long one tomorrow! Thankfully I don’t have such torture treatment. I only have half-hour short house meetings, where we discuss the best way to clear the compost hahah.

4. We (okay, I)  succumb to lying. I missed a German Quiz this Wednesday because I overslept (but it wasn’t because I was out there exploring like I should be!). Instead of getting a zero, I managed to convince the professor to not take that quiz into account for my overall score. How did I do it? I’m not telling.

5. Okay this list is getting hard to formulate. I’d say…the weather! Both Reina and I need to endure the bitter, penetrating cold! Hers is worse though. In Norway they barely get any sunshine and it’s really depressing with all that fog. For me, it’s gloomy with all this rain. Our days are getting way shorter, so we have even less time to go out and have fun!

I admit we really only talk about our adventures and never did mention other important aspects of our exchange. The differences in academic learning, the different schools of thought, the different systems (or the pleasant experience of having one) in higher level institutions, etc. Hmm…another day okay?

I need to pack right now for my shopping trip to Seattle Premium Outlets with my housemate tomorrow. Heh.

The weather the past few days has been like this (left), and the weather today was like this (right):

So I figured, why go to school? Looks like this is the best weather we can get before the impending gloomy winter, so I called up my hiking friend and it was easy persuading her to skip classes with me to climb up the Grouse Grind Trail once again. Heh. I’ve been hungering after that sense of fulfilment.

We climbed slower today though, because the rocks were really slippery from all the rain the past week. It also got dark really quick, and I was quite worried we wouldn’t be able to reach the top before sunset, which pushed me to keep climbing I guess.

This was taken just when I reached the top. So if I took any longer to climb, it might have made my last leg of the journey too dark to clamber.

Vancouver, by sundown.

My hiking friend craved for laksa after the hike, but we arrived at Prima Taste a tad too late for last orders. We met the boss of the place, however, and I hope we made a lasting impression, if not for future discounts, then perhaps as a networking contact.

So we had to make do with tacos.

And we saw two police officers having their break with burritos. Guess what Squarface asked the police officers?

For a photo, of course! Such friendly people, and I guess a foreigner can get away with this kinda request. The male police officer is really formidable.