wHOopS...

Oops! I didn't go to work out today, and I had a big burger at Hardee's for dinner today. I think I'm in big trouble. Oh, whatever, I'm going for a trip tomorrow to Chicago. Nothing's going to ruin my good mood for it now.

It's kind of in a hurry to prepare for the trip this time, so the room is a little bit messy now. Hope I can sort out all the things I need to bring before setting off tomorrow.

Don't have much time to write my blog today. Hopefully the hotel that claims to be ranked three stars will have Internet in their rooms so that I will be able to update everything. If not, I'll just have to wait until coming back to campus.

Bon Voyage to me!!

LosINg wEIghT Is a LOng JOurNEy

I went to LeClub this afternoon to work out a little bit. Since I haven't gone there for a couple of days, I felt the difficulty to catch up with the regularities I once had before. I used to use one work out machine for about three rounds, each round would be completed by doing it 20 times. But today, everytime when I was trying to finish a round, I felt like I'm dying. Trembling slightly at the end of each round, I think I really need more practice. Besides, my belly is growing bigger and bigger, so there is definitely a necessity to work out regularly.

The problem is, I'm leaving Terre Haute for Chicago on Friday. I think I'll eat pretty well, relax and enjoy the time there. How am I going to be at the time when I came back? Kind of worry about that. Anyway, I will still go to work out tomorrow, it's the last day I'm going to work out before I come back to Terre Haute.

rELaxINg dAYs

After going Dr. Barratt's house for Christmas dinner, I didn't do anything these two days except for taking rests. It's strange that it didn't snow these couple of days. It did rain on Christmas Eve, but other than that, no sign of snow. Too bad. I was really looking forward to it.

LeClub was open today, and I supposed to be there exercising this afternoon. Well, I wasn't. I allowed myself to go to bed whenever I wanted and wake up until I think it's time to. I may as well take a nap if I feel tired after lunch. I ate well these days, and I can feel the fear inside of me now. Could be a great danger if I skip going to LeClub tomorrow, because I will be in Chicago for three days from this Friday. Planning to count down for a brand new year of 2006 in one of the biggest city in the States. Can't wait to see the fireworks.

For the purpose of keeping the strict schedule of a regular life style which I just planned today, I shall go to bed now. Tomorrow I'll have to be awake at 7:30 in the morning.

VerY MerRY chRIstMAs

For this special day, I was invited to one of our professor's house for dinner. The dinner actually started around three, because we get to help with decorating the ginger bread house, little ginger bread reindeers and ginger bread men. If you had tried the ones in Taiwan, I have to tell you that the ginger bread made in the USA is totally different. It's much more crunchy like cookies and it's sweet, I couldn't even taste the ginger flavor in it. Other then that, it's pretty much the same. The fun of decorating it is the same.


We also get to help with cooking dinner. There was one thing that I learnt today at Dr. Barratt's house, and that was how to cook rice without a ricecooker. It might sound ridiculous, but yeah, I learnt a new way to cook rice from Americans. All you need is put the pot with rice and water on the stove, boil it, occasionally stir it to make sure that it doen't stick at the bottom, turn off the heat and wait a couple of minutes until it's ready to serve. Really interesting.

After dinner, we played Mah Jong together. It was also quite interesting. I wasn't sure about all the details about how to play it, because I always have somebody to help me out, all I've got to do is make sure of my tiles are in the right order and that I'm making bigger chance to win. It's been a while since the last time I played, coz usually we play it during Chinese New Year, and I missed that part last year. As a result, I lost most of the rules of how to put my tiles into order, and I had Dr. Barratt to remind me of how the rule go.

Also, there was one other culture thing that I've learnt from Dr. Barratt. Yesterday when it was kind of late and it was about time to go back to the dormitory, non of the hosts mentioned anything about giving the ride back to the dorm. I waited of quite a long time, and I thought it might be because they wanted their guests to stay as long as they want. The same thing actually happened on Thanksgiving Day for the dinner. So, I said to James and Julie that I didn't want to keep them up so late and that I'm ready to go whenever they are ready. But "oh no, dear, we usually up this late" was what they replied to me. I was rather confused by what they said. Was it because they were showing their politeness, or they still have something fun to do later on that they wanted the guests to join? The answer to this question is that they are being polite. People here, especially when they are the hosts, they do not do anything like getting rid of their guests, asking or implying them to leave. They would just wait until their guests are willing and ready to leave. And when you, as a guest, are ready to go, you may say "it's been a nice evening, and I wouldn't want to disturb you for too long a time" or other reasons that explains why you want to leave. They all work out pretty well here. Nice lesson.

Another nice day of my holidays is all I have to say for my day today.

IT's cHRisTMas EVe~~

Invited by one of my friends to his house for Christmas Eve dinner, I also wanted to bring a dish and share it together with his family. Since I'm preparing a dish to share, it should be a kind of special dish that they might not have tried before. So, Curry Rice with cheese on top of it was the dish to be made. A little bit worried that Americans might not be able to accept the smell and the taste, but I think the cheese on top of it and the milk used in the Curry Rice dish would make it mild for them.

When everything's all set, it's time to meet in the parking lot because they were willing to offer a ride to their house. It was Christmas Eve but it was a rainy Christmas Eve. I thought it would be snowing, but maybe the temperature wasn't cold enough to snow.

Dinner was nice and we chatted a lot. They loved the Curry Rice dish and they were eager to know the recipe for it. The Grandma said she wasn't hungry when we were going to start our dinner, but she actually ate a lot. They said she hadn't been eating so much for a while, and she did mentioned that she liked the Curry Rice.

In the picture are Julie, James, Justine, Grandma and me.

If you pay a little more attention, you may be able to see the head of a deer on the wall. To my surprise, it was hunted down by James. He has been hunting since he was an elementary student. He loves to hunt as well as his collection of his weapons. Now this is not something you can see all the time. He showed me 'part' of his collection which happened to be hundreds of them around the house.

It was for real!! Kind of heavy, and actually pretty expensive. He said it was around three hundred US dollars. So, I asked him if I need a license to buy a gun, and he said you only have to buy a license for hunting, which cost you less than 15 dollars and it lasts for a season. You don't even have to pass an exam for it, and you can simply buy it at Walmart. This is insane! But it's how it works in the States.

According to James, it's still rabbit hunting season now, and it will last til spring ends. I was curious if he has to chase after the rabbits in order to hunt them down, James told me that there is no necessity to run, all you've gotta do is wait, aim and shot the rabbits that are hopping around. Sounds easy, but I believe it's much more harder than that. I might become deaf after one shot, and I might hurt myself because of the recoil after firing the gun. But James said that he's used to the loud sound, he doesn't need anything to protect his ears when hunting and the recoil doesn't bother him at all. That's pretty cool.

I'm looking forward to try hunting if I have the chance to. After today, I really feel like I'm experiencing American culture. In conclusion, what a nice and particular Christmas Eve.

faT-BurNIng PLan COntINueD

Although LeClub is closed today for the holidays, I still went working out. I went to the college of health and human performance, and they have a gym of their own on the basement. The equipments are not as modern as the ones in LeClub though, but there were more people as I expected. Because it was my first time to go there, I didn't quite know what equipment to use. As a result, I ran about 20 minutes on the running machine, walked around and left. Usually, I would run 4.5 miles per hour, but today, I ran 5.5 miles per hour. I almost died in the end of the 20 minutes running. Well, dying could be a little bit exaggerating, but I'm sure my legs didn't belong to me any more in the end of the running. Haha...I know, I'm still weak. I need more practice. I don't want to feel like flying when I step off the machine anymore, coz that was how I felt today after the hard work.

Because I didn't work out as I should, I decided to walk to BlockBuster and see what movies they have that I might be interested in. It was exciting to be there, although it's just like the one we have in Taiwan, it was my first time to rent a movie. In the end, I found one of the old movies of Angelina Jolie that I couldn't find in Taiwan. I can't wait to watch it!

The old DVDs there costs 1.99 USD, and their newly released movies, including both VHSes and DVDs, are all 3.69 USD for each movie. Pretty much like the price it take to rent a movie in Taiwan's BlockBuster.

It's such a luxury to rent movies when I'm studying abroad. I think I should behave more like classical poor students who studies in another country.

HO...ho...HO...haPPy hOLIdaYS

Today, I went to Walmart by bus early in the morning. It's just 25 cents for each person per ride, and this special offer is only for today. Taking the bus at 7:15 A.M., it was still dark at the time. Yeah, I know, it's crazy and a little bit early to go shopping at Walmart such early in the morning. Well, just wanted to make the best use of my day in winter vacation.

This was the last day they run the bus before Christmas, and the bus driver got all dressed up as a Santa Claus. One of the people on the bus even put on a Santa hat. On the way to Walmart, some of the houses are decorated for Christmas, they have reindeers, sleds, and all kinds of decorations just for this holiday. I think it's what you can only see for this season.

Happy holidays!!

A soNG thAT goES "i hOPe sOMetHIng BAd wILl hAPpeN To yOU"...

Today when I was working out in LeClub, they played a really strange song on the radio. 99% of the lyrics in the song went "I hope something bad will happen to you". "I hope something bad will happen to you...I hope something bad will happen to you...", it went on and on at the end of the song. And at that time, there was a young and muscular man in front of me doing the not-kidding-really-heavy weight lifting. The lyrics kept going into my ears, and they somehow turned me into somebody else. No evil thoughts though, just listening to the song and watching the muscular man doing his hard work, thinking of something might really happen to him. Haha...

loNG liVE weNDy's

Today I happened to have the chance to eat at Wendy's for lunch. There were lots of people there. It seems to be popular with Americans, although it no longer exists in Taiwan. Once I stepped into the restaurant, I noticed that most of the people there had "small chili" as their side dish. It's a kind of Mexican food. I ordered it, too. After a long time of expectation and anticipation, I finally got the food and found a nice sunshiny spot next to the windows. The hamburger which is well known to be an old fashioned classic was delicious; however, the small chili that almost everyone ordered was, well, not as I expected. By the way, you may refill your drink there thousand times without paying. On the whole, I'm satisfied with Wendy's, and I wonder why it couldn't survive in Taiwan. Looking forward to have my meal there next time.

PaiN...PaiN...PaiN...

It's the every other day to go to LeClub today. Still suffering from sore muscles all over my body, but I was so ready to fight for my goal of "a perfect figure". There were lots of people at the time I went there. Kind of crowded, which is the situation I don't like. I'm not used to working out in front of the public.

Some people there are really crazy about their bodies. It's not just for health any more. Their ultimate targets were to build up their muscles as much as they can. Well, to me, their muscles seem to explode when they are doing the weight lifting. It's kind of annoying but funny to see people wrinkle their faces together, showing painful expressions and sometimes making painful sounds when they're working out. It should be a happy thing to work out. So whenever I see a person's face turning bloody red when working out, I just can't help smiling. Even I'm in the middle of my exercise, I would pause a little bit in case that I would hurt myself.

I burned more calories today. 110 calories for the running machine. Also, I used an equipment that was out of order last time, which is for the muscle in the waist. It hurt immediately when I used it. I hope I didn't hurt myself, hope it's just sore muscle.

In conclusion, gymnasiums are nice places that keep people healthy. People there should show more happiness and pleasant the time they step into it. At least don't show painful expressions.

WHat A NicE Day

I slept until noon today. As I expected, it was painful to get up. My shoulders, back and belly was the most sore part of the body. Other than that, everything's just fine. No worries, no classes nor homework, doing whatever I'd like to is the best part of vacations.

I thought of one of my classmates today. She gave birth to a baby last month, and she came back to school one month later. She brought her baby once to the class, and I happened to carry a digital camera I borrowed with me.

He looks a little bit sophisticated to me.

Hope I'm not too fat in the picture. I shall go to LeClub every other day to work out. Maybe build up my muscle a little bit, but not too over, don't want to be a muscular lady.

iNItiATinG The FAt-bURniNG plAN

Wahahaha... I went to a gymnasium on campus to work out today. It was the first time in my life to exercise in a gymnasium, the place is called LeClub. It's been a while since the last time I went swimming, which means I haven't exercised for a while. It was really hard for me today when I started. I chose to begin with a big peddling equipment, but it went so fast that after five minutes I decided to give it up. When I stepped off the big equipment, it was like having no bones in my legs! I almost fell to my knees on the floor. :(

After that, I did a bicycle riding equipment for about 15 minutes. According to the machine, I burned 70 calories within 17 minutes and I went over 6 miles. My thighs were sore in the middle, but they hurt in the end. The last two minutes when I was cooling down, strangely, it was the most painful part of the exercising.

I also worked on my arms, my hips and my back. I've done so many things in LeClub, but I didn't have to pay for it. In fact, if possible, I won't have to pay for it through out whole winter vacation. I asked one of my classmate's student ID number because she's staying in California this winter, and she won't be back until classes begin. Usually, we should show our ID cards when we enter LeClub, but lucky me, the person there today weren't so strict. I didn't want to take my classmate's card, just in case she might use it during the time, and I don't want to cause her any trouble. If I can keep on doing this, I would be able to go to LeClub for free this winter vacation. It's really a nice place, and it only costs 1,00 US dollars a year to join as a member.

God bless me not to be too painful tomorrow. At least give me the strength to get off the bed.

HOorAY!! wiNTer VAcaTIon...

I survived from the final examination week!! It's winter vacation already and I'm still alive! It's been a long while since the last time I posted my message. Sorry for the inticipation.

During the study week for the final exam, there was a special night when the cafatiria served Christmas dinner. Every staff in the cafetiria dressed up like Santa Clous, they played Christmas music and served really nice food. I think it might be the best food this semester.

He always call me "Smilie" when he sees me. Because I'm always smiling at him.

Don't have a specific plan for this winter vacation yet. But I'm already invited to one of my American friends' house for Christmas eve today, and I shall have dinner with a Japanese couple the very next day. Sounds interesting, huh? I'm also looking forward for it.

lESs tHAn tWO weEKs lEFt fOR thIS seMEstER

Can't believe that it's the very end of my first semester as a graduate student. This week is the preparation week for the following final examination week. Everyone's working hard to wrap up all the assignments required for the courses. Even the library extends the time of opening hours.

On the academic schedule given by the graduate school, Friday Dec. 16 will be last day for this semester, and winter vacation will last until Sunday Jan. 8. It's about three weeks in total. Don't have any plan for winter vacation though.

I might be crazy busy recently, and might not be able to update my status so often. I'll be focusing on the studies, and keep on insisting through the very end.

Never compromise!!

雪...雪...雪...!!

This is the first picture taken this morning. I woke up early today to get my breakfast in the cafeteria. I have a class early in the morning at 8 O'clock anyway. Also, I'm greatly fond of the egg omelet with beacon, mushroom and onion for breakfast in the cafeteria. Surprisingly, it was snowing, and it was not just snowing lightly. As the picture shows, there was already accumulation of snow everywhere. When I was having breakfast, people were shoveling the snow on the sidewalks outside the cafeteria.

After class, it snowed even more heavily. I was giggling all day long. The weather isn't that cold as you imagine, I was told that when it gets really cold and windy, it wouldn't snow. But one thing that could be a little bit irritated was that when the snow melts, your clothes would be a little bit wet. I didn't like much about it, because I don't want my favorite jacket to get wet. I think I'll buy a water-proof jacket after the semester ends.

Everything seemed to be beautiful, even the snow accumulated on the trash cans by the sidewalk is white and beautiful. Too bad I forgot to take down the snow on the trash can (that's funny). There's going to be bunch of chances to take that kind of picture in the future. Since there seem to be no color in snowy days, hope I won't get sick of the snow.

This picture is taken in front of Root Hall, the building of my department.

Starts to feel like Christmas!!